Dog Walking:

Another beautiful day in Konohagakure. The deep blue sky was painted with fluffy white cumulonimbus clouds, the weather was warm and enveloping yet not hot nor miserable. It was the perfect opportunity to waste on a mission. The menial labour work that the village labeled as “missions” were hardly worthy of the name. If nothing else they kept the shinobi active and their pockets filled with some amount of coin, and that was better than nothing. It definitely wasn't the type of work that Takao desirable, very far from it. He was not a violent person by nature, but he did feel that his skills were better served in other areas of duty. Walking dogs, unfortunately, was not the sought after area of duty. So how did he get roped into walking a pack of dogs? Well, if his memory served it right, as it often did, he had met a genin at the administration office. Some lapse in judgment had lead him to taking on the mission with the genin, and now here he stood, waiting outside of the Inuzuka compound, waiting for the genin in question to show up.

It was rather uncommon for him to do so, but Takao had opted to wear his Jōnin uniform. Black underclothes, the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbows, and the trademark green vest were his attire for the mission. A nice pair of boots were worn in place of traditional shinobi sandals, and his headband was wrapped securely around his right bicep, over the shirt to display his affiliation. Definitely not his usual daily attire, even for missions, but something had motivated him to look a little less pathetic on such a low ranking mission. At least this way it would look like he was a shinobi of some respectable rank, and he was, helping out a genin with a mission. Which he was. At least the uniform made it look a little more official, if nothing else.

Yet, a nice beautiful warm day in Konohagakure No Sato. Lelouch was located in his home, preparing his self for a mission today. He didn't really know what he got his self into, but he thought it'll be fun...  Once the boy was ready, he would walk out the door,  shooting straight for the mission location, were his teammate should be waiting for him at. Today, the boy was dress up in some black pants, with his usual glasses on his eyes hiding his crimson gaze. And a pair of dark blue sandals. To top it off, he was wearing his blue t-shirt. The boy was looking forward to this day today. Lelouch thought it was going to be really fun. But, he wondered what his mate was like?  

After ten minutes of walking, Lelouch finally made it to his destination point. Looking around for the post, he noticed  a man standing out in front of the Inuzuka compound.. Walking over to him, he was dressed in full attire, perhaps this was lelouch's  teammate for this mission?

The man would take two steps forward, and take a swig from his water bottle before holding it up to the sky.

" Hey you there, You here for a Dog Walking mission?"

Lelouch would simply ask with a smile on his face. Waiting for the boy reply, he would sigh. This might have been the man, Lelouch was looking for.. If so, they would start the mission off....

The sound of somebody approaching had knocked Takao out of his trance. He glanced down to the cigarette in his right hand, which was held to his mouth, and noticed that it had burnt down about halfway. As his eyes shifted to one side and glanced over the approaching genin, he took one last lengthy drag and exhaled the plume of white smoke from his nostrils before giving the nearly burnt out cigarette a toss into the ground, and a firm stomp with the toe of his boot.

“Yep, unfortunately.” He peeled his glance off the genin and looked back over his shoulder at the compound behind him. It was mostly grass, though that should be expected from the Inuzuka. The compound was walled in to keep the younger Inuzuka pups from wandering out, most likely, and there was a single pathway from the entry point that Takao stood in front of that lead into the main building. The plethora of large trees provided shade and protection from the sun on the harsher days, though today was quite mild. The Jōnin raised his right hand and pointed at the compound behind him.

“I'll head there and round up the dogs we're supposed to deal with. You chill out here for a minute, yeah?” Regardless of the answer to his rhetorical 'yeah', Takao turned and hopped the gate, not bothering with opening it when he could set the precedent that he was too cool to use entryways like a normal person. Plus he didn't want to risk letting any of the dogs out, should there have been any lurking in the shadows, waiting for the opportunity. Takao proceeded up the pathway and knocked on the door of the main house. He was greeted by a young Inuzuka, and after a brief introduction and explanation of his presence at the boy's abode, Takao was handed a dozen leashes with canines of various sizes at the other end. Takao gave the Inuzuka a slight bow of the head before he turned and lead the dogs out the gate.

“Right then, here's your share.” Takao offered his up his left hand with four leashes loosely grasped within, to keep the dogs from running off. There was one larger dog though it seemed to be older and less rambunctious than the rest, as it was sitting. There were two smaller and quite raucous dogs, and the last of the four was a normal sized dog that... well, seemed rather normal. “Ninken or not, they're still dogs. Choke up on the leash and walk in front of them. We'll be headed out to the rolling hills, then double back through the gate just north of here.” Takao knew Konohagakure's streets well enough to navigate them by eye. Once Lelouch took the leashes from him, Takao would start walking, putting that absurdly ranked strength of his to work in making sure each of the dogs followed behind him.

Watching the boy actions, Lelouch would sigh.. " Well that went well" Lelouch thought. tossing his water bottle in the trash. He would sigh. Waiting for the boy to get back with the dogs, lelouch would begin to think.. What did he get his self into? Not only h hate dogs, but the way they smell. Hopefully they don't start crapping or anything.. Once they both was there, Lelouch saw the man grab some of the dogs leash's and he handed Lelouch some. "Alright!" Lelouch would now be following the man, towards their next location with the dogs.

It was indeed fun tho, Lelouch always enjoyed thing's like this. But, the man hope they would be done with this mission before his favorite tv show comes on...

Still following the nice path. Lelouch would spark the conversation with the boy with a simple question.. " What's your name sir?"

747/600

There was a lot Takao had to be proud of. His career as a shinobi for one, it was quite a story to tell. When he was a genin, he arranged for a brawl amongst other genin to duke it out before the exams, effectively manipulating them all into demonstrating their techniques and skills while he sat out and observed. Then, during the exams, he had thoroughly wrecked the hot springs with the help of a Kirigakure shinobi, who was many a tier above him in terms of strength and skill, yet managed to end it in a draw... of sorts. A dislocated shoulder, depleted chakra reserves, and a few bruises had earned him a promotion directly to Special Jōnin. Then he was enlisted into the ANBU and was rather good at keeping to himself. After Kenta was assassinated, Takao had taken the position of Hokage by storm after calling the council together only hours after his death. Yet his shenanigans didn't stop there, he called together a Summit and attempted to turn the world's super powers on Iwagakure and it's young Tsuchikage. He nearly succeeded too, but they were interrupted.

After that, Takao stepped down. He had no intention of remaining the Hokage, his interests in protecting Konohagakure and seeking revenge for the death of his mentor. He achieved one of the two before resignation, and left the village for some time to train on his lonesome. After returning... Well, he had heard the stories of his student, Tatsumaru, and his antics after Tame attacked. He had also learned that his student had lost the necklace Takao had given to him, a valuable relic that was used and worn by many a village leader before him. Now it was either broken or in the hands of the enemy.

“Hm? Oh, names, right. I guess we skipped that part. I'm Takao, you?” He was always very careful to not give out his surname, as many a people did. So many shinobi were from proud clans that they would let speak freely of their abilities. They give out their surname and boom, Takao would know of most of their abilities. The element of surprise, at least for their clan techniques, would be gone.

The walk had given Takao the time to quietly reflect on his life and all the events that he had endured up until this point. With each of the eight leashes held in his left hand with a firm grip, he was sure to lead the group of canines. His strength had proved vastly superior to the dogs, only stopping seldom to let them do their business. Together with the twelve dogs, Takao and Lelouch had moved out of the western gate and proceeded north westward to the rolling hills. It was one of Takao's favourite places in Konohagakure, perhaps even the Fire Country. The walk had taken them a good thirty minutes or so thus far, and doubling back would take another forty minutes at the least. That was if they continued at the pace they were going anyways. A long exhale escaped from his lips as he reached into his pocket and removed the open cigarette carton from within. He gave the carton a firm smack against his hand before shaking out one of the sticks and pulling it out with his mouth. Takao glanced off to his side at Lelouch and held out the carton, giving it another shake for another cigarette to stick out.

“Smoke?”

The walk was yet interesting, but Lelouch was somehow enjoying his self! With no thought's or anything going threw the man mind. He was ready for this mission to be over with. Holding the leash's of the dogs. Lelouch would hear the boy speak. "Hm? Oh, names, right. I guess we skipped that part. I'm Takao, you?" Lelouch would sigh. " Well, nice to meet you Takao, I'm Lelouch." Lelouch stated with a smirk on his face. Watching the boy actions, he saw he reached back towards Lelouch direction, offering a cigarette. " Sure" Lelouch would then reach and take the smoke. Placing it on his free hand. He would switch hands with the dogs leash', while at the same time, reach in his back pocket, and pulling out a cigarette lighter. Once he placed the lighter towards the cigarette. He would then light the cigarette and puff from it... placing the light back in his pocket. He would switch hands, back to his current hand. He would pull dogs closer.

With a cough from puffing. He would begin to speak. " You know, this is my first time ever smoking. But don't ask why I keep a lighter in my pocket" Lelouch stated.

With his free right hand. He would remove the cigarette from his lips. "So, perhaps we could catch up sometime??? Maybe some training or even a fight..." Lelouch said with a smile on his face... " Or we could just meet at the Ramen bar.. Have dinner, and basically chat like little six year olds.. " Lelouch stated in a joking matter. Indeed, Lelouch wanted to get to know Takao. Perhaps the two would become close friends one day? who knows...


With the wind that blew by, the boy would wait for Takao reply...

This was about as exciting as it would get, their quiet walk that was occasionally halted for the dogs to do their business or for a bit of conversation. Takao had lead the eight dogs through the rolling hills, taking many shortcuts to reduce the amount of time he spent with the pack of animals. He had been walking a bit ahead of Lelouch, so when he felt that the cigarette had been pulled from the carton rather than watching, he pulled his hand back and stowed it back inside of his pocket.

"Dinner and a spar, eh? Can't say it's the most romantic first date I'd ever had, but it's a start." Takao couldn't help but laugh. The proposal was far from romantic, that much he could tell, but it still sounded a bit strange. "Nah, but a spar sounds good man. Been a while since I had a good bout o' fisticuffs, I'm probably a bit rusty by now." He heard Lelouch cough, though there was no visible reaction to it aside from glancing his way.

“First time smoking, hm?” He pulled the cigarette from his mouth and held it between two fingers as he exhaled. A wisp of flame that came from within his mouth ignited the end of the cigarette, and after the small flame that burnt the cigarette was extinguished with a flick of his wrist, he took a long draw off the cigarette and exhaled a smooth plume of smoke. “I'm sure you would be surprised by the number of people who will tell you that smoking is bad for you, like bein' a shinobi is any healthier.” Takao let the cigarette hang from the corner of his mouth as he offered each of the guards that stood at the gate they were passing through.

“I've sure heard it a hundred times. But I think it sure would be a nice way to go, compared to how most shinobi die. I mean, think 'bout it! Death by cigarettes, or death by stabbing, beating, burning, electrocution, poison... I could go on for hours. Doesn't seem like a bad end for somebody in our line of work, eh?” Takao inhaled and closed his eyes, yet he continued to walk. In his mind, he had already outlived his life expectancy. There were many times he felt he could have died, or maybe should have died, yet here he was.

“Oh well. Looks like we're back where we started.” Takao said as he pointed toward the Inuzuka's compound just ahead. He gave the cigarette one last inhale before he gave it a slight flick and dropped it to the ground. Being the responsible young adult that he was, he stomped it with his boot and gave it a good twist and grind into the cement before walking off. “I'll take the dogs back, you can head over to the administration building and collect the reward. I'll head off after you once I finish up here.” Takao took the remaining four leashes from Lelouch, totaling up to twelve now held in his right hand, and lead the platoon of canines back up the path to the compound. He didn't give his genin companion much of a chance to respond, nor a chance to stop him, as he was more interested in finishing the mission and heading back home. Takao was more of a cat person anyways, so spending this much time with a bunch of dogs certainly did wonders for his comfort levels.

Upon reaching the main compound building, he was greeted by the young Inuzuka who seemed to already have his hands full. Takao released the clasps of the leashes one by one, letting the dogs into the house. The conversation between the two was kept short and brief, just as Takao liked his conversations. As the last dog was let into the house, the two exchanged their departing salutations and headed off to do whatever it was they were off to do. For Takao, he was headed home. Although the walk was already relatively short with the addition of a few short cuts here and there, it had taken the two of them about an hour to go through the Rolling Hills and then double back. Takao had no issue with escorting the dogs around on the walk, since he was physically capable of keeping them all in line, but something about wasting an hour of his day for a mission payment as low as D Rank missions gave just didn't sit well with him. He would have enjoyed being at home much more than he did walking around Konohagakure on a nice day, but he was reclusive and introverted by nature.

With the goodbyes exchanged and the mission completed, albeit slightly half assed, Takao headed home. There was a shower, dinner, and a nice book with his name on it waiting for him.

After hearing the man speak, Lelouch would sigh with agreement. Placing his left hand on the cigarette, he would hand over the leash's towards Takao, direction. Once the man grabbed the leash, Lelouch would be heading off for the Administration Building, where he would collect both of they rewards..

Smoking the cigarette once again, and puffing. He would be following a nice peaceful path. Walking dogs, was one of the most easiest missions ever. But maybe there would be harder missions for the two at some point of time.

While walking away, Lelouch got started to think about what else could happen next in his life??? Worth his goals already in front of him, all he got to do is take them... But perhaps there was more thing's in life he didn't do right?? Perhaps something very important. While thinking back on his Life history and his child hood..

It was more of an confident side of Lelouch. But for what ever it was, he was going to most definitely get it done...

Smoking from his cigarette, he would sigh... After a few moments of walking, h would begin to get addicted to the cigarette's already.. It had him feeling calm for what so ever reason..

But however, with them being bad for you. Lelouch would have to smoke only one each day... Or he could limit it...

After his last blow from the smoke, he would toss it on the ground.. And a nice hard step on it.. Just like the young Takao did... Once the boy was done with his smoke, he would begin walking again... The walk wouldn't be to long. It was just the admin building. Lelouch been there before... But hopefully, he don't get lost into the woods..

EXIT