Cleaning the Dogs

Hiroji had been assigned yet another mission a couple days after the lost dog mission, where he had met the new Hyuuga girl of their team and so far from what she's displayed, she seems to be pretty outgoing and peaceful of sorts, which reminded him too much of the current Senju clan leader. He didn't like it too much, but if he's going to be stuck in the same team with her from now on it would be best to grow some level of tolerance to her.

The Senju had already arrived at the front of the Dog Grooming service shop that they were assigned for, he heard that Akihiro couldn't attend for some reason so it was just Hiroji and Ningyo for the mission, which would be awkward and the Senju was hoping that Akihiro would come along but alas, he'll have to tough this day out as there's no way around it.

Currently, Hiroji is just waiting at the front of the shop for the Hyuuga to show up before he could walk in, he was honestly hoping to wait about fifteen minutes at best and he's secretly hoping that she's a no-show, but she didn't strike him as the type to do that so it's unlikely.

Another day, another dollar! Ningyo couldn't help but think that as she woke up this morning. A few days had passed since she was introduced to her new team and while they didn't turn out to be the most cohesive unit, it was hers. She fully planned to make the best of the situation though and perhaps even change it for the better? Akihiro had been a pretty okay guy she thought, the problem was Hiroji, or maybe it was her? Either way the Senju took to her like oil to water, which is to say, he didn't take well to her at all. She was still set that his displeasure toward her was some past refusal at a date though. He had the eyes of someone who would take that kind of thing seriously.

That little quirk would be what made today all the more interesting though. The mission was going to be taken by only herself and Hiroji as Akhiro was busy elsewhere doing who knows what? That was okay though. It would give her a chance to thaw the icy Senju's personality with her own warm and cheery one. As if that wasn't enough incentive they'd be washing dogs today! Just a bunch of cuties getting their hair done and nails clipped? It was more than she could hope for!

Early morning had kept the village mostly sleepy as she made her way through the streets toward the Happy Puppy. A few quaint "hellos" and "good mornings" here and there spiced up the otherwise boring walk. As the place came into view she noticed that Hiroji had beat her there. Placing a finger on her chin, she tilted her head for a moment examining her teammate. The previous encounter had not led her to believe he was too entirely motivated or hard working.

Best not judge a book by it's cover I guess.

Jogging the rest of the way, she stopped in front of the Senju and dipped her head in a small bow. "Good morning Hiroji-san, I hope you weren't waiting long."

Hiroji gave a light nod to the Hyuuga as soon as she showed up, only showing up by a few minutes late from the looks of it, that was decided then, he would have to do this job with her. "I wasn't, but be on the clock next time." showing that cold side of his to her once more. "Now that you're here, we can get into the job now." he would assume that the Hyuuga would come along as he started to enter the shop, surprisingly for a Dog Grooming service, it seemed to be well organised but you could tell already there were a few stations that looked like they had to be filled, as there's only one guy behind a desk at the end of the room. As soon as the guy heard the duo enter however, he instantly stood up and rushed over to the both of them.

"Good day to you both, I'm assuming you're the Genin that's been sent for the mission I posted?" he looked to both of them well enough from foot to head, with an exclusive look for the Hyuuga. "Oh my... those eyes, do you happen to be apart of the Hyuuga clan dear? they're beautiful." Hiroji rolled his eyes, with the guy noticing this well enough. "Sorry! my name's Robert, as the mission says... were a bit underhanded here, I already have a few dogs lined up in the back that need to be washed. The tools, water and everything are already there and set up for you to start the job. Good luck." with that explained, Robert quickly pointed to the door that led to the back and returned back to his desk, seemingly dealing with the curse of paperwork.

Taking the guy's advice, Hiroji moved over to the door and opened it, exposing to a new room that have a few dogs in well-spaced cages, it seems they had to adapt because of their underfilled staff and overfilled booking situation. It looked like the dogs were treated well enough though as there were dog food and water bowls inside the cages and pieces of paper neatly piled for them to litter on. Counting the filled cages, there were only four dogs to do currently, two small puppies and two full-grown dogs. One might think that the small puppies would be easy to wash, but they didn't exactly look like the type to be trained or to sit still compared to the bigger ones. "I'll start with one of the bigger ones." the Senju said, unlocking the cage door for one of the bigger, brown dogs and whistling for it to come out, giving the dog a light pat on the head and leading him to the other side of the room, where there's water buckets, sponges, brushes etc for the Genin to use.

His response left her with mouth slightly agape, pale lips parted in small shock. Quickly she rearranged her features to a more playful set and waved a hand back and forth in front of her. "You need to relax, Hiroji-san. You're gonna get all wrinkly like a prune if you don't." She watched him turn and enter the building. "Pushy, pushy, pushy." She muttered under her breath before following the Senju inside. The chime of a bell affixed to the door hailed their entrance, catching the attention of the singular attendant behind the counter. While he hurried himself over to them Ningyo took the time to check out the inside of the salon-but-only-for-animals. Her stark white eyes scanned the room excitedly, taking note of all the products that lined the walls. Never would she have thought there were so many types of conditioner for dogs!

The attendant was quick to jump to the task at hand. That was likely due to the urgency that their help was requested with. Even this early it seemed his customers had already began dropping off their pets. She nodded once he asked if they were the squad assigned to the mission, "I am, thank you!" She said happily, giving a small curtsy and fluttering her eyes at him to accentuate her clan's hallmark feature. "I'm Hyuuga Ningyo and this is Senju Hiroji, it's a pleasure to meet you!" As Robert finished up his description of their tasks Hiroji was the first to head over to the door. Following closely, but not too close, behind the man Ningyo gave a wave to the attendant behind the desk. "Leave it to us, we'll have these cuties taken care of in no time!"

Once in the backroom a soft "Awwwwh" escaped the Hyuuga's lips as she noticed the animals. While she wasn't entirely thrilled to see them in cages, she knew it was temporary and that the cages were at least prepared in a fashion that made them not look like jail cells. Hiroji quickly called dibs on one of the larger dogs which was more than fine with her. She made her way over to one of the puppies and knelt down next to the cage. The puppy, a brown and grey terrier, jumped to the side of the cage nearest her and began to playfully attempt to bite on the thin metal bars of his cage. A quiet laugh filled the air as Ningyo moved her hand toward it slowly - even as a puppy she knew dogs weren't always the best with strangers - and once it had sniffed her fingers and finally licked her hand she released it from the cage. "Come on little buddy, let's get you taken care of."

Scooping up the adorable little scamp, Ningyo made her way over to where Hiroji and his larger dog were. Placing him down near one of the water buckets she eyed him carefully and dipped a finger into the water inside it. Roughly room temperature, perfect for a puppy! As the small animal took this time to show off it's flexibility and own grooming habits she laughed again before dipping a sponge into the water. "Say, Hiroji, why don't we make this interesting? I bet I can wash my two before you can!"

Hiroji began to brush the dog that he was dealing with, since he had a few loose hairs and fur spots here and there and it would make his job easier with washing the dog by straightening them out first before washing the actual dog. He tried to get into the zone, but the Hyuuga tried to make it interesting by proposing a challenge of sorts to see who can wash their dogs faster. He gave a light shake of his head, trying to show disappointment in it. "Come on, really? were doing this job as Genin, it's not a race." but of course, that flipped a switch and he suddenly felt the urge to do a better job then the Hyuuga at least, he wasn't going to be beaten at a job by a woman which ironically made him speed up his brushing, giving the unintentional hint that he is accepting the challenge either way.

After he finished brushing the dog, that's when he started to get a washcloth and dip it into the bucket of water, before starting to gently rub it against the dog's body, it just stood completely still and turned it's head a few times, it seemed to be a well trained dog. It took him a while to completely make the dog wet however, as he is a pretty big one. Afterwards, he dried out the washcloth's water by squeezing it into the water bucket, before using it to start washing off and dry the water that's on the dog. 

He honestly didn't want to give Ningyo the satisfaction, but the silence is somewhat irritating and boring to him. "I'm guessing you're good at this kind of stuff?" he assumed that because of her gender. His father had taught him to not give too much attention or value to any female he met, otherwise you'll just get another mess like the Senju clan because of the female Senju that's currently leading it.

As many wise and likewise unwise people had said time and time before "Actions spoke louder than words." This seemed true for Hiroji as it did for so many others. While he tried to be the serious guy that took this a job and nothing else, his quickened pace betrayed his true feelings. A victorious smile played on her lips for a moment before she too set to work. The puppy was admittedly less cooperative than Hiroji's but was also much smaller by comparison. It didn't take long to wet the dog's fur and she took a few extra moments to scratch his cute little pink belly. A rapid kicking of it's hindleg let her know that she had hit the jackpot! Unable to keep herself from laughing she tickled the puppy for a few extra moments and then grabbed the shampoo. Working the product into the dog's fur took little to no time and she lathered him up until it looked like he was covered in snow! "You're just too cute!" She cooed before using the sponge to wash the bubbles off of him. Reaching for a towel, the puppy hopped into her lap and in an instant her lap was sopping wet. Shaking her head dismissively she used the towel to dry herself and the puppy as best she could.

Now that the dog had been washed, it was time to groom! A quick look around the stuff left out for them produced the brush she had needed. Taking it into her hand she began to slide it through the dog's fur in long, straight lines. On more than one occasion she had to stop and hold the puppy still, the dog jumping between spurts of "please let me lick your face" and "did you know I had this tail?!". As she worked on her part of the "job" as Hiroji called it, the Senju broke the silence.

"Oh? I'm not too sure if I am or not. Prim and proper isn't really my thing. I like cute stuff like this little guy don't get me wrong, but I've always been kind of a tomboy. What about you? You don't seem lost, yourself."

After the Senju washed off most of the water that's on the big dog, he started to brush him once more to make him all neat and tidy, soon enough the Hyuuga had assumed that he must've done this type of thing before. "Not really, I just treat it as if I'm washing myself." though she might've noted that he didn't use the shampoo for the dog. "Uh... I use shampoo of course, the dogs just don't need to be washed with shampoo... right?" when he looked over at the shampoo bottle that she was using, he realised how much of an idiot he made himself to be. "Oh no..." he stood up, dipping the wash cloth back into the bucket of water and getting the dog wet all over again, then picking up the shampoo bottle that he couldn't see from earlier to start putting the liquid shampoo all over the dog, though away from the head of course as he didn't want the shampoo to drip down into it's ears or eyes.

Soon enough though, he started to rinse off the shampoo and once that was done, he'd finally wash off the dog and repeat all the steps he did earlier, dry the dog and then brush it... of course, by the time this would be done, the Hyuuga girl would be well on her way to washing the second dog. He felt a bit bitter about that now, like a sore loser and instantly stopped talking to her. He knew with that setback, she was going to win.

Moving the brush through her puppy's hair she couldn't help but turn toward Hiroji once he noted that he was washing the dog the way he washed himself. She raised a questioning eyebrow at him until he seemed to catch on that he had forgot that washing something involved more than simply water. She laughed behind closed lips as he started the process of washing his larger dog over again. It wasn't long into shampooing that she had finished with her puppy. The small dog seemed happy with her effort, it's tail wagging wildly and it's tongue quickly lapping against any exposed skin that she put near it. Picking up the puppy in her arms she giggled again as it licked at her chin before she put it back into it's cage.

Now she had a decision to make. On one hand she could take the other puppy and leave Hiroji with both bigger dogs. That would surely assure her victory but also seemed kind of cheesy. Rather, she moved to the other big dog, a black-coated breed she didn't recognize, and opened it's cage. She couldn't help but notice that it's coat was quite shiny and well maintained. She had heard that giving an egg a day would leave a dog's coat silky and bright. That had to be it!

With a little effort she maneuvered the larger dog to her station and ran her fingers through it's coat. "Gosh you're a cute one!" Reaching for the sponge she wet it and then began to do the same to her new customer. The dog was still not as obedient as Hiroji's but was much better behaved that her earlier puppy. She worked the water into the dog's fur before grabbing the shampoo and squirting a line down the dog's back before lathering it all over the canine. As she did so, she leaned over toward her Senju teammate.

"It sure is a good thing that this isn't a competition." She said in a sing-songy voice.

It was as he feared, by the time he's finally done with the big mutt, she was already working on washing the other big dog. It felt like she's teasing her assured victory in her face and her sing-songy voice had just confirmed it in his eyes. "Why you... little..." he clenched his fist in clear frustration, calming himself down before he did something he would regret and signalling for the dog to follow along back to it's cage, while being a fair distance away from the Hyuuga now, he said "Bitch." though he wasn't exactly discreet about it, and she would've heard it if she listened closely enough. He kept trying to think that this little contest of hers isn't worth his time and it's just a stupid little girls game that she's set up to agitate him, on the other end he's feeling compelled to not be beat by a woman either, it's a complete weakness on his part if he allowed that to happen.

He quickly opened up the last cage door, with heavy resistance from the last pup, a clear-white puppy with almost snow-like fur had already started to bite away at the Senju's hand. "Come here you little shit..." he muttered, before finally giving in and letting the puppy bite away at the Senju's hand, and carrying the puppy under the belly with his other hand, as soon as he set down the puppy, it really couldn't stand still and the Senju really toughened his grip on the puppies upper body in order to keep it standing, while keeping the puppy still with his hand, he just barely reached the washcloth in the water bucket with his other hand and brought it over to the small one, starting to wash it and letting the fluids fall down it's back and into it's sides. He would attempt to do this fast, but it's completely thwarted by the puppies lack of cooperation to stay still.

Rather than a joking response as she had expected, Hiroji came back with three strained words and a pair of clenched fists. She quickly stopped leaning toward him and grew silent. She had just been trying to have some fun with her teammate but it seemed he was not the kind of guy for that. As she made sure to cover the entire dog in front of her with shampoo she could make out the faint word he said behind her back. It caused pause in her work for a brief moment. The dog in front of her cocked it's head, ears raising at the sudden change in Ningyo's demeanor. A pink tongue touched her cheek, breaking her out of the slump she had been put into. A meek smile and a kiss on the dog's wet nose preceded her getting back to work. She wasn't sure what she had done to make Hiroji so distant and rude toward her but she still planned on winning. If he was going to be a jerk then he could be a jerk and a loser!

The puppy that Hiroji brought over did not seem happy to be working with the Senju, a trait she was beginning to share with it. Grabbing the sponge she washed the shampoo out of the dog's fur. The water washed away the product into a drain placed into the tiles of the floor likely leading to the sewers, just where Hiroji's attitude could go. She reached out for the brush and placed it between her teeth as she moved to start drying the dog. Grabbing two fresh towels she stood and began to rub the dog up and down on each of it's haunches and moved up it's body until she had completely dried the goodest of boys. She spat out the brush into one of her hands and set to work making his coat look just as, if not more, silky smooth than before she had started.

As she placed the brush down she turned her nose up at the Senju before leading her dog back toward it's cage. With a final pat on his head she closed the dog up in it's kennel and turned; she crossed her arms. "Looks like I would've won, ey Hiroji? Also, if you want to call me a bitch at least have the balls to do it to my face." She said confidently. It would do no good for their team if she simply allowed him to be so passive aggressive. They relied on each other whether he wanted it or not.

Hiroji had done all the steps that he did with the previous dog towards this smaller puppy, only for the puppy to have a lot of resistance but despite this, the Senju's grip on the puppy was strong and it wouldn't be breaking out of it anytime soon, making it work for the Senju to clean the puppy, by the time that he had started to brush the puppy after rinsing the shampoo and drying it, Ningyo had finished washing off her dog, though he didn't express much surprise that she managed to hear what he said behind her back. "Yeah yeah... don't get all pissy about it." treating it as nothing, finally finishing off the last puppy and grabbing it forcefully once more, placing him back into the cage and closing it quickly enough before it would attempt to run out, locking it in.

He really didn't feel bad for saying the word, but he knew that it was a bit awkward between the two now and he honestly just did not want to deal with that. It was something about this Hyuuga girl... beneath all that niceness and outgoing attitude, there's something more to her that just rubs Hiroji off the wrong way and that's what he doesn't like about her. There wasn't too much interaction with them as they only focused on their work. "So, were done. We'll tell Robert at the front and we'll head on home, sounds good?" it seems like he's trying to avoid the subject now, and clearly doesn't want to get to know this Hyuuga girl or interact with her anymore then he has to. He also didn't want her to rub her victory in his face.

Hiroji's response caused a huff and puff from Ningyo, cheeks slightly bulged as she held in her breath. It seemed his passive aggressiveness went deeper than just badmouthing people behind their backs. With considerable effort she let out a long, low breath and shrugged. If he wanted to play like a wall she wouldn't fall into talking to one. He could sulk and moan all he like, it was no skin off her nose.

She noticed the force in which the Senju used on the puppy and couldn't help but feel bad for the little guy. He hadn't done anything to deserve being treated that way. That was how she felt about the treatment she was getting too. Maybe Hiroji just had an inferiority complex? She wasn't the most knowledgeable of the human psyche but even she knew something was off about the guy.

"So we are." She agreed when he finally spoke up. "If you're that eager to get away from me then sure, sounds fine." She gave him a sweet smile and laced her hands behind her head before walking past him, her eyes cutting him a sidelong glance as she did so.

The door to the main lobby opened easily and Robert from behind his desk turned to give the pair a questioning glance. Ningyo hopped forward and gave him a totally-original-and-not-cliche "V" for victory with her fingers and a wide grin. "Those cuties have never been so clean!" She said happily. A relieved sigh came from the attendant as he stood and walked over to the pair.

"Thank you two so much, you're real lifesavers." He said with closed eyes as one of his hands rubbed the back of his head slowly. Ningyo gave the man a bow and quickly righted herself. "Of course! Anytime you need help just let me know. I'd love to get to pet more dogs!"

Even though Hiroji was somewhat glad that he was finally going to get home, but a striking, gut feeling that wasn't so good swelled up inside him. It wasn't particularly major, but it wasn't good in any way for him. He began to feel a bit of guilt for how he treated her so far, but tried to stay away from that course by thinking back to his goals. To his fathers teaching, and instantly realised what he did wrong. The Senju clan might've been infected by a woman's ideals, but that's just one woman, not the entire woman population to be held responsible for one's actions. He still held the view that women are too peaceful and innocent, the majority of them but most of them know when to stand back such as Ninygo, which is more then he can say for the Senju clan leader.

He remained quiet for a bit, not saying much and keeping to himself, after the Hyuuga girl's exchange with the attendant was done, Hiroji would head outside and assuming that Ningyo would come out, he'd finally explain his cold and obnoxious behaviour to her. "Hey, I haven't exactly treated you in the best way because... you remind me of someone I know, someone I really hate... this particular person is all outgoing, nice and cheerful like you and I thought you rubbed me the wrong way because you shared similar traits with her." he didn't even say sorry about it. "Yeah... so, hopefully we can try something like this again and I'll try to be more... tolerable next time, also, no more competitive games like that. I don't like losing."

He'd wait for the Hyuuga girl to say her piece on it, with how he's been so far, that might be the best apology she'll get unless she tries to push for him to directly say that he's sorry.

As she chitchatted with Robert, Hiroji remained silent, a trait she had grown to expect from him. She wasn't sure if he was going for that dark and brooding type or if he was really shy. From the exchange they had in the back she doubted it was the latter; that or he had a strange way of being shy. The Senju exited the building before her and as she turned to follow she bowed again, "Ja ne, Robert-san!" She chimed cheerfully before following her teammate out of the Happy Puppy.

Once outside she had moved to make her way home. Truthfully she hadn't expected Hiroji to say anything after his shortness with her earlier but she was pleasantly surprised as he did in fact choose to speak to her. Catching her mid-step she slowly faced him, a look of seriousness on her face as she listened to what she supposed could pass as an explanation for her teammate's rudeness. Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she leaned her hips back before slamming a foot down and straightening herself.

"That's a real narrow way of viewing people. Whoever it is that you hate, I'm not them, y'know? Besides we're teammates now. You can't hope to rely on me if you can't get along with me. I'd like that though. Next time we go on a mission it won't be a competition since you've already assumed you'd lose that one too. I wouldn't expect someone as proud as you to concede a battle before it began but looks can be deceiving huh?" She gave him a wink before her expression grew serious again. "You know they say that we hate in others what we dislike in ourselves. Just some food for thought."

Oh, she was really getting on his nerves especially with that last sentence. "I didn't say I would lose!" Hiroji had grew a few dark thoughts of what he really wanted to do with his uprising anger, but he learned to quell it down for now as she is indeed right, female or not he'll have to learn to work with her, as long as she knew her place and stopped being so irritating to him, he'll roll along with it for now. That wink was just rage-inducing as well, but once more he kept himself together. He might be somewhat cold in personality when it came to females, but he's not explosive by any means.

"Whatever... just... I'll see you later, okay? we'll work out our differences in the next mission or something." it felt like she was just baiting him into something at this point and he hated it, he didn't want to play this game of hers anymore. He finally started to make his way back home to forget about this entire day honestly, to repress it mostly because he couldn't believe losing to a girl, but to hopefully have a better foot standing between the two for next time.

(Exit)

His hurried response was exactly what she had expected from him. As consistent as the setting sun, that was one thing she could rely on Hiroji for. Smiling playfully she nodded, "That's the attitude!" She told him happily. Next time she would likely have to let him win if he wasn't going to already. A boy's pride was a fickle thing she had learned and Hiroji seemed to be an exemplary example on just how true that was. She couldn't help but giggle at his expression. It was that look that boys got when they wanted to yell at people but couldn't. Honestly it suited the Senju very well.

"Ja ne, Hiroji-san. Thank you for helping out on the mission today. Until next time!" She gave him a hearty wave and a small nod of her head as a bow before turning on her heel and skipping away. Despite the Senju's efforts she had enjoyed herself and had even made some money doing so! All in all it was a really fun day and she had learned a lot. Mostly she was thankful that Hiroji was at least willing to give her a shot to prove she wasn't the person that he hated. From what he explained though the person didn't even seem so bad.

Boys were strange, strange things.

[Exit]