What A Week... [Various Missions. Various Ranks. Private.]

Find the Lost Shoe:

He didn't even know why he bothered. Some days, he just had to stop, take a moment, and remember that not all of humanity was retarded. Some where actually rather smart and overall pleasant people, like his friends at the wildlife center, or his teacher. Others... not so much. He'd been walking past the mission room when he'd heard his name being called, and stuck his head inside. The Chunnin at the desk was a buddy of his, he'd been a year ahead of him in the academy, but they'd hung out a few times. The conversation they had went as follows:

"Oi, Karu! Got a sec?"

"Eeeeeeh? Mostly, s'up?"

"Wanna run a quick mission? It'll pay for lunch."

"Like I need lunch money. Hell, Coen's been saving up all his mission pay and buying me lunch everyday for the giggles. What'cha need?"

"Shoe boy, again."

".....ugh. Fiiiiiiine. Did ya'll check the power lines by his house?"

"Not that easy, bro."

"Baaaaah. Alright, alright. We'll find it."

That was 15 minutes ago. Now he wasn't even bothering to actually look for the right shoe. He knew the guy, he couldn't remember the color of the watch on his wrist for more than half a second. Time to check the junk pile. There was a well known spot where stuff lost in the local rivers washed ashore, and there where always a few shoes in there. He'd find something in the ballpark and hand that over, then move on. Nothing hard. Coen was helping him dig through the brush and normal river muck to find a shoe, and he was the one that found it.

"Got one, Daddy. This right?"

"Hmmm..." It was close enough, he was estimating a size 10, and the guy wore an 11 if he remembered correctly. Good enough. "Yeah, that works. Nice find, son."

"Thank you Daddy. Can I turn it in?"

"Sure, baby. Go run it up. If this is how today is going to start, it's going to be a long one. Meet me back at the house when you're done, I'm going to grab some gear and check on that egg you found."

"Kay.~"

420/100

Home was calling him to stay and relax, but he couldn't let himself get lazy like that. He'd scored BIG recently, the lot behind his apartment had come up for sale, and the massive reward from his participation in killing that monster out on the plains had given him a bit of a fund surplus. Using that, he'd bought the lot and started moving much of his training materials into the shed that came with it. He'd taken down the fence and effectively tripled the size of his yard, giving him too to have a proper relaxation space as well as training area; and the shed was large enough to store gear and have training mats down for when it was raining or the weather was otherwise bad. It was a glorious score. Because of this, his apartment had shifted from being focused on training to being a more 'normal' home; the living space was now comfortably adorned with couches and chairs and a large beanbag that Coen loved to sprawl over, with his hammock still up on the wall. His spare bedroom was now a bedroom again, and it would soon be Coen's room; once the special furniture he'd ordered came in.

Things where coming together well.

The only strange thing in the apartment now was the jerryrigged 'nest' on the kitchen counter. Or bar counter, rather. It was a hand woven straw nest with a heating pad tucked in it, and a woolen blanket tucked around it to hold in the warmth. His apartment was far warmer than most, his inner fire nature made him perfectly fine living without an AC, and Coen was in the same boat, so he never used the AC that came with the apartment, unless it was below a certain temperature in the winter and he turned on the heater. But that was rare in Hinowa, so it wasn't a problem.

He'd gathered their various gears and had them ready for when Coen appeared; and he was in the middle of adjusting the old sash carrier that he used to use with Coen when he was younger and much smaller. He'd realized that he didn't want to leave the egg alone for long periods of time, even if he wasn't sure why. He had the perfect set up for keeping the egg healthy normally; but it didn't seem enough. Something in the back of his mind and bottom of his heart told him to carry the egg with him. He was supremely warm normally, and he could easily feed it a little fire chakra to keep it warmed up. It was a hot day, or setting up to be anyway, so it wasn't like the egg was going to get cold. Eh, he'd learned to stick with his gut instincts long ago. They'd gotten him Coen, they'd gotten him the Rakuenkage as a sensei and friend. They served him well. He'd go with it now.

The front door open and Coen was calling for him, "Daddy? I'm home. I have the mission pay."

"Put it in the jar, dear. I've got your gear ready."

"Okay, Daddy." He did as he was instructed, stuffing the mission pay into the jar marked 'Household Expenses' before moving to the body mannequin that hold his sashes and pouches. He stuck his paw into one of the pouches and to make sure that his new gloves where there. Karu had commissioned new gloves for them and they'd just come in the day before, so neither of them had gotten a chance to use them outside of a test spar that night. He'd taken to wearing his old gloves all the time, only taking them off when it was time for a bath and bed; otherwise he kept them on at all times. Something about them was just more comfortable on than off, and they helped keep him from charring his fur when he used fire punches. Happy, Coen slipped the sashes on and adjusted them slightly, proud that he could do it all by himself now. "Ready, daddy!"

"One sec." He was done adjusting the sash and had slipped it over his shoulders like he used to. He moved to the egg and gently unwrapped the blanket before lifting it out of the next and setting it into the holder securely. He adjusted the setting and tightness of the sash to fit the strangely heavy weight and odd shape before turning to Coen. "Alright, let's head back out. We've got a lot of daylight to burn, and lots of stuff to get done."

Learning Secondary Element: 806/3000

Catch the Animal:

Okay, this he could forgive. This was a child's pet escaping. It happened, it was expected. He couldn't be mad. Even better, he'd had to hunt down this one before, so Coen could easily track him down. The boy was sitting on the steps leading up to his house, sniffling and clutching the bandanna that the little deer always wore. Karu and Coen approached him, settling down to talk to him for a moment before they went to hunt the young deer. "Hey kid. I hear you're buddy got loose."

Sniff. "He ran off. I told him not too, but he did anyway."

"That's gunna happen sometimes, little one. Remember what I said last time? You need to work on training him better."

"I was!" Sniff sniff. "He was doing so well until today..."

"I believe you. Don't worry, we'll find him."

"I know. Thank you..." The boy sniffled some more, and Karu ruffled his hair affectionately. He slipped an arm around his shoulders and gave him a hug to help cheer him up before they moved off; the deer was close by, they could tell by the smell of the trail it had left. Tracking him would be simple, he hadn't moved that far in such a short period of time.

Karu and Coen split up, following the two strongest trails they could find. They where the ones that would lead to the missing pet, and having them split up meant they'd finish faster.

Or splitting up would have, had the trails not converged at the park behind the boy's house. Of course it did. They followed the now singular trail off toward an area of thick brush and into it; crawling around for a few minutes until they stumbled upon the lost pet laying down with several very tiny baby kittens. Oh. Well.

"Coen, can you ask him what he's doing?"

"Yes, Daddy." Coen spoke again, but this time he was making animalistic noises. Animals tended to understand each other's different languages, but not human tongues; Coen could speak both. It made stuff like this easier. The young deer huffed out a response before leaning down to lick at one of the baby kittens a bit. "Hey says they're alone. The mother left them to die. He's found them."

"Wonderful. Let's get them out of here and to a sanctuary that can take care of them." Coen nodded and relayed this to the deer, who responded with what he was sure was an 'okay', since he got up and allowed them access to the babies.

Karu picked them up gentle and settled them in one of the pouches full of gauze where it would be warm and soft. Together, they left the park and went right to the boy's house, explaining what had happened and earning the deer a nice treat for dinner that night. Even better, the boy's parents were willing to take in the kittens, they where actually a licensed foster family for the local pet sanctuary anyway, so they where set up for it. The deer got to keep his new friends, and the boy got his pet back. Not bad at all.

580/250

Stop that Thief!:

Uuuuugh. We're doing this again? Waaaaaai? Why do idiots steal? Now, he granted that theft was a grey area in some cases; there was a massive difference between a lazy thief that refused to do an honest day's work and a starving father stealing a loaf of bread to feed his kids. There really was. But this the former, not the latter; this wasn't a food stall, or anything even useful. It was a goddamn tourist trap trinket stall; the kind of shit that you could hock for twice as much at the edge of the market before the tourists realized or saw that the stuff was worthless. Fucking pathetic, really.

"Coen?"

"My turn?"

"Yes, dear."

"Sweet."

Coen vaulted over the line of stalls like they were 3 inches tall and took off after the thief. There was basically no escape for the poor fool, not with Coen chasing him. Coen was covering meters with each bound, and the thief was SLOW compared to him. This would be sad, really. The poor guy had only made it about 10 meters after Coen started before he was being tackled to the ground hard; pinned down easily by the bulk of the young kangaroo. What appeared to be a gentle tap to the side of the head had the thief unconscious. He wasn't damaged, beyond possibly being concussed, but he'd live just fine. Coen climbed to his feet and lifted the unconscious thief up and over his shoulder in a classic fireman's lift. Hopping back just in time to meet up with market security, "You guys are slow. This is the second time we've stopped a thief this month."

"Coen. Sass."

"But Daddy...!~"

"Sass."

"Boo." Coen dropped the body onto the ground and turned to huff some, he was really was having random teenager attitude spurts at random now.

"Last warning."

"Hmmph."

Weeeeeeeeee.~

"Let's go. Now. "

"Yes, Daddy."

365/250

They'd left the market quickly, and headed to the mission room to turn in reports and get Karu's egg back. Once that was done, Karu had taken them to one of the empty training fields that was rarely used and out of the way, a good place for them to talk. He wasn't about to let these random attitude problem get out of hand, but Coen wasn't just some 'pet'. He was as smart as a human, he was basically a proper teenager; only without the problems that human teenagers had. There wasn't the raging hormone problem, thank the gods, he wouldn't have that problem unless there where female 'roos around in heat; so this was mostly a problem of attitude and boundary testing. Even better, he could rely on logic and and such to work here, since Coen was still Coen and not a raging beast in a kangaroo skin like a normal human teenager was a raging hormonal beast in a human colored skin suit.

"So, you wanna tell me what was with that attitude?" Karu flopped down on a mossy log in the shade of a larger tree, pulling a bottle of water from a pouch and taking a draw on it. Offering it to Coen, "That was rather out of line, son."

"It was true, through. They are slow."

"I don't deny this. But the statement stands, that was out of line."

"They need to do their jobs better!"

"Yes, yes they do. But they're civilians, and they're not even half as well trained as you or I am."

"Lazy. Slow. Ineffective. Useless!"

"Coen!"

"But I'm riiiiiiiight!~"

"I don't care. You're about to get sent to time out if you don't shape up that attitude."

Coen whined dramatically, he was still huffy and being petulant.

"Coen. Final warning. Shape up, or I'm sending you home and locking everything up."

"Hmph! Mean."

"Excuse me?"

"Mean!"

"Coen Kaname. Home. Now."

"Baaaaaw..."

Karu just pointed toward home and got up, tapping his foot like an annoyed mother on the porch of a house watching her boys walk wearing their Sunday best covered in mud. He waited for Coen to start walking as told and followed behind, making sure to do just as threatened when they got home. The TV was passcode locked, the rooms with gear and toys where locked down with locking seals, and the kitchen was locked down. "Hammock."

"Yes, Daddy."

"I'll be back in a few hours. If you're going to go off, clean up before I get home, or you're spending the night at the center."

"Yes, Daddy."

WC: 510

510 + 860 = 1370/3000

Rare Animal Hunting:

With Coen at home in time out, he was going to change it up a bit. Take on a few of those stupid busy missions that Genin spent all day working on. This one was fairly simple overall, there where a few rare animal breeders in town, and one had claimed to find a new species of rabbit. Given how adaptable rabbits where overall, it would make sense that there where a few unknown species in the local area, with the dense jungles and insane number of migration routes that flank the village, it wouldn't surprise him if she was right.

They'd been spotted a few miles outside of the village, and he headed to the designated area, armed with nothing but a capture bag and a reinforced butterfly net. Well hell, there was dozens of the little buggers around. Not bad, for being 'rare'. Likely a migrating family, or group of families. Shouldn't be too hard to do this. Specially since he didn't smell 'human' really. He smelled like the wild lands and kangaroo mostly; it'd been a few days since he'd seen Temaki so he didn't smell like gunpowder at the moment. He worked his way into a bush and set up, waiting patiently for a couple of bunnies to get in range.

With his speed, it was easy to catch them. Dragging them back, he checked to see if they where male or female and found out he'd backed two females. Putting them both in the bag, he moved along the brush line and to a new spot, waiting a few minutes before swinging the net and bagging three more. Two males and a female. Perfect. He tied the bag closed, it had small breathing holes in it so that they wouldn't suffocate even with the top tied; and made his way from the area and back into town, turning in his catch at the breeder's facility and taking his report up to the mission desk.

339/250

Stop the Mugging:

Well, maybe it was a good thing he'd sent Coen home. This could turn pretty dangerous, and while Coen was more than capable of taking care of himself, he didn't want to risk him getting hurt because he was upset and not thinking clearly. This mission was going to be a pain, but it needed to be done. It was a pain in that it was the kind of thing that made him angry; some fucker was off preying on the innocent, and he wasn't about to wait for someone else to finish him off. He'd likely be bloodying a blade again, although he doubt he'd need his kunai blade for this. A regular kunai would work better in town; he'd be able to move easier and pose less of a risk to anyone around, including any possible victims. He'd left his big blade as home and switched to his easily stored gear; the less obvious he was, the easier this would be.

On the streets and around on the roofs, he was checking everywhere and anywhere that someone could hide; hoping he could catch this guy before he had a chance to strike again. According to the information provided, he was most likely to strike this evening; he was strange in that he would strike in the twilight between evening and night; when the crowds where either thinning or growing, depending on the day and weather; this time of year it was the former, it was too warm to really enjoy being outside even at night, and the night market wasn't until tomorrow.

In the distance, a choked scream.

Oh, there we go.

He was off like a shot; racing across the rooftops toward the lesser traveled areas; it was almost industrial, one of the few areas of the village that was like that; mostly warehouses for the larger merchant businesses and for the village itself. They stored years worth of supplies for a population nearly twice what they had at any given time, just in case of problems with the farms, or extended droughts. Safety measures always in place to keep the people alive and happy. Just like he was.

The closer he got, the more he was able to track by the sounds of a struggle, whoever this guy had grabbed was putting up a decent fight. He reached a building lining the alleyway that the mugger was working on, and perched at the lip of the roof. Looking down, he saw what he needed to know. This fucker was trying to grab one of the warehouse workers; female, but a strong one that obviously did a lot of manual labor for a living. That was why she was holding her own so well; she was managing to hold off the knife even with the man holding her by the neck in a control hold. Well then, this would be interesting.

A kunai was produced from his hip pouch and thrown downward; angled just right to pierce right into the hand holding the knife.

Oh, that was a wonderful scream. The girl shoved herself free and scrambled away, getting far enough for Karu to drop from the roof without hurting her, but before the mugger could get away. He landed clean on the fucker's shoulders, bouncing off and landing on his feet even while the other male collapsed into a heap of pain and blood and broken shoulders. Awesome.

"Well, that was easy. You okay, ma'am?" She had collapsed against the wall, panting and wary and looking like she was ready to kick Karu's ass if he tried anything.

"Who the hell are you, then?"

"My name is Karukaya. I'm the ninja dispatched to deal with that fucker."

"How do I know you're not some other fucker come to fuck with me too?"

"Headband. Notice it. Also, this." He flicked the radio on his neck, access the channel he had to the local police. "Reporting in. Suspect is disabled, current vicitim unharmed. Location..."

He rambled off a bunch of grid coordinates and such, then returned to focusing on the angry and scared woman. "Cops will be here in 5 minutes." He pulled some rope out from his hip pouch and bound the struggling and whimpering fucker tightly, not giving a flying fuck that he was putting the guy in pain.

Oh, he was wrong, they where closer. Awesome. The first batch of cops was arriving, and that was his signal to bail out. He took the moment to scribble his report and bailed the hell out; he was done with today and wanted to get some sleep. Plus, he figured Coen was done raging out, and they could talk about what had gone wrong today, work out the problem, pig out on some ice cream, and get some sleep. Good plan.

817/500

What a wonderful night that had turned into in the end. He'd come home with a pint of ice cream for both of them to pig out on and found the house scrubbed spotless, outside of the pile of burned cookies slowly smoldering on a cookie sheet and a panicking kangaroo trying to figure out how to shut off a fire alarm. Oh Coen, he was such a good child. He'd tried so hard, but he had zero sense of time, and wasn't great with reading numbers yet. What he had thought was 10 minutes was actually 1 hour; so while he was patiently working away cleaning, the cookies had burned hard. The look on his face was pure terror, and that had almost broken Karu's heart to see; the 'roo had been so afraid that Karu was going to me angrier at him that he'd nearly broken down crying. Karu had just grabbed the broiling hot metal pan and dropped it in the sink, turning on the cold water (he could afford to lose the pan, really) and wrapped his arms around Coen in a hug that broke into mirth filled laughter. Oh, the things his son did to make him happy. To Coen's credit, he managed to get by with only a case of the sniffles, relief over not being in more trouble and not making Karukaya angry overriding hi previous fear response.

They camped out on the living room floor that night; Karu's dug out his extra floor mats and tossed a pile of thick blankets over them, grabbed the pillows off his bed, and they settled down for a marathon of cheesy B-movies and ice cream. Hell, he even dug out a pack of fruit filled cookies he had hidden in the house for just such an occasion. They laughed, they wrestled, they had a grand ole time. Everything was forgiven, and the lessons of the day where learned well. Peaceful snoring and happy smiles greeted the dawn, just as it should be.

Karu was the first up, yawning heavily and slumping into the kitchen to start some coffee for himself, and get a glass of cold juice ready for Coen's breakfast. On the counter in it's little nest was the egg he'd found a few weeks back; it was obviously alive, every possible test they could do without cracking it open told them that, he'd taken it to the center to see if ANYONE had an idea of what it was, but outside of 'alive', they had nothing. It had started changing color recently; when he'd found it, the shell had been faded and dull, and now it was... brilliantly bright; shimmering like a diamond that had caught the light just right and broken into prismatic glory. He was taking that to mean whatever inside was happy, he had it setting in the wave hand woven nest, with the same blanket and a nice, strong heating pad keeping it nice and toasty. He would sit at the bar with Coen and talk to it, sometimes; they'd include it in conversations and jokes and treated it like a silent partner in crime; he took it with him during the day in Coen's old carrier, and it was rarely far from either of them for long. He reached over to touch the shell, running his fingers across the smooth surface and almost convincing himself that he felt a pulse of happiness from inside. "Just what are you, buddy... You've gotta be close to hatching, right?"

Well, he'd worry about that later. For now, breakfast.

From the fridge, a cartoon of a dozen eggs, freshly bought and full. A quart of milk. A small container of mushrooms. On the counter, a large bowl full of vegetables and peppers that didn't go in the fridge; onion and bell peppers, green and yellow and red; the special sharp knife he kept well out of the way retrieved from its holder high on the wall. Coen was nearly as tall as he was, but his arms didn't reach nearly as far. It wasn't that he didn't trust Coen, he just really liked that knife; it was a rare splurge he'd made early in his life, a massively expensive and supremely high quality. It was damn near sharper than a swordsman's blade; and made chopping and dicing and slicing and food prep in general a breeze. He only used it for special occasions, or when he was really putting effort into a meal. He felt like treating them a bit, so he was making his special veggie omelets. A major advantage of having a window in his kitchen, he was able to keep a small pot full of herbs happily inside; it was massively overgrown at the moment, so now was a good time to replenish his dried supplies. That could wait for later, for now he just needed a handful of various fresh bits and pieces; namely dill and thyme.

His other major splurge kitchen wise; a massive slab block cutting board; nearly the size of the counter top it rested on. 3 feet by 3 feet by 3 inches thick. It was MASSIVE. And by the Gods, he loved it. All the room he would ever need; and it was so gentle on his knives. Made of a soft, but durable, plains wood who's name he could never remember, it was sanded ice smooth and sealed properly, always ready for him to use it. A moment was taken to check the edge of the blade, the beads of blood on his thumb telling of the razor sharpness of the knife. Perfect.

He made quick work of the prep; mushrooms sliced thin, peppers julienned to perfection. Fresh spices, plucked and washed and chopped into ribbons. All sitting in little piles around the edge of the board and plenty of room left to go. A large bowl was fetched from an overhead cabinet; simple glazed stoneware that was amazingly versatile and strong, he could abuse it forever and it would never break. The eggs, set aside before, cracked into the bowl one at a time; crack, crack, crack; six in total, a three egg omelet for both of them. A splash of milk, a dash of salt and a crack of fresh pepper from a pepper mill; he even bought the dried peppercorns fresh, nothing was too good for Coen; a whisk pulled from the little container that held his large utensils near the stove top. Thankfully, Coen was a heavy sleeper most nights, so the banging of the whisk on the sides and bottom of the bowl didn't wake him up at all, the large 'roo (Gods he was getting big) barely even twitching past his usual odd foot movement, or a sleep scratch.

His pans hung from a hook rack on the wall; he only had 5 really, in various sizes and all general purpose. He had a set of cast iron pans too; a flat iron, a medium sized skillet, and a dutch oven style pot; but those weren't going to work well for this; the flat iron wasn't large enough for what he needed to do; so he was reaching for the second largest of his hanging pans; a shallow sided skillet that was in the 14 inch range; perfect for what he needed. It was slick as ice on marble with a little melted butter as security, an the butter was glorious extra flavor for the omelet. The fire was adjusted to perfection; he refused to use an electric stove, he'd rather build a fire and cook outside than deal with one of those unreliable contraptions. The few moments to sit and settle was just what the egg mixture needed; he needed the pan to heat up or else he'd never get the texture of the eggs right; not forgetting to drop a pat of butter to melt away. He used that moment to clean up a bit; washing the whisk and making sure he'd put away all the unused materials. The sound of the butter sizzling and cooking told him when the pan was ready, there was a special sound that a trained ear could hear, and it was like a song calling for a chorus.

The beaten egg mixture was poured into the pan, or rather, half of it was poured into the pan; a spatula grabbed quickly from the holder and the eggs scrambled further. The trick to good omelets was to treat them like scrambled eggs for the first thirty seconds or so, then leave it alone to cook. This is exactly what he did; scrambling and moving and cutting into the mixture for half a minute then leaving it to sit. He didn't touch it, he didn't so much as have a hand on the pan. Just let it sit. The top of the eggs was still slightly runny when he began adding the veggies; a bit of mushroom and pepper and onion and a sprinkle of herbs. Now for the fun part. He grabbed the pan by the handle and shook it back and forth gently, he was positioning the pancake of egg so that he could fold the edge over just right; creating a triple fold and the perfect closed omelet. Beautiful.

He let it sit in the pan for a few moments longer to make sure it was properly hot, then slid it out onto a plate that he'd set out on the counter. Across the top of the omelet, more pepper and fresh herbs; they would bring the whole meal together perfectly.

The second omelet was given the same loving treatment.

But now, the sun was up and shining in the living room window; right onto Coen's face. That was what it would take to wake the kangaroo up; a grunt and stretch and loooooooong yawn. To his feet he climbed, walking over to the bar and reaching for the still very cold juice waiting for him.

"Omelets? Is today special, daddy?"

"Not really. I felt like treating us."

Coen smiled sleepily, yawning again and reaching over the counter to grab a bit of leftover bell pepper. He giggled when his hand was smacked gently with the spatula; tossing the treat into his mouth and settling down to wait patiently. Karu didn't make him wait long, his own omelet was basically done when Coen had woken up; so he was able to turn the fire off and sit down with his own plate a few moments later; placing Coen's down for him with a fork and digging right into his.

Breakfast was a happy time, they both thoroughly enjoyed the food and the conversation was light and cheerful as they planned out their day. Karu had a few missions lined up; nothing too major, but one in particular would be perfect for Coen to help out with. They had a shift at the center today too; they where on the spotter team tracking the herd migrations again. A busy day, but fulfilling, and with plenty of potential for fun times.

"I'll get our gear ready, you wash dishes." They'd finished eating a few minutes before hand, and had finished their planning and where wide awake and ready to go.

"Yes, Daddy. I'll pick up the living room, too."

"That'll give me time to grab a quick shower, then. Thank you, dear."

"I set out fresh towels yesterday."

"You did laundry too?"

"Yessir."

"Oh Coen, you spoil me sometime."

"You're welcome, Daddy."

Up and moving they got; Coen to the dishes, and Karu to their gears and his shower. It was going to be a great day.

WC: 2022

2022+ 1370 = 3392/3000 for Learning Second Element: Katon

Undercover Agent:

Marauding Wolf:

He had the entire day planned out. He was scheduled to meet up with the field teams out near the main village in their research areas; and the route had him going through places that needed missions run in; so while he and Coen worked their way out there, they'd help clear off the mission board a bit. More so, there where a few missions that needed people to head out into the deep plains, where anyone without knowledge of the area was likely to get lost, roasted, or eaten, so he took those on too. He'd be able to knock them off at the same time as he was doing his spotting and tracking, so it really did end up working out well. A quick check in at the security desk on the way out of the village was all he needed to do; he and Coen had geared up before they left the house. They had packs full of gear; he was carrying extra storage scrolls in a pouch, as did Coen, as well as he kunai blade and bo staff. He'd yet to find a reason to use the staff in combat, but it made for a good walking stick and tool out on the plains, so he brought it with him.

Coen was already wearing his gloves; although they where the older, basic leather ones. Karu had his on too, they both had their new flame gloves ready and waiting in their preferred pouch, and Karu was sporting his freshly sashed headband for once. The old cloth sash had worn out, and he needed to adjust the cut anyway, so he'd just gone ahead and had it replaced. He'd gone for the much longer model, before it had been the classic short cloth meant to be worn around the arm or the forehead. This was the length for the belt style, although he was still wearing it on his head. He wasn't really all that vain, but he liked the way it looked with the darker material and trailing ends. Coen had finally acquired one too; and that had been a hell of a explosion of pure glee from the young kangaroo. Karu had pulled it out of the little box it came in and slipped it around Coen's neck; they made a special kind plate that mounted to collars and such for the larger ninja pets to wear; since a metric fuckton of Hinowagakure ninja had battle pets or summons loyal to the village as well as to them.

From the security station he'd retrieved a seal scroll case; it apparently held information for an ANBU team that was patrolling the merchant routes and such. That was as much information he had, and he wasn't about to be absolutely retarded and start prying. Temaki's student or not, there was only so much he could get away with, and he had little to no interest in prying into ANBU business unless he had to. He'd heard enough stories to avoid that shit like the plague.

Not that he would mind being ANBU, if he could handle it.

He wasn't going to start pushing for it, though.

They where taking the main road for a while; there was plenty of time for them to get to where they needed to report in, and the rendezvous with ANBU was going to happen at one of the small tea houses that dotted the road. It was a common spot for ANBU to pass information around, everyone knew that. Hence why it was never used for anything important. If anything, it was used to pass along shift rotations and stuff that was already leaked all over the place and not important enough to bother.

That didn't stop people from trying.

Which was why he and Coen had their gloves on.

There wasn't much of a chance of anything major happening, but better safe than sorry. Specially when some idiot in a ski mask and holding the rustiest knife he'd ever seen tried to rush him after stumbling out of a bush.

That was just sad.

He ran right past Coen like he wasn't even there and tried to stab Karu. Karu didn't even bother, only shifting his body so that the knife hit nothing but air and gave Coen the chance to have some fun. To his credit, Coen didn't hesitate; he reared back on his tail and kicked HARD, sending the guy flying across the road and into a tree. Classic kangaroo attack, using their massively strong and sturdy tail as a third leg and allowing the loaded springs in their leg to do all the work. Normally an attack like that would have left the target eviscerated, but Coen had the wherewithal to angle his feet up a tad high so that the impact was with the pads and feet, not the claws.

Oh, there was the ANBU he was supposed to meet.

"ANBU-san. You were tracking him?"

"Of course. I saw you coming up, and I thought I'd see how you handled it. Your partner is well trained, for being so young."

"Thank you, sir." He pulled the scroll case from his hip pouch and offered it to the ANBU, who took it quickly and hid it away underneath his cloak.

"I have one more task for you, Karukaya. There are reports of another wolf attack people nearby. Take care of it."

"Of course, sir. Will there be anything else?"

"No. Thank you for your prompt delivery." He walked over to the dazed and injured attacker and picked him up, vanishing with a flurry of leaves and dust, heading back to his team, if Karu had to guess.

Well, that was interesting. Another wolf gone nuts. Wooo.

"Good job, son."

"He attacked you. No one attacks you without me dong something about it."

"Same, for you. I won't let anyone get away with trying to hurt you."

They continued down the road, it would lead into a small cluster of farms, and he was assuming that was where the wolf was; since the ANBU hadn't said anything else. As they got closer they started hearing the sounds of animals screaming in panic; which was enough to get them putting on their new gloves. Yep, it was there.

Their steady walk turned into a strong jog, getting them to the fields in a heartbeat and right into the scene of chaos. Well, that was definitely not one wolf. That was an entire pack. Awesome. This wasn't a rabid wolf, it was a pack raid. Strange, for all the rains and migrating herds, there should have been plenty of game for them; to be raiding a farm in a time of plenty was unheard of.

Oh well. If he could scare them off, he'd let them live; so long as no one had been hurt. He'd report the pack and have them relocated and tagged so that they couldn't get close enough again.

Or... not. That was a kid with a ravaged arm, and a father with a shotgun. Fucking joy. Nevermind.

"Coen, go wild."

"With pleasure, Daddy."

While Karu raced to the girl to check her wounds, Coen leaped a solid 15 feet in the air and covered the distance between them and the pack without even trying; landing in the center of them and igniting his gloves. The first wolf to recover from shock launched at him and ended up getting it's skull crushed by a devastating punch. A second was kicked hard enough to crack it's chest open. A third managed to bite down on Coen's tail and was attempting to rip it open. Coen just leaped up high and curled into a ball; grabbing the wolf by the skull and digging into it's eyes until it released, then throwing it to the ground and stomping it from a good 20 feet up. That was three down. Three where left.

These were cleaver; obviously the more powerful and smarter of the pack. The alphas and a high ranking beta, by the size of them. These wolves weren't starving or sick, not by a long shot. They where fat and strong, so that made this attack make even less sense overall.

They began circling, classic tactics. Circle and snap and dart in and out until the prey was tired and confused, then go for the throat. Well, that would have worked on anything but a kangaroo. A ninja 'roo, at that. The first that attempted to snap at his tail was grabbed by the ears and thrown to the ground, before it was lifted into the air and headbutted like a soccer ball, sending it flying into a tree trunk where it didn't even start to move, blood draining from it's mouth and eyes. That was a caved chest.

Karu was just starting to clean the girls wounds with iodine and saline when the second attacked. It was leaping from behind, attempting to latch onto Coen's skull from behind and crush it. Bad idea. Coen lifted an arm in a nasty uppercut, impaling it on his claws and cooking the wolf's insides like so much nasty offal.

Only the alpha male remained.

Coen roared out something in his native tongue, and the alpha basically pissed himself in fear.

Translation: Bring it on, doggy!~

Yep, that was done. Karu was wrapping bandages when the canine took off into the forest; leaving a trail of urine and the smell of absolute terror behind him. Awesome.

"Done, Daddy. Want me to report it?"

"Please. My hands are a little bloody." He finished wrapping the bandages while Coen called in for a medic team to come check on her. He did however pull a small metal case out of his medic pack and retrieved a hypodermic needle and a small glass vial. Turning to the father, who was standing there with that 'what the fuck just happened' face, "Sir, I'm going to give her a rabies shot. It that okay? The sooner she takes it, the better. These are the new ones that go in the arm, not the stomach. It's no where near as painful, and it's got a much better tolerance rate."

"What? Yes, of course. How did that kangaroo do that?"

"Coen is a trained ninja, same as me."

"Medics are on the way, Daddy. Jayce is at the center, he took the report about the wolves. They're sending Nagato's team to track it."

"Perfect. Did you contact Goa and let him know were running behind?"

"Yes, Daddy."

"Good, good. Thank you, son."

"Son?"

"He might as well be. I've been raising him since he was old enough to leave the pouch."

"Wow, you ninja really take your pets seriously."

"I'm not a pet. My name is Coen, and I'm a ninja."

"What he said. He's not my pet, he's my partner."

"Sorry. Not used to how you guys work. Just a farmer, yanno."

Karu filled the needle with a dose of the vaccine and injected the girl's good arm with it, patting her head as she ran for her father. She'd been crying to hard to talk, but the mix of the local analgesics in the bandages and the knowledge that the shot would protect her, and that medics where coming, was calming her down some.

"Will the wolf come back, Papa?"

"I don't think so, baby."

"A team from the wildlife center is going to track it down and bring it in for study. The medic team will take the carcasses of the wolves here with them to check for anything. The wounds aren't too bad. She likely won't even have much of a scar."

"Thank you."

"No problem. I'm sorry, but we need to get moving. We've got other obligations and such to attend to farther out on the plains."

WC: 2120

500/500 B-rank Mission Undercover Agent

500/500 B-rank Mission Marauding Wolf

Str B0-B1 1120/900

Item Used:

Herb Hunt:

They'd met up with their team at the base station and taken off in the jeeps for the high plains. They where going really far out; far enough to where he didn't want to run along ahead of the jeep to scout, preferring to be up in the spotter tower with binoculars. He needed to be fresh for this, and running that far at those speeds would wear him down, making him ineffective and useless out there, which they couldn't afford to happen.

His team was small, but experienced. It was Goa, Megumi, Natsume, Lena, himself, and Coen; Goa was a senior tracker and team leader, and a bit famous among the teams. He was a retired ninja with an artificial leg, so he had the skills and power to be an amazing ranger, tracker, and spotter. Megumi was a good friend of his and a consistent team member, they worked well together, and made a great team. She was a native of the region, so she had all the experience and knowledge to keep them safe; and she was his age, so they had plenty in common. She was also a lesbian, so there was no sexual tension with them like there was with some of the other girls their age; so that helped. He didn't know Natsume well; he was new, but only in the sense that he'd only just joined the spotter teams. He was a trained vet tech and used to work the night shifts; but he'd passed the spotter course and been assigned to the rotating pool for the moment, to work on getting experienced in the field. Karu, Coen, and Megumi where normally on Nagato's team, but they needed experienced people to run this special outing with Goa, and they'd been the only ones not assigned somewhere else.

The trip out was easy; nothing really happened, and they made light conversation the whole way. Outside of a few kangaroo herds and some migrating water buffalo far in the distance, they didn't run into much. That was what they wanted; this time of year the deep plains should be nearly empty, the herds and such would be further south and east in the grasslands and forest edge; the high plains where drying out after the seasonal monsoons and far too hot for most the of the traveling beasts. Outside of the jackals, foxes, and birds that lived here year round, there wouldn't be much beyond moving away from the rivers or 'roos on the far reaches of their territories. Maybe some mountain goat and sheep down to graze while it was too uncomfortable for most predators to be out. Nothing was really going to be moving this time of day.

Karu had a rifle strapped to his back at the moment; it was a tranquilizer rifle that they used to bag and tag large beasts. They where going to be tagging the new calves, and they'd need to tranquilize them to do so. The specific herd they where going toward was smaller, and had been tacked for so long that they where used to be around certain trackers. Goa was one of them, so this would be easier than it otherwise would be. The rifle was for safety; it was loaded with triple strength darts that would take a raging buffalo down in an instant.

"Karu, anything?"

"Wrong herd. But we're a good 15 miles out from where they where last seen. It should be a while before we see them. They don't normally come to this river system."

"True."

"We crossing the river this far south, or are we heading up to the bridge?"

"Nah, the river's gone down enough to use the cattle ford. We'll cross there."

"Works for me."

The rest of the ride was pretty quiet; they crossed the river without much trouble. The water was a bit fast, but it wasn't high for the time of year, and the jeep had no problems getting across. He was high enough up to not get soaked by the flying water coming up from the wheels too, which was nice. Coen was having a ball with the crossing; the river was wide and not all the deep, so he could stick his arm in the water while they moved through and play a bit. He'd mostly grown out of childish things like that, but everyone had those moments. sometimes.

They reached what would be their field camp; it was dead center between the two major rivers in the area, near a batch of trees and a large outcropping of rocks. It made fora  good spot for him to snipe and spot from; and it gave them some relief from the nasty levels of heat; not that it bothered him at all. It was downright pleasant to him, but the others where sweating and looking for any relief they could find. He took the time to check his rifle while the others set up the tent and got gear down, and he made his way up the side of the outcropping. It was massive, almost a small mountain, and had a lot of growth on it. Vines, scrub trees, grasses, nearly anything you could expect to grow there did.

He was extremely interested in this, as it was these outcroppings that he needed to check to find a specific herb that was in demand back in the village; to the point that ninja where being contracted to go out and find them. It was why he had storage scrolls on his person; and he wasn't disappointed. He gathered pounds upon pounds of the normally rare herb and stored it away while he climbed. He managed to fill 5 of the 6 scrolls he'd brought, more than double what they'd expected him to find. Yay.

He got a hell of a surprise when he reached the ledge he'd decided to set up on. He was face to face with a large jackal, and it was... not happy. Wonderful.

A kunai to the brain took care of it when it lunged at him. Jackals where considered pest animals out here, so they were almost on the shot on sight list. It seemed it had friends, because he was suddenly pulling one off his back and snapping it's neck, while kicking a hole in the chest of another that was attempting to get to his leg.

"Guys, we have jackals!"

He realized that they where coming from a small cave in the middle of the rocks, and blasted the area with fire, sending the last of the jackals flying out of their hiding place and enraging them to attack him. He didn't give them a chance to get to him, charging his legs with chakra and moving into a low sweeping kick, firing the chakra off in a wave that blasted back the pack and caused some pretty painful damage to them. Lifting his body up to an almost standing position, he rotated into a spinning kick and released a second wave, driving them further back and causing more injuries, before leaping upward and twisting around himself to fire a final blast and knock them clear off the edge of the ledge. If they weren't dead before, they where after that fall. By his count, he'd just killed at least a dozen; so that would be an interesting note on the reports.

"Ya'll alright down there?"

"Was gunna ask you the same thing, Karu."

"I'm fine. They're all gone. Didn't even get my pants dirty."

"Good. Natsume's reporting in. He's found the herd. G15 East, K7 North. Confirm when you find them."

"Copy that. Setting up now."

WC: 1345/900

Jutsu and Chakra:

Uphill Battle:

The day had passed pretty quickly; they'd found the herd they where after and tagged a total of 10 new calves, which was nearly a record for the herd. Blood samples and such where taken, and from what they could tell, the babies where all supremely healthy. It was turning out to be a good year for the herds, the reports from everywhere told of good health and high numbers. It made everyone happy to know that the programs in place to keep the plains healthy were working, and that they'd be able to keep their jobs another year because of it.

He was getting ready to climb down off the ledge he'd set up on when his radio crackled on; it was Megumi off on the second spotter perch about three miles away, "Karu. I've got movement. Looks like those bandits they've been warning us about."

"You sure? Could be a merchant convoy."

"Never seen a merchant convoy that travels in ratty old jeeps with half destroyed village markings."

Wonderful. "Where they at?"

"Middle of R10. Set your scope for 15x, aim three minutes high to cut the glare so you can see."

"Copy that." He shifted around toward the west and tweaked his scope, he was using 5x for the herd, so he jumped up to 10x to find them. He'd zoom in once he was in the right area, at 15x he'd never find them without knowing exactly where they where. Ah, right where she said. Looks like they blew a tire. Perfect. He'd be able to get there before they fixed it, and get them taken care of. "Goa, I'll be back in a bit. I'm going to go deal with them."

"That's not our job, Karukaya."

"It is my job, sir. You know I'm active duty."

"I told you I didn't want any gallivanting on my team."

"I understand that, but this is the first time anyone's gotten close enough to them before they hit a village. I have to get them."

"Can you even handle them alone?"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. I've dealt with worse, and Coen's coming with me. There's ANBU within 50 miles, won't take them but 20 minutes to get here tops."

"True. Fine, deal with it. But if you get hurt, I'm giving you a disciplinary write up."

"I can live with that. Coen, let's move."

"Yes, Daddy."

Karu leaped down from the ledge without bothering to climb, it was a solid 40 feet, but that didn't mean much to him. His legs could handle far worse. He dropped the rifle and grabbed his pack, unloading his kunai blade and staff from the scroll he'd stored them in and strapping them to his back. He took off toward where he'd spotted them, Coen right beside him. Along the way, he radio'd for backup using the long range radio's they all had; they could be tuned to the ninja frequencies if you knew what they where, and he very much did. He put in a call for backup, and gave the coordinates, then went into what was basically silent mode. No talking, slower moving through the tall brush and grasses. Basically, he was covering his tracks. Coen had left everything but his fire gloves behind, this was his land, and he fit in here. He could walk right up to them and they'd never think anything of it; he was just another young boomer wandering around looking for a herd to steal after all.

Karu circled wide while Coen made his way to them; he was stopping to 'graze' and investigate things, putting on the show of a curious boomer perfectly. The grasses where high enough to hide his hands, so they couldn't see his gloves and wouldn't be suspicious until it was too late. By the time Coen was within 15 feet of them, Karu was in position and ready. The signal was the sound of a native shrub bird, one that was totally normal to hear out here and that wouldn't be noticed.

What they did notice was the grass going up in flames and a large kangaroo with fiery claws attacking them. Coen's surprise attack was enough to send them scrambling while he cracked skulls and generally caused a metric fuckton of commotion. This gave Karu the cover he needed to grab the bandits as they tried to run away and disable them; a knife to the throat or a broken neck all that was needed most of the time. The Leader of the bandits took his sweet ass time doing anything, it seemed like he really didn't give a fuck about his men; cause it wasn't until over half had died or been disabled that he started doing anything.

Suddenly, wolverines.

Wolverines everywhere.

Fucking great.

To his credit, Coen didn't even bat and eye at this; he just started basically playing soccer with the beasts. Literally, he was playing some mix of kickball, soccer, and hungry hungry hippos with them. Just kicks for days, and when kicks didn't work, flaming punches that ripped into even the legendarily tough skin of the wolverines. It wasn't going to be enough, though; so Karu jumped in to help. His own gloves ignited as the first wolverine charged him; he managed to shovel kick it straight up and grab it by the neck, getting it into a hold that let him snap it and throwing it into the face of a charging buddy as a distraction. His staff finally became useful, and was now being used to snap and slap and push the beasts away, or else fling them into range for Coen to kick and maul and burn to ashes with his gloves. The kept this up for a solid ten minutes before they realized the guy was just summoning more wolverines to keep them down, and they'd never get far enough ahead of him this way.

"Right. Coen, you got this?"

"For now, Daddy."

"I just need a minute."

"You've got it."

"Thank you, dear."

He sent a wolverine flying then leaped out of the mess, leaving Coen to expertly handle the mass of snarling rage beasts. "So, you're a summoner, then? Well, that's all fine and good, but can you fight?"

"Don't have to, I have them to do that."

Wrong answer. Karu took the chance that he was as pathetic as a lot of dedicated summoners where and charged; moving so much faster than the leader could ever hope to react to. His kunai blade was sticking out of the man's chest in an instant, and he was spiting up blood almost like in those stupid movies civilians liked to watch. "Thought so."

"H-how...?"

"It's called training. I do a lot of it."

The leader slid off the blade with a wet squelching noise, and to the ground with a dull thud; dead as a door nail, which broke the summoning and sent the wolverines back to where they came from. Just in time for ANBU to show up.

"Nice charge, Karukaya."

"Thank you, ANBU-san."

"Coen did well, too. I stand by what I said earlier, you've trained him well."

"Thank you, ANBU-san."

"We'll take it from here. You head back to your group."

"Of course, sir."

WC: 1355

B-rank Mission 1355/900

Items Used:

They left the ANBU to clean up, there was a water user with them who put the small fires they'd started out very quickly; so there was no guilt or worry there. It didn't take them long to get back, and they had taken so little time to finish up the errand that they'd made it in time to help pack up. Megumi was just making it back to camp when he showed up. They packed and made sure there was nothing left behind but some tracks in the dirt and a bit of trampled weeds. That was the policy of the center and the scout groups; they left behind nothing that wasn't already there, and minimized the damage that they did. Into the jeep they loaded, and settled; he was down in the back with Coen and Megumi, settled in for the ride. Natsume was riding up in the tower for the trip back, they always rotated spotters like that, fresher eyes meant less missed, and less danger overall.

"So Karukaya, how'd the little side mission go?"

"Not bad. Idiot running the show just let his guys die, and couldn't fight once you got past his summons. One charge and he was skewered."

"Explains the blood, then."

"Yeah. I didn't bring a change of clothes today, wasn't expecting to need them. Bag was pretty full with the extra gear I need to run the missions I was assigned for today."

"I don't get how you can do that; handle a shift out here and still run missions like it was nothing."

"Eh, it's tiring, but it's not impossible. No worse than a hard day's training."

"I've seen ninjas train. It's nuts."

"You've seen normal ninja train. You've never see anything like me."

"That's a bit high on yourself, for you."

"I wasn't being proud, just truthful. I train with the Rakuenkage now, so I train a lot harder than most do. I push myself to be as close to her level as absolutely possible; even if I can't  always reach her."

"That you can handle that at all is nuts. I've heard the stories about her. Explosive temper, explosive fighting style, that giant dog... scary."

"Blast is a sweetheart, honestly. He's just a big, lovable goofball."

"Blast is my best friend!"

"A wolf and a kangaroo are best friends. I've heard it all now. Does he blow stuff up too?"

"Oh yeah. He's faster than a lightning bolt and explosive as hell, same as Temaki. I couldn't be happier with studying under them, really. He's saved my life a few times, and she's willing to trust my judgement enough to work with me, instead of just ordering me to do whatever she wants me to do. She gives me room to grow and get better, not become a little mindless servant boy. I swear, I think she wants to find out I've got explosive chakra too; but my fires burn hot, not hard."

"I've seen what you can do. It's almost explosive."

"Nah, less explosive and more proper fire. Fire itself isn't explosive normally; only when used the right way. It's not my style to make things explode like that. I prefer to burn and roast, not explode."

"Fair enough."

Coen reached over Karu's should and grabbed a canteen of water, uncapping it and taking a drink; offering it to everyone. Megumi took it without even a second though and drank some as well, handing it to Karu when she was done so he could wash the dirt form his mouth and then take a drink too. The water was cool from the shade and thick insulation of the canteen, it was wonderful to have a cool drink after everything they'd done today. Even a fire user liked a cool drink once in a while, and the liquid was good to have on a day like this.

They made it to the river and across with no problems, but not long after the jeep started sputtering and bucking oddly. Goa was driving, and he barely managed to stop in time; the jeep had bucked so hard it nearly flipped on it's side; only the way they where sitting and the way their weight was distributed keeping them upright. They jumped down when the jeep settled down, Goa popping the hood and looking down at the steaming mess of machinery there.

"Uuuh, Goa; that's not going to help with the drive shaft on the ground."

"....Fuck."

"No shit. We don't have the tools to fix that."

Karu had no idea about cars; he was handy, but not that type of handy. Automobiles weren't common in the part of the village that the ninja tended to live in and frequent; although even in the civilian areas it wasn't the common to see them. Only really merchants and the like used them; otherwise people walked, rode bicycles, used the rickshaws, or rode the trams to cover long distances.

"What do you need to fix it?"

"For this old thing? A jack, a welding torch, and some power tools."

"...I am a waking welding torch."

"You're not a jack, though."

"No, but Coen can EASILY lift and hold this up while I weld."

"Seriously?"

"What do you think I am, a Genin?"

"Fair enough. Let's get started."

Goa walked them through what to do; he was an experienced enough to get it done with proper tools and such, even in this environment. Coen was able to lift and hold the vehicle pretty easily; even more so once they found some large rocks they could rest it on; so that he was just supporting it versus carrying it. Between Goa and Coen, they managed to get most of the repairs done pretty easily. Cracked lines where replaced with what they had on hand, anything metal was welded shut by Karu's flames. There was a lot of damage caused by the driver shaft breaking off, but they where able to repair it as well; and after some rigging to hold it on right; they managed to get the jeep running again. It wouldn't last long, but it would make it back to the center.

"You sure it'll hold?"

"If you can weld half as well as you claim you can, it will."

"Alright, alright. Let's just get home."

To both Goa and Karukaya's credit, the jeep managed to make it in mostly one piece. It was a shaky, terrifying ride near the end, but it was a full trip. They managed to make it into the garage before the welds broke again and the drive shaft hit the floor again, the mechanics running up with that 'what the fuck did you do now?' look on their faces.

"The hell, Goa?"

"Don't look at me. We didn't even do anything hard; we just crossed the river. Didn't hit jack, didn't push anything."

"Bullshit. You had to have done something to cause this much damage. How the hell did you weld this stuff?"

"That was me."

"...How?"

"Ninja. Active duty. Fire user."

"...Makes sense. These are... not bad, but they're dirty and where already crystallizing by the time you go here."

"I'm not a welder, and it wasn't like we had acids or anything to clean with."

"Whatever. We'll fix it if we can, if not; it's your ass Goa."

"Don't give a flying fuck. Where's Sato, I have reports for him."

"He's in his office."

"Right. Team dismissed."

"Megumi, Karukaya, Coen, you coming with? Heading to the kitchen for something to eat."

"Nah, I gotta turn in reports and these scrolls."

"I've got a date tonight. Gotta get cleaned up."

"Oh? You going out with Senna again?~"

"You know it. Got me a hot date with a hot girl.~"

"You go girl. Have fun.~"

"Plan to. Later, boys." She trotted off toward the locker room to grab her stuff and head home, while Goa and Natsume took off through another door toward the main offices. Karu and Coen left through the open gate, heading back into town and toward the mission room so they could turn in the reports for the missions they'd done, and turn in the herb filled scrolls.

The trek back into town was short and easy, the center really wasn't that far out, so it didn't take long before they where surrounded by houses and shops again. They joked and talked the entire way, discussing their fights and how they did; ways to improve and ways to use what they'd learned for later. After a bit of walking they came across a man with a traveling ice cream cart and stopped to get a little treat; Coen liked sherbet and Karu was in the mood for a nice scoop of mango ice cream. The merchant was happy for the business; especially since Karu had plenty of money on him. He paid for a sherbet pop and a double scoop of ice cream in a waffle cone; handing the pop to Coen and taking a nice lick of the ice cream cone. It was really good, and Coen's squeal of enjoyment was a good sign he liked it.

"Thank you, Daddy. It's really good. I like strawberry."

"I'm glad. You want to try the ice cream?"

"No thanks. The milk makes my stomach hurt."

"Fair enough. Remind me to pick up more fruit for you when we go to the market tomorrow."

"Of course, Daddy. We're low on rice and salt, too."

"Oh right. Thanks."

They finished the walk to the mission room; taking enough time to stop by home and clean up some. He changed clothing, and Coen brushed his fur out some. He'd take a shower when they got home, that way Karu would be able to wash off the blood and such before putting on fresh clothing. They'd left their gears behind, he'd need to do some work on his kunai blade, it'd need a deep cleaning and a bit of honing after all the use it'd gotten lately; and he needed to restock his medic kit; he'd checked the date on the vaccine vial and it was coming close to expiring.

"Let's go, son. We'll make it just before shift change."

"Alright. Can we get dinner afterwards?"

"Of course. We'll grab some roasted vegetable curry from the night market."

"Yummy."

"Indeed. We'll get the good stuff."

They left the house and crossed the village to the administration building, heading and right to the mission room. He grabbed a couple of blank mission report documents and grabbed an empty table to fill them out. He handed Coen the scrolls with the herbs and had him take them up while he wrote up the reports. He turned them in a few minutes after Coen returned and picked up their pay; that'd cover dinner and groceries for the month, along with all their bills and the costs of their replacement gears and such, with plenty left over to goof around.

"To the market, let's get dinner and go home. We've earned a movie night, yeah?"

"Yay!"

WC: 2115

Secondary Element Training Katon D-C 2115/2000