Volunteer Work For a Ninja Vol.2 [Mission]

Mission Name: Postal Service Support
Mission Type: Delivery
Mission Rank: D-rank
Mission Goal: Spend a day delivering parcels.
Description: Konoha's postal services is severely understaffed these days, and they decided to hire ninjas to help to deliver packages, parcels and envelops to people's houses. You are required to spend the day working there, delivering as many parcels as you can.
Payment: 10,000 ryo
Requirements: Genin

It had been two days after the comet, Taiga spending yesterday producing a new poison to have a prepared self-defense when needed. But today was one of those days she felt it was unnecessary to be worried about such a thing. Taiga wore her casual outfit, being black sandals, pants, and a sleeveless top. She wore her belt carrying a holster and pouch with her basic weapons, a staff on her back, and her kama around her waist. On her hands she wore two kakute rings on her middle and index fingers. The spikes of them were laced in a metallic green tint.

She opted to choose Kureji as her mission partner for today being one of the very few people she enjoyed and preferred company with. Taiga sat on the single swing in the courtyard of the academy suspended on the old oak tree. She gently rocked back and forth enjoying the simple entertainment it provided while waiting for her partner to show up.

There wasn't much going on for Kureji shortly after the days of the comet, it was business as usual and he continued to his studies. He picked up the pace on ijutsu and confidently believes he has a solid understanding of how to utilize it now, but such a sudden pace did burn him out quickly and he decided there wasn't anything better to get his mind off it than to do a mission.

His partner for the mission is Taiga, someone he's worked with on a mission before and had a rather lengthy conversation with on the night of the comet. He liked her enough in the sense that he'd work well with her in the future, and she could understand his motivations but afterwards, he wasn't quite sure if their relationship extended any further than that, or if he had much of a chance if it could... maybe at some point, but for now that wasn't the reason for this mission.

He arrived just about on time, a usual habit with him, not too early and not too late. He wore his headband in the expected sense, around his forehead. He wore a black jumpsuit along with black sandals, a rather simplistic outfit but if he's going to be delivering these mails, it could prove to be an interesting physical test when it comes to speed and he dressed practical of the occasion.

As he approached, he waved on over to Taiga. His more "ninja" outfit would be a surprise to the more casual outfit he wore on the night of the comet. "Hello, Taiga." he'd start, taking a look at the old oak tree's branch that carried the swing, looking a bit unsafe. "I'd be careful with that if I were you." he'd comment, making idle conversation to circle up to the point of why they're there.

"So, were delivering some mail today?" it was a rhetorical question, he already read up on what they're doing before they arrived but it's his attempt to strike up conversation. "We delivering them together or are we splitting a portion of the mail to deliver them faster individually?" the latter would be more practical and it'd get the job done faster, but he's not opposed to the former option from the sounds of it.

Though the still of the evening she saw the presence of a man walking towards her from the far end of the courtyard. She minded her own business, though was fairly certain this man was Kureji. As he neared a much closer distance she'd give him her attention which fully allowed her to see who it was. And much to her assumption, she was correct. He gave a small courteous wave following a greeting and an astute observation. The swing here was clearly old and has seen many years of use. Though it never seemed to have broke given its abuse. Taiga was still very light even when carrying all of her gear. Her weight seemed to have little impact on the swing. Lifting her chin she observed the tree branch as she continued to rock back and forth intentionally going harder than normal. It remained stable enough and Taiga felt her point was proven.

"Yup." Taiga replied following Kureji's question. The messenger bag was next to her as she enjoyed the swings, but soon her joy would come to an end. She had to get to work.

"We can deliver together. There's no point in rushing. This is not a race." She said matter-of-factly. Picking up the messenger bag she'd hop off the swing and hand it over to Kureji.

Kureji... was a bit embarrassed about that one, after seeing Taiga rock harder than normal just to prove the point that the swing isn't as fragile as he thought it'd be. It looked fragile from a first glance, but he supposed it really isn't when you factor in everything, underestimating the durability of wood. He didn't say much afterwards after that, except for her wanting to deliver together. If he had the intent to finish this mission as soon as possible, he might've wanted to deliver the mail individually but after the day of the comet, she became someone that he genuinely liked talking to and didn't mind the idea of taking the more slow option, with them taking it on together.

He grabbed the messenger bag, wrapping around it with one arm and started to head off to their first address at a quick glance inside the bag, one of the addresses he immediately knew, more so on his knowledge of the Konohagakure layout and not because he knew the person. He could've gone through the pile and sort it by longest distance to shortest, or make a large plan of the more efficient way to handle this... but no, if he's walking with Taiga and if they're going to take their time, he didn't have to be efficient about it.

"How's your chemistry going?" he'd ask, starting up the conversation as they walked to their first address. The comet was a few days ago and he didn't imagine her to have made a substantial amount of progress, but it'd be nice to hear if she started towards it.

Kureji offered to take the bag, which she was more than grateful to indulge him in. She did gain a bit of strength during all of her training and missions she has been doing recently, but she preferred to keep her physical development as a minimum. It slowed her down and made her too sluggish which was not her preferred fighting style. She heard stories of Shinobi capable of punch through concrete walls and obliterating large stone. It was impressive to get to that level of natural strength, but to Taiga she imagined she would shatter her hand in the process. It wasn't good for business. Not for her. She preferred to avoid damage all together. Still she did realize her weak body was a major weakness in combat. She wore armor when she could, but she couldn't imagine getting stabbed or suffering a major cut. Such a thought seemed painful beyond all measure.

Fortunately for her she was planning on trying a new diet which helped fortify her health. By eating the right foods she should see an improvement in her overall health, but nothing was guaranteed. Ironically while in her thoughts Kureji asked how well her chemistry was going.

"Good. I've been making new recipes and trying new creations. I have even extended into cooking. A new diet should help with my overall health." She began walking with Kureji indulging in his small talk in hopes something would kick off between them.

Kureji was glad to hear that her own goal is going along well for her... not the goals of her comets, but the general goal of learning chemistry. "That's good to hear, it'd be nice to have a skilled chemist to go to." he'd say. It was small talk, but he'd go back a little into what they were talking about the other night, back in regards to the night of the comet. "I've tackled on some ijutsu practices, and I've been doing well with them. A few months of dedicated study, I might become a full-fledged medical ninja already... if that's the path I wanted to take, anyway." he knew that sort of career might take years for someone to accomplish, but to Kureji? it would be shorter. He had a planned schedule to get all the knowledge he needs and if it goes all according to plan, it really won't take that long.

"My goals might come closer than I thought." he'd comment, but he'd go back to one particular thing he said on the night of the comet. "Remember, we'll get a specimen for you know what." he was referencing to their conversation from the other night. "I've also been recruited into Mockingbird." he'd say, he believed that he told her the reason for that but if not, he'd elaborate. "They have resources that I can use for my... study, in turn, I'll give some of my findings back to them." despite their viewpoints of not being tied down to their village, Kureji knew that what he needed won't come to him at his doorstep, so he needed to work for someone who'll give him what he wants, and he'll get to what he really wants much faster... a bloodline to dissect.

Taiga slouched.

Was he really oblivious? She couldn't blame conversation not being his strong suit since until recently he seemed to treat most people like human garbage. But she wasn't too far ahead of that. He displayed no interest in what she was actually getting into or her new diet that, although not a big foodie, was kinda excited about. But after his lackluster input on her goal he had no hesitation when talking about himself. Taiga opened her ears again letting the words go through one and out the other showing no attempt to commit it to memory. Her eyes focused forward as Kureji talked, and when there was couple of seconds of peace she would reply.

"Ok." Taiga memorized the addresses of the first twenty in the messenger bag. The fortunate part was the mail was organized by the post office to make delivery easier. This meant all the mail in the bag had addresses relatively close to each other. "Here's the first address."

She'd open the bag and reach inside grabbing a stack of envelops held together by a rubber band. Approaching the front door she'd hop up a couple stairs to the patio where she'd insert the mail through a door flap. Hopping down stairs she would walk back to Kureji.

"Next house."

Kureji liked to be in his own mind... a lot. When he noticed Taiga's sudden lack of interest, he thought to what he did wrong... until it kicked to him. He changed the topic too fast. He had this think once they reached their first house and she went on ahead to push in the first mail through the house, as soon as she came back and they started walking again, Kureji apologized. "Sorry... the past few days were very intense and it's still in my mind, I studied so hard the most basic of words weren't starting to make sen-" he realized what he was doing again.

"Right, so your diet? your recipes? tell me about your progress since I just went on a fair bit of my own." Taiga's assumption is correct, Kureji might like Taiga but that didn't mean he'd be any better at conversation for it. He didn't see a need to keep friendly appearances with anyone until he met her. It made him question the nature of their relationship though, are they only interested in one another because they have similar ideologies, they have something the other needs or something else entirely?

Taiga rolled his eyes as Kureji started to talk more about himself. It was only after that did he catch himself and his mistake. It was not that Taiga was a narcissist and wanted to always be at the center of attention. If anything Kureji was the narcissist, or he was just really inept at holding a conversation. He asked her about her own progress to initiate a response, but immediately dismissed it and used her attention as a window to talk about himself. She felt she didn't really care, as this was the third strike for him. The third time in a week's amount of time that she had been ignored by him. Part of her suspected he was only inquiring about her because he wanted to talk more about himself.

"Yes. My diet. I don't eat much to begin with, but that has stunted by physical growth. I thought of changing my eating habits so I can be a bit more lasting when it comes to fighting. I haven't started yet since money seems to be an issue for me. It doesn't help I have a big debt too, otherwise financing these things would be a lot easier."

Kureji could definitely relate to that last bit in regards to the money, while it good to get paid for what they did every now and then for a Genin mission, he can agree that the money is a bit lacking. He's hoping to hopefully fix this by either becoming a higher ranked ninja at some point or through some other means of monetary gain, as he does need money for his own projects similarly.

But that was his own thoughts, the more he thought about his own needs, the more he started to realize Taiga's attitude towards him the past week. It was a new feeling with him, having someone that can understand his motivations and one he can share it with without being judged in the societal sense. He'd tried his best to focus purely on her words, and no more thoughts towards his own needs.

"I can give you a loan or better yet, give you a sum of ryo for a future favor. I don't have much myself to be honest, but I won't be unrealistic about the favor either. How does that sound?" he mostly had her chemistry in mind, it might be useful with his own line of work, not to mention the usefulness should he ever encounter battle. He has the feeling he won't remain a Genin forever, and he'll need to build up his strength and it wouldn't hurt to have a few extra advantages on the side.

Taiga's ears rung at the sound of receiving a sum of ryo from Kureji. She was first curious at which his favor entailed. It he wanted to give her a loan she would unfortunately have to turn him down for the fact that she already had a loan to pay off herself. Racking up more debt would be a poor investment no matter how much she wanted this change to happen. But if it was anything else she was sure she could oblige.

"What favor did you have in mind?" She'd ask before walking again.

They were still on a mission. A mission that had some sense of urgency to it. Taiga was willing to do just about anything. She had no qualms with killing and her services were always available. She honestly wished she knew more people so she could sell some of her poisons, drugs, or medicines. That would be the most efficient way to make money in her mind. A Genin paid very little. She was limited to simple chores for petty cash and a weak salary. Being Chuunin at least gave her the benefit taking riskier missions for more ryo. But currently she just wasn't making enough to do anything useful with her intellect.

They both of them would wind up at their next address.

Kureji slid in the letter under the door for Taiga at their next address, simply moving onto the next address they'd have to walk to. After that was done, he'd finally open up on the favor he mentioned. "Your chemistry." he stated, "I have no doubt it's going to be useful in the future and if I give you a sum of ryo, I'd like to ask for a sample later on. I'm not asking for the best, just simply give me what equals in value to the ryo I give you, you can think of it as... a late business deal. I pay you ryo now, I get the product later on." that was the best way he could put it, as a like-minded genius, he'd like to invest in a worthy project when he sees one and he sees some potential with what Taiga talked about the other day in regards to her chemistry.

"But it's entirely up to you, like I said, it's not much ryo I can offer but it's better than nothing, hm?" it might also depend on their intepretation of what's "not much" in terms of ryo. The amount he's thinking might be a considerable amount to Taiga, who knows.

They arrived at the next address, since he handled the last one, he looked over to Taiga to handle the next one. "Your turn?" he'd gently ask.

Taiga felt it was more than fair to share her chemistry. She was capable of creating some phenomenal product given her experience in the field and to share the plunder for a small loan was plenty fair. She nodded in agreement before replying.

"I am more than willing to share. It sounds like we have a deal, then."

With that she took the next set of mail and follow the path to the next address. She'd give a few courtesy knocks before dropping the mail on the doormat. She'd return to Kureji back on the sidewalk where they would both continue to walk. They two of them would complete their mission by running the mail between various addresses throughout the zone they were assigned to. They'd make small talk as usual but the conversation would eventually dry out and the two worked in silence. Taiga was fine with this, as she was comfortable enough with Kureji to enjoy his company whether they were talking or not. Upon mailing the last envelope they both had some time left which was plenty for them to take their time back to the Academy where they would cash in the mission.

[Exit]

It looks like a deal was made, with a loan of ryo, Kureji would receive future products in regards to her chemistry. He only hoped to get his investments worth and if not, it'd tell him that Taiga was all talk in the end. But if she happened to have a knack for making poison... well, have a reliable source is definitely useful to have.

After delivering the rest of the mail in silence, Kureji went to the academy to cash in the mission. There wasn't much else that needed to be said or done, and the mission went by pretty quickly.

[Exit]