A/N: Okay guys it has finally been decided that the jutsus will be in English, as it seems that is the popular demand. Hope you guys enjoy the story!
As I gazed around the market place with okaa-san holding my hand, my mind wondered how I have already accomplished so much. Well, it's only one accomplishment off my long list of accomplishments to be, but an accomplishment nonetheless. I have been Hina-chan's friend for two years and I have just been invited to her fourth birthday party. And going by the Kumo ambassadors that walked past me towards the Hokage building a few minutes ago, I'd say Hina-chan's kidnapping is going to take place soon. Now I don't know the exact date the kidnapping takes place, but I am positive that it will happen within three days since that is the duration of which the Kumo ambassadors are staying.
"Sasu-chan, what present are you getting Hinata-chan?" okaa-san interrupted my solemn thoughts.
I graced her with a smile, "I don't know yet okaa-san, can we look around for a while longer?"
Okaa-san nodded with a close eyed smile, "Hai."
As okaa-san and I walked around the market place I studied all the merchandise within my field of vision. Something shiny caught my eye.
"Okaa-san (mother)," I tugged at her hand, "I think I saw something nice over there." I pointed towards the jewellery store.
"Well let's go check for ourselves!" she said.
We made our way over and entered the shop. As the door opened and closed behind us a small bell rang, alerting the old store owner of our entrance. An old man with a worn wrinkled face, a bald spot in his messy grey hair, and a monocle resting on his right cheek jolted awake in his rocking chair. He blinked around blearily for a while before yawning and stretching his arms above his head. I glanced around the small shop. Huh. It is not a jewellery shop but an antique shop.
"Oh!" a gruff voice exclaimed, "Customers!"
I turned my attention to the old man and saw him looking at us with kind brown eyes.
"Welcome to Yumiko's Antiques! How can I help you?" he greeted.
I raised an eyebrow. Yumiko? I thought that was a girl's name. As if reading my mind he grinned and said, "Yumiko is my wife's name. She is currently ill at the moment so I decided to take up shop for her. Ha! I told her she was pushing herself too hard, but she never listened." He sighed with a fond smile on his face, "Stubborn woman."
The old man began to wonder in his thoughts. I hesitantly interrupted them with a quiet, "Ano… ojii-san (Grandpa)?"
The man blinked quickly in surprise before looking at me with what seemed to be a nostalgic smile, "My name is Raiden. How can I help you little one?"
I smiled up at him, "It's nice to meet you Raiden-jii-san!"
He barked out a laugh.
"When I was walking past your shop I saw something shiny, kind of like a necklace, on display."
He narrowed his eyes in thought before clicking his fingers, "Aha! I know just what you're talking about! Over here!" He hobbled over to the display and reached for something next to a set of wooden dolls.
Suddenly, he was holding a necklace in front of my face. He placed it into my awaiting hands with the utmost care. I studied the necklace in fascination. It was more like a choker really. What I originally thought was a black string was actually a soft velvety ribbon. The shiny thing that caught my attention was the accessory charm hanging off it. It was a flat, circular charm. It had a pearl coloured background; however it looked silver in different lighting. Engraved onto it was the black outline of an elegant koi fish.
"You have a keen eye little missy," a voice said.
I jumped and swivelled around to face the source of the voice. It was Raiden-ojii-san. Wow he gave me a scare!
He chuckled, "I'm sorry if I startled you, little one. Is that the one you want to buy?"
I nodded eagerly and gave it to him.
"Is this a gift for someone?" he enquired.
"Hai (yes), Raiden-ojii-san. It's for my best friend's birthday present!" I answered.
"How cute," he chuckled, "If you want, there's a sister to this necklace. Do you want it?"
There is a sister necklace? Awesome! Hina-chan and I could wear it as a sign of our friendship! Like friendship bracelets! I nodded eagerly at him. He smiled and hobbled to the back of the store and walked through a door behind the counter. I heard him shuffling about for a few minutes until he finally hobbled out, holding what I assume is the sister necklace in his left hand.
"Here we are," he grumbled and showed me the necklace,
It was exactly like the one I chose for Hina-chan but the colours were inverted. Instead of a black ribbon, it was silver. The base colour of the charm was black and the koi fish was engraved with a silver outline.
I beamed up at Raiden-ojii-san with appreciation, "Arigatou (thank you) Raiden-ojii-san!"
He smiled, "No problem." Then he blinked in surprise, as if realising something, "What's your name little one?"
Oh! I haven't told him my name!
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha!"
"Alright then Sasuke-chan, would you like me to wrap both of them? Or separately?" he said.
"Just wrap the necklace with the black ribbon please," I responded.
He hummed to himself and wrapped Hina-chan's present in a lilac coloured wrapping paper. Once he was done, he placed the present and my new necklace onto the counter.
"Right, that would be 3850 yen please."
Okaa-san stopped her browsing and came over to pay Raiden-ojii-san the correct amount of money. I pocketed my necklace and gingerly held Hina-chan's delicately wrapped present in my hands.
"Arigatou Raiden-ojii-san!" I thanked and bowed.
"Hahaha! No problem kiddo! Come again!" he laughed heartily.
Okaa-san and I exited the shop, the chiming of a soft bell followed us on the way out. Okaa-san and I were a few blocks away from the Uchiha district. Suddenly, okaa-san stopped.
"Okaa-san?" I mumbled in confusion.
"Sasu-chan, go on ahead home. I just saw an old friend that I haven't seen in a long time!" she told me. Okaaayy… I slowly continued my trek to the Uchiha district. I saw okaa-san walk up to a brown haired woman and they exchanged greetings heartily. Huh. I wonder who that is. Maybe she will introduce us later. I walked a while longer before humming to myself. The streets are pretty much deserted so I see no harm in skipping. I started skipping whilst humming the main tune from the anime Ano Hana. So as I was happily skipping down the path, minding my own business, some deity or greater being thought it would be funny to see me crash into someone. That poor unfortunate someone was an innocent boy, who looked to be at least a year or two older than me.
We stared at each other in shock before I finally snapped out of it and stammered out apologies. I stood up at held out my hand to help him up. The boy snapped out of his daze and accepted my offer of help.
"Hey I'm really sorry about that! I wasn't concentrating!" He flailed his arms about.
"Nonono! It was entirely my fault! There's no need for you to apologise!" I flailed my arms about.
"I'm sorry!" We both exclaimed and bowed.
We banged our foreheads together.
"Ah fuck," he groaned in pain.
"Urgh, my head!" I also groaned in pain as I rubbed my forehead. That's going to bruise. The pain emanating from my forehead kept me from thinking straight. I could only assume this was the same case for the boy, seeing how he accidentally poked his eye to place a hand on his forehead. It was cute.
"I'm so sorry about that," he grumbled.
I grunted, "Same here dude."
With the pain subsiding a tiny bit I straightened up and examined him. He was a healthy looking boy. I squinted my eyes a bit. He had skin with the lovely shade of a golden tan. It's the kind of tan girls from my previous life would kill for. His hair was the same shade of brown as the woman okaa-san started talking to. Maybe they were related? As I scrutinized him a little harder, I noticed his hair looked like Suzaku Kururugi's hair style from Code Geass. When he opened his eyes I found myself staring into the most gorgeous shade of cyan blue orbs. It was almost like they were glowing. The outline of his iris was a very dark midnight blue with an additional midnight blue ring around the pupil.
"I, uh, I have to go," he mumbled and averted his beautiful eyes.
I blinked then blushed, "Oh. Oh! Yeah I-I have somewhere to go too…"
There was an awkward silence.
"Well I guess I'll see you around?" he said.
"Yeah!" I exclaimed. I winced, that was a bit too loud. ARGH WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME!
He cleared his throat with a cough, gave a single nod to me, and spun on his heel and began to speedily walk away. I bit my lip and continued to walk home. I never got his name… I sighed a shoved my hands into my pant pockets.
What a strange boy. But he was cute! I giggled to myself. I started to jog, which then turned into a slow run. Then I realised something. This realisation caused me to freeze in my movements and face plant the ground. I ignored the pain because that boy…
I pushed myself off the ground and sprinted back to where I bumped into him. That boy he…
I sprinted as hard as I can and gasped when I saw him running towards me. He let out his own yelp of surprise. We both skidded to a stop, barely a metre away from each other. We both lifted an arm to point at each other, our eyes wide.
"You were speaking in English!"