Mission:

Sometimes, it sucked being a sensory nin. Arumi got stuck with a lot of drudge work because of her sensory jutsu. The collapsed tunnel was just the most recent example. She shuddered, trying to put it out of her mind. It had been by far the worst mission she had ever been on. Blood and bodies were par for the course for a Hirano, but that was different. She was supposed to be in battle. Digging dead civilians out after a tragic accident, that was the real trauma. She still wasn't sleeping well.

Arumi shook her head, clearing her mind for the hunt to come. It was simple, this time. Some snot-nosed brat had wandered off and they wanted her to find him. Not the most thrilling use of her powers, but it paid the bills and she needed some money right now. Soundproofing her new apartment had been expensive, but it would all be worth it when Kenji came to visit. No, no, bad thoughts! She had to focus on the mission now. Arumi cleared her head, starting to transform. The genin growled, bending over as her ears and tongue began to change. The tongue grew long and forked, and her ears looked like they would be more at home on an elf in a cheesy fantasy movie. Arumi straightened up, ready to go brat hunting.

She started out at the family's house, sniffing around. It took her a few minutes to find the brat's scent. It was a busy part of town, but she isolated it before long. She kept low to the ground, tongue flicking out to taste the air. She was hot on the trail now, following the kid's path through town. He had been meandering all over the place, never with anyone consistent. That was good news, at least. He wasn't kidnapped, he had just wandered off like a moron. This would be a nice, relaxing mission. No maulings, to collapses, no daring rescues. Just finding some dumb kid and hauling him back home. Arumi could practically smell the money already.

The trail led out of the residential district, and towards the caves. Arumi groaned. What was it with stupid kids and caves? She remembered Chinatsu had come after a kid who had run off like this. Arumi didn't plan on making the same mistakes that Nasty Natsu had. Unlike her bomb-happy comrade, Arumi wasn't going to forget she could walk on walls. She chuckled at the memory. Her chuunin friend had cut her hands with ninja wire climbing down to retrieve the kid. Chinatsu had been horribly embarrassed when Arumi had reminded her that she could walk on walls.

Arumi ventured into the caves, sniffing around. There didn't seem to be any animals in this cave, at least now now. Except for the brat, all the scents in this cave were days old. It would be a simple mission, in and out. She dropped to all sixes, crawling through the cave. It wasn't too low a ceiling, she just needed to be closer to the ground to get a good sniff. Her tongue flicked in and out, picking up the trail. She was getting very close now.

As she got closer in, she was starting to pick up on sound too. Breathing and a heartbeat, coming from deeper inside the cave. The kid's heart was going a mile a minute. He must have been terrified in there. Arumi couldn't really feel sympathetic. The stupid kid had wandered off, it was his own damn fault he had gotten lost here. If he was expecting a shoulder to cry on, his family had hired the wrong ninja. Arumi was going to sass him all the way back, and it was going to be FUN.

She slid down the slope, landing on a ledge next to the kid. Apparently he had gotten lost in a dark cave like a dumbass and taken a tumble. He was complaining that his leg hurt, but Arumi didn't pay too much attention to that. She picked him up with all four arms, passing him onto her back. “Hang on, kid, you're riding piggyback.” The kid nodded, going quiet. “What's your problem, anyway?” she asked, climbing up the slope. The slick surface was an easy climb for a ninja, her feet sticking to the stone like glue. “You went into a dark cave with no flashlight, is this seriously a surprise to you? What did you think was gonna happen, huh?” The kid wasn't answering. He was just crying at this point. Arumi gave up on the sassing. It was no fun if he just sat there and took it like that. Someone needed to teach this kid to man up, right after they knocked some sense into him.

In a matter of minutes, Arumi was back at the home and delivering the boy to his happy family. She dropped the kid off, not waiting around for the praise and thanks from the family. She didn't want to be there when they found out their son's rescuer had been talking shit to him during the rescue, that had gotten her in trouble before. She reversed her transformations and ran off to get her pay, disappointed that none of the transformations had stuck this time.

[Words: 882/850]

Jutsu used:

Approved.