The Cheshire Cat pt.1 [mission]

[Uchiha Ichiro]

Yamanaka Compound | 4:00pm

[atrb=valign, top] Yesterday afternoon Ichiro was assigned a mission by the Hokage. The instructions were simple, talk to the fish seller Utada about what was going on and mediate the situation. The only thing that threw Ichiro off was the fact that the Hokage wanted him to bring someone along with him. "Ya...man..aka Inori?" Yep, that was her name. Ichiro read it off of a piece of parchment he held in his hand as he walked through the busy streets. It didn't take long for him to reach the entrance of the compound in which inhabited those of the Yamanaka. The clan symbol was weird, it was nothing like the Uchiha symbol. It was a circle with an abstract design pattern within. How on earth that came to be the symbol of a mind control clan? Ichiro hadn't a clue. When he reached the address, he slid the parchment back into his hip pouch. Gazing beyond the few flights of wooden stairs that were before him, Ichiro stared at the main entrance door with his slanted eyes. Truth be told, he wasn't sure whether or not he was suppose to knock of the door or just wait for the blond kunoichi to come trotting out. All he knew was that this was the 4 'O clock meeting place in which he would meet his subordinate for the mission. [WC:228] Jutsu / Item / Action → → → credit: template made by oxymoron! of btn

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[Yamanaka Inori]

[atrb=border, 0, true][atrb= width, 350px, true][atrb= style, padding: 15px; background: #7C5E7F; border: solid 3px #350028; border-radius: 20px;] would someone care to classify Inori had received a notice early that morning that she would be going out on a D-Rank mission - so, business as usual, really. To be honest, she had been half-asleep and hadn't paid any attention to the rest of the notice, namely the part about working with another genin that wasn't from her team. Now, being that the Yamanaka was generally a friendly person, she usually wouldn't mind working with others. It was the simple fact of who it was that would irk her, if she ever bothered to read the rest of the note and figure it out. She had spent most of her day lounging around the house and trying to get her older brother to do something other than mope. Inori had even chucked an apple at his head - which he had managed to catch even though he hadn't been paying much attention to her, something that frustrated the fourteen year old to no end. She'd get over it eventually. Well, probably. Or she'd just chuck various fruit at him until she did manage to hit him, the more likely option. Around four o'clock in the afternoon, Inori retrieved the notice of the mission from where she had left it in the kitchen, and scanned it over again just to make sure that four was the right time. And this time, she noticed one very important detail that she had not noticed before: she had another genin as a partner, and his name was Uchiha Ichiro. Now, Inori had never met this Ichiro, and she wasn't really sure she wanted to, either; most of the Uchihas she knew were smarmy, smartass little pretty boys whose heads were so far up their asses they hadn't seen sunlight in years. Perhaps that was a rude thought, but hell if it didn't ring true. Man, all the other girls her age had been kind of obsessed with the Uchiha boy in their class. The Yamanaka just didn't get it. Tossing the note in the trash, and making sure she had all of her supplies, Inori headed out the door and nearly bumped into a younger, white-haired boy. "Sorry, didn't see you there. Ichiro, right?" words 379 tags ichiro notes 379/1500 our broken hearts and twisted minds

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[Uchiha Ichiro]

[atrb=valign, top] It didn't take long for the Yamanaka girl to come out. The wait was less than thirty seconds, Ichiro was pretty relieved despite his face not showing it. He absorbed the kunoichi's appearance from behind his slanted eyes. Slender body, chestnut eyes, and blonde hair - a characteristic most Yamanaka had in common. She wasn't bad for an older chick, not that little Ichiro thought of her in a mundane way. He lifted his chin to meet eye to eye with Yamanaka, an eye brow would raise upon hearing an apology. Ichiro wasn't sure whether or not to depict the statement as a some sort of "short" joke or an actual apology. Nonetheless he let it be and moved on with the conversation. "Yamanaka Inori, pleasure to meet you.." Ichiro would greet, attempting to keep things formal. "I assume you already know about the mission" Judging from her being on time it was only right to assume so. "So whenever you're ready we can head to the Fish Market" Ichiro folded his arms and faced the path he came from. He didn't have much else to say to the girl besides 'try not to get in the way too much' but he wanted to save that for when they arrive to Utada's store. [WC: 441/1500] Jutsu / Item / Action → → → credit: template made by oxymoron! of btn

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[Yamanaka Inori]

[atrb=border, 0, true][atrb= width, 350px, true][atrb= style, padding: 15px; background: #7C5E7F; border: solid 3px #350028; border-radius: 20px;] would someone care to classify "Nice to meet you, too." Inori offered him a small, but friendly smile. She didn't want to get off on the wrong foot with the boy, even if he was probably just going to end up pissing her off anyway. He didn't really look like the typical Uchiha boy - not exactly, anyway, due to the silvery white hair. The rest of his appearance, however, was Uchiha pretty boy through and through. Now if only he had somehow managed to replace said pretty boy personality with one that wasn't annoying as all hell... He wasn't bad-looking at all, but a douchebag personality could ruin even the most attractive guy. Not that she was thinking of him like that or anything. He was, what, probably twelve? She did not think about twelve year olds that way. "Yup, let's go." She moved past him, ruffling his hair as she did so, and headed for the exit of the compound. "You going to stand there and glare at things all day or are you going to come with me?" She kept her tone light, almost playful, so he didn't think she was trying to offend him with her words. Damnable Uchihas got offended by everything... Most of them had the bloody Forest of Death stuck up their asses. Pfft. Although, that could be said for a lot of other people as well. It didn't take long to walk to the incredibly smelly fish market. Gross. Hell, she would prefer being choked by the ridiculously thick floral scents from the Yamanaka compound - which she still hadn't gotten used to even though she had lived there for all her fourteen years - over the pungent odor of fish. Now they just had to find Utada's store in this mess of a market. words 305 tags ichiro notes 684/1500 our broken hearts and twisted minds

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[Uchiha Ichiro]

[atrb=valign, top] The Yamanaka girl didn't seem too bad, she managed to crack a smile at the young Uchiha halfling which was something not done by many. His eyes followed Inori, she casually walked passed him and was already a few feet away from the entrance. Ichiro hadn't realized she had gotten that far until she said something. Perhaps the young lad was caught by her beauty. Raising an eye-brow, the snow-haired Genin remained silent and decided to be obedient and follow. He wasn't sure who was in the wrong, it could of been him for staring at her walk by like a senseless idiot or it could of been her, being all impatient and what not. The two of them walked a few blocks in silence, it was now only a matter of minutes before they would reach the fish market. The whole walk Ichiro had been at thought. He not only thought about the mission but his subordinate as well. He wondered exactly how skillful she was to be paired up with him for this mission. "Before we go in, there's a couple things I wanna say to you" Ichiro spoke while still facing forward. Twenty meters down the road was Utada's shop. Ichiro stopped and continued to face forward. "We are going to go in there and talk to this guy... He might ask us to stay the night in shop in order to guarantee his safety and make sure no fish gets stolen.. Rather than accept his offer like we should, we are going to tell him that we've come just to investigate, nothing more... After we'll station ourselves somewhere above these buildings and wait for our objective to show up.." Ichiro paused for a moment just to see if Inori had any questions, if she didn't ask anything within the next twenty seconds he would start walking again. [WC: 752/1500] Jutsu / Item / Action → → → credit: template made by oxymoron! of btn

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[Yamanaka Inori]

[atrb=border, 0, true][atrb= width, 350px, true][atrb= style, padding: 15px; background: #7C5E7F; border: solid 3px #350028; border-radius: 20px;] would someone care to classify "And what would that be?" Inroi asked, not being sarcastic in the least, although it might have seemed that way to the younger Uchiha. Surely whatever he had to say would be important, seeing as he was supposedly her 'superior' for this mission despite her having a couple of years of experience on him. Eh, whatever. Uchihas generally thought they were superior even if they weren't, so she probably would have ended up following his lead regardless just to prevent an argument so they could get the mission done as quickly as possible. "Alright, sounds good." If he thought she was going to have any questions or anything, he was wrong. The plan was good - if their quarry really was some sort of shape-shifter, there was no guarantee that he wasn't hanging around the shop waiting for an opportunity. If he knew shinobi would be around, it was likely that he would avoid the place until they were gone. It probably wouldn't please Utada if they refused to stay, but hey; that might piss him off a little, but he would surely be grateful if Ichiro's tactic led to the culprit getting caught. He really was a deceptive little guy, to have come up with something like that, which she knew a lot of genin wouldn't even dream of. So maybe he had an attitude problem, but at least he was smart. That was something, wasn't it? Not that Inori ever really planned on interacting with the boy after this mission was over unless they were sent out on another one together, something that was out of her control. He wasn't that bad so far, quite the accomplishment for an Uchiha, but that didn't mean she wanted to hang out with him. words 301 tags ichiro notes 985/1500 our broken hearts and twisted minds

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[Uchiha Ichiro]

[atrb=valign, top] It wasn't hard to get the Yamanka to follow instructions, Ichiro liked that. Hell, if the mission were to continue running this smoothly the two of them would end up completing it in no time. They arrived at Utada's fish store. Inori was in front so she was first to open the door and enter the shop. Ichiro was two footsteps behind, searching for anything or anyone suspicious lurking around. A bell would ring from the top of the door's hinges as Inori pushed the door opened. It seemed like the bell served as a little alert system for Utada to know that he has customers or visitors in this case, coming in. The Genin walked in slowly and proceeded deeper into the store with a slow pace. The odor from the decease fish had gotten stronger and stronger. To both their left and their right were glass counters that had a variety of fish laid out for purchase. Ichiro personally didn't like fish much. His taste buds considered it gross and his nostrils thought it was down-right disgusting. The Uchiha couldn't understand how people could enjoy food that had a putrid smell. Utada didn't seem to be at the main desk nor was he in the aisles of his store restocking items or fish. Where is this guy? Ichiro would wonder. Some scrambling could be heard from the back, it almost sounded like someone rummaging through a crate searching for something. "He must be in the back.." Ichiro whispered to his comrade. [WC: 1005/1500] Jutsu / Item / Action → → → credit: template made by oxymoron! of btn

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[Yamanaka Inori]

[atrb=border, 0, true][atrb= width, 350px, true][atrb= style, padding: 15px; background: #7C5E7F; border: solid 3px #350028; border-radius: 20px;] would someone care to classify Bells jingled as Inori pushed open the door to the shop, and a wave of putrescence washed over her, covering both genin in a layer of that horrid smell. The Yamanaka swore she would kill someone if she smelled like dead fish after they left the shop. Though she might not have been the most girly person in the world, she certainly cared about how she smelled, and gross fish perfume was so not the way to go. How could a person do this for a living? The deeper into the shop they went, the worse it smelled, and to be honest, it was making the girl a little nauseous. Not that she would admit that, or say anything about the fishy smells, aloud. Offending Utada was certainly not the way to go, after all - and even if he didn't think that this was the greatest smell in the world, he had to like it or at least be indifferent to it, and he probably couldn't take too kindly to her saying anything about it. Searching for the man in the store proved to be fruitless soon enough, and Inori was ready to just call it quits and freaking leave. The smell was really getting to her. But she couldn't let herself look bad in front of a younger genin, so... "Do you think we should go find him, or should we wait for him out here?" Inori asked quietly, leaving the decision to the Uchiha. He was supposed to be in charge, after all; she might as well act like she believed he deserved the authority... Until he screwed something up, anyway. Which, in her mind, was inevitable - if an Uchiha appeared to not suck right off the bat, chances are they would show their true colors soon after. Prejudiced? Absolutely. Did she particularly care? No. words 310 tags ichiro notes 1295/1500 our broken hearts and twisted minds

made by akemi

[NPC *]

"Ah, here it is! My steel harpoon!"

[/b] The blonde six foot fish merchant vociferated. He held the steel, eighteen inch harpoon into light and examined it as if it were a long lost treasure. This harpoon in specific was the harpoon he used to catch his first swordfish back when he was twenty-two. Utada is now thirty-nine years old, on his way to forty in just a couple of weeks.

All of the items he tossed out of the crate when he was in search of his harpoon he placed them back inside. When he was done he stroked one end of his braided mustache and made his way back to the front end of the store. "Hmm now I need to find my .... Eh?!"[/b] Utada stopped just a few feet from the front desk where two young shinobi were standing behind. The stroking of his mustache had cease as he observed the meddling ninja.

"Who the hell are you two?! ... I know Hokage-sama didn't send a pair of runts to handle the job that I've requested!"[/b] Utada was a pretty rude guy. Especially when it came down to business and this was business. He didn't pay 12,000 ryo for two pre-teens to waste his time.

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[Uchiha Ichiro]

[atrb=valign, top] Before Ichiro could respond to Inori, Utada had already made it to the front desk. Boisterous, was the immediate word Ichiro thought of to describe the tall man. He noticed the metal harpoon in Utada's hand and wondered if he was going to use that to try and scare them off. Ichiro slowly placed a hand onto his short katana incase things were to get ugly. Utada wouldn't be able to notice this from where he was standing. Ichiro kept his eyes glued onto the fish seller, not uttering a word. Right now, Inori would have to be the one to do the talking since Ichiro seemed a bit eager for combat. [WC: 1117/1500] Jutsu / Item / Action → → → credit: template made by oxymoron! of btn

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[Yamanaka Inori]

[atrb=border, 0, true][atrb= width, 350px, true][atrb= style, padding: 15px; background: #7C5E7F; border: solid 3px #350028; border-radius: 20px;] would someone care to classify Almost as soon as she vocalized her question, the man himself appeared - a big, blond, muscular man who looked like he maybe needed to lay off the sweets - or fish, or whatever he ate - a little bit. Inori twitched slightly as he fiddled with his mustache for a while before finally noticing the two of them. Man, was he loud. Not to mention rude as hell... Didn't he know that most D-Rank missions were handled by either a single or a team of genin? And that most genin were young teenagers? Even if he wasn't a shinobi himself, well, when you're living in a shinobi village you can't possibly be entirely ignorant of the way things work... or can you? Reigning in her instinct to be snarky, and noticing that Ichiro sure as hell wasn't going to say a damn thing, Inori spoke. "It's nice to meet you, Utada-san. I'm Yamanaka Inori and he's Uchiha Ichiro. We are the genin that were assigned to your mission, and I can assure you that we're capable of helping. Ah, would you like to tell us a little more about the problems you've been having?" Inori wanted to tell him that he was stuck with them whether he wanted them or not, but decided that that was unwise. She was pointedly trying to ignore the sharp harpoon in the burly man's hands, while at the same time hoping he wasn't getting any ideas about assaulting the two of them with it. What a way to go that would be - getting yourself killed on a D-Rank mission by an angry fisherman. Oh, yes, that would be one that would go down in history. People would tell stories about them in the academy for years to come.. probably about how stupid they'd been to get killed like that. words 319 tags ichiro notes 1614/1500 our broken hearts and twisted minds

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