Mission Taken - Books Books Everywhere:

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Tomoe! Wake up! There's a scroll here for you." Tomoe blinked, glancing backwards and through her bedroom window. She was currently seated outside on the roof of the porch, only about a foot or so from the open window itself. She could clearly hear her mother knocking but that wasn't what surprised her: there was a message for her? She hadn't even noticed anyone approaching the house but then again she had been lost in thought as usual and staring up at the beautiful clouds as they lazily made their way across the light blue sky.

"Coming, mom!", Tomoe called back, not wanting to be rude by not responding. Her mother, hearing her, simply opened up her bedroom door before Tomoe could even move to climb through the window. Her mother glanced around and then to the window as Tomoe leaned over and peaked her head in.

[color:df19= blue]"If I didn't know better Tomoe I'd say you were part cat: you really seem to like being out on that roof.", her mother said with a gentle smile as she made her way over. Instead of climbing out on the roof with her - something that would be an interesting feat considering she was in a very traditional floor length kimono at the moment - she sat on the ledge which thankfully was just the right height for her to do comfortably. "Here, dear. It was dropped off in back; the messenger saw me in the garden and asked me to give it to you.", her mother would explain as she handed the sealed scroll over.

That would explain why I didn't see or hear anyone approach., Tomoe thought to herself as she reached over and took the scroll. She broke the seal and then unrolled it - to her mother's credit she didn't even try and peak. They had a long standing agreement about trust: and her mother being a former ninja knew that some things were not meant for everyone's eyes, family or otherwise. However, this wasn't a secret, or some sensitive important information, so Tomoe had no reason not to share what it said. "Ah, I've been given another D ranked mission. I'm being asked to help out in the library; stocking shelves from the looks of things. They want me there as soon as possible, so I'll probably be late for dinner, mom."

Tomoe's mother waved her hand elegantly through the air in a motion that clearly said 'don't worry about it' or 'it's not a problem'. "That's alright dear. Work comes first. Besides, your father has an important late meeting today with a company looking to invest with him anyway, so he'll be late as well. I'll just start dinner a bit later than normal, that's all." Tomoe smiled at her mother and her understanding and then leaned over and kissed her on the cheek before sliding down the side of the roof and off over the edge. She was only a floor up so the drop wasn't all that big and she landed carefully and easily on her feet in a crouch before standing gracefully. She turned and waved goodbye to her mother who returned the gesture.

Tomoe then made her way toward the local library with haste: she didn't want to be late. Thankfully, she only had a few blocks to go, so she arrived in less than five minutes at her hurried pace. She entered in quietly and then made her way to the front desk. There was no line, so she was able to go right up the librarian. "Hello. I'm here to lend a hand. i was told you had some shelving that needed done?", Tomoe inquired.

The elderly woman smiled and nodded her head before pointing to the wheeled cart nearby stacked a good two feet high with books on both the top and bottom shelf. "I'll need you to put those away where they belong. When you're done come back to see me. You know how the system works right?" Tomoe nodded her head yes: she spent a lot of time in the library after all, so she was all too familiar with the organization system they went by. "Alright, good. If you need any help don't hesitate to ask, dear." Tomoe nodded again and then went over to the cart to get to work.

Whoever had stacked the books had done so in a slightly organized manner which was going to make her job a little bit easier. Figuring it best to start at the beginning that's where she headed, being careful as she wheeled the cart so that none of the books fell off and got damaged. Tomoe worked quickly but efficiently as she began, making sure that the books were put away in order where they belonged. As she went and the pile of books on the cart lowered the amount of shelves she went through grew.

Eventually the top shelf of the wheeled cart was empty and she started on the bottom: grabbing several books at once to keep herself from having to bend over repeatedly. By the time the bottom shelf was completely empty Tomoe found herself at the entire other hand of the library from where she began. She double checked that the cart was empty, knowing that no books had fallen off since she had been so careful. Satisfied she wheeled the empty cart up to the front desk and waited until the librarian was finished checking out the person in front of her before revealing the empty cart. "I'm finished, ma'am. Do you have more books you need me to put away?", Tomoe asked politely.

"No dear, that's all. Thank you. You're payment is waiting for you." Tomoe nodded, and then after putting the cart back where it belonged, she headed out of the library with yet another job well done.


Wordcount: 993 / 600