Outpost Town

[Rena Yasuno]

Seeing the chakra- laden wind blow towards her advasaries, Rena blurred forwards, slipping in between the chakra blades that were clearly visible to her shinigan, sliding underneath the big one's guard and nearly performing a standing split as she leaned back and slammed the heel of her left foot up under his chin and hitting the rebreather with enought force to crack the main component and completely rip off one of the cylinders before flash stepping back to avoid any potential counter attack as well as the wind blades, once again keeping her distance as she continued to watch for another opening.

[Karatsu Sasaki]

Karatsu stood there in shock. His eyes widened and saw the others stare in more shock. Karatsu felt the crack in his mask with his hand. He turned a knob on the side and a loud whishing noise was made. Then he took his mask and the screws began turning. "I can only inject so much at a time..." Karatsu removed his mask and handed it to Amaya. This was the first time she had seen his face. He had features nearly exact to his little brother's, only one thing was different. His teeth were very sharp. It almost made him look inhuman. "Hold this, don't lose it. Let me know when it has been fourty-five minutes. I can only do this for an hour. If either of you two have any skill with machines, try and fix this."

[Rena Yasuno]

As soon as she saw the shock on her opponents' face, Rena took her chance the instant their focus shifted to their ally. Flash stepping backwards, Rena dropped over the edge of the building, falling two stories and landing without a sound - deactivating her shinigan, Rena made a single hand sign and transformed, blending in with the bustling crowd perfectly and shutting down her chakra network to avoid detection as she began moving to exit the city.

[Karatsu Sasaki]

Karatsu walked to the edge of the building and looked down. When his jutsu had hit her, it left his own chakra on her being. He began scanning his eyes over the crowd, looking with his Kyangegan active to detect the seafoam green streak his chakra would leave. "There..." With his enhanced reactions, Karatsu was able to make a mad dash for the girl attempting escape. He caught up with her in no time at all, only to see his chakra tag had been scattered, along with her own chakra. "Damn..." Karatsu wouldn't be able to detect her with chakra now. True, this would now be difficult, but with his perception hightened by the Kyangegan, his senses of smell and hearing were also drastically affected. He began to smell the air for any familiarity. If she had been holding his sword, he would be able to smell himself. He would also be able to tell if someone was running. The target would obviously be running. He caught something suspicious and made a break for it at unbelievable speed.

[Rena Yasuno]

Hearing the startled yells as her pursuers caught a random bystander, Rena moved on, completely indistinguishable from the crowd. She'd keep herself blended in with the massive local population for a few more hours before making her next move.

[Amaya Takahashi]

Amaya looked at Karatsu's mask for a few seconds and frowned. She wasn't very good with machines at all, and had no idea on how she was suppose to repair the mask. Thats when she remembered something that a man that repaired things for her and her mother told them over and over when she was growing up.

She quickly rummaged through her pouch and pulled out the grey tape and wrapped it around the broken pieces of the mask. After that was finished, she examined the finished product and the corner of her mouth went up slightly.

"Not the best repair job in the world, but it should hold until we get back to the lair. I guess the man was right, this tape really does fix everything." She quickly caught up with Karatsu and offered him the mask.

"Sorry," she said, "Its not great, but its the best I can do right now."

[Kanbei Tachibana]

Kanbei heard a scream, and was instantly at the sight. He caught Karatsu just as he was grabbing hold of the mask. Kanbei had an arrow at Karatsu's neck, and another at Amaya's forehead. Karatsu's and Amaya's eyes were widened. When did that man appear?! How did he get there?! It was as if he had always been there. Karatsu whispered, "He's... faster than that girl..." Kanbei tightened his grip on the bow with two ready arrows. "You will leave... NOW..."

[Amaya Takahashi]

"Would you mind taking the arrow away from my partner's neck please? Its rather rude pointing weapons at people." Amaya said, standing behind Kanbei. She was holding her favored sword (created by her kekkei genkai) very close to the back of his neck to where one false move and she could easily cut off his head.

"I heard what my partner said, and I have to agree with him. You are fast, so just listen before you make a move and things have to get messy. I doubt the girl is here any longer, so we will leave. Now, as soon as you drop your weapon, I'll take mine away from your head." She whispered, her purple eyes taking on a firey light.

"Before you get an idea to use your speed or whatever other abilities you have to get out of this situation. Think about this, you can't guarantee that I'm not just another clone and that you wouldn't simply find yourself in this situation yet again except I wouldn't be in such a good mood, and then you could lose your head." she added, the threat clear in her quiet tone.

[Kanbei Tachibana]

Kanbei closed his eyes. His figure began to vibrate and he seemed to duplicate. "You will leave... or face an opponent you can't even see..." Amaya was about to do something, but Karatsu held his hand out to stop her. He looked at her and told her, "We're done here. No need for unecessary conflict."

[Karatsu Sasaki]

This was absolutely unheard of. Karatsu avoiding conflict? Amaya was extremely surprised. Karatsu was within earshot to whisper something. "Amaya, I summoned some tails... about thirty. They will keep an eye on things around and outside the village. They're underground. No one will see, no one will know. They will not act without my command." Karatsu backed up and now said so Kanbei could hear. "We will go. Just pray you don't see us again." Kanbei held his weapon at draw until he knew they were too far to try anything.

[Amaya Takahashi]

Amaya glared at Kanbei as they made their way out, meeting up with Akiri. She quickly put herself in check and looked at Karatsu.

"Is your mask okay for now until we get back to the lair or atleast until we get to the next town to where you can get it repaired?" She asked, studying him carefully.

[Temari Sabaku]

Temari let out a sigh of relief as she spotted Kanbei, as well as seeing the Akatsuki members leaving. She was sure that Kanbei would keep an eye out for Rena, which she was sure was still in the village.

Temari took one look at Misuke and jumped down from the roof top, landing in front of Kanbei.

"Rena's still in the village. I'm not exactly sure where, but I doubt she'd leave so soon. I'm meeting her tomorrow somewhere. She agreed to accompany us to Suna as long as I promised to protect her brother. I'm leaving now so that I can be at the halfway point by the time she arrives there. Do you think you can keep an eye on things here?" She asked. Without really waiting for a reply, she quickly made her way back up to the roof top, and to Misuke.

Temari now had to take care of her side of the bargain that she made with Rena. She carefully picked up Misuke and waited for the right amount of wind before tossing out her fan and hoping on it. The wind pressure would do for gliding for a little while, then they'd have to travel the rest of the way by foot. It shouldn't be a problem though, she'd still be able to meet Rena at the half way point between their current location and Suna.

[Rena Yasuno]

Never having canceled the transformation jutsu, Rena had already left the town with a trade group she had paid to travel with - while she was normally a very patient individual, Misuke's sudden appearance changed things. Ignoring the urge to rub the bruise on the back of her head hidden by the jutsu, Rena moved with the group, pulling the hood of the brown cloak she had bought further down to cover her eyes from the sun as they moved deeper into the desert towards one of the distant towns closer to Suna.

[Karatsu Sasaki]

Karatsu looked over to Amaya. "I can fix it, but thank you for trying." Karatsu inspected the silver tape. "Where'd you get this crud? It's not too bad quality." Amaya was about to answer, but Karatsu suddenly felt a familiar sensation wash over him. He stopped dead in his tracks and began to cough. It wasn't an ordinary cough, it sounded extremely raspy and unhealthy. Equivalent to a life-long smoker's cough. Almost as if he was about ready to hack up a lung. He was coughing for about thirty seconds until he dropped to his knees. That was when he took a pause. No breath was taken. After about ten seconds, Karatsu spewed up about two ounces of blood.

[Amaya Takahashi]

Amaya stopped and knelt down beside Karatsu and put her hand on his back. Her forehead creased slightly. She was a trained medical nin, but she wasn't sure if there was anything that she could do to help him.

"Karatsu, can I help you?" she asked, her voice plagued with worry.