Chapter 5 - Bandits & Bonding

Jin and the others brought forth their weapons, ready for anything. Ken, Mia, and the twins also got ready with their kunais and shurikens while waiting for the bandits to attack.

In a split second, a poisonous arrow went through the air, heading straight for Jin's head. Thankfully, he was no weakling; though still ranked as a Regular, he was able to deflect it skillfully and immediately switched places with Mia, who happily threw a shuriken at the Archer, which successfully drilled a hole in his throat.

"Bullseye!" she yelled excitedly as the battle officially began with over 30 bandits swinging down on twigs with their large, rusted swords aiming for the disguised operatives they thought were harmless pilgrims.

Jin and Zaraki lunged with full speed at the bandits immediately after they landed, running straight at them. Jin swung his sword in all directions while trying to maintain defense, while Zaraki skillfully moved with extreme agility as his long sword oscillated at full speed, cutting seamlessly through rag and flesh in a bloody frenzy.

Ken on the other hand was a master in physical combat (a technique that the higher-ups called taijutsu, which involved hand-to-hand combat without crafted or mystical weapons).

He wasn't very good at using weapons, which was why he had already run out of shurikens due to his terrible aiming.

Mia, on the other hand, lit up her face with a sadistic smile as she continuously fired kunais and shurikens with the extreme skills that made Ken jealous.

Every falling bandit whom her shurikens aimed for died on contact before reaching the ground, and her kunai impaled the heads of the ones lucky enough to reach the ground with pinpoint accuracy.

Akito and Akio were also excellent in taijutsu (hand-to-hand combat), but they did not solely rely on it in situations like these, and it was obvious that their skills in handling the kunai were at best commendable.

But all in all, not all of their skills put together could rival those of Zaraki Mitsuki, who produced more corpses than the others combined.

Eventually, the final bandit was beheaded by Jin, now covered in blood and sweat, as were all the others except for Zaraki, who was also covered in sweat but with no bloodstain on his clothes.

Mia had a few stains but didn't look as messed up as the others, who were covered in sweat and also covered in bloodstains.

Based only on appearance, the average person could tell their rank as operatives if they understood it.

"I hope you've brought spare clothes, because you can't be perceived as average travelers with bloodstained clothes." Zaraki said as he swung his sword to his side to splash off residual blood before putting it back in its place.

"Hey, big boy, why are you lumping me together with them?" "Are you too blind to see that I did a better job than they did?" Mia asked with obvious contempt.

Zaraki's unpredictability turned around and she walked towards Mia with a very intimidating gaze that almost made her take a step backwards in fear.

"Woman, you are not going to implicate the mission; do you understand me?" He asked sternly.

Mia, trying to hide her intimidation, simply looked away in feigned defiance but answered almost quietly, "

"Yes",

She answered reluctantly while still trying to maintain her proud composure so hard that it was starting to look silly.

The other four look in awe and wonder like they had just witnessed something miraculous—perhaps because they had never seen Mia being subservient or submissive this way before. They never thought that a guy able to bring her to humble herself could even exist.

In a moment, the five of them had changed their cloaks from the average brown color to pitch black. This would serve as great camouflage at nightfall, when they would be able to navigate at full speed without the fear of getting spotted.

They resumed walking on the set safe path, leaving the bloody massacre right behind them, believing mother nature would clean up their mess as it often does, as fable scavengers would emerge at nightfall to eat up all the dead remains once found (this was a normal process in the forest ecosystem).

Eventually, night fell, and on Zaraki's signal, they all got into stealth mode as they began moving at incredible speeds that got them hopping off tree branches at a very fast pace with minimal sound.

After moving for a few hours, they decided to rest, so Zaraki made a campfire at a location just by the road. It wouldn't do much for their overall safety at the darkest hours of the night, but it would at least keep pests and small poisonous insects away.

All members of the squad felt at peace knowing that he was responsible for them, as it would be a shame for him to return alone from the mission due to the deaths of his comrades when he was the highest-ranking operative in charge and an ELITE for that matter.

Everyone felt this way except Mia, who was still finding it hard to tolerate even the mere thought of another person taking over her leadership role on the mission.

As they lay down to rest, Jin lay close to Mia, hoping to have a moment to talk to her while the others slept.

"Mia?" he called quietly.

"What do you want, Jin?" asked Mia in a rude manner.

Jin, however, was unfazed by her rudeness and instead asked the question that expressed his concern.

"What is up with you?" he asked calmly.

"Is that even a question?" she asked back, hoping he would drop the topic he was getting at and doze off.

But Jin still pressed on, insisting that she tell him what was bothering her.

"You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

Mia looked away from him, facing the sky, and finally answered,

"It's just... I don't trust the big boy; there's something off about him."

"Oh?" Jin simply responded before asking,

"Are you sure you're not just jealous at the fact that a guy far stronger than you gets to lead the team on a mission like this?"

Mia reddened at his response and impulsively snapped at him,

"Shut up, idiot!"

She reddened even more while looking to the other side.

Jin simply smiled before looking up to gaze at the sky.

"I think it's ok to feel that way -- so long as you have a friend willing to always listen to it and I'm here for you, alright?"

Mia snuggled into her cloak, completely covering herself, and asked,

"How do you say cheesy stuff like that without feeling like an idiot?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

Mia sighed,

"You're hopelessly stupid, you know that?" she asked before he called her again.

"Mia"

"What is it, pest?" she answered rudely.

"Look up," he instructed.

She looked up and got elated as she saw beautiful auroras illuminating the night sky. Her eyes and mouth widened in awe of its beauty as Jin looked at her in admiration.

The memory of this moment was one he would cherish for a long time, as Mia was the kind of person who would never express herself like this.

Seeing her in such a happy and vulnerable state made him happy, almost as if her happiness were his own.

Mia's ecstasy came to an end when she noticed the way he was staring at her, and from her perspective, he looked very nasty.

"Please stop staring at me like that; it's creepy," she asked sternly.

"Huh?"

"I almost mistook you for a pervert; I hope I was wrong."

"How could you even... you know what?... forget it, good night, Mia."

He said this while getting ready to go to sleep, obviously not in the mood for getting teased by Mia over pointless things.

"Sleep tight, creep," she replied as she snuggled once more into her cloak, now used as a blanket, getting to sleep as well.

Though it was unbeknownst to them that they had been watched and examined from a safe distance by the very deserters they had been hunting for a while now,

Yuzu and Rangiku Tachibana.