Chapter 10

Karasu's father who had just barely returned to his seat in a quiet and ragged voice asked "how?" Karasu had asked Marr the same question to which she now added "and how did you move faster if your perception of time simply sped up would that not mean you would also slow down along with it because your perception includes yourself right?"

Marr sighed "I thought we had already gone over this he thought" "yes my lady that is true, except that my eyes keep me out of perceiving myself as slow as other outside perceptions and that's not all my eyes do they also increase my speed by the amount of speed I take out of my outside perception. For instance if I were to speed up my perception by 20% right now you would move 20% slower in my eyes. At the same time however I would have a speed increase of 20% ergo the speed at which I perceive things around me. Meaning I would be moving 40% faster than anything I perceive. As for the ability and power I have, to be able to activate Jikangan among other things as well. It is a long sad story and one that I would not wish to tell to someone so innocent."

Karasu absorbed all the things he had said and marveled how the entire time he had spoken he had only spoken to her. She thought a moment amazed at the possibilities the Jikangan had, then asked, "Please tell me your story Marr." With a pained look on his face he tried to protest again yet he saw he would get nowhere, trying to argue. So with a large sigh he began " for most of my young life I lived in a happy house on Mount Toukan. Surrounded by a mother and a father and one brother, it was a quiet life outside of the jurisdiction of the shadow village; in fact I had not been to the village at all until a few years ago. We lived self sufficiently without the rules of the village but also without its protection.

It was often a hard life but overall it was a great one, I miss it so much. We lived on a flat plateau like part of the mountain in a circle of trees my father had cut down; it hid us from most of the world. I felt like nothing could touch us, my father was a retired ninja who had only reached the rank of chunin having no family connections he did not have the money or skill to advance farther. So he married my mother and went and built a life outside the village. He was however a famed scroll calligrapher, he would write and imbue them with chakra making them dangerous weapons of war. He was also one of the only ones near the village who was able to sign contracts with animals for them to become summon-able creatures; most summon-able beasts in this village are his work.

He only wished he had more power to build better homes for them, for part of the contract with animals for them to serve forever to future generations of ninja was to literally create a habitat for them to live in, which for tigers and other big cats favored here in the village is quite difficult. The ability he held was enough to buy supplies for the harsh winters, which are much harsher up on the mountain. Hence its name, however on one such winter the winter of my tenth birthday, my comfortable and happy life abruptly ended." Here Marr took a deep breath and looked at Karasu again begging her with his eyes to let him stop.

Karasu saw his trepidation but, thought "if he gets it out it wont hurt so bad plus it can not be that bad." So she urged him to go on. Her parents were now fully recovered but still in a state of moderate pain, especially her mother who had gotten up to eat and drink something, and was recovering quickly, despite their injuries from Marr's chakra pressure they were listening intently. Mar swallowed once and then again and said "on my tenth winter, my mother my father and my brother were all killed." Here Marr hid his face from Karasu, but she could hear him lightly sobbing.