[Sunagakure] Oasis

[Apollymi]

http://i1053.photobucket.com/albums/s474/benihime469/RPU/Naruto/Beautiful-Desert-Oasis-Waterfall-Wallpapers_zpsuj6egt06.jpg

Outside of the Sunagakure, is an oasis. Such naturally occurring places exist throughout the desert but this one in particular seems to be a favorite for the training and use of the Kazekage. She seems to favor this place, beyond all others and is often found there. It has a sort of dense treeline and is worked into a cliff face with a large water fall, leading into an even more expanded pool.

[Bloodedge]

One afternoon, roughly a week after arriving in the Land of Wind, one Suzukou Akira sat on a large rock at the edge of the oasis. He remained fully dressed in the attire he'd come to the village in, seeming to have no interest in entering the oasis at the moment. Indeed, he was content to sit there and stare at the waterfall, sword in his lap all the while.

[Apollymi]

Another Suzukou twin was busy standing on the water near the waterfall, hopping about as she mastered this new talent that she was recently taught by her elder sister. She watched as her brother seemed content just to stare at the waterfall and scoff. "Aki, the water won't kill you~" she said to him, as she moved about. Benihime herself soon rose from the water pushing long red locks out of her face. She was presently dressed, which would likely be surprising to most, in a bikini top and a small pair of shorts. "Ah got the hang of that then." she said of her younger sister who seemed to not be having much problem with the water balancing, as she expected.

As this interaction took place though, another soon made her way to the oasis. This young woman was dressed in white with two swords in her obi. One of which was a standard katana recently picked up from the forge, the other of which was a wakazashi sized shirasaya which she'd had since she'd gone on her trip. Beyond all this, she had a small tuft of fur attached to her collar at the neck, and her appearance was one of which would be recognized by Benihime. "Aiko-chan~ Okaeri~" she said greeting the girl, who simply smiled and waved. "Onee-sama, tadaima~ You have on clothes?!" she stated seemingly surprised, but soon enough the girl's gaze shifted to the boy on the rocks and she chose to approach him instead of the Kazekage. "Hello, you must be Akira-kun, I'm Aiko." she said offering the boy a bow.

[Bloodedge]

"Mendokuse. I'm not feeling the water walking today," Akira replied to the girl who shared his face. "I did enough of that yesterday. I'm good to sit this one out, right?" he asked, directing this question to the Kazekage. It seemed, though, that the woman's attention had been pulled by another individual, who looked much like the Kazekage's husband and child, and even seemed to be around the same age as Akira and his twin. The girl approached Akira for some reason, even knowing his name ahead of time. When he was addressed in such a way, he seemed quite surprised to be known. "Oh... y-yeah, that's me. Yoroshiku na."

[Apollymi]

"I never told her to do it in the first place~" the Kazekage mentioned as Teruko pouted, "Oi, I just like doing it okay?" she said seeming to find it odd that anyone would like the ability to walk on water or climb up vertical surfaces. It was by far one of the most interesting things she'd learned in the Kazekage's presence.

Moving right along, the girl who'd arrived to find the young man here, seemed to think his introduction was a bit odd. Though not as much as the Kazekage's present state of dress. "Yes, I am wearing clothes. Apparently my nudity is just generally unappreciated now~" she said rolling her eyes just a tad. Of course, the girl present had been part of the Kazekage's household for quite a while, she'd already put together why she'd arrived and as such waved over Teruko, "Something interesting is about to happen..." she whispered. As Aiko returned her attention to the young man. "Hm, you use a sword too right? You wanna have a match?" she asked, it was very straight forward, and exceedingly respectful, Aiko was always running low on training partners of any real skill, so it'd be fun for her to see what his skills were.

[Bloodedge]

"Oro?" was Akira's immediate retort. Suddenly, it made sense that she had come to him knowing his name. It was blatantly obvious that this girl, Aiko, had some ability with swords. The fact that she wished to have a match with him was more evidence to this idea, and Akira couldn't say he minded at all. "Uh... sure. I could go for a spar," he said as he rose from the rock he perched upon. Once he was standing, Akira slipped his sheath into the left side of his obi. "Any rules?"

[Apollymi]

Akira seemed a bit surprised that Aiko had come to him, she supposed it was a strange way to meet someone, but as a person who specialized in sword usage, she had the feeling that he wouldn't actually turn down a simple match. And with Akira's answer a grin spread across the girl's face, he'd not disappointed in the least. She moved then hopping back, to the question of if this spar had any rules she shrugged. "Not really... I can handle most things so feel free," the girl mentioned rather modestly, upon applying a bit more thought she said one more thing. "Though, Onee-sama wouldn't like it if we killed or maimed each other so... that should be avoided, yeah?" she said the latter as if it was a question aimed towards the Kazekage, the elder redhead person in the vicinity had already moved to the side with her youngest sister and was more than prepared to watch what took place here. "Yeah, I don't want to do the paper work which would rise from the two of you killing each other," she said, seeming to think that task would be daunting. Though this was mostly a joke, one which Aiko was rather familiar with and caused her to chuckle. "Hai, so that, but whenever you're ready~" Aiko said as she sized the young man up, her right hand hovering over the hilt of the katana she'd so recently acquired.

[Bloodedge]

"Alright; sounds like a plan," he replied. Benihime's agreement to the white-haired girl's words was a bit disturbing to the young male, and even caused him to divert his attention from Aiko momentarily. "Paperwork? I die, and that's what you worry about!?" With that said, he brought his right hand to the hilt of his katana, shifting his eyes toward Aiko once more. "Onegaishimasu," he said as his charge began. A single step sent him rocketing toward Aiko. In the midst of this dash, he drew his sword, aiming to horizontally slash outward at Aiko's midsection while doing so.

[Apollymi]

"Ara ara, you kids gotta lighten up, it was a joke~" Benihime mentioned, taking note that even her younger sister and pulled away to look at her like she'd grown another head.

After that speech, Benihime was quiet, content to watch the match up between her youngest brother and one of her top Jounin, if for no other reason, to help contribute to her mental ranking her little brother. As this happened, Aiko heard the call that the young man before her intended to start properly, and as such she was prepared, though she still didn't immediately draw a weapon. His speed was quite surprising, 'One step?' she mentally questioned. As the Akira's weapon was drawn when he closed in and aimed a horizontal slash at the young woman her own katana was drawn in a single deft motion and held in her left hand upside down to meet the horizontal slash. "Sugoi, you're fast and strong," she mentioned, in the same breath she used her right hand to draw the shirasaya and flip it around in her hand before aiming a single stabbing strike towards the young man's midsection given their current proximity.

[Bloodedge]

The feeling and sound of his sword clashing against another was unmistakable to Akira, but it let him have an early idea of his opponent's skill. For her to unsheathe her own weapon to parry his put her ability on par with his, at the very least. "So are you. Trained?" he asked. With Aiko's secondary weapon being drawn, Akira was quick to leap away, returning to his original position atop the rock he once sat upon. He would not remain at this distance, but would instead dash forward once more, applying a clockwise spin to his movement while repeating the former horizontal slash. This time, however, he chose the moment that his left side was away from Aiko to pull the sheath from his obi. Whether his initial slash with the katana was dodged or parried, he knew he was at a disadvantage when it came to number of weapons held, so his sheath was prepared to perform a follow-up slash slightly higher than the sword.

[Apollymi]

"Most of my life, you?" was Aiko's response to the question of if she was trained in sword use. In all actuality she'd decided very early what she wanted to do with her life, and in so doing had shown a bit of favoritism towards long bladed weapons even when she was very small. The boy before her showed more skill than she'd say she'd seen any anyone not Youko in quite a while, but she couldn't be sure at this point if he'd had any formal training or if he'd simply learned instinctively as some tended to do. But that was for another time, her follow up attack was dodged with further speedy movements which made her smile just a bit. She could at least say his speed was on par with what she'd expect of a fellow shinobi. His skills were also very good, and his instincts would be showcased soon enough.

After leaping from the rock he'd started on, Akira would charge towards Aiko adding rotational force to his coming blade. Such a thing would rather simply be parried by Aiko with the same downward grip of her sword in her left hand, but as he spun the follow up strike with his sheathe was still left, with the sheathe itself being used outside of the girl's normal line of vision. This effort would be met by the girl pulling her first blade up a higher as she switched her hold one her weapons. She'd release both of them in a single moment so she could switch hands, so that she could continue to draw her katana up with her right hand, while dropping the shorter of her weapons into her left. In doing so she'd deflect the secondary strike in a manner which would make it seem as if the action wasn't planned at all. And it wasn't. "I did that too once," she said thinking back on her Chunin Exam battle with Youko, when she'd first learned the disadvantage of taking on a person who could skillfully wield multiple swords while she wielded one. "Onii-sama was right, you're a bit like me~" she said, finding it interesting that he'd chose a similar method of dealing with an opponent who had multiple weapons. With this in mind she went on to perform another jab with the short shirasaya in her left hand towards the young man's right shoulder, while she twirled the katana in her right hand into a more comfortable position.

[Bloodedge]

"Lucky," he said when Aiko stated that she'd been training for most of her life. When asked the same question, he reacted the only way he could. "Tou-san had a sword, so I picked one up a few years back. Kinda had to teach myself." Neither of his strikes were fated to land properly in this secondary attack, though apparently, this was similar to something Aiko herself had done in the past. "Really? I thought I just made it up," he said as his blade ground against the blade of Aiko's katana, on its way toward parrying the wakizashi aimed at his right shoulder. When recovering from this, Akira pushed the tip of his blade down into the ground behind him, using the weapon thereafter to support himself as the lower half of his body rose. Bringing himself up until his body was parallel to the ground, Akira aimed to kick at Aiko's torso to repel her away from himself.

[Apollymi]

Aiko's eyes widened at the news that this young man had only been carrying his blade a few years. Youko's descriptor of the boy being a bit unrefined made much sense now, he was basically new at the practice even so, he'd taught himself more than the basics and had the ability to fight with more than just bare basics slashing at a very early point in his development. "Sugoi, you're still pretty early then. It's for the best that you don't have that sort of training. You don't need it," the girl mentioned. She'd continue speaking but only after the shift in the short blade to block the foot coming towards her person, which she stopped pushing towards the young man's shoulder as it was met by his blade. She used the flat side of the blade to absorb some of the shock as she was pushed back from the power of the kick. Aiko's trajectory took her over the water, but she wasn't at all bothered by this, after all she was a shinobi and water walking is a very early skills for chakra control as such she came to a stop with a spray of water in her wake.

"Yes, I did that move too~ Against Onii-sama while I was taking the Chuunin Exam about nine years ago. But you also made it up, it was likely just a reaction to facing someone with an advantage you don't have, it's why I did it, thinking back on it." she said but there was more to it than that. "But it isn't an active thought at the time, yeah? You just move because it feels right?" she asked as she tucked away the shorter of the blades she was using and took to a two handed grip on the katana. Such a thing was a show, of something a bit different, as she ran towards the crimson haired young man for the first time. When she did she held her sword low and behind her dragging the water along with her sword creating a spray which would follow the movements of her blade. When she reached the right distance she'd turn just a bit, bringing up a spray of water in front of her as if she intended to cut the young man from his left hip to his right shoulder, but the movement was a shallow feint as she'd just as quickly switch instead to a downward strike following the inverse path and cutting through the water already in the air. This one wouldn't be shallow and aimed instead to cut the boy across his chest.

[Bloodedge]

Though Akira's kick did not connect with its intended target, it did succeed in creating distance between himself and Aiko. With his momentum still in place, he used his sheath as support while pulling his sword from the ground and righting himself. "Sounds about right. Not much time for thinking in the middle of a battle. I can't always make the space," he said. Coincidentally, he would immediately be put into another situation without time to think, though the execution of Aiko's attack forced him into wondering. He readied himself, only to be driven into taking a step back when the water veil was raised. He then realized this was never meant to be an attack which struck him. By then, it was too late. By the ime Akira came to the realization that this slash was false, Aiko's blade was already being brought back down through the veil. His reflexes afforded him another step back, but not soon enough. Blood soon trickled down his torso. He had taken the first strike on this day, but there was no time to be worried about that. Aiko had brought herself within striking distance again, prompting Akira to immediately return to the offensive by performing a series of wild, thrusting motions with the katana in his right hand. As he did this, he stepped forward again and again, aiming to eventually connect through any combination of dodges or parries that allowed him continuation.

[Apollymi]

Aiko found her combination feint attack working. It was very different but it'd been quite a while since she'd properly fought without the use of Tessaiga. Given this, it was much easier to try new things with a combination of blades which could be used to much better effect. But this was an aside, she knew her blade had made contact with flesh, given the way it felt. She smirked because it'd usually didn't take so long for an attack to make contact. This was beginning to feel a bit like a legitimate fight, and as such she was beginning to get excited by it. 'Sugei, this is actually fun!~' the girl thought as her eyes widened.

It seemed her opponent wasn't the type to let a single injury detour him. In fact, he was now seen wildly thrusting his blade towards the girl, forcing her to take steps back as she dodged and parried strikes as they came towards her. Though even she was having a hard time predicting the movements of the blades. As she moved backwards she'd find herself over the water once more, and she'd soon spin her blade instead of moving. Allowing the blade a single moment to come into her space, it'd seem to pierce her skin at her shoulder, but the feeling of it wouldn't quite be right. It'd be like hitting a piece of armor and it in fact was, but not of the conventional sort. In the moment this happened her spinning blade would be coming around to push down the blade which had made contact with her shoulder. As it'd go down towards her foot, she'd pull up on the blade, aiming to slash diagonally across the young man's body or just create a bit of space between them, depending on what the young man decided to do. "Not many people would keep moving after taking a hit like that~ You definitely don't need any training, just a challenging sparring partner." Aiko asserted. She could said this with some surety because she was much the same way, much of her own style was based solely on having a talented swordsmen as her regular partner for these endeavors.

[Bloodedge]

After numerous thrusts, Akira's katana finally connected with something other than Aiko's blade, though it was not the flesh he sought. Whatever this was, it was something entirely new to the lad. 'What is that?' he asked himself. No matter the case, Aiko then abandoned her dodging, and refocused her parries to knock down his sword. It was then that Akira chose to release his hold on the weapon, only to step back again and avoid the following slash. He did not simply aim to evade in this situation. Instead, with his own sheath still in hand, his intention became moving it forward to slip it over Aiko's katana during her slashing motion. If he succeeded in this, he would aim to use the recovery time to pick up his own weapon and step forward, all while aiming to bring his blade within an inch of Aiko's throat from her fore.

[Apollymi]

Aiko soon found a very interesting end to this particular situation. Her slash was captured, not by the boy directly but instead by the sheathe of his weapon, after he chose to let go of his sword in order to cap her weapon. His follow up would involve him drawing his weapon from the ground and having it at the girl's throat. Such a thing was rather different for her, and she soon found herself with a blade stopped a mere inch from her throat. "You sheathed my weapon, that's pretty good." she said, but while this was happening and before it slid all the way home, she'd drawn her secondary weapon and also held it a mere inch away from the boy's throat their finishing motions would seem like a stalemate from this. "Hmm, normally I break swords to end matches, but this way is good too. Arigatou gozaimasu, Akira-kun." Aiko took a step backwards and sheathed her secondary weapon before flipping her katana around in her hand. In so doing she removed Akira's sheath and held it out for him while aiming to sheathe her own blade as well. She was in awe of this show of skill, and it gave her hope that she'd have a bit more variation in her practice partners for a while.

[Bloodedge]

Akira was led to believe that he'd brought an end to this battle, but just when he thought to relax, he noticed there was a blade at his neck as well. A sigh followed this realization, but all was well. "Chikushou~ I thought I had that one. Next time," he said while claiming his sheath and placing his sword within it. "Arigatou gozaimasu." Akira's thanks came with a bow toward his opponent, and when he rose from said bow, a smile was upon his face. "I had fun. That was a way better use of my time than running around on water."

[Apollymi]

"Hai, next time... you're free to try~" the girl added. She was always a tiny bit cheeky when it came to sword play, but such was to be expected from a girl who maintained such a high level of play. Still she bowed and was utterly respectful, but such was simply second nature to this young woman. "I also had fun," about the fact that it was a better use of his time than running on the water she could do nothing but shrug. "Eh, shinobi basic skills will make most things easier though, and one can't have too many good skills," she mentioned.

"Um-hm, listen to Aiko-chan~ She's one of my top Jounin and has been for years." said Benihime as she stood, after taking in the full battle between the pair. She stretched was she began to walk towards the white haired lass pausing at the half way mark until she felt the tingle which signaled the release of the tightness in her person. "Aki-chan~ You did a nice job, I didn't expect you to maintain such a high level of combat~" she said to the young man complimenting his skills. She wasn't much for sword use herself, especially since she'd broken her last one, but she could see the boy's natural talent for it, while he faced off against Aiko. Teruko had watched the whole of this match, and though it wasn't a martial arts exhibition, she was still rather pumped from the experience. "Aki! I didn't know you could do that... sugoi!~" she commented before turning to Aiko. "Nice to meet ya', and thanks for taking care of my brother." Aiko just smiled and nodded. "Hai hai, I should be thanking you, sorry for the interruption," the white haired lass mentioned.

[Bloodedge]

"I'll try and succeed. You'll see," Akira replied with a grin to meet Aiko's cheeky commentary. With this interaction coming to its end, he turned toward his female siblings. He walked toward the pair with a bit of added pep in his step, only to stumble upon hearing Teruko's statement. "Oi, what do you mean you didn't know!? You've seen me fight a hundred times!"

[Apollymi]

"I look forward to it~" These were Aiko's words as she watched this young man try and swagger off, only to be off put by the words of his twin. The white haired girl suppressed a giggle at the young man's reaction and watched as the younger crimson locked female tried to explain herself. "Well, I mean, yeah. I've seen you fight a hundred times, but this was different. It's hard to explain but it actually looked like something, like you were trying." she said knowing that this didn't quite cover what she meant the young woman threw her hands up in the air. "I don't know how to explain it, it was just different," she said seemingly exasperated. A laugh would come from Benihime as Aiko looked to the older redhead, "Onee-sama, so do you have any more siblings?" she asked of the woman, which just caused the elder redhead to shrug. "I honestly don't know. These two are the youngest to my knowledge at 17. I'd rather not think too much about it," she said then thinking about it more.

"Hai hai, I was just wondering if I should be surprised later. I kinda thought that you had been kidding about everyone in your family being twins, but I am starting to see a pattern here," she said. "Yeah yeah, twins everywhere, and red hair... now then... you got your fur. I gotta get Youko to explain these to me at some point..." the redhead said as she approached the young girl and poked the small fur ball at her neck. "Why so little..." said the redhead frowning, she got the immediate desire to roll around with it, but it was too little to want to play with it, the elder redhead was left to simply paw at it on the girl's neck in a surprisingly cat like manner.

[Bloodedge]

"Oh... well, yeah, I guess that makes sense," Akira said with a hand upon his chin. "I know what you mean. That wasn't anything like fighting tou-san, or anybody else with a sword, for that matter. I kinda felt like I was seconds from being out of breath that whole time," he concluded.

In the meantime, Aiko and Benihime conversed on the topic of the latter's potentially unknown siblings, as well as the fur which the former wore on her collar. During this time, Youko approached the oasis. He held an additional katana, sheathed, in his left hand. There was also a small box in his right hand. "They are always that small. That is the Mouhibi's natural state."

[Apollymi]

"Hai, it was kinda exciting to watch. I'm kinda pumped. I never get to do stuff like that," the girl said seemingly cross at the idea that she was feeling left out. Still she was happy to see her twin having a successful challenge and seeming to understand what she was getting at, even when she wasn't quite sure what she meant.

Meanwhile, Aiko and Benihime were having a conversation, and the redhead was pawing at the fur ball on her neck. "Onee-sama, you're not rolling around with mine," she said to the woman who had the nerve to look shocked by the accusation. "Iie, not even a thought that crossed my mind," the woman said with her eyes darting off to the side. "Your face says different," Aiko mentioned with a smirk as she backed away from the woman, taking note of Youko's appearance and using it as a means to save herself. Sure enough Youko showed up carrying weapons and explaining the question that she'd recently asked of Aiko. "Really? You show up just to answer my questions? Is this about to be one of those really complicated things... also, I've known you for years, totally didn't know it had a name." the woman found the whole thing to be quite strange, as such she approached the man instead looking over the things he had with him.

[Bloodedge]

"Tch! You get to do plenty! Why don't you go to Fon-san for a fun little fistfight," said Akira, who followed the statement by having his tongue jut from betwixt his lips at the red-haired girl. He was briefly distracted thereafter, as he noticed the other two had been joined by the blacksmith and husband of Benihime.

"Well, I showed up, and you happened to have a question I could answer, so... yes?" Youko replied with a chuckle. "Of course it has a name. It is worn by all true Hunters; they'd have been barbarians to not name it... Their eventual future not withstanding, of course. Anyway... it's not very complicated. Mouhibi is as much a hunting tool as it is the spoils of a hunt." With that said, Youko looked toward the Kazekage's youngest siblings. The items in his hands were thrown simultaneously; the sword going toward Akira, and the box - which contained a new pair of gloves with strange metal trimmings - finding a route toward Teruko. "Before I forget, those are for you two. Those tools are made to be chakra demodulators, so your nature transformation can have an easier time being channeled through them to great effect!"

[Apollymi]

"You're gonna stop saying his name like that, Aki," the female twin said, seeming to think it wasn't a bad idea, but disliking the way her brother had mentioned the idea. Soon though her sister's husband showed up and she was also distracted by their discussion choosing to forego the usual amount of pouting which would go along with shunning her twin for a few minutes.

Benihime to her credit managed not to be terribly surprised by the fact that the item constantly found in Youko's possession had a name. Though his comment about barbarism made the woman's brow raise, given how they'd ended up. Of course, this was soon covered by the white haired man so she moved on to another question. "Okay, spoils I get but how on earth is it a hunting tool?" she asked in time to have to wait for an official response as her husband was now tossing items towards the pair of twins, likely created for them. Teruko to her credit caught the box seeming to find it strange, she'd open it seeming to go wide eyed. "Sugoi!~ Arigatou Gozaimasu!~" the young woman said as she inspected the gloves, taking a seat on the rocks to fit them onto her hands.

[Bloodedge]

"Oh, like you say it any differently~♥" When Teruko caught her box, Akira caught his sword. Without even unsheathing it fully, he noted the special craft and sharpness of the blade, and found himself astounded. The boy bowed immediately, and spoke in unison with Teruko. "Arigatou gozaimasu!"

Youko only grinned in response. Given what he'd seen already from both of these teens, he figured they would very much enjoy their new tools upon testing them. For now, though, his attention returned to his wife. "Aside from the transformation, Mouhibi function as bait. Every one is attuned specifically to its owner, and emits their chakra as a type of pheromone. It's sort of a passive Genjutsu that attracts anyone around."

[Apollymi]

Aiko watched as the pair of twins received their weapons of preference. She knew they likely hadn't asked for them at all. Seeing such a thing made the girl smile, and she was already privy to the information being shared with Benihime, and as such didn't feel the need to comment on that either. 'Simultaneous twin speak. Been a while for that, I suppose I should get used to it again huh?' she thought absently choosing to watch this entire group and figure out what would be going on between them. Mostly finding the speech between the pair of twins to be hilarious.

"So... you're making yourself passively attractive? Hm-hm..." Benihime seemed to find some sort of flaw in this logic. But she supposed she could see why that was a thing. At the very least, she was quite fond of the Mouhibi, if not for the general feeling of the chakra it emitted then for its softness. She wondered specifically if it was cat-like behavior from her which caused the likeness, but she was also just fond of Youko's chakra in general.

[Bloodedge]

"Well, the Mouhibi is. The larger it is, the more powerful the effect becomes. At this size, it mostly just makes people want to touch it. Of course, once they touch it, they usually want to keep touching it... but you know all about that, don't you?" the white-haired man questioned. Whether she knew this or not, Youko was privy to the Kazekage frequently rolling around in his fur tuft. He'd never previously had reason to address this, but he could now, since it was a topic of conversation and all. "No shame, of course. I'm pretty sure it's the reason people like Aiko and Mariketa were always on my shoulder some years ago."

[Apollymi]

Youko went on to explain to his wife that the size of the Mouhibi determined how powerful the effect of the passive genjutsu was. His own was large enough to entice people into wanting to touch it, and continuing to touch it after they finally gave in to the desire. She thought about this, and found that she did indeed always want to touch it, but often enough found it to be inappropriate. Most often she could be found rolling around with it in her office on the occasions that Youko left it there to have a shower or do something else within the mansion. Her eyes widened just a bit as he mentioned that she likely knew what he meant. "Ara... I... well..." the Kazekage's cheeks puffed up and bright red because she felt like she'd been caught. Even with the mention of the younger girls having a similar behavior it somehow seemed to be a bit worse for her. Teruko looked up from her newly gloved hands and looked at her sister's face. "Aki look at Aneki," she whispered finding the woman's inability to formulate a sentence to be amazing.

Aiko was tuned in enough to the conversation to know what Youko meant by this. It was true she used to ride on his shoulder a lot. She typically through herself up there anytime they were going any distance together. And yes she was enticed to touch the fur, but she figured she could do so outside of the watchful eye of anyone else if she did that. Besides that point there was a completely valid explanation for always being on that shoulder in particular. "Onii-sama, there are other perfectly good reasons for why I chose that method of transportation when I was young," she said, noting the Kazekage's red face and choosing not to comment. "First, I was very short and running along side you is tiring long term. Second, you wear armor over your chest and it specifically crossing your other shoulder. The last reason... is technically the one you mentioned, but... soft." that one word seemed to explain much, for the young woman. Besides, she was young at the time and felt no need to justify her childhood behavior. She'd also been a crybaby, she only occasionally found herself touching Youko's Mouhibi now, and only when she was absolutely alone.

[Bloodedge]

"... Uh-huh," was all Youko had to say in response to Aiko's plea. He followed this retort with the Moon Seal: a hand seal specific to the Oborozuki clan, which resembled the Snake Seal, albeit with the right hand folded over the left fist. With this, the fur on his shoulder began to grow at a rapid pace. It became large enough to blanket a room in only a moment, and with that happening, its effect became more powerful. One would note this occurring when Teruko spoke to Akira, as the latter was no longer beside her. In fact, he had already engulfed himself in a chunk of the fur, and looked as if he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't have when spoken to. "Oh... uhh... yeah."

[Apollymi]

Aiko knew by Youko's response he likely didn't believe her plea, but, she didn't like the idea of anyone catching her doing stuff she shouldn't have been doing. A strange hand seal would come from Youko and the fur he kept on his person had grown intensely over a short amount of time. The desire to touch it became real for the eldest of the redheads present and she would soon be seen at the man's side touching said fur rather close to his person. Much to anyone's surprise, the youngest redhead female had also absently began touching the fur as it expanded and hadn't noticed she was doing it, until Akira looked at her like he was doing something wrong. "Sugoi!~ It's really soft," these were Teruko's words and she wasn't even trying to do anything else.

Benihime seemed to find all of this amusing and if one happened to look in Aiko's direction she'd found one end of the fur and was also absently petting it. "Yep, still like this one better than mine," she said, it was rather obvious that one would always like someone else's as it would be counterproductive otherwise. It seemed that at this size it was somewhat irresistible to all the people around. When Benihime spoke again, she was all but wrapped up in the fur nearest the man's body having fun with it, in a cat like manner, committing a standing roll which was almost indecent. "So, I know you did this just to make a point, but still awesome~" she said finding it to be the best thing she'd seen or felt in ages.

[Bloodedge]

As he expected, all individuals in the vicinity were immediately brought to the fur following its enlargement. When this happened, his gaze shifted toward Aiko. "You prove my point. You're not nearly as affected by this as everyone else," he said as the pelt shrank to its original form. "Aww," Akira said. He'd been quite taken with this Mouhibi since its growth, and felt he could have taken a nap in it. Little did he know, Youko was about to say something along the same lines. "It's also a great survival tool. I used this for warmth and shelter during my wandering days. You know, you could get one as well," he said, directing these final words toward Benihime.

[Apollymi]

"I suppose I am a bit more resistant to it than everyone else," Aiko said of the fur, regardless she still liked it, though she wasn't nearly as saddened by its shrinking as the pair of red haired twins were. "Aww," Teruko said in unison with Akira. She too had become a bit enamored and would have enjoyed a bit more time to play in the soft goodness which was the Mouhibi.

Even with it shrinking down to its original size, Benihime stayed latched onto it, having it wound around herself at the waist as she stood in front of Youko. A bit of a snicker came from the Kazekage as he mentioned that he once used it as shelter when he was a wanderer. "Hehe~" the sound escaped her mouth as she heard the rest of what was being said and her eyes perked up just a bit. "Hm, first off, the image of you in my head, as a white fluff ball sleep against a tree is too real to be fake," she said seeming to find it amusing. "Second, I am totally on-board and want one, but why can I get one?" it seemed that Benihime would be alright with having one, even after figuring out having her own wouldn't be the same kind of interesting to her as Youko's even so, fur seemed like the sort of thing that would be distinctly warm and fun to roll around with just because of the softness.

[Bloodedge]

"It's very real. In case you never noticed, the Mouhibi is also a very durable substance. It's surprisingly breathable, too," he said. Now that he thought about it, he would perhaps be revisiting such moments of sleeping under the moonlit sky with the Mouhibi to blanket himself. Quickly moving on from this thought, he addressed the idea of Benihime receiving her own Mouhibi. "Because you're a Hunter. I gave you Oborozuki, but in a way, it was more of a transfer at first. I gave you the Doujutsu of a Hunter, even though I used the Aogetsu at the time."

[Apollymi]

"I may have noticed that, not admitting anything that makes me feel guilty though," the woman said about the feel and usefulness of the Mouhibi. As the conversation progressed, Youko explained about how he passed on the doujutsu of his family he'd done it specifically of a certain alignment. "Uh-huh, I..." Benihime was unsure how to feel about this information or even if she could properly process this information. "Not sure I get most of that, but... I get to have stuff I like so... I'm not gonna question it too much. Not like I know the difference, but I'm sure you'll tell me if I need to know~" the redhead mentioned. These clan distinctions were rather odd to her, but she'd also never really been part of her own so she didn't have much experience with these things. At this point, she was amused by the idea of having her own fur to roll around with.

[Bloodedge]

"Basically, because I have Satsutsuki, you default to it as well. Of course, there's an exception now that you have Karitsuki, but... well, y'know." With that said, Youko left this topic for whenever Benihime chose to address it again. For the time being, he was content to start making preparations for this Fire Lily Festival they were to attend on the next day.