The Disposition Matrix [Mission Thread P NK ]

Mission:

The mission dossier was crisp, as if freshly printed off the press with a sense of urgency and high alert, but of course that would prove not to be the case. She was a genin, and an unproven one at that, it would be a long shot to open its contents and reveal that the fate of the village rested solely in his inexperienced hands. Her amber irises took in the green and red trimmed scroll with anxious emotion as her adolescents finger tips ran across its near slippery smooth textures. There was of course a little bit of drama in her mind with regards to this monumental event, so much so that she had imagined exotic drum crescendos in her mind as she peeled back the tab and began unraveling its contents. She had originally thought that missions were hand given by the Hokage, which was sometimes true, but today she had learned that walking into the mission center with a simple request for duty sufficed just as much.

“A lost cat? Seriously…” The contents of her task were disappointing to say the least as she gazed upon the basic kanji with an irking eyebrow. She was under no false illusions that D-Rank missions were less than glamorous and sometimes a drag, but she had in mind things that were a bit more exciting. Taking down bandits, fighting rabid animals running loose in the village, espionage, hot pursuits, destroying an enemy base camp, any of those things. But as she had ran through her realm of expected scenarios she realized her expectations were much more mislead than she had originally assumed. It seemed that the bulk of her rookie ninja career would be fated with rescuing cats, cleaning hot springs, and sweeping the dust from around the gates.

With a heavy sigh of realization the young genin began to read the mission dossier further, looking for any details that might give her an area to begin her search and what this cat might actually look like. According to the scroll, the pet cat’s name was Cookies, and was predominantly brown with black spots, hence the name I guess. Cookie was also described as roughly a four feet long and was last seen pouncing around the Medicinal Greenhouse among several of its protected plants. Cookie’s owner, Yukimi, was also said to be an employee at the greenhouse, explaining that Cookie had escaped his confines the other day and had yet to be located but was certain he could not have fled without being seen. The consensus seemed to be that Cookie was hiding, and was doing his best to keep from returning to captivity.

“Fine, to the greenhouse I guess…”

The greenhouse proved to be only a few short leagues away despite her trudging strides and irksome attitude. It would be a while before the free spirited yet wildly rambunctious young Genin would find grounds to humble herself before the many rookie tasks that lied ahead. Although perhaps that was what these D-Rank missions were all about, character building and the exercise of many virtues that would be paramount to success later in ones ninja career. At least that was the philosophical outlook on it, but in the moment it appeared as nothing more than an unnecessary hassle to the adolescent Chantelle. “But I suppose everyone’s gotta take their whippings early on, I guess even the Hokage would have some D-Rank’s under her belt.”

Consisting of a wood/metal exposed frame, the greenhouse was mostly kept by a clear plastic tarp that gave a clear view of the mass of green vegetation that proliferated the inside of the structure. There were of course glass windows here and there to increase the aesthetic appeal more than likely, but candidly to no avail. Upon his entrance he was greeted by a scrawny girl with gaunt near deathly like features about her face. Had she proven to be of less melanin in her complexion, she could have easily doubled as some sort of heart eating zombie. She introduced herself as if he were a customer, but quickly glanced at the headband affixed to his waist and immediately surmised his business.

“You must be here to help me find Cookie. I’m Yukimi.” She said with a tone of hopefulness in her voice as she shook the rookie ninja’s hand with an energy of excitement.

“Yeah, I’m Chantelle. Ya know where the cat might like to hang out around here?” She inquired after releasing the girls hand and roaming her amber eyes around the premise.

“Well no, not exactly, he’s never gotten lost before. All I know is that he was last seen near the ferns on the west end. Perhaps you could start there…?” Yukimi replied, seemingly in sorrow for her lack of useful information.


“Fine, just hang tight, I’ll go check it out.” She responded in a consoling tone, afraid the zombie-girl might begin crying over nothing as her dark beaded eyes began to moisten with uncertainty. The last thing she needed today was an emotionally unstable zombie.

As she made her way across the greenhouse towards the western end she could feel Yukimi’s dark blue eyes peering over her shoulder in suspense. She had not moved since they had conversed just a few moments prior but she could feel that six sense of her beaming through her body with an unnecessary nature. It was a cat, and she would find it, it wasn’t like she was about to disarm a bomb that threatened to blow the place to bits. Although then he thought, perhaps, with a bit more compassion: “Maybe this Cookie cat is like family to her or something. I mean it might be hard for her to come across friends looking all haunted like that.”

She was by no means an expert on flora and fauna but she had surmised his arrival into the fern section by the mass of singularly identical plants that seemed the easiest for a cat to hide in, which was hard considering the plants were massive. Wading her way through the green seed plants her black padded sandals crunched as he stepped upon fallen limbs. The sound became routine in the moment, nearly escaping her attention after a while, which in turn aided in her perception of an unnatural rhythm in the distance. Jutting her head to the left he caught the last few sways of a particularly low plant, its kinetic energy not given by his own movement. Cookie was here.

“Looks like I’ll have to scare you out.” She said as she stomped in a quick and heavy fashion over towards the perceived area, and like clockwork, more anomalous swaying of the ferns began. The knocking of seed leaves soon became more and more consistent, leaving an essential trail as the cat filed out of the ferns and eventually out into the open. Before long she had spotted the cat as it cautiously peaked its body out from its shroud of evergreens. With a quick burst of speed and an accompanying power lunge, the young genin swiped her hand across the ground, grabbing Cookie, and landing just outside the end of the fern section.

“Oh my! You did! You did it! You’ve found my boy!” Yukimi exclaimed as she popped up out from seemingly nowhere at all, jumping up and down for joy as if this moment was perhaps the highlight of her life.

“Yep, he’s all yours. Just try not to cuddle him to death.” She replied halfway facetiously as he relinquished the cat to his owner, his jab apparently flying over Yukimi’s head as she glanced at her with confusion.

“Uh, ok… Well, thank you Chantelle. Looks like I know who to send for if my little Cookie runs off again. I will let the mission department know of your job well done here. Toodles!” She added, nearly gripping Cookie to death as she nuzzled her nose violently across his face.

“Oh god, she did not just say toodles…” She uttered in thought as she forced a smile, nodded, and headed for the exit accompanied by a self inflicted face palm wasn’t this mission for an old lady anyway? Maybe it was her granddaughter. Being a rookie ninja was going to be rough.

Word Count: 1,382