Come Into My Parlour.... [Asuka, Paper Dolls]

[asuka_sensei]

The day Kureno had officially been reinstated as a jounin - like, officially officially, not in-name-only - was the day Asuka had promised to take him out somewhere fancy. He'd named the place, and she'd made the reservation only a day or two later for a month in advance: the first Saturday of September. It was at a set time, a set day, a set place

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[asuka_sensei]

Hmmm, seemed empty. Maybe the store was really closed after al-

Asuka jerked at the sudden peppy voice that chirped out from the back, under the bizarre little awning that had been set up over the register. (Why? Did they expect it to rain in here?) Why did the shop keeps always have to be so happy? Couldn't they just let a person look around without constantly badg....er.... oh.

Uh-oh.

She'd always wondered where Izume and Kotetsu had ended up. It was all over the grapevine (Asuka never fed the rumor mill, but she always kept an ear to it) that the two had retired from their active shinobi status back before - back about a year ago, but after that they'd fallen below her radar. Asuka had never paid much attention to civilian affairs outside basic politics that were necessary for her to know, after all.

Apparently they'd gone and opened up a boutique in the very trendy district Asuka was currently browsing in. Somehow, that did not surprise her. It did, however, drastically lower her hopes of getting out alive and with her dignity intact. So much for avoiding the rumor mill...

"Hey," she replied in a distinctly dispirited manner. If Kotetsu was here, then Izume...

[ima_paperdoll]

...was coming up from the side.

She knew better than to come up from behind. Asuka was ANBU, and ANBU (with some exceptions like a certain prank-spoiling cat) tended to be considerably more twitchy than their jounin or chuunin counterparts. Izume had a healthy respect for Sarutobi Asuka and a healthier desire to remain among the upright and breathing with her blood (amongst other things) still inside her skin.

"Well, good evening to you, Asuka-san," she smiled. The other woman sounded so dispirited. Izume chose to guess it had simply been a long day for Asuka, nothing more.

Perhaps there could be an advantage to opening the shop later than normal and staying open for the full eight hours. Their early mornings had been gobbled by the four-hour shifts they put in towards the Hokage's paperwork.

Their first week back had been hell. The office was--Izume didn't want to remember. Suffice to say, she had requested overtime for herself and Kotetsu which Tsurude had promptly granted. During that week the shop had been closed, but the sheer amount of overtime necessary to simply get all the paperwork into some semblance of manageable order more than made up monetarily for the return to papercuts and drudgery. The ideal of two, ten-hour days disappeared quickly. They would need to come in more than two days a week to deal with the influx of new paperwork, so now they were testing the four-hour, five-day schedule. So far, it was working.

The test would be when the next crisis befell the village. Something, gods willing, would not happen for a very long time. Like, after she and Kochan retired for a second time.

But for the time being she was back in her sanctuary with her best friend and someone new to play with.

Keeping a careful distance, she circled 'round in her chocolate brown slacks and long-sleeved sunflower yellow shirt edged with the same brown at her sleeves' ends and the bottom hem of her shirt. Sunflower-shaped earrings hung from golden hooks in her ears, and her hair she had pulled back in a bun before shoving a pair of gold-flecked chopsticks through it. Brown flats barely made a sound on the floor as she moved and none when she stopped. "How can we help you?"

[asuka_sensei]

And there she was.

Asuka nervously edged further into the store as Izume circled around her like a predator circling prey. There was something distinctly unnerving about Izume doing that, about knowing that Izume - if she'd kept in shape - could possibly kick her ass right now, and above and beyond that, that Asuka was currently in Izume's territory. Frightening territory, full of sparkly jewelry and makeup and clothing. This was not her territory at all. Why, oh why couldn't she have just kept to window shopping?

Now trapped between the two Paper Dolls, the oldest of the three kunoichi shoved her hands in her pockets and managed a nervous bored shrug that didn't quite cover her nervousness. "Just... looking around."

[little_metal]

"Anything in particular?" Kotetsu asked, shifting to idly run a hand down a rack of soft dark-blue velvet skirts. They went brilliantly with the silver chain jewellery on the wall on that side.

She hadn't thought that Asuka would be the type to come into a boutique like Paper Dolls - if anything, Kotetsu had mentally pegged her as 'camo, camo, and nothing but camo' - and currently the poor woman looked as comfortable as a fish out of water.

Izume was probably going to have to go softly and gently on the sales pitch.

Or plain eat her alive.

Kotetsu was going to hang around and watch. It'd be more entertaining than juggling numbers.

[asuka_sensei]

Asuka was the type to prefer camo, camo, and nothing but camo (although currently she was just in a plain white tee-shirt and blue jeans), and she was about as comfortable as a fish out of water. A fish that had been out of water for a day and a half and was gasping out the last of it's life.

Man, even Kotetsu had somehow gotten infected by the pretty in this place. Not that she and Kotetsu had ever been close, but Asuka had always expected Kotetsu to also be the camo and jeans type. Seeing her now in designer clothing and dangly earrings was almost like... well, having to admit to herself she was trapped and there was no way out short of jutsu'ing a wall and that would cost way too much money to repair.

Although the clothing she may be forced to buy might cost just as much as repairing a wall. Hmm...

"... a dress..." she admitted slowly and with deep reluctance, eyes shifting back to where Izume was flanking her. It would probably be easier to go through Kotetsu than Izume if it came to that...

[ima_paperdoll]

"A dress?" Izume repeated with a habitual, friendly smile.

Truthfully, Izume was still processing the other's presence her as Asuka wasn't the fussy type. Her current jeans and t-shirt attested to that; most of the typical clientele for the shoppe at least had jewelry that was more flash than the capillary-thin silver hoops and the significantly thicker gunmetal bracelets.

And because Asuka was the camo, camo, and generally nothing but camo type, that the woman was even in this district would raise eyebrows amongst those who knew her. Or of her, rather, as she had only worked with Asuka in official capacities, the occasional mission but usually accepting paperwork. Izume believed she knew the woman better on paper than in person.

So she would tone down the sales pitch (for the moment). Asuka, being a shinobi and not a civilian, would be suspect and looking for a trap. Izume of course wanted to make a sale, but her first priority was to make the customer comfortable and relaxed. Asuka would take plenty of gentling, but Izume was astute enough to know that if she didn't behave in her normal, flirty way, with a side of sneakiness, that would spook Asuka even more.

"Is this a gift for someone...or yourself~?"

[asuka_sensei]

So far retirement hadn't obviously changed Izume any - she was still flirty, perky, and far too nosy for her own good. The civilian grape vine had probably been glad to have her as an addition. World knew the military one was probably more than glad she was gone, too.

But that was just the problem: nosy and connections in the grape vine meant that if Asuka gave out too much information, this date would be known by everyone in the city before the date even happened. Asuka sure as hell didn't want that. She just wanted to treat Kureno with something he'd obviously wanting for a very long time and absolutely deserved after the hell she'd given him in the last year. Something nice and quiet, that didn't involve outside parties butting in.

Izume was still eyeing her expectantly. How much information to give away that would be useful, but not with a rumor hitting the streets as soon as she walked out the door?

".... myself," she admitted, with maybe even more reluctance than previously.

[little_metal]

Asuka looked like she was about to be eaten alive. Kotetsu settled back to enjoy the show - she'd never seen the jounin look so unsettled.

A little mean part of Kotetsu's evil little heart found this extremely entertaining.

Another part of her was noting how quickly Izume had changed her sales pitch, softer, more wooing, and teasing rather than the aggressive salesperson Kotetsu knew her roommate was.

Pity, that.

She idly refolded a thin silky blouse, keeping out of the delicate workings Izume was weaving.

[ima_paperdoll]

Izume's eyes fired in delight. "I see~"

She circled again, her gaze more critical and assessing. "And what is the occasion?" she inquired, and glanced at Kochan from behind Asuka so as to warn her partner to not mention Kureno's name. Those two had been generated quite a bit of talk over the years, as had Asuka's alleged dalliance with the Inuzuka heir Hanato.

Personally, she hoped the occasion involved Kureno. Dressing Asuka up to exceed the expectations of even that man would be a feather in Izume's cap--and would perhaps attract the more cautious of potential customers. Maybe they were celebrating the lifting of his rather public punishment...?

[asuka_sensei]

Asuka thought furiously for a moment, thinking of how well she could lie to get herself out of a sticky situation, if lying would effect the outcome of Izume's responses and/or assistance, if lying incorrectly would stick her with a worse outcome than telling the truth, or if she could just tactfully talk around the subject like she usually did and still come out on the winning side.

... damn sticky situations.

"Just going out somewhere." She crossed her arms defensively over her chest, uncomfortable with the way Izume was eyeing her like the hypothetical prized cow. "Somewhere with a nice dress code."

[little_metal]

Asuka probably didn't realise it, but she was making Kotetsu undeniably curious.

Going out! Somewhere! She hoped it was with Kureno. And with a nice dress code too. Sounded like a date~

"How nice?" Kotetsu asked. "Izu-kun nice?" she indicated Izume's full ensemble.

[asuka_sensei]

At the question she turned to give Izume a critical look of her own. The shirt and dress were certainly dressy without exactly being flashy, the kind of thing Asuka might consent to wear herself (and had in fact been initially thinking of)... at least, until she learned what kind of thing the ladies at the Golden Crane were wearing.

"Fancier," she decided after a moment. Something like that, even as a dress, would be dressing down at the Crane. "And a dress."

[ima_paperdoll]

Asuka was going to be much more forthcoming if Izume was to be of any significant help. Just another twist of the complicated road to success. Izume could simply inform the jounin that the more information she gave, the faster Asuka could get what she needed. But that would cut the fun short much too soon.

"We get that you need a dress, Asuka-san." Izume's smile sharpened. "Where are you going?" Just barely she caught herself from tacking another question onto the end of the first. She knew Asuka was circumspect, and tended to answer only the questions she wanted to if given the option.

[asuka_sensei]

She could feel the trap closing in. If she gave the name of the restaurant there'd be blackmail in the newspapers the next day. No, she couldn't give the name of the restaurant. If she did, there would only be hell later on.

So she lied her ass off.

"I don't know," Asuka replied, shoulders curving in a little more in increased defensiveness. "Just someplace nice." Okay, a little more emphasis than that. "Really nice. The kind of nice that needs reservations a month in advance and the chicks wear - what is it called, a cocktail dress."

[ima_paperdoll]

Asuka's defensiveness was noted. Izume's response was to pat the jounin's shoulder, moving so that Asuka saw the movement and didn't attempt an impromptu amputation because she was getting too twitchy.

Then Izume's eyebrows rose in disbelief.

Sarutobi Asuka, saying that she doesn't know where she's going--correction, the name of where she's going? Oh, please. Asuka was all about knowing as much information about anything before she committed to a serious action. Going to a fancy deal that required a cocktail dress? The woman would have found out the name, location, dress code, and all access points in the event everything went to shit.

Izume waved dismissively and asked a different question to confirm the mystery restaurant's location was inside the village. That didn't mean her mind wasn't working hard. "Now is this for lunch or dinner?"

[little_metal]

Asuka? In a cocktail dress? The world would stop.

Though, she'd look good in one. Probably one of those that bared the shoulders, but went down past the knees, as tragic as it would be to cover those legs.

"Izu-kun," Kotetsu chirped, "Doesn't the White Swallow require little black dresses?" she tilted her head and smiled winningly at Asuka. "Like that sort of place?"

Depending on Asuka's answer, they might be able to narrow it down to which restaurant Asuka was not saying.

Because, for a shinobi, Asuka lied badly.

White Swallow, Golden Crane, Lotus by the River - they all had a pretty formal dress code, though only Golden Crane and Lotus had one for lunch hours too.