Sensing that the conversation had come to an end, Hinji refocused on their surroundings. There was always a chance that their intel was wrong and that there could be more people waiting in ambush. His wisps kept their distance From the caravan and continuously fed him info from what they saw while his raven kept an eye on the paths ahead.

Oita took a deep breath, then just slumped down and closed his eyes "Sleep... that would be very good right now." He was rather tired, very, very tired in fact. He just didn't like to show it. But to sleep... he would let down his guard. And as good as Hinji was, Oita didn't want to leave him here alone.

The pace was easily set and soon enough, the caravan was exiting the wooded pass they had taken to avoid trouble. The wagons had so far made it unmolested, save the one at the beginning. The shadow wisps summoned by Hinji would find very little out of place as they moved farther along their pathway. The presence of the Masters was enough to drive the wild animals from their natural places along this stretch of road. All was calm, albeit an unsteady calm, there was not even the sound of an insect, nor a bird on the air.

Hinji kept his eyes on the road ahead as they traveled, his sentries had been reporting to him, and it was the sheer lack of anything that began to bother him. He ordered his wisps to move to the shadows and look for irregularities. As he received their silent acknowledgment, he looked back at Oita. He didn't want to wake him till his suspicions were confirmed.

Oita stirred a little. The silence was a bad sign. Utter silence, complete silence, was rare in life. It made a ringing noise in his ears. He didn't do anything, just a small movement, but he was paying attention now. As much attention as his sleepy brain could manage without actual danger present.

There was a snap of a twig before the men roared from the treeline. They stormed forward, planning to overrun any of the merchant guards by their sheer number. Little did they know that this caravan wasn't guarded by the merchants, but by an elite force of Coalition Ninja.

"Oita, up." Hinji said as he hopped up from his seat and plucked a card from his hat and tossed it, all in one seamless motion. When it hit the ground, there was a howl and three wolves lunged forward and closed the distance between them and the oncoming men.

A handful of kunai shot from Oita in all directions as he shot to his feet, a wild fire into the approaching enemy in order to get some down and discourage the rest. Oita needed the distraction in order to get the next scroll from his backpack. He bit his thumb, smearing the blood across the seals as Hinji summoned the wolves.

The bandits were taken by surprise by the sudden appearance of the wolves, as well as the kunai that struck several of their numbers. The bandits back pedaled a little bit. They had no expected to find ninja among the caravan.

Hinji's near permanent frown slipped a bit, and a grin showed through when he saw the bandits backpedal. "I don't think believe these men are with the ninjas we fought already, Oita." He said as he watched his wolves make contact with their line.

"May I suggest you all leave?" Oita said as the scroll poofed under his hand. It was the one the woman had given him, the only one he'd really had left, except for the Clock, which was stored away in the caravan. He almost fell back as the massive puppet was summoned; he had not been expecting something this size. It towered over the caravan, a spider, eight wooden legs spread around the Caravan as if protecting it. Oita could have ridden it. He tried to stop his surprise from being too obvious and just stared out at the crowd around them.

The bandits trembled as they looked up at the massive spider puppet. Some of the older men in the crowd crossed themselves. For they had seen the construct before, they knew to fear it for more than just its size.

Hinji was about to summon another card when Oita summoned the large spider puppet. He noticed the reaction among the bandits and reminded himself to question Oita about the puppet. Till then, he just watched and waited.

The older bandits moved quickly, getting as much distance from the puppet as they possibly could. Whatever riches this caravan might have was not worth the price of facing that. Let the little ones try if they might. The younger men gripped their weapons tighter and charged forward, intent to take the goods from the caravan, despite the giant puppet.

Oita twitched a finger, two of the spider's legs sweeping around, carving a line in front of the charging bandits, knocking those it hit onto their asses. He wished he had time to figure out what this puppet did, but he didn't exactly have time to go check it out. He would have to keep it to the basics.

The men, who were knocked over by the massive puppet, groaned as they got back to their feet. They slowly began to filter back into the woods. Those that remained grew emboldened by the mechanism's attack. Again, they rushed the caravan, foolish as it was. These were not trained soldiers, nor ninja of any sort, just desperate, foolish men, too proud to surrender.

Hinji tossed another card in front of the oncoming men, after his wolves chased off after some of the the fleeing men. From the card spawned a mass of writhing and coiled cobras. They spotted the bandits and flared their flaps and hissed.

Oita let out a thoughtful "hmmmm" to himself as he began to twitch his fingers, trying to see what the puppet could do. He was a little surprised when a sticky web shot from a small port in the turret and nailed one of the approaching men to the ground. Interesting.

The unfortunate man struggled and flailed against the webbing that completely engulfed him. The sudden appearance of a horde of cobras caused many more of the bandits to retreat to the safety of the woods. This was not at all what they had signed up for. One of the bolder of the remaining group stepped forward, into the cobra mass. He was covered from head to toe in thick leather armor. He was not afraid of the cobras' fangs breaking through. He wielded a large double headed axe and swung with great proficiency, beheading several of the shadow beasts with a single swipe.

"YOU!" Oita suddenly yelled, pointing a finger at the man all in leather and glaring straight at him, the spider turning around on the spot as quickly as Oita could make it, squatting down and glaring straight at the man, with its ass in the air. This thing had mouth tendrils, and they let out a loud clack.

Hinji saw the man wading through his cobras with no worries and immediately set his crosshairs on him. This man must me the "leader" of these bandits, maybe of they take him down the others will retreat. He pointed his hand and the cobras fled outward towards the rest of the lowly bandits, leaving the man in leather alone. He pulled a card and tossed it on the ground next to his wagon, from it crawled a humanoid figure with two war hammers, one in each hand, and stood about six foot tall. It stretched its neck from side to side before striding forward, set on the man in leather.

As the cobras set on the remaining bandits, many fled. Those that did not were quickly bit and fell to the ground in moans as the venom surged through their veins. The man glanced at the puppet and instinctively took a step back. He knew nothing of what the thing was capable of, outside of the webbing. He grinned when the new arrival moved towards him. "Big fella, ain'tcha?" He taunted, gripping his axe handle with both hands. "Lemme cutchu down ta size."

There was a snap of the mouth pincers, Oita threatening the man to step closer. Yes, the man might be very strong, but those pincers looked like they had razors on them. It would be very bad to get caught in those.

The humanoid did not speak, for he couldn't. Instead, Hinji's summons closed the distance between them. When he was within range he spun quickly and brought one of the hammers around to smash the man's ribs.

The man blocked the hammer blow with the flat side of his axe, grunting with the force of the impact. The blow managed to move him over, despite his blocking it. He doubted he would stand if it struck directly.1

Far away in the distance El's voice rang through the trees sounding as if the very life was being ripped out of him.

That was most definitely not a good thing. Hinji knew that he needed to go to El's aid, but he did not believe it would be right for him to abandon Oita. The summon continued his attack, trying to crush the man's face, arm, and chest in varied maneuvers. "El sounds like he needs help." Hinji said, hoping Oita will give him an out to go help his teammate or offer to assist.

"Right! As you can hear from that noise, we have to go help our friends." Oita called out to the crowd of people "So, I don't have time to play any more. Anyone who is here in seven seconds is going to die. Quickly, and mercilessly." To prove his point, a spider leg raised suddenly, stomping down towards one of the other less frightened looking people. If the man didn't move quickly he'd be squished.

The man was backpedaling as he parried the summon's attacks with his axe. He wished he had another weapon. At this rate, those hammers would wind up smashing his prized axe.

As the spider's leg came down, the foolish man raised his arms in defense, when he should have run.

The crunch noise was loud. Oita stared on impassively. He didn't raise the foot yet, because he wanted to throw up. He wasn't one to back down, he couldn't show weakness. But that had bee disgusting.

While crushing the axe would be wonderful, the shadow was trying more to shatter the man's body. He brought a hammer around, fully expecting to have the strike parried. His second hammer was ready to come down on the man's cranium should the first strike succeed at preoccupying the axe.

The man was no fool. He could see the summon's attack coming. As much as it would hurt, it would be far safer to the blow to the body, than to allow it to crush his skull. He brought his axe upward to parry the secondary hammer.

Oita looked around at the crowd. "Leave." he said, raising the puppet's leg slowly, the man he'd stood on still partially sticking to the tip.

As the first blow was meant as more of a distraction then an actual attack it didn't have a large amount of force behind it. The hammer still connected with the man's side with enough force to do some damage.

The man staggered to the side from the force of the blow, glad he chose to block the one from the top. Whatever this thing was, it could certainly pack a punch, and he was starting to run out of steam...

Seeing their fallen comrade dripping slowly from the puppet's upraised leg, the remaining bandits' color drained from their face. There weren't many of them left and one by one, they retreated, not at all wanting to meet the same fate.

Oita let out a heavy huff, mostly so he didn't throw up. This was going to be something to explain when the others got back.

Seeing the remaining bandits flee, Hinji raised a hand slightly and the shadow summon stopped and back a step back. It was still ready to go at a moments notice, and seemed like it didn't want to stop. "Your men are defeated and fleeing. You don't have to die. Surrender and we will make sure you are given a smaller jail sentence." Behind his back, Hinji had a card in his hands and ready to go should he refuse.

The man looked about, a little unsure whether he should trust the boy's words. He grimaced as he saw only fallen bodies. "Cowards..." He muttered and looked at his opponents. He lowered his axe slowly and sighed. "I suppose I have no choice then."

"Smart." Hinji said, "Then please don't move, it may make this uncomfortable." He brought his hand with the card around and tossed it at the man's feet. The card formed a black pool which started up his body, hardening along the way.

"Cowards are more often than not, smart people who know when to stop fighting." Oita pointed out with a small shrug. This spider puppet was going to be quite hard to control.

"This'd better be reversible." The axe-man said as the darkness crept slowly up his body. Panic rose in his throat as the place between his legs solidified...

"Oh quit your whining." Hinji said as the summons kept crawling upwards. It finally stopped moving once it had encased him entirely, with only his face exposed so he could breath. "Are we all squared away and comfortable?" Hinji asked as the hammer wielding summons lost his hammers and moved to lift the bandit.

"I wouldn't actually call this comfortable...but squared away for sure." The man replied with a grimace.

"Good." Hinji said as the bandit was hefted up and taken back to the back of the caravan where the archer was being held. "Are you well enough to cover the caravan for the rest of the journey?" He asked Oita.

"Yes yes." Oita said with a sigh "Though I hope the others return soon."

"I doubt they will be returning soon." Hinji said as he made sure his pack was secured, "If either of them give you trouble, just say 'kill' and my summons will take care of them." He told Oita as his summon's hammers reappeared. "Good luck. And with that Hinji made off towards bamboo pass.

Oita just say there, sighing and resting his chin on his hand. He was staring at the man, trying to ignore that he'd just squished someone. It wasn't as if this was the first person he'd ever killed though.

"You ok, kid?" The encased man asked him curiously. It wasn't as if he had anything better to do with him being more of a statue at the moment.

"I thought I might kill one person today." Oita sighed listlessly "Not two. But ah well, that is the life I chose I suppose." He sighed, tapping his fingers, which made he spider puppet wriggle a little "You married?"

"Hardly. Some of the fellas have little ladies at home, mostly them guys who ran off first." He explained, wanting very much so to shrug at the moment. He arched an eyebrow and looked at Oita curiously, "You?"

"Oh please, I'm not old enough to buy dirty books." Oita said with a sharp, brutal laugh. He shook his head, giving a little shrug and relaxing back on the caravan.

"That doesn't mean you couldn't be wed." He pointed out with a smirk.

"Well I'm not." Oita said flatly, giving a little shrug. He didn't socialize enough. Well, he knew Akane's sister. That was about it.

"Very well. Just trying to make conversation." The man said simply, he'd have shrugged if he were able to move at the moment. "Rather boring being trapped like this."

"I can't exactly do anything about that." Oita said with a weak shrug "Hinji summoned it. I'm sure as hell not going to unsummon it." He wondered when the others would get here.

"Not asking you to. But you're clearly a puppeteer, could you not entertain?" He asked with a bit of a smirk.

"I've had several people try to kill me today." Oita said flatly "The only puppets I have left are this one," he indicated the spider, which did a little scuttle "And one that explodes. Neither I think are very entertaining."


"You do not find the Great Shirudo to be entertaining?" The man asked, looking up at the massive spider puppet.

"An old lady gave this to me. I'm glad it has a name." Oita said, looking up at the puppet briefly. Shirudo. "What's it famous for?"

"Long ago the Land of Cogs was under attack by a large army, the Puppet Master, Hime Hotogaki, single handed fended them all off, and protected the village with just the Shirudo." The man stated.

"This... Hime Hotogaki... what happened to her?" Oita asked, rubbing his chin slowly. He didn't want to give away the fact she might be alive and running a puppet store. She might still have enemies after all.

"No one knows for sure. I'd heard she'd died in some battle after that one. Others say she's still out there somewhere, just waiting for the need to arise." He said with a grin. "I don't believe that one myself. If she were she'd have to be well into her 90s by now."

"Must be." Oita said with a nod, looking up at the puppet "Well I got this from an antique store. Place obviously didn't know what they had. She must be dead."

"They had to have known it was more than a simple scroll though. Surely, no one is that foolish." The man said skeptically. He wasn't fishing for information, but the boy's story seemed just a little bit off.

"Had I known he would talk this much, I would have sealed hi mouth as well." Hinji said as he walked out of the trees, "The others are almost here. They don't seem to be grievously injured."

"They weren't a ninja." Oita said with a shrug "They were just a salesman. They picked it up, knew it was some kind of puppet, but second hand puppets don't sell well." He sighed and looked around at Hinji, giving him a little shrug "Him talking was a nice distraction. Learnt I got a bargain when i was searching for disposable puppets for this trip."

Hinji frowned, "Idle chit-chat is one of the easiest ways for manipulators to acquire information about their targets. One slip of the tongue and a city can burn."

"I have no interest in burning a city." The bandit stated simply in his own defense.

"Just robbing it." Oita said with a little shrug "And the only city that would likely burn because of my mis-speaking would be the city of commerce. And bandits can't burn that down. Who would they hi-jack then?"

"Robbing the caravans is far easier than ransacking the entire town." The man claimed in his own defense.

"See? Priorities." Oita said with a little nod.

"Getting a legal, honest paying job is easier than robbing caravans." Hinji countered, "So obviously easier isn't what you go for." It suddenly dawned on Hinji that this man may have a reward or a bounty on him, he decided to check when he got back into town.

"You're both rather young to know whether or not it's easier to get a job." He pointed out with an arched eyebrow. "Honestly. Grab a weapon and attack an unsuspecting, heavily burdened merchant. Then you keep the money, sell the rest. It's much faster."

Hinji shrugged, "I have a job. Sounds to me like you are just looking for excuses to validate what you do. Also, faster and easier are no the same thing."

"Certain jobs are easier, certain jobs are harder. Crime usually comes from someone thinking they hold no talent for the future past beating someone, and deciding they would rather go into a life of violence than say... Protection." Oita said with a little shrug "No person lacks a talent that they could not turn into a trade. Take our trapped friend here," Oita pointed to the man "He could be surprisingly good at sewing. Or play an instrument. But he decided there was no future in that and turned to crime."

"My choice to make regardless." The man stated, rolling his eyes a little. He couldn't believe they were trying to talk him out of this.

---

Nearing the wagons, on their way back from the bamboo forest, came Akane being carried by El.
"Are you sure I'm not too heavy...?" asked Akane tiredly. "You must be tired..."

"You're light as a feather." El told her. He was indeed tired and she, though light, was not quite a feather. He was too stubborn to put her down though.

"Ow!" Kami said beside Kano, stumbling over a root. He'd been very good about not letting her fall over anything, but he was exhausted.

"Sorry!" Kano apologized quickly, grimacing that he hadn't been able to keep her from stumbling. "I'm sorry Kami..."

Ishiaki groaned as he followed along after them. There had to be an easier way than walking everywhere...especially when one was tired...

Akane didn't say anything ...for now at least. She just leaned her head on El's shoulder as he carried her to the caravans, She could see that his front was stained with blood of both her own and Naomi's. She needed to talk to him about that as well.

"It's ok." Kami said, pausing to pop her toe. "I'm ok, really. Stop apologizing every time I stumble."

"Yes I do, it is my fault should you stumble." Kano told her, keeping his eyes to the ground so that it doesn't happen again.


Tsu sighed as she appeared. She had less blood on her before. She'd been taking her time to clean herself up, since she didn't want to spend the day covered in her own and Akane's blood. "Do you need a hand Ishiaki?" she asked the man, who she was standing next to.

"No thank you, Tsu." Ishiaki said simply and felt the relief flow through him as he felt the caravan grow closer to them.

"There it is." Akane said tiredly, seeing the caravan as they approached. It looked like everything was in tact so at least there was that. She could not yet see Oita speaking with a stranger from this angle, but at least they had a collective place to rest.

"Eyes... eye sharp as ever." El said with a smile. He was still carrying her in his arms, refusing to let her down.

"It's not your fault." Kami told Kano. "You're exhausted. You can't look out for every little thing."

"I can make it to the caravans....really..." Akane said gently, still feeling silly for having El log her all this way. "You don't have to keep carrying me." Despite her words, she still sounded very tired as her body worked overtime to refill her veins from the blood lost earlier.

"I'm not putting you down." El declared.

Although that isn't what she asked for, Akane was proud that he refused. She was quiet for a while as they came nearer to the wagons. "Are you okay? You didn't get hurt back there in the fight, did you?"

"Are you sure?" Tsu asked "It's better to accept help than to wait until you really... really need it."

"I will be fine." Ishiaki said with a nod. "Just tired...but I can rest once we reach the wagons, just as you can." He pointed out, looking at her. She was clearly just as exhausted as he was.

"I'm not the only one who's exhausted..." Kano told her with a sigh. It seemed as though everyone was.

"I'm not as tired as you are." Tsu said firmly. She nodded stubbornly, crossing her arms "I just used a dangerous jutsu is all."

"Didn't we all?" Ishiaki asked with a grin. He'd summoned all of the swords, he did not use the Genjutsu, which would have used far less chakra...

"No..." El told... "I didn't get hurt in the fight..." What hurt was the fact that he'd been excited to kill Naomi, what hurt worse was the pain of feeling Akane die in his arms. She hadn't died, but to him it still felt like it.

"I hope we don't run into any more bad guys..." Kami told him. "I don't have an ounce of chakra left...

"But.... are you... okay?" Akane asked with a bit more meaning behind it now. Before her injury had really set in, she caught glimpse of El after Naomi killed herself. He had screamed and obliterated her corpse to nothing but meat.

"You and me both. That Taiyou blade took everything I had." Kano stated and let out a slow exhale of breath. "It was...something else though.." He said softly, speaking of the experience.

"No..." El said. "I'm not... but I will be..."

"A blinding experience if you ask me." Kami told Kano with a smile.

Akane remembered how torn up El was to himself after killing Viktor. This only added to the pain, "Well.. do you want to talk about it?" she asked, wanting to be helpful.

"Nice..." Kano said, looking over at her with a smile of his own. "Can you see anything yet? Shapes or anything?"

"You almost died." Tsu said gently, reaching out and placing a hand on Ishiaki's shoulder "I just want you to be a safe as possible. And if I have to carry you, well, you can just repay the favour later."

"Not yet." Kami told him. "Everything is still black..."

"No..." El told her. "Maybe later, but... not right now."

"Okay." Akane said, not pushing the issue. She still needed to talk to him in private about what had happened. Their exchange before she ultimately passed out. No doubt it was on both of their minds.

"I'm sorry..." El said softly. "I... soon." He said. "I... I promise..."

"So did Akane." Ishiaki said and almost shrugged her hand away. He would not rest until he knew his students were safe. If he hadn't run off to fight Rath... No, he would not allow himself to think that way..

Kano gently patted the back of Kami's hand. "That's alright...it'll wear off. He said it would."

"Otherwise my training is going to have to take a dramatic turn..." Kami said. "Ishiaki Sensei is proof a ninja can still be a ninja and be blind..."

Akane rested her head against El's shoulder again, relaxing into his arms.

Tsu sighed, but gave a little smile to Ishiaki "She'll be fine. Thanks to you. I'm glad one of us knows healing."

"I wish I knew more..." Ishiaki confided in her sadly. "If I did...you wouldn't be so wounded as well."

"I imagine that it would take a great deal longer for someone who could once see to become a blind fighter." Kano pointed out rather sagely.

"I don't expect it would be easy..." Kami said. "I'll give it some time... a week. If I cannot see my then then... I'll ask Ishiaki to change my training."

"I hope it doesn't take a week.." Kano said, looking down at her feet. "It would be a shame to keep your eyes covered that long..." He whispered to her, not wanting anyone else to hear him.

"They're only covered now because Tsu Sensei told me to cover them." Kami told him. "I'm still not sure why." She had no intention of keeping her eyes covered.

Tsu gave a weak smile. "I'm just a little tired. Not really hurt. But if you want to learn more healing, that's always a good thing to practice. Specially if you're teaching Akane as well."

"She must've said something. My sensei is a little eccentric, but she isn't crazy, Kami." Kano said, defending her. "There must be a reason to keep them covered."

"The Taiyou grants me the greatest of my healing ability, but just like all the other blades, it has a price." Ishiaki said with a sad nod. "I personally only know triage jutsus, I am no healer."

"I'll ask Ishiaki..." Kami said, she didn't like having her eyes wrapped.

"We're almost there, at least. You'll be able to rest easy." Kano told her, squeezing her hand slightly.

"Well... just be careful alright? Maybe learn a little healing..." Tsu said, her hand slipping into Ishiaki's.

"I have been plenty careful over the years." Ishiaki replied and smiled as she slid her hand into his. "I think I'm just starting to feel old."


"Oh, yes, of course. I'm not trying to talk you out of it. There's a reason why you decided to enter a life where... well... that could happen to you." Oita pointed to the mess that used to be a person "I'm just saying there's more than just ease that brought you here."

"I'd say cowardice." Hinji concluded.

"Cowardice?! Is it cowardice to stay and fight when the rest of your team runs for their lives?" The man asked sharply, his blood boiling at the mention of being called a coward.

"Hey guys!" Kano shouted as he and the others finally made it to the wagons. He was about ready to collapse and couldn't wait to lie down inside one of them.

With a sigh of relief, Ishiaki moved to one of the wagons. He'd be glad to debrief the two of them later, right now he needed rest...just like everyone else it seemed.

Akane was thankful El had made it to the wagons. His arms were too comfortable and she feared falling asleep in them. There was another wince and she place her hand over her torso...these stitches needed to go.

"Hey guys... Spider." Oita said, indicating the large spider puppet standing above the caravan. It was hardly invisible. "I see your days have been rather... active, so just go lay down and have a rest."

Tsu glanced up at the puppet. She seemed confused, then shook her head and rubbed her eyes. "Seeing things..." she muttered as she made her way to the caravan.

El had found a merchant carrying pillows and bedding. They had expressed uncertainty for letting two bloodstained people use their wagon, but El promised to pay for it all. "I'll be back." he said. "I'm going to get something for these stitches. Don't move." He left Akane briefly and went to find Kami. Thankfully she was close. "Kami." He said when he approached her and Kano. "May I borrow your summoning knife? I need something sharp to remove Akane's stitches and I don't want to stab her by accident with a Kunai."

Kami stopped next to Kano. "Sure, but don't loose it. It was my mothers." She lifted her hand to her ear and took the small curved knife she wore their out, leaving a small eraser sized hole vacant in her lobe. She held it out a little way from El, not exactly sure where he was.

"Thank you." El told her, taking the razor sharp blade and hurried back to Akane, trying not to realize how tired he was. He had used a lot of chakra turning Naomi to mush.

Akane relaxed onto the pillows and didn't move as El instructed. Not that she could move much if she wanted to. He had to get rid of this wrap first.

"It's big..." Kano observed, looking up at the massive puppet. Last he'd checked, Oita didn't have something that fancy. "Kami, you should see this thing..." He said in awe as he looked upon the detail.

Approaching one of the wagons, Ishiaki pulled his coin purse from his belt. He held it out to the driver. "Name your price...We need rest."

"No, that is just stupidity." Hinji replied, "When faced with superior opposing forces, whether in number or skill, fleeing is sometimes the best option. No one ever remembers the man who fought a losing battle and lost."

"True, but imagine if I had won!" The man said with a wicked smile.

"You would not have." Hinji said bluntly, "You would have been killed without mercy."

"Ok..." El said, coming back to Akane. "I'm... gonna cut these off." He said, meaning the bandages. Carefully he began to lift each bandage and sliced through them with Kami's crazy sharp knife.

Akane nodded, think thinking for a second he would cut her. She laid there, looking exhausted despite having used no chakra. The blood-stained wrap fell away and El could see now how long the slice had been. It had reached from the center of her thigh, across her front and breasts, to her opposite shoulder, completely cutting her in the angle of a seatbelt. Her uniform was also cut at this place, exposing her skin and the stitches Tsu had given her in a rush. They were a bit sloppy and tugging at her skin in strange places, producing small tears in her skin where the thread went in. Thankfully, the cut itself was completely healed.

"Nothing is for certain." The man answered quizzically to Hinji.

"You've come to the right wagon then!" The driver insisted with a smile and reached into the purse, taking a handful of the swordsman's ryo. He gestured to the back and smiled. "Hop in."

"I hate paying to protect these people." Tsu muttered under her breath as she moved alongside Ishiaki into the caravan.

"You would have died." Oita said with a sigh to the man "If Hinji had lost, either I would have won, or the others would have returned a little while later and killed you while you celebrated. The life you have chosen is one where you will most likely die."

El took a deep breath when he saw how severe the wound had been. He tried not to break down again. He concentrated himself with making sure she was modest first. He took off his poncho and draped it over her. Her clothes were still... mostly doing their job, but she didn't need to be seen by every merchant and bystander. "I'm going to start at the top." he said, thinking those stitches looked a little rough. He pulled the poncho down just enough to expose maybe four or five stitches. Kami's knife cut clean through the first one easily, but when he plucked it free with his finger, it was like pulling a worm from a rotten apple. Nothing about her was rotten, but it was excruciating to watch the little black thread emerge from the small red hole. He whimpered a soft pitiful sound before he had a chance to reign it in.

Akane let out a pained whimper between tense lips as the string was pulled out. The pain was nothing compared to what she had suffered earlier, but it was nonetheless annoying. "Thank you for helping me, El." She didn't have the strength enough to do this on her own. It hurt to bend over.

"Oita, where in the world did you get such a massive puppet?" Kano asked as he stared up at it. He was tryign to memorize the details of the work.

"It is to be expected." Ishiaki told her as he moved against the side of the wagon. He groaned and laid his head back against the fabric. "They're merchants, everything has a price."

"Be still..." El whispered to Akane as he moved to the next stitch. He could hardly do this, much less talk while he did.

Her gaze on him fell and she went silent. Akane felt as though she needed to talk to him... but he didn't want to hear it.

"Junk store." Oita said flatly, shrugging to Kano with a little smile on his lips.

Tsu just grumbled, gripping tighter against him and taking a small breath. "Yeah yeah. Get me to bed."

Not that El didn't want to hear it, but he couldn't right now. The stitches came out one by one and each one felt as terrible as the first. He hated this, hated looking at the place where he'd nearly killed her. He didn't realize he was crying again and sniffed, fining his throat tight and his eyes hot. God he hated this.

Akane heard him sniffle and looked up at his face. El's eyes were red and wet and the muscles in his chin were flexing. "El- it's okay." Her hand lifted and placed itself atop of his, "I can do it, really."

El shook his head. "No... no it's ok..." He batted away a tear with the back of his hand. "Just relax. I... I'll be done in no time."

Akane's hand froze when he slipped it out from under her grasp. Letting it be for now, she placed her arm back down and rested against the pillows. Not wanting to stare at his tears, she turned her head to the side and looked away.

"That settles it, Oita. Next time we get to town, I'm going shopping with you." Kano told him with a wide smirk. If he truly found such an incredible puppet in a junk store, there was no telling what else the guy might find.

Ishiaki wrapped his arm about Tsu's waist and held her closely. "Just rest, little one. We've been given a moment, let us not waste it."

"Little one..." Tsu said with a soft giggle, biting her lip and pressing down against him "If we weren't exhausted, the things I'd do to you for saying that." She sighed, snuggling down against him, head on his chest, listening to him breathing.

"You can pay me back after the mission." Ishiaki told her with a sigh as he relaxed back against the side of the wagon. He couldn't believe just how tired he was.

"Sleep." Tsu whispered gently, stroking a hand carefully across his cheek, resting there "Get a good rest. You deserve it."

"What's it look like?" Kami asked, pushing her forehead protector to test if she had her sight back. She didn't but didn't bother lowering it again. Oita could see her pupil-less eyes.

El starting cutting each stitch with more confidence, wanting to finish before he couldn't. He kept her covered with his poncho everywhere except where he was working.

"It's an enormous puppet in the shape of a spider. Incredible ornament detailing along the body and legs..." Kano explained for her, Oita would undoubtedly be better at it. He kind of hoped the guy would jump in and assist when he saw her eyes.

"How enormous?" Kami asked. "Can I touch it?" She didn't go into Oita's workshop for anything other than gathering glasses and dishes when he left them in there. She had no particular interest in puppets, but she'd only seen the human sized or not much larger ones he worked with usually. If Kano, who came from an island where everything was big, called it enormous, she wanted to know how very big it was.

Akane was quiet for a long while, but it only made her sleepy. She was taking very long blinks, struggling to fight it. "I don't want to fall asleep..." she said weakly. "I don't want to...I don't want it to be dark again..."

El looked up from her belly where he was working. A few dozen more and he would be done. "Talk to me." He said, despite having told her to be quiet before.

Akane looked at him and was about to remind him of that, but chose not to. "I think.. when we get out of here, I want to spend at least two days in the hot springs."

"It's rather large." Oita admitted, carefully shifting one of the legs so it was in front of Kami and Kano "Here. The leg is right in front of you. Give it a touch." He sighed, looking up at the puppet "Apparently it's a famous puppet... A scroll salvaged from a dead body no doubt, that I managed to pick up for cheap."

"Whatever you want." El told Akane, trying not to sound emotional. "I'll even pay for it if it makes you happy..."

Kami felt the movement in front of her, but when she reached her hand out, she misjudged the location of the thing.

"Here, let me help." Kano told her softly as he took her hand and guided it to the spider's leg

Akane smiled weakly at El's offering. "You owe me baths for every day of the month after all that." she said, but was joking. She was just trying to lighten the situation. If he ever really offered to pay for it, Akane would have never accept his money.

"Yes..." El agreed. His tear saturated mask began to drip on her belly as he removed the stitches that had ruined the perfect cup of her bellybutton. "Sorry... sorry..." He said, brushing them away with his fingers, but his hand rested there, traveling over the fine row of red dots that marked the places where he'd already removed stitches. "I'm so sorry..."

"It's not your fault, El. She snagged me... Nothing could have been done about it." Akane said, knowing he blamed himself.

"It's pretty big." Oita told Kami, before the little smile slipped from his face and he said "So... what happened?"

Kami's hand smoothed over the spider's leg, finding one of the joints she added her other hand curiously. "Don't ever try activating Ishiaki's blade of light." She said. "Apparently it heals who you need it to heal, but it also makes you go blind."

"Blind... for a while... or..." Oita said with a little frown, chewing his lip, looking worried. He didn't like the idea of Kami being blind constantly.

"He said it would fade." Kano explained to Oita, his hand still holding Kami's wrist. He was worried sick that her sight may not return. It wouldn't change anything between the two of them, but he knew it would be hard for her to handle the change. A blind ninja was rare, and for good reason...

"Should fade..." Kami said, smoothing her hands away from the spider's leg. "You and Akane will have to fend for yourselves at the house for a little while maybe..." She took care of them. Cooked, cleaned, even did laundry all while training and holding down her own job. Her people did that though, took care of their neighbors and friends. It would be nice though to be on the receiving end for once.

El's mask was still dripping, over-saturated by tears. He wiped them away, but missed one as it slipped into the cup of her bellybutton. "I could have stopped it..." He said. "Maybe redirected it... I just haven't played in so long..." He wasn't making excuses, but it was his fault Viktor had broken his training guitar and it was his fault his voice wasn't strong enough to put it back together.

"El-" Akane said suddenly, with more strength showing since the accident. "Look at me." she demanded. When he looked through tears, she said, "It's not your fault. It was her attacking me. Don't blame yourself for this. You saved my life. The others would never have reached us in time had you not carried me."

Glad that the bandit was done talking, Hinji sat down next to his shadow summon among the prisoners. He fully intended to turn in the man himself incase there is a reward, some ryo would go good with his name being attached to a bounty capture.

El tried to hide his shame by pulling his sombrero down so she couldn't see his face. "Alright." He said, trying to agree with her. "Yes... alright..."

Seeing that he had froze up, Akane pulled the last threaded loop for him from her hip with a slight wince. "I'm going to rest... please make sure I don't fall asleep..."

"It will fade, Kami." Kano told her with confidence. He was sure of it, he had to be.

"We can look after ourselves. And you." Oita said with a little nod to Kami "Don't worry alright? It'll fade in time I'm sure." He took a deep breath, then unsummoned the large spider puppet. He tucked the scroll back up, sliding it into his backpack slowly. "Is that everyone? Are the enemies all done?"

"Let's review. We've got Iteza in the wagon. You put Orem out of his misery..." Kano said, trying to recall their names without screwing up. "Master Ishiaki defeated the Master of Blades, and from what I understand El took out the Mistress of Chains..." He paused and looked at Kami, scratching his head. "That's four...but they've got a leader or something, don't they?"

"I will." El told her. He tucked his poncho around her securely since her clothes were ruined.

Kami only nodded, trying to remain positive in the face of her blindness.

"Leader.. Woo..." Oita said with a sigh, rubbing his face and looking around, wondering if they couldn't stab their new employer and call it quits. "Come on up Kami. I guess you're out for the next one. You deserve a rest."