A/N: This takes place after our two Naruto teams (Team Miki and Team Hibiki) were initially introduced seeing as not much would come of switching that short introduction into paragraph form. I might write it up at some other point, but right now I'm starting with the fun stuff. Aka, action! Oh, the dialogue and action were mainly written awhile back, it's the detail and structure that I'm adding, which does mean things are slightly different in the rp. Ah, and if it seems a bit drawn out, it's because I can't bring myself to get rid of some of my favorite pieces of dialogue.  

P.S. The astrics indicate where I originally separated the chapters the first time I posted this on my account.

-Unchained

Jun, his hands clasped behind his head as he stared out into the thick forest and underbrush, narrowed his eyes in an attempt to get a better glimpse of the furthest parts of the trail.

"Hey, hey, does this mean we're going to hang out with them again?" he questioned.

After all, it wasn't every-day that out of nowhere they were sent to some strange location with only the information that they had a mission with a group of Suna shinobi. Miki hadn't even shown them the way, just enigmatically told them she'd be there eventually. The only other time that had occurred was when they were dragged off to meet the Hayes sisters. A meeting- he recalled- that had been interesting to say the least.

Kazue didn't respond right away, her arms crossed over her chest as she examined the area about them just as he'd been doing.

"Probably."

At that same moment, with only the loud crack of a tree branch as a warning, a certain bluenette suddenly crashed into the earth as if to clear up any confusion they'd had about the meeting. Unsurprisingly, another person appeared a moment later, crouching at the edge of the broken branch and peering down at the crumpled form beneath her. Her dark hair hung about her face, a stark difference to the bright color of the girl who'd fallen.

"I think your landing was rather rough, Ari. Perhaps you should try to incorporate a bit of grace into your daily routine."

Within seconds, another face had poked through the thick branches as well.

"You looked funny, Ari! Like a little doll," she declared with a giggle. "Do it again!"

For a moment, none of the Konoha shinobi moved, staring at the sisters in surprise. It was only a moment, however. As soon as they'd gathered their wits, Jun cracked up laughing and Kazue simply swatted him upside the head and stepped over to help Ari up. Noriaki simply watched, disinterested as usual. He was unable to quite understand why the fall before a mission was so amusing, yet also unable to bring himself to care.

"Great entrance," Jun snickered as Ari took Kazue's hand. "Just perfect."

Ignoring him, Kazue offered the girl a slight smile as she dropped her hand to her side once she was certain Ari hadn't taken any injury from her fall, as the girl seemed to stand easily enough on her own.

"Hello, again."

Jun- somewhat reminded of his manners- stopped laughing long enough to offer one of his cheerful, almost cheeky grins.

"Right, hello~," he echoed.

Despite his almost polite greeting, Ari simply muttered something under her breath, glowering up at where her sisters were perched.

"Yeah, hey, what's up," she mumbled, then raised her voice irritably. "Goddammit, branch! Want me to kick your ass like I destroyed that wall a while back?!"

Ignoring her, the other two Hayes dropped from the tree, each splitting off to their particular person. Ari- to her credit- simply watched them go after giving the branch one last murderous glare. Which meant she caught the bare end of Violet's leap- her choice of exit from the tree- as she tackled Jun to the ground. She could only stare, dumbfounded, as Violet began chattering excitedly to the little black-haired genin who seemed to have no qualms about cheerfully agreeing that he did indeed miss her as much as she missed him.

In a vast contrast to Ari- who was grumbling something about how crazy it was that Jun honestly seemed to like Violet- the two saner members of the two teams simply smiled at each other and exchanged pleasantries.

"Lovely seeing you all again. It's such a pleasant change of pace when I can meet with others of my own age whose brains haven't lost a crucial amount of cells."

"I completely agree. One of him is enough, I'm not sure how you deal with more."

"I've asked myself how I've survived them for years now; I doubt I'm any closer to an answer than I was as a child. But, I must say, despite Jun's actions, he appears to be intelligent, which is more than I can say for either Violet or Arianna," Scarlette mused.

With a dry smile, Kazue simply nodded her agreement.

"That's true enough. He's smarter than Noriaki and I, as much as i hate to admit it," she replied, pausing before continuing. "He just seems to view showing it as too troublesome, people might actually depend on him them."

Jun, to no one's surprise, ignored this comment, instead piping up with a cheeky comment of his own as part of his conversation with Violet as he patted her head, an action that Kazue found strange, even for his easy-going nature.

"It's no problem, Violet-chan! I like you, you're a lot more fun than Kazue, she'd never consider tackling me!"

Distracted from her conversation, Kazue sent a select scowl his way. Anything she might have snapped- his self-satisfied smile that had appeared in response to her scowl simply rubbing her the wrong way- was interrupted by the sudden puff of smoke that lit up their little clearing in the woods. Unsurprisingly, all of the genin present jumped, a certain blonde as well as a certain bluenette cursing in surprise.

"Why can't ninjas just walk from place to place?" Ari demanded, glowering at where Miki had appeared in the midst of the smoke. "Dammit, I almost peed myself!"

Ignoring her sister, Violet finally detached herself from Jun and cheerfully jumped to her feet to salute Miki.

"Miki-sensei, hi! How's Kakashi-sensei doing?'

The question was of course met with a round of snickering on Jun's side, Miki's face twisting into a slight pout as she crossed her arms over her chest. The innocent question had apparently hit a sore-spot with the red-head.

"He's still off training Sasuke," she grumbled.

"I saw you following him yesterday," Jun tagged on. "Is that how you know?"

"Yup."

Kazue simply shook her head, raising a brow towards Scarlette as if to question how her teacher got off answering Jun without a hint of hesitation. Scarlette's lips simply twitched in amusement, her eyes settling on Miki as her mind flickered to the other jounin assigned to the mission.

"Our sensei should be arriving shortly; he claimed he had important news to share with all of us."

As if he'd been waiting for just that moment, Hibiki appeared in another flashy cloud of smoke.

"Right you are, Scarlette," he chimed, then turned his rather charming, cheeky smile towards Miki. "Do you want to tell them, or should I?"

Ari, of course, lit up with excitement.

"Tell us what?" she demanded. "What is it, Sensei? C'mon, tell, us! Please?!"

Miki chuckled, amusement and perhaps such a bit of satisfaction at Ari's reaction, coloring her expression.

"I'll tell them," she announced, then paused for dramatic appeal. "We have a mission!"

The reaction was unanimous excitement this time around, although perhaps not as obvious in the more mature members of the group, and Noriaki whom one had to wonder if ever got excited over anything as his expression had remained largely unchanged throughout this entire exchange, just as his mouth had remained shut. Almost instantly, the genin began spewing out responses.

"Really?

"What sort?"

Putting up her hands to ward off the questions, Miki quickly began laying out the details of the mission, which quite simply was to investigate reports of trouble in a village not far away. Although, it was perhaps less professional sounding in Miki's words, seeing as she simply chose to tell them that they were to be heroes and save said village as they'd been being sucked dry by a group of 'bullies' as she put it.

"Hell, yes. We haven't been on a mission in forever, 'cause Hibiki-sensei wouldn't take us out!" Ari cheered.

Hibiki simply rolled his eyes, his tone unusually stern for a moment.

"Ari, I told you, I was doing work for the temporary Kazekage. I would have taken you with me, but..." he trailed off for a moment, his stern tone and expression turning sheepish. "Well, Baki kinda voted against the idea. I don't think he likes you three nearly as much as I do..."

As Ari opened her mouth to predictably argue, Scarlette cut in, a sigh escaping her lips.

"Don't bother, Sensei. Ari knows our status in the village; she simply doesn't care," she informed him simply, changing direction as she focused on what she deemed a more important matter- her gaze flickering to Miki. "We'll be playing heroes? how interesting... The most we've really accomplished were odd jobs around the village. I'd like to check my progress on an actual mission."

Jun studied Scarlette curiously- Scarlette's comment about their village having sparked his side that wanted to poke his nose into every matter. Instead of voicing the questions swirling through his thoughts, however, he chose to speak up with his usual cheerful, fun-seeking opinion.

"Heroes sounds awesome. I think the closest we've gotten to that is dealing with thieves, and they were boring."

Kazue rolled her eyes, the expression on her face far from amused when she glanced at him.

"You only say that because you scared the shit out of the man and he wouldn't come anywhere near you for the rest of the mission."

"Me? Scar someone? When did I do that?"

As Kazue scoffed, about to tell him exactly how many times he had indeed done that, Ari simply began snickering in response to the boy's words.

"Jeez, Jun, you're worse than me, and that's saying something. Ever emotionally scarred someone? 'Cause, if not, it's a lot of fun!"

Jun lit up, a story of such an event on the tip of his tongue, but without giving him a chance for said response, Ari's attention flickered away from as quickly as he'd gained it.

"We're gonna rock this mission, Sensei! And then the Tempkage will have to respect us!"

As Jun visibly deflated, Scar spoke up, her expression dry.

"You sound entirely too much like a certain knuckleheaded ninja at the moment, Ari. Tone it down, would you please?"

"Sure, sure, Scar," she replied with a chuckle, linking her hands behind her head and rocking back on her heels. "I'm just excited, ya know? I can't wait to see how badass Kazue and her team are in action!"

"Yuppy," Violet interjected. "And I wanna fight with Jun-kun! I bet he's the bestest!"

As Scarlette and Kazue shared eyerolls at the entirely too excited conversation taking place before them, Jun puffed up, his ego sufficiently stroked. Predictably, he pointed his thumb at his chest as he turned on one of his bright, slightly egotistical, slightly cheeky, smiles.

"You've got that right, I'm the most t-"

"Don't get your hopes up too much, he rarely actually puts effort in," Kazue cut in. "I've seen him get serious maybe once or twice in the entire time I've known him. Most of the time he sits back and lets us do the work while he watches."

For not the first time since the beginning of the meeting, Jun visibly deflated, a pout appearing on his face.

"Kazue-chan," Jun whined. "Don't make me look bad!"

A comment of which Kazue obviously chose to ignore. After all, it wasn't as if she had to try to make him look bad- he did that for himself without even trying. In her opinion- it happened almost every time he opened his smart mouth. Something she conveniently ignored was a fault of her own.

"You're welcome to him if you want, I wouldn't mind working without him," she informed Violet instead of responding to Jun.

For what was probably the first time since the others had arrived, Noriaki chose to speak up.

"...it'd be nice."

With all the dramatics of his personality, Jun put on a hurt expression and threw his hands up in the air.

"You're too mean- I'm the star of this team, you know! You'll be hopeless without me!"

Kazue rose a brow as the others began turning their attention to more important matters than the bickering of the two teammates. Such as the matter of who would team up with who.

"Really, now. I wonder, exactly who wouldn't have found their way here if I hadn't reminded him of where we were supposed to meet up?"

Jun shrugged.

"The same person that saved your ass during the first round of the exams?"

The ending result, as Noriaki calmly laid a hand on Kazue's shoulder to keep her from lunging at the cheeky grin Jun was wearing, simply switched the genjutsu users of the teams. Scarlette would accompany Miki, Noriaki, and Kazue, while Jun would stick with the interesting combination of Ari, Violet, and Hibiki. An arrangement that left the calmer members of the groups wondering if someone might end up dead and the more excitable declaring how their team was going to kick-ass.

A distraction which gave Miki the opportunity she needed to catch a certain jounin's attention.

"I should probably tell you..." she began, her eyes unconsciously flickering to Jun. She was well aware it would be irresponsible to send the boy off with someone and expect them to watch him without providing needed information. "Jun's a Kurama... his bloodline limit is stable, we believe, but if something strange happens... it's best to assume it's him."

Hibiki- predictably surprised- widened his eyes at the revelation. A moment later he was pondering the matter, recalling what he knew of the clan.

"Kurama....? I've only heard about them from reading the scrolls in Suna's archives..." he trailed off, his eyes flickering thoughtfully to where Jun stood, oblivious of their conversation. "When you say his bloodline limit is stable, do you mean he's capable of controlling it, or...?"

She simply shrugged in response, carefully picking her words. After all, they may have been working together, but he was a shinobi from not only a different village, but another world entirely, who she'd only met once before.

"I mean that there's been few incidents where it's been used, he does his best to simply avoid using Genjutsu that strong, and has managed it for the most part. I've rarely seen him lose control... which is the main reason his teammates criticize him, he rarely puts out full effort as a result," she answered, pausing before finishing with a shrug. "It's a thin line."

A doubtful feeling flashed through Hibiki's mind, as it would be strange for a kid that young to have so much control without something helping him along, but he simply offered her a cheerful smile in response to her words. It wouldn't do to pry, as it wasn't his place to do so.

"Well, don't worry. This is a fairly routine mission, even for genin. Plus, I'll be there to keep my eye on him."

Miki nodded, her own cheerful expression in place as this was settled. Without any further ado, she turned his attention to the others, giving no indication of how serious of a discussion she'd been previously holding.

"Well, shall we do this?"

The reaction, of course, was unanimous.

Ari pumped her fist.

"Get ready to see some Suna fighting spirit!"

Scarlette smiled.

"This will be interesting."

Violet, the most enthusiastic of all, locked her arms around Jun's neck and practically clung to the kid's back.

"Yay! Time to go, go, go~!"

Hibiki, in mock sternness, added his own sort of agreement, in way of a warning accompanied by a wagging finger.

"You better behave yourself, Scarlette. I don't want a single toe out of line, you hear?"

"Whatever you say, Sense, so long as you follow your own rules and keep mys sisters from destroying anything of value. Or getting Jun killed. Or..."

"You drive a hard bargain, Scar! I'll do my best!"

As all of this was going on, Miki realized she should probably do the same to her own team. After all, Jun was the more difficult member of the team and he was the one she was handing off to someone else.

"Same goes for you, Jun," she informed him skeptically. "Same thing goes for you. Don't put a-"

"Isn't it more likely he won't move a toe at all?" Kazue broke in.

Miki blinked, then nodded her agreement.

"True... alright. I'll be seeing you. Let's go see what we can find!"

As the others began filing out, Jun shrugged, casting off their doubts with a cheeky grin.

"Oh, well, we've got the better team!"

***

As the calmer trio set off, Ari crossed her arms defiantly. After all, it was as if the other team expected them to fail- when it was obvious they were the better group.

"They're just jealous, Jun. You're definitely the life of that team! At least you can smile," she informed him, then shook her head as she saught more reliable opinion. "Sensei! We're cooler, right? I mean, Scar's alright and all- mostly 'cause she's my sissy so of course she inherited my awesomeness- but we're way better! Way more fun!"

Hibiki, rather wise to the ways of the sisters, purposely forgot to answer as he pulled Violet's arms from Jun's neck.

"We better be off, gang! Don't want the others getting too ahead of us, do we?"

Jun grinned, trailing behind Hibiki as he started off along the path that would take them into the village, in a seperate direction than where the others had gone.

"I'm always smiling. So, if that's why I'm awesome, then great," he informed her cheerily, before folding his arms behind his head and focusing on what Hibiki had said. "Right, that would suck. If they got ahead of us I'd never hear the end of it."

Even as he said that, their group escaped the line of trees. Hibiki's eyes scanned the part of the village they came to, narrowing thoughtfully as he attempted to decide where to start. Ari- of course- was all for the direct route. Something that- while interesting- was hardly the tactic he'd been looking for.

"Sensei, are we gonna bust in their hideout and kick the crap outta them? Ooh, or are we gonna lure them into some kinda trap and then kick the crap out of them?!"

Hibiki, to his credit, took this and the rather eager expression that appeared on Jun's face in stride.

"Nope! Not until later, anyway. First..." he trailed off, catching sight of what he'd been looking for. A rather charming grin appeared on his lips at the sight of a lone woman standing near one of the village market stalls and without warning, he started towards her, calling back to him over his shoulder. "I'll teach you how to surreptitiously gather information!"

Ari could only stare as Hibiki- without any inhibition- became the direct cause of the deep flush that flooded the woman's cheek.

"Kami, he's flirting with her... The hell, Sensei?! What about Scarlette and your forbidden romance?!" she demanded.

As Violet giggled in response, Jun was simply distracted by Hibiki's actions, his face alight with curiosity.

"I wonder if I could do that..." he speculated aloud. "I'm cute, it might work."

Violet- predictably- nodded along with Jun's second comment, even if the first one had flaws.

"Jun-kun, you're adorable!" she agreed with a giggle. "But let Hibiki-sensei handle it for now. I think he's having fun!"

"Too much damn fun, if you're asking me," Ari grumbled, then focused on Jun's words. "You're cute, yeah, but Sensei's sexy. There's a huge difference," she paused to gesture towards the woman, who giggled as if on cue. "Think you could get that reaction with your puppy-dog eyes?"

Jun pouted for a moment, well aware of the sense her words made. A moment later, however, he dismissed the logical side of the argument entirely and focused on what he considered the important side of the matter- his.

"Nope! But I'm only twelve, who knows how sexy I could be when I'm his age!"

Ari simply rolled her eyes, as if this was one of the most ridiculous ideas she'd heard. Before she could respond, however, Hibiki offered the woman one last pretty boy smile and a thank-you before turning on heel and joining up with the genin once more. His expression was rather pleased, if not a bit self-satisfied.

"Looks like the gang has been around for a while now. She said they came into the village a few months back."

Her expression in that moment was full of disbelief.

"Eh? You actually got something outta that?" she demanded.

In response, he simply pouted, putting on a fake hurt expression to add to the matter.

"You're as doubtful as Scarlette, Ari. Don't you have any faith in your sensei? Besides, Aiko's cute and all, but she's married. And a little old for me, to be honest."

Ari simply stared at him.

"Now I know why Scar gets pissed with you so much."

Hibiki blinked in surprise, momentarily distracted by this news. He furrowed his brow a moment later, actually slightly bothered by it.

"She gets angry with me that often?" he questioned. "It's hard to tell... she's not usually that expressive..."

"Don't worry, Sensei!" Violet interjected. "No matter what Scar says, she still loves you!"

Jun began snickering, a fact that didn't keep her from continuing in the least as he turned a grin on, taking note of that detail as he was sure it would come to later use.

"She usually gets mad at us all the time," Violet continued with a giggle. "But it's never made her hate us!"

Seemingly soothed for now, Hibiki simply offered her a smile in response and easily brushed away his worry. There were more important matters at the moment- as important as the matter of Scarlette's opinion on the jounin might have been to him- that required their attention.

"Aiko didn't know any specifics about the gang," he informed all of them, snapping the genin to the matter at hand. "So I want all of you to practice your information-gathering skills on the people of this village. Don't be obvious about it; work it into the conversation as best as you can. See if they can even point out a member of the gang on the streets. Understood?"

"Aye-aye, sir!" Ari and Violet responded in sync.

Jun simply grinned, hands still hooked behind his head as the expression took up his usual, cheeky edge.

"That's what I was going to say, but captain instead of sir. You guys are pretty awesome," he informed them, then cocked his head realizing that he hadn't actually agreed to the instruction. "Oh, and yeah, I getcha. Find the bad guys, don't worry the good guys. Easy enough."

Ari grinned in response, but said nothing as she easily spun on her heel, her eyes raking over the various people lingering in the streets. A moment later she'd spotted a target- a pair of younger teens holed up beside an alley- and motioned for Violet to follow her as she started towards them. Almost as an after-thought, she shot Jun a challenging smirk over her shoulder.

"Hurry up and put that baby face of yours to work, Jun! I betcha an old granny'll spill her dirty secrets to you if you ask nicely!"

Jun, atypically unconcerned about the comment, dropped his arms from his head. For a moment he focused on the fact that they really were starting what could end up as a dangerous mission and as such, he needed to be prepared to defend himself. Ignoring how almost uneasy the idea made him- as he'd begun to rely on the safe feeling the bands gave him- Jun slipped off the newly gifted golden bands from his wrists and tucked them into the pockets of his pants. He focused his gaze on an older older lady as soon as that matter was taken care of, pursing his lips almost thoughtfully before turning on one of his cheerful grins.

After all, there was no harm in taking Ari's advice.

"Might as well get to work," he announced, his own way of saying goodbye to Hibiki as he took a step forward, only to be stopped as the man dropped a hand on his shoulder.

"Jun," he began, then paused, considering his options before offering a wide smile. "Good luck with that one, she looks a bit crotchety to me!"

Jun glanced over his shoulder at the older man, slightly surprised. He couldn't read minds, which meant he had no way of knowing that his action had caught Hibiki's attention, sparking his concern and prompting him to remember his earlier thought that there was no way a kid Jun's age could handle the complications of his bloodline limit without some help. Instead, Jum dismissed the matter as unimportant and offered Hibiki another one of his cheerful smiles.

"Don't worry, I'm pretty good at getting people to like me," he informed him, shrugging the hand off of his shoulder and without waiting for a response, approaching the woman.

Which within moments had resulted in his being called a cheeky brat, although the woman didn't seem all that bothered by the matter. Hibiki, deciding Jun could handle the matter- for the moment at least- turned his gaze to his girls. He had no way of hearing their conversation from where he stood, but from the looks of the matters, they'd caught the kids' attentions at least.

"We're no one, really," Ari was informing the more suspicious of the two, a rather scrawny girl with dust colored hair who'd begun to eye them with open suspicion as the result of their entirely too cheery greeting. "Just here for the sites is all!"

Violet bobbed her head in agreement as disbelief colored both of the faces studying them.

"We heard they have amazing ramen here!"

If anything, the girl had begun to look like she doubted their sanity. After all, the girls were still wearing their headbands, marking them as citizens of Suna- which was rather far from their current location.

"You'd come all the way out here for ramen?" she questioned.

Ari- the picture of seriousness- met the girl's eyes with her own.

"We're willing to die for our love of ramen."

The two villagers were reasonably baffled, exchanging glances. It was the boy who spoke up first, perhaps simply because he was more willing to deal with the strange encounter they'd found themselves with.

"Um.. the place around the corner is good... except..." he hesitated, obviously reluctant to continue.

The girl sighed, rolling her eyes dramatically even as her entire frame went stiff.

"It's been closed for a month now."

Violet cocked her head innocently.

"Why's that?" she asked.

The stiff- almost haughty- attitude fell away from the girl as she dropped her gaze the ground, scuffing her foot in the dirt. The entirety of her body language screamed for them to drop the subject.

"Just... reasons. They weren't doing so well to be begin with."

Taking that as an invitation, Ari planted her hands on her hips and leaned forward, inspecting the pair more closely. Their clothing was admittedly worn, dirty patches that had to have been developed through more than one day of work coating their knees and elbows. Both were skinny, neither one of them looking at all comfortable with her scrutinizing gaze.

"That sucks," she commented a moment later, a wry tugging onto her lips as her next words fell from them. "Thats the only trouble this village has been having? i saw a bunch of "closed for the season" signs on our way here."

The response was instantaneous. The girl tensed even further, her chin jutting out stubbornly as an excuse easily left her mouth.

"So what? It's not like this is tourist season. There aren't any festivals or anything going on."

"But the windows were smashed in," Violet pointed out.

Beside her, the boy fidgeted, his eyes looking anywhere but them.

"That's just... just because..." he paused, swallowing uncomfortably as he came to a decision in his head. "... we're not meant to talk about it."

"Chikuma, you idiot, shut up!" the girl snapped instantly, hitting him on the shoulder as her face lit up a livid shade of red.

"But, but, Chizu," he protested. "They're shinobi, right? Maybe they can--"

"Just. Shut. Up," she ordered, grabbing on Chikuma's arm and wrenching him towards her before focusing on the strangers. "Don't bother us again, it's not worth it. I'd take your friends and get the hell out of here."

Then, without another word, she started stalking off. Instantly Ari scrambled after them.

"Wait, wait, just hold up a minute! Just tell us what's going on and we'll help!" she informed them, tossing subtly out the window.

Neither of them paused, simply picking up the speed of their retreat. Knowing a lost cause when she saw one, Ari's shoulders slumped as she slowed to a stop.

"Well.. that was a total bust."

Within a second Violet had reached her side, shaking her head in response.

"But it wasn't, Ari! 'Cause now we know that we really need to teach these bad guys a lesson!"

"Huh? Whaddya mean, Vi?" Ari questioned, confusion clear on her face.

A frown fluttered across Violet's in response as she glanced around, looking for where to go next.

"Chikuma looked really scared, and I don't want him to be scared!" she answered. "He was too cute for that!"

At that same moment, before Ari could think up a response, the two of them seemed to realize something that hadn't been obvious to them before then.

"Huh?" Ari questioned. "Where's Sensei?"

Hibiki, somewhere in the middle of the conversation, had gotten pulled into a task of his own. Jun's granny had turned out to be a bit of a handful, as when he'd seen her hands trembling from the force of the bag handles they were gripping, Jun had offered to carry them for him with his usual tack. Meaning, he'd called her old and said they looked like a bit much for an 'old bag' to be able to handle. She'd been taken aback, but handed over the bags after once more declaring him a brat.

In turn, Jun instantly regretted the offer as he almost dropped the bags, his rather dismal strength perhaps worse than the Granny's, as she'd been carrying them with no problem. Despite the way his face had blanched as he'd taken them, he valiantly attempted to hold them at a normal level as he scrambled for a way to broach the topic of the village. Luckily, the weight of the bags gave him an idea.

"Your family let you come get these alone?" he questioned.

The woman gave him an irritable click of her tongue, eyeing him as if she expected him to drop the load of bags where he stood.

"Are you helping me or not?" she demanded.

An unenthusiastic expression flashing across his face, Jun began to wonder if he should have gone with a cute girl instead. Perhaps he could have changed Ari's mind on the needing to be sexy matter.

"Uh... well..."

Much to his relief, Hibiki swept into the rescue before the old woman's scowl grew any deeper than it already had. Without hesitation, he swept several of the bags from Jun's grasp and gave him a subtle nudge as he spoke, an obvious indication to go along with whatever the jounin might say.

"I'm sorry, was my genin bothering you?"

The granny pursed her lips, eyeing Hibiki thoughtfully for a moment before responding as an almost wicked grin crossed her lips.

"Well, that depends," she informed him slowly, pausing for effect. "Does this mean I get a nice looking young man carrying my things? If so, then it was really no bother at all."

Hibiki simply chuckled in response, shooting Jun a reassuring look as a sour expression formed on the boy's face.

"It would be my pleasure, ma'am. Mind directing me to your house?"

Looking rather pleased with herself, the woman agreed and rattled off her address before gesturing for him to follow her. Almost as an after-thought, she glanced back at Jun.

"Oh, and you can bring that brat along. He's not all bad."

Unable to help himself, Jun turned on one of his cheeky grins.

"Just admit it, I'm endearing."

Blatantly ignoring him, she focused on Hibiki once more.

"I don't believe I've seen you boys around here, before."

Hibiki shrugged, absently swinging the bags as they walked, humming a low tune under his breath as he thought out his answer.

"Mm, you wouldn't have. We're passing through on the way home to the Leaf," he informed her with a grin. "We just finished rounding up a group of bandits in the mountains not too far from here, and Jun here was exhausted, so we decided to stay the night before leaving for home."

As Hibiki spoke, the granny's eyes lit up thoughtfully.

"Is that so... Leaf shinobi..." she mused. "Oh, my house is just up here."

As she spoke, she gestured at a small little place just a few dozen feet up the street. Instantly, Hibiki smiled and veered towards the house.

"That was quick. What a shame, it's not every day I get to talk to someone so witty," he informed her, pausing by the door so she could open it and allow him to carry the bags inside.

"Of course it was," the granny answered promptly as she opened her door. "I wouldn't load these bags up so heavily if I had to go any further than this. Well, hold the door open for the nice young man."

At the expectant look she shot Jun, he quickly moved to do as asked.

"Now, if I got help like this everyday, it'd be no problem bringing home more stuff than this. If only my grandson could take a lesson from you two."

As she spoke, Hibiki cheerfully swept into the house and deposited the bags on the first table he saw, turning to face her with his usual smile.

"Well, I'm glad we could be of help. Now, if you'll excuse us, Jun and I still have to check into a hotel," he informed her, then paused, his smile brightening. "You wouldn't be able to recommend any, would you, ma'am?"

The granny simply offered him an amused smile, taking the needed steps into the house so she could seat herself at her table.

"Now, I could, but wouldn't you be much more interested in what's going on? I saw your other two ladies talking to those kids, sort of funny isn't it? They're wearing Suna headbands, but this boy here is wearing one from Konoha. Fishy business that when combined with the trouble here recently."

Hibiki simply blinked a few times, glancing back at Jun's forehead protector before recalling that he hadn't asked the girls to remove theirs before parting. A second later he simply chuckled and leaned across the table, his arms crossed over his chest.

"You're perceptive, ma'am," he informed her with a smile. "Most people wouldn't have cared enough to realize those two girls were with me."

Amusement flickered over her face in response.

"Well, handsome young men do stick out in our village anymore, I saw you four together when I was paying for my things. None of the young men around here just stand around talking to kids anymore, it was sort of attention grabbing. Those two kids noticed you were together, too, if I wasn't mistaken. Now... why're you here, really?"

Hibiki considered his options for a moment, then simply settled for telling the truth.

"To help, that's all," he informed her vaguely as he pulled out his forehead protector for her viewing. "It's a joint mission from the Sand and the Leaf, so you've got two incredible villages here to fix your problems. Anything you wanna tell us, ma'am?"

She nodded thoughtfully, her gaze flickering between the two of them.

"I don't have any problem with it. My grandson joined them idiots, he needs a little learning. I can't tell you where they stay, I don't get that involved in them, but I can say that it's no where around this part of town, when he came home it was always late," she informed them, pausing for a moment before continuing. "Now, I don't know quite what you'd need in order to settle things, but ask whatever might be useful."

Hibiki studied her thoughtfully for a moment.

"Thank-you for your generosity, but I think we're fine for now. Although... do you know anything else about this gang? Something simple, even, like if there's a particular business they target more than others? I'm not sure how the others are doing, but as of right now, we're a little lost," he explained with a good-natured laugh. "I'm not sure where to look for any of the gang's members."

Once again, she considered things for a minute before responding.

"Well, the inn I was going to point you towards is a favorite of theirs. Simply because even as the businesses close as a result of their rules, the inn always attracts travelers, seeing as people always need a place to stay when passing through."

Hibiki smiled brightly, glancing at where Jun had been standing, silently listening all this time.

"Well, looks like we have our next destination!" he announced, starting towards the door and gesturing for Jun to follow him. "C'mon, we better go find Ari and Violet. I'm a little worried they'll get sidetracked by something..."

As soon as they'd bid the granny farewell and escaped the house, Jun turned a bright smile to Hibiki, remembering he hadn't responded to the man's comment.

"If they did," he informed him cheerfully. "It could end up being really fun!"

***

As soon as they'd reached the village outskirts, Miki shoved her hands in her pockets and began glancing over the shops as they passed them. Her mind was working double-speed, pulling up everything she'd noted about the gang from the mission request and rolling over their best options left before them.

"Information it is," she announced aloud, as if the others had been privy to her tumbling thoughts, and glanced towards Scarlette. "Hey, do you like dango?"

Predictably, Kazue sighed and mumbled her sensei's name into her hand, as if wondering about the state of the woman's sanity. Scarlette- unused to the strange woman's habits- simply blinked before carefully voicing her side of the matter. After all, to one who wasn't aware of how erratic Miki's methods of completing missions could be, the question could at the very least be viewed as some sort of test.

"...I do, though not as fervently as my sisters."

"Great!" Miki declared, seizing Kazue's collar in her hand as she began towards the nearest shop. She had no doubt in her mind that without her dragging Kazue inside, the girl would have protested the change in location. "Dango it is!"

"Miki-sensei! We're no-" Kazue protested.

"Oh, look, that looks like a nice table!"

Noriaki, to no one's surprise, simply trailed along behind her as Scarlette did the same- if not slightly dazed by the turn of events. She had to wonder if she might have been better of sticking with her sisters, where despite the teasing she didn't have to deal with the strange, impulsiveness Miki was displaying. Which was perhaps what Kazue was thinking as Miki dropped her off in a chair, not bothering to muffle her mumbling about how this was why they never managed to complete their missions on time.

Miki, ignoring her genin, simply dropped herself in another chair at the table and waved her hand in the air. That- of course- caught the attention of one of the two waitresses in the shop. With a wary study of their group, the woman picked her away around the tables littering the room and joined the rat-tag bunch where they sat.

"Hello," Miki greeted cheerily. "Four of your best flavor, please. We've been traveling for a bit and this looked like the best place to stop."

Giving her what could have been read as a dirty look by some, but Miki simply considered to be a comment on her cheery tone, the woman nodded and turned away without a word. Miki hummed a bright tune under her breath in response as Scarlette's studious gaze picked over the shop silently. A moment later she relaxed back in her seat with a contented smile- having managed to make sense of the situation.

"Ah, I see. How innovative of you, Miki-sensei," she mused.

Moving so that her elbow was propped up on the table, Scarlette laid her cheek against her knuckles and shifted her gaze to the staring out the window, her ears turned towards the quiet buzz of conversation in the almost empty shop. This resulted in her inability to see the amusement that flashed across Miki's face in response to the fact that at least someone saw sense in her actions. Her genin had long since given up on attempting to decipher her actions- with perhaps the exclusion of Jun who tended to question everything about a person when he was in the mood. Which was how he tended to be the only one that noted the thoughtfulness behind her flippant attitude.

Tossing all thoughts of this matter to the side, however, she focused on the waitress upon her return to the table. Just as silently as she'd appeared and disappeared before, she laid their order down on the table.

"Thank-you. Although, I have to say I'm curious. When I've been through here before, it was always so lively. It's a shame to see you guys so empty," she lied smoothly, seeing as beyond traveling for missions, the woman rarely left the village.

She was well aware of the dangers that came from drawing attention to herself. When there was a psychopath who viewed you as his own personal toy, you took certain precautions to avoid drawing his attention. The lie did more than simply startle the waitress, however, as Kazue pulled her head from the table with a slightly confused expression. An expression which she quickly wiped away as she realized it was entirely too easy to read.

"Well... we..." the waitress replied, pausing and glancing over her shoulder suddenly as if remembering herself. As her eyes caught sight of whatever was bothering her, she bit her lip and her gaze flicked back to them. "People have been busy recently is all."

A rather concerned- albeit fake- expression flashed across Miki's face in response.

"I'm sorry, did I upset you?" she questioned. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it. I would just hate to see this shop disappear. It's my favorite place to stop in on my way through, after all."

The waitress simply shook her head, clutching the plate she'd used to bring out their treats against her chest.

"No, no, you're fine! Business has been a bit slow, but it's alright. We're not going to shut down, we pay our taxes and everything. We'll be just fine," she informed them, with an obviously strained smile.

Miki simply rose a brow.

"Taxes? Doesn't everyone do that?"

"Well... I..."

Kazue watched them quietly, taking note of the conversation as Miki continued to pick the girl's mind, backing off whenever she seemed to get skittish. Whenever something seemed to get too close to whatever was frightening the girl, she would glance over her shoulder once more. Noriaki- ever the observant person even if he rarely choose the share what he took note of- spoke up under his breath when the waitress scurried away with a mumbled excuse.

"Blue shirt, black pants, with tea."

"Hm?"

Miki, having been watching the waitresses retreat, glanced idly in his direction. Noriaki simply inclined his head where the waitress had kept glancing. Scarlette, having taken note of the figure as well, chose this moment to add her two cents.

"He's been rather interested in your conversation, Miki-sensei. His tea's already gone cold."

In response, she pursed her lips thoughtfully. Instead of responding right away, however, she picked up one of the dango sticks on their plate, bitin off the first piece as her eyes located the man in question. He was making no attempt to hide his interest, dark eyes narrowed as his pale hair fell before his face.

"Hm..."

Then, with all the tact the red-head possessed, an admittedly dismal amount, she plucked the last piece of dango off the stick and in a near invisible motion, flicked it in the man's direction. Without as much as a second of hesitation, the man ducked out of the way as it buried itself in the wall behind him.

"Ah, it would seem you're right."

"Miki-sensei!" Kazue squeaked. "You can't just..."

"What, it wouldn't have hurt that much if you were wrong," Miki replied unabashedly, watching as the man rose irritably to his feet, murder in his eyes. "...perhaps we should go outside."

It hadn't occurred to the woman until that moment that provoking him might cause a danger to the shop. A realization which had already occurred to Kazue, who simply sighed and turned her gaze to Scarlette.

"She's always this impulsive."

Not bothering to add to his teammates words, Noriaki simply got to his feet and pulled her up as well. In his opinion, the matter had already been done, so there was nothing they could do about it now. Scarlette did the same, although her hand almost unconsciously dropped to her weapons' pouch as her gaze continued to warily watched the man. She doubted her aim was good enough to keep from harming anyone in the shop, but if it couldn't be helped...

"I'm sorry," Miki announced in a bright tone as the man reached him. She, of course, hadn't bothered to get up from the table. "My hand... slipped."

Kazue's face went blank, as did the expression of the man before them. After all, who seriously expected anyone to believe that?

"It... slipped."

"Of course! I wouldn't purposely try to hurt an innocent man," Miki replied in an almost cheeky tone that had Kazue wondering if Jun was rubbing off on her. "I mean, it's not like there'd be a reason for me to want to hurt you, right?"

A flare of temper appeared on the man's face as he surged forward to grab the woman's shirt.

"You-"

"You wouldn't start trouble here, would you?" Miki questioned, placing her hand over his. She didn't attempt to struggle, but she did harshly squeeze his, causing a flare of surprise to cross his face as the strength in her grip made itself known through the pain that sparked in his hand. "I'm sure your boss would get pissedi f you caused him to lose a potential revenue source."

He released her, narrowed eyes never leaving her face as he flicked over his shoulder with a thumb. Even if he wasn't going to admit it, her words had made sense.

"Outside, now."

Miki, as cheerfully as ever, stood and gestured for them to follow her as she started after the guy.

"Sure, sure, whatever you say. So, you do work for them, don't you?"

The man clenched his jaw, not saying a word. The thought occurred to Kazue as she and the other two genin began after them that perhaps she'd gotten it wrong. Perhaps Miki was rubbing off on Jun- she wasn't sure which idea was more disturbing. That the woman had gained a bit of the irritating genin's personality, or that his personality had roots in her sensei's. Scarlette simply sighed, her hand dropping from her holster as they moved. Despite the situation, she was reasonably certain that Miki knew what she was doing- more certain than the blonde shooting the adult almost annoyed, pursed looked expressions at least.

As soon as they'd exited the shop, the man turned to face them, his expression far from appreciative.

"Now, what the hell were you doing in there?"

"Having dango?" Miki quipped, cocking her head as her expression said this should have been obvious. Kazue instantly dropped her head into her hand as Miki's look turned even more cheeky than before. "Oh, and I suppose we were trying to gather information about your people. It's a little stupid to take a small town like this, don't you think? I mean, I doubt they had much money in the first place, and all the shut down businesses and smashed windows will do is drive off more business. You guys are real idiots, aren't you?"

The man's expression in that moment questioned exactly how crazy they were. As he studied them, however, a minor detail finally seemed to click in his head and his expression froze.

"... shinobi?" he questioned dumbly.

Miki simply cocked her head once more.

"Hm? You just noticed? Not the brightest fellow, are you?"

His mind kicking into gear, the man didn't bother to respond. he simply turned tail and darted through the streets. Miki's cheerful expression grew as she looked over her shoulder at her genin.

"What do you say we follow him, hm?"

Kazue's mind was spinning, finally picking up on why her sensei had been acting so suicidally. If they spooked a member of the gang...

"He might be useful in leading us to their base of operations," Scarlette noted, echoing Kazue's thoughts "But if he has any sense he won't immediately go there, especially now that he's discovered we're shinobi. Still... we might come across another of his group who's' not as well acquainted with us. I believe you're right, Miki-sensei, that would be the best course of action."

Miki beamed, her pleasure obvious.

"At least someone seems to think I know what I'm doing. Alright, after him it is," she announced, turning tail and taking off.

She didn't bother to match her pace to the others, quickly darting here and there through the streets, taking to the tops of buildings when needed in order to keep an eye on his retreat. It became much simpler when he began to feel as if he'd lost them, slowing down and glancing over his shoulders every now and then. When he finally paused and turned in a circle as if to verify this fact to himself, Miki and the others skidded to a stop, concealing themselves carefully out of view.

When he began to walk again, it was at a pace that told them he'd decided they were gone. Much more carefully than before, the team once again began trailing them, Scarlette silently drawing even with Miki as her mind began racing ahead to what she considered the next important matter.

"Miki-sensei... what are you planning to do should he actually lead us to their base?" she asked quietly.

"Two of us would keep an eye on the place while the other two found the others," she answered under her breath. "It'd be too risky to just head in on our own.... most likely you and I would go. You know them better and those two can handle themselves if caught."

Scarlette nodded, having expected as much. It was her team, after all.

"I hope my sisters haven't... acted like themselves, yet," she muttered, then paused, her eyes widening slightly. "Oh, he's slowing down again."

Miki focused her attention on their target at Scarlette's words, pleased as the man paused once more to look around himself before ducking into a rather large estate building. Almost instantly upon his disappearance, she turned her attention to Kazue and Noriaki. Without her needing to say anything, however, Kazue simply smiled and tugged Noriaki with her as she headed for the place her eyes had caught and deemed a good spot to conceal themselves to keep an eye on the building.

"We know, we know. Stay quiet, don't get caught."

Satisfied, Miki glanced back to Scarlette.

"Well, what's the best method to use when spotting your sisters?"

"They'll be waist high in erotic novels by now, I'm sure. Ari's been quite keen on obtaining her own copy of Icha-Icha Paradise since she learned I'd read through most of the series," Scarlette responded instantly, her tone rather monotone.

Miki's face lit up at the mentioning of one of her favorite series, but she forced herself to focus on the matter at hand rather than on what she might have wanted to focus on.

"To the bookshops, then!"

_______________________________

"Found them, Miki-sensei."

Miki, instead of responding right way, continued studying an advertisement posted outside of the shop in question, her expression thoughtful.

"I think I saw him reading that the other day... I should pick one up while we're here..." she murmured, then blinked, finally realizing that Scarlette had spoken. "Hm, what did you say?"

Scarlette opened her mouth to reprimand her, then shut it thinking better of the matter. Instead, she stiffly pointed towards the shop.

"I found them," she said once more before calmly slipping inside.

Within a second she'd returned, looking decidedly more disgruntled.

"And now they've gone."

Miki, realizing that her distracted state might have been part of the problem, tore her gaze from the sign once more with a slightly abashed expression.

"Well, they couldn't have gotten far if you just saw them," she mused thoughtfully. "Perhaps we'd be able to spot them from above?"

As Miki turned her gaze towards the top of the building, Scarlette followed her line-of-sight before letting out an aggravated sigh.

"Those two...why don't they ever learn?" she grumbled.

Then, with a quick flicker of her gaze in Miki's direction, she started around the building, looking for a way up that didn't involve a straight up jump as she wasn't that confident she could make it in one go. Miki, on the other hand, simply watched her departure before gathering the needed chakra in her feet and propelling herself to the top of the building. Instantly upon her feet touching the top, she moved to the side towards where she imagined she would spot Scarlette and instantly finding her.

"Anything I can do to help?" she asked.

"No, I don't believe I'll be needing any assistance," Scarlette retorted, keeping her irritation carefully under wraps.

She used crates pressed against the side of the building to provide her foot holds to propel herself up to join Miki. As soon as she'd managed it, her smile returned.

"Thank-you, though."

Miki simply rocked back on her heels, turning her attention to the streets in an attempt to spot the other two girls.

"No problem," she replied cheerily.

Scarlette was the first to spot something useful, only a moment later swiveling about and staring off towards another street.

"Hibiki-sensei and Jun have returned," she announced, then raised her voice to call down to them. "Sensei, you haven't seen my moronic sisters, have you?"

In response, the man stopped, as did Jun who'd been cheerfully walking at his side.

"Not yet we haven't. I assume you two are looking for them now?" he questioned.

"Unfortunately," Scarlette responded dryly. "I actually spotted them inside this shop, but they must have slipped out the back way when they realized I was after them."

As she finished speaking, she gestured down towards the building they were standing on. A smile to form on Hibiki's face in response, knowing that it was something they would do, but he almost immediately frowned instead. His gaze flickered over his shoulder, eyes narrowing in thought before he suddenly turned his sharp gaze back to Miki and Scarlette.

"Did you see them leave, Scarlette? Did you actually see them slipping out the back?"

"No..." Scarlette replied, raising a quizzical brow. "I didn't. But where else could they have..."

She trailed off, recognizing the expression that had begun to dawn on Hibiki's face. Instantly, her hands clenched at her sides as her sensei turned his attention to the two Konoha shinobi present.

"You realize that if we stand out so much to the locals, we'll stand out even more to the gang members, right? What do you think the chances are that they were more than just a little uneasy realizing they had a bunch of shinobi scoping out their village?"

Those words were all it took to make the others realized what he had only moments ago.

The girls hadn't been seen leaving the shop because most likely, they hadn't chosen to leave it. The stakes of the mission had just gotten higher.

Violet and Ari had been taken hostage.