[Kahako will be entering and leaving this topic. Sei will be found here on most occasions. Pictures of what the place looks like can be found here.
Sei sighed as she wiped the day’s special from the blackboard outside. “Another day, another dollar.” She said to herself nonchalantly as she picked up the contraption and placed it inside the building. The older woman dusted her hands and flipped the ‘open’ sign the other way for the night to ‘closed’. The last of her employees went home for the night, and it was just Sei in the downstairs area.
The first floor of the two story building consisted of the restaurant and kitchen. Sei wasn’t here every day, but most week days she was up before dawn, usually helping the baker make pastries. It wasn’t a big place. Fitting about 30 people on a particularly busy day the tables and chairs were of a surprisingly cute design, giving the overall ‘welcome’ feeling that Sei’s parents cherished when they opened the store so long ago.
Sei smirked as she cut off the lights. Of course, she did some redesigning since they had passed. ‘Welcoming’ didn’t mean you had to live in the dark ages of bad interior decorating. She locked the front door and proceeded to walk out the side one. It led to a wooden staircase that had one door at the top. This was Sei’s home. She was born in that apartment, raised as a child in that apartment, taught to run a business in that apartment, and watched her parents grow old and pass the business onto her.
It would have originally gone to her sister, if she hadn't started the second chain near Kelmura all those years ago with her new husband. The business on that end was booming almost as much as it was here.
Sei sighed as she turned the key to her apartment door. ‘Shame the relationship wasn’t as healthy as the business.’ But that was the Higa family, wasn’t it. Wonderful business owners, horrid lovers. And if the parenting skills didn’t revolve around business ethics… well it was why Kahako was ignoring almost all of the letters that came her way in regards to her father, wasn’t it?
Sei tossed her keys on the counter as she removed her shoes at the door. “Where is that girl, anyway?” She asked herself crossing the expanse of the living room. Ever since Kahako moved in, Sei didn't know what to do with the girll. One night, she showed up long past curfew and nearly in tears. She refused to eat for a few days, and Sei had no idea what to do with the girl. ‘I shouldn’t be taking care of this child. It’s not even mine! Why couldn’t she have been just a normal Higa?’ Sei thought while looking at the ceiling.
In all honesty, Sei thought that the shinobi girl was a burden… and bad for business. Civilians in the village were mostly comfortable around shinobi. It was the ones that came travelling through the village, however, saw shinobi as potentially dangerous. Those on the inside saw the men and women who trained. They saw a human being.
The civilians on the outside, however, saw something much worse. When a shinobi was around, it made foreign civilians uncomfortable.
And an uncomfortable customer was a poor tipper. This was why most of the shinobi population didn't really consort with the civilian. That didn’t mean she didn’t serve shinobi at all (they were still customers, unfortunately) but she made sure they were happy enough to still leave a nice tip, and be out of their way as soon as possible. Now that Kahako was one of them? It was a miracle there weren’t more in her shop.
All of this still didn’t answer Sei’s original question, though. Usually if the girl was staying at the hospital late, she would send a missive. Sei distinctly remembered that the girl was off today too. Suddnely, hurried steps could be heard against the stairs outside. “Finally,” Sei said as she sat up from her slouched position. As the door opened, the older woman immediately picked up on Kahako’s distressed state. The girl threw off her shoes and made a beeline for her room. Sei put on her famous Higa smile as if trying to stop her.
“Kahako, I don’t even get a hello? Rude mu-" was all Sei got out before she heard the slam of a door. Sei let the smile fall as she stared at the door. It was proper in a Higa household to greet your superiors when you got home. It was homely to sit in the living room and converse about your day. 'Always practice being a good host.' This was common and taught to all Higas. Sei upheld her parents lessons just as she knew her sister did.
This was the third time the girl ignored the rules of Sei’s household. The older woman sighed and rose from the couch. She made her way to Kahako’s bedroom door and began knocking on it. “Kahako… dear? Did something happen?” Sei was greeted with a very seconds of silence.
“…Tadaima, Sei-obasan,” came a response from the other side.
“Kahako, you know that’s not a proper greeting to your elders,” Sei responded. Really, this girl was frustrating. How Nanako was able to control the girl?
“Please, Sei-obasan,” came an almost broken response, “not now.”
Sei had had enough. She opened the door, and was greeted to a partially dark room. Flicking on the light, Sei’s eyes adjusted and was greeted to… an odd sight to say the least. Kahako was sitting on her bed with arms wrapped around her stomach. The odd part about this picture was the girl’s shirt. Sei (the stickler for detail that she was) distinctly remembered that Kahako’s shirt had been quite loose this morning when she left. Now it was tight, and it barely fit around her chest.
It didn’t take long for Sei to understand that Kahako did something unnatural to herself. She leaned against the door frame, and looked at the girl before her. “How big are they supposed to grow?” she asked as she crossed her arms, dropping her kinder appearance all together. Kahako’s eyes welled up a little with the tears she was fighting.
“I don’t know…” she answered, clearly distressed. Sei sighed.
“I think I have something for you in my closet,” she replied as she pushed herself off of the doorframe and walked across the hall to her own room. Burden the girl may be, Kahako was still a Higa. And to Higas, duty to one’s family was more important than money or business… ‘Unfortunately.’
------------------------------
Kahako watched her aunt leave her room, and she wrapped her arms around herself tighter as she felt another twinge of tingling then pain. To say that Kahako was unspeakably frustrated with Kitsune was an understatement. ‘Why didn’t you TELL me that was concentrated, and I should have taken it in doses? If it was any other medication, it would have been lethal!’ Kahako thought with despair. But it was too late to repair it now. She would just have to bear two days of discomfort and pain as her body adjusted to whatever was happening.
Sei returned with a folded shirt, red cape, and wrappings for Kahako’s chest. “This is some of your mother’s older clothes. It might be too big right now, but it might end up being small too.” Sei looked into Kahako’s eyes. “After all, no one knows what can happen to mutations.”
Kahako looked down at the ground. Feeling the sting of Sei’s comment. “Thank you for the shirt, Sei-obasan,” she said quietly. Kahako knew this game well. And tonight she didn’t want to play it.
“Okay, if you need anything, call for me,” Sei said standing. Kahako simply nodded as her aunt left the room. Once Sei closed the door, Kahako slowly got up and changed her clothes. The black long sleeve shirt was extremely baggy. Kahako changed into it, and promptly curled up on her bed, clutching the cape in her arms.
She desperately wished the clothes smelled even a little like her mother. Memories of another lesson came to Kahako. ‘Remember, Kahako-chan, a woman’s appearance is just as important as the appearance of her business. Once her appearance is messy or ruined the illusion that brings comfort to the client is gone. Never forget about your appearance to others, Kahako-chan.’
“Mama…” Kahako said softly as tears welled up in her eyes once more. Another round of tingly pain continued as she drifted off to an uncomfortable sleep.
-------------------------------------------
</I>
It was early afternoon, and Sei has just gone on break. There had been a bit of a rush in the morning, but overall, nothing had been too bad for the morning staff. Usually customers grabbed food for the road anyway. “I’m going upstairs for a moment to check on Kahako-chan,” she called to one of the girls that worked for her.
For the past two days, Kahako had been holed up in her room. Her niece claimed it was on doctor’s orders, so Sei didn’t question it. Once she reached Kahako’s room she knocked lightly on the door. “Kahako, are you okay in there?” Sei asked.
To her surprise, the door clicked open softly Sei looked down at the bushy hair of her once flat-chested niece. In two days alone, Sei watched Kahako’s chest fill out like a balloon. Now, Sei could tell that Kahako had finally but the wraps around her chest, but still she looked slightly disproportionate. Additionally, Kahako was wearing the red cape that Sei gave her. Just as she suspected, Kahako was insecure about her new shape.
“Look at that bushy hair,” Sei said as she put her hands on her niece’s shoulders, “That’s definitely not going to look good with your new form. And the bottom of that shirt is much too big. Surely there is something we can do about that!”
Sei led Kahako to the bathroom. On the way, she grabbed a waist cincher and a pair of scissors, and went to town on the girl’s hair. While doing so, Sei kept up conversation about what happened in the café downstairs for the past two days. Kahako smiled lightly when appropriate, but beyond that, stayed silent until Sei was finished.
When completed, the older woman put down the scissors and sighed. “You know, Kahako… you looked perfectly fine before you did this to yourself,” Sei began.
“You mean before I became a mutation, Sei-obasan?” Kahako countered shortly. Sei looked in the mirror into the green eyes of the teen before her.
“I mean I don’t like the choices you make to you change yourself.”
“People in our family rarely do agree with my choices, obasan.” Kahako said, moving her eyes from her aunt to her hair and playing with the new hairstyle.
“And with good reason, Kahako. You’re a <I>Higa. Higas aren’t ninja. We never have been, we shouldn’t be. Our skills and our lives are in the world of merchants. Climbing out of your class and into the world of those… people-“
“Thank you for your concern, Sei-obasan, but those people keeps this country safe,” Kahako said as she cut Sei off. She replaced the cloak she took off earlier to allow Sei at her hair. “Anyways, I’m late for work. I’ll see you tonight.” She swiftly turned around and walked out the door, pausing only long enough to put her boots on before making a break for… anywhere. Anywhere she could hide herself from the eyes of her disapproving aunt.
After cleaning up the leftover hair, Sei walked back downstairs and washed her hands. Most of her staff stayed out of her way as she took a bowl of dough from the baker’s hands and started kneading it, frustrated. ‘I’m trying REALLY hard to understand your daughter, Onee, but she’s making it VERY difficult to get along with.’ She thought as she began to almost beat to dough into a pulp.
[Kahako has entered and left the topic, however, Sei is still here.]
[edit: OOC rank- C; run time 3 hours]
[edit 2: picture of npc]
Higa Sei: dNPC
Sei sighed as she wiped the day’s special from the blackboard outside. “Another day, another dollar.” She said to herself nonchalantly as she picked up the contraption and placed it inside the building. The older woman dusted her hands and flipped the ‘open’ sign the other way for the night to ‘closed’. The last of her employees went home for the night, and it was just Sei in the downstairs area.
The first floor of the two story building consisted of the restaurant and kitchen. Sei wasn’t here every day, but most week days she was up before dawn, usually helping the baker make pastries. It wasn’t a big place. Fitting about 30 people on a particularly busy day the tables and chairs were of a surprisingly cute design, giving the overall ‘welcome’ feeling that Sei’s parents cherished when they opened the store so long ago.
Sei smirked as she cut off the lights. Of course, she did some redesigning since they had passed. ‘Welcoming’ didn’t mean you had to live in the dark ages of bad interior decorating. She locked the front door and proceeded to walk out the side one. It led to a wooden staircase that had one door at the top. This was Sei’s home. She was born in that apartment, raised as a child in that apartment, taught to run a business in that apartment, and watched her parents grow old and pass the business onto her.
It would have originally gone to her sister, if she hadn't started the second chain near Kelmura all those years ago with her new husband. The business on that end was booming almost as much as it was here.
Sei sighed as she turned the key to her apartment door. ‘Shame the relationship wasn’t as healthy as the business.’ But that was the Higa family, wasn’t it. Wonderful business owners, horrid lovers. And if the parenting skills didn’t revolve around business ethics… well it was why Kahako was ignoring almost all of the letters that came her way in regards to her father, wasn’t it?
Sei tossed her keys on the counter as she removed her shoes at the door. “Where is that girl, anyway?” She asked herself crossing the expanse of the living room. Ever since Kahako moved in, Sei didn't know what to do with the girll. One night, she showed up long past curfew and nearly in tears. She refused to eat for a few days, and Sei had no idea what to do with the girl. ‘I shouldn’t be taking care of this child. It’s not even mine! Why couldn’t she have been just a normal Higa?’ Sei thought while looking at the ceiling.
In all honesty, Sei thought that the shinobi girl was a burden… and bad for business. Civilians in the village were mostly comfortable around shinobi. It was the ones that came travelling through the village, however, saw shinobi as potentially dangerous. Those on the inside saw the men and women who trained. They saw a human being.
The civilians on the outside, however, saw something much worse. When a shinobi was around, it made foreign civilians uncomfortable.
And an uncomfortable customer was a poor tipper. This was why most of the shinobi population didn't really consort with the civilian. That didn’t mean she didn’t serve shinobi at all (they were still customers, unfortunately) but she made sure they were happy enough to still leave a nice tip, and be out of their way as soon as possible. Now that Kahako was one of them? It was a miracle there weren’t more in her shop.
All of this still didn’t answer Sei’s original question, though. Usually if the girl was staying at the hospital late, she would send a missive. Sei distinctly remembered that the girl was off today too. Suddnely, hurried steps could be heard against the stairs outside. “Finally,” Sei said as she sat up from her slouched position. As the door opened, the older woman immediately picked up on Kahako’s distressed state. The girl threw off her shoes and made a beeline for her room. Sei put on her famous Higa smile as if trying to stop her.
“Kahako, I don’t even get a hello? Rude mu-" was all Sei got out before she heard the slam of a door. Sei let the smile fall as she stared at the door. It was proper in a Higa household to greet your superiors when you got home. It was homely to sit in the living room and converse about your day. 'Always practice being a good host.' This was common and taught to all Higas. Sei upheld her parents lessons just as she knew her sister did.
This was the third time the girl ignored the rules of Sei’s household. The older woman sighed and rose from the couch. She made her way to Kahako’s bedroom door and began knocking on it. “Kahako… dear? Did something happen?” Sei was greeted with a very seconds of silence.
“…Tadaima, Sei-obasan,” came a response from the other side.
“Kahako, you know that’s not a proper greeting to your elders,” Sei responded. Really, this girl was frustrating. How Nanako was able to control the girl?
“Please, Sei-obasan,” came an almost broken response, “not now.”
Sei had had enough. She opened the door, and was greeted to a partially dark room. Flicking on the light, Sei’s eyes adjusted and was greeted to… an odd sight to say the least. Kahako was sitting on her bed with arms wrapped around her stomach. The odd part about this picture was the girl’s shirt. Sei (the stickler for detail that she was) distinctly remembered that Kahako’s shirt had been quite loose this morning when she left. Now it was tight, and it barely fit around her chest.
It didn’t take long for Sei to understand that Kahako did something unnatural to herself. She leaned against the door frame, and looked at the girl before her. “How big are they supposed to grow?” she asked as she crossed her arms, dropping her kinder appearance all together. Kahako’s eyes welled up a little with the tears she was fighting.
“I don’t know…” she answered, clearly distressed. Sei sighed.
“I think I have something for you in my closet,” she replied as she pushed herself off of the doorframe and walked across the hall to her own room. Burden the girl may be, Kahako was still a Higa. And to Higas, duty to one’s family was more important than money or business… ‘Unfortunately.’
------------------------------
Kahako watched her aunt leave her room, and she wrapped her arms around herself tighter as she felt another twinge of tingling then pain. To say that Kahako was unspeakably frustrated with Kitsune was an understatement. ‘Why didn’t you TELL me that was concentrated, and I should have taken it in doses? If it was any other medication, it would have been lethal!’ Kahako thought with despair. But it was too late to repair it now. She would just have to bear two days of discomfort and pain as her body adjusted to whatever was happening.
Sei returned with a folded shirt, red cape, and wrappings for Kahako’s chest. “This is some of your mother’s older clothes. It might be too big right now, but it might end up being small too.” Sei looked into Kahako’s eyes. “After all, no one knows what can happen to mutations.”
Kahako looked down at the ground. Feeling the sting of Sei’s comment. “Thank you for the shirt, Sei-obasan,” she said quietly. Kahako knew this game well. And tonight she didn’t want to play it.
“Okay, if you need anything, call for me,” Sei said standing. Kahako simply nodded as her aunt left the room. Once Sei closed the door, Kahako slowly got up and changed her clothes. The black long sleeve shirt was extremely baggy. Kahako changed into it, and promptly curled up on her bed, clutching the cape in her arms.
She desperately wished the clothes smelled even a little like her mother. Memories of another lesson came to Kahako. ‘Remember, Kahako-chan, a woman’s appearance is just as important as the appearance of her business. Once her appearance is messy or ruined the illusion that brings comfort to the client is gone. Never forget about your appearance to others, Kahako-chan.’
“Mama…” Kahako said softly as tears welled up in her eyes once more. Another round of tingly pain continued as she drifted off to an uncomfortable sleep.
-------------------------------------------
</I>
Two days later…
<i></i>It was early afternoon, and Sei has just gone on break. There had been a bit of a rush in the morning, but overall, nothing had been too bad for the morning staff. Usually customers grabbed food for the road anyway. “I’m going upstairs for a moment to check on Kahako-chan,” she called to one of the girls that worked for her.
For the past two days, Kahako had been holed up in her room. Her niece claimed it was on doctor’s orders, so Sei didn’t question it. Once she reached Kahako’s room she knocked lightly on the door. “Kahako, are you okay in there?” Sei asked.
To her surprise, the door clicked open softly Sei looked down at the bushy hair of her once flat-chested niece. In two days alone, Sei watched Kahako’s chest fill out like a balloon. Now, Sei could tell that Kahako had finally but the wraps around her chest, but still she looked slightly disproportionate. Additionally, Kahako was wearing the red cape that Sei gave her. Just as she suspected, Kahako was insecure about her new shape.
“Look at that bushy hair,” Sei said as she put her hands on her niece’s shoulders, “That’s definitely not going to look good with your new form. And the bottom of that shirt is much too big. Surely there is something we can do about that!”
Sei led Kahako to the bathroom. On the way, she grabbed a waist cincher and a pair of scissors, and went to town on the girl’s hair. While doing so, Sei kept up conversation about what happened in the café downstairs for the past two days. Kahako smiled lightly when appropriate, but beyond that, stayed silent until Sei was finished.
When completed, the older woman put down the scissors and sighed. “You know, Kahako… you looked perfectly fine before you did this to yourself,” Sei began.
“You mean before I became a mutation, Sei-obasan?” Kahako countered shortly. Sei looked in the mirror into the green eyes of the teen before her.
“I mean I don’t like the choices you make to you change yourself.”
“People in our family rarely do agree with my choices, obasan.” Kahako said, moving her eyes from her aunt to her hair and playing with the new hairstyle.
“And with good reason, Kahako. You’re a <I>Higa. Higas aren’t ninja. We never have been, we shouldn’t be. Our skills and our lives are in the world of merchants. Climbing out of your class and into the world of those… people-“
“Thank you for your concern, Sei-obasan, but those people keeps this country safe,” Kahako said as she cut Sei off. She replaced the cloak she took off earlier to allow Sei at her hair. “Anyways, I’m late for work. I’ll see you tonight.” She swiftly turned around and walked out the door, pausing only long enough to put her boots on before making a break for… anywhere. Anywhere she could hide herself from the eyes of her disapproving aunt.
After cleaning up the leftover hair, Sei walked back downstairs and washed her hands. Most of her staff stayed out of her way as she took a bowl of dough from the baker’s hands and started kneading it, frustrated. ‘I’m trying REALLY hard to understand your daughter, Onee, but she’s making it VERY difficult to get along with.’ She thought as she began to almost beat to dough into a pulp.
[Kahako has entered and left the topic, however, Sei is still here.]
[edit: OOC rank- C; run time 3 hours]
[edit 2: picture of npc]
