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| - "Can you walk any slower?" Kimiko shouted at Akemi from the end of the path. "Yeah, hurry it up." Her older brother Hiraku chimed in. Suppressing her urge to smack both the bratty children on the sides of their heads as she approached, Akemi slightly quickened her pace. It had been awhile since Akemi had been assigned a mission, 4 weeks in fact. Though Akemi had taken advantage of the surplus of free time to train, she had longed for a mission to come along, simply to ease her boredom. However, acting as the sole guard for two rather unpleasant teens was not the mission she had in mind. Hiraku and his younger sister Kimiko were the children of one of the wealthiest merchants in the Land of Fire and beyond from what Akmei knew. They had been brought to Akemi outside the boundaries of the Hidden Leaf Village by a team of five chunin, a notable security force indeed. Their father had began traveling to the Land of Iron with his caravan, while his children were to be escorted South, to The Land of Tea where their mother resided. The task had seemed simple enough, normally an easy task for a ninja of Akemi's caliber. Unfortunately, no one had told her the hardest part of the mission would be NOT killing the people she was supposed to protect. Kimiko was an attractive young girl of 16, her long brown hair cascading over her back, obscuring the pink floral pattern on the expensive Kimono type overcoat she was wearing. Kimiko's knee high boots had a similar pattern, stretching from the fur lining the collar to the thick heel that added an inch to Kimiko's otherwise unimpressive height. Her brother Hiraku was only a year older, sporting a sleeveless shirt, no doubt showing of the weapon tattoos covering his arms. Apparently his father dealt in rare weapons, several replicas of which were now permanently painted onto his son's body. A heavily embroidered black and gold staff ran up the teen's right arm, surrounded by an equally decorated whip sword of the same color. His left arm bore a set of decorative knives laid out across his bicep and trapezes. Hanging from his expensive leather belt, Hiraku had a sheath containing a finely crafted knife, the pearl handle protruding form the hardened leather. Akemi knew it was finely crafted, because she had helped make it. Her and Yoru sensei had spent hours crafting a blade that was both beautiful and efficient, the time being one of Akmei's happier memories. That knife was now around the waist of Hiraku, son of one of the richest merchants currently in existence. The thought left a bad taste in her mouth. Hiraku and Kimiko had been nothing but a thorn in Akemi's heel since they had left the village. They were typical spoiled brats, nothing less and certainly nothing more. Kimiko went into a momentary rage every time dirt was kicked up from the trail and onto her attire. The outbursts occurred every five minutes or so, the spaces filled with Hiraku making passes at Akemi, the last of which Akemi had threatened to drag him by a broken leg to their destination. The edge in her voice and the threatening look in her eyes had convinced Hiraku to remain distant from Akemi for now, but it was likely only a matter of time before his arrogance once again got the best of him. In addition, the siblings seemed to view Akemi as more of a servant than a hired bodyguard, constantly showing displeasure with her pace, whether slow or fast and insisting she perform laboring tasks such as carrying their bags when they got tired, which had been about 90% of the journey so far. Worst. Mission. Ever. Akemi thought as she began grinding her teeth. "Your so slow." Kimiko exclaimed. "We're never going to make it there in time if you keep slacking like this, and I am not sleeping outside on the dirt. If it gets dark before we reach the hotel, you better come up with something fast." Hiraku slowed to allow Akemi to come even with him, stretching one of his tattooed arm over her shoulders. "Are you tired?" he asked with a tone that emanated his confidence. "If you like you can rest in my room once we get to the hotel, how 'bout it?" Akemi shot Hiraku the same icy look she had before, getting him to immediately remove his arm and take several quick steps away from Akemi. "I told you to back off." Akemi said with a hard edge in her tone. "I'm getting really sick of these advances. If you keep this up, you won't like what I do to you." Despite them obviously being a threat, Akemi's words didn't seem to have the desired effect, as Hiraku continued to look at her with a smug grin on his face. "Your so rude." Kimiko joined in. "Our father is paying the Hiding Leaf a lot of money to keep us safe. We were told you were professional, not rude, so stop being so rude." Akemi could feel the veins in her face bulge for a moment before she took a deep breath to calm herself. Arguing to herself that hurting the brats would do nothing but slow them down. It was in Akemi's best interest, and theirs, that this mission be completed as quickly as possible. So far nothing had gone wrong. Akemi could only hope that the remained of the mission go as smoothly. Somewhere in the Land of Fire A blond-haired shinobi, around six-five in height with lake-blue eyes jumped from tree to tree. Sporting a v-neck zip-up vest surrounded by a black, high collar cloak and matching pants, complimented by Suna-style, open-toe sandals,Hikaru Kazekage was completely focused on the mission at hand. The renowned Sunagakure shinobi, relative of the late Third Kazekage, and well known user of the Iron Sand, hopped through the trees as he quickly traversed the landscape at speeds unnatural of nearly any all shinobi. He was on a very important mission to the Land of Tea to hunt down, capture and turn in two shinobi suspected of various crimes in the Land of Wind. As he hopped through several trees, he pulled out his Mission Brief slip before looking in it as a quick reminder of his sole and direct objectives. Looking at the slip, he could see a few details concerning the appearance of the shinobi along with a few snapshots. Looking at them, they were accused of crimes, prompting the commander to assign Hikaru to the case, seeking to capture the accused and return them to Suna for questioning and possibly interrogation. Hikaru wasn't like the typical shinobi, he was one that would try his best to resolve a situation before it gets out of hand, but he was one that would resort to extreme measures should they be called for. Rolling the slip up and returning it to his pouch, he utilized his magnetic abilities to scan a massive area for shinobi as he moved at mach speed, hopping though trees swiftly as he seemingly flew through the massive forest, on his way to the Land of Tea to possibly engage the wanted. This mission could be pretty dangerous is I'm not careful, but then again, if things do get out of hand, I'll take care of it quick, or else I might risk intense conflict between Suna and another country..." Hikaru thought to himself as his magnetokinetic sense picked up birds, deer, squirrels and insects as he continued to zoom through the forest at an unprecedented rate that would seem completely invisible to the unaided eye. "They don't called he the Rod of God for nothing..." he though as he landed in a clearing. Looking around the clearing, he could see several trails leading to different areas as he turned left and right. Closing his eyes, he focused his magnetokinetic sense and tuned it with the Earths before pinpointed the direction he was to go in in accordance with the respective location of Sunagakure, which when combined with his memory of the countries, allowed him to explicitly navigate the various Lands without need for a physical map. Five Kilometers from the Land of Tea "Slow down already!" Kimiko shouted at Akemi. "Why are you walking so fast? Do you expect me to run to keep up with you?" "I don't mind athletic woman." Hiraku stated to himself loudly enough for Akemi to hear several meters ahead of him. "That's pretty hot actually. I just hope you don't ware yourself out before we make our stop." Akemi's hand tightened around the strap on Kimiko's expensive handbag. She felt as if an aneurysm in her brain was about to burst. Perhaps death was a more desirable fate than spending five more minutes babysitting the two most obnoxious and unbearable Akemi had had the displeasure of meeting in her entire life. But after taking one more deep breath, Akemi did her best to remain calm and remind herself that she only had to bring the two of them a mere kilometer past the Land of Tea border to the Zeitaku Hotel before the children would be handed over to another security force. Not much Longer Akemi kept reminding herself. Just a little longer and you will be free of these pests. You can relax at the hotel for the day and head back the village in the morning to collect your payment. Maybe you can spend the evening at the hot springs before you get back to training. While trying to lose herself in her thoughts to attempt to drown out her vocal clients, Akemi almost failed to notice an important detail. Someone was approaching. Stopping in her tracks, Akemi quickly dropped the bags she had been carrying onto the ground. "Hey!" Kimiko shouted as she snatched her handbag off the dirt trail. "Are you mental? How dare you drop my favorite handbag! Do you know how much this costs? I bet you haven't even seen..." "Shut up." Akemi ordered, her voice stern and focused. Kimiko blinked twice, her face expressing utter shock at Akemi's words "I beg your pardon? You don't speak to me with such..." "Shut. Up." Akemi ordered once again, this time her fingers gliding behind her head over to the handle of her sheathed kukri. This time, Kimiko said nothing. Hiraku remained silent as well seemingly aware Akemi was entering a battle stance. "Don't bother hiding." Akemi shouted into the foliage that surrounded the trail. "I recommend you show yourself now." "They spotted me already, despite me being out of their sight..." the man thought as he scanned the area. Feeling movement above, he looked up to see birds, curiously watching him. "They can use birds for spotting. Great, my cover is blown so soon, time for Plan B..." he though before walking out of the foliage bravely to meet the one responsible for his cover being blown. Looking ahead of himself, he paused for a split second, taking in the beauty of the woman standing before him. Putting that aside, Hikaru focused on his mission. Seeing as the woman was armed, he assumed from the get-go that she wasn't the one being transported, but likely the one transporting. Smiling at the woman, Hikaru simply held his hand out, while he placed his other hand on his sword. "I'm here for the goods... Now we can do this the easy way, or thing can get rough..." Hikaru stated in a simplistic, but serious tone of voice as it echoed around the area. Akemi kept here eyes on the young man as he stud there, one arm out in a friendly gesture and the other brushing his sword. There was no doubt in Akemi's mind that the warrior before her was a shinobi, and a confident one at that to simply stroll out and demand she hand over the people she was guarding, tempting as it may be. Still, Akemi saw little more than an obstacle standing quite literally in front of her. Akemi was tempted to charge and smash through said obstacle as quickly as possible, as every moment spent dealing with the ninja before her was another moment Kimiko and Hiraku spent in her care. It took all her willpower to remain stationary, exercising caution in the face of an adversary. Despite this it quickly became apparent that the duel pests had effectively worn down her patients, as the words that had escaped Akemi's mouth had surprised even her. "I'm not in the mood for a sword humping bandit ninja to be bossing me around. I've put up with these spoiled brats the entire walk here from the god damn village, do you know how far that is? How many complaints I've listed to today? I'm telling you I've been waiting for an excuse to tear into something all day, and now your dumb ass is forcing me to take even longer to dump these ungrateful children on someone else. So I'll say this once to you and only once, if you don't get out of my way, I swear I will take that rusty razor you have there and shove it up your ass sideways!" "Excuse me!" Kimiko shouted. "Brats? How dare you call..." "SHUT UP!" Akemi's voice roared, eclipsing Kimiko's voice like a rainstorm extinguishing a match. In the distance a flock of birds could be seen frantically fleeing from the sound, while Kimiko and Hiraku stud wide eyed and frightened. Akemi' flared her nostrils before doing her best to regain her composure. "Bandit Ninja... You are sadly mistaken..." Hikaru stated as he took note of the additional, and rather blunt insults the woman spat out. Looking towards the rather young shinobi accompanying her, Hikaru figured they must be quite annoying or bothersome to piss off a person to such extremes. Looking back at the woman, he observed her rather beautiful features, as he honestly wanted to avoid unnecessary conflict and harm, though the woman was clearly giving him no option to do otherwise. He liked how the womans hair was short and floating just above her shoulders, as well as the makeup that complemented her face. Looking lower, he could see she was marvelous indeed, but knew he was strictly here on business and not here for a potential date. "I'll be following my orders as well as completing my mission..." Hikaru stated as he drew his blade, instantly extending it while throwing a multitude of shuriken with varying trajectories at the woman. Akemi remained motionless as the shuriken approached, Kimiko shrieking behind her. The projectiles were't far from their target when a short diamond wall erected from the soil in front of Akemi. Though the quality of her technique suffered when she chose not to utilize the proper hand seals, for blocking mere shuriken it would work just fine. The shuriken could be heard bouncing harmlessly off the shield of diamond, not even leaving a scratch on the material. After the shuriken had all been stopped and laid harmlessly upon the ground, the diamond wall shattered, leaving hundreds of thousands of minuscule diamond fragments floating in the breeze. Each shard shone bright in the light of the low sun, placing a veil of brilliant sparkles around Akemi which gently floated away and faded into the scenery. "I warned you." Akemi growled, removing the kukri's fourteen inch blade from its sheath. "I can inform you right now, your mission, for whatever power you operate under, wasn't worth angering me today." As the many shuriken struck the solid diamond wall, they shatter into millions and millions of filament fragments, revealing themselves to be composed of condensed Iron Sand as the iron particles were picked up by the scattering winds and flung about the area. "That's what you think..." Hikaru responded readily as he remained vigilant to his cause in the face of a wrathful woman. Firmly gripping his elongated sword, the iron particles in the area began to sparkle, paralyzing any and everything within the vicinity, save for Hikaru, making them unable to move or even think. This effect was only amplified by multiple magnitudes thanks to the reflective and refractive nature of the shattered diamond that floated in the wind within the area. Hikaru then conjured and commanded his Iron Sand to grab the two clients before he dashed off, throwing several more kunai at slower than normal speed, as his technique ended. For a brief moment Akemi's body ceased to function as if she had momentarily been frozen in time. By the time she was able to move once again her opponent had already covered significant ground and launched several projectiles her way. Reacting with her superhuman reflexes, Akemi swung her kukri, timing the slash perfectly and striking both kunai out of the air. As one of the weapons spun wildly above her head, Akemi snatched it from out of the air, quickly spinning in a full circle and throwing the kunai back at her opponent. As Hikaru darted away at high speed with his living cargo in tow, he detected the swift and direct clash of the kunai and his opponents blade with his magnetic senses. With this, a simple unseen smiled engendered across his face as his technique magnetized his opponent's blade and his opponent, both directly, since she grabbed the weapons as they flew his way at a great pace. As the sliced shiruken zoomed in closer, they parted ways from the mans body before lodging themselves in adjacent trees, due to them sharing the same polarity as their creator. With his target now magnetized, the sand particles that surrounded her earlier were hot on her trail. Using nothing but a mere thought, Hikaru separated the perusing woman and her blade, flinging the unique weapon off into the distance, flying high into the air in an arc as it flew over trees. As the two unconscious VIPs were wrapped decently within his sand, yet still had room to comfortably breath, Hikaru couldn't help but think of why they were accused of crimes in Suna. "Now that I think about it, they don't even look like shinobi..." he thought. "I'll see about this when I get back to Suna. And with that, Hikaru increased his speed slightly, hoping to escape the woman and be that much closer to his mission being completed. "Bastard." Akemi muttered under her breath. Clasping her hands together, Akemi formed brought forth a semi circle of large diamond spikes, blocking the path of the young shinobi. "Your not escaping you fate that easily." With impressive speed, Akemi dashed forward, diamond beginning to engulf her right hand as she moved. In mere moments, Akemi's hand had been replaced with a crudely crated diamond blade. Stopping in his tracks before encasing the cargo in iron shells, Hikaru turned around and looked at the woman, as lightning swirled around his built body. "My fate?" Hikaru smirked. "I define my own fate..." he added as he began generating more lightning. Sitting the captured aside while relinquishing them of the iron confines, Hikaru turned his attention to the woman. "It doesn't look like you have much choice..." With that, he applied shape transformation to the very intense lightning, forging it into a long blade as he prepared himself to engage the woman. Akemi rapidly closed the distance between her and her opponent, thrusting her arm forward as if to impale him with her sword, but at the last moment Akemi drove her foot into the ground, quickly coming to a stop. As her movement reached a momentary stand still, the diamond blade shattered, dozens of scalpel sharp shards of diamond flying directly at the young man's face and neck. After the shattering of the diamond, Akemi leap back. Clasping her hands together once more, Akemi brought forth a ring of diamond spikes that encircled her target. The entire maneuver happened in a matter of seconds, leaving minimal time for reaction. As Hikaru analyzed the woman's movements with his heavenly body, allowing him to see all of her features in their graceful, yet direct glory. Watching her move forward, life seemed like a slow-motion picture as he took note of the woman closing the gap rather quickly. This in itself wasn't a problem at all as he continued his analysis of her assault, watching as the thrust of her sword and the sudden stop of her body ended with the diamond blade shattering as large, razor sharp shapnel flew at him, aiming to end his career as a shinobi. Seeing this, Hikaru would spontaneously sidestep the attack as it created an afterimage while simultaneously manipulating iron within the ground into a highly pressurized, liquid state. From his targets point of view, after the shards seemingly penetrated him, he would fade from view, proving the him before her was merely an afterimage due to his sheer extreme speed. Appearing behind her, the diamond spikes would seemingly stab the location he once was as bright orange, molten lava burst fourth from the center of the diamond spike convergence as it literally destroyed the diamond as it spreads. Preforming a quick back-flip to make distance between the two, Hakaru would casually slash forward with his long lightning blade. Before Akemi even realized it her opponent had moved, placing himself behind her and already in mid strike. So fast. Akemi's mind barely had time to process the words when Akemi felt a familiar sting over her collar bone. Jumping forward and quickly turning at the barrier of diamond spikes before her, Akemi quickly glanced at her wound. She hadn't been able to conjure up enough chakra in the short time she had been given, so it was no surprise her diamond armor had failed. Still, despite the blood Akemi knew that the laceration could have been many times worse had she not at least attempted to protect herself. She could not make the same mistake twice. It was impossible to ignore her enemy's ability. This would not be as easy as she had anticipated. "I was already pissed off. Are you trying to make me angrier?" Wiping her thumb over her wound, Akmei performed several quick hand seals before slamming her palm on the ground. A puff of white smoke engulfed Akemi, a small flock of crows having seemingly taken the young woman's place. Gazing at the woman, Hikaru cracked a smile as he could sense the woman move just slightly elsewhere. "Nah... I'm just seeking to complete my mission. As if given a signal, the crows began flying into the air above Hikaru, circling him from above the trees. One by one the artificial avian dive bombed the young man, each one carrying a payload equal to several explosive tags. Watching the birds fly high into the air, Hikaru prepared his body for possible action. As the smoke cleared, he could no longer see the woman, but could sense her in the surroundings under him. Because he couldn't see underground and because he had birds to deal with, he would try his best to simply keep away from the feeling he felt from her. As the birds dived towards him, the closer they got, the slower time seemed to become as he looked at the multitude of birds diving at him. Simply leaning left as a bird darted past him, Hikaru felt he was quite safe, as he was literally faster than the bird. From the left, a birds wooped in, while from the front, a bird dived directly at him. Pulling out his blade, Hikaru sliced the bird in half as it dived directly at him. BOOOOOOOM sounded an explosion as Hikaru lunged out the smoke that ensued. On his chest and shoulders, the iron on his skin was glowing, as he remained unaffected by its heat. "Explosive birds... What a nuisance... " he said as he began repairing the iron that covered his body and skin, using it as armor. Turning his head slightly to the left, he could see another bird fly towards him. "Oh shi..." BOOM! sounded another explosion as more birds dived in to compound on the explosion, causing more booms. A good number of crows remained at they took to the skies and circled the area, looking for a chance to strike. As the smoke cleared, a hole remained in the ground. Hikaru had took to refuge within the earth itself to avoid the explosion, as a small crater was left where the many bombs went off. Not bad. Akemi thought to herself. Sitting in a small space in the earth several meters below ground, Akemi ran her hand along the condensed soil. Pressing her arm forward, the earth turned to a light sand, the vibrations of her foe being felt a short distance away. Reaching her other hand up, Akemi quickly began digging back up to the surface. She had always hated learning the Hiding Like A Mole technique. Being completely surrounded by earth constantly gave the sense you were buried, despite movement not being restricted. Though Akemi wouldn't says it is the most enjoyable technique to use, she had long gotten over her discomfort of subterranean travel. Akemi sprung from the ground, her hands already moving and forming the next set of hand seals. "This way I won't have to look at that aggravating mug of yours." Akemi muttered to herself. As Akemi spoke, the earth around the still smoking crater began turning and twisting. The soil began folding in on itself, condensing and piling on. Several large rocks that had been hidden just beneath the surface could be seen topping the pile before being dragged back down into the dirt. In only a few moments, there remained no evidence there had even been a crater, all the remained being a depressed patch of packed soil. With the threat apparently dealt with, Akemi began backtracking, hoping to find the tree in which her kukri had been lodged before searching for the VIPs. If they were in any sort of danger, Akemi was sure she would have heard them screaming or whining by now. Akemi wasn't in any hurry to lend an ear for their childish complaints. If it weren't for the condensed iron surrounding Hikaru, the situation could of been quite dire, especially after the numerous explosions that took place which forced the man into retreat. Having tunneled into and through the Earth, Hikaru reemerged from the ground a good distance way, quite a distance from the woman. Looking around, Hikaru couldn't spot the two individuals he was in charge of retrieving, and from the looks of it, the woman hadn't noticed they were in the area yet. Taking command of his Iron Sand, the man repaired his armor while simultaneously trying sense the area for individuals. Due to repetitive explosions, it temporary threw off the precision of his magnetokinetic sense as he scanned the area, only picking up the woman. "Shit!" he stated with enough sound to where the woman would hear even from the distance they stood apart. "You never give up do you?" Hikaru stated, moving towards the her with scattered iron sand in tow behind him. Looking at her closely, he noticed a Konoha patch on her forearm. "Konoha..." looking at her from the back, he looked at her hair as well before eyeing the patch again. "This new development could be critical to my mission..." he thought as he maneuvered himself in the air, stopping his sand. "Are you really from Konoha? And if so, where did the other two go?" Hikaru asked the woman, frantically trying to assess the situation as fast as possible, while hoping in the slightest that she knew where they were. Akemi had just begun the process of removing her kukri from a thick tree trunk when the man began speaking to her, seemingly lowering his guard to a degree. "Yes, I'm a Jōnin from Konohagakure performing a B-Ranked escort mission. By the change in your expression I take it that means something to you." With one violent pull, Akemi yanked the kukri from the tree, giving it one quick spin in her hand before sheathing the blade. "It means a lot now, being that my mission didn't say anything about forces from Konoha, Sunagakure's ally." Hikaru stated, gathering his dust close to him for the moment. "What exactly did your mission entrail, if I may ask?" he added as he his magnetokinetic sense began returning to normal. Akemi casually made her way over to Hikaru before driving her fist into his lower abdomen. "My mission?" Akemi shouted as Hikaru doubled over. "My damn mission was to take those spoiled brats and drop them off in the Land of Rivers. They have been pissing me off all the way from Konoha, and I have been trying very hard to maintain my composure and not tear their throats out, but you just had to show up and make my job that much harder. Where do you get off doing that to people?" Despite bending over from the shot to the gut, Hikaru was fine, due to his iron-covered skin. Inside his mind, for a split second, he thought about the woman's hand. Thinking about what the woman said, he simply looked at her with all his attention. "With all due respect, I'm simply following orders from the higher ups. I didn't mean to piss you off, it just sort of happened..." He stated, looking her in the eyes. "Speaking of, where are the two?" A flash of concern could be seen in Akemi's eyes. "You mean, you lost them too? Damn it. I fail the mission if those brats aren't in the Land of Rivers by dawn. Did you drop them or something? I imagine they're whining out in the woods somewhere." Akemi remained silent for a moment, her superb hearing scanning the surrounding for annoying sounds. When she heard nothing but a few chirping birds, she grew nervous. "This isn't good. Where could they possibly be?" Taking in the sheer stress of the situation, Hikaru quickly closed his eyes and he cleared all distracting thoughts from his mind. Utilizing his magnetokinetic sense, he began searching the area surrounding them for others. Within brief seconds, he picks up a large signature heading east of his current location. Focusing specifically on the large signature, he could see something unexpected; a man carrying the two others within his arms. Swiftly opening his eyes, he looked at the woman before him. "They are being carried off by a man, a good ways east of our location! It would do good if we hurried!" Hikaru anxiously stated, not wanting to lose track on the man, nor the two he was carrying. "I can't get us there pretty fast, if you want?" he added as he kind of asked the woman, though that would mean he had to carry her on his back as he'd move via magnetic levitation. Akemi took a deep breath, it was all she could do to prevent the vein on her forehead from bursting like a cheap balloon. She had been so close, just a few kilometers away, and now she was in danger of failing her mission. How had everything gone so wrong so quickly? "I don't need any help from you. My mission was going perfectly fine until you showed up. I don't care why you did it, your motives don't matter to me. Just stay out of my way." With that, Akemi clamped down on her thumb with her canine before dashing in the direction Hikaru had indicated. With an impressive leap into the air, Akemi thrust her bleeding hand downward. Appearing out of a massive cloud of white smoke came a giant white owl beneath Akemi. With a mighty flap of its giant wings, the owl propelled itself higher into the sky, Akemi standing tall atop its back. "Women these days can be so damn harsh..." Hikaru vigorously thought as he conjured Iron Sand, which began swirling around him. The iron particulates began to conform to his body, making it more aerodynamic and thus would allow him to seamlessly fly through the air and caught up with Akemi and their fleeing foe. Spinning around with such integrity, Hikaru took to the higher reaches of the sky so he could get a birds-eye view on the target, as well as skip the obstacle course of a forest way down below. "I can't let him get away..." he thought as he zoomed forward into the distance. "Are you kidding me, do you see how much dirt you've gotten on me!" Kimiko screamed at the masked man who's shoulders she had been draped across. She struggled against her restraints, hoping to get a hand free to strike the man, but as the rope began digging into her wrists she immediately ceased her futile effort and resumed her verbal tirade. "Do you know how expensive this dress was? It's probably more than you've made in your life! Now it's covered in dirt. Do you know how hard it is to wash this fabric? I doubt you can even conceive what it's like trying to wash..." While Kimiko was continuing her vocal onslaught, Hiraku was right behind her, bound in a similar fashion, in the middle of his own monologue. "Yup, it's a very good thing your a good knot tier, otherwise I probably would have gotten out of these restraints by now. I'd be beating every last one of you thugs into oblivion. If your lucky our escort will arrive before I figure out how to free myself. Then maybe then at least you will all receive some degree of mercy. You certainly won't get any of that from me, the great Hiraku! Probably won't be long now. Mere rope can only hold me for so long before giving into my awesome power." It was evident that Hiraku was quickly straining the patience of the man carrying him, the furious look in the masked bandit's eyes telling the entire story. "Your beginning to piss me off kid." The man's voice would rough and low, like the growl of a vicious hound. "You shouldn't be pissed, you should be scared." Hiraku retorted. "I can't tell you how many losers have tried to kidnap me and my sister, and none have ever gotten away with it. That is how awesome I am!" "...how much these ropes hurt? You idiot tied them way too tight! Do you know how much time went into getting my skin this soft? Now my wrists are going to be all red and rough because of you. Is it too hard for you morons to show a little respect towards a young woman? If you knew anything about class you would have been a little more considerate." "Hey!" a thunderous voice roared back. Neither Hiraku nor Kimiko payed any attention to the man, but the two bandit shinobi carrying them took not and gave their attention to the man ahead of them. Though wearing the same simple black mask as the other two, the man ahead of the small group was obviously of a higher status. He wore a black flak jacket not unlike the shinobi of the Konohagakure. Further distinguishing him from his two subordinates were the pair of shiny metal gloves that he wore, each one polished to perfection. His attire alone was enough to tell him apart from the lower tier bandits, but his commanding voice oozed with authority. "Stop here." The bandits obeyed, coming to an abrupt halt. The lead bandit turned to his subordinates, his arms crossed over his chest. "I want both of those brats quiet. NOW!" "Silenced? Ha!" Hiraku laughed. "You can't silence me, I'm the great-" Before Hiraku could even finish a large metal coated fist struck him in the temple, knocking him unconscious. "Hiraku!" Kimiko screamed. "You bastard, your going to pay for-" Kimiko's words were also abruptly cut short, but this time by the piece of cloth that had been shoved into her mouth, reducing her words to muffled gibberish. "As you as your done shutting her trap we'll get going again. We can't waste any more time." "Yes Arata!" the two bandits stated in unison. Being right on top on Akemi, but higher in the air, Hikaru lowered his altitude as his came closer to the woman as she weaved between the trees on her summon. "I'll probably regret even trying if this doesn't go well, but oh well..." Hikaru thought as he neared his left side. Looking forward, Hikaru tried to formulate the question he would seek to ask the woman instead of just speaking what was on his mind. "Akemi, are you related to the two children that were taken away?" Hikaru spoke, seeking to understand the woman. Akemi's eyes momentarily shifted towards Hikaru as he spoke, but quickly returned to the path ahead. The cold silence that followed Hikaru's question suggested that Akemi was unwilling to answer, but an answer indeed came in the form of a quick and sharp "No." "Then...why do you act so emotionless when I try to talk to you? Surely you value them, despite having no physical connection to them at all." Hikaru asked, as he kept looking forward, not even bothering to look her way this time. "I do apologize for jeopardizing the integrity of your mission for my own, so to repay that debt, I'm sacrificing my mission to help retrieve those kids so your mission can be a success..." Hikaru added as he preformed a sudden drop, dodging a rather large tree branch before coming back up to her level for a few seconds before sighing. "Look, I don't want to cause trouble, but the sooner I get to know you, the better we can preform and take out this guy up ahead. But, if you don't want to talk, then that's just fine too...." Hikaru added before ascending higher, figuring the woman still didn't want to talk. "Just focus on the mission, Hikaru." he uttered to himself within his head as he dropped yet again before rising even higher, avoid several more trees. Akemi eyed Hikaru carefully as he acceded, wary of his urge to learn more about her. At the moment, he knew little more than the fact that Akemi was a shinobi from Konohagaure, and in Akemi's mind it was probably best to leave it at that. She had never quite trusted kindness from strangers, regardless of the situation. There was always something they wanted from her. Money, some sort of handout, information, Akemi had even been mistaken for an escort while conducting an undercover investigation once. The only reason for a stranger to be kind was to increase the chances that Akemi would fall in line with their own personal wants. What she was now being presented with was almost certainly more of the same, especially with the Sunagakure shinobi obviously working under his own orders. Could he be planning to deliver a sneak attack on Akemi and take both VIPs for himself? Such a possibility couldn't be entirely taken off the table. For now, Akemi simply kept her guard up. As Hiraku dipped and dodged his way over branches, trees and rocks, he could sense the target a good ways ahead of him and Akemi. "I can feel the large objects within the range of my magnetokinetic sense. We are getting closer to them." Hikaru announced as he purged the sand before negating the Earth's gravity with his magnetic field, allowing him to levitate effortlessly as he then pushed his magnetic field off the Earth's, allowing him to accelerate with the speed of a bullet train as he dashed forward, ahead of Akemi. "This situation was fairly simple when I first arrived upon this woman and the suspects. From there, things went downhill with the fight, especially after find out that she is from Konoha. Knowing Kan, I know Konohagakure would never turn against Sunagakure, so I'll abandon my mission to retrieve those two kids. To make matters worst, during the fight, a third party kidnapped them and are off to another location. Because I didn't even see them, it's no telling who they are or what they might do to the kids if we lose them..." Hikaru pondered as he attempted to formulate a Plan B in case things got out of hand. 'Feeling' Akemi not far behind him, Hikaru kept his pace, attempting to gain more footing as they both nears their target. Sweat began exiting every pose on Hikaru's face as the wind simply blasted it away as the young man became slightly stressed over the downward spiraling situation. A sudden sense of urgency had fallen over the bandit trio, who had been enjoying the relative quietness after taking the time to silence (mostly) their captives. Kimiko still attempted to talk around the rag in her mouth, but she managed nothing but what sounded like muffled squeaks. "Arata." The bandit carrying the still limp Hiraku called to the group's leader. "I know." Arate replied. "They're coming. We can't outrun them at this point. We need to dig in and attempt to gain the upper hand." Arata came to a sudden halt, with his subordinates stopping just past him, allowing Kimiko and Hiraku to slide of their shoulders and skid across the ground in front of them. Kimiko shrieked behind her gag, obviously fuming over the fact that she had been so unceremoniously dumped onto the ground. "What's the plan sir?" "We'll go with formation B, divide and conquer. We have thirty seconds until they reach us. Set up and engage once the target's are within sight." "Yes sir." the two lesser criminals said in unison as they reached into their tool pouches. Hikaru had just left Akemi's side when the konoichi's hawk-like eyes spotted something small and round flying up from the treetops directly towards her, quickly followed by another, similar object. With a slight adjustment in her weight distribution, she commanded the massive bird to dive down just above the trees. Mere seconds latter, a small purple cloud materialized directly in where her flight path had been mere moments ago. There was no doubt it was toxic gas, and had she not taken the preemptive measure of changing her flight path, she would have likely flown directly through it. Unfortunately, Akemi was not out of danger yet. As the second object was on a much lower trajectory than the first. There was no time to evade it, so Akemi did the only thing she could think to do. There was a puff of white smoke as the owl disappeared form beneath her feet, the summoning technique having been undone. Akemi dropped down into the trees, grabbing onto a thick branch and her momentum causing her to spin around several times before she released her grip and rolled onto the soft grass below. Being a good ways in front of Akemi, Hikaru could see numerous balls flying towards him at high speed before they detonated. Inhaling as much fresh are as he could in little time, the enveloping quickly enveloped him as he closed his eyes. With his magnetokinetic sense disrupted due to diverted focus, Hikaru simply up-heaved a torrent of Iron Sand from the ground as his converged on him mid fall, catching the man and bringing him down to the ground as he exhaled before breathing in a little of the poisonous smoke. Coughing repetitively, Hikaru quickly scanned the area for intruders as he circulated his sand around him. "This poisonous smoke shouldn't last to long, but I already fucked up by breathing it in... " Hikaru thought to himself as he readjusted his senses. Picking up multiple figures in the distance, Hikaru closed his eyes in case flash bombs were to be used. "My coughing will clearly give away any hopes of surprise or cover... Things seem to keep getting more complex by the moment." he added before looking Akemi's way, despite trees between the two. "I think we may have hit one of them." one of the lower tier bandits stated. "Not sure what happened to the other one." the other man added. "The bird is gone but I think she just undid her summoning." The two men stud side by side, each holding large slingshots with thick elastic bands that stretched nearly their entire arms length. Each man had their projectiles, specially crafted small black marbles, loaded into small cloth pouches and held at the ready. Arata stud firmly behind them, his arms casually crossed over his chest and his foot impatiently tapping on the ground. "She's here." Arata stated, speaking calmly and just loud enough for his slingshot wielding lackeys to hear. Both the men quickly lowered their aim, pointing their weapons into the forest ahead of them. There was a tense silence, and for a moment both the men wondered if Arata had been mistaking. Both desperately wanted to take a moment to close their eyes and attempt to locate the girl using their sensory abilities, but neither dared show doubt in Arata's words, not with him standing so close. Then, they both saw it. A slight movement in the shade of the foliage. Both released their cloth patches, sending their chosen projectiles into the forest. Each of the marbles detonated in unison, this time erupting into fiery explosions, sending bark and grass off in all directions. The two men were just staring to wonder if they had hit anything when a small shadow appeared between them. Both the men looked upward, just in time to catch the light gleaming of Akemi's kukri as she descended downward, twisting her body and delivering a wide slash that passed through both the men. At first it appeared that Akemi's attack had been flawless, leaving neither men time to react. But it was quickly apparent that Akemi's attack had not cut through her adversaries, but harmlessly passed through their figures without causing any sort of damage, as if she had swung the heavy blade through nothing but air. Before Akemi could decipher what had just taken place, both the men seemed to fade from existence and two black spheres shot out from the foliage. Reacting quickly to the new threat, Akemi swatted both the projectiles away with the broad side of her blade, both of which exploded over her head, just beyond the blast radius. "Your pretty good." Arata said, his arms still folded and his eyes still looking up at the sky. "I guess that's to be expected if you were the only one guarding the brats." "Where are they?" Akemi demanded, doing her best to remain vigilant for more incoming fire. "I'm not sure you should be worrying about them at the moment. They are worth much more alive than they are dead. You on the other hand, we have no issue leaving dead at the bottom of a river." Arata's eyes shifted, meeting Akemi's steely gaze. "Though I must say, it would be a shame. I like my women with venom in their eyes." Just as the "s" rolled off Arata's tongue, something small fast crashed down through the leaves above Akemi's head, passing directly in front of her face. With her enhanced vision, Akemi was just able to make out the kanji for "flash" inscribed on the sphere before her. With a sudden bang, intense light illuminated the forest surrounding them. Hikaru, who had his eyes closed, was relatively safe from the flashes of intense light, with only his eyelids glowing a vibrant red due to the slight transparency they had combined with pigment within his skin. Utilizing his iron sand, Hikari would command it to incircle him as it began covering his body in a multitude of iron layers. With the formation of the Dog, Hare, Bird and Dragon handsigns, the man joined his sand on the molecular level, sealing off the iron from penetration by liquids and gases while making his skin-like armor as durable as tempered steel. It also added color to the metal, making it appear as if it was his normal skin and clothing. "I need to do something about these men attack us. I think I'll charge them with my sand and hopefully Akemi can follow up with a strategy..." he thought as he finally opened his eyes. Knowing the men would have likely hid behind trees to avoid their own flash bombs, Hirasu commanded his sand to pave the way for him as he quickly moved from behind the tree he considered refuge before charging in as fast as he could, with his sand acting as a shield.
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