Impulse Buying [Raika Tatsu]

[Lexi]

Exiting the tower, Ranako immediately winced. The sun in the village proper was bright, unbearably so, and once she was out of the muted mud-or-wood-beige of the Kage's main room, it made its full assault on her unaccustomed eyes. The frog girl was clad in her cloak, covering nondescript, grey and green mission garb, with her forehead protector clasped in her hand and her grey, stringy hair in a pinned-up ponytail, and, most importantly, a stamped slip of paper marked 'mission' in her pocket, the thought of which made her steps light and airy. So, shielding her eyes with her free hand, Ranako strode energetically down the flight of stairs, through the field and out of the tall, fence, onto the streets. Outside the tower was not as busy as, say, the central of the village, but shops and stalls still intermingled with homes, the new, oddly styled apartments sprinkled between the more familiar styles of Kumo's houses. Amidst the general noise of chatter, the crows and chants of salesman sounded as Ran walked down the street.


"Cheap, and useful alchemy ingredients, get'em here! Always useful and at a low, low price."

Ranako found herself turning her head toward the vendor, mid step.


It hadn't been a particularly fervent quest of hers, but Ran been reading a bit about Badger's Blood- the product that could lower someone's inhibitions enough to make them feel- and act, probably- invincible. Most of her interest came from the idea- how fun it would be to see- and she'd never considered getting a vial of it; but now, she was about to come upon a pretty good stack of cash, and the thought of that perfect coincidence carried her towards the run-down, purple draped seller's shack.


"Good eye, good eye. Anything in mind, missus?" The moustachioed salesman flashed her a yellow grin as she approached, gesturing at the stacks of miscellaneously-coloured vials, bottles and semi-opaque jars laid out in front of him. A boar's tusk lay in one of the jars closest to the man.


"Badger's blood, got any of that- that badgery-blood stuff?" She asked. The salesman paused, looked down at the floor in thought, then after a moment nodded sagely.


"Yes'm, that's some good stuff. Interesting effects. And you're a shinobi? You'll put it to good use. Ah, it'll be 4,000 Ryo."


Whatever she'd expected, it wasn't that. Suspicion crept through her, but suspicion was always creeping through her, and she found herself batting it away this time. 'Cheap and useful', he had said. She didn't have the faintest clue what alchemical ingredients went for. For all she knew, Badger Blood could be a staple of every Kumo family's dinner table. Maybe the kids took a glass before missions to help them relax. It was- well, it was all of her money, but she felt like splurging.


Without another word, Ranako reached into her cloak to fetch some money, while the man waited, hands clasped a little too tightly, smile a bit too forced. All around, a few people gave the short girl and the obviously seedy seller odd looks, most of them walking past quickly after a second's pause and leaving a path around the pair for the soul kind or brave or bored enough to step in.

[Raika Tatsu]

What a day it had been. Finding out who the new Raikage was a treat, but also a spark. As the young man walked down the steps of the Raikage Tower, he looked back once, and smirked. Then he looked forward, deciding which way he was going to take home. He finally decided to take the scenic route. Well, the longer route.

As he walked along the somewhat crowded streets, vendors called around. He didn't anything for a while, thankfully, but he had grown to enjoy these moments, being around friendly people and a lively crowd that wasn't hostile. Raika's cloak and hood still kept his anonymity, though. Tatsu wasn't much of a social butterfly after all. Plus, his..interesting...appearance tended to grab people's attention. Thankfully, in a village of shinobi such abnormal physical characteristics, like his own red eyes and scaly skin as well as his forked tongue, were not seen as that abnormal. People here were, gratefully, much more understanding.

"Yes'm, that's some good stuff. Interesting effects. And you're a shinobi? You'll put it to good use. Ah, it'll be 4,000 Ryo."

Those words caught Tatsu's attention, if only because they came from a man talking to what seemed like a young girl. A young kunoichi, buying something quite expensive. The issue was the manner in which the man was acting. Tatsu had s gift for observation, and something told him that something was off. He seemed almost worried, anxious for some reason. But what would he be afraid of? The young girl? Unlikely, as she seemed to be reaching for money to pay. And around the village, vendors had very little to worry about...unless they were trying to rip someone off. In that case, they had much to worry about. Attempting to steal from shinobi was rarely a smart idea. He had to make sure; he couldn't watch a young shinobi possibly being conned without doing something about it.

Tatsu walked up behind the young girl, who was dressed in a quite distinct outfit. The hat was quite the interesting touch, though not very subtle. He placed a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder before speaking, a straight face under the darkness of his hood. "Well, look at that. Alchemy ingredients, right? And what is that supposed to be? Sure must be useful stuff for 4000 ryo. Some kind of plant extract? Animal blood? Usually looking at much more ryo for something like that, right? You must have gotten quite the deal yourself in acquiring it, huh sir? Wouldn't want to give my friend here bad quality stuff?"

Tatsu was baiting the vendor, seeing if he stuck by whatever story he claimed. He was also trying to seem genuine. The last thing Tatsu wanted was a "situation", especially if it was uncalled for. Still, he had to be certain.

[Lexi]

Keeping her money in 4 different wallets made it harder to rob her, but it did make large purchases a hassle. Ranako had to go through 4 wallets, just to come up with the 2,000 odd Ryo for the grinning vendor, and just as she had collected it all and laid it on the table, there was a hand on her shoulder. She flinched. Someone had come up behind her, too quiet for her to notice, and was standing over her. Worse yet, she’d let them. Ranako shirked back as if burned by the contact and forced her face into a scowl, glaring bad-naturedly at the man next to her.





What she saw was less of a man than a tall lizard. His eyes were orange, or were they red? He was so high up it was hard to see. He wore tight clothes, and she could tell he was about as thin as a lizard, too. As he spoke, her eyes were immediately drawn to his mouth, or rather, his forked tongue. He didn’t look like most people in Cloud- but she wouldn’t have minded if more people in Cloud looked like he did. He reminded her of the swamp.

“…Wouldn't want to give my friend here bad quality stuff?” 

‘What?’ She furrowed her brows and deepened her scowl. Generally, people in Cloud didn’t come up behind one another and start acting friendly; at least, not in her experience. This person didn’t seem to be begging, or asking for anything, really- instead, he was trying to bargain with the shopkeeper? He might have looked nice, but the warning bells went off in Ranako’s head all the same.



In a sudden scramble Ranako checked all her wallets for her Ryo, brushing after each and every case and making sure they were in fact, intact and holding money. She wasn’t sure whether she was relieved or not that she hadn’t been robbed. She was certainly more confused.



The shopkeeper seemed to notice her panic, and was intent to capitalize on it. He turned to the newcomer, utterly scandalized.



“Just because others prefer to oversell, doesn’t mean I will. Look! You’re scaring this poor…” He took another look at Ranako, “… young girl!”



Face a mask of righteous indignation, he gestured to his wares, “If the price is a bit less than usual, it’s because I am kind enough not to overcharge, like the rest of this country. I don’t see why I should be hassled!”



He was looking back and forth between the girl and the man, now.



The frog girl didn’t understand who she should listen to, but she was leaning on the side of neither. Honestly, she missed just being able to reach out and take what she wanted. The vial was right there, and so accessible. But Cloud had laws and consequences, big load of good it did them, considering things like this still happened. Either way, she was beginning to feel that maybe being more conservative with her money was a good idea. As she pushed aside her cloak to shove her Ryo unceremoniously into her pocket, a single kunai slipped out of the cloth and fell with a clatter to the ground.



There was a moment of silence before the shriek. The shopkeeper lunged from his seat, pointing at the object on the ground, screeching as if he was about to be attacked.

“Thief!” He screamed, much to the girl’s chagrin. She started, “No, I-“ But he was off, clutching his head and yelling at the pair of shinobi.

(Sorry for this crazy delay, work is kicking my butt.)

[Raika Tatsu]

“Just because others prefer to oversell, doesn’t mean I will. Look! You’re scaring this poor young girl!”

Tatsu glanced down at the girl. She indeed seemed a bit anxious, though not necessarily scared. Not too surprising, considering the way he had approached them. Still, he was not here to cause unnecessary trouble, and he definitely didn't want to frighten the young shinobi.

“If the price is a bit less than usual, it’s because I am kind enough not to overcharge, like the rest of this country. I don’t see why I should be hassled!”

Tatsu turned his attention back to the vendor, then spoke in a calm voice. "My good sir, I do not mean to offend. But I have been to many different countries in our continent, and prices such as these are unseen in even the poorest of places. At least, whenever the product is genuine. This is supposed to be badger's blood, right? That is woefully underselling it considering what it takes to acquire. Besides, few vendors act as worried or scandalized as you are acting now, unless they have something to actually be worried about. And in this country, there is little to worry about..."

As Tatsu finished, he heard a soft clank, which immediately caught his attention. A kunai, from the girl's pockets no doubt. An accident, one that was not all that surprising, especially among young shinobi. The vendor was in a shinobi village, after all, so he should know very well that the ninjas within would be carrying weapons, and that most would know how to use them. A little slip up was not uncommon, especially among the younger shinobi. And thievery here in the village was extremely rare from the shinobi, especially since they were trained to follow the laws and enforce them. Was it possible? Theoretically. But highly unlikely, and vendors coming to the villages knew that. Thus, this man was causing a scene, likely to take attention away from his now much more evident guilt.

"Hey, calm down, no one is trying to steal--"

It was quickly apparent that Tatsu's efforts were in vain. The man had found a way out of the situation, and with his screams, he was grabbing much unwanted attention for the young girl, and thus by extension Tatsu himself. The young girl would probably not take kindly to Tatsu whisking her away to safety, so the best thing would be to stay by her side for now. This whole thing was partly his fault anyways. At least, if the Kumogakure police or other fellow shinobi showed up, he could calmly explain the situation and no one would get hurt. However, if others came to the sleazy vendors aid, things might not go so well.

[Lexi]

If anything, the man's reasoning seemed to rile the stall's keeper up. He was in a veritable hysteria now, and all around people were going from turning their heads to making tentative steps toward the stall. Ranako had the sick feeling that if he didn't stop, soon, ANBU would be coming over.

She also had the feeling that the person beside her had a good grasp of business. Much better than her, anyway. He sounded reasonable, and relaxed, and the man had started shouting louder when he spoke, so maybe he was scared? Either way, he seemed to be the frog girl's best bet for getting a quick way out of the situation.
She turned to the cloak-wearing man for the first time. "So this isn't- this isn't real stuff?"

"I assure you it-" Started the mustachio'd man.

Ranako shot him a sour glare, which he stubbornly ignored, pressing forward with his empty assurances in the same, moderately offended tone. She spoke over him, "Then I'll just pay- just pay a bit and he'll give me this crap and he should shut up. He should shut up, right?"

She didn't know why, exactly, she was turning to this guy for advice, but the crowd seemed to be thickening around her, aiming glares at them, and Ranako was finding it hard to think. As is, she would be willing to shell out all she had just to get the extortionist to stop his yelling.

[Raika Tatsu]

Raika's calm demeanor remained as he felt a small crowd beginning to form around them. His eyebrows furrowed a bit as while his eyes closed. The man was taking advantage of the situation hard, and Tatsu could not see a way to placate him other than pay him. However, he was not about to let an extortionist run free in the middle of his village, and he was definitely not going to let the sleazy vendor--who was playing his "victim" card perfectly--use the crowd to scare him.

"Then I'll just pay- just pay a bit and he'll give me this crap and he should shut up. He should shut up, right?" The young girl seemed genuinely frightened now, no doubt due to growing crowd of people. Mob mentality was beginning to take hold, and Tatsu knew that simply trying to talk sense to these people while the vendor maniacally screamed for help against a thief was not going to work. It was too late for that, unfortunately.

"It might work, but it might not. Regardless, I'm not too keen on allowing this plainly guilty man the satisfaction of taking your hard-earned money."

The vendor, however, had picked up what the girl had said. Obviously any thought of actually being robbed was nowhere to be found within this man, but of course the crowd didn't know that. "Yes...yes! Pay me and leave, and I'll stop calling for help. Otherwise--HELP! These thieves plan on killing me and taking my things, help!"

Tatsu now frowned, his otherwise calm exterior now colored with a tinge of anger. He looked at the young shinobi at his side, her face showing a bit of desperation at the situation. He looked past the interesting markings on her face and just saw a girl needing help, at least for the moment. He spoke to her in a voice just loud enough for her to hear, but no other. "I'm not going to let this man get away with this, but I don't want you getting hurt. The village ANBU won't attack other shinobi without proven cause, but these people will. I'm going to ask that you trust me. I know that's a lot to ask for, but I am your friend. Just close your eyes whenever I say, ok, and be ready to move. Will you trust me?" As he asked, Tatsu held the rat handsign using just his right hand, which was hidden under his cloak. He was planning on escaping the situation and explaining later, rather than trying to confront the crowd and possibly others during such a tense moment.

[Lexi]

If the man standing next to her was affected by the crowd at all, he was fantastic at hiding it. The small motion of closing his eyes and furrowing his brows would have gone unnoticed by the young girl if not for the fact that it was the most expressive he'd been since he had approached the stall. Even among the adults of the town, Ranako had seen maybe two or three civilians this placid, and without the identifying forehead protector tied around his head, Ranako thought she would have figured him for a ninja of the Lightning. Chunin or higher, she guessed- the girl wasn't about to forsake his protection, if he was offering it.

The quiet bustling of the crowd abated slightly for half a second, and the ambient bird sounds of the town were audible for just a second- the Chunin spoke up, completely against the idea. "Are you sure?" She said, trying to reach the stern placidity he had a moment ago, but all the same relief flooded through her at not having to make the decision herself. At least this way, if it comes to up, I can say he had some part in this. And if the decision came to her not spending any money on a liquid sugar pill, all the better.

That said, the people surrounding were whispering now, and she doubted the word of two shinobi might mean much if most of them spoke out against them. If push came to shove, she thought pensively, she could always just push most of the blame on this man, couldn't she? The vendor would back her up if she paid him, probably. She fixed her eyes on the mustachio'd man. He seemed to have tuckered himself out a bit, and she was was no expert in psychology, but people liked money, either way. He looked at her, raising his eyebrows even as he griped about thieves. He would go along with it, wouldn't he?

[centre]"I'm not going to let this man get away with this, but I don't want you getting hurt. The village ANBU won't attack other shinobi without proven cause, but these people will. I'm going to ask that you trust me. I know that's a lot to ask for, but I am your friend. Just close your eyes whenever I say, ok, and be ready to move. Will you trust me?"[/centre]

Ranako blinked, turning away from the vendor. Trust him? Of course she didn't- she'd met him all of a minute ago, he was from the village, and he was in the preferable position in this all; but she doubted he was asking her to trust him, so much as to go along with his plan. The muscles in her shoulders tensed- that, she could do easy enough. She was trained in being able to move- though she didn't like the idea of closing her eyes. All the same, she'd rather be on the side of a shinobi than a useless stall keeper. And keep her money.

"I have connections in the ANBU." She said, finally, though it rang hollow, unbelievable as it was. She nervously fingered the kunai under her cloak all the same, frowning at being in this situation. Next time, she swore, she would be able to get on top of the situation. All the same, she looked at the man expectant of something, good or bad.

(Crappy post but ah well.)

[Raika Tatsu]

"I have connections in the ANBU," said the young girl, which made Raika smile very slightly. He wasn't sure why he found that line almost funny, but it seemed almost like a claim made out of desperation. Still, at least she seemed willing to go along with his plan.

"Don't worry, if ANBU become an issue, I'll take the blame for the situation, and explain everything. It is my fault in a large way, after all. Ready?"

Tatsu began gathering chakra into his closed eyes, the crowd around him closing in. The vendor seemed to be tiring of screaming, but no doubt his desperate pleas had already garnered enough steam in the crowd. It only took a little more than a second to ready his technique, his right hand still in the rat handseal.

"Now!" Tatsu shouted, giving the signal for the young girl to close her eyes, at which point he turned his head towards the crowd. This would give the young shinobi enough time to react and shut her eyes, while also directing the jutsu at the growing mob. Tatsu then opened his eyes, letting out a flash of light that would undoubtedly blind everyone in the vicinity, to the range of about 10 meters. This would basically cover all the people that would be a problem. "Open and run!" Tatsu was still speaking to the young girl, telling her to open her eyes and get out, while the crowd was dealing with their blindness, their cries now loud as they attempted to regain their sight. The pair of shinobi had about 6 seconds to get out of there, more than enough time.

The moment the young girl got out of the way, Tatsu turned towards the stand, with all of its wares. Tatsu didn't like such kinds of predators, but killing them was rarely the answer. Tatsu pointed the fingers of his left hand towards stand. Maybe there were genuine wares in his stand. Perhaps he wasn't completely telling lies. But Tatsu had little patience for people like that nowadays. Even though he tended to stay away from such situations, the moment the vendor tried to con the young shinobi and then tried to use the crowd to exhort them, he was done playing neutral. At least in this one case, he'd make the vendor regret it. Lightning shot out of Raika's fingers, powerful bursts with great destructive power, quickly destroying the vendor's wares. The focused lightning would hurt nothing, and no one else, including the vendor, but it would make sure he could not sell anything else, at least for that day. The moment his lightning stopped, and with only a couple of seconds left before the now angry crowd could see, he brought his attention to the frightened vendor. "As a reminder, don't ever try to con in my village again."

Tatsu then shunshined up, disappearing with barely any trace and landing on a nearby roof, at which point he ran a bit upon the low rooftops in the direction the young girl took in order to catch back up to her as well as keep out of sight of the crowd below. Hopefully she would let him catch up, he never did catch her name.

[Lexi]

The expression that the Lightning nin took didn't seem threatened in the least, and Ranako felt an unbidden scowl come to her face. I'm not forest bird. Still, the reassurance that he would take the blame for anything that went wrong lightened her heavy mood, just slightly. She nodded, though the knot in her stomach stayed right where it was.

The cloaked man closed his eyes, then, right as Ranako became aware that the situation was becoming more heated. The onlookers were about to become participants, and Ranako was not looking forward to the aftermath of a crowd-wide fight. The frog girl grit her teeth together, feeling useless and ineffectual. She was not okay with not knowing the plan, not even remotely. The second that it took the man to ready whatever seemed like eons, as the crowd closed around her. She jabbed one man, hard, in the stomach, as he tried to grab her by the elbow, and sent him sprawling to the floor with a rattling cough. That only seemed to incite the crowd more; in a moment, at least three separate ninja had taken out steeled weapons.

Not a moment too soon, the cloak man yelled, and Ranako forced her eyes shut. A burst of white lit up the darks behind her eyes, and even with them closed she could tell that whatever technique he'd just performed was blinding, incapacitating. Then he was shouting at her to run. He sounded like a drill instructor at the Academy, and Ranako counted herself lucky for that, because it meant that the running response came automatically enough that even before he'd finished talking, her legs were dragging her away from the scene of the crime. Her pulse was sounding in her head, pained groans were sounding behind her, and the whole situation felt more like she would imagine a battle field than an encounter with a bad shopkeeper.

The scene was shrinking behind her as Ran sped through the streets of Kumogakure, darting through the shadows under houses and ceilings and any other blind spot she could find. Slowly, she lost her momentum. Her white hair stuck out of its pulled up style, and her elbow was red and sore from the grab. It took her a moment to take her brain off auto-pilot. "What the hell, what was-" she said to no one, blinking and staring back at the scene from where she'd come. It seemed like something from a book, far removed from the usual, anxiety-ridden, tedious grind of a day at the village. Had she imagined it? She had to see for herself.

For the second time, the girl switched directions, walking back to where she'd come from.
The sudden commotion had pulled an even bigger crowd towards the scene, and it wasn't hard to find her way back. A crowd was filing in. She pulled off her hat and stuffed it in a pocket in her cloak- it wouldn't be fun to be caught- and made her way through, far enough that the shopkeeper wouldn't see. The lizard guy had left, and only commotion was in his wake. People were on the floor, the stall was a mess of broken glass and soggy wood, and the vendor looked like he'd just had an aneurysm.

Ranako snorted. She wished, suddenly, that she was a painter, or a writer, or a musician. Nothing was more artistically inspiring than the looks of stupid shock on the faces of the crowd. The girl dared to edge a bit closer, past the outer ring of concerned-but-not-concerned-enough-to-help onlookers to get a good look at the stall. Sadly enough, nothing was left- not even anything worth taking. She almost sighed, but shrugged it off- it was worth it, anyhow, for the entertainment.

A flurry of black cloth on the upper rooftop just barely caught her eye, and she saw what she thought was the man, retreating from the scene. The 13 year old gaped. So, he was leaving then? He seemed to be looking for something, though. Me? The knot in her stomach returned. Should she go? By all means, he had been helpful, but he was also possibly a criminal. More importantly, she really didn't have anything much to say. Mulling it over and not reaching a conclusion, Ranako approached the nearest house. Roof-hopping wasn't her strong suit, due to the lack of roofs in the swamp, but she was alright at jumping through trees, and she doubted it could be that different. A bit clumsily, she shambled up the side of a low roof, channelled chakra to her feet, and made a big leap to the nearest one, bracing her fall with another concentration of chakra. She was standing next to the cloaked man, then, and suddenly was unsure of what to say; there were probably pleasantries somewhere that she was not aware of. After a minute, she settled on, "Teach me that light thing?"

[Raika Tatsu]

Tatsu kept looking around for the young girl, but couldn't really catch a glimpse of her. No doubt she had changed something about her outfit to better hide, just in case she was seen. He sighed. "Well, hopefully she didn't find me a great nuisance, I did pretty much ruin a good part of her day. Wonder when I'll see her again."

Thankfully, it wasn't long. While he looked on towards the commotion at the vendor's stand, he didn't pay too much attention to his immediately vicinity. Suddenly, he heard the girl's voice to his side. "Teach me that light thing?"

Tatsu turned a bit quickly, slightly surprised to see her there, his face showing it a bit. He wasn't expecting the girl to come find him. After all, he had put her in a precarious situation that could have ended up with her getting quite injured. A small smirk appeared on Tatsu's face as he processed the question the young shinobi had posed, at which point he replied. "I could indeed, if you really wanted to learn it. But first thing's first, I should give you my name. I am Tatsu Hebiarashi, but I go by Raika, my village codename. And may I know yours?" Tatsu bowed his head as he introduced himself and waited for the girl's response, a polite and rather formal gesture he was merely accustomed to using. Looking back up to the young girl, who was no longer wearing her interesting hat, he decided he should apologize.

"I am deeply sorry for the situation I put you in. I normally do not get involved in such things, but I have just returned to the village after a two year absence. It was...quite the experience. I guess I just felt a bit of an urge to make sure you were alright, though as you can tell i am not too great at the actual 'helping' part." Tatsu then looked towards the now agitated crowd that was looking for the pair, at which point he put down his hood, revealing all of his facial features even more. His jet black hair and tannish, scaly skin faceted by his slit-pupiled, orange-red eyes.

"I hope you don't get too put off by my reptilian appearance. Anyways, we should move, the people in the crowd will no doubt start looking for us in the nearby rooftops pretty soon. People tend to get quite agitated after getting blinded so suddenly. Roofs or streets?"

[Lexi]

The man had been looking off at something when Ranako came up beside him, and her voice seemed to have shocked him. She hadn't been confident in her ability to not draw attention to herself climbing on the roofs, what with her relative inexperience, and she took his shock as a sign of her quick improvement. I guess I'm quieter than I thought. The tiles of the ceiling still felt uncomfortable under her feet, and even with the adhesive support of the chakra, she could feel her feet slipping slightly as her chakra pulsed, unevenly, underneath her. She shuffled and applied a fresh coating of mental energy as the man introduced himself. Raika. It'd been a while since she'd heard someone introduce themselves by their codename- those were mostly for missions, no? Either way, she didn’t recognise his, and the name Hebiarashi was predictably unfamiliar to the hermit girl.

"…And may I know yours?" 

Ranako blinked and focused her attention. She'd given her name enough time for it to feel comfortable, but her codename was something she hadn't used in what felt like decades. "Ranako Hosawa." She said, experimentally, the word falling heavily off her tongue. She raised her eyebrows at him bowing his head, but bowed it back in turn. Best not upset the... new technique trainer, with any hope. "Ranako. Or Ruka." She repeated. After a long enough pause, the man spoke again. He was apologising, but what about the situation needed apology she didn't know. It had been fun, she'd kept her money, and she'd now, possibly, be learning a new technique out of it. Her eyebrows tugged together as she turned to see what he was looking at.

Oh, she guessed the crowd was probably feeling in need of an apology. She turned back, face alight with sage clarity. 

"It's okay. I had fun, and you shouldn't worry about them. They're all alive. See?" More of them were getting up, now, like persistent beetles, and they were crawling all over the place. A satisfied smile reached her face, and she turned back to Tatsu, or Raika, or whatever he wanted to be called, to see him reach up with a- as she just noticed- awfully scaly hand and pull down the hood of his cloak. Her breath hitched for a second, as she saw the rest of his face, all in the same texture, and then she looked closer. His eyes were more reptile than person, too, and the colour of one of those blood oranges you could find in stalls.

"You're not human." She said, after a moment. It didn't occur to her that it could have been taken as rude. "Not with those eyes, no. What are you?" It was more out of curiosity than anything- she'd never seen a lizard-person close up. But he seemed interested in more practical things. Reluctantly, she pried her eyes away from him to the crowd, again.
"The street. That street." She answered, twice. "I'm no good at roofs." Her feet were getting their grips, but she was much more comfortable on land. After performing a quick transformation jutsu, Ranako transformed in a puff of smoke. She couldn't see from her side, but she liked to think she looked like someone average. Brown hair, brown eyes, tan skin, tiny nose- she couldn't remember where she'd gotten the henge from- some shopkeeper, maybe, but it would suit fine enough. With that, she stooped down and slid off the roof, landing quietly on the floor below. "Now, what are you?" She asked, again, turning up to the man.

(Thanks for being understanding about the wait!)

[Raika Tatsu]

Tatsu didn't expect Ranako to bow back upon telling him her name, as most didn't do such things in such informal situations. It made him wonder whether or not she was doing it out of because she didn't know how to react otherwise. Still, she was young, and the way she acted reminded Tatsu of how he'd been for a long while: a bit awkward in social situations. At least she seemed a bit more willing to talk than he used to be. "Nice to meet you, Ranako."

Tatsu listened to Ranako as she told him not to worry. It was a relief to see that she was taking it all well. The whole situation was quite the weird way to meet someone, after all. It was then that Raika noticed some of Ran's peculiar features, toad-like in appearance. Interesting... he thought, wondering what her particular story was. Tatsu didn't know of any toad clan or anything similar, but in the shinobi world, many, many things were possible.

That made her reaction to his reptilian features all the more interesting, and a bit funny, though Tatsu didn't show it. He merely smirked at Ran's statement before he continued and asked about where they should go. "The street. That street. I'm no good at roofs."

“Alright, then let’s go." The young shinobi used a henge jutsu to transform her looks, and Raika followed suit as he made his way down to the street Ran had pointed to. He chose a normal person look, normal eyes, skin, and all, but he gave himself a deathly pale skin tone, as well as a gothic style trenchcoat. It was a bit of a flashy look, but a great departure from his actual appearance. He had learned to be able to assume several different henges in his time away from the village, and this was now one of his favorites. He landed next to Ran, and was immediately greeted with a question.

"Now, what are you?"

Raika began walking, making sure to go at a leisurely pace. “Well, for one, I am indeed human. I belong in part to the Tokaguran clan on my mother’s side, a clan which uses a ritual to make ourselves as much reptilian as we are human. Thus, my reptile-like features. My reddish eyes are actually peculiar, even among my clansmen. It is likely to do with my Kazeraikou blood, another clan that I belong to from my father’s side. On that particular note, it is assumed Kazeraikous have dragon blood running through our veins, something that I feel really called to me throughout my life, and eventually led me to join the Tsubasa clan, which gave me the freedom of wings. So, in a way, I am as much dragon as I am human. Sorry, I know that’s a lot to take in, though now you know why I have such an unusual surname." Tatsu looked down to Ran and wondered what she made of all that.

[Shigeru]

EDIT: Wrong account!

[Lexi]

The man who landed at her side wore looked nothing like the one she'd met in the stall, with painfully pale skin, almost like hers, and a dark coat that nearly touched the ground. Ran took in the sight, from his feet to his head- her first choice of henge wouldn't have been something so… dark. She had to wonder if the sun was bothering him.

Tatsu began his slow stroll, and Ran followed suit automatically. She was finding it easier than normal to keep up with these longer legs. Being old had its perks. Houses went past them as they walked, and Ranako found herself wondering where exactly they were going. She didn't have any destination in mind.

She turned her head to the man as he started on the answer to her question. The plain, brown eyes didn't quite bore into one like her black ones would, but the shinobi could probably feel the intense gaze anyway. Ran realised, for the first time, how regally Tatsu spoke. She wouldn't be surprised if he came from a mansion or a huge, traditional house. The girl found herself picking apart his words for the substance. She'd gotten that Tatsu was human, but part-reptile; a weird part-reptile- on his Mom's side, because of a clan ritual. Ritual? Her henge's eyebrows creased together. Ran could remember, fuzzy and unfocused, a strange something involving her, a knife, Kiku and a frog. It'd been something she'd pushed to the deepest annals of her memory, but this person, with his strange scaled skin and talk of reptilian people left her wondering: could that have been a ritual?

Ranako realised, too late, that she had stopped walking. She took quick steps to catch up. They were carefully avoiding the crowd, she hoped, but still some people were heading toward the scene. She focused on Tatsu, again. If he was part-lizard, and part-dragon, and could fly, how he knew that he was human? How diluted was diluted? He soon enough answered her question.

"More dragon than person?" She repeated. Ranako found that, the more he spoke, the more questions the strange man brought up. One thing kept nagging her head, though. "What kind of ritual?" She asked, breath hitched. A roach on the floor caught her attention, and she stared at it, enraptured, as it crawled across the road in front of them. "And what do you think would happen if you crossed a person and a frog?" It wasn't subtle, but Ranako found herself wondering less and less about the light technique by the second. Mixing a person and an animal- that was her new interest, lighting up in her head like wildfire. The more she thought about it, the more the thought of prying further seemed right.

[Raika Tatsu]

The young girl seemed to be taking it all relatively well, though she was obviously hard at work at trying to understand it all. She seemed to be pondering something, but what it was Tatsu wasn't sure.

"What kind of ritual? And what do you think would happen if you crossed a person and a frog?"

Tatsu thought for a second before responding. "Hm, well, the Tokagekuran ritual was much like any ritual: a mixture of ninjutsu, certain items, the right knowledge, and a change. In my case, it involved the blood from several different species of reptile being fed into my body and a lot of chanting. Lots of chakra was then involved to produce the actual changes. The Tsubasa ritual that gave me wings was somewhat similar, though with less outside blood. Rituals come in many forms, though. The changes that come about are usually predictable once a ritual is perfected. That leads me to your second question. I honestly do not know what you could get. You could end up with many characteristics of frogs, like needing to be near water for the rest of your life, or you could just become optionally amphibious, which would be useful. It would also depend greatly on the frog species used for the ritual, be it only one or multiple kinds. One could gain traits like the ability to produce poison, stronger jumping skills, perhaps an elongated tongue as well. The possibilities are enormous, though naturally they are limited in many ways."

Tatsu then remembered the girl's features from before. He couldn't quite explain what they had reminded him of earlier, but now he thought that they were reminiscent of certain frogs. He wondered if perhaps this girl liked frogs, or was connected to them somehow. "Why do you ask?"

Tatsu could hear some of the excitement from the stalls catching up to them in the street. Thankfully, the two had little to fear while in their henge'd form, but Tatsu also knew that henge didn't last incredibly long, and Ran's would run out rather soon. The best thing to do would be to get inside for a little bit while the whole incident blew over. The sleazy vendor from before was unlikely to actually try and get people to find the pair, he'd be too afraid. But any shinobi in the crowd might want to try and find them.

"Would you like to stop someplace and get something to eat? Or would you rather keep walking? I don't really have any destination in mind, so if you need to be someplace, I could take you as well."

[Lexi]

True to Tatsu's judgement, maintaining the henge was wearing on the inexperienced ninja's chakra resources. She could already feel the need to dispel the simple technique. Even more so, she doubted she could maintain the form if she had to do much more than just walk and talk. Tatsu, however, seemed to have much more practice with the technique though, from the intricate answer he gave to her question.

The ritual he had experience with was called Tokagekuran. Ranako stared straight at the man as he went into his vague explanation of the ritual, leeching off every word. As he spoke, she felt relief well through her. Blood and chanting? If he were right, and most rituals went down like that, there was no way she would let herself forget the experience- yet even now she could barely remember what had happened in her childhood, whatever it was. More likely than not it was a fever dream, or a nightmare she'd woken up halfway through. Ranako sighed, and then chuckled, then laughed to herself, still walking along with Tatsu. As he went on, the light feeling in her stomach only intensified - her mother wasn't a ninja, as far as she knew, so she wouldn't be able to perform something involving heavy chakra use.

In her bubbly state, she curtailed her intense focus on Tatsu's words, eyes wandering through the surroundings as she listened to the rest of what he was saying. The answer to her question felt much less relevant than it had been, now, and she didn't find herself surprised to hear that none of his characteristics matched her. There was a spring in the young girl's step. The last part of his sentence, the enormous possibilities; that could be ignored. Everything was like she'd thought.

"Why do you ask?" 

"I wanted to know." She said simply, staring off at a man smoking at the entrace to a run-down building. It had been a good day. She'd had entertainment, and reassurance that she wasn't crazy, or amnesiac, of a frog, even. And if anyone found them, it would be handled. Probably by Tatsu.

To her shock and surprise, the man made her day even better by offering to buy food. The henge's eyes glittered.

"I've never been invited to eat before." She said, twisting around to face him fully. "Will you pay?" -Though, now that she thought of it, he didn't need to. Her wallet was full of money, and was about to get a good bit fuller.

"I know somewhere." She said, turning to where they had come from. The man was still smoking at the entrace, and she went past him and opened the door to the neglected little restaurant.

She had never been inside the restaurant before, but the smell of grease and beer immediately identified it as the most rundown place from her books. It was old, that much was clear even to the girl, and she was vaguely aware of the smell of bat guano in the rafters. But it was nearly empty, and they probably wouldn't be found. Ranako sniffed. Yes, the lack of customers was probably because of the smell of the food.

No matter, she'd had probably had much, much worse, and her stomach growled loudly to attest to the fact. The wooden door to the place didn't close on its own, so she left it wide for her walking companion to enter and walked up to the dusty counter, sniffing still and surveying the blackboard-written menu of both traditional and modern food for sale.

[Raika Tatsu]

Raika's response seemed to have given Ranako a little chipperness, and Tatsu wasn't quite sure why. Still, she seemed more alighted than before, so he was content.

"Will you pay?"

"Sure, it's the least I can do. Wherever you'd like," replied Tatsu.

"I know somewhere."

Ranako led him back a little, and Tatsu simply followed her. The place she entered was a little old and somewhat run down. Raika hadn't been in this particular place ever, but he had been in much worse places outside the village. There weren't many of these old places left in the village, but they were good enough for some of the poorer residents of the village. Still, even so, this place didn't look very...nice...yeah, that was the word. Tatsu glanced back outside quickly, and just as he thought, the few people that were possibly looking for the pair were not going inside of places. The hunt wasn't high priority, since no one was injured, so it was unlikely that the hunters would search for their prey much longer. Raika closed the large door behind her and followed Ran up to the counter. He took a quick glance at the menu on the boards to decide what he wanted.

Tatsu then turned his attention to Ran. "Alright, pick whatever you'd like." He then looked up to the lady at the counter. She seemed nice enough, at least, much nicer than the place in which she worked. "I'll have some miso soup and an order of tempura shrimp, please. I'll be paying for both of us." Hopefully the actual food they served was better than how the place smelled, though Tatsu wasn't getting any hopes up. 

[Lexi]

Smoke drifted in through the door from outside, filling the run-down place with a bitter smell as Tatsu closed the door behind her. Ranako's nose twitched as she stared up at the chalk menu. She hadn't realised that choosing what to eat would be so difficult, but the sheer number of options on the chald-board menu was starting to make her head spin. She felt like an alien traversing a strange world and trying to figure out the culture through strange, segmented vision, and admittedly, it wasn't too far from the truth. She hadn't spent all that much of her time in the village trying the local cuisine. The woman at the desk smiled accommodatingly at her as she looked, but Ranako just kept staring at the menu, waiting for an answer to present itself.

As she waited, Tatsu walked up next to her and looked up at the board. Ranako turned to his face, like she could find some hint at what was good, any gleam of the eye to get the disgusting from the good. But in a second he had flicked his eyes down, seemingly decided, and Ran got no help from it.
"Alright, pick whatever you'd like." The girl frowned, and nodded. If she had any idea what to pick, she would have already. "I'll have some miso soup and an order of tempura shrimp, please. I'll be paying for both of us."

"Hm?" Ranako turned to him, and blinked. She hadn't expected him to pay, but she also wasn't complaining. It was certainly much better than having to raid her own wallet. Free meals made the day better. Now, all she needed was to decide what to eat. After another moment, she decided Tatsu's order would more than suffice. Miso and tempura shrimp- it sounded filling, and warm. If it was fine enough for someone with the means to pay for it, then it would be good enough for her.

"Me too, me too. I want the same thing." The server smiled and nodded, brushing aside termite eggs from the counter as she cashed the order. Ranako didn't wait for Tatsu to pay as she searched for a seat. They were hiding out, now, so the corner at the end of the restaurant seemed like their best bet.

As soon as she was seated, Ranako dispelled her henge with a puff of smoke and a sigh, waiting for the similarly henge'd man to follow along. Her chakra stores really were running low; it was evident in the way she slouched in the wooden chair. Her dark eyes were closed, letting the rest kick-start the replenishing of her store, but she kept her ears open for Tatsu's approach.

"The chakra to be able to make a ritual, hm? Having that… having that would be cool…" She murmured, remembering what the man had said earlier about rituals and the amount of power needed to perform them.

[Raika Tatsu]

Raika followed Ranako to his seat after paying for the meals, sitting down opposite the young shinobi. Hopefully it wouldn't be long before their orders were ready.

"The chakra to be able to make a ritual, hm? Having that… having that would be cool…"

Tatsu noticed that Ranako seemed a bit tired, likely from the henge, which made sense considering what she was talking about. Tatsu kept his henge for now, so as to not further confuse the server, still having a good bit of time before he would need to dispel it. "Don't worry, gaining chakra stores is a matter of age and training. Training especially. Learning how to use your chakra more efficiently helps as well. Any idea of what kind of jutsu you'd like to learn? Are you wanting to focus on anything in particular, such as ninjutsu or taijutsu, or even certain elements? I could possibly help some and give you some pointers, if you'd like."

By this time, a server came by with the pair's miso soup and some water for them both. The soup looked better than he expected from the looks of this place. He brought up a spoonful of the hot broth to his mouth and sipped. It was actually decent. Not the best, but definitely not the worst. At least it was warm.

[Lexi]

The server laid their food and drinks out in front of them as Ran pondered Tatsu's answer. It didn't take long. She needed a trainer, and he was offering. What was the downside?

"Sure. I live in a shack at the edge of the woods." She said, before realising the difficulty in their trying to meet there. "But how about we meet here again, next time?" -Whenever that would be. Satisfied with their arrangement, Ranako took a spoonful of soup and brought it to her mouth. The hot miso tasted heavenly against her tongue, but as she brought it to her mouth the sound of a something crashing to the floor stole her attention.

"You! Two!" Came a roar from behind the counter. A balding black-haired man was pointing at them from in front of the door leading to the kitchen. "I heard about that mess you made outside. Out! Out!" He hollered, threateningly waving a spoon around. Ranako, for her part, wasn't too intimidated by the short balding man, but he wasn't providing the most hospitable eating environment, either.

"Or we can meet at the next place over." She waved a goodbye to Tatsu, hastily gathering up her bowl of miso soup to the protests of the manager, and racing out the door, into the hustle and bustle of Lightning.
[exit]