Miki wiped the sweat of her forehead and looked up to the scorching sun. "I think that's enough for today." She mumbled to herself. Miki had trained for the past few hours, building up her strength and speed. Despite being a bit sweaty, her appearance was still beautiful. Miki always made a note of how she looked, even after her training. Picking the sand from under her nails, smoothing and dusting of her kimono, Miki panted. She couldn't wait to have a drink of water. She lectured herself in her mind for not packing enough supplies. She re-braided her hair, gathered her things and once making sure she was ready to leave she started walking home slowly. I wonder how much longer these quiet days will go...? Miki wondered and despite her restlessness she hoped it would stay like this for a bit longer.

She felt tired, Pushed myself too far today... The heat of the desert didn't help either and Miki had only begun her dull and lonely walk.

Ezra hung out a ways away from the Tsumi Sand Grounds debating whether or not he should continue his afternoon training there. He sat on a nearby rock and could not for the life of him make a choice on whether to go or not. ‘My morning training was a bit more rough than usual.’ He told himself leaning toward leaving. He hunched over forearms on his knees and face in his hands. “Just send me a sign.” He said frustrated to the universe as he peeked through his fingers at the sand underneath his feet. He straightened out and looked to the sky as he took a deep breath which filled his chest with air. Something at the corner of his eye grabbed his attention. It was a figure in the distance but it was no ordinary figure.

“Hey Miki!” Ezra shouted to the girl, his cousin two years his senior. He waved just in case she couldn’t tell where the noise was coming from. He began walking closer interested in what his cousin was doing. As the distance between the two lessened he noticed she seemed to be making her way from the Sand Grounds.

Miki heard her name being called out and she brought her head up from the ground, trying to find its origin. That's when she noticed a person waving, coming toward her. "I wonder who it is...?" She squinted and waited for them to come closer until she could indentify them. She immediately smiled when she realized it was her cousin Ezra.
"Ezra! Hello, it's been a while hasn't it?" Miki asked, looking straight into her younger cousins eyes. She only had the courage to do so with a few people and Ezra was one of them.

(OOC: i apologize for taking a veryy long time, this probably won't happen again because I've worked out a schedule between all my busy hours ^W^;;)

Ezra let out a laugh as he realized he hadn’t seen Miki in a little over two months. It was a bit of a hard idea to grasp as they’re families were pretty close as opposed to other Karisuma relatives. “It has been a while.” He said happy to see his cousin although a little shame lingered in his tone as well. He closed his eyes and tilted his head downward while the wind blew some sand through the air. “Were you just training? You look a bit tired.” Ezra asked his cousin only after he was sure the sand particles in the air had fell. He picked his head up a bit and stared at a bead of sweat traveling from her forehead to her chin and noticed she was looking straight into his eyes. He found it a bit creepy but he knew it meant she was comfortable around him, after all they’re family.

“Oh, it’s aright that this much has time passed! You must have been busy all this time!” Miki said after hearing Ezra’s voice with a hint that he was upset about not being connected all this time. A light breeze blowing sand passed by; Miki didn't bother getting out of the way of the sand. There was already enough of it in her hair that it was no use.

“Oh, yes I was. I've been doing this almost everyday!” She brightly declared. “I guess I’m just a tiny bit anxious to be on a squad and this is my way of passing the time until then.” Noticing that Ezra was uncomfortable with her stare, Miki looked away at something off in the distance, but still smiling. She had few friends and other people that she trusted, so social skills and behavior was one thing she thought she had to work on. She mentally took a note of not to stare as intensely.

Ezra smiled at his cousin he was glad to see the other young Karisuma working so hard. ‘This clan is going to be in good hands with us here.’ Ezra thought to himself. Ezra often concerned himself with the well being of the clan seeing as his dad was the last official leader before he passed. Now Ezra has taken over as the unofficial leader until he is of age to become the official leader.

Ezra glanced over to the same direction his cousin was looking to. He wasn’t sure what she was looking at but he brushed it off. “You heading home?” he asked as the wind began to pick up. He looked at the sky and saw the sun setting in the west, he turned his head to face east and saw the moon peering out of the sea-like sandy horizon. “Its getting late and a bit chilly.” He added before she could answer his question.

Miki looked out to the moon as well, noting how clear the sky was. The sky in Suna, always clear so long as the wind wasn't blowing the sand up into the air. "Yes, I am." She shivered, noticing the cold. The temperature was dropping quickly enough with the lack of the sun. "Are you going home too?" Miki tilted her head to the side, a habit of hers when asking questions. She was going to ask if he wanted to join her on her walk home but didn't want to inconvenience her cousin.

Ezra covered his mouth as he let out a small laugh. Every time Miki asked a question and tilted her head Ezra couldn’t help but laugh. He had always been amused by such small and insignificant things, it couldn’t be helped though, Ezra loved to laugh. His laugh turned into a small smile and his smile turned into an unintentionally freakish grin. Ezra opened his mouth and said “Yeah. Let’s go.” With his back now turned to his cousin he took a step toward the center of town and the almost set sun hoping she would follow.

He listened for the sound of his and Miki’s steps on the sand. Sand was the norm in Suna but its feel and sound were something that never seemed to get old for Ezra. He was not too fond of the taste but that was the same for most people and as far as smell sand seemed odorless. “Hey Miki. You use Earth Style right?” He asked his cousin suddenly even though he was half sure she did.

Come on, once more. You just have to push yourself. You can do it. COME ON RAY!

Ray kept training his speed, running laps away, weights attached to his ankles. Sure, the sand was making it tougher, but that's exactly what he wanted, to develop his body. He had just received his status as Chuunin, a feat which his clan would like, as he hadn't exactly been a genin. And his father would have loved the news the most, and would have probably patted him on the head, telling him to work harder. That was his father's motto in life,"Work harder, and your goals will be achieved". Maybe that's what made him so great. Ray shed a single tear, as he was brought back to the memory of him getting the news of his father's death. Such were the pains of having an eidetic memory.


“Hey Miki. You use Earth Style right?”

Ray's keen ears picked up the sound, coming somewhere from the north. Fearing it to be raiders, or, at worse, enemy spies, Ray removed his weights, making a loud sound even though they fell into sand. Ray used his heightened speed to go up on the nearest rooftop, glancing at the two people, from which the sound would have originated. He was immediately stricken by the beauty of the female companion of the male one(whom he guessed spoke to the female ,'Miki'.). She was very beautiful, almost to an unearthly extent. Ray jumped from rooftop to rooftop, finally ending up directly behind the couple. Looking at the beauty known as 'Miki' again, he wished that they were not spies, but he had to check. Ray jumped behind the couple.

"Who are you two, and what do you want?"

Miki looked on puzzled at first but then realized her cousin must've been teasing her. She didn't mind much, Ezra was the type of person who laughed and smiled a lot, so instead, not able to resist, she joined with a small giggle.
Miki nodded even though Ezra couldn’t see and followed him, catching up quickly so that they could walk side by side, leaving their footprints behind to be taken by the wind.

“Mhm, I do, I’m not that great at most jutsu though.. guess that’s something I need to improve on?” She smiled, “I should start training with jutsu…” Miki was going to ask Ezra about how well he fared with techniques when someone had jumped in front of them, appearing out of nowhere. Miki covered her mouth to hold in her surprise and took a step back quickly, subconsciously moving closer to her cousin for cover.

He looked like a little boy, he certainly had to be younger than she was, but she knew from her own experiences that looks never told the whole story. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she managed to give her name though she was slightly unsure whether it was a good idea, “…I-…I’m Karisuma, Miki.” She looked away almost right after the words left her mouth. Still uncomfortable from the sudden intrusion, Miki looked to Ezra hoping that he would answer the boy’s other question.

Ezra had been listening attentively to Miki’s words as well as their footsteps on the sand. He turned around the instant those two noises were disturbed. ‘Where did he come from?’ Ezra asked himself. A boy about Ezra’s age appeared and demanded them to reveal who they were and what were they doing. Ezra looked around as Miki moved closer and gave her name hesitantly. “He’s talking to us?” Ezra asked Miki. He looked down at the headband and village plate wrapped around his arm. He scanned Miki for a second for her headband as well.

The boy’s serious face made him look a little too intense. Ezra looked at Miki and saw what seemed like a bit of worry on her face. She looked at him so he turned to the boy once again. “I’m Ezra Karisuma.” He smiled trying to put the boy at ease. “We were just heading home.” He said as he scanned the boy for a headband. The wind blew Ezra’s way so he put his head down and closed his eyes. He did not want any sand in them and what if he needed them. He had not spotted a Suna headband anywhere on the boy. ‘This guy could be trouble.’ Ezra thought as the sand passed letting him open his eyes and lift his head.

“…I-…I’m Karisuma, Miki.”

Karisuma? Ray ran the name through his mental database of the clans in the different land, checking each village but Suna. His muscles tensed, if Karisuma did not turn out to be a clan from Suna, he would have to launch a full fledged attack. His eyes were full of an odd power, and they seemed to bore through the minds of the person he looked at. Finally finishing his check, Ray realized that the Karisumas were from Suna, and thus he did not have any worry now, since they could not be traitors. They looked too young to be traitors.

“I’m Ezra Karisuma.”
“We were just heading home.”

Ray looked at the male, who seemed to be around his age. Possibly older than him. Smiling back, Ray said," I apologize for such behavior. As a Chuunin of Suna, it is my duty to keep guard on the village as well. I thought you would be traitors. Sorry once again. And, if you don't mind, could you tell me about the kekkai genkai of the Karisuma, if it has any?". The last question was another verification, as only a true Karisuma would know about his clan. Any hesitation would mean that they were not true Karisumas. Ray removed his forehead protector from his pocket, and tied it on his forehead.