Chapter 7

Trapped

Pain…that was the first thing that Dokina and Kaori felt as they awakened from their blow to the back of their necks, at the hands of those bandits from the mountains, and the pain was excruciating. They could feel it everywhere; in their arms, in their legs, and specifically in their torso. Looking around, they noticed that they must be in a form of prison. Their cell was not made of steel, but instead just a cave cut into the side of the mountain. Their cell door was made of steel though.

"Caught by a bunch of bandits that easily huh? I must be getting rusty." Kaori groaned. Looking at her, Dokina noticed that her face was busted up. Cuts were on her face, and dried blood was coming from most of those wounds. Kaori looked at Dokina and noticed the same for him. They got up and noticed that not only were their swords gone, but all that they had carried with them. The treasure and food was all gone.

"Dammit." Dokina said, punching the stone wall. This only brought on more pain for him, as his hand was now pulsing with pain.

"It looks like we may be here for a while. They must be debating on what to do with us." Kaori sighed. She sat down with her back to the wall and closed her eyes, trying to control the pain she was in.

"Yeah it looks that way." Dokina replied. He sat down beside her and just stared outside the door. It was mainly dark, meaning that they were either deep into the cave, or the time of day was night. "Nothing else we can do but just sit and wait for something to happen, though in our current state we couldn't do much of anything really." He leaned his head back and continued to stare off into the unknown. "They were good people weren't they?"

Kaori opened her eyes and looked at him. "Who?" She asked.

"Your parents Kaori; that's who I'm referring to. You said that they taught you everything you know. They must have been great people, to love you and to instill their combat techniques in you."

Kaori looked straight ahead again, staying silent for a small while. Then she broke the silence. "Yes, they were magnificent people, wildly known in the Rain Village. I was proud to be their daughter and the one to carry down their sword techniques. I remember them saying to me that I would one day become the greatest swordswoman in the village, because no one could beat me in a sparring match. I was happy to hear that, and I always thought that all the children around my age were jealous of me because of my family. Maybe that's why they didn't try and comfort me the day I heard my parents died. All I heard was a knock on my door. I ran to it, crying out Mommy and Daddy. But when I opened the door, they weren't there.

"Laying there in front of the door was the sword of my parents, and a note beside it. I read it and it said that the village sends their regrets but that my parents had died for their village. Their last words were to give me that sword. I cried so hard that day, my tears mixed in with the rain falling from the sky. Sometimes I think my parents were crying that day too, and their tears were falling on me trying to say sorry for leaving me alone.

"Even though I was really too young to understand, I knew that they were never coming home and that my only source of happiness was gone. As I told you before, it was only till later that I knew that they were killed in the war. That's something a person who just turned 13 should not hear. I'm 27 now and have been living on my own, fighting for myself all this time. Now tell me some more about yourself. Do you remember anything about your parents?"

Dokina looked back at her. "No not really. I wish I could say I knew them but I was little at the time that they were killed. The details of why were never made clear to me. Some say they were killed by the same people who were trying to overthrow the government. Others say the total opposite, saying that the government's ninjas killed them. I drifted from one place to another, afraid to get really close to anyone. This continued for years until I was 17. It was then that I met Zabuza-sensei. For the next three years I trained under him, until we attempted, and failed, the overthrow of the government. We stayed in seclusion until we went our separate ways two years later. One year to the day that we parted, I learned that he had died in the Land of Waves. So I took a page out of his book and started taking odd mercenary jobs for money, all trying to get to his gravesite. I've been doing that for another two years. Now I sit here with you in this dark and dank dungeon, possibly waiting to die.

"I don't know about you." Kaori said. "But I refuse to die here. I may be injured, even to the point where I think some bones are broken, but A Shinobi never dies without a fight. I found this nearby. I guess they must have over looked it while they were searching through our pockets earlier. She reached down and picked up Dokina's grindstone. "Now we just wait for the guard to come by, and when we does…well we'll just take it from there."

"Well how good are you at taijutsu?" Dokina asked.

"I'm not really good at it at all really. I spent most of my time working up my swordsmanship and Genjutsu. What about your skills of hand-to-hand combat?"

"The same goes for me. I spent most of my time working on Ninjutsu. There's no water here to use, so it's out of the question. It wouldn't matter anyways. I'm drained of chakra and my energy is barely holding up."

"Yeah me too. So we can only hope that we can find our weapons, get out of here, and find some place to rest. We can't fight in our current condition."

There was a noise, and Kaori held the stone in her hand, waiting for what would happen. A light could be seen, which turned out to be from a small handheld torch. A guard came into view, smirking at both of them.

"Look at the two of you, the duo that supposedly wiped out the entire group of Forest Bandits. If you ask me, you two got there as soon as the real killers left. It was a fate chance wasn't it? You get the glory and everyone fears you, HA."

He set the torch in it's holder near the door and leaned in so he could get near their faces. Well don't worry little prisoners. The preparations are almost done. We're gonna have us a public execution. Your bodies will be sent back to that village that no doubt sent you as a warning to all not to mess with Butona's Mountain Bandits."

"Oh it's the Mountain Bandits now? What are you guys, some league of bandits from all over the nations?" Kaori sarcastically replied.

"Oh, so now you're going to crack jokes huh bitch?" The guard yelled back. There is more bandit groups out there than you two can slash your pretty swords at. We all co-work together, never invading each others territory. But when the call comes, we will fight together. I take it you never got Lutaka's last name did you?"

No we did not. Frankly we didn't care what it was," said Dokina.

"Well get ready, cuz it's Atigama. Lutaka is Butona's brother, who gave him reign over the Forest Bandits. He's been highly pissed off since his brother was killed. He swore that he would enjoy making…you know what? I'm done talking to you guys."

"How convenient for you then," said Kaori. She threw the stone at the guard, striking him in the head. He turned around, reeling from the blow. Dokina rushed up and grabbed his arms, pulling them back and preventing him from attacking. Kaori reached through the bars, grabbed the guard, and snapped his neck. His body fell to the ground in a dead heap.

"We're done talking to you too," said Kaori as she fumbled through the guards pockets looking for the keys. She finally found it and unlocked their door. They snuck quietly through the dark halls, taking the torch that the guard had left. They would peer cautiously around corners looking for any sign that someone had heard the conversation they had with the guard. One turn after another and after a while it seemed to go on forever and that they would never find their way out.

"It seems that we highly underestimated these bandits if they are all in league with each other," said Dokina, peering around another corner.

"I know what you mean," Kaori replied. "To think that there are leagues of these bandits all over the Nations is remarkable but yet scary. If they ever banded together for one massive attack, the smaller villages may not be able to repel the attacks. They'd be essentially pilfered and plumaged until there is nothing left."

"Things have gotten more complicated then," said Dokina. "There is no way that we could fight such a large force. We will need more reinforcements. Even if we were to help the villages under attack it wouldn't be enough. Most villages don't have a very large army. They are mainly made up of farmers and merchants."

"We will have to hold off then and kill Butona another day. Things being what they are, we're in way over our heads."

There was a small noise that echoed around the walls of the tunnels. Dokina and Kaori waited, breathes held, for any kind of movement that happened. They heard voices coming from the tunnel ahead. They moved carefully on ahead, moving up ever so slightly until finally they saw some light up ahead. Inside was a large room filled with loads of treasure and other assorted items.

"This must be where they keep whatever they steal and are holding for another day," said Dokina. Amazed at the amount of treasure he saw, he could only walk around the area trying to see what he could find. Kaori looked around too and the two began to search vigorously.

"I can find just about everything but our swords," Kaori yelled from across the room. They looked through treasure in the form of gold coins, diamonds, ancient artifacts, but no hint of their swords.

"Shhh I think I hear someone," Dokina whispered. They stopped searching and listened for what sounded like voices. They hid under the dense piles of treasure as the voices got louder and closer.

"No I'm serious man. I went to go check up on him and there he was dead. Apparently his neck was snapped. I thought Butona said that they were a big danger until their swords were confiscated."

"No that's just the idea what they want you to think which you're clearly not doing. These two are in a class of their own if they're able to kill without weapons. That or they got really lucky. Either way we had best go inform Butona of their escape. Come on, this way."

Two Mountain Bandits came into view of the treasure room but did not go inside. Instead they took another road, one that Dokina and Kaori didn't see earlier. When they had gone a good distance away, Dokina and Kaori emerged from the piles of treasure.

"Looks like we've got us a lead," Kaori whispered in a quiet tone. "I say we follow them. They may lead us to the exit or where our swords are."

They began to follow the two bandits at a distance. It was tough as the bandits would sometimes walk down a tunnel and other times would run down a tunnel. Finally, after turning the corner on one tunnel, they finally caught sight of sunlight.

"Fighting those two will be no problem," said Dokina as they began to run for the light. "We'll just kill those two, and leave the place. We can come back for our weapons another day."

They ran into the light, where the sight was less than inviting. They had made it outside, and right into a large crown of bandits. They began laughing as Dokina and Kaori saw them and then broke up the group, revealing a man who stood at a normal height. He wore a large camouflaged vest, tanned pants, and a pair of very strange looking gauntlets. His face had a scar on it that ran from one cheek to the other. His eyes were fixed on them and started walking toward them.

Not knowing what else to do, they readied themselves for attack. The man rushed them straight at Kaori. She started the fight with a powerful right hand, but he caught it easily and the other strike she threw at him. With amazing strength he picked her up by hands, leaving her to dangle. Dokina rushed him and attacked from the side, hoping to catch him off guard. With grace, the man leaped up and gave him a powerful side kick before throwing Kaori at him. They crashed and rolled into the ground, the pain coming back to them.

The man slowly walked up to them, and they tried to get up but to no avail. He punched Dokina in the side of his face, and then kicked up Kaori into the air before sending her back into the ground with a powerful elbow to the back.

He slowly turned toward the bandits yelling "Get them ready." As they ran over to pick up Dokina and Kaori, he said "My name is Butona Atigama. Welcome to my lair."