In Between the Lines

Reunited

My morning started like any other day. The soft rays of the morning sunshine shone through my room, peeking through little by little forcing me to raise myself out of bed. My sweet little cockatiel loved to lend a hand in waking me up too, by beginning to chirp her morning song. I stretched my limbs and heard a few satisfactory cracks and pops relishing the peace and quiet of this sleepy place I called home.

My name is Selene (as you could probably guess my parents had a real soft spot for Greek mythology,) I was currently living in the Land of Waves, but I was born and raised in Iwagakure a village thousands of miles away from this tucked-away seaside town. When I was still residing there with my parents, they were highly respected shinobi with a presence that made them know beyond our village limits. My parents both were close advisors for the Tsuchikage and had extensive knowledge of the internal political affairs of the village...The image of my parents came to mind as I found myself pulling and brushing through the knots in my long dark hair.

My mother was tall with fair skin who had an incredibly contagious smile that added to her warm, friendly personality. Her hair was long, silky, and black which I was lucky enough to inherit from her. My dad on the other hand was also quite tall and shared the same hair color that framed his deeper tan skin, which I happened to inherit from him. They always stood so proud and strong together everywhere they went, I guess you could call them a power couple...

I began to shake my head lightly and pulled myself up from the edge of the bed. I slowly made my way over to my work desk and once again being awestruck by the pastel colors of the sunrise glistening off the seaside. I got closer to the desk and began to glaze over my family photo feeling a pang of nostalgia looking at those classic Rocky Mountains when suddenly I heard a loud knock on my door.

"Selene! Hey, are you up already?!" called out a familiar voice. I just chuckled to myself and went over to open the door. My employee and best friend Layla stood there holding the frame of my door, she had a small feminine frame with sun-kissed skin framed by bright red curls. She was ready in her work uniform, just black shorts, and a shirt with her apron when she scanned me up and down reminding me that I was still in my PJ's.

"I know what that look says, and I just slept in a little late! Let me get ready and in the meantime let's have coffee too." Layla just smiled and made her way over to my kitchen and began what was almost a daily routine for us. Layla didn't live far from my house just a couple of blocks down and always made sure I was ready to get the day started. She was one of the first people I met when I first moved here and decided to take a chance and open a little bar that this place so desperately needed.

I was beginning to apply some light makeup in the mirror as I began to take in the intoxicating aromas of freshly brewed coffee. "Ah yes, the elixir of life," I thought to myself and I could see Layla bringing over a mug to me. "You know, I have no idea how you can always wake up so late with this bird chirping at all hours of the day!"

She wasn't wrong my cockatiel knew how to chirp up a storm, but I just really enjoyed being in my cozy bed even if I was technically awake. Like I mentioned, I loved the alone time I was able to have whenever I could. We took our time drinking our coffee and continued to joke around with one another, but never feeling rushed because despite Layla noting that I slept in a lot, she always came over early enough for us to enjoy our mornings before work.

Eventually, I was ready to go and pulled up my boots as Layla and I made our way another few blocks over to my bar. Usually, around this time a lot of people around here were still working, but we would go over early to get our food prepped and begin to get ready for our after-work crowd. I focused on the crunch of the seashell gravel under our feet as the bar came into view, it was small, but I was proud of it.