All Work, Some Play

Spoiler:

Work, work, work. It felt like that was all Soma found himself doing these days -- not that he minded, anyway. Work was... straightforward. It had set conditions and expectations. You didn't have to do them with someone else if you didn't want to, either, so it left plenty of time for thinking within oneself. That worked out nicely for him. Soma had a few things to think about lately, too. Shizuna's birthday was coming up and he had not the faintest clue what it was he should get her. He had been racking his brain for the last several days and couldn't conclusively land on any single gift that he figured would be appropriate. Of course, for Soma, asking for help was always the last resort after the last resort, so he had yet to look towards anyone for advice in solving this puzzle. Flowers, maybe? I got her that last year, though. What about a coat? I don't really know what she likes in that department, though... He wrestled with his thoughts while sitting on a nearby bench, making no headway in any direction, when...

"Huh?" an orange-furred, four-legged, black-nosed, tail having animal approached him. It looked at Soma expectantly, its tongue flapping out of his mouth and its pair of big, brown eyes staring straight into Soma's own. Its tail wagged back and forth, disturbing the air from its otherwise complacent stillness. The animal turned its head, having apparently played its role and now waiting for its co-star to pick up the baton. A... dog? Soma reached his hand out to pat it on its head, but the dog took that as an invitation to enter Soma's personal space, jumping onto his lap and landing its front legs on Soma's shoulders. "Woah, there... Hey! Stop...!" The dog fervently licked Soma's face, targeting both his cheeks and forehead as the pale-skinned shinobi did his best to keep the dog's tongue away from him.

"[Oh my gosh, thank you...!" Not long after the dog had began its licking assault on Soma's face, an out of breath woman in civilian clothing rushed over to where Soma had been sitting, waving around a leash that the dog had evidently escaped from. The dog paid no mind to its owner, consumed by the taste of Soma's face sweat. "Benji, stop! Down!" The dog continued to ignore them, prompting their owner to grab them from underneath their front legs and carry them off of Soma's lap. Now free from the dog's reign of terror, Soma wiped his face dry with a handkerchief that he removed from his jeans' left pocket, removing the dog's saliva alongside the built up sweat from the whole ordeal. "I'm sooooo sorry, sir!"

Soma's eyes inspected the exhausted woman as she tried to catch her breath. Upon closer inspection, she wasn't just wearing civilian clothes. She wore a nametag that read "Kiko," underneath which was a logo showing a dog's face. Realizing he had left her apology unanswered for too long (as he was prone to do), Soma snapped out of his internal thoughts. "Hey, it's no problem, Kiko." Soma flashed a soft smile in her direction, but her response was anything but pleasant. Instead, a concerned and worried expression formed across her face. "H-How do you know my name...?!" The woman was clearly flustered, turning her body away from Soma as if to show her concern. "Huh? Oh, it's... on your nametag...?" The woman looked down at the nametag on her chest, observing it carefully before letting out a sigh and chuckling to herself. The immediate release of tension was apparent, showing just how uncomfortable she was at the idea that Soma could have potentially been some sort of stalker. "Oh, right... Sorry about that. This is from that adoption center over there," she said as she pointed to the northwest.

A dilapidated building with a sign reading "SHELTER" alongside the silhouette of a dog's face could be seen in the building. With wall boards hanging off the side and its roof only partially covering the totality of the establishment, Soma couldn't tell if it was being torn down or built up. The look of confusion that sprouted on his face gave away his confusion, prompting the woman to provide an explanation. "You're probably thinking about how run-down it looks, huh? It's no looker right now, but we were in the middle of fixing it up when a few of the animals got out." Kiko gave Soma a once look-over, neglecting to do so during the whole escaped dog situation earlier. She put her hand on her chin as if to show that she was in deep thought before pointing her finger at Soma. "Say, I have an idea... You look tall and strong. You should come help us!" Before Soma could even provide a response, the woman grabbed him by his wrist and pulled him behind her, ignoring his protests as she put a hammer in his hand. "This is real easy. Just nail some of the boards where you see any holes and then help us put the animals back inside. You'll help us, right?" Kiko looked straight into Soma's eyes, her brown irises doing their best to sport a guilt-trip look. Soma couldn't help but think of how similar she looked to the dog tucked between her arms in this moment. "Sure, I guess...?" A smile appeared on Kiko's face as she patted Soma on his shoulder. "I knew you'd help us."

And so, that's how Soma ended up nailing boards to a wall and chasing around loose dogs and cats for the better part of two hours.  It wasn't the way he had envisioned the morning before an afternoon filled with work, but somewhere along the line he found himself having fun. "Well, I think we're done here. Not so bad, if I do say so myself." Kiko looked over at the shelter, its holes now covered by layers of freshly nailed down wooden planks. She patted Soma on the back, pushing him forward. "Here, Grammy wanted me to hand this off to you." Kiko dug into her left pocket, pulling out some money and placing it in Soma's hand. "Thanks for the help. And come by if you ever wanna adopt one of these guys! Or just to chat. Hey, I'm single by the way. Cya!" Before Soma could get a word in, Kiko stormed off, leaving him standing on the side of the road with 1,000 ryo in hand.

WC: 1,086

1,000 ryo richer and some sore muscles later, Soma walked into a nearby general store to buy himself some water. After perusing the aisles for anything else he may need, he managed to take a glance at the store's clock sitting behind the purchasing counter. Aren't I forgetting something? Soma pondered to himself, silently staring at the clock's face absentmindedly as he explored the deep recesses of his own mind. The store clerk looked over at him curiously, waving his hand in order to try and get the shinobi's attention to no avail. Tired of being ignored (and perhaps a little concerned), the store clerk stood up from the brown, rickety stool he was sitting on and cleared his throat. "Sir! Is something the matter?!" The employees voice was loud enough to echo throughout the store, jostling Soma from out of his own mind chambers and back to reality. He blinked a few times, unaware that he had been creepily standing in the middle of a general store staring at a clock absentmindedly. "... Sorry, he muttered to himself, walking over to the clerk's checkout desk in order to complete his purchase. Soma cracked open the bottle of water and put its opening to his mouth, walking out of the store while doing so.

Soma casually strolled along the village's busy streets, taking his time on his route back home. His water bottle now empty, Soma walked over to the nearest trash can to dispose of it, tossing it into its empty crevice when a familiar emblem appeared before his eyes, blocking his path. "Is this what the village's shinobi have amounted to? We should've never let fools who know not of the importance of civility take over our responsibilities in this village." The words came from an elderly man in uniform. He held a cane in his left hand, his back hunched over it as he used it for support. The voice betrayed the man's frail figure with how it boomed and demanded authority, its depth rattling inside Soma's eardrums as he collected himself. "Excuse me...?" The elderly man shook his head, spitting to this side before smacking Soma's ankle with his cane. "Excuse me, sir," he commanded. "You were supposed to meet me 15 minutes ago. Do kids like you have no mind for punctuality anymore?"

Of course. He knew he had forgotten something, he just couldn't remember exactly what it was after the whirlwind of a morning he just had. Dread crept upon Soma's face, beads of cold sweat quickly forming on his cheeks and forehead. As if by instinct, Soma bowed upon recognizing his own fault and immediately began apologizing. The elderly Queensman merely grunted, clearly unsatisfied with the shinobi that was bowing in front of him. "Follow me," he commanded assertively., gingerly walking ahead of Soma while proudly boasting about his daily responsibilities and how the village used to filled to the brim with respectable, punctual men, continuously emphasizing the latter in lieu of Soma's own tardiness. Soma did his best to keep attention of the Queensman's seemingly endless lecture, but found it difficult to fight against his urge to think about something else while merely nodding his head. "Are you even listening?" The old man abruptly questioned Soma, stopping his tracks as he did. "Oh, erm.. Yes, sir." Truthfully, Soma's mind was elsewhere. Luckily, however, his subconscious had been paying enough attention to snap his autopiloting mind back to the present when asked, or else he'd certainly be in for a whole host of trouble. The elderly man grumbled again, eyeing Soma up and down before turning around and resuming the tour around the village, continuing his lecture as if he had never interrupted it in the first place.

After what felt like hours, the elderly man had guided Soma back to the origin point of their "journey." He looked Soma in the eyes, unflinching as he attempted to dig beyond the pitch-black trademark eyes of the Uchiha. The elderly man's face was stern as he swam through the ocean of black, evaluating Soma's very soul  as the seconds passed. Soma held still, doing his best to maintain eye contact despite how uncomfortable the situation was making him. Then, as he felt himself about to lose composure, the old man cleared his throat. "You're a quiet one. You'll have a hard time forming bonds like that... But maybe you're just more of a listener than a talker. Oh, well. You showed up late but you listened intently. I suppose that's good enough for a rookie." The elderly man turned around and began walking away, waving his hand behind him as he did.

As if the budding tension of the last few hours had dissipated all at once, Soma let out an exhausted sigh as he loosened up his shoulders and sank into himself. Man, I thought he was gonna grill me again... Soma looked at his hands, his palms sweaty from the anxiety he had been fighting against as the elderly man stared into his eyes. He shook his head, closing his eyes to help relax him further. Now, then. Just one more... Soma stuck his hand in his pockets, beginning his walk towards his next destination. He was actually looking forward to the last mission of the day, it being something he had wanted to do for himself for a long time. He retreated back into his own mind as he made his way over to the local weapon shop, deep in thought about what weapon he figured might suit him best. He pictured himself with a katana, slicing through opponents before they could even blink. He later pictured himself with a hammer, using its weight to crush opponents under its own sheer might. Then a pair of daggers. Then a pair of tanto. All these years of getting lost in his own thoughts while accomplishing other tasks had made Soma quite proficient in walking to his destination without paying attention, allowing him to do so practically on autopilot as he continued to daydream.

WC: 1,010
Total WC: 2,096