There really was no choice, Komura had to transform to fit the dress. Heaving a heavy sigh, she looked in the mirror, barely able to make out the distinctions of her face.
"Here goes nothing," with a slight 'poof' an older version of Komura stood, this one with styled blue hair and obviously bigger breasts whom she had seen pacing the street a few days ago. She attempted to get every detail just right, however she hadn't planned to become the person so her jutsu created a...less appetizing version.
The dress was a bit snug around the middle but it would do. A pair of black high heels matched the pale purple dress nicely as she slipped once more unnoticed back into the main second floor balcony.
She stood for a moment peering over the railing, looking for the woman who had noticed her earlier. It wasn't particularly difficult from up here with her black hair which contrasted to the brightness of her long hot pink dress popping out from the crowd. Komura wobbled down the steps, unused to wearing heels and being in a different form, not even mentioning how she had to continually make sure that her disguise still held.
While it would be most foreword to just go in straight for the kill, she was weaponless, and had no obvious way to get one. She told herself to breathe and calm down. Peace is the only way to find a good answer to a problem and if this was a bug one then she would just breathe deeper.
Approaching directly was a no at the moment, so was fleeing the party altogether if she wanted the reward. Yes, she would need the money to get better, for Akino surely wasn't dead. If she was able to survive then he did without a doubt. So when she finally finds him she must be strong enough to be able to keep him happy, just as he has always done for her.
Obtaining some sort of weapon is out of the question. She would have nowhere to hide anything upon her person, and what could she even grab, a knife? From where? And how would she get it past the cooks of the kitchen without some suspicious questions? Not to mention being able to bring it over and kill the woman without getting caught in the act.
No, she would wait. Patience is a virtue, they say. You just have to wait for the right moment to pounce like a game of cat and mouse. When that time comes you must be ready however, until then...Komura stared at the food laden upon the table, the rumble of her stomach not going unnoticed.
A friendly woman approached her, hiding a chuckle behind her hand. "If you're hungry, you can just go and get some, you know."
Komura blinked, not believing that someone would have talked to her just like that. "Haha well you see..."
"Don't tell me that you're not going to eat! It's a party! You won't find as good food most other places except your own house!"
"True..."
"Speaking of which, I'm Sakura of the Guyama household. And you are...?"
Quickly, Komura thought of an answer, "My name is Hasuka of the Misako house."
"Oh? I don't recognize that name, are you not from around here?" Sachiin asked with a puzzled look on her face.
"Yes actually, my family comes from the next village over but we have relatives in this town who I came to visit," she replied easily. It wasn't technically a lie because she had lived in the neighboring town for all of two weeks, and Garoma was practically family now anyway.
"Ah well that's good, it was nice to meet you Hasuka, I will see you around." Sanchin replied, making a hasty exit to go speak with some gentleman with a blue tie.
Komura just nodded even though he woman was halfway to her destination by this point. Dealing with the wealthy is difficult, you always have to be on your toes.
"I suppose I'm my aunt now," she mutters finally arriving at the food table. It's all a variety of small pastries and finger food so she takes only one of each thing to try them out. With her acquired delicacies, she retreated to a corner to simply watch the others go about their partying.
'Is this how the wealthy live?' She asks herself, taking in the scene in for the third time that night. 'What if I were to live like this?' Her daydreaming of a different life only strengthened her resolve.
"I do love the forest, and Garoma is my best friend, but the life without people is the solitary one. Garoma can't provide the social interaction that I used to have, and it feels so good to be amongst people again." She mumbles, breathing a sigh of happiness.
"Well you certainly don't look like you're having very much fun!"
Surprised, Komura jumps, dropping her small plate of treats. "Oh I'm sorry!" The feminine voice exclaims, calling a serving man over to clean up the mess.
"Oh no, I'm sorry!" Komura replied, horrified at the wastefulness of food she had just seen.
"Haha it's fine, you'd be surprised how often drinks are spilled at such things. I should know." Finally, Komura got a look at the person who had startled her, almost to the point of breaking her concentration at holding the jutsu.
"Are you the hostess then?" She bluntly asks, realizing that it was the woman who had noticed her at the beginning before her transformation.
"Well of course! This is my house, and I would like everyone to have a great time for their time here, is there anything we can do to be of assistance?"
Komura thought for a moment, before shaking her head in response. The woman frowned for just a second before another jovial smiled returned to her face.
"Ah well whatever then. If you need anything, let me know!" She tells her before turning to waltz away. Quickly, Komura reaches out towards her, calling "Wait!"
The black-haired woman turns around, an expectant appearance greeting the young-yet-older girl. "Could you, perhaps, just talk with me?" She pleads, an embarrassed red tinting her cheeks.
"Well of course dear! You should have asked sooner!" The woman turns fully and stands next to Komura by the pale creme wall.
Before Komura gets a chance to fully introduce herself or know the name of her target, a whistling wind blows through the entirety of the house. The room is plunged swiftly into darkness as screams erupt from the populace. Blinking a handful of times, Komura gets her eyes used to the almost-dark to see the woman next to her not having moved an inch.
Seizing what opportunity she had, she grabs at the woman, wrapping her hand around her mouth and he other trapping the movement of her upper arms as she drags her away. Shadows are the only distinction between distance and movement so a handful of times Komura bumps into who are likely party-goers, yet they brush past and out into the night without a second thought.
In the dim light, she finds a ground-floor room, briefly letting one arm freed of the target so she could open it. Yet the woman made no attempt to escape. She barely struggled which gave Komura an uneasy feeling, but she would be damned if she let this stroke of luck pass her by.
Closing the door behind her, the woman finally gasped at being released from her grip. Komura swung her fist at where she judged the woman to be, but was caught off guard by a block by she who had heard the movement of her dress. The black-haired female swings her legs, sweeping Komura's out from under her.
She falls to the ground with a yelp, and just barely manages to avoid a kick aimed strategically at her ribs as she roles to her feet. Instead of a whipping punch, Komura strikes in a straight line, going back on what she had learned a year ago yet still has not perfected, an open palm attack.
Instead of hitting her target however, the woman's hands ghost over her arm before using her foreword momentum to pull her off balance. She falls a second time, tripping over her own feet in the darkness. Komura's heavy breathing and the blood in her ears were the only sounds she could hear.
The woman held off on another attack, seeming to retreat to the other side of the room. Komura stood on shaky legs, unused to the constraints of battle and already having her chakra significantly depleted. Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth, she calmed herself, doing her best to analyze the situation.
The ones who had blown out the candles could come at any moment, even quicker once they found out that she was still within the house or heard the noise. She would have to end it quickly, or as quickly as possible at least. Envisioning her eyes sharpening, he closed them for a moment before reopening them with a snap to have limited results.
She would be lying if she said that she couldn't see better, but the sight of aura's had disappeared with the lack of human contact. Yet she used what she got and slowly advanced in for a final attack, this time feeling her energy collect in her right palm.
Before she could even make a single threatening move though, the woman leapt from the wall, grabbing Komura's wrist and sliding her foot neatly into her instep. With another 'poof' she felt herself transform back into her own self, the dress feeling more like a heavy blanket than an article of clothing. Her only realization before going headfirst into the wall is how bad she messed up.
Minato released a sigh, looking through the paperwork he would have to do. His team just came back from one of their first missions without him and it was incredibly stressful on the man. He had to be used in the war as one of Konoha's best assets, yet that didn't mean he liked it.
War was one thing he disapproved of wholeheartedly, yet the Hokage told him he must go as it was his duty. Leaving his team in this time of war though, was his worst nightmare. He had barely thought about what he was doing out on the battlefield against Kumogakure at all.
They had returned home safe though, that was the only thing that was important. This war had to stop. Kusagakure was infiltrated only a week ago which means the Land of Fire had lost a valuable barrier against the enemy. Unless something big happened soon he couldn't think of a way that they could possibly win.
If this war lasted as long as it seems that it will, his team would be sent on dozens more missions, each one more dangerous than the last. Minato wasn't sure if his team was ready for what the world had to throw at them, even watching them train against each other now made him uneasy. With one eye on his work and the other on his team, he observed their teamwork.
That's what they really struggled with. Kakashi was too uptight and proud to let Obito win, Obito was resentful of Kakashi's skill, and Rin tried to keep the peace. It didn't help that obvious relationships were forming in his team. He heaved another sigh before brushing his hands through his spiky hair and flashing away, too distracted by his thoughts to work in peace.