Contract Search Just a good old adventure

[Yamanaka Tsuruko]

Morning. Tsuruko swims between the realm of dreams and the physical world. Normally quick to rise, Tsuruko spends a while longer than usual, basking in the innocent lack of cynicism before her conscious self began to poison the warm waters with the waking echos that always seemed to drive her awake, that feeling of self doubt, that the existential displacement of herself from her fellows was all because she was a cursed creature that deserves exactly the treatment she got. She sits up to break herself out of it, and begin the usual routine of distracting herself from her thoughts, but the sensation doesn't go away as usual. She sits up, but the dream doesn't end as abruptly as usual, the line between dream and reality hazy and uncertain. Still with a certain level of focus, she lazily dresses herself loosely in her kimono and readies for the day.

She grumpily stumbles downstairs and picks up a strange aroma. Her mother was cooking breakfast, some basic bacon and eggs. Odd, she must have overslept. "Oh! Here she is. TSURUKO'S UP! COME GET BREAKFAST!" Her mother would yell out through the house as Tsuruko slinks into a chair at the kitchen table, Cringing a bit from the strength of the sonic attack. Her mother steps out of the room for a moment after serving her breakfast, returning, she sits down opposite her daughter. "Look's like he's busy for now. But, i wanted to treat you huh? I see you've been putting in some real effort lately and i want you to know that we're very proud of you." She reaches across to touch Tsuruko's hand as she mentions it, Tsuruko cringes as she looks back, tilting her head to one side as if shes pained by the words, But she cant bring herself to say anything before her mother pipes up again. "If you're getting back into ninja work, don't you think it's about time introduced you to the slugs?"

"OH my god! Moom, Ew, gross, why would i want to be the slug ninja? Do you have any idea how embarrassing that'd be?" "Well i think you shouldn't be so judgemental Tsuruko, they could save you're life. And i don't want you wandering around aimlessly trying to stumble on some other contract. That'd be too dangerous." "Are you kidding? You want me to be a killer and that's too dangerous? Well maybe i... Wait are you. Are you trying to do reverse psychology again?" "Oh i don't know, is it working?" Her mother asks with a sly wink. Tsuruko sighs as she considers it, She'd always been a little bit excited about that aspect of ninja work, and having a cute companion pet had quite the allure to her now more than ever "... Maybe? Gawd, fine, whatever, ill go." "Really?!" She nods un-enthusiastically "Suuure"

And so, after breakfast, she dons some gear and wanders off to knock on the door of a certain possible team member. She knocks on Chisao's door again, as early as ever.

[508/1500]

 

[Yamanaka Tsuruko]

After thinking for a moment, she suddenly makes a startling realization. She was about to invite someone, a guy, to a scenic sightseeing expedition that could be seen as romantic. After a moment of panic, she starts running at full speed down the street in order to avoid the awkward social scenario that might follow if she had to confront it, so she leaves the steps empty and proceeds to the gates of Konoha. She's a little bit nervous to leave, all to aware that she'd be hunted down brutally if she ever gave off the impression she was leaving, and there was always a bit of suspicion, since there was no secret how she disapproves of the leaf's practices. Still, she admitted her p0lans, that she was going out on a contract search. The guard wasn't happy she was going alone, but was willing to let her go knowing she was planning to be back before nightfall.

And so Tsuruko was off to wander the forest. She knew the general idea, as well as childhood stories and books about various animalistic spirits and such, which likely were meant to teach the spirit of how to engage nature with respect, such that the creatures within might support a budding ninja. Though she had never managed to find anything before, which was quite the embarrassment when all the other kids were discovering and collecting their various cute animal companions. She spends a rather pleasant time wandering the forest and appreciating nature's beauty. She takes her time, planing to take things slowly and keep an eye out for small opportunities to try and endear herself to the natural world, she practices some horticulture by clearing the debris of the forest for freshly growing saplings and plants any seeds that she find before wandering on.
[809/1500]

 

[Yamanaka Tsuruko]

She happens upon a cave and she creeps inside as carefully and quietly as she could, careful not to step on any of the creepy crawlies. She sits down somewhere inside, shivering in fear and wondering if there was any point in subjecting herself to this, and trying hardest to dull her own senses to ignore the fact that the roof was covered in spiders. She sits there and attempts to meditate. Of course, she doesn't meditate at all, all to aware of such things and shivering. She lasts all of thirty seconds before something crawls onto her leg.

Tsuruko immediately panics, brushing it off and rushing out of cave in a panic! "AAA! EEW EW NO NO, OH GROSS, EW OH MY GOD. oh my god, uuugh" She spends the next while obsessively checking through her hair and her clothes, panicing and clearing out anything she finds, but still careful not to kill any of them. Thats at least one rule she'd been taught for things like this... "I mean, i tried right? the nature spirits or whatever have to appreciate that at least a little bit." She'd try to rationalize what happened to herself as she wanders on...

[1008/1500]

 

[Yamanaka Tsuruko]

Wandering, she comes across a stream. She sits at the bank, for a while, admiring the way the light of the afternoon sun reflected off it's surface. She ponders for only a short while, trying to come up with the best idea she could for bonding with water spirits that she could before her relatively short patience runs out. A wonderfully ill thought out idea does come to her though, and it was so crazy it might just work.

She wades into the stream, fully clothed and equipped, letting the water soak into her clothes. Then she squats down and lays back, taking a breath to keep her buoyancy. There in the stream, she stayed like this, looking up at the light streaming through forest leaves. She was becoming one with the stream by floating down it like a stray branch, letting the current carry her. Surprisingly, for the first time in a while, she was able to achieve some sense of calmness in the water, the sensation of the water flowing around her did a good job of keeping her in the moment rather than dwelling on the past. She found herself for the first time in a long time actually meditating and she loses track of time...

The contrast of the sun on her face was a welcome change of pace when she leaves the dense forest as she'd grown a bit cold, and the gentle hum of the water would seem to grow louder to her. She seemed to start to flow through the water more smoothly than before, faster. The hum starts to become distracting even, maybe a little too loud, eventually she opens her eyes with a frown, a little perturbed to have been broken from her trance, only to see a massive stone at the valley of the end before her. She desperately tries to scramble to the side but its too late, the water too strong. The stream ejects her, sending her plummeting down waterfall. Still, she had the presence of mind to control her descent somewhat and land with her feet such to pierce the water!

Her ears aching from the pressure, she quickly swims up to the surface. For that moment as her breath ran out it felt endless, but she broke the surface and she scrambled up to the riverside beach to crawl up onto the sand. She lay there, more thankful for the earth than ever, and rolled onto her back. Once she caught her breath, she started laughing. "AAhahah, AHaha, Oh, Oh my god, i could have died!"
She decides to lay there, basking in the sun to warm up as she looks up at the symbol of past wars, This valley would indeed be a fitting end for her little adventure...
Eventually as the sun began to set, another ninja, a guard from the village approaches, having tracked her down fairly easily, telling her it was time to come back By this point, Tsuruko was a bit of a mess, and he asked, amused, how her contract search had gone. "About as expected so far, i guess" She answered.

[1525/1500]

 

[Ninpocho Admin]

You've found Fish! Do you accept?​

 

[Yamanaka Tsuruko]

I accept! XD