Scarlet Justice: Full Blossom – ep. 39
"Checks and Balances"

I yawn and open my eyes. The sun has only just risen over the horizon, as it always is when I wake up on my normal schedule. Fio is still asleep, and I kiss her on the cheek before getting up and letting my 'autopilot' take over. A quick shower to jolt my body awake, some light maintenance, and a glass of water before I get changed. A nice, light training outfit will work for this morning's run.

"Time to get started."

I put my hair up and slip on my sandals before leaving quietly. The first stop is the Twenty-Third Training Field, our team's home base. A familiar set of faces greets me: Hina, my first running partner, Kurenai, who is working on her body again, Hanabi, who started with us shortly after her new arrangements, and Futaba, the newest member.

"Good morning, ladies. Nothing too intense today, yes?"

"Nothing too intense," Hina says. "A good route to ease into things would be the seventh."

"Works for me," Kurenai says.

I nod. "Excellent. I agree with that as well. Futaba, just follow along with us. Don't worry about memorizing anything or thinking too much. Let your body work and your mind relax."

"Understood, ma'am." She covers her mouth. "I mean, Lili. I understand, Lili."

I pat her shoulder and smile before starting off. With the sound of footsteps, I can hear everyone else fall in behind me. Our route today will take us towards the western parts of the village, where the paths are fairly even and clear, and we don't have to worry too much about slower pedestrians and cyclists.

Hina pulls up beside me and matches my pace perfectly, our footfalls barely distinguishable from each other.

"I was thinking...perhaps we should think about matching outfits," she says.

"Maybe not entirely matching. Something customizable would be nice," I reply.

"That sounds like a better idea."

"I understand what you mean, solidarity is always a good thing. It's cute and uplifting when we all have the same sort of look. Did you want to take care of the orders, or should I?"

"I would like to, if that's okay."

"Certainly."

"Thank you. I have some ideas, and I'll share them with Hanabi first before we send them to you. She has an eye for fashion herself, unsurprisingly."

"Always on the cutting edge, that one. Very interested to see what you two come up with."

We finish our circuit and cap things off with a cool, fruity drink for everyone, as is our tradition. The group disperses, and I head back to my hotel room.

"Happy morning, Lili!" Fio greets me at the door.

"Happy morning, Fio."

"Breakfast is all set up. I'll wait until you get back from your shower so we can dig in together."

"Thank you, love. I'll be quick."

I get into my regular outfit after my shower and give Fio a kiss on my return. We sit and eat a hearty breakfast together, looking over the news and our personal notes for the morning.

"Is today a good day to visit that friend of yours?" I ask her.

"Yeah, today's good. He should be at home...probably gonna wake up by the time we finish eating here. Did you pick some stuff up already?"

"I did some exploration of the north and had some of the genin under my hand run a few missions in the area. The data should be nice and neat after I went over it with a comb earlier."

"Awesome. He's gonna love it. Thanks so much for helping, Lili."

"Think little of it. A bit of extra work isn't too stressful, once one has control of their surroundings. I'll head over there first, then. Jiraiya can occupy himself in the meantime."

"Oh, boy. You're sure that this isn't gonna cause you any problems?" Fio asks nervously.

"It won't. Given what I know now, I have him firmly by the balls. And I am going to make him scream like the little bitch he is."

"Oof. Well, I feel like I've said this before...don't chop him up too fine."

"No promises. The only assurance is that he won't see any physical harm as a result of what he did. Well, any more physical harm."

"Yeah. Though he earned it the last time."

"Indeed."

"I'll probably be back here by mid-afternoon, give or take a few hours. What about you?"

"Mm. If time permits, which it should, I'm going to take Hina over to the Lion Kingdom embassy."

"That sounds so neat. Han-sensei was talking about summoning stuff at one point, but like...kidnapping happened. Which was a bummer, as you know. And I was pretty focused on getting back into shape over the break..."

"While I'm there, I'll check if there are any rumblings about new summoners being needed," I say. "Though if you have preferences, I'll consider them as well."

"Oh, cool. I was thinking really hard on this, and I decided on sheep."

"Sheep...an interesting choice. From what I recall, they have a wide field of vision, great hearing, and an excellent sense of smell."

"Yep!"

"Their balance is also quite miraculous, much like goats, which only makes sense. I am sure there are all kinds in their membership. I can see why you were interested in them as partners."

"They also have cool horns, and super strong heads! Imagine running into that..."

"It sounds unpleasant enough for one's enemies."

"Heh."

"I can ask Midori-nee if she's heard anything from their end, definitely."

"Thanks so much! No rush, of course. But I'm excited to see what happens."

"I am as well."

"I can clean up for us here before I head out," she says. "Take care while you're out today, okay?"

"I will, my love."

After finishing breakfast, I grab one of my smaller backpacks with all of my necessary documents in them. Fio gives me a kiss and then I'm off for the day. My first stop is a small apartment in the middle of the village, where one of Fio's many acquaintances lives.

"Floor two, room six."

I reach the door and politely knock.

"Be right there."

I nod and wait patiently. The smell of bacon and eggs reaches my nose. A door chain and two locks are moved out of place, along with a short burst of chakra that I sense, likely to remove a seal. The door opens afterwards.

"Sorry for the wait, ma'am. Come on in."

"Thank you kindly, and a pleasant morning to you."

I follow my host inside to the kitchen, where he takes his food off the stove before pouring hot cups of tea. One goes to me, and the other sits on the table.

"You can go ahead and eat while we're talking," I say.

"Oh, thanks. I just got up and I'm totally starving." My host has his long black hair in the form of two tails, and wears a patterned skirt along with a slim blouse that is mostly unbuttoned. Since it's still early for him, he doesn't have his makeup on...not that he needs it, I suppose. Between the legs and those lashes, it's hard to tell him apart from any other woman.

"Formal introductions before I start anything, of course. Yuuichi Ogawa," he says while extending his hand. I take it and shake firmly. "People in the know call me Yuuko nowadays."

"Lilith Kobayashi, as you know. Lili is fine, if you're comfortable."

"Thanks."

"Your nails are impeccably done, by the by. And you have legs to die for."

"Oh, gosh. Thanks so much! I'm pretty much always at the gym, hogging the leg press and talking people up. Of course, you look like you popped right out of a magazine yourself. Like, super stunning, to say the very least of it."

"I do try my best," I say with a smile. "So, Fio told me that you needed some help recently."

"Yeah, I did mention it some time ago. It was just a bit of musing, but she said that you could do something for me, and that was that. She's such a sweetheart, I love her."

"One of her many amazing qualities."

"Have a seat, we don't want your tea to get too cold."

I nod and take my pack off, then sit and have a bit of tea. Warm and refreshing.

"How much data did you manage to get?" Yuuko asks.

"I think it should be plenty for your purposes, from what I've looked into. I have two scrolls here."

"Two? Wow, you weren't kidding."

I reach into my pack and pull out the two scrolls, handing them over. Yuuko unseals one of them and scans the contents while chewing quietly.

"Mm..."

"Good enough?"

"Man. You really cleaned this up, Lili. Most of the time I get raw data that looks like chewed up garbage. Usually have to spend a bit parsing it before I can do anything. And it's not the time sensitive stuff either, that I could understand...oh, I'm loving this. Yeah, we can definitely get ahead with a bunch of monitoring and array locations. This'll end up shaving years off our plan times if we keep going at our current pace."

"You can also assign a couple of C-Rank missions to my groups in order to get further ahead of the game. I'm going to drop off that request for Shikaku to review before my other meetings today."

"That would be a godsend," Yuuko says as he rolls up the scroll again. "I'll scan the rest of these later, but it looks amazing already. Seriously, thank you so much for this. You went way above and beyond this time."

"Never does a body good to leave work undone. I always do favours with the best of intentions."

"I can see that. Not gonna lean on you too much, even if you're okay with it...but I'll definitely keep you in mind if I need any more intel stuff done well and quickly. We've been looking into getting those detection and monitoring arrays done for a while now, and the new bursts of funding have certainly helped. The old-heads are constantly doing their downsizing and cutbacks, ugh. Just bullshit all around."

"Yes, I've noticed that. It has been a general trend all over the shinobi world," I say.

"If it keeps up, we are going to have a whole lot of problems from putting trained guys out of work. More than we have now."

"Without a doubt."

"We also want to try and figure out stuff with the weather, which has been bugging some researchers for a while when it comes to getting accurate looks. Cloud is out in front of the stuff, but it's mostly in use on the coasts for their boats. Makes their tech hard to get a hold of. Then again, working from scratch might be better overall. But I shouldn't sit here talking your ear off."

"Oh, I've taken a sharp interest in things of that nature myself recently. But if you're ever interested in accelerating your knowledge even further, let me know. I have some people who are looking into their own advancements at this time."

"I'll chew on it some more. Thank you, again."

"Think little of it." I finish my tea. "I wanted to get some more errands done before the morning fades away, so I'll be off for now."

"No problem. Let me get the door for you, Lili." Yuuko stands up and washes his hands before escorting me to the door.

"I'm very glad I could help you today, Yuuko. Take care of yourself," I say to him.

"I definitely will. Have a good day, Lili. And I can't say it enough, thank you for your help."

"Any time."

We shake hands before I open the door and head out.

The next stop will be to do as I said earlier, making sure that Yuuko's requests can go through to my subordinates. Also, I have those notes that I was working on during Naruto's training – those can go off to Nami. She can then circulate them to Yuno and Dark. I think the three of them will be very interested in what I've come up with.

After handing my notes to the shinobi at the desk, I turn my wrist over and look at my timepiece.

"Hm. I think I've let the fucker stew enough. Time for me to dig in."

I pull out my compact mirror and check myself over. Everything looks as fabulous as it should be.

"Good. Let's take of business."

I shake out my hair and start through the village again, heading towards an upscale establishment that's known for its exquisite sushi and alcohol. I won't be partaking in either today, as I have more important matters that I would like to focus on.

"Madam Kobayashi, welcome."

"Good morning to you," I say to the man in black robes. His hair is tied into a top knot that I can see as he bows deeply.

"The Lord Jiraiya is present and waiting for you. He has been making inquiries, beginning from the half hour mark."

"Was it too much trouble?"

"Not at all, madam. We provided him with beverages, as per your instructions...he did make certain requests, however."

"I can only guess he asked for vintage product, conveniently off the menu."

"Yes, madam."

I shake my head. "That much is fine. Place it with the other items, and I will pay for everything plus an extra bottle of what he's enjoying now. I intend to leave him here and head to another meeting."

"Yes, understood. If you would follow me, madam."

I nod and he leads me through the establishment towards the back section. This is, as usual, for high powered guests such as upper rank shinobi and celebrities, or just people with money to throw around. Amusing how I meet all of those requirements as I am now. Never would have dreamed of it just a few years ago.

"The times change quickly, don't they," I say to myself.

"We have arrived, Madam Kobayashi. If there is anything you might need, I will be waiting nearby. A bell is on the table to summon me."

"Thank you very much," I say to him with a smile. "Your hospitality is greatly appreciated. It may get...intense for a short time, while the Lord Jiraiya and I discuss sensitive matters. For your safety, it's best that you not interrupt until one of us calls for you directly."

He nods knowingly. "Understood, madam. I will leave you to your business."

"Thank you again."

He bows and turns smoothly to leave. I slide open the wooden door and see that Jiraiya is sitting cross legged at the wood table inside. The room itself is lovely, with lots of floral patterns decorating the walls, small plants, and a window that lets in light and fresh air. As I take off my bag and get to my knees in front of the table, I can see that the sake container and the two cups are elaborately etched with designs as well. Jiraiya fills one of them with a new hit of sake before sipping from it.

"Not often you get to drink the good stuff like this. Really well aged..."

I reach into my pockets and pull out a card that has a list of names on it. My hands settle in my lap as I wait for Jiraiya to give me his attention.

"A bit more arrogance on your part, eh. Well, I can't really complain since you're letting me drink on your dime. Makes me think we could do this more often, one day." He sets the cup down and puts his hands on his knees. "So you kept me waiting over an hour while you traipsed around town, doing who knows what. It's not like I don't have things to do myself."

"I'm sure," I say. "Unfortunately for you, I have a very specific reason that I called you out here. Consider the free drink a bit of compensation."

"Hm."

"I've heard that you're the author of quite a prolific series of novels. Adult novels, specifically."

"Huh. Naruto didn't blab about it to you already?"

"Not until recently."

"Yeah, your little training trip. Real impressed with the kid, didn't think he could pull something like that off. Nice that you helped, too. Although he says that he can't use it in the field because of some condition, or whatever. Tsunade explained it to me, though, so I get it. Gotta be a way around it...anyway. Yeah, I'm the big time author of Icha Icha, so now you know. Writing is something I really love doing. Lots of reasons behind it. I've done more than just adult books, but...that's a story for another time."

"I see."

"So you came here to scold me or something?"

"Oh, not at all. I'm an avid reader of the series myself, and you've done very fine work. My earlier guesses about the semi-autobiographical nature of the series were correct, though. Plenty of basis on your failed courting of our dear Tsunade."

He sniffs at that. "Maybe."

"In fact, I see that taking inspiration from real life sources is a theme in your novels, including the very popular spinoff series that I enjoyed...to a point."

Jiraiya eyes me warily while pouring himself another cup of sake.

"I'm sure that Tsunade is well aware of her influence on your books...but it is very interesting how you took something told to you in confidence and spun it into a novel series, without notifying the subject in question."

"Right. As if there aren't any other red-headed lesbians out in this wide world of ours."

"I see. So we're playing that game."

"Is this what you called me out for? Because you're pissed off that you think I based a character in a book on you? Maybe there are similarities..."

"More than a few."

"Right." He knocks back his drink and sighs. "So...what. Are you gonna expose me for allegedly copying your look? Most people would be flattered at being treated like that, you know. You'd be practically famous...well, they wouldn't know it was you, allegedly. If something like that did happen."

"If I wanted to expose you for your alleged acts, I would have done so already, and we wouldn't be sitting here."

"Then what do you want?"

"I wanted to show you this, where only the two of us could see it. I believe you will find this list...illuminating, in terms of your position with me."

"List..."

I take the card from my lap and place it face down on the table, then slide it towards Jiraiya. He raises a brow and sets his cup down before taking the card and flipping it over.

I watch the realization hit his face, eyes widening in terror.

"What the hell..."

"I see that you recognize at least some of those names. And that's just a partial list, Jiraiya," I say menacingly.

"You...what are you trying to do?"

"Force your lecherous hand, of course. You see...it's as I said before. Aside from that dispirited ending to the Icha Icha Garden series, I quite enjoy your books," I say while smiling. "You're very gifted with prose, and you tell vivid, delightful little stories within stories, with fascinating characters to match. The last thing I would want you to do is stop writing, as your novels are very good, and make the literary world so much richer."

"So why would you-"

"Because you took from me, Jiraiya." My smile widens. "And nobody takes from me. Especially not you, you perverted old man."

"I don't...get it," he says. "You don't want to ruin me...but you're threatening to, because I took something from you, I don't know what. What's your damn game, Lilith? What do you want? What's this list really for?"

"Look next to the names. Figure it out."

"Now you're handing out riddles. This is insane..." He looks over at the collections of letters and numbers, brow furrowing in thought. Another jolt of realization hits him, and his face slowly falls. "Holy shit."

"Do you know what those are now?"

"Book numbers, chapters and pages...dialogue lines. First appearances," he says, still in shock.

"And as I told you, I have many, many more. The list is longer than you could imagine...so. I wonder what would happen if some of those high class ladies learned that you were researching them, without their knowledge or consent..." I brush back some of my hair. "Or maybe their husbands and lovers might find out, through some unknown means? Doting fathers and uncles, perchance? How many of them are in the government structure? It would be terribly fascinating to discover, I think..."

"You little bitch. You're actually blackmailing me, right out in the open. You've really gone and lost your mind," Jiraiya growls.

"You wanted to know what it was I came here for, yes?"

"Go ahead and spit it out, then."

I look into his eyes squarely. "Icha Icha Garden. I want half."

"Half?" he asks, confused.

"Half," I repeat. "Of what was, of what is, and of what will be. Half."

"No. There is no way that I'm giving you-"

"I don't think Auntie Tsuna is aware of just how much you studied her for material," I interrupt. "Perhaps I should correct that once I leave here. Oh, and before then...maybe I should mention to a certain aide how you got her details down in that very, very steamy scene with her kouhai from the fifth Garden book."

He stares at me with murderous designs on his mind, lips pressing together tightly. I watch as he pours himself a drink, then another, then another so that he can try to calm his nerves. I calmly look back at him, not letting my absolute glee at the situation shine through. This was so much more fun than I thought...seeing him crumble to pieces underneath the pressure has been delicious. I love it. He's in the palm of my hand. All of that research on his unaware subjects was more than worth it.

"God...dammit."

Jiraiya slams a palm onto his knee and grumbles bitterly.

"Fine. Fine...I'll give you half."

"I'm so glad we could come to an understanding, Lord Jiraiya."

"Just shut up."

"Of course, I have no need for your filthy money myself...it will all be going to Magnolia House."

He blinks. "Magnolia House? You mean the orphanage you're setting up?"

"Yes."

"Huh." He grunts and rolls his shoulders. "Guess that's okay, considering...yeah, alright."

"Half of the lifetime sales as of today. And then half of all future sales from today until the end of time. Have your accountant set it aside, I don't care how." I pull out a scroll and unroll it on the table. "And of course, I'm getting the agreement in writing. Give it a quick read, or a long one if you prefer, and sign at the bottom."

"Yeah, whatever. I'll be here a while, whether you want to stay or not. Gonna read this through to make sure you're not screwing me even further."

"I see. Then I will leave you to it. Order whatever you like, more sake, food, so on and so forth. I'll clear up the new tab later."

"You'll do what? Why?" he asks, suspicious.

I smile back at him. "Well, it's the very least I could do for such a generous contributor to the children of this village, Lord Jiraiya."

"God, I am sick of you. Just...leave. You've said enough for one day."

"Understood." I bow my head towards him. "Thank you for your time."

I ring the bell and stand up to leave, putting on my backpack.

"Madam Kobayashi."

The host from earlier enters and bows deeply.

"I shall be off for now. Please provide the Lord Jiraiya with whatever he might need, and attribute it to my account. I will arrive tomorrow morning to pay the remaining balance. In the meantime, we will take care of the current balance now."

"Of course, madam. This way."

We head to the front desk, and I hand over the necessary money for everything. No doubt that Jiraiya will eat and drink up a storm to try and spite me, but I wouldn't pick this place if I didn't have extra cash to burn. A very small price to pay in order to soothe his ego a bit and distract him. I give a proper gratuity to my host, and then I'm on my way, back into the warmth of the village.

"Beautiful."

I sigh happily and run my hands through my hair.

"How sweet it is, to have my own little tin soldier...that's what you get for fucking with me, you worthless old lecher."

An incredibly satisfying day so far. He'll definitely try to get back at me, at some point...it's going to be fun bringing him to his knees again when that time comes, hmhm. He should thank the heavens that Naruto is his godson. Not that it matters. I have always loved him more.

"Ah. Alright...let's see if Hina is free. If not, I can take care of a few other things before heading back to home base..."