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Elizabeth jumped backwards, using her fan as a shield. She blocked some of the explosion, but she did notice that her arms were slightly burned, but it wouldn't scar. If only she could open her fan... But she hadn't learned how to focus her chakra enough. She didn't hear any more rustling in the trees. He was watching and giving her a break. She couldn't attack him; she'd barely have enough chakra to walk afterwards. She did have a packed lunch for the academy. Would he give her enough time?

Obviously not. He threw down more ninja stars, but nothing was attached. She quickly ran in the opposite direction, narrowly avoiding more kunai. She quickly turned tail and ran backwards, almost making Gannon fall off the tree branch. She ran towards the water, only narrowly stopping. Gannon threw down kunai, missing her and landing on the water. She wanted to run on the water, but her heart was beating so fast and she couldn't focus. Gannon sensed this and throw kunai in a line. All she'd need to do is focus chakra to her feet and step on all the kunai. She jumped onto the first one, then the second, but before the third, another kunai was thrown at her and she lost her balance. She caught herself and jumped to the next, hoping to catch Gannon off guard, as he would suspect her to do the water walking jutsu. She got halfway through the river before she fell herself, falling into the icy water. She swam was quickly the top as she could, barely getting a breath of air before realizing paper bombs were all around her. He must've thought she would have gotten the jutsu then. Pushing herself out of the water, her feet were in the air before landing on the water and propelling her away.

Elizabeth narrowly avoided falling, looking clumsy. She struggled to hold her fan and start into a sprint. How could she run bearing this weight. Forcing herself to move faster, she shouted in defiance and made her legs move, but before she could get a few feet away, she tripped over the bottom of her fan, falling hard with a grunt. She allowed herself a moment to lay still and conquer her breathing. After that moment passed, she turned over to look at her feet. She was loaded with loose grass and dirt. She tried to blink to look at it clearer, but her eyes opened with tears in them. She was failing. She quickly remembered that her teacher would be on top of her at any moment. She pulled herself up on her elbows and brought her knees up. She slowly stood up as silently as possible, fighting back a sob. She brushed off her pants, picked up her fan, and ran, letting the bottom drag in the dirt.

She could hear Gannon getting closer, but he saw her pace and slowed down. Elizabeth let herself stop, making Gannon almost fall off another branch, surprised by her unexpected change of pace. Elizabeth fought her tears and turned to Gannon up in the trees. "Just come down!" She threw her arms out, dropping her fan. This was torture. The sun was going down. She wouldn't have anymore. "Just make your move." Her voice was dark, and she could sense his surprise at her dark side. She hung her head, waiting. Her arms slowly returned to her side, and she made fists. "I'm not going to climb these damn trees," she spat. She hated climbing. Her chakra was low enough. She heard whizzing, and something hit her head. It wasn't a kunai, however. It was a piece of paper. She slowly opened it.

I know you can do it. If you want me to attack you, you've gotta come up here.

Crumpling the paper, she looked up at him, her eyes dark and hard to see. She threw the paper to the ground, storming to the base of the tree. She slowly began walking on it. She took each step slowly, but not out of caution. She hated being treated differently, and he was doing just that. Slowing down just for her. No, if she'd been a chunin he wouldn't have hesitated. This was a test, not a small itsy-bitsy training session. She reached the top of the tree and faced him. She held her arms out. "What now?" Her voice was bitter, but how could she help it? The whole village treated her gingerly like a rare flower. She was another ninja, like all the other residents. Just because her family was gone doesn't mean she was different.

Gannon took a small step forward and tied a ninja head band around her head. He mouthed congratulations.

It had taken a few moments before Scherbe had thought to inspect the boat. She'd found her own belongings, along with several other parcels that had to be the other girls'. She also found something useful, a radio. She wasted no time in sending out a call to the local gendarme, to have them come and pick Black Tom up. She couldn't stay for very long, she had to go after the other captives, to make sure that the last thug hadn't managed to catch them again.

Thankfully, it hadn't taken long for the local dispatch to send a squad of hunter-nins out. They arrived quickly, and managed to restrain Black Tom without trouble. They spoke with Scherbe, asking how she'd managed to take him down. He was a wanted criminal, after all. Even if he wasn't a ninja, his threat level was considered on par with a nukenin. She only admitted that she'd had some extensive training with the Kell Hounds, and that she'd got lucky. She didn't mention the other captives, because she was worried that if any of the other girls saw hunter-nins coming after them, they'd panic and assume it was more of Black Tom's thugs. She'd have to handle that herself. She could only hope that they had listened to her, and stayed together.

Before they left, the hunter-nin in charge of the group told her that there had been a bounty on Black Tom, and she would be able to collect it whenever she made her way to a burser's office. They gave her a writ claiming such, that would be all the identification she'd need. She thanked them, and tucked the writ in her pocket. Normally, she'd refuse such a reward. The Kell Hounds worked for their wages according to a contract, they weren't bounty hunters. But she wasn't accepting this for herself. No, she'd give it to the other captives, to make sure they had the funds to return to their homes, wherever they might be. She wouldn't need any herself, if anything just enough for a ferry ticket to her destination.

For now, though, she had to find the others. She watched as the hunter-nins disappeared, with Black Tom and three of his thugs in tow. Once they were gone, she set off. She set a brisk pace, knowing she likely had quite some distance to cover. Not to mention having to follow a trail, she hadn't had nearly enough training in that field to be too confident in her chances of success. But she was going to try, and keep trying until she found the others.

She kept her senses sharp as she ventured away from the docks, and deeper into the forest that served as a backdrop. She didn't think the others would have followed the road, they'd been running from the last thug. More likely that they would have gone straight through the forest, and hope to lose the thug in the dense trees and shrubs. As an added benefit, that would mean that they wouldn't have traveled quite as far as she had feared. She couldn't rule out other possibilities, but she hoped that her initial supposition would be proven correct.

Over the next hour, she taxed her minimal skill in tracking to it's utmost. One of the few lessons that she remembered was a simple one, but no less powerful because of it. And that was to not look at individual details, instead look at the big picture. Don't scour the area for that single broken branch or footprint. Instead, take in the entirety of your surroundings, and let that composite image speak to you of your target. It didn't seem to make much sense, but it had proven itself several times over, and that was what mattered. So she followed that advice once more, taking a long look at her surroundings. How those two trees grew closer together, but not too close to slip through. How the land sloped down on the left, in a shallow decline. How the forest floor was mostly clear, occasional patches of grass but mostly beaten earth. This was an old-growth forest, not much new plant life was growing in it. That told her that there wasn't a huge amount of water on hand, just what was at the land's edge. With no nearby rivers or streams, then that decline meant that the opposite direction would build toward a proper hill, potentially even a small rocky outcropping. There had been tectonic activity here in the past, hundreds if not thousands of years ago.

All of this was taken in and scrutinized, until Scherbe felt that she knew which way to go. That decision was every bit as much instinct as it was training, so in the end it was a gamble. But she felt confident, and she couldn't afford the time to dither around, second-guessing herself. She broke into a jog as she followed her hunch, darting through the trees and over a particularly large fallen log. If she had guessed right, she felt confident that it would only take several minutes before she would find at least some definitive sign of the others' presence. And there it was. Certainly not what she had been expecting, but in a pleasant way.

The thug lay flat on his back, unconscious. There was a stripe across his face, a bruise that bore the uneven print of a heavy branch of some kind. Had the others managed to catch him unaware, and then club him with a branch? Impressive, she hadn't expected them to be ready or willing to fight. She checked the thugs pulse, it was thin but steady. He wouldn't be waking up for some time yet, she could afford to not rush after the girls so urgently. She hoped that if they had taken the one thug out, that they wouldn't have gone much farther, the better to be found when, if, she managed to get away from the others.

That possibility gave her pause, enough to make her think of an alternate method of searching for them. She had banished her stone armor before, but now she summoned it anew, though only on her hands and feet. Enough to give her talons and claws, so that she could more easily scale one of the large trees all around her. She'd climb up several meters, at least, and use the added height to look for the others. If she could see them, then she would know just how far they had gotten. She'd also hopefully be able to tell both if any of them needed assistance, and how to approach without spooking them.

And sure enough, she could see a small riot of color, no more than a hundred yards to the west. She had been pretty accurate in her trailing up until this point, they must have turned after escaping the thug to try to evade further pursuit. Not bad, she might have gone right past them if she hadn't stopped to take a better look. She hadn't seen what sort of condition the group was in; she could only hope that they hadn't had any major difficulties. She jumped from the tree, landing solidly on the ground, with enough force to cause a flurry of leaves and small branches to fall down from overhead. Her legs absorbed the impact, leaving her with only the vaguest numbness in her calves. She'd dropped further than that on a handful of other times, she was used to it by now. She moved forward at a more sedate pace now, a stroll rather than a jog. That way, if the group had a guard- which they really should- they would be able to see her coming, and be able to give enough warning that her appearance shouldn't set anyone's fight or flee instincts off.

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Nine girls sat clustered together, staring at nothing in particular. None of them had ever been taught how to start a fire, and the first few feeble attempts to rub two sticks together had only ended in a series of splinters. A fire would have been comforting. It wasn't cold out, but the simply sight of a cheerily crackling flame might have taken the edge off of their fears. They had managed to escape the thug when the other girl had shouted a warning before attacking the others. Even so, it hadn't been easy, the thug had chased after them until luck had intervened. He'd almost caught them, so when the girl furthest back pushed past an outstretched branch, it had slapped back against the thug with surprising force, enough that it had knocked him out. They'd kept running for several more moments before they finally managed to calm everyone down. At least enough to realize they had to try to hide, they couldn't simply run in a straight line.

They'd even thought to set up a guard, having two of them take a three-hour watch before the next pair would take their turn. Not much time had passed since they had escaped, and they were just as fearful as they had been at the start of their frantic dash for freedom. Would they be captured again, would that foul man who'd captured each and every one of them come looking? Some of them had been locked away for days, and had suffered for it. Given only enough food and water to stay alive, they'd been chained to the wall of the basement. There had been rats down there. Big rats that didn't seem to be scared of humans in the slightest. None of them had heard what was going to be done with them, but they all knew without a doubt that it wouldn't be pleasant.

Any further time spent in worry was cut short when one of the two girls who'd taken guard duty rushed back to the group, breathless, terror in her eyes. She told them how they had heard someone approaching, but they hadn't yet seen them, to know who it was. They had assumed the worse, that the other girl had already been defeated and captured, and that man had come to collect them once more.

One of the girls spoke up, for the first time since being brought into that accursed basement. She was a lanky thing, with pale skin and black hair. Before now, her gaze had been bitter, and directed at the ground. But now it seemed she had found the taste of freedom sweeter than anticipated, and she wasn't ready to give it up. "If there's just one coming, we can take him. If we all attack at the same time, he won't stand a chance!"

Her outburst seemed to shock the others into action, and the group began looking for anything they could use as weapons. Sticks, stones, anything they could find and hold long enough to swing or throw. They were still scared, but they were ready to fight, if that was what it took. The other girl had already fallen in her efforts to free them, they couldn't let that sacrifice be in vain. They weren't about to let themselves be taken back!

The other girl who had been on guard burst back into the midst of the clearing, an intense expression on her face. She tried to tell them something, but never had the chance. One look at her face and the others assumed the worst, that she had ran away when that man had approached. They had to get ready! They cautiously moved to ambush positions, clustered on either side of the two trees that the guards had come through. If they had come from that direction, then the enemy likely would, too. And then, they waited. Waited, and repeatedly shushed the second guard, she was still trying to say something, and still being cut off before she had a chance.

And they waited. Not for long, it was only another moment or two before a shadowed form drew close. They could hear slightly heavy footfalls, they sounded heavier than the other girl's could have been. The last hope that she might have won was extinguished, and they readied to make a final stand. The footsteps drew closer, only to pause just before coming into sight. Were they suspicious, did they know what was waiting for them? After a moment, they moved forward again, finally breaking from the cover of the trees and shrubs.

Not giving them a chance to react, the girls attacked en masse, throwing a barrage of stones, swinging solid sticks and tree branches, doing everything they could to overwhelm their captor before it was too late.

It took only a single, horrified moment for them to realize who they had actually attacked. Branches fell to the ground, so too did Scherbe, knocked out by the sudden onslaught.

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Scherbe slowly woke up, to the feeling of a horrible headache. Again. The sense of deja vu was almost as strong as the team of miners trying to dig their way out of her skull. She carefully opened her eyes, groaning as a hand went to her head. As it did, she heard a soft cry of 'she's awake!' She tried to sit up, to get a look at her surroundings, but gentle hands held her down. That same quiet voice told her to just stay still, she had a nasty bump on her head.

Scherbe stopped trying to get up, at least for the moment. Even without getting a chance to look around, she was more or less sure of the situation. She should have announced her approach to the camp. The other girls had responded perfectly, moving to incapacitate an unknown attacker. She didn't really enjoy being on the receiving end of that attack, but she could hardly fault their intentions. And they must have stopped after just a moment, or she would have been much more seriously injured.

She forced her eyes open again, and tried to ignore the pulsing pain throbbing in her head. She could see the other girls gathered around her, a rough semi-circle thronged around her, looking down at her. She felt a moment of vertigo, at seeing so many faces staring down at her. To compete against the disorientation, she focused on counting the pairs of eyes, on trying to see if everyone was there. It took a moment, but she eventually managed to count out eleven pairs of eyes, everyone was accounted for.

She had to force herself to not try to get up again, and instead asked what had happened. She had meant what had happened before she'd come to find them, but judging by the exchanged guilty looks, they assumed she meant what had happened to her. Several of them tried to apologize at once, only for her to wave them off. And wince, as the torsion of moving her arm sent a pang of pain stabbing into her neck. "Don't worry about that, I'll be fine... What happened when we got separated?"

The girls relaxed when she didn't seem to get mad at them for attacking her. After a few moments' indecision, one of them seemed to step forward as impromptu leader, and tell Scherbe what happened. After she had given them enough warning, they had run. The thug had gone right after them, but they were running on fear and adrenaline, whereas he was running solely on his physical strength. They had managed to elude him, but they just didn't have the stamina to outdistance him. At least until he'd ran afoul of that tree branch, literally. If he hadn't been so close behind them, he never would have been taken out so cleanly.

After that, they had turned off the barely-there path they had been following, and eventually found the clearing, where they were now. They had no way of knowing if Scherbe would escape, or possibly even defeat that man. They didn't know where they were, either. None of them had any clue toward which way to go, the only other location they were even somewhat sure of was the docks, and they had no intention of going back there. Not until they were sure it was safe. And then Scherbe had found them. They apologized again, but when she waved it off again, they changed tacks and asked her what had happened to her.

Then it was Scherbe's turn to tell a story. She kept it matter of fact, simply stating that after taking a surprise attack on Black Tom's thugs, she'd been drawn into a pitched battle with Black Tom himself, and had only just managed to get in a lucky blow, enough to give her the opportunity to finish the fight. She'd then gotten to the boat's radio and called in help from the local hunter-nin contingent.

At that, the others asked if that meant she knew where they were. She nodded slightly, cautious to avoid more pain, and revealed that she had found out while using the radio. It turned out that they were actually on the far shore of the extended territories of Hidden Nightmare. The village of Hidden Nightmare itself was a dangerous place, where nukenins, missing-nins, gathered. No rule but what you could enforce, no rights but what you could take. That was a bad location for them to be. Luckily, they were some distance from the village proper, and the villagers usually kept close to home. The hunter-nin contingent had been from the neighboring village of Hidden Dream, a much more placid and safe village.

Hidden Dream's hunter-nins had taken Black Tom into custody, and after they had left, she set out to find the rest of the captives. Before continuing her explanation, she tried to sit up once more. Just like before, the pain in her head amplified, and the world spun around her. One of the other girls tried to get her to lay back down, but she resisted. She had something to do first, she could rest after. They relented, and helped her sit up, the better for her to finish whatever it was she needed to do.

She took a moment to gather herself, before she reached into her pocket and pulled the writ out. She wanted to tell them all about it right away. Both to make sure that it didn’t become known from another avenue, leading to questions of greed or duplicity. And also because a little more good news could only help the situation. She handed the writ up to the others, allowing them to look it over, handing it from one girl to the next. She explained that there had been a bounty on Black Tom, a reasonably healthy sum. Due to her own choices, she couldn't accept the bounty, so it would be divided between everyone else.

This latest bombshell left the others as speechless as they'd been when they realized they had attacked their protector. They had each seen the total indicated on the writ. Even divided eleven ways, that was a lot of money! Enough that it was suspicious. One of the more daring of the group asked why she would possibly give up such a huge amount of money, to people who were practically strangers to her.

The others shushed her, but Scherbe just gave her a closer look. A redhead, she had lightly tanned skin, with an explosion of freckles across her cheeks. Currently, she stood with her hands on her hips, as if daring Scherbe to explain away such an obviously suspicious choice.

Scherbe could only say that she had no use for it, that she was a junior part of an organization that never collected bounties. As such, there was no reason not to give it to the others who'd had their lives interrupted by Black Tom's depredations. With that money, they would all have more than enough to get to their homes, wherever those were, and try to move on.

But the redhead wasn't done yet. She countered, wanting to know just what Scherbe would want in return for giving them such a healthy bribe. She blinked, surprised when Scherbe said that the only thing she wanted was to see each of them returned home and living a happy life. Grumbling, the redhead finally went quiet, turning away in annoyance and embarrassment as the others silently chastised her for her distrust.

Scherbe used that diversion as an opportunity to finally get to her feet. She still felt weak, and the world still tilted wildly, but she refused to rest while part of her job remained undone. She could rest after she was sure that the others were all on their way home. Until then, she'd have to rely on pure determination. The simple act of standing up- alright, it hadn't been that simple- had attracted attention, and sure enough, some of the other girls tried to convince her to sit back down. She carefully shook her head, they were losing daylight, and there almost certainly wasn't enough food nearby to give them all a solid meal that night or the following morning. They needed to set out, while there was still light to see by.

The only goal they could properly seek was to return to the docks, and hope that it's distance from Hidden Nightmare would give them some degree of protection. If they were lucky, this far from the village proper would mean that perhaps rules were paid more than lip service, as they couldn't rely on the protection of the brigands and murderers. They'd need to be careful, and make sure they found a legitimate business to buy passage with. Just the one trip, for now. The first goal was to simply get back to friendly waters, they could see about booking individual trips to their assorted homes once they were reasonably safe from further ambush or attack.

It only took an hour or so before they finally made their way back to the docks. Along the way, Scherbe had remembered the extra items she had tucked away in her pack, and handed them out. The other girls' belongings, she hadn't wanted to leave them unwatched on Black Tom's ferry. When they entered the docks, the redhead pointed out that with so many of them, they could probably just take Black Tom's ferry. It couldn't be that hard to operate. And if he had been taken in, he was obviously not going to be needing it.

That did make sense, and Scherbe agreed with her. So they tried to track it down, wandering through the docks for several tense moments. Luckily, it didn't seem very busy, nobody confronted them to ask what they were doing there. And they finally saw the same ferry they had been brought in on. None of them had ever wanted to see it ever again, but if it meant they were stealing it from Black Tom and using it to gain freedom, that made the sight a bit more palatable. So they clambered aboard the boat, getting used to the gentle rocking motion. Scherbe untied the rope mooring the vessel, before moving with several of the others into the back of the ferry, the enclosed space that housed the wheel and other controls.

Stepping into the cabin, they saw that it was just that. In addition to the various controls and fixtures, there was also a further enclosure, though enclosed only by sheets nailed to the walls and ceiling of the room. Within them were surprisingly mundane aspects of life. One section was a lavatory, meaning that hopefully the ferry had it's own fresh water reservoir. The other side was a bed, complete with incongruous flower-print quilt. And in the middle of them, a small cold storage locker, within which was a small supply of food and drink. The variety left something to be desired, but there was more than enough for the twelve of them, for even three or four days. As long as none of them minded alcohol rations to bolster the small amount of bottled water. That could be awkward... Once the cabin was declared secure, that there was nobody hiding inside to ambush them, they set about turning the engine on. It wasn't too complicated, and between Scherbe and the two sisters, the group had at least some maritime experience. Enough to at least translate the various meters into readings that made sense, and to know how to control the ferry and pull it away from the dock.

And they were underway! They had sent out a radio call to locate the nearest safe harbor; unfortunately it was far enough away that they wouldn't reach it before nightfall. It was fortunate that the ferry already held supplies, they'd have to fend for themselves for the night, and then they'd have a chance to get a more appropriate meal when they finally reached their destination. Still a sight better than huddling in the forest in the middle of the night, without food, water or even a fire.

They set the ferry to a decent clip, before locking the controls down. From there, they'd have the time to leave the cabin and fill the others in on what the situation was. That didn't take long, there wasn't much to tell. In truth, half of the group seemed more excited by the access to a lavatory and food than by the prospect of returning home. So of course a queue formed, a rough line forming for using the facilities. Once nature's call had been heeded, the group settled down. They'd pull out the food locker closer to when they stopped for the night, when they dropped anchor and didn't have to worry about monitoring their heading.

A moment of mischief came when one of the girls who'd ducked into the maintenance hatch did some exploring, and came out with some cans of paint and brushes. She'd eagerly painted over the ferry's old name, some bit of garbled foreign tongue that none of them could rightly pronounce. But when the time came to choose a new name, they had trouble deciding. So it was put to a vote. It was almost unanimous, the ferry's new name would be Stone Angel. It was obviously a reference to the one who'd rescued them, namely Scherbe herself. The only ones who had voted against that name had been Scherbe and the redhead. But the majority had it, so there was nothing they could do.

Daylight began to grow short, the sun sinking down toward the horizon, bathing the sea around them in a dazzling display of oranges and reds. A breathtaking view, and a welcome bit of beauty after the harrowing ordeal they'd almost been consigned to. That seemed as good a time as any to stop for the night, so they released the lock on the anchor, letting it drop down into the water with a clatter and rattle of chains. It finally hit the bottom after close to a hundred meters, much deeper than anyone had expected. After jigging the winch a few times, it was determined the anchor had a solid hold, it wouldn't come lose overnight.

With that taken care of, they could finally tuck in to the awaited meal. It was nothing spectacular, but better than pinecones and berries. Dried meat, fish and fruit, and protein bars. Several bottles of water, and a hefty armful of bottles of various liquors. It seemed that the empty bottles Scherbe had seen in Black Tom's cabin had only been the tip of the iceberg, he had a serious weakness for the drink. She suspected that most if not all of the others weren't old enough to drink, but she wasn't going to stop them. This was an impromptu celebration of their freedom. And if that freedom wound up making them sick as dogs the next day, then the lesson would be well-received. And she would hardly be one to point fingers, she had indulged a time or two herself. So they would have the same liberty, and the same responsibility.

She was focused more on getting a chance to relax for a moment. She'd kept on her feet ever since getting up in the forest, and the ache in her head had gradually devolved into a stabbing pain that radiated out and down her back. Just have a small meal, then find an out of the way corner of the deck to catch an hour's sleep, that was all she wanted. But she couldn't get away just yet, she wanted to make sure the others didn't get too carried away. She didn't think they would, but she was cautious. It was a new situation, and the narrow brush with disaster might make them feel overconfident, even reckless.

The next thing she knew, she was seated against the cabin, several of the others nearby passing a bottle around. "Finally awake? You've been missing the fun!" And sure enough, the party had gotten to a rollicking start, several bottles were already opened and in varying degrees of empty. The mood was cheerful, though the redhead was on the far side of the deck, by herself.

Scherbe commented on that, but the other girls didn't answer right away, instead sharing a guilty glance. "Well, we tried, but all she had to say was how none of us should trust you..." It seemed the redhead still didn't trust Scherbe, though it had to be simple paranoia. Even so, Scherbe felt put-out by the distrust. Ignoring the jolts of pain running through her entire back now, she got to her feet. Maybe a peace offering? She made her way over to the redhead, snagging a bottle from the food locker as she did. If they could just talk it out, find out what her problem was, maybe things would go better? And a drink to help ease the discussion along couldn't hurt.

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Scherbe gradually began to wake up, only to try to snuggle even deeper into the covers. A moment later, her mind caught up to her surroundings. Covers? Where was she? Opening her eyes, she saw that she was in the bed in the cabin of the ferry. It was late morning, she could see a swath of bright sunlight against the far wall. How long had she been sleeping? She tried to get up, only to realize she couldn't. She could move, but something was holding her hands in place. She tried to move again, and heard a soft clink of metal.

She craned her head to the side, and shook her hand more, enough to toss back the blanket at least a little. Just enough to reveal the grim truth. Furry handcuffs? She was cuffed to the bed? Panic started rising sharply, what in the nine hells had happened?! Had Black Tom escaped again, and already tracked them down for revenge? How? She knew better than to call for help, if they were captured again, there'd be nobody around to help. She'd have to wait, and hope that there was an opportunity to make another surprise attack or something.

After only a few moments, she detected movement. But not coming into the cabin to check on the prisoner, from right next to her, under the blanket? She froze up, not sure if it would be better to pretend to be asleep or just go on the attack. That hesitation proved fortunate, as it took only a moment to reveal who it was. Not an enemy at all, but the redhead?

"Urgh, me aching head..." She murmured, rubbing at her temple as she sat up. She yawned before grumbling, then shifted until she was sitting on the edge of the bed. It seemed she wasn't even aware of Scherbe being there. She was about to get up, and she could well leave without even knowing Scherbe was there, let alone helping her.

"Um, can you give me a hand?"

The redhead froze, the voice catching her by surprise. She slowly turned, before her eyes nearly bugged out of her head at what she saw. Namely, Scherbe laying down in the same bed she'd just gotten out of, her hands cuffed to the bedposts. She sputtered, wordless for a moment, her mind still groggy from just waking up, and simply unable to process what she was seeing.

"Wh-what are you doing there?!" She finally managed to exclaim, though not at the shout she wanted to. Instead her voice was little more than a hoarse whisper, she didn't want to attract anyone else's attention. The situation was awkward enough without an audience. She couldn't think of a single reason why they would have been in the same bed. And the one natural assumption; she refused to even consider it as a possibility.

"I have no idea, but could you help me with these?" Scherbe shook her hand, showing that the handcuffs still held her fast. She had no idea if they had a set of keys somewhere, or if they simply had a latch to unlock them, but either way, she wanted out. The sooner she was free, the sooner she could forget this entire episode.

The redhead frowned, commenting that she had no idea where the keys were. But she still tried to help, crouching down to get a better look at the closest cuff, to see if she could find a way to unlock it. The cuff itself was covered in a layer of fur, but the rest of the material was bare metal. And sure enough, at the extended flange where a keyhole might have been was a single button, a quick-release catch? She pressed it, and fiddled with the cuff itself for a moment, until she figured out that she had to pull the cuff open while holding the button down. Complicated enough that a key wouldn't really be needed. With that, the first cuff was unlocked.

Scherbe sighed with relief when one hand was freed, and she wasted no time in reaching over to try to undo the other herself. Unfortunately it was just a little more complicated than she could manage with a single hand. She needed to ask the redhead for help again. A more complicated prospect this time, due to the simple fact that the other cuff was on the side of the bed against the wall. The only way for the redhead to get to it was to clamber back on the bed, and practically crawl over Scherbe.

As she did, Scherbe was confronted by a face full of red hair, the bunched strands ticklish against her face. She felt the approach of a sneeze and tried to force it away, breathing slowly and evenly. At the same time, her nose worked, she could smell something familiar? It had to be the redhead's hair, the shampoo she used? She didn't recognize the scent, but at the same time, her mind was telling her that she should. But that didn't make sense, so she tried not to dwell on it. More important to get her other hand free so she could finally get up and out of bed.

And then it was done. The second cuff was undone, and she finally had both hands free. She rubbed her wrists in relief; even with the cuffs being fur-lined, they had still dug into her skin somewhat. At the same time, she thanked the redhead, who had backed up almost immediately after helping, as if afraid to get any closer to her. She looked away, toward the rest of the cabin, seeming to be debating between saying something or just leaving. "You... you don't remember what happened, do you?"

Scherbe had been focused on sitting up and getting out of bed. Only to realize that the cuffs had a matching set at the other side of the bed, that her ankles had been similarly bound. Now that she had both hands free, she was able to undo them herself. But it was still deeply disturbing. Just what in the nine hells had happened, that could have led to a situation like this? Had she drank too much, and gotten violent? She hoped that wasn't the case, she'd never forgive herself if she'd hurt one of the others. Never mind the fact that a weakness like that would almost certainly bar her from formally joining the Kell Hounds. They drank as a matter of course, but each of them were controlled enough to never drink too much, to the point of causing trouble. If she had failed in that aspect of their way, then she had failed everything.

That couldn't be it! She was stronger than that! No matter how much she drank, she wouldn't become violent! And if she had, surely that much alcohol would have left her something to remember it by the next morning! But she didn't have a hangover, so she couldn't have drank that much. That realization brought her a moment of relief, but only until she realized she still didn't know why she would have been cuffed to the bed. When the redhead asked her if she remembered what had happened, she shot the other girl a wary glance. Did that mean the redhead did remember? Or was she similarly in the dark? She wracked her brain for a moment, but couldn't think of anything after a certain point last night. "No... I can't remember anything. What happened?"

"Nothing! Nothing happened!" The redhead answered far too quickly, before deciding she'd said too much and turned to escape the suddenly too cramped cabin, and get some fresh air. Whatever fragments she could remember of the night before had left her feeling rattled and confused, and that translated into frustrated. So she turned on her heel in preparation to simply escape and never answer that question.

But she hadn't got very far before she felt a hand on her shoulder. Scherbe had already unlocked the cuffs on her ankles and gotten up, and caught up to her. They were at the cabin's door now, just a step from the outside. Scherbe fixed her with a serious stare, locking gazes with the redhead. "Tell me."

"There's nothing to tell!" She countered, breaking free of Scherbe's hand before continuing out onto the ferry's deck. Scherbe was just a step behind her, unwilling to let it go at such an obvious dismissal. She was going to get an answer!

Scattered applause greeted their emergence from the cabin, causing both of them to stop and stare in confusion at the unexpected ovation. A few catcalls and whistles were interspersed as well, but did little to shed some light on the confusing occurrence. Scherbe looked to the redhead for an explanation, only to see the other girl's cheeks were almost as red as her hair. The redhead seemed to swallow her embarrassment, and tap into the anger she had relied on for a good portion of her life. "Cut tha nonsense oot! Nothing happened!"

That did little to quiet the others down; in fact it just earned a round of giggles. "Sure, and if that's nothing then I wonder how far you'd have to go for it to be considered something?" This only got the redhead even more irritated, enough that she marched to the far side of the ferry before staking out a corner, sitting down with her back to the rest of the group. That was the farthest she could get away from them, not counting escaping back to the cabin.

Scherbe could only watch in confusion, confusion and no small degree of irritation. Did everyone know what had happened, except for her?! She turned to fix the closest girl with a stern gaze, enough that the girl's mirthful expression turned somber after just a moment. Once it did, Scherbe asked her, point-blank, just what had happened.

"You mean you can't remember? That much booze, can't say I'm surprised, but such a shame!" She couldn't help but giggle at that, looking at the others as they joined in for a moment. Whatever it was, they all thought it was great sport, something they thought was highly amusing. However, when they saw that Scherbe wasn't joining in, wasn't even smiling, they realized the truth. "You mean you really don't remember? Well..." They tried to recount just what had happened the night before, at least as much as they actually remembered.

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Scherbe had gone over to where the redhead had sat, distant from the others. Why she was staying so removed from everyone else, she didn't know. Nor did she have the slightest clue why the girl seemed so antagonistic toward her. It seemed more than simply a negative attitude, there had to be more to it than that. That was why she was making the effort now. She knew that often, talking could lead to resolution, and it was just rude to not bring drinks to what could well be a delicate negotiation. Even if they weren't properly old enough to drink, she had already decided to not worry about that.

So she found herself standing next to the redhead, and at a complete loss for words. Neither did the redhead make an attempt at conversation, instead merely sparing Scherbe a slightly hostile glare before retreating back to behind her crossed arms. Finally, Scherbe settled for just sitting down opposite the other girl, before setting the bottle down along with a pair of tumblers. She waited a moment, if for no other reason than to at least give the other girl a chance to refuse a drink. Then she popped open the bottle with the ease of long practice, the cork flying free to land on the deck next to her.

She filled the two glasses half full, before setting the bottle down once more. Picking up one glass, she raised it in a silent toast to her rather stubborn drinking companion, before knocking it back. As she did, she realized it was a good deal stronger than she expected, though not stronger than she had tried before. Even so, Black Tom had expensive tastes. Setting the now-empty tumbler down, she simply waited. And waited.

Eventually, the redhead seemed to grow irritated enough by the waiting that she grumbled before reaching out and grabbing the other tumbler. Just like Scherbe, she tossed it back in one go. That seemed to be what Scherbe was waiting for, only after they had both had a drink did she speak again. "Now that that's out of the way, I would ken if you have a grievance with me." As she spoke, she filled the tumblers again, though she didn't immediately move to empty her own. She'd eavesdropped on several discussions like this one back at the Kell Hounds' base, normally someone having trouble with Maverick. So she was doing her best to act formal, official, proper. In so doing, she hoped to keep the discussion civil, to avoid letting tempers get heated.

The redhead didn't answer for a long moment. Instead, she just glared down at the deck between them, before snatching up the tumbler and tossing back the second round. Thunking the glass down, she finally decided to speak. Her cheeks bore a pink tinge, but her voice was still clear. "And how are we to know if we can trust you? You weren't there with the rest of us, you only showed up when we were being moved to the ferry. Maybe yuir a plant or a spy!" She reached out to snag the bottle, before refilling her tumbler herself.

Scherbe blinked, she hadn't thought that being the last captive was grounds for suspicion. Could she even say something to allay the other girl's suspicions, when her actions up until now apparently hadn't been enough to prove herself? She had to try, at least. "Of course I'm nae a spy! Would I ha fought Black Tom meself if I was up in arms wi him?" She took a slug of her own drink, but didn't finish it.

The redhead wasn't convinced. "An that's another thing, just how do you know his name? None o us ever heard him say it, so how did you find out?" Another pour; another drink.

"I know because I had read his dossier before. The Kell Hounds brought him in once before, so I saw his file while I was looking over some of their old reports." Even if she wasn't really a member of the Kell Hounds yet, she still took a certain amount of pride in the fact that she had brought Black Tom down. The Kell Hounds had done so before, and now they had done so again. She didn't doubt that eventually the Kell Hounds would hear word of what had happened. And since she had given her name, they would also find out she was responsible. Would they be proud of her, would they finally realize that she was strong, too?

The redhead didn't seem impressed. In fact, she laughed Scherbe's claim off. "Ha! Like a little girl like you could be a part of the Kell Hounds! They're elite mercenaries, they wouldn't let a kid join!" She had finished off several tumblers by this point, and it was finally beginning to show at least some effect. She filled her glass again, before holding the bottle out to Scherbe. "You're such a little girl that you can't even hold your liquor, can you? Drink up, this is s'posed to be a party, innit?"

Scherbe glared at the challenge in the other girl's voice. That was one thing she definitely had in common with her mother, neither could ever back down from a challenge. So she did, finishing her drink before grabbing the bottle for a refill. The slight but very present animosity from the redhead had polarized the order to drink into a challenge to a drinking contest. Though it hadn't been said, they both understood that fact perfectly clear.

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Sometime during the next hour, their drinking contest had gotten heated. The bottle had ran out, but neither was willing to agree on what happened next. Scherbe claimed that since she had finished the bottle, she had won. The redhead denied that, saying she had started with those other drinks under her belt, so she was still ahead. By this point, they had both gotten to their feet and were glaring at each other in earnest. They weren't yelling, but even so, everyone else on the ferry was all too aware of the growing tension.

Fate intervened in the form of Scherbe's aches and pains flaring up, even through the thick veil of alcohol. She had crumpled to one knee, gasping in pain, as it felt like her entire center had exploded. But she immediately tried to get up again, she refused to lose the argument, even on account of something like that. This finally proved to be too much for the others to overlook. In the interest of keeping the peace, and stopping anyone from getting hurt, they had moved to stand between Scherbe and the redhead, before crowding Scherbe back toward the cabin, and the bed.

It was only after they had managed to practically force Scherbe down that they even noticed the cuffs. This turned out to be fortunate, the alternative would have been one or two of them having to stand guard to make sure Scherbe stayed in bed until morning. They were only able to stop her because of the alcohol; likewise they only managed to lock her up because she was too uncoordinated to fight back. When she was finally locked up, they sighed with relief, before leaving her to hopefully get some sleep, and recover.

While they were gone, the redhead had grumpily grabbed a new bottle, before taking a long pull. With that, her pride told her she had won, and that was enough for her. The party finally returned to mostly normal, at least for a little while. Only until the redhead realized that if she won, she needed to make sure that Scherbe knew, too. Otherwise she'd never admit she had lost. So she had gotten to her feet, before making her (slightly unsteady) way to the cabin. The other girls watched but didn't stop her, nervous that she might get unruly. Instead they just listened. They could hear her speaking, talking to Scherbe. Not yelling, that was a good sign, right?

But after a few moments, she had gone silent. Had something happened? One of the others cautiously crept to the door of the cabin, and peered inside. Only to blush furiously at what she saw, backing away in a hurry. The rest of the night was given over to gossip, as the news of what she had seen, or what she had thought she had seen, was circulated and embellished. Soon, that instance's glimpse had turned into something more, a silent witness to something that must have been brewing ever since the two first met.

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That was the extent of the other girls' memories, they had only dared to take a look into the cabin that one time; anything more would have been too much for them to dare risk. This did little to salve Scherbe's worries, she still had no idea just what had happened after the drinking. She had already known she'd drank, she could feel the faintest touch of a hangover lurking in the fringes of her mind. Not enough to really affect her, just a mild warning to not drink quite so much. Nothing about what happened afterward. Could she simply pretend nothing happened, and try to forget about it? She didn't know, but she was going to try.

Sighing, she moved toward the prow of the ferry and looked out, wondering just how far they still had to go. They had dropped anchor during the night, so they shouldn’t have lost any progress during the night. Still, there was a good distance to go even if they didn't drift. It'd take a good chunk of the rest of the day, but they should really reach land before the next night. This was good, as their impromptu celebration had done a number on the ferry's stores. There was still enough food to hold them all over comfortably for another day, but anything after that point would be a stretch.

Now that everyone was awake, there was nothing stopping them from pulling up the anchor and turning on the engine once more. Soon, they were bustling along at a steady clip. Nothing too fast, they didn't want to stress the engine and risk a breakdown. But a solid pace, they weren't going to waste time if they could avoid it.

Might be time тσ ℓσѕє уσυ

Eri hadn't been paying much attention to the lesson either. instead, he'd been sketching down a picture on a stray piece of paper, his notes pushed to the side of his desk, already taken down and memorized in his head. He had however, taken the time to glance over at the new student who'd entered. Of course the girls got all riled up like usual, they could be a big nuisance. Even a bother to him sometimes, but he was always polite to his classmates.

Eri let his pale moon coloured eyes settle on Rhythm for a few moments, taking in his features and observing his body language. Just by the expression he wore, Eri could tell he was nervous, he kind of felt sorry for him. Eventually the class returned to normal, and the only sounds were scratching pencils or the teachers voice, nothing but a distant murmur in Eri's mind. His attention on the beautiful sketch of a bird in the sky, on the paper in front of him.He brushed on lighter and darker strokes of colour, building and shading the picture, when suddenly something light hit him in the head and fell down his shoulder on to the desk in front of him.
The object was a paper plane. Eri paused for a few moments before unfolding it carefully, glancing over his shoulder at the possible suspects. One of the kids who'd also been in this class for awhile waved at him and point to the new kid, with a amused roll of his eyes. Nodding, Eri turned back to the piece of paper the plan had been constructed from, and wrote on it.

'You missed C: Welcome to the class, you can have your Plane back. I've been in the class for awhile, so let me know if you need anything. Don't let the others get to you just because you're the youngest.

~Eri

Eri's writing was neat and tidy, cursive and fancy, as if he'd been taking calligraphy for half of his life. He folded the paper back into a plane, doubled checked that the teacher wasn't watching, then launched it back, batting the air with a strike from his wing. The plane caught the sudden current and glided easily back to it's original owner, landing neatly on Rhythm's desk.

Eri finished his drawing and had taken to listening to the classroom and the various conversations around it. His draw of the bird was tucked in with the rest of his notes on the corner of his desk. He was leaning back in his seat and peering out the window, his dark hair being swayed by the faint warm spring breeze sliding through it. The curtains fluttered gently at the sides of the window, while birds sang outside.

It was a sudden flow of laughter that snagged Eri's attention away from two girls gossiping about a fight that would happen at break. The laugh was airy and light, softer than melting velvet. Could a human even have such an angelic laugh? Eri mused thoughtfully, tipping his chair back even further, till it balanced precariously on its back legs. A smile forming on his pale lips.
Half of him hoped that Rhythm would come and talk to him at break, he could always go over and talk to the new boy himself, but Eri had decided awhile ago, not to pester the new kids, and just let them come to him if they needed anything.

Still, when break time rolled around, Eri shoved his stuff inside his desk and wiped the earaser dust off his desk, doing anything he could to linger around the room, while other kids flooded out of the classroom like salmon swimming upstream. Eri re-arranged his papers casually, two times over.

Akiko danced along the stone stairs. It was a forty step drop to get to the stone path. Dropping each step at similar intervals, Akiko left behind the Gami clan area. Her house was deep inside the clan, so she couldn't leave without meeting a neighbor or two. She didn't like spending time at the other house. The house of the man who saved her. He had found her at home as a child. She was a newborn, left alone. She could have died. But he saved her. What did she do in return? She tried her best as a ninja, to make him proud. But it got harder every day to see that house and know it wasn't her true home. She didn't belong there. She didn't belong anywhere. Nothing she could do would change that. Yet, she couldn't help but hope that she might meet her mom one day. There was no proof, but she was positive her mom was Konan. If Konan was her mom, she would have to change. She might have to become one of the infamous Akatsuki. She didn't have to follow her footsteps, right? Akiko was an original person. She made her own path. But why did she feel this way? Like she was letting her mom down?

Akiko shook her head as she stepped onto the last step. She quit looking at her feet and looked ahead. A towering building stood dead ahead. It was a steel-like building with a grim aura. Akiko swallowed and took a brave few steps forward, thinking. "This doesn't look dangerous at all," she muttered with sarcasm. Her "savior" hadn't told her what the building looked like. It didn't seem very friendly. But then, not much in the Hidden Rain was. It was depressing all the time. Except for the young children playing in the rain, of course. Other than that everything was wrong. But that was her opinion. It didn't matter.

Akiko knocked on the academy door. Silence. She waited a few seconds before knocking again. Nothing. With irritation in her eyes, Akiko knocked on the door again. It echoed inside the building that time. Finally giving in, she pulled on the door handle and let herself in. She noticed the slate blue hallway first. Then she saw all the doors that led to classrooms. Each door was made of some kind of metal. It took a moment to register that the doors were metal to help keep out water. The Hidden Rain flooded at times because of all the constant rain. Akiko pulled a piece of paper out of her black rain coat. It had a number on it. Twenty-seven. She looked on the closest door, which had the number one on it. She took long strides as she passed each door in a blur. She didn't hear anyone else in the building, but there were always surprises in Amegakure. Always.

She opened the door to see a large classroom. Multiple dummies were in the very back. A sea of desks followed, leading to a decent-sized teacher's desk. A blackboard was on the wall. What was surprising was that the whole classroom was empty, except for a jounin leaning on the board. He had a toothpick in his mouth and his arms were crossed. His head was down and his eyes were closed. Before she could ask, he was already ordering her around. "Take a seat, Akiko." She nodded and walked into the sea of desks before turning to him confused. Like before, he was a step ahead. "I know your name because I got a notice telling me you would come here." Akiko nodded again, picking a seat in the very back with a mischievous smile on her face. The jounin looked up with irritation. "Want to sit a bit closer?"

Akiko shook her head. "You said I could pick a seat." The jounin growled with annoyance. "The name's Echo. The first jutsu you need to learn is the Art of Substitution." Akiko nodded as Echo pulled out a scroll. He wrote its name on the board and grabbed a pointing stick. He pointed at the ground next to him. A clone appeared. The clone went to punch him and Echo didn't dodge. Echo disappeared into dust. The pointing stick was in his place. Clapping, Akiko was in awe. "Your turn," Echo muttered.

Akiko's clapping stopped abruptly. She had forgotten that she had to learn how to do that. Huffing as she rose from her desk, she lazily made her way to the front of the classroom. With another sigh, she put her hands on her hips and watched Echo. He formed each handseal slowly. "Make sure to imagine an item nearby coming out of you." "That sounds nice." Akiko's reassuring sarcasm was refreshing to Echo, who hadn't had a student in a while. Fewer and fewer ninja were coming up to learn, what with the Hidden Leaf being taken for the federation.

Before she knew it, Echo was bringing his fist towards her face at an incredible speed. She knew he had hit her, but she felt nothing. When she looked down, she saw a pencil at her feet. "How?" Akiko just gaped at the pencil. She learned something! "You used your chakra to take something nearby to replace your body so you could get to safety." Akiko smiled at Echo, but quickly changed to a look of surprise. He was holding out a head band. "Wha-?"

"Our village might be in trouble soon. I trust you to train hard and protect us." Akiko grabbed the headband reluctantly. "Congratulations."

OOC: Drago sent me a PM that my profile was accepted but he was too busy to edit my profile that it was accepted. c: I have permission to post here.

show spoilerhide spoiler

Words: 1046
Total Chakra: 646
Jutsu Used: Art of Substitution
Jutsu Learned: Ditto
Energy: 500/900

Rhythm was coming back from Lunch, he had a few words with Eri, and had left to go join the others for lunch. But what surprised him the most was, how friendly his class was. They all welcomed him, as the new kid, and let him sit with him. He was the youngest of the Advance class, but he didn't mind at all. He was eighteen, and more than happy to spend time with people a little older than him. He just laughed, joked around with them, smiled and shared their lunches together. It was just a blast. And before he knew it, he was then in the "in" group that made all the freshmen girls swoon over. He was the top of the food chain. The bell rang, telling them that it was almost time for them to get back to class. So the large group of students gathered up their things, and marched back to their classroom in a slightly dramatic way. He grinned to a couple of people as they passed, and followed closely behind.
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Back in class, he was sitting next to a redheaded girl, and was chatting away. That was until the teacher came back in. He carried his usual note pad and books, and his glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. Adjusting his glasses slightly, he looked up at the students, and began to preach to them about the art of substitution. But in the middle of his preaching, a new student came into the room. Was he lost? He looked like a little kid. Maybe he was lost, and just didn't know where the Kindergartener's room was. Rhythm snickered a little at the though, and the redhead beside him gave him a questioning look. Then, the kid sat down next to him. He grinned, and looked down at the little twelve year old. He softly whispered to him, his soothing voice capturing the attention of some other classmates near by. Who wouldn't stop to listen to his Angelic voice? Rhythm's energetic orange eyes were looking into his silver ones, a smile plastered on his face.

"Hey there! You must be new. If you need anything, anything at all, ask me and I'll be more than willing to help." He gave a small grin, then turned his attention back to teacher.

A few minutes later, Rhythme slid a piece of paper over to the little kid, as it had neat writing on it. "You can train with me when it comes to Study hall of you'd like. Just like you, I was the new kid this morning too ;D" The note said. His lettering was curvy, but somehow elegant as well. Rhythm just kept his attention on his notes, and kept soaking the information up like a sponge.