- Location
- Somewhere!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I should remind you that your dry spells are still as much writing output as a lot of authors on SV would consider like, a fairly productive week?
End of an Era (Naruto AU)
- Thread starter The Laurent
- Start date
I should remind you that your dry spells are still as much writing output as a lot of authors on SV would consider like, a fairly productive week?
- Pronouns
- They/Them
After losing the same battle two hours straight in The Banner Saga, I'm ready for writing.
Damn that fight, how did I get through it the first time relatively intact (well, not really, but not losing)?
Damn that fight, how did I get through it the first time relatively intact (well, not really, but not losing)?
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I'd rate it... hrm. The atmosphere and story are all A material. The gameplay is interesting, but also a little frustrating, and slightly monotonous, broken up only by my own incompetence meaning it takes time to learn things. If I were really good at tactical strategy stuff, I'd be more bored.
All in all, I'd rate it a 4/5.
I'd rate those fucking Sunstone Slingers a 0/5, and that goddamn... is that 22 health/attack and thirteen armor? Why? Why game. Why. Why!
...a 0/5.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Also, now that the vote is closed, I'll tell you that "Children have little interest in music" made my heart sink!
I mean, I'm the person whose mother is a music teacher. I could have totally bugged her for ideas.
I mean, I'm the person whose mother is a music teacher. I could have totally bugged her for ideas.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
By the way, most of the actual mission will be decided based on plot/how good your plan was, but please roll me a d100 for "First Impressions."
Edit: Also, page 400, woo!
Edit: Also, page 400, woo!
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Alright, it's time to really show what Shizue's Social Skills are for!
Speaking as someone who has a sister as a music teacher, its unreliable because children often lose attention pretty quickly.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
To clarify something, vis a via your Social Stats. One thing about it is that, unlike with other things, civilians can raise them as high as ninjas, just as easily. That is to say, a Strength of 30 is already beyond most humans. But a Persuasion of 35 isn't.
- Location
- Hell
So what you are saying is that Shizue just got her butt handed to her
- Location
- United Kingdom
The real question is: was it an adult or one of the kids?So what you are saying is that Shizue just got her butt handed to her
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Update will be on Saturday.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
...this was a very long update.
Act 4, Scene 29
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Act 4, Scene 29: People of the Desert! The Future?
At night, the lamps came out, here and there. It wasn't enough to navigate by, if you were a civilian… well. Shizue saw a girl scamper out of a tent half-dressed as she thought this and corrected herself. It was not enough to navigate by unless you knew where you were going and where you were, but for a shinobi it might as well be day for how hard it was for her to make it to the rather large tent. She knocked on it, quietly as she could.
A veiled, heavily robed woman stepped out. "You are the baby-sitter?" She spoke in a thick accent, but fast, as if she were trying to get a running start at the words.
"Yes, I am. I wanted to ask a little about them."
"Yes, you can ask," the woman said. She gestured slightly, and pulled the tent open.
The husband was packing, a huge, swarthy man with a beard curling down his face, far thicker than she'd seen most people able to grow, his arms like thick tree trunks. He was far from the largest man Shizue had ever seen, of course, but it was impressive.
Over in a corner of the tent, which was laid up with dozens of rugs, there were two bundles. Sleeping children, she realized, in soft red blankets, on blue-brown mats, with fluffy white pillows. The boy was older, the girl younger, both of them with long hair and undeveloped features.
"Isonash is nine. He tries to be his dad's son, but he's more like my father," the woman said. "Bright, and quick, but maybe he'll grow up to be big and strong."
"What does he like and not like?"
"He's always curious about the world, and he likes dancing and studying. He doesn't like most vegetables, though. Hates them. We have an ice-box, there's some beef, he likes beef. Someone told him that eating a lot of beef will make him grow up big and strong."
The woman sounded so fond that Shizue's heart ached at it, and she nodded. "And the girl?"
She looked familiar.
"Katkemat, you can call her. She's smart, and good with words. She's only six, but she already knows your tongue. She's very quiet and shy, and good at sewing and cooking."
Shizue frowned, and looked at the girl. She wondered if she'd seen the girl before. "What does she like to eat?"
"Rice with vegetables. And milk. She loves milk. We have a little for her stashed away. Don't let her drink all of it."
"I won't," Shizue said.
"We'll just be gone from about an hour or two after sunrise to about now. So we'll be back by the time you tuck them in. Do you know how to sing a lullabye? My voice is itself not one of best voices. It bad voice, but…"
The woman looked like she was getting choked up, her eyes watering, for whatever reason.
"There there, it's okay."
"I usually leave them with a relative," the woman said, biting her lip and nervously playing with her hands. "But I can't. Does it make me a bad…"
"You love them, you care for them, and you're willing to pay to take care of them. I'm sure the kids will be fine, and I'm sure they'll have fun."
"...yeah. Thank you… what was your name?"
"Call me Shizue."
"Shizue-chan." The woman smiled, pulling back her veil for a moment, and nodding as she wiped her eyes. "Is there anything you need?"
"Do you have pots and spoons?"
[Opening Credits]
Early in the morning, the ninja moves. The ninja works… or the ninja watches a young, rather handsome man step out of his tent and move with purposeful stride right towards the building that had the missions. He was in his early twenties, that was for sure, and his boots crunched on the ground in a way very different than Shizue's sandals. In all honesty, they were probably more reassuringly loud, and the ninja didn't seem to care. He wore a green shirt, rather tight, and long, flowing pants that had plenty of pockets for kunai, though from the lack of any large scrolls, she could guess his specialty at least a little.
Shizue hesitated, watching him, holding her own scrolls and the bag of things she'd brought with her for just this purpose. She had made the snacks at four o'clock, dragging Okiie out of bed with the promise of kisses, which were more than enough incentive to help him make small rice buns, as well as a few candied dates that she thought the children would like. And finally she dipped into her snack pouch, including some of the chocolate that she'd brought on the off-chance that she was hungry.
Despite the monthlies, today seemed to be looking up as she made her way to the tent and stood outside it, waiting.
After a minute, the tent opened, and the big man stepped through, almost running her over, and then stopping. "Oh, sorry. You babysat?"
"I'm the babysitter," Shizue confirmed.
"Very good. Give ten minutes, please."
"Okay," Shizue said, with a nod.
She stood and waited. It was a fine day, the sun rising up in the sky, but veiled by a thin layer of clouds that helped take a few degrees off of what would no doubt still be a very oppressive heat. Shizue had decided to dress in a way that'd fit in, which meant her veil and the skirts. So she was viewing the world through a slight layer, everything at a remove just great enough to make her wonder what it was like to wear it all the time.
She was very good at waiting, or at least she was getting better, and she pulled out the scroll that held her musical instruments. She was going to give them a show, and she had several ways to do it, including one she remembered her mother always doing.
Finally, the couple stepped out, their backs loaded with supplies, and waved at Shizue. "May I go in?"
"Yes. See you later," the woman said, nodding at them.
Shizue opened the flap of the tent and stepped inside to see the two children lined up, ramrod straight. The girl was young enough that she was simply wearing a bright green skirt and a blue shirt, the corner of the neckline already stained with what looked to be a bit of sauce. Shizue had seen the girl before, when she was sewing, and from the way the girl was looking at Shizue, she remembered her.
The boy was similarly ramrod, in a far less colorful brown ensemble, his hair slicked down and so thick that she imagined it was a hassle to keep all together like that.
Both of them seemed pensive and uncertain.
"Hello, I'm Shizue. You may call me Shizue-chan. It's good to meet you Isonash-kun and Katkemat-chan."
"You got our names right," the boy said, eyes wide, as if he hadn't expected that.
"They're nice names," Shizue said, glad that at the last moment she'd not called them pretty. "I'm trying to learn what I can. My friend's trying to learn your language, but I doubt he'll get too far. It's not that easy."
"No, it isn't," Isonash said, sulking a little, just for a moment. Then he brightened. "So, you're a shinobi? What kind of shinobi? Um… do you mind if I ask you some questions?"
"I'm… all sorts of kinds of shinobi, but I'm not really that much of a fighter."
"That's fine, that's fine," Isonash said, waving a hand, "Though if you have fought then that's cool, but I… uh. Wanted to know about what you do?"
"I've fought before, it's usually very scary," Shizue admitted. Katkemat seemed to loosen up a bit at that acknowledgment, stepping forward as Shizue knelt down a little.
"You're really tall," Katkemat said.
"My Dad was tall," Shizue said with a soft smile, seeing the recognition and connection in Isonash's eyes. She wasn't going to talk about how there were two possible candidates. "My mom was pretty short, though. But I took after him. Just sprouted up, and I've been growing since."
"Ah, really?" Isonah asked. "Uh, what's your specialty?"
"I can do a lot of things, but I'm very good at ninjutsu. That's… say." Shizue held out a hand, "Please take a step back."
Both of them stepped back, and in a puff of smoke she made another clone. "It's not a big jutsu, but I felt like I should show you something safe."
"Oh, that," Isonash said, dismissively, "I've seen that."
Katkemat, on the other hand, reached out to touch the clone. Her eyes went wide when her hand went through. "It's… like a mirage!" she said. "Nash, look!"
Isonash flushed at the nickname and said, "I see. Is that all you do?"
"No. As far as fights go, they've been tough, and I can't show you everything… but I use puppets."
"Oh," Isonash said, his eyes wide, as he nodded. He knew exactly what she meant, and he held up a hand and raced away, towards the children's area of the large, square tent, digging through what looked like a pile of toys.
"What do you like to do?" Katkemat asked. "Besides ninja-ing."
"I also like singing, and dancing too," Shizue said, thinking of a dance she could show them, actually. Though probably they'd rather prefer to jump and run around, and flail their bodies. The Eri dance was probably a little beyond them. Or at least, their attention spans.
"Oh, really? And… sewing? And Okiie-kun?" the girl asked, her eyes wide.
Shizue tried not to flush too much at the words, glad that the veil hid her face a little bit. "Those too. There's a lot of things to like. What about you?"
"Words!"
"Ah, too bad I didn't bring any novels," Shizue said, frowning. "I could go and find… no, no." She was only six, after all. "But if you want, later I could tell stories."
Katkemat nodded, her big, brown eyes looking very somber and thoughtful, as if she were storing away this promise forever. There were even odds as to whether she'd remember it: when she was Katkemat's age she remembered sometimes remembering the littlest promises but also forgetting the biggest things.
She wondered how she was as a child, how her mother felt about raising her: not her, she was not that insecure, and never had been, to think that her mother hadn't loved her. But there was a difference between that and being an easy to care for child.
Isonash raced back, holding a doll. "I got it from… a friend of a friend." The way he was biting his lip made her think that this wasn't so, but more than that, she was staring at the doll in astonishment.
"This… looks familiar." It was a puppet, an actual puppet. He had brown hair, and three eyes, and was wearing a dark set of rags that seemed a lot like Stinger. He was obviously a puppet, and the four arms only stood out even more. It was all articulated rather well, with a grinning set of teeth and legs with joints. Enough joints that she could actually control it, she bet.
Though she also guessed that anything with arms and legs she could at least move around by attaching to it with chakra strings.
"It's Karasu! It's part of a big, um, toy collection or something? For the 100th anniversary thing. My Dad, um, got it from that friend when he went into the city on a big business mission and we stayed with nana and Mom."
"Ohh," Katkemat said, nodding again in recognition.
Shizue now realized that she had found yet another thing that she needed. This was… Karasu. That's where she'd heard the name. He was one of Sasori's puppets, but he'd also been controlled by the famous Kankuro. She'd be no puppeteer at all if she hadn't heard of Kankuro. "Wow, this is really cool!"
"It is!" Isonash said. "Could you, um, make it move?" He sounded as if he were testing Shizue.
"I can. Are there any other dolls or toys you want me to move? I can't move too many at once, actually." Shizue knew that honestly, it would be easier to create a wooden cross to hold the strings on, rather than using actual chakra strings.
But she also suspected that it wouldn't be seen as being quite as cool. So she was fine with trying something, and seeing just what turned up.
"You can't?" Isonash said. "Why not? I mean, aren't these simpler than your puppets?"
"That's just it. The puppet has a control area, of sorts. It's designed to be moved by it. It could take five fingers to control a doll because it has no…"
Well, no center. No area that connects into everything else. "But I'll try."
"This one's supposed to be special or something," Isonash said, pouting.
Katkemat frowned, "Can you make my cloth dolly walk?"
"Of course."
*******
Shizue was startled to find that the miniature puppet...was actually a miniature puppet. It even had the areas to control it with a single chakra string, though they were gritted up with sand that the designer clearly hadn't planned on. But… this was high quality work, and more than that, it was so very unnecessary. Would most kids buying it actually be able to use chakra strings? Even if it was meant for shinobi children.
It was one of those details that seemed almost odd, but she brushed it off.
"Good day, Ms. Patches," Shizue said in a deep voice as she maneuvered Karasu towards a yarn-headed girl whose body was indeed made of what seemed like regular cloth, her robes carefully sewn, though she didn't wear a veil.
Karasu gestured broadly and asked, his head flapping slightly, "Having a good day?"
"I am," Shizue said, in a lighter, airier voice. "I was dancing! Wanna dance?"
Patches began to do a vague jig, taking all five of Shizue's fingers to work as the kids watched, eyes wide at the movement.
"Not so fast! I, Dr. Hat, deserve the first dance." He was a cowboy in a hot, a wooden doll that was not as carefully made, but could be controlled, just barely, with the other four fingers of the hand that was controlling Karasu.
"Oh yeah, do you?" Karasu asked.
"Nuh-uh," Isonash said. "Dr. Hat's just a dirty cowboy, he's not a ninja."
"Ninja can be cowboys too," Shizue pointed out.
Isonash subsided, blinking. "They… can?"
"I've met a ninja cowboy before. He was pretty cool," Shizue said, sticking out her tongue. Isonash seemed drawn in, but also willing to debate it, while Katkemat just accepted it as one of the cooler things she'd seen.
"Really?" Isonash blinked. "That's not cool."
"It isn't?"
"It's super-cool," Isonash insisted, glancing over at Katkemat.
"Super-duper-mega-cool," Katkemat said, after a long moment of silent prompting by her brother.
******
So they watched a play of sort, as she threw in different 'actors' though she could only keep track of three at a time. They seemed fascinated, though eventually even that started to pall a little. But she got a full hour out of it, and the kids seemed ready for something a little more exciting.
"So, do you have any songs you like?" Shizue asked, as she went to the kitchen area, which was apparently based around the fire in the center of the tents, and grabbed the pots, pans and spoons.
"Of course! Mom has a lullabye we always listen to," Katkemat said, humming it inexpertly.
Shizue hummed it back, "Like that?"
"Yes, but there's words with it, about going to sleep."
"She makes up the words," Isonash said, "They're different each time."
Shizue nodded, keeping that in mind. "Well, have you ever sung at all? Or played the drums? I have some actual drums, and I'd like to give you a challenge. Keeping up, and then, I'll be rewarding pieces of chocolate to anyone who does well."
Of course, unless they didn't try, she was going to award it to both of them, but making it a competition should help, she thought.
Certainly, the kids perked up as she took out the summoning scroll and unsealed the flutes, drums, and other instruments.
"Woooow," Katkemat said, "What was that?"
"Oh, just a sealing scroll," Shizue admitted. "Nothing much."
"...how much can fit in there?" Isanash asked.
"Honestly, as much as you want, though if it gets torn, that's bad."
Isanash frowned, thoughtfully. "But you could place it in the middle of a stack of other goods, or even sell scroll paper, except some of it is in use, and then on the paper…"
The boy trailed off, and Shizue had to admit that that'd be a clever way to smuggle things, or hide them in general. "Well, here are some pots, and here are the drums. So, let's see how you do!"
******
They did get slightly bored of it at points, but whenever they did, she added more challenges, or more rewards. Soon she got them singing and stamping their feet in time with the music. Kids could get bored easily, she remembered that, so she tried to do as many different songs as she could, and then when it was done, she gave each of them half of a chocolate bar.
"You'll get the rest after lunch," Shizue said. "For doing so well."
Neither of them were musicians in the making, but she'd managed to teach them a little about rhythm, the kind of thing that she'd learned about when she was two or three, and while she hadn't gotten into notes and beat, she was well on her way to teaching them that as well.
To her, it was almost too simple, but she kept on having to pull herself up short and make it simple. Isonash was the better at the things involving dexterity, but Katkemat had a surprisingly good memory for learning things, whereas he seemed to go over the same details several times before understanding.
Both of them had lovely singing voices, though, and by the time she was done with that and put all of her instruments away, she was both in a good mood and just two or so hours until lunch. That meant that she was passing the time pretty well.
"So, what next?" Isonash asked.
"I was thinking you could read for a little. I could tell stories, if you really wanted, but reading, playing with dolls…" Shizue gestured around the area. "If you need any help with anything, I'd be happy to help."
"Ahh," Katkemat said. "What about stories? What do your puppets look like? Or, or! How did you learn to sing so beautifully?" She stumbled slightly on the last word, but said it all. "It was like you were…"
"I first listened to music just after I was born. My Mom hummed music to me all the time, and by the time I was three, I'd learned how to do the beats I was showing you, and the melody," Shizue said it all fondly, thinking of the long and difficult lessons on the nature of sound that had eventually come too.
Those had been less fun then playing drums or clapping her hands, or listening to a bar of music and then humming it back, which was a talent that she'd had to learn, and which built on more and more complicated things. Music should be natural, it should be like breathing, and she found herself missing her Mom fiercely when she thought about it.
"That young?" Isonash asked, blinking.
"I practice every day," Shizue said. It was true: music was not something you picked up and then put down, like some sort of toy. It was something you lived, and something that lived inside of you, and she had really felt it, at least when the kids were getting very good at it. That moment when they were starting to care and understand music. "It's hard work, but…" Shizue smiled and leaned in. "You wanna know a secret?"
Katkemat nodded and leaned closer, and after a moment of pretending not to be interested, so did Isonash.
"I can use sound to do ninjutsu. Like whispering to someone from across the room. Or knocking people back with sound." Shizue smiled. "Or nails on a chalkboard, just for them."
"Really! Do it now?" Katkemat said, running over to the other side of the room.
Shizue took a breath and whispered, "Can you hear me now?"
"Yes, I can!" Katkemat yelped.
"...wow," Isonash said. "I bet that'd be really useful if you were trying to communicate to someone, if nobody else can hear it."
Shizue opened her mouth, about to explain the exact specifics of how the sound waves worked, and how it didn't, but she realized that they'd find it boring. It wasn't. In fact, it was one of the most fun things a person could do with their time, learning about sound, but…
"It is," Shizue said. "I've used it for that before. I could show you my puppets, but I think I'll let that wait."
"Ahh, okay," Isonash said, nodding a little bit, clearly buying what she was saying.
Shizue was glad she didn't have to take out her puppets, because her leading lady and handsome gentleman would no doubt scare them. Even though both of them meant well and were very good puppets indeed, there was just no way that Stinger wouldn't look scary as it loomed, and her dragon was not the most pleasant looking lady.
Shizue moved off to the side and watched them play, already thinking about what she'd make them for lunch. She could have a little cup with milk, for Katkemat, and she could make rice, with a sort of beef gruel on top? And plenty of vegetables. The dates could be a side dish, added to the main course… though would they like them?
Shizue frowned, trying to scale back her plans.
They were playing, that much was obvious, but they were sticking inside. Isonash was actually reading a book, while Katkemat was messing around with her dolls, and looking through what seemed to be her sewing kit. She grabbed some thread and a needle and began to sew something on one of her dolls. Not Mrs. Patches, but instead a smaller one, and not dressed in any miniature versions of the clothes.
Shizue just watched to make sure she didn't prick herself as she sewed something on the front. Time passed, and Shizue was glad they weren't too wiley, or loud, though they were eating their chocolate a little bit at a time, so maybe they were building up to a sugar high.
As it was, Shizue began to make the food, taking it from the ice-box and cool-box and setting up the food… but she needed some more water. So she said, "Please, kids, be calm. I'll be right back with water."
She hurried to the well, visions of them getting into some sort of trouble dancing through her head. It wouldn't even really be all that hard to imagine it all going wrong.
But nothing seemed on fire as she came back with the bucket of water and saw that Masato was making his way into the tent after knocking briefly.
Shizue, visions of attack and danger dancing in her head, hurried after him, opening the door just as she heard him say: "So, make sure to hand this to your Dad when you see him, please."
Which is when she realized he was wearing a tote bag, and upon a second look she could see what looked like the corner of a letter.
Oh. He was delivering the mail.
"Ah, hello miss," Masato said, turning around. The two children were tense, though that could just be a matter of strangers. "I'm sorry if I came in without your permission. I just wanted to drop off this letter. Are you the babysitter today?"
"I am. And you're doing the mail job?" Shizue asked, just to confirm it.
"Yeah, I am. I'm Masato."
"You may call me Shizue, Masato-san," Shizue said.
"So, these tykes parents' are out? I shouldn't bother you for too long," Masato said. "I have to be fast with what I'm doing, the old man'd skin me otherwise."
"He didn't seem that mean to me," Shizue said.
"Well, maybe I'm just assuming facts not in evidence, but I think that whether or not he's mean doesn't matter. You do what the client wants, as fast as he wants it done. How he wants it done, too. And cheap." Masato nodded. "I'd work for a little of that rice you were cooking if it'd mean that next time I'd be able to work for a little of that rice and a little of that meat." He said it so casually, and Shizue couldn't help but smile, understanding what he meant.
There were ways to do it: ways to slip a note into the silence so that a person began to expect a song, even though they'd crossed their arms and were in no mood for music. Of course, Shizue was confused by people who weren't in the mood for music, but she supposed it was like anything else: there were people who disliked children too, or hated sweet things, and it came from the same variance in taste… between good taste and bad taste, obviously, dear, Shizue thought in her mind's impression of Saya.
That's what he was doing.
Insinuating himself. Just like she'd done. She smiled and said, "I wish you good luck, though you can understand why I might not have."
"I do, of course. Have a nice day," Masato said, waving as he exited the tent.
[Commercial Break]
Feeding children was hard. They made a mess, they complained about the rice being too sticky (Isonash) or not sticky enough (Katkemat), they had to be cleaned up afterwards, with water and a towel because they'd managed to get some on their skirt…
It was honestly the most frustrated she'd been this whole time, and it was odd because she was almost certain that they weren't doing it on purpose. But they were very, very clumsy, even clumsier than shinobi children, who often had to deal with chakra while not really being able to control it.
Still, they ate all the food, and got some chocolate for their efforts, allowing Shizue to relax while they vegetated and digested their food. But by about the time an hour passed, she decided, "Hey, you should at least go out a little bit, maybe see if there are any other kids you wanna play with."
Isonash frowned, but nodded after a moment, "Okay, can do."
Katkemat was a little more enthusiastic, and it got them out of the tent, at least.
******
Watching children play was nice, but if you were close enough to hear what they said, it made you feel a little uneasy. Or it made Shizue a little uncertain, at least. It wasn't helped by the fact that she couldn't actually understand the words, just the tone. And some of the tone was mocking, one of the boys telling some sort of joke.
Isonash growled, and another boy had to hold him back, but then he said something back and the first boy laughed, and suddenly they were hitting each other… but not hard enough to actually warrant stepping on.
Compared to that, of course, Katkemat was far more understandable. She played dolls, using the one that she'd sewed something on most of all. Shizue couldn't see what was on the front, but she gestured wildly with the dolls and talked fast and fluidly, in a far different mood than Shizue had seen earlier.
The other girls seemed in awe of her, though also apparently afraid of Shizue, if the way they glanced at her every so often was any indication. She tried to ignore it.
It wasn't worth worrying about.
*******
"Did you have fun playing outside?" Shizue asked, as she knelt at the small table and dished out some more of the food. It was more of the same, for the most part, but with more vegetables piled up in a center dish. They seemed to divide their food up, or at least when asked to help out, they put each of the vegetables on different places, same with the beef stew and the rice, and then on an old looking plate they assembled it all, carefully and delicately, not caring much that they were using their hands.
"Yes," Isonash said. "Katkemat had fun too. Telling her friends about you, I think."
Shizue blinked, "Really?"
"Bragging--"
"Was not," Katkemat said, quietly, though she sounded like she really would rather raise her voice, but wasn't quite sure of it. "I just… was telling. Do you have any other stories?"
"Well, what about the time I acted in a play… with puppets."
"Really? When?" Isonash said.
"Not that long ago," Shizue said, dishing out her own serving. They used their hands, but Shizue used the chopsticks, a little less sure about the wisdom of touching all of the vegetables that others had touched as well.
They had spoons that they also used even while eating with chopsticks to scoop up some of the sauce and then stuff it into their mouths at the same time as the rest of the food.
She watched them as she began the tale, so baffled that she didn't really get into telling it until a minute or two in.
"And so then I had to fill in, and…"
She continued her story.
In fact, she continued stories in general, lighting the fire in the center and casting shadows onto the wall. Shadows that she shaped with her hands. She was no Nara. But shadows and sounds went together, in a way. They were both echoes of sorts, echoes of something that was and would be and always would be so.
Shizue told one story and then the next. She started close, but then pushed it back, and talked about the Archipelago. About a place surrounded by and filled with water. About the way they lived there, and the way they didn't. She didn't talk about the oppressed civilians, or the shinobi wars. The worst thing she mentioned were the bad weather and a slight complaint about the other kids, slipped in carefully to let them know that she understood if they had… no, no? Good.
She realized, eventually, that time was passing, and that more than that, the parents were late. But she just pulled out more of the dates and passed them treats as she talked about sailing and voyages, stories that were perfect for both of them. She was trying to lull them off into sleep, into tiredness.
Her team was doing its own work, but she hoped they didn't come and search for her, not now.
"Hey, kids. You should go to sleep. I'll wake you up when your parents come," Shizue lied. "Get dressed and ready for bed."
Isonash squirmed and resisted, even though he was yawning and tired, and she had to all but force him into his pajamas, but Katkemat dressed easily and slipped into bed. Soon both of them were lying down, swaddled up as they had been before, and yet Katkemat said, "Sing us a lullabye."
Shizue smiled and nodded, "Go to sleep/ Precious Children/ Night is falling/ sleep is calling…"
There was a time for complexity, but sometimes an old, simple tune was the best. "Tomorrow you'll play/ Laugh and run all day/ But for now sleep/ slumber now, long and deep…" she sung words that just came into her head, the lyrics simple and somewhat repetitive, but her voice high and clear, caught in the emotions of songs like these. Her mom had sung like that too, despite being a better musician than Shizue was, and might ever be. Because children liked something simple, comforting, and familiar.
Finally, they slept, and it was just thirty minutes later that the mother came in, frowning, her veil pinned back. "Oh, Shizue-san. I thought you'd be gone."
"No," Shizue said, quietly, looking up. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"We're… alive. But my husband's horse suddenly took a fright out of nowhere, and he fell off. We lost some of our goods in the winds, and Shiromainu broke his leg. He's going to have to take it easy for a while."
"Ah," Shizue said. "They're sleeping. You shouldn't wake them with news. In the morning, it'll all look better."
"I hope so. Thanks for this. And… you should get extra," the woman said.
"No, no, I shouldn't. It was what you hired me for, and you need the money if his leg is broken," Shizue said, patting the woman on the shoulder. "They're good kids."
"They are…" the woman blinked back tears. "Thank you again!"
Shizue smiled, not sure what to say, and soon enough she departed in the night, back to her own tent.
[End Credits]
Pick a mission/job as/when the tribe moves:
[] Carrying things.
[] Leading the way as a guide/watching out for danger.
[] Looking after the animals.
[] Cooking food, doing odd jobs.
[] Write-in.
*******
A/N: I bet you didn't think *this* would be the long one.
At night, the lamps came out, here and there. It wasn't enough to navigate by, if you were a civilian… well. Shizue saw a girl scamper out of a tent half-dressed as she thought this and corrected herself. It was not enough to navigate by unless you knew where you were going and where you were, but for a shinobi it might as well be day for how hard it was for her to make it to the rather large tent. She knocked on it, quietly as she could.
A veiled, heavily robed woman stepped out. "You are the baby-sitter?" She spoke in a thick accent, but fast, as if she were trying to get a running start at the words.
"Yes, I am. I wanted to ask a little about them."
"Yes, you can ask," the woman said. She gestured slightly, and pulled the tent open.
The husband was packing, a huge, swarthy man with a beard curling down his face, far thicker than she'd seen most people able to grow, his arms like thick tree trunks. He was far from the largest man Shizue had ever seen, of course, but it was impressive.
Over in a corner of the tent, which was laid up with dozens of rugs, there were two bundles. Sleeping children, she realized, in soft red blankets, on blue-brown mats, with fluffy white pillows. The boy was older, the girl younger, both of them with long hair and undeveloped features.
"Isonash is nine. He tries to be his dad's son, but he's more like my father," the woman said. "Bright, and quick, but maybe he'll grow up to be big and strong."
"What does he like and not like?"
"He's always curious about the world, and he likes dancing and studying. He doesn't like most vegetables, though. Hates them. We have an ice-box, there's some beef, he likes beef. Someone told him that eating a lot of beef will make him grow up big and strong."
The woman sounded so fond that Shizue's heart ached at it, and she nodded. "And the girl?"
She looked familiar.
"Katkemat, you can call her. She's smart, and good with words. She's only six, but she already knows your tongue. She's very quiet and shy, and good at sewing and cooking."
Shizue frowned, and looked at the girl. She wondered if she'd seen the girl before. "What does she like to eat?"
"Rice with vegetables. And milk. She loves milk. We have a little for her stashed away. Don't let her drink all of it."
"I won't," Shizue said.
"We'll just be gone from about an hour or two after sunrise to about now. So we'll be back by the time you tuck them in. Do you know how to sing a lullabye? My voice is itself not one of best voices. It bad voice, but…"
The woman looked like she was getting choked up, her eyes watering, for whatever reason.
"There there, it's okay."
"I usually leave them with a relative," the woman said, biting her lip and nervously playing with her hands. "But I can't. Does it make me a bad…"
"You love them, you care for them, and you're willing to pay to take care of them. I'm sure the kids will be fine, and I'm sure they'll have fun."
"...yeah. Thank you… what was your name?"
"Call me Shizue."
"Shizue-chan." The woman smiled, pulling back her veil for a moment, and nodding as she wiped her eyes. "Is there anything you need?"
"Do you have pots and spoons?"
[Opening Credits]
Early in the morning, the ninja moves. The ninja works… or the ninja watches a young, rather handsome man step out of his tent and move with purposeful stride right towards the building that had the missions. He was in his early twenties, that was for sure, and his boots crunched on the ground in a way very different than Shizue's sandals. In all honesty, they were probably more reassuringly loud, and the ninja didn't seem to care. He wore a green shirt, rather tight, and long, flowing pants that had plenty of pockets for kunai, though from the lack of any large scrolls, she could guess his specialty at least a little.
Shizue hesitated, watching him, holding her own scrolls and the bag of things she'd brought with her for just this purpose. She had made the snacks at four o'clock, dragging Okiie out of bed with the promise of kisses, which were more than enough incentive to help him make small rice buns, as well as a few candied dates that she thought the children would like. And finally she dipped into her snack pouch, including some of the chocolate that she'd brought on the off-chance that she was hungry.
Despite the monthlies, today seemed to be looking up as she made her way to the tent and stood outside it, waiting.
After a minute, the tent opened, and the big man stepped through, almost running her over, and then stopping. "Oh, sorry. You babysat?"
"I'm the babysitter," Shizue confirmed.
"Very good. Give ten minutes, please."
"Okay," Shizue said, with a nod.
She stood and waited. It was a fine day, the sun rising up in the sky, but veiled by a thin layer of clouds that helped take a few degrees off of what would no doubt still be a very oppressive heat. Shizue had decided to dress in a way that'd fit in, which meant her veil and the skirts. So she was viewing the world through a slight layer, everything at a remove just great enough to make her wonder what it was like to wear it all the time.
She was very good at waiting, or at least she was getting better, and she pulled out the scroll that held her musical instruments. She was going to give them a show, and she had several ways to do it, including one she remembered her mother always doing.
Finally, the couple stepped out, their backs loaded with supplies, and waved at Shizue. "May I go in?"
"Yes. See you later," the woman said, nodding at them.
Shizue opened the flap of the tent and stepped inside to see the two children lined up, ramrod straight. The girl was young enough that she was simply wearing a bright green skirt and a blue shirt, the corner of the neckline already stained with what looked to be a bit of sauce. Shizue had seen the girl before, when she was sewing, and from the way the girl was looking at Shizue, she remembered her.
The boy was similarly ramrod, in a far less colorful brown ensemble, his hair slicked down and so thick that she imagined it was a hassle to keep all together like that.
Both of them seemed pensive and uncertain.
"Hello, I'm Shizue. You may call me Shizue-chan. It's good to meet you Isonash-kun and Katkemat-chan."
"You got our names right," the boy said, eyes wide, as if he hadn't expected that.
"They're nice names," Shizue said, glad that at the last moment she'd not called them pretty. "I'm trying to learn what I can. My friend's trying to learn your language, but I doubt he'll get too far. It's not that easy."
"No, it isn't," Isonash said, sulking a little, just for a moment. Then he brightened. "So, you're a shinobi? What kind of shinobi? Um… do you mind if I ask you some questions?"
"I'm… all sorts of kinds of shinobi, but I'm not really that much of a fighter."
"That's fine, that's fine," Isonash said, waving a hand, "Though if you have fought then that's cool, but I… uh. Wanted to know about what you do?"
"I've fought before, it's usually very scary," Shizue admitted. Katkemat seemed to loosen up a bit at that acknowledgment, stepping forward as Shizue knelt down a little.
"You're really tall," Katkemat said.
"My Dad was tall," Shizue said with a soft smile, seeing the recognition and connection in Isonash's eyes. She wasn't going to talk about how there were two possible candidates. "My mom was pretty short, though. But I took after him. Just sprouted up, and I've been growing since."
"Ah, really?" Isonah asked. "Uh, what's your specialty?"
"I can do a lot of things, but I'm very good at ninjutsu. That's… say." Shizue held out a hand, "Please take a step back."
Both of them stepped back, and in a puff of smoke she made another clone. "It's not a big jutsu, but I felt like I should show you something safe."
"Oh, that," Isonash said, dismissively, "I've seen that."
Katkemat, on the other hand, reached out to touch the clone. Her eyes went wide when her hand went through. "It's… like a mirage!" she said. "Nash, look!"
Isonash flushed at the nickname and said, "I see. Is that all you do?"
"No. As far as fights go, they've been tough, and I can't show you everything… but I use puppets."
"Oh," Isonash said, his eyes wide, as he nodded. He knew exactly what she meant, and he held up a hand and raced away, towards the children's area of the large, square tent, digging through what looked like a pile of toys.
"What do you like to do?" Katkemat asked. "Besides ninja-ing."
"I also like singing, and dancing too," Shizue said, thinking of a dance she could show them, actually. Though probably they'd rather prefer to jump and run around, and flail their bodies. The Eri dance was probably a little beyond them. Or at least, their attention spans.
"Oh, really? And… sewing? And Okiie-kun?" the girl asked, her eyes wide.
Shizue tried not to flush too much at the words, glad that the veil hid her face a little bit. "Those too. There's a lot of things to like. What about you?"
"Words!"
"Ah, too bad I didn't bring any novels," Shizue said, frowning. "I could go and find… no, no." She was only six, after all. "But if you want, later I could tell stories."
Katkemat nodded, her big, brown eyes looking very somber and thoughtful, as if she were storing away this promise forever. There were even odds as to whether she'd remember it: when she was Katkemat's age she remembered sometimes remembering the littlest promises but also forgetting the biggest things.
She wondered how she was as a child, how her mother felt about raising her: not her, she was not that insecure, and never had been, to think that her mother hadn't loved her. But there was a difference between that and being an easy to care for child.
Isonash raced back, holding a doll. "I got it from… a friend of a friend." The way he was biting his lip made her think that this wasn't so, but more than that, she was staring at the doll in astonishment.
"This… looks familiar." It was a puppet, an actual puppet. He had brown hair, and three eyes, and was wearing a dark set of rags that seemed a lot like Stinger. He was obviously a puppet, and the four arms only stood out even more. It was all articulated rather well, with a grinning set of teeth and legs with joints. Enough joints that she could actually control it, she bet.
Though she also guessed that anything with arms and legs she could at least move around by attaching to it with chakra strings.
"It's Karasu! It's part of a big, um, toy collection or something? For the 100th anniversary thing. My Dad, um, got it from that friend when he went into the city on a big business mission and we stayed with nana and Mom."
"Ohh," Katkemat said, nodding again in recognition.
Shizue now realized that she had found yet another thing that she needed. This was… Karasu. That's where she'd heard the name. He was one of Sasori's puppets, but he'd also been controlled by the famous Kankuro. She'd be no puppeteer at all if she hadn't heard of Kankuro. "Wow, this is really cool!"
"It is!" Isonash said. "Could you, um, make it move?" He sounded as if he were testing Shizue.
"I can. Are there any other dolls or toys you want me to move? I can't move too many at once, actually." Shizue knew that honestly, it would be easier to create a wooden cross to hold the strings on, rather than using actual chakra strings.
But she also suspected that it wouldn't be seen as being quite as cool. So she was fine with trying something, and seeing just what turned up.
"You can't?" Isonash said. "Why not? I mean, aren't these simpler than your puppets?"
"That's just it. The puppet has a control area, of sorts. It's designed to be moved by it. It could take five fingers to control a doll because it has no…"
Well, no center. No area that connects into everything else. "But I'll try."
"This one's supposed to be special or something," Isonash said, pouting.
Katkemat frowned, "Can you make my cloth dolly walk?"
"Of course."
*******
Shizue was startled to find that the miniature puppet...was actually a miniature puppet. It even had the areas to control it with a single chakra string, though they were gritted up with sand that the designer clearly hadn't planned on. But… this was high quality work, and more than that, it was so very unnecessary. Would most kids buying it actually be able to use chakra strings? Even if it was meant for shinobi children.
It was one of those details that seemed almost odd, but she brushed it off.
"Good day, Ms. Patches," Shizue said in a deep voice as she maneuvered Karasu towards a yarn-headed girl whose body was indeed made of what seemed like regular cloth, her robes carefully sewn, though she didn't wear a veil.
Karasu gestured broadly and asked, his head flapping slightly, "Having a good day?"
"I am," Shizue said, in a lighter, airier voice. "I was dancing! Wanna dance?"
Patches began to do a vague jig, taking all five of Shizue's fingers to work as the kids watched, eyes wide at the movement.
"Not so fast! I, Dr. Hat, deserve the first dance." He was a cowboy in a hot, a wooden doll that was not as carefully made, but could be controlled, just barely, with the other four fingers of the hand that was controlling Karasu.
"Oh yeah, do you?" Karasu asked.
"Nuh-uh," Isonash said. "Dr. Hat's just a dirty cowboy, he's not a ninja."
"Ninja can be cowboys too," Shizue pointed out.
Isonash subsided, blinking. "They… can?"
"I've met a ninja cowboy before. He was pretty cool," Shizue said, sticking out her tongue. Isonash seemed drawn in, but also willing to debate it, while Katkemat just accepted it as one of the cooler things she'd seen.
"Really?" Isonash blinked. "That's not cool."
"It isn't?"
"It's super-cool," Isonash insisted, glancing over at Katkemat.
"Super-duper-mega-cool," Katkemat said, after a long moment of silent prompting by her brother.
******
So they watched a play of sort, as she threw in different 'actors' though she could only keep track of three at a time. They seemed fascinated, though eventually even that started to pall a little. But she got a full hour out of it, and the kids seemed ready for something a little more exciting.
"So, do you have any songs you like?" Shizue asked, as she went to the kitchen area, which was apparently based around the fire in the center of the tents, and grabbed the pots, pans and spoons.
"Of course! Mom has a lullabye we always listen to," Katkemat said, humming it inexpertly.
Shizue hummed it back, "Like that?"
"Yes, but there's words with it, about going to sleep."
"She makes up the words," Isonash said, "They're different each time."
Shizue nodded, keeping that in mind. "Well, have you ever sung at all? Or played the drums? I have some actual drums, and I'd like to give you a challenge. Keeping up, and then, I'll be rewarding pieces of chocolate to anyone who does well."
Of course, unless they didn't try, she was going to award it to both of them, but making it a competition should help, she thought.
Certainly, the kids perked up as she took out the summoning scroll and unsealed the flutes, drums, and other instruments.
"Woooow," Katkemat said, "What was that?"
"Oh, just a sealing scroll," Shizue admitted. "Nothing much."
"...how much can fit in there?" Isanash asked.
"Honestly, as much as you want, though if it gets torn, that's bad."
Isanash frowned, thoughtfully. "But you could place it in the middle of a stack of other goods, or even sell scroll paper, except some of it is in use, and then on the paper…"
The boy trailed off, and Shizue had to admit that that'd be a clever way to smuggle things, or hide them in general. "Well, here are some pots, and here are the drums. So, let's see how you do!"
******
They did get slightly bored of it at points, but whenever they did, she added more challenges, or more rewards. Soon she got them singing and stamping their feet in time with the music. Kids could get bored easily, she remembered that, so she tried to do as many different songs as she could, and then when it was done, she gave each of them half of a chocolate bar.
"You'll get the rest after lunch," Shizue said. "For doing so well."
Neither of them were musicians in the making, but she'd managed to teach them a little about rhythm, the kind of thing that she'd learned about when she was two or three, and while she hadn't gotten into notes and beat, she was well on her way to teaching them that as well.
To her, it was almost too simple, but she kept on having to pull herself up short and make it simple. Isonash was the better at the things involving dexterity, but Katkemat had a surprisingly good memory for learning things, whereas he seemed to go over the same details several times before understanding.
Both of them had lovely singing voices, though, and by the time she was done with that and put all of her instruments away, she was both in a good mood and just two or so hours until lunch. That meant that she was passing the time pretty well.
"So, what next?" Isonash asked.
"I was thinking you could read for a little. I could tell stories, if you really wanted, but reading, playing with dolls…" Shizue gestured around the area. "If you need any help with anything, I'd be happy to help."
"Ahh," Katkemat said. "What about stories? What do your puppets look like? Or, or! How did you learn to sing so beautifully?" She stumbled slightly on the last word, but said it all. "It was like you were…"
"I first listened to music just after I was born. My Mom hummed music to me all the time, and by the time I was three, I'd learned how to do the beats I was showing you, and the melody," Shizue said it all fondly, thinking of the long and difficult lessons on the nature of sound that had eventually come too.
Those had been less fun then playing drums or clapping her hands, or listening to a bar of music and then humming it back, which was a talent that she'd had to learn, and which built on more and more complicated things. Music should be natural, it should be like breathing, and she found herself missing her Mom fiercely when she thought about it.
"That young?" Isonash asked, blinking.
"I practice every day," Shizue said. It was true: music was not something you picked up and then put down, like some sort of toy. It was something you lived, and something that lived inside of you, and she had really felt it, at least when the kids were getting very good at it. That moment when they were starting to care and understand music. "It's hard work, but…" Shizue smiled and leaned in. "You wanna know a secret?"
Katkemat nodded and leaned closer, and after a moment of pretending not to be interested, so did Isonash.
"I can use sound to do ninjutsu. Like whispering to someone from across the room. Or knocking people back with sound." Shizue smiled. "Or nails on a chalkboard, just for them."
"Really! Do it now?" Katkemat said, running over to the other side of the room.
Shizue took a breath and whispered, "Can you hear me now?"
"Yes, I can!" Katkemat yelped.
"...wow," Isonash said. "I bet that'd be really useful if you were trying to communicate to someone, if nobody else can hear it."
Shizue opened her mouth, about to explain the exact specifics of how the sound waves worked, and how it didn't, but she realized that they'd find it boring. It wasn't. In fact, it was one of the most fun things a person could do with their time, learning about sound, but…
"It is," Shizue said. "I've used it for that before. I could show you my puppets, but I think I'll let that wait."
"Ahh, okay," Isonash said, nodding a little bit, clearly buying what she was saying.
Shizue was glad she didn't have to take out her puppets, because her leading lady and handsome gentleman would no doubt scare them. Even though both of them meant well and were very good puppets indeed, there was just no way that Stinger wouldn't look scary as it loomed, and her dragon was not the most pleasant looking lady.
Shizue moved off to the side and watched them play, already thinking about what she'd make them for lunch. She could have a little cup with milk, for Katkemat, and she could make rice, with a sort of beef gruel on top? And plenty of vegetables. The dates could be a side dish, added to the main course… though would they like them?
Shizue frowned, trying to scale back her plans.
They were playing, that much was obvious, but they were sticking inside. Isonash was actually reading a book, while Katkemat was messing around with her dolls, and looking through what seemed to be her sewing kit. She grabbed some thread and a needle and began to sew something on one of her dolls. Not Mrs. Patches, but instead a smaller one, and not dressed in any miniature versions of the clothes.
Shizue just watched to make sure she didn't prick herself as she sewed something on the front. Time passed, and Shizue was glad they weren't too wiley, or loud, though they were eating their chocolate a little bit at a time, so maybe they were building up to a sugar high.
As it was, Shizue began to make the food, taking it from the ice-box and cool-box and setting up the food… but she needed some more water. So she said, "Please, kids, be calm. I'll be right back with water."
She hurried to the well, visions of them getting into some sort of trouble dancing through her head. It wouldn't even really be all that hard to imagine it all going wrong.
But nothing seemed on fire as she came back with the bucket of water and saw that Masato was making his way into the tent after knocking briefly.
Shizue, visions of attack and danger dancing in her head, hurried after him, opening the door just as she heard him say: "So, make sure to hand this to your Dad when you see him, please."
Which is when she realized he was wearing a tote bag, and upon a second look she could see what looked like the corner of a letter.
Oh. He was delivering the mail.
"Ah, hello miss," Masato said, turning around. The two children were tense, though that could just be a matter of strangers. "I'm sorry if I came in without your permission. I just wanted to drop off this letter. Are you the babysitter today?"
"I am. And you're doing the mail job?" Shizue asked, just to confirm it.
"Yeah, I am. I'm Masato."
"You may call me Shizue, Masato-san," Shizue said.
"So, these tykes parents' are out? I shouldn't bother you for too long," Masato said. "I have to be fast with what I'm doing, the old man'd skin me otherwise."
"He didn't seem that mean to me," Shizue said.
"Well, maybe I'm just assuming facts not in evidence, but I think that whether or not he's mean doesn't matter. You do what the client wants, as fast as he wants it done. How he wants it done, too. And cheap." Masato nodded. "I'd work for a little of that rice you were cooking if it'd mean that next time I'd be able to work for a little of that rice and a little of that meat." He said it so casually, and Shizue couldn't help but smile, understanding what he meant.
There were ways to do it: ways to slip a note into the silence so that a person began to expect a song, even though they'd crossed their arms and were in no mood for music. Of course, Shizue was confused by people who weren't in the mood for music, but she supposed it was like anything else: there were people who disliked children too, or hated sweet things, and it came from the same variance in taste… between good taste and bad taste, obviously, dear, Shizue thought in her mind's impression of Saya.
That's what he was doing.
Insinuating himself. Just like she'd done. She smiled and said, "I wish you good luck, though you can understand why I might not have."
"I do, of course. Have a nice day," Masato said, waving as he exited the tent.
[Commercial Break]
Feeding children was hard. They made a mess, they complained about the rice being too sticky (Isonash) or not sticky enough (Katkemat), they had to be cleaned up afterwards, with water and a towel because they'd managed to get some on their skirt…
It was honestly the most frustrated she'd been this whole time, and it was odd because she was almost certain that they weren't doing it on purpose. But they were very, very clumsy, even clumsier than shinobi children, who often had to deal with chakra while not really being able to control it.
Still, they ate all the food, and got some chocolate for their efforts, allowing Shizue to relax while they vegetated and digested their food. But by about the time an hour passed, she decided, "Hey, you should at least go out a little bit, maybe see if there are any other kids you wanna play with."
Isonash frowned, but nodded after a moment, "Okay, can do."
Katkemat was a little more enthusiastic, and it got them out of the tent, at least.
******
Watching children play was nice, but if you were close enough to hear what they said, it made you feel a little uneasy. Or it made Shizue a little uncertain, at least. It wasn't helped by the fact that she couldn't actually understand the words, just the tone. And some of the tone was mocking, one of the boys telling some sort of joke.
Isonash growled, and another boy had to hold him back, but then he said something back and the first boy laughed, and suddenly they were hitting each other… but not hard enough to actually warrant stepping on.
Compared to that, of course, Katkemat was far more understandable. She played dolls, using the one that she'd sewed something on most of all. Shizue couldn't see what was on the front, but she gestured wildly with the dolls and talked fast and fluidly, in a far different mood than Shizue had seen earlier.
The other girls seemed in awe of her, though also apparently afraid of Shizue, if the way they glanced at her every so often was any indication. She tried to ignore it.
It wasn't worth worrying about.
*******
"Did you have fun playing outside?" Shizue asked, as she knelt at the small table and dished out some more of the food. It was more of the same, for the most part, but with more vegetables piled up in a center dish. They seemed to divide their food up, or at least when asked to help out, they put each of the vegetables on different places, same with the beef stew and the rice, and then on an old looking plate they assembled it all, carefully and delicately, not caring much that they were using their hands.
"Yes," Isonash said. "Katkemat had fun too. Telling her friends about you, I think."
Shizue blinked, "Really?"
"Bragging--"
"Was not," Katkemat said, quietly, though she sounded like she really would rather raise her voice, but wasn't quite sure of it. "I just… was telling. Do you have any other stories?"
"Well, what about the time I acted in a play… with puppets."
"Really? When?" Isonash said.
"Not that long ago," Shizue said, dishing out her own serving. They used their hands, but Shizue used the chopsticks, a little less sure about the wisdom of touching all of the vegetables that others had touched as well.
They had spoons that they also used even while eating with chopsticks to scoop up some of the sauce and then stuff it into their mouths at the same time as the rest of the food.
She watched them as she began the tale, so baffled that she didn't really get into telling it until a minute or two in.
"And so then I had to fill in, and…"
She continued her story.
In fact, she continued stories in general, lighting the fire in the center and casting shadows onto the wall. Shadows that she shaped with her hands. She was no Nara. But shadows and sounds went together, in a way. They were both echoes of sorts, echoes of something that was and would be and always would be so.
Shizue told one story and then the next. She started close, but then pushed it back, and talked about the Archipelago. About a place surrounded by and filled with water. About the way they lived there, and the way they didn't. She didn't talk about the oppressed civilians, or the shinobi wars. The worst thing she mentioned were the bad weather and a slight complaint about the other kids, slipped in carefully to let them know that she understood if they had… no, no? Good.
She realized, eventually, that time was passing, and that more than that, the parents were late. But she just pulled out more of the dates and passed them treats as she talked about sailing and voyages, stories that were perfect for both of them. She was trying to lull them off into sleep, into tiredness.
Her team was doing its own work, but she hoped they didn't come and search for her, not now.
"Hey, kids. You should go to sleep. I'll wake you up when your parents come," Shizue lied. "Get dressed and ready for bed."
Isonash squirmed and resisted, even though he was yawning and tired, and she had to all but force him into his pajamas, but Katkemat dressed easily and slipped into bed. Soon both of them were lying down, swaddled up as they had been before, and yet Katkemat said, "Sing us a lullabye."
Shizue smiled and nodded, "Go to sleep/ Precious Children/ Night is falling/ sleep is calling…"
There was a time for complexity, but sometimes an old, simple tune was the best. "Tomorrow you'll play/ Laugh and run all day/ But for now sleep/ slumber now, long and deep…" she sung words that just came into her head, the lyrics simple and somewhat repetitive, but her voice high and clear, caught in the emotions of songs like these. Her mom had sung like that too, despite being a better musician than Shizue was, and might ever be. Because children liked something simple, comforting, and familiar.
Finally, they slept, and it was just thirty minutes later that the mother came in, frowning, her veil pinned back. "Oh, Shizue-san. I thought you'd be gone."
"No," Shizue said, quietly, looking up. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"We're… alive. But my husband's horse suddenly took a fright out of nowhere, and he fell off. We lost some of our goods in the winds, and Shiromainu broke his leg. He's going to have to take it easy for a while."
"Ah," Shizue said. "They're sleeping. You shouldn't wake them with news. In the morning, it'll all look better."
"I hope so. Thanks for this. And… you should get extra," the woman said.
"No, no, I shouldn't. It was what you hired me for, and you need the money if his leg is broken," Shizue said, patting the woman on the shoulder. "They're good kids."
"They are…" the woman blinked back tears. "Thank you again!"
Shizue smiled, not sure what to say, and soon enough she departed in the night, back to her own tent.
[End Credits]
Pick a mission/job as/when the tribe moves:
[] Carrying things.
[] Leading the way as a guide/watching out for danger.
[] Looking after the animals.
[] Cooking food, doing odd jobs.
[] Write-in.
*******
A/N: I bet you didn't think *this* would be the long one.
- Location
- Actually pretty lost
Hmmm. Maybe we can offer to buy it?
That went well! Sweet kids.
The chakra string worked puppet suggest there's some of that civilian chakra user movement going on? Or a hidden shinobi where they got it.
[X] Leading the way as a guide/watching out for danger.
We're ninjas so we're sneaky and alert for human threats. Our awareness of the region is poorer though.
The chakra string worked puppet suggest there's some of that civilian chakra user movement going on? Or a hidden shinobi where they got it.
[X] Leading the way as a guide/watching out for danger.
We're ninjas so we're sneaky and alert for human threats. Our awareness of the region is poorer though.
[X] Carrying things.
- Location
- Outside the Box
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Once is coincidence.
Twice is enemy action! Those are ninja kids! (Probably.) Isonash isn't nearly as good at this as his sister.
See, this one's decent, but Isanash still had to follow the lead his sister gave him.
Again, Katkemat asking the important questions, and Isonash stumbling his way through things.
Absolute coincidence Masato showed up right when Shizue wasn't at the tent.
See, good chance those are ninja parents who were on a ninja mission. With a ninja horse.
[X] Leading the way as a guide/watching out for danger.
Shizue has sealing scrolls and the strength of several civilians. Normally, carrying things would be a good choice. But my narrative senses are tinging, signalling an attack by bandits in the next scene. And even normally, when a big group like this moves out is when it's most vulnerable. Being the lookout and guarding against danger is the best thing Shizue could do for such a big group even if no one attacks, because unlike normal D-rank missions it's a task that only a ninja can do best at.
[X] Also, realize after the fact that that just possibly might have been a ninja family.
Shizue! This is so embarrassing!
I didn't make this post as a reaction post, I made it because darn it, it's such a cute and heartwarming Scene but Shizue totally failed her perception checks this time! 
(And if I'm wrong, this post doubles as a big goofy comedy post. My backup plan is that you laugh! 
)
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Zeitgeist Blue
Currently Made of Metal
- Location
- Manila, Philippines, GMT +8
[X] Leading the way as a guide/watching out for danger.
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- Location
- Somewhere!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Leading the way as a guide/watching out for danger.
[X] Also, realize after the fact that that just possibly might have been a ninja family.
I like this theory.
[X] Also, realize after the fact that that just possibly might have been a ninja family.
I like this theory.
Diomedea
A piece of the continent
- Location
- The interblag
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Yeah, there is no was a polity or group of people can survive in the Naruto verse without ninja of their own. Shizue being not a terrible person was pretty great in as a hearts and mind way, but she is terrible at personal infosec. Normally she holds either puppets or sound jutsu in reserve, portraying herself as one or the other, but she revealed both...
And the story about her background is even worse, since if the adults connect it to Reef, they might connect it to those recent gigantic bounties on Emiko, who was last seen in Reef and absconded with a bunch of genin...
As our resident doom tracker, we've moved up from doom, to doom! Please continue to tune in for more doom tracking...
And the story about her background is even worse, since if the adults connect it to Reef, they might connect it to those recent gigantic bounties on Emiko, who was last seen in Reef and absconded with a bunch of genin...
As our resident doom tracker, we've moved up from doom, to doom! Please continue to tune in for more doom tracking...