Providence: Book One

Chapter Seven: All Work and No Play

　　Chapter Seven

　　All Work and No Play

　　

　　

　　Rio woke up to the feeling of a slipper nudging her uninjured side, she opened her eyes slowly, blinking against the pervasive sunlight that invaded her eyelids. Naoki was standing over her, an expression of bemusement on his face. His hair was washed and his skin was scrubbed pink, he was dressed in the dull russets and blacks of an apprentice, but he looked better than he had in weeks. Beside him Suzu stood in a simple cotton kimono dyed the bright yellow of a baby chick. She had removed her hair ornament, but the bell was threaded through the hem of one of her sleeves. She was rocking back and forth on her brand new straw sandals, looking extremely nervous.

　　"If you sleep out in the open like that, someone is going to find you." Naoki said in a flat voice, but he looked irritated. In his hands he held two large brown paper packages, and a small, expensive looking porcelain box. He knelt down beside Rio and began opening the packages. The first one was a simple kimono, like Suzu's only a dark, dark blue, the obi was wine red, a few shades darker than the color of Rio's eyes. The colours were bright and vivid, but the cloth was rough, scratchy even. Rio's robes were thick, and crusty with mud and blood, or else they probably could have sold them for a decent price, Rio had never worn anything but the most expensive clothing, as expected of Tsukishiro's Megami no Shimo Be, Ekirei seethed as Rio gently touched the cloth,

　　Naoki bid Rio to stand up and held the Kimono up to her as she did, it looked like it might be a bit too big, but Naoki saw no problem with this. "Hopefully you'll fill out a bit in the years to come." he gave Rio a quick up-and-down look. "You can't keep that boyish figure forever." embarrassed, Rio covered her small chest with her arms. Naoki folded the kimono back into the first box, and then grabbed the second box, significantly smaller than the first one.

　　When he opened the second box, Rio recoiled. Inside, was a long, wickedly curved dagger, polished until gleaming and definitely sharp.

　　"Turn around." Naoki, said, his voice held no emotion and Rio swallowed thickly.

　　"Wh-Why?" she asked, her heart thudding in her chest almost painfully. Naoki rolled his eyes and grabbed the dagger, blade down.

　　"Do you really trust me so little? I need to cut your hair before we color it. It will make it easier to dye in the future, and it will make you a lot less noticeable." he made a spinning motion with his his finger. Rio did as she was told, but her heart sank down into her toes. Her hair was one of her finest assets, and she hated to lose it. Rio sat still as Naoki tied her hair up into a high ponytail with a silk ribbon and hacked it off at the top of the ponytail, with a brief snagging sensation, years of growth and grooming was gone. Her hair fell to the ground, looking for all the world like clumps of spiders-silk.

　　Rio's hand's shook when she touched the soft, short spikes where her long white curls had once been. She knew she was being over dramatic, but the loss of the hair that had made her so proud, the one thing she had loved about herself...it felt like severing all of her good memories at the Tsukishiro shrine forever, and she was knocked breathless by the pain of it.

　　She sat silently as Suzu scrubbed the sickly sweet smelling dye into her hair, turning white to black in a matter of seconds.

　　"The dye woman said you would need to renew the colour every month or so," Suzu said, her voice quiet as if she sensed the mood her friend was in. "You look lovely with black hair, especially with your pale skin, and I'm sure your new kimono will look amazing on you!"