this numbers over 9k, because most of it comes from nanowrimo. I couldn't be bothered to split it again, so here. it's a fucking monster of a chapter.
It was a little shocking at how easily Deidara wormed his way into her heart, swearing and blowing up shit along the way. She couldn't believe the turn of events that put him so close with her, but by the end of her time in Rock, she truly believed that Deidara was a brother to her.
Sometimes even now she'd miss his crazy explosions.
And now she was getting ready a nursery for her new half-brother. Hanabi was surprised by him but saw no reason in aborting him and continued through with the pregnancy. Her little brother was due any day now, and their rooms in Kumo could now house three.
Oniyuri wondered what kind of name he would choose. Hanabi and herself were strapped for ideas.
"Tea?" Hanabi called from her bed. She looked at Oniyuri pleadingly, "Preferably rose?"
"I'll go get him then," Oniyuri replied, smirking when Hanabi rolled her eyes. "I'm kidding. I'll have it ready in a moment."
"Thank you. Sorry to interrupt your work."
"I don't mind," her work, in a surprising turn of events, was not about ninjas or anything along those lines. This time she was slowly working through plans that would become a small festival, situated outside Kumo's stadium, run by her and a few other Suisei members.
It was coming along swimmingly. There had been previous attempts at creating a festival, but all had failed so far. Sometimes they had too many stalls, or the cost outweighed the sales, sometimes they accidentally held it in a local depression so nobody could buy anything, sometimes the ninja of the local village was just too wary. The last attempt was twenty years ago, so she was ready to be the next person to give it a shot.
Thanks to the previous fails, Oniyuri already had her trails and product testing done. Which is why Kumo was going to be the first village of this attempt. It had a fantastic economy and the population was nothing to sneeze at either. Furthermore, she only planned three stalls: yakitori, a ball throw and an embroidery stall, which she was going to spearhead.
It was kind of pushing it with the embroidery stall because a traditional Japanese festival would not have anything like that – just food, games and lottery-style games. She originally wanted to have a kakigoori – shaved ice – stand, but it was always cold in Kumo and it was the middle of autumn too. Oniyuri was a firm believer of 'it's never too cold for ice cream and kakigoori,' but it probably wasn't for the best to have a stand, because that was not a universal statement.
Now Oniyuri was craving shaved ice.
She returned to Hanabi's room and set down the cup of tea. Hanabi immediately dropped her book down and reached for the cup.
"I've been meaning to ask," Oniyuri began as she picked up the book to place it on the bedside table. "Is the father also another ninja?"
Hanabi shook her head. "No, I was just feeling a wee bit… you know… and just went down to the town's local pub. This time, I'm sure he wasn't a ninja." Hanabi laughed nervously and looked away, a small peach flush colouring her cheeks.
"I'm friends with Rose, you don't have to shy away." She patted Hanabi's lower arm. "Are you ok with having another baby? You said you didn't want another."
"No reason why not to have it, I'm not in danger, and I should've been more responsible. Thanks for telling me early though – the first-morning sickness would've been a huge shock!" They laughed it off, and for a while, she spent some time talking to Hanabi.
It wasn't before long before the older woman finished the tea and laid back on the bed properly, feeling drowsy enough to have a nap. Oniyuri left her in her room and returned to the lounge room. The paperwork and her pad of notes were strewn across the table and right at that second she just did not feel like doing work.
So she packed it all up and found a coat; the hallways weren't as well insulated as the rooms. Her destination was a door handle with something that closely resembled broccoli, but with yellow flowers covering the canopy. It wasn't that hard – she'd already been informed of the floor, and all she had to do was walk down the hallway checking the bright splashes of colour hanging from doors.
Oniyuri found it and knocked. "Hello?" Nanohana answered, peering around the door. "Oh, Oniyuri, come through, please."
"Please excuse me," she murmured, slipping off her tiny toddler shoes at the entrance. Having the hallway floor made of icy cold stone wasn't a really bright idea, she personally thought, but Kumo seemed to love cobblestone and masonry. She would just have to suffer.
Nanohana's room didn't seem to be heated as much as Oniyuri's, so her coat stayed on. The unfortunate downfall was that the fur lining the hood was forced upwards and covered all the way up to her nose when she sat. It made her nose itch.
"Cute!" Nanohana giggled, setting down a new cup of milk for Oniyuri. He had to be very careful though because the table was covered in threads, needles, pattern books and fabric. It was no surprise though, Oniyuri had come to know Nanohana not only as of the gossipiest man in the clan, but also the Master of Fabrics and Threads. When Oniyuri was looking for something to do not only in her free time but also for the festival, Kiku had pointed her to several people, one of them being Nanohana.
It was a pleasant surprise to find the Master of Fabrics and Threads. Not only could she have an embroidery stall, but she could also get back into embroidery and crafting, which was a pretty big bonus in her mind. Oniyuri finally replaced Hanabi's and her own door handle design, which previously was just some basic drawing that had gotten crushed a few times.
"I'm just here to relax for a bit," Oniyuri explained, withdrawing her latest project from her bag. It was just a simple hoop; one she'd done several times for the festival. Just a 'straw' hat made of blanket stitches and basic flowers around it. Nanohana was currently working on the largest piece yet, a beautiful piece of Kiku mid-dance. They were only going to make two because it took that long and they didn't have evidence that the festival was going to be popular enough to dedicate more people to.
"I know that, but I had an idea." He said, quickly and fluidly finished a row of stitches and snipped the thread. "Maybe we could do some calligraphy while we're selling the hoops. I know you're very good at it, so it could be something to do?"
Oniyuri turned the idea over in her head and saw no problem with it. At least she could now say the multitude of calligraphy lessons she took in her previous life was finally paying off. "I'd have to get back in shape, but I'm down. What kind of things do you want me to prepare?"
"Suisei," Nanohana immediately said. Oniyuri gave him a look, smiling when he chuckled. "Um, Kumo, Lighting, peace, dance, some idioms, maybe take some requests on the night?"
"Sure, why not,"
"Okay Oniyuri," Nanohana gave her a feral grin. "Now, what have you heard…"
"What's the magic sentence?" she pointedly inquired. He dipped his head dramatically in acknowledgement.
"Of course, of course, my bad… please, sister, spill the tea." Oniyuri dropped her eyes down to her hoop even though she didn't have to, biting her lip to contain her laughter. She'd done this pattern so many times she didn't even have to check the pattern.
"Well, Eederu was talking a few hours ago to Erika, and at first I didn't think it would mean much, they never have the hottest goss, but I was surprised to hear that…"
Two hours later, Oniyuri had to regrettably set down her hoop and bid Nanohana goodbye. He was still working on the same hoop but had finally finished the kimono, all details done. It was so pretty Oniyuri wanted to do it, but she couldn't dedicate enough time to a complex hoop like that to sell it. It was best to leave it to Nanohana.
"Oh, right, Asagao and Kiku want to see you, in the next few days." He said just as she was slipping on her shoes. They were so tiny it was criminal – Oniyuri still couldn't believe how tiny her shoes were! Right. Nanohana.
"Word?" she answered, giving Nanohana a quick look over her shoulder to acknowledge she heard him. "Do you know why?"
"Asagao just wants to talk about the usual, and Kiku didn't say."
"Alright then," Oniyuri stood up again and reached for the handle with her water. "I'll go see Asagao now and Kiku afterwards. Thanks for today, have a nice night!"
"You too."
While Nanohana was one of the people Kiku had referred to her when she was beginning to investigate this festival idea, there were other people she had to talk to. A surprise was Asagao – she did not realise how much her job would be critical to the festival.
As Master of Ceremonies and Events, Asagao had to keep an eye on everything the clan did in regards to the show, meaning she had to interfere with every aspect in order to make it run smoothly. When Oniyuri realised that, it made her actions with Ajisai a little more understandable. Understandable as in she could finally know what angle Asagao came from, but it still didn't make her behaviour acceptable.
Oniyuri sighed as she stood before Asagao's door. A beautifully dried Morning Glory and a bundle of Hydrangea flowers hung from the handle, and there was even a faint scent drifting from them. However, thanks to her superior sense of smell, she could tell it was artificially applied.
"Oniyuri," Asagao greeted when she knocked. "I just wanted to talk to you quickly. Please, come inside."
"Please excuse me," she said and popped her shoes off again. This time the room was warm enough to open her jacket, but if she was only going to be here for a few minutes there shouldn't be too much harm keeping it on. "How's Ajisai?"
"Quiet as ever," Asagao sighed, visibly worried. Oniyuri couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow, an inner thought venomously whispering yeah I totally can't see why. "Hasn't been doing much outside his classes and clubs."
Oniyuri stuck her legs under the kotatsu's cloth, toes wiggling with glee at the warmth. "Actually, I was kind of interested in talking to you about Ajisai. Hanabi's going to have another baby soon, so I was looking at moving out to allow her to focus on him. And, really, to get away from a screaming kid. Would it be alright if I share a room with Ajisai? I think it might be best for him – maybe getting out of his old schedule will force him to talk to more people."
Asagao paused at her words and rested the side of her jaw in her hand. Her eyes flicked rapidly between Oniyuri and the background of the room. Oniyuri gave her some time to think it through, but internally she was holding her breath. It was a feasible question – they were in the age range where young members separate from their caretaker, and while it was kind of early, it was Oniyuri and Ajisai together, not individually.
"…Isn't it too early?" Asagao murmured. "I'd… worry constantly…"
"We are adults, you know," she dryly remarked. It irked her that Asagao seemed to automatically seize any question that involved Ajisai and acted like it was directed at her.
"I know, but…" Asagao trailed off. Knowing that she was a dead-end, Oniyuri turned to one of the doors leading deeper into the hotel room and cocked her head at Ajisai.
"Well? Do you want to live together?"
He regarded Oniyuri with icy cold eyes. Now, instead of being impatient at being looked at with those blue eyes, she felt cowed.
"Ajisai? Don't you have a music class soon?" Asagao smoothly inserted, beginning to rise.
"I think this conversation involves me, Asagao." Ajisai sharply interjected, joining them at the kotatsu, although he did not bother inserting his legs under the blanket.
"Then, do you want to go to Kiku? She wants to see me soon, so maybe we could make it two birds, one stone-"
"I don't agree with this!" Asagao protested, now almost glaring at Oniyuri. She frowned back, coolly observing the other woman.
"Excuse me, but I was talking to Ajisai. This is his choice, not yours."
"I'm his caretaker!"
"And I'm technically older than you if you're worried about a lack of adult supervision."
Asagao fumed. She could hear fabric scrunch as Asagao flexed her hands in her winter wear, the noise almost screaming in her ears.
"Then, did you need anything else?" she idly hoped it wasn't anything too important regarding her festival.
"Just return the paperwork to me soon." She gritted out. "…That's all."
"Great!" Oniyuri turned to Ajisai. "Do you need anything?"
"Just a coat." He replied as he returned to his room. Oniyuri bid Asagao a short, constrained goodbye and began to slip on her shoes.
Ajisai met her outside the hotel room. "I'm still furious at you."
Oniyuri's elated mood fell. Ajisai… had a good reason to be. During their time in Rock country, Oniyuri had gained Deidara as a brother… and Ajisai was stuck with Asagao for months and months. She'd tried her best at the start, watching them and trying to intervene, but it was hard because she also didn't want to bother Deidara too much. And like somethings, she just… forgot.
Their first conversation outside of Rock country ended up with Ajisai coldly grinding her into the dirt with his words. Other than a few more attempts on her behalf, this was their second conversation since Rock country. Just like every other time they made eye contact, Ajisai's expression was tight and controlled, his words to the point and more than sharp.
"This is my olive branch," she said. "I know I stuffed up. But even so, I'm still trying to help you."
"You promised to help years ago. And then when you decided that you wanted another person to talk to, you ran off and forgot about me." Ajisai spat. "Don't think I'm forgiving you. This is the lesser evil."
"I know it's been years, Ajisai." It was frustrating to talk to Ajisai when he was turning his brainpower against her. It took her a while to format her responses in delicate conversation like these, but Ajisai could tear through her words like paper doors. "But don't think I got tired of you."
Ajisai gave her a dark look and did not speak again. In a short time, they arrived at a door with a beautiful water paint chrysanthemum painting hanging off the door number. In stunning calligraphy beside the flower, it stated Suisei Clan Head. Ajisai immediately stepped forward and knocked clearly.
"Oniyuri, the person I wanted to see." Kiku immediately said upon opening the door. "And Ajisai, a person I wasn't expecting to see. Please, come in."
Oniyuri went through the same motions she'd repeated twice that day already. Greeting, shoes off, coat off, seat at the kotatsu, accept a cup of milk.
"Now, shall we begin?" Kiku gave both of them a look over the rim of her green tea.
"We'd like to move out of our caretaker's responsibility." Oniyuri opened up with, keeping her voice strong and steady. "I know we're a little early but Hanabi is going to have another baby soon and I would like to leave as soon as possible, so I asked Ajisai if it was alright." It was something they discussed ages ago – when the problem was still fresh but they were way too young to consider this. But now they were.
"Yes," Ajisai agreed. "I wouldn't mind."
Kiku leaned back slightly, although, as Oniyuri noted, she did not break her wonderful posture. What a queen. "You are a little younger than normal, but seeing as Oniyuri has impressive control over water bending, it wouldn't be too hard. I'll have a look at renting another room for you." Ajisai's shoulders sagged, but it was minute enough that because she was looking for it she recognised the movement.
Oniyuri beamed up at the clan head. "Thank you very much! To be honest, I just didn't really want to be so close to a screaming baby."
"I see!" Kiku laughed, covering her mouth with a hand. "Well, I won't fault you! Himawari was also a screamer before his ritual."
Ajisai raised his eyebrows. "Himawari is your son?"
"Oh yes," she nodded, "but he's too interested in books and fuinjutsu to become the next head. So the seat is up for grabs!" Kiku grinned at Ajisai, but he made a disgusted face, which made the other two share a laugh.
"Is it alright if I keep Oniyuri for longer?" Ajisai nodded and slid out from the kotatsu.
"Don't wait up for me." Oniyuri tacked on, although it was really only to keep up pretences. Their relationship was still extremely rocky.
"Have a good day." He said and vanished out the door.
"I think this will interest you: an active Suisei member in Kumo would like to talk to you." Kiku immediately continued. Oniyuri straightened at her words. She'd never been informed of active Suisei ninjas. From previous conversations' contexts, she could hesitantly conclude there were three somewhere out in the world.
"It's not too serious, so you don't have to see him now, but sometime in the next few days," Kiku said. "He's got a few days of holiday because we're here, but he will be back on call, and therefore leave at short notice."
From what she'd gathered from reading about ninja structures, being on call and expecting short notices for missions were only for the very active ninjas, the type that every child would dream to be: out on the field and fighting (faceless) enemies from other villages.
Because Suisei members were technically on loan from the clan, villages were hesitant to put members on the active rosters. Only those that proved they could push themselves and clearly stated that they understood the danger they were heading down could step up to this placement in the battlefield.
…Would he be alright with teaching her the Lightning Academy Style?
Oniyuri refocused on her conversation with Kiku. "No, I have time today. Where can I meet him?" Kiku smiled.
"I thought you would've wanted to see him quickly, so I told him to wait at a popular restaurant. Here are the name and directions." Oniyuri took the slip of paper and quickly worked through her mental map of the area around the hotel. Retrace the path they took from the entrance for a little bit, turn at a place the mysterious ninja had labelled 'shop with strange frog,' (and in tinier writing, 'or cute, if you're weird') and so on forth. The entire thing was written in English.
"I will go then. Thank you very much, Kiku, for today." She stood up and bowed deeply. She would need to return to the hotel room to pick up some warmer clothes for the travel. "Oh, right, who should I take with me?"
"Tsutsuji should point you towards someone. He's next door." Kiku gestured to a wall behind Oniyuri. She already knew – she'd seen the azalea calligraphy carefully balanced to hang off the numbers on the door over.
Ten minutes later found Oniyuri outside the clan's chosen hotel, twisting the map until it fit with what was in her head. Rose wasn't available to escort her, so her adult supervision was by another guard – one of the non-ninja guards. She was a little embarrassed to say she'd never really paid him much attention because of that.
"Alright," she addressed her guard, who was named Poppy or Popii, whatever spelling it was. "I think I know the way?"
If only Rose was here… that would've been a barrel of laughs.
The frog was easy to spot, a giant ceramic fixture with a chalkboard full of the shop's specials and sales leaned against it. It didn't have a neck, so the frog stared up at passers-by, a matching froggy smile welcoming them to the store.
Oniyuri found the instructions simple and the restaurant, thankfully not too far. It was a large establishment that looked far more like a pub from some fantasy RPG than a traditional Japanese restaurant. It was made of red brick mortar, and displayed a long plank of wood, angled forwarded so pedestrians could clearly see the name of the place. The kanji burnt on it was brilliantly done.
Stepping inside further showed that the establishment had some wealth behind it. The chairs had built-in cushions, and the cups were made of glass, which was rather rare for this world. Other pubs lacked decoration, partly because they were that stripped of cash, or it was pointless for a rowdy crowd. This place didn't care though, but the display almost hurt her eyes. It was not… well put together.
Quickly, she surveyed the customers. Over half of the seated were also African-Asian, so she couldn't use her tick of 'find the darkest skinned person in the room.' However, there was one man with a stunning afro, wearing a blue haori. On the black, which was facing the door, was a rather familiar clan symbol.
She pulled Poppy over.
"Hello? Are you the Suisei ninja I'm supposed to meet?" The first thought she had was 'is he trying to be some kind of Afro Samurai rip-off?' Then the man extended his hand and looked at her over his Ray-Ban shaped glasses.
"Only if Suisei Oniyuri is asking." He said seriously. That's when she realised that it wasn't an act he was trying to pull off – he was, perhaps, that effortlessly cool.
First Rose, and now this guy. The clan could produce some truly wacky personalities.
She reflected the air of gravity the man held and nodded, even though inwardly she was torn between laughing her gut up and asking him if he chose that side of the table because the sunlight was angled to hit that particular seat. Nevertheless, Oniyuri slipped into the other side of the booth, bending her legs under her when it came apparent sitting normally left her eyes only just above the table.
"Do you need some cushions?" Poppy idly remarked, one eyebrow raised.
"If you would be so kind,"
Poppy went to bother one of the staff.
"If you're hungry, you should order. I'm not sure how long this will be, but it might be some time." Heeding the ninja's advice, she fetched the menu and Poppy returned just as the waiter finished taking her order.
"If you don't mind me asking, what do I call you? I haven't been informed of your name." She asked as she constructed a sound stack of pillows.
"Sakura. Thank you for coming out to meet me today," his hair didn't even move as he bowed; his afro was that type that was curled so tight wind had no hope of ruffling his hair. He slipped off his sunglasses and stuck them in his afro.
"You can speak English, right?"
"Yes, first language."
"Perfect. I'm not very good at expressing exactly what I want to say in Native." His eyes flicked around the restaurant. "And it gives another layer of security."
Oniyuri leaned forward minutely, interested. "What are the other layers? Wouldn't speaking in another language be suspicious?"
"Genjutsu, several. I'm also a little well known as a ninja, so people should keep their noses out." His hand lightly touched his hair, just behind his ear. "But I prefer people literally being unable to understand us. Being a ninja makes me suspicious anyway." He grinned, and Oniyuri surprised herself when she chuckled.
"Alright then," she switched to English. "My first question – how the hell is that frog not cute?"
Sakura made a disgusted face. "It's not. It's weird and ugly and I don't understand the obsession with it – don't tell me you done bought a miniature."
Oniyuri produced and brandished it with glee. Sakura groaned.
"I just don't understand how I could've missed it last time. Is it new?"
"Only a few months, but I swear it's cursed." Oniyuri laughed at his pained expression.
"Let's not talk in here," Sakura abruptly said, standing as the waitress with Oniyuri's food walked closer. He exchanged short, concise words and not a few minutes later she returned with the food in a transportable container. "Is there anything you'd like to see?"
"Show me what Kumo looks like to you." She wriggled the frog miniature before she tucked it away. "Convince me that Kumo doesn't come down to this cute boy."
Sakura rolled his eyes, but it was good-natured. Together they left, Oniyuri catching Sakura's fingers as they stepped out into a busy road. Sakura only glanced down once but didn't shake her off.
Sakura parted the crowd with his long legs, striding through with power and presence. His sunglasses were on properly again, which was a good idea. The sun was at the height of its arc, no longer muffled by the fog and mist of the surrounding mountains.
Kumo was like Iwa, nestled between a group of mountain peaks. Deidara talked about his home village, talking about the glow of the sunset, the terrible and great winds that ripped through the village constantly. Kumo wasn't like that – these mountains were covered in ciders, pines, ginkgo and so many others.
The tops of mountains like these always were wreathed with mist swirling between the trees, creeping down the peaks at the early hours to settle throughout Kumo in the morning. By now, the last wisps of fog were completely trampled by the foot traffic.
But Oniyuri was looking for something else. Right now, it was almost winter, the final stages of autumn in full swing.
Sakura took them away from the heart of Kumo, taking them along a path that climbed higher. It flatted out into a small clearing, the beginnings of the mountain's trees swarmed around them. Not far from where the tree line began, mist and darkness hovered, colder winds teasing the leaves.
What stole her breath away wasn't the chill but in fact the colour. Kumo was a hot spot this time of year because of the frankly phenomenal autumn leaves. There was green, lighter green, pale red, red, darker red, yellow, orange, and every colour in between. Perhaps the beauty was enhanced by the lack of order – patches of yellow and red were swathed with several metres of green, and then sometimes there would be a line of golden crowns.
The area was covered in the red maple tree leaves and yellow maidenhair fan-shaped leaves. Oniyuri ran forward, dropping her hand from Sakura's, and grasped a large mound of maidenhair leaves. She threw it upwards, watching the golden mass explode overhead.
Sakura lounged on an off-white rock that was embedded in the earth. "This will do. Nobody will bother us on this training area."
Oniyuri perked up at his words. "Training grounds? Can you teach me Kumo's Academy Style?" Sakura frowned at her. "I already know Konoha's and Iwa's, I just kind of… want to complete the full five?" Sakura waved his hand and does that half-roll of eyes combined with a slight shake of the head.
"Whatever. It can be something we can do while I talk." He stood again, covering the ground between them with only a few wide steps. She couldn't wait until she would grow taller. "So the first stance begins as thus…"
Oniyuri was pleasantly surprised to see that Kumo's style was the first Academy style to entirely rely on blocking to defend against enemy strikes. But it wasn't the first thing that was unexpected: the style required a level of mastery for balance, something Oniyuri barely scraped by thanks to her dance background.
"Normally, I'd say you aren't ready yet," Sakura explained, "But you're not a kid and this is your only chance to learn it."
Oniyuri cocked her head. "Are you an Academy teacher?"
"Sometimes, but I only really temp for the kunoichi class." Sakura moved into the next kata, Oniyuri copying by bending over backwards with enough momentum to kick upwards into a handstand. The first time she attempted it, she immediately fell over. Now she could at least hold it, abet with shaking arms. A quick glance to Sakura revealed that he was perfectly still. She took a breath and focused on steadying her arms. "Remember the next three?"
"Yeah," Oniyuri dropped her legs until she was doing her best attempt at a split in the air. She had to pause to regain her breath, and then spun herself around and dropped her legs back to the earth. As she came up, she pulled her elbows back, tight against her body, and let out the breath caught in her lungs slowly and completely.
Sakura did the same, only faster and far more power. His spin was so fast his legs almost blurred together. "This style is more about teaching Academy students about balance and blocking. It can be used in combat, but it's hard to master and there are other styles that are better. And don't take that as a challenge; even if you do master it, it has large gaps that any decent jounin can take full advantage of."
"Sounds like you get a lot of kids sticking to that style." Oniyuri laughed, relaxing her upper body as she prepared for the next set of katas.
"And they pay dearly by my hands." Sakura shook his head, a small smile appearing for a few seconds. "You can continue from here alone. I'll watch from here." He was leaning against the rock again, which Oniyuri realised was a really good spot for a teacher to lounge while watching their student. Whoever designed it really thought of everything – one side was cut so teachers could sit naturally.
Sakura took a few moments, choosing to watch her punch the air for ten seconds. "A little more strength, but so far you're good. Now, to begin. How much do you know of this world's culture?"
"I know a little bit. I've been asking people to take me around to see sights, talk to people."
"How many of them were ninja?"
"A few." There was Deidara, definitely, and then the Sand Siblings, who might not be ninja now, but definitely were getting training.
Sakura paused, gazing at a small gap between the trees, the bright red mortar of the buildings filling the green. "They didn't talk about their ninja life, didn't they?"
"No, not at all. They still see me as a kid." His mouth twisted into a wiry grimace at her words. Before he could speak, she continued. "This is about death and murder, right?" Sakura looked over at her with an appreciative look.
"So you're not as naive as I thought. Yes, this is about ninja culture." Sakura casually plucked a falling maidenhair leaf out of the air, twisting the thin stem between two fingers. How unbelievably cool. "This is a little conversation I've begun to pick up with other ninja hopefuls. You see, when I joined Kumo, I had a twin."
Twin, in the Suisei clan, meant two things: birth twins, or two people who completed the moon ritual at the same night. Ajisai and Oniyuri were ritual twins, for example.
"My twin was from a world that had such tight security that the worst crime was lying, or some shit along those lines. He understood that his world was a little weird and was prepared for what the ninja lifestyle held, or so I thought.
"Nothing came of it until we became genin. Kumo has teams of five, and encourage genin to work together to improve. I was placed with my twin and three other native Kumo kids.
"I don't know how it is in Konoha, but Kumo structures missions so genin take their first kill within a year. As our old classmates took their first kill, my twin grew more and more agitated and outspoken. He began to look down and insult those with their first kill, and begging those who hadn't to not to.
"It made him extremely unpopular, and by extension me too. I tried to tell him to stop it, but he persisted.
"Soon Kumo sent our team out to 'subdue' bandits – basically kill. My twin was preaching his shit, and we managed to knock all the bandits and bring them to the local prison, although not without injuries."
Sakura pulled his shirt's sleeve until his right shoulder was visible. Scars decorated his skin, pale and stark. Oniyuri recognised the spidery, fan-like streaks as the scars left by lightning.
"Kumo was furious because that was supposed to be our first kill mission, so the very next day we were sent out again, only with a very explicit order to kill the targets. My twin tried his best not to kill, but because of his dumb actions, I not only got this scar –" he hiked up his pants sleeves to show a starburst shaped scar, "but one of his targets woke up again to kill not only him but another teammate. I was the first in our team to take first kill, the other two not far behind."
He paused. "Your left foot isn't angled far enough."
"Oh right," she corrected it. "Thanks."
Sakura sighed, continuing his story. "Even now I have to deal with his actions. My old teammates blame me, any new teammates think I'm a liability, and dealing with higher-ups is a nightmare.
"I'm not saying you should, I don't know, enjoy killing, but you need to be aware that you will kill, and sometimes you need to put aside your nobility and end a life." Sakura shook his head sadly. "You also need to be aware that this world's culture is very different. Death and murder is heartbreaking and awful, but there is a reason why civilians accept ninjas and continue to hire them"
"Just a different culture?"
"Yes."
"And it's not my job to try and change it?"
"If you don't have to kill, then don't. If you have a teammate who's a little kunai happy, then talk to them and your village. But please don't be like my twin, and endanger the lives around him."
Oniyuri dropped her stance and faced Sakura head-on. "I understand." She said seriously and bowed her head in thanks.
Oniyuri had listened with an attentive mind. She understood where Sakura was coming from. She knew that this world was inflexible. It was like medieval times, except instead of everyone dropping dead from disease and poor law systems left right and centre, this time it was superhuman ninjas and crazy jutsus that could wipe out villages in hours.
It was a moral dilemma. Nobody liked tourists who refused to acknowledge the local culture, but was it the same when people were dying? What Sakura was saying wasn't the morally correct thing to do, but he was right when he said that her own culture didn't have a place here. Her culture was 'absolutely no death penalty' but this was a whole new world. Their culture was to hire a group of ninjas, most likely teenagers, to protect themselves as they travelled from town to town. People called assassinations on each other stole treasures and rob people of their livelihood and still slept decently at night.
She would have to accept this fact and move on.
"There's another thing I wanted to tell you, something I didn't realise until I was chuunin for a few years. Ok, so you've got the katas down, so practice your balance." Oniyuri had been in the middle of changing her handstand, so she righted her legs and focused on some push-ups. At her skill level though, she could only do them excruciatingly slow.
"When you move to Konoha, you'll be largely left alone. Own apartment, you won't have someone to remind you of appointments or homework. It's perfect for us because we're all adults and teenagers. I loved it too – it was a good reminder of my age after spending all day with kids barely 8. But, I guess along the way I grew so used to being alone, I forgot a crucial part of my identity."
Sakura pulled his arm out of his haori and pulled the fabric around to tap the border of the Suisei clan symbol. "I forgot that I was part of a clan."
"Oh," she got what Sakura was hinting at. "I'm a clan kid."
"Yes. Please don't forget that you have a clan behind you; you can use it. The Suisei clan has people from so many walks of life. You've got Tsutsuji, who was the world champion of so many martial arts in his previous life. If you want new taijutsu, just ask him. You've got the ex-ninjas, which is why I'm teaching you Kumo's Academy style now. You've got an army of fuinjutsu masters ready for a challenge." If she wasn't upside down, Oniyuri would've touched her mask at the reminder of fuinjutsu.
Riiight. Oniyuri had a clan. She wasn't doing this alone, and furthermore, her clan's people already knew what they were doing and were experienced. Oniyuri wasn't the first Suisei kid to go to Konoha, and she wouldn't be the last.
"Right," she repeated, this time out loud. "I think I already forgot that. Thank you for telling me."
Her arms shook she was so exhausted. Sighing, she allowed her feet to drop to the ground, straightening.
Sakura had his hand on his right shoulder, rubbing the Lichtenberg figures mindlessly. Next second, the haori was on again, covering the scars.
"You said you sometimes teach the kunoichi classes. Can you tell me a little about it?" Oniyuri dropped to the ground at his inquisitive glance, drawing her knees up to her chest and hugging them with her arms. "Please teach me some more, Suisei-sensei!" she said in the highest, fakest voice she could manage, staring up at the older man with wide eyes.
Sakura laughed, just a light chuckle that crinkled the skin around his eyes and shook his head lightly, stepping away from the rock to stop just before her. At this angle, Sakura's legs went on for days. He sat, and his knees almost were taller than she was. "You don't need to bother. The dance skills you've got should cover everything, and you'll have a hard time convincing your superiors to get out of honeypot missions if you show skill in any more areas."
"I just want to know what it entails." She pouted, dropping her knees so she sat cross-legged and could lean backwards, supported by her hands. "Is that another part of ninja culture I'm supposed to anticipate?"
Sakura sighed. "Unfortunately, yes. One of the reasons why I continue to cover that class is because the other teachers try to get the girls used to rape culture and make them allow men to step on them." He looked down at Oniyuri, a momentarily sorrowful gaze touching the deepest part of her heart. "Kumo isn't perfect, like any civilisation, but I do my best. I like to think I have an impact on the young girls."
Oniyuri smiled. "Tell me more about Kumo, then." Sakura took a deep breath and released it, but did not speak. "How about what you've done for Kumo. What do you do outside of missions?"
Now Sakura smiled, and it was one that lit up his face. His posture straightened, and now he seemed more alive, so unlike when he was talking about his twin and the kunoichi classes.
"Well, I'd like to think that Kumo has a bigger queer community because of me. In my previous life, I died before I realised I was male, simply because the information was not widely spread. So the past few years I've been talking to people, set up a queer only bar…"
With the sun vanishing behind the mountains and the forests swallowed by mists, the temperature dropped rapidly. Thanks to the warming trick that Deidara taught her, she could at least cut down on some clothing, but nevertheless she was packing some layers. It was slightly hard to move at first, but as minutes went by she could learn to push it aside and ignore it.
The stadium was well lit, a beacon of entertainment, but her evening would not be spent there. Rather, it would be near the entrance, where the clan had pulled together some shade and tables.
Nanohana was busy beside her, counting the money he had nestled close to his stomach, but he constantly was throwing glances at the space around them. Hoops were pinned to a sheet of fabric they hung from the wooden roof, the two biggest hung at the back. The stunning detail could be clearly seen from the other side of the small shelter.
It was made from wood, used nails and the clan definitely had it commissioned, because it had the clan symbol engraved on the roof and on the support poles in clear white. It was like the small stall tents that were used at modern festivals and markets, only that three sides were solid wood, to prevent light hands simply lifting the product.
Oniyuri and Nanohana closed themselves in with another wooden table, presenting the smaller hoops before them. Oniyuri had a sheet for them to track all that were sold and Nanohana was taking care of the money if he stopped worrying about the large hoops.
"I'm sure they'll sell," She assured him.
"It's not that," Nanohana lightly laughed, but it was a little too tight to be carefree. "I'm just a little scared that someone will simply take it."
"No need to worry about that, sir," someone cut in, and they faced the front to see Rose approaching the table with a smug grin. His eyes were entirely on Nanohana alone. To her surprise, Sakura was beside Rose, one step behind. She grinned at the Kumo nin and waved. "We'll be watching."
"I'll be watching. Rose isn't being told to do shit." Sakura interjected.
"How are the other stalls?" Oniyuri asked before Rose could break from his pout. The other stalls were yakitori and a ball throw, the staff Nanohana and Asagao had pulled in from the clan. She didn't really know these people beforehand, but Eederu and Erika, who were cooking the yakitori, were a chatty bunch and also some of Nanohana's underlings. They loved to come to bother him.
"Alright! The game has been approached by a few kids already, and I've caught a few ninja kids trying to be civilians. There have been a few tries of the yakitori, but they aren't overwhelmed."
"Damn, look at those two hoops!" Rose leaned forward to squint at the two hoops of dancing Kiku. He whistled, low and long. Nanohana looked sufficiently pleased with his amazement but shook his head.
"Sorry, but you're missing your shot with me. I'm not interested in that kind of stuff with you."
Rather than pout and act disappointed, Rose just smiled gently at Nanohana. "I understand, but that is really breathtaking." Nanohana ducked his head, embarrassed.
"To be honest, I'd rather be sewing. Kiku asked for one herself, and I'm not that confident with this money. Never have been, never will…" he pulled out a stack one yen coins and eyed the silver coins with contempt.
"How about we ask Ajisai?" she suggested, "I'm sure he's feeling very bored right now." And it was also a good idea to get him out of Asagao's clutches for the evening. Sakura picked up a hoop from the table, inspecting the embroidery and basically telling Rose to get going. He took the responsibility without a problem, quickly flouncing off.
"Nanahana, this is gorgeous." He gazed at the colourful stitching of a quant, single-storey red-brick European half-hidden in luscious green grass.
"Oh, I did that!" Oniyuri corrected, "There's a little tiger lily in the bottom right area."
Sakura stared at her, face flat but mouth curling with a slight touch of humour. "This and dancing? You're going to have to fend off a lot of… recommendations from your Academy teachers."
"I have experience in acting." She raised her eyebrow at him. "And I know how to firmly say no." Sakura shrugged and placed the hoop back on the table.
"Your problem, then."
"Sure is!" she replied cheerfully, just as Rose returned and deposited Ajisai on the other side of the table. Rose had grasped Ajisai by the back of his clothes as he reached over the table. Ajisai looked appropriately displeased. "Hi! Do you want to handle money?"
His grumpy act deepened. "Asagao's going to snatch me as soon as she learns I'm not in our room." Nanohana rolled his eyes.
"She will have to get through me. God knows she'll just throw a hissy fit if it's Rose who speaks." Rose laughed, almost bending over from his laugh. Nanohana planted his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest. "Alright, you great big buffoon. You're blocking the entrance to the stand, get out of the way. We need customers!"
Sakura snickered, silently stepping back so he was standing between the yakitori stand and their stand. Rose pouted and sighed, deciding to go stand in between the game stall and the yakitori stand. Meanwhile, Nanohana was quickly handing the money over to Ajisai, who barely had to look at the gathered cash to be able to know exactly how much money he had to start with.
Oniyuri quickly went through the prices of the hoops, starting with the largest two at 40,000 yen and 700 yen for the small pieces that were just larger than an adult's thumb, meant for necklaces or earrings.
With Rose's massive shoulders out of the road, the magnificent hoops behind them were on full display, allowing those waiting in line for the show to catch a glimpse of the Nanohana's magnificent workmanship.
The first person to step up to the stall was a disgruntled mother pulled by two very curious twins.
"Welcome!" Nanohana and Oniyuri chorused, smiling at the mother and her children. "We have a few things for children, such as necklaces?" Nanohana continued, pointing at a small basket filled with the items. The twins crowded around it without hesitation.
"What do you guys like?" she asked, trying to see what they were doing from over the table. They were a little older than her, about ten, and didn't really pay much attention to anything other than the smallest hoops, pulling them from the small basket to 'try' them on. They mostly just giggled and gasped over the designs.
Oniyuri climbed onto the chair and leaned forward to watch them. "Hi!" she tried again, and this time one of them acknowledged her.
"Hello…" said the left twin, the one with their hair down, hands paused while the other one studiously inspected one of the hoops. "I'm Ajiko, and he's Ao."
"I'm Oniyuri. Did you know I made some of these? Check this out. If there's a small black tiger lily, then I made it!" she pointed to the one Sakura had picked up, because it was the closest to the front of the table. The boy gasped over it, while the girl looked interested, but not that overly amazed.
"Ajiko! You let your ponytail fall out!" their mother suddenly gasped. "Now I've got to do it again…" she placed her hands on her hips and scowled, her daughter answering in kind. Oniyuri looked at the twin's matching clothes, and how Ao's hair was also up in a ponytail. She reached forward and fished through the range of necklaces, finding the ones she had in mind.
"Here. This is for you, Ajiko, and this is for you Ao." She held the necklaces out by their string.
"Ao can't hear you! He's deaf!" Ajiko scowled, snatching the necklaces from her hands, eyes squinting as she glared at them.
"My bad," she said in sign language, "the wolf is for Ajiko and the flowers are for Ao." Ao's eyes lit up, and his own hands began to form signs. Oniyuri almost openly sighed in relief. It was a gamble to use sign language because she hadn't met any hard of hearing outside of the clan,
"You can speak deaf language?" Ao excitedly asked, leaning forward. Oniyuri could see his wide expressive eyes and a massive smile. "How do you know I like flowers? Everybody thinks that –" Oh damn, that was a long string of signs she didn't understand. Of course Native sign language – or as they call it, deaf language – was different from Japanese sign language, just how the spoken language was just not quite the same as well.
Ajiko looked far less hostile, dropping her contempt. She passed the small hoop with a slightly simplistic design of daffodils with a bit of greenery to accompany it. She kept the other, a snarling, black and brown wolf.
"Ao liked my cottage hoop, so I gave you a flower one," Oniyuri said.
"Dogs are cuter."
"Yes, but wolves are cooler. And there aren't any dog designs, sorry."
Ajiko regarded her cooly and held out her vacant hand to Ao, who dolefully handed over his necklace. Together, Ajiko marched up to her mother. "We want these."
"Aww, these flowers are so pretty, aren't they Ajiko?" she cooed, digging in her rather over-embellished carry bag for money.
"That will be fourteen hundred yen." Ajisai drawled and got a ten hundred note. "Your change, ma'am."
"These hoops are amazing," she continued "Will you be here when the show is over?" Oniyuri and Nanohana exchanged glances. Minutely, she shook her head.
"No, sorry. But we will tomorrow, same time, same place!" Nanohana cheerfully replied. The mother and twins said their goodbyes. As they left, Oniyuri could see the mother give them their necklaces, and the twins smoothly swapping when their mother looked away. "Bitch. She kept expecting for my 'wife' to come, so she could compliment her skills and didn't believe me when I said the two of us did it entirely by ourselves."
"She keeps trying to make her twins 'the same.' Same clothes, same hairstyle, same interests, but also probably doesn't understand sign language and isn't interested in Ao to learn he's the one to like 'feminine' things. Like flowers."
"She gave me a fucking ten thousand yen note." Ajisai joined in and gestured to six notes in his hand. "I'm almost clean of one hundred yen notes!"
"Well, we're fourteen hundred yen richer than we were five minutes ago. There's a reason why I'm willing to up with hoes like her." Oniyuri said and slid off her chair. "There are still some hours left in the night, so buckle up."
The night chugged on. There was sometimes a constant stream of people, coming and going, and sometimes a few moments they had to themselves. There were a few interested buyers of Kiku's hoops, most of which backed off after they heard the price, but they did have one leave them before the night was over.
After an hour, the table was cleared enough for Oniyuri to place some of her prepared calligraphy pieces and set up her inkpot and brush. The first customer who ordered a customised scroll, just of their name, nearly had a fit when Oniyuri was the one who picked up the brush. But his grumbling was quickly silenced when he saw her writing.
"I thought you weren't native Japanese?" Ajisai accused.
"No, but I did live there for the majority of my life and I took several shodo classes because it really is pretty." she defended.
Oniyuri slipped out of the embroidery stall to check on the others. Eederu and Erika were constantly cooking, and Rose was a having the time of his life with the local ninja kids, turning their cheating into another game. Apparently only two had slipped under his radar, and he awarded them handsomely. Thus the game was even busier.
At the end of the night, when the last straggler got through the doors, Oniyuri declared them done. The embroidery tent was pack up fast enough (the wooden structure even vanished into a fuinjutsu seal, which solved the problem of carrying it), but the yakitori stand was severely delayed because the BBQ needed to be cleaned first.
"Well, we sold one of Kiku's hoops," Oniyuri began, when the group gathered next to the yakitori stand. "What's the profit?"
"76,500 yen," Ajisai replied.
"55,450 yen." The staff of the throwing game said as he read it off a piece of paper.
"Haven't had the chance yet to count, sorry," Eederu answered, pausing her attempts to scrub the grill.
Ajisai sighed. "I'll count it,"
"It might be a little sticky from the sauce." Erika almost rubbed the back of her head with her hand still grasping a dirty sponge.
"I can clean it!" Oniyuri said, readying the water around her arms. A quick soak later, Ajisai was swiftly flicking through the coins and notes.
"Ok, so. Already I can say we completely covered the costs, but be warned that moving forward, the profit per day will fall as the customers will… not be so wealthy." Oniyuri winced at the description but moved on. "Thank you for putting aside your time to help me with this. It was a blast to work with you all, and I hope it wasn't too tedious." She got a few smiles from that.
"I'll stay to help Eederu and Erika, but you can all go back to the hotel. See you tomorrow then!"
"Otsukaresama!" the group chorused and broke. She readied her water, creating a large clawed hand around her right. Erika handed her the soup and she squirted some into the water, focusing for a moment to make her water swirl and foam.
It was a challenge to clean the grill. She couldn't just dump the water on the grill, she had to hold a ball of metal wool and focus on putting strength behind the push and pull of the water. It might've been easier to do it by hand, but Oniyuri wanted to have the practice.
"Interesting thing you've got going here," Sakura remarked, joining her but without the fancy tricks. It was a little hard to focus on both the conversation and the scrubbing. "The tiny market, not the water bending."
"It's my first attempt." The strength the water was scrubbing at immediately lost some oomph as soon as she spoke. Oniyuri had to pause to harden the surface. "We're not out of the woods yet. The first few nights have to bring in enough money to cover for the later nights. I did try to calculate how much money that has to be, but it's pretty hard and my data is at least twenty years old."
"But are you happy with tonight?" Sakura asked, nudging her a bit. Her claw immediately lost its form, the steel wool almost falling out before she caught it. Sakura smirked at her, and she knew she saw the challenging look his eye correctly. She fixed it again, mentally preparing for cleaning full of distractions.
"Happy?" she grinned at nobody. "Fuck, I'm thrilled!"
Rose appeared behind Sakura, waving to catch her attention. "Oniyuri," he said seriously, but he directed a big smile at her. "Hanabi's begun to give birth."
"Oh shit," she gasped, looked at the grill and sighed. "Well, I can't do anything. Birth takes a few hours."
Ajisai scoffed, joining in the conversation. The money box was held tightly in his hands. "I suppose you want to move out tonight?"
Oniyuri laughed. "Maybe so! She'll have to stay in the hospital for a few days, though. But I'm not too sure, I've never had kids."
"How old are you?" Sakura asked.
"That's a secret."
"Oniyuri is being a bitch. She's at least a hundred years old." Ajisai corrected. She pouted at him.
"Shut the heck your mouth. I'm trying to concentrate." Despite her words, she used her open hand to scoop some clean – but soapy – water from her collection and flicked it at Ajisai. There was barely enough to get a few drops on him but Ajisai still grimaced. The three of them laughed and continued to chatter away as they scrubbed.
I've been thinking about this story. Before you panic, no, I'm not discontinuing it.
I was blindsided by the number of words this story has so far. With this chapter, it's over 90,000 words. And that's a LOT of words to slug through, and Oniyuri isn't even at the academy yet! I also went back and read the first few chapters and tbh, winced. It's not good. The tenses are all over the place, and I've used WAY too many adverbs. I know its at least a little better in later chapters, and I can't keep restarting a story every year because my writing has improved.
SO what I will do is split it. Next chapter, Kiri, will be the last chapter for Lily in the Maelstrom. The sequel (title currently 'Hope to the Battlefield') will be put up sometime after I post the next chapter, and it will be structured so new readers don't have to read LitM.
Look. I know I have a lot of characters and awkward scenes and sometimes I spent way too long on events and scenes. So HttB will pretend that LitM doesn't exist. You might not see some characters again, such as Magu. I will also be explaining things again. Lately, I've received a lot of comments/reviews asking the same questions I thought I already answered in the story, but obviously not clearly enough. So HttB will cover everything again.
I now ask you to send anything else that you were confused over because it will help me when writing HttB.
Thank you for reading my story. See you next chapter!