Warring Times

|C:1|TJA|Part:4|The Ambush

"You did everything I told you not to do!" Sakumo yelled, pulling at his grey hair. "And now they saw you! Do you have any idea how much danger you're in now, Kazuko-kun? What you did was selfish. Now we're all in danger!" He paced around the hotel room, in front of an ashamed looking Kazuko, who sat on the bed her and Junko slept on.

"I'm sorry." Kazuko mumbled, guilt filling her heart. What if Junko gets attacked? It'll be all my fault... She put her head in her hands, sighing. "I know what I did was wrong, I accept that. But, what are we going to do now?" She peaked at Sakumo, who looked in thought.

The Hatake grumbled something about the 'Nara being right about Troublesome girls,' and then stared intently at the wall. He was rubbing his hands together in thought, and looked like he figured out that the neutral brown wall would give him an idea of what to do. His eyes were squinted and his eyebrows were furrowed. "We'll leave sooner than I planned. We'll leave in two days." He nodded to himself, then looked at Kazuko. "No more following criminals back to their bases."

"Yes, Sakumo-san." She said obediently, lowering her head in surrender. She rested her hands in her lap, ignoring her pastel blue hair as it fell into her face. "Can I still go and walk about the village, though?" Sakumo gave her a skeptical look. "Oh, come on! I promised Imouto I'd buy her some knick knacks." She pleaded, putting on puppy dog eyes.

Sakumo crossed his arms, sighing for what seemed like the millionth time that day. "Fine." He gave in, glaring at the seven year-old when she started doing a small happy dance on the bed. "But, no more criminals! I mean it." He added sternly.

Kazuko waved him off. "I'll be fine." She chirped, jumping up and walking to their hotel room's white door. She touched the knob, about to open it when she remembered something. She looked over her shoulder, a sheepish smile on her face. "Sakumo-san, I don't have the money to buy Junko knick knacks by myself..." She hinted, giggling nervously.

Sakumo pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, before walking over to the drawers in the room. His brown wallet was sitting on top of them, so he took it and dug roughly fifteen ryo out of it. He walked to Kazuko, handing her the money. "No more than that, okay?" He asked, though it was more of a stern command.

"Yeah, yeah..." Kazuko muttered, swinging the door open and running out of it.

Kazuko walked around the town, smiling and waving at a few of the towns people who did so to her. The small shops were quite cute, in her opinion. She found one in particular that sold cool little things that she knew that Junko would just love. So, she walked in.

The bells on top of the doors jingled. A young woman with blonde hair grinned at her when she entered. "Hello, can I help you find anything specific?" She asked, her voice soft. She had on a sun dress, and her green eyes watched Kazuko intently.

Kazuko nodded, looking around at all the wooden shelves, all of which were filled to the brim with things. Snow globes, little action figures, crests, pins, you name it, they probably had it. The walls were painted a light pink color, and the aesthetic of the store seemed to be white, brown, and pink. "Got anything a two year old might like?" She asked, looking at the woman, who was a few heads taller than her. "Oh, and under fifteen ryo."

The blonde woman seemed hesitant, and raised an eyebrow at the girl. "I might have something in the back." She muttered, racing to the door that was a few feet away from her, behind the front counter where you were supposed to check out.

Kazuko waited patiently at the counter, giving the woman a small smile when she came back with something. "Here, it's all I could find." Kazuko nodded, taking the object. It was a small box that had a winding screw on the side of it. Kazuko furrowed her eyebrows, opening the box and winding it up. It was a pink box, but the inside was white. It had a ballerina inside of it, she was in front of a mirror. When Kazuko was done winding, she let go and watched curiously. Music started, and the ballerina twirled.