"Lady Tsuyoi! Where are you?" Lady Fukuo's voice called down the empty hallway. Tsuyoi paused, her hand on the door that led to the courtyard outside. Do I really want to deal with her right now? Tsuyoi thought for a moment. The incessant nagging, the fake bright smiles. Then the brutal training. Then the memories followed, and the sensational burn of her sword in her hand. Heck no. She shut the memory out, tight. Not today. Not today, or any other day. Never again.

She ignored her patron's summons and pushed the door open. The bright afternoon sun blinded her for a moment, and she relished the tingling sensation it left on her eyes. She stepped outside, letting the warm sun bathe her in its glowing light. It was out here, in the Liodito sun, where she could forget her problems, for however briefly.

Tsuyoi headed across the courtyard to the clearing she'd roped off for her swordsmanship lessons. The trees here were slashed, their bark carved away from years of practice. She paused while she was reaching for the hilt of her longest sword, gazing at the largest oak tree with her head tilted thoughtfully. The bark's carved-out sections started down lower than the rest of the trees. She must have been shorter when she'd made them, significantly shorter. These ten years have really flown by, she thought. In one week, it'll be all over. Nothing I do will matter anymore. Feeling a pillar of anger rise up inside her, she unsheathed her long sword from its sheath on her back. She closed her eyes, holding it out in front of her with both hands. With a release of reiki, her dairokkan markings ignited and blazed to life. The tattoos created a path so that the energy traveled from her forearms, up her shoulders and neck, and into her eyes. She felt the reiki in the air around her gather in the tattoos on her arms, and she pushed, channeling it up into her eyes. The Dairokkan was a kekkai genkai of the Arakawa clan, a culmination of natural-born high-level reiki and persistent, harsh training. Not every Arakawa had the ability or resources to learn the amount of reiki control required in mastering dairokkan, and Tsuyoi knew she was lucky to have learned it at all. Dairokkan enabled her to sense the life force in all living things, and bend the energy collected to her will.

There were baby steps, of course. But the possibilities were limitless. Just last week, Tsuyoi had learned how to channel reiki to her feet to increase her speed, and into her fists for more precision and force in hand to hand combat. Lady Tomoe had been training her in dairokkan shiryoku hard lately, teaching her how to build up reiki and expel it to her eyes, and she wanted to get good at using the new skill before her patron trained with her again. Anger flared up again. Why do I bother? In a week I'm going to be-Tsuyoi shut the thought down and shut her eyes. Shifting the blade to her right hand, she twisted her fingers into the backhand position on the hilt.

"Dairokkan shiryoku," she muttered, releasing the pent-up reiki into her eyes. Eyes closed, she used her enabled sixth sense to find her mark. There. She could sense the space between two slash marks that hadn't been touched yet. She swung, sharp and quick. "Dairokkan Release," she mumbled again, sending the leftover reiki back into the air around her. She opened her eyes and there was another neat nick in the tree, right where she'd meant for it be. Flopping into the grass with her long blade beside her, she leaned her head back and stared at the sky. How boring, she thought, gazing at the clouds drifting aimlessly overhead. Perfection isn't all it's cracked up to be. Maybe if I didn't seem so perfect, Lady Hayate would have picked another girl that day, and I wouldn't have had to suffer like this.

Closing her eyes, she thought back to her Day Of Choosing. The Dragon Queen before her had been named Hayate Ai. The beautiful girl had seemed so tall to Tsuyoi then.

"You."

The word had been spoken plainly enough, but still Mother Hana and Mother Yuki's mouths gaped in shock. Their matching green eyes stared at the tip of Lady Hayate's pointing finger. The smooth, perfect finger was aimed at the stretch of forehead between Tsuyoi's eyes. The tiny youth stared back at the finger, slightly cross-eyed, a frown on her mouth.

"Lady Hayate, please reconsider. Tsuyoi, she's very, uh, free-spirited." Mother Hana pleaded, her voice high and squeaky.

Lady Hayate appraised the child, eyes sharp with intelligence. "She's an Arakawa, isn't she?"

"Y-yes, but-"

"So with training, she can possess the Dairokkan?"

"Hypothetically speaking, yes, milady."

"She has the highest level of reiki out of this group, Mother Hana. The Dragon King needs the purest of souls to be the Dragon Queen." Hayate smiled at Tsuyoi, trying to win favor with the girl, but the child only stuck her tongue out at her.

Mother Hana and Mother Yuki smiled despite themselves. "Forgive us, milady. Tsuyoi is anything but pure. She's the biggest troublemaker in Liodito. Even the boys aren't as rambunctious as her. We just prayed that we would find a good apprenticeship for her, and an honest profession would mellow her out. Ever since the Headmna passed, she's become moody as well."

Hayate glared hard at Tsuyoi, and Tsuyoi glared back. "You are the one," she told the girl, her voice surprisingly soft. "And it is time for you to become the next Dragon Queen." She held out her hand to the child. "Come."

Tsuyoi still glared. "I have to say goodbye to Takashi Yamashita and Hiromu Hoshi. They are my best friend, and I promised that I would say goodbye if I was Chosen," she said plainly, crossing her arms over her chest.

Hayate blinked at the girl. Once the next Dragon Queen was chosen, she was not allowed to speak to anyone except her patrons, or in Hayate's case, the Mothers.

A silent battle ensued. Tsuyoi's emerald eyes raged war with Hayate's pale leaf green ones, rebelling against the rules placed in Liodito since before either of them were born. Finally, Hayate nodded. "Come then. We must be swift, lest we are caught."

A rustling in the bushes beyond the courtyard startled Tsuyoi out of her memories. Her senses shot into hyper alert. Her hearing zeroed in on the direction the noises had come from, behind her. She didn't turn, lest she alert the intruder that she was aware of their presence. Instead, she focused, pressing her hearing to a point. The sounds were too heavy for the occasional squirrels or even deer that roamed the deep forest surrounding the monastery where Tsuyoi lived, and it was too light for any mega Faun, even a newborn. What could it be? She thought, standing up slowly and stretching her arms over her head, feigning ignorance. Or rather, who? She gazed longingly at her long sword where it lay in the grass. I cannot let them know that I am capable of defending myself. Then she remembered; her other two swords were still strapped to her back. Anyone with good sense will see the empty perch and assume she was missing a blade, or think she could be hiding it. Drat!

She spun around and walked towards the monastery, letting a wistful expression mask her anxiety. Who could possibly be out here? Only me and the patrons know where this place is! She paused, reaching the place that the noise had been coming from. The rustling had ceased. All was still; even the birds and the squirrels had gone quiet, like they were holding their breath in suspense. Finally, Tsuyoi exhaled. Whoever was hiding was skilled in keeping silent. Only one thing left to try.

Tsuyoi closed her eyes and lifted her hands. Curling her right hand in a fist, she planted it into the palm of her left. "Dairokkan!" Her tattoos glowed. "Shiryoku!" The reiki was absorbed into her skin, leaving the air around her dry. The energy traveled up her arms, over her shoulders, and up into her eyes. Opening them again, her vision of the wall and the tall trees above it faded; now she saw the world around her in solid masses of color. Warmer life-forces came out in reds and oranges, and cooler ones in mellow blues and greens. Now, she pinpointed the intruder, his life energy a vivid orange among the purple of the trees. She could make out his shoulders and head. In a flash, she scooped a rock from the earth and launched it into the trees. There was a sharp cry of pain, and then a person tumbled over the gray stone wall and into the dirt.

In her surprise, her shiryoku vanished, and she found herself face to face with a blue-eyed, yellow-haired boy. He had pinkish white skin, the likes of which she had she had ever seen before, and there were strange black markings on his cheeks that resembled a cat's whiskers. He winced in pain and sat up in the dust, rubbing a knot on his temple. How did that not knock him out?

"Owww! What did you do that for?" He whined. As he said this, he cut a glance to the trees he had come from. Tsuyoi's hackles rose. There are others!

Tsuyoi darted forward; with one hand she grabbed the disoriented boy and shoved him up close to her, and with the other, she unsheathed a sword from its perch and held it against his neck.

"H-hey!" The boy stuttered, but went quiet when Tsuyoi pressed the blade deeper into his neck, drawing a thin line of blood.

She sent a silent warning into the trees. Come out or this boy dies! All was silent for a heartbeat, and Tsuyoi pressed the blade even deeper. The boy cried out, and Tsuyoi winced but held firm.

After a tense moment, a white-haired man with a mask covering most of his face, revealing nothing but his eyes, hopped over the wall, his hands held up in surrender. Despite his hair color, he seemed to be about middle-aged. A pink-haired girl with green eyes, younger than the man, followed him. Then an extremely pale-skinned boy appeared. Tsuyoi wrinkled her nose. The boy was so pale he looked sickly, but the intelligence in his dark eyes told her he was anything but.

"We're shinobi from the Land of Fire, and we seem to have gotten lost," the white-haired man said pleasantly. His calm demeanor seemed out of place in this situation. "If you would kindly let him go, we'll be on our way. And you won't see us ever again."

Shinobi? The Land of Fire? Tsuyoi had read a little about the land beyond the sunset before, but it was vague. No one had any real information on the Shinobi World. It was rarely talked about.

The man's tone was friendly enough, but it masked a hidden threat. It was clear these outsiders would fight for the boy, and Tsuyoi wasn't sure she could take them all on. Straighting, she shoved the boy forward. He staggered and collapsed on his knees, clutching his throat and gasping. Tsuyoi felt a pang of sympathy, but she swallowed her compassion and flicked her sword in an arc by her side, sending a thin trail of blood through the air.

"Naruto!" The girl gasped and darted forward, helping him stand. She shot Tsuyoi an angry glare.

Tsuyoi, however, was transfixed with wonder at the boy. Naruto? His hair was bright. No one in Liodito had hair that bright a color. Everyone's hair was green. Same with eye color. And these newcomers' skin was all pale and fleshy. Tsuyoi had only seen people with brown skin, in varying shades. Who are these people?

Suddenly, the gray-haired man shifted his weight, and Tsuyoi heard the tinkling of metal bumping against each other. She tensed. They were armed.

"Don't be alarmed," the man raised his hands. "We won't hurt you. We'll just be on our-"

"Tsuyoi!" Lady Tomoe's voice cut through the air. Tsuyoi turned. Her patron stood with the door half open, eyes wide as she took in the scene. "Who are you?" She demanded, narrowing her eyes. Then she spotted the boy called Naruto, and the blood seeping around his hand. He held it against his throat, pain etched on his face. Tomoe's face relaxed slightly, but her body remained tense. "I think you all should come inside."