Cries of roadside sellers advertising their wares – an assortment of trinkets and jewelry laid out on their tables. Wooden kunai, sculptures of the revered ruler of this village, sparkling jewelry – all to be presented to the missus and teeny toddlers upon reaching home, perhaps.
Tempting smells wafting out from behind monogrammed dividers – spicy, salty, warm. Inviting. Voices loudly exclaiming, "Itadakimasu!" only add to the atmosphere.
Nearby, squeals of delight come from a group of children crowding around an old man on a rickety, rusty bicycle. On it is the source of their excitement – the old man spins the wheel calmly and more squeals of delight can be heard as crushed ice falls into a bowl below and after pouring syrup on it, the old man presents it to the first lucky child.
One can hardly hear oneself, amid the bustle of the marketplace. People selling, buying, bargaining, arguing.
Two uniformed ninjas land on the roof of a nearby building before taking off again at unbelievable speed, but the shoppers pay them no mind.
Down the road, a junior ninja attempts to hit a wooden post with a shuriken but fails repeatedly, much to his friends' amusement. On his seventh attempt, the shuriken is stopped by a bandaged hand halfway to the post. Staring up in awe, the boy's eyes meet a pair of stern, frowning white ones. The boy loses his nerve and flees from the imposing man's gaze, his friends following suit.
Oh, this is definitely Konoha. After a few years of peace, it's now a bustling, generally feel-good village.
In the midst of the hustle and bustle, is a young girl, of perhaps fifteen years of age. She attracts no attention at all. Her hair is black, side-parted and mid-length, tied up in a messy ponytail that spikes up because of its awkward length. She is petite, and her slim figure is accentuated by the plain olive robe she wears, the sash an earthy beige-brown colour.
As she attempts to squeeze herself between a particularly large man and a busty lady in heels, the hem of her robe is caught on the lady's heel and she trips. The robe hikes up, revealing white socks, straw sandals, and tight black shorts with a kunai holster attached to her right thigh. Fortunately, no one notices and she scrambles up again.
Suddenly she feels a large hand catch her arm and yank her back. She finds herself face-to-face with toothy young man grinning at her.
"Hey sexy."
He's obviously a ninja, judging by the clothes and headband. Plus, he has a blood-red triangular mark on each of his cheeks, probably a clan marking. She is silent for a moment – one can only guess what she is musing.
"You're pretty cute, but I don't have time now so let go of me."
This is the first time she has spoken out loud so far. Her voice is low, but not too low – a pleasant alto. She speaks clearly, and commandingly, yet her accent seems unfamiliar – perhaps she isn't local.
"Aww, don't be like that-"
"Fuck off," the girl snaps at the man in annoyance. She breaks free of his grip with surprising strength, leaving the man perplexed and irritated. Before he can chase her, she's gone though. He can only grind his sharp canines in frustration.
Meanwhile, the girl winds her way through Konoha, and eventually reaches her destination. She is standing outside a perfectly average apartment. Before she entered the apartment building, she saw perfectly average windows and balconies from the outside, with curtains, flowers, cactuses, broken flowerpots, the usual. Now standing here, she sees a perfectly average doorbell. On the perfectly average door, there is a perfectly average sign reading 'No. 307'.
She takes a deep breath. Suddenly something in the air seems to have changed, like pressure being released. The girl's hair is not black anymore, but pure white, except for a small tuft in her fringe that is light blue instead. The rest is all silvery white.
She outstretches her hand and gingerly presses the doorbell.
Ding-dong.
A perfectly average bell. Everything about this apartment is average – except its inhabitant. There is a click and the door opens just a little. A head with spiky white hair pokes out.
"Yeah?" he drawls.
"Hatake Kakashi-san?"
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Duh.
Please please pretty please review!!! Or at the very least, go on to the next chapter. Thanks a bunch!
MsQuill