Visit at Dawn [P]

The door to the main greenhouse was a simple sliding door, made from fine glass. Someone, presumably the gardener or caretaker had kept the glass well cleaned, and it glinted brightly in the early morning sunlight as Yukiko slid the door open. She stepped inside and then slightly to the left, motioning for Senki to come in too. "Well, if you haven't been here before, this is the main Sunagakure greenhouse. Until now I've only been able to come her on the rare occasion that my mother needed help getting herbs and plant extracts." She spoke with a subdued excitement in her voice, clearly enjoying the chance at coming here without supervision.

The greenhouse contained a myriad of plants, from herbs to spiked bushes to large, gnarled trees that wept sticky sap. It was humid but not uncomfortable, the constant mist-like watering system kept the temperature at a constant bearable level - as well as watering the plantlife. There were five long rows of small plants, a variety of colours but predominantly green, at the ends of which sat an adjacent column of larger bushes and trees. Yuki looked toward Senki to see what she thought of the place.

Senki followed Yuki into the humid building, gazing at all of the beautiful plants. She started with the center row, then moved out to her left. Then, when she had seen all of the plants to her left, her gaze shifted to the ceiling and it's unique watering system. Sweeping over the ceiling, her gaze came back down upon the plants to the far right, moving slowly until she gazed back toward the row in front of her. She didn't get to see many plants in the desert that she lived in, and she missed the trees and flowers of the Moon Country. Her eyes lighting up with pure joy, she turned to Yuki and smiled.
"Thank you for taking me here. Back where I used to live, we had hundreds of different trees, flowers, herbs, grasses, and the likes." She said, by way of explaining her nostalgia.

Yuki watched as Senki's gaze swept the room, her face lighting up at the sight. She seemed positively joyous, and explained the reason for this a moment later. "Oh, I didn't know..." She murumured. Then, speaking up a bit, "But I'm glad you like it!" She smiled.

Yuki was running her fingers along the leaf of a small, vivid green, flat-leafed plant. The leaves looked a little like spears and appeared to be quite thick and tough. She applied a little bit of pressure at the tip, which broke off in her hand. Holding the tip over her other hand, she squeezed gently and a clear gel came out. "I'm used to working with dangerous plants, toxins and their respective antidotes. This, however, is just soothing. Here..." She put a portion of the gel-like substance on Senki's hand. "It's naturally cooling, soothing and moisturising. Rub it in and you'll see." She suggested enthusiastically.

Yuki had originally come here to experiment a little with some new toxins, but she wasn't sure if Senki would be interested in that. She noticed a tiny, rather attractive purple and blue plant not far from the Aloe Vera she had just broken. Unable to resist, she walked over to pick it up and carried it back to where she was standing with Senki. The flower of this plant was beautiful, but Yuki knew better than to get too close. "The Mekura plant. Perfect." She muttered. She looked back at Senki to see if she'd applied the soothing gel yet.

Senki felt the cool gel touch her palm and started a bit. Once she got used to the gel she rathered liked its feel. She followed Yuki's directions and rubbed it into her hands like lotion. It felt nice, and made her hands feel a softer afterward. Being a shinobi, her hands were usually dry and tough. She would have to remember what the plant looked like and come back for more. With a smile, she looked up at the girl. She was carrying a beautiful purple flower with her and walking toward Senki. She looked, wide-eyed at the plant. Purple was her favorite color. However, she didn't know what the plant was, so she stifled the urge to reach out and feel the petals.
"What is it?" She asked. She had seen the girl mutter something, but she hadn't quite caught it.

A few moments after Senki's words reached Yuki's ears, she looked up a her friend. She wore an eager expression and had rather wide eyes. However, she seemed to be exercising restraint and common sense by not touching the plant. Thank goodness. Yuki thought to herself, relieved at this realization.

"You're right to be hesitant. The Mekura plant is beautiful, but secretes a nasty poison on contact. And if you apply too much pressure, it sprays a mist of the same poison. It's the main ingredient that goes into the Buraindo poison, which attacks the subject's retinal area, causing blurred vision, migraines and severe skin irritation around the eyes. I imagine the original poison - " She gestured toward the Mekura plant she held carefully in her left hand, " - has a similar effect." She took a single step and put the plant on the side, amongst two other brightly coloured specimen.

She turned to walk around the greenhouse, intending to examine any interesting-looking plants. She glanced over her shoulder and motioned for Senki to follow, anticipating that she would want to do the same. Yuki was, at that moment, struck by a sudden concern. And if she asks where my interest in poisons stems from? She bit her lip as the thought crossed her mind. She had expected that word of her 'talent' would get out sooner or later, but Yuki worried others might stay away, for fear of, well 'contamination'. She sighed and dismissed the thought for now. A bright red plant beckoned in the near corner.

Senki followed the genin closely, gazing around at all of the plants and smiling as she pointed out the ones she knew in her mind. She was completely consumed in the world created by the bright colors and beautiful aromas. As she looked up, sunlight hit a spray of mist that shot out from the ceiling. As a result, the ceiling was covered in rainbows for a few seconds, before the mist dissipated and the colors disappeared. She smiled even more brightly at this, not discouraged by its disappearance. After all, she was surrounded by rainbows formed from all of the beautiful flowers around her. Suddenly, a question came to her mind.
"Are you a medical ninja? Or maybe a puppeteer?" She asked aloud, her voice seeming distant as she was lost in thought. Though, it was clearly directed at Yuki. Yuki was the only one she knew that was there.

Yuki could her the soft tap tap of footsteps behind her and knew that Senki was following. As the young kunoichi bent down to investigate the red-leafed plant she had spotted, she heard her friend talking. Pursing her lips, Yuki prepared an answer. "I suppose you'd call me a herbal-nin." She stopped speaking, unsure whether to divulge any further information.

Deciding that it would be best to tell Senki, she continued. "I can..." She faltered, now wondering how to explain. "Watch." She sighed, drawing a kunai. She held it to the stem of the red-leafed plant. "This is a highly toxic Aridine plant. Its toxins are just as useful for antidotes, though." She added, pushing the blade until it scored the plant's flesh. An opaque, crimson-looking liquid oozed slowly from the cut and Yuki held a fingertip to the poison, touching it gently. The liquid stopped dripping, instead gathering at Yuki's fingerpoint and disappearing. As it did so, a small patchwork pattern of similar crimson lines spread across the young girl's fingertip. They disappeared a moment later, with the poison.

Yuki turned to face Senki. She held out her other hand, the one that had not been in contact with the poison. The network of red lines appeared on the hand momentarily, before the crimson, opaque liquid began to ooze from the pores of her skin. It hissed as it hit the floor, tiny plumes of steam rising where it landed. "Hm. That one needs work." Yuki muttered before realizing she had been explaining all this to Senki. "I'm able to replicate any toxin and the respective antidote naturally within my body. I can expel either in a number of different forms." She spoke quietly, nervous about the response. "But I can control it completely!" She added hastily, "You don't need to worry about being near me, I'd never release it upon a friend." Her voice had lost its usual calm, almost stern tone. Now she sounded a little urgent and worried.

Senki watched carefully as she watched the kunoichi draw poison from the plant she had just described. She flinched as the poison touched the girl's skin, ready to leap forward and help any way she could. Then, she watched, wide-eyed, as the girl released the poison from her other hand. She smiled warmly as the girl explained, seeming to almost plead for Senki to understand. To not be afraid. This seemed almost humorous to Senki. After everything she'd seen, everything she'd been through, fear was her least used feeling. She trusted the female as much as she would a lifetime friend, purely because they worked for the same village, and because the girl had been friendly.
"Don't worry. I trust you." She said in a calm, soothing voice. She continued to smile as she spoke. "That is quite the ability. Not only is it cool, its more useful than most would give it credit for. My clan's ability is a little less useful. It is also a tad frightening, seeing as how most who survived from the massacre went mad with power." She said in the same tone, leaning against the table as casually as possible without touching the plants. Too many poisonous ones here. She thought, gazing at all of the colorful plants and reminding herself to look them up later.

There was a silent pause in which neither Genin spoke. Yuki didn't have to wait much longer for a response, though. What she heard was not at all what she had been expecting. She had been thinking of a number of situations where she explained this to others and in each mental scenario, they all made excuses to leave or at least moved away from her, in case - she supposed - they caught a toxin.

Senki's reply was quite the opposite, however. She even credited the ability as interesting and practical. Unsure how to react to this development, Yuki faltered and just stood wide eyed for a moment. She managed a half-grin before Senki continued to speak. She elicited a few details about her own bloodline origins and its effect, seeming a little afraid in herself. Yuki had expected this to come up in conversation, the girl's pure white wings such an unusual feature that they had to be of blood inheritance.

Massacre...madness...it was quite a lot for a the young kunoichi to take in. She attempted to respond sympathetically, having some understanding of fearing oneself. There had been a time when Yuki had experienced the same thing. "Not you, though. And you have a good heart - I don't think power is something that will drive you to such extremes." She said quietly to the girl, deciding at the same time that such sentences were all too heavy for a social visit. "But your wings, they're beautiful - how are they 'less useful'?" She asked, almost incredulous.

As she spoke, she broke a large leaf from the red plant and pocketed it, sealing the pocket tightly afterward. "By the way, I've got what I needed, so perhaps something less...poisonous?" She smiled, pointing to the large palm-like tree at the end of the room. It had what looked like purple fruit growing from it.

Senki reached up at stroked the closest wing, seeming to stare off into the distance. She then decided to respond in the most simple way possible. "Our bloodline is one built around power. The only use it has is for destruction, something I am not interested in. The wings are cool, but they make a lot of things more difficult than you'd think. They're very large, and very sensitive." She said, allowing her wings to expand to their full length. As if to prove her point. The wings came close to knocking quite a few plants over, but they skimmed past the plants without causing any harm. Senki then followed the Genin's gesture to a large palm tree in the back of the greenhouse. Smiling, she motioned for Yuki to take the lead.

Her eyes darting over to the plants as Senki opened her wings, Yuki could do nothing but hope they didn't knock anything off. Thankfully, her friend knew what she was doing and it seemed she had taken care to avoid causing damage. Her gaze lingered on the unharmed plants for a moment before turning back to Senki. "Don't forget that destruction can be a form of protection, if used correctly. Imagine if someone was in great need of, say protection from physical harm, your ability would certainly suit that purpose." She replied, now walking over to the large tree.

Upon reaching it, Yuki ran her hand across its utterly smooth bark. Unlike the palm trees it resembled, its bark was completely smooth and unblemished. "The Belau tree. It's wood is one of the strongest and yet most supple known to man and it produces fruit during three of the four seasons. If I can just..." She looked furtively over her shoulder at the others in the greenhouse. What with it still being early in the morning, there was only one other - he seemed to be examining a tiny yellow plant.

Feeding a small amount of chakra to her hands and feet, she grappled the trunk of the Belau and shinned up it, stopping near the top and drawing a kunai. She reached out and cut a pair of the bright purple fruits from the branch. Putting the kunai away, Yuki released her grip and landed on the floor, the fruit held gently but securely in her right hand. She promptly handed one to Senki. "It tastes a little sharp at first, but it has a sweet aftertaste that's rather pleasant." Now the fruit was so close, the two of them could see it clearly. It looked a little like a cluster of plums merged together. The bright purple skin was stretched tight over the flesh of the fruit, clearly showing no need to peel it before eating.