Hikaru sat quietly in her room, reading. It wasn’t often that she had time around the house to just relax, so she had decided to make the most of it. The rising sun was just visible through the window from her spot on the floor. She wondered vaguely if her father was up yet, although she presumed the lack of his usual breakfast-making smells was a good enough answer. Perhaps she could begin making food this morning…
The airy silence was punctuated by a knock at the door. Hikaru jumped a little, glancing at the page she had reached and letting the book close softly. The girl rose and slid open the door to her room, peering out into the main room of the Miyazaki residence. Now she heard her father, unlocking his own door and wandering blearily in the direction of the noise. As he opened the front door and put his glasses on, she looked down at the woman framed there, cast in gold from the early morning light. She stood tall in familiar green robes, with an even expression and short-cropped hair that was almost the same color as her own. Her father and the visitor greeted one another politely as she stepped inside, and he began, “Great to see you, Lady Mitsume. How have you and your family been? What brings you here at this hour?” The woman didn’t respond at first; she simply looked at him. Hikaru drew a breath as she recognized her as Amari Mitsume, her late mother’s younger sister. They hadn’t met for more than a year now, in the same way her mother’s clan as a whole had been distancing themselves from the two Miyazakis.
Mitsume spoke after a moment, with the same uniform face of authoritative neutrality. “We extend our greetings, Kaito; Renjiro and I have been well. As for why I’ve come this morning-” she paused, and the girl felt the slightest touch like that of a feather, peeking out of the doorway in the semidarkness. “Hikaru.” the woman stated, as their brown eyes met. The resemblance between her and her aunt was striking. “Happy birthday, and congratulations on being promoted to Medical Chief. We’re very proud of you.” Though her voice remained measured, a small smile crossed her face for a moment. Hikaru slid the door closed behind her once more, and stepped over to stand beside her father, nodding in thanks. Mitsume turned back to Kaito, a stern element beginning to bleed into her voice. “As you know, the Amari traditionally hold formal inductions into the clan at the age of 16. Custody is not included in your case, but we do require Hikaru to partake as the second-eldest of her generation. She will return to you tonight.” The Mednin did not know any of this, in fact. She glanced to the side at her father, whose hands were shaking almost invisibly. He spoke with a respectful tone, however, not looking at his daughter, “Of course.” A strong urge came over her to speak up and ask what was going to happen, but she trusted her aunt and her father, and simply gave a few stunned words of confirmation.
The sun shone directly above Hikaru as she and Mitsume passed through the forest path on the far outskirts of the Leaf Village. The Amari, like many clans, liked some element of secrecy to be kept about them; as such, she hadn’t known about their private living grounds until her companion had told her about them when they set off. She had also been told not to pack much, so her bag rested nearly empty on her back, complimenting the deep green of her and her aunt’s robes. The sudden acceptance still felt off to her- the Mednin had gotten the impression, from their behavior and the words of her father, that the Amari as a whole were content with ignoring the two of them. Even as excited as she was to follow in her mother’s footsteps, she guessed that the elders of the clan were more interested in her blood and status than her surname.
The walk was not an unpleasant one, although she was reminded of another similarity between her and Mitsume- neither of them were excellent at making conversation. In fact, her aunt had very little to say outside of formalities, even before her mother’s death, always preferring to observe. They didn’t exchange a word until they had passed through the gates of the clan’s training grounds. The sizeable complex was inhabited by far less than its capacity, it seemed, and Hikaru opened her mouth to ask about it. “Shh. We’re almost there- you might want to prepare yourself a little bit.”
“But…” she didn’t want to say that she had no idea what was going on. “…what exactly should I be preparing for…?”
Her aunt didn’t answer. Instead, she stepped up to the entrance of a tall-roofed building that apparently served as a dojo, and led Hikaru inside.
The air as they entered felt sharper and more dense at once- though it was only for a moment, Hikaru noticed her aunt close her eyes to adjust to the change in pressure. The source of power was almost immediately evident- in the center of the room sat a large lion, with feathery white fur and a pair of graceful-looking wings folded behind its back. Its eyes were close in apparent slumber, but the aura it exuded was still enough to envelop the entire dojo at once. Besides the space occupied by the creature, the Mednin saw Mitsume’s daughter, Teru, standing off to the side. “Aha! So nice of you to show up, mother.” She was taller than Hikaru and about a year her senior, but the two had always got along well; they exchanged grins. The young woman appeared somewhat out of breath, but she launched into her welcome anyway.
“And good morning to you, Miss Medical Ninja Extraordinaire. I’ve decided that we shouldn’t go for over a year without talking like that anymore, since apparently it’s been enough time for you to become a freaking MEDICAL CHIEF. Stop that right now, you’ll leave poor old me in the dust again.” Teru had inherited her easygoing sense of humor from her father- one could tell just by spending thirty seconds with the two of them together. Besides that and her energetic blue eyes, she was a picture-perfect Amari, right down to her narrow chin and dark brown hair. “It’s good to see you too, O wise elder. Who’s your new friend over there?” She tilted her head at the sleeping lion- who, as she did, let out a rumble and flicked its ears pointedly. She caught a sharp look from Mitsume, but her cousin spoke before the other had a chance to: “His name is Kōdo.” Another rumble came. Teru was unfazed, “Since we’ve last seen each other, I reached the age for the same thing you’re here for now: we’re accepted formally into the Amari clan and allowed to sign a summoning contract with one of the Wind elementals that old Mr. Honorable made friends with, years ago.” This earned her a glower from her mother, accompanied by a muttered, “He’s not that far away, you know…”
The young woman continued, her smile widening, “I’ll introduce you to my summon and new best friend later, Funsha. For now, though, it’s your turn- go show this grumpy-looking lion who’s boss. Apparently he’s called ‘the unsociable one’ by the other elementals, probably because he hates people for some dumb reason.” Her snicker was drowned out by a third powerful tremor from the elemental’s throat, and she stepped back as he began to rise, still grinning. “Best of luck.”
Hikaru stared at the large form as he stood, locking her gaze on the set of bitter blue eyes that appeared. At his full height, the top of her head barely reached his chin. The air in the room tightened again, attempting to constrict her under the pressure of his intense presence- although it didn’t pass a point that was more than uncomfortable for her. She bowed, and drew a deep breath to address the lion, “Greetings. My name is Miyazaki Hikaru, of the-”
The great elemental cut her off almost immediately. “So you’re the one… you certainly don’t look it, but at least that bag of bones finally gave me someone strong. I am Kōdo, prince of the skies and most powerful spirit of Wind to be served by you Amari…”
“Says you.” Teru added. The lion fixed her with a glare far more dangerous than anything Misume had ever given her daughter, and she said nothing more, a half-smile still playing on her face.
“Consider yourself lucky, human. I want to leave here as soon as possible, which doesn’t leave time to teach you a lesson.” His intense blue eyes turned back to Hikaru, who stared a little blankly. She… had proven herself to be strong somehow to the elemental, assumedly with his pressure bind earlier- although that wasn’t very ‘strong’ at all. He continued, “Demonstrate your control to me. I will not wait long.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her aunt tense.
“I-I’m not sure…” she tried to explain. “If you wouldn’t mind-”
“Interesting.” The lion cast his gaze around the room, touching on Mitsume briefly, before setting back on Hikaru. “I will not sign a contract with someone in this condition, Amari.” He seemed to speak to multiple people with the last word. “Therefore, I see it as my duty to take matters into my own hands.”
Before she could react, the dojo around the Mednin grew dark and cold. Kōdo’s eyes bored into hers, freezing her body in place as he raised a leg crowned with razor-sharp claws. Her body temperature was dropping rapidly, she had to do something… was this a Genjutsu? She tried to halt the flow of chakra in her body to cancel it, but she couldn't move a muscle… the white paw hurtled towards her head, each claw glinting in the light, before she even had time to register it.
“That’s enough, Kōdo.”
Suddenly, Hikaru was able to move again, but in the wrong way. She felt a prickling, agitating energy swell from within her, and the Genjutsu broke… the elemental’s swing failed to connect, as if it had passed right through her. Every one of her limbs began to shake with the weight of the power that just kept flowing out of her, and she panicked, scared that she didn’t know what was going on. There was no way she could control her movements. Struggling against an invisible force, she buckled down onto her knees, unable to hold onto consciousness any longer. The world faded quickly.
She opened her eyes and looked down at… herself, lying on the floor with blue light streaming out of her body. Mitsume had charged forward, and held a hand to her back, fighting just to stay near the crumpled body that belonged to her. The same panic as earlier rose once more, but for whatever reason, she felt as if it couldn’t reach her here, wherever she was. Teru stood unmoving, with more fear and concern on her face than Hikaru had ever seen her express. The elemental sat on his hind legs, watching the scene unfold with his feathers ruffled.
Suddenly, she felt a pull at her back, on the same spot that her aunt held her hand. Accepting the pull, she awoke inside her own body again, reintroduced to the immense sensation of agitating power. She faintly heard words from behind her- “Hikaru! Help me apply a seal to your forehead. Don’t use your chakra, just take my hand!” She was rolled over, and felt Mitsume’s hand on her forehead as she began weaving handseals with her other. Feeling like she wouldn’t be able to think much longer without releasing the energy inside her like a tornado, Hikaru clasped her hand in her aunt’s and held on.
The next she could remember, she lay on the floor in the same position, her forehead burning but the heavy sensation of energy gone. More than anything, she felt exhausted, but she managed to glance over at where Mitsume and Teru had been. They sat nearby, watching her. “Are you alright, Hikaru? How do you feel?” the former asked.
“I… feel ok. What was that? What happened?”
She didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she reached over and touched the spot on her forehead where her hand had been- the Mednin felt a mark there. A seal. “This seal was necessary to contain the power that Kōdo caused you to release. It will persist for a little while, so you’re going to have to come back here for some training on how to use it. Until then, do not direct chakra towards it, and do not summon Kōdo outside of this dojo.” She couldn’t conceal the worry in her face as she looked down at her niece. Hikaru nodded, and tried to sit up, managing to do so with little trouble.
“Your first training should start now… but first, I believe this elemental had said he was in a hurry.” Mitsume’s eyes shot daggers at the lion, who looked much smaller in the face of the woman’s anger. He produced a scroll from somewhere behind him, unfurling it and placing it in front of Hikaru with his paws. “This is the contract signature scroll,” he explained in the same growly voice. “Signing and stamping with your blood will allow you to summon me anywhere.”
“You’re… accepting me?” she responded. He still looked rather sullen.
But he rumbled confidently, “Yes, I am. You broke free of my Genjutsu and survived that outburst without damaging anything. Had I wanted to test you any further than that, I would have warned you beforehand.” Hikaru signed, biting her finger, and the elemental rolled up the scroll once more. “I expect you will be summoning me again shortly. Let us see if you can actually perform the jutsu…” With that, he evaporated in a puff of white smoke.
Hikaru laid back, staring up at the ceiling. What she wanted more than anything was to sleep, but she knew the questions that had blossomed in her mind while she spoke to her aunt and her contract would occupy her once she woke up. Deciding she didn’t care about that right now, she closed her eyes.
[Using Discovery of Contract of Your Choice card to find Elemental]
[Using Cursed Sealing on myself]
The airy silence was punctuated by a knock at the door. Hikaru jumped a little, glancing at the page she had reached and letting the book close softly. The girl rose and slid open the door to her room, peering out into the main room of the Miyazaki residence. Now she heard her father, unlocking his own door and wandering blearily in the direction of the noise. As he opened the front door and put his glasses on, she looked down at the woman framed there, cast in gold from the early morning light. She stood tall in familiar green robes, with an even expression and short-cropped hair that was almost the same color as her own. Her father and the visitor greeted one another politely as she stepped inside, and he began, “Great to see you, Lady Mitsume. How have you and your family been? What brings you here at this hour?” The woman didn’t respond at first; she simply looked at him. Hikaru drew a breath as she recognized her as Amari Mitsume, her late mother’s younger sister. They hadn’t met for more than a year now, in the same way her mother’s clan as a whole had been distancing themselves from the two Miyazakis.
Mitsume spoke after a moment, with the same uniform face of authoritative neutrality. “We extend our greetings, Kaito; Renjiro and I have been well. As for why I’ve come this morning-” she paused, and the girl felt the slightest touch like that of a feather, peeking out of the doorway in the semidarkness. “Hikaru.” the woman stated, as their brown eyes met. The resemblance between her and her aunt was striking. “Happy birthday, and congratulations on being promoted to Medical Chief. We’re very proud of you.” Though her voice remained measured, a small smile crossed her face for a moment. Hikaru slid the door closed behind her once more, and stepped over to stand beside her father, nodding in thanks. Mitsume turned back to Kaito, a stern element beginning to bleed into her voice. “As you know, the Amari traditionally hold formal inductions into the clan at the age of 16. Custody is not included in your case, but we do require Hikaru to partake as the second-eldest of her generation. She will return to you tonight.” The Mednin did not know any of this, in fact. She glanced to the side at her father, whose hands were shaking almost invisibly. He spoke with a respectful tone, however, not looking at his daughter, “Of course.” A strong urge came over her to speak up and ask what was going to happen, but she trusted her aunt and her father, and simply gave a few stunned words of confirmation.
-
The sun shone directly above Hikaru as she and Mitsume passed through the forest path on the far outskirts of the Leaf Village. The Amari, like many clans, liked some element of secrecy to be kept about them; as such, she hadn’t known about their private living grounds until her companion had told her about them when they set off. She had also been told not to pack much, so her bag rested nearly empty on her back, complimenting the deep green of her and her aunt’s robes. The sudden acceptance still felt off to her- the Mednin had gotten the impression, from their behavior and the words of her father, that the Amari as a whole were content with ignoring the two of them. Even as excited as she was to follow in her mother’s footsteps, she guessed that the elders of the clan were more interested in her blood and status than her surname.
The walk was not an unpleasant one, although she was reminded of another similarity between her and Mitsume- neither of them were excellent at making conversation. In fact, her aunt had very little to say outside of formalities, even before her mother’s death, always preferring to observe. They didn’t exchange a word until they had passed through the gates of the clan’s training grounds. The sizeable complex was inhabited by far less than its capacity, it seemed, and Hikaru opened her mouth to ask about it. “Shh. We’re almost there- you might want to prepare yourself a little bit.”
“But…” she didn’t want to say that she had no idea what was going on. “…what exactly should I be preparing for…?”
Her aunt didn’t answer. Instead, she stepped up to the entrance of a tall-roofed building that apparently served as a dojo, and led Hikaru inside.
-
The air as they entered felt sharper and more dense at once- though it was only for a moment, Hikaru noticed her aunt close her eyes to adjust to the change in pressure. The source of power was almost immediately evident- in the center of the room sat a large lion, with feathery white fur and a pair of graceful-looking wings folded behind its back. Its eyes were close in apparent slumber, but the aura it exuded was still enough to envelop the entire dojo at once. Besides the space occupied by the creature, the Mednin saw Mitsume’s daughter, Teru, standing off to the side. “Aha! So nice of you to show up, mother.” She was taller than Hikaru and about a year her senior, but the two had always got along well; they exchanged grins. The young woman appeared somewhat out of breath, but she launched into her welcome anyway.
“And good morning to you, Miss Medical Ninja Extraordinaire. I’ve decided that we shouldn’t go for over a year without talking like that anymore, since apparently it’s been enough time for you to become a freaking MEDICAL CHIEF. Stop that right now, you’ll leave poor old me in the dust again.” Teru had inherited her easygoing sense of humor from her father- one could tell just by spending thirty seconds with the two of them together. Besides that and her energetic blue eyes, she was a picture-perfect Amari, right down to her narrow chin and dark brown hair. “It’s good to see you too, O wise elder. Who’s your new friend over there?” She tilted her head at the sleeping lion- who, as she did, let out a rumble and flicked its ears pointedly. She caught a sharp look from Mitsume, but her cousin spoke before the other had a chance to: “His name is Kōdo.” Another rumble came. Teru was unfazed, “Since we’ve last seen each other, I reached the age for the same thing you’re here for now: we’re accepted formally into the Amari clan and allowed to sign a summoning contract with one of the Wind elementals that old Mr. Honorable made friends with, years ago.” This earned her a glower from her mother, accompanied by a muttered, “He’s not that far away, you know…”
The young woman continued, her smile widening, “I’ll introduce you to my summon and new best friend later, Funsha. For now, though, it’s your turn- go show this grumpy-looking lion who’s boss. Apparently he’s called ‘the unsociable one’ by the other elementals, probably because he hates people for some dumb reason.” Her snicker was drowned out by a third powerful tremor from the elemental’s throat, and she stepped back as he began to rise, still grinning. “Best of luck.”
Hikaru stared at the large form as he stood, locking her gaze on the set of bitter blue eyes that appeared. At his full height, the top of her head barely reached his chin. The air in the room tightened again, attempting to constrict her under the pressure of his intense presence- although it didn’t pass a point that was more than uncomfortable for her. She bowed, and drew a deep breath to address the lion, “Greetings. My name is Miyazaki Hikaru, of the-”
The great elemental cut her off almost immediately. “So you’re the one… you certainly don’t look it, but at least that bag of bones finally gave me someone strong. I am Kōdo, prince of the skies and most powerful spirit of Wind to be served by you Amari…”
“Says you.” Teru added. The lion fixed her with a glare far more dangerous than anything Misume had ever given her daughter, and she said nothing more, a half-smile still playing on her face.
“Consider yourself lucky, human. I want to leave here as soon as possible, which doesn’t leave time to teach you a lesson.” His intense blue eyes turned back to Hikaru, who stared a little blankly. She… had proven herself to be strong somehow to the elemental, assumedly with his pressure bind earlier- although that wasn’t very ‘strong’ at all. He continued, “Demonstrate your control to me. I will not wait long.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her aunt tense.
“I-I’m not sure…” she tried to explain. “If you wouldn’t mind-”
“Interesting.” The lion cast his gaze around the room, touching on Mitsume briefly, before setting back on Hikaru. “I will not sign a contract with someone in this condition, Amari.” He seemed to speak to multiple people with the last word. “Therefore, I see it as my duty to take matters into my own hands.”
Before she could react, the dojo around the Mednin grew dark and cold. Kōdo’s eyes bored into hers, freezing her body in place as he raised a leg crowned with razor-sharp claws. Her body temperature was dropping rapidly, she had to do something… was this a Genjutsu? She tried to halt the flow of chakra in her body to cancel it, but she couldn't move a muscle… the white paw hurtled towards her head, each claw glinting in the light, before she even had time to register it.
“That’s enough, Kōdo.”
- (♫) Now playing: Karasu by Berlinist
Suddenly, Hikaru was able to move again, but in the wrong way. She felt a prickling, agitating energy swell from within her, and the Genjutsu broke… the elemental’s swing failed to connect, as if it had passed right through her. Every one of her limbs began to shake with the weight of the power that just kept flowing out of her, and she panicked, scared that she didn’t know what was going on. There was no way she could control her movements. Struggling against an invisible force, she buckled down onto her knees, unable to hold onto consciousness any longer. The world faded quickly.
She opened her eyes and looked down at… herself, lying on the floor with blue light streaming out of her body. Mitsume had charged forward, and held a hand to her back, fighting just to stay near the crumpled body that belonged to her. The same panic as earlier rose once more, but for whatever reason, she felt as if it couldn’t reach her here, wherever she was. Teru stood unmoving, with more fear and concern on her face than Hikaru had ever seen her express. The elemental sat on his hind legs, watching the scene unfold with his feathers ruffled.
Suddenly, she felt a pull at her back, on the same spot that her aunt held her hand. Accepting the pull, she awoke inside her own body again, reintroduced to the immense sensation of agitating power. She faintly heard words from behind her- “Hikaru! Help me apply a seal to your forehead. Don’t use your chakra, just take my hand!” She was rolled over, and felt Mitsume’s hand on her forehead as she began weaving handseals with her other. Feeling like she wouldn’t be able to think much longer without releasing the energy inside her like a tornado, Hikaru clasped her hand in her aunt’s and held on.
-
The next she could remember, she lay on the floor in the same position, her forehead burning but the heavy sensation of energy gone. More than anything, she felt exhausted, but she managed to glance over at where Mitsume and Teru had been. They sat nearby, watching her. “Are you alright, Hikaru? How do you feel?” the former asked.
“I… feel ok. What was that? What happened?”
She didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she reached over and touched the spot on her forehead where her hand had been- the Mednin felt a mark there. A seal. “This seal was necessary to contain the power that Kōdo caused you to release. It will persist for a little while, so you’re going to have to come back here for some training on how to use it. Until then, do not direct chakra towards it, and do not summon Kōdo outside of this dojo.” She couldn’t conceal the worry in her face as she looked down at her niece. Hikaru nodded, and tried to sit up, managing to do so with little trouble.
“Your first training should start now… but first, I believe this elemental had said he was in a hurry.” Mitsume’s eyes shot daggers at the lion, who looked much smaller in the face of the woman’s anger. He produced a scroll from somewhere behind him, unfurling it and placing it in front of Hikaru with his paws. “This is the contract signature scroll,” he explained in the same growly voice. “Signing and stamping with your blood will allow you to summon me anywhere.”
“You’re… accepting me?” she responded. He still looked rather sullen.
But he rumbled confidently, “Yes, I am. You broke free of my Genjutsu and survived that outburst without damaging anything. Had I wanted to test you any further than that, I would have warned you beforehand.” Hikaru signed, biting her finger, and the elemental rolled up the scroll once more. “I expect you will be summoning me again shortly. Let us see if you can actually perform the jutsu…” With that, he evaporated in a puff of white smoke.
Hikaru laid back, staring up at the ceiling. What she wanted more than anything was to sleep, but she knew the questions that had blossomed in her mind while she spoke to her aunt and her contract would occupy her once she woke up. Deciding she didn’t care about that right now, she closed her eyes.
-
[WC: 2418]
[Using Discovery of Contract of Your Choice card to find Elemental]
[Using Cursed Sealing on myself]
