[OPEN] Cliche-spilling-hot-liquids-on-customer-trope

[Blueper]

It was getting late at the Chahitsu House of Tea, but Rinko merely picked up another tray of tea from the back and pushed the curtain aside. She'd taken a mission request to help out during the busier winter season, when all anyone with friends wanted to do was catch up over a hot cup of tea and some snacks. Working from morning til evening to serve customers their drinks was a bit of a trial, considering all she had to go off of was location of the table and voices of the customers, and it didn't help that most of Kumo's citizens dressed in the same fashion, but she had nothing better to do. Might as well help out and earn some money while she was at it.

"Three oolong teas, one green tea?" She paused at a table in the corner near the door, only to be waved off gently. Oh. Wrong table again. She looked around.

"Miss, over here!" called a friendly girl, giggling. Turning a little red, Rinko turned back the way she came as quickly as she could, only to commit the fault every server dreaded- spilling hot tea on a customer making their way towards the door. She cried out, in a bit of shock, but ignored the liquid running over her hands and clothing to try and catch the mugs, which fell and shattered anyway.

There she stood, ceramic shards littering the ground, and her eyes unable to face the person she had so unfortunately probably soaked in tea.

"I- I'm so sorry! I'll just pick these up and. Um. I. Sorry..." Her words began to fail her. Her hands began trembling as she felt the eyes of everyone in the building latch on to her humiliation.

"I..." Were her ears ringing? Of course. This happened everytime something bad happened. The high pitched noise slowly began to increase in volume. Why? Why couldn't she just get through the day without one bad thing happening?

[Taiga]

It had been a long while since Hayate had last had time to leave the ivory tower and enjoy a cup of The Chahitsu House's famous tea. The tea had long sated his inner-most desires and warmed his soul from the inside out- and he remembered just how many bonds he had made over late night tea with friends in his formative years. Brushing his hair back out of his face and taking his Raikage hat off, allowing it to fall to his back as it's strings tugged on his neck, he entered the tea house. The owner quickly bowed to him, and he bowed too. Before others could follow suit, his hand dismissed it. He did not enjoy being treated any differently from any other citizen of the Lightning Country. Taking a seat in the open area he opened a paper and began to read, just like any other Jounin would after a long day of work.

Time passed, and many macha's later the man put his paper down. Rising, he bowed to the room and made his way to leave the tea house. He felt relaxed and like his vigor had returned from the most-famous-tea in the LIghtning Country. Moments after he stood up however, he heard a shatter. His eyes darted across the room. It seemed someone working at the tea house had... dropped a cup. His eyes then shot down to realize that cup had been dropped in front of him, and the hot tea was coming his way.

Had he been paying attention dodging the cup, or hell even catching it would have been child's play. He was the fastest man on the planet after all... but... he wasn't really. And he was now covered in scalding hot tea. He looked up a little more to the now shocked and stunned girl.He can only imagine the day she was having... and he knew what it was like to be in his shoes.

When she failed to get past her "I..." and stammering, his hands went up and he smiled, his eyes closing almost.

"Really it's no problem!"

[Blueper]

The cheerful tone of the man standing before Rinko was a surprise- normally, wouldn't anyone be angry or at least upset that hot tea was spilled on them? She looked up nervously, barely registering his height and before dropping her gaze, this time to his clothing. Yup, it was soaked through, and it looked like fancy robes, too. She hesitated, before pulling out a worn cloth, mostly used to wipe her hands. At least it wasn't too dirty...

"Uh. Um. You could use this to clean your robes? I'm sorry. Um. I'm sorry for getting them dirty? S-sir?" Oh, and now everything coming out of her mouth sounded like a question. She held out the cloth shakily, still a bit too scared to meet the man's eyes. Instead they looked just about everywhere else, including the ground, yet again.

Oh! She still had to clean up the shards, didn't she? Regardless of whether the man initially took the cloth or not, she'd end up thrusting the cloth at him, partially out of embarrassment and partially out of actual concern for his clothing, and running off to the back closet, before reemerging with a much grungier cloth and a dustpan. Hopefully most of the people watching had returned to what they were doing before. Right?

Right?

[Taiga]

Hayate blinked. The girl was completely a mess. Like a chicken with it's head cut off. For a moment he wondered if it was his status- but as she spoke and moved about still panicked, not even raising her head to make eye-contact he realized that she had in fact not noticed he was the Raikage. It was actually refreshing and made him smile a bit. As the girl panicked and tried to solve things, he cleared his throat, as water began to form on his body- his other hand quickly caught that water and controlled it amongst his body. Like a conductor his hand waved in the air as the water hit the tea soaked spots, then pulled off, the tea escaping with it.

"Please, don't worry." he said calmly. He hoped that his demeanor would take the many views, mostly from people whose mouths were completely a-gap, stunned that the girl had just dumped tea on the Raikage.. the emperor of Lightning Country. The most powerful man.... Their stares didn't really help anyone. His hand moved again and the water disappeared, and it's place was a humming and powerful ball of wind. He pressed it against his clothing and soon it was completely dry. The ball dropped to the floor, and his hands moving methodically the tea was soon gone from the floor, and the shards and debris neatly nestled in a floating ball of wind.

"A headband- a genin I presume?"

UsedShow

Suiton • Slip N' Side
D-Rank Ninjutsu
By channeling chakra into his body, Hayate will create a layer of extremely slippery water over it. This aids him in escaping holds and even gives him the ability to slide on the ground. This technique lasts for 3 posts and can only affect the user.

*Suiton • Aquakinesis
[/i]A-Rank Ninjutsu[/i]
Having achieved notable mastery over Suiton, Hayate is capable of shaping, directing, and manipulating existing bodies of the element without the need of hand seals or an existing technique. The range at which the user can manipulate the element is equal to the Hayate's control times 2 metres. While the user can freely manipulate this element, they cannot produce the element naturally.

Fuuton • Force Push
B-Rank Ninjutsu
Channeling chakra into his palm, Hayate will thrust it forward releasing a blast of wind from his hand. The blast of wind forms a vortex like cone 35m long and 25m at the base. It travels at a speed of 20 and strength of 20.

*Fuuton • Aerokinesis
A-Rank Ninjutsu
Having achieved notable mastery over Fuuton, Hayate is capable of shaping, directing, and manipulating existing bodies of the element without the need of hand seals or an existing technique. The range at which the user can manipulate the element is equal to Hayate's control times 2 metres. While the user can freely manipulate this element, they cannot produce the element naturally where it doesn't exist.

[Blueper]

Alas, when she'd returned from the closet, there was still an extreme lack in people who had chosen to look away. Rinko almost tripped over herself getting to the shards, but paused, a little awestruck in the easy way the man wielded not only water, but wind as well. He didn't even have to use handseals!

Wait.... this meant he was a shinobi as well? Rinko stood agape with her eyes huge, watching as the tea stains completely disappeared and the garment was as good as new. Along with cleaning the garment, the man even swept aside the shards of ceramic, rendering her little dustpan useless for the time being.

Headband? Oh yeah, she was wearing it. "Yessir." Rinko stood up a little straighter, knowing she was in the presence of someone strong and probably much, much higher up on the ladder than her. "Ishiguro Rinko, genin." The automatic introduction spilled out of her mouth, succinct and sharp.

Oh god, was she going to get in trouble?

As another wave of panic flashed through her, her eyes finally snapped up to study his face. It was, as her old classmates would have giggled about, a terribly symmetrical and handsome face. Rinko couldn't shake the feeling that she should know exactly who it was. Oh no, had she met him before? She wracked her brain, mentally cursing at how stupid she was. Why couldn't she just commit people's faces to memory? Argh.

[Taiga]

Hayate's hand was scratching the back of his head now. It seemed to be a rather awkward situation. He did not know what to do, but decided that muttering aloud "man, everyone is staring huh..." would cause everyone to feel awkward and stop staring at the Raikage and the tea girl. Sometimes people did not realize what they were doing after all, and a little comment like that would fix things. Sighing, his hand finally lowered from the back of his head. The girl was wide-eyed and in shock. He was starting to become a little worried- none of this should have been that shocking to a shinobi of the village, because surely every shinobi knew the Raikage and of his legendary power? Something was odd here.

To his headband comment, the girl stood up straighter and then introduced herself as Rinko, genin. Hayate did not recognize the girl but the name Rinko and rank genin... Rinko, Genin had a ring. He recognized the name but why exactly, he couldn't remember. It was likely her name had been a file on his desk at one point, especially if she had recently become a Genin. Pushing that aside, the fact that based on her face, she was desperately studying him up and down to try and figure out who he was cause his own identity questions to suddenly be answered.

Ah- I see!

He remembered who this was. Rinko- a girl who couldn't remember faces or people. The academy teachers wanted her to fail- and many didn't think she could become a shinobi... but, Hayate approved her graduation and none the less it happened.

"Ninth Raikage, Nakajima Hayate at your service. I live to serve my country and it's people." he said calmly, dipping down and bowing his head for a moment.

[Blueper]

Rinko dropped the dustpan.

The Raikage? She spilled tea on the RAIKAGE?

She probably could have melted into the ground in embarrassment at this point, but what good would that do? At least now she knew who the man was (only the most idolized shinobi in all of Kumo by every academy student, and genin, and possibly some of the chuunin as well). She bowed (a little deeply, but she was embarrassed, and she was a fan, ok?), taking the opportunity to pick up the dustpan while she was at it.

"N-nice to meet you. Sir. Sorry for..." she gestured vaguely at the shards. "Everything?"

Here she was, meeting one of her heroes, and yet none of the questions she wanted to ask him were coming to mind. Or should she ask him any questions at all? Surely he was extremely busy. She fidgeted a little, preparing to speak once or twice, before giving up on her brain-to-mouth connection and scooting to the side awkwardly, leaving him some more space to walk.

"And, um, sorry for disrupting your leaving. Sir."

[Taiga]

Hayate watched her return the bow, dipping even deeper than he had. It made him turn a little pink in the cheeks almost. He was never quite used to the respect he now commanded. Clearing his voice he waved his hand to the girl- "No really, it's okay I promise." He grinned. Mistakes happened. That said, he was curious to why one of his shinobi was working at the tea shop. He wasn't in a particular hurry to leave anyhow. On the other hand he really wondered why one of his shinobi was working at a tea shop. She probably had a great deal of skill so being placed in location like this seemed to be... under-utilization of shinobi power. Though, he was sure his Genin-overseers had their reasons.

"Were you assigned to a mission here? Just curious, really."

[Blueper]

Rinko blinked, a little bit taken aback, because please, why wasn't he leaving so that she could run into the storeroom and shame herself? She wet her lips before answering, mouth suddenly a little dry. There was no way she could escape without being rude, so she steeled herself for the question and answer session that would invariably follow about her non-existent team, her non-existent family, and various other topics that she wouldn't know how to answer other than a non-committal maybe.

"Er, I volunteered for this mission myself, since I came here often as a kid... I, um, know how the place works. Really well." Had that extra explanation been necessary? Probably not.

[Taiga]

Volunteered for a mission... a mission to work at a tea-shop? What? Hayate was perplexed. Generally Genin or Chuunin absolutely dreaded this kind of stuff and the last thing they wanted was to use their ninja powers to work mundane missions. Hayate was certainly finding this girl to be very, very interesting. "That's surprising to me. This is the kind of work most fresh Genin disrespect, or dislike. They lack patience and want to be out in the field flinging jutsu around." He chuckled to himself, because he knew full well he could be included in that group.

Ishiguro Rinko

She would be a surprising one, he could feel it now. He'd keep a watch on her.

"How are you finding your Genin Development Squad to be? Were you placed yet, who is your Jounin?" he was curious, though inadvertently hadn't considered the 20q's about her name, ranking, and whose squad she was in could possibly also cause her to feel like a report against her was about to be filed.

[Blueper]

Rinko, for some reason, began feeling a little indignant. What was so wrong with wanting to help out at a tea shop? Being a genin didn't always mean she had to run screaming headfirst into a fight like some... other people she knew. She debated telling him about how old Mrs. Oban had always made her a cup of tea whenever she showed up, hiding from her parents' escalating arguments, and how she wanted to help repay that debt, but quickly decided not to, especially since that would be weird, telling the Raikage so much about a random genin's life. On the other hand, he seemed to be weirdly interested in her, or at least amused, if his questions were anything to go by, because here it was, dreaded question number 1: "What squad are you on?" Also interchangable with "Who are your teammates?", "Who is your Jounin leader?" and "How are you liking genin life?"

She steeled herself for the various types of looks she got whenever she responded to these types of questions- pity, confusion, amusement. Being out of the academy this long and still not having a team was... well. It was embarrassing, especially since she was a clan member. She couldn't even blame it on her shyness, or people being mean. Their silent reasoning, however many excuses they gave- already having team members, being too busy, retiring from being a shinobi, even- was always the same. Rinko was a liability, being unable to tell between allies and enemies unless they were color-coded by clothes, which in the field, was an impossibility. She'd accepted it by now, continuing to train on her own, much as she had throughout the academy, but there was only so far she could really go without a proper team and teacher, wasn't there? Even understanding their reasons for rejecting her did nothing to alleviate that pang of regret and loneliness she got everytime she saw a team composed of her old classmates training together, or going on a mission.

"I don't have a team. Sir." she blurted. "I... I'm considered a liability among many of the genin. Sir." Her gaze flickered every which way, nervously peeking back up at his face every now and then to gauge his reaction.

[Taiga]

The girl seemed a little stuck. He had been asking decently easy questions, and yet she was struggling to keep up. He watched her face, her mannerisms, her body language. She was not sure how to react, what to say, how to feel. She was unsure of herself. Most young people are. And then, then came his next question and at that he could see a shift greater than any prior. He had hit a sore spot, and before long received his answer. A liability? He had been trying to draw up the links in his head for quite some time to who this Genin was. He read thousands of files and sometimes it became hard to remember who-was-who exactly.... But the who-was-who was exactly the thing that plagued him. Why hadn't she known he was Raiak- a liability? The gears were turning and finally the puzzle pieces fit together to form an image.

"Rinko Ishiguro- the girl who can't remember faces." he blurted out in a eureka moment, though, he hadn't intended to so cavalierly put it out there. Turning pink in the cheeks his hands rose up to gesture "sorry" and his eyes closed as he shook his head. "I don't mean it like that...". He took a deep breath.

"Sometimes "disabilities" or "liabilities" are strengths. If the other kids don't see that it's their fault. Do you know the legendary cloak I have? I've been known as the Beastlesst Aura Jinchuuriki...." he grinned. "When I was a genin I had such little stamina I was a liability. I couldn't fight or last long enough to do missions... But that was because we didn't know at the time my body was constantly leaking chakra! It was the cloak in it's infancy." he smiled. "I'm famous for my speed, but what people don't know is as a side-effect I also have stamina that rivals genma. My body had to adjust and learn to deal with the fact it hemorrhaged chakra.".

Perhaps this girl just hadn't had the right teachers or friends yet.