𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘉𝘌𝘋𝘌𝘝𝘐𝘓𝘌𝘋 𝘓𝘌𝘎𝘈𝘊𝘠 | ⁿᵃʳᵘᵗᵒ

Sins of the Mother

SINS OF THE MOTHER

✧

Begrudgingly, Asami headed to Ume's home after she visited with Kousuke. He left on the pretense of needing to do something for his mother, mentioning something about meeting up with her later for some additional training if she wanted. Asami had a feeling she wouldn't be opposed to that, especially if Ume was as difficult as the last time she saw her. She would probably need to blow off some steam.

Asami still didn't know why Ume acted so distasteful toward her last time. She knew that some people still had ill opinions of her status as a shinobi since she was a woman, so she had played with the idea of this being a reason for Ume's attitude. There were not many female ninjas as the field was still dominated by men. The changing of times just did not sit well with certain people and made them act out. While she had considered it as a possible reason for Ume's attitude, she didn't think that was it. 

Asami had almost half the mind to ask Ume about it directly, but unless she acted out of line she wasn't going to bring attention to it. Unlike her older cousins, Madara especially, who tended to coolly snap back at people who disrespected them, Asami wasn't a fan of disrupting the peace. 

Not that she was a pacifist, but she didn't actively seek out problems. She was a firm believer in just minding your business. Though that didn't go to say that Asami was going to let Ume say whatever she wanted to avoid an uncomfortable situation. She had shut down Ume's disrespectful comments once before when Asami's boundaries had been crossed, so she wouldn't refrain from doing that again if Ume pushed too much. 

Reaching closer to the edge of the compound, the passerby's giving her curt bows or nods of acknowledgment, Asami entered Ume's small shop. 

The inside was fairly plain, a small worktable pressed into the corner of the room with a chair beside it. Rolls of fabric were stacked upon each other and pressed into corners, other rolls leaned up against the wall underneath the windows letting in natural light. Most of the fabrics consisted of dark and neutral colors, the brightest shade there being a pale blue. She recognized it easily as the color Izuna wore the most. 

A few already sewn yukatas were draped over another chair. On a bench on the opposite side of the room were stacks of folded clothes consisting of pre-made yukatas and small shirts presumably for children. 

The shop was pretty organized, each thing seeming to be put in its proper place. There were no decorations, the walls devoid of any paintings or knickknacks. The white orchid sitting on the work desk with a half-sewn maroon yukata was the only thing that seemed out of place. 

Asami hadn't been here in a while, as Hana was the one who would go to the shop and pick up clothes for the both of them. Hana had the most interactions with Ume out of the two of them. Asami wore whatever she was given by Hana, so it wasn't as though she knew what to pick out either. She hadn't even thought about the process of picking out clothes, or if she needed to know her measurements beforehand. 

Asami had been noticing lately how much she had relied on her sister to take care of mundane tasks. Hana would pick up soap for baths and do both her own and Asami's laundry... Asami knew she did these things, but the routine of Hana taking care of these other tasks was so normal she hadn't even thought about having to pick up the slack now that her sister was gone.

She missed Hana so much. Even in simple things such as buying clothes she could feel the empty spaces her sister had left behind. 

"Asami-sama?" 

Asami broke out of her trance, looking up from the wooden planks that made up the shop floor. 

Ume stood in the doorway at the back of the shop. She wore a navy blue yukata, her short, glossy hair parted down the middle and framing her face. She raised a thin eyebrow at her, hand resting on the doorframe she stood in. "Can I help you?"