mean kitty, angry ball of fur. (mission)

[eile noki.]

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Name: Cat Scratch Fever
Rank: D
Repeatable: Yes
Description: Little Ayane has gone missing yet again. Lady Haruni can't seem to keep her in one place. Normally this would be considered important. However Ayane isn't a child, but rather, a cat that likes to run away from time to time and venture the village.
Obective: Catch Ayane and bring her back to the client.
Reward: 100 EXP and 500 Ryo

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having come straight from headquarters, eile was already reading through her next mission scroll (after having dropped in the report for the last) as she walked down the main street of konoha. just the title of it had her cringing and regretting her decision to do every mission on the list. there were, after all, some things that just weren't possible for her to do. namely, interacting with cats. but catching a cat? well, that was going to be a something else entirely. since her little venture into purely scientific dissections, eile wasn't too popular amongst felines. she didn't know how exactly they knew to avoid her. they must have had some special sort of cat sense that just scared them away from her. but surely you would think after more than ten years, eile's curiosity that led her to cutting open a pregnant female cat would be forgotten. you would think. it seemed, however, that the "sin" stuck to her. ever since that day, cats just somehow knew to avoid her.

which was going to make this entirely unpleasant. probably, she thought, worse than the first one with those rotten children. sighing, she rolled up the scroll and, taking a deep breath, set herself on the path towards the location the mission had detailed; the client's, lady haruni's, home. eile had heard of lady haruni, rather briefly, from her fellow genin. apparently it was quite common for her cat to go missing. at this point, you would think eile should just get on with the job and fetch the cat, but she felt the need to at least get a briefing from the woman. besides, she could have useful tricks to catching it, or baiting it. hell, trapping it was going to be eile's best chance at catching it. ninja reflexes, speed and techniques she might have but damn if cats couldn't be just as good. as eile neared the estate - you couldn't really call lady haruni's place a home - she had a few quick words with the gatekeeper, and made her way through the grounds. the door was almost twice her size. she knocked sharply twice.

"yes?" an old, terribly wrinkled serving woman answered the door. she looked stressed, tired and ready for a fight. eile gave her the most disgusting sweet smile she could manage. cranky people hated people with a smile.

"i'm here to see lady haruni about the mission to find her cat," eile told her, trying to move her way inside. the woman wasn't having none of that and blocked her way.

"lady haruni is unwell at the moment, perhaps you could come back in a couple of days?"

"a couple of days?" eile frowned. oh hell no. "i really need to complete this mission before the end of today, ma'am. i won't take up too much of her time."

"i said the lady is unwell, brat!" the woman almost pushed her away. eile bit her tongue, close to losing her temper. before she could say anything more, the woman took a photograph out of her pocket and shoved it at eile. "take this. the little shits name is ayane. she likes chicken flavoured biscuits. now scram."

the door was slammed promptly in eile's face.

[eile noki.]

well if that wasn't the rudest bitch she had met all year, eile wasn't sure who was. for a couple of moments she let herself stew in anger, scowling at the door. if she was any less in control of herself she probably would have kicked it down and marched right in. but as quickly as her temper flared, it cooled down. she had gotten what she came for, either way. a way to recognise the little shit, plus a way to hopefully catch it. cats liked food, right? especially their favourite food. with that in mind, eile left the estate (not before mentioning to the gatekeeper that they needed to control the sorry excuse for a maid) and set her way towards a grocery store that was conveniently close by. the cat had been missing for a day, ridiculously enough. cats liked to wander, but they always eventually came back. her foster mother had told her that. but here lady haruni was, throwing out missions left right and center to get it back the moment it goes missing. at least it's more money, eile thought as she stepped inside the store.

the grocer helped her find some chicken biscuits, specially meant for cats and fancy as fuck. cats also seemed to know when you tried to feed them cheap shit, so she decided not to be stingy. she would just put it towards mission expenses. sighing, she paid for the bait and leaving the store with the box of biscuits in hand, went back to stand outside lady haruni's estate. it had been a day, but ayane probably stayed close to home. she seemed to be a veteran at escape, though. there was always the chance she had decided to make her escape a little more worthwhile. narrowing her eyes, eile decided to look around the area. she covered a fifty meter radius within no time, checking every nook and cranny for signs of cats. she even looked inside and around a few private properties, but to no avail.

"where are you, you little shit," she mumbled to herself as she checked the last garden area in sight. no sign of her. eile was about to widen her search radius, but as she walked past a narrow alleyway, she noticed something out of place. a bow. a pink, horrible looking bow, was caught on the edge of a brick that was sticking out a little from the foundation. finally, she grinned.

[eile noki.]

sure, this didn't exactly mean eile had found the cat, but at least she had an idea of where it had been, right? tucking the box of biscuits (it was small enough) into the pocket of her dress, eile was small enough if she turned her self sideways to squeeze through the small alleyway. a few moments later she was awkwardly bending over sideways to pick up the bow. she had studied the picture of the awful cat enough to recognise that it was definitely the bow she had had on. there was even a couple of brown hairs left on it, she noticed. stuffing it in her other pocket, eile squeezed her way through the rest of the alleyway, coming out the other side of it and into a larger one. there was a horrible smelling dumpster close by, and a few cardboard boxes. disgusting, she thought, brushing herself off. she herself was filthy now, from the tight squeeze. blocking off to it, eile moved her way through the area, checking for anymore signs. it looked like ayane had been through the cardboard boxes, assuming those were her paw prints. she was breaking the fifty meter radius. wonderful.

a rustling nearby caught the girls attention as she neared the dumpster, thinking to look inside. instantly, she hid herself behind it and looked out from the side. just near the exit of the alleyway was a dirty, raggedy looking cat, pawing at a plastic bag full of rubbish. at first, eile wasn't sure if it was ayane, it was so dirty. but the size was just right, even if her fur being flattened down by grime made her look a little thinner. she could even see the little patch of white fur on her tail - admittedly, it looked kind of dark gray at the moment. but this was definitely her. how had she gotten so dirty? eile doubted that lady haruni was going to be happy getting the little shit back in this state.

still, eile had bigger things to worry about, like catching the damn thing. she had the biscuits in her pocket, but ayane would be smarter than to react positively to food being tossed over to her. it would have been an easy distraction though. she sighed, then silently cursed. the cat was back on the move again. eile followed closely behind without making a sound. it was smart, keeping to the back streets. she was probably wary of being caught again, with good reason. eile tracked her for a while, careful to keep her distance. soon enough she was summoning chakra to her feet and walking up the side of a house to follow it by rooftops. here and there she would lose track of her, but eventually she'd find her again.

where are you going? eile thought, growing impatient. just as she did however, ayane stopped moving. from a rooftop close by, she watched her look around yet another alleyway before disappearing inside an overturned, large cardboard box. her new home? she had certainly downgraded. the were at least four blocks from lady haruni's estate. why was she so far out here?

that was when she heard the easily distinguishable meowing of a litter of kittens.

[eile noki.]

kittens? seriously? fuckin' kittens. eile pressed her hand against her forehead. they couldn't possibly be ayane's kittens. nothing about the mission had said anything about her being pregnant, and surely the old bitch back at the estate would have mentioned something about it. so what, they were strays she had taken a liking to? odd. eile narrowed her eyes as she saw, and counted, five kittens make their way out of the box. definitely not ayane's. they were mutts, through and through, and didn't look the least bit like her. they were entirely too scruffy, flee ridden and scrawny. she figured they were abandoned by their real mother. she sighed, wondering what to do now. normally, there a girl would have had a heartfelt moment where she considered giving in the mission to let ayane stay with the kittens.

but all eile was considering was whether she should get rid of the kittens and drag ayane back home, or just leave them there. she could take them to a shelter, she guessed, but her main issue was ayane. if eile took her home, leaving the kittens, the chances of ayane running away again to find them were entirely too high. lady haruni would probably be more satisfied, as a client, if eile helped the issue of this running away business, right? and client satisfaction was top priority today. so, making up her mind, eile took the box of biscuits out of her pocket. there probably wasn't enough for the whole litter of them, but it would serve as a distraction for now. all she needed to do was get ayane under control. she could deal with kittens easily enough.

so, standing up from her crouch, eile leaped over the four meter distance between the roofs, and positioned herself on the new one so that she was directly leaning over the edge, high over the kittens. ayane was still in the box, head poking out as she watched them play. eile could see her eyes drooping. even better, she grinned. opening the box, eile sprinkled the biscuits so that they landed right in the middle of the group, thankful there wasn't any wind around. they landed in a pile, and while the kittens were wary at first, their hunger soon took over and they tucked in. ayane still hadn't seemed to of noticed. perfect.

now came the hard part.

[eile noki.]

finding a close by pipe that was attached to the side of the building she was currently on top of, eile grabbed hold of it and slid down quickly and silently. as soon as her feet touched the ground, one meter away from the box ayane was snoozing in, she closed the distance between them. the box was small enough to carry while at the same time being able to carry them all, so reacting quickly she pushed it over so it was upright, the opening facing upwards. ayane was quick, but not quick enough as she tried to jump out and flee. eile's hand snatched her up by the scruff of her neck. she was gentle enough, figuring it wouldn't be such a good idea to return the cat in a bad mood - or worse, injured.

"you little bitch!" eile screeched when ayane squirmed and turned to sink her claws into her hand. as much as she tried to though, she wasn't getting away. eile pushed her back into the box and closed up the box and trickily moved the flaps to secure it. ayane hissed and bitched loud enough to alarm the kittens just a few steps away from her. they looked up from the biscuits, startled. a couple went to run away, but eile moved quicker, snatching them all up one by one until they were all bundled up in her arms. five kittens wouldn't have been so bad to carry if they didn't seem to have the same distaste as every other bloody cat seemed to have against her. growling, eile just barely managed to open the box containing ayane and place them all inside. she had to snatch ayane back in a couple of time, but she got them in eventually.

"i fucking hate cats," she muttered darkly, securing the box once more. she could have assumed the mission nearly finished. only, there was one more obstacle. the truly hard part. lady haruni, eile had decided, might be happy to get her beloved cat back, but given ayane's filthy state at the moment - well, she had some work to do on that. but now she didn't have just one cat to clean up, but six. "this is bullshit," she grumbled, picking up the box. she had to stretch her arms to reach around, and carrying it was rather awkward, but she would manage.

and manage she did, all the way to her house on practically the other end of the village.

[eile noki.]

i'm entirely too thorough, she thought as she dodged people in the street. form inside the box ayane and the kittens were meowing loudly, hissing and scratching. onlookers gave her weird looks, kids asked her what she was doing. she ignored them all and made her way to her house within fifteen minutes. damn if she wasn't going to do a proper, perfect job of this mission. she didn't care if it was just a d-rank mission. over achiever that she was and used to be, eile had set her mind to something and she was bloody well going to get it done. sure, she was going to get a hell of a lot of scratches and bites in the process, but no pain no gain, right? determined, eile walked up the steps of her home - a large, expensive looking kind of modern house. her parents were away on business, thankfully, so she'd be able to sneak in and deal without interruption.

she made her way upstairs and into the bathroom, setting the box on the ground. she had picked up some flea powder and pet shampoo from the store on her way here. taking them out of the bag, she set them on the side of the bathtub on the side of the room, and turned on the taps to fill the tub up. thinking quickly, she rushed out the room to collect a few things; ribbons from her room, a comb from her fathers, perfume from her mothers, and some leftover cooked fish from the fridge. ready for the battle ahead she entered the bathroom again, shutting the door softly behind her. the box had tipped over from where she'd left it, but the little shits were still inside. lucky. eile walked over to the bathtub and checked the temperature. warm, but cool enough. she turned off the water and going back to the box, hardened the fuck up and opened it completely. the kittens were first to scamper out, followed by ayane. eile picked up the first one she could get and let the rest run around. ayane was being a cow somewhere over by the corner, hissing and probably pissing.

"alright shithead, time to get clean," she announced to the first one. it took her a bit, but she eventually got the hang of it and before long she had all of the kittens cleaned and dried off. she'd even combed them, gotten rid of most of the fleas, and tied little bows around their necks. next was the big bitch. she took a lot more effort to catch and even more to get into the bath. but within ten minutes she was looking just like she did in the photograph. except, her ribbon was blue, but it seemed to match her better anyways.

"perfect," eile chimed. they were all still rather standoffish with her, but she could deal with that so long as they weren't scratching her anymore. her arms were covered in cuts and bites marks. she had a few on her face, too. she'd have to disinfect them, she supposed, but that could wait for later. looking at the box she had brought them here in, eile decided to go in search of a better method of transport. she found it in her mothers "room full of shit i want to keep for no special reason". she picked it up and examined it. perfect.

[eile noki.]

eile was back at the front door of lady haruni's home, holding a lager wicker basked with a blanket over it. she was waiting (impatiently) for the door to be answered again. she knew before she had even knocked that she would be greeted by that bitch from before. she had her best game face on though, determined to complete the mission perfectly. as soon as the door opened to reveal the old bats face, eile gave her a charming smile and held up the basket. the bitch, of course, didn't take it. instead, she lifted up the lid an inch and looked inside. she almost jumped back.

"there's more than one in there, brat," she growled.

"yes, i know," eile said smoothly, "ayane is in there as well - i'm sure you can hear her. can i see lady haruni now?"

the old woman grunted and opened the door enough to let eile through. and go through she did, making sure to brush past her rudely. there was another hiss, but this time it wasn't from the cats she was carrying. smiling to herself, she followed the servant up the grand steps across the foyer and through the hallway, all the way down to lady haruni's room. game face on, eile told herself, putting on her sweetest act as soon as she was let in the room. lady haruni was sitting on her bed, looking rather worse for wear. she had been crying. her hair was hanging down and she was wearing a bathrobe; obviously distressed. and from the looks of it, she was going through a photo album of her cat. perfect. she loved it that much.

[eile noki.]

"l-lady haruni," the old woman called out softly, her demeanor changed entirely. "this young darling is here. she found ayane."

the squeal of delight that sounded from lady haruni made eile cringe. she almost dropped the basket right then and there, keen to be on her way. instead, she held herself together and cleared her throat. the old woman left the room, leaving the two of them alone. eile opened set the basket on the floor and trickily managed to take ayane out of it without showing the kittens.

"o-oh sweetheart! look at her she's perfect!" lady haruni coed and coed, instantly taking ayane from eile without a moments hesitation. she checked her over completely, looking for bumps and bruises, even smelled her. "she's even had a bath, hasn't she? oh child, you wonderful wonderful child." the woman went on like that for a while, eile waited for her to get over it. she answered and nodded her head when she had to, but stayed silent, not wanting to encourage an actual conversation.

"where was she?" lady haruni finally asked. eile had been waiting for that question, since it was going to lead into the bigger problem.

"well, you see my lady," eile started, crouching down to open the box, "she was with these." lady haruni leaned over to inspect what was inside, almost yelping when she saw the kittens. yelping with joy, eile noticed with relief, and a bit of confusion. the kittens had scrubbed up alright, but not that well. they looked pretty ratty still. "she must have been taking care of them."

"y-yes," lady haruni seemed to be tearing up. "i wouldn't be surprised. you see, ayane was pregnant, but her kittens were stillborn. she probably found them when she ran off - and the maternal instinct well - oh! this is lovely!"

"i take it you.. wouldn't mind keeping them, then?" eile chanced.

"what do you mean? of course i'm keeping them. oh this is perfect. thank you dear, thank you."

eile sighed in relief. it was almost dinner time. there was no way she was going to be in the mood for finding the kittens a home if lady haruni hadn't taken them in. eventually, after all the gratitude, she excused herself from the room and found her way out. she saw the old serving woman before she left the grounds, glaring down at her from a window on the second story. eile gave her a wink, and mouthed "you're welcome" before making her way to mission headquarters.

- completed.

[marvolous.]

Mission EXP: 25.
Thread EXP: 0 EXP 75 EXP
Maybe next time .