The sun stood high in the sky and everyone in and around Hoshido's capital was busy with their routines and duties. In that regard, Kagero was no different.

The dark-haired ninja left the city a few minutes ahead of schedule, quickly making her way down to one of the smaller rivers running past Castle Shirasagi, sliding down the slope to the riverside.

Well-hidden in the earthen wall was a small natural entrance, nearly invisible to anyone who didn't know about it or wasn't actively searching. Sliding through the small passage, Kagero entered a cave, a singular room with only a few natural alcoves in the walls. Some crates and small chests were out away in them or lined the walls.

Standing in the middle of the room were three young women, barely of age, just old enough to enlist into service. Not that they were ready yet. They wore the light garb of a ninja, not unlike Kagero's own uniform, each in a different dull colour tone. When they noticed their senior approaching, they immediate seized their quiet conversation and stood straight.

"Thank you for teaching us today, sensei.", they said in unison, bowing to her. Kagero took a judging look at each of them before addressing them.

"You each made considerable progress. In discipline, combat and stealth, you are nothing like you were just a year ago. So today, as your lesson, we will have some practical training."

She could see the excitement on their faces turn serious again. They still had trouble hiding their emotions well, even with masks covering the lower half of their faces. But they stood, patiently, waiting for further instruction.

"It will be simple. I will leave this cave and your mission is to find me, capture me, and bring me back. Your goal is to have me restrained in this room. You have until sundown."

Without waiting for questions or a sign of understanding, Kagero turned on her heel and passed through the entrance again. One of her students quickly darted to the slim passage herself, looking around the corner, but her sensei had already vanished.



Kusa sat perched in a tree, her dark green clothes blending with the leaves, slowly looking over the ground and at the trunks of the surrounding trees, straining her eyes to try and see anything out of place, any spot that Kagero-sensei would be hiding in.

But there was nothing to be seen and time seemed to drain away rapidly and at the same time crawl along at a snail's pace. Soon her eyes were tired and dry and she closed them, sighing quietly into the cloth mask and running her hand through her short brown hair.

"Tired already?"

Kusa's first instinct was to whirl around and draw a kunai from the strap on her thigh, but before she could do so, her leg was yanked back from under her and weight pressed against her, toppling her and causing her to fall out of the tree. Her head slammed into the firm dirt and she had to try and reorient herself, before a jab to the side of her head killed the lights.



Momo darted from one rooftop to another, keeping her eyes on the crowd. Kagero-sensei was skilled at using disguises as well, and getting lost in the crowd was an easy way to lose pursuers, even if all you have is a different cloak. So Momo scanned every single person for a give-away. Long black hair, the controlled walk, an active attempt to blend in. Anything.

Hours passed without even a hint. A few false sightings, but luckily she had caught herself every time before she would have kidnapped somebody completely uninvolved. She dropped down into an alley, taking a breather and stopping to think. Perhaps Kagero-sensei wasn't in the crowd at all. Perhaps she was outside and one of the others had already found her.

Momo was about to turn and head back, when somebody behind her grabbed her wrist and turned it on her back, at the same time covering her mouth with the other hand and forcing the entire weight of their body against her, making her fall forward onto the cobblestone floor.

She struggled, trying to get free, but a strong pair of legs wrapped around hers, trapping them and making it impossible for her to try and kick or opponent. Her arm was twisted on her back and the hand on her mouth pressed down firmly, while holding her nose shut with thumb and index finger at the same time. Quickly, she ran out of air and she felt her body grow weak. She desperately tried to pull the firm grip away with her free hand, but it wouldn't budge.

Her muffled screams of panic finally died down when she lost consciousness, going limp in the attacker's grip.



Aka finally came to when she was dropped on the cold, damp floor of the cave. She grunted and blinked, fighting against the dizziness. She felt the bizarrely familiar cling of rope around her wrists, slowly becoming aware of more around her torso, her ankles, and her legs. She groaned quietly, unable to voice her discomfort any other way, with something filling out her mouth. Wadded cloth by the taste of it. Her mask had been pulled back into place, keeping her from simply pushing it out with her tongue.

When her eyes adjusted to the relative darkness, she could make out two other figures lying on the ground in front of her: Kusa and Momo, both of them tied the same way as she was. Momo still looked out of it, while Kusa's expression was just one of shame.

"I even gave you plenty of time.", Kagero's voice said quietly. Aka shifted and managed to roll over onto her side, so she could see her standing by the entrance. "It's like I thought. You focus too much on the given task and don't keep up your guard."

"Mmh wh-hm fhhh!", Aka protested loudly, pulling at the ropes.

"Always expect to be attacked. Just because your mission was offensive doesn't mean I'm going to act defensively." She turned on her heel and headed through the passage again. "The sun is still up, too."



Kagero waited, watching the entrance to the cave from a tree next to the riverbank. None of them came out. Either they had lost their motivation or they were actually stuck, although the latter seemed unlikely, considering at least Kusa's success with escape training.

The sun slowly sank towards the horizon. At this point they had been inside for hours. Perhaps they really were discouraged. They did still have a long way ahead of them. And Kagero hadn't honestly expected a different outcome.

Dropping out of the tree and walking to the passage again, she pushed through, blinking her eyes several times to get them used to the darkness faster.

They were gone.

In an instant, she ducked away and jabbed to the right, her palm slamming against Aka's stomach, making her gasp and stumble. She made another quick step forward and rolled away, narrowly avoiding Momo's kick and coming up with a palm strike against her chin.

She got back on her feet and made herself aware of the situation. She couldn't see Kusa. She was either hiding in an alcove or clinging to the ceiling, waiting to drop on her. The answer came with a jingling noise behind her, as a thin chain, weighted with a metal ball on one end, shot out from one of the darker corners and wound around her ankle, before yanking to trip her.

Kagero let herself drop and landed on her hands and one knee, ready to yank back and pull Kusa out of her hiding spot, but the others had already closed the distance and pulled her arms away with their legs, allowing Kusa to yank again and have her lose balance, her chest and face hitting the ground.

Quickly, Aka pushed her head down with both hands, Momo pressed her knee to the small of her back and tried to get a hold of her arms, and Kusa sprinted out of the shadows to straddle her legs.

The fight moved to a close-quarters struggle, with Kusa managing to pin down Kagero's legs, but Momo almost getting shoved off, before Aka let go of Kagero's head and instead sat on it, pressing her thighs against it on both sides, to help twist and hold down her arms so Momo could start binding them.

As intense and straining the activity was, it was also quiet, as all four ninja were in deep focus, each of them grunting and gritting their teeth. It went on for minutes on end, since Kagero managed to slip out of the hasty ties several times, so each part of her body they attempted to bind took many attempts.

But they made progress nonetheless. Several minutes later, Kagero's arms were twisted onto her back and encircled in rope, her palms touching and her fingers pointing forward. More rope wound around her torso; Above, below, and between her breasts, over her shoulders, and once around her neck, pulled tight enough to restrict but not enough to choke her.

Her legs were bound at the ankles, below her knees and at her thighs. Aka had also grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled up her head, in order to shove two pieces of wadded cloth into her mouth and then tie it off with another piece, blindfolding her with a fourth.

To top it off, while the others had gone through her clothes to remove all the hidden blades, Kusa had tied a rope around her waist, then guided it through her thighs and tied the end off tightly to her ankles, forcing her to keep her legs bent, as the rope would dig uncomfortably into her crotch when she tried to relax.

If there was one thing they had already mastered, it was restraints.

The three girls finally sighed and dropped onto their butts, taking deep breaths and allowing themselves to relax for just a moment.

"We... we did it...", Kusa said quietly, looking towards the entrance, where the last bits of sunlight slowly disappeared.

"We beat sensei!", Momo added excitedly.

All three of them quickly straightened and got on their knees properly, before placing their hands on the ground and bowing.

"Thank you for today's lesson.", they said in unison, only getting a strained grunt as a response from the securely tied woman lying on the ground.