Tamotsu's sixth birthday was definitely the highlight of the following months for Akemi. Tensions between her family and her friend's had eased considerably, though Hideaki was still not welcome in Azumi's home and after the party she didn't go to his. While this puzzled both Akemi and Tamotsu, they didn't bother much with it. After all, they were too busy with twice weekly training sessions, supervised by Hideaki, to teach his son how to use Juuken and his friend the best way to block strikes to vital areas. Akemi inevitably came home with sore and often bruised forearms and legs, though she was very good at blocking after a month or two of instruction.

It was just a few days from her own sixth birthday when something really noteworthy happened again. Azumi and Akemi were walking home that evening from the market road and were using the backroads to avoid any crowds on the main streets of the village. Suddenly, as if from nowhere, a man appeared in front of the mother-daughter pair, quickly flanked by two other men. Akemi stared in wide-eyed alarm and Azumi pulled her daughter a little closer to her.

'what have we here? A young mother and her beautiful daughter, and nary a husband in sight?' the man sneered, arms crossed over her chest.

'leave us be. We just want to get home and make dinner,' Azumi said flatly, black eyes narrowed and glaring at the man who'd spoken. Her hand tightened a little on her daughter's shoulder and she shifted the groceries in her other arm, ready to drop them if need be.

'oh, yes, groceries will be nice, as well as money,' the man said, his sneer turning to a very evil smirk. Akemi let out a frightened sound as she looked behind her and saw two more thugs, these ones clearly armed.

'mama, I'm scared,' she whimpered. Training was one thing, but this was at least five thugs much bigger than her. There was no way she could hope to beat them. One maybe, and that was enough for her to get away, but what about her mother? She was just a villager!

'go on, then. Hand over your purse and your food, and maybe then we'll let you go unscathed…' the man taunted, drawing a kunai for himself. He didn't like the fact that Azumi didn't look scared at all. She looked furious.

'Akemi, when I tell you to run, you go as fast as you can, understand?' Azumi said in a low aside to her daughter. The girl gave a tiny whimper but nodded all the same. 'I'll give you one last chance- leave us be, or I will have to use force.' As she said this, the black-haired woman shifted one foot back into a fighting stance.

'I like a challenge. Get them!'

'Akemi, RUN!'

The silver-haired little girl hesitated long enough to hear the groceries hit the packed earth path of the alleyway before bolting, tripping the man who stood in her way as he moved in. she looked over her shoulder as she fled, and had to skid to a halt a short distance away at the red glow that shone from her mother's face shortly before a fireball threw the thugs backwards against the walls of the alleyway or out of it completely. 'mama!' she yelped, then, remembering her mother's admonishment, she turned tail again and fled as two of the men got up and spotted her still standing a short distance away.

Rather than running to her own empty house, akemi realised when she came back to her senses that she was just a turn or two from Tamotsu's house. Hideaki was outside on the front porch as she came skidding to a halt, panting and bent nearly double.

'Akemi! What's the matter?' the white-eyed man blurted, jumping to his feet and looking around warily for any sign the child was being pursued.

'…bandits….mother…attack…' she managed to pant, hands on her knees and legs shaking. 'water…' she gasped, and hideaki caught the little girl as her legs gave out, keeping her from falling down.

'come inside and explain everything,' he commanded, scooping her up and carrying her inside, quickly getting her a large glass of water, which she managed to down in just a few large gulps. Tamotsu, hearing a ruckus, came from his room and hurried over, seeing the state his friend was in.

'Akemi! What happened to you?' he asked, sitting down at the table across from her. She set the water glass down now that it was empty and coughed to clear her throat. 'a bunch of thugs attacked my mother and I,' she began, and everyone in the room was alarmed at that.

'where is she?'

'I –I don't know. I think- I don't know.' Akemi gave a shiver, her eyes haunted. 'I saw things I can't explain.'

'like what?' hideaki seemed more interested than concerned now.

'mother told me to run, and I did,' she began, 'but then…I had to turn around. And- I swear her eyes were glowing red, like a demon. Then there was just this massive ball of fire, and that's all I saw. I ran straight here, and I didn't even realise.'

'where was this?'

'two blocks off the market square, in an alley that runs straight most of the way to our house.'

Hideaki abruptly disappeared, leaving a bit of wind behind as he went to help Azumi and find out what had happened.

'Tamotsu…do you think it was my mother who made that fireball?' akemi still looked rather haunted and clutched the empty water glass in her hands.

'well, it can't have been- she's a villager, after all. Villagers don't know ninjutsu. You don't even know ninjutsu yet, Akemi, so how could she?' Tamotsu could see that his silver-haired friend wasn't convinced. Her mother's eyes had glowed like the coals in a furnace- was it so far-fetched to believe she had more abilities than she'd ever let on?