All that could be seen from the tiny window in the carriage was the burning coastline and the crescent moon. They were far away enough now so that not even the loudest screams could be heard, much less the excruciating drowned out versions they had heard for what seemed an eternity. The small child leapt down from the window, gripping her sleeping toddler sister close to her. The older one brushed her light coral-blonde hair from her eyes, knowing this was going to be a long journey to a place she had no desire to go to.
The young teenager stared blankly at the man in front of her, chewing her out. She was sure the old man would've made it physical had there not been a counter blocking them, nor the Kazekage Tower down the street. Her bland and shallow purple eyes flickered between the scene before her and the oven in the room a few feet away. She prayed the buzzer would go off soon so she could scurry and get away from this argument.
"Umiko! Are you even listening? You know my wife and I hate that sweet smell in our house! I'll close this place down if I have to!" He was near screaming, face red and all. She continued her blank stare, until she realized he was waiting for a reply. She straightened herself up from her leaning stance on the counter, brushing off her yellow cream-colored apron three times. "No, Sir, I was not listening. You come in every week to yell at me and threaten me. Do you not have anything better to do?" She asked, trying to be polite and glancing into the kitchen every few seconds. 6 to be exact.
The old man made some sort of primal noise, and left as fast as he could, fuming. Umiko sighed; this was a regular scene and she hated having to explain herself to questioning customers. She just shook her head and wandered into the kitchen, waiting impatiently in front of the oven. It only had 35 seconds left, but that wasn't a good number in Umiko's mind. She quickly turned the dial to 36 seconds, and set it back down. It was just one of her many strange habits. She turned as she heard light footsteps coming into the kitchen.
"How much more did you turn it up by?" the pre-teen asked the older girl. "Only by a second. 35 is just such a bad and unlucky number. I really wish you'd understand, Hitodeka. Eve-" she was cut off by a growl from the kid. Umiko knew she picked up from the growls and snarls from the old man who frequented the shop, and she hated it. "My name is Masa-chan. It's not Hitodeka. I hate it!" The younger girl said. Umiko just nodded. "I like it. I wish I was a starfish. But I guess Umiko is okay, Masa. You're still my sister."
The buzzer went off and Umiko turned it off, listening to the protests from her younger sister of how Hitodeka was too long, and how it was Masa-chan and not 'just Masa'. Umiko pulled out the cookies and other confections placing them on cooling racks in a specific manner. She put in the next trays, as if it was a routine. "That's creepy. I just remembered why I never come in here anymore when you do anything." Masa said, quickly walking out of the kitchen.
Umiko sighed and after finishing up in the kitchen, tended to the tables in the shop. It was a teahouse and sweets shop, which coincidently had the only mochi and mango tea in the entire village. Umiko never understood this; mangoes were her favorite things, and everyone at her old village loved them. Apparently, so did a lot of the villagers here, too. Umiko returned to her spot behind the counter, her sister next to her, restocking the various things behind the glass. "How was the graduation exam, Masa?" Umiko asked, noticing the exasperated expression on her sister's face. Masa stopped for a moment, looking up at her sister, before returning to her restocking job. "It's Masa-chan." She hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "How would you feel if I said I didn't pass?" she asked her big sister, brushing a few stray strands of her also coral-blonde hair back into it's flared bobbed-style. Umiko thought for a moment before leaning forward to rest her elbows on the counter as she usually did.
"Well, I don't really know. I hope you passed and all… but if you didn't, I guess that'd be okay. Just do better next time. I know you're strong, Hito- Masa-chan." She smiled, looking at her little sister. She always noticed the difference in build between them; Masa was a small and lithe, almost compact, girl. Umiko, on the other hand, was short as well, but curvier and chunkier. She didn't like that. "What're you staring at? You always give me that look, Umiko. And you don't have to worry, I passed. I would never fail!" She huffed at her sister before returning to restocking once again. Umiko smiled and hugged her little sister tightly, causing her to drop the bracelets she was restocking. "You shouldn't be so haughty, but I'm proud that you passed, Masa-chan!" Umiko said a little too loud, as some of the customers got up and congratulated her as well, buying some of the merchandise too.
It quieted down after awhile, and their last few customers trickled in, as it was almost nighttime, and soon it'd be too cold to venture out, even though it was late March already. As the last few customers paid and left, the cleaning up process began. Umiko liked things meticulous and in a specific fashion that her sister had become accustomed to (begrudgingly) long ago. This was the time they talked to each other the most; Umiko tended the shop all day, and Masa had Academy to go to. "So who were the examiners? What'd you have to do?" Umiko questioned, wiping down the tables.
"The Kazekage and Ura-sensei were there. I was kinda surprised… I thought Ura-sensei was kidding when he said my class was the best in a long time. And we had to do this weird written test in the classroom, and they called us one by one into the actual examination room. We had to make two clones of 'satisfactory quality'." Umiko nodded with what she said. "Only two examiners? What'd they say? Did the Kazekage say anything to you?" She probed further, genuinely interested. "Oh, you won't believe it. The Kazekage loved me so much, he got down on one knee and proposed to me, right there." She scoffed, knowing how much pressure was put on their leader to get a wife, which was ridiculous. It's all any of the girls in the village could talk about, it seemed to Masa. "That's nice. But aren't you a bit too young? Even back at Hama Village, I wouldn't have been wed off until I was 14 or older."
Masa laughed at her sister's obliviousness, her smile fading as she realized her sister thought she was serious. "I was kidding, Umiko. He said I had a lot of potential to be a great ninja. But that's generic, so it's nothing special. He looked really tired, though." She said, wiping down the counter. Umiko stopped for a moment, before returning to wiping down the last table. "Oh." The beat it took for her to answer left an awkward silence among the room. "You need to really see someone. You're too engrossed in cleaning half the time you don't even recognize what I say. It's annoying." Masa told her, grabbing the broom to start sweeping the floors.
"I don't need to see anyone. My OCD is under control. It's not a psychosis or anything like you think." Umiko defended herself, walking into the kitchen to start on cleaning the appliances. Every single night, she did this, and was rather unnecessary in Masa's eyes. "Unlike you, I don't 'think' anything. I know for sure. That's another problem with you. I know I want to go home, but I know that you're unsure, and you'll be lonely if I leave. I have no idea what you'll do if I leave, but I know that you'll do something dramatic." She emphasized the word 'know' each time. "I don't want to start this argument again. You can go home when you want to, but you knew as soon as you put on the
Sunagakure headband- wait, where's your headband?" Umiko asked, looking at her sister who was cleaning the floor of the kitchen.
"It's in my bag upstairs. I don't need to wear it 'till Monday, when we meet our senseis." She answered, putting the broom up and starting on the dishes. Umiko nodded at this answer. "Are you already finished cleaning the floors? That was fast, don't you think?" Umiko asked, a hint of a frantic tone lacing her voice. She heard Masa growl and nearly scream, throwing down a dish, watching it break into hundreds of little shards on the floor. "It doesn't matter how I do it, it never lives up to your standards, goddamnit! I'm tired of it, and I'm tired of you!" She yelled at her older sister, running out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Umiko stood there for a minute until she heard a door slam shut. She jumped at the loud noise, hurrying over to the mess and cleaning it up. It took her another two hours to finish everything else correctly before going to sleep. It was a normal sleep for her; plagued with nightmares of worm-infestations, horrible storms, and floods.
The next day, Umiko was ready to be ignored by her sister. Umiko knew Masa was in a problematic time in her life, and didn't really like the village they were in. And Umiko's OCD was a big concern with her sister. Umiko set upon the task of making breakfast and lunch for her sister; she only got to eat breakfast with her sister usually. The rest of the time, Masa ate with friends. She found the way Umiko prepared her favorite foods to be too weird.
Umiko set down the two plates and sat down, picking lightly at it. She wasn't hungry. She looked up as she saw Masa walk out of her room, dressed ready to leave. She sat down across from her sister, beginning on her food, just a bit too quickly and haphazardly for her older sister. "You really should slow down." "I don't care. I'm sorry I don't need to care about the most mundane shit in the world so I don't become some emotional wreck." Umiko winced as she was mocked; she hated ridicule. "Did any letters come from Hama? I want you to send this letter to Mom and Dad. They'll be happy to know they can be proud of one of their daughters." With that being said, she dropped the envelope into her sisters lap, grabbing her bag. "They're just as proud of me as they are of you and Kaichi!" Umiko retorted, picking up the envelope and going outside onto the balcony.
"Oh really? I wouldn't be proud of some OCD-ridden scaredy cat. Kaichi is a hero. One day, I'll return to the village, and I'll kill the bastard that made me leave anyway." She told her sister, growling a bit. It was a habit of hers when she became angry. "They don't even know about my OCD! And stop cursing, you're only 12. You shouldn't talk like that." The messenger hawk came took the envelope away, and Umiko returned inside, shutting the door behind her, only to be met with her little sisters stunned face.
"They don't know? You told me they did! I can't believe this… you're some sort of lying bitch!" Masa snarled at her sister before running down the stairs, and out of the dual shop-house. Umiko just sighed; why was everything such a big deal for her sister? She ran a hand through her long but thin hair. She went to her room to get dressed for the day; a plain light purple dress with long sleeves that matched her eyes. She pulled on and tied her apron, and put on her dark sandals. As she brushed her hair 50 times exactly, she looked at the mirror; tanned brown skin, unlike the pasty villagers of Suna. Why they were like that was beyond her. Her short stature made her stick out even more, considering many people in Suna were tall and relatively lanky. She shook her head, setting her brush down perfectly in conjunction with all the other items on her vanity. She pulled her dress down a bit so it reached a little bit past her knees, and rolled her sleeves up to her elbow as normal.
She headed downstairs, starting the kettles and making a fresh batch of star cookies and took some yogurt out of the fridge in the kitchen. She was not liking this whole 'alone-in-the-shop' ordeal she was faced with almost everyday now. She was terrified of isolation. She took 75 of the small star cookies, putting different flavored yogurt on them. She took one of her prettier gift bags, wrapping the stars in a small red cloth, and placing them in the small bag. It was to be a gift for the Kazekage; she didn't figure that out until she was almost done coating the stars. She had just kind of automatically come downstairs and made the stars. They were a favorite among her sisters friend, so she gave some to Masa every morning to share. She left early this morning, and Umiko wouldn't be surprised if she didn't show up until late that night, if at all. She wrote out a quick, but refined, letter thanking the Kazekage, stuffing it into the bag.
Umiko set the kettles on the counter off the burners, and turned off the stovetop. She checked the shop, knowing it was still too early for people to come in just yet. She rushed out onto the sparsely populated main street of the village, heading to the Kazekage Tower. She walked into the Tower; many ninja were there. She wasn't used to ninjas that weren't on a break and in her shop. She walked up to the receptionist, not knowing where to go. It was a bit intimidating, this change of scenery. "Um, excuse me, Ryoka…?" She tried to get the attention of the young woman (who just so happened to drop by occasionally at her shop) at the desk. She looked and smiled, asking what business she had there. "I have a gift for a Kazekage, just a treat for him. It's thanks for him not being hard on my sister, I guess." She pondered exactly just what it was herself.
The receptionist recognized who the woman in front of her was after a moment of staring at her for her awkward talking; she was the owner the shop just down the street. "Oh, Umiko, I didn't realize it was you. I'm used to seeing your sister. You know what, I think the Kazekage is actually in his office right now, I think you can just head up and give it to him if he's in there. If he's not, just give it to me and I'll make sure he gets it." She smiled at Umiko, receiving one in return. "Thank you, Ryoka." She gave a light bow before heading up the stairs to the left.
She was a little freaked out from the ninjas on guard at the bottom of the stairs who gave her a cold stare. It seemed like everybody was a ninja. She recognized one, and gave a slight smile before heading up the stairs. She didn't particularly like stairs, but these weren't too steep or closed in for her. She still made it slowly and surely up though, as the fear of falling and hurting herself was too great. She made sure to stay a certain margin to the right, and moved her hand up the railing on every other step she took. She finally reached the top and head down the hallway and stopped on the first door she saw. She turned and faced it, and knocked on it; she touched the plaque that read 'Kazekage' and rubbed a smudge off of it. A soft 'come in' was heard. She realized she was trembling at the thought of meeting a new person as she reached for the door knob.
She gulped down the lump in her throat, and turned the knob slowly and exactly 90 degrees to the right, opening the door in an also exact fashion. She didn't want to stumble and fix any of her mistakes to fit her needs in front of the Kazekage. It was bad enough in front of normal people who thought she was strange. She tried to keep those thoughts out of her head as she walked forward to stand in front of the desk. All she saw was bright red hair; his head was down as he signed some paper. She set the bag down in front of him on the desk. He finished his signature on whatever document he had, and looked up.
Her own light purple eyes met with his blue ones. She recognized the color as the sea from her home village when the light hit it just right in late spring. She studied the contours and features of his face in an almost creepy habitual fashion; eyes, nose, mouth, ears, jaw line. She noted a particularly strong jaw line that she liked. She realized she was staring and it was rude, so her eyes darted to the bag, and she smiled.
"I'm Umiko Toiniji, my little sister Hitodeka became a genin yesterday. I felt it was right to give a gift of sorts to you, as thanks. She's a little hotheaded and I'm sure she gave some sort of opposition yesterday. I run a shop down the street, so I made you something. I hope you enjoy them." She gave a bow and turned to leave as he nodded. She wasn't expecting any say of thanks or really anything else. She shut the door behind her, and made her way back to her shop.
A/N: Man, that was long. Well, not much to say… any criticisms are appreciated. Sorry for the weird formatting, I didn't realize until it was too late that single line breaks in MSOWord do not show up in published stories. Oops.