Thief Catch [Mission. C-Rank. WC:606]

Mission:

There was always one. Or some, rather. Always those that refused to be productive members of society and leeched off the system, or other people. The moochers that live on 'friends' and family's couches and do nothing, thieves that could easily get stable, honest work, but refuse because they don't want to put in the work to live comfortable lives; they want it easy and they want is NOW. Not tomorrow, not next month, now.

Pathetic.

All this flashed through his head when he heard the call, a well known old lady that appeared once a month in the market to sell wonderful hand made jewelries and trinkets; she was retired and did it for the love of her craft, and to see the expressions on children's faces when they ran up with saved pocket money to buy marbles and other little toys she made special for them. Her call was simple, "Thief! Thief! Help me! Stop him!"

Karukaya was off like a shot. He was fast for his age, even more so for his rank. He could keep up with plenty of Chunnin, and there was no way this guy was going to be stealing from the market if he was half as skilled as a Genin. It didn't take but a moment to figure out who was running; a scruffy looking kid that looked like he was sprinting as hard as he could, but was barely moving compared to what Karukaya could do.

It took him less than a minute to catch up to the kid, racing up beside him and sliding into the theif's feet to knock him down. Karu landed on the palm of his hand and brought his knees around so that they where underneath him, pushing himself up by the hand he was balanced on and wrapping the kid in a firm, but not painful, arm lock. "Alright, kid. You made a biiiiig mistake with that."

"Lemme go!" The kid was struggling, but he had literally nothing on Karu. Using his free arm, Karu dug around in the boy's pockets until he found the mother lode, a large sack of stolen items from all over the market. Seems like the old lady was just the one to notice this kid's game. Market security was finally catching up, and Karu put the bag down out of reach of the kid so that he could get his ninja ID out. He didn't feel like risking being detained for this, so he made sure to ID himself to them before releasing the hold and handing the kid over.

The old lady was the last to make it to the scene, slowed by age but still a spitfire. "Ninja boy, what's your name?"

"Karukaya, ma'am."

"Thank you, Karukaya. You've done me a great favor by catching that thief. What he took wasn't for sale, it was a personal item that I had set on the display table while I finished a small commission."

"It was my pleasure, ma'am. It's part of my job to help anyone in need."

"Still, let m at least thank you properly. Please, take this." She pulled a small coin bag out of her pocket, which when moved sounded like it was full of coins and marbles. "It's not much, but please take it."

"You don't need to do that, ma'am."

"I want to, son. Humor an old lady?"

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you very much. Please excuse me, I need to report for my duty shift." And with that, he was gone.

WC: 606/250