"Be prepared as possible!", was Amaya's current new motto, and she was making damn sure she was following by it. Suiton training. Ninjutsu training. Jutsu training. Her goal was simple: be as effective as possible, make sure she could hold her own, and most of all make sure that others didn't have to worry about her safety because she was 'weak'. Paying attention to someone because you had to watch their back in a fight was deadly, that slight bit of attention placed on someone who it didn't have to be was all it took for that fight to end badly. She might be a medical nin, and she might be incredibly skilled... but she wasn't perfect and she sure as Hell wasn't God. So bringing someone back from the dead couldn't happen, that left her with the option of improving, and that's exactly what she had been working towards for weeks now.

The night before she'd made a list of what she needed to do today: Get up. Shower. Dress. Eat. Hit the Library. Train. A short list, but she figured it was going to take the entire day and possibly into the evening to get it all completed.. especially if it took her a while to gather the research and materials needed to train.

She had gone to bed earlier, figuring it was going to take her a while to fall asleep. But, she'd been mistaken, and ten hours later awoke to the bright sun shining through her window covering. A wince at the light and a grumble was the first signs of her waking up. Followed quickly by the blanket being thrown off of herself and onto the floor next to her. "Gah... slept in again. I really need to get an alarm clock.", she grumbled to herself upon sitting up in bed. She rubbed her eyes, yawned, and then stretched until every part of her body was completely stretched. 'If only I could stay like that, I'd gain an inch or two.', she mentally mused as cold feet hit the floor beneath her bed. She stood up and rubbed at her face. "Right... the list... Shower first.", she muttered as her stomach grumbled.

Ignoring her need to eat she jumped in the shower, watching herself down with unscented soaps. From there it was time to get dressed, easy enough since she had put her clothing out the night before to save time. A mesh undershirt was quickly covered with a black long sleeved top. Mesh leggings were likewise covered with black pants. She put a black pair of close toed shoes upon her feet and then stood back up. A quick brush of her long white hair was all she needed before throwing the whole mess into a rather hastily put together bun. Hell, she wasn't working on creating a fashion statement. Time wasted was time she couldn't get back.

'Right, breakfast time...', she thought as her stomach let out a roar of a grumble this time. It took her all of twenty minutes to eat the food, eggs, some toast, and a little bit of fruit. She didn't want to waste more time worrying about trying to cook up some bacon or anything else.

A quick stop back to her bedroom after she washed off her dishes to grab her black sweater with the hood and zipper up the front and then she was out the door. Locking it behind herself she pulled her hood up over her head against the chill in the air and got to walking towards the library.

It was a quick walk, in all honestly. About five minutes from her house to the library's front doors. She slipped in quietly, giving a nod of a greeting towards the librarian. Nice old lady, but if she started a conversation now the woman would talk her ear off and waste precious time. She already knew which section she was headed to, having spent hours upon hours in the library her entire life. More so than what was probably considered healthy. Ah well, nerd and all that fun jazz.

She pulled several books off of the shelves, anything to do with acupuncture, senbons in general, and put the whole set of them on an empty table near by. She sat herself down without wasting any time and got to reading. She flipped through multiple pages of the first book before casting it off to the side. It didn't look like it was going to have what she was looking for in it. Everything in that book was to help, not hinder. She was looking to kill, after all. The next book was slightly more helpful, it offered detailed descriptions of the most deadly and effective pressure points the body had to offer, but that wasn't anything she didn't already know. Onto the third book then. This one caused her to pause and read a little bit more. Ah yes, this was the type of information she was looking for. She reread the page several times over again, thankful for a photographic memory, as it made it so much easier given that meant she didn't have to take notes and carry them around with her. When she was finished she checked her fourth book, just to make sure. It had a little bit of extra information in it, but nothing overly useful. 'Ah well, they can't all be winners, and at least I got what I was came for.'

It was quick work to return her books to their proper spots and then she was out the door with a parting wave directed towards the librarian. "Where to train...", she whispered to herself. "Somewhere private, that's for sure.", she added, equally whispered. The river had been unusually busy this time of the year, so that was out. The forest? That could work, if she ventured deep enough. She knew the genin didn't bother going that far into it... scary things lurked in there, though not anything nearly as scary as what was in the Forest of Death, but still. Scary forest is scary. So, without further waiting that was the direction she headed. She walked at first, and then feeling as if she was wasting too much time broke into a run. Hitting the crowded market area on her way there wasn't a problem; she took to the roofs, running along them and jumping from one to another, over and over again. Going from up high to down upon the lower ones. She didn't stop or slow, not even when she reached the edge of the forest.

She ran through the forest like a bat out of hell, her target area far deeper within. Private. Away from everyone else. No one needed to see this. She wasn't ashamed of how she was going to train this, she just simply knew that everyone who didn't practice medicine in some form had a problem with animals or people being tested on, and she wasn't in the mood to deal with the bitching. Hell, if she had to put up with it she just might end up using it on them... It'd be better practice. Amaya grinned, playing with that particular thought as she spent the next five minutes running.

Ah yes, the clearing she was looking for. She had used it in the past, and knew from experience that many didn't bother coming to it. They liked the larger ones, they were more useful for their methods of training and what they were training. Ah well, it meant she would be left alone, hopefully.

She walked around the area of the clearing, going over exactly what she needed to do to complete this jutsu. 'Right, senbon?', she thought to herself as she reached into the pocket of her pant leg. Yup, got all ten of them. So, she had the weapon she needed, that was good. Now she needed something to use it on.

"Well hey there, pretty lady!", came a drawl of a voice over to her left.

'That didn't take long.', she thought, glad to see the man had finally emerged from his rather poor hiding spot. Her reddish gaze took the man in, knowing another to be lurking slightly farther back. She might be a medical nin, but she still was smart enough to be able to identify the location of nearby people, especially those who couldn't hide for shit. So, these two were bandits... or at least that was what the look about them said. That.. and they were drunk, or had been. Given how strong the smell was she wouldn't have been surprised if one of them had tried to swim in the alcohol. 'God, I hate drunks..', she thought.

"Why don't you come over here with my friend and I, we won't hurt you.", came the second voice, as the other bandit stepped forward from his hiding spot to stand next to his buddy.

A slender white eyebrow rose and Amaya outright cackled. "Well, gentlemen... I regret to inform you that I have every intention of causing you bodily harm." An evil smirk formed across her face, gaze narrowing in on the males. 'In fact, you'll both be dead very quickly if this works how I planned, and if not I have other ways of killing you.', she thought to herself. Given she wasn't one for the banter back and forth before a fight she left her words at that, especially given how the two men were laughing.

They were so busy laughing and joking to each other, along with making rude suggestions that they didn't see Amaya take off, disappearing into the forest. This was her home, this was where she grew up, she knew these forests very well from years of training in private in them. They weren't about to stand a chance. They took off following her, chasing after her while making a god aweful racket. Swearing, and making comments on what they planned on doing when they caught her. She allowed herself to get far ahead of them, at least enough that they wouldn't be able to see her next move. Given that they were drunk this wasn't hard. She then doubled back behind them, going a long round about way to allow them to get a little further ahead. Stealth mode time, indeed. They didn't hear her, weren't even listening, given they were far too stupid to keep quiet.

The man who had spoken to her first was falling behind from his buddy, giving her a perfect opportunity. She figured his friend wasn't going to notice the disappearing of the first that quickly, and that was good. She slipped one of the senbon from her pockets and between her fingers. Bending her arm at the elbow all while still running she shot her hand forward, releasing the senbon into the air. It soured, straight and true, and embedded itself into the mans neck, right above his spine. He dropped, instantly. She slowed her running, crouching low to remain hidden with the brush. She stopped at the mans body, pulling the senbon free form his neck; waste not want not and all that jazz. He was bleeding from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth, his entire body utterly paralyzed. The signs of death came on quickly as the brain aneurysm hit next; his eyes glassed over, skin already taking on a grayish pigmentation. Right, one down.

By now his buddy had realized his friend was missing and had stopped, looking around. He had heard the crash of the others body, but had no idea where it had happened. He'd barely seen him drop, and had promptly pissed himself in fear. The smell of urine tainting the already alcohol filled air. He was jumpy, his body turning this way and that at every little sound. Trembling. Looking as if he were about to puke.

'Right, time for some fun.' Thankfully, she'd hung around Ashi long enough to learn about screwing with your enemies mind. She ran, crouched into the trees, straightening once there. From there she began to bob and weave her way between the tree lines, allowing only glimpses of herself to show. The man turned and twisted as he saw her, utterly confused with her tactics as she made it seem like she was no where but everywhere. Finally she moved up behind the man, throwing the senbon once more in the same manner as before. It too went through the air with deadly aim, embedding itself into the back of the mans neck. He went to his knees first, and then to his face with a thud. She walked forward, sitting on her haunches next to him for a moment as she retrieved the senbon once more. She lifted the mans head up by his hair, taking in his dead and glazed eyes and all of the blood.

"Shouldn't judge a book by its cover...", she muttered with a sigh. Replacing her senbon back into its proper pocket she made a mental note to clean them good when she got home just in case she had to use them for more than just murder. She stood herself up, glancing once more at the dead body and then in the distance where she knew the other was located. "I'll leave you two here to rot, it's nothing you don't deserve... I'm done here."

With those words said she took off, running back to the village. There was nothing more she needed to learn, so no point in staying longer in the forest than she had to. Besides, her stomach was already grumbling due to the several hours that had passed. It was definitely time to get some food, maybe a nice big bowl of ramen. Hell, maybe she'd go grab a few of her newly made friends to come join her as her treat. Her mood had definitely been improved by the ease of those kills, and a good mooded Amaya was a happy Amaya, for sure.

Word Count: 2,350 / 1,500