Born in the Land of Water, Koyuki was the daughter of a pure-blooded member of the Shirayuki clan and the love of his life, a weaver who lived on Seastone Isle. Her father had a good position in the hierarchy of the Prince of Snow's court and the family lived a comfortable life. Life on Seastone Isle was different than what many might be used to. It was not the free life one would experience today in one of the villages, being an aristocracy.
Even as a member of the Isle's nobility, life on the Isle was a cold thing. Fitting perhaps, given the Shirayuki lineage's abilities. Koyuki's family in particular was often the target of derision, as her father had married a commoner, in their eyes. They were looked down upon and Koyuki herself often had a hard time of it with the other children at court. It hardened the girl, because she saw how cruel people were, when they had the power to be that way and there was no one to stop them.
As she grew older, Koyuki began to display that she had in fact inherited her father's gifts. Her first manifestation occurred one day when she was out playing with the snow and she could make the snowflakes dance as they fell. This made both of her parents proud, but it did not really help their position in the court very much.
When she was eight years old, her father died while away on a mission. A mission he had known was likely going to result in such, and he told Koyuki's mother to take them and leave if it happened. Without him at court, the other families would likely take the opportunity to make the stain of Koyuki and her commoner mother disappear. He had told them to flee to the Land of Wind, somewhere that it was unlikely any member of the Shirayuki clan would go looking for them. Though he thought it unlikely anyone would go looking anyways, they'd likely be content with the mother and daughter having disappeared.
So, the night the news reached Seastone Isle, Koyuki's mother packed herself and her daughter up, and they fled. She paid a fisherman with pieces of her jewelry to get the pair off of the island. The journey took some time, but they eventually reached a small village in the Land of Wind and began a new life. It was an adjustment for both Koyuki and her mother.
Like a fish out of water, Koyuki struggled to accept her new life. The gift she had previously shown for playing with the ice and snow disappeared. There was no snow here, no ice, there was hardly any water here, it was a scarce commodity. Her mother took up her trade of weaving and sewing again, and began to teach Koyuki the trade. Something the girl had never thought she would need to do. While looked down upon and treated harshly, she had been a member of the Prince of Snow's court. Her life had been easy.
The loss of her father, the knowledge that the Court would have cast them out or worse, and adjusting to her new life made Koyuki cold as she grew older. Two years in their new village, and the girl was now ten, she and her mother had grown rather comfortable in their new place.
At the age of twelve, a year or so after hearing of the formation of the Village Hidden in the Sand and the other Hidden Villages, two things happened. Koyuki's gifts seemed to reappear, though not with snow, of course. She developed a curious knack for seemingly being able to summon a breeze, particularly when out in the heat.
The second gift, was something more precious, to the village and everyone inside of it. Koyuki seemed to develop the odd ability to sense where water was. At first the village thought she was full of it. But then they learned to trust her, and they dug wells where she told them to. The strange gift of course made her and her mother quite popular in their village.
Upon her fourteenth birthday, three years or so after the formation of the Hidden Villages, Koyuki convinced her mother to take her to Sunagakure. It took a number of months of begging her, but the woman finally agreed, and the pair began the trip to the Village Hidden in the Sand. The girl's gift with the wind had continued to grow, and she would often think back to what life would have been like if her father had lived and they had remained on Seastone Isle. She wanted to become a shinobi. She -deserved- to be a shinobi, she had displayed the gifts that made the Prince of Snow and his court so proud. She was not some simple villager. She would not -be- some nobody. She was Shirayuki, though she did not use the name any longer. They had viewed her with scorn, and she would not be have herself associated with them.
Reaching Sunagakure, three years after the village had been founded, Koyuki went to the academy in the village and was tested to see if she had any aptitude. And the shinobi of the village quickly realized she did. She proved to have a great talent for elemental manipulation, namely the wind and water, when it could be found in great enough supply. The village ninja taught her a little trick. Carry around a canteen or two of water, and it was always at hand, should it be needed.
As she was taught to embrace, focus, and control her chakra, something else became clear. Koyuki's knack for detecting water beneath the ground came to grow into something else. She was able to sense, to -see- the chakra of other people. This was an incredible gift, and a very useful one. Due to her late age of arrival at the academy, and her lack of training beforehand, the girl was severely lacking in the physical areas. Her ability in melee combat was subpar, and her strength was not far above what one would expect of your average villager. But, she adapted.
Her mind was sharp, her skills with elemental jutsu was high and she wanted to learn more. A side effect of her gift to see other's chakra, Koyuki proved to be quite adept at genjutsu. She could see the best way to force her chakra into her opponent's, see the best times to strike, and her mental willpower was a match for many people's.
Starting late, her training didn't begin until after she was already fourteen. But, Koyuki quickly proved herself to the shinobi of Sunagakure. Her loyalty, talents, and dedication to her missions earned the young woman the rank of Chuunin just three years after her arrival in the Village Hidden in the Sand. Over the course of those years, she grew distant from her mother and became a colder woman as she grew older. She was dedicated to improving herself and always strove to complete her given tasks, regardless of the costs. Koyuki was focused on proving that she was gifted, that she was -better- than the shinobi of Seastone Isle. She had the blood of the Shirayuki, but she was -better- than them. She took the surname of Mizuki in honor of her father, meaning 'silent snow'.
