Facing the Day [Private]

The first night in her new apartment had been rough. It wasn’t that it was dirty, even though it had been exceedingly dirty. No, it was sleeping in someone else’s bed. Technically a dead man’s bed. The sheets were scratchy and the pillows without fluff, but it wasn’t the lack of comfort that kept her up late into the night: it was the reminder that everything had changed. She wouldn’t wake up tomorrow morning and make her brothers pancakes or wish them a good day before they left for school. She wouldn’t see her parents as they left for work or run into any of her friends while she was out shopping for dinner. Tomorrow she would be a stranger in a strange land.

During the night a chill fog rolled in from across the sea, rolling in across the water before creeping over the island. By the time Azami woke in the morning, the whole island had been blotted out by a blanket of fog so thick that you couldn’t see more than a few feet at any one time. She looked out the window that morning, her mood threatening to be as bleak as the island was foggy. Seeing her own reflection in the glass with a scowl, she forced herself to smile, to think about those sunny mornings in the Leaf village. Her reflection in the glass looked less convinced than she felt as she turned away to get ready for the day.

The cupboards were bare, the pantry all but empty after her whirlwind of cleaning the night before. There was no food in the house and she didn’t know the island at all. Would any of the restaurants be open this early? She didn’t know, and in this fog, it felt like a fool’s errand to go looking. What she did have were the remnants of food packed for the journey here. The final portion of food, which was meant for the previous night, remained untouched. She hadn’t felt much like eating last night, between the rotten smells and her mood. It wasn’t conducive to hunger. Sooner or later though, everyone got hungry. While she could hold off for perhaps a tiny bit longer, she knew that wasn’t wise. She certainly wouldn’t have let her brother’s leave the house without eating first.

She took the carefully wrapped package from her backpack, sitting it down on the kitchen table before filling a glass with water and sitting down. It wasn’t milk, but it wasn’t spoiled either. Azami gingerly unwrapped the package, eating a small morsel with deliberate movements. It was stupid and childish, but if felt like once she was done eating, the last bit of Konoha she had brought with her would be devoured. She couldn’t bring herself to finish it, even though her stomach yearned for the last bites. She wrapped them back up tight, tucking them away in the fridge for safe keeping.

Azami numbly went through the rest of her morning routine, getting cleaned up and ready to face the day. She strapped her pouches on and headed for the door, looking back one last time at the fridge before locking her new apartment up tight and heading off into the mist.

The sun hit the fog and transformed the fog from a shroud of darkness into blanket of gray haze. The sounds of waves crashing against the break water thundering with astounding clarity as the sound waves reflected off the thermal differential overhead. Meanwhile sounds that should have registered louder were muffled and distorted as if the fog was a fun house of mirrors for sound. All of it combined into an unsettling morning walk for Azami.

Though she had traveled with the Kirigakure delegation through the Island Country, she had yet to adjust to the ambient environment. While she had never been the sharpest back at home, she could at least tell when someone was walking nearby. Now she couldn’t be certain that sound in question was even the sound of sandals, let alone if it was following her or not. Overall, she felt like a small boat lost on the ocean. Maybe there were sharks below the surface or even circling. Maybe it was all her imagination.

Azami looked back over her shoulder as she came to a corner, wondering if the sound of what she thought were steps having stopped really occurred, or if it was just a delusion. Her hand slowly dropped back toward the pouch at her hip, longing for the reassurance of a weapon in her hand. She wanted to draw forth a kunai; but was afraid to give in to her fear, afraid to look foolish, afraid to admit that she felt isolated and alone.

After a brief pause, she continued forward towards where she had been told the academy was, following the edge of the island to a bridge. The wooden slats underfoot clunked as she crossed, a cart laden with fish for the marketplace passing her in the opposite direction as she went. It was the first indication of people she had seen out and about. Though trivial, it was a step closer to normalcy. The hand that had been hovering near her hip slowly draping back down at her side as she came to relax once more.

When her foot stepped down on solid land once again, Azami began smiling. Sure, the mist was eerie, but she had made it here without a single problem. The directions she had been provided with were flawless. The extra time she had planned for in case she got lost would not be needed, which of course meant she would be early. It was always a good idea to be early on your first day. Starting classes on the right foot was always the best possible outcome. Even though the sun hadn’t broken through the fog, things were looking up.

Crossing the island, the fog began to thin, revealing lush trees and fields of grass covered in morning dew. The familiar greenery only lifted her spirits further, the buildings of the academy coming into view as she crossed between twin lawns on a cobbled path. Azami took a deep breath in through her nose, breathing it out along with the last of her tension as she reached for the door, pulling it open and heading inside where she was scheduled to meet with her instructors. It looked like perhaps it could be a great day after all.

Azami made her way through the halls, poking around with curiosity since she had a bit of extra time before class was scheduled to begin. One room she found of interest held a large pool and weapons racks. It almost looked like a dojo, except the pool was where the floor mats would normally be. As she peered through the glass, a reflection suddenly caught her attention. Behind her was another student with a mop of blond hair that stuck out in every direction.

“Cool, huh?”, he asked as he pulled up the door to the pool area. “Come on, I’ll show you around.”

Azami felt hesitant to follow the younger student, not wanting to make trouble on her first day. Likewise, she didn’t want to alienate her peers, so she followed him in, watching as he walked over to a rack on the wall where practice weapons were stored neatly in their racks.

“So what are we starting with? Swords? Knives? Garrotes?”, he asked, taking down a wooden practice sword.

“Umm.. are you sure that’s all right? Shouldn’t we wait for an instructor?”, she asked with a nervous quietness to her voice.

“Wait for an instructor? Why? Your lesson has already begun.”, the student said before a brief puff of smoke emanated from him and his form was replaced with a much taller man with a forehead protector and flak jacket on. Azami’s expression fell. Not this again.

“First lesson. Ninjutsu is the art of deception. See how you allowed me to bring you in here when you shouldn’t have? How you trusted me because you thought I was someone I was not? This is the power of deception. Today I will be teaching you two basic techniques you can use to deceive your targets. Pay attention, for they will be required for graduation, and you will graduate. Of this, I can assure you.”, he finished, his voice having grown deeper after his transformation. By the end he sounded outright ominous, Azami shrinking back from him ever so slightly.

“Come closer. This first technique is called the Transformation Technique. You will use three hand seals to unleash its power. Dog. Boar. Ram.”, he demonstrated as he spoke, hands shifting from one seal to the next slowly enough so that she could observe the movement of his fingers. “You will concentrate on the details of the forum you wish to assume. Pay mind to the smallest of details because getting any of them incorrect could mean your life. When the image is clear in your mind, unleash your chakra. Then will come the difficult part, holding that image while emitting a steady stream of chakra. I do not expect you to get it right. I do expect that you will get it right before the end of the day though. There will be repercussions if you cannot. Begin!”

Azami felt more than a bit intimidated by her instructor, his abrupt pronouncement that she should begin breaking her concentration on the hand seals he had just informed her to perform. Dog, snake, rat? What was it again? She gulped, looking to the instructor once more in petrified silence. He simply exhaled with a sigh, rubbing a hand against his face. Genius, this was not. He walked over begin her, pulling out a paper fan from a pocket, bopping her over the head with it as he spoke.

“Dog. Boar. Ram. Yes, again! Dog. Boar. Ram.” Each time he said the name of a hand sign he smacked her lightly over the noggin with the closed fan. “Now, focus your chakra. Think about the boy who brought you in here. What did he look like? Picture him in your mind’s eye, then release and hold.”

He had blond hair, messy. He had on one of those mesh shirts, shorts, and sandals. He had green eyes… maybe? Dog. Boar. Ram. Her finger’s contorted through the motions, gathering chakra in her abdomen before letting it wash out over her. There was a small puff of smoke and a moment later she could see her reflection in the pool change into the boy from before.

“Amazing!”, she shouted, leaping into the air with all she had as her fist shot skyward in victory. Midair the transformation failed in a puff of smoke and a flailing of limbs, Azami nearly falling onto her butt before scuttling closer to the pool, looking down at her own reflection once more.

“I don’t understand… I had it and then…”, she said as she watched her own perplexed face shimmer back at her.

Her instructor once again rubbed his face, knowing this would be a long day for him. There would be consequences for him as well if he failed to achieve his goals for her. “Your control is lack luster. You’ll never be able to hold a transformation with such imprecise control of your chakra. I was hoping we could work on the techniques only, but it appears that we must go back to basics first. Out on the water. Let’s go.”, he said, making a shooing motion with his fan towards the pool.

Once more, Azami found herself unable to perform as the instructor wished. Of course, she knew ninja could walk on water, but she wasn’t a ninja. “Excuse me Sensai, but I can’t do that.”

“Can’t!?”, he roared, pointing his fan at her accusingly. “What you can’t do is tell me what you can not do! You may not know how to yet, but you will, because I will teach you. You will tell me when you don’t know how to do something I request. Then I will teach you. Then you will do it? ARE WE CLEAR!?”, he finished screaming inches from her faces, their noses nearly touching.

“Y-yes s-sensai!”, she stuttered with as much gusto as she could, clearly not impressing the instructor.

“What was that? I thought you were going to become a ninja, not a fishmonger.”

“Yes Sensai! Please teach me, Sensai!”, she shouted back, as loudly as she could. He smiled, teeth like fangs. Yes, this one had spirit. He liked that.

“Water walking. For this one you don’t need any fancy hand seals, just something you don’t have yet: Control. You are going to gather chakra in your feet. Spread it evenly, then you are going to fall in the water. Everyone does their first time. Then we’ll do it again and again until you can stand atop the water. You may begin.”, his instruction complete, the instructor fell back to a set of bleachers, sitting down to watch the show begin.

Azami hadn’t thought to bring a towel to today’s lesson, something she lamented as she looked at the pool of water, pondering just how cold it might be. She could feel the eyes of the instructor boring into her, there would be no stalling. There would be no time to get a swim suit. Perhaps misery was to be part of the lesson. She gathered her chakra, willing it down to her feet. Invisible, the energy surged down like a lightning bolt. When she went to step off the deck and onto the water, her foot stuck instead. What followed was the most awkward tumble the instructor had ever seen someone take into the pool.

Azami waved her arms, trying to stabilize herself desperately as she started to pitch forward, the chakra sticking her foot to the floor straining until it snapped. It looked nearly like a slow-motion fall, except for the extreme arm flailing as she finally tumbled into the water. Her arm flailing turned into splashing as she struggled up to the top of the water, sodden clothing trying to drag her down as she pulled herself back over the ledge of the deck looking like a drowned rat. Across the deck, the instructor howled in laughter. His pointed, shark like teeth gleamed under the fluorescent lighting as he smacked his thigh, laughing harder than was polite at his student’s fumble.

She glared over at him, dark hair plastered to her face as she pushed herself up into a sitting position, getting to her feet uncomfortably. Seeing his student’s glare in his direction, he finally got himself under control.

“That was good. You’re already getting the hang of it. All you have to do is spread the chakra out and hold it steady. Also, don’t forget to balance.” She glared at him when he mentioned balance, her shark toothed instructor simply making a shooing motion with his fan before snapping it open, beginning to fan himself as he reclined in the bleachers.

Azami took a deep breath, allowing herself to calm down as she focused on her instructions. Mold chakra. Check. Send it down to the soles of the foot. … Check. Spread out the chakra. Take a step forward and don’t fall. Easy enough. She took one more deep breath before stepping out onto the water. Her foot began to sink in before bobbing back up to the surface, Azami smiling as she stepped out with the other foot. She began to waver, waving her arms to try and balance as she began to tilt backward.

“Balance with your chakra, not your arms!”, the instructor shouted just before she fell into the pool with a splash. He just shook his head, laughing a bit as he continued to fan himself.

Her fingers were wrinkly by the time she could stand and walk around on top of the water without falling in anymore. Further, she was shivering something fierce.

“Come in.”, he called to Azami, waiting for her to meet him on the deck before continuing. “I need you to dry off, eat, and change your clothes before you come back from lunch. You have ten minutes, starting one minute ago.”

“Huh...?”, she replied, as if she couldn’t have heard him right. Ten minutes was barely enough time to run to her apartment and back to the academy, let alone do all those other things.

“Your file mentioned you were behind average in your class at running, so I thought you’d enjoy training on your own time. You can thank me later. … Oh, and one more thing. If you are late or you don’t accomplish all your tasks, you’ll have to run laps after class. Enjoy your lunch!”, he finished, giving her a light push toward the exit, face a mask of misery as she sprinted hard for the door. She tore the door open only to be greeted by a hallway full of students who were already out for lunch. Her panicked eyes looked both ways before deciding that the only way through with enough time was to go over.

She took a quick run at the corner of the wall, pushing off one side as she gathered chakra in her feet as her instructor had shown her. Her other foot slammed into the opposite wall, sticking to it. She stumbled for a moment before balancing the chakra flow between her feet, running sideways atop the wall over the heads of the younger students as she headed for the door.

At the end of the hall she kicked off the wall, rolling over one shoulder as she hit the ground, bounding up and pushing the door out of the way as she tore down the path towards the next island over. Unlike the morning, the bridge was bustling with activity. Again, there would be no clear path. She would have screamed vitriol about her instructor, but she was already breathing hard. Instead, she buckled down to do what she had to do, run across the water.

She hit the water running, struggling to maintain balance as she contended with the small waves lapping against the shore of the academies island. The further she got out the bigger the surf became, Azami realizing she’d have to jump if she was going to make it past the next set. She crouched low, coiled like a snake ready to strike, leaping forward, legs pivoting underneath to come out in front of her. With the chakra between them, water sprayed up from both sides of her feet as the slid through the water like a pair of skis. The largest of the breakers out of her way, she finished the sprint over the swell, leaping up to run the side of the bridge instead of contending with the surf once again.

She struggled up the steps to her apartment, unlocking the door and stumbling inside with no grace as she panted to catch her breath. Changing into dry clothes didn’t take her but a minute, but it was a minute she couldn’t spare. She came to the fridge, pulling open the door quickly to get the lunch she needed to eat on the run. That’s when it hit her, all she had were the leftovers from this morning. If she ate them, it would be the last of what she brought from home, from Konoha.

Indecision struck, eyes searching frantically for anything else. When nothing came up, she reached for the morsels, but stopped half way. Her hand trembled, hovering in place before she at last reached out and took the box from the fridge. Her stomach growled, empty after her morning of hard training.

Azami took the box to the table, her time limit forgotten as she sat down and unwrapped the last bits of rice balls that remained. She picked them up carefully, bring each to her mouth before swallowing them down. All that remained was the empty wrapping. She looked down at it, eyes shimmering with tears. There wasn’t going to be anyone to be proud of her when she got home. There wasn’t even going to be anyone to remark, “Took you long enough.” Tonight, she would come home to an empty apartment, and every night thereafter.

By the time she made it back to the academy, she was incredibly late. Her sharp toothed instructor stood out front, waiting under a tree as she ran up between the manicured lawns.

“Well, I can see that the reports of your speed were understated. Come on, we have a lot of work to cover before you get to run laps.”, he lectured, not commenting on the tears he could see lingering in her eyes.

“Yes, Sensai…”, she replied, following him inside while looking down at her feet.

[836 words]
[3,483 words total]

“From now on, we train on the water to build up your stamina and control. Every time you fall in, you do a lap of the pool swimming and running. I suggest you fall in as little as possible. Now, Clone Technique. Sometimes you won’t be able to get your opponent to lower his guard. When that happens, you need to use other forms of deception to open your opponent to attack. The clone technique is one way to accomplish that feat. It creates false copies of yourself to confuse your opponent. You should be able to create two other copies you can then use to create a shell game of attacks but be careful. The clones don’t interact with the environment. That means no shadows, no footsteps, no interaction with anything physical. The ruse will have to be carried out quickly, because all it takes is a moment to spot the real deal. Thus, the name of the game is distraction and mind games. We’ll play upon their expectations and instincts to make the technique effective.”, the instructor finished as he stepped out onto the water in front of her, bringing his hands up to demonstrate the hand seals.

“Ram. Snake. Tiger. You’ll need to visualize what your clones will be doing. Unlike the transformation technique, we won’t be maintaining the illusion. This is strictly imagining and fire. You need to have their actions preplanned. This technique requires you to think ahead. Get used to that, because from now on it is going to decide whether you live or die.”, he finished his speech, letting the tiger hand seal drop as he pulled out his folding fan once more, fanning himself with the lacquered paper.

“Now I want you to try. Ram, Snake, Tiger.”, he spoke from behind fan, hiding his shark like teeth and jaw from view. Azami put her fingers through their paces, doing a few repetitions of the hand seals while she thought about what her clones would do. She’d start with something simple, using the clones like a shell game to swap places and launch an attack from the outside. Ram. Snake. Tiger. Chakra.

The one Azami standing atop the water turned to three, two more stepping out of the space she just occupied. Each began to draw a shuriken. The one in the center stood its ground while the one on the right went wide. She went wide and left. The one in the center threw first, followed by the right. The idea had been to allow herself the opening of watching which way her target dodged. By keeping the center clone in place, she knew there would be minimal opportunity to tell it was a fake. Only the lack of reflection would give it away, unlike the one to the right who should have disturbed the water with each step but didn’t. Illusory shuriken sheered through the air, the instructor standing still as both flew through his body with no effect. Could he be that good? She hesitated, holding back her own ninja star, unsure of what she should do next.

“Not bad.”, shark tooth spoke up, “but remember that this is all a shell game. It’s about speed and finesse. It won’t work on someone who is ready for it or who is much faster than you. They’ll spot your decoys for what they are and ignore them. That’s the end of our lesson today, which means it’s time for you to take ten laps around the academy. On your way out, stop by the library. I’ve had them set aside reading for you with instructions. I expect you’ll have finished the assigned chapters by the morning. Dismissed.”

Azami tucked the shuriken back into its holster, performing a quick bow to her new sensai before turning and jogging off the pool towards the exit. Ten laps of the academy were far less severe than she had expected. It made her think perhaps he had gone easy on her, something she was very thankful for as their training on the water had left her feeling somewhat drained and weak. The ten laps left her winded, heart thumping loudly in her eardrums as she stopped by the library to pick up her books.

“Excuse me… I was told by my Sensai that I was to pick up books before leaving tonight.”

“Name?”, the librarian responded monotonously.

“Uchiha Azami.”, she replied, trying to work up a smile despite her exhaustion.

“Azami-chan, yes, I have them right here.”, the kunoichi placing two thick volumes on the countertop with a note tucked inside the first. The bigger of the two was a Jutsu Encyclopedia written by a ninja whose name she didn’t recognize. The second was a volume titled The Human Body, The Ultimate Machine. She picked up the pair in both hands, hugging them to her chest.

“When are they do back?”, Azami inquired cheerily. The librarian gave her a quizzical look, sliding her glasses up further on the bridge of her nose.

“They are not on loan, Azami-chan. They are for your personal use and collection.”

Azami felt somewhat stunned, the librarian merely smiling back at her with shark’s teeth. The color drained out of Azami’s face as a fan flashed out into the woman’s hand, the familiar lacquered paper becoming displayed as she opened it with a flick of the wrist.

“Remember, not everything is as it appears.”, the woman’s voice changing to a man’s. She gulped, turning to leave with her books. The sign over the door that read ‘Library’ swirled and was replaced by another which read ‘Room 201’. As she walked out, she couldn’t help but reflect upon how much she had yet to learn. Perhaps that was precisely the lesson all along.

If she weren’t so tired, she might have bolted once she cleared the academy doors. Her instructor creeped her out so thoroughly that she still felt the chills running down her spine as she crossed the bridge back over to the island her apartment was on. A glance over her should did little to allay her concerns about being followed. Was that man a block back following her, or just walking in the same direction? When your pursuer could be anyone, everyone was a suspect.

Azami hurried through the streets like a frightened schoolgirl, which on reflection was exactly her current station in life. Though she had managed to stay out of the pool after lunch, she was still soaked from perspiration. The rapidly cooling evening air was like a freezer to her. If it wasn’t for her anxiety, she might have enjoyed it. As things stood, it just further raised the bumps running across her exposed skin. She hugged the books even tighter, eyes darting through the evening crowds as she crossed the street and entered her building.

Inside, the sounds of the festival quieted down. Where they once sounded cheery, now they were hyperstimulation. Every actor or dancer in a costume or mask could be an attacker, bur so could the ordinary people. Without knowing them all, it would be impossible to spot someone passing themselves off with a transformation technique. She fumbled with the keys for her front door, now more than ever wishing she was at home instead of in this foreign deathtrap.

The key finally turned into the lock, letting her inside to relative safety. She breathed a sigh of relief as she slumped back against the inside of the shut door, finally letting her heavy breathing devolve into a few sobs before she brought herself back under control. The sound of taiko drumming thrummed through the building dully, the accompanying flute’s high pitched shrill lost in the distance and clamor of the crowd. She knew she had to go back out there. There wasn’t anything left in the house to eat. If she didn’t eat before tomorrow, she knew there was no way she was making it through another day of intense training.

She showered, letting all the accumulated grime and tension of the day wash away under the hot water and steam. A quick bit of skincare and hygiene maintenance later and she was ready to start getting ready to head out. Choosing clothing was rather simple, as she only had a handful of outfits, most of them being the more activewear type clothing that was required of ninja. This evening however, she pulled out the one outfit that was nothing like that. The kimono was the light blue of the sky with flowers of fuchsia, pink, and purple with leaves of teal and green. She tousled her hair up, sliding a pair of chopsticks through to hold everything in place. A wide white obi with pale pink flowers held everything in place, Azami gathering up her accessories before heading back out into the streets.

As she stepped down off her steps and onto the sidewalk, she let an uneasy smile slide across her face. It wouldn’t do to run around like a scared rabbit forever, even if she felt that way now. It was time to be brave. It was time for dinner.

[Exit]

Claims:

Approved, but do make sure you do the required CD for Sharingan first tomoe when you claim the last 500 :) I didn't really read anything here that could be classified as 'Great Sorrow' (Wrong account, this is Valen)

[What do you mean by CD? I've been angling towards her isolation from clan and family as the loss for "great sorrow". I can certainly take it up another level, if need be. Sorry I PM'd you before I thought to simply reply...]