It's Only the Beginning (P)

Sitting on the wooden porch to her family's home is where the young Nara had spent most of her day. Her bare feet swung back and forth, as her head stayed leaned against a pole supporting the roof. The small girl had been sitting in the same position, in the same spot, and staring at the same white flowers for hours. The house had been quiet, since it was quite early in the day. Shikai had heard her mother roaming the area earlier only for it to grow quiet once more. After a while, she would hear running water and dishes being done. Soon after, she would hear a door creak open and slam causing her eyes to brighten up. Quickly turning around and standing up, the black haired girl would push through doors to the kitchen. "Welcome Home, Father!" Her soft but excited voice would reach the ears of the man, "Thank You, Shikai. I'm glad to be home." The two would share a heartfelt hug, which would finally make the young Nara smile.

However, they would soon be distracted by the sound of a disappointed sigh. "What's wrong, Mother?" Shikai would speak with concern in her voice as she stared at the brunette. "Well, it seems that I forgot the vegetables for our meal tonight." Before a word could escape Shikai's mouth, her father would speak, "It's alright. I can go-" "Father please, let me do it!" Blue eyes would stare at the tall man with the most pleading of looks. "I'll go with you," his voice seemed confident but his face showed a look of worry. "Please let me go alone! It's just a trip to the shop. I can do it. It'll be easy. I'll be alright. I'll have to do things on my own some day," Blue eyes wouldn't lose their pleading look, as the child seemed to bounce with excitement. The two adults would stare at to one another, which the girl's father would soon break. "Alright. You can go but listen well. Your mission is to go receive every item on the list your mother will have written up. If you succeed, we will give you more freedom, although still in a small amount. If you fail, you will be confined to remaining by our sides for just a little while longer." With a quick gasp, the young girl would quickly take herself to her room.

The young Nara would remove her robes before slipping a black, ruffled dress over her head. She would fluff out her ruffles before grabbing her black sandals. The child had already washed up and fixed up her hair earlier that morning, since those were but the few freedoms she had. It was safe to say that Shikai had been living in her parents worlds all her life. With shoes in hand, Shikai would enter the kitchen before quickly saluting her parents, "Ready to go, Father!" The man would straighten up before clearing his throat, "You know your mission. You are dismissed." The young girl would drop her hand and giggle before waltzing over to her mother, where she would be given the list of vegetables. Soon enough, She would be waltzing out of the room with the words, "Be careful, Darling!" following behind her.

As the Nara girl began to place her sandals on her feet, two voices would be heard from the kitchen, "Why would you let her go alone! You know how fragile she is. She can't do this alone!" "Mizuna, Do you think I'd send her straight into harms way? She needs to learn of her limits somehow. I know she can do this but that's about all she can do. Let her feel pride in herself before she realizes she can't do everything she wants." Hearing the conversation would cause the child to stare at the list in her hands before slowly standing. She would open the door quickly and quietly. Then, it would close the exact same way. She would begin her journey to the shops. She would walk quite a ways then thinking the words, "I'll show them," before tripping and falling flat on the dirt.

Once again he's sneaked into the market place. Granpa Anzai was busy scolding Aonin, his golden twin brother, for his pitiful display at their training. The two had been assigned to catching the leaves that Anzai dropped. A little over two hundred thousands leaves were dropped within the series of an hour and Sanjo had done more than hold his own. In the end he'd counted exactly one hundred and eighteen thousand, three hundred and forty two leaves for himself, leaving Aonin with a much load that was inferior to his own. While his exact punishment was unclear to Sanjo, he did see his grandfather removing the balance spike in which he frequently used for negative reinforcement. The lesser of the two would always be forced to balance on their palm with the spike digging into it. Unfortunately the pointy pillar wasn't large enough to hold two hands and so the punished would be forced to balance on it with only one arm. Normally this kind of punishment would be detrimental to the development of young bones under any circumstance as rigorous as this; however, the twins were very much used to it at this point and have braved tougher wraiths from Anzai in the past at much younger ages. This was far from the first time they'd caused trouble and there would never be a last time. At this point, they were only adjusted to the brutal situations the old man put them in. This is the reason Sanjo felt no remorse for Aonin. He knew his slightly babied brother could handle it. Maybe even better than himself. Aonin was the golden twin after all. "Anything silver can do, gold can do better." Or at least thats what Ao and Granpa Anzai always tried to tell him. But what they always fail to realize is that silver shines just as bright.

With an absent mind and a click clack on the ground, the pair of sandals whimsically marched across the paved walk along the way to the marketplace. Sanjo found it hard not to focus on the clearly audible taps that his shoes were giving off. He'd need to buy a new pair in the market, but unfortunately he had no money. It wasn't too big of a deal but it was on the list of things to get done soon. The purpose for his direction in fact wasn't to buy shoes. It was only to roam, against the wishes of his beloved grandfather of course. He'd been to the marketplace many times against the geezers requests and frankly he didn't think Grandpa Anzai needed to know the business of his affairs at all times. Breaking the rules was part of life and he quite enjoyed spending the time around others. While generally not one to interact with them too much, he did enjoy the staring. He always made sure never to stare too hard as someone might catch him in a glare. In the off chance something of the sort happened, he simply smile at them and turn in another direction with a racing heart. Today he would make sure nothing of the sort happened.

[528]

After laying on the ground for just a moment, Shikai would cough and lift her head having realized she got dirt in her mouth. Although rather disgusted by such a thing, the young girl would begin to spit trying to clear her mouth of the filth. After a few seconds of doing that, the young Nara would slowly stand before taking a few slow, deep breaths, while she dusted her dress off. Falling to some may not be so difficult, however it was very taxing on this poor jewel. Soon, the child would be standing and ready to go again. She would still have her list grasped in her hand. "Let's try this again," the young, black haired child would say with a sigh.

After a while longer of walking, Shikai would make it to the shops. Blue eyes would scan the area and it would finally begin to sink in just how many people actually visited such a place. Her mind would begin to surf through multiple "what if" scenarios that could only end up with horrible outcomes. Her eyes seemed to dart to adults that she had never seen before and children she knew. Many of them would know her from her first year in the academy, which started and ended just as bad. That year she had been the only one to fail. The others would know her face from her second year in the academy but they had never gotten to know her. Shikai could feel her heart slowly begin to speed up causing her to take a step back, literally. She would close her eyes and take a few deep breaths just to calm herself before opening them again. At this point, she had decided not to look anyone in the face. If she didn't know who they were, then maybe she wouldn't feel so scared.

Shikai would look at the first item on her list before wandering through the maze of bodies. Her only thought as she looked around would be, "Corn. Corn. Corn." However with her mind completely focused on one object, she wouldn't notice the multiple children running through. Ultimately, they would cause her to spin around in circles, stumble, and fall flat on her rear. With multiple eyes staring at her, the young Nara would hang her head, 'You're such a klutz. Don't worry just get up.' After a moment of convincing herself, Shikai would stand and dust herself off again. The child would sigh before mumbling to herself, "You can do it." Once again, she was wandering cluelessly.

The dust kicked from the ground and settled into the air before shortly being inhaled into the lungs of the oldest Oda twin. The ground's matter didn't mix well with the oxygen in his throat and he sporadically began to cough, attempting to kick the aerial dirt back onto the ground from within his insides. The cloud of brown smoke eventually settled to reveal a girl who'd fallen without focus. She mumbled under her breath and as Sanjo attempted to exhume the rest of the filth from his body he focused on his surroundings in attempts to find out what caused the girl to fall. Everything around him seemed normal and she was beginning to rise again, but something was muttered under her breath that he couldn't quite make out. It was too quiet to hear and the dust in his eyes prevented him from reading her lips. He hand't been prepared for her sudden lapse. He'd look around to see all eyes focused on him to to either the fall or the frantic coughing fit he had. Either way, his daily goal had been destroyed with no hopes of retrieval as he'd been spotted by many people at once. The word would almost definitely get back to Anzai and so he'd have to face the very punishment that Aonin was going through as he though about it. Surely he'd be strung up for days on end after the old man found out what he did. It was best he make today a good one to hold him over for the next fortnight of endless agony. He'd have to find some reason to keep on living the day and make it stretch as long as possible.

The girl seemed almost as bewildered as he, likely stunned from her last fall. With that being said, she seemed to be moving on rather well with an obvious task on her mind. It was hard to make out her age, but she looked like a teenager. There have however; been many times where Sanjo assumed the age of one and they turned out to be either much older or younger. Perhaps she was younger than he. The clumsiness would make more sense if it came from a child rather than a young adult. He would have to do some investigating to find out, but there was a lack of anything better to do. His first step would be an approach. Before she managed to walk away in search of whatever it was that she was looking for, he would slide in front of her and let out an obvious greeting. He was miles from reclusive and this is where he would have to show it. "Hello!" The word rapidly shot from his mouth and his brow dropped, realizing what he'd just done was moderately aggressive and might only startle the girl more than she'd already been.

[483]

Blue eyes would be staring upon the dirt that she had just risen from. Her body was ready to move into a walk once again. Her mind was still jumbled but was just beginning to calm down. Then, someone stepped straight in front of her and spoke a greeting. The young girl would stare at the other's feet before slowly looking up and locking eyes with the one in front of her. Blue eyes would stare blankly as her body stood frozen. It was one thing that this person seemed to be around her age, which possibly meant he knew her. However, it was a boy, which was ten times worse for Shikai. What was she supposed to say? What was she supposed to do? Was he here to pick her apart? Was he going to make fun of her in front of everyone? Had he just seen her fall? How could he not have seen it? Everyone else sure did see it. Why did he have to be taller than her? Everything about the boy just seemed to make the girl more and more nervous.

Shikai would stare at the boy for a long while. She would go over every single thought and doubt in her mind. She almost wanted to walk away and ignore him, however her parents had taught her better. Instead, the young Nara would take a deep breath before looking away and playing with the ruffles on her dress. "I.. uhm.. H-Hi," her voice was soft but sweet. One could tell that she was nervous simply by how her stutters and how shaky her voice sounded when she did speak. Now, she would wait. She would stare at things around him but she couldn't look directly at him anymore. The young girl could feel it coming. She could feel the embarrassment, the sadness, and the harsh words he was going to speak. Shikai was ready to take it all. She always did.