"Oh, a rainy day today?" Tsuru sighed at the window of her room, giant drops of water splattered onto her window as the grey cloudy sky loomed over the Village Hidden in the Leaves. And today I have to go to the grocery store. Tsu pouted at the dreary weather as if somehow her disapproval could change the fact that rain was indeed falling down from the sky.

Tsuru slipped on her raincoat, a violet rubber cloak with those big flower shaped buttons, and her big black gardening boots that doubled as rainboots. She headed downstairs to find her younger brother simply wasting the rainy day by playing on his game system on the TV. "I'm going out the store Ruto!" The small green haired boy only grunted in response, but just as his sister was about to step outside in the downpour he yelled out a goodbye.

"Stay dry!" He called. His sister turning back only to frown at the sarcastic remark.

SPLASH! SPLASH! Tsu trotted through the puddles. Her pace was not a quickened hurry but instead more of a lackadaisical walk of one who did not enjoy the rain, but more so towards one who accepted the downpour as it was. True even though she was wearing a raincoat and rain boots, she still was getting soaked.

No one else was crazy enough to go out in this weather, evident by the fact that the girl was alone in a usually busy street. Though Tsu was a girl on a mission, a weekly usual mission, but a mission nonetheless. Tsuru reached the grocery store in no less time than she usually did. Ever since the death of her mother, Tsuru, despite all aspects of her own airheadedness, had to become the one to take care of herself and her brother Ruto, Her father, Ran Shokubutsusou, was still a shinobi of the Leaf and as Tsu had been reminded a genius Jonin by his teens and on par possibly with sannin or even a kage. And as a shinobi of the Leaf, he was often away on missions for indeterminate amounts of time, from days to weeks, to sometimes months, so that left Tsuru and Ruto to care for themselves.

So was the situation on this rainy day, Ran had been gone for about a week now and food was running low at the house. Thus it came to the weekly mission of going to the grocery store.

There wasn't a customer there and the clerk was surprised to see the small green haired girl even show up. The rain didn't seem to lighten as Tsu checked out and stood just inside the door. "Gah, if only I knew some teleportation jutsu or something. Then I could snap my fingers and be home, not another drop of cold wet water on me!"

Her musings were left to herself, and Tsu decided to simply wait out the rain on a bench outside the door of the grocer. It was positioned just underneath the edge of the building's roof, conveniently a dry place on such a watery day. Tsu sat with the bags to heri side, swinging rainboots in the puddles that formed on the ground. She looked down the flower shaped buttons on her raincoat, that certain raincoat had been bought for her by her father. "I hope you get home soon Dad... that way next time it rains I'm sending you to get the groceries!" She thought out loud again, this time causing a small smile to appear on her cold cheeks.

~599~

Tsuru continued to wait patiently on the bench, the rain was still pouring down cats and dogs and Tsu was beginning to wonder if she would ever be able to make it home without getting drenched again. Just as she was trying to figure a way to return home if the rain never stopped, Tsu heard a female voice drag her from her thoughts.

"Hi Im Misao, wanna be friends?"

"Hm?" Tsuru looked up to find a small pink haired girl standing beside the bench. She was smiling a friendly smile, and though at first Tsuru was confused, the green haired girl gave a kind smile back. Not many people were the type to walk up to a stranger and ask to be friends, but Tsuru saw the Konoha headband that the girl wore even though the pinkette seemed younger than herself. "Oh... Okay!" Tsuru patted the area next to here on the bench not occupied by grocery bags. "Here have a seat, it's dry."

Tsuru's long braids fell down at her sides, still wet from her rain drenched walk to their current location. She looked out to the grey sky, though the rains as still coming down it seemed that the heavy downpour part was beginning to end. The steady drizzle peacefully dropped down water on the puddles in front of the two girls and for a moment Tsu had forgotten that the pinkette was even there.

Tsu blinked and turned back the pinkette who had inrotduced herself as Misao. "So, Mi-chan! Mind if I call you Mi-chan? I think its good if friends give each other nicknames. Oh where are my manners?!" The green haired girl suddenly rushed her  in embarrassed forgetfulness. " I'm Tsuru Shokubutsusou! It's been a while since someone's has asked to be my friend. I like making friends, but I don't have that many."   Tsuru's eye turned down, it wasn't that she felt embarrassed, but she did feel slightly sheepish to admitting that she did not have many people she was close to besides her father and her brother.

~353/952~

Tsuru had her eyes down, she suddenly felt a warm hand put itself on her cold wet shoulder. Her green eyes turned to the pinkette, who was smiling kindly to her. "Thats ok, I don't have that many friends either, but hey, at least we are friends now."

Tsu smiled back, the girl was right. Two lonely peas seemed to felt well together in the pod. Suddenly the drumming of rain seemed to become silenced, the rain had stopped as the clouds turned into a light greyish white. She suddenly noticed that Misao was shivering and was about to say something when the pinkette spoke up. "Hey Tsu-chan, wait here a minute."

Ah, so Mi-chan likes nicknames too. Tsu giggled at the thought as her new friend disappeared into the grocery store. Just a few moments later, the pinkette reemerged with a raincoat and boots similar to Tsu's own violet coat and black rubber rainboots, though hers were pink to match her hair.

"Kya!" Tsu exclaimed with excited. "Mi-chan you look so cute~! And we match." Tsu motioned to her outfit and then to Misao's. The pinkette wasn't just dressed warmly, but in each of her hands there a steaming cup of hot cocoa. With a smile, Misao handed one to the green haired girl. "Thank you, it's wonderful and warm." Tsu said after she took a few drinks of the chocolaty sweet drink. Just within a few more moments, the whitish grey clouds cleared out and a few rays of sun peaked behind the clouds. "Look the sun is coming out!" Tsu commented on the upturn of the weather.

The green haired girl looked down bench to the grocery bags that occupied the other side. It was just a few brown paper bags filled with the usual; milk, cereal, juice, a few lunchmeats and cheeses, bread, eggs, and the list could go on. Usually Tsuru was ready to take the grocery mission by herself, yet since Misao was there. "Er, Mi-chan, I don't want to burden you, but would you like to help me take my groceries to my house?" Tsuru asked for help, but it was more a move to hopefully get to know her new friend. Also, Tsu could show her the garden that her family ran, maybe the pinkette liked flowers as much as she did. She could only it was so.

~406/1358~

 

At Tsu's request for help, Misao let out a small giggle. "Sure Tsu -chan, Id love too."   Tsu smiled in return and stood up, grabbing two grocery bags in her arms. She gave one to Misao and thanked her once again for helping out. 

~567/1925~

OOC: It's no problemo~ I know how you feel :P 

The pink haired girl had responded by mentioning she had only been a genin for a short time, though trailed off before mentioning anything else as they entered the gardens. As Tsu locked the gate, Misao entered but soon stopped in wonder looking at the scenery of beautiful flowers and greenery around her. "Whoa...."


"Haha, Mi-chan careful you might end up staring at them all day. I should know, it's happened to me before too." Tsu said with a teasing grin she went ahead on the path toward the visitor's center. The green haired kunoichi nudged the door open with her foot and called out for her brother inside the building Ruto! I'm home! And I've brought a friend, Mi-chan! Mi-chan, just head upstairs and put the groceries on the counter." She added as she entered the building as well, kicking off her rainboots and slipping off her raincoat to the side of the entrance.

"Oneesan, you got any carrots." A small green haired boy appeared from the top of the hallway, his hair was dark like Tsuru's. Though it lay in a haphazard mess atop his head, in the back a single long green braid trailed behind down his waist.

"Oh gee, you and your carrots. Eat enough and you'll turn into a bunny." His older sister replied and grabbed a small pack from one the grocery bags.

"Thanks. Hey." The small boy crunched on his carrot and casually waved to Misao while walking out the door. "It stopped raining. I'm headed to the greenhouse to check on the flytraps."

Tsuru only nodded back when she reached the top of the steps, she began to put many of the groceries away in the kitchen. "Ugh, I don't get it boys are always fascinated by the most inconvenient things. I mean bug eating plants, they're so... gross and not very pretty." She stuck out her tongue playfully to the pink haired girl. "Anyway, you hungry? We got carrots. And other things too." Tsu giggled at her own jokes.

~350/2275~

"Sorry Tsu-chan, im not very hungry, I ate before I left the house." Misao declined politely, also with a smile as Tsu had laughed at her own joke. The two did have some hot chocolate earlier, so Tsu actually wasn't all that hungry either. The pink haired kunoichi then followed up with a question. "Hey um Tsu-chan, how long ago was the garden made?"

The green haired girl had to put her finger to her temple to remember when the gardens had first open. "Well.... It was a long, long time ago. Way back when Konohagakure wasn't even Konohagakure. Er, I know that it began sort of like an experiment garden for the first members of the Shokubustusou branch when they wanted to grow plants for special Mokuton jutsu and then later people could come and visit and it was like a regular public gardens. My uncle still likes to do stuff like that so if you hear an something like explosion from the greenhouse don't worry it happens all the time." Tsu's last sentence was said with a matter of fact tone with a casual wave of her hand as if it really was an incident that commonly occurred.

"So..." Tsu was still trying to think up an answer to Misao's question. It was really a better question for her aunt or grandma that always gave the garden tours for visitors and always seemed to know everything about the history of the Senju clan, the Shokubustusou branch, and Konoha itself. "I guess it's been around as long as the Shokubutsusou have been around which have been around as long as the Senju have been around-I mean I guess a little bit after that 'cause it's a branch of the Senju."

~301/2576~

"Wow I had no idea they were here so long! I never really got the chance to look because im not normally in this side of town." Misao seemed excited to know more about the gardens, and Tsuru herself was very pleased to hear that she was. Her voice spiked with a little more enthusiasm as she asked the young Senju about Tsu's particularly favored types of plants.  "So do you all grow any medicinal herbs or plants?"

At the word 'medicinal' Tsuru's green eyes lit up with joy "Hehe! Of course Mi-chan, I'm a medical nin so I've made sure of that." The girl smiled as she listed off many of the plants that she had tended to herself. "Wormwood, Blue Indigo, Dong Quai and my personal favorite, a batch of aloe plants that I've been growing!" Tsu was really excited at the fact that her friend was so excited about medical plants. Usually, it was a subject she hardly talked about with anyone because mostly she never really found anyone interested in the wonders of natural healing. Which to Tsu was the most confusing thing in the world. Who wouldn't be interested in the way that mother nature provided assisstance to those injured or sick? It fascinated the girl, and perhaps what mainly inspired her to be a medical ninja.

"Ah... My batch of aloe plants, I've been growing them especially so I can develop a medical jutsu using Mokuton, a medical mokuton. Aloe gel of course can help heal burns, but also rashes and other skin conditions. It can even quicken healing and lessen inflammation. 'Cause it's so versatile, I was thinking I could recreate it through a jutsu using the wood element but with stronger effects using medical chakra." The green haired girl was also talking a mile a minute. Her developing medical mokuton jutsu still had a ways to go, but maybe just maybe, she could have it done by the time of the chunin exams. Or, by the time her father returned from his mission. Both of which were coming in close. "I... haven't gotten very far with it." She added, with a look down of slight embarrassment. She wished to share as many things as she could with this girl, this girl she could call her friend, so that they could talk together not just about jutsu s or medical techniques, but on day speak just about nothing like friends were meant to do.

~421/2997~

~Exit Thread~

-Exiting Thread due to Inactivity as well as currently being in Kumo-