Rainwater Restaurant [Kikuko, Mission]

Don't Forget An Umbrella
Family Visit
Restaurant Rehab


Zaibatsu was currently heading towards a certain destination with conviction, as he was almost perfectly suited for the task at hand. He was a pretty decent builder in his tribe, and he even helped out with most of the huts and some of the stone structures, when his village actually got around to building them, before he became a mercenary. This combined with his terrifying stature made him unique qualified to do the mission that he was assigned. He knew that he was going to have a partner, and he hoped that it was not Nico again. He didn’t have any harsh feelings towards the guy, he just wanted to expand his social network a bit and not be so isolated or reliant on a certain person. His goal this time was to go to a restaurant and help the people within renovate the place, but he also had a mission that the family there didn’t know about, and that was to inform them what they could and couldn’t know or talk about, with their son being a ninja. 

Zaibatsu figured that it was better when complete strangers would give them the talk that they needed, as it was better to be impartial about things, and if the family was unreasonable, it was hard for the family member that was a ninja to talk down to or put their foot down towards the family, especially if the family members were the patriarch of the family. Zaibatsu didn’t really care about any of this, and he was just going to tell it like it was and make sure that the family understood the ramifications of leaking out the information that they got from their son, if they got information at all. The son also needed a talking to, making sure that certain information wasn’t shared with the non-shinobi family members, for obvious reasons. 

He was sure that the genin would know, but it was better to reinforce this policy and make sure that it would stick in the minds of the ninja. Zaibatsu was already told by another ninja what he could and couldn’t say to the civilians of the village, and although he didn’t have a family here, he wouldn’t mind if they were reminded as well. As he made his way to the restaurant, he was supposed to wait outside of it for a bit, and he would be contacted by his partner. He didn’t know who his partner was, because he had accepted the mission/s first, so his partner had a general idea of who they were looking for. 

It was incredibly difficult to miss Zaibatsu, he was eight foot eleven inches and had a body builder’s physique, as well as horns on his head. He was stared at everywhere he went, and so he was sort of the talk of the town with the civilians, not so much the ninja, as they were used to seeing strange things around. Zaibatsu sat on a bench that was outside of the restaurant, and noted how humid it was, when it started to sprinkle down rain, which was fairly common in Kiri.

WC: 523

Ah, the wind was refreshing and cool today. Carrying the tang of the ocean, of salt, of fish, of change. Sensations and scents from foreign lands, carried upon zephyr breeze until finally resting here in the embrace of Kirigakure. It would remain here, for a while, before inevitably being whisked away by the might of the Storm Wall. Where would it go to next, she wondered? Inevitably all things undergo travel, change, transformation. Would she recognize herself six months from now? What would that ‘her’ from then say about her? Even staying in place, humanity is constantly changing. We grow, adapt, learn, feel, experience. All in pursuit of that one, fleeting goal. Slippery as an eel and as thin as a spiders thread. Fulfillment. Happiness. Peace.

Stepping with a steady gait, she would throw away a dango stick in a nearby trashcan before focusing upon today’s task. While the offer of extra snacks from Mr. Temujin had been incredibly kind, and she had needed that sort of a meal before embarking properly on a mission, she feared that she would soon be late if she couldn’t locate the setting from which she would be conducting today’s task. It was a curious combination of things, she noted- both the publically available D-Rank mission as hired by the family, and a C-Rank mission assigned directly from the village. Ah, but of course. Ultimately, they were shinobi- agents of the village often submitted towards certain objectives and missions to which secrecy was the absolute highest priority. Civilians, however, tended to misunderstand such things. For families outside of the ninja life, sharing was considered to be natural, simply the way of things. If a child were to refuse to share information with their elders, it was disrespectful. But again, it was simply the way of things. Better to keep one’s mouth shut and their head attached to their shoulders. It might sound callous. And quite frankly, it was. But her job was to convey it as gently as she could, while still getting the message across. She could do it, she figured. After all, her family had the exact talk, once upon a time. Now, where could her partner be. Perhaps it would be Sayatria, or even Daiko? He had said that he was helping around town recently, maybe he had been given a pass to undergo missions. No, that wouldn’t make sense considering the exact task. Then who-

Ah. Him. There’s no other explanation. She had never seen a man as large as him in her entire life. To her, he was more mountain than person- nearly double her height, by the looks of things. How did he grow to such heights? Was it a kekkei genkai? Or perhaps simply a quirk of genes and good eating? Gosh, she would love to find out what the heck he was eating if it meant that she could have grown that large when she was younger. Then again, she did love her fish dinners. Ah, the capricious nature of life.

Bounding up to the gargantuan man, the mid-afternoon light would catch off of the headband around her neck even as the sun barely peaked through the clouds. It was a decidedly gray day, today- the possibility of rain was growing with every passing second. “Heya!” Waving with one hand, she would greet the horned man with blistering cheerfulness. “You’re the Genin I’m supposed to be meeting up with, right? For the mission?” Right? Oh gosh, hopefully he was. Otherwise, this could end up really embarrassing.

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[590]

Zaibatsu was just waiting, looking through the streets and towards the restaurant they were supposed to be helping, noticing that the building was in a state of repair, with a large amount of furniture gone and looking a bit bare, numerous boxes piled up inside. Zaibatsu wondered how the people were going to feel when he came in and essentially threatened them and then helped them fix up their restaurant, but this did not matter much to him, just enough to get him to chuckle a bit to himself. As he was sitting there thinking about this, he heard the pitter patter of someone walking through the rain soaked streets towards him, and the sound was pretty fast. He looked, and noticed a petit looking woman suddenly walking up to him, seemingly in a very good mood. He wondered if she was like some of the other small girls in the village that wanted to see how much he could lift or ask how tall he was and how he got so big, but reality was a bit different. 

Zaibatsu was ready to entertain this person, when they asked if he was the one that she was supposed to do the mission with, although she sounded a bit airheaded when doing so. She seemed hopeful, and it seemed that embarrassment was already welling on her face as Zaibatsu looked at her for a moment. He was pretty confused suddenly, but that was the fault of his own head making assumptions. Before he could think about it any further, he stood up and started speaking to the girl. “Yes I am! I am Zaibatsu Ajin! What’s your name, little girl?” Zaibatsu said, not even aware of the fact that this could be considered an insult to certain people. He was raised as a barbarian and then a mercenary, so he had no concept of basic social skills, and just said the things that came to his mind. 

He was more thinking about the mission and how he was going to do it more than thinking about the girl’s feelings. He was glad that he could finally start the mission, however, because although he didn’t care about the slight rain that was falling on his head, it would be pretty bad if he dragged a miniature ocean into the restaurant with him and got everything soaked. Without specifically waiting for a response from the girl, he started walking towards the restaurant with a slightly swift gait. “Let’s start the mission then.” Zaibatsu would say with conviction as he was walking towards the restaurant, almost seeming like a thug that was walking towards the building, ready to smash it up or demand protection money. His facial expressions were always intense, so he didn’t really come off as a gentle or approachable person. The people in the restaurant seemed to think this was the case, and were worried, seemingly scrambling to talk to each other on how they were going to handle this huge thug that came over to their place. At this time, Zaibatsu had just opened the door.

WC: 516

Zaibatsu watched carefully as the girl that he was talking to seemed to stare at him in awe, and he simply smiled. She gave a cute little salute and said that she was a genin and at his service, which made him think that she was a bit too pure for the ninja world. He didn’t really mind this too much though, as she would realize this when she would have to kill someone, which was inevitable. Still, he didn’t feel like raining on her parade, as the village itself was doing plenty of that already, as he noticed the weather getting worse by the second. They finished walking into the restaurant, and as Zaibatsu was walking towards the wonder of the place and the other builders that he had hired, the girl jumped out in front of him and started speaking. She suddenly greeted them with a nice and bubbly type of greeting, and Zaibatsu, while not angry per se, was a bit annoyed at her personality, and he was unsure why. 

As she made her whole spiel about there being no cause for alarm, Zaibatsu shot her a quizzical look. He was wondering why there was some sort of need to calm the people down, when they were essentially there to strong arm them into not speaking about the ninja world, if they learned it from their family member. Zaibatsu wasn’t sure about who the family member was, but that didn’t really matter at this point, he wasn’t going to soften his words just because of the association. The girl then went on to ask where the owner of the store was because they were here to help out the renovations. Zaibatsu was quiet for a moment until the people in the restaurant started to calm down because of the little girl, as they probably thought that she was going to be the leader of the mission. 

When the owner actually stepped forward to greet the girl, Zaibatsu interjected with his own particular focus on the mission, which was the talk he needed to have with them. “We also need to speak with you about something more… important.” Zaibatsu said slightly menacingly, and this had taken the owner aback, and he seemed worried. Zaibatsu wanted to continue, he didn’t really mean to frighten the man or intimidate the man, it was just his natural speaking voice and demeanor, which was simply brought up by being a tribal and mercenary. Zaibatsu continued however, and he wanted to make sure that the man knew what they were going to talk about so that the owner knew what he was getting into and that he probably wasn’t in trouble.

“We’re also here to tell you what you can and can’t say with the ninja stuff.” Zaibatsu wasn’t entirely sure how to phrase the point he wanted to get across, but a look of understanding came over the owner, before he timidly nodded. Zaibatsu gave a nod as well, before going on with the first mission that the girl spoke about. “What do you need help with?” Zaibatsu flatly said, looking around at the boxes and crates, wondering what he needed to do.

WC: 531

It was funny how places like these could bring back memories. Once, a long time ago, her father had taken her to a restaurant just like this. Back then she barely stood past his knee, clutching onto his pant legs so she wouldn’t fall as she toddled back and forth. Needless to say this wasn’t the location, that owner having since retired and moved out of the village, but there was a decidedly nostalgic scent in the air that she couldn’t quite shake. It was an older building, yes, and perhaps it was dusty. That didn’t mean, however, that the shop was down and out for the count. So long as they provided the appropriate assistance today, she had no doubt that they would be able to make a timely recovery.


Which made their dual purpose all the more complicated. How is one supposed to maintain positive image in the eyes of the public when assigned a task like this? Perhaps the masses could be led by hook and by crook, but by using both in such a short period of time would only lead to confusion among the masses. As much as it was her job to simply fulfill the mission, rather than philosophize about it, it simply made no sense. Sure, their job was to instill a warning upon the family- a warning that there were certain matters in the shinobi world that simply couldn’t be talking about to civilians. No matter how highly one held the standards of filial piety, when it came to such matters of life and death the chain of command undoubtedly held greater sway. At the same time, she felt that there was a delicate balance that needed to be kept. A balance between a wary caution, and downright fear and hatred of the system. Would they be able to strike that crucial line? To be frank, she wasn’t sure. What would unfold would be purely due to the efforts of both herself and her new partner- no, Zaibatsu. She would need to make greater efforts to remember his name.


Watching the restaurant’s patrons calm down, she would allow herself a small smirk. She had set those at ease who weren’t involved. That was a good start, to be honest. That way they could focus on who they actually needed to speak to while drawing as little undue attention as possible. Noting Zaibatsu’s interjection, she would allow him to speak without interruption. He certainly cut for an imposing figure, she would note. The way that shadows crossed upon his face, combined with his sheer mass, made it so that it would be near impossible to take any gesture that he expressed as non-threatening. But who was to say that was on purpose? It could very well just be a quirk of habit, or perhaps biology in his case.

“I’ll handle moving the stuff around if you don’t mind addressing protocols with the owner.” She would ‘whisper’ at Ajin- although it’s a bit hard to speak into somebody’s ear when they’re double your size. Still, through the power of standing on her tiptoes she would manage it. “I know I don’t look it, but I spent a lot of my childhood at the docks. I’ll be fine carrying heavy stuff. Unless you want to do this differently?”


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[1530]

Zaibatsu had just finished up telling the people in the restaurant that there was something else they needed to talk about, but he was fine with completing the renovation first. The owner of the restaurant was a bit startled at the first sentence, but then Zaibatsu asked where they should start with the renovation, and that seemed to be slightly pushed into the back of his mind. As he was trying to figure out what the owner was thinking, the girl next to him suddenly went on her tippy toes and whispered into his ear. He was unsure how effective this was to keep things a secret, but she said she wanted to deal with the moving of things because she used to work on the docks and would be fine lifting the heavy things while he spoke about the protocol with the owner of the restaurant. Zaibatsu was going to deny it, as he was not that good at speaking to people without them thinking that he was going to kill them if they went against his suggestions, but upon further analysis, he found the thought of the little girl carting around the heavy objects while he was talking with the person quite funny. 

In a perfect world, she would ease the owner down into the protocol with her bubbliness that seemed rather disarming to normal people, and it was difficult to get mad at her or think that she was out to get you. She was definitely far from intimidating, at least now, but Zaibatsu knew more than most that women were quite fierce when they were trying to kill you. After the funny thought, Zaibatsu simply shrugged at the girl, “Sure, why not?” he would say, before turning back to the owner of the shop and letting the girl get on with her business. Zaibatsu remembered that her name was Kikuko, and would try to call her that if he needed to address her instead of just saying ‘little girl’ or something of the sort. Zaibatsu then looked at the owner of the restaurant and pointed towards a door leading to the back. “Let’s go there and have a chat, shall we?” Zaibatsu would say, leading the man to the back of his restaurant, not ready to take no for an answer.

As Kikuko was helping out with the furniture and boxes, Zaibatsu had gone in the back with the owner, and the owner had also called his wife to the back, since both family members needed to be informed about the protocol. One they were both there, they seemed quite nervous, and Zaibatsu had no idea how to calm them, so instead he didn’t care about it and simply started talking. “According to the rules of the village, you are not allowed to talk about anything related to missions that your son is on, or even ones that he has completed, for sixty days after. You are also not allowed to tell anyone where your son went in the event that he has left the village, and only disclose information about him to Jounin of the village and above. Any questions?” Zaibatsu would finish his pre-prepared speech before looking at them, hoping they didn’t have any questions so he could get this slightly troublesome part of the mission out of the way.

WC: 556

It seemed like everything was going fine for the most part, as Zaibatsu was explaining the plan to the owner and his wife, he was reiterating what the couple could and couldn’t say, making sure that they understood by speaking a bit slowly. He essentially had all of this written on some note cards before this, so he had rehearsed it a couple of times before. After he had started discussing this with the couple, he looked at them to make sure that they didn’t have any questions, and it seemed that they might have one or two, but they were simply not sharing with Zaibatsu because of his intimidation factor. “Come on, speak up! I won’t bite… yet.” he said while the two seemed to be thinking about it, which startled them, but this at least messed them up enough to where they felt like they had been seen through, and that they needed to ask the question or Zaibatsu would get angry, and they didn’t want to see that. 

“Uhh, we were just wondering if we can talk to other people who should also have the information, like the parents of my child’s team mate.” This was what the man asked when he found the courage to do so, as it seemed that they were close friends with another family, and their children were on the same squad. Zaibatsu thought about this for a bit, because he was unsure exactly how to handle that situation. After thinking about it for a while, he was going to reassure them that they could talk about it if it was confirmed that all parties knew about it. Other than that, it should not be spoken about. This was something that seemed to check all the necessary boxes, and wasn’t technically against the rules, so he decided to go with that and ask when he got back if that was okay or not. 

“Hmm, alright, as long as everyone involved access to the information, that should be fine.” Zaibatsu would say while nodding. The parents were a bit relieved, but still had a worried face on them. At the same time, it seemed that Kikuko was like a little worker bee that was buzzing all around the shop, fixing everything up and being really efficient. At the same time, however, the water seemed to have collected quite a bit, and it was now flooding quite heavily. The others outside must have started to take cover, and a bunch of people were most likely coming and informing people of the heavy flood warning. Zaibatsu and the couple that owned the restaurant were in the back room, so they couldn’t see what was happening outside, but the others in the front of the restaurant doing the renovations should start to see the torrential downpour as well as the flooding. It seemed like it was too much for the gutters and flood control to bear, and the flooding was only going to rapidly get worse as people were about to be displaced and forced to evacuate.

WC: 512

One, two, four, six, ten tables neatly laid out in a semblance of order throughout the restaurant. New chairs to replace the ones that had been damaged through the years, and boxes filled with cutlery and placemats to be distributed at a later time. There was no foodstuffs to distribute, but that was normal in of itself- that sort of thing would be requisitioned on a more needs basis, and it certainly wouldn’t be handled by the shinobi corps. Personally, she would have changed a few things about the decor, but all in all the image wasn’t a distasteful one. The shop was looking livelier with each passing moment, becoming ready to welcome customers into its environment to eat and relax.

Quiet, quiet. The customers had grown quieter, and that meant that she was left to her thoughts. This sort of methodical busywork was easy to get into the groove to, to get lost in. In a way, it was a sort of dance- albeit not a particularly graceful one, seeing that from time to time she would need to stop to lift yet another crate. Still, there was a beat to it, and in that beat she could lose sense of time and position while fully investing herself into her work. She would never be a taijutsu specialist, she knew, but there was something inherently satisfying about pushing her body to do what was difficult to it. Was that something equivalent to the runner’s high? Or something else entirely? To be quite frank, she wasn’t sure. The wind howled, furious in its strength. Outside, yelling. The sound of falling rain increasing, thundering, pounding down upon the village below. A storm had blown in, and that meant that once again the Shinobi of Kirigakure were needed. In a place like this, it wasn’t simply a matter of property damage, but life and death. She would need to inform Zaibatsu, though, before they left. Hopefully the shop owner would be pleased with the work she had done so far. Personally, she felt that she had done a rather alright job.

Placing her hand upon a nearby table, a summoning matrix would spread out from beneath her hand before poofing in a flash of smoke- revealing a small pink haired woman only eight inches tall, fluttering above the table with butterfly wings.

“Gafas. Good to see you again.” She would gently greet her summon while already striding towards the door where her teammate was seemingly behind. Switching to telepathy, she would continue. ‘There’s a heavy rainstorm outside, and it looks like people might be in trouble. I want you to find them and try and bring them to shelter. The ones you can’t, give me the location of. Got it?’

‘You got it! Hey, can we go for tofu afterwards?’

‘Maybe. Work first, though.’

As the butterfly turned girl would fly through one of the open windows and into the torrential rain, she would bang once, twice, thrice upon the door she had arrived before. “Zaibatsu! I need you out here. The weather’s turned for the worse- we need to focus on disaster evacuation.”

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[2553]