There was something about this particular day that seemed to be a tad bit off to Yuki and she couldn't quite figure it out. It was likely that she was having an odd dream, which caused her to kick her blankets off of the bed and work her way into some kind of odd position. She wasn't quite conscious yet, her sleep having not been nearly restful enough for her, but of course that didn't matter in the slightest when her oldest enemy came to taunt her in the morning. The nice new glass that was between the panes of Yuki's window which was so well taken care of. There was a lovely sheen to that glass as the sun's bright and warm rays made their way through the window, going up the bed and landing themselves on Yuki's face and eyes. She could feel Akai kicking at her and grunting, which was fine in itself, but when combined with what else was happening it led to her having a moment of crisis.

Yuki leaped from her bed, an angered look flashed across her face. If there was one thing that she couldn't tolerate it was being woken up before she was ready. Almost every morning, the sun would decide that it wanted to play games with her and wake her up before she was ready, tauntingly sitting in its position up in the sky. The young Inuzuka girl didn't care how high the smug sun though it sat upon its throne of malice and luminescence, she would remove it from the sky one day and stand over it triumphantly as the ultimate victor. She grabbed one of the many spears that made their homes around her abode, weighing it in her hand and looking at the target. She knew that her strength grew every day, and perhaps today would finally be the day that she would end that sunny bastard's reign of tyranny. She brought her arm back so that her hand was beside her ear, spear head pointed forward, took a step forward with her off foot and then with her other and bounced, moving her spear arm forward and releasing at the last possible second, using all of that momentum to drive that spear right into the heart of her adversary.

She wasn't entirely sure how it was that she always seemed to forget about the fact that glass brought down acceleration when a spear plunged through it. Much of the force of the throw was lost into the first contact with the glass, and it would ultimately lead to the spear not going nearly as far as it had to. She heard the oh too familiar shattering sound of another window, the glass shards falling to the ground, fortunately mostly outside, and the spear tapering off down towards the grass outside of her window as well. She sighed as Akai barked happily and ran around her feet, picking him up and kissing his forehead before scratching her partner between the ears. "I'm sorry Akai, I keep forgetting to open the window...Next time I'll get it though, and we won't have to worry about waking up too early!" She would grab her things, shower quickly, put on her every day clothing, strap a spear to her back, eat some breakfast quickly, and make her way over to the docks.

Her and Akai enjoyed the fresh air here, and all of the different smells and sights and sounds that really made this one of the best places in the village. People were milling about working to load and unload ships as other people directed them where to go. There were food vendors parked around making hot dogs and different things like that for the hungry dock workers when they needed a break. There were the seedier types who she knew tended to be around here as well, since shipping was generally a game that criminals seemed to enjoy. She knew that it was an unfortunate thing, and likely something should be done about it, but it wasn't something that a genin like her could really do much about. She knew that there were a lot more powerful shinobi in the village, and it tended to come down to being their jobs to deal with such things. She had heard that the seventeenth Hokage had briefly had crime wiped out in the village, which she supposed made sense after the revelation that he was a member of a criminal organization, though she didn't know if she believed that or not. He seemed like a good enough man.

She stood on one of the docks, overlooking the sea and bouncing excitedly as Akai sat beside her and waged his tail. She loved the sea and had dreams to one day take a trip out on the waters, exploring the world and seeing all the new sights and smelling all the new smells that she could. She knew that Akai would enjoy that too, and while the two of them might miss their pack while they were away, it would be worth it for the different experiences. She pulled out her spear and ran back towards one of the merchants, once she reached the end of the dock she was on planting the butt end of her spear in the ground and vaulting herself over it, spinning the spear in the air as she went and coming to land in front of the merchant, who shook his head as she would put the spear back on her back.

"You know young Miss Inuzuka, one day you are going to give someone a heart attack doing such things." The older man smiled and prepared a pita for Yuki, as well as getting a plate ready of meat for Akai that he could enjoy.

"I wouldn't do that. I love people, I don't want to hurt anyone! Unless they hurt my friends I guess... But that wouldn't happen." She smiled and took the pita and the meat, thanking the man and walking back towards the dock with Akai and taking a seat at the edge of it, shoes just slightly above the water as she ate and pondered what was out beyond the vastness that was the sea...

1064

An interesting smell approached from behind the young Inuzuka girl, Akai turning on the spot as Yuki stood up from her seated position and began to turn as well. There was a small individual approaching her who smelled like sand, snow, and blood. It was an odd combination as smells, as sand and snow didn't usually go together. There was something else as well that was interesting, though it wasn't something that bothered Yuki at all. The individual in front of her looked female, and seemed to present as female, which was fine by Yuki. Her sense of smell could easily discern whether or not that was the case, but as far as Yuki was concerned it didn't matter what this person smelled like, she would address them as they chose, which was something that her fathers had taught her to be extremely respectful about.

The girl who approached Yuki was a little smaller than Yuki herself, likely a bit younger as well. She was dressed fairly nicely, though the nice outfit had clearly seen better days, much like the girl herself. She traveled with an interesting companion as well, one that Yuki couldn't quite put her thumb on. It didn't smell like anything she was used to, it had a smell that could have been feline or canine, it looked...felineish? When the young girl spoke, Yuki tilted her head to the side slightly, listening to what she was saying attentively and smiling slightly. She introduced herself as Hanbei Guanyin and told her that she was new to the village, asking the young Inuzuka if she could help her find a place to stay. When she mentioned the fire temple, Yuki pursed her lips and tried to think. Of course she knew where it was, and she could always take the smaller girl there, but why would she do that when she could bring her home instead!

She thought about the Inuzuka compound that housed the pack of the Hokage, and while it could get a little bit cluttered at times, and crazy with her sister around, it was a really welcoming place who took in anyone who needed help. Her auntie Amaya would be able to patch this kid up and she was sure that Temaki and Hiro would like her. She started to bounce at the prospect of having someone else around the house for her to play with. She knew that all of the ninken would love to have her around as well, as they were all pretty big fans of kids. She looked down for Akai, who wasn't at his normal place at her side. He had made his way over towards the other creature, smelling him and investigating to figure out what he was. She put her right hand to her forehead and shook her head back and forth; clearly Akai hadn't gotten the message about how we don't ask people stuff like that. She looked the girl over and smiled a toothy smile.

"Hi! I'm Yuki, Yuki Inuzuka, and that's my friend Akai. Well closer than a friend, more like a Brother. We've been pretty much inseparable for a really long time. It's always exciting to meet new people, and especially if they're new to the village! You smell like sand and snow, so you must have seen a lot of different places!" She was bouncing up and down excitedly and rambling before she caught herself and forced herself to breath and stop talking for a second. "I'm sorry, I got excited. My da' is the Hokage, and our compound has lots of space, so I'm sure he'd be really happy to have you and to meet you. He's really nice and loves people, just like me! It's probably where I got it from." Akai walked back towards Yuki and she chuckled. He was currently siting up to her waist, which was quite a bit higher than usual when she reached down to scratch between his ears. She still thought of him as the same small pup but he certainly wasn't quite as small anymore. She could feel his head was tilted to the side, as though he was likely looking questioningly at the animal that was with the young girl, and she just chuckled.


She looked at the young girl once more. "Do you like pitas? If you're hungry you can have mine. I don't need it. Da' made me breakfast earlier..." She smiled and held her hand out for the young girl to take the pita, waiting for her to either take it or decline, which if she did so she would finish it herself. "If you follow me back to my place you can stay there. But I want to know what places you have seen! You smell exciting, like you've probably traveled to a bunch of places, which is awesome. I want to travel one day...but Da' wants me to stay here until I'm a bit older..." She would lead the young girl towards her house, leading her out of the village dock area and skipping as she went, Akai keeping pace beside her, occasionally running off ahead and stopping to wait for them to catch up. It was a pretty nice day, sun be damned...

1965

While the generosity of strangers was not unheard of for pilgrims across the world, not often was Hanbei in such a position where, merely at their first meeting a person was, in such a bubbling manner, willing to take a person into their home and nurse them back to health with this level of... enthusiasm? The initial sharp greeting from the Genin was almost enough to throw Hanbei off balance, causing her to flinch backward anxiously as a reflex at the sheer excitement that the girl seemed to have at Hanbei's Dilemma. In that instant, the Guanyin had to mentally debate herself as to whether or not the person that stood before her was indeed mentally sane, or that they were just that bubbly a person naturally. As she continued to talk, Hanbei became more and more certain that it was the latter, quickly relaxing into a more calmed state, a soft and welcoming smile falling across her face as the Inuzuka happily prattled on.




Looking to the ninken that seemed to be interested in the more Royal looking Daji, sniffing quizzically in her direction, Daji almost crooked her mouth in a coy smile before waiting for the Canine to get close, as the ninken would get closer and closer to the strange fox-like creature, Daji would walk towards the canine, a somewhat menacing look in her eye as she would brush herself along Akai's body allowing her tail to cross across the ninkens' nose, prompting the dog to sneeze should she be successful. Hanbei would comment at the action.Oh, that's Daji, she's a fox, so, kinda like your cousin... Id be careful around her though if i were you, she's pretty wicked when she wants to be, always playing pranks and jokes that are likely to get someone else into trouble. But she's nice when she wants to be. Hanbei spoke happily but in a slightly more informative manner... But as Yuki offered Hanbei the Pita, the girl would politely decline, saying she had recently ate and wouldn't want to impose that much, not wanting to feel guilty.




Hanbei would nod enthusiastically in agreement and begin to follow the young Inuzuka who seemed to be a little older than herself, and definitely a little taller. Hanbei was happy that she'd managed to find someone so friendly so quickly, and definitely happy that she would have a place to stay and someone to help patch her up a little bit. The Chuunin had done her best work in repairing and rebuilding her tendons, nerves, bones, hands and feet from the damage they had been dealt... but a lot of it was done in a rush at the time. Not only that, but the prospect of being in a family compound of one of Konohas noble clans that happened to be filled with ninken was positively amazing in prospect. She just hoped that Daji would be good. Momentarily after they began walking, there would be little more than a pulse of chakra from behind then, turning to look for a moment, Hanbei would notice that Daji was gone... but he knew she'd be back.

You know, when i was in the chuunin exams in Suna, my first opponent was an Inuzuka... Their name was... Izumi... Do you know them? I think it would be great if i could see them again, see how far they'd come. Hanbei said with a smile, not knowing that Izumi had done little since the chuunin exams, and seemed to have simply faded into the daily life of a career chuunin, doing missions for the village but making little of themselves in the grand scheme of things thus far before moving to Iwa. Just another face in the crowd attempting to live their life as peacefully as they can, albiet Izumi was always known to have a bit of a loud mouth. Hanbei would await some form of response before reaching the compound, asking politely if she would like her to remove her tabi as they came to the front door of the compound. Daji, having seemed to miraculously appear, sitting atop a nearby fence post at their destination cleaning her paws of the streets dust.

(1700 words, trained 1 B rank jutsu 1500/1500.)