Open Coughing up Feathers

[Maki Sōma]

There was something magical about the crisp morning air in Kumo. Refreshing and exhilarating, it almost made being sent to run errands seem less mundane. The sun had just peeked through the mountains and cut a warming glow through the thin morning fog. The large browned paper back rustled as Sōma adjusted his grip and braced against a chilling breeze that nipped at his unprotected ears. There weren't too many other people out on the streets right now, most people would be just finishing up getting ready for the day. It was a peaceful ambiance, where one could easily switch to autopilot and get lost in their thoughts as they walked.

CAAWW!!

Sōma's body tightened, his pace quickened... He heard a fluttering behind him that he tried his hardest to ignore.

CAAAWWW!!

The boy sighed deeply. 'Not again...' He thought as he looked down to his feet, not wanting to accept what was likely to happen next.

CAAWW-CAAWW!!!!!

His head slowly turned towards the sound from a nearby tree. His eyes locked with his worst nemesis for an instant. Before he knew it he was on his back, the flurry of feathers knocking him down and launching the contents of the bag high into the air. The boy winced, grabbing at the elbow that had taken the brunt of the impact against the hard stone path. As his eyes opened back up he saw his assailants. Three black birds hurriedly picked through the debris, squabbling loudly over the higher value items. One more, much larger bird stepped forward and began pushing the others aside, claiming whatever it wanted without much resistance. Their eyes met once again. Sōma gritted his teeth as he felt frustration boil to the surface.

"What is your problem?!" He shouted, reaching for a nearby stone and slinging it towards the flock. The smaller birds quickly scattered and took up positions perched nearby. The larger bird however, did not fly away. Instead it hopped closer, and again, and again, until it was barely within an arms length from the boy. Sōma felt that familiar feeling of dread flood into him, he edged back slightly. As he did this he noticed something that had fallen out of his pocket in the scuffle. He glanced up at the bird, which had picked up on his interest in the small wooden pendant. He hurried to grab it, but it was too late. The bird lunged forward and snatched it away, before flying up to a nearby rooftop, as if to taunt the boy.

"Hey!! Give that back you stupid bird!"

Sōma jumped to his feet, the fear from facing off with his natural enemy taking a backseat as anger took over. Another rock skipped off the roof next to the bird, he really needed to work on his aim. The boy stepped through the scattered contents of the grocery bag, looking up for some way to get up to the bird. He grabbed onto a nearby drainpipe and started to climb. Straining as he tried to pull himself up onto the roof, Sōma saw the bird watching him closely until suddenly all he saw was sky. He hit the ground hard, alongside the loose roof tile that had given way. He lay there for a moment, trying to catch his breath as the bird looked down, almost mocking him. He wasn't going to give up, he needed to get that pendant back, it wasn't valuable but it was very important to him. Important enough for him to face his fears.

[MFT WC:590]

 

[Umetsu Saki]

Akane kept balance on the thin stone wall, tiptoeing down the side of the road with her arms outstretched. The sounds of the village before the bustle and activity of midday were unhurried, almost soothing, and she listened as she walked- a perfect time to be outside! She’d be back later to help her parents keep shop during the busier hours; for now, she had told herself she would practice chakra control. She’d singled it out as her weakest skill, and with her acceptance into the Academy, everything she had needed to be up to standard.

Suddenly, the girl teetered to the side on the wall, almost losing her footing. Instinctually, though, she crouched, grabbing the stones to catch herself... she naturally hated using chakra for anything. It was unfairly difficult for her to manifest, and when it did, it burned her insides like fire. It drove her crazy that she’d have to compete with kids who’d been born into powerful clans of shinobi from the beginning...

The wall stopped at a corner, so she hopped off and looked around for a spot to think about practicing. Her eyes rested on a crow perched unkindly on an outstretched branch- it screeched, twitching its wings, and dove at a boy occupying the streets in front of her. He didn’t seem to take it too well… Akane watched as the bird poked through his scattered belongings with several of its fellows. She stepped forwards, walking towards them as the boy toppled from the roof of a building next to the street. “Hey, are you alright there?” She followed his eyes and saw one of the hoarse birds perched further back on top of the structure, clutching something of his. She eyed the side of the building warily- this wasn’t the place to practice. Too much could go wrong, and she despised the feeling of it anyway.

Instead, she fetched a flat-looking rock and regarded the crow on the roof with a frown. She didn’t want to hit it. The projectile weighed about the same as a normal shuriken and wouldn’t be too much different to throw… she’d still have to be careful, though, since she wasn’t hitting bullseyes just yet. Aiming for the tile beside the bird, far enough away from the boy’s possession, Akane let the stone loose.

 

[Maki Sōma]

"Sōma, Mihoko, come here for a moment. I have something for you both." Kensaku ran his thumb across the surface of the two small wooden trinkets, making sure there were no rough edges or splinters. The thumping of tiny excited feet echoed through the wooden floors, growing louder as the pair burst through the doorway.

"What is it father?"

"Is it food? I'm starving!"

"No it's not food" The man replied with a chuckle as he held the two objects out for the children to collect. "I thought it was about time that each of you have one of these. They bring good fortune and luck, so keep it with you always." Sōma recognized the pendant as very similar to the one their older brother wore around his neck, he turned the object a few times in his hands, closely inspecting all of the details. Out of the corner of his eye he could see his twin sister excitedly doing the same. "They're owls." Kensaku continued, "A wise and elegant creature. Whenever you find yourself in a difficult situation, try to think, what would a wise owl do?" Direct eye contact with Sōma silently communicated that this this statement was probably more directed towards him.

"Thank you father!~" The pair both yelled, lunging forward and squeezing tightly.

"You're welcome" He laughed, "Now go and play, stay out of trouble, and I'll call you when dinner is ready."

“Hey, are you alright there?”

Sōma looked up to see a pair of bold crimson eyes looking back at him. "Uh, ye-yea I think so." He replied, as he slowly climbed to his feet, breathing heavily to pull the air back into his lungs after the fall. He looked back up towards the crow that held his pendant and sighed. Maybe he could try the drainpipe again before the bird flew away, at least that loose tile was gone now. No, he was still pretty winded from the first attempt. He leaned down and grabbed another rock that was nearby, ready to take aim for the bird with all his pent up frustration.

But before he could take action, another rock skipped off the tiles of the roof. The bird screeched loudly, dropping the pendant and flapping its wings in a panic as it scrambled to fly away. "Nice shot!" Sōma shouted to the girl as the wooden trinket tumbled down from the roof and bounced to a rest on the floor. The boy quickly forced his aching body over to collect it, "Thanks for your help, I was really worried I wasn't going to get that back for a second". After a quick inspection to make sure it wasn't damaged, Sōma tucked it back into his pocket. "I don't know why those stupid birds always have it in for me. By the way, I'm Maki Sō-".

"What the hell is going on out here!?"

A disgruntled portly figure staggered from the door to the building, "All this noise so early in the morni... And what the hell happened to my roof?!" The man took a step out of the doorway, revealing a big scruffy beard and untamed messy hair. He looked down at the broken tile, then over to Sōma's right hand. The boy flinched as he realized he was still holding onto the large rock. "Uhh, so you see..." He replied, dropping the rock as he slowly backed away through the debris field of groceries "I was just...and then...so we were....RUN!" The boy spun around and reached to grab the girls hand before bolting around the corner, the man's expletives echoing on the wind behind them.

 

[Umetsu Saki]

Akane gave the boy a smile as he stood up. He had looked pretty determined to get back at that bird on the roof, and she wondered why; maybe it had something to do with the reason they had attacked him in the first place…? She held the stone between her fingers and threw it- she winced as it flew wide of its target, clattering on the tiles about an arm’s-length from the crow, but the noise was apparently enough. The bird let out a disturbed screech and took off, leaving behind a small wooden-looking object. A pendant, it looked like?

The boy retrieved it, complimenting her shot, and she got a good look at it while he inspected it for a moment. It was indeed a pendant, very finely carved from wood; the craftsmanship surprised her. Her family’s shop didn’t have any wood carvings quite as well-made as this- her mom specialized in metal and glass casting, while her dad preferred a variety of sculpture and painting. They were known to branch out to other art forms (but rarely put those on the shelves).

Before Akane could think to ask him where the pendant had come from, he spoke again to thank her. She nodded, “No problem! Sorry it sounds like this happens often, it’s weird for them to have a vendetta against you like that. Do you have a pet cat or something?” She had always wanted a cat. Unfortunately, her yard was regularly home to molten glass/metals above 1,000°C, so her mom said no.

The boy was in the middle of introducing himself when a shout came from the building they were standing nearby- the girl raised her eyebrows, not saying a word. She watched Maki Sō- grasp at an explanation for the chipped roof, then resort to running (a decision Akane supported). Following his lead, she only hoped the man wouldn’t remember her face well; there were plenty of other people with red eyes, surely.

She thought back to something else she had remembered as they ran. Once they stopped, she asked, “Hey, would you happen to be related to the Maki family that owns a shop in the village? Oh, and I’m Hatanaka Akane, by the way! My parents own a craft shop in the Susukino district.”

 

[Maki Sōma]

"Ok, I don't think he's chasing us." Sōma said, checking round the corner once the pair had come to a stop, "Although even if he was, I don't think he'd stand a chance catching up to us." The boy leaned back against the wall and began to brush off the dirt from his two falls. He felt a little bit guilty that they had damaged the man's roof, but it shouldn't be too hard for him to fix, it was just a couple of tiles right? Perhaps he'd casually stroll by tomorrow and offer to help if they hadn't been fixed already. Either way, this girl was kind enough to help him get his pendant back, so would rather avoid getting her in trouble on account of his mess.

Now that they'd stopped for a moment, the elbow that had taken the brunt of Sōma's first fall was starting to throb a bit. He peeled back his sleeve to check on it and revealed a nice big reddish bruise that was starting to form. That was probably going to hurt later, but oh well, he was used to picking up knocks and scrapes. "Perhaps I should get a cat, that's not a bad idea. Then I could keep it around as a warning to those stupid birds. Mess with me and you'll be cat food!" He slipped his sleeve back down and shook away the ache. "Would be cheaper than buying food for it too..." Sōma trailed off as he pictured his imaginary companion, 'Murder Mittens the protector'.

The girl continued to introduce herself, also mentioning the shop that Sōma's parents owned. "It's nice to meet you Akane. That's my parents' shop. My father is a carpenter so it's full of furniture and stuff that he makes. I have to help out there sometimes, but it's never super busy so it's not too often." As the boy was talking something suddenly clicked in his mind. "Wait, what kind of crafts are at your parents shop? It's my sisters birthday in a couple of weeks and I've saved up a little bit of money to get her something, but I have no idea where to look." Sōma was excited at the prospect of finally finding a gift for his sister and it was strikingly obvious as his body seemed to completely forget he'd just been attacked by birds, fallen from a roof, landed flat on his back and then run away from an angry occupant. "I'm not very good at picking out gifts, but I'm sure there's a bunch of cool stuff there to choose from." He wanted to get her something nice, but the budget of a 9 year old didn't stretch very far and it had been quite a challenge for him to save up the little money that he had.

In the back of his mind, Sōma remembered the bag of groceries that he'd dropped a few moments ago. He'd have to replace those on his way home, but he still had a bit of extra time, and if he had the chance to get his sisters gift while he was out then it would be two birds with one stone.

 

[Umetsu Saki]

They stopped, and Akane caught her breath in agreement- she didn’t usually need to run away from angry civilians, but it was nice to know that she could, at least. She watched Sō examine his arm. She hadn’t said anything about being a student at the Academy yet, partially because she was so new and didn’t know anyone, and partially because she wasn’t sure if that was the kind of thing you were supposed to keep secret. He didn’t seem bothered by the sizable bruise forming on his arm, anyway- whether that was an indication of legendary ninja endurance or not she couldn’t tell.

“Oh, I had wondered if the birds were attacking you because you already had a cat. I guess the problem could become a solution, though!” she laughed.

She grinned when her suspicions were confirmed- her parents liked that shop, but she had never known that the owner’s son was around her age. When he asked, Akane began rattling off their list: “Decorative statuettes and figurines, art pieces, Noh masks, small glass jars and ornaments… we also do weapon repairs and embroidery occasionally, if you want a custom order!” As she spoke, she waved her hand in a beckoning motion, “Come on, we’re not too far away.”

She started down the street, deciding to take the long way so they wouldn’t accidentally pass by that guy again. As they walked, the pressure was finally too much- she didn’t think it was supposed to be a secret anyway. “Do you go to the Academy?” she turned to look at her acquaintance, eyebrows raised in inquiry. “I’m new, and I haven’t gotten to meet very many people yet. What’s it like? Have you had many classes?”

 

[Maki Sōma]

Sōma grinned and followed after Akane as she set off towards her parents shop. He was glad that his crazy morning was quickly turning around, and If he could manage to buy something nice for his sister it would top it off. "Oh, do they have little animal figurines?!" He asked excitedly, "She loves that sort of thing!".

The pair continued walking and Akane raised some questions about the academy, "That's awesome!" he said upon hearing she was a fellow student, "I've been there for a little while now. There's a lot of pretty boring stuff, talking about history and things like that. But when you actually get to training it's great. I can feel myself getting stronger everyday, and learning new jutsu is so cool!" Sōma wondered if he would soon find himself in a class alongside his new acquaintance, he hadn't really mingled with any of the other students outside of their classes and during class he was usually too focused to pay them much attention. "But my brother says that boring stuff is important too, and he's a Chunnin now, so I try to learn it all."

The streets were starting to become a little more lively now that the morning was progressing, a steady flow of people was building as they set about their day. Sōma started to recognize the area. It seemed that they'd taken a bit of an unconventional route, likely to avoid another run in with the shouty man. That was probably for the best. "Have you had any classes yet?" Sōma asked as they walked, "You have a pretty good shot already, I bet you're great with a shuriken."

 

[Umetsu Saki]

Glad her companion was taking an interest in her family’s shop, Akane replied, “Sure they do! They’re mostly animals, actually, although we do have a few mythological creatures.” She exhaled when he confirmed that he was a student too; secrecy or none, it was still nice to have someone she could talk to. For the longest time, she had seen kids older than her training to use ninja tools or mastering new forms of jutsu, kids whose parents served the village as shinobi or had been chosen for their exceptional chakra. In her case, she had been selected for neither- it was a miracle she had gotten into the Academy in the first place.

They passed a cluster of storefronts- the Susukino district! “I’ve had, uh, one class. It was crazy… but I do feel like I learned something! And thanks- basic taijutsu and stuff is all I’ve been able to train on my own, so I just kept practicing that,” she laughed. “I think it’s cool that your brother is a Chuunin! I guess I’ll have to take his word for it, since he’d have to be pretty experienced with being a ninja. Actually, it’s lucky for me that my mom is an expert on metalworking: I’m learning to make my own tools, which is absolutely better than nothing.”

As they turned down the familiar street, the windows of the Hatanaka Craft Shop came into view, warm lights illuminating the rows of shelves inside. Akane led the way through the unlocked door, glancing around the store and into the yard, then jogged to the bottom of the stairs and called for her parents. The shelves were abundantly decorated with small novelties, each one slightly different from the next. Paintings of miscellaneous sizes and styles lined the walls. “Hm, looks like they’re not here,” the girl observed, rejoining the other student. “In that case: search the store to your heart’s content, valued customer! I can work the register,” she explained, gesturing to the counter in the back of the shop.

 

[Maki Sōma]

"Oh that sounds perfect!" Sōma replied with a beaming grin. He had been so busy since joining the academy, between his training and day to day chores, opportunities to go gift shopping were few and far between.

During their conversation something strange occurred to Sōma. When the topic changed to them being fellow students at the academy the girl seemed to relax, as though a weight had been lifted for her. Why was she so hesitant to talk about the academy? Sōma could not work it out, for him it was the coolest thing ever. Perhaps his brother had numbed him to the great pressure that surrounded the life of Shinobi, even for those just in training. Every action, every decision would be closely scrutinized and judged by the people of the village. Maybe it wasn't too much of a pressure at the moment, but for those students who were a bit more aware it might be stressful to know that they were an extremely visible representative of the whole village. "Sounds like I know who to come to now if I ever need a new weapon! And if you ever want a sparring partner you already know I can take a hit" Sōma laughed, knowing full well that the only results of his training that the girl had seen so far was his resilience, "My brother doesn't have as much time as he used to, so it would be good to have someone to practice with."

The pair were starting to reach the more commercial areas of the village, a wide variety of shops lined either side of the street with people criss-crossing between them. Sōma followed as Akane lead him into a cosy looking building, he stood in the doorway and watched as she checked if anyone was there. It was curious to Sōma that her parents had left the shop unlocked when they weren't here. However it didn't seem to phase the girl, so maybe it wasn't as unusual as it felt to him. "Woah, there's so much to choose from..." Sōma stepped forward, navigating between the shelves and pausing to carefully examine anything that caught his eye. He gravitated mainly towards the smaller items, aware of his budget. "Oh, how about something with a cat! That would stop those pesky birds trying anything with her too" He joked as he spun on the spot, trying to pick out any cat-like objects in the store.

 

[Umetsu Saki]

Akane beamed- having one’s trade acknowledged by one familiar with the ninja world, the best of the best, was a huge compliment in itself. She appreciated the boost in confidence it gave her, even though her best creation to date was an oddly-weighted kunai. She laughed too, “That sounds great! I’ve been hoping to get some opportunities to spar with people, since I’m… less experienced with ninjutsu.” It still stung a little to admit her ineptitude, but she was practically on a roll: she’d made a new friend who seemed impressed by her craftsmanship skills, and they were on their way to her family’s shop. She nodded sagely at his last comment; the life of a chuunin sounded complicated and filled with responsibility.

She noticed a brief change in her companion’s expression as they walked through the door unceremoniously. “Oh, yeah! We have a security seal, so my parents don’t normally need to worry about locking up,” Akane explained, pointing to an encircled red character on the glass above the door. “They leave the door open so I can get in if they’re on a delivery somewhere. I’m not quite sure how the seal works…” she squinted at it, “but nobody’s stolen anything recently, so I guess it’s doing its job.”

She followed as he wandered the shelves, responding, “Sure! There are clay cat pendants and a few metal figurines over there.” Her mother never liked to make two of the same item- there was a sitting cat, a cat with wings, and several variations of cats with hats or masks.

[Posted with the wrong account, sorry!]