My Neighbour’s Totoro! [TMM]

[Minamoto Daisuke]

It was a beautiful morning, the breeze carried stray leaves throughout Konoha – a fitting scene for the village hidden amongst them. All was peaceful, the birds chirped along to their early songs, their chorus of beauty unmatched on this day. Maple town. Such a pleasant district bustling with the coming and going of those who lived within the recently crafted houses that covered the landscape. It was impressive yet not overly intimidating in terms of scale, somewhere almost perfect to live. Everything was well in fire country, or at least that’s what it seemed like.

“Help! Help! Heeeeelp!” The screams of a distraught elderly woman reverberated around the streets, sending the once content birds up into the sky. “Please! Somebody help!” Tears welled up in the eyes of the small old lady as she rushed around in search of aid, her wrinkled cheeks now dotted with canals of unhappy salty water. Her frame was small with a petite hunch upon her back, her left hand rested upon a worn walking stick that held the fibrous hairs of felines in it’s splinters. For someone with seemingly impaired mobility, the woman was rushing around at quite a pace. The adrenaline in her system surpassing the joint pain that she had to struggle with. The taps of her walking stick were obnoxiously loud, but she couldn't help it, she needed it's support to walk!

Nobody seemed to be paying attention to old lady Saki despite her struggles and continual calls for help. She gasped for breath in the middle of the street, leaning heavily on her walking stick. The elderly woman closed her eyes, tear drops fell onto the hard-stone floor at her feet. Her wheezes were getting increasingly intense, there wasn’t much more she could do for fear of exhaustion. But hopefully help would arrive shortly, that was the only thing she dreamt of now.

 

[Uchiha Asuka]

Asuka jawned as she dangled her feet on the side of the building, she loved coming up her to see the sunrise. Some of the sun rays were blocked by the building, creating an amazing spectacle. Of course, that had already happened but Asuka was too lazy to get down, the breeze felt nice and today was her free day. Nothing could go wrong. At least that's what she thought.

She heard a strange sound, which at first Asuka thought was a cat but when the wind calmed down for a bit she realized it wasn't a cat, it was someone yelling for help. Immediatley she stood up and started running, jumping from building to building getting closer to the source. The woman seemed in distressed and in pain, something had happened and Asuka didn't know if she was going to be able to fix it. She wondered if she had to ask for help? First she would asess the situation, then she would figure out what to do.

After a few minutes of running she finally saw the old woman, she was in the middle of the road Asuka could see she was shaking and probably took a lot of effort to get where she was. Asuka jumped down and gently placed a hand on the old woman's back. She could see she was crying. Asukas war smile appeared on her face. "Ma'am, you can stop crying now." She giggled "Your call has been heard and maybe I can help! My name's Uchiha Asuka!" She saluted the woman "Tell me what can I do for you."

[WC/TWC]=266/266

 

[Chigokai Wukong]

Wukong taking a nap, on top of a building enjoying the breeze of this nice day, debating if he could train or "train" him self to stop his chigokai urges as he liked to call them, heard a scream for help, he shot up and began searching, by the time he saw the old woman running shouting help, Wukong looked at the surroundings for her distress, then he saw it a shadowy ninja jumping towards the frazzled woman. Wukong quickly leaped into the ground to spring onto the perpetratorHold on a little longer ma'am ill catch them for you! Wukong waited , till the shadow showed its self to be a familiar shrimp, with a sigh Wukong jumped from the crowd next to the shrimp like ninja, "Yes ma'am as my "friend" has said how may we help, and what is perhaps wrong?" wukong says as he gives a light but elegant bow, wish un-intentionally made his all ready girlish frame and looks even more girly and princess like.

 

[Minamoto Daisuke]

The elderly lady stood alone in the street for some time, searching for help but it didn’t take long for her to reach exhaustion. Her thick glasses grew steamy as her tears evaporated from her face, it was no use, it seemed nobody was going to help. But then the sound of someone seeming to land close by brought her hope. Old lady Saki turned round to see the face of a girl stood next to her, the clearly young lady dwarfed the elderly woman but that was no problem. The hand on her back was comforting albeit a bit unexpected. Just as she motioned to speak the voice of another young person filled her ears.

The offers of help was more than just relief for her, instead it was hope. It was the hope she needed to carry on. There was much at state and she would soon tell them, though her teary eyes and thick lenses she caught the two figures of the young shinobi stood by her side. She couldn’t make out many details but was able to notice the feminine bow of one of the two students. A weak smile spread across her face as she looked up to the pair.

“Oh thank you girls! I thought nobody would come to help little old me.” It wasn’t too easy for her to get the words out as her sobs were still too overwhelming. “It’s my cat Totoro you see. He… He…” She paused as another flurry of cries escaped her lips, she wiped her eyes and nose on her old and wrinkly hands before moving to grasp Asuka’s own hands in search of comfort. “Please help me deary. He’s run off and I don’t know if I will ever see him again. He keeps going off to the building that is being renovated over there but he hasn’t come back.” She took her slimy hands off Asuka before moving over to place said hands on Wukong’s back, in an attempt to turn him towards the building at the end of the street that was clearly under construction. Scaffolding clung to it’s side, the walls seemed to be crumbling, it would be clear to those who looked on that the building was not structurally sound.

“Here.” She said, reaching into her Kimono and withdrawing a red bow. “I just wanted to put this on him but he doesn’t like it, he scratches me every time I try. But I only want him to look nice. Please help me.” Again the old woman burst into tears, this time leaning against Wukong for support. She pressed the bow into his hand. “Please bring him back wearing that bow. I will compensate you for your time!”

 

[Chigokai Wukong]

Can we get more, information on what Totoro looks like ma'am? Wukong was obviously irked that the old woman called him a she, but helping her was more important so he straightened his face and set to work Also where would you like this ribbon, on his head, tail, or legs? as well as where can we find you once we have gotten your Totoro and dressed him up?"

Wukong was 100% sure he could do this him self, but he didn't want Asuka crying to Soku about it so he would simply get to work and finishes it before she could press him about the whole old lady calling him a girl. But he wasn't mad that she did.... no not mad at all he looked at the clearly dilapidated building wait if it is still under construction, is it still dilapidated?
putting aside his inquiries, till he can ask Yukio he formed a plan of the quest he was given, and began his work to find Totoro
[WC 169]
[TWC 337]

 

[Uchiha Asuka]

Asuka smiled as Wukong appeared, she now liked the guy and was glad she wouldn’t be doing this alone, she did not like doing things alone, or being alone for that matter. Besides, maybe this could bring them closer and she could have a friend her age. Asuka hoped that was the case.

Asuka listened closely to the woman’s request, a lost cat in a construction building would be a bit hard to find considering what a mess this construction where before finishing and it would be little bit dangerous. If the building wasn’t stable she knew any type of change in balance could have dramatic effects on the building as a whole. Asuka wondered how could she find that specific cat, for all she knew the old lady’s cat had friends inside that building and why it went constantly there. Asuka held the lady’s hand reassuringly. “We’ll find Totoro ma’am.” She said smiling warmly “We’ll get him back home, don’t you worry.”

Asuka let go of the hand, and placed one of her hands on her chin. She wondered if she could use her Sharingan to pick up the outline of its Chakra, but Wukong was there and to be honest she wasn’t too keen on showing him that she already had the Sharingan at 9 years old… it always led to awkward questions especially if the one asking questions knew how the Sharingan was awakened. She sighed, but this time it seemed she didn’t have a choice. It would make her job a lot easier and if the Cat hated the bow it would be a good indicator for identifying it. Other animals would look at it curiously but Totoro would instinctively get away from it, or even try to attack it.

Asuka placed a hand on Wukong shoulder to explain things to him. “Monkey.” She stated, she liked giving people nicknames… for some reason it made her feel closer to them. Although she did it on a friendly term Asuka would stop using it if it really bothered the person. "We don’t need a physical description, I have…” Asuka scratched the back of her head, she didn’t want to say it… “I have a way of knowing where living things are, just take the ribbon and if the Cat attacks it or backs away from it. We got the right one.” Asuka looked at the old woman one last time. “We’ll bring the cat back to you safely Ma’am. Don’t you worry.” With that she ran towards the building, jumping towards the second floor and waited for her partner, she wouldn’t want to leave him behind, this was a team job and team work required all participants present.

[WC/TWC=451/717]

 

[Minamoto Daisuke]

“Oh, um yes. He is grey with some white stripes and quite plump.” She scratched the top of her head for a moment, ruffling the white nest of hair that sat top her elderly frame. “But don’t mention that he is a big boy, he doesn’t like that… At all! And just try to get the ribbon on the top of his head, he looks really cute that way.” She slowly began to waddle towards the side of the street before leaning against a wall of one of the nearby houses. “I’ll just rest here for a moment. I’m sure it won’t take the youth of today very long to fetch a cat.”

***​

<i></i>

The house at the end of the street was still under construction. Roughly three floors high, it stood with it’s ground and first floor covered in scaffolding. While from a glance it didn’t look particularly sturdy, upon closer inspection it would become clear to those studying it that the house was actually only missing a wall or two here and there as well as a roof on the final floor. The general area was temporarily fenced off to avoid unwanted trespassers from entering the construction site, though surely that would not stop our two heroes today.

The wind whipped over the upper levels of the building, blowing clouds of concrete dust from above. A fine blanket of building materials and tools littered the floor around the house, the builders had not yet begun their work for the day. A tarpaulin sheet flew from atop the scaffolding before landing on the ground, a few seconds later the sound of several falling bricks could be heard as they came crashing to the floor somewhere off in the distance. To a trained shinobi there was clearly movement within the structure, but would our two academy students be able to judge the situation? Only time would tell.

 

[Uchiha Asuka]

Asuka looked the construction before going in or trying anything, it seemed sturdy enough, it didn’t seem dangerous since basic stuff was missing but nothing that looked dangerous. The 9-year-old girl waited for Wukong to come next to her, finally they could start their first mission, maybe not official but it still would make someone’s life easier to a degree, or at least less stressful. Once he was with her she looked at him “Well, let’s start looking for that ca-” Asuka didn’t finish as a tarpaulin sheet fell to the ground, this immediately made her activate her Sharingan.

Asuka did see a chakra signature moving around the top floor of the building. As soon as she got a locked on the signature and started following it bricks could be heard being dropped unto the ground. This clearly meant there was something moving around up there. She just wondered what would it be exactly, Asuka figured it couldn’t be a shinobi since she doubted anyone would make that much noise. Shinobi were trained to be powerful weapons but also stealthy, stealth made you have advantage on your opponent, no shinobi would make bricks fall simply because it would make the enemy aware of their presence.

She also figured it couldn’t be a human, she had sign human Chakra signatures before and although they weren’t as “bright” or strong as a Shinobis they still could be distinguished from other animal forms, especially a cat.

Asuka concluded it was an animal, probably the cat they were looking for or one of his friends. And if his friends were close so was the cat. Asuka looked at Wukong to explain to make a request and explain her findings. “I know my eyes look different, don’t ask… please.” She sighed and took a deep breath. “The sound we just heard was made by a small animal, probably the cat we’re looking for. I suggest walking to the top floor stealthy just so in case we don’t spook the animal and can actually identify it before it starts running and it becomes harder for us.” She gave Wukong a smile and thumbs up “I’ll let you lead the way, if you got any other ideas that may work better I’m all ears.” She giggled “To be honest this plan is more “if’s” than fact but it’s all I can think off at the moment. Before we go in, please tell me if you agree or not.”

[WC/TWC=411/1,125]

 

[Uchiha Asuka]

Asuka looked the construction before going in or trying anything, it seemed sturdy enough, it didn’t seem dangerous since basic stuff was missing but nothing that looked dangerous. The 9-year-old girl waited for Wukong to come next to her, finally they could start their first mission, maybe not official but it still would make someone’s life easier to a degree, or at least less stressful. Once he was with her she looked at him “Well, let’s start looking for that ca-” Asuka didn’t finish as a tarpaulin sheet fell to the ground, this immediately made her activate her Sharingan.

Asuka did see a chakra signature moving around the top floor of the building. As soon as she got a locked on the signature and started following it bricks could be heard being dropped unto the ground. This clearly meant there was something moving around up there. She just wondered what would it be exactly, Asuka figured it couldn’t be a shinobi since she doubted anyone would make that much noise. Shinobi were trained to be powerful weapons but also stealthy, stealth made you have advantage on your opponent, no shinobi would make bricks fall simply because it would make the enemy aware of their presence.

She also figured it couldn’t be a human, she had sign human Chakra signatures before and although they weren’t as “bright” or strong as a Shinobis they still could be distinguished from other animal forms, especially a cat.

Asuka concluded it was an animal, probably the cat they were looking for or one of his friends. And if his friends were close so was the cat. Asuka looked at Wukong to explain to make a request and explain her findings. “I know my eyes look different, don’t ask… please.” She sighed and took a deep breath. “The sound we just heard was made by a small animal, I know this because I can see it's chakra, probably the cat we’re looking for. I suggest walking to the top floor stealthy so we don’t spook the animal and can actually identify it before it starts running and it becomes harder for us.” She gave Wukong a smile and thumbs up “I’ll let you lead the way, if you got any other ideas that may work better I’m all ears.” She giggled “To be honest this plan is more “if’s” than fact but it’s all I can think off at the moment. Before we go in, please tell me if you agree or not.”

[WC/TWC=411/1,125]

 

[Chigokai Wukong]

Wukong looked at her eyes after surveying the building and the fallen bricks.. as he put up a pondering look, "don't worry they look cool that way, and i think that cat is in a scuffle with something so lets hurry!" he starts to run i hope she up for following my strategy and it works "Asuka run straight towards the cat and be ready to assist it, if you can leap up or scale the walls, im going around the side to scare of our help our little friend." he takes out his red sash belt " ill uses this to look like the ribbon, and he will either attack me or run to you, if he hopefully chooses the latter you catch him as he jumps down. if the former ill call you for help and we catch him in a triple pincer with what ever he is fighting. As he finishes speaking he arrives at the building with her hopefully following him.

With out blinking "i'm trusting you" and he runs around the building reading his staff, he pole vaults over the fence, and wall jumps up the building stopping just around the corner from where the bricks fell. he takes a deep breath I cant kill any of the of the animals here even if the attack me i don't want to effect Asuka, so i have to control my instinct and the urges As he thinks this he leaps from the corner holding his staff in a easy to defend stance, and sees.......

[TWC/WC]
[596/259]

 

[Minamoto Daisuke]

It wasn’t only the sound of the rustling tarpaulin that lingered in the air, something or some - things were frantically scratching against concrete. As the eyes of the Uchiha looked up towards the top floors of the building Asuka would have been able to see a sea of chakra signatures fading in and out of site as they passed over what could only be different thicknesses in the structure that stood before her and Wukong. There was clearly a larger mass of chakra on the top floor but there also appeared to be flowing streams of chakra signatures moving consistently between each of the floors. The images of chakra weren’t constant, the strain on Asuka’s eyes would be something that the Uchiha could feel. It wasn’t overwhelming but the focus that her Sharingan would have to undergo was a stress to say the least.

Nothing sudden happened while Wokong made his way around the house, as he landed on the far side of the fence the rustling ceased for a moment. Climbing the partially constructed building was easy for the boy raised in a monkey clan. The sound of one of the already fallen bricks shifting on the floor would have made its way to the Chigokai’s ears upon his arrival on the first floor. As the boy leapt around the corner with his staff at the ready a multitude of squeals sounded from all around him as it became clear that this house was infested with rats. The dark furry creatures scattered, some making their way into a separate room while the others fled upstairs. Little morsels of fish and other assorted sashimi rested on the dusty floor in their wake, if Wukong was paying close attention he would have been able to notice that when the rats were fleeing, some were still carrying pieces of food. It was definitely a strange sight to see.

Asuka, of course, would have been able to see this sudden shift in chakra concentration from her position outside. The squeals of the vermin reached her ears, clearly pinpointing a disturbance on the first floor as her partner entered the building heroically. There were no other signs of conflict now, everything seemed to have frozen.

 

[Uchiha Asuka]

Asuka nodded to Wukong, to be honest. That was a better plan than heirs, bit more detailed and it also had secondary measures in case plan A didn’t work. Asuka smiled at her friend once he claimed he was trusting her with this. She liked being trusted, she liked being close with people. Now this mission was three times more important and she was going to complete it.

As Asuka looked up she was amazed at how many chakra signatures one small building could have, for some reason they faded in an out of existence and she wondered why that was, the signature was too small for a human which meant whatever it was couldn’t be hiding its chakra by any means. It had to have another explanation, after a few seconds of wondering it hit her, maybe her Sharingan wasn’t strong enough to see everything. Did it have limits? People would say “You should know this, you’re an Uchiha.” But to be honest, she didn’t know anything about her bloodline. She only knew she could see chakra and that it was named the Sharingan because someone had pointed it out to her.

Asuka sighed as she assessed the situation, too many signatures, too much to assess in one single moment. Her eyes started pulsating painfully, she held her hands to her eyes and closed them. This was giving too much stress, she was working them too hard. After half a minute, she opened them again and looked up quickly, making out a signature larger than the rest on the top floor. That was her best bet.

With a quick jump, she got to one of the pillars, a handhold small enough to fit hers. She looked to her right and did calculations in her head whether the next leap would get her to the first floor. It wasn’t that far and with a quick thrust she would get on top. She dangled her body for a bit from one side to the other getting enough momentum to get a few inches off her leap but not enough that it would case her hold on the column to fail and fall. Asuka counted on her head 1… 2… on three she yanked her body up using her arm, letting go at the last second. The next step went in slow motion, she didn’t take her eyes off the 1st floor ledge as her hand started reaching up, within a few seconds her hands griped the concrete ledge as hard as she could. Once she pulled herself up she saw what was the identity of most of the chakra signatures, Rats. Well that was probably the reason why the cat constantly came here, she wondered if the old lady fed him correctly or Totoro just came here to get a full course meal.

Asuka didn’t stay long and quickly did the same thing to get to the top floor, this is where she would find the source of the larger signature. Once there she came in as quietly as possible and with little movement looked around, wondering what she could see and hopefully identifying her target.

[WC/TWC=525/1,650]

 

[Chigokai Wukong]

Wukong eyed the rats carefully, his grip tightened on his staff, his forehead and hands mildly sweatyControl your self and think, these rats explain why the cat is here, they probably have a boss that keeps them here, i should find i---- wait if i kill all the rats then Totoro wont have a reason to come back t-wukong broke into a smile. "No no i cant think like this, cant let those urges out here" sighing again ''i need more training!"

With that out of the way wukong carefully looked around, taking a slip of paper out, he began to draw the layout of the building and the surrounding area the best he can looking out the window he came from, as well as sulking around till he had a good grasp and a map of the surrounding areas, marking points that a small animal might seek to hide from a terrifying red ribbon. finished with this he began to search for the cat and or the boss of these rodent he also started to find and block with fallen rubble all rat holes in the walls, sighing once more "wish i had several smoke bombs to smoke them out, ohh well ill ask Asuka" He hit his thighs for not thinking ahead for any possibility and made a mental note, as he continued his search.

[wc=229]
[twc=823]

 

[Minamoto Daisuke]

Rats droppings as well as seemingly professionally prepares sashimi lay scattered on the concrete floor that both Wukong and Asuka had managed to reach. It wasn’t long until Asuka moved off, climbing her way up the side of the building towards the top floor. As she was doing this, Wukong too was making his way through the building, he easily managed to map out the house. His explorations would take him higher and higher, a few flights of stairs were all that he had to pass, again the sight of sashimi became clear to him during his ascent.

The top floor was flooded with even more rats, now Asuka would have been able to see that the large chakra source that she had previously seen was actually a sea of rodents. In the first few seconds after she arrived she would have been able to see that the rats appeared to form several lines moving in specific directions. It became obvious that they were the ones carrying the pieces of fish throughout the house. At the far end of the room stood a makeshift pedestal upon which one singular being lay, it was a cat, Totoro to be exact. His obesity was striking as he lay on his back. A set of tiny stairs stood next to the pedestal and as if they were a well oiled machine, the rats walked up and down the stairs one at a time, each rat that ascended to the level of the fat cat threw pieces of fish swiftly into his mouth. This was the scene that both Asuka and Wukong would have been able to see upon arrival. This emperor cat lay being fed by his loyal rat servants.

Unfortunately for Asuka, the floor beneath her began to crumble, the concrete obviously wasn’t structurally viable. The sound of pieces of stone falling to a lower level rang out through the top floor. Totoro sat bolt upright and at that moment looked around with a new found sense of urgency! The first of the two that he spotted was Wukong. The large cat let out a hiss and pointed a single paw to the boy, it didn’t take long for several rats to descend upon the academy student. Their teeth were gnarled and their claws ragged. Seemingly they wished to defend their leader who at that moment in time simply sat watching, though his eyes indicated fear. The boy would have to defend himself somehow.

It seemed as though the Uchiha had manged to get away with her sneaking around, despite the floor below her causing the position of her comrade to be revealed. All seemed safe for her, the rats were attacking Wukong with sheer force of numbers. A pathway seemed to open up before her as the sea of rats parted in order to engulf the monkey-boy. A simply choice lay ahead of her, either retrieve her mission objective or help her friend.

 

[Uchiha Asuka]

Asuka could not believe what she was actually seeing, every theory she made about why Totoro would come to this place was wrong. Never would she have imagined to see a cat being fed by rats as if he was some kind of diety. Either way she had to catch the cat, maybe in some instance liberate the rats. But she did not see what was coming.

Asuka took her first step and the ground made a loud crumbling sound, Asuka cursed under her breath... especially since the cat noticed. God dam... this was not going to be good. She started thinking of different plans once she was attacked, burning the rats alive, keeping them at a distance with a barrier, use lighting to paralyze them, take Totoro and make a run for it. She didn't realize who actually was the one who got noticed. The chakra signature was different, it had a human like shape, it seemed to shine meaning he could that said Chakra. A shinobi? But why would someone be here? As far as she knew no one had any reason to be here. Then she realized who it actually was that got noticed, the only one who would be in this situation. "Wukong!" She yelled out, no... no no no no. Being over the ledge would make it difficult for him to defend himself she had to do something... but what... time slowed down for her as she started going through her mind, trying to find a way this could work. Then she had an idea.


Asuka ran next to Wukong, hoping she would make it in time before the rats reached him. Asuka made the respective hand seals and took a deep breath. "Scalding Ash Cloud." She exhaled, leaving a black ash cloud that sourrounded the premises... she tried aiming mostly at the rats, leaving Totoro out of it. This jutsu would feel hot, even burn if a living being was exposed too much also impedding visuals but she kept Totoro's chakra signature in her sights, follow his location if he decided to move somewhere else.. It would hopefully disperese the rats and Impeed the cat from escaping. She just hoped Wukong would take this chance to grab Totoro while confusion set in.

[WC/TWC=380/2,030]