[Shouki Shizuka]

The Shouki clan estate is a massive walled compound within the heart of Kirigakure. Once, the rooms attached to its many corridors were home to nearly a hundred shinobi, and its towers protected treasures looted from every corner of the ninja world. Today, only half its rooms are occupied, and the clan's refusal to hire servants left the other half in disrepair. It was the duty of the young shinobi of the clan, brave yet few, to stand at the frontline of the abandoned quarter and halt the spread of decay.

Two kunoichi stood before a nondescript door. Shizuka and Yashura Shouki. It was dark in the corridor, as what little sunlight pierced Kiragakure's perennial fog did not enter at the proper angle. The thin windows of the hallways were more appropriate for a frontier castle than living quarters. The pair were veterans though, and well acquainted with the hazards of the field of battle they would soon enter. They brought light - two lanterns and half a dozen candles - alongside an arsenal of cleaning equipment. Brooms, brushes, buckets and bags, fabric masks, glass containers and wooden cages. The room they were tasked to clean had likely not been entered for well over a year, and the signs they had trespassed in spider territory were already clear. A web was assembled in the handle of the sliding door.

The shorter of the pair, Shizuka, crouched to inspect it. A black spider marked with blue dots on its abdomen was nestled in the web. Shizuka reached for it with a gloved hand. The spider darted across her palm, from one hand to the other, in a futile attempt to escape. She handled it with ease, trapping it in one of the glass containers before reaching for her mask.

"I'll be opening the door now, Hime-sama, so be on guard. There's no telling what terrible creatures await us inside. Rest assured I am prepared to lay down my life in your defense." Shizuka bowed towards her partner in an absurd show of deference. For many years, Yashura had been the perfect image of a Shouki kunoichi. As her close peer, Shizuka heard no end to the comparisons between them. The demands to be a better model for her junior were suffocating. What made it all worse was that Yashura was undeniably talented, perfectly suited to her role.

Shizuka was deeply suspicious of all this perfection. While Yashura had never opened up to her, Shizuka was almost certain they shared a familiar fear of the unavoidable fate of women in the Shouki clan. Recently, Shizuka overcome her fate, but Yashura had not. Yashura was still a magnificent pearl, waiting to be dragged to shore and sold. If she wanted to remain a shinobi, sooner or later Yashura would have to shatter her illusion and go against the clan. She'd have to refuse marriage.

Before all that mattered though, the pair had a task to complete. Shizuka finished cleaning the webs from the handle of the door and opened it gently. Despite her efforts, a cloud rose from the growing crack of the doorway and coated her in a thin layer of dust. The feeble flame from the lantern shone into the room, and Shizuka thought she saw something sizable scurry from the light. The room was not empty - there were half-closed boxes, fallen shelves, and all manner of assorted objects thrown about the room. As if an earthquake had struck since the last time anyone had been inside. Actually, that was probably the case.

"Hime-sama, your loyal servant is ready on your orders to begin the operation." Shizuka hoped she was beginning to get on her partner's nerves. As long as Yashura maintained her facade of perfection, she couldn't be trusted. Shizuka needed allies, but not so desperately she would risk everything on a mere suspicion.

[Shouki Yashura]

Cleaning old rooms...

A chore as much as a punishment. Typically reserved for someone in the clan who got themselves into trouble. Which Yashura never got herself into. It was understandable why Shizuka was here - she was the runt of the clan. But... why was the other one here? There had to be a purpose, and there was one. The reason why both of them were here right now, was all Yashura's doing.

It took a bit of planning to make all the pieces fall into place. Though, it was not too difficult, in retrospect, to make it seem like an (un)fortunate turn of events. Yashura learned the schedule of chores, and when Shizuka was assigned one. But she could not just ask to be assigned the same chore. Too much on the nose, too unbecoming. And besides, it would cast a shadow of suspicion on herself. Why would the model student for the Shouki clan suddenly ASK for sharing a chore with the likes of Shizuka? Especially considering the rumors... 

So, to get the unfortunate assignment, Yashura had to look incredibly idle in front of one of the very harsh task-mistresses of the clan. Who was all too eager to remind any genin, even a stellar one, what her station was. Under any other circumstance, Yashura would have considered it an insult, and plan revenge. But here, she dutifully accepted the assignment, like a good girl should. Showing to the task-mistress that she was humble, too. A good investment for the future.

And so, Yashura was now here. Dressed for the occasion - wearing gray robes instead of her flowery gown. Black rubber gloves on her hands, and a medical breathing mask to cover a good half of her face. The prospect of gathering spiders and cleaning cow-webs wasn't particularly exciting. But the object of interest was. That girl, Shizuka, was with her now. Alone. The dark-eyed maiden studied her. Her mannerisms and attempts to egg her on. 'She does not like me too much, does she...' 

Yashura chuckled, at being called Hime-sama. 'It used to be annoying, when I was ... 9? I'll play along.'

"I will remember your sacrifice, my faithful servant~" 

It was almost like an adult talking to a child. The height difference certainly helped. As well as ... other growth spurts. As the two entered a room that needed working, Yashura looked it over in the dim light of their lanterns. There was quite a bit of work to be done. 

"Though... I could make this easier on both of us." 

With that, brought her hands together, and made a few seals. When she was done, in a puff of smoke, four  more Yashuras appeared in the room, all identical copies of one another. Except... they could move, talk, and do chores. They were shadow clones. Yashura took a deep breath, in and out. Taxing... but these clones would last a while. And it is not like she needed to go on a mission, any time soon. 

"You two - get the damaged items out of the room. " - she ordered the clones, which bowed politely and did as they were told. 

"While we start at a corner each, and meet in the middle. This shouldn't take too long." - the girl mused, as she picked a corner for herself, and started to use a broom to remove the webs from it. Some of its inhabitants skittered and hid under a cupboard or something. Yashura did not mind their skittering, for now.

"Best not tell the Task-Mistress, though. Lest she finds other tasks for us to do with the time saved."

[Shouki Shizuka]

Shizuka was relieved when Yashura reciprocated her joke. A humourless ally was, in many ways, worse than an enemy. The candid response meant Shizuka would have to try harder to break her composure, though she did had some ideas on how to accomplish that.

The shadow clones were a surprise. Shizuka and Yashura had been somewhat close when they were younger, until their respective promotions to Genin caused them to drift apart. If Yashura was at a level where she could trivially make five shadow clones just to clean a room, she had grown tremendously strong. Between the mask, dim light, and dust, Shizuka had failed to notice Yashura's fatigue and misjudged her abilities.

Is she trying to show off? But if she can do this much...

Shizuka offered a few claps, muffled by her gloves. "Wonderful technique, Hime-sama. If you're that strong you must be planning to skip the exams and get married right away."

There was a rather unpleasant custom within the Shouki clan of shielding women from the typical dangers of life as a ninja. It arose during the 2nd Shinobi War as a measure to preserve the future of the clan, and remained as the clan continued its steady decline. Shouki kunoichi were still expected to be powerful ninja, yet were basically forbidden from taking on dangerous missions. As a result, most of them retired to marry after success or failure in the Chuunin exams. The few that didn't quickly became pariahs.

"Did you have someone in mind already?" Shizuka was smiling behind her mask. "Is that why you've been training so hard? To hurry and propose to them?" The broom Shizuka held was idle while she probed Yashura for answers.

[Shouki Yashura]

'A curios turn of conversation...'

Especially considering the rumors that Yashura heard. That the girl she spoke to had pulled off something desperate, in order to avoid just that. She did not know the details, it was very hush-hush. But one would think she'd want to hide the shame, not stir the conversation that specific direction. And being so chipper about it, too. Not getting distracted from her diligent cleaning, the girl smiled under her mask as well.

"I have not given it much thought..." - Yashura tone very neutral, not betraying any happiness or displeasure. "It is out of my hands, so there's no reason to worry about it." - she shrugged her shoulders. What she said was true. Shouki did tend to keep the preferences of the betrothed in mind, but ultimately it was the decision of the clan and family about who married whom, and how. And given that, with each year, Shouki were getting fewer and fewer, the options were rather limited. If she wanted to take a guess about who would be her future husband, it would not be too hard to guess it.

Mind on that thought, Yashura used a glass to catch a spider. She did not appear to be in a hurry, much, or startled by the thing. But an emotion akin to disgust briefly crossed her features, as she brought the bug out, and let it go. She never liked spiders, much. They reminded her of the Dokuyoke. Her own room was pest-free. Looking over her shoulder, the girl asked Shizuka:

"What about you? Are you looking forward to your marriage?"

Feigned ignorance. A pariah could say whatever she wanted. There's nothing but the bottom for her. But Yashura had to choose her words. She did have a reputation to uphold. 

[Shouki Shizuka]

The dust kicked up by the diligent cleaning of the shadow clones was rising to uncomfortable levels. The thin windows of the corridor were of little help in clearing the air. They made for poor ventilation on purpose, to ensure the gaseous poisons of the clan would be difficult to disperse. Those precautions here meant the dust would never clear from the room on its own.

Shizuka clasped her hands together into a seal, and let her futon chakra flow in a stream through the door, into the corridor and out the window. It was a gentle flow at first, but gradually grew in strength until the dust was a river, faintly sparkling in the sunlight.

Yashura's comments on her marriage bordered on avoiding the question. She didn't quite go as far as changing the topic entirely though, instead turning the question back around on Shizuka, who chuckled in response.

"Of course! I'll marry a retired jounin from the Ame-clan, older but not too much older, with a hurt leg but not too hurt. We'll have a pretty house on the riverside where we'll take nice, long walks every night." Shizuka's sigh was a bit too dreamy to be believable.

"Maybe you should aim for an outside marriage too. Have any of your teammates been brave enough to take you on a date yet? Both of mine are girls, and they seem even less interested in romance than me."

[Shouki Yashura]

'Unlikely.'

In the darkness, Shizuka probably could not see Yashura rolling her eyes a bit at the idyllic picture she painted. No young girl ever dreamed of that. It sounded like something an old grandma would like at the end of her life. But the fact of the lie itself, even an obvious one, raised questions. Why bring it up, if the subject is distressful, to someone who might tell on you? And why probe further? 'That's it... She's probing.'

The puzzle was starting to come together. 'We're both beating around the bush.'

But Yashura was not in the position to blink first, not yet. This could be a ruse, for all she knew, to undermine her reputation. Or to test her loyalty. Or both. So, she would continue the little bit of theater. The girl chuckled, as if in responce to the image of talking walks with an old limp jounin from Ame clan.

"I've recently been transferred to another team, we do not know each other well enough for them to make advances. As for the old one, the boys there are skittish. Maybe they'll find their courage, sometime." - she said in a slightly condescending way, towards the boys. As if she found their lack of initiative and confidence to be a mark of endearing immaturity.

"Then again..." - Yashura trailed off - "Our clan does not really marry outside of the family. Unless the Council of Elders changed their stance on that ages-long tradition. And yet you speak of your future marriage with great certainty..." - she changed her voice to musing, as if considering it. Before turning over her shoulder.

"Enlighten me on the subject."

[Shouki Shizuka]

"Hmmm? Outside marriages aren't forbidden, Yashura-chan. Apparently after the war, they were even encouraged. From what my mom told me none of them produced anything other than trash, though." Shizuka paused for a moment. Trash. One of the Shouki clan's euphemisms for children who perish in the Dokuyoke ritual.

"She also said none of them lasted longer than a few years. The outsiders must not have liked the estate, though I can't help but wonder why."

After the 2nd Shinobi War, the downfall of the Shouki clan was all but assured. In a bid to raise their numbers and delay the inevitable, many sought marriages outside of the clan. It was not an easy feat to bring in a spouse you could not even kiss, and that step was not even the most challenging one. Once the outside spouses learned how the clan treated their children, they would nearly all leave. The practice of outside marriages was thus consigned to a quiet sort of forgotten failure, too shameful to be forbidden.

"Perhaps they hated the stale air, or the spiders. Maybe it was the wailing of dying children. Quite impossible to tell." Shizuka spoke casually, as if she were guessing why a friend didn't want to attend a party.

"Why do you think they all left, Yashura-chan? I really think it's the stale air. And all the darkness. You get used to the spiders, but there's hardly a single well lit room in this entire castle."

The question was heavier than the sea. Both of them knew the answer - a doomed clan, dying children, callous elders - there were none who remained in the Shouki clan by choice. Those who stayed behind were caught by the shackles of fear, meekly succumbed to delusion, or were snared by the most perilous chains of all - hope.

Perhaps I should consider leaving myself. I don't have time for all these pointless chores.

[Shouki Yashura]

'We are on the same page.'

Yashura did not betray her thoughts. But the Pariah was right about one thing. This place was terrible. Built like a fortress, and felt like one. An unpleasant necessity. Stiffled air, dust, spiders, and the screams. Every time. When she was younger, Yashura used to wake up at night, hearing those horrible screams inside of her head. 'Her thoughts are not unique. But she has shown her hand. Dangerous...'

"I think they all left because they were weak." - she said what was expected of her to say, with a very practiced, scathing tone. She picked that one up from the task mistress. "Our clan was fortunate to dodge that, when we did. I doubt the Elders will be making the same mistake again. There is no point in getting one us married to someone who's children won't even survive the ritual."

The words, the delivery, it all screamed spiteful arrogance and a sense of entitlement one would expect from Shouki's prized and perfect little student. Clan despised weakness, after all. And it was well-set in their senile old ways. At least, with the Elders, and much of adults. But even as she said that, something would catch the corner of Shizuka's eye. One of the clones Yashura made, who was busy de-dusting the old closet, reached out and wrote something on the mirror attached to its door.

"2 weeks. Mission together. Speak plainly, then."

The message was erased a few moments after it was written, leaving no trace it whatsoever. When it did, the real Yashura looked over her shoulder, her inky eyes meeting with the other girl's. She gave her a wink. 

[Shouki Shizuka]

Weakness. For the Shouki clan, the Dokuyoke ritual cleansed the entire bloodline of weakness. Since every individual who remained had already proven their strength, any weakness they displayed was a sign of disloyalty. And disloyalty, in return, was a sign of weakness to be purged. Yashura's answer was directly in line with typical clan doctrine. It almost made Shizuka yawn.

She can't be serious...

Then she noticed the message on the mirror, scrawled in dust. She raised her eyebrows in mild surprise. It was amusing, seeing Yashura behave like that. She wondered what "speaking plainly" meant exactly. And when Yashura winked at her, she guffawed and nearly lost control of her jutsu.

How cute. Is our precious princess dipping her toes in misbehavior?

Shizuka stepped over to the mirror that one of Yashura's clones was polishing. She ignored the puzzled looks she was given and dislodged it from the door. She carried it a few steps to the center of the room, and, without warning, threw it against a fallen shelf, shattering it with great noise.

When Yashura and her clones opened their mouths to protest, Shizuka hushed them. "Shhh! Do you hear that?"

Around them, there was only the silence of winter.

Shizuka still wasn't certain Yashura could be trusted. The clan elders were cunning, and ordering genin to act as spies was something she knew they would do. She herself was personally ordered to spy on her own jounin team leader. It was possible one of the elders might have ordered Yashura to do the same. But if she spent all her time worrying about what the elders saw or heard, she would never get anywhere at all.

"There's noone listening, Yashura-chan. Just tell your big sister all your worries and I'll take care of them." Shizuka pulled up a stool and sat patiently. Her satisfied grin showed behind her mask through her eyes. Whatever Yashura meant to 'speak plainly' about, it was sure to be more interesting than clan dogma.

[Shouki Yashura]

'There goes all sublety...'

Yashura, and her clones, all quirked an eyebrow in unison, when the girl she was communicating messages to simply decided to ... crash a mirror into the floor. It shattered into a million pieces, and its sound was deafening. It made the girl wince a little. Before looking at Shizuka with a disappointed look on her face. 

"Big sister?" - she asked, incredulously. "For a big sister, you're careless. Look at what you did. We were supposed to clean the room, you created more mess. I'm not cleaning that up..." 

Yashura kicked one of the bigger shards of glass closer to the other girl. It was a bit funny this one asked to be called the big sister, when she was much smaller than herself. And... if that action was supposed to sniff a spy out of hiding, it failed terribly. If anything it gave a potential listener a cover to escape, briefly robbing them both of any hearing! 

"It will take two weeks to get all the shards out of the carpet." - Yashura then said, tilting her head towards the door. Referencing the number she mentioned, in that message. Trying to save her last attempt at subterfuge. "And speaking of trouble..."

Now both of them would be able to hear the loud steps from across the hall, coming closer and closer. The taskmistress had a keen ear for things being broken in the mansion she was supposed to oversee. Yashura and her clones took a step back from Shizuka. She was gonna take the flak for the mirror all by herself. 

[Shouki Shizuka]

Shizuka's stunt with the mirror didn't quite have the effect she was hoping for. Yashura, far from being put at ease, was clearly nervous - very dreadfully nervous. Shizuka wondered if what they were meant to 'speak plainly' about was dangerous, even by her own standards. The anticipation only excited her more. Before she had a chance to further question Yashura, however, a singular thudding of steps announced the impending arrival of the taskmistress.

For a retired veteran, the taskmistress really enjoys the sound of her own footsteps...

Shizuka gave Yashura a smug look when the princess took a step away from her, as if to say 'this is your problem.' She was only a little disappointed - if Yashura had dangerous favours to ask, the least she could do was take the fall over a mere broken mirror. Shizuka clapped her hands together into the seal for a transformation jutsu, and when the taskmistress burst through the doorway, there were six clones of Yashura waiting for her.

"Where is that cursed rat?! I heard her break something." The taskmistress leered into the room, searching. Shizuka, in the guise of Yashura, replied quickly.

"She ran out of the room swearing just a moment ago, Shouki-sama." The imitation was beyond reproach.

"Hmph! How like her. Make a mess of everything and run away without a care. I swear when I catch her it'll be three nights in the cells." The taskmistress turned to leave, then paused for a moment. She spoke again to Yashura, her tone nearly warm.

"Ah, Hime-sama, there's no need to finish cleaning this room all on your own. I'll have Shizuka finish it when I track her down, or she'll have no supper for a week."

[Shouki Yashura]

'I could break this charade.'

Instead, Yashura observed Shizuka deal with the situation in her own way. The imitation was surprisingly decent, even by her own, very high, standards. The taskmistress barged in, threatened retribution to the run-off trouble-maker, and stormed off to look for her. All she had to do was smile and nod, just like her clones, who, too, have understood the situation. Only once the loud footsteps were well out of hearing range, did the girl sigh, and pinch the bridge of her nose. 

"You like making things more difficult for yourself." - she made a very obvious observation. "Without really achieving anything." 

If one could describe her partner in a few words, this might be it. Which was why Yashura wanted to meet her outside the compound, for a real heart-to-heart conversation. 'Perhaps I could then talk some sense into her.' Walking past Shizuka, Yashura picked up one of the shards of glass and passed it over to the other girl. Coming closer, enough to be in the range of a whisper.

"Cut your hand. Bandage it. Then, find the task-mistress. Tell her you cut your hand and went to deal with it, before you could get any bloodstains on her nice clean floor. Should calm her ire, a bit." - Yashura gave advice. It would not get Shizuka completely out of the heat, but instead of one week of no supper and three nights in the cells, she could probably get away with one or two, at most.

Nodding to one of the clones, Yashura ordered them to collect the shattered glass. The clone rolled eyes a bit, but obeyed. 

[Shouki Shizuka]

Shizuka undid her transformation and pulled down her mask, wearing a cheerful, triumphant expression.

"I got you out of wasting your afternoon cleaning some useless room. That's not nothing. And besides, spoiling Taskmistress Ena's day is always worth it."

Shizuka's smile warmed even more when Yashura offered her advice. She reached up to pat her on the head as she replied.

"Awwww~ is Hime-sama worried for me? Thank you, you're so sweet~! But I'm afraid there's no stopping the taskmistress. Sometimes I think her grudge on me is the only thing keeping her going." Shizuka shook her head in mock pity. "She can't toss me in the cells if she can't catch me, though - so her grudge will remain forever unfulfilled." She nodded pensively.

The last time Taskmistress Ena managed to capture Shizuka was by breaking into her room while she was sleeping. In response, Shizuka took to rigging her door with traps, and on her next attempt, the taskmistress activated the traps and woke the entire estate. She was sorely humiliated. Now, there was noone left who would agree to help her hunt down Shizuka. When it came to running away, Shizuka was already as good as any chuunin. It simply wasn't worth the effort. No amount of time in the cells could fix her attitude, anyway.

Shizuka watched as Yashura and her clones continued cleaning the room, despite being relieved of their duties.

"Are you really going to keep cleaning? Haven't you earned enough good will?" Shizuka sighed, and reluctantly headed to her corner of the room and started sweeping. "I never realized being a princess was such hard work."

[Shouki Yashura]

Yashura blinked, as the shorter girl reached up again to pat her on the head. 

Such fraternizing gestures. Yet she did not pull away, letting Shizuka finish her appraisal. It seemed as though her plan was to simply ... keep running, to avoid punishment. The girl found the approach ... pointless, in the long-term. The moment she'd actually need the clan's resources, all of her misgivings would be remembered, she knew that much. Which was why the 'princess' was still here, swiping dust, cow-webs, and glass shards.

The remark about being a princess being hard work earned a small smile underneath the mask.

"People rarely remember good things done for them. Their memory for slights and broken expectations is much more long-lived." 

'And I didn't set this meeting up to shirk on my duties...'

The two would finish cleaning up the room, with the help of clones this was done much faster. In less than 20 minutes, it was brought to an acceptable level of pristinity. Once done, Yashura bowed to Shizuka. 

"Thank you for helping me out today. I'm sure we'll get to know each other much better, should we get to work together again."

And they would, they definitely would. So far, what Yashura managed to learn about Shizuka, matched with the rumors she heard. A trouble-maker through and through. But it was one thing being a trouble-maker, and the other thing - defying the clan and its purpose by self-mutilation... That conversation would have to happen far away from any prying eyes. Soon, Yashura would depart, to find the task mistress and report about the room being cleaned. And taking all the credit for it, too. 

'The reason why I need good will... Is because I use it.'

_________

[EXIT THREAD]