On the way back, Mitsuki encountered a female shinobi who was scouring around the forest floor. Her features somehow appeared to be not of a local, and it ended up drawing Mitsuki's curiosity towards her as the kunoichi's expression grow desperate. Concerned, Mitsuki watched the Kunoichi's movement with curiosity as she crawled slowly on the forest patch. It seemed to her that she was looking for something. As soon as she realised what she was doing, Mitsuki reprimanded herself upon her bad habit of curiosity.
"What am I doing.. after yesterday? I should probably stop being such a busybody, at least when shinobis are involved.." she thought to herself. With a loud sigh, Mitsuki stood up from her hiding and tried to circle her way around, only for the kunoichi to discover her upon her abrupt movement as a dried branch snapped under Mitsuki's careless feet.
"WAIT! Are you a local?!" The kunoichi shouted. Mitsuki was caught offguard for a while, as she expected something more like "Who's there," or "Show yourself". However, as she snapped back to herself, she shouted back.
"No, I'm not! Gotta go, bye!" said Mitsuki quickly in one breath as she rushed forward and ran, as fast as she could, in hope of creating a significant distance between her and the kunoichi. Contrary to her hope, the kunoichi went and chase after her with unprecedented speed.
"WAIT, PLEASE!" the kunoichi shouted while giving Mitsuki a chase.
"WHY ARE YOU CHASING ME!?" Mitsuki shouted back as she saw the lady chased after her with pleading look in her eyes. Unsure of what to do, Mitsuki continued running, trying her best to lose the girl's chase in the process.
After failing to shake her off her trail for a while now, Mitsuki gave up and stopped on her track.
"URGH! You are persistent!" Mitsuki muttered in frustration. She had considered dousing her with the sleeping needle, but somehow the pleading look in the Kunoichi's eye made her hesitate.
"What do you want!? Be quick!" said Mitsuki coldly as she tried to maintain both her physical and emotional distance in fear of what might come down in the future.
"I… I need help finding this herb!" said the kunoichi as she frantically waved what looked like an illustration of a flower towards Mitsuki. "I looked everywhere but I can't seem to find it! I thought.. a local might know…"
"I'm not a local, I told you!" said Mitsuki in frustration for who knows how many time. "Besides, if you're looking for locals, you should probably visit the surrounding cities!"
Hearing Mitsuki's scolding, the kunoichi's eye swelled with tears, making Mitsuki felt bad somehow with how harsh she had been towards her. Sighing, Mitsuki decided to at least lend her an ear.
"Fine, I'll listen to you. But no guarantee that I'd be able to help, OK?" said Mitsuki, slightly frowning as she attempted to hide her sympathy as much as possible from the lady in front of hour.
Having listened to the gist of the situation, Mitsuki frowned. The Kunoichi who called herself Kirika, hailed from Hidden Mist Village, or Kirigakure, the same village as Kisame did. Apparently, she was on a mission to procure a rare, valued herb.
"They said it should be around this area, but…"
"Wait a minute, then why are you still here with me? I told you I'm not a local right? Go back to the city and ask some local then!" complained Mitsuki once more.
"I trieeeed," Kirika pouted as tears flew down the corner of her eyes. Somehow, Mitsuki wondered how such a cry-baby could be a kunoichi, considering what she had learned so far about the cruel world of shinobi.
"T..They said that it's rare and expensive, and if someone found it they would have probably sold it already, so…" said the lady, sobbing.
"Then? Why did you ask me? What if I pretend to help you then steal it from you?" asked Mitsuki, wondering if the lady in front of her is an idiot for trusting a stranger for such valuable items. Humans were creatures of greed after all. However, contrary to what Mitsuki expected, the girl answered in confidence.
"You don't look like someone who'd do such thing," said Kirika in response without wavering.
"Reason?" Mitsuki questioned, unsure of what had made the girl in front of her so sure. Could it be, that like her, she could also see someone's lie through their souls?
"Firstly, your kimono looked expensive, so I figured you must not want for money," said the lady briefly as she wiped her tears from the corner of her eye. Hearing Kirika's remark, Mitsuki tilted her head in confusion as somehow her answer is far from what she thought. Curious, she stayed quiet as she listened to the girl patiently.
"After all, it has such bright and beautiful color accompanied with unique embroidery design. I figured it won't be cheap, you know? The craftsmanship looked well done as well," added Kirika upon seeing the confusion on Mitsuki's eye. She couldn't help but felt reaffirmed upon Mitsuki's reaction, since there would be no way a civilian lacking money would not know the value of their clothing. Moreover, Mitsuki was nonchalantly wearing such thing of value for a walk into the forest.
Hearing Kirika's word, Mitsuki rubbed her forehead, calculating. Indeed, the total cost of the clothes she wanted to buy was exorbitant, but she thought it was because of the amount of clothes she was buying. However, if it was because of her Kimono alone..
Thinking back, Mitsuki remembered how Old Man Bocchon said he was going to sell her Kimono to fund their livelihood as well.
"Urghhhhh…" Mitsuki groaned as she felt immense guilt towards Itachi. Not only her current Kimono, her previous one that Itachi bought her was beautifully colored and embroidered as well. "Hazuki-nee… were you ripping Itachi-kun off?" Mitsuki thought to herself in confusion, wondering why would Hazuki recommended such expensive item for her back then. Quietly, Mitsuki made a mental note to ask Hazuki about it whenever she got the chance. Thinking about it, she had never known about how much her clothing articles would cost, as it was always gifted to her by either her "family" or her subjects.
Embarassed to admit her lack of knowledge, Mitsuki could only pretend that she knew of it, and yet she was actually very impressed upon Kirika's analysis.
"That's quite sharp of you to be able to deduce it like that!" said Mitsuki as she tried to hide her awkwardness behind her confident tone and fake smile. Hearing Mitsuki's praise, Kirika giggled. Seeing how easily Kirika believed her word, Mitsuki started to worry once more about the kunoichi in front of her. Feelin bad, Mitsuki put her hands out as she reached towards Kirika.
".. Show me the picture again.." said Mitsuki with a more gentle tone as she gave up on maintaining her cold shoulder. Without delay, Kirika handed over the scroll of the picture to Mitsuki.
"Did they told you anything else about it? For example, color, smell, temperature that it likes.."
"All I know is that its name is Dragonbloom, it has a vivid red bloom and leaves, and it's hard to come across.."
Mitsuki felt like whoever commissioned the mission to Kirika's village was either lazy or couldn't bother researching more about it. However, considering the herb's eye-catching look, yet it was the fact that somehow it was still an expensive rarity that was hard to find even according to the locals, could only mean a few things.
"Either the eye-catching color is a perfect camouflage for it, or.. the place where it grows couldn't be easily accessible, even with shinobi's help," thought Mitsuki as she added secretly in her mind, "or at least for ordinary shinobi that is.."
To confirm her suspicion, Mitsuki dropped another question.
"If I may know, what rank of mission is this?"
"A rank.." said Kirika, confirming Mitsuki's suspicion.
"I see.. are you a jonin then? You're doing this alone?"
"Ah, no, actually I'm just a chuunin.."
Mitsuki felt dizzy upon hearing her claims. Based on the information that she got from the three genin kids and how shinobi missions are assigned, it was either Kirika was an especially gifted kunoichi, or it was another case of reckless assigning, like how they asked the three genin to track a dangerous criminal group just because of one member's special ability and their convenient where-being.
"May I ask why did you take on this mission alone, then?" said Mitsuki, keeping her tone to be as polite as she could to cover her frustration.
"As you saw previously, I have talents for speed and traversal. This mission is quite urgent so I offered to go at it myself for efficiency."
"Don't you think it might be too dangerous for you?" said Mitsuki as she rubbed her forehead.
"They are willing to risk it for efficiency. Also, this area is relatively safe, you know? I only need to avoid and not engage with bandits and criminals, or run from them, which I'm good at!"
Mitsuki tried her best to hold back on reprimanding the girl. As she said, she was indeed quite agile, so what she said could be indeed, valid. After all, even Mitsuki couldn't shake her off considering how Mitsuki could usually keep up with her two teammates who were another league of ninja on their own. Considering her option and future possibility, Mitsuki sighed as she gave her response.
"OK, I don't mind helping you. However, there are a few rules that you have to follow, understood?"
Hearing Mitsuki's remark, Kirika straightened her body and replied, "A.. Anything but giving you the entire herb we find! I need it to clear the mission!"
"Of course not, ugh," Mitsuki responded quickly in frustration, before shifting her gaze back at the kunoichi. "Listen OK, the rules are, 1stly, don't tell anyone about our encounter, and no question about me, got it? If you can, don't even think about it, no curiosity. If you can't do this, I'm out, OK?"
"U..understood! Totally not curious at all, got it!" said Kirika as she tensed up.
Slightly doubting her words, Mitsuki frowned as she continued.
"Second, If they ever assign you some other mission after this, reject it and go home with the herb, understood?"
"That's an unlikely case since the herb is needed urgently, but got it!" Said Kirika, this time with a salute as if reassuring Mitsuki. However, it only brought a frown to Mitsuki's forehead.
"Lastly," Mitsuki added once more, "If after this we meet somewhere, we don't know each other. Don't approach me, don't talk to me or whoever I am with, got it?"
"Ah.. but how do I repay you? I don't have anything to give now.."
"By keeping unto those rule," and not to die in front of her, said Mitsuki, leaving the last bit of her sentences silent in her thought.
Wondering what kind of person was the lady that she happened came across actually was to impose unto her such rules, Kirika swallowed back her curiosity and nodded silently with determination.
"You're in luck," said Mitsuki as she readied herself to take the risk and help the kunoichi in her mission. "I happen to be quite knowledgeable about herbs," she added
Author's note:
How will Mitsuki grow this time? Hehe… Or.. what will she come across? :3
Also that curiosity, in our(my) culture, we call it KayPoh, or kepo, technically when you curious or involve yourself in things that are not your business, unasked xD (sometimes it can be quite annoying but can also be sign of care)