Shadowed Sun

It's A Start

I inhaled deeply the pleasant scents of our garden, sniffing each plant delicately.

"Miwa-chan, you ready to go or what?" Naruto called.

Turning away, I absent-mindedly wiped the dirt from my hands on a towel before heading back to our living room. Naruto was grinning at me brightly, his blue eyes sparkling mischievously. "Are you ready or what?"

"I'm ready," I assured my brother, turning to glance at myself in the tall mirror and making sure I had no more dirt crusted on me. My hands brushed over the soft material I wore. As orphans, Naruto and I were each given our own stipend allowance, just enough for the necessities and nothing more.

However, Grandfather each gave us our own allowance - just a small one, because we wouldn't accept anything larger... he had already done so much for us. Naruto split his allowance in thirds; half of it went to permanent savings, another part into temporary savings (his Gamma-chan), and the last part for materials needed in his pranking adventures. I split mine in half, putting half of it into permanent savings and the other into temporary savings.

Soon, we would officially be shinobi and kunoichi, and as a reward for the titles, I had spent my temporary savings on a new kunoichi outfit. Made of more durable material than Naruto's, it was easy to mend (Naruto and I both knew how to sew; out of necessity, once again), chakra-sensitive (it would be easier to regulate my body temperature with my chakra with the material) and adjustable as well; enough so that it wouldn't be a problem if I ever grew out of it. As with all shinobi outfits and gears, it came in bulk, and the other copies of it hung in my closet.

It was a cerulean blue battle kimono. Think of a regular kimono dress, shortened to the point where it fell five centimeters or so above my knees, black shorts stitched inside of it (though you couldn't see them). I bought long black leggings that went to the top of my knees. The kimono came with a standard lighter-shade ribbon, with pockets stitched inside of them, but I chose to not wear it.

Instead, I chose the longer black ribbon that Grandfather had given to me for my birthday last year (there were only two things I had wanted enough to point out to him - the ribbon, and the fox stuffed animal I cheekily named Kurama). Naruto and I were always hesitant to point out what we wanted, because he had a habit of actually giving it to us and we always felt guilty about it.

It didn't help that the villagers mocked us and him for it.

The ribbon wrapped itself around my waist, being too long for me to tie it in a big bow and have it hang properly. It ended up nearly reaching the floor, but I was too hesitant to cut it and ruin the soft material that I had marveled over for hours on end once upon a time.

A silly thing to marvel over, true, but the material was unlike anything I had ever felt before - it didn't even exist in my old world. A cloth spun nearly entirely out of chakra - mind-boggling, wasn't it? And the feeling of it... it wasn't soft, but it wasn't hard or rough either. It was smoother than silk, but had a sort of fluffy feeling to it. It was light and weighed barely anything, and at times it felt like I was grabbing a gas than a solid - or a liquid, simply due to its fluidity. The way it fell and moved... it was like watching black water fall.

So yes. I marveled over something they considered trivial and small.

I stitched in pockets into my kimono, using my ribbon to cover them. I also wrapped a kunai pack to the back of my upper left thigh. I wore a pair of basic shinobi gloves, but my long sleeves covered them most of the time.

I admired the ribbon in the mirror, making a note to myself that if I was ever rich in this world, I would buy an entire wardrobe of the material.

My hair tied into two pigtails, and once again I found it odd at how I really did look like Naruko, minus the curves.