Made of Fail
Chapter Three
Shinigami
Rōshi took an immediate liking to Fū, and she to him. Currently, he was giving Romi a break and keeping an eye on the hyperactive young scamp as both she and Sara were out hunting. Rōshi glanced down at the green-haired toddler and smiled. "When are you going to stop the charade, Fū-chan?" he asked.
The toddler looked at him and pouted before taking some clay out of the pouch on her back and eating it. Once she ate it, she began to morph into a slightly older child of four years. "How'd you know?" she asked, crossing her arms and pouting, making Rōshi chuckle. "I work as a partner with Saru, my bijū," he explained. "He's the one who told me that you were hiding."
Fū pouted even more. "…If I look like a baby, no one's gonna hurt me 'cause I'm not dangerous," she muttered, looking away. Rōshi softened. "That may be true," he said quietly, lifting the small girl onto his lap and running his hand through her hair. "However, you're with a family now. You've got a mother who cares for you and would give your life for you. I have seen it in her eyes many times. You're truly lucky to have found someone like her in your life."
Fū looked up at him with her big eyes and nodded slowly. "I'll tell her," she said softly, eating a little more clay and beginning to revert back to her younger form. "Just not yet."
The quad spent the next couple of weeks making cameo appearances throughout the various villages they came across before Rōshi finally convinced Fū to share her secret.
"Sara, Tsuki, Fū-chan has something she'd like to share with you," he said, catching their attentions. Fū seemed to glare at him for a moment before sighing and taking some clay out of her pouch to eat. Romi watched in fascination as her baby girl began to transform into a young child.
"F-Fū…chan?" The orange-eyed girl looked tiredly at her mother. "Hey, 'Kā-chan." Romi looked at her, concern and anxiety written all over her face. "Musume, what happened?" Fū looked down for a minute before speaking. "I can henge real good if I got clay," she said. "An' if I look like a baby, no one's gonna think I'm dangerous." Instead of being yelled at for deceiving her, Fū was surprised to find warm arms wrapping around her.
"Oh, musume," Romi said softly. "I'm so sorry. Did they hurt you there? Is that why?" Fū was shocked. Usually the adults just smacked her around a bit whenever she tricked them – they never willingly touched her unless it was to bring her pain. Her orange eyes softened and she began to cry.
"They were so mean to me, 'Kā-chan," she whispered. "They hit me and stuff and no one ever, ever hugged me 'till you. I'm so sorry 'Kā-chan. I'm so sorry." Romi gently stroked her daughter's hair. "If anyone ever hurts you ever again, musume, I'll send him to the Shinigami myself."
Sunagakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Sand, was currently going into its dry season. The rains would soon stop completely. Because of this, the genin of the village would be sent on 'water runs'. The purpose of these 'water runs' was to go to the nearest still-active river, get as much water as they could, and return to the village to dump it in the wells. The missions were paid for directly from the village funds, so during this time of drought the Kazekage would decide that everyone would have to limit his or her water intake to a set amount.
Tarantu was never called on these 'water runs', of course, as she was busy minding Gaara. This gave her a nice, steady income, though, so she didn't complain. Besides, even if she didn't get paid, she'd still be with Gaara-chan.
At the moment, she was training with Yashamaru as Gaara watched from the sidelines, holding his stuffed bear. Her advancement in her training had currently plateaued – she was stuck at the adept level for her healing, chakra control, and genjutsu while her ninjutsu, taijutsu, and stealth were all stuck at low-intermediate.
Yashamaru seemed to think that fixing her little problem required killing her.
"You've got to move faster, Tarantu-kōhai."
"Stop wasting your breath telling me things I already know!"
"If you moved faster, I wouldn't need to tell you this. Besides, if you've got enough energy left to yell back at me, I'm obviously not pushing you hard enough." Tarantu cursed mentally as she dodged another high-speed, high-powered attack by rolling to the side. She tended to avoid jumping since she learned the hard way that changing direction in midair was impossible unless you had wings.
That lesson had been very, very painful.
Tarantu dodged some more incoming projectiles but was met with a fist to the face, which she just barely ducked. Had she been able to breathe, she'd have yelled at her sempai to stop trying to kill her. But she didn't have the breath, so it was a moot point (but very useful in describing her situation, of course). Jumping over Yashamaru's low kick, she brought her leg up for a chakra-powered kick to his chin, which just grazed him, but still sent his head snapping back as she flew to the wall.
Despite his whiplash, Yashamaru was able to smile at the horrified girl, signaling an end to their fight. "Finally," he said. "Do you know how hard it was to get you to fight back?" Tarantu began to stammer apologies, but was waved off by her sempai. "A Suna ninja needs to find an opening and be on the offensive at times. Unless you were using your Aikido, you were never on the offensive and continued with your defensive strategy – even your Aikido would be useless in a real fight, since more often than not you'd be against more than one opponent and any ninja worth his salt would be able to get out of most bindings. The purpose of this exercise was to get you to break through this barrier and fight back."
Tarantu looked extremely uncertain, holding her hand up to her mouth. "But…I don't like hurting people."
"And if someone were to attack Gaara-sama, what would you do?"
"I'd send him to the Shinigami myself." Even Tarantu herself was surprised at her sharp tone, but she quickly softened it and took a deep breath. "No one will ever hurt my son as long as I live," she said softly, yet determinedly. "This I swear."
Gaara was suddenly at her side, hugging her hips tightly. Yashamaru smiled at the scene. "Then you will be officially known as Yōsabaku no Tarantu, Tarantu of the Preserving Sand Waterfall, hereon after."
'You're just like Onē-san, Tarantu-kōhai. You're just like Onē-san.'
Now that Fū was in a more trainable form, Rōshi, Sara, and Romi took turns training her – by Rōshi in learning more about her bijū, by Romi in seals and stealth, and the by Sara in just about everything else. Fū took surprisingly well to sealing and stealth despite her high energy levels and was getting a…an okay start with the Shichibi, but in everything else she was quite limited. The rest wasn't bad, it was simply all average for someone of her age. Of course, she wasn't going to be some sort of prodigy or anything – even though she took well to sealing and stealth, they weren't perfect by any means.
Without the big secret holding Romi and Fū apart, the two were able to mend the rift between them that Romi hadn't even known was there. They were now truly like mother and daughter.
As often as she could, Romi took Fū out for walks and taught her how to identify different types of plants by their bark, leaves, stems, roots, and/or flowers, the animals, and the insects of the forest. It was nice to watch them as the both seemed so eager and focused on what they were doing that their eyes lit up with intensity.
Rōshi smiled at the two. He was glad that Fū got the mother he'd never had – and to him, she was a granddaughter.
He and Sara sat and talked as Romi and Fū went out on these walks to catch up on what the other had been doing. Rōshi claimed he hadn't been doing much, but if one were to listen to his stories, he'd done much more than simply travelling around – he'd been in life-or-death situations countless times. Sara didn't disclose much, but she did tell stories of her times with both Romi and Tarantu before she kidnapped them.
Rōshi laughed at these stories and shook his head. "I never thought you'd actually kidnap someone," he said. "I wonder why you did it." He glanced at her to see an expression that seemed strange on her normally insanely happy face. "Sara?"
"I made a promise," she said softly, looking away. "That's all I'm saying."
The silence that accompanied this proclamation was deafening.
Romi and Fū continued to make their way through the foliage, Romi making no noise at all while her daughter did her best not to minimize her own sound. It was good training, although Fū still sounded like a stampeding elephant.
"Look, musume," Romi said softly. "That's a June Beetle. You can tell them by their iridescent, which means 'shiny', exoskeleton, which is the hard shell surrounding the soft body." Fū looked curiously at the beetle for a minute before picking it up. The shiny insect surprised her by attaching itself tightly to her finger, making her smile. She then put it away in one of the pouches that lined her hips.
Fū wore a black jumpsuit – the standard ones they issued in Konoha – with the sleeved cut off and neatly sewn as well as small tan pouches that circled around her hips. On her left hip between the small pouches lay a much bigger tan pouch that held her clay. On both legs she held weapons pouches. She also wore the standard black zori, or sandals, that they issued in Konoha. An orange clip held her bangs in place on the top right side of her head.
Romi had chosen this outfit because of its flexibility, durability, and all-around usefulness. Besides, it looked so cute on her!
She was torn from her thoughts when she heard a noise in the trees – it didn't sound like any animal she knew of, since she knew the sounds every animal made as it moved through the forest, except for –
Romi grabbed her daughter and rolled out of the way of a man with a kunai. The kunai plunged into the ground directly where Romi had been standing. The man stood up slowly. "I'm surprised you noticed me," he said gruffly as he tucked the kunai back into his pocket. "Few can do so."
On his forehead was the Takigakure hitai-ate.
Romi's eyes narrowed as she kept a close eye on the man. "So Taki wants to take my daughter away, huh?" she growled. "May I remind you that I legally adopted her? I didn't know you people would stoop so low as to kidnap my child." Romi heard a faint buzzing sound on her right where Fū stood in a basic battle stance. The green-haired girl was keeping her eyes glued to the man as well, holding a kunai out in front of her.
"You're not taking me from 'Kā-chan," she growled, the buzzing growing louder. The Taki-nin simply gazed at them with unfeeling eyes. "I was unaware that you two had grown so close. However, my mission is to take your daughter back to Takigakure. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause." Romi growled and threw a kunai directly at his skull. He caught it through the ring at the handle with his index finger and spun it around.
"You're going to have to work harder than that to defeat me," he said, amusement coloring his tone for the first time. Romi took Fū in her arms and began to run, making the Taki-nin sigh. "It's always so annoying when they try to run."
Romi was glad that they were so close to the camp. She quickly reached Sara and Rōshi, adrenaline rushing through her veins as she spoke one word:
"Taki."
Gaara smiled as he played with Temari. She'd finally stopped fearing him and began to trust him. Their trust was finally growing, and they were acting like real brother and sister – this was amplified by the fact that she'd taken to calling Tarantu 'Okā-san' as well. Kankurō finally began to play with him as well, but was much more reserved and still quite scared of him. At least they were making progress.
Tarantu kept a close eye on the three of them as she doodled in her journal. Quite honestly, she was proud of all three of them. Soon, she'd begin training Temari and Kankurō while Yashamaru trained Gaara. Kankurō, as a future puppet master, would usually be weak in taijutsu – unless he trained up in that as well. She also thought that he'd be good with genjutsu, since, as a future puppet master, he'd be very good with chakra control.
Temari…would rely too much on her fan. She'd train in taijutsu as well as ninjutsu. Tarantu also thought she'd make a good weapons mistress, but that was just speculation.
Tarantu herself was learning kenjutsu – her weapons of choice were the bo and jō staffs, although she also expressed an interest in a naginata bladed staff (but, of course, she was terrified of the blade). Temari would probably work well with a naginata, and Tarantu could also see her working with a kusarigama or other mid-range weapons. Kankurō would probably work well with kukri or a kanabō, but quite honestly, he'd probably work well with many types of weapons.
She had decided to train them with the bo staff first. They both took to it well, and within a few months they'd be able to start training with jō staffs. Temari and Kankurō would be more than just one-trick ponies this time around, Tarantu promised herself as she watched the trio play. They'd be Sunagakure's best ninja. This she swore.
The Taki-nin gently landed on the forest floor in front of a red-haired man with a short beard. "You are here for my granddaughter," he said gruffly, taking out a kunai with a curve at the end. "I cannot allow that." The Taki-nin sighed. "I don't want to fight," he said. "My mission is simply to bring the girl back. If you hand her over, you may live."
Rōshi narrowed his eyes at the man, taking a fighting stance. The man sighed again. "I see you've made your choice." With that, they two flew at each other.
It was actually a very short fight, despite all the Taki-nin's boasting. Rōshi faked him out by throwing hits that occupied the man's hands before he gutted him using the kunai. The man fell and Rōshi calmly slit his throat, cleaning his kunai off on the dead man's clothes.
"For all your boasting, you fell like an Academy student," he muttered. "Perhaps in your next life you won't anger one more powerful than yourself." Romi walked up to him – Sara had taken Fū to another area – and nudged the Taki-nin with her foot. "Arigatō, Rōshi," she said softly. "If you hadn't been here…"
Rōshi smiled softly. "It was nothing, Tsuki," he said, using her Japanese name. "I couldn't let him get away for trying to harm either of you." Romi blushed a little at this as she smiled. "Arigatō. I'm almost glad this happened though – it made me realize that I need to get stronger. Now that this attempt has failed, Taki is going to send more powerful ninja after us. I need to be stronger to protect those precious to me."
The red-haired man smiled. "I'm glad to hear that, Tsuki," he said. "Now let's go find Sara and Fū-chan."
Temari rushed at Tarantu once more, trading blow after blow with the bo staffs in their hands. She was panting rather hard, but her Okā-san simply continued to take deep, sustained breaths. "Remember to control your breathing, Tema-chan," she reminded her. Temari frowned but nodded as she attempted to regulate her breathing. It was hard to remember to take stable breaths, especially if she was training hard, but breathing steadily allowed her to maintain a better amount of control over her body.
After she'd gotten her breathing back under control, Temari flew at Tarantu again, attacking with as much strength and accuracy as she could, parrying, thrusting, going through her kata – it was all very hard and required her to give a great deal of concentration. Even so, she loved training with her Okā-san, simply because unlike her other instructors, Tarantu knew her limits and didn't push her too hard, allowing those limits to slowly expand – this helped her grow even faster and more stably, and it was for this reason that she trained mostly with her.
Of course, this also allowed her to spend more time with her otōto.
Gaara was actually quite sweet now that he wasn't murderous. Temari also had to admit that the kanji on his forehead was quite cute, and she could often be found playing with him – something that was unthinkable just two months ago. Her other brother, Kankurō, tentatively decided to start playing with them as well, but he was still terrified of Gaara – not that she blamed him. She remembered how scary her otōto used to be.
Tarantu swept her bo staff low at Temari's legs, making the exhausted kunoichi fall to the ground before she helped her up. "Go take a break and get a drink of water or something," she told the six-year-old, who happily complied. Kankurō, who was practicing on his own with his puppets, was called over by Tarantu. He caught the bo staff she tossed him and they began to spar.
Gaara, who was meditating in a corner of the room, entered his mindscape. He'd made a few changes to the Ichibi's cage so that Shūkaku could run around the desert freely, but a strip of paper with the word 'seal' on it was stuck to his belly, which restricted him from either harming Gaara or entering the oasis in his mindscape. At the moment, he was having a conversation with the tanuki demon, whom he'd begun to respect. In turn, the demon began to tolerate him.
"You know," Shūkaku said with a yawn, "you're not so bad for a human." Gaara smiled. "Arigatō, Shūkaku," he said. "If I may ask, why do you hate humans so much?" The Ichibi opened a single eye, his tail waving in the air.
"Your species has so much to hate that I don't even know where to start. You think you're so above others, although I cannot see what gave you that idea. Your haughtiness makes me puke. You use 'demon' as an insult – as though we are subhuman. Bastards! We demons are above humans – in terms of power, intelligence, and everything else! To call another human a 'demon' is an insult to us – as though a mere human could have the power of a demon! Bah!
"Even so, there is demon blood in you humans – any human with what you call a 'bloodline limit' has demon blood. The Byakugan, the Sharingan, the Rinnegan, the Dead Bone Pulse… All of these are demonic traits that were foolishly bred into humans – these humans think that because they have these abilities, they are higher than human. They are fools. Some fancy tricks do not make you better than another, especially if you're simply a human."
Gaara thought this over and nodded. "Yeah, I get it. But what about the Elemental kekkei genkai?"
"All elements are available to any human – your main element is usually passed down in your family, but anyone can master any element…if you're able to live long enough." With this, Shūkaku began to cackle. "Enough talking, let's have some FUN!" Gaara giggled at Shūkaku's antics before summoning an opponent for him in his mind.
"Heh… You're a good kid, you know that?" the demon muttered before laughing madly and beginning to fight. Gaara quickly receded from his mindscape and found himself in a corner of the training room with a perfect view of his mother sparring with his onī-san and a headache starting to build. Holding a hand to the seal on his head, he quickly left to go to sleep. Soon he'd be able to find a way to have Shūkaku have his fun while not getting migraines, but that would require research.
Either way, he was slowly beginning to understand and cultivate a relationship with the demon in his mind.
Ever since that fateful day a month ago, Romi had taken to training her butt off. She'd brought her taijutsu up to mid-chūnin, her ninjutsu up to high-chūnin, her genjutsu to low-genin, her fūinjutsu to high-jōnin, and her stealth to ANBU-trainee. Of course, it'd have been impossible if she didn't have her kage bunshin to help her. She wasn't a genius, but she worked damn hard.
Fū was learning quickly as well – she'd begun to train her bugs in secret. In fact, the only one who knew about her bugs was Rōshi. So far she'd learned the bug clone technique and the bug shield, but neither one was anywhere near mastered. Her ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, kenjutsu, stealth, planning, and fūinjutsu were all average. She was no genius, but she worked hard like her mother. If what her 'kā-chan told her was true, then Takigakure would be sending more ninja after her, and she wasn't going to go down without a fight. It helped that she was taught Kage Bunshin. Not only were they a useful training tool, but they'd also be a great distraction if she needed to get away quickly.
Both Rōshi and Sara helped the two train and they quickly became a big happy family. Romi was trying to make a seal that could seal up all of her chakra – which would, if she learned how to move without it, be invaluable in fighting a Byakugan user – but it was a long way away from being finished. In any case, it was putting her fūinjutsu skills to the test.
Rōshi had to wait outside when they entered Kumogakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Clouds, as he was technically a missing-nin. He didn't mind, of course, but Romi, Fū, and Sara still felt bad, so they decided to take lots of pictures.
Kumo was a village that, unlike the others, was truly named well – the village was literally hidden by clouds. It was located on the tops of a steep mountain range that split the entire country, and was, like Iwa, carved into the stone. The Kage residence was blue, and carved into the tallest rock. The trio got through the visitor's center after relinquishing all of their weapons, and Sara immediately led them to the Kage building, where A (pronounced 'ei') was doing paperwork.
"Oh, otōto~!" A immediately spun around in a panic, muscles tensing.
"You!"
"Me," Sara chirped happily, skipping into the room (through the window, of course). "How've you and Bee-chan been?" She was referring, of course, to Killer Bee, A's little brother.
A simply stared at her, gums flapping and eyes bulging before turning around and breaking his desk in half. This seemed to calm him down a little and he relaxed into his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Why are you here?" he asked stiffly. Sara cackled and threw her arms around the man, enveloping him in a hug, sprawled over him. "I brought friends!" she said happily. "They wanna meetcha! Cantheycantheycantheycanthey pleeeeease?" she begged, her soft brown eyes shimmering with unshed tears.
A growled and tossed her off him. "You and your damn puppy dog eyes technique," he spat at her. "Fine, I'll see your friends, but if they're anything like you, Chikurin, I'm going to smash your head through a wall." Sara clapped her hands together happily. "Yay! Ro! Fū! C'mon in! He said 'yes'!"
A young woman, about the size of a twelve-year-old, stepped into the room (again, through the window). She was shoeless and had long brown hair that fell to her waist with odd, multicolored eyes and pale skin with a slight yellow tint to it. She was small and thin and wore an oversized black t-shirt with black nin-pants. She held a green-haired, orange-eyed, tan-skinned child in her arms.
The woman bowed. "Hello," she said happily. "My name is Kuro Tsukiakari, and this is my daughter, Fū." She set down the young child, who also bowed. "Hi!" she chirped. "I'm Fū!"
A nodded at the two of them. "I'm A, the Godaime Raikage."
"It's nice to meet you, Raikage-sama."
"Likewise." A turned to Sara. "How is it possible you haven't corrupted them with your mind yet?" he asked bluntly. Sara laughed. "I can't corrupt someone who's already insane," she said with a shrug. "Ro's just better at hiding it, and Fū is somehow immune. Oh, and I'm going by 'Sara' now."
A sighed. He just knew this was going to be a hard week.
He called for Bee, who began rapping as soon as he walked though the door.
"What's up bro? Who're these mofos?"
"Dammit, Bee, quit that rapping! I know you remember Chikurin? She now goes by 'Sara'." Bee perked up at this and scanned the room until he laid eyes on Sara. "Oh, sis! How've you been, muthafucka?" The two bumped fists. "I've been great, otōto!" she chirped. "I brought some new friends."
A cleared his throat to get everyone's attention before he spoke. "Bee, I want you to take them around and make sure Sara doesn't get into trouble." Bee nodded. "Yo, leave it to Bee, we gonna party!" Romi grinned at this, and Fū giggled while A yelled at his brother for rhyming badly. Eventually, they were able to leave the tower in one piece.
"So, what's got you visiting?" Bee asked Sara as they strode down the street. "Not that I'm complaining, but you haven't seen us in years. Why come back so suddenly?"
"I'm taking Ro and Fū on a tour of the Elemental Countries. Besides, Fū wanted to meet you and Nī. She's been giving gifts to the rest of 'the nine', if you will." Killer Bee quieted at this and looked over at the green-haired girl and her mother. Romi held her hand as she energetically looked around, skipping quickly along to keep up with Bee and Sara's long strides.
"Which one is she?"
"The Seventh." Bee looked surprised at this, but he nodded before smiling. When Fū saw him looking at her, her face broke out in a wide grin and she broke away from her mother, who was immediately on guard before she saw Fū run to Bee and stretched out her arms in a silent attempt to get him to pick her up.
Bee hesitated for a moment before bending down and carefully lifting her up. She took something out of her sleeve and placed it on his shoulder. He turned to look at it, giving Fū the opportunity to give him a kiss on the cheek, making him smile.
That smile turned to surprise as the item on his shoulder – a beetle – began to eat his chakra before letting loose bolts of electricity run down its exoskeleton and fizzle out. Bee slowly looked back at Fū, who sat in his arms with a self-satisfied smirk on her face.
"You little brat," he muttered, impressed. "I take it you want to give Nī her gift now too, huh?"
Back in Sunagakure no Sato, Gaara awoke to find his beetle buzzing furiously next to his ear. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he looked at the insect curiously as it flew onto the seal on his forehead. A sharp burst of pain echoed through his head, making him gasp. Suddenly, a plethora of images flashed through his mind.
Fū giving a beetle to a tall, armored man.
Fū giving a beetle to a red-haired man.
Fū transforming into a girl his age.
Fū learning about the different kinds of flora and fauna in the forest.
Fū running from a Taki-nin.
Fū visiting different towns.
Fū training.
Fū giving a beetle to a tall, dark-skinned man.
Fū. All through Fū's eyes.
Gaara retreated into his mindscape and began to file through these memories, quickly organizing them and putting them in their own section so that they wouldn't float around his mind. Then he ran to find his mother.
"Okā-san!" he called, his beetle resting on his head. "Okā-san!" Tarantu immediately looked over at Gaara – she'd been eating her breakfast in her pajamas. "Gaara-chan?" Gaara grabbed Tarantu's arm before quickly relating to her what happened that morning.
Tarantu thought about this for a minute. "I'm guessing," she said slowly, "that these beetles are a sort of a two-way communication device. Have you tried sending a message back to Fū?" Gaara shook his head. "I don't know how." She thought a bit more. "I'll send a letter to Romi telling her about this," she mused. "She can ask Fū and then we can get an answer."
"Yo! Nī!" The blonde woman looked over. She, unlike most others in Kumo, was pale-skinned, with rosy lips, and long hair pulled back into a ponytail. "Bee," she greeted him with a nod.
Bee grinned widely. "Nī, this is Fū," he said, gesturing to the green-haired child on his shoulder who waved at her happily. "She's one of us – the Seventh. She," he added, gesturing to a short brunette, "is Fū's adoptive mother, Kuro Tsukiakari – no last name. And I'm sure you remember Chikurin." At the mention of this name, Nī looked over at Sara and sighed.
"You're back."
"Oh, don't be so excited to see me," Sara said sarcastically. "Besides, my name is 'Sara' now." She pouted. "You were never any fun, imōto." Nī looked at her with a sly smile. "I'm plenty fun, Sara," she said. "You're just insane."
"Insanity is much more fun than sanity, but you never even try it. Therefore, you're no fun." Nī shook her head, but continued to smile, greeting Fū and Romi. "You're with Sara?" Romi nodded. "We're touring the Elemental Countries," she explained. "Sara's our…tour guide, I guess." Nī nodded and smiled at Fū, who waved back. She was surprised however, when Bee handed her the child. "She wants to give you something," he explained as she took her from him.
Nī was confused until the green-haired girl took a beetle out from her sleeve and handed it to her. Nī hesitated for a moment before taking it gently from her. It quickly at her chakra and shot what looked like a miniature lightning bolt in the air, letting it fizzle out after traveling a few centimeters. She was silent for a minute before Fū kissed her cheek. "Thank you very much, Fū," Nī said, kissing her forehead as she set the little girl down. "This is a very nice gift."
Fū smiled and blushed a little before she ran to hide behind Romi's skirt, looking up at the woman shyly. The adults all chuckled at her antics before they began to converse.
Five down, three to go.
The trio spent about a week in Kumo before leaving once more to tour the rest of the Land of Lightning, picking up Rōshi outside the gates – that took another month. They were four months into the year at that point, and they'd have eight more months to tour the continent and train.
Their next stop was Kirigakure no Sato.
The four of them ran on the water until they reached the southernmost island – that took maybe a two days and two nights. Since the Mist was in the middle of its 'bloodline purges', Sara had to get them in quietly and illegally, but they eventually were able to get to a quiet, snowy village.
By this time the sun was setting. Fearful of being out in the cold and contracting hypothermia (Fū was already shivering), the four of them quickly went up to a random house and knocked on the door.
The door opened to reveal a beautiful woman – her skin was as pale as moonlight, and her black hair was long and straight. She wore a pink kimono with red edging. "Hello," she said with a slight bow. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
Rōshi, being the one who knew the most about the customs and the most likely to execute them without going crazy (Sara), stepped forward and bowed low. "Good evening," he said politely. "My name is Rōshi, and the girls are Sara, Tsuki, and Fū, Tsuki's adopted daughter. My family and I are touring the Elemental Countries, and coming from a warm climate, we are quite fearful of staying out in such a cold environment after dark. We have come to ask you to let us stay the night and show us your hospitality."
The woman smiled warmly and invited them in. As soon as they all entered and bowed to her, she closed the door. "Oh, where are my manners, my name is Kasumi. Please, sit." She ushered them to the kitchen, where they kneeled around a low, Japanese-style table. Romi was slightly dazed by the speed at which this was happening but she quickly decided to go with the flow, setting Fū down beside her and laying her hands on her lap, her head politely bowed.
Romi didn't like staying at other people's houses very much. She always felt extremely awkward, as though she wasn't supposed to be there. Every time she stayed over at someone's house, she usually kept to herself and left as quickly as she could. Being in a stranger's house, especially, was awkward, and she couldn't wait for the experience to be over as soon as possible.
Fū, however, was extremely excited. She loved to meet new people and make new friends, and she quickly spied a young child, maybe a few years older than herself, watching them from the next room. She waved hello before jumping up and skipping over to him. "Hi!" she said happily. "I'm Fū. What's your name?"
The boy was very pretty and she'd have mistaken him for a female had her insects not told her differently. He, like his mother, had long black hair and soft, deep brown eyes with porcelain skin. He looked at her and smiled prettily. "My name is Haku," he said. "I'm seven years old. Do you want to see a trick?" He just seemed to be dying to show someone.
"Sure!" Fū exclaimed. He took her hand and led her to the bathroom, where he turned on the sink and let it fill for a moment before turning the water off. Haku then raised his arms to his right and, with a look of total concentration, began to move his arms fluidly.
The water in the sink followed his movements.
Fū watched him in awe as he manipulated the water in the air, watching it slowly twist and curve. Then he let the water fall to the floor in a small puddle, when, for his last act, it turned into a small ice spike.
She clapped and giggled as his concentration broke and the ice spike turned back into a puddle of water. As she helped him clean up, she struck up a conversation with him. "Y'know, my 'kā-chan says that people think that what you just did was a kekkei genkai."
"A…kekkei genkai?"
"Yeah. Mizu no Kuni is real mean to people with kekkei genkai, my 'kā-chan says. She says it's 'cause of all the wars, and people with kekkei genkai are real dangerous in wars, so people are scared of people with kekkei genkai 'cause of that. So you prolly shouldn't show people. I'll ask my 'kā-chan what we should do. She knows everything!"
Haku giggled along with Fū and they raced out to the kitchen, where Romi was attempting to calm Sara down and Rōshi was chatting with Kasumi and her husband, Haruo. The green-haired girl hopped onto her mother's lap.
"Musume, I'm busy trying to calm Sara down right now. Do you mind sitting tight for a moment?" With that, Romi tapped a pressure point on Sara's neck and she immediately collapsed. "There. What is it, Fū-chan?" Fū whispered something into her ear, making her eyes widen. While Kasumi and Haruo were staring in shock at how she'd put Sara to sleep, Romi blinked a few times and looked at her daughter.
"Is this true?" she asked in a hushed voice. Fū nodded excitedly. "Yup!" Romi paused a moment before looking over at Kasumi. "Kasumi-san," she said politely. "I'd like to speak with you alone for a moment." Confused, but being a polite hostess and accepting, Kasumi nodded and followed Romi into the next room. Before she could do anything, Romi stood on her tip-toes and whispered in Kasumi's ear, "Your son has inherited it."
It took a split second for Kasumi to understand this, but when she did, she jerked away and held her hands up to her mouth, her eyes full of shock and fear. Romi stood up straight with her hands at her sides. "Please relax, Kasumi-san," she said softly. "I have recently unlocked my own inheritance, so I am in no position to criticize either of you." She took a deep breath. "I am actually not a simply traveler," she confessed. "The real reason my group has come to Mizu no Kuni is to help give those with these gifts a better life. We did not initially know this about you or your son, I assure you, but I request that we help you."
Tears rolled down Kasumi's face, but she ignored them and took several calming breaths. "What can you do?" she whispered venomously. "There is nothing that can help me."
Romi sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Actually, there is," she said softly, as though trying not to frighten her. "Your husband truly loves you, you know, and I believe that if you sit him down and talk to him about it, explain it to him, and let him think about it, you will find that he may not judge you." Romi was actually mostly guessing at this point. She knew that Haruo ended up killing Kasumi for this, but she figured it was because he thought she was going to kill him with it – maybe if she told him in a controlled environment, he'd be more open-minded. It was a gamble, but if Kasumi wanted to survive, it was one of her only choices.
Not that Romi would rat her out.
Kasumi's tears continued to leak out of her beautiful brown eyes, but she slowly wiped them away. "What if he hates me?" she asked quietly, as though afraid to break the silence. "What if…he tries to kill me?"
At this, Romi's eyes hardened. "If that's the case, then he doesn't truly love you…does he?" she said firmly, but softly so as not to scare her. "If he truly loves you, then he'll love you despite everything. If not, then he's not the right man for you."
Kasumi seemed to think about this. She'd tried so hard to forget her past, forget the bloodline purges that forced her to go into hiding. She married and had a beautiful baby boy, and she had a peaceful existence. Everything was safe, and she was happy. She should've known, she thought somewhat bitterly, that her curse wouldn't leave her alone. She'd feared the ice manipulation, and she feared it showing up in her beautiful child. Now, her world seemed to crash down around her, like pieces of shattered glass falling from a windowpane.
"I don't have any other choice, do I?" she asked softly.
Romi shrugged. "You could either tell him or continue to live a lie," she responded. "On one hand, he can desert you for this, but on the other, he can accept you. If you continue to live a lie, you'll never be as close to him as you'd like to be, since the secret is always in the back of your mind. You fear it and what it can do to your perfect life. But I don't think it's perfect to lie to the man you love, and the father of your child." She shrugged again and gave a comforting smile.
"Truly, Kasumi-san, it's up to you to make the decision. I will be here to support you with whichever decision you make, but it's your life and I cannot tell you how to live."
A/N: Okay, so a lot happened in this chapter. It's not very action-packed yet, but we're getting there (quite honestly, I'm better at the psychological parts of writing). No worries, Romi, Sara, Rōshi, and Fū will get to show off their skills soon enough. Right now, though, I need to get started on the next chapter.