The morning came with unfamiliar aches and smells. Kiba remembered Karui had said she wanted to press on later into the night than she had originally planned was the source of the aches. The promise of arriving at the village sooner helped calm his concerns. A soft smell of flowers had wafted into Kiba's dreams, upon waking he noticed that a small fire was already cold and his traveling companion was enjoying a cup of tea. She regarded his questioning look and tersely answered his silent question,

"Rose tea."

Kiba's memory stirred as he had a flashback of his older sister mentioning rose tea, he could vaguely recall the words 'feminine enhancement' whatever that was supposed to mean. Letting the issue rest, Kiba was glad to be able to smell anything at all this morning.

'Perhaps it's a sinus issue,' he thought to himself, 'I'll have to ask sis when I get back.'

He quickly got out rations for himself and Akamaru, who was already alert, but he took his time with the meal. As he did Karui put away her things methodically in a bag that disappeared beneath the folds of her skirt. Taking another large bite, Kiba savored the dried meat and mused,

'Stale jerky is the best; there is nothing better than chewy food.'

The sun was still below the horizon when they set off. The mountain pass changed as the range met up with another set of parallel foothills forming a canyon surrounding the same river he had been following for days now. As the canyon narrowed Kiba couldn't help but notice the color of the river change from a soft blue with ribbons of white to that of almost completely white.

Looking down caused Kiba to take another account of his surroundings. The trail they were on was little more than a ledge carved into the side of the canyon. There were markings on the face of the rock, made by hand and seemingly written in a code. Karui, who was ahead by ten paces looked back and said,

"They're old directions from when this was a secret pass used by Cloud Shinobi. We don't use this anymore, one too many people fell in the river. Now that you know what's on both sides of you, how about going forward?"

Kiba's first impulse was to snap back, but he thought better after realizing that he had been spacing out more often that usual ever since he came here. He nodded an silent apology and asked,

"How much farther to the village?"

"About an hours run. You up for it, or did I push you too hard last night?"

Kiba wished he could have seen her face when she said that, because she sounded almost playful when she asked for a run. Akamaru barked loudly, showing his desire for some action. The air was clear this morning, and as Kiba was now fully awake he felt his senses restored as well. Perhaps his malady the past few days was caused by his pace, he always felt better when he was running.

The town came into view. It was a sizeable village built on top of the opposite cliff face, a large bridge connected the two sides of the ravine and looked strong enough to support even an army's march across. Karui, at last in sight of her goal seemed impatient to return to her usual surroundings, increased her pace to get to the stairs that led to the approach of the bridge on this side of the canyon.

Akamaru stopped and began rolling the side of his head on the ground. Kiba stopped a few paces ahead and asked,

"What's wrong Akamaru?"

The Ninken began barking as loud as Kiba had ever heard before. Unfortunately the warning came too soon before the crisis to be of much help. The ground lurched and cracked in front of them. Sheets of rock fell away from the face of the canyon as the walls of the gorge seemed to be coming together. Karui stopped when the rocks in front of her gave way as well, jumping back but loosing her footing on loose gravel caused her to fall backwards.

The earthquake intensified, Kiba looked at the bridge as it seemed to be folding on itself. A portion of rock behind Akamaru burst open, seeming to explode, and out of the hole poured a strange mist. Kiba gathered his chakra in his feet and prepared to climb the rock face to get to the top of the canyon, which was a good 20 meters up. A scream caused him to forget about this plan.

He saw the ledge Karui had been standing on give way and begin to fall. She quickly jumped from the rock and managed to grab hold of the canyon wall.

"Impressive." Kiba found himself saying amidst the din.

Kiba's comment was drown out by the screech of metal and the popping sound of snapping concrete. The bridge buckled and an entire section fell down into the still narrowing canyon. For some reason Kiba couldn't understand, Karui hadn't begun running up the cliff face; rather she was holding on for dear life to what little grip she had on the rock. The bridge fell and as it did Kiba's view of Karui was obstructed for a second when it passed in front of her. When it did Kiba was shocked that Karui was no longer where she had been.

Another loud bark from Akamaru confirmed his fears. Looking down to the river, about sixty meters below him and one-hundred meters downstream was Karui's form being tossed about in the rapids.

"Damn it!" Kiba yelled as he ran forward.

The rock path in front of him gave way after ten meters. In that time Kiba reached into his gear pack and was grateful that he had remembered to bring a rope and grappling hook with him. Akamaru was running at his side as he dived down into the river.

'She may have been knocked unconscious by the fall. I'll dive down, grab her, then I can focus my chakra to walk on the water until the river calms down.' Kiba thought on his way down.

Deceptively fast currents met Kiba when he broke the river's surface. Looking ahead Kiba remembered that the rapids seemed to fade slightly up ahead; so he focused his efforts on swimming with the torrents, rather than wasting energy fighting them. Doing this he managed to close the distance to Karui.

He managed to grab her and bring her head above water. A gash on her right temple told Kiba all he needed to know for now. Though not responsive she coughed out water and struggled for breath, which was encouraging. Molding his chakra Kiba began to take steps forward and the water started to feel solid beneath his feet. In a moment he was standing on the surface holding Karui over his shoulder. As he was preparing to use his grappling hook he saw a wall of fog roll along the bottom of the ravine. After taking two breaths Kiba's concentration failed and he fell back into the river's current, with Karui falling on top of him.

Kiba barely noticed Akamaru's barking growing fainter as the speed of the current increased. Not having the strength to fight the current and hold on to Karui, Kiba tightened his grip on her and did all he could to keep them both afloat as they headed into white water again.