The Gate of Thunder

Mission Name: Guard the Gate
Mission Type: Guard
Mission Rank: C
Mission Goal: Guard the Gates
Description: You have been selected above your peers to Guard the Gate. It's a tedious job, but important to ensure the security and accountability of one of the only points of entry into and out of the village. Inspect any cargo, check people in and out, and keep out any hoodlums or bandits that might be causing trouble.
Payment: 15k
Requirements: D-Class

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Kato reported early, as per usual for any mission he set himself up for, the sun just barely rising over the horizon in the distance and painting the sky a bright purple that was slowly transitioning to orange over the next few minutes. Today’s mission was two-fold; he had a six-hour shift at the front gate, then a small break for lunch, and then taking charge of a shop for a few hours after that. He didn’t normally set himself up for two missions in the same day, but he wanted to get more funding so he could work on getting all his ducks in a row financially since he was finally going to be getting a home of his own. He hadn’t told his mother that yet, of course, but she had always told him that he would know when it was time.

He was a full-fledged Genin, had his Bijuu under control by regulating his emotions, and he was ready to finally take things under his own control. He did most everything on his own anyway at this point, his mother only needing to step in on great occasion to try to correct something with her insanely high standards. He was ready… he could feel it. He was not about to try to stay with her forever, and his meeting with Maeve had only emphasized that. She had been living on her own for quite some time and seemed to be doing just fine. So he approached the front gate desk, well ahead of the time that he was supposed to report, and began to receive the briefing from them. It seemed like it was a quiet night and supposed to be a quiet day, but it didn’t make the job any less important.

Kato was wearing his typical outfit; a sleeveless grey T-Shirt, showing off his arms musculature, a pair of black pants and shoes, and that was about it. He didn’t have any fancy pouches or anything like that yet; one of the reasons he primarily wanted to live on his own in order to take control of his own financial decisions. But before that, he needed to go ahead and earn enough money to make his home something decent, although he wasn’t certain where it was that he was going to wind up finding a home, but one step at a time. Make the money, get the house, then transition. The guards were loitering around, waiting for Kato’s partner to arrive to make sure the Genin wasn’t guarding the entire front gate by himself, and his partner seemed to either be running late or just barely on time.

Kato wasn’t all that bothered by it, but he wasn’t about to disobey orders; they hadn’t done anything to lose his respect yet, which meant that the Genin would follow their instructions to the letter. For now. Since he seemed to have a bit of time, he grabbed the book off the nearby shelf to familiarize himself with the Standard Operating Procedures just to make sure he didn’t cross any lines he wasn’t aware of.

Emiko stirred awake during the late night and shot up into a sitting position in a cold sweat. Her chest rising and falling at a quick pace, she had to relax… her ears rotated around listening for any sounds. When she was certain there was nothing out of place, just the typical sounds of the night, she would get up. It was about time for her to get ready for the day anyway with her early mission.

Since she was only on guard duty for the first half of her day, Emiko decided to don a different outfit from her regular mission body-suit. She slipped on a tight-fitting, black gym bra with a gold waning crescent moon. After, Emiko slid a black pair of running shorts with white stripes running down the short, side seams and along the hem. The shorts sat just below the base of her tail and were tight against her waist. Good enough, Emiko ran her hands through her long, white hair untangling any knots. Once she was satisfied with her appearance, Emiko would go out to begin her day. .

Since no one really stirred in the village this early, Emiko let her ears stand tall, occasionally they’d rotate taking in any sound. Always being on high alert and if anyone were to sound close her ears would fold flat against her head, camouflaging themselves in her hair. Thankfully it was few and far between when she would hear someone approaching. Just additional shinobi heading to their missions or returning from, but she didn’t want to hear anyone mock her about her ears this early. Thankfully her long hair hid her tail, so she didn’t have to worry about pulling the fabric of her shorts up to cover it.

Just as the sun began to rise, with the array of colors in the sky, Emiko made it to the gates. Right on time, she’d think with a smirk, however, it would quickly melt away. She would have to deal with the rotating shift off plus whoever they partnered her with today, and since it was gate duty she definitely needed her full range of hearing. Emiko groaned softly, her ears rotating up at their natural erect position, This day is going to be a long day… Upon her arrival, she saw three figures waiting, presumably for her. ”I’m here, ready for boring… I mean duty.”

Emiko looked over the three figures, two unnoteworthy in her book, and the third seemed to tower above her. She had to guess he was over six foot five since her ears were essentially in his face if she stood toe to toe with him. Her scarlet eyes gleamed, curious to know if he was going to be her partner for today. ”Alright, well, I’m going to go and stretch.” she’d announce before walking past the group to a far enough spot to begin her stretches. She’d firmly plant her feet shoulder length apart, then bent over forward, folding herself in half. Her hair falling and revealing her cotton white tail.

Kato saw the dark-skinned woman begin her approach before the Chuunin did, and while she was looking around, took a moment to take her in completely.  The first part was purely functional; her reach with arms and legs, the musculature she proudly flaunted, the tall white ears and long white hair, her stance, demeanor, and disposition.  All the things that would allow him to make an assessment of her combat capabilities at a glance or hint at what she was able to do in a fight.  Now, as his eyes moved back up, he couldn’t help but linger on her hips, bust, and finally those blood-red eyes.  His own eyes were a light blue that bordered on silver, but he didn’t let them linger too long; there wasn’t a chance in the world that she would have caught him gazing at her like that as she was still too far away.

Her first comment set the tone in his mind for what he was going to be dealing with throughout the day, and he began to slowly walk in her direction to introduce himself when he heard something that he really wished he hadn’t.  “Yo dude… check out the hotness.  I ain’t ever been into beastiality, but I wouldn’t mind munchin’ on that tail.  Let’s go see what she might be up to doin’ after shift eh?  See if the phrase ‘make like rabbits’ is somethin’ she’d be down fo--”

Kato had already come between the ninja and Emiko, not even bothering at the moment, feeling that cold rage in his veins that made his blood run cold.  He was at his full height, but that wasn’t what made the Chuunin pause; may ninja could be short and still take down the equivalent of giants.  It wasn’t because of the slight blue glow in his eyes as he contained his fury and it showed with a slight flare of his chakra.  It wasn’t the fact that his muscles seemed even more pronounced as his fists were clenched at his sides.  No, it was because of who he was, or more accurately, who his mother was.  She had the same expression, same eyes, and standing before them like he was, it was a stark reminder of who she was in the village.

“Let’s not make any decisions we may regret.”

The words were cold and hard as steel, and they seemed to consider it for a moment before shrugging and beginning to walk into the village.  Kato then relaxed, released a slow breath, and then turned around, all the deadly look and atmosphere fading instantly as he bowed his head towards her.  “Excuse them, they are likely not thinking clearly after staying up all night, but that is no excuse for their unacceptable behavior towards a fellow Shinobi of our village.”  He stood back up straight and reached a hand towards her to shake her hand if she wanted to, his eyes locking with hers and not going anywhere else.  “I am Kato.”  The introductions were important, but from his body language, he was very professional at a glance, although she had seen a hint of something that lay below that calm and controlled expression he now had.

Emiko raised up from her stretch and began to bend to the side, however her ears rotated back. Catching the comment of the Chuunin, her cheeks would burn with anger. Her scarlet eyes glint with murderous intent as she swiveled around on the ball of her feet, storming towards the group of men again. However, blinded by anger, she collided with the tallest one in the group. She’d back up and opened her mouth to yell at him, but she realized he wasn’t facing her. He was facing the Chuunin. Emiko’s ears flatten out to the side, the anger she felt slightly leaving her sails.

From behind, Emiko studied the tall, dark-haired shinobi. He definitely felt intimidating, she pressed her lips together, “mmmpf...” Her eyes glazed over a bit if he looked this good from behind. The front must be something - she shook the thought out of her head. Her ears stood erect again and faced Kato.

“I could have handled it myself,” She’d look up to meet his gaze, her eyes narrowing, ignoring his comment. The black slits in her red irises nearly became straight lines, instead of the typical ellipses. She felt the anger of the comment mounting back up in her chest, however, she would not take it out on someone she had to share a shift with. At least, not yet… Who knows what the day could bring. She’d glance from his eyes down to his hand, she’d smirk softly before taking it in her own, “Emiko.” She’d lick her lips some then glancing back up to his face, she’d shake his hand. “Stay out of my way, and we will get along fine.”

Emiko released Kato’s hand and spun around to return where she was posted. She wanted to get this mission over with as soon as possible so she could get away from the mass public. Her hips swayed as she walked, and her ears constantly twitched and swiveled back and forth. She was pushing everything from her mind besides finishing up her stretches.

Kato felt the woman bounce off her back, but at the moment that she did, he was unmoved, a statue ready to move to her defense if these idiots coming off shift didn't back off. Luckily they did, but this course of events also made it to where Emiko was much closer when he had given the apology than he had originally planned for. It didn't change anything; he continued and apologized, and waited for her reply, which was something that he could appreciate. While his expression remained professional and stoic, a part of him inside was smiling; of course, she could handle herself, and the way she said it made it to where he didn't doubt that in the slightest. The handshake was returned, thankfully, and things began to normalize for the most part as she introduced herself. Then they got odd again as she told him to stay out of her way, but he kept the confusion from reaching his expression, and simply abided by her wishes. "Yes Ma'am. When you are ready, I'll be at the booth." That being said, he turned around and went to the booth where they were going to be spending the majority of the day.

He was only delayed a moment, watching as she walked away and it took a second for him to tear his eyes away from her swaying hips. He never understood why he did that; she was a fellow ninja of the village and seemed to have a good head on her shoulders. He needed a distraction. Moving back to the booth he pulled up a seat and pulled out a 9x9 tiled cube that was supposed to be device to train his mind. Oddly, he found it fun, and the objective was to make all the colors match on all sides, something easier said than done. As he began to work over the device, rotating the parts around, he found himself having difficulty focusing and occasionally looking up and staring at Emiko who was still stretching.

He didn't understand why he was having that reaction and opted instead to double down on his puzzle box and stared intently at it, hoping she hadn't noticed.

Emiko was still doing her stretches, her ears occasionally rotating listening for any sounds that were near or far. She had her leg bent back, her foot nearly reaching the top of her head, she would do this for about five minutes with each leg before sitting down upon the ground. Her legs would be straight out in front of her as she bent forward to reach her toes, her tail flicking some. Emiko would move to folding one leg in and bending over forward, her chest touching the ground as she did so. She was incredibly flexible and did her best to remain so. She held this folded over position for a few minutes before she would straighten her back upright. The predatory sense in her going mad, she would look around as she switched out her legs. Out of her peripheral vision, she would catch Kato red-handed staring at her. ”I know damn well you’ve seen rabbits before,” she’d begin, ”so what the hell is your problem?” She would snap at him.

She did not allow for her catching Kato staring to interrupt her stretching. She was almost done anyway, 24, 25, 26, 27… she was counting in her head. When her number was up, she would release the position and begin to stand. She dusted off her shorts and legs before turning and approaching the booth that they were both assigned to today. ”If I wanted dogs to drool over some rabbit tail, I would have gone off with those Chuunin that were here.” She’d sneer at Kato.

Her flexibility was something that was amazing to see, something he knew that he likely wouldn’t ever be capable of. Granted, he didn’t feel the need to be that flexible, but that was hardly the point, it was still impressive. Unfortunately, he got called out on looking at her, something that he regretted instantly as he doubled down on his puzzle box for a moment before sighing, looking up at her scowl. “I apologize Ma’am. My body is having a reaction to you that I cannot explain nor seem to have all that great control over. I can say with assurance though that it is not because you are an Usagi, though.” He then went back to his puzzle box for now in an attempt to distract himself even though he found it difficult.

Perhaps this was a type of training for his focus? Doubtful. This was something he had struggled with before with Maeve when that entire interaction occurred leaving him confused about women as a whole. Now there was an extremely attractive woman paired up with him for the day, and he was going to be tested once more. It was frustrating though, because he didn’t seem to have any control over the reactions his body had, his desire to look, any of it. The lack of control was extremely annoying. Her comment only fueled that frustrated. “And who was it that stopped their advances in your direction, Ma’am? I am no dog.” There was a barely audible edge of frustration in his tone, but also a hint of despair at the situation he was in.

Emiko felt a twinge of regret however, she quickly stuffed it down. She had no feelings for anyone except for her few bonded friends, and maybe the kits in the Usagi clan. She’d wave off his apology, ”Oh yea, I don’t know how my body works,” she’d say in a mocking tone, ”I’m fairly certain you’re not five.” Who would seriously keep a kid that much in the dark about their body? Even the elders were pretty open about everything in life. It was very natural to talk to anyone in the clan about anything - there were no boundaries.

She would lean against the booth, the opposite side of Kato, and cross her arms. This forced her breasts upwards, becoming close to spilling out of the already tight sports bra. She was angry, and it was fairly easy to tell with her tail flicking to the side. However, she wasn’t going to take it out on Kato - especially since she had to spend the first half of her day with him.

Her right ear twisted around to the sound of his voice. She’d look over her shoulder at him, her brows furrowing together. ”Excuse you?” her harsh tone making her sound louder than she was actually speaking. She would turn around and slam her hands down on the booth. ”I’m not defenseless, I told you I could have handled it myself,” her nails scraped across the booth as her hands went from being flat to balled up into fists. ”I did not ask for someone to intervene,” she said in a low voice.

She picked up the frustration in his voice, along with something else. However, her anger had completely removed her filter .”If I don’t ask, I don’t owe anybody, anything. You did that on your own for god knows why.” She’d relax her shoulders and back up off of the booth. Scratch marks left from where her nails scraped across the top. She would cross her arms, bolstering up her chest. ”It isn’t like you know me or owe me anything…”

Kato completely disregarded the sarcasm about his lack of knowledge on the way his body worked; she could believe what she wanted to, but at the end of the day it was a simple fact. His mind flashed to the book he had in his backpack, and he considered it for a moment; that would be the solution to overcome his lack of knowledge surely… but he needed to finish addressing her first as she seemed intent on showing herself off and communicating with him. Apparently, she was upset that he had defended himself against her accusation that he was a canine, but after a moment or two, he began to understand the reasoning behind it. She was taking it as Kato trying to hold it over her head when that wasn’t the case at all, and this was a simple misunderstanding. Perhaps he could shed some light on that.

“You misunderstand. I simply disliked being compared to the two people who had just left, and I would never act and expect someone to be in my debt. As for why, it is because I dislike those who cannot treat a fellow shinobi with respect, and I would do exactly that for anyone in our village. I have been known to come to the defense of Oni and other Usagi before as well. Human disposition to those that are different is something I will always fight, with or without a request for help.” His words were calm, collected, and strong, not a hint of the emotion he showed before creeping into his tone, just laying out the facts before her.

Setting his puzzle box down, noting the scratches in the wood, he reached down and grabbed the book ‘Between the Sheets’ and pulled it out and opened it to the first page, scanning the summary. Hormones, Attraction, Foreplay, Sensitive Spots, Sex, Positions… this book had quite a bit of information to go through it seemed like. Sliding it to the first one that would go over Hormones and he began to read. Hopefully, this would give some insight into the inner workings of why he was feeling what he did.

She turned from Kato as he was explaining himself. The world she had grown accustomed to was always tit-for-tat. People didn’t just do things without expecting something in return. Emiko leaned back, resting against the booth. To someone unused to the Usagi, Emiko’s posture could look like she gave no mind to what Kato had to say. However, the ear closest to him had been facing him the entire time he spoke, signaling she at least listened to what he had to say.

Respecting a fellow shinobi? She’d close her eyes briefly, “So not everyone is all about me, me, me… hmm?” She said it softly, not intentionally saying it out loud. It was meant to be more of a thought. Emiko kept herself turned away from Kato, but she heard him set his puzzle box down. She looked over her shoulder and almost fell over in laughter.

He wasn’t serious? Was he? She attempted to stifle her laughter - but failed miserably. “Why in the hell would you have that?” she pointed at the book in his hands. She had to admit, the fact he had a book like that was slightly amusing. However, it did raise the question if he was really joking or not earlier about not understanding the functions of the body. Should she apologize? Probably. Was she going to? Not likely. At least not as of yet. She didn’t owe him anything.

Emiko hopped up to sit on the table. She leaned over towards Kato to peer into what section of the book he was reading. Hormones, she couldn’t help but snicker. The thing responsible for change and drive. It was a tough choice for Emiko, should she be empathetic? Or should she have a little fun with the situation?