“So..” Erai paused. It was early in the morning, the wind still carrying cold moisture. The smell of coffee beans filled her nostrils as she took a light sip. The coffee was still a little to hot take regular sips from, so she sat the mug down in front of her. “What's on the menu today?” finishing her previous incomplete statement. The man across from her wore all black attire, followed up by black sun glasses that obscured his eyes. Still, Erai was looking at where his eyeballs would be, mug in hand. The man slid her an manilla folder from across the table. Erai took a exasperated sigh before speaking. “Tadashi..you don’t always be so formal. You always act as if we're doing some kind of big business deal. Relax, buy some coffee. As a matter of fact, I’ll buy you one. Hold on.” Tadashi shook is head, knowing that is was too late to try and stop her. Erai came back with your standard cup of joe, placing it in table space in front of Tadashi.

She sat back down in her seat, placing her own mug beside her. Opening up the folder, she put her head into her hand after she read the documents inside. Tadashi could see that she was displeased with the mission given to her. He realized a long time ago that Erai held herself in high regard. This wasn’t supposed to be confused with arrogance, as she wasn’t. Having to do missions like these were hard on her, and made her feel like she was worth less. “I’m playing dog catcher today, eh? Fine, I’ll do it.” She got up from her seat in preparation to start the mission. Before she left however, she leaned over the table, getting right into Tadashi’s face. “You know, you’re really working my patience with these menial tasks. I suggest you find a way to get me some more challenging missions, otherwise we may start to have problems.” She turned and walked away, leaving her coffee behind.

Tadashi looked down into the mug, watching heat exude from the liquid. “She can be so touchy sometimes.” he thought to himself while taking a sip of his coffee. Meanwhile, Erai found herself near the location of the dogs. Sneaking her way closer to their watering hole, she spotted them. She counted a dozen of them, though she had no way of knowing if their were more hiding out somewhere. In any case, she wouldn’t be able to retrieve all twelve anyway. Weaving a string of hand signs, she created six flame clones. These clones weren’t as physically strong as the original technique, but she figured they would be strong enough to just wrangle dogs. She ordered them to position themselves in such a way to be able to ambush the dogs.

Erai would start the maneuver out herself, charging into the pack of dogs. They all scattered in random directions, which is something she expected. She had all her clones spreaded apart all around the immediate area. Just like birds of prey swooping down for their kill, her clones would grab the dogs mid stride. The only thing Erai had to do was catch on herself, cutting down the problem by half. It wasn’t so much the problem of how fast the dogs were. It was more because of the way they were running. It was similar to chickens, in the way they run erratically when being chased. The dogs would change their direction almost on the dime when Erai would catch up to them. It was more annoying for her than anything else, though all she had to do was pick up her pace. Catching one of the smaller dogs; she met up with her clones. Instead of putting up much of a fight, they were all docile for the most part. Making it to the pound just before it closed, she stayed until all the dogs were situated. The pound registered them, and even administered some of the first rounds of shots they dogs would eventually need. After which she went home with a mission completed.

WC: 689