Lake Mountain Side--Amaya's New Mission

The Sun was just beginning the kiss the western mountains as Amaya Kiyome approached the mountain side lake resting far within the forest outskirts of Kirigakura no Sato. The young shinobi had not but an hour ago separated from Rin and Senko, who had invited her—with what seemed liked the most fake kind of courtesy possible—to have dinner with them. Amaya Kiyome had not the time, patience, or desire to be forced within the same vicinity Senko and the female he had suddenly taken so keen of an interest in just for indulgence purposes—she had annoyed them as much if not more than they had annoyed her. There simply was not a point in continuing their transgressions together.

Bringing an apple to her lips and biting into the succulent fruit, Amaya’s emerald irises stared intensely into the placid surface of the lake. Things were going to become rough from here on out—Amaya couldn’t continue to spend her time plastering Aoiro everyday with her unexplainable need to get under his skin. Childish antics would have to wait as now was the time for her to focus on her true goals of being a shinobi of the mist—ruthless and strong against all those that threatened her honor. To strengthen and enforce the reputation of the Bloody Mist to all those that stood in her way.

“Especially Senko,” she thought outloud, intensifying the grip she had on her apple until it burst into a firework of juice. “Hime… hime, hime, hime…that’s all he ever calls me. I’ll show him what this Hime can do and finally get everyone to recognize me as something more than the snobbish girl with the flute.”

The mere thought of how the people of the village acted towards her, though she never expressed it to anyone, truly infuriated her…infuriated her soul. A clear example of that was Rin clear dismissing expression back in the clinic. Everyone knew about her rotten attitude and thus shunned her for it. Amaya chuckled to herself—well she supposed they had a reason to dislike her—she appeared to dislike and heckle anyone she saw. Approaching the edge of the lake, Amaya took to a knee and gazed into her reflection. She wasn’t always this angry at the world—although…she was always lonely. Holding the mush of organic remains that was once an apple over the water, she overturned her hand and watched her reflection distort at the pieces broke the surface of the lake.

“That’s how people often view you,” she had to her reflection. “A distorted…weak…unstable image.” After a moment of silence of watching the ripples gradually calm again, Amaya let out a growl of frustration and slapped the water, destroying her image before standing up—now was not the time to reflect upon the ruminants of society hating her presence. There was training to be done.

Gripping the Maboroshi Yokobue strongly within her small fingers and brushing her baby blue bangs from her eyes, Amaya advanced towards the mountain, her feet gliding across the water as if it were solid ground.

The mountain that barricaded one the of the boundary edges of the lake, the forest surrounding the others, reached a high about 50ft into a higher level of forestry. Illustrious patterns of loosened rock protruded from the cliff’s walls, indicating its intense vulnerability for rock slides. Rocks extending out to the sky already decorated the lake’s surface from previous rocks slides, but the existence of moss and other greenery on their cracked surfaces indicated that a rock slide had not reoccurred in some time now—but it would again that evening.

Amaya approached the base of the cliff that sank into the water and glanced up at its grandeur—what she was about to perform was a very dangerous task…something that she would imagined a loved one, if she possessed any, to advise her against for her own health. However, with no one to express such concern upon her life, Amaya had no hesitation in putting her life on the line if it meant achieving her goal. Placing Maboroshi Yokobue to her lips, a beautiful melody transpired into the sunset, each sound wave potent with her unique charka.

Kyoushin…

If sounds waves were visible, the ripples of water that vibrated from Maboroshi Yokobue, previously only resembling the ripple in a puddle of water suddenly escalated into intense tidal waves pushing from the flute in an amazing spectacle of awful power. The benefit of this isolated training was that no one was around to hear to scream of the instrument, lest their ears bleed and their brain scrambled. The mountain, however, did not have that privilege.
Resonance collided into the mountain with an invisible yet grand force and it began to vibrate violently. The placid water under its base rippled furiously in protest, waves erupting across the surface as the tranquility lake setting transformed into thrashing storm water. Amaya endured the unstable ground that now threatened to sink her before its depth with its ravaging hands, her body gracefully spinning and leaping around the waves’ troughs and peaks as if she and the water were performing a duet to her melodic tunes. However, no matter how much the shinobi danced, she remained at the base of the vibrating mountain.

The performance was short lived as the real presentation suddenly became apparent—the vibrating mountain, unable to withstand the merciless vibrations, shattered. While dancing with the chaotic and random attacks of the water were a test of her speed, flexibility and attentiveness, it would be nothing compared to what the mountain offered. A large magnitude of rocks, varying from the boulders the large enough to crush a small house to pebbles the size of marbles tumbled towards her form from different angles and heights. At her point from the base of the mountain, running was not an option—she wouldn’t even if she could. The boulders, allied with the fallen forestry they nurtured, would act as a meteor shower upon the entire lake. Amaya would have to destroy and scatter each one that threatened to crush her into the water within very, very short time durations.

Mizu Byou no Jutsu!

The rapid, complex melody birthed from the Maboroshi Yokobue and the raging water that once acted as her enemy now served as her protection. Twin roaring ribbons of water burst from the water and swirled around her body once before flying into the air to meet the boulders large enough to threaten her body. Colliding into the boulders with tidal wave force, the ribbons hit the center of rocks directly above her shattering them into smaller pieces. Amaya’s eyes narrowed, this wasn’t enough though, the boulder had shattered into rocks the size of her head and thus the ribbons spread out into ten smaller tendrils each, punching at the boulders repetitively with incredible speed that matched the blur of fingers across the Maboroshi Yokobue. Dust particles began to fall, but the danger wasn’t over, boulders and trees hit the lake with ruthless after effects of strong waves that Amaya had no choice but the leap from, placing her into the vicinity other falling boulders. A large ribbon of water extended from the lake and collided into a boulder that threatened to collide into her landing area as she did, shattering it and pelting Amaya with smaller entities of rocks instead.

Blood spilled across the lake.

Sharp rocks sheered her clothing and flesh and blunt rocks bruised her muscles, but nonetheless she landed on top of the water—only to leap again at a threatening wave. Amaya landed upon a falling boulder and the tune in her melody changed. Mizu Ookami no Jutsu! Ribbons of water transformed into two wolf avatars, two was the limit of this jutsu at its current level but still had its perks: the wolves moved like real animals without the hindrance of being attached to the water and thus not being force to bend around objects to hit others. Then she and the wolves leaped from rock to rock, the wolves crashing into menacing boulders that blocked her leaping patterns—this dance would continue to perform through the falling rocks, fireworks of exploding rock and water beautifying the intense training.

A single raven would fly over head, it's obsidian figure gracefully gliding over the lake. It's dark eyes taking in the massive amount of destruction which seemed to be originating from the female down below. Silently the raven descended moving closer and closer to the chaos, yet remaining just out of reach of the tendrils and rocks. After several moments the bird found itself landing on a tree on the still placid side of the lake. The birds form shifted, morphing into shadows before elongating and morphing. The dark human silhouette gained definition and color, and now what stood there watching appeared to be Senko. His form remained crouched on the tree, out of site. His eyes observing the woman's training.

"Good Amaya, get stronger, we're going to need that strength." His form slid down from the tree, and with an incomprehensible level of stealth made his way forward to the lake side, his form coming to sit on the shore. His palms pushed into the ground as he leaned back, crimson eyes focusing on the woman.

Amaya landed into the water, immediately dropping to a knee and breathing harshly through her nose as her breath still strained to continue its melody. A single Mizu Ookami stood protectively by her side as the other had fallen due to her depleting chakra and breath. The red hues of the sky had melted into a mauve blue and the shinobi had managed to successfully destroy 30 of the 50ft of the falling rocks—but between the energy it required to scatter the mountain, evade the rocks with the Shunshin no jutsu and controlling both the Mizu Ookami and Byou no jutsu at their max strengths—the genin was getting exhausted. This was evident by the fact that her knees had began to sink into the water, chakra control starting to distort within her body. Maintaining the balance was becoming more of a task than a natural skill at this point.

Amaya was forced to her feet again after the literal two second rest as the final wave of rocks and forestry reached a dangerous level, leaping to the side as a tree slammed into the water. The Mizu Ookami flashed beyond her momentum to charge away a previously fallen tree that rested on her landing spot. Despite this, the landing still did not go as planned, her body sank into the water waist deep before she tapped into her charka control and caught herself. She felt lightheaded and the rocks appeared to double in her vision. She had to destroy them all at once…but even the Kyuoshin no jutsu did not possess the power to destroy both the rocks that threaten to smash her and the surrounding tidal waves. Her mind drifted to her chase with Senko…

Meld the melodies together to make the techniques more powerful as one…

Fingers, although bleeding and blistered from the fiery non rested movements, composed a new melody. The words of the new found technique sang within her mind for the first time.

Tsuin Keisei no jutsu…

The Mizu Ookami trotted over Amaya’s body in a protective position and although completely made of water, the wolf appeared to breath in deeply. Amaya melody began to flow into the belly of the beast, condensing within the water barriers—the wolf was inhaling her song. The rocks were within three feet of Amaya’s body and water…

OOKAMI KYOUSHIN!!

The ookami released a devastating howl of sound. The waves burst through the area with a frequency like no other, impacting the tidal waves with such an awful force that it caused an immediate inference with the troughs and peaks, which were forced to settle under its power. This was not the only effect; the rocks, with nearly twenty feet of falling force, instantaneously shattered into dust, millions of mineral particles raining onto the lake in hazy display. Amaya lower the flute from her lips.

“I did it…”

Her body gradually sank under the surface and the Ookami melted into the lake. Her body, depleted of strength, oxygen, and charka fell under the depths of the falls without any resistance to survive. Amaya smiled solemnly as surface drifted further and further from her reach. She had not the strength to swim and even as the water threatened to penetrate her lungs, they did not feel any pain. Funny...at the end of these situations, when someone so bravely used all of their strength to fight for a cause, wasn’t there always someone to reach out their hands to catch them during that final fall? Bubbles escaped her mouth as she laughed at the thought.

“How foolish of me to even believe someone would reach their hand out to me…”

There would be no one to praise her, to save her, she always needed to use her own strength to muster up the compliments, encouragement, and ambition to move on…and now she hadn’t had any strength to muster. Would she drown under this lake simply because she was alone?

Amaya glanced through the water and into the sky, the moon was full and has shined brightly even through these now dusty waters. Amaya continued to stare at it sullenly, her world slowly turning dark as she continued to sink below the depths….

The image of Senko shifted, and as it did so it morphed back into a shadow, the shadow once more turning into a bird. Yet what now perched on the beach was not a small raven, but rather a giant one, one that towered above any other bird. Onyx wings expanded sending feather cascading through the air. Each flap caused the soil around it to furiously fly through the air. It's form would suddenly shoot up leaving the ground behind, traveling thirty feet straight up, before it's massive wings folded and it moved into a dive. As it dove down it's figure morphed once more, changing back into shadows. The shadows bent around the force of the air becoming sharper, looking more like a spear. This spear of darkness pierced the water, and with no reduction of speed impacted against Amaya, it's form morphing into a bubble that would completely engulf her.

Within the bubble Amaya would float, the image of Senko next to her. His hands coming together as he performed a few seals, his left hand then reaching out to grasp the woman's limb. Immediately both entities became hazy and translucent, and as their physical bodies seemed to dissolve away into the abyss, the shadowy bubble around then imploded consuming their forms. Almost immediately their forms would reappear emerging from the shadow at the base of a tree. The image of Senko shifted a little as he looked at the woman his lips moving, yet the sound was delayed.

"Wake up hime, sleeping isn't going to do you any good?" A single hand falling onto her diaphragm to force it to contract, hopefully she'd start breathing soon.

That’s right…there was a full moon that night too…

----------------

“Hikaru Kiyome, you’ve been convicted of impersonating a ninja of the Mist, secretly concealing your real identity as a shinobi of Saundo no Mura. You’ve also been convicted of attempting to assassinate the Mizukage. As punishment you’ve been sentence to death. Are there any last words you wish to say in your honor?”

It was the night of her mother’s death sentence eight years ago. For nearly ten years, Hikaru Kiyome had been working as a spy for the Saundo no Mura or village of sound—sent with an objective to assassinate the Mizukage once she succeeded in becoming a member of the special team designed to protect him. However, throughout the her ten year mission, things has taken many unexpected turns. Her emotions had bested her logic and she had fallen in love with a fellow special ops ninja—Amaya was the result of this forbidden love. However, Hikaru was loyal to her village and although she now had both a husband and child, she had attempted to assassinate the Mizukage. The skilled ninja would have succeeded as well, if her husband had not caught wind of the situation and alerted the Mizukage. Now she was about to be murdered by her teammates and husband that she had known and loved for so many years…

Six year old Amaya stood trembling under the shadows of a tree, fear painted across her visage as she watched the circle of Jonin surround her mother, hands locked into a hand signal that encased her mother from the neck down in a black liquid. The Mizukage rested not far off in a large chair, his hands laced upon his lap as she stared Hikaru with an icy glare of pure hatred. A large gash was displayed across the left side of his cheek from Hikaru's attack—a forever reminder of how close she had gotten to severing his head.

“M-mommy…”

Hikaru turned her head with the best of her ability to gaze passed the surrounding ninja towards her daughter to which she knew was watching this most cruel technique. Her mauve orbs seemed to beg for Amaya to turn away, but the child did not. Turning her head back towards the Jonin and her eyes found her husband.

“Surely you couldn’t be so cruel as to allow your own daughter to witness her mother’s death…orchestrated by her own father and fellow ninja.”
Hitame Kiyome flinched at the words and shifted his eyes over towards Amaya, but he was a part of the circle used to bound Hikaru and under the watchful and intense eyes of the Mizukage, there was simply nothing he could do. The ninja remained silent.

“I see,” Hikaru said after a moment of silence. “You’re nothing but a dog of this tyrant in the end…” Hikaru turned her eyes towards Mizukage with a sheer look of disgust. “I better than others understand loyalty one must have towards their village—but this is too cruel…” Emotions seemed to flood within her eyes and she took one final look at her daughter as if to offer comfort. Hitame looked extremely uncomfortable and fought back the tears the transpired at the corner of his eyes.

The Mizukage lifted his finger and shifted it forward slightly initiate the execution.

“Jiguko Mizu no Jutsu!”

Hikaru’s screams cracked through the night as the liquid activated around her form and began to liquefy her flesh and bone. Hell Water technique was a jonin class jutsu that literally burned the chakra within someone’s body, causing it to melt the host and expand of its power. Unable to be destroyed by any natural element, the liquid was the perfect substance for devouring all signatures of charka. However, the liquid was ravenous for energy, it would continue to attack the chakra of anyone in the vicinity and thus it was forbidden to cast single-handedly. Control over a substance that devoured so much chakra was difficult and required the user to have intense control—this was why so many ninja were required.

“NOOO!!!” Amaya screamed out, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably.

Without a second thought, Amaya charged towards the extermination, dashing into the circle of Jonin towards her mother in a blind resolve to pull the horrifying liquid from her screaming mother. The jonin that she ran by couldn’t stop her, they could not break concentration lest the liquid expand out of control. Amaya closed her eyes and reached her hands out to grasped the liquid…

Instead she touched flesh.

Hitame had broke his signal and rushed in between the liquid and Amaya, embracing her tightly as his back collided into the black liquid. Amaya looked up at her father tearfully, shock expressed all over her face. Hitame merely offered his daughter an apologetic smile before he threw her from his arms, the black liquid engulfing his form as well. Amaya hit the ground and watched in terror as her mother and father were both encased in the jutsu.

Amaya desperately looked towards the other Jonin. “Please stop!!” The child cried out. While some of the jonin shifted their eyes towards the child sympathetically and others stared horrified at Hitame’s demises—they couldn’t stop it. “PLEASE!!! STOP!!!”

Her calls would go unanswered and Amaya was forced to watch her parents die before her eyes, murdered by her villagers…

Hikaru, though melting within the liquid, looked at Hitame and her eyes reflected an apologetic countenance, tears flowing from her eyes—this was all her fault…and she regretted it in the very end. Being a ninja made one chose between responsibility and emotions...she had chosen responsibility to abandoned her loved ones. She regretted it all. Hitame couldn’t deny his love for Hikaru and in death there was no reason to hide it. For he had also chosen to abide by his duty as a ninja rather than as a husband and father until the very end. He reached his liquefying hand towards hers and clasped it tightly. In those seconds, an understanding was reached and both exchanged loving looks before they lost unconsciousness within the liquid. When the jutsu was over, there was nothing left of Amaya's parents.

Amaya sat staring at the blacked ground that remained after the liquid had been contained and removed. The jonin stared at her for a moment—there was nothing to be said, nothing that could be offered to ease the child of her pain. All they could do was turn around and walk away. Alone in the night, Amaya could only sit there and sob. Turning her head up, she looked to the sky and stared sullenly at the full moon…

----------------------

My mother and father were killed by the Bloody Mist…and I hated them…I hated the Mizukage...I hated everyone ever since…and thus I was always angry… and always…always...alone…

Upon Senko pressed against her chest, water burst out of Amaya's mouth and she coughed several times, oxygen forcing its way into her lungs, burning and stinging throughout her body. Amaya grimaced and groaned at the uncomfortable feeling, her vision completely blurry and senses diluted.

She was…out of the water?

Amaya blinked weakly several times, Senko’s form coming in as a blur before it gradually became infallible under the moonlight's glimmer through the leave of the tree. Senko saved her? No...that couldn’t be right, why would he do such a thing for her? Amaya smiled at the ridiculous thought...however, the smile immediately faded Senko’s voice confirmed it was indeed him.

“S..Senko?” Amaya questioned in disbelief, her voice weak and harsh from the burning sensations in her throat.

His eyes met hers for a second as she spoke his name, his visage remaining blank. After careful consideration his head shook, "No, not exactly. I mean, kind of, but not really." His form shifted back as he sat down, he was completely dry, a testament not to his power, but rather to what he was... or in this case wasn't. The image shifted back from the girl before morphing back into the shadows and returning to its bird like state. It wasn't Senko, but rather one of the ravens from his summoning. Something that he had cast awhile ago to keep an eye on people he had interest in.

The raven's unique ability to become a shadow clone of Senko allowed it to temporarily synchronize its thoughts with the other resulting in the two trading information instantaneously and allowing Senko to either temporarily take control, or pass on directives. The small bird hopping onto Amaya's chest it's head canting to the side, its beak parting as a raspy voice creaked out. "Are you okay?"

Amaya watched silently as Senko’s image explained himself and reduced back into its raven form. Amaya’s weakened countenance seemed sullen at the image, turning her head to allow her cheek to caress the glass below her. She stared silently at the destroyed mountain side and the now dirtied water, covered in fallen tree bark and leaves.

This wasn’t logical to her at all. She should have died at the bottom of that lake. Even if Senko had come to spy upon her training, it didn’t make sense that he’d make the effort to save her. He hated her, didn’t he? She barely felt the raven land onto her chest and only turned her head again when the crackled voice reached her. The words he spoke churned her brain further in its kaleidoscope of confusion. Why did he even care? They didn’t care. They simply walked away.

Without realizing it, tears formed in the corners of her eyes and began to stream down her cheeks. It was the first time the girl had cried since her parents' death. While her eyes reflected immense confusion and sorrow, her countenance was angered.

“Don’t mock me with your false concern, Senko!” she cried out, sobs starting to transpire. “Why did you save me?! Do you only wish to heckle me more with your jutsu!” Amaya didn’t have the strength and swipe the raven away or to even sit up. Thus, she only turned her head towards the lake again, her blustered fingers gripping the flute tightly. “I don’t need your help so just go away!”

Just why was he so cool all the time!? Why did he threaten her life one moment and then save it the next!? Amaya's shoulders shuddered violently from her crying. Now she only succeeded in making herself appear weaker before him. She hoped that this was only a limbo of sorts and that maybe she was still laying on the bottom of the lake. She was becoming dizzy again, her anger only succeeding in furthering her exhaustion. She had been alone all her life...why was he suddenly there?

The raven's head canted further to the side, its dark eyes blinking several times. It's wings fluttering, feathers rustling, as it nestled down keeping it eyes focused on her face.

"I don't know why you're getting so worked up. I like to keep tabs on strong people. You should return to the village by the way."

The Raven's form began to glow, it's image breaking down as it converted into chakra, its energy flowing into Amaya. Amaya would be left there alone, her wish for solitude granted, or so it would seem. For perched in a tree not so far away two more ravens were perched, their dark eyes gleaming as they watched the female. Their gaze shifting to one another as if to converse, but rather they only nodded. Senko was scheming, he was forming a plan, and if Aoiro really wanted to wage a war, he would help... but he would also need the help of others.

Amaya sighed at the solitude she asked for, feeling the chakra rejuvenate her limps to the point where the young female could sit up once again, pressing her back against the tree and closing her eyes thoughtfully. If it were someone else, perhaps Senko’s comments would have hurt their feelings—but it relieved Amaya. Senko did not have a care for her health, only for her strength. It was a compliment and a relief. Apparently he had something planned for her and would discuss the details the next time she saw him face to face.

“That prick better not mention this to Aoiro…”

Sluggishly she stood up slowly, glancing at the moon for another moment before inhaling deeply.

“I suppose I’ll return to the village and get some rest. His objective will have to wait till I’m recovered.” Turning her had down at the lake, her countenance turned sheepish. “Maybe I’ll get some extra training in tomorrow morning by cleaning this mess up first…”

With that decided, Amaya turned towards the forest and leaped off into the trees and towards the village.

-----A Blast From the Past-----

A day had passed since her last intense training and under Senko’s advice, Amaya had returned to the village to investigate what the big deal was. It appeared that the Mizukage had discovered Senko’s location and thus sent for his capture. Amaya had reached Aoiro’s house and witnessed this herself—however, when she followed the ninja and confirmed that Senko had been taken to Mizukage Tower, there really wasn’t anything she could do. Therefore, at this point it was a matter of patience and awaiting the outcome. However, patience wasn’t something that Amaya possessed, especially when she wanted to become stronger. Thus, Amaya had returned to the lake for additional training. It was well into the afternoon when Amaya reached the placid lake side; earlier she had been there to clean the debris from the lake and she did a rather decent job too. While the lake was still slightly tinted from the dirt debris, all the trees and rocks had been removed, resting on the side of the lake in a large, neatly arranged pile.

Amaya sat down on the side of the lake and leaned over the water, gazing at her reflection in a thought—she had come here to train, but wasn’t sure what training to do. The mountainside training wasn’t something that could be repeated due to the obvious fact that were wasn’t a mountain anymore. Even the training of cleaning the lake up didn’t require much effort—it only tested her chakra levels—not the control. It also lacked physical labor on her part, thus the training wouldn’t really be considered training. Amaya released a sigh and rested her cheek in the palm of her hand, continuing to gaze into her reflection. She thought about all the legendary ninja from the older days—they all had trainers of high rankings to make them great.

“Even if I was to find someone willing to train me,” Amaya reflected on her own thoughts. “There’s no one in this village who incorporates chakra the way I do. Only part of my techniques are associated with water.”

The genjutsu and ninjutsu, although having a signature of water, was all conducted through sound. Amaya’s chakra was channeled through sound waves and thus it was the sound techniques that needed to be trained in order to create stronger water jutsu. The zephyr in the wind brushed against her blue bangs and made the water ripple slightly. Amaya picked up a pebble and tossed it into the lake, distorting the reflection for a moment. What could she do? Then suddenly Amaya’s eyes widened as the reflection in the water cleared and she immediately leaped from her position and into the air over the lake.

A foot violently collided with the ground she had previously been resting on, a potent wave of sound exploded from the impact and while Amaya was sure she had easily escaped that surprise attack, she found a force hitting her flying body mid air and sending her spinning to the other side of the lake. Regaining her composure in time, Amaya landed on her feet, flute drawn and eyes locked on the ninja who stood erect after his attack.

“What the…”

Amaya stared the head band branded on his forehand and her eyes widened at the musical symbol.

“…A sound ninja?”