Now you see it, now you don't (M)

[Hirihi]

SPOILER: Click to show

name; card trick
rank; c
description; An aged shinobi was once conned out of his money by a local civilian who later died from unrelated causes. Over the years he has been unable to determine how he lot to the man, and his frustration has lead him to hire ninja to inquire. His youngest daughter is still alive and knows all of her father's tricks, though she is a wanderer who may be harder to track down than most people. She is also a kunochi, and has been known to react violently to questions about her father or his tricks, which is why the shinobi will not inquire himself. Find her and discover how the man was conned.
reward; 50 experience, 1,000 ryo
minimum shinobi; ono
mission status; taken, requires npc, credit vegapunk

After her relaxing morning that she had spent with Haru, Hirihi's mind was focused on the task she had accepted from the village. She was to do a favor for an old shinobi and learn the secret behind a simple card trick. It seemed like a rudimentary task, but Hirihi found that those using their chakra for card tricks were slightly despicable. Something about misusing their abilities to make money in less noble ways was despicable to say the least. Some could say that it was no different than using your techniques that you learned for your village, but it was a hard debate.

Walking through the area with the photo of the woman in her hand, Hirihi glanced out among the various restaurants for any sign of the woman. There were various people, civilians, rummaging through the various stalls and trading their hard earned money for sustenance. Hirihi's own pouch was displayed proudly on her waist, her headband tucked away to prevent people from jumping to a conclusion that she was a ninja. People seemed to straighten up when she was around, and she was not fond of being treated differently just for being a ninja. As she walked around, a boy ran by and slid a knife through the fastenings on her belt, the kunoichi knowing immediately when it happened.

She had been planning on being pick pocketed, her senses heightened and waiting for the moment that she was suddenly lighter. It wasn't actually money in the pouch, but rocks and other items that might make it seem heavy and make her an obvious mark. Not choosing to draw attention to herself, Hirihi followed behind the boy as he darted down an alley and into a small venue behind a restaurant. "Were you spotted?" Asked an older woman to the boy, the boy shaking his head. The woman was hidden behind a cloak, slowly opening the pouch and immediately raising her eyes to see Hirihi poking around the corner.

She'd been spotted, and it was time to act. Hirihi jumped around the corner and grabbed a hikari light bomb from her pouch, throwing it forward and shielding her eyes for the initial explosion. The boy would dart off before the explosion happened, but the kunoichi would know to shield her eyes behind the cloak. Turning away, the initial explosion of light no longer a threat, the woman disappeared up a ladder and ran along the rooftops. Hirihi was close behind, using her chakra to keep to the side of the building as she attempted to stay out of sight, but near her target.

[Hirihi]

After running several blocks, the woman in the cloak would turn to see if anyone was following. Hirihi was crouched on the side of the building, leaning over the edge of the roofing to get a look at her to see if she resembled the woman she was looking for. In only an instant, she was able to catch a glimpse of the woman's face. With a smile, Hirihi jumped onto the roof and pressed her hands to the woman's shoulders, pinning her to the roof and raising a hand with a chakra scalpel extended from her fingertips. "Please. Stop running and just answer some questions." Hirihi said, the woman glaring at her with piercing blue eyes.

"A medic. How quaint. I always wondered when someone would find me." She said, Hirihi holding steady. "Let me guess. You want your money back? Sorry, but unless you had the money to begin with, I don't have it. The boy swiped rocks and feathers." She said, Hirihi grinning as she sat back, holding the scalpel to her throat. "I don't recommend struggling, as it would cause the blade to slice your throat." Hirihi said, withholding that she'd be able to heal the wound herself.

"So, what is it that you want?" The woman asked, Hirihi producing a deck of cards with her free hand and extending them to the kunoichi. "Your father was a con artist. He performed several card tricks, and I'd like you to repeat the one that he was conned out of. You may remember him teaching it to you, because it fooled a shinobi. He wants answers, and I'm procuring them for him." Hirihi said, hoping that disclosing this much wasn't incriminating the man in a possible attack later down the road.

"Oh... That trick. I remember it, yes. The question is, can the skilled pink haired shinobi catch me to learn the secret?" She asked, performing a series of handseals and vanishing from sight. Stunned at the thought that the woman could vanish so easily while being restrained, Hirihi let her chakra scalpel fall and looked around. Where the hell had she gone? She knew she had the right person now. It was all just a matter of catching her and learning the trick. This was going to be really difficult, to say the least.

[Hirihi]

As Hirihi stood, she formed a series of handseals and her eyes began to look into the world of chakra. There were several people that she could see within the 20 meters that she was granted, but there were none that she could see that had a chakra quality that would denote them as being a shinobi. There was the occasional head band wearing body of chakra, but none that resembled the cloaked woman. Jumping down from the roof, Hirihi would continue to wander around in search of her mark. She was definitely a kunoichi that was going to be difficult to handle. If she had any academy training, she’d be even more of a hassle.

Spending several minutes retracing her steps, she would catch sight of the girl once again. The silhouetted figure would dart down and alley, the hands moving in a blur as Hirihi released the chakra sight and began to pursue her target. She wasn’t going to lose her again. As the pink haired shinobi darted down the alley, she felt the prickle of caution at the back of her neck and slowed a bit. There, as she rounded the corner, was a boy holding a kunai, the very same boy that she had followed to find the woman.

Taking out her tonfa with one hand, she swung the weapon and swept the kunai aside as it flew at her. The boy would dart down another alley, attempting to draw her attention away from the cloaked woman. Not falling for the diversion, Hirihi gained ground and was meters away from grabbing her. Throwing her tonfa forward and hitting her square in the back, striking her spine and sending a wave of shock through her entire body. Crumbling to the ground, Hirihi walked up and grabbed her tonfa, slipping it back in its holster before pressing the sole of her sandal against the woman’s back.

”You aren’t running again. And, don’t even think about doing that vanishing trick again. “ Hirihi said, the woman mumbling with her head pressed into the ground. ”You caught me. Now, will you let me up or are you just going to kill me?” She asked, obviously in pain that was greatly exaggerated. ”I’ll let you up, First…” She said, reaching down and grabbing her wrists. With her wrists restrained in her grasp, Hirihi pulled her to where she was standing.

[Hirihi]

Standing, Hirihi spoken one last warning. ”I’m going to let your wrists go. Attempt to make a handseal and I’ll knock the very breath out of your body.” She definitely sounded far more intimidating than she felt. As she pulled the hood of the cloak back, she revealed her blue eyes and blonde hair, proving that she was who was in the picture she had received from the shinobi she’d spoken with prior to going on her little hunt. ”So, you want to know how my father fooled that shinobi? It’s simple. You all are too arrogant to see beyond your own little tricks of the trade.” She said, glaring at Hirihi.

”Regardless, you are going to show me, or I have you punished for stealing. Whether you commit the crime or coordinate others to do it, it is still a crime I can pin on you.” Hirihi said. She seemed to get the drift of the situation she was in, and, reluctantly, produced a deck of cards from her pocket and held them out to her. ”Shuffle the cards. It’s part of the trick, so just shuffle them.” The girl said, Hirihi taking the deck and pressing it to her knee. Shuffling the cards carefully, since she didn’t have a table to do it on, she settled the deck and handed them back.

”Now, pick a card.” Just the usual routine. Grabbing a card, she committed the card to memory and waited instructions. ”Take the deck, put it in anywhere, and shuffle it again.” Hirihi was instructed to do this routine three times. With four cards in her mind, Hirihi handed the deck back to the girl and waited for her to do her “magic.” ”Now, I want you to thumb through the deck. Make sure your cards are still in there.”

This was a really drawn out trick. It was a wonder that the trick even worked, given how much detail was being put into the works on performing the trick. Once she was certain the cards were still there, Hirihi handed it back. ”Now, I’ll cut the deck twice.” She said, doing what appeared to be four expert cuts and settling the deck in her hand. ”Flip the top four cards.” Reaching out, she grasped all four and flipped them over, finding each to be the cards she had picked from the deck in the very order she’d seen them. Now she was astounded and wanted to know how this was done.

[Hirihi]

Turning her crimson eyes up to the girl, Hirihi raised a brow in curiosity. ”To think that a shinobi would bet on something like this is somewhat surprising. It’s a neat card trick. I’ll give that to your father. So, how is the trick done?” Hirihi asked, the girl grinning. ”So, how is it done?” She asked, waiting expectantly for her to give the details of the card trick. Reshuffling the deck herself, the girl seemed to power through the trick a bit faster. ”I know you’re a sensor, so open up that eye of yours and watch me as I do the trick.” She said, Hirihi doing a few handseals and observing from where she stood.

That was where she saw it. For each card that was picked, a single fingerprint of chakra sat. How she figured out to do them in order was by putting multiple fingerprints on them, one for the first, two for the second, etc. Doing the last series of cuts, she placed them on the top in the very order they were picked and flipped them over. ”So, now that you know the trick, what do you plan to do with it? Go tell that man how it was done since he wasn’t man enough to hunt down the answers himself?”

”Yes, I do plan on telling him. I do have a question, though, before I leave.” She said, taking the deck and shuffling through the trick to make sure she had it pinned down. Taking the little critiques that came up, Hirihi would continue her sentence. ”Why the stealing? And, why didn’t you actually attack me instead of running?” Hirihi asked. ”Simple. I kill one shinobi, ten more show up to root through this part of town. Not to mention, there are enough shinobi around to prevent your murder>’

Once she had done the trick, Hirihi gave back the deck of cards. ”I think we’re done here then unless there is something else I need to know about this trick.” Hirihi said, looking around a moment before turning back to look at the blonde. ”Nope. You’re all set to go. You will likely not find me again, though, so have yourself a nice life.” She said, moving down an alley and pulling her cloak up, disappearing into a crowd.

[Hirihi]

With her own deck of cards in hand, she walked out of the small district with a few passing glances from a few of the younger boys as she left. Several probably knew of her by reputation now, as they were all probably tied to that girl in some way. That was the more farfetched thought that came to mind. There was the more simple explanation of her being spotted on the rooftops. Whatever the case, she shuffled the cards and continued to practice the trick repeatedly as she walked along the trails through the village. As she walked, she was beginning to perfect the technique behind the trick. It was almost a fluid motion for her, not even giving the usual tells that amateurs gave.

It greatly helped that she was a shinobi, as she was used to the fast hand movements of handseals. Card tricks were just as complex as handseals. This trick proved that to her. As she approached the man's house, Hirihi walked up the cobblestone path and knocked on the door, the deck of cards still in the other hand. A balding man with black hair opened the door, wearing his shinobi vest and smiling at her. "You are definitely a fast one." He said, stepping out onto the porch and looking at the deck of cards in her free hand. "You learned how the trick was done?" He asked, Hirihi nodding to the older gentlemen.

"My first question for you is if you can sense chakra?" She asked, shuffling the deck and going through the basic motions of the trick. "I'm not a sensor, but I know of some." He said, approaching the end of the trick and handing the deck back to her. "Well, what he did, which was almost impossible to catch without knowing what to look for, is marked each card with a fingerprint of chakra. Each card being brought to the top in the final four cuts and left in the order that you picked them so that..." She said, flipping over the cards and showing him the order. "You get this result." She said, the man nodding.

"It is a clever trick. I didn't have him pegged as a shinobi, but he must have known that I wouldn't be able to sense where he placed the chakra on the cards." He said, Hirihi nodding. "She knew that I was a sensor, so it was rather obvious." Giving him back his deck of cards, Hirihi turned to leave. "Well, thanks for your help. That was eating at me for a while, but you helped me get to the bottom of it." He said, Hirihi nodding and vanishing up the path.

.:Exit:.

[KID GAMBINO.]

60 EXP