Disturbance in the Shadows [Group | Plot]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Baulder village...a place of utter chaos and unlawful deeds, was not a pleasant place for Ami to revisit. In fact, she had now been there a total of three times, each time finding herself caught in the middle of people doing unlawful deeds that it amazed her. It was really hard for her to believe that the mere death of the mayor of a village could cause an entire village to implode, so to speak. Law enforcement were not upholding the law, bandits and thieves roamed the streets, and citizens were terrified, amidst the mystery of how the mayor had died being up in the air. The only thing anyone was certain about was the fact that he had been assassinated. By whom and for what reason were unknown. It had disrupted the village so much that they actively sought the help from shinobi of both Gekkousato and Nikkousato. And each time the Hyuuga would answer their pleas. She was all about righteousness and upholding the law, even if it meant having to harm or kill people in the process.

The girl would find the village gates with ease this time around, her memory of the place not altered even though it was the dead of night. It no longer phased her that there were no guards guarding the gates and was even less concerned about the eeriness of the very quiet streets. Her blue eyes wandered left and right, her steps careful as she walked. The girl had tied her hair back with a red hair tie, similar to the one she wore when she still had green hair. Her attire was simple, a silk red blouse and denim jeans. Ami preferred this style of dress, different from what she usually wore. For the sake of easy identification, the girl had brought along her village headband, in case she met someone within the village that needed clarification of who she was. Her headband would be concealed in the backpack she carried with her.

It was her first time to Baulder at nighttime, and the quietness of the place actually gave her some comfort. Not a single person walked the streets, perhaps for the best. The girl saw that many of the stores had their doors locked, some with protective systems in place to avoid burglars breaking in at night. She secretly wondered if the village had gotten any better, having encountered some bandits with her partner the last time she was here. It seemed to look pretty normal despite its quietness, hoping that she would not have to kill anyone this time around. Ami decided it was probably best to patrol the area, the vulnerable easily taken advantage of in the dead of night. To anyone that saw her she would look like some tourist that had gotten lost on the road, with katana that was in her right hand the only hint that she was anything but. She would walk slowly down the streets, her eyes shifting from left to right as she listened to see if any sudden sounds would disturb the silence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She had heard Arashi's voice before she had seen him walking towards her. This was probably their fourth or fifth encounter and she would smile at him as he neared, noticing that he had given her the same smile. They had done a lot of missions together lately, each one with their own challenges and adventures so to speak. But they had only been on missions in either Nikkou or Gekkousato and seeing him here was a little new. Ami remembered how she had been here before with a young shinobi the last time, inexperienced as he had been, he had fared pretty well against the bandits that were disrupting the village at the time. With this sun shinobi she knew that she could expect more, her blue eyes looking around at the now deserted streets. There was not much she hoped would happen at this hour, given that everyone would or should be asleep.

And yet it was often at the dead of night that crime found itself to be the most prominent, as the young Hyuuga would find out for herself firsthand. At Arashi's question, she would ponder for a moment before replying. "I think we should just patrol the streets for now and see what we can find. I heard that there's been a lot of arsonists setting fire to jewelry shops. At least that was what the police officers told me the last time I was here." Her voice was a whisper as though she didn't want to disrupt the eerie silence of the night. It was true, she had been tasked with finding the arsonists behind the various fires that happened around midnight the last time she was here but she had gotten too carried away by the bandits that she had forgotten. Ami half hoped that others would have completed the task by now, but looking at the area, she was far from hopeful.

"Shall we start around the gates and do a walk around?" the girl would already be walking towards the gates before she even heard the man's response, her hand gripping the hilt of one of her katana sheathed out of habit.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You said something about arsonists in jewelry shops? Maybe we should try and look around near those..." The girl would hear the man say, giving him a brief nod as they walked along the deserted streets. Ami had no idea where the arsonists would be nor which shops would be targeted so the only way for them to find out was to patrol the city. They would make their way from the village gates, heading east from there. Most of the shops were closed and not a single person could be seen. The eeriness of the darkness and the deserted streets enough to send a cold chill down her spine as they walked. She hoped they'd be able to find the arsonist, knowing that the last time she was here she had failed to do so. It was high time she redeemed herself.

The woman would turn to her partner, studying him carefully. He seemed to be concerned or worried about something, probably the unknown that was now more apparent than ever about this mission. She would agree with his feelings though, a person that really hated surprises. She was used to the mission scrolls from Gekkousato being vague and revealing close to no detail, but this was by far the worst she had seen, simply asking her to go to the city and help out. The last few times she was here it seemed that she had done just that, but the city reverted back to its old ways when she left, or so it seemed. The unrest never seemed to stop. The girl struggled to understand the workings of Baulder.

"Have you been here before? I've been here twice already..." she would attempt to make conversation with the sun shinobi.