"STOP THAT THIEF!", came the yell of the merchant. The man was rather on the large size; one of the bread bakers who worked his stall every single day, rain or shine. His face was red, his anger making him look very hot-headed. He was pointing dramatically at the little sickly thin child who was fleeing through the crowd, a loaf of bread that was oval in shape and no longer than about nine inches clutched in her grasps.

Alice had no idea who she was outside of her first name. She had no idea about her past, or where she came from. All she knew was that she now called a crate home in one of the various back alleys through Kumogakure, and that she was hungry. Hungry enough to steal. She had tried to resist temptation, she had tried other ways to get food, but in the end she had had to resort to stealing. It was that or she was going to starve.

Even though the child was so thin, covered in bruises, scratch marks, and various other wounds hidden underneath clothing that looked too big on her (a white t-shirt that was more gray in color than white, tan colored shorts held up by a rope which was hidden by how long her shirt was and which went down a little past her knees) she still was able to move like the wind. Adrenaline pushed her fast and hard through the crowd, ducking and bobbing her way through the various people. Some were laughing at how angry the baker looked while others attempted to make a grab at her only for her to duck under the reaching hands or dive out of the way.

Her breathing came fast and heavy and she didn't slow as she reached the far darker and far emptier alley ways. The alley ways were like a large maze but they were all too familiar to her now and so she used them to escape, not knowing if someone was truly chasing after her or not. Down the first alley, then a dart to the left, a quick right and finally she was 'home'. She dived inside of the wooden crate which was turned on its side and pulled the lid closed behind her. The crate had been padded with scraps of cotton which had then been poorly covered in scrap fabrics but it was home nonetheless and better than sleeping on the hard streets.

She curled herself into a ball and shivered in fear wondering if this would be the time she got caught. The bread was still clutched between her hands, but she was too scared to eat it right now, even with how hungry she truly was.

A young man walked through the market with a smile on his face. He nodded to those who walked by and acted generally friendly. His good time was interrupted by the yelling of one of the men who ran a stand. His eyes looked to see what he was yelling about, only to see a little girl run by him and dart into an alley. In her hands was a loaf of bread, which made Satoshi sigh. Apparently, the girl had stolen the bread from the man, who wasn't fast enough to catch her. He walked up to the guy, who's face was red from anger. "How much was it? It doesn't matter, here." He said with a grin as he plopped some money into his hands. It was more than enough to cover the bread. "Leave her alone. I'm going to see if I can help."

With that said, he turned and ran into the alley. Using his sensory ability that was impressive, he followed the girl through the maze. She stopped, causing him to catch up. He came upon a box that was rather sad looking. He frowned a bit, immediately feeling bad for the girl. He walked up to it calmly, making sure not to alarm her. "Listen, I gave the man his money, you're safe. You got a name?" He asked as he crouched down outside of the entrance. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you or give you a lecture. You just look like you could use a friend." His natural fondness for children was showing and his smile returned. Hopefully, she wouldn't be terrified.

Her heart was pounding in her chest hard and only pounded harder when she heard a voice from outside of the crate she called home. Whoever it was sounded male and said that he gave the man who she had stolen the loaf of bread from money, asked her her name, and then said he wasn't going to hurt her or give her a lecture: all before saying she looked like she could use a friend. She could hear the rush of blood through her ears as she reached forward with a small shaking hand and pushed back the lid of the crate that she used very much like a door. At first she opened it only an inch or two, peering out with one eye before opening it completely so she could look upon the male with both bright blue colored eyes.

She kept the bread clutched close to her with both hands, still afraid of losing it or having to give it back: but, still didn't take a bite of it. She kept herself curled up into a tiny bruise covered ball. "My name is Alice.", she said in a soft spoken voice. "I know stealing's wrong, but I was hungry...", she said as a way of explaining why she had stolen the bread: as if her too-thin state wasn't proof enough. The more she talked the more she seemed to relax, but she wasn't going to take a bite out of the bread until she was sure she wasn't about to have to give it back.

Only a few moments after he spoke, he saw the 'entrance' to the box open and blue eyes peak out. The girl would then open it completely to look at Sato, who smiled in response. She clutched the bread with a death grip, signalling that she was really hungry. She probably hadn't even taken a bite of it, or at least that's how it looked. She then spoke, soft in tone as she told her name. She also tried to explain why she stole, which broke Satoshi's heart. The poor girl probably went days without eating. "I know, it's okay. You did what you had to do to survive. Go ahead and eat it! I'll keep you company." He said sitting on the ground with his legs crossed. 

He would wait for her to get comfortable before he started speaking again. "I'm Satoshi. If you want some more food after that, I can get you some." He spoke with a gentle tone, making sure he would not startle the girl. She probably had went through enough trauma in her lifetime. "So, why do you live out here?" He asked as he wanted to start casual conversation with the girl. Anything to put her at ease so that she could realize she was with a friend.

When the male told her to go ahead and eat the bread she brought it to her lips hesitantly at first but the second it touched she took a great big bite out it: tearing off a huge chunk. She chewed it up, doing her best to keep her mouth shut while she did so. She forced that bite down and then took another which was almost equally as big: a miracle she wasn't choking on it. But, that too was swallowed without problem while she listened to the male who introduced himself as Satoshi say that if she wanted more food he could get her some.

She took a third bite and chewed it while listening to his next question. Her chewing slowed for a moment while she tilted her head slightly to the right: something she did often when caught in a thought. Why exactly was she out here? She swallowed the bite she had been working on and then shrugged her shoulders, holding off on taking a third so that she could answer him. "I don't know. I was just here one day. I don't know who I am other than my name is Alice, or where I came from. I don't even know where I got all of these injuries or what the thing on my hand is." When she spoke of her hand she held it out so the mark could be visible; it was the odd Genjutsu seal which had been used to keep her from remembering anything, and which doubled as a sort of "property" stamp from the one she had been forced to call Master: the thing would look as if it had been carved into her flesh and then burned there.

She used her free hand to bring the bread back up to her lips and rip off another bite to then be chewed up. She was more relaxed now since she knew that Satoshi had no intentions of taking the bread from her and it showed as she shifted into a more indian style seating position compared to the fetal position she had been in before.

Lazy days, lazy days; little else to do in peaceful times anymore. Do the runs between the villages, make sure things are working smoothly, etc etc etc. Beside his sprawled form was a rather large bag filled with an extremely rare commodity lately. Expensive like gold, rarely wasted, rarely seen. Sunflower seeds; the base for the giant plants that once grew in ocean-like fields all over the old plains and lowland hills. Years of bad rains, worse weather, and the hooves of horses, donkey, and any other animal the people could use to transport had ripped the lands to shreds and left them bare; only in a few small fields and hidden areas did the sunflowers still grow; but that didn't stop him from eating the roasted seeds sometimes. The bag was very old; bought before the flowers became rare; and while he would plant them if they could germinate, the roasting process had killed the seeds, so they where useless as anything but a tasty snack.

The market far below was quiet as usual; or it had been until a few moments before: a ruckus of sorts, seemed to be a little thief snatching bread. Sad, for all the work the people had done, for all the recovery of the village, there were still orphan children starving in the streets. However, this time the outcome seemed slightly... different. Someone coming to the little welp's rescue? Good, good. To see the people able to react with kindness again... that was something at least. An improvement over the old ways; pride had crippled much of the world before, his own people more so than most. Now? Hints of the old pride existed, but the change was evident; it had been tempered and honed, people helped instead of ignored; worked together to make things better instead of just ignoring the human debris that once littered the lower levels of the village.

Oh... was that a seal? A strange seal on a tiny arm; and his strange focus kicked in hard. Tsukino had an OCD about seals, they had to focus and learn about any they saw. This was new. This had to be studied.

Time to fly!

Or rather, close his bag of treats and store it securely in his robes, then unceremoniously rolled right off the flat roof; allowing himself to fall the 40 or so feet to the ground with a great THUD! before rolling to his feet like nothing happened. He'd fallen from higher; hell, he high dived from higher and landed on harder. Dirt was soft, after all. " 'm okay! Dun mind me.~ Juss' saw a seal an' had ta take a look."

Alice started munching on the bread and even got in a more comfortable position. He was glad to see her start to relax and enjoy the talk. When she spoke, his eyebrow raised in curiosity. How could she not remember who she was and where she came from? Was it amnesia? He looked at the mark on her hand, observing it's structure. He wasn't good with Fuuinjutsu, so he had no idea how to help the poor girl. As he was about to speak, A man dropped from the rooftop above them and started looking at the mark. Sato fell backwards with surprise, quickly getting back up and glaring at the guy. "You could at least let someone know before you do that!" He said before studying the new guy. "Who are you?" His tone wasn't angry but concerned for the little girl he had just met. He scooted closer to her, just in case she didn't feel safe. He didn't want her retreating into herself again, as she had just started to open up to him.

A gasp escaped the child and she jumped enough to bump her head off of the top of the crate: but, given that even the top of the crate had the cotton padding covered in cloth it didn't hurt. She had been startled by the sudden thud that announced the man falling on the ground. He didn't seem hurt, evident of how quickly he jumped up and joined them so that he too could look at the strange seal on her hand.

She was half tempted to go curl herself back into a ball but instead she simply stuffed another bite of bread into her mouth and tightened her grip on what was left of the loaf: she was still being more than over-protective over her food. She chewed the bite quickly and then swallowed, repeating the process with another bite.

She didn't say anything but listened as Satoshi did; telling him he could have at least warned someone before falling like that, and then asking him who he was. She looked to the new arrival, likewise as curious. But, she was too busy finishing off the last remaining bite of the loaf to bother with asking. She kept her hand where it was so that the man could look at it but could feel her arm growing tired. Now that she was finished with the bread she scooted closer to Satoshi. As she moved into the sunlight streaming down into the alley way she tugged her overly-large sleeve down, covering the majority of the bruises.

"I don't know where I got it... I don't remember anything.", she said more for the benefit of the new arrival since she had already said that to Satoshi.

The colorful idiot was busy brushing dust and dirt off his robes; a wash and study in purples and golds and dragon motifs, the hallmark of the Tsukino sages; similar yet not to what he was normally found in. This robe set was more... ceremonial, in a lot of ways; the flashy, catch the eye and instantly alert anyone with eyes to the rank of the wearer within the clan. Raijin was a top ranked Jounin, yes; but he was also a Grand Master of his clan's Sages, and sometimes they managed to get him dressed like one.

Noticing rather late the scared and protective reactions, "Maaaah.~ Chill, yeah? 'M not gunna mess with ye'. Juss wanna look a' tha' seal on the kid's arm; tha's all. T'is... different; ne'er seen nothin' like it, neh. Rare, fer a Tsukino, eh.~ If I wanted ta' fuck with ye, i'd a' done it by now, yo." His tone was light and amused, with a barely hidden note of curiosity. He wasn't even on guard; you could have walked up behind him and brained him and he'd never seen it coming; outside of his passive sensory web.

Sato had to hold in laughter as the man spoke. He didn't realize it before, but he spoke in a really odd fashion. His robes were very bright and colorful as well, making Satoshi wonder who he was. He heard that he was a member of the Tsukino clan, known for their seals and dragons. By the looks of it, he was probably pretty high up on the clan's totem pole. "You got a first name man? I'm Satoshi Takayama-Jun Chi. This is Alice." He said looking to Alice. She seemed to be fine, Satoshi continued to be friendly. His mind returned back to the seal on the girls hand. If anyone could figure it out, it would be a Tsukino, thought it could take some time. He just hoped that this guy was good.

.oO(Whoops, didn’t realize it was my post again.)
 
Alice’s head tilted a bit to the side as she calmed down once more. Her focus shifted to the colorfulness of Raijin’s clothing and it was rather distracting. At least, that was, until her attention shifted back to her hand and the seal placed upon it. She could feel something nagging at the back of her mind, like a thought that was trying to form but couldn’t quite make it: an explanation for the seal and why exactly it was there.
 

“Someone put it there and said it means I belong to ‘em.”, she blurted out; the thought forming on its own and forcing itself out before it could be repressed once more. The child instantly winced and raised her other hand, rubbing at her head as one would do who suddenly got struck with a headache. “I don’t know who…”, she added before she could be asked. “… And trying to think about it makes my head hurt worse.” A lot worse, but she wasn’t going to whine – at least not that badly. Perhaps, if she was lucky, the man in the colorful robes would be able to get it to go away and she would be able to remember things without her head feeling as if it were being yanked in half or squeezed in a vice grip.

Jun Chi? A Jun Chi that didn't recognize him? That was new; given how close the clans where. Shit, Jun Chi where Cousins, far as the Tsukino cared. He must not be part of the main clan; plenty of half-bloods and branches that didn't bother with the monkishness of the main clan. However, the made him instantly more willing to trust this guy; as it was basically in his blood to be friendly and trusting of a Jun Chi clansmen. "Raijin, eh. Didn't thin' 'nyone 'round here didn't know me, eh; wha' with being a clan head an' my daughter bein' tha' Raikage. Usually pretty famous; buuuuu', kinda nice ta know I can still float 'round without bein' instantly known. Kinda like tha', eh. Anywho... Alice, yes? Lemme take a look, hm? I betcha I ken tell ya 'bout tha' little seal, an' maybe do somethin' 'bout it. Make it so it don't hurt'cha, maybe even take it off, ah? Not 'hundred percent sure on tha' exact details a' tha' one, bu' I've seen similar. Bettin' ya didn't want it put on, rarely they do; anyone wearin' one'a those. What'cha say, hm?"

Alice spoke and Satoshi's face wasn't quite as happy anymore. How could someone do that to a kid? Branding them like cattle, that was truly a horrible thing. He changed his expression so he didn't worry the girl. He would be prepared if the man came back to claim what was 'his'. All he would get would be a concrete tomb. Sato shook the thought from his mind and focused on Raijin. "Yea, I've heard of you. I've just never had a face to put with the name until now. Good to know though." He said with a smile. He would listen to what the man said to Alice with excitement. To be able to get the seal off would help tremendously, as she would be better prepared if that man ever returned. "I won't leave your side, so you'll be safe Alice. It sounds like a good offer to me!" He said using that friendly charm to help any fear that might be brought to her mind. Marks like that usually come from people who were not the kindest.

The idea of the seal being able to be removed from her hand was indeed a very pleasing idea: she couldn’t remember exactly how she had come about it but she was sure that if she knew she definitely wouldn’t want it to be there. She glanced over to Satoshi with her bright blue eyes as he spoke and said that he wasn’t going to leave her side; it encouraged her to be willing to trust the man in removing it. So, she nodded her head in agreement.
 

“I want it gone if you can. I don’t think I’d want it there if I could remember why it was put there. I can’t remember anything about my past; ‘cept for the past few weeks.” She didn’t mention the glimpses she had been getting – they were more like bad dreams than anything and there was no way for her to tell if what she kept dreaming or day dreaming about was real or not. It all made very little sense to her.

Good enough for him. "Lemme set up sommat really quick. It'll keep tha' seal from tryan' ta activate an' hurt her when I mess with it." He held a palm up and facing away from them both, a flash of light and a sword suddenly in his hand. Brotherhood, his pride and joy, oldest sword and by far his favorite. He could do just about anything with it; and what he couldn't, he had it's brother Caladbolg for. The strange hooked protrusion on the far tip of the blade made it strange to use for anyone but him, however it did serve to allow him to use a neat little trick. Instead of wasting blood or a bunch of kunai to create focii, he could use the protrusion like an artist would a brush and carve intricate details with just the flick of his wrist. Into the dirt the blade went, moving in circles and whirls around the little group, creating off symbols and glyphs that marked the work of a sealer. "Juuuuussssss relax. Nothin' special, juss a suppression field." A second flash and the sword was gone, the seal was drawn, and it was beginning to glow softly with his chakra flowing into it via the passive discharge and detection web that emanated from his feet. No point wasting chakra to activate it when his passive discharge did it for him.

He reached for the girl's arm, gently inspecting the seal using a finger to draw the lines and such and memorizing them; allowing decades of experience and generations of wisdom to analyze what he could recognize. "Weird. Ne'er seen a mixed seal li'e this. Either we got a self-taught sealer, 'er some kinda' moron. It's effective, leas' in tha' short term. Give it maybe... 'nother month 'fer it woulda either broke itself, 'er broke her. Conflict's in e'ery aspect; terrible work. Aspects a' tha' ol' Hyuuga seal tha' was banned generations ago.... shitty work a' tha'. Uzumaki swirls... prolly ta' boost tha' power. Memory seals, terribly done. Etc, etc. Bit's 'n pieces a' shit tha' dun work tagether."

The tips of his fingers began to glow, and he placed them against the ends of the swirls, slowly counter rotating to 'open' the seal, and remove it. Simple Uzumaki style; anyone could read an introductory Fuuinjutsu book and learn how to remove it. The suppression seal he'd created grew brighter, showing there would have been a reaction from the seal on her arm had he not made his own to counter. Next, he began tapping and forcing his own chakra into individual spots; the 'focii' of the seal; symbols for elements and ideas that should have formed something coherent, but made a mess of barely working anything. His chakra was more then enough to shatter them without issue; slowly breaking away the messy layers of the 'seal' until there was nothing left but the base Hyuuga brand. This was where a master sealer was needed, this was a notoriously difficult to remove seal; and had there not been plenty of Hyuuga that had fled to Kumo long ago, he would have been worried about attempting this. As it was, his clan was well trained in removing the seal from having to do it so often for nearly 50 years when the 'branch' families of the clan immigrated to Kumo generations ago. "Hold still, might burn a bit, eh."

He placed his fingers at specific points between the lines of the seal; invisible focii that had to be moved to a different position in order to break the main seal. He slowly began twisting his hand, moving like he was feeling for 'ticks'; similar to how old style robbers would feel for the 'ticks' in a bank vault tumbler. It was about right, there was a specific way the seal would react once the right position was had; and he froze solid when he hit it. "There we go..." His hand began to glow again, he was encasing the seal itself in his chakra to essentially 'burn' it off of her skin; it would remove the brand entirely, and leave her skin the way it had been before. It was slow going, but after a good thirty seconds he all but peeled the seal off her skin, the black marking held in his hand for a few moments before it flashed into flames and burned away.

"Done.~ Removed it all, ya should be good ta' go, eh. Unless ya got 'nother seal somewhere, tha' should do it."

Sato simply sat and watched as Raijin summoned a blade started the process. The Fuuinjutsu was cool to watch, especially if you weren't very good at it. The tip of the man's sword had a curved edge, easy for drawing and the like. Raijin worked fast and efficiently working on the seal, which he call a 'suppression field'. Once that was done, he inspected the seal on Alice's hand. He spoke up again, explaining how badly the seal was done in the first place. Satoshi could help but cuss the man he didn't know when Raijin said it could have broke her. After the explanation, he started working on removing the seal. His hand glowed with chakra, as did the ground after a few seconds. The process wasn't long, and by the end of it the Tsukino was burning the seal in his hand like paper. Sato smiled at the success and looked to Alice.

"How do you feel?" He asked her with actual care in his voice. Kids would always have a soft spot in his heart, but Alice was a special kid. She was trusting and sweet, making her an easy target for people with bad intentions. He would stick by her for a while to make sure she is okay and fed. It was what he should do.

Alice jumped slightly when the sword appeared; there had always been something about swords that un-nerved her, at least there had been since as far back as she could remember which everyone knew wasn’t much. She didn’t know exactly what it was about them of course but if things worked out perhaps she would soon enough. She watched Raijin as he worked; first creating protection field that would keep anything bad from happening to her as the seal on her hand was removed. Then, she watched him work on her hand, her head tilted to the side with curiosity: she had never seen such a thing before.

As the seal was removed from her hand something happened with her mind, something that could only be described as a flood gate opening up. Memories flooded into her brain, ones she hadn’t had access to up until that point because they had been locked away. She remembered her loving parents; how they encouraged her to read and to learn all that she could. She remembered her parents suddenly becoming violently ill and then almost overnight passing away. She remembered then how a large man who carried a large sword came into her house and took her away. She then remembered a period of what she could only describe as hell: she was forced to serve the man and the seal on her hand was to allow him to control her. When she stepped a toe out of line, or even when the man was bored and wanted to pick on someone, she was beaten: often unconscious. She then remembered how the man became sick: she had been forced to cook for him and she had poisoned him. The weaker he had gotten the easier it was for her to disobey him, to slip away. It was how she had escaped. However, when she had gotten to Kumo something had happened and the seal had started to mess with her mind; instantly blocking all of the memories from her.

Tears began to roll down her cheeks and she curled herself up into a tiny little ball, sobbing softly. “I remember everything… I remember… the man who made me call him Master.” She wrapped her arms around her legs and hid her face as if she were trying to disappear from the world. “What if he comes back… He’ll find me. He found me last time – right after my parents were killed.”