"Catch me if you can!" I shout back to the group of kids running after me. We were running through the woods within the clan's ground. I had suggested we play tag and now I was the last one not tagged, and I was running from my life
"I'm gonna get you White!" I hear a voice semi-close to me call out. I look over my shoulder to see a darkened boy with long blond hair and green eyes closing in fast on me, Black.
He was fast, very fast. It would be hard to outrun him. Time to employ evasive maneuvers. I run a few feet before suddenly jumping, I twisted in the air and planted my feet on a tree and before I could fall I quickly jumped to change direction to go to where we were. Not being a slacker, all my cousins were quick to react, each jumping as high as they could to touch me. But I was just out of their reach and sailed over them. I rolled when I reached the ground and stood up, I stuck my tongue out at the frustrated kids before taking off again the opposite direction.
But before I could go much further I heard a shout before someone jumped from behind a tree and touched my arm.
"I got you white~" a small girl teased. She was very small, standing only up to my chin, even tough were the same age. Her hair was red like all the girls of the clan, but she had uncommon blue eyes that made her stand out far more than the other girls. She is Pink, the youngest and smallest of our group, but by far the sneakiest and smartest.
I could only look at the little girl in shock. I didn't know how I let her sneak up on me, I completely lost track of her.
"Awe man, pink how did you do it? I didn't even see you" I said with a bright smile as I rubbed the back of my head, embarrassed. I had talked a lot of trash when I was the run, now I look silly.
Pink put her hands on her hips and stood proudly "I knew you would forget about me. Since I'm so small, I hid and waited for you. Big bro, you were so focused you forgot to count."
By now the other kids had caught up to us and were celebrating
"Good job Pink, I knew we would get. This punk was too busty running away from me he forgot about you" The second girl in our group gave Pink a high five. She is Grey, a girl with red braids with beads in them and green eyes. She was large for girls her age, not that she was overweight, no she was just built. She was the second tallest in the group, just behind her twin brother Black. I knew she would become a beast of a human just like her brother.
"I wasn't running from you Grey, why would I run from a snail? I could just walk" I shrug my shoulder as i joke with her.
Her face scrunches up "I'll show you a snail, you airhead" she raises her fist at me and begins to attack.
But before she can the mediator of the group steps up and interrupts "Hey Grey you sure you can hit him with you being so slow?" A small boy with a large chubby cheeks, brown eyes and a black Afro joked. He was Yellow, the mediator (instigator) of our group and he had just earned the ire of Grey.
Before Grey could attack the boy, Black speaks up "Let's race! I will prove me and Grey are faster than you White!"
I didn't get the chance to speak before Grey shouted "I'm the faster, your not even close Black. Aren't I right Pink!" she looks the the youngest fort affirmation
Pink shrugs her shoulders "i dunno, but I'm the smartest." She proudly declares
"Pink! Your suppose to be on my side!" Grey complains. Pink once again just shrugs her shoulders. Grey's shoulder slump a little bit.
"If Grey's the fastest, I'm the strongest!" Yellow again joked at Grey's expense. A few of us giggle at he joke, but stop when Grey shouts and jumps at Yellow. The two tumble in the great but it doesn't take long before Grey had the small boy pinned to the ground.
"Say I'm the fastest!" she commands as she straddles him. Yellow looks in defiance while we all laugh at the situation. Not getting an answer, Grey pinches and pulls the boys cheeks "Say It" she demands again
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, okesh. Yur desh stongesh" his words are heavily slurred but he gets his point across.
"That's what i thought!" Grey nods in satisfaction before getting off the boy. Yellow rubs his cheeks as he gets up too.
Normally, now would be a good time to talk about family and not hurting others. But I had given up on that a long time ago, plus this type of thing was normal for those two. Yellow would always push the buttons of Grey. And Grey wouldn't tolerate it for long before beating him up, Yellow would apologize and stop for a few hours and then continue as if it never happened again. I don;t know what went through he boys head, but it doesn't seem like it affected their relationship much since the two got along well when they weren't fighting.
"Alright, guy's let's race. I'll prove once and for all I am the fastest!" I say to bring the conversation away from the two and their scuffle.
"Your gonna eat my dust White" Black says as he looks me in the eyes. He was probably right, since he was for sure the fastest of us all. Me a close second and then probably Grey. But i would be damned if I would tell him that, he was my greatest competition. My one and only rival in terms of strength and ability in the group.
"I'm gonna win!" is says with determination.
No more words were, as we lined up, we chose a tree about a 30 yards ahead of us for the target.
"Ready, set,-"
"As much as I would love to see you kids run, unfortunately, you have to come back to the clan grounds." A man, looking about in his early twenties he appears in front of our group.
He is dark-skinned, with black hair and black eyes. His hair is shoulder-length but the style of it is pretty funny, the top of it looks similar to a hammer, held up by a white bandanna. And he has weird sideburns that curve into his face creating a wave-like appearance on his face. He has some stubble on his chin, a sign of a nice goatee to come. This was A, also known as Gold A in the clan, also known as the future Patriarch of the clan, and finally known (only by me) as the Second Raikage.
"Gold A!" we all shout as ran to the boy. This was our big brother, especially of our little group. He was technically Pink's uncle, but we all looked at him like a brother.
A gave us all a big hug before reiterating that we had to go back to the main building of the clan, he said there was a surprise for us.
"Last one back to the Clan Hall is a rotten egg!" I shouted before sprinting off, I needed this head start.
"No fair" I hear the others shout as they run after me.
***
"First!" Black celebrated as we followed in from behind him. I came second, then Grey and hte others were so close it was basically a tie. We were all fast, it was a genetic trait of the clan, but Black was on a different level. Even at 4 years old he was a freak of nature.
"Told you I was faster than you Grey!" I said to the tall girl, ignoring black. I refuse to acknowledge my loss.
" Shut up Airhead, you still lost to Black" the girl retorts.
I cup my hands to my right ear, "Huh, what did you say? I couldn't hear you. Your mouth is too full from all of my dust you ate!"
"You!" the girl gets ready to punch me before Gold A appears
"Alright, alright, enough teasing. Lets go inside, everyone is waiting for you." he says as he corrals us towards the clan hall.
The clan hall itself is modest, being only two stories tall and not very wide, though it was fairly long. Half of the bottom floor was a meeting area, the other half a storage. The top half was were all the administration of the clan took place, including the Patriarchs A's and his right hand B's offices.
Our clan was around medium-sized when compared to clan, which is pretty good considering we are technically a branch of another clan. We were much smaller than the large clans like the Uchiha and Senju, but they were outliers, major exemptions to the rules.
The A-B clan is a branch of the Daimyo of Lighting's clan, the 1-2 clan. We are a distant but powerful branch, so we are recognized as separate. Our relationship with our distant cousins has been rock solid for over a hundred years. With the A-B clan serving as the main shinobi force of the 1-2 clans, with us even being a major player in the Former Daimyo of Light uniting the lands and becoming the current Daimyo of Lightning. Our clan has been rewarded handsomely, with us being granted a large portion of land within the Mountains of Lightning in the central area of the land and given the rights to unite the Shinobi in the Daimyo's name.
I had a strong suspicion that the land would be where Kumogakure will be built. Which would make a lot of sense considering most of the Kage of the Village were from the A-B clan, until after the fourth shinobi war. I'm hoping that things end up a similar way in this world, I wouldn't mind becoming known as the strongest Raikage to ever live, maybe even the strongest Kage to ever exist. Beating Hashirama out of the title will be a challenge, though.
When we walked into the Clan Hall we were greeted with the sight of all the major members of the Clan seated. It was only about 30 people in the room, but they were the epitome of what the clan represented. The room had changed from it's usual cafeteria-style lineup into a large semicircle. At the opposite wall from us, on a raised platform, sat the Patriarch and 5 elders of the clan.
This was my first time seeing the patriarch in a long time, since he and his B are rarely in the Clan as they spend most of their time on missions. Most of the clan's internal affairs are handled by C, my father, and D, his partner.