Girl with the Strange Green Eyes (Hashirama)

The Twins, The Siblings, The Uchiha

The Ishikawa clan's place of worship, the Shrine of Tengu, was off towards the side of their little compound. It was taller than any of the houses, but not as tall as the trees of the Nara forest that was just visible from atop the hills their compound rested between. There were five, long and narrow planks of wood sticking up out of the ground, all painted red, save for one. Tomoe's ancestors had used their earth Ninjutsu, which the Ishikawa specialized in, in order to create platforms for each plank. They were the same size, but the platforms were different heights. The platforms were covered by light-colored, sanded wood.

The bottom two planks rested in a line on the shortest platform, which was about a foot tall. They stuck up out of the platform vertically. These planks represented the Yokai, or the demons, Kappa and O'uni, the Yokai credited with better crops and generosity by the Ishikawa respectively.

Then, on a platform of about two feet off the ground, there were two more planks lined up beside each other and behind the first two: these represented Baku, who ate nightmares, ridding his subjects of them, and Myobu, who granted her subjects blessings and luck.

Finally, the last plank that rested on the highest platform, about three feet off the ground, was painted royal purple, the color of Tomoe's kimono-like shirt. It represented Tengo, the most powerful of the Yokai.

These five together were called the Five Loyal Yokai by the Ishikawa, who had worshipped them since the clan was founded.

Tomoe found herself often making the short trip to the shrine. While sometimes it was to pray or give offerings, most of the time it was because the shrine was surrounded by a field of royal purple asters, so lush and dense that there was nearly no green to be found on the ground. As far as the eye could see—purple asters.

Tomoe smiled gently at the sight, gripping the hand painted vase she had brought with her a little tighter. It was small and shallow, made of earth jutsu, and square in shape. She had made it herself just a few days earlier, and had spent much of her free time making sure it was just the right shade of golden yellow—Sora's favorite color, which also happened to be one of the two colors of the Ishikawa clan, those being golden yellow and royal purple.

Tomoe took a moment to sit down near the shrine, feeling the scratchy grass against her palms as she leaned back and just looked at the beautiful field, the beautiful flowers. Her clansmen called it 'the purple paradise.'

It was a clear day, but there was a bit of wind, so it wasn't as unbearably hot as it tended to be during Land of Fire summers.

Aside from the light whistle of the wind and the occasional bird chirping, it was silent—silent and peaceful.

It made Tomoe feel like she was the only person in the world, and as it was temporary, that helped calm her.

Alas, she couldn't simply sit and stare at the asters all day, so she started doing what she had come here meaning to do. Carefully, she began collecting the asters and placing them in the vase, delicately walking around, light on her feet and trying her best not to stamp on too many flowers.

When the vase was full, Tomoe kissed the beautiful field goodbye, and began the short track down the hill and back home. It was midday, so people were out and about in the compound. Children ran all around. People waved at her and gave a slight bow, all with dark hair and sharp, dark eyes.

"Yo, Tomoe-sama," waved Ishikawa Arisawa, a sixteen year-old with just one arm—her right. She had lost her left arm on a battlefield at seven years old.

She was a tall, slender teenager with short, silky hair that was almost black in color and chestnut brown eyes.

"Arisawa-san," Tomoe greeted softly, tipping her head in greeting.