Kaguya Elaise has very little left to lose, at this point. No clan, no plans, little chance of a future (for all that today seems a good day, she's coughed up enough blood not to believe its lies). The jaguars might miss her in their strange, silent way, but- They'll stalk down someone else eventually. That's what they do.

So when she senses the roiling chakra ahead on the path, a counterpoint to the storm brewing out to sea, she goes to investigate.

"Who are you deciding to kill?" she asks, coming up behind the girl.

She glances up, annoyed. (She looks ten, if she was well fed. With how skinny she is - still probably not much past twelve or thirteen. Definitely younger than Elaise.)

"My family," she says, vowels clipped.

She cocks her head. "They deserve it?"

Shrug.

"They're assholes. They won't give me peace if they're alive. Dunno if deserving comes into it."

"Sounds like deserving to me."

Small smile. "Maybe, then."

"Dunno if trying to kill them before running is smart, though."

"Can't follow you if they're dead."

She coughs, hiding her mouth behind her hand.

Shrug. "I can't run if I'm dead." Then, with a sideways glance - "You contagious?"

"Only if you decide to eat my liver after I'm dead."

She wrinkles her nose. "Ew, no thanks. Livers are nasty."

"Then you should be fine."

Small frown, head tilted - and she turns fully to Elaise. "Will you be?"

"Everyone dies eventually. I'm not about to collapse in front of you, if that's what you're asking."

"Some people don't die, even over really long times," she says, head still tilted. But, shrug. "'Course, most people die quick."

Shrug.

She hums, looking at Elaise. 

"My family's pretty powerful. They've been trying to conquer the whole northern islands, and they're doing pretty well even when I'm not helping. I think they're dumb to think they can get the rest of Water after, but a lot of people think it isn't impossible."

"But I'm really powerful, and they don't know how powerful I am. I've been hiding it."

"I can run away pretty effectively, faster than they can follow - but then they'll keep coming, and I don't want that." Pause, considering Elaise. "And I don't want people who've hurt me to keep living. But - it might be smarter to run, and bide my time, and get stronger, and then come for them."

"Time's valuable. Shouldn't waste it. You know what their forces are, their defenses, now. It'll change. Later you'll be stronger, but so will they. Better not to leave loose ends."

"True."

"Think I can get stronger faster than them, though. Especially if I can get allies."

"I've got nothing better to do today."

Grin. An honest, vicious one. 

"Well, then I've got enough to be going on." She stands, stretching, joints popping a bit. "Always did hate leaving an enemy alive at my back."

"Great."

"What are we looking at inside?"

She hums, and with a wave of her hand pulls up some ocean water into a wavery layout of the clan compound and surrounding area. "It's buried into a sea cave, though because of the whirlpools the sea entrance is treated as an emergency escape or honestly just a good view - they're more cautious of someone coming down the cliff than up from the water. Main entrances are above ground, here and here. We meet clients in a set of towns; all of these are hidden."

"The clan core is my concern, and they're all here. The clan followers will splinter once the core is wiped out - but they're not usually in residence, which helps..." She outlines the forces they can expect and the important and most dangerous figures. 

It sounds like the clan is mostly succeeding so far through being good at politics, less so through having individually formidable members -

Amajina, who readily admits to having a bijuu sealed into her, was apparently their hope at obtaining that. 

(What the hell, she's already dying. Might as well go out swinging with a Tailed Beast.)

"Can you get us in through the water?"

"Of course," she says with a smirk. "Whirlpools and rapids are my native environment."

"Good. You get us in. I'll sneak around this way to here," she points, "block the surface entrances. Then we play cliff and tsunami."

"Very, very fun. Are you going to be the cliff or the tsunami?"

"Tsunami. You'll be able to hold better than me."

"Fair enough. And anyone who doesn't know what's going on will try to evacuate out toward the sea - and I can pretend to let people through, then catch them in the water."

Nod. "If you see any big cats, avoid hurting them. They'll be on our side."

Serious nod. "No one in my clan works with cats, so, won't be likely to get confused."

"Good. Then let's move."

She hops to her feet. "I can move us both in the water; it's far enough I think that'll be better, so you're not having to spend energy running there? And so they won't see you coming even from very far."

"All right."

Sharp grin, and she back flips off the promontory and onto the ocean's surface. "Let's go, then."

Elaise follows her down, bouncing off the cliff twice to land on the water.

And water curls around them both, sweeping them north up the coast, skimming past whirlpools and jagged rocks - towards some rather impressive cliffs jutting high above the others, slopes sheer and wet in a way that'd tired out most weaker shinobi. Amajina takes them underwater as they approach, to a thin slice carved into the stone by eons of waves - up through that, to a small cave, the landing along its edge rough and pitted. It's pitch dark inside, and sounds fall flat and strange.

"There's a tunnel up from here," Amajina says, "The parts that're tall enough for you aren't very branchy, and a bit back I marked the turns towards my room with some seashells - I use this to sneak in and out of my rooms, which're pretty near the surface."

"All right. Give me fifteen minutes to set up, then start causing a ruckus if I haven't."

"Can do," she says, sounding very amused - and then she steps back into the water, silently.

Elaise starts stealthily moving up the passages, aiming for the surface exits while avoiding meeting anyone.

She's able to successfully reach the main one, though she has a close call when someone passes near her - apparently without perceiving her, though. She gets a decent sense of the people in the path she's walking, too, and the compound isn't exceptionally wide - more long, funneling straight into the stone, cutting down stair cases with no official side paths until it reaches the base, providing a very convenient kill corridor for anyone who manages to fortify in a side room. Amajina's room is on the top floor, though, and her secret paths (while sometimes very tiny to squeeze through) might allow Elaise to bypass the kill corridor coming down (assuming she doesn't just walk through murdering everyone). 

She starts setting up a barricade net, layers of bone anchored into the rock top and bottom, no gaps to slip through. Assuming that gets done with no interruptions, she'll make for the other entrance to prepare for the run down.

She can get through it as long as she's quiet - which, she is, though it seems the other entrance has more people near it.

She pricks her thumb and summons Mas.

Who appears in a subtle swirl of mist, looking around with interest, ears pricked - and then they send a considering look Elaise's way. 

"There's a jinchuuriki at the bottom of this cave," she says quietly. "She wants everyone here dead. I'm helping. Starting at the top and pushing down to her. You in?"

Their tail lashes in what Elaise is pretty sure means anticipatory pleasure, as they stretch their muscles, turning their ears to track the shinobi nearby.

And - they nod. 

"All right." She extrudes armor for her core and pushes out two long daggers into her hands.

"Let's begin."

Mas flexes -

And they're off, tearing into the first shinobi they reach, ripping his gut open - swerve to the other, who's trying to get a weapon up -

(Most of these shinobi aren't much more than bandits with an arrogance problem. A Hidden Village would probably judge them to be genin level, on average.)

(Not too unusual out here. This sort of life is bad for people's development.)

Makes one wonder how they trapped a bijuu. But she'll deal with that later, when the blood has stopped flowing down to the sea.

She hits actual resistance eventually, of course, shinobi who can give her serious challenge, who can injure her, who get fortified within the kill corridor and have to be dragged out or murdered within their guard rooms -

But it seems the bloody sea had drawn a lot of the actually skilled fighters. The jinchuuriki is covered in blood - probably not entirely her own - and breathing hard, water lashing furiously around her as she flings herself, snarling, at one of her older family members, a nearly elderly man who's trying to get into position to get a seal on her. There's others harassing her, mostly with longer weapons, a few of the tips bloody.

Mas lands on the back of one of the more skilled harassers, their jaw clamped around her neck even as the woman twists and braces just enough her spine doesn't shatter. Her spear puts her at a disadvantage against Mas, but she has some technique hardening her skin against the jaguar's teeth, and she's trying to get a dagger to bear.

The others are pivoting to take into account these new threats. 

She spits a tooth at the woman with enough force to knock the dagger away, then targets the man with the seal.

Mas kills the woman, jaws crushing through her armor, tearing her throat into a bloody pulp.

And Amajina darts to the side, making room for Elaise, covering her back from further assaults from the other shinobi around. 

The man they're fighting is pretty good, fast especially, and landing a solid blow on him is hard - easier once Mas forces his clan mates to leave the fight alone -

She stomps, and bones shoot out of her foot to dig through the ground and wrap around his ankles, tripping him up.

A spear of salt lances at his back, and water slams into his wrist -

There's an opening, now, his side unprotected for a brief moment -

She flashes in for the kill.

He dies, and Amajina turns to mop up the rest of her relatives. 

They're down to the last dregs. Shouldn't take much more.

The last dregs are scared and desperate, an extinction burst of fighting - but they, too, die, and Amajina turns to scowl at the cliffs.

"Think no one survived inside," she reports. "And no one got past me."

She rubs at one of the blood splatters on her face, just succeeding in smearing it around. 

"Good work."

"We should rinse off before this stains."

"Yeah."

She heads to the edge, slipping into the water up to her waist. "You were a ton of help. Thanks."

"It was my pleasure." Elaise goes to rinse off as well.

"Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"All over, pretty much."

"Huh."

"Do you mind if I follow you around, now?"

"Follow me around...?"

"Wherever you're traveling. The all over."

"Hmm."

"What do you think, Mas?"

Indolent stretch, before they start cleaning between their toes. 

"Yeah."

"All right. You can come with me."

Bright grin! "Thank you!"

"You're welcome."

"What's your name?"

She hums.

"I hate the one they gave me, but... My bijuu has been calling me Amajina." And, with a soft smile, "And he says I can tell you his name, too - he's Isobu."

"What's yours?"

"Kaguya Elaise. This is Death of All Masters, of the jaguars."

She laughs. "Both of you have really great names."

Smug rumble.

"No need to stroke their ego, but they like it behind the ears."

"Well, excellent people deserve both their ears and their ego stroked." She climbs out of the water and reaches over to scritch behind Mas's ears.

Mmmm yes, human has come to them already appropriately trained, how excellent.

"Was thinking about heading south after this. Usually easier to find trading ships that need a guard away from the whirlpools."

She hums, nodding. "So're you usually a ship guard, then?"

"It's usually easier than running with a caravan."

She nods. "Sounds like the sort of thing I'd be good at, though. I've guided ships around the dangerous parts here, sometimes."

"We can probably sell that."

Elaise has a coughing fit. When she wipes her mouth, there's a bit of fresh blood on the back of her hand.

Concerned face!

"Did you get injured?"

Cough. "No. Just-" Cough. "Happens. Exertion makes it worse, sometimes."

That is alarming! "Can I - help?"

Her breathing calms and regularizes again.

"Not unless you've got some serious medical jutsu with that water."

"...I don't."

"Then we just keep going."

Slow nod. "Okay."

Nod.

"Thanks for the help, Mas. You sticking around or going back?"

Hum... They shake their head. 

"All right. I'll call you for the next one."

Contented rumble, and then they dismiss themselves. 

"Ready to go?"

"Sure." 

"Do you want to head to the nearest southern port?"

Nod.

"Lead the way."

"Do you mind if we stick along the coast? I don't plan to really swim us the whole way... But I like being in the ocean a lot."

"That's fine."

"Thanks."

"I wanna pack up some stuff from here, since I'm not having to run - might be a decent chance to rest? We can steal some food and supplies and stuff, too, though we'd want to clear out the bodies first if we want to spend the night..."

"I'd rather not stick around."

She nods. "Yeah, same... Might not be safe, anyways, if their contacts come looking."

"So loot and move on?"

"Yep."

She hums, nodding, and starts looting the corpses around them, before pushing them into the sea. 

Elaise heads up to look for supplies and small valuables.

There's a good amount. Many of the supplies are very helpfully already sealed in weather resistant storage scrolls, to prevent spoilage or reduce space. There's food and fresh water, mission supplies like a bed roll and tarps, medication and bandages, maps... All the scrolls are even labeled with their contents (in a shorthand that isn't hard to parse).

Valuables - also a good haul. This was a clan actively consolidating power, and while they weren't keeping all their funds and information on site, they had a good bit. An assortment of currencies, both domestic and foreign. There's a bit more in the way of the trade goods that double as commodity money in many regions - dense blocks of dried tea, spices, and sweets; bolts of cloth; dried cocoa beans; disks of copper and silver, some gold; and a large amount of shell jewelry and beads for smaller purchases. There's also weapons, some of them nice, and assorted personal effects, including some rather nice jewelry and a tiny collection of jeweled hair combs. Everything except the personal effects is tidily organized into the same kind of storage scrolls as the supplies.

It's not enough to make her exactly rich, but the wealth of a clan of around two dozen active shinobi who were commanding a network of over a hundred weaker sellswords and controlling the (meager) local trade is quite a lot when concentrated down to two girls with minimal needs. 

Convenient that it's all sealed up for her already. She grabs a good selection before going to meet back up with Amajina.

She has a waterproof bag slung over her shoulder, now, and some new scroll cases secured to her belt. She's looking into her old room with a complicated expression, but -

"Let's go."

"Want to set anything on fire on the way out?"

She giggles. "As much as we can."

"Let's do it."

Open the doors up top, start there, work their way down, then? To avoid the smoke building up where they're breathing. 

Yep. Elaise will take out the bone netting with some well-placed strikes, fist wrapped in exoskeleton.

"Cool."

Then: "I don't know any fire jutsu," she says, stretching. "But torches aren't exactly complicated."

"I can do a small one."

"Can you teach me it?"

"Sure. The seals go like this..." She demonstrates, finishing with a pointing gesture, a thin stream of flame licking out.

Deep hum, before she copies the motion - making more of a flicker like from a quickly extinguished lighter. 

"Pretty good for the first try."

Small grin. "Thanks. But I'll need to work on it if I want to light anything other than paper."

"You can practice on the way down. I'll clean up behind you."

"Works. Thanks."

"Start when you're ready."

She hums, thinks, and finds the first thing she can try to set on fire - a bit of cloth from a tapestry, which seems to want to just smolder rather than catch fire... Until Amajina scowls and forces more chakra into it, causing a large whoosh of fire. 

"Nice one."

She laughs. 

"Yeah! Now for the rest."

And off they go, burning Amajina's former home down.

She has some trouble with the fire technique - she's being stubborn, but it's not her affinity, and it keeps trying to escape her - mostly swinging wildly between too little and too much. Fortunately, she has chakra to burn, and they are in fact trying to set everything on fire. 

More than that, though, she's having fun.

Elaise tries to offer some tips as they go. She doesn't use elemental jutsu that often, so her insight is a bit limited.

But as long as Amajina's having fun with it, they're probably doing okay.

They seem to be. And Elaise's tips do help, at least a little bit. 

Hopefully she hasn't forgotten her water jutsu by the time they jump in the sea to escape.

No chance of that! Those are engraved on her bones, she's pretty sure. 

Good place to keep something safe.

For Amajina, at least - if Elaise engraved something on her bones while they were in her body, then used that bone for something with that bone throwing technique, would the engraving still be there after? 

She grows new bones to use with that technique, not existing ones.

"Oh, cool! But that means using them to send messages might be complicated," she teases. 

"Would have to carve them as I go."

"So an exercise in control, then."

"And speed."

"Things powerful shinobi are supposed to have in abundance."

"True."

"You're super strong, so shouldn't be too much of an issue for you," she teases. 

"We'll see."

Grin. 

And she steps into the water. "Though right now, I think it's my turn to show off."

Elaise hops in. "Take us away."

Laugh! And zoom. 

Without a need to take a compound of shinobi by surprise - and with an urge to show off - Amajina goes all out on speed, racing them down the coast, skipping out into open ocean when the island curves inward, washing past fragmented chains of tiny islands, then washing up onto the shore of an island a good ways to the south - what would've been well over a day's journey on foot and canoe. "The port's just a bit farther down," she says, "But navigating around boats can be a pain, and I wanted lunch anyways."

"Going to catch something for us?"

"If you'd like."

"I would."

"Alright. Any requests?"

"Tuna?"

"I'll see what I can do. If you want it cooked, get a fire going while I'm gone, or I can do sushi once I'm back." And she dives into the waves. 

Full service, huh. Nice. Seems like she found a good one.

She starts work on a cooking fire.

Amajina doesn't take very long to return with a mid-sized, healthy fish, climbing out of the water with it. "Y'know, sucks for the people, but the war's been pretty good for the fisheries... Isobu says they've recovered a lot with less people coming through."

"Bright side to everything. I like seafood."

"I do, too." She sets to gutting and cleaning the fish, humming as she cooks for herself and her new friend. 

"...So what's it like, having a bijuu in your head?"

She pauses, shrugging. "Less lonely? I was like... Six or something when Isobu was sealed in me, and... I'd been lonely a lot. Didn't get along with my family already - we were always screaming at each other, and then having Isobu sealed in me hurt..."

"He can hear all my thoughts, so I guess it was really stressful at first, but - he never judges me about them, and when he was first sealed in me..."

"My family knows a bit about sealing, but not a ton - they knew just enough to attach him to me. Not enough to control him, or force him to stay attached... But just an attachment was enough that if he'd tried to break free, I would've died, and so he didn't. He let them trap him, to save my life."

Shrug. "So - I like it. He's my friend."

"Good that it worked out, I guess."

"Yeah. It'd probably be a lot more unpleasant with most of the others - from the way Isobu talks, many of them really hate humans."

"That's not really surprising..."

"No, not really..."

"Focus on the good stuff, though. You made friends with a tailed beast. Not many people can say the same."

She laughs, ducking her head. "Yeah. Though Isobu's a big sweetie, so it wasn't hard."

Heh.

Giggle.

(And she finishes cooking, putting the fish into camp bowls she'd unsealed from one of the supply scrolls.)

She takes one.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome!"

There's quite a lot of fish. Amajina was hungry, and she seems to assume everyone else has the appetite of a jinchuuriki. Also, though, it's pretty well cooked, for fish roasted over a beach campfire.

Elaise almost keeps up with her.

It is good food, and she's not in the habit of wasting it when the chance to eat it comes along.

Well, Amajina doesn't object to polishing off her leftovers.

Guess that's teamwork.

Very effective teamwork! Reducing waste is quite important, and they're covering for each other.

Bodes well for the future of their partnership.

It does!

"Do you want to head straight down to the port now, then?" she asks, once they're cleaning up.

"Yeah. Find somewhere to sleep, at least."

"Okay."

"I'm not really - familiar with all that sort of stuff."

"Which stuff?"

She waves a hand vaguely. "Town things?"

"I haven't been allowed to run missions on my own, ever. Family kept me on as tight a leash as they could, and when I got away I've tended to just like - hide out in the wilderness..."

"Rrright. In that case, just... follow my lead."

"Stand there and look pretty?"

"Pull out some of that threatening chakra if we need it."

"I'll wait for your cue."

"Let's head for port. Drop us up the coast a couple miles."

"Okay."

And: a slower zoom towards port, landing on the beach where the road cuts closer to it, before they're really entangled with the town's outskirts.

Then it's an easy stroll into town.

Amajina lets Elaise take the lead, as promised. 

The town is actually fairly massive, especially for up here - it's the last easily accessible ocean-facing port between the Land of Water and the Land of Iron, which means all the trade of the region northwards of it and a significant portion of the through trade stops here - including far more foreign traders than make it south. The ship Elaise met the previous summoner of the jaguars on left from this port to swing up and east. It's farther south from Amajina's late family than her words or Elaise's initial latitude guess had suggested, too.

(Of course, this region isn't currently wealthy, so it doesn't hold a candle to some of the grand ports Elaise has seen in richer areas. But, for here - it's a good place to find work, and a good place to disappear.)

There's inns by the docks, a mixture of nice and run down. Elaise can usually only afford the shabbier places, which... Might not be a bad idea again, to stretch their funds farther, but they did just steal an awful lot of money. 

The port is bustling right now, as the morning mists give up their last attempt to choke the bay and the close of the window for departing and making good time away from the rocky coast before sunset begins to loom on the horizon. 

Elaise will steer them to one of the nicer inns for tonight, since it's Amajina's first time out.

It's definitely pretty cool! (The nicer inn is built in a traditional style, though the gardens inside the outer wall have imported flowers Amajina has clearly never seen before, from how she examines them - and it has a big aquarium in the center with imported fish for the kitchens, which Amajina is very fascinated by, and which she might need to be restrained from going to talk to the manager about, either with questions or with suggestions for improving the enclosure. Possibly both.)

Maybe she can do that after they're not paying to stay here anymore.

Fair. She'll hold off.

Best not to offend your hosts.

Okay. She'll be good. 

It's part of the game you have to play. Welcome to civilization.

Another skill to learn, then? 

Guess so.

"I'll follow your lead here too, then."

"I'll try not to send you astray."

"Much appreciated."

To their room, then? 

Sure.

"So we're getting a job guarding a ship tomorrow?"

"That's the plan. Anywhere in particular you want to go?" Cough.

Shrug. "Somewhere I haven't been before, so... Anywhere."

"Ranging farther away sometimes would be cool."

More cough.

"Our choices from here are basically south or the mainland, so."

Hum. "South, then."

"All right."

"Are trips usually very long?"

"About a week, usually. Depends some on the ship, more on how many stops they have planned."

"Not too long, then."

"Do you ever go farther away?"

"Not often. It's riskier for not much extra pay. Went down to Wave country once, a couple years back."

She nods.

"Might still be nice to travel someday..."

"We can see how the first couple trips go."

"Okay. 'Course, this is already more travel than I've gotten to do before."

"Suppose there's that."

Cough cough. Bit of blood, this time.

Worried frown. 

"...How much would a medic cost? For you."

"Cost's not the problem. It's finding one that can do actually anything."

"Well, how good of a medic do we need to find, then?"

Shrug. "Senju Tsunade, maybe."

"How much does she cost?"

"People say she's on the run from half the gambling dens in Fire Country because she's so deep in debt."

"So... Either a lot, or win a bet and charge that, or - find something else she wants..."

"Have to hunt her down, too. Fire country's mostly inland, and I don't know it."

"We'll start saving up and listening for rumors, then."

"Sure."

"You helped me. I wanna help you, if I can."

"I appreciate the thought."

She grins back. "Thanks."

"You're really cool, you know."

"Thanks."

She giggles. "Only the truth."

Settle in for bed, then? 

Yeah. Amajina's first night as a free woman.

A wonderful feeling.

Mmhm.

She actually does sleep quite well, even if this involves turning her futon into a nest which she then ends up sprawling out of by morning. (She rolls around in her sleep.)

She bright eyed and bushy tailed shortly before dawn. 

Elaise is a sleepy zombie shortly before dawn.

Then she will very quietly tiptoe out! 

She goes on a run along the beach, then a swim in the ocean for a good two hours, before looping back to get breakfast for herself and Elaise to bring back to the room. 

Elaise is just about awake by that point.

"Good morning."

"Morning sleepy head."

"Oh, you're one of those people, huh?"

"A one of those people with breakfast." She raises the to-go containers demonstratively.

"All is forgiven." Grabby hands. "Give."

She gives! (She got stuff that seems unlikely at sea, like hot noodles and fruit.)

It's good.

"And I didn't offend a single person!" she says cheerfully.

"Good job."

"Toughest mission yet."

Heh.

Giggle.

She finishes eating.

"Well. Let's go find us a ship."

"Okay."

"I'll follow your lead again?"

Cough.

"Yeah. They might ask for a demonstration, for you... when I give the nod, just lift a big chunk of water up and wave it around a bit. Not, like, the whole bay, don't disturb any ships or people, but a good amount of water."

"Can do."

Off to the pier to find a job.

There's jobs to be found! Filtering for decent ones is actually harder, as is not getting into a spat with the assorted weaker rogue shinobi vying for the same few jobs - but Elaise has a steady, experienced look to her, and Amajina's water trick gets the attention of a merchant who wants to know if Amajina can make the ship faster. 

(Amajina chirps, "Yes, but not if there's rocks around," before Elaise can say anything, which does at least get them the job - nicer half of standard pay for one person, split between them both, for just guarding, more than that again if Amajina is true to her word on speed.)

Guess that works.

"Don't tire yourself out moving the ship," she says softly as they board. "Or go too fast."

"I'll be careful," she says, just as softly.

"Thanks."

Shoulder bump.

"So, want to show me the ropes on ship guarding?"

"Mostly you can let the crew deal with the ropes. I usually just pick a spot up by the prow and practice my chakra sensing."

Giggle. "Sounds fun."

"If you get bored you can take a walk around the ship, sometimes that helps reassure the crew, too, but sometimes you get people that just don't like shinobi and then it doesn't work so well. Basically, just keep your sensing up and an eye on the horizon and the shore."

"Sounds easy enough, yeah."

Then they can settle in for the trip.

Amajina takes to being a ship's guard well - when she isn't making sailors uneasy with daily swims, though on the longer voyages they usually get over that. She refines the trick for making ships move faster, and they accumulate a small reputation over the next few months - and even repeat customers, enough to finally start saving up some money. 

It's not fast enough for Amajina, though, who's getting antsy as Elaise's sickness progresses, and who ends up spending long stretches of their time on shore intently listening for what rumors of Senju Tsunade she can find - especially when they take ships that stop in Fire's ports.

It's not much, though. Not enough for her mind. 

Elaise has given up worrying about it. Finding Senju was always a long shot, especially while they're still here in Water.

....She doesn't want Elaise to die. 

Elaise doesn't want to die either. But this isn't something she has a lot of control over or ability to fight.

Elaise gets gradually worse over the time Amajina knows her, to the point where after one of their trips, she's unable to get up and look for work the next day.

Amajina is...

More than a bit panicked. Civilian medics can't do anything, the best shinobi medic in the world is a continent away -

She's been talking to Isobu a lot. He can heal his hosts, but he thinks - bijuu chakra is usually toxic to anyone else. 

(He doesn't want her to seal him in Elaise instead. Amajina would die, probably, and it might not even save Elaise, and Amajina's been tearing through her family's scrolls but there's not enough - but good seal masters are more common than world class medics - )

It doesn't take her many days of Elaise being bed bound and sick to get desperate. Elaise has been really difficult to wake up, today, worse than the past days, and Amajina is struggling to get broth in her - 

This port's on the edge of the territory Water has successfully reclaimed, and Mist shinobi aren't unknown. There's a woman - dressed professionally and generically, Mist headband on her forehead, hopefully strong, standing in the market when Amajina is going back for more fever reducing tea and sugar.

She turns to look as Amajina skips down the inn steps, gaze sharp though not lingering. 

Amajina's been in a slow panic attack for days. She can't get any more scared. 

She doesn't hesitate to run up to the woman. "Shinobi-san," she says, voice tight, heart pounding. "Please, shinobi-san - "

"What's the matter?" she asks, voice calm, soothing.

"My friend's sick," she says, voice cracking. "She's gonna die, and none of the doctors here can help her - I have money, I can pay for a medic-nin, please - "

She doesn't know if she has enough in coin. But she has Isobu - she thinks a frantic apology to him - and jinchuuriki are worth an emperor's ransom, she's heard. (If the rumor hadn't been that Senju Tsunade is a missing-nin in all but name - well, Amajina might've gone to see if Konoha wants one of Kiri's jinchuuriki, then.)

"I know some healing," she says, voice still steady. "Can you take me to her?"

She breaths out, sharp, and - "Yes. I can. She's upstairs." Amajina turns to lead the way. 

And the shinobi turns toward the crowd briefly, calling out a sharp, "Sayuri!" before turning to follow her. 

A girl ducks out of the crowd to come behind the older shinobi. She's maybe twelve, maybe thirteen, dark cloth wrapped snuggly over her eyes, and otherwise dressed in the same sort of old fashioned swordsmaster uniform as the woman. 

The woman... Pauses when she sees Elaise, something complicated on her face. 

And then she steps into the room, running her hands, faint wisps of medical chakra leaking into the air around them, over Elaise's body. The line between her brows deepens.

"...This is beyond my ability to fix," she says, softly.

Amajina starts shaking her head, throat choking on denials.

Deep, shaky breath, gaze caught on Elaise's face...

"Sayuri," she says, voice quiet. "We need your technique, here."

The girl steps into the room, looking unsure, but says, "Yes, sensei," and unwraps the cloth from around her face, and her eyes are strange and pale - but not Hyuuga-like, rather a faint lavender, black rings spreading from her pupils like ripples in a pond. 

The air feels very heavy and still - quiet, and Amajina can't even hear her own body - 

And then Elaise begins to heal. 

Her eyes flutter open.

She looks around the room warily, sees Shinrei, flinches instinctively-

She steps back, expression shuttered.

And Sayuri slumps against the wall, exhausted. 

And Amajina tackles Elaise. "You're awake!"

"-Yeah. I'm awake." Small hug.

"You didn't find the Senju."

"No."

"Found someone from Kiri."

"So I see."

"Who are you?" she asks the visitors.

"I'm Asano Shinrei, a jounin of Kirigakure, and this is my apprentice, Sayuri."

"I feel like I know you from somewhere..."

"You might have sensed my chakra in passing before," she says. "But I'm not sure we've actually met before this."

"Guess not. So what do you want?"

"Your friend offered to pay me to heal you. I agreed."

"How much?"

"...We hadn't really settled on a price..."

"Get the scroll, then."

She nods.

"Fair cost here is a little complicated - but since it was a quick process given Sayuri's abilities, requiring no other resources, and a genin's level of specialty with a rare kekkei genkai... The standard rate for in-village treatment would come out to about two hundred mon."

It's a much lower price than the civilian doctors tend to demand for what's essentially snake oil treatments; their stay at the inn has cost more than that, though it'd still be a tough price for many of society's poorest. Means it's something they can afford without bankrupting themselves. 

"You're obviously not in the village - but since this was a minor redirect on a mission we were already on anyways, I'm fine not bothering to calculate it like we would if Sayuri had needed to travel."

"...Thought Kiri would be squeezing people for everything they could get."

"Oh, no, our unethical business practice of choice is undercutting the competition, so long as we have the stores to get away with it."

Snort.

"Better than literally cutting them, speaking as the competition."

"Being cheap is faster." (She glances around the room, taking in the assorted possessions Amajina left lying out.) "Though if you two are ships' guards, we're unlikely to be in much direct competion for a while yet."

"Won't regret taking this mission, then?" She counts out the money.

"I doubt it," she says, with a soft smile. 

"I won't," Sayuri says, rechecking that the cloths covering her eyes are secure. "I like healing people."

"Well. Thanks."

"You're welcome." She fidgets. "I dunno for sure that it healed you all the way, though - if you're gonna be in the area for a bit longer, I'd like to check in on you s'long as our mission has us around, to make sure."

"We've been stuck for a while already..."

"We've also built up a buffer with our money - I don't want you to start getting sick again. I think it'd be - good, to stick around and be a bit more sure."

"Fine."

Hug?

Sure. Hug.

"Thank you," she mutters, giving Elaise a squeeze.

"Feel like I should be saying that to you."

"Then we can be grateful all around."

She detangles a bit and starts looking for the scroll to pay the shinobi.

Shinrei thanks her, and gives where they're staying - and says they're not positive how long their mission will take, but it should be at least another few days.

They'll be in the area.

"'Kay."

"Let me know if you start feeling poorly again, alright?"

"I will be sure to do so."

"Thanks."

And she and her sensei take their leave.

"How long was I out?" she asks after they leave.

"Dunno how much of being sick you remember - you were running a fever a bunch - "

"It. Was almost a week."

Heavy sigh.

"Got to make up some training time, then."

Soft giggle. "Got to make up for worrying me."

"Want to spar?"

"A good start."

"Let's go." She swings out of bed.

"Are you feeling up to getting your ass kicked, then." (She's only hovering a little.)

"What makes you think we're going to be at the shore?"

"I can win fights without the ocean, you know."

"Come on and prove it."

She giggles. "Pick your arena, then."

Into the woods, then.

Amajina will let Ellie set the rules and declare the spar to start. Since she did just finish convalescing. 

That's very gracious of her.

Ellie will only beat her a little bit badly.

Amajina is too delighted by Elaise's return to health (it turns out she is much more dangerous when not constantly fighting exhaustion and pain, though her chakra and calorie stores haven't fully recovered yet) to mind!

"Still got some things to learn, huh?"

"Only a few."

She cracks her neck.

"We've got time to work on them now."

"All the time." Hug again! 

Hug.

She's bubbling up with happiness - having a bit of trouble not crying with it, actually.

"...Let's get some food. I'm hungry."

"Okay - you can decide what we're getting..."

Today Elaise feels like ramen.

"There's a stall nearer downtown with a really interesting special," she says. "That work?"

"I think it will."

"Wonderful."

Back into town it is! Amajina doesn't race ahead as much as usual, instead keeping pace with Elaise. 

Then food together.

Amajina's missed this. 

It's good.

"So happy you're okay," she murmurs, almost to herself. 

"Me too."

Heee.

"...Isobu wouldn't tell me how to unseal him from me and reseal him into you so he could heal you. I'm - really glad I found those two."

"...I wouldn't have wanted you to do that either. For the record."