Everyone in the village thinks Ma is crazy. She moved to Mineral Town from a bigger city when she was a teenager to find a new life as a farmer. Along the way, she found love.

Now, most people court attractive young folks near their own age, but Ma was ambitious. She was a young, pretty thing, and quickly had all the bachelors wrapped around her little finger. But it wasn't enough. She wanted a challenge in a man. She found that challenge in my Da.

Man, I use in the loosest interpretation of the word. You see, Da is a Kappa – you know; short, green, balding creature somewhere between a duck, a turtle and a frog? Yeah. Not exactly tall, dark and handsome. But I digress. First time Ma met Da, he told her to go away, that she was annoying. Of course, that only encouraged her. Every day she went to his pond and threw him a cucumber. Da loves cucumbers. Eventually the bachelors found out what she was doing and gave Ma up as a lost cause. I don't think it really bothered her too much, though.

Four years after moving to Mineral Town, Ma and Da got married. It was a simple affair – most of the townspeople were kind of grossed out by their relationship or fearful of Da. It's understandable – there are a lot of fairy stories about Kappa and their vampiric tendencies. But Da was never like that. He was a man of few words, sure, but he loved my Ma as fiercely as she loved him.

Well, years went by and you know the saying: love, marriage… Yeah I was the baby in the baby carriage. Da named me Kyuuri. My first few years of life were great – I had a doting mother and father who were almost always there, and I wanted for nothing. Then school started and I met the other children.

You have to understand. I didn't look like them. My skin was pale and kind of green, so I almost perpetually looked sick, and my lips were a bright yellow color, like my dad's. I had a bald spot the size of a coin on the crown of my head that was filled with water. Sometimes if I bowed to someone, it would slosh out and I would get lightheaded. I grew to hate my appearance. Constant bullying led me to start tying my hair over my Kappa crown and wearing lipstick to hide my banana-colored lips. But nothing could be done for my short stature and greenish skin.

Some of the bullying I grew out of, over time, but I never trusted as easily again. I spent my days helping Ma on the farm and my evenings learning how to be a Kappa from Da. When I was in water, I changed to look more like Da. Scaly skin, webbed hands, duck bill and all. It wasn't so bad, though, as long as it was just my family that saw me that way. Da taught me how to claim a pond for my own and some basics on how to manipulate water. For protection, he said. Da told me that water would be easiest to control in a pond that I claimed for myself, but since Da had already claimed the larger bodies of water in the area, I had to content myself with practicing in the little puddles that cropped up after rain.

I was getting older though, and Da was pressing me to find a pond of my own to claim. I kind of agreed with him, ready to spread my fins, but Ma was more reluctant.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Ma's eyes were one of the few attributes that I had inherited from her. They were a bright blue, contrasting well with her summer-blonde hair. "You can always stay here for another year. I don't mind."

"Yeah, Ma. I know I still look young, but I'm twenty three! I think I'm plenty old enough to start my own farm, find my own pond. You know, that sort of thing…" I rubbed the back of my neck slightly, sheepishly looking down before I remembered to keep my bowl from spilling. A little sloshed out anyway, the water dripping down my forehead.

"You can't even keep from losing your water in front of you mother!" Ma chided me, dabbing at the liquid with a handkerchief pulled from her overall pocket. "How do you expect to survive out in the world without me there to protect you?"

I frowned at her, irritated. "It was only a little bit of water, Ma! And I'll be careful. I'll write every week, if it makes you happy. I just want to do something on my own, for once. You and Da and great and all, but sometimes I feel kind of smothered, you know?" I crossed my arms over my small chest.

Ma pursed her lips at me and I instantly felt sorry for acting so rudely towards her. I opened my mouth to apologize, but she spoke first, surprising me into swallowing my words. "You're right, Kyuuri. As much as I hate to admit it, you are getting older now. Just let me help you figure out where to live in the future? You know, a last task to do together as mother and daughter?"

I nodded shyly in response, red darkening my cheeks. "Yeah, Ma. Should we start with the ads, then?"

"Sure, I think I have today's newspaper in the house. Let me grab it and we can chill outside. It really is a nice day." Ma smiled prettily at me and I grimaced back.

Standing in the sun was kind of annoying, I thought, so I climbed into the river to wait for Ma to return, my skin growing scaly like a fish and a hard turtle-like shell building itself over my narrow shoulders. Even though I looked kind of scary like this, it really was more comfortable. Ma came back after a little while, rolled newspaper in one hand and in the other, a plate of-

"Sliced cucumbers!? Ma, you shouldn't have!" I grabbed it from her as soon as she came in range, shoving a small handful of the watery vegetable into my mouth. Ma giggled at me.

"You look just like your father when you do that." A dreamy look settled over her features.

"Maaa! That's gross, don't think about Da like that around me!" I whined around my mouthful of heaven. Ma just laughed softly, sinking to the grass. The newspaper crinkled open after a moment and she started scanning the Help Wanted ads.

"Riku-san is looking for seasonal help for Poultry Farm, and Karin-chan is looking for a clerk to help at the General Store."

"Pass." I lifted my head out of the water stubbornly. "I want to go somewhere other than Mineral Town. Da already claimed all the good water spots around here."

"Well, there aren't too many foreign ads here…" Ma mumbled half to herself as she scanned the paper, pink tongue poking slightly out of the side of her mouth. She flipped through the pages, stopping to stare at one part for a moment before moving on. "Nah, nothing. Guess you'll have to stay here!" Her voice was filled with false brightness.

"You hesitated there for a minute, what was it?" I clambered onto the bank, reaching towards the paper with my wet hands.

"Nothing!" Ma held the paper further from me, standing to use her superior height against mine.

"Ma!" I frowned, reaching and jumping. My damp fingertips brushed against the newspaper and I focused on increasing the power of surface tension, wrinkling my brow. "Aha! Got it!" I pulled the rolled paper from her grip, opening it to the page she had stopped on. Right in the middle was a modestly large ad in blocky, attention-grabbing letters that read

"Do you love farming, excitement and village life? Do you want the chance to start over in a new place? Then Konohagakure is the hidden village for you! We're looking for a talented farmer to take over one of our recently abandoned fields. Send us a message if you're interested!

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage"

I paused, reread the passage, then let a smile break upon my yellow lips. "Ma, this is perfect! I'm good at farmwork, so I won't really have to learn anything, and Konohagakure is a hidden village. They probably get weirdos there all the time, so I'll fit in perfectly!"

Ma whacked me over the head with an open palm. "Kyuuri, you're not a weirdo! Don't call yourself that. You're a beautiful, talented young lady – and don't you forget it!"

I raised an eyebrow at her. Beautiful, ha! I was a kappa child. No child of a kappa was considered beautiful.

"But I don't know about Konoha. They're a ninja village. That means that it's dangerous there! Those abandoned fields, they're probably that way because of the Third Shinobi World War. Lots of people died, Kyuuri. I don't want you going somewhere where you might be in danger." Ma usually looks happy, bright, carefree, but right now she looked serious. Dead serious.

I grimaced gently at her, placing a clammy hand over her own. "I'll be fine, Ma. I just feel like I have to take this opportunity, you know?"

Ma deflated, pulling me into a hug. "Yeah, I know, my little cucumber, I know. Just promise me you'll be safe, though. And-" Here she hesitated, squeezing me tighter. "Don't tell anyone you're part kappa, okay? People fear what they don't understand. Here it's different – everyone knows about Kappa and I." A blush spread over her cheeks before she brushed it away. "But there are a lot of fairy stories about kappa, not all of them good. I don't want you to be persecuted for something that you can't control. You can do that for Ma, right?"

I hugged her back. "Yeah, Ma. I can." I poked her in the side to make her let go. "Guess I'll have to pack extra lipstick, though!" I wiggled my yellow lips at her, making her giggle.

"We should start writing that letter then. Just let me get the stationary!" Ma ran back inside, me on her tail.

"Dear Sandaime-sama,

My name is Kyuuri, and I'm going to be the best farmer that Konohagakure has ever seen! I'd like to hire an escort ninja to bring me and my belongings to the village so that I can get started right away on turning the land you mentioned into a real farm. I have experience, don't you worry about that. I am looking forward to meeting you and becoming a citizen of Konoha!

Sincerely,

Kawa Kyuuri."

A week later, a shinobi showed up at my door, ready to take me to my new home. I was excited, but also kind of apprehensive. I'd lived my whole life within a few kilometers of the Mineral Town outskirts. What was the world like, beyond the valley?

So... Yes, another story. Kyuuri means cucumber in Japanese, so I thought it was a rather fitting name for the daughter of a Kappa. This story may seem kind of, well, odd. But I've always enjoyed writing odd characters. I planning on this becoming a Maito Gai and Kyuuri romance, because I love Gai's character and he never really gets enough attention.

I was kind of inspired by a story I read years ago called Son of a Kappa (I think - it really has been a long time) about Kappa and Claire's daughter moving to Waffle Town to start a new life. My Kyuuri is of course, a much different person than the kappa daughter in that story. I would recommend the read, but it has long been discontinued and I doubt that more updates are coming anytime soon.

Well, stick with me guys! Kyuuri gets to Konoha in the next chapter. I hope to keep everyone in character as much as possible~ Stay tuned and drop a review if you feel so inclined!

-Kohlii