On the Ropes

"Slow....no problem." Kenji couldn't have moved very fast right now even if he wanted to. He managed to go at a sort of brisk walk, but even that was a struggle. He also had to worry about tripping and falling, which would probably hurt them bot heven more. As long as he had Kensei calling out clear paths, though, he was able to stay on his feet.


"So, uh...when we get back and we're all fixed up, we should get Megumi to take us out to eat or something," he said, trying to take their minds off their dire situation. "She mentioned something about some kind of pay raise, so she has a bit more spending money to throw around. Actually, kind of a lot more now that I think about it. She bought a whole month's worth of groceries last week. Normally we only have a few day's worth stocked at a time."

Kenji had no idea what Megumi had done to get such a raise, but he was sure it was because of her superior skill and dedication. She had been rather evasive when he asked her about it. He guessed it didn't really matter, in the end.

Kensai had been digging through his ninja, kit searching for a small specific pouch for something specific by feel, he hadn't come heavy, but he did bring a first aid kit, and enough alcohol wipes and bandages to address Kenji's eyes, but he was broken from that thought when Kenji mentioned that Megumi had gotten a pay raise, and was throwing around money.

It reminded him of this morning, before coming to the training grounds he'd been woken by a knock on his apartment door, the shabby basement dwelling that he'd been paying through his teeth for, it was the buildings new owner, and he was going to refurnish the basement, including the area that Kensai was living, he had a month to find a new place to live. But even with the new full Genin pay he'd be hard pressed to find a place that was even available.

"That's great." Kensai could feign much more than he had already, he was in a hard way and hadn't even told Kenji and Megumi yet. He couldn't very well ask them for a place to live. He might approach Setsuna, if he remained a Genin, and ask her for instruction. "Megumi-sensei is awfully resourceful."

Little did the boys know that in the distance they were being watched by a set of feral eyes.

"Yeah, she's always been like that," Kenji said, as he continued to shuffle along blindly. He slid his feet across the ground, to feel around as he stepped instead of risking tripping over something he couldn't see. The going was slow enough, with the weight dragging him down. "She had to be, otherwise we would have died a long time ago. I guess this is like a reward for that or something. Megumi says we might even have enough saved up to afford a bigger apartment in about a month or so. It'll be nice not having to sleep with her on a mattress."

Had Kenji any kind of social wherewithal, he might have phrased his last sentence a little differently. Instead, it came out sounding like something Kensei might interpret a different way than he meant. He just carried on, oblivious.

Kensai blushed a little bit when Kenji spoke about his and Megumi's living arrangements, he'd been to their apartment before even slept on their couch, but still, after seeing how... open Towel-sensei was it was embarrassing.Though he understood what Kenji was trying to say.

Finally finding what he was digging for "Turn your head as far as you can." He commanded, eagerly, behind Kenji he would hear a zipper open, as Kensai found his simple medkit, all it was was gauze and bandages and a little antiseptic. Meager but effective. "We should protect your eyes." He noted splashing a little of the antiseptic and some water on the gauze before placing it over Kenji's eyes and wrapping it with a stretchy bandage. "I hope this helps." He muttered, knowing that if they acted quickly that maybe the medical-nin would have a better chance of saving Kenji's vision.

Kenji wasn't certain what Kensei was going to do when he asked him to turn his head, but he didn't feel the need to resist. He had to stop walking though to turn his head and let Kensei work, otherwise he probably wouldn't have been able to pay attention to where he was going. He figured out what Kensei was doing after a moment, and even though the spray of antiseptic stung so much he wanted to shout, he remained still and let his teammate work. When he was done, Kenji gave a weak tuhmbs up and chuckled quietly.


"Heheh...feels great. Thanks." He did mean the thanks, although he doubted he was hiding the pain very well. It wasn't crippling or anything, but damn did it burn. With that, he continued his slow march onward.

Kensai was quick to finish his work, and pat Kenji on the shoulders. "No problem man." He responded forcing a little smile, though he still felt the pain in his lower back, the support of the harness helped, he could breath easier with it on, and hoisted up. Though he'd rather be walking on his own and guiding Kenji out of this mess, right now he just felt helpless, and maybe his playing medic was an effort to keep that helpless feeling at bay.

The set of predatory eyes that had been watching the boys had been joined by several other sets, those cold eyes belonging to a small group of wild dogs, the mutts spying an easy meal of injured young, their favorite food. They would stalk the boys for a few hundred yards, as they slowly plodded through the ruined woods. After that storm the dogs were hungry.

Kenji continued along for another few hundred paces before he started to slow down, exhausted from carrying Kensei for so long. "Okay hold on, I need a break." Being very careful not to hurt his teammate, Kenji knelt down to place the harness on the ground and untie the rope. Once Kensei was gently on the ground, he stood straight and stretched out his back, popping several knots.

"Ugh, I think I pulled something in that storm. How are you doing?"

"I think it'd be easier to find a spot on my body that isn't covered in bruises right now." Kensai stretched his arms after Kenji set him down. He was sure if the roles were reversed that he would have been able to carry his partner out of this place, and then silently cursed the lot he'd been dealt with his injury.

Kensai pulled his bottle of water out from his pack it was still mostly and touched Kenji's hand with it to let know that water was available.

In the distance there was a loud bay, and followed by some barking. It would cause Kensai's head to snap in the direction of where the sound was coming from.

He would give an almost exhausted sigh and "Now, there's this shit." would drivel from his lips. Today couldn't get much worse. "Think you can fight?" He would ask his partner seriously.

"Wait, fight? What's going on?" Kenji took the water bottle and looked around, even though doing so was pointless because he couldn't see. He did hear the sound of some kind of animals, but he couldn't quite make out what it was. Were they about to be attacked? "I mean, I can try, but uh, not being able to see is a bit of an issue..."

"I think we're being hunted." Kensai responded keeping his eyes open, "Get a quick drink, by the sound of those barks their nearby." He was looking around of course, but this wasnt the normal sound that wolves, or coyotes or dogs made when they weren't after something. "I'm not sure what it is but be ready.

Kenji would hear the sound of metal clink as Kensai pulled a Kunai and a few shuriken out of his bag. They were the very last of his cheap academy stuff.

In a few moments quiet befell them and the distant sound of leaves rustling and rapid footfalls of four legged predators broke the silence.

"Dogs! A lot of them!" Kensai called out, "Coming from your two o'clock!"

They were being hunted. Swell. As if this situation wasn't bad enough already, now they had to try and fight back against wild animals. Blind and paralyzed. This was going to be a breeze for sure. Or they would probably just get torn apart. The only thing Kenji could do was take a drink of water and get ready.

"Two?" Where was two o'clock again? His mind blanked for a second as he tried to visualize a clock, then almost smacked himself when he remembered where that direction was. With a quick snap of his head, Kenji turned and made a hand sign, then fired out a slicing jet of water from his mouth across the ground towards the right direction. "Did I get anything??"

There was a telling yelp when Kenji's blind attack struck home, however as Kensai explained, "It was a glancing blow!" Kensai himself would get to work hurling one of the shuriken, it would find home in the flank of one of the bigger dogs that would turn and limp off quickly yiping in pain.

The dogs momentum broken the, pack split up and moves all around the boys waiting for an opening. "They're moving around us!" Kensai would throw another shuriken, this time the dog he was aiming for jumped at the last second moving out of the way and the spinning blade wizzed into the open, with Kensai cussing under his breath.

He had one left and needed to make it count!

"Uh, okay, all around us?" Kenji tried to keep track of all the noises around him, but he wasn't used to fighting without his eyesight. Everything just sounded like a mad blur of sounds. As far as he could tell, the dogs could be anywhere. What he needed was some omnidirectional defenses. Trying to keep himself calm, he made hand signs and pulled in all the water he could around himself, creating a shield between him and Kensei, and the the dogs. "Where are they now? Where am I attacking?"

The water shield had the dogs confused, and kept them off balance even more than what they had been after the lash and the shuriken, that had been tossed their way. Still they weren't so fond of giving up and were quick to test the shield by pouncing onto it, given the amount of water Kenji had to work with it wouldn't hold up for long.

Kensai realized that he was Kenji's eyes, he needed to priortize targets, giving a quick look around through the translucent shield and picked out the three bigest shapes and relayed them to his partner. "Your One O'clock! Your, Three O'clock and your Nine O'clock!" Kensai instructed, leaving how Kenji would engage the animals up to the man himself while keeping his eyes open if any of the mongrels managed to make it through the shield.

Kenji reacted as quick as he could to Kensei calling the directions. Since he couldn't see any of his targets, he was relying on his partner to be accurate. He held his hand sign steady and fired out several blasts of water from his shield towards the appropriate areas, hoping he hit something. He could always create more water if he ran out, but he might not have the chance against such agile opponents.

Of the three attacks only the one at the nine O'clock struck true the blast sending the mutt end over end before it gathered its senses enough to run off, the other two attacks landed nearby enough to startle the two pooches making them change direction and distance from the water shield. The attacks were seeming to have an effect as one of the dogs that hadn't been on the recieving end of a counter attack turned tail and ran away.

"Your Three O'clock and your Seven!" Kensai called out again aiming at the biggest shapes he could see through the wather shield. He still continued to keen his head on a swivel to gauge the specific threats of the dogs. Hopefully with a few more good hits the dogs would be in full retreat.

Kenji was really starting to get frustrated, and even more desperate that he could get his eyes fixed when they got back to the village. If this was how he would have to fight for the rest of his life, he probably wouldn't get very far. "Okay, I'm going to try something crazy. Tell me if this works!" With one more hand sign, he caused the water shield around them to explode outward, creating a storm of water bullets flying through the air, each one harder than stones. If he couldn't hit each target accurately, he'd try an area of effect attack.

Kensai flinched harshly unsure what Kenji was doing, but as soon as the effect of his attack was seen, the white haired genin understood what'd happened, the attack had outright killed two of the remaining dogs the rest fleeing with at least some kind of injury, most yelping some however silent.

"Great!" Kensai declared boldly, "You did it!" He was excited to be alive, but also he felt ashamed that he wasn't able to do anything. He'd been pretty much useless for the entire fight. He had a thin smile on his face, but his partner didn't know that. For now though he would let Kenji rest and keep an eye out for more trouble.

"They're gone?" Kenji let out a deep breath and sank back to the ground. "Oh thank goodness. I was getting worried there for a minute. Thanks, Kensei. That could have been really bad." As a matter of fact, if not for Kensei there to call out the dogs, Kenji probably would have been ripped apart before he even realized he was under attack. "Man this really sucks. We need to get back to the village as soon as possible."

"Yeah no kidding, I'm ready for this nightmare to be over." Kensai related to Kenji. Since he wasn't the one walking them he wouldn't ask for any of the water, Kenji needed that. And for now the dull pain in his back that had faded from his mind during the adrenaline of the fight had slowly resurfaced causing him to fidget uncomfortably.

"If you're all rested up we should get moving, If we don't get to the village before dark it'll be a world of hurt." Kensai warned. With how cold it was a night it would make things far worse. Not to mention that they were without food or a way to replenish their water.

"Right, yeah, let's move." Kenji used Kensei's voice to find his way to his teammate, and after a few moments of struggle managed to again hoist the harness onto his shoulders. With no way of knowing how far away they were from the village, they had no way of knowing how much longer they would be out here, and he wasn't sure if they would be able to fend off another attack against wild animals. All the more reason to keep moving. "Okay...let's hope we're close."

There was no hesitation in Kensai as Kenji pulled him onto his back, there wasn't much he could think about doing outside of just holding on for the ride. It would take the two of them a little bit but soon Kensai would start to get the feeling of Deja vu as the pair walked through the forest, and something nagged at the back of his mind as they did continued. Something very vague as Kensai tried to remember what the issue was it would be revealed before them.

"Stop!" Kensai would cringe as the trees cleared and there not twenty feet in front of Kenji was a crevasse, that went far into either direction in the forest in front of them. "Do you want the good news or the bad..."

Kenji stopped so quick he nearly fell over, although that could have been a combination of his tired legs. He tried to listen a second to see if they were under attack again, but he couldn't hear anything of the sort. As far as he knew, they were still walking in the right direction, or at least what they thought was the right direction. Had they made a wrong turn? "Uh, I mean, both I guess? What's wrong?"

"Well the Bad news is that we're about five meters from a kilometer deep chasm that goes for kilometers in either direction." Kensai said, making an obvious insinuation at their only good route. "The Good news is that I have a much better idea as to where we are, the village is almost directly east." There was a bridge that went over this chasm, but without knowing how far north they were the couldn't expect to find it before nightfall if they went the wrong direction.

"Ideas about getting across?" Kensai asked deadpanned, not exactly sure what to do though he was starting to brainstorm ideas himself.

Those were some pretty severe extremes as far as good and bad news was concerned. As great as having a better idea of where they were was, that didn't mean a whole lot if they could actually get to where they needed to go, and apparently there was an entire gaping chasm between them and the route they needed to take. "Uh, no, no I definitely don't have any ideas on this one. I don't really have any techniques that could send us that far, and I don't know anything about changing the earth get us across. And without being able to see... I'd probably just get us killed if I tried. Is there a bridge or something we can use?