After School

"Oh it's not far, we'll be there in no time," Seresana replied as she tried to think of whether or not it really was that long of a walk for her each day, but then again, she'd been walking the same route for every day so it probably wouldn't' seem that long to her. "My dad inherited the house from his father who got it from his. The land that it sits on has supposedly been in our family for generations, and dad even claims that it was given to our family as a gift from the hokage from a long time ago, but I'm not sure how true that is," Seresana replied to the later question first.

"And it's alright Dust hehehe, I think sometimes I might be a little forward too and I probably made you a little nervous putting you on the spot like that, but hey we're friends now. We can learn what each other is like together, and I promise, I'll do my best to not get angry at you," Seresana added the last bit with a reassuring smile. In her mind however, she wasn't sure at all why Dust would think she wasn't someone you'd want to make mad. She didn't think she was too strong or really powerful, and she was also fairly certain that she didn't look scary. Seresana didn't have too long to contemplate on those thoughts though before they passed the walls, and then a rather short ways past, a large darkened structure slowly came into view. It was a large two story house in a more traditional design with high slanted roofs of a darker color that was lost in the disappearing light, and considerably lighter colored walls. Numerous window lined the walls and from several of them light spilled out. "Ah and here we are," Seresana exclaimed excitedly as she rushed forward a little to stand in front of the door and throw her hands up into the air. "Welcome Dust, to the Hatasuko house," Seresana announced cheerfully before sidestepping and opening the door for the other girl to enter through. The entryway that lay beyond the door looked welcoming enough, brightly lit, several pairs of shoes resting on a lower section before the raised step that was the actual floor. A number of coats and hats also hung from hangers along the left wall. Directly ahead past the entryway was a hallway that seemed to split to the left and right.

Word Count: 415
Total: 6,383

"Is your family important, then?" Dust asked, momentarily going pale. If she had insulted the daughter of an important family, there wasn't a force in the world that could save her from their wrath... but this girl didn't seem to be the type to be a tattletale. She'd hopefully just brush it off and never speak of it again.

Dust seemed to relax further once Sena admitted her mistakes. "Yes... usually when people are that forward it either means they want something from me or they're about to yell at me. I guess this is the definition of culture shock... How do you think I should get adjusted to this place?" she asked as she passed the walls. She stayed silent as they made their way to the house itself, but examined every detail once it came into sight. "Why so many windows? Makes it look like a bloody watchtower," Dust mumbled. She didn't like the thought of being watched. It made her skin crawl. You couldn't know what they were saying about you, and it's almost always too awkward to ask... No, stop that, Dust thought to herself. You really don't need to be doing that again. It'll lead to the same situation as last time, and you know it. She shook her head, sighing softly. She hoped Sena didn't notice as they stepped inside. "My family didn't believe in hats for some reason. I don't know why, they just didn't use them," she remarked, trying to distract her thoughts from the anxiety she was feeling again. "I forget if I asked how many family members you have... you sure they'll welcome strangers, especially people who just got here?" She paused. "My family thought that any stranger was a murderer... I knew it was ridiculous, but I just thought that that is how parents are." She didn't take her shoes off or anything, partially out of waiting for permission and slightly because she didn't really like the feel of bare feet on floors. And the sounds... It was just so noisy.

She internally congratulated herself on thinking of small things instead of having an existential crisis every five minutes. She was trained to be better than this, after all, but she felt the training might have backfired. Perhaps she would just have to retrain herself... but she'd have to do that alone. Nobody else could help her, unlike with physical matters... However, other people had been through greater trials in stories and turned out just fine. She could deal with something as small as this.

Word count: 425, total 5369

"Well some might not think so since my dad's just a local handyman who does various odd jobs around the village, but I think we're important," Seresana replied to the first bit with a simple smile that showed her complete lack of ill will. She was sure to listen as Dust spoke next, explaining her feelings on Seresana's forward personality, though she did chuckle at the mention of all the windows. "I like them, they let in a lot of light and they're great when it's raining because I've got no problems watching it."

Seresana quickly ditched her sandals at the entrance and hopped up onto the entryway, motioning for Dust to do the same. "Well, there's my mom Sophia, my dad Vesken, and my annoying little brother Hitagi. And I'm sure they'll be just fine with you coming over, my dad's even said before that to have company is one of the reasons for having a house," Seresana replied while starting to lead the way through the house. She turned to the left at the split and proceeded down the hallway past a couple rooms. On the walls were numerous pictures of the family and it's separate members. As for the rooms that Seresana passed, one appeared to be something of a living room with numerous seating, large doors leading outside, a tall bookcase and a few other furnishings. The second room wasn't as much of a room as it was just a more open space with a staircase leading upwards. Closer to the end of the hall, Seresana turned to the left to enter into what appeared to be a dining room with connected kitchen.

Already sitting at the table was a small group of people that easily could be assumed were Seresana's previously mentioned family. The only woman looked like an older Seresana while neither of the two men at the table looked like her at all. The older man was tall and fairly broad with sun bronzed skin. His dark hair was messy and cut short like the boy's, and his dark eyes were lively yet calm as they looked towards the new arrivals. The younger boy looked like a true cross between the parents though and looked over with a bored expression. The woman however was the first to speak, "welcome home dear, who's your friend?"

"Hi everyone, this is my new friend Dust," Seresana said with a gesture towards the other girl, or at least her general direction if she'd followed Seresana.

A small collection of greetings were made then, each family member saying hi accompanied by their name with Vesken going last as he said a bit more. "Either of you hungry?"

Word Count: 447
Total: 6,830

Dust nodded. She liked rain... she tried to justify the reasons by thinking things like she played games with the patterns and trying to count how many drops there were in one second and averaging how long rain lasted, or how long it was between sheets of rain when it was raining like that. In reality, though, she just liked it because it gave her something to focus on. "Yes..." she mused. "I like rain. It's not... fun, per se, but it gives me something to focus on, which is always welcome," Dust said, only somewhat conscious of her actually saying it. It kinda slipped out, as she was tired due to both exhaustion and a lack of food.

Sena mentioned an annoying brother... What did Sena consider annoying? If Sena wasn't even annoyed by Dust, Hitagi must be hell on earth. Then again, siblings apparently did have more rivalries than outside people... Dust thought again of Sena being trained to mislead her, but she quickly dropped it. She really wasn't worth an assassin with that much training.

Dust paused at the entryway. It was obvious to any observer watching her that the girl was internally debating on whether or not to take off her shoes. She didn't want to take them off and appear like she was making herself at home, but she didn't want to refuse their hospitality... Then again, she certainly did not want to get their floors dirty, and she quickly took off her shoes, bending down and pinching them together to straighten them out, then positioning them a respectable distance away from Sena's shoes. She may as well be orderly...

Dust followed quickly, taking long strides but not running to catch up to Sena. The girl was fast sometimes... Dust looked at the eyes of the pictures, curious as to see whether or not she could detect emotion through pictures. It was something she had wondered about for as long as she could remember, but she had never actually gotten an opportunity to do so. She smiled at the sight of the doors, as they meant another way to exit in case something happened. All the windows could make escape easy too, but it also meant she would most certainly be seen if they knew she had left. It really did remind her of a watchtower...

Dust looked at the assembled family. Where was the little brother? It surely couldn't be either of the men, they seemed relatively old. However, she hadn't mentioned an older brother... Maybe looks were just deceiving. "H... Hi," she said after a moment of hesitation, kinda shuffling around in place. She couldn't really get much paler.

"No thank you, I'm... I'm not hungry, sir," she said, trying to remember all their names for future reference. She didn't want to abuse their hospitality, sure. However, there was the off chance that Dust actually was ill and the vomiting wasn't just a mix of anxiety and exhaustion. She wanted to lay down, but she knew that would be extremely rude... She half-hoped, however, that they saw how pale she was and let her do so. It would mean that she wouldn't have to chat, and it meant that she could lay down free of guilt. But would she be free from it if that was what she hoped was done?

Word count: 554, total 5923

"I'm fine for now too," Seresana chimed in after Dust as she regarded her family with a happy smile.

"Actually, your friend looks a bit pale sweetie," Sophia spoke up. "Why don't you show her the living room where she can rest a little."

"Oh, okay mom," Seresana replied before motioning for Dust to follow and beginning to lead the other girl back down the hallway just a little to the next room over. Inside was a few seating cushions and a couple folded up larger mats where one could lay down and rest in comfort. There was a large bookshelf on one wall filled with not just books, but also a few nick-knacks and small pictures. "You can lay down on one of those mats if you want, and I could go get the checkers game for us to play," Seresana went on before leaving the room to supposedly get the game and leaving Dust in the space to herself.

Word Count: 160
Total: 6,990

Dust noted that she couldn't read emotions through pictures, although she was a bit disappointed. It could prove useful if she could, but only in very niche situations. Maybe for espionage... She'd much rather do something like that than be on the front lines.

Dust jumped a bit when Sena's mom spoke. This family was awfully perceptive... She would have thought that they would assume she was pale due to her red hair, if anything. Odd.

Dust followed Sena after a moment of hesitation. If she fell asleep, she'd be defenseless... Her thoughts started to race along that train of thought again, but she quickly quieted the thoughts with the somewhat depressing thoughts that she would definitely be dead already if they wanted to kill her. At least it was logical...

"That would be n-" she said, but quieted as Sena already left. "Oh," Dust mumbled as she made her way over to a mat. Quickly feeling its texture with a hand, she sat down on it for now. It was difficult to play board games while laying down... she was tired, though. Maybe she'd lay down after the game was done. She was too tired for the possibility of challenging Sena to a rematch if she lost.

Word count: 205, total 6128

Seresana came back fairly quickly with the board game held in her grasp. She quickly deposited the game on the floor between herself and Dust while taking a seat as well. "Do you want to be red or black?" Seresana asked while already beginning to divide up the two different colored sets of checkers. The whole game itself showed considerable wear, the kind accumulated with lots of use and hours spent playing. Obviously the family played the game several times.

Word Count: 81
Total: 7,071

Dust had actually started to doze off by the time Sena returned, despite her quickness. Definitely no rematches...

It took Dust a few seconds to recgonise the other girl's question. "Uh... black, I guess." She thought black was the one that went first, but she couldn't remember... smoke before fire, that's right. She was going first, assuming Sena followed the same method Dust did. Dust slowly aided in helping arrange the pieces, but only managed to put on four or five before the board was filled. "I go first, right?" Another thought struck Dust, one that worried her. "There... there are no stakes to this, right? You look awfully experienced, judging by the way the pieces look. Seems that you enjoy this a lot..."

Word count: 124, total 6252

"Nah, no stakes. It's just for fun. And I'm not that good, my Mom beats me almost every time," Seresana admitted with a slightly strained grin. She was obviously still in a good mood, but none too happy about admitting to losing. "Though it's not just me and her that play. Dad and Hitagi play as well, and I can usually beat Hitagi. When it comes to Dad though, it's pretty close and could go either way," Seresana went on before looking back to the board. "Oh and yeah, you can go first if you want."

Word Count: 97
Total: 7,168

So... Sena seemed to rarely beat her mom but she still did sometimes, usually beats her brother, and beats her dad about fifty percent of the time. Dust, however, didn't know Sena's strategy. She had no strategy of her own, but that could be a blessing and a curse. On one hand, she... had no strategy, obviously. On the other hand, having strategy made her hard to predict. However, Sena didn't seem like the kind of person to watch someone that closely, but she also didn't seem systematic. Is it possible that Sena didn't have a strategy either...? Unlikely, but she doubted that it was any extremely advanced strategy.

Slowly, she picked up the first piece, hesitating for a moment as she held it above the board, but slowly moved it downwards. She paused, hesitating once more, but then placed it down. She had no idea how much the starting move mattered...

Word count: 152, total 6404

Sena waited patiently for Dust to make her move, and when she finally did, Seresana didn't even hesitate on moving one of her own checkers forward into a position that would prompt Dust's checker to jump Seresana's, but give Seresana a jump in return. If there was a strategy that Seresana was incorporating, it was an aggressive one. There was also the complete lack of hesitation in her decision, like she was either extremely confident in her strategy, or just a complete lack of one to where she was going off nothing more than the first notion that came to her mind.

Word Count: 103
Total: 7,271

Sena played quite aggressively indeed, but it quickly became apparent to Dust that she didn't really have any strategy. Dust played quite defensively, aiming to get Sena to eventually just run out of checkers due to attrition. Indeed, that strategy eventually prevailed due to Sena forgoing examining the board carefully for moving ahead very quickly without much forethought. Dust took longer to play, the cloudiness in her head disappearing for a bit as she focused. Eventually, Sena found herself with only a few scattered pieces across the board while Dust had about two point five times that amount. Dust quickly mopped up the remaining pieces, smiling as she did so. She chose not to actually say anything when the game was over, letting Sena speak. She hoped the girl didn't feel too bad about losing...

Word count: 135, total 6539

If Sena felt bad about the loss, she did wonders at not showing. Sure throughout the game, she occasionally cringed as an overlooked piece jumped another one of hers, but for the most part she'd kept her smile. When it finally got to the end and her last checker was jumped because she was simply out of moves otherwise, Sena's head slumped forward. Only to rise a second later with a slightly strained expression as she said, "well dang, looks like I've lost." Then her smile returned in full as she began to clear off the board. "Well that was fun, is there anything you wanna do now?" Seresana asked as she continued to pack up the checkers game.

Word count: 120
total: 7,391

Dust looked into her eyes as she was strained, and cringed a bit. She seemed dejected, but only a bit... Why did she let herself win? Sena is much younger than her.... She should have known that Sena would be dejected. Why the hell did she do that? "I-I'm sorry..." she said, standing up. "I'll just leave you be, okay? I shouldn't have done that." she quickly backpedaled towards the door, but kept her eyes trained on the other girl's eyes to detect any emotions that were flaring up. If Sena didn't intervene, though, Dust would turn away and start speedwalking down the hall, to the room that had the doors leading outside. She was such a fucking idiot. Sena's a little girl. Having a stranger decimate her like that would be horrible for her self-esteem...

Word count: 136, total 6675

Dust's reply caught her off guard and her hands froze over the checkers as the other girl said she was sorry. "Wha- what are you-" Seresana started before Dust excused herself and started off towards the door. Seresana however did intervene, as Dust turned about Seresana stood up as well and took a halfstep forward so she could lightly lay a hand on Dust's shoulder. Not enough to truly stop the girl or restrain her, but enough to make her presence known. "Dust, you don't have to leave you know," Seresana said with a slightly pleading expression. It then shifted into a gentle smile as she began to speak, "It was just a game, there's no need to get so worked up about it. It was just for fun, and we had some. If you have to leave or something that's fine, but I'm not forcing you to leave just because you won. Are you sure you don't want to stay for dinner or anything?"

Word Count: 165
total: 7,556

Dust jumped slightly when Sena put a hand on her shoulder. Was Sena about to start a fight...? Dust craned her neck to look back at Sena, her own expression crumbling when she saw the other girl's. She wasn't mad or upset...? She repeated the general idea of that thought aloud. "You... had fun? But you lost. I usually don't have fun if I lose, but that might just be because I'm not a very good person..." She paused when Sena asked the dinner question. "I... I don't know, Sena. I really don't feel like eating, but I threw up back there... I should eat, but your family might be offended if I don't wind up eating that much..." Then again, Sena seemed very laid back. However, her parents were much older than her. What if her parents were much more traditionalist? "Would... would your family mind? I know some families are really adamant that you need to clear your plate and all that... is that the case here? I probably won't..."

Word count: 172, total 6847

"I don't believe we would and you only need to eat as much as you feel comfortable with Dust," Sophia Yuki said as she suddenly stepped into the doorway. "I was just coming in to check on you two," she added with a soft smile in explanation as to why she'd entered the room at this point. "Dinner's ready and it wouldn't be any trouble to set out an extra plate for you."

Sena'd been caught slightly off guard by the sudden appearance of her mother as well, but she was smiling happily at the older woman soon enough as she nodded to her. "Sounds good mom, though I think I'll have a small plate as well," Seresana said before her mother nodded to them both and departed supposedly back to the kitchen. Seresana moved to follow her mother, and motioned for Dust to follow her as well back into the dining room where Hitagi and Vesken were already seated. Sophia mustn't have been kidding about having dinner already done, for just moments after Seresana and Dust would find their seats, she'd come back with the prepared dishes. Seresana wasted little time in cracking apart her chopsticks and beginning to eat.

Hitagi followed his older sister's notion as well as Sophia, but Vesken hesitated for a moment as he picked up a pitcher and poured himself a cup full of tea. Vesken then offered to fill the cup that had been placed before Dust as well.

Word Count: 246
Total: 7,802

Dust's heart skipped a beat when Sena's mother entered. How had she been so quiet? ...Ah, right. Of course. You tend to not perceive things like that when focused on something else. And chances are, if Sena is a shinobi, her mother might be too. "I... erm... I'm really not too sure, ma'am... It's just that I am a bit stressed out... it's complicated... Nevermind." She sighed. Of course she had made it awkward. That's just what she does. How could she have expected any different? It's just gonna keep happening and happening and happening with no end in sight. Well, history does repeat itself...

She hesitated for a good few seconds, but she knew how going against what was expected of her went with Sena, to put it bluntly. Maybe she was just being too pessimistic, but she knew that this moment of clarity wouldn't last forever and she would slip back into the cycle of anxiety sooner rather than later. Wonderful.

Eventually, Dust did get to the dining room. She must have subconsciously sped up her walking pace while she was thinking, as she wasn't that far behind Sena. Their food seemed to be karaage, little bite sized, deep fried pieces of chicken or seafood. She couldn't tell what they were, but it was one of her favourite dishes. It's a shame that she rarely had it... perhaps there was a silver lining to meeting Sena after all. She thought that it would just lead to a lot of sadness, as Sena would be scared off. Perhaps Sena was... Wait, was she really getting this worked up over fried chicken? Cripes. She had issues. In addition to the fried food, there were small bowls of miso soup.

"Erm... I guess I'll have a small plate too." She looked up at Vesken with surprise as he held the pitcher of tea. It was probably best to be hydrated and to cleanse her palate further. "Er... erm... yes, please. Thank you, sir."

Word count: 329, total 7176

Vesken nodded pleasantly as he poured the cup full of the cooled tea for Dust, and then filled up Seresana's cup when she held hers up as well. Shortly after getting her cup filled, Dust and Seresana would find a plate of the Karaage placed in front of them courtesy of Sophia who also placed small bowls of rice before each of them as well. Seresana bid a small word of thanks for her meal and then promptly poured a bit of soy sauce on her rice before cracking apart her chopsticks and beginning to eat. She wasn't the only on, the rest of the family was also eating at their respective paces. Seresana's father Vesken took large bites, but actually ate them at a reasonable speed, as compared to Seresana's younger brother Hitagi who seemed to just try and wolf down his food as quickly as possible. Sophia ate with a calm peace, similar to Seresana who savored her bites. Some idle conversation started up during the dinner, Vesken talking about a few of his recent commissions, and Hitagi going on about a game he and his friends played, but for the most part the dinner was fairly quiet.

"Do you like the food?" Sophia quietly asked Dust while Hitagi continued to demand Vesken's and Seresana's attention with his exploits.

Word Count: 219
Total: 8,021

Dust gave a small thank you to Vesken after he filled her cup. She tasted her tea. It was mild, but good. Not bitter, which is always nice. It was hard to describe, really... It wasn't any taste in particular, and was just kinda... there. Dust supposed that that was the point of palate cleansing in the first place. As soon as she set the cup down, the plate was there. Dust had to awkwardly move her arm to avoid bumping in to anything. "Thank you," the girl said again. To the outward observer, it seemed that she was getting much less nervous. She was, in truth. She had mostly realised that her fears were petty and ultimately pointless and was instead focusing on just enjoying her time here. It helped that she realised that she was pretty hungry, despite her earlier statements... Opening her chopsticks too, she elected to not put any soy sauce on her rice. For some odd reason or another, Dust liked her rice plain. Dust ate at a mild pace, but took smaller bites. After losing a baby tooth to a bone that had found its way into her food one day, she ate small bites as to not repeat the incident and chip an adult tooth. Dust glanced up at Hitagi as he talked, although she couldn't understand what he was really going on about. The boy mentioned many unfamiliar people, probably his friends.

When Sophia spoke, Dust jumped a bit. She hadn't expected a second voice. "Er... erm... yes I did. Thank you... Is there any way I can repay you for the favour?"

Word count: 271, total 7447

"There's no need for that Dust, between my children and my husband this table is used to at least one extra face sitting around it. It's such a common occurrence that I've gotten used to making enough for one or a few extras around dinner time," Sophia replied with that soft and small smile of hers before returning to the remains of her meal.

Once the meal finally disappeared from the table entirely, Hitagi was the first to stand with a claim that he was going to get back to a game he'd been playing. Vesken followed pretty soon afterwards, saying he still had to finish work on the Vintu family's order before turning the opposite way out of the dining room and towards the door at the end of the hall. Sophia got up around that time as well, taking a few of the dishes to the kitchen sink. Seresana got up to help, carrying her plate as well as a couple others. Once she returned, Seresana smiled at Dust and asked, "so what do you want to do now?"

Word Count: 181
Total: 8,202

Dust blinked a few times. So this was what culture shock felt like... her family always demanded repayment whenever they did even the smallest of courtesies for her. She wasn't the last to finish her meal, but she took her time. She hadn't eaten this well in... she couldn't even remember. Her meals were usually very small.

Vintu family? Had she heard that before? Didn't think so. "Vintu family?" she mumbled, carrying her plate over to the sink too. Surely they wouldn't complain about that... Dust paused for a moment as Sena spoke. "I... I really don't know, Seresana. I guess it is up to you...? I'm not good at figuring out things to do; I can't say I'm good with creativity at all. You mentioned training, right? I feel a lot better now that I have eaten..." Truth be told, she did. She almost didn't realize how bad she had felt till she got some food in her body and got better. The good food kinda helped with her state of mind too... How odd. "How do you train?" She really didn't know. Sena seemed to small and fragile to do much athletic activity.

Word count: 194, total 7641

"Oh, well my more serious training is done by going camping. It might not seem that bad, but when it's just me by myself out in the woods and I've got to get my own firewood, set up my own camp, catch and prepare my own food and water, it all quickly adds up to a bit of a challenge. Though most of the time I'm not training that seriously and instead just go swimming, fishing, practice archery, or my jutsus," Seresana replied with a bit of thought. Then her eyes settled back on Dust and she smiled happily before continuing her reply. "I've even got this special little training spot my dad showed me a while back. It's this little clearing a short ways off from the house, and there's a stream nearby too so after I've done a lot of training, I can go for a swim to cool off," Seresana went on. "Would you want to go see it? Even if it's a little dark out, I'm pretty sure I can find my way there and back," she added with a glance towards the windows to double check just how dark it'd actually gotten.

Word Count: 198
Total: 8,400

Oh, of course. Survival skills and all that jazz. Makes sense; not all shinobi were direct fighters after all. Then again, she mentioned archery. Dust figured that archery would not require much athletic prowess besides dexterity and having the strength to pull back the string. For bows that weren't composite bows, it was harder to pull said string than you thought. "Well, I could use some training in survival skills, really..." Despite her antisocial nature, she only knew basic things like how to set up a tent, what kind of wood to gather, and so on and so forth. "What kind of animals are around there?" If a little girl could go there, it there could not be dangerous animals like bears around. However, it couldn't be completely deserted by animals as she caught food. Probably just rabbits or something. Shame. She liked rabbits. "I can't say I'm big on archery, but the rest sounds good... except I do not have any jutsus..." She frowned. "Is it possible for you to teach me some?" she asked, cocking a brow. "I guess you would have to know them quite well to do so, but I can't say for sure." She shrugged. "It really isn't my place to guess on these kinds of things; I don't really know about them."

Word count: 218, total 7859

"Well I've seen most of the typical forest animals here and there. Squirrels, raccoon, birds, and even a big old boar once tried to charge me, but that was a little ways from here and a bit of a story," Seresana replied to the first question. "I could probably teach you a couple, or at least their basics so you can learn it on your own," Seresana replied to the second part as she thought back to the jutsu she knew and knew well enough that she could potentially teach. "I could show you the clone jutsu like I offered before, though we really don't have to go to the clearing to do that one," she offered while looking about the room to see if there really was enough space to just practice it there, or if they'd need to head outside into the dark yard to practice it.

Word Count: 150
Total: 8,550