Gone fishing.

In total there were eleven Shinobi based in the Kirigakure Bunker. This number consisted of two teams of Genin and their Jounin mentors, and three Chunin and their now deceased former Captain. Captain Narumi was dawdling somewhere between seventy and eighty, with Medical Ninjutsu skills that far surpassed the standard level expected from other Kiri Nin. Captain Mayako Yuki had a bounty of experience in combat and specialised in securing defensive perimeters, an achievement greatly aided by her Ice Release Kekkai Genkai. Shu (a Chunin with softly curled blonde hair and the inoffensive looks of a lead singer in a boy band) had devoted his time towards the creation and prevention of poisons. Shigemi (dark bobbed hair and stern eyes behind stylish thick-rimmed glasses) had an almost innate talent for decoding and constructing hidden messages. Yasumi was an Ox of a man, bearded and heavy-handed, with a reputation for butchery with the enormous nodachi nestled between his gigantic shoulder-blades. All were trained in varying degrees of Medical Jutsu, Captain Narumi, Shu and Shigemi ranking near the top while Yasumi hobbled back at the rear. All of them were deadly in their own rights (though Captain Yuki inspired far more nightmares among the Genin than the others).

These were Oki Tachibana's superiors.

At first she knew them as a list of names and skills, like looking at face and only seeing binary codes. It wasn't much of an improvement on her familiarity with her Teammates. Over that first month in the Land of Wind, Team Narumi's missions were kept light; the correct filing and organisation of data, holding down unruly patients and loitering on stand-by with scalpels and ointments while Captain Narumi or Shu autopsied a Shinobi with irregular boils. Her training was shared between the two Jounin, and as the weeks wore on Captain Yuki took a much more active role.

Beforehand there had been inklings that the five Genin had been separated from the others for a more discerning quality than Academy Rankings. Chakra Control was easily singled out as the most likely answer when Captain Narumi took Akihiko, Hozumi and Shunpei under her wrinkly, old wings. All three would trail her like shadows while she made her rounds, and Chukichi, Oki and Haruka sparred against Captain Yuki and Yasumi in the blistering heat and sand above ground.

It was tenterhooks; the interaction between the Genin. Haruka, the only other female Genin, was as likely to laugh as fly into a rage. Hozumi still found himself watery-eyed and long-suffering. Shunpei's dry attempts at raising the levity of the atmosphere missed far more often than they hit. Akihiro remained, predictably, oblivious which grated on the others at times. And Chukichi was trapped in limbo, caught in some social no-man's land between the Genin and Captain Narumi.

But all of them looked at Oki with that special kind of wariness, as if she's a recently domesticated wolf.

Oki Tachibana did nothing to either encourage or discourage this attitude. Without Zabuza, and the demands of finding something to eat on the blue wash of Kirigakure streets, Oki had only just realised how much time she invested into achieving perfection. And how little she felt the urge to interact when she wasn't being forced into it.

She trained, took missions, trained, ate, read what little scrolls that were allowed to the Genin, trained and slept. Perhaps it was her diligence, effortlessly dancing a thin line with obsession, that made her that much more unapproachable. She never said the others couldn't approach her…but she'd never welcomed their advances either.

"There's….erm," Akihiro pouted, staring at the two kunai pouches in his pale hands as if they were the ones awaiting his answer, before smiling sheepishly, "…I forgot again. Sorry, I'll recount."

"Me," Chukichi sighed, liberating the pouches while Akihiro blinked at him in confusion.

"Why would I…?Oh! There's one Chukichi! Ha, that one was easy!" Akihiro's satisfied expression is misplaced but neither of his teammates call him out on it.

"Thirty-six katanas, twenty o' that number in need of repairs while the remaining sixteen are serviceable," Oki frowned, "them sixteen are in four bundles, wrapped an' ready."

There was a semi-circle of neatly stacked piles surrounding the three Genin, who reached and reorganised at the centre as if they were three spiders reshuffling their web. Akihiro's 'help' is more of a hindrance, but it is better him being here so the information sinks in when the boy becomes Aki and Hiro again. They'd have to make the trek to one of the outer camps come nightfall, and all of them wanted to be sure that the weaponry was delivered exactly as it was requested.

"Twelve kunai, each pouch, fifty-two pouches," Chukichi's voice was deep and soft and even, metronome tones in the dry earth and strangled tangy breeze of the Bunker.

"You guys," Akihiro scratched at the sheared half of his head with a frown, "Erm, how many did we need again?"

Chukichi answered him when Oki couldn't summon the patience to do so. Quiet reined the small corner of the main living area the Kiri Nin's rooms ring. The hot plate sizzled at irregular intervals like a petulant child demanding attention, and the air here-as always-smelled of something dry and spiced remaining Oki of old parchment and bleached bones and lithe animals with tanned hides and dark, little eyes. It's almost lethargic, the robotic movements of sorting. The lifestyle she currently adopts is so chaotic that Oki finds some measure of comfort in this order at least. It had to be close to three in the morning, and somewhere between the middle and end of her third week here. Time passed in blurs of jerky movement.

"Have….spoken….Captain?" Chukichi's question was too soft.

"Huh?" Oki shuffled to face him, frowning while leaning back on her haunches.

"Have you spoken to Captain Narumi?" Chukichi repeated a glance at her face that was cautious and impassive at once.

"Nope," Oki shrugged, "Why would I?"

"Because," Chukichi's fingers were tense around another Kunai pouch, "she wanted to speak with you."

Oki paused and simply looked up at him. Chukichi refused to meet her eyes. Akihiro's head had been swivelling backwards and forwards from one to the other throughout the conversation.

Oki smirked, "Never anything important, all the old woman ever wants to talk to me about is stupid life lessons an' that's she's there if I need her."

"Could be something important," Chukichi's jaws working.

"Ya said that before," Oki ragged a hand through her hair.

This is distracting and she doesn't like it since they should be keeping on task. But Chukichi and their Captain seemed to have somehow got it into their heads that both Akihiro and Oki were lost children desperately seeking guidance. The only time Oki had ever 'sought guidance' from Captain Narumi was for the sleeping pills, and they had only been relinquished after Oki had created a concise list as to why she needed them. Drop in performance had been her selling point; nightmares about a soft-faced girl twisted and fused together from ash had not.

"It's never important," Oki continued, "If it were, she'd come find me. No, she just wants some granny time and I ain't playing. I ain't gonna hop around for her attention like some little lapdog. Ya got that covered, anyways."

"I'm not her lapdog," Chukichi's tone is steel, "I respect her."

Oki smirked and lifted a brow, "Ya practically roll over on your stomach-"

"How many did we need again?" Akihiro interjected, "I can't remember, and I've been sorting for ages."

Whether his interruption was an intended stopper for the oncoming argument or not, it's impossible to tell. Akihiro retains that same bovine absent-minded attitude while chewing on the skin of his thumb.

"Should be enough," Chukichi spoke shortly, gathered their pile and left.

Akihiro watched him go. Oki began tending to the mess. The wind stirred the sand lingering in the cracks of the floor.

"Are you two alright?"

Oki glanced up to find Akihiro watching her with a clarity that he only possessed when in his Honne form. It's disconcerting, seeing Aki and Hiro peering momentarily out of the eyes of their cage dependent on but helpless to their Kekkai Genkai.

"Who?" Oki replied.

The brief glimpse of intelligence was gone as Akihiro slumped back and scratched his head, "Erm…I can't remember. What was the question again? Hey where's the fat one?"

"I dunno," Oki replied because it was easier than trying to explain it to a boy with a constantly derailing train of thought, "why don't ya look for him?"

"Yeah," Akihiro nodded slowly, "Yeah…one second, who am I looking for again?"

"Chukichi."

"Yeah, I'll go now," he hopped to his feet and beamed, "See you later, Oki!"

Oki nodded and readdressed her attention towards the discarded supplies. They'd need packing, and someone should keep on top of maintenance. She could handle it when she wasn't training or darting across the shifting sands towards the other camp or pushing her weight on some screaming Shinobi to keep him down while Captain Narumi operated; but her free hours were few and erratic, and she hadn't the time or opportunity to keep to a routine. It was better than thinking. Procrastinating. She needed to keep to her plan, if she performed well enough she could be recommended for the Chunin Exam and then they would….would what? Another setting, new missions and another blur of seemingly unimportant faces then…Jounin, what then? It had all seemed so simple when she'd talked with Zabuza about it, painting their destinies out in the Autumn night sky with the cold metal of the warehouse's roof at her back. She still had her drive but for a moment she hesitated, because she simply had no definite answer as to where it was driving her.

Did it really matter?

A long, low whistle interrupted Oki's thoughts.

Her head snapped up to find Shu, tousled blonde hair and movie-star smile, leaning towards her.

"That was brutal," he smiled, amused but with comradery, a joke between old friends.

"What was?" Oki shifted her eyes towards the katanas again, testing their edge against a calloused finger.

"You and Chukichi," Shu slumped next to her (disturbing a pile and shifting while Oki remade it with a frown), "You don't need to be so hard on him, y'know? He is trying."

Oki glanced up, to Shu then speculatively towards the hallway Chukichi had disappeared down. Brutal wasn't the word Oki would use, even her pettiest fights with Zabuza had had more energy than that. Confrontations between her and Chukichi were more like a long drawn-out sigh, heavy with mutual disappointment and tired of trying.

"He shouldn't keep bringing it up then," Oki shrugged unashamedly, "I ain't the one baiting, but if he's gonna go fishing, I'm gonna bite."

Shu raised one golden eyebrow (how does he keep them perfectly trimmed?), "Fish metaphors? Wow, you are missing the Kirigakure cuisine."

He sighed and rifled idly through the efficient little piles between them, "Never been a fan of fish guts and watery soup myself."

"Never asked if ya were," Oki meticulously strung the Kunai pouches together before moving onto the katanas.

Shu didn't answer, and if it weren't for the situational awareness Mr Anzai had tried to drill into his students' heads, Oki would have thought the twenty-something year old had left. He was smiling, when Oki finally did regard him again, a hand folded behind his head and an elbow resting against the crown of his nest of curls.

"You're making it harder for yourself."

"Huh?" Oki frowned.

"Here. You're making it much harder for yourself, here," she opened her mouth but Shu powered on before she could get even a single syllable out, "Look, I know you were some big shot in the Academy."

He chuckled when Oki sent him a suspicious unmoving look, leaning back on her shins, all intense dark eyes and sharp features.

"I've heard that Haruka girl grumbling about it," Shu's smile remained beatific, "you had quite the fan club Mr Tachibana, I know at least Haruka and Hozumi's eyes almost popped out their little heads when Captain Yuki gave you all the strip wash."

Oki ragged a hand through her hair, clearly exasperated with barrage of trivial information, "Ya going somewhere with this?"

"All I'm saying is that people aren't going to flock to you here," Shu stood again, softening his posture so he wasn't exactly looming over the ten year old, "Not like at the Academy. Everyone's too busy keeping alive to find Heroes when other ones are being shoved in their faces for them. So you'll have to put some effort into it."

"Why-"

"Why bother?" Shu cocked his head, still smiling, still amiable, "Because you're skilled, and here that'll get you to two places. One," he counted it off on a finger, "You become some snobby little asshole that everyone laughs at behind your back….or two," another slim finger, "you become everyone's favourite person."

"And those are two very different people on the battlefield," something in Shu's eyes hardened into a sudden seriousness that set Oki's stomach, "Skill, Oki Tachibana, and hard work is only ever going to get you so far. You need to know people. You need to move people enough that they watch your back because they want you coming out of the fight alive, not because its slightly easier for them that they do; the first motivation isn't invincible but when it gets hard-and I meanreally hard out there-the latter is far more easily forgotten."

Oki didn't answer, couldn't. There was something there in Shu's gaze that sewed her lips and plugged her heart in her chest, the ghost of memories the young man had experienced peeking out from hazy red-stained fields and worming through entrails. It was so easy to forget that the people here had experienced far horrifying things more than their juniors. They'd been here so long, since the war began in earnest by most accounts, that they'd forgotten how humid the mist of Kirigakure felt on skin (sticky wisps like cotton candy) but could recall with clarity how blood clotted the sand into tight, crimson balls.

"Meh," Shu smiled again and it was as if the tension had never existed, swept up and bundled away behind Shu's pretty, golden face, "just a bit of advice, Oki, yeah?"

He ruffled a hand through her hair; she frowned and dodged before smoothing it back again.

"You should probably grow that out," Shu hummed, "You look like a little mobster."

Oki grunted in laughter and smirked (Shu's switch back to 'normal' behaviour relieved her more than it had any right to), "maybe that's the look I'm goin' for."

"Oh?" Shu raised a brow, "well maybe we should get you some tattoos."

"OKI! OKI!"

Both Shu and Oki tensed, that is until Akihiro stumbled into the room all clumsiness and excited panic.

"Haruka just broke another naginata and Captain Yuki said…." He froze and then very slowly pouted, "I've forgotten what she said….But! She definitely said to find you…or was that find Shunpei? Erm…Haruka maybe? No Haruka was the one who was in trouble….I think?"

Oki sighed.

"Come on," she stood and marched towards Akihiro, all candid demeanour and assessing frown, "Let's go before Captain Yuki freezes both our asses and hands us rusty kuani to cut loose with."

"Oki."

Almost at the threshold but briskly halting her escape, Oki turned at Shu's unhurried address. The young man smiled again, one hand in his pocket and the other bumping casually against his slim hips.

"Think about what I said. I'm not like Captain Narumi, I'm not telling you this because I want to feel like a better person," his eyes crinkled with his next smile, "I just don't want to have to deal with the annoying awkwardness, alright?"

She didn't know how to answer him.

So she didn't.

"Shimabukuro, where's Captain Yuki?" Oki turned her back to Shu once again, focusing on where Akihiro is lazily blinking between the pair, frowning lightly as he tries to shift through the current syrup of his thoughts for the correct social cue. It took him awhile to realise he was being spoken to.

"Huh?...Oh! Oh, right, she's right this way….I think. Maybe?"

…

It's another week before Oki sees any action that doesn't involve fending off Haruka Abe's naginata while simultaneously preventing Chukichi from flanking her. But even then it's not much. Not enough.

Two Genin, ragged and nothing more than little straw dolls in their tattered Sunagakure uniforms, stumbled two close to where Team Narumi made their drop-off with the alternating collection group at the designated location. It wasn't the fight that concerned her. She'd Body Flickered, had her Tanto in the back of one's throat before the other had even managed to trip over his own feet enough to turn. The warm spray of blood over her face, eyes wide open behind the tinted glass of her goggles, had her heart jacking as she slashed; leaning down after swaying round the Suna Nin's gurgling teammate then arching upwards swiftly, her katana's grip tight in her sweating hands and up, up, up in a diagonal ribbon of crimson. When the body hit the sand with a muted 'thump' her heart-rate finally began to slow.

Neither of the Genin had expected it. With Chukichi's Sensor skills Team Narumi would have had a lock on them both, long before they'd stopped stumbling about and gained enough presence of mind to check they're surroundings.

Oki flicked her blade clean and slid it home, staring down at the two bodies. Shouldn't it be easier by now? This was her tally: her father, Nao, the other boy and now these two. That was five bodies Oki Tachibana had made. Five little numbers that sat in her throat like five little stones.

"It's alright, sweetheart," a wrinkled hand on her shoulder, "You've done your part."

Oki wanted to ask her Teacher what exactly 'her part' was, but decided against it. It'd only lead to more of those existential questions that Captain Narumi deluded herself into thinking Oki welcomed. For all her question asking, Oki found her Teacher was quite unwilling to listen to any answers that disagreed with her own. Captain Narumi could justify anything with the term 'for the greater good' and hurried excuses of kindness. Oki hated her for that. She didn't think she'd ever had the kindness to justify anything she'd done.

Captain Narumi bent down on aching joints to inspect the bodies.

They were young. A year older, maybe, than Akihiro and herself. Oki fought the wince and almost won. Almost.

Narumi's bent fingers eased over the metal surface of their Sunagakure Forehead Protectors, pinched finger pads tracing the hourglass indents, "so young, to be so far out on their own."

"Two," Chukichi jogged to meet them, Oki hadn't realised how far back both he and Akihiro were until they were sliding down the sand dune.

"Where's their team?" Oki finished the thought, "They weren't skilled 'nough-"

"Enough, dear," Narumi corrected while Oki momentarily bristled.

"-to be out on their own, didn't even see me comin' so they ain't-"

"Aren't."

"-ain't undercover," Oki sniffed leaning closer and trying to keep the shake out of her hands, "Do ya reckon they know 'bout the Bunker?"

"I don't think so," Aki and Hiro had split into existence when Chukichi signalled for hostiles.

Aki cocked a hip, his expression pensive, while Hiro gingerly picked at the utility belt strapped to one of the boy's-corpse's, Oki mentally corrected, waist.

"Why show that they're aware of our location before taking advantage of that information," Aki continued, frowning with thought, "No, they'd definitely attack first or at least issue some threat that causes us to panic enough that we slip up."

"These two are hardly a threat," Hiro sniffed, "Most likely, the entire encounter was coincidental."

Oki almost envied their ease with the bodies, but weeks now of dealing with the after results of combat through Captain Narumi's teachings had likely numbed them to it. They likely envied Oki's ease with killing, but it's the after results that kept her up at night and wrapping herself in self-loathing.

"You shouldn't dismiss anything as coincidental," Captain Harumi hoisted herself up again with a wizened groan then fondly patted Hiro's cheek, "That's how important things are overlooked. Now, if these two are here what does that suggest?"

"That the rest of their team are out there," Oki frowned, "Or they coulda been survivors. Have there been any-"

She paused. All four (when Aki and Hiro were counted as individuals) are watching her closely.

"What?" Oki's tone is bland, her eyes sharp.

"You…alright?" it is Chukichi in a frankly unexpected display of quiet concern.

"You dispatched them both with ease, and pardon me for saying-" Aki began.

"-You don't seem terribly upset about it," Hiro finished.

"Oki," Captain Narumi's smile is old and grandmotherly, "if there's anyone you need to talk to, I'm here for you."

Oki's blood boiled for a moment. At the condescending tones and thinly veiled disapproval and-isn't this what they want her to do? Isn't this how they survive here? So why does it suddenly seem so wrong when she does it? Because she does it well like they taught her, or becausethey aren't the ones killing for once.

She's got enough of her own questions; she doesn't need to shoulder theirs, especially when the answers are always heavier.

"I'm fine," she grinned to cover it, the anger and hesitation and that empty feeling that had been sitting in her gut and gathering storm clouds for the past weeks, months, year since Nishihama, she doesn't know "this is what Shinobi do."

There was more bite to that last sentence. Enough for them to drop it.

"We'll leave the bodies," Captain Narumi glossed over, "they'll only be more suspicious if they're moved."

"And they ain't gonna be suspicious 'bout the hole in that guy's throat?" Oki snorted.

"Have you ever been fishing, Oki?"

Oki tensed. Yes she had. Every morning or every evening with a little body tucked under her chin or the uneasy silence of her father at her back. But she doesn't want Captain Narumi to know that. The woman sniffed out and feasted on personal tragedy like a leech, growing fatter the more her confidants shared with her and the more traumatic those unburdened secrets were.

"Yeah," she shrugged.

"Then you'll understand the concept of bait."

…..

The sky bled. Swathes of crimsons and pinks and golds water falling into one another and dripping their paints onto the unending sea of sand. Oki shifted against the tan rock, keeping her legs from falling asleep where they wedged between two jutting boulders.

"It's been awhile," Aki sighed somewhere above and to the left.

"It has," Hiro's tone was equally unsatisfied, this time further back and to the right.

Captain Narumi and Chukichi had returned to camp, in order to relay what had occurred and swap out for two more combat orienteered colleagues. Oki already knew Captain Yuki would be among them, but the second was a tossup between Yasumi or Haruka Abe. It depended on whether they decided to ere on the side of caution, or whether Captain Yuki was keener on her Genin student acquiring some more personal experience with that wicked-looking naginata of hers. Oki's calloused fingers wedged further into the rock as she stealthy poked an eye out, one hand on the warm grip on her tanto and her legs splayed to keep her suspended.

The bodies hadn't moved.

They'd been out there for hours and not even the emaciated desert animals had bothered to pick at their bones. It made her wary, an almost ridiculous notion flitting in and out her head that every corpse she created would withstand the passage of time as grim testament to her actions.

It scared her, how good she was at it, probably more than it scared the other Genin.

Shu's speech from weeks ago drifted through Oki's mind. She hadn't had the time to think on it too deeply, busy training, completing small unimportant missions like stock control and then falling into the blessed relief of blank sleep after Captain Narumi had given her those little white pills. If Oki was turning into…whatever it was that she was turning into (Monster? Murder? A good Shinobi?) did she really need the others to know? Did she want them to know? She didn't really want them knowing anything about her, it'd be too easy to rely on them for her identity and then far too easy to find herself shaped and subsequently broken by that very same reliance.

"Hey Aki, Hiro," her mouth was working before she even knew it, "do ya think….do ya think I'm scary?"

"Scary?" she wasn't sure which one spoke but with those two, it hardly mattered.

"Yeah," Oki whispered, "Like are ya scared of me?"

The silence was telling.

"Well…" Hiro's tone was unsure and clearly delaying for time, "I'm not sure 'scary' would be the right word."

"You're…kind of intimidating," Aki supplied, "kind of."

Oki smirked and snorted, "Ain't that the same thing?"

"In a manner-" Aki began.

"-of speaking," Hiro finished.

Oki lapsed into silence, the desert wind howling through the thin holes in the rock face and buffeting specks of sand against her skin. It had never been her intention to intimidate them. She'd just…just what? She'd just found herself struggling to keep her head above water or had she developed a sudden complete apathy for the feelings of those around her? Oki Tachibana had never been the most sympathetic or considerate person in the world, but when had she become such a chore to be around? Her father's death had taught her a valuable lesson; that a person's age, knowledge or ability came second to their willingness, their determination and ambition. It was near thinkable that she would kill him, and then her desperation to see Kenki alive had allowed her to do so. It had been a hard education but her drive to live and flourish had played a large part in pushing her through her Academy years.

So what had Nao's death taught her? And the death of the boys this morning?

Nothing? That she was the killer Teacher had proclaimed her to be all those years ago in the murk of that forgotten cave. That there was not lessons to be learned or experience to be gained in every action; that sometimes slaughter was just simply slaughter? She'd done nothing but brood with the life she had snatched away from Nao, polishing her memories of that Examination Room with a combination of insincere regret and self-loathing. And in the meantime, the regard that she'd so carefully cultivated throughout her Academy years had been wilting.

What a damn waste.

She'd fought so hard for that reputation and her continued survival, and all she was going to do was let it stagnate?

"What bought this on all of a sudden, anyway?" Aki inquired, jolting Oki from her thoughts.

"Nothing," Oki replied, "I just realised that I ain't be the most…talkative person back at the Bunker, y'know? I hadn't noticed."

"Oh," Hiro breathed, "….To be honest, everyone thought you were snubbing us…."

Everyone? So Shu's comments had been far more insightful than Oki initially appreciated.

"I weren't," Oki shrugged, "Just…just tryna get my head on straight, I guess. It's really different out here."

Aki sighed, "It is."

"I mean…," Oki frowned, "doesn't that bother ya, both you and Hiro seem to be doin' fine."

"Well," Hiro interjected, "As a Shimabukuro, our…perception of the world is rather skewed. We only see it in bits and pieces since the times where we can think straight are few. It's almost like constantly looking out through a kaleidoscope. We've long been used to the world constantly changing every time we blink."

It would explain a great deal about their behaviour. Oki could only imagine that it was like perpetually snapping in and out of sleep, the only person they could really rely on as a constant was their bedfellow. No wonder Aki and Hiro never ventured more than five steps away from each other.

A shadow slid seamlessly into their little hiding point, and Captain Yuki straightened into her regal bearing before Yasumi could even sneak in beside her.

Caution then, Oki mused, better that way.

"Report?" Captain Yuki shifted so she was peeking out at the two dead boys from behind Oki's shoulder.

"Ain't nothing happened," Oki straightened into military address, "We ain't even seen one of their tracking eagles. I stuck some Exploding tags on the back of one, just for when they show up."

"I see," Captain Mayako Yuki's frown was cutting and momentary, before her face smoothed into her more characteristic polite smile, "well, I suppose we'll just have to wait then, won't we?"

It wasn't a question so none of them answered.

Oki woke hours later, squashed up against the armpit of Yasumi while her legs folded themselves against the rock. It wasn't her turn for watch rotation, she knew because if it were Yasumi would be the one waking her. His beard tickled the skin of her cheek as she carefully righted herself, paying particular attention to the fall of the shadows. It was a few hours off midnight and Captain Yuki had a palm discreetly raised for attention and one eye darting pointedly at the beefy Chunin Oki had been using as a makeshift sleeping bag.

"Yasumi," Oki whispered, lightly tapping at the vein pulsing in his brawny neck, "Yasumi."

His eyes snapped open and his body tensed before she'd even finished saying his name a second time. Yasumi's hazel eyes hit Oki then instantly swept over to Captain Yuki who continued to hold her hand in 'be prepared' position. A longer moment of silence; Aki, Hiro, Oki and Yasumi all keeping as still as the rocks they were perched behind, until Captain Yuki curled a finger for Oki to slip forward. She found it far more difficult to be as stealthy as possible on the grainy rocks of the desert than she ever had at the Academy, but managed it nonetheless to a level that was satisfactory enough (for Captain Yuki anyway, since the dark-haired woman hadn't killed her).

"Tags," Captain Yuki mouthed, motioning slightly towards where three shadows were lumbering near the two corpses, and then she tapped her wrist and held up her fingers in a shifting count. Oki watched as Captain Yuki hit one, then two, then three and then at four, she nodded her head and pointed at her back. Satisfied, their Jounin Commander leaned back and motioned the other two forwards.

Yasumi leaned himself up against Captain Yuki's unguarded left, Aki and Hiro squatted at her right, while Oki was manoeuvring into a crouch before the Ice Release wielding woman. Captain Yuki's fingers made her shiver-so cold they almost burned-as they brushed over Oki's head and pushed her goggles over her eyes.

The intention was clear.

Adrenaline pulled itself awake, licked at its face with drowsy paws before curling cat-like in Oki's veins. The sand was almost silver in the moonlight, the three Suna Nin combing for their companions nothing more than shapes against a pregnant moon and starless sky.

"Jounin," Captain Yuki whispered, "Two fresh Chunin."

Oki didn't know how Captain Yuki knew but she trusted the woman's judgement enough to not question it. Unlike Captain Narumi, Mayako Yuki was sharp and honed and undeniably dangerous.

Then Captain Yuki's hands moved from Oki's head and gripped the thighs of Aki and Yasumi, three fingers lifted and ready to tap out the countdown on their skin rather than risk verbally announcing it. The Jounin's dark eyes, elegant and long-lashed and very beautiful in a sad, delicate (and completely misleading, she mentally added) way, locked on Oki before nodding once. Everyone bar Oki squeezed their eyes closed.

One tap.

Oki tensed as the two Chunin knelt over the first body, muttering to each other as their Jounin Commander kept watch.

Two taps.

So there were two Chunin, and by the Captain's direction both were relatively under experienced. She had no hope against the Jounin, she was confident but she wasn't stupid. Captain Yuki would most likely be gunning for the Jounin, Yasumi the tallest and bulkiest of the Chunin. That left the skinny Chunin with the wind-swept ponytail for her and Akihiro (or Aki and Hiro). Shit, she'd never gone against a Chunin in anything serious before. It didn't matter if she could do this, she'dhave to do this or-

Three taps.

Oki completed her Rat Seal and the white fire bellowed, plumed then folded in on itself. She felt the burst of heat even from where she crouched, there and gone in a blink, leaving a thin smoking trail behind. Movement had exploded about her.

The three Suna Nin had managed to leap backwards before they were injured, but by doing so had only separated themselves from each other. They stumbled momentarily blinded by the burst of light in the darkness. Yasumi stripped his nodachi from his back with a slick singing of steel, already running low with an animalistic growl rumbling in his huge chest; Captain Yuki was gone and Oki didn't have time to wonder where and how. One Chunin (the one with the ponytail) was straggling at the front of the group, choking into his sleeve as the wind pushed the cloying smoke of the explosion in his direction. Oki swerved towards him as the other Chunin pulled a Summoning Scroll from his sleeve. She shoved Aki and Hiro in the same direction as three sand worms (tan, thick plates on their backs, blind eyes and spearheaded tips of fleshy skin at the front) dove towards Yasumi.

Yasumi skidded to a halt, planted his feet and readied his nodachi, the two (three? If you considered Aki and Hiro separately) Genin danced past and right. The first of the worms flung itself on the Yasumi's blade, splitting from head to belly in a shower of entrails, blood and two wet thumps as the halves hit the sand. Yasumi had already thrust a palm into the sand, digging for another worm which he grasped around the throat and crushed its head in one huge paw of a fist.

Oki could barely recognise what was happening about her. A blur of noise and movement that her body played harmoniously to, feelings lost in her instincts as self-perseveration and the human need for victory roared in her head. The pony-tailed Chunin was feeding something into his hands. The soft 'chinking' of chains skittered about the edges of her hearing and she had a split second to dive to the side before the sand exploded in a tuft beside her.

The chink of the chain again as the Suna nin retracted his weapon.

"Shit," Oki breathed, seeing it finally in the moonlight.

A long chain, each link decorated in a tiny cluster of razor-sharp blades like frost between the cracks in brickwork. It was heavy and that gave the Kiri Genin a speed advantage at least, but it also meant the thing was as likely to crush as it was shred her. Long range, which meant if Oki could only burst into the Chunin's bubble of space her katana and the tanto on her back would have the advantage. It was getting that close, that'd prove the problem

The Chunin whistled the chain above his head like a lasso, singing some eerie, high-pitched tone as it sliced through air. Without warning it swept down towards them, clinking and screeching towards her. Oki's eyes widened before she was leaping forward (still pushing to close that distance) and flipping over the lethal arc of the chain. She hit the floor hard, her chin scrapping against the sand as she dug in her toes and pressed herself forwards again. She wouldn't be able to reach him, not like this. The Suna Nin was interrupting every effort she made, especially now he seemed to have found his pace by whirling the chain in huge circles about him and wearing the two Genin down. Each dodge was coming slower than the last, each breathe that much more ragged.

She'd have to throw him off his rhythm.

Oki's hand darted into one of the pouches at her belt, curling around a shock tag even as she rolled under the next swipe of the chain (sand in her mouth, in the grooves of her goggles, abrasive against the skin of her fingers). Popping to her feet, Oki flung the tag and denoted it before the thought of the actions had even fully materialised in her head. It burst in a furious flash of bright, blinding white. Oki watched through the tinted glass of her goggles as the Suna Nin stumbled.

"AHH! MY EYES!"

That was….

Oki whirled. She'd completely forgotten about Aki and Hiro darting about behind her. The two identical boys stumbled back; completely thrown off stride and gritting their teeth as they lifted their arms against a light that had already vanished. But the Suna Nin evidently hadn't forgotten about the Shimabukuros' presence.

"You little shits!" he seethed, cursing and rubbing at his eyes before his hands tightened on the chain again.

His movements were nowhere near as smooth.

With her goggles Oki could easily duck, roll and leap over the heavy, erratic swings of the Suna Nin's chain but Aki was not that fortunate. It caught him on a backlash, the end of the chain spitting up and whipping once over the boy's skinny body; yanking him from his feet, into the air and finally slumping against the rocks behind.

"AKI!" Hiro screamed somewhere.

Oki swallowed down bile, she didn't know the damage hadn't the time to look if she wanted to keep her head, but the sheer amount of panic and fear in Hiro's voice was enough to unnerve anyone. She was closer, she could see the ripples in the sand that the Suna Nin's frantic movements had disturbed and hear the chain whipping in the air behind her. She didn't want to die. She had to kill him because oh god, she did not want to die.

Oki Tachibana was six paces away from the Suna nin when his vision finally cleared. She didn't know how much distance she'd crossed to get there, she didn't know how badly Aki was injured or whether the pin-pricks of pain trembling up and down her back were real or mentally conjured; all she felt was the stone of dread plummet down in her stomach when the Chunin's eyes locked on hers.

His smile was vicious and vengeful.

The Chain whipped towards her with far more control. She didn't have time to move effectively. Oki instinctively unsheathed her katana with fingers near trembling with frenzied energy, and barely got the blade high enough to block before it reached her. It was only then that she remembered why she hadn't been trying to block the chain in the first place.

Oki leaned back as the chain coiled itself around the blade with the most ear-bleeding sound of metal scrapping against metal. She could feel the noise vibrating along her teeth, into her jaw and through the bone of her skull. A sharp tug and Oki was on her knees and struggling to keep upright. She leaned her weight back, dug her heels in, and nearly broke her damn jaw gritting her teeth as she heaved the katana towards her. But the Chunin was stronger.

Oki was jerked forward another step, managing to keep her feet under her by some sheer miracle.

Then another.

At the third, Oki finally questioned why the hell she was straining herself so hard to keep the sword anyway, especially when….when-it clicked She'd been trying desperately to close the distance between her and the Chunin, then here the Chunin was perfectly willing to close it for her. The next tug and Oki moved with it, catapulting herself towards the shocked Chunin and using the room the slack chain gave her to lift her blade. Closer, her feet hit the sand, closer, her blade was swinging down, closer and-

It cut straight through the Chunin's hand in one lurching, merciless swing. The Chunin screamed pitching forward and towards her with his other hand outstretched. Oki didn't even think before she was throwing another Shock Tag in his face. She ached and it felt like she was breathing in fire, but she could do this. She was not dying now!

The Chunin bent forwards at the blast of almost painful white light, and Oki took the opportunity to fill her fist with the course material at the shoulder of her shirt. She swung herself onto his hunched back, her other hand already feeling for her Tanto. Oki's pulse was a war drum in her head. Not now. Not like this. I am not dying today. I. AM. NOT. DYING!

The tanto was warm and at home in her palm, she flipped her grip while her eyes never left the back of the Chunin's head. Oki reared her arm back, the inside of her elbow brushing her nose before-

THUNK

-down it went, a short hard punch of metal breaking through the bone at the back of Chunin's skull. There was a thick, globby mess of matter on the tanto as Oki struggled to pull it free before forcing it home again, the Chunin's body convulsing violently under her. After that she lost count.

She only stopped when he was still.

The body toppled forward as if it had been freed from some puppeteer's spell, sending Oki tumbling into the sand. Her arms hurt. Her body felt strange, small zips of adrenaline fading away and leaving bruises in their wake. The bloody bowl that was the back of the Chunin's head stared up at her, crimson pooling into the sand punctuated by odd little clicks as the chain he had wielded settled itself. Oki stared back for a while (she wasn't sure how long) feeling strange and simultaneously too small and too big for her skin.

Had she done that?

'Yes', the reply came almost mechanically to her, 'yes you did.'

"Up," a voice grunted, elbows under her armpits and her feet dangling before touching the sand, "you come."

Yasumi's hazel eyes scrutinised her from behind a dark beard flecked with blood. There was something that looked suspiciously like entails hanging from his ear. Oki winced.

"Is she alright?" Captain Yuki's voice wafted from somewhere behind Yasumi's broad shoulders, her tone as ever cordial and detached.

"Yeah," Yasumi grinned down at Oki, huge hand carefully plucking the goggles from her eyes, "yeah, just a bit shocked. You did some good work there kid."

"The injuries on the other one are minor, a broken rib and a small scar across his forehead," Captain Yuki replied, "Nothing that won't heal. Yasumi?"

"Yeah," the massive man straightened and twisted his waist to look at their Captain.

Oki focused on the rusty stain gleaming wetly at the hem of Yasumi's pants.

"You carry the prisoner," she paused, "the two Genin can help each other home."

Robotically Oki moved to the commands. She crossed the sand, latticed with marks from the Suna Nin's chain, and knelt beside where Hiro had his head bent over Aki's unconscious body. Half Aki's face was smeared with blood, the cut Captain Yuki mentioned concealed beneath the wad of dark cloth Hiro was pressing against his partners forehead. Hiro flinched as she squatted down.

"Are…" Oki coughed away the huskiness in her throat, "Are you two okay?"

Hiro paused. He stayed silent and completely still for a long time.

When he finally slowly turned to face her and nodded; his smile was hesitant and wavering, his eyes tired and watery. Oki had the sudden uncharacteristic urge to grasp his shoulder. Maybe for his comfort, maybe for her own or maybe it didn't matter. She wanted to say sorry that he was hurt but what good were was 'sorry' from her. Perhaps it didn't matter. Oki and the Shimabukuros had come through the night mostly intact, and nothing needed to be acknowledged.

Instead she grabbed Aki's legs and muttered, "Hiro, you take his arms."

….

"Hey."

They looked up. Haruka perched at the edge, fist raised and ready to thump a wide-eyed and cowering Hozumi. Shunpei Morikawa's mouth still open as he halted the hushed conversation he had been engaging in with a hunched Chukichi. The hot plate sizzled and hissed between them, Oki Tachibana at one side and the five other Genin huddled together at the other. She felt ridiculously self-conscious.

It had been almost two months since Oki had arrived in the Land of Wind and this was the first time she had initiated conversation with her peers. She'd never expected it to be so hard but then again Oki hadn't cared what people thought of her before, only that they thought of her. But it was…different out here.

Nishihama had been safe. Kirigakure (compared to here) had been safe. Here, she was alone and hanging onto a spider's web. It wasn't any approximation of safe here. Oki too wasn't who she used to be in Nishihama or Kirigakure, and she wasn't someone else. She'd brooded for long enough. She'd been the one to crow about motivation and self-improvement to Kenki all those years ago, and even though she was barely recognisable to that girl they were still one and the same. If she was so willing to sacrifice so much, to kill, for her own ambition and the need to see the next dawn then she had better face her situation. But…how did she even begin? Damn it, she didn't even know where she was going with this and they were all staring at her and-

"Hey!" Akihiro's cheerful and overly enthusiastic waving tore into the silence, "What's up Oki? Did you want to sit down?"

"Yeah," Oki nodded, "thanks."

The next few moments were occupied with Akihiro shuffling Hozumi (the pallid faced ten year old really was the whipping boy of the group, if Akihiro in his Tatemae state was capable bossing him around) to the left with shooing motions and a dopey smile. Akihiro patted the now empty space next to him with glee and Oki awkwardly slotted herself between him and Hozumi.

"So what's up?" Akihiro (mercifully) commandeered conversation, "I thought you were….ah, I've forgotten but it definitely had something to do with Captain Yuki…or was that-"

"Nope, Genjutsu theory with Captain Yuki," Oki interrupted before Akihiro could tie himself into knots.

"I was right?" Akihiro murmured, blinking with mild surprise.

"Er…." Shunpei cleared his throat from where he was sitting on the other side of Akihiro, "How is that coming along?"

"What?" Oki shifted to face him. He winced slightly. She made a mental note to smooth her tone.

"The Genjutsu, Captain Yuki is a very knowledgeable teacher but…." He shrugged and looked busily about himself.

"She's fucking terrifying," Haruka grunted then gave a shrill, nervous laugh, "Er, right Hozumi?"

The boy made a squeaking sound in his throat.

"Yeah," Oki nodded (had conversation always been this awkward?), "I think it's worse when she smiles, y'know?"

"Right! Right!" Haruka leaped on the subject, "Especially 'cause it can go one of two ways."

"Either she pats you on the back for doing a good job," Shunpei shuffled further in, Chukichi silent and lingering at the outskirts behind him.

"Or she puts her hand through ya back, for doin' a bad one," Oki smirked.

Haruka's laughter was loud and brash and ended in hiccup little snorts that set Shunpei chuckling and Oki grinning. Akihiro looked like a particularly idle dog as his head swivelled between them all, trying and failing to follow the conversation but enjoying the sound of voices all the same.

"Oh! Shunpei remember that time Captain Yuki froze Hozumi's head?" Haruka directed an evil smile at the boy who sighed and pulled into himself further.

"Man, how could I forget," Shunpei's tone was almost wistful before adding a belated, "No offense, Akihiro."

"None taken," Akihiro nodded contentedly though it was obvious he had no idea what he was meant to be offended about.

"His head?" Oki raised a brow, "his whole head, how'd that happen?"

"Well…." Haruka began with another smirk at Hozumi. When the boy released a long-suffering sigh, her grin only grew.

A/N:

Okay, another chapter up. This one is far more violent but be assured, the Suna Nin Captain Yuki captured will play a part next chapter. Trying to skip time without skipping too much IS proving difficult however, since I need Oki's time logged but I don't want to dawdle around with it at the same time. In regards to the skills of the Suna Nin, and Oki being about to beat him; he's a really green Chunin (so just a little more experienced than Chukichi anyway) and Sunagakure have a lower military strength than Kirigakure (I THINK Sunagakure's is actually the lowest out of all the Shinobi Villages, but don't quote me on that) so none of the Suna heavy-hitters (like Gaara, Kazekages and/or Sasori) I'm factoring that fact into their strength.

Reviewer Replies:

RandomCitizen: Wow influx of reviews, my phone's going nuts XD but thank you very much for each one! I hope you're enjoying it so far :]

Ceradin: Thank you for the review! I'm glad you like Akihiro, I always imagine he's like the oblivious glue between the tensions of Oki vs Narumi and Chukichi :3

TurtleBiscuit: Completely chuffed with all the positive feedback about Akihiro's Kekkai Genkai, I thought it'd be a little boring compared to some of the BAMF ones in the series , and yeah Oki's not trying very hard to fit in (but when has she tried, considering Hajime was like her PA in the Academy) hopefully a bit more of an insight on Team Narumi for you in this chapter :D Thanks for the review and your continued support!

Tough Chick: Can't tell you how they meet up though it won't be for a good while yet ;) Thank you for the review!

SadisticAvocado: With Oki and vendettas? The ride never ends! Glad you like Akihiro's Kekkai Genkai, it's weird thinking that there was likely so many more Kekkai Genkai in Kirigakure before the purge that are extinct (or nearly extinct) by the start of the series :/ You've got a bit more of a hint (though hint might be an understatement) at Oki's skills this chapter, and as for the mystery Suna Nin (damn, this feels like an episode of Who's That Pokemon XD) I won't tell just yet but the Suna nin captured in this chapter plays a part in his involvement. Thanks for the review!

THANK YOU to everyone who's read, followed and favourited this story too!