| [Nov. 29th, 2016|09:51 pm] |
Kuroda gave the whole meal a sour, disapproving look. “Let’s move.”
Eizo tossed Ginta his knife back. Fukuda slipped back into the water. “Watch out for sharks and eels, don’t touch anything that looks like that,” she said, nodding at the nudibranch again, “and don’t put your hands or feet into any crevices. The next section is riskier, but it’s shorter.”
As soon as Kakashi cast the air bubble jutsu for both of them, they dove. Genma and Ryouma followed suit. It wasn’t a hard jutsu to cast, but enclosing enough volume of air in the tiny capsule to last a full fifteen minutes was a guessing game. Maybe with practice it got easier.
As soon as they were underwater, the bioluminescent lights seemed brighter. It reminded Genma of the demon tunnels; not a comforting thought when they were about to squirm into an underwater tube barely wide enough for two bodies.
Kakashi snapped a guide light into existence, and, with his hand firmly on Fukuda’s shoulder, they plunged into a dark hole at the bottom of their little cavern.
The middle of a mission was no time to develop trauma-induced claustrophobia. Genma cast his own light, nodded at Ryouma, and dove after Kakashi and their reluctant guide.
This time the tube was narrower. He and Ryouma were able to swim side by side for a short ways, but they soon had to go single file or risk jamming against the rough sides of the tube. Their lights were barely adequate, and Genma scraped his head against an unexpected bit of rock, feeling the sting of salt water in shallow scratches.
Kakashi and Fukuda disappeared around a bend, and a rush of bubbles flowed back towards Genma and Ryouma in their wake. Genma hesitated, drawing his knife. He signed for Ryouma to take his heel before he plunged ahead. As he rounded the corner, light flared around him.
A tatami-mat sized section of the roof of the lava tube had caved in, exposing them to open ocean again. They were shallower this time, with a sand bar under them and the sky much closer than before. Light filtered through a forest of kelp that swayed in the undersea currents. A silvery shoal of sardines came darting out of the distance, turning in precision formation as tightly as well-drilled soldiers.
Genma thought they’d have a chance to refill their air supplies here, but Fukuda waved an urgent hurry up gesture, and Kakashi pointed into the distance, where a huge moving shadow loomed. Genma’s heart tripped faster, and he motioned for them to go on, keeping a wary eye on the behemoth.
Fukuda didn’t waste any time, She took Kakashi’s arm this time, tugging him towards another open-roofed lava tube. By the time Raidou and Kurenai appeared, Kakashi and Fukuda were both out of sight. Genma gave his teammates the same warning he’d gotten, pointing at the distant threat, then shot for the new lava tube with Ryouma close behind. |
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