Beauty and the Beast - An Uchiha Madara Love Story [Edited]

Chapter 2 - Strange World

Harumi pov:

We stayed sitting on the ground in a daze looking at the settlement in front of us for several long minutes. I swallowed thickly and decided that it would be best if we entered the settlement and found out where we were. I stood up dusting my pants and I helped Grandpa stand too. We took a step towards the gates of the settlement, but we were immediately stopped when someone shouted from behind us.

"Who goes there? Who are you and what do you want with our village?" We turned around to see a man, probably in his early thirties looking at us with a glare and holding up a shovel threateningly. I blinked and glanced at Grandpa once.

"Um...we're actually kind of lost..." I trailed off hesitantly and the man narrowed his eyes.

"Lost? Where are you from?" he asked sternly.

"We're from Tokyo..." I answered and his expression changed to one of confusion.

"Are you a ninja?" he asked, now confusing both me and Grandpa.

"No...do we look like ninjas?" I asked smartly and in slight amuse and he lowered his shovel a little. I gave a sigh and put a hand on my hip and said, "Ojisan, I don't even get what you're talking about. We were at home in front of a shrine and it began to glow. A few minutes later we were sitting in front of your...village."

"What do you do as a living?" he asked and walked closer to us, having lowered his shovel completely now.

"I'm a potter. I make ceramics," I said honestly and he stared at us in deep thought for a few moments. Then he smiled and patted my shoulder. I raised my brow at his sudden change in attitude but he ushered us into the village along with him. "Welcome to the Earth Village. We're a non-ninja village and we don't welcome ninjas for any reason besides shopping. We didn't have a potter in our village and I'm sure you'll be able to increase our business from now on. So welcome aboard!"

I frowned still a little lost and confused at the situation. I mean, they were talking about ninjas...ninjas don't exist anymore. And Grandpa and I didn't look ninja material one bit to begin with – no black outfit, no black masks – so where did they get a crazy idea like that in the first place??

I shrugged and decided not to think of it too much for now. I looked around curiously as we were led into the village and into a building. We walked into a room and there were two old men sitting there drinking tea. They looked up when we entered and I gave a short bow.

"Elder sama, this girl is a potter! Now our shopping district is complete!" the man who had escorted us here said and I looked back and forth between him and the so called elders.

"Oh? Have you made sure they are not ninjas?" one of them asked while eyeing us and I chuckled.

"We're not ninjas. Seriously, do we look like that?" I grinned like a kid but the elders merely watched skeptically.

"I suppose you two don't look much like fighters. Very well, we'll let you stay. You can live in the empty house in the periphery of the village...luckily, it has a kiln too," the elder said and I just nodded.

"Okay, I guess..."

"Haru chan! What do you think you're saying?! You can't just agree to stay here!" Grandpa hollered and bonked me on the head making me yelp and rub the now sore spot. I then pouted while looking at him.

"C'mon, Grandpa! We don't know where we are or how we got here but they're being so nice and offering us a place to stay for the time being...what else do you think we should do then?"

Grandpa opened his mouth to speak but no words came out – well, he didn't seem to know what to say. After a moment, he let out a huff and gave up. "Alright, alright...I suppose we can stay here for now."