Serenata Wildfire rehearsal: Shadow Duet

by **Serenata Wildfire** Wed Dec 18, 2013 12:30 am

For a day in the middle of winter it was nice out. The frost had formed a white film on the grass and the sky was a light grey. Nippy but not too cold it was unbearable. A few flakes fell being too small to stick and melt on the ground. Serenata wrapped up warm and shouldered the steel case of her violin. It came in handy to keep such a protective case around such a delicate instrument. She'd probably faint if any thing happened to it. Earlier she had replaced the E string on it, it had gotten worn down with use because she liked to play things in the tenner, higher clefts normally used for viola. She had spent her spare cash on new rosin and new hair for her bow. It was starting to split and she had grown accustomed to snipping the hairs off but no matter how you try to preserve anything it will always wear with use. The preparations weren't just for ordinary maintenance, she was storing up for something special.

She needed to play an old song, but turn it into a jutsu, a jutsu passed down by her family. If someone of her skill can't perform this family heirloom she may become a laughing stock. She knew she could play the song, that was easy, the hard part would be using her chakra to match the rythem and bounce it off a surface perfectly. She needed it not only because it was something everyone in her clan could do after six years experience in music(and she had been going all her life and was now 20) but because if she was going to be a ninja again she would need a way to make noise, yet remain hidden. Her plan, would be to hide herself from sight and then use her sound. She could strike or disorient without even knowing the enemies position or help allies without having to get close. But, what if someone just followed the sound of her playing and cut her down before she could be of use to anyone? What if she could make her songs sound like they were coming from two, three, or even five places at once? The enemy would have to guess where she really is and by then, who knows it may be too late for them. Or what if she wanted to play two different songs at once to complete difficult jutsu in the future? This jutsu could be the stepping stone for so much more to come.

Her feet crunched along the frosty ground as she made her way out of the province made for her kind. She passed the welcome sign that said "Welcome to Wildfire Reser.." it was partly covered in snow and not all of it could be read but its supposed to say "Welcome to Wildfire Reservation." it was a little stretch of land provided for the Wildfire clan since they were sorta set apart from the rest of Kirigakure. The woods looked beautiful as always, especially now, the snow made them look like their branches were decorated in pearls and ice crystals looking like diamonds. The untouched snow sparkled in the light of early dawn. She stopped just to admire its majesty for a moment, and breathing out to see her breath. She would not practice here, no, it was too close to any ears and no one should hear her rehearsal, it would give things away. She would go to the hill where she first convinced her sensei to bring her into the academy. It was her special spot, it seemed like almost everyone had one, a place no one else knows about. A place where they can be alone, and secluded. A place of escape.

The hill out in the woods looked different too, it was covered in white and sparkled like the landscape around it but it still held that lonely yet inviting look to it. She smiled like she was looking on an old friend who was always there for her to listen, or to share her thoughts with even though it was just a hill...not a person. She took a step foward and then all of the sudden the world was going strait up without her, or she was sinking. The snow it was like it was coming to life and swallowing her whole! "ahh!-Ahhhh!" Her feet kicked out and her arms flailed to grab onto anything they could find but only found empty air. When everything stopped she came to the realization that she had fallen into a snow drift. "Oh no, to think I came all the way out here alone just to get stuck in the snow!..ohh.." She pouted and began trying to free herself from the mountains of snow around her. In this case she wished she could be taller, it would helped. Sometimes the world had a cruel sense of humor for her. After almost a half hour her instruments case pops up out of the snow to land next to the hole she made where grunts, rants, and complaints of the small girl come from as she toils for freedom. After an hour she pulls herself out and lays on the snow panting. "Ok..up we go." she pushed herself up and took a stride towards the case laying on the ground when "Ahhhg!" ....there were two snow drifts.

It was almost noon now and she had dug herself out of the second snow drift, she breathed out a sigh when she sat on the hill afterward and took off her outer sweater. she'd probably regret it latter but all that work digging out of the snow made her feel hot, and her shirt was kinda sweaty. Odd, that it would snow this much. When talking with the people of kirigakure they said 1000 years ago it didn't snow like this. Something must have changed, but it mattered little now. She was warmed up, and ready to begin her real purpose for being here. As much as she'd like to kick back and build a snowman it was time to work...and no more falling in snow drifts either. Kneeling beside the case she flipped open the locks and unzipped the vinyl to open it and look down at her tools of the trade. Her violin stained red like the Wildfire instruments of old, they say Daniel Wildfires breath resides in the special red wood. Too bad it was only stained red and not from the actual red trees in their place of origin. Picking it up she plucked the strings to listen to their tune, tightened a few knobs on the scroll and then dragged its bow across the strings a few times inharmoniously. When satisfied she began to play the prelude to "Song of Songs" to get her cold fingers warmed up after being in the cold air, and to get herself back into that groove she became familiar with as a musician. Tempting to play the rest of the song but that was enough. Her memory recalled the song: "Shadow Duet" played by several in their clan. They used it to make their shadow come to life and play a duet with it. It was supposed to be used to help someone practice and gain more experience when comparing their skills against themselves. She took a deep breath and struck its first note.

The song came easy as she suspected, and proceeded to play the whole song but, just the song. She stopped and tapped her foot while listening to her memory replay the song in her mind then fits the chin rest to her chin once more. Having another go at it the song flows more smoothly this time with better tempo. Stopping just for a moment she starts it from the top and this time begins to exert her chakra to match the rythem. A few notes near the end skip and she realizes she's trying so hard to match it with her chakra she isn't even breathing and her shoulders are tense. Lowering her violin and taking a deep breath she rolls her shoulders with a sigh. "Ok, easy. flow, with it, stop over thinking it and feel it." She coached herself as if she'd done it before. A mental tactic of hers, if she didn't know how to do something sometimes it helped to pretend you knew what you were doing. Again and again she played the song and began to mix her chakra with the sound. She could feel it now, she was in the air, in the music, something was on the verge of happening. Yet, nothing.

Five hours ago she could feel it, now all she could feel was her feet begging her to get off them. She'd been at it all day, and now the sun was setting. It was getting cold, so she stopped to shake her hands out and put her coat back on. The sunset caught her gaze for a while. So beautiful, so serene...it was warm, yet fading, only an echo of its former glory yet more splendid...echo...echo. That was it, an echo. She felt silly having forgotten that the jutsu was based off of making echos come off the surface of an object the sound is projected on. That was the simple yet complicated piece of the puzzle she was missing. Eager to fulfill this philosophy she snatched up the violin and stood poised for another round of the same song. As she played she looked at a tree and imagined a tunnel going from the bridge of her nose, to the scroll of the violin, to the tree. She pictured waves like waves in the ocean coming from her, going through the tunnel, rushing up against the tree, and coming back to her. The mental image helped her send her chakra to the tree while using the sound as its vessel to reach it. Her shadow began to act strange, it began to move unnaturally and then surprised her by standing up as a three dimensional figure then leaping across the snow to begin playing the song in front of the tree where she imagined the waves going. She stopped to watch it and it slowly faded and her shadow stretching from her feet re-appeared. "Hmph...oopsie." It seems if she stops playing the shadow disappears.

Again she tried using the same mental prop to help position where she wanted her shadow to go but nothing happened. Again and again she did it and still nothing. Her fingers felt like they were going to bleed if she had to do a vibrato for the song once more. She sighed feeling like maybe it was just a lucky streak that did it that one time. Taking a break she looked up at the sky to see the sun was gone and so was the moon. Its silver light was hidden behind dark clouds. "Oh, haha I see." She giggled. There was nothing wrong with her song, it worked perfectly but there was just no shadow to use. If there wasn't a source of light to cast a shadow this jutsu was dead as a door stop. Maybe it was time to rest anyway. Sitting down she reached in her pocket to find a sandwich she packed for herself. It was soggy and squished probably from when she fell in those awful snow drifts. But, when your hungry anything tastes good...or it could still taste like a wet sock.

The moon had come out, and it was now or never, that wet sock..er sandwich had given her just enough umph to work up the chakra for one final round. Rolling her neck, then her shoulders, and popping her knuckles she took possition but waited just a minute. Looked at her shadow to see it fade, then up at the clouds to see a small wiff of one pass over the moon for a brief moment then it was clear again. Her song rang out louder than it did before and she directed the chakra to be next to her. She let her body move with it, too. Slowly the shadow faded and re-appeared to stand next to her as an all black silhouette and mimicking her sounds. The two of them, her and her shadow, played back to back while moving their hips and spine to dance to their own music. It copied her perfectly, made the same sound as if it was the original even though it was an echo, almost like watching a mirror. She picked up the tempo and changed the cleft to find it would do the same, then began to blend in another song and it would too. She did it, she got her shadow to become a fixed three dimensional figure and made sound come from two places at once. Not stopping she walked towards it while imagining it walking towards her, and walked right into it to pass through it like it were a ghost. It looked real but, it wasn't. Or, not physical that is. She smiled and turned her head to look behind her to see it was looking at her and then skipped making it hop too. She would play a piece and it would play it back to her allowing her to hear exactly how she sounded and would try to make it sound better or play and tap her feet in dance to it and then watch it repeat half a second latter. She was having so much fun she lost all track of time again. Soon she was playing one song, and the shadow was playing another, but when their duet ended it climaxed on the same note and both of their bows left their strings to hang the echos in the air with their arms raised. As it ended and her chakra ceased the shadow faded.

The next morning the snow was melting around a figure asleep with a violin still in her hands. Her chakra nearly all drained she fell asleep on that hill and slept in through the dawn to wake up to the sound of birds chirping. Pulling herself up she stretched with a yawn and a wince as some muscles were sore from the day and night before. Her fingers would need tape on them again, and she desperately needed a hot bath now. When she got home and her mother greeted her she would hold up a hand to stop her from asking anymore questions and simply says in a monotone voice: "Slept in the woods. I can do Shadow Duet. But I cant make myself a decent sandwich. It tasted like a wet sock or something the cat dragged in. I need a bath. I gotta pee. Did I mention I did Shadow Duet?...oh hi by the way." And thus, Serenata Wildfire retired for the day and ate a sandwich as big as the human jaw can bite into.