Atsuko's feet burned as she jumped onto the hard ground, a giant beam plastered on her face. Vaas probably hadn't meant this when he said 'have fun' by climbing in the dense thick jungle, but she decided that it would help her learn the jungle and be helpful. Probably. Despite how much she enjoyed herself it was an arduous task navigating through the thick trees. Her home was in Tokyo and she couldn't imagine a place more juxtaposed to Rook Island. It made her feel sentimental thinking about her home. She left behind a little brother, and many others on a quest she may never come back from. Everyone knew it was dangerous, but no one could know she would be taken in by a psychotic warlord who cared nothing about her safety. The image of her young brother, tugging on her sleeves with tears falling down his small chubby face attacked her thoughts and refused to leave no matter how much she willed it. She became so lost in her memories she barely heard the talking from just outside the boundary of the jungle. She nervously tensed up and crouched into a small ball behind a tree, listening in. But the voices were hushed, annoyingly so, the words barely a whisper as they reached her ears.

She grabbed an above branch and pushed her foot hard into the tree bark so she could launch herself onto a closer branch, as she leapt through the air she misjudged the height and grabbed the branch with a pathetically light grip. Instantly the strain on her muscles was too much and she landed straight on the ground, crying in shock.

"What was that?" She heard one of the men shout in surprise, she looked over and saw they seemed worried, poised with guns. If not for her clothes she could have played the sweet innocent girl act. But she had borrowed one of the red skull t-shirts that fell loosely down past her waist. It was unlikely they would believe her.

"Who's there?" The man had an air of bravery and fearlessness, but it felt contrived. Nevertheless she still had to get out of the situation she found herself in. She cautiously pushed past thick leaves to be face to face with the armed men. They were covered in tattoos, vaguely familiar to Atsuko from her grandfather's letters. Tatau, used to show off the bravery and achievements of Rakyat warriors, it almost made her laugh that these 'mighty warriors' were afraid when ultimately, they were facing an unarmed, barely adult girl, admittedly unknowingly.

"Kia ora." She greeted them calmly, immediately exhausting all the Maori she knew. "I'm lost…" She began to explain not knowing what to say next.

"Do not worry child, Dennis will take you in. Come with us." One of the men says, slinging his gun over his back, and offering a friendly hand to Atsuko. She had to admit it was kind of them, however an offer she couldn't accept. Instead she gave him a sheepish smile
"I'll be alright. I don't need any help." She murmured nervously. Maybe she could put her refusal down to not wanting to be a bother? The men gave each other a suspicious look, short and almost imperceptible.

"Why do you have that t-shirt on?" One asked, the one still holding a gun. Atsuko sighed deeply. This would take some class A lying.

"I escaped from the slave camp…" She muttered, remembering some of the pirates talking about being in the slavery business. "My top was completely ruined so I quickly took one with me." She babbled. She thought maybe now they wouldn't kill her, but it was unlikely they would let her go with a 'good luck.' Damn chivalry, she thought as she forced fear onto her expression, prepared to run away at any moment; she felt like a trapped animal. "Please I've got to go." She pleaded with the men attempting to slink past.
"We can't let you go by yourself, the jungle will eat you up, or you'll be recaptured. Please let us help you."

How do you argue with that?

Atsuko reluctantly followed them to Amanaki village, apparently the last remaining territory of the Rakyat. Despite her hatred of the people she liked the prospect of being able to ask the burning questions without the threat of death constantly hanging over her. She grins as the men walk off, left alone in enemy territory, it really was a dream situation; but only if Vaas doesn't suspect she's betraying him. It became clear she'd somehow need to send him a message to show she's not run away. But what, she didn't know.

In the mean time she hung around awkwardly, carefully taking in all the important details about the camp, there were several buildings, one being a weapons store and a base for people to sleep in.

"Hello, are you okay?" she turned around to see a girl looking at her, about the same age as her, but with dark skin and a dark black plait that went down to her stomach.

"Yeah, thanks, I escaped from the pirate's camp, I'm a little shaky." She admitted quietly, the last bit at least was true. The shock of the day had suddenly make her legs become weak and buckle under her weight. The Rakyat girl leant forward and gently grabbed her to help keep her upright.

"Oh!" She exclaimed surprised. "Jeez we need you to get you a place to lie down." Her voice was filled with concern as she took most of Atsuko's weight. Atsuko's eyelids flicked open and closed lazily as she sunk into the arms of the mysterious girl, she became faintly aware that she must have been a bother to the girl, but she didn't have the strength to stand up straight, or even to open her eyes.

Atsuko awoke, trapped under layers of soft blankets. She sat bolt upright, how long had she been here? Outside the sun was setting, the sky filled with a wash of pinks and oranges, the light softly filtered in warming her skin pleasantly. The room was small and basic, it looked like a room in a shack; from what she could gather. And outside it a quiet humming could be heard. She went to the door and listened for a few minutes, memories came flooding back of the girl, this must be her house, she decided. It was a shame she couldn't say thank you, but she knew she had to go. The window easily opened enough for her to climb through and she soon found herself in a small plot of farm land, a kid stared at her with her mouth wide open

"TUAHINE!" The kid shouted confused, Atsuko put her finger against her lips to shush him.
"It's okay… I'm a friend." The kid stared at her more confused than he did before and Atsuko cursed under her breath as she realised he probably didn't speak English. So instead she ran.

"Hey, where you going?" A voice yelled behind her, concerned as before. Atsuko slowed, deciding she at least owed her an explanation. Not a true one. But one that she would believe at least.

"I need to go." Atsuko replied apologetically. "I have something I need to do. Thank you." She began running again, so fast her muscles burned and until she physically couldn't anymore, leaping past the wild thicket of the jungle, obviously she had no idea where she was going, but she didn't feel safe stopping. Especially when she heard the low threatening growl of an unknown animal surrounding her. She stopped dead in her tracks, a nauseating feeling rose in her stomach and her head swarmed noisily with collections of survival tricks she learnt as a kid, but none of them made sense with her head so fuzzy, the mixture of heat, running and fear caused her to be sick on the ground. She groaned at herself in disgust. The noise seemed to move through the bushes around her; taunting her, she could barely stand as she weakened once again. 'This seems to be an annoyingly common personality trait' she murmured to herself grimly, gripping tightly to a tree trunk for support. The noise crept slowly closer towards her. But still the source was nowhere to be seen. How was it doing this? After being teased and tortured by the fierce growls of her unknown assailant, a ripple of loud gunfire blasted through the woods. Atsuko ducked down into the thicket fearfully and heard the weak whine and thud. Looked like her torment was over. She scrambled through the woods towards the source of the noise to get a better look. What she saw made her laugh, sighing in relief. Vaas was standing there, his usual cocky grin plastered on his face.

"Looks like you just saved my life." She smirked, appearing out in the open in front of him. "Who would've thought?"

He walked closer towards her

"I'm impressed. I had a bet we'd find your disembowelled corpse a few metres away from the camp." He smirked

"Thanks to you." She pointed out happily. "Buuut this is a big place, so I wonder how you managed to find me just when I needed it. Could it be you sent someone to watch over me, so I didn't get hurt?" She joked mockingly.

He stared at her blankly for a few seconds. "Get in the truck." He grumbled annoyed.