Takigakure's Border

[Akemi Yamagata]

Akemi had a sinking feeling that not all was well above ground. She used the shadow clone jutsu and sent the clone toward the enterance of the tunnel. She stood off to the side, away from the group, waiting to hear the report from the shadow clone.

Akemi's shadow clone was on its way above ground when she ran into Nicholas's clone. She was close enough to the enterance of the tunnel that she could sense two different sources of chakra. One was very familiar to her.

[Nicholas]

"Akemi, hold on. We've got a couple of people up top, and while I'm not sure what they're up to yet I've heard more than enough to assume that they were preparing an ambush for at least one of us. I'm heading over to warn the others now."

[Tsuki Kyoushu]

Tsuki let out an annoyed sigh, her eyelids lowered alittle as she felt her temper growing hot. She looked over the clones with their swords aimed at her and Deego, without moving her head, and then focused her attention on the one who spoke.

"Why should we tell you anything? I'm not in a very talkative mood." Tsuki said, her voice still completely even and bored as if this were a daily occurance for her.

[Nicholas]

Nicholas simply stood still and kept his distance, surprised at her nerve - it took a lot to stay that calm with a blade to your throat.
"The way I see it, you have two options. The first and least painful is that you simply answer my question, and we see where it goes from there. The second option is that I assume that you're a threat and treat you as such, which would mean neutralizing said threat, or in other words removing your ability to pose as one."

[Tsuki Kyoushu]

The corner of Tsuki's lip went up in a smirk, her light eyes glittered with the excitement that she was starting to feel.

"Deego, I believe we've come face to face with that bounty you were sniffing earlier." Tsuki said instead of answering Nicholas, though she kept her eyes locked onto him instead.

[Nicholas]

Nicholas's eyes hardened at the mention of the word "bounty".
"Fine, that explains why you're here. Who sent you? Or are you just trying to cash in on the public one?"

[Akemi Yamagata]

"Understood, but I think I know who one of the two are. I'm going up." The clone Akemi said before vanishing into a puff of smoke.

A few moments later, the real Akemi climbing up one of the other trap doors, not too far off from behind Nicholas, but still enough to remain hidden. She managed to hide her chakra to keep it from being noticed until she was ready to reveal herself.

From her point of view, she could see the two new comers perfectly, and the one with the familiar chakra was definately the person she thought it was. She would remember that white hair anywhere.

"Tsuki Kyoushu, What are you doing here?" Akemi asked, taking a few steps closer.

[Nicholas]

"You know her?" Nicholas said, unmoving and not taking his eyes off of Tsuki and the kid for even an instant.

[Tsuki Kyoushu]

Tsuki shifted her attention to Akemi as soon as she appeared behind Nicholas. It had been a few years since they had last seen each other, but Akemi hadn't changed much.

"Akemi Yamagata. Just the person we were looking for. Could you call off your guard so that we can talk like old friends?" Tsuki asked. She once more looked at Nicholas and waited for him to give the signal for his clones to drop their weapons.

[Nicholas]

Nicholas didn't move.
"Akemi?"

[Akemi Yamagata]

"You could say that," Akemi said in reply to Nicholas's question, "Getsugakure has two clans of assassins. The Yamagata clan, and the Kyoushu clan. Tsuki is the daughter of the leader of the Kyoushu clan. You could say that we were rivals growing up, as well as friends in a way. It'll be okay."

Akemi stepped a little closer, now coming to stand beside Nicholas, but keeping a safe distance from Tsuki.

"So Tsuki, what are you doing here? Last I heard, you left Getsugakure and took on the life of a bounty hunter. What does that have to do with me?" Akemi asked, studying first Tsuki, then her traveling companion.

[Nicholas]

Nicholas nodded slightly in response to Akemi, then briefly made eye contact with each shadow clone. The clones each sheathed their copies of Zanryu and stepped back, but remained tense, ready to move at the slightest hint of agression from Tsuki and her companion.

[Tsuki Kyoushu]

Tsuki glared at the clones, and momentary thoughts of destroying each of them with single slashes of her own sword went through her mind before she forced her anger down. She put her eyes back on Akemi.

"Funny you should mention the bounty thing, thats exactly why we're here looking for you. Seems you've made someone quite angry. Tsk tsk..." Tsuki said with a sigh. She leaned back against a near by tree, and crossed her arms leasurely.

"We were sent here to kill you." She added, as if it were some small, minor detail.

[Nicholas]

Nicholas tensed again, his logic being the only thing holding him back from cutting both of the other nin down.
Something's off. If this person came from one of Getsugakure's assassin clans like Akemi, she's no amateur, which means she wouldn't have revealed herself or her objective to the target of her own free will unless she stood to gain something from it, but what could she want? Is she trying to offer us the chance to outbid the contract? Unlikely, those people have an honor code almost as strict as my own.
Nicholas's eyes narrowed in concentration as his mind began racing through the different possibilites, but he never took his gaze off of the two in front of him.

[Deego Horutan]

Deego pushed the blade at his throat away as if it were some child's toy. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a little book. He lightly licked his finger and began turning pages. "Hmmm..." Deego put his index finger on a page and looked up at the man's clone. He began looking back and forth, as if comparing. "Hey, could you stand a little straighter for just a second?" Deego wanted this man's posture to match the one in the picture to make sure.