Set This Circus Down
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Dedication and quick Author's Note: This is for Taylor Hatake. :) And this is…sort of a fanfic within a fanfic. It includes most of the characters from my story 'Coushander' here on fanfiction dot net, and it stars Taylor Hatake, who belongs to Taylor Hatake. I felt like dropping them all in a crazy circus, no idea why. Title may end up changing, but so far it's the only thing that's stuck….besides just calling it 'Cou and the Circus'….
Disclaimer: I was keeping Sakumo's name, so I don't own that (Kakashi is Enoki….Kishi's rejected name for him), and I do not own Taylor Hatake.
Genre: General/Adventure
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Chapter 1, Curiosity and the Cat…
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"…Ouch!"
The young girl rubbed her wrist and then quickly continued writing down the rest of her notes, the words falling as diagonals on the notebook page but legible none the least. Science was one of her favorite classes, so she couldn't afford to miss anything, a sore wrist or not. "…Ha!" she smiled in a eureka moment as the teacher finished and offered some homework assignments to end another day's lecture.
Packing up, she made her way home.
It was three o'clock and though she was reminding herself about the wrist brace waiting for her at home, she couldn't help but get lost in all the beautiful colors of foliage on her way home. The parade of warm tones were like yellow and red lanterns with sunlight glowing through each of them with air smelling just like apple pie. Birdsong echoed from the trees with small sparrows moving like tiny darts in between.
The bright afternoon was warm and relaxing on her face, and also quiet just like her walk home. She spotted the blue lake hidden behind the dense line of trees. Here in this lane it was always hiding furtively like a friend waiting to be found. From her home, it was a winding route to get to that lake and from this one it was a rocky incline downward. Either way it was an adventure, something never in short supply in this small town.
"…Oh boy, I hope he's not hurt," she remembered again, seeing her home in sight similar to that little blue lake.
Her grandfather had been building something in the backyard.
The girl's pace increased up to the porch and through the front door where she kicked off her shoes and dropped her schoolbag in her room (quite carelessly too since today was Friday). She remembered her brace for the repetitive motion injury and hesitantly made her way out to the back door, not even bothering to change out of her school uniform.
Her father was still at work in the city, but her grandfather was indeed home. He was supposed to be looking after the fields he kept, but the young woman could tell he was inside the….thing he was building. She had to call it that because she couldn't believe what it really was. Even though this world held wonder, universal constants couldn't exactly be changed. (And he'd have known that had he finished school. A little joke she teased him about.) Putting on a smile, she walked up to the door and knocked.
The building was an off shoot standing by itself by the wooden shed filled with gardening tools her grandpa made use of nearly every day. The size of the structure was not near as large though and was very square shaped. Her knock was hollow and metallic with the outside panels being all recycled aluminum. The frame and floor however was salvaged wood—mostly from the fence he'd repaired last summer with her help. Paint cans sat outside by the half-dozen—shades of blue, gray, and white waiting for her opinion and assistance.
A few moments later she heard a slight crash and then her grandfather opened the door, "Taylor! You're home!"
Her fake smile grew wider, happy to see him in one piece. Catching a glance inside his mess, she swallowed hard, struggling to keep that smile. "How's it…um…going?" For progress couldn't exactly be measured here in a sea of tools, cabinets, strings of glowing electric lights, and old computer parts arranged in patterns similar to the old Tetris games. The small building had a couple windows in triangle shapes because he'd run out of metal to use as siding, and without those and the electric lights, she doubted she'd be able to see anything here. Taylor stepped inside as her grandfather answered, "Come and see!"
If anything, it was like a shrine. And the family already had such a thing somewhere west where all the names of their ancestors were written in kanji and hiragana. Except this shrine held their pictures. "Doesn't it look neat?" he asked his grandfather, a wide grin on his face.
"Um—yeah! It's cozy," she answered truthfully, looking over the pictures of her extended family and great-grandfather and uncle and friends. Even if it didn't work as it's intended purpose, her grandfather had built a small desk where he could build birdhouses or mend kites or something productive. There was a small radio there too and some fresh cut flowers—pink roses in a small cylindrical vase, "Oh—that's cute!" she smiled again, bending over to smell them.
"I hope to get her working in another few days," he winked.
"Grandpa…" her voice soured, "Seriously?"
"I've already taken it for a test run!"
She rolled her eyes a little. "You mean you went into the past?"
"It was yesterday," he grinned (like a lunatic of course), "Worked just like a charm! I saw your great…great uncle's circus alive and well on the east side of town," he pointed to one of the pictures which was nearly a bright orange blur were it not for the focus of one individual in grey with a green tie, smiling.
The circus in question was no more. Instead it was a slightly bumpy patch of land crowded with trees and ancient fungi growing on rotted limbs and thick green moss like shaggy carpet. Taylor found it very hard to believe anything had ever been there. The spot was simply someplace local children dared each other to explore. She knew that full well since she had been the first and only one to make it deep inside. She was only seven, half her age now, and had just started martial arts classes to hone her inner power. The young girl traversed inside in hopes that the other children might finally stop teasing her at school. It worked to some extent. Her father had to come rescue her, both cross to find her there and overjoyed no harm came to her. Taylor was brought out, fidgeting in his arms telling him she was fine with bright blooms of pink embarrassment across her face. In her right hand she was clutching a souvenir from the journey to show the other kids, a very old chocolate bar wrapper, one that used to sell at that fair for a nickel marked right on the package when nowadays candy that size was almost a dollar. Only with that proof, the other children believed she'd gone as far as she had, and for the rest of the year she no longer had to worry about someone teasing her silvery white hair.
It was a genetic trait in her family going back generations. Her hair was shoulder length over her uniform, dark blue over a light green shirt and white shorts (for summer weather which they were still experiencing). The girl had ice blue eyes unlike her father and grandfather whose eyes were a dark ebony color. Both were taller than her—even grandpa in a dusty old robe cut off at the knees with a white tank underneath and dark blue pants. "Grandpa," she wondered aloud, "Why is that place so weird now and so overgrown?"
"What do you mean?"
"It's all forested…and I've heard some adults say it's guarded by strange magic."
Her grandfather smiled. "I doubt that. Still. It's not someplace you should ever go again young lady. It's wild…it is that. As wild as can be with all sorts of creeping things. It's a miracle your father found you that one time."
Taylor frowned at her grandfather's lacking explanation, it seemed to be all he would give for now.
"Well! Better go start dinner!" he announced, adding, "Don't wait up!" and left her in his little time machine.
Taylor soon smiled again, looking over all the ancient family photos. Outside of her father, grandfather, and uncle, she didn't really know any of them. In fact, grandpa rarely told stories about her great-great uncle's circus making it only more mysterious…
"Hm," she wondered, looking at a picture of that curious uncle; silver white hair the shortest cut of them all with warm black almond shaped eyes and red stripes bordering either side, pointing back to his hairline. Her great-uncle had them, except the stripes were down his cheeks and his hair much longer in the back than his brother's. She never saw him much, he traveled a lot. He was younger than grandpa by ten years.
Thinking of far off places, she remembered her father—he should be home soon.
They had dinner as usual as a family, just the three of them. Her father talked about work and Taylor listened with interest—she hoped someday she might join the Pentala, given her and her family's unique gift. Most people had one, of one kind or another. There was a kid at school she knew who could copy another's appearance at will. (Roll call was sometimes redundant.) Then another who had the power to eat twelve lunches in one sitting…although she wasn't entirely convinced if that was a superpower or if the kid practiced a lot in eating competitions.
Her family's power was a special one—they could harness their inner power, ki, into light energy. Her grandfather used it with blades—her father with his bare hand, and Taylor with both. When she wasn't sparring with them or her sensei, it came in handy as a nightlight for late night reading as she simply lifted a finger and wrote or read on.
She used it again that night, reading an installment of another trilogy in jeans and a t-shirt till she fell asleep, dreaming about the forest that was once home to the greatest most mysterious circus in all of history. Really. Why did it burn down, and how exactly did the land get that way?
Taylor woke up in a curious mood to find out.
Strapping on a backpack with a couple of her notebooks, pens, some markers and pencils (in case she found something worth drawing), some water, a sweater, and her favorite short knife (hey a girl's got to protect herself in this world), she headed out into the backyard to concoct a story for her grandfather, tinkering around with metal and wood by his time machine (aka, shrine).
"Ok!" he called. "Have fun sketching!"
She smiled a little, Way too easy, she thought and proceeded to the main road. She looked back remorsefully at the now distant home. She shouldn't have lied like that, but she could apologize later. For now, she wanted to satisfy her curiosity. She looked back one more time, wishing she could have at least said goodbye to her father, but his shift was an early one. Hopefully she'd catch him on the way home to talk about it all. Sometimes he'd surprise her on the way home on weekdays, falling from these trees by lane, laughing at her surprised face with the tiny sparrows screeching obscenities overhead.
The young girl progressed to the forest and finally reached her destination after a calm forty-five minute walk. (It was clear on the other side of town.)
The forest line looked the same as she remembered it: foreboding, dark, greenish, bluish, and cold. Really really cold. Glad she packed her sweater, she fished it out and pulled it over her head, adjusting her brace and pulling down the fabric to straighten herself in the face of this 'wild'. There was moss thick as cushions and broken limestone, wood, and darkness in every corner—trees so close together she marveled at this place that once was a vast field and a good time. Something definitely seemed strange here…
Taylor clutched the strap of her bag and hesitated after she took a step forward—she saw movement. Her brain told her pounding heart it was just a bird. She was close; it was an owl, a small one and kind of cute (even though it did give her a heart attack at first).
The young girl stepped inside and the owl leaned forward from her perch, "…You're back!" she said softly.
Now Taylor's heart nearly jumped from her chest—"What?!"
"It's you, isn't it! I'd recognize that hair anywhere! I remember you!"
"Y-y-y-you spoke!" Never mind the fact she just had another comment about her hair color…
"Of course, silly!" the owl seemed to smile and she flapped her wings a little in excitement. "It's me, Michiko!"
"M-Michiko?"
"Yes!" The little owl smiled, "Welcome back, Taylor-chan!"
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