Meeting the queen

"Mini snowman jutsu!" Seresana's excited voice called out loudly as she put forth equal parts focus and power. With the needed handsign completed, Seresana held her hand aloft with the open palm up as the small amount of chakra that was gathered there was subject to the change in chakra nature. Slowly, her hand chilled as snow began to accumulate in a desired shape in her palm, and when it stopped Seresana had a small snowman resting in her hand, the bottom ball of which almost overflowed the little girl's hand. She gave the little construct a quick inspection, making sure that the snowman was complete and wasn't sporting any anomallies, before turning back and holding the little creation out for her mother to see.

Sophia kept her face neutral and hard to read as she looked back and forther between her daughter and the product of her latest little jutsu. Without a word, Sophia strode forward to get a closer look and started examining the snowman from all sides before looking back to her daughter expectantly.

"I uh, I did it mom," Seresana eventually said when she could no longer bear the silence and scrutiny. "I made up my own custom jutsu that used the chakra nature change and not my bloodline. Now you'll teach me the jutsu you know, ri-" Seresana was cut off when Sophia whipped her head back to the younger girl with such ferocity that Seresana flinched.

Sophia's eyes bore into Seresana's for what seemed like forever to the little girl before they suddenly softened and a smile graced Sophia's features. The following hug and laughter startled Seresana to the point where she dropped the snowman which practically exploded upon impact with the ground. "That right sweetie, we'll even begin tonight with what will likely be a very helpful technique," Sophia said with a happy smile as she lifted her daughter up off the ground. "A tiny snowman creating jutsu, that's just like her to make something so benign. Truly this is a testament that we're in a different country. I'm actually a little scared to think what would happen to her if she tried to pass this off as a jutsu back in the land of water. At the very least she'd be dismissed as a failure even with managing a change in chakra nature this early. But we're not there and nor is that here and now I have the chance to teach my daughter and see her learn to do things in her way," Sophia thought to herself as she continued to hold Seresana tightly embraced.

Seresana herself was grinning to match, and even laughing lightly as she was hugged and hugged back, immensely happy that she hadn't disappointed her mother. When the laughter eventually died down some, Seresana leaned back and asked, "so what's the jutsu?"

"It's called Suiton Suishouha, or the water colliding wave," Sophia replied as she sat Seresana back down on the ground.

"Why are we starting with that one?"

"Because most water style jutsu and even a number of ice style jutsu require a source of water to be used effectively, but you can't always be sure there'll be a source of water nearby. The Suiton Suishouha jutsu creates an abundant supply of water from your chakra, so mastering this technique not only gives you a new powerful jutsu, but also allows you to have an abundance of water handy so long as you have the available chakra for it."

"Wow," Seresana replied with wide eyes.

"Mhmm, but a few words of warning Seresana. This jutsu is A rank, it takes a lot of chakra to use, and covers a fairly large area. You shouldn't use it unless you are absolutely serious about engaging your opponent, and even then it would probably still be better to try and find another source of water rather than use this one, but it can save you in a pinch. So are you ready to begin?"

"Yeah mom, I'm ready," Seresana said confidently with a broad smile on her face...

Hours later, Sophia slid open the back door to their house and steped inside with an utterly exhausted looking Seresana on her back and an annoyed expression dominating her face. The younger girl was still soaking wet and would likely be sporting more than one bruise from the attempts made that night. Sophia mused that Seresana would likely be complaining about them if she was awake, but Seresana had pushed herself to complete exhaustion and fell asleep mere seconds after climbing onto Sophai's back. Sophia let out a sigh at the byproduct of her daughter's determination, and proceeded to strip off the wet clothes, dry her off some, and put her to bed. As Sophia was leaving Seresana's room, she lingered by the door just long enough, smile back to her daughter who slept soundly beneath the covers before departing to her own bed for the remainder of the night.

Over the next few days, Seresana kept up the routine of sleeping in through the morning, going about the day by working on her bow, playing with Miku and Mina, or some other random activity. The night sky saw her in the woods, training in secret with her mother as they worked towards perfecting the hardest jutsu Seresana had yet to try and learn. The sheer strain of trying to manifest, control, and manipulate that much chakra at once was exhausting to say the least and coupled with the fact that it drained so much of her chakra left her only able to even try it a couple times each night before she was almost too tired to stand. Still progress was made and slowly Seresana got better and better at the jutsu until she finally managed to actually perform the jutsu successfully. With that mountain of a jutsu scaled, Seresana continued to practice with her mother, slowly but steadily learning more tricks to the ninja trade. Almost a full week of this went by before a night where Sophia had to take a break from the midnight training.

That morning had started out like any other normal morning. Seresana's family had gathered for breakfast before going their seperate ways for the day. Hitagi ran off to go play with some friends, Vesken went out on a delivery hoping to beat the rain, and Sophia went off to babysit for a friend, leaving Seresana to her own devices for the whole day. A whole day for her to do anything that she wanted to, with no obligations and no expectations. A day to be lazy and just lounge around having fun...

"Agh, I'm so, bored!" Seresana practically yelled out into the open house loud enough to cause Miku and Mina to jump and look over at her curiously. "Oh, sorry you two. I didn't mean to startle you," Seresana said as she reached over and scratched the heads of both raccoons. "I just don't know what I'm going to do today. Everyone's out doing things and I think all my firends are out and training," she complained while flopping down onto the couch. "Everyone's working so hard to become stronger after Yusu..." Seresana started to glumly think, but as if sensing her distress, Miku and Mina scrambled up onto the couch as well and started licking her fingers. That brought out a grin onto Seresana's face before she petted them both some more.

A sudden breeze forced a window's shutter to shake loudly on it's hinges while drawing Seresana's eyes. "Looks like it'll be raining soon. Dad's probably going to get caught out in it," she mused aloud to nobody in particular. "Actually, it's been a little while since I've had a nice stroll in the rain," she added while thinking back to the last time, how sad it'd been with Yusuri's recent death, and how hectic it'd been with her trying to save Miku and Mina. "I think I will go on a walk through the rain, might bring the umbrella this time though. Will you two be alright by yourselves?" The only reply that came was Mina squirming her head under Seresana's hand to practically force her to continue petting. "Hehe, guess I'll take that as a yes," Seresana said before resigning to pamper the raccoons some more before her departure.

About an hour later, Miku and Mina were asleep on said couch, their food and water bowls were full, and Seresana was dressed to head out with an umbrella. Passing one last look back to Miku and Mina, Seresana then turned about and set off into the dingy grey day. Instead of walking along the path leading into the town proper, Seresana turned and wandered directly towards the forest as the winds continued the tree limb's dance. The mass of greenery and vegetation practically swallowed her up in a second, the warm summer had been kind to the vegetation and brought further an abundance during the bloom making the whole forest awash with greens, browns, and the occasional splashes of color from various flowers. Even with the dingy grey sky, these bright pastels of the natural world glowed as Seresana walked past them. She smiled as she strode, taking care to not step on any of the delicate blooms while still moving forward at a good pace. She walked with purpose, knowing the direction she took but not the destination she sought but that mattered little to the young girl who was simply out and about to enjoy the day as it was and the calming rains that were sure to flow soon if the sky was any indication.

It didn't take too long for Seresana to come to a familiar stream where she'd fished and trained at numerous times. She paused on the shores and cast her eyes to the steadily shifting waters, watching them wash over the stones the lined the bottom of the stream and occasionally broke through the water's surface in the rare cases of a particularly large rock that had been washed down stream during higher and stronger waters. With a little jump, Seresana hopped onto one of these rocks that was about mid-way through the stream, only to hop again and end up on the far side of the stream. Seresana grinned then as she looked back to the stream for a moment before facing forward again and continuing on her walk ever deeper into the woods. Curiously though, despite the amount of time she'd been walking so far, the clouds continued to withhold their rain while still growing darker and more ominous, a fact completely lost on Seresana who wasn't even trying to look at the scraps of sky she could see through the tree canopy.

Hours later and past trees, around undergrowth, and unfortunately through a couple thorn bushes, Seresana continued to walk until when she made it past one thicket and suddenly found herself looking at a tall fence. Curiously she walked along it's edge until she found the building that it was connected to and when she made it around to the front of the shop, Seresana found it to be a little inn. While not booming with business, the sign on the outside proclaimed them open and so Seresana all too happily strode inside.

"Oh hello there child, a little far from the village on a day like today aren't you?" an elderly woman asked from behind the counter.

"Thanks, but you don't need to worry about me. I was wondering though what's with the fence out back?"

"Oh, that's to give the hot springs some privacy."

"Hot springs?"

"Mhmm, we've got a natural hot springs here, it's actually the reason why we built the inn here in the first place."

"Wow, are they open right now?" Seresana asked thinking how nice and relaxing a dip in some hot springs sounded right now after her long walk and the handful of scrapes she'd accumulated during it.
"For now sure, but if any lightning starts up we'll have to close them down immediately, so your dip might end up shortened some. Do you still want to?"

"Sure, I don't think I'll be that long anyways," Seresana said before digging into her pouch and retrieving some ryou to pay. "Do you serve food as well?" She inquired when she was just about to pull out a few coins.

"Why of course deary, anything in particular you'd want?"

"Do you serve Tsukune?"

"It's not our most popular dish, but I can get you an order if that's what you'd like," the clerk replied to which Seresana threw her hands up into the air accompanied by a cheer. "Hehehe, I guess that means you'll want an order of those. Now would you want those before or after your dip?"

"After please."

"Alright, well then if you follow me I'll show you where the changing rooms and springs are, then I'll put in your order," the clerk said finally before turning around and leading Seresana through the building. Once she knew where she was going, Seresana quickly changed, grabbed a towel, and proceeded through the sliding door into the sand and stone surrounded hot springs. She wasted no time at all in slipping into the steaming waters and letting out a highly content sigh as the tension slipped away from her small form. At first Seresana swam about a little, burning off the excess energy she had from the excitement of finding the inn in the first place but it didn't take her too long to end up reclining in a seat and just letting her troubles fall into the recesses of her mind.

Seresana was on the precipice of falling asleep when a droplet of cold water landing right between her eyes startled her. She shot bolt right up at the shock and looked around frantically for a few moments before another droplet landed on top of her head. When she looked up, she only got to for a moment before the downpour started. A powerful shiver raced up Seresana's spine as the cold falling water came in contact with her lightly steaming frame that had just seconds ago been submerged within the hot spring. "Gah cold!" she yelled out before dropping back down into the water up to her nose. "That's better, but what am I going to do now? The rain doesn't look like it's going to stop soon, but the door's so far away, and my towel," her thought process paused as she looked along the shore only to find the article already getting soaked in the pouring rain. "...is already wet. Looks like I'll just have to run for it," she concluded before preparing herself to face the front of cold. With a final deep breath, Seresana jumped out of the pool, grabbed up her damp towel, and sprinted into the building. "Cold, cold, cold," Seresana frantically chanted as she sprung inside.

"Oh, I was just coming out with an umbrella," the clerk woman said as she stood over Seresana, looking at the young girl's face down, prone form. Seresana let a sigh escape her beat red face from being caught in such an embarrassing situation, and hesitantly turned her head until she could see the woman. "Your Tsukune's ready by the way, it'll be cooling on the table when you finish dressing, and there's some fresh towels over there," she added with a point before departing, the closed umbrella still held in her hands as she exited the room.

After the worker stepped out, Seresana picked herself back up and proceeded to finish drying off and then get dressed before wandering out of the room and then into the dining area where she quickly found her food and a complimentary drink resting on one of the tables. With a wide smile on her face, Seresana sat down and ate, finishing a bit faster than she'd thought she would. "I must have been hungrier than I thought I was," Seresana thought to herself as she drank the last of her drink and got up to leave.

It was still raining outside, but that didn't matter to Seresana as she bid goodbye to the innkeeper and wandered out into the storm. The rain itself wasn't too cold unlike how it'd seemed when she'd just gotten out of the hot springs, but it was heavy and pouring down. In almost no time at all, Seresana was thoroughly drenched and she'd only just gotten out of the building, and then the first of the lightning and thunder appeared. It was a blinding flash of light and a thunderous boom of thunder that Seresana even felt signalling that it'd been a bit close for her liking. She felt a little safer under the trees in the forest she was, especially since she wasn't worried about being able to get out and away from them if any started to fall over. Still, she started walking a bit quicker in her attempt to get home.

A the loud echo of an explosion however stopped her cold in her tracks, and she turned back towards where she thought it'd come from. The smoke was already beginning to rise from the impact site and it looked to be from the direction to the inn. Seresana's face paled a little at the thought the inn could have been hit, but she grit her teeth and began running back towards the inn as fast as she could. As she got closer, the smoke became more prominent, the smells of fire, and almost strangely the sounds of more crashing but Seresana still rushed back as fast her legs could carry.

Jumping forth from the underbrush and into the open area where the inn had stood Seresana was shocked at what she beheld. The inn was partially in shambles, half the building outright collapsed in what looked like a terrible explosion while slowly growing fires threatened the rest of the building. More captivating though was the massive animal that stood atop the rubble with pointed head raised towards the sky as bolts of lightning danced about the charged clouds. The beast seemed completely unconcerned with the building it had crushed underfoot and instead continued watching the skies as the terrified Seresana took tentative steps backwards until a groan reached her ears. Ripping her eyes free from the monstrous visage, Seresana spied the clerk from the inn pinned under a piece of burning rubble. She was on her back with one arm splayed out widely on the side while the other and the rest of her body was buried under the rubble. "Oh no, inn lady are you alright!" Seresana yelled out as she started to run towards the woman only to be stopped as thin and random bolt of electricity struck the ground right in front of Seresana. She paused for a moment to look about and beheld the dozens of other little snaking bolts that haphazardly seemed to trace their way about the ground.

Another weak and pain filled moan from the clerk however was enough to steel Seresana's uncertainty and she pressed forward again, dodging around the snaking bolts of lightning. It took a little longer, but Seresana was eventually able to reach the woman who Seresana could now see was bleeding some from her wounds. With the rubble on her though, Seresana was unable to tell how bad the injuries were. She was about to begin the process of removing the rubble when one of the snaking lightning bolts brushed against her arm. The electricity immediately raced up her arm and all along her body with a powerful and painful jolt and left her feeling numb all over to the point where she fell to her knees. "Dang it, I won't be able to do anything like this," Seresana said aloud before bringing her hands together to perform a jutsu. "No choice, I gotta use it. Hopefully you're not awake enough to remember," she added before casting the jutsu. Quickly the water along the ground pooled in a moat like fashion around the clerk and Seresana before erupting upwards while freezing to create an ice dome to shield them both from the lightning. Seresana watched worriedly as one of the thin ribbons of lightning snaked it's way over and came into contact with her dome, and while it seemed to damage it some, the ice held for the moment.

With all the reassurance that she needed, Seresana made a second series of hand signs before performing a clay golem summoning jutsu. The earthen construct quickly formed and nearly didn't fit within the dome, but it had enough space for what Seresana needed done. With careful instructions, Seresana had the golem lift the chunk of rubble while Seresana moved the inn clerk out from under it. As soon as she was clear, Seresana immediately began examining the woman for where the injury was and how bad it was. There was a gash on the arm that had been pinned under the rubble that Seresana quickly bandaged.

She just finished the wrapping when her ice dome practically exploded, followed immediately by her golem, the rubble it had been holding falling to the ground. Seresana had shielded her eyes during the explosion and then immediately looked for it's cause only to find it steering right at her with a pair of giant eyes. Panic filled Seresana as she gazed into a wild and feral looking eye that was at least as big as she was. One hand went instinctively to where her bow would have been resting only to clutch at open dirt. With a grimace, Seresana moved on to her pouch and began to work on drawing out a kunai.

"Don't even think about it human, or you will be dead where you stand," came an almost deafeningly loud but certainly feminine voice from what initially seemed like everywhere. It took a moment for Seresana's suddenly saucer wide eyes to focus back on the giant beast before her that had indeed spoken. "Why did you come here human?" Seresana was too scared to vocally respond, in fact it took her a moment to even motion with her eyes to the still mostly unconscious form of the inn keeper. "You returned just to save her?" Seresana hesitantly nodded, practically shaking from fear as the beast suddenly laughed in that booming voice of hers. "And what of the others? Will you try to save them too?"

"Th- the- there's others still trapped inside?"

"That is what I said human," the beast went on while turning her head towards the still slowly being destroyed inn. "And they get in the way of my young and their merriment. What a foolish not-" the beast stopped her statement mid sentence as she suddenly saw Seresana flying towards the inn at a speed that actually surprised the monster, but a row of lightning bolts that created a makeshift wall stopped Seresana cold in her tracks.

"Wah- what are you doing?! Those people are going to get hurt!" Seresana coughed back as she forced her lightly smoking form back upright on numb legs. The intensity in her voice actually startled herself as she realized she'd just yelled at what equated to a monster.

"My children are having their fun, something they get to enjoy far too infrequently. So what if a few humans get hurt in the process," the monster said as if it were common fact as her eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean? Just what are you?"

That comment caused the beast's eyes to narrow as she stood to her full, terrifying height and glared down at the abnormally tiny feeling Seresana. "You fail to honor me mortal by not even knowing of my name. Listen well, I am Shishokomai, hurricane queen of the four winds, lightning beast born of the gods Fuujin and Raijin, and leader of the Raiju clan. Now where is the respect I deserve?"

Seresana was taken aback by the declaration, even if not all of it made complete sense to her. "I- I, I apologize for disrespecting you Shishokomai," Seresana started with a hesitant bow, but when she straightened back up, it was with a determined expression. "But I'm going to help those people still trapped in the building!"

"I told you the contrary mortal, and I will hold you to it unless you intend to try and get past me," Shishokomai pronounced with a stomp of one of her paws.

"If I have to," Seresana yelled back before turning around and beginning to run towards the building again. She didn't get far before she saw a massive paw being swung at her. the giant limb connected solidly and sent little Seresana careening backwards, tumbling end over end before skidding to a stop along the wet ground. "I'm not giving up yet!" she said before bringing up her hands to make a couple signs. The water along the ground suddenly leapt up in response to the jutsu and froze into a large rectangular mirror right next to her. Shishokomai looked at the object curiously before Seresana suddenly shot out of the mirror towards a second one that had formed much closer to the building. This time, when Shishokomai's paw came at Seresana, she saw it more clearly and was able to maneuver around the limb, albeit just barely and much to Shishokomai's surprise. The beast however wasn't about to let Seresana get to the building though, and did so by calling down another bolt of lightning that struck the mirror Seresana was jumping to as well as Seresana who'd just been about to reach it. The power of that lightning bolt had been considerably more than the little snaking bolts from before and in an instant it destroyed the mirror with an explosion that sent Seresana flying backwards again.

Seresana hit the ground hard that time, hard enough that she let out a gasp of pain upon the impact. She could feel the warmth of blood spilling from at least one wound along her form, but she was in a combination of numb and pain to the point where she couldn't actually tell where the injury was. "Dammit, wh- why are you so determined to hurt these people! What did they do to you!" Seresana called out then, as it was about the only thing she could really do. That one blow had done way too much damage to her and even then she couldn't shake the feeling that this beast was holding back.

"Aww, are you already reduced to just words human?" Shishokomai said back tauntingly. "That was hardly any fun, and then you even go so far as to falsely accuse me. I already told you that I harbor nothing for nor against these humans. I simply state that my children shall have their play time while they can in this realm."

"I don't get it, why can't you go somewhere else to play?" Seresana cried back as the feeling slowly returned to her extremities, but with that came the pain of her wounds. "Damn, I've at least got a bunch of cuts and bruises along both arms and legs.

"We are a summoning clan you ignorant human. Our kind can only grace this realm in the heart of the mightiest of storms, or..." Shishokomai trailed off for a moment as she looked down at Seresana and a cruel smile slowly formed along her animalistic face. "Human, how important is it to you to save these other humans? What would you be willing to do to save them?"

"I," Seresana started but then hesitated for a moment as the words forced her to actually stop for a second and think. She didn't know these people, she didn't owe them anything, and she'd already been beaten to a pulp trying to save them and for what? Here she was bruised, bloodied, battered, and soaked to the bone for a few people that she didn't even know. Before she could keep thinking about that though, she remembered the festival again. The people she'd tried so hard to save, and the one she hadn't managed to, her friend. She remembered the decimated body, the sadness that hit not just her but others she knew as well. She hated that feeling, that helplessness, the loneliness, and the sense of defeat when she couldn't chase away the tears of her friend. Now though, Seresana was at least around to try and prevent more needless deaths, she could stop the sadness, the loss, and the tears of others. With that realization firmly in her mind, Seresana looked back up to Shishokomai with a determined expression that turned into a grimace as she forced her feet onto the ground again. "I'd do anything to keep these people safe. I'll fight with everything I have if that's what it takes," Seresana went on as she continued to try and force herself to standing again.

"Hmm... and what if I told you we might be able to make a deal human?"

That caught Seresana off guard, almost to the point where she had to look Shishokomai skeptically. "A deal?" she asked to confirm what she was so certain she'd misheard.

"Yes, a deal human. By the clouds I swear you all are hard of hearing, it must be those tiny ears on the sides of your round heads," Shishokomai announced with more than a little annoyance in her tone. "Regardless though, I might propose a deal here. You see my poor little children over there?" Shishokomai announced with a point of her head to the suddenly dozens of animalistic faces that were peeking over the rubble at Seresana and Shishokomai. "Some of them are still very young and wish to play more often than the storms allow. But if you were to become a summoner of my clan, then you could bring them to this realm for their enjoyment at least once every third day and we might leave rather than cause more destruction today."

"I could do that? Be- become a summoner? How?"

"Hmph, ignorant human," Shishokomai replied before howling up to the sky. A fresh bolt of lightning struck the ground before Seresana, leaving behind a towering, ornate scroll. "Take that scroll and sign it with both your name and the hand you wish to use to summon my kin, in your blood."

Seresana looked at the scroll with wary wide eyes for a while and considered what it'd mean to make this kind of commitment. "If I do this, will you help me save the people still trapped in the inn?"

"Don't get greedy human!" Shishokomai bellowed back at Seresana. "I offer you an incrediblly generous deal and you have the gall to ask for more. Why I-"

"No no, please, I'm sorry. It's a deal, I'll sign the scroll," Seresana hurriedly said before setting the scroll on the ground and rolling it out to an open spot. She saw other names scrawled on the parchment but paid them little mind as she dabbed her fingers at one of the fresh and stinging cuts along her arms. With her name sign with a flourish and the hand print made. "There, it's done."

Shishokomai's tail slipped around to the scroll, gently wrapping around it and hoisting it up to where she could see it. "Hatasuko Seresana, from this day forth, you shall be a summoner for the Raiju clan for so long as you are among the living, and if you fail to uphold your end of our agreement, then I shall eat you myself," the great beast announced aloud after reading the name. "I expect them to be returned before dark, and don't let them have too much candy."

"Wait, wah?"

"Ah, and now the storm is about to break, me and my children must leave."

"...Hey, if the storm was about to en-"

"Since they got their chance to play today, we'll count it as the first, but three days from now, I expect to hear that one of my children was summoned. Goodbye Seresana," Shishokomai said before once more lifting her head to the sky as a veritable horde of small and slightly varying versions of her scampered over near her.

"He- hey, wait just a minute. Did you know the storm was abo-" but a massive blast of lightning cut Seresana off before she could finish and when the blinding light faded, she beheld no Shishokomai, or any of the Raiju she'd seen just moments ago. "to end... did I just get suckered into agree to babysit a bunch of little raiju?" Seresana asked aloud as confusion and slight frustration colored her expression. The snap of a large wooden beam that further showed the structural integrity of the inn however snapped her out of the distraction and she set off to resume trying to save the rest of the inn staff.

That evening when Seresana finally returned to her house, she had a small layer of bandages over all the cuts and bruises, a small parting gift from the grateful inn staff, she was very contemplative about everything that had happened during the day. She was also quite sore again and so decided that a fresh hot bath was in order. Though as soon as she opened the door, Seresana was instantly ambushed by a couple of little raccoons who quickly tried to scramble up her legs. Seresana chuckled as she simply walked on with them clinging to her as she made her way to the bathroom to take her bath and get ready for bed. "You two will never guess who I met today," she said to them with a coy grin.

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