"Message for you!"
Moriko lifted her head to spot one of her younger cousins, eight or so, holding a piece of paper in her hand and smiling brightly. A newly-vested messenger, then. Most of them got tired of it quickly enough.
"Okay." She accepted the paper and opened it, but became immediately aware the girl wasn't leaving and was instead hovering and bouncing on her heels. "You know you don't get to know what it says, right?"
"Oh. Yeah." Pause. "You want me to go...?"
"Please," Moriko said, vaguely annoyed. "If I need a message sent back I'll come find you. It's not like I can't catch up to you."
The girl heaved a disappointed sigh, but duly jogged off--back to wherever she had been waiting to send out messages. Most of which were just make-work for the clan members her age in the first place, so a real one (if this was real) must have been vaguely exciting even if she had been in for a while. Moriko didn't know her name and exact age off-hand and so wasn't quite sure.
Still, she could finally get to her message. It wasn't from a friend--Tsukiya would just come see her in person, and she didn't have really anyone else on the scale of 'friend' unless one appended '-ly acquaintance' onto that. No, it took her a moment to remember the person who had sent this. It took less time to remember the problem that had led Moriko to her (and also less to remember the brownies, which had been really good).
She showed the note to the gate guards, who recognized the woman's name as a nearby neighbour and gave her directions. She had been there before, but sadly they were still needed; despite the fact it wasn't far Moriko very nearly got lost on the way.
Kumiko, the redhead with long braided hair, let her in when she arrived. The house was decently-sized, newish like all the dwellings in the city, and well-appointed. It also very obviously contained a child as notable by the scattered toys visible in the living room area.
"Harue has the baby today," she explained at Moriko's curious peering around. "That's one reason I asked. I might ask someone else, but you were good about the whole deck wood thing so I thought it couldn't hurt. I don't think the target is a ninja?"
"Target?" Did this unassuming civilian want an assassin for some reason? Well...Moriko didn't have any kind of problem with that...
"Yes." Kumiko took a breath, as if fortifying herself. "I believe our neighbour's son has been selling alcohol to minors. I'm not sure, and I'd really like someone to investigate."
Oh, not for assassination. Too bad.
"Which neighbour, and what does he look like?" Moriko asked, all business. It was something to do at least. Anything to take her mind off what she didn't want to think about, what she'd been napping earlier to avoid thinking about.
"One house that way," Kumiko said, pointing off to her left. Moriko looked through that window, orienting herself as best she could. "He's about seventeen or so, dark brown hair that looks a little greasy and always slicked-back. I've never liked him, and I guess my instincts were on."
Moriko continued lightly probing questions until she was satisfied she had enough information. Since he only 'dealt' at night, mind, she had to secure permission to be outside the compound after hours, or after hours for anyone under sixteen at any rate. After she explained what it was for this did not prove to be difficult and at ten PM she was situated on a rooftop overlooking the alley the suppossed dealer met his clients in.
Her immediate impression of the boy was that he looked greasy and more than a little sketchy. She was a little surprised anyone like that lived in this neighbourhood, but she guessed he was probably just rebelling against his family or something. Not that she knew that family, but come on. Shampoo was a thing, and anyone living here could definitely afford it.
It also meant there was no even semi-altruistic or survival-based reason for him to be doing this. And yes, those were definitely liquor bottles.
...And those were definitely kids. No one related to her, or likely even in residence of the area, but young. Well, older than her, but too young for drinking.
Moriko sprang down from the roof and landed feet away from the group, making at least two of them shriek. All told there was a half-dozen, including the greasy older teen with a backpack full of bottles. Cheap beer, by the looks of it, not that she had personal experience.
"Ninja!" One of them yelped, and took off at what he must have thought was fast. Several of the others bolted as well.
Moriko then did something which she would later feel had been very cool, and made a casual one-handed gesture to freeze the ground with a burst of water. All four of the fleeing teens hit the ice and slipped, and it only took one of them falling to drag all the others down into a heap.
"No, you're definitely not doing anything wrong," she deadpanned as they tried to extricate themselves. "Stay."
Those kids might get in trouble too, after all. She turned back to the 'dealer' and his two would-be customers. He was staring at her as if she was a demon.
"You're not smart and you're not subtle," she said bluntly. "Selling alcohol to minors is illegal. It's a pretty big fine."
"H-how--" he started, but she cut him off.
"Some of your neighbours noticed. A lot of them. Probably don't sell your illegal goods right next to your house, idiot." She thumbed her headset and called up for law enforcement, ignoring the stammering protests from all of them.
Mice. Little better than, at any rate.
It didn't take long for the whole set to be swept up, the underage drinkers ferried home with warnings and the dealer hauled in for presumably a large fine and his ill-gotten gains confiscated. Moriko went back to the 'client' the next day and reported in, and received a bag of fresh mochi for her troubles.
Receiving payment in snack foods was a pretty decent way to go about things, all told. Even, or possibly especially, if she ended up sharing.
As was custom for a weekday late-morning, Tsukiya found her in the compound under the awning with her bag. She hadn't even opened it yet, electing to wait for him.
"We need to talk," he said, sounding unusually serious despite the lack of change in how he dropped down next to her and accepted a cake.
"If you have some kind of guilt over running when we were in the underground, I should tell you not to since I literally told you to," Moriko said. "It was the logical thing to do. Moreover, you wouldn't have been helpful. You were more helpful in getting Hanae to me more quickly."
"All true," he said. "And were you anyone else, I would feel no guilt over it. It's an...unaccustomed feeling."
"So what makes me special?" She needed to hear him say it, needed to be sure this wasn't her being weird about something. That there was actually something there.
"Many things," Tsukiya said. She finally risked a glance at him, and he looked as serious as he sounded. "Aside from any of that and the reasons for it, you are my friend--the only one I've had. I've also had cause to believe it...may be more than that."
"Yeah?" Say it.
"Moriko, I know you know what I mean." He was giving her a very complicated look she couldn't even begin to decipher.
"I need to hear you say it." She fidgeted, smoothing out her skirt with one hand while the other still clutched the bag. She made herself stop to instead draw out her own mochi to eat.
"Truthfully, I would have thought we were too young for this." He didn't shirk away from her gaze, and spoke very steadily, which grounded her a bit. "However. I'm fairly certain I have feelings for you, and suspect it may be mutual. Whether that will go anywhere in the future, I'm unsure."
"It...could," she hedged. "You know. If my family will let you, and all, given you don't have a bloodline...I mean, that you don't have a different one might be a plus, actually..."
"I think that may have even been the intent of a cousin or two when they let me in for your sake," Tsukiya said, a twist of his usual amusement back. "I have no idea how one would court someone of your status but expect you wouldn't prefer that in any case. Why don't we just continue as we have been, and if we want anything to happen, it will?"
That sounded okay. Moriko nibbled at her mochi cake a bit before slowly nodding.
"That's...I like that," she said. "Because really? You're right, I don't want to be courted. And by the time we're older we might be very different people, and decide we're better as friends. So until we both feel like it let's...not forget or anything, just put it aside."
"Acceptable," he said with a crooked smile. "In which case, I've heard that this afternoon they'll be doing a weapons exhibition at the Academy. Did you want to go?"
"It's a date," she said. For once, deliberately. "Maybe literally. If we like."
Which was definitely more than okay, by the answering smile and warm feeling it evoked.
[Word Count: 1707]
Moriko lifted her head to spot one of her younger cousins, eight or so, holding a piece of paper in her hand and smiling brightly. A newly-vested messenger, then. Most of them got tired of it quickly enough.
"Okay." She accepted the paper and opened it, but became immediately aware the girl wasn't leaving and was instead hovering and bouncing on her heels. "You know you don't get to know what it says, right?"
"Oh. Yeah." Pause. "You want me to go...?"
"Please," Moriko said, vaguely annoyed. "If I need a message sent back I'll come find you. It's not like I can't catch up to you."
The girl heaved a disappointed sigh, but duly jogged off--back to wherever she had been waiting to send out messages. Most of which were just make-work for the clan members her age in the first place, so a real one (if this was real) must have been vaguely exciting even if she had been in for a while. Moriko didn't know her name and exact age off-hand and so wasn't quite sure.
Still, she could finally get to her message. It wasn't from a friend--Tsukiya would just come see her in person, and she didn't have really anyone else on the scale of 'friend' unless one appended '-ly acquaintance' onto that. No, it took her a moment to remember the person who had sent this. It took less time to remember the problem that had led Moriko to her (and also less to remember the brownies, which had been really good).
She showed the note to the gate guards, who recognized the woman's name as a nearby neighbour and gave her directions. She had been there before, but sadly they were still needed; despite the fact it wasn't far Moriko very nearly got lost on the way.
Kumiko, the redhead with long braided hair, let her in when she arrived. The house was decently-sized, newish like all the dwellings in the city, and well-appointed. It also very obviously contained a child as notable by the scattered toys visible in the living room area.
"Harue has the baby today," she explained at Moriko's curious peering around. "That's one reason I asked. I might ask someone else, but you were good about the whole deck wood thing so I thought it couldn't hurt. I don't think the target is a ninja?"
"Target?" Did this unassuming civilian want an assassin for some reason? Well...Moriko didn't have any kind of problem with that...
"Yes." Kumiko took a breath, as if fortifying herself. "I believe our neighbour's son has been selling alcohol to minors. I'm not sure, and I'd really like someone to investigate."
Oh, not for assassination. Too bad.
"Which neighbour, and what does he look like?" Moriko asked, all business. It was something to do at least. Anything to take her mind off what she didn't want to think about, what she'd been napping earlier to avoid thinking about.
"One house that way," Kumiko said, pointing off to her left. Moriko looked through that window, orienting herself as best she could. "He's about seventeen or so, dark brown hair that looks a little greasy and always slicked-back. I've never liked him, and I guess my instincts were on."
Moriko continued lightly probing questions until she was satisfied she had enough information. Since he only 'dealt' at night, mind, she had to secure permission to be outside the compound after hours, or after hours for anyone under sixteen at any rate. After she explained what it was for this did not prove to be difficult and at ten PM she was situated on a rooftop overlooking the alley the suppossed dealer met his clients in.
Her immediate impression of the boy was that he looked greasy and more than a little sketchy. She was a little surprised anyone like that lived in this neighbourhood, but she guessed he was probably just rebelling against his family or something. Not that she knew that family, but come on. Shampoo was a thing, and anyone living here could definitely afford it.
It also meant there was no even semi-altruistic or survival-based reason for him to be doing this. And yes, those were definitely liquor bottles.
...And those were definitely kids. No one related to her, or likely even in residence of the area, but young. Well, older than her, but too young for drinking.
Moriko sprang down from the roof and landed feet away from the group, making at least two of them shriek. All told there was a half-dozen, including the greasy older teen with a backpack full of bottles. Cheap beer, by the looks of it, not that she had personal experience.
"Ninja!" One of them yelped, and took off at what he must have thought was fast. Several of the others bolted as well.
Moriko then did something which she would later feel had been very cool, and made a casual one-handed gesture to freeze the ground with a burst of water. All four of the fleeing teens hit the ice and slipped, and it only took one of them falling to drag all the others down into a heap.
"No, you're definitely not doing anything wrong," she deadpanned as they tried to extricate themselves. "Stay."
Those kids might get in trouble too, after all. She turned back to the 'dealer' and his two would-be customers. He was staring at her as if she was a demon.
"You're not smart and you're not subtle," she said bluntly. "Selling alcohol to minors is illegal. It's a pretty big fine."
"H-how--" he started, but she cut him off.
"Some of your neighbours noticed. A lot of them. Probably don't sell your illegal goods right next to your house, idiot." She thumbed her headset and called up for law enforcement, ignoring the stammering protests from all of them.
Mice. Little better than, at any rate.
It didn't take long for the whole set to be swept up, the underage drinkers ferried home with warnings and the dealer hauled in for presumably a large fine and his ill-gotten gains confiscated. Moriko went back to the 'client' the next day and reported in, and received a bag of fresh mochi for her troubles.
Receiving payment in snack foods was a pretty decent way to go about things, all told. Even, or possibly especially, if she ended up sharing.
As was custom for a weekday late-morning, Tsukiya found her in the compound under the awning with her bag. She hadn't even opened it yet, electing to wait for him.
"We need to talk," he said, sounding unusually serious despite the lack of change in how he dropped down next to her and accepted a cake.
"If you have some kind of guilt over running when we were in the underground, I should tell you not to since I literally told you to," Moriko said. "It was the logical thing to do. Moreover, you wouldn't have been helpful. You were more helpful in getting Hanae to me more quickly."
"All true," he said. "And were you anyone else, I would feel no guilt over it. It's an...unaccustomed feeling."
"So what makes me special?" She needed to hear him say it, needed to be sure this wasn't her being weird about something. That there was actually something there.
"Many things," Tsukiya said. She finally risked a glance at him, and he looked as serious as he sounded. "Aside from any of that and the reasons for it, you are my friend--the only one I've had. I've also had cause to believe it...may be more than that."
"Yeah?" Say it.
"Moriko, I know you know what I mean." He was giving her a very complicated look she couldn't even begin to decipher.
"I need to hear you say it." She fidgeted, smoothing out her skirt with one hand while the other still clutched the bag. She made herself stop to instead draw out her own mochi to eat.
"Truthfully, I would have thought we were too young for this." He didn't shirk away from her gaze, and spoke very steadily, which grounded her a bit. "However. I'm fairly certain I have feelings for you, and suspect it may be mutual. Whether that will go anywhere in the future, I'm unsure."
"It...could," she hedged. "You know. If my family will let you, and all, given you don't have a bloodline...I mean, that you don't have a different one might be a plus, actually..."
"I think that may have even been the intent of a cousin or two when they let me in for your sake," Tsukiya said, a twist of his usual amusement back. "I have no idea how one would court someone of your status but expect you wouldn't prefer that in any case. Why don't we just continue as we have been, and if we want anything to happen, it will?"
That sounded okay. Moriko nibbled at her mochi cake a bit before slowly nodding.
"That's...I like that," she said. "Because really? You're right, I don't want to be courted. And by the time we're older we might be very different people, and decide we're better as friends. So until we both feel like it let's...not forget or anything, just put it aside."
"Acceptable," he said with a crooked smile. "In which case, I've heard that this afternoon they'll be doing a weapons exhibition at the Academy. Did you want to go?"
"It's a date," she said. For once, deliberately. "Maybe literally. If we like."
Which was definitely more than okay, by the answering smile and warm feeling it evoked.
[Word Count: 1707]