1# Heart Thief (Open)

[Midori Futotta]

Sitting on top of a rooftop, Maru began to examine some of his stolen emerald he just took not too long ago, it wasn't exactly hard for him to take the jewel from the nearby black market of thieves that merchant lords would go to to collect one of a kind stolen items. The highest bidder wins this emerald however… no one ever seemed to check the the emerald to see if it was counterfeit or not. Whoever won the bid on this emerald would be a proud owner of a gem made from glass while Maru had the real one within his grasps. The thief chuckled to himself at the thought, tossing the beautiful gem in the air before catching it again. “To bad, so sad.” He said in a voice that oozed confidence but then something hit him in the moment right then and there…

He just remembered that he had another job. A painting scheduled to arrive in tea country pretty soon, three days in fact which means he was going to be busy, busy, busy. Pretty busy planning on escape roots, how to get out with the paintings, know where the guards are, take note of what kind of security is around, things of that nature. Not to mention he wasn't a human puppet anymore so he needed time to rest and to eat. Placing the gem in his pocket, Maru hopped down then into a alley, placed his hands in his pockets, then began walking within the busy streets of Kurosawa. It was nightfall, but because of the world tournament everyone seemed to be heading to the dealer to collect their winnings. There were two people left, however one of them seemed familiar, Mikasa sounded like someone he knew. But he can't recall when or if he seen her before, he shrugged it off. He never seen the lady before in his life.

Maru paused then headed inside of a café, adjusting his monocle on his face he strolled up to the counter. “One cup of coffee please, keep it black and no sugar please.” He leaned back, against the counter waiting for the waiter to give him his cup of Joe. The wheels already turning in his head about what he needed to do to successfully pull off his heist, he wasn't dressed in his usual disguise of a masked bandit, that was saved until he actually had a job to do. As he thought, he reached in to grab his coffee to take a sip of it, then his face sour at how bitter it tasted.

 

[Nanjirou Soku]

There was a blast of fresh air that flooded the cafe briefly masking the scent of the aromas of brewing tea as a tall man entered, dressed in the honorable blue Santaru robes, a straw hat that concealed his face and a spear which rested on his shoulders. Taking a seat next to Maru, the man dug into his cloak and placed two silver coins on the countertop."The usual. Black with a bit of creamer."Payment done, a hand reached up to the straw hat and took it off revealing a moss of black hair and a face littered with battle scars. Apparently, the man was some sort of warrior or had been judging from the spear he carried and the way he carried himself."Evening. Fairly quiet, isn't it?"Nibachi said speaking to Maru. The Santaru warrior had no idea whom this was though if he did, he would quite frankly drag the mercernary out of here by the ear enraged that such a person was sitting before him. The cup arrived, steaming hot and Nibachi took a sip nodding to himself as his taste buds soaked it in."Perfect as usual."He said sighing in appreciation. Tea Country was infamous for this type of stuff given the name or so he thought. Why else would they call it that.

Humming to himself, Nkbachi dug into his cloak pulling out a cigar that he lighted."Want one?"He said offering one to Maru. It was one of those things that helped Nibachi get through the day. He was retired from this life of fighting, all he wanted to do was smoke, drink and just relax. It was late but the Santaru did not care. He usally spent his nights just like this. Out and about somewhere gambling his savings away or chatting up the local waitress. Now that he thought about it, Nibachi shot a glance here and there seeing if there were any women worth talking to in this little cafe. There were not a lot of people present and he didn't exactly like the odds. Sighing, he went back to his smoke as silence settled in. He might as well attempt to strike up a converstation with this person next to him. He seemed like a interesting little fellow with his funny little hat and eye piece."You know it's a bit too early for Halloween, friend."Nibachi said letting loose a chuckle.

 

[Midori Futotta]

Maru took another sip of his coffee, the gears in his head constantly turning on how he planned to pull this job off. He could pull a simple switch and replace the real one with a counterfeit painting but where would he get a fake painting at this time. He could choose to rob the place in the day by taking a fire, however the fire alarms would go off and probably ruin the paintings before he got out the front door. Then there was the option of sneaking in at night and stealing it, but they would probably beef up security at that time, having sound ninja patrolling everywhere. There were a million ways that this job could go wrong, but there were one way where this job could go right. A bit of a gamble but Maru loved the high stakes.

After thinking, Maru was greeted by someone who was sitting right next to him. He haven't seen the man before, nor did he seem local but it didn't matter to him. “Yeah, been pretty quiet around here lately. But you can still find some action around.” Maru said, taking another sip from his coffee. Now that he thought about it, it had been a little quiet around here lately. Probably because there hasn't been much to go down, all Maru was doing now was playing the waiting game until the painting arrived but of course he couldn't tell the man that. His thoughts being interrupted by the man pulling out a cigar, and he offered Maru one. Sure thanks!” He said, taking the cigar before he took a flame to it putting it between his lips to inhale some of the smoke… then he blowed smoke through his nose. Chuckling at the comment the man made about his attire.

“This is my usual attire, gotta look fancy when I'm putting money on fighters.” Maru said, chuckling again. “Plus it attracts some nice looking lady's.” he waved at the manager of the café and the woman glared daggers at Maru which made him laugh nervously. So far, Maru haven't really had much luck with women, one slapped him because he mistaken her for being a stripper, another yelled at him (and in his head), and another one flat out refused to give him her name. Speaking in which he needed to find her so he could try to get her name. “So what brings you around here? The tournament is almost done, I've got my money on the cute fox woman to win.” He said, sounding pretty confident.

 

[Nanjirou Soku]

The man raised a eyebrow. This was his usual attire? He sure had a interesting defniton of the word "usual." He took a deep puff from his cigar letting loose a puff of smoke causing one of the patrons to give him a nasty look. Nibachi causually ignored him as he listened to Maru."The kitsune from Suna? Naturally, my faith is in that Sennin from Konoha, Mikasa was her name, I believe. After all, it should be natural to support one's home village, though I am retired now from the village force. What village do you hail from, friend?"Nibachi had just indicated with his statement that he was from Konoha. He eyed the man judging his reaction. Usually, once some people found out where you hailed from, they tended to have interesting reactions. He grasped his cup draining the coffee and sliding two more coins to the waitress."Another cup if you please, dear."He said sighing in apprecation. The waitress cast him a nasty look clearly not appreciating the cigars in the cafe as she slid across another cup to him without speaking a word. Nibachi smiled, most people didn't like him and he was fine with that. He only had one sworn duty and oath, that was to protect his Santaru cousin back home who had newly estbalished the Konoha chapter of the clan.

"Speaking of, I don't recall catching your name? Mine is Nibachi."He held back on giving his clan surname. After all, he had just met this stranger and who knew what type of person he was. Laughing a little at the women, Nibachi nodded in agreement."Aye, I haven't had any luck with most gals either, it seems back home and here. I was hoping to run into a fine maiden here and there."Honestly speaking, Nibachi was still in the buisnes of relationships but no one had caught his eye as of late and when someone prospective did show up, it usually ended up going south fairly quickly. The door creaked open again and three men entered, one had a vest on and held a chain mace, the other two wielded bows and wore cloaks of green. The Santaru silently cussed under his breath."Damn loan sharks."

The one with the mace approaced as Nibachi tightened his grip on his spear."Heya, Santaru. Thought we might find you here. You gonna pay up from our last game or do my boys gotta toss you and your friend here into the ground?"Nibachi sighed shaking his head. He was hoping he had eluded them."Are you that keen to get decked, Daimaru? So be it then."He shot a glane at Maru."Mind helping me clean house?"He said turning to face his debtors, spear in a ready position.

 

[Midori Futotta]

Maru shrugged. “I'm not exactly in a village right now, I'm pretty much a traveler looking to make money from the villages I travel to. To put it in a nice term I pretty much travel around helping villages with their problems for a small fee.” He gave a small breakdown of what he actually did, but how he got his rank as a mercenary he didn't know. Honestly that part was still a blur since he was suffering a severe case of amnesia. But what he already knew was the basics; He was exiled from the leaf village, he couldn't go back to the leaf village, and he remembered only a few faces but couldn't recall any names. Pretty much he remembered his trail in the hokage’s office, but anything before that was completely blank. Of course, the man didn't need to know all that so Maru didn't have to tell. “But Aye! If this Mika person pulls a victory outta her ass I'm gonna put 10k on her.” Maru held up his coffee as if proposing a toast, taking his cigars from his mouth to drink his coffee, just remembering that he didn't introduce himself.

“Oh right, names Maru by the by. Pleasure to meet ya.” Maru said, putting the cigar in his mouth before chuckling slightly. Apparently Nibachi didn't have much luck with women neither, plus the nasty look the woman gave the both of them proved it. Perhaps it was because they were in a public place smoking but there wasn't any no smoke sign around here so why stop? The air suddenly changed when three men came up in the cafe bearing weapons, two of them with bows and arrows, one with a chain mace. And they were coming towards them. ‘Ahhhhhhh Shit.' Maru thought. Looks like Nibachi owed some loan sharks some money, and it looks like the man was dead set on getting his money or beating them both down. He looked at Nibachi then nodded his head.

Maru went into the pocket of his coat then pulled out one of his pistols he kept concealed. After all with a suit like his he couldn't afford going fist to fist with one of there mean. “I'll take the one with the bows, you get the ass with the vest.” He said before aiming his weapons at one of the men who had the bow and arrow as their weapons! Quickly firing two rounds at each one, the bullet itself contained a Sapphire tip that produce air so cold it would freeze a shinobi in mere moments. If all went well, both men would be frozen statues leaving the Loan Shark with the vest alone….

 

[Nanjirou Soku]

As the gang proceeded to advance towards the duo, there would be two swift sounds of bullets and suddenly, the bowmen would be nothing more than mere ice sculptures. Nibachi smirked, he liked this."Not bad. Now where were we, Daimaru? Oh yes, I remember."He seized the loan shark by the scruff of his collar shaking him like a drowned rat. Spear in his other hand, he jabbed it threatningly at the man's face."Now listen here, we all know that poker game was rigged for you, runt. Pathetic as it is, I dont have the time or heart to seperate your limbs from your body or I most certainly will. So here is what is going to happen, I let you go, you call off the debt and run back to your little den of robbers and tell them exactly what happened here. If you somehow gather up courage to oppose me, I gurantee I'll personally kill ya myself. Now....SCRAM!"He yelled the last word at the man who with a terrified shriek, ran out the cafe and into the street people looking on with bewilderment.

The waitress was not amused with what was going on in her establishment and it was clear they were growing less and less appreciated here with every passing second. Nibachi looked at the firearm Maru had, a curious look in his eye."Nice gun you got there, haven't seen one like it around these parts, especially not one that turns people into ice statues."He said tapping the frozen thugs with the tip of his spear. They would melt soon enough and if they didnt, well, that wasn't his problem. They had to ditch either way before more unwanted attention came about.

"Up for a walk? It js probably better to leave this area anyways. I imagine the local authorites wont be too pleased about this incident."He said, his eye falling on several people who shifted to avoid his gaze. None of them were too keen to accost him after seeing what had happened. The Santaru smirked, it was good to establish a sense of fear sometimes. That way, less people tended to interfere with you. Grabbing his straw hat off the countertop, he donned it, his features concealed once again."Thanks for the drinks, hon. Don't miss me."He said sliding across a silver coin to the waitress who shot him a dark look before turning her back."How nice. Yw coming?"He said turning to his new companion.

 

[Midori Futotta]

“Heh.” Maru spat confidently, he prided himself with the fact that he never missed and the crossbowmen didn't even stand a chance when he shot them one by one turning them into ice statues. Leaving the man who Maru assumed to be the leader of the band of thugs to Nibachi and for safe measures Maru aimed his revolver at the man just in case things might would've gotten out of hand. “Well?” He said after Nibachi gave the man a piece of his mind. “You heard the man, better get outta here before you get something worse than your friends here.” Maru assured before seeing the man take for the hills, Maru putting his revolver back in his coat and straightening up his top hat. He smirked to himself, drinking the rest of his coffee setting his empty cup down.

He turned to the woman who seemed unamused of the little scene they caused, knowing full in well they might not would be able to stick around for a lot of reasons. But then again he could take his time. “Yeah I've got other bullets similar to the one I just used, that one had freezing chakra within it. Honestly don't know why I haven't seen people use these baby's.” He said with a smile, patting his coat pocket. After the man tapped the ice statues, the ice would melt and the crossbowmen would fall to their knees. Clearly this wasn't a technique to simply kill, but using that tricky projectile was simply supposed to keep people from getting away. And lucky for them they were too weak to even move, other people would avoid looking at the Santaru and Maru because they looked like trouble as it is.

Maru got up from the counter then made a finger gun to the waitress. “Don't forget to miss me too, I might use a couple of pickup lines I've heard around.” He said chuckling before heading out the café with the Santaru… Now that he thought about it, he believed that he knew a Santaru however he couldn't recall where he heard the name from. Like maybe there had been one fighting in the tournament or probably when he was listening around he ended up hearing the name. “So since you're rooting for Mikasa, you must be a konoha shinobi. Thought the Santaru clan are only around lighting country but I guess most bloodline's don't stay in one place forever.” He said pretty casually, trying to make conversation.

 

[Nanjirou Soku]

Nibachi simply wagged his finger at Maru as they walked like a parent admonishing a child."Now,now. That is where you are wrong. I hail from Konoha yes but I am not a part of their shinobi forces. I like to think of myself as retired." He added a thoughtful look coming over his features. That was quickly cast aside as his companion began to inquire into his clan and Nibachi did not look too comfortable on this topic as he began casting shifty glances here and there."Yeah...we've moved a bit. There's only two of us in Leaf, one of them being myself, the other a kunoichi of sorts, with a fiery temper if I might add. She heads the Santaru br anch in Leaf." Feeling as if he had said too much already, the man stopped talking and for a moment, there was silence as they watched some offcials rush by presumably towards the scene that had occured at the rsturant."I think we know where they are headed off to." Nibachi added smirking a bit the memory of the frozen men engraved into his mind.

"You must tell me, though, how did you come across such a peculiar revolver. Those things don't look like it is a common item at all. Was it the black market?"He asked a curious expression on his face. Truth be told, he didn't care whether Maru had stolen it, robbed someone for it or whatever. A weapon was a weapon and it was a nice one. He was merely interested in the gun, not the person who obtained it. He looked at his own spear, the finer details of the blade glinting in the sun. It sort of was on a higher class than his spear and that sort of irked him. Perhaps he could buy it off this person for a price. It would certainly make a useful tool or maybe a artifact of sorts.