Fangirls

Warm sunlight grazed over the houses making the rooftops shine and giving the town an overall dazzling appearance. Children played in the streets, vendors went about their business – the town was a bustling network of life, fuelled by the energy and desire of its citizens. And amidst all of this, a girl dressed in a plain blue kimono that reached down to her ankles was walking through the main street. Life was rushing on around her, people yelling, people shouting. Yet she kept on walking calmly, like she had no duties whatsoever: wholly detached from the world. A small eating-house caught her eye.

"Can I have a bowl of Miso soup please?" she asked the old lady behind the counter after entering the café.

"Why sure, my dear." the lady gestured at her kindly while pouring in the steaming hot liquid. Sitting down at the counter, the girl was blowing over a spoonfull of soup in order to cool it down. "How come the town is in such a festive mode today?" she asked a little absentmindedly. She was right: the town was decorated with countless lanterns, paper snakes and dragons were hanging from the rooftops, and layers of confetti covered the ground. The people too, seemed happier than usual: workers were humming under their breath, vendors uncommonly pleased with reluctant customers, and customers excitedly talking amongst themselves.

"Ah, you're not from this area, are you?" the old lady asked her fondly.

"No, I'm just passing through." she smiled back.

The woman looked her deep in the eye and replied: "A great young man, a hero to our village, is returning home today! Not only is he renowned for his courage and strength in battle, but he's also a good and honourable man with a kind heart. He's heir to a vast fortune too…" the woman trailed off when she saw her customer's expression. A light rosy blush had krept it's way over the girl's face, her eyes stared dreamily out of the window.

"Don't get your hopes up, he's already married." the granny warned her young companion. Both eyebrows raised in a short moment of wonder, only to be quickly replaced by a sad look and the girl looked down in her soup. "Oh..." she muttered.

"Michi! How often do I have to tell you this? You can't have friends over during working hours! If you girls aren't going to order anything, then LEAVE!" the old lady bawled out at a group of young teenaged girls who were casually hanging around at the other end of the counter.

"I'm so sorry Kaede-sama, it will not happen again!" the girl in the white apron shrieked while bowing profusely. She gave her two friends an exasperated look, but they didn't seem to get the hint, and continued babbling on cheerfully. Just when Michi was about sure she was going to get fired, a voice came from the other end of the counter.

"Excuse me, can I have the check please?" a girl clad in blue asked the café owner, who diligently complied and ceased her rant. Michi sighed inwardly, 'That was close!' she looked over at her best friends. 'I swear, sometime they'll be the end of me!'

"Here you go dear," Kaede beamed as she gave the girl her change.

"Thank you! That was delicious!" her faithfull customer replied about to leave, but then reconsidering. "Euhm…this may sound weird…but…" hope was edged in her voice. "…maybe…your town hero would be interested in a…second wife?"

"Him? No! Yaru is very devoted to his wife – he really loves her!" the café owner managed to say before she was interrupted by a wild squeel.

"YARU! Yaruu Takeshiii!" the three girls from the other side of the counter wailed out loud. An entirely deprimated Kaede just face-palmed while the girl in blue raised an eyebrow at three rabid girls that were approaching her. They should've been about fourteen years old, by the look of it…one blonde, one violet haired girl and a brunette came storming at her.

"If you wanna know about Yaru, then you're at the right place!" the violet adressed her first.

"Yeah! Everyone who loves Yaru is a friend of us!" the blonde continued almost sticking her head into the customer's face. While the brunette continued to blush profusely, and produced a booklet from out of her apron. "We…uhm…made a databook on Yaru-kun!" she said in a little voice.

"Isn't he just HANDSOME?" the violet squeeled while shoving a certain page of the book into the other girl's eyes. When the three younger girls had quieted down a bit, the older could finally see the picture: a rather extraordinary looking young man appeared before her. Masculine jaw-line, pale skin, short smooth black hair and bright midnight blue eyes flashed on the page. A serious expression, but nevertheless kind eyes gazed back at her.

"Yaru Takeshi, lord Takeshi's oldest son and heir to the Takeshi clan! He just had his twentieth birthday in June! Oh, don't you just love older guys?" the blonde fell in.

"Yeah…we all know how you 'love' older guys…" the violet sniggered.

At this the blonde put both hands on her hips and glared back menacingly at her friend: "What's THAT supposed to mean?"

"Oh, you know pretty well… You see," the violet proceeded to explain their newfound friend "Aiko here slept with his younger brother, because he promissed he'd accquaint her with Yaru!"

The blonde nearly burst out in tears "You promissed that you'd never tell anybody!"

"You're a BAKA! You should've seen it coming, he's a playboy for God's sake!" the violet retorted while Michi desperately tried to console a weeping Aiko. "Yaru is pretty close with his younger brother, but they have like totally opposite personalities. You can't trust his brother with anything!"

"Rumours have it that Lord Takeshi disowned his youngest son…" Michi added thoughtfully while gently patting Aiko on the back.

"That's why Takeshi-sama's so hard on Yaru! Forcing him to marry that ugly bitch!" the violet broke in again before flipping over some pages and showing a picture of a young woman. Dark brown, nearly black hair; tiny hazel eyes; a little flat button nose and tanned skin. Nothing special.

"But, doesn't he love his wife…?" the older girl asked a little confused.

"Nuh-uh! His dad only made him marry her 'cause she's from a well known clan! He can have any girl in the world – why would he love this mouse?" violet answered. "Furthermore, they have separate bedrooms! He claims that it's due to his respect for her, but we know better…" she continued grinning smugly.

Meanwhile Kaede sighed from her seat behind the counter. "Stupid girls…"

An odd figure gazed over the rooftops wich were illuminated by the last rays of sunlight. From the hill where he stood he had a perfect view of the festive town: hundreds of paper lanterns went on one by one. He turned his head to see a girl dressed in a plain blue kimono walk up to him.

"Did you manage to get any info on the target Rika-chan?" the strange man asked her.

"Don't worry Zetsu-san, I bet I got something you couldn't." the girl in the kimono replied.

"Good, then we should head back. The assault team is waiting for us."