[Kitsumi]

"Haru ga kita
Haru ga kita
Doko ni kita?
Yama ni kita
Sato ni kita
No ni mo kita"

The singing of the pretty girl could be heard echoing throughout the forest. She skipped along, seeming so carefree and without a worry in the world. Her almond shaped eyes seemed to be alight with the excitement and happiness of youth, and her smile was contagious.

Those who did not speak her native language wouldn't have recognized the song she was singing - a traditional song about Spring. Although the girl spoke English almost as well, if not as well, as her native language, she preferred to speak the traditional songs in her own language. After all, it would be breaking with tradition for her to sing it in any other language.

"Yoshi, look! I found one!" She turned her smile towards her companion, a man in his early twenties that bore a striking resemblance to her. Holding out the egg to him, she waited for the approval that was sure to come.


"That's great, Hana!" Yoshi smiled at his young niece. It always felt great to get away from his Shinobi duties and spend some time with the only member of their family that who still retained her innocence. Yoshi wasn't really fond of killing, although it wasn't unusually hard or anything for him. Still, it was nice to take a break and just enjoy the world around them, especially for an Easter celebration.

Taking the egg from her, he placed it carefully in the basket. "Let's see how many we can find before I have to get you home to my brother and his wife."

{1}

((Here's the English translation of the song, which is in Japanese in case you didn't guess:
Spring is coming, spring is coming,
Where is spring now?
Here in the mountains,
Here in the village,
And here in the fields.
It really is a traditional Japanese song! Or at least, according to my informative website it is ))

[Code Chaos]

Blackrose was walking through the forest looking for some beautiful eggs to find for the hunt. All of a sudden she started to hear what sounded like a little girl singing. She followed the voice until she saw a man and a young girl walking together. From what she could tell these two were also looking for eggs and it looked like the little girl found on. The young man looked like a ninja and the little looked like she might be training to be a geisha.

Blackrose thought maybe she should pop over and say hello after all they were from the same country.

[Kitsumi]

The girl was the first one to notice that they were not alone in the forests. Pointing over her uncle's shoulder, she said, "Yoshi, look, someone else is looking for eggs too!" Without pausing to ask permission, she skipped over towards the woman, smiling widely.

"Hi there! My name is Chiisai Hana - it means 'little flower' in Japanese! But all of my friends and family call me Hana...so can you, if you like!" With wide eyes, she looked up at the woman. "You're really pretty!" Her  gaze turned back to uncle. "Uncle Yoshi, will I be as pretty as her when I grow up?" Once again her eyes turned to the woman and she smiled. "I hope I will. You probably have lots of boyfriends, don't you?"

Finally catching up to the youngster, Yoshi gave a half bow to the woman. "I apologize if my niece is bothering you. We don't wish to keep you from your egg hunt." Giving a stern look to his niece, he said, "Hana, how many times have I told you not to speak to strangers?" He took her by the hand, and began to lead her away, but she cast an anxious glance back at the woman. "But Yoshi, I wasn't bothering her! I was just being nice! Maybe she'll want to hunt with us!"

{2}

[Code Chaos]

Blackrose saw the little girl notice her and she walked over and introduced herself. "Why hello my name is Blackrose." When the little girl called her pretty she blushed and smiled. "Well aren't you a little cutie." She laughed and saw the young man start to walk over.

"Oh no she wasn't bothering me at all. Its ok you weren't disturbing me at all." She then saw the young man grab Hana by the hand and lead her away. Hana looked back at her and Blackrose smiled at.

[Kitsumi]

When the woman answered her, Hana pulled out of Yoshi's grasp to run back and talk to her. "Oh, that's a pretty name! This grumpy man with me is named Kiyoshi Arashi...that means Quiet Storm! We're Japanese." She stood there, smiling and glowing and just seeming so happy.

Once he was assured that the woman wasn't being bothered, Yoshi allowed Hana to chatter on. He smiled at the woman slightly, and then gestured towards his basket with only two or three eggs inside. "Would you like to help us hunt? We can split the eggs at the end if you want to. This little ruffian," he paused to ruffle Hana's hair fondly. "Seems to have taken a liking to you. It'd be a pleasure if you would join us."

{3}

[Code Chaos]

All of a sudden Blackrose saw the little girl run back up to her. "I'm Japanese too," she said excitedly. She looked over at the young man and he smiled at her so she smiled back. "I would love to it was getting kind of boring being out here by myself. I only came out here because my best friend was supposed to meet me but sadly he was a no show."

[Kitsumi]

"You are?" Hana smiled happily, taking the woman's hand in a display of the trusting innocence that most children possessed. "That means that we came from the same ancestors! We're practically family. You could be my long-long-long-long-long-lost cousin!" She giggled.

Yoshi couldn't help but smile at his niece's behaviour. To Blackrose, he said, "I'm sorry your friend didn't show up. But I guess it gave you the opportunity to meet two new friends." Spotting an egg lying in a patch of grass near the woman's feet, he pointed to it. "Blackrose, I believe you've found an egg, without even looking for one!" He grinned, realizing how lucky it was that the egg hadn't been stepped on by accident.

{4}

[Code Chaos]

"Yep I live in a small town about 20 miles from Tokyo." She smiled when the girl said she could be from the same family. They could be after all everyone of her friends she called cousin. "Its ok if I see him I'll just have to kick him in his butt." She watched her language since a little girl was present.

"Oh did I," she asked as she looked down at her feet? She saw a beautiful egg that had cherry blossoms painted on it.

[Kitsumi]

Reaching out, Yoshi looked up at Black Rose. "May I?" He held out his hand for the egg. "I can put it in my basket with the others." While waiting for her to entrust the egg to his care, he studied it. "It's beautiful," he said quietly.

"Yeah, it's really beautiful!" Hana chimed in, and then giggled. "But not as beautiful as Miss Blackrose, is it, Uncle Yoshi?"

Smiling slightly, Yoshi shook his head. "Nope, not even close."

{5}

[Code Chaos]

"Why of course," Blackrose said as she handed Yoshi the egg. She saw him study it and say how beautiful it was and put it in the basket. She blushed when Yoshi called her beautiful and smiled. "So where shall we go next?" As she waited for them to answer she saw something gleam out of the corner of her eye and picked up a silver egg with Purple splotches all over it.

"Look what I found," she said as she held up the egg.

[Kitsumi]

"Well, my little friend here," Yoshi paused to ruffle Hana's hair. "She wanted to go see the waterfalls. I figure that's as good a place as any to search. Unless you have any objections?"

When she held up the egg, Yoshi looked at it and opened his mouth to speak. Before a single word could come out, however, Hana was squealing excitedly. "Oh my gosh, it's so pretty!" She clapped her hands excitedly. "Silver and purple look really good together! I never knew they looked that good together."

Yoshi patted his niece's shoulder, grinning at her excitement.

{6}

[Code Chaos]

"Oh that sounds like fun. I heard that the waterfalls here are beautiful." Blackrose saw Yoshi open his mouth but before he could speak she heard Hana talk about how beautiful the egg was. Well shall we get moving." She smiled at them and started walking excitedly.

[Kitsumi]

"It will be fun!" Hana squealed excitedly. "And they are really, really beautiful! Maybe after we search for all the eggs near the waterfall, we can go swimming!" She looked up at her uncle with pleading eyes. "What do you think, Uncle Yoshi? Would that be alright?"

Yoshi nodded agreeably. "I'm sure that would be fine. And yes, Blackrose is right, we should get going." Grabbing Hana, he swung her up onto his back, causing her to giggle. Then, he began to lead the way to the waterfall.

{7}

[Code Chaos]

"That would be fun I haven't been swimming in years. I hear the water there is warm too so we won't have to worry about it being freezing." They started moving toward the waterfall with Yoshi and Hana leading the way. Blackrose was looking around at the beautiful wildlife when she spotted something under a bush. "Look what I found," she said as she held up a beautiful rainbow egg.

[Kitsumi]

"Well, that's a relief." Yoshi shot a grin towards Blackrose. "I hate cold water. It's fine once you get used to it, I guess. But until then, you're just suffering, waiting to freeze to death or something."

Hana giggled. "You wouldn't freeze to death. You're silly, Uncle Yoshi." Seeing the egg, she reached out and gently took it. "Oooh, this one's pretty too!" Spotting another, she grabbed it. This egg was also rainbow colored. "Look, they must be twins! Let's put them together in the basket."

{8}