A New Home

"hey old man, when are we getting out of this place?" Hideyoshi asked kicking a few rockes under his feet as they moved.

"ehh give me a week or so, its not unbearable quite yet Yoshi." his father replied uncaring taking in a deep breath.

They both were getting stared down on their walk, their presence obviously unwanted. They had come to this small village around a week or so ago and were already experiencing the usual treatment after Shoji, his father had stolen more than his share of hearts…even if just for a night. This wasn’t anything new for Hideyoshi though, typically they would wonder into a place and they would stay there for a while. Typically they would leave after a few weeks of, rather strong encouragement.

"you know, if you could maybe keep it in your pants at least for a little while, maybe we could actually not be hated by women all over the place." Hideyoshi snarked annoyed

"you know what they say son, tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all" Shoji laughed "I just love a lot" he added.

"yea, way to much if you ask me. What are you gonna do if you actually do fall in love with one of these poor girls someday?" Hideyoshi ask sarcastically

"I dunno son…that would be a dark day for your father." Shoji said trying to be serious.

Shoji looked at Hideyoshi and for a brief moment they were quiet, until the two couldn’t hold back anymore and began laughing. They held their sides as they laughed hysterically. "me fall in love? What kind of joke is that?" Shoji coughed out between laughs.

"its always a possibility dad!" Hideyoshi managed to say while trying to catch his breath. But the statement only made them laugh harder. The idea of Shoji setting down was almost unthinkable.

Afther the two calmed down Shoji looked at Hideyoshi, "maybe we should go ahead and pack up tonight, we can leave in the morning, alright kid?" he asked

"hell yea! This town didn’t have anything fun anyway!" Hideyoshi yelled as he took the lead from his father, turning around to smile at him.

"besides, your prettier than any of the girls here" Shoji laughed, receiving an instant glare from his son.

"I don’t know if I should be happy about that or not, old man." Hideyoshi replied annoyed.

"you know I'm just joking boy, you should be happy you look like your mom, rather than me!" his father laughed pointing to his face.

"yea, I suppose. It escapes me how you got my pretty mom into bed at all." Hideyoshi mocked as he slowed down so his dad could catch up.

"its all in the words ma boy, you got to be smooth." Shoji said in his usual silky tone dragging out the word smooth.

"yea well last time I tried saying one of your crappy lines I just got slapped." Hideyoshi said still annoyed.

Shoji laughed at his sons failed attempt. "you'll get it some day!" he said.

The two kept walking for a little bit longer until they came back to the inn they were staying at for the time being. Hideyoshi went back to their room, leaving his father in the lobby talking to the pretty woman behind the main desk. Hideyoshi opened the door to their room and began packing up their belongings leaving out only clothes to wear tomorrow. After finishing his own stuff he began working on his fathers. Shoji wasn’t nearly as neat as his son so picking up his things took a little longer. He had stuff in every room, under the beds and all over the floor, but Hideyoshi managed to get the most of it packed away before his father came through the door.

"oh, your way ahead of me kiddo. I could have packed myself you know." Shoji said feeling a little awkward that his son picked up after him.

"nah, if I had bothered letting you do it, we wouldn’t be leaving in the morning." Hideyoshi laughed making fun of his fathers awkwardness. "I'm gonna crash out old man, I want to be out of here before your loving fans wake up in the morning."

"alright alright, I guess I'll pass out too." Shoji said back with a yawn turning off the light by the beds.

Just as the sun began to rise, giving the sky a red glow at the bottom bringing warmth into the dark sky above Hideyoshi woke up. He laid there for a moment listening to the crickets and morning birds singing. The room was still dark, only a small amount red orange light seeping though the bottom of the window in the corner.

Hideyoshing began to sit up, pushing the white flimsy blanket back off of himself glancing at his still pasted out dad in the adjacent bed. He got up and opened the door into the empty hallway and listened, everything was quite. Glad that he managed to wake up before anyone else at least staying at the inn woke up. Hideyoshi then went back into the room and started getting ready. He went to the bathroom where he washed his face and brushed out his hair carefully, even though his hair made him look slightly more girly he loved his hair, it was unusually soft and thick and the light yellow color of it always reminded him of his mother that he didn’t get to see often. After it was thoroughly brushed he pulled it back into a low pony tail with a black band that he typically wore. He glanced into the mirror to make sure he looked good enough for the day, before leaving the bathroom.

He then placed a small block of wood down to keep the bedroom door open to the hallway as he began to carry a box outside to their horse Lala, and the carriage. Hideyoshi had taken out a few boxes by the time his dad woke up to help him. They finished just as the sky was turning a beautiful yellow pink and was starting to warm the cool air from the night before.

"I'm going to get us some water and stuff before we head out alright dad?" Hideyoshi said waving back to his dad. "get Lala ready to go, and you better be done by the time I get back got it." he yelled back.

Hideyoshi began walking back into town, a few village people had woken up now but they didn’t pay him any attention. He came up to a shop that had just opened for the day. An older man came out, he seemed kind and funny, he had lost all the hair on top of his head and it glowed in the morning sun, but he had long grey curly hair on the sides. His eyes almost covered up by wrinkles and his own bushy eye brows. Plus a smile that shown a few missing teeth. The old man called out to Hideyoshi. "hey there young lady, what can I do for you?"

Hideyoshi instantly becoming annoyed by the mans assumption of his gender, spun around and crossed his arms in an attempt to look lightly more manly. "I'm a guy sir! Also I just need a few jugs for holding water." Hideyoshi spat out in the deepest voice he could manage.

"oh, I'm so sorry young man, you just have suck a nice face I just assum-" the older man was cut off before he could finish.

"yeah, yeah, I know I'm pretty" Hideyoshi practically yelled. "I just need a few jugs and I'll be going." he turned his back to him in efforts to not become more angry. Hideyoshi's temper was not to be messed it.

Thankfully the old man didn’t bother trying to defend himself and just let it go. He walked to the counter that was covered in small knick-knacks made of wood and decorative rocks. The old man pulled a few empty jugs all tied together on a sting out from behind the counter. "how many do ya need sir" the old man asked Hideyoshi.

"four should do I guess." Hideyoshi said walking over to the counter, still trying to look manly. He paid the old man and left the store with his jugs.

"Stupid old geezer! I'm totally manly, the manliest man I know! Just jealous that I can be so gosh damn manly and have a good face too! Stupid old shop owning geezer!" Hideyoshi kept yelling in his mind but only mumbling in reality.

Hideyoshi then came to a fruit stand, this time it was a young girl. She was most likely his age as well, she had long dark hair pulled back into a high pony tail and was wearing a light yellow apron. She smiled at him with a blush "good morning sir, can I get you anything?"

"this is more like it" Hideyoshi thought. "I'll just take a bag of apples and a few pears miss." he said in a sweet voice, very different from the tone he had used with the old man.

The girl handed him the fruit gently and Hideyoshi paid her for them, "alright, thank you" he said turning to walk away from her only to slightly turn and wink, "stay beautiful." he added causing the girl to turn pink and hide her blushing face.

"smooth" Hideyoshi thought to himself as he started walking back to the inn.

Back at the inn Hideyoshi found his father, luckily ready to go. "help me fill up these jugs and then we can be on our way" Hideyoshi said asking for his dads help. Shoji got down off the carriage and pet his tall and loyal brown horse as he walked past. "alright kid, you got apples for Lala right?" Shoji asked motioning to his horse.

"yea, of course dad. I always do." Hideyoshi said as he walked inside the inn followed by his dad. They entered the bathroom in the lobby and began filling the jugs with cool water. After all four jugs were full they plugged them up and left the inn, leaving the room key on the front desk.

They came back outside and gave Lala an apple before climbing up onto the carriage.

"alright Yoshi, off we go." Shoji said while cracking the lead, making Lala go. The carriage wasn’t very big, just big enough to hold about 7 or so boxes in the back under an off white tarp and the two men up front. Which was fine since they didn’t carry all that much with them anyway.

"where are we going this time, surely we have a plan this time…right dad?" Hideyoshi said accusingly as he lounged back onto the light brown wooden back of the bench they were seated on.

"a village called Konoha, it's a rather big village too….I think we will be there for awhile." Shoji said smiling to himself looking upwards

"what do you mean awhile?" Hideyoshi asked raising an eyebrow. His father had never said anything like that before.

"I mean buying a place and making it home Yoshi." Shoji said not breaking his eye contact with the still early morning sunrise.

"what brought this on old man? Getting tired?" Hideyoshi asked slightly unsettled by his fathers seriousness. "your feeling alright aren’t you? He continued sitting up to try and look his father in the face.

"yes yes Yoshi, I feel just fine. But I'm not as young as I once was even though I'm not quite an old man, maybe I should settle somewhere before I do get tired." Shoji said finally looking at his son, giving him a don’t worry smile to reassure him that he was in fact feeling fine. "besides I heard the place is swamped with real beauties and I cant afford staying in an inn forever!" Shoji laughed, uncovering his real reason of desire to go to Konoha.

"alright old man, whatever. It will be nice staying someplace for awhile. Now tell me about these beauties" Hideyoshi laughed nudging his dad with his elbow.

They slowly made there way to the big village of Konoha. The trip took them about 2 days which was the longest they had ever gone without stopping at another village. When they passed several villages on the way Hideyoshi was sure that his father would stop for the night, but they didn’t. they only stopped for moments along streams to eat and tend to Lala. At one particular spot Hideyoshi got down from the carriage and looked around, he was mostly used to villages in valleys or planes. However the closer they got the more trees there were, trees Hideyoshi had never seen before, they were beautiful in his eyes. The leaves above them making a roof to shade them from the harsh sun that was now right above them. The trees made a wall that was almost impossible to see through it was so dense. The hard burnt sand and rock road had at some point turned into a soft dirt path with a line of grass in the middle where you could tell many wagons and carriages before theirs had gone. The sides of the path were lush with flowers and grass that would reach almost to his knees. Even the air seemed different, it wasn’t dry or windy, it was calm and cooling. This was a place like Hideyoshi had never seen and he loved it.

He walked over to the stream, and slipped off his shoes. Then carefully he eased into the ankle deep water. The coolness of the water sent a welcomed chill through him and he looked down. The water was crystal clear, Hideyoshi could see every rock in the stream beneath him and with every step he could see little salamanders dashing from under one rock to another.

"how much longer till we get there" Hideyoshi yelled from the water back to his dad.

"not much longer, it should be coming up any minute now I think Yoshi, whenever you are ready we can go." Shoji yelled back.

They got back onto the carriage, and started down the path again. Roughly thirty minutes or so later they crested the top of a hill and looked down onto the village. The village was much bigger than any other village the two had gone to, at least that Hideyoshi could remember. It was surrounded by trees on all sides and the air seemed fresh. Hideyoshi was excited for this place to become his first actual home since leaving with his dad when he was only 6.

They continued down the road until them came to the edge of the village. As they approach a building in the front, a shinobi waves them over.

"hello there, what's your business here in Konoha?

"we are looking for a place to call home my good sir." Shoji said to the man smiling.

"oh, well the main office building should be able to help you, its dead ahead. Can I get your names sir?" the shinobi asked while pointing them in the direction of a bigger building ahead of them.

After giving their names and information to the shinobi, Shoji headed with Lala and the carriage towards the main office in town. "you can go do whatever kid, I doubt you want to sit around and deal with this. Just be careful and I'll find you later." Shoji yelled back leaving Hideyoshi behind him.

Hideyoshi waved to his dad as he turned to scope out the place he would be calling home. There were people everywhere, and no lack of beauties as his dad had said. Hideyoshi found himself flirting quickly with a young girl, she was thin and pretty with tan skin. She had bright blue eyes and auburn hair that fell lightly around her shoulders. She wore a thin light blue dress and a white sun hat to keep her face shaded. The girl talked openly with Hideyoshi for about an hour or so, giggling and blushing whenever he flattered her. They talked until Hideyoshi could see his father walking towards him waving him to come over.

"I got to go now, stay beautiful." Hideyoshi said his usual goodbye line accompanied by a wink causing the girl to blush and giggle again.

Hideyoshi walked to meet his dad. "I got everything taken care of Yoshi, ready to see the new man cave?" Shoji smiled a big smile and turned to walk down a street.

They soon arived at a rather big house, two stories tall by the edge of the village. The outside was painted a light green color and was garnished by a rich brown wood door. There were big windows covered from the inside by white thin curtains. Around back was a small little stable where Lala had already made herself at home and was asleep. Shoji opened the door with a key and lead them inside. The walls were bear white and the rooms were practically empty but it already felt good having an actual house. The downstairs consisted of a main hallway that lead to a main living area, a kitchen and attached dinning room, a rather large bathroom, and one bedroom. At the end of the hallway was a stair case that lead upstairs to another bedroom, and another smaller bathroom.

Hideyoshi wondered amongst the house, looking thoroughly in every room, even though there wasn’t much to look at; just a bunch of empty rooms for the most part. He found himself in the upstairs bedroom and decided that this was going to his room after looking out one of the windows and seeing what a wonderful view he had into the woods behind the house on one side, and from the other window on the opposite wall being able to see a large amount of the town.

"I want the room upstairs, alright dad?" Hideyoshi yelled down the stairs.

"yea sure, just means I don’t have to walk up those damn stairs every night." Shoji laughed. "now help me at least get those boxes inside, we can unpack in the morning."

They unloaded all the boxes into the house, finishing just as the sun was setting on the village.

"alright son, I'm going to get some rest." Shoji yawned as he walked over to what would become his bedroom. "welcome home Yoshi." he added before closing the door behind him.

Hideyoshi walked back up the stairs and into his new room, it was rather barren like all the other rooms, it only contained a bed and a small nightstand. The bed was made with two white feather pillows and 2 blankets, one being white and the other a light yellow color. Hideyoshi plopped down onto his new bed and quickly fell asleep.

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