Mail Call! (Private, Mission)

Mission:

Takeshi did his best to shoulder the somewhat cumbersome bag as he moved at a brisk pace through the streets of Konohagakure no Sato. Once again the blonde youth found himself saddled with another seemingly pointless mission that all but squandered the boy's potential as a ninja. It was simple and monotonous work, the type that drove the youth crazy with boredom and despite the level of enthusiasm he had displayed yesterday after he and his friend, Chikami had finished their appointed task of cleaning the village's hospital facilities, the boy was once again in a bitter mood. Feelings of disappointment, annoyance and anger all seemed to swirl around in his mind as he marched forward at an almost jogging pace, causing the large bag of letters and packages to bounce at his side. Behind him, he could hear the soft footfalls of his childhood friend who seemed to be right in tow, her own bag hanging somewhere from her petite form, most likely weighing her down to some degree as it did Takeshi. As if the added, swinging weight wasn't enough to make the task miserable, the sun was high and bright in the sky, shining down obnoxiously over the village, creating an almost unbearable heat that already caused a light film of perspiration to form over the young man's skin.

With a small grunt the child moved his left hand up toward his forehead, his fingers brushing across the moist skin and carrying with it, a hefty amount of moisture that was promptly thrown downward toward one of the long dirt roads of the residential district of Konoha

"Come on Chikami, let's get this done quickly. It's too hot for this crap."

The blonde would turn ever so slightly as he spoke, doing his best to spur his friend into moving a bit faster.

"I'll take the left side of the road. You get the right."

Without waiting for the girl's confirmation the youth was off, his body veering toward the left, stopping in front of the first house in order to fish out the appropriate letter. Luckily for the two Genin, the letters had been sorted ahead of time, organized in the correct order so that the children need only reach in and pull the correct documents from the top of the twine-tied stack. The only real work here was actually getting the letters to their physical destination and making sure to double check the addresses on each document, something that Takeshi made doubly sure to do. Despite his rather foul attitude, the words of the man he had talked to yesterday still resonated within his mind. Even if he couldn't bring himself to be fully excited about what it was he and Chikami were doing, he could at least do his very best. He was a shinobi after all; one of the best, in fact!

As Takeshi made it to the third house, hopping the fence that separated it from the previous house he had visited, he noted the distinct sound of a low and menacing growl. With a quick glance over his shoulder, Takeshi was greeted with the sight of a rather large guard dog chained to a small wooden post. Heh. Stupid dog scared me. The boy thought smugly to himself as he proceeded to move forward toward the house, depositing the appropriate documents before turning to face the dog for what he thought would be the last time. It was at this point that the large canine suddenly dove forward in an attempt to pursue the young blonde only for the chain to suddenly grow taught, its strength barely seeming to hold the beast back as Takeshi began to move toward the nearby fence in order to jump it. It was at that moment that the boy heard the sickening sound of something snapping. Knowing all too well that the source of the sound was no where from his immediate surroundings, Takeshi's body began to move with renewed vigor as he allowed his form to drop over the fence and crouch down just in time for the large beast to leap over the fence's height, only to land in front of him with its back facing the young ninja. Remaining silent, Takeshi slowly reached for a kunai from one of the many pockets that his cargo pants brandished.

Using its nose, the creature suddenly spun around, managing to pinpoint the ninja's location through the use of its keen sense of smell. By now Takeshi had already drawn his weapon and held it defensively as he began to form a set of three hand seals. The dog remained still and wary as it watched its prey's actions, seemingly evaluating the situation. Upon completing his seal sequence, an identical clone suddenly appeared next to the blonde boy, as if out of thin air. At the sight of this the dog seemed to grow confused and even slightly fearful. One boy the beast could handle but two? The creature was quickly realizing his chances of success were quickly dwindling away and as both Takeshi and his clone moved forward at once, the dog took two big steps backwards before suddenly turning and running out toward the road and off in the direction of the Administration building. Pausing slightly out of surprise, Takeshi was only able to chase after the dog up until the street before realizing that the creature was far beyind his ability to capture it. That is if he wanted to complete his current mission on time.

"Stupid dog."

With that the boy dispelled his jutsu before turning back toward the houses which had yet to receive their letters. He still had plenty of work to do. With the dog gone, the rest of the deliveries went without much incident and Takeshi found himself completing his side without much trouble. The mission had gone surprisingly quick considering how many letters there had been. That still didn't help the fact that the boy found himself still covered in a layer of his own sweat due to the shear heat of today's weather. As he waited for his friend, he couldn't help but wonder how the young girl was dealing with the heat. At the very least his part of the job was done. All he had to do was wait for his friend to finish before the two of them went to report their progress and collect their pay.

Jutsu Used:

"... Come on Chikami, it's too hot for this crap."

The voice of her childhood friend broke through the purple-haired girl's consciousness, and she was left blinking in surprise before gathering her bearings once more. That was right, she was walking through Konohagakure on her latest mission alongside Takeshi. They had been proven to be an effective team working together, and Administration were starting to get very happy when assigning them to the typical errand-level missions that were given to Genin. Fresh Genin at that. The pair always managed to complete the objectives in a somewhat decent time, and apart from the rather rocky first mission, the rest of the missions they had accomplished had been relatively uneventful and completed without a hitch. Their latest task was to assist the mail authorities on delivering the mail to civilian residencies around the village. Of course, it was another monotonous chore, but one they had to do in order to build their reputation as ninja. The sooner that completed these boring missions, the sooner they would be sent on more dangerous missions with more worthwhile objectives. In all honesty, however, Chikami was terrified for that point, and instead decided to make the most of what she had in terms of missions. "Oh, um, sorry. Yeah, let's hurry." She stumbled over her words a little and hurried slightly to catch up to her friend, making sure to keep pace with him.

It was shortly after his remark about them hurrying along that he took the left side of the long street they had found themselves at the start of, and he designated her the right side. 'Okay. I can do that.' She thought, nodding and crossing the street onto the right sidewalk to begin her duty for the day. The cumbersome mailbag, which she had slung over her right shoulder, was starting to dig into her where the strap was straining due to the amount of mail that was stuffed inside the bag. She exhaled a deep sigh and turned her attention to the first house before taking out the stack of mail and shuffling through it to find all of the mail for this house in particular. Luckily enough, the mail had been sorted beforehand at the mailroom for them, so all the two Genin had to do was drop off all the mail at the correct houses. It was easy enough for some residences; they had one envelope and that was their lot. Others had a whole stack of mail for themselves, and other complications.

The girl managed to deliver mail to the first four of five houses without issue, but she reached a house with a particularly menacing wall around it, and a six foot fence with a sign pinned on it stating to 'Keep Out'. But the problem was, there wasn't a mail box at the front. Chikami leaned against the fence to peer through the iron bars, trying to see where she had to drop the mail. Why, she could only see a mail slot right on the front door. This place really didn't seem too friendly. 'But I really have to deliver all of the mail...' She thought with a grimace, picking out the five envelopes that needed to be delivered to this address. With a deep breath, she reached out and opened the towering gate, which was left unlocked, and started to make her way towards the property itself. She did so silently and swiftly, but with a definite amount of caution. What on earth could be the issue if there was such warnings to stay off the property's grounds? She reached the house's porch and slipped the mail into its mail slot without issue, and this in itself made her relax. A small smile touched her lips before she turned and started to head back the way she came, eager to finish her round on this street and go to turn in the mission with Takeshi. Just as she stepped off the porch, however, she was alerted to a small crunching sound; as if someone had stepped on a branch and broken it. She turned her head in the direction that she heard the noise, and spotted a group of three young children. There were two boys and one girl. The boys appeared to be twins, though not exactly identical, and around nine years of age. And the girl looked to be around seven years old, placing her as the younger sibling.

"What are you doing here, ma'am?" The little girl asked politely of Chikami, and the kunoichi blinked with wide eyes for a second before finding her tongue to answer. "I was just delivering the mail. I'll be leaving now." She smiled and waved slightly before turning her back on the kids and heading towards the gate to let herself out. "But you aren't the normal mail person..." There was a brief pause between the strange girl's innocent voice and then a bellow that sounded as if it could belong to a towering, terrifying killer lady. "GET HER!"

When the purple-haired girl turned her head to see what on earth was going on, she saw the two boys rushing her, faces filled with strange laughter and hysteria. She shrieked in sheer surprise, eliciting a laugh from the little girl who had instigated the attack. Safety couldn't have come too soon. Luckily, Chikami had managed to outrun the two boys and put herself on the safe side of the gate. 'Those kids... no wonder there's such measures to try and keep strangers out...' She thought with a face blanched with terror and surprise, still trying to catch her breath. The three children giggled innocently and waved at their new mail person before skipping around the back of their home and out of sight. She shook her head and hastily went on her way, wishing to forget that experience rather quickly.

The rest of her deliveries went by uneventfully, even if there had been the occasional scare with yappy dogs and stalking cats, and she reached the end of the street to find her companion waiting for her. She noticed how hot and bothered he was, and giggled a little nervously while pulling on the collar of her dress. "Maybe we could go grab some ice cream after this mission to cool off." She suggested before they headed off to fetch their reward for the mail mission. Afterwards, they went to a small ice cream stand and each got a basic ice cream popsicle, before finding a place where they could sit in the shade and relax after the hectic morning. 'I don't envy whoever has to do mail down that street.' She thought to herself after the pair of them had shared stories about their respective experiences of the day, and smiled a little to herself while enjoying her 'Mission Successful' treat.