A Vagrant amongst the Sands

Matusuri sighed as she approached the caves for the second time since her arrival in Wind Country. Honestly, the location was seemingly to become a frequent for her... though not a willing one. The suffocating dampness of the atmosphere was hellish to the girl, and though it was cooler within them than in the glaring sun of the desert, they still roasted her. The ravenette was tired of the dim, dank caverns, but at the moment she had no choice. She had been stuck in the desert just as mid-day rolled around, and anything would be better to her than the scorching sun.

Even walking though a winter in Yukigakure...in a bikini.

Okay, maybe not that far.

Matsuri sighed as the caves came further into view, her ragged pace increasing because she couldn't take it much longer. Malnutrition, dehydration, and the (natural) elements were the only things that could put her to death... And despite the girl viewing the 'blessing' of immortality as more of a curse, she still wasn't exactly eager to die just yet. This is why, even with the agonizing discomfort they caused her, the shaded grottos were something of a life-saver. She loathed them... yet she was eager to enter.

However, she forced herself to slow her steps as she approached, for she didn't know who - or what - may be lurking within. Her feet were silent as she padded towards the entrance, the sand silencing her steps as it softened the blow of her ground-gripping boots. Soon enough, she arrived at the entrance, holding the kunai that she drew into her right hand on the way there. Matsuri neared the caverns at the right wall of the opening, sticking more towards the sandstone than the gaping entrance so that her armed side was the one she could react with first. Finally, she peered into the darkness, little of her body sticking out from behind the stone.

Her indigo eyes quickly focused in the shadows. After all, most of her life had been spent in cold, ill-lit cells and dim underground training areas, and even after weeks spent in Sunagakure, she still knew her tricks for seeing in the dark.

Upon viewing, Matsuri slinked back around the wall, shielding her entire body from view once more. Sitting against the wall of the cave was a man, though not any man. Instead of a civilian, he was quite obviously a Shinobi, for bandages wrapped the entirety of his body and his attire wasn't exactly...relaxed, as that of most average citizens. She also noted the sword clutched tightly in his fingers. It seemed rather well kept, and of significant value. However, she wouldn't move to steal it...for a very good reason.

The man appeared to be unconscious, but with the way he gripped his weapon even in rest suggested his sleep was light at best. He also appeared to be an opponent not to trifle with, and Matsuri wanted nothing to do with battle at the moment. Her pursuers were still on her tail, and she expected them to arrive in Sunagakure in little time from then. In order to continue her evasion, it was vital for her to keep her body in fit and working condition. Her assialants were fast men, and skilled as well.

Matsuri sighed, swiping a hand across her brow as the sun continued to beat down upon her. Too much longer in this heat, and she really could die. She didn't know what to do... Enter the cave and risk both injury and all she carried on her? or be baked to a crisp in the sun?

Her fingers brushed over the Pokeball at her side, taking in the soft, buzzing warmth of the item that held her familiar. Matsuri supposed she didn't truly need what she held in the end, so long as she was unscathed and with Hikage. The girl leaned tiredly against the wall.

Still, though... What was she to do?

What was worse? Death, or the possibility of being captured once again...?

Possibility. There was nothing that said she would definitely be captured again if she was injured - perhaps, she would have even healed and left Wind Country by the time her dear captors arrived. Jashin, there was nothing that said she would even be injured... Though, it was a definite possibility. There was that word again! Possibility. Would she really let herself die over the mere possibility of another event what was also hardly certain? No, even this girl wasn't that stupid.

The heat was hellish anyway.

With those thoughts, Matsuri peered around the corner once more, taking a moment to re-assess the shinobi who would most likely become her opponent in a few minutes time. Bandages and clothes covered his entire body, from head to heel, with the only splashes of his identity being oddly placed tufts of hair peeking through off-white strips of cloth. Unless his picture in a bingo book was the same as his current appearance, Matsuri was pretty sure that it would take quite some time to match him with his identity. Then again, he may not even be in such a book. No matter; it wasn't like she owned one anyway, having merely studied them back in the old institute.

With the rest of her assessment, Matsuri concluded that she had been wrong the first time. Though he gripped his sword as tight as he did, the ravenette pinned it simply to reflexes... because this man was out cold. More than that, the light sand directly surrounding him was only still settling into place, meaning he had only just passed out - minutes ago at most - and most likely wouldn't be waking up for some time if left undisturbed. What shinobi would let his guard fall so easily in a place as public as this, a place outside a village in which any rogue ninja could come along and destroy him? Slumped against the wall with his consciousness far from the cave in which his slumbering body lied, the man was too easy a target.

Matsuri was never known for her mercy.

However, she wasn't eager for more death on her hands just yet.

Narrowing her eyes and being careful to keep her breathing, movements, and clothing rustles to their quietest, Matsuri withdrew two kunai from her pouch, resting one in each of her hands. Their handles were held firmly but gently, an odd mix of grips she used when she needed to hold onto her kunai, but shift them as she went. By now, a plan was already formulated in her mind.

Matsuri stepped quietly into the cave, padding across the cavern floor as silently as she possibly could without Silent Steps. With the sand ever so lightly carpeting the ground, this was pretty quiet - not enough to wake a man in as deep a slumber as this KOed shinobi seemed to be.

However, as she would approach him, she would grow more careful anyway. Though it would be all but impossible to hear the near-silent rustles and footfalls of the girl, Matsuri wouldn't want to risk the man waking to find himself being attacked. Moving like this would ensure near silence around the deeply sleeping man.

As Matsuri would approach the man, she would arrive on his right side, the side on which his hand held his sword in a tight grip. She would be positioned far enough back that it would be difficult to hit her with his blade without moving and leaning forward, though she could still access his throat and lean forward to reach his sword-holding wrist - and lean she would, balancing with her legs in a position that she could spring backwards and out of his reach at a moment's notice. All of this moving would have been done smoothly, quickly, and quietly, her large expanses of bare skin and tight-fitting clothing keeping rustling to an absolute minimum and the light brush of sand on the floor silencing her steps.

Carefully, she would position the kunai in her left hand hovering just above the masked-man's throat. The kunai, once she decided to bring it closer, would rest on his neck with the tip pointing towards his left side. The tip would also be leaning towards the wall, making sure he couldn't move his head to the left or lean forward, or else he would either cut his own throat or decapitate himself on the blade of the knife. The sharpness of the knife was 50 and his health was 19 - immortal or not, the kunai would end up cutting through his flesh like butter, and would leave his body useless as he wouldn't be able to move with his head severed from his body.

The only way he could possibly move his head would be to the right, but Matsuri would just move the kunai a bit and cut him off there if he did, the girl knew. If he was perhaps quick enough to evade a small flick of her kunai, then his face would instead plunge right into her... breasts. And she really would kill him, then. No matter; she could simply block such an embarrassing moment with her forearm, due to the way she crouched.

As she placed this kunai into position with her left hand, she would use the one in her right to corral the movement of his sword-holding right hand. The kunai would rest only millimeters above his bandage-clad skin, as she hadn't placed the twin blades down just yet. With the way she held it, the kunai would restrict the movement of his right limb even further. Like the one over his neck, this kunai would be sharp enough to slice through his 19 health flesh like a butcher knife into butter, and it would easily sever his hand from his body if he pressed against it, especially with his full strength behind the action. After all, the more strength he himself exerted against this sharp steel, the harder it would cut into him.

Over all, it was good leverage for an E-Rank kunochi against a B-Rank shinobi.

Remember, all of this would be occurring as swiftly, carefully and quietly as Matsuri could manage without falling or creating too loud a noise - and the girl was graceful; she did not slip easily. The twin kunai would be positioned at the same time, all part of the same fluid movement that previously had Matsuri crouching and positioning her body itself for this attack. Though her actions would be detailed in this post, they would also be quick, the girl moving as fast a she could - but quietly.

Matsuri would waste no time, using the moment the kunai were in position to her advantage still. She would press the sharp twin blades down then, the metal touching his bandage-clad skin firmly in a none-too-subtle warning not to move. As she placed them down, she would fix her eyes - a dark and dangerous blue shade - on his own lidded ones. The kunai dug ever so slightly into him, having cut two small slices in his bandages - one for each kunai. The metal was now pressed precariously against his skin, and any wrong move could send them into his neck. Once more, all of these little movements would occur at 20 speed - as fast as she could go - against the sleeping form, who most likely could not defend himself because he was, in fact, sleeping.

However, at the cool and slightly painful sensation of metal against his neck and wrist, the man would surely wake up. After all, unless they were dead lasts or simply had never been in a real battle before, this stimulus would be enough to rouse any shinobi. Plus, this one definitely did not seem like one to have never seen combat, judging solely from his attire. What happy-go-lucky Genin would dress like this?

Once he would awake, Matsuri would gaze calmly into his eyes, and say to the probably groggy man, "Don't try to move. I want your ryo, not your life. Don't lose your head... or you will do just that." Her voice would be clear and level, though it it would lie a silent warning that despite her age and youthful looks, she meant every word she spoke.

Of course, all of this would only take place if the man found no way to avoid all or part of her actions.

Perhaps it was cowardly... attacking a sleeping, seemingly worn man. Matsuri was a shinobi, though, and she was one brought up in gore and ruthlessness, a member of a most violent and unforgiving religion. She was not one of the merciful beings in their profession, fighting instead for herself and for the few in the world she cared about. No village or organizational loyalties, her only honor pledged to a man disappeared. She was searching for him desperately, and every cent she gained would make her stronger, fund her weapons, bring her closer to finding him in the end.

If Matsuri had to rob the sleeping, so be it.

It wasn't like shinobi were innocent anyway.