The White Flash

Natural Disasters

            Word of a harsh storm incoming had them remain for a few more days. Spending from morning to dusk cutting trees and reinforcing the curry shop while Lee put Karashi through harsh training. Well, harsh in the general term. Normal training for her and him. The down time turned into good training. Finding a decent sized limb, she practiced like she did with the wooden sword. Cutting through the trees they needed with one swing.

"Ayumi-chan, you truly are amazing!" Lee pumped his fists in the air.

"This is so hard," she sighed. Wiping a layer of sweat from her forehead with her arm. Bouncing the stick on her shoulder, she looked towards Neji. "Where's Tenten?"

"I sent her to check on Karashi and Ranmaru."

"Oh." She turned back to her task at hand. As they began to drag the cut trees to the shop, a cold gust blew through the forest. Dark clouds covering the sky. It took a few more hours to build the frame around the building. A sprinkle began to fall from the clouds.

"Oh my, I'm happy that you all did this much for me," Sansho grinned.

"Oh no!" Karashi's voice came from the path. Attention shifted to him as he ran for them. He grabbed Sansho's shoulders, "Ka-chan, something horrible happened!"

"Oh my, what happened, Karashi?"

"Tenten is..."

"What happened to Tenten?" Lee asked. Ayumi narrowed her gaze at Karashi, studying his reactions.

"She fell from a cliff and..."

"A cliff?" Ayumi voiced. Karashi visibly shook as he met her eyes. A deep shakiness in his voice.

"I was running with her and Tenten said that she would train me in place of Lee. But there..." He pointed to the pass, "when we were approaching the Lightning Pass, the lightning struck and a tree came falling and Tenten-san fell from the Pass to the bottom of the cliff!"

Bam!

Forming a fist, Ayumi slugged Karashi in the jaw with enough force to break the wooden planks they had nailed to the entrance. "Oh my! Karashi!"

"W-what are you doing?!"

"Shut the hell up, you're lucky I didn't kill you." Moving into the shop, she stepped on Karashi's chest as she made her way across the room to grab Onimaru. "If you want to come up with some bullshit lie, try to make it match the personality of the person. Tenten? Offer to put you through the same hellish training Lee does? Like hell. Not to mention, she's not the type of kunoichi who would just fall of a cliff." She looked around, but Ranmaru's purple hair was nowhere to be seen.

Before they returned to the shop, he had asked to see Raiga's corpse. He had a Kekkei Genkai that seemed to have a stronger visual prowess than the Byakugan. Was he able to see signs of life that Neji wasn't?

"Lee-kun, be sure to put him through more hellish training when we get back."

"I will, Ayumi-chan."

"We'll pay your boss a visit and this time, we'll make sure he doesn't come back." Pausing in the entryway she cast a look over her shoulder, "be sure to make up your mind by then, Coward." Her gaze swept the boys, "let's go."

"Right!" They took off at a matched sprint. Through the forest and to the cliffside. "He must have been threatened by this person," Lee claimed.

"Threatened or not this is the second time he's put you all in danger." Ayumi glanced to him, "if you don't take care of it, Lee-kun. I will."

"I swear, Ayumi-chan, I will be especially harsh when we return."

"It might not even be necessary." Neji said, "the other member of the Kurosuki family are already gone. Karashi is clinging to the boss's power. If we can make sure that there is no doubt of his death this time, then Karashi will have no one to follow. She'll have no reason to kill him. Right, Ayumi?" She remained quiet, a watchful eye on their destination for any hint of building chakra or lightning coming their way.