He'd finally met with all 3 heads of the village. Kouki had helped him seal a tailed beast inside of him, Mizuko wanted to meet him in a few days, and Isao said he had a reward for he and Hikari, even though he didn't need a prize for what he'd done. He'd been instrumental in driving off a crime family, he'd learned many powerful techniques, he'd made friends with merchants, caretakers and Ape Sages in Niwa, and Kong, Chief Gorilla of the sages, sent his little brother to Hinowa to be Kurai's pet and companion. Kurai and his twin, who'd established Hinowa's first hospital, were becoming very important individuals in the village.

Kurai left the Administration Complex and went home. He sat down with his parents and explained to them about Little Kong, and what happened in the mountains around Kumo. Like he thought, his father didn't seem to mind much; in fact he was glad that his son was joined with such a powerful being, but Mother Yanagi over-reacted. She didn't like the fact that Kurai went to Kumo, knowing it was home to those with the weakness to the Yanagi, but she especially became distraught with the fact that if he and Kua were to ever separate, Kurai would die. Kua himself even spoke up, ensuring the parents Yanagi that nothing would happen to Kurai.

After situating Little Kong a hammock next to the window his his room, and Little Kong jumped into it to catch himself a nap, Kurai sat on the floor next to his own bed with a pile of mangas and spent the next few hours reading. After a while, he didn't even have to look up to see his father standing in the doorway to his room, staring at him. “Your mother will come around eventually,” he said, his arms behind his back. “You know how she is... she worries about you two. But I know you twins can handle yourselves...”

Father Yanagi walked closer and took his hands from behind his back to reveal something wrapped in a cloth. “Which is why I think its about time that you have this... You've come such a long way and exceeded all of my expectations. You've built up more power than I could ever dream of in my lifetime, and the best part about it is that you didn't let it go to your head. You've kept a humble attitude the entire time while realizing that there is always more to learn.” Father Yanagi handed Kurai the object wrapped in the cloth, which was actually a very old book. “This contains the ancient way of our clan... It was passed down from generation to generation... My grand father gave it to my father, and my father gave it to me... None of us could comprehend what was written inside and ever hope to master the gift inside. Now, i'm giving it to you. If anyone can decipher the technique listed inside, I know it will be you... If not, well... words can't describe how proud of you and your sister I am, Kurai...” Father Yanagi nodded to his son while rubbing the top of his head, then turned and left his room.

Kurai watched his father leave, then turned his attention to this old book. For his father to recite a speech like that meant that this had to be pretty important. Kurai carefully opened the front page and began to read the words scrawled with what looked like charcoal on old, faded pages. The entire book was about a unique Kekkei Tota that was known as “Dust Release.” It took a combination of Doton, Fuuton, and Katon to even begin to learn it, but even with those, it was a nearly impossible technique to learn and master. None of the Yanagi had been able to do so in generations. Should one happen to master the style, it would grant it's user the power to pulverize their opponents down to nothing, and even possibly give the user the ability to cause wide scale destruction. Kurai relocated to the back porch and spent hours reading the old book; his manga collection forgotten.

Word Count Dust Release Training, D Rank: 698/5,000 - 25% = 3,750
Word Count Little Kong Training: 698

Hikari had left the administrative building with her mind only on wanting to get some sleep. She had stopped in at the Hinowa Hospital to make sure that everything was alright and that everyone was okay with her taking off for a while: the majority of the staff had practically pushed her out of the door because they knew how tired she was and in how much need of a break she was in.

Hikari had taken the shortest and quickest route home but had still barely made it. She had arrived home, walked into her bedroom without even bothering to close the door, and had face planted her bed and passed out almost at once. And that was where she had spent a good many hours asleep and dead to the world. A bomb could have gone off next to her and it wouldn't have done a thing in regards to waking her up.

But, wake up she eventually did. As she rolled over on her bed and rubbed at her closed eyes beneath the white blindfold she concentrated on who all was in the house via her chakra radar. Father Yanagi was busy, and Mother Yanagi looked as if she were trying to figure out what she wanted to cook for dinner. She saw her brother finally out on the porch and reading a book she had never seen before. It reminded her of a book that Kouki had given her the other day that she had otherwise been ignoring because she had been too busy to focus on it.

She reached down to her bag and after a quick one handed search found it and pulled it out. Figuring that she might as well do something constructive while she waited on dinner to get done she walked out of her bedroom, through the house, and out to the porch to join her brother. She sat down nearby on the porch, propping her back against the railing. The book she propped on her knees was covered in all sorts of fuuinjutsu symbols, and titled as such. She looked up to her brother curiously for a moment. "New book?" New of course meaning new to Kurai, since the book itself looked like it might have been over a century old.

As she waited for her brother to respond she looked to her own book and opened it: there was no braille inside of it, only written text, and a lot of diagrams and example pictures to help the new reader along. She had been practicing in her down time on learning regular letters and it had gone well enough, but this was still likely going to be a bit of a challenge without the extra help of braille to aide her in her task. She had chosen Fuuinjutsu as the next thing she had wanted to learn simply because of the uses Kouki had mentioned for it, including using it to trap others which would make whooping someones ass who was powerful an easier task.

Fuuinjutsu to D: 506 / 3,750

Kurai read the old book in silence, carefully turning the old pages so that he didn't accidentally tear them. Dust Release is an advanced nature kekkei tōta, an advanced version of kekkei genkai, which is created through simultaneous use of the earth, wind, and fire natures. The techniques of this nature initially form as a small three-dimensional object (e.g. a cube, a cone, etc.) composed of chakra that forms between the user's hands. When the technique is released, the form expands and surrounds the target. This nature allows the user to manipulate molecules, giving them the ability to disintegrate anything on a molecular level within the boundaries of the three-dimensional form...

His sister came outside with a book of her own. When she asked if it were a new book he was reading, he just nodded his head. Kurai wanted to know all he could about this, because he was determined to learn it. The first Yanagi in centuries to wield a long forgotten Release. He felt like this was what all of his training was leading up to, and it excited him to no end, even if he didn't show it.

Even while reading deeply into the old pages of the book, he was able to monitor the activities of the village growing darker by the setting sun and the coming evening. Shinsai let him look at the entire village now, so reading his book while at the same time having a look around for wanna-be gangsters, bullies, bandits, or anything out of the ordinary wasn't difficult at this point at all. He didn't see any of those, although he did come across a certain situation in a certain hot spring that brought a sort of shocked and disappointed look to his face, that slowly began to turn into one of rage.

Kua snorted.”Hormones... they make all species of beings do some of the strangest things at the strangest times...”

Kurai gripped the old book tightly all of a sudden... He started to feel used. Was this what he'd been fighting for? Risking life and limb, putting himself at odds against monsters, villains and scum; sure, he'd been thanked for it, by some woman too busy in a greenhouse and some guy who came in late previously from doing... god knows what to notice flying bodies and giant explosions, and the first thing those 3 can think of to do is go make out?... It stared to piss him off to no end... But this wasn't helping things at all. Raging, flying off the handle,  being stressed out; that wasn't going to help him learn how to wield Dust any faster.

Kurai loosened his grip on the old book that his father passed down to him, straightening out the wrinkles in the old pages. He exhaled the breath in his lungs in a long sigh as his face returned to the normal blank look he normally wore. Kurai's mind began to stir. He began to question his future in this village. Would he really want to stay here? What if those villains from Makkura returned; would he really want to put himself at risk for the likes of those that ran this place? Of the 3, Kouki seemed to be the most caring, but Kurai even began to have his doubts about her.

So he decided that if he were really considering leaving here, that he would master Dust Release first. He would be the first Yanagi to master a long lost, unknown Release in hundred of years. He would train his hardest, and become an S-Ranked Jounin, so that in the event that he did actually leave here and be labeled a Missing-Nin, and they decided to send someone after him, or even come after him themselves, Kurai would be ready for all three of them, even at the same time. He decided that what happened between now and the time that he mastered his new techniques and became stronger than what he was now would be the determining factor of whether or not he would continue to call Hinowagakure home. Honestly, it was likely because he'd been moving around so much before moving and settling here, but he began to feel as if he'd be better off on his own, calling nowhere home. His parents were comfortable here, and his sister was the top medic now with her own hospital, but who was he? What was he? A mere weapon? A bodyguard of sorts; a bouncer? Where did he fit in here, what was his place? With what he'd just seen, he started figuring maybe he didn't have one. He didn't want to be this weapon he was being made out to be.

So Kurai stopped looking around the village with Shinsai so that he didn't run into anything else he didn't want to and shouldn't see, and devoted his full attention onto the pages before him. Dust Release techniques seem to require a certain amount of time when preparing the three-dimensional object, making it possible to prematurely halt the technique before it is completed, but once it's finished, the technique can be fired with astonishing speed. The hands also play a crucial role in preparation of techniques, interfering with the user's arms can hinder the technique. Dust Release techniques also appear to be rather chakra-taxing...

Word Count Dust, D-Rank: 892 + 698 = 1,590/3,750
Word Count Little Kong: 892 + 698 = 1,590

Hikari looked over the book in front of her, frowning at how complicated it all looked. She had a few more things to learn before this was going to make enough sense for her to really master it. After another several minutes she closed the book and stood up. She walked back into the house and into her bedroom where she closed the door and put the book away.

She picked up another book and sat down indian style in the middle of her room, and began to read...

[Exit]

Kurai considered showing Hikari the book next, in case she possibly wanted to learn the technique next, but she didn't stay out on the porch long. Maybe she'd seen what was going on too? Or maybe it was something else. Kurai didn't think about it too long. He sat there, reading the pages over and over until well after it had become dark. He began to read himself tired. Before he would doze off on the back porch, Kurai himself stood and went in the house, eating some of the dinner left over before retiring to bed...

He and Little Kong woke early the next morning. After his zombie walk to the bathroom to relieve himself, then fixing he and the young simian something to eat, it was right back to the backyard to resume his training regimen. Little Kong began to kick tree trunks and do tumbling exercises. Kurai began to examine the dirt and earth underfoot. To create cubes and spheres, Kurai would have to get used to using all 3 of his elements at the same time. To turn earth to dust meant cooking it down into a fine mist with fire and then spreading it with wind. It sounded like no easy task, but he was more determined than ever to master it.

So, the first thing he did was practice using Fuuton to make air shaped cubes. He devoted the entire day to the process, telling himself not to stop until he could make solid shapes that he could expand and shrink at will. Many walking by were left to wonder why the many trees around the Yanagi home were moving as if there were a wind storm, yet there was barely even a breeze that day.

Kurai spoke to Little Kong and Kua of the things he saw last night, and asked their opinions on what the future held. Kua simply responded that he would side with Kurai on whatever he decided to do, and that he'd rather remain “a simple observer to human affairs.” ”Who cares what they were doing down there, really,” was Little Kong's response, kicking Kurai's right hand as he led up his arm for the young simian to kick at. His right foot met the palm of Kurai's hand with a slap sound. ”They were down there getting sloppy and busy in that hot water? So what... Sure, sucks that you happened to sneak a peek at what was going on, and I kinda understand your frustration at feeling used, but YOU dude, you're the man around here. You're the first of your kind. The villagers, and even the bad guys; they recognize you even more than the 3 people who made this place after that big boom that day. I hear these people talking about that Kurai kid, you're a hero around here. If you left, i'm pretty sure that would throw things all outta whack around here without their hero to come save them if those baddies came back. Especially if those clowns The Dark from Makkura were to invade again. What about your sis? I don't think she'd like it either.”

”...” Kurai didn't really know what to say or what to think. Wisdom from a small monkey.  Kong's little brother was making sense; perhaps he over-reacted. But somewhere deep down there was still the unmistakable feeling of being used. ”I said i'd stay out of your silly human affairs, but the way you're feeling, there's no need for that either, honestly,”came the mental nudge from Kua. ”Were you to leave here, you would probably be labeled a fugitive, if my knowledge of shinobi villages serves me correctly. With myself and the Little Kong at your side, not to mention the strength of the Sages, and what you're training yourself to learn at the moment, if you did actually leave, do you think any of those three would actually be in the position to stop you? To apprehend you and bring you back? Even with all 3 of them together? To kill you if you refused?... Furthermore, would you truly be in the position to resist? To kill one of them if you had to?... What if it is your sister that they decide to send to bring you back? Would you fight her?”

Something Kurai would definitely not do. Little Kong switched legs, and Kurai switched hands. ”Ya been out on the run since you were a kid, right? You and your people? At least, that's what big bro and Aunt Queenie said. Gotta suck to have no home, doesn't it?'”

”...I don't know. I didn't mind constantly being on the move personally. But, having somewhere to call home, an anchor... feels pretty good, honestly.”

”There ya go. So how about from now on you just watch where you look with that Shin-thing of yours, and let's see how it all turns out, eh?... Believe me, I know where you're coming from. I don't know how those other 2 people didn't notice what was going on, if the fights you were getting into were as wild as you say they were, and that guy walking in late was pretty sucky... but honestly, so what? Who cares. It makes THEM look bad, not you. When you learn this new Dust technique, I wanna go on one of these missions with you and kick some bad guy butt.”

”If we haven't ran them all off, that is... Then again, in my experience, there always seems to be a couple left over, like roaches, waiting for the opportunity to rebuild the colony. We'll see what's what when this is all over...”

Soon after the conversation, Little Kong began to swing through the branches of the many trees around the Yanagi home, to build upper body strength. Kurai sat with his legs crossed, continuing with his exercise of creating spheres of wind, and focusing this wind down to a very sharp point, almost as if to create solid walls of Fuuton. The next few days, he would try this very same technique with Doton and Katon. When Kurai was sure he mastered creating spheres with all 3 elements is when he would begin attempting to combine them. Winds moved the grass, growth and the trees around the house, attracting many eyes and prompting several to even get brave enough to take a peek into the backyard. Kurai didn't mind...

Word Count Dust, D-Rank: 1,077 + 1,590 = 2,667/3,750
Word Count Little Kong: 1,077 + 1,590 = 2,667

Hikari had done some serious soul searching on whether or not she had wanted to try and learn Fuuinjutsu or not. It was a lot to take in, and a headache just looking at all of the words and diagrams: even if she had begun to get the hand of reading actual print compared to braille. It could come in handy one day, of that she was sure, but it was a lot more work than she was willing to do at this moment. Especially with everything she had left to learn. Perhaps Fuuinjutsu was in her future, but for today it wasn't... however, the book her brother had had looked interesting enough and she was curious as to what it was about.

Hikari had come out of her room to eat dinner only after mother Yanagi had knocked more than once and distracted her enough from the book in her lap that she hadn't been actually reading because she had been so deep in thought. She had eaten in complete silence and then returned to her room; for once not feeling very talkative at all. She had sat back down on her floor and gone back to staring at the same book as before when she had fallen asleep only to then be disturbed by a sudden rapping at the window.

Chakra radar had shown her quickly it was a messanger bird of some kind and she had opened the window in a hurry to retrieve the message. The message had been an urgent one that had caused her to leave in a hurry for the hospital where she had spent the next several hours operating on an individual who had had a nasty jutsu backfire on them: it was one of the newly build academy teachers of all people, and she was glad to hear that he had been trying to alone compared to trying to learn it with his class around him or else the issue might have been worse.

By the time she had finished and saved the mans life several hours had already passed and the morning sun was creeping up into the sky. Hikari left the hospital feeling wide awake despite her lack of sleep and had headed straight home. On her way there she had run across a rather strange sight: a man had been trying to stuff something all white with a black striped tail into a large sack, and whatever it was had been calling out and screaming for help. Unable to over-look a situation such as that she had stepped in, and after a brief physical confrontation in which she had shown the man the error of his ways she released the creature: a lemur.

She had then spent the next several hours learning about the creature she had rescued. The lemur was named Shiro, and was in fact a more advanced lemur than the majority of her species. She knew some things about healing, and had in fact been surprised to hear that Hikari was the only medic in the village. Shiro explained that she no longer had a home due to the man who had been after her rare colored fur, and suggested that as thanks for HIkari saving her, and the fact that she had spent so much time learning to help others, that she be Hikari's little pet companion. Hikari wasn't about to say no, even though she wasn't quite sure exactly how her mother was going to feel about another pet in the house.

She had then gone home, and after a brief conversation with her mother and the explanation that the lemur was smart enough to actually be of help, and not tear the house apart, she walked out into the back yard: the lemur seated on her shoulder with its tail wrapped around her head. She looked over to her brother curiously via her chakra radar while Shiro sniffed in the monkey's direction curiously.

"You didn't tell me there were two of you; are you twins?", asked Shiro.

Hikari nodded in response to Shiro's question. "Yes, this is my brother Kurai; he's older than me by a short bit. Kurai, this is Shiro... I've had a very interesting morning."

Word Count: 707 + 595 = 1,301 / 3,750

Little Kong was in a nearby tree doing pull-ups with his arms, his feet, and his tail. Sometimes he'd get distracted and chase after birds; the trees above being filled with the sounds of chirping birds and an excited little monkey. Kurai was beginning to get the feel of making solid cube shapes with walls of air. He planned on practicing this all day until it would feel like second nature, then tomorrow he would practice with Katon. The day after that, Doton. Then came the fun part: combining all 3.

Hikari came back outside. Kurai could sense that something else that was alive was with her, and Shinsai told him without looking with his actual eyes that it was an animal of some sort. Apparently the animal has a very high intelligence level if it could speak, which it did. Hikari said the animal's name was Shiro, and since she'd had an interesting morning, that could only mean that she possibly kicked someone's ass. Kurai turned somewhat to slowly expand a cube of air to surround Hikari, watching her hair and clothes move from the walls of wind surrounding her.

Little Kong hung upside down from a tree branch above with his tail, looking closely at the animal on Hikari's shoulders. Kurai dispelled the harmless cube that surrounded Hikari, and began to target other things in the backyard; the tree nearby, the statue near the pond, Little Kong hanging in the tree. Through it all, he was left wondering how their mother was going to take all of this. Kurai had a giant hammer wielding bull sealed inside of him, a bond with Gorillas that he could call at any time, some regular sized and one gigantic, and the brother of the giant chief Gorilla was his pet. Now it appeared that Hikari also had her own pet in the form of a Lemur. At this rate they'd be able to open their own zoo.

Kurai began to make solid cubes of air for Little Kong to run around on. The monkey would hop from cube to cube, swinging from the branches of the trees while performing airborne punches and kicks. Little Kong did about 5 laps around the house before Kurai felt that he had to take a break, as to not strain himself and run out of chakra too soon. Little Kong swung his way back through the trees and over to Kurai's position around the time that Mother Yanagi brought out a tray of food. She brought sandwiches for Kurai and Yanagi, crackers and cheese for the Lemur Shiro, and a banana for Little Kong, which he snatched and peeled open excitedly. Mother Yanagi only smiled and giggled some before going back into the house.

”What happened this morning?” Kurai asked, picking up one of his mother's sandwiches. Hikari must have encountered some sort of merchant or some old wise person from some village far away or something along those lines. Maybe there were other animals around Niwa that were capable of speaking English as well.

Word Count Dust, D Rank: 510 + 2,667 = 3,117/3,750
Word Count Little Kong: 510 + 2,667 = 3,117

Hikari watched as her brother formed a cube of air around her and the lemur on her shoulder which caused her hair to blow and clothing to move. The lemurs fur blew around as the small creature curiously swiped at the cube with one clawed hand. Hikari laughed softly and then watched the monkey for a moment, as did Shiro. When mother Yanagi brought the sandwiches out Shiro sniffed in their general direction; able to smell more than enough food; her bottomless pit of a stomach roaring suddenly. "Oh food, I haven't had food in a while... those idiots didn't feed us."

Hikari sat down on the porch near the tray and the little lemur unwrapped its tail from her head and climbed down carefully to its lap, making sure to watch where it put its claws. The lemur reached forward, snatched up a cracker, and after a good quick sniff of it, stuffed it into its mouth.

Hikari watched the lemur eat for a moment before picking up her own sandwich and taking a bite. When she finished chewing and had swallowed it she looked to her twin and thought over the days events and how exactly to answer his question. "Well, sometime in the middle of the night last night I got an urgent message from the hospital. Apparently, one of the new academy instructors had been practicing some jutsu he created and nearly blew himself apart. No one else had the skills to save him so they called me. It took a good couple hours but I managed to save him. Though, can't promise he's going to ever look the same, but I did my best, and he's alive, so that's what matters." She took another bite of her sandwich as her stomach roared to life, chewed, and swallowed before continuing on with her story. The lemur meanwhile picked up another cracker and made quick work of eating it: crackers were going to be her new food of choice for a while, at least until she was introduced to something else delicious.

"So, once I was finished with that and made sure they didn't need me for anything else I figured I'd come back home and try and catch some more sleep. No such luck. I was halfway home when I heard Shiro here screaming something awful and some guy demanding she settle down while he was attempting to stuff her into a sack. Apparently he was running an illegal fur trade of some kind. Taking rare creatures, and either selling them as pets, exotic food, or otherwise selling them for their fur. Shiro here is special because unlike most lemurs which are brown she's white because she's albino; like the rest of her family."

Shiro finished with her second cracker and stuffed a third into he mouth quickly, all while muttering something along the lines of "that bastard". Hikari took another bite of her sandwich, chewed, swallowed, and continued on. "So, I told the man to let her go and he refused. Figured he was bigger than me or whatever and got in my face... so it got physical, like I'm sure you could have guessed. He went down pretty quick, started crying for his mother. I got the sack open, and Shiro out. She told me the guy was responsible for the rest of her family dying, and so she offered to tag along with me: knows some things about medical ninjutsu already."

Hikari fell silent at that point, continuing to each her sandwich while the lemur continued eating her crackers; the roar in both of their stomachs quieting down. It had indeed been an interesting day, though she was curious to hear what her brother had to say about it, or his new companion.

WC: 630 + 1,301 = 1,931