Retarded But Determined...What Else Could You Ask for in a Ninja?

Kaitlynne’s POV:

“Oh. Oh god.” I can’t believe it. No. This can’t be happening.
“What?” Tia demanded my reply.
“Katie--she doesn’t have a pulse.”
Tia’s eyes widened from their already shocked state, but as she looked back down at Katie, her eyes narrowed.
“That’s because you’re checking the wrong place for the pulse, you idiot!” She slapped my hand away, and placed two fingers against her throat under her chin, then against her wrist. “She does, but it’s weak.”
“W-what happened? What’s g-going on?” Kujo stumbled slowly to arrive next to us, and stared unbelieving at Rachael and Katie on the ground.
“Come on,” Tia stood up, taking the lead again. “We need to make it to the village as soon as possible. These two need to be treated quickly, in less than 24 hours, I’m guessing, though I’m not much of a medic-nin. Kujo, how long until we reach the nearest town?”
He stumbled at first, but caught himself and answered. “None until the Sand, which should be at least a day and a half’s walk.”
My spirits sank. I doubted he could run any significant distance, and especially not fast enough to keep pace with us. We would have to stay back with him to not lose our mission, but we also needed to get Katie and Rachael to the village.
“I’ll take them.”
Tia looked up at me. “What?”
“I’ll run ahead and take Katie and Rachael to the village, and if you stay behind, Kujo will still have protection to keep the mission.” I said this with more confidence than I felt, but I knew it had to be done.
She considered this. “Alright. Good thinking.”
She bandaged them up with my help, and set me up with food pills and water, and hastily wrote a note sending for help.
“Run as fast as you can. When you get tired, eat the military pills I told you about. Stay hydrated, drink water, keep them safe, don’t stop-”
“How can I do all that and not stop?”
She sighed. “I don’t know. Just hurry. Oh! And when you get there, tell them you’re from squad 32 from the Lord Kujo mission, so that they’ll let you in.”
“Okay.” I’ll try to remember that. I picked up Rachael and swung her around on my back. Tia helped pile Katie on top of her. I felt really heavy with both of them adding to the weight. Nevertheless, I nodded to Tia, and ran off.
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“Name.”
“Kaitlynne, of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.”
“Purpose.”
“I’m a member of squad 32 given the mission of escorting Lord Kujo. Two members of my team were critically injured during the mission, and need immediate medical attention.” Honestly, I thought I sounded pretty smart. But that would have to wait.
The guard nodded, and led me though the sandy streets to a fairly large building. Nurses and doctors took Katie and Rachael from my arms, and I watched my friends be carried off down the hall in stretchers.
--- x X x --- x X x --- x X x ---

Tia’s POV:

I arrived at the hospital in a rush, almost two days after I had sent Kaitlynne away with the other two. Since then, two Sand shinobi came as reinforcements and to help guide the way to the village. Surprisingly, it’s a hard place to find, even though it’s the largest thing by far in the whole desert. You’d think it’d be easy to spot…
“Kaitlynne!” I saw her sitting in one of those uncomfortable chairs in the waiting room, looking very worried. She looked up when I called her name, and her face lit up--but just a bit.
“Tia! You’re here! Good, come with me.” She took my hand and walked me down the hall.
“How are they?” I asked. What did she know? Has she seen them yet?
“Just wait and see…” She knocked on a door, but there was no answer. She opened the door and waited for me to enter first. I looked around at the white walls, the extremely clean chairs, the small window, the empty bed-
Empty bed?! Where was she?! Where was…
Warm hands wrapped around my throat and took hold of my stiff shoulders. I opened my mouth and let out a yelp, which was followed by laughter. I whirled around to see Kaitlynne and Rachael laughing their heads off at me. Of course.
“Very funny, guys.” My words dripped with sarcasm, and I hope it stung.
“You’re too easy! Where’s the challenge?” asked Kaitlynne between breaths.
“Aren’t you supposed to be the sensei here?!” Rachael agreed.
Usually, I would have smacked them or talked back, but something stopped me.
“Where’s Katie?” I asked. The two stopped immediately and looked at each other. “Where’s Katie?” I demanded.
“I don’t know,” Kaitlynne was the first to respond. “I haven’t been able to see her yet.”
Without hesitation, I ran to the front desk and asked the secretary what room Katie was supposed to be in.
“I’m sorry, that’s confidential.”
I knew my limits. And I knew she wouldn’t tell me, so I went back to the hallways and found a nurse walking out of a room, a clipboard in her hands. I walked swiftly over to her.
“What room is Katie in?” I asked her.
“Wh-what? I’m sorry, I-”
I took her shirt collar in my firm grip and pulled her face close to mine. I narrowed my eyes threateningly. “Where is my friend? Katie! You tell me where she is! What room?!”
Her eyes widened in fear, and obeyed her common sense and looked down hastily at her clipboard. “Uh, u-um… room 205. That one.” She pointed with a shaking finger to a door down the hall. I let go of her collar and ran to it.

Rachael’s POV:

I glanced down another hall to see Tia run to a room. “Kaitlynne. This way.” We followed Tia into the room.
The room was the same as all the other ones, but the patient was not. Katie lay there unconscious, with wires and tubes of all kinds hooked up to her and monitoring her movements. Her face twisted and her nose flinched in small movements. She must be dreaming.
Kaitlynne reached out her hand to touch Katie’s cheek. “Katie,” she whispered. “Katie? You there?”

--- x X x --- x X x --- x X x ---

I ran faster than I ever had before. I didn’t know what I was running from, but I knew something was there, behind me, wanting to catch me no matter what. Now I saw black before me. A gigantic hole, a gap in the earth. Now I tried to stop, but again nothing happened. Facing doom and uncertainty, I gained momentum and lunged forward into the darkness, unconscious that the monster had already taken hold of what he wanted.