Marie remembered Mortimer telling her to wait here and boredly looked around. So this was his home huh? Not at all what she expected but still nice. Just then she felt something on her neck, having lost awareness of her environment due to her own curiosity dragging her to investigate some things she'd seen.

Behind Marie stood Najiko, and the ninja had a bone baton on the back of Marie's neck. Marie turned towards Najiko, lightly swatting the baton out of Najiko's grip. Najiko clearly let her do that... "Heh. Too slow... If I'd been serious it would've been lights out for you."

"To be fair I've never faced a Ninja before, let alone a Kaguya. I had no idea to expect it." Marie stated, her logic defeating Najiko's mood of pugilism like someone snuffing out a candle. "Marie Clariens."

"Najiko Kaguya... So you're the theif Uncle Mortimer hired."

"Yup, that's me."

[I'll break here to let you interact some, Taurou and Mortimer. ^^]

Taurou was taking a nap on Mortimer's house's roof. It was a nice sunny day, with a cool breeze and a peaceful sound of rustling leaves. Fluffy white clouds inhabited the sky, and there were fish leaping out of the water. There were squirrels skittering everywhere and there was a doe on the small island in the middle of the lake. There were two girls talking, and Taurou awoke, groggy eyed. He rubbed his right eye and looked down. Oi~ Master! There are some girls here!

Popping his head out of the trap door which led up to the roof he said "Yes I know, I invited them. Now come down and meat them."

Popping back downstairs Mortimer said "Okay, Marie, Najiko, Najiko, Marie. Girls, this is Taurou" he said gesturing up and behind him. "He is one of my apprentices and one of my more long term students so be nice to him andmake sure you would treat him as you would me."

He then thought about what he had said for a second before saying "Except for the pranks, killing and assassination attempts. Those you shouldn't do...to him OR me."

Meat.. Taurou repeated. I'm kinda hungry.. He looked over a ways and glared at the doe. He imagined he would easily be able to eat it if he cooked its thighs... But that would have to wait. He turned and jumped down the trapdoor, landing without a sound. Nice to meet you. He said bowing. What's this about assassination attempts... He said with a sleepy voice. His right eye darted between the girls' faces as he assessed them whilst his left eye remained idle behind his hair, completely concealed. What happened here Master... He looked over to him hoping he wouldn't get a riddle.

Marie smiled... She was already starting to like this catboy. Najiko on the other hand was quite frustrated.

"Whatcha mean I can't play pranks on him?" And that that Mortimer likely recalled the time she'd sniped Taurou's ears with volleys of bone needles so that triangular holes were left in the catlike hearing systems.

"Taurou, from now on consider these two your little sisters and treat them as such. Najiko is the smaller one, she's eight, a former ninja and can manipulate her bones.

The other girl is Marie, she's a thief wo can destroy things by pointing to them. Now sorry but I need you to babysit them for a little while because I have errands to run. Nothing too serious just a few people who need killing and whatnot, no harm done.

Well have fun, there's pizza in the fridge books upstairs and I rented you all a copy of kangaroo jack 2... supposed to be a classic... well gotta run MEEP MEEP" And turning into a swarm of bats he was already fluttering out the window to his own devices... leaving three psychologically unstable people in a house together... probably not one of his better ideas.

Uh no wait master... Damnit.. Taurou was now left alone with two girls who were now dubbed, "His little sisters." He looked at the two and sighed. Well, I'm not one for "babysitting", so just tell me if you wanna do something tell me... I'm going to.. Hm... Well I can't nap now, I dunno. He looked out the window, thinking when he realized something. His ears flickered upwards and turned to Najiko, And if you try anything like pranks or assassinations without my permission, I'll kill you. Got it? He gave her a smile.

Najiko snickered. She and Marie looked at one another... and then started causing trouble for Taurou. Najiko started firing volleys of bone needles from her fingers, Marie started pointing at stuff and breaking it. "If you can catch us that is!" They said in unison.

[Short post, but that's all I could think of.]

As Mortimer was flying away he briefly wondered if he should have done more than just drop the two of them in Taurou's lap... ten decided he'd make it up to him later. Maybe pick up some deer meat with the soul till attatched on the way home. He also wondered if he had left the roast in the oven... then confirmed to himself that he had taken it out... but the truth was the roast WAS still in the oven... and heaven help whoever left it in there too long.

Taurou shook his head and placed his hand over his left eye. He looked as the girls wreaked havoc and he just sighed. He was not in the mood for this... Alright that is... ENOUGH! He yelled as he punched a whole in the wall adjacent to him large enough for him to walk out of without crouching. He breathed in and charged right for the eight year old with full speed, getting her in a head lock. The other girl, he used an exarmatio on to fling her against the wall. Now listen to me!! You're going to sit down, and shut up while I fix all this. Got it?? His knuckles were bleeding, his head was pounding, and his left eye started to bleed. This day was going to be tedious.

Najiko gave a sacred look... "Y-Yes Taurou-Senpai..."

Marie gritted her teeth as she was thrown against the wall. "Damn it, fine."

Taurou placed Najiko and Marie on the couch and put a small beeper he found in Mortimer's drawers on the table. If either of you move from this couch, this will beep and I will come back and punish you. Got it? He gave a sadistic smile which looked more menacing since there was blood seeping from his concealed left eye and dribbling on the left side of his face.

Taurou had quite the work to do.. He fixed up the small knickknacks they destroyed first. That was a tedious task but was quite simple with magic. Just took about three minutes to fix a statue of a bat. Next, he had to fix the wall HE broke. He got all the pieces he could and fitted them together with magic then took adhesive liquid and made sure they would hold.

Once he was done, he was a lot more tired than before and there was more blood seeping from his eye. He sat on the chair on the opposite side of the table he placed the beeper on, and disabled it. Good, you kept still. He covered his left eye again in frustration that the blood kept seeping. Now, if you wish to be destructive little annoyances, follow me. He stood and walked out the door, waiting for the two to move.

They followed him, wondering where he was leading them. Najiko hoped they were going after animals, while Marie wanted to burst some objects on fire... They'd just had to test Taurou, see what he could handle. And they had to admit. If he could restrain them that easily he was worthy of their respect. Especially Najiko thought that, having been a Ninja. And Marie well... She was just the rebellious sort who didn't like getting bossed around! It'd taken quite an elaborate trick for Mortimer to earn her respect, she wondered if Mortimer had told Taurou the story.

Taurou led them deep into the forest. There was a large clearing in the heart of it with rocks surrounding it. There was nothing available to burn and nothing that could be destroyed with their strength. He took some dead logs, straw, and other odds and ends, and set up multiple dummies for them to attack. He then sealed all exits and anything that could be affected by an attack gone wrong, with shadow. He was weakened by this because this was his first time doing such a thing, so he sat down in a small grass patch in the rocky clearing, trying to stop the excess flow of blood from his eye. Have fun here.. He said panting a little. You can beat up the dummies, light them on fire, he made sure there were enough supplies for hundreds of them, and build more if you want. But for now, I'm going to sit here and watch you. Got it? He still had enough energy to knock the two around if they went off the walls. So he was good.

Najiko started sending bone needles, kunai and shuriken at the dummies, Marie started bursting them into flames... but eventually they got tired of that and started sparring with each other, building 'training' equipment with the materials. The girls were evenly matched as far as accuracy and speed, but Najiko had lower strength and endurance due to her age. Thus the ninja was at a significatn disadvantage.

[Oh. Najiko is 5, not 8. >.<]

[damnit Al telling me Najiko was eight... XDD]]

Taurou watched the girls spar and decimate the dummies. He was tired, but was glad they weren't trying to break through his boundaries. Seeing Najiko at a disadvantage, he felt like he should give her a few pointers. He stood slowly, trying not to over exert himself, and walked slowly over to the two sparring girls. He stopped a few meters from the girls and said loud enough for Najiko to hear: Najiko, since you're smaller and younger, use your size to an advantage and dodge her strikes instead of trying to deflect them. Smaller size equals harder to hit.

He then focused on Marie and nodded as she was doing well, but decided to give her a tip too. Marie, try and get her into situations where its almost impossible to dodge so she HAS to deflect, so you can over power her. After giving both of them tips, he sat down at his current position and watched them.

They both took the advice and used it well, but in the end Najiko won out because she;d figured out a way to spray bone needles from her fingers rapid-fire. Not just a two volleys at once, but actual rapid-fire from all her fingers that overwhelmed Marie.

"What the bloody hell?!" Marie shouted as the spray of bone needles broke her makeshift shield.

"I win, I win, I win I win I win!" Najiko shouted happily before doing a short victory dance.

Taurou laughed quietly to himself and he was actually surprised at the way Najiko won. He shrugged, and stood. Well done Najiko. He tossed her a cookie he had in a small pouch he had in his coat's pocket. One of the pieces of food he kept with him. He looked at Marie and smirked. When fighting someone, over estimate their abilities, ALL the time. So you're never under prepared, 'kay? He tossed Marie a smaller cookie, but hey, a cookie was a cookie... Right? Now, why don't you both tell me about your experience in fighting?

Marie chomped on her cookie, Najiko starting first. "I was always fighting my cousins. But it was serious, there was often bloodshed if not more serious injuries... That was until my family got killed off about a month ago. Actually that's how I met Mortimer, I was working as an assassin and was hired to kill him."

Marie laughed. "I've lived as a theif all my life. A theif has to know how to defend themselves in case they get caught in the act right? Well I met Mortimer trying to steal from him..."

To Najiko Taurou said, i'm sorry for your loss. And dipped his head slightly. But that seems like quite the bit of experience and you seem fine in battle.

To Marie, he shook his head. Tsk tsk. Thievery is bad. But then he chuckled. Did you really think you could steal from someone who looked like... Never mind.... He looked at them both. Now, tell me. Have you fought anyone other than each other, or in Najiko's case, her family? And if so, tell me who, how badly you were hurt in the fight, etc. I'm curious to see how strong you girls really are.

Najiko snickered. "Once this guy made the mistake of trying to cheat my Father in a game of Hearts, and I broke his nose in and bruised him up real badly."

Marie thought. "I've badly brusied up a lot of Police before. no broken bones that I know of, but I did give one a concussion once."

Taurou nodded. Pretty good, both of you. Now, he took off his coat and tossed it to the side. I want to see you two go full out for every cookie in my coat. If things get too bad, I will stop it. Okay? And just so you know, there are hundreds of cookies in that coat. Which was a lie but the girls didn't know that.

Najiko went first, doing that Needler Spray (as she'd come to call it) again. Marie countered by activating her bracelets, which produced simple 'force-field bucklers' which deflected the needles away. Well, except for a few with went into her hands. "Kuso!" She yelled, the punctures bleeding small streams. Najiko saw that Marie was distracted by the pain and used the opportunity, shundoing behind her to deliver a painful knuckle-blade enhanced punch. Marie had seen it coming however and blocked it.

It was at this particular moment that Mortimer arrived home and saw Marie and Najiko dukeing it out... well what had he really been expecting. "Alright everyone I'm back!" He said as he hefted up a large package of deer meat. "Who wants venison for dinner!"

Najiko got rid of the blade embedded in her knuckle, turning it into a rather nice knife. Marie deactivated her force field bacelets and would have smiled had it not been for the needles still embedded in her hands. Instead she gave Najiko a blank stare, and the ninja was clueless for a moment before shouting "OH! Right... Better get those out." And The ninja began the painful process of extracting the needles from Marie's hands.

"Ow!"

"Hold still, or I'm gonna cause more harm than good you silly theif."

[Anyone wanna add anything else before I close the thread?]