The next morning was chaotic, but had an underlying tone of order. They were leaving again, aiming for Waterfall. They would tour the area, visiting the Hidden Village Taki last for the Daimyo there. Hanabi explained Hidden Villages were different from the small towns that littered the continent as that's where ninjas were trained, and the populations there tended to hit around ten thousand for the less powerful Villages while the Five (Konoha, Suna, Kumo, Kiri, and Iwa) were nearly hundred thousand. Protection was the prime concern for this life.
The morning routine was already familiar to Oniyuri. The Suiei Clan moved every few days, jumping from the next village to the neighbouring towns. There wasn't much for Oniyuri to do, only to sit there and exercise her weak muscles. Secretly she tried to do the thing Kiku did with the water, but the most that happened was water slopping in the cup. Thankfully, Oniyuri was finally able to pick the cup up, but it took all her concentration to grasp it with two hands.
Hanabi, on the other hand, moved from one end of the house to the other, quietly packing whatever had crept out during their two days stay at the Grass hotel, which wasn't that much.
Hanabi paused around a quarter to eight to feed Oniyuri, where she proudly showed off her cup lifting skills. Her caretaker merely blinked and congratulated Oniyuri on the achievement, and offered the spoon (empty so nothing could spill) for her to be preoccupied with while Hanabi called on her friend.
Hanabi returned a short time later with none other than Asagao in tow, Ajisai on her hip. The other woman sets the boy down next to her, setting the cup that she had just previously showcased her ability to lift it to Hanabi.
The older women chatter as Oniyuri casts a glance towards Ajisai, who was trying to lift the cup. One half of her expected him to easily lift it with one hand without concentration, but his hand couldn't even grasp around the cup as his hands were too weak and too small. Perhaps that part that had high expectations what just salty over the fact that Ajisai could speak.
"T-Two hands!" Oniyuri explains, making grabbing hands towards the cup. Ajisai immediately scowls.
"Can't you speak clearly?" He grumbles but slides the cup over with a little hand waving. Taken by surprise, Oniyuri has to wait for a full two seconds to understand what Ajisai was getting at. Very carefully she grasped the cup with two hands and raised it, even trying to hold it to her lips. She would've taken a sip, but that meant tipping backwards and she was perfectly fine with staying upright.
"Oh, of course," Ajisai mutters in English, "start with two hands." Oniyuri sets down the cup and slides it toward him again, noticeably a lot smoother than his previous wild smack towards her. He tries again and this time his fingers completely circle the cup.
"Wow, working together! Such cuteness," Asagao sighs, holding her hands over her heart. "You two are definitely made for each other." Oniyuri sends her the flattest look she could with a baby's face. Ajisai was far too young for Oniyuri to consider, even when they grew up. Plus, she wasn't interested in romance, full stop. She wished that she could tell Asagao all this because Oniyuri could predict that Asagao was the type of person to see a girl and a boy and presume they were together.
"No thank you," Ajisai curtly cuts off anything Asagao was going to say, sounding as disgusted as a cute baby could.
"Come on Asagao-san, leave them alone. I'll help you with Ajisai-san." Hanabi intervenes, walking over to pick up the boy in question.
Because of the lack of technology, the Suiei Clan got around by walking. Those unable to walk had to be carried – the elderly in caravans, the babies strapped to their caretakers' back. Unfortunately, the way they did that was by wrapping a piece of rope. It had taken Oniyuri several attempts by Hanabi to be convinced to do it the first time, and she still didn't like it. But it was the only way without tiring Hanabi's arms.
When Hanabi was finally done attaching Ajisai to Asagao's back, it was her turn. At least this time, Oniyuri got to see Ajisai's extremely disgruntled face every time Asagao was in front of Hanabi.
With the two babies off the floor and out of the way, Hanabi could do the final sweep of the room. She packed away the little backrest they propped them up and returned the cup to the little kitchen. Once that was done, Hanabi tied the little scroll that held everything she owned on her back, snuggly sitting at the bottom of her spine. Oniyuri only knew of this because Hanabi followed Asagao back to her room after locking the room she was just in and the other woman did the same thing.
All around them the rest of the clan was also leaving their rooms. Oniyuri could see a few people she was introduced over the past few weeks but hadn't really interacted since. Much like Hanabi said a few days ago – the clan wore traditional clothes – nearly everybody around them had a yukata on.
Outside the hotel was the same organised chaos. The elderly were being led towards the caravan with the Suiei Clan emblem painted on the side, while the younger members intermingled and chatted. That, coupled with the busy street, equated to a lot of mayhem.
Oniyuri turned her head towards the hotel, waiting for the one person they were all waiting for – Kiku. She was always the last because she went into every room and made sure no members were left behind. When she appeared, Oniyuri tugged on Hanabi's sleeve and slurred out Kiku's name, making sure to add the honorific dono at the end. It takes a few seconds, but the clan falls silent.
"Alright, let's get going," Kiku says, falling into step behind the carriage, the rest of the clan slowly lining up. They leave the village – the name of which Oniyuri never learnt – with a swift pace. In fact, too fast.
"Walk fast," Oniyuri asks, wanting to beat herself up over the awful sentence structure.
"You have good eyes Oniyuri-sama," Hanabi smiles, the bare edges of it skimming the sides of Oniyuri's sight. "We can only stay at towns that have the capacity to hold us all, so that means very small towns can't offer more than a lunch break. Most of the time, the distance between our start and our target is larger than walking speed, so we use chakra to speed things along." True to her word, the convoy was picking up speed. She felt like an idiot not noticing the superhuman speed beforehand.
"I… sama?" It takes some time for Hanabi to recognise what she was asking for, and with each passing second, all Oniyuri could think of was Ajisai's perfect speech.
"Me calling you sama? Well, you're older than me, so to be polite, I add sama. Its just manners, I can drop it if you want." She explained.
"Oniyuriiii, pleaaaasé." The frustration built inside Oniyuri. How the hell did Ajisai get so good in such little time? It was insane. Dimly, she heard Hanabi repeating her name, finally dropping the honorific.
"You have a fantastic speech for a newborn, Oniyuri-san!" The new voice cuts into the off-key conversation, and Oniyuri looks over to see a new man, one that she had been introduced to but had since forgotten his name. She had been introduced to many people.
"Nanohana," Hanabi greets, a little note of surprise. Normally on these hikes, Hanabi and Oniyuri were by themselves, not talking to those around them.
"I see that Oniyuri-san and Ajisai-san got their introduction yesterday," The apparently named Nanohana cheerfully continues on. "Welcome to the clan, Oniyuri."
"Ajisai, better," Oniyuri mutters into the back of Hanabi's yukata. She doubts that it was soft enough for Nanohana to overhear though.
"What about me?" The arrogant brat drifts from the other side that Nanohana was on. Oniyuri turns her head to spot Asagao with a smirking baby clutching her yukata for dear life. She wanted to laugh at the weird oxymoron that it presented. Just to be a little annoying back to the twit, Oniyuri dropped her soft grip on Hanabi's yukata. She swore Ajisai's smirk wavered for a moment.
Nanohana barks out a laugh, carrying over the surprisingly soft sound of the clan running. "I guess I should extend a welcome to you too Ajisai-san." He grins. "I bet you guys are curious about the ninjas, right?"
"Nanohana-san," Hanabi scolded.
"Oh, come on Hanabi-chan, let him go." Asagao laughed, and Ajisai gripped her yukata a little tighter.
Instead of showing off whatever ninjas skills Nanohana had, or feeding us obviously fake stories, he told us a little history about the Suiei Clan.
Around the end of the Warring Clans Era (a term we were supposed to learn in future lessons), the Suiei Clan was invited by the developing villages to stay there. Of course, they declined because they wanted to keep their entertainment open for everyone, but they left a few members that did want to become a ninja behind.
Eventually, some of them returned and they were stationed as guards. They handed down the ninja techniques to those who were interested, and despite their skills being several decades out of date, they could defend against bandits where their fame did not. It turns out that the Suiei shows were heavily sought out.
Nanohana pointed out to shadows in the long grass that moved too fast, quicker than the convoy themselves. Those were the guards.
"Occasionally, they'll come out during travelling to talk with us. Apart from that, they still live in the same hotels as us." As soon as he finishes, a blur jumps out of the wavering grass, too fast for Oniyuri's baby eyes to keep up with, landing next to Kiku. The man spoke to her for a few moments and then disappeared, vanishing back into the surrounding plains.
The fire of curiosity that had dulled over the past day roared back into life. Oniyuri wanted to know more.
"Unfortunately, those who peruse the ninja arts can't be a dancer," Nanohana sighs, despair and disappointment evident in his voice.
"Could you tell me more about the dancers?" Ajisai spoke up, voicing the question that had been hanging on the back of her mind since the talk with Kiku yesterday. In fact, there were a lot of questions that had been hanging around since that talk.
"I know that it sounds silly that a clan can last for centuries just by dancing, but we survive by doing many, many different things. We tell stories, we dance with more than one person, and music can be added. But anybody could do that. What makes us special is that we dance on and with water. Multiple outsiders have tried to replicate what we do, but they always fail." Nanohana's voice turns mischievous. "For a good reason."
"Alright!" Kiku calls and holds up a hand. "Slow down! Waterfall's border approaches."
This was the first time Oniyuri was awake for a crossing of the borders. The ritual she partook in was held on the coast of Earth country, and the day after they crossed into Grass. She was still unused to a new body and couldn't resist the call of sleep, and during that little nap, they crossed.
Hanabi had informed her of what to do when they crossed the border yesterday. First to arrive were the runners. They scouted ahead and gave notice to villages of their passing, advertising the Clan. However, because a few decades ago someone snuck through the border by faking their identification as a Suiei runner, they couldn't cross it until the rest of the clan caught up. Next to where the guards, as those with chakra had a longer vetting process and finally was the rest of the clan.
As every country knew who the Suiei Clan was, there wasn't much animosity, except during the Ninja Wars, where it just took longer to pass borders.
Hanabi had shown Oniyuri a small scroll that had her identification papers, which showed where she was born, who her parents were, and general appearance identifications. It wasn't much, but Oniyuri suspects it was only because she was a civilian.
They slow down well before the border, and by the time the wooden building appears on the horizon, they were going at civilian speed.
The building was placed on a small hill, which had slowly started to appear, disrupting the smooth grass plains. Beyond the building, the hills grew great in number and size. The border guard looked more like a lookout than a simple border check. The highest level was completely open, allowing people to see for miles.
Two little flags hang from the side, not much to it but a simple line that was fashioned differently. The one that was closest to them resembled blades of grass while the other one, to Oniyuri, looked like an arrow that was split down the middle.
There was a gathering of people at the base – the blue yukatas of the Suiei Clan were intermingled with some darker colours. From what Nanohana had told her, they were the runners and guards and the others were most likely ninjas.
Ninjas.
Kiku steps up immediately, handing over a very thick scroll that had two ends, one side that had far more paper than the other. Hanabi had explained that was the record of every Suiei Clan, and it should open up on the oldest living clan member, so they don't have to go through the profiles of older members.
Slowly they go through the process, one member at a time. Like Hanabi said, it took a long time for the guards to be approved. Kiku made sure that the runners were done first, so they could once again leave before the clan.
It took nearly half an hour for Hanabi and Oniyuri's turn, Asagao and Ajisai having gone in front of them. Kiku looked up, saw who was next and quickly unrolled the scroll to Hanabi's profile, while she took out her identification scroll from her sleeves, offering it to the ninja. He calmly reads it through, eyes flickering from the scroll to Hanabi's face.
Oniyuri saw another scroll sitting on the desk, looking identical to her identification scroll. It was in her reach – Hanabi had to lean down to sign a document. Thankfully, her skill at grabbing cylinder objects was good enough for her to pick up the scroll with only one hand. Hanabi stands straight again when she feels the weight on her back move, clearly startled.
"Ha-na-bi!" Oniyuri squeals, trying to act like an actual baby. The ninja sees the scroll she was waving about and holds his hand out to accept it, smiling pleasantly.
"What a cute baby you are…. Oniyuri-san," the ninja chuckles, reading her name from the scroll. He doesn't scrutinise it much and hands it back to her soon enough. Oniyuri awards the man with a smile. "Have a nice day, Hanabi-san and Oniyuri-san." He gives us a little wave, which was much more than any other member got.
Once they got the pat down, Oniyuri finally surrenders the scroll, letting Hanabi tug it out of her tiny fist. By then her tiny body was already exhausted and Oniyuri had forced herself to stay awake for the border crossing.
She looked over her shoulder, trying to find Asagao and Ajisai. To her satisfaction, he was long asleep, head resting against Asagao's shoulders. Oniyuri murmured "goodnight" to Hanabi, finally falling asleep.
A little note (A/N)
May I extend my heartfelt thanks to those who have reviewed. This has been the fastest I've ever received this many reviews, thank you. c:
I haven't gotten to update in a while only bc I've forgotten, whoops!