Facing Fears (P, NK)

A few days prior to her meeting with Tehniyat...

Kanzaki had not been all that well, mentally or physically ever since she almost died that night. Everything loud had scared her, and she abandoned the idea of going out and training. The only place for her, for the last few weeks, was her room. Due to her rebellious intent on staying inside of her room all day, her maids and butlers alike had to take care of bringing meals to her--and even then it would be for hours at a time that she did not eat them, until she felt an ache in her stomach that indicated to her that she was hungry.

Other than sleeping and eating, she would wander throughout her room, looking out of the window in paranoia or looking at family photos that often lead her to crying until one of her maids came in to console her. She had cooped herself up in her own cage for these weeks. She woke up with cold sweats on the day to day basis from terrible nightmares about her mother that she could not even remember upon waking hours. On nights where the nightmares were particularly terrifying, she would wander out of her room and make one of her guards guide her to her mother's quarters.

Upon arriving she would typically would sit and pray at the entrance to said quarters, before she went back to her room with her guard. Any time she did that, the rest of the night was smooth, and instead of dreaming about dying and what not she dreamt about having fun and cuddling with her mother. Most of the time she remembered those specific dreams, so often times she woke up feeling sad more than she did paranoid and scared from the nightmares. Either way she always woke up with a sick feeling in her stomach---and it was not from disobeying her body's desire for food.

She woke up at ten in the morning as usual, her straight hair transcending into semi-curly at the ends---which reached down to her mid-back. She had a dull look in her amber-colored irises, the fair-skinned girl adorning a loose, white-buttoned lime green pair of pajama pants with a long-sleeve shirt of matching texture and color. The girl called in a maid as she went into the bathroom, and by the time the maid had arrived she was ready to take her morning shower. The maid she knew the longest, Annieta, called for her name at the door leading into her corridors.

"Come in." She remarked with a stoic tone. The maid walked on in, wearing her typical uniform, her hair a deep brunette with a red pin pushing a bundle of bangs to the left. Her eyes were abyss-like, black in color and matching well with her fair-skin. "I'm ready for my shower already." The Senju called out, and within a few moments the maid was in the bathroom. There the girl stood, nude and looking at the wall. The maid started up the water for it, testing it out before she turned on the showerhead and squeezed some soap onto the washcloth, beginning to clean Kanzaki while she just looked in any direction other than the maid, a squinty, displeased look on her face.

"S-so.. how are you doing today?" The maid inquired, subtly intimidated by her majesty's lack of enthusiasm. It'd been like this for a few months, but she was exceptionally pique'd today. "Don't worry." She'd state with her head turned in the opposite direction, causing the maid to go like 'huh?' Kanzaki looked over her shoulder at the female, a comforting aura about her otherwise sullen-exterior. Even though the look in the seven year old's eyes was sharp, there was still a child-like nature to the girl, even if she had her childhood stripped away by so many events recently.

The maid scrubbed at the length of Kanzaki's arms, cleansing said limbs with the soapy washcloth. The girl stood still while she was in the process of doing that, eventually moving on to her torso region. The maid scrubbed her legs after finishing up with scrubbing her chest and what not, before she washed off the cloth and re-applied more soap. "Don't scrub so hard." The Senju remarked, and the female jumped slightly. "Y-Y-Y-You have my greatest apologies, my liege!" The maid remarked. She started with cleansing the girl's face, before washing around her neck, then her armpits and finally her butt and groin.

"Why does it take you so long? I want my hair washed already." Kanzkai whined, causing the maid to speed up a little. She finally finished cleaning the little girl up. She dried the girl off from head to toe and got her to sit in front of the sink. Kanzaki held her head back in the sink as the maid started to apply shampoo to the girl's platinum blonde hair. She ran her fingers through the girl's hair pleasantly, getting any dirt out of it by rubbing her fingers along at ease---but with still a hint of roughness that hopefully would not disturb the girl.

The Senju laid there with her eyes closed and her lips pressed into a thin line. She quietly listened to the water running and just let the maid do her thing. The maid finished washing her hair with the cherry blossom-scented shampoo, proceeding to put in some conditioning and give her a head massage while moving it about and giving her hair a slight shine as she scrubbed the dirt out of the platinum blonde body. She washed the conditioner out from the girl's hair while her head was held back, so all of the soap would get into the sink and not in her eyes.

The maid went through the careful procedure of drying off her hair slightly with a towel, and then proceeding to comb any knots out from the semi-curly bundle of flowing, platinum blonde locks. They would leave the bathroom altogether, Kanzaki holding the maid's hand with a subtly displeased frown on her face. Kanzaki and her brunette maid returned to the girl's bedroom, and her maid would have the platinum haired girl seat herself on the small backless sofa-like piece of furniture at the foot of her canopy bed. There, the female would start to style her hair, starting to comb through it again.

"I'm not going out anywhere so don't go overboard. I just want to rest today." She demanded, causing the maid to gulp and provide a weak smile and a nod. The brunette does as she is ordered, proceeding to style Kanzaki's hair in the girl's favorite manor---by pushing her forehead bangs to the side, and then coiling her hair from her mid-back to her lower-back into a lengthy braid with a gold-lace silver tie running down it's length in a zig-zag pattern. Doing this takes quite the time, but once it's done, it seems the girl is a little better by then.

The Senju Princess allows her maid to start changing her into something more suitable then just a mere towel, changing her into a white & sleeveless, loose blouse. For once, she could wear something that was simple. The girl went to sit on the bed, and as she did her maid made for the door. However, she extended her arm out, unexpectantly latching it onto the brunette's wrist and causing her to stop in her tracks and look back at her with questioning gaze. "Stay here and let me sleep on you."

Kanzaki stated in a demanding tone. Slowly, the maid would sit on the side of the bed as Kanzaki forced herself into the female's lap, cuddling up to her. The blonde silently tried to get comfortable, intent on feeling the distinct comfort and safety that she used to feel while snuggled up to her mother. Unfortunately, that was not the case. It felt empty and love-lacking, having nowhere near the emotional depth that her close contact with her mother had. Still, the blonde would curl her arms around the maid, latching onto her to ensure she would not leave.

Once confirming that the brunette would stay, the girl slowly started to lull herself into sleep. The female kept her arms somewhat-firmly wrapped around the maid, her head stuffed into the female's chest. "Thank you for being warm." The platinum-haired Senju muttered, nuzzling against her. The maid gently lifted one of her arms, rubbing the back of the girl's head, running her fingers between her soft, blonde locks. The female hummed gently as an effort to start luring the little girl into falling asleep, and sure enough it started to work.

Soon she was completely asleep, and the maid would stay put. She slipped out of her heels, resting on her back across the bed. The brunette would keep her arms coiled around the little princess as she slept, eventually starting to have her own conscious dwindle. She would stay awake just in case the girl woke up, just thinking about things. "She can be quite a hassle sometimes.." The maid whispered. The female felt honored to be holding her liege in such a casual, familial manner. She smiled after her statement. "But she's so cute." The brunette maid murmured. She stayed awake for the two and a half hours that Kanzaki was asleep.

When the little princess finally awoke, she looked up at the maid with her normal, stressed look. The maid pushed a few semi-curly blonde bangs to the side that were hanging down informally in front of her forehead. Kanzaki lowered her head again, resting for the next ten minutes. Then the Senju started to tug at the maid's grasp. The maid let go of her as she scooted over to the bed side. The platinum-haired Senju would hop off of the surface of the bed and go to the dresser. With the help of her maid she got dressed, ending up wearing a crimson tank top and a pair of white shorts.

To top off the outfit she was wearing a pair of sandals that matched her shirt. She had on baggy white arm warmers, in addition to a kunai pouch clipped around her lower thigh, with a backpouch clipped to the buttocks of her shirt. Beneath the tank top was a short sleeved mesh shirt for just extra covering up, and the same texture was around her ankles. The female ran off, proceeding to dash through the halls of the royal palace wtih her arms thrown out behind her and her hair tied into a typical ponytail, adorned with a fancy, silver tiara with a ruby gem in the center of it's glittery presence.

In miniscule time she reached the Water Gardens, the area where she decided she would train for today, three guards brought along with her. The little platinum-haired princess would let out a gentle yawn while giving a look around the currently vacant area. The Senju lifted the latch up belonging to her backpouch, stuffing her hand into it cautiously. Kanzaki removed a kunai knife from her backpouch by the hilt, spinning it into view as she removed it from the contents of her chockful backpouch. She'd lunge forward, delivering a diagonal slash to her lower left and quickly shoving upright in that same direction.

She performed several stab-like jabs with the piece of weaponry, and then she spun. While spinning on her heels to deliver a sidekick with her right foot she would let loose the kunai, allowing it to shoot forward. As the kunai shot forward the girl would stamp her foot into the ground and perform several handseals in a quick and brisk fashion. Once completing them a plume of gray smoke engulfed her frame. Inside of it she clasped onto what she summoned---a folded up fuuma shuriken. With a simple sliding of her fingers across the base of the blades she separated it into unfolded state.

Kanzaki swung out in front of her, cutting through the dense smoke and dispersing it. She sent the shuriken spiralling forward. The three guards watched as the girl trained. They took notice of one small detail---a flicker of a ray of light shining on something really small between the shuriken and Kanzaki. Alertively, one of the guards, a red-haired male clad in typical Queensguard armor thrusted forward. He moved in a blur, and with an unsheathing of the broadsword on his back, he cleaved the odd source of light. "Watch out, my liege!"

"Really?" She asked in an irritable tone. "M-my liege... what's wrong?" He asked with wide, orange orbs as he looked down at her. There was a scar located on his right cheek, which resembled the crossbones on a skeleton head, but the left part of the scar was smaller than the right. The princess squinted menacingly at the male, looking at him like he was a burden as she tightened her hands into knuckle-whitening fists. She yanked her left, balled fist back out all of a sudden, making another flicker of light appear.

The male suddenly moved forth quickly. "D-damn it! Move out of the way, we may have an intruder, K-Kanzaki!" He exclaimed, reaching out his hand rapidly and pushing her with extensive force, knocking her onto her bum as he saw the wire move again. The other two Queensguard braced themselves, on alert since they weren't very familiar with shinobi gear. He went to swing again at the weaponry---"Are you serious!? It's just ninja wire, there's no intruder or anything. I attached the wire to my shuriken. And who gave you permission to call me by just Kanzaki? Call me Kanzaki-hime, 'my liege', or nothing at all. Ughhhhhh! Why can't you guys just go somewhere? Bothering me all the time!" The princess stated with exasperation, huffing heavily.

The blonde royalty stood up, dusting her butt off and pressing her hands to her hips as she glared daggers at him. He stopped his sword, proceeding to shove it into the sheathe on his back. The male blinked twice, feeling a bead of sweat roll down the side of his head. The Queensguard would look down at his feet, tracing what indeed was reflective, very-thin wire that was cut into two sections by his weaponry. "I-I apologize, Kanzaki-hime." The male murmured dejectedly, continuing. "I-It's just not safe for you to go around alone." "What's not safe about my own palace?" She remarked.

"I---well... just don't mind us. We won't disrupt your training anymore, my liege." The red-haired Queensguard male promised. He'd walk back over to his comrades, explaining the situation and causing them to lower their hands from near the hilts of their weaponry. Kanzaki grumbled as she approached the bundle of well-taken care of shrubbery, with the fuuma shuriken imbedded into it. Aware of the little rose thorns in the bush, the platinum-haired Senju would lean forth and pluck the other side of the wire that was initially separated from her by the male's actions.

She yanked, pulling the fuuma shuriken out and dusting it off with a careful, small pale hand. Her resting irritable look never went away from her. She would fold the shuriken back up. Then she contorted handseals again, pressing her hand flat against the metallic surface of the shuriken. A gray puff of smoke enveloped the weaponry, and when she waved at the air and made the small cloud disperse it was gone. She stood up from her hunched position, looking at the Queensguard whom seemed to have an expression of awe on their face from seeing the Generic Sealing technique at it's best.

"One of you help me with target-practice." Kanzaki stated with a straight face and a narrowed expression. One of the Queensguard, a male with dark, purple orbs and long, flowing dark brown hair that was semi-curly stepped forward. "Understood, your highne---my liege." He recalled what she wanted to be referred to. "[color=#ff0066]You can call me 'your highness' as well. Anything that refers to my royalty is fine." The blonde would state, addressing the trio of Queensguard with an individual stare at each of them.

Her hazelnut gaze settled upon the male whom had offered to aid her with training. "Simply move around as fast as you can." The male would nod quietly. The armor-clad individual would suddenly start to shoot about rapidly within her range of vision. The two Queensguard murmured something to one another. "Isn't Hayate among one of the fastest of the lower-ranks?" To which the red-haired Queensguard responded to said murmur with a mere "Yeah."

Kanzaki contorted several handseals in rapid succession. She surged her chakra reserves and then lifted the lid of her backpouch. The blonde removed several shuriken from the inside of the pouch, the myriad being held within her left hand. She'd remove several wires from her right. She attached the metallic stringing to her shuriken, holding onto the other end with her right hand. The female flicked the half-dozen bundle of shuriken from within her grasp, sending the bundle shooting toward the blurring raven-haired male.

The Senju's brown eyes tracked the male to the best of her ability. All ten of her digits flicked and twitched about as quick as ever. The shuriken moved around wildly, ricocheting off one another as she manipulated their movement with her wire strings. This seemingly erratic and incomprehensible movement was none other than used for the purpose of catching him with her shuriken. Not only was his movement superior, but so was his reflexes. He seemed to effortlessly bounce out of the way of the incoming, constantly ricocheting projectiles.

Suddenly her movements of her fingers started to calm. They'd contiinue, but they were more sort of... synchronized? And the Queensguard who was still moving around found himself having to slow down a bit. Just as he was slowing down she was speeding up with these more casually-directed attacks. The male suddenly stopped, standing at his original location. He was breathing lightly. As the six shuriken whizzed toward him he shifted his body in specific angles to avoid, while simultaneously pushing their directive into hitting and deflecting off of his armor at the last second.

A cut suddenly formed upon the male's nose as one of the shuriken bounced off of the left forearm of his armor and shot past his face diagonally. The cut was the exact same direction that the shuriken went in. All six of the ninja tools had now found themselves embedded in the select tree trunks within the area, and light seemed to be glinting and shining off everywhere. The male went to back off, suddenly finding that his movement backward was restricted, and that something kept his right arm extended out----well oriented wiring coiled around his armored arm.

"!" The trio of Queensguard looked in awe at the art-like display of wire usage. Kanzaki stared at him, with an unphased look. "I know that if you weren't a Queensguard and was a weaker person that this would be checkmate for you." The royalty remarked. She swiped a match against one of the wires---the border of the field of intricate wiring directly in front of her face. Right before her eyes. She set the wire ablaze, allowing the flames to spread across the entire field of wiring within a few minutes.

"Feel free to cut them down. I won't need your help from this point onward." The blonde Senju remarked. The male would nod, before he unsheathed his broadsword and started roaming throughout the field of wiring. One by one, the purple-haired Queensguard cut down the now-weakened wiring with swings of his arms and subtle movement. The string was like a field of thorns to his skin, but a gathering of twigs to his blade.

Once the field of wiring was all cut away Kanzaki moved across the string-laced environment with a nonchalant look on her face. Kanzaki would look about the garden, then shake her head silently. This quaint surrounding would not work for her. It would not ease her heart of the eagerness to train. Thus she'd direct her visage over to the bundle of Queensguard nearby, her face as expressionless as usual and that aura of stress about her. "Since you're so intent on following me for whatever reason, I'm leaving. This place isn't good enough for training." The Senju decided.

The Queensguard would nod, following behind the young blonde as quick as possible as she walked down the corridors of the Palace, eventually leaving altogether and venturing out into the forest. She'd go all the way to the clearing she was at back when she was attacked. It brought back sickening memories, and a bad feeling in her gut. The parts of her bodies where she was harmed started to ache, but none the less she insisted on bearing with it to the greatest of her ability. And so, Kanzaki would once more remove a scroll from her backpouch.

The blonde pressed her palms to the surface of the scroll, contorting handseals one by one with a tensed look on her face. The Queensguard were perched up in trees, while she was in the center of the clearing. She would surge her reserves, allowing her prominent chakra control to be previewed by the set of individuals. Kanzaki had no idea what type of training she would embark in at the moment, but all she knew was that she was rather eager to get somewhere today.

Having surged her reserves, she'd start to gather them to a focal point and then start to knead them. She applied necessary properties to her chakra, allowing it to course through her frame and into her palms. The seal in the scroll would react accordingly, and a large puff of smoke would embrace her frame. When it was gone, she was surrounded by weaponry that her father had given her prior to his departure for another string of missions to embark upon.

Kanzaki would shut her eyes, her body trembling ever so slightly from being so close to the place that was almost her deathbed. The near-nine year old's mind couldn't suffice with being calm at the moment, but none the less she would try to keep a levelhead. Upon finding that balance between anxiety and calmness her intense amber orbs would show as she jolted her eyes open. In one fell swoop she shot down into crouching position, swooping up a bokken into her grasp and bounding off of the ground with a chakra-applied dash to the balls of her feet.

She would accelerate forward, letting out no sound as she accelerated across the tall blades of green grass, once caked with her blood. The little girl easily recalled the events of what she had once experienced. Being so close to death. For the sake of her mother she would live on, for the sake of her father she'd surpass him and become an abyssmally strong kunoichi that would one day tie Konohagakure & Hoshigakure together. With a grandual zip of her right arm forth, she reached out and delivered a horizontal slash to the left with her bokken.

Kanzaki was practically hallucinating at the moment. She recalled the night that she was here for the first time, the irisless assassin who'd tried to kill her. The Senju Princess' blood pumped through her veins angrily as she did not stop with her acceleration. She unleashed several, rather quick slashes to the air in front of her, suddenly swiveling on her foot. She jabbed her bokken into the ground halfway through the spin, delivering a hard kick to the base of the tree that quaked it's very essence and shook it, causing leaves to fall out.

Then, the prodigy would skillfully lift her leg up, jolting off of the tree and using it like a catapult, yanking her bokken out of the ground premptively. She'd show off her capability to easily manuever within air, acrobatically spinning backward several times while suspended off of the ground, perceiving this as her kicking that enemy she met on that blood-caked night awhile back. The female slammed her feet into the ground with her bokken at the same time, imagining it as digging a blade into that foe's chest.

The blonde backflipped across the earth, pressing her hands into the ground for a handstand and sliding across the earth, making the surface of her hands slippery by flowing chakra to her palms. She grasped another weapon off of the ground midway---a simple fuuma shuriken that was currently folded up. Then she'd slam her feet into the ground, standing up straight and panting gently. With small gestures of her hand the shuriken would unfold, and she held her arm back ever-so-slightly.

The Senju would slip out a smoke bomb from the innards of her backpouch, allowing a large cloud of dark grey smoke to swarm her presence and ultimately conceal it. Her fuuma shuriken would fire out from the smoke, whizzing forth rapidly while spinning clockwise. As it shot forward Kanzaki would remain inside of the cloud of smoke while it slowly started to part and gradually spread out and disperse. Just then, several glints of light would appear and the fuuma shuriken broke apart into several segments, one of them flying directly for the cloud of smoke.

The breaking apart of the fuuma shuriken would reveal---there was another one? Not only had she placed the smoke bomb down to cover up the fuuma shuriken being initially thrown, but she also threw it down to cover up her use of the sealing technique to spawn another shuriken. The other shuriken wedged deep into the tree lateral to her position, along with one of the large fuuma shrapnel pieces. Just as the smoke dispersed the fuuma segment was right near her, aimed for her gut---where she had been stabbed once before.

Instead of perceiving it as a shuriken, she saw it the exact way she got stabbed. Her eyes bulged open as she stumbled backward and fell onto her back from the sheer force at which it slammed into her gut, digging deep but not hitting anything vital. The eight year old princess spat up blood, her frame twitching and her eyes wide as they were directed to the sky, seeing the man about to deliver his last blow again. Her reverie broke when he swooped down the blade upon her, making her see the evening sky--with the three Queensguard standing over here with looks of panic on their faces.

She slowly extracted the weapon from her gut, upset that she had ruined her favorite shirt with that trick of her own that she had fallen for. It seemed that this place was really distracting her from training, or else she would've been able to avoid that shrapnel. Slowly, steam would rise out from the wound as it sealed up in mere moments and she stood to her feet with a subtle grunt. "Get away from me, I'm fine." The Senju spoke in a cold & monotonous tone.

The Queensguard would gradually move away from her, but slowly. That trauma of hers had ultimately given her trouble with training, especially here. But none the less the reason why she chose this place was to topple her trauma and get over it. And what better way to do it then to re-see what she didn't want to perceive? Reaaaaaaal smart, Kanzaki Senju. The girl continued panting lightly as she took slow steps forward, leaning down to pick up another bokken. With a hard swing of her arm she'd send the weapon shooting forward rapidly, like it was Zeus throwing a lightning bolt.

It stabbed directly into the tree, and then she'd bolt forward, moving forth low to the ground. Kanzaki would reach one of her arms from behind her to down at her feet, picking up a rock and suddenly crumbling it with the force of the chakra that jolted into her hand. Slowly she'd make the particles of rock more malleable, flattening them and allowing them to spread across her forearm. "Fist Rock Techniquq!" The Senju clamored as she shoved her arm out in front of her, bouncing off of the earth for a quick lapse of acceleration by shooting off by her heels.

She slammed her rock-encrusted fist into the tree, easily leaving an indent and also forming several cracks in the bark where she'd struck. After delivering that punch, the female would land back on the ground, insistent on gathering her thoughts. She'd yank the fuuma shuriken out, as well as the bokken, then quickly walk back to the pile of weaponry and drop them down. Then Kanzaki removed the scroll from her backpouch, opening it up and pressing it's innards to the surface of the pile, injecting chakra into the item in her grasp.

In a large plume of smoke the scroll would have the weapons sucked back into it, and she'd place said scroll within her backpouch, closing said pouch and exhaling faintly. She was thinking that perhaps she'd done enough for today. But at the same time there was at least one more thing that she wanted to try---a test of her strength. Kanzaki would move to the center of the clearing, buckling her knees and proceeding to concentrate a thin layer of chakra into her soles, readying herself mentally.

Then, the Senju would shoot off of the ground in one fell swoop, providing herself with a boost by having her chakra pulse out right as she left the earth. While high into the air she'd twirl rapidly, performing several stationary frontflips, at least three. Then she'd stop once she was positioned the way she initially was, proceeding to lift her leg over her head in a demonstration of her flexibility. She'd shoot her leg down right as she was about to make contact with the ground, smashing her heel into the earth and delivering a powerful, ground-rupturing axe kick that made chunks of rock shoot up and caused a large section of the clearing's earth to crackle and form faults.

The female repositioned her leg to be under her after delivering that powerful kick, huffing mildly at this point. That was enough training for today. She'd beckon for her three guards to come with her as she started to leave the meadow. To them, she'd left a massive crater in the ground. To her, with her mental state of mind, she'd killed off her worst nightmare, that assassin, for good, seeing that crater with him in it, croaking and bleeding.

(5,107 words. 107 to Body Flicker, 1,000 to Shadow Shuriken, 2,000 for Heavenly Foot of Pain, and 2,000 for Earth Release: Fist Rock Technique. 25 Stats obtained through this training topic.)