A/N: Shoutout time! Thanks to FireFull12 for the review on Ch. 2, and consequently, the smile that I got from it. Also, thanks to all those who have added 'The Rebellion' to their Favourite Story or Story Alert lists! I hope you'll keep reading, and don't forget to review, even if it's just a few words.
Chapter Three
He watched from a safe height as the wild dogs prowled past, on the lookout for one of their thrice-daily meals. Adults led the small pack, along with a few immature adolescents. Pups followed at the rear, playing as they went, under the watchful eyes of two older females.
Ryūkei held perfectly still until the pack disappeared around a corner, then dropped to the street and went off in the opposite direction. He moved because he simply couldn't sit still. Something deep inside told him that to do so would mean death.
The cliff surrounding the village was directly ahead, and the carved stone steps leading to the top. As he climbed, Ryūkei kept an eye on his steadily growing view of the area, perhaps to spot this phantom threat. Whatever it was, the feeling of danger grew stronger as he neared the top, still with no visible menace in sight.
Maybe I'm imagining things . . . . Could be that I've been out in the sun for too long.
He had to be sure, though. Had to be sure that nothing and no one was encroaching on the existence he'd set up for himself. Reaching the plateau, he moved off the stairs and stood at the very edge of the cliff. His eyes scoured the village below, searching . . . .
A pack of miniature dogs moved along toward the main street; the ones he'd avoided just fifteen minutes earlier. Farther to the north, two human-sized shapes emerged from the former records building. That would be Yurei and Genji, still exploring their old home as they had for the past two hours, he surmised.
Ryūkei ducked down, stretching himself flat on the clifftop so the two wouldn't spot him. The former ninja and the wild dogs weren't the source of the danger he felt; he just knew. There had to be something else in the area, either already in the village, or within close proximity. The trick was finding it.
Perhaps one of the buildings had been weakened by the sandstorm three nights ago, and was almost ready to collapse. Maybe some of the rocks in the surrounding wall were about to fall. Or there might be another sandstorm brewing.
With that last thought, Ryūkei twisted to look at the desert behind him . . . and froze. A thin plume of dust rose from the sand, with four ant-sized figures hurtling forward at the front of it.
Ryūkei's feeling of impending menace grew as he caught sight of them.
Still flat on the sand, he belly-crawled toward the steps, going down the first ten head-first until he was below the cliff edge. Getting his feet under him, he shot off downward at top speed, disregarding any attempt at stealth or energy conservation.
He reached the bottom and immediately checked the clifftop; no one stood on the edge, and no mystery figures were descending the steps. He had time.
Bolting across the open space between the surrounding wall and the nearest building, he fairly dove through a missing window, landing in someone's abandoned house. Crouching beneath the sill, he took a few moments to get his breath back and calm his racing heartbeat.
With a final deep breath, he turned and rose onto his knees, peering cautiously over the windowsill. Four distinct figures now stood on the clifftop, clearly surveying the village below. All wore desert cloaks to protect them from sun and sand, with hoods raised to conceal their faces. One, the apparent leader of the group, turned as though speaking to the others; all of them started down the steps to the ground below.
Ryūkei ducked back below the window, thinking hard. So long as an order wasn't given to search the buildings – and with only four people, he couldn't imagine that happening – he would be fine. But with strangers such as this, it was almost definitely better to be safe than sorry.
There was another window directly across the room from him, facing the opposite way from the stairs. He could use that to make his escape. He waited for a count of fifty heartbeats, enough time for the strangers to descend far enough that they wouldn't see him from overhead, and then made for the window. Climbing out, he checked the area around him, then headed off toward the main road.
The best thing to do right now was to find Yurei and Genji, and make sure the newcomers didn't spot them.
They exited the records building cautiously, checking for wild dogs before they fully left the doorway. Genji hefted his pack a little higher onto his shoulders. "At least it was where Gaara-sama said it would be. Makes our job that much easier."
Yurei closed the door behind them, throwing her shoulder against it to make sure it would stay closed. "I guess . . . ." She dusted off her hands with an uncertain expression. "Do you . . . think we should tell him about Ryūkei? I mean . . . I know he asked us not to, but he's living out here all alone. There's got to be a place for him –"
"Forget it, Yurei," her friend said, shaking his head. "He asked us not to tell anyone he was here, and that's what we should do. We have a mission to complete; we shouldn't worry about some guy we met along the way."
The dark-haired girl took a deep breath. "Yeah. You're right." Reaching out, she patted his pack. "Let's get this little gem back home."
"Now you're talking."
They moved off at a brisk pace along one side of the main street, heading toward the cleft in the surrounding cliffs that served as the main entrance gate.
Abruptly, Genji stopped, sticking one arm out in front of Yurei, forcing her to do the same. "Hold up. Someone's coming; probably Mr. Exile."
Yurei rolled her eyes as she pushed the arm away. "Be nice," she reminded him.
Sure enough, Ryūkei emerged from an alleyway up ahead just seconds later. He turned toward them, face set in a grim expression, and moved forward. Yurei smiled in greeting.
"Well, fancy meeting you here."
"No time for small talk," he said, brushing past the two of them. "There's trouble."
Pausing only to look at each other, the two former ninja followed him. "What are you talking about?" Genji said, one tone shy of demanding.
"Four strangers just entered the village from the eastern edge," Ryūkei bit out, eyes focussed on the records building. "Unless you're expecting them, I'd stay as far away as possible." He pulled open the door and ducked inside; Yurei and Genji followed.
"Do you think we still have a chance of getting out of the village?" Yurei said quietly, her voice echoing slightly in the large hall they stood in.
"Not if they've posted guards at possible exits," Genji muttered back. "But the only way to find out is if we try."
"You might not get a chance." Ryūkei was crouched near the door; he'd pulled it closed to just a crack and had one eye pressed close against it. "They're headed this way."
"Let me see." Yurei nudged him aside, then took his place, frowning as she watched the strangers approaching from almost one hundred metres away. "They don't look like any of our people. There's just the four of them?"
"That I saw," Ryūkei said, frowning at her. "What do you mean 'your people?'"
Genji leaned over Yurei to take his own look at the newcomers. "Whoa . . . looks like they've got company." He glanced over at Ryūkei. "Four more just showed up."
"Ssshhhh!" Yurei hissed. "They're saying something . . . ." She frowned intensely, straining to hear. "'Coast is clear . . . no signs of trouble . . . . should be easier than —"
She abruptly pushed back from the door, nearly running into her teammate. "They're coming this way."
"Second level," Ryūkei bit out, before turning and running for the stairs. The three of them ascended as quickly and as quietly as possible, flattening themselves on the second floor near the railing just as the doors opened.
The eight strangers filed inside. One - throwing back his hood to reveal fair skin and brown hair - went straight to a shelving unit against the wall, studying it carefully. "The instructions: which drawer do they specify?"
"Third one from the left, second from the bottom," one of the others answered.
"Whoever thought they could hide something so powerful in a place like this was an idiot," a third person scoffed, this time a woman. She folded her arms. "Did they think no one would come looking for it?"
"Quiet, Noa," the first man said sharply. Locating the right drawer, he pulled it open . . . and stared.
"Uh oh . . . ." Genji muttered, glancing to Yurei.
"What is it?" Ryūkei asked, trying to see what was in the drawer.
"It's empty!" the man below exclaimed angrily, slamming the drawer shut. "Someone beat us to it!"
Yurei gave Ryūkei a sheepish smile. "Well . . . you snooze, you lose, right?"
The woman who'd been chided pulled her hood off, revealing reddish-brown hair that framed her face. "It's gone? It can't be gone!"
Whirling, clearly furious, the man stalked toward her, fisted a hand in the collar of her cloak and pushed her back against the nearest wall. "You don't say," he growled. "Thanks so much for stating the obvious, Noa. I don't suppose you'd like to tell me the sky is blue?"
"Ridā-sama* was counting on us . . . to find that formula," Noa gritted between clenched teeth as she glared at her attacker. "If we don't secure it . . . he'll have us all executed . . . and I don't want to die, thank you very much."
"Michima, let her go," the second speaker from earlier said calmly. "This isn't her fault; the blame is on all of us. If we hadn't lost those two brats a week ago, we would've gotten here in time."
The angry Michima let go of Noa's collar and turned away; the woman smoothed her cloak in a dignified manner, her head held high.
"They must've only gotten here a day or so ago," Michima said broodingly. "And we didn't meet them on our way inbound . . . ."
"They could have gone by a different route," the other man said. He pushed his hood back, exposing a sandy-blond shock of hair and unperturbed brown eyes. "There are at least three old trade routes leading into and away from Sunagakure that —"
"I get it, Hiroshi." Moving to a window, Michima stared out, clearly thinking.
Ryūkei leaned close to Yurei, whispering. "They're talking about you and Genji, aren't they?" She nodded, and he scowled. "If we get out of this, we're going to have a long talk about what's going on."
Michima turned abruptly. "We'll search the village. I want two of you at the north and south ends of the village, up on the wall, the rest of you in a skirmish line. Comb the place from north to south, then east to west."
"And?" Hiroshi prompted, one eyebrow raised.
". . . And don't kill anybody you find," Michima said sullenly, glaring at the other man. "Just detain them and send up a signal for the others."
With a wave of his hand, the seven others left the records building; Michima himself crossed to a dusty reading chair and dropped into it, still scowling. The three spectators on the second floor drew back silently into the rows of bookshelves behind them.
"We'll have to wait here at least until the north-south sweep passes," Genji whispered. "Then find a better hiding place until after the east-west sweep." He touched the shoulder strap of his pack. "Today just got a whole lot more interesting."
* Ridā = leader. For Noa to say 'Ridā-sama' means their boss is pretty high up on the food chain.