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Two days later, Kokoro was walking with Luna into the forest. She had said goodbye to Ryu and Gramps an hour ago, and was a little tired.
"Are we there yet?" asked Kokoro.
"Yes." answered Luna, surprising her.
They walked into small clearing, that had a stream running through it. Sitting next to the stream was an old and very majestic looking tiger. He said, "Sit." and we sat in front of him.
"I am the Wise One. My name is not the Wise One, but you may call me that. Hello human. What is your name?"
Kokoro smiled eagerly and said, "My name is Kokoro, sir. I do not know my last name, sir, because I forgot it. Nice to meet you."
He nodded his majestic head once, and turned to Luna. "I trust you have filled Kokoro in about the basics of tiger clan?"
Luna said, "Yes, Grandfather."
"Good. Now we may begin our lesson. Today we will learn about mind touching."
Kokoro, who had been staring at Luna since she had never told her that she was the Wise One's granddaughter, started and looked at the Wise One in puzzlement.
"Mind touching?"
"Yes. Let me explain. Mindtouching is when one creature reaches out with his or her mind, to another creature's. Humans cannot do it, and many animals cannot as well. Cats have an instinct for it though, that is why we are so silent, we are used to mindtouching."
"You will be able to mind touch once I teach you, since you have tiger blood in your veins, and tiger chakra. Since you have Luna's blood in your veins, you and Luna will be able to mind touch more acutely than others. You will also be able to mind blend, but I'll teach you about that later. Luna has already began to learn about mind touching, she is the best of her class. You have no experience in this, though, so I will have to start you off from the basics. Kokoro, close your eyes and reach out with your mind toward Luna's. This should come easily to you."
Kokoro did as she was told, and groped around with her mind. She was startled to feel the minds of many other creatures, as well as Luna's. She reached out with her mind towards Luna, and thought, 'Hello? Luna?'
'Hello, Kokoro.' said Luna's mind voice. It seemed to Kokoro to be a very pretty voice. It was smooth and lovely. It sounded quiet a bit like the voice Kokoro heard when she was talking with Luna, but it was undisturbed by the meows and growls that her human ear heard from the tiger when she spoke with her.
'Don't forget, you are mind touching with me, and I can hear all your thoughts.' Luna laughed. 'Thank you. It is the same for me. Hmm. You're doing good! OK. Now open your eyes slowly, and try to maintain your connection with me.'
Kokoro opened her eyes tentatively, and managed to keep her connection with Luna! Her elation was short lived, though, when the connection broke, and Kokoro desperately worked to get it back. She got it, and was able to hold it for a few more minutes before it broke.
Kokoro looked, disappointed, at the Wise One, but all he did was turn around and say over his shoulder, "Practice until you meet me again, which will be in two days time. I expect for both of you by then to be able to mind touch unconsciously. Goodbye.'
He walked away into the trees, and soon his body was swallowed up by the shadows.
Kokoro looked up at the sun, and saw that it was high in the sky. She asked Luna, "Were we really here that long?"
Her stomach growled, and she laughed. "My stomach tells me, "Yes" ! Let's eat lunch and head back. By the time we arrive it will be time for dinner. Yum, yum!"
After a large dinner, Kokoro told Ryu about her session. Ryu tried to mind touch with Kokoro, and Kokoro with him, but all they accomplished was to get two very large headaches. Then, Kokoro and Luna mind touched, and Kokoro talked with Luna. By the time it was time for bed, Luna and Kokoro had gotten quiet good at it, but were still not able to do it unconsciously.
The next morning, Kokoro woke up late, and was in a rush. She and Luna gobbled down their breakfasts, and set off down the path to the Academy. The day after the test, Ryu had taken her shopping again, and they had gotten some school supplies. Ryu had also taken her to the Academy and shown her where it was, so she didn't need Ryu to show her the way this morning.
Kokoro and Luna fairly flew down the road, Kokoro and Luna mind touching as they ran.
'Why didn't you wake up early Kokoro? You always wake up early, and wake me up too, when there's no need to, and today you woke up late when there 'is' need to!'
'Sorry, Luna! I guess my body didn't actually register that I was supposed to wake up early today, and was tired because of all the mind touching we did before sleeping.' Kokoro sweat dropped.
They ran even faster, and arrived at the door to the classroom door, breathless. "I'm sorry." the girl wheezed to the teacher. "I woke up late."
The teacher and the students stared at the panting girl, and tiger. There was a long silence, broken only by the sounds of Kokoro and Luna trying to catch their breath. Then, the teacher glanced at the tiger, sighed ( there had been a wolf in the class once. This was no better) and turned to the class, smiling wanly.
"Class, this is Kokoro and her companion, Luna. Welcome to the class. My name is Masako Obata. You may call me Masako-sensei. Take your seat next to Shun. He is the boy with-"
"Oh, it's alright, I already know Shun." said Kokoro brightly, marching up to him and taking the seat next to him with Luna at her heels. "I beat him in a battle."
Several children gasped, and started talking to one another. That skinny little girl beat Shun, the prodigy?
Shun flushed angrily, and said loudly, "She did 'not' beat me! We were tied."
The murmurs rose even louder, and Kokoro wondered why they were so shocked. So what? They were an even match, what did it matter? But, she later learned that she and Shun were the strongest in the class, and that it did matter quiet a lot.
Masako-sensei quickly said, "Yes, yes, settle down children."
Masako-sensei gazed at Kokoro for a moment, and then resumed teaching the class. Masako examined Kokoro intently during class. She decided that she was indeed at Shun's level of expertise. This new girl was quite a puzzle. She smiled, and thought exactly what Ayashi had after Kokoro and Shun's battle. 'Shun finally has a rival.'
Shun did consider her a rival, but as the day progressed, he wondered whether she really 'was' a rival. Weren't rivals supposed to compete to be the best? But, she didn't seem to want to compete. Sure, she was smart, but she was also silly and energetic, and very optimistic. If Shun was better than her, she never competed to become the best. She would always congratulate him with a big smile, like when his shuriken hit dead centre, much better than her.
He sighed as he thought about this, and began eating his lunch. He looked beside him where the girl was chattering eagerly to a couple of other students, and looked down at the tiger cub. Luna was looking at him, and seemed to be saying, 'Yeah she is daft. Even 'I' noticed that you consider her a rival, and are trying to beat her.'
Kokoro hopped home happily. It had been very fun at the Academy. She had met a lot of people, and learned a lot of things. She mind touched with Luna and said, 'Wow, this was so fun!'
Luna looked up at Kokoro with astonishment, then mind touched with her. 'We've learned to mind touch unconsciously, we've learned to mind touch unconsciously!'
Kokoro realized that what Luna said was the truth, and they both danced all the way home, mind touching and singing, 'We've learned our lesson a day before it was due!'
They calmed down a bit as they approached the dirt path that led off the main road and went to Ryu's house. They walked up it, and soon reached the house. Kokoro opened the door of the house silently and looked around. Kokoro and Luna were quiet a bit late, and Ryu would scold them. He and Gramps did not seem to be in the house, so, Kokoro supposing that they went out, dropped her bag off in her room and walked towards the kitchen, hoping for a snack. Luna decided to stay behind, and fell asleep on the bed. Suddenly, Kokoro heard a creak from the living room, and thought, 'Oh, maybe Gramps is home.' and raced towards the living room. She heard a rushing sound from the living room as well, and then , as she was about to open the door to the living room, it opened by itself, and Kokoro crashed into a brown haired boy.
"Owww." said the both of them, rubbing their heads.
Kokoro looked at the boy and said, "You're not Gramps!" at the same time he did. They both scowled and said in unison, "Of course I'm not!" and then , "Stop copying me!"
Kokoro heard someone chuckle, and looked behind her to see Ryu standing in the doorway. "You could almost be twins."
Kokoro and the strange boy both said, "Stop it! Who 'is' this person anyway?" and stuck out their tongues at each other.
Kokoro and the boy got up at the same time, and glared at each other, and Kokoro thought, 'Why is he saying the same things I am?' and saw that the boy seemed to be annoyingly thinking the same thing.
The boy turned around in a huff, and sat down in one of the chairs in the living room. Kokoro chose to sit on the couch, and they both looked to Ryu for an explanation. He removed another chair, and sat down opposite to the two, sitting on the chair like it was a horse, his hand resting on the back of the chair.
"Kokoro, meet Okumaru Rinshin. Okumaru, meet Kokoro." Ryu introduced the two of them, and said to Kokoro, "Okumaru is training to be a Medical Ninja, so he comes to Gramps to learn. My guess is that, when he heard you he thought that you were Gramps, and was going to meet you. I believe he is your age as well, so he should be in your class."
He then turned to Okumaru and said, "I found Kokoro and Luna near a river about a week ago, unconscious and injured. Gramps fixed her up, but because of that he told you not to come for a while. That is why you two haven't met until now. Okumaru, Kokoro has lost her memory, so me and Gramps are taking care of her. We know nothing of her family, so we have no way of finding them."
Okumaru looked thoughtfully at Kokoro and asked, "Who is Luna?"
Ryu smiled, obviously uncomfortable, and said, "Well Okumaru, you might not like this, but, Luna is a-" at that moment Luna padded into the room, and Okumaru took one look at her and fainted dead away.
"-tiger…" he finished weakly.
Kokoro looked curiously at the unconscious boy, and asked, "Why did he faint?"
"Well…" Ryu said, "He's afraid of cats. When he was little, he was badly scratched by one, and has been afraid of them ever since."
Kokoro watched as the boy slowly regained consciousness, and walked over to him purposefully. "Okumaru," she said leaning down over him. "You needn't be afraid of Luna. She isn't a cat, she's a tiger."
"And that's supposed to make me feel better, huh." he said, and glanced at Luna. She smiled at him in a lame attempt to make him feel better, but she only succeeded in showing him her teeth and scaring him enough to go scrambling behind Kokoro, shaking in fear.
At that moment, Gramps walked into the room and promptly took care of Okumaru's fear of cats.
He took one look at the tiger and the covering boy, and booted Luna out of the room. The sight of the indignant flying tiger was hilarious enough to make Okumaru laugh so hard that tears ran down his face. When Luna padded back into the room, fuming, he laughed all the harder. Cats didn't scare him any more. When he was done, he reached into his pocket and removed a large hunk of meat. He walked over to Luna and gave it to her. She chewed and swallowed, and then looked at the boy and said in tiger language, "It's a little chewy, but, thank you."
Kokoro smiled and said, "She says 'it's a little chewy, but, thank you.'"
Okumaru looked amazed when he realized that Kokoro had translated what Luna had said, and then shrugged mentally. Last week, when he had gone to the Leaf Village with his father, he had seen a boy in a jacket with it's hood up, talking to a little dog that was in the jacket.
He then said solemnly to Luna "Your Welcome" and stood up to study Kokoro. He did recognize her from class, but he had been up last night and hadn't had much sleep, so he hadn't thought of it much at the time.
Kokoro studied him just as intently, and they were silent for a while.
Okumaru was tall for his age, but she was tall as well, so they were almost equal in height. He had dark, hazel eyes, and his hair was brown, alternating from an almost black brown, to a light golden brown. His clothes were normal, but he had a weapons pouch, that marked him as a ninja.
Kokoro, Okumaru noticed, was pretty, but there was a sort of sadness around her. He supposed that she had had a lot of heart break in her life, and his heart softened just a little. All in all, she seemed to be strong and able to defend herself. He supposed that the tiger was also part of her ninjutsu. He remembered when she had said that she had defeated Shun. She certainly was strong if she had been able to do that. Okumaru, done with his inspection of the girl, smiled warmly and said, "You are strong, and that makes me respect you."
Kokoro smiled back, but then the boy turned to Gramps in annoyance and said, "'Now can we start our class? I have to get home soon."
The old man said, "Yes, yes," and hustled the other two out of the room. Luna, not wanting to be booted out again, hastily ran out in front of Kokoro, and mind touched with her, 'I have never been so humiliated in my life! Imagine, me, granddaughter of the Wise One, being kicked out of the room!'
Kokoro giggled mentally, and said, 'That was funny,' earning a growl from Luna.
She became serious and said, 'I thought that cats have shorter lifespan than humans. If you were his granddaughter, he'd have to be quiet young.'
Luna gave her a contemptuous look and thought, 'Silly, we are not normal tigers, we can live much longer than cats. We are not that much behind humans though. For us, one human year equals two tiger years. Get it?'
Kokoro thought for a moment, and then shook her head. 'Nope.'
'Sigh.'
***
After about an hour, Okumaru left. Kokoro asked him before he left whether he would like to train with her, but he declined politely, saying that he better get home or his mother would be mad.
Kokoro helped Gramps grind some herbs, asking their names and their uses. Soon, it was time for bed and before sleeping, Kokoro asked, "Will there be school tomorrow?"
Ryu shook his head. "No. Goodnight black-eye."
"That makes it sound as if I have a black eye! Goodnight Ryu."
The next morning Kokoro woke up early ('Why' hadn't she woken up early yesterday?) and walked outside in her pajamas where a lot of noise was coming from. She stepped out of the front door and looked around. There was no one to be seen. The noise was coming from the woods, and Kokoro followed it to a small clearing. Suddenly, Kokoro noticed that Luna was following her and mind touched. 'What's that noise?'
Luna sniffed the air and thought, 'There are two people fighting. I think one is Ryu.'
Kokoro stepped into the clearing and saw Ryu and Hiro sword fighting. She saw the boys swift movements, and the block and thrust. It seemed to her as though they were dancing some intricate dance. Block, thrust, slash. Her eyes widened and her heart beat fast. She was in love.
Luna glanced up at the strangely still girl, and literally saw twin hearts in the girls eyes.
Ryu noticed Kokoro and stopped fighting. Hiro saw his gaze and sheathed his sword. Ryu noticed that Kokoro had a strange look in her eyes, and she seemed to be a little breathless. Hiro saw as well and was puzzled. Kokoro raced towards them, stopping short of Ryu and said, "Teach me!" looking excited.
"Huh?"
"I want to learn how to use a sword!"