A Little Theft [Kenichi/Natsumi]

It was a day like any other for most people, but for Natsumi, it was of honing a very specific skill: theft. She had been getting good at it. With little to understand about this world’s workings, the only way to get food was by theft. She had no way of getting money, no place to call home, no friend to help her. What did people expect her to do? She was too powerful to eat out of the garbage cans like she had seen a couple others do in different cities before this one. She wouldn’t dare eat other people’s garbage. So, she found herself a place to watch for lunch.

The cart vendors began setting up their rice ball, yakitori, and dumpling stalls. There were a few others, but they didn’t look anywhere near as appetizing as the freshly made dango. As the different aromas entered the air and people began lining up, Natsumi figured out the food was ready. She watched for the right moment. A small gesture with her head at two of the stalls and different plates, bowls and utensils fell to the ground. As the owners and a few customers began helping pick up, likely blaming some trick of the wind, Natsumi pulled on two newly packed lunches. They flew to her hand in a short blink, but not fast enough to destroy the contents. A quick glance around and Natsumi walked deeper into the alley she had been watching from, beginning to pick through the bags. Yakitori first.

“That was simple enough,” she said, her mouth full. “What idiots.”

There were indeed those who passed the unexplained loss of their food off as a element of the wind playing a cruel trick on them, but to one man in particular, who had ordered a particularly savory spread, he would not let this grave act of betrayal go unanswered. His lunch meeting with Mirai had really developed his taste for Yakitori, and the elements had saw to it that his well-packaged meal was swept away from his grasp like tears in the rain. No. He would not let the elements win against him, not this time!

Naturally, his persistence forced him into chasing after wherever the food flew off to, and the more he followed... the more he recognized that this was no longer simply the elements at play, but some supernatural force guiding the food along to a specific source. Quietly, he slowly followed the route of his food until his eyes had set upon a young woman wasting little time enjoying the spoils of her theft. Turning the corner of the alleyway, he pointed his finger toward her, confident that he had found his culprit.

"Aha! Found you!"

Natsumi was walking toward a different street, enjoying the Yakitori when someone popped out from behind her and yelled. At first she thought it was the cops, but when she turned around and saw a young guy there, she stared and took another bite. He was kinda cute. Looked a little wide eyed and happy, which was weird. Most people were utterly depressed and fully of spite. His "ah-ha" moment was abnormal as well. Natsumi smirked and raised her hand to the cap she was wearing, tilting her head like a cowboy did to greet someone.

With no desire to get arrested over her survival skills, Natsumi's hand came out to the side and she threw it toward the guy in the alley. An old crusty mattress flung up and flew toward him with no strings attached. With that distraction, Natsumi turned on her heel and began running away form him. "You ain't found nothin'."

Even though the young woman had robbed him blind, he had to admit he respected her light flare in showmanship with the tilt of her hat. Under a normal circumstance, he would have complimented her on that without hesitation. Of course, since this was anything but normal, he steeled himself in preparation for resistance. An old mattress accompanied the rise of her hand as the bed was flung through the alley way.

His body, schooled to years of adapting to the unexpected and honing his reaction time, shifted into action. He ran leaped over the bed, soaring through the air to land against the walls of the alleyway. Like an acrobat, he ran along the walls with a grin on his face as he called out to the woman from his vantage point across the wall.

"You won't get away that easily!"

Hearing the guy call out, Natsumi looked over her shoulder. Her eyes widened in shock. He was running along the walls like a damn spider! She was a bit creeped out by that, so she picked up the pace and made it to the next street. It was a sharp turn, but instead of slowing down, she mimicked her pursuer and ran along an invisible wall she created herself, one that was much easier to balance on because it was customized to her own liking. Of course, those on the streets would see little more than her walking sideways in the air. A few shocked gasps and people moved to the sides to get out of the way as her feet hit the sidewalk again.

"A lot easier than you think!" Natsumi chuckled joyously and continued her run, glancing over her shoulder to see where exactly her pursuer was. This whole chase was about the food. She had no interest in losing it, so she kept it floating in a bubble right next to her, where it was in sight, but not being thrown around like it would be if it was in her hands. Once she got away, she'd enjoy the rest of it.

"Oh?"

As he ran along the walls, Kenichi grinned from ear to ear, entertained by the woman's overall skill and ability. He could tell that she thoroughly excelled at being a thief, a shifty woman who could think on the fly. How to keep her contained? He wondered. Running along a wall created for herself was pretty clever. Amused by the idea, Kenichi thought about applying his own unique skills as well.

Channeling golden energy throughout the meridians in his body, the fiery martial artist formed a temporary hoverboard of sorts that allowed him to move through the air unhindered. It was slightly unwieldy for being crafted in the midst of a chase, but Kenichi soared in past the crowd, tailing behind her as he appeared at her side.

"Is it now? I'll have you know I'm never one to turn down a challenge!"

Natsumi figured she was gonna lose this guy pretty quick, so when he showed up at her side, her eyes widened in shock again. Maybe he was better than she thought... She glared at him. She was not going to be outdone by some pretty boy wannabe. She chuckled, a sound that came off almost as maniacal. She slid to a sudden stop, letting him continue on the other way as she performed a 180 turn and started running back where they had just come from.

"You're gettin' annoying', kid!" Natsumi yelled.

In the midst of making that turn however, she wrapped her own feet in her energy and took to the air with the form of a roller skater. She glided over the heads of people in the street, lifting herself higher and higher until she reached the top of a four story building and stopped on the rim of the roof. She looked back to see where he was, stepping off the rim and onto the actual roof. Taking out more food, she began eating as she waited to see how he'd figure out to follow her again...

"He was persistent."

Eh!? He was annoying!? She was the one who robbed them! Kenichi blinked softly as the woman hard turned in the opposite direction he chased her, riding on the air as though it were a surface. Turning his energy board in her direction, Kenichi applied as a similar principle, surfing through the air in order to reach her. However, he didn't account for her going further up than he intended. Of course, even with that minor disadvantage, Kenichi could always rely on his senses to bail him out. Amplifying his vision through spirit power, he could make out the small outline of the woman soaring upward to relax and rest atop the four-story building. Stopping on his board, allowing it to dissipate into golden sparks of reishi, Kenichi exhaled softly.

Four stories, hm? Did she think this would stop the Relentless Dragon? A wide grin curved his lips as he dropped his knees toward the ground before bursting off with his legs, catapulting his body forward as he vanished to and fro in the air, appearing behind the woman with a firm landing that slightly shook the building. Placing a palm forward, he aimed to grab her by the hem of her shirt as he gave her a curious glance. She was rather resilient for a thief, but if he caught her, he simply wanted to get to the bottom of why she stole from him... well them, really, but still! He was included!

"You gonna share any of that, kid?" He humored with a grin. A sort of condescendingly humorous expression.

Natsumi sighed in relief when she thought, for a quick moment, that she hadn't been followed. Then the building shook. She turned her head to the side, and the sight of a hand reaching out to her caused a reflexive barrier to be put between them. She jumped away, a quick twist allowing her to land facing him.

"No touchy, no touchy, or I swear I'll bust this whole building, got it!"

Natsumi looked down to her food. Mine. She sat down and another one of her invisible shields popped up, the first one vanishing at the same time. This shield was shaped like a dome and was placed around her little picnic on the roof. She pulled some dango out and took a huge bite, over-filling her mouth.

"Nope." she said, talking and chewing at the same time. "Why would I?"

"Because one of those boxes of food is something you stole from me, duh!"

Crossing his arms as though he were a child that had his toy taken away from him, Kenichi pouted with playful frustration. He didn't really have any ill-intent in approaching the woman to cause bodily harm. If anything, he understood the need for thievery if one were desperate and had no place to call home. How else would you survive? Of course, that didn't mean he wasn't upset about the loss of his meal, but the entertainment in the chase and the amusing way in which the young lady expressed herself were quite amusing to him. That is to say, he wished to approach this from a different angle entirely. Softly sitting down at the distance she created between them, Kenichi rummaged around his wallet, placing half of the money in his pocket towards her. Sighing softly, he'd smile as he shook his head.

"Look, I know its hard trying to make a living out here, so I don't have any intention of harming you or forcing you to give me back my food. If your gonna take my food, can we at least talk? My name's Kenichi. Murata Kenichi."