CHAPTER 4: Natural Disaster!
Lacus was awoken the next morning by some voices outside the tent she was asleep in.
"What! You can't be serious!"
"It's true, so we've no choice but to head back to the village now"
She sat up quickly, forgetting about the ropes which tied up her hands. She recalled the incident last night, when she talked to Kira under the beautiful starry sky. She snapped out of her thoughts and walked out of the tent. Upon emerging from the tent, she saw Kira looking relieved. She approached him while Athrun and Mwu were engaged in their conversation.
"Good morning, Lacus!"
"Thanks Kira, what's going on anyways?"
"We received a letter this morning from Mizukage, ordering us to forget about our current mission and return to the village. I don't know what exactly is going on at the moment but Athrun's pretty upset about it, saying that our efforts would all go down the drain if we just let it go now"
"You're not in charge yet so don't make decisions on your own. Mizukage-sama orders are orders and we'll follow them! Since you're a prince, why don't you behave like one at the meantime?"
Athrun got really upset and stormed to the base of the waterfall, feeling upset that his mother cancelled his first mission as a Jounin. Cagalli ran to his side after packing her things.
Lacus sat down beside Kira and noticed that the other ninjas were packing their things. Kira looked at Lacus' arms and went towards Mwu. They talked for sometime before Kira walked back towards Lacus, using his shuriken to cut off the ropes on her arms. Lacus looked him surprisingly.
"That's better, you can move around much easily like this" Kira told her and he sat down.
"But, aren't you worried if I'm a member of the Iga tribe?"
"It's ok; I told Mwu that I'll take full responsibility of watching over you. We're ordered to bring you back to our village"
Lacus felt a shiver down her spine. Although she was famous in her village, the people of the Kouga tribe didn't know that. If they manage to find out that she was a princess, she'll be put to death. However, she doesn't have any other choice but to go with them.
With Athrun and Cagalli
"Athrun?" Cagalli called out to him as she approached him from the back.
"It's not fair really!" Athrun said as he took a rock from the ground and crushed it into tiny bits.
"I've heard everything from Kira" Cagalli told him as she sat down beside him "It's ok really, besides after you take over, you can do anything you like"
"Not really" Athrun calmed down a little and threw the small pieces of the leftover rock in his hands into the water "I cannot really do anything I liked"
Cagalli nodded in her head and looked into the water before she continued.
"That girl, are we suppose to bring her back with us?"
"Huh? Oh that pink-haired girl. I think so" He paused for a moment "Are you still wondering if we …"
"SHUT UP!"
Cagalli shouted so loudly that everyone in the camp froze and looked at her. The birds from the nearby trees also flew away.
"Are you nuts!" Athrun stood up, panicking "What if the enemy heard that?"
"I couldn't care more of that now!" Cagalli is on fire "I told you yesterday that there's no such thing like this and you're still …" Cagalli looked as if she's got asthma
"Ok ok ok ok ok!" Athrun apologized immediately, at the same time, feeling afraid of her "I'm sorry!"
Cagalli stormed back to the camp site and Athrun followed her. When they stepped into the camp, everyone had completed packing their things and ready to leave. Mwu saw them and approached Athrun and Cagalli.
"Athrun, Kira has packed your things for you, so we're all ready to leave"
"Understood sir!"
"Your behavior just now was unacceptable Cagalli! The enemy might heard that and were searching for us right now!"
Cagalli lowered her head and apologized. The group then left the camping grounds and head back to their village.
With the Iga tribe
Yunna was traveling when his group heard a shout (Cagalli's shout)
"That voice must have belonged to a shinobi of the Kouga tribe!" One of Yunna's men told him.
Yunna thought for a moment and asked the boy.
"How do you that Shinn?"
"In these areas, no one but the ninjas of the Kouga tribe would dare to shout so loudly like this"
"True, you guys go ahead and search for them now! Report back to me if you found anything, especially Lacus-sama!"
"Yes sir! Everyone follow me! Stellar please stay here and protect Yunna" Shinn commanded.
"Stellar want to go with Shinn" Stellar looked at Shinn with her innocent looks.
"Shinn needs to go and save Lacus-sama" Shinn told Stellar "Yunna is hurt, Stellar have to protect him. It's the same as protecting Lacus-sama"
"Shinn …" Stellar looked worried. That was their first mission as Jounins and Stellar do not want to lose Shinn, as they were briefed on their mission that the enemy was powerful.
Shinn walked up to Stellar and embraced her in his arms.
"Shinn will be ok" He said "As long as Stellar believes in Shinn, Shinn will be alright"
Stellar nods her head and watches Shinn and the other ninjas ran into the woods at a fast speed.
Yunna looked at Stellar and wondered if she's strong enough to protect him. The arm that was stabbed by an unknown ninja a few days ago was bandaged and he wasn't able to fight until it has fully recovered.
Pathway to Kouga village
Lacus felt tried after traveling for quite a long distance. They were traveling in the forest before climbing up a mountain. Cagalli did not talk to Athrun all day. It's obvious that she was still mad at Athrun for what he said earlier that day. The Kouga shinobi, except Kira, were walking far ahead of her and she wasn't able to catch up. Usually, shinobi who were sent to protect her whenever she travels would stop once every hour for a short break but these Kouga ninjas have been traveling non-stop for three hours already. Kira was watching her from her back. In his opinion, she's not the type that walks fast.
They were traveling on a route near a cliff a few metres above the ground when they saw huge rocks falling off the side of the mountain. Everyone managed to dodge all the rocks. Kira grabbed Lacus and protected her from the tumbling rocks. After all the rocks had fallen, the ground started shaking and it split into two. Lacus lost her balance and fell down the side of the mountain, into the forest far below.
"Lacus!" Kira shouted "Mwu sensei, I'm going after her!"
"Ok, we'll meet you back at the village, be careful!"
Kira then jumped down the mountain side to find Lacus.
Many thanks to those who wrote previews for me! I'll try my best to make the next few episodes as long as I can so please bear with me. More previews are welcomed!
