Cardboard Boxes [Mission]

[Yasui Iku]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true] you had your heart set on an angel's kiss maybe a taste of bliss maybe a long white dress and a fistful of flowers you wrapped your arms around a murderer pretending it didn't hurt every time i cut you deeper and deeper i'm not the one i'm not the one Today was going to be a boring day. Just Iku, an elderly lady, and tons and tons of boxes that needed moved. She was actually pretty happy with this mission assignment. Heavy lifting wasn't really her thing, but if she was going to learn how to use one of those big cleaver swords like Seidou, that chunin she had met the other day, she needed to build up her strength. At the moment she didn't think she could even pick that kind of sword up, let alone do anything with it. So maybe this would help a little. Plus, since her client was an old lady, maybe she'd get some cookies or something. Iku wasn't really dressed up today either. Sure, she was wearing a skirt, but hey, it wasn't a fancy dress, and that was progress. Plus she'd just braided her hair instead of spending two hours messing with it until it was perfect. Her appearance was still important to her - you didn't get beautiful by neglecting your hair, clothes, and makeup, after all - but she was starting to realize that maybe she should take her career as a shinobi a little more seriously. She'd been getting harder missions more often as of late, and she didn't want to come to the realization that she wasn't strong enough at a time when it would actually kill her. Of course, nothing like that was going to happen on this mission - it was just a D-Rank. And for once, she actually saw a D-Rank as useful training; most of the time she just bitched about them for being useless. The woman lived pretty much all the way across the village, and Iku decided to run, to see how fast she could get there. words: 304 tags: --- notes: one of five lyrics: nothing to do with love by halestorm credit: akemi of btn * you wanna give your heart to

[Yasui Iku]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true] you had your heart set on an angel's kiss maybe a taste of bliss maybe a long white dress and a fistful of flowers you wrapped your arms around a murderer pretending it didn't hurt every time i cut you deeper and deeper i'm not the one i'm not the one It wasn't like she was going to be late; since she hadn't had to fuck around with her hair and clothes and stuff, she would get there early even if she just walked. That was a nice change. Maybe she would try to make a habit of it. "Miss Ume?" Iku called out when she arrived, and the old lady almost immediately opened the door. "Are you Iku?" she asked, and the genin nodded. "Come in, child. There's a lot of work for you to do today." The interior of the house was cozy, comfortable, and very lived-in. Iku listened as the woman explained that she had lived here pretty much since the village had been founded. She had raised six kids and a grandchild in the house, and it definitely looked like it. There was so much stuff everywhere, even though the woman said she had packed up ninety percent of her belongings. At least her new apartment was pretty close - and, for an apartment, it was big, so she would be able to keep most of her stuff. "I keep trying to get my sons in here to get all of their things, because I won't have the space once I've moved to keep it all." Ume said, looking kind of annoyed. "There's one room of boxes that belongs to the boys, so you can just ignore those ones. I'll go shut that door so you know not to go in there, and show you the rest of the boxes." Iku nodded in assent, and followed the woman as she shuffled down a long hallway. The first door on the left was the one that she shut, and then she led the genin to the room at the end of the hall - what looked to have been a family room before all the packing had occurred. words: 316 tags: --- notes: two of five lyrics: nothing to do with love by halestorm credit: akemi of btn * you wanna give your heart to

[Yasui Iku]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true] you had your heart set on an angel's kiss maybe a taste of bliss maybe a long white dress and a fistful of flowers you wrapped your arms around a murderer pretending it didn't hurt every time i cut you deeper and deeper i'm not the one i'm not the one The bad thing about this former family room? It was huge. And practically filled to the top with boxes. "How.. how did you get those boxes stacked that high?" she asked. "I paid for genin to help me pack." Ume replied simply. "But I didn't really like their attitudes, so I requested a different one this time. I'm sure a lovely girl like you will treat an old lady courteously." "Oh, of course. Why wouldn't I?" Iku smiled. Maybe she wasn't the nicest or most humble of people, but she knew how to be nice to her clients. That meant that it was more likely for her to get requested by the person next time they put up a D-Rank mission, and that meant she had more work and got paid more. Plus this lady was just nice - or so she seemed, anyway. Ume gave the genin directions to the apartment and shuffled off to do something else - probably pack more boxes. She had seen a stack of collapsed boxes in the kitchen when they walked past. Iku went over to the tallest stack of boxes first, figuring it'd be a good idea to take the top boxes off. Thankfully, there was a little step ladder that she could use to reach them. Iku wasn't very tall, and without the ladder, she wouldn't have been able to reach them at all. For a moment, she wished that the six foot tall Hoozuki Kuro was here, but then pushed the thought out of her mind. She was on a mission. It wasn't the time to think about boys. Even if it would be nice to be working with, say, Sherbet Head.. only the work would probably end up being way less productive than moving boxes. words: 303 tags: --- notes: three of five lyrics: nothing to do with love by halestorm credit: akemi of btn * you wanna give your heart to

[Yasui Iku]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true] you had your heart set on an angel's kiss maybe a taste of bliss maybe a long white dress and a fistful of flowers you wrapped your arms around a murderer pretending it didn't hurt every time i cut you deeper and deeper i'm not the one i'm not the one Iku picked up two boxes and very nearly dropped them both. She hadn't expected them to be quite so heavy. Good lord. This would take forever if she could only move one box at a time... Well, if she didn't push her limits, she wouldn't get stronger, right? Two boxes it was. The job would still take all day, but she'd be better off at the end of it. Probably. Several hours passed, and Iku had cleared the family room of boxes. She was tired, sweaty, and probably looked gross - well now she definitely wouldn't want a boy here to see her like this. She hadn't seen or heard anything from Ume in those hours, but as she reentered the house after her most recent trip, she could smell food, and the old lady appeared, wearing a "kiss the cook" apron. "Are you hungry, dear?" "You bet I am! Moving all these boxes is a lot harder than I thought it would be." Iku admitted. She was going to be so sore from lifting and carrying all of them, but it was worth it. Especially if she got free food. "Well, come into the kitchen and sit down. I only made sandwiches - there's not much food in the house right now - and there's cookies in the oven." Ume gave Iku a glass of water and a plate with the sandwich and some chips. "Thank you so much, Miss Ume." Iku told her, grinning. She felt like she was starving after all that work, and she quickly scarfed down all the food on her plate. After eating that fast, she did feel a little ill, but Ume struck up a conversation and gave her time to rest and let her stomach settle before she had to return to box hell. words: 307 tags: --- notes: four of five lyrics: nothing to do with love by halestorm credit: akemi of btn * you wanna give your heart to

[Yasui Iku]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true] you had your heart set on an angel's kiss maybe a taste of bliss maybe a long white dress and a fistful of flowers you wrapped your arms around a murderer pretending it didn't hurt every time i cut you deeper and deeper i'm not the one i'm not the one After the refreshing lunch, and with the promise of cookies in her future, Iku got back to work. There were two other rooms with boxes in them, though one was only about half full. Thankfully, these rooms were much smaller than the family room. Despite how tired and sore she was, it was getting a little easier to pick up and carry the boxes. That meant something good had to be happening, right? With that thought in mind, it felt like hardly any time passed until the second room was empty. She stopped for a few minutes to ask Ume for a cookie, which she munched on contentedly as she picked up two more boxes and headed to the apartment again. How did one old lady manage to accrue this much stuff? And what in the world was all of it? The third room emptied much faster than the other two, but it was still almost evening before she was totally finished. Ume was so happy that the job was complete, she gave Iku a whole bag of freshly baked cookies. Score! She wasn't going to share them, either. Not with Kazue. Maybe she would give Sherbet Head one or two if he was really nice. Maybe. She gave the old lady a hug before she left, which seemed to make her even happier. Hey, maybe she would need help unpacking all of those boxes, and she'd request that Iku be the genin sent for that job, and she would earn even more money (and cookies). Then Iku headed home, sweaty, sore, and tired. It was going to take so much effort to drag herself into the shower and wash up before falling asleep, and every bone in her body was going to hurt the next day, but it was totally worth it. If she could lift and carry heavy boxes all day, surely she was getting at least a little bit stronger, and wasn't that the entire end goal? words: 333 tags: --- notes: five of five lyrics: nothing to do with love by halestorm credit: akemi of btn * you wanna give your heart to