[Hayashi Matsu]

The Doctor is Out

There are always lives that can be saved...

Matsu's muscles ached, eyes and chakra senses weary as the scenery flashed away around him. They had been traveling all day for several days now, but the doctor dare not slow down until Akane called for it. It was rare for the doctor to enter the field, but this was one mission that he felt he couldn't pass up.

Nuke-nin hunts weren't usually something that Matsu concerned himself with, but the details of this specific criminal raised a few flags. The runaway Hyuuga had been known to express anti-Suna sentiments for quite awhile before his untimely desertion, and rumors hinted at the man having a clandestine encounter with a Suna shinobi 15 years ago. The rumors only became more hazy upon further investigation, but there was enough bits and pieces to lead to one shaky conclusion: this was the man who may have killed Akane's husband.

There wasn't much to go by. They knew he had last been seen in Bird Country and it seemed he wished to take refuge in Law Country. The two medics' pursuit had them going at full speed across Kaze no Kuni, briefly searching Bird Country, and now, with an hour or so of travel they would soon cross over the border into Wood Country. Finding one man in this expanse felt... nearly impossible, but Matsu understood just how important it was to Akane that they complete this mission and so he soldiered on, stepping deftly from one tree branch to the next as the sun slowly began to set ahead of them.

...even among our enemies?

[Chikamatsu Akane]

Perfection is a Choice

Hard Work and Dedication are the Foundation

Days had passed since they embarked on that mission that held significant meaning to the woman A past that had turned her into shambles and it wasn’t particularly a thing she viewed as helping her grow ‘stronger.’ Which made it all the more pressing to find this individual. Perhaps not the right one, but in her mind it might as well be… Seeking out that blood was as good as any and to place that blame upon him was at least healing. A nukenin was a nukenin. A criminal a criminal. Whether he was at fault for the specific sins that caused her pain or not, the drive to go after him wasn’t wasted, it only fueled the idea of success.

That’s what she kept telling herself at least. Matsu would have realized just as well as herself that she was far from normal though. Akane was rarely one of many words, but the amount she had spent throughout the last few days of travel could have about been counted on her hands… She had been eerily silent, aggressively distant, and the further they pressed on it really didn’t seem to get better. Points where rest likely would have been helpful weren’t taken, they pushed across Kaze no Kuni and through other lands at a pace that likely didn’t need to be so quick…

Eventually they’d have to burn out though. Shinobi could go for long times and long distances, medics perhaps even further especially when they had one another to heal those minor ‘injuries’ that came with the body overworking itself. It was a long while back that Akane had drawn her familiar up onto her body, the snake wrapped about the woman’s neck and upper arm, holding on as they had moved. It was tired and not as swift, the little pudgy body of that snake not meant to keep up the same pace for so long..

A heavy sigh would soon be heard. Perhaps not a sound that should normally catch so much attention, but seeing as she had remained silent… likely easy to tell that it was out of the normal. The woman’s face had been hard and impassive for days and wasn’t much different now.

"We should break for camp soon.”

They were words spoken, sure. But it wasn’t as if she had slowed down. She could move farther… they could go more… they’d be closer then and maybe find him.

Chikamatsu Akane

MADE BY VEL OF GS