I'm Here for Business, and some Pleasure~ [Temaki, Karukaya, or Invite]

"I do what I can, that's all." That was his way of accepting the complement, and it was honesty as well; he was only doing what he could to make the village safe, and be a useful member of society. If he got a lot done in the process, that was fine too.

Mud thing... he wasn't even sure he would have been happier taking on a mud thing versus that fast fucker they'd handled. The reports from the autopsy had been a nightmare, and shown just how lucky they'd been; the team had found traces of sound and smoke chakra in the body, and those where not something you wanted to deal with as taijutsu users. Granted, smoke could work to his advantage, but that still wasn't something he'd have been happy handling.

He made his way over to the dozing kangaroo and shook him awake, "Up, child. Food time."

"Hnnn? Oh, hi Daddy. You where sure in there a long time. Blast wouldn't tell me what was going on..."

"I'll... explain that later. For now, come hang out. We're going to be spending a lot more time with them, kay?"

"Yay.~ Jayr and Cana too?"

"Yes, dear. Both of them."

Coen all but exploded for joy and shot like a bolt off the couch, bounding with surprising agility around everything to tacklehug Blast, then Cana, then Jayr. The only reason he didn't finish with Temaki was because he recognized someone cooking, and wasn't about to interrupt. He would however, offer to help, because Karu had taught him manners, and he liked being helpful. "I can help!"

"He actually is pretty good in the kitchen. He's always begging me to teach him how to cook things. He's lucky I'm a decent cook too; but you kind of have to learn when you leave home at 14." He moved back toward the kitchen, grabbing a chair at the table and settling down, "So, Jayr; mud beast? Ours was... pretty nasty too. But it was already rotting and half dead when we fought it, if that smell was any indication."

WC: 390

390 + 1503 = 1893

Jayr couldn't help but grin as she heard Coen's comment about them being in the room for a long time: thankfully she didn't have to try and explain anything to Cana, that topic had come up and been discussed quite a while ago. As it was the wolf simply let out a sound that would have been snickering had she been human. Jayr just shook her head, bit her lip, and grinned more. And then Coen was excited and Cana and she were being hugged; that was fine, Jayr was a hugger too and she didn't mind the idea that Coen was very excited about her and Cana sticking around; if anything it'd be easier since their companions all seemed to like each other and get along.

She watched Temaki begin cooking, shifting further down so that she was out of the way: she was starving and didn't want to prolong the cooking process any longer then it had to be.

At Karu's question she turned her attention onto him. “I don't even know how to begin to describe this thing. It looked like it was just entirely made out of mud. I got lucky, we got hit with a fire demon that kept increasing our usual wild fires not even a month before that, so there was plenty of ash and soot around. I had the wind users in my village blow the ash towards the beast; thickening the mud and essentially suffocating it, while I kept it's attention on me.” She paused, rubbing the back of her neck as she thought about the close call she had with Captain Yen. “Damn thing liked to shoot nasty bullets to; almost hit Captain Yen with one of them --- damn girl wasn't paying attention and had her back to it, helping someone else. I barely got them out of the way. Anyway, I thought the beast was pretty much dead and then wouldn't you know it, the damn thing looked like it was trying to come back to life or something... blew it up and put it down for good though.”

Temaki listened to the excitement now that Coen was awake; working quickly to get things started on the stove – the fastest it was cooked the faster they could all eat and she was making more then enough for humans and animals alike. Blast was all for the hugs, and even gave his own equivalence back; a one armed return of a hug. Temaki always thought that hugging Blast and being hugged back was likely akin to what it would feel like to probably hug a bear – he was as big as after all, bigger in fact.

At Coen's offer she nodded. ”Aye, help would be appreciated. She would then direct Coen to what she needed help with; glad that the offer had come. There were plenty of mouths to feed after all, and plenty of appetites to settle.

As she worked she listened to Jayr talk, a frown forming on her face. She didn't like hearing Jayr had had such a close call: a mud beast sounded tricky enough to have to deal with with pure explosion release as your only go to element. But to add in a careless individual who was putting their back to an enemy? Helping someone or not you had to be careful, more so really. Temaki found herself quickly hoping that she didn't end up meeting this Captain Yen when she went to Hanagakure, because she was damn sure she would have some choice words for her: Temaki after all had no filter between what she thought and what she ended up saying.

"So wait, you had a fire demon and a mud beast that close together?" He knew all about the wildfire seasons, the plains brush fire season overlapped with the forest fire season down in their country; so he knew that the attacks had to have been extremely close together. Shit, they'd had what... a week? Two weeks? of downtime between attacks; so this was starting to sound like a pattern was forming.

"We had that rotting mutation out on the plains... but we had an incident with the circus; their matriarch... how to explain this... it was like something had possessed her and was turning her into a monster even as we fought her; but we where able to save her life. Thank the Gods, too; she didn't deserve to die like that, and loosing her would have been a massive blow to the herd and the circus in general."

While he was talking, Coen moved into the kitchen and helped wherever he could. He was really good with prep-work, and fast with a knife thanks to his boxing training. His arms, though small, short, and oddly positioned in relation to a human's, worked just fine for this. Prepping meat, even if he didn't eat it, was something he was good with too; so he was able to do anything needed.

WC: 232

232 + 1893 = 2125

Jayr glanced over to Coen, watching him help Temaki as they began to cook. Her stomach kept grumbling, and she felt her mouth already beginning to water in anticipation. Cana wandered over and sat to her side; she too was hungry.

At Karu's question she focused her attention back onto him and nodded. ”Yeah. We thought it was odd they they happened so close together like that. That's part of why I was sent here, to see if anyone else was having the same issues. Makes me wonder though where all of these crazy creature are coming from....”

She listened as Karu described what had happened with the elephant and frowned deeply: a strange beast was one thing, but a possessed one? That was on a whole new level of intense. ”She never showed signs of acting like that before? That's... damn.” Cana whined suddenly and shifted closer. Jayr's hand automatically went down, scratching at Cana's ears in a comforting manner. It relaxed Cana who obviously hadn't liked the idea of an animal being able to be possessed like that.

Temaki put Coen to work helping her to prepare the mountain of meat she planned on cooking, as well as fresh fruit such as strawberries, berries, bananas, and pretty much anything she could get her hands on. Temaki loved meat, she really did, but that didn't meant she didn't have a taste for fruit too: especially when it was ripe and sweat.

As she worked, the food cooking quickly and being piled onto plates as it was finished, she listened to Karu and Jayr's conversation. She didn't comment at first, and simply listened and worked. Every so often she would pass off scraps to their companions: Blast was, of course, begging hardcore.

Temaki pulled more plates down; enough for everyone, as well as silverware. She got to work making plates for everyone.

"Nope. She was born and raised in captivity, her handler's father was there for her from the moment she could stand, and he'd been with her since he was a week old. She'd always been perfectly calm and patient, in that 'I've been everywhere and seen everything' kind of way. She was just... mutating; she'd never shown signs of having chakra, nor was her her in any way linked to ninja herds for generations; but she was suddenly blasting wing and lightning jutsu like a pro, and growing a mass of tentacles where her trunk normally would have been. It was just... weird. But like I said, we were lucky enough to save her life; I don't know if we knocked the possession out of her, or if knocking her unconscious did it, but by the end of the fight she was back to normal, and not badly hurt."

He cracked and reset the joints in his wrist and fingers; passive, unconscious habit; "So you had a fire demon, rare, but not unheard of going on rampages... and a mud beast. Was there anything left of that beast, or did it just melt when you killed it?"

WC: 209

209 + 2125 = 2334

Hearing that such a thing could happen to such a calm and normally docile animal was a bit un-nerving, more so probably because Jayr had worked with Cana for so long now. The idea of something like that happening to her? It caused goosebumps to break out over her arms.

At Karukaya's next question she tensed slightly: she didn't have the answer to that question but for a very damn good reason. Cana suddenly sensing her unease got up and moved her big body around Jayr as much as possible given she was leaning still against the counter. The large wolf let out a soft whine and instantly laid her head against Jayr, staring up at her with bright blue eyes.

Jayr grinned a bit, and forced herself to relax. She wrapped her arms lightly around Cana's neck in a hug before scratching the underside of her chin. ”Uh. Honestly? I dunno. I left out of there the moment I could; far before they started to even attempt to check the thing out and see what was mud and what was monster. I have a bit of a... issue. I suffer from Berserker Rage syndrome. Captain Yen had me at my limit with her stupidity, and when I snap there's very few people that I'll listen to; and separating friend from foe is not something I can do. So, I figured the best idea was to get the hell out of there and close to my dad before I did snap. The next day I was sent here on vacation; so I suppose I'll find out when I go home.”

So, now that that was out on the table she fell silent: even back home she didn't tell anyone about her little issue because she knew most people wouldn't want to be in the same room with her. So she was curious to see how they would handle such news. But, she didn't feel right keeping it from them, considering they had essentially laid it all bare in a manner of speaking.

Temaki had finished making up the plates – each one of them piled high with all manner of food. She placed them two by two on the table, working quickly and efficiently as her own stomach was roaring and growling with impatience. When she was putting down the last plate she paused. She glanced over to Jayr and Cana, noticing the obvious unease. She placed the plate down and walked back into the kitchen, working on pulling down enough glasses and bowls for everyone while listening to Jayr's honest admittance.

”Huh... so I'm not the only one with a lethal temper, eh?” Temaki grinned, throwing already feral features into better contrast. ”Welcome to the club, dear.”

Cups were then placed down and all manner of juice and drinks were grabbed out of the fridge and placed down on the now food heavy table. ”But, seriously. What form do you have? I heard there's different ones; some can't feel pain when they're in that state of mind and Genjutsu doesn't effect them, others end up being like... incredibly strong and fast.” Curious, non-judgmental questions. She didn't personally care if the girl went a little bat shit insane when she got pissed off; Jayr so far had shown herself to be nothing but good people, and she wasn't about to think any differently about her just because she had some certified demons hiding in her closet.

"You'd think I'd be the explosive one, but you've both got me beat." That was about all he really had to say on that, and it was totally amused and completely normal for him. Berserker? Eh, that wasn't a huge deal. He'd seen berserkers before, and while he had a healthy respect for them, he wasn't afraid of them. He shifted slightly, moving into a long stretch that had him reaching for the sky and causing his spine to crack and pop again. Wonderful stretching times.

His stomach went off into a growling session again, causing him to 'gently' punch himself in that childish 'shut up' action that kids did sometimes. "Hush, you. Behave." He reached for the nearest fruit he could find, a smaller apple, and plopped the whole thing in his mouth, eating it whole like it was nothing. He was... weird with food. Normally he was all about manners and such, but as Coen could confirm, when he was hungry enough, he tended to through all that shit to the wind and just inhale food as needed.

WC: 192

192 + 2334 = 2526/3250

Well, that was handled far better then she expected it to be: and she didn't mind at all Temaki's questions about which 'type' she was. Honestly, it amused her quite a bit, which showed clearly through the smile on her face. She sat down at the table in front of her own plate and picked up a piece of fruit. She popped it into her mouth, chewed for a moment as she contemplated how to answer, and then swallowed. ”I cannot feel pain when I'm in my rage, and Genjutsu doesn't affect my either. When this first started I became faster and stronger, too, though. However, after all of that training it seems I've hit a definite ceiling.”

Another piece of fruit was added to her mouth, chewed, and swallowed. ”Of course, it takes its toll. I'm weaker afterward. But, that's to be expected.” She then looked to Karu and grinned. ”I don't normally have a short fuse per say; it takes a lot to get under my skin. It's just when it happens... yeah.” She fell silent then, working on eating a piece of bacon to silence her own growling stomach.

Temaki grinned fully, mischievously, at Karu's comment. ”I like being explosive. Personality wise and otherwise.” She popped a piece of sausage in her mouth as she listened to Jayr explain about her own Berserker Rage. To hear that she was both types mixed into one caused Temaki's eyebrows to raise: that had to suck in a manner of speaking. She knew that those who suffered from the syndrome often hit a 'down period' in which they were weaker and more susceptible to damage. It wasn't exactly the easiest thing to deal with.

”How did your dad handle it? He knows, right?”, she asked curiously. Of course, Jayr could always refuse to answer, but she was just simply too curious at the moment not to ask.

Fooood. So much food. So much good food. His stomach decided to growl again, this time he shut it up with an entire fried egg straight down his throat. He was used to eat more and faster, so it was easy. Coen was settled down next to Karu, or as close as he could be without feeling like he was bugging anyone, and started working over his fruits, much slower than Karu, even starving he took his time eating.

"Makes sense; with that kind of an adrenaline boost you're basically burning yourself out pretty hard." He passed over Temaki's comment with a light snort, shaking his head in amusement as he shoved more food down his throat. When he was hungry, he was HUNGRY. If he'd wanted to, he could have been a professional eater, but he preferred helping people to being a glutton. It wasn't like he didn't burn it off pretty fast once he got to work.

WC: 167

2526 + 167= 2693/3250

”Fairly well, actually. He's the one who went with me to the appointment. Plus, he stood by my decision when I said I didn't want to go back. The doctor purposely riled me up until going into the rage; strapped me down as soon as I snapped too. I dunno who wanted to kill him worse that day: myself, or my father. But, that's how we found out that I still respond to my family, and to people I truly care about, when I'm like that. Good thing too...”

Jayr opened her mouth to say more when suddenly a knock on the door caused an eyebrow to raise: they hadn't been bothered the entire week they were “um, yeahing”. So, it was a bit of surprise to be bothered now. Considering she had finished the majority of her plate where as Temaki had just started on hers she stood up. ”I'll get it, you keep eating.”

She crossed out of the kitchen, Cana instantly going into over-protective mode and abandoning her own food to follow her. Jayr opened the door to find a messenger on the other side. She took the letter, nodding her thanks, and shut the door. She opened the letter and as she began to read her skin paled, greatly.

”Miss Kyamalie.

You asked me to write to you if there were any changes with your sister in your absence. She has recently been sneaking out of the hospital, and has done so again. She also is refusing treatment until your return. I do not believe she got along well with our newest doctor and that very well could be part of the problem: but you didn't hear that from me.

Sincerely,
Miss Ying

Jayr's mouth formed the words refusing treatment as she read the letter a second time; Cana not liking her body language nor it's sudden tension whined softly beside her. Jayr's hands shook slightly as she refolded up the letter. ”It would seem my vacation is done a little earlier then planned. I have two sisters; my twin Kadima and a younger sister whose ten named Mitsukai. Mitsukai has been chronically ill since she was a baby and that was a letter from the hospital... she's refusing treatment until I return, she keeps running away. Some of the treatments hurt and not all the doctors are willing to take their time and ensure there's as little pain as possible...”

She went over and gave a quick hug to everyone; and then grabbed the last piece of bacon off of her plate and shoved it in her mouth as Cana was finishing up her goodbyes too. ”I'll tell my dad to be expecting you soon... Come on Cana.” And with that she was gone.

[Thread Exit]

Temaki listened carefully, glad to hear that Jayr's father was so supportive. Most parents of those inflicted with such a thing liked to have them locked up or committed: it spoke volumes for the kind of person that Jai was to be willing to stand by his daughter during such a dark hour.

Temaki was just bringing a sausage link to her mouth when she heard the knock on the door. However, since Jayr said she would get it she simply nodded and popped the piece of meat into her pie hole before chewing it up thoroughly. She was in the middle of bringing another piece to her mouth when a whine out of Blast caused her to look over in time to see Jayr turning several shades of increasing whiteness. Her body language, and Cana's own reaction to her, were enough for Temaki to surmise that whatever was in that letter wasn't good news.

Temaki then listened carefully as Jayr quickly explained that she had two sisters: a twin and a younger sister with an illness. This younger sister was refusing treatment and running away because Jayr wasn't there to take care of her. Nodding in understanding she returned Jayr's hug and patted her on the back. ”We'll be along in a few days. Go, take care of your family. We'll see you soon enough.”, she responded.

She then watched as Jayr finished her goodbyes, as well as Cana, before leaving quickly...

Oh dear, that had to be tough. He'd never had to deal with anything like that, his younger siblings had all been perfectly healthy, thankfully. His family wasn't rich by far, but his parents had done well for themselves, so they'd always had very good medical care growing up; on top of good schooling and plenty to keep themselves happy and busy. He'd had a good life so far, and he was grateful for that. It'd given him the health, strength, and that little bit of a leg up early in life to make his transition into the military and ninja lifestyle easier; and allowing him to be able to focus more on getting better than catching up, as many people spent their Genin years doing. It was that boost that had let him push so hard, and move up so quickly; allowed him to save up to buy his own apartment by 15, an extra lot to add to by 16, and raise a kangaroo without risking doing into debt or struggling to pay the bills and keep his baby healthy.

Oh, bad news; he could read body language like a pro, he was a taijutsu user after all, and reading body language was a very handy skill when you wanted to know what your opponent was doing. Most fighters, even well trained masters, projected their next move; the subtle twitch of muscles, shifting of weight, even a darting of the eyes to check the area around them. Hearing her explanation, "Yes, family first, always. Be careful heading back." He was passing over the information about the doctor testing her berserker rage; he was filing that away for later, when they where in the country he might just have to go stop by their medical facilities and have a... talk, with the medics and such. It sounded like they had a surplus of jackasses running the show.

Coen was quiet during the conversation, he was processing what was being said and trying to make sense of it. Most of the time he was fine when it came to people having conversations now; but some things still went over his head. He wasn't used to talk of berserkers and sickness and the like, so he was trying to put it all in context. "Daddy, her sister is sick? The doctors can't make her better?"

"Not everyone can be made better right away. Some people have problems that never really go away; they can control the problems and stay mostly healthy, but it takes time and a lot of work."

"Oh... I don't like that."

"I don't either, but that's how things are. There are always medics working on finding new cures and such for the illnesses that we can't fix right now."

"Okay. Can I help?"

"No idea, dear. When we go to visit, you can ask."

"Okay!" He went back to finishing off his plate of fruits and oatmeal, taking his plate to the sink when he finished. Without even being asked, he started washing the dishes and such that were there, "I'll wash.~ I like to wash dishes.~"

Oh Coen, such a good kid. "So Temaki... how long before we leave? I figure if I help you catch up and get ahead on paperwork, we can leave sooner. I've just gotta call Sato and let him know that Nagato and Megumi need to cover for me and I'm ready to go."

WC: 587

587 + 2693 = 3280/3250 END B0-B3

”Thank you, Coen.” She couldn't help but smile; even if Blast had thumbs and fingers he likely wouldn't have been willing to do a task such as dishes – though he sure did like to dirty them up with his large appetite. Temaki looked towards the door Jayr had walked out of and sighed softly; she hoped she got back to Hanagakure alright, and that her sister wasn't too bad off. She knew first hand that dealing with illness was never pretty, and it was certainly never easy.

She was distracted by her thoughts, however, at Karukaya's question and therefore turned her attention onto him as she thought about an answer. ”Hm..” She picked up another piece of bacon but didn't eat it, instead she simply ripped it into pieces: her appetite was long gone by now. ”Well, I still want to send an official letter to Jai – I don't think he'd deny us a visit but I'd like to give him a chance – and also inform him of who all would be coming. Give or take how long it would take him to reply I'd say about three days from now we should be good to go. You're more then welcome to bring Artemis along; I'm sure she'd enjoy the chance to come.”

She leaned back in her chair, getting more comfortable, before taking a sip of her orange juice. ”There's a few things on my mind I want to speak to Jai about. The first issue is these attacks; and I'd like to know if there's been anymore since Jayr had arrived here. Secondly, I'd like to know if he's heard from any of the other villages recently; I've heard nothing from Fubuki for quite some time, and lately I haven't heard anything from Yokuchi either. The last thing is he has a niece living here, Emiko Sabure, and her parents from what I was reading in her file abandoned her at the age of six. She doesn't seem to have any more relatives around so I wanted to open up a sort of free passage agreement for the girl; this way she can travel back and forth without having to request permission.”

"Welcome.~ I like cleaning!~" Coen was smiling in that way that a kangaroo did, scrubbing away at the plates and such. He set them aside in the draining rack while he worked over what was in the sink before moving to drying them off. He'd watched Temaki pull things out, so he had a good idea of where stuff went. He did his best, which was to say, he did a damn good job, cause Karukaya did a good job of teaching him how to take care of himself, and that included chores and cleaning the house.

Karukaya leaned back in his chair a bit, reaching for the sky and pulling the muscles in his back until they stretched pleasantly; with all his joints and such back in alignment, he could stretch himself to his full height and then some. "Sounds good to me. I'll ask her when I get home, far as I know she's not on duty today, unless she decided to grab a random mission, or ten. That girl is efficient, I'll give her that. She's got a lot of potential, and with any luck I'll be able to help her cultivate it properly. I'm glad she was willing to stay with me after that fiasco with a squad test." Three days would give him all the time he'd need to pack, get Coen packed, help Art make a travel bag for Fa Mulan if she was coming, and put his affairs in order. He'd need to make sure all his bills where paid up for a while; which wasn't unusual for him, he tended to pay his bills up months in advanced since he could afford it, and he routinely left for missions at random. He didn't feel like coming home from a last second mission to find his water was turned off from non-payment, even though that was technically illegal. That didn't stop it from happening sometimes; he's come back from random long missions to find his electricity and water had been turned off for non-payment, and bitched up a storm over it. "Just let me know what time to meet up to leave."

Temaki nodded with a smile. For some reason she didn't foresee Artemis turning the chance down: getting to leave a village as a Genin to venture to another country wasn't exactly something they got to do all that often. Even under rare occasions it was normally a brief trip there and back; not an extended one like Temaki hoped this to be. She didn't foresee Jai saying no to their visit; at least due to the kind of picture that Jayr painted of her father – he sounded like a very fair individual.

Temaki yawned and stretched herself; she wanted to catch another few hours of sleep but knew it would be pointless to try. She had a lot of paperwork she had to get through, and while her secretary was proficient, there was no telling what kind of incidents she was going to come back to the office to. Especially after an unscheduled week long 'break'.

”Mm.. Give me like a day or two and I should have an exact time. Nothing too early in the morning: I'm a little too grouchy for anything before ten.”, she said with a grin.

She then sighed and looked over to Blast who was in middle of stretching his big body out. ”Well, buddy. Looks like it's time to head to the office and see what sort of stuff we missed...” Blast promptly laid down and covered his eyes with his giant paws, letting out a whine of a sound. Temaki laughed. ”I know, I don't want to do work either. But, if everything works out we'll have an official vacation in just three days and you won't have to worry about being stuck in my stuffy ol' office with me.”

"Yeeeeah, I'd be fine with a bit later in the day. I've never been happy with being an early bird, but with my hours, early bird doesn't really exist. Alright, I should have things squared away by then, so we'll be all good to head off." Coen finished up washing the dishes and walked over, scratching his arms and rubbing the fur so that it sat the way he liked.

"All done.~"

Karu shifted a bit, moving to stand up; they'd need to head out and start getting stuff settled if they wanted to get it done in time. "Well, if you're heading into the office, then we'll head home. Gotta make some phone calls and the like. Gunna be fun explaining where I've been for a week; they're used to me disappearing at random, but I normally have a mission as cover. This is gunna be an interesting one."

Knowing it was time to leave now, Coen moved over to Temaki and Blast and did his best attempt at a respectful bow; friends and whatever they all where to each other now or not, he had manners and used them, "Thank you for letting us stay, and for the food.~ It was delicious."

"That was some damn good food. I've got to cook for you one day, I'm told I'm pretty good at it. If the paperwork gets to be too much, come by my place and hide out; no one would expect that." He cackled a bit and started heading for the door; better to get moving now, before they got... distracted. "See ya.~"

Aaaand they where gone, heading home and to get things settled and ready to leave.

-Thread Exit-