Day off..

It was quite the coincidence that Cherish was actually around, well more like she had passed out at the right side of the ramen shop near the dumpster and miraculously no one had noticed her sleeping form. It was the usual situation for someone like her who got drunk on a regular basis and didn't have a buddy who could escort her home when she got shitfaced. She would mumble something incomprehensible in her sleep before to tipped over from her seated position with her back against the wall onto the ground hitting her head on a stone causing her to wake up with a start. Stupid rock...Ugh my head. Cherish said groaning as everything was so bright and loud to her at least but that was because she was hung over which sucked honestly. She would look around a bit before pushing herself off the ground and stumbling forward a bit yawning as she tried to wake herself up fully.

She would take a couple of steps before the aroma of ramen caught her nose causing her to rummage through her pockets and smile as she hadn't been robbed during the night how she hated when that happened. Hey...hey can I get some Ramen..1 Miso & 1 Shrimp I'm starving. she said as she slid onto one of the stools before flopping her head down on the table completely missing the fact that her teammate was sitting next to her.

Omito was sitting on the left stool in front of the counter. He had actually just got done having a huge bowl of barbecue pork ramen. He would push the bowl to the side and would take a sigh of relief because of how good the food was, "Thanks! The ramen was good as always." Omito was actually just about to leave but then he saw a familiar face walk into the shop. It was his teammate, Cherish. He hadn't seen her or his other teammate Summer in a while because they were on a mission. It seemed like they got back. Omito's light sea green eyes watched as Cherish slid into her seat, looking a little.... uh, tired. The boy would freeze in place and sweat dripped off the side of his head from the sight of his crush coming into the place all down like that, "Uh, hey Cherish." The boy would pull out some Xel from his pocket and would hand enough to cover his food and hers, "Here, it's on me." He didn't really get to bond with either of his new squad mates yet, so he thought paying for the food would be a nice thing to do.

Huh, oh hey Ghosty didn't see you there. Cherish said picking her head off of the table at Omito's voice though when he said he'd pay for her meal her eyes would widen and she would give him a thumbs up. You my friend, are amazing now I can use the rest of my money to buy sake. As thanks I'll share some with you if you like? she said before rubbing her eyes and stretching pulling out her own Xel and doing just that. Though at the eyebrow raise from the cook she would point at her headband causing them to shake their head and mutter something about "Kids these days", still Cherish knew her rights once a shinobi you were an adult in the eyes of the village and adults could drink all the sake they wanted. Hey so...Ghosty as you can see we're back from our mission. Um Summer's still recovering it was a success but...things happened. she said her voice dropping down to a whisper sure she wanted to tell him about it but, she didn't want anyone to overhear since it was talking about their mission.

Omito then heard Cherish offer to share some of her sake with him. He gave a little awkward laugh, "Heheh. Maaaaybe some other time." His mother told him it was rude to decline something if someone offered you it, but he didn't know if he was ready to start drinking yet. He then caught a glimpse of Cherish pointing to her headband when the cook made his eyebrow raise when she started talking about Sake. She then started talking about how they were back from their mission, but said that Summer was still recovering. Omito's eyebrow raised at her comment, "Is she okay? What happened?" He also dropped his voice to a whisper, but it was only because she did.

"Well, what had happened was, we had a simple delivery mission it was supposed to be a low C-rank since we were just going form Dipugakure to Subarashii, deliver a package from point A to point B." Cherish began before halting as the woman came back with her food, wow they cooked fast they must be cooking-nin she would have to remember this place for future hangover recovery food. "Ah...warm sake wonderful. So, we decided to go on a mission with Colt Juryoku he used to be our squad member before he transferred off of our squad so we wanted to do one last missionw ith him as a goodbye thing. We never really liked him all that much though, you are better in every way Ghosty." she said while pouring herself a cup having heard him when he said some other time and understanding not everyone liked alcohol that was cool. She would pick up her chopsticks and close her eyes in a quick prayer to Gaia for blessing her with the means to eat such delicious food and would dig in.

"So, in the beginning of the mission we were just travelling like normal *slurp* and noghting regly hapded and we goh to Subahgshi okagh (nothing really happened and we got to Subarashii okay) *swallow* so we decided that I'd be team leader for the mission since I had the map and knew where we were going. So we headed towards the pier where we were supposed to go and then out of no where some guy just attacks us. He was obviously a missing nin since he had a slashed Kaosgakure forehead protector and he had to be at least a Chunin or T. Jonin because he was older and really scary looking with an eye-patch and this big fan thing oh and he was a Mishura." she would scarf down some of the food while she spoke though when she ended it on that she would continue eating choosing that time to pause to give some more drama to the tale. Which well it was dramatic since they had all fought for their lives and if not for their team work and stuff it would of ended a lot worse.

"He starts it off with a big fire *slurp munch munch swallow* and we are like oh my Gaia what's going on. But Girlie reacts quickly yells out get behind me I'll handle this and puts up a diamond wall which saves us from getting bbq'd. Me and Colt got behind her, well Colt did I did what I usually do aka, sink into the ground and plot to turn the terrain against my opponent. So I got underground used some of the concrete from the pier to make my armor and then popped back up to touch Girlie's sword glimmer so I could go diamond. While I was doing this Colt I guess figured out the strategy and make three clones one of them henged as me while the other two were himself using one to charge ahead, one to move closer to the water and the other one  to pose as me. Pretty much girlie managed to reflect the missing-nin's fire technique right back at him and using that I dived into the water so that I could have a much better advantage but only after I told Colt Spin-Spin, which was code for one of our combinations". she continued before taking time to pause and continue eating.

"Mhm..." So apparently they were sent out on a mission to deliver something to someone or something in Subarashii. It seemed like it was suppose to be a fairly easy mission since it was a basic C-rank mission. Omito watched with his light sea green eyes as the food was set down in front of Cherish. He had already ate, but seeing her foood made him want to get some more ramen, but he managed to pull through and decided he had enough. She then continued, saying that they went on the mission with Colt. He already knew that Colt went on the mission with them though. Cherish then explained to him how she and Summer disliked Colt and that she favored him over Colt. This caused Omito to smile and blush under his mask as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "Aw, thanks heh heh."

It seemed their travel to the port was pretty safe, from what he understood from what she said when she had food in her mouth. Cherish was the squad leader on the mission since she was carrying the map. Then a random guy attacked, one with a fan? "A Mishura huh? I heard they were pretty strong shinobi..." The boy knew their clan possessed a dojutsu that was passed down in their bloodline, a kekkei genkai. Omito nodded, understanding what the guy looked like.

So basically he attacked with fire and Summer deflected his attack back at him. Then Cherish went underground and made her armor and then made it stronger by using Summer's diamond. Colt was apparently making clones and getting ready for a combo attack. Omito was looking at Cherish with interest, "Yeah okay. Then what happened next?" He felt like the important part of the story was coming up.

"So, I pop out of the water while trying to use my water clone technique and I see this guy just pull out a kunai and the fireball he launched, which he used his giant fan to boost with air was just absorbed right into the kunai only for him to throw it right back at Girlie except super fast. I couldn't even see it honestly the only time I got a glimpse was after he made handseals and multiplied them but Girilie managed to block it only after it had destroyed Colt's Clones. I just concentrated to having my water clones spit out a barrage of sticky water bullets trying to distract him and attract his attention. All of a sudden Girlie was like *slurp munch much* Colt Splash him and I turn to watch Colt jump on top of her sword before she swung it. I guess he lightened himself before he jumped on because he was pretty much propelled crazy fast and whipped out his yo-yo's fast enough to catch two of my water bullets pulling of the combo I had mentioned early. It's called Spin-Spin Splash pretty much I shoot out sticky water bullets he pulls out his lightning charged yo-yo's and causes the water bullets to become like electrified buzzsaws it's pretty sick. Cherish said continuing her meal in the middle before taking a sip of sake to wash it down.

"Colt gets launched I guess at vacuum release or maybe even blinding light, I don't know it was really fast fast enough that the Mishura guy couldn't dodge it in time, especially since Summer probably used her blade to reflect light into his eyes his he had come closer ever since throwing the kunai. So he ended up getting hit by it and I know Colt overcharged them because the flash of lightning was so bright. But...that dude he was on like another level or something because he survived it and almost decapitated Colt if not for him subbing out. I sent my water clones to try and bum rush the guy as he pretty much charged forward after making a hand seal to pretty much unseal that flame thing he had absorbed into the kunai." she said managing to finish both bowls at this time before her face got more grim as she drank her sake.

"This is where everything pretty much went to shit Ghosty.. Girlie blocked the fire technique wrong, I guess in the heat of the moment she forgot or something but she managed to block the fire's damage but forgot that it had been enhanced so her wall crumbled. I realized this and shot myself out of the water with a water clone on my back who quickly used a water prison to surround me so I could move through the flames without getting burnt up and curled up into a ball while using my Water Cavity technique so I could have air within it, you know because the water would get heated and I'd probably scald myself otherwise. Colt well I don't know what he was doing I guess reeling from the body replacement and was somewhere safe for the moment, he did let out a shill scream when he almost died... I get there just as Girlie's wall exploded, I mean literally exploded shards flying everywhere, she was focused on bringing the guy down since our combo hadn't done the job and was almost completely out of chakra and so she blocked some of the shards with her arm but one of them got through and blinded her. I got there but..I couldn't save her eye I'm not a medic-nin I know some stuff sure but I'm trying to get into the program and the mystical healing palm isn't for complicated wounds like that." she said draining her cup and sighing before pouring herself another cup full.

"I guess she got him with a genjutsu or something and she turned to me all happy you know we did it we survived only to realize a stupid shard of diamond had cut a jagged scar right through her eye. She just crumpled, Summer's really strong but...I don't think I've ever seen that from her..nor do I want to again she was just screaming and screaming. I knew I couldn't save it just by looking at the wound so I decided on the spot that I could just do one thing. So I channeled some medical ninjutsu in my palm to knock her unconcious and had the water clones I sent to barrage the missing nin to bring his unconcious body over. There was a short window before him dying and me being able to replace his eye with hers so I did it. So she wouldn't be blind in one eye I preformed an emergency eye transplant, I was really scared Ghosty one fuck up and I could of made it much worse I had never done that before I only read about it three days ago and I didn't think I'd have to do it anytime soon. But I did it, I worked on Girlie personally while my water clone extracted the missing nin's active Kyougan and it worked no complications no rejections nothing." she said looking at Omito the entire time while holding her sake close to her body with her eyes closed so that she could remember what happened exactly since it was still freshly pictured in her mind.

"I think I sent Colt to complete the mission while I worked, in hindsight not really a good plan in case there were more but I was panicky Girlie just got blinded and I was mainly focuisng on her. But when I was done I looked up and there he was teeth gritted the whole thing was a set up there was nothing in the package and they just lied to get us out of the village. So he carried Summer on his back and we hightailed it back to the village as soon as possible we just left the body there and were running on adrenaline until we got back and reported what happened to the Abisukage. Someone...set us up just so they could get Colt and I for our kekkei genkai... either harvest our organs or worse in my case.." she said leaving out the part she was alluding to, her being turned into a breeder, tears rolling down her cheeks as she downed another cup. "I was so scared, and Sensei wasn't there he couldn't be there for us because of this shitty war and we could of died Omito...like actually died. If he hadn't been underestimating us we would of died he was just so much stronger than us I still can't believe we survived. Taking Summer home was the worst her parents were in shock I didn't know what to say I was supposed to protect her, she's my best friend and our first mission out of the village and that happened I couldn't talk to them so I just ran away and drank all night. It's not like I could go home anyways my parents don't even recognize my existence..it just... I hope she doesn't hate me. I put the person who blinded her's eye in her socket now she'll have a reminder anytime she opens her eyes I just I didn't know what to do..."

Omito paid attention to Cherish as she continued to explain to him what happened on the mission. So the guy absorbed his own jutsu into a kunai and then threw it at them at high speeds that were barely track-able. Summer managed to block the attack and then they did a combo move which seemed pretty interesting and cool. Omito nodded, showing her he heard everything she just said. He wondered what happened after they used their combo, it seemed pretty powerful, he wondered if it finished the guy off.

The guy didn't have enough time to dodge apparently and ended up taking the combo attack. The guy was stronger than expected though and still managed to fight back after. He unsealed the fire from the kunai, Summer managed to block it, however her diamond wall shattered and shards went flying everywhere. She tried to block it, but some of the shards managed to cut her eye. Cherish said that she wasn't a medical ninja and didn't know how to heal her eye. After hearing this Omito's eyes widened. Did she really lose sight in one eye? He took a sigh of relief when he heard that Cherish managed to do an eye transplant. That was pretty cool of her, she saved Summer's vision after all.

It then seemed that they then hurried back to the Village to report what happened and to Summer to a hospital. It seemed the guy was trying to get the kekkei genkai of Colt and Cherish's clans, but then she started to say that in her case it could of been worse. She never said why it could of been worse, but she then started crying, explaining to him how scared she was and how they could of died. She was worried that Summer would feel some kind of way due to her replacing her eye with the guy's who was trying to kill them. She also went on about some things with her family, and she just seemed so sad. Omito looked at her, not knowing how to handle the situation completely. He knew there was one thing he could do though, comfort her. The boy reached his right arm out around her shoulders and pulled her in close to his body, giving her a hug, "Hey Cherish. You did the right thing by replacing her eye. I mean you restored her vision on that side of her body. Summer will understand and be grateful for what you did for her, okay?" He felt bad for her feeling that way, he just wanted to make her feel better now.

Cherish would accept the hug listening to his words and after getting her tears out her crying would taper off into just sniffling as though she was quite upset she needed the reassurance of someone. Sure she might not be as close to Omito as she was to Summer but she counted him as her second friend already and really other than Summer she didn't have any other friends or people she talked to. Colt was...a pervert and made her feel uncomfortable while Sensei was gone they still didn't know why exactly but she was sure they'd probably be privy to the information on his disappearance once they became B-rank. She would linger for a bit before nodding her head to agree with him and pulling back while wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. You really think so? I just, I didn't want to lose her friendship you know? I know I must look really stupid and stuff but I guess part of it had to do with that and killing that guy. I mean I wanted him to die he was trying to hurt us and he blinded Summer but I don't think I really had time to just really process what I did.. I didn't even wait for his body to cool before I did the transplant I could see he was going to die anyways and he was a jerk for attacking us but he was a person too. Cherish said sighing and looking at Omito.

Does it...do you think I'm weak for thinking like that? Caring about an enemy I've killed?

Omito thought in his head for a response to her question. Is it weak not wanting to kill? No, it's humane. "Not wanting to kill someone isn't weakness. It is simply having a heart. It just means you are caring and compassionate. You still killed him, you did what you had to do to succeed as a shinobi. You don't have to be happy about killing him..." Omito looked her in the eye, trying to convince her that nothing was wrong with her. Omito had never killed a person before, but he still felt like he could do it. The boy knew that everyone was different though, and ending someone's life was a crazy thing to do.

"Okay..because I feel bad, even though it was the right thing to do." Cherish said still not withdrawing from the hug but only then realizing that she was that close to him and exhaling while shifting a bit to bury her face in his neck. "Ghosty, thanks for being so nice, I feel better than I did before now that I talked about it with you." she said her voice slightly muffled because of her positioning and she was content for a while it was nice. She still worried about Summer but she would go to her home later after she took a shower and what not so she'd look presentable, fortunately the Dokusei equivalent to b.o was a strong scent of the flowery fragrance each Dokusei produced so at the moment Omito would probably end up smelling like lilies now. Still she would realize she had sake left and would withdraw before pouring more and downing the entire cup.

Omito felt Cherish push her face into his neck, causing him to blush slightly under his mask. She thanked him and he shook his head, "Don't worry about it. I'm glad you're feeling better." She smelled really good, he wanted to compliment her, but he felt like it would be a weird thing to say. Once Cherish broke the hug, Omito couldn't but help to be sad that it couldn't be longer. He watched her down the sake quickly, he kind of wanted to try some but decided that it would be better if he tried it later on. Omito stood up and stretched by putting his arms up in the sky while yawning. When he was done he looked at Cherish with his light sea green eyes, "I was just about to go for a walk, wanna come?"

Cherish would pour some more the last bit being enough for half a cup before drinking that as well and then slowly getting up and placing her gourd on her back having set it down when she sat down. "Okay sure." Cherish said waving buy to the store owner before moving so she was next to Omito. "So where are we walking to?" she would say once they started walking she didn't really mind she was just wondering if Omito had errands to run or was just walking around to roam the village. She herself had only explored enough to know the various shops which sold good sake and/or any other alcoholic drinks that were too her liking but saw this as a good opportunity to get to know her teammate seeing as they hadn't really talked apart from in the team setting.

Omito was happy to hear that Cherish wanted to go on a walk with him, it had been a while since the last time he went on a walk with someone and the last time he did it was with his mom. The boy turned to her as they walked, she had asked him a question about where they were going, "I don't really know. Sometimes I just like to walk around the village and see things." He just like observing things that went on around the village, seeing the children play and things like that. He remembered when he use to just play around like that, had no responsibilities, everything was just fun. He liked being a shinobi though, it gave him freedom and strength to protect those he loved.

Cherish would nod, everyone had the things they liked to do, she was no exception considering she liked to spend her free time looking up plants with connections to alcohol or sampling the sake at various dango shops. So...Ghosty um what do you plan to do, you know in the future if we actually became strong shinobi and live long enough to you know reap the benefits of it? Or do you think your going to be a shinobi until you die and never retire or anything? Cherish asked after they had walked in silence for a bit she herself knew that her own current chosen profession was something she could in fact do even until her old age. Besides she didn't want to retire and end up having to deal with her clan nagging her about living apart from the rest of the clan members being a shinobi gave her the excuse to live away from them at least for the mean time.

Omito didn't think about that. He didn't want to be a Shinobi forever though, eventually time it would be time to pass on his strength to a new generation, "Umm... I don't know. I never thought about it that much before. I want to be a shinobi for a long time, but not my whole life." The boy then looked at her, "What about you?" He wondered what her plans were for the future. As the conversation went on, the two would pass numerous shops of all different kinds of places. Omito honestly wanted some dessert. Maybe he could ask Cherish if she wanted to go get icecream or something like that.

"The same really but that's also because I want to be a cooking-nin I can continue way into my old age." Cherish said blushing a bit as she knew that to some people they wouldn't be able to take her serious but that really was what she wanted to do. Use her ninjutsu to grow plants for alchohol production and assorted plants for smoking and then use those two to make various types of options which taste wonderful yet are highly alcoholic so that everyone could enjoy what she made even if they can't handle the taste of normal alcohol. "Well, I'll help you the best I can with your goals if you help me with mine...which means when I start making food I'll cook for you and you can taste them to see if they came out alright okay?" she said turning to him with puppy dog eyes to try and convince him to say yes.

Omito nodded his head to her becoming a cooking-nin, "Oh that's pretty cool." He had heard of cooking ninjas before. All he really knew about them though was that they cooked nice meals for their comrades to boost their energy and stuff. Omito looked over to her when she said that she would help him with his goals if he tasted her food. Omito smiled when she did the face, "I do like food so It probably won't be a problem." He laughed a little bit before remembering something that could help Cherish out, "Oh! But yu know what? My parents own a restaurant. The food is really good there too. My dad is not much of a cook, bot my mom's food is great. If you ever need help in the kitchen, feel free to ask her, I'm sure she wouldn't mind teaching you some things."

Cherish would perk up when he called her future dreams cool, most people didn't really think that sort of thing was cool more so they'd think she wasn't cut out for "real" shinobi work. But she saw that he understood that being a cooking-nin was just as vital as one of the combat professions, she would laugh at his comment. Everyone likes food silly. Huh?! Really that would help so much I don't really get to cook because my parents don't like to but um. I'd really appreciate it I haven't even been able to practice since Nee-san showed m- she said trailing off with a pained facial expression she hadn't said her name in front of her teammate before. She would manage to regain her composure though but the slip was there. So wait your parents aren't shinobi then? she said deciding to sort of change the topic to focus on him.