She dipped down, bending until her fingers slipped into the bowl of water before her toes. Like twitching a muscle, Oniyuri's mental energy dove through the water, steering large amounts of water into two orbs on each of her palms. When she withdrew to settle into the beginning stance, the water only wobbled slightly.
"Begin," Kigiku calls, and the boy behind the koto begins to pluck. The music is traditional, filled with the rhythmic plucking of strings. Moving to the feel of the tune, Oniyuri danced, drawing arcs in the air with the orbs of water. Careful to keep her movements slow but fluid, she bent her leg to draw a wide semi-circle on the ground with one hand and another in the air with her other.
The dance is easy, something learnt by rote memorisation. What challenged her concentration was the effort to keep the water in her hands and a small smile on her face. She fluidly draws out of her stance and sweeps her left arm to curve around her stomach while the other bends so the back of her hand is above her head. She steps forward several times, accented by the movement of her hips.
As she bent down into a bow, her arms come out of their hold to sweep around her in a double semi-circle. A momentary pause to move the orb to the back of her hand and Oniyuri bounded into a cartwheel, pausing once more to steady herself and to shape the orb on the back of her hand into long blades, like a shark fin growing off her skin.
The dance continued as so. Only the beginning of the dance is given; the rest is made up by Oniyuri herself. She doesn't even attempt any Gregorian moves, her body too young and weak to handle the strain, but she does push her boundaries twice. The cartwheel was one; even though she's nailed it several times, she still loses her balance every now and then. The second time is when speeds up her movement until she's moving twice for every beat of the song. She keeps it up for ten seconds, enough for her assessors to notice, before smoothly ending the dance by dropping down to one knee, the other leg straight. Her upper body was slightly twisted the other way from where her legs were facing and her hands were in the air, a gentle curve in her arms. The water in her hands stretches, her energy lengthening it out to join the other mass of water, connecting the circle together.
The koto player takes it as a sign and switches the song to the final bars, bringing it to a smooth end. The adults around the room gave her a light smattering of applause, conversing lowly among themselves as Oniyuri returns the water to the bowl.
"Oniyuri," Kigiku calls. Oniyuri sank to the floor before her audience: Kigiku and two men flanking the instrumental teacher. Her seiza isn't picture perfect like Kigiku's, and her muscles are worn out from the exercise. She swallows down the urge to pant heavily as the dance teacher spoke.
"What do you think of your dance?"
"I was too boneless in my movements. They were too rounded out – I didn't commit to each step. Also, whenever I manipulated my energy I had to pause to do so. My stamina wouldn't allow me to sing while dancing." Apart from her stamina, Oniyuri had worked hard to ensure that the dance was up to scratch in the three months since she joined the dance class. She also practised hard on her water manipulation, always having a glob of water on her hand if she wasn't sleeping. Despite her dedication (there wasn't must else to do, so practice often happened due to boredom) Oniyuri's dancing level had barely scraped her minimal requirement, and she still hadn't gotten around the problem of moving while manipulating her energy.
"And how do you rate yourself?" said the second man, who Oniyuri had not seen before. He was a Suiei, she could see the common facial features, but his name failed her and she had no idea who he was. He had a very stern face, scowling wrinkles on their way to being defined and lips screwed in a very tight line. Oniyuri ponded the question, reviewing her dance, her age, and her current ability level. It was very hard to say; she, of course, wanted to fail herself, but she had only been dancing for three months, and her body was still only about one and a half years old. It would be impossible for her to be at her own passable grade, but the knowledge of that struggled to change her assessment.
"Three out of ten. Only because of my body." She finally says. The three of them do not move; their piercing, critical stares felt so heavy against her body. For the first time in a while, a bloom of nervousness spiked in her chest. Finally, Kigiku sighed.
"Your body is not even two yet. What you just performed was extraordinary for that. I know that you used physical energy to booster your muscles and manipulated water with mental energy. Furthermore, what you performed was excellent. You also have a good grasp on the beat of the music and how to pace yourself to it. I would personally say eight out of ten, perhaps even nine." She let out a pained sigh.
"Oniyuri, please listen to me: your body will hold you back for years. Puberty will mess it up further. You may be used to your old body, but your new body is still growing. You need to keep that in mind. If you push, and push, and push, then you will wear yourself out and possibly damage your body." Oniyuri drops her eyes to her hands clenched in her lap. She could almost feel the words rolling off her back, just floating away. But she needed to listen. Oniyuri was going to live for at least another eight decades, and she couldn't damage her body now when there was so much she wanted to do.
She imagined taking a hold of those words and imprinting them in her soul. I can't push my body too far. I can't push my body too far. I cannot push my body too far.
Oniyuri takes a shaky breath. Opening her eyes, she released the tension from her shaking fists.
"Thank you."
She couldn't read the emotion in Kigiku's eyes, but the two men beside her seemed to be satisfied.
"My name is Len," the unfamiliar man dips his upper body forward, Oniyuri copying the bow. "I am the clan's physician and doctor. I monitor all members of the Suiei clan and ensure that both our physical, mental and emotional beings are stable and well-cared for. Oniyuri, you have been on my watch list for some time." She barely felt the bite of embarrassment and shame before the other man continued.
"I, for one, feel like I should apologise. I didn't know you would push your body this far and gave you the incentive to do so. Oniyuri, you need to slow down." Oniyuri dipped her head in acknowledgement. "Kuchinashi, what do you think of Oniyuri's dance?"
"I, uh, think it was bloody brilliant for a two-year-old. I, um, almost thought that she fell over when she cartwheeled." a voice shakily answers the dance master, and it takes a moment for Oniyuri to realise that it was the koto boy. She could vaguely recognise him from past music lessons. When Oniyuri faced the adults again, the dance master is barely masking a 'you see?' The boy suddenly spoke again, confessing his opinions "Although, Magu-san, I really don't think I'm the one to ask-"
"Yeah yeah, whatever." the dance master grumbled, shifting to allow one foot out from underneath him and waving his hand in dismissal to the response. "I have another test to go to. Kuchinashi, you too." The boy squeaked in reply, scuttling behind the dance master with the koto balanced in his arm. It was almost humorously as large as he was.
"Shall we go out and enjoy the air?" Kigiku inclined her head toward the open door Magu left, Len humming in contentment as he followed.
Framed by the traditional paper screens, Oniyuri could see the wiry trees and large rock formations of the hybrid garden. On one side the fine dust was combed to perfection, exact lines untouched since they were done. On the other side, the first breath of spring was winding its way through half-dead trees and bare cobblestone paths. It currently wasn't at its best, dirty puddles from melted snow still littering the dark green lawn. Yet the air carried a crispness that Oniyuri enjoyed, and the caretakers had swept the more popular paths already.
When they exited the room, Oniyuri could feel the eyes of several caretakers, ready to jump if she ran to the zen garden. They did not need to worry.
To keep up the façade of childhood, Oniyuri slipped her hand into Kigiku's, feeling her size again when her whole fist could barely close around two fingers. The path Kigiku chose wound all around the compound, between buildings and feature pieces. She hadn't gotten the chance to enjoy the early flowers yet, and hopping from one cobblestone to another as Kigiku glided beside her. Not far from where they started, a small bird fountain rested in the garden. Despite the murky water collecting around the base, the little trickle of water exiting the top bowl to overflow into the lower levels glittered in the afternoon light.
"I have seen too many people damage their bodies. Sometimes it's immediately noticeable. Most of the time, it isn't apparent until they're thirty again." Kigiku's hand rested between Oniyuri's shoulder blades, a comforting gesture. Oniyuri turned her head away from the little grey bird enjoying a bath to study Kigiku's androgynous face. Seriousness was etched into the eyes (upturned, perfect for throat-cutting eyeliner), into the mouth (thin but wide, always a straight line), into the posture (shoulders back. Always). Kigiku never was the one to crack a joke or tease, rather enjoying life in silence and in music, but at this moment, Oniyuri knew her music teacher was genuinely grave. "Please, Oniyuri, take care of your body."
"I understand." she murmured, significantly cowed. "I didn't realise how much I was pushing my body."
"I have been told you have a great interest in ninjas." the hand drops away from Oniyuri's back, and Kigiku steps away from the bird fountain, continuing along the path back to the hotel. "I take it you wish to join a village?"
"Yes," she admits. Oniyuri felt a little guilty over abandoning her clan so fast, but while dancing and musical instruments were fantastic, she could see where the lifestyle was heading.
It was partly why she jumped from career to career in her previous one; while each job had its own way of life, soon it became autonomous, completing the same actions over and over, nevermind if the loop extended over a month or a year. She was always pursuing something to challenge herself, something new every day for the rest of her life.
And the Suiei clan was everything she couldn't find herself to enjoy in the long run. Despite their lives being out of step from every other human being, to them, it was a normal day to practice controlling water and dancing across the Elemental Nations. Some people enjoyed this secure life. Oniyuri did not.
"While I love the Suiei clan, I admit that I would find more enjoyment as a ninja. I don't know which village to choose, I don't know exactly the lifestyle of ninjas, but I want to become one." She paused. "I've already been told about how much I have to train each day, and the horrors of ninjas, and the brutality of the system, in detail." Nanohana and Himawari had made that perfectly clear.
"And you still want to join?" She lifted her head to stare directly into the musical genius' eyes and gave one sharp nod. "Will you continue your classes?" Oniyuri took a deep breath and regaled Kigiku with her plans for the future.
A few days after her exam found Oniyuri silently packing away her belongings. It was the final move before the next big city, meaning that tomorrow was to be a long day of travelling. She winced as her shoulders and upper thighs quivered at the thought of being strapped to Hanabi's back, but it was the quickest method of transport. The clan travelled abnormally fast for a non-ninja clan, and that required the abnormal method of strapping babies to their mother's back. Secure, yes, comfy? The red indents left by the ropes gave an astounding no.
There wasn't much for Hanabi to seal away in her special scroll. Books from the library, her three pairs of chopsticks, and whatever cheap omiyage from previous villages. Her clothes were already packed away, a plain blue yukata for tomorrow laid out at the foot of her futon. There was one last thing she needed, and that was her worn out koto.
She looked across the room, away from her bedspread, to where Ajisai was leaning over her beaten and bruised instrument. Occasionally a note from a plucked string rose from that side of the room, but it was hard to see exactly what the mathematician was doing because his body shielded the koto from her view.
"Ajisai?" she tapped on his shoulder, kneeling down beside him, legs folding under her. Ajisai didn't have the fine control to sit in seiza, and instead, his legs sprawled to the side. "Do you want to learn the koto?"
Ajisai shook his head minutely.
Oniyuri waited for the waterfall of words that always trailed after Ajisai like visible smoke curled around an incense stick, but for the next minute, only the koto spoke, its words weaving a slow melody.
"How about the shamisen? I don't think the shakuhachi would really interest you." a shrug was her only reply. She leaned over the koto slightly, trying to see the shadowed face of the boy beside her. Despite the room's only light source being on the other side of the room, she could see his eyes; staring endlessly through the koto, not a single flicker of movement as one of his fingers twitched over the strings.
"Are you still doing your calligraphy practice?"
The koto stopped, along with Oniyuri's patience. She slapped her hands on his cheeks and forced Ajisai to look at her. The movement made his chubby baby cheeks squish further up his face, and involuntarily she felt her heart automatically melt at the adorable baby face.
"Ajisai, please tell me what's wrong." she shook his head. "You're never this silent, you insufferable maths nut! Where're the insults? Where're the backhanded compliments? Where's your fire?" she leaned forward to stare right back into his vivid blue eyes, also resisting the desire to squeal cute!
A haughty sniff, even if it only lasted a second, almost brought tears to her eyes.
"I'm fine," he grumbles, hands reaching up to her wrists. She gave his head another shake, not saying anything. "Ok, so I might not be! So what!"
"Keep talking like that and I'll rattle the brain cells out of you."
Ajisai grit his teeth, finally ripping his head away from Oniyuri's hands and leaning backwards. Now, instead of nothing, his mouth twisted with discomfort and his eyes narrowed at the walls.
"It's Asagao alright." he snapped, mouth decisively curving downwards. "She's… doing something, I don't know, but, I just feel…"
"Ugh." he finished like it explained everything.
"Try in English." she offered, sliding her legs out from under her (ok so she might not have yet mastered seiza, so screw you).
"I just feel trapped, ya know?" he grumbled, heeding her idea. His American accent became immediately noticeable. "She's always there, and just, offering everything." he threw his hands up when he saw Oniyuri's confused head tilt.
"Want some water? Do you want to practice your calligraphy? Don't you want to join the accounting class? Where do you want to go today? Have you made any friends in the clan?" his hands came down again, one palm slowly dragging down the middle of his face, the picture of exhaustion.
She visualised Asagao saying these things and tried to include Ajisai into the scene, but it was like a calculator trying to solve the square root of a negative number. Asagao was always overbearing, a little strange from the usual quiet calm of an ordinary Suiei, but there was something about Ajisai's agitation. Something about it that made her realise that she didn't fully understand his problem.
"She's trying to parent you?" was her hazard guess. Asagao seemed to be overly affectionate.
"Exactly!" Ajisai almost roared, standing up in the cute clumsy way that only a baby could look so cute doing so could. He was now almost fuming, already red cheeks growing. If it wasn't for her knowledge, then Ajisai looked like a baby one second away from a full screaming tantrum. "She's helicopter parenting me! And I DON'T WANT THAT!"
Oh. The full situation finally dawned on Oniyuri - Ajisai was a fully grown man, not a two-year-old. Asagao was treating him like a baby when he wasn't. Hanabi and Asagao weren't Oniyuri and Ajisai's mothers, they were their caretakers. They weren't there to enrol their child to a fun club, they were there as older members and prospective friends to encourage them to find their feet in their new bodies and grow stronger as time went by.
If this continued, Asagao would continue to seriously limit Ajisai's world. Not only was Asagao trying to teach Ajisai like a newborn baby, but she was also slowly cutting Ajisai from other people. Ajisai wasn't really in touch with his feelings, and whatever Asagao was doing was slowly building up a wall around him as Asagao tried to baby him.
To be honest, Oniyuri wondered why the mathematical genius would come to her. After the first introduction classes, they rarely saw each other. Oniyuri was in the dance and music classes while Ajisai was no doubt teaching his teachers maths. Perhaps it was because, for the first year in this world, they were shoved together often. Before Asagao really began to coddle Ajisai, Oniyuri was a person he would see often. Maybe it was because they shared awakening months.
Who knows! Because right in front of her was a distressed human being, who was trying to break out of something before the iron gates swung shut.
"Ajisai," she called, patting the space he vacated. "I understand where you're coming from. What do you want to do?"
"I don't know!" and now the baby tantrum was turning towards a cry fest. His fists clenched his yukata, chin dropping slightly to his chest. "She's just too much."
"Ajisai, I get it. Asagao isn't treating you like the thirty-something you are. She's forgotten that."
There wasn't anything that Oniyuri could do to help Ajisai except asking someone older for help. But first, Ajisai looked exhausted. His eyes were droopy, rapidly blinking away the rush of emotions. Oniyuri could almost feel her own energy vacating her body too; despite the ability to push her body to the limit with her physical energy, she still needed to sleep just as long as a normal two-year-old.
Planning could wait for tomorrow. It was going to be long anyway, with the entire day booked. Tomorrow they were to arrive at Konohagakure.
It's ya boi, amy. excited to announce I got a beta! Philo was very kind in helping me sort out what to do with all my chapters and also edited it too. I'm trying to train myself for NaNoWriMo 2019, so I'm trying to write every day. My plan is to update this story and another story of mine (Lucille) every two weeks on alternating Saturdays. I've already written halfway through ch 10 of oniyuri, so even if i get suck I have a little bit of a fallback. I wish you all the best and I honestly thank you all from the bottom of my heart for reading this story. See you in two weeks!