Walking the Dogs [M]

[Mamushi]

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{D-Rank Mission}
Walking the Dogs
Rank: D
Description: Michiko-san’s dogs have gotten too big and unruly for her to walk on her own. Give all six of her wolfhounds a nice walk through the village. All property damage will be docked from your pay.
Restrictions: No limitation
Rewards: 25 EXP, 500 RYO

        Morning dawned in a swirl of blue and gold and pink. A flock of ducks flew south, low in the sky, their honks like blaring horns. Mamuchi lingered at the oakwood door, hand poised to knock, and listened to the dogs inside. They were barking up a storm - the soft voice she heard failing to quiet them must have been Michiko-san. Stupid woman. Who kept six wolfhounds? One was enough - six was madness.
   
        But Michiko-san supposedly had Inuzuka blood from way back, so her affinity for canine companions was acceptable, considering. Still, owning six of them was a little much. Mamushi could smell them through the door, a heavy, musty scent like mud and old rags. The yard was littered with signs of them: Gouges in the grass, paw prints in the flower bed, piles of shit scattered over the grounds. This was another mission she wish she hadn't taken, but a genin had to eat. The least said about bills, the better.

        The door opened before she could knock. A pretty brunette who she assumed to be Michiko stood in the doorway, shocked into silence. Her bright blue eyes were wide and round, pouty-lips curled in an "o". Mamushi had to look down to see the rest of her. Michiko was short and curvy, almost dainty, and clad in a navy hooded sweatshirt and a silver and green checkered skirt. Her socks came up to her knees, and they were green too.

        "Oh, um, hi?" Her voice was low, smoky, and soft as down, almost like she was whispering.

        "Michiko-san? I am the genin you requested to walk your dogs." Mamushi tried not to pout.

        Michiko smiled. "Ah! Kunoichi-san! Good, good, come on in, I'll introduce you to the pack." Her hand flitted out to take hold of Mamushi's hand - the appendage hissed at her, and she aborted her attempt mid grab. "Just, um, follow me." She abruptly turned around and walked deeper into the home. Mamushi followed behind.

        The smell of dog was even stronger inside. Michiko appeared to like pastels; the whole house was done in muted spring colors, wan variations of yellow and powder blue and pink. The carpet was a pale cream, the walls painted in swaths of pink and blue. The little round breakfast table in the corner was yellow, and the linoleum tiles in the kitchen were peach and mint green.  And there were the wolfhounds, all six of them, great shaggy bodies dominating the chic little couches and pastel purple shag carpet. One of the bastards had the audacity to growl; Mamushi hissed back, let her hands shift, and the dog's growls turned to whimpers.

        "Oh, wow. You're good with dogs, huh?"

        Mamushi winked at the girl. "You could say that."

        Michiko told her the usual route she followed, how long it took to walk, and which dogs to watch out for. Brutus was the biggest and could be snappy, but Wiley, the thinnest, smallest of the bunch, was by far meanest. Hajimon was the fat lazy one, Duchess the sleek female. The last two, Takeshi and Shigeru, were from the same litter, and easily the most playful, but also the youngest and the most ungainly. She showed Mamushi where the snacks were, where the toys were, and fixed the dogs with their harnesses. Leash in hand, Mamushi took to the streets. The dogs raced ahead of her, six loping, slobbery giants, and they were off.

    

       

[Mamushi]

        The roads along the outskirts of the village were blessedly clear, dotted with only a few folks here and there. The occasional tumbleweed drifted across the lanes, swept up on fluttering winds. A stooped old biddy in a frilly pink robe was sweeping dust from her doorstep - she saw Mamushi coming down the thoroughfare, spotted her headband, and waved.

        Mamushi smiled back, fangs glinting in the pale morning light. The old woman frowned, flipped her off, and went back to sweeping. Mamushi's smile only widened. The old bitch would probably die soon anyway. Hazards of being ancient and brittle.

        Takeshi and Shigeru were the most anxious to take to the streets. They constantly tugged at the leash, straining to go just that one step further. Noses glued to the ground, they sniffed out their preferred path, and Mamushi, in the spirit of cooperation, took them in the opposite direction. Wiley growled his displeasure but followed suit, lips bared in a silent snarl. Better watch yourself, dog, Mamushi thought. Fried dog doesn't taste so bad with a good marinade.

        The mangy little mutt must have been psychic, because he turned away with a whimper and didn't bother her none. Big Brutus was the calmest of the lot - his leash never once grew taut, and he never sniffed nor snarled nor growled. Mamushi rather thought he was quite the house dog. Huge, sure, but docile.

        "Well aren't you a good boy? Huh? Aren't you? Bru-bru is a good boy, yes he is!" Pretty soon Brutus was walking at her side, wet nose nudging her hand every other step. Even when her fingers melded into a snake's maw, the dog wasn't deterred. She scratched him behind the ears, for that.

        She took them down to the club district, where all the buildings were smashed tight together and wrought of stone and plaster. The alleys were so thin only rats and trash could fit between them. This early in the morning, all the buildings were locked tight, neon signs dead and dim. They passed the Hairy Harlot, Sekkusu Sekkusu, and the Soiled Dove. Duchess found what had to be an intriguing scent wafting from the west, because she strained like mad to pull Mamushi that way. The wolfhound turned to bark at her and met a face full of hissing snake and dripping fangs.

        Mamushi took them east, towards the park.

[Mamushi]

        The eastern sector of the city bustled beneath the morning sky. This was the residential district; if there wasn't an apartment complex on the corner, then there was a coffee house. She smelled the beans brewing from afar, the scent strong but warm, reminding her of mornings long passed when her grandfather still yet lived. He'd drink three cups before starting his day, and viciously beat her and her cousins for bothering him during his morning ritual. As if in remembrance, her scars twinged, dull pain flitting down the latticework maze of scars that marred her back.

          Mamushi was sure that she had loved her grandfather, at one point. Idolized him, even... but by the end, all she'd wanted to do was kill him. And wasn't that the way of snakes, when all the prey was gone - to kill one another?

        Duchess and the twins had finally learned not to tug on the leash. Wiley, cowed by her snakes, proved as docile as a lamb; his savageness reared its head when Hajimon stumbled into him, shoved by one of the overexcited twins. Wiley snapped at him, frothing at the mouth, but settle quick-fast when Mamushi's snakes came out. By the time they crested the hill up to the eastern district and the first of the coffee shops was in view, Brutus' head was nearly wedged up her ass he was pressed so close to her side.

        Clusters of people milled through the streets, miserable as they trekked to their places of work. One man puffed frantically at his cigarette, looking as if he was one nudge away from a nervous breakdown, and a heavy set women with four little brats weaving through her legs was crying tears of utter sorrow.

        Everyone wasn't sad and depressed, though. Mashumi saw a pair of lovers who were quite content with their lot enough, tongues shoved down each others throats as they kissed in the shadow of a red awning. Further in the district the buildings grew fancier, building materials more costly. An hour in and the apartments had leveled out into clusters of homes, and then, beyond the timber wall that separated the rich from their lessers, they became mansions, tall buildings grouped together with long, wide eaves and hip-and-gable tiled roofing, most slate, but a few wrought of beaten metal - brass, copper, tin.

        "Hey, little girl, there ain't no dog walking in this district."

        Mamushi glanced to her left, from whence the voice had come. The man who spoke was tall and rangy, a cudgel swinging from his belt. His garb marked him as sector security - civilian, not shinobi. She smiled at him, but he wasn't to be deterred.

        "You deaf, girl? I said there ain't no -"

        "I heard what you said, Security-san. Now listen to me. I am a ninja. Turn around and mosey on back to your post."

        He didn't appreciate that at all. "I don't give a good goddamn what... you... are..." He trailed off as a snake slithered out from her mouth, eyeing him with merciless eyes. She smelled something sharp and acrid when the snake snapped at him. "I'll make sure the boys know not to bother you!" He hurried back to his post, paints stained.

        Mamushi turned and led her charges deeper into the district. The walk would be over soon.

[Mamushi]

        Michiko was waiting outside when they returned.  She'd cleaned her yard up some, though it was still obvious that dogs owned the place. The piles of shit had been buried, the half-chewed toys collected and hidden in a bin, the mulch of the flower bed smoothed. "How were they?" she asked, expression worried.

        "Sit!" Mamushi ordered. The mutts dropped there buts to the ground as one. "They were just fine," she told Michiko, smiling. "Even Wiley." The dog in question scuttled over to his master to lick her hand.

        Michiko seemed highly impressed, smiling down at the savage menace. "Fantastic," she said. "Just fantastic. Would you be willing to walk them again?" She looked so hopeful that Mamushi almost blurted "no" before she could stop herself.

        She had been dreading this mission, not one for dogs, but she found that she actually didn't mind the little buggers. Sure, they were smelly, but she had smelled worse. The twins were annoying, but Brutus had been alright. And she'd gotten to make a security guard piss his pants. That had been pretty fun.

        "Sure," she replied. It was halfway to noon now, and the morning gloom had given way to intense light and sweltering heat. Autumn might have been coming soon, if it wasn't upon them already, but summer wasn't quite done with yet. "I'd be willing to walk them again."

        She probably wouldn't do it though, whether she was willing or not. D rank missions were starting to grate on her nerves. Perhaps it was time for a few C's? She'd seen something about pirates and bandits on the mission board. She'd killed a number of animals on her last mission - might be it was time to kill a few humans.

finite.

[Jae]

Graded, 38 EXP. Fun tale. "Fried dog don't taste so bad with a good marinade."