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Ryukosay raised his hand and barely caught the box, with his injured right hand. He gave a quick glance in James direction before facing the new arrivals. 'Things feel pretty tense here, maybe I should have stayed hidden in the trees.' He thought taking two pills.

(588 words)

As Tsuni was at her bedroom at sunset, all she could think about was the tree climbing training. She really wanted to continue it, but following Masaki and what he said to her, she went back home to regain her strength, energy, and stamina, as well as her chakra. I feel fine now, Tsuni thought, I guess it doesn't hurt to go outside again and continue the tree climbing. So getting out of bed, she went outside to her backyard. It had a large tree, perfect for her to practice. Taking a deep breath, Tsuni exhaled and made the sheep seal. Silence enveloped around her as she made her way up the tree. Thinking pleasant thoughts, Tsuni was able to go up the tree, with only her feet. Smiling in accomplishment, she stabbed the tree with a kunai, to mark the fact that she could climb up the tree with only her feet.

She did a back flip and landed on the ground. Tsuni looked at the tree and smiled to herself. I walked up the tree again. Wonder how many times I can do it. She felt her feet glowing with chakra as she dashed towards the tree. Tsuni ran up and marked her progress. She continued it throughout the night. By the time the sun peeked out, the girl, now tired, was lying on the ground, gazing at the tree. She sighed aloud. Dang...my body is completely useless. It doesn't want to move, she thought, trying to move her arm. Well whenever I try to move my arm or leg, it feels like jello. Tsuni slowly sat up, arms on the ground behind her to support herself. Either that tree is my lucky tree or I'm doing well controlling my chakra on my feet. She sat at the grass for a couple more minutes before she recovered. Strangely, Tsuni didn't feel tired whatsoever. She was pretty hungry though. Time to eat breakfast...and might as well find Masaki or walk around Konoha. Tsuni turned away from the tree and walked through the door that she went out of to the backyard to the kitchen.

(1361 words+329 words=1690 words, Tree Climbing jutsu learned)

James gave a small growl, only Kyo could hear, he disliked Neru. He took deep breaths and he slowly calmed down. He couldn't manage to get into another battle. He picked up his stuff and he walked toward another tree.

Kyo sat beside Miku, he would accompany her in any way until James left the academy.

{Total: 1168}

Honehime glanced at her teacher nervously for a moment, but did as she was told. She got to her feet, trying in vain to wipe some of the sticky sap off of her. Then she straightened up and tried not to look too nervous, telling herself that this vague feeling of unease was just being set off by the sticky feeling of the sap rather than anything more than that. She was just glad that the fighting was over with. She let out a soft sigh, and wondered what was next for her training, and also why grappling in the midst of all of the sap had been so important. She couldn't really see what would have made it so vital to learn fighting like that, rather than in a more ordinary setting, such as the forest itself, or even inside of a building. But she decided to give her teacher the benefit of the doubt, to see what else she had planned.
(27549 words + 328 (164) words = 27877 words)


Lieselotte nibbled at her food as she glanced around camp. Partially out of a slightly paranoid desire to continue keeping an eye out, and also just to see how everyone was getting along. The fights from before had threatened their camp with the numerous disruptions, but those seemed to have been set aside. Personally, she felt that if people didn't get along, a fight was inevitable. It could either let them work out some frustration by smacking each other around, or it would convince them their problem wasn't worth getting up in arms over. It seemed there were no other true animosities in their group, though. Even the slight rivalry or antagonistic behavior between her and Sakazuki had been set aside after their mutual clash with Zenia. A common enemy could do that, make possible enemies learn to settle their differences and work together for their common good.
(23921 words + 300 (150) words = 24221 words)


Mei smiled as Shuku leaned close to help her cool her plate down. The two of them blew on her plate of steaming meat and veggies to cool it down, and soon the steam dwindled. The food would still be hot, but not hot enough to hurt her when she tried to eat it. So she thanked Shuku, rubbing her cheek against the Mayonaka in lieu of an actual hug, since her arms were already occupied holding her plate up. Meanwhile, Katsu moved to dish up now that everyone else had finished, and helped herself to a large plate of some of the veggies that had been grilled up. No meat, she was a vegetarian by design. After all, real sheep didn't eat meat, and that was what she was based off of, after all. And, like those same herd animals, she could be quite the eater when she had a mind to be so. So her plate was pretty full, piled high with various greens.
(30627 words + 334 (167) words = 30961 words)


Zenia continued to stalk through the forest, aware of her surroundings with every step she took. She remembered where Sakazuki and Lieselotte had been found earlier, but didn't go in that direction at first. She went off to the side, in a path that would circle around to approach that area from the opposite direction. Much like her stalking, the maneuver would take more time than might be expected, but in the long run, it would probably be worth it. No matter how sharp one was, or how on guard they were, they would generally expect attacks to come from the same direction. As if their defenses had been breached, and they were hunkered down behind a fortress wall, or something. Rather than in the middle of a forest, with little to no protection of any kind, save their own awareness. So she would make use of that, and try to sneak up on them from the opposite side, and hopefully avoid detection.
(10511 words + 328 (164) words = 10839 words)


Melona shifted her position as she got more comfortable at the lectern. She watched as Menace took a seat atop of one of the desks, crossing her legs to show a long expanse of smooth flesh. Melona tilted her head to the side slightly, as if doing that might allow her to see just that much more up Menace's skirt. But her effort proved in vain, and a moment later, she returned to the real world. When Menace asked her where they would begin, she thought for a moment, trying to think of what might prove to be the easiest topic to cover in the overall scheme of things. Finally, she made her decision, she would talk about chakra, and do her best to explain it. She spoke at length about how chakra was an inner energy source, much like stamina. It was circulating throughout the entire body much like blood, but was only really able to be used when certain hand seals were done in a proper order. Technically, the hand seals themselves weren't important, it was the mental process behind forming them that shaped the chakra to the wielder's bidding.
(13120 words + 390 (195) words = 13510 words)


"Oh. Sorry, hehe." Alice apologized, she hadn't known just how big of a salad they would be making or anything, so she had just grabbed everything that looked like it could go into a salad. When Airi asked if she could handle a knife, she nearly chuckled at the thought. Sure, she was just a kid, but the blades on her weapons weren't just there for decoration, they could be used in battle, too. So yes, she knew how to use a knife. But rather than explain all of that to Airi, she just nodded, and said that she could use a knife well enough. She looked over the various veggies, wondering what would need to be cut, and to what size, and how much. Those would need to be told to her by Airi before she would begin cutting. Bringing too many veggies out of the fridge had been a slight mistake, but cutting too much would be a noticeably bigger mistake.
(13477 words + 330 (165) words = 13807 words)


Haku and Neru had arrived at Miku's location just in time to hear her announce that she would speak to her sensei before they would return home. That seemed sensible enough to her. Neru seemed to be all for it, too. Haku was aware that part of Neru's seeming cooperation in the matter was just to be rid of the green haired singer for a little bit, but she decided not to think about it for too long. She was pretty sure that Miku wouldn't even think of such a thing, so there was no reason to bring it up and upset anyone else. After all, she knew that Neru didn't really hate Miku. Jealous, sure. But not a hard bitten jealousy that could lead to sabotage or anything naughty like that. No, it was a good jealousy, like the kind you would have for a rival who just happened to be doing a little better than yourself. Haku knew that Neru's turn to shine would come, she just had to wait for it. She looked around again, taking in her surroundings. She saw there were other people with Miku, so she made sure to keep her mouth shut, as nervous as ever if confronted with the idea of speaking in front of others. If she absolutely had to, she would, but hopefully it wouldn't come to that. Neru was with her, so hopefully if they had to say anything, she would speak instead.
(9114 words + 500 (250) words = 9614 words)


V-13 waits nervously to hear what Pan's decision is. After all, if she chooses to not heed her advice, well, there is always the chance that she arrived at a faulty conclusion, that she was just being paranoid. But if she was right, and her advice wasn't heeded, it could mean chaos for their entire organization. But finally, Pan answered, and with an affirmative. She smiled slightly, and nodded when Pan stated that she would be keeping her close and within her sights. Of course, the sight of a unit like any of them was fairly high, so it wouldn't mean they would be welded together at the hip or anything. Still, it was a comfort that she had at least managed to increase her use by some time, at the very least. The only other alternative seemed to be getting scrapped, and she didn't care for that option in the slightest. She nodded again when Pan told her she would brook no objections to the orders. V-13 wouldn't have attempted to get them countermanded or object to them anyways. After all, direct relations to a superior officer was a good way to get more chances, rather than being left to the scrapheap. She wouldn't necessarily be taking advantage of Pan's position, it just seemed more likely that her own poor performance would be disregarded instantly, that instead she would be given another chance to improve her performance, rather than the alternative. As she pondered that line of thought, another aspect of her processing power focused on the phrase 'direct relations'. Her RPMs began to increase, and waste heat generation showed an increase of almost ten percent. As if to show a visible sign of this, her cheeks tinged pink yet again, and she lowered her gaze, to hopefully avoid Pan noticing the visible flaw. It seemed a bit odd, to be aware of a physical flaw and to make an attempt to keep another unit from viewing that same flaw. Modesty was an alien concept to the androids, after all, they were all to a greater or elsser degree the same unit, and they did not have human emotions like embarrassment or shame or anything. So why then was she so aware of the growing flaw of heat gathering in the thinly shielded areas of her face that were her cheeks? She sent the query to her short term memory banks, for later perusal once she happened to have some free processing power to devote to the task. For now, she tried to keep as much of her processing speed available, should her superior officer have any further orders for her. She saluted upon hearing Pan's orders, a militarily precise salute, as always. "Understood, sir."
(10519 words + 932 (466) words = 11451 words)


Etheldreda looked at the food for a moment, and then gave a hesitant nod in reply to Sakazuki's question. She didn't really need to eat, she was a Grimoire, and as such wasn't bound by normal physical laws like that. But she remembered eating in one of the previous times she had been able to escape her bound form. The sensation of taste was one she remembered well, and was eager to try again. So she gave a second, more vigorous nod of her head, and got in line behind Katsu to dish up. Since she wasn't actually hungry, she didn't take very much. Pretty much just one of each thing that had been grilled, enough to try each and see what it tasted like. That would be good enough for her. The food would be broken down in a process more or less similar to the human norm, too. Just instead of providing regular energy for life, it refueled her magical energy.
(4672 words + 336 (16 cool words = 5010 words)


Dizzy looked up at the tree, seeing once more just how enormous, how majestic, how overpowering it seemed. It had been watching over this area for a long time, and perhaps it had even been the start of it? Perhaps before it, there had been no forest here, just grass and shrubs. But once it started growing, more and even more trees would spring up alongside it. Finally, she broke her gaze away from the tree, to look at Shouko as she wondered aloud if it might be a guardian of the woods. She nodded, it seemed like much more of a fitting guardian spirit than she was. She nodded again when Shouko asked if it was alright to move any closer to it. "I think so, I've never heard of anyone getting hurt or anything by getting too close to it. As far as I know, I don't think bad people would ever actually be able to find it, let alone touch it. So if we've gotten this far, it must be because it let us get this far."
(4827 words + 366 (183) words = 5193 words)

The green-haired girl looked to Neru, confused at first about what she was talking about, but then concuded she was most likely talking about her telling Sensei she no longer needed to trai under him. She then looed down to see Kyo sitting beside her, but upon looking there was no sign of James. Where had he gone? He had been here just a momet ago... She picked up the puppy and scratched it behind the ear. "Where did your James go? She looked to Ryukosay and smiled brightly and frindly towards him, bowing her head slightly. "Nice to meet you, Ryu-kun. This is Neru Onee-chan ad Haku Onee-chan." She nodded her head in the direction of who was who so that way introductios would be out of the way. She then turned back to her friends. "Would you both like to go to a hotel, or should we go ahead and head home?"
((?))

James jumped up some branches and rested on a large one, there was a hole in the tree and he placed his arm in it and pulled out a long back bag. He sat and placed the long bag over his legs, he opened it and he got out his latest project, a fully black katana with white details. He got a special sharpener. He started sharpen the blade. he kept sharpening it until it could cut a hair in half with no force at all. He then got two pieces of wood and started making its hilt. then he took bandages and wrapped it around the hilt, so he could grab it better. He sighed and he looked at the moon.

"No one understands me any more...only one person does... he said and he started to cover the katana on old bandages.

Kyo slowly fell asleep in Miku's arms. He was very exhausted. He dreamed randomly and shifted his body.

{Total: 1329}

It all happened quickly. Too quickly, far too quickly for Honehime to have the chance to do more than throw up her arms in a pathetic attempt to ward off the fatal blow. In that moment of blind panic, she had felt the raw bloodlust emanating from Echidna, the sure feeling that she would die in that very moment, that her journey would end there, with her life's blood spilling out onto the sticky ground. She let out a loud cry as the blade cut her in twain. Her eyes had clenched tightly as she had tried to wish herself anywhere else rather than there, in that place. She could feel the blade, it's sharp edge, the cold sensation of being cut in half. Wait. No, she couldn't actually feel that. Slowly, she opened her eyes, and fearfully looked down at her midsection. The blade was still close, close enough for her to see her reflection in it. But there was no gaping wound, no flow of bright crimson, nothing but a thin sliver of sap missing from the otherwise nearly total covering she had gained in her skirmish. "B-b-but... but how...?"
(27877 words + 197 words = 28075 words)


Lieselotte continued her fastidious eating, pausing every once ina while to dab at her face with a napkin. She was no elegantly refined eater, she just preferred to not get messy while eating if possible. There were always exceptions, and accidents did happen, but an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure, or so the saying went. The others had seemed to fall in to mealtime easily enough, although a quick glance around camp showed that there were even less people than she had thought. She ran down a mental checklist of everyone who had been there before and now wasn't. They hadn't lost too many of their group, only two or so. Kuroshika had seemingly vanished without a trace during the fight with Sakazuki. And the other missing member of their party, Honehime, well, she didn't have any idea where she had went, either. She wasn't too worried about Kuroshika, he seemed capable enough. But Honehime, she wasn't as sure about. She was no fighter, she was soft.
(24221 words + 176 words = 24397 words)


Mei smiled agreeably, and pulled back a little. She had enjoyed the nuzzle, and was pretty sure that Shuku had, too. But she had said that that was enough, so that was enough. She returned to her food, looking down at it, and feeling that it was probably just about ready for her to dig in. She licked her lips, as she began to realize that she was actually pretty hungry. Just then, Shuku and Mei got a bit of a surprise, as Katsu had finished dishing up, and deciding on where to sit. Apparently, she liked the spot right between her Mistress and her Alpha, so she squirmed nimbly into the space they had just opened up by finishing their nuzzle. She smiled happily at the both of them, cuddling up against the two busty women enjoyably. Remarkably, even with the opportunity well within her grasp, she didn't do anything perverted. Maybe it was because Mei would know and she didn't want to get in trouble. Or maybe it was just that mealtimes were an off-limits time for that sort of thing. Either way, for the moment, she was behaving herself.
(30961 words + 195 words = 31156 words)


Zenia had continued on, moving closer bit by bit with each passing moment. There were times when she froze completely, even though it was a virtual impossibility that any of her prey was aware of her presence yet. If they were, it would definitely impress her, though. Once the moment of stillness passed, she would proceed, showing just as much patience as ever. She knew she was close to the camp, so she began to move even slower, only barely advancing with each movement. She wasn't about to risk getting caught already, just because of a brief moment of impatience. She could already just barely detect the faint smell of cooking meat and vegetables, apparently the group had already prepared a meal. That could make things a little easier, if they were all focused on eating she would be that much more likely to go unnoticed. Then again, if they were smart enough to have someone standing guard while they ate, surely that guard would be attentive and eager for their shift to end, so they could eat.
(10839 words + 179 words = 11018 words)


Melona smiled and nodded as Menace showed herself to be an excellent pupil. Smart, and a flawless body as well! "Yes. No matter what technique, or jutsu, you wish to perform, it will require chakra. And, of course, each person holds an affinity for a certain grouping of chakra, in the form of an elemental alignment. It should come as no surprise that I associate well with Water jutsu, and do not handle Fire too well." She went on to explain a bit more about individual jutsu, how each required it's own particular blend of hand signs, chakra control and stamina. A more complex and high-level jutsu would obviously require more expended chakra than the basics taught here in the Academy. She noticed that Menace had leaned forward, showing an interest in the lesson. Thanks to the deeply cut collar of her seifuku, that was not all that she was showing, something that made Melona very appreciative of her position, standing a few feet in front of Menace.
(13510 words + 170 words = 13680 words)


Alice nodded, and began setting aside the various ingredients that Airi told to her. They looked like they had already been washed, so it seemed she could just cut them. Airi didn't say a size, but she didn't want to ask her questions each time she gave an order. So she thought about it instead. Salads were generally eaten with a fork. So something that could fit on a fork, a decent mouthful at the largest. Smaller than that, because whoever was eating would not likely eat just one piece at a time. So fairly small, then. She nodded, ready to begin. She took a look around, and set up the cutting board, before getting started. She wasn't the fastest with a knife, but she seemed to be doing alright. She started with the carrots, cutting them into medium-length thin strips. After she had finished with them, she would move on to some of the other vegetables, saving the chicken for last. It would likely be the easiest to cut, so it would also be the easiest to mess up. A little last-minute practice by cutting the vegetables first would hopefully help.
(13807 words + 197 words = 14004 words)


Haku blushed in embarrassment as she was introduced along with Neru to Miku's new friend. Even if it was just indirect attention, it was still enough to trigger some of her nervousness to flare up and make her more self-aware and self-conscious. She could barely manage to nod a quick greeting before diverting her attention back to Neru. Neru didn't have the same problem she did, instead, she still looked pretty annoyed at the young men. It seemed they shared the same label in Neru's mind, that of something to be beaten. Haku was a little worried, both because she didn't care for fighting, and also because if that was true, then Neru might very well try to fight both of the young men. And that wasn't fair at all. Regardless of who was stronger, two on one just wasn't fair. Not to mention, again, that fighting was bad. It always left someone the loser, not to mention accomplishing little save getting people and their feelings hurt.
(9614 words + 175 words = 9789 words)


V-13 had hoped that her heating predicament would not have been noticed by her superior officer. But that was not to be. As with all of the other androids, Pan was very observant, and spotted the flaw right away. This attention being called to it only seemed to make the matter worse, the tinge returning as her heat index raised several degrees. Nowhere close to the critical range, there was very little chance of inflicting any damage to her systems with only this level of waste heat being generated, but even so, it was a cause for concern. After all, if she could be overheating in this relatively passive mode, then how much more might she overheat in a combat situation. Nothing like that had happened during the exercise, but maybe it was a recent change brought about by that remote access incident from before. Finally, she did manage to reply to Pan's question, though she sounded a bit uncertain. "It would appear so, sir. No damage to this unit's heat sinks and cooling fans has been detected, though, sir. Should this unit disengage combat mode?" Sure enough, V-13 was still in the same battle ready form that she had taken for the exercises, having almost relegated the fact to storage without properly processing it. After all, combat modes were supposed to be engaged only in the field or during training. It was to help prevent accidents, such as an accidental discharge of a weapon, or any other coincidental damage to the surrounding area by one who had not been fully trained to handle all of their formidable weapon systems.
(11451 words + 274 words = 11725 words)


Even though their merge had already ended, Etheldreda still shared a slight bond with her Master, Sakazuki. Not enough to read minds or converse telepathically without using a spell, but enough to feel her emotions. She smiled slightly at the feeling of amusement, though she didn't know what it was from. Instead, she busied herself with finishing fixing up her own plate. Once done, she moved over toward where Sakazuki was sitting down, and sat nearby. Not cuddled tightly together like Katsu, Mei and Shuku, but reasonably close, so they could easily talk if they wanted to, without having to raise their voices. She was pretty sure there was still a great many things she and her new Master could talk about. Questions either of them would have for the other, or just simple conversation to get to know each other a little better, to see what sort of personality the other had. Yes, even a Grimoire like her actually had a personality.
(5008 words + 164 words = 5172 words)


Dizzy looked up once more at the tree, now that they had reached it's base. The same powerful, gentle aura seemed to fill the air as the last time she had been there. It felt warm and soft, yet unyielding, like a towering wall of steel blanketed in wool. It almost felt like the tree was a parent to the world itself, that any who were permitted to come to it were it's children in a metaphysical sense. She shook herself from her reverie, and tried to help Shouko look for the truffles. If she remembered right, they liked to grow just under the soil's surface, especially under leaf litter or other fallen plant life. She poked around at a few potential spots, shifting aside piles of fallen leaves. At Shouko's question, she looked up to the Akimichi, then back at her back. She looked at her wings for a moment, and then shook her head. "No, not really. I could probably glide, but even that wouldn't be too far. I'd certainly like to try to fly some day, though. Were you thinking of climbing the Great Tree?"
(5193 words + 194 words = 5387 words)