"Man, that snow was awesome! I played all day in it!" Akinobu exclaimed as he spun on his heel, although Akimitsu blocked with his arm and forced Akinobu's leg down to make an opening to his chest, and he aimed a punch, which the boy barely blocked and he leapt back.
"It was so romantic! My mom and dad were standing at the window for hours just watching it, cuddling!" Akiha sighed happily, sitting cross legged in front of the river. Akimitsu snorted, running at Akinobu and aiming another punch, but Akinobu ducked and stuck his leg out, causing Akimitsu to leap in the air and kick him in the jaw. Akinobu grunted and fell onto his back, rubbing his bruised chin.
"It wasn't that exciting." Akimitsu claimed, "Haven't you ever been to the Land of Snow?"
"Nope." they said in unison, and Akimitsu snorted and held out his hand to help Akinobu up. Akinobu smirked and reached out, grabbing Akimitsu's hand and yanked it down, aiming to knee the boy in the stomach, back Akimitsu merely widened his eyes in realisation and grabbed Akinobu's knee and flipped over him, landing crouched a few feet away from him. Akiha giggled, clapping excitedly and Akinobu huffed loudly, jumping to his feet.
"I'm glad to see you're all up early!" Kotori chimed as she walked towards them, and Akiha leapt to her feet and grinned, running over to group with her team. Akimitsu snickered, walking up with Akinobu, who snorted at him and Kotori put her hands on her hips.
"You guys have a good Christmas?"
"Yeah! Did you see the snow?"
"Of course she saw the snow, stupid." Akinobu snorted at Akiha, and the girl rubbed the back of her head. Kotori glared down at Akinobu, who jumped a little seeing her glare and mumbled a quick sorry to his friend.
"Well, anyway! I have your mission!" Kotori diverted the subject, and Akinobu twitched and looked up at her, gasping.
"You got it without us? But senseeeei-"
"I got it without you because I can't handle you complaining about the mission rank." she sighed heavily, putting her fingers on her forehead as she looked away, "I already have a headache as it is."
"You mean hangover." Akimitsu corrected quietly, and Akiha giggled, covering her mouth. Kotori glared down at him, but huffed and looked at them all as they began their walk through the village.
"It's a small mission. We're heading out to a few Hot Springs, apparently there's been someone messing around and stealing money there, and they want it taken care of properly." Kotori explained, "And someone's been going on about some freaky spirit or something, but we'll see to that when we get to it."
"Spirit?" Akiha questioned, and Kotori sighed, shrugging.
"Yeah, but that part's probably full of crap." Kotori said crudely, "Ghosts don't exist."
"Sure they do!" Akiha insisted, glaring up at her sensei as they walked through the gates of the village, and continued to ramble on about all the 'ghost sightings' she had been through, and the things her parents had apparently been through in their youth. Akimitsu sighed heavily as he put his hands in his short pockets, teal eyes looking at Akiha judgingly before back ahead. Akinobu merely listened, hands gripping the back of his head as he strolled along.
"Akiha, we get it, you're all spiritual and stuff!" Akinobu finally yelled, and Akiha glared at him. Akinobu snorted, "But we don't need to hear about all of it!"
"Well I like talking about it." Akiha stated indignantly, clasping her hands behind her back as she walked and Akimitsu smirked a little, shaking his head. Kotori looked up ahead, putting a strand of hair behind her ear and frowned a little. The walk would take a few hours, and she was worried they would start whining about the heat and complaining about the length of walk.
"How long do we gotta walk?" Akinobu demanded, and Kotori glanced at him suspiciously before looking ahead, thinking for a moment, tapping her chin.
"Probably two hours." she finally answered, and Akinobu winced angrily, flailing his arms in the air.
"What? Are you serious? That's ages! Man, I won't be surprised if it's dark by the time we get there!" he whined, and Kotori rolled her eyes, but Akimitsu basically said what she was thinking.
"Don't be ridiculous. It's only the morning." he stated, and Akiha giggled and looked at them before looking back ahead, skipping along the path quietly.
Eventually they reached the large hot springs, and Akiha gasped.
"I've never been to this one before!" she grinned, "My mother likes to take me to all sorts of hot springs, just for the fun of it! But this one is huge!"
"It's practically a village!" Akinobu exaggerated, and Kotori snickered and nodded, hands on her hips. They walked in through the main entrance, Kotori glancing round before heading over to the reception.
"Hey, we're Shinobi from Konoha." she greeted, waving a hand happily, "We're here about the thief?"
"Ah yes, you'll want to speak with Rokiyoto-sama." she nodded, "Please follow me."
"Akinobu!" Kotori hissed, grabbing the boy by the shoulder when she noticed his eyes were trained somewhere else - mainly the women walking by in their towels - and he yelped as he rubbed his arm. Walking down the hall, Kotori straightened up and fixed her thin flak jacket before walking into a large room with what looked like a small river running through it. She looked down, stepping over the foot wide 'river' and made sure her students did the same before looking over at a man sitting beside it.
"The Shinobi I requested?" he questioned, and the woman nodded before bowing and exiting. Kotori walked over and sat down on one of the four cushions allocated by the man in the extravagant yukata.
"Just children?"
"Well sir, there's only one person annoying you. It'd be a waste to put a group of Jounin to-"
"But this isn't just one man!" he yelled dramatically, leaping to his feet. Kotori blinked, initially surprised by the energy of the older man. He had grey hair at least, although it was full and slicked back, "This is a very talented and wile thief! And, such a lady as yourself shouldn't put yourself in harm's way…"
The Genin stared in disbelief as the man took Kotori's hand and was suddenly inches from her face. She went completely red and waved a hand between them bashfully, looking away, a hoity, egotistical look on her face.
"Ho ho ho, well if you say it like that.."
"You can't be serious!" Akinobu muttered angrily, and Akimitsu frowned, getting to his feet.
"Rokiyoto-sama." he said seriously, and Rokiyoto quickly looked at Akimitsu, surprised by the boy's stoic nature, "We are more than capable of taking care of the thief."
"Well yes!" he jumped to his feet, his eagerness almost matching that of Guy's, and he rubbed his grey devil's beard, "I'm sure you are, ahehe. With, ah, what's your name, my lady?"
"Kotori." she answered dreamily, her head now in the clouds.
"With Kotori here as your sensei, I'm sure you'll get him in no time! And I'll give all of you free accommodation for your services." he offered, and Akiha and Akinobu got to their feet, groaning a little. He took Kotori's hand and helped her to her feet, quickly offering a kiss on the back of her hand. Kotori giggled like a little girl.
"If you need anything, just come to me!" he stated, putting a hand on his chest proudly, "I will help you any way I can!"
"Will do!" Kotori chirped as she followed her students out, and Akinobu rolled his eyes, hands behind his head as he followed Akimitsu and Akiha outside. They found a quiet place atop one of the many roofs of the oddly shaped building surrounding the hot springs.
"I can't believe you fell for what that guy was saying! 'Such a lady as yourself shouldn't be put into harm's way'! PAH!" Akinobu sat cross legged near them, crossing his arms over his puffed out chest, and Kotori laughed, patting him on the head.
"Jealous?" she asked, and he yelled something obscene, looking away. Akiha laughed a little, looking over at the hot springs.
"Akiha and I will go ask the receptionist what usually happens when the thief comes in." Akimitsu decided, and Kotori looked over him, giggling a little before nodding.
"Akinobu will go ask people in their rooms if they've ever seen anything." she said, getting to her feet, and Akinobu glared at her.
"All the rooms?"
"Yep!" she said, then grinned, "I suppose that leaves me! Seeing as no one's checking the hot springs, I'll just go ask the kind gentlemen in that direction of they've seen anything!"
"Kotori-sensei, this isn't the time to be a perv-"
"Well, see ya kids!" she cackled as she jumped off the roof, skipping towards a fence that led straight to the men's hot springs. Akimitsu sighed, watching her go, placing a hand on his hip.
"She's as bad as Jiraiya-sama!" Akiha whined, and Akinobu rolled his eyes before heading off to do the job he was assigned to.
Kotori giggled like a little girl as she easily leapt up onto one of the fences, hanging happily as she watched the men laze around in the pool. Cheeks red, she smiled happily and wolf whistled at a man walking by, quickly lowering herself so he didn't see anything. The man turned, raising an eyebrow at the sight of fingers, but said nothing more and quickly continued to catch up to his friends. Kotori sat back up and giggled quietly, watching over the men.
"Hey! And you tell me all the time that I should find better hobbies!" a better voice cried out, and Kotori jumped, glaring angrily at whoever was talking to her, only to freeze and see none other than Jiraiya sitting in the hot springs. This accusation caused the men to turn and look at Kotori at once.
"Hey! What the hell?"
"AGH!"
"Wait, don't run, I have some question- damn it, Jiraiya!" she cursed as the men, unsurprisingly, exited the hot springs within a flash, and Kotori glared before flipping and landing by the hot springs. Jiraiya swam towards her, snickering.
"Couldn't help myself. What're you doing here?" he questioned, and she huffed.
"Mission. You?"
"Relaxation." he sighed happily, "And research, of course. Did you like your Christmas present?"
"Yep! How long did you know Kakashi and I were basically getting the same present?" she questioned, and Jiraiya laughed, resting his chin on the edge of the pool.
"For a while. You're both so predictable!" he grinned at her, "And you got the message in your book, riiiiight?"
"Yeah, and don't ever think you'll be getting any help from me." she snapped, and Jiraiya pouted.
"Oh come on! Every girl's gotta try something new in a while!" Jiraiya persisted, and Kotori grunted, giving him a 'gentle' kick to the head. He whined, rubbing the bump, "Fine, fine. What's your mission, anyway?"
"Taking care of some thief." she shrugged, "You know anything about it?"
"I know something about a thief alright! He was here just when I arrived, and stole my wallet!" Jiraiya yelled, suddenly angry, and leapt to his feet. Unfortunately for his height, his waist came quiet a bit over the surface of the water, and Kotori yelled, covering her eyes.
"JIRAIYA, if you're gonna rant put a towel on first!" she cried out, "I'm not used to just one man being naked this close!"
"Then we can fix that, huh?" Jiraiya asked desperately, and Kotori yelled out even more, kicking him repeatedly when she found him, keeping her eyes closed.
"Not when you're the same age as my father!" she whined, and he coughed, grabbing her foot.
"Okay, I get it, stop so I can get a towel! Please! My ribs are tender!" he pleaded, and Kotori scooted far off so she was against the fence. Jiraiya got out of the water and huffed, looking around for a towel, "No peeking!"
"Feh!" Kotori stuck her tongue out, although temptation got the better of her and she felt her fingers part slightly. Opening one eye, her cheeks went red at the sight of Jiraiya pacing away from her and getting a towel. Quickly closing her eyes again, she slowly got to her feet and huffed, "Covered yet?"
"You can look!" Jiraiya confirmed, walking back towards her. Kotori sighed heavily, hoping her pink cheeks would go away, and Jiraiya looked down at her, "Anyway. Back to this thief. Do you know what he looks like?"
"No, but I can tell you he's most likely the only thief in this place. What did your thief look like?" she asked, and Jiraiya sighed, thinking for a moment as they walked back inside. He rubbed his chin as he looked at his clothes, hesitating. He let out a very long, thoughtful 'hm', and Kotori sat down on one of the nearby benches, staring up at him with a frown.
"A little small. Dark eyes."
"Oh come on." Kotori snapped, "What were his clothes like? Hair, face?"
"Well, I DO remember he was wearing a brown bandana to hide his hair… And another one to hide his face. Only saw his eyes." Jiraiya answered uselessly, "My memory might come back if-"
"Oooh no!" she snapped, jumping to her feet, "No arrangements! Just tell me what you remember!"
"He was actually just a speedy little bastard, I couldn't see much but a brown blur." Jiraiya huffed, taking on a serious front, and Kotori nodded, smirking and tapping him affectionately on the chest.
"Thanks anyway, Jiraiya."
"Well, if you find him and you're staying for a few days, call on me, hm? We could have a private little bath at some point to help you relax!"
"In your dreams!" she called over her shoulder, heading out to the street. She turned, smiling as she spotted her team and walked towards them, patting Akimitsu on the shoulder.
"Hey, what'd we found?"
"He usually comes during the evening when people are heading in for their rooms." Akimitsu answered, crossing his arms, and Akinobu sighed tiredly, rubbing his eyes.
"No one's seen anything." he grunted, and Kotori nodded.
"We'll stay here over night and keep a look out. We'll split up to cover more ground, but keep a look out for someone with a bandana on their head and another covering their face."
Akinobu grunted something Kotori didn't hear, but someone coming their way caught her eye, and was most likely the source of Akinobu's sudden grumpiness. Rokiyoto was making his merry way over, waving at Kotori, politely pushing through a group of people.
"Kotori, my lovely, have you found anything?"
"Oh, we have an inkling about what he looks like, but we'll need to spend the night to get him!" she said cheerily, grinning and the man smiled, nodding as he glanced at the Genin, who seemed to give him a disapproving look.
"Oh good! It's just, some guests are getting nervous about the idea of a thief running about. I can't keep them calm for long, you know? But I'm sure you have it covered!" Rokiyoto smiled, gently nicking Kotori under the chin, and the woman seemed to, again, turn into a little girl.
"Hehe, we sure do. There'll be time to relax in no time." she said suggestively, and Akinobu rolled his eyes, crossing his arms.
"Sensei, we should get ready."
"Nonsense, it's only the afternoon! This thief comes round during the evening, you kids go have fun round here, but don't cause too much trouble!" Kotori waved them off, grinning at Rokiyoto, who smiled charmingly.
"Whatever you say, sensei!" Akiha stretched and walked along the path, Akimitsu casually walking after her. Akinobu glared, quickly running to catch up with them and snorted.
"How can you guys just walk away like this? This is ridiculous! He's stealing her away from us, jesus! Why don't you guys care?"
"Shut up, Akinobu." Akimitsu said calmly, putting his hands in his pockets, "We're gonna catch this guy by ourselves. He's just a thief, he can't do much."
"But where will we find him?" Akiha asked, and Akimitsu smirked, holding up a piece of paper with some writing on it. Akiha and Akinobu glanced at each other, then looked back at their team mate before following him as he leapt onto a roof and out of the hot springs, heading into the near by forest.
"Akimitsu, quit being so mysterious! Who gave you that paper? Where are we going?"
"We're finding the thief. He lives around here, and the paper was given to me by this old lady who says they know who we're looking for." Akimitsu said confidently, slowly to a walk as they reached a path, "He's been stealing the food she grows in her garden near here, and she wants him stopped. He's a menace, or so she says."
Akimitsu looked round and smirked to himself, crumpling up the paper and throwing it to the ground.
"In there." he jabbed a thumb into a thicker part of the forest, and he went in first, bouncing off of a low branch to get higher. Akiha immediately followed, closely trailed by Akinobu. Akinobu kept to the ground, glaring up at Akimitsu, but looked ahead, ducking to avoid a low twig.
"So he lives here? Why doesn't he have a real house?"
"That'd be to easy to find. What kind of thief owns a proper house?" Akiha questioned, and Akinobu snorted, not replying. He leapt up off the ground and swung from a branch to land on another, feeling a tug on his foot, but ignored it and continued on, not noticing the wire that he had snagged. Something jingled, and Akimitsu looked round, narrowing his eyes, but suddenly something caught aflame near his foot and he moved to jump to the side, but another tag lit up.
"SHIT!" he cursed, and Akiha and Akinobu flipped out of the way in time. Akimitsu covered his face protectively, but felt someone yank the back of his silver zipper and hauled him off the branch and up high. He yelled out in surprise, landing on his knees beside a figure, and he snapped his head up to look at a bandana clad person. They glared down at him with feminine violet eyes. They wore a maroon bandana over their lower face, and another was tied around their head to hide their hair. They wore a dark brown short kimono with matching shorts, which were tucked into what he could only describe as maroon tight leggings that started at his knees, with black bands wrapped around them. They wore geta, and the sleeves of the kimono were tucked into similar maroon arm warmers, and the same black bands. Around their waist was a tight maroon cloth, and they glared.
"Are you crazy? What are you doing in here?" they snapped, their voice masked by the bandana, "That wasn't meant for you, it was meant for someone else! Get outta here!"
"No! We're Shinobi of the Leaf village, and we're here to take you down!" Akimitsu snapped, leaping back and removing a kunai from his pouch. The person gasped and stared, stepping back before shaking their head.
"Get out of here!" they snapped, "This place is filled with traps I set, don't you dare go setting any of those off! It's not meant for you! Get you and your team mates out of here before they kill themselves."
Akimitsu hesitated, glaring before flipped down to the ground, meeting Akinobu and Akiha almost immediately. They gasped, running towards him, Akiha clinging to his arm as she asked too many questions for him to answer.
"Well, we gonna go deeper?" Akinobu interrupted, and Akimitsu shook his head.
"Let's go back and tell Kotori-sensei what we found." he said, "This is dangerous."
"What happened to you up there? I was positive you were caught in the explosion!" Akiha demanded as they made their way out of the forest. Akimitsu glanced behind him, frowning to himself. That person must have been insanely fast to get him out of that trap. He looked back ahead, thinking carefully before heading out onto the path and they hopped over a building to get back into the hot springs. They found Kotori in a room allocated for the girl's, giggling as she drank sake with an unfamiliar man.
"Kotori-sensei, we have something to tell you."
"Not now kiddos, your sensei's busy!" Jiraiya exclaimed, "Nostalgia shouldn't be interrupted!"
"It's about the mission! Kotori-sensei, pay attention!" Akimitsu yelled, clenching his fists. Kotori jumped, looking at him, cheeks pink, and smiled before nodding and crossing her legs.
"Alright, all of you come in. Ah, you're staying here." Kotori grabbed Jiraiya's arm before he could sneak away from their important business, and he grumbled as he poured himself some more sake. Akimitsu sat down at the circular table and sighed heavily.
"We know where the thief lives, and what he looks like." he stated, "Your source about the bandanas was true-"
"Of course it was, it was me!" Jiraiya interrupted, and Kotori drunkenly scolded him with a small pat on the shoulder. Akimitsu twitched, staring at the Sannin in disbelief before looking back at his sensei.
"He lives out in the forest, but there are dozens of traps set for anyone who tries to get near. I think he's in trouble with someone much bigger than some angry civilians, sensei."
"Wait, you talked to him?" Akiha demanded loudly, getting onto her knees so she was taller than Akimitsu, who was merely crossing his legs, "So you didn't get out of that explosion yourself!"
"Wait, wait, wait, whoaaa there!" Kotori interrupted, "You went and did stuff without me? Why didn't you tell me you had a lead? And you were in an explosion?"
"It was just tags." Akinobu countered, "Nothing special."
"You were the one that set it off!" Akimitsu glared, "There was a wire!"
"Hey, I didn't know we were going against some sort of trap expert!"
"My grandmother could spot that trap before you, you moron!"
"BOYS!" Kotori snapped, bashing their heads together quite violently, and Akiha squealed in horror as she kneeled beside them and asked if they were okay, although by their drooling on the floor and large lumps on their head, it was safe to say they weren't, "Look. I'll take a look at the home, you stay here and rest up."
"What?" Akinobu shot to his feet, pointing at Kotori, "We won't do that! This is our mission, so we do it together!"
"Kid's got spunk, I like it!" Jiraiya laughed, finishing off his sake, "I'll let you get back to your mission then, Kotori."
"Hold up, I didn't say I was going now! I'm drunk!" Kotori waved a hand idly, "First, we eat! I'm sure I can pay enough for a big meal!"
"A meal, really? Well I was feeling pretty peckish!" Jiraiya sat himself back down with a laugh, and Kotori felt a bead of sweat run down her head before looking over at Akiha, smiling as sweetly as she possibly could.
"Akiha, can you go find someone to make dinner for us?" she requested, and Akiha shot to her feet, grinning.
"Right! I'm starved!" she ran out of the room eagerly, not even bothering to put her shoes back on. Akinobu sighed and stretched, yawning.
"I might sleep while we wait."
"Well you can go do it on your own room, your sensei and I have something to finish!"
"Nuh uh, you're gonna go get more sake!" Kotori snapped, "And don't make it sound so perverted!"
"Worth a shot!" Jiraiya chuckled, getting to his feet, "Alright, gimme some money first! Remember, that thief took my wallet!"
"Tch, you're as bad as a kid, you know that?" Kotori demanded, handing him some loose change and leaned back, stretching her legs as Jiraiya and Akinobu left the room, Jiraiya heading his own way, letting out a very loud 'well hello there gorgeous!' at a passing young woman. Akimitsu stayed put, although was slowly getting to his feet.
"Sensei, are you taking this mission seriously at all?" he asked, and Kotori glanced at him before falling onto her side, resting her head on her hand, chuckling.
"It's just some small time thief, Akimitsu, relax!" she said, "I've been through worse!"
"But sensei, I really think we should be more focused. This guy seems to know more than just any person looking for some spare change." Akimitsu insisted, "He seems to be in danger, and I think that-"
"He's in danger because of us, that's final. He's probably playing some trick on you to make you feel bad." Kotori interrupted, closing her eyes as she played with the empty sake bottle, "Trust me Akimitsu, you get to know these things when you go through thousands of those missions a week. But it's good you managed to get that close to him, that's helping us. You're a talented shinobi."
"Better to be talented than drunk and useless." Akimitsu muttered under his breath. He grabbed his shoes and slammed the door open, adding, "I wish we had a different sensei."
Kotori blinked upon hearing that, looking up and watching the door close. She listened for Akimitsu's footsteps as they disappeared, and let out a long sigh before sitting up, stretching again. Soon Jiraiya returned with more drinks, yelling something about all the beautiful women arriving. Kotori chuckled, pouring some sake for herself, glancing at the small amount and made a face and took a gulp from the bottle instead.
