| [Oct. 18th, 2015|11:39 pm] |
“I’m familiar,” Kakashi said, dust-dry.
Katsuko dug her elbow into his side with the special attention of someone who was slightly embarrassed about everything she’d just shared. In a village that put a lot of stock in bloodlines and family histories, that wasn’t an unfounded concern.
Given his own family’s lapses, Kakashi wasn’t inclined to pass judgement.
He pushed the door open, making a bell jangle. The shop looked the same as he remembered — wooden floors, velvet darkness, weapons displayed neatly on the walls, the living quarters tucked privately away upstairs. A forge glowed in the back room.
It had been five years since Kakashi had crossed the threshold with a new eye and a broken blade. Kanashige-sensei hadn’t blinked at the barely used jounin vest, or the short teenager in it. He’d only cared about the tanto.
His portrait hung on the back wall, now, draped with a red ribbon. Standing beneath it, a tall, grey-haired woman had to be his sister. She bowed respectfully to them.
“Ueno-san, welcome,” she said, softly gracious. “Are you here to see my daughter?”
“Yes, Yoko-sensei,” Katsuko said, bowing in return. “I need my kodachi reforged, and Hatake-san needs a new sheath for his tanto. I hope Megumi-sensei is free.”
Kokobushi Yoko — her full name was stamped on many of the beautiful hilts — didn’t bat an eye at Kakashi’s name, or more tellingly, his hair. She simply bowed again and said, “I recall that tanto. I’m sure Megumi would be pleased to work on it. And on your kodachi, Ueno-san. If you will both wait here, I’ll fetch her.”
In the silence that followed Yoko’s exit, Katsuko stood quietly at her ease in the heartland of bladed weapons. Kakashi waited for commentary. When it didn’t arrive, he drifted away to examine a seven-pointed throwing star. A talented hand had carved poison channels into the steel.
Several minutes passed unacknowledged. Katsuko took out a pen and a battered book, and began to sketch designs from the hanging sword sheaths. She let Kakashi sneak a glance — or at least didn’t take his face off when he leaned over her shoulder to look — and he was surprised to find she was quite talented. There was a delicacy in the lines he wouldn’t have associated with Katsuko.
Footsteps scuffed on wood. Katsuko snapped her book closed and put it away. Kakashi straightened up. |
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