The dim light of the cast aside lantern illuminated with its yellow light the cloud of dust stirred up by the brief but furious action that just took place. It made seeing past a few feet difficult, and in Ringo's case with her face in the mud downright impossible. Even with that lack of intel she was trying to piece together what the hell just transpired. “Sir! Sir!” Ringo struggled against her bonds as she watched (well, listened to) her only chance of escape apparently go brain dead. “You won’t get away with this, General Daisuke! Annitou will have your head on a pike by the end of the week!” She continued to hiss and spit and fume even as someone she couldn’t see put a heavy boot on her neck. “Murderers get what they deserve!”

“Be quiet.” The voice that came from the boot owner was cold and devoid of empathy but also almost certainly from somebody only a tiny bit older than Ringo. The disconnect between Ringo’s mental image of who she thought the attacker was and this new information did, in fact, shut her up for a couple seconds. Was that Junko fugitive actually really young? That couldn’t be true could it? And that Daisuke over there-

“He’s not dead, kid.” Hajime’s opponent stepped into the lantern's light and stooped down to upright it. It was definitely not Daisuke’s voice that spoke those words. Nor was the shadow Ringo observed anything like the General's body. A trick? A disguise? Or had Hajime had been struck down by a child- a child that looked and sounded much younger than either of the two Annitou cadets. The boy's smooth, almost flute-like voice continued. “I just poked a couple spots to make him lose consciousness. We didn’t need both of you awake for this.”

The chilling feminine voice standing on Ringo's neck crept in as well. “But we will kill you if you try anything. Do not push your luck.”

“You are pushing your- hmmgg” Ringo’s protest was muffled when extra pressure on her head forced her face back down into the dirt. Nearby Yuu let out a little pensive sigh as his teammate Hana got rough with the small girl. For all of Agent Hana's skill and technique, she wasn’t very good at any interrogation method that wasn’t just ‘torture them until they talk’. Turned out pathological psychopathy couldn’t solve every problem.

“Excuse me, Miss.” Yuu drew closer to the thrashing Ringo, but not so close that she could pull any tricks. Cadets or not, both these kids still likely possessed some type of jutsu. It paid to be cautious on Jinchi. “Please excuse my partner there. She does not have very much patience.”

“I’m not talking!” Ringo sputtered through mouthfuls of soil. “Go ahead and kill me! Annitou's will never falters, its people resist like a mighty wave-”

“No, no, please, spare me.” Yuu held his palms out as a sign of beneficence. “We actually have the same goals. We are looking for General Daisuke as well.”

“Garbage!” Ringo growled. “You attacked are in violation of Annitou Law 836-B, an unprovoked assault of commissioned Annitou officers! Trash! You’re both trash!”

Hana tightened her ribbons around Ringo and caused the girl to gasp a few times for breath. Even so the red-in-the-face Ringo's rage did not appear to fade. Yuu shook his head and gestured for Hana to ease up. This happened to be the one of the few parts of their dynamic where Hana did what Yuu suggested, rather than the other way around. The boy did tend to be a better people person.

“Let me tell you what we know, Miss.” Yuu tried to make eye contact, which proved difficult with how much Ringo was struggling. “Daisuke has been stealing Jinchi artifacts for some reason. As I’m sure you’re aware already, that attack on the Fenshingiri compound a few days ago was conducted by a Garion soldier. As was the attack last night on the Metsina ship-”

Finding enough space to take a breath, Ringo immediately wasted it. “A smuggler’s ship! A ship full of thieves!”

“Er, yeah.” Yuu did his best to ignore the girl’s outbursts. “And your comrade, the Annitou cadet who got kidnapped. That was also because of General Daisuke.”

“I know that!” Ringo spat with extra venom this time, prompting her neck boot to push her harder into the ground. “I was there! Gekko was my teammate!”

“Stop shouting. Nobody can hear you out here anyway.” Hana twisted her heel and Ringo’s tantrum devolved into pained cries. Yuu shot his partner a nasty look and Hana relented just a bit. Ringo wheezed and coughed as she tried to catch her breath which gave Yuu the perfect opportunity for his follow-up.

“On top of that me and my comrade there were stalking you two and listening to your conversation. We already heard everything you said. We know Daisuke came by here with a Junko woman. We even know where he is going.” That bit of information also seemed to quiet Ringo. She stopped her straining and writhing for a moment just to listen to what Yuu was saying next. He smiled. Perfect.

“Now, in your circumstance, you should be gracious we are having a conversation at all. All we want from you is a confirmation, and we'll be on our merry way.” Yuu looked up and nodded to Hana, who did nothing in response. “Unfortunately since we are foreign agents and I know you Annitou types are so keen on arresting us, we’ll have to leave you tied up here after, but I’m sure someone will come by to help eventually. Certainly that must be better than, well, you know.” On cue Hana renewed her pressure on the Ringo, again delivering a pained cry from the small girl.

“Annitou is keeping its troops in Camp Monog, isn't it? We know they are patrolling the docks and keeping tabs on the main trade streets, and aren’t making any pursuit into the jungle. They've abandoned looking for Daisuke, haven't they?” He leaned in closer to get a good look at Ringo’s expressions, hoping the outbursts of the girl would betray the truth. “The reason you and your buddy there aren’t in uniform is because Annitou told you to stay away from the wilderness, right? And they don’t want you chasing Daisuke, who came this way. That’s also correct? By all accounts, Annitou is powerless. Something is keeping your 'mighty wave' at bay. You can just nod, you don't have to speak.”

Truthfully Yuu doubted the kids held any particularly useful information, but having gone through all this effort it would be a waste to not squeeze a little bit of intel out of them. The darkness obscured both of the cadets when himself and Hana made the move to ambush them, so Yuu had originally expected the two kids to be older. It was bizarre Annitou left this crime scene so empty. Himself and Hana had waited all night for someone to grab and grill for info but in the end all they caught were a couple of children. Sometimes field work was a crapshoot like that.

After some more heavy wheezing, Ringo wormed herself up just far enough out of Hana’s iron grip to make momentarily eye contact with Yuu. He looked down expectantly with as much gentleness as one in his position could offer. “I’ll tell you something.” Ringo grunted. Yuu glanced up at Hana, knowing that some bit of nastiness was likely to come out of the girl before anything useful did.

“You’re Cadet Yuu of the Metsina Royal Family.” Ringo coughed out the last few words as Hana brought her full weight to bear on the child. Yuu’s face shifted from mild interest to concern. What did this mean?

“If the next words you speak aren't relevant-”

“I know you Metsina pigs squeal the second anyone puts any pressure on you.” It was hard to get a read on Ringo’s expressions, as Hana kept shoving her face into the ground. Yuu gestured for his partner to let up so they could try and get more info but Hana seemed to have other thoughts. “We arrested all those thugs at the docks,” Ringo kept talking even despite Hana’s increasingly harsh ministrations. “Didn’t even have to offer them anything, they ratted each other out in minutes. That’s-” Hana pushed harder but it only seemed to force more venom out of Ringo. “-your countrymen! A bunch of traitors with no dignity!”

“So they told you about us, then?” Yuu kept his head level, wondering how much Annitou knew about the pair’s mission. “How thoughtful of you to share that information.”

“Jinchi is Annitou’s sovereign soil!” Ringo gasped. “We know everything! When you buy a dog on the street-”

Yuu’s brow furrowed. Of course.

“-we will know about it! You look down on us, think we’re all crazy islanders, but look!” In between Hana’s interrogation technique a fire burned behind Ringo’s eyes. “You are so desperate you are torturing kids! Even dogs don't stoop that low!”

The girl’s belligerence wasn’t an act. Yuu could see that apparently, even if Hana felt that adding more pain to the equation might convince her otherwise. Turned out the smaller runt of the two Annitou cadets was a harder nut to crack than he thought. Well, it didn’t matter really. They could interrogate the other one and leave this girl buried somewhere. Hana would almost certainly want the child killed but historically Yuu had been pretty good at talking her out of outright murder whenever it didn’t immediately suit their needs. Even if Ringo was an uncooperative prisoner, the wholesale slaughter of another foreign country’s soldiers without provocation could come back to haunt them. Better safe than sorry, right?

“I’m sorry it had to be this way, then.” Yuu stood back up and gazed wistfully into the distance. The barest outline of Camp Monog's tallest structures could be seen standing in relief in the horizon against the deep blue-black sky. Not many stars could be seen, though. His eyes must have gotten used to that small amount of light from the lantern. How long had they been out and exposed like this? They needed to pick up the pace. “In that case we will just have to-”

“You don't know anything!” Ringo barked with an increasing volume and cadence, prompting Hana to change tactics and smash the girl in the nose with her foot. Yuu’s attention back drew back downward for just a moment as Ringo coughed out her threat through a bloody nose. “Annitou's wrath is not a drop, but a downpour! You took the bait-”

A ribbon wrapped around her throat tightened precariously and choked off the rest of her statement. Yuu made a final gesture to Hana to let her know just to ease up a fraction of an amount to let the girl finish. Whatever she said wasn’t likely to be useful but there wasn’t any reason to not hear out just yet. “Oh yeah? What is that, then?”

The expression across Ringo’s face disappeared. In the place of her frenzied rage appeared a firm eyed resolve. Yuu recognized it a bit too well. It reminded him of what Hana looked like in her younger days, before she did something really dangerous and stupid. Even her strained, agonized voice came out with a scary amount of confidence.

“Justice will be served.”

Hana noticed only seconds too late. Ringo had drawn all the focus on her both in sight and sound, and the upturned lantern had cast their shadows some distance due to its proximity. Those two factors combined meant that there was a blind spot directly behind Yuu, lurking right in his shadow...and with Ringo spitting venom neither heard his footsteps. Hana’s voice shot out like a cannon. “Yuu, move your dumb ass!”

The power within Yuu welled up in an instant. He couldn’t see who was behind him but it didn’t take too much intelligence to put two and two together. It absolutely must have been that other guy, the Hajime one. There was no way he should have been awake by now- Yuu was pretty well practiced in disabling people via his jutsu, and the blow he had struck to the lad’s head should have been more than enough to put him down. For the second time in less than 24 hours Yuu’s otherwise uncounterable technique seemed to have been...well, countered.

The old Metsina adage came into play yet again. If at first you don’t succeed, you probably didn’t try hard enough the first time. A projected line of force propelled around Yuu in an arc, bending out from his shoulders and slamming downwards at the target approaching from behind. It was a rare moment where the otherwise ‘invisible’ Hand of God jutsu could be seen, as the still suspended dust particles from their earlier ambush spun and flowed with Yuu’s technique as if being blown in the wind. The blows struck without Yuu having to turn around at all, blasting the approaching figure and stirring up even more dust in its wake. Something was certainly blown away. A body? A weapon? Yuu only managed to turn his head around and lay one eye on his flank to confirm before the answer became apparent.

The same steel resolve across Ringo’s face was mirrored in the visage of her companion. The stark shadows from the yellow lamp light made the Hajime boy’s expression downright worrying, like staring at the face of a drunk looking for a fight. Behind the mad lad flew a heavy plank of wood- a makeshift shield, no doubt, to absorb Yuu’s first attack. Their previous engagement had been incredibly short but already this Hajime seemed to have picked up on that weakness of Yuu’s technique. The Hand of God was a crippling and overwhelming force, but there was a built in delay each time he pulled that strength out of himself and hurled it at a target. Like winding up a punch, that much power could not just be applied directly and permanently. If Yuu timed it properly he could account for that, launching each blow such that no gap existed between strikes. Most of the time it was never a problem.

‘Most of the time’ was not right then and there, however. Hajime’s sneak attack left Yuu flat footed and, in the next moment, the small Yuu was on the receiving end of Hajime’s fist. Hajime was the oldest and stood the tallest of everyone in that little cohort, and as a physically trained Annitou soldier even someone like him could land a solid blow! The boy’s fist met the supple skin of Yuu and the attack sent him reeling back, but not off his feet, and Yuu staggered towards Hana and Ringo in response. Using that momentum Yuu pivoted on his heel to completely reorient himself so that he faced Hajime head on. A bit painful, Yuu decided, but not a game changer. He had a decided advantage as now he could properly estimate the distance and-

As he swung around on his heels the dirt beneath him slipped and gave way. His foot slid out from under him and Yuu found himself precariously off balance, unable to properly utilize his technique at the odd posture he now found himself in. It was like an old cartoon, as if someone had dug a hole just big enough for his foot to catch and tumbled into. A brief moment of utter confusion assaulted his senses. What had happened? They had been standing in a relatively clear area. Hana purposely had dragged Ringo out to somewhere neutral, so that a random blood puddle or dog carcass couldn’t be used for a surprise attack. Nothing about the ground at his feet looked like it was structurally unsound, although as he fell he really didn’t have time to do a thorough investigation there. It must have been a jutsu then, but from where? From who?

Yuu caught himself as he fell and as his hands hit the earth he felt them sink into the soft soil. As the earth shifted under his weight, it began to bleed. Bleed! Why was the dirt bleeding? He grabbed up a handful to steady himself and felt the soil give way immediately, the dark red fluid popping between his fingertips. Bubbles? Why was there a thin layer of bloody bubbles under the earth? No, that was the wrong question- who had done it? The kids? Someone else? What did it mean?

Hana decided to not waste any more time. This wasn’t beyond her calculations and before Hajime could follow up she twisted her ribbons and forced Ringo’s body to be flung between the two, using her as a shield. In addition the knotted ribbons tightened around the girl’s body to completely immobilize her and, within only a handful of seconds, choke what consciousness remained there. These two kids were just cadets after all. A flea might pose an annoyance to a beast but momentary inconvenience did not translate into an assured victory. Yuu would recover and then Hana could take down these kids without breaking a sweat. The interrogation was over anyway. They had everything they needed to know. Better to just end things as quick as possible.

Hajime seemed to have exactly the same idea. He hurled something from his hands, some diminutive and small corked bottle. Poison? Another jutsu? It smashed predictably into Ringo as the girl was currently Hana’s shield, staining the ribbons with a greasy black smear as it shattered on impact. The liquid soaked quickly into the cloth material.

“Sorry,” wheezed Hajime, his voice full of sincere regret. “I’ll make it up to you later, I promise.”

A grating, sparking noise ripped through the air, and suddenly Hajime’s palm was ablaze. No, not his palm- an entire book of matches ripped into fiery life as the boy struck them all at once. The act seemed too incredulous for Yuu to even consider, yet it happened anyway. In the next moment Hajime chucked the tiny fireball at Ringo, and the oil-soaked ribbons encircling her exploded into flames on impact. The red hot fire rapidly caught the surrounding ribbons on fire as well, and like a fuse the whole mess went up in a blaze before the matchbook even had time to hit the ground. What an absolute madman!

But as one might have expected from a soldier so versed in using human shields, Hana was prepared for this eventuality as well.

It took only a snap rotation of her wrists to tear the ribbons that connected her to Ringo. The advancing flames stopped where the cloth material terminated and fluttered briefly in the air before being consumed entirely. Hana took several large leaps backwards to clear space between herself and the human fireball, which also put space between her and the rampaging Hajime. That left Yuu in the middle completely exposed, laying alongside the immobile and now immolated Ringo.

Faith in one’s allies was important too, wasn’t it? Hana held no doubts that her teammate could find a way out. Even as Ringo tore apart the ribbons that once bound her with ease she still couldn’t escape the inferno Hajime put her in, and it was unlikely Hajime could have truly recovered so quickly from Yuu’s attacks. The boy’s phantom jutsu wasn’t like shrugging off normal punches or strikes. The force he imparted was just that- a force without mass, an ephemeral arrow that could pass through solid material and hit targets even though armor, skin, and muscle. Even the world’s mightiest bodybuilders would be helpless, as all the tough sinewy meat protecting their vital organs was helpless against such a piercing and unblockable technique.

Yet Hajime’s attack did in fact look as though he hadn’t been concussed just moments earlier. Trust in the abilities of your teammates was one thing but acknowledging reality was also important. Maybe Yuu was in bigger trouble than anticipated.