With every step taken away from the island Fuyuko felt better and better. She no longer had the feeling that every ounce of feeling inside of her was being strangled out of her. That death was no longer sucking the air out of her lungs. She had never felt so much relieve in her life before as she was feeling right now. However being in this trail of thought had made her rather quiet. She quite frankly had forgotten that Miyu was traveling alongside her. A little shocked at her impoliteness she starts to talk.

"So... This may seem a little impolite and I apologize in advance if it is. But I was wondering, was that man your father?" Despite it obviously being said in the conversation, Fuyuko still couldn't quite wrap her head around it. "It's just that I wouldn't have imagined him as a family man, I'm just a little surprised is all." Fuyuko wanted to make sure it didn't sound like she was insulting the man. Because if Miyu truly was his daughter than it wouldn't surprise her all too much if she too had this 'presence' about her.

Fuyuko would wait a little bit to see if Miyu were to reply to her question before continuing her questions. "I was also wondering, what made you become a shinobi? What made you decide you want to be one? Has it been your dream since you were young or are you simply following what's expected of off you?" She was genuinely interested in what had made Miyu want to become a shinobi, although she might come over a little invasive. She hardly knew Miyu after all, hell, she had just met her. Despite that she was already asking some potentially rather private questions. Fuyuko thought to herself that she really ought to learn to control her curiosity, it wasn't very well mannered after all. "Oh sorry if those questions are too private and you'd rather not talk about them, we can talk about less private things and talk more about things we like to do for instance?" She said with a slight awkward laugh and scratching the back of her head. "I'm just curious to learn about you. So feel free to ask anything about as well, I have nothing to hide." The last bit said with a smile on her face.

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Miyu was unhappy to leave her father’s presence, however was happy to be able to follow his directives. The most difficult part of the trek away from the island was the loss of her father’s aura. The young arachnid felt much more comfortable knowing he was there, and without him, or her mother she found herself feeling a bit lost. She was relieved when Fuyuko began asking her questions, she had been unsure as to how to begin the social aspect of her interaction and now it seemed that was being taken care of.

“Yes, Sero Osada is my father. And I don’t see how that would be considered impolite. As for being surprised, you will find that he is as wonderful a father as one could hope for.” She was pleased at getting the opportunity to praise her father, and she was sincerely curious about Fuyuko’s apology. It had seemed fearful, and while it was best in her opinion to regard Sero with fearful respect, the uncertainty in the girls voice was palpable. She wondered then if all humans were as afraid of Sero as this girl perhaps was. From what Mama had told her, it was likely intelligent that they were, since her father was a powerful and dangerous man. Miyu said nothing of her query regarding human fortitude and merely walked alongside the girl, smiling demurely, the only sound she made the whisper of her dress hem along the ground. It was a strange sensation and she fought the urge to transform so as to speed along their journey. As Fuyuko continued to speak, her further questions were a bit more problematic, as she was not currently a shinobi by rights, nor had she had much experience with deciding what ‘she wanted to be’. Other than human. She remembered what her father had told her, and considered that a half truth would suffice to satisfy the girls curiosity and her father’s commands.

“Since I was young I have dreamt of nothing else than being able to serve Kirigakure the way my father does. So in a way it was both what was expected of me and a heartfelt desire." She would turn to Fuyuko as the girl apologized once more and shake her head gently. While the girls backpedaling was amusing, it was not aiding the flow of the conversation overmuch. It was possible that this was simply a part of human culture that she did not understand. She had seen this behaviour in many of the servants that attended her father, however she had never seen him do it. Since her goal was to emulate the great Sero Osada she maintained a regal posture and with a soft laugh she would gesture for Fuyuko to continue leading the way as she spoke again. “What do I like to do? I enjoy hunting, and scouting. Mainly throughout the forested areas on the island. I also greatly enjoy learning things. I’ve done a good deal of reading; fiction and historical texts. What about yourself Fuyuko? Why are you a shinobi, and what do you do to pass the time?”

527

Chakra 145/150:

The answer that was given to Fuyuko by Miyu made her feel better. It made her feel better because she wasn't being invasive with her questions, getting on a persons bad side is something Fuyuko wants to avoid at all cost after all. And secondly, that the 'monstrous' man had a family has to mean he has a soft spot somewhere. Even if his presence wouldn't show it, one wouldn't have a family if that were not the case, right? "Well, it makes me feel a little bit better that you confirmed that you're family. His presence was rather daunting and quite frankly I wasn't sure if I would survive that encounter." She said with a small laugh. Regardless of that, Fuyuko would still be sure to tread cautiously in his presence. Even if the man were to have a soft spot, that spot was definitely not there for her.

Fuyuko listened along while casually walking back towards the village. She figured she might as well enjoy this last stroll whilst they were still within the safe borders of Mizu no Kuni. There was not that much of a rush after all, if they got to know each other on the road or in the warmth of her house was all the same to her at this point. Besides, she herself enjoyed being outdoors more than indoors.

"It's good that you're doing what you want do. Life is better after all if you do the things you want to do on your own accord instead of someone else's." she said whilst gazing up into the sky. "Hunting you say? I would've never thought you'd be into hunting." Then again, Fuyuko thought to her self, the presence of her father was like a dire wolf hunting on prey, so maybe it's a family thing? "I myself like to be outdoors, running through the trees, playing with animals, exploring, dozing off underneath the shade of a big tree. I also like to write poetry, although, it has been quite a while since I've done it. Haven't found much time to do my past-time activities since becoming a shinobi. As for why I become one, hhmmm, where to start. When I was younger, about the age of 12, I was going back home from an errand. I ran into this drunken man, I apologized but he wasn't having any of it. He came swinging at me, and I blocked the strike with my arm." Fuyuko pulled her left sleeve up, and showed her scar to Miyu. "Being scared for my life and in quite some pain I was just paralyzed, but a man came in and rescued me. He took care of my wound and sat with me making sure I was alright. But eventually he was taken away by shinobi from Kirigakure. I later learned he was a criminal and was killed." Fuyuko wiped a forming tear away, and continued on with her story. "To me, he was a hero, but to the village a criminal. He may have acted against the village, but he also did good, yet he was still killed. So I became a shinobi to change the system, or well, at least try to change the system."

Having said her reasons for becoming a shinobi Fuyuko became curious to Miyu's opinion on the matter. Would she agree with the current system? Would she not agree? Or perhaps search for a middle path. Either way there is only one way to find out. "What do you think about it? Do you think what the village did was correct? Or is the system wrong and should it be changed?" Fuyuko was very keen to find out what Miyu's opinion is on the matter.


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Miyu listened to Fuyuko’s reply as she walked along. She found it interesting that the young shinobi described her father as ‘daunting’. That was a much more passive word than she would have used, but it brought a subtle smile to her face all the same as Fuyuko divulged her fear of making it out of the situation alive. While it was unlikely that her father would have decided to kill Fuyuko while they were on the beach, she supposed that it had not entirely been out of the question. What she did know of her father was that he followed the laws of Kirigakure to the letter. If there was ever a person that loved Kirigakure more than him, she had never met them. Though she supposed that wasn’t saying much, seeing as she had met very few people.

Fuyuko’s story about how she decided to become a shinobi was intriguing. As was her scar. Miyu did not have any scars, not only because she had never sustained any real damage, but because even if she had it was simple enough to not have it part of her human illusion. It reminded her again how fragile humans seemed to be. It was interesting that the girl seemed think that the laws in Kiri were flawed. At least that was what Miyu took from it. It was a dangerous game she played, announcing her intentions to alter the current laws. She wondered what Sero would think or say if Fuyuko said these things in front of him. She had never seen her father get angry, she wasn’t even sure that he could become angry. But for her part, the idea of it irked her.

“What I think is that criminals should pay for their crimes. That man did something against the people of Kirigakure, and then he was punished for it. The laws of Kiri are just, and I do not see any cause or reason to change them. What I do know is that there are few laws you can break that will end in your death. So he must have done something truly terrible.” Miyu walked along silently for a few minutes, listening intently to the sound of the breeze through the trees, and the near imperceptible sounds of wildlife. She could just barely hear the sounds of her siblings as they walked further away from the island, and she was almost glad for it. Her siblings thought of nothing but when and how they would next eat. It was almost maddening. She was beginning to see an issue with Fuyuko’s thinking however, she was to be entrusted with an important mission in a foreign and arguably hostile land. And she did not fully understand the importance of the laws of her own land. With that in mind Miyu would stop and turn to face Fuyuko directly, he hands folded regally together in front of her and a serious tone in her soft voice.

“I think that perhaps you should speak with my father again. He knows more about the laws of this land than almost anyone, it would probably set your mind at ease if things were better explained to you. Before we leave for Kumogakure we should return to him.”

551/1078

Fuyuko felt a little disappointed by the reply that Miyu gave her to her question. She felt like it was a little bland, or better said maybe, devoid of her own true feelings. It felt more like it was a response that was drilled into someone over the years than one she had decided for herself. Regardless of the origin of the reply, she was still entitled to hold that opinion. Truthfully there was also nothing wrong with the answer, most of the people she had this talk with seemed to be of similar mindset. It was probably the fact that she hasn’t been really exposed to the way the village operated for most of her life that she felt about it different than most. It made her wonder if her own opinion would’ve been different if she was raised inside the village instead of isolated from it.

The question she had given to Miyu seemed to however have killed the already struggling conversation the two of them were having. She was unsure herself how to continue on with it and with Miyu’s silence she was unsure if Miyu actually wanted to continue the conversation. Not wanting to irritate the daughter of that monstrous man, she decided it was probably best to just keep on walking silently beside her. Fuyuko patiently waited for Miyu to start the conversation again before she herself would talk again. Having the wrath of that man send after her was something she definitely wanted to avoid at all cost. And so she just quietly listened to the sound of nature. The sound that was carried by the lovely breeze that flowed so smoothly through her hair. Getting somewhat lost in thought until Miyu stopped walking and full faced her, prompting herself to stop as well.

She looked down at Miyu whom seemed a little concerned about something. The serious tone Miyu used to talk to her was not something Fuyuko was all to fond off. But it was the words she spoke that really put her on her backfoot. She suggested that the two of them should return to Miyu’s father, Sero Osada. The man that could probably snap her neck with his pinky. Fuyuko felt rather reluctant of going back to that place after she had just managed to get away from it. But something in her mind told her that it would be better to listen and just go along with it. That this particular course of action had the highest chance of her own survival. “I’m… not quite sure what has made you feel like I should have my mind set at ease. However I will come back with you to your father if that is what you want.” She wondered to herself if it was because their thoughts on the matter didn’t align. But with that said, she turned towards the island again. The two of them hadn’t put that much distance between themselves and the island so it shouldn’t take too long to get back to it. Fuyuko really dreaded the thought of meeting Sero Osada so quickly again. The man that felt like he was a demon.

[Exit thread]

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Training C-rank summoning jutsu [1580/1000]

Discard 580 wc

Miyu was pleased that the human girl Fuyuko paused in her stride when Miyu had. In the short years observing her father she had noticed a similar behaviour from those that had spent time with him, and it was something she wanted to emulate. Her father always seemed to have command of any situation he was in, and while it was an admirable trait, it was also a very useful one. There were only two things that Miyu thought about attaining; firstly that she could earn the respect and love of her father, and secondly that she would be clearly viewed as his daughter. Most of her observations had been focused on those ends. She had learned to speak and read and write as he did. Valuing study and research as much as she did the baser pleasures of hunting and killing. There was nothing quite like sinking her fangs into warm flesh, but if her father found books and scrolls important, than so did she.

She was concerned about Fuyuko’s outlook, it was a dangerous thing to speak out about the flaw in Kirigakure’s laws. Especially when on an important mission for someone whose almost main concern was to uphold them. She doubted that this was the sort of situation where Sero would dispose of the girl, she had seen far more temperance in her father than that. But she did not have the sort of temperance that he appeared to. The idea that there was something wrong with the laws here, was almost the same as saying there was something wrong with her father or with the Mizukage. It was appalling to her, and made a slight red haze form across her vision as she fought to keep her temper under control. It was difficult for her to concentrate on the girls reply as she listened intently to the sound of her own heart beating in her ears. As Fuyuko spoke she imagined what it would be like to bite down on her neck, hearing the cries of pain as Miyu guzzled down all of life blood. She wondered what humans blood tasted like.

As her mind turned from murder to musings the red haze of anger thankfully lifted. Killing the first human other than her father that she interacted with would be a thing she would not want to have to explain. Most likely she would be in heaps of trouble and bound for plenty of punishment. She did know that killing ‘innocent’ humans was against the law. What would be worse than breaking the law however, at least in her mind, would be disappointing her father. Sero had sent her out with Fuyuko to learn a bit about what it was to be a human, she did not believe that he meant to learn what they tasted like. A smile would creep across Miyu’s face as she answered in a sweet and soft voice, her fangs glinting in the fading light.

“Yes, that is what I want. Perhaps it is my mind that needs be set at ease. Either way, I think you are right Fuyuko. Life is better when you do all that you want.”

With that she would move as if a wave on the shore, going where it pleased and pulling whatever treasures it wished along with it. Turning her head slightly to smile once more at the human girl she would wave her hand regally, beckoning the girl to follow.

“Come along Fuyuko. We can continue our conversation in the warmth of the manor, with food in our bellies.”

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{Exit Thread}

Stat Training
SPD: D-2 > D-3 - 450wc + 75 ryo
END: D-2 > D-3 - 450wc + 75 ryo
PER: D-2 > D-3 - 450wc + 75 ryo

Training Totals: 1350wc + 225 ryo

Words left over: 330 words