Gone Fishin' (Mission, Hira & TOPKite) Pt. 2

Age : 34 Posts : 1209

[This is part 2 of the following mission and thus a continuation of this thread. Currently it is Hira's post, continuing from where we left off previously. Thank you.]

Posts : 36

[I shall also start off my post with an apology for my delay. But rest assured I will be posting daily now that my trip is finished.]

Ami walked along, deep in thought. Her head was tilted down, the snowy locks of hair that fell before her face casting jagged shadows along her features. Her gaze was cast to the ground, watching her feet as they took one step after another, slowly but surely approaching their goal. This she did for two purposes. The first was that she was trying to avoid looking at the sky at all costs, and in doing so deny the Sun's existence entirely. Though, even if she pretended its light wasn't blaring down, she couldn't ignore the heat around her. It wasn't stifling yet, but beads of sweat were beginning to glisten on her pale skin. She gulped, and winced at the dryness in her throat. It hadn't been too long ago that they'd started out, and she refused to start drinking. Every few steps she reminded herself of the old days.

"Sanjiro, hold up!" Ami looked up to see Kenshin standing on a branch ahead, looking back at her. Sanjiro, at the lead of the group, was coming to a stop and looking back over his shoulder. She quickly stopped her bottle and slid it back into place, then quickened her jumps. She hadn't realized she'd slowed down when she began drinking.

"Sorry guys..."

Sanji and Kenshi never said anything about her frequent need to drink, even though it slowed them down. But she never forgot the looks on their faces. They wouldn't sneer at her, or shake their heads. But, when they didn't think she was looking, their disappointment was clear. They were the words always on her mind, the most dreaded but the most inevitable.

Wait for Ami. Ami's falling behind. Ami can't keep up.

She was determined to not fall a single step behind Sanjiro, not even once. He wouldn't have to look back over his shoulder. He wouldn't have to smile and say it was okay. She wouldn't have to see that smile begin to melt away as he turned his back on her. So she wouldn't drink, even if she was walking ahead of him. It would be a sign of her weakness - a weakness she didn't want to show. Down the road she would find some way to be alone, have to go to the bathroom or something, and drink while he wasn't around. She comforted herself with the thought, thinking chugging a lot at once could make up for all of the sips she would have taken otherwise.

Thinking of not lagging behind him made her think of him lagging behind her. She had started off ahead of him at a brisk pace, and he took up after her within a few steps. That was how they had left the village. She had fully expected him to pass her once they had cleared the village, taking off in a run. He usually liked to make good time, and they were behind schedule on top of that. With every step she wondered why she was still behind him. At first she was glad, now she was simply worried. She wondered if he was still angry, and if he didn't want to travel beside her. She wondered if he was testing her, expecting her to be the one to pick up the pace. She wondered if he was okay, if he had gotten hurt on his last mission. She wondered if she should slow down to meet him, or if she should speed up and expect him to follow. Most of all she wondered if she should look back at him. She wondered if he was looking at her, wondering some of the same things.

Kairi looked up at the path ahead, wondering now how much farther they had to go. She wasn't sure how much longer she could go without anything to drink. She saw a body of water, and the sight gave her mixed feelings. On one hand, she hoped it was their destination, and the water meant they would arrive soon. On the other hand, seeing its glistening surface made her all the more thirsty.

Age : 34 Posts : 1209

The pain was starting to escalate. Each step caused more and more waves to rush up his leg and to his mind. It wasn't debilitating but it was causing him to slow down. He was becoming a burden, something that he wasn't used to being. His eyes remained focused on Ami's back though, using her as his motivation to keep moving forward. He needed to keep up. He couldn't let her get away. He had just gotten her back, like hell he was going to lose her again. Suddenly, as though new life had been breathed into him he felt his legs beginning to move faster. Each step brought him a bit closer to her as his legs moved at almost double the rate of hers. As he picked up his pace he noticed the body of water in the distance. At this point he was now right behind her, almost on top of her.

"That's where we need to go. The competition will be starting in ten minutes. I'm sure that other ninja from the village will be here so we're going to need to be extra vigilant if we want to win."

In all honesty Sanjiro had no real desire to win. The two would get paid either way but at the same time he wasn't about to half ass this job. He continued to stand there for a brief moment, enjoying that he was standing right next to Ami, though slightly behind her. He wanted to wrap his arm around her but he fought the urge, instead he reached into the folds of his jacket, pulling out one of the canteens he brought. He would hold it out toward Ami as he took a few labored steps forward, turning to face her with a gentle smile.

"You didn't drink anything. It's hot you know, and it's only going to get hotter once we are out on the boat. Drink up. Don't worry, I brought plenty of water for the both of us. I know how much you like your water."

He gave a small chuckle as he continued to hold the canteen out towards her. He wanted to show her that he cared. He also wanted to try and cheer her up, she still seemed down about something and it was bothering him. He didn't like seeing her depressed. If she took it he'd wait for her to finish drinking. If she refused he'd simply slide the canteen back under his jacket. Once they were ready though he'd begin to make his way toward the water, now walking down a slight decline toward the shore. His eyes began to survey the area, seeing several familiar faces. In the distance he could easily spot Kirima standing on the docks, wearing what Sanjiro could only interpret as one of the most ridiculous looking outfits he had ever seen. It really didn't suit her at all. It caused a small chuckle to find its way out of his throat. As he continued to look around he also managed to spot Kanji. It had been a few days after their spar and despite all the injuries he had sustained he didn't seem to be doing too bad, carrying a few buckets and fishing poles all while fighting with his client. Sanjiro sighed at the sight, his head shaking some. Kanji was quite the character.

The genin was tempted to greet both of them but the fact was that he and Ami were already running late. He didn't have time to be social. His eyes now began to survey the contestants of the contest. Sadly Sanjiro had no description to go off, just a name: Sakura Himura. From the name alone, Sanjiro could only assume that their client was a female. As Sanjiro continued to search the area he felt his heart sink as he didn't seem to spot any women around. Would their client be a no show? That would make for a very anti-climatic event.

As Sanjiro continued to move toward the shore with Ami his eyes continued to dart around, inspecting everyone he saw. Suddenly a female's voice would sound off behind him, causing him to jump, which in turn caused him to stumble forward, cringing in pain as his leg nearly gave out from under him.

"Are you Sanjiro and Ami? I received a message today that I'd have two ninja helping me."

Sanjiro, after managing to right his posture, turned around to face the girl who was talking rather loudly. Before him stood a rather shapely female, carrying three fishing poles and wearing a giant bucket hat along with a pair of cut off overall shorts that stopped just shy of her knees and a dark blue, plaid shirt. Lively ebony hair spilled out from under the bucket hat, creating small curls near the end, giving it a rather youthful bounce as she tilted her head to the side, staring at Sanjiro with some of the biggest hazel eyes the boy had ever seen. In short, she was quite the looker, though she stood a good three inches taller than the short genin.

"Uh, yes, I am Sanjiro Hikari and this is Ami Tsukiyo. We are looking for a Miss Sakura Himura. Would you happen to be her?"

"Yup! That's me!"

The girl said with an excited smile before turning to look at Ami with a friendly smile. She'd give a polite bow before stepping back so she could look at both of them, sizing them up. She'd tilt her head to the side once more, as if she were contemplating something. Sanjiro began to wonder just what this girl was thinking.

"So here's the deal...this is my first time entering this competition. Usually my dad does but, well his back went out the other day when he was getting the boat ready so now I have stand in for him. So that's where you two come in. I'm going to need all the help I can get. Honestly I'm not much of a fisher.

"You don't say..."

Sanjiro could feel himself mentally sighing in exasperation. He didn't know what to do at this point. It was looking more and more like this whole thing would be hopeless. The girl, almost as if reading Sanjiro's mind pointed her finger straight at him.

"Don't be like that! I won't have any negative nellies on my boat! I'm the captain of the ship and you are to listen to me! Anyway, I have a secret weapon. But I can't tell you here. There's too many eyes and ears."

As she spoke she began to look around at everyone with a suspicious expression. Suddenly she jumped up slightly before spinning around on her heels, running off toward the docks.

"Come on you two! We need to get ready fast, the competition's about to start!"

Sanjiro was already starting to get tired. This girl seemed like a hand full. His eyes drifted toward Ami. He supposed now would be a good time to take his "bathroom" break. He would slide his hands into his pockets as he took a step forward.

"Ami, you go with her and help her get ready. I'll be just a minute. Nature calls and all that jazz..."

With that he'd begin to walk off toward the trees in the distance seeing as there didn't seem to be any restrooms nearby. He moved as fast as possible but at the same time tried to not over exert his leg. The last thing he needed Ami to see was him buckling over from the pain and worrying about him. Once he was sure he was out of sight he would pull out his pain killers, popping the top off the bottle. He'd pour out two pills in his hand, popping them in his mouth and swallowing them without the assistance of any water. A small sigh escaped his lips once he had finished forcing the pills down. He hoped they'd kick in soon, the pain was really starting to get to him. With that thought in mind he capped the bottle and slid it back into his pocket, now heading toward the docks where he hoped he'd find Sakura and Ami getting ready.

Age : 34 Posts : 1209

[I've waited over two weeks for Hira to post, she has not given me a valid reason why she has disappeared and I'm growing impatient so I'm just going to finish this mission without her.]

Sanjiro made his way back to the docks, his leg already starting to feel better from the action of the pain killers. He still was favoring his good leg, but the limp was much less noticeable as the analgesic action of the medicine made it easier for his bad leg to bear a bit more weight. As the boy stepped on the wooden dock he noticed something rather odd. The girl from earlier, Sakura, was the only one here, most of the other boats had already shoved off, causing the team to already be behind schedule and to make matters worse, Ami was no where to be found! Sanjiro began to look around frantically, what could have happened to Ami?!

"Hey, where have you been?! Come on, we're already behind!"

Sakura's voice caused Sanjiro's head to snap in her direction. He was both frantic and irritated. Something could have happened to Ami! Fishing was the last thing on his mind. He wanted to just run away at this very moment, to go searching for his friend, yet his strong sense of duty kept him nailed to the dock as he watched Sakura for a moment before finally walking toward the girl.

"Sakura, where's Ami?"

"She said something about not feeling well. She wanted me to tell you that she was going back to the village. I was irritated at first but I suppose if I got you here then I should be fine. Here help me load the last of this stuff on the boat."

Sanjiro scowled as he went to pick up the last of the equipment, carrying it over to the boat. Ami had just left like that? The thought seriously irked the young genin as he stepped onto the boat and began untying the ropes that secured the small vessel to the side of the dock.

"Of course, I'll have to file a complaint about this to the village, but it shouldn't be a problem for you since you stuck around."

The girl kept talking as she moved to start the small motor on the back of the boat that would allow them to drift through the water without too much difficulty. A small sigh escaped the boy's lips as he took his seat, staring at the water's surface with a rather somber expression. The girl sat in the back, steering the boat by moving the motor left and right to guide the vessel through the water and past the other ships, taking them very far from the shore to what seemed like an incredibly remote area.

"So here it is!"

Sanjiro was shaken from his thoughts as the girl exclaimed excitedly that they had reached their destination. The boy looked around as he found them not too far off from a very rocky shore. Where were they? The genin hadn't been paying attention to where they were going, his mind had been too consumed by the thoughts of Ami, both anger and longing filled his brain.

"Where are we?"

"I told you didn't I? I told you I had a secret weapon! See this map? I bought it from a traveling fisherman who said that all the biggest fish are here. We just need to bag one or two of them and we're sure to win!"

As she spoke she whipped out a map, shoving it Sanjiro's face as she laughed triumphantly, acting as though they already won. With that she shoved a fishing pole into Sanjiro's hands as she grabbed one of her own.

"Let's get to work!"

Sanjiro shook his head lightly as the girl cast her line into the water after baiting the hook. The genin had to admit that she seemed like she knew what she was doing, but with how loud she was talking he'd be surprised if they managed to catch any fish. The boy baited his own hook and cast the line in the water without too much trouble. He had been fishing before, though he was no expert. Memories of his childhood flooded his mind as he remembered how his mother used to bring him to the port all the time. Several of the old fishermen back then had always been friendly with Sanjiro, teaching him how to fish and telling him stories as his mother shopped around for fresh fish and socialized with some of the other women at the port. Those were good memories, ones he wished he could continue to live.

The two sat out there for hours, back to back, almost in silence as they stared at their own poles, occasionally reeling them in to recast them. The genin sighed contently, reveling in the silence yet he could feel, from the way the boat occasionally rocked, that the girl was growing impatient and bored. She was jittery and obviously didn't like waiting around with nothing to do. Sanjiro dipped his hand within his jacket, pulling out one of the large canteens full of water and handed it to her.

"Here, have something to drink...it's hot out."

Sakura turned to look at the canteen and eagerly took it from Sanjiro, quickly taking several gulps before letting out a loud and content sigh, signalling that she found the water to be incredibly refreshing.

"You don't fish much, do you?"

"No, not really...My dad taught me how to fish but I never really went with him too much and when I did I'd always get bored so we'd go back to shore without catching anything..."

The boy noted the drop in her voice, obviously the subject was a sore one for her. She had lost that upbeat attitude she had been sporting hours ago. Perhaps it was a combination of being out on the water for so long and the fact that the subject of her fishing skills wasn't a pleasant one for her. Either way Sanjiro would remain silent as she continued.

"...I've never really liked fishing to be honest, despite knowing that it is what puts food on our table. When my dad threw out his back and said he wasn't going to participate I forced myself to step up and take his place. I know that the chances of me actually winning are slim though but even so, I felt like I had to try. I want my dad to be proud of me and I guess I thought that if I could do well in the competition, if I could take his place, he'd be happy."

Sanjiro stared at his line, watching the bobber float around carelessly in the water as small waves lapped at the side of the boat, causing the line to steadily drift further and further away from him.

"I see...I don't know your father so I don't know what type of man he is but I think that most fathers would be proud to have their children step up in the way that you did..."

Sanjiro tried his best to cheer her up but he knew that doing so would be a difficult task for him. Her problem was related to her father, something that Sanjiro never really had in his life. He had no true way of knowing how father's worked, how they thought.

"Thanks, Sanjiro..."

The girl's voice was gentle as she shifted once more on the boat, leaning back so that her back pressed against Sanjiro's back, using him as support for her to recline. The boy sighed lightly to himself as he began to reel his line in, getting ready to recast it when suddenly he felt something tugging at the other end....

Age : 34 Posts : 1209

Sanjiro perked up, the sudden moving almost causing Sakura to fall backwards as she had been forcing most of her weight against him. His eyes lit up as he pulled forcefully on the pull, attempting to "set" the hook in the fish's mouth, hoping that the barb at the end of the small metal hook would sink into the creature's flesh in an attempt to prevent the prey from escaping. After the pull, he began to real the fish in but suddenly realized just how much weight was on the other end as his pole began to bend and the line refused to move anymore, causing the real to freeze as he held the handle tightly in an effort to arrest its movement. Sanjiro immediately felt the repercussions of his actions as he felt his body nearly dragged out of the boat by a forceful tug on the other end. The young genin quickly slammed his feet against the side of the boat, using his powerful leg muscles in an effort to counteract the force that was threatening to pull him overboard and to provide him with a bit more leverage as he tried to win this tug-of-war game.

At this point Sakura had turned to watch Sanjiro, her hazel orbs peering over the edge of the boat with a slightly frightened look. She immediately wrapped her arms around the boy's torso as she leaned backwards, spreading her long legs on either side of Sanjiro's form in an effort to press her feet against the side of the boat in much the same way that Sanjiro was doing. The boat lurched more but the girl hoped that her weight would help keep the boy from toppling over.

"Sanjiro, it's too strong! Let go of the pole!"

The boy growled in anger as he wrenched his arms back the best he could, the pole bending even more, now looking as though it might snap at any moment. Suddenly the two felt the water beneath their boat begin to chop as whatever was on the other end began to emerge from the depths below. Sanjiro's dark brown eyes widened as he spotted a rather large a ferocious fish. Sanjiro could have likened the creature to a shark but the shape wasn't quite right. It lacked the elongated body of a shark, rather it looked more like a giant piranha rather than any species of shark that the boy was familiar with. Sanjiro instinctively grabbed the net next to him and quickly swung the net in a forceful fashion only to realize that at the end of his swing that the net was much too small to catch this giant fish, it being about 10 feet long from head to tail with teeth as big as Sanjiro's forearm. The net boinked harmlessly against the fish's nose. What ensued after could only be described as an awkward, yet comical silence as the fish stared at both Sanjiro and Sakura while the two nervously stared back.

"I think....we need a bigger net..."

Sanjiro's voice cut through the tense atmosphere only to be met with a fist in the back of his head as the girl who was very close behind him smacked him for his stupidity. Sanjiro cringed but before he had time to complain the fish in front of them quickly dove under the water, its tail kicking up small waves that quickly forced the boat to drift away from its designated spot. The vessel nearly capsized due to the disturbance in the water but Sanjiro and Sakura held fast as they found themselves on a collision course with a small island bordered on all sides by rather sturdy yet smooth looking rocks. The next thing Sanjiro knew, he was flying out of the boat only to lose consciousness as his head smashed against one of the rocks. The boy sunk into a world of dreams as he lay half submerged in the water. Sakura, on the other hand had managed to stay within the boat a bit longer as it collided with the rocks only to tumble out of the boat as it continued to bounce along the rocky shore.

The girl took a few moments to collect herself, groaning in pain before she realized that Sanjiro was missing. Her eyes widened in fear as she began to look around frantically for her male companion.

"Sanjiro?!"

Her voice cut through the air like a knife but sadly there was no response. The girl quickly picked herself up, paying no mind to the scrapes and bruises that now adorned her shapely legs. She began to move quickly yet carefully along the rocky shore, searching for the young ninja.

After what had seemed like an eternity of searching to the young girl, her eyes fell upon a body half submerged in the water. She took no time at all to recognize the body as Sanjiro. Abandoning all caution she rushed forward, nearly tripping several times as she finally reached Sanjiro's side, staring down at the unconscious boy. She'd quickly drag the boy out of the water and onto the rocky shore as she took a knee next to him. She immediately bent over the boy, pressing her ear against his chest, straining to see if she could hear a heart beat. The soft sound of beating came from deep within the boy's chest, but the beat was weak and out of rhythm, to make matters worse the boy's breathing was irregular as well. The girl panicked, not having any formal medical training, she was unable to decide what to do. Immediately she placed her hands over Sanjiro's sternum and began to compress his chest in a forceful manor, remembering the basic CPR skills her father had shown her back when she was young. This was the only thing she could do for the boy and she hoped it would be enough. After about 15 compressions she quickly bent down over the boy, pinching the boy's nose as she tilted his head slightly upward. She quickly locked her mouth with his, breathing forcefully into his mouth, in an attempt to fill his lungs with air to stimulate his breathing.

Once she had finished exhaling three times into the boy's mouth she pulled away slightly, turning her head to listen for any sign of breathing. A slight grunt of frustration could be heard creeping from her throat as she quickly began to force contractions on the boy's chest again, this time forcing it to contract 20 times before going down to exhale into his mouth several times.

"Come on Sanjiro, wake up!"

Once more the process was repeated and as the girl withdrew her lips from the boy's he began to cough up a frothy mixture of sputum and water, his eyes slowly parting as he felt both a burning pain from within his chest and the familiar feeling of having one's ribs bruised and fractured. His head screamed in pain, causing the boy to recoil, nearly slamming his head down against the rocks below him, only to have Sakura reach out her hand in a quick manor to catch him.

"Take it easy, we're okay now....you scared the hell out of me."

The boy groaned as he turned his head toward Sakura, his face brushing against her forearm as he tried to stare up at her.

"Wha...what happened?"

"That fish didn't like that you smacked it with the net, he got his revenge by smacking you with a rock."

"Oh...is that all? I guess that explains the migraine..."

Sakura felt a small smile creeping along her face as she stared down at the young ninja. She was surprised by how vulnerable the boy seemed at this very moment. She supposed that if he had been allowed to use his jutsu that they might not have ended up in this situation, but the rules of the competition stated that ninja who were hired were not allowed to use their special abilities. She was honestly surprised the boy hadn't attempted to use his powers in an effort to save them and she didn't know whether it was stupidity or honor that made him do so. She wondered if they had been in definitive trouble if he would have broken this rule in an effort to save them both. As she thought the boy slowly sat up, his gaze now focused on the water in front of them.

"How much time do we have left?"

"Probably around two hours...though I don't think we have a shot at winning now, the boat got thrown somewhere and you are in no condition to keep fishing."

"I'm fine."

The boy shot back quickly, almost defensively. The manor in which he spoke filled Sakura both with sorrow and anger. He was not fine, he probably had a concussion from the impact yet he felt compelled to keep up with the mission. Was it for her sake or his own? She supposed it didn't matter at this point, the boat had been thrown along the shore's rocky exterior and the chances of it being found and intact were slim.

"Come on, we gotta find that boat..."

As the boy spoke he slowly stood up, nearly falling over in the process. Sakura was nearly dumbstruck by this statement but quickly moved up to held steady the ninja as he wasn't yet stable on his feet.

"Fine, but once we do we are going back to shore, I'm tired of fishing."

Sanjiro was silent as he stared at the rocky ground before them. For now the girl took his silence as a sign of his resignation to her plan. They would go back to shore, this competition was over for them. The two marched along the shores slowly, eventually coming upon their boat, flipped over and heavily battered. The two began to move with renewed vigor toward their capsized vessel, quickly flipping it over to inspect the inside of the boat. Sakura groaned as she looked the boat over, noting that the motor was totaled.

"Now what?!"

She cried out as Sanjiro continued to inspect the inside of the boat. He noticed a small set of clamps along the interior of the boat, familiar clamps that told him that somewhere on the boat had been a set of oars that could have been used in situations like this.

"Sakura, did your boat have any oars?"

The girl looked at the boy with a surprised look before glancing back at the boat.

"Yeah, it did! We need to find them so we can get back to shore."

With that the two set off to search for the oars. It didn't take long for Sakura to find one of the oars, yelling out toward Sanjiro as she waved it over her head triumphantly, unfortunately Sanjiro managed to find the second oar only about thirty seconds later, but the oar was snapped in half, it was in no condition to be used. He sighed as he picked up the broken oar, wondering if it could be repaired. As he picked up the broken object he noticed a small hole that the oar had been covering. The hole looked as though it might have been a nest or layer for some crabs yet upon closer inspection Sanjiro noticed an odd shape within the hole, it looked almost like some sort of case used to contain an instrument or something of the like. Without hesitation the boy reached into the hole, his hand resting on what he could only interpret as being a case made out of some high quality metal that had surprisingly not rusted due to years of being drenched in salty sea water.

"Sanjiro, did you find the other oar?"

The girl called out as she made her way over to the hunched over boy, wondering what was taking him so long to respond. As she drew closer she spotted the broken oar and felt her heart sinking.

"Sakura, I think I found something!"

With that Sanjiro spun around, holding the case out toward her. Upon closer inspection the two could see that the case itself looked very expensive, it was definitely worth a lot of money due to the quality of its construction.

"It's a case...what do you think is inside?"

"One way to find out."

Sanjiro moved his hand steady to the clasp of the case, undoing it so that it could be opened, once he had undone the clasps he began to slowly open the case, both of them staring with expectant expressions on their face. The boy's eyes widened as he looked upon one of the most beautiful swords he had ever seen. The sheath of the blade was pure black yet was adorned by a series of golden designs that occupied much of the body of the hilt, only to be capped at the end with a solid gold end piece. The boy quickly handed the case to Sakura before reaching in and removing the blade. He'd slowly pull the sword from its sheath only to discover that the blade itself was pure black and sleek in design and the hilt sported an equally black guard yet the body of the hilt possessed three strange jewels, one red, one blue, and one green. The boy stared at the blade for a few seconds and as he held it he could feel a strange pulsing energy radiating through the sword. His eyes narrowed as he sheathed the blade and set it back in the case, shutting it and locking it.

"I think....with this sword you don't need to worry about money for a while."

The girl stared down at Sanjiro with a dumbfounded look. She was baffled as to how the young ninja had guessed that her family needed money and was even more surprised that a swordsmen would give up such a nice looking sword that he had just found.

"How did you know we needed money?"

"If you didn't need money then there wouldn't be a need for you to feel like you had to enter this competition. If you had money I would suspect that your dad would have hired people to help him, bad back or not. In any case, if you sold this sword I'm sure you'd have more than enough money to keep your family afloat for a while."

"But...you found it! It's yours, I can't accept this. You obviously are a swordsman, this blade could probably be used better in your hands!"

"Maybe, but I feel that it would be the better choice to give the blade to you and your family so that you have money to live. In any case, you hired me to help you win this competition, something I failed at, at least this way, you'll still come out of the competition with some cash, probably more cash than you would have received if you had won. Anyway, let's get back to shore."

"But the oar...it's broken."

"Don't worry about that, I have an idea."

With that Sanjiro made his way toward the boat, followed by a nervous looking Sakura. Once they reached the boat Sakura placed the case within the boat as Sanjiro pulled out some rope, tying it to the front of the boat before removing his jacket and shirt and sandals, throwing them into the boat. He then placed his ninja equipment within the boat until he was wearing nothing but his black cargo pants.

"What are you doing?"

Sakura asked as she watched the boy tie a rope around his body several times.

"We're going back to shore. I'm going to pull the boat with this rope and you are going to use that oar to help guide and propel us forward. The rope will also serve as a safety harness for me. If I go under you simply pull me back in. If the boat goes under i need you to cut the rope with one of my kunai knives in that holster over there, okay?"

The girl nodded as the boy began to slowly drag the boat toward the water. It took Sakura several seconds to realize that she needed to help him and together they moved the boat off the shore and into the water. She'd hop into the boat and use the oar to push the boat away from the shore. With that Sanjiro dove into the water and began to swim, instantly feeling the resistance of the weight of the boat he was now towing. The two took a long time to reach the shore, the sun finally setting as they made it back to shore. All the other fisherman had already left by now, leaving the two alone at the docks. As they reached the port, Sakura helped Sanjiro out of the water, untying the rope from around him and securing it to the dock. The boy collapsed within the boat, staring up at the sky with an exhausted expression on his face before he noticed that Sakura was now sitting close to him, looking down at him.

"Uh Sanjiro, thanks for your help...without you I don't think I would have made it back in one piece nor do I think I would have found that sword."

"Don't worry about it, I was just trying to help...sorry about the competition."

The girl giggled lightly as she turned to look out to the water with a serene expression her face.

"You don't need to worry about that. I'm just glad we got back in one piece....and I'm glad I met you."

Sanjiro felt a small blush starting to form on his face before he suddenly sat up, reaching for his shirt and his jacket. He cringed as he felt his body cry out in pain, he had exhausted himself today and he had several injuries to prove that he had worked hard. As he sat up he felt two arms warp around his torso, hugging him gently, causing him to freeze.

"You're hurt, you should come home with me, we can feed you and there's a warm bed for you to sleep in. You can go back to the village tomorrow."

The boy felt her grip loosen as she slid away from him. He sighed lightly as he slid on his shirt then his jacket, both still damp from being submerged in water.

"Uh...sure..."

As she spoke he felt the boat shake as Sakura quickly hopped out of the boat and onto the dock. She'd stand there, holding the treasure in one arm as she reached her other hand out toward Sanjiro to help him off the boat. He'd sigh as he took her hand, stepping up onto the docks and the two would begin to head toward Sakura's house where Sanjiro would spend the rest of the evening, only to leave the next day before the sun had even peaked over the horizon.

[Exit]

[Submitting for Eval]