River

...

Barking can be heard in the distance and soon, Chie makes her appearance running and barking. Shizuko was following after her rather slowly and sluggishly. It was obvious Shizuko was dead tired especially since she didn't seem to be paying attention to Chie at all. Chie barks at Shizuko then turns around and returns to running.

Shizuko doesn't look towards her sensei as he asks the question though she does respond nonetheless with a quick nod that is followed by a loud yawn that she covers with her hand. It was just another sign that she was dead tired. Chie starts racing around Shizuko's feet, trying to keep her master awake by noise and it seemed to be working.

Mitsukai peered out from behind a tree, her sights first on her sensei, but then she saw how easy of a target Shizuko was, and she came running, shouting, "SNEAK ATTACK!!!" She attempted to tackle Shizuko down to the ground.

Shizuko moved out of the way, causing Mitsukai to just land on the ground. "It's not a sneak attack if you shout sneak attack..." Shizuko mumbles while yawning once again. She waves her hand at her sensei basically telling him to ignore it. She didn't feel like answering the question. She was far too tired. Chie sits on the ground and barks at Mitsukai.

Mitsukai landed on all fours and sweatdropped, glaring at little Chie, before looking up at Akio, "Hiya Akio-sensei!" She then looked back at Shizuko, "Well how were you supposed to dodge if you didn't know I was coming?" she grinned.

Shizuko watches Akio-sensei stand on the water with her facial expression not changing the slightest bit. She blinks, remaining quiet, just listening. Chie was sitting down next to her feet with her tail wagging.

"What?!" Mitsukai gasped, her eyes big as her sensei walked on water.

(Srry, was trying on costume. How shall we merge into a flash back, by the way?)

Shizuko listens and watches quietly. Even though she was dead tired, she was still listening nonetheless even if it seemed like she wasn't.

Tree climbing? Mitsukai was an expert at that by now, but she had no idea you could do the same on water. Her lips curved into a smirk, "No sweat sensei!" She jumped to her feet and formed a hand sign to focus her chakra, "Come on Shizuko!" As usual, Mitsukai was ready to dive into the action, face-first.

The color from Shizuko's face vanished quickly and she turns her head to the right slightly thinking to herself that this is going to be a very long day. She steps towards the water and just stares into it, watching the water move trying to figure out for herself what she should do. This was normal for Shizuko, she was a think first, act later type of person.

Chie just lays down on the ground, curled up asleep.

Mitsukai shot forward, but the moment her foot touched the water's surface she sunk down instantly. She stiffened for a moment, her eyes growing as wide as bowling balls, but then she jumped back with a yelp, "Cold!!!!" She shot her sensei a sour look as she put her hands on her hips, "What's the deal, Akio-sensei?"

"Tch. 'Focus'. Yeah, while you sit there and read that perverted book of yours." Mitsukai muttered under her breath as she formed her hand sign once again to focus her chakra. Her eyes were narrowed, focused on glaring at her sensei, rather than fixated on her chakra control. She was too stubborn, focus didn't come easy to her. She had strong endurance, not control. But her agitation about getting cold and wet dissolved soon after, and her stern gaze became fixed upon the water's surface, as she focused her chakra into her feet.

Shizuko glances up towards the two and then her gaze gets fixed on Mitsukai realizing that her teammate, over the years Shizuko has known her, she has not changed a lot. She was still stubborn as ever and struggled with exercises that had to do with focusing. Her gaze shifts towards the ground as memories fill her mind of several years ago during the survival exercise... Yep, Mitsukai was the same then as she is now then again, Shizuko didn't change much either at least she didn't think so.

~FLASHBACK~

(Subtle, no? ^_^ )

Mitsukai, to no surprise was racing on ahead of the group looking for this 'Akio-sensei' guy. She was running on the forest floor rather than jumping from branch to branch, but she was fast, nontheless. She turned over her shoulder, "Come on guys, hurry up!"

"I'm trying!" Shin complained, gasping between breaths every now and then. Why'd he have to get stuck with the loudest girl at the academy? Shizuko wasn't quite as bad, perhaps just a little less quiet than himself, but still. Mitsukai was the last teammate he could have hoped for.

Chie barked while clinging to Shizuko's head as Shizuko held a calm facial expression while jumping from tree to tree trying to keep a good pace between her two teammates. Her mind was racing with other thoughts, not really paying attention to the others. Chie barked at Shizuko trying to get her attention on the area around her which eventually worked as she dodged a tree branch now glancing at Mitsukai. "Mitsukai-san, slow down!" Gosh, Shizuko was quite fed up with Mitsukai's extra energy all the time, where she gets all that extra energy, Shizuko still has yet to find out.

(The dancing fox!)

"We gotta get Akio-sensei before we run outta time! We can't slow down!" Though Mitsukai had the senses of a fierce wolf, she was still practically a pup, and the only scent she could take in was that of immediate presence, "Blech, it smells funny!"

Shin rolled his eyes, but then stopped on a tree branch as something caught his eye. He looked down at the base of a tree, and saw scorch marks. "Smells... funny...?" His eyes widened; they couldn't have gotten that far through the forest, could they? "MITSUKAI-CHAN, SHIZUKO-SAN, STOP! Minefield!"

But Mitsukai was focused on the path ahead, not what lay behind.