Training in the snow

An all to familiar dull 'thung' rang out lightly, almost too quiet to be heard, but Seresana was used to and expected the noise now and so it didn't escape her ears. Not even a full second after the sound hit her, Seresana's gaze shifted over towards the one who'd shot the arrow and the projectile itself that was rapidly closing in on her. It was one of the special padded arrows Ranzaki used when training her in this manner, with Seresana standing up on the post in the middle of a small clearing, forced to defend or avoid the projectiles he shot at her without falling off the post. This first arrow had been shot almost at the same time her foot had made contact with the pole, and so she had very little time to actually orient herself upon the small post, let alone see where the projectile was going. As it happened, the arrow itself was rapidly flying towards her head and Seresana twisted about to react. She twisted about and brought up her open hand to hit the arrow to the side while simultaneously leaning over to make sure she was out of the original path of the arrow.

Unfortunately, the combintion of the two acts proved to be a little too much for her after just getting on the post, and with her balance offset, Seresana was soon flailing her arms in rapid circles to try and keep her balance. The effort proved to be in vain though as she soon felt her foot slip off the post and that familiar weightlessness of falling overcome her being. A harsh contrast to the frozen solid ground the greeted her as her brief fall came to an abrupt stop. With a little groan, Seresana started to push herself back up onto her hands and knees, both of which became just a little bit damp from the snow that started to melt upon contact with her warmer body. Seresana lifted her head, first to the sight of the forest around her. The slowly falling snow created a rather unique scene in the woods, the small white flakes whimsically drifting down through the air, almost as if they were dancing in the errant breezes that licked at Seresana's cool cheeks and nipped at her reddened ears. All of the trees were coated in white powder, creating such a strong contrast between the dark bark and the overwhelming white. Small icicles hung from many of the branches, glittering right along with the snow in the dull light that struggled to shine through thick overcast sky full of light grey clouds. Despire the numerous trees in the forest they were in, the ground was also coated in a layer of snow, not quite enough to be deep, but enough that there was a noticeable layer on the ground.

Taking in enough of the surroundings, Seresana turned her gaze towards her sensei who was waiting for her a short ways off to the side. The old man stood strongly in the winter's chill, wrapped up well in his own leathers and furs. His old eyes watched the young girl as she slowly stood up, unflinching the in the cool wind that played and lightly tugged on the hairs of his white beard. The powerful bow he held in his hands had another of the padded arrows set to it's string, though the weapon was pointed down for now and the arrow was not drawn back. Ranzaki was waiting for Seresana to get back up on the post so they could continue her defensive training. They'd only been at this for a short while, luckily Seresana had recently found a way to travel to and from her home and reach the training grounds much faster than her old route. As such, Seresana was now able to actually reach and train with Ranzaki on a single day basis rather than having to pack up enough supplies to go camping for some time, though she still did so from time to time.

Taking the silent cue from Ranzaki, Seresana pushed herself up the rest of the way and turned back around to where she was facing the pole again. With a glance towards her sensei, Seresana performed a quick hop up and planted one foot onto the top of the pole to catch it and bring herself to balance on it's wet surface. She didn't have long at all to claim her balance though as Ranzaki already had the arrow drawn and was taking aim as soon as she started her jump. She only had the time to look in his direction before the shot was flying at her, and then the second before it reached her. Seresana threw her weight to the side, narrowly avoiding the arrow and nearly throwing her balance away with it, but with a bit more arm flailing, she managed to right herself upon the post, only just in time to notice the next arrow already being shot at her. With no time to dodge the attack, Seresana brought about her hand to bat the arrow away. The effort threatened her balance again, but not to the same extreme that trying to dodge the projectiles and so when the next arrow was drawn, Seresana was a little more prepared for it. When the third arrow was launched at her, Seresana twisted her left shoulder back and down, while bending her knee a little to try and lower her center of balance so she could keep up on the post better.

It worked well enough, but the added effort of trying to hold onto her balance while straightening her leg proved to take too long whent he fourth arrow was released. It caught her in the stomach and provided more than enough of a push to knock her off balance, forcing her foot to slip off the still slick and damp post. With another audible 'oof', Seresana landed on her butt and back on the cold snow once again, but quickly pushed herself back up onto her elbows and looked towards Ranzaki. She noted that his quiver still held many of the padded arrows, and he already had the next one set to the string, waiting for her to get back on the post again so they could continue the training session. He gave no indication, no visible gesture, and no order for her to get back on, but Seresana knew that so long as he had arrows in the quiver, that she was to continue this training and only when he was out would they commence with whatever else he had planned for her next. That's why Seresana stood back up after that quick look, and didn't bother with another before jumping back onto the small and now well worn looking post.

Same as before, the first arrow came barely a seconed after her foot landed upon the post, and this time Seresana changed it up some. Instead of trying to dodge this first arrow while her balance was still unsteady, a open palm came up and batted the projectile to the side while she bent back slightly just to make sure she was completely out of the projectile's altered path. Then the next arrow was shot at her and Seresana grimaced as she readied herself to react, throwing herself about and spinning on about on the post. Then she was able to shift herself about to the right side and out of the arrow path. When the next arrow was shot at her, Seresana actually grinned as she brought her left palm down to bat the arrow away from her and used the movement to send her into another little spin and throw herself back into balance. The fourth arrow came in low and with a spring up, Seresana launched herself into the air, over the arrow. A fifth arrow flew at her while she was in the air, but Seresana had been planning on this and was ready to bring the back of her hand about to knock the arrow away from her. However, when she went to land on the other foot, it slipped right off the slick post and Seresana fell again. This time, she caught the pole in the stomach, right under the ribs which drew a pained gasp from the young girl as she collapsed to the ground and tried to catch her breath between the bouts of erupting pain.

Seresana laid there for a while, just gasping in pain as she fought back tears from the injury. There was no doubt there'd be a bruise there if there wasn't one already and all Seresana could do for the moment was try and force air back into her body. Weakly, she looked up and say Ranzaki there, still standing at the far end of the area with bow in hand and another arrow set to the string. His expression was as bleak as ever, no smile or frown and his eyes shown nothing of what he may or may not have been feeling. The man was a blank wall that Seresana just couldn't read as he patiently waited for her to get back up and resume the training. "He won't have to wait on me", Seresana thought to herself through grit teeth before planting a hand on the snowy ground and began to push herself up while the other still cradled her aching, bruised stomach. When her knees found their mark under her again, Seresana's hand went to the post and used it to push herself up further until her feet were flat on the ground again. "I'm stronger than this", she continued to think as her determined expression landed on Ranzaki again. She didn't jump up this time, not with the injured stomach, but a foot did rise and ended up planted on the top of the post before a little hop got her up the rest of the way onto the post. Once more, Seresana still only had but a moment before the first arrow was fired and she had to react. Starting to dodge only caused her stomach to erupt in pain again, and waste a prescious second as the arrow closed in. Giving up trying to dodge the arrow, Seresana weakly batted at the thing to try and redirect it, but was still tagged with the projectile lightly. After a lot of wobbling though, Seresana was actually able to stay up on the post, only to nearly collapse over as a fresh wave of pain erupted from the bruise before the second arrow was released and Seresana once more batted it to the side.

Despite the injury, Seresana kept up on the pole, deflecting arrow after arrow, and trying to dodge what she could until the last two flew at her, at the same time. Seresana wasn't sure if they'd both been shot at the same time, or if it was some kind of jutsu, but either way, the appearance of both arrows coupled with her already blatant exhaustion kept her from properly moving, and so both arrows scored hits on her and knocked her clean off the post where she landed roughly on her side in the snow. Seresana didn't get up for a moment, and instead let her limbs spread out as she laid down on her back in the snow, her gaze drifting to the clouds above. The snow was still falling as it had been this whole time, and while Seresana caught her breath, she watched the tiny flakes fell on and around her. Her mind drifted, going to thoughts on prior winters and of how the snow always seemed to captivate her. She felt as if hours could creep without a care to the cold or the damp as she laid there, in fact, the cold felt almost comforting to her as it eased the bruise on her stomach. However, she wasn't alone and now wasn't a time to lay in contemplation, a fact cemented in by the sounds of footsteps crunching the fresh snow, leaves, and branches under boots as Ranzaki drew closer. With a little groan, Seresana satup and looked back over her shoulder towards her sensei with a smile. "Are we going to move on to the next training?" she asked from where she sat.

Ranzaki replied at first with just a nod and then looked to the arrow that were littered on the ground. "Yes, it's time for more of your archery practice," he agreed before turning back towards his camp. "Oh, but pick up the arrows first and bring them back to the camp," Ranzaki added before continuing into the woods and shortly out of sight amongst the trees and snow that covered them. Seresana nodded, even though it wasn't likely Ranzaki would see, but she didn't immediately get up. After watching him depart and then disappear, she looked towards the sky again and breathed in deeply of the cool and crisp air. With a small smile that became considerably more strained as she tried to stand, Seresana climbed to her feet and began to walk around the oblong clearing to gather up the arrows Ranzaki had spent the last little while trying to shoot her with. The well made projectiles put her own creations to shame with their good fletching, smooth straight shafts, and the uniquely padded arrow heads that at the worst caused a small bruise when hit with. And Seresana went about collecting all the arrows she could find, a few of which she almost missed thanks to the constantly falling snow and the time the first few had spent on the ground getting almost buried in the white powder.

When most of the arrows had been collected, Seresana turned her attention back towards the path Ranzaki had taken just moments ago and proceeded down it. Even with the dulled pain on her stomach, Seresana still had a grin on her face as she proceeded through the snow covered woods. There was just something about the snow, and the rain, that really set the her mind at ease, made her problems and concerns go away, and just generally made her day better. It was so quiet too, barely a creature moved in these cold times, most having either migrated or in hibernation which made the wood that were normally a buzz with activity almost eerily quiet with the exception of Seresana's foot falls. Even those however she tried to mask and make quieter as she walked to the point where the wasn't any noise at all until she finally came upon Ranzaki's camp and the sounds of him working and the fire crackling broke the silence. "I'm back Ranzaki sensei," Seresana said as she entered the camp, getting little more than a grunt as an initial reply. Taking that as a cue, Seresana deposited the arrows next to the entrance to Ranzaki's hut.

"Come, warm yourself by the fire," Ranzaki said suddenly, catching Seresana a little off guard but the smile was soon back on her face as she wandered over closer to the small blaze. The campfire wasn't huge, but still burned brightly as it slowly cooked what was likely to be Ranzaki's dinner. Seresana hadn't realized just how could she'd been until actually getting close to the little blaze. With a little hesitation to the sudden shift in temperature, Seresana held out her hands to the fire, cringing ever so slightly at the harsh tingling sensation that quickly spread over her extremmeties. "When you can feel your fingers again, we'll start with the shooting practice. You'll be shooting at a very long range this time, be sure to adjust your aim accordingly," Ranzaki went on as he warmed himself up.

Seresana nodded in acceptance of the proposed training method, and went back to smiling while warming her hands by the fire. "Say Ranzaki, do you ever want to come back to the village?" Seresana asked with another curious glance towards him.

"No, my time there has come and gone," Ranzaki replied without looking over.

Seresana started to open her mouth to reply, but after so many times training with Ranzaki, she was finally catching on to when there wouldn't be getting any more information out of him and by the way he was standing there, she knew such a time had been reached. With that avenue of conversation gone, Seresana turned her attention back to the fire and thawing out her extremeties which were already turning pink with the heat. While this was normal for Seresana, Ranzaki gave the quick recovery from the frigid cold a curious glance, but shrugged it off as he turned towards his hut. Ranzaki walked over to the makeshift building, picked up the collection of arrows that Seresana had recovered and went inside. He returned a moment later with Seresana's bow and a fresh quiver full of his own arrows. Seresana took the hint when he held them out to her, quickly siezing them, strapping on the quiver first before grabbing up the bow and giving the string a couple test pulls to make sure it still felt like it had before. Finding everything to be in order, she smiled back up at Ranzaki and nodded to show she was ready to go. Ranzaki obliged with a nod of his own before turning about and leading Seresana off and away from the camp.

While they walked, Seresana couldn't help but smile as they walked through the forest again. Though her merry little stroll was short lived as Ranzaki stopped and pointed to a spot Seresana couldn't see at first. Squinting her eyes a little while looking for the slightly off white color of the target paper that would distinguish it from the surrounding snow. It took a moment for Seresana, but eventually she managed to spot the distant piece of paper tacked onto the tree quite some distance away. Seresana glanced up at Ranzaki uncertainly as this target was farther than she'd ever shot before, but she only met his stern, silent, and expectant gaze. With another deep breath to steel herself for the daunting task before her, Seresana drew her first arrow and took aim at the distant target, then released the arrow and watched as it flew, only to bury itself in a tree just a bit before the one with the target on it. Practically able to feel Ranzaki's ever present gaze on her, Seresana drew her next arrow without hesitation and took aim again, adjusting the shot to account for her mistake on the last shot. This arrow hit the right tree, and even the target, but only in the outer most ring. Still, Seresana drew the next arrow silently, set it to the string and pulled it back before aiming and firing. Arrow after arrow was launched, sailing through the air before burying themselves in the distant tree, and most of them hitting the target. When the last one was shot, Seresana knew better than to wait for Ranzaki to signal her or anything and so proceeded on to the target to retrieve the arrows. Seresana was surprised at how hard it was to retrieve some of them, but still managed to get every arrow back and loaded into her quiver before returning to her spot next to Ranzaki to get ready for the next round of shooting.

Just as she drew the first arrow though, Ranzaki's hand fell on her shoulder and when she looked up at him curiously, Ranzaki just shook his head slowly from side to side before leading Seresana off to her left. A short number of paces away, Ranzaki turned back towards the target and then looked at Seresana. Following his gaze, Seresana saw the distant marked tree, but only through a thinner gap of other trees and when she looked questioningly up to Ranzaki, all he did was jerk his head towards the target to silently say, 'shoot'. Nodding, Seresana drew her first arrow, set it, drew, and fired the shot. This time though, Seresana didn't bother following the projectile as it traveled, and instead drew her next arrow already and while taking aim, found her previously shot arrow. The projectile had actually made it through the thin gap in the trees, and so in an attempt to recreate the prior shot, she released the arrow before drawing her next and setting it to the string. Once more while aiming, Seresana looked for the previously shot arrows, but to her dismay found that her second arrow hadn't made it to the target, and instead burried itself high and to the right on a tree much closer to her than the target. Seresana didn't want to lose her momentum though and so fired her currently held shot before drawing the next arrow and firing that one as well. This theme of shooting and then finding where that shot landed and basing the next shot off that was something quite new to Seresana and she took a lot of ties before she was getting consistent hits on the distant tree, but that didn't mean they didn't happen. Arrow after arrow, the repeated twang of the bowstring as it snapped back into place once released, and the distant 'thump' of an arrow smacking and burying itself in the trees became a sort of music to young Seresana as she continued to train under the watchful eyes of her instructor. Occasionally, Ranzaki would stop Seresana and they'd relocate to a new position to before continuing, some times harder sometimes easier. The practice went on and on until Seresana's numb fingers started having trouble grabbing her arrows and holding onto them against the string.

Before Seresana got the chance to ask for a break, Ranzaki's hand came to rest on her shoulder and when she looked up curiously at him, she was met with the same bleak expression that flicked back towards his camp. "That's enough for now. Collect the arrows and then come back to thaw out your fingers," Ranzaki told her before letting the hand fall and proceeding back to the camp himself. Seresana nodded, even though she knew he wouldn't see it and then turned towards the target and began to walk over to it. While she couldn't really feel her fingers at the moment, the rest of her was still just rather cool thanks to the extra cothes she was sporting. Over her usual shirt, pants, and binding, there was an extra thick coat with thick long sleeves and a hood that was for the moment down. Seresana was also sporting an extra pair of pants over her usual thin trousers, and some thick heavy boots to keep her feet dry. Fingerless gloves covered most of her hands, and now that she wasn't needing the extra dexterity, the removeable ends of the mitten like gloves was flipped back around to give her freezing fingertips some protection from the biting cold. Seresana didn't have many arrows to grab up luckily, as she'd only just started shooting this latest batch at the newest location. The first arrow she came upon was her one miss from this new location, and the second arrow she'd shot from it out of five. The other four arrows were all buried in the target, two of them even getting really close to the center, while one actually managed to just clip the middle dot. Once she got all the arrows out of the tree, Seresana actually took a moment to study the target itself and was pleased to behold the abundance of holes that her arrows had tore through the paper. There were even a couple that were actually all the way in the center dot much to her glee. With a smile on her face at her own little personal triumph, Seresana stored the last of the arrows back in the quiver and began to walk back to Ranzaki's camp.

She didn't have far to go for the latest little training site Ranzaki had taken them too wasn't that far away from his hut, and Seresana was immensely glad to smell something good cooking when she got to the fringes of the hut. Skirting around the small building, Seresana beheld Ranzaki tending to a cooking pot of some kind of hearty stew that smelled strongly of venesin and a few vegetables. Ranzaki didn't look up as Seresana came over to the fire, or when she took off her gloves so her fingers could once more be warmed up by the flames. "The stew is almost ready," the old man said monotonely as he slowly stirred the pot. "Why don't you go and fetch a couple bowls from so we can eat and warm ourself against the bitter cold of the day. Then we've a couple more trainings to do before the day's end," Ranzaki went on.

Seresana nodded and with just the slightest bit of reluctance, departed from the fire to fetch a couple bowls. "So what are these other trainings we'll be trying Ranzaki Sensei," Seresana asked as she turned around and began to walk back towards the fire. She handed one bowl to Ranzaki, who promptly filled it before pasing it back and recieving the other bowl that he filled as well.

"Meditation, some more agile shooting practice, and some more regular training," Ranzaki replied before taking the first drink of his thick and chunky soup. "We've been doing quite a bit of advanced training and it's passed time to go back over the basics," Ranzaki continued after lowering his bowl again. He swirled the remaining contents of the bowl a big before ladeling out a little more and going back to eating. Ranzaki's bleak expression was still hard to read, even now as they relaxed in the warmth of the fire and ate a decently tasty venisen stew.

Seresana made sure to listen to her sensei when he was speaking, even going so far as to not be eating while he spoke. The thick broth and chunky soup was a bit much for Seresana, but she still found the taste rather welcome and the warmth it provided was enchanting. As such, the first bowl didn't last long, nor did the second, at least until the end of it where upon she started to slow down a little as she started to get full. By the time she'd set the dish down to show that she was finished eating, Ranzaki had already finished and wandered into his hut, supposedly to gather up some extra supplies for their next bit of training. Sure enough, Ranzaki soon emerged from his hut but he didn't move to any specific direction other than back over towards the fire where he sat down with the large pack he was carrying as well. "We'll begin now with the meditation," Ranzaki stated as he and Seresana sat before the crackling fire. "You know how to meditate, find a comfortable spot and do so. I'll come and get you when it's time for the next session. We'll be going with hitting moving targets while you're on the move as well, expect it to be hard," Ranzaki said before departing towards the river which was currently frozen.

With her sensei away, Seresana let her attention and gaze drift back to the fire that wamred her. For a while she watched the dancing and flickering flames, but gradually, her gaze kept shifting off the tongues of flames and towards the snow covered ground and trees as well as the slowly falling flakes from the sky above. It wasn't long before she wasn't even trying to look towards the fires and just let her gaze stay on the snowfall, and that is where she found her peace of mind. In those moments staring up to the sky, her body relaxed and she was able to slip into the almost trance like state of meditation. The rest of the world faded away, first the hut of her mentor, then the trees surrounding her. The fire surprisingly enough was the next thing to fade away, closely followed by the snow on the ground until it was just her and the slowly falling snowflakes. Seresana felt as if she could feel each and every flake, account for every frozen drop of water, and then it slowly grew. Her meditation had brought her to nothing but the slowly falling flakes, but then it grew outward again. Slowly at first as just the immediate snow around her came back to Seresana, but then it gradualy spread, every inch of snow and ice covered ground, and then the snow decorating the trees in place of their leaves as well as the icecles dangling from their many branches. A small smile graced her face as she sat there, eyes still closed, and shutting out so much of the world, but at the same time still taking note of so much of it. The fire, the hut, and even the trees themselves however were still blank to her, and remained so no matter how far she could 'feel'.

Then suddenly something physical made contact and forced her to take note of something aside from the frozen liquid. With a bit of a start and a gasp, Seresana's eyes shot open and she let out a bit of a surprised gasp before looking to her shoulder to see the source of the distrubance. It was an all to familiar, old and gnarled hand that she didn't even need to follow up the arm of to know it was Ranzaki's. Letting out a bit of a sigh now that the surprise had passed, Seresana looked up to her sensei's face only to see him motion towards the river, silently telling her to get her things and follow. Seresana nodded as her usual smile returned and she stood up, got her bow, and moved to follow after the old man as he lead them back to the frozen river. When they arrived, Ranzaki turned to Seresana to explain how the training was to go on. "I'll be standing up there," Ranzaki said with a point towards the small, frozen cliff that the waterfal flowed over in warmer weather. "I'll be throwing out targets that you are to hit while running or levitating across the stream yourself. You are not to take a shot if you aren't moving," he warned before turning back around and beginning to proceed towards the top of the waterfall.

Seresana watched him go, and once he was at the top of the small cliff, she readied her own levitation jutsu. When Ranzaki bent down to retrieve the first of the targets, Seresana performed her jutsu and was soon levitating in the air by a few feet, drifting in a zig-zag pattern over the frozen river, with her first arrow drawn and ready to be shot. She wasn't kept waiting long though as the first target was soon tossed into the air, and Seresana had to gawk a bit at how small the thing she was expected to hit actually was. This momentary trip up was more than enough to cause her first shot to miss well over the little target and she grit her teeth as the poor shot. Ranzaki however didn't seem to notice or care how bad the shot was as he tossed up the next small target, leaving Seresana to scramble to get her next arrow readied and shot off before the target fell too far and fast, yet her arrow still missed. Knowing that Ranzaki wasn't giving her time to really contemplate how badly the shot missed, Seresana drew her next arrow so she'd be ready for when the target was present. Sure enough, the target was tossed up and this time when Seresana shot at it, her arrow managed to catch the target solidly a little to the left of center. Yet even with the hit, Ranzaki didn't give Seresana anytime to celebrate her first successful shot in this new training form as he tossed up the next target and Seresana didn't bother with celebrating herself as she had not time for it before she needed to draw another arrow and let it fly at the target. It didn't take long for Seresana's levitation jutsu to begin to wear off, and she had to quickly perform it again so she'd be able to keep shooting at Ranzaki's constantly presented targets. Dozens of shots later, and a few more casts of the levitation jutsu and Seresana was out of arrows and panting on the shore of the frozen river.

Ranzaki came over to her shortly after and regarded Seresana in his usual manner. "That will do for now. You can go home now and train on your own for the rest of the day, you don't need me to stand over you for the basic training," Ranzaki said before turning about and departing.

"R-right, goodbye Ranzaki sensei," Seresana replied from the shore and watching Ranzaki disappear into the snow covered woods. When he completely disappeared from view, she turned towards the direction of her own house, and began to walk that way. Seresana still had the full intention of doing the training Ranzaki had perscribed, but she wanted to get warmed back up first, or at least to the point where she could feel her fingers again. At the comforting thoughts of how nice the heated house would be, Seresana picked up her pace and started to sprint back home. The trees were passed quicky, and in the rush, the still slowly falling snow actually looked to be a bit more concentrated. Unfortunately, Seresana was still starting from a fairly far distance and in the bitter cold, it wouldn't take long for the novelty of the scenery to wear off. Once it did, Seresana took to first jogging, and then running not only to get home and the warmth faster, but also so she could build up a little warmth on the way back. At the faster pace, it didn't take too long for Seresana to spy her house through the forest and then even less time to reach her home. She quickly threw open the door just about as she jumped on the porch and practically pounced inside the entryway. After a little bit of work to get her boots off, Seresana proceeded into the actual house, calling out while she did. "Mom, dad, I'm home," Seresana called out as she began to wander down the halls and towards the kitchen first off.

"Oh, it's good you're back deary, you were out for a very long time in that cold," Sophia Hatasuko replied as she peeked her head around the doorway to see and regard Seresana. "Your father got back fairly soon as well. He's still in the workshop for now. Do you think you could go tell him dinner's almost ready?" Sophia asked while turning back to the various dishes that were being prepared.

"Sure thing mom," Seresana replied before paused for a moment to sniff the air. "Mmm, that smells great," she went on with a happy smile. Her mom made some other comment, but Seresana was already too far off to hear it as she went through the hallways towards the added on workshop. Said room was actually something of a recently renovated part of the house that her father had taken so he could do his work without disturbing anyone since it had access to both the inside and the outside though it's multiple entrances. It didn't take Seresana long to reach the workshop door and with a quick flick of her arms, the sliding door was opened and she was stepping through the threshold. The workshop itself wasn't particularly big, especially when one looked at the abundance of shelves and desks that lined the walls and the island stand in the middle. The forge in the back corner was glowing hot, not only heating the relatively small space despite the open main door to the outside, but also heating a large portion of the house. Hanging strings and wires dangled from the ceiling too, holding several pieces and tools too. Nearly every surface in the place however seemed to have stuff on it. The desks and shelves were littered with tools of all sorts. Three of them were covered with supplies to make arrow. One coated in a wood shavings and the tool that made them, a special kind of chisel like piece designed to make the shafts straight and smooth. Another was littered with feathers, glue, and bindings to attach the feathered fletching while yet another was littered with small metal arrowheards and a small grinder to actually sharped them once they finished being made, meaning that table was fairly close to the forge itself. On other tables, and hanging from a number of the wires were hides and leather in various stages of work from still being tanned to nearly finished leather goods. There also some carpendry related projects underway and at various stages of completion, either resting on the desks or on the floor depending on their size.

Seresana however only gave the vast array of projects and works a cursory glance before her eyes fell on her father's form. He was hunched over one of the desks covered in arrows, putting the finishing touches on them it seemed as he'd just finished tying off the bindings to one arrow and was putting it in the quiver when Seresana threw open the door. Instead of grabbing up the next arrow, Vesken turned around to see who was at the door and instantly a wide smile grew upon his face. "Well hel- 'oof'," Vesken didn't get a chance to finish before Seresana jumped forward and tightly wrapped her arms around him. Seresana laughter proved to be infectious and soon they were both laughing a little at the comedical crash they'd just experienced. "Hehehe, hello there Sere, back so soon? I hadn't even gotten to finish this batch of arrows yet," Vesken Hatasuko finally said once the laughter began to die down.

"Yeah dad, Ranzaki sensei said I did good and we finished early," Seresana replied happily as her grip on her dad slacked so she could lean back and actually look at him. "Though he does want me to do some more practice today, but just the normal stuff, nothing he has to watch me do," Seresana went on before hopping up and looking about at some of the work going on.

"You'll be having dinner first, right?" Vesken asked as he watched his daughter look about the various things he had going on.

"Definately dad, it smells too good to pass up," Seresana replied while turning back to look at him with a wide grin. "Oh, and mom wanted me to tell you it's almost ready," Seresana added while poking a couple of the dangling hides.

"Oh? Then let's get going, I know I've worked up an appetite and you probably have too," Vesken went on, and when he got an enthusiastic nod from Seresana, the two departed from the workshop and towards the wonderful smelling kitchen. The two took their seats at the table, and Sophia was soon to join them. Together, the three enjoyed their meal, had some conversation about the immediate future, and shared what they'd done throughout the day. Seresana was particularly boastful when it came to talking about how she'd trained with Ranzaki, statements to which her parents replied with smiles, praise, and laughter. When the meal was finished, Sophia began to take care of the dishes while Vesken wandered back towards the workshop, leaving Seresana to wander off back outside for the remainder of her training for the day.

The sun was setting now, and the wind was adopting a bit more of a crisp chill. The snow underfoot crunched with new ice as the upper most layer had melted slightly during the hottest part of the day, and then refroze as the sun began to set. Whether Seresana paid either of these things any mind though wasn't shown on her face as she wandered into the woods surrounding the house, and back to her special little training spot. The usually green clearing was bright white with all the snow and ice that covered the ground and hung in the trees. The stump that usually bore the brunt of all her practice even sported a little pile of snow on it's flat top, and a bit of ice near the uppermore edge thanks to the melting and refreezing snow.

Able to see her breath in front of her face with every exhale, Seresana walked over to the stump and stood before it. She quickly got into a stance, and began to strike the old stump repeatedly with at first her fists and then her open palms. After a bit of the bark had been knocked away from the stump, and her hands began to sting too greatly to bear, Seresana switched over to her legs and began to kick at the stump, chipping away more of the bark. Eventually though her legs began to ache as well, an accomplishment that came about all the sooner by the fact that it was so fridgedly cold in the snowy night. With her limbs almost crying in pain, and the freezing cold offering some comfort by dulling the pain but also the worry about freezing, Seresana turned back and began to head towards her home. It didn't take her long to reach it, knowing the way by heart, and since she didn't have to worry about running into anything since all animals that could have been wandering about the forest at this time of night were all hibernating for the winter, Seresana was able to move without trying to mask her movements. As soon as she got back, Seresana threw open the door and proceeded quickly inside, barely remembering to take off her boots before proceeding straight to the bathroom. Once there, she ran some hot water and was soon relaxing in a hot bath that quickly chased away the chill of the fridged night air and soothed her aching muscles. As she relaxed, Seresana thought back to the days events and found herself satisfied with the amount of training she'd managed to accomplish.

As the water began to cool, and Seresana's skin began to wrinkle, she finished up her washing and then hopped out to try herself off. She was still a little damp when proceeding towards her room, but was relaxing comfortable under her sheets and thick covers to keep warm too quickly to really care. With the combination of warmth, softness, relaxation, and exhaustion it took Seresana no time at all to drift off to sleep, and into the vivid dreams she'd have that night. Dreams of herself, standing in a thick field of snow, yet feeling none of it's cold as she walked through the thick, white, powdery frozen water. When she lifted her hand, the snow followed it in the form of a thick collumn, snaking off the ground and dancing about in the air in relation to the simplest shift of her limb. She wasn't sure what she was doing, or how she was doing it, but Seresana was enjoying it none the less and so much so that the morning's light was drifting through her window and landing upon her face. The thin rays brought about twitching in her face, until it proved too much, and she was finally ripped from her fun dream and back to the waking world.

Groggily, Seresana sat up in her bed, displacing the covers that had kept her warm through the cool night. A hand unconsciously rose to her face, and set about rubbing away the sleep from her eyes, a single yawn coming about as she did so. Her eyes fluttered opened when the hand fell back to her covers and she took a moment to regard her bedroom. A respectablly sized room, that easily held the furnishings her parents had provided. There was the simple bed she'd gotten, a comfortable couple of mattresses upon a nicely carved frame, sporting spiralling patterns and eye pleasing filligree that Vesken had made with his own hand and skill. Some simple white sheets covered them and rested under the little girl as well as the thicker dark green blanket that did wonders against the cold, and finally the simple pillow that sat at the head of the bed, still bearing the depression from where Seresana's head had been laying there for the night.

Shifting her gaze now to the other parts of her room, they first came upon her dresser, a tall wooden piece, and the only thing not made by her father as it lacked the extra bit of intricacy that the others sported. Still, the almost bleak piece of furniture served it's purpose well with it's multiple drawers, the uppermost one she couldn't really use all that well since it was actually at her head level and so she couldn't really see inside it. Still, it held the items of her first task of the day and that was getting dressed. With a flourish of movement, Seresana threw off her thick blanket and hopped out of the bed, stumbling and leaning involuntarily for a moment as the blood rushed away from her head. One hand shot to her forehead while the other reached out to the open air to offer a slight counterbalance as she tried to regain herself. "Woah, got up a little fast there," she said to herself before a brief shake of her head to force away the unsteadiness and regain herself and a deep breath to finish the act. When her bright emerald green eyes opened again, she looked towards the dresser once more and began to walk over to it. Her feet padded lightly over the hard wood floor that made up her bedroom, a surface that normally would have been rather cold if not for the abundance of heat that flowed up from the first floor where numerous innovations and renovations had been added or modified in the attempt to keep the structure comfortably warm or cool throughout the year. After the few steps taken to reach the dresser later and the bottom drawer was pulled open to reveal a mix of underware, and after donning a simple set Seresana pulled open the next drawer to reveal an assortment of pants. "Hmm, which ones to wear today?" she asked rehtorically before glancing towards one of the window over her bed, one of 3 that adorned the walls of her corner room. She noted the frosty covering along the thick glass, and the abundance of brightness that shone through, giving hint towards the snow that must be sitting upon the roof of the house since the shingles of the building were actually a darker color. "It's still going to be rather cold out, I probably shouldn't go with my usual then and go for something thicker. I'll be meeting back up with Ranzaki-sensei afterall and I don't want to get too cold while we're training. Plus the longer I can about training before having to take a break to heat back up, the better," Seresana mused to herself before looking back to the contents of the dresser. She began digging into the space, pushing aside some of the thinner pairs until she came across something that would suit the purpose. "No, not these, they're too thin. And these ones aren't long enough. These could work, but they're a little thing. Hmm... Oh, perfect!" Seresana suddenly exclaimed as she lifted up a pair of thick, steely grey pants. With a little bit of work, she drew up the only slightly baggy garment and let it hand on her thin waist before beginning to look for a shirt. "I don't have to be as picky about the shirt since I'll be wearing the coat for the most part of the day," she spoke to herself as she pushed the drawers that had held her pants and her underwear shut and then pulled the one with her shirts inside open.

Seresana scanned the garments and looked for something a little out of her norm today. She had plenty of white shirts and a few of other colors mixed in with them. "Hmm, I think I want to wear something a little out of the ordinary today, maybe this green one, or no, no I'll go with the blue one," Seresana said as she pulled the shirt out from the others, taking extra care to make sure she didn't disturb the other too badly. The shirt she had withdrawn was a very blue colored, short sleeved, shirt that hung loosely about her like most of her clothing, course this was just in a bit of preperation in the event that she would eventually hit a growth spurt. Squirming into the article of clothing, Seresana took a moment once it was on to stretch a bit more. First both her arms reached towards the ceiling of her room and she rose up onto her toes, eliciting a few cracks from some of her joints and the pleasing feel of some of her muscles being stretched. She held the pose along with her breath for as long as she could before letting out the breath and coming back to a rest with her feet flat on the floor again. Then Seresana held her arms out directly in front of her for a few seconds before slowly separating them, bringing her hands about in a long arc until they were well behind her back and stretching her shoulders. Once again, as her stretching reached it's peak, Seresana held her breath, her face contorting just a bit as the stretch reached a point of pleasure and pain. Seresana maintained the stretch for a few more seconds before releasing the strain on her joints and muscles as well as her held breath. Before the next stretch, she rolled her shoulders a couple times to make sure they were loosened up and took to standing on a single leg while bending the other at the knee, back behind her. When it reached as far as it could, one hand went back to catch her foot and lift it just that little bit extra higher to really begin stretching the limb. These didn't have Seresana holding her breath as she tried to hold and push the stretch, but there was a fainter spot of tension in her facial features as a small amount of pain tried to appear. When she was satisfied with that leg, Seresana would switch and do the same with the other leg, treating it in the same manner as she had the first one before moving on to the next stretch. Bringing both her legs together, Seresana bent her waist and reached towards her feet with both hands, feeling the slight strain on her back as she pushed her flexability to it's limit, a point to which had both her hands flat on the floor just in front of her feet. After a few seconds of that, Seresana stood back up the rest of the way and briefly twisted her torso about to the left while bringing her right arm horizontally across her small but ample chest and wrapping her left arm around it and pulling back a little to further stretch several parts at once. After a few seconds, she did the same to the other side and then spread her legs a bit while still standing. Gradually lowering herself by firstly bending her right knee while keeping the other leg stretched out, and then switching legs Seresana proceeded to stretch out her legs, trying to lower her head to the knee of the straight leg each time. As soon as that stretch was done, Seresana stood back up and began to spread her legs as much as she could, trying to get as close to the splits she could and managing to get fairly close before she had to stop.

Standing back up, Seresana looked back towards the dresser again and tended to the shirts that had been offset by her retrieval of what she was currently wearing. While not having to actually take any out and refold them, she did have to shift them about a little to make sure they were in the drawer well enough. Then Seresana turned towards the furnishing that stood next to her dresser, that being a bit of a makeup stand with vanity mirror with more smaller drawers to it. Resting on the stand's surface was a bit of blush, some eye shadow, a jewelery box, and her hairbrush. Picking up the eye shadow first, Seresana raked a hand through her short hair to brush most of it out of her face, a feat that was surprisingly successful as only a few strands tried to fall back and even they still hung around the out side edge of her face. With a light application of some of the makeup, Seresana looked to the mirror to regard herself and note the way the light application of shadow was all that was needed to make her already very bright emerald green eyes stand out that much more against her considerably lighter skin. While not quite pale, Seresana was toward's that end of the spectrum when it came to her skin color, yet the idea of a tan hadn't really appealed to her, at least not for the moment. "Though if I keep up these outside training sessions, I might just end up with one, hehehe," Seresana mused to herself as she continued to look at herself in the mirror. "I'm only meeting with Ranzaki sensei today so I don't need to put too much work to myself. We are only training out in the woods afterall," Seresana said to herself as her hand reached past the other pieces of makeup and towards the hairbrush. Seizing the instrument, she began to work it gently yet firmly through her short hair, mostly brushing it back and away from her face. Luckily, Seresana's short hair was almost notorious for not getting into tangles and so it only took a little bit of effort to straighten the messy hair flat down against her before setting down the tool. Seresana took a moment to look towards the mirror again and regard her raven black hair when it was neat, straightened, and laying flatly against her head, twisting her face this way and that to view it from more angles. Then with a little grin, both her hand shot up to her hair as she began to haphazardly run her fingers through it, thoroughly messing up the straight lengths. When she was done and looked back in the mirror again, her hair was to it's usual form of mostly down, but sitll a bit messy and wild looking.

Satisfied with her facial appearance, Seresana reached towards the jewelery box and dug about for a different pair of earings. She had her ear lobes pierced and while she liked the simple little plain studs for what they were, Seresana had a specific pair of rings she wanted to wear somewhere in the box, and with a little bit of digging, she found the desired set. Seresana lifted up a pair of small yet simple dangling earrings with the ends shaped like little featureless snowflakes. With deft movements, Seresana undid the little studs she had in, one at a time and replaced them with the new little black dangling snowflake earrings, then looked to the mirror again to regard herself. Grinning happily as she was pleased with the Seresana looking back at her, Seresana then pulled open the second from the top drawer to reveal numerous colored bands of varying length and thickness. With her attire being blue and grey today, Seresana grabbed up a couple white and black ones, along with one yellow band. The strips of cloth were used to restrain her clothing, brining the usually baggy clothing tight against her skin. The yellow band found itself about her waist and one of the grey ones were wrapped about her chest. Two black bands were then wrapped up at different heights on her legs, above the knee on the left, and just below it on the right. A final black band was added to her right arm, close to the bicep and once it was on, Seresana took a couple hops back from her mirror to see her complete outfit for the day. "Not bad, shame I'll be wearing that big coat almost all day long... Maybe if I do really good again, Ranzaki sensei might let me out early today too and I can go to the ramen shop," she said to herself as he head tilted to one side and looked towards the ceiling while her left arm rose to allow a single finger to tap her chin in idle thought before a grin spread about her face. "I'll just have to be sure to do really good then today too," Seresana spoke as she stepped back up to the mirror stand again and pulled open another drawer. This one was somewhat unique in that it held some basic medical supplies, mainly being bandage tape rolls and one of which she retrieved from the drawer. Hiking up her left sleeve, and starting at her hand, Seresana began to wrap her arm in the bandaging, being careful to make sure the entire thing was covered in at least one layer of the thick cloth like wrap. She'd made the mistake of not using it once when she fired a full power bow, and knew better than to try it again. She'd had to deal with the stinging red welt from that injury for several days before it finally went away. Once she finished, Seresana replaced the remainder of the roll back in the drawer and pushed it closed.

Looking about the rest of her room, Seresana sought to see if she'd forgotten anything. First her eyes landed on the large closet in her room, which mainly held additional, nice weather, and just generally nicer clothes, some extra blankets and pillows, and some toys and other items. As her eyes flew off the closet, they came upon the few posters up on the walls, one over her bed displaying highly styalized versions of the different chakra nautres and their characters, while another was actually done up like a large map with the different lands, their respective villages and signs color coded upon it's surface was one the inside of her door, and a final one showing the dragon from a popular fiction book seires, coiled about and breathing out a massive plume of fire was hung overhead up on the ceiling. While these were entertaining to look at, they didn't hold anything she'd really be needing today, and so she kept looking about the room until her eyes came across the book and scroll case her father had built for her. Like the other things in her room that he'd made, the wooden furnishing sported highly stylized carvings and etchings that were similar in nature to the bedside stand, the bed frame, and her little makeup and beauty stand, which actually seemed to make the pieces appear to be something of a set, yet they were all hand carved and at different times as the need for them became apparent. The contents of the case however are what drew Seresana over to it at this moment, the collection of scrolls and books she had varried from her own personal likings and pieces needed for school, learning about chakra, jutsu, and other techniques among other useful bits of information. She thought about taking a couple of the scrolls with her, but then another errant glance towards the window made her cringe. "If I take any of these, they might fall and get wet and ruined in the snow," she stated but still hadn't quite made up her mind as to whether to still take one or not.

"Seresana, Hitagi, breakfast time," came a call from Sophia from downstairs, her voice breaking the relative silence that Seresana had must have been imagining was there since now she suddenly realized the sounds of several footsteps and the passive conversation just barely making it past the barriers of walls and flooring as the rest of her family amassed at the table for the first meal of the day. Distracted away from the bookcase, Seresana stood up and wandered over towards the door. Pulling it open and stepping out, she nearly ran into Hitagi who was running down the hall and towards the stairs.

"Woah, watch it Sere," Hitagi called at her as he dodged around Seresana and proceeded on to the stairs.

"Why don't you watch it Hitagi," Seresana countered spitefully, but then added, "tell mom, I'll be a minute, I'm going to the bathroom." Hitagi didn't give any indication as to whether he was going to follow the command or not, and simpy proceeded on down the first few steps. "Hitagi," Seresana called again to try and demand a response from him and she got one.

"Yeah, yeah Sere, I heard you," he grumbled before disappearing from sight as he descended to the first floor of the large house.

Seresana however just let out a sigh at her brother's bratty behaviour before following after him as the bathroom was closer to the top of the stairs than her bedroom was. Turning the handle and opening the door when she came to it, Seresana looked about the spacious room and what it held. Like any normal bathroom, there was the toilet on the opposite wall of the door and a little to the right side so it wasn't directly infront of the entrance to the room. Further to the right was the bathtub and shower that Seresana had used the prior night. As her eyes continued to circle to the right, they eventually came to the laundry hamper that was to the immediate right of the door, the lid of which was open, revealing some of Seresana's clothes she'd worn the prior day as well as one of the towel's she'd used to dry herself off with and also showing that she'd forgotten to shut the lid last night. With a flick of the wrist, Seresana closed the hamper and then looked to the left of the door where the sink stand was, and the mirror behind it. Stepping the rest of the way into the bathroom, Seresana shut the door and locked it as she proceeded towards the toilet. When Seresana finished there, she went over to the sink and washed off her hands before exiting the room and exiting the bathroom. Now back in the hallway, Seresana could hear the sounds of the rest of her family enjoying their breakfast, and she could smell the tantalizing smells of her mother's cooking gradually wafting up the stairwell. It was more than enough to wet her mouth with just a sniff, and elicit a hungry growl from her empty belly that caused her to blush and instantly be thankful she was alone in the hall so none could have heard. Not wanting to put it off any longer and risk the embarrassment of another growl coming, Seresana hurried down the wooden stairs and towards the dining room.

"Ah, there you are sweetie," Sophia commented as soon as Seresana rounded the corner to the dining room, allowing her to see the breakfast spread as well as the other three members of her family. From where Seresana was standing, Sophia was seated on the right side of the table and with a very modest pile of food on her plate that she wasn't eating at this very second since her attention was towards Seresana. Her father Vesken who sat with his back towards her and younger brother Hitagi who sat directly across from him however had much larger portions, and while Vesken paused in his eating to look back of his shoulder to regard Seresana with at least a kind smile and nod, Hitagi just kept eating. "Are you going to join us for breakfast?" Sophia went on to ask as she watched Seresana curiously while awaiting an answer.

"Definately," Seresana replied happily as she hopped over to her respective spot at the table, to the right of her father, and then she quickly began to grab up some of the breakfast and add it to her own plate. "Mmm, it smells great mom," she added while continuing to add things to her plate until there was an amount that'd almost rival Vesken's.

"So what plans do you have today Sere?" Vesken asked between mouthfuls of food as he turned an observative eye towards Seresana as she began to eat.

"I've got more training with Ranzaki sensei today," Seresana replied after she'd swallowed her first bite of breakfast. "I think he's going to show me a new jutsu today," she added before taking another bite.

"Another one already? You'll pass the academy's graduation test easy at this rate," Vesken replied as he paused in his meal and lifted his head in thought and memory. "I remember back when I took that test. I was so worried I'd mess it up, hehehe," Vesken recalled with a chuckle. "It wasn't even a hard jutsu they had us do, but being put on the spot like that, in front of the whole class. Well, let's just say I was glad to have it over," Vesken went on until a light but sharp elbow from Sophia drew his attention. "Ow, wha-" Vesken started as he looked towards Sophia in confusion as to why she'd hit him, but once glance from her directed his vision towards Seresana who's face was a bleak and grim frown of nervousness and fear as she sat on the other side of the table. Realizing his mistake, Vesken quickly strove to right the error and set his daughter at ease. "Oh but I wouldn't worry if I were you Sere. You've got a better grip on your jutsu than I did at your age, and a better grasp of archery than I did at your age. I'm sure you'll do fine," Vesken said with an nervous grin as he waited to see if this would set his daughter at ease.

It had, as Seresana's expression softened and mostly returned to her usual grin, though a few lingering traces of nervousness. "Ye-yeah, if you say so dad," Seresana replied before returning her attention to her meal, or at least she would if it wasn't for her brother piping up at that point.

"I can't wait till I get to join the ninja academy. I'll get there and do way better than you, just watch," Hitagi boasted as he ate.

"Oh yeah? Do I need to show you just how good I've gotten, again?" Seresana replied with a mischevious grin and positioning her free hand in a basic handsign in front of her, earning a rather instant reaction from everyone.

Hitagi cringed greatly while leaning back and away from Seresana and shook his head vigorously from side to side. "No no no, you don't need to do that," Hitagi protested, even raising a hand out towards Seresana to further protest any more of her jutsu being used on him.

Word Count 11281

"You haven't been using more genjutsu on your brother have you Seresana Hatasuko?" Sophia asked dangerously, and Vesken joined in as the both looked at Seresana with suspicious expressions.

"No, I haven't, not since that last time you two told me not to," Seresana pleaded as she threw up her hands mock defensively.

"You'd better not, if we catch you using jutsu on your little brother again, you'll be grounded for at least a week," Sophia warned with shut eyes as she went back to eating. Seresana gulped a little and then glanced over to see Hitagi sticking his tongue out at her, which she returned the gesture in kind until the sounds of their mother clearing her through startled them both back to order and their breakfasts. Vesken could barely contain the laughter he had for the situation but other than that, the breakfast was mostly completed in silence. Seresana ended up being the last one finished, and when she had, she didn't hesitate to carry her dishes to the sink. There she gave her mother another hug and thanked her for the meal before heading back upstairs and to her room.

"Can't forget the socks," Seresana said to herself as she stepped into her room and walked over to the dresser. Pulling open the bottom drawer again, she saw numerous pairs of socks and since they were going to be inside her boots all day, she just grabbed up the first pair she could reach, which turned out to be a simple pair of white socks that she quickly slipped on. Then Seresana pushed the drawer shut again and began to exit her room for what she planned to be the last time this morning, and so as she was exiting, she gave her room one final look over which ended with a glance towards the mirror. Happy with her preperations to herself for the day, Seresana nodded to the mirror image of herself and then walked back out into the hallway. She looked to the right first, to make sure her brother wasn't bolting down the hallway again, but al she saw was the continuing hallway and the turn as it rounded a corner. Since she didn't have a sibling to worry about, Seresana turned to the left and began to walk down the hallway, down the stairs and towards the front door.

"Leaving already?" Vesken said from suddenly behind her, startling Seresana as she turned about abruptly only to see her father there.

"Dad, you scared me!" Seresana proclaimed slightly upset as he hands clenched into fists and she stomped her foot in anger, quite the contrast to her father's amused snickering.

"Heh, aren't us ninja supposed to always be on our toes and aware of our surroundings?" Vesken teased a little, causing Seresana to blush in embarassment and grumble a little under her breath. "Hmm, ah never mind your old man, I just wanted to tell you I'll be finishing up and delivering that order of hides today, and probably won't be here when you get back."

"Oh, okay dad," Seresana said before stepping up to her father and wrapping her arms tightly around him in a hug. Vesken hugged back, even lifting her up which caused her to start giggling and kicking her leg's feebily.

"Oh I love you so my little Sere," Vesken said as he continued to hug her, but then lowered herself to the ground. "I'll see you tomorrow, try not to stay out too late or give your mother and brother too muh heck," he went on before ruffling up her already messy hair and then turning around to head back to his workshop.

"Yup, and I'll have a brand new jutsu to show you when you get back," Seresana added as he departed and she looked towards the entryway for her own coat, gloves, and boots among those of their family's.

"I'll look forward to it, goodbye Sere," Vesken said before he rounded the courner and disappeared from sight.

"Bye dad," Seresana replied and waited for a moment as she listened to his footsteps gradually disappear down the hallway. When she couldn't hear them anymore, Seresana went back to the collection of boots, gloves and coats that belonged to everyone. Her's were fairly easy to find, as the boots were a thick, black leather made product of her father's, lined with white fox fur, her coat was the only green one, and the gloves were little black pieces that had been left in the coats pocket's the prior night just so she'd have an easier time finding them. Seresana slipped on her boots first, then her gloves, and finally her coat, so that way the long sleeves of the coat would be covering the ends of the gloves, at least at first. After zipping up the thick coat and drawing up the hood, Seresana slid openn the door and proceeded outside into the snow covered yard that surrounded her house. For the first few moments, Seresana had to shield her eyes from the harsh glare of sunlight against the snow as she waited for her eyes to adjust. When the glare had dulled a little and she hesitantly chanced a glance, she found she could see well enough through a squint to at least turn back around and find the door the shut it. "I'm leaving now mom, I'll be home later, bye," Seresana called out before shutting the door and turning back to face to woods that almost surrounded her house. Her mom said something, but she didn't really hear it through the house walls and doors. Seresana didn't think it really mattered though and didn't bother asking for a repeat. "If it was really important, she'd try harder to make sure I heard it. Besides, Ranzaki sensei's probably already waiting on me to get there, I might even already be late," she thought to herself as she started to walk away from the house and towards the snow covered woods.

Seresana happily walked through the forest she was so familiar with, going along the route that'd lead straight to Ranzaki's camp and letting her mind and sight wander as she did so. All around her were glistening white snow and clear crytal ice, reflecting the brightness of the sun to an almost painful level that left Seresana slightly grateful for the larger drifts of snow that were still suspended in some of the trees that provided shade and therefore some break from the glare of the sun and snow. The ice crystals however seemed to fracture the light and turn the normally blinding rays into a beautify array of glittering twinkles that Seresana had to force herself not to stop and stare at. As she walked, her mind also began to wander about even more so than her eyes. "I wonder what Ranzaki sensei has planned for today. I mean I know I want him to teach me a new jutsu, but that's a lot of work and he might have a different idea in mind. We'll probably do the post training again, and probably that new kind of training where he throws the target's into the air, but those two won't last all day long, we'll run out of arrows before it takes too long. We should have plenty of time to learn a new jutsu," Seresana thought to herself as she walked, but the sudden shudder of a nearby bush rather quickly ripped her out of the inner monologue.

The rustle of branches came from in front of her and to the left a bit, from a small snow covered bush that sent a good portion of the snow falling to the ground, but for some reason, despite the lack of leaves and such to obscure what was currently hiding in the bush, Seresana still couldn't seem to spot it. Yet, the movement had brought her to a complete stand still. Scaresely breathing and not moving in the slightest, Seresana didn't even try to reach for her kunai or shuriken yet, not wanting to risk causing whatever was in the bush to come charging out at her. "Is it another boar," Seresana wondered to herself as she nervously continued to watch the bush. Her body was tense with anxiousness, eyes sharp with fear, and her ears strained to catch the slightest of sounds. Moments that seemed like hours to Seresana passed by silently in the snow covered forest as both Seresana and the entity in the bush waited to see who would move first. Eventually though, the thing in the bush would be the first to stir, signified by another rustle of the underbrush which caused Seresana to tense up anew as she mentally prepared herself to fight or run away, at least until the creature finally exited the bush and revealed itself. It was small, covered in orange fur, and moved quickly away, bolting lightly across the snow until it disappeared into the foliage of the forest. It was so quick that Seresana didn't even get the chance to relax until it was already gone. "Oh, it was just a fox," she said to herself while placing a hand over her rapidly beating heart. It took a moment or two, but Seresana's heart did slow back down as she calmed down and after a long look towards where the fox had disappeared to, she resumed her trek through the woods and towards Ranzaki's camp. It didn't take her long, each step was one she'd taken before and by now, knew to the point of being able to traverse it in the dark.

Eventually and slowly, Ranzaki's camp did begin to appear through the thick trees. First it was the sight of smoke from the fire he must have had going to keep some warmth in these frigid times, and then the smells of the curing hides. A little bit after that though and the actual hut came into view. It's usually brown walls covered in the same blanket of white that strove to cover everything in the area, though there were noticable areas where the snow had either been forced away or trodden down to the ground. The fire in front of the little shack like hut was ablaze, as well as the one that resided in Ranzaki's hut if the colomn of smoke rising out of the hole at the top was anything to go by, likely making the inside of the small space rather comfortable and warm. The usual arrangement of posts, boards, and frames were also around the front of the shack, with the hides of animals stretched out tight so that they could cure, and without a drop of snow on them. "He must have brought them inside during the snow to make sure they didn't get wet," Seresana mused as she spared a moment to study them and try to figure out what they had been before being skinned. But that moment was a fleeting one as she continued to look about the camp that she'd approached from the side. Behind the hut, still stood Ranzaki's work bench and his neatly put away tools, likely also brought into the hut last night so as to avoid any of the snow that had fallen as they too lacked any trace of the frozen white powder. The desk that the tools rested on however didn't share the same fate apparantly as upon it's surface, one could still see the feint bits of snow here and there among the cracks in between the boards that made up it's surface. Still however, there was no sign of Ranzaki at the work bench, or at the fire in front of his hut, which meant to Seresana that he was either in the hut itself or out again, likely hunting or gathering wood. She didn't have to wait long though for an answer to come about as very soon after she stepped into the clearing that actually marked the edge of the camp, the flap at the front of the tent was disturbed and pushed to the side as the old man in question stepped out from the shelter and looked right at Seresana.

"You're later than expected," Ranzaki said with his usual tired and weary voice before looking to the cooking fire in front of his home and stepped forward to attend to it. His old and wrinkled, yet still powerful hand clasped around a short but thick stick that he used to stir up some of the more smouldering embers and place them next to the burning log before getting up again.

"Oh yeah, it took me a little longer to get ready today than usual, and I ran into a fox out in the woods on the way here," Seresana replied as Ranzaki bent over to pick up a couple pieces of already chopped wood that he returned to the fire with and then deposited into the small pit. They were laid perpendicular to the still burning longs, and set at an angle so the heat would rise to meet them, but there would still be air to all the flames to breath once they caught on the fresh fuel.

"Then you'll be trained harder to make up for the lost time," Ranzaki went on as he poked the embers a few more times with his stick until he was apparantly satisfied with the preparations to the fire. "We'll begin with the pole training exercise with heavier weights and then move on to the moving targets while you maintain the levitation jutsu," Ranzaki added as he turned once more towards his hut and began to walk towards it. He hadn't finished speaking by the time he reached the flap since it was such a short distance away from the fire itself, and there he paused to finish what he had to say before proceeding inside.

"Right, of course Ranzai sensei," Seresana replied with a bow. She had been expecting some kind of punishment and this one wasn't too bad really. Training was what she'd come out here to accomplish afterall and harder training just meant accomplishing more, or at least that was what Seresana decided would be her mindset on the matter. So when Ranzaki returned outside his hut with the training weights in one hand, Seresana's bow and a quiver of arrows in the other, his own bow strung over his shoulder, and his own quiver set on the other shoulder, Seresana managed to hold a smile on her face.

"Put these on and meet me at the post," Ranzaki said before dropping the weights in the snow at Seresana's feet and turning about to begin walking to the decided upon training spot. He only paused long enough to set Seresana's bow and the quiver of arrows he was providing her with with a great deal more care next to the hut's entrace before resuming his walk away and quickly disappearing among the snow covered forest. As soon as he'd disappeared, Seresana grabbed up the training weights, only to be shocked at the amount of resistance they put up to her efforts at simply lifting them.

"These things are heavy," Seresana said in disbelief as she let the heavy weights fall back to the ground again. With a gulp, she went to lift only one this time and still found herself having a bit of a hard time moving the piece of training gear, but at least this time it was possible. Wtih blatant effort, Seresana fastened the leg weights first, and then the arm weights, rather instantly feeling the difference of her now considerably heavier limbs. Curiously, Seresana struggling lifted one of her arms to rub the training weights and then went to rub the heavily hanging weight on her other arm to see if she could find a spot where it actually said how heavy these were, but she couldn't seem to find one. "Damn, well these things have to be over at least 30 each," she said to herself as she forced herself to standing and then to take her first step with the extra weight, and what a step it was. "I- I can't believe this is so hard. I didn't even know it could be this hard to take a step," she thought to herself while moving on to where the bow rested next to the provided quiver. With a grunt at the effort, Seresana reached down slowly to seize the weapon and swing it onto her back after she fastened the quiver about her small frame. When both of those were attached, Seresana started to take her first few steps towards the clearing they'd used for training so many times before this, and she was still amazed at how much effort she had to put in to just managing to walk. It wasn't even that long of a trek to reach the clearing, and yet by the end of it, she was panting lightly.

Ranzaki was already in his pot of the clearing when Seresana arrived and he silently motioned for her to take her spot up on the post. Seresana obliged, but not before taking back off the bow and quiver full of arrows and setting both against a tree on the edge of the clearing. Then she strode over to the post itself and grimaced at how high it suddenly seemed and how far she'd have to jump in order to actually get on top of the thing. Letting out a sigh before affixing her face in a determined expression, Seresana bent her knees a couple times to build up momentum before managing an actual jump that she had to bend her legs up under herself considerably so that they'd end up on the top of the stand. She rose up slowly on the post, and she was silently grateful for the fact that Ranzaki had decided not to shoot her before she was fully standing. The minute she was though, Ranzaki drew his first arrow, one of likely many to come, then took only a brief moment to aim before releasing the shot and letting it fly towards Seresana.

The shot was right at the mid height, aimed directly at her stomach and flying fast. Seresana began to try and twist about out of the path of the arrow, but as soon as she started to, the extra weight she wasn't used to threw her terribly off balance. With the arrow still coming at her, Seresana didn't even try to flail her arms to keep her balance up on the post and so pushed off the post with something akin to a hop. The arrow passed through the open air above the post where Seresana had been standing just a moment ago, and when she turned toward's Ranzaki, she only saw him already drawing back the next arrow, flicking his eyes back to the post to signal Seresana to resume her position upon the small surface. Seresana obliged with a hard set expression upon her face, as she hopped back up, and prepared herself for the next arrow. She wasn't left waiting long as Ranzaki took his next shot at her with his powerful bow. This time, the arrow was much higher and sailing at her left shoulder. Whipping her shoulder back and twisting the other forward, Seresana's upper half turned to the left to let the arrow pass by harmlessly, while on habbit, her right hand rose, open handed and fingers together towards the arrow, but didn't contact it. Seresana didn't have time to reset herself as the next arrow was already released at her now much forward right shoulder. Seresana swung her low hanging right arm about in a half circle to get it faster as it would have taken longer and more effort to lift it straight up, and blocked the arrow with the broad side of the thick arm weight. As her right arm continued to travel out though, Seresana threw her left arm out as well so she could hope to retain her balance while still up on the post. This act also had the extra benefit however of allowing her to reset her stance and ready herself for Ranzaki's next arrow that was already fired.

"Wow, he's really not giving me any time between shots today, they're being released before the prior arrow's even fully blocked. I must have upset him with being late, " Seresana thought to herself as she leaned to the left to let the high flying arrow aimed at her neck pass by harmlessly. Then the next arrow could be seen flying at her, and this one was low, aimed at her left leg. Seresana tried to lift her leg to avoid it, but the motion was just a bit too slow with all the extra weight, and when the arrow smacked her foot, it offset her balance enough that she was left teetering for a moment before falling forward. Landing hard, but luckily on still fairly soft snow, Seresana groaned a little as she lifted herself back out of the difts and shook her head to dislodge some of the accumulated snow. Then she pushed herself the rest of the way up and brushed off some of the snow so that it wouldn't have a chance to melt and make her clothes wet which would lead to them freezing faster as well as herself and forcing the training session to end early. Her eyes fell on her sensei once again only to see the same thing she'd seen so many times before with her sensei. The old man standing there resolutely with an arrow knocked to the string, just ready to be pulled back and released at Seresana. The slightly loose clothing hanging about his old but reseilient frame and likely fending off the worst of the cold thanks to the thick, fur lined leather he sported. The powerful bow resting in the firm grip of one aged hand while the other held an arrow to the taunt string, ready the draw back and build up the potential energy needed to launch the arrow at such a speed to her and force her to dodge once again. There was no breeze today to disturb the old man's beard, nor the lengths of hair on his head that peaked out beneath the cap he wore, or even the feathers on his arrows.

Going around to the far side of the post so that it was between Ranzaki and herself, Seresana hopped back up onto the post, catching her balance by the time Ranzaki had lifted the bow. That left her with the prescious few half-seconds to prepare herself before the first arrow of this round would be launched, a few half-seconds Seresana put to use making sure she had her balance up on the post and had her arms raised, ready to deflect shots or strive to keep her balance. The arrow was released, silently slicing through the open air between Ranzaki and Seresana, and leaving her with very little time to see and learn's it's target. Another rotation but of her left hand this time, combined with a lean to the right and throwing her right arm outward served to keep her balance when she batted the rpojectile away with her left hand, which was then went on to fully extend so her balance could be reclaimed almost as soon as it was lost. And it was a good thing too for the next arrow had already been released and was flying right at Seresana as she brought her hands back in. Instead of leaving them there though, she kept them moving in their respective directions so that while her right hand batted the arrow out of the way, the left hand shot out as well to maintain the balance of her weighted limbs. Seresana realized something rather early in this session of training, and that was that she couldn't immediately stop her limbs when they were sent flying in a direction to deflect these arrows, and so she had to constantly throw out the other limb to make sure she'd be at least mostly balanced.

Seresana didn't have time for contemplation though, not when she barely had enough time after deflecting that arrow to blink before the next one was already closing in on her. "Crap, no time to get my hands back and deflect that one, I'm going to have to dodge it," Seresana thought to herself as she leanded to the right to dodge the arrow by mere inches. Then she foud that the fourth arrow was already flying towards her new position and she had to pivot hard on the post while leaning to the left to avoid that one. "Ranzaki's really going hard on me today," Seresana thought for a second as she finally managed to reign in enough control of her arms to raise one to deflect the fifth arrow as it rocketed towards her. "Arrow number five, that was where I fell last time," Seresana thought to herself confidently as her grin resurfaced and she prepared herself for the next shot which came along shortly and was just as quickly dodged as Seresana ducked under it. Seresana didn't have time to realize just how bad of an idea that had turned out to be. Sure, she'd managed to dodge the arrow, but in the aftermath of her dodge, Seresan couldn't lean to either side to avoid the next one and as she'd ducked down, Seresana had flared her arms out to the side, another mistake as for now she couldn't bring her arms up fast enough to block that arrow. Seresana was left with but a single course, and it was far too close for her comfort. Forcing herself up and then some until her foot left the post entirely and Seresana's form sprung into the air even with the added weight of the training weights. While she was in the air however, Seresana lacked any ability to maneuver herself and so when the next arrow came at her, all she could do was raise her arms to block the attack. Despite the block, the arrow still hurt a little and the force was enough to knock her back enough that she was no longer over the post. Heavier than usual, Seresana landed on the ground hard and winced slighly at that, but she knew Ranzaki wasn't going to want to stop her training now, and so almost as soon as she landed, Seresana ran back over to the post and quickly jumped back onto it to continue her training.

Hours later and Seresana was flat on her back in the snow somewhat near the post, panting heavily as she laid there, limbs splayed out in utter exhaustion. Her limbs felt almost numb and dully throbbed even in the cold snow she was laying in, and numerous arrows surrounded her, laying hither and tither in the snow, some sticking up and out of it while others amost hid beneath the sheet of snow and ice. There were other indents in the snow as well from the other time's she'd been knocked down or been forced to hop off the post thanks to Ranzaki's excellent aim. "That's enough of that for now. When you think you can move again, come to the space with the swinging logs," Ranzaki called from somewhere that Seresana couldn't see from her prone position, and then she could her his footsteps fading away as he left Seresana there to recooperate. Seresana laid there for a while after Ranzaki's footsteps faded away entirely, her head facing the sky as she continued to watch the falling snow and panting in exhaustion. "And here I thought *pant* that these weights *pant* weighed a lot before," Seresana said around her tired panting as she tried to catch her breath in the cold biting air. "Argh, I gotta get up," Seresana went on when she finally regained enough of her breath to stand again, or at least sit up. Standing took Seresana another moment or two of work as she slowly drug her weighted feet beneath her and forced them to lift the rest of her. With shakey steps, Seresana slowly strode over to her bow and quiver, and began the process of donning each. The quiver was picked up first, and the straps were quickly tightened across her chest before the bow was picked up and held tightly in her hands. After another few moments spent catching her breath while leaning against the tree that had recently supported her bow and arrows, Seresana finally pushed herself off and began to walk towards the next training site.

When she finally arrived, Seresana was surprised to find Ranzaki not in his usual spot near the swinging log targets, but rather almost where she herself would be standing. When Seresana approached curiously, Ranzaki pulled out a container that almost reeked with the good smells of food. Seresana's mouth was watering instantly and when she looked up questioningly at Ranzaki's face, he nodded approvingly.

"Yes, this is for the two of us to eat. You will need your energy and it would not do to train on an empty stomach," Ranzaki said as he held out the container for Seresana to take. While she took it, Seresana looked up only to see that indeed the sun was already at it's high point for the day and would now begin it's descent into the afternoon and night. She was shocked that so much time had already passed and then looked worriedly towards the targets. "Something you don't agree with?" Ranzaki asked as he picked up on the upset expression.

"Huh, oh uh, no, nothing Ranzaki sensei," Seresana replied as she picked up her first bit of the meal and heartily enjoyed her first bite into it. After it was chewed and swallowed, Seresana continued, "I was kind of hoping though to learn a new jutsu."

"A new jutsu? No, not today. Tomorrow we can begin work on a new jutsu for you," Ranzaki replied as he turned about and began to walk to his proper position for the training that was to occur here. "Hurry up and finish that, we'll begin as soon as you are done," Ranzaki said as he departed for the other side of the clearing.

Seresana did as her teacher said, and she ate happily enough now that she knew new jutsu was just a day away from being taught. It didn't even take her long to finish eating, the package soon emptied and then sat upon the snow so it wouldn't get in the way of her shooting. After that, Seresana took up her stance and tested her bow, the one she'd made to get Ranzaki to teach her in the first place. It's wood was strong yet flexible, it's string sturdy and taunt, and when she pulled it back to test it, the weapon held the familiar weight it'd possessed when she first made it. Grinning, Seresana drew one of the arrows Ranzaki had made for her and then proceeded to do something she thought would surprise her sensei. She set the arrow to the string and held it in place with the leading arm that held the bow itself. Then with her one free hand, Seresana began to make signs with just her free hand, and then she was in the air, hovering about as the levitation jutsu lifted her high. While she couldn't see it, Ranzaki was watching the display with wide and curious eyes, though he didn't say anything at the time and simply began to pull the ropes that set the targets to swinging. Seresana was completely obliviouis to Ranzaki's surprise though and she simply drew back her first shot and fired it, watching carefully as the arrow traveled forth and slammed into the first target. Seresana however wanted to work on trying to match her sensei's speed and so she drew her next arrow as quickly as she could, took aim at the swinging target, and fired. A satisfied smile appeared on her face when the 'thunk' sounded out in the clearing, audibly signaling the hit she'd managed to score on the target. While Seresana had little trouble in aiming her bow, or scoring these hits, she was surprised to find herself already beginning to become winded by the third shot. After all the exertion she had exhibited during the first training effort, Seresana was already running low on her energy and stamina reserves, but so long as Ranzaki continued swinging the targets, he expected her to keep shooting.

Arrow after arrow, shot after heavy shot, and each one took longer and longer as the weights upon her arms sapped her stamina with the exertion, yet still nearly every arrow made the similar sound as it struck the targets time and again. After what seemed to Seresana to be hours, she finally reached back for an arrow and her hand only met with open air. Seresana glanced over her shoulder to confirm it, her quiver was indeed empty, and yet she could feel she still had more chakra left as she'd had to recast the levitation jutsu a few times, but yet wasn't feeling the fatigue she'd expected to be feeling by this point. The last time she'd shot until out of arrows while levitating, she'd had her chakra all but drained away to nothing, and yet this time, she could feel she still had plenty. Seresana slowly lowered herself back down to the ground, before dismissing the jutsu entirely. Though the moment she was on the ground, Seresana still collapsed but for a different reason than being drained of chakra. Rather she was so exhausted by all the shooting and training with the weights.

As Seresana laid there once again facing the sky and watching the sun fall, she could once more hear the sounds of her sensei's footsteps closing in on her. "You are to wear those weights until tomorrow and then we'll begin working on those new jutsu when you return," Ranzaki said once the footsteps had drawn close and then stopped roughly a foot or so away from her head. And after he spoke to her, Seresana could hear Ranzaki's foot steps draw away from her until they once more disappeared.

"Thank you Ranzaki sensei," Seresana called out before they had disappeared completely, but that hadn't caused any change in his pace from what she could hear. Once again, Seresana was left there for a while, just laying on her back and watching the cloud covered sky as the snow slowly fell. She wasn't too cold, despite the long hours of training she'd just performed yet she was not unknowing of it's icy presence around her and she knew she could not stay on the ground like this for long. With that thought in mind, Seresana once more found herself dragging her legs under her again and forced herself to standing. When she glanced over at the targets, Seresana wasn't too surprised to find the arrows missing and quickly figured that Ranzaki must have removed them before he departed. Yet Seresana was somewhat surprised to find she still had her bow and quiver upon her. "Did he forget them? Or maybe I am to take them with me today, and surely I'm to bring them back with me," Seresana thought to herself as she adjusted the path she was facing from Ranzaki's camp and back instead towards her own home. Her steps were heavy and slow as she walked, her arms hung low at her sides and her bow was slung across her back as she feared the strength in her fingers would give out should she have had to carry it back home.

Hours later, Seresana stumbled into her yard and came to behold the large house that sat in the middle of it. With a tired smile at the prospect of finally being home, Seresana slowly wandered up to the side door and firstly just flopped onto the wood of the porch. After a second spent just laying there, Seresana hoisted her feet up onto the surface and once more forced herself to stand on her aching limbs. With more tired and heavy steps, she went to the door, took off her shoes and proceeded inside, making sure the door was shut behind her to offer some protection against the harsh cold of the outside and trap the comforting warmth of the inside. Such heat crept into her tired muscles wonderfully, and even though she had full intention of taking a hot bath tonight to further relax, even the significantly warmer air was a welcome reprieve for the moment.

"Is that you Seresana?" called Sophia from another room, though her footsteps indicated that she was coming towards her. Infact, Sophia stepped into view before Seresana even got a chance to reply. The taller woman stood there, her features and structure very similar to Seresana in numerous ways, just older. Comments had been made before about how alike the two were, and how it was akin to looking at a past and future image when someone saw them walking together. Sophia had longer dark hair and a more adult body, but there was a single significant difference between the two and that was their eye color. While Seresana sported very bright green eyes, her mother's were a cool light blue. "Ah there you are sweetie, umm, what are those?" Sophia asked with a point to the heavy weights that Seresana currently sported.

"Just some training weights mom, Ranzaki Sensei told me I had to wear them till tomorrow when I go back to train with him again, and then he'll teach me some more new jutsu," Seresana replied as she tiredly walked over to Sophia and strugglingly lifted her arms to hug her mother, who hugged her back tightly.

"Okay sweetie, well you've got a little bit before dinner's ready, your father's out on deliveries still and your brother's at a friends house, so it's just you and me" Sophia added with a smile. "Is there anything you'd wa-"

"Can you tell me more about the Yuki clan," Seresana interrupted suddenly with hopeful eyes. Sophia however didn't mirror the expression.

"Sweetie, isn't there something else you'd rather do or talk about?" Sophie asked trying to dissuade Seresana to another topic, but her daughter only shook her head to the sides, silently saying 'no' while simultaneously changing her expression to a little more pleading. Before Seresana had to say please though, Sophia let out a sigh of defeat and motioned towards the table. "Take a seat, I need to go get something." Sophia said before leaving the room and walking towards the stair.

Seresana took her seat and waited patiently for her mother to return, and being sure that her arms were actually up on the table where it could support the weights rather than her shoulders. She'd actually felt herself starting to fall asleep when the sounds of her mother's footsteps announced her return. Sitting up abruptly and blinking the sleep from her eyes, Seresana was smiling at the doorway when her mother appeared in it again. Sophia however didn't share the expression, as her face was strained and drawn in a long and troubled frown as she wandered closer to the table. In her hands, Sophia carried another sealed scroll, bearing a snowflake depiction upon it. Sophia placed the scroll upon the table and broke the sealing paper that held it shut before unrolling part of the scroll. "I'm sorry Seresana but if you're blood is awakening, then you will need to know of what our clan and it's history has wrought," Sophia explained sternly before turning to read over the scroll and say bit of it. "Over the years, our clan has always been feared and sought after for our abilities," Sophia started. "A great many of our ancestors were mercenaries and sell-swords who used their unique talents to terrify their foes and gaint he upper edge in a fight. From things as simple as just freezing a puddle of water to trip up an enemy, to our clans greatest technique, known as the demon ice mirrors. A few of our line actually mastered their blood enough to wield such power and became very accomplished shinobi, but I do not know where any living members may be. During the battles and fighting, many of have been killed, some of which were supposedly set up even just to be assasinated as many still held a great deal of fear for our blood and it's strange powers," Sophia went on. "That is why you must be very careful my sweet little Sere, if others find out the truth about you they might-" Sophia trailed off there and seemed to have trouble finding a way to continue.

Seresana however saw the trouble in her mother's eyes and gingerly reached out a hand to hold Sophia's. "Don't worry mom, I'll be careful," Seresana replied confidently and with a comforting smile the slowly brought out her mother's again.

"Why don't I let you keep looking at this scroll while I get started on dinner," Sophia commented while standing up and proceeding into the kitchen. "That one though you don't get to keep in your room. It's a more private family records kind of scroll and I'll be holding onto it a while longer," Sophia added before moving into the kitchen where the rattle of pots and pans could be heard.

Seresana smiled back to her mom before moving the scroll around so she could continue reading it in her mother's absense. Seresana's eyes poured over the old written words on the scroll, words that had been transferred from document to document as time wore on and more relatives and ancestors had come and gone, passing ownership of the scroll onto the next to add in their discoveries about what the bloodline permitted. Feats and ninjutsu that either baffeled Seresana's mind, left her gaping in horror, and a scattered few that really and turly piqued her interest. Seresana was in the middle of reading about one of her great great grandfathers when the sounds of the front door being opened along with a familiar voice.

"Mom, I'm home," called out the voice of Seresana's little brother Hitagi. Seresana could hear him getting closer and she scrambled to wrap up the scroll properly before Hitagi wandered into the room, and she just barely succeeded enough to have the scroll rolled up but not hidden. "Oh hey sis, what's that?" Hitagi asked already beginning to reach for the wrapped up scroll.

"I-It's nothing Hitagi, just don't worry about it," Seresana went on as she moved the scroll back and away from his grasping fingers. This however only served to spark the next little confrontation between the borhter and sister. For in the next moment, Hitagi leapt forward to try and sieze the scroll, but Seresana still had ahold of it and so a power struggle began between the two, each one yelling at the other to let go. That is until a thought crossed Seresana's mind. Hitagi was her little brother, that meant he shared the same blood she did, so she reasoned that it wouldn't be a bad idea for Hitagi to see the scroll too.

"Hitagi Hatasuko," Sophia's voice suddenly filled the room from the doorway, completely snuffing out any and all traces of the argument that had been developing so far. "You leave your sister alone," Sophia went on in the demanding tone and affixing Hitagi with a hard stare until his grip on the scroll wilted and his head slumped.

"Yes mom," he muttered under his breath before beginning to walk away and out of the room. He could be heard going upstairs shortly after, likely to his own room to play with some of his toys.

When he left the room, Sophia turned her gaze upon Seresana and let out a sigh. "He might be your brother, but you can't tell him about this either. Not until he shows signs of the blood, if he does," Sophia told her daughter, and then she turned her attention back to the kitchen before Seresana could ask any questions. Shrugging a bit in confusion but ultimately not wanting to risk her mother's wrath, Seresana once more opened the scroll and began to read from it some more. Some of the entries where exceptionally hard to even read, let alone understand, but there was one that was not only laid out simply, it was practically built like a series of instructions for a reader to follow. Seresana tore into reading this ancestor's entry, trying to commit as much of it to memory as she could so she'd have something else to practice in her free time. The weights on her arms and legs were all but forgotten as she continued to read.

Just as Seresana finished that section and was about to begin on the next, the sounds of the front door opening again ripped her from the text. And then her mother was at her side, the rolled up scroll in her hands and Seresana barely had time to see it disappear into the folds of her kimono before she was walking to the doorway and the front door itself. "Welcome home dear," Sophia said sweetly as she stepped forward to embrace and kiss her husband just after he finished taking off his boots. "Did the deliveries go well?"

Vesken returned the embraces and then smiled back down at her. "Oh yeah, they were even so pleased with the work that they're commissioning another 12 orders," Vesken replied as he walked with his wife, who was leading him into the dining room. "Ah, and there's my little Sere," Vesken stated as he bent down a little and held out his arms for Seresana to run over and embrace him, or well try that is. Seresana's steps were still rather heavy and slow from the viscious workout she'd recieved earlier during training, and it took Vesken no time at all to recognize the basic training equipment. "Training weights, but why wear them now?" Vesken asked as he embraced his daughter.

"Ranzaki sensei said I wore them till tomorrow, he'd teach me some new jutsu," Seresana repeated herself from earlier, but for the new person.

"Ah, wow, these are heavy, nearly half as much as you," Vesken went on as he tested the weights. "Well, so long as you want to Seresana, just don't push yourself too hard now," Vesken said with a smile as he ruffled up his daughters hair. "So Sophia, what's for dinner," Vesken asked as he stood back up and turned to his wife again.

"Oh just some chicken dumblings and so-" Sophia started to reply, but was interrupted by the last member of the family suddenly running back down the stairs.

"Dad, you're home!" Hitagi called out as he ran over and jumped onto Vesken.

"Hah, heya champ, how ya doin?" Vesken asked as he lifted the younger but not very much smaller Hatasuko. As Vesken and Hitagi exchanged their day's experiences, Seresana wandered back over to her seat and plopped back down in it while Sophia quietly excused herself and wandered back into the kitchen to tend to the still cooking food. She was still fairly exhausted from the days events and found her tired limbs protesting even the simplist of movements. While her physical body complained, her mental state wandered off into her thoughts and imagination as she began to think of what she'd be able to accomplish with her inherrient power. Though Sophia's warning echoed then and all but shattered a good number of her currently imagined thoughts. Just as they were starting to rebuild themselves, Seresana was abruptly ripped from her thoughts by a plate being placed in front of her.

"It's time for dinner sweetie," Sophia commented with a calm smile on her face as she put a couple dumplings on Seresana's plate before tending to Hitagi, Vesken, and herself.

Seresana returned her mother's smile with one of her own before grabbing up the first dumpling and plopping it in her mouth to eat, the first of several. Over dinner, more small talk about what happened during the day was had, Vesken sharing stories about his deliveries and how he'd met with an old friend from his own days back at the academy. While Seresana aptly listened to her father's story, she couldn't be more annoyed by her brother's constant ramblings about how he'd gone over to his friend's and when they were playing ninja, he'd won. When the attention came to her though, Seresana found herself grinning as before she'd never really gotten the chance to rub how awesome her training with Ranzaki was making her, in Hitagi's face. "Well, Ranzaki sensei has me training pretty hard. One of the types of training we do is he has me perform a jutsu and then while that jutsu's going, I have to shoot these moving targets. It's really hard, but I'm hitting the target almost every time now. And then there's this other kind of training where I'm standing on a small wooden post, on one leg, and having to stay on that post while Ranzaki sensei shoots padded arrows at me. They don't hurt too bad when I get hit, but any more and I'm able to stay up on the post for a really long time, blocking and dodging a lot of the arrows," Seresana replied with a little bit of smugness towards Hitagi, but it didn't seem to work all that well as her younger brother just continued eating his meal and she couldn't tell if he had even been paying attention to her.

"Wow, sounds like he's training you hard indeed," Vesken said however, forcing Seresana to look away from her younger brother and towards her father, where she flashed a very happy grin.

"Mhmm, and then tomorrow he'll be teaching me a new jutsu!" Seresana went on happily.

"Well, you'll have to show us when you get back," Sophia piped up as she got up to begin gathering up the dishes. "For now, why don't you go on upstairs and have a hot bath. Hitagi, can you help me with the dishes," Sophia asked as she started to head towards the kitchen. Hitagi hmm'd his agreement and began to collect up a couple of the dishes himself while Seresana eased herself out of the chair and began the labor of heading upstairs. Each step was it's own little torture that left her panting afterwards, but the thoughts of what awaited her at the top of the stairs was enough to drive her onwards. After what seemed like an eternity of climbing those stairs, Seresana drug herself to the bathroom and started up the tub while she undressed. The first thing to come off were the weights, and as they fell off her legs and arms, Seresana was almost afraid that she'd start floating up with how much lighter she suddenly felt. If it wasn't for how tired she already was, Seresana might have even started to jump and dance around a little, but as is, the lightly steaming water was calling her name too loudly and Seresana continued on with the undressing. The next thing were the cloth ties, then the shirt and pants they'd previously bound tightly on her small frame, and finally her underwear. By time it was all off, the tub was ready and Seresana gingerly lowered herself into the hot water, her face a mix of pain and pleasure as the hot water harshly contrasted with the colder atmosphere. After a slow descent into the tub, Seresana finally submerged herself enough to the point where the water was up to her neck.

There, she let out a relaxed sigh and nearly drifted off on the spot as the hot waters eased and relaxed her worn muscles. But even with the sudden onset of relaxation that engulfed her, Seresana's mind was still too busy thinking about what she'd read in the scroll to fully drift off. So many new thoughts, some good, some bad, other inventive, and a few terrifying. Seresana however grinned as one solid prospect set itself solidly in her mind. "I'll just have to use my abilities, those learned and those I've inherited for the best. I'll do my ancestor's proud, and bring honor to the Yuki name," Seresana thought to herself as she laid there in the bath waters. That thought cemented the happy grin on her face and Seresana continued to enjoy the bath waters for a while longer. When the waters were starting to cool, Seresana snapped out of her relaxed stupor and set about actually washing herself off. It didn't take long, and once she was done, Seresana stepped out and began to dry herself off after unplugging the tub's drain to let out the water.

With towels wrapped around her, Seresana exited the bathroom and quickly wandered into her room where she dried herself off a bit more before letting it drop to the floor. After donning some night clothes, Seresana retrieved some sleeping clothes to add just that extra bit of defense against the cold. Then she quickly climbed into her bed, pulling the covers over herself as quickly as she could so that she could begin warming the space with her own body heat. Seresana started to try and think again towards the scroll, but the levels of comfort and exhaustion finally overwhelmed her active mind and in almost no time at all, she was sound asleep in a deep and dreamless rest.

Word Count: 8978
Total: 20259

Early the next morning, Seresana's eyes cracked open, before the sun had even a chance to fall on them like it usually did in the fashion of waking her up. The sun's progress however could be marked as it was halfway up her bed, creeping along witht eh sun rising and providing more illumination to stream through her window. This however was beyond the tired girl's powers of observation this early in the morning as she blinked a couple times, partially to get rid of the lingering sleep that tried to keep her eyes closed, and partially to just give herself something to do and draw focus to. She didn't have to wait for long though before another sensation flooded her mind, a dull ache that flared to life with her consciousness, spreading out from each of her taxed limbs. Even with the full day of rest, they still complained even without her attempts of movement, and Seresana let out a groan about how difficult this would make her training with Ranzaki for the day. That was until she'd recalled a very important fact about the nature of the training she was going to be doing with Ranzaki sensei.

"I'm going to learn new jutsu today!" Seresana cheered as she sat up in bed, an abrupt action that had numerous consequences that Seresana was soon experiencing. Firstly, there was the abuptness of sitting up so suddenly and causing a head rush. Seresana's eyes got weary again, and her upper body wavered in it's upward position as light delerium set in, and she began to slump backwards to alleviate it. There was also the almost painful sensation of the headrush threatening to strike up a headache for her so early in the morning, something she wanted to avoid if she could. Secondly, there was the sudden explosion of pain in her arms that had been thrown up as well. They still excessivly ached from all the work she'd had to do the prior day, and they were still sporting the heavy weights that quickly won out over her morning strength and pulled the extended limbs back to her sides.

As the weight, tiredness, and attempt at trying to avoid a headache all worked to drag her back down to her bed, Seresana didn't even try to fight it as she laid back down on the softer pillow. From that prone position, Seresana looked up towards the ceiling poster of her favored book series and studied it for a while. The lead character was a typical hero that always managed to find a way to percervere and triumph over the enemy at the end of the book, but that didn't mean they didn't struggle along the way. "Just like I am right now," Seresana thought to herself with a smile on her face. She then looked away from the poster to the rest of her room. Everthing was still in place, right where it'd been last night when she'd fallen asleep, even the towel she'd been too tired to actually throw into the dirty clothes hamper before climbing into bed.

With a reluctant sigh, Seresana sat back up in her bed again, albiet considerably slower this time and with a hand resting against her forehead in weariness of the headache. Thankfully it didn't come, nor the headrush after her first abrupt sit up. Letting out a relaxed sigh at the alleviated pain and pulled the covers off her herself. Throwing her legs off the edge of the bed and then letting the heavy weights that were still fastened to them not only drag them down, but she also used the momentum to bring herself to standing. Seresana took a second to make sure there wasn't going to be any hidden head rush springing up as she quickly went from sitting up to standing, but luckily for Seresana, it didn't show up. With another relaxed sigh and a fresh smile on her face, Seresana moved over to the dresser as animatedly as she could with all the extra weight still fastened to her. Pulling open the drawers, Seresana retrieved a collection of her usual attire for today's training. Her usual black pants and white shirt were gotten out and put on quickly after she stripped out of her sleeping clothes.

With the day's clothes donned, Seresana took towards the other aspects of preparing for the day. She shifted over to the vanity mirror and desk, picked up her hair brush, and began brushing her hair while taking a seat in front of the mirror. "I wonder what kind of jutsu we'll be working on today? He's already taught me two involving the wind, I bet it'll be another wind jutsu. Oh maybe he'll teach me how to do something really awesome, like make a tornado, or a gale of wind that can knock down a tree!", Seresana thought happily to herself as she continued brushing her hair. Eventualy, Seresana managed to wrangle in her unruly hair that had been quite the mess thanks to her hair still being slightly damp when she'd gone to bed the prior night and then some tossing and turning while she'd slept. Regardless though, now it was tame and resting on her as it normally did, though as Seresana continued to look at the regular style, she noticed that it was a little longer than usual. "Huh, guess it's been a little while since my last hair cut," she said noticing how the strand that usually barely reached her nose was now reaching past her bottom lip. "I'll have to get one soon then," she added before contemplating on what to do with the extra hair. Seresana looked into the mirror again and while the same style still looked good with the longer hair in her opinion, it could not get in the way more and she didn't want that, especially when she'd need to focus on the new jutsu. "Hmm, I think I've got a clip or two around here," Seresana went on as she opened the jewelery box and began to dig through it. After a little digging, Seresana found a couple hair clips that she quickly grabbed up and used to keep her hair out of her face. Looking back to the mirror again, Seresana studied at her reflection at a few different angles as she tried to figure if she liked the look or not.

Flashing the mirror a smile, Seresana nodded to the reflection as she found the Seresana reflect looking back acceptable and so she got back up and proceeded to take care of the other preparations for the day. Namely, Seresana went over to the closet first and threw open the doors to get at everything inside. Spying her backpack, Seresana took the thing off the hangers and then went over to her bookcase where she began to gather up a handful of the scrolls that talked about jutsu basics, chakra form, function, management, nature, and affinity, and some other beginner instructional scrolls. With those safely inside her pack, Seresana slipped it onto her shoulders and wandered out of her room. She didn't run into Hitagi this time, and figured he was still in bed in all likelihood. Not wanting to wake the annoyance that was her little brother, Seresana quietly wandered down the hall and then down the stairs onto the ground floor.

"Oh, good morning dear," Sophia's voice called from the dining room table as she sat there sipping at a cup of lightly steaming tea.

"Morning mom," Seresana replied as she wandered into the room as well and took a seat next to her mother.

"You're training with Ranzaki sensei again today, right?" Sophia asked then as she looked towards her daughter with a combined expression of light concern, but positive encouragement for her daughters ambitions.

"Yeah, and I've even managed to keep the weights on this whole time," Seresana proudly proclaimed while lifting one arm to show off the heavy weight that made it shake with effort.

Sophia's face cringed again at the strain Seresana was putting herself though, but when she looked again to her daughter's happy and determined grin, she smiled back at her daughter. "Well with such a big day ahead of you, you'd best eat a big breakfast so you'll be ready for all your training," Sophia said as she got up to presumedly begin work on the meal.

"Hehe, thanks mom," Seresana replied happily as she turned her gaze towards the doors that blocked off the cold and still snowy outside. Seresana found her thoughts drifting off to the snow and ice that littered the outside world while sipping her tea calmly and cautiosly as it was still fairly hot. Seresana was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even notice her mother come back into the room with some breakfast for her until it was literally sat down in front of her face. "Huh, oh uh, thanks mom," Seresana stammered out at first in the mild surprise she'd been caught in before beginning to eat her breakfast.

"You sure have been spacing out a lot recently dear," Sophia commented as she stood over Seresana with a concerned expression.

"Uhmm, yeah, I guess I've just been thinking a lot about what you've shown me and the I keep drifting off in thought about the snow and ice," Seresana explained at first before taking another bite. Once she ate it, Seresana smiled up at her mom, "I keep getting all these new ideas for new jutsu and I just know I'll be able to do all kinds of incredible things with them all!" Seresana proclaimed happily.

The suddenly happy reply hadn't been what Sophia had been expecting, especially not when she knew the contents of those scrolls could be fairly dark. But that isn't to say it was an unwelcome change, and in fact she was quite happy to hear her daughter make such a claim. "I'm sure you will my sweet little Seresana. The clan's blood flows strongly in your veins, and I've no doubt you'll bring new glory to our name, but you won't be able to do much on an empty stomach, now eat up sweetie," Sophia replied warmly as she wandered back out of the room to let her daughter to eat in peace.

Seresana nodded enthusiastically before digging into the rest of her breakfast and taking sips of tea occasioanlly to wash it down. It didn't take her long to finish off the meal and then carry the dishes into the kitchen where her mother was tidying up and beginning preparations for Hitagi and Vesken's breakfast. After a quick wash, Seresana deposited the dishes in the sink and began to turn about.

"Did you get enough to eat sweetie?" Sophia asked as she looked down from her work.

"Yeah mom, besides, I need to be getting over to Ranzaki's so we can begin training," Seresana replied as she continued over to the door.

"Alright, but please be careful Sere, and be sure you don't push yourself too hard," Sophia added one last time.

Seresana turned about to behold her mother and for a moment she just paused there, her mind going back to the image of the reflection she'd looked at in the mirror. Seresana could see the similarities between herself and her mother clear as day, as if she were looking into a possible future self. They both had the same fairly straight, dark raven black hair, though Seresana's was considerably shorter compared to her mother's that nearly reached to top of her butt while Seresana's own barely reached past her kneck usually. They shared the same lighter skin that while it didn't burn excpetionally easy, they were both not strangers to the ever irritating sunburn. Their faces were remarkably similar too, sharing many of the same features right along with their limbs. Sophia had the benefit of a few years of development on Seresana, but if the similarities were anything to go by, she'd catch up in time. The largest different between the two at least physically, was their eye color. While Sophia's were a light blue, Seresana's were bright emerald green, something that Seresana hadn't really noticed all that much until just this moment, but she decided not to pay it any mind as she found herself just starting to reach the point of awkwardly starring and in a desperate act to save herself from the embarrasement, Seresana smiled back at her mother and nodded before turning an departing from the room.

Seresana threw open the door to the house, only to shudder briefly at the sudden abundance of cold that flooded in through the opening before she jumped through and shut the door behind her. Turning back around then to once more look out upon the snow covered yard, Seresana noticed quite clearly the signs that her brother and his friends had apparantly gotten around to playing in the space. Numerous disturbances in the snow were scattered about, long trenches of snow where they'd gathered up large clumps of it all into larger mounds of snow that served as walls to their snow forts. Four of which were scattered about the place, and each one distinct in it's own special way. The one she assumed had to be her brother's was near the center, and nearly a full circle. It's thick walls were scored with dozens of snowballs that'd pelted it's sides from all angles, yet there was still a decent supply of snowballs inside the fort, leaving her to only assume Hitagi had spent a good amount of the time ducked down under suppressing fire. The other forts weren't spared either, each one featuring at least a dozen impact sites from the massive snowball fight that must have occurred. Seresana had to stifle a chuckle at her brother's antics, and she also had to admit that a good snowball fight did sound like a lot of fun, but today was a day for training. "After all, Ranzaki sensei's going to teach me new jutsu today, and I can always kick Hitagi's butt at a snowball fight later. Maybe even use a new jutsu to my advantage!" Seresana thought to herself with a wide grin before hopping off the porch and beginning her trek across the snow covered yard.

It didn't take long to cross the yard and then she was back in the woods again, happily striding past and around the dark brown of tree bark that contrasted so heavily with the almost bleak, white snow. With practiced ease at having already made the journey and memorized the route, Seresana deftly worked her way back to Ranaki's campsite and almost surprisingly found Ranzaki outside in plain view. The old man was sitting at the fire in front of his hut, eating what she could assume to be his breakfast. "Good morning Ranzaki sensei," Seresana called out as she walked closer, throwing a hand up into the air and moving it from side to side as she waved to him.

"Morning Seresana," Ranzaki replied in between bites of some kind of bacon like meat that Seresana couldn't be sure of what kind it was. "We will begin working on your new jutsu soon, but while I finish my breakfast, I want you to focus on your chakra and meditate. We will be learning some advanced techniques today, and they will not be easy for you to learn," Ranzaki forewarned before taking another bite.

Seresana nodded as he grin turned more serious and determined, but still remained present. She then sat down on an already placed piece of wood Ranzaki must have had the forethought to set up for her, and closed her eyes while making a basic sign to focus her chakra. "Okay, to focus chakra, think of it like a fire in our center, and from that fire think of the heat spread through our entire body. Focus it and maintain it, then imagine the fire getting hotter and the warmth increasing. Then try to focus that heat to specific areas of the body, and one can increase their ability to control their chakra," Seresana mentally recited to herself as she tried to begin the exercise. Yet no matter how hard she tried, a fire and warmth was just too hard for her to visualize in herself, and she could seem to feel anything no matter how hard she could focus. Seresana let her shoulders droop at the failure of being able to focus her chakra as such, but determination had her still thinking on it and a possible way around it. She was about to try the thoughts of fire again when an errant breeze deposited a snowflake on the tip of her nose.

The cold sensation quickly spread across her face, and forced her to open her eyes as they tried to look towards the speck of wetness from the already melted snow. That was what sparked it, a new idea in her mind to try and find a new way to focus her chakra. Seresana resumed her stance, tightened her hand sign, and shut her eyes in focus as she once more tried to picture the chakra at her center. This time though, she didn't think of it like a blazing fire to spread warmth through her form, instead Seresana thought of a crystal made of ice. A beautiful crystal formed of frozen water, constantly shifting and changing size and shape almost like a fire but cold instead. From this core of ice and freezing cold, a general coolness radiated outward and began to flood through her form. It came much easier this time, as she focused and felt the chakra flowing through her form. Feeling the energy all throughout her system as a welcome and comforting cold. In this new sensation, Seresana's outwardly feelings drift away, her senses of the real world lessen and she gradually continue to become less of a concern for her as she revels in the sense of cool power drifting through her form. Time and space retreated as she embraced this meditation, and continued to relax yet focus in this constant cascade of cool waves of power energizing and fueling her self.

Seresana was so lost in her meditation that she didn't even notice Ranzaki's hand on her shoulder at first. When he gave her a little shake though, that ripped her out of the meditative trance and brought her rapidly blinking back into the real world. "Let's begin," Ranzaki said plainly and bleakly as he looked at Seresana right in the face, before standing up and beginning to lead Seresana away from the camp.

"Right," Seresana replied as she got up, surprised that when she did, there was actually a bit of snow that had managed to accumulate on her form and she paused just for a moment to brush it off. "Just how long was I sitting there meditating?" She wondered to herself as Ranzaki continued to lead her away from even the relative warmth of the camp and towards one of their more common training fields. They arrived in the field with the suspended wooden targets that Ranzaki would move and have Seresana shoot while either moving herself or using the levitation jutsu soon enough, and Seresana had to pause for a moment in realization that this was the first time she'd been to this spot without her bow. She even had to stop herself from reaching back to grab an arrow from the quiver that wasn't there, or raising her hands with a bow she wasn't holding. With a grin and light chuckle at herself for the acts, Seresana looked up towards Ranzaki only to notice that he'd seen the act and arched an eyebrow in question. "Heh, force of habit I suppose," Seresana offered up as an excuse.

"Ah, well we aren't here to work on your marksmanship today," Ranzaki started off as he turned the rest of the way around to properly address her. "Today we see if you're up to the task of learning a new jutsu," Ranzaki proclaimed simply. "We'll be learning some earth style jutsu," Ranzaki said next as he kicked away some of the snow to reveal the frozen ground beneath. "Now the earth is dense, heavy, and stubborn, it doesn't like to move and takes strength and a strong will to make it bend to your will and your jutsu. But the earth is also powerful, strong, and tough, jutsu that use it have a hard time being deterred," Ranzaki explained before making a quick series of handsigns and slamming his palm to the groud. "Earth release, earth golem summoning," he said as his chakra entered the ground and began to enact the jutsu. A moment later, a large humanoid figure made of dirt and clay rose up out of the ground.

Seresana looked at the summoned creature with wide eyes full of awe. "Wow, that's amazing Ranzaki sensei, and you're going to teach me how to do that too?" Seresana asked without taking her eyes off the golem.

"Yes, but be warned Seresana," Ranzaki said in a commanding voice that finally drew her eyes off the creature and back onto him. "The earth golem is a bushin like lower leveled summoned creature. They are strong, but also violent and have destructive tendencies. You will need to have a clear set will, and a strong influence to keep one in check, let alone more. Without these, the golem can and likely will attack anyone it can reach, even your comrades. Don't use this jutsu if your will is wavering or you're in a large group for it could prove more harmful than good," Ranzaki warned before dismissing the creature.

"Right, I understand Ranzaki sensei," Seresana replied as her smile of wonder shifted to a more serious expression.

"We shall see if you do," Ranzaki commented before taking a couple steps closer to Seresana to begin showing her the handsigns for the summoning jutsu. It took Seresana a few more than a few tries to get the lengthy sequence right. And after her first half-dozen failures, she looked towards Ranzaki in a mix of desperation and confusion. "This is a C ranked jutsu, perhaps it's a little beyond your ability," Ranzaki said while looking up and looking like he was contemplating new options.

"No, no, that's okay Ranzaki sensei, I can get this," Seresana protested determinedly, and then set to trying to ge the sequence right again. After another half dozen attempts, Seresana finally got the thumbs up from Seresana and silently instructed her to try and perform the jutsu. Seresana nodded back and readied herself. "Okay, this is my first attempt at a C rank jutsu, and an earth style jutsu as well, focus. Remember to focus your chakra, ready it for the jutsu and then... Seresana thought to herself as she closed her eyes in concentration. She once more thought to the frozen flame and the slowly spread coolness of it in relation to her chakra. After a few moments of gathering up and making sure the chakra was ready, she went through the series of handsigns before slamming her palm to the ground in a mirrored fashion as Ranzaki had done moments before. "Earth release, earth golem summoning jutsu," she called out as she strove to complete the jutsu. A large puff of smoke later though, and there stood an earth golem, just like the one Ranzaki had summoned except for the fact that Seresana's was considerably smaller than the giant man's. While Ranzaki's had towered over him by about a foot, Seresana's barely stood an inch over her, but past that, they were the same.

Beaming with excitement, Seresana looked back towards Ranzaki and flashed a very bright grin towards the old man. "See, I told you I could do it," Seresana proclaimed happily.

"That's great, but uh, you might want to direct a bit more focus toward's your golem," Ranzaki said with a point towards the summon. Her smile drooping some in confusion, Seresana turned to look towards where her golem had been just seconds ago only to see that it had already moved away from her and over to a nearby tree. To her amazement and shock, the golem's right hand shifted into something like a spiked mace and it had the limb cocked back and raised. Seresana didn't even have time to protest before the golem tried to drive the improvised weapon into the tree, succeeding up to a point thanks to the fact that the point was rather sharp, but the golem itself didn't seem to be that overly strong. Still, it was enough to have Seresana almost panicking as she watched the new summon draw back it's other limb, which transformed into the same kind of weapon while being drawn.

"Wait, stop!" Seresana yelled out at the golem, but it didn't respond or even seem to acknowledge her as it brought the strike down against the tree, scoring it's bark and making light gashes in its surface.

"You must assert that you are in control of the golem," Ranzaki said again from where he stood, but he made no motion to intervene.

"I said stop," Seresana called out again, this time taking a step towards the golem. The golem however simply continued to lift it's arm and strike the tree again. "Stop it!" Seresana commanded with a sterness that surprised herself as she suddenly leapt forward and grabbed onto the golem's raised arm, trying to keep it from striking the tree again. It still tried for a moment, but then the effort left and the golem's limb changed back to normal as it turned to look at Seresana blankly. "Good, now just stay there for now and don't do anything!" Seresana went on, trying not to let the uncertainty she felt and expressed in her face carry over to her voice. She then looked over her shoulder back toward's Ranzaki and hesitantly grinned.

"Good, now release the golem and try it again," Ranzaki instructed sternly but the 'good' didn't miss Seresana's ears and she was happy to have recieved the little compliment. Still, Seresana complied to the given instruction and dismissed the earth golem before taking a second to once more focus her chakra and perform the jutsu again. Just like before, the golem reappeared, another one that looked just like the one she'd summoned before.

"Now wait right there," Seresana commanded sternly before hesitantly looking over to Ranzaki to guage her success, glancing back occasionally to make sure the golem was obeying her instruction, which to her relief, the golem obeyed and remained where it was originally summoned.

"Good, you seem to have a decent grasp of this jutsu," Ranzaki commented simply even though he was surprised that not only had Seresana managed to perform the jutsu, but also use it twice at such a young age and low rank. "Then we shall work on the next jutsu I plan to teach you today," Ranzaki went on as he began to walk a little further out into the training field. "Dismiss your golem and join me here," he instructed then, still maintaining the same voice and leaving no trace of his prior astonishment.

"Right," Seresana replied as she released the golem that disappeared with another puff of smoke. Then she strode out through the snow a little until she was standing next to Ranzaki.

"Okay, now I will show you the spinning mud wheel jutsu," Ranzaki said before performing a simpler and shorter sequence of handsigns before again pressing his hands to the ground to complete the jutsu. Seresana watched in awe as the groud before her sensei began to slowly spin and then gradually picked up speed until it was a vertible whirlpool of earth. The snow quickly disappearing into the brown of disturbed dirt, stone, and soil as it turned. "You'll find this jutsu a bit different to handle, as you send your chakra into the ground and then have to spin it in such a way that managed to get the earth to start spinning with it."

Seresana nodded before setting to learning the series of handsigns needed to perform the jutsu. Even with the sequence being shorter and less complex, it still took her a few tries before finally getting each position right and then attempting to actually channeling chakra into the the jutsu to cast it. At first nothing seemed to happen but after a few seconds, Seresana could see the snow starting to shift and spin until it was a slowly swirling whirlpool of soil, earth, and stone just like Ranzaki had done. "Good," Ranzaki said, "now do it one more time and then you're done for the day. As you leave, be sure to leave the training weights on the table behind my hut. They've served their purpose for nwo, but will be left there in case you wish to use them again."

"Okay Ranzaki sensei," Seresana replied simply before performing the jutsu again. Once it was finished, she took a step back to admire the two large circles of disturbed earth that was before her, yet when she glanced back towards Ranzaki, it was only his departing form she could see as the old man was already leaving the clearing. Seresana sighed at the always serious nature of her sensei, but the smile that followed was still a glad one. "Even during these times which must be very busy and hard for him with how limited supplies can be out here, he still found the time to train me during these two days," Seresana though to herself before turning about and departing from the clearing as well. She could feel that a lot of her chakra was already spent from the new jutsus, and she didn't want to pass out in this cold.

The walk back to her house was much the same as the walk she'd taken to get to Ranzaki's camp, only in reverse and with the addition of the brief stop at Ranzaki's camp to deposite the training weights. She wasn't surprised to find that Ranzaki was already gone again from his camp, as sumised that he was likely out hunting again. Not wanting to create un-needed excess noise or cause other distraction, she quickened her pace as she departed from her sensei's camp and began running home. The thick yet skeletal frozen forest blurred by her as she sped along, kicking up a little bit of snow as she weaved between the trees and worked her way back along the familiar path towards her house. At her speed, it didn't take too long to reach, but just as she entered the yard, Seresana was greeted with a rapidly spinning white ball flying right at her face. As Seresana ducked down beneath the snowball, she mentally thanked Ranzaki for all that time spent dodging arrows as she trained before standing back up and looking for the source of the projectile. She didn't have to look long to find the giggling vissage of her younger brother and oen of his friends behind a makeshift snow fort, and then her eyes skimmed the field of a yard to note a second fort with another two younger boys behind it, each holding at least one snowball at the ready.

"Nice dodge Sis, but you won't be so lucky next time!" Hitagi called out as he reached down to pick up another snowball. "C'mon guys, let's get her!" He cried while throwing the snowball. Two of the other boys mimicked his actions, but one hung back and didn't throw his snowball immediately.

"You'll have to do better than that Hitagi," Seresana taunted as she deftly side stepped her brother's snowball to the left, continued into a spin to dodge the second snowball, and then ducked under the third. While she was doubled over, Seresana quickly scooped up a handful of snow and quickly compacted it into a snowball for her own use. Instead of throwing it immediately though, Seresana ducked back and behind a tree to gain at least some cover, and not a moment too soon as a couple snowballs splattered against the cold hard wood milliseconds after she'd ducked behind it. From her new defensive vantage point, Seresana took a moment to study her oposition. First off there was her own younger brother Hitagi Hatasuko. Four years younger than Seresana, but taking more from their father's overall build. He was already approaching Seresana's height and would likely catch up to her in a few more years if his growth continued like it had. He also had their father's darker skin and almost chocolate brown hair, but there was no doubt his eyes came from their mother as they were the same bright blue rather than their father's almost black dark brown. He was wearing his darker blue winter coat, a pair of thick looking, stripped gloves, some similarly thick black boots, and some common jeans that were already sporting some darker spots from melted snow. "He'll be a bit tough since he's pretty familiar with how I move," Seresana thought to herself before shifting her gaze to the next boy behind the snowfort with Hitagi. A thin and lanky boy who was readily shivering from the cold, yet his cold blushed face remained locked on the tree Seresana was standing behind. He was wearing a brown coat, over top of his shirt, and covering the top part of his similarly brown pants. The red gloves he sported each held a snowball and matched the beanie hat he wore over most of his head. His glasses were struggling not to fog up completely as he breathed heavily. "And that would be Hal Konahva, he won't be much a challenge shivering like that," Seresana hypothesised before shifting about behind the tree to get to a point where she could spy the other fort and the boys hiding behind it. Though she had to be exceptionally careful for at the slightest movement, there was a few more snowballs splattering against her tree.

Still, she managed to avoid being hit for the moment and when the most recent flurry stopped, she chanced a glance towards the second fort to take stock of the boys behind it. She quickly spotted the first, as he was practically leaning over the fort in an effort to try and have a shot at hitting Seresana. A bit of an average build on this one, not overly big, but certainly not thin and frail like Hal. His orange hair was pulled back tightly to keep it out of his face and the cheerful if not almost malicious expression it sported. He wore a thinner coat than the others, but didn't seem to even really notice the cold as it colored his face, ears, and gloveless fingers red. "And there's Yandre Baxtel, the little twerp. He doesn't have to look THAT excited at the idea of hitting me. Now where's the la-" Seresana was suddenly ripped out of her inner thoughts as she felt an impact smack into shoulder, quickly followed by a cold and wet sensation slowly spreading outward that all to quickly drew her hands to the spot to try and brush away the remaining snow. While her hand continued to tend to the hit area, Seresana's gaze sprung to the boy who'd chucked the snowball. "And there's Xune Rheshte," Seresana thought glumly as she leveled a very unamused expression at the youth. He was the oldest of Hitagi's friends, and sported a set of naturally silver grey hair, though his expression at the moment not only had it's normal blush, but seemed to shrink under Seresana's almost glare.

"S-sorry Seresana," Xune apologised before running back away from the older girl and towards his respective snowfort.

Seresana however didn't really have time to hold a grudge for as she peeked out from behind the tree, she was immediately greeted with additional snowballs thrown at her as the other boys covered their friend's escape. She managed to duck back in time to avoid being hit, but this still left her pinned down behind a tree, and wondering how Xune always managed to slip from not only her's, but just about everyone's view all the time, the kid was just naturally that sneaky. Still, this wasn't the time to really be thinking about that, the far more important thing right now was that she was still pinned behind this tree. It didn't take her long though to come up with something of a plan though and she was soon setting about implementing it. Seresana first gently placed the one completed snowball back on the ground before getting up a second one. Placing that one on the ground as well, Seresana then went about performing the handsigns needed for the clone jutsu. Under the cover of the smoke generated from the jutsu, Seresana grabbed back up her snowballs and quietly instructed her four new clones to circle around the tree before she came around as well. Sure enough, as soon as the clones moved into view, each one was struck with a snowball and disappeared in another puff of smoke, but they provided the distraction she needed for as the boys went about getting their next snowballs, Seresana threw hers. The balls of frozen water smacked right into Hitagi's face and Hal's shoulder, easily breaking apart upon impact but still holding enough force to force each boy to recoil. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Seresana continued on out from her hiding place and actually moved as quickly as she could right between the two forts. Almost as soon as she arrived, Seresana ducked down to avoid the snowballs thrown by Xune and Yandre, which sailed overhead and smacking into Hitagi and Hal's fort. While down, Seresana scooped up her next snow ball and threw it, nailing Xune squarely in the chest. She didn't have time to gloat though, having to practically jump to the left to avoid Yandre's second shot, though Seresana didn't waste the motion as she scooped up another handful of snow and hurled it at Yandre, though almost to her surprise, the boy actually managed to duck down fast enough as to avoid being hit by the snowball.

Seresana however wasn't about to let him get away with it that easily and after scooping up another snowball, while doding another pair from from her brother and Hal as they'd finally managed to recover from the earlier shots, Seresana started performing another series of handsigns with one hand. Just as all four of the boys were about to throw a snowball at her, Seresana finished her jutsu and jumped straight up to avoid the snowballs. She however didn't descend, but rather just kept ascending much to the boy's amazement, and then outcries as she threw her already prepared snowball at Yandre, nailing him on the right shoulder.

"Hey, that's no fair!" Yandre called out first as he rubbed the spot that had been hit by the snowball.

"Yeah Seresana, c'mon," Hitagi added to the protest.

"Neither if four against one," Seresana countered from her aerial position as she looked down at the colleciton of boys who'd abandoned their snowforts for the moment and were all standing in a cluster while looking up at Seresana. However Seresana couldn't stay up there for long. This was a wind jutsu and as such it buffeted not only herself, but all the others with a rather constant stream of winds as she levitated, and it was only a matter of time before the boys figured out that while up in the air, Seresana didn't have access to any more snow to make more snowballs. Not wanting to give up that bit of information, Seresana then lowered herself back down while making a fake sigh. "Fine, I'll just stick to dodging then," Seresana went on to keep up the act as she lowered back down to the ground. The boys however were a little less patient and before she even touched back down, they were scrambling back to their respective forts to take cover and get more snowballs ready. With only a couple minutes before the first ones started flying, Seresana scrambled back towards the forest where she'd at least have a little cover among the trees. She still however had to make quite the spectacle of herself to dodge all the snowballs thrown at her. The first one, Seresana just ducked under, but the second one was coming lower and much to soon behind the first for her to try and stop, so Seresana just jumped over that one. Tucking in her legs and rolling forward under the next two, Seresana sprung back up onto her feet and was running againn as the fifth snowball sailed past and behind her. The sixth snowball smacked squarely into the tree as she twisted about and pivoted behind it. Two more snowballs smacked into the tree before Seresana risked a peek around the edge, and rather immediately had to duck back as a third snowball splattered agains the hard surface. Seresana then leaned down to scoop up some of the close by snow to make up a fresh snowball and with another glance around the edge of the tree, Seresana suddenly bolted out from behind the barrier, out the opposite direciton she'd peeked from. she suddenly stopped to dodge one snowball, and then pivoted to the right to dodge a second one before throwing back her snowball and just narrowly missing Yandre before dropping down again to scoop up another ball of snow. While crouched, Seresana rolled to the the side to avoid another snowball thrown by her own brother and she returned the favor in kind, but the throw was a little high and only skimmed the boy's hair before sailing into the yard and eventually coming down in the blanket of snow somewhere behind the lot of them.

Not letting her have anytime to reflect on his off aim, Hal returned fire with a snowball that smacked the tree right next to Seresana's face and while it didn't directly hit her, the splatter it made from hitting the tree still caused snow to crash onto her face. Ducking back to wipe her face clear of snow, Seresana barely heard the crunch of snow that marked one of the boy's approach to her tree, and going off more on instinct than forethought, Seresana just turned about and planted a hard kick against the tree. Using the strike to also push herself off from it, Seresana once more tucked in her legs to roll away from the tree she'd just kicked and the cries of surprise that erupted from Xune as several of the tree's snow laden branches suddenly deposited their powder upon him. The poor boy was absolutely covered in snow and he even dropped his snowball in shock as he was burried. Xune seemed to only be deterred for a moment though as he soon poked his head back up and began frantically searching through the freshly deposited snow for his snowball. Seresana however was spared no such break and was once again sprinting forward to dodge a couple more snowballs that Hitagi had decided to hurl at her.

That wasn't the end of them as Hitagi and Hal started unleashing a barrage of snowballs at Seresana while Yandre hurriedly crept forward to help Xune out of the mound of snow that'd fallen on him. The boy's tactic worked well enough for Seresana couldn't get around under the constant pressure of the two boy's hail of snowballs, and Xune was safely dug out of the snow and together he and Yandre ran back to their snowfort. It wasn't until after they'd made it back that the snowballs finally stopped flying, and Seresana was able to take a peak around the edge of the tree. From her new vantage point, she was a lot closer to Xune and Yandre's fort, and at her current angle, she could see the boys clear as day as they hid behind it and worked to replenish their supply of snowballs. Hitagi and Hal however couldn't be seen at all from her new position as their fort completely blocked them from sight. With a sigh that she'd not be able to know what Hitagi and Hal were up to until they chose to reveal themselves, Seresana ducked down to get another snowball ready herself, but with just the one ball in hand, she turned and threw it. The snowball smacked into the center of Yandre's back, nearly toppling the boy forward from his crouched position. Then both Yandre and Xune both turned about and tried to throw a snowball back at her, but Seresana was too quick in her duck back behind the tree and while one snowball passed by harmlessly, the other slammed into the tree.

Seresana wasn't given a chance to laugh though for just after those two were thrown, a different two smacked into her side, catching her off guard and earning a surprised yelp from her. Looking over, she found Hitagi and Hal both laughing at her expense and Seresana turned a malicious glare at the two boys as they ran back to their fort. Seresana got her next ball of snow ready, but didn't throw it immediately. Instead, she placed the ball on the ground and began to roll it. As the boys recovered and resupplied, Seresana continued rolling her snowball, making it bigger and bigger until she had a snowball nearly two feet in diameter. Picking up the large orb, she then quickly sprinted over to Hitagi's fort, managing to get to the top of it without either boy noticing. Not a hard feat to accomplish since now that she was standing over the two, she could see that they were both crouched down and collecting up snow for more snowballs.

"Heh, we got her good that time, didn't we Hal," Hitagi started as he finished one snowball and laid it to the side.

"Yeah we did Hitagi, and this ne-"

"This what Hal?" Hitagi asked before looking up to see what had caused the sudden stop in speech, but what he saw only brought on more confusion. Hal's face was one of shock and twitching with an open mouth as the boy seemed to be trying to scramble back a little. "Hal, what's gotten.. in.... to... oh no," Hitagi trailed off as he finally noticed the shadow that had come to lord over him and when he looked back to see the massive snowball that Seresana was holding over his head, the boy fell back in shock until he and Hal looked about the same. "Uh, hehe, hi Seresana," Hitagi started fearfully.

"Run"

"What?" Hitagi asked leaning forward just a little and tilting his head to the side to try and hear a little better.

"I'd have already started running if I were you," Seresana repeated as she began to bring the snowball about to be thrown. Following her instructions, Hitagi and Hal both scrambled to try and get standing and then start running, but they didn't get far before Seresana threw the snowball that arced through the air and nailed them both in the back, toppling them over and sending each into the snow covered ground. While those two boys started to try and pick themselves up the other two had tried to sneak up to Seresana and get her, but the girl had heard them approaching and just as they were winding up to take a throw, Seresana glanced back at them.

Too late to stop their motion, Xune and Yandre threw their snowballs at Seresana who dodged one, and caught the other. Jumping off her brother's snowfort, Seresana scooped up the snowball Hitagi had just finished making and chased after Xune and Yandre as they tried to scramble back to their own snow fort, but they weren't faster than Seresana and soon each had a snowball smacking them in the back.

Seresana was reaching down to scoop up another snowball when the door suddenly opened though, revealing Sophia. "Okay Hitagi, it's time for you and your friends to-" she paused in her call though when her eyes fell on Seresana and and widened slightly. "Oh, you're back Seresana, well why don't you come in with the boys, it's nearly supper time," Sophia said before shutting the door again to cut off the escape of heat.

"Ah, do we have to go in now?" Yandre asked.

"For now at least, but we can probably come back out later," Hitagi replied. "Plus mom was making her homemade ramen today," he added excitedly while beginning to run back to the house.

"Ooh sweet, I'm starving," Hal added as he matched Hitagi step for step.

Xune however hung back while the other boys ran forward to get inside as quickly as they could. He looked to Seresana with his face blushed thoroughly, but Seresana just assumed it was because of the cold. It looked like he'd wanted to say something, but the boy just suddenly shook his head and then rushed inside with his head down. Blatantly confused, Seresana watched his departure for a moment before just shrugging her shoulders and walking inside herself, all of a sudden, all too aware of the cold that numbed her extremeties and chilled her being.

Once she was inside, Seresana had to let out a loud and long sigh as the warmth just envoloped her in it's embrace. She quickly removed her shoes and then worked her way around the boys that were also fiddling with boots. "I'll be back down in a second mom," Seresana called out as she proceeded upstairs to change out of her cold and wet clothes and into something a a bit warmer and dryer. Quickly, Seresana unbuttoned her jacket and slipped out of the winter garment, but she didn'thand the thing back up, instead placing it on the rim of her dirty clothes hamper. Then Seresana undid the five colored ties that kept her shirt and pants bound to her, depositing the damp and wet pieces of cloth in the hamper while putting the the others that had bound her shirt since those were the only ones that had actually stayed dry back in the vanity desk drawer where she had several more still inside in a wide arrange of colors. Then she slipped out of her shirt, socks, and pants, placing each into the hamper as they were all in varrying stages of damp to soaked. She stood there for a moment in her underwear, and noticed that her butt was still wet and so her panties were deposited into the hamper as well. Seresana didn't waste anytime though in rushing over to her dresser to pick out some new clothes as her room held a slight chill from the cold of the outside. A simple pair of white panties, quickly covered by some loose but rather comfy baggy pants, and then a simple blue shirt to cover the bra, which was the one thing she hadn't needed to change thanks to metled snow, and Seresana was once more comfortable and just a little warmer.

Then Seresana wandered back down stairs and towards the dining room once more, only to see that she was the only one in it for the moment. She looked questioningly towards the kitchen where her mother had just turned around, a bowl in each hand, and starting to proceed back into the dining room to place them on the table. "They all ran up to Hitagi's room to change out of their wet clothes," Sophia explained when she saw her daughter's confused look and then sat the bowls on the table before standing back up to go and retrieve some more. "Why don't you go ahead and dig in, there'll still be plenty for the boys to eat afterwards. And your father should be home soon enough to see your new jutsu if you're still wanting to show us," Sophia added from the kitchen where she was currently scooping out some more noodles into the bowls of broth.

"Of course mom, I can't wait for you two to see them," Seresana proclaimed happily as she started to eat. The homemade ramen was one of Seresana's favorites, with homemade noodles, a thick customly made brooth, and filled with little extra things to continually flavor the broth and be munched on with the noodles. Her time spent savoring the soup though was rather limited as the loud calls and talking of her brother and his friends soon raced down the hall and into the living room as they started to return. Seresana had just enough time to get one last big bite in before the table was flooded with boys who were excitedly and loudly talking about the snowball fight they'd just had, and one that had apparently happened earlier when Seresana was training with Ranzaki.

Apparently, their day had started by fixing up their forts a bit more before starting the big war of snowballs. Each had thrown and gotten hit several times before Seresana had shown up, and the teams had switched up a couple times, but it seemed that Xune was the reigning champ, having won the most games out of the collection of boys. Even when they each had a bowl of ramen in front of them, their talking only diminished slightly as the recounted the days tales. When Sophia stepped back in with hot chocolates for everyone, Seresana was just sitting by and listening with a pleasent smile, practically forgotten to the younger kids as they talked and bragged. Soon after the hot chocolates were brough in, Seresana finished off the last of her ramen and went to softly sipping at the still lightly steaming beverage, and continuing to listen to the boys's ongoing stories. Sophia joined them as well after she'd delivered the drinks, and took a similar position to Seresana, however she wasn't spared the boy's attention as they took from bragging to each other, to bragging to her. Sophia handled it well though as she smiled back and let the occasional compliment fly towards each boy. Seresana hadn't noticed it at first but after the fifth one was awarded, she noticed that her mother was complimenting each boy equally. An observation cemented in when the sixth, seventh, and eighth compliment be distributed, though it did end with the nineth and final compliment going to her own son.

Seresana also noted that their stories were always careful to avoid the part where they'd incurred her own wrath, and while she found it somewhat curious, she also felt no need to speak up and ruin their little moment. Instead she just continued to sit back, watch, listen, and sip at her hot chocolate until it ran out. As Seresana got up, her mother seemed to be the only one to notice as she was the only one who looked up questioningly at Seresana. "I'm just going to get another cup full," Seresana explained before stepping into the kitchen. While she was getting her cup, she heard the door open and close and the all to familiar bellow of her father's voice announcing his presence.

"Hey everyone, I'm home," Vesken called out as he proceeded towards the dining room. "Phew, just as cold out today as it was yesterday," he added while entering the dining room. With herself already in the kitchen, Seresana proceeded to get her father a cup of hot chocolate too before returning back to the dining room with both mugs. "Ah thanks Sere," Vesken said as he took his mug and immediately took a sip from it.

"No problem dad, and oh have I got some jutsu to show you and mom afterwards," Seresana proclaimed quickly, wanting to get that in before her father got bombarded as her mother had with the boy's talking.

"Of course, and now what all did you do today?" Vesken asked as he shifted his attention to the boys who were all too eager to speak their pieces. That was all it took for them to unleash the same series of brags and claims and explanations that could have been the same thing but from a different perspective, but Seresana couldn't really tell, it was more than a little confusing, especially when one boy was talking and then suddenly another would speak up and take over the story from there. Vesken however seemed to be manaing just fine, and that was the main person who mattered to them for the moment, and so Seresana just leaned back, relaxed and continued sipping her hot chocolate. "So you have some jutsu to show us Sere?" Vesken suddenly asked, snapping Seresana out of her distraction.

"Oh, uhm yeah, yeah Ranzaki sensei showed me a couple new jutsu, but I'll need to go outside to show you them," Seresana said as she got up and walked over to the door where she put on her boots again, though she didn't bother with her coat as she didn't intend to be out long enough for it to really bother her. When she threw open the door, the others were still also slipping into coats or trying their best to manage a view while still staying warm. Seresana however proceeded right out of the house, off the porch and out a short ways into the snow covered yard. She closed her eyes for a short moment, and focused her chakra again before performing a few handsigns and slamming her palm to the ground. "Earth release, Earth Golem Summoning Jutsu," she yelled out before a poof of smoke appeared and when it cleared, another similar looking humanoid made of clay with fairly round and smooth features stood there.

"Impressive," Vesken recited from where he sat and clapped along with most of the other's who watched, Sophia and Hitagi weren't among them however. Hitagi had crossed his arms in just a refusal to admit he was impressed, but Sophia looked and watched the Golem with a concerned expression, and it would seem with good reason. For while Seresana grinned proudly at the praise the group was giving her, the golem's arms began to thicken and turn jagged. Seresana didn't even notice until the golem began to move foreward, and by then the arms had already turned back into spiked clubs again. There was some kind of commotion back at the house, but Seresana was too busy putting together more handsigns to notice for the moment before slamming her hands back to the ground again. "Earth Release, Spinning mud wheel jutsu," she called out as the snow covered ground began to swirl, not allowing the golem to progress any closer to the house. Seresana then dismissed the golem, making it disappear with another poof of smoke. "Whoops sorry, I forgot that the golem is a little hard to control," Seresana apologized before finally looking back at the house and was somewhat shocked to see her mother standing behind everyone in a defensive stance like she was ready to fight the golem.

"Heh, that's rather impressive, don't scare us like that Sere," Vesken instructed as his wife relxed and sat back down before anyone could notice.

"Uhm... right, sure thing dad," Seresana replied still somewhat wondering about the stance, but deciding not to press it for the moment.

"Why don't you come in out of the snow now dear," Sophia added, her voice never changing from what it'd been before, completeing the illusion that she'd not done anything despite the fight that had nearly broken out. Seresana just nodded as she quickly ran back across the yard and towards the warmth of the house, ripping her boots off before diving inside and shutting the door behind her. Her efforts earned her a little chuckle at her expense, but the comforting and large hand of her father came to rest on her shoulder before pulling her in for a tight hug which left Seresana grinning brightly but a bit weakly. "It looks like that jutsu takes a lot out of you," Sophia then added after getting a good look at her daughter's fatigue.

"Mhmm, Ranzaki told me it's a C rank jutsu," Seresana replied as she continued to relax into her father's embrace. "I think I might even go to bed a bit early tonight," Seresana continued when she finally managed to free herself from Vesken's grip.

"Alright dear, sleep well," both Vesken and Sophia said, almost in unison as they watched her depart.

"Goodnight Mom, goodnight dad," Seresana said before pausing for just a minute and then adding in, "goodnight Hitagi." Then she departed, heading out of the dining room and upstairs. She made one brief stop at the restroom before proceeding onward to her bedroom. Changing quickly into her actual sleeping clothes, Seresana quickly jumped into her bed and dove under the covers to try and start building up warmth. "Geeze, I haven't felt tired like that since Ranzaki taught me those other jutsu. I must have used up most of my chakra," Seresana said to herself before a large yawn gripped her and she snuggled down under the covers a bit more. "Hmm, I wonder what I'll do tomorrw..." were Seresana's final spoken words for the night as sleep gripped her and she passed into the world of dreams.

The next morning when Seresana awoke, she didn't hop right out of bed. Her eyes squinted open and slowly scanned the room, noting that the sun had only recently risen based on what angle the sun was shining in through the window at. Her mind swam in this post sleep state, trying to separate the remnants of dream memories she had and the real memories of what had occurred yesterday. "I'm awake, but I don't know what I'm going to do today..." Seresana internally thought as she continued looking about the room. "Well, I can't lay in bed all day long," she said before sitting up and looking around some more. "Huh, did I leave my door open last night?" Seresana asked rhetorically as she looked towards the slightly ajar door. It wasn't usually left open, but Seresana had been rather tired after all the new jutsu and training she'd done yesterday, she wasn't ruling it out of the realm of possability that she'd just left it open by accident.

Unable to remember if she had left the door open or not, Seresana climbed the rest of the way out of bed, pushing the covers back before swinging her feet out over the edge of the bed. Slowly standing up, Seresana stretched out as much as she could, reaching her hands over her head until she heard the telltale crack and pop of her joints. She let out a large content sigh right after the stretch and then adopted a content smile on her face before her eyes shot open, now fully awake and ready to face the day. Seresana looked over towards her dresser, but something caught her eye as they passed over the vanity mirror and she looked back to it out of curiousity. There, starring right back was her reflection, only on it's face was a lot of scribbled markings and little mocking phrases. Seresana looked at the reflection in horror as the realization dawned on her that these markings were also on her face. Both Seresana and the reflection's cheeks blushed in embarrasment as she crept forward to gain a better understanding of the damage. On her forehead was was the word 'Stupid' wrote large and in thick black ink. There was also a mustache scribbled on under her nose but above her upper lip, and a little goatee beard to accompany it. There was also some extra thick shading around her eyes and the words 'I'm dumb' scribbled onto her left cheek, surrounded in a bubble as one might do in a comic to illustrate someone speaking. Seresana could feel her anger rising as she realized now that the reason the door was cracked open was because Hitagi and his friends must have crept into her room and did all the damage last night while she'd been asleep. "HITAGI!" Seresana cried out in a house filling yell, and was immediately responded to by some panicky giggling and the sounds of footsteps rushing first closer and then farther away from her room as the guilty party fled down the hall and down stairs.

Word Count: 10776
Total: 31035

Seresana ran over to her door, ripping it open only to find her progress blocked by Vesken, who she practically ran into in her haste. "Woah there Sere, what's the-"

"That brat and his bratty friends did THIS to me!" Seresana interrupted and she raised her face to her father and pointed to it.

"Oh," Vesken started before trying to hide the smile and chuckle that threatened to spring from his lips. "Well don't let me get in the way of your vengence," he continued stepping back and out of the way before Seresana had a chance to just bowl him over. As she bounded down the hallway and towards the stairs, he could hear his fading and light laughter at the prank. That little holdup however seemed to be just what the boys had needed though for just as Seresana reached the first floor landing, she heard the front door slam shut. Still, she raced towards the door all the same, and threw it open in time to see the rapidly retreating figures of Hitagi and his friends.

"You little brat, I'm going to get you for this!" Seresana yelled out to the fleeing boys. They however only seemed to laugh louder as they continued to run away, leaving Seresana fuming at the door.

"Whatever's the mat-" Sophia had started as she walked around the corner, but Seresana's face stopped her mid speech. "Ah, well they'll be back, or at least your brother will be later. You can get him back then," Sophia said while inviting Seresana back deeper into the house. "And please shut the door, we don't want to let the cold in," Sophia added while walking away.

"Sure, alright mom," Seresana remarked bitterly as she shut the door and slowly proceeded back into the house. She stood there for a moment, trying to think of how she could get back at her little borther, but another glance towards her reflection in a window made her grimace again. "I'll get him back later, but first it looks like I'm going to need to get cleaned up," Seresana commented to herself as she finally left the entryway. Slowly working her way back up the stairs and into the bathroom, Seresana stripped out of her sleeping clothes and tossed them into the hamper. Then she went over to the shower and turned on the water, adjusting it until the temperature was luke warm, perfect for her. Stepping in, Seresana shuddered happily as the waters started cascading over her form and she relaxed into it's embrace. After losing track of time, Seresana finally shook her head to shake some of the water from her already soaked hair so she could see again, and then reached for the shampoo. Seresana thoroughly scrubbed her hair, working up numerous bubbles and suds from the soap that now coated her short dark hair. Then Seresana got some soap and after lathering it up, washed herself off. Finally, Seresana got a final dap of soap and began to furiously scrub her face. Luckily, there was a mirror in the shower and after washing away the soap, Seresana was able to just glance into the small reflective glass to see that while she'd gotten most of the ink off, there was still some she'd missed on her cheek and the bit around her eyes could do with a bit more scrubbing. So Seresana got some more soap and continued to scrub the still afflicted surfaces for a few more minutes before washing it off again and checking to see if her face was finally clear. Seeing that the reflection was clear, Seresana let out another relaxed sigh and leaned back a bit under the water to let it steadily flow over her entire being.

"Phew, that's much better," Seresana said as she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. She didn't wait around for the cold to reach her, quickly grabbing a towel and starting to dry herself off, starting with drying her hair. After getting most of the water out, and reducing the hair to just damp, Seresana dried the rest of herself off and then wrapped the towel around herself before exiting the bathroom and wandering back to her room to get dressed for the day. The towel ended up in the hamper after she made sure her door was shut and locked, wouldn't do after all to have her brother and his friends come back to try and prank her again, only to find her naked. Seresana had to shudder at the thought and even with the locked door, she rushed over to the dresser and quickly retrieved a pair of panties and bra to wear. Even with them on though, she still felt kind of exposed and so still quickly proceeded to get some pants on to make sure she was fully covered. The pair she grabbed up were white and made of some fairly thick material that was already warming up her thin legs. Now that she wasn't nearly as worried about being discovered in the buff, Seresana dug into her dresser for a shirt then, settling on a more plain, long sleeved grey one that was surpsingly enough fairly thin. Now fully covered and no longer at risk of such an embarrasing episode should her brother and his company decide to pay her or her room a surprise visit, Seresana wandered back to the vanity mirror that had so recently served the useful purpose of exposing her brother's prank before it'd had time to become worse. She strode over to the large piece of furniture and opened one of it's drawers, retrieving a nice looking and slightly stylized brush before shutting the drawer again. Pulling around a chair, Seresana sat down before the mirror and began to brush out her still slightly damp hair.

As she worked through her short hair with practiced ease, Seresana found her mind drifting off into inner thoughts pretaining to the day ahead of her. "I've already had Ranzaki sensei train me for two days in a row, he's probably wanting a break to do some other things during these winter months. Plus I've probably used up a bunch of his arrows with those recent training sessions and he'll need time to replenish his stock. He makes some really good arrows at that too, they're at least as good as the ones I've seen in the shops and those are just the ones he let's me use. His own arrows might be even better. And then there's that bow of his, another handmade piece I'd assume. I haven't had the chance to shoot it and I can still tell it's powerful. Still, Ranzaki sensei probably needs some time to do his own things so I'd best find something else to do today. Hmm... I could probably have another snowball fight with Hitagi and his friends, but maybe I should save that for later. Could go sledding, I don't think I've done that for a while but it's not nearly as much fun alone. Oh, I could build a snowman, but hmmm... if I do that, I think I'll use it as part of my own snowfort for the fight with Hitagi and his friends later. What else is there to do on a snowy day like today? Hmm...Oh! I know what I could do, I could go ice skating!" Seresana mentally announced as she came to an activity to do today. "Wow, I can't believe I didn't think of that earlier, I guess it might be because I haven't been ice skating in a while. But yeah, there's a larger body of water over at one of the training grounds that'd be perfect for ice skating too. I could head over there right after I finish getting ready, skate until lunchtime, then come home for lunch, and finally build my snow fort and be ready for Hitagi and his friends when they arrive," Seresana mused to herself, a little maliciously at the end considering the act would be at least partially fueled by a desire to enact some revenge on her pesky brother for his night time prank.

Seresana had actually finished all the needed brushing of her hair about three fourths of the way through her inner monologue, and had just absently continued brushing her hair since it felt nice and she was kind of zoned out while her inner monologue had been going on. As she came out of the her thoughts, Seresana finally stopped her brushing and sat the brush back down onto the desk, though just on it's surface instead of the drawer she'd gotten it from. Then she stood up and pulled open another one of the drawers, retrieving a few of the cloth ties she commonly used to bind her clothes more tightly to her. The first green tie went on her left pant's leg, set above the knee while the second tie, a grey one, went on just below the knee. Then Seresana retrieved a few more ties, for her shirt. First off a longer white one for her waist and then a similarly long one of the same color for her chest. Then finally, a regular black tie for her right arm as the left was still bound in the usual wrap of bandages. Happy with her outfit choice, Seresana stood up and stretched once again before walking over towards her closet to retrieve a coat that wasn't wet.

Now clad in a blue coat, Seresana exited her room and worked her way downstairs, only to be practically assaulted with the tantalizing smells of breakfast. "Well don't you look much better and to be in a better mood," Sophia commented as she sat a cup of lightly steaming tea in front of Seresana.

"Yeah, I think I'm going ice skating on the lake over by the east training grounds," Seresana replied as she grabbed up the cup and blew along the top of it to chase away at least some of the steam.

"Oh well that sounds like fun. I might just join you," Sophia commented as she wandered back into the kitchen. "Do you want one egg in toast, or two?"

"Really? That'd be awesome mom! Oh, and just one please," Seresana replied after taking one sip, and before taking another of the still lightly steaming cup of tea.

Sophia lightly chuckled at her daughter's excitement towards them skating together. "Well it does sound like fun, and you and your father are always running off to do things. I figure it's high time we went out to do something fun," Sophia said as she wandered back into the dining room with Seresana's breakfast. "We can go as soon as you finish breakfast," Sophia added as she sat the plate down and then sat herself down in a chair next to her daughter who she gazed fondly at.

"Mmm," Seresana remarked after her first bite of toast and egg, punctuated by another sip of her tea. It didn't take her long to finish and as soon as she had, Seresana got up, grabbing up her plate and tea cup before Sophia had a chance. "Can you get the skate down from the top of the closet while I take these, I can't reach all the way up there," Seresana said as she already started walking towards the kitchen.

"Oh, sure thing sweetie," Sophia commented as she too got up, went out of the dining room, and then wandered down through some of the halls. Meanwhile, Seresana finished walking to the sink in the kitchen and after turning on the water to was off and out the cup and plate and then briefly scrub them before rinsing and placing them in the rack to the side to dry, Seresana stepped back out of the kitchen, through the dining room, and then down the hallways towards the front door where her mother was already waiting. The older woman how had on her white coat with the fur trim, a pair of thick boots, and two pairs of skates slung over her shoulder. "Ready to go?"

Seresana didn't respond until she got on her own boots, but as soon as she had, she looked up to return the smiling expression her mother already sported, "yup."

"Good, well then let's hury along," Sophia said before pulling open the door for Seresana, and then shutting it after she stepped out after her daughter.

"So where was dad this morning?" Seresana asked as they started their walk.

"Oh you know your father, always has something to do. This morning I believe he was picking up some extra furs from the Crosiv's to cure and tan," Sophia explained. "He should be back before lunch, maybe even before we get back," Sophia added with a slightly sly wink towards Seresana.

"Could we really go out skating for that long mom?" Seresana asked hopefully as they walked through the snow, still a litle outside the more populated areas of the village.

"Of course sweetie, us Yuki girls thrive in the cold," Sophia replied with a wink down to her daughter. "Haven't you ever been outside in weather like this and just felt fine for a little while?" she asked, diverting them down a different path that wouldn't take them directly through the village, but still get them to the training grounds.

Seresana nodded before replying verbally. "Yeah, and I've always felt just better when it's snowing outside," Seresana added with a slightly contemplative grin back up to her mother.

"Exactly, so how's your studies going in school. I know you've been learning some new jutsu from that Ranzaki Tokamin, but you still have your regular schooling too, don't forget the basics now because a good grasp on those means a better grasp on future jutsu down the line."

"I'm doing great mom, they haven't managed to stump me yet," Seresana replied happily. "We just coverd the medical treatment basics and are going to start on application soon," Seresana replied pridefully.

"That's my girl, and no slip ups?"

"No mom, I haven't done anything to arouse suspiscion. I've even taken to working a bit harder to learn the basics of a fire jutsu that Ranzaki seems to intend to teach me. Oh, but did you know that I only have to use one hand for a couple of my jutsu?" Seresana asked back.

"That's another trait of our blood dear. The Yuki clan has always had a very easy time with the use of handsigns and the best of the blood never needed to use both hands for their signs," Sophia went on explaining the unusual quality. "Regretfully, that's another thing you'll have to hide dear."

"...Okay mom. Say mom, why do we have to hide what we are anyways?" Seresana asked curiously as continued their walk.

Sophia didn't reply immediately, instead glancing around to make sure there were no prying ears nearby. "Well Seresana, it's mostly because of fear. People innately fear what they don't understand. It's not personal, just an instinct more to protect than anything else. Our blood lets us do unique and amazing things that most can't and that causes them to fear us and what me might do."

"But I'm not scary, or at least I don't try to be," Seresana protested.

"I know dear, you're as sweet as they come, friendly, nice, and caring as well," Sophia said while smiling down at Seresana, placing a hand on her shoulder for comfort. "But for some people, that won't be enough. They'll fear you because of your blood, not who you are or what you do," Sophia said. "A lot of the clan did not survive the last great war,and then even more were wiped out afterwards from that fear as ninja with abilities that made them hard to control were no longer needed," Sophia added as they walked.

"Well then... I'll just have to show them we don't have to be feared," Seresana announced proudly.

"Seresana, that's-"

"I'll do it, after I become hokage. I'll become the head of the village and then show everyone that they don't need to fear the Yuki clan. And then I'll restore our clan and make it great again so that everyone will love us mom, just wait and see," Seresana proclaimed boldly and determinedly.

Sophia looked apprehensive at first and held a bit of a grimace, but after a moment or two, she relented under her daughter's overwhelming determination and happiness. The grimace soon being replaced with a soft, if not ever so slightly strained smile as she continued looking at her daughter lovingly. "Oh course you will dear. You'll become one of the greatest ninja ever," Sophia replied as sweetly as she could, and despite all the tired worry that still plagued her mind, there was a fragment of hope in her daughter's cause. "But for today, let's focus on some ice skating," Sophia added.

"Mhmm, I think I'm going to try skating backwards today," Seresana proclaimed as they walked further along the path, finally starting to draw a bit close to the training field.

"Oh are you now?" Sophia asked rhetorically. "I'll bet you fall flat on your butt," she said jokingly and tauntingly.

"No I won't, I'm going to get it on the first try!" Seresana stated full of determination.

"Hmmm, we'll see about that. You know, the training grounds aren't that far away from here, how about a race?" Sophia asked Seresana as she adopted a challenging grin.

"Oh you are so on mom," Seresana replied. "Rea- hey, that's not fair," Seresana protested for as she had started to get into a ready position, her mother had already taken off and started running through the snow.

"You're a ninja now dear, you'll need to learn not to play by every rule," Sophia called back as she continued to run. Seresana's protesting expression slipped back into a grin as she took off after her mother, catching up rather quickly, quickly enough for Sophia to have a bit of shock when she looked back to find her daughter already on her tail. Sophia suddenly put on a small burst of speed, matching her daughter's smaller but quicker strides. Then however Sophia but on another burst of speed and started to pull ahead. Seresana grit her teeth as her mother started to pull ahead again and forc ed herself to run even faster, first catching up and then passing her mother. Down the path they continued to run with Seresana now not only in the lead, but managing to stay there for a time and even pull ahead even more. Eventually the training fields came into view and Seresana grinned to herself before looking back to assure her victory, only to go wide eyed as she felt something of a pressence pass by her and then see nothing behind her but the tracks she'd left. Looking back around in confusion, Seresana had to gawk as her mother stood at the lake's edge, leaning cockily against a tree. "Not bad dear, but you'll have to get faster than that," Sophia added before setting down the pairs of skates and proceeding to take off the first of her boots.

"Buh, but how," Seresana stammered. "I was ahead of you?"

"Yes, you were, but then I passed you by," Sophia replied as she finished taking off one boot and placing the ice skate on in it's place. "You've come quite a ways my little Seresana, but you've still got a ways to go before you're even at my level of ability," Sophia replied while she tied up her boot.

"Wait, you're a ninja mom?" Seresana asked as she ran up next to her mother and started to copy her actions of removing one boot and replacing it with the corresponding ice skate.

"I was dear, before you were born, but then you came along and I found something more important to me than being a ninja," Sophia went on as she finished lacing up the first skate, took off her other boot, and started on the second skate.

"Like what?" Seresana asked as she finished lacing up her own first skate and once again mirrored her mother's actions with but just a few moment's delay.

"Being a wife to your father, and a mother to you and your brother," Sophia replied after she'd finished lacing up the second skate, and then leaned over to ruffle up her daughter's hair before moving over towards the ice and taking the first steps out onto the previously undistrubed looking sheet of ice. Seresana only grinned and giggled as her hair was messed up while she hurriedly struggled to finish lacing up her own ice skate. Once it was all laced up, she followed her mother out onto the ice. Together they started to skate, and for this first bit they just went about the surface with long, smooth, and graceful strides as they practically glided along the frozen water. While Seresana was good, her mother looked to be the quality of a pro as there few if any wasted movements and her balance waved not in the slightest regardless of how sharp of a turn they may have made. That wasn't to say Seresana was bad however, for she only had to flail her arms to keep her balance twice, once on the sharpest turn they'd made and then once more when she'd hit an unexpectedly rougher patch of ice. Still, she managed to stay upright the entire time as the two skated about, going through various patterns and occasionally doing little tricks like jumping into the air and twirling about.

"I think I'm going to try skating backwards now," Seresana proclaimed after what she had to assume was a couple hours of this skating about.

"Alright dear, do you want any advice?"

"No, erm well... maybe just a little," Seresana admitted weakly as she looked over her shoulder as she prepared mentally for her first attempt.

"Alright, well you've already got the motions down just from normal skating, and I know you can figure out what changes you need to make to adjust. Just be cautious and don't take it too fast right off the bat," Sophia replied almost crytically giving no real advice other than re-affirming Seresana's capabilities. Seresana nodded to the advice all the same and then started to try. At first she didn't really move anywhere as the awkwardness of trying to reverse what she'd been doing for ages didn't come exceptionally easy, but then one of her skates caught the ice just right and it managed to give her a little starting push. Trying to mimick the act, Seresana tried to mirror the position of the skate to recreate the momentum generating push, and she grinned happily when it worked. Now she was very slowly but still steadily moving backwards. Then she tried to push back with the other foot again and to her continued delight, found herself slowly starting to build up speed in her pursuit of going in reverse. Seresana continued repeating the steps, eyes watching her skates carefully so she could see just how she was needing to move them to keep it up. "Hah, I told mom I could get it on the first try", Seresana thought to herself as she continued to build up speed. "Look out Seresana!" Sophia suddenly cried out, which forced Seresana to look up at her mother in surprise and shock, only to have her gaze force skyward as she fell back when her skates suddenly caught on something.

Blinking away the surprise and shock, Seresana lowered her gaze until she could see the cause of her tumble and was surprised to find that what she'd apparently fallen onto was the bank. She'd been skating backwards, but no watching where she'd been going and had simply ran out of ice to continue skating on. Sophia skated over to her daughter but once she saw that she was physically okay and just looked bewildered and confused, Sophia started to chuckle and then outright laugh.

"It's not funny mom!" Seresana protested as she forced herself back to standing on the ice.

"Hehehe, oh I beg to differ. Besides, I told you, you'd fall flat on your butt," Sophia added while continuing to chuckle. Seresana's dour expression held out for a little while longer, but soon she gave in and joined her mother's chuckling. "You still did really good for your first time, why don't we do a little more skating together for now though," Sophia added once the laughter died down and as she took her daughter's hands. "Here, you skate backwards, and I'll skate forwards making sure we don't crash into anything," Sophia said as she practically dragged her daughter back out onto the ice. Once there, they got into position, with Seresana in the lead yet facing her mother, and both of them holding their hands. After a couple of false starts as the two started to get their coordination down, they were soon skating along albiet a little roughly, but still making good progress. The two even managed the turns well enough, a fact Seresana was grateful for since she didn't want to fall down again and risk getting her pants any more wet than they already were.

After a while though, the same old circles and patterns began to become a tad dull and Seresana looked to her mother with a confident expression. "Alright, I think I'm good to try it out myself," she said while letting go of her mother's hands and beginning to skate backwards. Seconds after she let go, Seresana looked back over her shoulder to ensure that she wasn't going to crash again and then set to turning left so she could continue skating for a while. The turn was smooth, and she even chanced a moment to build up a bit of extra speed in it.

"Looks like you've got it down sweetie," Sophia commented as she skated up next to Seresana, going backwards herself as she did so. "Now how about a race?"

"Another race? Alright, but this time I'm going to beat you," Seresana claimed as she changed her direction yet again, towards the closest shore this time. "To the far side of the lake and back?" she proposed.

"Sounds good to me," Sophia replied before they reached the starting shore. "Are you re-" Sophia started, but stopped herself as she witnessed Seresana taking off right off the bat. "Wah, Seresana, that's cheating!"

"You said it yourself," Seresana tossed back, "ninja don't play by every rule!" Sophia could only chuckle as her own daughter used her very words against her. Still, she didn't want to let Seresana get any more of a lead and so she took off herself out across the ice.

"You're right, but you might need more than just a head start to beat me!" Sophia called out as she rushed to catch up. By the time they reached the far edge of the lake, Sophia had all but made up for the substantial lead Seresana had gathered at the start of the race and now she was looking to pass Seresana. About halfway across the lake, that was exactly what happened as Sophia sped by Seresana, leaving the younger Yuki girl behind. Seresana shut her eyes as she pushed herself to skate faster, to strive to keep up with her mother until she finally ran out of ice once again and felt her skates suddenly stop while the rest of her went airborne.

Rather than the cold snow or the hard ground though, Seresana found herself in a gentle but firm grip. Looking up curiously, she found herself in her mother's arms, who'd somehow managed to not only speed ahead, but do so over land as well so she could catch Seresana. "Going a little too fast dear?" Sophia asked as she looked down smiling into her daughter's face.

"Th-thanks mom," Seresana replied as she pushed herself back up and then shivered a little, an act that was quickly mirrored by her mother. "We've been out here for a long time haven't we?"

"Yeah, we should probably be heading back soon. Heaven knows your father and brother will be wanting lunch soon and I've made sure they each swore not to enter the kitchen again after the last time," Sophia stated with a little chuckle while Seresana made a face of horror stricken terror.

"Ugh, that was so terrible. Half was still raw while the rest was so burnt," Seresana complained as they began to walk back over to their deposited boots, each beginning to unlace their first ice skate.

Sophia chuckled a bit more. "Oh I know, just be grateful you didn't have to clean up that mess he left in the kitchen. I swear that man tried to use every pot in the kitchen," Sophia added while taking off her first skate and sliding the temporarily exposed but still sock covered foot into her regular boot before proceeding to begin unlacing the second skate. The two shared another chuckle as they continued unlacing their skates and putting back on their boots. When they were ready, each one grabbed up their respective skates and began the trek home. "We should do this again before the snow melts this year," Sophia commented with a final departing look towards the frozen lake. "Maybe bring your father and Hitagi along too," she added contemplatively as she walked with Seresana.

"Ahh, do we have to bring Hitagi?" Seresana whined.

"He's your brother, and besides, if he tags along then you could laugh at him when he falls on the ice," Sophia commented with a cheeky smile. That put a smile back on Seresana's face and she grinned happily to the thoughts of her brother's arm's flailing as he tried to keep his balance on the smooth ice.

"Alright, yeah let's invite them along next time," Seresana relented as they continued back. The rest of the walk back home was done mostly in silence, but full of smiles as the two kept close together for a little bit of extra warmth. The sun was high in the sky when the two finally made it back to their house and after getting inside and taking off their boots, both were greeted with the boisterous echo of Vesken's voice.

"Ah, there you two are, where were ya both?" he said while coming around the corner.

"We went ice skating dad! I never knew mom was so fast on the ice," Seresana replied first, and when Vesken looked up to confirm the statement, Sophia nodded.

"Ah, well it seems like you two had a lot of fun, but dear, I don't suppose," Vesken started with a sweet laced voice that also held some hope.

"Hahaha, I'll be getting started on lunch right now," Sophia confirmed to Vesken's relief as he embraced Sophia and kissed her passionately. And that was roughly the point where Seresana lost interest and proceeded out of the entry way and into the house.

"I'm going to my room for a little bit, can you call me down when lunch is read?" Seresana called back from the lower landing of the stairs.

"Sure sweetie," Sophia called out from the dining room that she was passing through on her way to the kitchen.

"Me too please dear, I'll be in the workshop," Vesken said as he walked past the staircase himself and back towards the large room. As Vesken moved onward back to the workshop room, Seresana continued on her progression upwards to her own bedroom, once more making sure the door was shut behind her as she was going to change her now damp pants as well as take off her spare coat. She undid her coat buttons while walking forward, undoing each snap one at a time before hanging the garment on the door nob for her closet door. Then she undid the ties on her pant's legs, placing each strip of cloth back onto the vanity mirror desk before loosening her pants and letting them fall to the floor. Kicking them off, Seresana then picked them up and placed them in the hamper as well. Then she wandered back over to her drawers to retrieve some new bottoms to replace her discarded pants. With a little digging, she came upon another pair of dark blue pants and quickly put them on. These pants were a bit tighter and didn't need the ties that were associated with most of her pants, but not too tight and they sat comfortably about her small frame. Since she didn't hear her mother's call yet, Seresana went over to her bookcase in search of something to read and kill a little time. Scanning through the pieces and articles, Seresana passed most of the informative scrolls over jutsu and chakra manipulation in lue for one of her fantasy books. She'd almost made it through the fourth novel, and was rapidly approaching the end of the book when she'd last stopped reading. Picking the book from between it's bretheren, Seresana eagerly hopped into her chair and returned to the fantasy world of the dragon riders.

A little while later, Sophia called up to her. "Seresana, Vesken, lunch time," her voice echoed out through the halls, managing to reach both of their intended recipients.

"Alright mom, I'll be down in a second," Seresana called back while thinking to herself, "why is it always when I'm right in the middle of a chapter." Still, she picked back up her bookmark and placed it in the seam between the pages she'd been reading from. Then she carefully rested the book back down on the desk, shutting it's cover gently before standing up and exiting her room. She proceeded back down the hallway, stairs, and then back into the dining room where she took a seat near her father who was already sipping at a glass of water. "Hey dad, did you get any neat furs from your errand?" Seresana asked as she waited for her lunch to be placed before her.

"Mhmm, I got a few white rabbits, a couple foxes, and deer," Vesken replied before the plates were placed before him and Seresana by Sophia who had returned at this point with their lunches and then one of her own that she sat down to enjoy with them. They ate in relative quiet and after each of them finished, they went their separate ways. Vesken went back to his workshop after kissing his wife again and telling her thanks for the meal. Sophia collected up the plates and departed into the kitchen. Seresana sat for a moment longer before looking towards the outside again.

"I'm going to head back outside now mom," Seresana said finally getting up and proceeding out of the dining room. She went back over to the entryway and sat down to put back on her boots after her mother's call to be careful and have fun echoed through the house. Seresana however didn't respond as she continued putting on her boots and then quickly exiting the house the make sure not too much heat escaped during her departure.

Back outside now, Seresana took stock of the yard and the vast amount of snow that covered the fairly large expanse of cleared forest. "Hmmm, if I'm going to get Hitagi and his friends back for earlier, I'm going to need a good snow fort and a lot of snowballs," Seresana said to herself as she surveryed the yard. The front yard had several tracks of foot prints from the vaiorus parties that had come and left the house and it was pretty far from the other boy's snow forts so it wouldn't do at all. Then Seresana ran over to the side of the house where the boys had set up their own snow forts and much as she suspected, a large portion of the yard was already disturbed and such from the boy's antices. That left her with one or two options really, she could build something up near the edge of the forest and use the undistrubed snow there for her own fort, or she could try building something from the yard behind Xune and Yandre's fort, but that would really only put her in a position to attack those two boys while keeping Hitagi and Hal out of her range. When she considered this, there was only one suitable location, the forest's edge. Seresana then walked over to the edge of the trees, namely the one she'd used yesterday as a shield from the boy's surpise attack. Looking about, she saw that a lot of the ground was already fairly flattened from her efforts and the tree itself was already pretty bare of snow since she'd forced the branches to unload their burden on Xune. Looking around a little though, Seresana could see tons of snow laying all around and she quickly got an idea in her head about how she was going to build this snow fort. First, Seresana strode away from her the tree that had shielded her yesterday, and once she was a good distance away, she collected up a small bundle of snow. Setting the large snowball on the ground, Seresana then began to roll it towards the tree, letting the ball grow ever bigger as it continued this path towards it's destination. However, when the snowball started to turn more cylindrical than spherical, Seresana just continued rolling it instead of shifting about to maintaint he ball shape. When Seresana finally reached the tree, she had an impressive cylinder of snow, roughtly two and a half feet in diameter. Seresana pushed the cylinder of snow up to the tree, even a bit into it just to make sure it was really well against it. Then she ran off in the direction she'd gone out originally and after taking a step to the side so there was a fresher path of snow before her, Seresana went to do the same as she'd just done moments ago. She once more got a small ball of snow collected up, then sat the orb in the drifts of snow that covered the ground before beginning to roll the ball to accumulate snow. This new cylinder was rolled right up next to the first one, and when it was pressing against the first cylinder at an angle, Seresana took a moment to push some extra snow in the gaps between the two snow cylinders. Seresana also went about pushing up some extra snow in the cracks between the first cylinder and the tree that was serving as the corner stone of her snow fort.

Happy with how it was coming along, Seresana ran back once more to start up a third snow cylinder and moved it into position at a further concave angle to the previously placed snow cylinder before stepping to the side to pack up the snow in betweent he gaps. After the third one was placed, Seresana took a step back to admire her work. She had a curved wall of snow, roughly half of her fort already complete and it looked pretty nice if she had anything to say about it, though she did not how the walls needed to be built up just a bit more if they were going to offer some serious protection. Still that could be addressed after the other half of her walls went up and with that thought in mind, Seresana ran over to the other side of the tree and began to repeat what she'd done with the first wall. She got a snowball made before placing it into the snow and then beginning to roll it up until it turned into a snow cylinder as well, nearly matching the one on the other side, and it soon found it's mirrored place against the tree as well. Still giddy with how quickly the snow fort was coming together, Seresana quickly ran back again to get the next snow cylinder, which was positioned mirrored to the other side, at an angle while still sticking out from the previous cylinder. Then Seresane gathered up the local snow to plug up the gaps and holes that the cylinders had left behind. Once all the little openings were re-sealed, Seresana got back up and ran over a ways to get the needed snow for the final snow cylinder for her little snow fort that was actually looking to be about the largest of the three snow forts. When the last cylinder was in place and the holes patched up, Seresana got behind the fort to inspect the interior of her fort and found it much to her liking. The 6 cylinders made a half circle with the tree making up a portion of the defences. The back half was wide open, but if Seresana had her way, none would get close enough around her to actually get a chance to raid her or pelt her with snowballs from a surprise attack. Despite the slight design flaw though, Seresana's was wide and full as she laughed internally about how she was going to get Hitagi and his friends back for what they'd done earlier.

"Alright, now to get it a little taller, and then we'll work on some armaments," Seresana commented to herself before jumping over the short fort walls. On the front side of her fort, Seresana started to gather up more snow into another snowball. This one was rolled for a while in the form that would turn it into a sphere, but then when it was starting to get fairly hefty, Seresana switched over to just rolling it on one side to make a thicker snow cylinder than she'd had with the base walls. Then it came time to move the collection of snow and Seresana found herself struggling a little bit before finally managing to get a strong hand hold and lifting up the hefty snow cylinder. When it came to setting the snow cylinder down onto her fort though, Seresana shifted the thing onto its' side so that it was now laying flat, and effectively adding in an additional foot to her snow fort's wall hight. Content with a snow fort wall that she could see over but not be easily seen from, Seresana wandered back out into the area in front of her fort to begin work on additional cylinders for the top part of her snow fort. A while later, Seresana had a second snow cylinger for every one of the six cylinders that had made up the origional walls for her castle and she was grinning proudly at the imressive snow fort. "Now all it needs is a flag and it'll be perfect," Seresana creid out in excitement as she knelt down for the next actually serious job on the list of activities for the snow fort battle that was going to commence once her brother and his friends got back. She'd already been gathering up snowballs from what she used to make the walls so Seresana had little trouble gathering up additional snow to make new and additional snowballs. These ones however weren't added to her already finished wall, and were instead placed down into the space behind the tree to be a kind of vault for finished snowballs since Seresana wanted a ready supply to be able to pelt her brother and his friends with. Luckily snowballs were relatively easy to make and didn't take much time or snow and she had a rapidly growing pile in seconds.

With her store of snowballs ready, Seresana found herself just missing one component for her little plan to be set into motion, her brother and his friends. So she wouldn't give away her position any more than her fort already was, she hid behind the wall of snow, crouching down onto the already compacted snow that didn't melt much at all despite her presence, and there she began to wait.

It was an unknown amount of time later that Seresana heard the tell-tale signs of her brother's approach. The laughter and sounds of the boys talking was what gave it away and she was still crouched down behind her fort waiting for them to get closer. She listened carefully to their approach, as they got closer to her fort before splitting up to head to their own respective forts and she found her opotune time to strike upon her. Seresana grabbed up a snowball in each hand, stood up, turning as she rose and launched each snowball, one at her brother Hitagi and then the other at the friend he was walking back with which at this time was Xune surprising enough. As they let out yelps of surpise, Seresana was already ducking back down and picking up her second set of snowballs. They too were thrown, but they had the added effect of smacking Yandre and Hal square in the chest each since they'd turned around to see what had caused their friends to cry out so. The next few seconds were panicked cries as all four boys scrambled to get back to their forts while Seresana continued to grab and throw additional snowballs at them. She managed to score another 7 hits before the boys finally managed to get back to their forts and ducked in for cover, Xune even chanced throwing a snowball back and forced Seresana to duck back down.

"That was a cheap shot sis," Hitagi yelled out.

"Payback for yesterday," Seresana replied back as she peaked around the top of her snow fort to see how she was faring in comparison to them. Hitagi and Xune were crouched down in their fort, likely making new snowballs Seresana assumed while mentally trying to think about how much arc she'd have to give one of her snowballs to still manage a good hit over their little wall. Giving up partway through, Seresana shifted her gaze to the other side and just in time too, as she ducked back down to avoid a new snowball that was flying right for her head. She just barely managed to avoid the projectile which smacked and disintegrated against the wall of her snow fort. After letting out a sigh at the narrow miss, Seresana peeked her head back out again to chance a glance at Yandre and Hal's fort, spying them at the ready with a snowball in each hand. Seresana quickly ducked back down at that point lest she give them another shot at her, but this only served to give her an idea. Seresana grabbed up a snowball and then just stood straight up. Yandre and Hal both threw when they saw her, but Hal's snowballs smacked into the side of her fort while one of Yandre's flew overhead and the other was easily dodged by ducking back down again. In the moments when Hal and Yandre were grabbing up new snowballs, Seresana peeked over and tossed her own, nailing Yandre squarely in the shoulder.

That however marked the end of her advantage over the boys as they were now situated and once more had their own respective stocks of snowballs at the ready to throw. A fact signified by Xune almost hitting her with a snowball, though the shot was just a little low and shattered upon the wall of her snowfort instead of nailing her. Still the shot forced Seresana to duck back down behind her fort and plan her next throw. Another moment she was glad to have spent so much time with her bow was soon to surface as she had gotten pretty good at judging tradjectory, and so when she peeked around the corner again, it was to to judge how far and how high she'd have to throw her snowball in order for it to hit it's mark on Hitagi. After a second or two, Seresana threw her ball skyward, drawing all the boys eyes as it arced upwards, reached it's peak, and then began descending right at Hitagi. He however easily saw the ball coming for him and ducked to the side to avoid it.

When the ball smacked into the ground, not hitting anyone, Hitagi turned to yell out at Seresana, but was immediately pelted with another snowball since he was then out of cover. Rather than say something after that, Hitagi scrambled back behind his snowfort with Xune. "I'm going to get you for that one Seresana!" Hitagi yelled out from behind his cover.

"If you're going to, you'll have to do better than you are," Seresana taunted back to her little brother from where she hid, grabbing up her next snowball and preparing to throw it in the same arcing manner to try and either hit or flush out another boy.

Just as Seresana rose up to take a peak though, she was greeted with a surpise as all four boys were standing up as well, with snowballs in each hand. "NOW!" Hitagi called out as they thew all their snowballs at once. Seresana squeeked as she ducked down, dropping her snowball in the process as the frozen projectiles rained down on her fort. While a great many harmlessly smacked into the walls of her fort, a few overshot and landed in the snow behind the barrier. Seresana was about to try standing up again when a second wave of snowballs rained down on her barrier, some getting rather close to where she was hiding. Luckily, Seresana had used the tree in construction of her fort, so for a snowball to actually achieve the arc it'd need to score a hit on her from where she crouched, it would have to pass between several tree branches, unharmed and undeterred in it's descent, and that's assuming one of the boys could even throw that high. It was as she crouched though that a realization hit her. "They've done something like this before, and right when I was pinned..." Seresana thought to herself before quickly reaching for a snowball and readying herself. Sure enough, in the next couple seconds, Xune came around the corner of her snowfort, but this time, Seresana had been ready for the almost silent boy and he was immediately smacked with a snowball that caught him so off guard, he dropped the one he'd been carrying to throw at her. Seresana wasn't done yet though and proved it so as she scooped up another snowball to throw at the scrambling boy. When the second snowball smacked into his ribs, Xune gave up trying to make a new snowball and just tried to retreat and dodge the additional three snowballs that were thrown at him, one of which did miss but the other two managed to get him in the back and the left leg right behind the knee.

"You tried that trick yesterday and it got me, it's not going to work again!" Seresana called out as she threw her next snowball, this time at Hal, but the ball only sailed through empty air as the boy ducked down to dodge the ball. Then she was forced to duck down as Yandre returned fire, once again narrowly missing her as she hid behind the large amount of cover she'd made for herself. Seresana took a moment at that point to get a count of her remaining snowballs, taking stock as it were, though she only counted another 12 in her little pile of projectiles. With a sigh, Seresana grabbed up two more snowballs and tossed one up again in the arcing pattern to try and score a hit on Hal. Before Seresana could throw another snowball though, Hitagi actually managed to score a hit on her shoulder, surprsing her immensely as the compacted snow exploded upon impact.

"Hah, I got you!" Hitagi yelled out as Seresana ducked back down again and rubbed her struck shoulder. Seresana grit her teeth however and tossed a snowball back, but the shot was quick and not well aimed, smacking into the fort instead of Hitagi. Now two snowballs down, Seresana reached over and grabbed up her next couple shots and prepared her revenge against her brother. Deciding to wait for a moment, Seresana sat behind her barricade of a fort and waited for an opportunity to present itself. She wasn't left waiting long before one of the boys halted his suppressing hail of snowballs, and tried to pass around past their own forts to get a better angled shot against Seresana. As it was Yandre, the ever daring and reckless kid he was, creeped out of from behind his shelter as stealthfully as he could to take his shot. Well Seresana wasn't about to give it to him, so when he was almost alway between the two forts, Seresana suddenly dove around the side and launched a couple snowballs at him, getting him both times in the chest, but the boy just shook them off before hurling his own snowball back at Seresana. She'd not been expecting him to just shrug through her own attack and launch his own, and so she was in no position to dodge the snowball that smacked her square in the shoulder. Seresana picked herself up as Yandre retreated back to his fort. While he retreated, Seresana mirror the action, scrambling back behind her fort and out of the way of the snowballs from the other three boys. With a groan, Seresana realized she was already down to eight snowballs and as such, only grabbed up one for the moment.

With her fifth snowball in hand, Seresana simply peaked over the edge of her snowfort for a moment to ensure the boys weren't throwing snowballs at her that instant and threw the ball at Hitagi, though the snowball missed again. She quickly ducked back down again to scoop up the next snowball and hurled it instantly towards Yandre and Hal, managing to hit Hal with a shot to the shoulder before ducking back down again to avoid the snowballs that were launched at her. Seresana once more looked to her pile of snowballs as the supressing rain of snow was launched at her. "Down to 6, might as well go all out," Seresana mumbled to herself as she scooped up all the snowballs at once, taking one in her hand before getting ready for what she was about to do. Crouching down and turning around, she waited for a moment when the rain of snowballs stopped and then took off sprinting past the trees and to the right. As she ran between the trees and gradually got closer to Hitagi and Xune's fort, Seresana suddenly jumped forward, dodging the immediate snowballs that were thrown at her and then returning with a couple of her own. Two at Hitagi and one at Xune were all she was able to get before having to jump back again and behind a tree to avoid the snowballs that Hal and Yandre were now trying to use to assist their friends. Seresana however just turned towards them and sprinted forward dodging behind trees and around the snowballs as they were throwing at her. Seresana unleashed her three remaining snowballs at Yandre and Hal, scoring one hit on each of them, but then she was completely out of snowballs and just turned towards the house and began to run.

It took the boys a minute to figure out where she was going, but as soon as they did, they all wasted no time in scooping up new snowballs. "Quick, get her!" Hitagi yelled as he and the others started to give chase.

"C'mon!," Hal called out as he launched his first snowball.

"She's too far," Xune protested as he lagged behind a little, still making a snowball.

"No fair!" Yandre cried after throwing his first snowball and scooping up another.

Seresana however didn't respond and just continued running. One snowball missed, but another managed to catch her on the butt before she reached the porch. Seresana all but jumped to the door, threw it open, and jumped inside just as another couple snowballs were hurled. Once sailed in through the open door and landing on the floor near her before she could slam the door shut in time to block the other two that were still in transit.

"What's all the commotion about?" Sophia asked as she poked her head in through the doorway to the dining room from the hallway. Her keen eyes spied not only the snow on Seresana but also the half splattered ball on the floor.

"Oh nothing mom, just escaping the boys," Seresana replied as she followed her mother's gaze. "I'll clean that up, don't worry," Seresana explained while beginning to take off her snow covered boots so as to not track snow into the house. When they were in her hands, Seresana carefully carried them into the entryway and sat them near the other shoes where the snow could melt without hazard. Seresana also struggled her way out of her coat then and hung it up with the others. Then she wandered into the washroom and picked up a towel before heading back into the dining room to clean up the snow. She placed the towel firstly on the table and then scooped up as much of the snow as she could, carrying it then to the sink where she could leave it to melt and not create anymore mess. Returning to the dining room, Seresana then proceeded to place the small towel on the ground and sop up the water and remaining snow until the floor was dry once more. When that was done, Seresana grabbed up the towel and put it back into the washroom, this time into the soiled items rather than the clean ones, but still back in the original room. Then she wandered back into the hallway, Seresana glanced at the clock and noted that it would still be a bit before dinner was ready, and so she wandered back towards the workshop to see what her dad was up to.

When she opened the door, Seresana was reminded all to quickly why they usually kept it closed. Her father was in the middle of curing the hides he'd acquired recently, and the rancid smells of a leather works rather instantly flooded the doorway making Seresana wince. Anyone that wasn't as used to the smell likely would have lost it right then, but Vesken did this kind of work fairly regularly and as such, Seresana was fairly used to it herself. Vesken however was fairly wrapped up in his work and so he didn't notice it when Seresana went in, shutting the door behind her. Her dad just managed to finish stretching a hide over a rack when Seresana suddenly leaped forward and hugged him tightly around the middle. "Hey dad," she said wih a bit of a chuckle as Vesken let out a small jolt at the surprise of his daughter suddenly appeared on him.

"Heh, heys Sere," Vesken replied as he looked down and ruffled up Seresana's hair a little. "What have you been up to?" he asked before beginning to put his work away for the later.

"Pelting the boys with snowballs," Seresana replied with a chuckle from where she stood, a few steps back so her father could handle the tools without worry.

"Oh? Well why don't you tell me about it," Vesken inquired just as he finished up. Seresana opened her mouth to start explaining, but Vesken held a finger up to silence her speech. "How about out of here and inside where it doesn't stink so bad?" Vesken suggested while taking the few large steps over to the door. Seresana nodded and followed after him, all to greatful for when the door was shut and the terrible stench sealed away. Then after wandering back into the dining room, Seresana explained how the snowball fight between her brother, his friends and herself. She'd just finished her retelling when Sophia came in, bid them hello and then proceeded to head into the kitchen to begin preparing dinner. It wasn't long after that Sophia's voice bid her husband to tell the boys to come in if they wanted dinner. Vesken complied and then sat back down and chatted with Seresana again for a little bit before Sophia came back in and sat the food down on the table, just as the boys came in as rowdy as they were.

After dinner, Seresana excused herself and retreated from the loudness of her brother and his friends, going upstairs for a very welcome warm bath. She quickly got the water going as soon as the door was shut and then proceeded to strip while the tub filled. When it was near full, Seresana climbed in and quickly washed herself off before just relaxing back into the lightly steaming waters. Seresana wasn't sure how long she'd spent in the tub before finally deciding it was time to get out. She rather quickly toweled herself off and then quickly wandered back into her room, luckily avoiding all of the boys in that brief moment of exposure. Seresana then got on some sleeping clothes and wandered slowly into bed. As she laid there, she thought back to everything she'd done thoughout the day and looking back on it, wasn't surprised to find herself so tired, and so she was rather quickly asleep.

Word Count 10248
Total: 41283

The sun wasn't out when Seresana's eyes sleepily cracked open and began to look about, starting at and eventually returning to her bedroom window. Darkness still bathed the room in it's embrace, leaving very little light to actually see by and what little light was present only streamed into the space from her bedroom window until it found it's mark upon her floor. With her inspection of the room complete, she tried to return to sleep but found her mind too restless to settle back into sleep. After a few minutes of this, Seresana finally gave up trying to fall back asleep entirely and sat up in her bed, swinging her legs out over the edge of it as she resigned to wake up for at least the moment. As she quietly padded around her room, Seresana found herself almost drawn to her window and to it she went. Resting on her crossed forwarms, Seresana leaned forward and gazed out her window to the snow covered outside world. Seresana's window looked out the opposite side of the house than the side the snowball fight had occurred and so her view was of a completely undisturbed yard. The glistening white sheet of snow sparkled in the clear moon's light, creating a unique and wondrous view that Seresana felt like she could just sit and watch for quite some time.

In fact, that is about what she did for quite some time, standing there and watching the open yard before her as the snow continued it's glistening sheen. She couldn't explain the comforting feelings she was getting just sitting there and watching the snow outside, but that didn't mean they weren't there. She wasn't even sure what she was thinking when she slowly began opening her window and letting in the night time chill. Seresana didn't even try to suppress the involuntary shudder that rattled her small form, yet past that involuntary action, Seresana found herself not really minding the cold all that much, even as she begant to climb up onto the window sill and step out of her room. With a quick couple of hops, she found herself standing barefoot in the undisturbed snow of the yard. Still in the almost trance like calm that seemed to have taken her, Seresana strode out into the snow, leaving gentle footprints in her wake with every step. When she was about in the middle of the yard, Seresana found attention being drawn upwards once again to the bright full moon. She watched it for a while, waiting for something, but she had no idea what.

Eventually the cold started to finally work it's way through her and steadily started reaching an uncomfortable level. With a shrug as nothing came to her, Seresana turned about and started to proceed back towards her house. This night time excursion completely baffeled her, and she couldn't explain it at all. With no explanation as to why she'd had the drive to go out into the snowy night, Seresana climbed back up into her room and closed the window. Regardless of what had caused her to wake up at this hour though and gaze at the snow so, Seresana found sleep seeking her out and quickly engulfing her. She'd barely made it back to the bed and threw on her covers before falling asleep.

Morning came all to soon afterwards for Seresana. and when she tried to recall her dreams while lying there in her bed she found herself unable to recall any of the wild and vivid dreams that had plagued her after the night time escapade out into the snowy yard. Seresana slowly dragged herself up and out of her bed and then stripped down out of her sleeping clothes. She rather casually put on the first pair of pants and matching shirt she pulled out of the dresser, a pair of dark blue pants and a short sleeved white shirt. Then she wandered over to her vanity mirror and drew out an assortment of colored ties to bind her clothes with as usual. A couple black ones that ended up binding her arm and waist, a lighter blue one that went around her chest, and one grey and oen white tie that were bound above her left knee and below her right knee respectively. Then Seresana finally bothered to look up at the mirror and she had to recoil in shock at the disheveled mess that her hair was currently in. Seresana quickly concluded that she must have been tossing and turning for a lot of the night for her hair stuck up or out in random places. With a bit of a chuckle at just how big of a mess her hair currently was, Seresana sat down before her mirror, clutched her hair brush from the desk's surface, and began to brush her hair. When it was thoroughly brushed and once more lying against her head in it's usual fashion, Seresana sat the brush back down and exited her room.

When Seresana wandered downstairs, she was slightly surprised to find the dining room and even the kitchen empty. She looked around a little bit, and even called out, "mom, dad, Hitagi, anyone home?" When no reply came, Seresana just shrugged and wandered over to the dor leading outside from the dining room. The wooden barrier slid open easily to reveal the snow of the outside, both what was on the ground and what was currently falling from the sky. With nary a second thought, Seresana strode out into the falling snow, not even noticing the change in temperature that should have had her shivering. Her feet didn't leave any depression in the snow as she walked, but this was another thing that was barely even noticed by her, right along with the house falling out of view despite the trees not seeming to get any closer. In fact, everything seemed to be fading away as Seresana continued to walk in the snow, everything except the snow covering the ground and the snow falling around her. On a whim, Seresana stopped herself in the middle of the open space and looked down at her hands. One clasped into a symbol she'd seen somewhere before, but couldn't recall where, and in the next moment she had the sensation of channeling chakra. Curiousity seized her as she looked around to see what effects if any the hand sign was doing, and to her surprise Seresana witnessed a pretty curious sight. Ice was forming around her and in mid air, slowling taking in extra moisture from the snow on the ground and the snow that fell until several slivers made of ice were left hovering around her. Seresana carefully reached out and touched one of the slivers and found herself able to not only take it, but was surprised at how solid yet delicate it felt in her grasp. Curious, Seresana gave the sliver a throw and was surprised when it flew straight, and was then followed by the horde of additional needles that were previously just floating in the air. They all sailed off into the distance, leaving Seresana once more standing alone with nothing more than snow surrounding her.

For a little while, that was fine but then suddenly a twinkle drew her eye and she found the needles suddenly flying back at her. With a panic, Seresana threw up her arms defensively despite the futility of such a gesture to the attack that was flying towards her. Then she heard the sounds of ice shattering and breaking, yet felt nothing actually hit her. When Seresana opened her eyes again to try and see what had happened, there was a wall of ice before her, completely unscathed by the needles that had just clashed against it. As Seresana lowered her arms, she looked about to see that the wall was just one part of a full dome made of ice that had sprung up almost to her call rather than any actual jutsu. Seresana spent a moment looking at the dome in wonder before trying to picture it falling away, and she watched in awe as the dome just suddenly disappeared, shattering into a million little pieces almost like the snow that it was made of. Even though she was enjoying the pretty sight of the glittering snow generated from the shattering dome, Seresana's confusion was still running at an all time high and she had to wonder what was going on. She started walking again in a random direction, trying to find something other than just the snow, and eventually something did loom on the horizon. It came up quickly as she started running to it so as to find out exactly what the object was. When she finally reached it, she could only look at the thing curiously as it loomed before her. It was a like a little floating wall, made of ice yet reflective as she could see herself in the mirror. It hovered about a foot off the ground, with no support or any kind of suspension to keep it in the air. Seresana slowly wandered around the mirror, taking in all she could about the frozen object, and finally ended her inspection by just watching her reflection in the mirror. Despite it being ice, the floating ice was as reflective as the mirror in her room, and then her reflection did something she didn't do. It reached outward towards Seresana, seeming to offer a hand for her to take. Initially, Seresana recoiled just a bit as the reflection acted of it's own accord, but it's expression was still hers. That same gentle and inviting smile that was usually reserved for loving family, good friends, and when a large dose of kindness was called for. Comforted by the expression, Seresana slowly reached out towards the mirror to the outstretched hand.

She let out a little bit of an 'eep' when she placed her hand against the mirror and found it going inside it for the reflection to grasp and slowly drag Seresana into the mirror. With a little hop step, Seresana rose up and into the mirror, enraptured in curiosity as her view shifted around to mirror the reflection, though she couldn't see the reflection anymore and was left only to assume that she was standing where it had been moments before. She then watched more as another mirror made of ice began to form up a short ways away from her, parallel to the one she was currently inhabiting. To her surprise, her reflection appeared in that mirror and once more it was there seeming to beckon Seresana over to it. She wasn't sure how or what she was supposed to do, but found herself leaning forward and towards the other mirror. Then in a flash of light, Seresana was flying through the air towards the other mirror at a high rate of speed. Acting out of instinct, Seresana threw up her arms defensively but encountered no hard impact she'd been expecting. When she lowered her arms again, Seresana was greeted with the fact that she was once more inside a mirror, the second one to have formed. She looked about while inside the mirror and watched with wide eyes as even more mirrors began to form. An entire dome of them began to grow and form up around an invisible point between the first two mirrors. Two layers of mirrors and then one at the very top, and each one reflected Seresana's image, and these reflections mirrored her actions without acting on their own. Curious, Seresana started to lean towards another one of the mirrors, one on the second layer, and to her glee, she found herself suddenly flying towards it before going into the mirror as she had done previously. Now a smile grew over Seresana's expression as she once again leaned towards another mirror and launched towards it. Seresana spent an unknown amount of time jumping between these mirrors, and sailing through the air, doing so until she'd hit at least every mirror three times, if not more. Seresana went to make one last jump when a blindingly bright light suddenly shone everywhere. She couldn't see at all as the light flooded her vision, chasing away the snow, the dark, and the ice mirrors that had been formed around her.

Seresana suddenly lifted her arms to shield her eyes from the morning sunlight that pierced her frost caked window. As her eyes adjusted, she continued trying to not only blink away the bright spots that filled her vision, but also the realization that everything that had just happened had been a dream. "But it felt so real, I would have sworn I was actually doing that stuff.... that stuff.... what.... what was that?" Seresana thought to herself as she continued to sit there.

"Seresana, are you up yet? Breakfast is getting cold," Sophia's voice called out from somewhere down stairs.

"I'll be down in a minute mom!" Seresana called back, still a little unsure if this was just another dream or what was going on was actually real. Experimentally, she raised both her arms to stretch for a moment before holding out her right arm directly in front of her. Then she brought her right hand up and around to her left arm and pinched it. When the small but sharp pain came, Seresana quickly released her tormented skin and let out a sigh of relief. "Ah, it was just a dream... Still, it felt so, real. I wonder... I wonder if I can really do that?" Seresana mused to herself as she climbed out of the bed and looked about her room. Her mind was still a bit fuzzy from the vivid dream, and so she skipped the usual morning routine for the moment in order to get to the food faster and hopefully bring some clarity back to her thought process. Her light footsetps slowly but surely carried her over first to her bedroom door, then down the stairs, through the hallway, and then into the dining room where her father, brother and mother were already enjoying their own breakfast.

"Morning Seresana, sleep well?" Sophia asked while Vesken and Hitagi only paused in their meals to wave and nod to Seresana as she entered the room.

"Uhmm. Yeah, yeah mom, though I think I might have a new idea for a jutsu I'm wanting to try today," Seresana said as she sat down and began filling her own plate for her breakfast.

"Oh? And what brought on this inspiration?" Sophia asked curiously as she poured Seresana's cup full of warm tea.

"A dream," Seresana said though she still seemed pretty distracted while taking that first bite. "It looked so real, and now I've got a couple new ideas I want to try," Seresana said around a couple more bites. While Vesken and Hitagi had remained in their conversation and oblivious to to what Seresana had said, Sophia was looking at her quite curiously. Never-the-less, Sophia didn't say anything at the moment and so the two women of the family ate quietly while the men chatted it up and ate. The meal ended soon afterwards, and the family members went about their duties for the day. Vesken retreated back to his workshop to continue some more work on a recent order, Hitagi went out to go meet up with his friends to play with them some more today, and Sophia set to clearing the table and taking care of the dishes for the moment but past that it was a mystery as to what she had planned. And at that point, Seresana was left ascending the stairs to her room to get on some actual clothes for the day. She quickly reached her door, and after stepping inside, locked it behind her before wandering over to the dresser to get out her clothes. Strangely enough, a deja vu moment occured as the first things she withdrew from the dresser were some dark blue pants and a short sleeved white shirt. Seresana however just shrugged at the coincidense and continued with getting herself ready. As she looked into the mirror, Seresana found her hair messy, but not to the extent that it had been in her dream, though her brush was in the same place she remembered it being in. After a short time spent brushing it, Seresana placed the brush back down after it was tamed and Seresana then proceeded to grab up her usual cloth binding ties. A secondary coincidense however decided to spring up at that point as she withdrew two black bands, one grey, one light blue, and one white band. Seresana however didn't just shrug off the chance happening this time and as such, it was with a great deal of hesitance that she proceeded to tie the bands aroud her normally loose clothing. The white and grey ties found their places above one knee and below the other, while the light blue went around her chest, and the blacks found their place on her arm and around the waist. Seresana then went for the bandaging she usually kept on her left arm, though as she wrapped it up in the same fashion as she usually did, Seresana found her mind thinking back to the dream, trying to recall as much of it as she could and how she'd managed to do those incredible things.

When the ties were in place and the bandages were wrapped up, Seresana looked at herself one last time in the mirror to make sure everything was in place, and then a glance towards the window to see how the weather was. She was greeted with a light grey cloud covered sky, one thin enough that the sun could peak through it and provide some bright light, yet thick enough that snow was still held a very real possibility of falling. With a shrug though, Seresana turned about and exited her room and quickly made her way towards the front door. Seresana slipped on her boots and slid into her coat, then paused, thought about it for a moment and then on a whim, slipped back out of the heavy coat and then put on a thinner but very comfortable jacket. Then she just wandered outside with nary a notion on where to go. On instinct, she started walking off towards the forest, in the direction of her special training spot with the old tree stump, where she used to spend so much time practicing. As she walked, Seresana passed by the snow forts from the prior day, including her own, but for the moment she wasn't worried about any snowballs as Hitagi hadn't managed to make it back from going to his friends yet, and so just simply walked by. Even as she came to her own fort, Seresana barely looked at the thing before walking right on deeper into the familiar woods. She walked calmly through the snow covered trees, enjoying the quiet serene scene of the woods in this time of the year, softly marveling at the sight of the snow and ice covered branches as she continued walking.

It didn't take her too long before the familiar clearing of the training spot came into view. Even with the lack of greenery and the abundance of snow, Seresana easily recognized the space, especially with the large tree stumb that had served as her target for countless hours of practice. Now however, snow covered the flat top of the stump and the top of the rope that was loosely wrapped around it. Seresana smiled at the sight, a soft and reminiscent thing she held for a moment before walking the rest of the way into the clearing. However though, Seresana then let out a sigh, "what am I even doing out here?" She asked aloud to herself before looking around to see if anything stirred her memory or served to give her a reason for why she'd come to her training spot with no weapons or training equipment. It was then though that her eyes fell upon some of the icicles that were hanging from the tree's branches. "Oh, that's right the, the ice needles thing," Seresana went on as she contemplated how she'd accomplished the task before. It wasn't easy trying to remember a dream, but she strove to accomplish the daunting task as well. If memory served, she had just made a handsign and focused a little, and the handsign wasn't even really that needed, it was just a way to focus the chakra easier. Still, the matter of getting the needles to form floating in the air seemed a bit too daunting for the moment and so Seresana set about what she believed to be a simpler form of the jutsu. She bent down and scooped up a little snow with one hand, though when it was sitting in her hand, Seresana found herself wondering how she was supposed to make the needed signs with just one free hand. Sure she'd managed to do it for the levitation jutsu, but that was... "Wait, if I can do it for that jutsu, why can't I for others?" Seresana asked herself rhetorically while still holding the snow before her. With one hand, Seresana made a quick sign to help with the channeling of chakra and focus on the snow, picturing it as the needle from the dream she so desired to replicate. After a moment of nothing happening, Seresana was about to try and force more chakra at the snow when it suddenly started seeming to condense and turn more clear as it made that transition from snow to ice. In almost no time, the small bit of snow she'd been holding was now a thin and rather sharp looking needle that despite the warmth from her fingers, showed no signs of melting. With the needle sitting pinched between her fingers, Seresana's eyes lifted back up to the target stump. Her eyes hardened a little as she focused on her target and then threw the ice needle. The projectile sailed through the air, nailing the stump with a light 'thunk' before sinking in surprisingly deep.

"Wow, I... I can do that?" Seresana asked herself while looking back down at her hands again before hurriedly picking up another small bit of snow and making the sign again, only to witness the snow reshaping into another similar needle that she then threw much to the same effect as the first one. "I guess there's no denying it, I'm a Yuki," Seresana went on, though her disbelief was slowly turning into optimism. "Looks like I'm one step closer to being able to make good on my promise to mom," she said as a grin spread across her face. "And if I can do that, then I should be able to do this," Seresana mused as she stomped her foot in the snow and focused more chakra into the ground, or more specifically the snow surrounding her. Eight small bits of snow lifted into the air around Seresana, and then after she made a quick handsign, the small bits of snow began to form into needles as all the previous ones had. Then Seresana clapped her hands together before her, pointing them towards the target and to her glee, the needles all flew in that direction. Most of the needles burried themselves into the wooden stump, but a few of them did miss, traveling a bit farther before hitting the ground or other trees further back. Still, the general success of being able to do the new trick had Seresana practically hopping in place in glee, as she quietly repeated, "I did it!"

After a bit of that, Seresana looked back over to the target and noted that the ice needles were still imbedded in the stump and out of curiosity, she went over to one to see if she could extract it, but with but a single pull, the ice snapped off in her grasp. "Huh, seems they aren't that durable after that first throw," she said while looking down at the now slowly melting piece of ice in her hand. Seresana tilted her hand to the side to let the ice and water fall back to the ground as she started to think of what to do next. "Well, I was able to do one thing from my dream, no reason I shouldn't be able to do more. Now what was the second thing I did? I think it was some kind of dome? Or was it a bubble?... No, it was definately a dome, and it was made of ice like everything else... hmmm..." Seresana mused to herself in contemplation as she thought about how to go about creating the dome. Though from her memories, Seresana only really recalled about as much as she did when it came to the ice needles. A couple signs and then it just formed up around her. When nothing else came to her, Seresana shrugged and then performed the series she remembered, and nothing happened. Seresana's grin shifted to a frustrated frown as she tried to think about what had went wrong. "Hmm, maybe I got a handsign wrong?" Seresana mused as she went about performing a different series of handsigns, but once again, nothing seemed to happen. She tried three more different combinations of the handsigns, but each time, nothing happened and she grew slightly more frustrated and flustered. After her latest attempt, Seresana forced her hands out to the sides and took a couple deep breathes to calm herself back down. When she felt herself become less flustered, Seresana went back to the first series of handsigns she'd performed and made sure they were performed correctly as she cycled through them. Focusing her chakra while making the signs and then a bigger boost at the end of the last sign to perform the jutsu and this time she wasn't left waiting for the effects to take place. Rather quickly, a dome of ice began to form up and around Seresana. As it compelted, Seresana looked at the dome in wonder and awe. Curiously, Seresana strode over to the wall of ice and gently reached out to touch the cold surface. It was surprisingly smoother yet felt rather strong despite being see through.

Then however, Seresana realized she had a brand new problem to deal with. Sure she'd managed to make this dome of ice and was rather happy she'd been able to do so, but now it was there and it was still far too cold for it to melt normally, meaning Seresana was trapped inside until it got warmer or she managed to break out of it. And to make matters worse, she had forgotten her ninja tools and her bow, even the crude little training bow she had at the house that might not have done much and it certainly wasn't her more properly constructed one that was still with Ranzaki, but it would have been at least better than nothing. "Guess I'll have to break my way out of here some other way," Seresana said to herself as she once more reached out to touch the dome. Just going for the simplest thing she could think of at the time, Seresana reached back her bandaged hand and tried to strike the target. Her fist connected solidly, but the hard ice held fast and only barely showed even signs of cracking. Seresana's expression however quickly broke as tears started streaming down her face as she held her fist there for a moment longer before drawing it back, holding it with her other hand, and shaking it around a bit while leting out a wail of pain, all of it creating a fairly commical scene as she ran around the inside of the dome. After the worst of the stinging subsided, Seresana's tear stricken face looked at the ice dome pitifully while gently cradling and rubbing her knuckles. "Tha... that didn't work," Seresana said to herself through the tears as she went back to the idea drawing board. "Hmm... maybe I can use the needles to break out, but by themselves they don't seem that powerful. Hmm... Oh, I know," Seresana contemplated to herself as she once more made a handsign and made another ice needle out of the surrounding snow. Seresana then threw the needle and while it flew, Seresana formed a few handsigns with her other hand until she performed the projectile push jutsu. The needle suddenly rocketed forwards with considerably greaty force, enough to shatter it against the wall of the dome, and cause tons of new cracks to form on it's surface. Seresana then wandered over to the massive series of cracks that now covered a large portion of the dome. She once more pressed her hand to the barrier and gave it a bit of a push. While she didn't feel a ton of give, Seresana still found the cracks starting to spread just a little and the sounds of ice straining slightly. "I can probably break it now," Seresana said to herself as she reared back her unused hand and struck the ice dome again. This time, the cracks in the ice were massive and feeding into the other cracks that were already present until pieces started to fall away.

Free from her own dome, Seresana took a couple quick and happy jumps at not only managing to escape, but also how she'd actually managed to perform the successful jutsu. "Woohoo! I did it! I'm two for two!" Seresana cheered as she danced about in the snow a little bit before gradually coming to a stop. "Alright, I'm two for two now, just one last thing to try for today I think," Seresana said aloud as she once more tried to recall the memories of her vivid dream. They came slower this time, small pieces at a time, she recalled ice obviously, but then there was her reflection, and she stepped into it and they became one, and some other things of that nature that initially left Seresana more confused than when she'd started. Though the more she thought about it, the more things seemed to just fit and feel right. Before long, Seresana was focusing her chakra around a handsign and then trying to think of the mirror from her dreams that she desired. It was exhausting trying to do, but eventually, the snow on the ground began to lift off of it, collecting and changing into clear ice. The process was still rather slow, and only one was gradually forming, but after a staggeringly long time, Seresana was opened her eyes to behold a crystal ice mirror, just like the one from her dream. She reached out and touched the smooth surface, feeling it's icy strength as well as the fairly steady drain on her chakra it was imposing. Then she let out a bit of an 'eep' when her hand actually began to sink into the mirror a bit. Seresana panicked at first, but the memories from her dream chose that moment to reassert themselves and eased her fright. Seresana relaxed and let herself be drawn into the mirror, marveling how despite the cold, it felt comfortable and almost welcoming. Then as in her dream, she made the handsign again and once more began to focus her chakra, this time though with a bit more direction as she knew more of what she was trying to accomplish. The second mirror that formed, directly across from the first one, only roughly thirty feet away formed up quicker than the prior one and soon Seresana came to see her reflection staring back from the mirror. "Alright," Seresana said while inside the mirror but then paused in her current line of thought to marvel how her voice was distorted while inside the mirror. "Ooh, I sound cool in here. Oh, but wait *pant*, this is exhausting," Seresana added as she felt the strain of having the mirrors in place. "Gotta do this test fast if I'm even going to," she went on before leaning forward and actually out of the mirror. Then Seresana tried to jump and push herself off towards the other mirror and quite simply found herself just flying right at the other mirror at a high rate of speed. If it hadn't been for her dream, Seresana might have let out a yelp of fear or something of that nature, but as it was, she had already been through this once and so she just reveled in the feeling of flight she had before smoothly sliding into the other mirror. Momentarily lost in the feeling, Seresana went to make another jump, but about midway through, she felt her chakra just about run out and in a sudden bout of exhaustion, Seresana's concentration waverd and she canceled the jutsu. However, Seresana was still in mid flight to the other mirror as this happened and so was still flying at it as it fell apart. This time, Seresana did throw up her arms defensively and was greatful for it for she crashed through the remnants of the first mirror which were still fairly formed and hard.

Seresana crashed through the ice, breaking apart the mirror and depositing her on the other side, skidding across the snow lightly. Her arms were now bruised, and one was even bleeding lightly from where she'd hit the edge of a particularly large piece of ice. Behind her prone form, the mirrors continued to fall apart and fall to the ground since it was still cold enough that the ice stayed frozen. Slowly, Seresana began to pick herself up and cradled her stinging arms, especially the bleeding one. She was glad to have succeeded in performing the jutsu, she was estatic that she had been able to do all three of the abilities she'd seen most frequently mentioned in the old scroll she'd read that her mother had provided. In fact, she couldn't wait to get back home and tell her mother about what she could do. Yet all of that was pushed back behind the fact that she was now exhausted, and her arms were smartly stinging in a thorough throb of pain, and all she wanted to do at this point was go home, make her arms stop hurting and warm up in a nice hot bath or at least in a cocoon of blankets to keep warm. Seresana slowly turned towards her house and began the long trek back. She didn't take in the scenery this time, or take her time to wander about, the pain was chasing away her thoughts of whimsy and wonder at the miraculous natural art the season had provided. No, she wanted to just get home and tend to her wounds and that's exactly what she was doing.

A while later thanks to the lengthy walk, and the slower pace because of her injury, Seresana finally saw her house come into view again. With a weary smile that she was almost ready to actually get her wounds treated, Seresana picked up the pace just a bit until she reached the porch and dragged herself up onto the wooden surface. She quickly threw open the door and stepped inside before slipping out of her shoes. "Mmmom, are you home?" Seresana asked as she stood up again.

"Yes Seresana, what's wrong dear? You sound- oh my your hurt," Sophia suddenly exclaimed as she rushed over to her daughter to examine the wound and see if it was anything serious. "How did this happen?" She asked secondly while continuing to examine her, particularly the bleeding wound on her one arm.

Seresana winced a bit at her mother's touch, and continued trying to fight back the tears that threatened her face. "I- I was training and I kind of messed up," Seresana replied before a little sniffle forced it's way out.

"Oh there, there dear, now why don't you just come her and sit down," Sophia instructed while guiding Seresana over to the table and then quickly fetching a rag for her to place against the wound to keep the blood confined and not spilling over everything. "I'll get the first aid kit and we'll get you patched right up. And then you can tell me exactly what happened," Sophia said before standing up and walking out of the room. She returned a few moments later with the all too familiar white box with a red plus sign on it. Sophia sat back down next to Seresana and opened the back to reveal the bottles of medicine, the rolls of bandages and ties, some anti-bacterial soaked thread and needle, a pair of tweezers, a pair of scissors, and gauze. Sophia gently took away the bandage and began to dab at it a bit more with the cloth to get some moreof the loose blood away from the wound. Then Sophia got a new cloth adn wetted it with some of the anti-bacterial medicine before lightly dabbing the wound some more to clear away the dried blood and disinfect the wound. Seresana winced anew as the stinging medicine burned her injury, but the moment passed, and then Sophia was putting some other medicine on it to further sterilize the wound while simultaneously promoting healing. "Now why don't you tell me exactly what you were doing," Sophia added as she continued to treat the wound.

"Well, I was experimenting with jutsu, like I said mom, I had a dream and I did these incredible things with ice. I was able to make little ice needles that I could throw or make them fly at what I wanted. And then I managed to make this big dome of ice, that was actually really hard to break out of. And finally, I made this floating mirror out of ice," Seresana explained as her mother continued tending to her wounds and tending them. There was a brief pause when Seresana revealed what she'd been doing, but for the most part Sophia had been quietly and continuously tending to Seresana's wound. "Then I made a second one, and I was able to jump from one to the other, but when I tried to jump back, I'd used too much chakra and ended up crashing through my mirror," Seresana admitted. She'd started off with that speech with a bit more enthusiasm, though it dimmed on the embarrassing parts like when she had accidentally trapped herself in the dome or when she'd gone through her own mirror, but overall, she'd had a pretty positive attitude about the experience and when it was done, she looked to her mother, her expression seeking approval over the accomplishments.

Seresana however wouldn't see a smiling and approving face, at least nto right now as the face that looked back was rather serious and cold. "And were you seen at all while doing these acts?" Sophia asked her daughter in a very indifferent voice. When Sophia got a head shake that silently said 'no' though, she did smile down at Seresana and made sure that she was exceptionally gentle when it came to tying off the bandage. "Wow, now that is something sweetie," Sophia went on. "Why don't we celebrate a little hmm? We'll head into town and get something sweet," she added with a sweet smile down at Seresana.

"Really mom!" Seresana asked as she instantly became full of energy and with a large bright smile. When she got a nod of agreement, Seresana sprung up and cheered. "Woohoo! Oh I can't wait, can we go right now?"

"Sure dear, just let me get on my coat and boots," Sophia replied as she stood up again to get ready. "Get your things as well and we'll be off," Sophia added quickly.

"Sure thing mom!" Seresana went on before hopping up and running over to get on her boots and coat. When she was ready, Seresana ran over to meet her mom at the front door and then the two were walking out into the snowy outside with smiles and chuckles between them. Her arm still stung a bit, but Seresana was more than happy to be walking along with her mom into the town, and to get some kind of treat to boot was just a bonus. It didn't take the two long to walk into the village and they were soon surrounded by the snow covered buildings and other townsfolk that were braving the cold of winter. Sophia led Seresana down a couple streets and into a desert shop that featured a good number of pastries and treats. After placing their orders and sitting down, Seresana and Sophia ate their pastries in relative quiet, though they did share a couple laughs and smiles before they finished their sweets. Then the two got up and exited the building, still full of smiles and laughter while on their trip home.

"Now Seresana, I don't suppose I need to tell you to be careful on who you let see those jutsu you've made, right?" Sophia asked with a rising tone and arched eyebrow.

"No mom, I know it's our little secret," Seresana replied as she looked up with her little smile. "I'll only use it when I absolutely have to or I know that no one's around," Seresana went on to say as they continued walking.

"That's my girl. Maybe someday you can show some others, but for now, we have to keep it a secret sweetie."

"...Mom, what if I have a close friend who asks, can I tell her?"

"No," Sophia replied with barely a moment's hesitation.

"But, I'm sure I can trust her, she won't tell anyone, I promise," Seresana protested feebily with a pleading voice.

"Seresana, my dear little girl," Sophia started to try and soften the blow. "I want you to be happy, and I would love for you to tell anyone and everyone, but now isn't that time. We, we're not well enough in the village yet for that to happen. In time, maybe we can tell those we want to, and that'll be the first step towards telling everyone, but until that time, you need to keep it a secret okay sweetie?" Sophia replied with a remorseful voice. "I'm not saying this to be mean, it's to protect you, at least while you're at home," she added.

Seresana didn't reply immediately, but then looked at her mother's sorrowful face and couldn't bring herself to defy her mother. "Alright mom, I'll wait for now," Seresana replied and then when Sophia raised her arm to rest on Seresana's shoulder, she turned and hugged her mother tightly.

"That's my girl," Sophia repeated as she squeezed Seresana a little bit before releasing her and going back to walking alongside her daughter. "Now why don't we get back to happier topics. Who is this friend of yours that you're wanting to tell so bad anyways?"

"Oh, well you've met her, it's Sylvan Yamanaka," Seresana recited.

"I'm not sure I remember, you've been brining so many of your friends around recently, right along with Hitagi," Sophia replied.

"She stands a bit taller than me,"

"Sere dear, every one of your friends has stood taller than you," Sophia teased a little.

"Moooom," Seresana whined before jostling her mother some but only succeeded in getting some laughs out of her mother before Sophia made some 'go on' gestures with her hands. "Well, she's also got green hair and purple eyes," Seresana added which finally drew the desired look of realization from Sophia.

"Oh her, well she seems rather nice and fairly fond of you. In fact, I'd even say very fond of you," Sophia stated, as she looked down to her still happy looking daughter, whose arm's were swinging back and forth as she strode. After a moment, Sophia was certain that Seresana hadn't picked up on the hidden meaning on that statement and so she just proceeded to continue walking alongside her brightly smiling, yet oblivious daughter.

When the house came into view, Sophia looked down to Seresana and spoke. "Well, I'll be needing to get started on dinner for tonight so don't run off too far. Why don't you actually read that scroll I gave you instead?" Sophia suggested.

"Sure mom," Seresana replied before adding, "I think I saw a legend or two in there that looked really neat. Maybe I can get another idea or two about some other new jutsu."

Sophia nodded, though her expression was just a little strained. "Though why don't we hold off on trying any new jutsu today? You looked about ready to drop when you wandered in, and that injury could use some time to heal," she suggested firmly.

"Ahhh, okay mom," Seresana replied with a bit of a frown, but she couldn't deny that her arm still stung a bit and even after eating, she still felt a little tired and woozy after the chakra intensive jutsu usage.

The remaining walk was completed in silence and when the two reached the house, they went their separate ways, with Sophia heading down the hallway towards the kitchen and dining room, and Seresana walking upstairs towards her room. When she got to her room, she shut the door behind her and made sure the space was empty of other people before going to her closet. Seresana pushed aside the boxes she had in there until a certain spot on the floor was revealed. Finding the discretely marked board, Seresana pressed it so that the far end would lift up and the hidden compartment would be revealed. Inside was the scroll her mother had mentioned, the yuki clan scroll she had that held a detailed account her family lineage, their accomplishments, and almost as importantly, details about signiture techniques they'd used. Seresana eagerly retrieved the scroll and then replaced the board so that it was once more hidden and indistinguishable from the other floor boards. She started to walk over to her vanity mirror and desk, but paused mid stride and turned to look towards the bookcase that stood halfway between her bed and the door to her room. On a whim and a chance to hide the real scroll she was reading from, Seresana wandered over to the bookcase and retrieved a chakra control scroll. With both scrolls now in hand, she resumed her walk back to the bookcase and took a seat while depositing both scrolls on the surface. She unfastened the first scroll, her chakra control scroll and placed it first on the table so it could hurriedly be placed over the other one that she was really wanting to read. Then Seresna unfastened the Yuki clan scroll and began to read. It didn't take her long to find an interesting legend that she tore into, quickly trying to read as much as she could. The legend was of an almost ancient Yuki clan member, probably one of the earliest to have existed, and whose name was lost to time as it never recieved mention in the story. Seresana didn't really mind though as she continued to read about the old tale. The legend didn't cover the man's entire life, just one final dramatic battle that would prove to be his last. He'd displayed the regular abilities of the Yuki clan, creating that ice dome, the ice needles, and even the crystal ice mirrors, but then there were the other things the scroll claimed he'd managed to do that really captured Seresana's interest. Supposedly, he'd changed the weather to provide all the snow, ice, and water he could ever need to fully utilize his power. There were also claims of him simply touching an opponent and them freezing into a large block of ice near instantly, creating other weapons out of ice that floated around and slaughtered any opponent that dared to wander too close, of making a dragon out of ice that laid waste to his foes, and finally one thing that truly astounded her. The scroll claimed the man attempted some strange kind of jutsu and then sprouted wings made of ice, along with other apendages made of ice. While in that form, he was unstoppable, flying about the battlefield upon wings of frozen death, but his arrogance soared right along side him and he truly thought himself invincible, that was why another ninja with a poisoned kunai had managed to down him so easily. Supposedly, the unknown jutsu the man had attempted had died with him, never to be seen again in the bloodline, or at least Sophia's, and now Seresana's, branch of it.

That however was but one of many legends in the scroll, and Seresana went on to begin reading another one. This time though, she went for one a bit more towards the recent end of the scroll, in hopes that it'd contain a few more details about what had actually happened and how it had happened. Rather quickly, Seresana found one about a woman named Eva Yuki, an accomplished jounin of the hidden mists village, and even though this was a more recent one, it still told a tale of something that occurred almost a hundred years ago, so there was little if any chance the woman was still alive. According to the tale in the scroll, Eva had not only mastered control over her blood, but had actually concocted a rather dark use of it, and the blood of her opponents. Eva was apparently notorious for freezing the blood of her opponents and then using the new ice to not only manipulate her opponent like a rag doll puppet, but shred them appart. One particular mission was noted that Eva had used the ice needles to get an initial hit on one opponent, and then from the one needle that had managed to score a hit, Seresana slowly froze the other ninja's blood, shredding the vessles as it went. Then she turned the newly frozen blood into needles without tearing the other ninja's skin. Then with a terrifying amount of control over it, Eva had walked the corpse back to his commrades and when they went over to check on him, the needles exploded outwards shre- "Nope, that's enough of that," Seresana proclaimed aloud as she abruptly looked up from the scroll and began to roll it back up. "I didn't know that could be done, I didn't need to know it could be done, nope, not going to do that," she went on before shuddering violently. "Egh, I can't believe my ancestors were so... ruthless, I, it's just so, why would they do something like that?" Seresana asked rhetorically as she tried to wrack her mind for an answer and found she had trouble coming up with one. "I can't think of any reason why they'd do something so horrific. I- I think that's enough reading through the old Yuki scroll for today, maybe I will actually read the chakra control scroll." And that is exactly what she set about doing. First, Seresana rolled up the Yuki clan scroll and stored it back in it's hiding place before sitting back down to glance at the other scroll that she'd just placed down to serve as an excuse to hide what she was really reading. If Seresana had actually bothered to continue reading, she might have come across the part of the tale that included that Eva had been doing such horrific attacks to make sure her own wounded teammate hadn't been reached, but that was something she'd have to read over and think on later.

Instead, Seresana's mind was now split between the chakra manipulation scroll and the thoughts on the form her ancient ancestor had apparently come up with. Though between the two topics, Seresana's mind kept favoring the one about the form her ancestor had managed to achieve. She kept thinking back to it, how he'd done it, how could she attempt it, and what it would mean to accomplish. Eventually, thoughts on the legend completely overwrote her attempts to read the chakra manipulation scroll and when that happened, she laid down the scroll she'd spent the prior five minutes starring at, but not actually reading at all, and leaned back in her seat to look towards the roof. She wasn't given long to think though before a call suddenly reached her ears. "Sere, dinner time," Sophia called up to her, and that quickly snapped Seresana out of her little inner thought process.

Seresana stood up from her little desk chair and quickly proceeded down the stairs to see that Hitagi and Vesken were already sitting at the table along with Sophia. "Huh, I must have been really distracted, I didn't even hear them come in," she concluded before taking her own seat and trying to join in the conversation that was going on. Vesken was retelling a story about his delivery today, which had been particularly interesting, though Seresana couldn't really determine why. She wasn't given long to dwell on it though as Sophia rather quickly appeared with the dinner's main course then. The family sat down, eating their meal together with casual conversation and jokes in between bites. After the meal though, the family continued hanging around the table and talking for quite some time, venturing into talks about what each had done during the day, what they planned to do tomorrow, and other upcoming events that various members either were attending, wished to attend, or wished to let others know in case they wished to attend. While the conversation dragged on, Seresana chanced a glance outside to see what things were like out there. Seeing that it was still light out, she suddenly spoke up. "Can we all go sledding?"

"Huh, sledding? Don't see why not," Vesken replied first before looking towards the others to see their reactions.

"Yeah, can we?" Hitagi repeated as he excitedly looked over to Sophia who smiled and nodded under the pressure of the other three looking at her. Now excited about the new activity, the family got up and went over to the front door to get on coats and boots. Then Vesken ran off quickly only to return a few seconds later with a couple sleds. He passed one off to Seresana and Hitagi to carry while he and Sophia carried the larger one themselves.

"There's a pretty good hill a short ways off, we can go there," Vesken added while taking the lead as the family wandered out of the house and into the snow. The sun was still up as they shut the door and departed, but it was certainly in it's descent, and steadily plummeting lower and lower as time wore on. It wasn't too long though before the mentioned hill drew close enough to be seen, rising up behind the trees until the family cleared the treeline. Hitagi had even only gotten the chance to complainingly ask 'how much farther' once before they reached the hill. "Here we are," Vesken proudly announced before glancing back at his children.

Sophia looked back as well, but her smile had a bit of the coy grin to it, and the reason for it came out a moment later. "Who wants a race to the top?" She taunted just a few moments nudging her husband to start and get a head start on the youths.

"Hey, that's not fair!" they both protested but Seresana was a bit more expecting this kind of thing given the prior day and so she rather quickly started to run up the hill, forcing Hitagi to run along behind her as they tried to make up for lost ground. The race surprisingly enough to Seresana was close, and they even managed to beat her parents at the last second, though they were all left up on the hill panting lightly afterwards. Seresana noticed Sophia standing up brightly and looking out into the distance with a smile on her face, and curious Seresana tried to follow her mother's gaze, but couldn't see anything out there aside from snow and trees. She didn't bother questioning it right now though and instead looked back over to her dad who was getting the first of the sleds ready to go down the hill. Not wanting to give up what could be the first run down the hill, Seresana looked back to the sled she and Hitagi had brought up and quickly placed her hands back on it to get it ready for the run. It was righted so that the smooth underside was resting on the snow and still back far enough that it wasn't in danger of going down early. Before she got the chance to climb in though, Hitagi had already jumped into the front of the sled and Seresana had to struggle to hold onto the thing to make sure it didn't go down the hill right then and there. Realizing though that the moment she let go of the sled, it would be going down the hill, Seresana opted for a different strategy, and just jumped into the sled behind her brother. Now that it wasn't anchored, the sled rather quickly tilted forwards and began to slide down the hill. The already cold wind suddenly turned biting as the two raced through it, and the snow kicked up some in their wake as the two slid down the hill. Hitagi let out a bit of a yell of glee at the speed which Seresana almost mimicked as they went steadily faster until coming to the bottom of the hill and beginning to slow down. Shortly after their run finished, Seresana looked back to see the sled holding her parents not far behind, showing they must have pushed off and started down just seconds after Seresana and Hitagi had, and they were smiling and lightly laughing as well in the aftermath of the sleding. Seresana then climbed out of the sled along with her brother and the two picked back up their sled before beginning to walk back towards the hill to go down it again. "Okay, this time I get to ride up front," Seresana commented just after starting. "Yeah yeah," Hitagi replied as they ascended the hill together. For this run, Vesken and Sophia didn't follow the two, and instead just stood at the bottom watching their children get ready to go sledding down the hill again.

Once they reached the top of the hill, Seresana began to get the sled ready again, tough as soon as it was righted and set on the edge of the slope, Hitagi jumped in the front of the sled again and this time Seresana wasn't able to keep her hold on it or jump in quick enough. Hitagi slid quickly down the hill, leaving Seresana up on the top of the hill by herself and in a bit of a shocked expression as she watched Hitagi descend. It was as if her own smile dropped right along with his descent as Seresana watched her younger brother slide down the hill having fun while leaving her back up on top of the hill in the cold. She sniffled a little as some sudden feelings of saddness and anger bloomed inside her, even though she could see Hitagi beind scolded by her mom and dad down at the bottom of the hill when he'd arrived there. "He really is a little turd of brother," Seresana pouted as she sat down in the snow and waited to see what happened. To her, it seemed that her mom and dad had told Hitagi to carry the sled back up by himself, which seeing the punishment get enacted did a little to bring back her happy mood, but Seresana was still a bit upset when Hitagi finished the climb up with an angry expression. "Here, mom and dad said now you get to go down by yourself this time," he said with a pout of his own, though it was likely more directed at Seresana for not hopping in the sled fast enough and allowing him to get into trouble. Still, when the sled was offered, Seresana took it and readied it, pausing an extra long moment to make sure Hitagi wasn't going to hop in unexpectedly again on her. When it looked like she was in the clear, Seresana paused again and looked back to Hitagi who was standing a short ways behind the sled, with his arms crossed and glaring off to the side. Seresana didn't care for her brother at times, but she still didn't want him mad at her or blaming her for his trouble. She started to speak, but thought he might just try and ignore her so Seresana reached over the edge of the sled to scoop up a bit of snow and made a snowball with it. Then Seresana tossed the snowball at Hitagi, hitting him in the shoulder since he wasn't paying any attention to Seresana.

"What was that for!" Hitagi roared back as the anger from getting in trouble was still readily present and compounding with the anger of being hit by a snowball.

"I had to do something to get your attention," Seresana replied with a smile and a chuckle. "Now do you wanna ride down with me? You can if you want, but you'll have to sit in the back this time," Seresana said as she patted the back of the sled to reinforce the gesture. Hitagi looked apprehensive at first, but then with his frown still present, nodded and slowly began to walk over to the sled. He climbed in and a moment later, the two were sledding down the hill, once more letting out little cheers of joy as their speed increased. And then the ride was over, and both of them were back at the bottom of the hill, near their parents. They arched an eyebrow when they noticed Hitagi in the back of the sled, but Seresana spoke up first. "I said he could."

That was all it took then for Vesken and Sophia to nod to each other and then smile back down at Seresana and Hitagi. The children then climbed out of their sled and the four began to trek up the mountain again with their sleds in tow. This time however when they reached the top, Sophia ended up standing next to Seresana, who looked up curiously. "Why don't we switch partners for this ride. Let the boys have a run while us girls take one of our own," Sophia suggested before looking back to first Hitagi and then Vesken. Hitagi nodded and went over to the sled Vesken was still standing by and righting. When he was out of ear shot, Sophia leaned down to help Seresana with the sled but to also whisper in her ear. "Hey, why don't we play a little trick on them? We'll wait for the boys to go down and then pelt them with a few snowballs?" Sophia suggested with a mischevious grin.

"Yeah, let's do it," Seresana agreed as she grinned back. They didn't even have to wait long for moments after Seresana agreed to do it, Hitagi and Vesken were sledding down the hill, letting out their own cheers of joy, Vesken's being much deeper than the smaller Hitagi's. Seresana and Sophia however didn't follow after and instead began making snowballs while they rode. Each had two snowballs by the time Vesken and Hitagi reached the bottom, and when the boys looked back to see why the girls had delayed their ride down the hill, each was met with a sailing snowball that smacked into them. While the boys flailed about to protect themselves, and to try and get their barrings, Sophia and Seresana hopped in their sled and began to ride it down the hill, each still holding onto the second snowball they had. Hitagi was the first to recover out of the boys, and as he bent over to begin working on his own snowball, Seresana threw her second one that distracted him and made him drop the ball of snow he had partially formed. Vesken didn't seem to really get his barrings until Sophia and Seresana had almost reached the bottom, and when he finally did, he was almost instantly met with another snowball from Sophia. At that point, Vesken bent over and picked up the sled to set it on it's side and offer a kind of shield from any more snowballs the girls might try and throw, but Seresana and Sophia were both out and only laughed as their sled came to a stop at the bottom of the hill. Seeing that the snowballs were done flying, Vesken and Hitagi hesitantly clambered out from behind the sled and joined in the laughter before the lot of them ascended the hill again for another sledding venture. The family did a few more runs, switching between who rode with who until everyone had rode with everyone at least once and had a few extra runs past that, but seemingly all too soon, the sun began to set and the light began to disappear.

"Looks like it's time to head home," Vesken announced, to the protests of both Seresana and Hitagi, though when Sophia backed up her husband with an offer of some hot chocolate and some cookies, the children readily changed their minds and decided that heading back wasn't all that bad. The family gathered back up their sleds, two each to a sled, and proceeded to carry them back home with talks about who'd gone fastest and things of that nature. When they all got back home, Vesken disappeared into the kitchen with Sophia to prepare the hot chocolate, leaving Seresana and Hitagi in the dining room to try and warm up some after getting out of their wet clothes. It didn't take long for the hot chocolate to finish, and Sophia had actually completed the cookies much earlier in the day and so brought them out with the chocolate. The family sat aroud the table and happily enjoyed the desert like meal. When it was finished, the family went their separate ways with Sophia going into the living room to sit and relax some more, Vesken joining her and just relaxing after a long day of work and play, while Hitagi and Seresana went to their rooms for the night.

Word Count: 11089
Total: 52372

Up in her room, Seresana strode over to her chair, pulled it out, and flopped down into the seat again. Her eyes wandered to her ceiling to take in the poster that hung there. Though while she was looking directly at it, the picture didn't really hold her attention or focus. Instead, her mind continued to drift towards the things she'd read in the scroll earlier, particularly the strange form her ancestor had managed to achieve through the power of the same blood that flowed in her veins. "The Yuki clan blood, blood of the ice manipulators, the snow makers, hmm... it can almost sound poetic when I think about it like that. And I could be one of them too, one of those who wield ice with nothing more than a thought and some chakra. But what all could I really do with it? Hmm... well I know I'm going to try and achieve that special form, though what should I call it? The way the old legend made it look like, it was like a demon monster that did nothing but terrorize, but I don't want to be a demon when using that. I'd rather be an angel, ooh, that could be it, it'll be my snow angle form! I'll even call it that so that way the others will know it's not something terrifying or bad coming, just me instead. but that seems like it's a pretty advanced thing to do, it'll probably be a really long time before I can ever do something like that. I wouldn't even really be sure where to start on such a thing. I haven't heard of a ninja being able to change their form like that ever. It's unheard of, at least to my knowledge, yet there it is in plain writing before me, even if it is just a legend. Still, it'd be pretty awesome to be able to do. Having wings made of ice to fly about on, and whatever else would be incorporated into the change. Oh, but what if it's permenant? What if I can't change back once I get into that form? Hmm.. yeah, I'm definately going to have think about this, research it, and make sure I can do this safely. Maybe I should look more towards what I think I could actually do, things that won't need me to do all kinds of research or take lots of risks. Hmm... well, what's ice good for? It can be sharp, it can be hard, yet it can shatter and take all kinds of forms. It's probably too brittle for a bow, but I could maybe make an arrow out of it. Yeah, an ice arrow, and it could shatter into a bunch of those needles when it hits something, or maybe even whenever I want. I bet I could do that, and I don't think it'd even be that hard to do. Well, the shattering bit might be a bit difficult, but I bet I could make an ice arrow no problem. I did manage to make those ice needles afterall, I'd just need to make a bigger one of those, give it some fletching so that it'd fly right and then a sharp pointed head so that it'll stick in whatever I'm shooting... I kinda want to try this now. It might be kinda late but still, I think I'm going to have to try this before I go to bed tonight," Seresana concluded to herself as she finally sat back up in her seat with a confident grin on her face and a fiery, or perhaps icy, determination in her eyes. "Though I think I'll wait till after they're asleep before I try this," Seresana said to herself before wandering over towards the window.

At her window, Seresana gazed out through the lightly frosted glass and into the frozen night outside as her mind continued to wander about what she'd be able to do with her ability. Though she wasn't really coming up with any ideas right away, especially when the idea of having an ice arrow was dominating the others. So she just resigned to lean there against her window and cast her gaze out into the frozen landscape. Tonight, the moon was nearing gone, just a thick, brightly glowing sliver was hanging in the sky, a wickedly curved crescent moon gleaming down to bring the dim ilumination upon the ground below. Though with the abundance of present snow, even that little bit of light was readily reflected and turned the white blanket into a softly glittering mass that sparkled before her and drew an unintentional sigh of relaxation from her. Though the ground wasn't the only part of the outside transformed into this crystaline wonderland by the different season. The trees too, while losing their normal folliage, gained a white and clear coating as well from all the snow and ice that clung to their dark brown branches. This coating also glittered in the pale moon's light, though it provided less than it covered up for while the coating on the trees did sparkle like the snow on the ground, it made an impressive shadow that covered more of the snow than it actually held. "Ah I love the snow, it's even better than the rain. It's just so mesmerizing to sit and watch, even when it's not falling. I think that's why I like it more, because while the rain and snow are nice to watch while falling, the snow is great to watch even afterwards while the rain just tends to make everything muddy and drab. Though, the rain can be kind of entertaining to watch as well, at least when it's flowing and such, then it can be interesting too. Still, it's not raining right now, and I'll gladly enjoy the snow as it is," Seresana summurized to herself as she continued to lean there and look out the window into the darkened world.

Eventually though, Seresana pushed herself off from the window ledge and resumed standing in her room. She wandered about the space for a little while, eventually returning to her book shelf, to look through the tomes as she continued searching for a way to kill time. She started to reach for one of the books from that fantasy series she'd been reading, but then withdrew her hand as she knew that if she did pick up one of the books, she'd be reading the piece for far too long and then wouldn't get the chance she needed to try this new jutsu idea. So Seresana quickly tore herself away from the bookshelf to avoid the temptation that the books offered, and went to another part of her room to try and find something else to distract her. Still, no matter how much she looked about the room, Seresana wasn't spotting anything that really interested her. Instead, she slowly wandered back to her bedroom door and slowly pushed the well worn wood open. Carefully, Seresana peered down the hallway first towards the far end and then towards the end with the stairs. Seeing no one in either side, Seresana pushed the door open a bit more and then slowly strode out into the hallway. Quietly and carefully, Seresana strode into the hallway, taking extra care to make sure she didn't cause the old floor boards to creak under her weight, for even though she was fairly light, the floor was old and could creak easily. Luckily, Seresana knew the floor well and so she was able to step around the more troublesome areas to avoid detection by any of her family members. Seresana continued sneaking until she reached the stairs and then carefully proceeded down the stairs, taking them one step at a time to make sure she didn't make any noise during her descent. To her, the walk down the steps seemed to take foever, the bottom just barely creeping closer despite the minutes she spent walking down the old wooden steps, taking every care she could to ensure to not elicit a squeek of protest from the structure. Eventually though, Seresana's feet padded at the bottom of the stairs, and she gratefully stepped away from their torturous heights. "Phew, I thought I'd never reach the bottom, at least not without making a sound. I guess I'm getting better at this," Seresana thought to herself as she turned away from the stairs and began to take long careful strides towards her father's workshop.

It was another long trip to reach the workshop, and Seresana had to continue her cautious approach as the hallway leading to it was heavily used, meaning the floor boards were well worn and readily squeeked under weight. Luckily, they were used to her father's weight and Seresana was no where near that considerably larger man's stature. Still, she had to smile to herself as she made steady progress towards the far end of the hallway, and that was where disaster nearly struck. In her moment of elation at having not only managing to navigate the stairs, but the hallways too without making a sound, Seresana quickly pulled the door to the workshop open, which made a loud squeeking cry as the old hinges audibly protested Seresana suddenly opening the door. Seresana froze in an instant, her teeth gritting together as she winced at the loud noise that seemed to echo throughout the all to quiet household. Even after it finally died down, Seresana continued to stand there in the hallway, absolutely motionless as she awaited the tell tale sign of someone rushing down the stairs, the noise of an upstairs door to resound out from being opened, or for someone's face to peak around one of the many corners and catch her in the act of sneaking around. Though, the more Seresana thought about it, the more she came to realize that she didn't really have nothing to be worried about, she wasn't exactly told to go to bed, nor was she actively doing anything that wasn't allowed. In fact, her father had encouraged her presence in the workshop and frequently seemed to enjoy her company, help, and the chance to watch her work on her own projects. That notion calmed her down enough while she continued to wait and see if anyone was present and watching her, but at the time continued to creep by, nothing seemed to stir in the house. When she felt confident that despite the mistake, she'd managed to go unnoticed, Seresana crept through the door as quietly as she could, trying to squeeze by it without moving it anymore for fear of creating another noise from it's old hinges.

After managing to scoot her way inside, Seresana turned and beheld the sight of all her father's tools and current projects. Several desks lined the walls, each loaded down with tools, tool boxes for said tools, leathers and hides, dyes for painting the leathers, wood carvings and other pieces of wood that had yet to be carved, molds for casting metals and even a few containers of metal and ore that still had to be melted down to extract the metals from inside. Several cabinets also lined the walls, filled with more supplies, at least a few of them, others were just left hanging open as their contents currently occupied the desks below. There were also some hanging lines where a few more things hung overhead, either to dry or the pieces that were too delicate to risk being left on the tables. Seresana took a moment to simply look at the workshop and all of it's familiar pieces that brought forth the many happy memories she'd had in there with her father, then she took a deep inhale, only to nearly gag and try to spit it back out. "Yup, dad's definately got a new set of furs," she commented quietly before trying to breath through her mouth and spare her nose the nasty odor. She still had yet to figure out how her father could stand to be in the room as the hides were cleaned, cured, tanned, and/or dyed for her eyes were nearly watering after a single deep breath, yet the older man managed to stay out here working for hours on end. With a shrug however, Seresana began to navigate her way into the room and went towards one of the desks currently cluttered with uncarved wood and a few carving tools. After testing a few of the logs and checking what type of wood they were, Seresana eventually settled on one of the softer woods and then seized a carving tool. With the instruments in hand, Seresana took a seat at the shorter and smaller one of two seats in the workshop and began to whittle away sliver after sliver of wood. She didn't know what she was going to carve out of the wood, she wasn't even sure that anything would come out of it, yet she continued the act of slicing away thin piece after thin piece, occasionally shifting the stick to a new side to begin slicing away more slivers of the piece. Seresana quickly lost track of time as she worked for the workshop had no windows to let in the moons light, only a few air vents that led directly outside and then the large door that opened directly outside to not only let in a greater amount of air than any window ever could, but also so Vesken could get larger or messier things into and out of the workshop without messing up the house. Seresana could still remember the fuss her mother had raised when Vesken carried in a freshly killed deer, trailing blood all through the house, oh that had been a funny day to see her mom berating the taller and more muscular figure of her dad like he was some young school boy. Still, they'd gotten over it, after Vesken cleaned up the mess and things quickly got back to normal, but the memory still brought a smile to Seresana's face.

After a long while spent slowly whittling away the piece of wood, Seresana's mind finally snapped back to the waking world and she placed the piece she'd been carving down onto the counter. "Oh geeze, it's probably really late by now," Seresana said to herself still in a whisper but audibly without worry for the workshop had been fairly thoroughly insulated to block out the worst of the noise and smells of her father's various professions. Carefully, Seresana walked over to the main doors and cracked one open to peak at the outside world and noteably the sky to see what position the moon was in. The moon itself was now past the halfway mark, signalling that it was past midnight, well after anyone in the house would have normally been awake. Letting out a sigh that while she would be doing it later than she'd intended, she hadn't fully missed the opportunity, Seresana ducked back into the workshop and looked around for a few minutes in search of her father's bow. It took her a while to find the weapon as it was in the last place she bothered to look, actually hanging up in it's proper place on the wall. Seresana quickly secured the weapon, though she left the arrows behind since she wasn't going to need them for what she was attempting, and then proceeded outside quickly. The cold hit her abruptly, instantly chilling her bare feet, exposed arms, uncovered legs, and smiling face, but she pressed onward until she was about halfway between the house and edge of the woods. Once there, Seresana stopped in her tracks and took a deep breath, quietly reveling in the cold, crisp, and most importantly, stink free air now that she was out of the workshop. After her rather brief moment of revelation, kept short because despite the wonder of no longer being trapped in a compact room full of stinking animal hides it was still rather cold out and Seresana didn't want to spend too long out in the freezing temperatures, Seresana drew her father's bow and began to string the weapon. She wove the wood between her legs and used it as a fulcrum to bend the bow back against so she could attach the string to the far end, and then gave it a couple experimental pulls, noting how difficult the larger and heavier bow was to actually draw back, though Seresana was determined and she eagerly exerted the extra effort needed to pull the taunt string back. After he little test to make sure the string would hold and the bow wasn't in any danger of breaking or snapping, Seresana slung it over her shoulder while preparing herself mentally for what she was about to attempt. To start off, Seresana made a handsign to focus and gather her chakra up, the usual precursor for Seresana as she readied herself for a jutsu. Then she attempted the sequence of handsigns that she assumed would provide the right outlets for the chakra to be used in the jutsu. When it finished, Seresana lowered herself to the ground and placed a hand on the snow, pinching a bit of it before lifting her hand back up. With her hand and clasped between her fingers was newly formed ice, in the shape of the back of an arrow with fletching. As Seresana continued to raise her arm, more of the arrow continued to form until she had to stand up to remove the last of the arrow from the snow, the remaining bit forming into a cruel barb that would prove difficult and damaging to try and remove. Seresana hefted the newly formed crystal ice arrow, feeling it's weight in her hands and trying to judge how she'd have to adjust her aim so that it'd fly straight and true. With her other hand, Seresana ran it along the shaft of the arrow, testing the smoothness of the ice and then lightly touched the tip of the arrow, feeling the light prick of a razor sharp tip and surprisingly enough, the even more extreme cold of the freezing arrow. Seresana quickly removed her hand from the dangerous end of the arrow and then planted it back in the ground before slinging the bow off herself and testing the string a couple more times.

Finding it to be ready, and the arrow to be formed, Seresana settled to begin her first test of this new jutsu, drawing the arrow and setting it to the string to be drawn back. Seresana struggled against the heavy string but gradually made a full draw of the bow, with the cold arrow resting against her hand, and then she started to aim at the nearest and clearest tree she could see. After a few moments spent aiming, and torturing her almost shaking, bandaged left arm, Seresana released the arrow and watched as it quickly flew through the air towards the tree. It landed moments later with a solid thunk rather than the cracking or shattering sounds she'd been expecting from the ice hitting the solid tree. Wanting to see how she'd done, Seresana ran over to the tree to see that the arrow had sunk several inches into the hard wood, deeper than her usual arrows had, and curiously enough, ice was slowly starting to spread out from the point of impact. Seresana tried to pull the arrow out of the tree then, but despite her attempts, the projectile wasn't budging from it's spot, thoroughly rooted into the tree. She eventually gave up trying to extract the arrow from the tree, and simply wandered back over to where she'd shot the arrow from. There, Seresana went about trying to perform the jutsu again, this time though making the signs with one hand and not lowering herself to the ground to make it. To her expectations, the arrow began to form in her palm made from the snow on the ground that rose up to take the arrow's shape, taking only moments to form together into the seemingly seamless weapon. Seresana quickly set the arrow and drew it back steadily until she reach the full draw. Placing her aim, Seresana released the second arrow and watched as it sailed through the air just like the first, before slamming into the side of the tree with a resounding 'thunk'. Seresana had to stop herself then from jumping up and cheering as with two success, she was willing to lay claim to actually having learned the new jutsu. "Wait no, I didn't just learn a new jutsu, I made a new jutsu!" Seresana happily exclaimed to herself while still bounding around outside. At least for a few seconds before the reminder that it was still winter outside and therefore, rather cold. Suddenly ceasing her jumping in lue of instead hugging herself and shivering violently, Seresana suddenly had a rather blatant desire to retreat back into the warmth of her bed and so with no lack of rush, Seresana quickly began working her way back across the snow covered yard until she reached the house and disappeared back into the workshop. She put up the bow after unstringing it to make sure she didn't leave traces and then began the daunting task of proceeding back up to her room, something she managed to do with only a bit of complication when it came to closing the door to the workshop. Before long though, Seresana was back in her bed and snuggling up under the warm covers after changing into some dry clothes.

Word Count: 3616
Total: 55988