F A M I L I A R

The Inescapable Blow

"I see the wall up ahead," I said to Kiba, trying to keep my voice low but still louder than a whisper. I was leading us as we ran single file through the bamboo stalks. "There's also more tall trees up ahead, we can rest there."

We had been running like this for an hour at least. The bamboo made for good camouflage, but it slowed us down tremendously. Avoiding the stalks while we ran was not an easy task, especially since they didn't grow in perfect lines. How inconvenient. 

We finally reached a break in the bamboo and quickly jumped into the cover of a large tree right by the wall. Shrouded in leaves, we could finally take a moment to catch our breath. Kiba had his hands on his knees, bent over and panting as he stood on the branch. Akamaru was panting as well, but not nearly as much as he was. 

His stamina must be ridiculous.

I leaned my back against the tree trunk, searching for any chakra in our vicinity. I was out of breath, but luckily the extra chakra I absorbed before kept me from feeling tired. I kept my eyes peeled, watching the ground and the sky for any movement. I could hear birdsong in the distance, which was a good sign. Usually animals are the first to pick up on danger, so the fact that they were still around and I could hear them told me it was safe for at least a 100 meter radius.

Kiba finally straightened up, stretched, and said, "I now officially hate bamboo."

I laughed in agreement, but still kept my guard up. I couldn't let myself fall pray to my feelings for him at a time like this, even if he was pretty cute right now in the shade of this tree. 

"We should keep going," I said, watching Kiba's face reflect how much he didn't want to. "There are trees like this for a little while that way," I pointed to the north, "so we'll keep going. Try to stay as high in the tree line as possible until we have no other option than to proceed on foot."

"Who made you leader?" Kiba asked sarcastically. I just stuck out my tongue and jumped away into the next tree.

We went on like that for a couple more meters until I felt a change in the chakra around us. I signaled for us to stop just as Akamaru barked.

"Blood?" Kiba asked, sniffing the air to confirm Akamaru's warning.

"Yeah, look," I pointed below us at the ground. There was a piece of blue cloth that appeared to be torn from someone's clothing. It's edge was red and hidden slightly in the grass below. I quickly placed my palm against the tree to sense any chakra in our area, but there was nothing other than a faint signature coming off of the piece of cloth. Almost like an impression of the person that was once there.

"I don't sense anyone around, I think we can jump down and check it out."

The grass felt plush under our feet as we scoped out the area. Akamaru went straight to the cloth, and I knelt down to pick it up. It was soft, almost like it was torn from satin, and there was definitely blood on the edge.

"It appears to be fresh," I stated, looking over the fabric. I wasn't sure, but my gut told me something didn't seem right.

"Akamaru, there are more blood drops over here!" Kiba exclaimed, "Pick up the scent and follow them, boy."

Akamaru barked and ran over to Kiba, quickly sniffing the groundand following his nose. As we walked, the blood trail seemed to be leading away from the village, farther west than we planned to go.

"I don't know about this," I said with concern in my voice. "Why is the trail leading away from the village?"

"I know what you mean," Kiba said. "The hairs on the back of my neck are standing on end, but what if someone's hurt? Shouldn't we help them?"