Disclaimer: I own nothing. I only paint cutesy animal masks for the ANBU to use.
chapter 1 | sneezes in the oven
"One, two, three! One, two, three!"
Katsuya turned swiftly, making sure her silken kimono swished with the movement. She then kept to the beat her mother played, demurely fluttering the fan she held with one hand and making slow, graceful arcs with the other. Her face, however, struggled to give the picture of playful curiosity the dance required and within a minute, her mother promptly told her to stop.
The seven year old snapped her fan shut and lowered her hands, turning to face her mother.
Hideie observed her with pursed lips. "You're giving the wrong impression with that ugly frown on your face." The older woman's stern expression then easily slid to one with an inquisitive look in her eyes, tilting her head and only slightly puckering her lips. "This dance is meant to imitate the magpie, Katsuya. A curious bird. Do you see?" When Katsuya nodded, she resumed her frosty countenance once again. "Do you understand now?"
The girl gave an obedient nod. A dance was only half done without the impression it was meant to give to those watching—not only were footwork and handwork important, but so were facial expressions. Hideie had taught her that lesson so long ago that Katsuya couldn't remember how old she was then. She mentally scolded herself for forgetting.
"Now do it again."
Katsuya made her way to the center of the room with small but swift steps. She turned so her back faced her mother and positioned her hands: her left hand, holding the closed fan, placed right over her right hand. She tilted her head down. She calmly waited for her mother's counting to begin.
"One, two, three."
With a quiet snap, her fan opened. She brought it to her now raised face, covering half of it and swept her other arm in an arc, the long sleeves of her kimono following the movement. She turned halfway so she faced Hideie sideways, bending her knees. Like her mother said she should, she tilted her head and minutely furrowed her brows—the end result was an expression just like a bird observing something, trying to figure out what exactly it stared at.
Katsuya didn't know that after the split second and she turned once again to face the wall, Hideie nodded to herself. The rest of the dance continued in similar fashion, the little girl executing the dance moves perfectly.
It was, after all, the end result of years of dance training since Hideie had weaned her from her breast. The retired geisha required no less from her daughter if she wanted Katsuya to be a geisha as well.
An hour passed and it was well into noon when Hideie called for a two hour break—lunch break, as Katsuya had come to understand it. The older woman collected the fan from her daughter and nodded brusquely before disappearing out the sliding doors, saying that she was going out.
Katsuya said nothing when she was finally alone in the room. Hideie never talked to her about anything else other than her training—Katsuya knew she should learn to expect nothing more these days.
The girl turned and moved to the dining room. It had wooden floorboards, unlike the room where she practiced in which was decked out in tatami mats. Unsurprisingly, she met her father in the kitchen adjoining the room.
Toru was busy with something on the countertop, apron already in place and a sky blue yukata underneath. He looked the every part of a cooking deity with the way he effortlessly sliced a tuna fish.
She sat down on the cushion near the low table. Toru hummed tunelessly.
"How was training today?" He asked with his back to her, meticulously slicing the fish he had in hand.
Katsuya answered with a small smile. "Fine." It was the answer she always gave her father because every day since they'd moved to Konoha two weeks ago, the duo ate all meals together and he asked the same question without fail.
He hummed again. "Do you feel like eating sashimi?"
She shook her head. "Dad, I think you're going to feed me raw fish either way."
Toru gave his daughter a wink over his shoulder. "Good point." As soon as he finished with the fish, he placed it in a bowl. He brought out another bowl. Katsuya watched as he chopped a bit of ginger and chili and tossed it in. He pointed at the fridge on the opposite side of the kitchen counter he worked on.
"Grab me a lemon and the orange juice, please?"
She nodded eagerly and got up, wondering what exactly her father planned on doing. She went to the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice and a bright yellow lemon. When she turned to her father she found him pouring oil, vinegar and soy sauce in the bowl. He told her to pour the orange juice as well. She did so with a furrowed brow.
'Is he trying to poison us both?'
Lastly, he cut the lemon in halves and squeezed both over the concoction, the juice mixing with the toxic schlop. Katsuya frowned as he whisked all the ingredients before pouring the stuff over the sashimi.
"Should I be worried about what we're about to eat?" She asked with a tinge of concern.
Toru shook his head with a devilish smile. "Nah." He brought the bowl to the low table and Katsuya took two pair of chopsticks from a drawer.
Minutes later, they were eating with a flow of playful banter. Katsuya found her father's dish amazing—"Isn't it always?" Toru had reminded her when she'd commented on the taste—which had the right balance of acidity and the whole just tasted fresh in her mouth.
"Where's your mother?"
Katsuya nearly dropped the fish slice she held with the abruptness of the question. Quietly, she said, "Out."
He tsked. "The only reason why she isn't here is because she's jealous I can cook."
The girl said nothing. Hideie only occasionally ate her meals with them and when she did, it was always a tense event where nobody said anything. Since they'd moved to Konoha, she had yet to eat with father and daughter.
She avoided meeting her father's eyes. 'Does he really want her to eat with us?'
The shoji slid open unexpectedly. Both of them glanced to the doors, finding Hideie herself, carrying a small stack of books. Katsuya lowered her eyes immediately.
It was rude to stare, she reminded herself. Toru, however, continued to look at her mother with a smile. "Are you going to join us, dear?"
Katsuya didn't like the tone Toru used when he said 'dear'. She never did.
Hideie's beautiful face contorted in a scowl. "No. I had a banquet to attend."
"Do join us for a meal sometime." Her father's voice was needling. Katsuya felt herself gulp audibly, not liking the rising tension.
Nobody said anything for a minute. Then Hideie set the books she'd been holding down on the low table, just in front of her. With a voice that brooked no argument, she commanded, "I want you to read these in your spare time. I'm giving you the afternoon to start, I'm busy today."
The older woman barely gave Toru a nod before she left through the open shoji, making her way to the genkan* and eventually leaving the house again.
Her father smirked to himself, evidently smug about something Katsuya didn't see.
.
Katsuya carried the books up to her room, the stairs making it an especially hard task. Kimono required little, dainty steps from the wearer and the combined effort of having to watch where she was going over the stack of books and having to measure her steps at the same time almost proved to be her downfall. She'd slipped and nearly fallen down the stairs twice.
She breathed a sigh of relief once she reached her modestly sized room and went over to her desk, placing the books down.
Literature books. There were six of them, all varying in their plots, judging from what she'd read from the blurb. They were all classics, however, and Katsuya allowed herself to smile. These books seemed interesting.
Her mother clearly expected her to provide some sort of stimulating conversation, that of which would be based on what she'd gleam from the books, to future guests if she were to be a geisha one day.
The summer heat in the Land of Fire—she then understood they called it the Land of Fire for a reason—suddenly got to her and she quickly opened a few windows, letting some cool air in. She slid a shoji in one of the walls of her room open and she was faced with two columns of shelves which held all her clothes.
Her ordinary clothes, which comprised of yukata, kosode, kimono tops and hakama were all neatly folded and piled on the topmost shelves. Her precious kimono, however, were all wrapped in rice paper and encased in thin wooden boxes on the next shelves. She selected a yukata.
She quickly changed out of the stuffy kimono she wore to dance practice and donned the bright yellow yukata dotted with repeating patterns of pale pink peonies. She walked over to the foot of her bed where a chest of drawers lay. It housed all her obi and she carefully selected a vivid red chiffon silk obi before tying it with a simple square knot.
"Katsuya!"
Hurriedly, she tied her hair up with a red ribbon and got up as swiftly as she could. She made her way to the dining room, finding Toru fiddling with the oven. His head was currently stuffed inside the appliance, his voice echoing slightly.
"Yes, dad?" She asked, wondering what he was doing inside the oven.
"I, uh…need you to buy…" He coughed. "…some…ah…"
"Some…?"
"Some…AHHH—"
Katsuya cringed.
"—AHH—"
"ACHOO!"
Toru emerged from the oven, face covered in grease and yellow, uncooked gunk. He produced a handkerchief from the sleeve of his yukata and wiped his face with the unexpected grace of somebody who sneezed in the middle of inspecting their own oven. "Some stuff."
"Stuff?"
He shot her an inquisitive look that suggested the answer to that question was the simplest thing in the world. "Yes. Stuff."
She furrowed her brows. "What kind of stuff?"
Her father's eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Oh! Right…"
Katsuya refrained from smacking her head like she wanted to.
He rifled through the folds of yukata before emerging with a scrap of paper. "This kind of stuff. There's money on the counter."
"Okay." She took the paper and the money, making her way to the genkan and sliding on the wooden sandals her mother demanded she wore. "I'm going out now, dad."
Toru's voice came from the kitchen. "Don't stay out too late!"
She privately rolled her eyes. "Goodbye!"
"Bye!"
.
Konoha's marketplace was beautiful, even with the bustling crowd of people. There were street food vendors with their stands, enticing her with delicious smells of deep-fried goods, and the amiable chatter between shoppers and sellers. On both sides of the street were salesmen wearing short coats and fluttering fans, beckoning her to come in and look at their wares.
It was a remarkably busy place that enveloped her in its smells, sights and noises. It all seemed welcoming somehow, especially to a girl who'd only been in Konoha for two weeks.
She made her way to the greengrocer's, curiously examining the ripe fruit and healthy looking vegetables they had on display. They all looked and smelled fresh, which made her inwardly grin with the thought of eating the fruit at home.
The aged shopkeeper appeared from behind a crate of juicy-looking apples. Katsuya bid her a good afternoon and twitched a small smile.
"I'd like some strawberries, please."
When she'd paid the owner and stuffed the strawberries in the basket she carried, she gave her a bow. The old lady stopped Katsuya before she could leave however.
"Wait! You…"
The girl raised her brows quizzically.
"You…you're not from around here, are ya?"
Katsuya shook her head. With a polite tone, she asked, "How did you know?"
The hag regarded her with a deadpan expression. She waved at her, "Nobody dresses like that anymore, I can tell ya that."
The girl calmly looked at what she wore, the cotton yukata and scarf-like obi. It was as dressed down as she could get; Katsuya didn't own anything else that would've handled the summer heat as well as the clothes she wore right then.
"And that hair! I ain't ever seen anything like that anymore. Not since the White Fang…" The crone lapsed into indistinct muttering.
Katsuya blinked. 'The white fang? What on earth is she talking about?'
She combed a hand through her pale silver hair, suddenly conscious on the effect it had on people.
"What did you say 'yer name was?"
She hid her confusion behind a benign smile, crinkling the corners of her eyes and closing them. It was the expression she used when she had conversations she disliked.
This woman was making no sense. "Sanada Katsuya, ma'am."
The old lady eyed her suspiciously. "'Yer that kimono maker's daughter, aren't 'cha?"
Katsuya nodded.
"That scoundrel? Feh! He comes 'ere every day, tryin' to haggle with the price of my produce, expecting me to lower them." Scarily, the hag cackled, "Well I never listened to him. I'll tell you this—the price is right, what with the freshness and deliciousness of my fruit!" She set her weary gaze back on Katsuya.
"Oh, but you don't wanna hear that about 'yer handsome daddy now do you?" At her widened eyes, the shopkeeper cackled again. "Yeah, he's a handsome one alright! Brown hair and eyes like a chestnut, peachy skin…"
The girl shuddered, deciding not to think of her father that way. It just seemed…wrong to do so. She cut the shopkeeper short in her speech. "I apologize, ma'am but I have to be on my way."
The old woman shooed her away like a fly. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Come back tomorrow, ya' hear?"
Katsuya bowed minutely. "I'll come when I can, ma'am."
The hag nodded, disappearing within the store, muttering something suspiciously like "You're so polite it's disgusting".
The girl felt herself smile in spite of the shopkeeper's repulsion to her politeness. She turned to leave when she stumbled into another person.
"Oh, excuse me—"
She found herself eye to eye with a boy that looked to be her age. They were evenly matched in height—they'd bumped foreheads. She rubbed at the afflicted area. "I'm sorry."
The boy had jet black jaw-length hair and wide obsidian eyes that looked at her with a strange expression she couldn't place.
Some off-kilter feeling hit her.
'This boy is handsome.'
Both kids looked away the moment they looked eyes, a faint blush of red tingeing their cheeks.
"I'm sorry." Katsuya miraculously managed without stuttering. She sneaked a glance his way, finding his pale skin now with a brush of red. The boy nodded wordlessly.
She glanced at the ground, finding that she had dropped her basket and some strawberries had spilled.
'Oh no!' She desperately hoped none of the strawberries had bruised. She went to pick them up but the boy stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
"Let me." He said, a flustered expression on his face. With inhuman speed, he collected all her strawberries and put them in the basket. He gave the wicker object back to her. "Here."
Katsuya felt the beginnings of a grin taking hold of her face, taking back her basket. He was quick, amazingly quick, she couldn't help but notice. He still said nothing but she bowed gratefully. "Thank you."
The boy nodded again before disappearing within the greengrocer's shop, probably off to do his own shopping.
The rest of her trip passed by happily. Katsuya devoured the sights and sounds of the market as she shopped for the materials her father needed, making small talk with a few of the (more normal compared to the first) shopkeepers.
She was swimming in a cheerful haze when she arrived home. A haze that quickly dissipated when she arrived to a furious Hideie.
"Where have you been all this time?" She asked with an angry scowl. She turned. "I won't even listen to your excuse. Come. We'll have to practice tea ceremony again, we have a visitor tomorrow."
The handsome boy at the greengrocer's was all forgotten.
.
A/N: So yes, I decided this thing needed a rewrite. I was only two chapters in, but I felt like I needed to switch up the plot and characters a bit. Sorry for the confusion but yes, hahahaha, I really needed to rewrite the story.
*genkan - traditional Japanese entryway areas for a house, apartment, or building—something of a combination of a porch and a doormat. (just copied this off the internet.)
Has any other person that my stories seem weather themed? Deluge? Claps of thunder? Heh.
Does anybody notice the major character changes? Hideie is waaaaay different and so is Toru (a little bit).
In all honesty, this thing chapter used to longer but I decided that it was too heavy for a first chapter and split it in two.
I will not guarantee that Katsuya will be a civilian forever. She's anything but a civilian in the series I plan for her-woops, I think I said too much.
Just saying though.
Please review, tell me your thoughts so far!