Those In Need

[Valkier]

Long, cold hours passed in the aftermath of Team Seven's encounter in the forests near the small village of Mihara. Only one of their trio still stood, the young woman trudging through thick mud and dragging a laden, improvised stretcher behind her through the night. The earlier storm had finally broken, but the night sky was still dominated by broiling black clouds, and now it was cold wind that whipped at Ishiwara Setsuna, freezing her already sodden clothes to her skin. No small measure of strength and endurance drove her forward to her destination, pressing on even in spite of her own wounds and exhaustion.

Hachiya Kotori, one of her two teammates wrapped into the litter behind her, eventually stirred and opened blearly eyes. Her mind reeled for a moment as she returned to consciousness, trying to comprehend the moving scenery and the rough jolting of the litter on the ground, as well as the strange mix of feelings around her. She hurt, her chest a burning mass of pain, and her face was cold and sore from the wind and rain. But the rest of her was strangely warm. Damp, still, but swaddled and... and there was an arm around her? She looked up and her breath caught, finding herself staring at Kotetsu's closed eyes. What the...

Memory returned then in a rush, and she gasped. The fight in the woods, the storm, the strange owl-like spirit tearing through their team. Breaking Kotetsu against a tree, attacking Setsuna, then swooping down towards her. She tried to move, and the litter stopped as Setsuna heard her gasp or registered the shifting of her weight on the stretcher. Kotori grew agitited trying to claw her way out of the cloak and get back to her own feet again. A moment later she wriggled free and fell out onto the cold, wet earth of the road, then scrambled back and got her feet under her, her breathing coming short and fast.

"I.." She coughed, her hoarse throat catching hold of her words. She looked up at her remaining teammate, eyes wide. "Setsuna, I.. we.. You saved us?" She stepped forward and quickly embraced the older girl before she knew what she was doing, overwhelmed with relief that her comrades were—mostly—alive. The moment passed quickly as her reeling mind caught up, and she stepped away again.

"What happened? I remember that.. thing, and it..." she hesitated, and brought a hand up to her chest. Her tunic was torn to shreds, stained red and gold—gold?—and she felt bare, raw skin beneath. Incredulous, she tore the hole in the fabric wider and gaped. She could remember—no, she could still feel—the spirit tearing into her chest. She should be dead. Her clothes were evidence enough of the extent of her injury, and yet the skin beneath the torn tunic was whole and unblemished. A few dried smears of blood wiped away to reveal no injury at all. She looked up at met Setsuna's gaze, stunned.

The Genma. Realisation swept through her and she shuddered, face growing pale, then spun away from Setsuna to try cover up. Of course! That's what it does, right? But how? What did I do? She stripped off her tunic and folded it into a thinner wrap, then tied it back around herself as decently as possible. It left her midriff and shoulders bare, but in the moment she didn't even notice the cold. If Setsuna had been watching, she might've spotted an intricate golden tattoo wrapped around much of Kotori's torso before the girl quickly covered it.

"I'm okay... Somehow. I think." She turned back to Setsuna and gave her a wary look, hoping that the other girl wouldn't press the issue just yet, as incredulous as the situation may be. "Better than okay. Let me help." At first Kotori's words were bravado—her legs were still shaking as she hurried over to the stretcher—but soon she realised she did feel good. A little sore, a bit cold, sure; but even those feelings were fading with each passing moment. She pulled back to cloak to inspect Kotetsu, but in the end sighed and re-covered the boy in the litter, tucking him in tightly.

"I... I don't know how to help him.." She confessed, feeling a wave of guilt. Why was it that she was okay, when these two had saved her? She should be able to help them! She closed her eyes and tried to reach out to the beast within her but, for what felt like the first time, the monster was silent. Nothing responded to her mental cries. And so, scowling in determination, Kotori stood and helped lift the litter. With two of them, and with Kotori taking as much of the weight as she could, the group continued towards Mihara, now moving much quicker than before.

---

-

-

Some time later, the two women staggered into the outskirts of Mihara. The sky was clearing a little, and the first hints of morning gave a gentle illumination from the east, but it would be some hours yet before any of the locals stirred. If ever they did. What they could see of the small village—little more than a hamlet, really—was a ruin. Buildings on all sides were partially collapsed, and piles of debris lay strewn between impromptu shelters and lean-tos along the sides of the path. The ground was sodden through, and wooden spars sticking up from wide pools of brown water told of tragedy in the village.

A lone figure stepped warily out of one of the buildings ahead of the two girls, a farmer's scythe gripped with weak arms as he peered through the darkness at the newcomers. He wore a stiff and worn leather jerkin which was clearly several sizes too large for his gaunt frame, and he swore as he caught a good view of the two girls.
"Gods breath!" he dropped his weapon and hurried over, his hostile demeanour vanishing as he took in the condition of the group. His eyes caught the glint of Iwagakure shinobi headbands, and he froze. "You finally came?" he asked, relief and hope flaring in his expression despite the obvious state of the three ninja. "Come with me, in here. We can help your man."

He led the group up a set of steps and into the shell of a mostly-intact building, where salvaged timbers held up a sagging roof. Hunched figures lined the hallway and crouched in the rooms they passed, watching them with despondant eyes. None rose to investigate. The man led them to a kitchen at the rear of the building and quickly cleared a table, indicating that the girls set Kotetsu down upon it.

"Wait here. I'll fetch the doc. And the watchmaster, if he can be found..." The man scurried away, leaving the group alone in the decrepit room.

[Niro]

Nothing but blackness.

It wasn't fair to say it was dark. It was the darkest black one could ever imagine. No matter where he looked, it was all he saw. Even trying to see his hands in front of his face, he saw nothing. He heard nothing either and as panic begin to set in, blinding pain shot through his right arm. He tried to scream but nothing came from his throat as he fell to his knees and the pain over took everything he knew.

---

The storms intensity had lessened after their encounter with the spirit but still rain fell in heavy curtains. The red headed teen trudged along through the near-flooded forest while pulling her two team mates behind her. One of them, miraculously, had begun to heal unbeknownst to the others. The other? While not a life or death situation, it was definitely grim. The boys arm had been caught and crushed between the spirits body, antlers, and the trees as it had thrashed about the clearing where it had encountered them. Bones poked out here and there from beneath the wrapping and blood oozed from the mud-caked wounds. Kotetsu lay limp in the hastily put together stretcher oblivious to Setsuna's plight even as Kotori finally stirred and combined her effort with the red heads. The load lighter and the work divided, it didn't take them much longer to reach the village.

A broken, barely-there village they were supposed to help and protect. They couldn't even protect themselves, how could they protect an entire town? The doctor had immediately raced towards for the broken down remnants of a building once the news had reached him before the courier went off to go find the watchmaster as well. Surprisingly, he had been one of the few important figures in the town to survive. As he entered the building, the man barked orders at several of the others in front of the building. The people began to either disperse or jump to help him as the man rolled up his sleeves and entered the back room with two assistants.

It wasn't until Kotetsu felt himself being lifted up and out of the stretcher did his conscious finally stir. Pain exploded across his entire body as his senses came back to him and Kotetsu had no idea where he was for a moment. Panicked and in pain, the teen began to flail about on the table before the doctors gave orders for him to be held down and a substance was forced down his throat. Kotetsu choked on the liquid for a moment before his movements became sluggish and he fell once more into unconsciousness.

The doctor, meanwhile, looked over the man's arm and a grim expression came over his face. The damage done by whatever had attacked them was too great for him to repair and if nothing was done there was the threat of infection spreading to his whole body. In a snap decision, the doctor ordered the girls from the room and had the assistants push them from the door way and back into the hallway. The door slammed shut and was followed by the sound of a blade being sharped.

Inside the room, a thick piece of leather was placed between Kotetsu's teeth and the doctor went to work removing the shinobi arm right above the elbow. The medication they had given him earlier could only help so much and once Kotetsu felt the pain of his arm being sawed through, he began to scream and writhe once more. The leather muffled his otherworldly screams and the assistants held his down best they could but eventually Kotetsu passed out from the pain once more.

The next time the door would open, the doctor would come out from the room his smock no longer its previous color but a dark crimson. He looked at the girls with a haunted expression covering his face before walking past them.

"He'll live but good luck."

[Kao]

With the distant village in sight, Setsuna trudged on. She never stopped, never slowed down. If she did slow, if she did rest, then the weight of her responsibility for her injured teammates would surely crush her. She barely noticed the slight rustling and stirring that came from the makeshift stretcher that dragged behind her. Even when the struggling intensified, Setsuna only snapped out of her laser-like focus when her load became significantly lighter. The girl looked back, expecting that one of her teammates had fallen out of their protective restraints. But instead she was greeted by Kotori standing steadily on her feet, inexplicably energetic and alert. Normally the girl would recoil whenever someone embraced her, but in this moment she was stunned. Paralyzed. How on earth was this girl even upright?

"I- no, I didn't...how are you-" Setsuna gawked as Kotori ripped her already tattered clothes, revealing no remnants of the mauling she just endured. The genin's mind blanked from shock and confusion, and she just barely got a glimpse of Kotori's tattoo before she hastily covered it back up. She would have stood there in a confused stupor had the younger kunoichi not grabbed the litter, urging the group to carry on.

---

Setsuna was sure the boy would die.

His screams from within the room were gut-wrenching. She tried to tune him out by pacing up and down the narrow hall focusing on keeping her breathing deep and steady, but there was no way to ignore the sound of the agony ripping his throat or the metal ripping his muscle and bone. As the surgery went on, Setsuna avoided Kotori's gaze. In fact, she made sure to stand several feet away from Kotori at all times. Realistically Kotori should have been right alongside Kotetsu on that table, or worse. But instead she was with Setsuna, the both of them waiting uselessly while the doctor worked. Eventually the man sauntered past them, still grey and grim, but he uttered words that contained a small sliver of hope.

Setsuna rushed through the door ahead of Kotori, both eager to get away from to the younger girl and anxious to see Kotetsu's condition. Once she was close enough to see the lengths that the doctor had to go to in order to save Kotetsu's life, Setsuna paled. She tore her eyes away, then back again. By the time Kotori would approach, the normally even-tempered and aloof girl looked on the verge of vomiting. All at once, she unleashed the cascade of emotions she had been holding back since they were in that dark forest.

"What did we get ourselves into?" she yelped, the words fading into a whimper as she sunk to the floor. "Kotetsu is missing an arm now! His arm is in the trash somewhere and this village is in ruins and we're supposed to help them- how? We can't even help ourselves. And you! Something is wrong with you, Kotori. You should be dead!" Her violet-blue eyes glared, accused, and her voice was crescendoed into a terrified shriek. "Why....how do you not have a single scratch on you now, Kotori?!"

[Valkier]

Kotori sat slumped against the wall outside the makeshift operating theatre, head down and arms wrapped around her knees. She winced and hunched further in on herself with every agonising scream from within, knuckles turning white from the pressure of her grip. Three times throughout the procedure she rose, determined to bust through the door and find out just what the hell these people were doing to her friend, but seeing the worry on Setsuna's face stalled her each time. They were trying to help. Give them space. Give them time, and hope. But god damnit, she hated feeling helpless. She should be in there, at his side. More than that, it should be her on that table, not him! She quickly wiped away a few tears when Setsuna's back was turned. Nothing about the day had gone well, and to think this was their first mission, too.

She tried to catch Setsuna's gaze a few times, but the other girl never once met her eye. Come to think of it, she hadn't said a word to Kotori since they'd begun carrying the litter together, hours earlier. Back then the effort had been too much for chatter, but now the unspoken rift between the two girls yawned wider with each averted look, each solitary step. Something was definitely up, but whatever the issue, it could wait until after they knew Kotetsu's fate.

When the door finally opened Kotori leapt up and hurried through, though Setsuna was faster. The other girl was already beside Kotetsu when Kotori approached. She opened her mouth to ask how the boy was doing, but the question died on her lips at Setsuna exploded. Her words rung through Kotori like a tolling bell, heavy with accusation. At least, that's how it seemed to Kotori, exhausted and sickened as she was by the day's events. She reached over to take Kotetsu's one remaining hand in both of hers, and ducked her head to hide the tears. No wiping them, this time.

"You're right," she whispered, voice hoarse and subdued, "I know, you're so right." She closed her eyes and shook silently, and when she opened them again she was met with the heat of Setsuna's glare. There was no escaping this now. She took a deep breath, fingers tightening on Kotetsu's limp hand.

"Go on, child. It's okay."

"I am the Jinchuuriki of Nolosha no Ukiyogenma, the Phantom Beast of Life." Her voice was quiet, but clear, cutting through the still air of the room. The admission made the hairs shiver on her arms, the bile to rise in her throat. "I'm sorry I hid it from you, but I... I don't understand it yet. I'm terrified by it all. I didn't know what it could do..." And then, quietly whispered to herself, she added, "...I could have saved him. If only I knew how, I could've saved us all... Kotetsu, I'm..." The guilt was too much. The anger in Setsuna's eyes, the bloody wrapped stump on the table before her, the failure and the hurt. Too much. She released her grip and turned, staggering back towards the door as the room spun around her.

[Niro]

Kotetsu had faded and out during the course of the emergency surgery. The anesthetics the doctor had forced down his throat were foul tasting and only lasted so long before he could once more feel what was going on. The sound of the tools scraping along surfaces permeates his ears as his consciousness swam in and out. The grinding and breaking noises as the saw removed the mangled arm from his body was enough to make him go insane. Kotetsu could feel every muscle in his body scream out in agony and frustration before the pain became too much and it overloaded his senses.

The bloody, bandaged stump where his right arm had been wasn't the first thing Kotetsu noticed upon waking up. The shrieking voice of Setsuna dragged his consciousness of out the sea of black it had been swimming in and just as Kotori reached the door frame, a haggard haunting groan escaped the teenagers lips.

"Water..." Kotetsu croaked out, his voice nearly gone and his throat hoarse from all the screaming he had done over the course of the surgery. He turned his head to face the two girls, his visage pale and clammy from the ordeal, and his eyes reflected his exhaustion after not only fighting the spirit but going through...this. Yet, a defiant glimmer of determination remained in his eye. Kotetsu wasn't done; this mission was just another hurdle to overcome.

[Kao]

The genin normally wasn’t easily moved by tears. She had a talent for appearing apathetic even when she wanted to yell or cry. Under these circumstances however, with her emotions pulling further away from her control, Setsuna wavered. She didn’t consider the possibility that Kotori was also feeling guilty and afraid. Somehow she expected the usually overeager girl to shake off the trauma of the battle, especially since she was inexplicably unharmed after being so obviously torn apart. Seeing Kotori scared and vulnerable was a new side of her that the redhead didn’t know how to handle.

And then, the younger kunoichi said something completely unexpected that made Setsuna go pale. Her head reeled back as if she suffered a physical blow. ‘The…beast of life?’ It rang a bell, but she was so shocked at the revelation that she could barely remember details about the genma. They were ancient. Powerful. Dangerous and destructive. Not unlike the beast that had attacked them in the forest.

Her mouth opened an inch, but any response evaporated in the dryness of her throat. What could she say to that? The genma and its jinchuuriki had seemed like a thing of legend, something she would only ever hear about through stories and never actually face. But now there was one right in front of her, shaking and helpless. Eventually she stood up with wobbly knees, wanting nothing more than to run and hide and process the weight of everything that had happened since leaving Iwagakure. Instead she forced herself to approach the unsteady Kotori and placed a clammy hand on her elbow. Just as she did, Kotetsu stirred and spoke. Relief melded with her fear, mitigating the urge to run away and leave these two to their own devices.

Setsuna gently led Kotori to a seat at Kotetsu’s side. She lingered for a moment to make sure the younger girl didn’t faint and to admire the hint of resilience in Kotetsu’s eyes, and she stood stiffly and awkwardly for a moment before turning to the door. “Sit. Breathe. I’ll go get us some water.” Their provisions were conveniently forgotten. She needed a moment alone.

Once the door closed behind her, Setsuna covered her face in her hands and whimpered. It was so much all at once, and as much as she felt like her body and mind would crumble she knew that wasn’t an option. It was on her to be a pillar of support and to push her team forward, and although that wasn’t a role she ever envisioned taking on, there wasn’t much of a choice that day. So she patted her cheeks and blinked back her tears, then walked down the hall in search of water and food.

[Valkier]

Kotori hesitated in the doorway as Kotetsu's words, distantly heard, reached her through the numbness clouding her mind. The whole situation since the disastrous encounter in the forest was like a bad dream from which there was no waking, and reeling as she was from it all, she felt like an observer in the back of her own head watching it all unfold scene by scene but having no control over it all the same. But then suddenly Setsuna was there at her side, guiding her gently back into the room. Absently she knew she shouldn't leave with Kotetsu in his state anyway, and before she knew it she was sitting down alone beside him. Part of her wondered if she'd said too much, if she'd scared Setsuna away, that her friends would never forgive her again. But these thoughts were secondary to her concern for the young man who'd just woken. Making a mess of things was not new to Kotori, but friendship was.

"..I.." She swallowed, mouth dry, and folded her hands in her lap. What did you say to someone in his position? It seemed absurd to ask how he was feeling, or if it hurt. Eventually she looked up and ran her eyes over and across the boy properly, taking in all of his injuries and condition without flinching this time. Her Dad had always said the first step to dealing with a situation was to understand it and accept it for what it was. Easier said than done. She forced herself to look anyway.

All at once she remembered him in the forest again, vaulting onto the creature's back and driving it away even as it mauled her. She stiffened at the recollection and had to force herself to keep breathing, one hand gripping her tunic over where she'd taken the wound. She could still feel the antlers gouging into her, even though the injury was there no longer. It was the last thing she could remember before waking up on the litter wrapped beside him. Gods, his arm. For her. Was this the end of his career as a ninja already? And all her fault.

"Kotetsu, I'm..." Something in his eyes stopped her. Was it anger? Of course, he must hate her. "Thank you. For saving me. Saving us. I remember what you did," she finished weakly. She fell quiet again for a moment, uncharacteristcally awkward, and feeling too helpless for comfort. Where was Setsuna? She was so much better with people. She'd know what to do, what to say.

She shifted awkwardly, then met Kotetsu's gaze again for a moment. No, that wasn't anger. Or not only. Defiance? It sparked something in her, stirring up a fragment of her usual bravado, and she realised that none of them would let things end like this. "You look about ready to go raise some hell," she managed, the lie burning in her throat, but she managed a weak smile all the same. "That owl-thing won't know what hit it. And next time, I'll do the saving. I promise." And for a second her eyes shimmered with a hint of gold, flickering across her pupils like the light of a guttering candle.

[Niro]

Oblivious to the minor mental breakdown Setsuna was having on the other side of the door regarding her position within the team, Kotetsu's mind was piecing itself and a timeline back together as Kotori tried to comfort him to some degree. The one thing bothering him most right now? Gods, his lips were dry. With all of the screaming, his lips had dried and cracked and his throat had turned into something reminiscent of a desert. The teen swallowed thickly as he tried to summon up more strength to respond to Kotori and was rewarded with a sharp, dry cough racking his body. Minor jolts of pain flashed across his entire body from the cough as a look of annoyance flashed across his face at the response. Finally, his lungs cleared and he lied back against the table to take a deep, full breath.

"Didn't want to lose anyone else," Kotetsu rasped out slowly as his tongue glided across his lower lip in an attempt to wet it. "Already lost my parents in the wilds, didn'-...couldn't lose you too." The boy hadn't looked down at his right arm yet and part of him felt like if he never did, it was still there. He could go back to smithing with no issue. Continue to be a shinobi or whatever else he desired within his lifetime. Near immediately he threw the idea out; the word fake kept echoing in his mind for as long as he contemplated it. Throwing caution to the wind, Kotetsu's eyes moved from Kotori to the stump of his arm and his nose and mouth pulled back in a grimace. Even though there was no limb below the angry red and stitched skin, Kotetsu felt like it was still there. Still felt like he could flex, make a fist. His eyes told him the truth, however. Losing an arm was worth the two of them being okay. Well, as okay as they could be right now.

Kotetsu lifted his left arm up weakly from its spot on the table and mimed writing something out. Something to write with. To design with. Already designs for rudimentary prosthetics were filling his mind. Something he could easily put together and replace with every day parts. It didn't have to be pretty, it just had to work for now. Until they got home, back to the village. Then, there? He'd craft something that'd spirit would truly regret.

"Never built an arm before, heh," Kotetsu fought to say before weakly laughing with it leading into another dry biting cough. Once the coughs finally finished and air rushed to fill his lungs, it seemed the boy hadn't learned his lesson to stay quiet. "First time for everything."

[Valkier]

Kotori jumped up and held Kotetsu's weak side as carefully as she could during his coughing spasms, trying to hold him steady through the weak hacking motions. Thankfully they soon passed and, when he was stable again, she let go and sat back down feeling as awkward as she did useless. What could she do? The people skills and the personal touch that might help him—and let alone any sort of medical expertise—were foreign concepts to the girl who was still only a few short years out of her barbarian upbringing. She tried to imagine what Setsuna would do in her place and, subconsciously breathing a little easier once Kotetsu managed a full breath himself, she found herself listening with a bowed head. And his words reached an understanding within her. She nodded slowly.

"I get it. I know what it's like to lose people." Family, friends, her home. The war had not been kind to any of them. "I think I would've done the same... Or, well, I woulda tried." And she realised just how much she wanted her teammates to be okay, and to stay okay, whatever the cost. They were the closest thing she had to a family, now, however absurd that may sound if she said it aloud after only a handful of days together.

She silently watched the turmoil on Kotetsu's face as he examined his wound, heart going out to him, and then gladly leapt to search for writing implements once he asked. Any excuse to be doing something. She turned to find their packs of gear strewn beside the back wall of the room and began digging through them, finding first her mission scroll, and by chance also half a canteen of water beneath. A stout black wooden splinter, pulled from a fallen and charred beam nearby, made do as a pseudo-pencil. Setting it and the paper down beside Kotetsu's remaining hand, she showed him the canteen and then helped him unscrew it and take a good long drink.

She wanted to smile at his optimism about designing an arm, wanted to say something to ease his mind or encourage him, but for perhaps the first time since meeting her teammates she found herself entirely lost for words. Instead she just sat, increasingly numb as the shock of the day's events ran through her mind, until her attention was drawn back to reality.

[Kao]

“...and they sent a bunch of kids that come to us beat up. Are they not taking this seriously?”

Setsuna’s footsteps slowed as the sound of agitated male voices wafted through the dark hall. Evidently the trio’s arrival garnered a lot of attention from the villagers, and they understandably were not reassured by the team’s condition. The young shinobi pushed the door open and stood in the entryway without a word. It took some time for the group of five to notice the new arrival, and they continued to grumble and shuffle. When weary old eyes turned to meet hers they looked startled, then embarrassed, with a few expressions then venturing toward annoyance and distrust.

“Please excuse our minor setback,” she began, initially moving as if to bow. But she thought better of it, and instead she crossed her arms over her chest. “But we’re trained shinobi. That’s the only reason we survived the things that are lurking at the borders of this village. Give us time to recuperate, and any food and water you can spare.” Setsuna stood with practiced poise, and despite her firm tone with its carefully crafted gentle edges, her hunched shoulders betrayed her unease. The men shared a hesitant look between themselves. This heavily armed child certainly looked and sounded like a shinobi, albeit one that was still quite a bit wet behind the ears.

After a long silence, someone cleared their throat. “Water’s hard to come by, but we have some ale.” After a few minutes she was armed with a small jug of the sloshing liquid. The only food they could offer were a few slivers of dried meat, which she quickly turned down since they were clearly low on such supplies. The girl began her trek back to her teammates, stepping over drenched wooden beams that had collapsed from the roof. She was still trying to keep the full weight of the situation from settling fully in her gut, but her efforts proved to be for naught.

“Hey. Hey!” A tall, filthy man stumbled through an opening in the side of the building, his footsteps heavy and uneven due to a fresh wound on his left thigh. He leaned against a makeshift walking stick, though in his hurry to get to Setsuna it was little more than splintered wood. “They told me some Iwagakure shinobi arrived. But is it just you three? Are there more reinforcements coming?”

“It’s just us for now.”

His deep blue eyes, already misty from pain and exhaustion, spilled over. He averted his gaze and quickly wiped the tears from his cheeks. “I see…. In that case, there’s some things you should know.”

---

Setsuna nearly ripped the door clean off its hinges when she reentered the room with furrowed brows and lips locked into a tight frown. In one hand she held the jug of ale, nearly dropping it as she stomped over to her two injured teammates. Now that the adrenaline had worn off she could feel the potent pain radiating from her messily bandaged arm and it was hard to maintain her grip on the handle. The genin placed the jug at Kotori’s feet and then, after a brief pause, placed a tiny green canvas bag in Kotetsu’s lap. It was barely the size of her palm, and if he opened it immediately he would see a few small green capsules tucked inside. “The new head of the village gave me that. He claimed it’s some wonder medicine, but he seemed nervous about it. So I pressed him and he said, and I quote, ‘its magic rivals that of you shinobi and the villagers would kill me if they knew I gave it to you.’ But he felt bad about bringing ‘kids’ all the way here just to get injured so he’s willing to risk it.”

The redhead moved to stand behind Kotetsu’s head, and she glanced at his makeshift pencil and paper before continuing on, worry trickling into her voice. “He also told me that the village has been hit over and over by earthquakes and floods in the past few months. But even with all the rain we’re not close enough to a water source for the kind of flooding he’s describing.” She looked from one teammate to the other and then inhaled deeply. It felt as though she was breathing in all the tension and despair that had been plaguing the village. The sensation traveled to the pit of her stomach and then radiated to her fingertips, and once she finally breathed out the sensation lingered. Even as she clenched her hands into tight fists she couldn’t stop them from shaking.

“How are we supposed to help them? It might be better if they all just evacuate to the next town over. What else could we do….” She trailed off, her voice cracking and ending in a small squeak.

[Niro]

Kotetsu sat up as best he could with one arm and a battered body while Kotori pressed the canteen against his lips. The refreshing splash of water against his tongue relieved the feeling of he had traversed a desert. The teen gulped down several mouthfuls before pulling his head away to breath and eyeing the makeshift design supplies Kotori had put together. He would need to design something sturdy, something able to hold a weapon or tool firm. As his remaining hand went to grab the splinter and begin to sketch the designs in his head, Setsuna burst through the door into the room.

The redhead wasted no time after placing down a jug of whatever the villagers had been able to spare for them and then give him a small wrapping of pills. Kotetsu moved himself into a more comfortable sitting position with a painted grunt and fingered open the wrapping to get a better look at the capsules. He squinted his eyes as he looked looked at the pills and turned one of them over in his fingers.

"I don't think we can. Not today, at least. For now we need to rest and take a breather. Going back to Iwa will only make us easy targets in our current shapes. Let's try to find some place to sleep and then we'll go from there. One step at a time." Kotetsu spoke softly after he heard the frustration and crack of Setsuna's voice. The poor girl was going through it and it seemed her own wounds were just barely taken care of. A deep sigh escaped deep from within his breast before, with another grunt, Kotetsu swung his legs over the side of the table and getting off of it. The teen bent over and grabbed the jug of ale and as he stood back up, a wave of dizziness from the blood loss and sudden movement washed over him,

Kotetsu steadied himself against the table for a moment before flashing the girls an uncertain smile. "Let's get out of here. I'm tired of smelling my arm."

Kotetsu ignored the stares and whispers of the villagers within the building as they exited it. They were greeted by the same overcast sky although night had begun to fall. People were beginning to retreat to their makeshift shelters and the village seemed even more dead. The doctor from earlier stepped out of the shack shortly after them and stood silently as the group surveyed the village. The man cleared his throat to gain their attention before tossing a large tent kit to Kotori.

"It isn't much but its owner isn't with us anymore." With that, the man coughed and turned back into the shack.

"We should find a spot to set that up before it's too dark and we can't see."

[Valkier]

Kotori jumped half out of her skin upon Setsuna's sudden return, snapping back to herself and looking around in alarm. Her eyes followed the so-called "wonder medicine", even leaning over Kotetsu's shoulder to examine the odd little capsules. What were they? What would they do for Kotetsu? In the stories—children's stories, because such things usually were—magic cure-alls usually came with some sort of terrible curse or cost. But this was reality, and if they could help Kotetsu.... Eventually she pulled her eyes away, distracted by the worrying tone in Setsuna's voice as she continued her report.

Kotori opened her mouth to agree, then hesitated with a concerned look at Kotetsu. He was in no shape to press on tonight, and quite truthfully, even Kotori was spent from the ordeal of the day. Her thoughts were coming slowly now, and she'd be little use in another fight. Even less use than before. She waited for Kotetsu to finish his piece and then gave a reluctant nod of agreement. It pained her to sit still, but at the moment it seemed the right thing to do.

"I... We won't get far tonight. Kotetsu's right, we need time to recover and get our bearings; there's something not right with this town. We don't even know where we could go, and it'll be dark again soon. Let's at least wait til the morning light." Because that thing is probably still out there, she thought to herself with a shudder, waiting for us to leave so it can finish what it nearly did earlier.

Even so, she thought they'd stay here in the make-shift operating room until Kotetsu at least could get some rest. His body had been through so much in the last few hours. And yet he surprised her by rising—even if it did take him a moment—and moving to leave. She shook free of the shock and followed near at hand, trying not to be too obvious of the fact she was staying close enough to catch him if he stumbled or fell. Gods, he looked weak, and could drop at any moment. But step by step, he continued. Kotori glanced at Setsuna, astounded. Relentless, she thought.

Outside, she caught the tent and slung the pack over one shoulder, then nodded and led the way further into the town. The street they were on was already strewn with debris and thick with mud, with no suitable place to pitch, but it looked like it might open out ahead. And better to be in the middle of the town, she reasoned, where they could rest easier. Even so, she didn't want to force Kotetsu to walk far in his state—but she needn't have worried, because it seemed the village was smaller than she'd first thought, and the road they were on ended at a sort of central plaza. Rows of damaged and battered trees lined a paved courtyard, sodden and covered with oddments of wreckage, and various other tents and lean-tos had been assembled across and around the open space, many of them rickety, exposed, or leaning heavily. More of the buildings here were whole, but all were already bursting at the seams with the villagers, each looking more forlorn than the last, as if hope were even scarcer than food in this forsaken town.

She led the others to a patch of bare earth, the ground rutted and torn where the roots of a tree had recently been pulled up, and dropped the tent pack nearby before forming a few slow and deliberate hand seals. Her body groaned at the exertion of drawing a few last motes of chakra, but she endured, feeding off of the sadness and sorrow around them. She could do this one little thing to give them a place to rest. She moulded the chakra into doton, blending and shaping it just so, then pushed it out into and through the ground at her feet. The quagmire shifted and split as a slab of solid earth rose in its place to cover a few square metres, flat in the middle to pitch upon, but with a gulley at the edges in the hope of directing away as much rainwater as possible. Then, breathing heavily from the effort, she knelt and began assembling their little tent. It was decidedly smaller than she would've liked—but any port in a storm.

She barely remembered completing the assembly and crawling inside, but soon enough she was curled into one far corner, pressed uncomfortably up against their packs on the hard ground. But she needed least room out of the three, so she kept quiet, turned to the wall of the tent, and tried to stop the shaking and the quiet tears as the day's events replayed again and again in her head...

[Kao]

Setsuna listened to her teammates speak briefly, agreeing with their assessment of the situation. The experience had humbled them, had drilled into their heads the fact that they were still weak and helpless in the grand scheme of things. The redhead had never deluded herself into thinking she was a great shinobi, but this day had really made her stop and consider her trajectory. As they walked through the dilapidated village, she barely saw the despondent inhabitants. Perhaps that was best for her. Their empty eyes and shoulders hunched over from the weight of hopelessness may have caused the child to break down completely.


Silently, she and Kotori assembled the tent. Kotori’s movements were slow, and it was clear that she was on autopilot. Exhausted. Once they were satisfied with the integrity of the tent Setsuna crawled in after the younger girl. But instead of settling in for sleep, she used her now tattered and dirty cloak to cover the girl. She hoped the thick fur lining would help her sleep more soundly. Setsuna then ushered Kotetsu inside the tent near Kotori, ignoring any protests he may have had. She checked his wrapping awkwardly, suddenly embarrassed that she had no knowledge of the healing arts and knew only the most rudimentary skills that anyone on the street could manage. That, among other things, was something she needed to fix.

Once she was satisfied that they were settled as comfortably as they could be on the hard ground, she took up her post just outside the tent’s entrance. After managing to make a small fire the kunoichi sat cross legged with her katana leaning against her shoulder. Fiddling with the filthy wrapping around her arm, her mind raced with thoughts for what seemed like hours. She needed to train. She needed to be more alert and aware of her surroundings. She needed more in her arsenal besides taijutsu and kenjutsu. There was so much she needed to learn to keep not only herself safe, but to keep her teammates alive. It may have been because she was the only one who was able to walk away from the attack, or because physically she was the strongest of the three. But somehow she felt responsible for Kotetsu and Kotori. It was a burden she had never wanted, but it was now one she felt it was her duty to carry. With these thoughts in mind, she drifted off into a restless slumber.