The sound of quiet footsteps echoed through the Sato manor.

At least they were not as loud as the last few times Erika had tried to steal away from the house. Although she was shy and much of a homebody, the brunette had her moments, moments reflecting her age. Yes, she was eleven years old after all, a mere child in the eyes of any adult. She was used to being watched by her father or her brother, prohibiting her from going out alone. And as all children would feel at some point in their lives, she felt quite repressed. With repression came a strong desire to be free, which only heightened the more she was repressed. It was a vicious cycle, but one that she was sure every person would have to go through until the day they became "real adults.'

She tiptoed her way carefully along the hardwood floors, careful of putting too much of her weight so as to creak the boards. By now Erika had mastered the art of tiptoeing, which with the help of her naturally slender frame, made it much easier to accomplish. She peaked into the large foyer-like room, where her father or her brother usually were sitting if they were not doing some kind of training, in their own respective rooms or out on missions. Her pink pupils blinked once and then twice as she saw that there was no one there. Lucky! She almost let out a giggle, stopping herself midway only because she remembered that she was supposed to be stealthy. The girl continued past the large room, down the hall, glancing right and left for any signs of human activity that could possibly make her feat a failure. After a couple of seconds, she breathed out a soft sigh as she realized that there was no one in sight.

Hurrying out of the house, the girl almost made a run for the village streets, careful not to bump into strangers along the way. It was a crowded street, perhaps even more crowded than usual given the time of day. Merchants and vendors were busy trying to get passerby to buy whatever they were selling, children were playing on the street and almost every adult she could see was in a hurry. Such was the life of all Kiri people, she thought to herself, wondering if there were ever people who just came out of their houses to go on a pleasant stroll, or in her case, to go out on an adventure. Her eyes glanced at the bustling people, not at all comfortable with the crowd. Maneuvering through it seemed like a torturous event. Glancing up, her eyes almost shone as an idea popped into her head.

She was going to take to the rooftops.

Rooftop travel was not uncommon in Kiri. In fact, it was perhaps the fastest and most preferred way of getting from point A to point B for shinobi. And she was a shinobi now, after all, an excited expression danced across her face. It would take her quite some time to finally jump onto a rooftop, her height being something that made it more trying and complicated. But the scenery from above made it worth every obstacle. She looked at the crowd of people from one of the rooftops, her shortness no longer prohibiting from seeing, as she made her way carefully along one roof, before jumping onto the next one. It was like a game to her, and the more she did this, the more confident she became. Soon, she was breezing along the street, her movements picking up momentum. Erika had no destination in mind, hoping to do something more exciting than being at home. Erika remembered that there was river in the village, a river that was quite beautiful on a sunny day like this one. She loved water, loved the sound of waves, loved its clear and glistening properties, and most importantly, loved diving into it.

Perhaps a swim wouldn't be too bad!

The girl descended from the rooftops, having made it through most of the crowd that had intimidated her. She walked towards the river, a place that she had gone so many times by now that she committed its location to memory. Erika picked up the pace, the thought of being able to go swimming made her more than excited. She had wanted to ask her brother to join her, but he never seemed to be around for her to extend an invitation. As she neared the river, she heard a woman shouting. At first she thought that she was disciplining some kids, the tone she used was rather rough. But, as she inched closer along the shore, she could see...a pack of dogs? Kawaii!!!!! Erika almost shrieked, dogs being her favorite animals. The kunoichi loved petting them, playing with them whenever she got the chance. She wondered what the woman was doing though, walking closer towards her. Erika was now a few feet behind the woman, hoping her presence wouldn't alarm the woman nor the dogs.

The girl should have been more startled at the circle of dogs that now came running towards her, stopping just shy of her ankles and circling her body excitedly. Erika hadn't seen many dogs, especially near her house, so it was not a bother to her at all that the canines were running around her feet. She even giggled, kneeling down to pet them as they tried to be acquainted. The brunette would spend a few moments doing just this, completely forgetting the other woman, who she now assumed were the owners of the dogs. Yet, it seemed so interesting to her that the woman had so many dogs. Erika had heard of people owning one or two as pets...but this many? And there was also something about the animals that made them...different? She couldn't really pinpoint exactly where the difference lay, but for the moment, she would be content with having some company.

"They seem so friendly and kind, not like the other dogs that I've seen in the village..." She stood up from her kneeling position, this time her full attention would be on the woman. "Ah, where are my manners...my name is Erika. Sato Erika." The girl's voice was slightly softer now, a tad more timid than when she had made the off-handed comment about the animals. She was shy after all, and very introverted. The idea of her even speaking to someone she didn't know seemed like such a farfetched idea. And it would have been, had she not recently become a shinobi. Erika had promised her father that once she graduated from the academy, she would try to build her self confidence and self esteem, both of which would take a lot of work, she knew.

"Are you...training them?" Her pink hues lifted momentarily from the woman and glanced down at the canines, who had by now gotten used to her presence. The initial excitement from seeing someone new had all but faded and they would return to where their master was. Erika wished she could get a dog. "And...I'm sorry for intruding if you...you were training them..." Her voice trailed, her words barely reaching the stranger as she spoke above a whisper. There would be a short awkward silence that followed, and Erika would find her eyes resting once more on the animals. They were too cute to ignore, and half of her wanted to run over there and pet them again.

But it would be rude...if not weird...

At the mention of her father's name, her eyes locked onto Makoto's. So, this woman knows him? She wondered if they were friends, but judging from the way she spoke of him, Erika could guess that they were. The brunette nodded her head. "Yes, he is my father." she said in a matter-of-fact voice. "Are you and him close?" This was possibly the first time she had heard anyone other than her brother mention about him, so she was naturally a little more curious about their relationship. She then turned her attention back on the puppies, her eyes brightened as she watched them chase each other in the waters. "Oh, so you are a dog trainer...?" Erika had never met an Inuzuka and knew very little about the clans and their abilities. She had heard a couple of things about some kekkei genkai's from her father, but nothing extensive enough for her to really say she knew much about them.

"They are really full of energy." Erika giggled as she watched them play, splashing water everywhere. She could understand that teaching animals how to behave and stuff could be exhausting, although she didn't have much experiencing doing it. "Suiton?" The girl cocked her head to the side at the mention of the water release. "Ninjutsu is really confusing, I think. I only recently discovered Suiton and it's already giving me a headache..." She was not one to admit when she was having trouble with something, and yet she had just admitted that she had problems with ninjutsu. Unlike taijutsu which was only how well she could use her physical body during a fight, ninjutsu required an immense amount of chakra control, which didn't come without some extensive training. And for some, this extensive training could be much more than for others, depending how just how naturally talented they were in the art. Erika was more skilled at iryo-ninjutsu, however it was because of this that she had come better levels of chakra control than perhaps those who focused more on taijutsu.

"Maybe I can teach you what I know about it, but I am really not that skilled in it myself. My brother Hide is much better than me..." Although she had not really seen either Hideyoshi or Jun use suiton in a fight, she assumed that they were naturally better than her. In the academy, her teachers had always found her to be too much of a perfectionist, which in turn hindered progress. She gave Makoto a genuine smile. "All I know how to do is spit water and surface walk so far. Like I said, it's not much." Her attention would once more fall on the canines, wishing that she could run around like them in the water too. "Your dogs are so cute too, by the way! Do they all have names? I've always wanted a dog..." She caught herself before going off on a tangent, realizing that she had probably spoken too much now, which surprised even herself.

Erika couldn't and wouldn't hide the fact that she was amazed at just how many names Makoto listed off of her tongue as she talked about her canines. She had not expected the woman to list off so many, or to even remember all of them, since if it were her, she would probably have stopped remembering their names and listed them off as numbers or something. "Wow I'm jealous! It must be nice to have so many dogs to keep you company!" The girl was obviously missing the point that the Inuzuka was a clan that uses their dogs to fight rather than just keeping them as pets. A hint of loneliness could be heard in her voice, loneliness that could only come from a girl who lacked attention and companionship.

"Oh yes, spitting water is a little less difficult than surface walking." Although she had learned both shortly after graduating from the academy, she had spent a lot less time practicing the former technique. In fact, she felt that surface walking required much more constant practice and training. Her teacher had once told her that the more she practiced, the more variations she would be able to accomplish, like skating on ice, which in some colder climates could be very useful. "I usually just spit water in my big brother's face." She smiled mischievously, recalling the countless of times she had spat water in Hide's face ever since she learned the technique. "The focus is the same I think even if the place in your body that you're focusing on is different," Erika continued, pondering over the actual jutsu now that she had turned her attention back to Makoto.

"It's really a three step process. First, mold your chakra and concentrate it to your mouth. Since you're spitting it out from there, obviously the chakra needs to be there. Second is the handseals. The handseals for the jutsu are Rabbit, Dog, Ox, Dragon. Once you have both of those down, then it is as simple as handseals first, and then releasing the chakra from your mouth." She admitted that she wasn't very good at teaching people. She thought for a moment, realizing that the best way was to demonstrate how to do it. Demonstrations spoke much more than just words. "I'll show you, it might be easier that way." Erika turned her head to face the water, not wanting to spit water into Makoto's face. She could feel her chakra coarse through her veins as she performed the handseals for the technique, in rapid succession.

Rabbit, Dog, Ox, Dragon

She would slow down the process of making the handseals so that Makoto could see each one clearly. Then she opened her mouth, a single bullet of water would escape from her mouth. She turned her head to look at the woman and gave her a smile, the bullet landed into the water before them. "It's really fun and simple, you should give it a shot too. Once you have the basic jutsu down, you can change the size of the bullet and even how many bullets you can make at one time. It's all about the chakra control." She couldn't wait to see what the Inuzuka was capable of doing, stealing glances at her dogs that were still playing in the water from time to time. "Your turn!"