Ch. 23: The Festival
Night passed and morning came. I left the inn early and met Ten-ten at the shop, and she began to teach me how to wield the katana. Despite being only ten years old, she was a good teacher and excelled in using the weapons she knew how to use. I was thrilled at finally being able to do close combat as she also taught me some simple taijutsu. She informed me that Ruichi-san was right in that I had a lot of natural skill and potential. Though I thanked her humbly, after three hours I had learned everything she had to offer.
Yamanaka Natsumi stopped by while I practiced and sparred with me for an hour, using two blades, half the length of my katana with a chain connecting the two by their handles. She manipulated them as daggers and as nunchukki, and managed to win one match and tie the other two by using her superior experience.
I was panting by noon from both the hot midday sun, something non-existent in Kiri, and from sparring. Waving a goodbye to Natsumi, I headed to the shop to pick up our yukatas. Then I went to the inn and distributed them.
Yumi squealed in excitement. Kaida began to see how many weapons she could conceal in it. Kazu waved it around like a flag while Deki stared at it with a slightly apprehensive expression. Washi looked at it then let out a loud, "HELL no!"
But eventually, with some prodding and bribing (read: threats aplenty), the boys promised to wear them (Kazu wanted to use his as a curtain), and Yumi, Kaida and I departed to our own room to get ready.
All three of us kept on a pair of tight ninja shorts and a pouch with weapons strapped around our thighs. Our headbands went around our waists, so they would be on our person but concealed under the yukatas. I kept my chest bound but put on a mesh tank top before slipping into my yukata and asking Yumi to tie up the obi. She forced me to remove the yukata and tank top and put on a brassier, at least, to give the support of breasts while still being able to move comfortably if we had to fight. I compromised and kept my chest bound but put a stuffed bra on to give the illusion of a normal-sized chest. Then I put the tank top and yukata back on and Yumi tied up the obi.
My yukata was very simple. It was deep red and made of a lightweight, flowing cloth. The red background was patterned with large silver snowflakes and one-inch wide silver hems around the ends of the sleeves, the bottom, and the cross-over top. The skirt covered my feet and barely missed brushing the ground. The skirt had no partition and was more like a dress than a traditional yukata, and the obi with also silver. I arranged the crimson flower in my hair, then went to help Yumi with her obi.
Yumi's yukata had a pink and yellow color scheme. Hers was more robe-like and less dress-like than mine. A hem, scalloped in orange and dark pink, followed every loose, flappable edge on her dress but the sleeves. The body cloth was yellow with light pink sakura, the scattered flowers starting small at the top and getting larger the closer to the ground it was. The backside of the yellow cloth was a medium shade of pink, and her obi was a dark pink, matching the lace up slippers she had bought somewhere. There was a wreath of pink and yellow flowers adorning her head like a headband, nestled back behind her bangs.
Kaida's yukata was of a rich brown cloth with gold stars embroidered in. The loose edges, including the sleeves, were also hemmed with a half-inch of gold, and her obi was very wide and also gold. The yukata brushed her toes, and she pinned back her hair with a brown star pin. She also wore a necklace of two intertwining strings of beads, one brown and one gold.
We finished arranging ourselves and went across the hallway to the boys' room. We ended up helping them with their obis (stubborn butts) and stepped back to view the final result after some messing with their hair.
Deki's yukata was made with a purple cloth with a white shuriken pattern. The hem was decorated with a zigzag pattern, white on purple. The obi was purple zigzag on white, and his hair was combed. Yumi tried to get him to slick it back, but of course, he refused.
Washi wore a black yukata with light green flames reaching fingers up from across the bottom and the ends of the sleeves. It was hemmed with a very thin line of dark green, and his obi was also a dark green. His hair was 'artfully' (yeah right) messy.
Kazu, my date, had the yukata with dark blue material. There were grey teardrops embroidered on, and the hemming was a blue-tone gray. His obi was a darker, more neutral gray, and he had consented to a haircut. His trimmed hair was parted to one side and gelled.
Deki offered his arm, like a gentleman, and Yumi took it, and they walked out the door arm in arm. Kaida went out, sharpening a kunai, and Washi followed, grumbling at his lack of a date. I grabbed Kazu's proffered hand and yanked him down the hall. We raced to the festival.
He let me win.
We waited for our companions to catch up, and spotted Natsumi and her teammate Zurasaki Asa, Uzuro Kyosuke's team, Mashiro Saki and Reiko and their teammate, and many of the other Konoha rookies. We also saw Kokano Michiko and Tokomi Kohei with their teammate, Senpa Hiroshi. They were all crowded around a booth. Kazu and I went over to check it out. I laughed when I saw that Sanamori Haru was the victim of a dunk tank. And Natsumi's younger brother, Hideaki, was aiming for the large target painted on the trigger.
I pushed through the crowd to Natsumi.
"So, Natsumi, think he'll actually do it?"
Natsumi laughed, and Michiko cut in. "Tsumi doesn't think he can. According to her, he's got great aim, but his 'admiration' will get in the way for sure. Personally, I could care less. I'd dunk him myself, but-" Michiko's words were drowned out as Natsumi's laughter got exponentially louder at Michiko's 'dunk him myself'.
"HA! Like you could throw that hard!" Natsumi cackled. Michiko punched her in the arm as Kazu looked at me for clarification. I filled him in on how Hideaki completely idolized Haru, so we were sure he wouldn't have it in him to dunk his idol. I also made sure that he knew that Natsumi teased Michiko on a regular basis on being a 'weakling'.
We suddenly heard a metallic clunk and a loud splash and looked over to find Haru completely soaked.
"Proved you wrong," Hideaki sang as he walked past. He probably would have kept walking, except Yumi was not pleased with losing her bet and decided to take revenge. So, with a water jutsu, she doused his head.
"There! Now you match with Haru! Aren't you happy?" she exclaimed.
Hideaki simply glared, then walked the opposite direction from before, toward the Yamanaka flower shop. Natsumi shook her head, dying with stifled laughter, and Deki and I quickly pulled Yumi away before she could wreak more chaos.
Kazu, Yumi, and Washi decided we all should go on the Ferris wheel. The view was spectacular, despite my fear of heights. Ha. A shinobi with a fear of heights. Next you'll be hearing of a Mist ninja afraid of water. Oh wait- that's my younger brother.
Anyway, Deki and Washi had the brilliant idea of duking it out during the middle of the ride. We barely managed to keep from being banned from going on the ride again.
We continued to wander around, joining up with acquaintances every once in a while. We were walking aimlessly down a street when we spotted Naruto, Sasuke, and Ten-ten in a play. It was being performed by their Academy classes, so we decided to stop and watch, just to see the kind of things they did that we didn't. Yeah, like the Mist trainers would ever organize a play, of all frivolous things, for young shinobi to perform...
It was interesting, to say the least. Naruto and Sasuke broke into a fight halfway through, unsurprisingly, Shikamaru, the one in charge of scene and backdrop changes, fell asleep, unsurprisingly. And right during their bright and shining moment together, Ino and Sakura fought over the stealing of the spotlight, of which there were two. Again, unsurprising. There was also the minor issue of Ten-ten waving 'hi' using the hand that was holding a very sharp, very long, very scary katana. But in general, it was put on well enough. That was in the opinion of us Mist kids, though, who had never experienced such a thing before, so I guess it was a very unqualified opinion...
But anyway, after the play ended, I stood up, stretched, and looked around at the rest of the audience. Yumi was already pushing Deki to the entrance to go solo on their date, and Kazu was looking at me, asking "What next?" while Washi pestered Kaida into taking him back to the 'lame-o' arcade. We had already made plans to meet back up on a hill half-an-hour before the fireworks started once we split up according to buddy system, so Kazu and I decided to check out some game booths. We were walking to the exit when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and a certain someone with a black yukata and long hair and pronounced tear ducts and those gray eyes greeted, "Good evening, Riku-san."
My mind racing for a name, I quickly replied, "It is, isn't it, Hotaru-san? Please call me Tomoko- 'Riku-san' is way too formal."
"Of course, Tomoko-san."
"Oh, Hotaru-san, this is my date and best friend, Kazu-yuki," I finished awkwardly.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kazuyuki-san."
"The same to you," Kazu replied a little uncomfortably.
"Oh, Kazu, Hotaru-san is someone I bumped into when we first arrived. What was it you wanted to show me? It was that certain breed of white chrysanthemum, correct?" I wound the yarn as I went along. Oh, and chrysanthemums, especially white ones? Not suspicious at all.
"Ah, yes, it's just on the edge of town," 'Hotaru-san' replied.
"So, Kazu, why don't you go wait for me at that dango place. I'm sorry," I apologized, especially for chrysanthemums, although he probably wasn't aware, "but this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. They bloom at night and they glow! I'll tell you all about it later, and I'll be right back," I promised.
Kazu grinned. I smiled in appreciation. "I'll go win a stuffed animal!" he cheered excitedly. "Come back soon, though," he added on a more serious note. I nodded and he took off to one of the shooting game booths.
"So, to those 'chrysanthemums'?" I flinched slightly and nodded.
He took off toward the forest, and, after a momentary hesitation, I followed after him. We arrived at the branches of an old, sturdy tree a few yards in.
"Cute kid," he commented.
"Old friend," I said off-handedly. "Let me introduce myself properly. Riku Tomoko, and it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Uchiha Itachi."
"So you are well aware of my identity now," the Uchiha remarked. He stood there with a blatantly half amused, half bemused expression. "Why are you not running away?"
At his words, I relaxed into a less 'battle-ready' mode. "Simple. I haven't heard your story yet, so I refuse to make a judgment on you."
At that, he very dryly and clinically told the story of how he massacred his clan but left his brother to wallow in the pitiful misery of his new life, ran away, and became a rogue. Except that he told it in even less words and in a dispassionate tone that made it seem more like he was giving a report than telling about his own life.
"Well, that means that you're either extremely cruel to leave him as the only one alive, or you're a softie and just can't bring yourself to kill him." Adding in the factor that he made the risky move of coming back, and expounding on the fact that he had not tortured him, but simply watched Sasuke at a time that was happy, I guessed the reason to be the latter, not the former. I nodded with conviction after building my case.
"I could just be waiting for a better time," he remarked.
"What better time could there be than right in the middle of his fun, especially in a large public place where he will be humiliated, right in front of his rival and his classmates?"
"What if I do not want too much publicity or attention?"
"Sorry to burst your bubble, Uchiha-san, but the kid has attention on him 24/7 what with all of those annoying, obsessed stalkers that call themselves fans. It'd be a near impossible feat, and I somehow get the feeling that people would know it was you, just by the fact that you killed all of the rest.
"And if I'm just doing this for an ulterior motive?"
"You haven't killed me yet, and I'm prying. That's gotta mean something."
He nodded with approval. "You are the first person who wasn't immediately judgmental or prejudiced. Why is that?"
I thought back on my friends and delivered a vague answer about how I knew someone who was persecuted from a very young age because of prejudice and ignorance and how I had vowed not to do the same. He nodded and then there was silence.
"Aren't you going to ask me what I am doing here?" His question caught me off guard and I started, losing my footing and pitching backwards. I braced myself for an impact that never came. I opened my eyes and found myself in the arms of Uchiha Itachi. He set me down carefully. I smiled.
"Now I know. Now I know why you're here. You're here because you miss him, you miss here. You came home."
He shrugged and grinned lopsidedly. It was actually extremely frightening, but I put it off as an expression he had never done and was still learning to do.
Then I frowned.
"This must be a sucky homecoming, then."
He shrugged noncommittally and grinned again. I cringed slightly.
"Ya know, you don't have to overexaggerate your expressions like that. It actually looks painful." At The Look he sent me, I hurriedly explained how, though I may not be capable of expressing it myself, and if I was actually being observant, I could usually pick up on things such as emotions, even if they were very subtly expressed.
Then the corners of his mouth upturned, just in the slightest little twitch, and his eyes shone for a second, and I knew he was smiling. In all actuality, his smile was like an even more understated version of Deki's usual. I was learning.
"You should go. They're on alert because I told them you were here before."
He looked at me again, appraisingly.
"You are the strangest ninja, kunoichi or not, that I've ever met," he intoned.
I grinned. "Well, gotta live up to my name, don't I?"
He nodded. "Yes, that's it," he muttered introspectively. Then he looked up with purpose laced in his voice. "Farewell, Riku Tomoko."
"Bye, Uchiha-san!"
"...Itachi," he murmured before taking off, traveling deeper within the forest.
I sent out a primitive, clumsy, chakra-inefficient web of chakra just to make sure he left no trace of his own signature, uprooted a clump of mint to make some tea, then raced back to town.
A/N: The reason why the white chrysanthemums were so important is because white chrysanthemums are supposed to signify 'Truth'.
Pffft... Nice going, Tomoko.