Mission Taken – Catch the Baby Dragons!:

Since the day that Satoshi had rescued Alice from that crate in the back alley she called home and Raijin had removed the seal brand from her hand Alice’s life had taken a turn for the better. She no longer had to steal food or wonder if that night was going to be the night she froze to death huddled up in the little wooden box she called home. There was no longer the threat of that horrible seal triggering and destroying her mind and likely the rest of her with it. No, now she had proper clothing, proper food, and was all in all, a very happy child.

Satoshi was no longer just Satoshi as she had fondly started to refer to him as “Daddy”. Over the past few weeks she had started to put on some healthy weight and her hair had started to grow out to the point to where she now had to wear it back in a ponytail with a beautiful ribbon of a bow around it because it was down to her waist otherwise. The bruises and other wounds that had once covered her were gone; no longer a trace of them once being there left.

She still had nightmares of course over her ordeal every so often, and had begun to remember bits and pieces of it all: some pieces being bigger than others. But, she knew over all of that that she was safe and sound and that no one was going to let that horrible man from her past anywhere near her again.


Alice stared down at the mission scroll that had been given to her: a simple D rank mission was what she had been told. Only… this didn’t seem so simple. No, this was frightening her somewhat. How was gathering up a bunch of baby dragons that escaped simple and safe? It wasn’t in her eyes. She knew dragons existed: she had heard stories about the Tsukino clan and had even glimpsed a dragon once flying around in the night sky over Kumo.

But this? This frightened her. She didn’t want to be eaten. She didn’t want to be roasted on an open fire or whatever it was that dragons did. She bit her bottom lip as a small amount of fear filled her bright blue eyes. There was no way she wanted to do this alone: no, she would have to find someone to help her. But who? Perhaps her father would. Yes, she would ask him.

And so Alice turned and darted off down the street to find her father; moving like a streak of yellow and purple as her purple dress with the yellow top underneath billowed around her as she ran. Legs were covered in purple colored socks that went up right above her knees, and feet were covered with black ankle length boots: a warm outfit.

Word Count: 486 / 100

Ever since that day in the alley, Satoshi had added a new member to his family. Alice, the once homeless and frightened girl, had become his daughter. No, she wasn't blood related, but that didn't matter. They had gotten close and he loved having her around. She was sweet and fun, which made looking over her an easy task. He didn't really call her by Alice anymore though. He used a variety of nicknames that were often used for daughters. Honey, Sweety, and others were what he addressed her as, because using her name was formal and awkward.

She had started getting healthy and was a joy to be around. He still couldn't believe that someone could hurt or abuse a girl like that. She stayed with him and she could always find Sato, just in case the man from her past ever reappeared. As he was standing in the street with another ninja, he saw her running his way. The jounin in front of him nodded and used the Body Flicker Technique to disappear. He turned to her with a smile and warm eyes. "Hey Sweety, what's up?" He asked as she approached him. From the look on her face, he could tell she was a little nervous. In the short amount of time he'd known her, he started to pick up her facial expressions and what they meant. He quietly wondered what she could be doing, but he would wait for her to talk.

Despite the worried look on her face a giggle escaped her as she came to a skidding stop in front of Satoshi: Alice loved running, it was something she considered herself good at, and it brought her great joy because of how freeing it felt. At her father’s question the worried look shifted even more upon her face, wiping away the mild smile that had appeared there.

“I need your help… I’m supposed to find and round up some baby dragons… but dragons scare me ‘cause they eat people. I’m little… so the little dragon’s might try eating me.” Child logic, but logic none the less. She truly felt that the dragons were likely going to attempt to eat her even if they were supposed to be little, harmless, and adorable according to the whispers and gossip she could hear coming from a group of older woman nearby who were cooing over a dragon that they had seen about five minutes previous.

Word Count: 162 + 486 = 648 / 100

Sato couldn't help but smile as he heard his new daughter talk. She was worried about the dragons eating her, which almost made him laugh, but he managed to hold it back. "No worries, I'll come with you so I can make sure you're okay!" He said genuinely with a warm tone. It was really cute how her mind worked, because it made perfect sense and yet she had a sweet way of saying it. "From what I hear, they won't be a problem." He said shifting his eyes to a group of ladies discussing the dragon they saw.

He turned his attention back to Alice. "I'll follow you, let's go!" He said as he waited for her to take off like she always did. Once she did, he would follow her to the group of dragons. He couldn't help but think of her playing with the baby dragons and how adorable it would be. Once she got over her mild fear, he was sure that she would like the little creatures.

A smile flittered across Alice’s face as she heard her father say that he would help her: just the idea of someone coming with her, someone she trusted none the less, greatly reduced the fear she had been feeling. She was sure that if this was truly a D ranked mission that these dragons were likely harmless, but they were still, after all, dragons.

A giggle escaped her as she then turned when her father said let’s go and darted off as she so often did. She moved around the people in the street, her small form making it possible for her to dart around people with relative ease and without having to bother with slowing down. As the people in the street began to thin out Alice began to slow, even more so as a strange sound reached her ears. The sound she assumed was an attempt at roaring, only the resulting sound was adorable at best and caused her to giggle.

Momentarily forgetting about her fear she took several steps forward, following after the sound. She peered around a bush to find… three dragons. Three tiny, adorable, and very colorful dragons that were playfully rolling around with each other in the grass: play fighting.

One of the dragons, an orange colored one, spotted her and suddenly stopped. It rolled free from the pile and its movements caught the attention of its friends. All three dragons stared at her and she stared back at them. Suddenly her fear caught back up with her and she turned and started to run away. “Don’t eat me!” The dragons looked at each other, obviously perplexed by her sudden departure, and took off after her. To them this was all a fun game of chase, to Alice she was fleeing three tiny dragons that might or might not want to nibble at her fingers and toes!

Word Count: 313 + 648 = 961 / 100

Sato followed after his new daughter as she wove around the people in the streets. It wasn't too long before Alice stopped and peaked around a bush. They had found their little dragons. Satoshi let out of a chuckle as she turned and ran with three colorful dragons chasing after her. She was adorable to watch, but he didn't want her scared. He quickly molded chakra in his lungs and spit out two globs of quicklime at the dragons. One landed at the feet of the two in the back, interrupting their chase. The other landed on the orange dragon in front, stopping it as well. 

Sato walked over to the creatures with a smile and crouched down to pet the orange colored one. "See they aren't dangerous! They just want to play." He said looking over to Alice. The little guy let out a sound that was just cute as Sato continued to play with him. "Now I want you three to be nice. Don't scare my daughter." He said with a soothing voice. He would leave the jutsu active until Alice walked over and felt comfortable. It was her job to catch them after all.

Chakra 480/500:

Alice came to a stop seeing as the dragons were no longer capable of chasing her. She watched her father carefully: picking up on the fact that the dragons didn’t try and harm him. Taking a deep breath and focusing on the little bravery she had she turned back around and walked carefully over. She kneeled down once she had reached the dragons and extended her hand; one of the dragons bumped its head against it gently and seemed to smile.

Calmer, and feeling like the dragons weren’t going to eat her after all, she stood back up and turned back around. “Come on baby dragons… time for you guys to go home.”, she said before leading the way back to the pen; the dragons following behind her happily enough the whole way to the enclosure they were meant to be returned to.

WC 143 + 961 = 1,104 / 100