Name: Tending the Garden
Rank: E Rank
Type: Solo
Participants Saito Kyoshi
Description: The centerpiece of any home in the Saito compound is the private garden, often used as a private training grounds by the family that lives there, and is often utilized as a vegetable garden as well to provide for the family. This requires regular care and maintenance, often left for the children of the family to attend to, and with Kyoshi's older sister having graduated from the academy, she is often to busy to tend the garden, leaving the task to fall to him. Kyoshi must clean the training equipment, sweep the sparring circle, weed and water the garden, and various other minor tasks.
Rank: E Rank
Type: Solo
Participants Saito Kyoshi
Description: The centerpiece of any home in the Saito compound is the private garden, often used as a private training grounds by the family that lives there, and is often utilized as a vegetable garden as well to provide for the family. This requires regular care and maintenance, often left for the children of the family to attend to, and with Kyoshi's older sister having graduated from the academy, she is often to busy to tend the garden, leaving the task to fall to him. Kyoshi must clean the training equipment, sweep the sparring circle, weed and water the garden, and various other minor tasks.
The sky had been darkened and threatening to downpour all day, which is why Kyoshi knew it would be better to tend the garden early rather than leave it for another day. This had the added benefit of his father's approval, due to the young Saito's consciousness, and in their family, their father approving of anything was rare. The unfortunate side of earning his father's approval today, was the fact that with the lack of chores to do the following day, Kyoshi was going to be run through more strenuous training than normal. The better you preformed, the more was expected out of you, more often than not this sentiment was a good thing, a sign of maturity and development, but for Kyoshi he knew all it would do was increase the amount of bruises he'd receive during tomorrow's sparring session. With the added benefit of rain, the stone circle they sparred on would be made slippery and a decent few of Kyoshi's soon to be bruises would simply be from falling, much to his father's disapproval.
Pushing such thoughts aside, Kyoshi instead focused on the list of chores he would need to complete today. His mother had asked him to pull up one of the onion plants as it was growing mold and she didn't want it infecting the other vegetables, so he'd have to remember to do that as well as the normal tending the garden required. To start off though, Kyoshi actually set about putting up the quarterstaffs he and his father had been training with the day before. The wood would need to be cleaned and checked for damage, and any nicks would need to be repolished. There were also a half dozen or so kuni that would need to be recovered, all but one were embedded in targets around the garden, but he had missed with that one and it would need to be found least someone injure themselves. The baby squash plants were getting to the point where they needed to be resettled out of their pots in the garden itself as well. To finish the day off, Kyoshi would sweep the walkway and sparring circle of any dirt or leaves, then call it a night so he could eat supper.
Kyoshi picked set about moving the pots of baby squash plants and basket of enriched dirt next to the spot where his mother had told him to plant them before going and getting the shovel to dig up the dying onions. He had to make sure to dig up the roots just to make sure the infection didn't spread to anything that was planted in it's place. Once that was done with, he threw the now dead plant into the compost and moved on to his next chore, picking up one of the kuni as he went and placing it in his gardening tool belt, he'd put the kuni with the other training equipment once he finished gathering the rest of them. Using a small bamboo trovel to loosen the dirt, Kyoshi mixed in the fresh enriched dirt, not to much so that the roots wouldn't burn out. One by one he transplanted the squash plants into their place, stacking the now empty pots before moving them to the porch where his mother could reuse them. Once that was all settled, Kyoshi went about picking random weeds, watering plants, picking up the various kuni, finding the missing one in the amongst the lilies. It wasn't long however until he was sweeping the stone pathway, sparring circle, and the porch.
Kyoshi could already smell his mother cooking steamed pork and cabbage buns, and the thought of jasmine tea made his muscles feel more sore than they really were. He was nearing the end of his list of chores and his body knew it. Only one last chore, returning the kuni to the locker where his father stored their training equipment, Kyoshi pulled out a small linen cloth and some sort of chemical water mixture. He wasn't entirely sure of what it was, but it smelled like alcohol and did a fine job cleaning the kuni. His father always told him it helped clean the bloodstains and that as a shinobi it was a good habit to develop even while young. Once finished with that, he put the kuni up before grabbing the quarterstaffs and a new linen cloth as well as the wood oil his father made him use to polish the weapons. Kyoshi sat, one foot on the ground, one on the porch to angle the quarterstaff so the light highlighted the cracks and nicks in the wood. The process took the longest out of everything he had done so far, but it was also one of the least physically demanding.
He was halfway through the second quarterstaff when the boy felt his father's presence behind him. He quickly stood, placing the weapon on the porch and bowing, "Apologies Sir." Kyoshi offered, knowing it was rude to have his back to his father. His father simply ignored him for a few minutes, scanning the garden only to find no chore forgotten and no stone left unswept. He offered his approval with a nod before turning away and returning to the dining room, only stopping to remind Kyoshi to wash his hands before joining them at the meal table. Kyoshi took this as his cue to hurry up and not keep them waiting, and returned to his work with fervor, returning the staffs and supplies to the locker in record time before running off to wash his hands in the water fountain, leaving his shoes at the door and wiping his hands on the mat. His mother was quick to inspect his hands, chastising him for having dirt under his nails, but said nothing where her husband could hear. Kyoshi began helping his mother move the food to the table where his father was watching over his youngest child, Kaida who was barely two years old and too young for their father's typical sternness. Kyoshi took a moment to admire his family, despite everything his father did, Kyoshi loved his family.
Word Count: 1027