Mayako and Arita stood outside the enterance to a small town, "Whats the matter with you? Why don't you want to go into town?" Arita argued Mayako grumbled, "I just don't want to okay" she huffed and turned away Arita sighed, "Look, we should really get some supplies, we don't know when we'll come to another town" Mayako groaned Arita grumbled. "Whats the deal with you and going into towns?" Mayako had decided not to enter any towns that spirits lived in as there would be posters with her name and face on them, as well as her phsyical discription which, wasn't all that hard not to miss, Mayako grunted, she turned to Arita "It's because every town I've been to before I met you has been visited by the Elder Council, they told people to be on the lookout for me, they even gave a detailed discription of me plus, they have dozens of posters with me on them!" Arita grumbled. He looked into the town and back at Mayako, "Alright, you don't have to go in" Mayako smiled "Great, now if we just go the long way around we can-" Arita cut her off "Woah, I said you don't have to go in but, I do" Mayako gasped.

  "Wait? Why!?" Arita crossed his arms, "Because, we need supplies, we can't live off nature the whole time" Mayako frowned and grumbled Arita was right, living off nature was hard as she didn't know how but,it beat risking going into a town and being discovered and being captured and handed to the Elder Council, "But.." Mayako started but she stopped herself. She knew there was no point in arguing with Arita plus, he was in the right they did need supplies like better food, at that moment Mayako's stomach growled, it seemed eating fish and berries like she had been wasn't enough for her stomach which was accustomed to real food, Mayako sighed in defeat "Alright, you can go" Arita smirked which got under Mayako's skin "I knew you'd see it my way" Mayako grumbled "But don't take too long! Understand, get what we're going to need and get back here!" Arita sighed "Alright, I promise not to take to long" Arita smirked, "but, if a beautiful girl happens to catch my eye" Arita stopped. He could feel Mayako's angry eyes on him, he chuckled nervously "So, yeah, I won't be long" with that Arita ran into town leaving Mayako waiting for him at the enterance.

 Arita walked down the street from the enterance he looked at all the buildings as he passed them he saw no sign of any posters with Mayako's picture on it he hummed to himself and continued on his way among the many buildings with signs out front Arita finall came across a sign that signaled a store he smiled and walked in the shelves were lined with almost everything that he and Mayako would need and then some while they traveled together. He chuckled to himself and stared towards the shevels of products he whistled as he parused the ailes, he would occasianally stop and pick something off one of the shelves and look at it, if he thought something was good he'd take it with him. He walked the aisles for a good minute grabbing things that would be needed and some extra things, mainly snacks and junk food, when he couldn't hold anymore he decided to go to the register, he walked up to the cash out counter and dropped the arm full of products he had onto the counter top.

 The cashier smiled and raised an eyebrow, "Will you be buying all this sir?" Arita nodded the cashier grinned and started putting Arita's stuff in bags while that was being done Arita dug in his pocket and pulled out his wallet and waited for the cashier to finish. While he watched the cashier put things in bags Arita decided to make some small talk, "So, uhm, I was wondering" the cashier looked up "Yes, what is it?" Arita scratched his cheek "I was wondering, if maybe by chance, operatives of the Elder Council had been here?" the cashier raised an eyebrow. "Why? Do you have business with them or something?" Arita laughed nervously, "Oh no, just wondering is all" he smiled nervously, the cashier still had a skeptical look on his face but he answered Arita's question, "Well, no, I haven't seen any Elder Council operatives in town" Arita grinned "Oh, really" Arita smirked.

 The cashier raised an eyebrow and went back to what he was doing, "So, they haven't been here yet" Arita mumbled "That'll be fifty dollars sir" Arita looked and the cashier had his hand out and all what Arita had picked out was in bags on the counter. Arita nodded and smiled, he opened his wallet and pulled out a fifty dollar bill and handed it to the cashier who took it, he inspected it and then put it in the register. Arita took the bags in hand and bowed to the cashier and walked out the shop, Mayako kicked the ground and sighed as she waited for Arita to come back "I wonder if he got anything good?" Mayako hadn't had any real food in a while. She had been runnng on river fish and berries ever since she stopped going into towns she started picturing herself, finally being able to have some decent food, ones that didn't look back at you while you ate them or, could be posisonous if they were a certain color, as she daydreamed her mouth watered, she smiled to herself, maybe having Arita with her had its perks.

 It was then she heard Arita call out her name, Mayako looked and saw him running over to her with bags contaning all what he bought Arita stopped in front of him and she looked at what was in the bags she saw bags of candy, chips, drinks and many other snack foods. Her mouth watered at the sight, "You got some really good stuff" Mayako wipped her mouth as she continued to devour the goods with her eyes, Arita grinned "Ha, just seeing real food after so long gets your mouth watering huh?" Mayako grumbled and glared at him. Arita chuckled, "Sorry" Mayako huffed "Whatever, you got some stuff now we can take the long way-" Arita cut Mayako off again "No, we're going to stay in this town for a bit" Mayako had a dumbfonded look on her face that went to shock and then switched to anger. She grumbled "What do you mean we're going to stay for a bit!" Arita sighed "You know I don't want to go into towns!" Arita grumbled "I know, but listen, the Elder Council hasn't been here yet, that means no one here knows about you yet!" Mayako gasped.

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 She was excited, a town where no one knew about her however, her excitment soon faded as all kind of scenerios came into her head, Arita could see the look on her face and sighed, "Whats the matter now?" Mayako rubbed her arm "What if someone in town does recognizes me from a poster in another town, or what if theres an undercover Elder Council opperative, what if-" Mayako started to mumble on more 'What If' scenarios her body shuddered, Arita sighed put a finger to her lips to quiten her. He gave a warm smile, "Look, I know your scared of being caught, but, this town has no idea about you, you have nothing to be scared of alright" Mayako gave a sad look, Arita sighed he felt like he wasn't getting through to Mayako but then, he thought of something, something that could turn Mayako over, he smirked "You know, this town might have a bath house" Mayako's ears flickered a bit. Arita grinned, he could see he was winning her over, "I know you must be tired of bathing in rivers, wouldn't you like a nice hot, refreshing bath?" Arita grinned wide Mayako eyes shimmered at the tantilizing thought of a hot bath.

 Mayako hummed in thought, Arita chuckled to himself he knew he had her where he wanted her, Mayako smiled "Alright, we can stay a while" Arita pumped his fists into the air "Alright! Chalk one up for the Cat!" Mayako giggled "Shall we go in Ms. Runaway?" Arita teased Mayako grumbled she gave a smirk, "Yes, Mr.Pervy Cat" she smirked as she walked passed him Arita grumbled "What did you just say!?" Mayako giggled and started to run off. Arita chuckled, he smirked "Wait up!" he shouted and he ran after Mayako when he had caught up with her the two of them casually walked down the road they had bags of snacks in there hands, Mayako giggled everytime she placed a chip in her mouth the taste was one she hadn't had in a while which made it taste one hundred times better. She was so glad to finally eat something that wasn't bitter or tasted of fish, Arita was busy chewing his way through a bag of jerkey Mayako giggled as she watched him struggled to tear the piece jerkey.

  Arita looked over at her as he chewed a piece he was able to tear off "What?" he said with a mouth full Mayako groaned in disgust, Arita gave an apologetic smile and he chewed a bit more and swallowed "What?" he said with a empty mouth "Nothing" Mayako looked away Arita gave a puzzled hum and shrugged his shoulders and went back to chewing on jerkey. As Arita finished chewing another piece he looked over at Mayako "So, what do you want to do first?" Mayako looked at him with a puzzled look "Come on, this is the first town you've gone into since how long? There must be something you want to do?" Mayako thought. She smiled, "I want to take a nice, hot, bath" she mimicked the exact way Arita had said it and she giggled, Arita grumbled but, he smiled seeing that Mayako was actually enjoying herself for once "Alright, the princess wants a nice, hot, bath" Mayako chuckled and nodded "Alright then, lets find the princess a bath house shall we?" Mayako smiled brightly and nodded.

 As the two went on the search for a bath house they had no idea a group of thugs were watching them, there was three of them one was tall and looked really strong and  looked to be the boss of the group, the other two looked to be like low level henchmen one was of medium height and was shifty looking he also had  a knife strapped to his side the other,  was  almost as tall as the apparent boss but not by much and he was a bit goonish. The three had been tailing them ever since the tall henchmen saw Arita in the store, "Is that him?" the boss asked the shifty one chuckled and nodded, "Yeah boss, he's the one alright, but it seems he's not alone" the tall goon eyed Mayako, he whistled "Damn, that's one fine piece of tail" the shifty one eyed Mayako as well and chuckled in agreement. The boss grumbled, "Look, I don't care about some pretty piece of ass, all I care about is that guys wallet" the boss stared at Arita who was chuckling and grinning while he talked with Mayako "You should have seen it boss, that guy bought fifty dollars worth of stuff like it was nothing and, look what he's wearing, he's obviously loaded" the boss chuckled and grinned.

 He eyed the two of them "Alright, here's the plan, we fallow them, we wait until the girl's all by herself, we harass her a bit and we demand him to hand his wallet over or we hurt his little girlfriend" the two henchmen chuckled "Good plan boss" the tall goon commented. They saw Mayako and Arita take a turn down a road "Lets go get us some money boys" the boss grinned the two henchmen nodded and the three moved out from where they had been hiding and watching Mayako and Arita from. [Part 1 END]