| [Aug. 29th, 2017|03:40 am] |
Ryouma henge'd himself quickly, before she could advise anything for him. With no idea what template the others were using for their new faces, he fell back on the familiar, not so many years removed: his own lanky body at thirteen, shorter and skinnier, awkward enough to mask any betraying ninja grace. His yukata, he realized with dismay, looked exactly the same as Genma's.
Kakashi studied their new faces, stepped off his rock, and transformed with a cool ripple of chakra. He'd chosen a short, slender teenage girl, with Raidou's rusty hair color and a striking blend of Kurenai and Genma's refined features. He was dressed for farm-work in a wrapped shirt over short cotton pants, and his voice was high and light. "Why are you traveling in your festival clothes?"
Everyone else was probably wasn't a good excuse. Ryouma looked, instinctively, at Genma.
Who was rolling his eyes at himself, and shaping a new henge: the same handsome older man in sturdy homespun, a dull grey yukata with the hem tucked up into his obi, over pants close-wrapped below the knee. Raidou followed suit into a printed cotton kimono with a more comfortable-looking obi. Kurenai produced a fan from her sleeve and snapped it open, and her kimono was softly striped in cream and grey.
Ryouma was starting to get dizzy. He tried mimicking Kakashi this time, and ended up with pants that didn't quite cover his knees and sleeves that didn't meet his wrists. That was true enough to his memory of childhood, though; he let it go.
Kurenai tapped her fan against her breast. "Kaede." She pointed at Genma.
"Gendou." He shrugged.
Raidou decided on "Rie." Kakashi said merely, "Ka-chan."
Ryouma stared at him. "Ka-chan? You look older than me."
"Nee-san to you, brat," Kakashi said, unperturbed.
"Children," Kurenai said, in a voice that promised her patience was not unlimited.
"Ryuu." It was all he could think of, and at least he'd recognize it. Genma and Raidou both glanced sharply at him, but neither of them spoke.
"Very well." Kurenai's fan moved again. Her voice was low, faintly graveled, as if by years and smoking. "Gendou is a rice farmer, well-enough off, settled at Shinotsu village. His daughter's heard of the fire festival at Hiraizumi and begged to go…"
She spun up the story around them, histories, occupations, personalities: Ka-chan the treasured eldest daughter, a little spoiled, flighty and prone to questions; Ryuu younger and less certain of his place in the world, short-tempered, open to the wrong sorts of company…
"Are we on an intel-gathering mission here??" Ryouma asked.
Kurenai snapped her fan shut. "We're less than a day from Tanigawa. Of course we are. You may not pick up anything, but I expect you to be listening for it."
Genma nodded firm agreement. He added, "Oppressed teenage boy should be carrying the luggage, which we ought to have if we're changing to festival clothes. Maybe one of the packs?"
Sullen wasn't a very hard mood to fake, it turned out. |
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