First Encounter

Serenity only smiled at Tamero. "Don't worry about it." She hadn't told him because he'd been moving, but it was all the same anyways.

Renji chuckled when Tamero brought up the whole 'teammates' thing. He was having fun joking around, so he hadn't really realized that Kana had fallen silent. "Tch, you're too sly," he said. "Buutt, I guess you're right. Hey, how bout I see if he can pick me up from training some day, so you guys can meet him?" he asked with a grin.

When Kana heard that Renji was addressing the both of them, she looked over at him with a nod. "Sounds cool." She wasn't smiling, mostly because she was no longer in the mood for it.

A moment later, Serenity pulled her hand back, looking at the white haired child's shoulder for a moment before nodding. "Alright, you're all done. You can put your shirt back on." She looked to Renji. "You sure you're not hurt anywhere sweetie?"

Renji only smiled, nodding. "I'm sure." The black haired kid blinked when Kana suddenly stood up.

"Thank you for healing us miss." Kana was about ready to leave. She wanted to run again, but not because she was mad. Those short hours that she had been injured had been hell. She wanted to move about freely again, now that her leg was healed. And aside from that, getting to training would deter from anymore talk of family.

Tamero jumped down from the bed. "Thank Miss Serenity," he said with a fairly formal bow. He then stood up straight and looked at Kana as she started off. "What's her deal," he asked. He then hurried off to join Renji. "About this brother thing, you should really have him pick you up. You know, so I can talk to him about maybe joining my family...er, I mean, teaching me a few tricks." Tamero's eyes were shinning with humor.

Felix was sitting on the steps, his head bowed. He had his locket in his hands, but it remained around his neck, where it was usually hidden underneath his headband. Felix was flipping through the thin sheets of metal, but found himself flipping back to the front, where Meridian's picture was. Her orange hair and bright blue eyes. Felix closed the locket when he heard Serenity say she was finished. He put the chained item back underneath his headband and looked at the door.

Renji shrugged at Tamero's question. It didn't really hit him at the moment that he actually knew what was wrong with her. "Oh you're funny," he said sarcastically. "You know, he probably would too, but he's always busy with missions and stuff," Renji said, smiling proudly. He followed Kana out, casting a glance at her. Was she feeling sick or something?

Kana walked out, a bit ahead of the two, looking down as she walked. She didn't care if people thought something was wrong with her. She was fine. She just didn't want to be in that conversation. She looked at their sensei who was sitting on the stairs oh-so comfortably by the time they'd come out. "We're all done," she told him.

Serenity stood up, washing her hands before coming out into the living room after the children, where Felix had taken up his usual seat on the stairs. "They're all healed up and good to go," she told him. "Please try to make it so they don't have to come see me too often," she joked lightly. While that could have been taken either way, she had only meant for him to not be so hard on the three children. They seemed nice enough, even if one of them couldn't really control their curiosity.

Tamero put his arm on Renji's shoulder. "Oh, maybe I can join your family instead," he said. "I get tired living in a house full of females," he stated with a chuckle. He then looked to their sensei who was sitting on the steps. "So, do we get to train now," he asked eagerly. Tamero was one optomistic kid. Yesterday had pushed him to the point where he'd went home and thought about quitting, but chose to stand for what he believed in. He hadn't gotten this far to turn back, so he'd showed up this morning and it was well worth it. He was going all the way.

Felix looked at the three when they came out. Standing up, he nodded to Serenity. "I don't make promises I can't keep," he said with a grin. "I'll see you later, thanks." He looked at Tamero. "Yeah, we're going to train," he said. "Come on, back to the training grounds." He gave Serenity a wave and then headed out. When they reached the battle grounds, Felix had a grin on his face. "Now, since everyone's healed up, let's try something that won't end you in the hospital. Target practice. Felix pulled a kunai out. "Your goal is to hit me, long ranged attacks only. Any jutsu, any weapon."

Renji couldn't help but laugh when Tamero said that maybe he should join his family. "Haha, I'm sure living in a house full of girls would be so much easier," he joked. It's not that he didn't like living with his brother, but sometimes he could be a real pain. But weren't all siblings like that? The grin stayed on the black haired boy's face when Tamero asked about training. He followed behind their sensei when he said they were going back to the training grounds. He was just as eager as his white haired friend was. Though he was prepared for just about anything now, Renji was relieved to hear their sensei say they'd be doing something that wouldn't land them in a hospital. He was also glad to hear they'd be working on long ranged. That meant he could practice a few things. He looked at Tamero and Kana. "Think we can pull off a couple long ranged attacks as a team?" he asked, grinning.

Kana followed them all silently, looking back to the healer before they left, then hurried behind them. So they wouldn't be running today. That was fine. Since her leg was better, she could go running on her own. Of course...she'd still have to avoid her adviser...Deciding to think about that later, Kana looked to Renji. "Long range attacks as a team...like what?" she asked. Close combat with a team was easy, but long ranged? She supposed they could just throw weapons and jutsu at him from different directions, but...would that really work?

"Egh, you're out of your mine." Tamero looked at their sensei when he said they'd be attacking him. Wouldn't that mean the guy would end up in the hospital? He shrugged and looked at Kana and Renji as they started discussing plans. Or trying to at least. He had nothing to contribute because he didn't know how their sensei worked. "What do you have in mind," he asked Renji curiously.

Renji knew that it was a simple plan, and it was probably something their sensei would be expecting, but they had to work on their teamwork in whatever ways possible. Cuz god knew they needed it. "We throw as much as we can at him, techniques and all, but not just at random. One of us throws first to catch his attention, then the other two go one after the other," he said, grinning lightly. "I know it's simple, but it's worth a try...it's good to work on timing anyways, right?" he said. "I'll go first, but after that, don't stop attacking. Maybe we can just overwhelm him if this doesn't work," he suggested. He took out a kunai and shuriken. "Ready?"

Kana blinked as Renji said pretty much what she'd been thinking. Really all they were doing was throwing stuff at him from different directions. "Maybe we should spread out a little. He can't dodge from all sides at once," she added in, shrugging. She also took out her own weapons, but they were two shuriken. "Ready."

Tamero pulled both kunai out. This plan was as Renji said, simple, but it was better than nothing. If anything, this was the best plan they'd be able to come up with. Teamwork was essential and so was timing. The white haired boy nodded. "Ready," he said after Kana. He wondered how many weapons they'd go through before taking this guy down. Tamero honestly hoped it wouldn't take too many. It would be a waste of materials.

Felix looked at the three as they pulled weapons. "What, you're going to stand there all day and not do anything? I do have things to do besides train you three," he said tauntingly. "If you're going to stand there all day then I'll leave and come back tomorrow. Or I'll come to you," he said as he took a step towards them. "Any other ninja would have killed you by now. You plan and move, not just stand there. Geez, what do they teach you all at the Academy?" He was obviously trying to distract them by pissing them off and belittling them. If they couldn't keep a leveled head here, they would just be walking targets out there.

Kana blinked, looking at their teacher as he started taunting the three of them. Gritting her teeth lightly, the blond haired girl looked to Renji. "Hurry up and attack already, so we can get this started," she said in irritation. If he didn't attack soon, she sure as hell wasn't gonna sit there and let their sensei call them out like that!

Renji was sure he knew what their teacher was doing, so he was slightly surprised when he realized that Kana didn't. And on top of that she was actually getting angry. "Hey, calm down, getting you angry is what he's trying to do," he told her lightly. He sighed when her response was "Yeah? Well it's working." Shaking his head, he gripped his weapons. "Remember timing," he said, throwing the kunai and the shuriken immediately after. His shuriken was well on track to it's target, but the kunai was a bit off. After all, aim wasn't Renji's strong suit. Kana waited for the weapons to get halfway to their target before throwing her own shuriken, both dead-on the path to their teacher.

Tamero knew what was happening too, but clearly Kana didn't and she didn't care. If she wasn't a hazard, then he didn't know who or what was. Throwing his kunai a few seconds after her, he stepped back, and drew two shuriken, with explosive tags on the bottom. "Renji, can your rock walls reach as far as sensei," he asked. "If so, I've got a plan." He said. He was careful to keep moving though. Their sensei did say those who stayed in the same spot got killed. Yeah, he was listening.

Felix pulled a kunai out as the children started their attack. He really did wonder if Kana really graduated, or if people just got sick of her attitude. The girl was as clueless as it got. Felix merely side stepped kunai and blocked the shuriken. It was clear from the force that Kana was trying to kill him as he blocked her shuriken and then Tamero's. Felix tossed the kunai he had up and then threw it at the kids, however, it came up fairly short. Felix blinked. "Okay..."

Renji didn't stay still either, especially not after their sensei's taunting. But only because the guy was right. Staying in one spot was a stupid thing to do. When Tamero asked him about his rock walls, Renji glanced at their sensei. "I've never tried long range with just the walls, but I can give it a shot. What's the plan?" he asked, blinking when he noticed that the kunai their sensei had thrown had come up short. What was the guy playing at?

Kana started on the move as soon as she'd thrown her weapons. She would not be a target. She listened to Renji and Tamero plan. Whatever they were planning, she had something that she planned on using in combination with theirs. She was sure it would catch 'Kuriyama-sensei' off guard. Of course it was genjutsu, but he wouldn't know that, at least not right away. She'd tell them about her genjutsu after she found out what Tamero was planning. After all, there was a chance it wouldn't come off right if Renji was gonna use a wall to block the guy's sight. Regardless, Kana didn't let up and threw a kunai full force at their sensei after the one he threw fell to the ground. She wondered just what had happened...they hadn't actually hit him in the arm or something, had they?

Tamero flipped the shuriken over, revealing the explosive tags. "It'll cause a distraction," he told him. "And maybe catch sensei in the explosion." It wasn't the best idea or most sufficient idea he had, but it was worth a try, if Renji could pull off the wall, or if they could move closer to Felix, then maybe it would work. Tamero then threw another shuriken after Kana's kunai. It didn't have an explosive tag on it though.

Felix blocked Kana's kunai and then threw the one he was holding at Tamero's shuriken. His blue eyes looked down to the kunai on the ground as it burst into flames, or what may have looked like flames, it was really just a genjutsu to draw their attention away from him as he moved out of sight. He did say he wasn't going to land them in the hospital today.

Renji grinned lightly when Tamero showed him the exploding tag. He totally understood. "I can do better than just a distraction," he mentioned with the same grin. It was then that an idea hit him. He'd have to write it down later. "Hey, remind me about exploding tags after training, I have an idea for a new technique," he said with a chuckle, starting a jutsu, but stopping as he saw the kunai their sensei had thrown bursting into flames. "What the heck? Was that a trap?" Or is it just burning there? "Stay away from it, just to be--crud, where'd sensei go?!" he asked, suddenly realizing their teacher was gone. "Speaking of distractions...did either of you see where he went?" he asked, pausing momentarily to look around.

Kana also glanced at the kunai as it burst into flames, noticing a silver blur out of her peripheral vision. She didn't think that she could incorporate her genjutsu into this- wait. Tamero's weapons would have exploding tags. "I can use a genjutsu to hide your tags to make them harder to dodge," she told Tamero. "He went to the left," she told Renji as he asked. "I didn't see exactly where though."

"Will do," Tamero said when Renji said remind him about explosive tags. They were so handy. He then looked to Kana and nodded as she said she could hide his tags. He really was jealous of them, knowing genjutsu and ninjutsu. Tamero stepped back when he saw the flames. He looked to Renji and Kana as they said they didn't know where Felix had disappeared to. Neither had he. At least Kana knew the guy went to the left. "Alright, that's something, just remember to keep moving and watching each other's backs." With that Tamero figured a better plan. "We should get in our triangle formation," he suggested.

Felix had moved to the left as Kana had seen. He didn't know that she'd seen, but it was no problem. All three were talented but lacked the skill and focus to actually do anything about it. That too was fine because Felix would be training them to polish their skills and strengthen their focus. His training methods were only going to get odder, but any student who'd actually made it through could tell these three that it was well worth it and very much important. Maybe he should bring in a former student. Felix grinned.

Kana nodded when Tamero told them to keep moving and watch their backs. "Good idea," she said with another nod. The triangle formation really was a good idea. Better than just aimlessly moving about. Getting next to Tamero and Renji, she nodded at Renji's order.

"If you see anything move at all, say something," the black haired boy told his teammates. "We have to find him." Once the three were together, Renji took lead and started moving them towards where Kana had seen their sensei go. "I don't suppose either of you can summon anything?" he whispered.

"Summoners are too advanced for us," he said with a shake of his head. "But I wouldn't mind having one," he said with a shrug. "Why would you need a summoning anyway?" He asked curiously. He looked around for their sensei, he couldn't see the guy anywhere. Wherever he was hiding out though, he was doing a good job. Tamero pulled a second shuriken.

Felix was basically hiding in plain sight. Hidden behind a genjutsu that blended in with the background. Not to mention he was moving towards the kunai which was still on fire. He was planning on using it again, this time, in a different manner.

Kana wasn't sure if she should tell them about Shadowshifter. It was a hidden symbol of her family, or so the thing had told her. She wasn't sure if she wanted to use it so recklessly. She was the last of her family. What if the thing was really powerful and well known? Taking a breath, Kana shook her head. She didn't trust people easily, though she knew she had to start trusting her teammates. Looking around, Kana was noticing a slight shimmering in the air, just like the day before...was their sensei doing a jutsu?

"I was just wondering. He did say that we had to attack from long distances, but he didn't say anything about using things like summonings to find him," Renji told them, looking around. Where was he? "How far could he have gone...?" he muttered.

Kana shrugged. "Maybe he's using a genjutsu," she told them. At this point in her life, she believed that her teammates too could see the chakra that littered the air around them. After a moment, she paused. There was a bunch of little glitters of chakra surrounding a certain area. "Hey, do you see that?" Taking her shuriken, she threw it at the area where the chakra was mostly concentrated around. It was just a hunch at this point, but it had worked with that red haired woman the day before.

Felix, not knowing Kana could see the chakra around him, had no idea the girl was actually looking at him when she pointed. Due to the fact that he was too far away, he merely ignored her gestures and kept moving. This in turn led to his ignorance of her shuriken, which he didn't see until it hit him in the arm, causing him step back in shock and drop both genjutsu. Felix shot a glare at the small child. "Training is over," he said. Felix examined the shuriken in his arm, careful to put pressure on it as he ripped it from him arm, blood instantly covered his fingers. How did she know where he was, and why was she trying to kill him? He knew he said go all out, but not try and murder him! What the hell was wrong with this kid? Felix slipped off his jacket, letting it fall to the ground. He didn't want blood to get all over it.

Tamero liked Renji's logic, but his attention turned to where Kana was pointing. "See what," he asked. "There's nothing but trees and the kun-" He was cut short when Kana threw a shuriken. What was the point in aimlessly throwing weapons at something that wasn't there? Nevermind, something was there. Tamero blinked dumbfounded. "How did you...how did you know he was there?!" Tamero was becoming more and more impressed with his teammates. They were awesome! However, it was no time to be excited, because Kana had literally hit their sensei and the guy didn't seem too happy about it because he dismissed them. Tamero looked at his teammates, waiting to see what they would do first.

Renji's gaze followed after where Kana was pointing. "I don't see anything either," he said, casting a glance at his teammates, who had just thrown a shuriken. "Hey, what're....wait, he was actually..? How'd you do that?" he asked in shock. Their sensei looked pissed off, so Renji shut up. But seriously, how had she known he was there??

Kana grinned when their sensei reappeared and she saw the shuriken in his arm. Her grin faded a bit when he glared at her. Now she just looked confused. She glanced at Renji and Tamero and lowered her voice. "Did I do something wrong? He said we were supposed to try and hit him at long-range, right?" How else was she supposed to do that than with weapons? She sounded fairly concerned. She didn't want to be off the team again, just for mishearing orders. She'd heard the same thing as her teammates though, hadn't she? Or maybe it had just been that their sensei never expected to get hit.

Tamero shrugged. "I just think he's a bit mad that you actually hit him...you were throwing pretty hard earlier." Tamero shrugged. He looked at their sensei. "I guess we'll see you tomorrow?" Tamero had no intentions of sticking around any longer than he had to. If the guy suddenly changed his mind and decided to work the hell out of them, he didn't want to be around when it happened. "Thanks for breakfast," with that he hurried off. "Bye Renji bye Kana," he called over his should.

Felix said nothing as all seemed to go a bit quiet. When Tamero left, Felix dropped the shuriken to the ground and started for home. Holding his shoulder to keep the blood from escaping the wound. There was a fine line between training to make someone better, and nearly getting your arm cut off by a brat. Felix was trying to be kind to Kana, but this had just pushed him over the edge.

Kana blinked when Tamero mentioned that she'd been throwing pretty hard earlier. "That's...how I always throw..." she muttered. When Tamero said bye to them, she simply waved. She didn't get it, she always threw that hard. After all, what was the point of throwing a weapon, of fighting, when you weren't giving it your all?

Renji could tell that Kana was confused. She was such an airhead. He was starting to wonder just how they were going to get along as a team when she continued to act the way she did. It was so annoying. "Thanks sensei," he said to Felix when the guy started walking off. "See you tomorrow," he said to Kana, starting off as well.

Kana watched at their sensei left, followed almost immediately after by Renji. He didn't sound so happy either. What was his problem? She hadn't done anything to him! Looking down, Kana kicked a rock and went over to the shuriken their sensei had dropped. Taking a cloth out of her pocket, she wiped it off. Blood wasn't something that made her squeamish. She never really saw the big deal. And besides, she couldn't afford to lose weapons in training. She felt a bit ashamed that she had to go around looking for lost weapons, but it was what she had to do to get by in training. She could always sharpen them herself at home. When she'd found a few more weapons, Kana hurried out of the training area and to the Kage's office, having already put the weapons away. She had to talk to him about her supervisor that was supposed to follow her around. When she arrived, she'd been told that the Kage was already speaking with someone, and that she had to wait. Which she did. She didn't really care who the Kage was talking to, or how long it would take. Since their training had ended early, she had plenty of time.

Felix had gone home and took a long shower. He'd never been so disgusted in his life. What was he going to do about Kana. He was basically given a mission to keep her on his squad, but Felix was starting to not care. That child was very much ungrateful and rude. Felix hit the wall. It did nothing more than leave another blood stained mark on the wall. Getting out the shower, Felix laid down on his bed, blue eyes gazing at the ceiling. "How am I supposed to help someone that doesn't want any help?"

Kana sat in the waiting room of the tower silently. She wondered if she should go apologize to her sensei for what had happened earlier. He'd seemed pretty pissed off. She wondered if he needed to buy medicine for it. Well, he did have that healer friend of his. And even if he didn't go to her, he had to be used to injuries like that, right? She had figured since she'd had her leg wounds healed she could save the medicine in case she needed it in the future. After all, it would save her a bunch of money that she usually didn't have. Sighing, Kana idly kicked her legs until she was told she could go in. Swallowing, the blond haired girl walked up to the Kage's office, peeking her head in. "Um, sir? Do you have a minute?" she asked. She was starting to feel a bit nervous. Mostly because she'd ditched her adviser the past two days. She knew she'd get in trouble for that, at least.

The Kage was talking to an adviser when Kana came in. He'd been meaning to talk to her, but had waited to see if she would change her ways. He knew she'd been running from her adviser, but he figured it was bound to happen. "Come on in," he said with a motioning wave. "What can I do for you little lady?" He stamped a sheet of paper and handed it to the adviser before focusing completely on Kana. He wondered why she was here? Maybe it was about her sensei. That man was very...interesting.

Kana walked in when the Kage motioned her in. She wasn't there about her sensei, though she'd thought about asking if he was like this to all his students. She didn't think she did anything wrong. She felt like Tamero and Renji thought she'd screwed up too. "Um...I, I wanted to say sorry for what I did last week," she said, swallowing lightly, her gaze down. There was something else she wanted to ask him, but she figured an apology should come first.