| [Nov. 29th, 2016|09:48 pm] |
He stopped short.
Fukuda's feet kicked gently, keeping her in place. Held tightly in her good hand, a long silvery shape thrashed, snapping at her face. The eel was as thick as Raidou's arm, and easily as long as Kakashi was tall. Fukuda ripped its throat out with her teeth, destroying her bubble in the process, and calmly threw the dying fish out into open water. Something large surged by, there and gone in a heartbeat, along with the eel.
Alarmed chakra flared behind them, quickly throttled.
Fukuda shaped a half seal, and opened her hand like a question. Understanding, Kakashi hauled her close and echoed the seal. His air bubble ripped and stretched enough to close over her head. Fukuda drew a shallow breath. “Pay attention, Konoha.”
She stank of brine and flesh. Blood lined the edges of her teeth.
“Hatake,” Kakashi said, over the thrum of adrenaline and irritation. “It’s going to get confusing if you call us all Konoha.”
She gave him a flat look that fell somewhere between ‘murdered my teammates’ and ‘nearly killed by fish’. “I’ll manage. Move before its friends come.”
He scowled, and moved. They hauled themselves through the opening, followed rapidly by everyone else. Inside the stone was a branching network of straight tunnels: lava tubes, long cooled. They were broad enough to swim through in pairs, if you were careful to avoid the sharp edges. Kakashi split their shared air bubble into two smaller ones, and turned when Genma tapped him on the shoulder.
Hurt? the lieutenant signed in truncated ANBU-sign.
Kakashi shook his head.
Impatiently, Fukuda tugged at him and kicked forward through the tunnels. The air in Kakashi’s bubble grew warm and stale, and as the minutes passed he started to see pinpricks of light out of the corners of his eyes. He squinted, but the light just smeared into thin lines. She’d promised air pockets, but they’d planned for more time—
Ahead, Fukuda broke through the surface and climbed out.
Kakashi pushed up after her, air bubble popping the moment it touched air, and drew a full breath. It smelled of brine and rotten seaweed, but it was air. Genma and Ryouma burst up behind them, followed in short order by the rest. Kakashi shoved himself out of the water, finding a carved ledge to sit on. The cavern was small, perhaps the size of his kitchenette at home, and cool, but it wasn’t dark. As his eyes adjusted, Kakashi realized he really had been seeing lights. Along the walls, scattered clusters of tiny, barnacle-like creatures glowed softly green. From the ceiling, glowing plant strings hung down, brushing his wet hair.
The teams settled along the ledges. With the exception of Raidou, Eizo, and Ginta, everyone was breathing hard enough to warm the air. Ryouma raked a hand through his hair, rumpling it into black-glass spikes. Genma stretched his shoulders as if they ached. Ginta produced a scroll, unsealed it, and handed out knives and sheathes to everyone except Fukuda, now they had the free hands to wield them.
“We’re a quarter of the way there,” Fukuda told Kuroda. “There’s a bigger set of supply caverns closer in where we can rest. They’re— no longer used.”
Kuroda just nodded, but Abe cocked his blue head to one side and asked, “Why?”
Usagi rapped her knuckles on the back of his head. “Think, dumbass.”
“Don’t need supplies if you don’t have people to give them to,” Ginta said.
Fukuda wiped the blood off her mouth and looked away. |
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