Starring:
Rockpath (emitter), Hikaru
Date: June 3, 2015
Summary:
A small mission has been given to Hikaru, and now he has to deal with an infestation of every disgusting vermin one could possibly imagine in a butcher shop.
"Rats, Roaches, and Ants! Oh my!"
Land of Fire
Hikaru would get up in the morning, and he would discover a messenger hawk outside his bedroom window. Or one of his parents would see to the bird and tell him that he had received a mission. Regardless of /how/ he got the information, he would know that he's on a mission! The letter would have told him to head off to a local restaurant that's been having a bit of trouble with some rodents… No, not the local ramen shop (phew!), the local butcher. … Oh boy. Rumor has it that he's got quite a temper when things aren't going his way.
Hikaru had gotten up expecting to hit the training grounds again - but to his surprise, he'd actually gotten work to do! This was his first official mission as a Genin, and he was so pumped when he found out about it that he took off running from his house, stumbling out the door with his shoes half on and barely getting out an "Ittekimasu!" before hitting the road. At a run, it took him about ten minutes to reach the butcher's shop, just enough to get his heart rate up and help burn off some of the excess energy of his excitement so he could focus on the task at hand. Wiping a forearm across his sweaty brow, he slowed to a walk and approached the front door, calling out to whomever was inside. ".. Excuse me! I'm here for the rodent problem!"
*THMP* The sound of a knife slamming down onto the cutting board is heard once Hikaru comes in, and this short man with a rather muscular build (especially with the broad shoulders) comes over to him after coming down from a step ladder. "FINALLY!" he shouts. "I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU ALL DAY! WE'VE GOT THIS NASTY INFESTATION OF COCKROACHES AND RATS AND THE LIKE… NO THANKS TO MY EMPLOYEES!" And this is why no one wanted to accept the mission… None of the older genin, at least … His yelling is enough to make one's ears ring. "JUST GET RID OF THEM! ALL OF THEM! AND /DON'T/ DESTROY MY SHOP!" Then he leaves with a huff, calling back, "I'M TAKING A WALK. THIS BETTER BE DONE WHEN I GET BACK!" Impatient little man!
When the butcher starts ranting at him, the first expression that comes fleetingly to Hikaru's face is skepticism. 'He's been waiting all day…? But It's barely morning!' he thought, but he didn't give the man any attitude. He knew better than to rile him any more than he already was. When the man took his leave, Hikaru bowed respectfully, turning once the butcher was gone and facing the dim inside of the shop, flexing an arm and gripping his bicep with a grim grin. Even the butcher's dismal attitude wasn't enough to disenchant him. He would do this job, and do it so well that the grumpy old butcher would go dumb from surprise! And with how easily words seemed to come to him, that would be saying something.
Deciding he'd best get started, Hikaru walks silently into the room, using what stealth and perception he had to try and locate the pests. He figured the rats would be easier to catch than the roaches… And just as he thought that, he heard a little scratching sound behind one of the wooden boxes, pausing with bated breath to listen. 'One… Two… THREE!' he counted off mentally, suddenly pulling the crate aside and diving towards the scurrying rodent, missing and landing hard on his elbows and knees, but quickly scampering after it with a grumble. "C'mere, you!"
Even as one rat gets away, another appears in its place. This one scurries up and atop a broom that just happens to come crashing down so the handle would bump Hikaru's head (what is this, Tom & Jerry?). Then it would hop away, skittering across the counter and towards a mouse hole that is just over there by the trash can of the kitchen.
Hikaru hears the broom falling before it hits him, and is just quick enough to catch the handle when he sees the nasty little rat making an escape attempt. "Oh no, you don't," he mutters, gripping the broom handle and swinging the bristled end straight down with a THWACK on top of the fleeing rodent, just inches before it is able to take respite in the hole in the wall. "Got one," Hikaru says with a grin, scavenging an empty burlap sack and dumping the dead rat inside to start his collection. He didn't know how many there were to find, but he was sure the sack would be full by the end.
More rats continue to scurry around the kitchen, the lot of them looking rather fat from the meat and blood that comes regularly through a butcher's store. Ewww… So nasty v.v Hikaru would either have to chase them all down one by one…. Or he could figure out some clever way to get them all, barring burning the butcher's business (how's that for alliteration!) Either way, there are a lot of rats. Trying to count them /now/ would be a ridiculous waste of time, so better get cracking! Off in the corner, there are some really gross-looking bugs… Looks like the kitchen staff doesn't know really how to clean…
Sure, Hikaru had managed to get /one/ rat, but that was nothing compared to the infestation that surrounded him. He'd have to be quick, and he'd have to be thorough. What a normal pest-control person would do in several hours, he would have to do in under one. 'I'm a shinobi,' Hikaru thought with pride and confidence. 'I can do this!' Crouching down to a kneeling position, he took a minute to strategize. Off in one corner he saw some wire cages that were used to hold and transport chickens - this gave him an idea. Taking one off the top of the stack, he began to configure it into a simple, yet effective bait trap. Leaving one end open and laying it upside-down, he propped it up with the wooden block which served as the door stopper, around which he'd tied a piece of butcher's twine. Very carefully, he /borrowed/ one of the almost rancid scraps of meat from the butcher's pile and slid it under the cage, then sat back silently to wait. With these greedy little rats, it shouldn't take long…
One… Two… Three… … Ten? Twenty? Wait, how many rats can this cage hold?! They all seem rather vicious, too, a few of the rats cutting into their own kin to try and get at the meat that was laid out for them. Eventually because the trap is so full, the door closes on them automatically because a rat's behind knocked away what held the door open. SQUEAK! And that takes care of most of the rats. All the others fled the shop. Now to deal with those buggers… Looks like… Brown. And evil. And disgusting cockroaches. Also black ants… Ewwww.
Hikaru grinned when the trap finally closed, thrilled with his success. He would take care of the cage later. For now, he had bigger problems to worry about… Didn't anybody here know that they could keep these pests away just by /cleaning/? Or would Hikaru have to do that, too? With a sigh, the Genin hugs his knees to think, his eyes flicking around the room whenever he saw another ugly, brown roach on the move. He didn't have any poison powder… Sure, he'd been studying up on how to make a Poison Gas tag with a seal, but it wasn't complete yet. So how would he kill them…?
Look at all dem buggers! So many! Hahah!! 'We will totally take over!' is probably going through their minds as they make their way across the floor, sometimes aiming to try and crawl near the Sarutobi. Double ew. The ants aren't so bad, at least. They're just marching back and forth, bringing food to their ant colony and the like. So peaceful… Maybe.
Finally fed up with having no easy solutions, Hikaru instead goes for the most direct approach, suddenly standing up and dancing across the floor, trying to catch a roach under his foot and squash it with each step. He probably looked extremely silly, hopping around like a lunatic, but at least he was doing /something/. And something is better than nothing.
Well, cockroaches are evil little critters who don't enjoy being stepped on. As soon as Hikaru is successful with one, he isn't ever lucky again. So now he looks like even more of a fool!
The Genin grumbles with frustration, watching the cockroaches scattering with contempt in his eyes. If only he could make them stay put… Chewing his lower lip a bit, he starts to formulate an idea. If he couldn't use a Poison Tag to kill them… Maybe his Goo Tag would at least trap them? Fishing his spare tags from his pockets, he begins to stick his pre-made Goo Tags all over the floor, activating each one with his chakra as he goes, making a big, sticky mess. For extra incentive, he sticks in the middle of each pile of goo a tiny crumb of a candy bar he had in his pocket, knowing that roaches were attracted by sugar. If he was lucky, he might even get some ants.
While the goo tag isn't that effective with the ants, which haven't spotted the candy crumbs yet, the roaches notice the crumbs and start scrambling to get at them. Only to be stuck in place by this yucky goo that is …. unpleasant to be stuck in. It smells, too! With the cockroaches firmly stuck in place, it's a simple matter to scoop them up and dispose of them somehow (though whether or not Hikaru decides to kill them first is up to his discretion). Eventually the ants would make their way over and meet the same fate. Poor ants… But they needed to be destroyed, too! >:|
Success! Now that the roaches had been caught, it was time for Hikaru to start cleaning up his mess. Picking up a small shovel from the tool box (obviously kept for just such occasions), HIkaru began scraping the goo off the floor, roaches and all, and dumping them into his aforementioned burlap sack. When the sticky mess was finally cleaned up, he tied the top of the bag securely shut and dumped it on top of the cage of rats, glancing at the counter and the trail of ants. A good scrubbing ought to get rid of them. Grabbing a grungy bucket that had obviously stored blood recently, Hikaru runs outside to the water pump and rinses it out thoroughly, bringing it back full and setting it on the floor. He then dunks a scrub brush inside and gets to work cleaning the butcher's counter, making sure to use plenty of water to drown out the trailing ants and rinse them away.
Hikaru would likely be in the middle of cleaning some other parts of the shop when the butcher returns looking semi-cheerful. He had cooled down a bit since last time, as being in his store and seeing the mess just made his RAGE pile up and up and up until… Well, Hikaru saw what happened there. He seems pleasantly surprised at how /clean/ the kitchen looks when he walks in, some of the water still there since Hikaru probably hasn't dried it yet. "Mph! You managed to get all the scalawags, then, boy?" he questions, peering around the now-clean workspace.
Seeing the butcher and smiling, Hikaru stops what he's doing and nods. "Yes, sir! Every rat, roach, and ant! I hope you don't mind me cleaning up a bit, I figured a clean workspace would help keep them away next time.." He felt proud of himself for completing his job successfully. This was exactly the way he would have wished to start his Genin career!
"Good, good. I'll leave your payment with the offices, then. And feel free to visit when you like. You're free to leave when you like. I'll be setting up to open, so just don't get in the way if you stay," the butcher says gruffly, turning to go and get everything ready. Meat that needs to be handled, checking over the meat to make sure none of it was spoiled, etc. etc. etc. When Hikaru chose to leave, he would get a wave from the butcher unless he was dealing with a customer.
Bowing with a grin, Hikaru thanked the old butcher and decided to head home to tell his parents how his first job went. He knew his mother would have a hot breakfast waiting for him. Just the sort of reward he liked after hard work.
