Ralph stared at the horizon as the sun peeked over it, causing the nearby clouds to turn a deep pink. He cursed the fact he got up early. He kept forgetting he no longer had to be at work at 4:30 in order to prepare for the morning rush. However, it provided him the excuse he needed to start running as a way to improve himself, on top of the other training Raizen could be ordering Team 17 to do on their training days. He brought the jug of water up to his lips and took a drink from it. It had been a long while since he had seen the sun raise.
It was his day off. Raizen told them yesterday after the mission reports were turned in, they would report back to him on the 17th at the Training Field 15. Ralph didn’t know if Raizen would allow them to take on another mission or not. Their first mission didn’t go as smoothly as they had hoped. It was a simple shopping trip after all, but Lilian and him argued over the prices and the quality of the various items Mrs. Emberglow had requested. Enzo wasn’t any help at all, considering he never went shopping with his parents. Raizen simply said it was up to them to work it out as a team.
Ralph sighed. He thought about over his first mission. It would have went better if Lilian was more willingly to listen to him. He had been living on a very tight budget since he was forced to leave the orphanage, a few years ago. He did consider himself lucky to have an apartment and a steady job lined up when he got the noticed of eviction from the orphanage. After all, he knew it was coming when the higher ups in the orphanage informed him of his options of career choice. He already made the decision.
When he became the Leader of the Hidden Bark Village, the Orphanages within the Village won’t be allow to do that to the orphans who decided to take the career of a Ninja, citing they were showing favoritism to the ones who wanted to apart of the merchant class and the police force. Ralph didn’t want any more orphans go through what he went through - the worry when his last meal, going to bed hungry, etc.
Of course, Ralph did learn a few things from Lilian, the clan heiress, he wasn’t aware. There were several families with the name of Emberglow with no current connection together. He lend forward, setting his jug of water beside him. He didn’t think he would be interacting with the woman who gave up everything to marry into the Village. It took a lot of guts of doing that. No wonder why she had gain a lot of respect within the Ninja Community. He wasn’t for sure if the Police Force or the Merchant Class gave her the same respect or not.
Granted, he didn’t expect Enzo would know of Mrs. Emberglow on a personal level or any of the White Hall Children. That reminded him. He needed to purchase a few history books and refreshed his memory over the History between the Hidden Bark Village and the White Hall House.
He turned his attention to the village. He spotted the Cabbage vendor roaming around the Eastern Distinct, heading to the market square. He thought he saw a few ninja running around the edge of the village.
He stood up and gathered his water jug. He needed to take care of his chores while he could. There was a chance he would have missions on a daily basis since a Festival was coming up and rumor had it the White Hall Family was planning to make a visit. He could take a guess on the reason why they would be visiting. The White Bark Treaty will be renewed in the next 20 years. He frowned. Maybe it was 25 years. Either way, it had to be renew during his lifetime and the only female child of the Main White Hall family was 2 years old. There could be an arranged marriage between the Main White Hall family and a clan of the Hidden Bark Village. That would allow new blood to enter the village’s next generation. He frowned, thinking about the White Hall Family. It would make sense to have the girl to marry into the village instead one of the boys.
Ralph knew girls allowed more bargaining power then the boys did. If the girl couldn’t do it for some odd reason, one of the sons of the White Hall Family would allow the Village to have some more military might. He didn’t know which clan would offer up a daughter to marry a man outside of the village. He guessed it would depend on the White Hall Son. He knew the first born of the Main White Hall Family was a son, so there would be an increased social standing within the Kingdom of Camelot.
That might be enough to entice a few clans to offer up their daughters, but it really depended on the clan. He couldn’t name any of the major clans that had more then one daughter, but he was sure there were a few of them that did. Most of the clan heirs were males, so were the second child in line. However, it was a mixed bag when it came to the third child. Either way, in 20 years, it will be interesting to see what will happen.
Ralph took a deep breath and jumped from the roof top down to the street. He landed in a crunch and stood up. He walked toward his apartment, mentally going over what he needed to do. Laundry, he knew, was a must since he was wearing his last clean change of clothes. It was another thing that had been put on the back burner due to work and schooling. He really needed to stop doing that.
There would be times where he would be gone for a long period of time and wouldn’t be able to enjoy his day off due to doing laundry and other chores. He sighed. He also had to do some shopping for himself. He might have enough food for his lunchtime meal, but nothing for dinner or breakfast the following morning or the rest of the week.
He frowned as he thought about what he needed to do first. Probably the shopping. This way he could have something to snack on while he waited at the laundry mat for his clothes. Once he got his laundry done, he didn’t what he would do. He mused with the idea of visiting the ninja library to grab a couple scrolls for new techniques over his elemental affinities. It would be awesome if he managed to learn an Earth jutsu or a Light jutsu by himself.
Ralph smiled as he wondered toward his favorite store and walked into it. It was a small mom-and-pop store. Wooden shelves lined the store, filled with every day goods and stood behind the counter was Molly Carter, the daughter of the store owners. She lend over the counter, flipping through a book with a notebook laying beside the book. She looked up when the bell rang through the store.
“Morning,” She called out. The tone she used was an automatic kind. She blinked and turned her attention back to her book before she did a double take and grinned brightly, calling out, “Ralph!” she ran around the counter and greeted him with open arms, wrapping him up in a tight hug. “How have you been? It’s been a while since I have seen you.”
“I’m good, Molly,” he replied, wrapping his arms around her, returning the hug, “What about you?”
“I’m enjoying summer break,” Molly replied, letting him go and stepping back, “We don’t have go back until the Monday after the Community Day.”
Nodding, Ralph remembered the Community Day was coming up. Community Day was always fun. He spent most of June saving up for the day while he was growing up to spend it at the Community Day. Usually, there would be several games set up for the children to play and a few for the adults and older teens. It ended up as a competition for the adults who chosen the Ninja Profession to see who could get the most points at a game, throw the most stars at the balloon board, etc. He had watched several renown ninja become the top player in those games.
Of course, he couldn’t forget about the food. Some of the food vendors who had shown up in the past were unique and only came a few times of the year, due to their demand. He remembered fondly one vendor who sold deep fried pickles, covered in breading. It turned out to be a hit and the vendor kept coming back with a few more deep fried options.
“That’s awesome,” Ralph gave her a smile and reached over to grab a small woven basket the Carter Family set out for the shopping to use while they shopped. “Aren’t you finishing up school this school year?”
“Unfortunately, no,” Molly deflated, walking beside him, “I got two more years.”
Ralph nodded, “I just got out of Basic Training, this past year. I already got my first mission under my belt and was given the day off.” He glanced at Molly, knowing it was alright to tell her. After all, it was a D ranked mission, “I had to do Mrs. Emberglow’ shopping, yesterday.”
Molly paused, “Wait! The Mrs. Emberglow? Of the White Bark Treaty?” Ralph gave her a grin, “Oh, Wow!” Her eyes widened with wonder, “What was she like?”
“Besides really old?” he asked. She shot him a glare. He chuckled, “She reminded me of a grandma - kind, sweet, and warm.” His voice held a tone of longing as he wondered if his own mysterious grandmother was like that. There were times where he hated the fact he was an orphan and wondered about how was it like to have a family.
“That’s so cool,” Molly whispered, “I wonder if I will ever meet her or the next White Hall family member to be offer in the White Bark Treaty.”
“We will meet the next member offer for the White Bark Treaty,” he said, “It has to be renew some time in the next 20 years.”
“Oh yeah,” Molly slowly nodded her head, causing her blond curls to bounce, “I had forgot about that.” She paused. Ralph turned his attention to some of the jars on the shelves, revealing golden pieces of corn, green beans, and other vegetables floating their preservative juices. He grabbed two jars of each vegetable and wondered over to the fruit sections. He wanted something sweet to eat, almost like an apple or something with strawberries. “Do you know if the White Halls has any daughters?”
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“Just one,” he replied, “I think her name is Valentina, right now, she’s only 2, I think?” he reached the fruits and grabbed a couple jars of strawberries, jar of applesauce, and oranges. He needed to stock up while he could for the winter months, despite the fact, it was the beginning of summer. “So, it will be a long while, if she was chosen to be the bride price of the White Bark Treaty, before she would move to the Bark Village.”
Molly nodded, understanding. “Though I can’t image who would turn down the honor of being her bridegroom and help protect the village, and all the benefits of the treaty.”
“So,” Ralph glanced down at her, “What are your plans for the rest of the summer break?”
She met his gaze and shrugged, stepping closer to him, “You know, just hanging out here, helping ma and pa with the shop, maybe find a date for the Community Day events.” She gave him a sly smile.
He chuckled, understanding her meaning, “I might have to work that day so I don’t know if I will be able to enjoy the day off.” He watched her face fall, “I’m sure a pretty girl like yourself would have no trouble finding a date for the Community Day events.” She looked up through her eyelashes before she sighed and nodded. Ralph decided to change the subject, “I still need to do a few things on my day off, so, I need to get going, Molly.”
Ralph swung by his apartment. He sighed. He couldn’t believe he turned down a date with Molly Carter. He hoped he would be still allowed to shop there the next time he had to go shopping for food. At one time, he would have excited to go on a date with her, but that was when he was still in basic training. Now, that he was a full time ninja, he knew some relationships he wished he had or at least experienced wouldn’t matter anymore. He glanced around his apartment.
The furniture he had was mostly passed down. The couch sitting in the center of the living room looked like it had seen better days. If he remembered correctly, he was the fifth owner of the couch. However, the recliner, he hoped soon he would be able to replace it. It was falling apart and it was getting too hard to sit down. Most of the stuffing had fallen out. He might have took the time to repair it when he had the spare money, but now, it was not worth the effort. It was just better to throw it away. He could get another one when he had a reason to get a bigger place.
He walked around the living room, gathering his dirty laundry. It was all over the living room. He thought he was doing better then he used to be while he was in basic training and working. It was a good thing he didn’t invite anyone over to his place. It would be highly embarrassing for a girl to see the mess he had created.
Ralph glanced at the growing pile of clothes. He shook his head. He needed to improve on making sure his dirty laundry actually made it to the hamper instead of being thrown all of over the place. He went his room. It was a disaster zone. Until recently, he couldn’t really clean it. Hell, his entire apartment needed to be cleaned. He might be able to do that today after his laundry was done. He wrinkled his nose as he smelt old food sitting on his dresser. He dumped the arm full of laundry in the hamper and grabbed all of the dirty dishes before he walked to the kitchen where he scraped the old food into the trash bin and placed them over in the sink. He turned on the facet, placed the plug into the drain, and reached under the sink for some dish soap. He poured it in the sink and allowed the water to create bubbles, waiting for the water level to raise high enough to cover the dirty dishes. He turned off the water.
There was a loud boom, echoing through the apartment. Ralph jerked toward the window where he could see a cloud of dust raising over the rooftops of the nearby buildings. He whispered, “What the hell?”
He walked to his front door and poked his head outside. His eyes scanned the horizon, trying to figure out what had caused the booming sound. He peered down the balcony hall and saw a couple of his neighbors were trying to figure out what was going on as well. He spotted on a nearby rooftop, a member of the Police Force running toward the commotion. He strained to hear what was going on.
He could have sworn he heard someone yelling out a jutsu. There was another rumble followed by a loud boom and dust rose up, drifting over the rooftops, heading to the cliff above the government building. A figure flew out of the dust cloud. Ralph narrowed his eyes, trying to make out who it was, but he couldn’t see the figure very well. However, there was a familiar attack from a ninja who carried three sword.
Ralph sighed. Of course, it was the Urameshis. Ralph remembered the trio from the other day, causing all kind fuss. He wondered what was the reason behind it this time. He shook his head as he went back into his apartment and gathered the remaining dirty dishes before he set them in the sink for a long soak. He went to the front closet, opening up the door, and reached inside to grab his laundry cleaning supplies. It was nothing fancy. Just the basic, off band laundry soap and softer.
He couldn’t afford the name brand items and he wasn’t for sure if it was better for the price the soap makers wanted for it. He set them by the front door and went back to his room to grab the hamper and some loose change he kept for laundry days. He placed his laundry supplies in the hamper and walked through his front door, locking the door behind him. He tucked the key into a random pocket and grabbed the hamper before he made his way to the laundry mat.
The laundry mat was empty in the early afternoon. He ran his eyes over the large room with surprise. He would have thought it would have been pack with women trying to get the laundry done while her kids were at school or at daycare. Or even some single ninja who couldn’t or didn’t have the room in their apartment to have a washing or drying station. Nope. No one else but him and the old attendant sitting on a chair behind a counter, reading a scroll of some sort. The old attendant didn’t bother looking up to see who entered the laundry mat.
Ralph shook his head and went to a washing station. He set the hamper down beside the station and started to sort through his clothes, placing the dark clothes in one washing station, the colors in a different station, and he puzzled about the very small load of whites. He sighed as he made the decision of putting the whites for another week.
Hopefully, next time he was able to do laundry, he would have a bigger load of whites to wash up. He took a small scoop of the laundry soap he used and dumped into the washing station that held his dark clothes. He reached over, placing the wooden lid on top of the washing station, and pressed a button. He heard water began to fill the washing station. He repeated the process for his colors.
He sighed as he dragged the hamper over to a random seat and sat down. He glanced around the room, hoping for some entertainment, but didn’t find any. He reached into a random pocket and pulled out a scroll he had bought on the way home after completing his first mission. It was a scroll for one of his elemental affinities. He opened it and started to study it.
Ralph didn’t know how much time had passed when he heard a familiar voice ringing out, near the back of the laundry mat. He glanced up at the washing station to see it was going through the spin cycle then he glanced to where the voices were coming from. He blinked as he spotted a black hair styled up in a high ponytail young man, around his age. The other man appeared to arguing with a young woman.
“I said No, Koga,” the woman glared at him, “I know you don’t like it, but you have to respect my decision. I don’t want to be with you.” She crossed her arms over her chest, giving Koga a steady disapproving look.
“Annja,” Koga protested, “What did I do wrong?”
“It’s me, not you,” Annja said as she pushed past him. He reached and grabbed her upper arm.
Ralph knew that was a big mistake from where he sat. He winced on Koga’s behalf as the woman, Annja, sent Koga a heated glare. Koga, to his credit, didn’t back down from the glare and asked, “So, you are rejecting me?”
“Yes, I am rejecting you,” Annja stated in a matter of fact tone, staring him down, “We wouldn’t work out to begin with, even though it was nice to be with you while it lasted. My family wouldn’t have approve of us anyway. I mean you are half human, half canine demon.”
Ralph’s jaw dropped. That was some news. He didn’t know Koga was part panther demon. Granted Koga looked more feline in some aspects then human. Ralph thought it was due to the lighting or the way he natural looked, not family connections to demons.
Demons of any kind were rare in the Village. Mainly, thanks to the Holy Order who lived in a temple on the Eastern edge of the village. They portal the walls, keeping an eye out for any rogue demons who wondered too close to the village walls and killed any who got too close. Ralph did have to question how Koga ended up in the Village. It could have been his mother who went through a traumatic experience and brought him back. Now, that Ralph was thinking about it, Koga’s family name, Wolfsbane. It was a very small clan who lived near the forest and it was named after a herb, poisonous to werewolves. Of course, Koga could have adopted by the Wolfsbane family when he was very young and only recently became knowledgeable about his bloodline.
Flipping her blond hair over her shoulder, Annja went on, breaking Ralph out of his musings, “My family is apart of the Holy Order and I am expect to follow their footsteps. Our relationship would have prevented me from becoming a member of the Holy Order. I am doing this for my own good - to achieve my own destiny. I have wanted this for a long time. I have talked about numerous times, Koga, what it means to me. You are on a different path then me. Hopefully, one day, I don’t have to be the one to come after you and it will be someone else.”
Koga’s hand dropped and he took a step back, looking like he was slapped across the face. Ralph mused in a way, he was. He didn’t know how Annja and Koga had been seeing each other or how they met. He barely knew Koga personally, just the fact he had attend the same basic training as Koga. He was sure Koga was ranked higher then Ralph and got better placement when it came to teams, but that all he really knew about Koga. However, Ralph didn’t think Annja would even suggest in killing Koga because he was part demon. It was kinda heartless.
“Fine.” Koga stated, “I will leave you alone.” There was a pause. “Go running back to your family and informed them of my existence. I’m sure one of your brothers would love to have a go at me.” Annja jerked back like she was the one slapped. She rocked back and forth on her feet before she turned, heading to the front doors of the laundry mat. A bell rang out as she left. The sound of the bell echoed in the near quiet room. It slowly died away.
Ralph glanced at the washing station to see it was finished. He stood up and walked over to it, grabbing a nearby laundry cart. He opened the lid and grabbed a handful of his wet dark clothes. He placed them in the laundry cart and wheeled it over to the drying station. He laid out his clothes on the drying station, fixing them in place and double checked to make sure they weren’t going to go flying across the floor when he turned on the drying station. He flipped a switch beside the drying station and a whirring sound began, echoing loudly in the room.
He glanced over at Koga who gave him a startled look. Ralph ignored him as he kept an eye on his clothes as they began to drift with the wind current. When it appeared his clothes weren’t flying away, he returned to the second washing station and repeated the process again. He sat back down and waited a few more hours, reading the scroll. He didn’t see Koga leave the laundry mat.