rumor has it [p]

[Ronno]

The rice paper wall behind me and in front of me were bleak. the soft peach color was nice and pleasing to the eye and went with the soft maple wood frame. I had seated myself so that to my left were other patrons of the tea house and to my right was the open street. The sky was dark and it appeared as if rain was soon to come. Hopefully it wouldn't spoil my evening. This would be the first day back from my deployment within the heart of Kaminari no Kuni. I rested my hands on the cheery wood table in front of me that measured roughly four feet long and three feet wide.

I waited for my dining partner to come join me. He wasn't late yet but the hour was dwindling. I don't like to be kept waiting but at the same time I know a young mind can sometimes find more interesting things to do than be occupied by family. I noticed that people were walking a bit faster than usual in the busy street. I thought of getting from my seat but decided that wasn't necessary. I am not highly curious by nature. Yotsuki-ojousama. Just then my eyes opened and my heart skipped. I glanced to my left and a group of elderly women had come by my table. As I quickly glanced over them all, three in total, they took deep bows. This sight was strange and most unusual. I am not used to being held in such high regard. They asked about my small adventures, and my family of course, before leaving and giving another deep bow. I wanted to get up and show respect back, but my body wouldn't allow it. I had froze.

Rain was a good sign, or rather that is the idea thrust upon the clan I am from. The calming sound of the rain is what all the children of my family loved. I am not like most of the children of my family. Like my mother, I much preferred the crackling sound of the storm. The relentless sounding crack would make all the hairs on my arms stand up. Remembering the look on my mothers face, The waiter brought me my tea. Awakened from my small moment of nostalgia, i gave a quick nod as he slowly drifted back behind the corner and out of site. I looked outward toward the open street.

The pouring rain drove the denizens of Kumogakure into their homes and apartments. The usually crowded street in the most affluent part of Kumogakure is now bare. I watched - starred rather at the last of the women I saw earlier, enter into the courtyard through a large gate. Our eyes met again. Her graying hair caught some of the last remaining light from the overcast sun. One could tell she was once an overtly beautiful women - one now that had every wrinkle that time allowed. I initiated a small bow; seeping my head and breaking eye contact, holding the gesture for a few seconds before meeting her eyes again. In deed they did meet her shimmering blue eyes meet my dark oculars. She was smiling, not showing her teeth but smile was wide and conveyed warmth. I pursed my lips slightly and grabbed for my tea.

My two hands that had been resting on the cherry wooden table in front of me, now claimed the small, charcoal glazed porcelain tea cup. I took the tea cup to my lips, and I turned my upper body to my left, out of the line of sight of the old matron. I was an elder child of the clan. Certainly the oldest daughter - I was taught about manners as soon as I could take in information. I slowly sipped the tea and then returned to my regular sitting position. I glanced over to the gate where the women had been standing, but she was gone. I should have expected as much. I couldn't be eating up all her time, especially since it is raining.

[Yoshie - Chan]

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Cascading upon my body was the beginning signs of rain waters drizzling from the skies. Weird -- was the only word to describe my feelings of the rain. It wasn't something particularly enjoyable to me, for suiton wasn't an elemental ability I possessed nor understood. It perplexed me how livid my family became over such a trivial sort of climate change. People were running by me trying to enter their domiciles with haste thanks to this shift in weather which was already forecast. A soft chill went along my body as I remember Onee-san needed to meet me for a cup of tea.

Accelerating my footsteps to my top speed was the only remedy to such a painful predicament of being late. I mean I didn't really wish to sit down with her because of the usual stoic appearance solemnly steeled into her facial features. Feelings of sadness always came about whenever she did that -- this was the case every time. Was she thinking something or did she know something I didn't was all that surrounded my thoughts. My speeding along brought into my vision the Tachibanigane Tea House, our families usual get togethers were held there.

I tried stopping but the rain had grown twofold in the slight time I traversed kumogakure no sato. If it hadn't been for the umbrella upon my person -- my traditional kimono would have been destroyed completely. This was another reason I had an adverse reaction to the offending suiton element -- it made me feel different to not have mothers favorite elemental affinity. I had her fuuton but the winds weren't strong enough to wash away all of the water surrounding my very person.

My thought and focus was shifted to my task at hand once reaching the specified place in question. "Nee - san. I'm sorry that I'm late I had to meet someone dear to me." I slowed my speed to merely singular steps towards the table in question. We were royalty in the highest regard, yet such a thing as that never really hit me inside nor did I ever want it to. I wasn't the snobbish type and I vow to never become such a snobbish bastard either. It took a little manuevering to kneel down and sit upon the opposing side of my sister. " Ahh -- is that oolong tea or byaku tea?"
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[Ronno]

He entered in with a smile on his face. Why is he so cheerful all the time? Rather what could be fixated on his mind all the time to make him so cheery? Maybe that is what children are supposed to appear like. My childhood was filled with hardship and strife, luckily he never had to face such things. Although we are siblings and share in the birth rights of the clan we couldn't be any more different. We have conflicting personalities and different view points on almost everything, or so I think. His blond hair stopped bouncing as soon as he entered the tea house. "Nee - san. I'm sorry that I'm late I had to meet someone dear to me." Someone dear to him. This is interesting. Just how much did I miss. "It's quite alright."

I'll hold up on grilling Aisuru. I'm sure he doesn't want me prodding information out of him as soon as I see him. I'm not mother. I began pouring tea into the empty cup sitting across from me. The liquid flooded out and quickly filled the basin. I watched in silence as my younger brother sat down across from me. Funny though he didn't bow his head or say polite words to me upon joining me at the table. Why did those women do it and not my brother. " Ahh -- is that oolong tea or byaku tea?" I looked at him semi-strangely as he asked me a question. His voice seems so different from the last time I was around. How quickly three months have passed.

You know I don't have a very good sense of taste, but I ordered oolong. I said rather quickly avoiding eye contact and sipping at the bland tea. I would much rather not talk about my faults. "I hope you prefer oolong." I said shortly while making eye contact. "How has the family been while I have been away on business. I have yet to make an audience with father. You wouldn't believe how some women addressed me earlier. They used such an honorific to make mother die from being overly humble."

I said all these things with a stoic appearance. There wasn't a wrinkle around m nose or a crease on my forehead. My skin was flawless and recently tanned. My kimono, newly minted and made of fine silk, was orange and green. An odd color actually but a combination I knew father adored. I wanted to look my best before I saw my creator.

[Yoshie - Chan]

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"You know I don't have a very good sense of taste, but I ordered oolong." Oolong tea was horribly bitter to my tongue -- I hated it with a passion, but I couldn't tell her that. I broke eye - contact only for a moment as a waitress had brought over the cup. The oolong tea came in a similar package as my nee - san's, a porcelain cup of what seemed to be of Hidetoshi design. "no nee - san. I enjoy such drinks of tea" I always waited listening contently to my nee - sans usually musing of the state of affairs home.

"We are considered Royalty now -- this is all thanks to fathers new connections." I sipped gingerly, before continuing my retort. "Also things at home have gotten better within the new mansion - especially with nii - san and mother." I didn't really like talking about mother because we weren't talking at the moment. She had gotten mad at me for falling out of line with the family thanks to not becoming a businessman like father. My gaze shifted, downwards, into the oolong tea as I thought of how sad it made me to not have my decisions accepted by mother. I wanted to become a ninja like Nee - san, yet she thought I was too young, and would die from some stupidly painful mission.

I shifted my gaze towards nee - san. "Me and Mother aren't really speaking with each other right now." Smiling was the way I relieved my need for newer expressions, and I tilted my head back fast swiping strands of strawberry blond from my face. I hated not showing enough emotion when troubling things plagued my thought process. It had just hit me that I showed little class when greeting my nee - san, yet another thing mother hated about me. I was just a bag full of bad habits that no one wanted to deal with, and it hurt a little inside.

I put my tea down, before straightening out my hair, and then my kimono to make it look correct. I hated wearing it, but the so called beauty I had made even men say such embarrassingly horrible pick up lines to me. I swear mother has a " polite words " fetish, because she would always dress me up like a proper little prince just for those. I guess when I go on my first mission in a few weeks I'll finally be seen as a shinobi and not something to be looked at.
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[thefella]

Yotsuke Saruoji. Considered by many to be a useless buffoon lucky enough to blunder his way into a meaningless existence as the first born son of the Yotsuke family. He doesn't really seem to actually do anything, or rather he's never seen doing anything productive. He's been known to distract the public from the power his parents were quickly gaining with his rather outlandish and often 'childish' antics. Yes, to most of Kaminari no Kuni's population he was little more than a child in a man's body. But Saru knew that he was far more than they could ever hope to comprehend. In fact, he had had more top secret jobs in his still young life than the kage had official jobs.

The rain fell to Saru's glee, despite being withdrawn beneath an umbrella before the rain had even begun. He had in fact taken his umbrella out five minutes before hand tipping it far forward and down to shield his face from what he had spied was his brother. He had been following him for some short time in the rain when suddenly the metronome of falling steps sped up to a brisk walk.

"Hmm, now where would nii-san be running off to in such a hurry? Mother better not be pushing his curfew to an even earlier time. Or have you found a "friend" oni-san? Either way your secrets will be mine. It's time for another top secret job..."


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Saruoji succeeded in pursuing his brother through town concealed by the seemingly clever use of an umbrella if not for the ridiculous length of his blonde hair. His brother had then entered Tachibanigane Tea House, the very same location of many of their family meetings. But Oni had gone in alone, and the trail stopped. Now Saru stood outside beneath his large umbrella while raking his free hand through his hair slowly and thoughtfully. On the one hand, this was usually a place of merriment and celebrations great and small for the family. But with only Oni here, things seemed much more shadey and mysterious to Saru. Even though they weren't.

"God damn it Oni-san, if you get in trouble and mom finds out I was standing outside doing nothing..." he mumbled frustratedly to himself as he pulled his hand from his hair and opened the door. Stepping through the doorway he quickly shifted out of his overcoat folding it and handing it over to the hostess along with his umbrella. A short query of whispers between the two soon lead to the young lady flashing a brief smile at the goofy blonde before pointing out the table where his two siblings sat.

He approached silently from behind his younger brother but motioned with a finger to his lips for his sister to stay quiet. Silently he stepped right behind his brother's chair and crooked his fingers taking hold Aisuru's shoulders in his hands and saying in a hauntingly accurate impression of their mother's voice, "Well maybe if you went to a proper school you wouldn't keep me up all hours of the night worrying about you just like we did with your sister!"

[Ronno]

Knowing beforehand that we were, as my younger brother noted, in the upper echelons of Kumogakure society was something my grandmother wanted for her daughter above all else. With that being said, she disapproved morally of my father’s business ethics. My mother’s mother told me once that our family would be doomed to an eternity of hardship and strife if we didn't change. My father, at the time of this encounter with my Obaasan was doing a lot of back room deals with his older brother. It was only until my father’s business acquaintances wanted to collect on the money they were owed that my father changed.

My father’s generation built the clan up to an impressive all time high twice. I was quite unusual for my brother to use such words though. Royalty. Hopefully he doesn't find snobbery in his youth. ”This is news.” I said with the tea cup covering my mouth. I made eye contact with Aisuru before taking a sip. I listened to his small complaint about mother. It was understandable; our mother played an import role in shaping us as we were younger. Now that he has reached a point in his life where he will start choosing his next step, mother will try even harder to dig her claws in.

I remember when my mother and grandmother on my father’s side tried to betroth me to my cousin when I was only fourteen. Although a long standing tradition in our culture – I didn't see a need for it in my youth. I am more comfortable with tradition now than when I was younger. I have always been the person I am today but when I was a junior, I had a few quirky bad tendencies. ”Mother will not be happy until she dominates every aspect of Kaminari no Kuni.” I said with a soft smile on my face. Surprisingly I am quite beautiful when I don’t clench every muscle in my face. My natural smile has broken many young hearts.

While smiling, I noticed the middle child of the Yotsuki clan come in the room. He put his pointer finger to his lips and motioned me to remain quiet. I did so, although as to why I have no idea. I disliked practical jokes. They didn't excite me as much as the theater or kabuki does. After acknowledging Saruoji’s prank, I called over a hostess and asked for another cup for Saruoji. ”more oolong Aisuru?”

[Yoshie - Chan]

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"Well maybe if you went to a proper school you wouldn't keep me up all hours of the night worrying about you just like we did with your sister!"

I nearly shrieked, as my body jolted upwards a little with his touch."Saru! I can't believe you got me again, so don't worry I'll get you back!" My body, shook with small fits of giggle spasms thanks to the joke in question. I could barely hold my cup of tea so with all the care my laughter allowed I put it slowly onto the table. "I regretfully decline your offer for more oolong tea, nee-san." I waved my hand, as a slight gesture of no towards my sister, and the waitress. I hated the bitter taste which still hung there adamant within my mouth to never leave again.

"I know mother -- but she is wrong about this one. I will become a glorious ninja." Her telling me about mother was weird in the truth about it. She was my father's equal within having an iron fist, but I also found her to be a hypocrite since she and my father were also shinobi. There might was unrivaled, and the love shared was more flamboyant then anything else when they were together. I grew rose colored within my cheeks as I realized they were the inspiration for my umm "appetite" for the beautiful type of delicacies. My vision shifted from my sister and on towards Saru. "I can't believe you left sister at home with the maids. I kinda feel bad now -- everyone but our servants might wanna pay raise now."

I laughed in reminiscence of my father, because something like that would be what he says. Reaching down again -- I picked up. It was my small glass of tea - I still had a smile upon my facial features it always seemed an infection of mine to smile all the time, because of the pure happiness I felt inside. I didn't wanna ponder such things because lets face it I'm not a really deep thinker in any sense of the words. I barely kept my attention at the table with my brother and sister surrounding myself. The main thought which pursed my minds is -- how long until this dinner was over, and my sister suppose to be sent away again. I hated her being gone. . . but maybe when I'm a shinobi we can be around together.
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[thefella]

"You can't? That's strange, it strikes me exactly like something I would do when you really think about it." Saru patted his brother's shoulder fondly while chuckling with amusement for a moment before moving for a vacant seat at the table. "Well," he began while pulling his hair out from behind his back before bringing it forward past his shoulders. "You can look Mother in the eye and deny her something she wants and live. I'd say being a ninja is actually a step down as far as danger goes." He grinned at his siblings taking the offered cup of tea and gripped it's rim gently with his finger tips and sloshed the liquid around gently in the cup more for 'theatrics.' "Now to be fair, I've not actually gotten around to any actual ninja work since my own graduation, all those years ago." He explained mumbling fast past the last four words to avoid any importance one could draw from time. It was all relative anyway wasn't it? "But, I think even our dear Ane would agree that mother... is on a different level of danger than most field work."

His smug smile disappeared behind the cup as he drew a long pull from the contents. It was a brief moment of silence before he set the cup down and turned suddenly and rather exaggeratedly towards his sister spouting, "What the hell is the matter with you by the way Ane?! You don't write or send word. You wash up in town and even then you don't get a hold of me to let me come and see you?" He swung his arm over his shoulder gesturing at Aisuru with his thumb, "Instead you just come to see him?... Ok, actually I can understand that. Aisuru tends to get along with everyone. But still! You didn't even want to see me?"

Saru threw himself back in his seat exhausted and displeased after having followed his own train of thought out loud for everyone. Again the cup rose to his lips and he took a meager sip. It was bitter, but Saru had the far worse taste of disgruntlement in his mouth for tea to make it any worse. No, being ignored by Oneesan was far more reason to be upset, or so Saru reasoned.