Weeding out the Garden [Closed Team Mission]

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

[OOC: Timeline continued from http://www.ninpocho.com/viewtopic.php?f=591&t=46029&p=214400#p214400]

At 9 in the morning Kurokawa woke up to the smell of pancakes from the kitchen. She had cleared her schedule so there would be no interference. It was a special day. She knew she would come home with dirt all over but never the less she went through a thorough scrubbing in the morning bath to make sure she was all clean and with a hint of daisy for todays event. Her first mission as a Shinobi, and a group mission at that. She had not yet fully awakened her ability to see through vibrations so any kind of mission needed to be a group mission after all. Blindness poses a certain challenge when it comes to doing a job.

Kurokawa went to the kitchen to eat her breakfast. Her guardians gave her a few words of advice before she went upstairs to get dressed. This time she would make an effort as oppose to yesterdays ironic T-shirt outfit. Other than her trusty purple head garment she put on a black dress with a purple ribbon at the top, long black sleeves and socks, black boots with purple ornaments on the front.
[spoilername="Something like this"]This but white hair with one line of black hair, no forehead mark and the top half of her back tattoo mostly visible. The character for Kuro. Also younger but since I only have access to one age that is kind of a given. Sorry for such a large picture.

[/spoilername]

She then packet up some equipment while making sure to travel light, before walking out the door. On her way to the garden she stopped and asked for direction using the mission note she had gotten from Shikai in class yesterday. The sun was shining and she could feel the warm rays of light on her shoulders, hands and face. She arrived about ten minutes before midday and could not sense the others. Were they already inside or had they not arrived yet. Or maybe they were waiting somewhere outside her field of vision. She did not know but here she was ready for her first mission and excited as can be.

 

[Rin]

Rina arrived at the garden a minute later, with a backpack and three layered bento-box wrapped in cloth. She had been walking as fast as she could, without ruining the food. The streets were not very busy on a Saturday, so it went without much difficulty. In the distance she saw Kurokawa all dressed up, which made her look down at herself, only to realize that she was wearing her usual lilac dress and black jacket. Embarrassed, she started walking slower and when she was close enough to be heard, she hesitantly said:

“Hi Kurokawa-san, have you been waiting here for a long time?”

 

[Sunaku Shikai]

Shikai had decided to arrive before the others. The weather was nice and he had nothing else to do on a saturday other than the mission. No classes or anything. As always he had choosen to travel by roof top. Less traffic due to lunch breaks and more exposure to sunlight which had a certain charm to it. He didn't arrive much earlier then the others however. When he looked over the edge of the roof he was standing on and down towards the garden and the house in front of it he saw Kurokawa from the corner of his eye. She was going towards the place. Not two minutes after he spotted Rina coming from another street towards Kurokawa. If he did not get down from the roof top fast he would be dead last to arrive.

Nothing ventured nothing gained. I want to a least arrive at the same time as the others

He went to get a couple of meters of runway before running to the edge jumping off it. He planned to bounce of the wall on the other side, slow his fall and land smoothly. He instead would have to roll to break the fall, after not getting far enough out and just falling straight but at least he was able to roll to his feet and save some face.

"Hey Kurokawa, hey Rina. All here so lets get it rolling"

He tried to make a pun so that what he ended up doing would seem more planned. He then noticed that either Kurokawa was a bit overdressed or he himself was a bit underdressed as he had gone for more practical clothes with some old pants and a loose longsleeve shirt to match. Something fitting for gardenwork but not for first impressions.

"Maybe you'd better take the lead here Kurokawa. You seem to be the most dressed for the occasion."

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Kurokawa turned and took a step back so she could mostly face both Rina and Shikai.

"Konnichi wa Minna-san"

She smiled and nodded towards both of them. Now that they were here she knew she was in the right place so she walked to the door to knock on it. She went up a few steps, extended her hand and tapped it three times. She then took a step back and waited for the door to open.

From inside the door came an old lady with thick glasses.

"Hello young ones. Are you the ones who will help me get the garden back in shape?"

She had slight hunch and was walking with a cane. Other than that she seemed to be in good health.

"Hai! I'm Kurokawa."

The old lady looked first at Kurokawa then at the others.

 

[Rin]

“And I’m Hyuuga Rina. Is there a certain way you want us to do our job today? Like weeding certain places first or starting from one end of the garden. And is there a place where I can store our bento?”

Rina asked as she thought worryingly:

Is it rude to assume we get a lunch-break after a couple of hours? I hope not.

 

[Sunaku Shikai]

"I'm Sunaku Shikai, and yes we are here to help with the garden as best we can."

Shikai felt it be important for him to answer independently even though they were on a mission together. So far he liked the company but he knew very little about then and thus felt the need to personalize. He took out a piece of paper and a pen to note down anything of importance which the customer might feel like sharing so that they could always refer back to it should they forget something.

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

The old lady smiled to the three new garden helpers.

"You youngsters take as much time as you need for the day. The garden is not going anywhere. There are tools in a shed out back to help with the weeding and the likes. It's quite cool as it is in the shadow of a big tree so it should keep your lunch fresh. I will come see to it in the evening, or you can always come get me if you finish before that. I will be out for the first few hours though. Take care."

She smiled again took out a basket with flowers, possibly from the garden. She also took out a walking stick and then locked the door behind her. After waving to the youngsters she took of in a slow walking pace towards the central parts of the city.

Kurokawa streched her arms into the air straightning out her whole body. She then cracked her neck and turned in the general direction of the others.

"Lets get to it then guys. Pleased to work with you for the first time. Lets have fun and make a day of it"

She then began to walk around the house to get the the garden.

 

[Rin]

Rina bowed towards the old lady, as a sign of respect, and said:

"We will take good care of your garden."

Rina first found the shed, walked in to place the bento, and get some tools. Not knowing what they would need when, she grabbed a bunch of different tools, and carried them over to the others.

"I have a suggestion. If me and Shikai start weeding out Kurokawa could collect the weeds and throw them on the compost?"

I hope this is not insensitive towards Kurokawa.

 

[Sunaku Shikai]

"Sounds like a start"

Shikai grabbed a hoe and swung it around a few times as if it was a bo staff before bringing it to the ground to start removing weeds. He went around the flowers with relative ease and picked up the large uprooted dandelions with the hoe and collected them in a pile. He then noticed that some of the unwanted plants, not only would be less manoeuvrable but also had thorns so he put on his precision gloves to protect his hands before adding a few of them to the pile. He made sure to pack more dandelions on top so that they could be carried without much discomfort.

"There will be a few thistles between the weeds to be careful when picking up the piles."

Shikai didn't know much about the flora but some of them were common enough. He spotted a racoon scouring around in a bush not far from them.

"Hmm seems weeding is not all we need to do"

He shrug it of thinking that it could be caught later or chased off when they were done weeding.

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Kurokawa heard the raccoon moving in the bushes and started walking towards it. She grabbed a cage just in case.

"I'll go chase of pests while you make the piles. I don't want to just stand still while you work."

She ran towards the raccoon trying to scare it out of the garden. When it tried to move back in she would chance position and block its way. Instead of running out of the garden though the raccoon kept running back and forth trying to get back to the centre.

It must have some kind of nest or lair in there since it does not want to go

Kurokawa gave up on just chasing the raccoon of and instead tried to corner it. When she finally got it trapped it chose to jump forwards teeth and claws first attacking her in a panic but she was waiting for it to do something like that and held up the open cage making it jump into it. She then closed it and brought the raccoon with her back to the others.

 

[Rin]

Now that everybody knew what to do, Rina picked up a pair of gardening gloves and a small shovel from the pile. She visually scanned the flowerbed, before she kneeled down and began to weed it out. A few minutes in she saw a kite, from the corner of her eye, flying towards the garden. She saw it get stuck in a tree, and a moment later a kid came running, while crying. Rina stopped working and immediately walked over to the tree. The kid cried:

“Nee-san*. My kite is stuck in the tree, and I can’t reach.”

Rina wanted to comfort the little boy.

“Maybe I can reach it. Should I try climbing up there?”

The boy lit up a bit, drying his eyes.

“Yes please.”

Rina walked over to the tree and started climbing. She was slow since she had trouble getting a grip but soon she reached the branches higher up and used them to get closer to the kite. When she finally reached the kite, she tried to grab it, but it was stuck. She spotted the string, and tried to untangle it. With a bit of effort she freed the kite from the branches, without breaking it, and shouted to the boy:

“I’ll lower it down now. Are you ready?”

She started lowering the kite and luckily there were no strong winds, so the kid got it back safely. Afterwards she climbed back down. She could hear the boy laughing and running out of the garden. Then she went back to weeding out the garden and making a pile for Kurokawa to dispose of later.



*Literally means “big sister”

 

[Sunaku Shikai]

Shikai was rather uninspired when he worked. Every weed he could find got lumped together in the same pile. When he was done in the flower bed he started pulling stuff up from the grass that didn't belong. He had gloves so it didn't matter if some of the weeds had thorns and the likes.

"This is so repetitive"

After a while he found a large hedge scissor and started to trim the nearby bushes. He noticed that one of them was once in the form of a heart and decided to return it to that state. Now he had something more meaningful to do. After he was done he spend some time admiring the work. It was not half bad. He looked around for other bushes that had once been in the shape of something else.

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Kurokawa went back to the others to get the piles she was suppose to dispose of. First she picked up Rinas pile and moved it to the compost. That pile was the most neatly stacked so it was easy to carry, and she didn't drop any of it. Now that she knew the way back and forth it would be easier to get the more messy stack Shikai had made and bring it over there. She felt the thistles prickling her hands and some juicy bit, maybe a berry or a plant containing lots of fluids, was mixed in there as well. Not overly pleasant to carry. She cut her finger on something in the pile and suddenly she felt woozy.

"Guys! I, I think something is wrong"

She didn't get to say much after that before collapsing, she was dizzy and her hand was buzzing. Was it the juice? Was it the cut? Was it a combination? Was she bitten by something in the pile? All she knew was that this was definitely either a poison or a venom of some kind.

 

[Rin]

Rina heard Kurokawa say something, so she turned her head, only to see Kurokawa collapsing. Rina threw plants, tools and whatever she had in her hands, and shouted:

“Shikai, quick, get my bag from the shed!”

Then ran over to Kurokawa to examine her. Rina quickly discovered blood coming from Kurokawa’s right index finger. Around the wound was a purplish discoloration and inside it there was a thorn with a white fluid, probably a toxin of some sort. She turned her head towards the pile of weeds, Kurokawa had dropped, and found a small barbed vine with a thorn missing and a white fluid in its place, presumably the same as in Kurokawa’s wound. By then the bag was beside Rina, so she reached into it, to pull out the makeshift medic bag, she made this morning. First of she found the tweezers and carefully pulled out the thorn. She then sucked out the toxin left in the wound and spat it out away from the others. After spitting she took a bottle of water to wash away the blood, then some cotton and alcohol to disinfect. The blood stopped soon after and Rina assessed that the cut was not big enough to need stitches or a band-aid. Rina turned her attention back to the vine. She remembered vaguely that this kind of plants toxin clears out of the system within minutes after the fluid is removed from the entry wound, but while in the system it causes dizziness and sometimes even loss of consciousness.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be over in a few minutes.”

[MFT WC: 264]

 

[Sunaku Shikai]

Originally fixating all his attention to the art of garden sculptures Shikai was confused at first. He did not expect to be addressed while concentrating and especially not in a panicky manner. He turned around and tried to orientate himself, when he saw Kurokawa collapsed and Rina already over her. He recalled what she had asked of him.

"I'll get it as fast as I can"

He leaped towards the shed as fast as he could, ripped open the doors, and started searching for the bag. It was not hard to spot being so big and all, so he just quickly grabbed the part with the tools without compromising the bento boxes right next to it and sprinted back to Rina with it.

"Here it is. I will go look for something to get her off the ground so she won't get cold"

Shikai had seen some robes with hooks on the trees so he knew there was a chance the shed had a hammock somewhere in there. He went and found it, and a blanket to put on it. He hang the hammock between the trees and then spread the blanket over it. He then heard Rina talk about how the toxins should clear out soon now that she had cleaned the wound. He went over to Kurokawa and picked her up in a princess style carry, and carry her to the hammock. When he got there he noticed the barbed vine and the rest of the pile he had collected and he knew his carelessness had caused the problem. He made sure not to bump her head as he lowered her down into the swinging bed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know that the plant was dangerous."

[MFT]
[WC: 288]

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Apparently Kurokawa had hit a stroke of bad luck and got cut on some sort of thorned vine with poison in it. It mostly made her tired and woozy so after collapsing she just lied still and tried to respond as best as possible to what was going on around her. She could hear Rinas voice as she was getting her hand treated and could sense Shikais presence as she was been carried. Then suddenly she was lieing comfortably in some form of bed. She could feel the blanket under her and the entire thing swaying as if the wind pushed it from side to side.

A hammock? Where did that come from?

She remained still for about ten minutes or so, focusing on not falling asleep despite having and overwhelming sense of fatigue. Afterwards she felt her energy slowly returning and after another 5 minutes she was able to sit up. Her body had cleared out the remaining poison but also raised her metabolism temporarily. Her stomach started to growl with a vengeance.

"Maybe it's a good time to take a lunch break right about now"

She held her hand on her stomach till it stopped sounding off its dismay regarding being empty. She remained seated and carefully inspected the wound on her right index finger with her left hand. It was still sore and buzzing a little but most of it had subsided. She wiped away a bit of sweat from her forehead and adjusted her head-garment which had, as always, shifted slightly due to the sudden collapse.

[MFT]
[WC: 260]

 

[Rin]

"I could use some lunch too. I'll go fetch it."

Rina went to the shed and fetched the bento. She came back to where Kurokawa and Shikai were, and spread out the cloth that the bento had been wrapped in. Then she opened the bento. Inside the first layer there was onigiri with three kinds of fillings: Salmon, chicken and pickled plum. In the second layer there were karaage, octopus sausage, tamagoyaki and some fresh vegetables cut in cute shapes. In the third layer there was dessert in the form of sandwiches filled with strawberries, bananas and cream. Rina told the others of the contents of the bento, but looked very nervous, because she never made a bento for anyone before this. Would they like it or would her efforts be for nothing?

 

[Sunaku Shikai]

"Itadekimasu"

Shikai starts helping himself to a third of the food spacing it out evenly between the different dishes so that he does not end up hugging his favourite and denying it for the others. IT was clear that Rina still had room for growth in her cooking skills but for a 9 year old it was amazing. He himself did not really cook as he had his mother. He knew how to make the basics for the field, but nothing fancy.

"It's good"

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Kurokawa was hungry but could also only faintly discern the bentos location and therefore had to pace herself when eating. It hit the spot though. Sitting on the ground in a dress and not knowing where to face to not have the front towards Shikai, it was possible to look up under her dress. Doing so however would only reveal a pair of black hot pants covering so there was no chance of a flash of any kind. She came prepared.

"Thank you for the food. When we are done we really should get things wrapped up here."

After eating they finished up tightening up the garden and went to the old lady, who got home about the time they were done, to tell her that the garden was not weed and pest free.

[Ooc: wrapping things up now since it is technically done]