Normal Ice-cream with a Normal Friend [open/requesting Maru]

[Yamamoto Airi]

The walk from the library to the ice cream shop was filled with awkwardness, laughter, and questions. Airi had tried to glance over the details of the date and Maru-san simply would not allower to leave things out, he constantly asked how she felt about things, Setsu or the situation and she really could feel the older brother teasing and curiosity from him. It was sweet and something she hoped she could do more often. Maru-san probably had vastly more interesting stories but he gave her the time and attention to make her regular date feel special. The ice cream shop she was bringing him to was one she found outside of the main area of Kumo’s Seki district. She preferred going to the small more mom and pop shops than the larger chains.

When she saw the place she brightened up immensely. “I think that about wraps up to when the Interview ended. Overall I think it was good if not a little forced.” Airi noticed that Maru had been both curious and annoyed with the Pet café. He seemed really into it until she mentioned that she played with a dog most of the time. She wondered if he had a problem with them. Not that it was any of her business.

As Airi came over and pushed the cloth over she got excited. This was a place sort of like an outdoor ramen shop but instead dealt with cold treats. As she came forward she sat down and twirled around once on the sipping chairs. Thankfully not losing her balance she said, “Hello Yukimura-san! I brought a friend with me this time!” As the slightly older man turned around he rubbed his chin. “Airi-chan you never bring friends!” As he looked over and saw Maru-san he gave a puzzled look for a moment only to grin and go, “Welcome bossman, please come and sit. Hope you like cold because that’s what we got here.” He started to hum a little bit as her began to polish some cups, almost like a bartender for the underaged.

“So what can I be getting you both today?” The shop keep kept looking towards Airi’s shoulder his smile clearly falsified as her looked at it. He was concerned about her…figured Maru was being nice to her. He did not appreciate the job she had…but he accepted it. Griping from an Oldman got no one anywhere.

“I’ll be getting a Turtle today!” As she smiled and put her left hand up into the air. “Maru-san what do you like?” Airi had never eaten with him…did he even need to eat? She was not about to start asking him about his demon stuff in front of Mr. Yukimura but she could not deny she was curious. “Oh also sometime after that a little more recently I had a meeting with Kanagawa Nozomi-san and her new apprentice! I enjoyed being with him as well though I would not consider it a date.” As she threw that word out Yukimura looked over at Airi and said, “Now listen, you have to bring these boy here so I can…give them discounts on ice cream. Okay Airi-chan?” Airi looked to him confused at first but then smiled happily.

Mr. Yukimura was always treating people who knew Airi really nicely. That’s probably more the reason she wanted to bring everyone here.

 

[Midori Futotta]

After they left the library, Maru asked a lot of questions to see if the date actually went well, honestly he should've watched all the dates of Eros's show instead of just his and Kawaii’s dates since watching each other's dates kinda made the other one jealous. A sort of 'Oh, so you act this way with this person’ kinda thing. The movie choice however was pretty interesting since from what it sounded like Star-Crossed Shuriken was about some kunoichi who teams up with some male idol to take down a evil demon. Maru actually met with a male idol before, he apparently didn't mind his whole youkaism when he was speaking with him, perhaps the demon was some kinda big ugly ogre like critter though after the movie the date seemingly went well. “So…. No goodbye kisses then?” he teased. After all getting kisses from their dates was his and Kawaii's goal when they were on that show. Why be just friends when you can be friends with benefits?

Everything up until the Pet Café part he was interested in, especially when she started to mention how she was playing with a filthy mut most of the time. While he was okay with Foxes dogs he hated with a passion, mostly stemming from a medical mission when a dog threw up on him when he tried to go for being a medical intern because the dumb animal ate soldiers pills. Not to mention anything dog related reminded him of some dog sage that was his rival back in konoha. He got to be a medical ninja like he wanted, he had parents like he wanted, his sensei gave the guy praise like he wanted. Jealousy pretty much. Hence why the very thought of a dog makes the rogue almost as annoyed as people when they are praying to fake gods like Raiden, who or what the hell is a Raiden anyway. The rogues attitude changed when they finally entered the ice cream place that she chose, Maru whistled when he saw the inside of the place. “Pretty nice in here.” He looked around in amazement, most of the places he's been to were either deep within a cave, farmland, the forest, the hot springs and occasionally he head around the shops but he didn't know about this particular shop. The rogue moved over to a seat beside the young kunoichi then sat down then checked for see what kind of flavors did they have. When the older man greeted Maru the rogue smiled then raised his hand. "Thanks you, don't worry I'll pay you a fine price for whatever. Now let's see how much I got.”

The rogue turned then removed his mask though upon removal of the first eye mask he had on ANOTHER eye mask that looked similar the one he kept on. He always kept on another mask in the daytime just in case some academy student wanted to see what was under his mask, besides he met a lot more people in the daytime so better safe than sorry. From the inside of his mask Maru reached inside of the mask, putting damnear his whole arm inside the the small mask as he searched for something. “AH-HA!” He exclaimed, then he pulled out a large bag filled to the brim with yen since he refused to go to a actually bank. The money that was within a potato sack was worth 90,000 in yen and since he wasn't that good at math he just gave it to the guy since he was yen ignorant. When he paid the guy off he waited for Airi to order something pretty fantastic but it seems that she only wanted a mere turtle. When she asked if Maru wanted something the rogue slammed his hand down then began ordering. "10 milkshakes, one whole bucket of strawberry flavored ice cream, 5 vanilla sundaes with strawberry sauce, about 2 bowls of rocky road, and one plain old chocolate chip ice cream cone!” He made his order looked at Airi who mentioned something about nozomi and her apprentice. It's been a while since he seen his squad mate so he figured he would have to have a run in with her eventually. "Oh Nozomi is my squad mate and future wife though she doesn't know it yet.” Maru's eyes began sparkling. "You should've seen her in mission, I messed up, got on my knees then cried and beg then she denied me the joy of having the back of my head stomped and my face hitting the floor. She denied me then waited after the mission to punish me. I see a potential relationship in the making!” He proclaimed since he believed that's how girls show love is by physical abuse and humiliation. At least that's how it was for Kawaii and most women he liked.

 

[Yamamoto Airi]

Airi had to admit that no matter how much she knew about Maru, no matter how many times the met and spent time together, and no matter what they would do together…he would always surprise her. Teasing about kisses, expected. Pulling his mask of revealing another mask and then dropping a huge bag of yen down onto a table…not expected. Airi would not even begin to be able to guess how much was in that bag…’Wh-wh…?” As she looked over at the Ice-cream man he also had a stoic expression but she could see his eyes nearly popping out of his head. “Maru-san you can’t jus-“

When she suddenly started to hear him order she was…lost. Ten milkshakes…a whole bucket of strawberry ice-cream…f-f-five sundaes…two bowls and a cone. Was he about to eat himself into hibernation? She started trying to count on her fingers. “Carry the three…times it by…” She felt her head about to explode. Math was certainly not her strong suit and she could not even begin to tell if he overpaid or not. No…certainly he must have but…how. She felt herself give up and just give a nervous smile. “You act like you are buying desert for a small army.” How little the girl really knew.

The shopkeep struggled to life the bag but as he moved it away he proclaimed weakly, “Right…away…sir…” As he moved the bag away Airi could not help but feel this man just made way too much money. She would…discuss it with him later. She was going to ask if Maru thought that was okay but really…he did it. If he had a problem she had no doubts he would receive his funds back.

When Maru mentioned that Nozomi was his squad mate and his future wife Airi gave him an; oh really sort of look. Maru then proceeded to go on. He looked…really happy as he spoke that made her wonder…what happened to the other girl you mentioned? Airi’s face took on a concerned expression when he mentioned how he was denied the joy of getting stepped on. She lifted up her finger…going to talk about how that was a punishment and that he was not supposed to enjoy it but she paused. Would she enjoy stuff like that if she loved someone…? Was that…normal? She had no idea if she was correct or not in thinking this but maybe…she should consult someone else about it. She placed her hand back onto the table and gave a small nervous smile.

As she looked at how that made her a potential relationship partner…she wondered. Would I be able to do that if someone I loved asked me to? The idea of hurting someone made her really uncomfortable but as she looked at Maru…he seemed to want it. Was it wrong to deny someone something they liked? Airi puzzled but eventually just left it as, “I supposed to much of anything is bad for you…but everything in moderation right?”

The next thought crossed her mind and Maru-san thankfully reminded her of it. “Kanagawa is supposed to lead my next mission…any advice for working with her? I really want to make a good impression.” Airi would listen to what he said, unsure if he was exaggerating or not but she wanted to at least get a decent idea of what she should do. After that though she would start to bring up her mission and explain what happened. This time Maru was more serious…probably thinking about how he would have done things differently.

“So I ended up trying to take a moral high ground without securing my strength and properly defeating him first. As such I ended up almost getting my arm cut off. If not for the monks following me…I am certain I would be dead now.” She had a fond look thinking about the monks and how cool they were. She needed to go and apologize for causing them problems. She was not afraid and she did not have nightmares but she did realize it was stupid to expect someone like that to give up without a fight.

“Pretty stupid of me…as a shinobi at least…I was stronger than him and lost all because of me trying not to kill him or even hurt him…just stupid…” She played with a napkin with her one good hand and glanced over. “I’ll be more careful next time I promise.”

 

[Midori Futotta]

Looking at the ice cream mans face, it seems that he covered more than enough for his order. He didn't know how much it was for the things that he ordered but whatever was in the bag should be more than enough, besides he had to use some of his winnings and extra money that he had somehow. That gambling den was pretty good to him needless to say, besides the fact that he wasn't really living anywhere glamours since he preferred to avoid the tax people and paying rent since he could simply make his own place by altering the environment. When the young kunoichi commented that he was acting like he was buying ice cream for a small army the rogue chuckled. “You don't know how right you are, I got a little sugar demon in me.” While most people probably thought of that as a metaphor, the rogue literally HAD a sugar demon that only ate junk food and cheese that usually popped out from his hair when it's hungry to steal whatever Maru had that was sweet then seal itself back into his hair. Regardless Airi could see now why he offered to pay for the ice cream, poor girl wouldn't be able to afford what he wanted.

While he waited on his ice cream he could see that Airi was a bit confused when he told her about how he actually wanted to be trampled upon but denied it due to it being in mid mission, he always thought that it was a normal thing to go through some kind of abuse for a girl that he liked. When she began to tell him that too much of something was bad he tapped his cheek as he thought of a reply. "I mean being able to endure pain or humiliation for someone you like is normal right? Kawaii always has be wear a school girls outfit to gate duty cause I kinda change into her to wear some cute outfits, appearily she ain't having it so she makes ME wear them then crawl around until she gets bored of it. Embarrassing but fun nonetheless.” the rogue explained. He was starting to wonder if this kind of thing was a him kinda thing but Maikeru never really challenged his cross dressing nor did he challenge his perverted behavior.

Airi seemingly wanted some tips on working with Nozomi since she was leading a mission with her, Maru perhaps should leave out the part about her being very serious about her missions since she didn't like try to kill him like he thought, plus when they were playing train robbers she was a little shaken up. “Well, there isn't much just work with her and you'll be fine. She helps out some orphanage so I don't think she'll be hard on you at least.” He shrugged. The rogue knew that Nozomi wasn't that hard to deal with but to be truthful he hasn't seen her in awhile besides the critter hunt and the mission where they had to rob a train… and the B.A.D incident but they didn't talk much then. Perhaps it's time to kindly begin stalking her again, perhaps start skipping around kumokagure until he sees her again. Maru deciding since they were on the subject of missions it was a good a time as any to know what happened on that mission that she was on.

Appearily, she got hurt because due to the fact that Airi didn't try to actually hurt or kill the man which was pretty understandable. While he wasn't actually a good person to talk to about hesitation since he had a huge weakness against hitting girls and how he is pretty easily tricked by people he thought he simply raise his hand then ruffled her hair. “Hey it's alright if you didn't want to hurt him, I mean I would never hit a pretty lady or a cute girl since…. Yanno. Kinda relay on brute force with my main fighting style and curses, needless to say I'm not gonna grab some pretty lady and literally falcon punch her in the face for 'Trying to kill me’ or that 'She wanted to fight me.’ It'll be different if she had horns cause horns means she's ugly and a monster.” He explained, clearly the girl needed a direction to go in so Maru thought of something that maybe would be helpful. “But yes, while you have some people like me. Most people don't care what shape you're in so you gotta get stronger if you going down this path.” With that the rough began to think of a way that he would be able to help the girl.

He thought about how he taught Maikeru how to summon youkai, then looked at Airi then began to wonder. They were pretty close sure, but would she actually be interested in making a deal with him so she would be able to call on a demon to help her? He wasn't sure if she would but maybe somewhere down the line she will be able to make a pact with him then inspire her to meet the Youkai overlord. "Hey you were looking up kinjustu right? I assume you are avoiding the ones that are curses right... Also where that guy is with my ice cream, the sugar demons are getting restless."

 

[Yamamoto Airi]

Airi wondered if Maru-san…well not if…but what type of Yokai he was. He mentioned that he was some kind of Oni-King right? Was there some kind of differentiation beyond that? Was he a legitimate sugar based demon? Airi really needed to do more research on Yokai so she could better speak to Maru about what was serious and what was more so just for fun. It seemed rude kind of like talking to someone about their race and what they did. If she really cared she would make effort to learn about his culture. If there even was a proper way to research Yokai in the fashion she wanted. Certainly more about them and less about the best way to end them…

Being able to endure pain and humiliation for someone you like was normal. Airi could think about herself, if someone had jumped in to block the rocks she would have been happy and now she would do the same for someone she cared about. Humiliation would have been like how that singer guy decided to sit with her. If strangers could do it and it made her feel good, maybe Maru was right. Though she could not imagine wanting to be stepped on…she could maybe see other scenarios.

Thinking about it though…if someone she liked asked her to wear something she could see herself doing it. The maid outfit Maru had accidentally transformed her into really was not that bad. She could see herself dressing up she supposed. As for Maru though…she could not help but glance over and smirk. “I could see you wearing a nice male uniform suit with the tie sort of pulled down and the jacket over your shoulder. You would strike that loner noble boy all the girl seek. I would say the mask really clashes with that design. As for girl uniforms…” She tried imagining Maru in it and then him crawling around the floor. “I do not think I would ask for my significant other to do that for me.” If Maru enjoyed that sort of stuff she probably realized that Kawaii would have to get really creative to deter him from doing things she did not like. Kawaii must have it rough… “I think you look better in manlier things…but if you have fun wearing that stuff I can’t really discourage you. There are weirder things in the world.”

Airi did not really get much advice so Maru assumed they would get along fine. He also mentioned Nozomi worked at an orphanage…Airi wondered if maybe they needed more help. She would love to start working there. “Maybe I’ll ask if I can volunteer sometime.”

Maru gave he some…interesting advice. “I agree…though if a girl tries to kill you please do not die on principle…” This was not the only things she had an issue with. “Also you have horns and you’re not a monster to me. There are female Yokai like you…I am certain. I think monster is more of an action based judgment than a looks based judgement.” Just thinking about the way some people were treated…”Humans can be more of a monster than they realize…” She felt…angry. She almost blinked in confusion. She never did anger and it startled her.

She felt like she had almost growled that out so she looked at Maru and said, “Sorry, I’ve noticed I’m more in turn with my…more negative emotions since the maid kitten incident.” She certainly had learned something from that…

“I’ve met almost as many demon like beings who are good as humans. And probably equally as many monsters on both sides. I am really happy I got to see your side of things Maru-san. If not I might have continued down that…monster slaying warrior of light. I really could have been one of those judgmental bad people…” She gave a happy smile and looked over at Maru. She smiled brightly and cherrly replied with, “Thank you. Maru-san for everything!”

As she said that the shop keep came back from the back. He placed a bowl sized turtle down in front of Airi which was huge. Her eyes sparkled with delight. “Thank you! Thank you!” As for Maru the man placed out ten milkshakes, seven bowls, and one cone out for him. “Here you go sir, I have the larger order in the back so when you are leaving I can bring it out so it stays cold. Enjoy!”

Airi looked at all the ice cream and just shook her head. “Good luck with that…I feel bad for your dentist.” With that Airi slowly dug into her turtle sundae.

 

[Midori Futotta]

When Maru told Airi how Kawaii made him wear a school girls outfit if she was mad at him, the girl made a suggestion of her own since the rogue liked to dress up saying that she could see him in a male suit and with a tie. Though he would be interested in it the part about his mask would clash with his outfit slightly scared him, if he didn't want to look at his own face he doesn't think other people would. Besides, she was nice and probably nice enough to spare his feelings if he was ugly. He would look at his own reflection, but there was a little vision in his paranoid mind telling him if he looked at the trainwreck that was his face he'd be starting at the nasty burn with one eye nearly half closed then he'd cry at how he looks like the famous onryo Owia with horns. The rogue rubbing his chin at the suggestion. “I dunno. With my horns and tail if you add a suit onto it I'll end up looking like Satan, I'll probably look more like I'm trying to get people to sign away their souls more than anything.” He chuckled, people especially teenage girls were weird and most likely would go for that sort of thing. “Bah! What the heck I'll probably try it to see if it's alright for me, besides need some photos of myself anyway to sell myself anyway. Guess some of your suggestions would help.”

He guessed that he would give it a trail run, perhaps try to see if people would actually like him. He figured that the girl wouldn't recommend him cross dressing since she has wasn't exactly the sadistic type like Kawaii who practically enjoyed him wearing girls outfits, especially in public so ever everyone could see him. It was good to have her around giving him suggestions since she knew how to appeal to the non sadistic audience, Kawaii could appeal to them too since she has some male ideas for what to wear but she could also appeal to the fan girls that wanted him in a dress. Kawaii wasn't afraid to go for the fetishes but Airi at least could give him some more ideas to appeal to a different group of people. He'll make sure to get her the ones without his mask since he didn't look at his face anyway.

When he told her how he couldn't hit a lady, she seemingly brought up the concern that he might end up being killed because of it but the rogue shrugged. "I mean, I could just walk away. I don't necessarily have to actually fight with them regardless of if they are trying to kill me or not. That or simply stall until they get tired and give up. There's other options rather than actually fighting back, yanno?” He explained, sure enough he might get an assignment to kill a pretty lady but he could always refuse then ask for something else or just take Nozomi with her since she is a more experienced at turning off her feelings than he was. Maru just couldn't find it in himself to attack an attractive woman or even an average looking one but he didn't mind hitting the unattractive ones like the people with horns. With her mentioning that there are probably other Youkai female like him she seemingly thought that most youkai shouldn't be that bad since he wasn't a bad one. When the girl said that humans can be more of a monster than they realize she seemingly growled with that statement. Maru trying to lighten the mood decided to tease her. "How do you know that I'm not only being nice to you so you'd sell me your soul. You've already made the dark deal with the pinkie swear so your soul is forever mine, mwahahahaha!” Maru helped both his hands up like they were claws then wiggled his fingers to attempt to make her happy again.

When she explained it was just her negative emotions from him turning her into a cat chick Maru nodded then let her continue. Appearily she has met a lot of demon besides him, some good and bad. He honestly was glad he didn't do like normal and try to boot her out of the forest since she was scared of him when he first saw her. "Hey no need to thank me, I should be thanking you for actually sticking around and wanting to be seen with me without throwing holy water at me.” He joked, then the ice cream guy finally came with her order and his order! The rogue took his cone then looked at his order in front of him then waved his free hand at the man. “THANKS!” He said as he held the ice cream with both hands then took a small lick with with his eyes closed and with a fox like smiled. A couple licks later Maru's hair began to move like there was something inside of it, Maru hair stood up like there was a child hiding under its blanket, then a pair of eyes peeked out of the hair. Crazy multi color eyes that looked at Airi, then looked down at the sweets, Maru seemingly unaware of the thing in his hair was startled when it yelled…. “AGE GREIW!!!!” Before a pink, candy shaped head, clown looking youkai child hopped out of Maru's hair to pounce in one of the bowels that the rogue ordered!

“Gah! Damnit Jeez!” Maru yelled, as he was suddenly splatter with ice cream when the candy youkai face planted in rocky road, it lifted it's head to smile making babyish noises while it's face was covered in ice cream then Jeez proceeded to use her hands that were within the sleeves of her sweater that was entirely too big for her to shove ice cream into her sharp tooth mouth like a savage, drooling rainbow spit as she ate. Maru glared at the little monster who helped herself to one of his bowels, then licked at the ice cream cone. “Airi, this is Jeez otherwise known as the pain in the ass who summons herself.”

[Ooc: Jeez The Candy Youkai (NPC) Entered Topic!]

Spoiler

Jeez The Candy Youkai​

 

[Yamamoto Airi]

Maru went onto mention that he would look like someone named Satan. She guessed that was another demon who Maru had met on his travels. There were so many names and things she did not know that she really needed to hit the library.As she glanced over to him though Airi could only sigh and follow up with, “There are probably plenty of young girls who would want to give their souls to you.” See Maru had it easy being so good looking, the fact that he could be a model was already awesome, that and the fact he had so many amazing powers just really cemented what a great guy he would be to have. If Airi was saved by him she probably would have fallen for him if she had been older. Looking at their conversation though she imagined she could not really…give him what he wanted she supposed.

Maru seemed happy when he talked about his modeling it even made Airi smirk. She wanted him to be successful but really…she just wanted him to be able to be himself out in public. Obviously within reason but…maybe she felt a kinship with him in regards to not totally being herself. She wanted this caged slightly corrupted bird to spread its wings and fly.

Onto his follow up point Airi could only shrug. It was hard for her because she was weak, Maru due to his strength had options for dealing with people. Airi could try and talk her way out but at the end of the day, someone could easily come and overpower her. Until she was older, wiser, and stronger…she would simply have to crawl to survive.

Maru lead with a comment asking her how she knew he was not a bad Yokai and she could only give him a curious look. Even the motions he went through caused a small smile…”Firstly why would you need my soul if you already took it. Secondly I whispered as we were making the pinkie swear…think of it like fine print.” The truth was she never actually did that but if Maru wanted something from her he could just ask. While her soul might not be on the chopping block most of what she could offer was. “Besides…Yokai at least seem straight forward. They might cheat or steal or do…much worse things. In all the stories I have read though they never outright lie. Humans do that casually but demons…they are honest if nothing else.” Lies through omission were one thing, but even then she could never say a Yokai lied to her. Not as true for a human.

“If nothing else…at least I can always rely on you to be honest about taking my soul.” Unlike some people…

He was just trying to get her hopes up and even the conversation had not hurt her mood. After all there was now delicious ice-cream in front of her. For a moment she forgot and tried to use her right arm and winced a bit sucking in some air. Shaking her head though she started using her left hand.

As she started digging into her large turtle she smiled happily. “I missed this…” She felt happy tears welling up thinking about the small festival turtles she used to get with her family. As she happily dug in a weird noise just erupted that caused Airi to jump. Suddenly a small plush looking thing hopped down off of Maru and started digging into the ice cream. It would look savage if it was a living thing but seeing this plush looking thing jamming into ice cream…

“You are so adorable…”She almost whispered it. The small little plush ignored her for the ice cream but Airi just wanted to put her so much. Her hand trembled as she started to reach out only to pull it away. Was it bad…? Would it think she was trying to hurt it? She could feel the temptation…it pulled strongly as she stared at what was known as Jeez.

“I love it…ohh…does it travel with you?” She felt herself sigh a little. “I wish I could have one of you to pal around with and talk to me!” Envy rushed over her as she looked at Maru. She pointed her spoon at him and said, “You were holding out on all the lovely little friends you have. First the whisps and now Jeez! Maru-san I am very jealous.” She started to eat into her ice cream a little miffed.

“And don’t you dare tell me they are pain. Just…just…look at jeez and how happy it is! I bet it would love cuddles too!” As she looked at the little guy she noticed it was flying through the bowl. Airi tried sneaking a few scoops of her own ice cream as a sort of peace offering. “I bet you get real mad when someone tries to take away your stuff but I bet you love people who give you more!” Airi wanted to tickle and hold it but better to not do that just in case it really was scary when angered.

“Wait…” She paused and looked over at Maru. “How many of these do you have!?” Airi felt her heart beating quicker. She imagined a mountain of plushes she could swim through. They would all be warm and adorable.

Airi pouted her cheeks a bit and said, “I want to meet them…and I want to snuggle one…what do I need to trade you oh Lord of Demons for that?” While she teased a bit she was serious. She kept eyeing jeez with almost a predatory stare. She wanted it…she wanted it very badly. More than maybe anything she ever wanted in her life. It was that weirdly cute to her.

 

[Maikeru]

A day off, to a shinobi it was a phrase they heard just as often as 'honest politician' or 'god I really like my boss'. Needless to say, this was one of the few days since Maikeru had joined cloud where he had... nothing, nothing at all to do. He inhaled deeply as he stepped onto the streets of the Susukino District, pulling up the sleeves of his thin, deep blue, long-sleeved shirt to enjoy the rare warm spring day they had been experiencing. The only real question was what he would do today.

As he walked among the crowds he thoughts on that, barely aware of the people who passed by him as the crowds got more and more dense the farther into the district he traveled. Usually, he would spend his days off training or researching for his next mission. But, after his most recent one he was told specifically to rest his body and mind. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth at that thought, how much he missed being the one giving the medical advice for shinobi to ignore. With a tired sigh, he leaned his head back before noticing something out of the corner of his eye.

Was.. was that Maru? And he was with.. Irie? What in gods name could they be doing together? And why was Jeez with them? Maru hated Jeez, even Maikeru knew that much, so why was he feeding the pink little demon ice cream, and more importantly, why didn't he have so much in front of him. Shaking his head, Maikeru heard the bell above the door go off as he entered the establishment. It was nice, even for an ice cream parlor, but he supposed that Kumo did have a nice aesthetic that was he was use to in his home village.

Placing his bandaged right hand on Maru's shoulder, he gave the group a small smile as he came in at the end of their conversation.

"Ah, Maru-sensei, it's good to see you not hopelessly terrorizing some poor girl. That's not what you're doing, right?" He squeezed a bit harder on Maru's shoulder as he said those words. It wasn't that he particularly minded his Sensei's habits, he found them endearing and part of Maru's character. After all, it's not like he ever did anything besides harmless flirting. But, Irie was just... there was something about her that made you want to help her. "And... Airi, right? It's good to see you again, I hope you've been training, I would hate to pull too far ahead of you."

He gestured for a chair, as if asking to join them, before taking a seat across from Maru. Looking between the two, before to Jeez, he quickly understood how weird of a scene this would be to an outside viewer. Then again, this was a shinobi village, and they were attacked by a giant T-rex not too long ago. This had to be at least normal fanfare for the villagers here, or at least normal enough they would ignore it and go about their day.

"So, what's new with you two? And why is Jeez out, Maru. I thought you hated summoning her."

 

[Midori Futotta]

Everything was alright, they were discussing his modeling career, joking about how girls would gladly want to give him their soul, eating some lovely frozen treats and Jeez shows up. She was right about him not actually needing her soul plus he would've been more straightforward if he did wanted it, besides the fact that she was a great friend and simply wanted to reward her for doing a difficult mission. But Jeez had to show up not knowing that she might scare people if she just hops out of his hair like that. He was so glad that his other Youkai couldn't just summon themselves besides DANGER!!! who at least have something important to say. However, instead of Airi being like 'WHAT IS THAT THING’ she actually found Jeez…. Cute. Jeez was already down to the bottom of the bowels stuffing her face with Maru's ice cream, licking her face clean with her long blue tongue with a 'sluuuuuuuuuurrrr’ her now cleaned face made her look more like a clown plush. The pink looking ears on the side of the Youkai's hat twitched happily, the brown button up sweater now had ice cream on it, the thing wore a polka dot scarf around its head and a small cape. As the youkai finished the bowel, Jeez looked at her empty bowl then began to snort. Looking around for for treats, the Youkai found another bowl so it tossed the empty bowl to the ground then with a little laugh from the sound of it shattering it pulled Maru's second bowl then began to eat.

Maru taking a lick of his own ice cream, Jeez clearly made Airi happy so he decided to let her run around instead of unsummoning her. The rogue scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, she kinda was more of a little messenger before but now Jeez like…. Won't go away. So I'm stuck having to summon the pint sized monster. I Honestly thought people would throw rocks at her or something.” he explained. Besides the fact it was a more annoying than anything Airi clearly wasn't having it. He honestly never looked at Jeez as a cuddle buddy, more like some weird responsibility he just had to deal with besides the fact it started to cry when it didn't get its way, and it could cry for DAYS. Jeez eating Maru's second bowl of ice cream stopped for a moment, then looked at the human girl who was offering her a few scoops of ice cream then the hyper youkai began to chow down on the ice cream. “Yeah, she isn't violent. Only time she attacks people is when I get hurt by someone it thinks it's bad or if I tell it to.” He commented to let her feel comfortable with touching it if she wanted to. Filthy dogs made people happy so petting a pint sized sugar demon would be alright... right?

When he said that Airi was seemingly curious if he had more Youkai just like Jeez and Maru held his mouth concerned. While none of them actually lived with them he remembered that him and Maikeru once summoned a bunch of those little monsters! It was hard getting rid of the one them since this one really liked him, he could imagine all of them bugging him since his home was like filled with creatures now. “Uhhh…. While I could summon Youkai's like Jeez they are all in different colors. I only have this one cause this Jeez is kinda, tougher than the others.” He explained, trying to find a good excuse not to summon the Jeez people. “Maybe another time cause they are a lively bunc-” Saved by the bell, a hand on his shoulder stopped him from talking and he looked to see that it was his best student! He would be happy to see him but then he began with saying that he better not be terrorising some little girl which clearly he wasn't. Maru smile faded as Maikeru began squeezing his shoulder to press the issue, he would be fine with it if he wasn't acting like a circus monkey.

“Easy there, no need to chimp out circus monkey. I'm just treating my friend here to ice cream.” He insulted. The new lingo for high ranks, especially the ones who like swinging their dicks around are chimps. Maikeru was a pretty low rank for now and still acted chimpy, perhaps he's been in that other village too long and they taught him how to act like a monkey. Plus his fighting style is chimpy too, but he still dealt with the poor… man? ‘Yeesh I'm is getting old.’ Maru thought to himself, the awkwardness of having eternal youth is going on now. He wondered if Jeez was going to grow up but he doubted it. “Oh…. She just summoned herself, I honestly would get rid of her if I could but…. She's kinda well liked around here so I'm stuck with her.” He explained. “Besides, the little monster grew on me. But anyway, whoa! You got old! What happened to that sweet innocent masked boy who looked just like his sensei at one point in his life?”

 

[Yamamoto Airi]

Airi thought Jezz’s outer appearance was very cute but as she watched the little devil throw a bowl off the table and laugh before diving further in she scowled. Yokai lived off of malevolence…it was expected that it would at the very minimum be mischievous. She felt a need to correct the behavior but as she looked to Maru who did not seem to mind she figured he did pay an exurbanite amount extra. Maybe he foresaw this even. She decided to say nothing but still watch it…still loving it’s little face as it went to town on the ice-cream.

When Maru spoke she looked horrified, “How could anyone throw rocks at this little face!” Could she even be hard on this thing? Probably not, as she looked though she continued, “Probably not the best messenger though…” Appearances were deceiving but even still there must be better Yokai for delivering messages. Though now he just said Jezz sticks around. Probably because you secretly baby it as well Maru-san.

Airi was told it was fine so of course she patted the top of Jezz’s head. Airi could not eat ice-cream and pet but right now for her this was a better remedy. She just made sure to stay clear of the mouth…gluttonous little one probably had a black hole in its tummy to store all that sugar. As he explained that there was a large number of them Airi had to resist asking him…someday soon he said soon. She wanted a Jezz. What would she give up for it, she had no idea. She did love it though and hoped she would be able to take care of one.

As she petted Jezz she looked over when he stopped talking mid-sentence. She noticed Otani-san. She had met him at the hot springs and he helped her get a very solid grasp on water walking. When he made a comment about Maru not terrorizing someone Airi just gave a complicated look. She had never seen Maru do anything but be terribly kind. It made her wonder with her slight understanding of their conversation if maybe…he was love sick? He would not actually terrorize any women…right?

He also looked to her and remembered her name! She was…surprised. “Yes it’s good to see you again as well Otani-san.” She smiled and waved…then looked away a little bashful. Her hair was doing its best to hide the bruise on the side of her head but her arm in a sling was a dead giveaway. She wanted to be recovered so people would stop noticing her as someone who was injured. As such she decided to start going into her ice-cream some more. Otani-san still looked amazing as always. Glancing over at the two she felt her heart flutter slightly…they were both models in her eyes. She was so lucky!

Maru-san spoke to Otani-san and she decided to keep quiet. They were a more formal Sensei to student relationship. Who knew what she was setting in on and thus wanted to give them some privacy. He did not make it seem like she should not participate so when there was a reasonable amount of a break Airi decided to throw out.

“I am…getting treated to Ice-cream since I managed to come back from my last mission…it was closer than it should have been. No need to worry though, I’ll be combat ready soon!” Last thing she needed was him to pity her. He went on missions and came back just fine. She would at least have a lovely scar on her right shoulder at best, she still hoping she could use it for combat…time would tell.

 

[Maikeru]

Maikeru stared deadpan at his sensei as he noted Maikeru's age, causing the Uchiha to simply sigh in acceptance. With a cursory glance, he had noticed the bruise and broken arm that adorned Airi's form but had decided not to comment on them. As a former chief med nin they would be little issue to heal for him, but, he was aware that some shinobi like to let their injuries heal naturally, or at least after you healed them past the point of death. Something about the injuries being reminders of what not to do, or some nonsense like that. The idea had never really appealed to Maikeru, who preferred to be well healed so he could get back to training, but to each their own.

"Maru... we fought like two weeks ago man... I have not changed in appearance since then." Looking to Jeez, he cocked his head to inspect the little demon a bit better. "But, she is cute isn't she Maru? Even you can't deny that. She's also certainly less annoying than Gosh is. I swear that demon singlehandedly made me thankful that you're the sage among us, and that I only have to deal with these demons when I summon them. Don't know how you do it, Maru."

That was the point in which Airi had mentioned that Maru was rewarding her for a mission well done, which caused a subtle eye twitch in him. Looking to Airi, and then his sensei, he just rubbed the bridge of his nose. It seemed there was certainly some favoritism being showed to this female student. After all, he survived a war, where was his ice cream at? Regardless, the girl seemed to be enjoying herself, so he let the issue ride. Well, at least while she was around.

He waited and listened, letting the two of them get some words in before he continued.

"You know, there's no harm in coming back from a mission injured. Hell, I had to be carried home from my Chuunin exam. I had so much external and internal damage done by that big son of a bitch that I had more of my own blood on me that its. Really, as long as you and your team come back, the mission was a success. It's much easier to heal broken pride than to bring you back to life."

 

[Midori Futotta]

Well that's what he figured since it was a monster, if you found some Youkai in your shop eating up all your junk food chances are there would be at least one person to want to attack it even though it looks adorable. In regards to Jeez not being a good messager Maru assured decided to assure Airi that the pint sized monster was more than capable of protecting itself. “She is a pretty good messager, so far when it waddles it's way to deliver my messages it always comes back and I give it a hard candy to munch on. My other Youkai at the time were less…. friendly. Like the kinds who would threaten you just to deliver a simple 'Meet me here.’ At least Jeez isn't scary looking plus it can't speak human but it kinda understands it.” He explained. Maru didn't understand why all the lesser Youkai that he summoned just can't speak human to save their lives, perhaps it's because they aren't grown yet but Whoa was about 13 years old and spoke in squeals. How can they understand the language but can't speak it, he'd never know.

As the young kunoichi reached out to pet the youkai while it gobbled the ice cream it was eating, it closed its eyes then snorted when it felt a strange weight on its head then it opened them when it felt comfortable. While it would prefer to be eating treats, the Youkai only ever got petted when it did a good job or when Maru transforms into a girl due to his female alter ego taking over when he's in his girl body for too long. Jeez thought that it did at least something right so it accepted the girl patting her head since she fed her. The Youkai giving Airi a toothy smile, it made a happy growling like sound that was as close to a purr as it could make. The human girl was pretty nice, looking at the empty bowl it looked at the girl as if to be like 'Hey want me to show you something then picked up the empty bowl. “EHHHHH-AH!” Jeez was about to chuck the bowl against the wall to impress her new friend since Maru's mischievous youkai Yikes found breaking things pretty funny. But Maru grabbed the bowl before it left the Youkai's hands then set it back down. “Break one more thing and I'm sending you home.” He scolded, then the Youkai was sniffling, about to start to cry but it remained strong.

Maru listening to Maikeru, the boy told him it's been exactly two weeks since he last seen him. The rogue squinted, then blinked a couple times. “Two weeks? Hmm… well guess I'm like just now noticing.” he said, then Maikeru went on to tell that Jeez was indeed cute and truth be told he knew that hence why for a long time he used it as a messenger. "Well I think Gosh is a boy and boy youkai are always a lively. Jeez kept summoning herself when I started picking up the sage arts so I just decided to train her up a bit so she could be my main summon. She's a pain, but she's a tough little brat. She even learned how to use medical ninjustu so she could help heal people since that kinda thing I'm no good at…” He chuckled. Guess you can only not like something like her for so long that they could really grow on you. After all Jeez helped him on multiple occasions.

When Airi mentioned that he was rewarding her for coming back alive the rouge now down to the cone bit into the cone. “Yeah, pretty sure you'll be battle ready in no time.” He said between a mouth full then swallow. "Need keep rewarding you when you come back and I can't do that if you wind up getting badly injured. Got to show those high ranks what I see in you.” the rogue encourage, then looked over at Maikeru who seemed pretty annoyed probably because he was showing Airi slightly more support than Maikeru. Of course there was a major difference between her and Maikeru which wasn't because she was a girl. And that was she didn't seem to have enough convinced in herself, before the poor girl thought she was a below average shinobi which clearly wasn't the case. Maikeru had a big enough ego for him to not baby him at least, he didn't seem to need the same amount of attention that Airi did. Ain't seen him crying because he felt like he wasn't good enough. Different people, different methods.

When Maikeru began by telling Airi one of his experiences and how they had to literally carry him home Maru was at least glad that his Chunin exam went okay. But still… no one came by the Spine like he wanted. "See, nothing wrong about it since it was your first high ranking mission. Even the best of us get hurt, speaking in which I got a mission I have to do when night falls… not a official official one but it's still one I have to do before October gets here.” He joked.

 

[Yamamoto Airi]

Maru informed her that the little demon was in fact an excellent messenger which surprised her. While Airi herself was thinking more about speed and efficiency, Maru merely commented that Jeez delivered the letters and he was not very threatening. Plus Jeez came back due to receiving hard candy from him. Overall the goal was to send a message amicably. Airi nodded to this not even realizing some many other factors that played into delivering a message. Yokai must be rough to maintain…

Airi was happy with the Yokai up until the point it lifted up its second bowl and was about to pitch it. Airi thankfully did not need to try and intercept it as Maru grabbed the bowl out of its hand and mentioned that if it broke even one more thing it would be getting the boot. Airi had never seen a stern Maru before. It made even her slide into her seat and go back to just eating her ice-cream. Airi would be a good girl for the rest of the trip.

The burden of training a pet she supposed…

Otani-san mentioned that there was no shame in coming back injured. So long as the mission was successful and no one died. Airi felt a cold sweat form as he did not know the details. “I could have come back completely uninjured if I was not a fool.” She took in more ice cream. She needed to harden up and the Anbu themselves would never allow her to stay on this purity route…she would need to do the deed eventually.

“I agree though…at least it was successful.”

Maru said she would be healed up quickly and she nodded. When Maru said she needed to show what he saw in her she did give a small smile. This reminded her, “Oh Maru-san. I asked how to please Kangawa-san because I think she plans to see how I do on the mission and is considering mentoring me. I figured I should mention it. I know we have not done any formal training and are more friends than student master. I cannot lie though I am a little jealous Otani-san since he can summon your cute little Yokai…you are so lucky to have each other.” Airi wondered if that was why Otani-san was so skilled. He worked really hard…that was the primary reason but when someone paves a path for you it really can help you to improve. Airi so far had sloshed about trying to piece this shinobi thing. She needed to do her best to get that knowledge.

Maru also mentioned she would be battle ready soon and she nodded. “Yes, they wanted to make sure my arm was connecting properly before totally fixing it. I am…thankful I did not lose it.” She smiled a content smile, one not of happiness but relief. If the tests went well tomorrow…she could in theory start stretching and training again in two more days.

Airi looked at Maru with curiosity about his mission this evening but it was not really her business since she could not help him. She pouted a bit and said, “Be safe…both of you. Also once I get formal training I am challenging you to a spar Otani-san! I need to know where I stand.” She figured she could not even touch him…he seemed to together…she would try her darnest though. “After all it’s not like I can spar with Maru since he would just run away or bind me in some fashion…” That in itself could be training but at osme point she needed to avoid or deal with damage. Hopefully Otani-san would be okay with that.

 

[Maikeru]

"Yeah, Gosh is a real pain in my ass..." Maikeru said, lamenting over his own youkai summon.

Leaning back in his chair he continued to listen to Airi and Maru speak, occasionally drifting his eyes between whichever one had control over the conversation at that point. He was starting to see why Maru had taken an interest in the girl at the very least. Unlike Maikeru who had always been self-assured of himself, after all, he was an Uchiha, Airi was much more meek and in her own head. The girl needed something to break her out of that habit, some form of power she could call her own and hold on to when she doubted herself. Maikeru had the Mangekyo Sharingan, Maru had... whatever ability he was using at that point in time, but her? As far as he know she wasn't from some fancy bloodline or anything like that.

Leaning forward, resting his elbows against the table, he nodded for Airi to pay attention.

"Before you challenge me to that spar, make sure you're ready to fight me. Uchiha are... we're very passionate people. We're not really ones to hold back in combat, hell I used Tsukuyomi on my own girlfriend in a training match. I'm not Maru, I won't hold back because you're a woman." He didn't say this to scare the girl, but to make sure she was ready before facing a battle she wasn't prepared for. "But, I'm open to fighting you whenever you want. I don't back down from a challenge."

Pausing slightly, an idea came to him. A way for Airi to gain the power she wanted, as well as learn a helpful lesson for dealing with Maru here.

"You want some formal training? Well, here's a lesson for you. I'll teach you how to beat Yamamoto Yamaru." He said before gesturing to his sensei. "Despite his... looks, Maru is actually a very capable combatant. He beat me despite the fact that I wasn't holding back and even used my cursed seal. But, there are ways to control him if you pay attention."

Maru was a great shinobi, Maikeru wasn't lying about that. Despite that, or perhaps because of it, Maru was an incredibly simple man. He lived by a set of principles that he would not disobey for any reason and it could often lead him in trouble. Acting shocked, Maikeru quickly points behind him, lowering his voice as he leaned towards Maru.

"Maru, don't look now but that hot fox girl just spilled vanilla ice cream all over herself. God and her shirt is so low cut it got on more skin than shirt..." Maikeru said, cocking his head to 'get a better view'.

With the distraction in place, he weaved a single hand sign before he was consumed by a cloud of smoke. When it cleared Maikeru's appearance would have vastly changed. His once strong masculine features would soften and become more feminine, especially in areas of... high visual appeal. He gave Airi a wink, before waiting for Maru to return his attention to the two of them. Now, Maikeru wasn't exceptionally into the perverse, but with Maru as as a sensei it would be fair to say he had picked up more than his fair share of the art.

"Ninja lesson number forty-seven, the art of seduction." He said, his voice coming out much higher pitched, and breathy. "It's important to everyone but especially important to those in ANBU and of the female persuasion. After all, men are quite basic, stupid creatures when in contact with the fairer sex. Isn't that right, Maru-sen-pai~?"

Smiling, Maikeru would lean closer to Maru, placing a finger just under the cloud shinobi's chin and slowly stroking it upward once, before flicking it off of his lips.

"Now why don't you be a good little boy and put all your money on the table, Senpai?" He asked, leaning just a bit more forward to expose his chest more. "And while you're at it, why don't you teach poor little Airi here how to summon Youkai? Hmmm? Don't you think she'd be such a good harbinger for the Youkai senpai?"

At this point Maikeru leaned forward farther, in order to whisper a few words word into Maru's ear.

"And if you're a good boy, there might even be something tight and restricting in it for you~"

Leaning back in his chair once again, Maikeru leaned his arms over the back of the chair as he took a very comfortable, almost confident stance. Shaking his head, he sighed at how fall he had fallen from his own pride. Nodding to Airi, he motioned for her to at least try what he had.

 

[Midori Futotta]

Nozomi is considering taking her on a mission? Well it would most likely go alright for Airi he was sure, Nozomi was pretty alright if you are holding up your end. Unless the mission that they were going on was going to be super difficult, he knew that Airi will make it back okay. Besides it wasn't like she was a official student since like she said, he haven't really done any actual training since he assumed that she would probably avoid fighting altogether. When the young kunoichi stated that she was a little jealous that he could summon a Jeez Maru chuckled when Maikeru responded with Gosh being a pain in the behind. “Yeah these Youkai are pretty clingy. I honestly don't know why but I guess cause they aren't liked much in the Youkai world neither.” From the little drawings Jeez does, appearily in the Youkai world when they went to try to make friends with the stronger demons they are usually swatted away like flies or tossed in the junk pile since they weren't really good enough to eat. Finding a friendly face in the underworld is pretty rare which is why Jeez never returns and lives in Marus hair instead.

When he told her about the mission she simply told him to be safe then he gave Airi a thumbs up. “Hey there's no women in this mission so it's all good.” He assured to try to ease her worrying about him however things quickly change when she asked to spar with Maikeru! The same Maikeru that stabbed his brown haired bitch of a girlfriend. Maru put his hand over his mouth, slightly concerned for her wanting to actually spar with Maikeru since Maru would more than likely dance around until he could simply walk away from the fight, just bind her, or use barriers. Like he expected, Maikeru told her that he most likely wouldn't hold back and Maru knew that he wasn't lying about that. Nor was he lying about Tsukuyoming his girlfriend cause he knew if he'd stab her than putting her in a mental torture chamber would be nothing to him. “Uhhh… Well if that's what you want then… I suggest you train hard because fighting a uchiha is pretty difficult. Especially if you can't avoid those eyes.” He warned.

Appearily now this was turned to a lesson, Maru listen closely then realized that the lessons was about dealing with him he laughed. The rogue couldn't believe that he was teaching Airi how to be able to control him, true enough he had one weakness but it isn't like he'd abuse it since he was one of those shinobi who had pride. “Ha! This is gonna be- wait what! Seriously!” The rogue turned then held his hands up like they were claws to see the fox girl who spilled vinalla ice cream on herself. “WHERE!” his eyes scanned the room for a fox girl, he was surprised that he didn't see the fox girl before or smelled her when she came in. The rogue began to drool still looking for the fox girl, Maru looking at the broken bowl as proof of the fox girls existence the rogue got up then looked back. “She must have gone to the bathroom be right baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-b-b-b-... Whaaaaa shi meh peck dun dun.” Maru spattered as he saw the fine looking white haired lady before him who looked strangely enough like Maikeru. Why couldn't Maikeru look more like this? More importantly why didn't Maikeru see this beautiful woman first?

Now what people would come to understand that Maru was pretty simple, he actually believe that this woman just popped up out of the blue who looked exactly like Maikeru in the exact same place as Maikeru. Any shinobi with half a brain would know that it was a transformation justu, but poor Maru actually believe the lady was real. For all his strengths, if someone managed to turn into a pretty lady or even was a pretty lady themselves it was all over for the masked man. “Do full coo ere maik wen?” Maru couldn't even say the words, she even began to tell Airi that she was going to teach her the art of seduction using HIM as the test dummy. The rogue lifted his chin when the lovely lady put her finger under his chin, listening to his magical mistress she simply wanted him to do two things for her… put all of his money on the table and teach Airi how to summon a youkai. If he followed her instructions then there might be something tight and restricting for him. Could it be rope? Cuffs? Or maybe…… He turned a deep red at the thought of what else could be tight. Maru snapped a quick glance at the mistress busty chest, with his eyes glowing red from determination he obeyed the ladies commands!

When the woman went to sit back down Maru shot up, his moments robotic as he slid his hand underneath his mask to pull out a bag of yen he got for his monster hunting then moved the bowels of frozen deserts to where confused little Jeez was who was still looking for the boy that magically vanished. Maru set the bag on the table first then went underneath his mask to pull out a bag of the finest jewelry gifted to him by good ol' Tea County then set that on the table. Then he pulled out a couple of deeds for his two villa's that he won in wind country he never really used then set it on the table. After setting a couple more bags of yen on the table he grabbed Jeez then began to press down on her stomach then the youkai opened its mouth then out of its mouth was two contracts it had stored within its stomach. Maru plucked the contract out of its mouth, then pushed the last contract back down her stomach then set the plush looking youkai back down then held the contract up. “One Youkai contract for Airi.” He announced.

 

[Yamamoto Airi]

Maru-san dropped a bit of information saying that most of the Yokai spirits did not get along with other Yokai spirits. She always thought that maybe they just wanted a more direct path to their world or maybe trying to find their own meaning but…maybe a simple home and someone to accept them was also a common reason? Yokai seemed to only care about power a malice…yet Jeez here just wanted some ice cream. Other demons would probably call them weak or useless. She looked at Jeez in a new light and still wanted to protect all the weak Yokai in the world. She felt like she could do it too…along with Maru and now Otani-san’s help.

Otani gave her a warning that if she were to challenge him to spar that he would fight her for real, no holding back and no play fighting. It would end with her either surrendering or falling unconscious. She felt her heart beat kick up a bit and she felt herself get nervous. Her stomach swirled but her mind felt calm…there was a pause for a moment…Maru even seemed to be covering his mouth and looking back and forth to them. He looked nervous for Airi which told her everything she needed to know. The gap she thought she had when she saw him at the hot springs was right…he was at another level. Not that Maru knew how strong she was…or well at least he had seen her use one jutsu…but that was not what she considered a fight.

Maru warned her that Uchiha were tough to beat if you could not avoid their eyes. Airi took in a breath and said, “Otani-san is perfect…I need someone I can be sure I can’t hurt to see how far I can really go. I want to know my limits…and then break them.” As she smiled a bit warily she pumped her fist down and smiled to both of them. “After my mission with Kanagawa-san I’ll make a formal declaration with Maru-san as the referee. By referee I mean just make sure neither of us die please.”

That was that…she would not be able to take it back. This cute sweet innocent little girl was going to take a month or so to train and then she would face Otani…hopefully she would not disappoint him.

Otani went on to say that he was going to show her a trick on how to beat Maru-san and she gave a questioning look. If Maru had such a big weakness should they not keep that more of a secret? While she would never do anything to hurt Maru it would be even worse if someone who actually wanted to hurt him found out. A secret told is never really a secret is what she was always told by her father. If someone trusted you with such a thing you needed to make sure to keep it under wraps.

Otani-san then began to speak to Maru in a low voice…Airi was a bit confused considering she could not hear it herself. Maru suddenly turned around and was frantically looking for something…Airi jumped a little concerned that he might be in legitimate trouble but as he looked around he just seemed to be confused. As his hands turned into a more groping position and drool started to come from his mouth Airi started to grow concerned. She had never seen Maru act this way…as he mentioned she must have gone to the bathroom Airi looked even more confused. Otani at this point in time poofed into smoke and took on the form of a…well let’s just say fully deck out young lady. Even Airi could not help but blush at Otani’s new appearance. She…he…it was incredibly and most likely chosen for the fact that it looked attractive.

Airi felt…uncomfortable…the way Otani was speaking to Maru made her think…wow…he was somehow seducing Maru. As Airi watched she felt like she should look away but it was a lesson…she had heard the Anbu core talking about how they preferred having a nice selection of male and female for various reasons and his explanation made it clear…woman could manipulate men…no matter how powerful they were.

As Airi watched dumbfounded she noticed that Maru could not form a single word…did he really believe…? There was no way he must be just playing along to prove his point. As Maru started to take out a bag of yen and deeds to some houses Airi could feel cold sweat coming down the back of her head. Maru’s eyes seemed to start glowing red and she wonder…was this some super defect of him being a Yokai himself? No real man would be persuaded like this…right?

Maru then placed a bag of assorted heavy things and finally grabbed Jeez and started to poke it in the stomach until two large scrolls came out with which Maru grabbed. As he pulled it he declared that it was it was one Yokai contract for her. As she felt really confused by what that meant she suddenly started to put two and two together. This felt…wrong? Did he really want to offer this to her or was he simply being manipulated. Airi felt like this was a decision that should be given more thought or at least in better or different situation. As she looked to Otani-san he motioned for her to try…Airi felt a little sick to her stomach…she would…need to learn this right?

She would talk to Maru after to make sure it was okay…she felt horrible but if he was just acting and the goal was the lesson…maybe he was playing along…he was a good actor if he was…wait maybe this was what he did for modeling practice of getting into character? Airi nodded that she would ask after if it was okay and then formed a one-handed seal to transform as well. She just needed an image…what would she do…what would she pick…she needed something that looked…kind of like her but…more seductive? She thought quickly and decided on an image! A cloud of smoke would envelope Airi as well…

“M-Maru S-Senpai!” She felt a more...mature feminine voice came out and it startled her slightly.

Spoiler

As she looked at her hands her arm still hurt but for the image to be effective it needed to be healed…”M-Maru-senpai…if you do not mind…I’ll try and be worthy of it…” She tried to lean over and press herself against Maru’s arm and hold it tight against her. Her face flush and with the added cushion she felt really embarrassed. This would not trigger the fetishes Airi did not overhear but holding Setsu like this seemed to make him happy…needless to say it would take practice.

 

[Maikeru]

"Oh shit.." Maikeru muttered out loud at Airi's transformation. She definitely had that technique down, even Maikeru began to blush as she took Maru's arm and pressed it against her. For such a seemingly sweet, innocent girl, she really did play the part well. Perhaps it was because of her perceived innocence that it made the whole act seem more.. believable in a sense. It wasn't a surprise that Maru would give into her charms, but Maikeru wasn't sure if he wasn't already committed that it wouldn't work on him.

Unsurprisingly, Maru had laid out all of his wealth and the contract on the table at female Maikeru's request. What was surprising, however, was the sheer amount of wealth Maru had seemed to accumulate. When, and how, did he manage to raise this much yen? Maikeru had never been poor persay, he had always been able to make rent and buy food, however, he had never had a wealth quite like this. Squinting his eyes slightly he dropped the henge surrounding himself, bringing him back to his male body. He shook his head slightly at the ease with which he pulled that off, but decided to just slink back into his chair in a relaxed manner.

"See? Maru is really easy to beat. He will not hit a beautiful woman, and he's just a giant submissive at heart. Tell him what to do, offer to punish him, you can get whatever you want." Even as Maikeru said that it rubbed him the wrong way at how he had lost to Maru. if he had just henged... "A lot of men are like him, sadly. Which is why it's important to read your opponent. You can tell all sorts of weaknesses if you just watch and observe. A bum knee, PTSD symptoms if they see fire or blood. Sure, it may not be the most honorful way to fight like that, but, in my opinion, it's more important to come back alive than it is to win honorfully."

He looked to Airi for a moment, and her new adult form, before looking away again.

"You know, I could teach you all sorts of things like this. At least, I could teach you the stuff Maru won't. That's the difference between Maru and me, I suppose." As he spoke he reached across the table to grab a spoon, before taking a spoonful of the ice cream Jeez had been devouring. "I'm not afraid to hit a girl."

 

[Midori Futotta]

As Maru looked at the beautiful lady, ready to have whatever he wanted done to him happen. If he was supposed to give more to satisfy his new founded mistress he would happily give her more if she wanted it. Since Maru wasn't the type to have a bank hold onto his wealth plus not really having to pay for where he stayed all his money usually went to buying clothes, weapons, foxy-nine-tail magazines, and food. Who would come to a cave to ask for rent when there's a bunch of demons around waiting to scare off those people. Besides, they can't really charge rent on a place that seemingly didn't exist at least on this plain of existence, hence why he liked living in limbo since no one ask for rent. It's just you and a bunch of supernatural beings. Maru saw another puff a white smoke where Airi was, standing in her place was a beautiful looking brown haired lady who was calling out to him. Referring to him as Maru Senpai like the white haired chick!

Maru was stunned for a moment not knowing what to say, the new brown haired female as she leaned over to grab his arm then began holding it against her. The rogue turning so red that he began to actually LOOK like a Oni from how red he was when feeling the woman's chest pressed against his arm. His poor goblin like brain was short circuiting, shutting down he just had a repeated thought to himself. ‘Pretty lady grabbed my arm. Pretty lady grabbed my arm. Pretty lady grabbed my arm’ he repeated ad he stood there motionless with his heart ready to jump out of his chest. He must be having one of Kawaii's Wet Dreams she gives to him when she is hungry, this gotta be. Though she usually picked the people that she knew he liked, he wondered why was this scene was with Maikeru and Airi. He wondered what happened to Airi and Maikeru? She brought Maikeru back because he seemed old enough he assumed. While Airi and him was close the rogues hard limit was children so he'll have to thank Kawaii for replacing Airi with this brown haired girl. He felt like he seen the face before, the sweet innocent look on the outside but you know behind closed doors she was wild. He could already see her in the all black leather outfit, black high heels, and with a cat-o-nine-tails in her hands.

While Maru was standing there stunned from the dream girl, Maikeru chimed in acting like he was teaching her something. Kawaii was pretty accurate in making Maikeru act like…. Maikeru. Teaching the girl who was holding onto his arm how to take advantage of a person's weakness, fighting dirty pretty much. He even offered to teach the girl the stuff that he won't since Maru flat would risk death rather than hit a lady. Maru sighed, then shook his head knowing that this is pretty accurate for a wet dream, even when Maikeru took some of Jeez ice cream she made her face looks more demonic then heated her teeth at Maikeru then hissed at him cause that was just plain rude. Maybe Kawaii liked when Maru was being motivational do she wanted him to play the charming demon guy in this scene. “Oh common Maikeru, that sounds like something the old man uchiha would say. Learn from pain and sacrifice.” Maru's face turning to its normal completion, the rogue got into character. "Uchiha usually learn from that sort of thing, but I don't think fist fighting you learn anything. I don't know about you but I think we should start teaching more how to avoid getting into fights versus learning how to fight. Might be less bodies if people knew to walk away am I right?”

Wow he is playing this part pretty good. Maru looked down at the brown haired girl, using his hand that wasn't being held to reach over to cup the girls chin so he could gently turn her face towards him to look her in her sparkling brown eyes. “Not telling you that you shouldn't go training with him, I'm sorry but I can't find it in me to hit a woman as beautiful as you are.” He paused for a moment. “He can teach you on how to deal with a person without standards or rules like I do. Those are the kinds of people you would mostly be dealing with, but although we just met I don't want to see you hurt. I don't know what it is about you but I just have this need to protect you.” He smirked. Looking over at Maikeru a bit, Maru gently pulled his arm loose from the brown haired girls grasp to walk over to where Maikeru was sitting. Maru draped his arms over Maikeru's chest for a moment before covering his eyes then tilting his head to expose his neck.

"My poor dream war hero student…” the rogue murdered in the white haired lads ear still believe he was in a dream. “Guess it's my fault you're so bitter and grumpy but I'll make it up to you… Your Sensei is not strictly only into women you know? But here I'll give you something that I gave to that fox girl you met in Tea… I promise it won't hurt… that much my beloved Uchiha.” Maru slowly licked Maikeru's neck with his extremely long tongue that could've easily wrapped around his neck…. Then Maru opened his mouth… his teeth grazing the Uchiha's skin…. And then bit down hard to add another curse mark to the side of his neck infused with corrupted natural energy…. When Maru pulled away his mark on the side of the boys neck around his teeth marks was a small black flame within a black circle.

[Giving Maikeru Curse Seal (DS) Via bite!]
[Just Add Curse Seal (DS) to your seal, link post and you're good to go!]

Spoiler

The Maru Seal​

 

[Yamamoto Airi]

‘This feels really weird and I am so off balance…’ Embarrassment and a feeling of stupidity washed over Airi as she held Maru’s arm. Airi could feel Maru stiffen when she held him, causing her to imagine he was probably disgusted a young girl like her was doing this to him…or maybe just the fact that it was inappropriate for someone her age to be doing things like this. She knew it was wrong but Otani-san said this was for training purposes. She could not help though but feel judged by Maru…she really should have just watch videos or something…Maru was probably upset. She could see his face turning red like an Oni which probably meant something bad. Airi very tentatively let go…she wanted to say sorry but she could not really find the words…”M-Maru…I..uhh…”

Otani-san released his illusion, he seemed…annoyed to some degree which made her think she must have done something wrong. He probably was irritated because Airi did not properly do the teasing or seduction well enough. Another…failure..? The voice clashed into her mind once again she felt it bang straight against her heart. “I'm not sure which is more deficient; your morality or intelligence, but neither must have been tested in your exam, I'm sure." She made a small noise from her throat remembering that. “I might be safe in including cowardice among those deficiencies?”…no…I’m getting better…“Might I not also include a poor grasp of strategy to that list? How about insubordination?”…Airi looked toward Otani who was speaking…he would not waste his time on a nobody…"And since we've established that you're clearly not fit to be a Genin” I-I-…will do this…I want to do this…he cannot stop me…

"You know, I could teach you all sorts of things like this. At least, I could teach you the stuff Maru won't.

Airi could not really hear much beyond that. …"A d s n e w ' e e t b I h d t a y u r c e r y n t f t t b a G n n” She couldn’t even make that out…Her eyes slide from Otani to Maru…they…really did…believe…then why couldn’t she? No it was not a question…she needed to…believe…

Maru’s voice was a mumble too as she felt light as a feather…almost like a large pressure was off her back. He could teach her…how to deal with people…Maru was speaking to her…as her face looked to him almost like she herself was lost he mentioned how he did not want to see her hurt. She was suddenly very aware of the hand on her chin…it was soft yet it made sure it lead to her looking right at him. While Airi might be looking at Maru himself she saw behind the mask…he said he felt a need to protect her…she could not even blush with how captivated she was. She did not even see the mask as he spoke to her.

As he suddenly pulled away and let her go she felt her knees go weak as she fell slowly on her way to the floor. Landing on her knees and she watched helplessly…Airi felt like jello…was this the technique done properly?

As she felt the coolness of the floor she watched as Maru-san moved over to Otani. She watched as Maru graped his arm over Otani-san and then tilted his head back. “M…M-m-maru…san?” She watched as Maru started to lick Maikeru’s neck and she felt herself transfixed. “Wh-what the fluff…?” She watched as Maru played around with Maikeru’s neck before biting down onto it. Airi could feel the malefic energy onto Maikeru…what…was he doing. The full image of Maru’s tongue on Otani’s neck…she felt her heart beating like crazy, she was scared…confused…uncomfortable…”Wh…whuuuuuuuu…” Suddenly the ceiling was what she was looking at before her body collapsed onto the floor. As she slowly lost consciousness her last thoughts was of Maru and Maikeru in a precarious situation that allowed one’s mind to wander…

[Topic leftish due to fainting]
OOC: Feel free to do move her as you see fit. The transformation should end once she passes out. I would appreciate her house *which Maru would know* or the hospital should either of you not just fix her yourself. Feel free to stop if you are forcibly waking her up. I’ll be watching.

 

[Maikeru]

"First off," Maikeru said, pointing a finger to Maru as he spoke of 'old man Uchiha' "I am nothing like Takeshi, and if you ever make that comparison again you'll regret it."

The boy let a hissing noise from his mouth in annoyance as he turned away from Maru, shaking his head in disbelief. Of everyone, Maru should know how much of a button push that was for Maikeru, how much resentment and anger was hidden behind that name. His attention was pulled slightly as a simple touch from Maru turned the girl to jelly and caused her to fall to her knees. Maybe she was still a bit young and hormonal for seduction training after all.

"And yes, it would be amazing if we lived in a world where we could teach conflict avoidance, but we don't." He said simply, rolling his eyes at his sensei. "We live in a shinobi world, and if we don't teach our children to defend themselves they will die. We have both seen plenty of that. Evil people exist, and all it takes for them to succeed is for good people to do nothing."

Shrugging his shoulders, he stole another bite of ice cream from the crying Youkai, simply squinting at the small creature, almost daring it to try something. It wasn't until Maru's arm slipped around his shoulder that the hair on his arms stood on end. A concerned look grew on his face at the sweet, honey-like words that spewed from his Sensei's face into the white-haired Uchiha's ears.

"Your sensei is not strictly into women.."

What. The. Fuck. Maikeru pulled away a bit, that is until Maru's hands wrapped over his eyes. What in gods name did Maru have planned here, in the middle of an ice cream parlor? He knew Maru was a degenerate of the highest order, but surely he wasn't thinking of... no. No, no, no. Maikeru was his student, he'd known him since he was a boy. Not to mention he had met Maikeru's significant other multiple times. Maikeru believed Maru was a lot of things, but he never believed him to be the type to go after committed people.

"Maru, I don't know what the hell you think you're doing bu- oh." It was at this point Maikeru felt the cool, wet sensation of Maru's tongue running along the length of his neck.

The sensation sent chills down his spine and caused the young man to bite at his lip for a moment before a shocked look came over his face. Well, this was one place to learn things about yourself he guessed. For a moment, he went as weak in the knees as Airi, before composing himself. He began to move his hand towards Maru's face, as if he was going to push away his Sensei and end this weird, awkward, sexually-charged joke before it went too far. That was, until he felt the sudden sensation of piercing in his neck.

"Son of a bitch!" He roared under his breath, before jamming his elbow into the stomach of his sensei.

With Maru off of him, he also fell to his knees, but this time it wasn't out of pleasure or confusion. No, Maikeru chakra network was on fire. He felt the burning sensation under his skin as Maru's cursed seal interacted with the one Ryuichi had given him, which was already linked to his Mark of the King. His veins felt like someone had poured liquid magma down them, his teeth gritting against each other to keep the screams of agony contained. At this point, the duo had drawn the attention of pretty much the entire restaurant, which Maikeru looked to with cold, angry Sharingan.

"You fucking moron." He said to Maru in a hushed tone, "Do you have any idea what you did?"

There was another great groan from Maikeru, almost like a roar that was trying to escape from his throat. From his head, two long, curved horns began to form, before falling to ash and crumbling to the floor beneath him. No, this was not the time for monster form, but he didn't feel like he could keep that down much longer.

"Kaibatsu business!" He yelled to the patrons, waving them away with his hand. "Go back to your treats. And you."

He said to Maru, Mangekyo Sharingan staring back at him.

"Take Airi, get her to bed. You just showed a teenage girl a scene from some strange Yaoi hentai between two men she admires. She should be fine. But.. fuck, I have to go."

And with that, Maikeru quickly rose to his feet, sprinting towards the gates. He had to get into the wilderness, wait this out. Hopefully, Maru hadn't given Maji yet another way to manipulate him.

[Topic left unless stopped]