|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part XXXV] ||
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Oriko had just finished her quick morning workout and was tying her shuriken pouch to her leg when a small bird started cheeping at the window, Tsunade wants to see me? She guessed that was what the bird's presence signified, and if not, well she was on her way to see Tsunade about a mission anyway. She pulled her black zori on over her feet, picked up her keys and stuffed them into a specially made pocket of one of her pouches (something she added to allow her to jump around without fear of losing her house keys). She wandered slowly towards Tsunade's office enjoying the bright, warm sunshine of the morning, rapping on the office door and after being commanded to enter, she spotted Kakashi already stood and Tsunade resting her elbows on the table and her hands clasped together,
"Ah, there you are," Oriko did a weird sort of bow/nod as a greeting to them both and Tsunade continued,
"I want the two of you to go to Yugakure no sato and investigate some strange goings on, there have been reports of various thefts and evidence of foreign shinobi operating there; they've requested our help in the investigation. They're a lower shinobi village and most of its wealth and prosperity come from the abundance hot springs. You shouldn't face too much trouble, but be aware there has been some Akatsuki connections to the place, although I doubt they're behind something as petty as this. I'd like you to go and find out what you can; as well as to put an end to it if possible; the details are in this scroll," Kakashi collected the scroll off Tsunade and looked over it briefly, but turned back to the Hokage, "Dismissed…and good luck," They both bowing slightly and walked out of the office, they made it quickly back out onto the street,
"How about we meet at the main gate in half an hour?" Oriko nodded and they made their way in separate directions to gather their equipment for what would probably be a longer than usual mission.
Oriko was stood at the gate waiting for Kakashi, who was nearing forty minutes late; Oriko busied herself sharpening a kunai and hence, hadn't taken much note of how late the Jounin was. Kakashi eventually appeared and they set off on their journey at a relatively fast pace Oriko's thoughts on what they may face in the Hot Springs village…she couldn't resist a twitch of nervousness as her thoughts directed back to the last time that village had been mentioned. She quickly caught up to Kakashi, who was a few paces in front of her,
"Hey, did the scroll give any more information about what exactly had been going on at Yugakure?" Kakashi eyed her for a moment,
"Mostly things like vegetable stealing, large areas of crops burnt, some evidence of water jutsus being used too,"
"Hmm… that seems rather odd,"
"Where you expecting something different?" He meant it as a joke, but Oriko's thought process sort of negated it,
"Well, when Raiga kidnapped me all those months ago, he said that he was going to take me to the Hidden Hot Springs village," Kakashi was a little surprised by her answer, but saw no reason to worry,
"Well, not only is Raiga doubtlessly dead now, even if he somehow managed to survive, something like this really isn't his style,"
"Hmm, true, and nor did he strike me as the kind of guy to have lackeys; it just rang a bell was all…"
"Well, at any rate, it's not a problem; we should be at Yugakure by tomorrow evening at the latest, we won't know much more until we're there,"
"Yea…"
Kakashi put his hand out to bring Oriko to a sharp halt just as they neared the entrance gate to the village,
"Hold on a moment; the situation is a little tricky here, if there are enemy shinobi they will see our presence as a threat and we could well drive them into hiding, I recommend we split up for now; you're dressed still mostly as a civilian, so I want you to go in and scout the area. Find out what you can, whilst I will go to the village leader and ask them for more information, we'll meet up again later," Oriko nodded, and reached up to pull her headband off, rubbing her fingertips over her forehead, feeling somehow naked without it,
"Understood," She tucked her haitai-ate into one her pouches, and leapt down from the tree, but still remaining hidden, she walked away from the tree Kakashi was in before making her presence known to the guards at the village gate, she walked slowly, making sure to look as nonthreatening as possible, almost vulnerable,
"Hello, miss," One of the guard walked out a little towards her, she immediately stepped back as though shying away from him, "I don't mean to frighten you, are you here for the festival?" She looked confused for a moment,
"F-festival? N-no I'm here to stay for a few nights," She darted her eyes behind her in a fearful glance for a few moments, "May I be allowed into the village?" The guard smiled,
"Of course, would you like me to escort you?"
"N-No, thank you, I'll be alright," The guard gave a cocky smile in her direction but allowed her to pass nonetheless, Oriko continued in her shy movements until she was out of sight of the guards, and immediately made for the nearest bar.
Someone in here must know something! A lot of people will hold some knowledge, and the alcohol will loosen their tongues for me… She pushed aside the flaps and walked in, flashing her eyes around the room, most occupants were either playing Shougi, or a dice based gambling game – with big money by the look of it; some however were sat at the bar simply drinking. Oriko made her way over and sat at the counter, looking as though she wanted to be alone –for some reason, no matter how clear a signal she gave that she wanted to be alone, all the more people would come and interfere. The barman wandered over,
"A bottle of Asahi please," The barman nodded and turned to fetch what she ordered as she sat; Oriko considered how she may broach the topic of what had been happening in the village recently. The evening was drawing in and there was barely an hour left of daylight, a bottle appeared in front of her as she handed over the correct money. She took a reserved sip, her mind staying sharp but considering a few different things at once, she reckoned that tomorrow would be a good day to scout the festival – whatever was involved with that, and listen as much as possible to what people would not doubt be saying. Well, whatever has happened here I need to find some information, later I'm sure Kakashi will have found out something and we can organize a more detailed plan tomorrow… She took another swig from the beer bottle,
"You're not an average girl, are you?" A young-ish male voice cut across her peace, she nearly spat out the beer, worrying what he could be referring to,
"Uh…e-excuse me?" she turned to face him, he looked to be in his early twenties, short dark brown hair and brown eyes, quiet a plain looking person,
"You, a girl drinking beer from the bottle in a place like this…what are you hiding from?"
"Hiding?" She queried, allowing a suggestive smile to come to her face, "Is there anything here I should be hiding from?" He grinned in response and took the seat next to her,
"Not unless you believe in ghosts,"
"Ghosts?" He eyed her visibly interested expression, "What on earth do you mean by that? Surely a grown man like you doesn't believe in ghosts," He smiled in response, drinking another cupful of sake,
"Heh, you'd be surprised what happens in this village, one day thriving, prosperous – the next the spirits are angered, raining fireballs or the hot spring water taking on the form of a serpent demon!" He poured himself another cup of sake and Oriko really couldn't decide if he was trying to fool her into something or just incredibly stupid. Has he no idea of ninjutsu? This is even a shinobi village, damn,
"W-what? A serpent demon? How is that possible? What does it want?" She sounded semi interested, "My father used to deal a lot with demons, he used to say the trick to defeating them was always to do with figuring out what they want,"
"R-really?" The young man looked very interested, as she took another sip of beer, "Would you know how to find out what the demon wanted?"
Oriko stared at him for a few moments a look of uncertainty crossing her face,
"I cannot promise you success…and even talking to much about my presence here or what I intending to do will lower the chance of me defeating the demon," It was the young man's turn to look suspicious,
"You don't look like a priestess," Oriko gave a small sly smile, leaning towards him to whisper his ear,
"It would be dangerous for anyone to know of my skills, so I am trying to deflect any ideas people may have about what I am…I fear I may be placing you in danger, too," She leaned back with a faintly worried and apologetic expression on her face, as a confident, cocky grin found its way to his face,
"Don't worry, I can handle anything that happens,"
"Are you sure? Isn't that part of the reason you need my help?" She teased playfully, but didn't give him a chance to respond, "Anyway, I suggest that we meet tomorrow morning…where would be best?"
"Y-you mean you'll help us?"
"I will try," The young man grinned widely,
"There's monument in the east side of the village – near where most of the bath houses are if we meet there at nine, I can take you to where the demon has appeared before," Oriko smiled and nodded,
"What is your name?"
"Shimoe Kyosuke,"
"Well, Kyosuke-san, I will see you tomorrow…I must go and prepare," Oriko rose to her feet, "It was nice to meet you," The man didn't move at first but soon followed her outside,
"W-wait, what's your name?"
"Mine? It doesn't really matter, but they called me Kaori,"
"K-Kaori-san…may I walk you home?" Oriko shook her head,
"No thank you, it will be trouble if anyone sees us and I must prepare for tomorrow, goodnight Kyosuke-san," She smiled, the young man blinked, but she was gone before he'd even reopened his eyes.
Oriko hid her presence carefully as she sprinted through the town, searching for Kakashi's chakra; it took a while, but she eventually found him in a tree in a remote part of the town. The evening was dark and there was only just enough light to see by,
"Kakashi," She appeared on the branch next to him, "Have you found anything out?" Kakashi looked up to meet her eyes immediately, from his previously somewhat relaxed posture, sat in the crook of the tree;
"Not really, the leader seemed very reluctant to tell me much; frankly, he looked scared to even deal with the idea and that if he told me anything, he'd pay with his life. What about you?"
"Well, I got chatting to this guy in a bar, he seemed a bit of a dimwit but told me that a 'water serpent demon' had appeared, which to me sounds like Suuishu Grougon no Jutsu, anyway I convinced him I was a priestess – of sorts – and he agreed to meet me tomorrow and take me to where it had been seen. I reckon we'll find something at the scene and if not, news of a random priestess may pique their interest,"
"Excellent…how the hell did you manage to convince him you were a priestess?" He queried looking her up and down as he rose to his feet,
"Ah, well…I made up some story about who my father was and what he taught me," She shrugged her shoulders, as Kakashi nodded, understanding as he leapt to the ground, soon followed by Oriko,
"Well, we've got a lead for our next move and I, for one, am looking forward to a bed for the night; let's find an inn," Oriko ignored what she nearly took his words to mean, and agreed with a vigorous nod.
They appeared in front of a random inn and wandered up to the man behind the desk,
"Ah, you would like one room yes?" The man held a warm smile, Kakashi nodded, "Unfortunately we only have one twin room left,"
"Ah, n-no, ahaha, we would like two single rooms," Kakashi immediately corrected, scratching the back of his head in sharp embarrassment, as the man gave a sly smile,
"Ah, there is no need for you to be embarrassed…" He flashed his eyes over to Oriko; "She's pretty," Kakashi looked over his shoulder, both their expressions surprised as each other's, both resisting how embarrassed they felt;
"Uh, ah, I think you misunderstand, we're just friends," The owner seemed to raise his eyebrows in disbelief,
"Well…if you insist…" Kakashi looked back to Oriko, who sighed in disbelief at how hard it was simply to get a room for the night. The man eventually turned to get two keys, handing one each to Kakashi and Oriko, who took a few steps towards the stair way, checking the number on the key. The man at the desk leaned forward towards Kakashi,
"You said you were her friend, right?" Kakashi nodded in confirmation, "What are you waiting for?"