There was a person next to her, someone that she knew was Ajisai. She couldn't see, but could feel presences around her, and a narrator filtered information directly to her thoughts. She instinctively knew they were in Earth Country, at the coastal floating village in which she regained her memories. She couldn't hear the waves, or the noise of a three-hundred strong clan; she couldn't feel her body or the wood under her knees as she leaned over the pier.

But there she was, Ajisai beside her, hand hovering over the sea.

Ajisai told her to slap it, in the voiceless, narrator-fed style that everyone but her took on. The words were directly implanted in her brain instead of her ears picking up on vibrations of the air. She opened her mouth to reply, but the dream was already slipping out her hands, the faint wisps fleeing in the presence of a thunderous drum beat.

Oniyuri opened her eyes to the darkness captured by her quilt. Other noises began to press down on her: the chattering of villagers, the sizzle of street vendor BBQs, a quiet huff of air as Hanabi rolled up her futon. With a sigh, she threw her arms out, effectively pushing the quilt of her head and further down her body. Her eyes prickling from the harsh light, Oniyuri joins Hanabi in cleaning the room for the day.

The town they were staying in was just a few hours from the capital, Kumo, and had the strongest foot traffic Oniyuri had seen so far. It had a tradition of a morning gong at 7am, but the citizens of Kawamoto were active long before the heartbeat resounded through the walls of the hotel.

With her chakra unlocked, Oniyuri could use its supportive capabilities to push her body to new limits. This included being able to walk anywhere she wanted, despite the body's age. By using her physical energy, Oniyuri could walk all day and not get tired. This lifted the burden of carrying her everywhere off Hanabi, something they took advantage of every day since discovered.

They were out of the hotel in thirty minutes, Oniyuri's fist clenched around Hanabi's finger. It was clan rule that Oniyuri had to be escorted around town for an indefinite amount of time. While her intelligence and wisdom was beyond any child, her physical abilities were just as weak. All the wit in the world couldn't save you from a kidnapper, civilian or no.

Kawamoto was bright and cheerful, dense streets packed with two story buildings. The lower floors were always stores and restaurants, with the floor above being lodgings and private spaces. The streets were wide enough to accommodate for the store fronts and heavy traffic; Oniyuri and Hanabi could walk past anyone without bumping shoulders.

They wondered from stall to stall, Oniyuri easily taking on the awed child as she swivelled her head to take it all it. She couldn't see much from her height, but she could see the signs of a tourist destination; signs claiming cheap prices, exact replicas of souvenirs sold at every stall, at least three stalls claiming they sold the town's speciality. After a while, Oniyuri got bored of the same-old, same-old, and Hanabi brought her off the main streets to the local streets, where the stores were less blatant and sold unique clothes between the regular prices for fresh fruit and veggies.

They were passing a stall, having just bought squid leg skewers to give their jaw a work out, when Oniyuri saw a yukata shop. The clan clothes were by no means cheap and nasty, but they only came in three patterns, dark blue with the clan symbol on the upper shoulders, white with porcelain blue flowers and the winter kimono, which only came in the dark blue colour. And well, what Oniyuri was staring at was something not that.

Hanabi made a question of noise, but Oniyuri continued to walk without saying anything. Not many people wear yukatas that weren't the clan clothes, partly because why would you? The clan clothes were there, ready for the taking. The only people Oniyuri could think of was Asagao and Kigiku. Kigiku always wore extremely formal kimonos, somehow surviving through heat. Asagao preferred to wear colourful yukatas when it was summer and elaborate kimonos for winter.

It was too young for Oniyuri to really be picky about her clothing; she'd shoot up over the next ten years, there was no reason to buy anything.

"Hmm," Hanabi says, and checks the sun. "I think your lessons will begin soon." Oniyuri looks up to her caretaker. Her next lesson was this afternoon with Kigiku, where they'd begin to test the capabilities of her voice. Nevertheless, she allowed Hanabi to pick her up and walk back to the hotel. They must've been late for Hanabi to pick her up.

Hanabi navigates the hotel with ease. It's a wonder how she hasn't gotten lost, although this place seemed to be adequately labelled. Hanabi knocks and opens the door in one move, and it opens to an upright scroll. Oniyuri, already standing on her own feet, can only see a hand holding it steady and the other hand holding the page out. That hand drops, and its library boy. His name is Himawari, as she discovered a few months ago, and his body is ten years old. Mentally, he is twenty-five; in his last life she was an aspiring librarian and in this life he continues his passion.

But Oniyuri had no knowledge of him ever holding classes. It would be interesting to study under someone who knew so much from reading every book he could get his hands on. He waves them over, mouth silenced by a single slice of bread. He quickly chews through the last of it, and holds out his hand to Oniyuri.

"Welcome! I hear you're here to take my class on the Clan's kekkei genkai?" he looks around and turns a puzzled look to Hanabi. "Isn't there another?"

Taking a shot in the dark, Oniyuri answers "Ajisai?"

A knock on the door takes care of that, Asagao with Ajisai on her hip slipping in. Himawari claps once and beams at Ajisai, gesturing for him to sit next to Oniyuri. As he's making himself comfortable, Hanabi comes over with two bowls of water.

"Oh, forgot about those." Himawari chuckles and carefully rolls up his scroll and sets it aside. Far aside. "Alright, we will begin. Please pay attention to me, and as usual, don't repeat this to anyone outside the clan."

He gives them a serious look, a strange mask on a sunflower as he adjusts the two bowls before him.

"You've already been taught this, but I'll go over it again. In this world there is an occupation called ninja. These people are not full of silly tricks of the past, they use chakra to control the world around them. They have three styles: ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. First, I will show you how to control your chakra."

He puts a hand into each bowl, fingers barely breaking the surface.

"Your body naturally produces two energies: physical," here he draws his left hand out of the bowl, a small blob of water following his fingers until a small orb of liquid rests in his palm. "and mental." He does the same with the right, but this time it is several times larger than the 'physical' energy.

"Because of our past lives, our physical energy is always servilely outweighed by mental. Oniyuri, because you're over a century old, your energies are extremely outweighed. Ajisai, your mental energy is extremely high for someone who lived as long as you did. It is either because of high intelligence or a traumatic death." Himawari pauses there, giving him a look over, as if he just realised what he said. "To create chakra, you mix physical and mental energy together. Because of our disproportionate energy stores, it's a little complex."

He drops his right hand back into the bowl, the orb draining away until it's about the same size as the left hand. He slowly brings his hands together, the two orbs merging together.

"To make it simple: you'll have to do a lot of control exercises if you want to use chakra." He shrugs with accepted defeat. "Now that you know what chakra is, let's talk about what you can do with it." The water returns to the bowls, nary a ripple at the inclusion of more liquid. Spectacular.

"The first type of art is ninjutsu. This style uses a perfect mix of physical and mental energies. There are a hundred thousand of ninjutsu in the world, with more being created as we speak. They can do anything as long as the caster has enough chakra. There are five main elemental releases: earth, air, fire, water and lightning. I am going to demonstrate a water release." Himawari shapes his hands in a peculiar way, three in rapid succession.

"Water release: hiding in the mist." He says, voice ringing clearly through the room. The water before him vanishes, and in its place, a thick fog develops. The room has no windows, there's no such thing as spray bottles here and the air is extremely dry. Wow, Oniyuri raises her hand at bats at the air in front of her, like it would do anything. I want to do that.

"A person's chakra is shaped to suit one type of elemental release, although with effort they can use other elements. The next style is taijutsu. Taijutsu is martial arts with the added bonus of chakra with favour towards physical energy. With chakra, human beings are able to push physical limits, such as jumps, endurance and strength. I can attest, I saw a drunkard ninja knock down a wall with a sloppy slap." Himawari's shape slowly comes back into focus, but the fog is still thick as ever.

"Finally, genjutsu. Genjutsu is cast by chakra with favour towards mental energy, and implants illusions and suggestions into the target's mind. Here, imagination is the limit, although to be a master you have to be a grandmaster of subtlety, as there is a quick and easy way of dispelling a genjutsu."

The fog had almost vanished by then, and Himawari handed the bowls to Hanabi. Asagao hands him a cup of water which he downs in one go. Hanabi returns with full bowls, settling them on the floor as he launches forward with another speech.

"In this world, there are clans. Clans can range from family to merchant groups, but the most common being families, which we're going to focus on today. Clans typically start out as several branches of a family, however with the introduction of chakra it has become something more. While not strictly limited, ninja clans have a special biological mutation, which they call kekkei genkai, or in English, bloodline. Some are more physical than others, like the Yuki clan of Water Country. They have a special elemental release of snow. Some are more support, like the Uzumaki's naturally larger chakra reserves and extended stamina."

"Our kekkei genkai isn't technically classified as a bloodline, as anyone who has large mental reserves can learn it, but to protect our secret we've classified it as one. So unless you want people after you, keep this a secret!"

His hands drop to the bowls again.

"By simply using our mental energy, the Suiei Clan has discovered we can control water. With limitations, of course. It eats through your chakra like any other jutsu, and it must be in contact with our bodies. Yes, we can control other elements, but it's extremely, extremely hard. To begin," the bowls are pushed towards them, one of Oniyuri and one for Ajisai. "Try and get a feel of your chakra."

Oniyuri finds it easily; after Kiku unblocked it, it rumbled under her skin like a tidal wave, waiting to be used. When she discovered she could bolster her body she routinely called forth the force, although she wasn't sure if it was physical, mental or chakra. It was like figuring out her new body; which muscle to twitch to get it moving, how much strength she should use, and other fine-tuning. At this point, she carefully increased the flow to her hand, and looked up to Himawari.

"Touch the water, and try to 'catch' it." He directs her hand to the bowl. "Spread the chakra over your palm." She does as she's told, and dips her hand into the bowl, hand flat as a board. She throws out her chakra, no doubt wildly and chaotically. For a second, she could've sworn it got caught on something, but when she drew her hand out, nothing happened other than a wet hand.

Frowning, Oniyuri returned her hand, and focused on the energy inside her.

She'd seen its effects, from the mist in the room to Kiku's dance, and she's felt it rolling inside her since she's had access to it. Her body can last longer now thanks to it, and by all rights her extensive mental chakra should make this easy.

What had she been calling it? An ocean? A tidal wave inside? A tsunami ready to hit? Well, if she had already been using a metaphor, then she could extend it further.

Water joining water. Caught! Not in a net, but joining a larger pool of its own. This water in the bowl wasn't just water, it was her water, and it need to follow her hand.

Very slowly, she withdraws her hand. She can feel something stuck on her hand, and she very slowly opens her eyes. She didn't even realise she had closed them.

There was her hand, half in water. The top her hand was wet, but the palm had a glob of water, something that physics would've made the bowl claim. She had done it!

Her concentration broke, water falling back into the bowl with a slap, but Oniyuri didn't care.

"I'm a water bender!" she shouted, flinging her hands up in the air, her sentence trailing off in a cackle. "LONG AGO THE FOUR NATIONS LIVED IN HARMONY-"

Kumo was, in every way, much, much, much larger than Kawamoto. From the sheer size of the protective walls told everything to Oniyuri, but inside it was a more detailed story. Buildings were now at an average three stories high, and there was just as many shops as people. The streets were narrower, crowds were now a constant presence and pain. Prices were more or less the same but Hanabi could never find the locals-only streets, and any attempt at doing so only led into more tourist streets.

Kumo was the heart of Lightning Country; the trading centre, the cultural hot-spot, the highest concentration of population. This was a town in the tens of thousands. And while in her past life that was bare minimum, here it was something else. Hanabi said it wasn't even the largest.

Oniyuri stared down at her glass of milk, wondering what the day would bring her. Music lessons, first in koto then choir, followed by her usual miserable attempts at water bending, and in the afternoon she would try and sneak a place in a dance lesson. A lot of clan members would be out tonight, intending on mingling with the citizens of Kumo. There was a reason why the clan still heavily retained their Lightning features, and any visit to Kumo was a huge help in that avenue.

With so many people out, she could slip into a class, and ask the teacher a few questions either when she got booted out or when it ended. She hoped it was when the class ended. It was only on how to develop her body to get ready for dancing, but a few hours watching a class she hoped to attend wouldn't hurt in the long run.

When she rose from the table, milk finished and a milkstache stained, Hanabi returned to the room, holding something behind her. She had been missing since she had woken up, and her hiding something behind her back was just asking for questions.

"Oniyuri!" Hanabi mischievously grinned, smoothly dropping to her knees in front of her, arms still behind her body. "Do you know what today is?"

"I don't know what the calendar is like here." She retorts, slightly leaning her body to the right. Hanabi moved the package in reply.

"Well…" she whipped out the page, face beaming. "It's been a year since your ritual!"

Oh. Oniyuri looks down at the package. It's not wrapped, and it's cloth, so it's some sort of clothes. Hanabi dutifully unfolds it, a child's yukata now in her arms. The colours range from dark blue to blue to white, with stars and moons printed over the dark blue. One sleeve is strangely white with blue stars. From the length, it's a yukata for a child aged five to twelve.

"Oh," Oniyuri runs her hands over the fabric. It's not as high quality as a kimono but it isn't any yukata pulled from the rack. She thinks back to the time she paused in front of a yukata shop and draws the connection. "Hanabi, thank you."

She launches herself at her caretaker over the yukata, one foot accidently landing on her knee and the other one jarring Hanabi's hip. Despite that, Hanabi's arms surround Oniyuri without argument, drawing her in close.

"No worries," she murmurs. "I could only get a yukata for a five-year-old, so you'll have to wait a bit to wear it." Oniyuri hugs her tighter and then lets go, sliding back onto the floor to run her hand over the pattern again. The stars aren't stitched in, they're printed, but it's the first gift she's received since she's become Oniyuri. Hanabi chuckles, and slowly folds it back up.

"Come on, the day is starting." she seals it into a scroll, ready for when Oniyuri grows to fit it. The gift follows Oniyuri around the entire day, and she feels like she got an injection of pure energy. In koto lessons, she bangs away at songs, completing them in 1.5x the original speed. In choir she's too happy to properly sing the sorrowful pieces, but Kigiku simply adjusts the piece they were working on. When she was with Himawari, she's overcome with a strong sense of concentration, and by the end of the lesson she is able to define what is mental energy and what is physical.

The time comes for dancing lessons to start and Oniyuri is almost afraid her energetic levels would make her too easy to notice, but she goes ahead because why wouldn't people notice a twelve-month-old anyway. The teacher takes note of her and simply rolls their eyes, continuing on with her lesson. Oniyuri finally buckles down and tries to sooth the giddiness inside, with some successful results.

They're talking about Georgian and hip hop styles; Kumo adores hip hop and Georgian dancing is dancing to the extreme. Oniyuri is curious as to what Georgian dancing is, and is rewarded with a demonstration from the teacher.

He starts with a leap and lands on his knees, and is up on his two feet in one smooth motion. His feet are like a blur, controlled steps done so fast they're a distortion. At one point, he demonstrates his spins, which he does so fast it looks like he's teleporting across the room, his T-pose facing the opposite direction as soon as you see his face, and then his face is back again. It's insane, and Oniyuri absolutely loves the prospect of it.

There's more, but at that point it's the teacher calling forth the class and going through a few exercises with them. Oniyuri retreats to the back of the room, taking a moment to slowly go through a dance she remembers from her previous life.

Georgian and hip hop was about control, Oniyuri decides. You need to have control over your body to stop limbs mid-move effectively, to jump back up when you've landed on your knees. Traditional Japanese dancing was grace. There was no fast movement, and if there was, it isn't on the level of skill hip hop needed. You needed fluidity and elegance to do traditional properly, much like abstract. Which is why her repertoire of dances were limited to K-pop. Japanese dancing didn't interest her like the snap-snap-snap of mainstream Korean music.

Mid turn, and Oniyuri almost face-plants into a burly man's leg. It's the dance teacher.

"That was Lucifer, wasn't it." He greets. "You remember? What else?"

Oniyuri recalled the (one-sided) conversation with Kiku about her previous life. Despite that, she could feel her face burning as she mumbled a condensed version of all the songs she knew.

The dance teacher hmmed, and nodded like he approved. He gestured to the main class, made up of students of five years old.

"I expect you to join as soon as you can. Unfortunately, you have to be five." He says the last sentence like it's the greatest sin, not a small downside. Oniyuri giggles, despite herself, and when he finally walks away she returns to her dance.

It had only been a year since she was handed a new body and a new name. While the Elemental Nations and the Suiei Clan loved to live on the wild side, Oniyuri won't want to go back to her old body. She was happy here, ready to venture into a new life.