Author's note: I'm sorry the chapter's late again. I'm still trying to work out my writing schedule around my job. That and this chapter and the next one have been fighting me a bit. Hope you enjoy it :)!
Akali had just left the training room when Shen sprinted past her, startling the female ninja. Her shock only lasted a moment however, before she took off after him, knowing that anything that had her normally stoic teammate moving so rapidly must be important. She didn't bother asking him where they were going so quickly, if he'd had the time he would have told her and she trusted her teammate's discretion. The blue-clad ninja, for his part, was grateful for the support; he knew that if it was as bad as Bear's reaction had led him to believe, he was going to need it. That is, if they even got there in time.
Together the two ninja raced through the Kinkou village, drawing steadily closer to the outer meditation gardens. As they drew near, both ninja could feel the shift in the atmosphere as the very air around them grew charged with static electricity. The excess energy crackled around their forms as they sped up; they knew it must be a very formidable foe indeed for their missing teammate to release this much electricity. They could not afford to waste a second.
Finally, the meditation gardens came into sight and the two ninja put on a final burst of speed, charging into the clearing only to stall in shock at the sight before them. Across the glade, their third member hung, anchored to a strong cedar by several knives, while before him crouched a lithe female, dagger in hand as she readied for the killing blow.
With a furious cry, Akali threw her Kama, the large weapon spinning end over end as it flew straight towards the assassin. Katarina vaulted away from her pinned target, allowing the Kama to embed itself in the tree behind her before she was forced to duck as the other one sailed through the air where her head had been.
The irate ninja pressed forward, attacking with such ferocity that even with one weapon she was able to force her foe to duck and weave just to stay in one piece. As the green woman kept the Noxian's attention on her, Shen ran to where Kennen was pinned.
However, the smaller ninja just shook his head. "I'll be fine for now. Go help Akali, she won't be able to stop her on her own."
As if in proof, Katarina launched a counter-attack, diving through a hole in the Fist of Shadow's defences to slash at her stomach. The green ninja just managed to twist in time so that the blade only left a thin gash along her side before, with a short cry, she fell back. However, it was enough for Shen to heed Kennen's advice, turning to join the fight.
Suddenly, Katarina found herself on the defensive, as she ducked under the blue-ninja's swing before hastily dodging Akali's following swipe. She twisted to leap to the side, only to find the Eye of Twilight's blade cleaving down and forcing her to back up. Working in tandem, the two ninja pressed on, driving the assassin back and away from their downed member and cornering her up against the trees.
As Akali lunged at her, Katarina flipped backwards before hand-springing up to a low hanging branch, finally putting enough distance between her and her foes for a breather. Now out of range, she grinned down at them.
"Two against one, that's not very fair."
With Shen covering her, Akali leapt towards the tree, knocking the branch the red-haired assassin was sitting on. "Because you Noxian's are all about fairness," she sneered.
Utilising the branch's momentum, Katarina jumped, sailing effortlessly over their heads and landing in the centre of the clearing. "Maybe not," she agreed. "But that doesn't mean I can't see when the odds are against me. Until next time."
With a departing wink, the assassin suddenly spun on the spot, knives flying away from her in every direction in an excessive storm of blades.
Eyes widening, Akali spun her remaining Kama to block the hail of knives heading towards her, even as Shen leapt across the clearing to protect their still pinned member from the sudden attack. A flash of fear struck Kennen at the sight of the blades flying out from the deadly assassin, knowing he was unable to dodge. Instinctively, his eyes shut, even as the blue ninja reached him, shielding him from harm.
Finally, the unceasing rain of daggers ended, allowing the ninja to lower their weapons to find the blade-strewn glade conspicuously absent of an assassin. Akali let out a curse, leaping up into the trees in a futile attempt to track the errant Noxian. Across the clearing, Shen let out a small sigh before turning to help Kennen down.
As soon as he was free, the yordle grasped his hurt shoulder with a hiss of pain, cradling the limp arm in an attempt to shield it from further damage.
The blue ninja watched him carefully, relieved to see that the shoulder seemed to the worst injury their small teammate had sustained before he quickly caught the unsteady teen before he fell over. It seemed that the injury to the ear had distorted the young ninja's balance temporarily.
"I'm alright," Kennen automatically responded, trying to regain his balance but Shen did not release his steady hold.
"No, you're not," he spoke calmly, before decisively scooping the smaller ninja up. "We need to get you to the infirmary."
For once, Kennen didn't contest the treatment, too busy trying to stop the world spinning as they made their way back to the temple.
Shen was watching the medic fuss over the Heart of the Tempest's wounds from an unobstructive position across the room.
The seal-like creature frowned as they healed the yordle's arm while the young ninja continued to fidget under the vastayan's stern attention.
"So…" Kennen finally asked. "How bad is it?"
The furry, medic's frown deepened, glancing quickly across at Shen before they replied, "Most of the wounds are superficial. But a couple of them were very close to being permanent. The blade through your lower arm just missed your carpel tunnel and your main tendons. Thankfully however, it didn't hit anything too delicate and I was able to fix most of the damage along with the injury to your ear. You may still have some problems with balance and strength until they completely heal though, so don't over use them."
"What about his shoulder?" the blue-ninja queried.
The vayastan sighed. "The shoulder is a lot more serious." Turning their attention to the injury in question, they continued, "Whoever threw that knife has impeccable aim. The blade cut cleanly between the glenoid cavity and the humeral bone, meaning it still had enough momentum to continue travelling into the tree and dislocating the shoulder to boot. Add on top of that, the blade slicing through the deltoid muscle, limiting almost all movement in the arm and you have yourself one very effective way of taking out an opponent's dexterity and strength almost permanently in one shot. You're extremely lucky that the blade didn't manage to completely severe all of the tendons otherwise even with my medical knowledge and healing magic it would have been beyond me. As it is, even with my skills it'll take a while to heal fully. Which means you're going to have to put up with it being strapped for a few days so that I can heal it properly."
The medic turned their stern glare fully onto the yordle as he let out a mournful sigh, cuffing him over the good ear as they went to find a sling. As the doctor started strapping the shoulder in a light but sturdy sling (extensively lecturing the energetic ninja on all the things he should and shouldn't do while healing), Shen's attention turned to the door as Akali arrived.
The green ninja didn't say anything as she entered, but her eyes automatically sort out their youngest teammate. Finding him putout but ultimately alright, the tightness in her shoulders eased just slightly before she joined the Eye of Twilight by the wall.
"Is he alright?" she asked quietly.
Shen gave her a short nod. "A couple of near misses, but nothing that won't fully heal with time." As she let out a relieved sigh he turned to regard her fully. "Did you find anything?"
The green ninja made a disgruntled sound. "No. Whoever she is she's good. Aside from her battle with Kennen, there was barely a trace of her presence here."
Shen's eyes narrowed, "We need to find out why she's here. Could you go back to the clearing and see what you can find? Anything that might tell us about where she's from and what her purpose here is."
"You want proof," Akali summarized as she turned her attention from the duo across the room to her other teammate.
"Yes," he answered simply. "If I'm right. We'll need all the proof we can get."
She nodded, before pushing herself off the wall, "I'll see what I can find. Let me know what happens here." Without waiting for an answer, the deadly woman departed, leaving Shen alone.
His mood sombred as his thoughts turned back to the events of the day. He was not worried about their youngest member's injuries (now that he knew they weren't permanent). All three ninja had sustained much worse before. However, the fact that they were caused by such a dangerous opponent in their own village, was very concerning.
Finally, the medic finished, telling the yordle to rest, before leaving the two higher-class ninja alone.
Shen was still deep in thought when Kennen turned his curious gaze to him.
"That woman," the yordle's serious voice pulled the blue-clad ninja's attention, "she was a Noxian."
"I know," Shen nodded.
"Do you think she has anything to do with what we found in Zaun?"
The older ninja was silent for a moment before he answered honestly, "I'm not sure."
"But you have some ideas," the smaller ninja pressed.
Shen felt the corner of his mouth twitch. As astute as ever. "Yes."
Silence reigned for a few seconds before the eighteen-year-old impatiently asked. "Well come on. What are they? Tell me!" His excited bouncing came to an abrupt stop with a hiss of pain as he jostled his injured shoulder.
Shen shook his head as he stood. "You should rest. We'll discuss this more in the morning as a team."
Holding back a cringe (which was a lot harder with his mask removed), Kennen persisted. "I'm ok. I don't need to rest yet."
"Kennen," the blue-clad ninja spoke resolutely, "even if I am correct, we cannot act without proof. Which means the best thing for you to do is heal, so that we may be ready when the time is right. So rest."
"Fine."
Leaving the young ninja to pout, Shen got up to go meet their other teammate.
Akali returned home from her search extremely frustrated after the green ninja had arrived in the clearing to find almost every trace of the fight had been erased. It seemed that not only had the Noxian assassin managed to pull off a brutally effective (and almost deadly) surprise attack within the confines of their very own village, but she had once more proven to be one step ahead of them.
A quick glance over was all the ninja needed to see that every dagger and knife had disappeared, leaving behind a couple of blade marked trees and two broken branches as all the proof she'd even been there. Still, the Kinkou were nothing if not persistent. However, after scouring the garden without finding any looked over clue, Akali had decided to called it quits, heading back to her modest home to prepare for the night and to wait for the Eye of Twilight to inevitably to show up.
The green-clad ninja had just returned from a bath, the tension from the day finally worked out of her body and her long hair tied back in a plait, when she felt a presence behind her.
She turned, expecting to find her blue-clad teammate, only to stop in surprise at the red-haired woman casually leaning up against the wall.
"Evening," the Noxian smirked.
So, anyone tired of the cliff-hangers yet :P.
Haha, I have to say, I actually did enjoy writing this chapter (even if it was a bit of a pain), especially the medical stuff. Now, I should probably warn: I'm not in the medical profession so I don't know if this is completely accurate - there's only so much you can look up in google (yeah, I might have a bit of a weird search history after this past week :P) - but that said, I did look up what I could and come up with a plausible explanation from there. Also magic comes in very handy as an instant solution to anything too serious/out there :).
Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think. Next chapter should be up in the next 2/3 weeks.