"I have a little sister named Rin. She's four years younger than I am." Akane mentioned, shrugging her shoulders. Her eye glanced around for fish. 

"I am starting to feel like an outsider in that department" Oita said as he observed the stands as well "I have no siblings. You and Kami both have family like that. Are you... close?"

"Very much so." Akane explained, adjusting the strap on her shoulder. "She's a bit naive though."

"I like to call it innocent" Oita said, sniffing slightly as they passed a stall selling meats "And its not a bad thing really... innocence lets us be happy, and we all have it in a small degree. I am glad you are close with your sister akane."

"Uh huh." she said lazily, distracted by a seller with a dozen mourning doves in cages at the other end of the alley. Akane couldn't pull her eyes off of it and she eventually stopped walking altogether. "Mmm..."

Oita didn't get to be a puppet master for nothing, he could put two and two together. "You wish to free the birds, correct?" he said, following akane's line of sight right into the collection of mourning doves.

"There seems to be new karts of these people every week. This is the third one I've seen this month and the third one I'm going to destroy." she said the last part in a quieter tone. Akane needed a place to put her things before she progressed with this. "You going to tell Ishiaki on me?" she asked, glancing Oita's way.

"No... no, but I want you to think about the fact that you're more than likely destroying a man's business, making him lose pay, man hours and taking food from his table" Oita pointed out with his cold hard logic "You feel strongly about the freedom of birds, but you do not have to destroy a man's business just to do it."

"If you are suggesting I pay for those birds, you are out of your mind." Akane said harshly.

"I'm... merely suggesting" Oita said slowly "That if you wreck this man's stalls then you will more than likely get in trouble and make someone go hungry. There might be... other ways to handle this. Unless you are perfectly happy ruining other people's lives."

"What about the dozens of avian lives he is ruining?" Akane shot back, her irritation for Oita growing.

"Which is why I am not telling you not to do this Akane, I am merely stating the fact that you will be most likely running a man out of business. It is your choice, but I am merely saying that there is probably a better way than just wrecking his stall. Perhaps a way that would discourage more bird sellers from appearing?" Akane's way was to smash and run, and that was just a temporary way of dealing with things. Oita was sure there was a better way to approach this.

"Oh? And what do you suggest, smart guy?" Akane asked, leaning to one side.

"Give me a second ok?" Oita said, rubbing his chin slowly "I'm trying to get rid of an entire company without destroying his business and leaving him hungry..." He'd given himself a perplexing puzzle, one which he might not be able to solve, but he had to try.

"Please-" she rolled her eye. "Look at the guy... he isn't poor." Akane gestured toward the shopkeeper.

"He isn't rich either. Look, if they're out here selling stuff on stalls then they're putting their business at risk. Just... give me a minute" Oita said, walking forward towards the man selling birds. He was going to have to have a little chat with him.

"Ugh... a chat? That's going to take forever. I need to get my fish before these people pack up for the day." Akane explained.

Oita was talking to the man, who first of all laughed, then seemed to get angry. He raised a fist at Oita, but the young ninja just seemed to glower at him and keep speaking. Oita shook his head several times at the man, then pointed very carefully to a person who was selling live crabs in the distance; the crabs kept scuttling away however, and the man either had to leave to retrieve the crabs or let them go so no one stole his money. He seemed to be one of the worst of figures at the market. Oita continued to talk to the bird keeper, whose face had turned to slow acceptance, with a glimmer of hope. After a while Oita returned to near Akane. He wasn't looking at her though, he was just carefully leaning against a stall near her. "Don't talk directly to me" he said "I didn't give up your identity... just... let this work itself... It might take a few minutes." Oita turned his head, watching as the bird merchant left his stall to go to the crab salesman.

"Good job, you distracted the shopkeeper. I'll go free the birds." Akane said, taking a few steps toward the seller's table.

The hand grabbed hold of her clothes in a second, and trying to walk with Oita hanging onto you is like dragging around a lead weight the size of... well, Oita's pack. "Slow Akane... slow" he wasn't looking at her still "Just watch..." the shop keepers were talking, and the bird owner was looking pretty shirty. He was glancing around and making shrugging motions to the crab salesman, but the man was listening at least. It took three more escaping crabs before the two shook hands and the man went back to the bird store. When he got there... well, Akane might not believe what she was seeing, the man opening every single one of his cages, the birds hopping for a moment before flying up into the sky. "See?" Oita said softly.

Akane puckered her lips and let out a low, rolling tune. One of the mourning doves that flew over head dropped down and perched on a finger she extended. "What just happened?" she asked Oita while she examined the bird's health.

"I convinced the man that the local attacks on bird vendors were because of an affront to quite a powerful ninja, and that it was best to make a little money than none. You did not want the birds in the cages, so if he freed to birds the cages would be in tact, and since they are quite fine, long lasting cages then they could be sold on for a bit of money... to someone who wasn't quite so prepared, like the crab vendor. He lets the birds go, you're happy, he sells the cages, he's happy, the crabs stay in the cages... crabs are miserable, but the salesman is happy." Oita watched as the two men began to trade money for cages "There. And you didn't have to smash anything."

"Hmmm-" she hummed, petting her hand over the dove's back and nape, "...clever." There was a pause before she added, "Although breaking stuff is a lot more fun, thanks Oita." Akane lifted a brow and glances his way, "A powerful ninja, huh? Well at least you got your facts straight."

"I said you were one of the top assassins, that's why no one had caught you or even bothered. The rumour should spread" Oita said, gazing at the bird she was petter "There might be a few around here, but now if you attack then people will merely say that person is foolish for messing with birds in this place." Oita gave a small shrug and turned away "We should go get some fish..."

"So you're shopping with me?" she asked, letting the mourning dove flutter off with it's comrades.

"Well I was talking to you before you noticed the man selling birds" Oita said with a small shrug, watching as the bird flew off to join its friends "I thought we would continue the conversation."

"Uhm... right, what were we talking about again?" she asked, still looking for that fish stand. She could smell the damn thing so it wasn't too far.

"family" Oita said as he looked around for the fish stall as well; he had to be careful in tight places and crowds, his back pack tended to knock things quite a bit "But I will happily change the subject onto something else if you so desire."

"Why did you come here to be a ninja?" Akane asked, indeed wanting to get off the 'family' topic.

"My family decided that they needed a place within this new venture, and since I was a promising student they decided to send me out here to take part. I merely agreed... partly because I wanted to help my village, but mostly because... well, other people fascinate me... and I thought I could observe many different people here." Oita gave a small shrug, logical, unemotional, he'd been raised this way apparently, it wasn't just one of his quirks.

"So you agreed to put your life on the line as a ninja because... you were bored?" Akane asked, giving him an odd look. That didn't seem like a good enough reason to her.

"I was already training to become a practitioner in the art of using puppets in battle... the only difference now is that I would have spent ALL my time inside my little room making puppets, while I can go outside now... take a look around... talk to new people" Oita gave another small shrug "Curiosity killed the cat, as the expression goes. I wished to escape the mundane life of my village."

"That could be solved by a simple relocation, but I'll accept that answer as is. Ah, there's a fish stand." Akane pointed out, heading over to it. She looked at the specimens and picked five of the freshest looking ones.

"Nice fish" Oita commented, unable to really think of anything else to say. "So... why do you like birds so much Akane?" it was a simple question, but probably something she was willing to talk about.

"They are a very important creature to my culture. Where I'm from, the skies are filled with vivid colors from birds' wings. Most people in my village discover their, sort of... 'spirit bird' at adolescence. Though I found mine when I was 8."

"Peacock?" it was an educated guess, and not because of any silly comments about vanity and showing off... though those thoughts did pass through his head at such a speed that you'd swear he was scared she'd hear them. No, really the feather had tipped him off.

She nodded. "I was napping in the trees when I was really young and awoke to the call of an albino peacock perched on the branch I was laying on. It was the most beautiful, most terrifying thing I had ever seen.... and at 8, I had seen a lot in the dead center of the jungle."

"Sounds like a very deep experience" Oita gave her a small smile; all these people seemed to have such close family and something much more than curiosity to guide them. He was feeling that small sting of jealousy again. He felt like he hadn't had much of a life.

"Sort of. We believe everyone has some sort of spirit animal though, bird or not." Akane explained further. She winced at how these fish smelt and tied the bag tighter.

Oita looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, with an air of giving up, "Worker ant." He looked down at the fish Akane had just bought, noticing how she wrinkled her nose at the smell "I can carry that if you want."

"If you insist." she said, practically tossing the bag at him to get it away. "I just hope one doesn't blow up this time."

"Blow up?" Oita said, catching the bag out of the air and holding it by his side. He didn't know why a fish would blow up... it would have to be very rotten to do that.

"Yup." is all Akane replied with, giving no hint as to why it would blow up.

Great... blow up. He gazed down at the bag of fish, tucking it a bit closer against himself as if afraid something from outside would cause the predicted explosion. He was following Akane as they walked though, wondering exactly what was going on.

The two walked out of the stalls, back to the inc village

Oita, having walked around the walls for quite some time by now, was getting bored. He was looking down at the stalls he was passing by, the usual stuff, a slightly depressed looking previous-bird seller, a few clothing stalls, ninja supplies, food pellets, calligraphy and scroll stalls... no he was fine for that. Ah... a book stall. Oita's sandals clacked down the wall slowly, until his foot hit the floor and he was walking at the same level as everyone else. He began to examine the books up close, sniffing slightly as he cast an appraising look over the wares. Not much. Basics. The beginner books of a starting up town... that looked interesting though. It was in the ninja-arts section, and while he usually only looked at puppetry and stories, this seemed... interesting. The art of hand-to-hand combat... but not just any. Oita stared at the bright green tunic wearing, fuzzy eyebrowed, constantly smiling man on the cover... Unique person, but oh well, it would be an interesting read. After paying for it silently, Oita moved his way up the wall again, walking back towards the town to read his book in peace... "Breaking the gates" was an interesting title.