Chapter 3 : Red Dawn of the Sun

Each of his three friends accepted the kunai as Meran expected them to, Hina who'd see it as a new toy to play with. Hiten with an arid cool about him and the lovely Akira with a spark of defiance in her eyes. He wouldn't have expected it any other way.

What he did not expect was the story that Akira told, though it made his blood boil, it mostly expressed itself by him paying more attention to the window entrance again. But he also listened carefully to what Akira had to say. Meran had studied quite a bit about the human body, so he wondered if anything could be explained that way, but he was not sure. He looked at his sister that had just arrived for answers.

Meran looked at Hina as well, wondering what if she'd had any idea what was going on. A faint smirk entered Meran's face. It was not often Meran would know something that she did not. Well, perhaps more often than that makes it sound, but not about these things. She was a lot better at these things than he was, that much is for sure.
So Meran would study Hina as much as the situation to see when and if she'd figure the same thing out as him.

Meran raised an eyebrow at Kazenkou, as if was the only one having a hard time, he'd figure that Akira was having a worse day. "Onee-sensei, what can you tell us about what is going on?
In one way the question helped emphasize the question Akira asked, but somehow meran's question encompassed the entire situation, not just the strange things that happened in the fight, but what to expect from this night and what her plan was for now.

She listened to the explanation given by Akira. In her opinion, Akira could've still chosen to point it out, but, whatever. They got in unseen anyway, didn't they? No harm.

Speaking of harm. "Souran didn't try to hurt me. He tried to kill me." Her eyes snapped open in fury and she stopped swirling the kunai around her finger. She knew Souran had been eager to fight, she knew he was violent, but she didn't know he would be so.. so out of control. So low. He had really tried to kill her?! She couldn't put her anger into words. Her hand clenched around the kunai. "Just wait till my father hears of this." she growled in a low voice. They couldn't have a loose cannon like that walking around in the clan. He needed to control himself. 'Worthless puppet user. Can't even control himself.'

She didn't hear what Meran said to Kazenkou, she was too absorbed in her anger towards Souran. But she looked up and saw Meran smiling at her with his trademark grin. "What?!" she snapped, her hand clenching the kunai even tighter.

Kazenkou would walk inside the room a bit deeper and look around hearing her little brother adress her with such a broad question she would close her eyes once more and let out another sigh placing her palm to her forehead to cover her face for that moment.
She wouldn't remove the palm as she would begin her reply, mumbling into it slightly but still speaking clear enough that her words could be heard well by all in the room.

"It's horrible, we're being set up against one another and destroyed from the inside. Worst part is we aren't even openly allowed to talk about this in official, for the consiquences could be too grave for the entire village if we do." She would grit her teeth and let out a little angry growl as she would slowly let her palm brush over her face before letting her hand slide down and hang by her side again before she would continue.

"There had been a meeting of the village council about it all and thanks to that bastard Guuzou his henchman Souran got the slip for his act of violence and mallice. Worse, he has been praised for his insight. The reason for this is...." She would stop there and glance at Akira worried for a moment, it was as if Kazenkou's eyes were asking the girl permission to say something about the girl she might not want the others in the room to hear but would then stop and sigh with a pained smile.
"I am not sure if I am allowed to tell...But Akira-chan here should probably be able to realize herself what it is about her that would get the council to side with Souran on killing her. In fact, if it wouldn't be for me, father and some other prominent decision making members of the council, this night might have ended a lot worse for Akira-chan....a LOT worse."
The Jounin would clench her first tightly and close her eyes fighting off the anger inside herself, but her sand that subtly floated near her would show her aggravation as it would spin faster and more chaotic but it would soon calm down much like the Jounin did.

Her eyes would shoot open and would stare at Meran with a bit of anger, but he could tell most of it if not all was directed not towards him but towards others and the situation in general.
"They know they cannot take us by force, we from the Sand are too strong to be taken by force, so they tried skills and realised that a village with clans like the Sabaku and the Chikamatsu will not be outskilled either....so now they have implemented the worst tactics of war possible..."
She took a short break to gasp for breath.
"...Politics and crowd control."

Kazenkou would have a figure of a man form beside her and would punch it on the head making the incomplete imperfect sand-clone disperse with her punch. Just to vent her agression on something remotely human.
Her eyes would then dart back to Meran still that same anger in them, but this time more towards him it seemed.
"What's going on you ask?..." She hissed a bit and then continued annoyed " As if you don't know?! As if you weren't home the past months! Sunagakure is getting destroyed from the inside out, we are being pinned against one another in such clever ways that both sides think they are benifiting the village. In fact, afther what I heard at the meeting instead of feeling angery at Souran, I felt pitty for the man. For he in fact with all his heart believed he was acting to protect the village. There is but one true traitor here I know...and that's that damn Guuzou...and even he believes himself to be acting in the villages best interrest....." She close her eyes and calm down for a moment before the anger bursting out again.
"GRAAAAAAAH!!!! I hate politics!" She growled out and then panted calming down.

The door would open as the white cloacked ANBU would glance into the room and speak with a bit of a muffled voice. "Is everything alright in here?" the ANBU would inquire to which Kazenkou rubbed the back of her head and blushed a bit apologetic at the masked individual "Yes yes! All is fine, thank you. Sorry for the comotion." She would say to which the white cloacked ANBU would simply nod and close the door again, something was odd about this one ANBU in particular, mostly his movements, he moved rather smoothly yet with some irregularities here and there, perhaps due to concealed weaponry under the large cloack.
Kazenkou would sigh and blush still rubbing the back of her head giving her students an apologetic look as well.
"Sorry guys, a Sensei should set the example and keep her cool, yet here I am on the outbursts of rage again. Please forgive me. It's just....I love my village and I love my family and...when both are endangered like this...I just..." She stopped and shook her head looking down at her feet as she would sit down on the last availiable bed, setteling on the corner of it.

Though Meran and Hiten outwardly stayed calm, she knew her words didn't leave them untouched. Meanwhile, Hina was evidently enraged. Akira found it oddly endearing to see how much she cared. It felt good to know she was being taken seriously by her friends and they weren't just laughing it off, telling her she was imagining things.

Then Kazenkou started speaking and Akira's world went quiet.

She'd been right. Souran had tried to kill her.

She'd known it before, well, it had been more like a strong suspicion. But to have it presented to her as a fact was something else entirely.

"...I am not sure if I am allowed to tell...But Akira-chan here should probably be able to realize herself what it is about her that would get the council to side with Souran on killing her. In fact, if it wouldn't be for me, father and some other prominent decision making members of the council, this night might have ended a lot worse for Akira-chan....a LOT worse."

It had truly been an attempt on her life. And if it hadn't been for a couple of people who didn't even know her, but who had defended her life today regardless... she would now be dead.

To have that realization dawn on her caused her to freak out in silence. It happened slowly at first, just a gnawing feeling of cold dread as her thoughts swirled in her mind. Of all things, the one thing that left her mouth was: "Please don't call me Akira-chan... Just -san... Or simply Akira will do..." Softly spoken, a bit absentminded.

The dread turned into panic. What would happen now? There'd be more attempts. Who could she trust? Her stormy grey eyes, unfocused mere moments ago, lost in thoughts, now darted quickly between her friends and Kazenkou before she covered them by closing her eyelids. She could trust her friends. She could trust Kazenkou, that woman saved her life.

The panicky feeling subsided. She breathed calmly, in and out. Finally, a more familiar feeling. Hatred.
Souran... Guuzou... I hate you... Go die...

The mark. It was joyously welcoming the thoughts. No, she was enjoying the thoughts. What difference was there? It was part of her.

She pulled her knees up and unseen, underneath the blanket, her right hand went over the skin on her ankle. It was a little thicker where the mark was. An oddly shaped birthmark. Her fingers traced three sharp, thin crescents, one point of each crescent touching in the middle of the shape.

She couldn't do anything about it, it was simply there, had been for as long as she could remember... but it was reason enough for that pig Souran and his master Guuzou to kill her.

Akira would sit quietly on her bed, lost in her own thoughts. She started paying attention again when the older woman beat a sand clone and started speaking.
I sure don't pity Souran, came her vehement thoughts. That guy's a pathetic uncontrolled cockroach. Pathetic, because he lets himself be manipulated. A puppeteer who lets himself be manipulated! Imagine that. But it seems the true viper here is this Guuzou...

Akira barely payed attention to the white cloaked ANBU and vaguely noticed Kazenkou's blush, but didn't think anything of it. "Sorry guys, a Sensei should set the example and keep her cool, yet here I am on the outbursts of rage again."
Akira stared at her, holding back a wry smile. Rage? If only she knew.
Well, she probably knew.

"So what's next? Civil war?" she said, wishing she was joking.

(Politics roll on what Akira knows of Guuzou, please.)

Meran was getting pumped, off course he had not known all this, Kazenkou was allowed at council meetings, Meran had not. Yeah he had heard whispers and has sensed moods, but that this was planned, it seemed so different, was it all Guuzou's plan that Souran would face Akira? Wasn't he looking funnily at Hina before?

Meran was a bit confused, momentarily shook out of his pleasures about Hina's ignorance to something so obvious. But his sister was pushing his nerves, just the way sisters know how to do best. But when she directed her anger towards him, that's when he almost snapped. His anger began to rise towards the surface and it was like steam blasted from his ears. And like with Kazenkou this could be noticed from the sand rising up from his body as if there was an energy field around him charging to start a battle.

But then... the ANBU entered and he was remembered of the previous situation. And as he heard the words of the ANBU, he could not help but to start laughing, softly at first, but when Hina stared at him with an oblivious look on her face. He could not help himself despite the seriousness of the situation. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Hina would say. (OKed by HINA)
As to which Meran would respond by laughing even harder and say, "I should compliment that ANBU, he has played a better joke on you than I have in years!"

The laughing would subside due to the gravity of the situation, but they all would know sometimes you just need a good laugh.
Meran would dry his eyes and his sand would settle back on his body.

"Sorry guys, a Sensei should set the example and keep her cool, yet here I am on the outbursts of rage again. Please forgive me. It's just....I love my village and I love my family and...when both are endangered like this...I just..."

Meran would make a deep sigh and settled himself into a more stable state of mind, they obviously needed to prepare for the entire situation.
"Onee-sensei, we'll make it, just tell us what you want us to do? Should we do anything? or would that only escalate things?" HE looked at advice from his sensei, because he wanted to do the right thing.

At Kazenkou's long talk about how politics were ruining everyone's lives she first got even more angry at how it had been Souran's motherchucking mission to harm her! She let go of her cramped grip around the kunai, or else she would throw it at something, and she didn't want to damage hospital property. She looked almost longingly at the sand clone Kazenkou was able to punch.

She nodded at Kazenkou's outburst of hating politics. She had a strong dislike of politics herself. A quote se had once read about it popped up in her mind, 'The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.'

One of the ANBU from outside, which Hina hadn't payed attention to before because she was too excited about finally being able to see Akira again, popped in at Kazenkou's outburst. And Meran had the nerve to start laughing, of all things! They had just found out that people with power in the village wanted to actively kill Akira, that people were trying to destroy them from the inside! She gave him an incredulous look, clearly messaging to him that she had no fucking clue why he thought it a good idea to laugh right now. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she uttered.

"I should compliment that ANBU, he has played a better joke on you than I have in years!" "The hell you on about?" Her head snapped towards the ANBU and she narrowed her eyes, trying to discern anything that stood out about the ANBU. Wanting to figure out what Meran found so funny and how that ANBU person was "playing a joke on her". (Investigation and subterfuge roll.)

Hiten closed his eyes and listened to Kazenkou's story. It was disturbing. But somehow it all seemed logical. He cracked his knuckles and looked at the window. "I think that the best course of action would be to keep us as a team safe. We are to young to really meddle in politics. But by surviving through the years and growing as a team.. That might eventually give us political power." He opened his eyes and looked at Akira. "What Souran did to you was an order he recieved. It was a brutal and unforgiving one. And we'll get even with him in the long run. But for now we are not strong enough. Hiten got up and walked towards the window. He did not like the way things looked but could not allow it to cloud his judgement.. Or did it already do that without him even noticing?

(Hina will soon receive a PM about her findings on the ANBU.)

Kazenkou was breathing deeply and looked quite disturbed by the situation.
"Hiten is right, for now the best thing you guys can do is survive and try to steer away from the political side of things for as long as possible."

A deep growling sigh would follow as the young woman would look up at the lamp that was dimly illuminating the room from above with a nostalgic sad smile.
"I miss the days when Sunagakure used to be like a tight family. Heck, we were in fact the only Village to ever catch our own tailed beast. And the first ones to discover how to mimic their abilities at a time making us the only potential rival to Konohagakure which back then had tremendous power in comparison to all other great nations. Known as the Village who never take a loss, never truely lose, because we always change a losing situation into some sort of an advantage no matter what."

She'd lower her head
"And look at us now. A few political slurs thrown around, people bribed with the possibility of power and money....and like hungry dogs in a pit we go on to bite one another to the death....this is so not right."

The redhead would then closer her eyes and shake her head.
"I'm sorry that you guys had to be dragged into all of this. In fact just on behalf of the whole village...sorry."

She'd stand up again.
"The ANBU outside are people I trust and they are quite professional at what they do. With them around we are safe here. And nobody would indeed be foolish enough to attack a facility with a Jinshuriki inside, now would they?" She chuckled a bit at her last words and gave her team a bit of a cocky smirk.

"You guys should rest up, tommorow is a big day, you'll be dropped at the broder to the River Country and will have to make it all the way back to the Village. But I suggest that before we rest, we discuss your team formation and how you guys could achieve the needed resources. You see, you aren't allowed to take anything with you aside from 2 bottles of water each and one weapon of choice from the armory."

She would look over her team carefully sizing them up and then smile her trademark carefree smile.
"But I am not too worried there. I got myself the All-Star Genin team if you ask me. What I am worried about is that HEAT might just try something during your test. Perhaps they'd try to dispatch Akira-san again...or maybe you'll be their target Meran-chan...Or perhaps Hiten's hidden herritage pissed them off as well and could give them a good reason to act. All in all, take it up in your strategy that Hina-chan....although they would go as far as to harm her badly, will not be killed by them. She is the only death-proof person in your team when it comes to HEAT. They won't benefit from her being dead in any way. They would from her being severely wounded though. The rest of you are potential targets for extermination. But....keep in mind, they won't be able to kill Meran if the others are present. Unless offcourse they somehow trick outside forces to take the kill upon themselves. Foreighn ANBU forces or shinobi, or bandits perhaps. Although, you should be capable of handling bandits by now, right little brother?" She explained and gave her little brother a half-mocking, half-praising smirk at the end.

Akira quietly watched Meran's laughter subside, not fully getting what was so funny about the entire situation. Hina didn't seem too amused either, and when Meran said something about the ANBU playing a trick on her she whipped her head around to glare at the white cloaked man, trying to find out what there was about the guy that made Meran say these things.

Akira glanced over as well, but couldn't find it in her to be too suspicious. Meran en Kazenkou were fine with the guy, so she'd give it a rest.

"What Souran did to you was an order he received," said Hiten to her. She frowned but said nothing, wondering if that was really true. It hadn't looked like an order. It had appeared to her to be a spur of the moment kind of thing, him losing his temper all of a sudden. What a deplorable shinobi.

"I'm sorry that you guys had to be dragged into all of this. In fact just on behalf of the whole village...sorry." spoke Kazenkou. "It's fine, it's not like you wanted this to happen," Akira replied. She didn't believe anyone in the village did. Well, except Souran and Guuzou perhaps. When Kazenkou said she didn't think anyone would be foolish enough to attack them with a jinchuriki inside, she gave a grin right back at her, believing the foolish part. She wasn't sure no one would try though... but if anyone dare tried, they'd be in for more of a fight than they'd probably expected.

Then the red haired woman started to explain what their survival exercise would be and Akira's eyes went wide with excitement. A smile soon followed when Kazenkou referred to them as the All-Star genin team. Hell yes they were!

It sounded like the four of them were going to have a ball together--until the part came where HEAT might just try and get them all killed. Well, all except Hina. "Lucky Guujin, you're the only one they'd leave more alive than dead." Of course not one of them was better off than the other by the sound of it. Being left alive wasn't worth shit when your friends were murdered, leaving you by yourself, alone. Only one way to prevent that from happening: not dying.
The first thing to do was take Kazenkou's warnings to heart. "Alright. So we have to make sure Meran won't be singled out. In fact, none of us should be alone during the survival exercise. Lucky there's four of us; if we have to divide ourselves we'll split into two groups of two."

She watched the retreating back of the white ANBU. Not too focused however, because she quickly rolled her eyes, 'Nothing there. I bet getting me all worked up over that ANBU is Meran's joke.' However, that didn't really add up to his behaviour, so she decided to give it another good look. As the ANBU walked out and resumed his patrolling she stared at the closed door for another second before a loud SLAP could be heard through the room. Her palm had officially connected with her forehead. When she let her hand fall from her face and annoyed expression could be seen on her face. This was not a good day for her. First her way-too-close-for-comfort taijutsu (of all things) battle with Kazenkou, then Souran bitch slapping Akira into the hospital and now this?! It was borderline embarrassing. She really needed to step up her game.

The fact that she passed her fight with Kazenkou (in taijutsu, of all things, her weak point); that Akira had managed to stay alive in a fight with Souran, and that it wasn't anything Hina would have been able to do anything about anyway; and that maybe she wasn't expected or supposed to find out what she just did, didn't register in her mind. She usually set the bar so high for herself, always expecting so much of herself, that she had sometimes trouble seeing her victories. In others, no problem, she could be positive and uplifting and always show people the silver lining. But in herself? She was never good enough in her own eyes. Never smart enough. And right now, she felt dumb compared to Meran. Flat out dumb.

She looked at Meran. No doubt he would know that she had figured it out now as well. Her look almost had a "Well, you win. What now?"-quality about it. Asking him silently what he wanted to do with this shared knowledge, if anything.

All the while she had been listening with half an ear to Kazenkou's story, picking up most of it. She couldn't help the slightly bitter tug upwards at one of the corners of her mouth at the words that Kazenkou trusted the ANBU. Though she couldn't deny that she did feel undeniably safer with the ANBU around, especially now that she knew that Kazenkou had picked them personally.

At the mention of their test of the next day she sat straight up, earlier irritation disappearing. Wincing slightly at the tug on her hair, she had accidentally sat down on her hair without noticing it, she pulled her long hair aside from her neck to the ends, splaying it out behind her on the bed. 'Two bottles of water and one weapon of choice from the armoury.' Her eyes went to the butterfly-puppet still clinging to Akira's bed. "And Chouchou!" she said, with a smile, letting the puppet float into her arms on chakra strings. "Right, itoko-sensei?" Meanwhile the puppet was laying in her lap and Hina was seemingly playing with it's joints. She was however, almost subconsciously, checking the puppet over, making sure the joints were working and nothing was borked.

She smiled proudly when Kazenkou called them the All-Star genin team. It felt good to have someone have so much trust in them. She saw Akira smile at this as well and was glad her friend smiled. If that white ANBU hadn't come in, Hina would probably have gotten up and given Akira a hug. She had looked like she had needed it. Her smile faded however and turned into a serious look as Kazenkou talked about the dangers. She felt slight surprise when Kazenkou said they wouldn't try to kill her. 'Why not?' she thought. Sure, maybe they wouldn't directly benefit from her being dead, but surely they wouldn't mind either. It would probably mess things up for her clan, seeing as the was the heir and didn't have any siblings. Either way, it was a good thing that they wouldn't kill all of them. That could be useful in planning strategies.

"Lucky Guujin, you're the only one they'd leave more alive than dead." Hina's smile turned wicked and sinister for a flash of a second. "Yeah? Well, if they did that. That would be the last mistake they would ever make."

Her thoughts turned on strategies. She nodded at Akira's idea of not splitting up, and if they had to, in groups of two. The problem was that if they were to encounter opponents out to murder them.. Hina was a long range fighter. She didn't get all up in the fray like Akira did. However, if she was the only one with a "get out of jail free" card, they would be foolish not to use that and keep her at a distance. Would she throw herself between her friends and an oncoming attack? She looked out through the window, at the sky that had now considerably darkened. It wasn't a difficult question. Yes, she would. She would have a higher chance of surviving the attack, and her friends wouldn't die. That seemed like a pretty logical equation to her.

Her eyes drifted up to the stars visible due to Suna not having very many lights at night. (Neon sign were ugly, gaudy and loud. It wouldn't be very smart for a hidden village to be a beacon of light in the dark desert. Besides, electricity could fail. People preferred to use old fashioned oil lamps and candles.) She turned her head back to the people in the room and voiced her thoughts.
"As you know I like to keep my distance in fights. But I think that if we were to meet people out to kill the others, I should stay closer. To defend the others." She didn't mention the "throwing herself in the way of an attack"-part, because it would sound foolish. But at least three out of four people in the room knew her well enough to know that she would do that, and perhaps Kazenkou would pick up on the underlying thought as well.

"Finally!!" meran thought as Hina seemed to grasp the situation. A grin appeared on his face, how could she not see this coming?! Surely she should have noticed it before...
Meran could not help but to have a smirk on his face.

As he listened, to his teammates, he knew that both were right to a certain degree, he put in his own two cents. "I would suggest we would split up slightly during the fight, not enough to lose sight of each other mind you, but I think we would work well in teams of two who watch each other's back."

Meran would turn serious, losing the grin and he would start to motivate his proposal.
"Actually, there would be 3 teams. Guujin, you are very talented at long range, so I would suggest you and Hiten team up together. You guys compliment each other and both are good in mid to long range. So if you two are somewhat out of sight, from the enemies mind you, you can do most damage." He would gesture and hint. The entire room knew the qualities of both Hiten and Hina, but he would not voice them, just in case.

Meran would then gesture towards Akira "And though I think Akira could handle herself admirably, I think it is wise for her to stay close to me..." For once it seemed he did not say this to get her to be close, but rather to be safe "Though my sand defends me only, it does not discriminate if someone is within its circle of protection. So in worst case, i can jump in front of an attack she cannot handle to have my sand take the blunt of the attack." With those words, he would look seriously at Hina, he knew her thoughts or at least suspected them and he did not like them. He rather place his sand between it, than her body.

"Then there is your satellite attacker.." Meran would say, hinting a Chouchou with a nod. "It is a great surprise for the enemies to have it come in unexpectedly and it can close the cap between the two groups, to connect them as a whole."

"Should the situation call for it, we can always regroup to one defense force, with all four of us in one circle of defense. However I'd prefer it if we were the ones to make initial contact and surprise the possible attackers. So we move stealthily.." Meran noticed he was rambling a bit, but the three would understand him. He basically put down the tactic that the four usually had practiced in. With some adaptations. His biggest point was that he did not want to be surprised, but wanted to be the one that surprised the possible threats.

He was already planning the ways he could acquire food and what weapon he should take. What would be useful? He'd probably choice to take a supply of nin-wire... Or would there be a better option out there?

He pondered about it.

Hiten smiled when Kazenkou told the rest that he was right.
And gave Kazenkou his full attention while she explained the mission. He nodded when they where called the all-star genin team and drifted away in thoughts. '2 bottles of water per person.. Hmmm I should think of a way to screw this up for the other teams. In such a way that it would put them to shame but would not be negative for the village.If there are any other teams what if there are no other teams and they would be all alone?..It's going to be a sleepless night..'
He raised his hand and looked at Kazenkou. "Are we the only team this mission? Or will there be more teams and is this a test to see what we can do sensei?"
Hiten listened to Meran&Akira and nodded. "Sounds like a great plan... But we should also think a few steps ahead. For example make sure we have eaten enough today so we will require less tomorrow. And thus can keep going longer on a smaller of food than normal.

"Yeah? Well, if they did that. That would be the last mistake they would ever make." Akira's lips tugged upward at hearing Hina's words. "I'm sure," she said, and followed Hina's gaze outside the window where the stars shone brightly in the dark night's sky.
"As you know I like to keep my distance in fights." Hina continued a moment later. "But I think that if we were to meet people out to kill the others, I should stay closer. To defend the others."
Akira immediately picked up on the underlying message. "Just make sure you won't do anything too risky," she warned. Like joining in hand to hand combat when the situation gets dire, she added in thought, because they all knew that wasn't Hina's forte at all. Just because she wouldn't be killed, didn't mean she had a free pass to throw herself in close range battle.

She nodded at Meran when he proposed they split up during fights, in two teams of two as she had suggested. Then he talked of her and how he'd like for her to stay close to him. "I'd like that, Meran." Every other time she would have turned the offer down, but now she appreciated it. Who knew how fit she'd be in the morning. It didn't matter when it came to participating in the survival test, because she was in no matter what. But when it came down to actually surviving if it came to a fight... she might need a hand from her friends.
Also, she didn't miss the look he gave Hina. He'd heard her unsaid words as well.

"Are we the only team this mission? Hiten asked Kazenkou. "Or will there be more teams and is this a test to see what we can do sensei?" Despite not being the one who was addressed, Akira answered anyway. "Of course we aren't the only team," she said brusquely. "The survival exercise is for every graduating team." She shrugged. "Not that there are very many of them." How many teams were about to graduate? Three? Four? Surely no more than that.
"Sounds like a great plan... But we should also think a few steps ahead. For example make sure we have eaten enough today so we will require less tomorrow."
Her good arm went up and she went through the hair of her long black ponytail before letting out a yawn. She was tired... and realized she was hungry as well. "Oh, but I am hungry... that's the best plan I've heard so far. I want food."

Hina gave a reassuring smile at Akira and then Meran, even though there was the faintest touch of defiance as well. Of course she wouldn't just throw herself in between first chance she got. That sort of stuff got people killed. But she would do everything she can to save her friends, even if that would place her own life in risk. Then again, she knew that they would all do that for each other, and that the fact that they cared so much for each other was the whole reason why they were telling her not to risk anything. She didn't have any biological siblings, but in a way, she had two brothers and a sister all the same.

She liked Meran's idea of splitting up into pairs during fights. That way they could much easier attack from different directions while still having each others' backs. His idea of having her at the back was, in all honesty, the most logical, so she just hummed in agreement.

At the mention of her "satellite attacker" she grinned and let Chouchou open and close her "mouth" a couple of times, as if the puppet was excited. "You got it, cousin." She noticed a tiny fleck of oil as the mouth was opening and pulled out her cleaning rag from her pouch to clean around the hinges, her face was focused on her puppet as she said, "I think it is a very good idea to sneak up on any situations and be the first to instigate contact, thereby making it on our terms. We are after all," she looked up from her work for a second to flash Meran a devilish smirk, "shinobi." Meran and her used to sneak around quite a bit and both enjoyed it immensely. Especially if it meant that they could pull a prank on an unsuspecting victim. Not all of their victims were always only happy with their stunts. But hey! They were shinobi! They were being trained to do tricks like that. They learned them in school. It was practically homework. Based on that point of view Hina and Meran would be the two most diligent, hard-working students in the entire school!

After another check she decided that Chouchou was in pristine condition. Which wasn't surprising in any way, seeing how she did maintenance every day and she hadn't used Chouchou in battle today. She put the puppet down next to her on the bed, uncrossed her legs and loosely swung the back and forth over the edge of the bed.

She listened to Hiten and Akira. Food did sound like a good idea, actually. "I could go see if I can find some food somewhere." she offered. She didn't feel like sitting still, even though they were discussing tactics. There was more time for that later, plus, they could fill her in on the things she missed while being gone. She looked at Kazenkou, ready to hop off the bed at her approval of Hina fixing something to eat. Surely she could get food somewhere in the hospital. Maybe Kazenkou had even already made arrangements for dinner to be made for them and Hina would only have to get it. Otherwise she was sure that she could just talk to a nurse who would help her.

Due to the absence from Admin, I will post the following in accordance with him and Green Admin. This post also includes Meran's post, so I do not have to type 2 posts.

Blue Admin
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Meran would smile with pride as the others would agree, though this was their basic training method, he felt pride in them all accepting it so readily. He simply nodded at the mention of food, but he also yawned.

This did not escape Kazenkou and a small smile appeared upon her lips. Her brother would not admit to it, would not want to show weakness, but it had been a hard day for him, for all of these kids now in her care. Was she ever so young as they appear now? Could anyone ever be? It was so long that she could hardly remember.
"Akira-san is right, you are not the only team that succeeded and will be tested tomorrow. There are 4 or 5 teams that will attempt the survival. However it is unlikely you will meet during your trials. Each group will be dropped at another starting position and will face different challenges."

Looking at her students, whom all seemed to be hungry, except for her niece, who seemed always full of energy. These kids made her smile, reminiscent of her own start as a shinobi. The events of the day still stung, but tonight these kids should eat and sleep, there was a big day ahead of them.

"Let's go get something to eat, Hina-chan. The rest of you get ready for bed, you have a big day ahead of you!" Meran opened his mouth to protest, wanting to address the fact he wanted to put up night shifts. "All of you..." Kazenkou said firmly before he could speak "You have a couple of tough days ahead of you. Worry about those things tomorrow."

With that Kazenkou stood up and walked towards the door, holding it open for Hina.

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We will prepare the next chapter for you guys, please post what you want to do until the lights go out.
At the start of the new topic you can describe how you got through the night.