We have been practicing our new Taijutsu technique, Ren and I, since before dawn. We were in a rather remote area of the training grounds, on the outskirts of the village, Sunagakure. But we didn't mind; the silence helped us concentrate on our training. It was noon now, and the intensity of the desert sun forced us to take a break. Unfortunately, neither of us have perfected our technique just yet. It required a lot of upper body strength in order to master its destructive potential.

"Want to keep practicing?"

"Nah, I'm completely drained. This technique really takes a lot outta me, but I can't wait to use it on Suza!" she snickers evilly. She's probably planning her revenge on Suza after he and Shogo stole our bras and hung them up in front of the Kazekage's headquarters, leaving them to wave in the wind like flags.

"Hey where is he anyways?" Suzaku usually met up with us for training.

"Eh? I guess he just didn't feel like coming today. You know how lazy he can be. He's probably off trying to seduce some chunin." We both roll our eyes at the thought of him going at it again. We've all known each other since we were what? Five-ish? He started out as a nerd, but as soon as he became a chunin he became Mr. Popular. His ego only grew after reaching jounin.

"Whatever." We both sit in the sand and lean up against a big boulder that provides a generous amount of shade. I brush out my hair with my fingers and begin to form a long braid. After not having much patience with my mop of hair, I simply decide to squash it into a ball and tie it into a bun. Ren plays with a kunai out of boredom and exhaustion.

After a few moments of silence, a massive growl roared from Ren's stomach. We both laugh as she stands up.

"Want to go get some ramen with me?"

"Nah, I'm not hungry." Aunt Tsukiko made sure I ate a huge breakfast before I came to train. I also brought some dried fruit with me as a snack.

"On some kind of diet or something to look pretty for the boys, Hikari?" She pried playfully while fluttering her eyelashes.

"Oh yes, I have a hot date tonight. You know me!" I say with sarcasm.

"I'm sure your Aunt has a real date prepared for you to blow off again." She laughs.

"I do what I must." I say nonchalantly. It's not that I didn't like guys, my Aunt just had a tendency to throw any guy she happens to find at me. When it came to actual cute guys from a distance, I never really summed up the courage to do anything about it. I reminisced last month when Aunt Tsukiko introduced me to a guy who thought that woman should not be ninja. The whole ten minutes that we spent together were of him trying to convince me that being a ninja is not "feminine." That resulted in my unfeminine fist in his face and a very embarrassed Aunt. Turned out he was the son of one of my Aunt Tsukiko's superiors in the Anbu.

"Well if Suza wasn't guarding you like a bone, other guys might actually approach you." She says bluntly.

"He is not."

"If you say so!" She giggles and starts walking away.

"You leaving?" I ask.

"Yeah I'll go now. You shouldn't stay out too long either. Especially alone. Anyways, I'll catch you later!" She waves.

I listen as the crunching sound of sand from her footsteps fade.

I stand up and squint out into the distance, further into the sand abyss. A minor dust storm heads my way. I feel a hot, soft breeze as sand particles dance before me and find their place nested in my hair and on my clothes. I dust them off but it's no use. Living in the desert has it's ups and down. Maybe I should just head home? I sigh.

Just as I manoeuvre my way toward the village, I hear a piercing scream that sends chills down my spine and tickles the hairs on my neck. I freeze for a second before darting into the direction of the scream. It didn't sound like the grunts and moans of your usual training session.

"What the he—.."

THUNK!

Some idiot slams into me, knocking me onto the ground. I push him off of me and roll over and cough. I quickly recognise the idiot as Suzaku.

"Suzaku what the fuck are you doing?!" I snap, looking over to him. He didn't respond so I poked him. He was out cold. My eyes scanned the rest of his body; a small knife protruded from his stomach. It was bathed in a purple liquid. Poison.

I cough, chocking on particles of dirt. Struggling to stand up, I get a better look at Suzaku. His face is strikingly pale. He moans before I have time to be concerned with whether or not he is alive. His eyes flutter and he mutters something indiscernible. Well, thankfully he's not dead. Yet.

In that moment, a bizarre and barely discernible creature decorated with shiny knives, came hurling in our direction. I gripped my spear and glanced at Suza. He was going to owe me for saving his ass.

Suddenly the creature came to a halt and I realised it was not a creature but a wooden doll! It had three piercing eyes and wild black hair. It was draped in filthy, torn-up rags. I could hear clicking noises and its head moved in a mechanically freakish way. My heart was racing in anticipation for its next move.

I adjust the position of my feet, twisting and sliding my boots to spread into a proper fighting stance. I wipe the dirt from my cheek with the back of my hand. "Ready when you are Raggedy-Anne."

It's jaw snaps open and hurled a spike in my direction. There is a satisfying SHING of metal clanging against metal as I block the attack with my spear. More weapons spiral toward me before I can anticipate them; I manage to barely block them all. So far none of them were covered in poison.

I'm being toyed with.

I continue to block every attack while I think of a way to actually take that thing down. If I keep this up, I'll have no energy and I'll be completely vulnerable. Hell, I'm already pretty drained from training all morning. Ren was right, it wasn't a good idea for me to stay out here. But thank god for Suza that I did.

I feel as if I was doing some kind of sadistic dance with the puppet that would last until the next moon. I soon take notice to a glimmer, thanks to the sun, emanating from the chalkra strings attached to the puppet. Of course! I can cut the strings! It's just a puppet!

I proceed with my plan considering that I haven't come up with any other brilliant ideas in this tense moment. I try to inch closer to the puppet as it continues to launch its unlimited supply of weaponry. It's jaw snaps open about every twenty seconds. The rest of the weapons were launched from the opening of it's belly area. I toss my spear just as its mouth snaps open, allowing it to "choke" on my spear, hoping that it will buy me some time. It pauses, as if not expecting me to do something so reckless, giving me about a second to put my plan into action.

I leap towards it and attempt to dodge the rest of the knives, however, a few of the pierce the surface of my shoulders. I clench my teeth and ignore the pain. Just as I reach the doll and nearly claim my victory in slicing through the damned chalkra strings, a new pair of arms explode from under its rags and hook onto my left leg, attempting to knock me down. It's going to take more than that! But, my legs were tingling and I was losing feeling of them. I realised I had been sliced with poisoned blades when I tried to approach the puppet. Without giving up, I focused a great deal of chalkra into fingers, forming a pair of scissors, I sliced through one of the strings connected to the leg joints. The puppet stumbled, losing its balance. I sliced through another string quickly as I noticed a new chalkra string was attempting to form in order to replace the one I severed. I was quick enough that the puppet teetered left and right before falling. It maintains a tight grip on my weak leg and I collapse into a tangled mess with the puppet.

"Ughh… my head…" I moan, laying in a pile with the now motionless puppet. I shove the hunk of wood off of me.

"I did it! So much for that piece of junk!" I say proudly. I look up at the sky and thank the gods that I survived that demonic doll. My gratitude was quickly severed by a rope of chalkra that wrapped around my chest, suppressing my ability to move.

"I wouldn't say so." A cool voice comments from behind me.

"Whaaa?!—" I spin around to look up to a young man with reddish hair, looking at me with a cocked eyebrow. He stands calmly, hands in his pockets, as his gaze meets mine.