Vacation and Business [Hinowa -> Hana]

Temaki was bent over her desk; her butt half out of her chair as she was in a position somewhere between standing and sitting. Her pen flew across the page she had just finished looking at – the last one that needed to be dealt with before this lovely vacation started – and in her eagerness her signature was anything but nice. Still, it was a name, it was mostly readable, and that was good enough for her. She tossed the paper into the bin with the rest and then stood fully with a grin while tossing her pen into the little cup that housed a bunch of them. She was done: which meant she was officially ready to get going.

Her bag was, of course, already packed and actually sitting next to her desk: she had known there would be a few last minute things she needed to square away before she could go after all, so she had just dragged the whole lot with her. Temaki glanced over to her secretary and grinned. “Done. Hold down the fort till I get back. You know where to find me if you need me, Lin.”

Lin simply waved a frail old hand and chuckled. ”Go Temaki. Have fun. Stop trying to find excuses to stay.” Lin was far used to working with Temaki – and the fact that she hated any sort of formality. Lin had become like a grandmotherly figure to Temaki, and the woman was definitely capable of handling things while Temaki was gone.

Temaki laughed, her voice waking up Blast who jumped up with more excitement then he had shown in a long time from his overly large dog bed by the window. His tail was thudding against the wall in a fast rhythmic pattern. ”Don't worry, I'm not. I'll be out of your hair in just a second.”

Temaki lifted with ease the single small shoulder bag she would be carrying and threw it over her shoulder. She grabbed Jai's reply off of her desk and pocketed it so that she had it just in case they were stopped for any reason once they crossed into Hanagakure. She had sent everyone a message saying that they were to meet at the gates at noon today to get going, and a glance at the clock told her she had about fifteen minutes to go. ”See ya later, Lin!”

”Have fun. Bring me back something nice!”

Temaki turned to the window behind her desk, opened it, and jumped out onto the roof. Blast followed her and the pair made their way across the rooftops and to the village gates. They reached the ground and Temaki glanced around while Blast circled around her like an excited puppy would.

Alright, Coen was bouncing in place, Roku was safely settled on his head in that way he liked to settle; bags where packed and settled in storage scrolls, a backpack full of travel gear was ready for both Coen and Karu to carry, the house was locked up tight and ready to be left for a while. He'd set up with his parents to have his father check on the place every couple of days, so he didn't have to worry to hard about the massive amount of expensive training gear he kept around. Bills where paid up for 6 months, so that wasn't a worry. They where ready to go, by the looks of it. He could lock up right now and not worry; he'd long since given Artemis a key to the doors; the only 'key' she didn't have was to the training room out back; but that key was hanging from a hook on the wall in the kitchen, so that didn't mean much. She had free access to the room and everything inside, same as he did. Her having a house key meant that he could leave without having to worry about her; he wasn't sure if she was fully packed and ready to go; there was a bit of time before they where supposed to meet up at the gate, after all. He was just good to go early.

He tossed Coen's his backpack and slipped his own onto his shoulders, "Alright, before you go flying through the roof. Let's head out."

"Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.~"

He took a second to give the house one last visual check then followed a bouncy Coen out the front door; locking it behind them and taking off toward the main gates to catch up with Temaki.

”Vacation! Vacation! Vacation!”, Fa Mulan repeated happily as she bounced up and down in place like the overly happy monkey that she was. They were in the market because Artemis was picking up on last item – the bag she had had made for Fa Mulan.

Artemis chuckled and nodded, watching the monkey bounce for a few seconds. ”Come on, silly Fa. Come over here so I can give you your bag.” Artemis had been spoiling Fa Mulan a bit lately, especially after all of the missions she had completed. She had splurged on a specially made bag that was designed to fit Fa Mulan's measurements perfectly – a backpack just the right size for her with special straps that would allow her to climb and bounce without the bag jiggling about. It was, at the moment, filled with this weeks favorite toy (a little stuffed animal panda), several containers of snack foods for her, some water, and the special blanket she liked which was green with yellow bananas all over it. It would allow Fa Mulan to feel special about carrying her own things while not being too heavy for the small monkey.

After Fa Mulan quit bouncing and allowed Artemis to put her bag on her, Art then grabbed her own bag and slid it into place on her back. She scooped up Fa Mulan and held her like a toddler since she couldn't take her usual perch on Artemis' back. She glanced around, ensuring that she had everything she would need, before they both left the market and headed in the direction of the village gates. Fa Mulan, like any happy child, pointed towards the village gates at they approached and let out a happy screech. ”Vacation! Vacation!”, Fa Mulan chanted again while Artemis grinned from ear to ear: she too was excited as this was her first trip out of the village. The 'cool kid' in her liked the fact that this was a slightly extended visit to Hanagakure meant she would have a chance to get a good look about the place and go shopping, while the 'nerd kid' in her reveled in the idea that this would be an excellent learning experience.

”Meh.. I want to go!”, Blast whined obviously playful. He circled around Temaki several times, his tail wagging like some kind of happy little puppy. ”Oh! I smell them! Haha! Let's go!” Blast was practically jumping in place himself: it had been a while since they had last left the village and he was quite tired of being stuck just around the village – this was a chance to really stretch his legs.

”Down, puppy.”, Temaki said with a playful chuckle.

”Puppy, eh?”, Blast said as he stepped away and gave his butt a wiggle. He gave a mischievous wolfy grin towards Temaki.

”Don't you dare...”, Temaki said, eying him wearily. Blast just grinned more and then launched himself directly at Temaki. Temaki was strong, yes, but Blast was bigger then her. He easily over-powered her and they both went to the ground. ”Oomph! Get off of me you cow!”

”Nope. I have defeated the Kage! That makes me the Kage!”

”Do you honestly think anyone would listen to you?”

”If I handed out free steaks once a week, yes.”

Temaki simply snorted and pushed the large wolf off of her before getting back to her feet. She reached over and scratched lightly behind Blast's ears as he too got back to his feet. Temaki would then turn her gaze onto Karukaya, Coen, Roku, Artemis, and Fa Mulan, grinning. ”Y'all ready to go? Blast's liable to drag me out by force if we don't get moving, soon.”, she commented with a chuckle.

Blast simply nodded his large head, still grinning, while his tail thumped hard and fast against the ground.

Oh, well that worked too. Temaki and Blast had beaten them all, with Art and Fa Mulan getting there at roughly the same time as he and Coen did, if from a different direction. Must have been at the market, judging by the where they came from.

"Nice bag, Fa Mulan. It looks good on you." He was being sincere with that; he rather liked the young monkey, so he wasn't about to be a sarcastic ass or something to her. "So by the looks of it, Blast was about to leave us all behind, eh? Coen about did the same, only he would have taken my roof with him."

"Coen!~"

"Oh, by the way, everyone; meet Roku. He's the baby from the egg I've been raising."

"Roku! Roku!"

"Yeeeah, he's only got a few words so far; mostly names. He'll burble in what I'm assuming is his native language, but I don't understand it, nor does Coen, so we're not sure what it is. Or what he is, either; outside of adorable."

"I sort of understand it; it's just less that he's using words and more trying to convey complex concepts. It's... really hard to explain. He is undeniably adorable, though."

"Roku! Happy!~~~"

"And that makes six."

"Added to his list."