Mission Stuffs (Not counted towards WC):

Chiaki had just taken up a mission in beautiful Konohagakure, yesterday, that they had found a new type of viper in the forests surrounding the village. The viper’s name was the hog-nosed screamer, for the shrieks that it would send out when it was found in the underbrush. It sounded like a little girl screaming, a high pitched pearl drop of a sound. Chiaki stretched and went through her morning routine. She was to find some sort of antivenom. The form of antivenom she was to find was called Acacia Melanoxylon, or a form of yellow flowering tree which grew in recessed places in Konoha. It, apparently, was used as a base for some of the antivenoms and the hospital and most of the herbologists within the village had run out of. She sighed and put on her sports bra, along with some underwear. Why did she always have to be the errand girl between the hospital, the herbologists, and the people of Konoha.

Also, why did they want to send her on a D ranked mission, she would rather have taken a C ranked mission like last time. Doctor Hui had said that she would be welcome any time for a future visit to make sure that she had employment. Her father, Cado, had said that it was a good thing that she had become more popular in the hospital and that her name was starting to be used as a buzz word. There was a rumor that she was going to be rising to the top of the hospital in no time, to rival the medical prowess of doctor Hui himself. She chuckled to herself as she wrestled her way into a dress that was form-fitting and perfect for the mission, slipping some shorts underneath so as to remain decent while flinging herself about the trees. She didn’t want anyone to catch a glimpse of her panties, after all.

A small blush as she thought of that, and cleared her throat. Not that there was anyone that she particularly was interested in, yet, but perhaps someone would come along. She sighed and toyed with the idea of a stronger, more influential man coming to whisk her off. And then thought again about the prospect of a woman dropping by with a wine bottle, two glasses and a movie to sit down and then perhaps… Her face burned in intensity as she thought of these things and shook her head to clear it. No, it was no time to be fantasizing about the prospects of being intimate, she needed to get this flower, wherever it was, and follow up.

She looked over the mission again. A non-invasive tree, it liked well drained, but high precipitation areas, so it would be on a hill with mostly grainy dirt around it. That narrowed it down a bit. Chiaki had done some herb gathering before, and knew the forests fairly well, around Konoha that is. The tree had an erect shape, with the leaves and flowers mostly at the top. Even when the snows came to Konoha, this plant would remain green, giving it the nickname the evergreen apple. Though, this tree didn’t produce any kind of apple at all. She was looking for the leaves and the flowers, apparently the flowers were used in the antivenom, and the leaves were a good emetic, and also diarrhetic.

She nodded, clipping her belt to her dress and making sure that it was stuffed with her essentials, senbon, ninja tools, and tied her headband around her neck, the leaf on the backside of her neck, the most vulnerable part of a ninja, she remembered. A nod to her empty apartment, and a curiously small ache in her heart at the sheer loneliness that the cleanly lifestyle emitted, and she closed and locked the door.

In a couple quick minutes she was running across the rooftops. A flashback to when she had done this last came to mind, it was when she was asking Mitsuo’s help with the bandit that had stolen her backpack. A growl came from her as she slid down the shingles of one rooftop, using the drainpipe as a springboard to flip to the next rooftop. She sped across the peak of the rooftop and slid down another, almost like an otter, going with the flow of shinobi traffic. These were only used for official business, and as such, everyone she passed had a headband of one form or another around their head, arm, waist, neck, or otherwise. She nodded to each of the ninja as she sped across the rooftops, the minutes blurring like the tiles beneath her feet until she vaulted over the wall, waving a hearty hello to the guards as she landed in the trees and sprang through them.

This shouldn’t take long, she just needed to get to the forest proper, rather than just the outskirts. As much as she knew of the village, it was on a flood plain, and it would be hard to find sufficiently drained and grainy soil in this part of konoha. A small smile to herself as she knew where to head. Westward she sped, jumping from tree to tree, not paying attention when disaster struck her in the side of the head.

A panther, small so it must have been juvenile had landed on her, tussling with her and as she hit the forest floor she rolled with it as it sank its teeth into her arm and she kicked against it as it tried to do the same, the claws raking against her dress and leaving paper-thin lines across her now exposed chest. She huffed, letting it all hang out for the jungle cat.

It had sleek black fur and had apparently been waiting for someone like her to come across it as it bared its teeth and hissed at her, claws fully extended and covered in her blood. Its teeth the same. It must be trying to get her to flee, to expose her protected throat. One hand made seals while the other yanked her headband around to the front of her neck as it pounced. She was faster than it, but it seemed to have the advantage over her in terms of reaction time.

Chiaki landed hard, the cat scraping past her, and it tore the rest of her dress off. It wasn’t a dress for fighting anyhow, this was supposed to be a walk in the park not a tussle or a mission with any sort of violence in it at all. She had dressed in a flower picking outfit, not some other attire. The belt clung to the dress as it was jerked violently from her person. The cat was stuck in the fabric momentarily. This was her chance. She sprung backward and knitted her hands together, feeling an electric pulse build in her elbows.

Offering her hand to the cat, a lightning bolt sprang out with a sizzling “CRACK!” which resounded through the forest and hit the cat in the hind quarters. So close. She clicked her tongue and the cat growled and hissed at her. She found herself making the same noise, naked from the waist up with only her belt and her shorts as any sort of clothing, she looked like a wild-woman, her hair had come loose from its bindings and blew easily in the wind.

The laceration wasn’t enough to keep the cat from a meal though, and Chiaki knew it. She would have to do something about this before it escalated to something more serious. Taking out her senbon she launched them at the cat as soon as it sprang towards her again. This time it was slower, this time she didn’t miss the opportunity to try to smack the cat away. Her fist hit solid bone and she felt something pop in her right wrist as she punched the cat away from her, falling over herself and getting mud on her back. She rolled away, feeling the rough and mud-covered underbrush rake against her sensitive skin.

The fist that had hit the bone was hurt and she rolled it experimentally. There was no way she would use it for hand seals now. Good thing she knew how to weave them with one hand. Weaving the seals for heavy water was next, and she would have to be careful with this one, as it was her ace in the hole. She growled and the cat did the same, hissing once more. It lunged, the toll from the wound taking its toll as she struck with her hand, making its forepaws fail she felt the teeth rake against her bare shoulder as it tried to find a hold, but tore through the flesh there, leaving a bit of her hanging from the rest.

It tried to push itself up, but found that its forelegs were of little use to it now as the jutsu worked its way into the cat’s limbs, rendering them like jelly. The beast’s eyes turned from rage and hunger to panic as it started to yowl, much like a housecat, only deeper pitched. It knew that it was dead should she want it to be.

Chiaki found herself sweating, rivulets of her sweat running down the mud and caking in between her belt and her stomach. She felt gross, exhausted, and overall satisfied. She plucked the senbon out of the cat as it yowled, snapped, and tried to flee from her. She weaved hand seals and its eyes opened wide, a hiss and then another heart wrenching yowl blasted forth from its throat.

Two pangolin-like paws sprang from her hands as she weaved the last of the hand seals, and she pressed the finger of the paw to the cat’s wound. It squeaked, actually squeaked and jumped away expecting pain it yowled and then it looked back to its hind quarters in disbelief. What? It couldn’t believe it.

Chiaki smiled and before the paralysis ran out, she jumped back into the dense foliage of the forest above, giving the cat one more smile before jumping off. The cat’s cries of confusion, anger, and futility echoed throughout the forest for the next several minutes before they quieted down. The cat had been female, and probably was its first hunt alone. It was a good thing that it had picked Chiaki, as she was forgiving about the laws of the forest. Shaking her head she sprang from branch to branch, feeling the breeze more than she found comfortable she came to a hill where the trees that she was seeking grew.

It took a bit of time, a knife in her bag that was made for cutting steak was all that she had brought, really she should have brought scissors, but she wrapped them in wax paper and placed them gently and carefully in her bag. Making sure that her senbon were in a place that they could be used, she looked around, it was a beautiful day, and her recent brush with death made it a bit more beautiful. She looked at her wounds, and winced in a bit of pain. She would have to wash before healing them, and besides get a new set of clothes before she delivered these herbs to the hospital.

The rush back to the village was uneventful, but she knew better than to try to jump over the wall again. Pressing her injured hand over one nipple, and using her upper arm to cover her other one she walked casually towards the village, her hair in as much disarray as her tattered clothing and pride, but she walked defiantly through the gates.

The guards in the gatehouse stopped her, as she knew they would, one female and one male. The woman guard looked her up and down and Chiaki held up her one hand that wasn’t keeping her decent, “I’m a shinobi of the hidden leaf.” She motioned with her chin towards her forehead protector.

The male approached her and the female guard gave him a frown. He held up his hands in a universal ‘sorry’ gesture and the female guard walked up and rubbed some dirt off of her hitae-ate. Well, it was a leaf symbol after all. “I have, in my bag, the mission scroll I was given yesterday to prove that I am a citizen.” She smiled to the woman, pushing her hip out that had her bag on it.

“Alright,” The woman dug through her bag and opened the scroll, her lips moving along with her eyes to read the scroll faster, she supposed. “You’re Guanyin Chiaki?” She looked her up and down and her lips frowned a bit as her eyebrows came together.

“I am.” Chiaki nodded and readjusted her hand that was keeping her decent.

“Satoshi, get her a shirt at least.” She said in an exasperated tone to the other guard who jogged off, “Sorry about him, he can’t help but oggle. What’s a little girl like you doing taking on a mission? Aren’t you a little young?”

“Ah, it’s the height.” Chiaki explained, “It makes me seem younger, but in actuality I am twenty three.” She proffered the information to the other woman whose eyebrows shot up in surprise as her friend came back from the outpost with a plain green sleeveless shirt. He proffered it to Chiaki and she put it on, doing her best not to expose herself. The shirt fit like a tent, as it was meant for regular sized shinobi. Oh well.

“Well, I’d best be off.” She said to the two guards who nodded.

“Ah, miss.” The female guard stopped her there, “What or who did this to you?”

“Oh, a panther found me in the forest. I mean, really, it isn’t so safe as people make it out to be, but uhm. Yeah.” She shrugged and acted like that explained everything.

“A panther? And a genin is still alive after tussling with a grown panther?” The man cut in, with a little glare from his partner.

“It ah, she was a little bit smaller than a regular panther, only about half the size really. I mmm… I have seen them in the zoo here in Konoha, and really she had no right to be hunting on her own.” The two nodded to her story and exchanged a couple of words murmured to each other.

“Well, best get to the hospital then miss.” The female guard nodded to her, as did Satoshi, the male guard.

“Alright, thanks!” Chiaki jumped up the telephone pole and sped across the rooftops. Her body already started to ache from the exertion, but less so than her first mission, less so than her second one as well. She was getting tougher, and had this been her first mission she might have fared less well than this.

A few rooftops later and she landed in front of the hospital, checking her too big shirt to make sure it was at least covering the important bits, she tucked it into her belt and walked through the doors. The shirt was more of a make-shift dress at this point and as she walked in she could feel more than the receptionist’s gaze on her.

“Uh, medical treatment I suppose?” The receptionist asked before bringing up the papers.

“It’s me.” Chiaki flashed a grin and the woman squinted her eyes while looking Chiaki up and down.

“Oh, Guanyin Chiaki-san is that you?!” She looked and her mouth fell open, horrified.

“I ah, I am here to turn in the medicinal herbs that were requested by the hospital.” She sounded stiff, though she felt like it was warranted, as she felt stiff.

The receptionist nodded and proffered her a plastic baggy, which Chiaki accepted and stuffed first the leaves into and then delicately put the flowers on top. Sealing it with her forefinger and thumb, she offered it back and the receptionist tucked it into a drawer and handed Chiaki her reward. 150 Ryo for this job. It seemed a bit skimp, based on her wounds, but she could live with it. It was a good experience, but she would rather work for the hospital, rather than not.

Chiaki decided to walk her way home, holding her hand against her breasts to make sure she was decent, as it felt breezier than when she had left the house. She was down one dress, though that was manageable, and up one too-big shirt. She could probably use it for a nightie.

Her thoughts turned towards a meal and a shower the closer she got towards home, and as her key hit her lock she felt the weight of the exercise hit her in full. She closed the door, dead bolting it before wiggling her way out of her bottom clothing. Her shoes were the next thing to go. She yanked at the tongue of the belt and it too fell unceremoniously to the floor. The shirt was easily shrugged out of, and as she passed the mirror in the hall which promoted more light in her little apartment she gave herself a once-over.

She looked horrid, like she had been attacked and then rolled through the mud. Mud caked her features and much of her upper half. There was a sizeable part of her that was not caked in mud, but that was from the tight fitting shorts she had worn today, and not from any sort of luck. Oh, and that damned cat had ripped her bra off as well. She growled a bit, thinking that she might have just let it suffer from its wounds rather than healing it.

As her mood soured so did her expression in the mirror. She didn’t like how ugly it made her face, how feral it made her look, so she took a deep breath, closing her eyes and heading mechanically in to the left towards the bathroom. She didn’t want to touch anything she didn’t have to, and so she pulled the curtain aside with her index and forefinger.

Once the shower was on, she hopped in and bit her bottom lip against the pain as the flap of skin on her shoulder hit the water. No. She had to endure the pain to get whatever was in it out. She hissed, much like the cat had when she struck it with the lightning bolt, and the vision of it in the underbrush washed through her mind in a blue flash.

Chiaki opened her eyes and used Pangolin’s paw three times to heal her wounds. It was a good thing that this cat was a juvenile, as she didn’t think it would extend the same courtesy to her as she had shown the small female cat.

A small and soft smile as her heart actually turned towards the little thing, she pitied it, but she knew that the cat would grow strong, silent, and deadly out there in the forests of Konoha.

Chiaki’s small hand found the faucet and ran it hot, scrubbing away the dull brown of the blood and mud that had caked her. Scrubbing away any hard feelings towards the cat, the mess of the day, and the weariness that she felt from her mission. Mission success, and now the village would have more anti-venom for the… screaming… viper… thing.

A small grin as she dressed and headed out into the sunset, her stomach growling. She nodded, locked her door mechanically and set off to dinner. What a day, what a day.

WC: 3309

Mission completion: 750 words

leftover: 2559

Using 2250 for Training Dexterity to D-3.

Leftover words discarded: 309.

282 words towards four pillar bind