Yakuza Ambush
By Akimoto-san
"Okay guys, this'll probably be as close as we can get." Everyone stopped by Akimoto. He sighed.
"Okay, I already know the answer to this, but..." He shot a slightly irritated glare at Kaito for emphasis.
"Do you remember the plan?" Kaito Thought for a few seconds, his brain hopelessly trying to remember.
"Uhm... I charge in and you guy's cover me, right?"Akimoto lifted his hand up to scratch his head in frustration, remembered he was wearing a bandana, and settled with a disappointed sigh as his hand lowered back to his side. Why do I even try…? He thought.
"Sure. Wait for my signal, and try to kill as many as possible without making noise. Once they notice you, go nuts."
"I hate killing people." Yumi muttered under her breath. Kaito heard her and his gaze turned back to her.
"Oh come on, it's really fun." he said laughing.
"Haven't you had a thrill by it at all?" Yumi shook her head as she raised an eyebrow.
"No and I don't think it's that great of a thing to take pride in." Kaito shook his head and looked back at Akimoto.
"Just, reason with her. I can tell she hasn't done this before." Akimoto said in response.
They all looked through the small gap in the trees and saw what appeared to be a samurai on watch duty. He seemed bored, but vigilant. Akimoto could tell he was itching for some sake. He grinned slightly and turned to Yumi.
"Yumi, how good are you at scratch shots?" She tilted her head slightly. "Scratch shot? Never heard of it..."
"First, can I borrow a long-range arrow from you? Then I'll tell you." She looked a bit nervous, but she slowly took out a spiral-tipped arrow from her quiver. Akimoto grabbed it gently and took out a small vial with a clear red liquid in it.
"A 'scratch-shot' is when you aim a projectile a bit off. It takes some practice, but it's fairly easy to get used to. Just barely touch them with your arrow: only a scratch. Not enough to really feel it, but enough so this can get into his system." As he was talking, he slowly rubbed some of the liquid onto the arrow using a rag.
"Do you think you'd be able to scratch that guard?" Yumi glanced over at the guard and her head nodded lightly.
"Yeah, I think so." she looked at Akimoto as he finished putting the liquid on the arrow. She took a hold of the arrow and then took a couple steps back, aiming her arrow just away from the guard but close enough that it'd brush him. She shut one eye as she got a good spot.
"Bingo," she murmured as she pulled the string back. After letting go the three of them watch the arrow scratch the guard's arm before injecting into the wooded frame behind him.
"Great shot," commented Kaito as the guard fell over.
"Okay," Said Akimoto, closing his eyes.
"Just one more finishing touch, and..." He began to make a series of hand seals. "Art of Hiding in the Mist" He muttered. Almost immediately a great fog rolled into the clearing.
"Go. Now." Akimoto said, eyes still closed. "I can't hold this for very long, but this should give you decent cover for a few minutes." A bead of sweat began to form on his brow. Kaito slowly drew one of his katanas.
"Roger" he said quietly, and ran off into the fog.
"Yumi" Akimoto said, "I need to focus on keeping the fog together, but if you want to help him without killing, you may use some more of the sedative you just used. It's in my bag over there."
Yumi glanced over at his bag before running over to it. She knelt down, fumbling through the contents before getting the poisons she would use.
"Alright, cool." she said standing up.
"See you soon. Hopefully Kaito doesn't do anything stupid." Akimoto shrugged. "That's kind of hard for him to not do." Yumi laughed an agreement before running out into the fog.
"Kaito," she said, fixing her quiver of arrows that lay on her back.
"Kaito!" she repeated.
A few minutes passed. Akimoto sighed, and he broke the seal. Breathing heavily, he opened his eyes and watched as the fog disappeared quickly.
"This can't be good..." He stood up, undid a small pouch on his arm, and took out a few Senbon.
I hope nothing too bad happened to them… He thought worriedly as he began to run silently in the direction of his friends.
Yumi had caught up with Kaito whom was still a great distance from her.
"Jeez, does he have to walk so fast?" she said in a whisper. She started from a brisk walk into a run, her feet hitting the ground with much force as she tried to go faster. That's where she went wrong, making too much noise to give them away.
"Are you crazy?" said Kaito as he turned around.
"You're gonna give us a-" he was interrupted by an arrow to his shoulder, falling backwards onto the ground.
It didn't take long for him to catch sight of Yumi. Actually, it was hard to miss. She was running, her feet hitting the ground hard. Akimoto stopped and took cover as soon as Yumi came into a clearing. He heard Kaito's voice, but by the time Akimoto could see Kaito, it was too late. A large barbed arrow stuck through his shoulder. Kaito fell slowly, as if in slow motion.
Oh no. Akimoto thought. Akimoto quickly picked up about a dozen more senbon. He took a deep breath to calm his shaking nerves. It didn't help. Akimoto ran toward the Oncoming squad of Rogue shinobi, jumped over the clearing, and sent a shower of poisoned needles to the enemy. Every needle met its mark, and everyone collapsed, including Yumi. He now realized the hole in his reasoning of also sedating his comrades, and cursed himself for his clumsy thinking. He walked slowly toward them, pulling a scroll out of his bag. He picked up Kaito's katanas and Yumi's bow, and used a sealing technique on the weapons. He took out his last poisoned senbon, and stuck it in Kaito's arm for a brief moment. A hiss of pain, and he was unconscious.
"This should make things easier..." He placed the scroll back in his bag, and gently lifted up Kaito and Yumi onto his back.
After a long while of walking, Akimoto wasn't sure how long, he set his teammates down and propped them up against a tree. Akimoto sat down, exhausted. He was used to moving quickly for short periods, but he simply had poor stamina. He stood up slowly, walked over to Yumi, and began to extract the sedative from her system. After a few minutes, she woke up with a start. "What was that for?!" she yelled at him.
"I'm sorry. I wasn't sure what to do. I panicked, and I apologize." There was a brief silence between them.
"Do you think you could help me treat Kaito's wounds?" He motioned toward Kaito, still passed out, still with the arrow protruding from his shoulder.
Yumi gave a low grumble and said,
"Yes, I'll help. It's my fault anyways that he's hurt." she sighed as she leaned off the tree, crawling over to where Kaito was placed. She knelt down and then looked at Akimoto.
"What do you want me to do? I already got him hurt." she said and turned her gaze to the arrow wound. She thought a moment about what she already knew about arrow injuries. Akimoto thought as well and said,
"Well, could you get some water?"
It didn't take Yumi long to return, Akimoto had stopped close to a river. Once she returned, Akimoto had already made some preparations to remove the arrow. Kaito had been propped up, so both sides of the arrow were visible, and Akimoto had set out a few rags.
"Okay..." Akimoto began. "To be perfectly honest, I don't have much knowledge on how to treat arrow wounds... Now, since you're a bowman, I assume you at least know how to get one out. Am I correct?" Yumi nodded slightly.
"I don't know that much, but I at least know how to get it out."
"Great. Do whatever you need to do to get it out, and I'll do the rest." Yumi looked at Kaito's shoulder and sighed.
"Alright," she said as she eyed it one more time. She took her hands and used exceptional force to break off one of the ends. She went to the end with the arrow and then carefully removing the arrow off the end, slicing her finger slightly in the process. "Alright, now we just... well, pull it out," she said and took a told of one end, tugging gently. The rod slowly worked its way out of his shoulder. "There we go." she said dropping it to the ground.
"Okay, now what?" Yumi started, but Akimoto seemed oddly focused on her hand.
"What's wrong?" She said nervously. Akimoto suddenly grabbed Yumi's hand and held it up.
"What the hell--"
"That arrow was poisoned. Breathe slowly. I don't want it to spread any more." Yumi resisted the urge to panic. Akimoto held up his other hand, and it began to glow slightly. "Hold your hand up." His hand left Yumi's hand and plunged into his pack, and brought out a clear liquid. He slowly began to pour the liquid onto his hand. But instead of it spilling out onto the ground, it simply beaded up as if he was holding a small bowl. He eased the globe of water into her hand, and it seemed to absorb through her skin. He made a slow pulling motion on the other side of her hand, and the liquid came out, with a bluish tinge to it.
"There. That should do it." He quickly repeated the procedure on Akimoto's shoulder, but had to run the liquid through several times due to the larger area. Finally, he wound up the hole with gauze, and sat down, sweating.
"Okay. He should be safe until we can get him to the hospital." Akimoto silently packed up the medical supplies he used.
Yumi nodded slightly and sighed.
"At least you're good at this stuff." she said. "Otherwise we both would have been in trouble. I guess I didn't really know what I was doing." she lay back in the grass, bringing her hands underneath her head. She stared up at the sky and Akimoto shrugged. "Could have been a lot worse than that, he said looking at Kaito.
"At least that arrow only got him in the shoulder; otherwise it would have been trouble." He leaned back against a tree. Yumi sighed again.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. At least it had only been in his shoulder." she leaned back up and helped Akimoto carry Kaito back to Konoha.