Medical Herb Gathering Mission

Mission specs:

“Mommy, what do these herbs look like?”

“Like upside down umbrellas, darling,” Akihana replied, stopping the boy with a gentle hand on his shoulder. Before Arata could open his mouth to protest however she pointed to his new hiking boots. It had taken some time to save enough money to purchase her son a new pair but now that the deed was done, Arata wore them everywhere. In fact he would have worn them to bed if Akihana hadn’t drawn the line on that particular request. “Shoelaces honey.”

As the boy obediently bent down to retie the laces, Akihana quietly activated her Golden Eye. Arata was old enough to learn to tie his own shoelaces by now and this was a safe way in which he could practice doing them again and again. Her mission too was something similar. Not particularly rewarding but safe and non-confrontational. More importantly, she could bring her son along and it wouldn’t matter.

“Now remember, Miss Olivier said that these herbs blossom only once a year, so we have to be very careful gathering them,” Akihana repeated only to feel her son’s eyes rolling as he skipped ahead of her. Ever since meeting the Raikage, Arata fancied himself a ninja and swore he could scent things out like a wolf. Akihana wasn’t entirely convinced but if it made him happy, who was she to argue?

“I found them, mommy!” the dark haired boy called out, making his mother speed up in case Arata had found something dangerous instead. As she arrived to where her son was kneeling on the ground, wet grass clinging to his jeans, the blonde saw that her son had indeed gotten it right. For here was the elusive herb they’d been sent after.

“Good job sweetie,” she praised, extracting a pair of delicate sheers from her pocket and getting to work, placing the fragile stemmed herbs in her basket. “How’d you know?”

“I smelled them, mommy. Just like a wolf,” her son replied with an infectious grin, making Akihana’s lips turn up in a small smile.

TWC: 345

Approved