Chapter 82
"So Sakaki, can we trust these people?" whispered Fuka. The two girls found themselves seated in thick bushes overlooking the small group. Fuka couldn't help but feel what they were doing could technically be classed as stalking.
"Yes," replied Sakaki. "They were in my class…they are friends," she added. "The girl with the glasses- Yomi- is a good friend of Tomo's even if they fight all the time."
"That other girl looks strong," whispered Fuka. Sakaki merely nodded. "But what about that small one? Can she really help us?" asked Fuka.
"Chiyo is clever- I know she can help. And she would want to help Tomo."
"So, wanna go ask them?" asked Fuka.
"Can we just…wait for a couple of minutes?" asked Sakaki, trying to build up her courage, and mentally going over what she thought she had to say to them.
"So what brings you here?" spat out Chidori as Sen closed the door and elected to stand rather then use the seat in front of him. True to their word the two guards had left.
"Is there a problem with returning back home?" asked Sen. "I don't see any problem with that."
"Cut the crap, the only reason I don't-"
"The only reason you won't do anything is because in this enclosed area, with no weapons I could kill you very easily. And I would be believed if I said it was necessary. And I know you are a smart girl Chidori, I know that you know this."
"Don't call me girl."
"And of course there is always the chance that you may escape from here, which means it would make even more sense to bide your time and then try to get me."
"I will find you," replied Chidori. The girl didn't quite know what she would be able to do against such a man, but it couldn't be worse then not trying at all.
"Oh I suspect you will. I would very much like to have faced off against the demon girl, but she's had to cool off, so facing you would be a secondary idea."
"I don't know what you and your friends are planning, but even if I can't do anything, the others will stop you. And then I'll be there to add to your misery."
"I very much doubt there will be much of an opportunity," replied Sen. "You and your new friends have all but run out of time."
"What do you mean?"
For the first time in the conversation Sen moved, leaning down towards the table and Chidori. For a moment he almost appeared to smile, and it took all of Chidori's control to avoid head-butting the man.
"What I mean is that tomorrow this will all come to an end."
"Tomorrow?"
"Yes," said Sen, turning away so his back faced Chidori. "Though of course, you may still have a very slight chance of doing something…if you can escape…if you can find the others."
"What?"
"Even as we talk Takino is getting ever closer to this village. Soon he will be here, and soon he will complete his plan. And he'll receive a hero's welcome just before he starts."
"Hero's welcome?"
"Of course. Soon he will be here. Soon he will reach Sora and it will all come to pass. I will be most interested to see if any of you can stop him. Though of course the interesting part is- will any of the others ever know this? After all if they neglect to try and rescue you…they'll never receive any of this information. They'll start to come up with some plans just in time to be annihilated."
"Wait a minute…here? As in this village?"
Sen turned back to face Chidori. Despite her best efforts the girl hadn't been able to hide her surprise.
"Tomorrow will be a strange day. Many will die. We may succeed, we may fail. I may live or I may die. It will all be so exciting," said Sen, for the first time breaking his mature demeanour with the final word, sounding almost like an excited child. Something in his eyes had changed when he spoke of how he might die.
"Goodbye girl. Let us hope we meet again. If we are fated not to that means you are already dead."
"So what did the old guy say?" asked Kagura as Yomi practiced with some throwing blades. Chiyo was sat on the grass, busy reading a book. The bespectacled girl paused to turn and face her more athletic teammate.
"He said there aren't any missions at the moment. We aren't needed for anything at the moment, so we should just take the time to relax."
"But we've been relaxing for ages now!" moaned Kagura. "I wanna do something!"
"So you're bored too?" called out a voice. Yomi watched as Chihiro approached them, walking alongside Goro Anno, one of the other members of Team two. Goro had continued to grow over the years, his muscular frame now massive, even when compared to what he had been like. He was a stark contrast to Chiyo, teammate of Kagura and Yomi, who had barely grown any taller much to her dismay. Luckily for her Tomo hadn't been around recently to make fun of her.
"Yeah I'm bored," replied Kagura as Yomi put away the blades. "There's nothing to do here, we aren't doing any proper training and even Tomo isn't here to provide some kind of entertainment."
"You know, we could try and do our own training, we are meant to be adults now," spoke up Chiyo. Kagura chose not to reply.
"I've heard Sakaki and the others returned recently," said Goro, surprising the group by actually speaking. "But I haven't seen them recently."
"Maybe Tomo might have something fun to do," said Kagura. She paused for a moment as her voice took a slightly more depressed tone. "It just hasn't been as fun since we graduated…"
"I guess it's just part of growing up," said Yomi, adjusting her glasses so that her hand could obscure her own facial expression that agreed with Kagura's comment.
"And Kaorin hasn't been here for ages now…I hope she's still ok. Sometimes I think I should try and look for her, but I wouldn't know where to start…," said Chihiro.
"Well then, I think we've done a good job depressing one another," muttered Yomi as she turned away from the group.
"Hello there!" called out a voice, and the group turned to face the direction it had come from. They were surprised at first, watching as someone they hadn't met before marched towards them. Chiyo was the first to see the tall girl beside the stranger, running over to Sakaki, having to stop halfway to catch her breath.
"Sakaki! Hey there" said Kagura waving particularly energetically. Sakaki kept her head down as she marched towards the group with Fuka, embarrassed at all the attention she was now receiving.
After a brief round of reintroductions, Yomi was the first to speak.
"So where is Tomo then? Should I be expecting her to pop up and call me fat anytime soon?" she asked, wanting the girl to see her now. After two years of training even Yomi herself was now pleased with her appearance.
"No she isn't...I mean no she won't," said Sakaki speaking towards the ground.
"Actually that's why we're here," said Fuka, quickly jabbing Sakaki and giving the surprised girl a look of support. "Sakaki here will explain…"
"What is it Miss Sakaki?" asked Chiyo.
"Tomo isn't here…Tomo isn't with us," said Sakaki.
"Is she getting something to eat?" asked Kagura. Sakaki shook her head.
"On our mission- she was taken. We don't know why, but someone kidnapped her." Sakaki took a deep breath and then raised her head to face the others. "We're going to go find her, but we need help. We're going to try and get Kimura and the others to help too, but we…I thought we could trust you too, thought that you could help. It's dangerous, and we still don't know much but I've come to ask you to help us get Tomo back." Sakaki stopped, and felt the freshly present sweat run down her forehead.
"Kidnapped?" asked Yomi. Sakaki nodded her head once.
No one spoke for a few moments, as the words sunk in. Sakaki found herself glancing back down at the floor again, wondering if she had made a mistake. The seconds dragged by and still no one broke the silence. Perhaps they didn't believe her…perhaps they didn't want to help…
"Dangerous you say?" asked Kagura. "Wouldn't Tomo say something stupid like 'a true ninja laughs in the face of danger' or something like that before running head first into it?"
"And wouldn't she be the first one to try and help us if we were in that situation?" asked Chiyo.
"If only to try and make herself look good," added Yomi with a wry smile. Fuka glanced from the group, to Sakaki and then back. This time the smile that crept across Sakaki's face wasn't quite hidden from view.
"I'll help too," spoke Goro and Chihiro almost in unison.
"T-thank you," said Sakaki, who shocked the others when she looked towards them with tearful eyes. "Thank you."
"But before that, there's someone else we have to rescue," said Fuka.