Chapter 4 : May the winds guide you

"It's Meran isn't it?" Hina looked back at the moving building inside the cave and gave made a humming sound of verfication. "Mhm."

When she saw Meran appear, alive and sort-of-well in the laboratory she let out a huge sigh of relief. The hand with the chakra strings connected to Chouchou fell to her side and the world felt dazed again, but more.. serene this time. He was fine. He really was alive. She had told herself that he would survive the entire time, but that had mostly been attempts to reassure herself. Now she knew it was true.

Without noticing it she had walked inside towards Meran. Completely forgetting about the chakra signatures for now. Meran was alive, that would mean that everything would be fine, wouldn't it? How could they have endured this only to be thrown into a worse situation?

Akira was running around trying to help Meran in some way or another. When she reached Meran she let her knees fall out from under herself and looked down at Meran, noticing his leg laying at an odd angle.

"Meran," she said, noticing her voice sounded cracked. She cleared her throat and spoke again, "I.. I thought.. I thought I had lost.. Thought you were.. Gone." Her voice cracked again with the last word. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the crack in her voice, the blurriness in her head and the tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry." Her eyes begged him 'Please forgive me'. She had just proven that killing indeed was as easy as dying, and that any fool could do both.

Just as she had finished that thought she heard a voice from outside the lab. "You are surrounded, drop your Jutsu and your weapons and we may choose to spare your lives. Lack of compliance will result in your immediate termination." Reality crashed down on her. 'Right. The chakra signatures. Not friendlies then. Enemies.'

She jumped up, attaching strings to Chouchou once more and letting the puppet de-attach itself from her shoulders this time as well. "Oh yeah. I forgot to mention." She had definitely taken on a more serious note now that she knew Meran was alive. "Enemies incoming."

Meran breathed deeply now the restrains around his leg were gone, this obviously hurt him more than just a little bit, but it was clear he did not want to seem to worse for wear when he and his friends were in this kind of trouble. He had offcourse noticed the gathering chakra signatures as well. And with him not being at ease for quite a while, he had guessed they probably would not be friends of theirs. Call him pessimistic, but he would rather say, prepared for trouble and ready for combat.

As ready as he could ever be in this state... That is...

But before he could react to the situation at hand, he would notice that his niece was all over him, her face covert in tears. He would notice her pain and in a split second forgot about all the anger he had felt before, how could he be mad at her, he was her big brother, he was there to take care of her, not the other way around. He felt like a brother to all three of them. And once again, he knew he had to be strong for them. They might think he was playing a fool, acting all though not to show his pain, but it was not for himself that he did this, but for the team. But most of all for Hina, whom might need it the most right now.

He stretched out his hand to wipe the tears from her cheeks... "Guujin, Guujin, Guu-Guu-jin, Please don't cry, you'll hurt me even more with your tears. You know I could never stay angry with you... Come on, help me to the door, I want to see what is happening." He said with a light tone, urging her to move and be strong for the moment, but he knew he meant it as well.

Meran looked at Akira with a pang of pain as Hina helped him up. Leaning on one leg, Akira quickly supported him. "Thnx, Could you help walk me there? I am afraid we have no time to find bracers and I think Fleeing is hardly an option with my leg like this.. We need time to prepare. I can still fight and I know Hina is eager to blow of some steam. I think out of us four, we two are the best in persuasion, can you do something to stall them? Then I'll prepare what I can..." He spoke soft, so only Hina and Akira could hear him speak. He would then take out both his water bottles and hand them to Hina, motioning Hina and Akira to do the same, once they set him down near the entrance.

"Hina, could you get these to Hiten with Chouchou and let him tell Hiten to keep up the mist and prepare. Then please check what you can do with that little medpack of yours about this leg. There is bound to be some bandages in it and something long and hard in here to make that brace Akira talked about. I trust you can fix that. " He said full trust at their future medic, they all did not know it for certain at that moment, but Meran felt she had it in him more than he himself had, or the others. He beamed at her with all the trust he had in her to do the best she could. She could not possibly fail, he knew it.

Meran sighed and laid his head against the pillow he was wise enough to take with him, propping it between him and the entrance wall. He sighed for a moment, using the best thing he had at hand at the moment, his brain. He did not know who it was that threatened them, but he did not care, fleeing was not an option with his leg, so they had to make a stand of it.
"Akira, this will have to be our fall-back position, but the fight will have to start out there. Can you handle that?" He looked worried at her shoulder, she knew the pain he felt all too well. "If so, please try to lure them towards my traps, it would give both you and Hiten clear targets as they try and dodge my traps. Or it would plain trap them. I hate to ask this of you, you know that. Please get to safety if it becomes too though out there." He would wait until Hina was out of earshot and before finishing with "And if we seem destined to lose, take them and run! Get out of here and make sure they live!" There was determination in his voice, he had made this exact same decision minutes before, so it was not hard to make it again. He stood by that decision and would do it all over again.

He would then sigh and lay back, enough asking people to do things for him. But he did what he could. He softly whispered the first half of a saying which was often repeated in Suna. "If you can't run, you crawl..." Meran had some trouble finishing it, the pain getting to him, he needed to stay alert! Come on brain! Think!!! "...If you can't crawl... If you can't crawl...."

Meran would smile at the thought and start getting the remaining nin-wire from his pocket. He still had 9 ten-meter pieces. He quickly took out 5 pieces from the pack and returned the rest. Then with the Shuriken Hina had given him earlier, he would divide 2 into 2m pieces and the other 3 into 5m pieces. Leaving him with 6 pieces of 5 meter lengths and 10 pieces of two meter lengths. He quickly motioned his arms to gather the sand he had created for his escape earlier and started sending it around the area, at the same time, making more sand with his sand control. He made sure to distribute ninwire to random places around the area as well. He would turn the front of the cave into a miniature desert. If need be, he could gather sand from the real desert and use that, but he would wait for that. He choose to rather prepare the defense of the ground in front of this cave. At least it was a good choke point. Here 300 men could hold out against thousands... But could 4 hold out against 64......

She closed her eyes as Meran wiped away her tears and called her by her nickname, Guujin. He was always so.. stable. He was there for them. For her. Always.

As soon as he asked her to she immediately helped him up, trying to support him as much as possible. Luckily Akira came to Meran's aid as well. Together they were able to fully support him. Walking slowly, ever so slowly towards the entrance Meran started telling his plan. Leave it up to Meran to always have a plan. "I can still fight and I know Hina is eager to blow of some steam." She wouldn't deny that. She needed something to get rid of all the emotions she had been feeling. Such drama.

Meran sat down and handed her his two water bottles. Akira handed hers as well. She put the bottles, including her own, down on the floor and let Chouchou wrap her four legs around them. With the six bottles firmly grasped by Chouchou she carefully walked out through the opening, with the puppet floating front if her, and kept all her senses on high alert. (Combat ready mind)

She would stay as close to the entrance as she could, with Chouchou flying 10 metres in front of her, and tried to locate Hiten. As soon as she had found him she used her Kugutsu fukuwajutsu, puppetry ventriloquism, to whisper "Meran is out from under te lab and safe. Thought you might be able to use this. Keep the mist going and prepare. Stall them. Meran has plans." She either let Chouchou hand the bottles to Hiten, let him grab them from her arms, or let Chouchou set them down; depending on what Hiten would do.

After she had delivered the water and the message she let Chouchou fly back to her and walked back into the cave. She noticed that there was much more sand by the entrance than there was before, but she walked over it anyway. Meran's sand wouldn't do her anything. She walked over to him, sat down next to him and grabbed the medkit from the pack around her leg. She rummaged through the medkit, looking for an anesthetic of some sort - Meran looked rather pale, meaning he must be in some serious pain - and something to make a brace with for his leg.

"Is this the only thing?" she asked, gesturing at his leg. She tried to be as vague as possible in case the enemies outside were listening in on them. She did not want them to know their weak spots.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. Enemies incoming."
And that was that. Well, it wasn't like they'd be able to stall any longer. Hina quickly recovered from her short emotional outburst, and was ready for action. No doubt she'd felt guilty about accidentally summoning this... thing. But Meran was freed now, and back to being the same old.

Akira had given up searching for a brace, there wasn't time anymore anyway. When Meran asked for help, she rushed to support him. From the commotion outside it was clear their visitors weren't friendlies. Lack of compliance will result in our immediate termination, huh, she thought as she helped meran to the wall near the entrance of the pragmatic room.
"I think fleeing is hardly an option with my leg like this.." Meran told them, and Akira could only nod in agreement. They needed to fight, there was no way around it. These people, whoever they were, did not hold their best interests at heart. She frowned though when meran said he could still fight. "I understand, but you'd better mind yourself and be careful," she mumbled in a low voice. Meran was so willing to risk it all for them, but she wasn't too happy with him being so eager to throw his life away. "But yes, I'll do my best to stall them," she answered his question.

At Meran's gesture, she handed her water bottle to Hina, who made Chouchou pick them up. She gave her friend an encouraging nod. Then, together with her puppet, Hina walked outside before Chouchou disappeared out of sight, floating inside the mist.

When Hina left, Meran made himself comfortable against the metal wall. Well, it wouldn't get more comfortable than this, with the pillow propped up behind him. Akira eyed his mangled leg again with worry, but forced herself not to linger on it too long. Meran tried to ignore his leg's predicament for the moment, what else was there to do.

"Akira, this will have to be our fall-back position, but the fight will have to start out there. Can you handle that?" No, Meran wasn't worrying about his leg. He was focused on the situation outside and worrying about his friends. Akira squatted down next to him and nodded. "Yes, of course." She caught him looking at her shoulder and scowled. "And don't worry about that. I'm as fine as I'll ever be." Sure, her shoulder was still a bit sensitive, but she had barely noticed it so far due to her not putting any strain on it. Of course that would change soon... but Meran definitely had bigger worries than her stupid shoulder. "I'm fine," she emphasized.

Meran likely wasn't convinced, but he'd just have to suck it. Doubtless he understood this too, for he went on telling her about his battle plan. She nodded as she listened to him talk. It was as good a plan as any at the moment. It was all they had. "I hate to ask this of you, you know that. Please get to safety if it becomes too tough out there."
Akira barely, just barely, resisted the urge to throw her hands up in exasperation. Instead she opted for simply rolling her eyes. "Please don't start this again." Her grey eyes locked onto Meran's green ones with cold fiery determination. "We are shinobi. We were made for battle. I have no problem whatsoever doing my part in your plans. Get it through your thick head," she finished, motioning at her forehead.

But Meran was relentless. "If we seem destined to lose, take them and run! Get out of here and make sure they live!"
Her eyes softened and despite herself, she chuckled. "So typical. Mere moments ago we were worried sick about you. You barely made it out alive and already... the only thing you worry about is our safety."

She sighed and stood, stretching her limbs as she continued to mold chakra. "I'll be relentless," she said quietly. "No one touches my friends..." She looked down on him, eyes locked with his. "I'll rip them apart," she whispered. But she wasn't invincible. None of them were invincible, she knew that. They were only genin for crying out loud. She saw the determination in Meran's eyes. "But if all is lost... though it would kill me... I promise you..." She'd do as he said.

Meran sighed and lay back, leaning against his pillow. Akira heard Hina returning from outside, as Meran mumbled the words of a familiar saying. "If you can't walk, you crawl... if you can't crawl... if you can't crawl..." He winced, and Akira pressed her lips together in a thin line. "You get someone to carry you," she finished softly for him.

Hina arrived at their side and sat down, taking out her medkit. Akira left hem to themselves and made her way to the entrance. She expanded her senses, noticing there were so many enemies around them. She couldn't say how many exactly, but she could say they were severely outnumbered. Would they be able to hold out? Or would she have to fulfill her promise to Meran...

She gazed inside the strange room that would have been bland were it not for the puppet parts and human limbs and organs in bottles. Her gaze strayed over to the still-beating hearts. Whose work was this? Who owned this place? Did it belong to the people outside? She frowned, somehow not thinking that a very likely possibility. It appeared to her like it belonged to a single person. Unbidden, a question entered her mind, and she wondered whether they should fear the owner of this property more than they should fear those numerous people outside.

A chill went through her spine and she turned around, stepping just outside the entrance. She reached for her senbon pack and forced her thoughts to a halt. Nothing mattered anymore, but her breathing, calm and steady, and her surroundings, the unseen enemies.
"Whoever's out there," she called, "Who are you? And what have we done to offend you? Please, we're only children!"
She talked with higher notes than usual, letting fright and desperation seep into her voice. Let's appeal to their humanity, she thought. Maybe there are women among their ranks, parents even. Who would want to slaughter innocent children?

Persuasion roll: stalling the enemy.

Situation and area map drawn, due to expiration of the previous map and no reverence there might be slight errors, but the jest is there.

Yellow edge is the start of the desert, blue lines are the rivers, dark green trees, light green is grass.

Now for the less obvious,

The see-through blue is the range of Hiten's hidden mist.
The dark grayish is the small mountain range with a black cave entrance. The yellow in the mist area is the sand summoned (by turning earth to sand) and moved from inside by Meran. Probably enough to make it 25cm deep, depending on admin decision though.
Pink are the nin-wire 2m pieces he distributes throughout the sand.
And the dots are the team in hiding. I did not draw in the enemies, because their positions are not certain.

Hiten sat there and kept on feeding chakra to his mist. And all of a sudden he noticed chakra signatures rapidly closing in on the location of him and his team. 'As if it was planned.. Luckely I did not MIST the oppertunity to make looking around harder for other people.' He shivered when a chill ran down his spine.

"You are surrounded, drop your Jutsu and your weapons and we may choose to spare your lives. Lack of compliance will result in your immediate termination." The boy froze and rapidly counted the number of enemies, And after that he recounted, just to be sure.
'Ooooowkay.. that was something I did not expect.. And in such great numbers..'

He sighed and quietly formed seals again to thicken the mist. *Hidden mist for a 2nd time.*
When the mist thickened enough he would try to hide his presence even more than it already was.
Something was about to go wrong.. He did not like it. But had to sit it out and survive.

[Any remaining actions would be used to make more chakra]

**(note.. Dunno about the range but as far as I know hiten is not within 10mtrs of the cave..)**

Hina could not see Hiten because of the mist, but due to his chakra could short of pinpoint where Hiten was. This was still a two meters radius however, so far from exact, so if she would try to find Hiten she would encounter some issues finding his exact location or could get near him. As Hina would try to get the bottles of water to Hiten she would have a success, dropping the bottles of water on the location Hiten was standing. However, Chouchou wouldn't drop the bottles of water by his feet, but right at the top of his head, causing Hiten to feel a pain caused by about two out of the six water bottles dropping onto his head.

When Hina began to look for things that might help Meran with his leg she would find a few things: a metal bar, a table leg with the table still attached to it and a hollow puppet part: a leg, that seemed about Merans size and even could open and close to fill with weapons.There was no lock on it however. 5 out of 7 success rolls for Hina.

The leader of the large group surrounding them would hear a voice, with a highpitched desperate tone. "Whoever's out there... Who are you? And what have we done to offend you? Please, we're only children!" He however would only give a light chuckle, not really being impressed by what was happening nor what Akira was saying. Hiten had raised the mist earlier, which was definitely all of the enemies had noticed. They stayed right where they where, but the Genin would feel the tension rising, as if they where getting ready for battle.
The young Genin would realize they where outnumbered in every way, they where surrounded and trapt like rats. It was highly unlikely they could or would get out there alive.
'I repeat one more time;' the 'leader' spoke in a slight aggressive voice, almost as if he was feeling excited to get them to attack or charge. He completely ignored Akira's statement. 'drop your Jutsu and your weapons and we may choose to spare your lives. Lack of compliance will result in your immediate termination. Consider this your last and final warning.'

As she was looking around the cave, searching for a leg brace, she thought about Hiten outside the cave. She'd had to walk outside the cave a bit in order for her to fully reach him with Chouchou, and it had been hard to see him in the mist and darkness. In fact, she hadn't really seen him per se. She had sensed his chakra however and could that way figure out his location. Sort of. She hoped he had gotten the bottles and the message.

Now, as for that brace. She looked around. 'Table leg. Could work. If not for the table still attached to it.' That'd have to be her last resource. If she would find nothing else she would try and find a way to  break or saw the leg from the table. She walked over to one of the worktops. There was a metal bar. She walked over and picked it up to inspect it. 'Nice,' she thought. 'This will probably hold up pretty.. well...' her thoughts drifted off as her eye fell on something.. else.

A hollow puppet leg. 'I wonder.. Could I..? But I probably couldn't. Right? Or?' She put down the metal rod and walked over to the puppet leg instead. She picked it up and looked at it. It could open and close, and seemed to be about Merans size. She wondered if he would be able to bend the leg on his own, or if it would work as a cast. She also wondered if she would be able to bend it using puppetry. Could she.. She bit her lip as she tried to figure this out. Would she be able to help Meran.. walk? Probably not, but it wouldn't hurt if she could, though the puppet leg would have to take the weight of his own leg in order for him to be able move without being in crippling pain. Worst case: it'd just suffice as a cast.

(Rolls: Medicine/Medical C (Don't know which one to apply to bone breaks and casts), Investigation E, Ninjutsu D (Speciality puppetry), optional: Craft C (Speciality puppetry)(to find stuff out about the leg).)

As Hina would investigate the leg it would look like she had a wooden leg, but upon further investigating she would notice it was made of the same material of the arm they had found earlier. It looked like it was made to conceal a huge weapon. Hina would also realize she had a medpack which could help Meran dealing the pain he had, but also restore some of his health.
About Meran Hina would notice his lower leg was in a bit of a weird position and in the position it was not possible for her to put it his leg in the puppetpart.
Investigation, craft and intelligence roll. 3/9 successes.
The rest Hina should know with her basic knowledge of the subject.

She turned around with the puppet leg in her hands, still looking at it, and having a thoughtful expression on her face. She walked over to Meran.

"Meran," she said slowly, not quite looking him in the eye, "I have an idea that will probably help you. But at least some of it is going to hurt." She gave his leg a look. It would have to be set. She sighed in a matter-of-fact-way. It would have to be done. His leg couldn't stay the way it was.

She sat down on her knees next to him and looked him in the eyes. "I will try to be as gentle as possible, but your leg needs to be set. After I have set your leg, I will put this hollow puppet part that I found around it as a cast. I will give you painkillers, but this little medkit doesn't have any real anaesthetics." She gave him a wry smile. "So it might sting a bit." It was going to hurt like hell. And they both knew it. "Try not to have your sand attack me. I am here to help you."

'Better get to it, then.' She thought. No point in procrastinating. She rummaged through the medkit and pulled out some painkillers. "These won't help against the pain you're feeling right now, or in a minute, for that matter. But it's best you take them now, so they kick in as soon as possible." She handed the pills to Meran. She also pulled out a little wooden spatula of sorts as well. There was probably some wood laying around in this lab as well. But.. she wasn't sure if she wanted Meran to bite down on something that had once been human. "Here," she said as she handed it to him. "You will want to bite down on this while I set the bone in your leg."

She pulled out a pair of scissors from the medpack and started cutting away the leg of the pants open, so she could see his broken leg. "The good news is that it isn't an open fracture," she said, keeping on talking so Meran would have something to listen to and distract him, "There is swelling and some serious bruising going on, but that is to be expected." She gave him a smile, trying not to seem perturbed by the odd angle in his leg. "You were quite lucky, it could have been worse." It could also have been much, much better. "Make sure to bite down on the wooden spatula now. I'm going to feel a little bit."

She rubbed her hands together to make sure they weren't cold and very gently put them on Meran's leg. She tried to feel the bone and be as gentle and quick about it as she could. She tried to talk to take Meran's mind off the pain. "This must have been the first time you got seriously hurt, isn't it? What hurts more, your leg or your pride?" she hoped a gentle joke would maybe make him laugh. She felt how the bone was rubbing against the skin. That had to hurt. Luckily it seemed like the break wasn't too complicated.

She very carefully placed her hands on his leg, one above the break, and the other below the break. "It doesn't look too bad, I can fix this, but like I said before, this will hurt. Let me know if your foot becomes numb. And in the meantime, why don't you tell me something? I feel like I'm the one doing all the talking. Could you try and tell me something about what you want to do about our little problem outside? Any strategies?" She needed to focus on this right now, and if Meran kept talking he would be distracted as well, plus she would be able to keep an eye on how he would be feeling.

Slowly, and as gently as she could she pulled on his ankle, pulling the two bone parts apart. After she was sure the bone parts were no longer touching she laid the leg straight. She put the rests of his pant leg around his leg and then opened the puppet leg with her chakra strings. She lifted Meran's leg with both hands and shoved the puppet part under his leg using a chakra string attached to her pinky finger. Gently, she lowered the leg in the puppet part and made sure everything was laying correctly and as comfortable as possible. She slowly closed the puppet part, making sure it didn't pinch anywhere uncomfortable, but was sitting as snugly around Meran's leg as possible.

She leaned back and looked up at Meran, checking for any signs of shock. "All done," she said. She hadn't noticed how heavy she had started breathing, and hadn't noticed the cold sweat that had crept up on her back and temples either. "How do you feel?"

As Hina approached Meran with what she had found his sand settled down on his body as an armour. His body was completely covered except for one part of it, his right leg. With his sand in armour mode, it would not attack Hina, Meran had experience enough with this. He had often done it before, when he was up for a little wrestling and hand to hand combat with his friends, he was still protected this way, but his sand intervened less with the business at hand. True there were other ways to bypass his sand, he had learned of one today, but this was the easiest way to do it.

As she started to explain to him, he would simply raise an eyebrow at her, he had the same knowledge of medicine as her, Hina, Akira and Meran had often studied it together, so he knew what to expect, even though he has not had the experience with the pain first hand. Meran was no pushover, he could endure, he had endured before today and he would, should they survive, after today as well. He had ordered her to fix her leg, he knows what to expect.

As she hands him the painkillers, he would take them, he knew he would need them during the fight. Too bad they did not have any soldier pills with them. Perhaps he should get some for their next mission, though he hoped he was not going to be trapped under a laboratory yet again.
And those pills were addictive, he had to be careful about recklessly taking those.

He noticed his mind was wandering from the task at hand. He took the spatula, took hold of his upper leg and braced his body against the wall. Even bracing himself was painful, but he knew it would be nothing compared to the pain that was about to come. As Hina told him to talk to her about plans he looked at her with a look that said "are you kidding me?!". He was there after all sitting with a spatula across his mouth that she had just given to him. As if he would be able to speak while feeling the pain, but he had to fight through it and most importantly, he had to remain quiet! It would be so hard, so incredibly hard. But he had to.

Not for himself, not to safe face, but for his friends, for the others, if it was known that one of them was hurt, they would be a target too tasty to resist, like a wounded lamb to a starving wolf. He thought of his friends and that he would have to be strong, be the big brother, he needed to safe them...

Then... Then he looked into Hina's big wonderful, but worried eyes and he was transported somewhere else, he saw the two of them growing up together. Meran did not understand the worry in her eyes, Why would she be worried about him? But then it struck him, as he saw the images of Hina and himself together, no matter how often he had protected her from would be bullies, picked her up from the ground after one of their pranks gone wrong and her being hurt, Meran himself having his sand to protect him, or when she had gotten into a fight to protect her, it was always the same way the other way around.
When he stood between her and the bullies, she would come and stand beside him, when he had fallen, she helped him up, even when he would not have been hurt. When he got in a fight, she was his shadow, standing next to him ready to pick up arms. And she was not the only one! Akira and Hiten as well, though their history was not as long as Meran and Hina's, it was still the same for the most part. She was their for him as much as he wanted to be their for them.

Yes Meran was the big brother, but he was never alone.
They all stood together and Meran knew they would each give their life in turn for him as well. The last couple of minutes just confirmed their friendship and love for each other. Meran could see better now, what he had thought of as worry, was more clear to him now, it was determination, this was her big sister moment. She would do it and she would not fail!

With the trust in her beaming from Meran he gave her a second nod to start and when she did, the pain nearly made him faint. He could not help but let a groan escape him, he managed to force most of the pain into actual force, biting down hard enough to break the spatula between his teeth.
Sweat was beating on his brow, drenching his clothes... the ones not cut open by Hina with her scissors that is.

"How do you feel?" the girl asked as she looked at him beaming. Meran laid against the wall looking up at her, he was grateful, he really was, but at the moment of that question, while laying beaten against the wall, exhausted from the day, and the experience and he could only look at her with an expression that said... "I'm fine, Fuck you for asking."
He did not mean it, but how would you respond when just being put through hell.

As he opened his mouth, the spatula, or better said the pieces of spatula fell out of it and his jaw muscles were strained as if he had used them to run a marathon. Hell, he might have, he wasn't going to run one on his leg anytime soon.

He was momentarily to distracted to figure out a plan, so he settled himself against the wall and started to maul things over in his mind, the main thing was that the four of them had to limit the number of opponents that were able to face them as much as possible, make a bottleneck, but they had already started to do so. With the traps he was organizing outside and the cave opening they were already creating a bottleneck. They only had one thing to worry about inside, only the hole he had created was a viable back entrance, the rest was still clad with metal on all sides, except for that Meran sized hole. It could easily be defended by one person. What they had to do is thin the herd that would attack them from the opening, and use the fallen comrades as a block for the next line, making it even harder for the next wave to get through.
He gave the two girls that information and he added, while the pain still resounded in his voice "Hiten's mist is as much a barrier for us, as it is for the enemies, so he will need to drop the mist if we were to be able to help in the fighting. We are just as likely to strike down each other in the mist as we are to hit the enemy. I think even Hiten is barely able to spot anything with this mist in place. The enemies can just blast the area and fry Hiten from the outside if they want to."

Meran paused for a bit to breath, but would quickly continue "I suggest we briefly fight outside, or at least you do, luring them into traps, killing what we capture immediately, no time for second thoughts, then when we have them heated up and not thinking, fallback to this cave position and bottleneck them. But we would do best to prepare as best we can for as long as we can, plan traps, find weapons, keep them talking. As long as they talk, they do not attack, but you can be sure they will as soon as Hiten drops the mist, perhaps before, so be ready, we might not have a lot of warning."

Meran would face Akira next, "You did ok Akira, they are after all, not yet attacking us. But I would be damned pleased to find out who they are! Perhaps you can find out." He winked at her, his language was rough and his voice started to get gravely from the strain on it. Normally the boy did not talk so much, mostly only when he had thought up another big scheme. He faced Hina next "How dangerous are these things?" He said with a gesture around the room
"Could you for instance, find something about Hina or Akira sized with which you can replace yourselves..." He said while remembering the defense both girls knew "And say was filled with sand or a nice puppet trap or weapon system."

Meran looked at the two girls with his signature devilish smile. "Remember the prank we pulled on Madaki-Sensei?!" He referred to a sensei the kids had in the academy. (I will explain the tactic plans in more detail on skype, so I do not have to spam too much here before the fight has started)

Whatever the case, the kids would have to work in layers of traps in order to be successful and they would have to fight to the best of their ability.

Akira retreated back into the entrance after she spoke.  
"I repeat one more time," came the reply drifting out of the darkness. "Drop your Jutsu and your weapons and we may choose to spare your lives. Lack of compliance will result in your immediate termination. Consider this your last and final warning."
She couldn't say she was surprised with the response she got from whoever was out there, but she wasn't happy with it either. Well, so much for playing pretend.

Behind her she'd heard the muffled sounds of Meran struggling to keep it together, and she knew Hina was busy doing what she could to fix his mauled leg. After one last look outside, though there was nothing to see beyond the droplet floating in the air near the entrance, she went back into the building because Meran started addressing both Hina and her.

She nodded when he spoke about Hiten, he needed to come back to them so they could discuss this information! He was still out there, alone, unaware of their plans.

Akira agreed with Meran's ideas. "You did ok Akira, they are after all, not yet attacking us. But I would be damned pleased to find out who they are! Perhaps you can find out." He finished talking with a wink, and she couldn't help a small smile appearing briefly. He was so resilient, bouncing back after being beat down with such ease. It made her feel proud, even though it was none of her doing. "Thanks," she said, even though it did nothing but buy them a little more time. Then again, a little time was all they needed.

"Remember the prank we pulled on Madaki-Sensei?!" Meran asked them, and Akira rolled her eyes with a smirk playing on her lips. Of course she did. So that was his plan. "I'll leave it to you," she said to Hina. "I'm going back outside. Let's see if can subtly get Hiten to remove the mist."

Her fingers played with a senbon as she walked back to stand just outside the entrance. Meran had spread his traps outside in the sand. Added to that was the mist, with darkness to boot. Perhaps if the mist was gone there was the light of the moon and stars to allow some sight, but for now Akira didn't risk going away from the entrance.

"Fine, gonna be like that huh?" she called out, the feigned fright from before gone from her voice. "I'd love for the mist to go away, but that is none of my doing." she spoke irritably, hoping Hiten got the bloody hint, before continuing. "For your information, we are only kids and we are no threat to you. I'm being honest, now it's your turn: who are you?"

Hina would successfully set Merans leg and place the puppet part around it. She would however need to find a way to keep the leg closed if Meran wanted to try and move around some.  
 
 Meran during this time would let go of a bit more than a loud groan. The setting of his leg would hurt so much he would not only bite the spatula in two but also let go of a short scream from the pain it caused, being in too much pain. He would also lose consciousness for about a minute, leaving him with a dizzy feeling afterwards.
 With the puppet leg around Merans leg he would not be able to walk around on his own and would need support in some way. Meran would also notice the puppet leg fitted perfectly around his own leg. Around the foot area however it would be a bit loose.
After the painkillers started working and the leg was set, Meran would start to feel a lot better. 2 HP is restored.
---

Both Hiten - and Akira after getting to the opening of the cave - would notice the enemies where more restless in some way, they where moving around a little. Almost as if they where preparing for battle. They still could not see the enemies due to the mist, but it sure felt noisy, even though there was a lack of any real sound.
 Akira bought them time. She really tried, but it wasn't for the best. Not in the slightest. The person who had talked to them from start started laughing.
'Kids...? Kids? No kid would react that neutral to seeing a dead body and we recon you did see one, or maybe even hanged it there yourself. We have been keeping an eye on you and your friends, cursed child.' It appeared as if the person who was speaking knew he was talking to the girl, Sakurai Akira. The girl who had looked at the dead body, but didn't tell her friends.
Akira would realize they had been spied on. Her friends however would be able to hear every word the man spoke.
 The man fell silent for a bit. He was moving his arms, making some signs with his hands to his allies, who immediately started moving around. Everyone in the team of young Genin would feel the tension and they all realized they would only have a really short amount of time left to prepare themselves for the whatever would happen. In fact they would only have about one with a maximum of three minutes to prepare more.
 Another voice took over. 'Now listen. We do not want any of you dead and we have no intention in hurting you kids unless we have to,' her voice was  calm and reversed. Almost motherly. 'so we would appreciate your full co-operation for the time being. After we get from you what we want, we will leave you all to yourself again.' The woman was buying some time on her side, as the man gave more silent orders with hand signals.

When Meran had lost consciousness Hina had damn near panicked. But even though he was unconscious he was still breathing and he didn't show any signs of shock. She quickly wiped at her eyes. She felt so bad for inflicting so much pain on her friend for him to pass out, even if it only was for a very brief moment. One could argue that she was only helping him, and that this pain was necessary. But the immediate counter argument would be that he wouldn't be in this pain in the first place if she hadn't opened that scroll. And Hina was very aware of all this. When he came to she asked him with a shaky smile and voice how he felt. And the look in his eyes almost caused her heart to turn to a block of ice. Painful. She knew he was only in really much pain right now. He had already said he wasn't mad at her for crushing him. So he couldn't be mad at her for helping him. But it still hurt. 'This is the worst day ever.' she thought.

Though still seeming slightly out of it, Meran quickly started spouting strategies. While Meran talked Hina listened. She eyed the puppet leg around her cousin's broken one. 'It needs to be closed securely some way.' She rummaged around a little in the medpack and soon found a roll of tape. While Meran was talking to Akira she taped around the puppet leg, making sure to try and move it as little as possible, sealing it tightly shut. Just when she cut off the end of the tape Meran asked, "How dangerous are these things? Could you for instance, find something about Hina or Akira sized with which you can replace yourselves... And say was filled with sand or a nice puppet trap or weapon system."

Hina put the rest of the tape safely back in the medpack hanging from her belt. She looked around the room with a serious look on her face. "Remember that prank we pulled on Madaki-sensei?!" She couldn't help the huge grin that crept up on her face. Did she ever. Heh. Akira made to walk out of the cave, and Hina stood up as well.

"Don't worry," she replied to Akira, "I'll fix something." She looked around the laboratory once more, looking for anything big enough to be used as a substitute for a person. And which could possibly even contain sand (like a bag or box) or puppet weapons (like a self-destructing torso or something, yeah, that'd be awesome). She also looked around for other potential weapons. Possibly loose parts or contraptions laying around. Even a "point unknown weapon at enemies and pull trigger" would suffice to her at this point.

She heard Akira trying to buy them some time, but didn't pay too much attention to it. The man's reply caught her attention however. "Kids...? Kids? No kid would react that neutral to seeing a dead body and we recon you did see one, or maybe even hanged it there yourself. We have been keeping an eye on you and your friends, cursed child." What was all that about? The body wasn't that bad. She eyed the half-finished human puppet on the work bench. It actually looked better than corpses at funerals, in a way. And how did they mean "hanged"? This body was bloody laying on a workbench!

Akira was outside, so Hina couldn't ask Akira what those people were on about, but she did throw a confused look Meran's way. Almost as if asking him if he knew what they meant. Though she suspected he wouldn't. It didn't really matter anyway. Not at this moment. She went back to her search. "Now listen. We do not want any of you dead and we have no intention in hurting you kids unless we have to, so we would appreciate your full co-operation for the time being. After we get from you what we want, we will leave you all to yourself again." Hina made a sceptic sound at the back of her throat, not looking up. What were they, stupid? No way they would just let them walk away from there. And that woman? She was probably just trying to sound nice. 'When we reveal ourselves she'll probably throw the first kunai,' she thought. Though she was curious about what it was exactly that they wanted from them.

(Trying to find possible containers big enough to use kawarimi and henge on. And trying to find any and all weapons. Investigation E, Weapon (buki) C (I think?), Ninjutsu speciality puppetry D, and Explosives D?   )
(Also, because I don't want any misunderstandings. OCme is totally aware of what the man is referring to, but Hina has no idea. So there.)

The man's laughter tore through the darkness. "Kids...? Kids? No kid would react that neutral to seeing a dead body and we recon you did see one, or maybe even hanged it there yourself. We have been keeping an eye on you and your friends, cursed child."

Akira tensed. Cursed child? She glared at the mist before her. Great, they knew who she was, and they'd been spying on her. She was so sure she'd been alone. Had her demon warned her from these people then? Her next thought went to her friends, who had undoubtedly heard these words as well. It must have raised questions.

Why hadn't she told them already? Panic started to eat at her; had her friends made the connection? The irony wasn't lost on her that being surrounded by enemies didn't cause her panic, no. It was the thought of her friends being angry with her that made her panic. And angry for good reason too... She should have told them. God, why didn't she tell them? All the reasons she'd had for not telling (no big deal, just a corpse, what's it gonna do, haunt them? No need for causing unnecessary stress) seemed so irrelevant right now.

A new voice started speaking, a woman's voice. "Now listen. We do not want any of you dead and we have no intention in hurting you kids unless we have to. So we would appreciate your full co-operation for the time being. After we get from you what we want, we will leave you all to yourself again."
She sounded friendly enough, but it didn't distract Akira from hearing the load of horseshit she tried to feed them.

"What exactly is it that you want?" She called in response. "Because your boyfriend is giving me this vibe that you're not really planning on leaving us sound and healthy! Seriously, you've surrounded us by the dozens and you expect us to trust you?" She didn't believe it would work, but for the sake of stalling and trying she said it anyway: "Trust has to come both ways and you've not been very forthcoming so far! So try answering this: who are you and what do you want with us?"

She went back into the building, clutching the senbon in her hand as she eyed Hina and Meran. They'd heard about the hung corpse, but there really was no time to explain it all now. "About the dead man they talked about, I'll tell you all about it later. Please forgive me." She ended that last sentence sounding pretty miserable. Wait, what if they think I killed someone! "I didn't kill anyone!" she continued quickly. "I just found someone. Dead." Real convincing. She closed her eyes and held her hands up. "Later, I'll tell you all later." She sighed and threw them a guilty look, but she wiped it off her face a moment later and took a couple of steps back to stand near the entrance, taking more senbon into her hand.

She'd been molding her chakra for a while now, fully powering up for the oncoming fight.

(persuasion roll! Stall stall stall. And answers. Please.)

Meran would Hardly notice anything happening around him. He was still a bit out of it due to the pain he had endured. He had still managed to relay his plans to the other two, but that had taken a lot of effort. Right now he had to just lay back and relax. His preparations were made, he had to regain full consciousness. Because of this the words Akira and the enemy girl uttered did arrive in his ears, but he did not really process it. Things just seem to pass by him.

This did not happen to Hiten, he got the hint that Akira gave him and he slowly started to build down his mist. Leaving just one layer, but letting it dissipate gradually, so it would be completely gone in 2 turns. He did not reply to Akira and did not pick up about the corpse, at least what Akira exclaimed. He was confused about what the lady said though. Especially because he had not seen either of the corpse.

As hina would start her search for items she could use, she would find a log, about three empty glass jars, big enough to conserve whole body parts in, like arms or legs, a burlap sack which contained some apples and a small chest. Hina would also find a puppet chest which could open and close, that looked and could be used the same way as the leg Meran had currently around his.
 When Hina looked around further she would find a katana. It was a bit rusty and the top was missing, but it still seemed somewhat sharp and good enough to use. The handle was still pretty much in tact.
 Hina would find no explosives unfortunately, but in her search for explosives she would find something that possibly had more interest to her than explosives would. It was a scroll simply saying 'Prototype 38482.' Hina wouldn't really know what it would mean, but by the place she was in, she could make an educated guess.
[/damn girl, you had some gooood rolls x_X"]

Akira would feel the tension rise as she talked. She would realize her passive aggressive speech just made it worse. The voice in her head warned her once more. 'Stop talking, you're making it worse,' it spoke in an angered voice.
 The man would just start to laugh as Akira spoke. Even the woman would let go of a light chuckle. 'Oh look what you've done!' the woman started to laugh. Suddenly all of them would feel the ground shake, in a figure of speech. The people surrounding them where charging towards the cave, they didn't even seem to care about the mist anymore.

[Akira had zero successes...]

[each of you get one more post before battle/ten seconds in game time. Spend it wise...]

The first items that would catch her eyes were three large glass jars. 'This'll do.' She used her chakra strings to place them near the entrance. She did the same with the small chest. She used her strings to open the chest and placed it near the entrance. She found a burlap sack with some apples. She shook the apples out of the sack, put them in her pack for later, and put the sack near the entrance as well. 'That should be enough for Meran to fill with sand.' she thought. 'Now.. What mo- The hell?!' Her drifting eyes had caught sight of a log standing a little to the side. 'Why would.. What? Why?' She didn't think about it for too long, however, and used her strings to fling the log towards the entrance as well, being less careful than with the jars and other things, but careful enough to not let the log slam into the other object. The log was probably used to make wooden parts out of.

Her eyes went wide and her heart jumped when she saw the scroll. However, at that moment she felt all the chakra signatures outside charge towards the cave entrance. Without giving it a second thought she stuffed the scroll labeled 'Prototype 38482' in her pack as well. As she turned to face the battle her eye fell on a katana. It had a couple of small rust stains on the blade and there was a bit off the top missing, but the hilt was still intact. 'I know who can use this!' she thought, she grabbed the katana, turned around and yelled, "Akira! Catch!" She would throw the katana towards the girl, but only if she would know for sure Akira would be able to catch it. Akira does not get a katana through her head. Hina has already hurt enough teammates for today.

After that she would mould chakra to make sure she would have filled her chakra pool to the max for the fight. (Total of 30 chakra.) She would attach strings to Chouchou, let Chouchou float in front of her, and go to position herself in the cave entrance, letting Chouchou float about one and a half meters in front of her. She would also check outside to see if she could see the puppet arm she had taken with her when she had ran out of the cave. It would lay around where she "washed up" after the sand had pushed her out of the cave, so not too far from the entrance, she thought. If she would spot it, she would attach a string to it, and pull the arm quickly towards herself, letting it float in front of her as well. It might look a bit morbid, only having a loose arm float in front of her, but thanks to her studying it earlier she knew what kind of weapons it had and how it worked. It was basically like having two puppets. She tried not to think about the fact that that arm was once attached to a human body. 'Gross.'

Akira payed the laughter outside no mind. How lovely, they think I'm funny. That's a first. Maybe she would have laughed herself, had the situation not been so dire and were it not for the fact that once again, she had gotten no answer at all. It felt wonderful to be ignored. Just wonderful.

Meran still seemed pretty out of it and Hina hadn't reacted to her words either, so despite the stupid laughter outside, Akira felt relieved. They'd sort that out later.

The next moment she felt the enemies charge. She pushed her worries aside and let a sense of calm wash over her, the way she always did before a fight. All that mattered now was focus and clarity. Nothing else mattered but getting out of this alive, together with her friends.

Speaking of which, Hiten was still out there. There was really no time for him to linger there anymore. Thank goodness he'd had the sense start dissipating the mist, so at least they had some chance of defending themselves. "Hiten! Now!" she yelled, hoping to finally get him to move back and join them. She was aware she called his name, but the enemies seemed to be rather familiar with who they were, which rendered reticence unimportant.

Hina had moved three large glass jars and a chest near the entrance. And a log. Akira had to squint her eyes at that. A log? Well, it would serve fine to execute Meran's plan, she supposed.

"Akira! Catch!" Hina called out to her, and when Akira caught her eye she'd see a katana being tossed over to her. Akira caught it deftly in her free hand and gave the weapon a scrutinizing glance. It was a bit rusty and the top was missing, but she was glad to have something other than the senbon to defend herself with. She nodded her thanks at Hina, gave her friend an encouraging smile and looked at Meran one last time, waiting for any last instructions.

If none would come, she'd go out of the entrance to meet the approaching enemies, her senses at their highest alertness, eyes wide open despite the darkness. She was calm, standing with the katana in one hand and two senbon in the other, trying to extend her senses to aid her in feeling her opponents coming, in addition to her sight.

Her chakra was fully charged and ready for use. (28 chakra)

Meran's head cleared as the sedatives started to kick in. With his leg fixed inside the puppet part, he found the ache lessen. Sure he would not be able to stand on it, but then again if there was any clan that would be as great a shinobi clan with or without legs, it would be the Sabaku. Their motions guided the sand, but each member tied his own motions to his own jutsu, mostly the motions depended on the teacher. And Meran had the best teacher in the subject. Gaara of the Funk Desert. The man who could break heart (literally) with a wink.

Meran continues to prepare for the fight, the one that might very well be his last. He would have to make sure that they would live. With his last seconds before they would hit his traps he would prepare his body to hold as much chakra as he possibly could. With a swish and flick of his finger, Meran would fill up three glass jars with sand. He would toss in the Shuriken he had gotten from Hina into one of them and some ninwire in both for good measure.
It was too late to refill ChouChou anyway.

The log was not needed for their plan and both the Chest and Sack would not have as large an effect as the glass jars would. "Akira, when you retreat back here, please use the glass jars. They would cause the most confusion. Hina, if you see Akira get into trouble, please toss two of the glass jars outside among the attackers with your strings... If Hiten chooses to use the log for replacement. He has not heard our plan after all." Meran was a bit depressed about the fact he could not share information with Hiten. It had been like he was disconnected from them for a while now. First the hospital and now here as well. He hoped things would quickly become better.

Right before the fight truly started Meran would place a wire trap around the entrance, like he had done in the hospital. As a last ditch attempt. "Remember Akira, kill those I trap, so I might use the traps to trap others."

Meran had made his peace with whatever gods of battle were out there and now he would just have to fight his damn well hardest.


=================================================

Hiten had been charging his chakra for most of the time he had his mist up and even though he did not like it, he must trust his friends to have thought of a good defense strategy. They were right in that he was the only one with an overview of the situation at this moment. They could not see anything because of the mist and darkness surrounding them. But that meant the enemy could not either! Surely that was preferred!! Hiten was confused, but he had to do what was in the teams best interest. He could always raise the mist barrier again.

After a moment of doubt, Hiten lowered the barrier, focusing on remaining hidden among the leaves to snipe enemies in his neighborhood. He would have to remain very cool to survive this...

With the mist gone, the stars and a moon would start to show and a pale light showed their situation: they where fucked. Every single one of them would realize it. They wouldn't even stand a chance, not even a minute. Not even with all the preparations they had made. All of them would start to feel a sign of desperation: there was no way possible they would survive this. Being outnumbered was one thing, but the speed of their enemies was incredible and they showed no mercy on their faces.
 It was a situation without hope, it was wrong on so many levels. The young Genin didn't do anything to deserve this and they wouldn't even be able to save themselves. They just wouldn't stand a chance...

Yet, something seemed off. It just wasn't right. All of the people charging towards them started to trip, fall and groan. Panic, people yelling and confusion surrounded the battle area. Hina and Akira would see Hiten being blown away from the cave by something that didn't even seem human out of their sight into the bushes. The only thing they would hear was a muffled yell from Hiten, disappearing into the night.
The creature, it seemed moved like a scorpion, piercing it's enemies with his huge tail, made out of something metal-like. At the same time other people would start to show up out of the forested area. The young Genin - except for Hiten - would see the enemies trip, fall and would hear loud grunts and moans, screams of pain.

It just didn't seem right.

The commanding officer would start to yell: 'Retreat! Retreat!' but it was too late for most of his allies. He and his 'girlfriend' - as Akria had reffered to the woman - however seemed to have gotten away. A few managed to reach the three aspirant Genin, but would be pierced by something even before they would be able to make a move. Blood splattering on Akria's face. A man pierced with senbon would fall in front of her feet. Akira would be grabbed by her throat. She didn't even see the movement. Hina would realize it was a puppet holding Akira, before she was blown away into the cave and grabbed by another person. Meran would see a kunai heading towards him and would be grabbed within a movement not even his special sand would be able to foresee.
'What is your buisness here?' a groaning voice would speak. The scorpion-like creature would move towards the cave, walking over the dead bodies. Right now all of them would probably feel more happy with the army heading towards them...

[OC note: Hiten is gone for now, I will give you further info on this later. For now Meran can drop NPCing Hiten. You can however try to find him later on if you feel like it. ^^]

Dread was starting to spread throughout Hina's stomach. They would never be able to handle this. 'This is it,' she thought. They were going to die. But they wouldn't go down without a fight! Never!

However, suddenly the attackers would start to be taken out. At first Hina thought it might be Meran's traps, but that didn't seem right. They were taken out far more efficiently than Meran's traps could ever do. Then Hiten disappeared with a muffled shout. "Hiten!" she screamed. Where was he?! She took a step forward to go help her friend, but that's when she caught sight of.. the thing...

A huge scorpion-like shadow was dashing across the clearing, taking out enemies left and right. A huge scorpion-like shadow. A huge scorpion. A HUGE-ASS SCORPION!!! Hina's brain short circuited. All the years at the academy, all the big talk of being a shinobi, all that went straight out the window; and left was a thirteen year old girl screaming her lungs out at a sight that would definitely give her nightmares. She scrambled back and away from the cave opening.

She didn't notice the few enemies reaching them, but she did notice them getting taken down quickly as well. And she did notice Akira being grabbed by a puppet. 'A pupp-?!' Pain flooded through her body as she was blown by some force through the entire lab like a rag doll. Due to the force she dropped Chouchou and the puppet arm, but they did get pulled back by her strings a bit, so they landed just outside the cave opening. She let out a cry of pain as her back hit the wall, sharp pain at the back of her head as well. She started to drop to the floor, but before she had even reached it, she was grabbed by something or someone.

Her eyes were shut in pain, wishing for the sharp throbbing feeling to leave. She registered a groaning voice, 'What is your business here?' and forced her eyes to open. However, as soon as she saw the super-scorpion, her vision clouded by pain, walking towards the cave she squeaked out in fear again, closed her eyes tightly shut and actually tried to bury herself deeper in her captivator's arms.

Akira's heart sank as she watched the enemies come at them when the mist disappeared, as far as the darkness allowed her sight to reach. We're done for. Despite this thought, her grip on the hilt of the katana tightened and she raised her hand with the senbon, ready to throw. She wouldn't go down like a meek little lamb. She'd stab the eyes out of the first person who came at her...

Only she never needed to. At first it went too quick to comprehend. All around them the enemy shinobi tripped and fell and hit the ground. Some were blown away by some unseen force. Screams went through the air, and Akira recognized one of them. Hina did as well, she heard. "Hiten!" Her own mouth was sealed shut, lips tightly pressed together as she watched the scene unfold before her.

Wide eyed she watched, her grey eyes catching sight of one figure who stood out from the rest. It was an older man, or so it appeared. Hunched over, but quick. He slashed through his enemies... their enemies... was he their enemy, or their friend?

In any case, the man was way too much to handle for the dozens of shinobi surrounding them, and in the end they were falling over each other in their attempt to get away when the order to retreat was given.

Akira stood there frozen in her spot, her katana and senbon still clutched tightly in her hands. She was totally engrossed in what was happening around her. This man was utterly and absolutely out of their league. To think they'd been afraid of those other shinobi... it just showed how absurdly weak they were before this man.

A couple of the shinobi that had charged, had actually gotten to a point where they'd seemingly escaped the man's frenzy and reached her where she was standing. But she never needed to lift a finger to defend herself against them, because they were skewered right in front of her wide, shocked eyes.

Akira felt a spray of warm droplets on her face as they went down before her and knew instantly it was blood. This didn't bother her as much as she knew it should. Mostly she felt numb, paralized. The warm rivulets dripping down her face only served to make her more aware of how cold she felt inside.

What bothered her more was that she didn't know how to categorize this man, who was fighting their enemies and protected them? This dangerous, immensely strong man, who cut down his enemies as easily as one would cut through butter. Who made them trip and fall without ever touching them...

The world went still as she realized she knew what that was. Puppetry.

Her thoughts were a trainwreck as the previous experiences of the day collided into that one moment. The corpse, the puppet arm, the lab, the human body parts, the unfinished puppet.
..."Can you make puppets from human bodies?" Vaguely, she remembered one of Hina's wild tales about a puppet master who turned corpses into puppets...
...So there really were puppet masters who took puppetry to an entirely different level...
...Unbidden, a question entered her mind, and she wondered whether they should fear the owner of this property more than they should fear those numerous people outside...

Something clicked, and Akira suddenly felt very small. Could this be... could it...?

The next thing she knew was a hand closed around her throat. She wasn't lifted off the ground, but its grip was tight enough to snap her out of the numb, entranced state she was in. In less than a second she went into fight-or-die mode. The weapons still clutched in her hands, her first reaction was to stab the two senbon through the arm that held her. Following this, she rammed the katana through the torso before her in blind urgency, not caring where or how it was done, just that it needed to be done. Now. Let go of me.

Somehow she felt weirdly degenerate, skewering someone. It made some old memories resurface...

She barely heard the man speak and hadn't even registered him coming near them, but Akira was otherwise occupied and didn't respond to his question. Besides this, her throat was constricted, impeding her ability to speak.

(Kenjutsu roll for the katana, buki roll for the senbon. Even though they fall in category shuriken, right now they're being used as buki. Maybe senbon specialty applies)

As the mist dropped, Meran would suddenly see who they were facing and it would make his blood boil. Anger rose from a part of him where he did not expect it to come from and a murderous intend was a part of him, more then it was ever before he wanted people to die, to suffer...

With a cold hard voice he whispered a single word "Shinka.." before letting out a scream of anger. With great effort the boy would get himself up against the wall, leaning against it, supporting his wait on his good leg. It hurt.. sure it did, but the pain was nothing compared to his desire to see those people die.

Images of his brother flashed before his eyes, they were broken and scattered, shards of what remained, but they showed his smile. A young smile, younger than his latest smile and it was ripped from his face by the monsters that stood before him. All for personal gain.

Meran would have understood if they did it for something else, some other reason, but these people had hunted his brother down as an animal for nothing more than to get more powr themselves... For what? No other reason than to  be more powerful...

The shout turned into a growl as he got up, he was looking forward to a fight. Though it was hopeless, he would take as many with him as he could, there was no point in giving up, no reason to get knocked down and kept down.

Meran was ready to go out fighting, he only hoped that Akira would remember his words and take Hina away.

Then the mayhem started to happen and all enemies started to drop like flies and a shadow started to mow them down like he was a conductor for this majestic symphony of slaughter.
Meran's first reaction was to scream "NOOOOO" Hina and Akira might take it to be a reaction to the fall of Hiten and in a part it was, but the main reason was that this shadow was taking away his gratification to kill this scum personally.

And with that Meran started a dancebattle with the killing shadow. The boy wanted blood on his own ledger and he would take what he was entitled to.

Meran would fire off traps where he could, using sand for killing blows and stuffing throats of screaming dying men to cut off their dying scream, not granting them the pleasure of that final release.

Meran was so taken in this dance of blood and sand, that he was remembered by something that horrified him in the past. It was something his father had told him about his special sand, without going into details is was gruesome enough. Meran was curious, but the horror of it had stopped him from finding out more. Today was the day to apply it though, because they needed it. Meran send his special sand out into battle, trying to absorb as much blood as he could. He did not know what would happen to it exactly, but his father had told him that drenching it in blood of enemies would strengthen it. And if he needed strength at any time it was this moment.

He realized that it might have been a mistake when a kunai came flying towards him, but it was knocked away before his special sand had fully returned, it would have come back in time, but there was no need now He was however grabbed shortly after. An arm was poking through his rapidly returned special sand, holding him in his neck, but Meran showed no fear, rather there was his devilish grin, the one normally reserved for pranks, but now it was wrong somehow.

Hina would understand why when she saw the bodies of their enemies. Meran kept his grin even when the old man approached then. He did not answer the man right away, Meran seemed out of it. But most likely of the three reactions the man would get, Meran's was the least likely, though those that seen how Gaara was like around the time he had his chuunin exams, would see the resemblance in Meran without a doubt.

Meran's head slumped suddenly, tired as he was. "We are trying to survive," he began with a tired voice, held up by the puppet more than his own strength. The man, if knowledgeable about Suna traditions, would probably know Meran was reffering both to their current predicament as well as the Suna Genin test that all Suna shinobi from the last 20 generations had gone through. "and these guys wanted something of us what we were not willing to give. Our lives and..." Meran stopped, not knowing how much the shadow knew about their common enemy, but most likely the man knew enough to finish that sentence.

Akira's first reaction didn't seem to do much. It didn't even seem to bother the human-like thing. The senbon would just get stuck in it's arm and the katana - rusty as it was - would just deflect off. As the man heard Meran speak the grip on Akira's throat would loosen, but still ready to attack.
 Meran in his rampage would be able to make some of the enemies trip and even hurt them, but nothing major: it was all due to the panic which was suddenly caused they'd fall for any of it right now. One of the enemies would get tripped in the traps Meran had set, but would be pierced soon after by the creature. Draining the blood with his sand didn't work out at all, Meran wouldn't feel anything changing, except for his sand to get dirty.
The thing holding Meran - it didn't seem bothered by his sand trying to fight him off - would let go and step back. The thing which was holding Meran was a very familiar image to himself: he had seen the man in books and pictures. A Kazekage. The third to be precise.
 Hina would also feel the grip of what was holding her loosen and put her on the ground.

The scorpion-like creature would stand up and would open. A red-haired boy would step out of it. He was barely older than 17. It had a look on his face saying absolutely nothing and looked around the cave. There wasn't much to read from his face, but the three genin would sense some disapproval. 'Bloodlines...' he finished Meran's sentence, with a monotone voice. 'Aspirant Suna Genin with bloodline hunters in great numbers...' He looked around the cave once more and gave Meran a piercing look. 'A Sabaku...' He would move the puppet which was holding Meran closer to himself. 'And... Guessing at the butterfly... a Chikamatsu...' He chose his words very carefully, giving the gaping hole in the ground caused by Merans escape a tense look. 'I was promised to be left alone, so I wonder why you were brought here...' He appeared to be more talking to himself than to the three genin, completely ignoring them, still looking at the hole in the ground. The boy appeared to have calmed down a bit, but then again: nobody could read much from his face.
 The thing holding Akria would attempt to push her into the cave. 'Still, you found this place...' it muttered, again more to himself than to the three Genin. 'I was promised to be left alone, but they didn't keep theirs. So why should I keep mine? I have no reason not to kill you...'