“What a boring day,” Kyohei thought to himself as he made his way alone through the bustling streets of Takigakure. He had agreed to travel here at the request of Risu who wanted company while on her vacation and had planned to spend his time with her, but today she was busy with clan related business. So far this whole trip had not really gone as he had planned. Sure he was able to spend some time with her, but they didn’t even travel together. She was on duty as an ANBU in the Hokage’s convoy on her way there, leaving Kyohei to make the trip that he only agreed to for Risu without her. And so he found himself wandering the streets alone, browsing the vendors merchandise with no real interest in anything in particular and wasting time because he had nothing better to do.

It had been a very long time since Kyohei could be associated with anything even remotely festive. Festivals and parties were for those who valued social interaction. Kyohei himself wasn’t particularly fond of people. People had been nothing but resentful and dismissive to him in his life. How could he simply set that all aside and be happy go lucky? Besides, he had been alone for so long. When someone is inherently uncomfortable in situation with crowds of people, facing it alone is hardly a desirable option. Even so, his only other option was sitting in a hotel room bored to death… which he was not going to do. At the very least he would be able to explore the area, maybe even discovering something that could keep his interest.

The smell of grilling meat and spices would wafted through Kyohei’s nose as he wandered aimlessly through the Takigakure Festival Grounds, suddenly giving him a purpose and a goal. He hadn’t even noticed this whole time how hungry he was, but the aroma of festival food demanded his attention as his stomach growled at him and his mouth began to salivate. Like a blood hound he followed the trail of the aroma that lured him in relentlessly, letting his nose be his guide. As he drew closer and closer to his goal he would push any man in his way aside before finally approaching the stand that the aroma was coming from. With awe in his eyes he stared down over the open flame grill with all manners of meats and vegetables cooking over the charcoal and smoke. With no hesitation he would throw down cash onto the counter and purchase his kebabs.

Three kebabs in hand with assorted barbequed meats and vegetables placed onto the skewers he would walk off happily back into the crowd, continuing on his search for something to do. He didn’t appear to be any closer to finding something of interest, but at least he had food. Before long he would come across a rather large crowd gathering in a large, open area. Looking over the shoulders of others in the crowd he would see a stage in the distance with a group of women dressed in ornate and uniform attire walking on in unison. “A performance?” he thought to himself as he tore off a piece of barbequed beef from his kebab and chewed hungrily, “I guess I’ll stick around.”

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559~

Kyohei’s peace as he waited for the performance to begin while devouring his kebabs would soon be disturbed by a foreign tugging feeling down near the bottom of his shirt. Looking down curiously he would see a small white haired girl clinging to him in an attempt to regain her balance after apparently tripping. He smirked at the site of the little girl holding her stuffed rabbit taking particular interest in the color of her hair. Being one of the oddities born with white hair himself he thought it a good omen that she happened upon him like that. He may not have been good with people, but children never gave him any problems, most of them too young to resent him the way adults seemed to. Lowering his free hand he would press onto her shoulder to stabilize her, but before she even noticed him it appeared that the rather large, brutish man next to them had taken exception to her accidental slip.

When the man reached out attempting to grab the girl Kyohei would turn one of the empty skewers in his hand, ready to intercept the man, but the small girl seemed to have it all under control. Swiftly she avoided the man’s grasp, ducking down before striking him in the abdomen and sending him stumbling back into the crowd. Not even bothering to ensure that the man had been dealt with for good she would move into his spot in the crowd, clapping her hands in excitement as she peered over to the stage. So this girl was no ordinary child either judging by her movements and her ability to overpower a grown man with little to no effort… a good omen indeed. After a moment the man would come roaring back out from the crows, making a beeline right to the girl’s location, but would promptly be cut off by Kyohei. A kebab skewer would graze his cheek, peeling off the skin and drawing blood to make the man halt where he stood. What he would see next is the blood red glow of Kyohei’s sharingan as he glared him down.

“Would you still call yourself a man if you sucker punched a little girl?” Kyohei growled as he tilted his head sidewise, giving off almost a mad, bloodthirsty aura, “I have a few ideas regarding the proper punishment for men like you.” The man would become visibly shaken as Kyohei took a single step forward, waving his arms in front of him as he apologized and tried to diffuse the situation. “Why are you apologizing to me?” Kyohei snarled, pointing down to the small girl, “She’s the one you need to grovel to mut.”

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1014~

Kyohei would raise an eyebrow curiously at the request of the small girl. She seemed more than able to toss around a grown man with little effort, but she still could not overcome her naturally small stature. He let out an amused huff as she pointed to the crowd of people that seemed to tower over her, blocking her vision from the main stage. He wondered what he could do to help her in that situation though. It wasn’t like he could magically make her taller, and there was nothing in the immediate vicinity that could be used to boost her up above the heads of the other spectators. Trying to clear a path for her through the crowd forcefully would also be likely just get them both thrown out of the area by security, and they had already drawn far more negative attention than they needed with her roughhousing the man from before.

Kyohei hummed to himself aimlessly, racking his mind to try and think of a way to help the small girl. From the corner of his eye he noticed another child perched atop the shoulders of what he could only assume to be her father, boosting her clear above the heads of the crowd and giving the girl clear vision of the stage as they prepared to start the performance. Could that be the answer? “Uhhhh,” he began, pointing over at the girl atop her father’s shoulders, “There isn’t much around here to prop you up, but I guess if you really want to see you can hop up onto my shoulders like that? That seems to be the only way we are both seeing the performance without missing the beginning looking for another place to see from. How about it?” Awaiting her answer Kyohei would peer over to the stage to see the dancers beginning to take their positions. Should she agree he would simply kneel down to allow her to get on his back, although from what he saw earlier she could probably have just jumped up from the ground anyway.

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349~