Knowing she was waking up in chains did little to improve her mood. Learning to not stir from her sleeping position had been one of the hardest lessons to master in the academy. Funny that so many other skills had come easier, it staying still was what was difficult. Keeping calm she took in her surroundings through her senses that would not give away her consciousness. She felt the wooden floor move underneath; shifting ever so slightly. Coupled with her shackles she knew it to be a ship's brig. Air brushing against her smell receptors smelled of gunpowder and salt water. Hearing her surroundings told the most of all; the shuffling feet of the guards; the breathing of fellow prisoners, one obviously Akamaru.

The problem was the chains. Without opening her eyes she could not tell how well tied up she was, but she didn't know how closely she was being watched either. 'No, the chains are not the problem. The one who snuck up from behind and knocked me out is what is worrisome. Was it one of those Kiri Nin?'

Almost too caught up in her own thoughts, she barely heard the tail end of a low growl from Akamaru. It was subtle and she still had trouble with Akamaru's accent, but she made out "I can hear the light in your breath Karui, stay down now. Men took Kiba. They are trying to learn from his tongue, but he will not speak. A pack of five sea-men guard our cages, I want to run over our path to freedom by then."

Torture was nothing new to Kiba. Team 8 had been assigned to assist Ibiki Morino on a few occasions. Sure he was a tough man he was fair and freely taught what he knew to others, even when nobody had asked to learn. Kiba had gotten closer to the man when he took his ANBU training, Kiba did not find the pair surprising. He and Akamaru were ideal scouts, and scouts have to deal with the possibility of capture and interrogation.

The large man working on him knew how to throw a punch, and where to hit. He targeted specific muscle groups and joints, the hits were not meant to hurt but hinder. Too much more of the treatment and Kiba figured he'd be at the same level as an average person.

"That will do for now Akuji." A man smoking a pipe that smelled part tobacco part opium sat up straight in his seat behind Kiba. The man with fists like bricks stood to attention and walked over to the wall.

If the first man was like a brick, the man who came from behind was a wall. Standing well over two meters tall he wore the uniform of a general from the Land of Water's military. Kiba remembered that owing to the large territory of ocean claimed by the Land of Water all branches of their military could command ships and fleets with equal authority.

Dragging his chair behind him, the man sat down in front of Kiba and relit his long brass pipe. "I don't like long, drawn out interrogations. Having you beaten and thrown into a cell to languish and slowly fade I'm fine with but interrogations should be done in a timely manner. We've found and gone through your things, so we know who you are. Now if I were an idiot I would ask what you are and the girl from Kumogakure doing here; to which you would answer…"

"We're on vacation."

"That is one conclusion which can be drawn yes." Leaning back, he brought up his left leg and set his foot on his right knee. "But that doesn't give me the answer I really want, now does it?"

"You'll forgive me for not sympathizing with your position. You fired on a peaceful town for a trumped up reason."

"Yes, we did find evidence that you went through some of our documents. So that puts us in the same position. We like to think we know where the other is coming from, but we don't have all the details. It's this lack of understanding that makes interrogations so difficult." Finishing his pipe, he tapped the remaining embers out on the bottom of his boot before placing it in his pocket.

"No, I see your problem rather clearly." Kiba's memory of the previous night came back to him like a focused vision. "You suspect us of stopping your bombardment, so you doubt the story of our being tourists. And while you know we snuck aboard the ships, you don't make us as the ones who attacked and burned them."

"That's the long and the short of it." Standing up the General nodded to his subordinate in the corner before walking out to the hallway where two young women stood waiting to follow.

The big fellow resumed his work of punching Kiba's muscles, his technique was not accurate like a Hyuuga's juuken or precise like a trained medic, but it was no less effective. Tied arms and legs to the chair, all Kiba could to was sit there and take the beating. His one consolation was that this treatment did nothing to dull his senses, both hearing and scent were alive and he would use what weapons he was left with.

Unlocking her chains had proved to be easier than expected, thanks to a lock pick hidden in a seam of her dress. Timing her actions to Akamaru's low growls of warning she freed her hands and feet, but kept up the appearance of being chained. The chains themselves were each secured to one of the corners of her cell, an odd arrangement meant to keep a prisoner in the center of the cell. Still, that fact could prove useful.

"Kiba returns with others. Let us go."

With the sound of Kiba being chained down in the cell next to her, Karui waited for the guards to open her cell door. The smell of a slow fuse told her that at least one of the guards had a firearm. As a knife pressed against her throat and a hand on her shoulder, the guard standing over her started to say, "No funny business now, time to get u-"

Chopping at his wrist, Karui cleared the knife from her throat. Removing one of her manacles she clasped it to the man's arm and wrapped the excess around his throat, choking him. As the guard with the firearm lowered his weapon to fire, Karui threw a second chain at him, knocking the weapon from his hands. Vaulting over the first guard, Karui kicked the rifleman in his chest, dropping him. Of the remaining three guards, two ran towards her while a third made a run to the door to shout warning.

Grabbing a wooden bucket, she hurled it as hard as she could at the third guard's head. The man collapsed before he could open the door or say a word. One of the remaining guards charged with his pike, while the rifleman still in the cell scrambled for his fallen weapon.

Deciding to use the nature of the area to her advantage, Karui ran back into her cell, kicking the rifleman across his face before he could reach his weapon. The pike came in-between the bars of her cell, dodging the blade, she caught part of the haft and pulled. Sure enough the guard tried to hold onto the weapon and one of his hands came between the bars of the cell. Taking the closest manacle, she clasped it around his wrist before pulling sharply on his arm, dislocating his wrist and smacking his head against the iron bars.

The last guard tried a fancy hand-to-hand combat move, grabbing his wrist and stepping to her side; Karui threw him down to the ground and twisted his arm into a submission lock. A solid punch knocked the man out and ended the conflict as quickly as it had begun.

Finding the keys Karui opened Kiba and Akamaru's cells, she unlocked them and let Akamaru get Kiba up while she looked around for their possessions. A prisoner in the next cell looked her way when she saw what she was doing and said, "You won't find your things in the storage room. They have taken them to be analyzed, most likely in the Captain's quarters." The man's uniform was ragged, but showed his rank as a captain in the Kiri navy.

"And you are?" Karui asked, without looking at the man. Instead she found a weapon rack for the guards and selected a cutlass with a wide blade.

"Captain Basho, former commander of the Aso." The name triggered her memory from the letters she had read the night before. He was the Captain who refused to fire on the town and was relieved from command.

"We're taking you with us. Kiba how are things on your…" Karui was rather surprised to finally see the condition Kiba was in. He looked fine, for one who had been tortured, but he was limping like an arthritic old man.

"I'm fine Karui. They roughed me up a little but nothing is broken. We need to get out of here though." Sniffing the air, Kiba turned his head towards the door. "Someone is coming."

Nearly collapsing under his own weight, Kiba leaned on Akamaru for support before sitting down on the Ninken. Karui took point and readied her sword, waiting for whoever was going to come through the door. Looking down she looked at the passing shadows of people in the hall, one finally stopped in front of the door and somehow shift from being outside to being inside. The shadow seemed to glide along the floor like dark smoke, when it finally stopped in front of her the shadow enlarged and took human form. The facial features were partially hidden by a mask, but Karui recognized those eyes.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you where you stand Moji."

The Kiri Jounin's expression did not alter in the slightest. With a dead look in his eyes he stated flatly, "Because I'm the only one who can get you off this ship alive."