Sunagakure was such a… It was such a… Well, there was really no one adjective to describe such a place, Lyralei thought.

The orange-haired girl paused in her step in front of a small playground. It was only five metres by five metres wide, demarcated by red bricks that contrasted the golden sand, and filled with all sorts of playground equipment. She spotted a slide, a set of swings, and a merry-go-round, though the space was lacking given the small size of the playground. She took a few dainty steps towards one of the swings and tugged lightly on the chains. They held. Satisfied the swings weren’t going to (at least, probably not) fall beneath her weight, she dusted off some sand from the plastic seat and sat down, before swinging gently and lightly back and forth.

It had been so long since she had begun her travels, and she had really only seen the Land of Fire, the Land of Wind, and Sunagakure. She didn’t much count the many small villages she frequented in the Land of Tea or the Land of Noodles, since there really wasn’t much to see there apart from the typical tourist attraction that wasn’t really that attractive.

She would have stopped by Konoha, but unfortunately, some old merchant had hired her to take his caravan to the borders of the Land of Fire, close to the southwestern portion, and that had left her closer to the Land of Wind than Konoha itself. Curiosity getting the better of her senses, Lyralei had travelled to the Land of Wind before promptly realising that the rumours, the map, and word of mouth had been utterly and ridiculously pinpoint accurate.

The Land of Wind was nothing but sand and sand and sand dunes for miles. The only places that she could find oases had always been populated by people. Well, of course, they wanted water to drink and place to live, and who wouldn’t settle in a place that catered to both those needs? Some of the small oases she had passed by on her way to Suna had left a very poor impression of the country on her though - sexist or perverted, you name it - but now that she had arrived in Suna, it wasn’t as bad as she thought.

Sunagakure was every bit the advanced metropolitan village that she had hoped it would be, and that she had read about in magazines and documentaries. The people here were far more civilized as well. Ignoring the red light district, you never (well, almost never) had that one perverted old geezer who tried to cop a feel while in public.

She pushed a little harder on the swing, and felt herself rock back and forth. It almost reminded her of her childhood where her mother and father would accompany her into the nearby town whenever they decided to get groceries, and her mother would always stay with her on the playgrounds pushing her on the swings or catching her at the bottom of the slides. Her mother would even support her as she hung upside down on the monkey bars, before pretending to let go and catching her and the last second before she fell onto the ground. Fond, fond memories, which almost made her want to go back to her parents.

Almost was the keyword in both those scenarios.

While she didn’t hate them, she didn’t feel any familial connection to them any more, not since she learned that she had been adopted.

She pushed a little harder on the swing, ignoring the looks that a few passers-by gave her, wondering what an adult like herself was doing on the swings, as she decided to plan her next travel destination.

WC: 635

Asuna walked down the sandy streets of Sunagakure. The young pink-haired girl had already been here for several weeks, and it was a nice peaceful, quiet village, both bustling with activity and also brimmed with peace. She felt… nice. There had been no sight or sound of her abusive and relentless father, and this notion set her at ease with the world around her. It wasn’t everyday that she managed to escape the bearings of her father, and it was rarer that she had several days, let alone several weeks like the record she was currently holding said, to lay back and not worry about the man who was supposed to bring her up instead trying to take her down.

Maybe it was the hidden village deterring him from making his move. All this time she had only hidden in small villages, worried about the population of people who would be attacked if she went to the greater villages. Sunagakure had been a different story, since she had had to find a place to stay, and the Land of Wind was too filled with deserts with too few oases to house enough villages for her to get lost in. Sunagakure had been her obvious choice - and a hesitant one - but it had been one that had served her well and given her a break from several long months of chasing.

Asuna stopped in front of a small playground, with a small swing set, a slide, and a merry-go-round, deserted except for the one teenager-slash-adult who was sitting on one of the two swings, rocking back and forth gently as she was deep in thought. Asuna eyed the girl carefully from a distance, which she noted was what many of the other adults were also doing, wondering what a girl like her was doing on the swings, in a playground meant for children.

She noticed that the girl was awfully… green. Well, obviously not her skin (though that might not be unprecedented in the ninja world) but rather her clothing. It contrasted starkly when juxtaposed with her flowing orange hair spilling down her back. There was a green top, covered underneath what seemed like a green jacket, though it was very tight, nearly hugging her curves. She also had on a pair of green pants that led into green boots, slightly dirtied by the sand. The green was of various shades, and the way they blended in so nice together reminded Asuna of the forests that she had crossed in the Land of Fire, while her hair reminded Asuna of the bright sun that pierced the tree canopy.

That small reminisce came with flashes of snarling white teeth, illuminated by spit. They were the same set of teeth set in a frothing mouth as her father chased her across the continent, baring his canines at her in a determined pursuit. Instinctively, Asuna took a look behind her shoulder, expecting to see the same set of teeth just on her tail as it always was, and expecting to hear the familiar loud growls that sometimes spoke her name. All she saw were groups of people milling away and doing their own business, accompanied by sounds of - not growls - but chatter and laughter.

Happy sounds. So unlike her father’s.

So much for going several weeks in peace.

Asuna shook off the impending feeling of dread that gripped her and walked up to the girl in green, before sitting down on the swing directly to her right, effectively occupying the set of swings from anyone who was interested in them. She pushed herself forward slightly with the friction of her shoes against the sand, and felt herself begin to move. Back, forth, back, forth.

She could see the slide just in front of her, red in colour as opposed to the blue of the stairs that led up to it. Anyone sliding down it would be led to the left of the swing, so they didn’t bump into the people actually swinging. Asuna turned her head to the left and struck up a conversation.

“So, who are you? What are you doing alone here on a swing?”

701

‘Hmm…’ Lyralei thought deeply as she enjoyed the back and forth sway of the swings. ‘Now that I think about it, maybe Konoha would be the better idea. I did miss that place the last time I was in the area. Should I just double back? Hmm… but then I’d probably have to travel all the way to Iwagakure, and all those taxes… And I do want to go to Konoha and really enjoy the scenery… I also don’t really feel like cancelling my reservation at Konoha’s Tourism Board, since it’s hard enough to get… But then Iwagakure… Would I save more money that way? Hmm… decisions, decisions…’

Lyralei had been so caught up in her thoughts, accompanied only by the soft breeze. Her feet kicked up against the ground as the swings came back down to provide more thrust for the swings, to keep her in motion. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn’t notice someone else walking right up to the swings and plopping down directly to her right. It wasn’t until the person tried to strike up a small conversation with her that Lyralei was jolted back to reality, shaken from her thoughts.

“So, who are you? What are you doing alone here on a swing?” the stranger had asked, and Lyralei had turned to face her.

Sitting on the swing along with her was a girl roughly her age, with luxurious, rich pink hair draping down her shoulders in magnificent - almost unnaturally so - curls. Her hair was noticeably tied up into a large ponytail that flowed all the way down to her mid-back, bobbing up, down, back, and forth as the girl too enjoyed the soft movements of the swings. The girl’s shoulders were bared out to the sun, the light skin reflecting off the sun’s rays, revealed from the top of her dress, which itself also showed off some of the girl’s cleavage to the world as it flowed down to her thighs, ending in some gold trimmings. A pair of thigh-high black socks took over in covering the girl’s decency from then on, before ending in a pair of light brown boots that kicked against the sand, just like she did.

Curiously though, the newcomer wore a pair of earmuffs. Lyralei was left wondering if the girl had actually been talking to her and not just mumbling something, before shoving such thoughts to one side. Of course she had been talking to her; she was facing her, after all. Still, she was wearing a pair of earmuffs, and Lyralei was left curious as to why. The black band that wrapped across the top of her head, tipped by two black fluffy muffs, seemed to be efficient at sound cancellation. Were they not for sound cancellation, but rather for sound enhancement, for a hearing issue? Or, was she just listening to soft music in the background even as she made conversation? Questions filled her curious mind.

“My name is Lyralei,” the native from the Land of Tea introduced. Or, at least, that’s what she had always been told. She thought she was from the Land of Tea, having grown up there. In reality, she didn’t know where she was from, since she didn’t even know her biological parents. For all she knew, her parents were actually from the cold recesses of the Land of Snow, and her as a baby had somehow crossed the distance between the northern and southern ends of the Elemental Continents, ending in the hands of an old gentle couple who had raised her like their own.

Tch, she didn’t like that one bit.

“I’m actually thinking of where I should go,” Lyralei continued. “I’m a traveller. I like to travel to the far ends of the continent. It’s just a hobby I’ve had ever since I was little - to go out and see new places. I’ve mainly been to the Land of Tea, the Land of Noodles, and the Land of Fire, but my visit to that last one was cut short because of some distractions. So, I really haven’t been able to visit anywhere of interest in the Land of Fire, so let’s cut that one out. Right now, the choice is to either go back to the Land of Fire, and hurry to Konoha, or to pop on to Iwa. If I leave by the end of the week, and I travel at full speed, I might be able to reach Konoha and check in with their Tourism Board, and still get my reservation for their four-star hotel and exclusive hot springs service before my membership expires. But, if I do that, I’d have to travel all the way to Iwagakure, and frankly, I don’t like the distance or the obstacles in my way. The clear-cut straight distance travel between Konoha and Iwa is impeded by an extremely dense forest, which could slow down my travel by a few days if I take into account finding proper camp locations, avoiding local wildlife, and checking for any leftover traps by ninja. If I want to avoid that, however, I could take the more well-known routes which are smoothened out for even merchants to travel on, but if I want to use them, I’d have to check in with Konoha’s authorities and get the proper paperwork in order. I’d have to pay a small sum of tax, which is more than I’d like since it’s only short-term, unlike the discounted long-term ones that merchants get, to avoid getting stopped by Konoha ninja and more notoriously the ANBU who patrol these roads. Suna’s straight travel to Iwa though, doesn’t have that small obstacle, so technically, if I were to go to Iwa through Suna, I’d be able to save up on it.”

After the long speech, during which Lyralei had been counting off her fingers the various way she could travel, as well as the obstacles in those ways, Lyralei finally realised that she had been rambling on and on about travel. It was something that she had a tendency to do, and it was also something that had a tendency to bore people. She turned apologetically back to the new girl.

“Sorry, I got carried away,” she said. “You must not want to hear about boring travel details. What’s your name again?”

WC: 1094 + 635 = 1729

Asuna watched the queer girl watch her for a moment, taking in her appearance just as Asuna had taken in hers.

“My name is Lyralei,” she finally introduced.

So she was Lyralei. It didn’t sound like a local name, though. Could she have been from another continent? That… was ridiculous. There had never been any accounts of anyone coming to the Elemental Continents from outside the Elemental Continents, and there was very small chance that this was the precedent that they were all waiting for. More than likely it was just a case of couples being influenced more and more by the changing times and the newer names that didn’t stick with traditional use of hiragana or kanji, or even conventional katakana.

Well, it didn’t really matter where her name came from. Asuna had a name to work with, and a face to match it to, and that was really all she needed to begin an actual conversation and actually getting to know this stranger.

Of course, any attempt at conversation that she had been attempting was cut off when the girl instead began with her conversation, though how it would proceed would seem more of a monologue to Asuna than a dialogue.

“I’m actually thinking of where I should go,” Lyralei had said. “I’m a traveller. I like to travel to the far ends of the continent. It’s just a hobby I’ve had ever since I was little - to go out and see new places. I’ve mainly been to the Land of Tea, the Land of Noodles, and the Land of Fire, but my visit to that last one was cut short because of some distractions. So, I really haven’t been able to visit anywhere of interest in the Land of Fire, so let’s cut that one out. Right now, the choice is to either go back to the Land of Fire, and hurry to Konoha, or to pop on to Iwa. If I leave by the end of the week, and I travel at full speed, I might be able to reach Konoha and check in with their Tourism Board, and still get my reservation for their four-star hotel and exclusive hot springs service before my membership expires. But, if I do that, I’d have to travel all the way to Iwagakure, and frankly, I don’t like the distance or the obstacles in my way. The clear-cut straight distance travel between Konoha and Iwa is impeded by an extremely dense forest, which could slow down my travel by a few days if I take into account finding proper camp locations, avoiding local wildlife, and checking for any leftover traps by ninja. If I want to avoid that, however, I could take the more well-known routes which are smoothened out for even merchants to travel on, but if I want to use them, I’d have to check in with Konoha’s authorities and get the proper paperwork in order. I’d have to pay a small sum of tax, which is more than I’d like since it’s only short-term, unlike the discounted long-term ones that merchants get, to avoid getting stopped by Konoha ninja and more notoriously the ANBU who patrol these roads. Suna’s straight travel to Iwa though, doesn’t have that small obstacle, so technically, if I were to go to Iwa through Suna, I’d be able to save up on it.”

Throughout all this, Asuna just listened quietly and intently. She herself hadn’t been all that big on tourism, so many of the terms that Lyralei had just used were unfamiliar to her, and some of them, like the Konoha Tourism Board, Asuna had only heard of in passing. Shinobi didn’t really have the luxury of putting their feet up and lying back for as long as they may like, and while she herself wasn’t actually a shinobi, her life was much more dangerous than the average shinobi’s, since she had to run for her life from her father, on the off chance that he caught up to her.

She didn’t even know about the few geographical obstacles in the way, such as the dense forest that Lyralei had mentioned. It was an interesting thing to note, and she mentally penned it down for future reference. If worst came to worst, she may have to retreat into that forest just to escape from her father, though having not actually seen any maps of the immediate area as she ran, she could’ve actually passed by that particular forest on her way to Suna.

It was unfortunate, though, that one needed to pay for a pass to get past many of the patrols in the Land of Fire, but she supposed it was fair enough. The Land of Fire was a large place, and it was difficult to maintain stability and security if you didn’t at least have a pass to identify who’s side you were on. Even wandering ninja were often mistaken for threats, and it was only out of pure luck - and okay, Asuna would admit, maybe a little professionalism on the Konoha shinobi’s part - that had kept both sides from clashing with one another.

Many of the things that Lyralei had said, which basically summed up into a miniature political lesson, made sense to Asuna, but that didn’t mean that she were to like any of it. It seemed far too… Well, ‘political’ was the best word she had of it, but it acted more like an example rather than an actual adjective, so she held off that line of thought, before realising that Lyralei had finished.

“Sorry, I got carried away,” the orange-haired girl apologised.

Yeah, no kidding. Even so, Asuna wasn’t in the least mad, since she had learned something new today - something which could most probably save her life in the future.

“You must not want to hear about boring travel details. What’s your name again?”

Asuna smiled as she replied, “My name is Asuna. Asuna Kuroka. But you can just call me Asuna. I notice you must travel a lot, being as experienced as you are. If you were to ask me, I’d say go to Iwagakure. The Konoha Tourism Board might be your only ticket to getting the type of service you want there, but it’s definitely not the only service you can find. I’m sure you can negotiate a small refund with them if you pushed for it, especially if you manage to bring up some sort of evidence that there was something holding you from immediately visiting Konoha. Like, maybe, helping them with a client? I’m sure they won’t reject an explanation like that, if you have proof, since you are technically helping the village out. This way, you can just go to Iwagakure and save up on some of your money. And I’d love to escort you there as well. I mean, if you don’t already have travel escorts.”

Of course, knowing her father, it was more likely than not that Asuna would need Lyralei’s help than the other way around.

1918

“My name is Asuna. Asuna Kuroka,” the pinkette sitting next to her replied.

Hmm… Asuna… In all of her travels, Lyralei had picked up a lot of useful knowledge. Some of them, not as useful, but still interesting nonetheless, and among the many things that had piqued her interest had been the meanings that names held to them. It stood out more so than the other things she had picked up, simply because Lyralei had absolutely no clue what her own name was supposed to mean, while it was far easier to decipher the meaning of others’ names.

She had the pleasure of meeting several other women named Asuna in the past, and she knew what the name meant on some occasions. Depending on the different types of kanji used to spell the names, it could have several meaning, but they were all still beautiful in Lyralei’s opinion. For one thing, the name Asuna could mean ‘clear’, or ‘pure’. The pinkette she was talking to certainly seemed pure, naive still to the darker ways of the world and to one of the many glooms that pervaded the corners of this world. Lyralei herself, however, had been freed from the chains of innocence, which also doubled as many people’s safety nets, the day she had learned she would never discover her biological parents. It had been a painful fact to admit, and it had been one that had kept her locked up in her room for days as she realised that the couple who raised her were indeed not her parents, the truth made even worse since she had to grapple with her peers and her teacher breaking it out to her, rather than the couple themselves.

She had never loved them the same since. One could even say she never loved them again since.

The name Asuna could also hold a different meaning - day, or sun - and should it be the girl’s name, Lyralei would find it very ironic that the two of them would meet in the daytime, in an area where the sun was the only source of energy that they could assuredly count on. In this case as well, Lyralei would find it suitable that the light reflecting off of Asuna’s skin seemed to make the girl glow in the daylight, her light skin giving off a natural shine like she had put on lotion-

“I notice you must travel a lot, being as experienced as you are,” Asuna had continued, breaking her thoughts. “If you were to ask me, I’d say go to Iwagakure. The Konoha Tourism Board might be your only ticket to getting the type of service you want there, but it’s definitely not the only service you can find. I’m sure you can negotiate a small refund with them if you pushed for it, especially if you manage to bring up some sort of evidence that there was something holding you from immediately visiting Konoha. Like, maybe, helping them with a client? I’m sure they won’t reject an explanation like that, if you have proof, since you are technically helping the village out. This way, you can just go to Iwagakure and save up on some of your money. And I’d love to escort you there as well. I mean, if you don’t already have travel escorts.

Lyralei had already been nodding her head slowly in the middle of Asuna’s words. The girl definitely made a point. She spoke as if she had never paid much attention to the intricacies of travel before, but she had shown incredible foresight in that the high-end service that the Konoha Tourism Board offered was not the only service that she could find. Some would even say that you had never truly traveled to an area and lived the lifestyle there unless you lived the lower end of it - near the poverty line - since that was where people were often most generous and least political.

Her head was also turning with ideas as to how to present her case to the Konoha Tourism Board, just to get a small refund if possible. She had kept the small receipt that the client from Konoha had given her when he had tasked her to escort him to Suna, so maybe that would be proof enough for the KTB to accept her argument? She doubted it would be as strong as if she had kept the mission scroll itself, but to lug around heavy things like that had been a practice that she had learned to discard on her journeys, bringing with her only the valuables and necessities. The mission scroll surely didn’t seem like a necessity back then, and the receipt she had only kept because she still hadn’t visited a bank to cash it in for ryo.

Regardless, she was happy that there was a fighting chance at getting back some of her precious ryo. It was scarce, especially if you were on the road a lot.

“Thank you. I think I may have just the thing to make my arguments to the KTB,” Lyralei answered. “But I don’t think I’ll need travel escorts. I’ve always travelled alone. I’ve picked up a few tricks to defend myself along the way, and while I’m no better than your average Genin, I’d probably be able to defend myself from anything on the road, unless I bump into an A-rank missing-nin for some reason. But hey, that’s the risk you take while travelling! It’s also what sometimes makes it more interesting!”

With that, Lyralei got off the swings, before turning back to face her acquaintance.

“You seem like an amazing girl. If you want, you can come with me to Iwagakure. I could totally use your companionship, especially on the lonelier nights,” Lyralei said, ending this with a wink. “Just come up to my hotel room if you ever feel the need. It’s at Suna Hotel, room 417. Ask for me at the counter and they’ll ring me up. I’ll be leaving in a few weeks, so if you don’t come by then I’ll know you’re not tagging along. And who knows? After we’re done discussing our preparations, maybe we can have some fun as well.”

Lyralei would throw a small card at Asuna, the business card of Suna Hotel, the same one she had gotten from the manager when she first arrived. On it would be the Suna Hotel emblem with the manager’s face on the left side, as well as his credentials. On the bottom of the card would be his phone number, while the back would be printed with Suna Hotel’s address.

As Lyralei turned to leave, she called behind her shoulder once more, “Remember, room 417!”


Words: 1153 + 1729 = 2882

Training Strength from E-1 to D-0: 675
Training Speed from E-1 to D-0: 675
Training Endurance from E-1 to D-0: 675
Training Perception from E-1 to E-3: 375
Training Reaction Time from E-2 to E-3: 225

“Thank you, I think I may have just the thing to make my arguments to the KTB,” Lyralei had answered. “But I don’t think I’ll need travel escorts. I’ve always travelled alone. I’ve picked up a few tricks to defend myself along the way, and while I’m no better than your average Genin, I’d probably be able to defend myself from anything on the road, unless I bump into an A-rank missing-nin for some reason. But hey, that’s the risk you take while travelling! It’s also what sometimes makes it more interesting!”

As Lyralei got off the swings to her left, Asuna tried to mask the disappointment that threatened to break out onto her face. It would seem that Lyralei didn’t need a travel companion. Asuna hadn’t accounted for the fact that Lyralei had been a ninja in her own right, even if a self-taught one. It would explain, though, how she had been able to travel so much and as freely as she seemed to describe. Normally, people who hired bodyguards were either of a richer stature or not as spirited, since they were more often than not smeared by fear of what could be out there, rather than curiosity, just like Lyralei was.

Her take on risky travelling making it interesting almost brought a smile to Asuna’s lips, though not because of affection. Asuna found it cruel irony that the person who wanted to travel around was able to do so without any fear, while the person who wanted to stay in one place was unable to do so safely, and was forced to constantly be on the run in case her father came back to hunt for her. It was cruel fate, Asuna knew. Her entire life had been dealt a cruel hand by fate, but today seemed to be especially and unrealistically cruel, with the knowledge that someone out there had a life so similar to hers, yet so different altogether.

Lyralei had turned back to her, and addressed her once more, breaking her out of her semi-depressing thoughts.

“You seem like an amazing girl. If you want, you can come with me to Iwagakure. I could totally use your companionship, especially on the lonelier nights,” Lyralei said, ending this with a wink. “Just come up to my hotel room if you ever feel the need. It’s at Suna Hotel, room 417. Ask for me at the counter and they’ll ring me up. I’ll be leaving in a few weeks, so if you don’t come by then I’ll know you’re not tagging along. And who knows? After we’re done discussing our preparations, maybe we can have some fun as well.”

Asuna had almost completely shut out everything after the phrase, ‘if you want, you can come with me to Iwagakure’. She had been looking for someone to accompany her on the roads (more so on hoping than actually looking), since she would never admit to herself, but would never deny it either, that she was almost often scared for her life whenever she travelled out of the safe confines of villages. Or, maybe that was a wrong way to put it. She was always afraid that her father would jump out at her from the shadows, village or not, and the only way to escape him seemed to be on the constant move, and her instincts were tingling and yelling at her to leave Sunagakure soon. She would give it a few weeks, which just aligned with Lyralei’s plans.

Lyralei’s words did concern her though. Asuna had no interest in the same gender, though she probably did and never had the chance to explore it, since she was constantly on the run. Any and all relations that she had been able to form she had discarded for the sake of her safety, and a small part of her mind argued that she had done the same to her mother, even if it was her mother’s decision to stay behind in the seaside town in the Land of Noodles. Even so, Asuna was grateful for Lyralei’s company, and planned to straighten it out with the girl, only for her to throw her a card.

It was a curious one, but she recognised it as the Suna Hotel manager’s business card almost immediately. Suna Hotel was an infamous place, among ninja and tourists alike, some even being both. The Suna Hotel emblem, which slightly resembled the symbol of Sunagakure but was also different, was printed on the top, with the manager’s face professionally looking back at her on the left side of the card, while his credentials were printed out on the right. On the bottom of the card had been the phone number of the manager himself, in case anyone wanted to book a stay at the hotel, or if any of the guests had pressing issues he needed to deal with. She turned the card over, and the Suna Hotel emblem was once again at the top, though the information this side of the card held was the Suna Hotel address, which she recognised even from her brief stay in the village.

“Remember, room 417!” Lyralei called out to her as she turned to leave.

Asuna gave a half-hearted, “Okay, no worries,” before getting up as well and leaving.

(Exit thread)

2830

Strength and Endurance from E-0 to E-1. 
Speed from E-1 to D-1. 
Reaction Time from E-1 to D-1.
Perception from E-1 to D-0.