Sasuke walked through the snow drenched forest, wanting some alone time to think. As he found a tree and sat near the trunk, a light snow began to fall. He took a deep breath and rested his head against the tree, closing his eyes and letting the tranquil forest take its effect. He suddenly heard footsteps and the unsheathing of swords and quickly opened his eyes. He was surrounded by five men, draped in black robes, their five swords close to Sasuke's neck.
"Filth..."One of them said in a dead voice,"must be destroyed."
Sasuke jumped into the tree as the five attackers lunged at him. He unsheathed his own sword and jumped behind them, running chidori down his blade and charging. They were agile people, moving out of his sword's range and attempting to strike from his blind spots. With Sasuke's sharingan, he saw them coming and avoided their attacks. They seemed to attack as one; when one missed, the strike of the others came dangerously close. Sasuke rolled under the blade of one of them and stabbed the robe. It looked down at him, apparently unaffected by the strike, and raised its sword. Sasuke moved as the blade hit the snow, but was unable to dodge the sword of the other attacker, which grazed his chest, tearing his shirt. In his shock he was stabbed from behind by another, and thrown into a tree. He fell to the ground and was rising when another came and pinned him to the tree by stabbing him on the right side of his chest, barely missing his lung. Sasuke tried to fight back, but felt himself weakening every second.
"What the hell?" He gasped.
The other four walked up and raised their swords, savoring the moment before the kill. One drove his blade into Sasuke's stomach. Sasuke felt his sight wavering; something in the sword was draining his strength. He saw them suddenly raise their cock their heads to his right, and felt the one pinning to the tree remove his sword to defend himself against a new foe. All five jumped back as someone in a hooded brown cloak with a large, jagged, silver claymore that had what appeared to have bulging red lines on it, knock one off his feet with one deft swing. He felt someone else grab him and looked to see someone else in a hooded brown robe. The first visitor had successfully driven off his attackers and was walking over to them. The other was looking intently at his wounds, which bled very little.
"Karada, we should keep moving." The one with sword said. He had a male voice.
"We can't leave him like this Okugi." The other said in a female voice.
Okugi sighed,"Fine, patch him up and I'll carry him."
She began to rummage around in her bag and pulled out a strange plant, a knife, and some bandages. She cut the skin off the leaf to reveal a clear, sticky inside that she pressed against his stomach wound. Sasuke grunted in pain as she quickly applied the bandages and repeated the same process to the other wounds.
"How is it?" Okugi asked.
"Not bad, and certainly not good. They missed his organs, but the poison from their blades will be affecting him for some time." Karada said.
"Lucky you." Okugi told Sasuke, walking over to pick him up. Sasuke's strength left him, and he slumbed over, unconscious.
They walked through the snow covered forest, apparantly sure of where they were going.
"Kinda strange, don't ya think? That they'd attack him?" Karada asked attempting to start a conversation.
"Not really, he might have deserved it." Okugi said dryly,"We should drop him off at the next town and keep going."
"If we do that, then they'll just come to finish him off."
"And?"
"And?! Then why did you just save him?"
"I was bored, needed to stretch some."
"You're horrible." she said laughing,"But still, we can't just leave him, at least not in this state."
"How long until he heals?"
"Give or take a few weeks."
"Wonderful..."
"Well, so long as he's here you can at least be nice."
"Not in my vocabulary. Besides, why would I be nice to him? He's weak."
"He's cute."
"Your taste in men seems to be deteriorating. Let's just drop him off in a hospital in the next town with some random name."
"No, but we need to go into town anyway so I can buy water, bread, and more bandages."
"Goodie, we're coming up on one now."
They emerged from the forest into a village with shops that looked like ski lodges.
"O.K., I'll go to the store, you can take him to the inn so he can warm up. Might as well buy him a coat while I'm at it." Karada said heading towards the store.
"Lucky me, I get to babysit the unconscious cripple." Okugi mumbled.
He headed towards a lodge and saw Sasuke down in a chair in front of the fire. His shirt was torn and dirty, so Okugi took it off and threw it into the fire.
"Don't want you getting an infection."
That action woke Sasuke up, who opened his eyes to a squint. Okugi removed his hood to reveal shoulder-length black hair with bangs that fell over the top of his eyes, which were burgundy. He sighed, looked around, then went to the counter to order something. He stayed there for a moment, Sasuke feeling the warmth of the flames on his frozen body. Karada came back in, covered with snow.
"It's becoming a blizzard out there; there's so much snow I almost got lost on the way." she said giggling and removing her hood. She had long black hair and dark green eyes,"Ask for a room along with your order please." she told Okugi.
She walked over to Sasuke and looked at him, noticing his half opened eyes said,"Oh! You're awake! Wasn't expecting that for another three hours or so. Okugi's getting some hot chocolate to help warm you up some."
"W-where am I?" Sasuke asked weakly.
"This is Heaven's Rest Inn. Don't worry, the people here will make sure no one knows we're here. Do you know why the Royal Guards attacked you?" She asked softly.
"The guys in the black robe? No, they just called me filth and attacked." Sasuke said in weak anger. He felt a sharp pain in his stomach and grunted.
Karada gently rubbed the area around the wound with two fingers, gently pressing and prodding at times. Sasuke felt the pain slowly recede and wondered why. Okugi came back with three cups full of hot cocoa.
"Here, this oughta warm you up more." Karada said opening Sasuke's mouth some so that he could drink it.
"What's wrong with me?"
"It's a poison coated on the swords of the Royal Guards. It's not lethal, but it's a fast working toxin that slows down certain muscles in the body, making it tired and weak. They've stabbed you enough times to put you in a coma, but you're a tough man to break apparently." Karada said taking a sip of her cocoa.
"Apparently not that tough." Okugi interjected jerkily.
Sasuke glared at him and tried to stand up, but to no avail; the poison spread to all his muscles; he was as weak as newborn.
"Don't strain yourself dude, I was only joking." Okugi said laughing.
"How long until I can move again?" Sasuke asked.
"A few weeks, five at the least. Their blades drove deep into your body, miraculously missing any vital organs. You should be able to stand on your own in the morning though. All your body needs right now is rest and some exercise. So," she said getting up,"let's all go get some rest shall we?"