My Family's Honor (Kenji)

[Kenji]

As the envelope hit the table, Kenji pulled it toward him as he opened it, looking at the money inside, slowly pulling out one stack of bills before casually thumbing through the stack seeing that the bills were all there. He then placed the stack down and pulled out the next stack and repeated the process. He knew in some circles some people took offense to counting the money in front of them, but Kenji didn't much care for niceties. He had worked with too many thieves and con artists that he knew better.

You always counted the money.

He was quick about it though and it only took a few minutes before he tossed the stacks back in the envelope though not before peeling off several hundred yuan off off a stack and putting it in his inside jacket pocket. He then closed the envelope and made like he was putting in a drawer, when in reality with a flick of his hand a secret compartment in the desk opened up and he put in there,making another motion so the metal compartment slid back into the wooden desk seamlessly.

Returning his attention to Zuka he heard her ask "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, seeing as your dressed to the nines."

"Not at all," he replied before returning to fiddling with the tie again " Just....getting into character." He finally got the tie on properly  as he continued " I'm meeting a..." he chose his next words carefully " contact later tonight and if all goes well I'll get the information I seek. The key is that this contact doesn't know my chosen profession or my real name for that matter. They think I'm an ambitious young attache for the Earth Kingdom Embassy." he said simply.

[Zuka]

While the money was being counted she stood there and waited, crossing her arms. It was all there but she didn’t tell him that, Zuka knew the drill and no matter what she said he would still count it. While she was waiting for him Zuka took the opportunity to glance around his office to get any hint of what Kenji had been up to in the interim years. Some kind of hint, but, in true Kenji fashion there was nothing of use to her out in the open. No, he was too smart for that to have it just in plain view for anyone to see. With nothing to look at Zuka once again looked back at him and watched as he counted the rest of her money and as he finished and put it away she stood there and waited.

”Not at all, Just....getting into character."

She rose a brow slightly at him in question.

" I'm meeting a... contact later tonight and if all goes well I'll get the information I seek. The key is that this contact doesn't know my chosen profession or my real name for that matter. They think I'm an ambitious young attache for the Earth Kingdom Embassy."

”I see.” Zuka shifted her weight a little to her left foot as she adjusted her stance ”what kind of information are you hoping for? “ Surely this couldn’t be over that quickly, nothing was ever that simple but, he obviously had a direction on where to look and she wanted to know as well. Who was he meeting with? What kind of information would they have? Zuka knew she couldn’t be there to handle this herself but right now this was the next best thing…the only thing she had that helped her piece together this awful puzzle and she wanted to be kept in the loop

.

[Kenji]

”I see. What kind of information are you hoping for? “

Kenji paused for a moment as he did not want to tell her exactly what he was getting, this was already sensitive enough. So in the true spirit of this case,he sidestepped her question as politically as possible.

"So here's the thing, it doesn't matter if that tip Raiko got was given to him on a literal silver platter. He's many things but he's not stupid. So he had to investigate this himself. If the tip was wrong he wouldn't want it to come back to his people after all he's still fairly new to office. So who would he trust to investigate?" he waited for a moment for answering " The Water Tribes embassy of course. I spread a little paper around the switchboard operators room at City Hall and they confirmed that Raiko's office has been in touch with the Water Tribes embassy more than usual, and usually after normal government hours."

He leaned back a little as he concluded " So someone in the Embassy had to confirm the tip, the information I'm getting tonight will help me narrow down who did it and from there why your..." Kenji thought better of it "...the councilman was framed."

Kenji figured that would sate her curiosity and that would be the end of it for now. What he had negelegted to tell her that it wasn't just information on the current embassy staff that he was getting, he was also getting records on the former Councilman Sota. He knew she would take it badly,even though in his mind he was just trying to get the full picture. So he kept quiet about it for now, no point in bringing it up now.

[Zuka]

Zuka inhaled deeply to calm herself as he started to explain about what he was going to be looking for. Her anger was not at him but at her situation. She hated not being able to do anything, it felt wrong just sitting by and letting him do all the work for her but she knew that if she got involved it would only make matters worse and that was the last thing she needed or wanted.

Repeating her deep breath Zuka uncrossed her arms and moved to sit in the seat that she had been in earlier this afternoon, having the need to do something other than just stand there. "Kenji, I trust you'll be...delicate with this." Zuka looked up and over at him while he was finishing getting himself ready "I have my reasons for distancing myself from my family and I don't need to drag more of them into whatever this is.

[Kenji]

At the mention of delicate Kenji snorted involuntarily. He brushed off some imaginary lint of his jacket as he said " Don't worry, the contact I'm meeting is also ambitious but she's not exactly the brightest star in the sky. She thinks it's for some potential trade talks in the works and I'm going to be using the information to help wine and dine some of the Water Tribe ambassadors to get a better position in the talks. In return I promised to talk to my boss to talk to her boss and get her in the meetings."

He continued " Now seeing as these talks are all just figments of m imagination, I'll keep the files for a day, and then return them to her, apologize, say that the talks fell through in the early stages," he paused and gave a small smirk " Then I flash her a charming grin and tell her that when the next one comes up I got her put on the short list for people involved. She's none the wiser and your name never gets mentioned, not to mention because I have an alias in this as well it puts a secondary layer of protection around this."

He had told her the gist of his plan. He had left out some details, but there was a reason for that. That should put her mind at ease and let him carry on with his evening. He lifted his hands up in mock calming gesture " Complicated plan I know, but you know it's almost as if I do this for a living" he said throwing a pointed look at Zuka.

She was telling him to be delicate... really?

He glanced at the clock, he still had close to an hour before heading out, so he waited to see if she had anything she needed.

[Zuka]

While he explained Zuka sat there with her jaw set tight. She had faith in him, she did, she wouldn't have come to him if she didn't but he had to understand where she was coming from. Not only was this her father and his reputation at stake but also her own, there was just so much riding on it..forgive her for being a little worried.

Complicated plan I know, but you know it's almost as if I do this for a living"

As he finished Zuka sighed and rolled her head along her shoulders. "I know, I'm sorry I'm just...this is hard." She said defeated. But, now that she had it was time for her to leave. She had felt vulnerable enough for one night and didn't need to get any kind of sympathy from him...not that she expected she would, that was not Kenji's style. But, she should get going, their business here was done for the night and he had someplace he needed to be and she had her own things to get to. Training sounded good..getting to beat up on something always made her feel better and, it was almost the full moon. Maybe if she could throw herself into working on her bloodbending that would give her a nice distraction. Then again, a drink sounded just as good. Not necessarily as productive but still pretty good.

Standing from the chair Zuka stepped around it and walked back toward the door and paused there "I know I'm not your first choice of client but thank you for taking this. I owe you" Even if she had paid for his services Zuka still felt like she would owe him. It was a personal matter and those usually don't come without a favor. Maybe she had been around the Triads too long but that was how things worked and that was what she was used to.

[Kenji]

"I know I'm not your first choice of client but thank you for taking this. I owe you"

She was already paying him. As far as Kenji was concerned they were square but he knew if he had said as much she would argue and it would be a whole thing. She was stubborn that way. So he took the freebie when it was offered,besides you never know when having that particular favor in his back pocket might come n handy.

"Yeah you do."

He didn't say anything else and let her show herself out,as he exhaled and focused on the task at hand. Time to go to work.

(End)