Mind Games! [Open]

[Morishige]

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I smiled as my breath had the wished effect, and the money was successfully planted in her time of probable confusion and just plain strangeness. But what came next I wasn't expecting at all. In the blink of an eye -- quite literally, my wrist twitched in pain as I felt a hand grab near my shoulder and pull hard. "Wahhhh!" I exclaimed as my glasses flew to the side, my body turning against it's will. As I tried to adjust with my feet, I tripped over myself falling to the ground. My life flashed before my eyes-- no it didn't. I watched as I fell that she realized it was me and it was all just one big mistake. I suppose I could admit that doing such a thing after the stunt I pulled may have warranted this kind of reaction. "Baka." I said to myself just before hitting the ground. My face scrunched up in pain and I gritted my teeth before attempting to take a new breath.

I looked up to her with a forced smile and tried to laugh it off. "Guess I shoulda expected that huh?" Getting up quickly as I tried to pretend I was not just thrown to the ground by a girl, I rubbed my hair and looked around at the people nearby watching me. "You hear that explosion? Pretty wicked stuff right? Come on let's get outta here!" I said in an urgent tone and grabbed her wrist to pull her along. Staying at the scene of the crime was making me feel uncomfortable. Once I had moved far enough away, hopefully with Kahako in tow, I stopped and leaned against a nearby wall. "Damn girl you're strong. Guess the academy got you working out?"

[iNPC: Zaku]

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[Shinrya Kahako]

She watched with growing regret as Zaku landed on the ground hard. “I’m so sor—“was all that Kahako said before Zaku’s laugh cut her off. His quick recovery caused her to take a step back, and she stumbled a bit as he grabbed her wrist and dragged her away. She didn’t say anything as she allowed him to lead her away from the plaza, simmering with embarrassment from the inside. Even when he finally stopped, she was mentally admonishing herself for throwing him like a sack of rice. As he leaned against the wall, the blush returned in full force out of embarrassment, despite her sad attempts to keep a straight face.

“I’m so sorry, Zaku. I thought you were an attacker, and I was worried about what happened to you that I didn’t notice you come up from behind me, and it didn’t register that it was your voice, and I just sort of reacted…” She looked down as she trailed off. She knew she was babbling, but she really did feel bad for what just occurred. Her fingers began fidgeting with the charm around her necklace again. She felt a dull pain in her other wrist from the hand that grabbed Zaku’s shoulder and sighed. “I’m sorry.” She said again. Not knowing what else to say, she looked up at him and gave a small bashful smirk. “I guess those self-defense lessons my mother made me take when I was younger are more useful than I thought they would be, huh?”

He didn’t seem too angry earlier when they were still near the plaza, but she couldn’t tell if he was trying to save face. It had to be a little embarrassing to be tossed around like that by a girl. Her mother always told her ladies were supposed to be refined creatures, yet here she was trudging around like an ox. ‘Stupid explosions,’ she thought. ‘If it wasn’t for that, then I wouldn’t have been as jumpy.’ She paused. “Zaku... did you get to see what happened? Was someone attacking the village?” She allowed her hand to fall again. Her arms closing loosely and her face curious.

 

[Morishige]

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As her face grew more red, my smile grew wider. Of course, I was busy hiding my own embarrassment at being man handled by a girl who was smaller then me with a laugh, but she seemed to be preoccupied with her own to notice. Needless to say, I was thankful. By now, I would have normally interrupted her to let her know all was well, but it was just too darn cute to interrupt! But once she was finished I made sure to give her a kind smile to let her know all was well. "It would seem they were not as useless as you previously have believed. Damn..." I trailed off, rubbing my shoulder with a small frown.

But my smile returned as she brought up the explosion in the center and the expected questions following it. I waited just a bit before actually speaking, trying to think how I would make myself look cool. Normally I was horrid at telling stories. "Of course I saw what happened! I was the one who made the explosion!" I smiled devilishly. "That's why I took you away from there. I didn't want anyone getting suspicious of me." I added, just in case she was wondering why I had taken us away from the scene of the crime. "So you got nothing to worry about. If someone was attacking the village, shinobi would be swarming here. Thought some are probably on their way right now..." My eyes turned upwards to check no one was spying on us. "Anyways, I used it as a distraction to grab some people money, got a hefty bunch too! How have you been fairing?" I asked with bright eyes, wondering if she would check her pockets and discover the surprise.

[iNPC: Zaku]

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[Shinrya Kahako]

As she listened to his tale, her past transgressions against him were momentarily forgotten. Once she learned that it was all just a hoax, she felt a little foolish for blowing the incident out of proportion. Of course the higher-ups would know if there was a crazy attack. She watched him look around to see if anyone was eavesdropping on their conversation. She looked and didn’t notice anyone immediately.

Despite being amused by his creativity, she didn’t particularly feel that their bet warranted the flashy destruction and chaos he created. They were causing enough trouble as it was, and she felt a little bad that ‘destruction of public property’ was now added to the list. Regardless, she gave Zaku an amused smile when he ended his explanation. ‘He’s going to get me in a lot of trouble,’ she thought.

When he brought their conversation to their little bet, her face fell a bit. “You probably won,” she said, moving her good hand to her pocket. “I only got one person, and was almost caught before your explosi….huh…?” She looked down at her pocket in full confusion. There was a lot more money there than should have been. She emptied the money into her hand, her confusion only growing. “It wasn’t this much,” she said quietly. She looked back to his face the confusion still playing on her face, his eyes appearing almost too bright. “Did you…?” she asked trailing off. ‘Did he just reverse pickpocket me?’

 

[Morishige]

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Her smile put me at ease, though it really wouldn't have mattered whether she approved or not. The deed was done and couldn't not be undone. But her expression changed upon the mention of the pickpocket bout we were having. My eyes traced her hands to go for the money, and it was hard not to smile right away. "Almost caught eh? I guess my fun time actually helped you out huh." I said, trying to play the part of un-suspicious friend. I watched her pull the money out and could tell where the portion I placed ended and her meager gain began. My teeth flashed white as my smile extended wider and wider. "Yes, yes I did." I replied in response to her silent question. "Since you were so focused on the square and looking for me, you didn't notice me on the roof watching the people go wild so I was able to get behind you. Not to mention distracting your mind by surprising you. I slipped it in right as I said surprise. Talk about skill right?" I said, gloating over my awesomeness. "Wasn't sure if it was against the rules to get you or blow stuff up. So if we wanna say that I lost, I can go buy us them dumplings now." I smiled.

[iNPC: Zaku]

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[Shinrya Kahako]

She gave a small huff at Zaku’s wide grin. “You weren’t supposed to reverse pickpocket me.” She admonished as his contagious smile spread to her face. She wasn’t going to stroke his ego any further by stating that she was very impressed with his skills, though. She placed both hands on her hips and allowed her smile to soften. “But technically we didn’t say anything about explosions or pickpocketing each other. Added to that, I barely got past one person.” An idea popped into her head as she pulled what she hoped would be a decent amount of money from the spoils in her hand and held it out for him. “Here, go get two orders of dumplings in one to-go bento. I won’t be able to eat an entire order on my own, so we can just share.”

Kahako placed the money in his hand before he could object to it. “Just meet me back here after you’ve gotten it, I’ve got to go do something really fast.” She said as she quickly jogged to the nearest shop that sold stationary with a wave. As entertaining and exciting the whole experience was, she wanted to make some sort of amends for their chaos. The smell of paper and ink hit her nose when she opened the door. Immediately she scanned the isles for what she wanted, finding it on a small stand in the back. She picked up a cheap notebook, a pen, and a small envelope from one of the sides of the shop and walked to the cashier.

As she waited for the man to ring up her items, she asked him if there was somewhere she could write a small letter. He pointed her towards an open space on the front counter. Once she paid, she moved to the counter, pulled out her new notebook and pen, and quickly jotted down a small message on the paper. Kahako then tore the paper from its bindings. One quick fold later, it was in the envelope she bought along with the rest of the money that was in her pocket. By now it wasn’t much, but hopefully it would do for what she was planning.

 

[Morishige]

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I couldn't help but wonder what was going on in that brain of hers behind the smile that she had caught from my own. Her attitude peaked and she had to bring in technicalities. But the situation changed quickly as Kahako seemed to come up with an idea. My own visage grew curious as she began giving me the money with a small mission of my own. "What are you planning..." I wondered as I counted up what I was carrying and quickly departed for the dumplings vendor.

People were coming out of hiding by now, so I didn't look quite as suspicious as I would have walking around before. As I arrived, I smiled at the man who I had bought from before and told him what I wanted. It was surprising because he didn't look phased at all due to the explosion. In fact, it seemed like he had been cooking through all the chaos. I wanted to ask him about it, but I chose not to. One, it would look suspicious to have noticed such a thing, and two, I didn't want to get carried away in conversation. So I got our food and began to make my way back to Kahako.

But she wasn't there. I looked like a derp just standing there wondering where she might have gone. I suspected the shops nearby, or the roofs above but I wasn't going to waste the energy and get into a situation where we couldn't find each other. So I would wait for help and munch on a dumpling as best I could using some chopsticks.

[iNPC: Zaku]
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[Shinrya Kahako]

Kahako stuffed the envelope in her pocket and left the shop; happy with the plan she quickly formulated in her head. With the pen and notebook in her hand, she headed back to their rendezvous point. It was time she let go of the fact that the money wasn't hers. She could do with it whatever she pleased, after all! So, she was just going to use it to help pay for the repairs of whatever combusted in the square. Zaku didn't need to know where her… his…(their?) ill-gotten money went to after all. The smile on her face spread as she neared the final corner. ‘Now, to only get the money to the right person!’

“Wait….” Kahako said as she paused. How was she going to get the money to the right people? If she left it in the area, someone else could just take it. If she turned it in to an authority figure, then she would have to explain why she was turning in an apology envelope AND why she wasn’t the culprit to the incident. Kahako blushed at the realization as she turned the corner and spotted Zaku. “Idiot…” she said quietly to herself. Walking up to him, she gave her usual smile, trying to hide the embarrassment that was surely on her face. “Thanks for getting us food.” She said, grabbing a dumpling and took a bite. A sound of content emitted from her. They tasted even better when they were fresh. She smiled at Zaku. She was embarrassed at her attempts to do right by others. Maybe it wasn't worth it.

 

[Morishige]

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Of course, Zaku had no clue as to what she was planning and the consequences it would have likely brought should he have been revealed as the delinquent. But really, he hadn't done that much damage. Maybe some burn scars on the inanimate objects nearby the blast, but he made sure it would be out of range of people. But not that he would know! So Zaku returned with the food and grabbed a dumpling for himself and stuffed his face with a smile. To preoccupied to really notice any kind of embarrassment. "No problem, I like getting on the good side of the vendors in the area. They give me discounts!" I said and looked out to the sun. It was getting late and I seemed to recall some kind of worry about the time. "Hey, how about I walk you home now so you don't get in trouble." I offered putting another dumpling into my mouth.

[iNPC: Zaku]
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[Shinrya Kahako]

Kahako finished what would be her last dumpling with a big bite. There was probably over half of her portion left in the box. With more training, her appetite would grow, but today was not one of them. She was grateful Zaku didn’t notice her stupidity. “You should introduce me to these vendors sometime. Discounts are always good.” She said with a smile.

Kahako had also noticed the setting sun. Soon the street lights would be on, and it was only a matter of time before her new curfew come into effect. “No thank you. I should head back on my own, but thanks for the offer!” She smiled. “Thanks for the challenge today. It was a good lesson… Zaku-sensei.” She teased. “But I better head out, I hope to see you class.” She said with a wave. She waited long enough for his response before heading down the street toward home. On the way there, she passed by the flower stall she was at earlier. She paused, looking at what was left over. Deciding to use the last of her money, Kahako bought a few violet flowers. She planned to give it to her aunt in hopes to be forgiven for staying out later than intended (again). She sighed, “Really… it wasn’t that bad that I stayed out late.” She said irritably to herself as she turned another corner and out of sight.

((I figure I’d end it here. I know you need to make him a dNPC and I might get busy this next week. Thank’s for the RP Kido! It really helped.))

[Topic Left]

 

[Morishige]

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"Of course, no doubt they would love to meet you!" I replied truthfully.

Unfortunately, she didn't accept my offer to walk her home. Stuck-up bitch. I felt like slapping her across the face and letting her know who was boss. Not really. I smiled and nodded my head in a understanding way. "No problem, it's always better to have someone to play with. I had tons of fun!" I replied to her thanks. Truthfully, it had been a long time since I had hung out with anyone besides myself and the older gentlemen who played shogi. "All right, see ya!" I responded with a wave. And turned with my hands on my hips. "Nice girl... I do hope we come across each other in class. She's definitely not a stuck up bitch at all." I told myself and walked away.

[iNPC: Zaku]
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