Deep in the forest, somewhere in Japan, lies Akane Village. An all-girls village of thirty-seven total, with thirty-five students and their two teachers. The students study the old traditions and train their ninja abilities so that they can become proper kunoichi.
Though, there's one interesting thing about the girls at Akane: They've never met a boy in their lives.
In the past, boys and girls trained together to become ninjas. But when elopement became a problem with the ninja villages in the area, it was decided that the boys and girls would be split up, and would learn how to be ninjas independent of each other. The girls of Akane Village have had no contact with men their whole lives. They are taught that men are not like them, instead they are a dangerous, beast-like group, that must be avoided at all costs. Almost all of the students hold this to be true. The only one that knows the truth behind men being regular people is Tsubaki of the Dog Unit, the top student of the class, and she found out by accident.
Other than one student discovering the truth (and agreeing to keep it to herself) this spring has been fairly uneventful.
Today was a day off for the students of Akane, and most of the girls had been either playing games together or relaxing. As for the head of the village Hana, and her second-in-command Konoha, they relaxed too, after making sure that tomorrow's lessons were ready. After that, Hana took a walk around the village, enjoying the peace. It was about an hour before dinnertime, and most were waiting a good meal.
There was one student, however, who was still hard at work. That's Touwata, of Sheep Unit. An ambitious and eager underclassmen, who always strives to learn and train. Her desire to be the best kunoichi that she can be exceeds even a majority of the upperclassmen.
Touwata had been trying to move the Strength Stone, a very large boulder in the village that claims to hold a prize beneath it. But she didn't care about the prize, she just wanted to move it as apart of her training. Moving the Stone would prove that she's getting stronger, but it's a VERY heavy rock, so she just tried to push and push but it didn't budge. Hana spotted Touwata's effort during her walk, and saw how hard Touwata was trying, and reminded her that she could hurt herself. Touwata's mood was brought down by not being able to move the Stone, which Hana took notice to. Not wanting her to be discouraged, Hana reminded her that her training is admirable, but that she also shouldn't set goals too advanced for her current skill level.
Then Touwata asked Hana if she can lift the Stone.
She thought that she could do it, no problem. She's strong, and while back pain had been a problem for some time, she was feeling good today. And one of her girls was yearning for a demonstration, one that would serve as extra motivation. So Hana grabbed the Strength Stone as Touwata happily watched her, and she began to lift it. And then, the back pain came back, and it came back stronger than ever.
Dinnertime. The students gather in the dining area for their meal. Today it's salmon with a side of vegetables and rice. Tiger Unit has prepared the dish, and serves it to
everyone, including Tsubaki. She sits with her younger teammates, Sazanka and Asagao. As usual, Asagao gets multiple servings, and Sazanka criticizes her for eating too much. They argue for a bit but Tsubaki shuts them down, as she knows that they'll get too rowdy if they were to continue. She doesn't want her team to once again bother all the students during dinner. All the students expect one, actually, Touwata is missing. According to her team, she isn't feeling well, and is resting in Sheep's room.
After Dog Unit finishes dinner, they begin to head for the small baths. Tsubaki makes a quick stop in their room to store a few belongings. After doing so, she turns to see Konoha-sensei knocking on the door. She enters the room and quietly asks Tsubaki to meet her at Hana-sensei's house tonight, after everyone's fallen asleep. She leaves the room without another word. Tsubaki, being one to start worrying about things, begins to think that she's messed up somehow. Did Sazanka and Asagao's argument cause this? She was sure that she stopped them before things got bad. Maybe they got into trouble earlier in the day while she was distracted? Did she herself do something wrong without even noticing? Or maybe, it's something that involves a man?
These thoughts trouble her for the last few hours of the day, and before she knows it, everyone's settling into bed. Within twenty minutes, Sazanka and Asagao are already sound asleep, giving Tsubaki the opportunity to sneak out of the room. Without a sound, she exits the dorms and then hurries over to Hana's house. It's a separate building from the student dorms. It sits on a slightly elevated cliff above the main village, but isn't too far away. She makes it in a minute, but stops just outside. Her mind is racing over what the purpose of the meeting is. Her craziest idea: that the teachers plan to introduce her to a man. What if they want to take her to a male village and meet them? What if there was one in the house waiting to see her? What if...
?: "Tsubaki?"
Tsubaki jumps, startled by the voice of someone from behind. She turns to see Sumire, leader of the Rooster Unit. A very stern leader, her no-nonsense style clashes heavily with the carefree attitude of her two younger teammates. But why is she here, late at night?
Sumire: "Were you summoned by Konoha as well, Tsubaki?"
Tsubaki fully snaps back to reality, calming down. Apparently, Sumire was called over too. That at least stops Tsubaki from worrying about being scolded by the teachers, Sumire would never break a rule. Though to Tsubaki's disappointment, it also means that men will not be involved, since Sumire doesn't know the secret. Regardless of that, the pair enter Hana-sensei's small house. Usually when a student is allowed into Hana's house, it's a tense situation, usually because you did something wrong. Even if you didn't, that feeling of an impending scolding is still there, as Hana's generally an intimidating woman. But right now, that feeling is missing. Inside is Hana, sitting down, clearly in pain but trying to hide it from the girls. Konoha-sensei is sitting next to her, sipping sipping tea, and motions for the two students to sit down as well. They do, and let her speak
Konoha: "Hello girls, I'm sorry to keep you up, but this is important. Earlier today, Hana-sensei injured her back again, and it's very serious this time. Tomorrow, I will be taking sensei to a village with a doctor that can help her recover. But we will be gone for at least two days, maybe more. In that time, you two will be in charge of the village."
Konoha gets straight to the point. Hana needs a doctor, so they'll go see one, and Akane will be left in their hands. Her calm voice contrasts to such a dramatic event. Both teachers leaving the village unattended? That's never happened before. Hana speaks next, in a pained voice.
Hana: "We're putting our faith into you. We'll try to be back as soon as we can. Just run the village as normal."
Hana attempts to stand, maybe hoping the pain will have magically gone away. Konoha tries to stop her, but Hana rises up. This triggers her injury, and she lets out an agonized gasp. Hana falls over, with Konoha grabbing onto her and lying her down gently. Both students are speechless. Things really are bad with her back. The strongest member of Akane is on the ground, barely able to move.
It's not due to her age, she's not as old as some might think. Hana injured herself in the past year, and only sought treatment from the village's medical unit. They know how to use healing jitsu, however they're still in training and they're learning from two teachers that don't specialize in the technique. So while the jitsu worked for a while, the back pain came back, and has been on and off bothering Hana for some time.
To the average person, healing jitsu is just hitting someone, and it makes them feel better after a small jolt of pain. You say you have a pain in your bicep, and one of the Monkey Unit members hits you, and it stings, but then you feel better. But that's only because they're amateurs. Healing jitsu transfers some life energy into the injured person, healng them and making the user tired. For the inexperienced, you have to smack your target to force the energy in so that it can reach the injury, which works but also makes it less effective. A master of the jitsu would only need to press a finger to your pain to help you. While the doctor they plan to see is good, he's no master. With the severity of Hana's injury, she may need non-jitsu treatment on top of it.
It will take two days to get to the other village. Normally the teachers can make it much faster with their speed, but right now Hana cannot manage more than a slow walk. Konoha will have to escort her through the forest tomorrow, set up camp for the night, then continue their journey the day after. They should reach the village in the afternoon hours. Hana's condition may require them to stay overnight. And hopefully they will be heading back to Akane the next day. It would be easier to just have Konoha bring the doctor to Akane, but the problem is that the doctor is a man. The teachers don't want to risk any of the Akane girls seeing him. The treatment could take hours, which is far too long to have a man anywhere near the all-girl's village. Instead, they must go themselves, and trust that their students will be fine on their own.
Konoha: "I will take care of her. Please, get a good night's sleep, we'll meet again in the morning, before we leave."
The two students are dismissed back to their rooms, where they lay in bed and try to fall asleep, while anticipating the next few days. The days that they will have to run the village. Tsubaki is nervous about having to lead everyone, and of course, wondering if the village they're going to has men in it. Sumire is already planning out exactly how she'll instruct the other students, and coming up with punishments for if anyone misbehaves. These two are responsible for Akane now. They're dedicated to keeping things on track, and keeping everyone safe if necessary...
Let's hope nothing happens while the teachers are away.
