The First Job In a While

Mission:

Haruto sat crouched next to the flickering flame of campfire he had set, rubbing his hands together for warmth. Soft puffs of white air emerged from his lips and floated off into the air, before quickly dispersing into nothingness. Biting cold wind flew through the small cave he had made camp in and dug into his flesh, chilling him to the bone. Haruto shivered.

"Damn. I'm going to freeze to death if this blizzard doesn't let up."

Haruto began to cast a cursory glance through the tiny cave he had holed up in while he waited for the worst of this snowstorm to pass over. It was a small place, being mostly composed of jagged gray stone, with only small patches of smooth rock that the man could sit comfortably in. The entire structure was located underneath a large cliffside, which had a mighty ledge overhanging it, providing some very small protection from the wind and snow that ravaged the outside landscape. Haruto had figured that the risk it would collapse and trap him inside was worth taking to get him out of the cold for a little bit. Though it seemed his gambit hadn't paid off, considering he was still frigid as can be.

Haruto cursed under his breath as he brought his hands to his face, huffing hot air into them in an attempt to get warmth to return to his body. He had never wanted to be in this wretched place. As Haruto's thoughts began to grow dark and angry, the young man began to think on the chain of events that had led him here. A few weeks ago, he had been operating down in Tea Country. He'd heard word of a big score from some drunkards at a roadside tavern, something about some wealthy weapons manufacturer fat-cat who was hauling some of his finer work to Konohagakure in Fire Country. It only took a little digging at nearby villages to find out that those bums had been telling the truth.

Haruto remembered being very pleased with the news. He'd spent a fortune hiring some mercenaries and acquiring enough weapons of his own to be able to hijack the caravan transporting the goods, figuring that the score he'd nab would be well worth the losses he'd taken hiring his crew. What a fool he'd been. It should've been obvious from the get-go that a caravan from a weapons manufacturer would be well armed, and yet somehow the thought hadn't crossed Haruto's mind. His men were killed or captured in a matter of minutes, and Haruto himself was beaten handily by some hot-shot shinobi kid wearing a Konohagakure headband. He'd barely managed to escape himself. Just his luck though, that kid was persistent. Damn fool had decided it was a good idea for some reason to chase Haruto all the way up to Moon Country, maybe to bring him to 'justice' maybe to kill him, who knows? Haruto had to spend literally everything he had escaping and fending him off. He'd lost his weapons and his ryo getting the winter gear, provisions, and boat he needed to get the hell off the continent. He didn't have a lot of options, so why not try to lose the guy out in Snow Country? There wasn't anything out there but snow and ice, you'd have to be a proper fool to go there. He figured the kid wouldn't try to chase him into that desolate landscape, and if he did Haruto figured he was way better off than the kid was. He'd gotten lucky with an explosive tag trap, and given the kid a proper bum knee. Didn't think the kid had gotten it checked either. And even if he did find him, there'd be no way to track him through the constant blizzards plaguing the tundra. For many, Haruto may as well have vanished off the face of the earth.

Haruto gave a sigh and began to stand to his feet, shivering as he did. He looked down at his clothes, scowling as he did. If he'd had more time he would've gotten a proper winter cloak. This one was a simple old and ratty brown cloak, and had more than a few holes in it. Not to mention that he didn't have enough for proper winter pants either. Though it'd have to do he supposed. Thankfully, he wouldn't need to put up with it long. Even out in this desolate waste, there were small pockets of civilization, and he'd lined up his next job there. He'd found some old ice fishing village, and from there he'd heard that there was some old lady living out in the wastes who needed transportation there for some family event or another. Payment for it was up front as well. Hence why Haruto was out here so far from everything else.

The wind slowly began to die down, and Haruto stamped out the dwindling embers of his campfire, grumbling as he did. He'd used up the last of the kindling he'd bought making it, so he'd need more later if he wanted another fire. He quickly began to walk out of the cave and into the snow, trudging eastwards towards the old woman's frontier house he'd heard about. The young man shivered under the biting winds, and his face grew red and painful as thick buffets of wind brought snow onto his face, which quickly turned to frigid water on his cheeks. It was about an hour in these tortuous conditions before he reached the old woman's house. As he approached, he took careful note of it. Her house was located pretty close to a nearby frozen lake, and even from his distance out he could see a massive circular sheet of ice had been cut out, and fishing poles had been planted in the ground nearby. If he'd had to guess, this entire landscape probably stood over an underground reservoir that connected to the ocean via underwater cave systems in the ice. Her house itself was rather interesting as well. It seemed to be a massive, multi-chambered igloo, a structure composed of many blocks of ice layered on top of one another. Haruto could see light spilling out from inside the igloo, somehow lighting the entire structure up and making it appear as a single glowing snowball. Under normal circumstances, maybe he would've stayed and admired the craftsmanship a bit longer. He'd only seen a couple in his lifetime, and in total honesty the last he'd seen were in the village he was just at. How they kept the inside of these things warm was a mystery to the man, though by this point he didn't give a damn. Haruto quickly marched up to the igloo's wooden door entrance and rapped loudly, hoping to nab the attention of its inhabitants.

It wasn't long before an elderly looking woman opened the door. When he saw he, Haruto cursed silently in his mind. Based off of her appearance, it's no wonder those villagers wanted his help escorting her. The woman was downright ancient. The lines and wrinkles on his face seemed to outnumber the patches of skin, and she seemed to shake like a leaf before him. There's no way she could even survive the journey. The elderly woman stared up at Haruto, who was easily over a foot taller than her, and she smiled.

"Are you the dearie meant to be helping me get to my family gathering?"

Haruto grimaced, wondering if it was too late to back out of this job. Though the more he thought about it, the better it seemed to take the gig. He needed the money, and the woman was supposed to be paying him up front. Besides, there was nothing stopping him from taking some proper clothes from her home...

"Yeah, that's me. The blizzard passed overhead a little while ago, but I don't know how much time we have left to get back. We should probably get underway soon."

She gave a nod.

"Right, all business then. Let me just get my coat and we can go on our way. You should come in though, I imagine you're cold, especially in those clothes."

Haruto nodded, and followed the woman into her home. He had to drop to his hands and knees as he did so to get underneath a small crawlspace, though it quickly opened up into the warm chamber of her home. Haruto breathed a sigh of relief as he did, feeling the warmth begin to fill his body and restore sensation to his fingers and toes. He hadn't realized it, but in truth he was absolutely exhausted from his journey over. He'd need time to rest, far more than he was going to be given if he was honest, but beggars can't be choosers.

"God I needed this."

The woman turned around and smiled at the young man, a bright and joyous smile that seemed to fill the room, though Haruto was completely unphased. He was here to warm up and recover, nothing more. He didn't particularly feel the want or need to be this woman's friend, especially when she seemed like she might die of frostbite just on the journey over there. Her smile turned into a soft and awkward frown, as she began to go into the other rooms to look for her coat. Haruto himself placed his hands into his pockets and began to examine the room he was in. It appeared to be a living room of sorts, and some pictures hung from hooks on the ice walls around him, photos of the woman in the other room and other individuals. Her and an elderly man she seemed close with, clearly taken a number of years ago. Strange. He hadn't seen or heard about an old man, either in the igloo or from the villagers. It didn't take long for Haruto to piece together what that meant. Her and that old man with two adult individuals one boy and one girl, and two male children.

"I see..."

The woman emerged into the room with her coat on, beaming once again at the young man and. holding a ryo pouch in hand, which Haruto deftly plucked from her hand. That felt about the right weight.

"Alright... I'm ready to go Mr..."

"Kenzo."

She beamed and nodded.

"Mr. Kenzo. Lead the way!"

Haruto turned around and crawled out of the igloo with the woman in tow, holding the door open for her to pass through. Haruto made sure she was safely out before they began the journey. To his surprise, she was abnormally hardy despite her advanced age, well able to make the trek through the snow without Haruto's direct guidance. They travelled in silence for a good amount of time, before Haruto began to feel the wind kick up once more.

"A blizzard is coming."

"Oh dear... and we're not even half way there. We'll just have to get there as soon as possible."

The duo trekked on through the snowy landscape, even as the winds kicked up a heavy snowstorm. It wasn't long before a full scale blizzard fell over the duo, so thick that Haruto couldn't see more than a few meters in from of his face. It was mind numbingly cold, more bone chilling than anything he had ever been in before. He quickly reached a hand out to grab hold of his client's forearm, though to his dismay he didn't find anything there. He turned his head to no avail, he couldn't see his client.

"I can't see! You okay out there grandma?!"

"Mr. Kenzo?! Where are you?!"

Haruto looked to the side, unable to find his client. He screamed for her, and her for him, though through this thick storm it was impossible to see one another. Damn it. This wasn't good, and if they didn't find shelter, they would freeze to death. Haruto paused in place, considering and weighing his options for a moment. He had no way of determining which was the way to the village right now, and he couldn't find his client. If he didn't get warm soon, he would freeze to death here. Plus, as he continued to call out, it seemed as though the sound of her voice got further and further away. His only chance was to try to make it back to the igloo.

"Sorry grandma, I really did try! You're on your own!"

He turned around and began to trek back the way he came. The screams of the woman were already faint, and it was only a smile while longer before they fell completely silent. The walk back to her igloo felt like an eternity, but before long he saw the unmistakable light of her house. Mustering the last of his strength, Haruto ran for it, falling to the ground as he did. Still he persisted, crawling forward on his elbows towards the door that promised heat and warmth and respite. Onwards and onwards he crawled, until he reached the wooden door and threw it open. The desperate man threw himself inside, and power crawled into the warmth of the igloo, allowing the wind to slam the door shut behind him. Haruto crawled his way into the living room, where he slowly brought himself to a standing position, giving mighty shivers as he did. Like a zombie he began walking through the house, making his way through the nearby door and into the back room. It was only a few mere moments before he found a set of furs configured like a bed, and Haruto threw himself into it, quickly burrowing into its warmth. He shivered for a great few minutes, until the heat of the bed and the igloo began to soothe him. Exhaustion began to finally catch up to the man, and he began to drift off to sleep.

"It's not my fault... I had to leave her there. It was the only choice. The one anyone would've made."

Yet the man's reassurances to himself did nothing to soothe him. He didn't sleep soundly, and was plagued by nightmares wandering in the snow, screaming for the woman he had failed. He later awoke to the real world and swiped what few supplies he could find here, securing proper clothes and provisions for himself for the journey to come, including a rather nice homemade men's coat he found in an old box. When he finally left that igloo behind, Haruto didn't feel proud, or happy, or brave. The man felt cold and empty.

"It's not my fault..."

Word Count - 2434

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