Aya had been hearing strange rumors of a township people had been going to, some of her ninja had been disappearing and occasionally returning with bizzare gifts she had not seen before, when asking the people about the foreign objects she was described a magical place, which reminded her of the place which she had ended up in the Namehage festival at the time of the spirits. It was today that she decided that she needed to investigate this mysterious place, her own curiosity getting the better of her, she made her way down the kage tower, leaving a notice with the twins to cover her while she was gone, Aya made her way to the door, reaching her hand out for the knob and feeling a bizzare sensation as she gripped the handle, twisting it there was a surge of, not chakra, but a stranger, deeper feeling as she opened the door, as if it was her will which was breaking through the veil of a place, her intent penetrating the world of the normative and the mundane into a world that was more wedged in the land of fantasy than anything else.

Stepping out into the street she quickly came to terms that she was not in the world she was accustomed to, it was not the kirigakure which she knew and loved but another place, another village, perhaps hidden in the minds of the people who dreamed, or dared to dream of better things. The world was awash with colour and splendor, something which she had longed for as a child, she could see small eggs lining the roads as children collected them into baskets. Rabbits bounced happily through the town and Aya could not help but feel the sly sneaking of a sombre smile sliding secretly across her lips. This was the land where fantasy met reality, and Aya needed only to have to open a door to get there. The inner philosopher in the Mizukage would question that she had made her way here so easily was because she had such a repressed mind-set, that a part of her was already begging to be submerged into a world like this that she was already lingering at the precipice of crossing over, and needed only to cross.

It was then she saw the notice board, asking for a rabbit to be caught. Thinking it as fun, Aya decided to head to the fields...

That night, the fields of silver shone brightly, reflected by the moon which seemed too close to the earth to explain, inspecting the area, Aya saw the forest looming in the distance, stepping though the rays of moonlight tore through the canopy like silver spears, illuminating the area brightly, brighter than the Mizukage would have expected, it was not often she had ever seen a night like this in the world she had come from, but, something about it was peaceful, like nothing here could ever go wrong, and there was a serenity about the ambient chakra which she could feel in the area with her Sage mode, she felt like the sage techniques from the world she had come from would not work in a place like this, the chakra here was different, so she would not be able to tap into the raw power that was senjutsu.

It was then she saw the spark of silver race across the ground, faster than light. Aya in that instant, laughed and tore up after it. Fast enough so that she was on top of the source in an instant, however, the alarm seemed to have been false, while the silver glint was something, it seemed to be reflections from a nearby pool, one which had caught the moonlight and bounced it through the forest. The angle which aya walked on had tricked the side-ways light into being movement. Aya laughed to herself, and it was then, that across the crystal clear pond, that she saw the devious rabbit, drinking happily in the filed bathed in starlight.

Aya bit her lip, channelling her chakra through her body and into her legs to allow her to run atop the water, in a single motion she charged at the rabbit at full speed, while the rabbit was faster than any mortal creature, he was no match for the Mizukage who outclassed such creatures. Though, as she approached, gaining within ten meters of the little critter, chakra seemed to flare in the rabbit itself, and for a moment, Aya gained no ground on him. An amount of respect for the long eared animal flowed through Aya's mind, as he seemed to be able to keep up with her, though, to no avail.

Using her combat Shunpo technique, the battle of speed was over, Aya became so fast she fell into void, appearing by the rabbit and scooping it up with a well placed hand, rolling with it and standing upright. The rabbit struggled for a moment, before Aya's kinder nature, and soft petting across its ears began to calm it...

"It's okay little guy... lets go home..."

(Fin 855 words)