Smell

Hatake Kakashi was in a good mood today. There was no particular reason why. Especially since he was leading a trio of dishevelled, grumpy and distinctly smelly genin who ensured the group received a wide berth as they trudged to the Tower.

"Well, we got a lot of missions done today," Kakashi said in a disturbingly bright tone. "Who knew a cat could escape so many times in one day?"

"Or that lost earrings can wash into sewerage drains on opposite ends of the village," Sakura muttered. They had completed that particular mission two hours ago. She hadn't been able to look at her grime-encrusted fingernails since.

Naruto was still convinced the entire day's events were a conspiracy. With blue eyes wide with conviction and feathers in his ruffled hair, he looked quite the resident lunatic. "How did we end up with all the disgusting jobs on the list? I mean, we're obviously the strongest team out there. Even Kiba's team got a courier mission outside the village! What kind of heroes get caught up in or… orpa…or-"

"Ornithology," Sasuke said. The Uchiha practically spit the syllables out, though his face betrayed only a fraction of his annoyance. Which was still quite substantial.

"That! Why do we have to do all the dirty work just so little kids can study orn… that? We never did that at the Academy!"

There was a moment of silence as the three genin recalled how they had spent the afternoon: chasing after birds and assembling them for a class of first-graders at the Academy. They shuddered collectively. Sakura was convinced that she still smelt of droppings.

Their job was made even more difficult when Naruto hypothesised that the only reason the birds hadn't defecated on Sasuke's head was because he looked like a cousin, which prompted such an icy death stare from the Uchiha that the family of magpies they had been closing in on abruptly took flight in a cloud of feathers. Which in turn encouraged every other feathered animal in the vicinity to fall suit, leaving only Kakashi and his orange book in the trees. Naruto's howl of disbelief did little to salvage the situation. "Run along now," their mentor had said heartlessly, turning another page.

Now, Kakashi smiled shrewdly behind his mask. "Now, now. That's why heroes don't pester their wise sensei for more missions."

All three genin froze with one foot into the Tower. Kakashi felt the heat of their glares on his back as he overtook them, whistling innocently.

"Don't just stand there. If we're lucky we can get one last mission done before the sun goes down. Wouldn't that be great?"

He tried not to laugh as a wave of killer intent boiled behind his back. Oh, what a good mood he was in. All in a day's work.

Oh boy, this terrible tendency to be overrun by plot bunnies only during exam period is going to ruin me...

I thought I'd start taking up requests if people had any, just for fun. I'm open to most things. Here are some parameters anyway:

- You can pick any prompt (except for writer's choice) that hasn't already been done (find a chart of the prompts on my blog - link is in my profile). You can choose a prompt along with characters, or just characters and let me pick the prompt. You can try giving me a mood as well (e.g. humourous, angsty, relaxed) although I can't guarantee I'll be able to fulfill everything.

- Please don't think about yaoi or yuri pairings. I respect such pairings and authors who write them, but I wouldn't be able to write anything half-decent even if I tried - and trust me, you don't want me to try.

- On the bright side, I'm open-minded enough to do most pairings. SasuSaku, NaruHina, NaruIno... I can usually make them work. I imagine crack pairings would be a challenge - but I won't be a party pooper, haha. You name it and I'll try my best to deliver.

- I'm spontaneously active these days, so don't be put off if it takes me ages to get around to your request.

That's about it! Now, I really need to take my exams seriously...