[table][row][cell][color=orange]Shiori Spiga[/color][/cell][cell][color=orange]"Once you’re devoured, it doesn’t matter who you were before."[/color][/cell][/row][row][cell][sup][color=#2E2C2C]_______________________________________________[/color][/sup]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/vV2Md1v.jpg[/img][/cell]
[cell]
Like a boa constrictor, Shiori Spiga had a natural talent for guessing the measurements of a piece of meat just by looking at them. It came in handy when making clothing, which is what she’d decided would be the perfect gift for Kenshiro’s mother. The night after her lunch with Burai and Kenshiro, Shiori went to work weaving up her gift. She was carefully fixing together a lace pattern in the shape of hydrangea flowers when a tall, pale woman with eight eyes approached her out of the darkness. 

[b]“Are you not coming to dinner, daughter?”[/b] Asked the eight-eyed woman.

[b][color=orange]“I’m not hungry. Kenshiro Hyuuga’s mother made us lunch.”[/color][/b] answered Shiori. [b][color=orange]“I’m working on a gift for it.”[/color][/b] she added, raising the silk demonstratively.

[b]“Us?”[/b] Answered the tall woman. 

[b][color=orange]“My teammates. Burai Kasei and Kenshiro Hyuuga.”[/color] [/b]

[b]“Interesting.”[/b] Said her mother. She drew herself closer to her daughter and sat down. Shiori stiffened, but kept up her weaving. Between her hands, the silk flowed in a slow-moving stream of lace and patterns.

[b]“What do you think about them?” [/b]

[b][color=orange]“They are male, and they act male.”[/color][/b] Shiori answered. [b][color=orange]“I’m glad to be on a team with a Hyuuga, even if it is a branch house. The idea of me leading the team makes them nervous, I think. They refused me when I said that I would. But of course, they are too easy-going to-”[/color]
[/b]

[b]“Is leadership something you ask for?”[/b] 

Shiori's weaving stopped.

[b][color=orange]“No.”[/color][/b] she said. 

[b]“No, it is not.”[/b] Her mother reiterated. Then she spoke more softly. [b]“I’m sure the significance of your teammate’s clans has not escaped you.”[/b]

[b][color=orange]“We were referred to as ‘the blind and the branch-house.’”[/color][/b] Shiori said. [b][color=orange]“But I think it is something more. Perhaps someone wishes we would eat their competitors.”[/color][/b]

[b]“Or they wish to prove how savage and untrustworthy the Spiga truly are. Check and double-check your weaving, daughter. There are more eyes receiving us than you realize, and a gift, once given, cannot be mended.” [/b]

Shiori took the advice to heart. It took her a week to finish her gift, a delicate summer robe embroidered with rainy-season flowers and hummingbirds. It was the most intricate thing she had ever made. On the morning of her team meeting she went to Kenshiro Hyuuga’s residence to drop it off, and then to the town square to meet her jounin. It was a busy, loud place to meet, but she found her teammates easily enough in the crowd. 


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