Underneath Her Mask

New Jobs

The scent of food wafting from every direction was slowly making me delirious. I was starving. Running a hand through my hair, I glanced at the shops. There were many shops but I wanted one that would keep me out of ninja sights for most of the time. I couldn't afford to be recognized as Natsune Kitsura. 

Although, disguised as a boy, that wasn't as likely to happen as it could have been.

"Dammit! Useless, no good, son of a--"

I glanced at the man cursing. He stood in front of a bookstore, a fallen box of books in front of him. He was older, a little on the portly side, with graying hair and a small pair of spectacles on his nose. He kicked at the box, still cursing fluently. One hand was on his back.

I glanced around, noting that no one seemed eager to help him. The woman cast him warry glances and the men bemused looks but no one moved to help him. I moved towards him, figuring I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

"Do you need help?"

"Eh?" the man turned to glare at me, looking irritated. "What'd you want? You come for the latest shipment of romance novels girl?"

I very carefully showed no reaction. "I happen to be a boy old man," I snapped. "Now do you want help with the damn box or not?"

The man jerked back before laughing uproariously. "Well, well! You've certainly got spunk! Ever think about working in a bookstore?"

I scoffed, kneeling to pick up the box and its contents. "Kami help me if an old man like you is the boss," I said. 

"Oi! I take offense to that ya brat!"

"Good! Damn old man!"

"I ain't old! I'm perfectly springy!"

"You're perfectly senile! You looked in a mirror lately? And fo you even know what the hell springy means?!"

I hardly realized what I was doing as we argued back and forth. It was playful, like we'd been friends for years. It felt like he pulled the reaction out of me, like it was natural. As I picked up the box and followed him inside, still trading insults, I had a feeling I'd end up with a job there whether I wanted it or not.

"Just set the box over there in that corner. Damn thing, it's a bigger pain than my grandson."

"I pity the boy," I muttered.

"I heard that brat! You better be respectful, especially if you don't want people knowin' yer a girl!"

"Like I said old man. I'm a boy."

He raised one brow, looking me up and down. "I'll admit, you don't seem to have a chest," he said. "But I know a girl when i see one. You are a girl."

He turned away, waving a hand at me over his shoulder. "But don't worry. So long as you take a job here, I won't tell a soul. I doubt anyone would believe me anyways."

"That's it old man? You're just going to give a random stranger off the streets a job? You really are senile."

He smirked. "That may be so, but I can always pick a good soul out of a crowd. And you, dear girl, are a good soul. A damn fine one if I say so myself."

I crossed my arms and glared at him. "You don't even know me."

"Don't need to." He shuffled some papers on the counter aside, clearing some space. Bending down a little he pulled out what looked to be an application form. "I've never been wrong about a person. Not a once."

I stared at the application as he held it out to me. I didn't know this man's name, didn't have a clue who the hell he was. Yet here he was calling me a good soul, saying he didn't need to know me to tell. He didn't even have a clue about my past. 

My bloodied, broken past.

I cursed myself silently for falling into the trap and opening up without realizing it. Even as I was cursing myself, my hand took the pen and filled out the application. I couldn't very well turn away the job, not when I needed it so desperately.

"What's you name girl?"

I ground my teeth. "I. Am. A. Boy. And my name is Natsune Ryosuke."

He raised a questioning brow but said nothing. I handed the papers back with shaking hands. I was frantically trying to build my walls back up, reinforce the ice around my heart. I could not let anyone get close to me. I'd get hurt in the end, just like before. 

This was definitely going to come back to bite me in the ass.

"I'm Daisuke. Tamata Daisuke."

"Daisuke-san?"

"Yeah brat?"

"I hate you."

"I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship, eh brat?"

_________________________________________________________________________

After we'd worked out hours, days, and pay; I set to work organizing the store. I was surprised the old man could find anything in there with the way he had random books tossed on random shelves. It would take me weeks to organize it all.

"You have horrid organizational skills," I said emotionlessly. 

"Stay emotionless, detached. Keep them at a distance. Do not let them get close."

He snorted, shuffling more papers. "You can thank my last employee. Silly girl didn't know one end of a book from another. Probably would've lost her head if it wasn't attached."

He continued on about how she'd been very naive and inexperienced but generally good company. She'd been petite and males had flocked to the store because of her beauty. I wondered if that was why he'd hired me but dismissed the thought. I looked like a boy. Although, that hadn't stopped him from noticing I was actually a girl.

By the time he told me to go, I'd managed to organize only a couple of the shelves. It was a complicated process. You had to get all the books in proper order, which meant searching through all the other books to find the ones you needed. That put all the other shelves in greater disarray and made it harder to find the book you were looking for.

Basically, it was a pain in the ass.

I returned to the alley I'd been staying in and curled back up in my spot. The old man had fed me so I wasn't starving now. I was just cold and uncomfortable. If it rained, I was going to be screwed. There wasn't really anything I could cover myself with in the alley. 

I curled up into a ball and pulled my jacket around me tighter. Kami knew I was going to need all the sleep I could get if I had to deal with the old man on an almost daily basis.

Soon enough, I fell asleep.