Konoha's Blind Dragon (Under Revision/ Rewrite)

Chapter 8. Haircut

"Tell me again why you want a haircut?" Uncle asked.

If he was trying to hide his amused tone, he should have tried harder.

"Because my hair is troublesome to wash and I want to cut it."

My palms were sweaty. My cheeks burning. My heartbeats ragged and my breaths short and irregular. Uncle, on the other hand, remained calm. He leisurely brought his chopsticks to his mouth and ate his last piece of the steamed fish I had prepared ourselves for dinner. Is he eating slowly on purpose? He picked up his bowl and drank the soup. I listened to his glugs intently. Is he finished?

"And you have to do it before our dinner at Fugaku's?"

He hadn't bothered to hide his amusement. I was experiencing difficulties with breathing normally. I was a poor liar and we both knew it. When I realized that I was unable to say something, I simply nodded like a madwoman.

"Well I have been trying to convince you for two years to no avail, that this," Uncle waved his hands at me.

"Is impossible to decline."

"Is that a yes?" I asked.

Uncle grunted in agreement. I clapped my hands together in my lap and smiled.

"Thank you!"

***

Uncle refused to stop laughing. His whole body shook from his chuckling and giggling.

"Stop giggling, Uncle. Only girls do that!" I muttered.

"EH?!" He squeaked, trying to imitate a female teenager, and then he roared in laughter.

I could feel my mouth get dragged down by my cheeks and the hunching of my back. Meanie! Uncle started to calm down from his amusement. He exhaled slowly several times before he cleared his throat and straightened himself up.

"Your hair looks lovely, Misayo." He said.

He was sincere. He reached out his hand to touch my hair. I had asked a worker in the factory to cut my hair. She had agreed as she was very fond of Uncle and me, and did not charge anything for the haircut. She trimmed my bangs so that they were brushing my eyebrows and cut the remaining hair straight. My hair now reached to my shoulders and I kept flinching whenever it would brush my throat and collarbone. I decided to tie my hair up in a short ponytail.

"You're the spitting image of Akemi." Uncle said.

His voice was calm, but he meant what he had said. Michi and Akemi Sato. Jonins of the Hidden Leaf. My parents. I looked like my mother. I smiled. It was the greatest compliment somebody could have given me. Whenever her name was mentioned people would recall her as a dedicated kunoichi. Uncle rustled through his sleeves and handed me a small box, spiking my curiousity.

"Now don't shake it or smell it, that's cheating!"

I smiled. I took the box from his hand and opened it slowly. It was a thin metal chain. I stroked it gently. Silver. I gasped. Could Uncle afford this?

"Keep going." He said.

I continued to stroke the chain until I reached the amulet. A thin, circular, silver plate. I stopped stroking the amulet.

"It's mother's."

"She wanted you to have it." Uncle said.

I took the necklace out of the box handling it with utmost care. It was light, delicate.

"I'll put it on for you." Uncle said.

I suppose I must have looked quite puzzled, because he replied.

"Every single woman in your mother's family wears it on their birthday. Akemi started wearing hers when she was twelve, but you...I think you should wear it for today's occasion."

Uncle took the necklace from my hand and clasped it at my neck. Then he adjusted the amulet so that it was showing in between the yukata's collar.

"There we go." Uncle said.

He started fidgeting with his sleeves.

"I know I am a bit early, but...Happy birthday, Misayo."

"Thank you." I replied.

***

Our walk to Fugaku's house was longer than expected. It wasn't raining today, but the air was chilly. Uncle took long, slow steps towards the household, while I took short, fast steps. Our gait was far from synchronized, but we still kept up with each other. Still, there was something that was bothering me. Nagging at my curiosity.

"Uncle?"

He grunted, my cue to continue.

"What was so funny about my haircut?"

"Hmm...The haircut was beautiful, Misayo. It was the timing that amused me."

"The timing?"s

"It's because of what Itachi and Shisui said, isn't it?" He teased.

"No."

I shook my head. Uncle stopped walking and bent down to look at me. He chuckled, and patted my back.

"Is that so? You know, Misayo...Without your long bangs it's a lot easier to see when you're lying, and right now you are so full of it."

I covered my cheeks with my hands, silently cursing myself for being such an open book. Any blind person could imagine the grin plastered on Uncle's face.

"Am not." I shot at him.

"Are too. Maybe you like your new friends more than you like me?"

"When you're like this I do."

"You're breaking my heart, Misayo."

"Good. Maybe it'll make you stop teasing me."

"Never."

I groaned.

"I don't even know Itachi and Shisui that well, Uncle. The Police Chief invited you for dinner, I'm just family."

"That much is true. They're good kids, as are you. I think you three would make great friends. "

I pondered for a while. I had friends at the factory, but they were older than me and besides having lunch together we did not do much after work. It would be nice to have friends my own age.

"Awww, look at that! You're smiling. You're so excited."

I straightened my face and my posture. Defending my honor.

"Am not."

"Are too."

We carried on like so all the way to Fugaku's house.