Chapter 10

The next morning they had gathered at the village gates to wait for Jaku. The sun was rising more and more and he still wasn't showing himself, "What a time to be late." Haruko grumbled.

"We'll just have to be patient." Tomaru said in her calm subdued voice.

"Yeah, Patient." Kaoki repeated, stuffing a piece of a chocolate bar into her mouth. She was sharing it with her teddy bear that now seemed to be very much alive.

Jaku walked up to them a few minutes later, looking exhausted, "You just woke up didn't you?" Haruko demanded.

"Yeah." He yawned, "Sorry about that. Let's get going."

They were nearly at the boarder late that morning. Jaku stopped and turned to them, "We're almost there, so I'll tell you the plan now. Haruko, you'll be the main attacker, since you grew up there and would know more about their attack patterns. Kaoki and Tomaru, you're backup, and I'll help out where I can." The three girls nodded.

They moved forward until they could see the small campsite the mist villagers had set up. Only a couple of them seemed to be awake. One was a tall boy with long black hair and a very long sleeved white shirt, "Akira…" Haruko whispered, starting to back off a bit.

"Just where do you think you're going?" Jaku asked her.

"Oh…Nowhere…" She said.

"Good, now this seems like the perfect time to go, with only two of them awake." Haruko nodded, braced herself, and walked through the bushes into the camp site.

Akira turned quickly as soon as he heard the rustling, "Well well, if it isn't the traitor." His cold black eyes stared unblinkingly at her, "Come to stop us did you?"

"That's exactly what I came for." She said. Clenching her fists.

He grinned, "I've been waiting for this. I was hoping you'd be the first one to see my new technique."

He ran up to her and disappeared. She turned just in time to block a kunai from going into her back, "I know all of your moves, Akira."

"You only think you do." He said, forcing her back. She slid back and caught herself. She ran back at him and punched. The force of the punch made a thin cut on his face and chopped off a bit of his hair.

"My hair!" He screeched. His eyes narrowed and his hair began to grow very long.

"You can make it grow now!"

"That's not all…" It started to wrap itself around her arms and legs.

Jaku told the other two girls to make their move now; some of the other villagers were starting to wake up. This would be a good time to attack.

Akira bound Haruko's arms to her sides, "Maybe I'll kill you today." He said as he completely bound her in shiny strands of black hair. He tightened it around her, it began to cut into her skin and smash her body, "You like it? It's my new jutsu." He grinned as he smashed her even more, "My bloodline is so fun…"

Kaoki and Tomaru ran around the outside of the campsite, picking off the other mist nins as they went.

The air started to fill with loud cracking and crunching sounds, "Ha, there go your bones." Akira said, laughing his evil little laugh, "I always knew you were weak." She struggled around a bit, trying to free herself, but he just held her tighter, "You should know me better than to let you go like that." He reached some of his free hair out to either side and grabbed one of each Tomaru and Kaoki's arms, "Leave them out of this!" Haruko demanded. He wrapped more hair around her throat, "Shut up already." He squeezed, somehow, even tighter. Her eyes widened as he crushed her bones and organs.

The other two tried to free themselves but just ended up getting their arms broken instead, "Bei-Bei! Do something." Kaoki yelled, but to know avail. He was bound too.

Just then Haruko was dropped to the ground, still wrapped tightly in now cut off hair. Jaku stood in front of her, "None of them are dying today."

Akira tossed Tomaru and Kaoki, "And neither am I…" He said as he disappeared along with the campsite, leaving behind only his wounded comrades.

Jaku knelt over Haruko and felt her pulse, "Is she alright?" Kaoki asked.

"I think so." He pulled the hair off of her, "Grab a couple of those he left behind for interrogation and lets get out of here."

- - - -

Haruko awoke hanging over Jaku's shoulder. Her vision was blurry but she could tell that her teammates held a couple of mist nins with them. She blinked a couple of times, but was only awake for a moment before drifting off once again.