My ragged breathing was subdued yet came off as heavy in the silent, crisp evening air. I distanced myself and stared carefully at my opponent, scanning for the slightest possible opening. Before I had come up with a solution, my opponent seemed to have no problem and charged in my direction, brandishing a gleaming kunai knife. To evade this oncoming attack, I hastily launched myself upward into the branches of the large tree above. My opponent quickly glanced around in search of his lost victim and quickly spotting me in the dark green leaves overhead, he launched a kunai which was coincidentally connected to an explosive tag. I quickly evaded the area as a loud boom sounded in the air and landed in close proximity to my target. He quickly spun around and lashed out at me with full force, which I neatly deceived by crossing my arms in front of my chest. My opponent briefly hesitated and I took this opportunity to perform a spinning heel kick which landed in the dead center of his chest. He flew backward onto his stomach, temporarily stunned from the impact. I raced over to him, quickly flipped him over and pinned him to the ground, and lightly pressed a kunai knife against his throat. "I..win." I said through heavy pants.
Beneath me, my older and much wiser twin Akio smirked, "I'm impressed with you Amai, this time it only took you two and a half minutes! Well done.", Akio said as he gently shoved me off and went to pat me on the back. "OOF!", I spat out as I tumbled over from the sudden contact. "Akio, let me recover for a sec!" After sitting for a few moments trying to catch my breath, I stood up and began to walk in the direction of our home with Akio as I rubbed my behind.
Oh where are my manners, I should introduce myself.
My name is Amai Tanaka and my twin brother Akio and I just turned 16 a couple weeks ago. My older and much calmer twin Akio, who is 3 minutes my elder, could be described as my polar opposite. When I am aggressive and foolish, he is content and vastly intelligent. When I act rashly, he takes things in a slow and mature manner. Just now, Akio was putting me through one last sparring session; you see, Akio has been training me for years now, preparing me for becoming a shinobi. Although typically, when one begins training on pretty much anything, they would start at an earlier age, am I right? I, unfortunately, did not get this opportunity until I had reached my very early teens.
Starting from the point at which he could walk, Akio had been trained to become a shinobi; I was not. My village and its inhabitants are extremely old fashioned, they did not see it fit for a young lady such as myself to get her hands dirty in battle; my father was not exception to this. I had been forced to stay home and learn about things such as etiquette while Akio went off to the Ninja academy. As Akio began to learn more, he would enjoy showing me these new things he had learned. I would attempt to mimic these actions only to have my father snap me back into shape, he would deem my actions as unfeminine or 'barbaric', I can honestly say that he highly dislikes me.
I hadn't let my father try to stop my nature. I would end up going around my village acting in this manner, constantly receiving looks of distaste and disgust from the citizens. No one had approved of me. No one but Akio. Akio didn't think the way I was treated was fair, he would constantly get into verbal an physical fights with others as he tried defending me from the foul mouths of the villagers. Just after our 13th birthday, Akio proposed that he train me in secret, knowing how badly I longed for this. I excitedly agreed and began my training that day, beginning my soon to be life as a shiniobi. As this progressed, Akio had come up with a plan that would allow me to freely become a shinobi outside of the confines of our closed minded village. After he had taken his chunin exam followed closely by his jounin exam in Konoha, he had made a few close friends in that village and he shared my story. They had submitted the idea of my learning there when I had reached the age of 16 with a few years training.
Tonight is the night which I leave.
Akio had 'suggested' to my father that I should be sent off to learn proper etiquette in the Land of Water, which he quickly agreed to. Akio is to escort me there and about halfway through our journey Akio and I are to change course for the Land of Fire, which will lead us straight to Konoha. I get chills down my spine when I think of what father would do if he knew what Akio and I were up to, he wouldn't hold back in punishment, I know that for a fact. Hopefully, after my few years of training when I return, he will be completely clueless about the whole ordeal. Right now, all I can do is pray that this works out for the best.
Akio and I had stumbled into our voiceless family manor just after the sun went down looking disheveled and rather dirty. I quickly ran to the confines of my room and stripped my dirt covered clothing off and headed for the my private bathroom for a much needed shower. This had become a routine for the two of us, we were always careful about the time we got back into the manor, ensuring that we wouldn't be spotted. God knows what my father would have done had he seen the two of us covered in dirt; nothing would be able to contain his wrath. After slowly scrubbing away the layer of grime from my aching tanned skin, I exited the shower and wrapped myself in a large, fluffy white towel and patted at my damp, dark brown hair with a second towel. I exited my bathroom with a clean, fresh feeling and began pawing through my already packed bags in search of outfit to wear for tonight. I quickly decided on a pair of black capris which scrunched up just below the knee and a powder blue long sleeve v-neck shirt.
I quickly overlooked the several bags which I had carelessly thrown onto my bed after spending the majority of my afternoon packing, ensuring that all I needed had been there. After surveying this, I lazily threw myself onto my bed and stared at the now barren walls and floor of my room. As much as I'd hate to admit it, I was going to miss spending time here. Even though my childhood wouldn't typically be considered a happy one, I did find comfort inside the walls of my room. In here, no one would be able to judge me or my actions, In here I felt content and happy. This is the place where I was able to fine peace in rather gloomy childhood.
After resting for a few brief moments, Akio had lightly knocked on my door and entered without consent. I raised my head off of my pillow and stared at him with indifferent eyes, "It's time to go, isn't it?", he had answered with a small nod and entered through the threshold and began to help me pick up my bags. After retrieving the last of my possessions, I gave a quick final look to my walls of merriment, and slowly closed the door.
Thus, beginning my journey to the land of fire.