Clothes shopping. Yea, clothes shopping.

[Maikeru]

Maikeru gave a long, loud yawn as he walked through the streets of Kurosawa, stretching his arms above his head. His job that he had chosen wasn't the most.. important. The other boys jobs were definitely more exciting, and would probably help their task much more than what Maikeru and Maru were tackling, but, he didn't exactly trust a bunch of preteens to know how high society dressed. With a loud sigh, he turned to his sensei, glad for a bit more time to spend with his mentor.

"So, Sensei, I was thinking. You look different now, so, we should be fine. But, maybe we should come up with a code name for you, yea? Using your real name in public may be a.. bad idea, eh?" He said, leading the older shinobi towards the high end district of Kurosawa. The other boys may not like it, but parties like these usually had a dress code to go with their mask. "Also, I was thinking, we're gonna need to find a tailor to alter some suits. With my Sharingan, I remember the other boys measurements perfectly but.. we're gonna need someone good to go off just measurements, any ideas?"

As he spoke, he walked past a few mask shops, making note to return to those later. There were also stalls all around the streets, evidently the tournament brought a lot of a festival feel to the city. It was nice, to be honest. Now, the first step would be to find a good tailor..

 

[Midori Futotta]

Walking along side Maikeru, the team were given the task of doing one thing and that was to get disguises so the group could slip in without a problem. He didn't exactly mind there part because it was pretty casual, not to mention Kaori wanted him to act like a normal human (which is pretty hard.) But he at least didn't have to worry about any ANBU coming for him, plus he had a new look and a new name so he could just lie his way out of the situation. After a while, his student began to talk to him about considering a code name since… he was known for yelling out his real name in public, so maybe a codename wouldn't be that bad. “Yeah, thought that would be a good idea too. Honestly the only reason why I haven't been using one is… because I couldn't think of one.”

Maru held his chin, thinking as he walked with the young Uchiha. He took in his words, and he was surprised when he heard that they actually needed measurements. He didn't even think of that, he thought he would just get them suits and hope that they fit. Also the mask wouldn't be especially hard to find. “Its a good thing you paid attention to that because I would've gotten them some skin tight looking suits. A tailor sounds pretty good.” He said laughing, snapping his fingers. “Oh!- Think we should have headsets too. You know, in case the escape team is trying to talk to us.” he reminded him.

He walked with his Uchiha student, looking around at the different mask stalls hoping he find a perfect one for his occasion. They would probably return to do a little more shopping, now they needed to find a good trailer around here and possibility a shinobi gear shop whenever they had time for it.

[\O/ Entered topic]

 

[Saitou Rei]

"Thanks, Uncle Jirou!" Reicheru exclaimed, fawning over the work her father's brother had done on her scarf. Some parts had been singed during her fight with Maikeru, others had snags where they'd been caught on obstacles in classes at the academy, and one end had been practically sliced right off during a spar with her cousin. She ran the item over in her hands; it almost looked new if it weren't for the faded coloring of the original fabric.

"No problem, Rei. You know, it probably would last a lot longer if you put it somewhere safe… or if you were somewhere safe." The smile that had been plastered on the young girl's face softened as Jirou gave a concerned sideways glance, his tired features exaggerated with obvious worry. He'd left the family textile shop in Fire Country about a year ago, and while they chatted he'd gone on and on about how even though Tea has a bad reputation, it had been quite peaceful since he'd moved out there to start his own tailoring business. A fresh start.

Both Saitou's opened their mouths to fill the awkward silence that had followed, but instead a familiar voice from outside of the shop caught Reicheru's attention. "Sorry Uncle, give me one second." she said with a confused look, pointing outside to indicate that she recognized one of the people talking just outside. Jirou nodded, and so Reicheru popped outside and waded into the crowd before catching sight of Maikeru's familiar mop of black hair - and the outfit he had worn at their fight? Catching up to him at the mask stand, she picked up one of the disguises and held it up to her eyes before tapping her friend on the shoulder. "Guess who?" she said with a smirk before placing the mask back on the table. "What are you doing here? It's a hike from Konoha to go clothes shopping." One eyebrow raised in curiousity, she leaned in to peer around him at his already-masked companion. "Who's your friend?"

 

[Santaru Kaede]

Daenerisu runs through the streets of the Kurosawa. She had been invited help Maikeru with some shopping, something about fancy clothes and masks for a party they were all invited going to with a group of friends. While clothes shopping might not be in her usual sphere of interests, a fancy party does sound like fun, so she made an exception this time. Plus, she could use a new fancy dress since she outgrew her last one. At the moment though, she was running late and realized that Maikeru had already passed the meeting spot and was most likely in the market district already. She was having trouble spotting Maikeru through the crowd, especially since most everyone was taller than her. Growing frustrated with her search, she decides to try another tactic. She takes a deep breath and yells out as loud as she can.

“MAIKERU!!!”

She looks around the crowd hoping he was close enough to hear. She wasn’t that late, so he shouldn’t have made it to far past her yet. Well, unless he went in an entirely different direction, but it was too late to consider that.

“MAIKERU!!!”

Her screams draw a few odd looks, but she doesn’t seem to care too much about that.

 

[Maikeru]

Maikeru nodded with his mentor as they walked along the streets of Kurosawa. The nunekin made some good points, especially about the headsets. A bit more discreet ones would probably be best, maybe with the mic embedded into the lapel of their suit. The seven year old Maikeru, who grew up on stories of gentlemen thieves, was squeeing internally and loudly at the thought. He stopped in the middle of the street, scratching the back of his head as he realized something. He had no idea where to get the suits.

"Yea, headsets sound good. As for a name, why not Akira? It's simple, easy to remember, and I recall hearing about a great gentlemen thief who went by that name. His last name started with a K.. tip of my tongue.. anyway, I like Akira." He said, taking another look around. "Now, where would we find a-"

He was interrupted by the sensation of a tapping on his shoulder, which immediately drew his attention. He turned to see Reicheru, holding a mask up to her face, he typical smirk shining through. Well, at least the girl was in a playful mood, that would make things easier.

"Hm, who could it be? Yuki? Chie? Mina? God, there are just sooo many beautiful girls in my life it's hard to keep them all straight." He teased along with the girl, before turning his attention to Maru when questioned about him. "Oh, him? That's my sensei Maaaaaaaaaaakira. Akira. His name is Akira."

The boy sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, proud of how hard he nailed that quick cover up. A true master of deception Maikeru was, after all. He was more than thankful for the loud, high voice that rang out.

"Oh, shit. Danni. I invited her here and.. I'll be right back."

There was a brief pause while Maikeru went to gather his friend, and bring her to the rest of the group. When he got everyone together, he let out a tired sigh, taking another long look around the town center.

"I'm glad you two are here to be honest, Akira and I are kinda lost. You see we're br- we're going to be doing some infiltration training. Higher ups totally know about it. Anyway, we have to get disguises to break into a masquerade ball. The idea is to get in, and find some jewel. We get it, get out successfully, and maybe have some fun while we're there. It's a party after all." He said, shrugging his shoulders. "I just don't know where to find a tailor. The boys are gonna need suits, and the girls fancy dresses. Akira and I already have mask, but we gotta find them for everyone else. That's.. the situation so far."

 

[Midori Futotta]

“Akira, huh?” Maru smirked, he couldn't help but know what Akira that his student was talking about. He was a famous Grandeur Phantom outlaw who was well known for pulling off big heist while at the same time, attempting to change the world by touching the hearts of people. Some may would've looked at the guy as a criminal, especially the since his target was mostly high ranks that he saw as corrupted or evil. Exposing these powerhouses for who they really are, stealing them blind, and in some cases have them admit to their sins. The guy was a legend in Crater City, someone that most bad boys like Maru could look up to as a sort of Robin Hood of sorts. Taking on the name of the famous, gentleman thief was a honor. “Sure, I like that name. Didn't know you knew about him.” He chuckled, then looked around. “Wait you don't know where the tailor is? Shit I was following you.”

He placed his hands on his hips, then began looking around but suddenly they were greeted by a new girl he hadn't seen. Maikeru almost messed up in introducing him but he saved it. “Howdy, didn't know my boy here was that popular. Guess he takes after his Sensei, pleasure to meet you.” The masked rogue gave the girl a thumbs up. Then before another girl was calling for Maikeru, Maru looked back at Maikeru who seemingly invited another person to this little shopping adventure and brought her to the group. Maru whistled, now wishing he knew Maikeru’s secret… Perhaps it's the mask. It's got powers like that. After in which Maikeru began to tell them there plans for taking the crew to crash a fancy, masquerade ball. Of course, there were a few details he left out of what the others are planning to do other than they were looking for tailor but got lost.

“Yeah, me and Maikeru here was given a clothes shopping chore so we can fit in with those fancy rich people. Wanna tag along to help us find this place? We'll buy your dresses if you're interested in coming along.” Maru nudged Maikeru, hoping he was able to chip in for their clothes. Money wasn't a huge problem for him but he was hoping the Maikeru had some cash on him too so he had enough money for gear. Besides, he would impress his lady friends by buying their dresses for them, chicks did dig guys with money from what he read. He should try that approach next time when he saw Kaori around, just hand her a huge bag of jewelry was always the answer.

 

[Saitou Rei]

"Yeah, he sure does seem to get around," Reicheru said with a playful grin and nose scrunched, returning Maikeru's teasing when this Akira fellow mentioned his popularity. "It's nice to meet you too, Maaaakira." Her gaze flickered for a moment between the boy and the masked man, and a look of curiosity filled her eyes. Had she ever seen this sensei of Maikeru's around Konoha before? It was hard to say, with his features hidden. What was up with the mask, anyway? Maybe an ANBU? Seemed a little flamboyant for their branch. Surely Maikeru hadn't been in Tea long enough to find a sensei here, had he? Finally, she figured the best way to get answers was to, well, ask. "So how do you two know ea--"

A familiar voice rang out in the crowd, which Maikeru noticed before she did. Soon Daenerisu was gathered up with the rest of them, whom Reicheru gave a wave and smile in greeting. Before she could continue her thought, the older student responded to her initial inquiry as to what it was that brought them to Tea in the first place. For a few shining moments, the idea of an infiltration training had Reicheru feeling totally elated. She had signed up for a class on subterfuge at the academy a few months back, but it ended up getting canceled, leaving only battle-focused courses. Some training on avoiding conflict sounded brilliant. However, as Maikeru filled in some of the details, the younger girl's mouth dropped open slightly and her eyes narrowed as some pieces didn't seem to be fitting together. Why train in a foreign country outside of Konoha's jurisdiction, especially with something like this? Then, of course, there was the mention of the boys. It seemed unlikely to her that he meant the crew - had she ever seen Maikeru hanging out with them? - but she used that term to refer to the Konoha Knuckleheads often enough that it immediately brought them to mind and put a pit in her stomach.

"Sounds interesting, but… are you sure about this, Maikeru? Why would something like this get approved for students outside of the village? Doesn't it sound a little fishy?" She paused, looking between the three others before letting out a sigh and rubbing the back of her neck. "Sorry, that sounds distrustful. If you say it's good, then it's good. Is there someone I need to check in with to let them know I'm in?" Turning to Akira, she raised her eyebrows and grinned as he offered to buy their dresses. An interesting fellow for sure. "I appreciate the offer, Akira, but maybe I could actually help you guys out. You see, I was here visiting my uncle; he's a tailor, and I'm sure he'd help us out. Did the people in charge of this thing give us any sort of budget to work with, or is it part of the training to get by with nothing to work with? Whatever we've got or don't have, Uncle Jirou can make it work. He had some nice looking stuff in the shop already, sounded like he had just finished a big job. Maybe for that party we're talking about?" Even as Reicheru tried hyping herself up for this, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. She looked to her friend, hoping he knew what he was doing.

 

[Santaru Kaede]

Daenerisu waits patiently, or as patiently as she can while practically jumping up and down in place, for Maikeru to find her and lead her back to the group.

“Sorry for running late, I got held up while traveling here with my grandpa. He wanted me to help unload some wares he brought, before he let me run off to explore. BUT, you should have waited at the meeting spot for me.”

As the two walk back up to the group, Danii smiles and waves at her recently met relative.

“Hey Rei! Didn't know you were going to be here? Are you going to the fancy party too?!? And nice to meet you Akira.”

Daenerisu adjusts her sword as she listens to Maikeru explain the infiltration training. She doesn't seem too interested in the details and begins looking around at the crowd passing by. She briefly wonders who the others are taking part in the training and why she never heard about it until now, but surely Maikeru wouldn't lead her down the wrong path. He was the oldest, and therefore default, leader of their old gang of friends. Maybe these new people will be as fun as their old friends.

“I'm not too keen on training, but I'm still up for a fancy party. I'll help if you need me to, otherwise I'm just going to enjoy the fancy food, music, and dancing. I wanted to come here for some time off, but, between my grandpa and you, I keep having to work.”

Daenerisu pouts as she thinks about having to do some type of work at the fancy party. She cheers up at the mention of going to visit a tailor.

“I didn't know your uncle was a tailor, Rei. Does he have some pretty dresses we can buy?”

 

[Maikeru]

"Look, look. What we're doing isn't strictly illegal. We're just sneaking into a party. At worst it's.. trespassing. We'll spend a night in jail, have a cool story to tell when we go home." Maikeru said, giving a shrug of his shoulders. "All I know, is Akira sensei told me we had a training exercise to infiltrate this house, so, that's what I'm going to do. You can trust him, he's Anbu, where do you think we got the ideas for the mask? Isn't that right, Akira sensei?"

It wasn't completely a lie. At one point in his life, Maru was an ANBU. He didn't need to tell the rest of them that he was now a nunekin of the leaf who was kicked out for.. you know, he had never questioned why he was kicked out. He would have to do that at some point. Regardless, a little white lie wouldn't hurt the relationship the four of them had. At least, he hoped it wouldn't.

"As for pretty dresses, hopefully Reicheru here can hook us up now that we know that her uncle is a tailor. Eh? Whadda say?" He gave her the trademarked Maikeru smile, wrapping an arm around the girls shoulder. "On a side note, how upset from one to ten would you be if I used a minor genjutsu on your uncle to.. borrow some of these clothes? Our little "will they, won't they" thing we have would be still cool, right?"

He removed his arm from Reicheru as he stepped to the center of the group, sticking his hands in his pockets. A cool wind blew between them, causing his trench coat to splay out and ripple behind him, casting a rather cool figure if he did say so himself. With a finger, he adjusted his mask as one would a pair of glasses, pushing it tighter against his face.

"From now on, we need code names. I think we should all pick our own. You can call me Joker, I've liked the moniker ever since our fight Reicheru. What about the rest of you? Are you in, and what should we call you from now on?"

 

[Midori Futotta]

'Hm? I am a ANBU now?’ Maru thought, then shrugged deciding to play along. After all he did have some ANBU training under his belt so it couldn't hurt pretending to be one. “Yeah. You see sometimes you will get missions where you have to sneak around in places you have no business being. Sometimes to even get evidence on a corrupt politician. Like for example; I heard that some guy accused the last hokage for kidnapping children and raising them up to be assassins and conducting illegal experiments on academy students for brainwashing purposes….” He said then brought his hand to his chin, thinking for a moment. “Or at least, that was according to some account of some terrorist who got their home raided…” he shrugged, the only reason why he heard that was because it was broadcasted on almost every radio station during his training for the student tournament. Hence would explain why he didn't like people of power at the time, that and Yomi stole his glasses!

Regardless, Maru continued. “So pretty much what we are doing this for is basically to see if we could blend in with the rich folk and see what they are up to. Think of it as a stealth mission to crash a party and have a good time. How else would we get students to join up when there's free food and stuff to be had.” Of course, he left out a few details of the kind of shopping that he would be doing around that party. He could already see the one of a kind jewelry he could take, he heard of a clever shinobi who put lullaby powder inside of his guest drinks then while they were knocked out he went through their pockets to get wallets, purses, jewelry, hell even hair for wigs before vanishing. Cons like that was something even Maru could be proud of, and a job like this that was practically handed to him. A opportunist like him couldn't help but get involved.

Now that what they were doing was out of the bag, one of the girls had an uncle that was a tailor which was just their luck. Hopefully Maikeru could charm her into getting those already made suits for free. Out of all the Uchiha students that he taught, Maikeru was the greatest one that he had next to Nitish. Speaking in which. “Oh!” Maru snapped his fingers. “We need a couple extra suits too. Namely one for another Uchiha student of mine named Nitish. I already have a cool codename for him too, oh and I saw a cool mask for him to match his darkness. Haven't seen him, but I'm sure he's gotta be around if his pals are with him.” He said, sounding overly cheerful when mentioning Nitish. It was as if he was talking about his little brother or something. He gave Nitish some of his cursed chakra, did a little eye surgery on him, they even had a little competition for who could get Kaori. Plus those fireworks him and his friends popped when he left the village was pretty thoughtful. He even thought about coming back to leaf to take him away to be free and seek more darkness to his heart's content. It's a shame he wasn't able to see him around though...

 

[Saitou Rei]

"Not strictly illegal? You should go into motivational speaking, that was super reassuring," Reicheru jested with a grin. "Like I said, I trust you. And it's helpful that Akira-san here is the one heading this up, I didn't realize that…" Embarrassment struck the girl as she realized she hadn't given her name to the ANBU, and so with a small polite bow she backpedaled, "I also just realized I never actually introduced myself. My name is Saitou Reicheru. Looking forward to working with you!" she beamed a smile at Akira, doing her best to get excited for what they had planned. "To answer your question, Danii, yes, he's got lots of dresses and even more talent, I'm sure we'll find something you like. And Maikeru, how about we hold of on the mind tricks to start, ay tiger? Uncle Jirou is a good guy, I'm sure he'll help us out, let me lead on that one. " She raised an eyebrow at her friend, glossing over his quip about their… friendship. "Hm. I've never been good at nicknames. I guess I'll keep the nickname Riku gave me too, then, if Fire Tamer isn't too hokey." She turned to begin leading the way to her Uncle's shop. The talk of code names and the reality setting in of the experience she could get working under an ANBU helped to Reicheru get psyched for this. Yeah, this could be fun, this could be exciting!

It only took a moment and a name to deflate the energy she had built. “We need a couple extra suits too. Namely one for another Uchiha student of mine named Nitish…" Reicheru stopped dead in her tracks, the hand with thumb pointing toward the tailor's stand falling back down at her side. She shot Maikeru a panicked look. How long had this guy been on assignment in Tea that he hadn't heard about Nitish, especially if he was close enough to him to call the boy his student? Sure, it hadn't been that long, but she assumed news of something like that would have traveled fast. Tongue pushed into her bottom lip, she searched for the words to say. She remembered the ANBU who showed up at her own front door last year with similar news. She was not cut out for this. "Akira-san… Nitish, Nitish isn't coming." Did she need to say more? Could she leave it at that and let someone else closer to the situation tell him the whole story? She remembered again those ANBU who drug it out when all she wanted was an answer. She owed this teacher of Nitish's the same courtesy. Yet, when she opened her mouth to continue, no sound followed. She looked around at the business of the streets, the herds of people passing through. This would not do, this was not the place to hear news like this. "C'mon, we can talk about that another time. For now let's get those suits, eh? If this is going down tonight as I suspect, we need to make sure we have enough time for the alterations to be made."[lb2][/lb2]

Saitou Jirou's shop was only a few stalls down from where they had been looking at masks, though they would have to move against the flow of foot traffic to get back there. There was nothing particularly extravagant about his shop, but the work that was done was unmatched. "Everything okay, Rei…" Jirou asked as he heard his niece walk back in, turning around to see their group accompanying her. "…and friends?" He said with a cocked eyebrow, taking particular note of Akira and Maikeru's masks. "Uncle, this is Maikeru and Daenerisu, we go to the academy together; and this is Akira-san, he's a shinobi from our village. "Very nice to meet you all," Jirou would respond with a polite bow, though he could not completely remove the look of intrigue from his face. Reicheru's father and one of the other brothers had been the first Saitous to enter Konoha's academy, so shinobi life remained a mystery to most of these textile trade workers. Which would make Reicheru's request more… challenging. "So Uncle Jirou, our friend Akira invited me and a bunch of our friends to that party tonight, but none of us brought the right kind of clothes. I'd really, really like to go - do you think you could help us out?" She asked with the very best favorite-niece gimmick she could muster, complete with hair pushed out of her pleading eyes and a soft smile to complement her slightly higher-than-usual tone of voice to really sell it.

Jirou's furrowed brows melted, and a grin pulled at his tight lips. Bingo. "I guess I can't have my own blood running around here looking like a ragamuffin, that wouldn't be good for business. Sure, I have a few suits that were no-shows, so I can just make the necessary alterations. Dresses will take longer but I can make do. I'll need your measurements," he said, looking toward the group. With pursed lips Reicheru interjected, "So… it's entirely possible that it's more than just the four of us…" Jirou gave a sideways glance at his niece. "How many more? Do you have their measurements?" Grimacing, she shrugged her shoulders with her hands up before pointing to Maikeru, who she assumed had the answers they needed.

 

[Santaru Kaede]

"Illegal or not, it sounds like it could be fun. Just don't expect me to do any work. But I guess if I need a nickname, then you can call me... ummm... hmmm.... I don't know. What's something cool?"

Daenerisu says with a shrug and a smile. She follows Rei as she leads them towards her uncle's shop. She wonders who the Uchiha they are talking about it, but, after seeing Rei's hesitation about talking about it on the street, decides to wait until a different time to ask questions.

“Not everything needs to be solved with genjutsu, Maikeru. Sometimes other methods are more effective, like batting your eyelashes at them, pouting, or being friends with the owner’s niece!”

Danii jokes and elbows Rei with a laugh. As they arrived at the shop, Danii takes a moment to look over the various cloth and clothes they seem to be peddling before following Rei over to meet her uncle. She gives a polite bow to the older gentlemen.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you! I’d like a pretty dress to wear to the party. Do you think you could help me out too?”

She turns to look at the rest of them with a curious look on her face.

“How many others are there anyways? I figured it would be more than just us four, but how many are tr… trusting us to get the suits for them?”

Danii feels like she smoothly avoided mentioning the training and lets out a sigh. She might not be helping them, but she doesn’t want blow their cover before she manages to get into the party.

WC: 272

 

[Maikeru]

“Fine fine, no genjutsu.” Maikeru started shaking his head, “But then you’re all chipping in f-”

It was funny, really, how one phrase could bring a person to a complete pause. Could void their mind of everything that had been running through it, how it could bring their body to complete paralysis. Well, Maru had found that one phrase. How did he not know? Maikeru had thought what had happened to the young Uchiha was common knowledge, was it not?

He stood, with jaw agape and eyes wide as he looked to Reicheru and Maru, and their passive conversation. She.. she wasn’t going to tell him? Sure, maybe it wasn’t the right time. Then again, what was? What was the appropriate time to tell someone they cared about was dead, that they wouldn’t be returning? He couldn’t think of one, and he prided himself on his ability to think of every situation, to think of every possibility. Well, here, there wasn’t one..

“Maru..” He muttered, dropping all pretense, forgetting completely about the lie they had concocted. “You.. don’t..”

He stood there for a moment, still in paralysis from the comment his sensei had made. It seemed the responsibility fell to him. It was proper, after all. Maru was his sensei, it didn’t make sense for Reicheru to have to be the one to tell someone she didn’t know about this. He took a few steps towards Maru, standing in front of the older man, before placing a hand on his shoulder.

“She’s.. She’s right.” He said, squeezing a bit harder on the man’s shoulder than he intended. “Nitish won’t be coming.. To this mission, or to any others..”

He swallowed at the dryness that gathered at the back of his throat, clenching his teeth. He didn’t want to do this, he didn’t want to be the one that had to. If Maru didn’t know, did the other boys? Come to think of it, would Maikeru have known if Nitish hadn’t been an Uchiha? Probably not.

“Nitish.. Nitish is dead.” He said, finally. He closed his eyes for a moment, turning his head to avoid his master’s look as he opened them. “Nitish.. He’s been dead for a while. I don’t know how, I couldn’t find out but.. He’s dead, Maru.”

There was a moment of pause, a moment of hesitation, before he pulled Maru into an embrace. He clapped his hands against the nunekins back, before squeezing tightly.

“Nitish was.. My family, even if I didn’t know him well.” He said, before lowering his voice. This next part was meant for just Maru. “I don’t know how he died, but I promise you, when this mission is over you and I will find out. When we find out who killed him Maru, we will kill them. We will make this right. He was an Uchiha, and nobody kills an Uchiha and gets away with it. I promise you that. I will become strong enough, and we will hunt them down together.”

He pulled away from the embrace, looking his master in the eyes, letting him watch as they morphed first into the Sharingan, before morphing again into the pinnacle an Uchiha could achieve on their own. The Mangekyo Sharingan.

“For now, we need to focus on the mission at hand. We have to do that, for Nitish. I know you’re hurting, but for now you need to bury that. You need to bury it and let it fester. When the time comes, and it is right, you need to let that hate and fury and get revenge for Uchiha Nitish, do you get me?”

He released his sensei, walking next to him, and giving him one last pat on the shoulder.

“I love you Maru-sensei, please, don’t let this make you into something you’re not. Nitish might be gone, but, I still need you.”

He continued his walk past Maru, and into the clothing shop. He needed to give Maru his moment alone, and they still had work to do. So, as he entered the clothing shop he put on his best fake smile, letting his eyes fall back into their charcoal state as he entered.

Reicheru introduced them, and Maikeru gave her uncle a polite handshake and bow. He flashed a smile, before nodding his head at the man’s question.

“Yes sir, I have all of their measurements. I’m very perceptive. If you have a piece of paper and pen, I’ll jot them all down for you no worry.” Which he would do when given the materials. “All in all we’ll need.. Nine tailored suits and two fancy dresses, if that’s too much to ask. I do have money, of course.”

 

[Midori Futotta]

When he brought up Nitish, things got a bit tense with the group like as if he said something that he should've said. 'Whoops, shouldn't have mentioned him’ he thought to himself. From the way Reicheru seemed to stop dead in her tracks, and the way Maikeru cut himself off. Things suddenly got a bit… awkward. With Reicheru explaining that he wasn't coming, the mercenary simply assumed that Nitish probably got promoted and he was acting like a tyrant now. “Oh I see, when I last saw him he was pretty down about being punished for trying to steal a pair of eyes from.the Uchiha volt. I guess now he's too busy with his new Jonin promotion.” Maru said waving his hand at the group, trying to ease the tension. “Common, I'm sure he isn't that bad. He might be a bit looney, but he's pretty nice. You should hear his pickup lines, pure gold.” He said, trying to stay positive.

But then Maikeru said his REAL name and the young mercenary whispered. “Hey its Akira, remember, code names and all.” He whispered, then was about to head off with Reicheru to her uncle when he felt Maikeru's hand on his shoulder preventing him from going on. He pretty much said the same thing that Reicheru said about Nitish won't be coming with them. “Alright I get it, common we gotta hurry up and get these–” then he said it. Something that quickly changed his mood from good to bad….

'He's dead? What do you mean he's dead?!’ He thought, taking in Maikeru's words knowing that what he was saying had to be the truth. Now he knew how Kaori felt when she got the news about his death… only he knew Nitish wasn't coming back. While Maikeru spoke, questions seemingly swirled around in his head. Why did he make death seem like no big deal? Why didn't he try to make him into an immortal? Why didn't Nitish came to him if he needed backup? He didn't care if he was banned from Leaf, if he told him what he was planning he would've helped him without a second thought. Guilt, disappointment, despair, hopelessness. He tried to hold back the seething avalanche of tears, but once that first tear broke free an entire steam of angry tears began to flow and leak from the end of his mask.

The mercenary, clasped his hands around his student using him as a crutch to hold himself up and when Maikeru let Maru go he slumped over, pressing his palms to the ground defeated…. He began to cry with the force of a person vomiting on all fours. He heard most of what Maikeru said, but everything else was a blurr… Nitish is dead. He died because Maru was lacking. He died because Maru guided him in the wrong direction. He died because he wanted to give the boy a stupid pair of eyes instead of immortality! Maru blamed himself for everything, he was the only one besides Maikeru who would've been on his side through thick and thin. Now he was gone, all because Maru wanted him to get stronger through darkness. Finally Maru began to speak through his uncontrollable sobbing… “Its my fault..” He sobbed. “If I hadn't *sob* hadn't taught him that he needed to be evil to be strong. This would've happened. *sob* I cheated death like six times already, I legit shouldn't be alive right now.” He sobbed, but then Maikeru patted him on the shoulder. His words although comforting did not heal the huge hole in his heart from the devastating news he just got today of all days.

After Maikeru left, he reached his hand to his face to remove his mask… then dropped his masked summoning justu to rub wipe his eyes that stung from sobbing, Maikeru was right. He had a job to do, although it wasn't anything official it was still a job nonetheless and Mastermind was probably counting on him so leaving wasn't really an option. The whole world was red around him, red like the time he wore that Uchiha as a human puppet and he could see the red flames of peoples chakra along with their heart beats. Maru's eyes now had a reddish glow to them now, he felt as if he was losing chakra but when he closed his eyes then opened them again he saw the world like normal again. Maru picked himself up, then resummoned his black mask, pushing down his despair to put on a mask of false positivity along with his other mask. On this day forth, he is not only going to hunt down bounties but he is also going to hunt down this person who killed Nitish… And the day he meets this person he better bring an army with him because he is out for blood. He is going to kill them and whoever was involved. This he swore….


It took almost a half an hour before Maru came in with the group. “Sorry guys, I was looking at some pretty cool mask they had cool mask on sale and I went to go check it out.” He said, strolling over Jirou kindly shook his hand. “Nice to meet you. You're a real life saver because the party we are going to should be coming up any day now.” He said, flashing a charming smile. So what it looked like was that they needed nine suits, also two dresses since the two girls of the group were coming along with them. He snapped his fingers, nudging Maikeru. “Hey, see if he could throw me in a cool cape. Heard chicks dig guys with masquerade and capes.” He said, also a signals to stop with the fake smiling because his girl might think something is up.

 

[Saitou Rei]

Jirou glanced back at Reicheru after Maikeru confirmed the number of suits they'd need. 'That's more than I thought; I wonder if most stealth and infiltration missions require so many people…' the young girl wondered, but all the same smiled broadly at her uncle with her big eyes pleading. A small sigh escaped the older man's lips before the corners of his lips turned up into a near imperceptible smile. "You all are lucky I have some suits here already that were ordered and abandoned, along with some extras I made in anticipation for the gala tonight. As soon as I got my first order I prepped some extra. I can make alterations to those to suit you. Normally such a large order couldn't be done in just a few hours - keep that in mind next time you make plans like this." Excited, Reicheru laughed and hugged her uncle. "Thank you!"

After Maikeru gave over the measurements, Jirou set to work. "I'll have yours done first, so stick around so you can try them on. While you do that I can work on the suits for the others." He started on the dresses, since the suits would be quicker to do all together. While he worked, Reicheru looked through the fabrics and found a few masks set aside in a corner. "Masks aren't really my strong suit, but I made a few specifically to pair with some of these suits and dresses. My first attempt so they're not too exciting," the older Saitou commented. "It's kind of old-fashioned… but I like it," Reicheru said, holding up a black mask composed of lace with a mesh backing to hold it all together. "Looks like it would go well with that dress!" she said with a smile as Jirou held out the dress he had prepped for her. "Alright, go try it on then."

Leaving the dressing room, Reicheru felt quite like a fish out of water. Her attire mostly consisted of training clothes and jeans and t-shirts. She'd never worn something so feminine, so expensive. Giving a worried look to her friends, she searched their faces for their honest feedback. "Do I look silly?" Jirou laughed, a walked over with a hair clip. "This might help bring it together," he said before pulling her hair back and (mostly) out of her face. "Perfect." He said with a genuine, proud-uncle smile.

Next would be Danii, and then the boys would get their suits. So long as they didn't need any alterations, Jirou would quickly finish any work he had left to do on the other boys suits. "Must be a young group with how short they all are. I'm surprised, Akira, that you were able to get them invited," Jirou commented with a raised eyebrow. "Oh well, shinobi life must have some perks I suppose. One of them is not, however, getting handed things for free…" as his voice trailed off, Reicheru tensed up. She shot Maikeru a look that said 'no mind games'. Thankfully, he continued, "…that perk comes from being family. It was going to be awhile before I could get these off my hands anyway, so they're yours, no cost. Reicheru can pay me back by visiting more often, eh?" the tired man's eyes wrinkled at the corners with his smile. Reicheru smiled at Maikeru. 'Yeah, who needs Genjutsu anyway!' the illusion-inept girl thought. "Yeah, sure thing! As often as I possibly can!" She hugged her uncle again before looking to their small crew. "Alright… I guess we should change back for now and connect with the others. Don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves yet."

 

[Santaru Kaede]

After looking at the dress that Jirou had in her size and letting him take her measurements, Danii looked through the fabric and masks with Reicheru. She picked up a blue mask with ribbon flowing from it to tie on her face.

“This one should go good with the dress.”

She holds it up to get a better look at it. She turns around and spots Reicheru leaving the dressing room. Her jaw drops open and she has to compose herself. She runs over to her friend to get a closer look.

“Oh my god, your beautiful Rei! I hope my dress looks even half as pretty! What do you think of her dress Mai-chan?”

She turns giving him a noticeable sisterly teasing look. While Rei shows off her dress, Danii politely accepts the other from Jirou and heads to the dressing room. She emerges a few minutes later. She walks out stumbling a little bit as she grows accustomed to the shoes, or maybe it's just her innate clumsiness. Either way, she manages to compose herself after a few steps. A little longer than her usual dresses and skirts, but Danii likes it. While she still has her hair pulled back, she has it in a ponytail instead of a messy bun revealing longer hair than her friends, outside of Maikeru, would probably realize she had. She gives the group a little twirl letting them see the dress.

“Soooo, what do you think?”

She waits for the others to comment and try on their own clothes. She swings the length of the dress and occasionally twirls around while admiring it.

“Do we really need to change out of them right now?”

She looks over to Reicheru and then adds to the boys.

“Hurry up in there! Thank you for the pretty dress, Jirou-san. ”

She gives Rei's uncle a polite bow before going to to swinging the hem of the dress.

WC: 359

 

[Maikeru]

Maikeru looked at the cloth he held in his hands, giving it an appraising look. For how little time they had given the man, it truly was a masterpiece of tailoring. His fingers gently ran along the lapel of the jacket, admiring it. In truth, he had never worn a suit before. There had never been a moment in his life where he had needed one, though, he had always liked the idea of one. He stepped into one of the changing rooms in the back, returning about ten minute later, pulling up the gloves that had come with his outfit.

As he walked towards the rest of the group, he gave a small spin, and a bow. Shooting them a smile, he straightened his jacket again. He wasn't.. completely sure if he had tied his tie correctly, he was simply going off what he had seen others do, but he thought he was at least pretty close.

"So, how do I look?" He said, not even noticing that he was mostly looking at Reicheru when he asked this. "I think I clean up pretty nicely if I do say so myself."

He turned to Reicheru's uncle, giving the man a small bow. He was truly grateful for what he had done for them, he had made this little.. 'mission' possible. He began to reach into his pocket, pulling out his wallet.

"So, how much do I owe you sir?" He questioned, looking to the man, resisting the urge to use his Sharingan to get them for free. "I know you're Reicheru's family and all, but, I have to at least pay you for your time. These clothes are masterpieces."

 

[Midori Futotta]

“You already got suits and mask already? That's great!” Maru seemingly was overjoyed by the fact that they already had the stuff made, all he really needed was the measurements anyway which Maikeru already had with him. It's a good thing he was a Uchiha because if he had he had to actually remember the measurements for their outfits, he probably would've gotten them too small or probably too big. So while, they waited Maru tapped his foot wondering when the guy would be done already. The first was Reicheru, while waiting Maru took a look at a few masks that the man had that would probably go with his outfit. Of course, he wasn't going to take off his mask right here since…. well he didn't have a reason really to hide his face but it just felt natural to have on a mask. One mask in pituvilar caught his eye, so he plucked a black mask from the pile then went to see how Reicheru looked. Maru whistled. “Nah you don't look silly. You look beautiful, you're killing that dress.” He gave her a thumbs up, Maikeru was pretty lucky to have picked up this one.

Next it was Danii, and while he waited it seems that Reicheru’s uncle was done with his and Maikeru's suits. Maru strutting his way over to get his suit, then left to head to the dressing to try on his suit. While he was in the dressing room, he took off his mask setting it at his side then he began to tinker with the mask that he was planning on wearing, he dismantled the built in headset he had on his original mask to install the hidden wires around the lining of the mask while having the mic close enough to his mouth to where he could be heard while it was still hidden behind his eye mask. The straps on the side of the mask was pretty easy to put in a single earphone in his ear so if someone called him he was needed. He also began to seal his weapons in a single weapons scroll however he transformed his signature weapon into a pistol so he could keep the gun at his waistline. 'Pretty fancy.. Make sure you keep an eye out for those leafie troopers. Remember what happened to the escape team…’ he heard the spirit of his weapon, basically telling him to be careful. “Hey, if they come you already know is Omni-Flashing time.” He said out loud despite his Kensei spirit talking to him in his head before flinching in surprise at hearing one of the girls yelling for them to hurry up. After he changed into his suit he picked up his old clothes them up, realizing he spent waaaaaaay too much time in the dressing room he quickly rushed out the dressing area to toss his old clothes in a trash bin, however he did keep the mask.

Maru finally emerged smiling as he greeted everyone. “Sorry about that. I was trying to decide if I was going to wear this mask or the one I walked in with. “ he said, a great excuse to him at least. He looked over at Danii then smirked. “Well aren't you a cutie pie, blue looks great on you.” he complimented, leaning down to pull on her cheek before chuckling to himself. After everyone was dressed, Reicheru’s uncle seemingly was surprised that he got them all invited into a masquerade ball, of course he didn't have to know that they weren't necessarily invited. “It was pretty easy because I know the person who is hosting the party, they didn't mind as long as we followed the dress code. We are dealing with very classy people after all.” Maru said. As Jirou began to speak, he said that one of them would have to pay and that was when Maru's heart sank. What Maru wanted to do was just gun it and smash through the wall then run far away…. And never stop. But what he wanted as payment was for Reicheru to visit him more, and Maru sighed. No running through the walls this time. He nudged Maikeru a couple times. "Ayyye... Common the man just wants Reicheru to visit more. Paying him is optional ya know." he whispered.

 

[Saitou Rei]

Giving an appreciative smile to her friends as they encouraged her and complimented the dress, Reicheru took a seat and waited for each of them to have their turn. First was Danii; when her friend left the dressing room, Reicheru had to give a hard blink to adjust to what she was seeing. She often thought of the Nanji kin as younger than herself despite them being almost the same age, but now she looked so grown! "You look beautiful! I had no idea your hair was so long! That dress suits you perfectly!" Reicheru commented while beaming a smile at her friend.

Next was Maikeru. She was accustomed to seeing the boy in either his training gear or fighting performance ensemble, his hair usually as much of a mess as her own. So once again, when he exited the dressing room looking rather dashing, the Saitou girl found herself blinking hard again, but this time for a different reason. She sat staring for a little longer than she should have, her cheeks reddening as she realized this. "T-that's a great look on you!" She felt her uncle's eyes focus in on her, taking in her interaction with the Uchiha boy and his with her. "It's a great suit, Uncle!" she said quickly, turning to face Jirou. Of course, as her luck would have it, Akira took his time, robbing her of any further distractions while they waited on their last present member. "So…"

Akira finally saved her from her own awkwardness, emerging with a mask that allowed her to see more of his face this time. Still… she couldn't seem to place him. "You all look great. Have fun tonight. I expect Reicheru will be back at a reasonable time," the older man said while eyeing mostly Akira, though also Maikeru out of the corner of his eye. Reicheru shot her uncle a look, to which he responded, "Hey, you're my responsibility while you're here, and I'd like to go to bed knowing where you are is all." Pursing her lips, Reicheru nodded; she was practically a full soldier with the skill to back it up, but family would be family she supposed. "Don't worry, Uncle. You did us a really big favor, I won't mess that up."

Turning to her friends, she held her hand out in the direction of the door. "Shall we?" she would ask before heading out of the shop, at which point she would follow Maikeru and Akira to where they were to rendezvous with the others. What an interesting trip this was turning out to be.

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[Santaru Kaede]

“Yea, it's hard to tell how long it really is since I usually keep it pulled up, but I figured it would look better down for a fancy party.”

Daenerisu gave a final spin in her dress and waited for the two boys to try on their suits. She was making small talk with Reicheru when Maikeru walked out. When Reicheru went quiet for a moment, Danii turned and noticed Maikeru in his suit. She had seen him cleaned up before, but never to this extent. She watches as Reicheru begins to blush and jokingly nudges Reicheru and whispers to her.

“You're staring, say something.”

Danii wanders off to look around the shop while Rei talks to Mai and her uncle. She doesn't seem to be worried about paying and taking Rei’s uncle up on his offer. She again turns as Akira exits the changing room. Before she could say anything though, Akira complements her and begins pinching her cheek. She shakes her head and swats at his hand.

“Stop it… stop… quit!”

She glares at Akira as he walks over to the rest of the group and mutters some things under her breath. She walks off to change back into her street clothes and places the dress and mask carefully in her belongings. She leaves with the rest of the group after thanking Rei’s uncle with a bow and offering at least a little assurance.

“Thank you for the beautiful dress. And don't worry, I'll make sure she doesn't get in any trouble or stay out too late.”

WC: 259

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