Cold. The word was like a clue, an answer to the mystery. All she remembered was the cold. And now, back in the real world, it was anything but. The sun beat down on her, reminding her that she was thirsty, hungry, and overall exhausted. But with no sense of memory as to how she got here, she wasn't sure how to find water or food or civilization. There was nothing to do but start walking, and hope she found something to sustain her.
Due east, the woman walked as quickly as she could with her knees wobbly and her mind hazy. The sun was still high in the sky, yet on its descendant path to the setting of the evening. With a few hours of daylight left, surely she could find some sort of liquid in which she could sustain herself off of until civilization and answers could be founded. So, she briskly walked.
In this time of walking, this time that was so private and primal, the girl spent much of it contemplating who she was and what had happened. How did she get here? Where was her house and family? Why could she not remember? She felt a string of faith in her heart, which she traced to being absolutely useless in this time. If there was a God, how could they let this happen? If there was a God, but there was obviously not. Spirituality was a fool's game, she thought as she traveled. Never again would she so blindly follow the teachings of those religious folk, they had no answers for times like now.
~**~
A year had passed since the accident. Arai Seira had remembered many things, but not all. The name came first, along with fighting and survival skills. She had a natural ability to work with and control chakra that she picked up on quickly. Thankfully, due to her previous training and job work, she was able to keep alive and travel to a nearby village, where she spent many days remembering her previous life as a kunoichi. She asked around for information, and lived on whatever work she could find here and there. She was strong, and usually the simple townsfolk could spare a few coins or a bed and some food for labor.
Careful to never outstay her welcome, the young adult still traveled the majority of her time, and so she decided one day that she would take the directions that she had heard amongst the whispers and visit the place they say it was. She doubted she would recognize it, as she still had no memories of the town itself, only memories of inside a few select places, but she set out nonetheless. For many moons she traveled, practicing her old ninjutsu techniques along with her new ones that she had naturally found coming to her.
She remembered her faith to the greater force, spirituality, and now laughed at how gullible she was. There was no God and no true religion, only life and death. Death could happen at any moment and for no reason, to anyone. That is why Seira made herself strong always. She would be the best decider of her own fate, and she had forgotten many of the old things that she had learned. Mostly she had just her ninjutsu now, with a couple of basic taijutsu moves she had picked up, the genjutsu she once knew was gone with the wind. Once she reached the water country, she found herself working with mostly one element in specific, something new to her, but very strong.
~*~
Arai Seira found herself working mostly with ninjutsu, and more specifically the element of ice these days. She did not use it much before the accident, in her days as a shinobi, but she also was a protected medic. Now on her own, ninjutsu came in handy as a survival strategy and for protection and sustaining herself, especially her dangerous ice.
The girl reached her destination; the icy ruins of what was once the great Kirigakure. Tears filled her brown eyes as memories flooded her head; all small clips which meant so much despite the rapid pace before her. The volcano, the ice, the terror-filled cries of the villagers about to burn to death. It was a terrible shaded past that caused her great pain, and almost regret. She could have, she should have, saved at least someone else. In the terror and confusion, everyone was on their own, and Seira's main goal that painful night was to come out alive.
After the accident, as she referred to it now, her memory was full of blank spaces, big holes of void space where memories once were. Her life was completely different then; as if she was living a whole new life. She constantly had thoughts doubting the reality of the memories as they started to come to her in dreams; until she finally understood. They always had a realistic feeling to them that was beyond most other dreams, but it wasn't until she started to see her hand signs and shinobi training that she recognized them as the memories they were.
Seira took cautious steps through the icy caverns that laid waste to her people. She felt more pain, and the thoughts of God that had once followed her were now completely washed away with hurt feelings. She had not dressed for this weather, but felt not bothered in the slightest. She walked with the ice to the place that she once knew so well. Her heart strings were pulled painfully as she approached the ruins of the place she once called home. Pain washed over her, but she walked to stand where her residence had been, following her instincts.
"Why did this happen to me?!" Her voice echoed in the ruins, but nobody else was around to hear it. She let the tears come, and sobbed on the lonely ice.
"I should have died that day!" The voice was loud, and upset. No one was around for miles, and Seira doubted that would have much influence over her reaction anyways. Her heart hurt in ways she had never felt, in ways her memories had blocked her from feeling for so long now. She fell to her knees and sobbed to let all of the past anguish and sorrow go.
"Seira~"
A whisper in the wind, but it was heard by the girl from behind where she was. She wiped her tears and stood to face the direction of the voice. What she saw was surely a figment of her imagination; her mother.
"But you're--" Seira started, and was interrupted by the most likely imagined figure of her mother appearing to stand before her.
"You can keep the people of Kirigakure alive~" The voice was one not heard by Seira in many years, but it sounded a little different than she remembered.
Seira was confused by the words of her mother. The people of Kirigakure? She was only one girl, in some very large ruins. She spoke on her confusion, and her thoughts reeled.
"What? How? They all died. . ."
"You are very much alive and you have the power of me within you." After the spirit spoke it's last words, it faded into the icy mist.
"How is this possible? You were just a wanderer. . .what power?" Seira had so many questions, so much she needed to ask, but it was too late. Just as she had come, she had vanished, making Seira question her sanity, but not without an emotional response. [color=#8040BF[b]"You're not real!"[/b][/color] Seira shouted into the abyss, and before she knew what she was doing, she formed a large icicle in her hand and threw it in the direction that the illusion had stood in.
Her eyes grew large and she was confused how she just did what she did. She knew a few ice ninjutsu, but none like that, that powerful. She had a profound thought; perhaps what had killed the people would restore the people, ice. She had a powerful connection to the ice, and now that she thought back she could not remember the origins of her mother before she met her husband.
Some things are unexplainable by nature, but that somehow doesn't make them any less real to those who experience it. Now it was her time, though, and she felt she could make a difference on the future. She felt empowered by the ice around her, despite the bad memories that it might have held. She did what felt natural and made many spikes of the water that ran nearby, and sent them showering beautifully into the distance. She felt her ancestors were with her, guiding her, and she undoubtedly had whatever power was spoken of.
After playing with the ice, learning more powerful ninjutsu than she had ever imagined in the element that felt so lovely to her, she left the ruins of Kirigakure. Her business there was finished, for now. She had unlocked her abilities and had been given a new purpose in this life; almost completely opposite what she came to do. Kirigakure held a special place in the heart of the kunoichi, but for now she needed to live a life of hustling where there was work, and friends, to be found. The icy caverns would someday be taken back over; time heals all wounds.
