It almost seemed strange to her, packing with the knowledge that she would be away from the village for longer than a standard mission. It had been some time since she had been out of the village at all and that was when the tournament was being hosted in Tea Country. She paused in her packing as she thought about the aftermath of her trip to Tea.
She had initially decided to visit to try to work her mind around her mother’s passing and what it would mean for her. Well, there was also the slight chance that the large gathering would tempt her cousin, Tenken, into a place closer to Leaf so she could meet him and ask him why he had not deigned to come to her mother’s funeral. She had eventually run into him, but not before running into Maki while doped up on whatever pheromone based substance was released into the air. And then Tenken had threatened both of them into marriage and taking over the clan.
At the time, the marriage had been much too sudden and grudgingly taking over the clan was a whole other issue. Thankfully, she and Maki had gotten along well enough in the beginning to talk it over and decide to just make the best of everything. She couldn’t help but smile at the memory of that conversation. Neither of them had quite been ready for marriage, but they had definitely made it work for them.
One suitcase was packed before her mind moved to what happened after the clan moved to Leaf. Her brow furrowed as she thought about realizing that Nobu was the one responsible for manipulating her mother into committing suicide. Even though the man was dead, by her hand no less, she still found herself angry at the man who stole her mother from her. Yes, she was a grown woman by the time her mother died, but her mother’s passing also heralded her father’s ghost departing from this plane completely. Neither of her parents had been able to see her get married. Even if the original circumstances weren’t all that great, she still would have wished them to be there for her in some form.
Hoshirei shook her head and sighed as she moved two packed suitcases onto a storage scroll. After all, it would be much lighter to carry some storage scrolls, no matter their mode of traversing the lands. Once the bags were sealed in the scroll, Hoshirei decided it would be best to get out some of the jitters she was feeling before they headed out.
Heading to her private training room, she ran over some changes she had been experiencing in her powers as of late. Her senses had steadily sharpened and her sight changed to where she could almost see a precognitive echo in front of people showing what they were just about to do. Her sparring sessions with her fellow clansmen had ended quicker, her sound jutsu’s effects amplifying and extending beyond what she realized at first. Activating the jutsu with her voice bled into using her whip as some sort of instrument. The supersonic crack of the whip was debilitating with the right push of chakra into a sound jutsu. Hand seals were a thing of the past for her as well, leading to others not being completely sure what she was going to cast until the jutsu started.
She chuckled at the memory of her first time casting a jutsu without any hand seals. She had been used to that with sound jutsu, but certainly not with her crystal jutsu, leading to a shower of emeralds and moonstones pouring down in her training room. Hoshirei made use of the crystals she made, whether as presents to some of the younger clan members or making jewelry for herself and some of the women with whom she was somewhat close. She was still working on a piece for Asuka, a sort of “I forgive you” present, though at this point it was probably going to be a “I found this in whichever foreign land”.
When she closed the door of her training room behind her, she breathed in deep and exhaled slowly, just basking in the feeling of serenity around her. She made a few quick clones and began sparring with them. It was an interesting feeling, sparring with oneself, but it made it easier to see any openings she left for attacks. Enough times sparring with yourself and you end up learning new ways to defend yourself.
After a few minutes, she drew her whip with a smirk and snapped out a jutsu at the nearest clone’s feet. A chime rang out in the clone’s ears and it was momentarily stunned by the left over ringing. The other clone came closer and kicked out, but Hoshirei was ready. She made the whip wrap around the other’s leg and pulled hard. The clone hit the floor head first and dispersed. The last clone came up behind her and attempted to tackle her. Her whip snapped as the clone’s arms encircled her shoulders and it dispersed with a screech as its eardrums busted.
The clones finally all dispersed, Hoshirei allowed herself to pant for a moment before curling her whip back up and securing it in its holder. She also allowed herself to be momentarily proud of her accomplishments. Perhaps this time she truly would have something cool to show Maki and maybe, just maybe, she might be able to persuade him to teach her some medical jutsu. After all, what sort of protector would she be if she could not help heal him bodily as well as mentally?
Thinking about learning more jutsu brought a sparkle to her golden eyes. She remembered learning more and more about her abilities as a youth and realized that some of the things she could originally do had seemed to be lost. Certain things didn’t bother her as much, but she was determined to be the strongest she could be and that meant more training until she was completely certain if those things were locked away forever. She sat cross legged on her meditation pillow off to one side of her training room. First step was to make sure her chakra was flowing like normal.
The first thing she noticed was that her chakra came much easier than it had when she had first awakened her sound manipulation powers. The second was that it almost had a different flavor than before. The cool and earthy feel had melded with something that zinged. It wasn’t lightning chakra, as evidenced by her manipulating a bit of it into lightning chakra. She ran through the different chakra types that she knew and none of them felt like the new zing melded into her watery, earthen nature. It almost felt like what she imagined magic would. That thought brought her to a sudden pause and her eyes snapped open.
“Magic?” she softly asked herself. “Could it really be some sort of mystical force entwined with my chakra?”
As she sat in silence pondering the situation, Kayo nosed her way into the room. The silver-blue fox walked right up to Hoshirei and poked her cheek with a cold snout. Hoshirei’s trance broke and she chuckled softly before reaching out to gently grasp one of Kayo’s horns. “You sure you are okay playing messenger, Kayo? I wouldn’t want you to feel like I am using you like some sort of pack-mule,” she asked while petting the fox’s silky coat. “Yes, Hoshi. Told you much. Happy to help. But no too much, yes?” She smiled at her summon and nodded. “Not too much, I promise.”
The duo made their way out of the training hall. A few people were startled by Kayo’s appearance, but that was to be expected as the fox summon did not frequent the training hall very often. A few people who had seen her before waved and a few of the younger kids begged their sensei for a break to go pet the “pretty fox”. Kayo trotted with a bit of pride after hearing the kids call her pretty and before the sensei could say yes or no, she pranced over and weaved through the kids who wished to pet her before sitting patiently to receive their worship. The children squealed in delight when their teacher nodded in acquiescence.
Hoshirei stood by the teacher’s side as she watched her summon bask in the praise little hands conferred. With a chuckle, she glanced at the teacher and said, “If I’m not careful, Kayo might end up more attached to the children than she is to me. She would deny it, but she adores positive attention and the children are more than happy to give it. Sorry about interrupting, by the way.” The instructor just shook his head with a smile. “They needed a break anyway, they were starting to get antsy.” Hoshirei nodded and stood there until the instructor called his class back to attention and had them thank Kayo and herself for stopping by. The duo once again headed out of the hall and finally made it back to her rooms.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Marked for Use in Kin Adjustment; WC: 1535
She had initially decided to visit to try to work her mind around her mother’s passing and what it would mean for her. Well, there was also the slight chance that the large gathering would tempt her cousin, Tenken, into a place closer to Leaf so she could meet him and ask him why he had not deigned to come to her mother’s funeral. She had eventually run into him, but not before running into Maki while doped up on whatever pheromone based substance was released into the air. And then Tenken had threatened both of them into marriage and taking over the clan.
At the time, the marriage had been much too sudden and grudgingly taking over the clan was a whole other issue. Thankfully, she and Maki had gotten along well enough in the beginning to talk it over and decide to just make the best of everything. She couldn’t help but smile at the memory of that conversation. Neither of them had quite been ready for marriage, but they had definitely made it work for them.
One suitcase was packed before her mind moved to what happened after the clan moved to Leaf. Her brow furrowed as she thought about realizing that Nobu was the one responsible for manipulating her mother into committing suicide. Even though the man was dead, by her hand no less, she still found herself angry at the man who stole her mother from her. Yes, she was a grown woman by the time her mother died, but her mother’s passing also heralded her father’s ghost departing from this plane completely. Neither of her parents had been able to see her get married. Even if the original circumstances weren’t all that great, she still would have wished them to be there for her in some form.
Hoshirei shook her head and sighed as she moved two packed suitcases onto a storage scroll. After all, it would be much lighter to carry some storage scrolls, no matter their mode of traversing the lands. Once the bags were sealed in the scroll, Hoshirei decided it would be best to get out some of the jitters she was feeling before they headed out.
Heading to her private training room, she ran over some changes she had been experiencing in her powers as of late. Her senses had steadily sharpened and her sight changed to where she could almost see a precognitive echo in front of people showing what they were just about to do. Her sparring sessions with her fellow clansmen had ended quicker, her sound jutsu’s effects amplifying and extending beyond what she realized at first. Activating the jutsu with her voice bled into using her whip as some sort of instrument. The supersonic crack of the whip was debilitating with the right push of chakra into a sound jutsu. Hand seals were a thing of the past for her as well, leading to others not being completely sure what she was going to cast until the jutsu started.
She chuckled at the memory of her first time casting a jutsu without any hand seals. She had been used to that with sound jutsu, but certainly not with her crystal jutsu, leading to a shower of emeralds and moonstones pouring down in her training room. Hoshirei made use of the crystals she made, whether as presents to some of the younger clan members or making jewelry for herself and some of the women with whom she was somewhat close. She was still working on a piece for Asuka, a sort of “I forgive you” present, though at this point it was probably going to be a “I found this in whichever foreign land”.
When she closed the door of her training room behind her, she breathed in deep and exhaled slowly, just basking in the feeling of serenity around her. She made a few quick clones and began sparring with them. It was an interesting feeling, sparring with oneself, but it made it easier to see any openings she left for attacks. Enough times sparring with yourself and you end up learning new ways to defend yourself.
After a few minutes, she drew her whip with a smirk and snapped out a jutsu at the nearest clone’s feet. A chime rang out in the clone’s ears and it was momentarily stunned by the left over ringing. The other clone came closer and kicked out, but Hoshirei was ready. She made the whip wrap around the other’s leg and pulled hard. The clone hit the floor head first and dispersed. The last clone came up behind her and attempted to tackle her. Her whip snapped as the clone’s arms encircled her shoulders and it dispersed with a screech as its eardrums busted.
The clones finally all dispersed, Hoshirei allowed herself to pant for a moment before curling her whip back up and securing it in its holder. She also allowed herself to be momentarily proud of her accomplishments. Perhaps this time she truly would have something cool to show Maki and maybe, just maybe, she might be able to persuade him to teach her some medical jutsu. After all, what sort of protector would she be if she could not help heal him bodily as well as mentally?
Thinking about learning more jutsu brought a sparkle to her golden eyes. She remembered learning more and more about her abilities as a youth and realized that some of the things she could originally do had seemed to be lost. Certain things didn’t bother her as much, but she was determined to be the strongest she could be and that meant more training until she was completely certain if those things were locked away forever. She sat cross legged on her meditation pillow off to one side of her training room. First step was to make sure her chakra was flowing like normal.
The first thing she noticed was that her chakra came much easier than it had when she had first awakened her sound manipulation powers. The second was that it almost had a different flavor than before. The cool and earthy feel had melded with something that zinged. It wasn’t lightning chakra, as evidenced by her manipulating a bit of it into lightning chakra. She ran through the different chakra types that she knew and none of them felt like the new zing melded into her watery, earthen nature. It almost felt like what she imagined magic would. That thought brought her to a sudden pause and her eyes snapped open.
“Magic?” she softly asked herself. “Could it really be some sort of mystical force entwined with my chakra?”
As she sat in silence pondering the situation, Kayo nosed her way into the room. The silver-blue fox walked right up to Hoshirei and poked her cheek with a cold snout. Hoshirei’s trance broke and she chuckled softly before reaching out to gently grasp one of Kayo’s horns. “You sure you are okay playing messenger, Kayo? I wouldn’t want you to feel like I am using you like some sort of pack-mule,” she asked while petting the fox’s silky coat. “Yes, Hoshi. Told you much. Happy to help. But no too much, yes?” She smiled at her summon and nodded. “Not too much, I promise.”
The duo made their way out of the training hall. A few people were startled by Kayo’s appearance, but that was to be expected as the fox summon did not frequent the training hall very often. A few people who had seen her before waved and a few of the younger kids begged their sensei for a break to go pet the “pretty fox”. Kayo trotted with a bit of pride after hearing the kids call her pretty and before the sensei could say yes or no, she pranced over and weaved through the kids who wished to pet her before sitting patiently to receive their worship. The children squealed in delight when their teacher nodded in acquiescence.
Hoshirei stood by the teacher’s side as she watched her summon bask in the praise little hands conferred. With a chuckle, she glanced at the teacher and said, “If I’m not careful, Kayo might end up more attached to the children than she is to me. She would deny it, but she adores positive attention and the children are more than happy to give it. Sorry about interrupting, by the way.” The instructor just shook his head with a smile. “They needed a break anyway, they were starting to get antsy.” Hoshirei nodded and stood there until the instructor called his class back to attention and had them thank Kayo and herself for stopping by. The duo once again headed out of the hall and finally made it back to her rooms.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Marked for Use in Kin Adjustment; WC: 1535