As the eleven men exchanged prices with the captain of the boat, the group of six snuck to the small cabin by the shore. Kakashi walked forward first, tapping the back door gently and an old woman opened the door.
"Oh, hello." she said, her eyes lightning up at the sight of guests. She seemed lonely and frail, "Is there something I can do for you children?"
"We need to borrow that other boat on the beach." Kakashi explained quietly, "It's for a mission. We can't continue without it."
The old woman blinked and glanced behind her, as if checking on someone, then looked back at Kakashi.
"Are you going after those nasty Mist village ninja?" she asked quietly, understanding why the Jounin was speaking softly. They nodded as one and the old woman smiled, nodding eagerly, "Take it! I would like it returned in one piece, though. Those ninja are so horrible. They came in here and took almost all my food!"
She stepped to the side, allowing the group to enter. They looked around at the savaged cottage, and the old woman bent over, groaning a little as she tried to pick up a broken vase. Guy quickly moved to help her, kneeling down to also pick up the flowers before putting them back into the vase. The old woman sighed and looked out the window as a man approached the cottage with a big bag of money, the eleven ninja hurrying to get onto the boat.
"That's my grandson. He looks after me when he's not travelling…" the woman explained and Kakashi looked outside the window. The young boy noticed Kakashi and jumped, before racing for the door and snapped it open, freezing at the sight of the six ninja. He didn't seem to know what to do.
"Relax, child." the old woman smiled, "They're here to help us…"
"But… But those guys out there! They just said that any other ninja that come by are assassins! They're trying to kill them!"
"So they know?" Sanjirou sighed and the boy glared.
"I won't let you go after them!"
"Please, we're the good guys here. We're protecting our village by stopping the information they have being leaked." Emiko tried to explain, but he was having none of it. He ran forward, but Guy grabbed him from behind and grabbed him between his neck and shoulder, squeezing. The boy froze before falling to his knees, Guy quickly catching him.
"We're sorry. He's not dead." Kotori quickly explained as Guy put him on the small couch, "We just…"
"Don't worry, I understand." the woman smiled, "Now quickly, go! Before they get too far off."
The group nodded and quickly left, heading across the beach.
"Does anyone know how to get a boat going?" Emiko asked, sighing, "Because I have never been on a boat before."
"I haven't either." Guy admitted, but Sanjirou and Kotaro quickly jumped onto the deck.
"We know what to do!" Sanjirou grinned, "We sailed boats when we were kids with our dads on days off. Trust us!"
"Yeah, like, twice." Kotori muttered, but the group quickly got to work and shoved the boat out into the sea. Soon enough they were sailing happily after the enemy ship. It seemed to be good weather for sailing, and they could see them in the distance.
"What should we do?" Sanjirou asked, looking over at Kakashi.
"Long ranged fighters will stay on this boat. The rest will come with me."
They nodded. That meant leaving Sanjirou and Kotaro on board, while the other four went onto the ship. They stayed behind for the most part, until they felt they were at a satisfying distance from the main land and the island.
"I'll go for the one steering. Guy, go for the one in the crow's nest. Kotori, Emiko, take on any others. Sanjirou and Kotaro, I want you to keep the boat close enough for you to do jutsus and perhaps your puppets." Kakashi ordered. They all nodded and, as soon as they got close enough, the four shot off and landed on the boat.
It happened quickly.
Kotori landed on the railings behind one, removing her kunai. But he must have heard, as he spun round and aimed to punch her. She jumped in the air, gritting her teeth and flipped over him, spinning crouched and aimed to trip him up. Above, she could see Guy sparring with the lookout and she gasped, the mist ninja caught off guard as the ship suddenly moved, heading right. She glanced over at Kakashi and his opponent, who had forced the ship to go that way before Kakashi punched him. Kotori grit her teeth, quickly looking back round at the man and skidded back from the force. He glared and quickly made handsigns. Water from under the ship shot up over the railings, shaped like a drill and headed straight for Kotori. She flipped backwards once more, bouncing off of the railings that led down to the cabins. She threw her kunai at him and he dodged. Landing on her feet again, Kotori stood ready, and he glared, running at her. She ducked, dodging his punch and got onto her hands, aiming a kick at his jaw. He stepped back, barely managing to dodge himself and grabbed her leg, swinging her round and throwing her across the deck. She winced, moving to run at him again, but someone grabbed her by the shoulders, keeping her still.
"Shit-" she cursed, but cried out when she was suddenly freed. She spun round, jumping back, glancing down the hole that was created, Guy zooming in after. He had pushed his enemy off and onto him!
"Thanks Guy!" she called before throwing kunai at her opponent. She could see a puppet up ahead, racing for another ninja that was arriving up onto deck. He blocked and they ran at each other, sparring once more. He was definitely a competent Taijutsu user, but Kotori just knew she was better. If there were eleven, and Guy was fighting two below, Kakashi was fighting one, Sanjirou was taking care of another and Emiko was fighting one as far as she knew, and there was this one… That meant there were five others. Damn it, Hokage! They couldn't fight eleven off with just six people, especially ninja like these! She skidded back, wiping blood from her cheek before whipping out two kunai, one in each hand. The mist ninja chuckled, making more handsigns.
"Ninja art: Hidden mist jutsu!"
"Shit-" Kotori cussed, glancing about. The mist was thick, and the others hesitated, unable to see. Emiko froze, glancing around, katana slightly bloody. She spun round, hearing noises, but seeing nothing. Kotori closed her eyes, listening carefully.
"Hehehe…" someone chuckled from behind her and Kotori spun to punch, but her fist was met with a kunai and her eyes widened and shook slightly. The kunai dug straight through her knuckle and her arm shook violently, unable to take the pain. Her enemy revealed another kunai, aiming for her stomach, but a kunai shot out of the mist and got him in the hand, forcing him to drop it.
"Argh!" he yelled and Kotori shook her head, coming out of her pained daydream. She grit her teeth and removed her hand from the kunai, kneeing him in the stomach. He groaned, attempting to disappear, but before he could Kotori flipped backwards, getting him in the cheek with her foot. He yelled, falling back. The mist slowly started to clear, but not until another mist ninja created the same jutsu, and the mist came on even thicker.
"Perfect." Kotori grumbled, blood dripping onto the deck.
"Kotori!" she heard someone yell and spun round, yelling when she came face to face with someone, but relaxed when it turned out to be Guy.
"We need to get off this boat! We were put under a Genjutsu." he said quickly, "This isn't their boat at all, we've been fighting an illusion. This is our boat, and they're sailing off."
Guy turned, pointing. Kotori could see a figure disappearing ahead.
"But, my wounds-"
"I know. It's powerful…" Guy nodded, "The only person that we all made eye contact with was the other brother, and the old lady, right?"
"But I killed the brother." Emiko added, walking over. She had a few scratches on her, "So it must have been the lady."
"She tricked us." Sanjirou growled, "But come on, we need to get going."
"Right." they nodded and Kakashi ran to the wheel. He quickly began to steer and Kotori winced, looking down at her hand.
"You should get that bandaged." Kakashi said and Kotori looked over at him before nodding. Kotaro approached her, and they sat down on the deck quickly. He began to heal her, but suddenly the boat rocked.
"Kakashi, careful!" Sanjirou laughed a little, and Kakashi shook his head.
"It's not me." he claimed. Despite it being his first time, he was quite good at steering the ship. It did look pretty simple. The boat rocked again and the group quickly stood up, looking down over the railings.
"It's not Kakashi." Emiko said urgently, "It's the mist ninja! They're using a jutsu-"
She was cut off by a sudden burst of water raising over the railings. It towered over the crow's nest and came down on the centre of the deck, slamming through the wood and the bottom. Kotori yelled, running away from the hole. More spirals like it rose and slammed down, like tentacles, and Kakashi grunted, backing up.
"We need to swim!" Kakashi yelled, diving off of the boat. Guy joined him quickly, and Emiko dove after him once she made sure her katana was secure. Kotori winced, sliding down towards the water as the part of the deck she was on tilted vertically. She flipped off, diving in and Kotaro and Sanjirou joined. The group swam for the surface, almost blown away by the force that the mast made as it fell into the water. They surfaced, Kotori coughing and hissing in pain as salt entered her wound. She raised her hand above the water and quickly surfaced more, using her chakra to stand on the surface. She tried to shake the sea salt out of her wounds, although her efforts were fruitless.
"Kotori, are you okay?" Sanjirou asked, staying in the water. Guy noticed her blood spreading in the water and he yelled urgently.
"That blood will attract sharks! We should run, quick! Come on, come on, let's go!" he cried, suddenly leaping out the water and running full speed ahead to Heiwashu. Kakashi rubbed the bridge of his nose before swimming after Guy.
"How far does it look?" he asked and Kotori looked up.
"About ten minutes."
"Wow, we sailed that far?" Sanjirou commented. Emiko sighed sadly, her hair drooping over her eyes.
"My haaaair." she whined, but kept quiet after that. After around ten minutes of walking and swimming, they reached the beach. The mist ninja's ship was already docked, and they were long gone.
"Thank god the current was with us." Sanjirou sighed, crawling onto the beach. Kotori nodded, allowing her chakra to disappear from her feet as she walked through shallow water. The rest of them got to their feet and shook their clothes.
"We're pretty much on enemy territory now." Kakashi muttered, "If it's possible, we should probably take off our Konoha headbands."
Kotori looked down at the metal plate that was attached to her top. She fidgeted, finally ripping it off and shrugged a little, stuffing it in her pocket.
"We can put our own clothes into a hot spring or something and buy civilian clothes." Kakashi continued as the group walked towards the village. They nodded, Sanjirou wringing out his hair and Kotori couldn't help but find it amusing.
Eventually they found a cheap hot spring that would allow them to stay the night, and each pair got a room: Kotori and Emiko, Kakashi and Guy and Sanjirou and Kotaro. They quickly left their clothes to dry, borrowed temporary clothes from the hot springs and went out to buy civilian clothes. The group returned and changed quickly, meeting up in the lounge.
Kotori walked down the steps, wearing slip on sandals. She was wearing a plain purple kimono with black slits, her hair tied up in a bun to get out of her face. She left her dragonfly clip in her room, hidden safely underneath her pillow, and had bandaged up her hand with Emiko's help before they left the room. Emiko was wearing a similar outfit. Her kimono was white with purple slits, and a random red design cascading across the bottom. Soon the boys joined them: Kakashi wore a black jumper that covered the lower half of his face, of course, and plain black trousers, with a cheap brown jacket. Guy wore a matching green outfit, which seemed to be not much of a disguise, and insisted on wearing glasses to hide his facial appearance. Sanjirou wore a cheap blue jumper with a thin yellow open coat, the sleeves ending at his elbows. Kotaro wore a plain grey t-shirt and matching trousers and sandals.
"Emiko and Kotori will go together, I will go with Guy and Sanjirou and Kotaro will pair up. If we see the enemy and think we can assassinate them without gaining attention, then we'll do so. But for now, we're finding out where they're staying and what they'll be doing, alright?"
"Yes, sensei." they nodded and Emiko and Kotori quickly headed East. For the most part they were quiet, until Emiko smiled, looking down at Kotori. She raised an eyebrow and looked up at her.
"What?"
"We might as well have fun while we're not with the boys, hm?" she cooed, "Personal girly questions, you know!"
Kotori giggled, not against playing a few games that she wouldn't be able to around Sanjirou and Kotaro. Emiko and Kotori scanned the streets as they walked, before heading into the first hot spring they came to.
"Hi!" Emiko said cheerily, "Are you housing any brothers? Eleven of them, they're about 6'ft tall and have long black hair!"
"They're also ninjas." Kotori added in, elbow on the counter. The man behind the counter frowned, checking the list before shaking his head.
"Haven't seen them, sorry."
"Thanks anyway!" Emiko waved and they walked out, and then nudged Kotori, "What did you think of him?"
"Eh, a six."
The rating system Kotori and Emiko used was out of ten; ten being the best, and one being the worst. They mostly rated appearance, but accent matter if they talked. Emiko laughed and they continued rating boys and men as they did their job, however they were unsuccessful in finding the eleven brothers.
Kotori sighed dramatically as they walked out another hotel.
"That's the thirteenth one we've come to!" she exclaimed. Emiko nodded.
"It makes you hungry, doesn't it." she commented idly, and Kotori followed the older Chuunin's gaze to a small café. They looked at each other before smiling and walked in, Emiko holding the door for Kotori.
"Welcome!" a woman greeted, waving. Emiko waved and sat down near the door.
"Mitarashi dango!" Kotori ordered as soon as the woman walked over. She nodded and looked at Emiko.
"Onigiri." she ordered and quickly scanned over the café. Kotori caught her eye as she looked at someone and glanced over her shoulder, smirking. They spotted a very attractive gentleman sitting in the corner, and she looked back round at Emiko, giving her the thumbs up.
"Ten!" she whispered excitedly and Emiko laughed softly, nodding in agreement. Kotori glanced back round at him: he had a strong jaw, but slightly tired eyes, which give him a more mysterious look. He looked quite old, perhaps in his thirties, with chestnut brown hair. Some of it was spiked forward, while the rest of it was held back in a bobble. His outfit was obscured by his cape, which Kotori could understand as this place was quite cold. Luckily, unlike Kirigakure, Heiwashu didn't repeatedly have snow or mist. Soon the woman came with their food, and Kotori took a bite out of her dumpling on the skewer, letting out a satisfied 'mmm' as she swallowed. Emiko smiled pleasantly at her as he bit into one of her onigiri, and Kotori quickly gulped down some of her green tea. It wasn't the best drink, but it went well with dango.
"I hope you have money." Kotori said, and Emiko blinked.
"Huh?" she asked, and Kotori stared at her.
"I left all my money back at the hotel." she stated. Emiko twitched.
"Eh? But so did I!"
"You idiot!" Kotori glared, but suddenly the attractive man from before stood by the table, smirking down at them. His smirk quickly turned to a smile when they noticed him.
"I can pay for that, if you let me sit with you." he said, his voice dripping with honey, "It would be an honour to sit with such pretty ladies."
Kotori wasn't really freaked at the fact a man that was perhaps in his thirties was flirting with her, a sixteen year old. If anything, she was becoming more giddy and giddy on the inside. Emiko quickly accepted, easily defeated by flattery, and the man smiled, sitting next to Emiko. Kotori mentally tutted: trust him to sit next to the girl that was legal.
"Those are interesting tattoos." the man nodded to her neck, and Emiko nodded, smiling. Kotori took another bite from her dango as the two conversed, and once Kotori had finished she stared at the man. He was friendly, this was true, but something about him was off after a while. The problem with Emiko was that, if someone complimented her, they were in her heart forever, unless they did something to get kicked out. She was quite vain, if Kotori was honest.
"Where does this tattoo go, exactly?" the man asked, leaning over a little, his elbow resting on the back of Emiko's chair and his fingers tracing along her arm. Emiko went a little red, smiling cheekily.
"There's no fun in telling you." she said back, and Kotori rolled her eyes. It wasn't so fun flirting when you were just sitting there being the middleman.
"Emiko, you're done." Kotori stated, getting to her feet, "We need to go, Emiko."
"Hush Kotori, we can stay a little bit." her friend said, completely enamoured with the man she didn't even know the name of.
"Emiko, we really need to go. You know, that thing we need to do?" Kotori hissed and Emiko snapped her head round, looking at Kotori. Once they came eye to eye, Emiko remembered that they were here on a mission, and that she was right… Emiko smiled, looking back at the man.
"It was nice talking to you, but she's right. We really need to go."
"But, Emiko, I thought-" the man said, keeping a hold of her wrist as she stood up. The use of her name made Kotori shiver.
"No, I really need to leave." Emiko insisted, ripping herself away from him, "Thanks for paying!" she added quickly before leaving the café with Kotori.
"Thank god." Kotori muttered, keeping close to her friend, "I was worried you were in some sort of trance."
"His good looks deceived me." Emiko sighed sadly. As they passed an alley way, Emiko gasped when a hand covered her mouth, pulling her into the darkness. Kotori spun round, opening her mouth to yell her name, but she was grabbed from behind herself, pushed into the alley.
"I told you not to leave." a familiar voice hissed, and Kotori looked up to see Handsome Man behind her, revealing a small needle. Emiko struggled, biting at the man's hand that kept a hold of her, but the enemy kept her still. He was wearing thick gloves, and Kotori's eyes widened when she noticed it was the mist ninja.
"Shit, you work for them-" Kotori exclaimed before wincing as the man injected the needle into her neck. As he inserted the fluid into her bloodstream, Kotori winced in pain.
"No, no. They work for me."
Kotori watched, trying to get to Emiko, but she was injected too. Shit, this was not going according to plan. Where was Guy… Sanjirou… Her eyes fluttered as she tried to stay awake. Damn it, she would not be the damsel in distress…
This is all Emiko's fault.