Floodwaters & Tea [IO, Mission]

When the group began to pick up the last of the survivors, Kita was beginning to feel relieved. With Kasumi's reassurance that the sucorvivors were safe for the time being, Kasami's puppet Tako taking Kita's place on the oars, and the safe rescue of two more survivors, Kita was beginning to feel good about the mission. More and more survivors were turning up alive and well, and on a more personal, selfish level, Kita was beginning to regain some warmth and feeling in his body. Kita smiled shakily, knowing that soon the mission would be over. However, his smile soon faded when the last survivor was dragged into the raft.

A nine year old boy barely clung to life in the back of the raft as the group tended to him, checking his pulse, and covering him with an ever increasing amount of blankets in a desperate and frantic attempt to save the child's life. Kita looked on with a great amount of worry clearly evident on his face, his eyes drifting between the motionless child swaddled in cloth and the drop off point, which seemed simultaneously both incredibly close and impossibly far away. Kita looked around the boat at the chattering souls aboard. Kasumi and Murata couldn't take care of the child at the moment, they were too busy ensuring that the rest of the people aboard the boat survived, with Kasumi being in charge of the puppet rocketing the raft forward, and Murata operating the radio and guiding the raft towards safety. The two survivors that they had dragged aboard were also in no position to save the boy's life. They were cold and tired as well, and the group couldn't ask them to strain themselves even more saving the child. That left Gonk, and as much as he was trying to save the child with blankets, it wouldn't be enough. Kita stood up and threw took off his brightly colored poncho, exposing himself to the elements. "He needs more than just blankets, that won't warm him up fast enough. He needs body heat too, and lots of it!" Kita clasped his hands together, forming the dog hand seal with frigid fingers. His body exploded in a puff of smoke for just a moment, before revealing a small, thickly furred panda underneath (Transformation Technique). The creature looked at Gonk with Kita's stormy gray eyes, and began to speak in an identical voice. "Creatures with a lot of thick fur and fat are going to be better for generating body heat. Hopefully this is enough to keep the kid alive until we get to the drop off point." The panda made its way over to the blanketed child, and sat next to it, warming the creature with its thick fat and fur. Though the fur was damp, Kita felt it working. Slowly, the child seemed to regain strength, his body beginning to warm slightly. Eventually, Kasumi's puppet pulled the group into the drop off point, and white cloaked ninjas ran quickly from the building, snatching the survivors almost before the group had the chance to get a word out. The last that the group saw of the boy was his thin, colorless frame wheezing slightly, his life hanging by a thread.

The group waited anxiously within the field hospital on Hana street, enjoying a proper meal for the first time in a few days. Kita felt himself slipping in and out of consciousness due to the sheer exhaustion that he had experienced over the mission. The feeling of heat within his fingers and toes was unbelievably relieving to Kita. Eventually, Kita woke up for the last time. The group had been seated inside a make-shift office of sorts, sitting in small white plastic chairs as they waited for someone to come by a debrief them. Kita wiped sweaty palms off on his pant legs. As far as Kita knew, the group had no idea what happened to the survivors, whether they were alright and made it through. Kita looked at a nearby clock seated on the wall. The group had been there for a while. Kita turned to the rest of the group and gave a weak smile. "That was a bit of a crazy mission huh? It's a good thing that we managed to grab as many survivors as we did. I don't want to think what could've happened if we hadn't got there in time." Kita's smile faded away, and he gazed up at the clock once again, wishing that time would go by just a little quicker. "They're taking quite a while to debrief us, huh?" Kita rubbed the back of his neck. "Well... I guess that we have some time before they speak to us. How're you guys holding up after all of this? It was a pretty stressful time, especially with that little kid."

Word Count - 810

Total Word Count - 1513

Finally, finally, they are out of the cold. The change of clothes offered by the field hospital is unfamiliar and slightly uncomfortable, but it is worlds better than the drowned rats they had all been when they first returned from their mission. Just as slightly-uncomfortable is the plastic chair she is currently sitting in, but it is all worth it for the warm bowl of noodles she slurps down as Kita speaks.

"These things happen," she says between bites. "Weather like this is the truest expression of life. There is little you can do but endure. It's like that for all things. The movements of people are much like the movements of clouds." She takes another bite, pausing so as to not speak with her mouth full. "If that boy dies, I want you all to know that it was not your fault."

Her words are strikingly casual. It is not a very good setting for heart to heart conversation, really, and she is very much intent on her meal. There is no need for her to affect gravitas, though. She believes her words to be self-evidently true.

"You won't understand this for a long time, in your hearts, but you need to hear it. If not now, than remember this the next time."

A tired-looking Jounin steps into the waiting area, a green-hued Hoshigaki with sunken cheeks and a raspy voice. He pulls up a chair, looking as grateful for it as the team was, and begins their debriefing.

They had done a good job the past few days.

[Exit]

[260]
[TWC: 1687]

Claiming:
16 stats (12 going into Chakra, 4 going into Speed)
1487 words go into finishing One-Handed Seals (previously partially trained here)
200 words into chipping away at Storage Displacement (previously trained a little here)

Murata, approved.

SORRY SOUJI I FORGOT THIS WAS A MISSION

also claiming:
3,000 ryo +100 ryo, 7ap

Not worries. Figured it was implied. I'll approve either way.

Kasumi was hesitant when given a clean set of clothing to wear.  The events that happened whilst being under the ever watchful eye of the Kage's guards were still fresh in the girl's memory.  The feeling of being trapped, the feeling of being caged, the feeling of being unwanted – all of those feelings suddenly rushed through her which caused her to inhale sharply and hold up her hand.  

”I don-” Kasumi started to say.

No, its all right, now.  Aloide has accepted me into his village.  He trusts me now, and I haven't done anything wrong that would warrant my detainment.  Kiri is my home and I am amongst friends, she throught to herself as she exhaled slowly.

”Er, thanks for the dry clothes,” she said at last.

Kasumi changed with Murata and wrapped her hair in a clean towel.  Once she was feeling dry, she joined back up with with the rest of Genin squad.  Finally she could relax.  All of the people they rescued were being tended to.  With skill on behalf of the medical nins and some luck, those they saved would pull through and live to see another day.  Kasumi hoped this to be true for the boy most of all.  He would inherit the village one day, wether to be a ninja, like herself, or even a modest fisherman, he would play a role in the intricately woven basket that was the Mist.  

”Good idea to turn yourself into a panda, Kita.  That was some quick thinking on your part.  I did everything I could to bring us back to the extraction point, though your effort surely played a part, more than we know.  Perhaps we should go check up on him later, if you want.  I'll accompany you,” Kasumi complemented and suggested to Kita.

The young Hyuuga sat and listed to their leaders words.  She stared deeply into her bowl of noodles as Murata casually excused the boy's fate.  It sounded as if she did not care, though perhaps this was an accidental assessment.  After all, she did seem to be head deep in her own noodle bowl.  There was some truth to her words.  Only the strong should survive.  If Kiri's populous were all weaklings, then the village as a whole would be weak and prone to attack.  The storm would root out the weak, but on the opposite spectrum, that logic did not seem fair.  Kasumi stirred her noodles with a given set of chopsticks before placing them down on the table once more.

”I hope the boy pulls through.  Everyone deserves a second chance.  Especially if they did no wrong to begin with.”

At this point, Kasumi's emotions were starting to show through.  Team Seven had been at it for the past three days with barely any sleep.  Once the team was dry and ate their fill, it was time for the squad to be debriefed.  As the Jounin who would debrief them walked in, Kasumi was amazed to see another Hoshigaki.  The Jounin had a greenish hue to his scaly skin – unlike Gonk's which was blue.  This made Kasumi curious as to which of the colors were more prevalent, but realized this was not the time.  As the Jounin asked his questions, the squad answered them one by one.  As squad captain, Murata seemed to take the reins and answered the questions thoroughly to the best of her ability.  Soon enough the Jounin ran out of questions to ask and appeared to be satisfied.  Their mission was complete.

There was still plenty of work that needed to be done.  Once the rain finally stopped for good, and the water dissipated over the course of the next week couple of weeks, teams would be needed to clean up Kiri's streets and rebuild anew.  For now, Team Seven would disband and all four of its Genin would be allowed to catch up on some well deserved sleep.

(WC = 648)
(Exit)
(TWC = 276 + 1114 + 966 + 648 = 3004)
(Claiming + 30 stats, 500 words to learn Eight Trigrams: Thirty-Two Palms, 1200 words to learn Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, 1000 words to learn Basic Medical Ninjutsu, 304 words to add to Chompy, +3000 ryo, +7 AP)

Approved, Kasumi

As soon as their boat arrived at the shelter, medical ninja rushed off the boy and the other survivors away, leaving team 3 to make their way to the shelter to be debriefed. Once there they were given towels and dry clothes to change into. Kasumi and Murata went into one room while Kato and Gonk went to another. Gonk tried to dry himself but ended up shredding the towel. He carefully put on the clothes, still damp, and went back into the waiting room. They were all served bowls of ramen and they immediately started to chow down.
“Food has never tasted this good!” Gonk thought, practically inhaling the stuff. Right as Gonk polished off his bowl a jonin walked into the room and pulled up a chair. To God's surprise, the person debriefing them was a Hoshigaki. Gonk recalled his name was Wakame and he was one of the rare Hoshigaki to be born with green scales. Wakame was a good shinobi, but not so good to be deployed on one of Xyxer’s crazy Hoshigaki suicide missions until he was a Jonin. Gonk didn’t know the whole story, but Wakame was able to survive, but he suffered a serious injury that kept him off the front lines and now, he mostly does desk work. He questioned them about what happened in a raspy voice, and then told them they were free to go after hearing their story.

“Poor guy,” Gonk thought. “He probably has to de-brief every squad.” Gonk stood up from his chair and waved goodbye to everybody, saying “Bye everybody, great job.” and then walking into the big room filled with rows of cots, and laying down on the first unoccupied one he could find, immediately drifting into sleep
[Exit]
[WC=293]
[TWC=1235]
[Claiming 12 stats: 5 strength, 5 speed, 2 vigor; 855 wc into Water Dragon Bullet (2750/2750); 380 wc into Chakra Infusion (1719/2000)]
[Claiming 3,100 ryo, 7 ap]
[Advent Calendar Day 4]

Approved