Kano sat down for the first time all day on the couch underneath the large window of the apartment. His skin was slick with sweat and his breathing was rough. He had been training all day it seemed. As far as they knew, they were still on the little break they had earned from their previous mission. It had now been about a week and a half and truth be told, he was getting restless.
El was currently sitting on the roof practicing his guitar. They all knew he feared heights, but since Akane had apologized last week for having insulted him about it, she was helping him to overcome that fear and he exercised now by sitting on the roof. Something that would not have been possible a few weeks ago.
Hinji walked into the apartment about ten minutes after his scroll equipment appeared in the main room. His hat was full to the brim
(no pun intended) with new summon scrolls. "Greetings Kano." he said as he spotted his teammate. "El on the roof again?"
"Where else?"
Kano told him with a grin. He looked at Hinji's hat and raised an eyebrow. "Awful full brim you got there."
Tsu appeared in front of El like a shadow. In fact, if he'd blinked she would have just been there. "Inside. Get ready in under a minute. Important mission" she said firmly, eyes locked on El's with an air of seriousness that dared him to disobey.
"Yes sensei!"
El said obediently and swung his leg over to slide down the lanted roof of the building.
"I am about to start tying them to my kimono."
Hinji said, completely serious, "I need to use them."
"What have you got in all of them?"
Kano asked as he laid back and tried to relax. It wouldn't do any good if he burned out just from working out.
El landed on the porch side of the house and rushed inside. "Mission." He said suddenly. "Tsu sensei... get ready!"
"Thank you El" came from
Tsu, right behind the boy and cradling many winter clothes close to her body. She had gone to get them while El made his descent. Might as well use the time she was given. "We're going somewhere cold, so dress up warm" she said, pushing the clothes into an untidy pile on the couch "quickly!"
"Cold?"
El asked. He hadn;t heard that part. He looked at the winter clothing and picked up one of the parkas. "Like... no colder than thirty right?" It got very cold in the desert at night, but El had never really experienced snow or real freezing temperatures.
"Like... snow. Like freezing numb fingers and chapped lips and everything, so wrap up warm" the cold would not help
Tsu's team. Two of them relied heavily on their hands for this, and Kano's powers might be more difficult surrounded by cold and frozen water.
"Snow? Seriously?"
Kano asked as he got to his feet and retrieved the winter clothes that had to be for him. Every member of their team was a different size after all, so it made determining who's was who's a little easier.
Hinji was a bit relieved, with the cold came full body coverings, which would protect him very well from any sun. The only problem he had to worry about was snow blindness.
El's face was rather transfixed with horror. He thought these 70 degree days were rather brisk and chilly... How was he going to cope with below freezing temperatures?
"I'm going to tell you this once, alright!"
Tsu actually snapped at them now, glowering forward at Kano, who was unfortunate enough to have spoken back and be right in front of her. "If we don't react quickly, people will die. No might, this is not an exercise, this is real. People are under attack and we need to protect our allies. So shut up, get your stuff together and be prepared for a very rough fight. Make no mistake, the people we are fighting will be trying to kill you."
"Tsu sensei, we're not children."
Kano informed her proudly as he stood his ground and swept the parka on over his shoulders. "We're Coalition Ninjas.
Hinji smiled. Not a "
Hi how you are you today?" kind of smile either, more of a "
I wonder what this cherry bomb would do to this gerbil." kind. He grabbed up his winter gear before rushing into his room to gather his pack and ready himself for the trip.
El didn't say anything. He was rather worried, but he grabbed a parka and a pair of leggings. Boots... he'd only ever worn goucho boots, never anything like these. He took a pair, having no idea that he needed socks.
"Wear socks!"
Tsu managed to tell him, throwing two pairs after him. He would need to dress up really warm. Next thing she did was turn around and stare at Kano. If he wasn't a kid then she wouldn't have to tell him twice to get a move on, or he was getting a spanking like the kid he really was.
Kano could tell that Tsu was glaring at him and with a few quick hand signs, he revealed why he wasn't in any rush to get winter gear on. His hands and feet lit ablaze in fire. "Snow doesn't bother me, sensei. My gear is already packed at the door. I was getting ancy from all this downtime."
Tsu's eyes didn't seem to relax "So you're going to waste chakra the entire time we're up there, by keeping yourself on fire like that?" That was rather a big part of this problem she saw. Sure, that was a handy way to warm, but there were holes the size of this village in his idea. "So you're going to burn chakra, and not only that, you're going to glow like a freaking candle in the middle of a place that reflects all light? What about at night Kano? What if we're trying to sneak around for a surprise attack? You'd be a liability. Pack yourself some damn gear."
"Sensei... He's always hot..."
El said, attempting to stick up for his friend as he finished packing his winter gear. "Feel his arm..."
Kano sighed and stooped to pick up the thermal socks and pants she had tossed down for them all. He already had the parka she brought slung over his shoulders. He really doubted he was going to need any of this anyway, the cold just never bothered him at all.
"I just don't want to get out there and find that Kano is freezing cold because he's waist deep in snow and has to keep himself on fire all the time. And seriously, do you want to stand out that much? We might have to go incognito for a bit, so walking around with no parka on will just make you stand out in the crowd" were they all REALLY arguing with their sensei?
Tsu was going to have to remind them that she was their teacher and she held all the respect that status earned her, if they kept pushing her that is.
Hinji reappeared shortly after he left and had all his stuff packed up and ready to go. "Do we need to put on the winter wear right now or should we wait till we get closer to our destination?"
El stopped packing his, waiting for the answer to Hinji's question.
"We're taking a boat"
Tsu said with a firm nod at Hinji "So it can wait until you're on there. Just make sure that you pack at least one of everything alright? I got us a few multiples to make sure you lot don't freeze up there." Her own items were packed and ready on the ship.
Hinji nodded enthusiastical
ly before vanishing back into his room and then reappearing quickly with the winter wear neatly packed away. "Shall I go ahead to the boat or do I need to wait for you all?"
"Wait for us. The other team are meeting us there" Tsu said with a quick nod; best to meet as a team instead of all coming in bits and pieces.
"Understood, Sensei." Was all Hinji said before moving over to the door and waiting for the others to finish packing so they can get moving.
"The other squad is going to?" Kano asked as he stuffed the winter gear into his pack. He had already had the bag packed with other clothing and his other necessary mission gear.
El zipped his bag and put it on beneath his poncho. "The situation must be dire to call for both of us."
"And we each have different approaches, different methods. It is important to bring out everything we have" Tsu said with a firm nod, looking around at the boys. "All packed? good. Follow me" she said, turning and striding out of the front door. She was sure she'd meet the others already at the docks.
Hinji was right on her tail out the door and on the way to the docks.
Hinji walked into the apartment and folded up his umbrella before removing and shaking off his hat. "El? You here?" he called out as he dropped off the case that Kano had purchased for him in his room.
"Back here." El called from his room. He was sitting back against the wall, feeling utterly defeated as his guitar lay in pieces before him.
Hinji followed El's voice to his location. He saw the look on the young Mariachi's face and the splintered guitar on the ground before him, "Have you asked Oita for help?" he asked.
"It's not Oita's job to fix my guitar." El told him.
"Nor did I say it was." Hinji responded, "I was just saying that Oita works with wood on a near constant level. He may have some advice or trick to assist you."
"I have all the advice I need here." El said indicating the scroll in front of him. It showed diagrams and descriptions of how to preform the jutsu's necessary tasks. El spoke a little hotly to Hinji, frustrated and feeling very warm.
Hinji understood what El was going through. Many a time he had found himself unable to perform a jutsu that seemed simple. "Then what is wrong?" he asked, more hoping El would look over what he was doing to see if he was making a mistake.
"I'm missing something." he said. "My father sent me wood to carve and replace the pieces I no longer have and new strings. I have crafted every piece I have lost and checked, rechecked and triple checked a thousand times and still... It comes together, but just doesn't fuse as it should..."
"Does the fusion process require any kind of music or song?" Hinji asked, knowing that most of his jutsu relied on music.
"I have the sheet music here." El said, gesturing to the border of the scroll. It had looked like decorative edging, but even the decorations on Hinji's cards were useful, so he knew better than to dismiss it as simple artistic value. "Ether I'm missing something, or my voice isn't strong enough... Otherwise I need another stringed to repair a stringed... Instrument I mean. I could use Akane's Okarina, except to repair another wind... But voice can repair anything... Or at least it should be able to..."
Hinji had no musical talent what-so-ever, so he didn't offer his help in there. "Would the resonance of the room matter? Also, I may be able to find a summons that could help you if you wouldn't care."
"I really feel I should do this on my own..." El told him. "But I'm beginning to reach my wits end..."
Hinji shrugged. "If you decide that you want my help, let me know." and with that he turned and went to his room. He still had lots of summons to write up and needed to get it done.
El looked at his guitar for a moment and decided to take a break. He sighed deeply as he stood and looked out at the rain outside. He had never seen it rain so much for so long...
Some time had passed before Hinji returned to El's room. "I'm going to my cave. Would you like to join me?"
El shook his head. "That is your place." He said. "This is mine." He needed to fix his guitar.
"You need to take a break." Hinji said sternly, "Sometimes one needs to move away from a task in order to reach that...eureka moment."
"I'm fine Hinji." El said declining. "Thank you though. I will take a break... I just... feel I need to be alone right now."
Hinji simply nodded then left El to himself.
Stumble!