2nd Shift blows, so does tea [Guren]

“So yeah, like I was saying, word on the street is big moves are about to go down. Bounties on shinobi are gonna go through the roof. Work all around for those tryin to make some cash”, Katsuragi washing dishes as usual in Raleth’s tea shop, while listening to one of the many new strange customers that started hanging out around the tea shop. Most loiter, but a few developed a taste for Raleth’s tea. Even Katsuragi was impressed by the product’s quality, even though he himself never liked the stuff to begin with.

“Man, who gave you this information? Katsuragi, waiting to hear the source so he himself could judge whether or not he should waste his time. His facial expression was a bit stern; he never liked washing dishes. But, in truth, he was ready to leave the scene which as Sunagakure in a heartbeat. He just needed a sense of direction. After the whole assassin incident, killing the son of a famous assassin, Katsuragi really needed to get everything in order.
The man, leaning against the wall, peers over once more towards the window exposing the kitchen. He eyes Katsuragi, somewhat in disbelief that he would question him after all the tea he bought. “…, Listen I just need to know if I can count on you to ride out with me. I know a printer…”, he pauses, taking a large sip of his black tea. Looking around if anyone was listening in on their conversation.

In prison, there was a slang word for practically anything you can think of. The word “printer “was slang for bounty managers. People who were connected with major village intelligence. These were the people you wanted to be good friends with if you were a bounty hunter. Anyone who fucked up with village big or small, these “Printer” would be the first to know before they gave up the information to the market. Getting first dibs on this information would be very lucrative, and less stressful too. Instead of chasing down a target with a 1000 other wackjobs after the same hit, you could take your sweet time finding the mark. Now adays, major villages outsource bounties left and right, unless the certain asshole not only fucked up, but also had some dirt on the higher ups which meant the Anbu agents were dispatched instead.

Katsuragi paused as well, “Oh really?”, he looks over to the main dining hall, his purple hair noticed by all as he scanned the room looking to see if anyone needed anything. Staff of was low, and Raleth of course was no where to be seen. In fact, Katsuragi has yet to have seen Raleth in the past few days.

Running low on the tea in his office, Guren would begin his trek to restock his supply. Bored of his usual tea shop, Guren would finally set his intentions on visiting Raleth's shop. Although Sunagakure wasn't a village that was heavy on tea drinking, Guren still had taken a recent fascination towards it. Perhaps that had partially been a product of how much desk time he was getting since being reinstated as Deputy Kage. He never had much time before as a Jounin to indulge in tea, as life constantly had him on the go with missions both within and outside of the village. So now that he had some moments to himself, it was like unearthing a new passion. 

Proceeding down the street heading towards the marketplace, Guren started to ponder which blend he would get. Recently he fell in love with a peach oolong tea he got from his usual spot. Before that, there was an earl grey that struck his fancy. And the blend that started it all, a jasmin green tea. Yes. It was true. Guren became a bit obsessed. But there were worst things to gravitate to. Like drugs, alcohol, murder...for some.

In any case, Guren finally made it to Raleth's shop. Pushing the front door open, the breeze sucked in by the building would whisk the tails of Guren's hooded kimono along with it. His eyes would quickly scan over the interior of the building, expecting to see Raleth. Yet instead there were met by browsing shoppers, customers indulging in tea, and the front register. None of which were familiar, and none of which were Raleth. It was a shame. Guren had started taking a liking towards both him and Zaine, but since Guren's return he had yet to see either of them. Everyone was either too busy, or MIA these days.

In any case, Guren proceeded towards the register. Better to ask directly if the shop would have what Guren was looking for rather through searching through the shelves and inventory for it. Once he'd walk to the front, he'd wait patiently to be greeted by the clerk.

WC = 355

While the mere memory of Raleth entered Katsuragi’s thoughts, another guest would arrive. From behind the window, his hands sunk deep within the warm soapy water, he groans a bit at the sight of a new guest. With him being the only one, work was a bit tense then it ought to be. ‘Where the hell is that gentle giant anyway’, he thought while drying his hands. The one who was once talking with Katsuragi, finishes his last sip of tea with a forceful gulp. Katsuragi smiled, knowing full well that shit did not go down as smooth as he thought it would. “Think about what I said”, the guest scurries off towards the exit in a hurry with worry about the lack of time he had here, walking past the kimono dressed figure.

Right before exiting the kitchen, he takes a quick whiff of his fingers, which still hand the linger herbal smell of his morning rituals he did…every morning. “Shit…, fuck it”, he decides not to focus too much on that, in hopes that maybe others would mind their own business and vibe.

Exiting the kitchen, making his way towards the front counter to reluctantly greet the guest, Katsuragi adjust his brown apron. Beneath it was a plain white short sleeved shirt, which revealed the many prison tattoos that adorned his body, notably his arms. Along with that, he wore a pair of skinny black jeans with a pair of black boots. He casually walks up behind the counter, locking his faint red eyes with him. He also took note of the rows which Katsuragi oddly liked, he wondered if maybe he could get his hair like that.

“Yo, menu’s here. Oh we out of mochi too, so don’t order it. But I fuck with the hair tho, nice rows and line up.”, he said, nearly jabbing the menu towards the guest face almost fist first. While waiting, Katsuragi stares almost aimlessly at the guest’s hair, admiring it.

In the background, two sets of groups, get up at once, leaving quite a mess on the tables. This was the type of shit that really got on Katsuragi’s nerve. It was as if they waited for the only person running the shop to get busy once more, before getting up and making his clean all the garbage from the tables. HE could help but purse his lips and shake his head while staring down all the groups who were leaving. He grits his teeth with hate and malice. Katsuragi had had it with folks like these; one of these days he is gonna snap and when he does…

‘Yeah, I see you. Yous lame fat pieces of shit. NOW you wanna get up, Fuck yall!’, he said mentally of course. Today wasn't the day.

As Guren was greeted by the man juggling fifty responsibilities at once, he couldn't help but chuckle. It seemed as if this disgruntled employee had inherited quite a mess from Raleth's impromptu absence. He could only imagine the explanation from his former teammate, and how this employee might react to it. The employee would make a mention of Guren's hair style, which the Chinoike appreciated. He took pride in his appearance, as he was meticulous about its upkeep. And so Guren spent an embarrassingly large amount of time edging himself up and braiding his own hair. Guren's eyes would peer at the hair on the employee's head, it was wavy and voluminous. Likely not naturally compatible with Guren's corn rows, but still a little grit and grime might make it shine. The man was built, with a stature that slightly towered over Guren's own. He was covered in tattoos. His appearance however did not stand out from the typical look of a Sunagakure citizen, as the village itself was a hub of crime. Guren couldn't help but wonder about the man's background and how Raleth convinced him to work here.

"Thanks for that, I'll look it over. If you want, I can braid yours like mine." Guren laughed in response to the employee's compliment. He gripped the menu and quickly glanced at it. His eyes immediately fell upon a blend that stuck his fancy. A mango green tea blend. It sounded fruity, and magically delicious. As his eyes lifted from the menu, they were met by those of the employee staring at Guren's hair still. But was he though? Or was he looking past the Chinoike? To confirm, Guren would turn his attention towards the area just behind him. Oh, he understood now. The employee was observing the disrespectful nature of guests who didn't care to clean their messes. Recognizing the employee's position of wanting to refrain from speaking up in order to maintain his professionalism, Guren would take it upon himself to address them. 

"Yo!" Guren would call out to the two groups of customers looking to depart from their untidy tables and go about their day. "Straighten your messes up before leaving. This shop is clearly short staffed, the least you lot could do would be to tidy your tables." His voice was stern and resounding. In response, the shop's passive chattering silenced.

The two groups would turn, with one member immediately calling out before he turned to see who he was speaking to. "And who the fuck ar-" the boisterous man would begin before being interrupted by someone in the other party. 

"Hey, shut up! Do you know who that is?"

The boisterous man would complete his turn around, and his gaze would meet Guren's piercing eyes. Immediately, his face would whimper and he'd bow his head down. "Apologies...We will get straight to it." The man corrected himself. With that, both groups would return to their tables and begin to clean up their messes. They would gather all their trash and bring it to the waste basket, stack their plates, and grab all of their mugs. One by one, they would walk towards the dish bin adjacent to display case where the register, Guren, and the employee were, and neatly place their dishes in the dish bin. Guren would just watch them all the while, making sure none of them were to issue snooty looks towards the employee. When complete, they would bow their heads and then hurry out from the tea shop leaving no filth behind. Prior to leaving, the last in line would turn and say, "Apologies again, Guren."

Following this, Guren would wave his hand towards the person, then turn in place back towards the employee with an unbothered look upon his face. Almost as if the last few minutes didn't even happen. "You guys have a mango green tea blend. How is that?"

WC = 650. TWC = 1005

“No way…”, Katsuragi couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The luck of it all to meet the man behind the vision, the style. Just looking at his braided hair, only assured Katsuragi even more that he could pull some serious pieces. Oh yes, yes he would. If he wasn’t stuck behind the counter or any other low paying job, Katsuragi would have taken him up on the offer with no delay today. Perhaps, maybe after his shift he might do just that.  The guy couldn’t be all bad, Katsuragi thought as he watched him deal with the lazy customers. It was exactly what they deserved; they knew the shop was being ran by practically one person. ‘Fuckin fat asses’ Nevertheless, Katsuragi would make it imperative to get a haircut from…”Hell yeah we do, Stylz. But ima be honest, I don’t really drink the stuff I just push it. If you need more time hold on to the menu and let me kno what table you want and I’ll take you to it.”  


Katsuragi, he just couldn’t shake off the way the others responded to Stylz. It was as if he had some respect, a rep you wouldn’t want to fuck with. That was shit Katsuragi always idolized, respect that stretched to the horizon. Perhaps, Stylz could even help out a immigrant like Katsuragi? At sight, this guy really didn't look like the rest of the other locals, excluding the hair. What really gave it away, was the guy's accent, it was like he was from the north. Katsuragi's past illegal deals took him everywhere around the lands, exposing himself to  many things old and new. All this surged within the convict's mind as he, for the first time never offered to guide Stylz to a table of his choosing of tell telling them where to go. His whole demeanor even shifted, almost an entire different person stood before Stylz.

As Katsuragi took joy in watching the large customers place their trays near the rack, almost giggling with a mocking glare, he notices two other figures, walking through door with a large coffin looking crate(Crate Fifth posdt, last paragraph). Katsuragi immediate shook his head and signaled them to go around back. ‘Are they out of their fuckin minds!’, the his widened in disbelief and worry. Not only him, but those who looked over grew silent, things were for sure quite different with Katsuragi running things. He expected them to come in after hours when everything was closed. “Know What! NO! come back later! You know!? When we are closed!...good thing it didnt smell oh shit! My bad bout that Stylz, dumbasses can’t tell time. I aint mean to yell in your ear. You figure out what you wanted?” He couldn’t help but smile a bit due to the stress dumb and dumber caused by showing up early; his heart raced with an amazing pace.

Guren laughed at the informal demeanor of the shop clerk. He really had no idea who Guren was, and that was completely fine with the deputy kage. He very much enjoyed just being treated as a regular person by the shop clerk. “Styles huh? That’s not bad. You seem like you’ve got something else going on here, besides just tea. And today… I won’t poke my nose into it unless I have to. But for now, you can “push” me some of that mango green tea blend.” Guren responded. His focus on the word “push” was a direct reference to the clerk’s own. Guren was hip to the lingo, he knew where certain terminology and slang was used. But he chose not to question the man, clearly he already had his work cut out for him.

As he waited for his tea, Guren would see a figure approach the doors, almost as if they wanted to start some trouble. Guren would flicker his eyes towards the clerk, who clearly gave a motion that he wanted the men to go around back. Maybe his promise of not intervening today would be broken that soon. Yet Guren refrained from inserting himself into the equation just yet.

Before the clerk could respond to Guren’s request, he would immediately call out to the men who attempted to enter the tea shop. He told them to come back later, and referred to some type of shady deal they may have cooking up. Guren would flash his eyes back towards the clerk, and immediately be asked again what he wanted. “Just the mango green tea blend…but let me ask you something. What do you have going on behind the scenes here?”

WC = 285. TWC = 1290

It wasn’t a bad choice, the mango green tea. Not like Katsuragi himself has had any himself, but he did remember quite a few people ordering it today, and the plenty of the days before too. He remembers how sweet it smelled, and how little portions one would receive as well. Nevertheless, Katsuragi nods while smiling a bit at the man’s retort “Mango Green Tea, bet!...”, he his eyes happened to cross sights with the man’s braids once again while being asked what was going on behind the scenes. Like Katsuragi would answer that honestly, no way in hell. He breezes over it, while adding a bit of misdirection to the mix. He still couldn’t believe those two idiots came in here like that.

“Maaaan, don’t worry bout them, them idiots can’t tell time…, Know what, how bout I throw in an extra booster with the tea, we got it in during the Kage summit here. Some guy, who…”, Katsuragi just realized that the person he bought the from, sounded a lot like Stylz. “…was from up north sold me the stuff.  I’ll bring it out with the tea”, he said as he offered to walk Stylz to the table again. Whether or not he went to the table, he would make his way back to the kitchen to make the stuff.

‘Whew, that shit was close. this mothafucka askin the wrong questions…gonna need him to slow his roll and I got just the thing.’ He is seen looking down towards the mini fridge, eyeing the loose tile that was right in front of it.

Removing the title, he is displayed a square whole that was about 30 cm deep. He shifts through the mason jars filled with tropical blends and finds plastic 400ml bottle with a strawberry logo on it, which also had a green cross stamped on it. Not like anyone was gonna fire Katsuragi, as of right now he was his own boss. Until Raleth returns that is.

Moments later, he burst through the kitchen doors with his right foot, kicking it in a karate like fashion as he made his way to Stylz. Katsuragi did all sorts of things to try to make the day go by faster. A teashop isn’t really the most exciting place to work at, especially when the guest don’t tip. “Here we go my guy”, he makes his way towards Stylz whether he was still standing at the front desk or in one of the booths. From his server tray, he would place a small saucer with the porcelain tea cup of mango green tea in front of Stylz, followed by two larger palm sized porcelain cups, The larger cups had a very different yet pleasant smell to them, even the customers looked over towards the two curious and wanting. But they weren’t important now, not to Katsuragi at least.

“Ready when you are Stylz”, he said grabbing the one of the larger cups and holding it up towards his chest, waiting to see if he was going to drink with him. Although the tea was pipping hot, the two booster drinks were not. Another reason why Katsuragi hated drinking tea, burning the roof of one’s mouth sucked, like all the way. He would take a huge gulp of the drink if stylz did, savoring the all the fruity goodness.

"Interesting" was all that Guren had to say in response to the clerk's dismissal of Guren's question. He'd turn in place, walk towards his designated table, and seat himself. 

Clearly this man did not want Guren knowing what was going on behind the scenes of the tea shop. Potentially it was just a store front for an illegal drug trade or something. But this was the nature of Sunagakure. And due to the hundreds of other things Guren had to worry about, he chose to not prioritize this one. As long as no one was getting hurt or the wellbeing of the village wasn't compromised, Guren didn't care.

Moments would pass and the clerk would return, bearing in hand a server tray topped with a cup of tea and two larger porcelain cups. He'd set the tray on the table, and hold a larger cup up towards his own chest. Guren would grip a larger cop, and mirror the actions of Stylz. He'd bring the tea cup to his lips, and take a small sip. It was hot, bold, and flavorful. Precisely what Guren had been craving. After the initial gulp, he'd lower the cup down and look the clerk in the eyes again. "This tea is valid. Exactly what I've been looking for actually. Do you sell it in bulk? And tell me, how did you get started working here? I know the shop owner pretty well, so I'm curious as to how he conned you into working for him."

Guren would continue to enjoy the tea while beginning a new, milder conversation with the clerk. It was nice to be able to just take a few moments from his day and unwind. And this tea helped with that. 


WC = 290. TWC = 1580

After the sip of leafy goodness, he lets out a soothing sigh as he allowed the contents of the beverage to take hold of his body. The ratio blend was quite strong, so effects of the drink were well on its way. The question that remained was whether or not he would be able to function throughout the rest of the day. 

Afterwards, he was questioned on how he ended up here; a question that Katsuragi asked himself damn near everyday. He drops his shoulders upon hearing it, the weight of it all symbolizing the frustration of how he ended up here. From the one alteration that led the him and the Raleth to the yard to fight, which ended up him working for him in this teashop. 

“Maaaan, I fucked around with the wrong person; ended up with a nine to five sentence for life”, he laughs a bit at his own joke. But grew cold afterwards. It really did seem like a long time, but such moody feelings vanished just as fast as they appeared. Apparenly the beverage he had begun to take hold. He felt calm, weightlessly even. He wasnt gonna question it, the feeling was great.

“But yeah, That gentle giant Raleth gave me the keys ever since, took me in. The shit we got up to maaaan”, he reminices on the past events that happened. As annoying as it was, it was a good memory to laugh back on. “Yeah if you ever see him again, tell his ass he needs to show up for work”. 

He gathers his things and makes his way back to the kitchen. “If you need anything hit me up Stylz!”

—-
Exit WC/2249 44 AP
Jotun grip from rank C to A for 1500 words
Tai jutsu amp from rank C to B for 500 words

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