The Heiress and the Urchin (P)

The click of the rotating wheels and the sound of rubber meeting pavement were really starting to get old. Worse still, Aryll’s arms ached from the days of overuse. The sudden need for upper body strength was taking its toll on her lithe, slender build, but already her arms were beginning to grow in muscle mass. She was sure she’d get used to it eventually, but for now, the searing, burning sensation that she felt as her arms screamed for rest was one she had to deal with. Rolling this damned thing up a hill was absolute agony, and unfortunately she didn’t have much choice. It was the only way for her to get to the market, after all.

She’d run out of food. Aryll was at a total loss for what to do, so she decided to just go buy herself lunch. She’d never gone grocery shopping, so maybe she would just buy a fuckton of take out and do that. After all, she didn’t know how to cook anyways. She was too much of a gearhead for it. Whenever she cooked, it always seemed to taste of oil, and really, that alone was enough reason for Aryll to avoid having to cook for herself. Now that she was living alone, Aryll realized, piece by piece, that there were a lot of things she’d never known how to do. She couldn’t cook, she hated cleaning, and she didn’t even know how to shop for groceries. Add that to her extremely limited mobility, and it was a wonder she could survive at all. Thankfully the heiress had plenty of money to spare.

Her silver hair was tied up in a bun, hidden by a grey hoodie sweatshirt that she had stolen from her brother’s closet. He hadn’t worn the thing in years. It did a good job of hiding her face, however, which was a godsend, given all the hearsay about the Hyuuga family in Kirigakure as of late.

Aryll’s teeth gritted with effort as she pushed her wobbly chair up the hill, one arm lurching forwards after the other. It was absolute agony, and she knew she’d faceplant if she tried to take the hill back down. She was at an impasse, and the only direction she could go was up. It was a massive pain in the ass. Aryll grunted, her effort audible as she tried to force herself up that wretched slope, each arm pulling her an inch or so further.

When she finally reached the summit, something that would never be this difficult an obstacle had she been able to walk. Aryll sighed in relief, looking around at the market she had arrived at. She’d been here many times with Haru, though she’d ever only paid attention to things that interested her. She’d never needed to get food or anything of the sort, and so was clueless. As she scanned the streets, she tried to sneak herself through the crowd without trespassing upon someone, however, her efforts were largely fruitless. It was an absolute nightmare to navigate for Aryll, even with her byakugan, not in the least because she couldn’t steer herself effectively enough to weave around the pedestrians.

Among the many market stalls, Aryll saw many, many things, and was clueless as to where to go and what to do. In truth, she’d been rather spoiled all her life. Her only calling was to fight, and until recently, it had been her only concern. Fight, and we will feed you. Fight, and you need not think of anything else. Fight, and you can live with your head in the clouds. It had been her way for a very long time. As she eyed a stall that was selling fresh fish, unsure of what she was to do with the massive scaly creatures, she noticed a familiar head of silver hair, and for a moment Aryll believed that she was having another relapse. Then, she noticed that the girl whom the hair belonged to was much smaller than she, and in fact, was someone Aryll had met before. Aryll couldn’t see what she was doing, but it seemed that she was tinkering with something, though just what Aryll couldn’t tell, as the crowd kept getting in the way. Using the byakugan in public like this was bound to freak people out, so Aryll would settle for finding out what was up the old fashioned way.

She wheeled herself through the torrent of civilians who were largely unconcerned with her, struggling as the wheels caught on people’s clothes or ran over feet, and frowning and looking away from pointed glares, people who obviously didn’t have time for her. As Aryll neared the girl, she felt herself pulled to a jarring stop. She looked down with horror and saw that she had met a curb. Sighing, she pushed hard on the wheels, struggling to lift her chair above the curb. No luck. She placed both hands on the chair and hopped up, physically lifting the chair into the air for a moment, so that one wheel went over the curb. She did the same once more and she was over. She pushed herself to the girl, hoping she hadn’t just been witnessed.

”Hello.” Aryll said, smiling lightly at the owner of the silver hair. ”What brings you out here?” She asked.

Shadowfax awoke that morning and had decided it had likely been a good day to go out and try to peddle some of her homemade goods. Although they were crafty and useful tools for everyday survival situations, not many people had the take on the items that Shadow did. And it came in handy, because she had a lot of potential business and a great volume of customers due to the uniqueness of her inventory.

Despite the usual flow of traffic in the market in the early morning hours, she briefly thought and then decided it was best to start off early anyway. Within the most recent months, it seemed that Shadowfax had a much higher demand than usual. Business was truly booming. It would have given her time to prepare some goods. She would promptly get dressed, donning a kimono-styled battlesuit befitting of a Kirigakure Genin. Shadow had taken a few aging pills, and her appearance had dramatically changed. 

Her silver hair was longer and more illustrious, her eyes were larger and rounder, her face baring a more womanly tone than a childs now. Her breasts had begun to perk up and develop, her hips following suit accordingly. She grew a few inches taller even. She would slide two black sleeve-gloves onto both arms, insulted with a comfortably protective mesh. The mesh underneath of her top would stop just above her bellybutton, much like a belly shirt, matching a black and silver belt which held up a similarly styled pair of leggings that exposed the top of her thighs and hips on each side, matching back up just before the knee and closed off with bandage wrappings around her knees. 

She was more beautiful, more deadly. More... Just more. She would walk from her alleyway, having still not been able to afford an apartment of her own due to the lack of business and the daily upkeep of having to survive as well as handle two very large wolves. Shadowfax would whistle and bellow out a name, calling forth one of them. "Xena!" Without the slightest hesitation, a loud howl was heard in the distance from above the rooftops. 

Within a few seconds, the appearance of a blue streak came flying from the red colored shingles atop a house, the figure landing and causing a cloud of dust to settle, mixing ground sediment with the mist in the area. Thankfully, the rain had been falling a little less hard today, so it made it fairly easy to make out things, even from a decent distance. That and the mist not being too overwhelming, it made for a pleasant day in the rather dreary Kirigakure.

As the dust settled, the wolf could be seen in all of its natural glory. A blue mane complimented by a ghost white underbelly. She looked almost exactly like a shark. Her hair was long and extended about eleven or twelve inches for a single strand on her body, and around fourteen to fifteen inches around the neck and mane & collarbone areas. She was majestic. Her eyes were a vampire-like glowing red which seemed to pierce the soul as she gazed, terror only further implied by the double scratch-like markings seen on both sides of her face; just under her eyes. 

It would certainly have been an impressive sight for anyone in the area to have witnessed. It almost seemed like it was about to charge, bull rush and eat the young woman, but instead; laid down harmlessly, placing its head at the feet of Shadowfax. The girl would bend down, give it a kiss on its head, rub its nose, and walk around its side. Placing one leg over the back of the neck of the creature, she tossed herself up, mounting it entirely. Xena would look up at Shadowfax, and her owner would nod, assuring Xena that it was time to move. 

She would stand, her legs reaching an astonishing ten feet high, and her body being a little larger than thirteen feet long. Her weight caused her massive paws to slightly sink into the dirt, each footstep forward leaving a massive imprint of the wolf's presence. They would head for a local stall lot that Shadowfax maintained, having paid the city in advance for holding the spot for her and her alone to sell her goods. A rather large pagoda sits inside of a small, white-fenced lot, weapon racks, tool racks and shelves, armor modifications put on display and survival equipment all laid out elegantly for passerbys to purchase. Shadowfax guaranteed 100% quality satisfaction with each of her items. 

She hadn't really chosen to make anything specific today, instead began just carving out a square frame out of a large wooden stump made of balsa wood. The reason is that balsa lumber is very soft and light, with a coarse, open grain. Balsa wood also with a decent density ratio. The wood of the living tree has large cells that are filled with water. This gives the wood a spongy texture. It also makes the wood of the living tree not much lighter than water and barely able to float. 

For commercial production, the wood is kiln-dried for about two weeks, leaving the cells hollow and empty. The large volume-to-surface ratio of the resulting thin-walled empty cells gives the dried wood a large strength-to-weight ratio because the cells are mostly air. Unlike naturally rotted wood, that soon disintegrates in the rainforests where balsa trees grow, the cell walls of kiln-seasoned balsa wood retain their strong structure of cellulose and lignin, providing waterproof qualities as well as bamboo-like strength and durability. 

Just as she had finished squaring off the final corner of the cube, roughly 4 x 4 in size, she was approached by someone. Shadowfax immediately had a familiarity with the voice. Or the owner of it, at least. She would turn her head, and the familarity would be met with realization. Her hunch was right. It was none other than Aryll Hyuuga. The only difference being she was hiding her identity. At least that is what Shadowfax assumed given that she has a gray hoodie on and the hood was up, causing shadows to distort the beauty that was Aryll. To someone familiar however, strands of silver hair peeking from the hood would given leniancy to doubt.

Her chair was made of a seemingly fine metal, of pretty decent quality. One that Shadowfax had yet to be capable of utilizing. She admired it for a moment, walking around it whilst tapping her chin with her pointer finger and nodding in a curious manner. "Greetings Aryll.. Wow, what an amazing chair you have. Mhm... Mhm.. The metallurging and ingenuity captivated in this design is unparalleled, truly.. Whoever created this was certainly an amazing engineer. Give them my thanks for having been able to study its mechanical qualities. You, in turn, also have my thanks for bringing to my stall." She'd giggle, and smirk, seeming to think for a moment, taking in its mechanical genius. She could somehow apply the mechanics of this for a future project. 

Perhaps matching two or four sets of the tires and fabricate a replica chakra thread/cloth-pattern cross-thread line spinner and mounting a lightweight chassis atop it, using chakra as a catalyst for powering the engine of a new invention. She was unsure of how to determine the composition of the aforementioned chassis however.. As metallurging was something she wasn't too skilled at.

She was hoping to get better at it, but, for the most part; all she can really do is create rods, chainmail, bolts, screws, arrows. Anything simple. Nevertheless, this invention was certainly one never before seen in this world quite yet. A fast, man-powered, low-to-no energy required, vehicle. But this idea was to be applied another time. However, she would take a mental note of the thought and cherish it, hoping to one day soon fully visualize and accomplish this great idea.

She would then snap back into reality, having been lost in thought due to the magnificence of the chair and the pitter patter of the rain outside. Xena would also hear Aryll's voice, and although Shadowfax was familiar with it, Xena however, was not. She stood, having been instructed by Shadowfax to lay in the tent to provide cover from the falling rain and allow the wolf to take a nap; as she always remains active and summoned at all times, providing Shadowfax company, love, loyalty and protection.

Exactly what Shadow needed. She would peek her head from the hanging curtains covering the entrance of the pagoda, having been folded inward. Her monstrous paw would have peeked out first, then her snout, her mouth baring the two sets of teeth that made the Kirigakure Bloodhound Wolf the lethal killing machine it is today. Shadowfax would immediately hold her hand up to Xena, two fingers formed. Xena's almost glowing red eyes would seem to snap to Shadow's fingers, and lay down at the beginning of the entrance of the pagoda, allowing her to react if something were to indeed happen. Shadowfax had taught Xena to trust as Shadow trusted. Trust with your heart, not with your life, and it was Xena's life mission to protect Shadow at any cost. 

To answer Aryll's additional question, she would smile, closing her eyes. "Well, to get by, I make and sell handmade goods made of the finest and unique materials. Its how I survive, and I take absolute pride in my craftsmanship. I'm especially good with woodworking, clothweaving, tailoring and leatherworking, but metallurging and smithing isn't something I'm exactly amazing at. Feel free to take a look around. Since we have history and this is actually the first time you have visited my shop, you may have one thing for free if you'd like. I assure you that each of them is useful and very valuable. Furthermore, I can guarantee I spent many hours perfecting each one. Hahaha." She would laugh, though it was almost painful. Having to think of all of the painstaking times she had cut herself, got a splinter, smashed her thumb into pieces, broken her hand, fractured her wrist.. Boy, professions can really fuck you up.