The rarest kind of flower

It was an another average day in the village, or at least it'd started as such for Seresana as she wandered the streets idly. She was in her usual attire but seeing as she wasn't going on any mission for the day, Seresana had elected to leave her bow and quiver at home while bringing along the couple young raccoons. Miku held his usual perch on top of Seresana's head, looking about wildly in what seemed an attempt to look everywhere at once while Mina however seemed more than happy to rest in a large pouch at Seresana's waist and watch only a fraction of the crowd while nibbling on a cracker. It was right after she turned down another street though that Seresana caught sight of a lush little garden being tended to. In particular, a large pink flower caught her eye and stirred her memory, making her think back to when she'd last scene such a flower. It'd been on the head of a certain girl at the festival, one that had run away from her in a panic and into the crowd before disappearing past an alley.

I wonder what became of her, Seresana thought to herself as she continued walking. Hmm... I hope she got out okay, maybe I should go check on her to make sure. Argh, but I don't know where she lives. Well, I could try that field where Sylvan and I first saw her, that's at least something to go by. With her little mental talk finished, Seresana adjusted her course and began walking towards the training field with the pond, arriving not too much later. Upon arriving, she simply scanned the area to see if there were any obvious signs of her or anyone else in the training field while staying at the edge of it to not alert anyone.

Word Count: 309

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Word count: 236
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Kisayuri had been doing a good job at keeping out of sight. Well rather she did a good job and keep to where people do not normally tread too, which meant, at least for her, she was hiding away from people. The only time she returned home was when the sun fell and that was back home to her momma. Though today she had been out and about through the forested area of Konoha, towards the training area. she had been, of course much like any other shinobi, training on her own refining her own abilities.

Today, however, Kisayuri was quite tired and was resting in how she knew best. Within the earth that birthed her. How she did this exactly? Well that was easily done since she was one with nature. Out toward's that training field with the nearby pond, Kisayuri could be found, well...let's be exact.

when Seresana arrived to that location everything would look the same as it usually did. Except that not to far off from the pond, there would be a new installment. A rather large looking bud, it's petals closed as if it wasn't bloomed, but the top of it, about three feet tall from the ground to the tip, bent outwards leaving a small opening. the strange thing about this large plant was that it looked as if it was a unbloomed tiger lily flower without the stem.

It wasn't Seresana who'd first noticed the plant when she arrived, but rather Miku who saw the new addition and stared at with all the curiosity a young raccoon could. When Seresana noticed Miku's gaze and followed it, she would find herself starring at the new addition to the training grounds. Her thoughts about finding the flower girl momentarily went to the back of her mind as she became increasingly curious about the new flora. With careful and gentle strides, Seresana closed the distance between the bud and herself quickly. When she was finally standing next to the plant, Seresana implemented the utmost care and caution when inspecting the new plant, going about her investigation with the tact and cunning of an experienced scientist. That is the fancy way of saying she just reached out and gently touched the plant to see if anything would happen.

Word Count: 147
Total: 456

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Word count: 307 | 543
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Nature is quite the most amazing and wondrous thing to have ever existed. Flora and Fauna coinciding together in harmony. A law where the strongest always survive and the weakest normally don't. At least this applies in the sense of battling for territory, in other instances it really comes down to 'how dumb can an animal be' and sometimes it isn't so much that it's dumb as it's actually ignorant. Everything on the planet comes with a self-defense mechanism and each mechanism varies from species to species. Armadillo's turn into a spiked ball, some creature's are poisonous - a lot are actually - and one big give away for a lot of things in nature is beauty, or rather color.

Typically the more colorful, or beautiful, a flora or fauna is, typically the more dangerous it is. Their bright colors aren't so much screaming out - hey, i'm beautiful - but rather they are screaming out; 'Hey, i'm dangerous, don't touch me.'

This right here is a prime example of that. The interesting thing however, a self defense mechanism for an Ao Boshi typically changes depending upon the environment it grew up in. Kisayuri was born within the Forest of Death, she's lived her entire incubation period in there, from her time as a wee seedling to a full grown pod.

The Raccoon's would easily be able to tell that something wasn't right the closer Seresana got to the pod, especially when she reached out for it. The petal's stayed closed, after a moment, however the petal's shivers and bulged and it 'burped' from the top of it's opening a nasty smelling gas. If inhaled too much, paralysis would set in rather quickly, though if only a little bit set in then the worst a human could feel would be slight numbness, mostly in the facial area.

True enough, Miku and Mina did have enough sense to not be next to the flower as Seresana conducted her completely scientific examination. Mina simply ducked her head back into the pouch and seemed to even try to close up the top to some effectiveness. Miku however scampered clean off Seresana's head and was halfway down her leg when Seresana actually made contact with the plant. She only took a half step back as the flower shivered and bulged, but curiosity kept her still next to the plant right up until the cloud of gas erupted right in her face. Seresana tried to hold her breath, she tried not to gag on the smell, she even tried to jump out of the cloud, but she held her breath just a second too late and ended up with a fairly full breath of the stuff that instantly took the feeling out of her legs to where her jump tuned more into a collapse, and the smell had her eyes watering instantly.

Seresana continued to hold her breath while more or less under the gas cloud. When it finally dissipated, Seresana let out her breath and tried to take a new deep breath, but the air came in and out ragged from her gagged coughing. When she was finally able to breath normally again, a new wave of panic set in as she couldn't seem to move her limbs. It was even a struggle for the little girl to turn her head enough to see the splayed out limb that Miku was now licking, that she couldn't feel at all. "Meh-chu," she said slowly and through a slack-jawed mouth as she continued to in vain try and move her limb to comfort the worried looking little raccoon. That call however was enough to get the little raccoon's attention and he wandered over to her fairly numb face. He sniffed her features and licked her nose before climbing on top of her chest and continuing to paw at her as if trying to get her to move. "Meh-chu, ish ohkah," Seresana said weakly to hopefully soothe the raccoon.

Miku however didn't seem interested in being calmed, and he continued bounding about Seresana's form in something close to panicked frenzy. Seresana let out a sigh at her failed attempts to calm him and instead turned her wavering attention towards another option. "Helpsh, hanehfon!" she yelled out about as loudly as she could, albeit even that was fairly muffled by the numbness that plagued her.

Word Count: 422
Total: 878

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Word count: 251 | 794
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And that is what happened when an intelligent creature faces something they know nothing about, a clear example of 'curiosity killed the cat', if this were a video game surely this would have activated the Bad End sequence and the pod was secretly this alien device that just devours people that get near it, though fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your perspective really, The plant didn't really do anything else. There was light rumbling underground and then the petal's of the giant flower 'bloomed'.

As the petal's opened up full there was a light yawn escaping from it. Arm's began to stretch high into the air. "why is it so noisy, can't I just sunbathe in peace?" she uttered, clearly sounding upset and sleepy. The pink petal's unfolded completely until Kisayuri was unveiled completely. With her petal's laying flat against the ground, she began to rise up out of the ground and as she did so she glanced about and eventually came to noticing a person on the ground.

This person seemed familiar, though Kisayuri kept a stoic look on her face, she did stare. Her eyes then shifted toward's the Raccoon, the frantic panicked Raccoon. She spoke out to it, in much to her kinds ability, she was fully capable of speaking to it as her voice automatically translates to the language that the Raccoon understands and vice-versa. "Are you okay, little one?" clearly Kisayuri's concerned lied with the Raccoon and not the paralyzed person on the ground.

As the flower shifted and bloomed, both Miku's and Seresana's eyes were on it, so they were watching as Kisayuri exited her apparent napping place. Both wide sets of eyes beheld the spectacle and for a moment seemed kind of stunned by it, at least for a little bit. Before Kisayuri got to ask her second question, Seresana piped up. "Oh hehs, ish hyu. Shorreh fthor wahkingsh hyu, hy didnth knowh hyu wthere slepshing there. Hy'm fffine but thash hyur fthloweh srighth? Itsh pretteh butsh can hyu ficksh dish?" Seresana struggled to say and ended with a gesture of her eyes to herself, not quite realizing that Kisayuri wasn't even really paying attention to her.

While Seresana continued to talk, Miku was rather caught off guard by Kisayuri's suddenly comprehensible tone, a fact reflected by his jump and spin around to her. "It's big mommy, she won't move like no matter what I do! I don't want big mommy to go away like old mommy," Miku's panicked squeaks spelled out to the girl who could understand them.

Word Count: 177
Total: 1,055

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Word count: 125 | 919
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even if Kisayuri was paying attention to Seresana she really wouldn't have been able to understand her slurred numbed talking voice. Kisayuri kept her focus though on Miku. A look of concern crossed her face and then she spoke in a confused tone. "Big Mommy?" her gaze shifted a second to the paralyzed Seresana. "But this is a human, why do you care for a human?" she looked back toward's Miku the look on her own face was confused as she was trying to understand why the animal cared for the human. this was a common question she normally asked to animals, plants and insects that legitimately like humans. She herself doesn't understand it, but is quite curious about as to why they do.

"Huh, bigs mommeh? Vhats hyu talkshing habout?" Seresana asked growing confused as Kisayuri replied to Miku since she couldn't actually understand what Miku was saying and therefore only got half the conversation. "Hesh, cahn hyu ficksh dish numbsnesh?" Seresana asked again as she continued to struggle in vain to regain control over herself.

"Because she takes care of us. She has ever since old mommy stopped moving during the big storm. She feeds us, and she lets me climb up high and feeds us, and she cleans us and feeds us good things, just like old mommy did. Plus she does this other thing where she scratches right behind my ears just right with her not sharp claws while feeding us, but now big mommy isn't moving and I don't want her to go away too," Miku almost ranted as he'd actually stopped his panicked jumping for a moment.

Word Count: 149
Total: 1,204

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Word count: 248 | 1,167
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Kisayuri once again ignored the numb slurred plea's of Seresana and kept her focus on Miku who explained about why he liked this human. She stared at him and blinked just once before her eyes shifted towards Seresana in an almost judgmental-like gaze. "Hmm...so this one cares for you." she looked back toward's the raccoon and smiled softly as she nodded her head, reaching out she petted Miku on the head. "very well then, it seems like she is important to you, but there isn't anything to worry. She is only paralyzed. She took in part of my toxic gas, it'll eventually wear out on it's own, but..." she looked at Miku. "I think you'll be too worried to wait to long."

she stopped petting Miku on the head and she turned her focus toward's Seresana. The flowers on her head both bloomed taking in the sunlight. It didn't take too long before Kisayuri held out her hand near her flowers and leaned her head to her hand and pollen dust just shook itself onto her hand. "I don't like you humans..." she said to Seresana. "But I cannot live with myself if I keep your little one worried for so long." and just after that she blew onto her hand spreading the dust that collected onto her hand onto Seresana's face, to make certain she breath it all in. this one had a more pleasant smell to it and it counteracted the effects of her earlier poison.

Miku was all too happy to be petted, even by a stranger it seemed as he craned his head about to make sure Kisayuri's hand hit all the right spots. When the pets ended, Miku kept switching his head back and forth between Kisayuri and Seresana, curiously watching what transpired.

Seresana however finally resided to just remain quite as she finally noticed that Kisayuri didn't seem to actually be talking to her, until she suddenly was. Seresana's expression became confused as Kisayuri's seemingly first comment towards her was a general dislike of humans, of which Seresana was fairly confident in assuming that the flower girl wasn't one of. She'd done a few too many things that weren't really human-like to really easily be considered on by now, and another when the blew the new pollen into Seresana's face. Once again late to the draw, Seresana went to hold her breath out of reflex, but still being late to it she got a sizable breath of the new dust into her. Thanks to the pleasant smell this time though, she wasn't left gagging and actually smiled slightly as feeling crept back into her limbs. The first thing she did was sit up, only to immediately be pounced on by Miku who began to snuggle into her lap and shirt. "Hehehe Miku, see, it's okay, I'm just fine," Seresana said while raising a hand to begin petting and scratching behind Miku's ears.

Before Seresana got a chance to address the flower girl, a sudden burst of movement from her belt pouch drew her attention and with a bit of shock, Seresana realized that it'd shut tightly. "Oh Mina, here, let me get you out of there," Seresana added as she undid the accidental knot and loosened the strings enough for the other little raccoon to poke her head out and then climb onto Seresana's lap to join in the petting. This one looked over at Kisayuri briefly, but seemed rather disinterested in her as she started getting petted herself.

With both raccoons being satiated with Seresana's hands, she then turned her head to look at the flower girl with a gentle smile. "Thanks for that, and um.. again, I'm sorry about waking you up... and for scarring you during the festival. I only chased after you because I just wanted to make sure you weren't going to get injured in the panic," Seresana apologized with a slight bow of her head. "My name's Seresana, what's yours?" She asked right after raising her head back up.

Word Count: 423
Total: 1,627

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Word count: 178 | 1,345
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Kisayuri kept in her squatting position and watched as Seresana was being snuggled by Miku, and shortly after a second one as well. She arched a brow seeing how enamored both the animals were with the girl. Her eyes drifted to Seresana and she stared at her a moment, looking her over, trying to see if she could figure out what made this human likable. Of course, she couldn't figure it out, so it just ended up with Kisayuri stoically staring at Seresana for a while.

then came the question of her name, this was the second time her name was asked for and much like the first time she's been asked by someone else, she would respond in the same way. "My name isn't important to you." she looked to the Raccoon's before she stood up. "Only reason I helped you is because your little one was worried about you. You would have been fine after a couple hours either way. So if there is anyone to thank, it's the little one who pounced you first."

Seresana nodded to the reply, and while her smile turned stained for a second, it was quick to return to it's normal gentle self as she shifted her hand slightly to scratch a new spot behind Miku's ears that the little raccoon appreciated very much if his sounds of content were anything to go by. "That's alright, though do you have something that I could call you? I don't want to be rude just calling you flower girl all the time," Seresana said as her gaze shifted down to Miku and Mina. Miku was still on his paws, twisting and moving about a little with the hand that petted him while Mina had practically curled into a ball and started dozing to the gentle caresses.

Word Count: 126
Total: 1,753

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Word count: 111 | 1,456
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There was a blank stare in Seresana's direction that came from Kisayuri and soon it followed by a disappointed sigh. "you human's and a need to name everything..." she stated as she stood up and stretched her arms above her head and looked down at Seresana, who was petting the two raccoon's, who they themselves looked absolutely pleased by this. "Kisayuri is the name my Momma gave me." She answered.

One flower on her head has closed up, while the larger of the two flowers on her head stayed open. "What brought you out here? I assume you were going to train? That is what you human's do, is it not?"

Seresana grinned and chuckled a little at Kisayuri's little observation about the naming thing, and then nodded again when Kisayuri actually gave her name. Seresana had already gave her name and so she didn't see a need to give hers up again, at least not so long as she wasn't asked.

Seresana then shook her head 'no' to Kisayuri's guess for why she was here. "Actually I just was out on a walk to enjoy the day with Miku and Mina here, when I saw something that reminded me of you. Then I came here because I thought I might run into you," Seresana said as she continued petting the raccoons. Miku however seemed to have had enough of the petting for the moment as he squirmed out from under Seresana's hand and then wandered over towards Kisayuri. "Looks like Miku's taken a liking to you, careful though. He's kinda playful and likes to be up high more than being held," Seresana warned just as the little raccoon began circling Kisayuri, seeming to plan where he was going to jump onto to begin climbing up her. "So were you just out here for a nap yourself?"

Word Count: 197
Total: 1,950

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Word count: 161 | 1,617
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Kisayuri per say didn't mind that Miku wandered around closer to her. But at the same time, she didn't want a raccoon sitting on her flowers. So she shifted a glance toward's Miku and told Miku clearly. "Don't you dare jump on me." It might also be a little bit because she was interrupted from her sleep, so she may have been a teensy weensy bit grouchy. Her gaze shifted back toward's Seresana. "Napping and feeding." she uttered as a response. She kept her arms above and behind her head, her fingers interlaced with each other as her head leaned back into them in a relaxed pose of sorts. It's a bit difficult to find quiet places to sleep and eat around here due to you all just appearing out of no where and touching what obviously shouldn't be touched. Of course I am not allowed to go through with my full defense mechanism due to it resulting in fatal wounds."

Miku rather quickly stopped in his tracks and nodded in response to Kisayuri's demand before simply wandering back over to Seresana where he subsequently climbed up her back until he was laying on top of her head. He stayed there for all of a few seconds before climbing back down and wandering over to the nearby tree that he subsequently started to climb.

Seresana meanwhile sported a very strained smile as Kisayuri pointed out she'd woken her up and apparently interrupted a meal as well. "R-right, sorry about that. I'm kind of glad you didn't go through with the full defense though," Seresana said through the strained expression. But then curiosity blatantly bloomed upon her face. "Wait, you were feeding too?"

Word Count: 122
Total: 2,072

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Word count: 95 | 1,712
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Kisayuri noted Miku went back over to climb onto Seresana instead and her eyes stayed focused to her now. Minor facial movements were noted and Kisayuri blinked slowly as she mentally took note of those minor movements. "I would think anyone would be glad they aren't put in a near death situation. That is a common process of thought, is it not?" she asked curiously, though she tilted her head slightly at seresana's question about her feeding and she nodded her head as she simply answered with no actual explanation added to it. "Yes."

"Mhmm," Seresana confirmed Kisayuri's statement, though the answer to her own question brought on a slightly look of surprise as she recollected what she knew in her head. "Wow, that's amazing!" she finally exclaimed with more than a little excitement. "So does it taste good? And what about other foods, do you ever eat any human foods?" Seresana then asked, which in truth was but a few of the total questions she really had, but she didn't want to overwhelm Kisayuri when she finally managed to get the mysterious flower girl to actually talk to her.

As Seresana asked her questions, Miku was working his way up the tree steadily until he finally managed to work his way onto a level branch. Once there he began to wander about the branches and other limbs of the tree, poking his little head through bunches of leaves, and looking about at all the new sights he could see from this new vantage point.

Word Count: 162
Total: 2,234

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Word count: 146 | 1,858
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"Taste?" she questioned and then glanced up toward's the sun and tilted her head again and shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose." she answered and then shook her head. "I don't eat human food. It will taint me." she stated as if it was the worst thing ever to happen to her. Kisayuri lowered her arms and brought them behind her own back and laced her fingers together again and looked at Seresana again. "Why do you ask so many questions?"

As she awaited an answer, Kisayuri listened to everything around her. the voices of the trees, the voices of the insects. Listened to all that actually had words to speak. wondering if maybe they would get back to her any odd information about this particular girl, though nothing really did come back to her. Still she kept her eyes on Seresana and awaited for her response.

A flash of confusion danced across Seresana's face at the answer, but she didn't press it, especially when Kisayuri gave one back to her in return. She paused then to consider why exactly she was asking all these questions and she kept coming back to a single answer. "Well, partially because I'm just curious, but also because I'd like us to become friends and everything I know about you helps with that," Seresana said simply. "See, now that I know you really don't like human food, I know not to take you to a restaurant to get something to eat," Seresana elaborated with a grin. "You also seem to really like nature and being out in it, as well as the animals that live there as well," Seresana went on while scooping up Mina who shifted her little pointed head to where her nose was against Seresana's hand and sniffed at it she was being moved. "Would you like to hold Mina while we talk? She really likes being held and petted, about the opposite of Miku."

Word count: 178
Total: 2,412

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Word count: 147 | 2,005
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Several thoughts crossed the young flower girls mind about this woman. Several questions in fact, but none of ish she had voiced. There was something she herself found strange about the girl, but then again that isn't saying all too much given that she already thinks that human's are strange enough as is. Kisayuri held a blank stare at Seresana and then her eyes shifted down toward's the Raccoon called Mina. she didn't say anything for the moment before her focus turned toward's Mina. "This human isn't doing anything strange to you or the other little one, is it?" her tone was flat, blunt and a bit cold. She didn't move her hands from behind her, so she didn't accept the offer to hold Mina either. She kept her position with her hands behind her. "Is it always like this?" she added asking Mina about Seresana.

Mina lifted her head as she was addressed, but her reaction was far more reserved and calm than the still bounding about Miku. "Not really, the new home is a bit weird and the food's different, but those are both good things," Mina replied before looking back at Seresana again before replying to the second question. "Yeah, though usually the petting doesn't stop until I'm asleep," Mina complained slightly at the current lack of petting.

While this little conversation was going on, Seresana was having her own bit of realization. She'd been confused at first when Kisayuri started talking, but then she really noticed where the flower girl's eyes were. Seresana's own eyes went stark wide as she made the connection that Miku and Mina subsequent squeaks hadn't just been the stuff of coincidence, but they were in fact talking with Kisayuri. She obviously couldn't be sure and a bit of skepticism remained, but as the conversation continued, she was slowly becoming even more convinced that Kisayuri and Mina were having a conversation right now. That being said, Seresana didn't say anything despite the obvious desire to confirm her suspicions, since she didn't wish to interrupt the other conversation.

Word Count: 199
Total: 2,611

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Word count: 111 | 2,116
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Kisayuri shifted her gaze toward's Seresana and stared at her, clearly she was judging her as she stared. "I see." she uttered shortly as she looked away, her own eyes looking for the other raccoon. "You seem to be kind enough toward's these two." she stated to Seresana this time. "Though I don't exactly approve of the pet treatment, but to each their own." she stated until her eyes fell upon the other one who had been climbing tree's. Kisayuri didn't do anything, she only watched. "Why do you desire to be friends with me? It's pretty obvious enough that I hate you and your species, so why are you bothering?"

With her conversation done, Mina lowered her head back down to a resting position, just as Seresana lowered her hands as she realized that Kisayuri wasn't going to hold the raccoon and she resumed petting Mina. Seresana wanted ask about the whole animal talking bit, but Kisayuri bet her to the punch with her own question, and it was another one that made Seresana pause with thought. "Hmm... Do I need a reason?" Seresana asked back genuinely curious but then shook her head as something else came to mind. "I mean, I guess I don't really have a specific reason, I just like making friends. So why do you hate humans?"

Word Count: 112
Total: 2,723