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Heavy snowfall would once more grace Yuki no Kuni. In fact it was not quite called grace anymore at this point since the snowfall rate and intensity was getting a little preposterous. The village and the city had both gained about five inches of snow over a period of two hours. And the amount of snowfall for the village was just going to keep rising as it reached the dawn hours. It was not a good sign especially for the villagers. It would become close to impossible to even maneuver around the village at this rate. The night was young though so it wasn't that bad. But if nobody cleared the streets at this time of night, with the heavy amount of snowfall that was going to come by morning, Yuki would really live up to its name.

And that was why an emergency mission was called. There was no need to report to the Yukikage Tower to get the mission slip because well--frankly every shinobi of Yuki would be required to shovel snow that night. It was mandatory that the streets be shoveled and salted on a periodic basis. Periodic basis meaning that they had to work in intervals so that once the snow fall reached a certain amount in inches, new snowfall, all shinobi had to be on the streets prepared to shovel and salt. It was going to be a long night for all Yuki nin and it was quite evident that with the amount of snow falling at the early hours of the night that they were not going to get much rest. Those that were responsible for shoveling were responsible for one street or two streets if a small street. The people that were asked to salt were literally responsible for all streets.

And so, she was called to the mission as she was just readying for bed. She had been watching the snowfall for hours beforehand and had wondered when it would fall. When she received word from her brother that the Yukikage had called emergency missions of all Genin and had given her the mission slip, she had her question answered, just not quite in the way she would have liked. She quickly removed her pajamas and threw on her standard shinobi robes. She had chosen to wear long track pants and a sweater as she knew that she would probably in the cold for quite awhile. The snow was just about covering the streets as she stepped outside in her navy blue boots and mittens and prepared herself for the bitter cold. Even as a Yukina she often found herself getting cold quite easily which was weird.

It was only as she was standing there at the front of her mansion that she finally got to take a look at the mission slip that was in her hand. She had been wondering whether she was going to get the shoveling or the salting job. She knew that the shoveling was quite a tough job and required harder labor than salting. Especially if they had to literally clear the streets every few hours due to the intensity of the snowstorm. She was relieved to see that she was assigned the salting job. The Yukikage had probably assessed the situation and realized that male Genins were best for shoveling. After all they did get the job done faster than women did. She had done a mission like that before and that almost took half her life.

And so she made her way down the big street of Yukigakure. She saw that there were already crew out working the shoveling part of the mission. There were men that were not part of the mission that had just been there to help out. She recognized the crew she had worked with before on her shoveling mission as they had been assigned main street duties. They were perfect for the job since the small streets were supposedly easier to shovel. She waved at them and bowed to the coordinator of the crew, the one man who had taken care of her when she was trying to help them out.

She found that she was about to fall asleep as the sun was starting to set. Usually she would sit on the boat and watch the beautiful colors of pink, blue, orange and yellow mixed together. But she needed a good rest. It seemed that during her stay in Hi no Kuni she had not been able to sleep soundly. That was to be expected though since she was constantly trying to stay as alert as possible whenever she found herself sleeping in that forestland. She had been taught to not be such a sound sleeper because sleep time for a shinobi was often the most volatile time. Many had died during their sleep without even realizing what had hit them. As a child she had learned that she should always be on her guard even if she was deep in slumber.

That wasn't necessarily easy to do though and it was certainly hard for her growing up. She was like every other child, enjoying the necessities in life like eating and sleeping that she never quite understood why she needed to be on her guard. She often was annoyed when the elders of the Yukina Clan had forced to sleep lightly or had deprived her of her much needed sleep in order for her to understand just how important staying alert was. And she hadn't learned of it's true importance until later in her childhood years. There had been one special event which happened that had caused her to understand that there was more to being alert in sleep than she had ever imagined. The event happened at the death of night, when every other mansion's inhabitants would not be alert.

She had fallen asleep not long when she heard a bell, a loud ding ding noise that immediately woke her up. The night sky was still young and she was surprised that someone had sounded the bell. At first she thought that it was one of those useless drills that her elders thought would be fun to play on her just so that they could test if she was a sound sleeper or not. But as she got out of the room, she would realize that that was not the case. There were footsteps running along the hallways and the distinct sounds of people drawing their weapons. Before she opened the sliding door to meet the hallway she could already see silhouettes beyond the door, heading in one direction.

What could have possibly happened? She would put on her cloak and venture out of her room down the hallway to the direction that everyone had been running to. She was one of the last to arrive at the designated room. It was the scroll room; housing all of the Yukina Clan scrolls where they wrote all of the clan jutsus and some of the most prestige information about the clan. She peered into the room still half-asleep as she found her elders all assembled. Their speed must have truly efficient if they had caught on to what had been going on. At first she was quite confused as to what had happened but this confusion would clear as quickly as it had set. She watched in amazement as one of the clan elders came forth to speak to the clan.

During his speech, he had informed everyone present that there had been an attempt to steal one of the most secretive scrolls belonging to the clan. This amazed everyone, including her. She had not thought that there would be thieves who worked so late at night and definitely not ones that would steal scrolls. For the scrolls to be the target, the person must have been a shinobi. But unfortunately this person must have been quite fast as he had escaped before any of the clan members had been able to catch him. Thankfully the scrolls were safe. So she now knew how important it was to be a light sleeper and would always remember to this day.

Once she got a little closer to the redhead, she could see that he was very much injured. He leaned on his sword for support as he turned to face her, answering her question with the request for water and food. From the looks of his face, it seemed as though he had just been through a war--or worse. She was taken aback by the request and almost wasn't sure what to say. She didn't quite have water or food on her at the moment but she guessed that Ren did back at the boat. She told him to hang on a second while she turned back to the direction she came from and quickly made her way back to the boat. Her steps were quick and she thought that she may not even act quick enough with just her legs powering the movement. She was almost certain that she should use shunshin.

She went ahead and ran across the grassy terrain, tracing back her steps so that she could get back to where the boat was parked, near the coastline of what had been the dock. Sayuri was quick in her movements, breaking into a run as she saw the boat in sight. She was quite worried about the man she had seen. He looked so beaten that it seemed as though he was just hanging onto his life with effort. And she was determined that he would live. At what point she became so concerned over a complete stranger perplexed her but she was not going to let such thoughts get in her way of trying to get him the help he needed. And Ren had seen her coming to the boat in a run, thinking something had happened to her with the expression of anxiety on her face.

He asked her quickly what was wrong and she relayed the events that had just happened. She told him of the man in red hair that she had seen and he looked injured. The man nodded his head and went to his boat to retrieve some rice cakes and water. Not sure if she would be safe with being there alone with that man, he offered to go with her. She complied, taking him back to the grassy terrain and to the ruins of a town where she had last seen the stranger. She broke into a run again as she neared the spot with Ren trailing behind.

And what she saw next was worrisome. The redhead had fallen to the ground, passed out from his injury and overexertion of his energy. She took the water and the rice cakes and ran ahead to the fallen man. Once she neared him, she would kneel to his right side, checking his pulse and other vital signs ensuring his life had not been taken. Satisfied that he was still alive and had just fallen unconscious, she would look about her. Aside from the body of water that they had been traversing on which landed them here at this island, there seemed to me no other water source. She would turn around and go ahead to try and get some water.

But Ren was one step ahead of her. Having noticed the man fall, he had run to the ocean and dampened a cloth. By the time she had realized he had gone, he would already be coming back with the half-damp cloth. She thanked him for his efficiency and hard work as she applied the cool cloth onto the stranger's forehead. She would then open a bottle of water and attempt to at least let him drink a bit before he became totally dehydrated. Once he woke up, she would give him the rice cakes

Flashback

But there was no hiding from her brother seeing as he could see through her lies relatively quickly and easily. He didn't want to pressure her though which was the only reason he hadn't said the guy's name. Her answer of 'i'm not sure' was convincing in terms of validity but he had a hunch that there was much more behind the statement than she was bringing up. It wasn't that he didn't see the hurt she had experienced that night she came home with snow covering all over her and her fingers so cold that they turned red. But because he was that respectful type of person he didn't pressure her to talk to him back then, thinking that if she needed him or needed a person to talk to, she would certainly find him. Their sibling relationship was close but also distant enough to be considered just normal friends since it seemed easier for people to open up to friends than family.

"Break it down piece by piece, slowly." he advised. He was definitely the go-to person for advice. Even though he wasn't the soundest to follow through with his own advice, he was always able to give them out. He also knew his sister very well in that aspect. She often said that she didn't know or wasn't certain because she couldn't put her thoughts into words. He'd seen enough and heard enough to know that it was true. Her large eyes stared straight into his as she gave him a look that said something along the lines of 'i can't.' he returned the glance with a gaze of certainty that told her that she could. The thing about siblings was that they were able to often communicate without actually vocally saying anything.

She nodded her head and began to think of a way to say what was on her mind. As the silence lengthened, Satoshi would give a small sigh. "Sayuri, I don't need it to sound nice. Just say what's on your mind. All of it!" it wasn't a command but it was said in such a manner that told her that he meant business. He didn't normally phrase his sentences in this kind of tone. But again he knew her well, well enough to know that half the time she couldn't bring herself to say something it was because she couldn't find a beautiful way of saying it. The hell with beautiful! He only wanted to know regardless if she swore at him fifty times in a sentence. Again she nodded her head and her brother waited. He was determines to get something out of her.

"It hurts, nii-sama--it hurts so much--" Her voice trailed off as she fought back another stream of tears. But he wasn't satisfied with that answer. He knew she could do better than that. So he retorted with a rather cold question of his own. "What does?" He wasn't supposed to know anything about what had happened and therefore continued to play his part. She looked at him again and he mustered an innocent look. He was certain that she could say more than it hurt. If she didn't say everything now she would continue to hurt regardless of how much she pretended it didn't. "Sayuri, I know it hurts--but you've got to do better than that!" 

"I'm begging you, kiddo. If you don't tell me everything, I can't help you. It hurts me to see you cry. Anata wa watashi no imouto desu." He was almost imploring that she open up to him. She raised her head from his shoulder and sat a little more upright, clearing her throat. Her brother was right--she couldn't keep avoiding the subject as though avoiding was going to do her any good. If it did, it would have already helped and she wouldn't have feelings of hurt and other emotions. She was so used to taking the brunt of everything that she didn't need to talk to anymore. But there were just some moments that being alone hurt more than with others when facing problems. Especially relationship problems.

Flashback

"Kiddo, come here--" His voice was so gentle and nice that it felt weird. It was like she wasn't talking to her brother anymore. Like he was a stranger. But her heart weakened and she complied, standing up as he said this. She half ran half walked the extremely short distance to where her brother was sitting and hugged him. As the brother and sister embraced, the overwhelming tears cascaded down her face. Her body began to shake as she wept silent tears, wetting her brother's shirt. The two of them would stay in the embrace for a few seconds, until she broke free first, drying her face of tear marks and of tears in general. Crying always helped, it seemed. But she told herself she'd never lose composure like that again, not even in front of her own brother.

Hearing and seeing her cry was heartbreaking for him. It was heartbreaking not only because she rarely cried like that but because all he could do was hug her and pay her gently on the back. That was the only source of comfort that she could get from him. He wasn't all that much of a person who knew how to provide comfort. And definitely not to his sister. He was supposed to be that cool guy that stayed away from all the icky emotions and just focused on getting stronger. But he was also secretly very caring to Sayuri, in his own little way. Things he did didn't have to be recognized. As long as she was safe.

Having calmed down some, she plopped down on the seat next to her brother and sat with her head resting gently on his shoulder. They hadn't been so close to one another in a long time. He was always away on missions or something. The probability of them even being able to speak for more than five minutes a day were slim. So she especially enjoyed the moments when he was at home, like today. She secretly wondered why he wasn't out buying flowers or something for his girlfriend. It was Valentine's Day after all. But there was a whole afternoon for that. Now was her time with her Nii-sama.

"So, wanna tell me what's going on?" He never asked her about her private life. He valued the fact that everyone had privacy that everyone else just needed to respect. But when it got someone as worked up about it as it was her, as a brother, he had an obligation to find out. The two sat in another silence, neither of them speaking and letting the question hang. In her mind she really wasn't sure. She had forgotten much of the pain she felt when the one person she love romantically had left her. She had made sure of that by focusing twice as much on her Genin duties. But who was she kidding? She had been hurt pretty badly and such hurt didn't just miraculously disappear overnight. She knew that it would take much longer for it to heal.

"I'm not sure, nii-sama--" she was secretly hoping he'd let the subject just drop from there. She was not about to go through in her mind all that had happened that one night. It was all too painful and too much was forced into her head that she didn't even know what was happening until the guy had turned around and left. A lot of the events whizzed through her mind and didn't really sink in until when she was in the comforts of her own room hours later. No, she was definitely not going to go there. Not now, not ever,

Flashback

Yuki no Kuni had suffered another blizzard attack again. The Gods or whoever was watching over the lands of Yuki had deemed it necessary that another snowfall befall on the village and the country the night before. Sometimes she wondered if it was only because the land was called Yuki no Kuni that it automatically meant that the place was going to have inches of snowfall every other day. Though she had nothing against snow, she was beginning to feel weary of it. The snow, as beautiful as it looked with the innocent whiteness had lost its sense of special in her heart. Which, was all but good. She had marveled at how pretty the place looked when she had first seen a blizzard. But that had been years ago.

Now as she stared out the window of the Yukina Clan mansion, her heart felt unusually empty. It was a disheartening feeling that she never quite experienced before. She had been sad before, on numerous occasions but never feeling sad, lonely, depressed and a little angry all at once. What was wrong with her today? She sighed as she looked at the falling snow that was accumulating gracefully on the ground; making a pretty land of whiteness in front of her eyes. Usually such prettiness would be admired and she would be at least a little excited. After all she liked feeling the cold snow against her fingers.

But today seemed rather different. She turned from the window and sat rather lazily on one of the sofas of the living room area of the mansion, which was close by the door. She had woke up that morning feeling emotionally and even physically drained without having done anything exciting or exerting the day before. She looked around the room, admiring the crackling flames of the fireplace that had been lighted by the servants because of the sudden coldness of the mansion. Sudden blizzards brought very unstable temperatures and it was always nice to keep the mansion nice and cozy. She took her mug that was on the tabletop in front of her and took a sip from it.

Hot chocolate, she mused. She loved hot chocolate on a cold day. The sweet coco taste in her mouth and then the warmth of the liquid as it rested in her stomach. Hot chocolate was her favorite drink ever, followed closely by lemon honey tea. She put down the mug back on the table and just sat there, staring into space. It agitated her that she didn't know what was wrong with her. Why wasn't she feeling her usual upbeat self? It was a time that she hadn't gone insane and so she was actually a very normal girl. Fifteen years old and full of youth. So then, why was this youth not shining through.

She guessed that what troubled her was the fact that she always had answers when it came to her feelings. If she had to hide to other people about how she felt, she certainly didn't have to hide it from herself. She always had the principal that if she wished to lie to other people so as not to worry them or whatnot she was allowed to but to herself she always spoke the truth. But right then and there, there was no indication as to where the truth was or what it was. She just felt like sitting there, rigid and like a statue. She didn't feel ill but there was a sickening feeling in her heart. Why--?