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"Oh, Adohira. Show the Hokage your kagura."
The nine-year-old was draped in a pink kimono fading to yellow with a setting sun. It rolled down to her ankles and comically fell from her hands. It was considerably too big for her, and her tabi socks were folded down three times. Nevertheless, she extended her right leg backward, and the zori sandals which were too big for her made a sharp clack, nearly slipping from her feet. She pinched her toes to the strap to keep them in place.
She unveiled her fan. Bright red with the symbol of the Hidden Leaf. She slowly postured herself and imagined cleansing the air around her. Purifying it from demons, bad omens, and war-faring neighbors.
Kagura. The traditional song and dance. From a word meaning 'seat of God.' The dancers were to be selected to perform at the Leaf Village's Reign of Peace: a festival to celebrate prosperity and the coming years of prolonged peace.
Perhaps, wishful thinking.
Only... What Adohira was doing wasn't kagura. She was, spitefully so, abandoning her routine on the spot and creating an interpretive dance on her own.
Her mother's jaw dropped as fear and humiliation darkened her face. The Third Hokage and his associates all sported the same expression.
She fanned her hair with her fan like a movie star. Her bangs flew chaotically back and forth on her forehead, and she twirled her body as if she were a baton dancer, revolving like a spinning top. She extended a leg in the air to show off her impressive flexibility, and her right zori sandal flew up from her foot, catapulted in the air, and hit the Third Hokage right in his face.
"KYAAAAAAA~!" Her mother's scream echoed every corner of the Leaf Village.
┊ ˚➶ ｡˚˚ · • . ° .
You've humiliated me, you've embarrassed me, you've disgraced your entire family name. In front of the Third Hokage! My goodness!
Adohira stared blankly at her dinner. Her mother and father sat on each side of her. Crowsfeet had found their way on her parent's faces. People always made comments to her about how old her parents looked. The other children at grade school had young parents who could keep up with them. Adohira felt resigned to complacency and lethargy. She even thought sometimes that maybe her parents resented having her so late in life. But those thoughts didn't start until a few years later when she looked back at her childhood with a sullen frown.
"What happened, Adohira? You've never acted like this." Her mother pressed her for an answer. It was like a drill sergeant to a soldier. A Sensei to a Genin.
"Answer us," Her father ordered.
Adohira's eyes slowly lifted from the curry rice. She had been staring at the swirling steam levitating in shapes from her food. Her parent's eyes were cold and icy blue. She never inherited those eyes -- only the raven hair. She opened her small mouth to speak, and her tiny voice tried to find its place as she gave them an honest answer, "I am... bored."
