[ OOC:  We’re starting in the past to establish their friendship around age 11, and then we’re taking it from there, working the story in our own way! ]
 
“Again!  With more grace!”   For what felt like the thousandth time that day Hiromi heard her master shout at her with exhaustion.  She just couldn’t get this right, no matter how hard she tried.  Every day it was the same thing, and every day she felt as if she was going two steps back instead of even a centimeter forward.  The fans dropped from her hands and she fell to her knees, distressing the fabric of her training robes.  She had progressed from kamuro two years prior, but still felt as if she were better suited for running errands than actually learning any of these skills.
 
Her master and already high ranking tayuu, Izumi, was a patient woman but very stern.  Her eyes stayed on the ground, not lifting up for another round of dancing.  They had been at it for over two hours and she just wasn’t able to work in the movements of the fans.  With her palms pressed to the ground in front of her, keeping her head down in respect, she spoke up to her though her words were whispered, “Why do we have to do this at all?  It’s not real.”
 
“Aiya!”   Izumi silenced her and she shrunk down closer to the ground.  But she didn’t take back what she had said.  While their house operated as a place of pleasure, it was all a façade for their true intentions.  It felt dishonorable to be such highly trained assassins in truth, but on the surface they had to keep up this illusion of being a courtesan.  When she was old enough she would run, she knew she would, but that day wasn’t today.  And right now this was the only place that was able to help her keep her daemon at bay and silent.  She wasn’t about to give that up until she had learned how they were doing it.
 
Izumi sighed, moving silently across the floor as if floating above the wood.  She had been in her rank for years, yet looked just as young as the day of her ascension.  She sat in front of her, moving her hand out and tilting Hiromi’s chin up so that she was forced to face her eye to eye.  Her other hand moved out, tucking a loose strand of Hiromi’s naturally bright pink hair behind her ear.  Her eyes, discolored: one red and one black, stared silently into Hiromi’s green.  The two stared at each other, having a silent conversation with no movement of lips or thoughts, all of it was in their eyes.  Spending four years with a person usually did that. 
 
She sighed, shoulders drooping ever so slightly as her fingers pulled away from Hiromi’s chin.  It was slight, but that sigh and gesture was enough to spring forth guilt in Hiromi’s belly, all the way down to her toes, “Go spend some time outside.  Clear your head.  But you are learning this fan movement today.”
 
Before she could change her mind she dipped her head down, letting her forehead press against the cold wood as she thanked her and then quickly sprung up: she was out the door in less than a minute.  This is where she wanted to be, this is how she wanted to be: free.  No one here would tell her where her brother was, but they knew, she knew that they did and hated all of them for not telling her.  Well…almost all of them.  She could never hate Izumi, even if she wanted to.  With her own mother gone, her brother taken, she was the closest thing she had to family left.
 
Beyond here, into the bamboo forest was where she wanted to go, but it was too far.  There was where she would learn the arts of killing, how to move silently, drop a foe.  But she still had to rise out of her training status before she’d be sent out for her first kill.  For today she walked, trying to block out the sounds of the other girls that were already moving along with their training much faster.  There was a forest not too far and she longed to make it to the stream that cut through it.  It was her favorite place to be, the only place she felt that she got any actual privacy, and when she heard the first of its bubbling pass over smoothened rock her heart fluttered with joy.
 

Not thinking about her robes, she ran right into the moving water, splashing about happily and jumping from stone to stone.  Izumi would have fussed up a storm if she’d seen what she was doing, and she knew she’d get a scolding when she came back in with soaked through clothing and muddy feet, but right now she didn’t care, and giggled happily as she bounded around. 

She trotted through the field and watched as the grasshoppers jumped and fluttered about her legs. She was tempted to chase them but she knew they'd get away. She leaped over a small brook with a small squeal, causing an explosion of the small bugs to fly suddenly. She smiled and kicked at the water with her hooves. She was still getting used to her latest growth spurt which lengthened her legs considerably in compared to the rest of her. Her feet looked so much farther away than they had a few months ago. She looked at her reflection in the water and studied herself.

She had a gap or two in her teeth where her adult teeth had yet to come in and her long golden-red hair was wild and crazy. Soft waves rippled through it and made it appear to shimmer like her tail. Her body was a lighter gold-white color in comparison to her tail and mane and her large hooves were dark red. She had a few freckles on her face and hindquarters. Her Mothers said they would probably fade when she got older. She perked her ears forward, she had yet to grow into those too and they dwarfed her face slightly. Her eyes were large and bright grey in color.

She was still admiring herself in the brook when she felt a small stone hit her rump near her tail. She jumped upright and splashed her forelegs in the water. She wheeled around and saw several of her Brothers and Sisters nearby laughing at her. She picked up a small stone and tossed it in their general direction. They turned around and raced away in mock horror. She bounded after them and soon caught up. The four foals raced through the fields, laughing and pushing each other as they tried to be at the head of the pack. 

They turned as a group and went through the woods back towards the herd. They hopped over trees, brush, and anything else that got in their way. Their hooves thundered on the ground and the head looked up as the group came into the clearing. "Daughter," she heard one of the Mothers call and looked over. Mother beckoned for her to join her and she left her group and obediently came to her flank. "You hair is a mess again," she said distastefully. Mother plucked a twig or two from the adolescent's hair and tried to brush it with her fingers. She shook her mane and pulled away. "Mother it's fine," she said, pulling it back. 

Her Herd Mother didn't seem pleased with her answer and rolled her eyes, "Go play, I just don't want you looking like a rag muffin." She smiled and went through the clearing again back to the trees. She stopped and made sure none of her playmates were following her. They weren't, they were too busy harassing the older Brothers and Sisters. She cantered off, glad to be on her own, without her siblings following her. She found the small creek and ran along it. She wanted to see where it went, she wanted to explore.

She followed the creek for a little while before she heard laughter and splashing up ahead. Oh no, one of my Brothers or Sisters beat me here. She thought to herself. Well, they didn't know she was here, so she could at least give them a good scare. She smiled wickedly and folded her ears back to her skull. She slunk low through the grass until she was close to the splashing water. She hid herself behind a large rock and stretched herself up to peek over the top. She saw her, a girl about her age with hair a bright pink in color. Must be from a different herd, I've never seen her before. She ducked behind the rock once more before tensing her muscles and leaping over it. She landed in the water with a mighty splash next to the girl and yelled wildly.

Her tongue stuck out of the side of her mouth in determination as she bent low, concentrating on a much further rock that she wanted to jump to.  It would be slippery and there was a high chance that she would miss and fall, or worse: slip in a most undignified way, but part of the possibility of defeat is what made it so fun to begin with.  Well, as long as there was no one there to witness it at least. 
 
As she readied herself to spring she slowly breathed out through her nose, counting off to five before jumping as far as she could.  While she was in the air someone leapt over a much larger rock, closer to the size of a boulder on the stream’s bank, and made a grand splash near her. 
 
She screamed, her feet slipping on the rock as she landed and sufficiently toppling over into the water.  Her bottom landed hard and her robes were soaked through instantly.  Her hands were muddy and cold in the ground from how she had caught herself and her green eyes widened tremendously as she looked at the girl that had startled her. 
 
Never before had she seen someone like her before, half horse and half person.  It was amazing and it took her a moment before she could shake off the dumbfounded look on her face.  That’s when she remembered that she had jumped out at her. 
 
Trying her best not to topple over, she stood up in the gentle current and looked at her, straightening in a weak attempt at meeting the other’s height.  Her hands went to her hips and her cheeks puffed out, “You scared me!  Why did you do that?”
 
It wasn’t so much that she was angry, in fact she didn’t hold any actual anger towards her at all, she just didn’t like that someone had managed to startle her so easily.  This was exactly what Izumi was talking about: she’d never make a good assassin if she let herself get emotionally flustered so easily.  And she certainly hadn’t gotten any better with grace since she’d slipped so easily.  Her reflexes were there, they just hadn’t been awakened yet, not with her daemon suppressed so strongly.
 

She looked over her, eyes moving from her ears to her hair, down her flank and to her tail.  Even though she knew it couldn’t possibly be appropriate, she wanted to touch her and pet her.  Bad manners, Izumi would tell her.  Inconsiderate, she would have said to her in earnest.  So she kept such requests to herself.

She stopped yelling and looked at the girl, one ear sideways and a confused look on her face. "Where's your legs?" She asked, she stood up and walked around her. There were no hooves or tail to be seen and she stopped and stared at her. She's not a Centaur, she thought to herself. She stood in awe and looked at her from all angles. A two-legger! She thought excited. She'd never met one of them before. They weren't common in the forests but some of the older Herd Mothers and Fathers talked about them sometimes. Humans were what they were supposed to be called, but she thought Two-Legger was more appropriate.

Suddenly the other girl started talking to her in a loud voice. She snorted loudly at her exclamation and shook her mane. "Why wouldn't I?" She asked back. "You jump better than a rabbit can, scream like one too." She smiled and nudged her playfully with her body. "Besides, you were too clean anyway." She smacked her lightly with her tail and jumped back a pace or two, grinning like a fool. When nothing happened she walked up to the girl again and bent down slightly to get a better look at her face.

Her eyes were bright green and in sharp contrast to her light pink hair. She hesitated before sniffing the girl's hair and bumping her head with her face. "You smell funny," she said, half joking. Casually, she licked her forehead and made a face. "Taste funny too." She puffed a breath of air on her head before pulling back. She looked at the girl's clothes in curiousity. "What are these things?" She said pulling at the robes. She'd never seen clothes before, her kind didn't customarily wear them. They wore armor of sorts on the rare occasion that there were conflicts with other herds, but never on a regular basis.

She walked around the girl again, the water splashing softly around her hooves. She noted the lack of fur as well as the absence of decent ears. She didn't appear to have the best nose either, what a shame. "Where's your fur? How do you keep warm in the winter?" She saw the girl's fragile, hoof-less feet and was tempted to paw at them, but refrained. She stopped in front of the girl and sat down on her haunches. Her hind legs folded neatly underneath her body, though her hooves stuck up at weird angles. She kept her forelegs taunt so she was upright and almost even in height with the girl, the water coming halfway up her rump.

The other girl started to circle her and she couldn’t help the sudden impulse to move back. Those hooves looked strong and she wasn’t exactly keen on having her toes squashed by them. But as she moved around her she took her opportunity to examine her more closely, though her fingers still itched to reach forward and pet her. She breathed in quickly when she was smelled, and from her being so close she could take in her scent as well. So much earth and grass, she was enveloped in the forest’s fragrance. She liked it.


When she licked her she giggled, wiping away at the wet spot quickly with the sleeve of her robe. Now that she thought about it, the girl wasn’t wearing anything at all, it just wasn’t as noticeable given her equine body. She moved over to her when she sat, but did so carefully just in case, not wanting to fall victim to those powerful legs. "These? They’re my clothes, see?" She spun once, arms out wide.
 

Normally, even though they were still for training, they would have been lovely to look at, but now they were wrinkled, wet, and browning with mud from the stream’s bed. "We don’t have fur, we have to wear these to stay warm, and use fire, blankets…don’t you wear any clothes?" How strange! But neat. She looked around quickly, making sure none of her nee-sans were near before undoing the wraps of her robe and pulling them off hastily.


The air was cool and she felt goosebumps rise up on her skin. Izumi would have been furious to see her throw her robing down so heartily, but this felt much better. Her underclothes around her waist were soaked through but she made sure to keep them on, that way she wouldn’t get completely screamed at if she was found.


"You smell good, your hair is pretty too. Can I touch it?"
 

She clasped her hands behind her back, not moving any closer to her than she already was, "I like to jump, you can probably jump further." Her head tilted to the side, "Why do you have horse legs like that?" Truth be told she’d never so much as heard of a centaur, let alone seen one, not even depicted in books.
 

"What’s the fastest you can go?" Her eyes widened and she straightened at the idea of seeing her go at her full speed. Normally she would have challenged her to a foot race, but she knew already that that was a game she’d easily lose at.

She watched the girl in front of her turn in a circle, her clothes fluttering in the wind. "They're beautiful," she said, slightly in awe of all the brilliant colors. They reminded her of the fragile wings on a butterfly, the way they flapped around the girl's body. She perked her ears forward as the girl started to speak, her voice slightly higher than hers. "What's fire?" She asked, instantly curious. She asked about clothes and she shook her head with a smile.

"No, we don't wear clothes. Why would we? We have fur, and only two-leggers wear clothes. They don't fit us very well." Her eyes widened slightly as she watched the girl remove her robes so she was standing in only her undergarments. "You can remove your clothes? I thought they would stick to you like fur, that's really interesting." She nudged the fabric with a hoof and watched it flop over. Ugh, it was like a dead thing, now that the girls warm body wasn't in it to make it move. 

She stood up and shook the water off her legs. She nodded at the girl and stepped closer, ducking her head a little so she could pet the ridge of hair that went down her back. "You can pet it if you want." She smirked. "I've never had that request before." She thought for a minute while the girl stroked her hands through her mane. "Can you braid? The mother's say it's easier to keep our manes and tails from getting tangled in things if they're braided." She shook herself, playfully hitting the girl with her hair. 

"The really old Herd Mothers and Fathers say that our race was created by a human bedding with a horse," she said, thoughtfully. "That's why we are half horse and half human." She shuffled her hind legs, her hooves splashing in the water. "I love running and jumping is so much fun." She jumped up and spun around on her hind legs. "I can go really fast." She smiled at her and play-bowed to her, her eyes bright. "Do you want to see me gallop?"

[ OOC: Forgive any typos or errors, I’m doing this at work and it’s hard to edit sometimes T_T ]

The girl had never heard of fire before?  How did the people she knew stay from getting sick when it got really cold and wet?  Or maybe they just called it something else.  All of them used fire so much every day that she couldn’t imagine going a day without it, especially when it came to cooking their food.  Did that mean that they had to eat all of their food cold?  She knew she certainly wouldn’t have liked that, especially for soups and noodles, she always liked hers piping hot.

“Yes!  We can take them off and there’s all kinds of clothes.  I have to wear these types the most right now, but when I’m not in training and have my private time I can wear my sleeping pants and shirt.”  She had to contain the urge to squeal in delight when she was given permission to touch her and she nodded quickly, eagerly as she moved closer, “I can braid!  You have a lot…”
She reached her hand out, careful as if she were touching a newborn babe as she moved her fingers along her hair, realizing now that it went all the way down her back.  That was different, but she liked it and moved both hands into her hair, smoothing it out as best as she could.  It was soft, for some reason she had expected it to be more coarse, most likely due to how wild it looked right now.

As she listened to the other girl speak, she quickly but precisely began to move her hair between her fingers and braid, “How come we’ve never seen you before…?”  For all she knew no one else had ever seen a girl like this before.

“And if you don’t have fire then how do you make your food really hot…?  Fire’s pretty, I like it a lot.  It can hurt you though, so don’t touch it or you’ll get burned.”  Her eyes lit up, literally, the green glowing brighter from excitement, “I can show you if you ever want to see!”

When she was done with the braiding she gently patted her back and stepped away from her, nodding quickly, “Yes!  Show me how fast you can go, the fastest!”  She made sure that she wasn’t too close to her, always mindful of those hooves since her own feet were naked and vulnerable.

She stood still while the girl braided her mane, her hands gentler and much smaller than the Herd Mothers'. She turned an ear to the side when she started talking again. "The Herd Mothers and Fathers are good at hiding us," she said quietly. "They say some people don't like us and think of us as animals. So we just stay away from them." She flicked her tail back and forth for a second, slightly nervous. "If I had known you were a human, I wouldn't have jumped out and scared you. I would have just slipped away." She smiled at the other girl. "But I'm glad I didn't." When she was done, she ran a hand down her hair and felt the coiled strands. "That's amazing," she said, tracing her fingers around each knot. "Thank you, I love it."

"We usually eat food raw the way it is," she said, shaking her mane and getting used to the weight of the braid. "Meat and plants. Sometimes we use magic to cook things, only the Herd Mothers and Fathers do that. I'm too young to learn much magic yet." Her ears perked forward and she smirked at the girl. "I'll show you fast." She stepped back from the girl and sprung back on her hind legs. She tensed her muscles before leaping forward. She rushed ahead, her hooves thundering on the ground and her tail flying out behind her like a banner.

She loved the feeling of her muscles, shuddering with each footfall on the earth, the thunder of her hooves making contact was almost as deafening to her as her heartbeat. She felt so fast and powerful, breezing along the stream. Her long legs contracted under her body and then snapped back like a coiled bowstring. For a split second all four of her feet were of the ground and she felt like she was flying. She felt the butterflies of excitement stirring in her belly and revelled in the adrenaline. She felt like she could do anything. Her tail flapped and snapped behind her and the water flew to her belly and flanks, kicked up by her hooves.

After awhile she stopped and pivoted on her hindquarters in a sharp spin. She ran back to the girl and reared up right, stretching herself to her full length and her hooves clawed at the sky. She kicked and spun and bucked then at last stopped and circled around her before stopping. 

Her eyes saddened.  That didn’t seem very fair that people got to be mean to them and it meant they had to stay hidden.  While she didn’t know the ins and outs of each race’s complicated relationship towards one another, she recognized injustice when she saw it.  But, from what she could tell, the girl seemed happy, maybe that meant that the rest of them were too.  Though it still didn’t seem right for people to be mean without any consequence.  She shrunk down just a little, remembering her outburst towards her when she had first jumped out, feeling guilty that she had shouted at her the way she did.  Had other people yelled at her…?  She was just trying to play…

When she was finished she pulled her hands away, stepping back from her and smiling brightly as the other admired her work.  Braids suited her well.  “Blegh.”   Her nose wrinkled and her tongue stuck out, thinking about food so cold.  At least some of them had cooked food.  She shook her head, trying to get the image of raw meat and vegetables out of her mind.  “Do you like the food that way?  The stuff we make would taste horrible if we didn’t cook it.”   Perhaps their food was different and would taste much better.

She nodded quickly, excited to see her gallop and squealed in delight as she reared up just before bolting off.  She ran behind her, unable to keep up of course but loving the way the wind felt in her hair as she attempted to chase after her.  The sound of her hooves kicking up grass and dirt made her think of nights spent awake listening to the clouds crash into each other overhead.  Storms were her favorite.  Even her speed and power made her think of a storm, and she watched her in awe as she stopped to catch her breath.  One day she hoped to be able to run like that, move that way with such power and grace.

When the girl made it back to her she jumped up and down happily, spinning in a circle to watch her as she walked around her, “You’re so fast!  You sound just like a storm!   It was then that she realized she didn’t know how to properly address her, “What’s your name?!”   She knew their playtime couldn’t last forever, and she would most certainly want to be able to seek her out again.

She stopped in front of the girl, smiling brightly and breathing hard. Her muscles were hot from the exercise and throbbed slightly under her skin. She enjoyed the feeling and flicked her tail back and forth. She watched the girl jump up and down and acted excited. "It was nothing," she said grinning down at her. "You should see some of the Herd Fathers, they run so fast you can hardly see them. They are just a blur amongst the trees and they can jump over anything."

She laughed when the girl spoke of the storms, and comparing her of all things. "I am not a storm," she said playfully. "I am not big enough to be one of the Storm Horses. Mothers say that there are massive horses up there, somewhere high above us, that rattle the skies with thunder and send giant sparks amongst the clouds. They cut the sky with their hooves and allow the rain to come to the ground. They are the Storm Horses, their hooves beat the sky and make the thunder, and when they collide together the lightning is created." She stopped talking and stared at the sky for a second.

She closed her eyes, feeling the warm breeze blow over her and through her mane. She took a deep breath and looked at the girl. "My kind come up with stories to explain the natural occurrence of things, like why we have storms, or why plants follow the sun, or how our race was created." She stepped away from the girl and found a patch of dry grass, just large enough to lie in. She turned slowly in a circle before neatly folding up her legs and settling on the ground. In a quick motion, she rolled over on the grass, twisting her body and kicked her legs at the sky.

She laughed before stretching out and lying still on her back. She looked at the girl and perked her ears forward as she began to speak again. "My name?" She asked, slightly confused. "Centaurs don't have names. We refer to ourselves as brother and sister and mother and father. Our herd is a family and we associate each other as such. We are one and the same, all of us. We don't use names to separate someone else from the herd." She turned her head to the side. "Do humans have names? What's yours?"