"I take it this most recent exercise was important?" Master Risu asked the two of them from
Kami's shoulder.
"Proves to the council that we are capable of doing actual missions"
Oita said, nodding to Risu and giving a slight grin "Some proper action for once."
"What does the swordsman say?" Master Risu asked "Have you met their expectations?"
"Ikishai Semsei says we did well."
Kami told the small Hokage. "But we have not heard his full report yet."
"I didn't hear anything"
Oita pointed out, his step faltering for a second as he almost toppled backwards, the pack was rather heavy.
"He says we are ready for missions."
Kami told both of them.
"Wonderful." Master Risu said sitting on Kami's shoulder. "I am pleased. I believe he is a good teacher for your group... what of the feather dancer. Are you still all getting along well?"
"She has... difficulties with me"
Oita said truthfully, eyes cast downwards in an attept to seem as if he was just watching his step "But I think she and Kami are getting on alright."
Akane wasn't really listening to the group as she walked gracefully behind them. She was too busy examining the cuts on her arms to notice.
Kami didn't answer her fuzzy friend and continued walking, she would talk to Master Risu about such things later, when they where alone.
"I see great things for you three." Master Risu said sounding very honest. "The bringing together of your people's nations is an honorable goal."
"I see your have new robes." Kami said attempting to change the subject. "Are you no longer Dongurikage?"
"I still retain those responsibiliti
es." Master Risu told her "We have been increasing our borders, I have many more squirrels to protect so I have been training. I have now reached the level of Sage, this is why I came to you today. To... show off, I suppose." He was smiling, obviously a little proud of himself.
"Juuust over there" Oita said, pointing towards the house in the distance; he was oh so happy to see it, he needed to sleep. The squirrel energy device had given him a quick buzz, but he still needed rest.
"Your a sage?" Kami asked sounding quite surprised. As Oita's house grew in the distance she realized how tired she herself was feeling. Not nearly as bad off as Oita but she could hardly get excited about Master Risu's news. "I am very pleased for you."
"You don't particularly sound it." Master Risu said crossing his arms "But I suppose your chakra is drained as well." He looked over his tiny shoulder at Akane lagging in the back and wondered what her problem was.
Akane had noticed the squirrel on Kami's shoulder by now. She couldn't help but think of this as the queerest thing she had ever seen. A ninja squirrel. Akane shot a glare at the rodent when he looked back at her. El hadn't given her the fight she was hoping for, she was malnourished, tired and sore...Akane was, to say the least, very annoyed.
Kami got the door for Oita as they approached the house and didn't bother holding it for Akane. Master Risu was unaffected by Akane's glare and held her eyes until the door parted them. Kami moved into the house and even though she was defiantly feeling the onset of exhaustion herself moved into the kitchen to find something to eat. "Sit, I will bring you something." Being the second daughter of her father's house she was used to waiting on people but she'd be damned if she prepared Akane something.
Oita carefully slumped into a chair, a slight red tinge in his cheeks as he heard what Kami was going to do "Y-you don't have to..." He mumbled slightly and wormed his shirt through his fingers; he wasn't used to being waited on, his family had a "you're old enough to it yourself" method to everything except puppets.
Akane walked in behind everyone and sat herself down on the couch. "Didn't do to well?" she asked, glancing over at Oita.
Ishiaki waltzed in after Akane. He found a perch against a nearby wall and just leaned against it. He chose to simply observe his squad for the moment, it was quite clear they still had some things to work on
"Managed to knock him out... just" Oita sighed, sliding down in his seat "Had to think on my feet in the end, mostly because I didn't know his moves. Probably would have gone down if he'd concentrated on me more than the puppets, as it was I was practically always on the offensive."
Kami came in with drinks for she and Oita and a plate of popkins of which she'd already eaten her fill. She sat down in a chair by the window, the spot she'd sort of chosen for herself.
Akane went on to examine the underside of her feet as she sat. "Wait- you knocked him out before or after he kicked your ass?" she asked for clarification. Akane pulled out rocks that were lodged in her feet and made a small pile next to her.
"I knocked him out, but then had to use up the last of my chakara in order to keep him safe from Kano's lava flow" Oita turned to gaze at Akane, the sound of a glare in his voice even if no one could see it through the glasses.
"Yea- Kano's the idiot who made us all tie with the other team. They should automatically lose for destroying the arena if you ask me." Akane suggested, moving to look at her other foot.
"I'll be back later when we can speak alone." Master Risu told Kami. He didn't have a fondness for people with Akane's attitude.
"I'll look forward to it." Kami told her furry ninja friend seconds before he disappeared in a poof of white smoke.
"He showed power, power I'm not sure any of us have right now" Oita sighed, rubbing his eyes slowly beneath his glasses "If anything he is more capable of missions, as he has the power to at least take out most challenges as a last resort. We lack this ability at the moment, as far as I know."
"But his last attack wasn't accurate and he lost control of it." Akane countered. "If he was sent on a mission and did that, civilians could get hurt."
"Which is why he wouldn't use it when around civilians" Oita pointed out, shrugging slightly at Akane and pushing his glasses up slowly on his nose "He has control enough not to use it."
"Yea yea- well I think we should win, given that Kano destroyed the place." Akane boasted confidently.
"Perhaps he was addled by my genjutsu?" Kami wondered quietly to herself. She'd incapacitated him effectively enough but maybe her misuse of the technique effected his ability to control his volcano...
"I saw that! When you froze him, right?" Akane rubbed her feet some more. She had definately felt some of the negatives of fighting barefoot. "Then again...I think he just failed at his jutsu."
"I incapacitated him but he wasn't supposed to freeze." Kami admitted. "He was supposed to be trapped in a genjutsu that made him think he was going insane."
"Wait- did you say 'made him think he was going insane'?" Akane repeated, not believing how ridiculous that sounded.
"It was supposed to yes." Kami said still looking out the window. "Although I'm not really a genjutsu user it's a technique that's been handed down threw my family for generations. It becomes extremely effective once the user masters it. Seconds seem like Melina and all your worst fears come to bear."
"But- instead of doing something cool like that, you froze him?" Akane asked, wondering how the hell THAT happened instead.
Kami stood up all of a sudden, both fist clinched at her sides "At least I incapacitated him! You where hardly able to lay a hand on El."
"Genjutsu are extremely difficult to learn, let alone master." Ishiaki felt the need to point out. "You have to be predisposed to genjutsu in order to even sense them. The fact that she was able to incapacitate Kano, even with a failed jutsu, is quite incredible. For one so young to be able to do something like that when you appear to be more suited for ninjutsu, or even taijutsu, speaks very highly of your training." He didn't need to tell them just how difficult genjutsu were after all. They had experienced one of his greatest ones on the first day they met. The simple fact that Kami was capable of restraining someone with a failed genjutsu was unheard of.
Ishiaki Sensei's words took a lot of the wind out of Kami's anger. "Wha-- really? It was Incredible?"
Oita hoped off the table while they were arguing, deciding that he didn't want to get in the middle of that, grabbed a large metal tray from the kitchen draw and filled it full of water. He arrived holding the tray full of water, placing it in front of Akane with a slight clange "Here, your feet seem to be bothering you." He knew it was likely that Akane had burnt or damaged her feet in the battle, seeing as she was bare foot all through the fight. He turned around to Kami and nodded to her "I will get yours in a second..." He scurried off to get Kami her own tray of water; he wondered if he was the only one who had heard of shoes.
Akane was about to make a smart ass comment to Kami, but was distracted when Oita placed a tray of water in front of her. "Urm..." her toes curled in as she glanced down at the water. "...thanks." she muttered almost soundlessly and with a bit of a pout. Straightening out on the couch, Akane hovered her feet above the surface of the water for a moment before slowly sinking them in. The cool temperature gave her almost immediate relief.
Oita hurried back to Kami, putting another tray down onto the floor in front of Kami. "Here..." he said, deciding not to comment on the shoes aspect again. Without another word he hopped up onto his chair, sitting there still again after his odd little motions.
Kami's feet where alright, she was used to fighting barefoot but she said "Thanks." to Oita and not to seem otherwise unwrapped her feet and placed them in the water. She felt the heat of being angry at Akane ease a bit and took a popkiin from the plate she'd brought in earlier.
Akane reached behind her back and loosened the bow on her back, allowing her to take on a more relaxed posture. She began slowly reviewing the match in her head. She highlighted her mistakes and tried to think of ways that she could've done better. Akane had El pinned to the ground! How could she have let him slip away like the warm he was?!
Oita was glad the two weren't angry any more, they'd stopped yelling at each other; he liked it when people were quiet. He had to repair his puppets soon... but he was told to rest. He could rest later... he had to repair his puppets as soon as possible.
tired of the stretching silence Kami broke it and asked Ishiaki Sensei "So how are we as a team Sensei?"
"Honestly? You three could be loads better." Ishiaki told them, bringing his hands up defensively. "Don't get me wrong, you work well together, but you fight amongst yourselves too much as well."
Kami glanced at Akane but quickly averted her gaze before Akane could notice. She knew Ishiaki Sensei was right but the popkin she was eating felt sudden dry and tasteless.
"She started it." Akane bobbed her head over to Kami's direction. She knew that her sensei was right, but would never admit to being the culprit.
<hr.
"I was trying to help!" Kami rebutted and then a little quieter added "You looked like you needed it."
"I was doing just fine until you butted in!" Akane said, much louder this time.
"Yeah well my guy was incapacitated!" Kami said "He was blowing you all over the arena with that guitar of his! I may have made the wrong decision helping you but at least I was trying to help a member of my team."
"Kano was NOT incapacitated. Because you underestimated your opponent and came to help me, Kano broke free and destroyed the entire arena!" Akane shouted.
Kami was no longer sitting in her chair by the window, she was standing with her fists clinched at her sides and her face had gotten a shade darker. "How was I to know he was going to lost control of his jutsu? At least I put him down, that was more than you did to El." little did she know that El felt he;d gotten the fight of his life.
Oita was now staring at the floor determinately, occasionally twitching his fingers and running over what he'd done in the battle. His mind was assessing the fight, thinking about what he could have done instead.
"That's enough you two." Ishiaki said in a commanding voice. "Kano was quite incapacitated when Kami chose to assist you Akane. True, she should have finished him off while he was stuck in the genjutsu," he said, looking at Kami when he said that, "However, choosing to assist a teammate in combat isn't a bad decision. Once we get word from the analysts, then we'll know for sure the judgment of the Council. But for now, might I suggest that the two of you get over yourselves?" He looked at Oita and could see very well that the boy was playing back the battle in his mind, probably studying his own moves and those of his opponent and assessing the best way to learn from them. "Why don't you take a page from Oita's book? It's evident that he's trying to learn from the experience rather than gloat on who did what."
Kami sat down as soon as Ishiaki raised his voice. Maybe she should have finished off Kano when he was down, but she didn't want to hurt him. She didn't think that had been the object of the fight, she thought they where just gauging them on all around ability, not on how much they could beat up another fellow student. No matter what she may have done wrong that didn't give Akane the right to treat her like an ignorant savage.
Akane crossed her arms and sat back on the couch. She curled in her toes as they soaked in the tub of water. At the same time, let out a low exhale, doing her best to conceal her frustration. Akane looked away from everyone and glared into space.
Ishiaki rubbed his temples and sighed. "Look, just try and go over the battle in your heads, and try to learn from the experience. You probably won't be going up against the others any time soon. Although, you may run across people with similar abilities and it's a good thing to be prepared, ok?" He tried to look at them sincerely, "Please try to not kill each other? I've got a couple of errands to run, I'll be back when I hear the results."
"Yes Ishiaki Sensei." Kami said, lowering her head signifying respect. She shouldn't have raised her voice in front of him, she shouldn't have raised her voice at all. It was just... Akane reminded her so much of her sister.
"I need a new puppet" Oita said clearly, his eyes unfocused even behind the glasses "I will have to think about the actual schematics later, after I have repaired my own and slept..." It was, indirectly, a warning that people might not see him for a few days outside of training and eating... Maybe not even for eating.
Akane didn't move or look at anyone just yet. She was too stuck on herself and prideful to do that. Finally, Akane bent down and started to rub her feet from under the water. The tub of water was definitely a good idea.
Kami picked up her tub and after emptying the contents she placed it back in the cupboard Oita had take it from. She stood outside the den doorway considering if she wanted to go back inside or not. Instead she went to her room, needing some time to clear her head before Akane ended up saying something that caused Kami to shoved a lightening bolt down her throat.
"I believe she is not coming back" Oita announced suddenly, in responce to Kami's sudden dissapearance "You upset her." He wasn't sure what to say to that, he was sure Akane would have something to say, she seemed like she would.
"Upset? Please..." Akane unfolded herself and swished her feet in the water. "She's just being dramatic. It's her fault to begin with." she said surely. Seeing some blood on her arm, Akane bowed down and washed it off with the water.
In her room Kami immediately crawled out the window and went to sit on the roof. She was alone now and wished Master Risu hadn't left. That was easily fixed however, she removed the summoning scroll from her left earlobe and sliced her finger open on the tip of one of her kunai. Smearing the crimson liquid across the kanji of the scroll she made the proper hand signals and waited. He usually came when she called but he could have become busy in the few minuets since she'd last seen him.
"She is still upset, and you are repaying an act of kindness with a sardonic attitude" Oita said gently, standing up again and moving over to a cupboard; he pulled out a roll of bandages and a cotton wad. "Where are you bleeding?" he asked, holding the bandages out in front of him "I am no medic ninja but I should be able to patch it up."
"I can do it." Akane said surely, reaching for the things in his hands. She felt 'weak' when people tried to help her. A woman's pride can make them to strange things. Her knees were all cut up and a pretty bad scrape on her shoulder from El's sound attacks.
After a few moments a white cloud of smoke appeared in front of Kami, Master Risu seemed somewhat larger than before in his new red robes, but Kammi was just happy to see that he could come back.
"I almost did not come." Master Risu confessed "But I did not think you would summon me near that girl."
"You do not like her much ether?" Kami asked, sort of puzzled that her friend would speak so openly about his dislike of another ninja.
"It is not that." Master Risu began very wisely "I see that she effects you and it is disheartening to see that you lack confidence in yourself. You could learn much from her Kaminari."
Kami obviously did not like hearing that and turned quiet once more.
"As you wish" Oita said, trotting back to his chair and settling down in it again. He paused, swirled his feet in the air briefly then said "Your desire to be independant from other's help will alienate you if you are not careful. From Kami at least." He lifted the remains of the food Kami had brought him "This tells me she is used to helping others, providing comfort and covering many bases. I did not ask for this food, I do not want to be waited on hand a foot, but it is her instinct. When she showed this instinct to you you rebuffed it with your own independance, in a way that she is unused to and has made her upset."
"So you agree that she is super sensitive." Akane said as she aided to her cuts. "Or is this you trying to make me go apologize?"
Seeing that Kami had fallen quiet Master Risu scampered up her calf and sat upon her leg. "But she could learn much from you also." He poked around in his new robes for a moment, looking for his pipe. He rolled his eyes at his own daftness and found what he was looking for. He lit an exceptionally small match, lit the pipe and began to puff, letting Kami absorb this information.
"What could I learn from her?" Kami asked him "How to hurt people's feelings? How to be cold and emotionless? She's like these tick-tick toys the children play with here. They move but there's nothing inside." She closed down again, remembering her initial wonder at seeing the things. Akane had belittled her then, when Kami asked if their where spirits inside.
"To ask you to appologise would be against your nature" Oita tapped his chin with his long fingers, shaking his head slightly and sighing "She is super sensative, compared to you. I just want you to be aware that she is, and her own tendencies. We are a team, but we will not remain as such unless you at least tolerate Kami's emotions, or learn to see when she needs you to accept her help."
Akane averted her eyes from him and proceeded to wash herself. He did have a good point. If she didn't get along with Kami, their team would never go on missions and she wouldn't become stronger. "Alright alright- I'll put up with her." she rolled her eyes with a scowl.
"You can learn discipline." Master Risu said as little gray tufts of smoke issued from the end of his pipe. "She has extreme focus in battle and your lightening is still wild."
"But she treats me like I'm inferior!" Kami told him "I have been training most of my life. She has no right to act like she is better than me!" Kami was proud of the progress she'd made since she'd started on the ninja path and if Smoke Ninja where anything, they where proud.
"A good place to start would be finding common ground between you both, something where you are equal and can discus freely" Oita sounded as if he was reading from a manual right now, not as if he'd ever actually had a human relationship.
"Keh!" Akane rolled her eyes, turning away from Oita so she could wrap up her bloody cut on her shoulder.
"I suggest making fun of me" Oita rattled on as if he hadn't heard Akane's dismissal "It is an easy and quick way of finding a common ground."
"Excuse me?" Akane gave him an odd look. "I'll have you know that she had no sense of humor and will probably just complain at me if I make fun of you."
"It is a usual occurance to find common ground by discussing the faults of a fellow worker" Oita pointed out "And I am fully aware that I am... odd. I am merely making a suggestion, you do not have to follow it."
Akane wasn't sure about his suggestion. She felt like it would only make matters worse for their team. Maybe it would be best to not say anything and ignore her?
"No..." Master Risu said "She has no right to treat you as an inferior. On this we both agree, but you've no right to whine about it ether. I believe this Akane is one you must prove yourself to. Harden yourself Kaminari, do not let her hurtful words discourage you. Use them to attack the ninja path. This she cannot ignore and you may find her less incline to make a fool of you."
"So I'm just supposed to ignore her and work harder on becoming a chunin?" Kami asked. "Wouldn't it be more better to talk to her? Try and work out our diferances."
"You may try this, but do not be discouraged when your words fall on ears of ice." Master Risu puffed on his pipe. Kami was a smart girl but she had no patience for people who disliked her.
Oita carefully stepped down onto the kitchen floor, sniffing slightly and pausing with a frown rippling over his face. "Oh..." he mumbled, stumbling slightly and placing a hand on his head; a small dribble of blood oozed from his nose, which he quickly wiped on his hand. "I think... I have over done it." He paused for a moment, then sighed and stuck out a hand for Akane "Please, I need a moment of your time to get to my room."
Akane pulled her feet out of the bucket of water. Walking over to him, she didnt care that she was tailing water behind her. "Alright alright- take it easy." she told him, slipping her arm around his shoulder.
Oita took hold of her shirt firmly, small fingers grasping at it to make sure he didn't fall over. "The workshop" he said, starting to walk a bit more steadily now "My bed is in there." It also meant he could get up and start working at once.
Akane held onto him tightly and assisted him down the hallway. It wasn't long before they made it to his workshop. "What did you do?"
"I think I over exterted myself" Oita admitted, shuffling his feet through random pieces of wood that had been across the floor; a thick layer of sawdust was raised practically with every step, and a half completed manequine lay on the table like a corpse. It had been a test puppet, but he might make it into more. "Chakara drain and lack of sleep just burst a vessel in my nose... nothing major, but my mind is slightly off skew right now."
Akane couldn't help but glance around. "You know- I don't think I've ever seen the inside of this place before." She admitted, helping him over to his cot.
Oita had enough wood in here to start his own forest, and in many different kinds; solid hunks of uncut timber, refined smooth carvings, small chips, refined to dust, little figurines, sliced thin and pressed as pages, polished and furnished, it all looked so different but still all wood. He had some quite interesting books actually, plays mostly, scripts and grand old works. "I do not allow people into my workshop usually" he said gently, settling into his cot "But I think you have seen inside once before. It was quite late though, we were thinking of our plan to take down the other team."
"We were in here?" Akane looked around, "It was cleaner then-" Stepping away from Oita now, she went over to the work table. "What the hell is this thing?" she asked, lifting the puppet's wrist up.
"A practise puppet, I make them occasionally. No hidden compartments or traps, just the shell. Usually they get canniblised for repairing my other puppets, say a joint is stiff or a arm is broken, it takes much less time to simply modify a section from a practise puppet than create an entirely new arm" Oita carefully removed his glasses now, placing them to the side and covering his eyes with his hands "I will be thinking of a new puppet... soon."
"What kind?" Akane asked, snooping around his workspace. It was a bit rude, but she didn't care. With a finger, she pulled open a small drawer and glanced in.
It was full of mouse traps, at least they seemed to be mouse traps; the edges were razor sharp however, if she stuck her fingers in there she would not be getting them back. "Careful snooping, half the draws contain traps, the other half are" Oita sighed "And... I need something that will pause the attacker, something that isn't openly offensive. Something simple looking so I could apply disguise jutsu's to it at any moment, but full of traps. That way, if something swings in to attack what they thing is me, they instead get knocked on their back."
"I do not know." Kami said lowing he head "But I will think about you advice."
"Do." the small Kage said emptying the soot out of his pipe. "Try not let her get to you. Balance is a very potent to a ninja and it will not do you good to be off balance. You come from strong blood Kaminari. Remember this." With that he was gone, disappearing in the same poof of smoke he had appeared in.
"You mean something that will confuse them and cause them to hesitate?" Akane asked for clarification. She really didn't know much about technical devices like these and closed the drawer up again.
"It means that I'd be able to disguise a pile of traps as myself, or other puppets as well" Oita kinda wanted to sleep now, his head was giving a soft throb every few seconds "So there is a chance that the enemy will be confused, punch the clone and the battle might be shortened severly. I mean if there were two of me, would you risk throwing a random punch and risk setting off an explosive tag?"
"I suppose not." Akane replied, still glancing around lazily. She turned and headed for the door. "See you around." she said, opening the door to leave.
"Check on Kami for me" Oita waved a hand at Akane as she left "At least make sure she's in the house." She didn't have to be nice, but he wanted her to at least look in on Kami before sleep.
Kami still sat on the roof, looking out over the village. It was so different from her own, buildings made of stone and clay instead of wood and thatch like back home. She did however notice that the sunset was quite lovely, bathing the orange tile roofs in a fiery red glow.
Akane slid his door shut and rolled her eyes, walking down the hall. Passing Kami's door, she hesitated. Giving in, Akane knocked and spoke through the paper door. "Hey- I'm going to eat the rest of whatever you cooked, alright?" She paused and waited for a response. When nothing arose, she knocked louder. "Hey!"
Kami almost didn't hear Akane when she knocked. She hung up side down outside the window. "If you've come to blame me again I do not want to hear it."
"Alright, just makin' sure you are in there." Akane said, merely doing what Oita told her to do. She wasn't one to apologize, especially when she saw nothing wrong, considering she truly believed the Kami started it in the first place.
As Akane walked away there was the sound of something solid hitting the other side of Kami's door.
Akane stopped and glanced back at the door. Rolling her eyes, she kept moving. Leaving the bucket of water on the floor, Akane laid herself down on the couch with her hands behind her head.
On the other side of Kami's door was a kunai embedded in the wood. She'd returned to the roof to continue to seethe.
Stumble!