"Yes, the cat of chaos, patron of humor."
"WAGHHHH!" screamed Naruto and Sakura as they leapt away from the short ugly monk who was suddenly just THERE.
Thud! Tazuna fainted.
The short fellow looked at the twitching Sasuke. "Your face is... most ominous."
Sakura recovered enough to try punching the little monk who'd just insulted Sasuke. She was NOT ready for the little guy to stop her punch without even looking in her direction. She certainly wasn't ready for him to fling her away like a rag doll.
"Attacking a monk is bad luck," pointed out the little guy, clapping his hands together and rustling a string of prayer beads. "So it is written."
Kakashi considered the way Sakura had been thrown to impact a tree and gradually slide down to land on her buttocks. "So you're a retired ninja?"
"I'm merely Sakuranbou, a monk and caretaker of this shrine. My niece Sakura is the miko but she is currently out doing an exorcism," said the little monk. "If you prefer, I am frequently called Cherry."
"Sounds like a girl's name," opined Naruto.
THWACK jingle
Sasuke eyed where Naruto was now face-first in the dirt, having had the monk produce his staff and bring it down on Naruto's head in less time than it took to blink. "He had that coming."
Cherry shook his head. "Well, come in. The rain won't hold off for long and I'm well acquainted with the way old bones get when out in the rain."
"I'm not THAT old," protested Kakashi.
"I meant that one," said Cherry, using his staff to point at the still-fainted Tazuna.
"I don't like this, Kakashi-sensei," said Sakura as she rejoined them. "It could be a trap."
"Hmph," said Cherry, turning his back on all of them. "Come. Or don't come. Make your mind up quickly. In this area, the rains can be pretty heavy."
Sakura waited until the little guy had gone through the doorway before commenting. "Well, maybe it won't rain at all!"
Kakashi sighed and hung his head. He just knew what was going to happen now.
Naruto held his hand out. "Hey. I just felt a raindrop."
Sasuke sighed and picked up one of Tazuna's arms. "Dobe?"
"Yeah yeah," said Naruto, grumbling as he picked up the other arm of Tazuna.
"It's not much of a rain," protested Sakura.
Kakashi was abruptly in the doorway, checking it out to make sure it wasn't a trap. That he was therefore under cover before the heavens opened up and a torrential rainpour began was purely a coincidence. A strong wind began to blow, whipping the rain around in gusts.
Sakura stood there for over a minute before the now-soggy kunoichi turned her face heavenward. "You call THIS a rainstorm? This is nothing!"
The wind gusted particularly strong, enough that it threw her into a tree. Then lightning struck.
"That looks like medic-nin healing," commented Kakashi.
"Hmph, you ninja. Everything looks like ninjutsu to you," said Cherry, his hands glowing with green light as he healed the girl's wounds. "Honestly. I told you at the outset this was a shrine to a god of humor. Daring that god to hit you? She should be glad she just got a near-miss from a lightning strike."
"You can heal wounds like that? That's cool," said Naruto as he watched.
"Like your ninjutsu, this is chakra-based," explained Cherry. "I am a monk however, and do with spiritual powers what you do with hand-seals and ninja technique."
"Ungh," said Sakura. "What?"
"So it IS like medical jutsu," said Kakashi.
"I've heard some of your medic-nin use similar techniques," admitted Cherry. "It just bothers me that anyone using chakra for anything automatically becomes a ninja as far as a ninja is concerned. Not everyone who trains to be able to use chakra is comfortable with the whole 'knife in the shadows' lifestyle you know."
"Well, that's true," admitted Kakashi. "Not even all ninja are particularly fond of that lifestyle."
"Hmph," hmphed Cherry, getting up as soon as he'd finished. "I suppose. Someone want to start the fire? Getting damn chilly."
Sasuke shrugged slightly, walked to the firepit, and spat a little flame into the stack of wood.
"I'll get the kettle," said Cherry finally. "It's nice to have guests. Don't get much traffic this way. Especially lately."
Tazuna saw this as his cue and started in on the troubles with Wave and That Damn Gato.
Cherry listened as he prepared an iron teapot and put it on a hook that allowed it to dangle above the fire. "Well, that explains a few things, I suppose."
"Maybe if I finish building the bridge, you'll get more business," said Tazuna.
"Hmph. If you finish the bridge, send word. I'll come by and bless it," said Cherry. "More business for you, more business for me."
Sakura looked around the old-seeming shrine, noticing the large wooden cat-statue against one wall, as well as the blankets that had been spread out.
"So what kind of business do you do?" asked Kakashi, still regarding everything around him and debating how likely this place was.
"When I'm not here, I put up a ward that makes people not notice this shrine, then I go out and do exorcisms and blessings and the like for the most part," said Cherry. "When I'm here, I can do those and weddings. The occasional sealing of dangerous items, removing of curses, typical priest stuff. Though often people will come here for wishes instead."
"'Wishes'?" asked Naruto.
Cherry nodded as he poked at the fire, adding another stick in the process. "Yes. Wishes. There's always a price though, a law of equivelant exchange. You have to give something to get something."
"That's true in everything," said Kakashi, eyeing his students. "In order to get very good at chakra control, you have to practice. That's a sacrifice of time, energy, and effort. Same with taijutsu."
"Yes," said Cherry with a nod. "Natural talent can give you a good start, but it will only go so far."
"Hnn," grunted Sasuke.
"So if I wish I was Hokage?" asked Naruto.
"Hmph, you couldn't afford it, nor should you want to get it that way," said Cherry. "Kids. So impatient."
"True," agreed Kakashi.
"Wishes, huh?" asked Naruto. "How about I wish for a big bowl of ramen?"
Cherry tapped the kettle, pulled a cup of ramen out of one sleeve, and then proceeded to produce several UFO bowls out of his OTHER sleeve.
Naruto blinked as the monk began pouring water into bowls.
"Did you say something?" asked Cherry.
"Uhm, no," said Naruto, exchanging glances with the others.
Cherry shrugged. "I was expecting visitors, but didn't really feel like cooking anything. Especially when one of them would have such an ominous face."
Sasuke frowned at the reminder.
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(Posted Sat, 26 Mar 2011 23:16)
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