The feudal north

[Ciata]

The old society of the Chattan

Deep in the northern mountains, lands and villages lie isolated from all foreign influence and seemingly, time itself. Unlike the southern regions, which have been influenced by the influx of foreigners and Chit-Raka, the northern clans retain all of their customs and ways of life, preserved since before the clans were united, and they were waring families and warlords. When they were united by Ben Johanan nearly 200 years ago, their waring ways ceased, but not their materialistic and ancient culture. The northern cities and villages still go about the way of life that their ancestors did before them, in an oriental like lifestyle.

The people are proud, highly honorable creatures. The customs and rituals they carry on they still hold dear as a great part of themselves, still living with ancient ways and technology, though that is not to be mistaken for simplicity. They border on their lifestyle being extravagant due to the peace they have enjoyed over the last couple of centuries, though there is an air of simplicity that surrounds them, as they are mainly an open, honest, and honorable people. Their customs are as complex and deep as the people's character. They hold their station in life as dear to them as life itself. The desire to rise or fall in the sight of others is lacking among them. Nearly all die in the same station of life they are born into, though in their case, there is hardly a fur among them who dire need or is forced to work harder than one should. Families pass on their history, traditions, heirlooms, jobs, and martial arts from parent to child. With a lack of large scale communication or travel, as well as technology, spare time is spent occupied in arts, painting, pottery, sewing, and mainly for the males, martial arts, both in bare paw and varieties of old weapons.

Through the years of relative peace they have not let their martial ways die out. Their techniques, honed for centuries by waring with each other, were passed on, and practiced in the peacefully times, peacefully times that had a brief pause. When some of the smaller rebel bands ventured far north in search of the ancient cities with their rumored ancient treasures. They never caught sight of the old cities however, as the old armies, long dormant from real battle, gathered and faced the enemies, sword and paw to guns. Luckily for the Ciatan, the rebels could not carry any tanks or artillery with them through the snowy areas, and they were fairly un-organized groups. Utilizing the tactics perfected by their ancestors in the snow and dark, the young kits got more than their fill of bloodshed in close combat with the un-aware rebels, expecting more of the simple, peacefully people they feasted off of in the south. Most of the dazed young samurai returned home with their weapons and paws bloodstained to victorious celebrations. Now the excitement has died down, and life has gone back to the way it has gone on for hundreds of years...for the most part.

In the far north, their lies a city who's origin is no ancient that even the treasured stories of the inhabitants do not contain it's true decent. In the past it was the home of one of the largest and most powerful families in the feudal era of Ciata, the Yun. Bin-Gui is the name of the old city, it's people number about 1,600 within the city itself and the surrounding areas. The old Yun family still holds the positions of highest power in Bin-Gui, though the need to complete control has ceased to exist in the time of peace, when the ideas of traitors, spies, and rebellion no longer exist. The Yun family is still led by the high samurai order which in the long and very recent past, led the armies into battle in much splendor and glory, as well as the highest degree of deadly skill.

However in the past not all those who had cities in the land were chattan, and not all enemies were rival Ciatan war lords. In the past there were rival cities of arctic fox, hare, bear, caribou, and many others that vied for the snowy land in the far north, however when the clans were united, most of them were defeated of sent off. Most, but not all. Several of the other species' clans went into hiding and built hidden cities in the mountains and snow and ice. With those like the rabbits, they simply tried to exist, however others did not take the actions lightly, and some now exist with the sole purpose of avenging their people's fate upon the Ciatan who drove them out. Living to train and to kill, ninja clans survived and retained their secrecy for many years, and often attempt and succeed to assassinate Ciatan lords.

On this particular day there was one such attempt that took place at the old Yun family home, just as the head of the Yun family, Win Yun, steps outside with some of his advisor's and family members, discussing the gathering of extra fuel for an expected long winter...

A slightly bent adviser dressed in a yellow and green silk kamishimo bearing the crest of the Yun family, walks out beside Win Yun, an aging, yet still impressive Ciatan, who's age has not yet truly begun to decrease his physical prowess. As the adviser rambles on about matters that had been decided the same way for countless years, Win is once again guilty of trying to tune his voice which is little more than a buz in his ear now. He steps out on his fine silk shoes which match his yellow and orange robe that is covered in dramatic patterns, and his tachi, as always, at his side, the symbol of a samurai warrior. His brother and nephew, who live in a large house on the outlying areas, were there because part of the their duty, being on the outer border, was to know where the precious trees and fuel was to be found. They are both dressed in a more simple, light work gui, with a few stylistic touches such as grey cuffs. They wear the traditional work shoes, wooden sandals, and appear ready to go to work. The younger brother follows slightly behind the head of the family, used to following and listening by now, with his son in tow, who looks as if he would much rather be doing anything, even searching for wood in the snow, than follow his old relatives around.

They step out onto front stairs and both brother's ears and noses twitch and they halt, the adviser doesn't notice them at all and keeps on waking, and the son nearly bumps into his father because his mind was wandering off somewhere. They keep that pose for a moment before in an instant Win and his brother, Kel draw their weapons, Kel pushing his son back under the shelter of the awning and turn to face the building. An instant later there is a whistling as Win deflects a projectile with his tachi and Kel dodges another, a metal, torpedo dart, smooth and long, and glistening with some type of thick liquid, embeds itself in the stone walkway. The two watch as an assassin who's attempt failed miserably begins to run off down the roof of the house and scan the area and other roofs for more. By that time Kel's son had gotten back up, drawn his katana, and ran out to them, quickly looking around. A couple second later he spots the retreating assassin, dressed in a white, covering suit, complete with a long train to cover a tail, who was just making the jump from their house to a tree and then the garden wall. With an excited growl he jumps to the top of the roof utilizing his naturally powerfully legs and begins to give chase. His father yells out, but it falls on depth ears and a mind clouded with excitement. He races off down the roof trying to keep the assassin in sight. It was not until after he had cleared the garden wall before he began to think about what he was doing.

"I cant believe it, a ninja assassin, here, in my uncle's own house." He slides to a stop on top of an old tile roof, "Where's he going, how could he get out? Think, an escape route." His mind goes through the layout of the city and the various streets and then the outlying areas, all of which he knew by heart since he was a kitten. He leaps across a street to another building to his right and resumes his chase. "Well, if they are going to head for the mountains they'll have to go through Tau-sin street, the buildings on the other side are too far apart for a roof escape." He hoped as he lept and ran from roof to roof. Soon he spotted another figure to his left heading the same direction about 200 feet away. "Huh, must have figured it out too, now I'll cut him off." He races across more buildings who are getting smaller and the streets more narrow as they exit the richer part of the city. He can see the figure better now, and apparently it can see him also, as it picked up speed and is now running at a full, 40 degree tilt, more thrusting with it's legs than running. As they get closer the young Ciatan has to pick up his pace and push himself harder to keep from letting the assassin get away from him.

Suddenly, as he was looking over to check at where the ninja was going while running at full speed, he jumps and feels nothing under his paws when he was supposed to land on another roof. "No more buildings!" He hits the ground hard on his paws and rolls to see the ninja do a more gracefully impression a mere 50 feet away. Going from a crouch to a full sprint he ends up just behind the ninja as it tries to escape to the mountain passes. "what do I do, he's losing me!" He spots a branch in hs path, "Huh, firewood, that'll do." He stoops and grabs it and flings it at the ninja, now some 30 feet away again as it began to pull away with it's superior speed. The stick strikes it's target on the left shoulder, and due to the already heavy tilt of it's running, the blow sent it rolling. In a second the ninja was back up again, but not quick enough. He pounces and catches it just as it starts to get going again. "Yes, Gotcha! Umph!" His head jolts back from a hard paw to the nose but he somehow manages to keep some hold on the smaller creature as they grapple and roll in the snow and scattered frozen ground and rocks. Rolling again he slashes with his claws for his opponent's face, only to rip off it's white mask. they both stop for a second, long enough for him to realize that his assassin was a she, and long enough for her to recover and knee him in the groin. He doubles up and gets knocked back from another blow to his nose, which apparently makes a good target. Groaning, he goes to his four paws desperately looking about for his sword. He looks up and finds it, pointed right at his face by a very young, very annoyed, white vixen, ninja .

They hold there for a few seconds, neither sure what to do until her ears perk at the sound of gongs and excited yells approaching. She grins and flashes the sword down, chopping off the whiskers on the right side of his cringing face. An insult to any feline, but it was a great disgrace to even touch the face of a samurai, much less cut off his whiskers. "There, something to remember me by." she tosses the sword off to the side and turns and starts to run off when he mutters, "Remember who?" She pauses before answering with another grin, "Call me Suki, and I will be back to finish my job."

He falls over onto his back as she runs off and a few moments later guards from the city arrive, "Master Yuki, are you alright?" He gives off another groan, "Oh yeah, just my pride...doubly." And he looks out into the eternal whiteness that holds neither the vixen ninja, or her tracks. "Man, my father is going to be ticked..."

[Ciata]

Oh yeah, he was ticked, BIG time. He sat there in seiza for over an hour, after of course they made sure he was alright, and was enduring a heated lecture from his father, who was pacing back and forth, back and forth, and back and forth for so long his neck was starting to hurt almost as much as his nose. He had long since tuned him out after the part where he talked about the poison/acid coated metal darts she used, and though he kept his eyes trained on him respectfully, his mind was going back over and over his first real encounter with a ninja. He recalled everything about the chase and confrontation. The odd way she had run, tilted to make up for short legs and not as strong legs he guessed. The fact that she seemed to carry no main weapon, apparently for mobility and a quick hit and run. Not like she would try and fight two samurai in close combat.

His father stopped pacing and talking, his eyes must have stopped following him while his mind was occupied. *Oh great, now he's even madder.* he thought. He prepared himself for the level to go up another notch in intensity, but it didn't. *uh oh, this cant be good.* His father starts to grin. *Awww dang it, I'm screwed.* His dad seemed to be thinking something along the same lines as that about him. He makes sure to listen carefully to the next words he said, because they were definitely not going to be good for him. His father starts, "Well, since your so eager to draw your sword and fling your soul and life into combat, as well as random thought, I will just have to cure you of this." *Oh no...* His father had an expression of "Oh yes."


He stood there in their garden as his father gave him his tachi back, different. He looked at it, the hilt was tied by the wrapping of the saya (sheath) to the saya to where he couldn't draw it. He raises his brow as much as he can, "I'm supposed to go around with this? I cant even use it. What if something like...", "That's the point." Okay, now he was confused. How can not using it make him better at using it? His father answers his mental question. "You must learn to hold it in stillness, and hold your soul still as well. If you remain too eager to draw your sword and bear your soul in battle, you will quickly lose it." His father reaches over and puts his paw on his shoulder, "And that nearly happened today. Don't rush out looking for trouble, enough comes along without us going out of our way trying to get into it. Go through life as if you are not armed, only call upon it when your life or the lives of others are threatened." He can only nod, just now realizing how scared his father must have been, him running off after an assassin. "Well, there is firewood to be gathered and workers waiting to do it, better get to it." he bows to his father and heads off, feeling slightly like it was his own body somehow tied up, off to gather more firewood.

[Ciata]

She was right, her father was ticked. Suki stood there in front of her father, the Junin, or head ninja of the Bai Hu clan, the largest hidden clan of white fox ninja still in the country. Her father was powerful, intimidating for an arctic fox in size, highly skilled and feared, but aging. His fur had long since started showing a gray tint to it and he slumped more and more every year in his chair where he overlooked and ordered the various missions the lower ninjas went on. He sat there staring at her for a long time thinking about what to do with her, tapping his claws on the arm rest over and over and over. He had long been trained like all other ninja to not let his anger control him and to keep rational thought at all times, but she was bordering on breaking that training. She was the baby of the family, coming long after all her other brothers and sisters, who by now had children of their own, some nearly her age, and most were chunin by now, or middle ninja, and accomplished ones at that.

She however was not. She barely made genin, or low ninja, and behind schedule at that. They called her spoiled, the baby, and a slacker, and in most of that they were justified. Her latest stunt to try to gain some quick recognition and respect had nearly gotten her captured or killed and failed miserably, AND she had lost her mask in the fight, showing her identity to one of them.

At last, after hours he began. "Kunoichi genin..." not a good sign, starting with an official title meant official punishment, no favoritism this time. "...you went on an un-authorized mission, failed making it harder in the future to make a successful strike. You also compromised your identity, wasted resources, and failed to kill the ones who followed you, letting the one being who saw your face go when you had the chance to be rid of him. Also if all the other two samurai would have chosen to follow you they would have likely caught you and you now be dead, or being tortured to reveal the location of our home. You went, you failed, you showed impatience, lack of skill, lack of nerve, and lack of respect for me. You lack skill, devotion, and the aptitude required for missions, scouting, spying, assassinations, or otherwise. You will be confined to this base for training with the other children until you prove that you have changed to become more responsible and your skills increased."

Demotion. It was a crushing blow to her already fragile ego. The rank of genin was all she had with the few successfully, small missions she had gone on and being the youngest of the family with 5 older siblings who were all more skilled, respected, and higher rank than her. She felt like crying right then and there, but she at least had enough training to not do it yet.

"Now go." Her father, or the Junin at the moment, pointed a stern finger at the door. All she could do was bow and retreat. She knew she had messed up o badly this time that he couldn't afford to be her father in this case, not when his whole clan's safety was as stake. She understood, but it didn't make it any easier to bear.

Her body was on auto-pilot on her way back to her little room, hewn out of rock like most of the underground base. When she got there she finally removed what was left of her disguise of white robes and the rest of her personal weapons they hadn't taken or she lost in the chase, keeping only her tanto knife on her, which all ninja did, even in the base. She tossed the now dirty and wrinkled suit on the base of her bed and flopped down. She spent the next few hours analyzing her life up to that point, trying to decide if she should deal with the consequence, try to make up for it and likely get killed, or just go ahead and take her own life so she wouldn't have to deal with it anymore. She already couldn't go back on any mission to that city after they discovered her identity, not like she understood why, they were always disguised anyway.

She half sat up looking at herself, now just in her tan under garb. *Hmm...I could stand to lose a few pounds, and gain some muscle too.* Not like she was fat, that was almost impossible with their diet and activities, but her lack of extra work and slacking off in the normal showed with a trade off of muscle for flab. She got disgusted with herself again, feeling more and more like a failure, and now she had go and endure basic training exercises with children, half of whom, she thought, could probably do them better than her. She lets her head flop back and gives off a heavy sigh, "My life sucks...at this rate in 30 years I'll be 50, ooold, weak, still a genin, and mateless. Who would want to marry a slacker into their family." Slacker, the label she'd had since she was still a cub. "And now I've run out of slack."

After a long time thinking she decided she wasn't going to put up with the humiliation anymore, she had to get out of here somehow, but if she knew her father, he knew and probably had something planned incase she tried that. So she would have to somehow get around what he thought she was going to do and do something else he didn't think she would otherwise do. "It's hopeless, he knows me better than I do and what I'd do, I'll never get out of here...unless." She sat up, "Unless I walk out the front door." She knew he would have the air vents, the water reserve, the inlets, and all the windows watched, but the front door was always watched normally, and with normal genin, ones she knew. All she would have to do was get there and get out before they caught wind of what type of punishment she had gotten, which in a place full of trained spies, wouldn't take long.

She began to get up and start gathering things to take with her, then she stopped. "No, that would let them know too easily, I've got to look like I'm just going outside for some fresh air or meditation or something, yeah, meditation on my failure or something like that." She put the things back, grabbed a loose halter top and wrap around skirt, tied them on and headed out her door, heading straight for the main door with still just her clothes and her tanto. She put on a depressed look no her face and hung her head down on the way and finally got there, hopefully in time because the three genin were still there alone, doing their own things, looking bored, not seeming aroused by the latest juicy gossip about her.

She went to walk right by them when one male, Ding, named so because of his patchy gray and white fur that never went away come winter, stopped her. "Hey, where are you off to?" She half looks up at him, "I'm off to "meditate on my failure" or freeze my tail off sitting in the snow." Hopefully that would do for him, he never was the quickest in her class. "Oh...well, if you get too bored I could take a break and talk with you to keep you from getting too bored." Not good, she couldn't have him coming out looking for her and cutting down her escape time. "No, I'm supposed to stay in solitude, and you know my dad, he'll probably have someone watching me the whole time." Which was something else she needed to watch out for, if she was being tailed, not that she would be able to tell most likely, but still, she needed to take it into consideration. "Oh...okay. Well, have fun then, or something." She nods and continues, "Thanks."

*Yes* she thought, she got out, but there might be those watching her, she had better take it nice and slow for a while. She kept an eye on the rock off in the distance which marked how far she could watch someone walk when she was on guard duty at the door. After what seemed like forever, she passed it, and continued walking for another 50 yards, incase Ding back there had better eye sight, and then broke out into an excited run, trying to put as much distance and time between her and those who would likely end up following her, leaving the snow and wind to do the rest to wipe away her trail.

[Ciata]

He knew that firewood was a vital thing in the north, especially in early winter after they know how long it's going to last and all, but it was sooooo boring. I mean, he was looking for sticks, a grown man, for the most part, leading a bunch of younger men, looking for sticks, in the snow. Most of the other Ciatan didn't mind the job, it was a vital duty after all, and kept them warm and their food cooked, but Yuki just didn't feel like it was exactly his life's work. He rambles out loud in a sarcastic voice. "I can see it now, Yuki Kel Yun, he was one of the best stick gatherers of his generation, chased a ninja once, nearly got killed by HER." He gives off a deep sigh, "My life sucks."

Getting a taste of action in one of the strikes against a rebel group had only fired up his thirst for adventure, which wasn't uncommon, but he was an only child of a good family in a large city. He had responsibilities, he was expected to marry soon, settle down, inherit his father's house as they moved to a smaller home passing it on to him eventually, along with his station and role in life....gathering sticks till the day he died.

He gives off another heavy sigh as he thought again about the encounter yesterday. Though it gained him a lot of respect and admiration among the other young males of the city, chasing down and fighting with a ninja, even if he got his half his whiskers shaved from it. It was a mixed symbol though, among the younger ones it was like a badge of honor from a brush with death, with the older it showed him to be foolish and rash. He could take one for the other though.

He stopped and looked back to the basket on his back, which was almost half full by know. Somewhere during his thoughts he had absent mindedly been picking up wood and even breaking it to fit without hardly thinking about it. He just shakes his head and tries to just focus on work now and the other furs, peasants, who were combed out around him.

After a few more minutes of walking and shuffling through the snow he heard something out of the ordinary conversations of usual silence they went about their work with, a struggle. The rustling of clothing and snow, the excited shouts, panic in the raised voices. There were sometimes random bandit attacks, but those were usually on outlying houses or travelers, because peasants out on the day's job of gathering sticks didn't carry anything of worth, his sword was the only thing of value in the group. That meant they were out for something else, blood. He had heard of more bandit attacks of late with all the events happening within the clans, but he thought his luck for excitement was done after yesterday, back to back days was more than he thought possible for him. He unlashed the basket of sticks from his back and dashes off toward the sounds of conflict, which were coming from somewhere over the ridge to his right. As he topped the ridge he got a look at the scene for the first time.

There were 4, no 5 huge ursines trying to surround half a dozen of the Ciatan using their size, nearly 8 feet, and some make shift weapons, staffs, clubs, some with sharpened rocks lashed to them. Real weapons were for the higher class, the only way bandits could get real ones was by killing someone and taking them. It took another second for Yuki to gather his thoughts and then he charged down the snowy slope, giving off a high pitched yell which was the best a snow leopard can roar.

It was halfway down before he tried to draw his tachi, and found out he couldn't. He would have done it earlier, but didn't want to go up and down a snowy hill holding a razor sharp blade. Now he found himself cursing his father's wonderful idea to tie his weapon into it's saya, and less than 30 feet away from 5, very large, very angry, very aggressive bears, who were now all focusing on him. *My life really does suck.*

He yanks out the sword, sheath and all and goes for the closest mass of brown fur to his left. The bear lowers hit staff, which is pointed with a rock tip, and braces for him. Yuki handles the off balanced weapon, which was little more than a heavy stick now, and makes a downward sweep at the make shift spear from the left side, knocking it out of his way, and brings it in a back slash across the bear's throat, having to virtually jump up to do so evenly. He slams his weapon into his first opponent's throat, knocking him back and to his knees gurgling, nearly passing out from the blow.

He didn't have time to try to deal with him and further because the others were now converging on him. One lunges at him with a wild swing with his weighted club, which due to his size and inherent slowness, was easily side stepped, throwing the mass off balance, and he brought his cased tachi down at the base of his skull with as much force as he could muster, a blow, which like the last one, would have likely decapitated his foe if his sword was drawn. Instead he merely knocked him out cold, which would do under the circumstances. This time the other two came at him at once, one carrying another club, the other carrying what seemed to be a log rather than a staff or club.

The shock factor was probably intended with his choice of weapon, and it did it's job, taking up a couple of the few seconds Yuki had to react. When he did the two were too close and moving too fast for him to be able to not get hit by one of them, so he did what they least expected, ran at them. He ran right at them, throwing off their timing on bringing their heavy weapons to bear, and dove between them, rolling. Now behind them, and given a few moments while they slowed their hulking bodies in the snow, he decided to take out the other club one first, it being closer now. Thankfully the hears upon hours and year after year of practicing with boken had made it to where he didn't have to think about where to strike, he knew the targets for different weapons well and went straight for them.

Again relying on speed he charges at the closing ursine. Using both paws to hold his still sheathed tachi, his braces and blocks the downward blow, sliding up the club, up the arm, and to the throat, which he slammed into with both paws on his weapon hard into the throat, it being one of the few areas he could strike with a blunt weapon and do enough damage to something is this size quickly enough. This blow however didn't take him down, only knocked him back, one paw holding his throat. As soon as Yuki hit the ground from his last lunge he jumped again, trying to get enough force to knock it out in one more blow. He landed the next blow right on the beast's forehead. It stumbled back, seeing stars, before falling back into the snow.

The other one with the log was on him before he had hardly any time to react. He saw the mass come swinging at him out of the corner of his eye and only had just enough time to get his tachi up to try to block it, which did little good and it not only knocked it flying from him grasp, but only barely slowed down the huge piece of wood aimed at his midsection. *I hate firewood* was the only thought that went through his mind before getting smashed by the log, hearing a cracking in his side from the blow that sent him flying nearly ten feet. He couldn't breath and bolts of pain shot all through his body from his left side.

His sight was starting to black fade in and out from the pain which was now shooting all through his left side, unfortunately he was able to see the bear step up over him, raising the log back above his head, ready to smash him into tiny pieces. He thought, *This is it, I'm going to die. I'm going to get killed by a huge piece of firewood. My life REALLY su...." Before he could finish the thought, or the bear finish him off, he sees him stumble back-wards and fall back over.

Yuki manages to lean up enough to see one of the Ciatan workers climbing off of the log he had jumped on, and another half dozen or so beginning to pelt the bear with sticks they had gathered. Somehow the others had managed to take care of the last one themselves and made it just in time to halt the final blow. *Well, looks like they put those sticks to good use* and then he remembered his ribs...

[Ciata]

Getting out of the base was one thing, what she was going to do now was totaly different. Unfortunatly Suki's brilliant scheme to get out included looking and acting like she wasn't planning on going anywhere, so she wasn't prepared to go anywhere. Her naturaly thick fur helped, and for once she wasn't beating herself up for not losing a few pounds, as any type of insulation was welcome at this point. Her top and skirt did little but flap in the stiff wind, and she was exhuasted from the hours she spent running to gain distance from possible persuers. The only real usefull thing she had was her tanto knife, which held a few vital survival materials which would help her for a bit, such as energy pills and firestarting materials, but that would only last a few days, and it's not like she could get a fire going in the wind and snow with no fuel.

She figured that she had covered about 18-20 miles in nearly four hours in a steady trot that she eventualy broke down to bounding through the snow as her species was designed to be able to do. She had tried to keep going in a streight line the whole time to maximize the distance and the only good part about the wind was that it wiped away most traces and would at least slow tracking efforts.

She starts to talk out loud to herself "Wow girl, you realy picked a great time to break out and go on your own, dead of winter, almost night time, no supplies, and not like I can afford to go by one of the supply stashes, because if I do they will be able to confirm I went that way...wonderful."

She gives the last few beams of light showing over the mountains a cautious look, "Not long 'till the temperature starts to drop fast. Gotta find some shelter." She continues walking for another 5 minutes and then stops and begins to walk backwards, painstakingly placing her paws in the same spots she had before, which even though she had practiced doing it many times before still took her 15 minutes to get back to where she felt like it was far enough. She then jumps as far as she can to her right and continues hopping until she was about three or four hundred feet off her other path. She stops and begins to burrow as well as she can without messing up the top layer of the snow. Finaly making a spot deep and wide enough to hold her she enters it, covering the entrance behind her and making a small hole on the side not facing her trail. Settling in as best she could for the night she curls up and dreams of her past failures.

*****************

The next morning she instictly wakes up half an hour before dawn to full alertnes, not that she sensed anything out of the ordinary, if there were higher level ninja tracking her she probably wouldn't anyway, she had just been trained to over the years.

She took a few moments anyway to see if she could sense any signs of life around her in the frozen plane she had wandered through. Not detecting any she finaly stirs stretching out her small form and yawning. Checking to see that her tanto was still with her she pops her head out of the snow towards her path and scans the area. "Nothing yet, good, though as they say, "The only Ninja you need worry about is the one you can't see." Better get going then, there's never time to waste."

She opens the hilt of her knife and picks out a small, concentrated energy pill and chews it while she begins again heading in the same direction as last night, not bothering to go back to her other trail as it would only make her easier to follow.

She starts off trotting high kicking to stretch out while stretching her upper body all while on the move so as to not wast any more time. By the time the sun had come up she had easily covered one of the more than thirty miles she would cross of snow that day, all filled with little to nothing to see or worry about. The one threat she had was when she smelled the strong, musky sent of some ursines off in the distance, to the right if the wind could be trusted to carry the scent true, which forced her to make a half mile curve in her path.

She tried to keep her mind off of what she was doing and focus on what she was doing. That is, not think about the fact that she was running away from home and clan, but focus on running...away from her home and clan.

[Ciata]

The first thing that went through his head when he woke up was, *Does this mean I don't have to collect firewood anymore?* Indeed there were few other thoughts that filled his mind between him passing out shortly after he was sure that they had dispatched the final bear and him waking up sometime late the next day back in his home still in a great deal of pain, no matter how much incense they burned or how many herbs they applied, broken ribs still hurt...a lot. Every breath was a toll on his mind and he did his best to keep them short and shallow. Looking around he made sure that he was in his home, he was currently alone, rather disappointing not to find someone at his side, helping and caring for him through all of this. He did notice that he wasn't in his room however, most likely because it was upstairs in the attic part, which was nice and cozy most time during the winter because it was located fairly near the fireplace, which would mean he was right below his room in the living room, nice and cozy, and wrapped up and tied down to a small cot they had gotten from somewhere, which he thought odd because they didn't even sleep in real beds anyway, just on pads on the floor, though a cot wasn't so bad when you have a bad side.

Finally after a few more minutes lying there, unable to move he gets tired of it and starts calling out, not without some extra pain, "Hello...I'm awake in here, and I'm hungry, thirsty too...and bored. Anyone?" He gives off a sigh, which immediately makes him regret it. Soon enough though his mother comes scurrying through the sliding door into the room. She was rather small for her species, and liked to scurry about keeping busy, always looking very concerned, and was the main reason he was a bit spoiled, because he was her only child and she had always tried to make sure he was well taken care of and safe. This was probably the largest ordeal with him she had been forced to go through, knocking down yesterday's actions down a large notch.

"Oh my dear, are you alright? I'm so glad your awake. How's your side, is it bothering you?" He had to be careful not to snap back at her as he sometimes did when she was a bit over anxious about things, "Well mom, it's broken, and yes it hurts...a lot." She puts a paw over her muzzle and looks worried as usual when anything exists to worry much about. She sees him struggling a bit with the ropes keeping him tied down. "Oh yes, we did that so you wouldn't roll over in your sleep and hurt your side more, and we put you in the cot so you wouldn't be on the hard floor and we have the incense to help you relax and I also went to the medicine shop and got some herbal tonic to help with swelling." He just nods through all of that until she gets to the herbal tonic where he involuntarily clinched his eyes and raises his nose, remembering the last time he had an herbal tonic when he sprained his wrist. Just thinking about the taste made the fur on the back of his neck to rise.

He tried to get a lighter note going to cheer her up, "Does this mean I don't have to gather firewood then?" She leans over him and gives his ear a playful twist, him being tied down and not able to resist or get away, "Don't tell me you got beat up just so you wouldn't have to work you little rascal." Mission accomplished. "You won't have to for a while, but your uncle is talking about new guard shifts to watch the foraging groups and farmers and protect them." She pauses and puts her paw back over her mouth and the worried look comes back to her eyes. "It used to be safe to go out and do work, what is this world coming to? It's a good thing you were there, otherwise who knows what would have happened to all those poor Ciatan." She leans over and pets him on his head, "You were very brave protecting all them like that, and you didn't even have to kill any of the bears to do it either." *Darn* He was kind of disappointed at that. He wished that he would have gotten one of them as payback for his ribs, but it was one less thing to have on his conscience later on.

"Anyway..." She started again, "you'll just have to stay inside for the winter it seems, which is good, because we can spend lots of time talking." He just smiles and thinks, *Oh boy, this is going to be a long winter.*

[Ciata]

It was the fourth morning she had woken up, not in her own nice, warm bed, but in a cold bank of snow. She was tired, sore, her stomach was empty and ached, she had probably lost those fews pounds she fretted about before, and was cursing the fact that she didn't carry a cloak with her. Food was nearly impossible to find in the area she had been passing through. What little she had eaten was her energy pills and some sappy bark she had gotten off a small, wind bent tree on the second full day. She figured she had traveled about a hundred miles in a south west path, slightly arching further south as she went, not wanting to chance passing over the boarder. Not like it would be any less safe there, she just didn't want to deal with another area and culture she didn't know.

As she trekked along she regretted her decision to leave some, but not enough to undo it. Anything, hunger, exhaustion, the cold, whatever, was better than the humiliation she would have received back there being demoted and confined to the base. At least that's what she kept telling herself, knowing that she probably couldn't make the trip back like this.

Almost an hour later she got a funny feeling someone was watching her, one of the many "sixth senses" that ninjas picked up. She dropped to all fours and began to half run over to an icy ridge to her right to get a better view. If they were following her it would really matter if they knew she knew they were there, they would catch her soon enough anyway. She clambered up the slippery and rocky slope, nearly slipping several times even though she was on all fours, on the snow covered ice. Apparently this place was just warm enough that the sun heated it just enough to melt the ice for a bit, only for it to freeze later, creating a thick layer of ice making it treacherous to climb. Reaching the top she looks behind her and searches the vast whiteness for a few minutes, searching in vain for something or someone following her.

Rather disappointed that there wasn't anyone she could see at least she decides to continue on the other side of the ridge anyway to make it a bit more difficult in case someone was following her closely. She started down the other side, which she quickly discovered wasn't as easy as getting up. Finding it harder to find traction she made it about a quarter of the way down the eighty foot slope of ice before she slipped and wasn't able to catch herself on anything. Her paw went instinctively for her tanto to try to catch onto the ice but she hit a larger rock on the way down which started a tumble she wasn't able to stop due to the ice all the way down.

When she finally hit snow instead of ice and slowed to a stop she just lay there not moving on her back. Half trying to see what she had hurt in the fall and half just because she was really tired and didn't feel like getting up at the moment.

"Well girl, you've officially hit a new low. Turned, maybe fractured your ankle, got some nice scrapes, no clue where you are besides in the middle of nowhere. All I need now is for someone to come up and laugh in my face to make it perfect." She tenses as she hears something besides the constant whistling of the wind, a crunching of snow heading her way. She closes her eyes most of the way and remains still, waiting for whatever to get close, hoping it hadn't heard her talking to herself, though she was somewhat gratified that someone had been watching her.

After a few more moments she hears it come up beside her and cracks an eyelid a bit further to see what it was. Standing at her side was a Ciatan, male, aging with a silver tint to his fur, bearing nothing but a light brown cloak probably made of some type of cheap fabric serving as a wind breaker and a wooden staff used as a walking stick. She layed there and he stood there for a few moments, neither knowing what to do exactly. Finlay he goes to poke her with his staff to see if she's alive or not and she speaks, "I'm alive and don't you even think about poking me with that thing." He jumps back and pulls back his staff as she speaks and then sits up, her paw on her knife.

They look at each other for a a few more moments in silence before she speaks again. "Well, what do you want? I don't have anything." His answer takes a few seconds and comes out slow, almost broken, "I don't want anything, just...wanted to know if you were okay." She looks at him for a bit, "Well, I'm not. I'm cold, tired, hungry, and think I may have broken my ankle." His response again was slow, "I don't live far. I could help you." She knew it would come to this and had to think some more, weighing her options. *Stay here, hurt, hungry, and lost in the cold or go with some weird old hermit to his hut. Well I suppose if you could overpower me there he can overpower me here, plus he's already seen me and the damage done no matter what I do. No choice really now...* "Okay, I'll go with you, but I'll need your staff." He gives her an odd look like he doesn't understand. "For my ankle." He just hands it over without a word. *Not a very talkative one is he.*

So without any more words wasted by either of them she slowly follows the old Ciatan back to his house, him constantly looking behind him at her, which luckily was a mere four-hundred feet away in a corner of the ridges, which apparently served as a good wind break. She supposed she could find out how he lived out here in this frozen place and if nothing else get some food and rest.

The house was more a small hut, barely twenty feet wide in either direction, the walls made up of a homemade concrete and rocks, the roof a network of slate shingles supported by a few wooden beams and the door was more slate sealed by plaster. She remarked to herself, *Gotta make do with what you've got I suppose, which in his case is rocks.* The inside was a bit more cozy, a small stove with a sleeping mat and a mass of blankets in front of it and a few pots on the top. On the other far side of it was some type of meat hanging up where it was colder and a few other stored foods. Keeping it outside in the winter would probably freeze it solid, and though it wasn't exactly warm inside, it kept out the wind and kept in some of the heat. There was a small chest that probably contained the few valuables he owned along with some clothes and extra coats in a pile and precious little else.

He motioned for her to sit down on the bed pad beside the stove and she was more than glad to be off her ankle, which as more feeling came back to it, the more and more it started to hurt. He looked rather flustered at having someone there and was split between getting food or apparently medicine and bandages and stood there for a few moments trying to decide which one to do first. She tried to offer some help, "Well, some hot water would be nice." He mutters, "Oh, yes..." and grabs a pot, goes outside, scoops some snow into it and returns, putting it on the stove which was going from a mixture of soft coal he had gotten from somewhere and wood which he must have spent the warmer months gathering.

He digs out wrappings and some herbs for her and kneeled down, and after a few awkward moments, hands them to her. She couldn't help but think how odd this old Ciatan was, probably hadn't seen or had anyone in his home for years and years the way he was acting. She tried to focus on somehow getting what she needed out of the lump of medical things he had just given her and went to work on her ankle first, having to smell a few herbs before she found the right one for swelling, and got a bit of water and applied them and to her right foot paw and then wrapped it up, using a couple small sticks as the rest of the splint. She then went about cleaning the various scrapes she had gotten from her fall as the funny old hermit went about getting some food cooked.

After she had eaten the bit of stew he had put together, not exactly sure what was in it besides small bits of meat, some parts of some plant she wasn't used to and formerly dried potatoes. She had little worries about eating it since it was all prepared in the same pot and he ate it also.

After the short supper she spent the next few hours trying to get some information out of him. From what she gathered from his slow and scattered sentences, his name was Yan Shi, though she couldn't be sure that was his real name or not, he had lived in this house by himself for over 20 years, and he was a Ronin. Ronins were master-less samurai who were looked down upon anyway for that, being basically mercenaries, but many, like him, once they did not find work or a master, were forced to sell their sword itself, and were viewed as soulless samurai, worse than a low peasant. Even though this troubles her a bit, him being a former samurai, it was obvious that his warrior days were over aside from his staff he didn't seem to have any weapons around. Plus there was the fact that he seemed extremely shy rather than showing any form of possible aggresion.

Soon he decided it was time to sleep, probably at the same time he had gone to sleep by himself for some 20 years in the same spot, but on that night he insisted with much hand motions, that she sleep by the stove, while he made his own bedding from his coats and blankets. Though Suki didn't fear the old Ciatan, she still slept with her knife in her paw under her covers, incase he or someone else decided to try anything during the first warm nights sleep she has had in four nights.

[Ciata]

It was indeed a long winter, not just how it felt to the young Ciatan Samurai, trapped inside his house with his mother through the winter months, letting his ribs heal, but the winter was also a long, nasty one in terms of weather. Much to Yuki's dismay there were also more attacks on the foraging groups and even outlying houses by bandits, who were perhaps driven by the weather to be more aggressive in their attacks, though some have come to think that there could be other causes behind them.

All of those specks of news and gossip Yuki had to endure during his stay inside, listening and hearing about all the excitement and events, being a forced spectator. Much to his mother's dismay, his run in with the bear bandits and injury did little to quell his fighting spirit or eagerness for adventure and combat. He however found it very hard to do anything beyond sit around the house and carry out little tasks for his mother, and though that brought him some gratification for making her so happy having him around, the restlessness was nearly enough to drive him mad. The injuries to his ribs made it very difficult and painfully to swing about anything bearing weight, and he more than once tweaked his injuries attempting to train with his katanas, slowing his recovery.

After one such incident his father took him aside and spoke to him, "Yuki, you have been given this time for a reason. Remember that morning before you were hurt, when I bound your blade into it's sheath? I know you do because you still go about muttering about it. But I told you then to not seek conflict, and though we should all be ready when it comes to us, we should not be so eager to go out and find it. Enjoy this peacefully time you have here at home. Once you grow older and more busy in your job and the dealings of the city, you will probably, like me, wish only that you could stay home with your wife and son and spend time with them, enjoying life. Fight to live, don't live to fight. Be sure you can fight well enough so that you and those you love can live, but don't seek battle just for the love of it. Love life, your home, and your family, because I guarantee you, power and glory in battle won't bring you happiness for long. Seek peace my son, and enjoy it while you have it. Learn the true way of the warrior"

So Yuki decided to set about discovering the "true way of the warrior" and all that it would foretell. He sought wise elder's advice and the wisdom of scrolls, but those soon bored. He even tried listened to silence for peace to give up its secrets, but the progress was slow and the time dragged on. He attempted meditation and deep thought, but his mind often wandered or he even found himself going to sleep. Without work, even gathering firewood, and exercises, he got bored very quickly, despite the efforts of his mother to keep him busy, which for someone who can hardly move around is no easy task, he often found himself lying around much of the day, waiting for his body to properly heal.

One day as he lay there, bored, half napping, his mother came up to him, and as usual was fretting over his condition and lack of things to do. By this time he could walk around well enough, but climbing, bending, or picking anything up was out of the question for fear of re-injuring his side, so he still had little to do. So she had been trying to think up of something she could get him involved in to keep him somewhat active, yet still safe. Today it had come to her, the one thing he could seem to focus on, martial arts, and there was but one thing she could think of that did not require strenuous physical activity, archery. In archery he would have to remain very still and use mainly only his arms. Plus his mother was a competent archer from her younger days, an unusual hobby for a female to be sure, but she did grow up on the outer edges of the city, and her father was a great archer, who insisted on passing down his skills to his children.

So this day she came up to Yuki holding a couple of long bows, one short for the style a han kyu, the other a full size long recurve bow that stood about six and a half feet tall, along with a box quiver full of arrows. Yuki opens his eyes and notices her and sits up quickly and half jokingly asks, "Mom, is there an invasion I didn't hear about?". She just shakes her little head, "No, but you need something to do, so I found you something to do. I'm going to teach you to shoot a bow and arrow." He just looks at her kinda funny, "I already learned how to use a bow and arrow." Her little paws are firmly grounded though, "You know how to shoot one yes, but do you even hit what you’re aiming at, hmm?" She sticks out a half pink, padded finger and pokes his nose. "Well...I haven't practiced in a long time, I never had reason to." She hands him the larger bow, "Well now you do, because you don't have anything else to do. Also if you would have had a bow instead of your sword against those bears you probably wouldn't have been hurt. A good archer could have taken them all out before they would have a chance to hurt you like they did, kitten. Or they would have run away at the sight of one." She takes the full quiver off her back and hands it to him also. "You know your grandfather was a great archer, and well...he had 5 children, and he about passed it on equally between us." Yuki nods, "Oh, so you’re a fifth great archer, or just a g archer?" She prods him outside with the end of her bow towards a straw target she got one of the Ciatan to set up, "I'm a b archer. B being better than you." Yuki just laughs as they go out to begin his re-instruction of the bow and arrow.

[Ciata]

Suki awoke, rather surprised, to the sound of a door closing. Even more surprised that it was the hermit returning from somewhere. Meaning that he had somehow gotten up, slipped out, and been gone for some period of time before coming back and awakening her. Lying there, she tried to excuse it in her mind, blaming it on the exhaustion, injuries, medicine, and even theorized that he could have drugged the food somehow. She did sleep past her usual time of getting up, and she didn't feel any lingering affects of a drug, so she put the blame on the events of the previous days.

After watching him for a few moments to see if he acted suspicious, she sits up on the mat, feeling for the first time in days the difference between warmth and cold as she removes the layers of blankets. She attempts to stand without thinking about her injured ankle and gives off a yelp and nearly stumbles when she finds that it is more painful than from the night before. She removes the splint and checks it over and she can see through her white fur discoloration and the obvious swelling. “Aw…wonderful it’s broken for sure.” This actually gets a word out of the hermit, “Ankle broken? Hmm…well, we should make a good splint and I’ll get you a walking staff to help.” This gets a perk out of Suki’s ears. If he was really going to betray her somehow, it wouldn’t make much sense to help her get mobile again, unless of course he was really going to try to hinder her healing with some trick. Her fox and ninja nature taught her to not only be able to use tricks, but be able to detect and be wary of other’s trying to trick you. Also known as paranoia. Whenever possible she, and others in her clan, preferred to go without any assistance from outsiders, unless there was no alternative, and at this moment, there appeared to be none.

When the hermit Yan Shi found her materials for a good splint, some fresh cloth straps and some flat pieces of wood to brace her ankle. She waited for him to leave on his quest to find her a walking stick before she examined the wood and cloth, sniffing it for any possible substances or needles or such, before she put it on, not without much pain and growling. After that she struggles up onto one leg, not too much of a challenge for a ninja after all, masters of balance and all that, however she was tired and sore and not exactly the best ninja, and she nearly tipped over a few times while hobbling across the small room to go examine the rest of the hermit’s belongings.

She first goes over the food and herbs, not seeing too much of importance, no known sleeping agents of poison, not that she tasted them all to be sure. She judged the food stock, which she doubted would last them both through the winter unless he did some hunting and gathering, mainly small meat and assorted odd plants all preserved by the cold. She didn’t see anything that looked like it had come from a town, which helped to confirm her suspicion that he had no contact with the outside world. Next she moved on to the chest, which to her delight was locked.

Locked chests most often mean things of some value or importance inside, and also hinted that he had something to hide from her. She grabbed her tanto and opened up the hollow hilt, pouring out what was left of the contents, which she had largely used up on her escape. She finds the lock pick kit, which is essentially a couple thick pieces of wire. She sits down beside the chest and goes to work on the lock. It was fairly simple and ordinary and she had it open in under twenty seconds, would have been less she mused if her paws weren’t so cold.

Opening it up she discovers a few old pieces of nicer clothing, setting that carefully aside she finds a tanto knife like hers, only slightly larger and of a different design. While hers was plain wood and smooth to help disguise it, this one was more ornate with a red finish and what appeared to be gold finish. This was not a weapon of even a lower samurai, wherever he had come from he was at one point wealthy. Setting that on top of the clothing she finds something wrapped in folds of cloth. Carefully picking up the heavy package, she unfolds it to find a pair of long spear heads. Long and rather thin, about and inch and a half wide all the way down and about a foot long, designed for both stabbing and cutting with duel blades and a thick point. Suki’s mind goes back to the staff the old Ciatan used, it was oddly tall she remembered, and very straight and smooth. Of ideal length for a spear shaft.

She could only assume that he had simply removed the heads from them and kept the stick for carrying around. A spear isn’t a walking stick after all, and having a pointed end on it could lead to rather nasty accidents if you weren’t careful, or even if you were you could slip like she did and fall nastily down a ice slope. Since few things lived in this area he must have been safer without them on than with to guard against an attack, which emphasized the remoteness of her location. She looked around and found a small bad of copper coins in the bottom and a few more pieces of clothing, but sadly little that would help her find out just who he was and where he came from. She carefully laid everything back exactly as she found it and put the lock back on.

Going back and laying by the furnace she made a mental note to be cautious of the hermit now, since he obviously had experience fighting and with the use of a spear. “So much for a simple little hermit, this Yan Shi has more to him than he lets on, perhaps reason to be in seclusion. He could be hiding or running away from something…like me. Or maybe he is just down on his luck or was dishonored somehow and rather than die he just decided to live out the rest of his life here. All questions that I shall need answers to.” Her ears perk up as she detects something outside, “Hmm, that hermit found a walking stick pretty quickly in this snow. At least I finished before he got back.” She laid back down and pulled a couple covers over her and waited for him to enter.

[Ciata]

He hated to admit it, but yeah, she was a better shot than he was, even with her half bow, her shots still shot to their mark with fairly consistent accuracy. Yuki watched as another one of her shots sailed to it's mark, close to the target's center. She repeats again the phrase that was beginning to ring in his ears probably just as it rang in hers and her sibling's when she was younger, "Find your target, focus, draw, aim, deep breath in, half out, check, and fire." He repeats along with her, following the steps, and loosing another arrow at the target, which lands about a foot from the mark.

He had already been going at it for a week solid and was slowly progressing closer and closer to the center of the mark, though his mother was still easily a better archer. She was too small to use a real bow however, so her range and power with the bow was limited, and her life as a busy house wife didn't do much to counter-act that. Yuki couldn't remember the last time he had saw his mother wielding anything more dangerous than a kitchen ladle. Seeing her with a bow, even a small one, and making good shots still threw him for a loop.

"Hey mom, what other little skills do you have hidden in that smock of yours? Master spear-fur? Carrying a few shuriken up your sleeves?" She fumbles with her bow for a few seconds, shy from the comments as she is with any referring to her just about. "No dear, that's all I've got. It's my odd, lone skill when it comes to these things, and it's about time I passed it on to you, to honor my father." He chuckles, "Well, you can pass this on, but don't try to pass on sewing or something like that, 'kay mom?" She can just chuckle in return, "Okay dear, no sewing, unless I want a quilt or something?" "NO!"

[Ciata]

Yan Shi opens the door and looks in before walking through, closing the door quickly behind him to keep any more of the heat from escaping the hut. As Suki expected, the stick he had found for her was also unusualy long and streight. Perhaps he did it without thinking, being so used to staffs of such type, or perhaps he has something planned. He goes over to his chest and produces a key from somewhere in his cloak and opens it, and pauses for a few seconds before pulling out his tanto. He sits down beside his chest and begins to use the knife to clean off the new staff.

She let her mind wonder about her unusual host, yet neither seemed overly concerned about the fact that she was a fox in a country where they were illegal residents, or that he was a Ciatan ronin, sword less, and hiding in the middle of one of the worst areas of the country. In a city or just roaming the country under normal situations they might have fought to the death, doubly likely because if either lost it was likely that they would have to take their life, either out of honor or secrecy of clan. Yet here they were, sitting not ten feet from each other, though not exactly at ease, not ready to pounce, bearing tooth and blade against each other.

Suki, never being a subtle one, springs a few questions at him. "So, those walking sticks are awfully long and straight and you seem to like them cleaned off and smooth. Any reason for that?" He continues on cleaning off the new staff, which is slightly shorter than his old one, almost 7 feet tall and a bit thinner than his. After a while he answers slowly, "Never know when you might need an extra few inches on the end of your staff." Well, that didn't help, so she decided to go straight to the point, "They look a lot like spear shafts to me, especially yours." At this she gets a response. He stops shaving off slivers of bark from the stick and looks at her. "Yes, it is a spear shaft, and yours could be too. It's necessary for things to be as...multi-use as possible when you have very little."

This didn't satisfy her either, as she already knew that's what they were, so she tried some more pressing questions as he went back to his cleaning of the staff. "Well, why are you out here? Did you run away from something?" He got a more serious look on his face, "Like you?" She squints her eyes and shoots back, "Yeah, like me. What were you running from?" He looks back down at his ornate tanto, red and gold oddly contrasting with the poverty of the rest of the place. "Myself." Yuki flops back on her elbows and smirks, "Huh, did you? Looks like you failed to me." He stops again, "I guess I did fail, and in a way I succeeded to much." Suki throws her head back and mutters, "First he doesn't talk, now he doesn't make any sense." His old ears caught what she said, "I escaped from my responsibilities and family, but I never got away from my past or who I am." Now she could ask what she really wanted to know, "Who are you then, really?"

Suki had to wait several minutes before he brought himself to answer. "I am Yamagata Shingen, son of Yamagata Masakage." He didn't even get though saying that before Suki had jolted up onto her good paw and a knee with her tanto drawn. That name, his father was one of head warlords that led the last great campaign against the ninja clans, wiping out about half of them and causing heavy losses in many others, including her's. How many exactly no one knows because of the secrecy of the ninjas, but this hermit's father had led the infamous "fire unit", Ciatan samurai who dressed in red armor and specialized in spears, which had wreaked havoc on the battle field against the short weapons of the ninja in the last war where they actually had the numbers to openly face them and also were said to have used fire attacks when assaulting the ninja castles and bases, burning all who were inside alive.

Now here he was, the son of a mortal enemy of the ninjas, even though his father had died, that only meant that he was likely supposed to be the head of the Yamagata family, and perhaps had even been fighting in the battles himself. All she could think about was the stories of the fire unit, and that now, before her, was a member of that family. That explained the color and quality of his tanto, his obsession with spears, and also perhaps the shame he felt about his family name she suspected, because even among the Ciatan some of his tactics were frowned upon. She knew what she, even as a ninja outcast, was called upon to do by duty, and that was to kill him, which could bring some honor back to her name.

Bracing with her knee, she leaps at him with her good leg, in a diving thrust with her knife. He saw her tensing, about to pounce and dropped his tanto and grabbed the staff down at one end. When she was still mid-air he whips it about in a circular motion knocking the tanto from her and sending it ricocheting off the stonewall. He catches her flying body with the staff held sideways across his chest and shoves her back with it.

She laid there on her back watching him stand up, sticking his tanto in his belt and bearing the staff he was nearly finished with smoothing out and went over her options, and she didn't like any of them at the moment. She was disarmed, injured and partly immobilized with maybe a pot or something to use against him, which was assuming he didn't knock it out of her paw before she could use it. He was armed with a staff, which he was still very able with, and a tanto knife. She was about ready to resign herself to whatever fate he had for her when he spoke, faster and almost stammering. "I wished to escape that, my name, my family, what my father did, because no one sees it as his deeds, but mine to! I had to follow, I didn't like it, I didn't agree with it, but it was my duty. I couldn't bare to carry on his name anymore, it brought as much shame as honor to me, so I left, and tried to be free of his name and legacy, but everyone still saw me as him, no matter what I did. So I sold my family sword and bought this place and the land around it, so no one would bother me, and I could live without people like you holding it all against me. Yes, I killed ninja too, but it was war, and I didn't want to fight, but I was expected to help lead them into battle, and I'm too much of a coward to take my own life for it, so I ran away, ran away to here, and no one has bothered me until you came, and I tried to be nice to you, to maybe work off some of fraction of the debt I owed, to show to God that I am sorry...and I don’t mean any harm to anyone..." With that he drops the staff and sits back down and lowers his head.

Suki was now even more confused as to what to do, and after that sudden outburst of speech and revelation from him she was confused as to what to think about him. She had just tried to kill him for the very reason he ran away from his life to this desolate place. After a few minutes of thinking and a few false starts she answers, "I know some of what you mean. My father is...the head of a clan, and I'm the youngest of the children, and I just can't live up to the expectations they give me. So after trying my own things to earn his respect, I ran away, and came here, and probably would have died if you hadn't have been there and saved me. Huh, some thanks I gave you."

The two sit there for what seemed hours before the hermit speaks up again, much slower and quieter this time. "Well, is there anyway I can help you? My father is gone and I cannot make up for his deeds, but you still have a chance to set things right with yours." She thinks for a minute, "Well...you could show me how to use that." She points at the nearly cleaned staff lying in front of him.

[Ciata]

Yuki was relaxing after another afternoon of archery practice, his body nearly healed by now, being nearly two months since he had it injured in the fight with the bears. He lay there on one of the large windowsills, basking in the late afternoon sun in a gray and blue kimono. The worst of winter had passed now, and the afternoons were enjoyable, at least to species that were made for such weather. As he lay there, half awake, his father walks into the room, still wearing his gray work kimono, soiled from working on fixing a stack of firewood that had fallen in the storehouse and rebuilding the supports, which had left him very tired and a bit agitated at his son, who seemed to enjoy life as a temporary cripple a bit too much for his taste.

When he spotted him lying there he decided to teach his lazy son a few things today, if for nothing, just to keep him busy. He employed his thickly padded paws and knowledge of every creaking board in the house, he snuck up on Yuki lying there and rapped him on his nose, causing him to come fully aware with a start, sitting up a bit too fast for his ribs, getting a cringe out of him. Kel grins at his son's confused and slightly pained look. "Well Yuki, did you have a nice nap?" He leaves the question hanging there with Yuki just rubs the scruff of his neck. "A woodpile collapsed today in the storeroom, four cords of wood all over the floor and a cracked support, lots of work. Was target practice with your mother too exhausting for you?" Again he gets nothing but slightly ashamed silence for a reply.

"Well, me and your mother have been talking, and we think that even though your archery is improving here, that you should go study with someone else until summer, and don't try to argue or complain. I went through the same thing when I was around your age and it did me a lot of good, trained under the same master." This gets a response out of Yuki, "Huh, so that means he's reeeaaly old then, hmm?" Kel jokingly pulls back his paw as if to smack him, "Oh believe me, he's still got more than enough years left to keep up with you. His name is Master Omura, and he is what they call a true master. Now you can master the spear or sword or a fighting form and be called a master, but in most cases they are just masters of one way of doing on thing. Omura is a true master, or a master of himself. He trained at the Shuey Baw monastery for many years before he left there after becoming a master in the martial arts. He then ventured out into the world, and trained me and a very few others. We've contacted him and he agreed to train you as well for a short time, which is an honor, so there will be no complaining. You will learn as much as your mind, body, or attitude will limit you to while you are there, and his time for teaching is priceless, so you will devote yourself fully to it, not like here."

Yuki took all of this silently, expecting something of the sort from him sooner or later. He had heard stories about this Master Omaru from his father, and from what he had gathered he was supposed to be a very impressive fighter, beyond that of your average master. Still...he didn't savor giving up the easy life he had here to go into some intense training under some old guy, no matter how good he is. Either way though, he didn't have a choice, so no arguing or complaining, at least to his face, would do any good, so he resigned himself to going along with it. At least it would keep him out of the boring, repetitive life he would otherwise be living for those few months.

[Ciata]

It took a good 3 hours of convincing before Yan Shi, as he insisted on being called for obvious reasons, agreed to train Suki in the martial art of fighting with a spear. She would have to wait of course for her ankle to heal, which would take a month before she could put any weight on it, and it would be at least the beginning of summer before she would have near-full mobility again.

Thus began what would become on of many days in that small, stone hut with quiet lectures and examples on how to handle a spear properly. The spryness of the old Ciatan surprised Suki, as his natural prowess of a born and bred warrior had been preserved due to the harsh life he had to endure and the work that was needed to sustain it. She figured by the time of the war and his approximate age then that he had to be about sixty years old, but he was looking pretty good for his age and seemed as if he could still hold his own in a battle against most any opponent she had seen, save a few elite from her clan she liked to think. When he wasn't doing the work necessary to keep them both alive in the harsh winter, resting, or preparing her staff, he spent his time explaining the basics of combat with long weapons. The very different mentality you fight with when armed with a spear as opposed to a knife or Katana. The idea of keeping the enemy at a distance, when your have the advantage of being able to strike with full power and yet someone with a shorter weapon could not was rather odd to her usual style of fighting she had grown up with. She had been trained to either pick them off from a good distance if possible, and if not, to rush in close for a quick and lethal strike. With the spear you were presented with many more options for striking, mainly the feet and legs which are virtually impossible to guard well with a short weapon.

His eager nature to teach and have company and a growing interest in her as a pupil kept Suki focused on her new Sensei, who was one of the few people to take a genuine interest in her, in her lifetime.
"Something tells me you've taught someone before, but a long time ago right?"
"Well...of course. I had to help lead training exercises for the troops back during the war times."
"No, I mean train someone personally, one on one."
He stops his current demonstration of how to block a close thrust with a small blade and his eyes get a far off look that she had grown accustom to even since he had begun the training. This time though his eyes and expression was tainted with a deep sadness that she was afraid he wouldn't elaborate on as he often did about such issues. She was somewhat fortunate though, as he did give her a response.
"Yes, about 25 years ago, just before I began my time of wandering."
She waited for him to go on but he started to go back to the example instead but she stopped him.
"And...what happened?"
"I killed him."
"What? You killed your student? Why?"
"You must understand, he was the son of my father's top lieutenant, and I was about 10 years his senior. I didn't know it at the time, but apparently his father had the intentions of him taking over my position as a general by a challenge of succession when my father died. In family matters this is rare if it even happens anymore, however in military settings the strongest is seen fit to lead, so challenges of such nature or not too uncommon. He trained under me to get an inside view of my fighting techniques while also learning from his own father. I began to sense what was going on as my father failed in health and he began to press me for my secrets of combat. Even though we were friends and I his teacher, we both knew what was going to happen. As expected, when my father had died and had been layed to rest the challenge was given and I, foolishly, accepted."
He sits down and pauses before continuing his tale.
"When we met in combat and crossed spears I let him know who his teacher and chief. When it comes to teaching your techniques and secrets, only between father and first born son are everything shared. Between two set to be rivals, I with-held much I'm ashamed to say. Even with his father's instruction added to mine I was able to defeat him with a bit of effort. However he did not stop. At his father's urging he pressed his attacks again and again...*sigh* so I felt at the time that I had no choice, and I used one of my father's lethal techniques, the spear's kumori dageki, or shadow strike that I with-held from him and killed him."

The two sat there in the oft-visited silence as Suki pondered this move and what he had been forced to do with it.
"Is that why you left?"
"It was the last straw so to speak. One can expect the death of one's enemies at your hands, and your friend at your side, however killing a friend with your own hands because of a position or personal gain...that is simply not worth it."