Komura awoke upon a bed. The softness of the sheets was the first groggy sense she felt other than a blurred image of a blue room. Slowly, her eyes came into focus, revealing a light blue room with an ornate dresser, a closed door likely leading to a closet, a window, and the black bed which she had woken upon.
Her eyes clenched together as a dull pain wracked through her head, initiating the girl to lie back down. A few deep breaths later, she pulled herself up, the nightgown revealed from under the blankets matching the blue of the walls. She stared at the bedroom around her, not quite comprehending what had happened the previous night.
She remembered it all just fine, but why she wasn't dead or back out on the street or even hurt was what worried her. Slipping out of the warm embrace of the blankets, she padded over to the closet, deciding that if she was going to find out what was going on, she would need proper clothing.
The clothes room contained ones similar to what she had discovered last night, or at least last night from her point of view. How long had it actually been?! The realization that entire days could have gone by without her knowledge was deeply troubling to her.
Sighing, Komura chose an outfit fit for a small Kunoichi. It wasn't anything special really, a simple pair of dark green leg coverings that were too long and wide for her frame, a loose, dark brown, short sleeved tunic that came down to her ankles. She debated wearing the Ninja sandals but with them being several sizes too large, she went barefoot instead.
Inspecting the room, she looked for something to make the clothes look a little less ridiculous. By some stroke of luck, a small quilting set was found in the second drawer from the top, the highest one she could reach. It wasn't exactly meant for hemming clothing but she wasn't going to be picky.
After some struggle with fitting the white thread through the eye, she sat on top of the bed and started hand sewing about 4 inches from the bottom, setting them to about where her ankle would be. She only got about halfway through the first leg before the door to the outside opened with a loud creak.
Turning hastily, she dropped her project carelessly to hang, instead facing the newcomer, who was not really a newcomer at all.
"Oh, you're awake!" The woman who had been her target exuberantly exclaimed. Komura only nodded in response, already beginning to slowly make her way off of the bed so she stood on the floor. "What-? Oh, I see. You must be curious as to why you're still here."
Komura gave a slight nod once more, her eyes widening to look like a caged animal's when the door was closed behind the woman. "Well, my dear, first things first. My name is Sanchin, and I am the caretaker of this house, that is to say that I own it."
Komura makes a noise sounding something like an "ah," although she was so tense Sanchin wasn't completely sure. Nevertheless, the woman relaxed and continued, "That was quite the party wasn't it? I gotta say, a party really isn't a party until there's the chance of possible death!"
Despite Sanchin's words being not quite friendly, Komura felt herself relaxing slightly, getting used to the feel and ways of the woman, although still cautious. "Okay okay, if you want to know why you're still alive, it's because you're fighting style was more interesting than not."
At the small girl's confused expression, Sanchin elaborates. "Most people, especially young girls know a little self-defense by nature. Many know a bit more than a little because of circumstance. The reason I've decided to keep you though is because most people prefer a fist over an open palm when attacking, and I'm curious as to why you don't."
Sanchin stopped her explanation there, awaiting her tenant's answer. It took some time but she was a patient woman, a few minutes to get some information was nothing to her. Information was useful, and playing the part of a kind wife or mother could be even more so at times.
Finally, Komura whispered some words that she was unable to make out. "What was that?" She asked, leaning over the bed some more to hear better. Backing away slightly, she spoke in a louder voice so Sanchin could hear, "Why should I tell you?"
The grin that invaded Sanchin's expression matched her giddy internal feeling. She was right to choose someone off the streets, they weren't so gullible as say, a random villager. Now however, the problem lies on how to get the young girl on her side. She already had big plans for her, and the other young girl, but she needed to play her cards right.
"You certainly don't have to tell me," Sanchin explained. "But it would help me learn more about you and your fighting style so that we can make you better." Now this set Komura off. Why was she wanting to make Komura better at anything? She had tried to practically kill her, had ruined a party, and managed to almost die herself. What reason was there to help her, much less keep her alive?
Komura remained silent, debating on what to say. What she really needed was answers. "Better?" She asked, praying that the Sanchin would explain more details.
"Well of course!" She exclaimed cheerily. "May you do me the honor of allowing me to aid you on your road to Ninja?" It wasn't exactly a complete answer, yet it was enough for Komura's interest to be piqued. "How?" She asked, coming out her shell a little more with each question. It could have been pride, it could have been ease, it could even have been some neurotoxin that the woman secreted to make her feel more alive.
Here was someone practically offering help to make her strong. Who wouldn't pass that up? She had failed in her first mission, but apparently her playing was good enough to be recognized despite the shortcomings. It was not the monetary reward she was expecting, yet here was something that could be better. "Well, either I, or a personal tutor, would train you."
She didn't mention how she would have to live in this house, and a host of other aspects. Rent was not free after all, but some experience would be good, and if she didn't return, oh well. This isn't the first time children have died in this war of escaped from possibly hostile situations. Of course she had planned for that though.
Chakra sensing ninja can be quite useful when used correctly. The few currently in residence had been explicitly told not to give away any knowledge of their presence while keep a rotation going of using their abilities to make sure that the correct number of people remained within the house unless told otherwise.
Komura's eyes widened at Sanchin's words. A personal tutor? She would skyrocket in skill above everyone else her age, probably even above Akino, wherever he is. That would be amazing!
The glint in the girl's eyes did not go unnoticed by Sanchin. Hiding a smirk, she asked kindly, "If you're unsure, please join me for dinner tonight. It should be in a few hours and you wander around wherever you want, take on the sights of the house and such."
Komura nodded after a moment, already knowing her answer but grateful to be able to look around before making any final decisions. It would only occur to her over dinner what the implications of that statement meant.
"In that case, might I have your name? You know mine but have yet to reveal yours." She points out, needing to at least know something about her tenant. Knowledge has a way of becoming useful these days.
Komura opens her mouth, about to say the standard answer, but remembers the party. She had told the party-goer a different name, and she had to remain consistent or look more suspicious. "Hasuka, Hasuka Misako."
Just like that, she sealed her fate into the name of another. Komura was a name she would never hear about her again unless of another. Instead Hasuka, the name of her aunt and mother of two devils in disguise became her own. Ironic how a name of upper-class gets passed to one of so low.
"Well it's nice to meet you Hasuka, I shall see you at dinner." Sanchin greets before making her departure, closing the door of the room in the way it had been before her entrance. Outside, she lets her smirk grow into a nasty smile. Big plans Hasuka, big plans indeed.
Komura went back to sewing, needing some time to think. An hour passed and she was only halfway done with the other leg, so she threw it down in disgust. "I should just go and see if she has any clothing that would fit," she mutters angrily, giving up on her task.
Slowly, she opened the door and crept out into the hallway, her too-large clothes dragging behind her. The house seemed much larger than it had earlier, perhaps the height change was really making a difference. It still looked as it had that night, perhaps a bit less decorated, but candles still covered every available surface and the faint scent of jasmine permeated the air.
Komura looked around, trying to figure out where Sanchin could have gone off to. Wandering up and down gilded staircases and past never ending hallways, she couldn't seem to find her. It was only some time later that she saw her emerge from another hallway that she relaxed.
"Do you have any clothes that fit me...?" She asked sheepishly.
Sanchin laughs lightly and replies, "Yes I do, follow me. We keep them downstairs because most clients who come here aren't children." Komura is still wary of the change of events but she can't exactly do much, except maybe run away. But Sanchin's offer had already been accepted, and she was so willing to help.
As they walked silently through the house, Komura couldn't help but be lost in all of it's twists and turns. Then, without any indication other than an absence of windows, Sanchin stopped in her march. Bumping into her, Komura was startled before recovering herself and peering around the woman.
The entrance to what she assumed to be the basement looked slightly different from the doors to bedrooms. Instead of a door that opened outward or inward, this one glided across the floor. Sanchin stood back as the blockade was drawn aside, letting Komura go first into the darkness.
As she stepped up to the stairs leading downward however, Komura glanced back, wondering if the sense of panic she felt was justified by Sanchin's figure waiting behind her. Not able to go backward, she reluctantly crept downwards into the awaiting dark.
At the bottom of the stairwell, Sanchin shuffled around for a moment, or at least that's what it sounded like to Komura, before a deep inhale surrounded the room and a flame puffed out of her now-visible cheeks and onto the wick of a candle inside a lantern. It didn't provide much light, but it was enough to make out their immediate surroundings.
Even at such a simple action, Komura's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, amazed by such an ability. Sanchin caught the young girl's look and smiled softly, "You can learn too you know, after another night's rest we'll find out your chakra signature so you can learn. It will be difficult though, training to be a ninja is not an easy path, whichever road you take."
"There's more than one path?" Komura asks, only knowing of the training of an academy, or perhaps more uncommonly that of a personal tutor.
"There's always more than one answer to everything dear, at least one high and low and many in the middle," she admonished, passing the light into Komura's shaking hands. "Now to get you some clothes..." She drew aside the grimy cloth, the only one that seems to be in this house, and as Komura peers around the new opening, a loud thump resounds through the open cellar door.