Just a stroll (open)

[Ayana]

Ayana has only lived with her Aunt and Uncle for a few days now, and they just act weird around her. Which is weird, because as long as she knew them in her twelve years on this planet, they never seemed to be the skiddish type of people.

Don't get her wrong, they are great people, but Ayana thinks that she did something wrong the way they act around her sometimes. She guessed that might be it, as to why she is roaming the streets in the early afternoon. She never was good with talking to others, and for some reason, she feels as if it is harder than ever to talk to other people. Why? It feels as if she is missing something very important.

There is also the fact that she has masked people check up on her from time to time. They always ask her if she is doing alright, if she needs anything. Speaking of which, she notices that one of the masked people seems to be following her from a certain ways away. Ayana does have to admit it. Being on guard with these masked individuals really helps her be more aware of her surroundings.

But then disaster struck. She turned back around and tripped over something. She landed with a thud and as she opened her eyes, everything came out blurry. Darn! My glasses. She thought to herself. The little girl fumbled her hands on the ground, trying to find where her eyeglasses may have fallen to.

 

[Midori Futotta]

Spoiler

Awesome theme made by Sturfall!

https://soundcloud.com/sturfalle%2Ffoxs-theme

Maru after spending hours after cleaning some rich bastard's house glared down at the paper in his hands that only had 2 hours of his community service done. The more he looked at the paper, the more he knew that he would have to take on a lot of missions to complete these damn hours. All because he decided to blow up a small town that really didn't matter in his opinion. Sure, few innocent people as well as a couple of children according to the reports were now dead but it was their fault for living where A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION was operating. Unfortunately Raikage-Chan punished him anyway, so now he was just a Gennin taking on 200 hours (now 198) all on his own. The fox looked at the list of people who needed help, a lot were stupid like help the homeless, clean, plan a birthday, find a pet lamb, collect herbs, help the library, taste test some booze in a new bar to make sure they aren't poisoning people, help…. "Wait…" he looked at the drink testing mission again then the fox grinned wildly. "Now THAT'S something that I want to do. Maru exclaimed suddenly….

His ears twitched after hearing a yell of a little girl who tripped and fell. Maru's first instinct was to chuckle at the child, the girl was even fumbling around for her glasses which gave the fox an idea. Tip-toe. Tip-toe. Tip-toe. The fox sneaks over to where he saw the glasses laying before he took them. "Yoink!" he said as he took them holding up with a look of superiority. Just taking the glasses wasn't really enough amusement for him either so he snapped his fingers to make a black cloud appear over the girls head then it began to rain ONLY on the little girl! It was like one of those clouds on cartoons that only rained on a single person when they were going through bad luck. Maru just simply isolated his Rain Dance Ninjutsu to just his fumbling victim so he could get a few laughs in.

"Hahahaha! Should've brought an umbrella." he laughed looking at the little girl's glasses in his hands then tucked it away in his sleeve. Maru after having his fun simply decided to walk away with the child's glasses after he had his fun. Looking for the address of that bar that needed a taste tester for their bar realizing that it was WAAAAAAY in Cronopolis. No biggie, he'll just jump off a cliff to land in the slums! He could just walk there but falling seems like the fastest route to get to Cronopolis.

 

[Ayana]

"Hey!" Ayana exclaimed. Even though she was only a twelve year old kid, she was smart enough to know someone just pranked her. A person said yoink along with rain falling on her was enough hints that someone may have stolen her glasses and made a water jutsu.

Now drenched, the girl struggles to see who the culprit is. The nearest one seemed to be a blurry figure. And was it her imagination, or did she see what looks like a tail? She shook the thought out of her head as she walked on after the blurry image of what might be the perpetrator.

She looked around, to at least try to get a bearing of where she was, but then suddenly, the next step she took, there was no ground.

Ayana didn't know if this was the blurred one's doing, but that wasn't her thought process. The only thing she could think of was, "Aaahhhhhhh!" she screamed, realizing what had happened. She twisted her body around and tried to grab hold of something, focusing chakra to her hands. Thankfully, she caught hold of something. Cold, and wet. It also isn't helping that this rain isn't letting up.

She swore she knew where the blurry person was going, but she did look around to see if she could find out where she was, so that may have been on her. But she could feel her fingers starting to slip from whatever hold she has on... Whatever she is holding onto.

 

[Midori Futotta]

Maru was about to go ahead than hop off the cliff, though just as he was about to jump out of the corner of his eye he saw a small body drop off the cliff. 'Oh?' was all he could think to say as he looked back to see a water trail leading to the edge of the cliff. 'Ooooooooooooh…..' he came to the realization that the little girl was trying to grab him then ended up falling off the cliff…. Wait falling OFF the cliff. "OH SHIT BRICKS! WHAT THE HELL SHE–" Maru peeked over the cliff, seeing that the child was holding onto something. Thankful that he didn't kill a child again, though…. his cloud was still continuing to rain and the child was slipping. Maru extended one of his tails down to firmy wrap itself around the child's waist very, very… very tightly. Once he was sure that he wouldn't drop the child, Maru used his tail to pull the child up quickly before slamming the child in front of him.

"Now look what you did, I smell like wet dog thanks to you." he scolded, retracting his tail from around the child's waist shortening the size just a bit so it was around the same size as his other tails. Taking pity on the child for almost falling, he snapped his fingers to make the rain stops and then reached underneath his mask to pull out a single sheet of paper that had his 2 hours of community service that the fox had already done. Tucking the paper underneath his armpit, the fox reached into his sleeve of his splendid kimono so he could hand the little girl back her glasses since Maru didn't want another accident like that to happen. "Here. Your glasses are right here. Besides need you to see so you can sign a little something something for me." he stated, keeping his arm extended until she took her glasses.

Once she had them, Maru pulled out of his hair a pen so the child could sign for him helping her. "Congrats you just got your one free mission from me! Maru. Sign right here on the dotted line and how many hours it took me to save you." the fox began his con, using this as an opportunity to knock off a couple hours. "I say put three hours since saving you from a cliff was putting me in danger. One I could've fell and died! Two lifting you could've pulled my tail out of the socket! Then there was the amount of danger you were in so that's kinda looking C-B rank hours. Just sign, how many hours, and date here." he started with the paper out for the child to sign, hoping that there weren't any hard feelings about the prank and almost going splat.

​

 

[Ueno Kotone]

Kotone had been strolling home, ladden down with bags of clothing from a recent shopping haul, when she saw the series of events play out between the fox-man and small girl. At first she had kept up a modest pace, inwardly admonishing herself for not having bothered one of her parents' assistants to come along to help carry her purchases, but then broke off into a sprint as she saw the brown-haired girl teeter off the nearby ledge. Coming up behind the foxlike figure, she paused for a moment to listen to his spiel.

Having grown up being trained to fend off shady showbiz hucksters, Kotone knew a scam when she saw one. Making herself known, she gracefully elbowed past Maru, letting one of the several bags hanging from her arm swing into his tail. Once positioned between the pair, the blonde girl whirled around and shot a look up at the man, her blue eyes boring a hole into the white mask while she kept an otherwise composed face.

"I'll have you know that I saw that, and I don't appreciate you trying pull some half-baked personal injury racket on this girl." Lifting her arm, she snatched at the proffered paper, once again letting a bag swing and smack into the fox. Glancing her eyes over it, her lips pursed as she thought for a moment.

Turning her head back around, she shot a glance up and down the drenched girl. "I don't know what the heck you did, but if you need community service hours so badly, why don't you hold my bags while I take her to get changed. I'll happily sign off for exactly how many hours it's worth. The paper crumpled between her fingers as she brought her hands down to her hips. Her searing gaze once more fixed on the masked figure as Kotone forced her mouth into a gentle smile, her voice matching the contrast with a curt, but sweet "Sound good?"

 

[Ayana]

Just as her fingers were about to slip, something furry wrapped around her waist, picked her up from her 'safe' little ledge, and tossed her unceremoniously onto the ground. And rather hard too. She struggled to get up, hearing the voice from whom stole her glasses, scolding her for falling, as if it wasn't his fault.

Thankfully, the rain had stopped, and her glasses were given back to her, but the girl was wary of this masked man. Or... masked fox man? Either way, this one seemed different from the run of the mill other masked people that come to check up on her.

But before she could even speak, the masked fox human guy brought out a pen and paper, telling her to sign it as thanks for saving her. Ayana gritted her teeth, the very guy that had stolen her glasses and waltzed off like nothing, is expecting her to sign a piece of paper to make amends as if she was at fault. Don't get her wrong, she is grateful that Mr. Fox, or rather Maru, as he seemed to proclaim himself to be, saved her from falling. But this mess wouldn't have even happened if he decided to leave her be. Heck, she'd be fine even if the man just walked past her without picking up her glasses then giving them to her.

Just as she was about to bring up the courage to yell at Mr. Fox, another girl came rushing in. She, more or less, tool the words straight out of Ayana's mouth. She even seemed to bring up a deal to Mr. Fox, one that from the hints he had dropped and the obvious words that had come out of the other girl's mouth. Community service. The guy wanted her to sign off on his community service after the fact that he saved her from an event that he had caused to begin with. It almost seemed to negate the fact that he did a good thing by saving her. Almost. Ayana made a mental note to herself to be wary around this guy.

But as for the new girl, Ayana admires the fire she had to stand up to someone bigger than her. Ayana would never be able to do something like that. That is, she wouldn't be able to do it without tripping over her words.

Finally she spoke, "I thank you for saving me, Mr. Fox. But... all of this wouldn't have happened if you just left my glasses alone. I tend to do stuff over my head sometimes like blindly chase someone down. Literally as you now know."

Having said her part, Ayana went quiet again. She looked around real quick, to see if the masked figure that she is more accustomed to seeing is hanging around. But she saw just the average people walking around. Some have been staring at the three of them, not saying a word, but seemed to be judging them all. Others just brushed past them, minding their own days. Ayana let out a small sigh, at least she only had to deal with one masked person, and she doesn't think this Maru is part of the ANBU. He sure doesn't act all gloomy like the other masked people. But surely she'll have to watch her back around him.

 

[Midori Futotta]

Maru could see that Ayana was a little pissy about signing but he did save her life. If it hadn't been for his quick thinking, the child would be just a nasty bloody puddle for the bums who live on the lower level of the mountain to gawk at. "Common, sign the paper. You can do it." he cooed, sounding more as though he was talking a pet dog into playing fetch but just as Ayana worked up the nerve to say something the fox's tail was attacked by some other little brat who put themselves between him and Ayana. 'What the fluff?!' was all Maru could think of as the short blonde shouting at him about holding Ayana liable for any self injuries that would've happened to him while he was saving her. The child then proceeded to hit him again with her shopping bag, making the fox back up though instead of hitting him again she took his community service sheet that he was using to keep track of his hours. "Hey, HEY! Cool it. I risked both my life and body to save her from going splat! What do you think I'm just not going to hold her liable if I hurt myself helping her?!" Maru shouted.

The blonde who took his sheet however made a little deal with the fox that if he needed the hour's so badly that he would hold her bags. 'I blow up a city run by chakra hating terrorists, I get demoted to Gennin and given community service. I saved a child from going splat, I have to carry some little girl's bags to get what I'm owed.' he thought. Even the little girl that he saved, Ayana's turned on him because of a little prank. It's not his fault that she made herself look like an easy target nor was it his fault that she decided to run off a cliff to get him. "I'm not at fault for that, you could've just felt around or used your nose to find me. Don't the teachers tell you not to go charging blindly into a situation?" he argued putting all blame on Ayana since the fox felt as though he was being ganged up on by children! Admittedly, he did get himself into this mess by wanting to have a little fun but he had saved her life too so just a signature so he could get a few hours off wasn't too much to ask.

Though the blonde's offer was bold, he could really use the hours so if she was willing to give him hours for carrying bags then Maru could bite the bullet. "Okay I'll carry the bags, but you BOTH are going to put in my time when this is over." Maru pointed at them, making it perfectly clear that he won't be played. "If you try anything, I'll start making glow clouds and make it rain frogs then give you both pox." With that he took the bags from kotone, wagging all nine of his tails as he held the bags in his arms realizing that they were most likely going to a clothing store. "OH! The store you're getting the clothes from. Does it have a…. Dressing room?" the fox sounded excited, nearly about to drool just talking about the dressing rooms. Mostly because he wanted to spy on some women if he got the chance. Yeah,he was that kind of dog.

 

[Ueno Kotone]

Kotone frowned at Maru's rebuttal, she knew the statement was nonsense but worried her somewhat quiet companion wouldn't question it. Regardless, as Maru swept along with his ramble the blonde girl simply nodded along and only giving a quick "We'll see." to his gripe about the necessary hours. As the fox unloaded the bags from her arms, Kotone shot him a confused look and yanked back the largest that contained the logo from some local fashionable boutique. "Well, I was going home, just as soon as I made sure this girl doesn't catch a cold from your rain. But if you want to go shopping that badly, I did have my eye on a few more things and wouldn't mind going back."

Gripping the heavy bag, and quickly taking Ayana's hand in her own, Kotone set off a few yards to the nearest house. "Be a good foxy and stay right there, we'll be right back. Then we'll see what we're doing next." Arriving at the front door, the blonde girl quickly rapped on it, and then turned to give the other girl a gentle smile. "I'm Kotone by the way, what's your n-" Before she could get out the words, the door opened to reveal a small old woman who quickly inquired as to what the pair wanted.

"Ma'am, my friend is having quite the day, and we're just wondering if you had a spare room we could borrow so she can change out of those wet clothes." Following a quick, sickeningly sweet smile from Kotone, the pair were being ushered in as the woman fussed over the soaked girl. After they were deposited in a side bedroom, a few towels were handed over, and the door was shut, Kotone rummuaged around in her bag and produced a particularly cute floral patterned kimono, a deep purple skater dress, a few simple plaid skirts, and shirts with various amusing cartoon prints on the front.

Flopping backwards onto the bed, Kotone stared up at the ceiling while she played with a strand of her hair. "Sorrry if nothing's really your style, we can totally go shopping once you're not a drowned rat. Sure sounds like that fox guy wanted to." With that she simply rested, continuing to twirl her hair and rub her sore arms as she waited for the other girl to make a decision.

 

[Ayana]

Ayana had stayed quiet for most of the interaction between Mr. Fox and the new girl. She had brought up earlier of giving Mr. Fox exactly how many hours of community service he needs, which he had retorted with both her and Ayana will put in hours for him. She gritted her teeth yet again. This time, she fought up the courage to say something. "Mr. Fox. I...if you want hours from me so badly I will give you one right now, and I will also give you as much as you want later. B...but only on one condition. You will help me stand up to people like you. Those that are big and strong that rather pull jokes on smaller people and put blame on them and twist words around if things go bad. I want you to be ready to come to my aid if someone like you were to mess with me." She had started to trip over her own words at the beginning, but she wanted to make this hours thing an actual pain in the butt for Mr. Fox. She can't really do anything to someone like him yet. But she can strike a deal to put it in his favor. With only one drawback of having to deal with her and teaching her to stand up to people like him.

Mr. Fox then mentioned a clothing store and asked if it had a dressing room. Ayana's first thought was Creep , and maybe started to think what she just said was a bad deal. But she reassured herself with the thought of his community service hours is on the line. It's not like she wants him to do some embarrassing or stupid stuff, no she hates those people that do that type of things. She just wants to be ready for when the next 'Mr. Fox' steals her glasses.

Finally, the other girl dragged her away from Mr. Fox and to a random small house. She knocked and an old woman answered, which the other girl, who introduced herself as Kotone, persuaded into using a room.

Ayana dried off and the other girl had laid out some clothes for her. Not a whole lot seemed to be her style, a little bit on the fancy or dress nice type of side. The only shirts that really grabbed her attention were some of the cartoon prints on them. especially the one with a person carrying a torch fending off creatures of darkness. It reminded Ayana of what her father once told her. The power of light is sometimes only found when surrounded by darkness.

She picked that shirt to wear. Once she pulled over the shirt and sat down, dry from her portable shower, Ayana was quiet for a few minutes, then she finally spoke up. "I'm Ayana... And... Thanks for helping me with Mr. Fox. And I'll take you up on that offer, though not with as much enthusiasm as Mr. Fox. I haven't been really able to go out and enjoy walking around without having my Aunt and Uncle worry."

 

[Midori Futotta]

Well at the very least they were negotiating with him which was a good sign. Bratty Blonde just wanted him to carry the bags to her home plus a shopping trip which was easy enough. Ayana however wanted a little bit more from him, wanting the fox to protect her and to teach her how to stand up to people like him which Maru found offensive. "So you wanna bodyguard and a teacher, huh? Fine I'll do it just keep up your end of the deal Four Eye's" accepting the meek nerd's terms he planned on taking his task seriously. After all, he was a demon so deals weren't to be taken lightly as long as he benefited from it which in this case.. paying off his debt to society so he could move on from this whole thing. After this is over he might ask the Raikage to get rid of The Holy Tenouzan Republic, that city he blew up was just a warm-up and now that he unlocked his true power erasing the church from existence would be as easy as breathing. Can't use chakra draining energy on a being that has a bottomless pit of chakra.

He began to chuckle at the thought and daydreamed of his demon supporters celebrating on the rubble of the Republic with glowing clouds that rained eye bat creatures along with octopus's that proceeded to make the rubble into the likeness of a fox girl. However his thoughts were cut short when they finally arrived at what he assumed was Kotone's home. "Oh! We are here already?" Maru asked as he began to step forward however Kotone told him to wait outside which made the fox pout since he wasn't invited inside. "Fine, just don't take too long then." Maru shooed them away and once they were gone he sat down cross-legged on the ground than waited. He knew it would be awhile before they returned so he decided to play a game while he waited.

Maru looking down at his own shadow had gotten inspiration to make shadow puppets or rather shadow shapes. Shaping his tails in the fashion of a flower, the fox had successfully made his shadow look as though he was a closed rose about to bloom. Thinking about what other shape that he could make, he took full advantage of the flexibility of his tails and made a figure eight with his tails. Chuckling he came up with another idea, one that he hasn't tried yet. Maru coiled all nine of his tails into nine perfect spirals and started extending his tails so the spirals can begin moving. Finding himself hypnotized by the patterns he created, he watched as the spirals grew. Round and round. Slowly growing the more he stretched out his tails making the shade large so he decided to manipulate his fur on his tails to grow and curl so each tail looked like a tree of spirals! 'Man… this is cooooool!!' Maru looked at his palm and could see his own prints move in some odd fashion from having stared at the spirals long. Even the ground looked like it was moving in some odd fashion.

 

[Ueno Kotone]

Kotone continued to twirl her hair as the girl dried and changed, the red marks from the bag-straps on her arms finally starting to fade. Trying to size up the situation, the girl decided against her normal inclination to fill the room with conversation. Her new associated seemed rather quiet, even a bit uptight, and after whatever trauma had come from narrowly avoiding a fatal fall, Kotone felt that it best to let the girl go at her own speed. Nevertheless, the pattern in the wood of the ceiling was growing increasingly dull just as the now-dry girl plopped down beside her and spoke.

"No problem at all Ayana, and oh you live with your aunt and uncle? Are they like really strict or something?" Sitting up, the girl turned slightly to stretch her back, and stopped. Through a crack in the curtains, Kotone noticed that Maru was now in full view from the street outside, and was doing what she could only describe as some form of meditative interpretive dance with his tail. The girl paused for a moment, dumbstruck by the sight yet thankful he seemed to be dutifully obeying her request in his own way. "Actually scratch that, what the hell is he do- Actually no, nix that too, I'm not sure I want to know."

Shaking her head while she extricated herself from the bed, Kotone gave Ayana a quick look up and down. The blonde smiled at the print, she had loved the design, but was probably never going to wear it herself. "That looks so cute on you by the way, actually, here, wait a minute." Unbuttoning her jeans, Kotone quickly stripped herself and handed them over to the other girl, following by pulling off her shirt and sliding gingerly into the laid out kimono.

Taking a short moment to nimbly tie off the obi, the girl glanced back up to continue her thought. "Put those on, that way we don't have to wait around here for your clothes to dry. And that shirt's not nearly big enough to pull off the baggy no-pants look, unless you wanted to like flash the whole town." Glancing in a mirror sitting on the dresser opposite the bed, Kotone struck a few poses then flipped and ruffled her hair back into perfection. The pattern of the kimono didn't exactly have the appeal it had had on her in the store, but it wasn't too terrible for another couple hours on the town. Plus, Kotone was sure her mom would yet again demand that she go buy up a fresh new closet's worth of clothes next week anyway, so it was not as if this was getting more than one wear.

 

[Ayana]

The blonde girl seemed nice. She had even asked Ayana about her Aunt and Uncle, if they were strict. Ayana shook her head, "No, I've only started to live with them only a few days ago. And it's not like they are strict. But rather they are wary around me. It wasn't like that last week or any other time before. I also have masked people, erm... Anbu check up on me from time to time, ask me questions and whatnot. I kind of got tired of the whole answering questions thing so I try to avoid them. It kind of got me into the situation where Mr. Fox stole my glasses, and well, you know the rest."

Ayana followed Kotone's gaze to see Mr. Fox playing with his tails. He seemed to almost be in a full trance of his tails. Ayana found that a bit weird, but reassuring that the man isn't doing anything else like steal glasses from another glasses dependent person. Then Kotone got her attention and told her that shirt she chose was very cute.

"Thank you, it reminded me of my father. He could drive darkness away, and I wanted to be just like him except..." Suddenly, Ayana had a headache, but just that, she had a heartache. She felt as if she is missing something really important. But what is it? And...

Just as the episode came, it was gone. Ayana had a confused look on her face, not really knowing what had happened in the past minute. Her headache and heartache were both gone. What was she talking about again?

The other girl, gave her her own jeans, then continued to undress to then put on a kimono. She listened to Kotone, but it was almost like hearing static noise as she put on the jeans. Her mind was racing. But she doesn't know why. She pushed the thought out and then said, "Thanks again Kotone. Maybe we can hang out more. Preferably under better circumstances than with Mr. Fox." Ayana giggled.

 

[Midori Futotta]

Maru stared into the center of the spirals that his shadows had created, looking into it he instantly came up with an idea that would make his Ninjutsu more unique! Retracting his tails to their normal height, the fox would then proceed to cloak himself in a vapor-like aura that glowed in all sorts of colors. At times the aura was shockingly whitish blue like lighting, then it turned to a fire color ranging from orange, red, and yellow. It was like all five elements were crammed into the aura at times but others it just looked like a regular aura of chakra. It was sinister at times but other times there was a balance of evil and good. Each tail took on a different color, once Maru was cloaked in his Elemental Shroud it was time to bring what he wanted to create into reality.

Maru tore open a rift so he could summon shadow creatures from another plane of existence, bringing it over into reality from the realm of nightmares. The thing that crawled into this world was a black Dragon-like thing which began to drool a weird red fluid from its mouth as it looked up at the fox. Maru now bringing this monster into reality lifts the creature up by some unseen force before continuing to redesign the creature to more of his liking. First he morphed the creature into something a little less dragon like, making its body look a bit more humanoid in appearance by giving it a torso, arms, and legs. However it's human similarities end there. Maru shaped the thing to make it's claws grotesquely long and joined so it looks more like a skeleton. The monster lizard-like features were changed into that of some kind of dog which lacked fur, large eyes of a fly, pointed ears of a bat but the most frightful thing amount it's face was how it's face was stuck in an angry snarl revealing it's pointy canines.

Maru toned down the shadowy look of the creature to instead make it look more batlike with a leathery looking skin and the fox set the creature down to admire the thing he created. He flopped the nightmarish creature down, watching it come alive, flapping its wings (though unable to fly), and watching as it slowly staggering off into the street hearing a lady's sudden scream when seeing the abomination. Frightened, the creature ran into an alley backwards to get away, holding its ears and it began crying like a newborn baby never to be seen again. Maru began to cackle at the people who were looking at where the creature had gone, all of them gathering to see if the thing was actually gone and wouldn't be a problem. Maru after getting his amusement snapped his fingers and somewhere his creature suddenly exploded into black goo splattering all over an alley where he hoped a bum was sleeping.

 

[Ueno Kotone]

Ceasing with her mirror aided touch-ups, Kotone turned back toward the girl. Inwardly she had wished Ayana had gone with something else, the tee-jeans combo was definitely cute on her but was hardly a change from earlier, and the young starlet couldn't help but imagine the benefits of a little spice to her wallflower aesthetic. This inward critique immediately silenced as she noted the strange lingering look on Ayana's face and bent over to stare deep into her eyes. Kotone had been so wrapped up in her own dress-up, she hadn't thought about the spacey tone to her new friend's voice, and was now somewhat concerned. "No problem at all, but uh, earth to Ayana, you good now?"

In spite of her worry, there was no time for an answer as commotion and screams echoed from the streets outside. Kotone was unsure of exactly what had happened, but after spending just a few minutes in the company of Maru, she was sure that he was responsible for whatever trouble was brewing. Breaking off eye contact with the brown haired girl, the blonde set out packing up the remaining clothes, draped the mix of worn clothes over an arm, and hung the wet towels over a side table in front of the window to dry.

Firmly gripping Ayana's hand once again, Kotone set off down the hallway out of the room while calling out "Thanks again ma'am, it actually looks like we gotta hurry though!" Emerging from the front door, the blonde girl quickly took in the hubbub around her as people scrambled toward an alleyway that had some strange black ooze gushing out of it. Spotting her strange companion simply sitting in the street and cackling , Kotone shook her head and approached from behind with Ayana in tow.

Sighing, she gently tossed the wet mass of clothing at the fox, intending for them to drape over his head with bonus points if they obscured his eyes. "I don't know what you've been up to in the five minutes we were gone, but now you get to carry those too." As she neared Maru, Kotone simply tugged at his kimono, indicating for him to get up and follow as she lead her band of misfits away from the pandemonium. "Ayana is having a mid-childhood crisis and desperately in need of some retail therapy, so we're not dealing with this. Let's go."

 

[Ayana]

Ayana had noticed Kotone looking at her for a few seconds before asking her if she is good. The girl cocked her head to the side, confused as to why she had asked that question. Did she space out? Or was Kotone worried for her because of Maru?

"I'm fine, don't know what you mean, but-" She was cut off as some screaming could be heard from outside. From her one encounter with Mr. Fox, she had to guess he pulled another prank, hopefully one that doesn't end with another person dangling over the side.

The other girl seemed to have the same idea as she quickly grabbed up her stuff and dragged Ayana with her out of the house to see what the prankster fox is up to. She is starting to feel like a doll or a toy, with the fact of being dragged around today. She wasn't complaining though, Kotone did help her with Mr. Fox.

She saw a group of people looking into the alleyway as some black goo thing exploded, some landed on some of the people. It was rather rude, but she couldn't help but give a small giggle. She cleared her throat and watched as Kotone threw Ayana's wet clothes at Maru. The thought occurred to her that she might not get those back, considering the prankster that they now have as a chaperone.

There is one thing that Ayana did notice of Kotone. The girl seemed to know what she wants, and has a way of words to get it. She made a note to herself not to get on Kotone's bad side. Then the girl said that Ayana is having a mid-childhood crisis. The thought was funny enough to make her laugh a little bit, but she was also confused. "Kotone, you don't have to do all of this for me. I can solve my own mid-childhood crisis. Whatever that might be." She trailed off, wondering what Kotone means by her having a crisis. The only thing that can come to her mind was the first interaction with Maru, but did something happen after that when her and Kotone were alone? She racked her brain, but couldn't think of what it can be.

 

[Midori Futotta]

Maru was about to do something else to keep himself entertained when suddenly. 'SPLAT!' his vision was obscured by wet clothes being tossed over his head. "Nani?" he blurted, shaking his head to get the wet clothing off of him but unfortunately he wasn't able to get them out of his face. Maru being forced to get up, he was pulled by his kimono to follow her to Inari knows where. Behind the wet clothes that masked his face, Maru was pissed though he didn't resist nor showed any aggression because his hours were on the line. He dealt with his fair share of bossy children being a teacher as well as some commanding females that treated him in a similar fashion. This was nothing compared to those experiences, just a bit more humiliating than the activities that he does in his free time.

"Yanno kid, a little please and thank you would take you a long way. Just saying." he complained, though now he thought about it some other little brat did say the very same thing to him when he asked the kid for help. Yeesh so this is what people talk about when they say karma is a bitch. It's not his fault his Youkai companions require him to do evil deeds to brag about at the hour meeting. Not to mention he balances out his evil deeds to please his Youkai supporters but does some good deeds to avoid the prosecution of the Anbu Monkey's along with the high ranking apes who already have it in for him. As they continued walking Kotone mentioned that Ayana was going through some mid-childhood crisis which was totally ridiculous. "Bah! Don't worry about it kid, she's just going through puberty plus she's nerdy. Just pretend to care about her and she'll get right." he stated, brushing off the crisis as just some teenager thing and nothing more. Even Ayana seemed to want to handle her own problems which proved that nothing too serious was going on that he should worry about. Besides there wasn't much he could do anyway so a little shopping trip should melt that little chip on Ayana's shoulder.

Maru continued to walk blindly with the two children, bags in arms as well the child's wet clothes on his head which gave him a little idea. The fox shapeshifted one of his third tails into a blow dryer to admit a heat wave onto the wet clothing so he could quickly evaporate the water from the clothing without scorching them so he wouldn't have two smells clashing together. Namely wet fur from his ears and girl since his sense of smell was enhanced due to being part animal. Once the clothes, his hair, and ears were dry he turned the tip of his tail back into a regular tail before speaking. "Are we there yet? God how long am I going to be dragged around for?" he asked, sounding childish since the walk seemed a bit longer than he thought it would be. Like, there should be shops everywhere so it shouldn't be that far right?

 

[Ueno Kotone]

A vein pulsed in Kotone's forehead at Maru's first comment, it brought an image of a particularly haughty producer in her television days that had had the nerve to pass judgement on her way of doing business. Despite this particularly stinging reaction, Kotone did her best to keep her cool for Ayana's sake as she continued to drag the pair along with her. This resolve did not last, as the short exchange passed between her companions Kotone looked back, her eyes flaring with her annoyance at the situation she had gotten herself roped into. "Listen, I didn't want to say much, but you were being like a total space-case in the house when I asked about your family. I still don't completely get your baggage, but we're fixing that with shopping whether you like it or not. Also, shut the hell up fox."

With her piece said the girl refocused her efforts to navigating through the milling crowds in front of her, an increasingly complex task as they moved off residential streets back into a local commercial hub. In the process a young boy and his well-aged grandmother were nearly trampled by the trio as Kotone was yet again forced to look back due to the low drone of a hair dryer and a hot breeze catching her attention. The blonde girl barely had time to shoot Maru a I-still-don't-want-to-know-but-please-stop-being-so-weird-before-I-traumatize-the-orphan-child look, before her reflexes kicked in and she hurled herself and her companions to the side. In the process, Kotone narrowly avoided crashing into a sandwich board showcasing some trendy home appliance.

Barely having time to compose herself before Maru's whining sounded off, Kotone whirled about, her now mussed locks giving a slightly unhinged look to her death glare. "I said-" Thankfully though, the pivot had left her face to the face with her favorite store on earth. Savior Faire, the chicest shop this side of the country, loomed over her, complete with its post-ironic gaudy signage, massive window front filled with the latest in niche fashion, and various posters featuring t-shirt prints and collectibles of only the absolute freshest pop culture had to offer. The girl let out a slight squeak at the sight.

"Actually, we're here. Come on come on come on." Forcing her hands into the backs of her companions, Kotone herded the group inside as she gawked at all of the latest merch. She had been forced to skip on the store earlier this morning, her mother having demanded that she get her latest haul from somewhere else for once. But now that she had an excuse in the form of Ayana, she wasn't letting this opportunity go to waste.

 

[Ayana]

Ayana was a bit annoyed with the fact that Mr. Fox was basically jabbing at her with insults, and thinking he can get away with it. The nerve! To think her little plan of hopefully teaching him to be at least somewhat decent by teaching her to stand up to people like him was nothing more than just hopeful thinking.

What next caught her by surprise was Kotone's attitude towards her. Ayana had to admit, she was more hurt from the other girl's words than she was when Maru had stolen her glasses and she almost died. She gritted her teeth, but stayed quiet.

Ayana made it her plan not to stare at either one of her companions in the eyes. It helped when she was pushed to the nearest building that Kotone seemed to find as her dream place. Inside, the place seemed to Ayana to have every kind of fashion sense that is 'in', though her simplicity of clothing is not really anywhere to be seen.

But now, she sees this as an opportunity to just disappear. Not just Maru's stunt, but just interacting with other people has surely drained her of energy. She was pretty exhausted from today.

Hoping that Kotone is lost in her own thoughts of what to buy, and hoping Mr. Fox is too busy trying to find the dressing room, Ayana slipped away. She found herself alone in an aisle full of brightly colored dresses. The brightness reminded her of her father... Kotone had told her she was a 'total space-case' when she was asked about family. The words had hurt, but why?

What about Ayana's family is making her hurt? She picked one of the dresses up, one similar to her normal shirt, but in dress form. A yellow dress, with flowers on it. And the material, she doesn't know what kind, since there are no descriptions on the tags, but the material feels smooth and silky. She kind of is feeling like she is holding a dress that costs much more than anyone in her family can ever make.

Her family... The feeling she had earlier about missing something important... She stated blankly at the dress for a minute, trying to remember. But she can't. Maybe... Maybe the others might know. She started to make her way back, but remembered she was still holding onto the yellow dress. It would be best to put it back, she thought to herself. Ayana turned back around but bumped into a person, more so, a masked person, ANBU.

"Drats." She murmured to herself as she backed away and beelined as far away as she can from said ANBU. Still in the store, Ayana looked around. Good news, she lost the ANBU and won't have to deal with them asking her a lot of complicated questions. Bad news, she's lost. Nothing looks similar to the area she was previously in. There were a lot of clothing that seemed to be from different cultures. Some even seemed to be the skins, or furs of animals. She had to stay calm, she is alone, but she can find her way. Just find a wall and walk along it. And so she made her way in one direction to hopefully find a wall.

 

[Midori Futotta]

Maru followed blindly, being suddenly hurled to the side by the slave driving blonde made him curious of what the hell was going on but then the brat had finally announced that they were finally at the store! "Finally.." he said while being pushed inside of the place though he was still unable to see. Using his tail, he moved the now dried clothing that was tossed on him down to uncover his eyes only to find himself inside of a store that the fox hasn't been in before. Maru grinned a wild smile, revealing his pointed canine like teeth as he looked around at the glorious sight that was around him! Women, women, women. Women as far as the eye could see, some with children, some with husband's but all Maru's T.Y.P.E! Maru couldn't help but make a loud gekkering noise when he saw where he was though he quickly closed his mouth. Knowing that fox mating calls weren't really helpful with human women… or women in general.

Maru stepped forward, looking out of the corner of his eyes he saw Ayana beginning to walk away from them. He wondered for a moment if he should be a good bodyguard and follow the child. 'Meh. Nothing to worry about, nothing bad ever happens in a store like this anyway.' Maru shrugged as he went off on his own. Seeing security staring at him like he was about to steal or something with all the bags in his hands. He looked back at the security guard, utilizing his spirit animal's strength into a fear aura which made the security guard's face go from stoned to one of mine shattering horror when he was able to see what Maru had with him. The security just pointed at him, mouth twisted in a grain of mind shattering horror, then he just slumped to the ground and began laughing like a madman. Guess his true form was too much for him, giggling Maru began to head his way to the dressing room when suddenly he just remembered….

That little nerdy brat was trying to cheat him of his hours! How the hell are you going to ask someone to protect you and you just run away? "SASSY BLONDE, LISTEN UP! I'M GONNA GO FIND THE BROWN HAIRED NERD! JUST LOST HER!" he yelled, pushing his way through clothes just to find this brat. He knew Kotone wouldn't be going anywhere since Maru was carrying all of her stuff but the nerd seemed a bit too quiet to even trust. So he began his search, touching around with his tails, turning brown haired children around, heck even trying to bait Ayana by calling out to her. "BROWN HAIRED NERD! BROWN HAIRED NERD! WHERE ARE THOU NERD OF BROWN HAIR!!!!!" he yelled, thinking of something that would draw a nerd out. "OH LOOK! I GOT A MATH PROBLEM THAT NEEDS TO BE SOLVED… AND A BORING ENCYCLOPEDIA ABOUT HISTORY! OH AND A BOX OF PENS! PENS!" Right about now he thought his baiting wasn't working, regardless of the eyes on him he had to find the nerd so he decided to do more fox screaming. A high pitched one was the first of his screams, one that was supposed to let other foxes know that he was around. Screaming again, he listened out for any nerd screams in response to his message.

 

[Ueno Kotone]

Kotone was in heaven as she milled through the store. As she passed through each aisle the girl seemed to pick up one, if not two, of every item in the building, a veritible mountain of clothes and knickknacks growing in her arms with each passing moment. Spying a collection of particularly elaborate victorian-esque dresses in a section dedicated to niche costume apparel, her mind raced to her new-found friend. Ayana's generally conservative style led Kotone to believe the outfit wouldn't particularly interest her, but she couldn't help but imagine the girl dolled up, her shy, awkward appeal easily being doubled by the look.

Grabbing a frilly black dress with white trim, Kotone glanced over her shoulder, and suddenly realized she was totally alone. Her head throbbed as she closed her eyes and counted down quickly in her mind. Sure dealing with those two might be the equivalent of herding cats, or maybe foxes, but she couldn't totally blame them for wanting to explore this magical wonderland. Resettling, the girl forced a cheerful, not at all demented, smile to her face and set out at once, knowing that they surely must be an aisle or two over and she'd be able to set them straight with no drama whatsoever.

Stepping out of a rack of clothes, the blonde girl was immediately face-to-face with someone dressed up as an ANBU. Kotone attempted to sidestep the hurrying man, but his elbow collided with her massive stack of merchandise, sending everything toppling to the floor as he hurried by. As she watched the pile in freefall, the girl felt her temple throb again, and then seemingly burst. "GODDAMN COSPLAYERS, WATCH WHERE YOU'RE FREAKIN GOING!" A few more choice words flew from her mouth as the man hurried away, not even having bothered to apologize to the girl.

Kotone stooped over, attempting to re-balance her pile of items in her arms when the screams of an unholy dying animal pierced through the store, startling the the girl and sending the collection once more plummeting to the ground. "OKAY NOW WHAT IN THE HELL IS THAT, I SWEAR TO GOD IF THAT'S THE FOX." Giving up on most of her purchases for now, Kotone simply grabbed an armful of the items and hurried toward the noise, leaving a particularly impressive mess strewn about on the floor.

The location wasn't particularly hard to find, a growing number of shoppers were now clustering about, all looking equally puzzled and confused at whatever was in the center of their haphazard circle. Elbowing her way through the crowd, Kotone was not at all surprised when she found Maru amidst them. The young girl simply walked up to the fox, shot an arm up to the collar of his kimono, and yanked him face to face with her newly formed, quivering, eyes-way-too-wide smile. "So like first off, we're going to pretend you didn't just try to summon some eldritch horror through forgotten tongues in the middle of my favorite store. Secondly, please tell me where Ayana is."