I Caught the Thief

"STOP, THIEF!", came the shout through the market.

Zansho looked up from the book she had been busy reading as she heard the shout through the market. The voice sounded old, and female; as if it belonged to an elderly female. She was shouting about someone stopping a thief, and as Zansho looked around she saw a guy taking off. The guy was running as fast as he could, which was still pretty slow - at least compared to someone with any amount of training beneath them.

She then looked back to the woman as she began to shout again. "Please!!! Someone stop him! He's stolen my purse!" The woman looked upset, and rightly so: that man had stolen her purse and it likely had a lot of important things in it, such as her identification and likely some money.

Zansho looked over to her father who was likewise looking in the direction that the thief had gone. "Go get 'em, Zansho.. I know you want to."

Zansho nodded, threw her book to the side, and took off up the street. Her feet pounded against the hard, stone road as she went; following the same path that the thief had taken. Her red tails of her Ao Dai shot up behind her, making it look almost like she had wings, or perhaps was wearing a cape of some kind. Her orangish-red hair likewise blew behind her as she ran. It wasn't hard to keep track with which way the man went; as he ran he knocked people and objects over, had even gone so far as to completely knock over a fruit stall which caused the fruit to spill all over the ground and the man who owned it to begin shouting profanities after the fleeing man.

Zansho hurtled the fruit that was spilled all over the ground and the pieces of broken stall,  and followed the pre-opened path, continuing to chase after the man. She was closing in, able to see him ahead of her. She continued to push herself forward, harder and harder, noticing a few times how the man slowed each time he looked back. He was getting winded, tired; he obviously hadn't planned on being chased after for this long.

Zansho moved closer and closer, continuing to pursue the man. Finally she caught up, extending her hand, and grabbed hold of the tail of his shirt. The abrupt stop caused him to trip and fall, and Zansho used the momentum to fall on top of him; forcing him harder to the ground. "STAY STILL!", she shouted, wrenching the purse free from his grasp that he had stolen from the elderly woman. She could hear people running behind her, and looked up to see the authorities arriving to take the man into custody.

"Thank you, miss. Can you make sure that elderly lady gets her purse back? We'll handle this gentleman, don't worry."

Zansho nodded and got up and off of the man, allowing those in charge to take him. She walked back, meeting the elderly woman halfway. She handed over the purse. "I caught him, and got your purse back. I don't think he had the chance to take anything from it; he was too busy running the entire time."

"Thank you child, here, please take this as payment for your help..", said the old woman who handed over a small pouch of coin. Zansho took it and nodded her thanks before heading back to her family's traveling stall.

Word Count: 583