| Bake Sale: ANBU Style [Closed to Ayumi, Kotetsu, Itachi] | [Apr. 7th, 2008|10:44 pm] |
Set the morning after Ayumi's return; directly following this.
Tables, check. Folding chair, check. Mochi, check. Dango, check. Cookies, check. Comfortable clothes, check. Sign establishing the purpose of the bake sale, check. An early staked out spot in the common's room? Double check.
It had been a very, very long day for Ayumi. Going on thirty or so hours of not sleeping wasn't too bad, was it? She certainly wasn't complaining. Hauling her miniature sweet shop of food down to the common's room had taken a few trips, but it didn't bother her. The more stairs, the merrier! And there hadn't been hardly anyone awake, so she had free reign of the hallways and the common's room.
Now with all of her supplies, she sat down behind the two borrowed tables and glanced over the spread of food. Mochi was to her left, followed by dango, then the cookies going from directly in front of her and spreading out to her right. It was a pity she hadn't had time to make any other kinds of sweets, the variety would have been appreciated. But at least she'd made plenty of food. Not that it would be a real meal for ANBU agents, but it hopefully would cheer some of them up. Who didn't like sugar?
Now, all she needed was people to eat it. The sun had risen, so there was plenty of reason for people to be up. Though...with late missions and odd schedules, she very well knew she could be waiting for a bit. Ayumi sighed, leaned back in her chair, and stared at the ceiling. Perhaps she should have brought a book with her after all.
At least there were worse ways to lose bets. And worse punishments for it. A bake sale, while a little unorthodox, wasn't nearly bad as streaking through the Hyuuga compound, or having to strap a piece of beef to your back and running through a pack of hungry Inuzuka dogs. Thankfully, she'd never had to do the latter. Even if it would be fun to have so many Inuzuka dogs around. Though the raw beef would have been problematic, to say the least. At least she could meet the one that had joined ANBU. A definite veteran, not that it was a bad thing. She had a year under her own belt, so she'd finally come to join the ranks of non-rookie.
Ayumi hadn't let the blank stares and disregard for learning her name really bother her. Sure, she'd found it annoying and irritating at times, but that just meant she tried all the harder on missions and learned more names. It had been a sort of test for her. But at least it had been a fun kind of test. Dealing with people instead of little arithmetic boxes and figures was always more fun. Perhaps she should have been thinking of it as a game, then. Though games were hardly ever as deadly as ANBU missions were. Maybe a test was a better analogy after all.
A shadow from a tree branch just outside the compound bent at an odd angle and she refocused her eyes on the open doorway ahead of her instead of watching her near-constant companions dart out of the patch of darkness and split up, each choosing a side of the room and dancing around furniture. She closed her eyes for a second and sighed again, crossing her arms on the table and slumping over, propping up her chin on her arms. Maybe she'd just close her eyes for a bit and then people would be there. People who were real and didn't pester her all the time and give her haunting faces sometimes.
Besides, she had a sign up that explained everything perfectly well. 'Bake sale! Donations of cash, spars, or something similar graciously accepted' it said, with a smaller. 'Yes, I lost a bet, now shut up and eat the sugar.'
With a few more yawns, Ayumi let herself drift off. The sounds of Yuuichi and Shin laughing and scuffling around the room were almost a lullaby. |
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