Chapter 56

"Oh man I thought we would have reached the boat by now" groaned Tomo as she pushed a blanket away. "I didn't think I have to be sleeping out here on the ground."

The group had finally managed to work out the map, and had made quite good time for their journey. However none of the group had realised it would take over a day to reach the harbour. Sakaki and Fuka had both brought extra blankets, while Tomo had brought none, so the girl had managed to get to sleep without freezing. Sakaki had offered one just before Fuka had the chance, leaving Fuka to feel guilty.

Fuka looked across at Tomo as she folded up her blanket to put back in the bag.

"Well we should probably get there today" said Fuka. She paused thoughtfully for a moment. "But I wonder if a boat will leave today?"

"Huh? Whadya mean?" asked Tomo, handing the borrowed blanket back to Sakaki.

"Well I don't think a boat would leave everyday, it wouldn't be…erm it wouldn't be worth the money it costs without people to ride it" said Fuka.

"So there might not be a boat?" groaned Tomo.

"Nope" replied Fuka. "So do you have a list of boats or a schedule or something?"

"No" replied Sakaki, Tomo shaking her head.

"Wow we're really underprepared" said Fuka.

"Meh, this usually happens but we normally win" said Tomo shrugging.

"Whatever happens there will be a boat sometime…probably" said Sakaki trying to sound encouraging. "We might just have to wait a few days."

Tomo groaned. "I don't know if I could last a few days without spending this" said Tomo, holding up the pouch the elder Kimura had given to them. Tomo had chosen herself to be the guardian of the money. Fuka had had some apprehensions but decided not to argue with her new teammate- that probably wouldn't be the way to get on their good side.

"There is quite a lot there" said Sakaki.

"Should we be displaying it out in the op…" started Fuka before pausing. She slowly moved her head to the side, looking out towards the forest that surrounded the small clearing where they had slept.

"What's wrong? Have you forgotten what you were going to say?" asked Tomo. "That sometimes happens to me."

"No not that" replied Fuka. "I think we're being followed. We should-"

"Hey you better come out here you damn stalker!" yelled out Tomo, Fuka groaning faintly. She was even more surprised as the person actually responded and suddenly stepped out into the open. She had never seen the person before, but Sakaki and Tomo looked surprised.

"I'm not a stalker!"

Gripping a glass of red wine he leant back in the luxury chair, hand made by former slaves of his. They were long deceased, but the chair still remained so he cared little about their loss. He guessed they added to the army. He glanced up from the expensive glass as footsteps echoed throughout the stone corridor. He said something softly, placing the glass down on a small wooden table.

"So you are the man he has sent to aid me? Is that correct swordsman?" asked the man slightly apprehensively as though he thought the man wasn't good enough.

"That's right. I am Saito" replied the man who carried a large sword and an expressionless face. The other man didn't ask for his first name. "There is another out there currently working under cover" replied the swordsman who found himself staring at the other man's bright blond hair.

"Well given my ability I don't find that I actually need a guardian, but it is always useful to have help I suppose. Welcome, I look forward to working with you" stated the man as he picked the glass of wine back up.

"So she's from the village too?" asked Fuka, the group sat in a circle on the blankets.

"Yeah" said Tomo nodding. "She was in our class, but they said you vanished Kaorin."

"Well they didn't accept my choice and didn't want me to hang around" replied Kaorin in a slightly grumpy manner. "I wanted to help people and they kept on saying it was illegal."

"So what's illegal?" asked Tomo.

"She just told us" said Fuka.

"Well I didn't really erm understand" replied Tomo. "Could you maybe say it again?"

"Ok" said Kaorin looking just as exasperated as Fuka. "There's a specialised form of chakra use that some people call magick. I don't know that much about it, but people can use different forms if they train. Though most can only use one form of magick."

"A-huh" said Tomo nodding.

"I set out to find someone to teach me a form of healing magick because I wanted to try and help people" said Kaorin. "Apparently the ninja councils are against the use of magick and any ninja found to be training in it are given the choice to stop or no longer be a ninja. They found out about me and gave me a choice. I chose to no longer be seen as a ninja and continue to learn the healing powers so I could be helpful sometime."

"Cool" said Tomo.

"And I wasn't stalking you! I was out here and I…just…erm happened to stumble across all of you" said Kaorin.

"Its ok" said Sakaki, the first time she had directly spoken to Kaorin in over a year. Kaorin suddenly found herself blushing, and deeply embarrassed turned away from the group for a moment. Though Tomo was clueless and Sakaki unaware, Fuka noticed the slightly odd behaviour.

"So Kaorin, did you actually learn how to use this weird stuff?" asked Fuka.

Kaorin nodded her head. "I'm still not as good as my teacher, but I have learnt some tricks" she replied, Kaorin just as cautious of Fuka as the new girl was of the newly arrived Kaorin.

"Cool, I guess we've all been training huh?" said Tomo.

"Before I left I think I heard Yukari say something about you just sitting around eating" said Kaorin. "How is she?"

"She's still the same" grumbled Tomo. Kaorin glanced around.

"And I see there's no Kimura around. Did he quit? Was he fired?" suggested Kaorin hopefully.

"Nope we're just doing a mission by ourselves to test…ourselves" replied Tomo.

"So no Kimura?"

"Nope" said Tomo.

"That's good news" said Kaorin. Even Fuka agreed. "So what now?" added Kaorin.

"Well we're off on a mission to some village" replied Tomo. Fuka didn't know if it was a good idea to tell this to someone who had just appeared. "We're going on a boat and everything apparently, but now there might not be a boat, so the mission might not go too well" continued a rambling Tomo.

"Wow sounds exciting. What type of boat?" asked Kaorin. "Is it a big one with loads of people?"

"I have no idea" said Tomo without any sign of shame. "But it is a boat. Of some sort."

"Sounds good" said Kaorin.

"We're probably leaving soon" said Sakaki. "We need to get to the port."

"Yeah, I bet they won't be happy if we turn up late" said Tomo.

"So you're going now? Off on a mission?" asked Kaorin.

Fuka recognized the tone of voice the girl was using, and knew what was coming next. She was completely certain of it, she knew exactly what this Kaorin person was going to ask.

"Yeah" replied Tomo. "We're going off now I guess."

"I don't suppose…well. Well without Kimura you have one less person in your team. Do you think you'd need any help? I mean I have done some missions as well, I was once like you too..."

"Well maybe" said Sakaki, wanting to see what the others thought first. Tomo looked ecstatic at the idea, having another person would decrease the workload, and she'd have another friend around. And with the choice of K's, Kaorin would be much more bearable then Kimura.

Only Fuka seemed unsure about the idea. She hadn't known the girl before this day, and as far as she was concerned this could simply be someone using jutsu to appear like Kaorin. This could be a spy. Even though that was unlikely given the low level of the mission they were about to undertake.

"Are you sure you can do that?" asked Fuka. "I thought you said you were banished from ninja activities?"

"Not really banished completely" said Kaorin. "I'm no longer allowed to train in the arts of a ninja with any of the teachers and I can't sit any exams. But I'm not actually banished from the village, I chose to leave. I can help you, but I can never officially train to be a ninja again. Plus we don't have to tell any of the teachers" she added with a faint wink.

"I see" said Fuka.

"But I know how to take care of myself, and now I can take care of you. And if it came to the worst, only I would get in trouble."

"We have enough money for four people on the boat" said Tomo. "I want Kaorin to come with us!"

"It would be nice" said Sakaki faintly. Tomo and Kaorin turned to Fuka. Everyone else had known one another longer then they had known Fuka. And she guessed Kaorin was a decent person. Actually unless this person was a very good actor, she thought Kaorin was quite a likeable person. But Fuka decided she would have to be the one to keep a watch out.

"Welcome to the team I guess" said Fuka, "Even though Tomo's made herself the unofficial leader so I guess she should say that."

"What Fuka said" said Tomo.

"Do you have enough supplies?" asked Sakaki.

"I've been living out here for a bit" said Kaorin. "I have all I need in my bag. I even managed to make a little bit of money doing some jobs."

"Whoops I better finish packing away my stuff" said Tomo quickly standing up and rushing over to her bag. Meanwhile Sakaki dusted off the blanket and lifted it up from the ground, sliding it into her own bag.

"So when are we leaving?" asked Kaorin.

"Probably when she finishes packing" said Fuka pointing at Tomo who waved back.