Getting Out of Dodge

[Hiko]

“Now charge, Ayana-sama. Come at me with the intent to kill.”
“I, er. I don't want to.”
Akemi sighed. “You'll never improve if you don't use someone as practice.”
The girl hesitated. “But what if I land a hit?”
“Then I'll die happy, knowing you're well on your way to becoming a successful shinobi.”
Ayana turned red, and the grip on her kunai tightened. Still, however, the girl remained planted in her foothold.
“I don't see why I have to learn hand to hand. I'm no good at it.” She folded her arms and sat on the ground. Akemi walked over to the frustrated child and ruffled her hair.
“I wasn't much better than you at your age, you know. I didn't get much training before coming here.”
Ayana looked up, wide-eyed. “But, what about the Noiru?”
Akemi grinned, “And what do you know of the Noiru, Ayana-sama?”
“They're great fighters! Quiet, and stealthy, and the best was-”
“Killed over a very stupid matter.”
Ayana gave her sensei a quizzical look, but Akemi shrugged it off. She rose and held out a hand to her charge.
“Come on, you'll never get better if you don't at least try. Can't prove Koji right, can we?”
The question apparently stung, for when Ayana grasped Akemi's hand, the girl pulled down and swiped at the exposed arm with a kunai. Akemi allowed herself to be cut. When blood appeared from the gash, Ayana stepped back, startled.
“Akemi-sensei! I'm so sorry! I – I didn't mean to-”
“If you can cut me once, you can cut me again. Come at me.”
Though her footing was uncertain, Ayana charged again.
–

Tired and aching, Ayana had slumped onto the deck near her room. Akemi had taken to wrapping the cuts and scrapes the girl had given her – better to have a few new bruises than have the girl freeze up in combat.
Sparring was hardly conducive to repairing a village, but it was a necessary activity if the genin were to be prepared for the upcoming chuunin exams. Missions were thin and far between at the moment, with so many injured and more dead or missing.

”I'm not certain I understand the need for this right now, Hokage-sama.”
Tsunade grunted effort as she hovered her hands over an injured man. “You'd rather your team be thrown into war? Or would you prefer them to stay with the medic-nin, so soon after their own attack?”
Akemi stepped forward. “It's not that – I understand getting the greener shinobi away from the fighting – but why do I need to be the one to escort them? Surely Ebisu or one of the more inexperienced chuunin could-”
“You're going because you've got more at stake in your team. Each one of your squad has either bloodline or clan knowledge – yourself included. I hardly want to risk the four of you getting swept up by the enemy.”
Akemi tried to think of a challenge to what the Hokage had decided on, but she couldn't. The woman was right. With Ayana, she'd have to take her out of the village soon enough anyway on Takako's demand. Koji had two family trees of skill in his blood, and the Inuzuka had enough skill to warrant some curiosity from the enemy – to think if one could dissect his clan's tracking skills...
Akemi wasn't much better off, however able she was to defend herself.
“You're right, Hokage-sama. I'll send word to the genin this afternoon.”
Tsunade rose from her kneeling position and allowed another to take her place. “Good. Leave by nightfall – you might be less inconspicuous then.”

Sasagani reappeared, breaking Akemi's thoughts.
“Kemimi!” the tiny, tinny voice cried out, “Mission accomplished!”
Akemi grinned at the spider as it landed on her hand. “Good work, Sasa. Go ahead and stick around – I may need you to scout ahead later tonight.”
“Roger!”
Akemi righted herself and offered a hand to Ayana. “Come on, get packed. We're meeting the boys at the gate.”

((Why do I always hear Tachikoma? ;_; ))

[Sabaku]

(Thanks, I can't help hearing Tachikoma now too. XD)

It didn't take long for Koji to make the preparations necessary to leaving. The boy stocked his weaponry pouches to capacity, checked the edges of several of the blades, and then set out through the village, past one half-finished structure after another, for the gate on the other side.

Konoha still wasn't back to normal. Every day, teams worked to rebuild the broken homes and shops, but there were still patches of bare land and unfinished work scattered everywhere. And, the boy wondered whenever he looked over it, what was the point of it? They were at war, weren't they? For all they knew, another attack would come, and then it would all be torn down again. It was a waste of time, one that made him look away from the sight in disgust at the irresponsibility of it. They should've been preparing, doing anything they could to ready themselves for the war, down to the last genin, and the fact that the remnants of the attack lingered everywhere was only further proof of it.

How many had died then? Pain was not so forgiving as to differentiate between ANBU and genin. Academy students and younger lay bleeding in the dirt next to the most seasoned jounin. War did not stay its hand for the young and the inexperienced, war did not turn away from the frightened or the defenseless. There would be no mercy in this war, and slaughter would find those who weren't ready to face it.

War was not Pain. War held no compassion. The dead would be dead and cold, and there would be no second chances.

Idly, he flicked a kunai between his fingers as he walked, running the agile digits over the blade, feeling its sharpness against the skin. He wasn't afraid of the concept of war. Fighting, even dying, they were part of being a shinobi. He understood that without question. What troubled him was the concept of going into it unprepared, and not by his own choice.

Tsunade, Akemi - they were holding them back. They were killing the genin with inexperience.

His fingers caught the blade hard by its wrapped handle, and he slipped it back into its pouch as the gates came into view.

It was no surprise that Akemi and Ayana were already waiting when he arrived. Giving his sensei and teammate a brief glance, he went to the gate itself, leaned back against it, his white eyes fixing on the ground. A breeze stirred the night air, smelling strongly of the forest outside. Shirio was late, he observed - though the truth of it was that he was early. His impatience evidenced itself in a restless shifting of posture, a subtle distaste in his downcast expression.

He always had hated waiting.

[Toboe]

Shirio looked over at his dog while he mindlessly packed his bag. He hadn't been talking much since Akemi's test; the canine obviously not happy with how things went. A sigh escaped the genin’s mouth as he strapped the pack onto his back; seemed like everyone had to be troublesome. "You know, the failure of that test wasn't in any way our fault."

Shiromaru gave the boy a confused glare, unsure what he was going on about.

"I had gone over to Koji's to apologize, thinking that it was my fault for how our teamwork fell apart while facing sensei. The kid is an ass, he would have treated me the same even if I hadn't run into him before the test."

"Do you know about his past?"

"No, we were in different classes. I never knew about him until recently."

"Then it was as I figured..." Standing up with a slight grunt, Shiromaru walked towards the door, stopping just before exiting the room. "... You still have a lot to learn..."

"What does that have to do with anything?" The genin retorted with as light stomp of the foot.

"Everyone has reasons for how they behave. Koji is branch Hyuuga, his life had been predetermined long before he was even born. Besides, he doe...."

Shirio shoved his way past the pooch, grabbing a worn katana on the way out. "Doesn't mean he has to treat his team like this."

"He doesn't trust anyone.... get over your ideal ways as to how a team should act and adjust yourself. Your brother would beat the snot out of you if he were still around to see how you're handling this."

"But he isn't... is he? A dysfunctional team is a dead team. I don't want to hear you standing up for someone who will put all our lives in danger..." Shirio ended the conversation at that, leaving Shiromaru annoyed in the hallway, who was now half tempted to not even bother going.

“I was starting to think you weren’t going to come...” Shirio glanced back to see the ninken following close behind. He had expected to be going alone on this mission. Unlike normal Inuzuka shinobi/ninken pairs, Shirio and his partner neither trained together or grew up together. They didn’t share the bond that would normally come from such a team. The ninken snorted, not surprised by Shirio’s assumption.

“I don’t really have much of a choice. You’d complain about it later...”

“Oh shut up. Lets try to get along long enough to survive this mission.”

Despite what he had said to Shiromaru, the genin knew that this was supposed to be a low risk mission. The typical poking your nose in to check up sort of thing. He also knew that there was no such thing as a routine mission. There were millions of variables that the four of them couldn’t possibly take into account. His worries were lessened by Akemi’s abilities, a nice little bit of comfort for a worried mind. They should have no problem with any shinobi while someone with her talents on their side. Stuffing his hands into his pocket, Shirio rounded a corner and could now see the memorial stone, a monument where shinobi could pay their respects to fallen comrads. Dropping his pack against a fence post, Shirio unsheathed the old katana he had in hand and started to look it over as if checking it's sharpness. The weapon was well worn with years of battle but still retained the sharpness it had the day it was made. A high quality blade made for a seasoned shinobi. He walked over to the stone and held the blade up to his forehead, resting the broad side of it against his skin; the cool metal somehow easing his worries. “I’ll make you proud, guys. I promise.” It was all he had left of his former team, making the item his most prized possession. It didn’t just hurt him to see it; it gave him the drive to better himself to make sure something like that would never happen to him again. Putting the blade back into its protective casing, Shirio strapped it to his back, then over it replaced his pack. Giving the memorial a quick bow, he bid his goodbyes and made his way towards the gate.

It wasn’t too long after his side trip did the gate come into view, the figures of his teammates taking shape as he got closer. “Hey guys...” He greeted as he approached the trio, the usual upbeat tone missing from his voice but sure to return later. “Sorry that I am late, I had to visit a couple of close friends on the way over.”

[Hiko]

Akemi made a disapproving grunt at Shirio's tardiness. “You've had all day to do so. Either visit them earlier, or after you return. We're on a time crunch to leave, Shirio.
“We'll be on the move all night. We make camp when I say, where I say. There will be no leaving the team at any point – do you understand?” She looked pointedly at the Hyuuga boy, then glanced back to Shirio.
“You'll be taking point, Shirio. You and Shiromaru have the best senses in the dark. Sasagani will be with you, should anything arise. Koji, you and Ayana will stay in the middle, and I'll take the rear.”
–

Ayana hated moving in the dark. It wasn't the fear of the unknown, as when she was younger, but more a distaste for sensory deprivation. With the added bonus of being tied (and in her mind, compared) to Koji on their trek, Ayana only wondered how more useless she would seem in her teammates' eyes. Briefly, she debated asking Akemi why the woman hadn't just set off that rain jutsu again to scout ahead. She shook her head, realizing her own stupidity. Random spouts of rain would be conspicuous – and taxing. And, more likely than not, their sensei was hoping to form some sort of bond within the team by having them work as a proper squad.
Ayana glanced over to Koji.
Right. Teamwork.
–

Sasagani hopped onto Shiromaru's head and settled herself between his ears. She giggled at the comfort, then spoke to the dog.
“Pleased to meet your acquaintance! The name's Sasagani, and you are?” She'd never ridden on a dog before – the experience was just the thing to make what was already a normally bubbly personality ecstatic.
“Sasagani – don't trouble them. Your job is to help scout, not attend a meet-and-greet.”
“Awww.”

((Short post, get. There'll be more meat once they're actually on the move, I suspect – something I'll be leaving to one of you to kickstart. <3))

[Toboe]

It had been some time since they left the safety of the village. Night had long since fallen, stars glittered the brilliantly clear and moonless sky. Shirio loved nights like this, when the fresh scent of cool air could fill his nose. He glanced to his five o'clock, his canine partner was still there, as expected. Despite their disagreements, the dog was never one to disappoint when it came to performance. Looking up ahead, all that could be seen was more and more trees, this forest seemed to go on forever. Shirio didn't have any issues navigating the gauntlet of trees, but he couldn't help but wonder about his teammates. He could hear them behind him, their movements quiet and inaudible to anyone without a trained ear.

It hit him out of the blue. The dry and clean air didn't hide a thing. Shirio's eyes widened, blood, the metallic smell was unmistakable. he picked up his pace, steadily pulling ahead of his team. If there was an ambush to be triggered, he'd rather have it be focused on him, and have his teammates come in unnoticed. Besides, he couldn't yell back at them any word of caution, not with the chance of having enemies nearby. The only sign he could give was the removal of a kunai from it's carrying pouch. Then smell hit him again, harder this time with opposing breeze. They were getting closer to the source. He could now tell it was human, not animal as he was hoping.

After some time, he slowly he dropped the pace, now coming up on the gruesome scene of the attack. A team, similar to their own, had been attacked and butchered by another. There were shuriken and kunai strewn about the area, stuck into trees and bodies a like. Shirio knelt beside the fallen sensei, slowly brushing his bangs up to reveal his headband. "Suna..... by judging the placement of the stuck shuriken, I think they were on their way to Konoha. ..." Shirio was an expert tracker, taking apart the scene was all to easy for him. The only thing that confused him was why would someone attack a team from Suna, especially in this territory. "We gotta search the area, they may have had a message for Tsunade-sama."