Chapter Five - Blood Trails

Shinji arrives on the scene of the hidden cave, heavily wounded. Orochi heals him, but Kaname and Izumi have different ways of reacting over the issue.

Kaname didn’t have to wait as long as she expected for the first of the group to arrive. It was silent Izumi, his hands crossed as he walked across the small, frozen lake. White snowflakes covered his black hair, but whenever they landed on his face, he would wipe them off quickly.

When he saw Kaname, sitting on a tree trunk that was half frozen beneath the pond, he only gave her a nod of approval. He walked off to lie against the cavern wall, refusing to utter another word.

Kaname would take a few glances at Izumi, but none of them lasting longer than a few seconds. Izumi did not acknowledge her glances if her saw them.

Orochi came afterwards, even though he had come running and puffing, he did not have a look of perspiration on him. He observed the frozen pool with a mild interest, noting the irony of a frozen cave stationed above a frozen pool. He thought for a moment on how a lake, or even a cave for that matter, could be frozen when it wasn’t nearly cold enough for that.

Hr shrugged it off as he made his way to the pool. He pushed his raven hair out of his face as he took a glance at Kaname. She looked at him with disdain.

Orochi took his seat in the center of the frozen lake, his legs crossed, his pointing finger and thumb balancing his chin. He didn’t need, nor want, to talk with either of his teammates. He was still scared out of his mind of Izumi, and he knew whatever response Kaname would give him would not at all be in his best interests.

He would wait there, looking straight into the frozen wall of the cave. His mind wandered to how Shinji was doing; he was worried about him. The reason for this was twofold: one, if they lost a member, the party may be flunked just for that. The second was on his conscience: it would be his fault if Shinji died. He placed his trust in Shinji, to overcome whatever trap sensei had placed near the river, but if he still died, it would be Orochi’s fault.

As the minutes passed, Kaname was obviously becoming more and more agitated by Shinji’s tardiness. He was taking too long! He should have been here by now! What was taking him so long! He should hurry up! He passed the Marajin’s examinations for crying out loud!

Izumi showed no expression, but shared similar, if more calm and collected, feelings on the matter.

It would be a half hour later before Shinji, still bleeding from his head and hands, clutching to Shinkasai, would arrive on the frozen lake. The world he saw was a shaking, dizzy, multicolored one. Each step sounded like a thunder bolt crackling on the ground.

Each step was slow, cautious, and ever painful.

When he heard the orange haired shinobi’s steps on the ice, Orochi turned instantly, a smile of satisfaction spread across his face. The moment he saw Shinji, his face went cold.

He knew at once that Shinji was barely alive.

“Shinji!” He screamed for the first time in many months. He dashed towards Shinji in a frantic dash, almost slipping on the ice. He was acting first, thinking last, which was very unlike Orochi.

When Kaname saw Shinji, she knew at once something was wrong. She was too far away to see the blood; but it was plain to see that he was moving far too slow to be in good condition. She saw the way he was slouched, how his hands were wrapped around something for much needed support.

She ran towards Shinji. She slipped once, but got right back up.

By the time she got to him, Shinji had fallen into Orochi’s arms. “What the hell happened to him?”

“It’s fairly obvious. He was practically beaten to death.”

“I know that! By what, I mean.”

“I don’t know! Just keep him steady.” His voice was unusually threatening.

“I-I’m fine.” Shinji coughed. “Let me up. I can stand.”

“You keep talking, and you’re going to find MY foot in YOUR mouth,” Kaname threatened.

“Kaname, I need water.”

The vain woman smirked. “And I know just the place.” She ran to the frozen pond, and slammed her foot straight through the ice. She reached her hand into the opening. “Ah! That’s cold!” She screamed and jumped backwards.

“Kaname! Water!”

“I’m coming!” She kneeled down, bit her tongue, and scooped up a handful of the freezing water. “Here,” she reported when she returned.

She kneeled down. Orochi dipped his fingers into the water, and spread the water across Shinji’s hot face. He groaned.

“Bear with it,” Orochi demanded. He didn’t show any pain from the water’s cold temperature.

He pulled out a small bag that was strapped to his side. He placed it next to him.

“Do you even know what you’re doing, Hebi?”

Orochi didn’t respond as he placed more water along Shinji’s face. “You can warm your hands now,” he told the shivering girl.

Kaname got up away from Shinji, and uncapped her hands, the freezing water falling onto the snowy ground.

Orochi opened his bag, and pulled out a small vial. He opened it, and allowed its content to drip onto his pointing and index finger. He trailed the fingers along Shinji’s wounds, apportioning the foul smelling liquid. Shinji’s face grimaced. Orochi didn’t sympathize with him. He was too involved in his work.

When he was done, Orochi wiped his hand on the ground. He breathed in deeply. He brought his hand over one of Shinji’s wounds. Ever slowly, his fingers began to glow. The glowing fingers made contact with the still bleeding wound. The liquid hardened instantly.

He continued until all of the bleeding stopped on all of the wounds.

“Now he won’t die of blood lost.”

“You studied medical ninjutsu, didn’t you?”

“Yes. When I returned a year ago.”

“So what now?”

“Bandage his wounds of course.”

He pulled out a big roll of cloth from his bag. “Help me out here.”

The two shinobis got to work, wrapping Shinji’s wounds up. It took them some time, mostly due to Kaname’s clumsiness with such delicate work, but they were done soon enough. Shinji’s left eye was all covered up, and so was his entire left arm.

Orochi opened Shinji’s mouth carefully. A small pill was in his fingers. “Bite down,” he said softly.

Shinji did so. Within moments, he was asleep.

“What did you do that for?”

“The human body heals faster when it is asleep. Besides, he was exhausted.”

“This is exactly what we need. First we’ve got to wait for him to wake up, and then we’ll have to deal with his wounds! This is just perfect.”

“But if we left him to die, we would fail.”

Kaname groaned.

The two heard the footsteps of someone approaching. They turned to see Izumi had approached him. He looked downward towards the slumbering Shinji. Izumi looked at him coldly.

He looked at Orochi and Kaname. “Leave him”.

“No,” Orochi said.

“He will slow us down. We cannot afford to have someone wounded try to keep up with us. We are in a race against time here, Hebi. By the time he wakes up, our first day will be gone. Who knows how much we have?”

“If he died, she may disqualify us even if we arrive with days to spare.”

“And if she wouldn’t?”

“Then we’ll just move faster. I’ll be responsible for him.”

“You do that, Hebi. You fail, and I will see to it you will regret it.” With that, Izumi turned and walked away.

“You’re in trouble now, Hebi. I heard people do some stupid stuff, but crossing with…that thing?”

Orochi wiped a tear from his eye. “I don’t think I ever did something so fearful in my life.” A shaking hand brushed his dark hair away from his face. “He could have killed me if he felt like it.”

“Must think of you as a plaything.”

“Thank you for the compliment,” he said irritably.

“Oh shut up you snake.”

Orochi stretched casually. “Well, I need a nap. Go watch over Shinji for me.” Orochi started walking towards a shady tree.

“Me? Why not you!”

“Because I did most of the work. He’d still be bleeding if I wasn’t here.” He waved. “Good night, madam.”

“I really do hate that man…” she muttered under breath. She turned to Shinji. “What did you do to yourself, you idiot?”

Because you called him useless, remember? Who wouldn’t want to prove otherwise?

“So, it was my fault then.” She sighed. “Well, then he’s useless and an idiot. He didn’t have to do anything! Hell, I was the one who found the cave, not him.”

Kaname scratched the back of her neck. She walked to a nearby rock for her to sit on. If she was going to watch the slumbering idiot, she was at the very least going to be comfortable.

Of course, sitting on a rock led to her leaning against the nearby tree; leaning against the tree led to her putting her arms behind her head. Cushioning her head led to her closing her eyes in a peaceful daze, and that led to her falling into a deep slumber.

This took her about two minutes.

Shortly after Kaname fell asleep, Izumi groaned with disgust. He was placed in a group with fools, and now he was suffering because of it. It was true that if Shinji died, and if sensei was an oversensitive person who had no place in being a shinobi, then yes, they may have failed the test. But that was all a bunch of ifs – Izumi was a man of definitions and absolutes. He didn’t care for possibilities, chances and hypothesis.

Shinji was slowing them down; it was only fair to leave him behind. He was treated; now leave him!

But shinobis worked together as a team, much to Izumi’s chagrin, and in teams, majorities rule. And even more to Izumi’s disgust, the majority elected to wait for Shinji to awaken from his rejuvenating nap.

The whole idea disgusted Izumi. They were all a bunch of weak minded fools! How could the Country of the Flame rise up to such prominence with such weaklings as their shinobis?

Izumi spat in disgrace to the Flame. He looked up, and saw Kaname sleeping, and Shinji absolutely defenseless to whatever threat may come.

“Idiots,” he moaned. He walked towards Shinji. His steps were calm and slow; no step was too much in front of the other. He was perfectly balanced. There wasn’t any threat to him slipping on the ice.

When he passed by the hole Kaname made, he noticed how she used too much chi. If she used a little less, and if it was more evenly distributed, she could of have made a clean cut hole. She wasted too much just for some water for a fool.

Izumi looked down at Shinji. He saw how the orange head was sleeping peacefully, totally unaware of how much trouble he had caused.

He was sleeping there in such a peaceful daze, that there would have been nothing to stop Izumi from crushing his head like a bug. He could imagine it exactly what it would be like; the way the skull would crumble, how the flesh would tear at the pressure, and how blood and brain would explode in every direction.

He had done it before, and he could do it again. Just a grip of his hand, and the earth would answer the call. The dirt and mud and snow would wrap around Shinji, and in an instant, crush him.

But for some reason that day, Izumi didn’t kill Shinji. He just shrugged, said to himself it wasn’t worth his time, and went back to the cave wall, to wait in silence for his team members to awaken.