RP sample for Yoshiko Tomoko

The sun had not yet come up when Yoshiko opened her eyes and sat quietly up. Another sleepless night had passed, leaving the young woman wondering why she even bothered to try and sleep anymore. Dangling her feet off the branch she now sat on, Yoshiko took a look around before reaching under her branch and unfastening her katana which she had bound there, before jumping down from the tree and landing on the ground below with the grace of a cat. She had always preferred sleeping at higher grounds, as she felt more vulnerable to attacks if she stayed low. It also didn‘t hurt that the trees gave the most spectacular view over the land and clear access to watch the sky while trying to fall asleep, or in most of her cases lie with closed eyes the whole night and let the mind wander to places that were beyond her reach.

Stretching her arms lazily to the sky before bending over and touching the ground with her fingertips, Yoshiko did her morning routine of exercises to warm her body up. That routine usually consisted of enough stretching, a few push ups, a little run-on-the-spot and finally some sit ups until she was satisfied, before then stretching again. Although it -was- safer sleeping on tree branches, that didn‘t mean it was comfortable and Yoshiko detested feeling the stiffness of her body each morning.

Now done with the morning routine, Yoshiko fastened the katana on her back before walking to a small creek she knew was nearby from the sound of it. While kneeling down and leaning over the water‘s surface, her purple eye scanned the face that was looking back at her. She leaned closer to the water‘s surface and then suddenly blew a gust of air at it, causing the reflection to get distorted. Cupping her hands and dipping them into the water, Yoshiko moved them quickly up again without losing a single drop from her palms before she splashed the cold water into her face, then repeated that same routine two times. The cat wash took but few minutes, and the now refreshed Yoshiko walked with light steps away from the place she had spent her night.

Small beams from the now rising sun made their way through the high tops of the trees, dancing on the ground under her feet as she walked. The air this morning tasted sweet and Yoshiko had a feeling this would be a good day, perhaps a day where she would find some answers to her endless searching. As she walked between the trees, ducking under low branches and jumping over rocks, Yoshiko‘s hand went down to the small bag that hung at her right hip, retrieving a single apple from it. The young ninja halted and took notice of her surroundings before finding a rather big and flat rock where she sat down, crossing her legs as she brought the apple to her lips and took a juicy bite from it. The only sounds around her were the chirping of the birds and rustling in the woods as bigger animals made their way through it. She knew they were probably frightened by her presence, and although she didn‘t see anything she knew that wild eyes were watching her from many angles. Animals had though never bothered her and she never bothered them, so she didn‘t worry about getting attacked, not that any dangerous animals would really be residing in this part of the land.

Her breakfasting was interrupted as a particularly brave squirrel seemed to have made it‘s way to the rock where she sat. A single purple eye connected with a pair of small black ones as the two individuals watched each other. The nose of the squirrel twitched as it smelled the strange creature that had decided to rest next to it‘s home, it's tail flickering around as the small animal seemed to be debating about if it should flee or not. Deciding to be the one who would break this now awfully long staring contest, Yoshiko broke a small piece of her apple and reached towards the squirrel, dropping the piece on the rock a few feet away from it. Like a dash of lightning, the squirrel fled to it‘s tree, now watching the girl from the safety of it‘s hole. Yoshiko‘s eyes had followed the animal as it retreated, but no sound came from her. Reaching her right hand to her back, she pulled her katana up and rested it next to her on the rock before she lay down on her back. Crossing her hands behind her head, she focused her eye on the sky above her and watched in silence as it started to come to life just like the forest around her. The beams of the sun grazed the clouds lazily as they spread quickly, the sun now almost in full view. As the sky turned from red to purple to blue, Yoshiko‘s eyes never faltered away from it. She wasn‘t thinking about anything in particular, simply watching the nature waking up, watching the sun greeting her and the other creatures with it‘s warmth. A small sound caught her attention though, and without turning her head Yoshiko knew that the squirrel had returned and was now nibbling on that piece of apple she had left for it.

Raising her hand towards the sky, resulting in spooking the squirrel away again, Yoshiko closed her fist as if trying to capture one of the clouds. While repeating that gesture, a soft humming came from her before she started to sing in a low voice, the song that her mother had sang for her when she had been small. „Yuuyami semaru kumo no ue. Itsumo ichiwa de tonde iru. Taka wa kitto kanashi karou…..“ Letting her voice fade out, she closed her eyes as she tried to picture her mothers face and her voice, the smile that had lightened her face up whenever she had been near Yoshiko‘s father, her eyes which had the same color as Yoshiko‘s left eye had. But the only thing that entered Yoshiko‘s mind, was the man that had killed her parents and taken her siblings, the man that had ripped everything away from her, the man that had stolen her last tears and smile. Opening her eyes again, Yoshiko sat up and cleared her mind of any unnecessary thoughts. I don‘t have time to be thinking of the past now. I shouldn‘t let a good day pass by without getting clues.

The young, expressionless ninja stood up, grabbing her long, black bladed katana in her right hand before jumping from the rock and traveling at a high speed from where she had just rested. She moved in a lithe way, never slowing her pace down and yet avoiding breaking a single branch or letting a single pebble move from it's original place. Never leave any trace of your existence. That was a lesson that had been forced into her mind, and had until now served the ninja of vengeance well.