"We'd both rather be someplace else right now, but we're stuck here, aren't we?" Ayame sighs. "Stuck here until we finish the mission."
Natsume has finally calmed down - accepted his fate, Ayame corrects herself - and she removes her knee from his back. He sits up and moves away from Ayame.
The mask somehow managed to stay on during his struggle.
"So Hyuuga, you want to go home and cry to your mommy that a ninja almost killed you tonight?" Ayame's smug smile withers when Natsume clenches his fist and stays silent. Maybe she hit a sore spot, but he'll need to learn to suck it up; enemies take advantage of taboos like that. "Well, shall we get this mission over with?"
The boy nods slowly, and starts to get up from the dirty sidewalk. Ayame looks across the road and finds the Yorozuya sign gleaming high and proud. She managed to come home without even realizing.
She thinks about leaving the mission until tomorrow so she can go back to staring endlessly at Gin-san. However, when Natsume asks if they should do the mission without the other ninja, Ayame picks herself up and starts running without a word.