[Plotboard] Malfunction

[Willoria]

[Plotboard] Harvest Ume was genuinely surprised at how kind the farmer was when they spoke to him, and moreso at how thankful he was. It had seemed to her that this kind of assistance from shinobi was expected, but the man seemed surprised at their appearance and happy to have help in a such a way that hinted he may not have expected it after all. He showed them out to the equipment they'd be using and, after a short staring contest with a horse in a nearby field, Ume attempted to climb onto the equipment.

However Tenshu seemed insistent that he would handle it, and practically pushed Ume to 'beat her to it'. It left the girl rolling her eyes as he started looking things over and she shook her head as she looked at Tatsuo. "So what can I do to help then?" she asked.

[Niro]

Tatsuo was slowly losing his patience with Tenshu. The kid was overeager and a seeming hothead who was only caring about placing himself above his team mates rather than working as a unit. He'd never make it past genin with an attitude like that.

Tatsuo's small chat with the farmer went by quickly and the man was enthused. He wasn't expecting them today as he had just put in the request but Tatsuo was consistently checking out the lower ranked tasks which he could perform.

The rush to the first piece of equipment left a sour taste in Tatsuo's mouth. He sighed and waved off the boy before moving deeper into the warehouse the farmer had shown them with all of the equipment they would probably need.

"For now? I think it's best if we let the hothead blow some steam and chill out while we put in some hard work and look better." Tatsuo laughed as he picked up one of many scythes hanging off the wall by metal hooks. "Y'know, a lot of shinobi like to modify scythes and make them into weapons but not many know they were originally used as farming." He gently handed the tool to Ume before grabbing one of his own.

"Any idea how to use these bad boys or would you like a lesson?" Tatsuo asked with a grin.

[Willoria]

Tenshu remained up on the machine, working levers and buttons as he looked it over and tried to figure it out on his own with no instruction. To be fair, he seemed to be figuring it out well enough on his own, but the machine still looked dangerous to Ume. She followed Tatsuo to the scythes and took the one he offered her. She seemed a bit awkward with it but as she brought it down to hold it in more of an underhanded grip by the handles she smiled, seemed to like the weight of it. "I like it." she remarked as he explained to her how they were used as weapons, despite their original purpose. "It feels.. I don't know, I like the weight I think." she added, turning and looking at Tatsuo a moment with a slight blush before turning her attention back to the item in her hands.

Stepping away from Tatsuo she made a couple movements with it, just trying to get used to the feel of it in her hands before lifting it and resting it against a shoulder as she turned and looked towards Tenshu and frowning. "He's not gonna be much help is he." she said, a thing that could have been stated as a question but it was clear she wasn't asking. The situation seemed pretty obvious to her.

As Tatsuo asked her if she wanted a lesson she turned and looked at him a moment before blinking, a blush creeping up her cheeks again. "Uh.. sure." she said. "Probably best since I've never used one before, right?" She asked with a rather embarrassed giggle. 'No this is not because he's cute... no...' she thought, more or less just trying to convince herself.

[Niro]

Tatsuo shifted his attention quickly from Ume as he asked, to Tenshu who was flailing around with the buttons and controls on the machine.

"Oi, don't hurt yourself now by pressing something you shouldn't have kiddo." Tatsuo called to the other Akari before shifting back to the Akari right in front of him. "Sorry about that. Yeah the weight of these are pretty nice, I don't really have to try with the swing and they'll cut the wheat effortlessly. Plus they just look pretty cool too." Tatsuo laughed at his own comment, he could understand why some people modified their own into weapons.

Tatsuo sighed at her acknowledgement of Tenshu probably being dead weight for this. "Yeah, he probably will be at this point. I don't get his malfunction but he's probably never going to advance his career if he continues to act as he does. That's for him to worry about though, not me." Tatsuo finished with a sad smile. He made a 'come with me' gesture with his hand as he moved out of the warehouse and back into the sunlight. He shielded his eyes for a moment, getting used to the sun again, before heading off to one of the closer wheat fields.

"Alright, Ume. See the two grips? They're adjustable." Tatsuo started off, showing her how his own scythes grips shifted so she could get a better grip. "Cutting wheat doesn't really depend on where you cut it, just at a comfortable height." Tatsuo held the scythe barely above the ground, maybe at his ankles. "And from there..." He started to say and move, the scythe coming across his body and slicing the wheat. "You cut it like so. You want to slice it, not chop it. If your blade is getting really dull, let me know and we can go back to re-sharpen them up. Any questions?" Tatsuo asked with a gleaming smile as he gripped the scythe, eager to work.

[Willoria]

Still blushing, Ume followed Tatsuo outside with scythe in hand. She couldn't help flinching at the sudden flood of sunlight into her eyes as well, though she wasn't comfortable enough to take a hand from the item in her hands and so stopped in her tracks as she adjusted to the light before continuing on. She stood just to the side and behind Tatsuo so she wouldn't be in his way, watching as he demonstrated the scythe to her and its use. "Seems easy enough." she remarked as he asked if she had questions.

She moved a few steps away and brought the scythe down off her shoulder and adjusted the handles. It took her a moment and a couple test swings to figure out what she liked, but eventually she got it. She held it down low like Tatsuo had shown her and took a couple of swings with it gently as he had, smiling as it seemed to be just that easy to get. "This is kinda fun..." she admitted, turning to look at the other Akari. "Though I'm guessing after a couple hours I'm going to be complaining about doing this in the heat, huh?"

The girl paused as she heard a noise come from the warehouse they were just in and she sighed, it wounded like Tenshu had gotten the machine started. "Great, he's going to be bragging about that all day."

[Niro]

Tatsuo laughed at the girl's quip and nodded his head. "Yeah, it's fun for a little while and the sun feels good on your body but then you forget and get a nasty sunburn working out here too long." He replied back with a smile which seemed to indicate he had been a victim of the sun previously.

A machine sputtered and went off, noises continuing which seemed to signify Tenshu finally activate the small tractor in the warehouse. "Eh, ignore him unless he touches you but if he does put him in the ground again. That last time was hilarious." A small smile began to curl on the sides of Tatsuo's mouth as he remembered back to only a bit ago. The warehouse doors rolled open and Tenshu rolled out with the small tractor, a triumphant grin on his face.

"Let him take another section of the crops while we do this. It'll be faster." Tatsuo waved to Tenshu and then pointed him over to another field before giving him a thumbs up. The other Akari returned it with a curt nod and moved the machinery to where he was directed. "There, now we won't have to deal with his big mouth." Tatsuo readied the scythe again as he went back to slicing down the crop.

"So Ume, what do you do for fun around the village?" Tatsuo asked as he continued on with his task, the stalks falling effortlessly to his swings.

[Willoria]

Ume couldn't help a chuckle of her own as Tatsuo referred to the way she'd nailed Tenshu in the groin earlier when he'd tried to touch her. "Honestly I didn't even mean to, I just am not used to being touched." she said with a bit of a flush of embarrassment. Granted her father had taught her to react in such a way if a boy touched her, but that was the first time it had happened, and the first time she'd ever done it. She still was caught a little off guard by how quickly she'd reacted. But she did have to admit, seeing Tenshu hit the ground like that had certainly been amusing.

She looked up and watched Tenshu go, breathing a sigh of relief as Tatsuo gave him directions and the boy seemed to follow them. Honestly it surprised her quite a bit, she hadn't expected him to actually do something he was told to do. "Thank god." the girl muttered as Tatsuo mentioned not having to deal with the kids big mouth. "Honestly makes me wonder what kind of shiin he has, the way he brags off... dad tells me the loudest ones are usually the weakest." she mused, sighing as she turned and started into her work.

There was something oddly satisfying in the movement of the scythe and the sound as it sliced through the wheat, taking it down with each swing and bringing a small smile to her face. "For fun?" Ume couldn't help a laugh at Tatsuo's question. "Honestly dad doesn't let me out of the house... not without him anyway." she said, suddenly blushing as she'd recently been learning that wasn't a normal thing for most her own age. "Honestly I was surprised when he told me he wasn't coming along on this mission."

[Niro]

With the way Ume had been talking and the content of what she had said, Tatsuo was forming a pretty good idea about the shiin she was caring. Something rare, obviously. Her father was nearly as protective as his own had been before he had passed his genin exam. From there on, his own father and his old troupe of bodyguards had become much less ever present. This was because his own shiin at the time was an Astrashiin, which almost every Akari coveted for themselves.

"Sounds like your father shares some similarities with my own. He wouldn't let me out of the house without my brothers or himself. Well, until I passed my exam anyway." Tatsuo shrugged. "I think he finally saw that although I was still his son I was also beginning my career and needed the space to grow into myself and my potential. He finally stopped circling around me like a bird and it's been so nice since then." Tatsuo a smiled at Ume as he stepped into a rhythm with the scythe and wheat.

Tatsuo stopped for a moment, the conversation they just had replaying in his head for a moment before he turned to Ume with a huge, gleaming smile. "You're a really honest person, haha." His cheesy grin continued for another moment before he went back to slicing down wheat.

[Willoria]

Ume almost snorted in a laugh as Tatsuo talked about his father finally giving him space. "I wish he was going to do that... he seemed pretty convinced that I'd be safe on this mission though he didn't say why. But when we get back I have to go straight back home. He claims there's someone I need to meet so I guess I'm getting an unwanted tag-a-long soon." She said, focusing on her work a moment as the first bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face and she took a moment to run her fingers through her blue hair and get it out of her face.

Tatsuo's remark about her being honest caught her off guard a moment and she turned to look at him, noticing the way he smiled. Of course, that simply brought the blush right back to her cheeks. "Uh... is that good or bad?" she asked hesitantly, chuckling as she tried to ignore the fact that she was blushing up to the tips of her ears.

[Niro]

Tatsuo broke out into peals of laughter and continued on with his aiding of the harvest. "It depends who you ask. I say it depends...but other people might think it's a good thing or some might view it as a weakness. Don't pay attention to those last group of fools, though." He shrugged at the end as he continued slicing the wheat.

"Sounds similar to my own situation. Except mine wasn't just a single person." Tatsuo frowned as he thought back to the days of his father constantly having his guard patrol around him and make it difficult for him to make friends or enjoy his life. "Be careful. Make sure you trust them; don't let your guard down. Especially around someone who's an Akari and stronger than you. They may say they have good intentions but in our clan it's a dog-eat-dog world." Tatsuo finished as he used one hand to steady the scythe and another to wipe away from sweat forming on his brow.

[Willoria]

For several moments Ume simply stared at Tatsuo. He had answered her question, in a way, but he hadn't said which he thought it was. Did he think it was good she was honest? Or did he think it was bad? She wasn't sure which and suddenly she found she cared more about that answer than she wanted to admit out loud. With a sigh the girl simply continued her work, her mind working far faster than her body as it ran rampant and tried to sort out why she cared so much what Tatsuo thought.

Of course the answer was simple, but she just shoved that aside, telling herself she was merely being a foolish child.

An odd expression crossed the girl's face as she turned and looked at Tatsuo. So he had several guards at one point in time? But what did he mean by that? Why would he tell her to be careful? Guards were meant to protect, why would she need to be as cautious around them as others. "You think someone who was assigned to guard me would try to take my shiin?" she asked him carefully, pausing in what she was doing. "But that would be beyond dishonor..." Of course the reasons against doing such a thing went beyond something so simplistic, but she wouldn't speak them all out loud.

As honest as she was, even she wasn't comfortable speaking of her mother's mania and final moments in front of someone she hardly knew.

[Niro]

"Honor is something we shouldn't see as precious, as shinobi," Tatsuo started, his voice less jovial than it had been previously during their convesation. "Iron Country is where you can find honor but among those who pledge their lives to working in the shadows for the village? There is little to none."

"Our clan works on the basis of literally ripping each other apart and eating each other depending on which organ we came out with. I learned a long time ago to be on guard and to trust very few people." Tatsuo's voice was low and somber in its tone. His scythe swings had become more focused and slowed down as he continued to talk. "It wouldn't be the first, nor would it be the last time, a bodyguard turned and stole something due to greed, envy, or jealousy. Be careful, Ume, and stay on your toes with a bodyguard, especially if he or she is much above your own weight class."

Tatsuo continued on with his wheat slicing for another couple minutes before again wiping sweat from his brow and glancing at the position of the sun. "Think we should check up on the moron?"

[Willoria]

This time as Ume blushed it wasn't because of the attraction she felt to Tatsuo. This time it was embarrassment as he countered her about honor, and the girl averted her eyes, suddenly focusing on her work more than she had moments before. She fell into silence, not even trying to make an excuse for what she had. Honor was a notion her father had put into her head since she was a child, and while her mother's actions had shaken her beliefs in it, she hadn't fully lost it until now. She knew he was right after all, she had lived that much already.

"Maybe that's just whats going to happen then." she remarked quietly as she set to her work. Her mother had already tried to kill her and take her shiin, before they even had proof of what it was, before it would have done her mother any good. That power lust had torn her family apart already, and she wasn't sure how to escape it.

When he asked about their counterpart the girl paused and sighed, looking over towards where she could still hear the machine running. "I guess." she remarked, almost sadly. "But I'm pretty sure he'll just try to run us over."

[Niro]

"I know it's not comforting," Tatsuo started, "but if something did happen to you, I'd care enough to find out and eat a motherfucker's shiin down the road." He nodded, not only to Ume but to himself as well.

"He can try but he'd be stuck fixing that damn machine all day once I dropped it on top of him..." Tatsuo muttered in response to Ume's comment about them being run over. He threw the scythe over his shoulders and made sure to keep the blade away from both himself and Ume. With a nod of his head, Tatsuo started to move towards the separate field which held the small tractor and the small idiot driving it.

[Willoria]

Ume looked at him a moment as he spoke of finding out who 'did it' if something happened to her. The girl couldn't help a small smile, but there wasn't a blush with it this time. It wasn't a smile because of her budding attraction, rather it was just simply born of a gratefulness she rarely felt. "Thanks, it's more than most would do." she told him simply.

She couldn't help wrinkling up her nose as Tatsuo started towards the other field, though she couldn't help a chuckle at his comments. "I kinda wanna see that." she replied as she hefted her own scythe and followed. Though she was following him, she wasn't eager to get to their destination, if only because it meant dealing with Tenshu again.

As they got closer they'd find the machine was actually stopped, though a pale smoke came from the back to signify it was still on, but Tenshu didn't appear to be driving it. Rather he was in front of the vehicle and for a moment Ume stood there, stopping and just blinking at the spectacle before her. "What is that idiot doing?" she asked aloud as she watched him reaching for a piece of wheat that seemed to be stuck in the machine.

While it was still running.

[Niro]

"Oh shit..." Tatsuo's eyes widened as he first saw Tenshu reach.

'Idiot! I won't make it there in time! DAMMIT!' thoughts screamed through his head as his body started to move without him really paying attention to it. He dropped the scythe, allowing it to fall from his shoulders and stick into the ground. By the time it had reached the ground, Tatsuo had shot off with all of his might towards Tenshu.

However, it was too late.

The boy grabbed the wheat stuck in the tractor's blades and within an instant the machine seemed to grab the boys shirt and drag him in. Tatsuo saw the boys eyes widened in fear and realization but it was all for naught.

KRRRRRRT!

The machine instantly sucked in the boy, arm first and before he could even scream for help his head was dragged in as well. Tatsuo was able to grab the boy's body from the waist and yank.

With a wet squelch, Tenshu's body was removed from the blades and dropped to the floor. Tatsuo stared at the situation wide eyed, blood covering his face and upper body from the spray caused by the tractor.

'What do I do?' The thought crossed his mind for a moment and then he looked to Ume before looking around for the farmer who was nowhere in sight.

"Get on the tractor, turn off the blades, and move it into the warehouse. Meet me there." Tatsuo ordered, his tone reflecting the loss of the much more friendly teenager and the gain of the shinobi side he was required to be on the battlefield. Tatsuo hefted the body onto his shoulder, blood pouring from the open wound. The machine had ripped both the boys arm, head, and part of his upper body off. It looked as it someone had taken a very ragged scythe to the boy.

With a groan of disgust of the blood pouring over him, Tatsuo raced towards the darkness of the warehouse.