Payday! [Private]

[Muramasa Maya]

See, Azusa was prone to believe her own hype in thinking she was above all others; she would definitely have no trouble accepting that her skill had caused a one-sided battle. She was also not the most perceptive person...but even she could see that Riyota had just put no effort at all into their 'duel', if it could even be called that. Afterall, as heiress to her clan, those within the Aikayume refused to spar with her...and if she forced them, held back out of unwillingness to risk earning the bitterness of their priestess. Except for her brother, but he took delight in being able to smack her outside the head whenever possible.

But naturally, she took this as a personal insult.

"...You...idiot!" She called out, the excitement that was previously in her voice having turned in to anger. "Did you feel I was that weak that you would not have to show any effort against me?" She had expected a fair fight with Riyota, but had otherwise been given a situation in which she felt as if she were being belittled. And Azusa hated being looked down upon.

Had it been someone other than Riyota, they could have expected a full two paragraphs of her ranting...But Azusa felt merciful towards Riyota, even being as aggravated as she was. Plus the damned choker around her neck felt uncomfortably tight; it was being even more of a distraction to her. Thus;

"...Enough. Do as you wish, I am leaving. Nice to see you're still in the village; and thanks for the gift." Though her words were read as being polite, her tone was full of resentment. Nevertheless, she clapped her hands to dispell her Genjutsu blinding Riyota as she turned to leave. As she did, the lizard on her shoulder gave a final look in Riyota's direction, before giving him a sorrowful whine as Azusa left.

[MFT]

[Topic Left unless stopped]

 

[Miroku Riyota]

Riyota felt terrible, worse than he had ever felt before, and it wasn't because of the suspicious bracelet either. He had clearly offended Azusa against his intention. He had wanted to at least put up a convincing fight but he was thrown off guard by whatever was going on with his new accessory. The boy knew he had to solve this issue and quickly.

"Lady Azusa wait!" he ran forward and grabbed her wrist with inhuman speed, making sure to deactivate his seal just in time so that the priestess was unlikely to see it, and if she did hopefully she would think it a trick of her mind. "Please accept my apologies my lady, I spent so long trying to calm my nerves in preparation for this battle that I wasn't ready for your initial strike!" so it was a teeny tiny lie, he knew the kitsune wasn't stupid, but he hoped that if he played to her ego enough she wouldn't pay too much attention to the finer points of his lie.

"It would be my greatest honour, if you will allow me one more chance to prove myself against you." Riyota had no clue where this formal speech had appeared from, but he decided to roll with it as it would probably help his chances of mending the situation. "Please, Lady Azusa, will you allow scum like myself to duel you properly?"

 

[Muramasa Maya]

See despite how soft and large they were, the ears of the Kitsune Priestess were not just for show; Azusa picked up on even small sounds, and she turned when she heard her name called...But Riyota had already reached her and latched onto her wrist before she even turned around. Azusa's eyes narrowed; Riyota demonstrated that he could, indeed, move with impressive speed...Which reaffirmed her bitterness over the fact that he should have easily been able to dodge her attack in the first place!

The kitsune priestess scoweled at Riyota.

"Hmph. That was not bad for someone who is clearly forcing themselves to speak like that. You almost sounded like someone of my clan." Ironically, Azusa herself had to constantly remind herself to speak as she felt a clan heiress should. She took her title with serious pride!

Really, she wanted to believe what Riyota said even without him trying to appeal to her self-importance...and she did.

But she also was stubborn, and found it difficult to let go of her resentment. Knowing that her necklace was agitating her, she felt removing it would prevent her from taking it out on Riyota.

"...But I don't feel like fighting anymore. Look, help me take off this dumb necklace and I will forgive you; it is much smaller than I expected...It's annoying..." An easy enough tasking, right? She was having trouble with removing it though; she rubbed and scratched at her neck with her fingers, but couldn't feel her fingers get any sort of grip on the thing!

Unknown to her, the choker annoying her so much had vanished from her neck at some point...and left in it's place a jet black seal circling the skin of her throat at the exact spot the necklace had been been.

[MFT]

 

[Miroku Riyota]

Riyota grinned awkwardly as he realized his ruse had been seen through, but at least he had calmed down the angered priestess. "I...uh...well...thanks..." he smiled, trying to mend the situation and accepting the compliment of Azusa, whether it was sarcastic or not.

Riyota feigned disappointment when the kitsune expressed her unwillingness to fight. "That's a shame, I was hoping to be able to prove my worth..." inside though, he was relieved. Azusa was powerful, Riyota wasn't stupid, he knew that. His fear lay in the fact that when backed into a corner, he risked losing control of the curse he had worked so hard to master, not only would this lead to the priestess or nearby shinobi killing him, but he worried he would severely injure her, the one he had grown to love, even whilst he was away.

He responded quickly to her request to remove the necklace, as he had suspicions about his own 'Chakra enhancing' accessory, but as he went to remove it he found there was nothing to remove. What he had at first thought to have been the necklace was instead a black marking around the neck of the priestess, she would probably feel his hands touch her skin as he felt the marking. "That's...not good." he would murmur to himself, however it would be loud enough for her to hear him.

As the boy opened his mouth to tell the girl what had happened, he began to feel very strangely dizzy, and it took everything he had just to stay standing as he stumbled back from the girl. "Azusa...Where did you get these?" he asked, groggily.

MFT 272

 

[Muramasa Maya]

The small lizard on Azusa's shoulder watched Riyota try to remove the necklace, albeit in vain. It seemed equally as perplexed, and Azusa scowled; the Fox wouldn't be able to fully bring herself to forgive Riyota until she felt he had given her a fair fight.

"Well? What is it? Hurry up. I'm still upset, you know." Azusa demanded, only slightly perturbed about being unable to remove it on her own. See, she often had her servant assist her in the more dexterous refinements she wore...or rather, her clan always made sure to dress her up whenever they could. Point being, she struggled without having that assistance provided to her.

"Where I got them? What does it matter?..." Azusa questioned sheepishly, twirling the ribbon in her hair with her finger. See, Azusa was sorta hesitant in revealing that she had purchased them from an obvious secondhand stall...Although Riyota was likely the last person she should worry about judging her. Still! She was a woman of refinement! She didn't exactly want to do anything to damage that image...

...But Riyota's concern seemed to get to her. She sighed, defeated. "....It's not like I got it anywhere fancy. Oh, but that doesn't mean it was someplace bad either though! Someone was selling things in an alley between shops, and saw us walking. She guessed you were a shinobi, and said I'd be interested in the bracelet and choker which could be used together to regulate chakra or something...but they looked like they might be nicer if we individually had one, so I bought them." Azusa spoke. She figured that if the objects worked together, they could also work individually on their own if someone as blessed like herself tried hard enough.

...Even though she had no idea what the trick was, and in her hurry to return to Riyota, had forgotten to ask the woman she bought it from! And ending up in a situation in which she was unaware of the difficulty in removing the choker sealed around her neck, which was very much living up to its name. "...Fine, if you're having trouble with that then I will do it." She spoke, the tight seal around her neck wearing her patience thin. Yet, when she backed away from Riyota and reached for her neck felt as if she had touched some shocking current; she jumped and pulled her hand away. "O-Ouch! Did..you see that? It shocked me...Did you feel anything?" She questioned with a hint of concern.

[MFT]

 

[Muramasa Maya]

*Earlier*

How fortuitous.

By happenstance, Akiko had caught her sister Azusa when the Priestess's thoughts were otherwise preoccupied with the boy she was walking through the golden crystal district with. Akiko did not seek to investigate the scene, but instead profit from it; with the work of several illusions and a few tricks, Akiko was the one that had sold her sister the 'magic' choker and bracelet. With a few sweet promises of easy power and secret cheats, Akiko ensured that Azusa eagerly dived headfirst into her misdirections.

When Azusa had left in search of Riyota, Akiko's illusionary merchandise and disguise dispersed. (Azusa's illusions are stronger than mine. For her to not even catch on in the slightest...Has something...or someone...got her worked up that much?) The younger Aikayume questioned.

Like Azusa, Akiko had the telltale signs of a Kitsune, her ears and tail. But in contrast to Azusa's bright gold hair, Akiko's was a deep silky black, and her eyes a bright crimson. While Azusa's dress elegant in its simplistic white color, Akiko's had a floral design.

*Current*

It was time for her to enact her plan. After selling Azusa her gifts, Akiko set out to complete several tasks. The bracelet and choker worked as a short distance tracer for her, and once her setup and preparations were complete, the kitsune followed the trace of chakra to the dojo Azusa forced Riyota to follow her to. She hesitated outside the doors for a moment —a momentary weakness in her resolve— but with a heavy, anguished, sigh managed to steel her heart. It was for the greater good.

She entered, appearing as if lost;

"Oh my. Onee-sama and...a boy? I do hope I am not interrupting anything intimate." She questioned with a mischievous smirk. "Are you the reason that Azusa-onee-sama is always so eager to leave our shrine?" The crimson eyed fox spirit questioned towards Riyota.

(Bringing in an NPC to the topic for plot development)

 

[Muramasa Maya]

Azusa's ears twitched at the sound of Akiko's voice.

"...Aki? What...are you doing here?" Azusa questioned, surprised by her sisters sudden appearance. Azusa enjoyed putting on a tough act around other people, and this trait of hers was only amplified around her younger sibling. Azusa tried her best to ignore the tightening effect of the enchanted choker, but it seemed to only get worse with presence of the younger Aikayume Kitsune. "Why....aren't you at...the shrine?" Try as she might, the blonde priestess was no longer able to hide the difficulty she had breathing as she spoke.

Aki slowly approached and gave Riyota a deep, formal bow. "My lord shinobi, I thank you for keeping my older sister company. However, she seems to be feeling unwell; I will be taking her back to our clan's shrine. Back to her home, where she may rest." As Akiko spoke, Azusa of course, tried to deny feeling any sort of 'unwell'; "What? No...I'm...fine. Stupid Aki, It's just-" "Shhh, onee-sama. You don't have to be tough all the time....Please, just rest. Please...let me take your pain away." Aki reached out to her sisters shoulders, and with a gentle caress of Azusa's neck and seal, she began to collapse into Aki's arms into a deep slumber.

Akiko seemed generally surprised, and struggled to keep her balance. "O-oh my...you're heavier than I expected, onee-sama..." Given that Aki slept for more than half the day, her muscles weren't exactly used to doing much more than rolling over to the cold side of the pillow.
Seeing her struggle, a pair indescript and relatively faceless Aikayume clansmen came to relieve her burden and carry Azusa in Aki's place. Unlike Azusa, Akiko didn't exactly have any reservations against being escorted by any of her clan's guards; gods forbid she actually bought something in the shopping district and had to carry something herself!

With a heavy sigh, Aki gazed at her sisters sleeping face once more before turning to Riyota. "Well then, good day, lord shinobi. Please feel free to pay your respects at the Aikayume Shrine as you wish." With one more bow, the kitsune princess bowed her head and left with her two guards, and the unconscious Azusa.


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