Lost (Vaneda)

Having let go of the rat and turned towards Vaneda, it wasn't difficult for her to see how badly the young man was reacting to the incident. She didn't blame him one bit. If he still had the capability of being disgusted by something like this, somewhere inside he was a pure person, disturbed by so much filth and degradation. When he mentioned the smell, the kunoichi replied kindly. "If you like, I can help make the smell go away," she offered. Anywhere else she would have helped without asking but this was Kumo, and a jutsu - no matter how well intended - could be taken as a challenge.

If the priest agreed, the blonde would raise her hands towards Vaneda, the glowing orb moving out of the way. Again, the hand motions were simply for show, the kunoichi having no real need for them. She just didn't want to startle the man. The bubble of Hikariton chakra started small, elongating as it moved towards Vaneda, eventually only a little bit bigger than the size of his head. "This can work like filtration mask. At least it will give you clean air to breath in," she explained as she moved it slowly over to his head if he allowed.

If he refused her help, she would simply continue on. "I don't know about flowers and grass, but we can try to take all the swill aawy first," she suggested, giving the young ninja a sideways smile, her first proper one since she'd stepped foot in the forest. "Uh... please step back a little bit, I would be very sad if you got hurt," she spoke sincerely. Once he had stepped away, Akihana closed her golden eyes, ceiling forth the nature energy she was the harness of.

It took a moment to find her center, to find the small bit if natural energy that was the essence of all life forms. Akihana focused on the rat somewhere out there, keeping her ears peeled for the hurried sound of its paws scratching against the dead bark of the trees and finally, when she thought she had it, the young woman began to glow.

A soft gold radiated from her, sparks of light reaching out all around her to sink into the muck and sludge. A feeling of peace and unity started to come over the kunoichi. She knew what would happen next. The nature energy would slowly work to heal the land all around her, the dead trees would be felled and new roots would spoutr in their place. The muck would clear up to make way for fresh water, there would eventually be the song of the first bird...

Something shook the female violently, pushing her off her feet and into the filth that she had been digging through only a few moments ago. As soon as her body had begun to glow, the decay had caught on, eating through her nature energy as though it was nothing. Defeated, Akihana remained where she was, on her knees in the filth.

Perhaps some things couldn't be reversed...

The blonde smiled at his comment, noting that hoping for grass and sunshine might be taking it a bit too far. Vaneda simply laughed, taking her aid as she extended a small bubble around his head. As the bubble closed, he could feel the air freshening around him, no longer needing to put up the the REPULSIVE odor. It seemed she was going to do something dangerous however, something important as she asked him to step back a bit. Of course, the priest's first impulse was to boast his immortality, how nothing could really kill him, only slow him down. How he could take several life-threatening blows and keep getting up. Of course, Vaneda thought better of trying to impress the older woman and instead, quietly took a few steps back. She appeared to be serious about whatever she was planning on doing. With him several feet away from the blondey, she seemed to wait, pausing, focusing, trying to find some sort of comfort in the swill in which they stood. After a moment, however, she began to radiate a soft field of golden light, almost warm to the touch. Sparks began to sparkle all around her, some invisable force pushing away all the filth, waste and Jashin knew what else away, exposing fertile ground and clean water underneath. The light show alone was entertaining, but also incredibly powerful. He could simply feel the pure, controlled wrath of that energy being directed into the filth around them. For a few seconds, it appeared as if this place might know the nature of soap and clean water yet again, but that feeling didn't last.

Akihana seemed to stagger, the light and power around her quickly fracturing and fading as if someone threw a rock through a glass window. She fell to her knees there in the pile of filth, simply defeated by the unseen force that stole her power. With her energy fading, but barely present, Vaneda ran to her side as she fell, kneeling by her with only a slight cringe at the feel of the waste beneath his knee. The look on her face was one of weakness, of defeat, a FAR cry from the smiling, happy face she had on a moment ago. She looked as if one of her children had their head cut off in front of her, how defeated she looked. It was actually quite distubing how drastic a change she had made. Heck, the look on her face rivaled the land around them, battered, broken, rotted and hollowed. Whatever took her power shattered her spirit as well. THAT was power.

"Hey, hey..." The priest said as he place one hand on her back. "Are you okay there...? I felt all that power fall away... What happened?"

Akihana took a few deep breaths, steadying her frame as her new friend leaned down to help her. Not many people would go down in the grime and filth to help her but he had and she could only appreciate the sentiment. When he asked what was wrong however, the kuniochi averted her gaze from his. What had happened was simple: she had failed.

"I didn't listen," Akihana confessed, trying to keep her vice steady. "I was told not to come here until he was done but I did anyway. I suppose this is punishment." She was speaking more to herself than the priest at this point, Youka's pointless worded request echoing in her mind. He was using this place for something, and whatever that something was, it had enough malice and disease to counter even her attempts at nature energy. Akihana wasn't very strong to begin with, her spirit almost broken by the decision she'd had to make.

This just proved it. A broken soul couldn't heal. She couldn't even stand up.

"Could I..." she motioned, silently asking help to get to her feet. Using Vaneda's shoulder to help herself up, she finally managed to stand, still unsteady but upright nonetheless. "I think I made a grave mistake today in coming here," she finally admitted, mustering up the courage to look at the priest once more. "But you see, I had to try..." She trailed off, unable to complete the whole sentence.

And I'll try again, I'll keep trying because that's who I am.

As Akihana explained what happened, he could practically hear the weariness and broken-spirit within her words. He couldn't quite understand why she was taking this botched attempt so hard, but it wasn't his place to judge her either. Simply failing to do something once was no reason to sound like you failed to save a close friend or something, but then again, maybe there was more to this whole act than what was evident. She used a fair amount of pronouns, not really giving away who told her not to come down here, but he could only assume she meant the Raikage himself. The man responsible for this place's current run-down state was likely not done exterminating everything here and thus wouldn't want his work tampered with. It made sense in Vaneda's mind and he had his answer without asking the question.

He lowered himself further at the blonde's request, allowing her to push herself up to her feet using his shoulder as support. Even as she stood, her unsteady posture made it obvious she wasn't ready to stand on her own yet but nonetheless, she did. Just in case, however, the white-haired priest stood close, just in case her legs would fail her. Aki admitted to Vaneda that coming down here at all was a huge mistake, but then attempted to justify it too him by saying she had to try. It seemed like she saw him as some sort of judge in that moment, with him the only one bearing witness to the event. He simply shook his head and offered the weary blonde a sympathetic smile.

"You did what you had to, tried what you had to. Even if this attempt failed, its okay... There are probably more ways to clean this place up than.... whatever you did. A word of advice though..." Vaneda paused, his smile giving way to concern. "I don't know what you did, but it took so much out of you, you needed support to stand up again. In my... uh... "un-expert" opinion, I think we might want to hold off on that little event again for a little while. We should probably get you back to the village."

"Thank you," the blonde uttered weakly as the young ninja helped her to her feet. His words were encouraging, there could be other methods. But for now Akihana had tried her strongest jutsu and failed. The realization weighed heavy on her soul. How could she have pretended that her jutsu wouldn't suffer given the state of turmoil she lived in daily in this new world, a world she had been forced to choose.

When the priest suggested they head back to the village, Akihana nodded. "I think that would be best. I overestimated my own strength... I probably wouldn't have been able to make it out of there if I hadn't had the good fortune to run into you." Her words were sincere as they began walking out of the ravine. They hadn't ventured too far in but she doubted it would have made a difference if they had gone in further. It would probably have been harder to get out alive. "I had a feeling you were blessed," she added, trying to smile despite the disappointment gathering inside her.

As they walked, Akihana slowly and unsteadily at first with Vaneda hovering nearby in case she needed assistance, the kunoichi wondered when she would be well enough to try again. He was right, the important thing was to not give up.

Even if every logical thing told her there was no point of hope anymore.

"Shall we head to the old Tekiatsu district?" she asked as they began on the path leading back to the village. "I've been doing a little project there and its not quite done. There's a medical tent I can rest in and then resume my work when I feel up to it?" Should he agree, the duo would be on their way, a tentative friendship formed between the two.

(Exit Akihana)

TWC: 2, 920

Total putting 5, 426 words + 4, 469 words + 2, 920 = 12, 815.

Claiming 12, 500 for Tekiatsu clan scarf.
Claiming 315 for charity

Vaneda simply shrugged when Aki guessed she wouldn't be able to make it out of here without his assistance.

"You'd find a way, I'm sure. I mean, who'd want to be down here for longer than they had too? Nah, I'm just here to make it easier." Of course, when Akihana noted that she knew there was a reason he was blessed, Vaneda simply rolled his eyes, hiding a smile beneath a confused frown. Everywhere looked the same to him, but Akihana seemed to know where she was going, despite being in her weakened state. For her benefit and his own, he'd remain one step behind the exhausted blonde, just in case her legs gave out. They made very slow progress, almost frustratingly so, but over a bit of time, they were able to make it back up to the surface yet again. It was at this point Aki would request to go to the Tekaitsu district, as she had set up a medical tent for her to rest up in.

"So long as it's close." Vaneda said, only a small hint of authority in his voice. "I don't want you wearing yourself out even more getting there." Of course, he was only kidding. He'd carry her there if her body fell apart on her. Together, they headed back into town, the friendship between them already starting to take shape.

(Exit)

Approved of the appropriate rewards.