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IThey were closing in on Hi no Kuni territory within an hour. She could see the big countryland become bigger and bigger in view as their little boat made it's way to the dock. She felt a little awkward, the initial excitement from the last time she'd been there was long gone and now she was just finding it awkward. She wasn't a Hi no Kuni citizen though she could pass for one if she wanted to. She was also a little afraid on the inside stepping onto a land she knew very little about. Her brief stay of five days before already gave her two enemies: one who picked a fight with her and one who she picked a fight with. If she were to stay here any longer, she may just make an entire country of enemies. She was going to stay in the forest like she did before. Only in the forest was she the most comfortable. 

The boat neared the dock of the country and Ren did the usual tying again. He also helped her off the boat and onto the dock. "Arigatou gozaimasu." she thanked and bowed to him. It seemed like he has another customer waiting for him at another country and so he didn't stay long. He bid her farewell, told her to take care of herself and not get into too many fights before he rowed the boat out to the ocean. She stood there and watched his figure slowly become smaller and smaller as he moved further away. She knew she would be seeing him again very soon. Smiling a little, she began to walk away from the dock edging closer to the forest in Hi no Kuni. She could see from an outside view that the forestland was huge which was expected from the biggest shinobi nation. Though she knew she wouldn't want to live here. 

It was midday when she arrived in the country. She saw that many more people were out walking around. She avoided the glances of the people. Her white silverish hair was an odd color and attracted much of the attention she received. Other than that nobody really questioned who she was or what she was doing here on someone else's land. Before she walked into the forest she stopped and looked around. The Hyuuga she fought earlier in the forest told her that she was near a hidden village. Though curious as to where the village, she wasn't going to try to find it during the day.

Heading once more to the forest, she knew that the sun was about to set soon meaning she didn't have too long left in the day to read her diary. She was probably going to have to leave the diary for tomorrow. She was getting tired anyhow and wanted to rest. Boat trips really made her a little more tired than normal days. Clutching her diary close to her, she walked deep into the group of trees, almost like completely disappearing amongst the trees completely. The silence the forests usually offered made it a luxury to be there. Even if she didn't get to sightsee much, she didn't mind. She figured one day when she had less on her mind she would be able to. But not at this time though.

She found the pond she'd been training at for the five days she'd been in Hi no Kuni. It had become a landmark for her and she was more than happy to find herself facing the clear water again. She knew that she wouldn't be training here anymore as it wasn't her place to use up resources as an intruder. She had also made up her mind to leave this country in a couple of days. She only wanted to have the chance to stay there a little longer so that she could finish reading her diary and because she really had no place else to go. She wondered if she was going to find her next place of travel in her diary. 

She wasn't looking for an argument but an outlet. So she treated what Ren said with a grain of salt. He was right on some levels. It was always better to focus on the present and the future instead of getting so worked up over the past. But he wouldn't understand the difficulties behind doing that. It was easier said than done and he wasn't in the same kind of cicumstance as she was. She treated her past with value because she doesn't have it but if she were to have it all along, she was certain she would take it for granted. Humans were weird; realizing the importance of something only when lost. And hers was even voluntary loss. Things were just so unpredictable.

She looked around at the area they were now in and found with some amazement that the sun had gone down. They had been talking for such a long time that she'd almost completely forgotten she was on a boat. Talking also helped relieve the tension she had from wanting to open the diary that was still in her hands. She had been so tempted but respected the wish of her guardian. The chilling air was little comfort to her when she finally took in the temperature drop too. Being a Yukina should mean that she was immune to coldness but she had been far from any sort of coldness for almost two years now. Any immunity was starting to fade, little by little. It wasn't as bad as it was the first time she traveled on this boat at night. She thought she would seriously end up with hypothermia.

"How 'bout you tell me 'bout your visit to Hi no Kuni?" He'd been meaning to ask for some time now. He'd only been at the docks of the country either picking up or dropping off his customers. His job didn't let him have much time to sightsee. He was all about getting his name out there because he needed more customers and more ryo. Thinking that she had explored the place high and low, at least she could give him an punt so that he could picture in his mind what sort of things there were of interest at Hi no Kuni. Her response was both astonishing and disappointing as he was told she never went anywhere except the country's forest area. There was nothing special about the forest! And she knew that too in the back of her mind. But she felt safest there. "What 'bout the people you met then?"

So she told him first about the Genin she met on the first night of arrival to Hi no Kuni. She hadn't expected a fight and during her recount of the events she made certain to leave out the parts about how she went all crazy on the poor kid. He didn't need to know that she had a hidden insane side that only was shown if when she was in battle. It was like somebody else would possess her but know all the jutsus she's learned. It was relatively creepy and supernatural how it worked. At first even she couldn't believe that she changed into someone do coldblooded and heartless after the fight. She just didn't seem the type to her. But in the coming days she would learn that she didn't really know herself as well as she thought she did. Namely the part about insanity only coming into play during battles.

Then she told him about the he/she Hyuuga she met two days after. She took the time to ask Ren about the Hyuuga Clan and if he knew anything about them. He did know quite a bit about it since one of his best friends and frequented customers was a Konoha Genin and always told him stuff about clans. He told her that the Hyuuga had the kekkei touta of the Byakugan and a unique fighting style made just for the clan and by it's ancestors. She was told that they specialized in Taijutsu especially in close range combat. The Byakugan was given the name of The All Seeing Eyes. She shuddered at the thought of that he/she Hyuuga she met and fought with. That person was enough for her to not want to fight another Hyuuga ever again. She wasn't used to Taijutsu masters and certainly not ones with such weird looming eyes.

It wouldn't be until they reached the quarter mark of the journey back to Hi no Kuni that the silence was finally broken. The silence broke with Ren asking her her hobbies and such, trying to get her to relax and not think about things that may make her mad or sad. But she wasn't the type of person to just let things drop so easily. She looked at him for a moment, not answering the series of questions that he had proposed to her. It was one of those looks that made people shit in their seats with discomfort. In her mind she was processing what so many people had said about her since she lost her memory. There were hardly any good things said.

"The only thing I remember was when I met my guardian one day a year ago." she began. She stopped staring at him and instead was staring at the clear blue water. It seemed like she was talking more to herself than to Ren. "It just seemed like I woke up one morning and I was in that little town. I didn't remember anything from before. Where I came from--What my name is--Who my parents are--they're all a mystery to me. Hee voice was sweet and melodic; one of the rare times she spoke in such a way. She was usually gruff to people she talked to. But that was her insane side at work. Right then she was perfectly fine. She stared at the water's movement and then was quiet again, letting Ren take in the information he just heard.

So she was really hit with a case of amnesia? He'd never had anyone he personally know lose any part of their memory but he'd heard of it. Looking at her he was suddenly sympathetic to her circumstance. It must be tough living without a past, or a past that she didn't choose to forget. It was hard enough living in these trying times. "The old man musta help ya plenty. He's such a nice fella, y'know." Her guardian wasn't just a nice man. He was caring, protective, knowledgeable and had the world's biggest patience especially with teaching her. She was basically just like an academy student with no background left in her memory of a shinobi. She knew he had wasted a lot of energy and breath trying to get her back up to the level he assumed she was at before amnesia played it's game. 

And she had done just that. She had tried as hard as she could, worked and pushed far to retrain herself back to a level that was at least recommended for Genins. She still couldn't recall any memory of her life in Yukigakure no Sato but she at least knew what she was looking at in terms of her clan jutsus and the other Taijutsus he taught her. He also explained some of the basic concepts of the shinobi world, what made things so different between a shinobi and a citizen. It wasn't just a job. It was a vicious path. She realized that there was much more to a shinobi then a headband with a village symbol and some jutsus. It was all credit to her sensei.

"You know about the war that took place right?" This question called her back to reality. She nodded her head. her guardian told her that a war had happened not too long ago and after the war many of the smaller villages had been destroyed. He had a hunch she belonged to one of these lesser villages based on her headband and kekkei touta. It was also because he didn't know the village symbol of the headband since during his time as an active shinobi he was only concerned with the five great shinobi nations. She was now hoping to find out more about these lesser villages; what they were like pre-war, if there were any survivors from those villages left. That was one of the core missions behind her journey now. She was looking for concrete answers, not hypothesis and pure guesswork.

She put a hand on her guardian's hands and patted him. She understood and she wasn't just saying that either. The fact that he had hid the diary from her in the first place was out of worry for her and out of security for her wellbeing. She wasn't mad at him at all. She smiled at him, giving him the warmest smile she'd ever given since she had landed in the town. "It's alright sensei. I understand. I really do." She moved towards the table where he put the leather diary on and ran a hand gently over the cover of the book. She was half hoping that running a hand through an object that she hadn't seen in a long time that belonged to her might trigger some of her memory to come back. But nothing came from the gesture and she ended up just picking the book off the table, clutching it firmly in her hands.

She was about to open the latch on the diary to examine more carefully its contents when her guardian stopped her. He wanted her to wait until she got back to wherever she was before she opened it. That meant that she had to wait until she was back in Hi no Kuni. Another day and a half of anticipation and it was going to kill her. But she respected her guardian and nodded her head. She was an obedient child never going against the orders of her elders. At least parts of her original personality traits hadn't been lost with her memory. If she was only left with her traits that she had developed over that year, she was not going to make it too far anywhere before she ended up dead. Her guardian would give her a couple of rice cakes to take with her on her journey and tell her that she needn't worry about him while she quested for her memory.

Thanking him and bidding him farewell with a warm hug, she was off again. She passed the pastures and harvesting areas and was headed down to the little town square again. By now it was alright broad day, somewhere between late morning and early afternoon. She realized she hadn't eaten all day. Passing a stand that just opened, she bought five orders of cakes, ones with green onion in them and hurried to the docks. She knew that Ren would still be waiting for her there and she was right. He was waiting for her by the dock, sitting on the dock rather than his boat. It was certainly safer in this small town than in Hi no Kuni as anyone would treat you as someone with ill-intentions. She smiled at him a little and was once more helped onto the boat.

"Here, have some cakes! I realized I was hungry and figured I'd buy enough for both of us!" She was getting more and more friendly with the boatman. That wasn't a bad thing since she will probably need his services moreso in the later days to come if she chose to travel to the other four great shinobi nations. So they sat at the dock of the small town and ate their lunches quickly. Ren certainly needed to eat more because he was the one doing all the paddling during the day and sometimes even at night. She felt that their relationship had went from being acquaintance to being friend and now to being closer friends. She guessed it was alright since he meant no harm.

"So should we get goin' then, lass? She was amused that he still wouldn't call her Snowie. She guessed that it was too much of a child and girly nickname for any grown man with muscles to want to call even though it was her name--sort of. She took the last bite of cake and washed it all down with some water from the water cartridge Ren carried on the boat and nodded her head. She was actually very eager to get back to Hi no Kuni. She didn't miss the place at all since she met nobody worth her remembering any way since she'd been there. But she wanted to learn the contents of the black diary.

;; day five

She was out on the docks now and it was getting dark here in Hi no Kuni. The boatman who had brought her here was on his boat waiting for her. She was a little surprised to see him wait. He seemed like the type that had a lot of customers would request; a nice guy who was also a good friend. But there he was sitting there with his eyes scanning the dock when she was within seeing distance of him. He looked relaxed with one knee up and chewing a piece of gum. But he couldn't have possibly known that she would come out of the forest during that time. She walked along the dock passing the other boats that were parked there and headed over to him. When he saw her approach he stood up on his boat.

He smiled at her; showing his insanely white teeth that was even more white contrasting the darkness of the night. The night air held a soft breeze and it blew gently on her face. She liked this kind of weather; neither hot nor cold. Just right. He waved at her and she returned a smile. When she was almost two feet away from the boat, he jumped onto the dock. "Ya out late tonight, lass. she nodded. "Havent gotten yaself in any trouble have ya?" she shook her head. She didn't count the Genin that she purposely dislocated a shoulder and that Hyuuga she fought. No, she didn't get herself into any trouble at all. But he saw through her little fib and frowned. There was no physical bruising or at least not from what he could see in this rather dark night. 

"Ren, what're you doing here? Don't you have customers?" He chuckled at her questions and pointed a finger at her nose. "Ain't ya one o' my customers?" That much was true. Her guardian bestowed his trust in this boatman in taking her to different places to find her lost memories. "I went back to the old man n he says he's got a diary thing he wanted to give ya. But I forgot to bring it." Ah so that was his reason for being here. A diary?She never kept a diary and didn't know of one that she had had one before she got to the little town. 

"You want me to go with you then?" his smile gave it away rubbing the back of his head. And he chose perfect time too. It was dark out so patrol was a little more lax than broad daylight. She sighed and stepped onto the boat. She was curious about this diary. She had lived with her guardian for a full year but never heard or seen any mention of a diary. He couldn't have just remembered, could he? She sat on the bench of the boat, looking at the now black colored water with light reflections from the sky. He got onto the boat too and was removing the rope that tied the boat to the dock. It was another long ride.

"Let's go! He picked up the paddles and started to steer the boat away from the docks of Hi no Kuni. She planned on coming back to this place and probably hang out in the forest again. She listened to the paddle dipping into the paddle. It was rythmic and was the only sound that could be heard. She expected that this trip was going to take at least a day and a half like the last time. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was so confused; all came so quickly that she didn't have the chance to give a proper response.