Chapter 2 - Life of Faan

Faan was starting to really worry. There was barely an hour to go until the final exam commenced, and Ryo had still not turned up. The exam would decide whether or not the students were ready to become fully fledged ninja or not, and Faan knew that Ryo wouldn't let himself miss it, unless something was seriously wrong.
"Maybe we should look for him? There's still a little time, right?"
She turned to look at Kaa, staying silent. Faan knew it was only a matter of time before Kaa would want to look for Ryo, but she wasn't sure if they could risk it. After all, even if they found him, would they really be able to get back in time?

~

Faan and Yuan followed Kaa into the woods. Once Kaa set her mind on convincing Faan, it was only a matter of time before she caved, and Yuan was strangely easy to convince. The three of them cautiously entered the wood, and Faan began to wonder why no one had ever bothered to put up some signposts. They followed the path for as long as they could, but once they were forced to leave the beaten track they began to understand Ryo's navigational problems. The wood was like a giant maze - with every tree looking the same - and after only a few minutes of wandering from the path, they found themselves extremely lost.

Suddenly, everything went silent - and the voices of her two friends disappeared. Faan frantically spun round, hoping to find out where they had gone. The forest was beginning to seem quite dark, considering it wasn't even the evening yet, and she had a horrible feeling her day was about to go downhill.
"Come on guys,"she pleaded, "This isn't very funny you know."
She knew before she let the words leave her lips, that silence would be her only reply. She wasn't sure where, or how, but her friends had vanished - and she was going to have to work out what to do on her own. Not sure whether to continue looking for Ryo, or start looking for Kaa and Yuan, she was almost glad for the distraction when she suddenly heard a noise behind her. Almost.

~

Ryo was beginning to get worried. He had been in the mysterious room for ages, and he had no idea where he even was. The door was firmly locked - and he had already injured himself trying to force it open. He was starting to think Kaa and the others would never find him. He couldn't even be sure they were looking for him, and a small part of him thought maybe they just did the exam without him, and just left him here to rot away.

A door suddenly opened, and Ryo crept behind it ready to pounce. He threw himself at the figure coming through, and stumbled into a heap on top of Faan.
"What the hell? Ryo!?"
Awkwardly, Ryo moved his hands away from what could have been construed as an inconvenient position, and quickly moved away from the slightly angered Faan, who slowly got up and dusted herself off, looking around at the room she was now captive in.
"Where are we?" She pondered.
"I'm not really sure, but we need to get out right?"
Faan looked at Ryo, slightly startled. Her question was more to herself than anyone else, and as she pondered she had even forgotten Ryo's presence. While she was glad he was okay, she didn't acknowledge his well being, and instead began to look around for any potential exits or escape routes.

"Hey Ryo, try ramming this door down."
"It won't budge," he whined, his aching arm reminding him of his many failed attempts.
"It might if we try it together..."
Ryo nodded in hesitant agreement - slightly worried about injuring himself further - but nonetheless, on a count of three, together they ran at the door, and subsequently collapsed on the floor in pain. Even with two of them, the door was still far too sturdy, and had barely acknowledged their effort whatsoever. Faan crouched down on the floor, and began to think. Her concentration made Ryo feel a little unprofessional, as he just stood there, staring at her, but while she was busy "concentrating" he noticed something going on outside.

~

Without warning, Kaa spun round - and dodged out of the way of a flying kick. Yuan wasn't so lucky, and was temporarily floored by his attacker. While turning to face her enemy, Kaa recognised him as the cloaked figure who'd attemped to capture them earlier - only to be foiled by some quick thinking. She threw a punch towards him but, having misjudged his speed, soon discovered that he was already behind her, and before she had a chance to dodge again she felt a sharp pain in her right leg, and collapsed down on the floor beside Yuan. Without the strength in her left to rise back up she was left temporarily defenseless, but luckily Yuan had recovered.

As she waited for the strength to return to her leg, Kaa noticed that as Yuan fought, the man only ever used his right hand - and his left simply lay limp at his side. She quickly examined her surroundings, in hope of finding an aspect of terrain she could use to her advantage, and discovered a small, almost invisible hut, hidden within the trees. Upon further examination she could see Ryo knocking at the window - obviously trying to get her attention. She used Yuan's distraction as a cover, and with a semi-healed leg she quickly limped towards the hut, and erratically fumbled with the door in an attempt to open it. Taking a chance, she took a kunai out of her belt, and smashed it hard against the lock - successfully breaking it. While her hands were bruised, she was too proud of her success to feel the pain, and quickly opened the door, releasing the captives.

Before the three could join in the fight, however, the stranger suddenly stopped. He turned towards the freed prisoners and smirked.
"Well, looks like one student was paying attention".
Kaa knew he was talking about her, but was less scared and more curious as to why he as referring to her as a student.
"It seems we've got some potential on our hands this year..." he smiled.
Faan was confused, but after a second she worked it out. The whole day had been a test of some sort - albeit quite a far-fetched one.
"My name is Razu, but you can call me Sensei," he grinned,"and I guess you've all passed."

~

It took Faan a moment to take it all in, the whole day had just been one big test? Of teamwork? It did seem quite weird. After all, a huge part of being a ninja is working on your own, why would teamwork be so important? Not that she was complaining obviously, and it took her a second to realise that she should have been celebrating with the others, who where jumping up and down in a rather comic fashion.
"I can't believe it!" she whooped - rather loudly.
"I know! We passed with flying colours!!" Ryo grinned.

Razu had to smile at the spectacle, all four of them trampolining up and down in glee. They had far from passed with flying colours, having only just managed to pass at all in truth, but their enthusiasm was definitely worth applaud. He still wasn't sure why he had even chosen to watch over these four, but he was sure of one thing, it was definitely going to be an interesting year, and he couldn't wait to see how they handled their next test.