A Chance Meeting...

Anzo sighs as he walks out of his home at the Aburame clan compound and straight into the streets of Konoha. He still had a lot of trouble getting used to being in such an urban area, but he was gradually becoming accustomed enough that it didn't bother him too badly to slip between or around people in a crowd. He still preferred the outdoors and especially the cooler dampness of the deepest parts of the Senju Forest, but the food in the urban center was at least far better than what he could forage around for in the dirt. Grubs were filling and nutritious, but they didn't compare to the beef steaks he could eat in his favorite restaurant.

He continues moving through the crowd, more focused on getting to the restaurant than anything else, with his mind and his body quite worn out after one of the longest training sessions he'd ever had, and with a Hyuuga of all people. He wondered if his prejudice had showed during the training, but considering Peragus had still treated him cordially, he supposed not. And how would Peragus have known about Anzo's parents, anyways? It's unlikely any currently living Hyuuga even remembered the war between the Hyuuga and the Uchiha anymore.

In his half-aware state, he catches sight of some bright red hair, and he thinks it looks familiar, but he can't quite remember where he's seen that haircut before. He only catches little glimpses of it anyway, as whoever had that haircut was quite short, and the only reason he'd seen it at all was because of his height. Then the memory floods his mind, and he feels his face burning red. Perhaps, though, she wouldn't remember that he was there at the hot springs. That had been quite a long time ago, after all...

"Ah, h-hey, Airi. Fancy seeing you here!"

He hopes that by calling public attention to the both of them that it might disincentivize a direct assault on him with so many witnesses seeing him greet the famous Carmine Hyuuga so cordially.

It was another day. Cool, crisp, with a gentle wind. A day like any other with her large blacksmith by the name of Kango could be seen pushing someone out. A womanizer that was sexually harassing and even sexually assaulting the seamstress, Hinako. Slapping her on the rear was enough to cause Airi's and Kango's blood to boil. Whether this was a scam concocted by Hinako wasn't really on their mind, but the reaction from Hinako was more than enough to show that it was a genuine reaction. Kango grabbed the man by the shirt, threw the door of the shop wide open and chuck him onto the street. Airi ran out, shrieking like a banshee before stomping on the man. Airi Ohara, The Carmine Hyuga " You grabby piece of shit! Keep your hands to yourself and your tiny finger in your pants! " she shouted out as she stomped on the man before constantly stomping on his groin. A beautiful woman in pinkish-red hair walked out to watch the man getting stomped out by the kimono-clad hothead. Airi continued to stomp on the man until foam started to form at his mouth. She took a deep breath inwards and let out an Unrelenting Fury, taking away all of the power of the technique but used it to forcefully push the man away from her shop, sending him flying down the street, hopefully into the hands of some guards. She seethed with anger before turning towards where the man was sent flying and shot up a middle finger to him. She let out a little sigh outwards as Hinako Suzubame, Seamstress/Con-Artist " Oh gosh. You all didn't have to do that for me. But I guess I should say 'thank you'. It really means a lot to me. I guess that means I won't steal anything from the customers in the shop for a good.  Oh. Week maybe " Hinako said with a bit of a wink before skipping back inside. Airi let out a little sigh and turned to look towards Kango with him giving a bit of a confused shrug of his shoulders. Airi Ohara, The Carmine Hyuga " Well. Thanks for your help, Mister Kango. We've been getting quite a few of those more frequently lately huh? " Kango nodded and then pointed at Airi's cleavage as one of the reasons why. With a grumble, she tightened the collar of her armored kimono with Kango belting out a bit of a laugh before walking back into the shop with the door clanging on the bell. She took another deep breath in and exhaled before she heard a familiar voice. A familiar voice that caused her to turn around slowly with a look of death upon her eyes. Oh yes, she recognized this one. This one was in the flesh this time, probably, and not a shadow clone. Her shadow started to change in appearance to a more monstrous image with tentacles and a more monstrous outline. It was then that she calmed down, taking yet another deep breath -- remembering what he did for her after the fight with the previous Raikage. Airi Ohara, The Carmine Hyuga " Look what the cat dragged in. What is it? "

[1]

Anzo sees the angry look on her face, and he feels himself starting to sweat with abject terror, a fear that was certainly warranted, having seen her in her Sage Mode form. It might have been his eyes playing tricks on him, but he could swear that he saw her shadow shift. Just as likely to be a trick of the light or because of the crowd. The Aburame moves closer to her to be able to speak without having to shout through a whole group of people between himself and her, and when he finally does reach her, he comes with his hands raised, especially after noticing the unconscious man on the ground, looking more like a corpse now than a customer. Anzo decides that perhaps his Hippocratic oath can be ignored temporarily; he doesn't want to get any more on Airi's bad side than he already was, even though her facial expression softens a bit. Her tone is still quite gruff, however, and so Anzo decides to sweeten the interaction, at least a little bit. And with sincerity. He even manages to keep his eyes in contact with her own, rather than letting them trail any lower than her chin.

"Ah, it's good to see you again, Miss Airi, that's all. I er... wanted to invite you to a meal. Not as a date of course! But I wanted to discuss a potential improvement you might be able to make to my longjacket? It's not all that protective, you see, and I've heard you're not only a highly skilled jounin, but a craftswoman as well. The meal will be paid for by me, of course."

His smile was wide, making him look quite sheepish. It seemed she very much remembered him from the hot springs incident. At the very least, this would be his chance to apologize, and perhaps get her forgiveness.

"But I would also like to apologize for the er... incident that led to our meeting for the first time. It would not have been my preferred manner of meeting you, I swear."

It takes a lot of effort, especially as his height towers over Airi's own 5'0" frame, but he manages to keep his gaze above the neck, which is really quite a feat not just for Anzo, but for the majority of men.

Airi was repulsed for a moment when Anzo invited her for a meal. Her face visibly disgusted by his advance only to soften, once again, once he said that it was strictly platonic. Letting a heavy sigh outward, she placed a hand upon her hip and nodded her head. It was more work-related talk, especially in front of her place of business. She wasn't going to make this creep's armor for free and she would force this one to pay for the gear. Airi Ohara, The Carmine Hyuga " Oh please, no need to butter me up. Business is business. As long as you have the coin, you can get whatever it is you need. And, as long as you keep your hands and eyes to yourself, we should get along well. " she said, cinching up her armored kimono. The kimono had one shoulder pad, the Snow Chakra Armor, partially under her kimono and partially over her kimono. But yes, there was still more than enough room for her cleavage to show normally. All of this reminded her of something she had to follow up with, leading to her to slouch over a bit with a sigh. She had to follow-up with Hanabi about the presence of the Tsuchikage. Airi Ohara, The Carmine Hyuga " But fine, I have actual stuff to do here after we eat like making sure our 'guest' to Konoha has been appropriately accommodated. Fucking foreigners! I'll leave the restaurant we go to up to you. Just remember that this is 100% platonic. " she mentioned with a scowl towards Anzo.

[2]

Anzo tenses a bit, not to fight, but to run as quickly as he could when he sees her expression turning harsh, but then it softens again as he speaks, so he relaxes a little bit once more. The conversation was only getting more worrisome for him now, especially as she makes it clear that his presence isn't entirely welcome, but that was to be expected after their very first meeting ended so... poorly. He does want to make it clear that it's only partially business; he is genuinely interested in making their interactions more cordial, although he's a bit surprised that she's not immediately beating him into the dirt like the man she's currently standing on, which makes her look at least a bit taller than usual.

"I assure you, there's no buttering. I do want to make it clear that... our initial meeting is not commonly the way I introduce myself to anyone. I thought I heard-"

He cuts himself off then, as he remembers the method those two women had resorted to in trying to trap him into taking another peek, and he wonders momentarily if it was only a ploy or if it was something else. And then immediately decides that thinking about that day at all was going in the wrong direction entirely.

"My hands and eyes are almost always kept to myself, Miss Airi; the only time they're not is when it's clear that they're needed."

Anzo begins to lead Airi towards the steak restaurant, and then he pauses midstep on the path, causing some of the milling civilians to have to walk around him in order to avoid walking directly into him. The mention of the "guest" to Konoha makes him remember something, and judging by the expression his face is making, the remembering isn't something pleasant.

"This 'guest', Miss Airi... We will discuss that, too. I may need some insight, and you might be the only one I could turn to for something like this. Perhaps Peragus as well, but you, I think, will be far more interested in my misgivings regarding her."

Anzo knew it couldn't be Yui and Yua; they were both now members of Konoha, no longer guests. So the "guest" would have to be the Tsuchikage. He continues walking towards the barbecue place, surprised that despite how short her legs were, that Airi was able to keep up with his much longer strides. Still, the Aburame is extremely careful to keep the surprise off his face. He had to keep his misgivings about the Tsuchikage hidden from Hanabi, at least for now; she didn't have much of a poker face, he noticed, and they would need to completely avoid showing their intentions on their faces to avoid being murdered in the middle of the night. Anzo was already having trouble sleeping, staying as he had been in Hanabi's apartment.

Anzo nods brusquely when she mentions that they'll discuss the Tsuchikage more over dinner, although he doesn't blame Airi as much as she'll likely blame herself when he tells her about what happened... as well as his suspicions about what happened. He makes it to the steak restaurant and leads Airi inside, his face full business with furrowed brow and firm-set jaw. Even his usual waitress seems taken aback, but he gives her his usual happy-go-lucky smile, and she seems a little less perturbed, likely thinking that if he can still smile like he used to, then maybe things aren't too bad.

She leads Anzo to his usual table, but he shakes his head and gestures to a booth a bit further back, where the light was much worse. As soon as they're seated, Anzo waves off the waitress without even starting his order. The girl knows he usually just takes a cold glass of lemonade, anyway. His face firmly set once more, he looks directly at Airi and begins to tell her, in a low voice to make sure his words won't carry, what he observed during their initial meeting with the Tsuchikage.

"Hanabi gave the Tsuchikage all of her memories willingly. All of them. That's dangerous in its own right. I told her she could only have one of my memories, one that let her know of my parents' demise, but you know what? It took her just as long to take that one memory as it took for her to take all of Hanabi's. And that's not even the most telling thing, Miss Airi. My Kikaichu can recognize foreign chakra signatures once they've felt it. They can barely distinguish between different signatures in a way they can't seem to explain to me, but they know when they come in contact with foreign chakra. They felt foreign chakra twice while I was in contact with the Tsuchikage, but I only ever saw her make one crystal of my memory. That must mean she did the same technique more than once and hid the other crystal."

He'd been speaking almost hunched over, speaking swiftly but softly to Airi, but suddenly Anzo lifts his head, smiling directly at the waitress again as though nothing had happened.

"Katherine, c'mon, when are ya gonna ditch that loser boyfriend o' yours? You know I got plenty of room in my apartment for you!"

The waitress, Katherine apparently, gives him a giggle and makes a joking remark about not saying those kinds of things when he's already eating dinner with another woman while she sets his lemonade in front of him. He takes a quick sip, but otherwise leaves it be, allowing Airi to order for herself while he simply tells Katherine he'll have his usual. As soon as she leaves, his face turns serious again, like a curtain falling over a stage in the middle of an actor's line.

"I'm the leader of the Aburame clan. That means I know the secret of the Rinkaichu, and while it's impossible for her to get any of those insects, she could potentially develop something similar. Whatever happens, I will not allow knowledge of the Rinkaichu to leave the village. Ever."

He immediately downs his lemonade, pressing the glass against the wood a little before letting go of it, feeling himself quaking with fury as he centers himself again. He's not sure what to do, but he also describes his plan to Airi. It was odd, but it felt like he could tell her about this.

"I have a plan."

Anzo frowns and refrains from letting his frustration, far more at himself than at Airi, turn his voice into a growl. Instead, his tone is even and heavily tempered, but still under a bit of strain from the anger of being called a moron by someone else, despite the fact that he'd called himself that a few times after he'd thought about what it meant that Diana had sent her chakra into him more than once. Still, with his voice already so low, his eyebrows furrow further.

"I didn't think the Hagoromo-damned 'genius' Tsuchikage herself would be dumb enough to try and use such tactics to try and glean more information than what we agreed upon; the memories I'd instructed her to view had no relevant information, save for their historical impact. Especially knowing that Konoha had nearly annihilated her own village twice while there was a much stronger Tsuchikage in the seat she now occupies."

Only when he felt that his point had been made did he continue with explaining his plan to Airi, telling it to her in whispered, hushed tones. He spills his plan only to her, and only loud enough for Airi to hear. They're interrupted temporarily by the waitress, Katherine again, bringing them some sweet buttered rolls and Anzo a steak dinner. He ignores it for now and returns to his explanation of the plot he has in mind.

"And anyways, she can't actually use any of the Aburame techniques or the Hiden itself at all. She'd have to find some way to get a breeding pair from the Aburame compound, and even I don't know where they're kept, for the safety of both the Kikaichu breeders and the clan's Hiden. No breeding pairs, no Kikaichu; no Kikaichu, no Rinkaichu. The danger is in any form of replication or imitation, but she will never attain the actual Kikaichu or Rinkaichu and whatever she makes will be a very poor comparison."

With that, he begins eating the steak, taking in a deep breath and then letting it out in a relaxed sigh. The training he'd gone through had really taken a toll on his body, and the horrible moment with Diana had taken a toll on his mind and emotions; getting it all out had been good for him.

"Anyways, you can demote and punish me after we've pulled every last thought and memory from the Tsuchikage's head and left her a babbling idiot. Surely we can return her to Iwagakure in that state."

Anzo eats a few more bites of his steak and vegetables, a bit annoyed that he's being reminded that he screwed up, as though he hadn't realized it himself; otherwise, why would he have thought about it enough to come up with such a plan? But he ignores the frustration with the obvious tautology of trying to make him realize that he'd screwed up when he knows that already. At least it seems that she agrees with the soundness of his plan, even though he's not the one that's going to be taking full responsibility for what he'd done; trying to do so on his own would have been foolish and fruitless anyway.

He then looks up from his steak when she explains that he's still owed an ass-whooping for earlier and that he should destroy whatever she'd used to steal his memories, and he has a pretty good idea of how it happened.

"Her eyes. Gonna have to crush them. And besides, if she were really a genius, she should have known better than to try such a thing in a village filled with both sensor ninja inside and especially in the very center of a clan compound filled with a legendary doujutsu that has the capability of using an inextinguishable fire to kill someone. For a 'genius', the Tsuchikage is very, very dumb. In the future, I will account for the dumb mistakes of others as well as myself, Miss Airi."

The last remark only has a small amount of snark, and then he sees that the shorter woman is practically struggling with cutting into her steak, and so he deftly pushes her knife and fork out of the way, having to reach across the table and swiftly cutting apart her steak into smaller bite-sized pieces for her, as a parent might do for a child, despite the vast difference in their ranks. Just then, Katherine returns again to see how they're getting along, so that there's a witness to him cutting the steak for her. He gives her a smile when she states how cute and gentlemanly it is for him to help the woman cut up the steak to make it easier for her. In truth, he's smiling because Katherine makes it sound like they're on a date, and he knows that will really get under Airi's skin, especially with her earlier stated goal of kicking his ass.

Anzo honestly couldn't have stood any more of the scraping noise of the metal against the porcelain plate; even worse than the pain it caused his ears, it was even causing his own Kikaichu inside his body to buzz and shake and move in ways that caused even further discomfort, so cutting up her steak for her was actually entirely necessary, regardless of her desire to "practice" cutting the steak to eat it herself. He smiles at her when she teases him about taking away her practice with the knife and calling him her "sensei". The answer that Katherine gets about how her actual boyfriend has class makes him frown, and then he feels a bit confused; he didn't even know the Hyuuga had had a boyfriend, he'd never seen her with anyone. He waits for Katherine to leave before he makes a comment.

"Huh. I didn't even know you liked men. I kind of assumed you liked women, after... Hmmm..."

Anzo shrugs and simply leaves any further statements to hang about in the air. At least it seems they agree on something, and even something from that day they met, and he raises an eyebrow at her; he thinks it might be a bit hypocritical to be doing something like that with another woman when she has a boyfriend, and she's at least a little bit guilty of what he himself is guilty of. Perhaps a bit of a bonding moment... if she'd allow it, which she didn't seem eager to.

"You can practice more in your store, anyways. Or your home. Speaking of, about the armor..."

He slides forwards again, having eaten most of his food, and he deftly unbuttons his longjacket to pull it all the way off, exposing his well-toned physique, with his arms entirely exposed up to the shoulder by a form-fitting black top. His chest and abdominal muscles are nearly on full display, due to the tightness of his clothing, but he seems focused on turning his longjacket inside out. Strangely, there seem to be no insects anywhere on his body as he points out some of the finer details on the inside of the jacket.

"So I'm thinking steel plates could fit together on the inside. This thing is large enough that I could pull my arms in and fasten them together from within, and then I've got a nearly fully protected body. With some metal strips along the inner lining of the cover flap, it'll be highly protective. What do you think?"

Anzo raises an eyebrow at the mention that she likes both, and he would have leaned forwards at the mention that her boyfriend simply allowed her to have as much fun as she liked, but only with women. He wasn't sure about such a proposition, but he also smartly kept his mouth entirely shut on that. He didn't really run through the hypothetical situation in his own head of what that could be like; he wasn't the type to leave a woman on her own if he thought she might want a conversation or, indeed, something else, but he also wasn't being sent on any missions outside of the village any time soon, as much as he'd enjoy doing so.

He lets that topic of conversation simply run its course, mostly, although he does get in one small statement, looking Airi right in the eye and raising an eyebrow, arching the blonde brow above his own yellow sunglasses.

"So then we're both a little bit deviant, aren't we? But we can at least agree; either of us could do a lot worse than Hanabi."

With that, he also finishes his lemonade, setting the glass aside. Katherine comes by a little later as Airi explains that her prices are steep, and he's frowning a little, entirely unaware of Katherine staring at him a little before returning to some other tables. He does finally notice at some point that the lemonade has been refilled, and he sips from it quickly before he speaks again.

"Mm, you see, Meteor Metal might be out of the price range for a genin, Miss Airi. And let's not pretend that competition doesn't exist. I happen to know an extremely successful and masterful craftsman that also produces very high quality crafts, but I also haven't seen him ears-deep in a now-engaged woman's chest."

He makes sure to raise both his hands in a sign of empathy.

"A chest that is very distracting to both of us. Don't you agree that two people with a similar interest should be more cordial with one another?"

Anzo gives her his most friendly, radiant smile, doing his best to make himself as nice as possible. Of course, he still feels quite a lot of danger, knowing he has to tread extremely lightly around such a violent woman, but hoping to avoid retaliation by keeping their similarities in front, like a shield.

"Besides, I think an ass-whooping is punishment enough, don't cha think? Especially because I'd have to let people know what you charged me for such work, and that you insisted on higher payment..."

Anzo looks at Airi evenly when she asks rhetorically if he thinks she's worried about "that little turd". He'd heard that Kiyoshi had begun selling his own wares, so it was natural that she was well aware that he was competition for her business; she had essentially confirmed it in her attempt to downplay his importance. The thing was, he didn't know Kiyoshi at all, and had only commissioned him for one object only, and that had been his Kikaichu gourd. He frowns in confusion when she seems to firmly reject his suggestion that they're not so different, at least in taste, and especially when she brings up Peragus. What did he have to do with this? He certainly never mentioned the other Hyuuga or whether or not he would want to watch. The nervousness of his statements being construed in such a way was causing him to rock the chair a bit with his nervous energy, although the chair was not exactly made for rocking. Quite possibly, it was a deep-seated semi-coping mechanism, and he recognized it as such, but he also couldn't really help himself, because it at least calmed him down a little.

However, the last bit of dialogue in response to his mere suggestion of telling others of her prices and the suggestion that doing such a thing was an attempt at blackmail as a bartering tactic causes him to tilt his chair a bit too far back in surprise, causing him to crash to the floor on his back, smacking the back of his head on the floor and causing him to yelp in pain. Still panicking a bit that she'd misunderstood his intentions, he scrambles up to lean an arm on the table, his fist of his other hand pushing knuckles-down on the wood to brace himself further as he looks at her with intense surprise and confusion, without a hint of aggression. Certainly he was no longer the picture of calm, with even his yellow-and-brass glasses askew on his face, causing one of his blue eyes to become actually visible.

"BLACKMAAAAAIL?!"

All at once, he seems to remember where he is, and he quickly does his best to recover by standing straight up again, returning the chair to its normal position and rapidly sitting down again before he fixes his sunglasses again and brushes dust off his shirt, returning once more to a reasonable volume and even and formal tone.

"I'm afraid my intentions were not made clear, Miss Airi. At no point did I actually mean to suggest such an intention of blackmailing you. Yes, 100,000 ryo is a fair price, of course."

Anzo digs his wallet out of his jacket, to find that he only has about 98,000 ryo on his person, despite counting it twice and looking even more embarrassed than usual at not actually having 100,000 ryo on his person, in addition to the previous reaction and the awkwardness of the conversation. He pulls out 50,000 ryo and sets it on the table in front of Airi where her plate had been moments ago, his glasses still pointed down and not looking at her face as he stands and pulls his longjacket back on, rapidly buttoning it back up and leaving behind enough money on his side of the table for the meals and a sizeable tip besides.

"50,000 ryo now and 100,000 next time, and I won't allow you to accept a lower price for the work. I apologize once again Miss Airi. Have a nice day."

With that Anzo tries to rush quickly out of the restaurant, keeping his head down and a hand over his brow to avoid looking other people in the eye.

OOC: attempted thread exit

Airi Ohara, The Carmine Hyuga " Well, yeah. It sounded like blackmail. Mmmhmm. Sure. " She said as Anzo dug into his wallet and placed 50,000 Ryo. She scooped up the cash and placed it in her pocket, making a mental note that half of the armor's payment was paid. This should cover the majority of the Meteor Metal and that's it. Not for the labor or the other materials. But she did have a plan in mind for when she does craft it. As Anzo shoved off, she pulled the plate back in front of her and finished the food. No way in hell was she going to let this free food go to... Airi noticed the waitress show up with the bill and dumbfounded expression crossed her face. Airi Ohara, The Carmine Hyuga " Mother... fucker... " She grumbled and paid for the meal, scowling with anger and annoyance. He skipped out on the bill. She let out a little growl once the waitress left and stood up and stomped out of the restaurant.

===TOPIC LEFT===
+90 EXP
+50,000 Ryo from Anzo