"Ah! I should ready some buckets, Komura! I'm going to get water, please stay here!" Akino called up to her. He was almost positive she would go off on her own, she had begun her stubborn phase a couple of months ago.
Perhaps he could lie in wait for when she would escape, catch her off-guard and bring her along. Yes that is a good idea. So after she affirms that she won't leave, you exit the house and go around the corner, hiding behind some very dry and prickly bushes. At least it provided a little bit of shade.
The children were safely back in their elaborate house. It was quite a distance from the actual village so it took so time to walk there, even if Mimura had set a quick pace.
"Now just go inside, your parents should be arriving soon and then everything will be well."
"We-We've never been alone in the house before..." Fuatsu muttered, tears coming to his eyes.
"Yeah a-and we're scared! What if the scary masked guy comes back?" Tsuasu sniffles, looking at her.
Mimura internally groaned, she can't stay with them, she has to get back to her own children. If only Hasuka-sama and Kanito-sama hadn't run off in the middle of the frenzy. Where could they have gone?
Hesitantly she answered their pleas, "I suppose I have to..." The sad faces and tears they had put up instantly vanished from their faces, as though they had never been there in the first place. Mimura frowned, knowing it was just a ploy to get her to stay with them a little longer, yet unwilling to back out on her word.
So she stayed with them. As the fires were put out and the day began to wane still Hasuka-sama and Kanito-sama had not returned.
"When are they going to get back?!" Tsuasu demands.
"Anytime now..." Mimura replies, hesitance in her voice.
"Tsuasu! Come look! The sun is setting!" Fuasu calls from the other room.
"Coming!" He replies, running away from the stressed mother.
Mimura moved to head into the room with the twins, yet she realized frantically that her limbs were immobile. She was unable to move a muscle.
"The children are in the other room, let's go. We have the target." An unknown voice mumbled from behind the shaking woman.
If she could have screamed she would, her thoughts racing a hundred miles a minute.
Yet she could not move to do so, even as small chuckles came from the adjacent room.
"Nee...Mimura...You wouldn't happen to know where our cousins are do you?" The small voices called out. "We miss them, and if you're going to be leaving we need someone else to play with..."
"We have her, now where's the money?" A gruffer voice called from the shadows of the house.
"You'll get it as soon as our parents get back, it shouldn't be longer now that you have her." One of the boys replied coldly. "We simply can't allow the pre-noble to survive after her fall to the streets can we?"
"Exactly brother! No one needs infidels with muddied blood in their veins to survive."
Finally getting a little movement into her body, Mimura's eyes flickered around the room hastily. Still unable to open her mouth however, she blinked, trying to think of how to stall for time. The female holding her moved slightly, adjusting her hold on the older woman.
"Besides...didn't our mother's offer require the capture of Komura and Akino too?"
"The file described that Mimura-san was first priority, we will collect the children after payment is met.
"Hmm...brother, don't you think that it's a bit strange? Mercenaries who won't do their job until after they get the money?"
"Yeah yeah! One could almost call them scum. That's just low...escaping with the money after only half of the job is complete? They could barely even be considered professionals.
Thank Kami, Mimura thought, the children had to be attempting to rile the assailants up. She knew not for what purpose, but if it kept her alive longer, even for just a few moments, it was a good decision.
"Oi, would you quit it? We're trying to keep quiet here." The gruff voice slowly arose from the shadows, revealing a large being, covered in navy colored clothing that was loosely covering his body.
"If you pipsqueaks want your heads smashed in that can be arranged. We're given explicit permission to kill any who might try to interfere"
Akino was starting to get bored. He had sat waiting for what he believed would surely be his sister slowly escaping out of the house, yet no sister did appear. It got to the point where he was almost thinking of actually going to get the water and come back as though nothing had happened, yet something kept him rooted to the spot.
Dusk had fallen on the scene when Akino had finally moved to get the water and had come back, dragging it low to the ground on occasion due to it's weight. Geez, he thought. All of that waiting for nothing, not even a single sound of movement from within the house. It was then that he thought something might have happened, might have slipped past his notice.
He quickened his pace considerably, worry slipping into his gait. The fires had been extinguished by the townsfolk in close proximity to where the young boy and girl lived, yet had thankfully not touched the surrounding houses.
When he returned, dismay was clear on his face, for two shadows seemed to move towards the location of their house, and enter it silently. Akino ran, thinking of nothing else but his sister, and how to protect her.
"Ugh, Akino," he muttered into the quiet night. Only cicadas could be heard as the temperature in that dry land decreased, yet even they seemed to have muted themselves in the moonlight. "How could you have left her? You didn't even need the water anymore!" Berating himself for his stupidity he approached their house.
Trying to be as silent as those shadows were, he moved onto the raised platform, and slipped unnoticed through the cracked doorway. The only light illuminating the house was the moonlight seeping through the cloth curtains and the one lamp his sister owned up in their shared room. She hadn't gone to sleep thankfully, so she still might be able to escape if he couldn't hold the two off.
A presence moved in the quiet house. Although not so much as a presence per say, but more like the shifting of air, Akino decided. The air shifted once again, revealing the figure he had seen earlier, beginning to make their way down the lighted hallway.
Although he could not see the other figure he had spied, he took his chances. "Komura! Run!" He shouted, making a break of his own outside the door and around to the side. Loud cursing resounded throughout the house and through the open window that Komura stood by.
Her eyes were widened considerably and she glanced behind. Seeing a man, dressed in dark clothing approaching her threateningly was enough to move her frightened body to jump. The fall was not far in the least, but with what would surely be another body soon following her, she froze up, crashing into Akino below her and forcing the pair tumbling to the ground.
Akino looked up after adjusting himself and stared in horror at the hand signs flowing effortlessly from the man's hands. "We have to move!" He yelled, exasperated at the situation.
Awkwardly, he pulled Komura to her feet and the pair took off down the dusty lane, fear evident on their faces as they ran for their lives. They dared not look back until Akino made a single peek, only seeing the quickly approaching figure of someone much smaller than the burly assassin from before.
Akino slowed to a stop, forcing Komura to as well, despite her protests. The figure also slowed, seeing as how the boy and girl whom she had been sent to retrieve were not interested in running any longer.
"W-what are you going to do to us?" Despite bravely stepping in front of his sister to keep her from harm, his voice still shook.
Instead of answering, the shadow drew ever closer. She could see that they were about to start running again, so she halted her movements.
"Do not try to run, I can see what your actions will be before they occur," she muttered, the words managing to reach the ears of the siblings.
"How?" The boy, Akino she believed was his name, demanded.
She pondered for a moment, considering if she should divulge the secret. Not many hear of it, especially anymore, since most who cultivated the ability were killed off, and those that weren't never taught the skill to their offspring.
"Hm...to keep it simple enough for your young minds to understand, it has nothing to do with jutsu or any ninja skill." She nodded to herself in her head, deciding on the best course of action. "I mean I suppose it does, but on a basic level not really. You're a Genin right?"
Akino nodded hesitantly, still on guard around the foreigner.
"Well then you know about Chakra. This ability is created over years of training, and there is no limit to the usefulness of said skill, no matter how strong a Shinobi may get." A confused look came over his face, and a look at his sister behind him showed the same. She continued, "To put it simply, I can see an aura of chakra around any person at any time."
A gasp erupted from the boy's throat, proving that he at least understood, whereas the young girl, Komura, still retained the confused expression. She continued nonetheless. "And with that, after some practice, I can see what any person is about to do a split second before they do it. Should I stumble upon anyone with the same ability however I have countermeasures. And countermeasures for those countermeasures." A small chuckle escapes the female, carrying out into the night.
Akino was, frankly, astonished. Never before had he heard of such an ability, least of all one that didn't require at least a Kekkei Genkai of some sort to produce it. His thoughts were stopped however when the girl suddenly flashed in front of him. She put a palm to his head, emitting a shock to go through the young one who promptly collapsed on the spot.
"That should do for now," the tall figure mutters, gauging her handiwork.
"W-What did you d-do?" A fearful voice calls. The dark clothed shinobi raises her eyebrows slightly, finally hearing Komura speak at all.
"Nothing much, for you see Komura, there is one drawback to having this power. It's something I need you to keep from your brother, hence the reason he is sleeping."
The fear upon Komura's face did not wholly disappear, but the innocence about her would not allow the yellow aura of hers to be defiled by pain.
"O-Okay..." She muttered.
"Part of the reason this power is so rare, is because if it is ever used in a way to harm others for your own sake, you will be rejected. I don't know what that boy has seen in this world, but I believe I can trust you that when the time comes, you can stop him so. Make sure to only protect, Komura, and your light will never fade. Goodnight."
And with that dismissal she too received the same treatment as Akino, falling asleep as the cells inside her couldn't keep up with the amount of sudden chakra.
"Hm...that boy's aura..." The female shinobi muttered. "How it changed when I spoke of power...It's no matter, everything will come to pass as it will, for the wheel of time moves ever onward.