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Chapter 33 – A Princess's Determination: Part 2 – Dresses and Threats

"Did you hear the storm last night?" Haku asked as he walked beside Amaya.

"No. I was asleep before it hit and I stayed asleep until you woke me up this morning." She stretched, glad sleeping on the ground had only been a two-time event; beds were too comfortable to give up for long. The team was weaving their way through town to the shopping district before heading to the Daimyo's estate. There was a slight chill in the air from the night's rain, which was their excuse for being late. Surely, the Daimyo would see the sense in not traveling during a storm.

A small river snaked its way through the town, cutting the village in two. The town used the river as a dividing line, homes on one side, and businesses on the other. The houses were mostly traditional, small and only one story, none as pleasing to Amaya's eye as Konoha's buildings. The shops, though, were colorful and full of glass display windows. Yukatas, their cotton fabric cool in the late summer heat, lined many shop windows, the colors ranging from a mouse grey to deep blue. Admiring one in a two-tone red, Amaya nudged Haku. "We need to get you something nice."

Kazuma rolled his eyes. "You have fun. You're not dragging me shopping. Not after what you did when we were Genin."

"Oh, come on," she teased, "I only asked you to try on one dress."

"More like forced," he snapped back.

Raido sighed. "Kazuma, no one said you had to go with them. You can stay out here with me. Go on, you two, but make it quick. We do have somewhere to be."

As Amaya and Haku walked into the closest store, the auburn-haired woman grinned. "How about we play a little joke on them."

The young medic-nin listened to her plan, intrigued, and by the time they'd found him a pretty, snow-white yukata with small cherry blossoms, he was grinning too.


The male shinobi were sitting on a bench eating dango when Amaya found them. Her yukata was folded neatly in her pack along with a pair of sandals. She sat down between Rai and Kazuma. "That wasn't too long a wait, was it?"

Raido chewed on the end of his skewer. "An hour's acceptable. I know some women who could spend twice that long looking at just shoes."

"Speaking of shoes, have you guys seen Haku? We separated because the store didn't have his size."

"No, we..." Kazuma trailed off. Amaya followed his gaze to a woman walking their way. Most of her dark hair was loose, though two locks hung down her shoulders and were tied at the ends like Amaya's usually was. Her white yukata hugged her figure and the light make-up she wore accentuated her dark eyes and enhanced her natural beauty. The woman daintily stepped around a puddle while both male Jonin openly stared.

As the woman drew closer, Amaya suppressed a laugh. "Pretty, isn't she?"

Both men simply nodded.

"Good. I guess I did all right with Haku after all. I thought the make-up might've been too much."

Raido and Kazuma exchanged a glance before a blush rose on their faces. Haku, face smooth as ice, came over and put a hand under each man's chin, making them look him in the eye. "Sorry to disappoint, gentlemen, but I'm straight."

The scarred nin pushed Haku's hand away and coughed. "Right. Well, now that you're back, we can go."

They made their way to the Daimyo's estate, which hugged the river in the northern part of the residential district, and could see where the outer wall jutted into the river. Amaya guessed behind that wall was a small pool cut into the river-bank so the Daimyo's daughter could swim without worry. The estate wasn't as large as some she'd seen, covering less than a quarter of a mile total, but the walls were thick and the gate well-crafted.

The tattooed kunoichi admired the twin dragons carved into the wooden gate as they approached. A serious-looking guard halted them outside. His hair was beginning to recede, but he appeared fit. "What business do you have here?"

"We're the Leaf shinobi the Daimyo requested," Raido said, handing over a letter of introduction from the Hokage.

A much younger guard opened the gate enough for the nin to slip through. Amaya felt his eyes on her as they were led to a small gate-house set snug up against the inside of the wall. His eyes wandered over her while he spoke. "I'd love to see where those tattoos go."

Haku was quick to defend her, a coy smile on his face but a deadly tone in his voice. "And I'd love to see you face down in the river."

The young guard's eyes remained on Haku until the older guard shut the door to the gate-house in his face, growling at him to stop gawking and get back to his post. The guard's black eyes swept over them, inspecting them, though what standards he was using Amaya didn't know. Finally, he grunted. ``You lot look far more competent than the last bunch I hired."

"You hired us?" Amaya asked.

The older guard turned his eyes on her. He seemed a little surprised she'd been the one to speak. "Yes, I hired you in the Daimyo's place. Name's Ryu. At least that's what everyone calls me."

"Why don't you tell the rest of us what happened while my comrade here changes," Rai said, moving back toward the door. Kazuma followed while Haku stayed behind. Once the door was shut, Amaya started to undress.

Haku quickly turned around. "A little warning, please."

"Modesty isn't usually a luxury a ninja has. Besides, you've had to play the part of a woman before and you're a medic-nin. It shouldn't bother you."

"Those were strangers."

"That matters?"

"Yes."

When he said nothing else, Amaya let it drop. People had their quirks; this was apparently one of Haku's. She tapped him on the shoulder to let him know it was safe to turn around.

"That...looks nice on you," he finished after recovering from the sudden absence of her tattoos. The kunoichi wore the two-tone red yukata she'd seen. The light pink fabric darkened to a deeper red around the sleeves and hem while leaves danced across the surface.

"I sometimes cover them with chakra instead of bandages. I don't like to. Takes a lot of concentration and chakra. But bandages would stand out like a sore thumb right now," she explained as they joined Raido and Kazuma. Ryu waited patiently to escort them to an audience with the Daimyo.

The scarred nin answered Amaya's question before she could ask it. "The last group of nin he hired almost let the Daimyo's daughter get kidnapped."

"Waste of good money, they were," the old guard mumbled as he started walking, expecting them to follow. When they passed through the green courtyard and made it to the house, they left their sandals on the covered deck. Partitions sectioned the house into smaller rooms. Most of the sliding doors were closed and the rooms appeared empty. Ryu led the shinobi to a side room open to the air. A splendid rock garden stretched beyond the deck. The guard paused outside the threshold and dropped to one knee, his head bowed. "My liege, the Leaf ninja you asked for have arrived."

Kichiro Tanenage sat on a cushion behind a small writing desk. He set aside his brush and waved a hand for the group to enter. He was well-built; he couldn't have been more than thirty. Dark hair hung shoulder length and a trimmed beard edged his jaw. Dark eyes followed the nin as they bowed. "Please sit." He gestured to cushions set before the desk.

Raido took one of the middle cushions while Kazuma sat to his left and Amaya and Haku sat to his right. The Jonin bowed again before speaking. "Tanenage-sama, forgive us the delay, but the storm hampered our journey."

Kichiro waved off the apology. "I assumed as much. No harm done. I see you've brought the women as I asked."

"Of course."

The Daimyo nodded. "Well, I suppose you're wondering why I've hired you. You see, there's a threat against my daughter."

"That much we gathered, Daimyo Tanenage. What kind of threat?"

He folded his hands and laid them on the desk, careful not to smear the documents he'd been working on. "A businessman by the name of Satoshi Nobu blames me for the failure of his company. He used to make some of the finest sake, but I signed a trade agreement with the Land of Storms. His company was forced to shut down. I received a letter last week saying that I would lose the thing most precious to me. Ever since my wife passed away three years ago, our daughter is all I have left."

While he spoke, he handed Raido the letter. The Jonin read over it carefully, passing it to his teammates. Amaya could see the anger in the words, how the hand that wrote them had shaken. The letter was returned to the Daimyo, who continued. "So that's why I've asked you to come here. To protect my daughter and to eliminate the threat. Can you do that?"

"Without a doubt. No one will lay a finger on her."

"Good. Ryu, bring her in, please."

Amaya turned to see the little girl who entered the room. Dressed in a purple silk kimono, she ran an eye over the ninja, just as the old guard had. Her small face, framed by straight, dark hair like her father's, was scrunched up. Her fists rested on her hips; her body still carried the softness of childhood. When she spoke, her voice held a note of exasperation. "More, daddy? I told you I can protect myself!" She stormed away, ignoring her father's calls.

He sighed, running a hand over his face. "I'm sorry about Aina. Ever since she was almost kidnapped, she's been insisting that she can protect herself. She's been "bribing" the guards to teach her how to use a knife. I told them to play along because I'm afraid she'd try on her own and hurt herself. You're the experts. Should I encourage her?"

"You were right to want her practice supervised," Amaya spoke up. "And I think it's good for her to know at least a little about how to defend herself. Though it's crucial she understands that a knife isn't a toy."

The Daimyo winced. "It may be too late for that. She was in the kitchen yesterday and grabbed a knife from the counter. She was swinging it around, lost her grip. She could've hurt someone, but lucky, it lodged in the apple in the mouth of the boar we had for dinner. She won't let anyone forget that she meant to do that. I had the guards stop giving her lessons after that, though."

"If you'll allow, we can teach her properly while we're here," Haku offered.

"If that'll keep her from hurting herself trying to practice on her own."

The medic-nin smiled reassuringly. "It will."

"Very well. But enough talk. I should let you get to work. The men will join the guards and the women will shadow Aina as her personal body guards. Ryu will take you to your rooms and then you can go to your posts."

After another bow, the shinobi followed the old guard to their rooms. Amaya sat her pack next to Haku's. She reached inside, pulling out the knife Kakashi had given her all those years ago. She hadn't worn it since the Land of Waves. Running her thumb over the leather-wrapped handle, she slid the blade from its sheath, checking for rust or tarnish. She dug out the bands she used to hold the modified sheath to her arm. The sheathe had a quick-release mechanism, which when activated with chakra, would allow the knife to fall down her arm and into her hand. The weapon securely in place, Amaya let her sleeve flow back into place. She'd have to get used to such flowing fabric again; the knife could catch on all the extra material.

Haku, who had been putting up his hair in a bun using senbon, was hiding a few underneath his obi. He muttered to himself as one of the needles caught on the cotton fabric. "I don't see why we can't just carry our weapons out in the open."

The auburn-haired woman knew he was speaking out of frustration more than a lack of understanding, but she answered anyway. "We have to blend in with the rest of the staff. Women aren't allowed to openly carry weapons."

"I know," he grumbled. "But if I'm not careful, my senbon could rip a hole in my yukata."

"You sound more like a girl than I do."

The medic-nin smiled as he settled his clothes back in place and made sure his bun was holding. "I like women's clothes, honestly. They're much less constricting."

"If you say so," Amaya replied, shaking out her sleeve when she noticed it had caught on her knife's hilt. "Ready to go?" Haku nodded, so she continued. "Then let's go find Aina-hime."