There are Worse Things to be Addicted to [Open]

[Takahashi Aki]

[This topic is taking place during the same time as this thread for the sake of amusement]

Since Katuso had become Kazekage proper, Sousuke's timetable suffered from a deplorable thing. It was quite frustrating really. There were holes in his schedule. Usually Sousuke's day was fully planned. Very little did the Steward sleep, but sometimes with these holes in his schedule he tried this thing called sleeping. Sleep came to the Steward most times by force, be it ... he usually fought too hard and his body literally could not do anything else. This was nothing new in Sungakure and some people were starting to come to terms with it, such as the medical chief Kyuji.

The Steward approached Katuso's office. He had often told Katuso he would help him understand the numbers of the budget, to make sure the trust funds replenished healthly and to ensure a consistent positive sum gain between Sungakure and those they were starting to do business with. The Steward was a numbers person, and he was very good at that. He was able to pick up errors, irregularities or numbers being botched on purpose. Sousuke would knock on the door. Knock knock. "Katuso."<i></i> Knock knock. "Katuso."<i></i> Again knock knock. No response. Funny. This was supposed to be Katuso's paperwork day today. He was not present. It was well after lunch, and ... no Katuso. This was perplexing to say the least. Sousuke would open the door and he would look into the office. Indeed very different from the way he designed it. It was ... colourful ... too colourful if you were to ask Sousuke. He looked to ... find no Katuso and a large stack of paper.

Sousuke stared at the stack of paper with a very laser focused look. There was the budget. It needed to be reviwed, and clearly there was no Katuso to review it. Sousuke had to think hard. When ... when was the last time he reviewed a budget? It ... it felt too long. Just a peak, it wouldn't hurt would it? This particular attitude Sousuke had seemed to be borderline paper addict. It was hard to imagine Sousuke being an addict to anything, but ... yes he was addicted to paperwork. Sousuke would look left, and then right. Yes... it would be alright to review it. Well ... not just review it, make notes, make sure all the numbers worked and ... well ...

 

[Kou]

"Hello? Taheiji, are you there? They told me you'd be up here. I wanted to tell you about the mission!" Kou calls down one of the halls, aimlessly wandering through the Kazekage tower. It was a relatively slow day in the Tower, and Kou had just returned from the Diamond District after taking some time to deliver a couple of letters as part of her mission. She was so excited that she completed it, she wanted to tell the instructor that walked with her on the way there the good news. The problem was, the Academy had already let out and he wasn't in the building. One of the other students who stayed late after class suggested that he came by here to file a report or something along those lines.

She did walk in and find some help in the reception area, but unfortunately, the verbal directions could only go so far. After walking up a few flights of stairs, the instructions on where to find Taheiji were very fuzzy on her mind and the narrow hallways disorientating to her. She keeps her hand out to the wall so that her fingertips can graze its surface. It was basically the same principle as if she were to find herself in the maze; if she stuck to the wall then she would be less likely to lose track of where she was and find her destination faster. Three audible knocks nearby and a man's voice attract her attention and she wanders over to the source of the noise. "Taheiji?" She wonders, pausing in front of the slightly ajar door. From the sound of it, there had to be at least one other person in the room with her and if he didn't answer to the man's name, then logically it'd have to be someone else.

"Excuse me. My apologies for intruding" She mumbles nervously, entirely oblivious to the fact that she was in the current Kazekage's office at the moment and the fact that she was talking to one of the former Kazekage in the flesh and blood. "Do you know where Instructor Ogawa Taheiji is? I'm having trouble finding him, I forget if he's on this floor or one of the ones below. I'm a student in one of his classes. I just wanted to talk to him if he wasn't too busy." She wrings her fingers together and turns her head to get a better idea of what the room was like. Her voice carried differently here than it did in the halls, suggesting that the space before her was more open in comparison. It didn't seem like a typical filing room, but she couldn't place what a room like this could be used for.

MFT
Word Count: 457 words

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Sousuke took hold of the opening page of the proposed budget. He frowned slightly and took the whole thing and walked to the opposite side of the room. He looked at the exotic chairs Katuso had picked up and took a seat, or tried to. The end result was a spinning Sousuke as he sat spinning around as he began to look over the budget. He reached into his chair pocket and took out a pen. He began to make notes about the budget on the side. He made side remarks of, Source? Data? Nope. Wrong. Yes, but <insert long form expalantion of why this is not the best course>. The Steward stopping spinning in the chair when he heard a child's voice speak up. He blinked a few times. He clicked the pen, and looked at the speaker. " Onishi Kou. The first of her name."<i></i> He spoke outloud more for himself. The Steward was a man who know people. He knew people without them knowing him. Such was expected of the man who was Steward of Sungakure, and former Kazekage. He tapped the side of his face with the pen. He quietly considers her question. He tapped the side of his face with the pen several more times. "He's presently in the lunch room on the second floor. I think he wanted a little bit of quiet time to himself because of a ..."<i></i> The Steward thinks about it for a moment. He considers whether or not he should mention that the instructor had suffered a mild mental breakdown of sorts. Sousuke furrowed his brows. He straightens the papers, and considers something else.

"How about this ... Why don't you ... direct the question you had for him ... to me instead?"<i></i> Sousuke proposed. He would continue to process the budget while he awaited the question to come, or if indeed the child perhaps did not wish to grace him with the question. Sousuke continued to digilently make his notes on the side about the budget, and made the needed notes about the numbers that were being proposed to Katuso.

 

[Kou]

Kou's nervous fidgeting stops and her posture relaxes when she lifts her head. If it were not for the bandage wrappings over her eyes, she might be looking directly at him. "That's right." She tells him happily, "How'd you know that? Did you come to the academy before to visit? You sound a little...familiar." She trails off and chews on the inside of her cheek trying to remember something. It felt like it had been a while since she had heard a voice like that, but she couldn't be completely certain. She expels a sigh when she can't place it and decides to carefully walk further in the room. She listens to the sound of Sousuke's pen hitting his cheek or scratching against the papers to navigate closer to him, but it's her outstretched hand that keeps her from bumping into one of the other nearby chairs.

Tracing the shape of one of the chair arms in inspection, she frowns thoughtfully to herself. It had a strange feeling to it, nothing like she was used to at home. The materials that made it felt as if they were sanded with a finer grain and felt more refined with the attention to its decorative details that craftsmen outside of the Diamond district had a hard time mastering. In most of their minds functionality and comfort beat out aesthetics to their clientele, and usually, they were right. It was another piece of the puzzle of where she was, all the same. This had to be someone important's office to have fancy furniture like this. Kou came to realize that she definitely wandered a few floors higher than she was supposed to.

"This is nice." She mumbles in a compliment and then awkwardly tries to figure out how to climb onto it and sit. Sitting down, the chair almost dwarfs her in comparison; the student's feet not quite able to touch the ground from where they dangle. "It's not really a question." She elaborates while listening to Sousuke while he works on the budget. "I just wanted to tell him about how my first mission went. He was nice enough to make sure I didn't get lost on the way to the Diamond District and made sure their security knew that I was just there on business." Would this man mind if she told him about it instead? It felt like it would be something silly to boast about to anyone but the educator of young children.

Still, he was being patient enough to field her questions so Kou thought that it couldn't hurt to share some of the details. "I picked up a letter I was supposed to deliver for the client and walked it over a few houses next door. He was too bashful to drop it off himself...but it still took me fifteen whole minutes of jogging just to make it there because their front lawns are so big!" She can't help but stretch her arms out as wide as they can go in an effort to visually demonstrate the 'massive' stretch of distance she was describing. "And when I get there, the woman he wanted to deliver the letter to, had a dog outside! It was growling and snarling, but I calmed it down with one of the jutsu I learned in class. She gave me a letter to take back to him, and he was so excited to get it that he knocked me down with the door."

Her lips dip into a small frown as she rubs her face, recalling the memory of getting caught off guard. "She wasn't that interested in him, something about there being a dowry already paid. He sounded really disappointed by that. But she said her sisters may like him and that got him all giddy again." With her story concluded and the risk of Sousuke's ears going numb from the childish description out of the way, Kou does pose a question to the older man, "What are you working on?"

 

[Takahashi Aki]

When asked how Sousuke knew exactly who she was, Sousuke would answer: "It is expected of me to know so... but yes I did visit the academy a little while back."<i></i> To sound familiar to the child, well ... that was to be expected. Sousuke historically was known as Takahashi Sousuke the third of his name, the Steward of the Realm, and the ninth Kazekage. Both of those were very long winded, but he did appear at the Academy from time to time to check in on the students ... considering there was a mishap with his ward and ... well, Sousuke did not wish to think about that particular time again. Sousuke watched as the child had difficulty in getting into the chair, but she managed to do so. It was admirable really. The child had a skillset of a Hashigaki, and to watch the child combat her blindness through other means was indeed something to behold. He wondered if Shiori ever had these problems when she was little. Probably.

Sousuke believe or not had a strange track record with children. Sometimes he did well with them, other times ... maybe not so well. So far this was the former of the two. The child regaled him of her mission and how she had to deliver a letter. "Most households in the Diamond District are large. Most of them dwarf my own residence."<i></i> Sousuke spoke as he flipped the page over. He drew a line through the suggestion and wrote 'replenish the trust fund before you begin risky ventures'. He stopped writing when she mentioned having encountered a dog. He looked up and listened to how she encountered the dog and used her skillset to calm down the canine. "Lady Noi? Yes ... she has a large dog, that dog is more bark than bite. Once you know that ... well, if you intimidate the dog, he'll back down fast enough."<i></i> He spoke giving her a little tip should she need to deal with the canine again. "At any rate well done with dealing with Fangster."<i></i> The story continued. Sousuke listened next to how the child had taken the letter to its intended recipient. Given what happened there, he knew exactly who she was dealing with, and what was at work. "Lady Noi has a sister who is single, and is four years her younger. I think it may be a match, should your employer gather his nerves."<i></i> Marriage was always a difficult subject for some. Nobility went about it in a different way compared to most.

Sousuke returned to his work, as she asked him what he was doing. "Trying to make sure the budget works out for the village, and to make sure that money is not spent foolishly or needlessly. It's a rather difficult thing to do, and ... well it's morally rewarding to seeing the money be spent on projects on people who need it most."<i></i> He explained. "...Make sense so far?"<i></i>

 

[Kou]

Kou props her chin on top of her knuckles, her elbows sitting on her knees while she listens and does the equivalent of watching Sousuke. It was interesting how much she was learning about not only him the more they talk, but the people she had just been around. She could only hope to herself that her memory could get that sharpened in the years to come. She wondered if it was something that came naturally or if he had to train and practice to get so good at it. The child's head gently bobs and she quietly decides, "I prefer small houses to those big ones. It'd be too easy to get lost in one of their houses right now...besides, you only need so much room it feels like. After a certain point unless you got a big, big family you're just showing off.." Kou hums audibly under her breath, trying to remember the name of the woman. "Yeah, I think it was Lady Noi...and I'll try and remember that the next time I go and visit her. If I had my lunch with me, would have been happy sharing it to try to keep him happy.."

She giggles at the name Sousuke gives the dog, not knowing whether or not he just made it up on the spot for the canine or if that's what his family had really named him. If that's not his name then their family should take a page from the Ninth Kazekage's book when it comes to the subject. Her attention waned a small bit when it drifted to the talk of marriage again. She had already been taught way too much than what would be expected of her age, so it was a little confusing. "I never thought it'd have as much to do with getting paid as it did...or that people think about it so much and moved on so fast. In stories, it always just happens and no one could ever replace that person..." She frees one hand to trace shapes on the chair arm, the talk of the budget intriguing her so far. "Oh, I think it makes sense...so the village gets an allowance?" She asks Sousuke trying to gauge whether or not she's on the right track with that line of thought, "And everyone has to make sure they don't spend the allowance on something silly or something we don't need right now."

She frowns and something about her tone gets more saddened and concerned, "Is there room in the budget for the Grand Palais?" It may or may not be a long shot, but the talk of marriage and love brought her mind back to the Red District. Less than an hour of trying to disguise herself and explore taught her a lot and left her feeling a little hopeless about the topic. "Tatara said there's probably a lot of sick people there. And he and the med-nin couldn't fix every problem by themselves...that there were more..." Her words trail off in her search for the correct way to put it, "Complex issues at work...Like the criminals and the fact that the people that live there are worse off than other people..."

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Kou could hear the sounds of a frown forming on the face of the Steward. It was a very deep frown that formed on his face when she spoke of the Grand Palais. He would fast track the budget to the Grand Palais. "One hopes."<i></i> He answered as the reviewed the numbers. "The idea was the push people into Suna Residences and get them out of the Grand Palais. People cling to it for some odd reason. I understand home is home for people, but there is other things at work. The good will I have and the distribution of resource have time and time again to have been de-railed by the criminal element. I was present there not too long ago on a rescue mission and told all the thugs and ... criminals in my path to drop their weapons and walk away or face the consequences of bearing arms against me."<i></i> Sousuke did not expect the majority of them to drop their weaponry and walk away. It's not every day the village's Steward marches right in and is presented with an army to fight. Yet that was a fraction of the Grand Palais, not the whole force of the underworld. Still though the population was changing. Those who were the most at risk were literally told to move and were given better living quarters, and indeed they did. Some did not, and it bothered the Steward. "I try to make enough room for the betterment for that section of the village, and it is not easy. One of the many challenges this generation has to battle."<i></i>

"Tatara is correct. There is alot of sick people there. The hospital equally needs funding as well."<i></i> Sousuke spoke as continued to make notes. He would look up at Kou. "The human condition is a very odd thing. We are very much subjected to high, middle, and lower class. The gap between each is increasing due to avarice which motivates those at the top. This is why in part ... I review and amend the budget to have resources redistributed so areas like the Grand Palais see more funding ... instead of the Diamond District, which sustains itself easily enough."<i></i> What Sousuke feared happened, indeed was and thus he began makes notes about redistribution of the resources. "The trick though is seeing that ... what goes into the Grand Palais is what it needs, not something like ... weaponry ... medical drugs going into the wrong hands."<i></i>

 

[Kou]

Kou hesitates at first as she heard and felt the shift in Sousuke's demeanor, and she wondered if she had spoken out of turn or at least brought up a very tender subject. She bites down on her bottom lip to keep herself from saying anything else but releases it when Sousuke patiently starts speaking on the measures they've taken before to fix it. She leans in and listens looking fascinated by what he says. He definitely sounded like he had a very strong presence and she could only imagine how much more it was strengthened by a strong and intimidating appearance. Kou only wished that she could get a better idea, but that would require grasping some exceedingly difficult concepts to someone who had never seen the world through a normal pair of eyes. "That's good! A lot of people got the chance to move over there? My grandpa and I live over there and it's very nice. Our neighbor likes to hang up wind chimes outside of their windows that sound very pretty when a breeze drifts through and there's a lot of excellent chefs and bakers far as I can smell."

That was if the intoxicating scents that drifted through the neighborhood around dinner time were an accurate measure. She frowns again and tries to come up with a reason for why the villagers might want to stay in the dangerous neighborhoods. "Maybe they've been there over a few generations and have...mostly good memories? I know there's a restaurant or two and a couple of food stalls that seem like they do okay enough...hopefully, once they know they can make new and better memories somewhere else and get some delicious meals from the markets they'll be more open about moving..." She blushes bashfully out of embarrassment. Kou wasn't sure how, but somehow she just kept bringing food into the conversation. Maybe it was because she hadn't managed to have lunch in her rush to try to find her instructor. "Hospital funding is good." She agrees, trying to put on a more mature and wise air to her voice to better suit her role of Sousuke's impromptu budget council. "I've visited the med-nin before and they all seem to do their jobs really well even under crowded conditions and limited supplies."

Her nails scratch against her cheek and jaw and her expression seems focused and concentrated on understanding the social issues that Sousuke brings up. "Huh...yeah, I guess that's true. I always thought with enough hard work you can hop to the top of the ladder, but that doesn't mean you have to forget about everyone below it either. Doesn't have to be sharing what you earn necessarily, but just...giving a hand up maybe? Visiting, volunteering...maybe even just buying from different vendors would help people down here if the folk in Diamond District wanted to make a district.." Kou wasn't really sure if she could name anyone she knew from the Diamond District aside from her employer and his romantic crush. She wondered just how often they left their manicured lawns behind to explore the rest of the city? "I think the Diamond District will be fine, but yeah...there's a lot of people in the Red District that don't need any more weapons and bad medicine..." She wasn't sure if she could confidently think of a solution for that, that couldn't be manipulated or undermined in some way. "Maybe just um...cleaning the water they get or house expansions and renovations...or trying to pay for a small patrol force to wander through occasionally..."

MFT
594 words

 

[Takahashi Aki]

"The Grand Palais is cramped, Suna Residences is not. So those who can and want to move have already done so."<i></i> Sousuke answered. He flipped back a few pages and made some notes, then he flipped forward and circled something and wrote 'the number is botched, he's contradicting himself in this argument'. Was Takahashi Sousuke the third of his name an intimidating looking person? Perhaps when he wrote his armour and stood much taller than he usually did. The man had mechanical parts about him, and always seemed neutral or bored. He did not show emotion often, and when he did it was very limited. Sometimes people joked the Steward of Sungakure was a machine and not an actual person. "It is true that the Grand Palais does have some good restaurants. It's much more ... flavourful than what is made in the Diamond District."<i></i> He would weigh in on the matter.

Curiously the child adopts a mannerism of ... trying to truly understand and aid in what he was doing as he was going through the budget. It was actually refreshing in the context that ... children really don't concern themselves with numbers or heavy paperwork. Okibi would have never bothered with trying to understand the budget. Teke would rather be doing something physical, and probably violent if given the choice. Even the Kazekage himself was absent from this, and his secretary had limits. At any rate, Sousuke proceeds to multitask. He observes Kou as she seemed to have some difficulty in understanding the concept of social issues and human nature when it comes to the Grand Palais. "Usually one who climbs the ladder quickly is looked down upon others as an 'upstart'. It gives rise and them being concern that they're being replaced... which then really causes a myriad of problems with other nobles. It usually tends to lead to nothing being down or accomplished, which is the death of progress which ... is not good."<i></i> Luckily Sousuke did not have that issue yet with his nobles. Maybe it was because Sousuke was able to broker an unspoken peace between inherited wealth and those who were able to rise up. Kou's final suggestions were noted by Sousuke. "When a patrol force goes into the Palais it puts alot of people of edge. Unfortunately some people panic, and unpleasant things happen as a result. As for clean water ... well, purification process is not overly a difficult thing. Most areas that do not have clean water ... I try to tend to those areas personally and quickly."<i></i>