[Hono Kin]

Little Kin had found herself coming to the gate again as she usually did. At this point in time, she'd met two of the three, Koji, Kumori, and now, she was set to meet Saya. As a child in a fairly large household, a busy one at that, she was more often than not left babysat with members of the family, or kicked out of the house for a while. One reason or another, as it could get fairly congested. Little Kin regularly came by to deliver food for her older cousins, and on this particular day, she'd come with a small basket held along her hands with bento boxes laden inside. A small lion plush toy resting along the top of it as she walked the long way to the village gate.

"Ohayoooo!" She calls out, as she runs the rest of the way, slowly setting her basket along the ground. Slowly taking her toy off from the top, she waves the lion's paw out, lifting him high into the air. "We brought food for you all!~" She says cutely, looking out with those adorable honeysuckle eyes that shined with kindness, a little shyness, and that special "Kin" charm. Along her side, there rest a little shinai, a training sword, wrapped in leather. It couldn't have been more than two feet long, if even, but for Kin's size, it was a full fledged blade. Something she was gifted to train with, considering recent events.

Upon seeing Saya, small Kin slowly steps a little closer, and slowly sways her hips back and forth like energetic children do, before slowly holding her arms out for a hug. "Konichiwa!" She says softly. Looking upwards, perhaps hopeful that she'd be lifted up. She didn't bring her watermelon helmet today, allowing for Saya to see her as she was. "U-Up?" She loved hugs, and she wasn't afraid to steal one if she could.

[Honō Saya]

Saya stared down at the scrap of paper in front of her, brows furrowing as she went over the figures in her head, working through the equations needed to determine if her sealing formula would actually do what she thought it would. There was a level of complexity inherent in even the most basic of sealing scrolls that few people bothered to look into, but Fuinjutsu was her bread and butter- she had spent more time deconstructing the inner workings of a basic sealing scroll than most people has spent using one, which meant that she had enough experience to recognize a flaw when she saw one. If the math worked out, she’d move on from this design to the testing stage, working out any kinks before she showed it to the rest of the clan.

Big if there. She thought, lips scrunching up into a frown as she did the math… and saw the numbers leading down the wrong path. Two of the five functions within the primary equation ended in a positive integer, with the final number being larger than the one before it- this meant that the seal, if she were to draw it out, would not only fail to actually store anything inside of itself, but would actually rupture if she tried, which would both crush and disperse whatever she wanted sealed away over a fairly large area. It would quite explode, but the math showed it was close enough to doing so that the design simply wouldn’t work.

Saya lifted the piece of paper up into the light, sighing as she crumpled it into a ball and tossed into the wastebasket in the corner of her station. That had been the tenth failure in the last four hours, a veritable disaster in terms of design and function- a sign her concentration was slipping if she’d ever seen one.

"Might as well take a break..." The red-head muttered, standing up and stretching her arms back, a soft yawn escaping her lips as she stretched her back muscles, warming them up after being scrunched together for so long. It was only after she finished her stretching that she heard the noise; a light, almost squeaky greeting, coupled with the promise of food in a familiar voice that had her lips part in a wide, knowing smile. Stepping out of her station, the Genin turned towards the noise- and was greeted by a small, lithe child not quite four feet tall, half-dragging a basket of food, a small practice shinai at her hip.

"Well hello there Kin. No helmet today?" Saya asked, smiling as the girl let go of her basket and wiggled about, clearly excited to see her cousin; the red-head didn’t answer the girl’s request with words, instead kneeling down in order to scoop Kin up in a thorough, affectionate hug. She held the girl in her arms for a good bit, long enough to be embarrassing for anyone but a child, only lowering the girl when her stomach growled in anticipation of whatever goodies her cousin had brought.

"What did you bring me today?"

Hono Kin

[Hono Kin]

Upon seeing the familiar Saya, the little girl runs up, and with it, stops, her beautifully soft eyes looking up into the redhead's own. "Nuh-uh. It's broken, so I'm trying to fix it." She says with a soft call. Yet, when she was hugged and picked up? She'd find herself giggling and planting an innocent and loving kiss along Saya's cheek, wrapping her arms around her own neck. Before promptly being placed down when hearing the monster in her elder cousin's stomach. To which she slowly opens the top lid to reveal the small bounty of treasures.

Inside, there were several containers, round ones, that when opened would reveal several bao buns, steamed to perfection, a small waft lifting into the air as the scent of pork resounded into the air. As well as fruity sticky rice. The little Kin's eyes widen with delight, as she reaches into the side and takes out a bamboo flask of which had ginger tea to combat the heat. Neatly stepping back, Kin places her hands behind her back and cutely smiles, swaying her hips back and forth, moving on the balls of her heels to the tips of her toes. Like an energetic child would.

"I got this cool sword to train with! After seeing Koji-Nii fight, I thought I wanted to get a sword for myself. Everyone agreed after finding out I got bullied." She says, slowly drawing it from her hip, and lightly swaying it about, getting a feel for it in her hands. "Papa says I need to carry it everywhere to get used to it, before he makes me a real one." She says softly, slowly entering into a practice form. Her footwork not too bad, but her shoulders weren't quite squared, and her hands weren't holding it properly, her hand grip a bit too rigid and tight as she dug her fingers into the handle.

[Honō Saya]

The moment Kin answered her question, Saya knew something was off. Her cousin was young and more than a bit silly, to be sure, but she had always taken great care to keep the small watermelon helmet in good condition- it wouldn’t have simply broken without some sort of outside interference. This was confirmed a few moments later when the golden-haired girl began explaining why she had a practice sword on her hip with a throwaway line about being bullied. The redhead didn’t say anything about it, didn’t so much as break her smile, but in the back of her mind she made a note to find out who had broken Kin’s helmet and… educate them. Forcibly.

"I see!" She said once she had put her cousin down, her smile growing as she opened up the basket, the smell of pork wafting up from the open lid; Kin took out several containers while she spoke, laying out a small but filling meal that consisted of bao buns, sticky rice, and a cup of cool ginger tea. After muttering a small prayer of thanks, Saya laid out the food on her desk, setting aside a bit of the rice and one of the bao buns for Kin, who was demonstrating her swordsmanship.

"Not bad. " The redhead said after taking a bite of her meal, half turning her chair towards her cousin while she chewed on a bao bun, her smile remaining despite the food in her mouth. Once she had swallowed, Saya stood up, walking around Kin to stand behind the younger Hono, hands snaking around her cousin’s frame to gently correct the position of her arms, shifting her shoulders square and gently, carefully moving her hands to the right positions while she spoke, voice gentle and comfortingly soft.

"Square your shoulders, like this. Hold it here, and here, with a loose grip closer to the hilt that tightens as you go down."

Hono Kin