Here, kitty. [Open]

It's dusk, and foggy, as per usual. The village's eponymous mist settles heavy and pale. The remains of a once-proud storm devoured by the barrier outside, now a gentle rain, rolls into the bustling residential and commercial islands of the village. Wet cobbles soon reflect the lights lining the streets as bright watercolor, villagers chatting and enjoying their evenings beneath well-used umbrellas.

Just feet away from the bustle, overworked and overtired medical ninja Mino Kurokabi crouches next to a dumpster under the protection of her white umbrella. She squints blearily at the alert, gleaming eyes of her father's escaped cat underneath.

"You absolute buffoon." Mino, for the fifth time, reaches out with a poor attempt at a coaxing hand towards the injured calico. For the fifth time, he hisses and swipes at her before retreating a little further under the dumpster, shivering in the cold and wet. Her bedside manner is not quite there, today, and her tone of voice has grown somewhat hostile. "I assure you, I can get you out from under there the hard way. In pieces, if you don't -" Mino draws her hand back abruptly after a sixth swipe - "you obnoxious little bitch,"

This would be the perfect kind of vaguely humiliating, menial task that a genin team would be perfect for. Even anybody with the sense to speak to the animal gently. Mino's had too long a day to do anything other than act like a fool and try to angrily berate the fearful and distrusting cat into seeing reason.

[254]

It was your typical day in Kirigakure. Everything wet. The floors, the buildings, people and their clothes. With it raining most days on the islands, it was nearly impossible to avoiding being drenched. Even on a day such as this where the rain was light yet constant. Spend enough time out and about and your clothes will be stuck to you like glue. Unless you were smart enough to get yourself an umbrella, something Kotsuzui had never done. He instead used the cover and protection his hooded white cloak offered him. He made sure to invest in a water proof one since he had been forced to live here. Probably the best thing he's purchased since being here aside from his alcohol. It was only a few days ago he had been in a bar telling himself he'd put a end to wasting his days in a bar drinking his life away. He was half right in the end. He no longer find himself spending hours on end in a bar. Now, he just brought the alcohol with him as he roamed the streets of Kirigakure. Even though Kotsuzui had now been a resident here for a number of years he still felt like a foreigner. An outsider. He didn't feel like he belonged here. That this wasn't his home. 

The barefooted Kaguya found himself squatting down and leaning against the back wall of a building in some random alley he happened upon because it was empty. Even on a rainy day like this the streets were busy with people out and about doing their business enjoying the latest delights to be found in the markets. Thoughts of returning home to Konoha crossed his mind as he threw back his head and drank a couple gulps of sake from the white bottle he currently carried with him. Thoughts of the clear blue skies and glowing greenery back home in Konoha filled his thoughts, taking him away from this miserable wetland for just a moment. Only a moment at that. His daydream quickly and sharply came crashing down as he was interrupted by noises coming from down the alley. Cursing to himself, the young Kaguya took another swig before pushing himself up to his full height and turning his head to observe what was going on. Previously he had been blocked by a number of garbage bins and had been out of sight from anyone passing by. Now he would be in full view of anyone looking.

From down the ally, which was only about 15 meters away, he could see someone bent over near another set of garbage cans interacting with what looked like a very friendly feline. Whatever was going on, her attempts at retrieving the cat weren't going very well. Even from here Kotsuzui could tell the cat was frightened and that an aggressive attempt and retrieving it would't go well. Not unless you wanted to be marked up. Eventually someone who knew the female arrived, suggesting that the cat may be hungry. A good suggestion. Offering the cat food, assuming it accepted, may help calm its nerves. "Maybe it can use some of this" Kotsuzui spoke up, showcasing his sake bottle. "Anything to stop the screeching before my ears bleed." He was in fact, referring to both Mino and the cat.

"He's not hungry," Mino replies without looking at Arcanis, naked irritation still obvious in her voice. Then she takes a deep breath, rubbing a hand over her forehead. Slowly, she exhales, re-centering herself and casting her tired eyes towards her new colleague. "I'm perfectly fine. This..."

Kotsuzui interrupts, then, and Mino trails off mid-sentence, turning her head towards him. She remains crouched next to the dumpster, priorities still squarely focused on the quietly-growling cat curled up underneath. Mino takes a moment to connect the voice and figure. One of the Mizukage's catches from Konoha a few years back, isn't he? The pink one. The, ah - the former Mizukage's catch, rather. She still has to catch herself, often.

"Kaguya," she calls back to the figure after a moment's examination, rolling a few appropriate counter-insults around in her mind. She saves them for later. "Apologies for the language. This is my father's cat. He's gone and gotten himself hit by a cart, by my best estimation. He's never been very much fond of me." Mino squints at the curled figure, pain-narrowed green eyes staring back reproachfully. Were it another day, she might comment on the sake, but at the moment she really cannot bring herself to care what Kotsuzui is doing with his free time.

"If one of you would like to try to retrieve him, be my guest. Even if I eliminated his pain, he'd still struggle and hurt himself further if I were to grab him. A wonder I even bother."

[250]

Both attempts to give the feline food and beverage from the Genin and Chunin respectively were denied by the older woman. According to her, the cat wasn't hungry. Whether it was hungry or not the food could have been used as a solid distraction to nab the cat. Perhaps a tactic only he would have used. The two strangers turned their attention to the Kaguya, allowing him to get a better look at them himself. He had seen the older woman around before. After all it wasn't common to see people out of their prime years being a shinobi. So when you came across one they often stood out like a sore thumb. He was however, very bad with remembering names. Fortunately the other stranger had called her by name when he arrived. Kurokabi. Regardless, he was going to forget her name nonetheless. He saw no need to remember the names of people he would interact little with. 

The woman also recognized Kotsuzui, referring to him as 'Kaguya'. She went on to apologize for her language. Kotsuzui wasn't entirely sure what she had said deserving of an apology. Perhaps he was more drunk than he realized. Seems the cat was all agitated because it was hit by a cart. More reason sake would help, Kotsuzui thought to himself sarcastically. Numb its pain. She went on to offer the job to either Kotsuzui or the other stranger. He instantly regretted offering the sake. He inadvertently pulled himself into a situation he very much did not want to be in.

The male stranger gave a suggestion, but retracted it rather quickly suggesting Kotsuzui's hand-eye may be a little off. Fair assumption to making considering they didn't know that Kotsuzui drank truck loads of this stuff. "Are we still in the academy here?" Kotsuzui said, taking another swig. This whole situation was very reminiscent of some small time mission shinobi were sent on when they were in the academy or even freshly promoted Genin. Now here he was, years later, being asked to retrieve a cat. "Can't you just paralyze it... or do you not know that jutsu?" Kotsuzui inquired. If it hadn't been done already because the woman didn't want to use a jutsu on an animal, then the Kaguya would glady do it if it meant ending this.

"Momo,"  She replies to Arcanis, the name dripping off her tongue with abject malice. "Don't let the name fool you, he isn't sweet."

Unlike Arcanis, Mino actually trusts Kotsuzui to have the manual dexterity for this. Alcoholic shinobi tend to be very functional alcoholics. That, or she's eager to have somebody to shunt the blame off on for the cat's untimely demise. It's a mixture of the two. She lets out a sharp little bark of a laugh at Kotsuzui's rhetorical question. She'd been asking herself the same thing. "Perhaps,"  she replies simply.

Anyways. Solutions. He's offered a potential one - one that she'd considered, but that wasn't feasible before she had help the cat didn't abjectly loathe. She'd brainstormed her way up to the plan of 'shadow clones and transformation', but Momo always saw through ruses like that, clever little idiot. The next avenue would have been to play dumb and grab a civilian to help out, but she hadn't been feeling particularly social.

"Paralysis? Not for long. I have to be careful, as well. I'm not used to such small targets... but it is, of course, doable with help."  They have a game plan, then. "Hedatari, please lift the dumpster. Kaguya, if you'd be so kind as to scoop him up? I'll keep him still."  Mino weaves the four handseals of the Temporary Paralysis Technique - the new 'for babies and small animals' edition - and Momo's next aggrieved swat freezes mid-air as his muscles lock up, the cat only able to further reply with a rattling, furious hiss.

[255]

With a bit of dubious teamwork and perhaps ill-advised jutsu use, the cat is retrieved and well on his way to recovery - and the three go their own separate ways once again.

[Exit]

[TWC - 759]

Claiming 7 stats, going into Chakra.
Putting 759 words into beginning to learn Mark Tracking.