[Event] Secrets of the Wind Temple

[Herabec]

Ancient ruins are never too hard to find in a war torn world. Surely, countless villages, castles and even entire civilizations have fallen over the years in this Shinobi world. That is why the ancient moss coved, weed infested and vine wrapped pillars in northwestern Wind Country have been mostly overlooked, until an entrance into the depths of this place were uncovered. The wind in this region is notoriously strong, even for Wind Country, and the reason for this may be hidden beneath Seichi, within the depths of this so-called ‘Wind Temple’.

Currently, this ‘temple’ as many have started calling it, has been completely unexplored with the exception of a few brave men who ventured below it’s depths and have failed to return. This has lead people to believe it may be trapped, or perhaps even guarded.

Whatever the case may be, rumors of traps, treasures and temples always spawn rumors of untold treasures. It is these rumors that are likely to draw thrill-seeking, treasure craving, power lusting Shinobi deep within the walls of ruins. Deep within the walls of the Wind Temple.

Name: Dashib, Thai

Age: 29

Gender: Male

Equipment: 7 pencils
3 ball point pens
45 sheets of blank paper
Clipboard
Glasses

Village: Nagare

Languages: Nagarian (fluent), Common (accented)

Role in Village: Teacher, Cartographer, Clumsy Oalf

Appearance: http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c216/Shounenaiordie/Anime%20Guys/meisan_muiyahoo.jpg

Thai is a scholar, plain and simple. Everything about him says so. He wears a plain brown suit jacket, a thin white undershirt and even a pin striped black vest over that, a small pocket protector hanging inside his jacket‘s pocket, accompanied by many pens and pencils. Even his pants and shoes indicate that he is dressed to be serious and academic, his pants being the same shade of brown as his jacket, and his shoes a highly polished black.

Always is he seen with a tie about his neck, his glasses hanging loosely off the bridge of his nose, almost appearing ready to fall off at an moment. His hair, on the other hand is often an untidy, unkempt dirty blond color, long and ragged with hair almost reaching his shoulders.

Personality: Thai is often a serious but kind person, who’s patience is both his gift and curse. His patience with people is such that he will almost always wait out any decision they make, even if it is wrong. Even with they get something wrong repeatedly, his voice remains soft and calm. While gifted with an abundance of patience, his physical aspects are much less appeasing.

He’s clumsy and prone to getting lost in almost any locale if he doesn’t have a map with him. He can often be seen stumbling over something, or with a pencil and his clipboard out, drawing a map of even mundane buildings if they are larger than a one story home. This has made him a very efficient cartographer and has recently come under the sway of the Wind Temple’s mysteries.

For this reason, he wishes to enter the place, learn it’s secrets and map it’s halls….with proper protection, that is.

[Herabec]

The wind bellowed loudly as Thai paced back and fourth in front of a large protruding stone pillar. The sickly orange stone constasted greatly with it's surroundings; bright green grass and tall dark trees swaying gently in the wind. The only remarkable thing about the pillar was the large oval shaped hole in its side, easily capable of allowing even a large man entrance.

Rumors had sparked recently that this particular ruin of the Wind Country was all that was left of an ancient temple. It was for this reason and the unusually strong winds that it'd been nicknamed the 'wind temple', though to Thai, it wasn't a very creative name. For a moment, the cartographer stared at the entrance to the temple as he had many times before.

Just like the last time he'd contemplated entering the place, he felt a strange feeling of dread at the prospect. In truth, he feared this place and yet was drawn to it simultaneously, but as a scholar his curiosity won over his fear in the end. Now he was simply waiting for some shinobi to arrive, having sent out requests to each of the kages.

He had seen two men enter the 'temple' nearly two days ago, and yet neither of them had come back out. If this place were trapped, he wanted to have shinobi with him after all. In each of his requests, he'd offered 'treasures and exciting discoveries' to any who would come, though he had little idea what treasures, if any, had come.

Risking the wrath of a greedy ninja seemed like a suitable risk to the possible discoveries to be made within the underground sanctum, after all.

[demideviluk]

The wind ripped through his thick black hair without remorse as he drew closer to the ‘Wind Temple’ that he was due to investigate, carrying the usually neatly combed strands in every which direction the currents felt like as they moved. However despite the powerful winds that swept through this area, he walked through them normally as if they were nothing but your typical everyday kind of blustery weather and in all honesty, Demi had been through far worse to complain that this was a nuisance.

“You must be the scholar.”

The boy had to project the volume of his voice above the roar of the wind that swept around them as he noticed the man in front of him, seemingly caught up in studying a solitary pillar that Demi deemed of no real interest what so ever, the monotonous words being carried upon the currents for a brief while before being drowned out by the permanent roar that he guessed would get on his nerves by the end of this pointless expedition.

“Thai? Is it not?”

[Herabec]

OOC: Since it's not specified otherwise, I'm going to assume you're in your standard outfit. :P

Thai sighed quietly, finally becoming bored with his pacing. The wind bellowed about him harder than before, causing his usually unruly hair to simply look wild; hair sticking out in every direction under the sun. He moved closer to the stone pillar that held the entrance to the 'temple', running his hand across it's surface softly.

He was amazed at just how cold the stone was, despite the warmth of the sun beaming down upon it through the trees. He was about to ponder on this further when a voice from behind startled him, the scholar spinning on the spot to meet the new arrival. As he spun, his foot got caught on an untied shoelace. Instead of spinning gracefully as intended, he half spun, fell face first and now looked up at the newcomer.

Thai smiled sheepishly up at new arrival, the glasses on his face now crooked from his fall and shirt now slightly stained with grass. "Ehm, yes. That's right," he said, standing up slowly and brushing himself off. Finally, he readjusted his glasses and properly looked over the boy. He seemed young, very young to the scholar.. But then his eyes met the headband hanging about the boy's neck. Ah, this was one of the shinobi he'd requested!

"Oh, you're from the village! Excellent!" he said, his friendly if sheepish smile turning into an excited grin. "I was begining to wonder if anyone would show up at all! Um, but yes. My name is Thai Dashib.. Um..You are?" he asked, extending his hand toward the shinobi.

[Ivory Deluge]

Ritsuzen was so busy trying to keep her wind-blown hair out of her line of vision that she had not realized how much closer the Wind Temple had gotten. God, did she hate this blasted wind! Honestly, how DID the people of this country deal with all this wind all the time? It boggled the mind. Frankly, she wondered how Baldric was managing up there in the air where the wind seemed to just grow worse.

Maybe I'm just too used to the climate in Sato . . .

Well, it WAS so much clearer here, and she didn't need to strain her already-weak eyes to see in front of her like she did in Sato. Maybe Nagare wasn't all that bad. . .It was still windy, though, so Ritsuzen thought it wise to fish out a small band and tie up her light-blue strands. It was better off like that anyways since she'd be so busy venturing around this "mysterious" temple.

Getting to Nagare from Sato turned out to be quite simple. The two countries were right across the ocen from each other, so a boat ride and a long walk was all that was required. It was convincing her Maman that she was capable of traveling by herself that was difficult. She ended up traveling to the sea port with her uncle Shikkyaku. Ah well, she had thought during the walk, At least the company's nice.

So, here she was now, standing wide-eyed and gapping-mouth a few miles away from the temple. Excitement over-took her, and Ritsuzen quickly ran toward the decaying structure, Baldric soaring in the clear sky above her. As she grew closer, the temple and its pillars seemed to rise up even further, and Ritsuzen's eyes followed them . . .That is, until she tripped over a rock and fell face down into the emerald grass, her glasses flying from her face and somewhere a few inches from her. Her eyes closed upon impact.

Luckily, over all the roaring wind, she could hear voices and was thankful that she wasn't the only one out here. Opening her eyes to nothing but blurs, she managed to make out the rectangular shape of her glasses a foot in front of her and reached out for them. Once she was back up on her feet, glasses in their rightful position, Ritsuzen proceeded to approach the two figures.

"Hi . .there! Are you the professor?!" She yelled as she grew closer yet to the glasses- wearing man.Another guy was standing a little off from her, and Ritsuzen glanced at him long enough to send him a friendly smile.

(ooc- She's just in her typical profile attire.^^)

[Yuki Aisu]

OOC: Yeah, she's still 6. Moron move on my part, but Akagami is younger than her profile states. ^^; And is carrying a long stick that she'll use as an improvised bo-staff.

IC:

Gripping her hiking stick tightly, she began to worry. Where was Misaki? What a trouble situation... really... Maybe she had been captured and taken back? Or perhaps she had to seperate and flee... That entire incident was one giant blur, wasn't it? Sighing, she continued to slowly make her way through the areas, as gusts of wind threatened to entirely topple her small frame. Frowning placidly, she spotted a group and a cave of sorts. Temple, whatever, she wasn't up to date on her modern folklore.

Deciding she might as well participate [better way to escape from her captors], she slowly made her way up, clutching onto her hiking stick for dear life. She might have to use it to defend and flee... Hopefully, these weren't bad people... A weird person... a vest person... and one that seemed to be a intellectual of some sort. Odd, really... She'd just have to pretend she knew what she was doing.

[demideviluk]

“My name is Demi, that’s all you need to know.”

The boy bowed slightly and extended his hand to meet the scholar’s, gripping it tightly and shaking it thoroughly to seal the introduction. Allowing his gaze to drift off over the temple to study it for any problems that they may encounter from the offshoot, unfortunately he wasn’t an archaeologist; this wasn’t his cup of tea or his area of expertise.

“I should probably make this clear from the offset, I’m only here to provide high powered support and protection, I have no interest in this temple so to speak.”

He wasn’t quite sure how it worked but his instincts told him that there was somebody else nearby, behind him in fact, normally he would have put it down to subconscious hearing but in these types of gales, it was highly unlikely. A quick turn of his head confirmed the fact and allowed the sun to glint off of the forehead protector, whilst he was not happy to be accompanied by somebody from that land, he would have to deal with it.

“Oh? A sati nin?
A long way from home don’t you think?”

Demi’s steel grey orbs drifted to the side just long enough to acknowledge the newcomer and assess her potential; she was definitely young, barely old enough to be a Chuunin if she was an good Genin...he put his bets on this one being a genin anyway. He had been expecting something like this anyway, to have to accompany inexperienced fools who sought after treasure, knowledge and power in a long forgotten locale, higher ranking nin were assigned to missions, he was unfortunate not to have been.
His facial expression did not change, nor did it smile as he spoke to the girl.

“And now...a little kid...”

He wasn’t quite sure how to respond to the appearance of a little girl, there had been occasions where a few prodigies had been rumoured to have left the academy at such a young age but there was certainly no record of it recently. That only begged the question what a little girl was doing here out in the wilds of Nagare alone, although he was sure that it would all come to pass, even if it was going to mean more trouble for the jounin.

[Herabec]

(OOC: I have the feeling that the six year old is gonna have the crap scared out of her. o.o)

IC: Thai smiled a bit as he shook the shinobi's hand, his grip seeming flimsy and weak in comparison. He was a book worm, after all, not a trained killer! "Very well, Demi. Regardless of what you're here to do, I'm glad to have you with us," he said in a cheerful voice.

A slight movement behind the young man in front of him alerted himself to another person's arrival. This one appeared to be a clumsy little girl, in fact, this one couldn't even be a teenager yet! However, the headband around her head clearly indicated that this girl, this little girl was a shinobi. How was that possible? Though, he knew that despite the girl's age, she was likely more capable than he ever would be.

He bowed slightly as the girl got closer and inquired as to his identity. Now that she was closer, he could tell that the symbol she wore was that of Sato; he wondered if there would be problems with that from the older boy. "Professor? Oh, yeah, right! Haven't been called something so formal in a while. Please, just call me Thai," he said, smiling and readjusting his glasses.

As focused on the two Thai was, he didn't notice the arrival of a third newcomer; this one far younger than the others. At least, he hadn't noticed until Demi pointed her out by remarking about a 'little girl'. Looking around for a second, he finally spotted her. She was small. His first thoughts were of what in the blazes was a little girl that small doing way out here?

His second thought was much more unlikely. Oh boy. I hope she's not here for the expedition. I can see it now, 'old man takes little girl underground'! That's just bad publicity, he thought for a moment. Sighing quietly, he shook the thoughts from his mind and extended his hand toward the girl. "Hello there, what are you doing way out here?"

[Ivory Deluge]

(ooc- I take it that we're just posting whenever right now. Please, do not refrain from letting me know if there's anything wrong with my posts. I definitely want to get better at this.)

When the steel eyes of the older boy met Ritsuzen's own ebony irises, she felt a bit uneasy at the aura of power that surrounded him. She definitely didn't feel this uptight around other Genin, that's for sure, so she wondered if he was perhaps at a higher rank or if he was just an exceptionally strong Genin. Despite this uncomfortable feeling, the kunoichi managed to hold her smile on the boy. Not too friendly, is he? She thought as she quickly studied the boy's unusual style of dress, and then her eyes fell upon the symbol on the headband hanging off his neck.

A Nagarean, then? I guess that's why he's not too happy seeing me. Ritsuzen was aware of the past tensions that had developed between Sato and Nagare, but wasn't Ooikage-sama doing something about that? That's where her knowledge of the subject ceased. It was for these reasons she couldn't blame the older kid for not feeling in fuzzy feelings toward her. She addressed him then,

" No distance is too far for me. Especially when something as adventurous as exploring an unknown temple is calling." As she said this, Ritsuzen pounded a small fist onto her chest and placed the other on her hip. After feeling like an idiot for maybe too long, Ritsuzen turned her attention back to the Professor who was now addressing her.

"It's nice to meet you, Thai-san," she said congenially, bowing at the waist and remaining there for a bit before standing up straight and adjusting her own rectangular frames. Boy, it's a small world after all, huh?. " My name's Ritsuzen, and I'm very excited and honored to be joining you."

Baldric had landed beside her then and looked upon the strangers in vague interest, cleaning his inky feathers and showing the others that he was there in case anyone pulled a fast one on Ritsuzen. "Oh yeah! This is Baldric, by the way," she said as she pointed to the raven.

By the time she was finished with her introduction, another, even younger girl appeared, and Ritsuzen turned a little to get a better look at her. She WAS awfully young, and the kunoichi wondered how much trouble she had in talking her own mother into letting her come here. She did not speak this time because the other two had already acknowledged the child's appearance. Instead, the genin merely waved a friendly hand the little girl's way and smiled cheerfully.

[Yuki Aisu]

"You know, I find that to be very rude... I'm here for the exploration." Smiling politely at Ritsuzen, then Thai and Demi, she gave a light yawn mingled with a sigh, before looking about for a while.

OOC: My apologies for the fail post. It literally takes 10 seconds for the PC I'm using to even realize I've typed anything, and then 5 more to respond on-screen.

[demideviluk]

“I see.
Well you are here now, we will have to work together, and this place is no doubt trapped.”

The girl had managed to hold her smile even after being regarded that way; he was vaguely impressed by her ways, but merely nodded in acknowledgement as she bought her bird out for show. For now he would keep Yukari hidden away from view, the way she was acting he could tell that she didn’t like being kept that way, but for the moment she knew she had no choice.

“Of course...she’s here for the exploration...frellin’ children...”

Demi rolled his eyes slightly as the young girl replied to Thai’s questioning and presumably called him rude, of course even at that age she was right about him being rude, she had no place here and it was only going to be troubling for him. He was honestly glad when she started to wander away from them, maybe she would kill herself before entering the temple...or at least scare herself into running away.

“That girl cannot come in with us.”

[Herabec]

Smiled pleasantly at the three young people in front of him. While by no means old himself, these three seemed to only go from half his age to younger, and the newest arrival didn't even look ten yet. He wondered what she was even here for, so far from civilization? The girl claimed to be here for the expedition but..

And how was he rude? He was simply asking a question of the little girl. Whatever, he wasn't her father and he couldn't command her to do anything. Ignoring the comment the girl made, he instead bowed slightly at the young Sati shinobi. "It's a pleasure to meet you and Baldric in that case," he said, a faint smile resting on his face although he made no movement to pet the raven; it didn't look too friendly.

“That girl cannot come in with us.”

Thai shrugged slightly at Demi as the ANBU spoke. What did he expect him to do, tell her to go home? He couldn't command the girl to do anything, and even if he had tried to she was as likely to give him inappropriate gesture as obey his orders. "If you would like her to leave, you're welcome to try and make her. I'm not her father and she doesn't appear to be the most..cooperative girl I've ever met."

[demideviluk]

“That... can easily be arranged.”

He looked at the girl for a second or two and then returned his sight back to Thai and raised his eyebrow. As if silently implicating something between the two of them in a language unspoken and varied that it could be interpreted as any number of thoughts.

“However, if you are happy to take such a defenceless young girl into untold peril, then so be it.
You are the leader of this little exhibition after all.
But I’m not helping her.”

Demi shrugged his shoulders gently and closed his eyes to listen to the voices of the wind, swaying ever so slightly in time with the melodic roar. He wasn’t happy to see that this scholar was such a coward when faced with an unruly little girl, he hadn’t even made any effort to remove her from the site, he even wondered if Thai cared whether the young one would die or not....Demi certainly didn’t. He had seen people die at his hands plenty already, he had seen loved ones die in his arms as well, the death of an irrelevant girl who could not see the peril she was walking in to was nothing.
A small sigh erupted from his lips and his eyes were wide open again, except this time, there was no emotion in them, his hand spinning a kunai out of boredom.

[Yuki Aisu]

Frowning lightly, Akagami sat there with light irritation. They were probably discussing how she was a kid and shouldn't come and so and so forth. Always underestimating children, bah. And speaking in different languages too... how irritating... She sighed lightly. Well, there really wasn't too much she could do about it. If they asked her to leave, they would, but if they didn't... then too bad for them, really.

Sitting down on a conviniently placed rock, she began to literally twidle her thumbs, waiting for whatever it was that would indicate a start. Or a denial of allowing her to enter. Whatever would come, would come...

[Ivory Deluge]

Ritsuzen spared Demi another glance in acknowledgment of his comments on both working together and the issue of the younger girl. She, too, was a little interested in what the child was doing out here. Lost maybe? She didn’t see a headband or any other indication that she was a shinobi, so being lost was next on Ritsuzen's list of "whys." Of course, when the girl answered the question that all three of the older people had entertained, Ritsuzen's eyes widened slightly, and she double checked for some sort of sign that this little girl was ,indeed, a ninja. Nothing!

Both Thai and Demi were speaking in a language unknown to Ritsuzen, and when she looked over at the younger girl, she too seemed a bit confused, but she merely walked over, sat down on the rock there, and twiddled her thumbs in seemingly boredom. Ritsuzen did have a feeling that they were talking about the problem of the little civilian girl, though. The genin supposed there was nothing she could do about it, no matter how much she feared for the child's life. There was no telling what was down there, but she absolutely knew that there was going to be traps and all kinds of dangers. This was an ancient temple, for cripe's sake!

" So what's your name? If you're gonna be joinin' us then I'd like to at least know you by name," she asked , addressing the child with another ,more curious smile as she sat her back pack down next to her and stretched her legs, light blue hair catching the wind as another gust blew by her. This was going to be an interesting trip. There wasn't a single doubt about that.

Baldric cawed and hopped a few inches toward the younger girl, speaking to Ritsuzen as he went. "So, what's this girl doing here, child?"

"Apparently, she's goin' on the expedition with us. . ." Ritsuzen answered as she finished up on her stretches
.
"What!? She seems a bit . .young, if you ask me. Even younger than you when you started the Academy."

" I know . .but what can we do? If Professor Thai wanted her gone, he would have said something already." With that, the raven grew silent again and took flight, circling the small group of strangers.

[Herabec]

Thai smiled slightly at Demi as the other made himself perfectly clear. Thai wouldn't be angry at the boy for acting the way he did; he was a murderer for hire and a teenager to boot. He was likely a raging inferno of hormones and adolescent anger, but he had dealt with so many teens over the years that they no longer angered him. He'd just never dealt with one that could easily kill him.

"Thank you for being honest with me, Demi. However, I believe, as you plainly stated earlier, you are here to offer high-powered support and protection. If the girl comes, your support and protection will extend to her as well," he said calmly. "Because, as you said.. I'm in charge of this expedition, my friend."

Now that he was done telling Demi how things were going to work, he turned his head toward the young girl. He still did not feel right about taking her with them, but he didn't feel right about leaving her out in the middle of nowhere, miles from civilization. She could get killed out there as easily as within the temple, no matter what awaited them.

Smiling in a friendly way at the girl, he extended a hand toward her as he readjusted his large glasses. "I would be happy to have you along, though I hope you'll stay next to me and not wander off. It could be dangerous," he said. He didn't need to request the young girl's name, Ritsuzen had already covered that for him.

[demideviluk]

“Whilst operating on my own will, my protection extends to those I feel necessary.
Need I remind you that nobody here has paid for my services?”

The boy smiled in return to Thai’s own smile and comments, the man was his elder and had the most knowledge of these ruins to call upon for the moment, Demi would not contest the fact that he was the best man to lead the expedition whether it was his exhibition or not. However he was far too confident that his age and experience would be enough to deal with the Jounin, he had neither the experience, intelligence nor power to be an authority figure to the ANBU.
He felt it time for a little revelation of his own since they were being so clear, his voice lacking in emotion, perfectly calm and still as the words escaped from his lips.

“If I deem it a threat to the country’s welfare, I have the authority to obliterate this little temple of yours.
When it comes down to it, your ‘leadership’ means very little when I’m under orders from the Feudal Lords and the Kazekage.”

His hand brushed his fringe back into place and he sighed as the wind took it upon itself to mess it all up once more, he sighed as he looked at the rag tag group that had assembled before him and noted that there was only one person who was he was obliged to keep safe whilst in the temple. A group consisting of a naive scholar, a little defenceless girl and a sati nin who was too young to be anything more than a Chuunin...it was going to be troublesome if the temple was too dangerous, the only people who would be able to defend themselves properly in the worst case scenario would be the two shinobi.

“Now, enough of this meaningless chit-chat, we need to prepare for the encounters we may face inside. And probably introduce ourselves and what we offer the group, sheltered from this wind of course; I can imagine the Non-Nagareans aren’t used to this weather.”

[Ivory Deluge]

Ritsuzen's eyes darted from Demi to Thai as they spoke in that language that she couldn't even begin to understand. The tone in their voices, though, told her that it was quite a serious matter, a matter so serious that she'd probably rather not understand what they were saying. Side- glancing at the younger girl, Ritsuzen queried if the child could understand the conversation. She hadn't a clue where the child was from, nor if she were an actual civilian or a student from the Academy. Ritsuzen shrugged at this thought. Doesn't really matter if she's one or the other, I guess . If we run into any trouble, I don't think she'll be to really do much for any of us.

Finished with her stretching, the ten year old could only stand and do random, boring things as the group waited around for . .well . .whatever it was they were waiting for . . I wonder if anyone else is going to show up, she thought as she reached down for her backpack and double-checked her inventory. There was a canteen of water, along with bandages, an extra pair of glasses, and some pain killers in case she developed a headache, just to be safe. Her weapons were, of course, being kept in her vest pockets and in the weapon holders on her waist and leg.

Ritsuzen closed her eyes, zipped up the bag, and tried to ignore the gusts of wind that tormented her so. It was this irritation that made her nod her head in quick, full agreement when Demi suggested that they get out of the gusts and introduce themselves. " Sounds good to me. . .I'd like to at least get your name," she stated as she opened her void-like eyes and fixed them onto Demi's. She smiled pleasantly and rubbed the back of her head. God, how she hoped she wouldn't get a headache, but the winds only seemed to invite such pain!

Above them, Baldric let out a harsh "caw" and ,after getting a nod from his ward, flew toward the opening of the temple, the wind barely acting as a hindrance for the creature.

[Yuki Aisu]

Wait, wait... Drat... Sighing, Akagami set her hand on her forehead, in an utterly un-childlike move. Getting up, she advanced towards Thai, before bowing. "Sorry about that... I thought all that formal speech was a way of mocking or trying to trick me... usually is where I come from, unfortunately. I apologize. And...my name's..." She paused, considering all the possible fake names she could give out and such, frowning and trying to think one up. It might also, unfortunately, look as though she didn't remember her own name.

"Hana. Tsukino Hana. I can't promise I'll stay close, sorry." It was a pun, actually, if anyone bothered to notice, but Akagami left that little internal joke to herself. Sighing again, she followed Demi until they decided to speak. "Here's what I can offer the group. Any physical capability is out-classed by the ninja of the group, and I'm almost positive that intellectually, I'm topped as well... All I can really add is a bit more creativity. That, and a decoy and irritating distraction." It was said with almost no cringing at the lowering of her own position, though she did lightly roll her eyes at the word ninja. The fact she was bellitelling herself and putting her own worth at that of a decoy/scapegoat meant near nothing.

[Herabec]

Thai shook his head softly as Demi, with all his wisdom of being a teenager, no matter how much training he had, attempted to tell Thai that he would do as he pleased. How many teenagers had he dealt with that felt like that? Probably too many to count. This place was likely to be nothing more than an abandoned temple of some sort filled with history, treasures and traps.

However, the boy's idea of getting out of the heavy winds was a sound one. Thai looked about for a moment; it didn't seem like there were any open structures in which to hide from the wind. Except for the entrance into the temple of course, though shelter was shelter.

He was about to suggest it when the young girl moved toward him and bowed, apologizing for her previous actions. That was unexpected. "It's no problem... Hana," he said, wondering why she would hesitate to give away her name. "I'm sure you'll be fine, after all we've got two shinobi with us and traps aren't that dangerous if you see them first."

With that he smiled and waved his arm toward the entrance to the temple, indicating that it would be there that they would properly introduce themselves and their talents; they wouldn't need to travel very far inside to escape the wind after all.

"Excuse me, Miss Ritsuzen, will Baldric be coming with us, or would he prefer to stay outside in the open?" he asked, remembering the Sati shinobi's pet crow. Would it even want to go underground?

[demideviluk]

“I wouldn’t rely on shinobi to save you personally.
These temples could have quite easily been trapped by ancient shinobi...with powers that we may not have seen before.”

His gaze moved to the entrance of the temple and noted that it was the only real places of vague shelter in the near vicinity, letting his eyes absorb the beauty of the craftsmanship before shrugging slightly and following Thai’s lead into said shelter. It would be a shame if he really did have to reduce this temple to rubble but he knew that he was the only person nearby that would be able to put a stop to something before it even began.

“Ahh, as I said before, my name is Demi...although that’s irrelevant.
I’m here to oversee the safety of Nagare citizens looking to travel into this temple...and destroy any threats to the country.”

As he moved into shelter and the wind stopped ruffling through his hair and clothes, he leaned forward slightly and ran his hands through his hair and over his body, smoothing everything out neat and tidy before it ended up being messed up once more by entering the temple. Honestly he was bored of all this waiting around doing nothing.

“What I bring to the group?
Hmm...That’s an interesting one...I would likely say everything in comparison.”

[Ivory Deluge]

Ritsuzen's attention had been on the younger girl who had just declared herself as "Hana" when Thai had asked her about Baldric. Her gaze then drifted to the raven as he made his way into the temple. " I'm not really sure what he'd like to do. I hadn't thought about it until just now." She was grinning sheepishly at the professor as she explained herself. "I think it'd be best if he stayed at least in the entrance of the temple, but whatever he wants. . . .I'll talk it over with him once we get out of this wind." With that said, she began another introduction.

"Well . .The name's Ritsuzen," the genin chuckled as she followed the rest of the gang into the temple, the wind slowly dissolving into nothing as they descended further into the shelter. "As for what I bring to the table . .eh . .I guess I can provide moral support since Demi's got everything else covered." With this, she chuckled again, all the while wondering how strong the other ninja really was. "More than anything, I'm really excited about this expedition. I've only ever read about these kinds of things in books but have never been a part of them!" After all, there was no telling, no telling at all, what secrets this place was holding! Demi had a point, though. This temple seemed to almost promise dangers of all sorts, so she had to keep a close eye on the two civilians.

After she finished speaking to the others, she turned her attention to Baldric who was perched upon a stone. Ritsuzen grabbed her glasses and cleaned the lenses of the gathered debris as she laid out her plans for the raven to Baldric. "I suppose that would be best," said the winged creature as he eyed the room suspiciously. " Just be careful and don't wander off from the rest of the group." A small smile appeared on the child's face and she waved her hand dismissively at her companion.

"No worries, Baldric! . .I'll be sure to scream really loud if we run into any danger!" Her small smile had become a grin then, and she giggled impishly as the raven cawed madly at her "joke." So Thai . . .What kind of things do you think we'll find down there,anyways," she asked the professor with large, curious eyes.

[Yuki Aisu]

So we have... Ri-chan... Mr. Professor, or Thai, or whatever... and Mr. Cynic. No, no, I get the feeling that title belongs to someone else entirely... Er... King of Boredom? Bah... Demi. He'll just be Demi, The Downer. Or whatever. Sheesh, so serious.

Stretching her arms a little, she followed right to the cave, keeping an eye on the raven thing and Ritsuzen. Conversing? That was neat. Frowning a little, she nodded at what each person said. It's basically two civilians, a newbie, and Mr. I'm Amazingly Awesome and God-like. There really wasn't much to it, It was just a matter of waiting it out...

[demideviluk]

"Do all Sati girls run and scream when they get in danger?"

Demi chuckled to himself slightly, even as he broke what had been established as the "posting order", and smiled at the raven that was accompanying the girl. It seemed that he had decided to stay behind and out of the temple, it made sense, they would be going deep underground where it's manoueverability would be severely hampered.

"Don't worry.
As long as she plays nicely, I'll make sure she stays safe."

[Herabec]

Thai rolled his eyes, annoyed by Demi's talent of breaking 'posting order's. I mean, it was common courtesy! Anyway, in the small area of the temple they'd already ventured within, he could tell this wasn't going to be an extremely pleasant stay. It smelled..stale, despite a gentle breeze that seemed to originate from further within the temple instead of from outside. That was odd.

Mixed with the smell of stale air was something more..foul. It didn't exactly smell horrible, but it smelled wrong. He'd smelled it once before at a funeral. It was the smell of death. That smell seemed out of place in an ancient temple, but for now he couldn't pinpoint the source. It seemed to be carried by the breeze that flowed through the stone halls.

"Anyone else smell that..? Bah. Anyway, as you all already know, my name is Thai. I'm a cartographer, professor and intellectual. Mainly what I bring to the group is experience, knowledge and most importantly I think, map-making skills. That way, no matter how far we get within here, we won't get lost," he explained.

He then smiled at Ritsuzen and addressed her question. "Really, it's anyone's guess as to what we may encounter. I imagine in a structure as old as this, it might contain quite a bit of history, knowledge on Seichi's past and.. I'm sure of interest to any shinobi or Kage, it's past shinobi. I can't be sure what we'll find. This place might be completely safe for all I know, or each step we take could activate an ancient trap; so please, watch your step."

With a sigh, he looked down the passage; the further the passage went, the darker it seemed to get until the darkness was impossible to see through. He adjusted his glasses slightly before turning to the rest of the group. "Whenever you're all ready, we can begin."

[Ivory Deluge]

To be honest, Ritsuzen wasn't sure if she was supposed to feel insulted over Demi's comments or surprised that he could actually understand what she and Baldric were saying. She had her back turned to the boy when he began speaking, so he couldn't see ,hopefully, the look of shock on her face as she realized this ability. Baldric was just as stunned as his charge, but ,fortunately, expressions were mighty hard to find on a raven's face.

Still, the girl had to wipe her facade clean of the stupefied look before turning to face Demi, a confident and playful smirk replacing the gapping mouth and narrowed eyes replacing the widened ones. "And what makes you think I can't protect myself, eh?" She crossed her arms, still speaking in the language of the birds, and made her way toward the obviously stronger nin, head tilting up further so she may see him eye-to-eye. Somewhere in the back of her mind, that malicious voice piped in with her own comments. . .or, rather, insults . . Are all Nagarians this cocky? Psh . .arrogant piece of . . The rest of the voice descended into silence as Ritsuzen spoke again.

"Well . .be sure you keep a good eye on yourself . .It wouldn't be very pretty if you happened into one of those moving-wall traps with the spikes." She ,of course, said this all in a jokingly manner, but she wondered if Demi would take it as such.

"Okay, child . .Perhaps it'd be wise not to anger the native Nagarian. We wouldn't want any wars cooking up between here and home just because you couldn't keep your mouth shut. ." This ,too, was meant as a joke. Baldric even managed a light chuckle at the end of the sentence. Ritsuzen merely nodded, bowed slightly to Demi, keeping a hold on her glasses as she did this, and turned her attention back to the professor.

"Ahh . .I'm sooo excited, sir!" Tightening the grip on her backpack strap and paying little to no attention to the smell filling the air, the Genin shot a fist in the air. "I'm ready whenever you are!"

[demideviluk]

“You’re the one who joked about running away screaming.
You tell me?”

He almost laughed as her body seemed to tense up in shock as he spoke, it was only a subtle change in posture but it was enough to give off the signals and as she turned around with her smirk, his beaming smile was already upon his face. As she stepped forward unto his position and looked at him squarely in the eyes, he merely stared back into hers with the typical cold steel gaze from the grey orbs, showing no emotion, speaking no language from his soul, just void.

If she had been an enemy right at this moment, he wouldn’t have hesitated to strike her down, she would have been dead before she had realised what was going on. Or maybe he would have played with her body for a while whilst she was frozen, who knew, it was hardly relevant.

“I have no reason to watch out for myself...if I get skewered by said trap; it will have been a long time coming.”

The words that came from his mouth were deadly serious despite acknowledging her joking manner, he was all too aware that he should have died a long time ago and was willing to take the risks, since he had died, he had decided to devote himself mostly to the country he lived in. For that was worth one man’s sacrifice.

“You have no need to worry about a war because one girl angered one boy...although wars have been started for less.”

He scratched his head as the girl bowed down to him slightly even after the bird had joked, it seemed that it had taken the facts being spoken out aloud for it all to sink in but that was to be expected, she was still young. In return, he bowed down as he spoke to out of respect.

“I’m ready.”

It was a simple statement without any following movements or words, merely informing the party of the fact that they could leave whenever they wanted, it seemed that between the four of them it was only the little girl that was left to agree to move out. His eyes flitted over to lie upon her as he waited with his arms crossed over his chest leisurely.

[Yuki Aisu]

So there were traps. And emo boys who could speak to birds [was that a common theme?]. And the scholar with his apprehensiveness. Really, she was just one of those characters who sat on the side and watched, taking part when needed, but not striking forward and setting their own pace consistently. "Set."

Sighing, she eyed the squeaking raven and what-not, bored and spinning her hiking stick around in her hands, up and down, up and down, around her body, into the air, back into her hands, before hitting it against the ground, bored, finished warming up, and anxious to start.

OOC: Sorry. >__>

[Herabec]

Thai smiled slightly at the group and adjusted his glasses yet again; he should probably buy something to keep them on his face or something. No matter; he could do that next time he visited Nagare. From a small pack he had slung over his right shoulder, he pulled out a large notebook and a pencil.

"Then um...follow me, then?" he said, indicating down the darkening hallway with his notebook. He probably should have brought some torches with him, but he simply hadn't thought about it. Oh well, it was too late now. He didn't let it show it, but in truth he was just as excited to delve into this place as Ritsuzen seemed to be; and thus in his hurry may have overlooked some vital things.

As he moved down the hallway, which seemed to almost slant slightly downward, he mapped away, drawing a rough outline of the hall they were walking down. On the walls of the stone, small imprints could be seen in the walls, almost as if small gems had been removed.

As they would venture fourth, the surroundings would become darker, the light from outside unable to penetrate the darkness. Once the darkness became substantial however, they'd pass by two torches that lined the walls. The torches, almost as if automated, would alight themselves as the group drew near, illuminating the surrounding area in a soft yellow and orange glow.

At the edges of this firelight, two more wall mounted torches could be seen, as well as a vast darkness they may indicate a larger room likely a hundred feet or so down the hallway.

[Ivory Deluge]

Ritsuzen eyed the hallway ahead of her nervously before following Thai. It's kinda dark down there. . .and I didn't think to bring anything to use. It wasn't that she was afraid of the dark, necessarily. This temple was probably already dangerous, and walking around aimlessly in the dark probably wasn't going to heighten their chances of survival. The genin spared each other individual a glance to see if any of them had at least brought some form of lighting, and then sighed. Aw well! Nothing she could do about it. She'd just have to keep both her eyes and ears open. See ya, Baldric," she said as she went after the professor.

As she walked, Ritsuzen's inquisitive eyes eagerly studied the small imprints upon the stone wall of the dim-lit hallway. At one point, she stopped for a brief second to get a closer look. When she noticed that she had fell behind the group, Ritsuzen let out an "oh" and half-sprinted half-walked to catch up with the others, her sandaled foot catching a loose stone on the floor and sending the genin to the floor. Her hand shot out ,fortunately, and kept the girl's face from hitting the cold, stone floor. Her glasses flew from her face and landed under her.

Ritsuzen stared down at the blurry floor beneath her and sighed annoyingly at her own clumsiness. It was something she'd definitely have to work on if she wanted to become a great shinobi. Standing up, all the while picking up her glasses, cleaning them, and muttering swear words she had learned from her uncles, Ritsuzen continued after her companions, taking note that the hall was even darker now then it had been minutes before and staring down at the scrapped skin of her pale hand.

[demideviluk]

It had taken a while for his nose to pick up on the smell even after Thai had commented upon it, sniffing the air deeply and wrinkling his nose slightly in disgust, he knew that smell all to well, it was the foul stench of death upon the stale air. His senses only confirmed the fact that this temple was dangerous, how many adventurers had already fallen to this place in the past, it begged the question of whether this would get the four of them as well.
“Of course, lead the way.”
Demi walked slowly behind Thai and kept a constant lookout for anything that looked out of the ordinary, he was well adjusted to combat in the darkness, this whole scenario was hardly an issue with the light restrictions. His hands moved softly against the indentations in the walls, his movements stopping to interrogate them with his touch out of curiosity, letting his eyes wander through the passage for anything that Thai might have missed due to his mappings.
“Torches...hold up...”
His arm rose up and balled his fist in a gesture for them all to stop in the torchlight for a moment, his body lithely shifting over to one of the torches and examining it closely. If he was able to do so from inspection, he would pull the torch away from the wall, although only if it was clearly safe.
A thud from behind, as if one of the companions had fallen, bought the boy to a stop and his immediate reaction was to turn around and peer into the darkness on the lookout for whatever had happened. There was no further sound, whoever it had been was safe enough, although he knew it was one of the girls.
“Please refrain from being so clumsy.”

[alliehazel]

ooc: Sorry if I mess up post order and am really, really late. SORRY >.<;;

ic: Ami scrambled as fast as she could. She really had to manage her time more wisely. When she got to the place where everyone was supposed to meet, she was worried that she was too late. Still, she had to carry through with what she started. Noting the entrance to the temple, Ami made her way in. She couldn't care that her bangs were completely messed up. Her appearance wouldn't matter as long as she was able to catch up with the group.

As she entered, it seemed as though they had already entered. There was also small sign of current presence outside, but it was hard to tell due to the wind. Because of the knowing of presence, Ami figured it would be safe, for she was also impatient with herself and cursing herself in her mind. The hallway started to get darker, but there seemed to be a light up ahead. Ami slowed down, for she was starting to get out of breath. In her state of relief, though, Ami tripped over her own foot. If there were other shinobi around, they would probably notice.

"Ow ow ow ow ow...." she said as she stood up. She had slightly hit her head and somewhat scraped a knee with her fall. She brushed off the dirt that was on her and looked to where the people ahead were. Ami was cautious and kept her distance just in case they weren't the group for the exploration she was to be with. "Excuse me, this is the exploration group for this temple, am I correct?"

[Ivory Deluge]

Please refrain from being so clumsy

That was easier said than done. Ritsuzen hated her ineptitude that was her flaw as a shinobi, but there was nothing she could really do except practice and try to defeat it. Following within the shadow of the group, Ritsuzen glimpsed at the youngest of the gang, the little girl whose name was supposedly Hana. Hana of . . .Come to think of it, where did the girl live? In Nagare?

"So, Hana-chan, are you from around here?" Ritsuzen didn't really have any reason for asking this other than out of sheer curiosity. She wouldn't blame Hana for not answering her, though. After all, they were all nothing but a bunch of strangers with this one adventure in common.

The kunoichi saw that there were torches ahead, and Demi had his arm extended out keep anyone from moving any further. The boy was being hesitant about picking them up, and Ritsuzen lifted an eyebrow to this, obviously unaware of what dangerous traps could be set within them. Come on! What's the big deal!? We need those torches if we're gonna get any further!

As they stood there, Ritsuzen feeling mighty tempted to just walk over and pluck one of the torches from its place on the wall, the sound of a body falling to the ground, accompanied by a series of "ows" met Ritsuzen's ears, and her black orbs of eyes shot in the direction of a voice as it called out. Caution told her to keep her mouth closed, but the command itself wasn't strong enough to keep her lips from parting and her voice from calling back.

"Hello?"

[Yuki Aisu]

As Demi slowly grabbed the torch, as if he was checking for traps, it came to Akagami's perception that there had been a trip. Two, actually. Someone else was coming. Frowning a little, she put on a more cheery attitude, trying to be 'moral support'. "It is indeed, though you are... slightly late. Or so would say the King of Depression over there. Come on, come on, don't dawdle now. And to answer your question Ri-chan, I'm not from anywhere. I'm what someone might call a nobody." Grinning just a tiny bit, she kept her eyes trained on the figure that was approaching. Akagami herself had to be quite careful, because if she didn't those stones might hit her knees and legs instead of feet and ankles. Being short had irritating side effects.

[Herabec]

The torches on the wall appeared to be well-fastened in their location, but there appeared to be no traps and with a bit of work could be removed. Likely the torch wasn't meant to move due to their apparent ability to light themselves when people drew near them.

A sudden bustle from behind drew Thai's attention from his maps, instead looking back to see a new arrival; this one apparently as clumsy as Ritsu and himself. He hoped there would be no pitfalls in this place; that would be bad. Um, yes. That's correct. I apologize, I didn't think anyone else was coming," he stated, a small smile creeping across his face.

"And what might your name be?" he asked, his eyes tracing over the girl for a moment, wondering if she too was a shinobi. Normally, he'd have offered to help her up; but his hands were full at the moment. Not to mention close physical contact with shinobi was often bad for one's health.

"I'm Professor Thai Dashib, though you can just call me Thai," he stated. With a turn of his head, his attention was drawn back into the void darkness of what appeared to be a large chamber in front of them, a mere hundred feet from their current position. The breeze that found itself moving throughout the temple grew slightly stronger the closer they were to the darkened chamber.

[demideviluk]

“As expected, they shouldn’t be removed.
Although I am greatly intrigued at how they work.”

Demi sighed and contemplated whether it would be worth unsealed his sword to act as a searchlight within the temple, however he quickly decided against it for several reasons, one of them being that he had very little intention of allowing these younglings to rely upon him when facing whatever perils they came across in here.

Another thud against the ground and he was clearly irritated for a split second before calming down and turning to face the newcomer, he had not expected anyone to follow them into the temple once they had started and in the darkness he could forgive her for tumbling over on her lonesome. At least it wasn’t Ritsuzen again; he swore that if another female stumbled over again, they would feel the sharp end of his wrath.

“Another girl eh?
Seems like you get a lot of this attention Thai.”

He strode forwards cautiously towards the chambers that the breeze was emanating from, this was dubbed the wind temple after all, he was hardly surprised that a breeze was travelling through in their direction even from within the temple itself. Every footstep was checked before being placed and eventually he stood in the first chamber, looking around in marvel at what was revealed.

[alliehazel]

"I should be the apologizing for being late. I'm Tsukiko, Ami," she said, stepping closer to the group. There were two other girls and one more guy. The situation was strange for her. She was very used to being the youngest in the group. Among the other male's comment, her eyes lost all emotion before talking. "Oh, I'm sorry for being curious enough to sign up for exploring the temples and not being the same gender as you," Ami commented, making sure she had enough sarcasm in her voice to be noted.

She let out a sigh to cool herself down before shutting her mouth. There was no need to talk anymore, and she wouldn't have anything more to comment on since she was late. She would stay in the back of the group. At that, she reached back to take out Mayumi and hook it on. She didn't feel like loading just yet. After all, the group wasn't too far into the temple.

[Ivory Deluge]

Ritsuzen had to cover her mouth and the smile that had formed there at both Hana's and Ami's little comebacks to Demi. The poor guy seemed to have his hands full with this group. A giggle made a break through her lips as she watched the boy walk off deeper into the ominous halls.

"It's nice to meet ya, Ami. Glad to see that you were able to make it." Turning to the new addition, Ritsuzen held out a hand after bowing quickly to the girl and spared one last glance at the darkness laid out before her. I sure hope there's more of those fancy torches up ahead. . .This may be harder than I thought it would be. Ritsuzen was in NO WAY afraid of the dark. Such a fear was for babies! No, this Genin just didn't want to wonder aimlessly in this temple and get lost when something could have been done about it. Not to mention that little problem she had with crowding people. Being in the dark didn't seem like it'd help that phobia at all.

[B] " I bet you're a somebody to . . .somebody, Hana-chan," Ritsuzen stated as she moved closer into the beckoning darkness, keeping a safe distance away from anyone . .she hoped, and found herself standing in the entrance of an incredible chamber. An annoying breeze blew past Ritsuzen, and she sighed at this nuisance. "There's even wind in the buildings ." said she in a deadpan voice. ". .I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. This place IS called the 'Wind Temple.'" The voice in the back of her mind supposed that Ritsuzen would just have to suck it up and voiced this.

I guess you have a point . . .I just hope this wind doesn't cause us any problems. She wasn't too keen on ancient temples, but she did know that people ,even ancient people who had something to hide, tended to use the environment around them to an advantage. So the child eyed the room suspiciously while marveling at the beauty of it.

[Yuki Aisu]

OOC: o.o Forgot it was my turn.

IC:

Stretching a little bit, Akagami sighed. "Somebody to a nobody~" Snickering a little, she gave a sharp glare towards Demi. Sexist fiend. He probably dropped women off and let them die in his arms, due to some sick, sadistic pleasure.

The creativity and imagination of a 6 year old mind was appalling sometimes.

As nothing really happened, she slowly went forward in the cave, irrespective of the wishes and desires of everyone else. Besides, Thai and Demi seemed to be moving along just fine anyway, but she'd have to go as well.

[Herabec]

Thai smiled in a friendly manner at the new arrival before proceed onward, only a step or two behind Demi. The hallway was large enough for two people to stand comfortably side by side, or three people with a relatively tight fit. Once they'd made it to the large chamber however, Thai had to readjust his glasses in awe.

The moment they entered the threshold, a loud woosh like sound erupted from several torches lining what appeared to be natural cavern walls, lighting the area. The cavern was huge; the ceiling wasn't very high, maybe 20 feet or so above the group with small holes beaming light within the room. There were narrow walkways along the sides of the cavern, but it seemed time had eroded them for the most part.

The cavern itself appeared to be around a hundred feet long and sixty or so feet wide at it's widest point, the room in an apparent oval shape. The center of the room was nothing but a pitfall leading down into pure darkness with the exception of an ancient wooden bridge, the kind of thing you'd have read about in an adventure book.

This appeared to be an obvious way to bottleneck invading forces if the need ever arised, though who would attack a temple remained unknown to Thai. The bridge, while ancient in appearance with various molds and webs hanging from it, seemed sturdy enough surprisingly.

The wind within this cavern was far greater than that in the hallway, the wind seemingly rising from below instead from the holes leading into the chasm. "Well...This was unexpected," he said simply, adjusting his glasses yet again.

[demideviluk]

“You’re gender makes no difference to me.
It is just ironic that those who choose to join the expedition all happen to be young girls, it’s as if they had been advertised for or something.”

As Ami spoke in his direction, her emotionless gaze was met by the same gaze on his side but he knew his would be far more intense somehow, he could already tell that this girl had yet to live the hardships of life, she was used to be sheltered whether she liked to admit it or not. His gaze drifted to one side where Ritsuzen was trying not to laugh at their comments, he couldn’t blame her, they were quite comical and considering they were still immature children, he could hardly fault them. Instead he merely waved slightly as he turned his back to advance, saying the next line in a mocking tone, something that Rokku had dubbed him a long time ago after they had become champions of those chuunin exams.

He smiled to himself at how proud that little girl would probably be of her intellect to call him something like ‘king of depression’, if only she could realise that she was so many years out of date, these names were something he collected...somewhat akin to stamps or stickers to other children, they were a part of his everyday life. In fact, he could almost take pride in those names.

“And for the record, I prefer the term:
Lord of all emos,
Destroyer of all that is joyful.”

His eyes widened as the blazing torches revealed the room to them all and he let out a small sigh of awe, whoever had built this was a great architect and an intelligent tactician, this whole room seemed more like something out of a fortress or dungeon than it did a ‘temple’. It was no wonder that he had been ‘assigned’ to this by the Kazekage, there was no knowing what this place was in reality.

“Indeed. Unexpected. And utterly wonderful.
Newcomer and Ritsuzen should go first, shinobi should really be testing it for traps and we need a fighting force on the other side...just in case.
Then Thai, then the girl.
I’ll head up the rear, believe it or not, if anyone falls off into that abyss, I’m probably the only one in any position to be diving off and saving them. Unless of course, any of you have the ability to fly?”

His finger pointed at the two girl shinobi and nodded at them, they could bicker between themselves about who went first but this was the most sensible course of action whether they liked it or not, they would be the ones to cross the bridge first. In all honesty, he was sure that he could get across without even using the bridge itself but that was something he didn’t want to test unless he was forced too, he didn’t know how that ability would react to such gale force winds.

“One at a time of course.
We don’t know how sturdy this bridge really is.”

[Ivory Deluge]

Mouth gaped open and eyes widened at an alarming size was the way Ritsuzen gawked at this room. She could almost feel and hear the Ancients as if they were still here, adding on to history, though the noise could have just been the wind as it roared through that terrifying and hypnotic hole in the ground. She couldn't take her eyes off of it, and she barely managed to hear Demi's plans.

"Uh huh, sure . . ." She paused and swallowed a lump in her throat. "Sounds okay to me. . ." The voice sharing her mind managed to snap her out of it with a simple Wake up, you idiot. You can't be dozing off in here, of all places!

Ritsuzen shook her head and turned toward Ami, who was still kind of cooling off from her little run in with Demi. "Er . . .would you feel better in front? It . . .doesn't matter to me."Despite being back to reality, the ten-year old was still finding it hard to keep her eyes off of that hole. She wasn't afraid of heights, or ,at least, didn't THINK she was afraid of heights. . .

[alliehazel]

Ami rolled her eyes at Demi's comments, especially the title he preferred himself. In all truth, she was very uncomfortable, for she didn't particularly like being around strangers. As they approached the bridge, it was almost too obvious how Ritsuzen was distracted by something. "It doesn't matter to me either. I'll go first, though."

At that, she approached the bridge and focused mainly on her hearing. With every step, Ami would listen for any cracking or even the slightest thing indicating the bridge might break. She would continue as long as there weren't any sudden forming holes in the bridge or the whole thing collapsing completely. Every Ami would also look back at Ritsuzen after a good amount of steps to see that she was following.

[Yuki Aisu]

"You're really narcisstic, you know Demi-chan?" She was totally aiming to irritate him. That's what happened when you got her to this point. Long gone was the amiable one, on came the sarcasm. The mere idea of adressing someone who was almost 3 or 4 times her age by that honorific was an insult. Or perhaps it wasn't. Didn't really matter.

Shrugging, she agreed. "Whatever... you're the high-level ninja boss..." She really had an urge to just run right across the bridge top speed, but that might not end so well... Shrugging it off, she simply waited until Thai would cross, and she might go after Demi. Though, if there were those nice ropes on the side, she'd slap her walking stick on top of them, and use it to 'roll' her way across, shifting her grip here and there to slowly make it across. In case the ground underneath her gave way, she'd still have a support. And if it didn't... lucky her. And if the entire thing fell... she might not be in a good position. You get there when you get there though~

[Herabec]

Thai stared down into the black abyss of the pitfall in the middle of the room. He gave a slight nod as Demi told them what to do, ignoring his previous attempts to give himself demeaning titles. The boy certainly seemed like those titles would fit him properly. He adjusted his glasses for a third time and gulped, trying to gain the courage to walk across the bridge.

In truth, high places bothered him. Not that he was afraid of the fall, but of the sudden stop at the end. He also knew that his clumsiness made him..vulnerable to such things. He would wait until the two female shinobi made their way across, each moment causing his heart to throb painfully in his chest. It'd probably be his fault if one of them were to die.

Once they made their way across, Thai would follow, gripping the hand rails tightly in his hand as he moved at a slug's pace. He would eventually make it across without incident, though his face was slightly paler than it had been before if anyone bothered to notice.

Akagami would likely follow right after him followed by Demi, but as Demi attempted to cross the bridge, he would find his way barred; preventing him from even stepping foot on it. It was as if an invisible force were pushing him back; though in truth it was more like an invisible barrier comprised of wind.

Each time Demi would attempt pass by this point, he would be assaulted by a powerful blast of wind akin to a hurricane. It would not injure him, but it would likely be sufficient to keep him at bay. Maybe the experienced shinobi should have taken the lead.

[demideviluk]

(Ha-ha...that’s a simple way of keeping me behind...for everyone who didn’t know, I’m away for the next week, so I’ll catch up when I’m back.)

“Narcissitic?
That’s a new one...but I suppose considering everything...I can’t blame you for seeing me that way.”

He shrugged in the general direction of the girl and merely listened to the wind rush by his body as they decided to follow his orders, he didn’t particularly care about anything the little girl said, there was only a 50% chance that the civilian would come back out of this alive and if she somehow managed to draw out his temper, she would die without any questions raised. That was something he was not fond of occurring and as such, her comments would just be pushed to one side as if they had never been made.

Demi smiled as the four of them made it across the bridge without any problems occurring and whilst he had taken no liking to any of the members of this expedition group, he knew that he couldn’t just turn around and leave them be. Especially with the orders that he had been given, it would have been easier just to leave these types of places well alone, buried in the history of their past.

“How troublesome.”

It was his time to step forward onto the bridge but was pushed back by hurricane force winds, he tried again and he was pushed back once more, it was as if the temple had already verified that he was a significant threat to itself and did not want him anywhere near the inner workings. With a little bit of time and power he knew that he would be able to get around it but right now he didn’t want to risk any form of destructive process with innocents nearby, if the temple could recognise his abilities, then that meant that things could get dangerous any minute now.

“You will have to go on ahead, it seems like this temple wants to separate us.
I’ll catch up soon, once you’re clear, I’ll rip straight through this wind barrier.”

[Ivory Deluge]

As she walked delicately behind Ami, Ritsuzen's eyes would ,every now and then, peek down at that black hole that probably never ended. If she fell, she wondered, WOULD she find the bottom? A gulp sounded in her throat. She wasn't so sure she was keen on finding that out, and the boards beneath her only seem to tease the child even more!

At one point, she managed to miss a board just as the wind started to kick up, and her hands, which firmly grasped the hand rails, and the rest of her body tensed in mere seconds. Once the wind had stopped, which to Ritsuzen felt as if it had lasted for an eternity, she relaxed a bit and found her footing again.

"Tons of fun, huh," she chuckled nervously at the older girl in front of her.

Once they had made it to the other side, Ritsuzen trying to catch the breath that the rickety bridge and wind had stolen from her, she waited patiently for the others to cross, balancing on one leg and trying her best to shake off her fears. What had happened to her exactly? She was so peppy about going on this expedition, and now look at her. Frightened by a mere bridge over a hole? Pitiful, and the voice inside of her didn't fail to remind her of that.

Come ooon! What's the big deal? It was just some stupid hole! Ritsuzen agreed entirely, but she still couldn't quite shake her uneasiness about it. Maybe it was the temple in general.

As she waited, there was a loud roar of wind, and her dark eyes traced what her ears had heard from somewhere behind Hana, from way behind the Professor.

It was Demi . . .

. . .And he just standing there!

The kunoichi really didn't have time to let a word in before she realized that Demi couldn't move . . .because the Temple wouldn't let him. How strange! Yet, somehow, he seemed very calm about it, not to mention cocky. She sighed.

" That really doesn't surprise me . ."

[alliehazel]

Ami gave Ritsuzen a reassuring smile when she commented on how "fun" this was. "Loads of fun," Ami replied. Once they were on the other side of the bridge, Ami also looked back to see that the conceited guy was stuck where he was. "Just awesome..." she bluntly said. Ami spat out the hair that was blown into her mouth when she talked before looking at the scholar. "Well...only thing is to move forward." She turned around to face the path path ahead and started walking. She didn't want to continue looking back to see the jerk. She especially didn't want to see him break through the wind barrier. Just another show off of skill.

ooc: Bleh. Sorry about Lame-O post. Just coming up with this on a whim x.X

[Yuki Aisu]

"I don't think so..." Akagami sighed. Leaving Demi behind was not a smart plan... but apparently, everyone else didn't care. "Well, I'm not leaving him. I'm pretty sure that cutting our fighting force and leaving behind the guy who was ordered to protect us ISN'T a wise choice. Ri-chan over there said she only has moral support, and I'm the decoy. So unless Thai and Ami are as strong as this guy... leaving is a bad choice." Frowning at how... easily they just walked away, she turned around. "There might be a way from this side to get him through..."

Returning on the same way she went over the bridge, she approached the spot Demi couldn't get through, from the bridge side, before seeing if she could stick her hand and weapon past the edge of the bridge onto land. "Gotta get this guy across somehow..." The girl mumbled out a few words as she thought about how to help Demi.

[Herabec]

Thai didn't like this situation. Not at all. Demi was the only one here that he was confidant could keep his little exploration team out of trouble, no offense to his other shinobi companions. Not only that, but the team was divided on what they wanted to do, the ninja wanted to delve deeper into the dungeon but the youngest member of the team wanted to help Demi.

When Akagami got closer to Demi however, she met the same wind resistance as he had, only pushing her away from the teenager. It was apparent that, at least while this defense was active, nobody was going to help Demi. Perhaps Demi has a plan to get past it already? After all, he told us to go ahead.

Making his way toward the girl, he placed his hand on her shoulder softly. It was a gesture meant to put her at ease. "I don't think Demi would have told us to go ahead if he didn't have a plan to get out of this. Besides, if we run into any trouble, we have two other shinobi with us. We'll be fine," he said calmly, partially lying. Would they be fine? Hard to tell, especially without knowing the skill of the two girls he was risking his life with.

Making his way back across the bridge, he nodded at the two shinobi. Let's keep going, Demi will join us later," he said quietly before he continued mapping the area. The path ahead was a simple stone hallway, much akin to the one that lead to the bridge. This time however, there was a very foul aroma in the air.

Torches on the wall lit as they neared them, illuminating the nearby area. Thirty feet down the hallway was a mass lying on the floor. It looked human shaped, but it made no movements what so ever. Thai had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, remembering the two people who'd entered before them.

If any of them bothered to check, they would find a dead middle aged man with brown hair, unshaven and a generally foul look about him. Cause of death could be easily seen as a single sharp wound to the back of the throat, probably by a knife or similar object.

[demideviluk]

(I was expecting you to get quite far without me lol)

His eyes focused on the little girl as she moved towards him, this was a strange move for somebody like her and he would have rather she had just left, he chuckled slightly to himself as the girl was pushed backwards by the wind once more and then frowned slightly.

“I would have rather you had kept moving.”

He waited for a few extra moments as Thai moved the flock away from him, and disappeared from view. That is...if they would all follow him.

Demi moved away from the bridge and outstretched his hand into the void above the chasm; he was not surprised for the barrier not to stop him this time around and merely jumped out into the emptiness. He presumed this could have looked potentially suicidal to the majority of them but it hardly mattered right now, a flicker of hand seals with his nimble fingers and his foot literally bounded off of the air underneath him and sent him soaring to the other side where he would land gracefully.

“Wind Burst.”

It seemed that he was now across and walked casually to catch up with the group as they moved onwards, stopping only when he reached the body of a dead man. Kneeling down, he used his vision to inspect the corpse, quickly noting that he had been killed by a piercing wound to his neck and shook his head gently.

“Looks like he was stabbed by something...wound to the neck...do you know anything about people in here before us Thai?
And more importantly, has anyone ever come out?
I would quite like to inspect this body further but I don’t want any of you to get hurt, it would be wise to back off...or something.”

[Ivory Deluge]

Ritsuzen could understand Hana's feelings for leaving Demi behind. She could. Really, but the young genin had her own feelings that Demi would be okay. In other words, he wasn't being cocky for absolutely no reason, she figured. So, sparing another curious glance toward the boy, Ritsuzen trailed after the Professor, hands clutching the straps of her backpack as her eyes darted up, down, left, and right . .that is, until they had hit a certain lump of something laying in the middle of the floor, and Ritsuzen, being the curious creature she was, moved toward the thing.

She was closer yet when Demi, who was even closer to the object, announced that it was a corpse. The idea of a corpse excited the child and made her shiver with disgust all at the same time! Wait! Demi!? The question of how he managed to catch up so quickly lingered on the kunoichi's tongue, but she decided against it. After all, there was a CORPSE right there, waiting to be evaluated.

Ritsuzen circled around Demi and looked upon the corpse . . . .and then grew pale . . . .and then screamed. After all, this was the first time in her life the poor girl had ever seen a corpse!During her screaming fit, the girl had tried to back and away from the dead man but fell backwards onto her butt. Nevertheless, the kunoichi continued to back away as her gaze remained frozen on the rotting being.

Once she had calmed down at bit, face still pale , and she feeling slightly embarrassed, Ritsuzen sat up straight and looked at the area around the man.

"You think maybe he stepped into some sorta of trap? " It was an obvious question but one that ,hopefully, made everyone aware of the fact that they could be sitting on a trap right now, traps that she had only read about in books. Gulp!

[alliehazel]

Ami sighed as Demi had caught up with the group. At least he was able to back up his word. She didn't see how, but frankly, Ami really wasn't caring that much. There was a dead person lying ahead in the hallway. Ami made no comment, for Demi was doing most of the talking.

When Ritsuzen went into a screaming fit, Ami rushed over to put her hand over the girl's mouth, but she was already done and had asked an obvious question. Ami crouched down next to the fallen Ritsuzen and answered. "I believe that would be a yes. Also, for future reference, try to keep the screams in. We don't need to let others know we're here...if there are any, of course."

At that, Ami stood up and held her hand out toward Ritsuzen. It wasn't good how she was pale, so when she would get up, Ami would pat her shoulder. "Can't always be comforted in the presence of a dead person. Keep that in mind." Ami didn't know how to make her feel better, but that was the best she could do. While the others were probably checking out the corpse, Ami would take a few steps ahead to see deeper into the hallway. She was, however, taking light steps, and keeping her guard up.

[Yuki Aisu]

OOC: Seriously, you guys should start skipping me when I don't post. O.o

IC:

Akagami frowned as both adults tried to make her leave. What were they, stupid? Did they lose rational thought the older they got? Tch, idiots. The moment that Thai attempted to get her to move, he'd be hit with a glare, as glaringly as a child could glare anyway. And then Demi leapt over the entire thing with two jumps, one in mid-air. Ignoring the fact that was incredibly cool, she was pissed. What was his problem?! Showing off some sort of secret way to express himself? How irritating... "I've been spending too much time around Misaki...

Sighing, she scurried down the bridge again, skidding to a halt in front of the corpse. How excellent, a corpse. It didn't phaze the girl, though most 6-year olds would be pissed about now. Sighing irritatedly, she waited. No doubt if she did what she wanted, she'd be stopped and then bagged so she wouldn't be able to do anything else. The bastards.

[Herabec]

OOC: If we skipped you, Yuki, it would defeat the purpose of your participation. O.o

IC: Thai continued to cringe, something that only deepened as Ritsu began screaming. Death was never an easy thing to see, and this was indeed one of the people who he'd seem enter. It'd been a couple of days since they came in, but he'd simply assumed they were explorers and would be here a while. What happened to the other one?

"Um, yeah, Demi. I saw this man and another one enter a couple of days ago. I just assumed they were exploring deeper in the ruins; it's not uncommon for scientists or explorers to stay in ruins for days or weeks at a time. I don't see the other guy though."

It was fortunate for Ritsu as she crawled on the ground, that the man's death hadn't been caused by some form of trap. At least, not one that could still be seen. Thai wondered how the man's death had come about. Ami's light steps forward would ignite a further pair of torches further down the hallway, revealing an intersection. Now the group would need to chose between going forward, or traveling left down the new hallway that revealed itself to them.

Thai gingerly stepped past the corpse of the dead man, choosing not to remain in the presence of death for long. If Demi were to more closely inspect the corpse, he wouldn't find many other features of much interest, except the curious look as if the man's body had been searched soon after death.

"A split in the paths. Which road does one travel down first, I wonder?" Thai asked, almost as if he were giving a class of students a hypothetical question.

[demideviluk]

“Well the wound looks to precise to be a typical trap, in my personal opinion.
To pierce somebody straight through the neck without leaving any signs or using multiple traps would be impressive to say the least, if there is another person in here, I wouldn’t count them out of murdering this person.”

Demi ran his hands up and down the corpses body gently, patting it carefully trying to find something that could be of any value, or even just have an actual use. It seemed even after checking his pockets and the cavities that Demi could bring himself to check, there was nothing of worth, instead he pondered about how the man looked to have been tampered with before the group had shown up.

“And already potentially searched before my arrival...something doesn’t add up.”

Pulling the body away from it’s original position, dragging it across the floor, to the other side of the passage without activating any form of trap, he had ruled out the concept that there were any traps in this vicinity, at least...rudimentary traps anyway.

The boy watched silently as the group were nudged into discussion about which fork in the road they should take “first”, to be honest he didn’t fancy taking either, never mind exploring both of them. Never the less he stood there calmly without showing any signs of making a decision, instead looking around them carefully, waiting for whatever had killed that man to reappear.

[Ivory Deluge]

The young genin nodded at her fellow kunoichi's words as she took Ami's hand and stood up, being patted on the shoulder as Ritsuzen steadied herself. Her legs were still a little shaky, and she simply could not stop the goose flesh that formed on her skin, though she really couldn't tell if that was just because of the air or the corpse. Ami had a point, but it still didn't make Ritsuzen feel any better about how she reacted.

She was a ninja, for Heaven's sake!

Then again, she hadn't really been on bone-chilling mission like this before within the two years of her shinobi career.

Mentally, the girl sighed and worked up a smile of "thanks" for Ami, but the other girl was already making her way down the hall, torches lighting up the way as she went. Thai soon followed, but Ritsuzen ,despite still feeling uncomfortable and a bit sick, stayed back and watched Demi search corpse. Might as well get used to corpses while she still could, right? She ,like Demi, had failed to find anything suspicious about the victim, but ,then again, she wasn't really trying to find anything at all, just trying to grow accustomed to the idea of death.

When she had her fill, Ritsuzen stepped forward and looked curiously into the dark depths of the two pathways. Which one . . .which one . . .Well, obviously the safest one, but which one could that be. I've gotta feeling that neither one is going to be filled with padded walls and candy. She didn't want to, but maybe they should split up. . .

"Er . . .which one would you like to take, Thai? I go where you go . . .and . .Hana-chan, too," she said as she glanced at the younger child, who seemed to be a bit . . .annoyed about something, though Ritsuzen wasn't so sure what it could be. The genin placed her hands on her hips and nodded to herself, her ambition and determination slowly returning to her.It was her job, after all, to protect those who might need it. It was the initial reason why she was here.

[alliehazel]

ooc: Soooo sorry for being late....again...

ic: Ami briefly closed her eyes as the sudden change in lighting occurred. A split in the temple. She stood there, tilting her head periodically to each one. Thinking of what might happen in each. Most likely both were dangerous, but one was still going to be explored nonetheless. She heard Ritsuzen make comment that Thai should decide. That was best since he was the one who initiated the exploration after all.

Ami would make no comment and would not turn around to look at the rest of them. She wasn't about to turn her back on anything in this temple. They weren't too far deep and already someone was dead. She wasn't in the mood to make decisions at the moment either, so she's just stay there and wait for a direction to be chosen while her head rocked back and forth, looking down each hallway.

[Yuki Aisu]

Sighing with frustration, Akagami pulled off her shoe and tossed it into the left passageway, hoping it would set off a trap if there was one, and if there wasn't, then not set off anything. If nothing went off, irrespective of whether or not there was a trap, the girl would retrieve her shoe and mimic the action with the hallway in front of them. Same response, then the shoe would once again be retrieved. And at the end of all of this, if there was no response, she'd decide that going left was the best plan. Arbitrarily, of course. But not after putting her shoe back on.

[Herabec]

OOC: No worries, Ami! ^_^

IC: Thai didn't like the thoughts that Demi portrayed. Too precise to have been killed by a trap, and little evidence to indicate a trap. Demi had come to the conclusion that it was possible that the man had been murdered by his partner. He hadn't seen either of them leave the temple, so was the man still here? Great! Still, he supposed that unless the man was a ninja, they would be relatively safe.

"Let's keep on our toes then," he said cryptically.

The task fell to him to choose a side, one of the passages. He thought on this for a moment. Left..or straight ahead? There didn't seem to be an advantage for going in either direction, and so it seemed to simply be a step of faith. One he was surprised he didn't need to make.

A blur of movement heading down the left hall surprised him, the shoe (a shoe?) thumping against the ground, the noise echoing throughout the windy hallway. Nothing seemed to activate in the shadows, even the unlit torches on the walls apparently ignoring the shoe as it came to a stop in front of them.

The torches didn't remain dormant as the youngest of their group made her way to gather her shoe again, the flames responding to her presence. Perhaps they only lit in the presence of something with chakra? When she made her way down the hall, she tripped no pitfalls, no falling rocks, no wall mounted spears. It was apparently safe down that way thus far.

She attempted it again, Thai half wanting to stop her from doing something so reckless again, but the girl would get a nearly identical treatment from the hallway going straight, even down to the torch alighting as she drew near. "Guess it doesn't matter which way we go.." he stated. At the tests, he finally pointed down the left hall. If it turned out to be a dead end, they could always come back, after all. With his map making, they wouldn't get lost, after all.

Thai would lead the way, making his way down the left hall. The walls further down this direction would appear more and more golden, in contrast to the previous reddish brown of the hallways. The hall descended probably a hundred or so feet, slanting further down.

Thai would be cautious as he moved, making sure to map anything of interest. The hall would end with a large chamber, if still smaller than the 'cavern' with the bridge. The room was quite large, with a high ceiling that more than likely stopped right below the surface of the earth. Thai wondered just how deep they were.

The walls were lined with several torches, each of them lighting in unison as Thai entered the room, illuminating most of the room, a final blazer resting in the center of this chamber lighting up the rest of it. The north and south walls of the chamber held small protrusions in the wall, appearing as if things were missing from them. From each protrusion, a small, thin tube lined the wall heading toward the east wall, adjacent from where Thai and the rest had entered.

Perhaps the two most interesting features of the room, were the door on the far eastern wall, the wall containing several depictions of what appears to be a serpent like being, around which four shapes encircle it, apparent gems of some sort. In front of this door however, lay a large mass on the ground. It was another body, the unfortunate partner of the murdered man.

Should anyone bother to check, they would find no apparent cause of death, though an observant person, or one with medical training, might notice that their entire body had been internally crushed. The man's face is frozen in an apparent look of terror. On his belt hangs a small pouch, filled with various precious gems and a knife. The knife appears slightly blood stained. One could presume they found the earlier man's killer.

Now the question was, who or what killed this one?

[demideviluk]

“The innocence of youth eh?
I guess her age has its uses.”

Demi smiled as the young girl sent her shoe flying down the passageways to test for potential traps and then wandered in to retrieve it, before deciding that they should head left further into the temple. He couldn’t help but give a very light round of applause for the young girl’s imitative in light to the caution of every other person in the group.

He noted all the intricate details as he walked, the colours of the walls, the lighting of the torches and then as he entered the room, his eyes were immediately drawn to the corpse opposite him by the imagery.

“Let me guess...that one is the partner of the man back there?”

Something had gone horribly wrong inside this room it seemed and Demi moved no further into the room, hanging back near the doorway as he surveyed the environment for any signs of danger. It looked to him as if the explorers had been plundering, hardly a surprise to the boy, and presumed that they had activated some form of ancient security devise in doing so. After all, the temple had already shown itself to have security built into it and it was no doubt going to be still active as long as they continued to disturb it.

[Ivory Deluge]

Ritsuzen sweat dropped massively and smiled wryly at Hana's trap test. It wasn't a bad idea if not very amusing and weird all in one.

"Now . . .Why didn't I think of that," she commented as she waited for a reaction from down the hallway.

When any and all possible traps failed to activate under the weight of the shoe, Ritsuzen followed behind the Professor, choosing her footing with great care just in case.

Her gaze went everywhere when she stepped into the dim chamber. A shiver forced its way through Ritsuzen as she stepped further yet into the room, tilting her head up and down and turning it left and right. The place was so wide and spacious that she was beginning to wonder how letting Baldric tag along could have hurt anything. Oh well, no need to thrive on that.

She hadn't quite seen the corpse yet . . .

. . . .Because something else had attracted her attention.

The girl walked hypnotically toward the north wall, staring at the small protrusions and the thin tubes that led somewhere the kunoichi didn't care to notice just yet.

"What do you think these weird tubes are for," she asked no one in particular.

A small hand came up to brush against the walls, and then Ritsuzen blinked out of her trance when she felt a twinge in the back of her head and heard that familiar voice chuckle slightly.

Almost immediately the hand that had been touching the wall shot up to rub the pinching part of her head. How annoying!

Her eyes then proceeded to follow the thin tubes' lead down to the eastern wall and beheld numerous and fabulous pictures of something surrounded by the most beautiful pieces of jewelry she had ever seen! Once she managed to tear her gaze from that incredible wall only then did she see the sheer terrified façade of another corpse.

Ritsuzen froze in place and gasped, but ,upon remembering Ami's words, managed not to scream. That was good. She planned to move closer to the corpse at a slow pace, but that horrid voice, with the help of her childish imagination, had to put in a few "helpful" words of her own.

Better not get too close, Ritsu-chan . .Hehehe . . .That corpse might reach out and bite you . .Hehehe.

From behind her, still standing at the entrance of the room, Demi made his analyzes, and Ritsuzen, in a dreamy state as she stared wide-eyed at the thing, replied,

"You think whatever got to his partner . .got to him?"

[alliehazel]

Ami was thankful Hana didn't set off any traps. It was interesting, though, how the shoe didn't set off more torches. The choice was to go down the left hallway. When the group reached the end of it and into the room the sight was beautiful. What wasn't beautiful was the lump of something in the distance. upon walking closer, it was another dead person.

Ami's curiosity spiked up since this was the second. The first one didn't help since it appeared to be a simple murder that was probably from this one. Ami didn't touch the body, but she did notice a pouch that seemed to be filled with things. She emptied the contents out to find jewels and a knife. Well...the first dead body is as good as solved... she thought to herself. Where did the jewels come from, though? Ami looked up and at the walls to see Ritsuzen looking at little tubings. The way they were placed in the wall...maybe the jewels were from there. Unless there was something else in the other hallway, there wasn't much else to assume.

When Ritsuzen came closer, it was obvious she was still nervous. It was a good thing she didn't scream, though. Ami responded to her. "Well I think he got to his partner judging by this knife. The main question is: what got to him? I'd say he was greedy by all these jewels. I doubt he'd bring them here if they were already his own possessions. Either greed or wanting to bring them back..." Ami left her talking at that. She really didn't like talking around people she didn't know. As far as she was concerned, she only trusted Ritsuzen and didn't mind the talking. She didn't want to be judged by the others, though.

Ami backed away from the body, leaving it undisturbed except for the contents of the pouch on the floor next to it. She then focused her attention on the wall where the snake like figures were on. What did they mean? There were the jewels that could connect with the jewels in the pouch. Then there were the weird tubings. Ami twitched at her own imagination. She decided to observe the group to keep her mind off things.

[Yuki Aisu]

Hana sighed. Really, really loudly. So loudly in fact, that anyone who was paranoid might think it to be a dangerous beast. But it wasn't. It was a 6 year old, unimpressed with how... unintelligent everyone else was. Scratching her head, she grabbed [or perhaps pried] the man's knife and the jewels he held from him, before skipping over to the protrusion on the wall. Let's see now... protrusion with something missing... jewels... connection perhaps? And if it wasn't, she got free riches. And a new knife. Win-win. Either way, her new job was to see if she could tell what the protrusions held. If she knew that his innards were crushed, she might have guessed vaccuum, but alas, she didn't.

And so the girl began hopping a little to investigate the protrusion, trying to figure out what would be missing from it. If it was any of the jewels, she'd motion to everyone else so they wouldn't be caught off guard, and try to fit it in. If she could reach... If she couldn't, she could always ask one of the taller ones.

And then her mind flashed to something. Demi had smiled. A little shocked at this slow registration of the fact... she sighed a little, before resuming what she was doing.

[Herabec]

"Well, that solves the mystery of whom had killed the last one. This guy seems like he wasn't any more lucky though.." Thai stated. This wasn't good. There were already two deaths within this place. Would Demi decide that this place was dangerous and attempt to destroy the temple? He shudder to think of what could happen.

Thai instead of looking at the protrusions as the others seemed to focus on, instead made his way to the door. It was an intricate door, the large serpent on it seemed to be created with painstaking detail, each scale of the reptilian creature chiseled into the door. Above and below the curled up reptilian, and on either sides were small jewels. The one above the serpent was an emerald, the shape of a beetle.

The gem to the south appeared to be an octagonal diamond, to the left of the picture appeared to be a small oval shaped onyx stone. Finally, to the right, appears to be a small sapphire in the shape of a crescent moon. Thai thought of this for a moment. Each gem seemed to be linked to one of the strange tubes that moved to each of the protrusions on the wall.

"Do any of the protrusions form a crescent moon shape?" Thai asked the girls who seemed to focus on the wall protrusions. It was in fact true, in front of Yuki lay a protrusion that looks like it would comfortably hold a *large* crescent moon shaped gem. The empty recess, from tip to tip, seemed about a foot in length.

As Thai waited for an answer, he gently placed his hand upon the stone door. It felt cold. Very cold, much colder than one would expect. He felt a gentle wind apparently stirring about him more than the rest of the temple. Then, suddenly an explosion of sound rang throughout the room. Thai was slammed by an invisible fist of gale force winds that literally blasted him off his feet and knocked him back a good ten feet, landing further from the door than the dead man had.

Thai's notebook flew open, many pages being ripped apart and the pens in his vest rupturing, spilling their black ink on the inside of his pockets. Thai shifted on the stone floor, his back and indeed, the rest of his body writhing in pain and his breaths coming in short, shallow bursts. Luckily, his glasses had been spared similar treatment and seemed no worse for wear. Thai didn't appear to have any serious injury. "Ogh..B-bad..idea.." he breathed out painfully.

[demideviluk]

“This is what happens when you mess with powers way beyond your comprehension.”

Demi rolled his eyes as Thai was sent flying across the room and thudded against the floor...hard, this was precisely the reason that he had stayed well back in the first place, he was here to babysit the group, not go about solving the temples mysteries. If they wanted to do that themselves, then they would have to do so without his intervention.

“What exactly just happened to you?
I would rather that something like that didn’t happen to me too, although the rest of the group are more than welcome to continue touching things if they insist.”

The boy strolled casually across the room to stand over the map maker, thrusting his hand out and pulling Thai back to his feet as he struggled for breath, looking him up and down quickly and deciding that the man did not have any injuries worth noting. With the man back on his feet, he returned back to the entrance and leant up against the doorway walls, just watching the others go about their business as he pondered what to do with this temple. It was getting dangerous after all.

[Ivory Deluge]

"Something like maybe the jewels haunting him," Ritsuzen took a guess at what Ami was trying to say. No doubt greed played a hand in this, but sometimes the act of theft haunted someone day and night until he was forced to bring back what he stole. Sometimes, but not always.

She was standing a little ways behind Hana and about to point out that there was ,in fact, a crescent shaped projection in the wall when a loud . .explosive sound burst into the room and invaded her ears. The reflexes in her arms demanded that she cover her ears, and she did all the while turning in the direction from where the noise had come.

Ritsuzen blinked as she noticed the Professor flying through the air and several feet from the serpent adorned door. Her eyes widened as she dropped her hands to her sides, and that one voice residing within her laughed hysterically. The child made to walk over and help Thai up on his feet, maybe even check for any wounds, but it would seem that Demi had already taken care of that.

"Well . . .I think we just found out what probably did that one guy in," she stated as she rubbed the back of her head and gazed up at that serpent creature. It just stared right back with an intimidating air. It was oh so obvious that the temple did not want any visitors, and it was this fact that made the genin shiver with both fear and excitement. The temple was hiding something, no doubt, and it was up to this little group to find out exactly what!

"Are you all right, Thai," she waited for his answer before turning her attention back to the protrusion-covered wall, glancing at the jewels in Hana's arms and at the jewels surrounding the serpent here and there.

[alliehazel]

Ami was completely fixated on the serpent on the wall until a very loud noise made her ears ring. Due to lack of preparation, Ami's head hurt so much from the noise that she couldn't hide the pain. Great...seem weak in front of everyone...nice one, Ami...

By the time she was able to regain focus, Demi had already helped Thai up and Ritsuzen was there too to help, but was a bit too late. "What the heck?" Ami mumbled to herself as she looked at what had thrown Thai across the room. She looked around to see everyone doing their own thing. She wanted to know what had caused Thai to be thrown across the room and had made a noise loud enough to hurt.

I wonder if that thing only responds to animate objects like the torches... Upon that thought, Ami took out one of the blunt stones. She would then throw it at the door then step to the side in case a wind would send it back. If it were like the torches, nothing would happen. If that was the case, how was something made to only respond to a live thing. Hoepfully no one would go to the door while Ami was conducting that test.

[demideviluk]

(I'm away until Sunday...just skip over me again...)

[Herabec]

(Will do. Hopefully nothing will keep me from posting like last time. XD)

[Yuki Aisu]

OOC: Frick. Sorry again.

IC:

Akagami said nothing. Instead, she just held up the shiny moon shaped thingy and admired it. Shrugging, she eyed Thai getting tossed across and sighed. So... I need the protection, huh? Suuuuuure. At least I don't randomly touch things without making some sort of check first...

Sighing, she laid every jewel around her pointing to whatever it corresponded. Not like she could reach anyway...

[Herabec]

Thai thanked the people around him who had helped. He felt like a fool. Why had he decided to touch the damn thing? That was a stupid mistake, and he's lucky he hadn't gotten killed by it. Well, that was just incentive for him to be more careful next time. He cleaned his glasses off using a small cloth in his chest pocket before placing them back on his head.

"Yes. Yes, I'm fine. I should have expected a trap on the door way. The ones who built this temple must have built it as a defense mechanism against intrusions." He moved toward the protrusion the youngest of them was near, only to find that all the gems they had in their possession were far too small to fit. Each of the protrusions likely had indents that their stones were too small to fill.

"Well, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the defense can be dropped if we fi-" he was saying, at least, until Ami decided to test her theory.

The stone collided with the door and an explosion of sound rang out throughout the room, the sound made the first explosion seem as quiet as a cat's footfalls on stone. The sound was enhanced by various echos that reverberated around the room. The stone itself had been thrown back with such force that it had literally flown out of the room and into the hallway they'd just entered from. The stone crashed into the wall and shattered, leaving an indent and multiple cracks upon the temple's wall.

"GAH!! What did you do!?" Thai shouted as his hands instinctively covered his ear to protect the sensitive organs. The sound made his ears ring and his head to spin. Oi, that was most certainly unpleasant!

[Ivory Deluge]

Her dark irises began to follow the movements of the Professor the moment she heard his footsteps draw near to both Hana and herself.

She watched him study the indents in the walls and then the jewels in Hana's small hands, and then Ritsuzen noticed what Thai had noticed. The jewels . . .seemed to be a tad bit too small to fit into the protrusions, and the genin scratched the side of her face with her index finger as she realized this. What was this all about?

She turned slightly to face the man and stared up at him at a barely raised head listening to his theories . . .and then came another piercing sound as before . .except worse! This sound made her feel as if someone was ripping into her very skull, squeezing her brain, and it made her see dots within the darkness of her closed eyes. Again, her hands shot up to cover her ears all the while that voice in her mind spouted words that Ritsuzen had heard only from her uncles and her father when they were upset or annoyed by something.

She didn't need to turn toward the door to know who had done the deed. After all, Demi was still standing by the entrance, right, and the genin had not seen him budge since they had entered the room. Then again, Ritsuzen didn't know anything at all about the boy and his abilities, so maybe . . . .

Once the sound had faded into nothing but echoes in the corridors of both the temple and the girl's mind, Ritsuzen had let the voice of her mind escape "What the Hell?!" She opened her eyes then and glanced back at Demi then up at Ami, her head still tilted downwards ,but her eyes staring upwards.

She rubbed her temples again, massaging the stinging pain that was taking form, held her glasses in place with her index finger, and took a deep breath.

"You were saying, Thai?" It felt so weird calling a grown-up by his first name.

[alliehazel]

ooc: Would all of you rather that I exit this thread now or accept very very slow posting? I could probably finish this thread...slowly. Considering that I'm still not going to be home for another week and then school starts >.<;;;;; So...yes or no to exiting?

[Yuki Aisu]

OOC: I don't particularily care... my posts are becoming weaker and weaker with Akagami... but she's not due anywhere for a while.

[Ivory Deluge]

(ooc- It's no biggie to me since Ritsuzen doesn't have anywhere to be.^^)

[Herabec]

(OOC: I don't think anyone has anywhere to be. ^_^ Go ahead and keep on postin'. It's not like Thai's going anywhere. ^_~)

[alliehazel]

ooc: Okie, 3/4 ^^ good enough for me

ic: Ami more than realized her mistake as an even more harsh wind and sound emerged from the door. She tried to cover her ears, but it wasn't enough. The ringing made her too weak to keep her on the ground, so she too got pushed back into the hall. Her eyes were completely closed and her ears wouldn't stop ringing and bringing her pain. She leaned against the wall while shaking all over. Her voice shook as well as she thought out loud.

"Okay...th-that was stu-pid of me...but at...at least inanimate ob-objects aren't always the a-answer."

Ami slowly got herself to stand up while leaning on the wall. Once standing, Ami would open her eyes. The others would probably be mad at her, but honestly, Ami was mentally beating herself up more than any insults could do at the moment. "Sorry," she mumbled as she turned her head away with disgust of herself. Maybe it would be better just to not do anything unless asked to from now on. Her hands would still be over her ears, so she wouldn't be able to hear anything between the ringing and the covering. All in all, she was useless at the moment.

[Yuki Aisu]

Once again, Akagami didn't make a sound. Unlike Ami, Ritsuzen, Thai, or Demi, she was 6. And generally speaking, six-year-olds don't have the most well developed ear-drums. Going off of that, it meant that instead of hearing the sound and wincing at it like everyone else, she quite literally buckled over from the sheer magnitude of the sound and clutched her head, wishing it would stop. Unfortunately, to her, it didn't stop. Rather than hearing the explosion stop, all her ears registered was a large ringing sound that echoed inside her, and a suddenly terrible sense of balance. Ugh... I'm going to throw up...

Teetering to her feet, she wasn't able to hear what everyone else was saying, just hearing garbled murmurs and the like. "What're you guys sa-" Falling over herself, she growled before picking herself up, and then plopped onto her rear-end childishly, trying to find some sort of solution that didn't involve breaking her inner ears.

[Herabec]

Thai shook his head hard, his ears still ringing from the magnitude of the door's response to having a stone thrown at it. If he were thinking a little more clearly, he might have suggested that the amount of force presented to the door would determine the force of the response. Thus, Thai was only winded when he gently caressed the stone door, but the rock was obliterated - and the second man was dead.

"Ugh..is everyone alright..?" he asked, once he could muster the ability to speak a coherent sentence that didn't involve any curse words. He looked back between the four other people. Some of them looked sick, others frightened. One looked embarrassed. He could guess who did it, but he didn't feel like pointing fingers.

"P-perhaps we should leave this room for now..perhaps return once we've gone down that second passageway. At least it will remove the temptation to touch that door again while that barrier is active.." he suggested, his words preciser than normal for fear that his ability to speak might have been damaged, or his hearing.

With that, he began to shuffle toward the hallway, keeping his pencil and paper close to his chest while readjusting his glasses. If this kept up, the fragile lenses might very well break.

[demideviluk]

All he could do to protect his ears was hold his hands over them, the man had noticed that one of the team had decided to throw a stone at the wall and he had acted upon instinct just in case, everything in the world had chakra in it after all, it could have been responding to foreign chakra for all he knew. However even with slight protection, the booming explosion caused him to grit his teeth hard together to avoid screaming out in pain and was left in silence with ringing ears and a complete lack of balance as his ears tried to readjust.

He had barely noticed the stone go flying a few inches past his head and smashing into the wall, his eyes merely narrowed to glare at Ami for doing something so irresponsible without warning. But in amongst all of this drama, he couldn’t really put the pieces together.

“I’m fine...
Although a few inches in this direction and I was done for.”

Demi pointed his thumb behind him to the impact crater that the obliterated stone has left in its wake as Thai’s voice rang out amongst the survivors, his mind instinctively drawn to the one he was here to ensure the safety of.

“There’s a trick to this...
It’s just a puzzle.”

He let the map maker shuffled past him as he continued to stare out at the room, Demi couldn’t come to grips with what this place was or how it worked but Thai did seem to make sense, the gems they had found didn’t seem to be correct for the purpose and it was hardly safe just to keep fiddling around. Yet he didn’t move from his position, he didn’t like the thought of leaving this place.

[Ivory Deluge]

I say . . .we put "Red" out of her misery before she gets us all killed said that vicious voice, obviously referring to Ami.

As this thought crossed Ritsuzen's mind, she continued to massage her temples (Oooh . .why didn't I bring some pain killers with me?!) and cracked open her eyes to see the red-head leaning pathetically against the stone wall. She looked abashed with herself and was saying something. though, with her hands in her ears, Ritsuzen couldn't really tell.

If she could, the genin would have reassured Ami that "it was okay" even though it was obviously not. Well, at least no one was dead besides that one guy.

Her gaze slowly moved, for fear of vertigo coming onto the host, and saw little , spunky Hana sitting on the ground . .just as pitiful looking as Ami was. The kunoichi made for the younger girl, but dizziness over-took her, and she paused mid-step and placed her foot back onto the ground, gaining purchase before slowly, carefully, heading toward the child.

Her head still ached, and she squinted her left eye just as she made it to Hana and held out a hand, body bent forward a bit for a better reach. She was still having a hard time making out words, for they were only mumbled sounds in her ears . . .The fact that her little mental companion was still ranting didn't make it any easier.

She said nothing as she offered Hana her hand, only smiled weakly and waited for the child to accept her services. Rather she would or not would not affect Ritsuzen's next action, and that was to follow Thai outside of the room all the while holding back the groans of just plain dizziness. She passed Demi but did not look at him.

Once she was in the room with him, her hearing slowly returning to her, the genin would squat down and continue with dealing with her ongoing headache.

"Maybe . .we should have taken that other path. . ."

[alliehazel]

Ami's eyes went lifeless as she gazed around at the others. Not even Demi's glare could make her feel worse than she did. The ringing would continue for quite some time, definitely longer than any of the others'. She decided she would stay behind everyone and do nothing unless asked or more than obviously needed. What she had done was enough. Ami figured she had outdone her stay with the group, but she wasn't going to quit. She would rather go through the whole thing in pain or even die than quit now.

As the others would go ahead down the other hallway, Ami would lifelessly follow behind. She didn't know what to do. Maybe that was for the better.

[Yuki Aisu]

OOC: >_______<

IC:

As Akagami struggled to her feet, she grasped the offered hand before her grip completely slipped mere milliseconds later. Gritting her teeth and glaring sharply, the girl rubbed the mop of hair sitting on her head, getting up again. Gesturing for Ritsuzen to wait one second, she let the spinning world settle down for a second and picked up the staff, pointing it at Ami with unnatural strength. Charging, she moved to smack Ami from the backside of her head and land a blow somewhere in her midsection. Whether she was [undoubtedly] stopped or not, once that action was finished, she'd speak. "Idiot. Don't make that sort of stupid face, stop moping around." It was her strange Misaki-like action that was intended to cheer Ami up, but that was really all she was going to do. And if Ami could stop her, then she was definitely useful. That much for sure. After that, she'd follow if Demi left the room as well, but if he didn't, she'd frown and do nothing specific in either direction.

[Herabec]

Thai looked about the room. He didn't like what he was feeling, the tension in the room was almost tangible. Were all shinobi so high strung? Even Hana seemed to be rather upset with the current situation...and even attempted to attack Ami! Despite whatever outcome of the situation, Thai would immediately attempt to settle the situation.

"Hey! Knock it off! We need to work together, if you all keep this up we may end up like the two guys who came in here before us. Do any of you want that?" he asked the group. Even Demi, clearly the most experienced one here, seemed to have second thoughts about leaving the room. This wasn't the experience he'd been hoping for.

"The door is obviously locked, and I don't think brute force is going to get us anything. I'm going to head toward the intersection, any of you who want to come with me can. You're all free to stay here or leave if you'd like," he said. He was feeling weird, almost as if someone was watching him. Someone who wasn't part of the group. Malevolent.

Thai returned down the passage they had entered previously, taking note that the torches that had lit in their wake were dead. They must have died out with no one around to light the way for. Just who had built this place? The architecture was stunning, and even a few of the walls contained pictographs that he missed previously but couldn't make a lick of sense about.

What was odd was that most of them had hieroglyphs depicting the strange serpent like creatures that had been so ornate upon the trapped door. When he reached the intersection, torches lighting both the return passage and the one yet to be traveled, he waited. He was going to explore this place with or without the bodyguards he requested.

[demideviluk]

“Actually, Ami has given me an idea.
Could someone pass me one of those gems?”

He held out his hand for somebody to step in and give him one of the stones, thanking them and gripping it tightly when he did so, moving back towards the room, waving them outwards quickly.

“I advise you to get well clear, after all of the events that have happened so far.
I will catch up once I’ve done this.”

He smiled as he wandered back into the room alone, browsing along the walls cautiously, looking for the correct indentation that matched the gem he was carrying. Everything that had been tried so far had been a complete failure, even going as far as to kill somebody, it was a solid piece of evidence that this was not the correct thing to be doing, but it was something he felt should be checked anyway.

“This place is the ‘Wind Temple’ for a reason.
Its possible Ami had the right idea, just that she went about it the wrong way.
Or this could end up killing me...”

Once he was quite sure that the area had been evacuated, Demi nodded his head once and inhaled deeply, steadying his mind and body for the risk he was about to take. Fear gripped his thoughts, tension rippling through his body as he nerves begged just to be used to shake, his self control forcing everything to respond in a relaxed state.

With the gem in hand, he allowed the ebb and flow of his chakra current to leave his fingertips, fuuton energy rushing into the stone and forming a perfectly formed cushion around it. The gemstones had been too small for the indentations; maybe they were designed for wind users as a safeguard.

With full control over his body and a light grip over the stone, he edged it closer and closer to the indentation the chakra now fitted, placing it into the wall as gently as was physically possible, if the force struck again, he was to the side anyway and his grip was barely enough to control the stone as it was.

[Ivory Deluge]

(ooc- I apologize for the late post.-_-)

She was still squatted down rubbing her temples and suppressing growls of frustration. Squinting her eyes closed for a minute or two (even though the light illuminating from the torches wasn't THAT bright), she went on to speak to Thai,

" What next, sir?"

. . .but there was no answer, and Ritsuzen's eyes shot open, and she turned her head to see Thai growing further and further away from her and deeper into the hallway.

She stood up. "Oi! Wait fer me," and the genin stumbled after him, nearly tripping as she closed in on the man and forgetting that Demi and Hana and possibly Ami were still in the other room . She slowed to a stop when she was a few inches behind him and pushed her glasses back upon her nose with her index finger.

He is my charge . .my responsibility! I can't let anything happen to him. I . .just . .CAN'T!

"I really wish you wouldn't walk off like that. For a second, I thought something happened to you," and Ritsuzen chuckled a little while the mind-voice relished in the idea of seeing more blood.

[alliehazel]

ooc: More like perfect timing from my POV xDD

ic: It wasn't a surprise to Ami that Hana tried to attack her. As much as Ami wanted to accept the hit, she had at least some reason to not get beat up. She calmly put her arm with the guard on it with the covered inside of her arm to get hit. The staff would make a "thunk." Afterwards, Ami would bring her arm to the midsection of her back where she would latch hands. This wasn't intended to block, for Ami thought the head was only the target. The blow to the midsection would hit both the uncovered and covered arm. Ami would draw in a breath through her teeth at the impact, but no other reaction would be drawn.

She also made no comment or reaction when Thai spoke. Even when Demi said he had gotten an idea, nothing could cheer Ami up. However, after the slight blow to the arm, Ami would keep her arms in front of her. Her fingers would play along the crossbow as she kept an eye on Thai.

As Ritsuzen came up, though, Ami felt calm since she had mentally established a sort of trust with her after the scream, but then Ami remembered her mistake. She slightly sighed. Her job was a bodyguard for Thai. That's the only thing she was sure of. Everything else didn't matter at the moment. Since Demi left, Ami questioned whether or not everyone knew that too. She had forgotten, and everyone ended up hurt. Talk about mind-jumper.

[Yuki Aisu]

Without anything good to do or say, and no idea she was supposed to protect Thai [protect Thai? Hah, no one would honestly even let her. Psh, underestimating...]. Irrespective, she kept in a position where she could see both Thai and Demi. She simply couldn't find it in herself to abandon either... but didn't quite know what to do. So with that, she just... remained an existance.

[Herabec]

Demi was showing wisdom beyond his years, indeed his plan was good. The chakra he enveloped the gem with seemed to be siphoned from him. As this happened, the thin tube that traveled along the wall to the matching gem suddenly began to shimmer with a pale blue light. The shimmering color flowed from the base of the tube and traveled up slowly, following the tube's path. The moment Demi would stop channeling chakra however, all color would fade as if it were never there.

If Demi decided to continue to flow chakra around the gem, the strange protrusion would siphon more chakra from him. It would take almost thirty seconds and much chakra for the flow to reach the gem on the door, but should Demi persist, the gem itself would glow brightly until Demi's flow of chakra ceased, again becoming lifeless.

Regardless of Demi's actions, he most certainly found a clue to unraveling the door's lock. It would take an incredible amount of chakra however to power the three other gems, and each would need to be powered simultaneously. Perhaps there were alternatives?

Thai on the other hand waited silently at the intersection down the hall, and thus had nothing to offer Demi in the way of ideals. When Ritsuzen joined him however, he let a small smile show on his face as he adjusted his glasses. "Ah, no. I'm just fine, but thank you for your concern. I just thought it might be best if we were to continue. Obviously, the trap they placed upon the door isn't going to shut off if we just sit around, and I'm not keen on any of us meeting our maker's just yet."

He'd wait for a few more moments to see if anyone else was going to join them before heading down the hall they'd not traveled through yet. He wondered what was still in store for them? He wouldn't have to wait long to find out, however. The trip down the hall was only a few hundred feet, and despite his caution, nothing appeared to leap out and attempt to eviscerate him.

The hallway ended in another large room, much akin to previous room they'd been in, this room was enormous. However, unlike the previous room, in the center of this room lay a great serpent. It was enormous, it's entire body curled into a defensive position, it's head drawn back high in the room as if ready to strike. Thai was about to panic..but nothing happened.

Even as the torches lit about the entire room, nothing occurred with the exception of the glimmering of the torch light on the serpent's scales. It was fake, simply a gigantic golden statue. As Thai's heart rate dropped, he was able to notice that each scale was painstakingly crafted from gold or gold like structure. The eye's of the serpent were crafted from enormous rubies. Around it's neck was perhaps the largest necklace one had ever seen.

Embedded in the golden necklace was a large diamond. Truly, this was every treasure hunter's greatest dream here. "Oh...geez," Thai uttered quietly, clearly showing his grand linguistic skills off.

[demideviluk]

Pale blue chakra poured from his body as the room siphoned it away from him, watching intently as the tube shimmered gently with its latest addition, the chakra supply wasn’t all that problematic for the moment and he just let the gem siphon away until it started glowing bright, something he presumed to mean that it had activated. A smile crossed his lips as he stopped channelling, only to be replaced by a frown as the light dimmed into nothingness.

“4 gems...3 shinobi.
That could be a problem...”

His test had paid off, but not to the extent that he had hoped, and now he believed that there was nothing left for him in this room after all. With a burst of acceleration, he moved forward into a mid-speed run, moving through the corridor back towards the others at pace, after all he had promised them that he would not stay behind for long.

“Little girls should not be wandering around in strange dark places alone.”

He spoke softly as he neared Akagami, attempting to sweep her off her feet and into his arms in one fluid movement as he passed her, although if she tried to resist he would simply let her walk behind. Surging back down through the alternate hallway, his thoughts boggled with how they were going to power that doorway even for a split second, and then he burst into the next room and came to a halt, relaxing slightly as he looked at the others.

“Well I think I know how to open that door now.
The problem is, there’s no way that our small group of shinobi could possibly power it...”

[Ivory Deluge]

Ritsuzen spared Ami a side-glance as her eyes softened a bit. She wasn't in so much pain now, though that tormenting headache still lingered. She turned her head to the other girl and small smile as she spoke in her usual friendly voice,

" You going to be okay, Ami? Everything's cool . .at least with me. Don't worry 'bout it anymore."

After all . . .no one had died because of her experiment. She wanted to place her hand on the other girl's shoulder but paused when she decided that Ami probably wouldn't feel comfortable with that.

The small kunoichi bent down to scratch her leg, instead, still speaking to the other girl.

" Besides, we got bigger things to worry about." When she straightened up, Ritsuzen noticed that Thai had taken the liberty of moving forward, and the girl jogged after him all the while amusing herself with the thought that only when she took her eyes off the man, then did he move.

Slowing down as she neared him, she managed to hear him mumble something, but she didn't know what it was about until she stepped beside him in the room.

"What? What is it," she asked in a louder voice then what was needed, and then her eyes saw the awe-inspiring thing that stood at dead center. " WOAH," and a single hand shot up to cover her mouth as it gapped open. With a whisper, she let out what the snake statue demanded.

"So cool. . . ."

Demi had appeared and was speaking about the door of the room from before, but his words were nothing but mumble sounds that seemed so very distant.

Her eyes simply would not leave the crimson gaze of the serpent's.

[alliehazel]

Ami sighed, for Ritsuzen had a point. She would catch up to the rest of the group into the room, her right hand held in a tight fist to fight the pain from her ears. No one needed to know she was still suffering of the pain. When she reached where everyone else was, her eyes widened for a second at the serpent.

In a quiet voice she mumbled to herself, "Serpent in this room. Serpent carving in the other room. What's next..."

Ami did hear Demi's discovery of how to open the door, but didn't pay too much mind. Her only thoughts were: shiny shiny shiny. Without moving, to prevent any more accidents from occurring on her part, Ami would lean to see if there was any way of looking around the serpent. Maybe there would be something else to map down, or so Ami hoped.

[Yuki Aisu]

OOC: Oh, shush Demi. It's only been a day. @___@ I'm thinking of bailing, simply because -reasons, ect.- >___>;; So meh. Aaaaanyway:

IC:

Akagami was quite literally swept off her feet, and the incoming wave of nausea also caught her unaware. Gritting her teeth sharply to resist biting the man and simply accepting his gesture at face value, she plopped herself to the floor again, shooting a comment back at Demi. "Old men shouldn't be picking up small girls and running off with them either, but hey. I'm not going to judge."

Eyeing the diamond, the girl began to ponder. "So... something to get the diamond... but gotta be careful of traps... I nominate Demi to go touch it!"

[Herabec]

OOC: I'm sorry for the extremely late post. >_<;;

IC: Thai pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, the frames having nearly fallen off as he gaped stupidly at the huge golden serpent. What was it with these people and serpents? There had to be some reason for the snakes all over the place. Was this some sort of snake temple? A tribute built by some snake worshiping cult? There were a myriad of possibilities, each of them becoming more far fetched than the last.

Demi's words behind him however managed to bring him out of his apparent stupor. He'd found a way to open the door? Well, he found the method, but apparently their small group lacked the means. "Well, at least we know that the door can be opened I suppose. What do you make of this?" he asked. Ritsuzen's words nearly took Thai's first reaction right out of his mouth. It caused him to smirk a bit.

"Perhaps...we'll find a serpent next?" Thai offered Ami hypothetically, although with the way things were going, he wasn't sure if it was too far from a true possibility. Who knows what kind of creatures could have found passage within this place? He was surprised however when Hana made her own contribution to the conversation, pointing out the serpents daimond necklace. He'd nearly forgotten about it!

"Oh yes..I nearly forgot. That's got to be the largest daimond I've ever seen, but why wou...You know, Hana. You've got a fairly keen eye," Thai stated as the pieces fell into place. He was glad she'd decided to suggest something, he'd nearly forgotten that the gem was near perfect size for one of the wall's protrusions back with the door.

Thai took a few tentative steps within the room, the flames of the multiple torches glowing brighter with his presence. He was able to make out another door behind the serpent on the far wall, and another door on the eastern wall. Neither door appeared to be sealed with same elaborate trap that held the other in place, though it may be impossible to tell without touching.

"Well, I suppose it's worth a shot..I don't think I can climb up there though."

[demideviluk]

"Little girls should not be wandering around alone in strange dark places either.
Just be thankful I didn't leave you behind."

Demi didn't even bother looking at the girl as she made her snide remarks, merely running his fingers through his fringe and brushing it gently back into place now that his rapid acceleration had ruffled it up. He took a lingering glance at the room and noted that the diamond was probably the first of the devices he was looking for, unfortunately he knew better than to think it would be left open on display without any form of protection.

"It isn't my job to help you explore.
But don't you think that lovely diamond is akin to the indentations in the other room?
It could be one of the power sources we should be looking for."

He smiled in the general direction of Ami and pointed at the diamond, knowing that she had the courage just to act without thinking that was so desperately needed right now, despite her current depression. The problem was that if she really did trigger a trap, then she would potentially die or lose even more willpower, neither of which he was particularly fond of. Although it was better her than him.

"However I think Ami's courage would be very useful right now.
If it were not for her, we wouldn't have figured out the door in the first place."

As Thai moved forward, clearly worried about any traps now that he had been shown first hand the destructive power that was available to this temple, Demi smiled as the fire illuminated a couple of extra doorways. He was glad that this had happened as he otherwise had no idea what they would do from here on out, although at the same time, he also wanted the temple to run out of passageways so that they could bail as soon as possible.

"Looks like we have to other doorways to move through as well.
4 Power sources...even with these doorways, we would need to move ever deeper."

The boy showed no fear and strode across the room quickly, completely ignoring the serpent and diamond that everybody had been so transfixed by and headed straight to the back of the room. Placing his hand on the doorway behind the serpent gently without any warning to the other, praying in his mind that nothing to bad occured.

[Ivory Deluge]

A smile covered Ritsuzen's face as she heard Hana pick at Demi again, and she placed a hand over her lips to cover it. Still, she kept her eyes on the beautiful and very omnious figure that stood before the group. Its ruby eyes sent a silent shiver down the girl's spine as she continued to stare into them.

There's something about it. . .something . .EVIL. She could recall all the different cultures where snakes were the very personification of misfortune, and she couldn't blame them. They were very creepy-looking creatures with the way they slithered in the grass, forked tongues flicking in and out of a fanged mouth. Fangs ,in turn, probably stoked with the worst kind of venom in the world!

She looked away . .finally, as she thought she saw the statue blink.

Thai had moved forward, responding to a comment Hana had made. The genin watched carefully as the professor carefully stepped deeper into the room, auto-lit torches revealing two more doors. She also happened to see Demi moving toward one of them.

Way too many doors. . . .I'd never get out of here if I were alone. She chuckled at herself and her next thought. I'd be too busy wandering around and snoopin' around every single door I see. Deciding that her curiosity was burning far too much now for her to ignore, the kunoichi inched up to the door on the eastern wall and made to touch the surface of it with one single hand, while the other gripped her backpack.

Ritsuzen swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat.

[alliehazel]

Ami mentally sighed as Thai responded. Sure it could've been a joke, but it could be a possibility the way things were going at the moment. Upon Demi's comment, her gaze carried over into his general direction as well. Yeah right, he was probably meaning something way different than what he was saying. "Don't lie. You mean my stupidity is needed right now." She just stood there until everyone started moving. She then mumbled to herself very silently, "But if you really insist...".

Ami took out another of of her stones. She was disappointed that Demi actually thought she was stupid enough to believe that he suggested she had courage. She looked in the direction Demi was at. She loaded the stone into the crossbow then shot. The stone would go just to the side of Demi and bounce off the wall. It would then tavel back to Ami where she'd let her arm protector bounce the stone back to the diamond. Becaue of all the travelling, the stone would hit the diamond with the force of a two-year-old throwing a pebble. Then again, with the violent reaction from the door, anything was possible.

In the case that there wouldn't be another gust of wind, Ami would walk over to where Ritsuzen was by the east door. Only because Ritsuzen was still the only personAmi trusted right now. To try and cheer herself up, she commented to herself how it was a tad funnyshe trusted someone younger than her.

[Yuki Aisu]

"Didn't you just say that? Ah, whatever. I'm trying to lighten the mood, but hell if a 6-year old can't cheer up Mr. Sunshine. Meh... back to being useless, I suppose." Frowning and sighing, she wondered if Demi always thought people were making jabs at him to hurt him rather than with him. Oh well. Tapping her staff thing against the floor here and there, she moved closer to the serpent thing and reached out one finger to poke it. If it didn't kill her, she might decide to climb it. If she could.

[Herabec]

Thai decided that the best course of action at the moment as Ritsuzen and Demi headed for the new doors, and Ami prepared to shoot the daimond, was to hide in a corner and hope nothing blew up. Thus, hide in the far corner of the room he did! Demi's hand would grasp the handle of the door, the metallic handle cold to the touch and then...nothing. Not a thing happened. The floor didn't open, he wasn't blasted back by wind. Not a thing.

Ritsuzen would find a similar reaction from the door she decided to test. It was apparent that these doors were not given the same form of protection as the previous door. Perhaps that door specifically guarded something of importance? Hana would find that the giant serpent was quite inanimate, the golden scales glimmering brightly in the torchlight, though the metallic scales were warm instead of cool as one might expect.

She would be able to find hand holds and be able to climb up the snake, although doing so safely might take a few minutes. Ami's shot as it bounced expertly from the wall, to her arm guard, to the daimond would chink off the stone harmlessly, though the instant the stone collided with the daimond, the room felt a gentle gust of wind throughout - though it could have been a coincidence.

"Anyone find anything interesting?" Thai asked, picking up a couple of sheets of paper that had slipped from his grasp during the breeze. Curse his luck, he was looking like a fool in front of the shinobi!

[demideviluk]

"Deja Vu eh?
This temple must be getting to me."

He shoke his head and continued walking towards the doorway as everything occured around him, what Ami said was no shock to him, she was the type that didn't believe in herself and thus she would take anything he said negitively, hardly an issue considering who she was. Her death would be meaningless to him after all and it was true that he didn't want anything to do with the diamond right now.

"There is a very fine line between stupidity and bravery.
You are free to call me a liar all you wish, that doesn't make you any less courageous to do something that others were too scared to do. Of course, you have to do it for the right reasons...and it usually helps if nothing goes wrong."

The stone whizzed past his body and hit the doorway, he didn't flinch at all, merely turning his body sideways to trace the path with his eye's until they came to settle back on Ami. For a moment, the iron grey orbs flashed with pure killing intent, the unseen aura around him oozing power and ruthlessness but the flash dispersed within a split second and he spoke softly.

"Some people would probably claim that you shooting that stone deliberately in my direction was an act of stupidity, although I have to admire your guts to do such a thing.
One man's bravery is another man's stupidity.
Please don't do that again."

Whilst the final sentence was a request in words, the whole room would know that it wasn't such, it was more of a warning than a request. And then his hand came back to rest upon the handle and nothing happened, his movements had been so confident and carefree, completely lacking any kind of caution...as if he had known that nothing would happen all along.
That would be a lie of course, he knew something could happen, but he was sure that this door wanted to be got through...after all, he was the only one to have seen the secret of the previous room.

"As expected."

Pushing the door, he swung it open (hopefully) and looked onwards into the next room, all the while hearing the chink of the diamond and causing quite a stir in the atmosphere.

"Well if you didn't notice, as soon as that stone hit the diamond, there was a breeze.
Now considering what this temple has done to us already, I think we can consider ourselves warned."

[Ivory Deluge]

Well . . .That wasn't so bad. . the girl thought, laughing half-nervously, half-at her self for being cautious.

Of course, that was never a bad thing, especially in these circumstances.

Ritsuzen turned her head toward Ami, still chuckling, and sweat-dropped. Wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but whatever. ." She shot the other girl a smile of good cheer and waited for her chuckling to cease before she turned her attention back to the door.

Her small hand rested upon its cool surface as her cautious-self duked it out with her curious-self. Should she open the door, or should she not? Danger didn't appear to be present behind this door, but ,then again, this temple was filled with surprises.

In the end, curiosity came out as the victor, and Ritsuzen ,with her eyes gleeming with mischief, prepared to open the door. Before she did ,however, she would turn to Ami again and nod, asking an important question with such a small act.

Are you ready?

[alliehazel]

Ami's feelings were mixed on the breeze that came when her stone hit the diamond. It was a good thing nothing happened like the door, but bad that there was a reaction in the first place. Because she did not feel like dying by the narcissist's hands, she took heed to what sounded like a warning. She sighed at that.

"Only when you're ready," Ami replied to Ritsuzen.

[Yuki Aisu]

Demi seemed to forget one thing. Akagami, for all her regular hearing, was still hearing that ringing from the last room. Vunerability to sonics usually sucked that way. So the girl eyed Demi's moving mouth and tried to distinguish the garbled speech... but couldn't. So as she continued to climb the serpent, oddly warm. It was a little strange, but as she neared the crystal thingy, she called over to Demi. "Wha'dchu say?"

Soon enough, she'd be in reaching distance of the gem thing... and knowing how bad this tunnel could get, she was going to be very careful. Pointing out a finger, she very slowly, very lightly moved her finger towards it. It might have built up suspense or something, but she was just trying not to get herself killed. Eventually, her finger might tap/poke the gem. Well, if someone didn't interfere. But considering post order, such a thing was unlikely before the tower's reaction.

[Herabec]

The door Demi slid open would creak loudly, the door's hinges having already passed the test of how many centuries? It would reveal another hallway, already becoming alight by the strange torches reacting to Demi's presence. After around thirty-five feet, the hall would turn sharply to the right. At this turn, there was an obvious glow of something more. The walls were shimmering with a pale green color, as if it were reflecting off something beyond what Demi could see from his vantage point.

Should Ritsuzen open her door, she would be welcome with a similar, yet different sight. Her door would open to a new hallway with many pillars. Each pillar had on it one of the self-lighting torches near eye level, though near the top small gems were set in place on all sides of the stone pillars. The gems seemed incapable of being removed without being destroyed. This hallway, instead of sharply turning, would gently curve, the very end impossible to see from the door frame.

Akagami would find what would likely be called the most interesting discovery the moment her finger brushed along the daimond's cool surface. The first thing she would notice, was that it felt as if something swirled just beneath the surface. After only a split second however, another, stronger burst of wind would blow through the room, encircling it.

The wind was not strong enough to harm anything, although Thai's papers would scatter again, but the wind carried with it a loud, rumbling sound that sounded akin to a hiss. Nobody with the exception of those who could understand serpents could make out what message the wind carried - nobody, but Akagami, that is.

While everyone else heard a loud hiss, Akagami would hear a single word, spoken in the form of a question - "MAKER?"

Should she persist in attempting to remove the diamond, she would find that the necklace around it was crafted to easily release the diamond with no further troubles. Thai stared about the room, backing up toward the wall. His eyes were fixated on the large golden statue, forsaking his papers to be thrown about the room until the winds died down.

"Someone tell me that that thing didn't hiss. Please."

[demideviluk]

Posting order or not, the "narcissist" had no intention of stopping the little girl from poking out at the gem and instead prepared himself for whatever was to come from all of the events going on at once. From what he could see of the corridor he had just opened the door too, it was nothing special apart from the slightly visible glow at the opposite end where it took a sharp turn, but before he could go any further the wind knocked him backwards slightly and the hissing bought his expression to grim seriousness.

"I would love to tell you that it wasn't hissing...
Anybody able to speak Parseltongue?"

Without any second thoughts, an umbrella was unsealed from seemingly out of nowhere for anyone who could not keep track of Demi's hand movements as he pulled a scroll from his pockets and flashed it into an alternate pocket as the umbrella came to hand. And then he moved quickly back to Thai's side, putting himself between the map maker and the snake, a smile on his face as he watched Akagami play with the diamond, hoping that nobody would interfere.
She had chosen to play with fire, he hoped that the fire would try and burn them.

"Stay on your guard Thai.
Let her remove the diamond, I'm hoping it comes to life."

[Ivory Deluge]

The door swung open as Ritsuzen's hand pressed against it to reveal . .

Another hallway . . . The genin greeted the hallway with a sigh of disappointment. Her head ducked down and she closed her eyes. "not exactly what I was hopin', but. . ." Straightening up, the girl stepped into the hallway and looked around, sucking in air as she spotted more beautiful, tempting gems. Preeetty. .

It was a shame she was too short. She was little more than a foot away from one of the pillars when her ears caught the sound of . .hissing. . and she immediately dove to the ground with an "umph," as her hands searched urgently for a weapon or two.

It wasn't so strange for her to do that. After all, a slight case of ophidiophobia was quite common amongst people, and Ritsuzen was no exception to this.Somewhere near her, a torch lit itself, which only added to her jumpiness.

After a moment, embarrasment made its way to her cheeks in the form of a blush, and she stood up, realizing that there was no snake in this room. Still, she would not take her right hand out of her weapon pouch as she poked her head out of the doorway to see how the others were faring.

"What heck was THAT?!"

[alliehazel]

ooc: *kicks internet* Hate...you....soooo...much. Sorry =.= Internet likes being stupid and not letting me load TNF. (yes, it likes to do that half weeks at a time)

ic: The opened door led to a hallway that curved, making it impossible to see what was beyond. Because of the fact that what was at the end couldn't be seen, Ami wanted to go in. She was about to until a hiss reached her ears. Ami turned around to face the golden snake statue at the same time that Ritsuzen threw herself to the floor. Ami also noticed the change in light, so she slightly turned her head. It was only a torch, so Ami turned back to the statue. She'd continue to stare at it while giving Ritsuzen an answer.

"Maybe it was the snake...well...it's not alive, so maybe there was something that made wind pass through something else to make everyone think they heard a hiss." Ami scanned the room and saw that Demi had taken out an umbrella. Uhh...what the heck is that for??? Considering the fact it was Demi who had the umbrella, Ami painfully made herself focus on the statue. However, she would also slowly back away into the hallway, for if one urge of curiosity couldn't be quenched, then another one had to.

[Yuki Aisu]

Giggling childishly, Akagami held on tight while the wind gusted about, quite content with the flowiness of it all. It wasn't so bad after all. "Nah, I'm not... Though you are really pretty! You're not so bad~ You seem pretty nice..." The girl was speaking directly to the snake statue and jewel, a whispery voice, as if she was speaking to a small child... Though, given she was small too... she talked as if she was older. No one would realistically be able to hear it, unless they had 'zomgwtfhax' hearing, but chances were after that sonic-type burst from the other room, anyone that would've been able to hear her would have their ears ringing. Though you never knew. Maybe someone was just that good. Irrespective, she took a grasp of the jewel, trying to take the necklace with it. After all, it was so darned pretty! Unfortunately... she wasn't quite amazing enough to take the necklace too, so with a frown, she settled for the diamond and comfortably gripped the serpent. She didn't really want to fall of or anything, right?

Now Thai she could hear. After all, he wasn't being particularily whispery like she was. "Wha? Noooooo~ It didn't hiss!" Smilling a little bit, she pocketed the diamond in the darkness, tapping her staff that she had stuck under her back. Yup, still there.

[Herabec]

OOC: Sorry for the late post. Allie, sorry if I got it wrong with which hallway you entered. It looked like you entered with Ritsu.

IC:
As Akagami answered the voice that seemed to ring out from both the diamond and the serpent statue simultaneously, the wind would die down completely. For the first time within the wind temple, there wasn't even a gentle breeze. For as long as they'd been feeling at least a gentle wind caressing them, Thai felt the sudden stop somewhat disturbing. What was even more disturbing to the professor was the young girl's denial of a hiss. There had clearly been a hiss, he knew it. Even Demi, whom had normally appeared calm, had become cautious and placed himself between the serpent and the cartographer.

This eerie stillness would continue until Akagami would attempt to climb off the serpent. The moment she had made to climb down, another, ferocious hiss would ring out throughout the room. It was louder, more beastial. It was clearly unhappy. Akagami would hear another word - the voice harboring the kind of anger that can only be forged through long periods of time. Long periods of disservice. "LEAVE!"

Just as this word rang out, several winds would blow through the rooms and all the adjacent hallways, seemingly coming from all directions. Each of the were violent - violent enough to blow Thai's papers to the four corners of the room and knock the clumsy man onto his rump. They would also likely knock Akagami off the large statue, the young girl being far lighter than an adult like Thai was.

For Ritsu and Ami who had entered the curved hallway, the door would slam shut. If Ritsu wasn't quick, he face would become well acquainted with the thick wooden and iron built door. It would slam shut with enough force to essentially lock the two within the hallway - it would take more than a couple of genin to dislodge it with physical strength anyway. What was worse that the torches in the room would billow and dim, only the smallest spark of life left within them each, making the hallway dim. The gems at the top of each pillar barely gleaming in the dim light.

[demideviluk]

"And so the calm before the storm..."

The lack of wind led to a frown etching across Demi's lips, a frown that depicted both disappointment and worry at the same time, as a Jounin he was used to the unexpected but at the same time, he hated the very thought of this temple doing things that he could not predict. It wasn't a physical enemy he could fight and slay relying upon his trained abilities, it was testing their intellect and common sense and there was nothing he could do.

When the violent burst of wind came, his already guarded stance allowed him to remain upright even where others fell, although he had to force his weight downwards in order not to be pushed anywhere. Whilst frozen like a statue, his eyes flicked over towards Ami and Ritsu as the thunderous boom echoed throughout the room to mark the forced closure of the door they had tried to exit via, and after a few moments it struck him that the genin girls had been locked out.

"Looks like there is only one door left open eh?
At least it gave us the diamond without much of a fight...yet..."

The jounin boy made no attempt to move and merely surveyed the area, they had lost two of their party to a blocked exit and whilst this was a problem, they were both probably able to hold their own for a while at least. His mind worked overdrive as to what was the best course of action...but couldn't decide.

"Are you positive that you wish to keep mapping this place?"

[Ivory Deluge]

A stillness came over the group, a stillness that caused the hair on the nape of Ritsuzen's neck to stand and made the girl shiver with unease. Though, she HAD noticed it long after it had actually arrived, for her mind was jumbled up with questions and the malicious giggles of her mind's voice.

It didn't last very long, however, and Ritsuzen soon found herself staring wide-eyed at the wood surface of the door she had entered not so long ago.

Hmm . . .how much wood can a woodchuck chuck if a . . At the oddest of moments, she WOULD remember something as trivial as a child's tongue-twisting riddle.

She soon began to fall backwards with the wind playing its own part. She danced around in a circle, trying to catch herself so she wouldn't fall. She was soon balancing on one leg, and with a huge gust of wind, she fell over on her back, teeth grinning despite the fact that she almost experienced a face lift of another sort. Her glasses hung crooked over her widened eyes, and she laid there for the longest time, just staring up at the ceiling and wondering what in the world was happening.

Okay . . .That's it. . .I'm through with this cursed temple malarky!

Ooh . .but the fun is only just beginning . . countered the other voice.

It was getting dark, and Ritsuzen kind of, sort of, hated the dark. "Ami . .Are . .Are you there? Are you okay," because ,through it all, she hadn't got a single glimpse of the other girl, and she really didn't want to be alone right now.

[alliehazel]

Ami was backing away into the hallway when it became eerily quiet. Ami stopped and slightly bent her knees while staring at the doorway to the room with the snake. Suddenly, the door slammed shut. Needless to say the strong door made a loud sound, bringing Ami to her knees before the wind could affect her, thus allowing Ami to stay in her place. Her hands covered her ears, but she kept her eyes open and watched Ritsuzen. Once she had fallen onto the ground, Ami slightly let go of her ears. Because of the dim light, she wasn't able to completely see Ritsuzen, but she was able to see her blob of mass. Ami was barely able to make out what Ritsuzen was saying due to the constant ringing. Her voice would be coarse from the pain in her head.

"Y-yeah. I'm okay..." She's trail off for a few seconds before talking again. "Hmmm...this is a toughie. The door may be too strong for us, but there's a chance Demi would try...uhhh...scratch that. Want to go down the hallway?"

Yep, even through what just happened, she still wanted to know what was at the end of the hallway. It was probably a bad idea, but oh well. Once Ritsuzen would give a response, Ami would go back to covering her ears.

[Yuki Aisu]

"Uwah!" Knocked off the serpent with definite ease, the girl coughed a little as the impact shook her frame. Gritting her teeth, she gave a hiss under her breath before slowly getting up and slowly making her way towards the snake. Who the heck cared that it was telling her to leave? She had heard that tone before, years and years and years of anger, resentment, hatred. It was a mirror of Misaki's, and her voice. When they were talking about those people... when they were in that place... that was their tone of voice. It was vile. The difference was, this had a far greater magnitude. If she was at level 4 hate, where it was just barely hate and mostly intense dislike, the serpent must've been at level 7.

Walking forward some more, she called out to it. "Why? Why... are you hurting?" Maybe it would understand her. Probably not. But she heard the tone, and she knew the meaning. So in her 6-year old mind, she tried to help.

[Herabec]

Thai grimaced as he heard the young girl collide with the ground. With such incentive, he'd quickly rise to his feet and make his way over to Akagami to help her up, though she appeared to be quite capable of it on her own as was already up when he managed to get to his feet. He must be getting stiff in his old age. He'd turn to face Demi, the wind having died down to it's normal gentle breeze. In the distance, echoing through the halls, the sound could still be heard of the roaring hiss. Or had it been a play of the wind?

"I'm..Dedicated to mapping this place. Don't you see the history we could learn from this place? This place must be built using techniques we can't even fa-" he was saying until Akagami's voice interrupted him, she was moving toward the Serpent statue, and she was speaking nonsense. "Hana? What are you talking about? I'm fine.. Demi, are you hurt? Where are Ritsu and Ami?" he asked, suddenly noticing the absence of the two other members of their party.

On the far side of the room, curled in the top eastern side of the room, the three were being watched. The figure made no brazen movements, it's amber color camouflaging it well with the dry stone of the temple's architecture. It's tongue flicked out every few moments, smelling the air. It smelled things it hadn't smelled in a very long time.

In the dark, curved hallway as Ami apparently lead the way toward the end of the hall, the torches slowly flickering back to life, another form at the very end could be heard. If the two listened carefully, the sound of leather or something similar scraping on stone would just be heard. It was like a whisper that was just beyond hearing. You knew it was there, but it was almost as if one could imagine it to all but the most sensitive ears.

Once they were further down the passage, the light becoming slightly better, they'd see the end. It was a single stand - resting upon the sand was a very large sapphire, shaped like a crescent moon. It just sat there, on a stand. If either of them tried to approach it however, a new sound in the room would be heard to all but the deaf and the dead.

It was a very audible hiss, not thunderous but definitely there. Something else could be heard too - something that didn't belong. The sounds of flapping wings of some sort - but not like feather. The flapping would grow louder until something dove from a hole in the wall near the ceiling. In the dim light of the hall, the two could make out the features of this creature.

It appeared, in most respects, like a very large bronze colored snake. It was easily ten feet in length and upon it's head held a 'crown' of scales that fanned out, giving the impression of feathers. In the upper regions of the serpent's body however, the snake differed. Two large leathery wings spread out, each wing covered in thin scales to allow it to fly, and it used this gift to it's advantage.

The serpent would dive at the nearest genin to it's location, it's great wings giving it the speed matching all but the fastest of genin. The reptilian would attempt to sink it's large four inch fangs into any region it could reach - and no one can tell what kind of venom those fangs may carry.

One thing was certain - it was not friendly. The removal of the diamond had alerted the ancient guardians of the temple.

[demideviluk]

"What is she...
No way..."

His speech was just a jumble of unfinished thoughts as the tiny little girl started talking out to some unknown force, the unknown force that he presumed had been the hissing, after all she had already stated that she didn't hear any hissing. It could easily have meant that she could understand the language that it had been speaking, but at the same time, she couldn't speak it either.

"I wouldn't worry about my lack of injury.
I would be more worried about the fact that the little one is trying to commune with the "guardian forces"."

Demi's attention was drawn back to Thai as he started speaking once more, asking stupid questions that had obvious answers if he had been paying attention to the world around him, he was in a state of shock obviously but despite this, he was still stubborn enough to continue onwards, much to his dismay.

"As for the girls, considering that they were both by that now closed door, I would hazard the guess that they were on the other side.
Whether you want me to try opening that door is up to you."

The Jounin's guard did not break as the two civilians went about their own little thing within the room, his eyes skitting across the masonry, his every sense tingling on edge as he waited for something to happen. He could feel it, they were not alone, or at least that was what his instincts told him about the situation and they were very rarely incorrect. They were in danger...the other genin girls were in danger too...but he had known that from the very beginning anyway.

[Ivory Deluge]

Ritsuzen rolled onto her stomach as Ami answered her. She was relieved that she wasn't the only one in the hallway, and the murderous winds had died down to its usual annoying breeze.

Damn Nagare hissed the voice.

How do the people put up with it Ritsuzen mused, ignoring the other voice that continued to rant and rave.

Pushing herself off of the ground with her arms, one hand straying to nudge her glasses back into place (It was a miracle they managed to make it this far without breaking!), the girl glanced up at the door that seperated the two genin from the rest of the group. It did look stubborn.

How where they going to get out of this mess?

Clumisly making it to her feet, Ritsuzen nodded at Ami and ,assuming the latter was leading, she would follow her down the newly lit hallway. Somehow, the child got the feeling that they were doing something strictly forbidden, but she too was overwhelmingly curious and found herself looking left and right, up and down the walls and floors.

The end of the hallway greeted them with a bright light and a beautiful sapphire jewel that seemed to tempt Ritsuzen more than anything. Her eyes froze on this single object, never leaving it, and her legs seemed to move all on their own accord. She didn't much closer when a definite hiss entered one ear and exited another, and the girl froze into place, gulping.

She didn't turn to face it until it was right there in front of her, and then ,just as it began to attack, the girl ,unaware of Ami's location at that moment, would reach into a weapon pouch and prepare a kunai, though she was shaking and unsure if it would even hit.

[alliehazel]

ooc: I'm a "little" grounded from the computer, so this needs to be quick before I'm caught o-o;;

ic: As the two neared the end of the hallway, Ami decided to be cautious due to the ever changing wind. At the end, Ami and Ritsuzen saw a large sapphire. "Woah, pre-.." Mid-comment, a hiss ran through the air. Ami stopped dead in her tracks the same time as Ritsuzen did, however, Ami moved up to be by her side.

There was definitely a large snake. The wings it appeared to have didn't help either. The snake appeared to be headed toward Ritsuzen, for she was closer to it. Being from the desert, Ami partially knew about snakes. These, of course, were different, and probably more deadly since it was a guardian of the temple.

Not taking the risk of having Ritzusen fend for herself, Ami lunged so that the snake would bite her arm guard. There was no way a snake could break through carnelian, right? Hopefully the snake had it's mouth around Ami's arm so that Ritsuzen would be able to attack it while it was in that position.

If the snake was faster, it was unclear what would happen. The snake would have to be killed and venom would have to be sucked out of the bloodstream. Unfortunately, the first would be much harder to do than the latter. Who knew what kind of venom it had? Probably deadly, but hopefully not fast-spreading.

[Yuki Aisu]

With her multi-tasking skills, the child barely registered that anyone had disappeared. She was focusing almost single-mindedly now, gritting her teeth against the light winds and such. Slowly, slowly she made her way to the statue. As the winds blew against her, she used the object she held to steady herself and not fall. Almost instinctively, her fingers buried themselves in her pocket, brushing against the stone... Maybe that was the secret to communicating with this great beast? She wasn't sure, but it was almost instinctual for the child. Soon enough she reached the statue, her eyes glancing over it. For some strange reason, the child's eyes held far more compassion than they should have, and she did something very obscure and strange. She hugged the statue. Just outright walked up to it... and hugged it.

[Herabec]

OOC: I've been there before, Ami. XD Just post when you can.

IC:
The serpent that had decided to make it's presence known inside the hall with Ritsu and Ami clamped down on Ami's armguard, it's fangs not quite strong enough to piece the material, despite their impressive length. It was not at all ready to give up on this prey that seemed to wander so willingly into it's lair however. Utilizing it's great wings, the serpent would push itself back with tremendous force while releasing Ami, effectively dodging any counter attack made by Ritsu and her kunai.

The winged reptilian would then arch itself backward, it's wing's flapping becoming irregular before in a sudden burst of movement, it seemed to push both it's wings and every muscle it could toward the two girls; releasing a Great Cutting Whirlwind at the two. Obviously, as their appearance would indicate, these were not normal animals.

In the room with Demi and the other, Thai was on the verge of both being consumed by wonderment from the situation, and having a nervous breakdown. He didn't want to drag anyone to their dooms, and with Ami and RItsuzen missing, that could in fact be the outcome of this expedition. Of course, he'd known this all along, but it still didn't comfort him at all. "Yeah..I think we should probably go get them," Thai said, moving toward the door to try and pry it open.

He'd stop half way, however, to look back. Hana was hugging the statue! What in the world would she touch the (now surprisingly cool) statue of a giant roaring snake? That didn't make much sense any way you looked at it! "Hana, what are you doing?" he'd ask. Maybe the girl lost her marbles? Maybe the surprisingly warm gem in the girl's pocket was controlling her somehow? Thai didn't know.

The silent watcher on the other side of the room however, saw it's opportunity. The smallest of the group had separated itself from the others to hug the statue. The monument of their guardianship in this place, this hellish place. The creature was suddenly aware of just how hungry it was. There was no dramatic entrance, no revealing of itself before it's strike, it simply left it's perch and dived at Hana.

The group would be able to hear this serpent's, nearly identical in size to the one Ritsu and Ami were encountering, great wings beating. They'd be able to hear it's body slicing through wind and even the slight hiss as it intended to make lunch of their smallest group member. Thai, on the other hand could see it. "What's THAT!?" he'd shout, quickly becoming panicked, pointing in the air like a madman.

[demideviluk]

ooc: I apologise greatly, I have been exceptionally busy, to the point I might have to bail all RP.
ic:
"I see."
The boy moved towards the door slowly, not particularly fond of leaving Thai right now or rescuing the idiots who had seperated themselves from the main group, they had been aware of the dangers all along and also aware of their mission, they were failures and certainly not his friends, it begged the question as to whether they deserved his help at all.
"Do they?"
However the thought process was cut short as a shadow zipped into his peripheral vision, his arm lashing out in its general direction and his umbrella sent spinning diagonally into the air, his hands flicking through a set of hand seals that he had mastered so early in life, yet had not used in such a long time.
"Jouro Senbon"
The hundreds of senbon that lined the umbrella shot out from the object at full speed as Demi's eyes traced the creature that had dared attack Hana, even after swearing that he would not protect the girl if she did anything stupid, it seemed that his body had acted on its own accord as a shinobi, he had been wanting something like this to happen anyway.
The needles bore down on the serpent from behind, falling at such a great speed that Demi was sure that it would catch the flying creature, and as the creature deviated from its flight path so did the needles, the weapons constantly staying on its tail until they struck his target. Of course, if the needles came within range of hitting Hana (and not the creature), they would scatter around her by the power of his control and leave her unharmed.
"Bring it."

[Ivory Deluge]

"Dang," she hissed as the creature easily dodged her thrown kunai. She knew it wouldn't work, but she couldn't help but to hope. There was no time to think of another plan, for she was thrown back into the stone wall behind her, and the impact caused every breath she could contain in her small body to force its way out. Her glasses popped off of her face as her head bumped into the wall, though not nearly with so much force as her body had.

Her eyes closed as another wave of pain blanketed her entire skull and new cuts found their way unto her pale but not perfect skin, and she grit her teeth, remaining slumped by the wall for five minutes before opening them and realizing that there was no time to be resting.

"Oooh . . .What to do, what to do,what to do!!?" Words spilled from her mouth as she searched the ground before her for her glasses andtried to come up with a plan, hoping to the high Heaven's that Ami was all right.

Glasses found with one lense terribly scratched and in searching for the girl, Ritsuzen's frantic eyes rested upon the sapphire jewel, and she wondered if there was a solution to this problem there.

So, holding another kunai in her small hand, the girl rushed at the podium that held the jewel and would attempt to grab it. She was unsure of her next move, making up everything as she went.

[alliehazel]

Even though Ami was heavier than Ritsuzen, that didn't really prove anything against the strong jutsu. The wind was also knocked out of Ami as the came in contact with the wall. At the very least, however, she was able to stop the first attack. It was only a shame this creature was smart enough to get away before Ritsuzen could strike.

Ami shook her head to regain her concentration as fast as she could. She didn't take long, for time wasn't something that could be wasted at this moment. While Ritsuzen was recovering, Ami would fumble to load a bolt. While Ritsuzen did her thing, Ami would fend off the creature. If it was at a good enough distance away, Ami would shoot her bolt. That would truly show if the creature was faster than Ami currently knew how to handle. Anything closer than bolt range would result in another clamp on her armguard. This time, however, Ami had her own kunai out and held it by her pinky at the ring at the end of the handle. If the creature were to find it's mouth around her armguard again, Ami would swing the kunai into her palm and attack. Hopefully the closer range.

"I can't watch what you're doing right now, Ritsuzen, but please hurry!"
They really needed to find a way out. That was for sure.

[Yuki Aisu]

Akagami could only hold on tightly while a screech resounded, pounding at her skull. Snarling, she turned away from the serpent statue that she had been hugging and pulled her staff out in front of her, glaring hard at the incoming serpent. So much for 6-year old child-fear. As Demi released his needles, Akagami violently leapt up and spun, smashing as much velocity and momentum into her swing as she could. What she was aiming for? The beasts's head. "Back... OFF!"

Her voice sang and echoed above most other noises, melodic and good for projection, but at the same time loud and irritated. With any luck, the staff would smash the beast thing on the head and Demi's needles would then proceed to skewer it. After all, if she hit, not only would it be slightly dazed, but she'd probably have smacked it off a little, making Demi's attack that much easier to hit.

And on the off chance it was obvious she wasn't going to hit? She'd probably just toss her staff right into the snake's intenstines and stab right through. She might get a cut or two... But for the most part, the beast would be pretty gacked.

[Herabec]

OOC: Poor, poor Ritsu and Ami. One thing right after another! Ritsu makes for a fail Indiana Jones. XD

IC: The serpent racing toward Hana opened it's jaws wide, revealing it's incredibly long fangs and rows of smaller teeth. It had not realized that Demi, in all his haxness, released a staggering number of senbon into the air that gave chase to the normally fearsome beast. The result? As the serpent grew near Hana it's single-minded focus for a meal, it's left wing suddenly became pierced again and again by several sharp needles. Then it's right wing was ripped to tatters, followed by several other senbon injuries along it's six foot long body.

The beast, no longer capable of flight, slammed into the ground near the young girl only to have it's head pounded on by the brave girl's staff. After a moment, the serpent stopped moving, either dead or just too injured to remain conscious. "What the hell..? Is that a snake? Why is there a giant flying snake in the middle of an ancient temple? Anyone?" Thai asked, spinning around to watch for any other serpents that may be lining the walls.

The serpent on the ground, tattered and bloody, didn't move at all. It was six and a half feet long, slender and it's wings, tattered as they were, spread out to nearly the length of it's body. It would almost look majestic if it wasn't covered in blood.
~~~

Ami and Ritsu were in a bit of a pickle. Both had been slammed and cut by the serpent's wind jutsu, and now it was ready for the kill! It reared it's head back again before pushing itself forward violently, putting it's entire body into a swooping charge. As it did this, Ami's slingshot fired a bolt at the serpent, which slapped it in the chest, causing the beast to hiss in pain and redouble it's efforts - it's fangs now bared and ready to kill.

While it focused on Ami, it didn't pay attention to Ritsu as she moved to the side and grabbed the shining sapphire. The moment her fingers rested upon the gem, the Serpent stopped it's charge and looked back at her. The moment she picked it up, the serpent hissed something out and charged again - not at Ami, not at Ritsu, but right back through the exit from whence it came.

Three seconds after Ritsu grabbed the gem, a large explosion would errupt. Not even a single explosion, but a series of multiple explosions; the gems at the top of each pillar were detonating with an invisible force, showering small shards in all directions and destroying the tops of each pillar. In turn, each pillar, shaken by the force, would fall over into piles of rubble that made travel difficult throughout the rest of the hallway.

To make matters worse, the ceiling began to decent upon the two genin. It wasn't incredibly fast, but certainly fast enough that, if they didn't get the hell out of dodge NOW, they would become much slimmer individuals.

[demideviluk]

"Cheh...Was that all it had?"

A slight frown crossed his face as the serpent hit the floor after being pierced by his attack, he had taken a risk and prayed that his needles had the speed and power to chase down the serpent before it hit Hana, and he was thankful that the risk had paid off. However even with the snake seemingly dead on the floor, he didn't trust it to be dead, reptiles did have the capabilities to regenerate themselves to a greater degree than humans after all...this was a mystical temple, he didn't dare contemplate the regenerative abilities of this thing.

"Back away from it...you also might want to close your eyes, or something."

The umbrella fell nearby and he stooped to draw out the tanto from its base, spinning the blade in his hand slowly as he walked cautiously towards the serpentine creature, standing on its body as he walked up from its tail to its head and then putting his foot at the base of its head so that it could not move.
The blade sliced down to it's neck...

[Ivory Deluge]

(ooc- Of course placing the gem back on its podium won't stop all this crap from happening. . .but I'm giving it a shot anyway.XD

“Wow, it WORKED,” cried out the girl as she looked down at the beautiful and ominous jewel in her small hands, blinking as she gazed at a blue reflection of a ten-year old girl, but there was little time to admire herself . . .very little time.

The room was soon filled with loud and destructive booms. Ritsuzen ,in surprise, dropped the gem to the ground, and cursed herself when she realized it, hoping that she hadn't broken it. . .If merely touching these gems could cause tornado-like gales, then she couldn't imagine what would happen if they were to crumble to pieces.

Then again, she was probably just being paranoid.

More and more horrible sounds suffocated the room and halls, and Ritsuzen glanced over at Ami and gulped.

"What should we do," she yelled over the noises.

Ohhhh . . .Greeeeat~

Panic was beginning to cover her as she realized the descending ceiling, and ,after several minutes of mentally beating herself up, she picked up the gem again and quickly moved over to the podium where it once had settled. She then placed the gem down on the podium.

It was foolish . .but she figured she'd go ahead and try it anyway.
Assuming it wouldn't stop it, and she knew it wouldn't, Ritsuzen hurried to Ami's side, stepping and stumbling over large pieces of stone.

"There! . . .Do you think we should follow the big snake? He took off like there was some sorta exit that way," she stated, pointing in the direction in which the serpent took its leave.

[Herabec]

OOC: Very well, though I don't like skipping two people. -_-;

IC:

Thai wasn't one to ask questions anymore when Demi suggested something. After seeing a large serpent nearly eat Hana (who seemed to simply be standing around, possibly in shock), he was going to trust Demi's judgement. He turned around and shut his eyes as Demi performed the grisly deed that needed to be done. As Demi's foot pressed down on the serpent and the blade brushed across it's scales, the creature struggled intensely, though it simply wasn't strong enough to resist.

A few moments later, it stopped moving, the winged serpentine finally dead. Thai looked back toward Demi and the serpent and had to struggle to keep his breakfast from coming back to greet him. "Urk.. So..uh, that was it, right? No more of them?" Thai asked, then looked about the chamber a bit. "And what's keeping Ritsu and Ami?"

_____

The ceiling continued to fall, even as Ritsu placed the gem back on it's podium. It had been the pillars that had kept this place standing, not the gem. Sadly, this ploy didn't even so much as slow down the pace in which the bricks slid down the wall - and engulfed the small hole the serpent had come from, sealing that entrance.

Without help, the ceiling would collapse further and Ritsu and Ami would be dead after a few moments. But all was not lost. Previously unnoticed, or perhaps it had been within the pillars that burst, was now a decent sized violet gem on the floor. It was shaking slightly with the vibrations caused by the descending ceiling.

The small gem glowed softly on the floor with a gentle light. It was smaller than the crescent moon gem but it was clearly crafted by the same people.

[Yuki Aisu]

OOC: o.o;; I was waiting for allie, not inactive. *rolls* So I'll be doing the following.

1. I'll make a 'pre-hera' post. No real actions will be taken. This will be a crappy, 2 line post.
2. It should be noted that I will have this civilian effectively leave near the end of 30 days. My year-plot is finally starting. XD

IC:

Akagami shrugged non-chalantly as Demi crushed the thingy, and yawned, before leaning back. It seemed Demi had said something, but she wasn't quite as squirmy as you might expect. And now... Thai was starting to do something, what was it, she wondered?

[demideviluk]

ooc:
I didnt say skip over them both, Allie just hasn't logged in since the 1st (grounded still i guess.). 1 Post where she doesnt get to do anything isn't a major deal.

ic:

"You put up a brave fight little one."

The blade sliced through the creature's neck with ease, his weight still resting upon the winged serpent until it finally stopped struggling against the inevitable, his awareness wandering across the room to check for any further guardians that may try anything. He thought they would be foolish to try again after seeing their friend so easily dispatched but he knew also that the mind of these creatures probably worked completely differantly.

"Why did you watch?"

His light footsteps echoed slightly throughout the room ominously as he removed himself from the dead creatures carcass, kicking it heavily and rolling it over onto it's front just to confirm it's death. He had already performed the "double tap" but that didn't stop him from being wary of a temple being beyond his comprehension.

"How would I know if there are more?
This one got the drop on us remember...and I highly doubt that there was just one guarding this place."

His eyes rose from the creature to meet the gaze of Thai, the grey orbs appearing lifeless and uncaring, his body clearly still tense and ready to rumble if necessary, his face and voice stone cold without emotion. Demi blinked but his eyes did not return back to what they had seen originally.

"As for the two foolish girls..."

The boy's sentence trailed off so not to alarm the cartographer any more than he had already done so, instead choosing to complete what he had intended to do in the first place, sprinting up to the doorway they had been locked behind and channeling all his strength into his fist as he swung it for the impeding object. He knew full well this wasn't likely to work, he hadn't amplified his power with any chakra, only his speed and he wasn't known for being the strongest person ever.

[Ivory Deluge]

(ooc-Yes, I too am preparing to exit this thread once Ritsu manages to get out of this mess.o.o)

Of course, the ceiling would close in on the only other possible exit in the room. I only they hadn't been so slow to approach it. Now they were trapped!

They were going to die! (I want my Maman!)They were going to die!They were going to . .Hold the phone! .Oh . . .What is that?!

Ritsuzen, in the middle of her mental breakdown, jumping in place, looking here to there with quivering eyes, and fighting the urge to run in desperate circles, noticed a sparkle from the corner of her eyes and looked in its direction to see. .

Another damn jewel . . She moved toward it, speaking to it as she grew closer. "You and your friends have caused me enough trouble, y' know?" She bent down and picked up the stupid gem, glaring into its glassy surface, a mirror image glaring right back at her.

Great . . .A ceiling was preparing to crush and squeeze the life out of her, and she was talking to a ROCK! . . .And, how did Ami manage to stay so calm through all this?!

Panic causes the mind to think all sorts of random things, and staring into the jewel brought a strange idea to mind indeed. Perhaps . .? A final desperate act she supposed as she closed her eyes and focused chakra into the purple mineral. She honestly didn't think anything would come out this, but it couldn't hurt . .right?

(ooc-Oops! XD My bad. It's been a while. I just remember reading that Demi pumped chakra into a gem. Anyways, I'll fix it.)

[alliehazel]

ooc: Dx!!! I'm sorry I haven't logged on for so long ;-; It's hard to get online. I'll exit as soon (or if) ritsu and ami get out of the room. I'm in school right now....so there's not a good chance I can post at home.

ic:

Ami had remained quiet for quite some time. She was thinking on how to get out of the mess with no avail. However, when Ritsu went away and got a hold of the gem, Ami figured that they had better move. Since the serpent entrace was not an option anymore...not like it ever was in her oppinion...Ami would grab Ritsuzen's wrist and pull her down the hallway the way they came. She didn't know that Ritsuzen was putting chakra in the gem, so there was no way she would know if she was interrupting a process.

If they could get to the locked door, Ami would let go of Ritsuzen's arm/wrist and stare at the door for a few seconds. She would run up the walls, across the ceiling, and back down. After getting a sense of the crease where the door would open, Ami would load one bolt then shoot one at each top corner of the door.

"If you have any tags, that would help a lot right now. If not...we have to try and break this or pry it open," she say to Ritsuzen before noticing that Ritsu would be concentrating (if she still was...I'm assuming here >.<;;) on a gem. More gems...great. Oh please please work! Ami was clenching her fist, for she was out of ideas other than prying the door open.

[Yuki Aisu]

OOC: My apologies, forgot I made a pre-Hera post. >__< I'm usually not that bad.

Akagami held no reaction or response of any kind, simply shrugged and moved along.

[Herabec]

OOC: Yes, yes. I'm late. Feel free to kill me if you want.

IC: Thai felt rather uncomfortable as he gazed at Demi's eyes, the orbs seeming..lifeless? He'd never seen anyone with such dead eyes before. They even seemed to be devoid of color, which didn't help the situation any. Nor did Demi's apparent tenseness help when it came to calming the nerves of the cartographer.. From flying snakes to superhuman ninjas, things were getting a bit weird for the professor. Then Demi dashed toward the door - his speed so great that Thai had trouble even keeping track of him.

~~~~~

Within the hallway, things weren't getting any better. The ceiling was continuing to ominously lower, coming dangerously close to crushing both Ami and Ritsu, however, Ritsu gained a boon. The ancient temple held within them dormant ninjutsu that people of this day and age found impossible. As Ritsu pulsed chakra into the small purple gem, she'd feel a slight vertigo for a moment. Then radiant light would burst fourth from the gem, causing it to crumble into dust.

This light, however, had a unique property. As it washed over Ritsuzen (and possibly Ami, if she'd managed to get close to her fast enough), the two of them would disappear. Vanish from the room entirely. It was almost as if it was teleportation, but it was not quite so advanced. In truth, the gem was an emergency escape that transformed those nearby into an invisible gaseous form, then forcibly sunshin those caught in them to the entrance of the temple.

With these invisible, unsolid forms, they could easily pass through the creases of the sealed door, race throughout the rest of the temple, and reform in the entrance hall. Safe, sound, and probably confused.
~~~~

Demi slammed open the door with his strength - and while physically weak for a jounin, he was still strong enough to perform the task the two genin couldn't. The door slammed open with a loud crash, only to give Demi a good look at what was going on - the ceiling was lowering, only about seven feet from the floor and was lowering the ground at half a foot per second.

Due to the curvature of the room, Demi wouldn't be able to see the pulsing blue half-moon resting upon it's pedestal. One thing was certain though - Ritsu and Ami were not there.

[demideviluk]

Almost to his surprise, as his fist slammed into the door, it had opened when faced with his might. He let out a small chuckle in amusement as the crashing sound echoed throughout the room and the predicament was presented to him
"Ahh..."
He stood and stared for a couple of seconds, trying to comprehend if there was possibly a way out of that place alive if the girls were stuck, he quickly came to the conclusion with only a few feet remaining that there was no hope for them, they were dead unless some kind of miracle saved them.
"That could be a problem for them..."
He looked back towards Thai and the little girl and merely shrugged his shoulders, signalling that there was nothing he could do for them. Demi quietly admired the temple's defensive mechanisms as he watched the ceiling fall, they had certainly been designed fairly well even for the first "floor", all it wanted to do was keep people out.
"What do we do now?"

[Ivory Deluge]

(ooc-And with this post, I bid thee all farewell. I take it this is the same entrance hall that Demi got left behind in?^^)

The room was spinning! Ritsuzen could swear it as she continued to pump more and more chakra into the gem, eyelids tightly closed over her black irises. The sound of a rumbling ceiling bearing down on her small form made the girl want to scream and maybe even cry, but that single chance of escape that the gem promised would not let her.

Then . . .a dream perhaps. . .She did not feel real, and she couldn't open her eyes, but maybe it was for the best. She could hear something new now, the sound of air passing by her in a speed she never even dreamt of going.

When she finally managed to open them, lo and behold, the genin was standing at the entrance hall. One still-shaking hand scratched the top of her head as she tried to make heads-or-tails of what just occured.

Wind gushed, and her ears perked up when she thought she heard Baldric's familiar caws just ahead of her . .outside . .where it was safe. Still feeling groggy, the girl stumbled to the exit and made plans to get the heck out of Dodge!

[Exit]

[alliehazel]

ooc: Hera, 6 days ish not late...I think =P And no offense, but I'm a little glad to also be exiting now ^^;;

ic: Out of the corner of her eye, Ami saw the light from the gem Ritsu had. Ami thought that something bad was going to happen like the rest of the temple, so she reached out to grab Ritsu to make her let go. The moment Ami had made contact with Ritsu, though, the gem did it's work and 'teleported' the two to the entrance. Ami realized the two weren't in the room right away, and she let go to Ritsu. She looked at the temple, wondering what had just happened.

"Well, this temple has worn my patience dry," Ami said as she let out a sigh with her eyes closed. When she opened them up, Ritsu had already taken her leave out of the temple. Glad to know I'm not the only one sick of this place... At that, Ami let Ritsuzen go until she was completely out of sight, then, without looking back, Ami would leave also. Sure, she was the last to arrive and one of the first to leave, but she hated that temple as well as the people in it...besides Ritsu, and that's all that mattered. Ami walked out, as she was, she was tightening her ponytail, then journey to wherever she may be headed was probably going to be long.

~*exit*~

[Yuki Aisu]

OOC: Eeep. I'm a little irritated right now, and having trouble deciphering what's going on. So i'll just follow for now.

IC:

Akagami felt some rumbling somewhere, rumble, rumble, toil and trouble, definitely not a good situation. With little time to waste and little energy to do it, the child simply dashed full speed after demi and Thai, keeping with them. Soon enough, whenever they stopped, she'd poke Demi and give him the jewel-necklace thing she had from the serpent statue, relieving herself of the jewel.

OOC: I gotta go guys. Mission's coming up.

IC:

Suddenly, Akagami disappeared and appeared at the exit, somehow. It was strange, she didn't quite get it, but what could she do? Either way, she simply was repelled by a wall every time she got close, and was tossed away. Gritting her teeth, she wished the remaining ones luck before turning around and leaving.

-Exit