Lost Souls [Private]

Mission Name: Step One: Collect
Mission Type: Recruitment
Mission Rank: B
Mission Goal: Pick up thugs off the streets and properly structure them into respectable shinobi.
Description: Whether as a one woman army or a group, rally up people off the streets that are participating in crime for the sake of survival, rather than greed (so leave out anyone who's a major issue). Collect up to five and don't roughen them up or kill them -- approach logically and only act out violently to defend yourself.
Payment: 30,000 Ryo
Requirements: Be Chuunin or above

Satori examined the scroll in his hand. He’d been told to test them, and so he fully intended to do exactly that. Midori’s test was to come, and perhaps she would be helping out in later extensions of this mission. But for now, it was only Riku that he’d be testing. There was no need to inform her she was being tested, either. He needed an honest result from her, the best of her current ability. A few weeks was all he’d been given to properly analyze the groups abilities. He had almost no doubt Miyu wasn’t going to be ready.

Even if her power and combat ability grew, he couldn’t trust the girls intuition, decision making, or her mental stability enough for something as important as the mission at hand. But Riku and Midori were both possibilities. Akemi had the right mindset, but his power was the question. Out of their group he was the most mentally sound and most skilled at mental creativity and decision making. But, in turn, he was probably the one with the least talent among them. It was a harsh truth unfortunately. Time would tell.

For now, he’d called Riku over for a mission a bit outside their comfort zone. Specifically with the plan and goal to push her, while also seeing how creative she could be in a wide variety of missions. This would also be the highest ranking mission she’d done yet, and would be a decent test of her combat skills as well. It was just a decent idea, overall to use as a basis for her. Judgement, diplomatic skill, level headedness, and combat skill all wrapped up into one package.

He was currently waiting outside the administrative building, idly rotating the scroll in his hand while he waited for the little bobbing blue head to appear on the near-empty street. It was quite late, a requirement for the mission at hand.

Riku had been taking fewer missions lately, in part because she was training more, but also for personal reasons. She had been working through pent up emotions and buried trauma with her family and repairing relationships damaged by time apart, neglect, and shame. Things were still in progress, making the blue-haired nin reluctant to do a high-ranked mission, but Satori asked her. Had it been anyone else, Riku might have refused.

She arrived at the administration building to find Satori with the scroll in hand. The shorter ninja smiled at him in greeting and squeezed his hand briefly. The tall ninja had been essential to her and her family's recovery, one of the reasons Riku was willing to pull away from them to assist him.

"Saa-kun, you look well. What will we be doing this late at night?" She raised a brow curiously.

Satori smiled softly as his hand lowered, taking her own when it was offered and squeezing it gently in return. He knew she was still on uneven footing, but in a way that was even more reason to bring her on a mission. It would help her clear her head, and with a payment this hefy it would make up for her lack of other missions as well.

“There’s some gangsters and thugs that are getting out of hand. Remember the group we dealt with before? It’s like that, but more serious. More groups, more training. We’re supposed to try and talk them down and get them to join the Academy as a special class despite their age to form them into proper ninja for the village,” as he explained this his thumb gently traced over the back of her hand.

“Any that refuse to work with us are to be put down or thrown in prison. Frankly, I’m putting them down. The village is in a bit of a clutch at the moment, I simply don’t have time to try and imprison every thug that says no. This may lead to a larger root problem that the village has as well,” with this late statement his eyes softened. Gently petting her head, he asked only once:

“Are you sure you’re ready for something like this, Riku?”

Riku listened carefully, nodding where appropriate to show she understood what he was explaining to her. This mission was definitely not something she was naturally suited for, which meant she would have to work extra hard. Satori was likely pushing her on purpose.

When he said they would be putting down anyone who refused, her face paled a little. Riku had killed animals before, but not humans. Would it feel different? What was watching someone die like? She had to learn one time or another, but now? Why would he ask her this when she was at a low?

Then again, she wouldn't always be able to refuse work because of her emotional state. It was best to start in a safer environment. She took a deep breath to steady herself. If Satori could help her through what she went through a little over a week ago, he could help her deal with this.

She nodded once. "Yes. I'm ready, I trust you."

[2]

Satori smiled softly as she clearly felt uncertain, and yet still stated firmly that she trusted him. His hand pet her head gently before he straightened and nodded once. Tucking the mission scroll into his vest before he turned and led the way toward the smaller road that led off the primary. He continued this route at a careful, steady pace. He knew where the first group had been located, he and Miyu had handled them.

Now it was time to take out the other groups. Stretching his arms briefly, his gaze slid toward Riku as he began to murmur to her.

“The first group is of about six. I don’t expect them to make much resistance from what I’ve been able to observe, they’ve just been lounging around. Likely joined just to try and make a name for themselves. Probably a bit on the weak confidence side of the spectrum at a guess.” As he explained this he idly shifted his vision toward the alleyway that they were approaching.

“I want you to try and do the talking first, alright?” he smiled down at her gently, his hand petting her head once to help encourage her before he lowered it. This was a serious situation, and a test. Riku was smart, she was sure to catch on that it was exactly that, but as long as she didn’t know for what that was fine.

Riku followed Satori, mimicking his pace and stealth.

“Okay,” she agreed, voice just loud enough for Satori to catch it with his keen hearing, “diplomacy first.” The concept they were trying here made sense, being able to talk through things could prevent unnecessary violence and political conflict. This, of course, was on a smaller scale, but important nonetheless.

“I’ll give it a shot.”

Feeling apprehensive, the blue-haired nin approached the group quietly, resisting the urge to fiddle with her sleeves.

There were four guys and six girls gathered. A few leaned on the walls of the alley while some sat on crates. They appeared to be engaged by a game of dice.

Thinking over her approach, Riku joined the group to observe them up close.

When they finally noticed her, they startled.

“Who the hell are you?”

“Shit!”

Riku looked over all of them critically. “What are you doing out here?”

They stood, most of them taller than her. They used their height advantage to tower over her and leer.

“We should be asking you that, Princess,” the tallest boy said.

Riku let her hands clasp within the wide sleeves of her yukata and raised an eyebrow. Subtly, she formed hand seals while she kept them distracted by talking. “Official business.” Her head tilted back, exposing the headband tied around her neck, metal plate engraved with Kiri’s symbol.

“A little girl like you?” one of the girls, a blonde, sneered.

“Yes. It pays well.” She made sure to look at their disturbed game of dice and the few ryo they’d piled up critically. “More than what you’re making on the streets.”

“You’re real cocky for some softy princess,” the next tallest boy sneered.

Riku simply watched them, unimpressed by their threats. She needed to redirect their focus, prove to them being a ninja was worthwhile. “I can afford to be.”

“We’ll see about that!” a redheaded girl snapped, charging the short ninja.

Riku backpedalled a bit and moved around the taller girl, tripping her in the process. “I’m not here to fight,” she insisted, kicking the redhead in the ribs. The female genin’s arm lashed out, a water whip extending from it and wrapping around the redhead before she could get up.

“If you’ll settle down and listen, we can get this over with. I would rather not brawl today.”

The group eyed her warily, hesitant to rush in and fall victim to whatever else Riku had up her sleeves.

“Go on then,” the tallest teen demanded, “talk.”

“You could become ninja instead of skulking about in the streets. You’d get paid once you made genin. Twenty thousand ryo a month plus missions. You’ll be able to get hot food, a comfortable place to sleep, and better clothes if you’re willing to work for it. You all thought I was weak, didn’t you?”

She spoke a bit quickly, trying to outline the benefits of becoming ninja for the village before they lost patience with her. Riku was already off to a rough start, so she needed to make this count.

“You aren’t wrong, I am far from the strongest shinobi. You could become more powerful than this, and certainly stronger than you are now.”

[3]

Satori measured the approach she took, first. It was a solid decision, focusing on using surprise and a more subtle show of her skill then just whipping around water to swing them around. She only relied on the technique one to hold her first attacker at bay. A bemused smile formed on his lips as he rested his forearms lightly across his knees, crouched at the back of the alleyway.

They already looked uncertain. She’d shown the difference in strength without initiating further violence, and beyond that, had given a decent argument and caught their interest on some level. Money and good food were usually all that the common man wanted after all. Slowly rising, he idly moved forward, flickering from view and appearing standing casually beside her with a slight smile.

“Plus, it would mean that you aren’t caught up in what’s going to be happening soon,” he added casually, leaving his statement vague as the light reflected from the headband as well. The group startled at the tall young man’s sudden appearance, looking between one another slowly as Satori’s brow arched slightly.

“Think about it, we’re offering you a new job, a far superior one, and we knew exactly where you were and what you’re up to,” he continued idly, placing a hand on Riku’s shoulder as a silent statement to release the woman she’d tangled up with her water. A slight smile decorating his lips, though it looked more threatening than comforting to the group.

“What does that say?” He inquired rhetorically, and the group glanced between themselves once more warily.

“... So you guys are going to be taking out Tetsura?” The name caused Satori’s ear to twitch, and the others whirled on her as she’d spoken the name, causing her to turn red in the face.

“Shit.”

When Satori appeared at her side, Riku began to relax. While her speech had gotten them to consider the proposition, her partner could convince them to accept it. She released the girl on the ground when his hand landed on her shoulder, letting her know it was okay to back off a little.

Riku smiled at the group, exposing her sharp teeth. “I think it’s in your best interests if you accept our offer.”

Most of the group began to agree hurriedly, not wanting to be around for the fallout when ninja came to put down Tetsura.

One of the ruffians, however, wasn’t quite convinced. He crossed his arms over his chest. The stocky boy put on a churlish expression and protested, “How do we know you’re not lying?”

A few elbows and whispered, “shut ups”, from his companions weren’t enough to make the teen back down.

Riku turned her attention to him. “Then we take you out, too. Your choice.”

Half the group began to move away from their stubborn friend, not willing to go down with him. One girl stood by his side, glaring at the ninja. The other girl coughed and tried to move away from everyone before she could get hit in the crossfire.

The blue-haired girl looked up at Satori with a raised brow, waiting for his command.

[4]

Satori watched the others fall in line quickly. Humans were pack creatures by nature, once one caved many would follow. But it was rare that they all did. He was waiting for that last one to set an example.

The example showed himself quickly, making it clear he didn’t believe them, an understandable point of view that Satori respected. He was probably the leader of the bunch unofficially, had some level of independence, thought about things instead of accepting them. Had a degree of his own pride. All good traits, so it was a damn shame.

The moment the others began to look uncertain, making room but also clearly contemplating his words: after all, it was possible that they were lying, Satori idly leaned down and grasped a pebble off the ground. Idly bouncing it in his palm a few times, and wordlessly glancing at the broad young man. He was older than Satori was, probably had a promising future if he became a ninja.

But death was a part of life. His thumb flicked out, and the pebble shot forward with a single small burst of chakra. Disappearing from view as a hole formed through the young man’s forehead. For a moment the body remained standing even as the wall behind him burst with blood and had a hole drilled through it by the pebble. But then he fell. The dull thud smashing into the ground.

Only then did Satori answer the boy's question.

“That is how you know we aren’t lying,” he stated bluntly. “You fall in line, or I remove you. It’s that simple. Kirigakure has enough problems without brats trying to play tough… you can have a bright future, making an honest living as a ninja of your village, you can leave, or you can die. I don’t care which today,” he stated simply. Crimson eyes glancing around at those that had been backing away. The woman beside the man’s corpse was slack-jawed, staring in a mixture of horror, and fear.

They had been lovers, likely. But he wouldn’t put her down as well unless she acted. They all had a choice now. This was also a test for Riku. This was the first time she’d seen such violent death.

Satori’s response to the boy’s challenge was brutal and effective. Riku watched, eyes widening a bit. She stared quietly as the dead teen’s body stayed upright, as if not quite realizing what had occurred before finally collapsing. The female genin twitched.

Seeing someone go from a person to a corpse was uncomfortable, to say the least, and Riku’s stomach began to turn. Rather than show weakness here, however, she liquefied partially. She couldn’t throw up if she didn’t have a stomach. Outwardly, Riku looked the same.

A few calming breaths later, she turned her deadened gaze to the rest of the crowd.

The girl who had been kicked pushed herself to her knees before throwing up. Afterwards, the redhead managed to stagger to her feet and start running awkwardly, clearly hurt from Riku’s kick and water whip.

The remaining four were wary, but none seemed ready to fight back, until the girl screamed. “I’ll never work with murderers like you! You shouldn’t treat us like this! You think you’re so great because you’re the village’s dogs. Not all of us want to make ourselves a bitch for a living--”

Her tirade was cut off by a kunai lodging itself into the wall next to her head.

“Think carefully before you make your choice,” Riku told her softly, walking forward until they were arm’s width apart. “You have three. Join us, leave, or die. What is it?”

The girl started to shake, paling at Riku’s deadpan face and proximity. “You can’t do this!” She insisted, trying to push the genin back.

Riku knocked her arms to the side and held up one hand, forming an orb of water around the
girl’s head. “Try again. Hold up a finger for your the option you choose. One, you join us, two, you leave, or thirdly... you die. Pick carefully.” She stared the girl in the eye, watching her struggle to breathe, hands grasping at Riku’s arm.

Finally she threw up two fingers.

Riku dropped her and stepped back. The girl dropped to her knees coughing. She dragged an arm across her face before lunging at the female ninja.

Rather than use any more chakra, she pulled out a Kunai and jammed it straight into her attacker’s throat. Weakly, the dead teen’s girlfriend reached for Riku’s wrist before falling. Also dead.

“Does anyone else want to fight?”

The remaining ruffians all stuttered out that they didn’t want to fight and that they would work with the ninja.

“Good. Because that was the last of our mercy.” Riku felt numb, as if everything were a dream. Unfortunately, not even pinching her arm would let her wake up to a world where she hadn’t killed someone.

[5]

Satori watched impassively as Riku worked. He didn’t tell her to stop, nor did he tell her to continue. This was her own decision and his judgement on her actions as well. As the situation continued to escalate, Satori remained silent, watching as the others quaked. As they tried to run, he idly flicked his wrist as they fell over on their faces with two dull thuds and groans, steel wire wrapped around their ankles.

“No need to run. If you’re not going to be an idiot, you won’t be harmed,” he stated simply before his gaze trailed toward the woman that was now on her knees gasping for breath. The idiot tried to attack Riku again after she’d been spared once. Cutting her down caused him to blink once, but as Riku lost her innocence, he said nothing.

This was the life of a ninja. It was the life that she had chosen.

Casually he stepped forward, drawing out the large scroll strapped to the bottom of his backpack and placing his hand over it as chakra ink spiraled from his palm. Covering the bodies before sealing them both into the scroll with puffs of smoke. He straightened and looked toward those that remained.

“Now, I have a few questions to ask if you don’t mind, involving Mr. Kiro, the so-called ‘Iron Blood’,” as he stated this the others looked shiftily toward the scroll and then the two downed individuals.

“Cooperation will go a long way. Though I understand what the dead young woman was yelling about, you all had a choice. You could have all, at any time, become model citizens. She called me a murderer, but all ninja are, and the people she was serving--the people you all were serving? Are slaughtering innocents. I don’t claim to be better than many. But I’m at least better than that.” His words caused several frowns as they glanced between themselves, before slowly one spoke up.

“W-we don’t know much, we’re nobodies in the gang,” he explained with uncertainty as Satori’s gaze slid toward him. He nodded once, walking toward the pair he’d tangled up and carefully unbinding them as they groaned. The redhead especially seemed to shrink at his touch before his hand lifted and pressed to her side alight with green chakra. As they noticed him healing her, they all visibly relaxed.

“That’s fine,” he stated simply, “Anything you know will be reported to the police, they’ll reward you for helping us deal with the threat on an individual basis.”

They looked between each other before looking at the ninja again. “Yeah, okay, we’ll talk,” the tallest one said. “The big boss is middle-aged and scary.”

Another one of the teens added, “He’s really strong and good with throwing weapons. And he can fight like nobody’s business.”

The others nodded frantically to support the statements.

“That’s all we know, I swear!”

Riku stayed quiet while they talked, her face stonily cold. If one looked closely, they could tell she was taking slow, controlled breaths by the subtle flare of her nostrils. Otherwise, she appeared calm, if not a bit frustrated with their earlier refusals to cooperate.

She resisted the urge to reach for Satori and instead watched them. One, blue eyebrow raised, questioning the truthfulness of their statements.
“Honest!” the redhead cried out.

Riku tried to focus on the situation at hand rather than what she had seen moments ago, what she had done. She nodded. “Any information will be rewarded,” the genin repeated.

[6]

Satori could tell Riku was struggling, luckily the others of the group hadn’t. Satori simply grunted at the information they gave and cut closer to the chase.

“Hair color? Height? Eye color?”

“Uh, Black,” one stated to the first question.

“Probably about as tall as you, maybe a bit taller?” Another chimed in nervously, and quickly finished the final question. “He’s got brown eyes, though,” Satori made a mental annoyed sigh. That was a fairly normal appearance by all standards, minus his height.

“Any locations he tends to be often?” The young man inquired simply.

“Yeah, usually the warehouses,” he stated in an uncertain tone, before Satori nodded once in understanding. “Head to the police station and inform them of what happened, and that you’re turning yourselves in. You’ll get a night in jail while they settle things and then you’ll be pulled into a special class at the Academy for young adults,” he stated simply.

The group slowly nodded, they didn’t need to ask what would happen if they didn’t. The ninja had made it brutally clear. Scattering with the questioning done. Grunting, Satori turned and gently wrapped an arm around Riku. Petting her hair and then holding it whenever the inevitable came forward. Hopefully she hadn’t had a large lunch.

Once the remaining thugs scattered Riku began to cough. Her stomach solidified and then promptly emptied itself, followed by bile and acid until nothing was left and her sides heaved fruitlessly.

"Ugh…" the blue-haired genin groaned before molding a bit of chakra and spitting out a weak stream of water to clear the taste from her mouth and get rid of the mess on the ground. Wiping her mouth with her sleeve, she straightened to look up at Satori.

"I'm glad that's over with." Her forehead was sweaty and her hands were clammy, revealing that she was bothered despite her expression, which only showed vague displeasure. "That's the first time I've ever seen or done that." A frown followed. "I didn't enjoy that at all, but I'll have to get used to it."

Quietly, Riku hoped this part of her career would become easier so she wouldn't have to keep her insides liquefied most of the time. It was more of a stopgap measure than a solution to the nausea seeing the light leave someone's eyes triggered. She looked down to see drying blood on her hands and clothes. Her stomach turned. Riku liquefied her internal organs once more, the water settling and making her stomach bulge slightly.

[7]

Satori’s eyes softened as she threw up, his hand gently holding back her hair as she did what she had too. As she threw up, he carefully caressed the back of her neck until she finally came to a coughing halt and explained her feelings on the matter. He nodded once in agreement, fingertips trailing through her hair.

“I’ve never enjoyed it. But you become used to it… I never had this problem, but many do,” he smiled softly and shrugged simply. “Ryuutei are different,” he stated bluntly, before he slowly straightened and as she turned pale at the sight of the blood his eyes softened once more.

“Deep slow breaths, Riku. Don’t liquify and force yourself. Take a moment and calm down, think about what you did and focus. We won’t move on until you’ve managed to calm yourself. There’s a few more groups, but the more those idiots spread what happened the less resistance we’ll deal with anyway. Time is an ally for us right now.” As he explained this he gently pet her head a final time before releasing her, letting her sort out her feelings and thoughts to calm her mind, heart and stomach.

Riku nodded slowly and began to take slow, deep breaths. She formed water chakra between her hands and used the liquid to rinse what she could from her skin. About a minute later, she solidified her insides. It helped that the rest of the thugs would not resist as much after hearing about what happened to the two from this first group. She closed her eyes and leaned against Satori to ground herself.

Once she felt calmer, she let her insides solidify once more. Then, Riku took a step back and gave Satori a nod. She continued to breathe slowly and evenly, counting her breaths to keep calm.

"I'm good for now. Let's keep going." The short genin squeezed Satori's hand once in gratitude before jumping up to the rooftops.

[8]

Satori gave Riku all the time in the world that she needed. When she finally seemed more content, he smiled before turning and launching himself up after her. Landing on the building’s roof and moving after her as they began the process of gathering up the next few thugs, the first few confrontations went smoothly without issue. The more that they hounded, the more the rumors became clear as truth.

After about thirty minutes they’d shattered a solid thirty-ish thugs from going down that path and only had a handful left to tear down before they ran out of information that Satori had backlogged. Sitting on a rooftop he idly examined the surroundings as he searched for one of the final groups before glancing down at Riku briefly.

“Feeling better?” The tall man inquired down to her as his claws extended and retracted a few times, flexing his fingers to help wear out any stiffness they felt from holding on to the roof and being used for mobility for so long. She’d just killed for the first time, and though she seemed to have stabilized, he wanted to be sure.

As Satori had predicted, once word spread they encountered much less resistance. The two ninja firmly told each group of thugs their options: turn away from their lives of crime and cooperate, get out of town, or die. Most elected to work with the duo or leave Kirigakure altogether. None seemed eager to die, especially after Riku would capture one of the thugs and put a kunai to their throat. She didn't repeat her mistake from the first group by remaining merciful after the thugs started to question whether the ninja were serious or started to resist.

Being gentler and giving them multiple chances to make decisions that would spare their lives only endangered the whole group more. Such protests simply didn't happen when one group member was on the chopping block. The Ryuutei brutality made a little more sense to Riku; letting her emotions rule her could be dangerous even if the emotions included empathy or mercy. When the end result was needless bloodshed, it was much easier to justify using more force.

Riku turned her gaze from the night sky to her partner. She shrugged. "I don't feel great, but I'm not going to throw up again." Her voice was quiet and flat. "I just want a bath." She looked away again, brown eyes moving skyward. The moon was waxing and in a few days it would be full, reflecting pale light through the clouds.

[9]

Satori’s eyes softened, but he simply nodded in agreement to her statement. He didn’t apologize, there was no need. Riku knew this was important. He knew she could handle it. It would just take her a bit of time to properly adjust in the end was all.

“Let’s wrap up then and go take a bath,” he murmured simply, kissing the top of her head gently before straightening. His chakra pulsing around him before he slowly lowered his body down and examined the last of the groups. Chakra flowing into his senses caused the world to slow, before he located the targets quickly.

Releasing a breath he hauled himself up fully. The moon gave him plenty of light. But he wanted to spend the rest of the evening with her, frankly. Chakra pulsing through him, he launched himself down from the rooftop, leading the way to the final group. They’d wrap this up quickly, and then head home. They could turn the mission in tomorrow.

She’d been so busy that he hadn’t had much time with her to begin with. It would be a nice change of pace to just hold her again.

The female genin leaned into her partner's comforting touch. The pressure of his arms around her felt grounding, as if he were physically pulling her back from reimaginings of the two thugs falling over dead less than an hour before. She had watched someone get killed and then gone ahead and ended their grieving partner's life. Her only justification was that left alone, those thugs would have continued to cause problems and potentially end lives themselves, lives that Kiri didn't seem expendable. Riku had not spent a lot of time considering why their government had the right to decide who lived and died. Then again, these people would have died anyhow, whether it by the crime boss they served or in some other petty scuffle. Had her and Satori's interference really changed things for those two all that much?

"Yeah," Riku agreed, seeming to shake her pensive mood at least temporarily.

She stood and followed the taller teen to another dark alley with nerdowells skulking in it.

Several marble sized water bullets scattered the crowd of five. The jumped up from where they leaned against the wall or sat on overturned crates, only to find two ninja flanking them.

"You have three choices," Riku intoned before they could muster the wits to say anything coherent, "leave this village, cooperate with us, or die."

"You can't do that!" A woman protested, hazel eyes flashing with defiance.

A water bullet hit her straight in the chest, knocking her back. She coughed, hand covering the bruising area.

"We can. Now what will it be?" Riku's expression was calm, too calm, and her voice held only a little annoyance. "The next one who doesn't pick the first two options will die. That's your only warning. Consider it a mercy. If you cooperate, you can turn yourselves in. After a few nights in jail, you'll be sent to a program to train you to be shinobi. You'll be compensated for your time with pay and lodging."

"This isn't a choice!" Another thug exclaimed. Seconds later a water bullet hit his throat, tearing a hole in it. He fell to the ground clutching at the wound, red liquid seeping through his fingers.

"Murder!" The woman whom Riku had knocked over previously shouted.

"Are you choosing option three?" Riku's eyes settled on her, the dim street lights reflecting strangely in her eyes.

"We'll cooperate!" Someone else cried out. "What is it you want?"

The blue-haired genin walked towards the downed woman and crouched, setting a hand on her cheek. "You have until that one finishes answering our questions to make your choice. Remember, you choose your fate."

She stood and backed up, leaving the blonde woman struggling on the ground, her arms pinned to her side by an invisible force. Riku looked to Satori, brow raising questioningly. Did he want to take over questioning?

[10]

Satori stepped forward once Riku had settled things, and simply smiled at the group. “I don’t want to hear the words ‘murder’ from someone that is supporting the underworld that rapes, pillages, tortures and drugs those that don’t do as they say for no compensation or fair treatment.” He stated shortly, arching a brow before his hand lifted, and as he spoke the conditions a finger raised for each.

“One, any information you have on the crime rings in this area and your boss. They’re going to be removed entirely. Two, you to turn yourselves in to the police force to handle your current sins and move on.” With this blunt statement, Satori then glanced to the side at the eyes watching him warily. With this a few stepped forward to talk with him, bouncing the information back and forth to fill in any missing holes that they had for the information.

Once things were settled, he crossed his arms over his chest and glanced over them before speaking.

“The job will be no different from what you already do. On a different level, of course. You’ll be given actual training and skills, techniques, strategies and teams. The standards are higher. But so is the pay, compensation, and benefits. You also won’t be killed as an act of crime removal, so there’s that as well.” He lifted his shoulders in a shrug.

“It’s your choice. Any criminals that haven’t turned themselves in within the next two days and are still within Kirigakure before the purge will be slaughtered without question. Do as you will with that information.” With this he turned, heading toward the exit of the alley with Riku. The job was done going by the information they’d given them.

It was time to head home and get a bath before they turned the mission in tomorrow morning.

Once Satori finished his message she turned and left them there to pick their own fates. They had done all they could for these people by warning them. Nothing Riku or Satori could do would prevent the crackdown on the underworld, they could only try to inform the low level thugs to give them a second chance that they arguably did not deserve. Kirigakure, in light of Satori's commeni, was at worst the lesser of two evils. That helped settle the blue-haired teen's nerves. Was she to blame for these idiots' poor choices? Absolutely not. They had been given choices and enough warning to take it seriously. The rest was up to them.

The beginnings of guilt that clung to her began to fall away as she and Satori melted away into the darkness of the night. New resolve aside, Riku was more than happy to walk away from this whole mission and put it behind her. Making time for Satori was more important than agonizing over some street scum perpetuating harassment, theft, and other crimes.

In her attempts to rebuild her family, integrate herself into the Hozuki clan, and become stronger, she had spent less time simply enjoying Satori's company. Riku had missed him, but ignored that in favor of training and working on other relationships in her life. Now it was time to just relax with him and wash off the discomfort of the mission they had completed. Her stomach still felt queasy, but not enough to actually vomit.

"Nee, Tori, can we have some tea after our bath? Something with ginger," Riku asked, finally breaking the silence between them. The question revealed that she still felt sick to her stomach, but also that she would get over this with some rest.

[11]
[//Exit]

As they walked, Satori’s gaze lowered down when Riku called out to him. His fingertips intertwining with her own as they walked. Her question caused a slight smile to decorate his lips as he nodded his head once in agreement.

“Certainly. I don’t mind,” he replied simply, if she was still a bit nauseated then it made sense to get some tea to help her relax. The more ginger in it the better. At least it wasn’t actual stomach sickness, it’d be unfortunate if she had to eat some charcoal. It worked well enough but the taste wasn’t exactly fantastic.

“Ginger root tea and some biscuits maybe,” he smiled, thumb brushing the back of her hand before his gaze lifted up. They’d go to her home this time, somewhere private would be better so she could properly relax. Besides… Satori felt like she needed to still speak with her mother and aunt as well. Even if they wanted to avoid the current drama.

// Thread Exit.