"Everyone ready? Good lets go." Konan said, not even waiting for us to reply. She was dressed already in her ankle length akatsuki cloak, and it floated behind as she strode out. My sister and I exchanged glances of amusement before we followed.
"I am sorry about this, but do you think you could follow at a distance from me. Until you have your Akatsuki cloak we don't want anyone to see you." Konan asked, pausing at the cave entrance. "We've made sure that this base is located in a place were no lost it, but we just want to be sure." Both Sakeru and I nodded in agreement, and Konan stepped out, her face hidden by the shadow made by her Kasa hat.
"Do you think we'll get our cloaks on this shopping trip?" Sakeru asked as we waited to give Konan enough time to get enough ahead.
"Probably, but they will have to shorten yours a bit, because you're so small and all." I said affectionately, ruffling the top of her head. She absolutely hated that, but I did it to spite her. Just as I expected, she gave me a mild glare, before running out of the cave and jumping into the tree's. I followed with a slight laugh.
Neither of us had noticed the black-haired man listening to us from the shadows, his red eyes narrowed in thought as he heard the entire conversation.
The two sister's followed Konan for several miles, taking a different route than the one the girl's had taken the night before. This path led them to the outskirts of a busy city, and when they thought Konan would turn, and follow a path to a less busier town, but she kept walking through. They had to resort to jumping on the roofs of the buildings. When they had been on the run, Deteiku had made sure to stay away from busy towns, so the two of them were unused to jumping on buildings roofs. Luckily, Konan stepped into a small dark shop after a few minutes, and they followed suit, jumping into an alley before following.
The bell above the door clanged loudly as the door opened and shut, making the sisters jump nervously.
"Bit jumpy aren't they?" An old woman remarked to Konan, who just gave her a look. "Very well. Which one of you wants to go first?" She barked at us.
"First for what?" I questioned.
"To get your cloaks."
"Then she will want to go first." I said, pushing my sister forward towards the lady.
"Very well. While she gets your cloak ready, I will take Deteiku to get new clothes, and repeat the process with you." Konan said, before grabbing my arm and pulling me out. The last I saw of Sakeru was her being pulled to the mirrors in the corner of the room before the doors shut on me.
"I asked the tailor where the closest ninja clothing store was, and she said to just head to the center of the town."
"Can we trust her?"
"We have to I guess. She's been making our cloaks for years, so she should know that if she betrays us, she can be easily replaced, but we pay her well." Konan said, her voice the same tone when she was talking about 'replacing' the old lady as when she was talking about clothes. "Ooh, look we're here!"
Sure enough, we had entered a certainly busier part of town, and from where we stood at the beginning of the street, I could see several clothing stores. Konan asked which one I wanted to go into, and I chose a store which didn't look as busy as the rest. The sign was dark, and the window's had curtains drawn almost entirely across the window, leaving just enough room for a small neon sign, which blinked, OPEN.
I headed over to the door, with Konan following close on my heels. The door was heavy when I tried to open it, and I managed to open it wide enough for the two of us to slip inside quietly.
From the outside the shop had looked dark and depressing, but from the inside it gave off warmth and kindness. The wall was painted a dark purple, and the store was packed with clothes, both for ninja and civilian. The civilian clothes were pushed to the front of the store, and the ninja ones were farther back. Everything was in its proper place. Scented candles that smelled lightly of lavender sat around the large room, sitting on shelves, casting their own light, even with the larger lights from the ceiling.
"Excuse me? May I help you two young ladies? I have a new shipment of civilian clothes over there that might interest you." A strong voice came from behind a counter I hadn't noticed. Behind that was another doorway, blocked with beads and yet another curtain. The woman who had spoken was another elderly lady, but unlike the tailor, who had seemed like she was impatient and just wanted to do it to get paid, this one seemed more grandmotherly, as if she would help us for as long as it took just so they could find an outfit that we would like.
"We have no need for civilian clothes, obaasan. We are interested in Ninja clothes instead. My friend here is in dire need of a new set of clothes." Konan said respectfully, pushing me forward to prove her point.
"Oh my goodness! You poor thing! When was the last time you had a proper set of clothes on your back? Well never mind that, let's get you a nice set of clothes. From the Ninja part of the store of course." She said quickly, smiling gently as me. "Oh and you can call me Nukumi-san."
Those were the last things she said before she got caught up in finding the perfect clothes for me.
First she experimented with clothes that complimented my eyes, but quickly threw those out with a mutter that they clashed with something. She mix and matched next, but everything she did she didn't like. I was standing on some raised platform, having been told to stand still while Nukumi-san worked. Konan had looked at me pityingly before going off to browse for clothes for herself.
"I have always been able to find the perfect thing for all my customers, and I am determined not to lose that performance record!" Nukumi-san said, throwing her hands up in frustration about half an hour later when we still couldn't find anything.
"Why not try darker colors?" Konan asked from her chair in the corner. She was lucky, she got to sit down.
"Hmmmm, I don't know if I have any… WAIT JUST ONE MOMENT!" Nukumi yelled before walking out of the room as fast as her legs could carry her.
"She looks so old when you meet her, but then half an hour with her and you feel like the old one." Konan remarked quietly, and I had to stifle the chuckle as Nukumi came back into the room, her arms laden down with clothes. All had a much darker hue than the purples and greens and whites I had been trying on. These ranged from light gray, all the way to black.
Nukumi unceremoniously dumped all the clothes on the floor, before she pulled up a chair and started sorting them all, which I then went through.
All of the clothes were starting to blur together, each seeming to look the same, when Konan spoke up.
"Wait, Deteiku. Pick that last dress up." I complied, grabbing it from the "discard" pile.
From a distance it looked quite simple, but the design was actually quite intriguing. The neck was a high collar, which would fit nicely, and was sleeveless, which gave the appearance of a halter top, but with a back. The dress itself ended at about mid-thigh, and was tight in the top, but the bottom was loose, but not much. If she paired it with a pair of long tight capris, it would actually… work. The dress was rimmed in a dark gray, with the rest of it being a lighter gray, but still on the dark side, with weird designs on it. I looked closer, and my eyes widened. The marks were arrows, crossed over each other several times.
"This is perfect, Konan-san." I said, smiling gratefully at her.
"Well here's the winter version of that," Nukumi handed over another dress, this one still sleeveless, but the skirt was longer, "Yeah I know, not much of a winter clothing huh?" Nukumi said, smiling gently at me.
"Don't worry about warmth, we already have that taken care of." Konan said, assuring the elderly lady. The cloaks must look warmer than I thought.
"Well then Ladies, may I interest you in anything else?" Nukumi asked.
"Do you have any gloves Nukumi-san?" I asked, before Konan could open her mouth.
"Of course I do." She said standing and making her way over to another area.
"What do you need gloves for?" Konan asked me as we followed the elderly woman.
"Even though, and I don't mean to sound full of myself, I am gifted with an ability for shooting my arrows, even the best archer needs protection. I am going to see if she has any gloves."
Sometime later, the two kunoichi left the dark shop with clothes for Deteiku to wear, including her gloves. The glove that would be running parallel with her arrows when getting ready to fire them went up to her elbow and had a piece of metal inserted so she wouldn't scratch herself. The other went to her wrist, and both were fingerless.
"Konan-san?"
"Yes Deteiku?"
"Thank you."
Authors note:
HOLY SHIT! I am soooo sorry this took so long. No excuse, at all.
Special thanks to Elliotslover-DracosWife for getting writing and helping me think the story through. If I didn't talk about it with you, I would still be on chapter 5.
Thanks to XForgottenxMemoryX for giving me the awesome advice for fixing the other chapters. If you find any errors in this chapter, I apologize.
I am also going to be editing my other chapters, so sorry if I fill up your guy's inbox's with alerts.
I also own nothing.
