Hinji continued to peruse the store's stock. He had found a few tomes that he greatly desired, but would be of no use to him before the mission. With nothing there to aid him in the now, he left the store. Once outside he found the hustle and bustle to be very loud and annoying and began to seek out a quiet place to go over his supplies and summon cards.

"Well, El, do you think your guitar will do the job?" Kano asked as they started searching for Hinji.

"I think it will." El said with a smile. "It is much f89iner than my trainer... still... I must fix it."

"Can you use this one to fix it?" Kano asked curiously

"I believe so." El said. "If not I have a fine replacement."

"It is a very sleek looking guitar." Kano noted, not really know what else to say on the subject. "So....any idea where the scroll shop would be?"

"I have a few ryo." El said. "We can ask the man in the booth."

"Guess we don't have much choice, right?" Kano responded as they approached the information booth.

El nodded, trying to spot Hinji's hat in the sea of people as they made their way to the information booth.

By this time Hinji had found a semi-quiet spot under a shade tree. He removed his case from its spot on his pack and began to go through his "hat" inventory to see what he could add.

"Hello!" Kano said to the information booth attendant. "Where's the nearest Scroll Shop?"

The man looked up from his news paper and smirked. He held his hand out, no need to point them towards the sign, they'd been here once already.

El pulled one of his few ryo from his pocket and placed it on the counter.

"Nearest Scroll Shop would be Sukuroru Yojo." The man replied and pointed back behind his little shack. "About a block and a half down on the left. Can't miss it. There's a large scroll sign above the door."

"Thank you." Kano told him and nodded. "At least it's further away than the last time." He said to El with a shrug.

El nodded, following as he kept an eye out for Hinji just in case they missed him.

"So the amp is fully powered by that crank, right?" Kano asked him as they walked towards this Sukuroru Yojo. He kept his eye out for Hinji's familiar black and red robes, figuring they would be the simplest part of his attire to catch in the crowds.

"Yes." El told him. "It has a small generator that stores energy depending on how long one cranks. I have to be careful not to crank too much though, or I could burn the battery."

"Sounds simple enough. I still can't believe you got the guitar for free. I mean, I heard that nothing's free in this village, and here you are getting, easily, a couple hundred ryo worth guitar for no charge at all." Kano said shaking his head in disbelief

"A couple hundred ryo couldn't touch this guitar Kano." El admitted. "While I'm not exactly an expert in pricing I would hazard a guess at at least two thousand... maybe three. Which is why I asked for Kami's help."

"Well, it was only a guess El." Kano told him and shrugged, "Doesn't change the fact though. I wonder if Hinji made out well. I didn't think he needed anything though. I still have to get some more medical supplies, if Tsu-sensei is to be believed about how much we need them."

---

Tsu stepped out into the village. As furious as she was, any attempt to display anger made her look like a little girl who had just been reluctantly kissed by a boy. An unfortunate truth she failed to grasp. "That... asshole." she growled.

"He did provide plenty of information that was left out of the briefing packet." Ishiaki said as he followed her out.

"That doesn't mean that he isn't a complete asshole." Tsu muttered darkly, frowning and crossing her arms, pouting slightly at the floor "He isn't coming on the trip with us is he?"

"Can you think of a person he trusts more?" Ishiaki asked in retort. They had hardly even met the man, but he didn't think anyone would ever earn that man's trust.

"His banker." Tsu muttered darkly. Though she knew that wasn't true. A man like that would never trust his banker. "Just so you know, if he wounds up with his ankles cut, hanging upside down from the ceiling with severe head wounds, it wasn't me, but I like the idea."

"Don't tempt me. I was thinking of, accidentally, bumping into him with my sword out." Ishiaki told her with a smirk. "At least I've got the excuse of, I didn't see him standing there."

"My excuse is he didn't see me coming." Tsu muttered darkly before sighing and shaking her head "We have a day. I need a drink. We'll find the kids after that. What do you say?"

"Sounds good to me. I think anyone who has to be in a room with him for longer than 5 minutes deserves a drink." Ishiaki told her with a nod.

"Where can we get something to drink?" Tsu asked, looking around to try and find ANY sign of a bar in the area.

"We can always try asking at an information booth." Ishiaki pointed out with a shrug, he didn't exactly know where it was though.

"How about we go around and find someone who looks like they know a place to drink, and ask them?" Tsu asked, rubbing her cheeks and trying not to feel stressed.

"I am sure there is a restaurant district where we can at least find something good to eat to go with the drinks." Ishiaki told her and offered her his arm.

Tsu let out a small sigh, but a smile was with it. He found her hand in his, a soft squeeze as she moved close, and a slow step towards the restaurants in the area.

"So what are you in the mood for? They have a bit of everything here, after all." Ishiaki said with a grin

"Brandy." Tsu said flatly, but with a little smile around her lips that betrayed that she was kidding "But the food... I don't mind. Barbecue?"

"Barbecue with a couple glasses of saki?" Ishiaki counter-offered with a smile. At least a barbecue joint would be easy to find, they could simply follow their noses.

"Or something." Tsu said with a nod, sniffing out and walking them towards the nearest barbecue place she could smell.

"Or something." Ishiaki agreed, though he would probably order the saki for himself. He hardly had much taste for any of the other types of drinks.

Tsu turned a corner, then carefully pulled Ishiaki towards a restaurant "You think they'll believe I'm old enough?" she asked.

"You could always show them your ninja license. Or I could just buy two drinks." Ishiaki offered with a shrug, allowing himself to be pulled along by her

"After the argument with that guy, I'm not certain how calm and reasonable I fancy being, you know?" Tsu mumbled, a little bounce in her step as they went inside. She looked around, sniffing happily at the barbecue.

Ishiaki smiled and inhaled greatly as they walked in. There just was something about the smell of a barbecue joint that always made him hungry.

Tsu had it too. She pulled him carefully over to a booth, settling down beside him and licking her lips as she eyed the grill. No food yet of course...

Ishiaki sat down and when the waitress arrived, he didn't even pause to order for himself. "Beef, lots of beef, please. Oh, I'll also have a bottle of saki, please."

"Two cups." Tsu said, leaning over so the waitress could see her. She really hoped there wasn't a fuss.

The waitress looks at her curiously and arches an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, Miss. But I'll have to see some identification..." She said rather nervously, it was clear from the customers' attire that they were ninja. The last thing she wanted was a disgruntled customer, let alone a ninja....

"Just trust me alright?" Tsu said flatly "I've had a very stressful conversation with Vannor about the suicide mission he's practically assigned us to. It's a physical ailment, and I'd rather just drink sake in peace."

"I'm so sorry, Miss...but if I don't, I could lose my job.." The waitress pleaded, trying her best to make matters worse.

Tsu sighed, thudding her head against the desk. She reached into her pocket, but instead of pulling out any kind of deadly weapon, she slammed her ID down onto the desk. "Two bottles." she said roughly.

"Very well. I'm so sorry to have to question it, Ms. Kerori." The waitress said after looking at the ID card. "Is there anything else I could get for you?"

"Just the meat. And the alcohol." Tsu said gruffly, feeling ready to swallow her tongue to stop this conversation.

"Maybe a small fish as well?" Ishiaki asked Tsu before the waitress left. He knew he wanted beef, but maybe she would some seared fish?

The waitress nodded to Ishiaki and went to retrieve their drinks and place the order for their meats.

"You know, I would sure love to blow off steam after this." Tsu sighed, leaning over and nuzzling against Ishiaki "But I always tell myself, not on a mission."

Ishiaki felt his cheeks flush and he smirked down at her. "It's a good practice." He nodded, agreeing with her. "Duty before pleasure."

"Awwww, you're cute when you blush." Tsu chuckled, kissing his arm and placing her hand on his leg "I must try very hard not to make you blush more."

Because of the fact that all the cooks needs do was slice the meats, it never took long for the plates to be delivered. The waitress soon returned with a platter of sliced beef and segmented white fish along with two steaming bottles of saki. She placed their order down and smiled nervously. "Will there be anything else I can get for you?"

Ishiaki smiled back and shook his head, glancing down at Tsu briefly before responding. "No, I think that will do, thank you."

Tsu nodded to the girl as well "Thank you." She reached over, carefully playing with her food with a chopstick. She flicked the fish open, toying with it back and forth for a moment before reaching out to try and put it on the grill. She came up a little short.

Ishiaki reached forward with his chopsticks and expertly maneuvered several slices of beef onto the grill. It was often incredibly disturbing how adept he was for being so blind a man.

Tsu tossed hers, it flipped, then landed on the grill with a sizzle. She huffed as she settled down again "You're going to have to turn that over for me when it's time..."

"Don't worry about it." Ishiaki said softly, his hand reaching over and gently patting her leg. He set his chopsticks down and grabbed the two small cups for the saki. He set the cups down within their reach and opened the first bottle. He poured and smiled at her.

Tsu huffed, but then gave Ishiaki a small smirk "Put that hand down there again and you're not getting it back until I'm done." she said with a grin on her lips. She poked her tongue out at him, obviously playing around.

"Now now, we wouldn't want to make a scene." Ishiaki said softly and reluctantly let his hand slide away from her leg. He sighed softly and sipped his saki. "At least we have until the morning. That'll help us all relax a little, and here we were thinking they wouldn't have time to shop."

Tsu giggled and gave him a soft hug "I'm only playing with you Ishiaki. It helps relieve my stress slightly... you know?" He felt a small hand stroking across his chest as she stood up ever so slightly on the chair to kiss his cheek.

"Oh believe me, dear, I know you were playing." Ishiaki told her with a smirk. He set his saki glass down gently and took hold of her hand. "You're being far too gentle to be teasing purposefully."

---

Kami, Akane and Oita came out of Cog's Marionette.

Akane finished her cotton candy and tossed the paper stick into a wastebasket. "So- what's next?" she asked her group.

Oita gave a small shrug, carefully putting his scroll into his backpack. "I thought you came to get me for a reason." he said, looking between the two of them.

"Making sure you aren't crying in a corner not reason enough? We wanted to make sure you found something to work with." Akane said.

"Akane..." Kami said in an almost scolding manner. "I wanted to make sure I was there if you needed to pay for a very expensive puppet." Kami told Oita. "I told you I'd be glad to help you."

"I did not believe I would find a puppet that would work... in fact, I'm uncertain that I have still. But... it would be disrespectful to ignore such a kind woman's gifts." Oita said, tactfully ignoring Akane as he spoke to Kami. One day he and she would fight, he was sure of this.

At least Oita was defending himself now. He used to be such a weak little pushover, so at least there was that. Akane could at least give him credit for growing a pair since then.

"The same thing happened to El." Kami said. "The man who crafted his new guitar apparently refused payment. It looks so different from his old one."

"That's because this new one is an electric and his old one was acoustic. That's why he needs the amp." Akane explained.

"Oh dear..." Oita said, chewing on his lip as Akane revealed the new amp "That's... unpredictable."

"By that you mean unpredictably awesome." Akane added, a bit excited to see that little amp in action. She had never seen El play electric before.

"What happens when his batteries run out?" Oita asked, scratching his head and casting a glance towards Akane.

---

---

"He showed Kano how it worked." Kami told him. "I'm not sure but it had something to do with a lever on the back. I'm sure he'll be happy to explain it again if we ask him."

Akane looked around as the two chatted, listening in, but also taking in the sights around them.

"That's better." Oita said with a small nod "I might wish to take a look at it sometime. Not now of course... but perhaps in the future." He looked around at Akane, then back to Kami. "This... is a strange place..." he said finally "People seem so eager for you to want something from them."

"Well.. this place seems to put a lot of importance on business. It's how they make a living. Without customers, they would go hungry. Severity depends of course." Akane noted.

"But shops... they usually expect you to come to them and KNOW what you want, unless it is a general store... but everyone here seems to constantly want to sell you things..." Oita said, rubbing his head.

"There seem to be shops from everyone's home villages too." Kami said. "Except mine of course..."

"Oh don't act so special, Kami... I don't see anything from my home away from home either." Akane said, "I'm sure we could find you a place if you wanted. It seems this whole island is shops."

"Well, my village seems to have many supplies but no shops. I see a few stamps of my village around the place... but I doubt there are any actual shops from my village. We're mainly exports." Oita said with a little shrug.

"I think that's how El's village works too." Kami said. "But I'm the farthest my people have branched out at all from our village."

"Well hopefully not the last." Akane said.

Oita was still pretty sure that they were going to die at the hands of their adversaries. It was a terrible mission, so he didn't want to speculate what would happen in the future. Specially for cloistered villages like his team mates. Would those villages say "She failed" and send another person? Or would they say "you failed" and stop being in the coalition?

"Ehh." Kami said. "My village will always be backwards. I doubt my being here will change my father's views in the future.'

"Well who knows." Akane shrugged. "Things can always change."

"People seldom do however. Without true reason..." Oita said with a little shrug "Perhaps the village can move on though."

"I won't hold my breath." Kami said, hearing the sounds of a guitar being played. "I think El is close."

"Should we head over?" Akane suggested, turning toward the sound. Even from this distance, she could hear how different the instrument sounded.

"Kano wanted to double up on his medical supplies." Kami said. "I think we all should. I'd be happy to bounce." Of course she meant 'spring' but had gotten it wrong as usual.

"I see... so... shall we... bounce?" Oita said, motioning for them to move towards the music. He still wasn't in a very happy mood.

"We shall." Akane said and the three headed for the other team.


"As soon as we meet back up with the girls I think we could all see to some extra medical supplies." El said. "Hey... there, is that Hinji?" El was pointing, trying to duck to see between people. "Over by that tree."

"Can't imagine those robes would be a new fashion sense, so it must be him." Kano said with a smirk at his friend's expense.

"Come on." El said, trying to push against the current of people.

Hinji was oblivious to everything around him, having stuff two small pieces of cloth into his ears to block out the sounds of the world. He was currently in the middle of another summons scroll, one of his favorites that he had, surprisingly, forgot to make.

Kano pushed along after El as they approached Hinji beneath the tree. "Yo! Hinji!" He shouted as they came within earshot.

El managed to squirt out of the crowd without harming his new guitar.

Hinji ignored what he thought was his name being called. He needed to focus on finishing the card first before he could entertain any thought of responding to people.

"He looks pretty focused..." Kano told El as they moved closer. "We don't want to startle him and have him mess up."

"How about you go." El said. "I think I can make a few ryos if I practice in the street and it'll tell the girls where we are once they find Oita."

"I hope you don't have to have a license to preform here..." Kano told him cautiously. The last thing they needed was to get in trouble with whatever stood for the law in this village.

"I'll just put my hat down and say I'm practicing if someone asks." El said. He began to wind his amplifier.

"Just watch your purse strings, El. Surely a place with so much commerce around, there must be pickpockets as well." Kano cautioned him for the first time, he was a little perplexed as to why this was the first time that thought had come to his mind.

"I will." El said. He took his hat off and placed it on the ground in front of him so it could catch any ryos that came his way. He plugged into his amp and made sure his guitar was in tune before beginning to idly play.

It wasn't long before the group could spot Akane, Oita and Kami headed toward them. As predicted, they followed the sound of El's new guitar. Several passerby citizens slowed their walking and looked at the Mariachi in passing. His kind of music was rarely heard in these parts and El managed to collect 6 ryo in the short time he had been playing.

El frowned at the pittance he had earned. He figured he would have at least made a little more. At least it helped him become acquainted with his new guitar.

"There he is." Kami exclaimed, pointing in El's direction.

"Looks like they found Hinji too." Akane said casually. She lifted her hand and waved as they walked up to the other team, "Oita found a puppet." she informed.

"I was given one." Oita said with a little shrug, looking at the others slowly, then towards El's guitar "May I ask, how is the Amp powered?"

Hinji looked over the now finished summons with a hint of disapproval. One of the characters seemed to be tilting slightly to the left, he made a mental note to try and avoid using this one in combat in case the card is bad. When he removed the ear plugs he was instantly bombarded with all the returning sounds and wished he had left them in.

El was in the middle of a song so he didn't want to stop to show Oita. "There's a small crank driven battery inside." he explained.

Oita nodded slightly. "If... I may ask, how much did it cost?" he asked, trying not to interrupt the song being played right now. But he was quite interested.

"What do you care?" Akane asked, kinda wanting Oita to shut up.

Oita ignored her.

"Find anything interesting, Hinji?" Kano asked him, when he saw him pluck the earplugs out. He jabbed his thumb towards El, "He got a replacement guitar."

"Cost is between Kami and the shop keeper." El said, leaving it up to her to tell.

"Yes it is." Kami said and offered nothing more than that.

"I don't suppose I could know?" Oita said, looking around at Kami "For a personal matter. If I wanted to include a crank battery into one of my future puppets, I wanted to get an idea of what kind of prices mechanisms with them in cost."

"We'll talk about it later." Kami whispered softly with a wink. It had been expensive in her opinion and she didn't think El liked everyone (by everyone she meant Akane) knowing how much he owed Kami.

Akane watched El play, finding the sound this instrument made to be quite interesting. "A bit more lively than the other guitar, isn't it?" she asked him, standing aside and out of the way so that a young couple and their daughter could place a handful of ryo into his hat. "You look good." Realizing how that sounded, she chimed louder, "IT! It looks good. The guitar, I meant. Do you like it?"

El smiled with a little blush. "Yes. I like it very much... it is not as fine as the guitar I hope to earn from my father, but it is defiantly better than my other one."

"Could this help you repair the other one? If you still want to repair it, that is." Akane said, keeping out of the way of his playing. Although the group was all together again, she seemed to gravitate toward the young mariachi. A middle aged man dropped a whole ten ryo into his hat, nodded and walked off.

"I found a few, rather valuable tomes that I could use." Hinji said in response to Kano's question. "I am glad that El is closer to his full combat effectiveness. Hopefully he will still seek to fix his original guitar."

"More than likely." Kano said with a shrug and pointed towards the card Hinji had been working on. "What's that supposed to summon?"

Oita hoped that there would be a later. It seemed... questionable. Which worried him. There should always be a later. But this mission... He took a deep breath, shaking his head slightly as if ridding himself of the thought.

"It is supposed to summon my shadow ranged attacker, the spiked monkey." Hinji explained, "However, this card may be flawed and I don't know whether or not I should use it."

"I still want to repair that one very much." El said. "And yes, this should... I might speak to Hinji about learning to summon... I would keep this one for when I really need it."

"Some of the men from my village tattoo summoning kanji on their arms." Kami said. "It keeps them from needing to rely on scrolls. You'll always have it when you need it... even if you're naked."

Akane smiled, pleased that El seemed in a better mood that earlier. Like Oita, he had seemed very stressed out about this mission. She hoped this new guitar reignited that spark in his eyes, "Are you still worried?" she asked, resisting using the word 'scared'. "You know... about this mission."

"I think we all should be." El said. "Or at least cautious."

"Well of course...." Akane said, watching as passerby's slowed their stride to look over at El as he played. Feeling that perhaps he didn't want her there or want to talk while he was working, she took a few steps back and placed her hands behind her back, glancing around boredly.

"Spiked monkey...seems interesting I suppose, as far as names go." Kano replied with a hopeful nod. "I hope it works out if we need you to use it."

Oita stared at the passing people as they dropped money in. He chewed his lip, his fingers twitching out of nerves. Finally he turned his head and asked El "Would you like me to assist you in your busking?"

"As do I." Hinji said as he finished putting his supplies back in the case. "Our Senseis have been gone for quite a while. Do you think they are still in the meeting?"

"If they are, I'd be really concerned...I thought they were going for information that wasn't in the packets." Kano said and looked at Hinji, "Did you read yours? There was more info in there than I've ever seen before. If they're stilling meeting this Vannor guy...I'd hate to find out what they left out."

"What did you have in mind?" El asked as he played. He'd made nine ryo's by now. It wasn't much of a start to repaying Kami.

"Oh, you should make you're new puppet dance." Kami said, sounding excited. "It would be a great way to practice with it."

"I... I suppose..." Oita asid. He was unsure about using the new puppet. Not that he didn't like the idea about it, he just... it had been a gift, a woman's favourite old puppet, her masterpiece. Making it dance for amusement seemed... tawdry. "Or maybe just a simple doll?" he suggested, reaching into his pack. While he kept most things back at the base, he'd brought with him one of those small dolls artists put into poses when they want to draw it. It was with loose wiring however, so it was flexible at higher speeds.

"Just so you don't bring the one out that looks like me... that's still a little weird." Akane admitted with a hand on her hip.

"I agree. Let us hope that whatever information they left out was important enough to delay the mission this long." Hinji said, "I am eager to get underway."

"It's not that bad of a delay. If it's as dangerous as Tsu sensei seems to believe, we should be glad for the delay." Kano suggested and looked at Hinji with a curious expression, "Shouldn't we?"

"Too bad there aren't at any children." Kami said as Oita got out his little pose dummy.

"I don't think so." Hinji began, "If we are to die in this battle, as everyone seems to believe we will, then why should we delay? All that would do is drag on our despair and fear. I, for one, am looking forward to this fight so I can prove myself against this perceived notion of doom."

"Oh please..." Akane rolled her eye at Hinji as she eaves dropped. Did people of his village really talk like that?

"I have to agree with you on that one Hinji. I'm looking forward to coming battle, myself." Kano said with a grin, glad to find someone of like mind. "I am concerned though. According to both Ishiaki and Tsu sensei, these guys are far worse than the ones we fought in the Frost. However, that just makes me more eager to prove myself."




"There we go." Tsu said with a grin, smiling and squeezing Ishiaki's arm firmly "That's what I want... a little flirting back and forth to help ease the tension."

"I thought the tension was eased by the saki?" Ishiaki asked her as he passed her her glass. He couldn't help but wonder why she hadn't drank yet, considering the fuss she had made when requesting it.

"It's also eased by you, and you're less likely to kill me one day." Tsu said, giving his hand a squeeze before reaching over and taking her cup of sake. "Mind taking my fish off? It smells about done." she asked Ishiaki as she took a sip of the rice wine.

Ishiaki reached across the table and plucked the pieces of fish from the grill, then turned his beef over. "I'm less likely to kill you one day?"

"Well you CAN be rough sometimes." Tsu said with a playful pout, wriggling about happily as she snatched her fish up, inspected it, then ate it. She twisted and turned, having eaten it still hot, then swallowed it and let out a happy pant.

"So how's the fish?" Ishiaki asked her curiously, from his count, he still had a few more minutes to go on his beef slices. He poured himself another glass of saki and sipped it slowly.

"Hot..." Tsu admitted with a little pant, breathing hard and sticking her tongue out, showing it was a little burnt. "'ee?" she asked, pointing to the burn.

Ishiaki couldn't quite see the burn, but he could figure that she was. "Well, it did just come off the fires. You ought to know better." He said with a smirk

Tsu whimpered, then squirmed her tongue a little. She suckled on her own burnt tongue before looking over. "Can... can you put some more stuff down there for me?"

"Of course." Ishiaki told her with a smile and set a few more small pieces of fish onto the grill, taking the time to check on his own. Not much longer, he decided and settled back to listen to the sizzle.

Tsu nodded, taking another sip and snuggling up against Ishiaki's side. She seemed to be resting there now. maybe the Sake made her sleepy? She really didn't drink much.

Ishiaki let his hand drop down and settle across her shoulders as she rested. It was good that she was, they all needed it to be sure. He reached forward with his other hand and pulled his beef slices from the grill onto the plate to let it cool. Then he turned over her pieces of fish, not wanting her to wake up to the smell of burnt fish.

---

"Oh that would be fine." El said smiling, seeing the doll. "You think you can keep up with a jig?"

"I'm glad to see that not everyone in the group is a doomsayer." Hinji said, "Everyone is looking at this as just another mission. It is yet another chance for us to prove ourselves as the warriors we are. If we succeed, then we prove we are more powerful then these rogue ninjas. If we die then we deserve to be forgotten like the rest of the weak."

Oita nodded, carefully letting the doll dangle by his invisible threads. He straightened the doll out, then carefully twisted it around, to walk towards El's hat. it seemed to brush itself off, smooth back invisible hair, then began to dance along with El's music.

"If we defeat the rogues..." Kano said softly, thinking of the notoriety they would receive should they succeed. "The way I see it, the reason we got so many injuries in the Frost is because we fought them one on one essentially. If the other squad weren't holed up in the village with all the healing, we would've managed much better."

"That is true, but then you cannot fully gauge your abilities." Hinji said, "I prefer one on one duels."

"As do I, it is certainly easier to prove oneself that way." Kano said in agreement with Hinji. "But as members of a team, we are supposed to rely on one another, fighting in this manner will help us further our abilities in that aspect."

"People don't remember teams, they remember individuals." Hinji countered, "Glory is earned through individual exploits, take our adversaries for instance. That folder we read was not full of their deeds as a group, but as separate entities."

"Then we will just have to make sure to stand out all the more." Kano said with a wide grin, putting the matter to rest just like that.

Hinji remained silent, contemplating what Kano said.