[Suzuki Taru]

Kawa, a wetlands by a similar name. Kashiwa was also wet, though she wasn't quite sure she would call it swampy. Everywhere in Mizu no Kuni was wet regardless. Humidity made it difficult to find any kind of arid spot. 

"I wasn't planning on going anywhere," she admitted. "I just wanted to come out and enjoy nature in the nighttime, when it was more quiet outside. I felt compelled to wander. Probably to meet you, I imagine." Or she was just antsy about the upcoming exams, but she wasn't usually one to get especially nervous except under very dire circumstances, so that seemed unlikely to her. So in her mind, the most realistic option was that the night had simply called out to her and told her she needed to meet Asahi here. It would probably be important in the future. 

"Kashiwa is east of Mizu no Tera. Near to the mountains, but just north of them. It rests right along this big lake... Not many people live out there and the village doesn't station many shinobi. The forest helps defend against outsiders with ill intent, so bad things don't tend to happen there." Except for to overeager explorers who overstay their welcome and get eaten up by beasts or accidentally poison themselves.

[Ōorigami Asahi]

SOMEDAY WE WILL CONNECT THE DOTS AND UNVEIL THE WORLD

Asahi nodded as he listened to Taru talked about why she was out in the night and when she mentioned that it was probably to meet him, that brought another small smile to his face.

Her words made him feel less lost in the chaos of his head. Like that chaos had some meaning that he wasn't able to see being stuck in it all. He had been brought out here by the night to meet her...From her impact on him so far, he believed it.

Then she went into where she had grown up and as she spoke on it, she found her descriptions, familiar. "Kawa sounds pretty similar. Not with the lake or anything like that, it's mostly swampland...but in the sense that it seems to protect itself from outsiders, that or the people of the town handle it...Not many shinobi present, and the people of the town keep mostly to themselves." Asahi responded, drawing unspoken parallels to their upbringing.

The unknown flora and fauna usually took care of explorers and researchers who didn't respect it. Asahi himself had had plenty of close calls with plant and animal alike in the badlands.

"But, it can be pretty dangerous too, especially at night. A lot of...shady characters make that town their home." Asahi said, speaking from first hand experience. He had gotten over the traumatic event that happened when he was a kid long ago, but the memory was still clear. He also neglected to mention the rumors of cannibalism, but he went on.

"Your home sounds equally as entrancing as Kawa is. I hope to see it myself one day. What's the most interesting story you have from your time there? Tell me yours, and I'll tell you mine?" Asahi asked, digging for more, with curiosity still seeping out.

With relations between the two villages being what they were, there was a chance he wouldn't be able to visit the place for a while, if ever, so he sought to see it through Taru's eyes, through her spoken memory.

Notes:
 
Tag: Suzuki Taru

MADE BY MINNIE OF FTS & GS

[Suzuki Taru]

Her most interesting story was probably her time with the spirits out in the wilderness, but that was a difficult time to describe because she remembered so little of it in detail. It was a blur of powerful sensation, vivid images that still flickered behind her eyelids when she slept. The dancing lights, the sound of the animals in the forest, the verdant green of the forest, the smell of fresh rain.

Thinking of another most-interesting story that she could tell coherently was difficult. She put on a pondering face, leaning forward to scratch her chin.

Eventually, something seemed to come to mind.

When I'd just come back from living in the woods, my family had to travel to the lake to visit someone who'd fallen really ill. There aren't really any medical shinobi in the village, but my parents were shaman and knew some medicine. This person was an outsider and had eaten the fish despite our warning. There's some areas where fishing is a bad idea because the water is toxic," she explained.

"When we arrived, we tried to approach the encampment where the traveler was staying, a crocodile got in the way. Just stood in our path. Even though my parents were afraid, I offered it some food and it left. And the man got better! That might have been a coincidence, but I always thought it might have been a malevolent spirit."

Her parents had been quite freaked out by her boldness in approaching it and even more by the fact that her attempt had worked. They sent her to Kirigakure soon after.

[Ōorigami Asahi]

SOMEDAY WE WILL CONNECT THE DOTS AND UNVEIL THE WORLD

Asahi listened to Taru tell her story with the attentiveness of a kid hearing a story around a campfire. It was the classic tale of the outsider not heading the native people's warning. Many explorer and researcher in Kawa had faced consequence for the same thing.

When she revealed she had handled the crocodile herself, Asahi face was a mix of shock and awe. "That's wild! A crocodile now might be alright to face, but as a kid?! Sounds like you've always been able to calm the creature's around you." Asahi said with a smile.

He couldn't imagine being that brave as a kid. Asahi would have been the first to say leave the outsider, especially if they didn't heed the warning. "If it was a spirit, and I don't know much about spirits, but it would make sense that giving it some food would settle things. The outsider took from it and you returned something to it....if that's how spirits work..." Asahi said, his brain trying to rationalize the spiritual.

"My story is more on the receiving end of not listening to the warning, like your outsider. Growing up I learned how to kayak and canoe early, since that was an effective way to get around the wetlands. But my Mom always told me never to go beyond a certain point on the map I would take. Well when I was nine I thought I was old enough to go beyond it and explore." Asahi began, the memory coming back to him.

"I ended up crashing my canoe to dock, and after I had wandered through the wood a bit, I was approached by these three people, and thinking back I should have known something was up from what they were wearing. They offered to help me and being the naïve nine year old I was, I thought their offer was sincere. They cornered me, and a couple of other people popped out of hiding. They talked about how I looked delicious and that they could eat me or sell me, or do it in parts..." Asahi paused, the memory as vivd as if it was happening as he spoke.

"I don't remember much of what happened in the moment, but I remember feeling this jolt as just knowing I wanted to get out of there. And whatever raiton I manifested that didn't shock them, but shocked them, gave me the opportunity to get away. It shocked me too because that's how I learned what my natural element was. But that aside, Kawa cannibals, they're real and don't let anybody else tell you otherwise. I even hear there are cults of them." Asahi said with a shrug and smile, as if he had revealed a secret that he didn't care about keeping.

"Now that I've told that story, the nature I was brought up in, doesn't seem as fun as yours." he ended with a small but lighthearted laugh. Despite all Kawa had put him through so far in life, he still had a fondness for that place.

Notes:
 
Tag: Suzuki Taru

MADE BY MINNIE OF FTS & GS

[Suzuki Taru]

"That is how some spirits work. There are as wide a variety of them out there as there are living organisms," she informed him, helpfully. The temperament and nature of different spirits could be really different. Some spirits appreciated offerings of food and were calmed by them, some went so far as to demand them. Some stole food. Some considered food a grave insult, some couldn't eat at all. Some only liked to eat gross things, others ate blood or energy or dreams. It wasn't uncommon for nature spirits to like offerings of food, though.

Now it was her to her listen to his story. When he was nine years old, he decided to venture out and explore the wilderness on his own despite the warnings. That was a very familiar idea to her. She had gone into the woods alone despite everyone in the village treating them with awed terror. She had come out a not wholly different person, but one with a completely new perspective of the world. That natural curiosity despite danger was something she harbored as well. Sad that it turned out far more dangerous for Asahi than it had for her.

"Its good that your chakra came to you then and let you get out of there," she said. "You have a strong spirit that instinctively fights for itself. Anything that threatens you should cower."

She grinned at him, leaning forward and resting her hands on her thighs.

"Now that I've heard that story, I'm not sure I'll visit Kawa. Well, maybe. It sounds like it could be an interesting place. I usually don't let danger stop me... What can be found there might be worth it. Ah, well. I'll probably never go to Konoha anyways," she sighed. Their nations were not quite enemies, but there had been some contention since the exams two years prior.

[Ōorigami Asahi]

SOMEDAY WE WILL CONNECT THE DOTS AND UNVEIL THE WORLD

Asahi received Taru’s confirmation about spirits, nodding like a student in a class new to him. Her words after his story however, were a little more difficult for him to receive. Asahi looked away not able to meet her grin. His face showed conflict as his smile appeared, then disappeared, and appeared again, repeating as his brain took in her words.

A strong spirit? Anything that threatens him should cower. The girls insight on the world around them seemed pretty good so far, but he still struggled to trust those words from her. "Maybe.” Asahi said, with his face resting on a small grin as he looked back at her.

Taru talked about the possibility of going to Kawa and how it was slim. Her sigh said plenty without saying it, and Asahi was familiar with the tensions between their village and the reason why. Little did Taru know, that reason why was currently Asahi’s sensei of sorts. "Who knows. You might. Even if it’s just to fight us.” Asahi said jokingly and with a light laugh after to sell it, trying to lighten while addressing the elephant.

"But seriously. Regardless of how our villages feel toward each other, you’re always welcome in my book. And if you do find your way over, I’ll give you Kawa’s grand tour...if you want.” Asahi finished with a smile and extended his hand for her to shake. From his tone it was clear he meant every word. Asahi was a person who decided how he felt about another individual, on his own terms, and this girl, although she was from Kiri, was not an enemy.

Notes:
 
Tag: Suzuki Taru

MADE BY MINNIE OF FTS & GS