Chapter 3: The Second Wind

It wasn't happening... it couldn't be happening...

Indeed, like in slow motion Mukade saw the girl's head cleft from her body. Several of his muscles spasmed uselessly in response, only causing him to fall back onto the sand butt first. His widened eyes never left the sight of Amaya's staring back at him. His half hidden mouth was open in a silent scream, still processing the reality of the situation. He'd been told many times that death was part of the life of a shinobi, he'd heard such lessons even more then most academy students, as Souran would do everything in his power to prepare Mukade but... They were just words, they meant absolutely nothing in comparison to actually witnessing it, and from someone so cold and heartless, so casual. He'd always imagined the first comrade he'd see die wouldn't be for years, and they'd go down as some kind of hero, dying for something, not from something.

A wheezing breath escaped his throat, that might have been a scream from anyone else, when her head was dropped into his lap now with the blue and slightly blood stained scroll in her mouth. He didn't know if it was true that the head remained alive for a short while after decapitation, he wasn't a medical nin... But as the disembodied head's almost motionless eyes stared up at him those were what he thought.

He dropped the head and scrambled away slightly, the blood would poor out into the sand which clung to the sweaty face and curly hair, and any motion that might or might not have been in her eyes would finally fall still.

He was panting and quickly glanced up to the casual killer again, his eyes filled with fear he could not hope to hide. If Souran were there he would have scolded him for being so cowardly, that he was not acting like a shinobi and doing his job professionally... this knowledge made him even worse.

Every fibre of his being compelled him to run, though a moments hesitation stopped in just in time to remember the blue scroll. His hand reached forward and quickly snatched the scroll up and came to his feet with a stagger. His eyes met Zabuza's for just a moment before he span around and began to run... not in any specific direction apart from directly away from the man. His fist held the scroll so tight that the paper crinkled and bent, he only panted an ran.

When finally Mukade from the oasis would only appear as a vaguely humanoid shape, he toppled foward onto his hands and knees, dropping the scroll and heaving forward with a lurch, managing to pull down his collar just in time for his stomach to empty a portion of its contents, which mostly consisted of water, followed by a dry sob.

Mukade would notice that Zabuza would not follow him as he ran away. In fact, no attention was payed to the mute boy from that moment. IF Mukade looked back, he would barely see the masked figure walk away in the distance with his blade firmly held on his shoulder. Mukade was alone, nothing but vast desert around him and his belongings on his person.

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

For Kazuo the man just shrugged, he simply looked at Kazuo with a shy smile. "Even if you are just a small fry, many small voices will combine to a shout eventually. Even if it is just a rumor, it is still a positive buzz going around. Don't sell yourself short, you made it this far..."
The man shifted a bit to give Kazuo a reassuring pad on the shoulder, giving him a small package while doing so.

"You are never to small to make a change, but sometimes brute force or straight out saying it is not an option, your strengths lie in another place, I am sure your voice will be heard someday. Take this, I am sure you will enjoy it."

The man would then turn towards his fellows, to continue his conversation. In the little pack, Kazuo would find some meat rations, like beef jerky and some dried vegetables, enough to keep him going. The surprise was that there was also a lollipop included. The sugary treat was obviously added due to his young age. The odd thing was, that a scorpion was clearly visible inside the lollipop.

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

I am rounding this event off, if you'd both be so kind as to write your final post, I will than conclude the event by telling you what would happen to the both of you the rest of the way to Suna.

Cheers,

Blue

Kazuo would peek into the packet, and immediately be drawn to the candy. Swiftly, before he'd even left the sight of the group behind him, he shoved it into his mouth. He caught a glance at the scorpion, but assumed it was a logo or a clan symbol imprinted within, and felt no nervousness for having eaten it.

And then he was on his way, a mere two hours from Sunagakure, with directional instructions to boot. Almost like a pendulum, his sour mood, held almost entirely for the duration of this test, flipped to optimism. After all, there weren't any rules for getting outside help. Behind the lollipop, Kazuo grinned.

((Sorry for this wait. I'm skipping this. I don't have the energy to write something for this any time soon. my apologies. Having a LOT of IRL issues, including family issues and health issues (both mine and other). If the admin want he can NPC Mukade for the ending of this. he'd probably just try to find Kazuo and go home.))