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sunset
{Forty-Five Minutes into Battle}

By now beads of sweat were starting to form on her forehead and down her back. It was getting hot. She wanted to end the battle quickly. There was still fifteen minutes out of the allotted hour. She was going to try and make this end as painless and as nice as possible. He had his fine share of her insane side that would probably leave him scarred for a couple of days. If he needed any more scarring he could just come and find her some time. But she was getting tired herself. After this battle she was going to take a little nap of sorts. She was going to finish him. Most importantly she was going to try out her last experiment. She wasn't looking to impose anymore injuries on the boy unless he manages to freeze up and just let himself get hurt. Then it wouldn't be her fault. She was trespassing and she was already thinking of killing a shinobi. That thought brought a smile. She turned her attention back to the boy who was inspecting his shuriken injury. The cut wasn't deep but it must hurt. "Are we done now?" Didn't she just say that there was still fifteen minutes? Maybe she was hallucinating.

Instead of giving him a straight answer of yes or no, she showed him the answer. In case he was a visual learner. She reached into her weapon pocket again and took out three shuriken and began running. She wasn't running at the boy though. She was running to her left to the place where she had left her sword. Somehow she needed her sword in her hand to feel secure. Her sword was her one and only partner for now and she treasured it like her life. It wasn't a long run before she got to where her sword lay. Picking it up with quick speed she turned on the balls of her feet and charged this time at the boy. She wasn't allowing him much rest time. She ran at him, sword in her right hand and shuriken tucked away in her left. She was going to try a different combination this time. Long range and then short. The last time it was short and then long so the most normal thing to do was reverse the order. She hoped that he wouldn't freeze up because freezing was just out of the question for combination attacks.

She stopped advancing at about two feet away from him raising her left hand. She needed accuracy and a stable hand for this to work. Her eyes were already locked on his right side again. She just wanted to see if she could do this. If she couldn't she'd be doing him a favor by not letting him be more injured but if she did--She needed a moment to have the courage to release the shuriken from her hand. That was where she failed. Nobody would ever stop for any amount of time to make calculations giving the opponent the chance to make an escape. She hadn't accounted for that. Her moment's delay cost her the accuracy bit since he caught on the fact that she was going to throw shurikens at his face. He just ran to his left. Since her hand was already poised at that angle, it was near impossible to flicker her hand to the left suddenly especially her left hand. If it were her right, she may still have a chance. Her shuriken landed on a tree trunk which was behind where the boy was standing. At least the accuracy was there, the speed not so much. There was definitely work there to be done.

But her attack wasn't done. As soon as she saw that her shuriken went crashing into a tree trunk she raised her right hand and went for the boy again. With her right hand she had complete utter control and mastery. She made a uppercut motion with her arm and the blade went upward from down below. That was a new attack for her to do. She was reaching for a lot of first times with this battle. The tip of her blade connected with his clothing tearing it a little at the center. Her attack hadn't been strong enough which was normal for her. She had already anticipated that the attack wasn't going to be as strong as the others. She was getting tired and wanted to end the battle with a relatively good note. She knew that the boy must be really scared of her by now since his eyes had widened again when she brought her blade upward. She wasn't out to take out any major internal organs or she would have gone for his chest or his very private reproductive organ. She was being nice; exceptionally nice that she was starting to hate it. She leaped back from her attack, her blade pointing to the ground indicating that she was not going to spar anymore. It was a good run and he did a good job. Then she realized she really hadn't answered his question. "Now we're done, kid. Thanks for being my target practice." she grinned at him and she thought he saw him shiver.

It was good that someone was scared of her. She made her first enemy/victim in Hi no Kuni after being here for not even an hour. It felt strangely nice that she did. Though what didn't feel nice was that he was younger than him and wasn't really at her level. If she had just gone for pure skill and not training she was sure he would die under her hands especially that moment when he was rooted to the ground. She could have killed him. But today was training and no killing. She walked past him, patting him on the shoulder before walking deeper into the forest. Her name would be remembered for a long time in that boy's head.

sunset
{Twenty Minutes into Battle}

"What do you want from me?" Even his voice was trembling. That was no good. She only wanted to play a little with him and he turned out to crap his pants. She actually felt empathetic; a very rare emotion. But she dismissed it. She couldn't let him see her weak like that. "You're the one who wanted to fight!" she reminded him. She tried to be more playful with her words because she didn't need a boy that would die of a nervous breakdown. "Only twenty minutes have passed and I said an hour. I won't leave you alone until the hour is up." she told him with a playful grin. Now she was purely playing her cards based on psychology. If she wasn't scary enough based on pure looks alone she certainly made up with her twisted psychology games. It was one of those hidden reasons why she timed her battles. She always left a little extra time for fun and games that involved some form of torture. Either she was going for the mind or for the body. Since she had let him off the hook with his body; time to play some mind games.

Seems like it was going to work earlier and better than expected too. "I surrender, alright?" No not alright she thought. She gave him an innocent little grins; those creepy little things that were so innocent that anyone could tell was fake. Underneath the innocent look was the real look of she didn't give a damn about what he said. He fell into her trap and she wasn't going to let him out without him begging for mercy. She spared his life but she never spared his mind. Little kids were fun to toy with using mind games. She was going to make him feel so overwhelmed that he literally crapped his pants. That was her entertainment. Too bad she was being so soft on him. But she was going to make it up right now. "Be happy I'm sparing your life kid or else I would have took it five minutes ago. So let's not waste anymore time here." Before she even finished that sentence she leaped forward, her blade pointing at his chest while she ran. His eyes widened and he froze. That wasn't fun. She was just going to have to make him move. The pointy part of her blade was aiming directly at his chest when she came very close to him. The blade was a like two millimeters from piercing through his clothing fabric. He couldn't move. His legs were pinned to the ground beneath him. He closed his eyes like he was anticipating her to drive the sword into his chest killing him.

At least put up more of a fight! Now she was getting edgy. When she was edgy she was unleashing another part of her insanity. She retracted her sword and then took hold of his right arm carrying his sword. She pushed the sword from his hand and then twisted his arm. With her body weight on him she was going to dislocate his shoulder. He let her do whatever she wanted. Was he a masochist? That bugged her too. She was giving him an opportunity to strike back at her and he's just standing there. She twisted his arm far back and with a push up heard the crack of dislocation. Tears swelled in his eyes. Dislocation was painful for a kid. "That's your little punishment for ignoring me. Now come at me with full strength. I'm not going to kill you." She then readjusted the dislocation and that part really hurt. A manly tear escaped and rolled down his cheek. "Aww I made you cry! She hadn't meant to sound pitiful or sympathetic at all. But the part about not hurting him was true. She just wanted a spar; a first spar in Hi no Kuni that she'd never forget. Battling this kid was certainly not going to achieve that but she was going to have fun. Every battle was fun to her or she made it fun even at the expense of her opponent. She shouldn't do that to a poor kid but a kid who had the guts to challenge her deserved every bit he got. She was already being lax on him. Seeming to have finally got his act together he picked up his blade and there was the first flare of anger in his eyes.

That's what she was looking for. She was going to have to be quick. When people were angry they would go all out on their opponent. He charged at her katana raised. He was definitely angry more like hating her. Maybe she went a little overboard with the playing bit. But she hadn't even started on the mind games yet. That could always wait. She readied herself for whatever he threw at her. And he actually threw something at her. A close look would be a three shuriken. Those things came at quite the speed but she was ready for that too. she didn't know what thing was being thrown at her but she knew something was so she was already ready to deflect or dodge. This was better to dodge than to deflect because she didn't have time to raise her blade to deflect. She jumped sideways narrowly escaping the shuriken. But he wasn't going to let her rest. She noticed that he slashed at her while she avoided the shuriken. Combo attack. That was certainly not expected. She let his sword hit her in the left shoulder. It wasn't her dominant arm and wouldn't impair much. The cut certainly stung because he was going at her with almost all his strength. It was getting interesting finally. It was a good thing that they were just using swords right now since she needed sharpening in her sword skills. She hadn't had a spar in a long time and needed someone to test on.

Apparently it hadn't gotten too rusty thankfully. He saw that he was beginning to pick up speed and he was already smiling at his own triumphs. He was already happy that he managed to cut her. This battle was going to be very interesting in the next half hour. Hopefully she could have that battle she would never be able to forget. Her evil grin widened and she clapped her hands in a childish manner. "Good job, boy!"

mid-afternoon

He pulled out a map to look at while they floated a bit in mid-sea. It was nice being out here; the sun was warming her skin, the gentle breeze giving her a feeling of a vacation. She loved the sea, loved being surrounded by water. The smell of the water hitting her nostrils seemed to trigger something; a vivid memory from her past maybe. She put a hand to her head. It was starting to hurt as flashes of white began to come up in her head. Her vision was starting to blur too. She couldn't make out anything in her mind except that there was a lot of white. Nothing solid came from that. Noticing that she was having some trouble, Ren was concerned. She was seasick maybe? ”Hey lass, y'ok?” No was the intuitive answer but she nodded, her hand slowly brought down from her head. It came and went so sudden and it was frustrating that she couldn't make out anything useful at all. But she just sat there and closed her eyes, taking deep and slow breaths. She's always had that sort of experience for an entire year now where little things created sudden triggers but nothing more than just white or sometimes silhouettes of people. Because of these visions her guardian wanted her to go find her missing memories since that fact alone was bothering her too much to ignore. Which brought her here.

”Where do you plan on taking me?? A simple question. She watched him study his rather old and dirty-looking map, turning it sideways, front and back. Was he really a qualified boatman, she wondered. But since her guardian placed his trust in him, he should be adequate for the job. She wasn't much of a map reader but her senses were sharp. She knew her sense of direction very well but never really relied on a map. She didn't need one in that little town. Now that she was out in the big and real world, she wondered if she needed a map. Maybe after she's been to more places. But only after that point.

”I'll take you to Hi no Kuni!” He beamed and shoved the map into her hands. He had been to Hi no Kuni many times both on business and for personal reasons. Hi no Kuni was supposed to be the biggest country out of the five great shinobi nations. It was huge, that was for sure. After looking at his map for quite some time he decided that the best place for this young lass to start her exploration adventure was Fire Country. It's where ninety percent of his sightseeing customers end up going to for their first stop. There must be something very attractive about the forest land as he called it. But since he wasn't the one doing sightseeing he couldn't really say much to his customers. ”It's the piece of land marked with a fire symbol” he told her while picking up his single paddle and starting to row again. He liked the exercise that came with the job which was one of the reasons why he kept at it for ten years. The other reason was it let him go sightseeing places he probably never would have gone if not because a customer requested. He was always parked at any of the country docks waiting for people that want to travel.

She looked at the tattered map and found the fire symbol on it almost at once. It was a huge piece of land even on the map. Huge land means more people so she might have more of a chance of finding at least something that could probably help her in her endeavor. That's what she's hoping for anyway. She heard the sound of the paddle dipping into the water in rhythm, wondering if the boatman ever got bored or tired outright of just paddling. She knew she would if all she had to do every day was paddle paddle paddle. But maybe he liked it, so she didn't say anything. ”How long until we get there? There was no mark on the map that gave any sort of indication to where there current location was. She even wondered if the boatman himself knew. She needed to have more confidence in the guy since he was the professional around here. She tried to sit back and relax, hearing the sound of the water pushing softly against the boat from uncerneath. It was a pretty cool thing to do, being on a boat. ”It'll take a night minimum, lass.” A night? Where in the world was she going to sleep the entire night? She certainly wasn't planning on staying awake all night. She disliked the night sky especially on water. It creeped her out a little if she was stranded in the middle of nowhere. Even if the boatman was going to be with her this whole time, she still wasn't planning on staying up. Noticing her concern, he burst into laughter. ”Ya lasses—tsk tsk. When ya sleepy, ya sleep right on that bench ya sittin' on now. When ya hungry I got some crackers n snacks. Help yaself.” That was plenty comforting. But at least she'll get to fire country soon so she wasn't in too bad of a situation. Just needed to get past the night.

She smiled up at him while he rowed and for a long time neither of them said anything. There wasn't really much to say. She wasn't that good with conversation. She just looked out at the sea and wondered when she could find out who she actually was before she ended up in that little town. Will anyone ever know? Or will she ever know? She closed her eyes again, taking another slow deep breath while letting the sunlight warm her body. It was getting a little cold. The sun was about to set and when the sun set the temperature out at sea would no doubt drop at least a couple of degrees. She hadn't brought any sweaters, something she had forgotten. Maybe if she fell asleep shortly after sunset it wouldn't feel so cold. When she did sleep she slept like a log so the fact that a few degrees of temperature drop would hardly affect her.

Bright and early she started to gather her things. There wasn't much to her belongings. With the help of her guardian's now shinobi student, she got ninja packs of her own. It included two packs of kunai, a roll of ninja strings, a pack of senbon and a pack of shuriken. She owed them so much for taking care of her. Having been through almost dying, she knows that her life was given a second chance; so she better make good use of it. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"She'd been ready for months now. She was stronger, had lots of jutsus that she learned to choose from. Yes, she was definitely ready. With a nod she left the farmlands, out of nowhere and was going to the docks. She was told a small boat would be waiting for her with a man either sitting or standing close to it, wearing a straw hat tied with a red ribbon. He was going to take her wherever she needed to go. Her adventure sounded so interesting and full of mysteries. Where will the boatman take her? She was very excited for the unknown     

;; day one

daybreak

The break of dawn marked the start of her journey. She bid her guardian goodbye from the outside of his house promising him she would come back to visit. She was actually tearful when she left him. He was like her family; he was her family since she remembered nothing about her life other than after meeting him. So it was like a teenager leaving home for the first time. After a warm hug, she began to walk the long winded road that started at the end of a long line of small houses with her guardian's house being the first of the long line. She passed the many houses and looked at each one. The inhabitants of them were her neighbors for the year she'd been here and they became close to her. It was daybreak so nobody was up except for the animals some of the neighbors owned. She'd definitely miss the time she spent with either a chicken or a cow or a horse talking to them like friends. They were the only friends she had because the place had a very small population of maybe twenty people where most were old farmers or housewives or little children. You just wait and see, I'll be back, I promise. She made a silent promise outside each house while she passed. Turning to her left-hand side at the last house, she was met with a long narrow-winded road that led to a small town square where there was a local market and then to the docks.

The long road was also a road for sightseeing. On each side of this road, there were rows upon rows of wheat, corn, tomatoes and many other vegetable pastures. She loved farming because she loved watching the seeds implanted turn into luscious harvest and then getting a chance to eat her own farmed goods. She knew she'd miss that too. A wanderer couldn't farm. She'd be happy just to stay alive enough to make it back. Walking down the rows of corn and tomatoes, she took a few harvested ones and was on the go to the docks. It was still way too early for anyone to be at the marketplace, the small town so quiet and erie. Only the birds were awake. She quickly walked through the town street and on the other side of it was the road leading down to the docks. The faster the better. 

The dock had many boats parked alongside it. The only people who wake up so early would have to be these boatman. They were gruff people, muscles over intelligence. Some of them were snobbish and know-it-alls. But there were a few nice ones. Just gotta know where to look. They were basically good people. 

Straw hat with red ribbon? All the boatman were wearing straw hats but only one had a red ribbon wrapped around his. It was a bit comical that all these manly men wore straw hats with different color ribbons. Guess that's the way that you differentiate one from the other. She started to walk down the line of boats, spotting the man with the red ribbon sitting in his boat waiting for her. He was sitting on the second last boat where every boat looked the same. If not for the ribbons, she'd have a hard time differentiating boatman from boatman. When she drew near to the boat, a voice would make her jump out of her skin. It came from the man himself.

"Lass you're early! Not many your age can get up at this time." Her first ever compliment! And for waking up early too! This day already felt pretty good. She nodded her head. "The name's Ren 'ere. I'll be takin' ya places for the next lil' while." How did he know she was her client? But she nodded again out of respect. "I'm Snowie, and thanks Ren" She wasn't much of a talker. The waters were calm today; a perfect day to set sail. He motioned her to come closer giving her a hand climbing onto the boat. It was the first time she had ever been on a boat. The rocky feeling underneath her feet were scary and new at the same time, making excitement run through her vibes. She looked around while taking a seat gingerly on the boat. Ren smiled at her, revealing a set of very white teeth. "Where are we going?" she asked, not sure where she should go. She'd never been outside this little place so she was a lost sheep. He didn't answer her but was already lifting the one paddle he used, ready for take off!