[raimaa futago]

The cold of Yukigakure was ever present, and people needed ways to solve this. Some wore large bundles of clothes, some didn't go further than they needed to and hurried home to warm fires, and some put up large shacks and sold hot dango sticks for children and adults alike to have something to eat and warm themselves that way.



While cooking these, Raimaa was humming to herself, a delightful and gentle song that played to the tune of her own head. Probably, at least. It was entirely possible she was off key entirely and didn't even know what she was humming.

[Yoshioka Kouki]

_❝It was a rarer day for Kouki as he actually had a day off. Having to work for Lady Fifth as well as taking on missions to keep a roof over his head, it would seem that Kouki had become quite the workaholic. Work was the only thing that was really separating himself and the four tailed beast that was within him. The more he worked, the less time was spent worried about the evil that was inside of him. Kouki was on the lookout of something to do. It could really be anything. Most of the time, the boy spent his free time heckling the village and looking for opponents to fight, but he couldn’t do that on an empty stomach. The young lad made his way from his apartment to a busier avenue in town. Yukigakure, despite being a tundra of sorts, was a fairly bustling village for the most part. The people here were hardy and could handle the intense cold the island had to offer, so a chilly afternoon was nothing too cold to handle. As the boy monitored the various food stands, one in particular caught his eye. It wasn’t the dangos that piqued his interest, it was the woman running the business. The hair, the stature, the demeanor…it was Raimaa. Kouki cocked an eyebrow up in confusion. Since when did Raimaa run a dango shop? Kouki slowly crept forward to the cart as he raised his hand in a wave towards the woman. "Raima-san? How long have you been running a dango shop?”

raimaa futago  ⚬ Notes

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AI ❤

[raimaa futago]

Customers arrived, and Raimaa span on the spot, hair splaying out in a brilliant pink fountain. Seeing who it was, she'd crack a broad grin and walk over, somehow managing to look off balance and showcase a pristine gait.

"Hey, tree-guy" she'd exclaim, suddenly shifting and pinning a fly to the stand with an empty dango stick. "Bloody parasites" she'd mutter, before turning back to her new old friend. "We need to go cut down more trees, because the new Lady is the new Lady and the deal was for the Old Lady. Though, I kind of needed more help with the old lady since she was the coldest fire user ever. Granny is much nicer, or at very least much more diplomatic"

Raimaa rambled on, her glowing pink eyes pretty bleery, and the slanted stance implying she was not exactly in good health. If anything, she looked hungover as hell.

"Stall's not mine though. Just helping out. Being retired makes a lot of time, you know"

[Yoshioka Kouki]

_❝Raimaa was a lot to take in. She was just like any other unassuming pink haired woman. The thing about Raimaa was that her mannerisms and ways of speaking were boisterous and it seemed like she liked to hold conversations with herself all while skewering a little bug right on the stand. "That’s not really hygienic…” he mumbled to himself. He cocked an eyebrow up at the mention of Lady Fourth. It had been awhile since he had seen her…or even spoken to her. It seemed that Raimaa had an interesting relationship with Emiri just like Kouki.


"What kind of deal did you have with Lady Emiri? For me, she was essentially a super important baby sitter.” He made a light chuckle. He wanted to make light of that strenuous relationship and not dwell on it for too long. The two of them had only ever worked together once, but it seemed an odd connection was made that had potential to become an even more interesting friendship. Kouki was unsure what all he would get out of the woman. She did not seem well and the way that she was stringing her words together, Kouki was unsure if he was going to get a cohesive answer out of her.

raimaa futago  ⚬ Notes

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AI ❤

[raimaa futago]

"Ohh, that deal. Yea, it was a deal not to kill me. Emiri hated me, she hated Saya, she seemed to hate the village or just herself. I don't know which one, but she was very full of venom and vitrol. Saya before her, and now Granny after her, were much better at diplomacy and not putting your feelings on your face" Raimaa would unpin the now dead fly and wipe the side where it was, chucking both stick and fly in the bin.

"Emiri was the one to stick this chakra seal on. Saya understood I had nowhere to go and my wife was here, so I wouldn't do anything untowards and everything...towards. But, Emiri just let her hate rule her life" Raimaa would shrug and seem to fall a bit off to the side before catching herself and making up a dango stick.

"Anyway, sweet?~"

[Yoshioka Kouki]

_❝ The way that Kouki absorbed Raimaa’s words was as if she was saying everything and nothing at all at the same time. There were obviously specific details in her sentences but they would run on and it seemed she talked as if Kouki understood her thought process…which he didn’t. All he could really gleen from her words was that Emiri was a jerk and there was some sort of seal on Raimaa? Kouki’s eyes widened at the mention of a seal. It was lady Fourth that had placed the seal on him to seal away the Yonbi.



"She uh….she sealed something on you too, eh? I guess she has a habit of that…” Kouki looked down with an unfocused look and lightly squeezed his coat at his abdomen right where his seal was placed. His beastly "friend” had been silent since he awoke after the Chuunin Exams…too quiet. Kouki had almost gotten used to the beast yelling at him from the inside, that now the silenece was deafening and annoying. Kouki shook his head abit to get out of his head thoughts and remembered Raimaa inquired on the kind of Dango he wanted. "My bad…trailed off. I’ll take one with red bean paste if you have them.”

raimaa futago  ⚬ Notes

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AI ❤

[raimaa futago]

"Mmm. The logic of 'hey, you, who has loyally served the village for two years, is married and making a life here. Let me ruin your capability to aid the Village in any meaningful manner because who knows, maybe you are playing the super long con here or something, can't risk it' is questionable. But she is gone now so we can do more trees"

Raimaa would nod, since trees were pretty much the only bond she had. Not knowing the previous host of the Yonbi was indeed the previous host of the Yonbi, she couldn't even talk about that with him. Instead, she made him a red bean paste dango and handed it over, having made a spare to eat herself with him.
"So how has your days been? Up to anything interesting?"

[Yoshioka Kouki]

_❝  It would probably take a lot more talking with the woman to better understand her speech patterns. She had such a way of talking around the topic as if everyone was on the same page as her, but Kouki sure wasn’t. The boy absent mindedly nodded where it felt appropriate as Raimaa chattered about her experiences. He picked up on a few similar experiences she expressed. "Yeah…never felt like she really trusted anybody…sure I’m basically a weapon but I’m a freakin’ teen like….cut me some slack flame lady!” Kouki attempted to make that comment sound comedic and hoped for maybe a chuckle from Raimaa. Kouki very readily nabbed the dango from her hand as he was actually craving exactly that kind of treat. He responded to her questions through a muffled mouth full of dango. "I wish I could say I’m doing amazing things…but not really. Just been feeling like an idiot after how bad I did at the chuunin exams…” A wash of red swept across his face. Kouki wasn’t one to just be so transparent with his emotions. He only went on one mission with this kunoichi…why did he feel subconsciously safe enough to let all that slip out like it did? "But er-….anyways I’m training with Lady Fifth now, I think she actually wants me to better myself or something…sooo….that’s cool. I guess when the trees get too big we can just grab some axes make a quick coin.” All of this was said with dango still in his mouth. Kouki was never the best at manners or being overtly polite.

raimaa futago  ⚬ Notes

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AI ❤

[raimaa futago]

"Imagine needing an axe to cut down a tree" Raimaa teased, with a coy grin. Still, she wasn't all quips and torment, and when Kouki was struggling with the recent past, the more supportive side of Raimaa that was frustratingly invincible to her attempts at bludgeoning it to death, showed up.

"If you wish to say you are doing amazing things, then do amazing things. And there is nothing greater than the future. The Past is a lesson, not scenery, you should use your failures to power future successes. It is in there that indomitability is found. Basically, fuck it. Shit happened in the past and it aint not happening any time soon, so deal with what is happening soon"

[Yoshioka Kouki]

_❝Kouki stopped his smiling and chewing of his dango a the axe comment and furrowed his brow in a playful annoyance…although part of him was actually annoyed by the comment. There did not seem to be too many people in Kouki’s life that he felt he could actually pal around with…let alone get along with. Kouki would have typically decided to bark at any other person had they attempted to joke at Kouki’s expense, but it would seem that Kouki was growing used to and…maybe even accustomed to Raimaa’s quips and gags. She was an odd lady for sure, but it had felt to Kouki that this mysterious kunoichi actually treated the boy with a level of respect.



It was unknown just how many walls Kouki had put up in his life to keep people away, but it seems that Raimaa may have just possibly started to chisel away at the first wall. So much so, that was about to take a step out of his comfort zone. "So uuhhh, Raimaa-san, I know I said Lady Fifth was going to help me with controlling the biju but…maybe…I don’t know…” He winced as he said what he wanted to ask, "Would you like to help me too…?” Kouki opened one eye to see what Raimaa’s reaction was going to be.

raimaa futago  ⚬ Notes

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AI ❤

[raimaa futago]

The question Kouki asked was a strange one. Were he to be looking, deep trauma would flash through Raimaa's eyes, them bulging some and her perfect breathing technique hitching for a moment. And then, with effort, she would break into a fit of laughter. If she was trying to cover up earlier, or just did actually find the whole thing amusing, nobody could tell.

"Sorry. You'll not know the context, but that request is very funny to me. See, in the Third Shinobi War, Kusagakure was the ally of Iwagakure. And for some reason, we decided to take advantage of that to steal Iwa's bijuu. And as if that wasn't a major dick move enough, we just left it to gather dust and did very little with it.

So, when I get to be Lady of Kusagakure, I make a very big show of stating that if the Council didn't get a bloody move on and find a Jinchuriki, I was going to sell it to Yukigakure for something we could use. I didn't want a useless piece of crap laying around making us a target, and Jinchuriki don't come out of the box fully trained.

I'm not great with chakra, but I went and learned Kusagakure's personal Bijuu-sealing Fuinjutsu in anticipation of them finding a Jinchuriki. I go to visit Saya because we've been exchanging letters and she's a lovely woman. I know she'll not take being used in my ruse too personally. Only, doesn't go so well.

My friend, who by now has been with me a good ten or eleven years and knows nothing I say has a single meaning. Knows that I am a deceptive woman by nature and always have a reason to do what I am doing, however absurd that seems...takes me at face value and instead of looking for a Jinchuriki, gets the Council to oust me as Lady of Kusagakure. This is after the 'I am going to need some help doing this, so please come talk to me whenever you feel something is wrong' speech I gave her while dragging her out of her alcoholic stupor and promoting her to Hanchou.

So, now, years down the line, Yukigakure's Jinchuriki asking me to help him train is just...very amusing for me"

[Yoshioka Kouki]

_❝What he felt was supposed to be a simple question had evolved into autobiography. Kouki’s nerves transitioned into a feeling of trying to focus as he watched Raimaa divulge into a long description of what seemed to be her life story. Kouki had always been curious of Raimaa’s origins as he knew that she was not from Yukigakure or the country in general. He anticipated that over time perhaps the kunoichi would give him bits and pieces of her life story and he could put it together like a puzzle. What seemed to be happening was Kouki was getting every single detail in one go all while munching on dangos in front of a dango shop. He did his best to stay focused, but every now and then his eyes and mind would trail off and think about something trivial like what he might cook for dinner at his home. Everytime he would come back and focus became obvious as his eyes trailed off enough that the over correction to maintain eye contact again was glaring. Kouki gathered there was something about her being the Kusa Lady…which he truly had no idea she ever held a rank like that. It sounded like there was some form of betrayal as well against her that landed her here as well. Kouki isn’t really a therapist nor can handle his own emotions, so there wasn’t much he felt he could say besides, "That’s rough buddy…” He made a puzzled face as he quickly reviewed what she said to him. "You know….you never said yes or no…”

raimaa futago  ⚬ Notes

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AI ❤

[raimaa futago]

Giving a coy laugh and reaching out to grab Kouki's head and stuff it into Raimaa's chest, Raimaa would shake her head at this whole thing.

"You know you can just tell people to shut up if you aren't interested in what they are saying" she exclaimed, jiggling a little to reach maximum overtease. "Humor aside, I've no chakra to bring you down if the Bijuu rampages out of control, and no Fuinjutsu if I did have my chakra. I can teach you some Taijutsu and supplementary Bukijutsu, but as for helping with Bijuu control, that's kind of out of my hands"

[Yoshioka Kouki]

_❝It seemed that even after having to muscle through a long winded explanation from Raimaa, Kouki was about to have to deal with another insurmountable issue. As if a snake had snuck up on him, Raimaa’s hand had somehow slithered behind Kouki’s head and pulled him right into her bosom. Truly all boundaries between the two had been shattered in this moment. The boy could barely breathe and was hardly paying attention to her words as his suffocation had progressed.



It took a couple of pushes, but Kouki was able to successfully free himself from the busty grasp of Raimaa. Kouki gasped for fresh air like he was underwater for several minutes. Kouki’s face was blue from lack of air and had transitioned to a beet red as he realized civilians had watched this attempted murder take place. "What the HELL!? Did you WANT me to die in there??” Trying to gather himself, Kouki took his hand and gently swiped it downward from his forehead to his chin as he took another deep breath. "All that just to tell me no? Geez…well I guess you could help me with swinging a big sword or something. That’d be cool.” Kouki was trying desperately to forget what had just transpired and was hoping Raimaa would move on as well.

raimaa futago  ⚬ Notes

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AI ❤

[raimaa futago]

"There are worse ways to die~" Raimaa cooed in reply, blowing Kouki a kiss and spinning around so her hair splayed outwards, shining in the light as it did. Another pair of Dangos were made, and one handed to Kouki for further snack time. "But breath control, dude. A Shinobi should be able to last three or four minutes between breaths. Can teach you some of that as well"

Raimaa would lean against the counter, and shake her head at the idea of a big sword.
"Big swords are flashy and fun, but take years to be able to use properly. They aren't so much strength required, as skill and weight. You can swing the thing, sure. But then you've got a lot of metal moving very fast to stop so you can swing it in a different direction. It's the stopping part that most people struggle with.

In essence, it's easier to swing a dog than a person"