Deus Ex Machina
The forest was quiet today, no animals screeching their greetings to one another.
Kiba sniffed the air astride Akamaru, who was doing his share of tracking.
Kiba suddenly stopped sniffing the air, and bowed his head.
He was silent for a while, and then he said…
"Over there, that way." He said as he pointed to a path to the right.
"Her scent is strong this way."
Kenshin only nodded, while Naruto remained doubtful.
"Hey! What about Sakura, huh? We're supposed to look for her too!" yelled Naruto.
"Relax, you hyperactive brat, I smell that pink-haired nag along this way too…" replied Kiba.
Naruto crossed his arms, and then realized what Kiba had called him…
"WHO YOU CALLING A HYPERACTIVE BRAT?!?"
Kiba just smiled at him, an impudent smile that only angered Naruto further.
"WHAT'RE YOU SMILING ABOUT…YOU LITTLE MUTT?!?" shouted Naruto.
After that, more shouting ensued.
"LITTLE MUTT?!? THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO?"
"DON'T WORRY, MUTT! I GOT LOADS MORE!!!"
Then, the fistfight started…
Fist flew through the air like homing missiles straight at each other. And then…
"ENOUGH!!!"
And the two immediately stopped fighting to see who had spoken. Naruto was in the middle of putting Kiba in a chokehold while Akamaru's fangs were lodged into Naruto's rear end.
It was Kenshin, hand on the forehead of his mask.
"I don't have time for your petty squabbles…we only have but 11 and a half hours to reach the both of them, so please, quit your childish behavior and focus on looking for her!!!" said Kenshin.
The two were silent for a while, and then Kiba spoke up…
"Uhm…don't you mean 'them'?"
"Right, them…sorry…" replied Kenshin.
"Hey, Kenshin, it's not that easy…It's not like following a gingerbread trail, me and Akamaru have to sort through the other scents of the things in this forest, and that's a lot…"
"Yeah hotshot, it's not we have a clue telling us where we're supposed to go…" added Naruto, arms outstretched in a what-can-you-do expression.
Suddenly, a white envelope fell from the sky onto Naruto's right hand. Naruto looked as if his right hand had just vanished.
"W-Where did that come from?!?" he stammered.
Kenshin bent down to pick it up, and read what was written on the back of the envelope.
It said, in large letters written by typewriter..
This Is A Deus Ex Machina
Kenshin turned it over, broke the seal, and read its contents…
It said…
Rem…
Head northwest.
There is a cave, you must remove three seals to open the hideout.
Don't exaggerate.
You have at least 11 hours, 46 minutes, and 34 seconds till the poison reaches her heart and kills her.
Don't worry.
You'll get there.
You will face the talons of the hawk.
Be prepared.
For the first…just chill.
Break the Bonds,
Det. Fedora.
P.S. My reason for this letter?
Mercy.
Deus Ex Machina
Kenshin folded the letter and put it in his jacket pocket. He was silent for a few moments.
"God from the machine…" he muttered under his breath.
"Well, what's it say?" the two of them said in unison.
"We head…northwest" he said to the two of them.
"Are you sure?" said Kiba. "Her scent is going this way…" he said as he pointed to the path he pointed to earlier.
"The letter told me." replied Kenshin
Kiba looked incredulous.
"Right, the letter told you. And we're supposed to trust a letter that fell from the sky?" he said.
"How do you know that whoever took her wasn't using that path to mislead any trackers, hmm?" replied Kenshin.
Kenshin bit his thumb, and said,
"Summoning Jutsu! Gate of the Watchful Eye!"
In a puff of smoke, two large stone silver eyes, marked 1 and 2, suddenly appeared, and flew off to two directions: Northwest, and down the path Kiba was pointing at.
They flew off, leaving some kind of grey mist in their wake.
Two doors shot out of the ground. As they watched the doors, it looked like a movie camera zooming through the forest.
To Naruto, it looked like a movie screen, and wondered what movie it was.
As Naruto went through the lineup of the movies he had ever seen, Kiba, somewhat quicker on the uptake, had realized what they were looking at.
It was live feed from the two eyes.
The eye marked 1 went to the path that Kenshin said. It kept going till it reached a large stone wall, and directly in the center of the door, was a large boulder, that seemed to block a large cave, and on its surface were three seals, all placed with perfect placement.
Eye #2 kept going, and reached a clearing, and there, as clear as day, were two strips of cloth, red and purple, tied onto a dead stump of a tree.
"Well?" said Remiel.
Kiba watched as the camera slowly reversed, all the way back to them, and then the doors slowly sank into the ground, and the last thing he saw in them was his own dumbstruck face.
"Alright, northwest it is…"