;; five flavors of life (p)

[❥;; bexx]

 The next day dawned another boring day of just labor. She woke up extremely early, opening her eyes to the night sky. The sun had not yet risen and it was technically still considered night time for them. It was their second official day being survivors of the storm and also being on this incredibly barren island. She wasn't one to like being in mysterious places randomly even though it was supposedly not supposed to be this way. It had not been random; it had just been a forceful kind of ordeal. She awoke after having a long night and felt extremely tired. Of course she did; she had fallen victim to an uncalled for injury which had left her leg heavily bruised. Now that she had slept it off, the pain had lessened. 

She would try to stand once more, only to find that she couldn't because a sudden stab of pain would overtake her the second she wanted to. But there were other ways of her trying to get around though. The only thing that was needed was a bit of improvision. Her silver lobes searched the sandy terrain and found that the perfect instrument which would act as her walking stick; at least temporarily. She shifted her body a little to the left and edged her body closer to the  direction of where the branches would be. Ren had managed to chop a lot of wood the day before, enough that she could actually start to help with the formation of the raft. Yes! Something to finally occupy her time with! 

Since she was technically bound to just sitting or light work for the next couple of days due to her messed up leg, there was even less she could do now.  She picked a rather big piece of wood to act as her temporary walking stick. She could have easily chosen to use Yuki no Kami to create one out of ice which would be sturdier but she didn't necessarily feel like needing a chunk of ice in her hand. No matter the sturdiness of it, it would eventually melt as the sun's warmth connected with it. So she was best to use the natural resources she had to her aid. And so she took the biggest piece of wood and tried to stand using it as an aid.

It was certainly quite useful as she could now at least stand. But there was more to it than just standing. She wanted to help Ren do something; a thing that wouldn't require her to become further injured and could be a little more useful. The gears of her brain were in full locomotion as she began to think of just what she could do. With her foot in it's current condition, much of anything physical was out of the question. So then--she would help out using her brain! That sounded oddly cheesy though even for her. But then if not taking that cheesy thought in it's literal sense, what else could she do? This required much more brain power than she thought and so far she came up with nothing.

Her leg began to throb again as she half leaned on the log. She thought it might be best if she would go by the waters and dip her foot in the chilling liquid so as to soothe it. It was always great to apply cold water to a wound, at least for her. She limped slowly, using the log kind of like a crutch and made her way slowly to the water. What used to take only two seconds of walking seemed like forever now that she was temporarily handicapped. The actual feat was tiring and she was almost out of breath and she sat on a boulder that was in front of the water, admiring first it's glistening beauty.

 

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And the water was just as refreshing to the touch as it seemed to the eyes. She closed her eyes and dipped her legs into the water, the immediate chill of the liquid penetrating her soul. She gave a relaxing sigh and stayed in this form foe quite some time. Although the water was supposedly chilling since it was but the end of the night, she was unusually happy to feel the chill rush through her body, unlocking all of the tenseness and stress she had been feeling. She was definitely more fond of cold than hot water though she did find herself enjoying a refreshing time at a hot spring every now and then. That was a different kind of hot altogether; one that made you oddly lightheaded if you spend too long in it. She had failed to fathom why this was and continued to search for an answer. Of course, answers don't fall from the sky, much like everything else other than rain and snow.

Her eyes slowly fluttered open as her legs were starting to feel numb. In a moment she would feel the prickling pain that came from putting them into chilled water for too long. There was never a best for two worlds, she supposed. But what little time she had spent here was enough to make her fel revitalized and filled with energy that she almost forgot that one of her legs wasn't quite up for such energy. She would require the support of her crutch now to move about, which wasn't too bad once she got the hang of it. It definitely proved to be slightly difficult to maneuver because she was used to fluid and unhindered motion. But otherwise, it wasn't that bad at all.

She would limp once more back to the sandy plains where Ren had not yet stirred. The commotion with her injuries last night had probably burnt out any of his stored energy after an incredibly long day of wood chopping. She felt really bad as he had done so much work to making the raft and yet she only had gotten herself injured. It made her feel like she was good for nothing. And that kind of feeling was absolutely intolerable. She told herself that she couldn't possibly hold any type of equipment and be expected to chop wood. That was just something that even having two perfectly functioning legs wouldn't be achievable for her. She lacked the muscle and the basic strength. She had also never made a raft before either, which translated to not being able to help him build it. 

In fact she was more than certain that if she even tried to help out in any way of these two things, she would be a hinderance more than help. She asked herself if there was anything that she could do which she could guarantee the success in. She could only trust herself with jobs that she had either done before or was a hundred percent confident in her own abilities. Everything else was just not possible. Sitting down on the sand again, her silver lobes travelled to the burnt wood that had been where a fire had been blazing the night before. Even the smoke that was left behind had started to clear. She knew that soon Ren would awaken from his sleep. If she needed to think, she'd have to think fast.

And that was when it hit her! She processed in her mind how confident she was in herself and her skills that she would be able to help without messing up something. After long moments of bickering with herself, she finally reached a concencus with herself that she was perfectly confident. She had never done this as a profession, as far as she could remember from what little memories she had of her past but everyone's got to start somewhere. It was rather stupid of her to forget so conveniently the one thing in life that she loved to do; eat. Food was everything to her. If she could go on a mission that took her to all the great lands just to try out some different foods, she would really go ahead and do it. As far as her memory could serve her, she had not been traveling while she was a Yuki shinobi.   

 

[❥;; bexx]

She was still trying to recall whether she had ever been on a mission of some sort that had anything to do with cooking or with food. But her mind came up with nothing. For as long as she could recall, she had been a true lover of food. There weren't that many foods she didn't like, with the only exceptions being olives and bitter melons. They both tasted weird where the latter simply tasted like it's name suggested; bitter. She found all other foods like an adventure waiting to happen though she knew there were lots of foods she had yet to try. She  wasn't a picky eater as long as the food tasted good. But in order for food to taste good, that was where the heart of the problem lay.

There were many foods she had tasted that weren't bad as food but could have been better. She was a strong believer of the fact that good food only would come to be with the perfect combination of ingredients and chef skill. If either was lacking, the dish concept may be perfect but the dish itself wouldn't be. Her passion for food heightened when she started living with her guardian in the little town. Since she had lost her memory and couldn't decide on where she had wanted to go, she decided to stay at his house and under his care. But she wouldn't allow herself to just sit there and feed off him. It was morally unright. The old man taught her what he knew and she needed to repay the favor.

After thinking long and hard for a way to repay him, she finally decided on repaying him by cooking. Even though she lost her memory, she hadn't lost what skill she had developed as a Yuki Genin--in the cooking area. The ingredients in the old man's house were nothing extravagant but she made do with what she had. Of course the dishes she made weren't extravagant either but she was far from being called a chef. It was just a passtime of hers, something she enjoyed doing on the side that also managed to help out the old man a little. It made her feel useful to a certain degree, like there was finally something she could do.

It was kind of how she felt now, while stranded on this island. There wasn't much choices for her when it came to doing something to pass the time. But she knew that where there were people, there were bound to be cravings for certain foods. She sat back and relaxed a little while thinking of how to go about brushing up on her cooking skills while she was still here. It was still rather early; a little too early in fact to start doing anything concrete. She at least needed Ren to wake up just in case she managed to injure herself more. She closed her eyes again, hoping that she could think of sone dishes that she could make while being stuck here.

It seemed unlikely that she would be able to make something stellar and she realized that she hadn't ever had to give something as fun as cooking such a hard time in her head before. She usually would have her choice of ingredients all ready for her and she would just cook whatever she felt like cooking. It was never really a problem. But now she feared that what hadn't been problems would all become huge problems for her. She would think and think until she slowly drifted back to sleep. She was still tired after all. When she woke up again she will continue to think. These problems weren't easy to solve at all.  

 

[❥;; bexx]

She had been asleep for a little over three hours and would awaken to a streaming sun. It was certainly past daybreak as she finally her lobes to her surroundings. She found that it was already close to early afternoon and knew that she had slept way too long. Pushing her body up to a sitting position, she would look around her. The sand underneath her body was warm. She searched with her eyes for Ren. He was nowhere to be found and she knew that he had probably started working already. She had definitely slept too long. Her original plan was that she would try to cook a hearty breakfast for him since breakfast was the most important meal of the day. Well so much for that.

Her hand fumbled around for her crutch as she finally decided to go search for some ingredients. It was a deserted island and much of the ingredients that she normally used to cook were not available. She stood up rather clumsily, leaning her body on the crutch as she limped towards the forestland. She needed to get a move on if she wanted to have a chance of making lunch. But with the limited foods she had seen, it seemed unlikely that she could make anything. She made her way as quickly as she could to the forest, almost colliding with Ren as he came into the clearing with another bundle of chopped wood. He seemed revitalized after the night's rest which was a relief. 

He questioned where she was going and after a second's hesitation, she told him that she was going to look around the island some more. She said that she hadn't a chance to properly look at the place since yesterday's injury and wanted to make up for it. He nodded his head and warned her to be more careful. She made her way to the trees which made up the forest while he headed back to the sandy terrain to put down the wood and to take a rest. She has decided that she didn't want to let him know about her plans just in case her ingredients search wasn't successful. But she would need to go back to the steep muddy slope if she wanted to find anything other than berries. She also needed to hurry in case Ren came back before she could make it back up the slope.

With her injured leg, she wasn't able to go distances that she would have been able to otherwise. She sat down on the ground and slid down the slope carefully, her crutch close by her side. She would find herself back to where she had been the day before, at the trunk of that tree that had given her the bruise on her forehead. She stood up from the mud again and began her adventure on these new lands that made up another segment of the forest. She wondered how the slope came to be and who had been here before them. But that didn't matter at this point. What mattered was ingredients. Anything other than wild berries would do.

She began her search from the landing of where she had slid down from. The temperature around her had suddenly dropped a few degrees at least in feel. Looking up at the sky she noticed that the difference in elevation could account for the difference in temperature. The sun was giving her enough light even here though unlike up above it wasn't blazing in her eyes. Elevation was to be thanked for that. She didn't know what she would find, if anything at all that could be useful to her but she was glad to at least be able to find something to do to occupy her time.  

 

[❥;; bexx]

The thing about cooking was that there was fun in every step of the process. There were four main steps to cooking something fabulous. The first would be the very basic: thinking of a dish. It usually involved the use of one's brain to combine the skills of the chef or cook with the ingredients available. This was the root of every dish since the chef needed to have an inkling of an idea of what he or she wanted to cook before he or she could go ahead and cook something. Of course for the purposes of this cooking adventure, she was unable to do this step, since she had yet to find ingredients which could give her something to work on in terms of planning a dish. But she knew that it would definitely be step two.

The second step was the finding of ingredients which matched the conceptual dish created in step one. These two steps could be rearranged so as to fit the needs of the chef. For Sayuri now, she had no choice but switch these steps around. She wasn't even certain if she would be able to find any workable ingredients to make any sort of dish. But she knew that the most trivial of things would come at a later time. In these kinds of conditions, the easiest part of the process would probably be finding the necessary ingredients. Once she found what she needed, the real fun would begin. She began to walk down the path that was outline rather cleanly. The mud wasn't as hard to maneuver around in as she thought even with the slight inconvenience of her leg.

The search would first begin at the root of the location where she would be led by the long winding muddy path to farther within. It really felt like an adventure of sorts to her; exploring a part of the island she didn't even know existed till now. The sort of thrill that came with discovering this place heightened with every limping step she took. Adjusting her weight of her legs, she slowly began to look around. The abundance of trees was still there though there weren't as many as the forest. She could feel a gentle cold breeze sweep over her as she walked. Oddly refreshing. She would soon find herself at a clearing.

Her feet stopped suddenly as she brushed away the giant leaves of trees that blocked both her sight and her path. She had expected the road to lead her farther but in actuality it had stopped right there. As her hands seperated the leaves, she would see that she had reached a clearing and what met her eyes then was like a dream for any chef out in the wilderness. For one thing, she was sure that she would not have to worry about not having enough ingredients to cook with. It was literally like a paradise haven for any aspiring chef. She took a couple steps forward, unsure of what to make of the sight before her eyes.

Rows and rows of fresh ingredients met her silver lobes. She saw that there were plants of them and they had been planted in perfect rows. There were an assortment of cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, strawberries, carrots, onions and potatoes all spread out in clusters depending on what they were. Some of them were already ripe while the others were just beginning to grow. She marveled at the sight before her, for a moment not knowing what to do. She had certainly not expected something as extravagant as that to appear before her. 

 

[❥;; bexx]

She would take a few steps forward, making her way to the long row of plants. She saw that whoever had been here before her and who she guessed had planted these vegetables here and taken every precaution into mind. Instead of finding a clearing that was up above, this person had chosen the clearing here. The elevation difference that she had noticed before was probably the main reason why he or she had chosen this particular place. The temperature was cool and there was enough sunlight that came through but not enough for it to burn the plants. Also the clearing was quite hidden where animals like rabbits wouldn't be able to get to it without some form of challenge.

She guessed the person had also taken into account the fact that here it was moist as compared to the dry atmosphere of the forest above. The rainfall here was quite substantial for adequate vegetable growth which explained the ripe and also growing vegetables. She paused for a moment before her hand gently touched one of the ripe tomatoes. For an isolated island these vegetables were like heaven on earth. She hadn't expected such luscious amounts of them before when she had first noticed the remnants of cucumbers from up above. Now she was able to go with step one of the plan; the crafting of her conceptual dish. She sat down for a moment, looking at the ingredients now in front of her.

They were all vegetables of course being that they grew on plants. She wondered if she could make anything delicious with just vegetables. After a moment's reflection, she found that having only vegetables wasn't the case. She recalled how Ren had hunted down a rabbit the first night they had landed here. There couldn't possibly only be one rabbit living here. So now she had meat and all the choices of vegetables available. Looking around, her mind started to come up with different dishes. Having lost her memory wasn't a very good thing since she no longer remembered what dishes she had made before while still in Yukigakure. She began to ponder the possibilities.

And that was when she figured out what she could cook. It was simple really. The ingredients before her eyes screamed at her the possibility. She was going to make a stew with tomato, onions, potatoes and carrots. Though she had not tried cooking rabbit meat in a stew instead of beef but she knew there was only one way to find out; to try it out. So then she would have to start with ingredient licking. With her experience in cooking, she was able to simple give the vegetables a little squeeze to see if they were ripe enough to use. In her mind she was detailing how big a portion she was going to make.

She would have to make enough for the both of them and also enough for them to last all the way to dinner. For her it wasn't that big of a problem since she was used to eating less but she guessed that for Ren it was going to be more of a problem. He was also the one who was responsible for the hard labor of chopping wood. She definitely needed to make sure he was well-fed. She would begin picking the vegetables off the stems, admiring their beauties even though they were planted in the middle of nowhere. A smile formed on her face. She was always happy to cook.  

 

[❥;; bexx]

Now the first challenge was for her to get the ingredients she needed up the slope that she had come from. With her leg injured, it hindered her movements slightly. But it wasn't impossible. She picked the assortment of vegetables she needed for the stew and placed them within her cape. It was already destined that the weight of these vegetables would be heavy on the injured girl. But she wasn't going to give up there. She limped with her new treasures now safely in her pockets and headed back to the muddy slope. She took the same path that she had taken only minutes before to arrive at the bottom of the slope. Looking up she was thinking of ways for her to get back up.

She found that it was not as easy to find a solution to this problem as the problem of searching for ingredients obviously. But for every challenge came possibility. She also had her katana. Producing her katana from her cape she would unsheathe it and stick the blade in the mud slope so that the hilt was horizontal. Holding onto the hilt she would attempt to hoist her body upward, taking the weight of her body out on it. She realized that with just her katana it wouldn't help. So now there was plan B. She searched from within her cape to see what else she could possibly find that would be of any help. There was a long rope that Ren had probably left behind in her care after the events of last night.

With just her katana it wasn't enough to carry the weight of her whole body. It would probably be hard for her to harness beyond thr first two steps of climbing the slope. So her plan B came almost instantly. She wrapped her body around with the rope by tying a knot at the end. Securing the rope around her waist, she would lasso the other end of the rope which was also tired with a knot hoping to catch the tree trunk of the tree that was right in front of the muddy slide. After a few trials she would finally be able to harness the rope around the tree.

But she wasn't quite done yet. Forming the handseals of the Yuki no Kami jutsu. She would release her chakra to the air and take the water particles of the air around her to make another weapon. Her weapon would be made of pure ice which was sturdier than that of her katana in being able to hoist her body. She would be able to gain much more momentum with two weapons instead of one. She had created a spear like weapon and then began to make her way up the steep slope, arriving some ten minutes after. The whole process was more gruesome than she had first imagined.

There was first the issue of her leg. If it was in normal working condition, she would be able to use her legs to power up her body. But with her leg injury, all of her weight would need to be hoisted upward through using her arms, hands and the weapons that were in her hand. She had never quite rock climbed and so it was all new to her. But thankfully she got the hang of it soon and the slope wasn't as steep, meaning she wouldn't have to take too much work until she reached the upper landing. It was still very tiring regardless. She was never going to try and do something like that again, not while she was hurt.

 

[❥;; bexx]

After she was finally able to hoist her body up the muddy slope she would sit for a few moments on the ground. It was great exercise for her. She would take her newly formed spear and use it as a walking stick to help her get herself back to the sandy terrain. By this time she has noticed that Ren was at the other side of the forest, still taking his time with chopping wood. That was what she had planned and it was good that she still would have a couple hours to herself. She quickly made her way towards where she had sat before and put down the vegetables she had gotten at the clearing. 

She now had two hours to prepare her stew before lunchtime would roll about. The sun wasn't as bad yet since it technically was still early afternoon. She limped towards the water and washed the ingredients in the chilling liquid. The wilderness was not a good place for vegetation to be sanitized. Since the food was going into people's systems, sanitizing the ingredients was very important. After a few thorough washes, she would bring the ingredients and put them on a cloth on the sand. This was the first time she would attempt to cook with insufficient equipment.

But her ingredients gathering wasn't done yet. She had collected all the vegetables she needed but was missing the meat. Now that was going to be harder for her. She would have to find rabbit meat. As she was just about to head back into the forest, she halted momentarily. On second thought stew was probably going to be a little too heavy for them to eat and it seemed like it would be perfect for a heart supper. Lunch needed to be a little lighter but still heavy enough to last them the afternoon. It would require a little more thinking.

It seemed as though her brain was naturally geared towards thinking of food. She was especially able to think of dishes even when she had limited resources. After a moment's thought, she would look at the ocean waters, glistening under the sunlight. Her new idea was going to be great! The spear she had created from before was still in her hand. Now she was able to act upon her pefect idea. Limping slightly, she would walk towards the waters of the ocean. She was going to make a fish dish which was evidently easier than that of stew.

She would bring a stick with her to lean on while her spear was used to catch fish. She had seen fish swimming around the waters the day before and decided that it would be more convenient given the time that was allotted for lunch and the fact that it was relatively uncertain whether she would be able to hunt for a rabbit. She dipped her feet into the water and waited patiently, certain that she would find fish that would become her prey fairly soon. Her stick hoisting almost all of her body weight she would stand in the ocean waters and wait.  

 

[❥;; bexx]

Waiting was a very difficult thing to do when she wanted to hurry up and start cooking. She was thankful that she would be able to find a couple of fishes swimming around her. With a keen eye, she was able to use her spear to pierce one. She had a relatively good eye from throwing shuriken as practice. Satisfied with what she had done she would limp back to shore, sitting near the waters so that after she carved the fish and removed it's insides she would be able to wash out any of the dirt and blood in the ocean. But first there was the problem of carving. The fish was still trying to whither away from her even though the spear had pierced it. There was really no equipment here except her katana. 

But she had jutsus. It would be the first time she created so many things that weren't used as weapons against opponents with her Yuki no Kami jutsu. It was also one of the few times since regaining a part of her memory that she was thankful of having been born into the Yukina Clan and possessing it's kekkei genkai abilities. If it wasnt for that, she would be doomed. She quickly formed the handseals to the Yuki no Kami jutsu, wanting to form a cutting board and a cutting board stand. Since the size of the board and the stand would only be small, it required little chakra. 

She had used the water source of the ocean this time as it was right beside her. The two equipment that she had formed rested in front of her in a few seconds. Now all she needed to dp was start to cut up the vegetables and carve the fish. Deciding that it was probably wise for her to first cut the fish as it was raw and couldn't possibly be carved without the washing afterwards, so she started out by placing the speared fish on the icy cutting board and used her katana to carve it. The lively fish had fallen victim to her blade within seconds. For roasting fish, she needed the whole fish and so she didn't need to take out any parts.

After a thorough wash, she set aside the fish and made her way through the vegetables. She seperated the wet from the dry vegetables, cutting up what she needed for the dish. It was going to a really simple yet hopefully delicious meal. The vegetables she needed for this wasn't the same as the stew but she was certain that she would be able to use the vegetables she had picked for dinner in a few hours. She realized that she was missing a very important instrument; a small knife that would make cutting easier. Time for another Yuki no Kami jutsu. She was certain that she would probably never be able to use a jutsu so many times in a single day. Handseals and chakra were done swiftly so that she was able to hold a small knife in her hand within seconds.

How good it felt to be able to do what she loved even in the most impossible of situations. She was able to do something she enjoyed while being stranded on an island. It would also help tone her cooking skills which still needed much fine tuning. Her hand moved quickly, cutting up an onion and dicing it in less that thirty seconds. She was definitely fluid with cooking utensils. She wondered where she had learned to cook. The dish she was going to make only needed two basic ingredients: tomato and onion, both diced finely. The salt and pepper she had found in Ren's little bundle of goodies. The guy had everything!  

 

[❥;; bexx]

There was still a lot of work that needed to be done even though she was almost halfway into making the dish. The ice that was used for the cutting board was slowly starting to melt under the rising heat that was taking over the islands. This wasn't what she had expected. The sun's rays was also beating down on her and her movements being hindered by her injured foot didn't help matters at all. She was going to have to pick up the pace even more now or else the cut up vegetables would fall on the sand once the ice cutting board melts completely and all of her original hard work would go to waste. Then she would have to start again and she simply didn't have that time to. So what was she going to do? The ingredients had all be assembled, cut up and ready to use. So now the problem that came to her was the fact that she hadn't thought about building a fire beforehand.

She always seemed to forget something crucial which would end up putting more time to waste than she had planned. But no matter, if she could just get a fire up quickly, she may still have a chance. She secured the fish onto a stick and put it on the cutting board before hopping towards where the remnants of the fire had been from last night. She was going to have to start a fire on her own and sadly she had never quite done that before. Though there was something going for her as she was a quick learner and had seen Ren build a fire a couple of times before. With a little bit of maneuvering and trying, she would get a fire started within a few minutes. A small flame would start to appear. She was just on schedule!

She then would hop on her one foot back to the cutting board to finish the rest of the dish before she would have to bring the fish over to cook over the fire. The smoke was being wafted in her face as a wind began to pick up but naturally this wasn't much of a hinderence to the aspiring chef. What she would do now was grind the tomatoes and onions together on the board gently with the hilt of her ice sword, which was also starting to melt because of the heat. She certainly had not anticipated this. It only meant that she would have to work twice as fast to get what she wanted done before everything turned back to water. Grinding the two ingredients together finely, she rubbed the fish with the grind and then let it sit for a moment to allow the fish to absorb the flavors. If only she had aluminum foil.

But out here in the wilderness there wasn't much choice. She would then bring the fish by the fire with the stick as the skewer and start to cook it. The fish would take a bit more time to cook because the flame was still small. If she had thought of making the fire before starting to prepare the ingredients she would have already had a blazing fire going and it would take less time to cook. Since Ren had not yet come back from his wood chipping expenditure, she guessed that it was alright. She did take note of what she needed to work on for next time though; that is to say there was still a next time. She hoped that they would be able to get off the island soon. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the tropics but there was something about it that was rather different from what she had been used to.

The fish was already starting to turn a nice rich color when she turned it over, still having the meat meeting the fire. While she was cooking, she was thinking of the dish that they were going to have for supper. If memory served her correctly, she had seen that Ren's bag had a small little kettle or pot like thing that would be perfect for a stew. She also recalled commenting on it when she had first seen it, on the boat and he had told her that he always kept one just in case he got stranded on an island. He would still be able to boil up some hot water and maybe have a bowl of cup noodles assuming he had noodles. He was certainly stuck on an island now, she thought with amusement.

[chiatsuki]

+ 100

[❥;; bexx]

flashback

Her official culinary journey began when she was a young girl in Yukigakure no Sato. She had found her passion for cooking and love for food at a young age, despite the elders of the Yukina Clan wanting her to find something more concrete. But she had developed her culinary passion when she was but a little girl, watching the servant busying themselves in the kitchen to prepare food for the entire clan and had always marveled at the fact that they could make such good tasting food. She had always wanted to learn the ways of cooking from them but of course, as a descendant of the clan, jutsu, kenjutsu, and all other forms of training always came first. It was especially so because her elders weren't that pleased with her liking to cook. What was wrong with cooking and eating? She would never find the answer.

She would officially start to learn the mechanics of cooking food when she entered shinobi academy. While being there she had studied as an aspiring shinobi but also helped out in the academy kitchen. She had begged and begged the cooks there to let her just watch them cook. Reluctantly, they consented and she would spend countless hours after classes just sitting on a stool and watching the washing, cutting, chopping, dicing, mincing, cooking of food. She enjoyed the aromas that food gave, watching as raw ingredients all came together to form beautiful dishes. Sometimes she would even steal a taste test off the plates, allowing the flavors to explode in her mouth. Those were some good times she had, trying to satisfy her interests while learning to be a shinobi at the same time.

The first ever time she had come face-to-face with a cooking challenge happened when she was stranded in Yuki no Kuni. She had ventured out of the country and had been hit with a blizzard that overtook her fast. It was the largest blizzard yet that she was caught in the middle of. She had gone for country patrol and had forgotten that there was a warning for a raging snowstorm that day. Dressed in her normal attire, she was swiftly overtaken by the white snow. she was not sure what to do since there was nobody in sight that could offer her any help. She was so far from the village gates of Yukigakure and the neighboring towns that she couldn't possibly make her way to any of those places. The snow was not letting up any time soon. In fact it was just getting started. Staring at the skies, her body began to shiver and she was either going to risk freezing to death or she needed to find a shelter for herself fast. The only thing she could think of was a cave that she knew was around here standing.

She was going to have to hurry though. The snow on the ground was quickly increasing with every second that passed. It seemed as though the storm would rage overnight. Looking around her, her silver eyes would finally rest on what she knew was the opening to a cave. There was quite the walking distance from where she was situated to the cave. And so she would have to start walking. The snow was brushing up against her face, an annoying setback. But she would trudge through it since she knew that a little snow wasn't going to get in the way of her movements. She walked in the north direction, the wind blowing the snow harder on her face. This was one of the few times she hated snow; the other times being when she had to shovel it--which was every couple of days.

The walk just proved to be a little harder because of the falling snow and the fact that the existing snow had created black ice underneath the new layer of snow. She slipped and fell many times while traveling at a speed equal to that of a turtle. So much for quickness. The more time she spent wrestling her way through the storm, the more time she would waste out in the bitter cold. And it wasn't just the cold that was worrisome. The heavy snowfall had created much more of a problem than she had thought. Not only did it cloud her vision, but it also made walking in it a trial of its own. If she wanted to get to that cave before the real snow hit, she'd at least have to take two hours even though on a normal day it would take no more than fifteen minutes. The power of mother nature was so cruel at times.

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The snowstorm was raging still as she trudged along the terrain of the country towards what she knew would be a temporary shelter. She had been completely unprepared for what had come; which was the fact that she would be trapped in a storm with nothing but her not-so warm attire and her katana. Basically it would equate to having nothing at all. Battling against mother nature wasn't easy and she soon found that out. As a Yuki shinobi she should have known that it was one big mistake to not always be alert of possible blizzards. Nothing could be done to help the girl now, just that she needed to get to that cave before her muscles would tense up and she wouldn't be able to walk.

But she would then meet someone; someone that would later teach her everything she knew about cooking and food. This person was her culinary sensei but was also one of the cooking nin in Yuki. She had seen her around a few times but there was never any conversation. To meet with someone at any point in time was fate and it proved that this chance encounter would benefit her. She was still making her way through the mounds of snow when she heard a voice from behind. "It'll take you forever to get yourself to that cave!" She turned around and met the gaze of a beautiful girl.

She had light pink hair that was long and carefully pinned and braided. Her eyes were a warm gold color and she was slightly taller than Sayuri. She wore an overcoat with a hood laced with fur on the hems, collar and hood exterior. Her village headband was strapped tightly on her forehead. Sayuri recognized her immediately as a Genin. She had aspired to be like her, like an idol of sorts. It took a few moments before she realized she was rudely staring and apologized for her lack of respect. "Y-yes senpai!" she would reply. The pink haired girl walked up to her and took her by the arm.

Even though she was a bit shocked by the sudden gesture but didn't wrench free of her hold. She took her through the snow in the opposite direction. At first she didn't know why the girl was doing this and only blindly followed. She noticed that her movements were much faster than hers, in fact a little insanely fast even as she sped through the snowy grounds like it was dry land. At the time Sayuri hadn't learned Shunshin jutsu yet and had wondered how on earth someone could just walk so fast. She got her first experience of shunshin without actually forming the jutsu herself. With a few seconds they were already on the other side of where she had been trying to walk from. They reached a small town faster than the speed of light, at least in her point of view. 

But the importance did not lie in the shunshin jutsu. It lay instead on what they would do after getting to the town. This little town was the pink haired girl's home and she had taken her there not only to avoid the nasty storm that would continue to rage for hours on end. She took Sayuri into the little town, down the big street and turned right at the end of it to a side street. From there they walked about five stores down before she suddenly stopped in front of a store. It hadn't opened yet but she could tell that it was small restaurant. "Come on in. I want you to do me a favor." the girl would open the door for her for her to enter the restaurant.

 

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The inside of the restaurant was small and dainty. It gave Sayuri a very warm feeling. The red paper laterns hanging from the ceiling offered decoration and lighting at the same time. She saw that the sitting arrangements were set up in a way that allowed but single customers and large group customers. Since the restaurant was not yet open for business, there were no other customers nor staff except for the two girls. The girl motioned her to sit at the large bar table wuth high yet comfortable looking chairs which she knew replaced the uncomfortable stools found in most bar places or restaurants that had a licence to sell alcohol to it's customers. The girl would then disappear inside the employee only area for a few moments, leaving Sayuri there just sitting.

She looked at the restaurant in one quick flourish of a gaze, taking in the design and the feel of the place. Even if it had yet to open, she could tell that it would be a great hit. If only this restaurant could be opened in Yukigakure. The girl would reappear a few moments later with a complete change in outfit. A white uniform with silver buttons replaced the overcoat and a tall hat would be placed on her head. It was a chef uniform! She thought that it was weird how the girl had the keys to open the doors of a restaurant that hadn't even opened for business yet. She smiled at Sayuri's obvious look of surprise and bowed to her, giving a formal introduction. "Welcome to Ichiban Sushi. My name is Nakamura Reina and I am the apprentice chef as well as the daughter of the restaurant owner. Another shocked expression would adorn her face.

Wait, this place was her family's?! She couldn't believe her ears. She was shock for quite a long period of time before she finally found the manners to bow in return, giving her her name. She felt oddly belittled in front of Reina, which wasn't much of a surprise. She was just an academy student while Reina was an apprentice chef and also a cooking nin for Yukigakure. "The reason I took you here today is because of two reasons. One, it's because I swe you having a rather tough time in that blasting snow--" Reina trailed off her sentence and Sayuri raised an eyebrow as to what the second reason could be. "--and because I want you to help me by trying a few of my dishes." She was going to critique a chef's dishes?!

Noticing the surprised look on her face, Reina smiled. It seemed as though she had anticipated something along these lines to be the response she would get. "I've had a little chat with Akito-sensei." she explained. Akito-sensei was the cook Sayuri had bothered every day at the academy to let her sit and watch in the kitchen. He was also one of her academy class teachers. As a former academy student, the fact that Reina knew him wasn't as shocking. Akito-sensei was a very nice man and very patient, two key things for being a sensei and a cook. She nodded her head and Reina continued. "He told me you've been watching him cook in the academy kitchen. Don't worry, I did the same too when I was a student there." she winked. Another raise of an eyebrow. The fact that she had spent time watching sensei cook was unexpected. She went on to say that she really hoped she could give her honest opinion.

Because she had just started her job as a cooking nin and also as an aspiring apprentice chef, she needed all the opinions she could get from all around to tweak her dishes to perfection. Or at least as close as possible. Seeing the sincerity she displayed, Sayuri agreed to be a taste tester although she was still wondering why she had been chosen. Of course there was more to it than that. But for the moment she would agree since she did want to try Reina's cooking; to hopefully learn from her.  

 

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Content that she had agreed to be her guinea pig, she would get her apron ready and then throw an identical looking one at her. Catching it with a surprised look, she would look at Reina quizzically. The fact that she was her only customer here would make waiting in the sitting area for her food rather boring. And to that Sayuri agreed. "Besides, you want to learn cooking don't you? It's the reason why you learn from Akito-sensei, ne?" she added. And Sayuri nodded her head in complete agreement. She wanted to be a cooking nin one day, to aspire to be much more than just a shinobi. Food meant a lot to her and being able to cook delicious meals which made the people eating it happy was the most important to her. She really wanted to be one of the top cooking nins in Yuki no Kuni.

She followed Reina to the kitchen of the restaurant which was just beyond the bar and past a door. When she got there, her eyes would lighten up at the sight. All the appliances were literally glistening. They were new and untouched. The kitchen was very spacious allowing a lot of personnel enough room to work. There were four different stoves, a huge pantry at the back, two refrigerators, one massive grill and two large sinks. It was the largest kitchen she had ever seen. Reina allowed her some time to take in the room and smiled at her obvious liking of it. For some reason Sayuri gave her the feeling that she would one day be a good chef too. It was but a feeling yet a very strong one. "What do you think, Sayuri-chan?" Her expression probably said it all.

Reina would then walk towards the giant pantry, which had it's own room that had originally been part of the actual kitchen space. When her father had bought the restaurant, he made sure that there was a pantry in the kitchen that would store only the freshest of ingredients. It wasn't a problem that the kitchen space became technically smaller since the amount of staff wouldn't be too much anyhow. She would take out some pasta, tomatoes, mayonaise, cream, romain lettuce and onions from the pantry and then wander towards the refrigerator for the remaining ingredients she needed. From the fridge she would pick out some cheese, butter, a pack of bacon and some milk.

Then she would walk to the freezer which was standing next to the second fridge to take out a pack of steak. Placing rge ingredients on the table, she would then head over to her garnish section of the kitchen for garlic gloves, basil, salt and pepper. She had already prepared the necessary Caesar dressing that was for the salad in advance and was sitting in the second refridgerator. After everything was assembled, she would turn to Sayuri. "In the kitchen, the first and most important thing you have to remember is sanitization. You are preparing food for your customers and if you get lazy about sanitizing, they could probably end up with food poisoning." she nodded her head and Reina would go over to the sink and wash her hands. 

"The next thing you have to do is to make sure that you have a plan of what you want to cook." Another nod. "You see how I easily picked out the ingredients I need? That's because I've already generated the dish I want to make in my head." She warned her that there may be times where she would have to inspect the ingredients she had first before she could be able to come up with a dish. This was also important since she wouldn't want to have this concept of a dish she wanted to make but then find out the last minute that she didn't even have all the important ingredients to make it. She told her that she had made that error before while learning.