Genin missions, they're a 'beach' (IO, Asami)

This time, he'd show that administrator.  After taking a day off of missions to train, the next morning found Hayate sat next to a door against the outside wall of the administration building, knees up against his chest, waiting for the building to officially open. He had his hood drawn up as well as his mask - Asami didn't know what she was talking about, the mask was great - and was bobbing his head along to the music played from his trusty cassette player.  There was no way he could be given a late mission if he was there first thing.

When the doors finally did open, he stood up and went inside, only to be crestfallen.  There was a different man behind the mission desk today.  His early preparation was for nothing.  Well not for nothing, he was still able to get an early mission in and possibly even do something else with his day as well, but... some of the heart had gone out of it now that he couldn't get the better of the smug front desk man.

Perfunctorily, Hayate approached the desk and got a mission sheet from a perfectly polite and efficient administrator.  The day was going pretty bland already.  He stepped away from the desk and paused to read it.  Clearing sand from storefronts?  He was hoping for maybe another thief, or something more exciting now.  Granted, he still had done less than 5 missions, but he figured maybe since he and asami had proven themselves last mission, maybe they might have more exciting things to do.  Or maybe this is what the village really needs.  He reminded himself.  The Mist Shinobi is a tool, to be used however he is best needed.


He looked up from his thoughts when the door opened.  Someone else was in this early.

304 wc

Missions being completed in this thread:

Today was a three-snooze day.

The first alarm came at 5:00 am and that was too early. The second came a few minutes after that and third a few minutes more; somehow each successive alarm sounded louder than the last. The fourth and final time the clock mocked Asami's vain attempts to slip back to sleep she had to stop herself from pulling the plug and throwing the satanic device against the wall. Instead of waging war against timepieces everywhere, however, she calmly pulled the sheets from her body, turned off the clock, and got ready for her day. Once again she found herself defeated by the merciless mistress that was time.

Roughly an hour later the young genin pushed open the familiar door of the village's administration building. Wearing a gray T-shirt, khaki shorts that reached midway down her thighs, and a pair of sandals she looked like your average teenager ready for a day on the beach. The headband that loosely hung around her neck, however, dispelled any fantasies about a day in the sun. Oh well, maybe she'd have some free time later to kick back and relax.

The stale smell of the administration building filled Asami's nose; she didn't like the place all that much. People would often stand in long lines only to be dealt with by some surly clerk. This was why she had come in so early, to beat the crowds. And, sure enough, there were only three people in the building; herself, the clerk, and familiar masked boy—Hayate. Giving the boy a half wave and flashing a friendly smile she proceeded to the assignment desk, got her mission dossier, and then made her way back to Hayate.

"You know, I'm beginning to think you're following me," she teased before taking on a more serious tone. "What are you up to today? Another statue need cleaning?"

Ok, maybe a relatively more serious tone.

She flipped through her own dossier with a lazy flick of the wrist and waited for a response.

TWC: 341

Asami's casual look actually suited her quite well, the young genin with the  short black hair looking like the very image one might picture of a teenagers day off.  You could imagine her giggling with friends at a shopping are, each carrying a bag from the stuff they purchased earlier.  It called into question Hayate's own closet - a single pair of shorts, 3 pairs of black combat pants, two white hoodies , four compression shirts, and an assortment of a few casual around the house t shirt.  Nah, he decided, I'm fine.

"Hard to follow you from in front, slowpoke." He replied casually.  He held up up his dossier in his left hand, the back of it facing Asami.  "I came early and got the best mission first thing.  Though I suppose if you dont particularly like yours, I could be gracious and trade ya. Since you were such a big help the other day."  Actually, she cleaned more of the statue than him, and pretty much captured the thief single handedly.   But no need to admit that to her. "Whaddaya say?"  His mouth was covered, making his face that much harder to read, but his eyes twinkled with playful mischeviousness.

If asami were to reach out or ask to look at his mission, he'd hold it up higher out of his reach and say "No peeking".   If she used her speed to steal it, he'd grumble "thats not fair" and cross his arms and wait, leaning his weight back and DEFINITELY NOT POUTING, until she read it.  If she politely refused, he'd suggest "Wait.... maybe we can work together on them?  Get em done sooner, and all?"

275 words 579 wc

"Whatever you say, stalker."

She stuck out her tongue briefly for good measure. She certainly wasn't about to let the boy get the best of her and that meant parrying his quips with ones of her own at every turn. So far she felt she'd acquitted herself rather well. Too bad a kunoichi needed more than a quick tongue and a sharp wit to be successful, speed was also important. In fact, it was speed that allowed her to respond to Hayate's taunts so easily.

"I say..."

In what probably seemed to be a blur of motion to Hayate, Asami countered his attempts at keeping his dossier out of her reach by snatching (100 spd) it away just before he could raise above her head.

"...let me take a look first."

Allowing a self-satisfied grin to spread across her face, the young girl flipped through Hayate's mission the same way she had with hers. What she found, however, was far from interesting, cleaning up sand? What kind of a mission was that? They were shinobi, not janitors. Asami honestly couldn't be sure who had it worse; Hayate, who had the Sisyphean task of sand clean up, or herself, who had the monotonous job of fishing net repair.

"So much for being shinobi, right?" she handed Hayate back his dossier with a defeated shrug. "I can't say my mission's any better, I get to," she made air quotes here and read directly from her dossier. "'Help mend Kazuko Nakamura's fishing nets'. That said, I think I'll pass on trading, sorry."

She helped mend her father's nets before and it was a less than riveting experience, but probably better than cleaning sand off a beach. Indeed, Asami was turning to go, but then Hayate's proposal to work together stopped her in her tracks. It would certainly help pass the time to work with someone else...

"When you put it that way, though," a soft blush rose in her cheeks. "I suppose I could help you out, 'cmon we have work to do, stalker."

Returning her dossier to the front desk, Asami slipped back out into the streets and towards the beach hopefully with Hayate hot on her heels. In no time at all the two would arrive by the seaside shops detailed in Hayate's mission specs and the work could truly begin—first sweeping, then repairing. Time to clean the sand off the beach...oh boy.

TWC: 747

Hayate shrugged at Asami's remark, arms still crossed.  As he uncrossed them to reach for his mission back, he recited in a bored, exhasperated voice "A Shinobi's job is to help the village, however it's needed."  a small sigh  "I know it, I just wish for something a bit more exciting once in a while.".  He accepted the mission sheet, but an idea popped into his head.

After suggesting the team up to Asami and having her accept (even though she insinuated it was her that would be getting help, but him!) they went outside.  Stalker wasn't on the top list of nicknames he'd choose, but maybe if he ignored it she'd try and find a new one.

Asami was eagerly pulling ahead ahead on their path to the beach, but not so far Hayate couldn't keep up.  He suspected it was another way to tease him, but kept the suspicion to himself, as they soon emerged from the city streets onto the last row of open shops facing the beach, stretching north to south.

Hayate soon understood why they had requested shinobi help instead of just sweeping the little bit of sand as normal.  The small storm last night must have had quite the gusts of wind, as while the north end of the path was clear, the halfway mark (where they had emerged from from a street) the sand began encroaching on the path in earnest, and by the last quarter the sand had completely covered the path a little over an inch or two deep, and had even piled up against the shops, seeping in the cracks in the doors.  He stood and took it in for a second, as did Asami.  As they did, and old hunched over lady came out of the closest shop just on the sands side, where it hadn't piled up too much.

"This is quite the mess!  I'm too old to be shoveling out piles of the stuff.  We all pitched in here, so can you please take care of this whole row?"  She gestured a slightly shaking hand down the sandy pathway.  "I've got some brooms and somesuch just inside"  He looked at Asami.  She has said she used fire jutsu, not wind or something that would be useful here, and he was going to learn some water jutsu later in the week from Yata, but didn't know anything helpful yet.  Manual labor again.  And no small feat.

"I guess we sweep?"  The pair grabbed the brooms from inside, one large push broom and a more normal sweeping broom.  Hayate had the bright idea to maybe use the push broom in one long path along the store entrances first, but the piling of the sand both made that too tough and ineffective, as the sand just piled back over the broom.  Asami giggled at him, watching him struggle ineffectively.  She suggested "Perhaps the short way?"  pointing towards the edge of the path a few feet straight in front of the store where the beach NORMALLY ended.


So the pair worked diligently at the beachfront, Hayate the plow ox pushing big piles of sand from storefront to beach, and Asami swooping in afterwards to clear what little had made it into the shops and the piles Hayate's big pushbroom didn't quite get.  By the time they got to the end Hayate was sweating a bit - it ended up being much harder work than he thought!  The street wasn't PERFECTLY clear, but it was close to what it might be at the end of a normal day.  

Hayate and Asami went to return the brooms, and the old lady seemed satisfied enough, even offering them a drink from her store's cooler.  Asami looked like she was about to refuse at first, but Hayate quickly stepped in, accepting graciously.  It may be more polite or more public servant like to refuse, but dammit he was thirsty.  He drank about half immediately in big gulps as the old lady signed his mission slip.

"Alright, one down.  Now yours was.... boats, right?"

wc 677 twc 1256

She really didn't want to impose. Common courtesy dictated that she should refuse any offer of compensation beyond what had already been agreed upon, which meant rejecting the kind woman's offer of refreshments. Thankfully, Hayate saved her from having to commit what was, in all likelihood, a social faux pau by accepting a bottle of cooled water on her behalf. The young girl had little doubt that Hayate would bring up her reticence later, but for the time being, she found it hard to turn down the water he passed her. She'd let the boy win this round; she had to let him win a few or it wouldn't be much of a friendly rivalry, right?

Right.

"Boats, yeah," she responded before taking a few gulps of water. "Well, nets to be exact, but 'boats' is close enough. You'll see though!"

Asami downed the last of her water and meandered her way down towards the docks. Neither her nor Hayate felt any inclination to run or even speed walk for that matter because, as much as either of them hated to admit it, sweeping up the nearly endlessly piles of sand had taken its toll. Something about working in the morning sun and pushing piles of sand around for the better part of two hours sapped the pep from both the genin's step. Funny how that works; work being work that is.

The closer the pair got to the docks the stronger the smell of fish became. It was a smell that Asami knew well because it often came home on her father's clothes and had become a smell she associated with him. Hayate, on the other hand, seemed less accustomed to the stench of the sea as he wrinkled his nose, but refrained from commenting on it directly much to the amusement of Asami. Save for the occasional screech of a gull, the two walked in a comfortable silence until they came to the end of dock 1A where a ramshackle old junk sat low in the water.

"Hello? Is anyone aboard?"

Asami knocked on the side of the boat in hopes of rousing the captain but to no avail. She glanced back at Hayate, shrugged, and knocked once more on the side of the boat.

"Hello—"

"Knock it off you youngins'," a creaky old voice floated up from below deck only to be followed by heavy footsteps. "Edna's older than you and you're just knocking on her like she's some door, absolutely despicable."

Emerging from below decks came a wizened old man with a shock of white hair that seemed to be going in every direction at once. His hair, however, was the least interesting aspect of the man. The distinction for most interesting detail went to where his left hand should have been, where there should have been a hand there was, instead, a hook.

"Mr. Nakamura?" Asami squeaked.

"That's me, you two must be here for the nets there're over there," the man jabbed his hook in the direction of what amounted to a mountain of green nets nearly as tall Asami herself. "Last time I was out they gave out so you'll find plenty of holes that need mending. You should have all the supplies over there too. I trust you both know how to fix nets, right?"

"No—" Hayate started to reply before getting cut off by Asami.

"Yes, of course we do."

"Very well, I'll be back in a few hours to sign your paperwork, so don't go running off."

With that the old man returned to whatever it was he was doing aboard his ship and left the two genin to their devices. The next few hours were comprised of Asami explaining the ins and outs of net mending, getting tangled in the massive net a few times, and talking about life. Asami talked about the time she spent at sea with her father and Hayate talked about the last time he had worked with fisherman. Thankfully, mending nets was not much of a physical job though it did grate on the mind quite a bit, so both genin were relieved when they closed off the last hole.

As if on cue, the salty old man reemerged from below deck, lumbered off his boat, and began inspecting the genin's handiwork. He never said a word while he reviewed the net and instead only grunted here and there as he ran his hands over the patches. In the meantime, Asami and Hayate waited patiently for what they both hoped was some form of approval.

TWC: 1508

Calloused old fingers rolled the netting around between forefinger and thumb on the mans good hand, checking the threads evenness and the knots tightness.   It was obvious why this man now needed help, but Hayate didn't dare bring it up despite his curiousness, and he was pretty sure Asami wouldn't either.  It was once again a big help to have her around - Hayate had been fishing with his grandpa before, but just with rods, and Asami was a surprising font of information on professional fishing.  And a lot of shared stories.  Who would of guessed she was basically half fisherman?  All he knew is that he DEFINITELY would have made a mess of these nets on his own, and she seemed a lot more sure, a lot more in her element and willing to take charge, then the other missions.  I guess the administration office either did know a thing or two, or got lucky handing out the missions.

The old man finally gave a louder grunt and turned to the two.  "Well I wouldn't give you any awards, but its passable, they shouldn't give out.  I'll sign your papers.  Give em here"  The man gestured with his hook.  Without a table to sign on, and the man being one handed and all, they ended up having to have Hayate lean forward and have Asami hold the papers against Hayates back while the man signed.

Hayate wished the man good luck with his fishing and Asami did the same, as the two prepared to head back to town.  It turns out starting early was a great idea today - they had finished two missions and it was only early afternoon, instead of well into the evening like it would have been if they started midday.  Plenty of time left for activities.

wc 300 twc 1556

As the pair made their way back to the administration building it was hard to miss the fact that the village had long since come to life. People milled about on the streets, merchants yelled at each other in raised voices, and a few children, younger than both Asami and Hayate, ran through the side streets. None of it, however, concerned Asami. What did concern her, however, were the irresistible smells wafting from the restaurants they walked by. Each one smelled better than the last making her stomach audibly rumble and her mouth begin to water.

Unfortunately, lunch would have to wait, the mission came first. In this case, 'the mission' meant returning to the administration building to get final approval on their respective missions. When they arrived Asami was relieved to find that there was only a rather short line to wait in. Fifteen minutes later both missions were approved and both genin were a few ryo richer. All in all a good day.

"Hey Hayate," Asami began as the two left the building. "You wanna grab lunch?"

Regardless of the boy's answer, Asami's response would be the same: flash a smile, nod once to Hayate, and dash off to the nearest restaurant. The only difference, of course, would be if Hayate followed her not. Only time would say one way or the other.

TWC: 1733

[Exit, claiming 1500 ryo and +4 ap for completion of 1 E-rank mission (500/500 for split WC) and 1 D-rank mission (1000/1000 for split WC). Both missions are linked in my first post. Also using the WC to claiming Hidden Hands Technique (1000/1000) and putting the remaining 733 words towards shuriken shadow clone, which with the words done in this thread puts me at 1148/4000.]

Approved my guy

"You ready my mind".  A small stomach gurgle accentuated the point.  He had skipped breakfast to be up so early.  

Then she was off dashing.   Hayate shook his head, with a wry smile.  That girl was too fast for her own good.  Sometimes it was nice to slow down.  At least he himself was getting faster just by trying to keep up.  He formed the handseals for Flicker Movement and blurred after her.

wc 73
twc 1629

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Exit
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claiming 1500 ryo (2900->4400) and +4 ap for completion of 1 E-rank mission (500/500 for split WC) and 1 D-rank mission (1000/1000 for split WC)
http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t26561-d-rank-jesus-was-a-carpenter-you-know

http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t19847-e-rank-clean-up-that-damn-sand-shima
claiming 620 wc to finish off rupture (2380/3000->3000/3000)
claiming 1000 wc  for shadow shuriken (d rank tech)
9 words to buy whoever approves this a cup of coffee