Onward [P]

The rain had not let up in the slightest since the morning. Nearly twelve hours earlier she had pushed her way into the Kirigakure’ grand academy and signed up for the chuunin exams. Yes, dear reader, you read that correctly; Asami Miyamoto signed up for the chuunin exams and chuunin exams in Konohagakure no less. All day her thoughts jumped between a land of green and the thrill of battle that awaited her, it was nice to have something to look forward to.

There was, however, one thought she dutifully avoided, thoughts of her parents. Kenchi and Ai understood that their daughter was a shinobi but did not like to think about it if they could avoid it. They dreaded the day their only child would have to square off against her peers in the Mist’s blood games. Of course, they never openly expressed their fears to Asami, but she often caught sidelong glances and hastily concluded conversations. She could put two and two together; her parents would not want to hear the news that so excited her. Sure, they would smile and encourage her, but she knew these weren’t their true feelings.
The front door felt heavier than it normally did as she stepped in out of the rain. All at once the cool night air gave way to the familiar warmth of home and the smell of rice. Slipping off her shoes, she moved through the halls as quietly as she could. Unfortunately, her mother’s sharp ear heard her before she could reach the refuge of the bathroom and a warm shower.

“Asami?” the light musical voice of her mother’s voice drifted from the kitchen. “Where have you been all day?”

The young girl poked her head into the kitchen.

“Training, mom,” she replied with a shrug. “I’m going to take a shower.”

Her mother’s cool blue eyes glanced up from the stove and at her only daughter.

“Alright, honey. Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes so don’t take too long.”

Asami nodded and offered a weak smile before heading off to the bathroom. Closing the bathroom door firmly behind her she let out a breath. Thankfully, her father wasn’t home yet. If her mother had excellent hearing, her father had an uncanny amount of empathy. He would have seen past his daughter’s façade with ease.

Stripping off her soaking wet clothes, she left them on the floor and stepped into the shower. With a turn of the knob to the right hot water washed over her in a soothing wave. Taking care to wash her hair lost track of time staring up at the ceiling. There wasn’t anything special about the ceiling or even anything remotely interesting about it, but that didn’t matter, she had long lost herself in thought.

How am I supposed to tell them about the exams?

A loud knock on the bathroom door pulled the young genin out of her own head.

“Honey, dinner’s ready and your dad’s home,” her mother’s voice sounded muffled through the door. “Time to wrap it up.”

“I’ll be there in a sec, mom!”

Basking in the warm water for a few seconds more, she then reluctantly cut off the flow of water. Stepping out of the shower and into a towel, she made her way over to the mirror. Wiping the condensation from the glass she glanced at her reflection, forced a smile, and stooped down to pick up her clothes.

Stepping into the hall a chill went down her spine, if she had the choice she would have remained in the shower for another hour. Tossing her clothes in the laundry she went to her bedroom. A few minutes later she emerged wearing a dry pair of plaid pajamas. She did not want to face her parents, but her feet now brought her to the kitchen of their own accord—she had no realistic ‘out’.

“Asami!” her dad exclaimed while setting the table. “You aren’t going to believe what we caught today.”

Kenchi, her father, lived for fishing.

“Squid?”

“Did you tell her?” Kenchi glanced at his wife crestfallen.

“No, I didn’t tell her a thing.”

“I was down by the docks earlier today,” Asami took at a seat along with her parents. “Roku told me they had been catching a whole bunch of squid.”

The conversation devolved from here as the family of three began to eat. They spoke of little things. Ai about the latest neighborhood gossip, Kenchi waxed poetic about squid, and Asami talked about her latest mission. All in all, everything felt normal. However, as the food began to disappear, Asami knew she had to bring up the topic she should have broached before.

“So…I also went to the academy earlier today,” she started.

“Oh? You didn’t mention you had any new missions,” her father commented idly as he picked at the last of his rice. Her mother remained silent.

“Well…I was going to pick up another mission,” she hesitated here before continuing in a jumble of words. “But there were do many people there and they were just standing around and I found out they were offering the chuunin exams and, well, I kind of…sort of…signed up.”

She winced in spite of herself and for a split second after she finished speaking silence reigned—her parents exchanged sidelong glances.

“That’s great, honey,” her mother took the lead. “When are they?”

“Well, that’s the thing…I’m not too sure, but they’re in Konohagakure.”

“Konohagakure?” her father asked unable to keep the relief from his voice. “That is great.”

The atmosphere lightened from there. The three continued to chat deep into the night. They avoided talking about the actual battle aspect of the exams and instead focused on the travel part. Kenchi recounted the time he had visited the Leaf village. Both Ai and Asami had heard all his stories before, but they enjoyed them nonetheless. In the end it hadn’t turned out nearly as bad as Asami had initially feared.

“Good night.”

“Night.”

“Good night.”

Kenchi and Ai shuffled off to their bedroom and Asami to hers. She could hear her parents speaking in excited tones and she was sure if she focused she might be able to eavesdrop, but she restrained herself. Instead, closed her door behind her and slipped into bed. Pulling the covers up to her chin, she closed her eyes and once more began to imagine the world that awaited her across the sea.

She found herself thinking back to her conversation with Hikari. The woman’s words stuck with Asami, ‘green everywhere’. Even the thought of it tickled her imagination, maybe she would climb a tree? Krigakure had trees, but palm trees did not really lend themselves to climbing. If her research from her academy days was worth anything then there would definitely be trees worth climbing. Hell, there’d be people’s faces carved into a mountain.

This was going to be good.

Soon what were once coherent thoughts slurred into darkness and then from darkness into vivid dreams. She dreamed of trees, of battle, and of mountains. However, even those ideas soon blurred into nothing more than colors; blue for Kirigakure, green for Konohagakure, and red, red for blood. Normally, the introduction of blood into her dreams would have marked the threshold from dream to nightmare. However, this time was different, this time the color red did not seem vomit inducing, but rather calming. Asami wasn’t one to read anything into dreams, but someone inclined to do so might see this as a turning point.

A few times the young girl shifted in her sleep, but never once woke up. The rain never let up throughout the night. It continued on with no end in sight. What it wept for was anyone’s guess. Perhaps it simply wept because it could. After all, did one really need a reason to weep? Mother nature certainly didn’t and so she wept and wept without end drenching the earth below in her tears.

The world the girl would wake up to would be drastically different than the world she fell asleep in. Everything would look the same, taste the same, smell the same, feel the same, and sound the same, but it would still be different. She had a new perspective on life. It wasn’t a vastly different perspective, but it made her think about the world differently.

Now she had something to work for:

Victory for herself.

Victory for her family.

Victory for her village.

[Thread closed. TWC: 1412, 400 of these words will be used to 'buy' a flak jacket (I'll do that in the ninja shop). This leaves me with 1012 words, +5 stats, and 1012 to Fissure Vent]

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