A Long Awaited Return [ Open | No Kill ]

Neo clung to her father: it had been too long since she had last been hugged by him, too long since she had last seen him. "I missed you, missed you, missed you!" Okay, so it wasn't necessarily normal for her to act so... young. In fact, she normally acted wiser beyond her years. But, this was her father, and she had gone a very long period of time without seeing him. So, she was going to act her age at least for a little while.

Upon hearing herself introduced however to the nearby female she shifted her attention off of her father and put her mismatched gaze upon Emiko. She noticed first of course the giant spider - a black widow from the medical knowledge she had, what little that was so far - that was on her being. "Hai there. Whose your spider friend there?" Nope, no weirdness about spiders from Neo: in fact, they were pretty fascinating to her, as were all creatures whose venom could be used as poison or medicine respectfully.

Finally, she would release her father, but remain at his side; nope, she wasn't going anywhere for a while. She was so excited she was even bouncing in place with a grin.

" I missed you too, Neo." Anshō crooned to his daughter, clinging to her, and hiding his face in her two toned hair for a few moments, giving a soft content sigh. He could feel how excited she was. The way that she seemed to tremble with excitement at him being home again. After a year of not being able to be a father to her, they would have a lot of catching up to do. He wondered how the past year had treated her, and he knew that he had to be a better father to her while he was in the village for the next while. He knew that it disappointed her when he had to leave to go on missions for a while. Though, spending an entire year away had been unplanned and quite disappointing. Being captured like that... it had been horrific.

Giving Neo a gentle squeeze he let Neo move herself back down to the floor where she proceeded to bounce up and down on her heels. He chuckled slightly and nodded to Emiko with a smile moving one of his hands to rest in Neo's hair for a moment before ruffling it affectionately, messing it up purposefully. His little girl was just like him, curious about the creatures of the world, wanting to work with them instead of harming them. He was glad that he had at least given her that through his sporadic parenting.

Emiko watched the exchange between the father and daughter with a smile on her face: she had never really had the chance of having a true family - her own parents had kicked her out when she was very young and then had tried several times since then along with the rest of her clan to kill her. So, it was nice to see a father and daughter bond like this, even if it did cause a slight ache to crop up in her chest.

Shaking it off, and trying not to let it show, she turned her gaze onto Neo, grinning at her words. "This is Minerva.", she said as she pointed towards the spider she was introducing. Minerva took that moment to climb from her shoulder and onto her head before she waved once more.

"Shall we find a table?" If they both were in agreement she would wave over one of the waitresses. "Table for three, please." she would said, the waitress nodding in return and leading them to a new table with more than enough room for all of them.

Neo turned her attention from her father and back onto the spider once more. She watched as the spider waved as she was introduced and grinned from ear to ear before returning the wave: she absolutely adored ninja pets, even though she didn't actually have one of her own, yet.

"Oh, oh! Lookie look!" She said with a grin before tugging down the collar of her jacket enough for her hitai-ate to show as she turned back towards her father: she didn't hide it on purpose, it just seemed to be the most comfortable place to wear it, but she also liked her jacket quite a lot despite its high collar. However, it was new, and good news: she had graduated from the Academy while her father was away, and was rather proud of the fact too. "I'm an official genin now.", she said, giving a silly pose with her hands on her hips.

She would then glance back off towards Emiko and the waitress that had popped up, all but skipping over her and gracefully 'throwing' herself down into a chair: beaming with happiness.

It was nice introducing the pair. Perhaps Neo would find a mentor in Emiko. Neo seemed completely fascinated with the spider. Perhaps sometime soon he would get her her first shinobi pet. Though, not quite yet. Shinobi pets were big responsibilities, and he wanted to make sure that she was definitely ready for one. If she wasn't, and couldn't work together properly with it, it would end badly, with one or both of them getting hurt or worse. So, waiting would be better. He gave Emiko a nod as she asked if they should get a table, smiling briefly at the waitress before turning his full attention to his daughter again.

Anshō''s eyes widened considerably when he saw the flash of metal from the hitai-ate. He knew what it was automatically. He'd seen enough of them during his days as a shinobi to know a hitai-ate from the slightest sight of one. His grin, if it were all possible grew even larger, the pride that he felt for his daughter quite obvious as the young teen struck her silly pose. It was wonderful, although melancholy. He wished that he'd been there to be able to see her graduation. It must have been splendid, and he hoped that pictures had been taken so that he would be able to see all that had gone on.

"Congratulations, Neo! I knew you could do it." He grinned after his daughter, following he to the table that Emiko had garnered for the both of them. He sat and studied his daughter for a few moments before gazing at the menu trying to focus on what he wanted to order. Though, it was a little difficult considering the news that Neo had just surprised him with. A genin. Perhaps she was ready for a shinobi pet then. Perhaps.... perhaps he would get her one as a graduation present. It would have to be a discussion for later though, when they were at home.

He smiled and looked at the waitress as she came back over to see if they were ready to order, closing his menu and handing it to her. "A simple black coffee for me, please." He hummed his order, knowing he'd add just a bit of sugar from the table to it, but not a lot. He knew he wouldn't be able to eat anything just yet, but coffee would be nice to keep him awake for the meeting that was still to come. .

It seemed that no sooner had Emiko sat down and looked at her menu that she suddenly found that what had been a group of three had suddenly turned into a group of five: the additional two being two ANBU members whom had appeared seemingly out of nowhere like they so often did. "Emiko Sabure..."

"That'd be me."

"Come with us, please."

Emiko would raise a brow; being a bit of a smart mouth and all she couldn't help herself from saying, "Do I actually have a choice?"

"It's for your own safety.", the other ANBU spoke.

Emiko would turn her attention back onto Ansho and Neo, smiling softly. "It was nice meeting you two. Perhaps we can bump into each other later on." She actually meant it; it was nice to meet two people who didn't have a problem with Minerva when the majority of the village did. With a sigh and a roll of her eyes she would turn her attention back onto the ANBU members and stand up, following the first out of the shop while the second followed behind.

Her father congradulated her, commenting that he knew she could do it, and it caused her to positively beam with happiness. Unlike the average child she hadn't been upset over her father missing her graduation; she knew that his job - and the job she had been working so hard towards having - required her father to be gone for long periods of time doing tasks that benefited the village and kept it safe. It was a dangerous job, and very demanding. But, it was a job she now could do - sort've.

She listened as her father ordered a coffee and then looked up to the waitress herself. "I'll take a banana nut muffin and a pumpkin spice tea, please..." Neo's voice suddenly trailed off as her mismatched gaze focused on the two ANBU who had arrived rather suddenly. Blinking in curiosity she listened to the quick conversation between them and Emiko before Emiko got up and followed them. The waitress, a bit shaken, took a moment to refocus on writing down their order before she disappeared.

Neo, brows furrowed, turned her attention back onto her father. [color#FF0099]"I wonder what that was about..."[/color], she mused out loud. They had mentioned that it was for Emiko's own safety... was someone after her? Was she in some kind of trouble? Neo knew as a lowly genin she likely wasn't going to get any answers if she even tried to ask, so there was no point, but she couldn't help but wonder.

Anshō’s gaze snapped away from the waitress and his daughter when he saw the pair of ANBU moving over to them, his brow pinching considerably. For a moment he studied the pair and then looked to Emiko, eyes that had been friendly and kind hardening a bit into a suspicious gaze. Had he taken kindly to a girl that he should not have? Years of being a shinobi surely would have given him pause if this girl was not a friendly. But… perhaps his heart was just too kind? Still, after all he had been through. Particularly in the past year where he had been held captive, surely he would have noticed something was up. The dark haired man frowned a little, suspicion boiling through him, but at the moment it was not his place to interrupt the ANBU’s actions. He would ask discrete questions at the administration building in order to find an answer for this predicament. He really didn’t want to think that the red head with the spider were malicious people after he had spent some time with them.

“It was nice meeting you too, Emiko. Perhaps we will meet again.” Anshō replied, though the kindheartedness that had been in his voice was now a bit clipped, a sternness there that hadn’t been. The voice of a hardened shinobi in the face of one that had possibly betrayed his kindness, not that he knew at all what her infraction that caused the ANBU of all things to get involved in was. He gave her a grim smile and inclined his head slightly to the ANBU in a move of politeness, knowing that there could very well be familiar faces under those masks. If he knew them, and they knew him it probably would spread even faster that he was back in the village now. The communication lines of the ANBU worked very fast.

That meant he probably shouldn’t linger here in the café. If anything, he didn’t want to accidentally be labeled as a traitor for not reporting in immediately. He sighed as he watched the figures trail out of the café, watching the red head for as long as he could see her, then he turned back to Neo, giving her a small nod.  “I wonder what that was about too, Neo. Perhaps I will get some answers when I go to report in.” He sighed, moving to stand up. As much as he wanted to sit there and simply have some time with his daughter in the café he knew that he shouldn’t put it off with ANBU milling about.  He sighed, knowing that the coffee would probably take a few more moments  to get out to them. “Which, I should probably go do now. All things considered. Would you get my coffee to go for me, Neo? I’ll meet you at home hopefully in an hour or two. If you don’t have anything else to do?”

Her father seemed likewise curious as to what that was about. Neo couldn't put her finger on it; was Emiko in some kind of trouble, or some kind of danger? Surely it had to be something big if ANBU was involved in the matter. Emiko hadn't seemed like a bad person, but then again shinobi were trained from the Academy to be able to decieve. Had that been what all of this was about? The very thought of it was enough to have her forehead wrinkling a bit in deep thought.

As her mind was beginning to wander she noticed movement from her father; he was standing up with a sigh. Was their little break over already? It was saddening in a way, given how long it had been since she had last seen her father, but she knew that their jobs were important - his more so than hers since he was a Jounin - and they were jobs that had to be completed.

Neo nodded her head yes when her father asked if she would get his coffee: she had no plans later on, and even if she had she would have canceled them for a chance to get to spend some more time with her father. "Sure no problem. I planned on heading home from here, anyway. I'll make something for dinner for when you get home, too.", she said, pepping right up again. Neo never stayed upset for long; their little cafe trip might have been cut short, but she would get to see her father again in an hour or so and she would simply have to be patient - or otherwise find something to distract herself with until then, such as cooking dinner.

Anshō really did wish that he didn’t have to abandon his daughter after only being with her for a few moments. But, he really did need to check in for the first time since he’d just gotten back after being away for so long. He smiled at his daughter apologetically, moving around the table to pull her into a hug and ruffle her hair again. “Thanks, Neo. Dinner sounds wonderful, you’ve probably become a even better cook during my time away.” He smiled before pulling away from the girl. “I’ll see you in just a little bit.” He assured before moving to exit the café.

Leaving the interior of the café, the dark haired man was hit by the cool air of their village that resided in the clouds, and a slight shiver did escape him, considering he had been in the comfortable café for some time, even if it had not been as long as he would have liked it to be. He sighed and rolled his shoulders. The meeting with Emiko and his daughter had indeed rejuvenated him a bit, but he had hoped for the coffee. He really had. But, life had other ideas, so his tiredness would have to linger until he was home and got his fingers on the coffee that Neo would bring home for him.

Stifling a yawn he made his way towards the Administration building, picking up his speed a bit because he simply wanted to get it over and done with. He remembered when he was younger having to do missions in the building, simple maintenance and such things. But as such, he had watched the building change over the years. And it had changed a little bit during his time away, surely, not that the exterior had changed very much. He smiled as he was greeted by the entrance and slowed, finding himself walking into the building.

The interior had changed a couple times during his time away it looked like. From what he could remember it had been a different shade of paint. Though, he could have been wrong. Still, he found his gaze trailing over the interior of the building again, taking in all of the details until he arrived at the main desk that one was to check in at whenever one went to the administration building. “Tako, Anshō here to report in. Is the Kage around?” He hummed, hoping that there wouldn’t be a huge fuss made, considering that he’d been missing for an entire year.

Neo watched her father leave the cafe, and continued to watch him through the large windows until he was out of sight, but definitely not out of mind. She was quite glad to have her father home, and was looking forward to spending as much time as possible with him before he ended up sent off again on another important mission outside of the village. It was motivation for herself to get stronger, and to rank up, if only for the chance of getting to go on those dangerous missions with him: this way she could remain with him even while outside of the village.

Neo found herself being snapped out of her thoughts as the waitress returned with her father's coffee and her own order. Neo paid the appropriate ryo for the two drinks and bit of food and then was quick as could be to pop a lid onto her father's coffee so that it would stay warmer longer. She stared down at her own food for a moment, biting at her bottom lip as she often did when thinking. She wrapped it up then in a napkin and stuffed it into her shoulder bag before picking up both her father's coffee and her tea.

She gave a nod goodbye to the waitress and then walked out of the cafe, pausing only to push the door carefully open with her shoulder. Once outside she glanced around a bit, wincing at the difference in temperature, before she headed her way down the street and towards home where she would begin to prepare dinner...

-Exit for now~-

"Ugh... I wish I could just disappear...", Emiko muttered beneath her breath as she sat in the chair she had been nearly shoved into when they arrived in the administrative building. The pair of ANBU were standing nearby whispering and discussing things among themselves and she couldn't be assed to really try and eavesdrop - not that she figured she could, since they were likely employing some secret ANBU technique to keep that from being a possibility... it was whatever.

Emiko had her head tilted back, staring at the ceiling with an annoyed expression, when she heard the door to the administrative building open. She didn't bother to lift her head at first, at least not until she heard a familiar voice. As Ansho gave his name Emiko lifted her head, glancing in his general direction as did the two ANBU. Emiko's gaze then shifted over to the secretary who looked up from what she was doing with a polite and kind smile on her face. "The kage is currently busy, but if you'd like to wait over there he should be available fairly soon.", she responded in a polite and even tone of voice as she gestured in the direction of the chairs, one of which Emiko was already in.

Emiko simply shifted into a slightly more comfortable position and then shifted her attention to Minerva who was currently climbing up her arm. "This sucks, Minerva.", Emiko said softly to the spider who seemed to pause before giving what was likely a shrug in response. The spider than took to settling on her shoulder while Emiko contemplated how hard she'd have to bash her head against the wall for a few minutes of blissful peace from the world.

As the thought crossed her mind one of the ANBU looked over at her, or so she assumed since you really couldn't tell with the masks; it caused Emiko to fidget in a guilty manner. "I know you're annoyed, Emiko, but we'll have this situation resolved soon enough."

Running a hand through his hair, Anshō nodded, not entirely surprised that the Kage was busy. Being Kage was an enormous responsibility, and really, taking care of the entire village. Still, he wished that the man was available for him to report in quickly then return home. "Thank you, I'll wait." He agreed then wandered over to the waiting seats, holding back the sigh that he wanted to give in an effort to be polite. Turning his gaze on the pair of ANBU and Emiko herself, Anshō's brow creased a bit. If she was waiting here then there clearly wasn't a malicious reason behind them picking her up. If there had, they would have taken her elsewhere, not the waiting area.

Again, Anshō nodded to the pair of ANBU and sat next to Emiko and Minerva. "Hello, Emiko. It seems our next meeting isn't as far away as we'd thought." Anshō chuckled a little bit appearing friendly and glanced at the pair of ANBU. While it was concerning, and it troubled him that he couldn't see the faces of the ANBU to know whether or not he should actually be conversing with the girl, he wouldn't stop unless they told him explicitly not to. Emiko was a curiosity, and if he could help her more in any way then he probably would do so, even if he was indeed tired.  " Do you want to tell me what's going on, or if you know anything? I may be able to help." He asked rather blatantly, not really in the mood to beat around the bush. With this, glanced from the fiery red head over at the ANBU rather pointedly, hoping that they would get his point.

Total thread WC: 4142

Trained Raiton E-> D 4000/4000

Emiko lifted her head up and looked to Ansho as he sat down, Minevera offering up another spider equivilant of a wave. At his question she looked between him and the ANBU, wondering if they would stop her from telling while also giving them a pointed look herself that said she wanted to tell him. "If you wish to tell him you can, it's not exactly my story to tell.", came a voice from behind one of the two masks.

Emiko shifted her attention back to Ansho, since apparently it seemed like it would be up to her to tell her tale. "My surname is Sabure; the clan famous for utilizing sand to brutal means? Only, I lack the ability to weild that element. Because of that my family disowned me when I was very little and threw me out on the streets. They expected me to die, but obviously I didn't. They found me, and attacked me; the majority of my body ended up having to be fixed due to them nearly crushing me to death. I ended up in Hinowa because it was assumed they would look for me first in Hana given that Commander General Jai is my uncle. So, the Rakuenkage allowed me to become a permanent member of her village; however my family caught up with me there. So, I was transferred here and allowed to become a member of Ama. However...", her voice trailed off with a glance towards the ANBU before looking back towards Ansho. "... It would appear they found me here, too. Or at least are guessing that's where I am so they're searching the village for me."

It was definitely a lot of information to give out to someone she had just met, but at this point in time she was tired of holding it all in and bottling it up. Besides, the ANBU would have never given her the chance to tell her story had they not had a reason to trust the man next to her. Minevera, the entire time the story was being told climbed around Emiko's body; clearly uneasy - the spider didn't like the idea of Emiko being attacked, and it showed.

Admittedly, Anshō did relax when the ANBU seemed to have no issue with Emiko describing what the problem was. This was something that was going to make it so much easier to help the girl in his current state. If the ANBU had tried to get in his way when he had asked the question he would have had to go get his own ANBU gear on and abandon the whole waiting for the Kage thing to help her. He wasn't going to leave her alone. With a straight face Anshō listened to Emiko’s tale, his face not portraying his emotions for a few moments.

However, once she had finished describing how her clan had apparently found her here in the village, the calm manner that he had had devolved into a scowl that he aimed pointedly at the pair of ANBU. He shook his head with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. This whole situation was fucked up. Yes, he was familiar with being a member of a disapproving family, but this was much worse than that. And, the ANBU that had come to collect her had royally fucked up if the situation was as she said. The pair of ANBU absolutely had be fairly new to bring a high risk target into the administration building and have her sit in the waiting room of all things. Or at least he hoped so. Were they trying to get here killed?

With her flaming red hair and her spider, it wasn’t hard to spot here. And, literally anyone could walk into this section of the administration building. So if one of the people who wanted to kill her walked into the building? The girl was likely a dead woman right then and there. Anshō stood, looking rather irate. “…. This is the case and you bring her here? Really?” He growled, voice rough with anger, but low enough so that only Emiko and the ANBU could hear what he was saying. Keeping this discreet now was important. “Of all places. You pluck her from a café and you bring her here. Out in the open, where anyone would walk in to administration building? You really should be better at your jobs.” He snapped.

“Now, while I am aware that she is your charge, and you have the full right to follow us, and I recommend you do so, I am taking her to the secure wing of the administration building where she can’t be seen and properly protected. This is where you should have taken her. In. The. First. Place.” He glowered at the pair. And if only he’d been in his ANBU uniform the reprimand would have been so much worse. Yes, he had been away from the village for a long time. No, he wasn’t a high ranking ANBU, not really. But even so. He would have ripped them a new one. He still might. There masks were as good a designation as any. He had a right mind to report them for their negligence.

Anshō took a deep breath and turned to Emiko, offering her one of his hands. “If you would follow me, please, Emiko. I’ll take you to a safer area so that a plan can be put into place to keep you safe and settle this whole situation.” He spoke with a far gentler voice to her and gave her a grim smile, but it was still clear that he was rather angry. After all he was sleep deprived, and wanted to go home, but he couldn’t let negligence slip past his gaze. He would see this event through, even if he himself got reprimanded for stepping into on duty ANBU business.

WC: 627 + 142 extra from previous post
Trained STR C3 -> B 769/750
Extra WC: 19

Emiko watched Ansho and listened to his words with amusement though she hid it well. She too had been wondering roughly the same thing when she had realized where the ANBU were taking her: the administrative building might be /safe/ yes, but it definitely wasn't a hidden location. So, her sitting here in the front waiting room, right where anyone walking through the doorway could see her? Yeah, she had questioned it though she hadn't actually said anything - these guys were supposed to know what they were doing, right?

When Ansho turned her attention back to her she simply smiled and nodded in return before standing to her feet. Minerva climbed onto her head, her usual perch, before Emiko threw a glance out the glass doors and to the world beyond. She was half expecting to see several people wearing gourds and dressed in shades of tan to be standing outside waiting to kill her. But, thankfully, that wasn't the case, at least not yet. No, they were still searching high and low for her.

So, she shifted her yellow gaze back onto Ansho, waiting for him to lead the way. She slipped her hand in his offered one, ignoring the ANBU who were pointedly looking at each other, her, and then Ansho as if they couldn't quite believe what had just happened, yet knowing that Ansho was right and thus unable to find a remark to make back. They had screwed up, and they were for now accepting it.

"Ready when you are."