Can you believe there is a way to the voices that whisper of yonder old? Can you believe that their songs are still sucks in the leaves that flutter to and fro? Can you believe that the stars are eyes watching over thee? And can you believe there is magic in you and me? In the dark of the night fireflies sparkled like flickering lights. The grasshoppers danced on the grass. Here she laid on the ground by the demon there. Her long crimson hair a halo of blood around her being. She slept on the ground listening to the sounds of nature, her one true love. The dewy of the evening still kept the air crisp and fresh, something welcomed for a night like this. She laid there free from worry and restraint, a break was which she was needed after countless worry plagued her heart like a disease and burdened it with sorrow. About a couple weeks ago her sister had left on a long term mission, her first in a while. She was tasked with delivering supplies to an outpost and was even allowed to meet up with the clan, the clan that still accepted her as one of their own while she was still scorned and thrown away as she weren't not of their blood, an outsider.

A heavy sigh left her lips as she leaned up and readjusted her long white dress and kissed the head of a dragonfly before it flew away. Perhaps she was worrying too much and everything was okay. There was nothing to fret about. She could only hope

271~

The family tradition of the samurai required for the youth to partake in a rigorous amount of training at a young age. The procedures to the steps of structuring the young warriors into dangerous monsters consisted of them skipping curfew and being awoke for longer than most of the other shinobi around them. The journey through the woods commenced as the stampede of humans lurked through the meadows with their sword positoned in front of them. The sounds of their footsteps caused the ground to vibrate in a small distance around them. Each of the samurai adorned their normal armor with helmets to protect from concussions except for the children undergoing the training. They were sheathed in small white robes with a symbol attached to their chest to identify which one of the elders were assigned to them.

Several of the samurai yawned, placing their hand against their mouth as their eyes slowly lowered with each step took that further their distanced to the training grounds. All of them were fatigued and were on the verge of leaving. But, none of them were allowed the permission to. On this exhausting night, one of the elders elevated their guard down and ceased his movement to use an outdoor restroom near one of the ancient trees nearby. "Wait here. We will catch up to the group shortly," commanded the elder with his pants lowered enough to allow him to urinate on the plants. Takumi folded his arms as his long dreads were tied into a ponytail to allow his movement to remain unrestricted while on this mission.

Peering down the woods, he noticed a figure which had been carelessly resting on the floor. Before attempting to wander off, the boy assured that the man was occupied with releasing his urine. As the elder sealed his pants and rotated his body around, he realized his trainee had managed to flee away from him. He had never expected for one of the most serious samurai in the history had chose pleasure over buisness. It was shocking. Takumi approached the women with his cheeks painted a cherry red from him blushing before arriving near her. Crouching down towards her from the side of her upper body, he nervously smiled. "Hello, My name is takumi. Who are you? I guess, you are having a rough day aren't you?" said the boy with a single lock hanging from his head. The hair stylist had made a mistake and forgotten to ravel the one dread and retwist it together.

A cool breeze caressed her pale cheeks and made her beetles hum within her. The stars glistened in the sky like no other, uncaring and free. Shimmering in splendor. They were jewels in the sky no one could touch and while common spectacles were a precious treasure to all. It was here, in this peace that she felt at home, that she felt at one with nature, and it made her recall the times she had forgotten. Times when she was younger, softer spoken and more reserved. Those were not happier times but they had their moments. Away from the harsh gazes and whispers of her clan, away from disappointment and resentment, away from people was when she felt joy. When she felt as free as the wind. It was pitiful, almost pathetic that her closet friends were woodland creatures instead of her fellow men, but she felt less like one of them and more as her own beetles that burrowed and lived within her. Smaller, fragile, yet deadly and proud. Most regarded her colony with disgust and fear; not understanding how one could withstand being in the same vicinity as the beetles, much less allow them to feed off her chakra and live inside her body.

But that was the nature of man. To judge and crucify another for the slighest differences. Skin. Hair. Eyes. Voice. Clothes. Gender. Origin. It made no difference at all when it came to fear. Fear was power and it was a power that could shift easily so the other would force its hand towards them and give those the unfortunate a lesser fate, a crueler one and if you did not conform you were tossed out of the ground and thrown in with the regenerates. Supposedly animals were similar as the runts were not loved as much or succeeded as much but it were not out of fear nor hate but rather that was the way of things, it was acceptance. The runts usually had some deformity and would not live as long of a life as others; and since the rest of the pack was in constant danger and barely surviving they can not afford to be pulled down. That is where man and beast differed. Beasts accepted others and did what was best for all. Man hated others and did what was best for themselves, even if it was their damnation later what matter was a single moment not the future.

She did not want to be in the world of man but it was a fate she could not escape. Even now she could not run from it, what she was. The fireflies frigtened by the newest edition to the patch of land turned off their lights and flew away elsewhere leaving the two humans alone under the illuminating moonlight. She blinked and moved fluidly, closer to the man before her and placed her hand against his warm cheek curious. This was blushing correct? Something she had seen and read about but could not emulate. She was an indifferent beings, only expressing unhappiness or its counterpart with subtle signs that only her young sister could pick up. To all others she appear aloof and empty yet fragile like a doll that had no heart, no warmth. She was confused by his question and tilted her head to the side nonchalantly and blinked before her small pink lips parted uttering a soft yet monotone voice that had no distinction in its owner's actual feelings "Does it seem so?" she paused and stared at his eyes looking at him with an unnerving gaze before blinking as she forgot to give her name "I am Mifune"

885~

The boy didn't display any criticism towards her loner state of mind because most of his history had been wasted defending animals which were destined to the fait of being used as processed food. His vegetarian mind acquired those creatures as his only friends. The samurai around his cottage insulted him for treating a delicious piece of cow with a lot of compassion. He was different from alot of his teammates which led him to being the laughing stock around the entire village. It was only because of his innocence, generous, and shy approach to life. His fear of ever being humiliated again caused him to alter his personality when around those harsh teenagers. His ego transformed each chance that he had to deal with them.

But, tonight was different. The female reminded him of his real personality and introduced himself to a world without cruel humans. A squirrel crawled near the legs of the boy, colliding his skin against the soothing silk of his white robe. This was the animal that had followed Takumi earlier when he left a trail of acorns for the starving creature. His greediness was exchanged for affection. The smell of rotten food lingered through the plastic wrapped around it which was contained inside of the pouches in the robe of the boy.

A smile lit up on the face of Takumi similar to the lights of the thunder grounds which sparked in the ominous clouds around that location. The gentle touch of the women aroused him, sending a chill through his entire spine. In his life span, he had never been intervened with his conversation by the connection of a women's hand. Most of the females in the academy ignored his undeniable crush on them. As she rotated her head, Takumi's heart rate dropped from her releasing her smooth grasp on his blushing cheeks. "Sorry, if the squirrel might scare you. I don't believe in using animals to convert them into food. One of the most worst punishments for are species," apologized Takumi as he ran his fingers through the comfortable fur of the squirrel to signal that the women wasn't hostile to him.

It was soft and light, like a gentle dab on the earth the creature scurried with haste like a streak of lightning yet presented no killer intent. It's dark brown fur was hidden by  the shadow of night but re imagined in the moon light. Jet regarded the creature with no hostility nor kindness. She did not ignore it but neither did she acknowledge it. While she loved nature in all its splendor, her primary concern were insects and the like. Woodland creatures came third under her priorities, her first being her younger sister of course. Still she did not wish to disrespect it but she was curious? Was that the right word? Perhaps as she had read it in a dictionary she wanted to know more of the pair whom disturbed her peace. While she felt no anger or resentment of any kind, she yearned for the silence that could only be broken by the hum of beating wings of dragonflies, the hiss and dribble of her beetles, the sway of the tree leaves in the cool breeze or the crunch of the grass as she turned side to side. So when she found someone else here she mostly suspected abrupt chaos as it normally found her for tranquil peace was a floating dreams crushed by her fellow man. Yet he did not come barging in, kunai blazing nor his rambunctious fellows in tow but quietly as if running from a secret only to find another, she whom was hidden by the tree's shadow but it could not hide the glow of her pale blue iris less eyes that were will o wisp in the night.

By the color and material of his cloth she observed and found him in likeliness with that of a martial artist. The skin on his hands were harden from holding a blade for ours on hand. A creast on his robe symbolize a kinship with another yet it held a certain resemblance to several other she had seen in her time in the village, it appeared similar to that of the samurai but her memory was foggy at best as she did not bother to remember the names of other clans outside the tribe or even the names of her fellow man. It was not necessary since when they would part ways, they would not seek each other out again. But for now she would respect those before her enough with her acknowledgement "I do not have reason to fear him. He is your companion is he not? It would be unjustly to consume someone's comrade; even more so when I am a vegetarian myself." She glanced at the squirrel observing it and noticing that despite Takumi's good will, it still felt tense in her presence having a feeling of what she is, and what burrowed inside her. One stray beetle, too small for the normal eye flew out from her into the air to hum at a level inaudible to man other than she that she presented no danger. It was a small gesture but it soothed it nonetheless.

1406~

The serene voice of the women exchanged through his ears. But, didn't swap throughout the other. Nibbling on the plastic of his hoodie annoyed the youthful boy causing him to swipe his hand at the animal to attempt to cease his movements. Even though, the boy adored mammals, he despised the sight of a insect. The structure of the body and germs that were present on them grossed him out and normally caused him to panic if the distance between them shortened. Inheriting his mothers fear for mosquitoes justified the blisters on his hands from demolishing over several trees, and bugs around the forest. His allergies could possibly result in a bad skin reaction with his pores if they were to insert toxins or stingers inside of himself.

Meanwhile, meters away from the interaction, the samurai rushed towards his leader with a small amount of urine stained on his pants. His colleagues humiliated him at his accident, pointing their index finger in the direction of him. Bending over with his hands positioned on his knee caps was his method of regaining his stamina from the quick travels towards the squad. Before speaking, he gasped for air as if his life depended on it. The information required urgent assistance. "My trainee has escaped from my sight. I am going to locate him," stated the samurai as he exchanged a document with the leader. It was the file with the data of the missing person. On the sheets of the paper contained his personality description and his life goals. Maneuvering his eyes through the important information shocked the leader because of the kid being labeled as a workaholic and book worm. "There must be an explanation behind this. Your dismissed," Waving his hand signaled the end of their meeting as the warrior dashed into the forests.

A unknown sound ejected into his air as he remained unable to notice that this insect was nearby. His focus was directed onto the attention of the women, overachieving to be recognized and stuck like glue into her memory. His robe billowed in the cool breeze of wind which continued to sweep through the environment. The beeswax in his dreadlocks slowly began to diminish from the cold habitat causing them to untwist and leave his hair in a messy type of form with small sections of his hair torn apart from the single dread. "No, He is new friend that I have acquired. Also, a shinobi's life is destined to sacrifice his own life for their own right? Killing their teammate could result in the destruction of the mission," The boy migrated his entire body towards the forest to search for the squad of shinobi which could possibly be scrambling around for him now. His ears remained prepared for the women's response.