Escort

III

Iruka shivered in the cold morning air, standing on the ship’s deck as he was ferried along with other passengers to Iiga. He hadn’t changed his appearance yet, not quite used to portraying himself as a woman. It was easy enough to do so after watching Naruto – and Konohamaru – perform the Oiroke no Jutsu countless times. It wasn’t quite right, he knew, as when he did transform parts of him remained decidedly male. It didn’t matter, so long as he could at least LOOK like the opposite gender.

The mission scroll he’d been given only had details about who he was to meet, not the mission itself. But it was a spying mission, so how dangerous could it be? Iruka relaxed when the morning fog cleared and Iiga could be seen in the distance. The ship clocked close to midday, the passengers and Iruka departing into the depths of the port town. He was supposed to find the Abeko and drop the scroll in a waiting basket. It was a strange way to announce his presence, but those were the instructions. Naruto would have thrown a fit at such an easy task. The thought made Iruka smile.

He found the Abeko after asking several people and getting lost enough times to make him blush when asking for directions. Iruka knew asking for directions was a bad thing to do, but as he henged into a different person each time, it was probably safe. He hoped, anyway.

Iruka found the basket at the mouth of an alleyway and shook his head. His senses were screaming at him that this was WRONG, that something wasn’t right and he needed to get OUT. The chuunin swallowed and backed away from the alleyway, turning to make his way across the street. The feeling of wrongness didn’t leave him as he left the immediate vicinity of the Abeko, trembling a bit when he finally calmed.

“You must be Iruka-san. Good job. You passed.”

Iruka jumped at the whispered words and turned to find a young man standing behind him. Light blonde hair was pulled back into a tail, green eyes studying the sensei as much as Iruka studied the young man. The boy smiled after a moment and made a gesture to the restaurant.

“My name is Shigure. My current employer hired you.”

“You’re my contact?” Iruka asked, almost incredulous. Shigure only nodded and moved to step around Iruka. The chuunin fell into step beside the boy, studying him now that his body wasn’t screaming in fight or flight mode. Shigure’s hair was interesting in the fact that the roots were showing black. So he dyed his hair, but Iruka tossed that fact out the mental window. His green eyes were intelligent, revealing nothing more than what he wanted to be seen. His clothes were unremarkable, as unremarkable as the clothes Iruka wore in place of his chuunin uniform. That was in his pack, along with his hitai-ate. He was sure that Shigure was carrying weapons on him, just as Iruka was carrying several kunai tucked into his shirt.

Shigure ducked into a building and motioned for Iruka to follow. The chuunin managed to keep up with the slight boy, and soon enough they emerged into a large lot before an old Heian-style mansion. Iruka swallowed and moved to keep up with the young man.

“We won’t be here long,” Shigure said. “We’re just picking up the supplies you’ll need and then we’ll go meet Haomaru-sama.”

“Haomaru?” Iruka asked, arms stretching out as Shigure piled kimonos in his arms. Iruka looked at the garments, not too pleased, but Shigure’s shaking head kept him from questioning.

“Haomaru-sama has a syndicate that once was the main disciplinary force of Iiga. Not too long ago, some nut job moved in and started his own syndicate. It was weak, so Haomaru-sama didn’t bother to cut it out of Iiga’s daily life.” Shigure paused. “Get one you like and put it on.”

“Why?” Iruka asked, just before Shigure pushed him behind a screen to change into one of the kimonos.

“Haomaru-sama requested a woman for a reason, Iruka-san.”

Iruka reddened, spluttered. Shigure made a noise of almost annoyance.

“Not like THAT,” Shigure muttered when a now-female looking Iruka emerged from behind the screen. “The Abeko isn’t just a restaurant. It’s a prostitution ring.”

“So I’m going to have to let men I don’t know have sex with me?” Iruka asked in a whimper.

“No, no. You’re going to be set up as a waitress, like your mission parameters said. The waitresses don’t do that. Here, it’s concealer. You stand out too much with that scar. I’ll have to get Mayuri to worry about your hair, but for now it works.” Shigure replied as Iruka used the compact’s mirror to help him cover his scar. He added another name to the list: Mayuri. He was growing increasingly confused about his mission. It sounded easy, but it really wasn’t, and he couldn’t keep the Oiroke no Jutsu for long due to the strain on his chakra. Shigure gestured for Iruka to follow and with difficulty Iruka kept up. Back out of the building and onto the street, Iruka noted the change in environment as they walked.

Streets were filled with garbage near the Abeko, but as they moved away, the streets became cleaner and the moods of the people seemed to brighten. Shigure led Iruka to another mansion and brought him inside. If Iruka hadn’t been a ninja, he would have missed Shigure’s hand slipping into that of a young maid as she passed, a grain of brown rice left in her hand. The chuunin didn’t get the opportunity to ask the young man about that rice, as he was soon presented to an elderly – but formidable – gentleman, waited upon by several pretty young women. Shigure bowed and Iruka did the same.

“Haomaru-sama, this is Iruka-san from Konohagakure.” Shigure said, neither indicated Iruka was male nor female. Haomaru sat up a bit in his throne to study Iruka, the brunette using all his willpower not to fidget under that powerful gaze. Ninja do not fidget.

“Iruka-san,” Haomaru began, “let me first thank you for undertaking this mission. It is of utmost importance to me,”

Iruka bowed a little, eyes flicking to Shigure, who was speaking softly with the maid from before. The chuunin opened his mouth to reply, but Haomaru began to speak again.

“I want you to obtain a waitressing job at Abeko and report to me on everything you see. In particular, I want you to look for a girl, no more than a child.” Haomaru gestured, and one of the ladies brought forward a photograph of a little girl with rave locks done in braids and dark eyes that were like mirrors. A very pretty child, she was.

“Her name, Haomaru-sama?” Iruka asked. The older man sat back in his chair, looking terribly tired and old.

“Yukari. She is my angel, my only daughter given to me by my late wife.” Haomaru replied. “I fear she has been taken there. She’s been missing for weeks and her guardian had been found dead in her chambers. I want you to find her.”

Iruka swallowed. He’d been right. He wasn’t going to like this.