Bad Artists Copy. Good Artists Steal.

Nanaki listened to Love's instructions. At this point, he was divided into three parts. There was the part of him that would look back at her and nod solemnly, paying heed to her advice. There was the part of him that scowled inwardly, fuming at his own weakness and inability to stand up for himself or even think for himself. And of course, there was the part that was extremely grateful for his seniors' help. He found that as he followed Love's instructions, nothing inside him really changed. He felt afraid to talk to people, and going up to the various villagers and acquiring the information he needed from them that he needed made him feel sick and dead inside.

Of course, Ai-sensei told him that he was doing a good job. A genuine compliment, or maybe a phrase to try and keep him in line? Maybe he was overthinking it.

However after hearing what Ayame had to say, he suddenly felt an urge to pipe up.

"Wait, d-doesn't that mean... there could be more than one thief?"

[WC 178]

Turning her attention from the girl to the sand ninja, Love nodded. "You're completely right Nanaki." She said in an encouraging voice, Love was trying to butter the boy up for what she would say next. "I also agree with.. I actually didn't get your name. I'm Love." She told the girl frankly; at this point the girl would already have an impression of Love and the real mission was about to start so there was no need for her to add her title. "But like I was saying, if you could give us a layout of the business area we can stakeout it out and follow any suspicious characters. Since they're working as a pair or more the accomplice(s) won't be that far off. We can have one of us follow the main perp while the others look for his partner(s)." After establishing who would do what in this plan Love would wait to hear what the others thought.

WC:160

"Oh, Yeah, I'm Ayame, sorry! I guess i was a bit too focused on what was going on. It's very nice to meet you, Love" Aya would state smiling.

"But yes, this is your home turf, you know your way around here much better than we would. I mean it is pretty warm here in the desert. I don't know about you, love, but personally it's very tiring running around in this heat" Ayame would comment attempting to include everyone.

WC: 84
TWC: 1282

"Um... uh..." Nanaki had to think for a few seconds. Where would he be able to find something of the sort? Maybe he should just be frank with them. He was about to admit his own inadequacy, when an idea somehow pierced the clouds that surrounded his consciousness. Ah! Of course! He would attempt to speak honestly with his seniors.

"... Well, I actually don't know the layout of business area all that well, um, I don't spend that much time there. But I do know where we can find one! Most of the city p-plans are found at the library just around the corner. I don't know how up-to-date they are, but they should help, right?"

He'd blush a bit that he was too stupid to know the way around his own village, but it wasn't something that he could fix now.

[WC 142]

"I see.. Well that works too." Love looked up from the blush on the boy's face to the sky, she really needed to invest in a watch. "We should get going before it gets dark. I assume you know your way to the library so you can lead us there and then we'll figure out who'll do what once we get the layout." With that said the three made their way to the Sunagakure public library. Once there they would ask and be handed a map of the town. Walking over to an empty table they would unroll the large piece of paper that almost covered the entire tabletop.

WC:109 (Short but I don't want to control the entire topic.)

Ayame remained silent notice the boy's either discomfort, embarrassment, or shyness by the blush on his face.

Provided the boy lead them to the library, she would get distracted looking at book after book encased I the massive walls... everything from ancient tomes to modern medicine was covered here. It was... impressive to say the very least.

Eventually, she would find her way back. "Alright, where would you two like me to go?" Ayame would ask in a whisper, remaining respectful to those there for other reasons. She would have to come back again... there was so much knowledge for her to explore here.

WC: 105
TWC: 1387

As soon as he looked at the map, Nanaki started to almost sweat. Um... how did you read this kind of map again? He didn't want to say anything that would make him seem like the idiot that he actually was, but what could he do? Well... he'd kinda seen the village from above when he'd been practicing his surface walking technique, so he knew that the brown-ish part of the map represented the area of interest. Errrr.... and these lines must be roads, right? So! Nanaki had just taught himself how to read maps. He grinned and almost swelled with pride, though it wouldn't be obvious as to why.

"Well, these are art thieves, right? If we set some kind of bait for them, we might be able to catch them easier..." and just like that, his exuberance deflated. "Uh... sorry, seniors, this is my first mission. Ehehe..." He'd wanted to start doing things for the village, but he didn't think he'd be put together with other people so quickly. Needless to say, it was more than a bit embarrassing to have others see him so weak.

[WC 188, REALLY sorry for the wait ;-;]

"Nothing to be sorry about, we were all beginners once." Love gave him a quick smile to boost his confidence before thinking over his words. "That is a good idea." She paused holding one hand on her chin and the other supporting the elbow of the arm that the first hand, holding her chin, belonged to. "I was hoping to catch them before they got to the art exhibit but there will be less people there than there will be in the streets. We just need to get to the museum before the exhibit starts and replace the real items with fake. By using transformation jutsu of course. Each of us will guard an exit, I'll use my byakugan to track the thieves and alert you when they prepare to leave." Love would look at Ayame to hear her thoughts. If she agreed then she would pull out her communication headset from her weapon pouch on her left hip. Clasping it around her neck and placing the ear piece in it's place, Love would ask Nanaki if he had one because she happened to have an extra. Hopefully Ayame would have one of her own but because she's more experienced and this is a low level mission she shouldn't need it.

WC:211

"Alright, I'll use my dojutsu to keep an eye out as well, though I can't see quite as far as what your Byakugan can handle." Ayame would state as the trio stood around the map.

"What if we did a mock exhibit showing? Since Love and I are fresh faces, one of us could pretend to be exhibiting both pottery and romantic paintings." Ayame would suggest. "The other one of us could wait with Nanaki and watch the guests, looking for signs in case he chooses not to steal the mock works."

Ayame would take a breath. "Then we could watch the place at night provided we don't catch him during the day, as he's already stolen what he wanted from the current exhibitioner" Ayame stated, "It would make no sense for him to go back a second time when he already has what he wanted," Ayame said remembering that she had stated in her notes about Sandra's paintings being stolen from her Gallery debut.

WC: 170
TWC: 1557

Doujutsu? The word hit Nanaki like a sack of hams. So, these two were part of possibly influential clans, no doubt. Gaahhhh..... had he just waited a day and taken another mission, he wouldn't have to.... no, he couldn't think like that now. He broke through his own self pity and steeled himself.

"Alright", he said tentatively. "That makes sense." Damn, he was awful at taking lead. Some people were just born to be followers, the lady at the orphanage had told him once. He let the girls take the lead, going where they went and doing what they told him to.

[WC 102]