Two days passed…no letting up of the rain and no chance of escape. The gardens of the village must be all drowned by now. If Ino could actually see out the window now, she would have seen all of the uprooted plants floating down the streets and all the produce smashing open whenever they hit a wall or some standing object.
The three ladies stuck inside were keeping themselves busy to avoid going crazy all trapped inside. Board games and cards were broken out, Ino's mother cooked a lot to use a lot of the spare ingredients, Tsunade shared stories about her past, and Ino just staid in her room. She already heard all of Tsunade's stories and all the variations that could out of a drunk Tsunade's mouth. She came down when called upon or when food was ready. Ino really had no reason to go downstairs. Daily chores weren't required, so she felt no need to leave her room to hang around.
So her mother had to trick her into joining them into a board game. Cherry tomatoes salad? Despite previous establishments made by both her mother and herself that they ran out a few days ago and the weather delaying shipments for all the stores in the village? Ino should have known better. Now she had to play to the end of this stupid game. Plus her mom took the best piece; the ninja scroll!
To be fair, Tsunade seemed to be annoyed as well. Not because Ino's mother was winning by a mile in both monetary value and number of properties owned, but rather because she felt a little too old to be doing this. Legenary Sanin, the Sage of Slugs, a great and powerful leader, and savior of the world a few times over…currently playing a game meant to keep kids from ages eight to fourteen occupied and behind the other three players. Little money left, properties too far spread out, and constantly on the verge of ending her game if she was off by one number on her dice roll. Ino could see the fury building up in Tsunade's face, though she hid it with a small smile and making few comments.
"And three." Ino's mother stated. She tapped the piece along the board towards the last unclaimed property on the board. "And I claim this land for me." She reached under the board and grabbed ten thousand ryo to buy out Manē Jigoku Avenue. "Sorry if any of you land on this." She added after a short chuckle. Seeing as she had plenty of money left over, she placed two houses on the space and it's sister property. Tsunade clicked her tongue, seeing how close she stood next to the space and the other danger areas. Ino knew that Tsunade was coming close to the end of her rope, and the end of the entire game as well; Ino didn't have enough money or property to keep going much further herself. She could buy out all of Tsunade's properties after she left, but that would leave her without much money to survive landing on any of her mother's lands. And letting her mother get those titles would only make the board even more trap-riddled then ever before.
"My turn…" Tsunade muttered before grabbing the dice. But before she could roll them, a timer went off in the kitchen. Ino's mother jumped up to go get dinner; chicken noodle soup. "Hey, Ino." Tsunade whispered over to Ino as soon as third member of their group went out of earshot. "Do you mind if I just set the dice down on five?" She pointed five spaces ahead, showing it to be a safe point for her.
"Sure, go ahead." Ino blankly stated. Tsunade first rolled the dice to make the obvious noise and then silently tilted the dice over to the five-dotted side. "That gives you only one extra turn before you roll over dead."
"Might as well try." Tsunade shrugged. "There's always a chance I can pull off a return and win in the end." And with a confident smile, she relaxed her posture as she moved her piece over to the safe spot. "If I can get Banraku Road, I can use my remaining money to set up a house there that will earn me a great deal of money…enough for me to save me if I dared land on one of your mother's wretched…lovely spaces!" Tsunade swapped out whatever she was going to say when she saw Ino's mother walk back in.
"All fair's in love and war, Hokage-sama." Ino's mother shook her head and pointed back to the kitchen. "Dinner's ready…go ahead and get yourselves served…" She quickly scurried down the hall towards the bathroom. Looking at a big pot of boiling soup after playing a game for three hours straight must have taken a toll on her old bladder. Ino jumped up and went to get some nourishment after being locked in this game. Feeling a bit greedy, she took the biggest bowl (Meant for serving salads whenever the Yamanakas had guests over) and filled it up ¾ before carefully taking it back to the living room with a towel wrapped around the glass bowl and setting it down on the stand in between the two couches.
"Hungry?" Tsunade then asked with a sly smile. "You haven't really eaten all day."
"Hmmph." Ino replied as she started to shovel in spoonful after spoonful of soup. Simple, yet so delicious! Kinda made the fact they stuck in the house and her being forced to play a dumb game almost worth it. Almost. She knew if she took her bowl up to her room, she would only be dragged back downstairs again. But regardless of where she went, her mother would call her out for using the salad bowl.
…honestly, she was expecting to taste a little bit of tomatoes by using this bowl.
"Ino, you want to talk?" Tsunade sighed as she got up and went to the kitchen to get her own bowl. "You can't be like this all the time!" She called from the kitchen.
"Watch me." Ino muttered under her own breath. She didn't really mean it, but she didn't want to talk about it nor try to get help from people. This was her problem, she is a grown woman, she's going to solve this problem on her own. Besides, Tsunade is the Hokage and should be focusing on the village on the whole rather than just a single individual.
"Well…" Tsunade cleared her throat as she came back in without a towl, trying to balance the bowl using both her thumbs and index fingers to balance the hot bowl. "…a lot of things have happened over the past year, and there's been plenty of people suffering PTSD from the war. Naruto and even Sasuke have seen me…"
Before Tsunade could go into the whole spiel about war and the effects on their heroes and such, she let out a distinct cry of pain and dropped the bowl straight down. Ino's mind went into overdrive as she took her towel and dive to save the soup bowl from falling to the floor and letting the contents stain the couch. Both women were rather surprised by this fast save. Ino slowly got up and handed Tsunade the safely wrapped bowl.
"Thanks!" Tsunade whistled. "That's a impressive dive!" She chuckled as she set the bowl down safely on a stand. "…consider joining a baseball team? You would be a great base-runner!"
"Yeah." Ino sighed and flipped her ponytail over her shoulder. She went back to her seat and resumed her soup-shoveling. Soon, she emptied the bowl and found herself with a churning stomach. Too much broth, not enough noodles and meat. Must be punishment from above for using the salad bowl. At least she doesn't have to do any physical labor, just wait in place for the game to continue.
The game continued without Ino's mother realizing Tsunade's cheat. Ino silently watched as Tsunade rounded the bend over next to the place she wanted the most. Banraku Avenue laid three spaces ahead, but following that laid the lands of Mrs. Yamanka and her mighty villages of high taxes. If Tsunade landed on Banraku, she could buy it…but it would leave her with little money left, not enough to survive landing on ANY occupied space. By the looks of it, she would need the three and then a five to escape to the war chest space. And then there's the chance the war chest card would force Tsunade to a insta-lose space. Ino couldn't help but think that Tsunade should have gracefully accepted defeat.
Tsunade was never good at gambling, everyone knew that! Blowing on the dice and shaking them for a few seconds would only…roll a three?
Tsunade sighed out a breath of relief as she hopped ahead to Banraku Avenue and promptly handed over the money needed for the card. Ino's mother, with a large and thick grin, took the money and handed Tsunade her card. Ino took the dice and tossed them, silently cursing as a four came up. Her own mother didn't even need to ask, Ino handed over the last bit of her own money, leaving her with only the mostly useless ones. She wasn't really playing to win, but her mother's demonic grin was telling her otherwise.
After another uneventful roll by her own mother, Tsunade had to roll again. Perhaps if she landed this roll properly and didn't get a bad card, she would have a chance of a comeback. Ino's mother would come close to landing on Tsunade's area, and that would give enough money to Tsunade to afford a comeback.
Ino expected nothing…save for the comeback of a lifetime.
Five dots on the die. The card pushed her back to the start with extra money in tow. Ino's mother landed on Tsunade's space…twice. Ino landed on it once, and she forfeited the game, knowing that she wouldn't be able to recover from this. But unable to leave the living room until the game ended, she watched as Tsunade live out the American dream…not that she would use that term seeing how there was no America in this world, which a great deal of people noticing the positive change of such a fact.
Tsunade won. Ino had to repeat that over and over in her head as she watched her mother groan as she saw the dice leading her right into Tsunade's tourist trap. Tsunade let out a small chortle as she stuck out her hand to let Ino's mother shake. With the game over, Ino was free to finally return to her room and resume her…whatever she did.
But as she once more fell into bed, she was joined by Tsunade, still high off her victory of a child's board game. She pulled out the couch bed and fell into it, still chuckling away. Ino decided to stop this boulder before it got rolling. "You only won because I let you cheat." She remarked.
"Thanks for that!" Tsunade hollered, still laughing.
"Laugh while you can." Ino huffed as she turned over into her pillow. A muffled Ino then asked, "Kindly stop your hyena shrieking so some of us can get some sleep."
"Sorry!" Tsunade chuckled as she realized she got a little too crazy. "Tomorrow…we will talk about some things…and there's nowhere you can run." One last chuckle from the elder blonde and then silence. Ino tucked herself into bed, letting out a long drawn-out sigh. She silently wished for the rain to subside so she could escape…