Open The Festival of Falling Leaves!

The sun shone through the frontmost window of the modest home belonging to the Miyazaki family, revealing tiny particles of dust that danced lazily through the air and beaming itself directly into Hikaru’s face. She opened her eyes, blocking the bright light with one hand. The room was still, except for the dust, until she heard a noise from outside and jolted her body into a sitting position. Her father called to her from the other room, confirming what her morning-fog brain had been piecing together: today was the day of the Festival of Falling Leaves! Every year, families of the village had set up stands for a day of local trading and commerce to celebrate the coming of Autumn. The Festival had been one of the many Konohagakure traditions that faded slowly over time, until it was brought back by a friend of Hikaru’s grandparents. It had been held every year since, passed down to her father Kaito and several other families and treated as a local party of sorts.


Once she had woken up completely and hastily dressed, Hikaru found her father gathering supplies for the family’s food stand. As she walked into the room, he mumbled cheerfully around a mouthful of breakfast, “Hey, sleepyhead! We’re all ready to head over to the restaurant; just grab that box,” he motioned to a container full of Festival lanterns resting on the table, “and let’s get going.” She took the box, stuffing a few pieces of fruit into her bag to eat on the way, and followed her father out the door. The bright sunlight shone again from a cloudy but blue sky- excellent festival weather, provided no rain came. All around, families were setting up festival stands with every commodity imaginable- sweets, colored masks, handcrafted charms, even stacks of books (which drew her father’s attention as well as hers).

After they had arrived at the Miyazaki’s Restaurant, owned and operated by her grandparents and their hired help, Kaito had joined his own father preparing food in the kitchen and left his daughter to wander the stands for a while. Shortly after leaving the restaurant, Hikaru found a close friend of her father’s whose stand sold books and journals from other nations, among other rare collectibles. She said hi to the woman behind the stand, who replied, “Hello, young Miyazaki! My family and I are going to stop by the restaurant soon to say hi to your father and his parents. I wouldn’t suppose anyone from the Amari clan will make it…?” The Amari, her late mother’s family, had rarely shown their faces outside of their clan house lately, and Hikaru doubted they would even know the festival was going on. She was personally a little desperate to talk to them about her mother, but they hadn’t wanted anything to do with Kaito after she died. “No, sorry- they haven’t been to a festival in many years. I’d be glad to meet you at the restaurant, though!” She smiled at the woman, bought a short children’s book from the Earth country, and left the stand to enjoy more of the festival.

[MFT]

There quickest way into Asuka's heart was through her stomach. Food was one of the few things she actively enjoyed, that and tea. She had a couple of meetings today which, considering who they were, she wasn't looking for at all. Just boring stuff that came with the job. That is until she relized something. Gravity was objectively debatable to shinobi. Opening one of her windows she silently climbed out, this would certainly piss off her assistant and promptly get reprimanded by Takeshi but the festival would make all of that worth it.

Making her way to Maple town Asuka started to move through the stands, buying the sweets, checking the merchandise, it was always very nice to see what Konohagakure would come up with. Besides, the deal's on Kimonos where to die for. Asuka, as she did at every festival, bought food from each stand she could see. From squid to cake, from munchies to dangos. Asuka looked as if she was buying merchandise for a store having bags upon bags of stuff, food on her mouth and one of her hands. This girl clearly enjoyed the stuff.

She took a left turn to go into an alleyway coming out into an adjacent street, still within the festival she moved forward mumbling a happy tune. Unfortunately, she started getting a bit bored. She used to do this with her companion but unfortunately that no longer could be the case, she had been feeling a bit alone which is one of the reasons she didn't come to one of this places without a bunch of plans, storage scrolls for days having an assortment of different tools that aided her every day life. Unfortunately she had her hands full at the moment. Looking around for help she set her eyes on one of her students, jeez... this is gonna be embarassing.

She sighed walking forward, tapping Hikaru on the shoulder. "Hi pipsqueak." She said waving awkwardly with a short laugh due to her full hands. "I hate asking this... would you mind helping me carry some of this stuff? Just need it taken to the closest alleyway away from the festival, promise I'll buy you a snack once we're done." She smiled hoping she wasn't being a nuisance.

[Topic entered as NPC Santaru Nibachi]

The man was loving it. He didn't know why but there was just something about festivals that jsut attracted him. Though, people seemed to be giving him wary looks here and there though that was probably due to the massive spear he was carrying as well. Nibachi cared not in the slightest, there was a festival and there was food. Where there was food, there was Nibachi. He tried a few delicacies and was surprised at the result, he wondered why they didn't have this sort of thing more often. He had tried to convince Soku to tag along but she had mentioned something about chewing the heck out of some poor recruit and he had decided not to stay to witness that particular scene. She was not particulary very approachable when she was mad, he only prayed whatever grievance this poor recruit had commited, it was not too big for his sake.

Suddenly, a very entertaining sight caught his eyes as he stopped leaning on his spear to watch. Was that the Main Branch Sennin, that woman who had somehow in her infinite wisedom dubbed him with the honorary title of 'butler' He still hadn't forgiven her for that and this seemed like the perfect oppturnity to heckle her a bit. Just for entertainment purposes and no Soku around to tell him otherwise. Smirking, he walked up noting the tower of stuff ocuupying her arms yawning loudly as he leant on his spear again watching with amusement as she attempted to ask a patron for assistance. "Don't you usually have underlings for this sort of stuff, woman? I'd think being a Sennin comes wtih certain..perks."

He couldn't blame her though. The product here was absolutely addicting. Still, if he could get a rise out of her, he would consider his misson complete. "Just be careful you don't drop anything. That would be a...shame if I do say so myself. Imagine trying to pick everything up. Tsk, tsk." He nodded his head. His inside voice was roaring at him to be quiet, that this was a terrible mistake and he was going to regret this. However, common sense was not a factor that appealed to Nibachi. At least not when it meant humoring himself at the expense of others.

[Topic entered as NPC Santaru Nibachi]

It had been almost a year since Ronin had walked the streets of the village and even so, not much had changed. The streets were still lively as ever— even more so due to the festival taking place. Under the surface, Ronin was a sucker for these types of things, he enjoyed people just living peaceful lives and being happy and a day like today really made things like that easier to see. Ronin couldn’t help but smile as he walked through the crowds of people.

There were various different stands around— food stands, book stands, mask stands, stands that sold fish as pets, stands that sold fish as food, the selection was endless. That along with various different games to play made it more than ideal for a place to spend with family and friends. Coming across a stand that sold swords, Ronin would stop to take a look at the weapons. ”See anything you like?”, a voice from behind the stand spoke. Looking up, Ronin saw an older man who clearly looked like a blacksmith of sorts. ”Uh, no. Thank you. I’m just an admirer.” Ronin replied, picking up one of the swords and examining it a bit closer. ”You make all of these yourself?” He asked. The old man nodded. ”Yes, that there is my handiwork as well as everything else you see.”, the old man replied. “Well I think it’s fine craftsmanship, one that can only be achieved through years of dedication and experience.” Ronin said as he put the sword down. ”But not good enough for you to buy?” the man said jokingly. “Well, I would, but I’m a fellow craftsman, so I make my own weapons.” Ronin said with a wink. Ah, I see. Well it’s nice to receive praise from a fellow craftsman.”

Ronin smiled and waved farewell to the stranger. As he turned, he caught a glimpse of a familiar white haired ninja that would probably be extremely upset to find out that Ronin has been in the village this long without telling her. He immediately started to make his way toward her, but the crowds of people made it a challenge to catch up. He saw her go into an alley, which was weird. After a bit of shoving and being shoved, Ronin made his way to and through the alley. Looking around, he would spot her talking to two people he didn’t really know. Ronin walked up behind Asuka and put his hand on her shoulder. ”Hello there.”, he said in a British accent for no reason whatsoever.

[MFT: 426]

Hikaru wove through the thin but lively crowds of the festival, stopping every once in a while to admire a piece of artwork or sample an inviting smell. She was glad the festival had been growing in popularity- it made a certain well-ordered side of her pleased to see that an event her family had helped to revive was so good for local business. A brightly-colored snack stand nestled in an alleyway caught her attention, and she mulled in front of it for a while, entertaining the notion of lunch.

As the girl thought, not particularly deeply, about her dining preferences for the afternoon, a tap came from behind her and she turned around. A familiar face stood in front of her, balancing an extraordinary quantity of stuff from all over the festival. Hikaru addressed her unsurely- though they had been acquainted for a little while now, she still couldn’t decide how formally to talk to the Sennin. “Oh, hello, Director… Asuka?” She spoke slowly, but returned Asuka’s laugh, which put her more at ease. “Of course, I wouldn’t mind helping for a little bit! As long as you don’t forget that snack.” She grinned, and settled her own bag back over her shoulders to better free up her arms.

As she was ready to start helping Asuka, however, a man nearby aimed a snide remark directly at the kunoichi, drawing Hikaru’s attention for a moment. Though she wouldn’t have said anything back normally- the Sennin of the Main Branch certainly didn’t need an Academy student stepping up to defend her- the man happened to be carrying a large spear that particularly discouraged the replies of those without blade or boldness of their own. At the same time, a fourth figure approached from behind the Sennin, one who Hikaru had noticed a few minutes earlier in the crowd. He greeted her with a strange accent. Very suddenly, two people had singled Asuka out of the crowd and come to talk to her, neither, the student had a feeling, with perfect intentions. She stayed silent, standing near the woman and observing whatever went down.

[MFT]

Asuka frowned as soon as she heard the voice from behind. Of course. It had to be spear guy, it hadn't been that long since she had seen the guy and she was glad. Unfortunately she had to bump into someone who she didn't like... at all. With a sigh she slightly turned her head. "Unlike you rich pricks we don't waste money on dumb things like that." She said shifting her weight. "Yet you keep making noises without being of any use. Surprising Soku keeps your annoying ass around." Shaking her head Asuka decided to just ignore the bastard until he decided to make himself useful, thankfully he wasn't part of the Leaf Shinobi force otherwise she would punish him to oblivion.

"Director?" Asuka giggled shaking her head at her student. "Asuka is just fine, there's really no need to be so formal with me y'know. I'm just another citizen." Asuka gave Hikaru a warm smile before giving her a few packages. "So! Where can we take these babies? For safekeeping?"

Asuka then felt an arm on her shoulder, thanks to the lightened load she could finally turn her head. "Oh would you look at that, someone else who ain't gonna help a poor old woman. Shame on you two." Asuka pouted. "Right Hikaru?"

"Ok, that's just hurtful, I do have my uses and that is whacking anyone who so much as breathes in Soku-samas direction without her approval." Well, that was a bit unrealisitc but the message got across clear enough. Ever since he had stepped foot in this village, he had been tasked with the protection of the clan leader and it was a role he prided himself on that he carried out and if the situation called for it, his spear could send a very powerful warning sign to any troublemakers, something they had seen quite a fair bit of recently. "And it's not a question of wealth, ever heard of the concept of working smarter, not harder? Surely a Sennin would be capable of possessing such skills, I would hope." The grin was tugging at his features and Nibachi knew he was walking a very thin line. He was probably about 5 seconds away from being melted into whatever Asuka desired him to be and that was the beauty of it all. The fact that he could push her buttons yet at the same time know when enough is enough. However, in the spearmans case, enough had not been reached yet.

He raised an eyebrow at her next comment. Was she trying to guilt-trip him into aiding?"You don't look that advanced in age to me, Asuka-sama unless there's something I'm missing here." He had barely registered the arrival of the other individual though the foreign accent caused his head to swivel, his eyes looking him up and down with a sort of curiousity before returning to his misson of pestering the Main Branch Sennin which had a potential of ending very badly for him but the chewing out by Soku would be worth it, that is if he got one. She would probably just laught at the entire ordeal. To Nibachi, it seemed Asuka had brought this ordeal upon herself by miscalcuating how much of the alluring produce she could lug, admiring the effort was but it seemed her current predicament was causing Nibachi more entertainment than it was worry.

"You didn't think of bringing like a..bag or something. Could solve a lot of your problems at once if you ask me." He stopped just shy of offering to carry some of whatever the heck the woman had brought from the various stands. He wouldn't be caught dead doing such a thing, that's why she had those underlings which he supposed was what the girl was standing next to her. A student or young genin by the looks of her, probably not a great first impression the man was giving off but that was the least of his concerns at the moment. Truth be told, he had no concerns other than perhaps the risk Asuka might burn him to a crisp if he continued jabbering. Then again, if she did that, Soku would go off and that was enough for Nibachi to assume that he was perfectly safe and in a very advantgeous position as he saw it.

"Which just means being a pain in the ass." Asuka responded with a sigh as she gave some of the stuff to Hikaru. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to reward you well enough in the coming moments." Placing the stuff on the ground she conveyed a few scrolls from her sleeve and laid them on the ground. Opening them up, to those familiar with the sealing arts they would know they were storage scrolls. "And have you ever heard of patience? Otherwise things might get lost in translation and cause a conflict. Like you let happen not so long ago in your own estate, even the ass kicking part of the job is a facade." She responded shaking her head, Asuka then turned to Hikaru and simply smiled.

"So! What would you like?" Asuka asked with a bright smile on her face as she started sealing the stuff inside the scroll. "The whole festival is open for you."

[Now it's a short post, apologies]

Hikaru watched, feeling rather small and out-of-place, as the adults traded jabs. She was glad to hold some of the parcels for a moment, just to sort of have something to do. She also couldn’t hold back a smile when Asuka called herself a ‘poor old woman’- the Sennin was neither poor nor old, yet the joke had made fun of the age difference that made it weird for Hikaru to witness these two arguing. It lightened her mood considerably, and her smile stuck around as she handed the items to Asuka for her to seal inside the scrolls.

“Well… I was going to return to my family’s restaurant and stay there to help out for the rest of the day. If it’d be alright for a request, would you like to get something else to eat there? My grandparents definitely wouldn’t mind the business.” She grinned back, then addressed the spear man as an afterthought: “Oh, you’re welcome to stop by too, if you’d like to continue your… conversation… or not, it’s up to you.”

Hinata was wandering Maple town, Stumbling abit but catching himself. His Eyes were itchy somehow, the back of his head somehow hurt when he didn't sustain any damage himself, Yet he didnt know why his head was hurting so much, His vision blurring occasionally. Bumping into others occassionally, soon spottiing some he knew and some he had met before but never introduced. He stumbled over as he feel to the side next to them, Rubbing and holding his eye sockets. Something was wrong with him. Curled up as he looked upset, blood trickling through his fingers, it would appear something to be wrong as of late he was facing a rather troubling crossroads, Struggling to decide who he is, and What he would eventually Become. Would he become a True Hearted Uchiha, An Avenger, or Will he follow true to his deceased adopted parents who took care of him till the tradegy.

"I'm still alive and kicking so I'd say I'm doing something right." He responded grinning. Sure, the estate assualt had been something they had not seen coming and sure, perhaps he had been a bit too lax on the guard that day, something Soku had berated him over and over for the recent days. However, they were still here and Nibachi considered that an achievement even if it had to be the Main Branch Sennin who had to come and save them. That was one fact he didn't like to admit much to his chagrin. He raised an eyebrow at the young girl's invitation. Truth be told, it was tempting but given the fact him and Asuka were like two sides of the same coin, he didn't see that going well at all. "I'll pass, kid. Wouldn't want to turn the place into a warzone if you catch my drift. Thanks for the offer though. A bump to his side caused to him cast an annoyed look at the interloper.

"Hey! Watch where you're- what on earth?" He looked down at the kid who had attempted to brush past him his eyes visibiy noting the bleeding that was present on his hands. Perfect. "Anyone got a band-aid?" It didn't seem too serious and as long as he didn't have a hole in his chest or something, Nibachi reckoned he didn't have anything to worry about. Kid probably just tripped somewhere. "I know you have a band-aid, Sennin." He resisted the urge to press that joke any further, he was just slightly perturbed this newcomer had interuppted his fun. Well, he had his fair share of entertainment for today. For now.

Asuka kept smiling. "I would much like that." She smiled at Hikaru as she finally stored the storage scrolls on her perspective sleeves. It wouldn't be long before they needed to depart back to the festival. She did indeed want to kick the spear dude right in where it hurt and just leave him there to suffer for long periods of time. Unfortunately her sister would probably have a field day with her if she did that, and spear dude knew that... too well. She really hated her guts. "Although I would very much like to have a conversation with my student rather than the dude right here." Asuka gave a giggle as she continued to speak.

Then fate had to interrupt her, seriously... in the past couple of months she hasn't been able to find some sort of semblance of peace around her. She needed to start pranking again, then maybe people would actually leave her alone. That being said Hinata, probably one of if not the most troublesome student she had at the moment, walked in. Asuka sighed, scratching the back of her head. She produced a scroll from her sleeve and placed the seal on Hinata's forehead pumbing Chakra into it. This would at least make him stable at the moment. The other scroll she produced gave away bandages. Showing them to Nibachi she simply smiled. "I got bandages." She smiled "You know, do me a solid. Would be very nice of you if you took the kid to the Hospital to get checked. Gotta have a talk with ma student here about a few things." She gave him a big smile.

Hikaru nodded in response to the man’s revocation- though she couldn’t help but be a little curious as to who he was, since he seemed to know at least two of her tutors, she silently agreed that he and Asuka probably wouldn’t get along over food, either.

Suddenly, a boy about her age stumbled into the man, his hands covered with what looked very concerningly like his own blood. She recognized him as Hinata quickly afterwards, and exclaimed, “Hey, what happened?!? Are you alright?” The Sennin acted quickly, placing a seal on the student’s forehead and summoning clumps of bandages out of another scroll. That hopefully seemed to stabilize him. As Asuka told the spearman to take Hinata to the hospital, Hikaru quickly added, “I hope they can help! If you get out in time to still enjoy the festival, come find us.” She thanked the man with the spear, then left the alleyway with the Sennin on the way to her family’s restaurant. “So, what did you want to talk about?”