Takes Two to Tango [Mission]

https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t43429-dangerous-shopping-spree

So, there was an... almost obnoxiously large number of rich people living in this area.

Mister and Missus Lancaster were one of many examples.

Now, Jamie had taken a job to "protect a couple as they went on a shopping trip". Simple enough, right? And it was a good thing to do. They had been threatened, after all!

But...

Jamie had not been told their names.

And now Jamie was with the two.

And she was VERY thankful that they seemed to have no memory space for "lesser peoples" as they put it.

Because Jamie knew Mr. Lancaster. In fact, she and him had been on opposite sides of a podium more than once. Normally with him behind the podium, and her at the front of the audience.

Holding a picket sign.

And yelling at him to step down.

She... also might have stolen his gold a few days ago.

So the fact that the couple was now talking about how they were so glad the lied about the death threats to get someone better to protect them...

Well Jamie was of half a mind to believe she was being set up. Seriously, this was so obvious. They somehow knew she had been the one to steal the gold. Jamie had not seen R for a hot minute, either. So maybe they got him first.

Right now, Jamie needed to not worry about that. Jamie had to act normal. Signs showed that these two had NO idea who she was.

Working with these two was...

Besides the obvious part of Jamie having a VERY bad history with one of the pair, and besides the part where she had recently stolen hundreds of ryo from them, these two were just downright unbearable.

"I mean seriously, Harold, you simply must stop fretting so! I am simply POSITIVE that the ne'erdowell who stole your precious horde was a simple street goblin! Nothing more, nothing less."

"My dearest Margaret, you are absolutely mistaken! There is not a single doubt in my mind that the persons who stole from me must have been sending a message. They obviously had been following me, to so easily find my fortune."

"Harold dear, you buried it right next to the cemetery. Anyone visiting a relative could have uncovered the location with little issue."

Harold's cleanly shaven chin bore a stark contrast with the grey walrus mustache upon his lip. As his wife uttered these most distasteful words, he released a MIGHTY 'harumph', to which his mustache responded by waggling too and fro upon its most regal owner's face.

"I will have you know, Margaret dearest, that I most certainly did NOT bury it within eyesight of the cemetery. I ventured much too far into the forest for that to be even possible!"

"Harold remember, you took me there once? Why I could read the name on the nearest headstone! One 'Pema Batson' if I do indeed recall correctly."

Jamie felt like she could positively die right this moment.

[500 words so far, 250 this post]

"What was it you wanted to come out shopping for?" Jamie asked, her voice heavy with exhaustion and discontent. She was not exactly having fun walking around with these two, and if she could expedite their trip, she absolutely, positively, most certainly would.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Jamie would not have the good fortune to end this session early.

"Why dearie, we are going for a stroll! If my eye does spy something I fancy, we shall swiftly make our way to purchase it. But we need never come to the market FOR anything! Our servants do such peasant like tasks for us, such that we need not dirty our hands!"

At which point the madam would spy, with her little eyes, out of the corner of the right one if Jamie was imagining right, something that, apparently, caught her fancy.

"Why Harold, dear! Do you see that perfect little thing? Oh I can picture it now, you and I walking through the rolling fields and sitting upon a tree, using it to provide us shade! We have not been on a picnic in so long, Harold, can we please?"

"Dear, your eyes are as sharp as ever, but you forget. We are old, dear. If I were to sit underneath a tree, why, I would never get up!" Harold's laughter was deep, but fast past, and sounded almost as if he were saying "ho huh ho huh ho huh ho". His wife's laugh was much more light and cheery.

[250]

"Oh you old fool, you, we can have the servants set up a chair and table for us! And hold the parasol for us!"

"Ah, dear, you were always the smart one. Outside of the business, of course."

Jamie was not in the mood to be listening to this inane babble. To save the readers sanity, the author has decided to no longer include the words of the couple as they discussed whether or not to purchase a parasol. If you have come up with a good model of the couple in your head, perhaps you can imagine what happened next. On the other hand, perhaps you do not yet know them well enough, or perhaps you simply do not care enough. That is fair. These are, after all, two characters designed to be thrown away. That one is making their second appearance is simply a matter of the author's whimsy, a desire to create some form of consistent, linear plot for their character, despite the inherently chaotic nature of a medium such as that chosen to portray the story.

To sum it up simply, the two characters entered into a civilized discussion where each, in an almost sickeningly pleasant matter, would bring up their thoughts on the husband's last statement. The wife would mention how she runs the household, and how the sales she had taken over had all gone flawlessly, while the husband dug his feet in about being the head of the business.

It went well enough.

[250]

Fate was not to be kind upon the couple and their plus one, however.

While Jamie had been convinced that the pair, or perhaps simply the husband, was worrying well more than he had any right to over some stolen gold, it turned out that he was actually...

Well, calling him right to be worried would be wrong. After all, Jamie and R were not out for blood, so his worry because of the gold situation was completely unfounded.

His worry WAS an incredible stroke of luck, however. As it turned out, ther ewas a group within the area stalking the couple and their plus one. At this very moment, they stuck to the shadows, observing the bickering pair. Two of them discussed possible tactics while a third passed the occasional signal to a second group, separate from the first three.

They were coordinating how to strike, and their current plan depending upon the couple eventually entering the store, Their plan of attack consisted of the group of two making their way to the roof of the establishment while the group of three waited across the street. With this arrangement, the five individuals, working as one well oiled machine, would be able to easily pounce upon the couple and take them out as they exited the store. The two discussiong the plan seemed to believe that Jamie would be a non-issue once they took out the couple.

Which... might honestly have been the case, if she was not feeling guilty.

[250]

The thing was, their discussed plan... would not have even worked.

Someone carefully perusing Jamie's story, for some fucking reason, will likely realize that she has previously noticed a certain someone sneaking around the town.

And while said someone was not very GOOD at sneaking, they were still sneaking.

Some of these goons were not much better.

Jamie had tuned out of the couple's discument (a discussion and an argument combined into one).and was instead paying attention to the group currently attempting to prowl in the shadows.

Or well, four of them were in the shadows. One was actually on top of a roof. Fancy that.

Jamie'd have never realized he was part of the group if she had not managed to notice him relaying messages when the two groups did not have a line of sight.

They were coordinated.

Coordination was bad. Coordination meant skill. Experience.

Two things that Jamie... really just did not have.

Jamie did, however, have one thing she truly, truly hoped was on her side.

Well, two things.

One: she could run faster than most people. Like, very, very good sprinters could probably still outrun her, but outside of ninja she was one of the fastest people alive.

Which was really sad to think about.

Ninja are fucking cheaters.

But that still left the second one: Jamie was REALLY hoping these people were, in fact, NOT ninja. Meaning she would have perhaps one of the strongest advantages possible: she could use justu to fight them.

[250]

The five goons had a plan. It was a decent plan, and it would have worked amazingly if Jamie was just a simple bodyguard.

As much as Jamie liked to think of these two as idiots, embroiled only in their little world of money and grandeur...

They did have some smarts. While they inherited a lot of money, they did do some things that were different and unique, and made them a lot more money.

Bad things, generally. Awful things. Fucked up things. But still new things that could technically qualify as innovative.

What this all is getting at is simple: these people choose Jamie for a reason.

At first, Jamie had figured that the reason was they knew she had stolen their gold.

But now, she thought differently. It truly seemed like they did not know, and they hired her because they had heard the rumors of the boy in the well.

That Jamie could use jutsu.

Or they did know she stole the money, and this group tailing the three were after Jamie, not the couple.

Either way, Jamie's plan was the same. When the couple finally finished their discument, they walked into the shop, having decided to purchase the parasol and take it out to a fancy picnic, with tables and chairs, of course.

Walking in, Jamie made her way behind some shelves, and the couple grabbed the parasol and carried it to the back.

Jamie did several things quickly, clone, transformation, clone, transformation, and finally clone.

[250]

First one clone to have one that looked like herself.

Next, transform into the husband. Be his fake twin. Then clone to make a husband.

Transform into the wife was followed by a final clone.

The three clones would walk out. At least, they were about to head to the door when Jamie realized that THESE CLONES WERE NOT PHYSICAL!

Jamie groaned to herself about an oversight in her planning, and then had another idea.

She transformed one more time, becoming someone vaguely similar to the shopkeeper. Walking over to the door, Jamie held it open for the fake trio and watched as they stepped outside.

She was both pleased, and bothered, to realize that the thugs were indeed after the couple. One came out from behind a box and swung a bat at the wife.

Only for the wife to disappear as the bat swung right through her illusory midsection.

Caught in a moment of surprise, the thug was very quickly introduced to an unnamed fist that, for the purposes of these moments, will be referred to as "Mr. Lefty".

Mr. Lefty very quickly transformed from a hand wearing a simple white glove to one adorned with nothing but scars and calluses. So did Ms. Righty, just moments later, as it encountered the face of a thug that had thought it smart to mount an aerial attack by jumping down from the roof.

The remaining three quickly departed, screaming. Jamie thought to chance, but was held back. She knew.

Right then she knew. They would want to hire her again.

The couple had seen the fight. In fact, they told Jamie that, once the wife noticed that Jamie was using jutsu, they had stopped their shopping and paid close attention.

They thanked her and went home with a parasol.

(exit)

[300]

TWC 2100
Mission complete
Mission rewards x2
42 stats
further claims to come