Chapter 4

Beta'd by Black Sparrow

Worried and determined to find a job as fast as possible Shiori returned to the streets of Konoha after putting her belongings away, this time she was wearing her best kimono. She had only worn this particular kimono on a few special occasions and it had been bought in a time in which the crops had been bountiful. Even than it had been a bargain deal with a hole on the front and more than a few sizes too big for the, at that time eight year old Shiori. Her grandmother had been able to hide the hole in the dark blue fabric with beautiful and painstakingly complex pink and silver embroidery that she had continued over the whole garment in clusters of flowers and butterflies. As a result Shiori had hardly dared to wear her best piece of clothing while still living in Kawa.

The black haired girl steeled herself and made her way to the first job offer she had picked out, a dango stand. As it turned out the owners had already hired somebody else when Shiori arrived at the address. The second, third and fourth place also had filled the positions that had been advertised in the immigration office. Frustrated Shiori was on her way to the last offer; a grocery store that looked for a cashier, when a tumult in a side street drew her attention.

She could hear how a frustrated woman in a simple but well taken care of and clean kimono was ranting at a younger woman who looked like she was close to tears. When Shiori was in hearing distance it seemed as if the young woman finally had enough and simply turned around and walked away.

"If you leave now don't bother coming back!" the woman shouted behind her, before she cursed low and mumbled to herself, "Where the hell do I now get a girl than can do a tea ceremony?"

Shiori's eyes went wide, maybe this was her chance.

"E-excuse me? You are looking for someone who can do a tea ceremony?" Shiori asked tentatively.

"Yes…are you saying YOU can do it?" the woman asked skeptically.

"Yes, my grandmother insisted on them," Shiori confirmed with a shy smile.

Inwardly she thought, 'Though we only ever practiced with substitutes and below standard products'.

The woman eyed her up and down, before she started to pelt out questions about a standard tea ceremony like a drill sergeant. Shiori's eyes went wide but she automatically answered every question as exact as possible, the knowledge was deeply ingrained in her thanks to the many repetitions throughout the years. It felt like ages until the woman that hadn't even introduced herself yet stopped with her questions, after Shiori apparently satisfied the woman with her knowledge she was looked over once more with a scrutinizing eye before said woman nodded and waved her into the side entrance of the tea house.

"Wait here. I think we have a kimono in your size," the still nameless woman ordered before she vanished into another room.

Unsure Shiori looked around, the back room of the tea house was impeccable clean and nothing was out of place. Shiori smiled a bit, her grandmother had always told her that the quality of an establishment could be measured by the cleanliness of the backroom and the state of the working kimonos. Only a minute later the woman stood in front of her with a dark blue kimono that looked nearly exactly like her new employer's own, without another word Shiori was ushered into the changing room for the women to quickly dress. After she was deemed presentable and some quick last minute instructions Shiori was shown into a separate serving room where she fulfilled her first tea ceremony without a hitch in front of the critical eye of her employer, Echizen-san. After that she was left alone to complete tea ceremonies for various guests in the next few hours.

In the evening, after finishing with the last ceremony Echizen-san watched Shiori for a moment after she had changed back into her original clothing before she sighed and said, "You are good, your customers were more than happy with your service, what are you doing at the moment?"

Shiori smiled shyly at the compliment. "I am looking for work actually."

The woman's eyes started to glitter before she purred, "Perfect, I need a worker, who doesn't mess up tea ceremonies at every turn. I'm willing to hire you but I only need a part time worker…is that still okay?"

Shiori's smiled dimmed a bit before she hesitated a moment and then said, "Yes thank you, when will I begin?"

"Tomorrow at six am, you have the morning shift until ten am, everyday but Tuesday," Echizen-san stated firmly.

Shiori just nodded in response before she left the tea house. While walking through the streets her lips slowly started to turn up in a happy smile, she had a job! Even if it was only part time at the moment, hopefully she could become a full time worker after a few trial weeks or she would have to search a second job so that she could start saving up for her future. Elated over her good fortune Shiori skipped back to her new flat.

For the next two weeks Shiori worked every morning in Echizen-san's tea house before she spent the rest of the day either in her immigration classes or exploring Konoha. In her free time Shiori enjoyed walking through the busy village that was so different from her former home. The amount of people was unreal to her, even if it still was nothing in comparison to a city like New York. The young girl had also become somewhat acquainted with the shop owners around her flat, it helped that Shiori had an excellent name-face memory and was always polite and friendly to everyone.

Coming to Konoha was the right decision, the village was peaceful and the people were friendly. The only damper on her mood was the fact that a full time occupation at Echizen-san's wouldn't be possible, at least not anytime soon. All the workers at her tea house had been with Echizen-san for at least two years and there would be no way, no matter how good Shiori was that Echizen-san would choose her over one of the other workers. The money that she was making was good, Shiori had received her first paycheck two days ago and with this she could easily pay for her flat and groceries but if she ever wanted to have something better for herself Shiori would need a second income.

Through a lucky occurrence Shiori found said job the week after she had decided to seriously search for a second job…well at least she had found the offer for it. On her way back from a market run Shiori saw the insertion out of the corner of her eyes on the black board of her district. Konoha had these useful boards all over the village and they showed important news, job offers and other important tidbits' of information that could be useful for the people to see.

Shiori walked closer on a whim and read through the piece of paper, the wanted ad described a part time job as a housekeeper and cook and so Shiori instantly copied the address and time of the interview on a spare piece of paper before the black haired girl returned to her flat and started to cook dinner.

The blue eyed teenager had for the first time in her life a staggering amount of free time, Shiori had hours and hours of time in which she wasn't working at the tea house or sitting in her mandatory courses which also would end in another week. At first the young female had felt happy to do nothing for hours on end after her busy life as a farmer's daughter but after the first three days the time that she had perceived as rest turned into unbearable silence. The sitting around and doing nothing was now vexing her, and so to occupy some of this time Shiori had decided to increase her cooking talents. She had always enjoyed the task, even back at home when she had to cook over fire instead of the comfortable stove that she now used. The black haired girl also had had far less ingredients at her disposal during the first years of her life. Here in Konoha Shiori had access to an abundance of basic groceries as well more exotic ones and while Shiori hadn't tried out a lot of the more foreign dishes yet she was determined to someday cook them all. In this flight of fancy she was influenced by Eliza who herself had loved to cook and eat and always tried new things in her free time.

That is to say, Shiori was no five star cook but she was more than decent and the familiar moves of cutting and dicing relaxed the twelve year old after a hectic day, the motions had become soothing to her and she always felt satisfied when a delicious smell waved through her flat. So to assuage her need for diverse dishes Shiori had purchased a cooking book and was steadily testing out the ones that didn't strain her wallet too much.

For the interview on the next day Shiori put on Konoha civilian wear for the first time. She had found the modest brown skirt and the green shirt in the bargain bin and had promptly bought them. Her hair had been pulled up in a simple pony tail to keep it out of her face. Shiori checked once more her documents and the recommendation letter from Echizen-san before the blue eyed girl made her way to the café where she would hopefully meet her new employer.

When she arrived there and asked after Inoue-san she was shown to the back of the café where a gaggle of giggling and whispering females around Shiori's age sat. Unsure what to do Shiori sat down in one of the chairs a bit apart from them and looked around. Beside the group of giggling teenagers were two women in their late thirties as well as an older woman who watched everything with sharp eyes. At eleven am on the dot the old woman stood up and introduced herself as Inoue Mariko-san. Some of the giggling girls turned red and then white, it seemed as if they had gossiped about their potential employer right in front of her. With a few sentences the older woman had the group halved and the applicants that had been told to leave vanished embarrassed through the door of the café. The five females that were left were told sit down on one of the round tables, then Inoue-san asked a few generic questions about what experience they had in the household. It turned out that the two other girls had never worked for an employer before and only had experience as far as their mothers had shown them. The two older women had both families and their own children and would have to provide for them too around the time of day Inoue wanted to have a housekeeper.

"And you?" the strict looking woman asked Shiori.

"My name is Shiori, Inoue-san. I arrived in Konoha last month and work in the mornings as a part time worker at Echizen-san's tea house in the market district. Before I came to Konoha I was responsible for the household and the care of my grandmother while my parents were mostly out on the field," The black haired girl stated simply.

"And how old are you? Fourteen, fifteen?" the strict looking woman wanted to know.

"Twelve, Inoue-san," Shiori clarified.

The other applicants looked curiously at Shiori.

"I live alone, Inoue-san. It doesn't matter how young I am, if I want to eat and keep my flat I have to work," Shiori said in a calm voice, those were the facts and there was nothing that she could do to change that.

"Hhm…" Inoue-san murmured before she dismissed the other two girls and then the mothers, after that she turned to Shiori once more. "Shiori-san I will test you for a week and then we will see."

"Thank you Inoue-san," Shiori said and sent the older woman a brilliant smile.

Inoue-san only nodded. "Come to this address tomorrow at eleven am, be prepared to cook both lunch and dinner. We will talk about your other responsibilities then," the elder woman said while she handed Shiori a sheet with an address on it.

After saying goodbye to her potential employer, a happy Shiori skipped home. On her way she checked out the address she had just received, as it turned out Inoue-san's flat was only four blocks away from her own home, which was very convenient for the young civilian.

Inoue-san turned out to be a strict but fair employer; she expected Shiori's full attention on the job but in return also paid a more than generous salary for the girl's work. The two soon fell into a routine in which Shiori cooked lunch and dinner every day, as well as prepared a light breakfast for the following day. She also kept the rooms clean and tidy, did the washing and ironing and made grocery runs for Inoue-san. In the event that Inoue-san left her home for an errand Shiori also accompanied the elderly women to carry her shopping.

Within the first week Shiori realized why the otherwise so spry old woman needed a housekeeper; Inoue-san's left hand as well as a part of her left side were paralyzed and even seemed to cause her pain. Inoue-san tried to hide this fact from her as best as she could but the pain had to be substantial if this prideful woman had problems hiding it. Concerned about her, Shiori inquired at the Yamanaka flower shop about tea leaves that could ease pain. After some prodding about the injury Yamanaka-san was very helpful and handed Shiori tea leaves that had the effect that she searched for. Because the taste of the leaves was very bitter Shiori experimented at home to find a way to modify the taste or at least reduce it somewhat. For that reason she made another visit to the Yamanaka flower shop, this time Yamanaka Inoichi was the one watching the shop. He recommended a few different types of leaves and assured a concerned Shiori that none of the combinations would have a negative effect on the drinker, feeling relieved Shiori returned to her experiments. It took the black haired girl a while but in the end she quite liked the result she had achieved through grounding the tea leaves and mixing them together. Inoue-san didn't thank her per se but after the first few times she drank the tea she always leveled an unreadable expression at Shiori before she returned to whatever she had done before. That her beverage wasn't rejected outright by the proud woman was thanks enough for Shiori. The slightly prickly lady had wormed herself into Shiori's heart and the black haired teenager felt happy that she could help the old woman in some way.

Shiori was so immersed in her work that she was surprised when the first anniversary of her new life in Konoha arrived. With it came her return visit to the immigration bureau where her temporary documents were replaced with the real deal. The newest full Konoha citizen then made her way to the office that was responsible for the taxes and filled out the needed documents before paying her due for the first quarter in advance. Feeling accomplished Shiori celebrated with some mochi, at times like this she desperately whished for the western desserts that Eliza had gorged herself on in her world. While there was chocolate in this world it was mostly in bars and used only to decorate dango or mochi. Hell Shiori hadn't even seen something close to a western styled cake in Konoha, the only thing that they seemed to have were mochi and dango.