playtime? i think not [m]

[Noboru]

SPOILER: Click to show

name; babysitting~
rank; d
description; It’s tough to find a babysitter in Kumogakure no Sato. The offices of Kumogakure no Sato has gotten that complaint several times. Sadly, we can’t encourage our non shinobi Kumogakure young adults to take up babysitting as a part time job. Which means there is really only one solution on getting more babysitters within’ Kumogakure no Sato. We give the task to our ever endearing shinobi. That’s right; we’re asking our newly appointed Genin to take up this task. Watch a Kumogakure adult’s baby while that adult or couple go out enjoying their time once in a blue moon. Have fun changing diapers.
reward; 25 experience, 500 ryo
minimum shinobi; one
mission status; interminable

name; play time
rank; d
description; The adolescent children within’ the Kumogakure flock were never enlighten on the various activates that most children were taught. Games, like tag. Smiles so rarely grace their tender visage. Stories never grace their petite ears. You as a Kumogakure shinobi are tasked with bringing amusement and joy back into their hearts. Tell them wonderful and exciting stories. Play tag or any other childhood game you were brought up knowing. A smile a day will keep the doctor away.
reward; 25 experience, 500 ryo
minimum shinobi; one
mission status; interminable

Noboru set off towards the house where he was to pick up some kid from to babysit. The mission compound where he had accepted the mission from gave him a name and address. Koji Takagawa. He didn't live far from where Nobu himself lived, he had seen a few kids but didn't really know them by name. He found the place and then knocked on the door. A woman supposedly the kid's mother answered the door. "Hi, my names Noboru.. I came here to take yo kid off your hands for the day." he said. The woman nodded, though according to Noboru's standards she seemed a bit young. "Kenji's my younger brother, my parents already left and I'm leaving on a mission soon." she said to him. He laughed to himself, in his head. To think that he thought she was the kid's mother. She called backwards for her younger brother and moments later he came to the door. He was a kid around the age of five, roughly. These days all the kids seemed to look the same age. "Thank you for taking the time to babysit my younger brother, hate having him alone home.." She said to him. Noboru smiled and couldn't help but grin a little. Here he was standing in front of a beautiful young lady and he couldn't ask her out.

"Anytime.." he said to her, it was the best thing he could think of to say. He didn't really like babysitting, but with a young lady involved? He would just have to persevere. "When do you think you or your parents will be home?" he asked. She told him around eight o'clock and gave him some money to feed her younger brother. Nobu said it wasn't a problem and that he could pay for the kid. They said goodbye and walked in different directions, the kid slowly followed behind Nobu.

"I saw you lookin' at my sister.." the kid said to Nobu and Noboru found himself dumbfounded.

[Noboru]

Noboru looked back at the kid. "I was now was I?" he stated to the kid, not really telling him that he was indeed looking at her.

"Sure..my sister's pretty but she's totally outta your league. She is a Chuunin afterall!" he announced then casually walked past Nobu. "So..where you taking me? Some little kiddy place?" he asked as he continued to walk forward, though Nobu was supposed to be the one leading him. "I told the Raikage that I would play with the younger children.. they don't seem to play much these days," he explained rubbing his head. He was in way over his head. Sure he was okay with kids, but some kids had attitudes these days. This kid, Koji, wasn't really a brat but he did have a bit of an attitude. He just couldn't place his finger on what exactly it was..

"Well. I don't play anymore." the kid said.

"Ah, my names Noboru by the way.." he said introducing himself to the kid.

"Don't care. You can call me Koji."

Noboru continued behind the kid. "Say..do you know where kids these days hang out?" he asked. The kid shrugged and then said "Follow me". Nobu casually walked behind the kid as he led him to who knows where. Hopefully he didn't take him somewhere else so that the kid wouldn't have to play or something. It was just a bit past noon so he wondered if the kid was hungry or if he had eaten already. "Hey, did you eat already? You hungry?" Noboru asked, "We could stop off to get something before meeting with the other kids," Noboru suggested trying to get the kid somewhat interested in him. He would have to spend the whole day with him might as well make it pleasurable or even fun.

[Noboru]

"I guess," was all the kid said as he continued to walk down the street.

"What do you want? I know a good ramen shop," Noboru said, having trouble getting the kid any amount interested. "You can pick where we go," he added, maybe for awhile he would just have to go with the flow and with what the kid wanted. Though, it seemed that he didn't really want anything according to how he was acting so far. He rubbed his brow some and then looked at the kid.

"Okay," he stated planly and then turned a corner. Noboru followed after him. They walked for a bit till they came to a shop that had seating inside. Where as the ones Noboru frequented had sort of outside seating. Well, there was a bar where you could basically watch the chef cook and stuff. And there was a small roof over top. They walked inside, it was empty. The kid sat down at a table and Nobu seated himself opposite. A waitress came over a few minutes later and asked what they wanted. The kid ordered rice, vegetables and some fish. Nobu found himself ordering a bowl of ramen with rice balls on the side.

"How come you don't play anymore?" Noboru asked after a few moments of silence. He was just curious and was triyng to figure out some way to break the ice.

The kid shrugged, "It got boring.." though to Noboru that didn't seem like the entire truth. The kid hadn't looked at him when answered and seemed to stall a little. It seemed he was hiding something. But, he would let the kid tell him in time or something. Nobu didn't know what else to say and it was silent until their food came. The kid hadn't smiled at all since they had met. He was wondering why he seemed..so down.

It didn't take them long to finish eating. The kid ate with manners. It seemed that he was brought up pretty well. But, it seemed there was something missing in his life or something. Something that made him seem so down. Nobu rubbed his forehead and then placed his chopsticks on the table and looked at the kid. "Okay! I know you mightn't like me or something, even though we've never met before or anything.. but you gotta cut me some slack. I just took this babysitting gig to get credits, cause according to those up top its a mission. But you're not making this easy. You got any problem with me or something? Cause I've never seen a kid so not interested in normal kid things," he was being straight forward cause he was expecting some energetic, hyper kid.

[Noboru]

The kid looked at him and then got up and left. Noboru left some money on the table and followed after him. "Hey kid, you can't just avoid problems.." he said to him as he jogged to keep up with the kid. He didn't want him to hate him, he was just trying to understand him so that their day together would be somewhat enjoyable.

"Lets just go to the park..so you can make some other kid happy," he said.

Noboru walked in front of him and stopped. "Come on, Koji.. I know your fight isn't with me or whatever. Seems more like you just hate others in general.." he said looking down at the kid. He rubbed the back of his head, not really sure what else to do."Could you atleast try, even a little?"

The kid walked around him and then said, "Just avoid me like everyone else does. I'm not you're problem after my parents get home so don't try to get to know me," he said and then walked around a corner. Noboru sighed and followed after him. He didn't feel like trying any more for now, but he'd maybe try again later. The kid actually went to the park where some kids were, about five kids though they weren't sure what to do. The area wasn't much of a park for them to play in. The kid went over and sat down at a bench. Nobu would try and get him interested, or atleast help him.

He looked at the kids and then went over to a young boy. "Hey kid, wanna hear a cool story?" he asked him, grinning. The kid looked at him and then said "sure". Some other kids heard him ask and walked over. He smiled and told the kids to sit down. Nobu then began to tell a story about a ninja who traveled the world and upon coming to a village that was in distress, decided to help them but for a price. They were being picketed by bandits about each week, barely had any food and that which they had much of it was taken by the bandits. It was a story about how the ninja earned the village their freedom and became a sort of symbol for the village. The ninja after helping the good villagers didn't want any money in exchange for his help, then disappeared into the sunrise never to be seen again.

The children ooh'd and aww'd as Nobu told them the story that he had basically just made up on the spot. Every so often he would look at the kid he had to babysit and saw that he had taken some interest. These children however were younger than Koji. Nobu smiled and asked if the kids wanted to play. He suggested tag. He picked a random boy from the group and told him to count to ten while everyone else hid.

"1....2....3....4....5...."

[Noboru]

"...6....7....8...9....10.."

The kid opened his eyes and then looked around. Nobu had hidden in some tall grass and crouched low to the ground. He figured that he needed to hide somewhere where the kids could find him easily. However, he wasn't the first person for the boy to find. He first found a little girl who ran away but who soon tagged by the boy. They both went looking for the other kids and then tagged another boy, then found Nobu who attempted to run but was tagged. The kid, Koji, hadn't joined in and sat idly on the bench however Nobu noticed that he was watching the kids and even saw a small smirk on the kids face as Nobu himself was tagged.

They then went looking for the others and another girl was seen and then ran but tripped and was tagged. "Tag!" one of the kids announced as he tagged the girl. She then started to cry as she had skinned her knee on the ground. Nobu went over to her, but wasn't sure what to do. Koji got up and walked over to them. He smiled at the girl and looked at her wound. "It's just a scratch, you'll be okay.." he said then took her hand and helped her up. The girl hugged him and then ran off to her parents who were watching near by. Koji then went back to sit on the bench. Nobu told the children to continue playing and then went over to where Koji was sitting.

He sat next to him and said, "That was nice of you. See, you showed some interest. So, what's got you so that you don't want to play anymore?" he asked, not looking at the kid but watching the other children play tag, or some variation of it.

The kid shuffled his feet on the ground for a bit before he answered, he let out a soft sigh. "..I don't play anymore because the other kids usually tease me, well kids my age. Plus, I haven't had much time cause I've been helping my parents and sister out.."

"Ah, I see..I'm sorry," Nobu said to him, not sure what else to say.

"I don't need pity.." the kid said to him as the kid looked at the other kids as they played. The girl who had tripped had joined them again and there was a hint of a smile on his face.

"It's not pity." Nobu said leaning back, raising his hands behind his head. "Being teased isn't fun, heck I went through it as a child.. but they'll eventually stop. Or you could just ignore them, but just don't isolate yourself. I got teased cause I had never known my dad. And, he hadn't even died while on a mission or something. He abandoned us. Me and my mom. At first I didn't like it but I eventually just told them to shut up. And they left me alone.Though, that isn't always the right approach.." he explained, telling a bit about himself to the kid. He then nudged him. "Hey, go play with them.." he said, motioning towards the kids that had stopped playing tag and instead had started playing a different game though he had no clue what it was.

The kid, Koji, stoop up and walked over. Asking the girl he had helped if he could play. She smiled and then placed her hand on his arm and said, "You're it!"

[Noboru]

Noboru watched the kids play for awhile. A few times he suggested another game when they looked like they were bored or didn't know what they were doing. A few times another kid came along and joined, or some kid left because his parents called him. The kid, Koji, and Nobu continued to help the children play and a few times Nobu showed the kids some of his ninja skills. Koji also seemed a bit happier. He had introduced himself to the girl, though when she left he continued to play with the rest of the kids.

Nobu told them one or two stories throughout the day, he tried to mix the stories up a bit to keep them interested. He wasn't that good at storytelling though, but they seemed interested in it none the less. They played a few rounds of duck duck goose. Raced across the park area, Nobu announcing one of the kids as the winner as they raced past the marker he had told them to run past. They did what kids did. Play. Even Koji joined in upon the fun, probably simply because he wanted to see the smiles on their faces just as much Nobu himself did. What had first been a chore to Nobu had become much more. He himself was enjoying himself, playing with the younger children. He would surely come back here and play with them again. It was finally getting late and he told them that he and Koji had to leave.

They whined some, but alas their parents also wanted to leave. "I'll come visit back here someday when I'm not on a mission," he said to them. He knocked fists with some of the boys and patted them on the head, giving them a grin. They waved goodbye to Nobu and went off to their parents to go home.

He and Koji were left at the park by themselves. "Want to get a treat before you go home?" he asked the kid. The kid nodded and they went off to one of the shops that Nobu frequented. They got themselves a sweet dessert and sat watching the rest of the sun go down beyond the hills. As they finished eating Nobu said, "You are a good kid, Koji." he then flashed the kid a half smile, half grin. The kid smiled a bit.

They then headed back to Koji's place. Nobu knocked on the door and the boy's mother answered this time. "Hello Mrs. Takagawa. Just come to drop Koji off," he said to her. Then turned towards Kenji, "If you ever want to hang out or get a bite to eat let me know," he said then bowed to Koji's mother. She was going to give him a tip but he said it was a pleasure watching Koji for the day. But, alas she insisted. He would use it to treat Koji another day. He went home and would turn in the missions in the morning. First, he needed a goodnights rest.

Mission Finished
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[DAVID BOWE]

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