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Katsumi listened to Takehiro's words carefully in silence, slowly sipping at her sake. His offer really wasn't too bad. In fact, she liked the sound of it, and slowly nodded as he spoke. She didn't know of his capabilities, but if he had truly earned all of this money then this other merc had to be pretty skilled. That would be a relief, considering so many seemed to have no idea what the hell they were doing, just pretending they had a big set on. Bark far bigger than their bite, and when it really counted that meant shit.

Since he kept insisting, the female supposed it really wasn't repaying a debt. But, considering her personality, it just felt like she had to do it. And who knew? Maybe this would work out well, taking on a job with another person.

Takehiro made an inquiry and Kat nodded, proceeding to bow her head, responding, "Sounds good, Amakusa-san. Agreed."

She looked back over at the innkeeper's daughter who was busying herself with the various customers and at the woman running the place, before her dark hues moved back to the merc and Kat raised her brows.

"I'm sure they have heard of some jobs. If they have nothing good, certainly someone has here, with this being crossroads and all. Lots of word spreading around. Good breeding ground for news," she said. It was much easier to talk like this, purely business, and Kat actually didn't struggle with her words. The woman downed the rest of her drink and sat up even more rigidly than before, shifting in place, ready to get up and go.

"I can start now. If I get nothing within a couple of hours, there's always time in the morning," remarked the woman. Brows raising, eyes filled with curiosity, Katsumi asked softly, "Do you plan on staying the night here, or moving on, Amakusa-san? I... well, I can do what's most convenient for you."

[[Again, gonna make this work with Kat being a mercenary, if that's alright. Gonna go with the same "group".]]

This military officer was really serious, and he must have deeply cared about his daughter, something Katsumi couldn't relate to. Everyone was required to do archery training, even the skilled archers. The mercenary may not have been as physically strong as others, but she was quick and her shooting skills were high, so she found this odd. But, then again, Katsumi was never against further training and went along with it. Not only was she getting paid for protecting this bride-to-be but also getting training for free. There wasn't much better than that.

Of course, the more skilled archers and the other soldiers were separated, and Katsumi stood among a group of people, the only merc among them. They were given a speech that was said when she first took the job and everyone that was assembled at the large camp. Utmost importance to be at their best. Protect the little princess, or whoever she was. Blah blah. As curious and even serious as Katsumi was, she had heard this all before, and only really cared about the training at this point, as well as the money.

Eventually the little pep talk was over and they started getting down to business, the good stuff. The first part was hitting a target. Easy enough. It wasn't even moving, and only one-hundred yards away. It was far, but not horrible. This seemed more like a warm up, but, nevertheless, Katsumi would take the task seriously, and accomplish it with vigor.

The dummies were all lined up, and, unlike the less skilled archers, they were expected to do headshots. Bows went at the ready, arrows in place, and then the order was given to start. They were expected to go to one target and move to the next, one after the other, and that's precisely what Katsumi did. Among the archers, she was the best, her hits proving to be successful time and time again. She always breathed deeply and blocked everything else out, focusing on shooting, hitting the targets correctly. Out of the twenty, Katsumi made all headshots, with the exception one in the upper-torso, two neck shots, and just one complete miss, which came near the end when Kat got a little too antsy, too excitable. And she beat herself up over that one, disappointed in herself, self-deprecating herself internally again and again til the point where she accidentally busted her lip from chewing on it so roughly.

The next test was far more challenging, and Katsumi appreciated it. They all headed towards the outskirts of the forest near the large camp, and two men were carrying a wooden crate. A skinny, long-legged dog with mangled fur was growling and whimpering within, trying to claw itself out. The merc peered within the cage curiously and rose her brows as she looked up at the commander, waiting for an explanation.

After gaining everyone's attention and all of them stood tall and were at the ready, he spoke briefly, concisely, "Dog's the target. Whoever shoots the cur in the legs first gets a bonus. Got it? Oh, and it gets a three minute head start, so don't go immediately charging in after it."

Bonus, eh? This piqued Kat's interest, and she certainly wasn't the only one. Everyone seemed to find this desirable, and they all glanced at one another, a few grinning. Despite being pleased with this idea, Katsumi remained impassive and serious, not even a semblance of a smile across her features. The door was opened and the canine bolted from cage, quickly entering the forest. Time ticked by and they waited anxiously, wanting to pounce on the opportunity and be the first to get the dog. Soon enough the time came.

"Go and get 'im, boys."

And then they were off. The others immediately chased after the dog, while Katsumi stayed in place. She was the only one to not move. Her brows furrowed, wrapped hands reaching up to her chin as she thought through a strategy. There was a river nearby. About four miles away in the direction they were all going. She highly suspected the wild dog would head in that direction. The trees grew thicker in that area and she had seen packs there before.

She had lived in the forest for some time when she couldn't find any jobs, and saw a pack living there. This was likely one of those dogs. From here, if she crossed to the left, she could make it to the river more quickly and wait for the perfect shot. On the ground, it would prove useless and too difficult for such a hard target.

Katsumi bounded off towards the river, pace steady and brisk. It wasn't long before she was there, hearing the trickling of the flowing water. Across was where the pack typically resided, further off. The canine would eventually reach here, after maneuvering around to try and lose the others. Going over to the shallow part of the river, the woman crossed it and climbed up a tree, finding a sturdy branch that allowed her a good angle and view of the other side of the river.

Perching herself up there, the woman donned as a man pulled out her bow and bided her time. She was like a hawk, dark eyes staring down at the forest floor, searching for her prey. Time slipped by and she didn't hear a horn, so nobody hit the dog yet. There was still the opportunity to make the extra money, and she desperately needed it.

She had been correct in her assumption, and eventually the panting and frightened wild dog emerged from the trees. Kat didn't hear anyone nearby, so it seemed the dog lost the others... at least until now. He was sniffing the air, determining what to do next, whether it was safe.

The woman grabbed an arrow and pulled her bow back, aiming down at the dog, at his back left haunch. Moments passed before she finally released. The arrow whizzed by and the dog's ears pricked up, and he yelped, jumping up. She narrowly missed him, the head of the arrow hitting the ground just at its feet.

"Shit," she cursed, as the dog rushed forward and jumped into the shallower part of the river.

He began wadding through the water to cross and get to the other side, and Katsumi readied another arrow. The mercenary had one more shot after he exited the river before her current spot was not not good enough anymore. She determined where the canine would come out and was ready to fire, and right when the dog exited the water and was pushing itself out of the mud onto the shore, the arrow was released, and there was a thump and a whine.

She hit it, left, upper-foreleg, and the dog fell onto the ground. Bulls-eye! Score. Now it was time to get her extra pay and help fill her money bags. For the first time in months, they would be full, not on the bridge of being empty, and that was such a satisfying sensation.

[[Changing up the scenario a little bit to make it fit with Kat being a merc and all, if that's okay. ^^;]]

With a big event coming up, more help was needed than from the everyday guards. Several mercenaries were hired to help watch over a camp. Apparently some important military figure's daughter was getting married, and there were all sorts of rumours regarding plans about her being assassinated or the wedding being attacked by an enemy group. Katsumi was among those mercs brought in. Preparations were being made and Katsumi had been doing her job, keeping away from most of the others and keeping watch. Archers were highly valued and so she had been keeping watch at night, and making damn good money too, so she had no complaints.

Katsumi trained regularly on her own, but there had been talk about a highly vigorous training session to help build up the strength and skills of the soldiers, the guards. It sounded like one hell of a workout session, but Katsumi decided to join in. Hearing about the details, she decided it was a good idea. Building up her muscles wouldn't hurt. Strength was never her strong-suit, and she always wanted to improve, to better herself. It was ingrained in her since she was a small child.

The day of the session was raining. In fact, it was very rainy. She stood there amongst the men, pretending to be one of them, shuddering from the cold. It was a relief to start running, despite the mud, and she kept up with the men for the first few laps around the camp. But she was built for speed. While having quite a bit of endurance for her size, by the fourth lap, Katsumi began lagging behind, body slowing down. The cold and rain was weighing her down, and she felt sick. Dark hair and the cloth of her black kimono were plastered to her form, and the woman started to hate that damn tight wrap around her breasts. She couldn't get enough oxygen and her lungs burned, and Kat felt light-headed.

One lap... two... the men were starting to get far ahead of the mercenary, and she was practically at a crawl. The breeze chilled her to the bone and the woman felt lightheaded. She wasn't used to running such long distances, especially not like this. On the seventh lap, Katsumi's stomach lurched and she halted, leaning over. All of the contents of her stomach spurted from her mouth and she roughly wiped at her mouth. She desperately wanted to stop, to quit, but she forced herself to keep going.

It felt like ages, hours passing, when she reached that final lap, the whole time Katsumi wondering why the damn camp was so fucking huge. How many miles was that? Shit, how many inches of rain was there now? It was so hard picking up her feet through that mud. It was like tar. How the hell were the others already at the push-ups? Katsumi felt like she was dying. Fuck, this sucks.

Unfortunately, the push-ups were the worst. She rested for a good thirty minutes, four hours having passed counting the laps, before she started. Her arms could hardly support the woman, her petite form not built for this kind of work. She could pull back a bow no problem, but her own weight over and over again? Kat's strength was in her legs, and doing real push-ups was torture. She had to keep stopping, falling repeatedly on the ground, face first in the mud, arms shaking violently and feeling like an inferno was turning her muscles into ash. When she was halfway through, most of the men were done, having moved on, and Katsumi felt pathetic. How were they to believe she was a man when she struggled with ten, even five push-ups at a time?

Three-fourths of the way through, Katsumi couldn't keep going. She had to rest. It felt like she was dying, kimono entirely soaked through with mud and water. The woman crawled over to a tree, panting heavily as she rested against the trunk. It was so cold and Kat hugged her torso, clinging to herself in hopes of retaining some of her body heat. Exhaustion blanketing her petite, even fragile form, Katsumi dozed off, slumbering for over an hour.

Her eyes fluttered open and the grey sky was now black. How many hours had she been at this? Did she sleep? Through her exhaustion, the merc panicked and saw that all of the men were done now. She got back down on her hands and kept at it, eventually finishing the strenuous push-ups, close to six hours passing since she finished the laps.

She couldn't stop now, no matter how much her small body screamed and begged for her to do so. Due to her training with her father, Katsumi's lithe body was flexible, her stomach muscles strong, and so the merc didn't have nearly as hard of a time with the sit-ups. She was about ready to pass out from weariness, but her determination kept her going, and the girl paced herself reasonably, taking short breaks at intervals of thirty.

Towards the end, even with the pacing, she started to slow down and vision blurring, and when she reached that last one just in time with the twelve hours, Katsumi collapsed on her back. The merc laid in place, not moving a muscle since every single one ached and screamed in agony. Everything hurt then, and she internally cringed at the thought of how she'd feel in the morning. The soldiers and other mercs finished hours ago and were gone by this point, leaving Katsumi all by herself. She contemplated crawling over to her tent and sleeping, but the thought of getting up now brought tears to her eyes.

Finishing the session in time was good enough. She couldn't move her body, everything was in a blur, and Katsumi just laid in place. She couldn't get up right now. She wouldn't. Nope.

[[Had more fun writing about her suffering than I care to admit. >.>; Ahem.]]

I'm obviously not staff, but I always love to chat and plot! =D

Skype: slythecat222

Oh, and you can call me Freya, if you like. That's what I go by on another forum and it's like my second name. xD

The man fell and Katsumi took a step back, immediately grabbing another arrow, dark hues searching for any nearby enemies. Ahead, the people were further off and she was about to fire at the closest bandit when there was commotion from behind. Eyes narrowing, the woman swiveled around, heels digging into the earth, and she caught sight of bandits on the rooftops.

Of course. Put the brunt of the group at the front as a distraction to allow a smaller skilled group to slip into the enemy territory. Katsumi shouldn't have been so foolish. Her father would have certainly beaten her for such insolence, for not paying closer attention. If the village leader died, she wouldn't get paid, and that just wouldn't do. Katsumi was hungry and really needed the pay.

Clenching her teeth, the woman's arms dropped to her sides and she began to run forward, dodging around scurrying members of the village. Skidding to a stop, she lifted her bow and readied it once more, closing a single eye and aiming at the bandits who were deeper within the village. Hopefully the others could handle the ones at the front, although she didn't have much faith in people.

Someone fell through a roof, but Katsumi ignored it, aiming at some of the others who were still at the top, heading towards the village elder. Inhaling deeply, the archer, if able, would attempt to fire shots at the bandit group within, either singular or in a succession, depending on the number and their location.

And the fight had begun. Men were charging towards the town, and the men of the town towards the danger. She stayed her ground, being paid to not protect the men, but the village itself. Katsumi caught sight of the bandit charging her, and she quickly cocked an arrow. Taking aim, the mercenary fired off a shot hopefully before the man reached her, attempting to hit him square through the head to stop him dead in his tracks, and so that she could move on to other targets.