The brunette had to admit that she had stood there for more than just a minute, dumbfounded. It wasn't because the other girl, who she could now see had white hair, had acknowledged her, nor was it the fact that the other girl had a very interesting way of speaking. It was more so that Erika realized that she hadn't really met anyone new since becoming a genin. It was true that she had academy friends, classmates who she had grown close to whilst she was a student. But ever since they graduated, they had grown apart, most of the others had been assigned to different platoons. So, it took her a good minute before she could open her mouth to speak, the thought of actually interacting with someone that wasn't her immediate family made her feel a little awkward.
"Ah, I didn't mean to intrude!" She raised her hands in front of her and shook them side to side, her voice a pitch higher than it normally was. "I came here to do some training. I've been slacking off for some time now..." she gave Akira a small smile. "I didn't expect to see anyone here is all. Usually when I come nobody's here." That was indeed an honest fact, although she knew that she often chose the strangest of times to do training. It was only as she said this that her pink hues would truly take in the woman that was in front of her. The white hair was iconic, yes, but the woman was a beauty nonetheless. Erika walked over to her carefully, all of her four feet ten inch height made her feel slightly inferior. Akira was also older, at least from the way she looked, as though age and height really was of any significance.
"Would you like to do some...training together?" There was only one way she knew how two people would and could train together. Although she was not a fan of spars, she was also getting bored of her usual solo training sessions, dummies and trees could only do so much, if anything at all. From what she could see, Erika assumed that the other woman was quite strong. She assumed this of everybody she met. "I'm Erika, Erika Sato. Nice to meet you." The brunette was usually a lot less awkward than this, circumstances of encountering people really did play a part in how a person would carry oneself around another person, she guessed.
Erika knew that she could always count on her brother, even as she anxiously called out to him for help. He was a chuunin for one, and they were too close of brother and sister for him to do nothing. So, as the octopus enveloped her from head to toe in its tentacle like a cocoon, the girl would just hang tight, waiting for the man to save the day. She was confident in Hide's abilities, above all else, the man she knew wasn't one to let a slimy creature like that take her away. As she waited, she heard the splashing of water, judging from the sound of the splash, could not have been made by the octopus. And it was close enough in her proximity that she assumed it was not one of the other seven tentacles.
When he cut the tentacle that bound the girl, Erika gasped for air, a sigh of relief escaped her lips unconsciously. Even though she had expected Hide to save her, she couldn't mask her surprise at just how quickly he had managed to do so. As the tentacle that had bound her released its grip reluctantly from her body, Erika's eyes settled on the surroundings. Sudden fog had set in the area, in such a manner that was too abrupt and focused to be from a natural cause. Could this be the Hidden Mist jutsu? The brunette blinked a couple of times, having never seen this jutsu casted before. Her brother was a lot better than her, and never failed to amaze her.
Hide went ahead and caught her, the duo plunging into the waters. He took her a little distance from the sea creature. "I'm okay, onii-chan, thank you." The water clones had since dispersed, Erika having only caught a faint glimpse of one of them before they had disappeared. When will I get to that kind of level...she wondered to herself. Straightening from her position, she looked at the giant octopus dead in the eye. "That wasn't very nice, Mr. Tako!" She was a kid after all. Turning to Hide, she would whisper. "I'll take the left and you take the right? Let's finish this thing off once and for all." The creature sent two of its remaining tentacles straight, one towards Erika and one towards Hide. The girl jumped to the left, knowing that her brother had most likely done the same. She pulled a kunai from her weapon pouch, watching the octopus's movements before attacking again.
Eri’s true passion, she started to develop an interest in it even before she became a shinobi, hoping to one day be able to help others who are injured from fights. As quite a clumsy individual, she often gets hurt so she has learned how to how to sterilize wounds, the basics to iryo-ninjutsu. She hopes to one day be able to learn how to make and heal others from poison and their effects, spending a lot of her time reading medical books to gain the theory she needs to do so.
Medical Ninjutsu [Iryo-Ninjutsu] [Apprentice]
Eri's true passion, she had started her journey to becoming a medical nin well before she entered the academy, watching and learning from the sidelines at hospitals. She has learned to sterilize wounds and to heal small cuts and bruises, having healed herself a few times from sword wounds. The extent of her skill lies in light wounds from weapons. She spends a lot of her free time reading books on poisons and elixirs, trying to learn as much as she can in all facets of medicine.
Erika watched as her father gingerly dabbed a toe into the water, smiling a little at his rather careful nature. It was not every day that she could see her father take on the student role, her eyes traveling for a moment to Hide. It seemed that the brother and sister were on the same wavelength, although there was probably more to it that was going on between the two men. She gave a small sigh, her eyes shifting back to Jun. It would seem that his first attempt would flop, his feet sinking into the waters. The second time proved to be a lot more successful, possibly from the amount of focus he was now giving to chakra control. It was easier said than done, after all, elemental ninjutsu being of the most difficult proficiencies to develop and train for, especially because it required such finite chakra control.
But surface walking was one of the fundamental jutsu for suiton, which at a jounin level, Erika knew that her father wouldn't have too much trouble. If anything, she thought that he overthought the whole process. If he exercised as much discipline as he wanted his children to when they trained, this should be a piece of cake. "You can do it..." she mumbled under her breath, almost as concerned as Jun was about his success. When he seemed to stay afloat, she would give him a big smile, clapping her hands together. "You did it! You di--" And she had spoken too soon, for the next second, the water from underneath her father would be disrupted. Erika hadn't been paying attention to Hide to notice that he was the mastermind behind this though, which was to his luck.
"Onii-chan! Come help me!" She was already trying to reach her hand out to her father, missing him as he plunged into the depths of the waters. Her arm would have been too short nonetheless, her outstretched hand grasped the air as she pulled back, her head turning rapidly towards her brother. Thankfully he had the same thought as her, coming to her side of the boat railing, She wondered if her father could swim! Erika had forgotten if the family ever went swimming or out to these kinds of water activities together before. Her voice a little frantic, she called to Jun. "Otou-san!" She prayed that his head would reappear from under water soon, the prospect of him drowning left a sickening feeling in her stomach.
It had been more than just a minute since Erika stepped foot in the shinobi academy. She remembered her days there as a student, when there was nothing else to worry about except for her studies. It wasn't quite the same now, her endless training sessions and missions taking up most of her days. Not to mention, there was the expectations from her father. Although he wasn't at all too overbearing like some of her other friends' parents were, Jun was a jounin, and it was expected that both her and Hide would follow in his footsteps, one way or another. The young girl was more for the adventure, preferring to go on missions than spending long hours training.
Not to mention, she really hated training by herself.
And so, she now found herself at the entrance of the academy, on an otherwise beautiful day. Erika had decided before going to bed the night before that she was going to do some training, but had quickly dreaded doing it by herself. She had thought about training in the forest or her usual spot by the ocean. But it all seemed too mundane and boring. So, she decided that she was going for a change of scenery, and hoped that maybe she could find a teacher from the academy to help her. It was always better to have a partner than not, after all. The brunette walked through the hallways of the ever-so familiar building, where she had spent almost every day of three years trying to learn the fundamentals. A voice called out to her suddenly from behind, almost making the girl jump. "Sato! Didn't expect to see you here!"
The voice belonged to none other than Kobayashi-sensei, one of her teachers at the academy. He was an excellent taijutsu user and had spent much time after classes teaching her. "Kobayashi-sensei! Long time no see!" She smiled ear to ear at the sight of her teacher. Erika couldn't help but admit that she liked her sensei a lot, and had enjoyed getting private tutoring lessons from him at the academy when everyone else had gone home. This was also because she had not been the greatest student in taijutsu, her interests and proficiencies lay elsewhere at the time. "What brings you here?" The raven-haired man walked up to the girl, putting a hand on her head and ruffling her hair. She blushed a little as she explained about her training day. The man thought for a second, before replying, "I have class soon and won't be finished until later so I don't think I can train with you today. But, I know that the training grounds are used by shinobi all the time. In fact, I think there are a couple of them using it right now. Maybe you can find yourself a partner there?"
The training grounds at the back of the academy was a place she often visited as a student. She knew that there were dummies there for students to practice all kinds of techniques and proficiencies. Erika herself often used them for bukijutsu training. since she didn't always have a sharp eye for nailing her targets on the first try. The brunette nodded her head and bid her teacher farewell reluctantly. She could use some extra taijutsu training from him, she thought to herself, making her way to the fields. She had just turned the corner when she saw that there was another person already training with the dummies in the fields. Maybe this person was one of the people her teacher had mentioned. Erika quietly made her way onto the field, as not to disturb the other person and would wait to be acknowledged before making any kind of contact.
But the giant octopus wasn't going to let Erika and Hideyoshi have their way quite just yet. The senbon had missed its target, which Hideyoshi had already thought would happen. Erika saw what her brother was doing, her head turning for a second to acknowledge that he was trying to help her stabilize the giant creature so that she could land on its head. But the octopus proved to be a little more sly than that, seeing the girl coming at her, it would lash out one of its eight tentacles, trying to wrap it tightly around her small frame. Height gave her the advantage, as she hurled the shuriken that was in her hand toward the octopus's eyes. She weaved a series of handseals, trying to shunshin away from the octopus.
But she wasn't particularly good at ninjutsu, even academy techniques. It took her more concentration and focus than she willed herself to admit. Her pink hues were taken off the creature for just a moment, at the very moment that Hideyoshi had weaved his own handseals to bring the creature up and then abruptly down onto the waters. This in turn had helped the creature, two tentacles shot at the brother and sister duo. The first one coiled itself tightly around Erika, wrapping itself from her neck down like a cocoon. The brown-haired girl tried to break free, but the tentacle only wrapped around her tighter, trying to suffocate and crush her. She winced under the pressure, everything but her head was free from its grasps.
The octopus stared at the girl with giant eyes, blinking once or twice as it brought its prey close. There was not much she could do at this point, wriggling herself free was more than impossible. The girl looked to her brother, reluctant to call on him for help. She had wanted to show him what she was capable of and in all rashness got herself caught up in the coils of this ugly thing. "Onii-chan!" she yelled, knowing that this wasn't the time to be heroic and narrowminded. Erika had misjudged the creature and its intelligence, as she let out a scream while the tentacle around her tightened another fraction. "Onii-chan, help me!" Her voice was an octave higher than usual as she struggled to free herself.
Erika smiled sheepishly at her father, knowing that he meant well, even though there was an obvious disconnect between him and the brother and sister. She made a face and grimaced at Hide's comment about the Kirigakure culture. If there was one thing she didn't like about her village, it was that they had such dirty waters. They were the hidden mist, supposedly with more bodies of water than most of the other villages and yet they were not pretty or presentable at all. How could her village people be able to live with that? But then again, she imagined that she was the only one who would care enough about how water looked aesthetically than anything else. Most of the others, including her brother probably, saw water as a weapon that they could use in times of need. Nobody cared how the water looked.
The girl would be equally surprised at seeing Jun's facial expression. She had never seen him give such a look. Was it one of frustration? There was definitely a hint of it, which she couldn't blame the man since he had only just told them not to jump into the water and they had ignored him. In fact, she had expected him to yell at them, as that was what parents did. The lack of a real scolding had caught her off-guard too. But there was something else in that expression she now displayed to the siblings. Before she could put a finger on it, Jun would relieve her from having to guess. It seemed that he wanted them to teach him something, or rather, wanted Hide to. She exchanged a brief glance with her big brother, the same thought running through her head as their gaze met for a brief second. Their Jounin father wanted to learn something from them? That sounded ridiculous even in her mind.
But she saw that Hide had taken the man up for his offer, possibly enjoying the idea of getting to teach him something, or the fact that Jun was actually asking for help. No matter, she watched as he performed the necessary handseals to still the water before asking her to demonstrate. Surface walking was really fun even though it had taken her days to learn. She nodded her head and made her way to where the boat was. Erika climbed into the boat rather clumsily, her height once again failing her. She looked like a mess as she stood up, facing her father. "The trick is in chakra concentration, Otou-san. It has to be a constant stream of chakra. If you lose your concentration, you'll end up falling into the water." The girl made it to the edge of the boat where the water had been stilled.
"Watch this!" She lifted her arms out, stretching them like they were wings. All the while, her chakra was being concentrated and pushed towards the balls of her feet. As she literally almost stepped off the edge of the boat, the chakra would push from the chakra points of her feet, allowing her to step off and onto the water without plunging into its depths. She felt like one of those people at the circus who walked on tightropes. In fact, it was kind of like this, even though this was much less dangerous. Erika took ten steps on the water before turning around and walking back to the boat. The chakra flow never broke its momentum from underneath her feet. As she reached the boat once more, she would smile at her father. "Now it's your turn, Otou-san!"
The scenery doesn't change; on the faded afternoon I'm lying in the deep indigo beneath the overpass. I hear a single clap for my blank-page life.
[attr="class","Rose"]
[attr="class","Tea"]@mokoto
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!"
Under any normal circumstance, she would have greeted her brother with a little more enthusiasm, but even as he materialized to where the children were still innocently playing, she would only nod at his instruction. It would seem that he had used a shunshin technique, which technically she now realized she could have done. It would have saved her from a lot of running. But no matter, there was no time for any second thoughts as the water continued to churn, whatever that was lurking in the waters making its way closer and closer to the riverbank. She would reach the other two children in a matter of a few seconds, picking up speed while shifting her gaze from the river to the children.
"Don't move!" The girl would wrap her arms around the children, one around each arm and jump out of the way. They gave her the same response that the others had given Hide, shrieking in fright. "Run as fast as you can with your friends, go!" Her voice was stern, calling to the children while they made their way back into the forest and towards the village. It must be frightening, having been playing near the riverbank only moments ago and the next they were fleeing for their lives. Turning to face her brother now, she would give him a slightly mischievous smile. "Nice of you to join me, onii-chan!" Unlike her brother, she was actually excited to have something to do, not knowing that this was actually a mission. She thought that he had happened to just be at the same place at the same time.
Reaching inside her weapon pouch, she found a kunai from within and clasped it tightly in her left hand, her head spinning to the creature that was now coming out from the water. "Looks like we're about to be graced with its presence..." she mumbled half to herself. The girl would run towards the riverbank, at where the start of what would seem to be the head of the sea creature began to emerge from the waters. "Sorry to crash on your grand entrance..." she said a little louder. The brown-haired girl pivoted to the left, skidding to a stop, jumping into the air. She was going to try and ride the creature, possibly try to land on its head. She pulled out the kunai that she had been hiding from her pouch, her right hand reaching for a shuriken. "It's a tako! We can maybe make takoyaki!" The girl was feeling especially mischievous today, secretly thanking the giant octopus that had emerged from under the water for relieving her boredom. 'Mr. Tako, let's have some fun!" giggling as she keyed in on landing on its head.
At Jun's words, Erika had hesitated, stopping in her tracks. She was still not used to this fatherly and protectiveness that he was displaying. It was perhaps because they had always been so distant, doing their own things. They lived in the same house, yes, but otherwise, they lived pretty separate lives. She had become used to it, knowing that shinobi families where parents and children were all shinobi tended to be this way. Most of them were always training or going on missions so it was not really possible to be close knit unless you happened to be the house at the same time as your family long enough to sit down and have dinner, for example. This was probably why Hide and Erika were closer, because even though they were not really always in the same house, they found time to spend with each other, even if it meant that they pranked each other more often than having actual conversations.
She was still deep in thought when Hide gracefully descended into the waters, taking her with him. The initial surprise of falling overboard was mixed with the chilling waters. Erika struggled a little, as her head made contact with the surface of the water first. She immediately closed her eyes, the stinging of the water if it got into them was hard for her to bear. The girl allowed the coldness to surround her, to envelope her like a blanket. Within a few moments, she would be comfortable enough to open her eyes, her pink hues making contact with the murky waters. She had forgotten that what met the eye from the surface looking down was different from what the reality was, as she was strangely disappointed by how lackluster the waters seemed.
Erika grabbed hold of Hide's hand a little tighter, glad that he was trying to help her up to the surface after he had made it there. As she ascended, she took a moment to breathe, making a disgusted face at Hide. "This river needs a draining....and it smells..." She punched her brother lightly on the arm. "And what did you do that for, Onii-chan? You scared me!" Turning to her father, who was still on the boat, she called out "Otou-san should come and join us too! It's quite refreshing." Erika gave him a big smile
The scenery doesn't change; on the faded afternoon I'm lying in the deep indigo beneath the overpass. I hear a single clap for my blank-page life.
[attr="class","Rose"]
[attr="class","Tea"]@mokoto
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 hummed a soft tune under her breath as she saw near her brother on the boat. It was a melody she had heard one of the younger children humming on the streets the other day, while she was walking aimlessly and trying to look productive. Since graduating from the academy, she had to admit that her progress in training and in overall productivity for the village had come to a stagnant halt, something that she wouldn't have been too concerned about had her father not brought it up at that particular moment. And here she thought it was going to be a nice and fun trip, with some quality family bonding time...she thought to herself, glancing first at her father and then at Hideyoshi. The way he gave her a small smile when their eyes met, she could tell that he wanted to be anywhere but there.
She shifted over a little closer to her big brother, a hand reached out to pat his hand lightly. One, two, three small pats on the back of his hand as she looked at him, her smile genuine as she tried to display that she was indeed grateful that he was putting up with this outing. Erika genuinely missed spending time with Jun and Hide, although more the latter than the former. Jun always seemed so scary and distant to her, and this was definitely not something that could be rectified by buying a huge boat for a supposed 'fishing trip'. No matter, she retracted her hand and stared out into the waters, continuing to hum her tune. Her feet dangled as she kicked to the beat of her melody. It was merely because she couldn't reach the bottom of the boat with her short legs, all of her four foot ten height making her seem more child-like than she actually was.
Well...she was a child though...
"How's your training coming along?" the question had been met with a bit of an elongated silence, from both brother and sister it seemed. Erika thought for a moment before speaking, her head cocked to one side as she looked up to stare at her father. "It's been....it's been..." she struggled to find the word that to finish the sentence. Her right hand touched the back of her head as she touched her own hair, a meek smile forming on her lips. "....nice?" She wasn't even sure if that made any sense, but it was vague enough. She quickly turned her head to face her brother, a mischievous smile now replaced the innocent one she had given Jun only seconds ago. "Hehe...Onii-chan, I have a better idea!" She reached out her hand that had been rubbing the back of her head and grabbed a hold of Hide's arm. "Wanna go for a swim?" her eyes brightened as she whispered softly under her breath so that Jun couldn't hear her next statement. "It beats fishing...!" And with that, the girl would take her brother along with her to the edge of the boat, trying to throw them both overboard.
The sound of a pebble dancing across the surface of the water broke the otherwise quiet atmosphere. A girl sat at the riverbank, staring absent-mindedly into the clear blue waters. She had been sitting there for a good half an hour, the most she had ever stayed still at any given moment out of the watchful eye of her father. Erika frowned, picking up another rock from nearby and tossing it a little more roughly into the river. She wanted to see the pebble jump far, and yet for the past half an hour, she had only managed to make it jump two or three times before it fell into the water's grasps. She was beginning to lose patience, tapping one foot as the pebble plunged into the water without even giving her one jump.
How annoying...
But what really bothered her wasn't the fact that the rocks weren't doing their job, but more so that she had nothing better to do than to sit here and try to make pebbles dance. She could go on a mission, but the prospect of having to go alone always scared her. Erika had wanted to go with Jun, or even her brother, but neither of them seemed to be free to pay her much mind recently. What exactly were they so busy doing anyway? The brunette pouted to herself, her pouting reflection staring back at her as she looked into the waters. Many people would die to have as much free time as she did, to enjoy the scenic views of Kiri and do a good load of nothing, but she was restless. As would any eleven-year old be, no doubt.
"I'M SO BORED!" she yelled into the river, standing up from her seated position. She knew that the waters wouldn't be able to answer her, but she was more than just a little annoyed now. Erika kicked some of the pebbles in front of her into the river. She could do some training, as the natural water source was right in front of her. Or she could go for a swim...the girl looked down at her clothes and shook her head. She was wearing a yukata, one of her favorite ones. It was made of cotton, in pink and white, her favorite colors. She couldn't risk getting her clothes wet, if not because it was her favorite one, she had nothing to change into if she did get them wet. Erika wasn't in a training mood either, her eyes glancing along the river bank as she contemplated what to do with her time.
And as though to answer her, the waters began to churn. It wasn't where she was standing though, a few feet away along the left side of the water bank, she noticed that a group of children were playing. From the distance, she could see that the children were just a little younger than her, a group of four. They were playing tag, a simple running game that Erika loved to play with her friends from time-to-time. But what had caught her attention was not the innocent child's game. She saw the waters move, a few feet into the river where the children were playing. At first she thought it was a whirlpool, or maybe it was just a slightly bigger fish, as Kiri was notorious for animals under the sea. But this was something different...something in her gut told her.
"Hey kids! Get away from there!" she called out to the children, dashing towards them. Although she wasn't sure what exactly was in the waters below, she had learned from a long time ago to trust her instincts. Especially when her instincts told her it was something bad. The kids didn't hear her though, which was probably normal since her yelling voice wasn't exactly the loudest. Her pink hues glanced from the children to the water, hoping that whatever it was that was lurking would at wait for her to get there. She couldn't possibly bear to see any of the children be harmed.
The scenery doesn't change; on the faded afternoon I'm lying in the deep indigo beneath the overpass. I hear a single clap for my blank-page life.
[attr="class","Rose"]
[attr="class","Tea"]@mokoto
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.
Going up the mountain for the sake of drawing a picture of the landscape had lost its charm as quickly as it had built itself in her head. Erika was a child after all, not that her age was any excuse to not do something mature at least from time to time. She looked at the painting materials in her hand, blinked a couple of times innocently, before stopping, almost in the middle of the road. Even though she had lost interest in climbing up mountains, she hadn't completely given up on the idea of painting. The brunette loved to paint, probably the only pass time she had that didn't involve another human or something action packed. It was very unlike her to sit down for hours somewhere to draw pictures, and this could be seen by just how new her art supplies still seemed. No matter, she had decided that she would walk around the village until she found a place worthy of being remembered on a canvas.
The sound of her rumbling stomach put all her other thoughts on hold, her head turning left and right as she scanned the village streets. She was notorious for eating, and loved it just as much as jumping around and playing with her brother. If she was hungry, the sentiment would not be ignored, and she would do anything to quench her hunger before going about her day. Yes, meals were very important, perhaps too important. Erika closed her eyes and took in the aromas from the various food stalls and restaurants. She was unsure what she wanted to eat. Savory? Sweet? Spicy? As she stood there trying to decide what she was craving, a sudden thought came to her mind. I'll just a little of everything! The girl giggled with pure happiness as she half ran, half danced towards one of her favorite food stalls, that sold a variety of different foods.
"Can I have two pork steamed buns, fried fish with sweet and spicy sauce and one bowl of white rice?" The girl would call to the vendor as she sat down at an empty table. The stall was a small place, cozy, and could house a maximum of eight people at a time. Her pink hues scanned the area and saw that it was quite empty, perhaps the people who wanted to eat breakfast had already done so and lunchtime was still a little bit away. The man behind the stove gave Erika a quizzical look, as though doubting whether a girl her height and weight could eat everything she ordered. If only he knew...she smiled to herself, anxiously waiting for her brunch to arrive. Her favorite food was fish, especially fried fish. She hummed a little tune under her breath while she waited, the smell of freshly baked steamed buns filled the air.
Drumming her fingers gently on the tabletop, she thought about the places that she could paint a picture of.
