Sown

two

The next time the regular came in - a week after their new conversation - Hanae didn't notice his arrival. Her attention was taken by the middle-aged woman standing in front of her loudly complaining and waving her hands.

"It's ridiculous, opening at noon! I shop at eight and I don't want to have to come back to get what I need! My kids are awake by then and I don't have anyone to watch them! What am I supposed to do?! Well?!"

Hanae's arms were crossed defensively across her chest. She watched as the other woman's face slowly grew redder with each octave her voice grew. "I'm really sorry, ma'am, but I open at noon so I have time to tend to my farm. Without that time I wouldn't have anything to sell."

The woman slapped her hand against the counter at a steady rate. "That's not good enough! You need to have someone do the work while you sell everything! Don't you have a husband? Have him do all of that!"

"No, I'm not married. I'm sorry, but keeping things as they are is the best way for myself."

"You need to think about your customers!"

"Without my schedule I wouldn't have a shop to have customers." Hanae combed her fingers through her hair. They snagged a bit on the wavy texture only making her more frustrated. "I am open until nine. If your children are as young as they sound, they should be asleep by then. I can also prepare orders for you to come collect if that would be better for you."

Redder than ever, the irate woman inhaled deeply, no doubt ready for another rant. Before the words could escape, however, the woman stiffened at a light touch against her shoulder. Both females turned towards the regular customer, smiling an all too sweet smile at the offender.

"I'm sorry, but I'm in a hurry. Do you mind if I get in front of you?" He did, in fact, have two eggplants in his empty hand.

The woman huffed at him, turning sharply and heading for the door. Out of steam and outnumbered she realized that the argument was going to get her nowhere. Before leaving, she jutted her hand towards a standing display of samurai armor sitting near the door. "And get rid of this thing!" She screeched, whipping the door open. "It's too terrifying for children!"

"That armor is important to me!" She was gone before Hanae could finish her outburst.

Hanae put her head down and sighed heavily. Feeling drained and shuddering with frustration, she took a moment to collect herself before looking back at the regular. He offered a sympathetic quirk of his eyebrow.

"Let me ring that up for you, I don't want to keep you if you're busy." She sounded utterly defeated.

Instead of setting down the vegetables, the man shook his head. "That was a lie. It seemed like the easiest way to make her leave."

This was a bit surprising to Hanae. Sure, most people didn't like to see someone getting abused, but no one would ever really say anything. It was like watching a train wreck. As much as you didn't want it to happen, you couldn't help but stare.

"Thank you," Hanae croaked, pulling a smile for the first time since the woman charged in. "I haven't been yelled at like that in a while, forgot how terrible it was." She leaned onto her elbows. There was no one else in the store besides them, and seeing as she had been looking forward to seeing this man again, Hanae wanted to draw out this conversation as long as possible.

The man pointed his thumb over his shoulder to the armor. "That's an interesting display. It's from the Land of Iron, isn't it?"

Hanae beamed. She made her way around the counter, past the man, and over to the front where the silver figure stood. It peered through the window with round red eyes as if protecting the store.

"Yes. I'm actually from the Land of Iron myself. It's the armor I used to wear." She traced her finger down the sectioned side plate. "My family is still there. It's probably freezing, though it always seems to be snowing so it's not very surprising."

As she talked the man came up beside her, admiring the display. Hanae looked up at him over her shoulder. "How did you know it was from the Land of Iron? Have you ever been?"

He shook his head again. "I've never been there but I've heard a lot about it. As kids, most of us shinobi hear about how scary the samurai of the Land of Iron are. Like a ghost story."

Ghost story. She shuddered at the words. Hanae, a scaredy cat when  it came to the paranormal, hated ghost stories. Being compared to a ghost almost outweighed the feeling of pride she felt knowing that shinobi around the world feared samurai like herself and family members.

Almost.

"Is the Gishi clan a samurai clan?"

Hanae looked at him with a bemused expression. "Gishi clan?"

The man in turn pointed upward. "The name above the door says Gishi. Is that your clan name?"

Her realization came with a shy laugh. "Oh! No, Gishi is an old bushido word. It's something that was important to my father. I'm from the Umu clan." She turned towards the door and held it open for him, leading the man to the storefront. She pointed to a symbol beside the store's name - a circular crest with a v intersecting the bottom half and another small sphere in the center.

"That's the symbol of our clan. My family is in charge of most of the food imports to the Land of Iron." Hanae rubbed her finger underneath her nose and grinned widely. "It means to deliver life."

"And not give birth?" The man offered an awkward grin beneath his mask in response to the glare he received from her. "It's nice to meet someone from the Land of Iron." He hoped this would ease over the situation. It seemed to work well as Hanae grinned again at the mention of her homeland.

"I'm glad to hear it!" She lead him back into the store to ring up his purchase, wanting to keep talking but not wanting to trap the man in her store for the rest of the day. "I miss it every once in a while, but I'm happy to be here in Konoha. It's a lot easier to grow in this weather, and the people seem a lot happier." Hanae rolled her eyes as she handed back his change. "Well, most of the people"

The man in front of her chuckled shortly at the mention of the earlier customer. Grabbing his purchase the man waved as Hanae chanted her goodbye and thanks.

She turned back to the area behind the counter, humming softly as she reorganized some of the herbs sold earlier in the day. Suddenly a thought popped into her mind, causing Hanae to jog out the door.

A little ways down the dirt road the man slowly walked, a book open in one hand and his eggplants in the other. A moment longer and he would have disappeared into the crowd of villagers milling around storefronts and heading to their destinations.

"My name is Hanae Umu!" She called out to him with a hand cupped around her mouth.

He picked up his head and turned back to her, raising his book slightly. "I'm Kakashi Hatake," he responded not quite as loudly.

Hanae laughed lightly and called back. "Maybe you can come stand in my field someday!" Waiving again she ducked back into her shop, a skip in her step at finally learning the regular's name.