Chapter 38 - Chain Link

It took Shingetsu a fair amount of time to find the pair once the negotiations had begun in Sekiraun the following afternoon. There were guards about, after all, both ninja and clansmen, keeping watch out for interference from either side as Shin and Tensho discussed with the Raikage's representatives.

The meeting was taking place in an abandoned residence; a summer home, riverside, near a waterfall. This kept sound from traveling.

Kou was not being kept there, but Shingetsu informed Shin of this well before they had even arrived. Kou was elsewhere, guarded by Cloud ninja, a fact which Shin brought up to the representatives near the start of negotiations.

"Your son will be brought to you if things go well, Boss Shin. Rest assured, he's in good condition and will be kept in good condition until his return to you," was the smooth reply from the ninja, who kept a lollipop in his mouth and moved it around with an unfitting satisfaction.

(Shin didn't like his face, and the feeling was mutual.)

But Shingetsu confirmed, with a nod of his head, that Kou was indeed well, wherever he was. His father, sitting nearby, sneered at everyone else as he sucked at his water bottle, his enormous sword in his lap, like a musical instrument.

Shingetsu excused himself once the grown-ups began talking with words he knew, vaguely, but had little interest in. "I gotta go potty," he whispered to his father.

"You went this morning, after breakfast."

"Yeah but I gotta go again," Shingetsu insisted. He squirmed where he sat, for emphasis.

His father squirmed, likewise, but more out of discomfort than a similar call of nature. "Can't you hold it? I don't trust you with people like this around."

"Daddy, come on, nobody can hurt me," Shingetsu whined, quietly. "I promise, I'll be quick."

A grumble. "Promise you'll be quick?"

Shingetsu grinned. "Promise."

"Fine. Don't make any noise," his father told him.

Shingetsu was already melting himself into a puddle, before his father could even finish, and he slithered out past the feet and knees of the men in the building, outside, and towards the bright and familiar chakras of Kiine and Yuki.

"I told Daddy I was usin' the potty so I gotta be quick," he told them, first and foremost.

"That's, uh, fine," Kiine said. "You didn't tell anyone you were meeting us, though, right?"

"Nope, I didn't tell nobody," Shingetsu said, shaking his head. "I just told Shin-san where they were keepin' Kou-san, cos he asked. Cos that's part of the plan, right?"

"Yep, yep. All part of the plan," Kiine said.

Shingetsu's smile was wide, and very pleased. "Okay, so, you gotta know where Kou-san is too, right?" he said. "For the secret mission I mean."

"Yes, exactly," Kiine said. She and Yuki had been waiting in a wooded area near the river, together, since everyone had gone inside the residence that afternoon. "Where are they keeping him? In that house?"

"No, far away." Shingetsu closed his eyes, concentrating. "Maybe five, six miles away. That direction." He held out his arm, pointing to the general area past the far riverbank. "It's him an' five others I dunno, prob'ly ninja. They got lotsa chakra, so."

"Shouldn't be that big of a deal," Kiine said, glancing at Yuki, who nodded back. "Can you tell us anything more?"

"Uh…" Shingetsu opened, then closed his eyes again, thinking. "Well, I can't sense nobody else out that way, so it should be pretty easy to find 'em. Otherwise…" He closed his eyes even tighter.

"Don't strain yourself, little guy, that's enough for us," Kiine said, patting him on the shoulder. "I can't thank you enough."

Shingetsu, surprisingly, started pouting, when he opened his odd, wide eyes. "I just wish I could come with you guys."

"We'll be fine on our own. Besides, you already did your job. And you did a good job of it, too," Kiine said. "Right, Yuki?"

"A very good job, Shingetsu-kun," Yuki added, nodding.

The little boy grinned. "Really? I'm glad!"

"Yeah, really," Kiine replied. "Now, you should prob'ly get back to your daddy, yeah? Yuki and I got a job to do."

Shingetsu nodded, once, fiercely. "Uh-HUH. Good luck getting' Kou-san back, you guys!"

"We will, little guy. Promise," Kiine said. She gave him a wink, and she received one in return. Shingetsu waved just once more before melting into a puddle and disappearing.

("That was quick," his father told him, upon his return.)

("I just had to go a little," Shingetsu said, giggling with private triumph at having helped, and anticipation and excitement.)

Yuki and Kiine were already on their way towards Kou, following the line of Shingetsu's arm. It was a mad dash for high ground, first, so they could scout out any possible hiding places, and plan further from there.

"Five miles… if we run, that's like a half hour!" Kiine said, almost shouting. They'd found a hill, eventually, upriver from the waterfall. The water was loud. "But we shouldn't rush ourselves much, right? We got a while."

"Of course, sir!" Yuki said, scanning the wide plain before them. "Ah, look! You see that?"

Kiine drew closer, tilting her head. "See what, Yuki?"

"There! On the base of that bluff, there!" He pointed, and she struggled to follow his hand with her eyes. "It looks like a house."

Kiine squinted. There was… something. "Looks like a hole," she said.

"Probably is! Cut into the cliff face, something like that. Harder to surround," Yuki said. He straightened his back. "Smart. It's worth a look."

Kiine breathed, deeply. "Ah, yeah! Worth a look. So c'mon, yeah?"

She was already running for it by the time Yuki could respond. He couldn't help but grin, just a little.

It took less than a half hour to approach.

(Kiine, he had noticed, had gotten faster.)

(He could keep up.)

There wasn't much cover on the way there, so they decided, while they still had a bit of tree cover, to take a sideways route and hug the bluff that the house was carved into. "People always look out, but never sideways," Kiine shared, and Yuki had to agree.

And once they were close enough, they stopped, again, to catch their breaths, and formulate a plan.

They could see the house, now, plainly. It was little more than a glorified cave, from close-up; there were wooden supports at the entrance, and windows and things that made it clearly a manmade construct, rather than a natural thing, but little else.

"One entrance, one exit," Kiine observed. "Well. That could work out either really well or really badly, yeah."

"Let's just say it'll work in our favor, sir," Yuki said.

Kiine had to laugh at the strange, courageous smile on his face. "Since when were you so optimistic?"

"I am taking our morale into consideration, sir."

Kiine laughed, again. "Well good job so far, Yuki." His smile in return warmed her heart. "Okay, so how can we use that to our advantage? Hm." She thought, crossing her arms, tilting her head, her eyes closing. "One way out… means that once they're out, they're out. How d'you think we could lure 'em out, Yuki?"

Yuki's smile widened. "I think I have an idea, sir."

It was a very good idea.

Yuki and Kiine knelt together near the entrance of the place a short while later, and Yuki was lacing the structure with ice, with coldness. Kiine held her arms and rubbed them as the air grew colder, and colder.

"I'm sorry, sir, just a little longer," Yuki whispered.

"Just keep it up," Kiine replied. "Just drive 'em out."

And Yuki kept it up.

Complaints began to arise from within, and as they grew in volume, Kiine's grin increased in intensity.

"The hell is going on? Why is it so cold?" A female voice, sweet, but hard.

"It's in the middle of damn July." A male voice, nasal, whineish.

"Oy, Fuzan! What's going on out there?" Another male voice, older.

No response.

"Fuzan!"

Nothing.

"Oh for the love of… Akari-chan, go see what in the world he's doing, he's supposed to be on surveillance. I'm on break…"

"Fine, fine, Kanji-kun, just settle down…" The sweet voice moved closer and closer. "Brr… Fuzan-kun! Hey, Fuzan, where are you? What's going on out here?"

"Stay where you are, Yuki," Kiine said.

And she bounded forward, tackling the girl as she emerged, pinning her to the ground. She found a boulder in her hold a moment afterward, the girl gasping nearby.

"What in the world?" she said.

Kiine leaped at her again, not bothering with subtlety.

(Anything to raise attention, and get them outside.)

"It's an ambush!" the sweet-voiced girl said, wriggling out of Kiine's grip again, but only barely. "I need backup!"

There was another ninja coming out of the house; male, dark-haired.

"Yuki, quit it with the ice-stuff and get 'em!" Kiine yelled, wrestling with her own ninja. She was reaching for her knife, barely unsheathing it in time to counteract the sudden appearance of a kunai knife in the hand of her opponent.

"Right, sir!"

Yuki had his sword in hands and was onto the dark-haired ninja before Kiine could even blink.

"Fuzan, get over here!" the girl shouted again. She darted away from Kiine, but Kiine followed, their blades making sparks as they clashed.

There was another voice. "M'sorry, m'sorry, I was busy!" Its owner was jumping down the side of the bluff, quickly approaching ground. "Akari-chan, what's going-"

"Shut up and help us take care of the—intruders!" the dark-haired ninja called out, barely dodging a slash from Yuki.

Kiine's knife flew out of her hand, grabbed at the handle and whipped away in a second.

One second later: Kiine brought the girl to one of her knees, twisting the arm that held her kunai into a painful hold. The girl groaned in pain, and shrieked, "Namakura, radio in! Contact the Captain!"

"Crap!" Kiine thought quickly; in a moment, she had the girl pulled into another hold, a sleeper. She'd be unconscious, no longer a threat, shortly. "Yuki, can you handle yourself out here? I'm heading in!"

Yuki seemed rather preoccupied.

"Yuki!"

Yuki was staring at the newcomer with angry shock. And he said only one thing before charging forward in a cold fury: "YOU!"

The target of his attack gulped.

"Oh, crap."

He dodged.

Yuki screamed. "You worthless sack of excrement!" Forward. "You ruined EVERYTHING!" Slash.

Dodge. "The hell did I do, chika?"

"Yuki!" Kiine yelled.

"I'll be fine!" Coldness. Pure coldness. "Go in and take care of the rest!"

The girl in Kiine's arms fell limp, and Kiine dropped her.

She found herself dealing with the other ninja, the dark-haired one. He didn't put up much of a fight—rather, he spent more time avoiding Kiine's attacks than anything.

He threw a smoke bomb, and when it dissipated, Kiine saw him fleeing, a pair of fingers at his ear—a radio!

"Oh no you don't!" Kiine sucked in her breath, anger burning in her chest.

He was getting away.

She had to do something?

What could she do?

She struggled to remember.

…what was it Benio-sensei had taught her? A simple technique to use in place of a smoke bomb, for diversions. A sphere of chakra, light, that would burst and explode and blind.

(Kiine had barely ever mastered it.)

What were those hand signs?

(Kiine was desperate and reaching for skills like tools in a badly-organized toolbox.)

Kiine's fingers tangled into each other, slowly, deliberately, as chakra flooded into her hands and made them feel warm.

She was side-by-side with the ninja, almost.

Her hands felt hot.

And she thrust them out in front of her, in his direction.

What manifested was not the expected ball of chakra, but rather, two heavy-looking chains, with spikes on every link.

Kiine figured that she would take what she could get.

She closed her fingers around the chains—they felt only barely solid, and yet, just solid enough—and she whipped them forward and towards the fleeing ninja. They seemed almost to follow where her mind wanted them to go, wrapping around his arms, his legs. He tripped and tumbled, heavily, to the ground.

The chains in her hands removed themselves from her palms, wrapping around him further, remaining as solid as they needed to be.

"The hell kind of ninjutsu is this?" The ninja coughed from the dust and his lost breath.

Kiine just shrugged. Mistakes worked best when you just rolled with them.

"Stay where you are, and don't even think of radioing your little buddies, yeah," she told him.

He didn't respond, just squirming, groaning, loathing.

She ran back to the house.

The girl, thankfully, was still unconscious.

And Yuki seemed to have made quick work of his opponent.

Presently, he was frozen to a wall, a terrified expression on his face. And Yuki was glaring at him, sword pointed at his throat.

(His expression, angry, cold, satisfied, furious, almost scared her, as she got close enough to see it.)

"Yuki, you okay over here?" she called, as she approached him.

"Perfectly fine, sir." He didn't look at her.

Kiine peered at the guy on the wall. "Jeez, Yuki, what'd you do to him?"

"Broke his arm, then ensured he wouldn't be moving further," Yuki replied. "He's all right, all things considered."

"Well, okay, then. I'm gonna need you to back me up, now that you're finished here. Now I'm going in, yeah." She swallowed as she caught her breath. "Anyone come out while I was out taking care of that guy?"

"No, sir." Eyes still on the terrified, eyebrowless boy frozen to the rock wall.

"All right, then, let's make it quick." Kiine began looking for her knife, and found it on the ground near the unconscious girl.

"Wh-wh-who are you people?" The boy frozen to the wall was shuddering, badly.

Yuki's expression didn't change.

Kiine wiped her knife off on her pant leg, removing the dirt, and she sheathed it, putting it back where it belonged on her person.

"Son," she said, standing close to him, looking up at him with angry, confident, defiant eyes, "I'm the future Boss of the Taki clan, Taki Kiine. That's who I am, yeah." She turned way. "C'mon, Yuki."

(She couldn't help herself.)

(Neither could Yuki, smiling slightly, following behind. That was his master.)

"How many more left to go?" Kiine whispered, on their way in.

"Shingetsu-kun said there was Kou-san and five others. That's three down."

"Two to go." Kiine readied her knife.

Kou's keepers were an over-tired surveillance ninja and a chuunin of no consequence, both of whom were more than a little nervous when they completely lost radio contact with Kurai, who was ordered by the main base to gather backup.

They didn't stand a chance.

Yuki worked at getting their radios off of their unconscious bodies as Kiine tried rousing Kou, cutting the ropes around his hands and feet with her knife. He was still dressed in his pajamas, and his hair was tangled from lack of washing.

"Kou… Kou, c'mon, man, wake up." She put her hands on his face. His eyes were half-open; he moaned slightly, but did not respond further. "I think they drugged him with something, Yuki."

"Wouldn't be surprised, sir," Yuki said. One of the radios came loose, and he tucked it into his robe. He began working on the other.

"It'll just make him harder to carry." Kiine paused. "Oh well. We should get back, before these guys wake up, yeah."

"Agreed, sir," Yuki said. The earpiece of the radio in his hand suddenly burst with sound. Tinny noise exploded forth, and he handled it with faint confusion. "Uh…?"

Kiine frowned, slightly, before smirking. "Hand it over," she said, and Yuki did so. She put the earpiece to her ear.

"Kurai, respond! Namakura? What's going on up there? How many confirmed hostiles?"

She pressed the button that, probably, turned on the microphone. "Who is this?" she said. "You the guys that took Kou?"

A bewildered, tiny silence. "Who is this?"

"The one that currently has your damn hostage is what," Kiine said. "We've taken out your pathetic excuse for a guard squad whatever and we're headin' back with Kou, yeah. So be freakin' prepared and call off whatever the hell sorta backup you were sending out. You'd just be causing more trouble."

"Taken out—who is this?" The voice on the radio was quiet, a staticky hiss. "Did the Hakaza clan send you?"

"You could say that," Kiine said. "Anyways. If this means you guys gotta halt negotiations 'til we get there, go ahead. Just know we have Kou. Oh and, uh," she added, remembering what she'd left outside, "we got a guy frozen to the front of your base, just a little forewarning."

There wasn't a response that time around, so she tossed the radio to Yuki and picked Kou up into her arms. He was heavy, but nothing she couldn't handle.

"Keep an eye on that radio, take care of it if they call us back," Kiine said. Yuki nodded. "It'll take a bit longer, now that we have Kou."

"Nothing we can't handle, though, sir," Yuki replied.

Kiine grinned. "Yeah. Nothing we can't handle."

As they went on their way, Kiine noticed, to her delight, that the greasy, dark-haired ninja she had gotten with the chains was still restrained.

"Good boy," she said, and they went on their way.

(She still had no idea what the hell had happened. She figured it was just an accidental weapons summon—Benio had told her about those.)

(What Kiine was unaware of was that you had to own the weapon in the first place in order to summon it.)

It was when they were making their way up the hill near the waterfall that Kou finally managed to scrape together an ounce of consciousness. Kiine noticed, from the way he was squirming in her arms, and she stopped. "Hey, you feeling okay?"

Kou looked up at her with tired, yellow eyes, his arms still floppy over his torso. "I'm not… dreaming, am I...?" he said, softly.

"Haha, nope, you sure aren't," Kiine replied. "Think you can walk?"

Kou thought. He felt sick, and weak. He shook his head.

"Then just hold tight, we're gonna be home free in just a bit," Kiine said. She adjusted him in her arms, holding him tighter, and began moving away.

"You saved me…" Kou said, softly.

Kiine didn't reply, only smiling. But it was all he needed to see.

Kou's head slumped sideways, it being an effort to keep it upright; he could see Yuki running beside her. He glanced at Kou, once, but there was no hatred in his eyes. There wasn't much of anything, really, but none of it was malevolent.

Kou's body relaxed, relieved, despite not fully understanding his situation. Something just told him that things were all right.

(And Kiine was smiling.)

The band was greeted by a small mob of clansmen and ninja both as they exited the forest at the base of the waterfall. Loudly.

Tensho and Shin were, naturally, outside in an instant, as Kiine walked toward the residence, bypassing the welcome party.

(So were Omoi and Sairi, who were incredibly perplexed about the recent series of events, not to mention incredibly worried.)

Few of them could believe their eyes. Tensho was the one that really spoke first. "Kiine?"

"'sup, Papa?" Kiine said, with a smile brighter than a bar of gold.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you-"

"Kou! Son! Oh my goodness, are you okay?" Shin interrupted his anger with panicked relief, running toward his son in Kiine's arms. Kiine didn't put him down, his limbs too weak to support him if he were to try and stand.

"Hi, Dad…" Kou replied. His smile was almost sleepy, mostly exhausted.

"What did they do to you, oh my dear boy I'm so sorry-" He suddenly stopped his fussing, noticing, "Kiine-chan, did you…?"

"She rescued me, Dad. …her and Yuki-san," Kou said.

Shin's eyebrows rose. He gasped, he grinned. "Oh, you marvelous girl!" he said, and put his arms around Kou's back, around Kiine's arms, as if he could embrace them both. "I never knew!"

"Boss Shin!" The captain of the ninja was speaking, the one with the lollipop. "Do you have any explanation for this?"

"Hey, hey. Talk to me, not him," Kiine said, loudly, authoritatively, before anyone else could answer. Quieter: "Boss Shin, here." She shifted Kou from her arms into his, and she approached the ninja. "I'm the one responsible."

The ninja captain tilted his head as he looked her over. His partner, the pig-tailed woman with the flashy earrings, was quick to point out, "You're Boss Tensho's daughter."

"Sure am." Kiine crossed her arms. "An' before you ask, no, I am not acting on behalf of him, yeah? I'm here on my own terms."

"Your own terms, huh." The captain put his hands in his pockets, shifting his lollipop from one side of his mouth to the other.

(Tensho watched everything, silently.)

"Yeah. You guys kidnapped my fiancé and I don't really think that's cool," Kiine said. "I mean, really. Why the heck d'you need a hostage if you just wanna negotiate? Could-a just asked us to meet with you if you had beef."

The pig-tailed woman scoffed. "And how old are you, young lady?"

"Sixteen. And that's kinda away from the freakin' point, yeah?" Kiine said. She herself sighed, as the pig-tailed woman shrunk back, slightly, nipped before she could retort. "Listen, I got past your guards and I took your hostage from you. You lost your bargaining chip, but I wanna hear what the heck your negotiations were over in the first place, yeah? I wanna be caught up. Maybe we can still reach a resolution here."

"Kiine, that is not your place-" Tensho began, but he was stopped by a sharp glance from both his daughter—and Shin.

"No, Tensho-san. Kiine-chan's clearly shown initiative here, and she's done so much already that I think it's only fair if she's allowed this too," he said. He'd passed Kou off to his leather-skinned bodyguard, Hikawa, who had appeared shortly after his exit from the house. (Nobuhiro, presently, was with Yuki, whose expression had softened into an unnatural mix of pride and embarrassment.) "That is, if our most gracious hosts are all right with this, as well?"

The captain and his partner looked at each other, at their backup. "Taki Kiine-san, then?" the captain said. "Come inside with us, an' we'll continue our negotiations with your involvement."

"Sounds good to me," Kiine said. She glanced back at her father with an unrestrained smile.

(All he could do was lower his head, accepting the situation as best he could, fencing in his frustration and anger.)

"Oh, by the way, you might wanna send some folks over to that base where you were keepin' Kou, yeah? Me an' Yuki kinda left your guys in a bad state," she added, as she began following them inside. "Not that we had a choice, yeah. We stole their radios, too. You want those back?"

"We'll… figure that out when we get inside," the captain said, nodding towards a small squadron nearby, who immediately got the hint and shot off to check on the guards.

(Shingetsu was more than a little excited, upon Kiine's appearance in the negotiation room. "The mission was a success, right?")

(All Kiine could do was smile and ruffle his hair as she passed.)

(Shingetsu grinned. And it was all because he had helped. It was clearly the best thing ever.)