Shadows Under Fire, Pt 1: Cats of Black

Mission Name: Black Cats: Debut
Mission Type: Investigation
Mission Rank: B
Mission Goal: Investigate the group known as ‘The Black Cats’
Description: A group of skilled thieves has come into the city and has begun to work the place over. No one’s managed to even find a clue as to who they might be or what they’re really after. The police have called you in to investigate and see if you can point them in the right direction.
Payment: 25,000
Requirements: C-Class or 2 D-Class

Mission Name: Black Cats: First Act
Mission Type: Investigation/Combat
Mission Rank: B
Mission Goal: Capture or eliminate the member of The Black Cats.
Description: The police have taken the clue(s) you found and now have a lead on where a member of the black cats might be hiding out. Investigate the lead and if it follows through, capture the suspect for questioning.
Payment: 25,000
Requirements: C-Class or 2 D-Class

Mission Name: Black Cats: Sudden Finale!
Mission Type: Investigation/Combat
Mission Rank: B
Mission Goal: Capture or eliminate the rest of the Black Cats.
Description: The member of the black cats you caught revealed information, the group known as ‘The Black Cats’ are a trio of sisters who travel the world stealing things and fencing them off for the highest profit. You caught the youngest sister, and she told you where the other two would be hitting up tonight. Capture or Eliminate them.
Payment: 25,000
Requirements: C-Class or 2 D-Class

It really took some incredible gall to rob a ninja community. It took something else to make a habit of doing so and get away with it for any extended period of time. Finding out what that something else was one of Ashitaka's goals as he carried out the investigation that even the police couldn't handle. Normally, this was a job for the Uchiha, since even their children could be expected to have unlocked at least the most rudimentary versions of their Sharingan and would therefore have a stellar capacity for searching for clues. However, for reasons that eluded most, the Senju found himself on the job. The fact of the matter is that despite his ancient bloodline, he was technically new in town; and given that he wanted control of such a prestigious clan, he knew that he was going to have to buildup a reputation for getting things done. Again.

Despite lacking a Dojutsu, he did have some pretty good eyes. His other senses were equal in capacity though, despite having forgotten the couple of hand seals that transferred his Sensory chakra into his more traditional sensory organs. He was able to see things that other people had overlooked, but sight wasn't the only ability that aided his search for clues. He could smell... cured leather, soft-boiled, treated with expensive oils and mixed with a distinctly feminine scent. A catsuit, worn by a woman. No... multiple women. At least two, possibly even three. He happened across a stray hair which confirmed his suspicions, and transformed his right hand into a pair of tweezers which he used to grasp it as he supported himself on his left. He pulled gently on the strand... and pulled, and pulled, and pulled. It offered little resistance, but the damn thing was nearly as long as he was tall.

He revealed his finding to the CSI agent, who collected it in a small plastic bag with some kind of zipper (also plastic) on top which was used to close it. The discovery of this clue led to others, all of which would later be brought together to ascertain the identity of one of the culprits. For now though, Ashitaka's sharpened senses had alerted him to another discovery regarding the case: the chief detective was nervous as a fawn with a bear in front of it and a wolf pack at its back. He guessed what had the man on edge and tried to reassure him.

"Don't worry, Chief Detective. I will make sure to publicly minimize my participation in this case so as not to compromise your dignity and that of your subordinates." he told the man in as mellow a tone as he could manage. Though he was not nearly the bastion of charm that his previous mentor Okane Tomi was, he was sure that his sharp hearing and fine muscle control afforded him the ability to speak in an extraordinarily pleasant voice.

"Ahhh... that. Yes. That..." the middle-aged man replied, the very picture of hygiene, eloquence and other dignified traits as he trembled in place, sweating bullets and stammering. "Y-y-y-your k-kindness is mu-ck! -much appreciated, my lord!"

Ashitaka had guessed wrong. The man was not relaxing, not even slightly, although for the life of him the Senju couldn't guess why. Was he so afraid of these criminals? They didn't seem to be dangerous enough to warrant that.

"Well then. There doesn't seem to be anything else at this scene, and I have other business to attend to. Please contact me as soon as your specialists reach a conclusion." he said lightly as he headed out of the cordoned-off area, ignoring the Chief's uncharacteristically pitiful attempt at a "Yes, my lord!"

Serena Kyrie thought she knew stealth. She also thought her sister Felicia had gotten the fuzz off their little gang's collective tails. However, as she entered the floor where her apartment was located, she immediately suspected that at least the latter of the two was not the case. For one thing, the hallway was dark, which she was sure was in violation of some fire code or other. Slightly later to her attention was the eerie silence. There were no sounds from the couple who seemed intent on tearing apart their own domicile and screaming at each other every night, nor from the young man who'd apparently been trying to drown out said domestic violence with even louder music, nor even from the old man who never tired of renovating his place.

And here she thought that "It's too quiet" was a cheesy cliche that was grossly overplayed in movies, but now that she was fully engulfed in silence so intense she could swear she could hear her own heartbeat, Serena got the impression that the movies critically undersold the experience. She'd always thought that she would be relieved to stop hearing her neighbors' obnoxious noise, but the reality is that it was terrifying. It didn't help that she also didn't hear the miscellaneous feline noises her apartment full of cats ranging in size from tabby to black panther was also dead silent. That meant that either someone had released or killed all of them, or at the very least alerted them, which bode just as poorly.

Her brain processed all of this input in a matter of seconds, leaving her to stalk the hallway leading to her room ready for anything. Her better judgement told her that she should have just walked away and alerted her sisters to the potential danger, but said judgement wasn't going to get in the way of her finding out who was responsible for this and seeing them punished.

The glint of the moonlight filtering through the window off a steel wire mere centimeters from her face alerted her to the presence of the trap a fraction of a second before the gentle, almost imperceptible brush of another one against the back of her hand informed her that she'd touched a trigger. Cursing, she quickly performed an aerial backflip in an attempt to evade the net of wires springing closed around her. Her effort was rewarded with her being suspended upside down with her arms bound behind her back.

As she calmed her nerves and tried to suss out how to free herself from this predicament, one of the shadows nearby congealed into the towering form of... a really hot guy. She gave her captor an intense one-over and, realizing that she still couldn't see him very well, came to the conclusion that this was one of those ninja she'd heard so much about. Serena had dismissed the claims that they had some kind of magic as embellishment of their abilities, but she couldn't find a more logical explanation as to how such a large man had gotten the drop on her.

"Well this is awkward..." he said by way of greeting as his head indicated that he too was scanning her body, and she could feel his eyes lingering on her breasts. "That was supposed to pin you to the floor."

Serena was sure that the sound of his voice alone could bring her to orgasm, if he really tried. It had the same auditory appeal of velvet sliding over polished steel. Still, she'd detected the uncertainty in his tones and pounced on it.

"You can pin me to the floor yourself..." she purred to him, hoping to catch him further off guard with a quick and direct erotic assault. It worked well enough on the other men and women who'd poked their noses into the Black Cats' activities. "Although common courtesy demands that we should at least get each other's names first..."

"There's no need for introductions." the man said a little too quickly and forcefully, as though he was afraid the slightest hesitation would compromise his resolve.

(Oh he's one of those... How positively delicious!) she thought to herself as a wicked smirk slowly but relentlessly seized control of her face. Out loud she said, "Don't be like that. I'm sure we could get along quite well if we just talked to each other like normal people. Here, I'll start: My name is-"

"Serena Kyrie. Also known as "Catwoman"." he cut her off, his voice and demeanor cooling like water poured through dry ice. "You and your sisters are wanted on numerous counts of drug and human trafficking."

"You... you must be mistaken!" she retorted pitiably, feeling liquid nitrogen course through her veins. "My sisters and I are just thieves! We would never-!"

"Steal enough opium, heroin, and prostitutes that even local crime lords would put bounties on your pretty heads? It is strange that such things would be pinned on the three of you." he interrupted her again, but she nodded vigorously regardless. "Almost strange as the fact that a department of police put together by ninja, for policing ninja, can't get their hands on a handful of petty cat burglars."