Dark Reflections and Bright Reunions [Riyota]

[Kazumi]

Compared to the day prior, when she was caked in sweat and sand, Suzume felt like a regal princess. Her hair was combed and cleaned, her outfit was washed and readied, and her skin was smooth and radiant. Now, as she strode purposefully through the halls of the Miroku Clan, she felt as if she could have taken on the entire lot of them with both of her arms tied behind her back. Part of her knew that was folly, but that part also believed that she could do so eventually, with a little training. Old Suzume may have been about to fail out of the academy but with Lord Jashin on her side she had a renewed sense of purpose and power. To those ends, she now wandered alone through the more dangerous parts of the complex to hunt down the man who would be able to assist her in such endeavors, Miroku Riyota.

The problem was that she didn't exactly know where he would be, nor how she would explain everything. She had done so a few times, to various individuals, and those had worked out fine and so she was confident that this time would only fare better. "Miroku Riyota, I need to speak with him. Where can I find him?" She had asked that to a number of individuals that she had seen along the way. Their responses had ranged from annoyance, dismissal or a very occasional tidbit of info. With enough morsels of the latter she had eventually managed to find her way all the way to his own room, which was nested away as deeply as it could get. A series of three quick knocks sounded on Riyota's door as she stood patiently outside, her arms crossed, the possibility of him not being at home never even occurring to her.

He undoubtedly would not recognize her, for all intents and purposes he had never seen this girl before in her life. She bore no resemblance to the Suzume he knew, outside of a few minor traits that weren't uncommon among girls of her age, although she new stood roughly an inch taller than she had before. Her clothes were foreign, of Tea Country fashion and her hair a shoulder length dark brown that was a mixture between haphazard and yet well kept.

 

[Miroku Riyota]

As she waited outside the door she would hear sounds of flesh coming into contact and various grunts to accompany that. Along with banging on the wood flooring. Definite male and female variants of the grunts as well. A very suspicious set of noises. Before she could leave in disgust or move to investigate she would hear an almighty crack to the right of her as she saw a figure burst through the wooden panelling and through the wall behind her. Leaving a large cloud of dust. Slowly, a large muscular woman would step through the hole in the wall of Riyota's bedroom, covered in various scrapes and cuts. She had long black hair up in a ponytail and her body was painted with intricate tattoos. She would take a second to look over the younger girl, she said nothing but walked towards the man-shaped hole in the next wall and peered inside it. A voice from inside was heard "That'll do for today, thank you Nanaka..." The woman merely nodded and took her leave. Leaving a potentially confused Suzume and a gap in a wall.

If she went in she would see her target, the Miroku heir Riyota slowly standing and clearing rubble out of his hair and clothes. If she stayed out eventually she would hear footsteps getting closer until he emerged from the hole. In either case, once he turned and spotted her he would simply say. "Oh, hello there...If you're looking for directions I'm afraid I can't help you." With that, he would walk away, without any further conversation. Walking through the hole into his room to get a towel.

If she followed him in he would turn around with a confused expression and ask. "Can I...help you?" Clearly showing he didn't recognise her. If she politely waited outside then when he returned she would see him drying off sweat with the towel. He would turn to her and ask "Why are you still here?" With a concerned look on his face.

 

[Kazumi]

Tapping her foot impatiently, despite having only been there for a few seconds, she leaned closer into the door, pressing her ear to it. She could hear something but what in the world was it? Suzume was not a particularly worldly or experienced individual, and so her mind remained unmuddled with presumptions, simply confused and annoyed that the door wasn't yet opened. She removed her head from the door and started to knock once again, but as her knuckles next connected the door, the wall beside her practically exploded in a shower of dust and debris. Scampering back out of instinct, she assumed a ready stance that she had been taught in the academy, poised to defend herself, albeit unarmed. The woman took notice of her, but had departed without a word before Suzume could gather herself enough to comment.

Cautiously, she stepped over towards the cloud of settling dust to peek into the hole, only to have the Miroku heir step out right in front of her, again causing her to stumble back to keep from bumping straight into him, as they often seemed to do. With only a few quick words, he dismissed her and made his way into the room, stepping through the new doorway he had hastily installed. Dumbfounded as to what had just transpired had left her mental faculties in disarray, nearly completely stripping them of her purpose for being there in the first place. As such, her first thought at his dismissal was one of frustration and indignation. How could he treat her like that? She was the heiress to the Storm Lord title of the Oushu-Ouja clan!

Following him through the hole, she put her hands on her hips and would give the man a clearly annoyed stare before loudly proclaiming, "that is no way to speak to the future Storm Lady, and you would be well to remember that." Her prideful indignation was not exactly warranted, but the sight of seeing her ward... what exactly did that even mean? A student was to the teacher as a ward was to... Suzume couldn't think of it, and it left an obvious expression of confusion on her face before she eventually added, "not to mention your supposed ward, whatever that even means!" Putting its meaning out of her mind, she puffed up her chest and stared annoyingly at the shirtless man. He was lucky she didn't launch him out of another wall for his disrespect!

 

[Miroku Riyota]

Having fetched a towel of the rack successfully the Heir began to wipe away the sweat that had formed after his sparring match. He turned as he cleared away the perspiration and he gave a confused and concerned look to the girl he found standing behind him, before even finishing his question she exploded into a rant about how that was in some way an incorrect way to address her. Poor Riyota could not pull from memory what the Oushu-Ouja even were, never mind how much respect he should be giving them. He was about to suggest that apparently the angry young woman was lost and direct her somewhere else before she brought up that word she just couldn't apparently come to grips with...'Ward.'

Looking at her again with reignited confusion he spoke slowly and softly. "A student is to a teacher, what a ward is to a mentor. I've only ever called one person that and you are not that person. So I think you're confusing me with someone else. I've never met you." He would disregard her again and turn around, expecting her to leave. There was something familiar about this girl and he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He didn't really have the time right now to think about it either.

He began looking for some kind of shirt to put on for the time being, turning back around and seeing her still standing there he sighed and just defeatedly asked. "What...do...you...want?"

 

[Kazumi]

Suzume continued to stare the man down, or rather up at him, given that even in this new body she still only stood a scant inch taller than she had before. "I am Oushi-Ouja Suzume. Heiress of the Title of Storm Lord. Future Shinobi of the Sunagakure village. You, Miroku Riyota should be addressing me as such, even if you are my... mentor and stuff." Just as the Miroku knew relatively little of the Oushi-Ouja, they knew equally little of them. They lived under the same umbrella, but to compare a proud Oushi-Ouja to a Miroku was to compare a great Ox to a lowly scorpion. Suzume was not sure why this dismissive attitude of his seemed to be sparking such a response from her. She liked him, and the fact that he was a member of the Miroku hadn't bothered her much before, but something in her mind was making it difficult to reign herself in.

She crossed her arms with a small grunt of annoyance as she watched him search for some shirt as he attempted to deal with this pretentious child who claimed to be a much more humble individual than the one that stood before him. "I just lived..." she paused a moment, the word choice somehow coming off as strange, given the circumstances of her time at Tea Country. "Went through a very traumatic experience and made it all the way back to the village here. On my own. I expect at least a little bit of acknowledgement of that." By a part of Suzume knew that she was practically speaking nonsense, but the words seemed to still continue to form in her mind and get immediately ejected through her mouth.

She paused a moment, keeping her arms crossed with a stern expression as she peered back through the hole in the wall. "So," she started, her words starting to sound more tame than they had been as she regained more control. "Who was that, and what was that about anyway?" This actually sounded a little more like the girl he faintly knew, or at the least less like the spoiled princess of a far away and exotic kingdom that held no sway on foreign soil.

 

[Miroku Riyota]

Riyota paused at the loud indignant outburst and the outlandish claim contained within. He slowly turned around and looked at the girl again. "I've heard crazier things so I might be inclined to believe you, I could accept that maybe you look a little different, problem is, you're acting like an entirely different person, which makes it rather hard to believe." He returned to his search and wound up finding a shirt to cover himself with. "Frankly I preferred the old Suzume." He shot her a sideways glance as he walked past that silently informed her that he did not believe she was whom she claimed to be.

As he moved to the other side of the room she explained with the same annoyed tone of the traumatic experience she had been through over in Tea. "Well how can I know what levels of sweeping sympathy to give when I don't know what actual experience you've had? Given your current attitude you could be talking about a chipped nail." He smirked with a raised eyebrow. "As for who the woman was, she was my sparring partner. Keeps me in practice when I don't have a poor student to bully."

He strode back over to the girl and squatted down in front of her, raising his hand he flicked her straight in the forehead. A classic move between them, he was trying to see if there was that same spark of electricity that flowed through her skin. Whether he got this or not he would stare intensely, straight into her eyes and ask "Time to prove it, tell me something only me and Suzume would know." He requested, if this test proved inconclusive he knew he would have to resort to...experimental means.

 

[Kazumi]

Suzume actually appeared somewhat shocked by his disbelief, a flash of annoyance swept across her face for a few moments before she cast it aside, turning to stare away from him towards the other side of the room. She let out a small indignant 'hmph' keeping herself otherwise silent, as she had insulted her honor somehow. Even so, she listened to him talk of his alleged 'sparring partner'. She didn't believe it, not for a moment. Not even a Miroku would be dumb enough to do that kind of stuff in their own room. Look at what damage it could do! Suzume didn't fully understand that the rational she was using to dismiss the idea was exactly what made it a plausible one.

Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, she turned in time to see him kneeling in front of her. Her brows raised she looked down to him, but before she had a chance to question him, his finger smacked straight into her forehead with an audible flick. Suzume winced, the indignant stare replaced by a look of pain and confusion as she stepped back, reflexively reaching up to press her hands against the soon-to-be red spot on her otherwise smooth forehead. "Ow! What was that for, you jerk." In contrast to what he was searching for, he experienced no electrical sensations of any sort, painful or otherwise. Two marks against this girl's quickly faltering claim.

Even in this body, her pain tolerance was still low, especially when caught off guard, and the girl's eyes began to water slightly from the slowly subsiding stinging sensation. "Prove it huh?" She prompted with angered annoyance at the sudden 'attack', "how about I tell the Byakko that you have been going around pretending to be their heir, huh? See if that gets you more than a small thrashing from.. from.. someone!" Her anger wouldn't last, but for the moment she did seem sincere about wanting to smack him silly in vengeance for the little flick. Regardless, unless Suzume had managed to spread that tidbit around the village without it coming back to Riyota somehow, it met the criteria he was looking for. Either this was her, or it was simultaneously a terrible fake and still somehow a great one.

 

[Miroku Riyota]

The girl's reaction to a small flick led Riyota to chuckle slightly, he raised an eyebrow to her. "A bit overdramatic, but not entirely unlike the Suzume I know." He played about a bit with the thought of scaring her based on her already existing distrust of the Miroku, in response to the threat about exposing his fraud at the restaurant. "And you remembered my white lie in the restaurant, which is something I hope Suzume wouldn't tell a random girl." He shrugged. "I'll believe it for now, what's the harm?" He decided in a casual tone. "So Suze, how've you been, what happened and what's with the attitude?" He asked her, counting a finger on his hand with each question asked.

Whilst she responded he would take a seat and listen, grabbing a whetstone out of the corner of his room and protruding the blade from his prosthetic he would begin sharpening and cleaning it as he nodded along and made small comments to her responses, if she decided to respond. After she was done he would look up and ask "So...does anyone else know you're...how you are? I doubt you came straight to me, you don't even like me that much." He joked, waiting for an answer as he begun sharpening his other blade hilted by the bone in his left arm as his prosthetic used the whetstone.

"Aside from all that, you gotten any more training in, managed to get the sparkles under control?" He asked.

 

[Kazumi]

Seeing that her threat held as much sway over Riyota as the Daimyo did in Sunagakure, Suzume let out an exhausted sigh. Her mind was racing in circles and it was getting difficult for her to keep all of its pieces together long enough to keep coherent thoughts. "I do not know what you are talking about," she replied firmly, turning her chin to face away from him as she stared off towards nothing in particular. As she looked away, he took the opportunity to spend the time doing something productive, rather than indulge her small fit. It took a few moments for her to notice, giving small glances from the corner of her eye, until she finally saw that he had changed locations. The sound of the whetstone grinding against the blade caused her to spin, quickly glaring at him as if he were trying to scare her.

"Just Sousuke right now," She said casually, letting the glare drift away as quickly as it had appeared. Had she always referred to the Steward on a first name basis? "And I never said I didn't like you.If anything you were the one being all rude and stuff to me earlier." Suzume continued to watch him, her tone and expression suggesting that she was, in fact, not joking. The girl's right hand raised to her mouth, rubbing her mouth absently in thought as she simply stood there.

"Training? Oh erm... well, it is a bit complicated." She shifted nervously, suddenly unable to make eye contact with him for more than a second at a time. "I am not... I can't exactly go over it very much right now but like..." Again she looked down to him as he worked, but just as before her gaze couldn't meet his, shying away as soon as they connected. "But the... I don't think the shocks will be an issue anymore." She didn't seem as enthusiastic about the admission as one might expect, implying there was much more than self-control that rendered the previous condition a moot issue.

"B-besides, that isn't important!" She suddenly interjected, her shy and meek demeanor vanishing with a few heartbeats. "You should be happy I came to see you. I haven't even gone to see my family yet." Though, if she had anything to say about it, she might not be going there for a few more hours... or days. Explaining her situation to the Steward was one matter, but doing the same to her family and Nabushin was something else entirely. Her status as heir could very well come into question with the loss of her old body. Apart from her memories and essence, there was little to nothing that servd as proof of her prior status as the heir.

Absently, her right hand drifted into a pouch on her right hip that contained a small metallic symbol. Unseen from the other shinobi, her hand clasped around it, its thumb subconsciously tracing the smooth cold lines that made up the mark of the Chains of Jashin.

 

[Miroku Riyota]

Riyota simply listened quietly and focused on his work, not interjecting or interrupting at any point. He did however cast a curious glance at his student as she failed to explain her training situation, or her lack of enthusiasm over getting her sparks under control. His mismatched orbs locking with hers for a brief time. He looked as if he was about to press the issue, but, breaking his gaze away. He decided against it. Until she said she hadn't gone to see her family. Silently, he put down the whetstone and withdrew the blade back into his arm. He rotated his wrist a few times and pondered a few thoughts. "You've got something you think you can't tell them? I assume something to do with your change in appearance and lack of random electricity." He sighed. "I may be an idiot Suzume, but I'm not stupid." He said to her, standing up once again. "I don't know what you've done, but you can't expect to keep wandering forever, you can't run from this." His demeanour had shifted from a casual tease to that of a mentor giving his student solemn advice.

"Your family are probably worried sick!" He said to her, turning away. "Probably wondering why you're hanging out with a strange man." He chuckled slightly. "You need to go see them...because...b-because, they'll...they'll always...b-be there..." He struggled to get the last part out. It was painfully obvious that this was advice he thought was useful, but didn't truly believe in himself. He wiped his green eye a few times and turned back around.

"A-anyway, you're not just different in appearance. You're different in personality. Now I don't know if you're just going through 'that' phase. Or you've decided you're all grown up, or this is some weird thing that's happening because of whatever. But I don't know if I'm the one to help you. I'll have to devise a whole new way to train you already." He paused for a second. "If...you still want me to be your teacher, that is." He chuckled to break some of the tension. Awaiting her response.

 

[Kazumi]

"I-I am not wandering or running!" she quickly interjected, but her tone was not that of conviction but of defiance. She quickly quieted as he stood and turned away, struggling to offer heretical wisdom to the young Oushi-Ouja. "B... besides, I am not supposed to be back home for another week or two. I was on vacation with Naoki in Tea for the tournament." This, however, did seem to hold more truth to it. They likely would not be expecting her for a while, and while she was certain her mothers and fathers would be concerned, there was nothing she could do about that. Besides, it was a legitimate excuse to not show her face for as long as possible.

For some reason she found it difficult to keep her attention focused on his back, and as he turned back, her attention would have drifted off towards a pile of discarded clothing in a far corner. That only lasted until she took notice of his turn, missing the wiping of his eyes as she quickly looked back towards him. Before she had a chance to comment, he continued. As he spoke her hand more fervently rubbed at the symbol in her pocket. She wasn't any different, she was the same person she was before. He was just confused because of how confident she was now and her new voice and everything else. Her thumb continued to trace large circles around the symbol as she continued to silently feed herself reassurances.

"I am the exact same person I was before." Her words were filled with confidence and determination, though most of that feeling was drawn from the symbol than from her own heart. "If anything, I am just wiser and more... grown up and stuff. You said you would help me no matter what." The validity of that statement could be easily questioned, but she charged forward and continued. "You were one of the only people that didn't treat me like a delicate little flower. If you do not want to be with me anymore Shinji-kun, just say so!" She looked at him with a hurt determination, like he was some boy who was toying with her adolescent heart, though... who was Shinji?

A few moments of silence passed before she realized what she had said and quickly continued, "to train me, anymore!" The words she had just said were dawning on her and confusion was beginning to set in as well. She didn't know anyone by that name, so why did she just... Looking a little concerned, she took her hand out of her pocket and ran its fingers through the back of her hair in a sort of nervous tic as she both tried to play it off and figure out why she said what she did. As she did so, however, the metal symbol tumbled out of her pocket and landed on a discarded shirt on the ground next to her, the metallic symbol glinting in the room's light as she stared away from him, once again lost inside of her own head.

 

[Miroku Riyota]

Suzume rattled on with excuses and justifications on how she was in the right and how she was mostly the same person she had left as. Riyota wasn't exactly convinced, but he simply didn't have the energy to argue with her at the time. So he nodded along after he had returned his attention to her. Though, there was something suspicious. "And who's Shinji then?" He asked with an eyebrow raised. "Is he also a wise and clever man with a metal arm?" He asked jokingly, assuming she had accidentally blurted out the name of a love interest of hers. He would drop the issue if she did not elaborate on it.

However, Suzume herself looked confused as to why she had said it, running her fingers through her hair as she pondered the name. As she did so, assumedly out of her notice, a small metal object dropped out of her pocket and landed on a piece of discarded clothing, its glint catching Riyota's eye. With speed that was fast even for a professional Shinobi he appeared behind her, clutching the symbol between two fingers. Of course, he had no idea what the symbol related to, or what it meant. So he handed it back to her. "Think you dropped this while you were having your mental drama. Is it a family crest or something?" He asked out of mild interest, though he didn't really care if he didn't get an answer.

He ran a hand through his own messy hair and sighed. "Well...anyway, I don't have time to train you today. I didn't exactly put time aside in preperation for your surprise arrival. So we'll have to do that some other day." He informed her.

MFT

 

[Kazumi]

"Y-yeah," she quietly replied, unsure as to the answer herself. There was a trace as to where that name came from, but as she reached out to grasp it, the string became vapor and faded into nothingness. There would be another moment's pause as she stared blankly towards the ground. "Based on that description," she started, slowly at first buy catching back up to a regular joking tone by its end, "it certainly couldn't have been you. You are too young to be wise." She offered him a smile, only to find that he was no longer where she had just seen him.

Just as she began to look around, she heard his voice behind her and she spun to see the man inspecting the object. As soon as she saw what it was, her eyes widened in panic and she reached out to quickly snatch it from her. Presuming he made no attempt to keep it from her, she would take it and clutch it to her chest with both hands, once again hiding it from view. It took her a few seconds of silence to come up words enough to answer, "no, not exactly. I'll uhh," her voice trailed off once again as she looked around nervously. Sousuke had been understanding, but would Riyota? It was one thing to keep the knowledge away from the Kage, or Steward. It was entirely a different thing to tell a Miroku, even if he was a friend of hers. Not yet at least...

"Y-yeah, duh." Suzume replied flippantly, pocketing the symbol as she turned from him, flicking her hair up as she spun away. "I don't have any time either. I've got loads of stuff to do. Can't waste it all here watching you flex your muscles and stuff." Suzume paused and took a moment to think as to why she had come here at all. Did she want to confide in him about this? The Steward was not exactly the most supportive of individuals, but... "Maybe I'll let you treat me to a welcome back meal later." She gave him a flippant wave of her hand as she turned form him and walked carefully over towards the door. She flung the door open with a casual air and stepped through, only taking a moment to look back at him with a smirk before she closed it, dissapearing down the hallway after she walked past the doorless hole in his room.

 

[Miroku Riyota]

"Glad to know I'm still a part of the 'Cool Kids club.' He chuckled in response to her evaluation on his wisdom. "If you want a more worldly mentor I could refer you to Yutaro. He's ninety-three and has so many stories he'll forget which ones he's already told you." He remarked cheekily, subtly trying to infer that she has it quite good as his student. What with him being calm whilst others may be strict. Was it what Suzume needed in a teacher? Who knows. Was it what Riyota was comfortable with doing? Yes, absolutely.

He returned the symbol without complaint and watched her as she went to leave. He pondered for a moment and just before she reached the door he spoke up, hopefully causing her to pause. "Hey, Suze...You know if there's something up, I mean...besides the obvious, you can tell me, right? He asked. "I'm the last person in the world who would have any judgements." If she decided to confide in him, he would sit and listen to what she had to say. If she politely declined and left he would sigh and crack one of his fingers. "Something very strange must've gone down in tea..." He murmured with a sigh.

Sitting down on his bed and glancing at the freshly made hole in the wall he would shake his head gently. "We're gonna have to pack in a lot of training in a short time Suze, I'm not sure I've got all that long left...maybe I should try and find you someone else, just in case, make it so if I fail it..." He cut off his sorrowful speech to the empty room. With a sigh, he dusted himself off and went to bathe.

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