"I can go forty," Ginta said, and gave Kakashi a weak yet insolent grin. It made his burned cheek stretch and crack, popping open a blister, releasing clear fluid in a trickle down the side of his neck. Ginta winced and leaned gingerly back against the remaining dog. Dog was warm. Warmth was good. Blankets would be warm...

Right, blankets. He forced himself to sit upright again, and pawed at a pouch on his right side. The side with the fucked up injury. Dammit, no twisting. It was a bitch and a half getting the little folded foil blanket free without twisting, but it did come free, along with a couple of ration bars and a small flare.

"So..." Ginta unfolded the blanket and considered it for half a moment, before draping it over his prone colleague. "You got one of these I can drag out of your pocket..." A pause for a wheeze or two, and perhaps for effect. "Or are we sharing?"

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I realise my mask is down," said Kakashi, slightly wry, mostly tired, "But there's no need to get all touchy-feely with me." That was mostly a lie, he was fucking freezing and the dog was only keeping his back warm.

He shifted and tried to pull himself up a little, back aching with the awkward slouch he was in. "Think there's one in my left pocket." He regarded the rain, looked at the clouds, anywhere but Ginta, before shutting his eyes and leaning back, "We should share anyway, body warmth. Stay alive. Put the smaller dog over our legs if you can stand it."

He hated the missions that ended with cuddling. It always looked so damn ridiculous on the reports. "Tell anyone... and I'll..." he couldn't think of a nasty enough threat, "Think of something evil... and... pretend I said it." His words were slurring, running together, and gods he was so tired.

He shifted and flinched when something bit into his hip. What--? The coin. Ginta’s heavy gold coin. Kakashi felt the very, very edge of a smirk touch his lips. "'an as soon as 'm feelin' a bit better, 'm gonna laugh an' laugh an' laugh, burn boy. Think karma got your ass."

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"Karma's got nothing to do with it," Ginta rasped. "Can't believe a genius like you'd believe everything he hears from old bald guys in saffron robes."

He didn't wait long before leaning over Kakashi, feeling for the blanket in the promised pocket. "And you think," he said as he rummaged, "that I'd brag about the fact that the only way I was able to get in your pants was by waiting for you to be next to passed out?"

He found the blanket and sat back up with a groan, bending over his knees and coughing again. Time was slipping and the edges of his vision started to dim a little before he got his breath again, surprised to feel the dog that had been at his side pushing its nose against his hand.

"Um..." Ow. Hurt. He sighed. Sleep would be good. Kakashi was halfway there. If he could figure out how to lie down and still get enough air. "I should build a fire." It sounded right. Sooooo much work though. Ginta didn't move one way or the other, just sat hunched and braced, with Kakashi on one side and a dog on the other, thermal blanket draped over his knees.

The dog pushed again. Cold nose against his cold fingers. Cold. Sleep would be good. But one of them should stand watch, and it obviously wasn't going to be Kakashi. "You really sure you're not dying or anything?"

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Kakashi's eye cracked open, he blinked and it widened. Awake, he needed to be awake. The dog leaning against Ginta whimpered and made a soft whining noise, Kakashi frowned, listening. “I like the saffron.” He mumbled, eye on the dog, “You have to appreciate a group of people who can wear that as a uniform and still be taken seriously.”

Eye on Ginta. "I'm okay," Mostly. "Just spent. Be even better when we get home and I can sleep for a week." He leaned an elbow on the mastiff and shoved himself forward as best he could, straightening up. "You need to lie the fuck down," he said shortly. "Get warm, the dogs'll guard. Don't bother with a fire, everything's too wet." They could work around that technically, if they had to, but it was extra chakra neither of them had to spare.

"You're worrying Hoshika," he added, naming the the dog for Ginta's benefit. Most of the pack communicated without names, though they did have them. Pakkun was something of an exception. You're worrying me, he didn't add.

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"Such a tender bedmate you promise to be, too," Ginta said. He shifted his weight onto his left hip, turned to face Kakashi, and slowly eased himself down until he was resting with his head against the mastiff's shoulder. It was actually a little easier to breathe somehow, lying on his side like that. The injured ribs moved less. Or maybe the morphine was kicking in.

"You lie down, too. I'm gonna... gonna just rest a minute. Then I'll take watch." Well, that was his intention, anyway. Kakashi's skepticism was palpable. "I'm okay. Just got a little roughed up." The thrumming chakra from the soldier pills was a great confidence booster.

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“Promises are cheap,” quoted Kakashi, bracing himself to shift. “A shinobi values actions over words.” He steeled himself and pushed away from the dog, it was more of a graceless drop then a calculated move. He couldn't manage to bring his hands up quick enough to catch himself, so he landed shoulder first instead. Ow.

At least it was better then his face.

"Provided you watch with your eyes closed, and snoring, we're in complete agreement," He pushed himself up on arms that shook and tried to bring his legs up. That failed completely. "Except s-scratch the snoring because I will kill you."

The mastiff helped him out, assisted by Hoshika. Between the two of them they nudged him until he could drop alongside Ginta fairly neatly, without touching the ninja's injured ribs. Kakashi mumbled something. Hoshika, well trained in odd commands, took the edge of the blanket gently in her teeth and dragged it over them as best she could. Then she shoved herself underneath it and curled up between their legs, pressed to both.

Kakashi regarded Ginta from a much closer distance and frowned unhappily. Blue skin, pain lines, white lips. None of it good. "When we get back," he muttered, closing his eyes, "You're learning how to dodge, jackass."

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"You really think you could have dodged that, genius?" Ginta asked. He blinked past the blur and studied Kakashi's face--he had to be one of only a handful of people afforded this opportunity. The rumors seemed mostly unfounded. Kakashi had a somewhat narrow, almost delicate looking jaw, and unsurprisingly, he was very pale. There was actually a tan line. It made Ginta smile.

"Rumors lie," he said, blue eyes raking over the shimmer that was a hint of pale, silvery stubble, the small, hooked scar at one corner of Kakashi's lip, the larger scar that descended from the eye hidden under his hitai-ate to stop almost even with the end of Kakashi's nose.

He would have said more, but talking was an effort. Still, the faint flush he thought he detected in Kakashi's cheeks in response to the scrutiny was a victory. Got both of them thinking about something other than the twenty hour wait ahead of them.

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Honestly the 'sorry' frightened Kakashi more then the possibly-dying thing. He blinked, squeezed Ginta's shoulder again, and let his hand drop. Closed his eyes. "You do that again I'm gonna kick your ass so hard. Jus' soon as I can stand..."

About a week at this rate.

Hoshika nudged her nose under his arm, he managed to lift it up just a fraction. She settled between them, a warm, wet--slightly smelly--dog weight. Kakashi tangled his fingers in her fur and tucked his head down. She licked his jaw with a lazy tongue flick. He sighed very quietly and inhaled the familiar scent of dog. One at his back and one at his front and--Kakashi opened his eye--Ginta on the other side looking crappy.

The copy-nin glanced down at the dog under his arm, and growled very softly. She whined back, ears flattening momentarily, then shifted and shoved herself closer to Ginta, bestowing a similar lazy lick along his cheek.

Kakashi closed his eye again, blew out a breath. "So what're these rumours?" he enquired mildly, with only the slight air of a man ready to take down names and addresses for later retribution. He knew most of them already, but it was always a good idea to know the gossip about yourself, and conversation would keep him awake.

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"Did your dog just lick me?" Ginta asked, eyebrow raised. That was first. Usually summoned animals were less than affectionate with anyone but their summoners. Ginta rolled laboriously to his side, facing Kakashi again, and gave him a weary smile. "Either I really rate... or I'm really dying."

Which he obviously wasn't. Therefore he must rate. Excellent.

"And I'm gonna be taking missions again... while you're still on your ass... recovering." Probably. Although it was perhaps telling that Ginta couldn't get a whole sentence out in one breath. But that would patch up. Ribs got broken. It was part of being a ninja.

"Anyway. Rumors. Worst one is you... got your mouth slit open. Cheeks. You know? Or that you have really... crappy teeth."

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Kakashi bared his teeth without opening his eyes, and clacked them together. They were perfectly normal teeth, if a little pointed around the canines. He reached out blindly, hand shaking more then he would've liked, and found Hoshika's long fur again, silky against his fingers. He dropped his hand and let it rest on her side, seeking warmth.

"She's overly friendly," he mumbled. He'd asked her to get close, he hadn't expected her to get... quite so close. "Be glad it wasn't Pakkun." He wasn't quite sure what to say to the ranked comment.

The mastiff at his back shifted and heaved a gusty sigh. Kakashi could hear the thunder of a loyal heartbeat in his ear. "Yeah, you'll be running missions," he said blandly, "While I get to sleep for a week in a nice warm bed. Poor me."

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"You know the other rumor is you always come back from missions in crappy shape." Ginta shivered and shifted under the blanket. It was hard to get comfortable on the cold ground, even with a warm dog pressed up against him. The overhanging rock was keeping most of the rain off of them, but the wind was picking up a little, blowing over Ginta's back, rustling the thermal blankets and cutting through his wet clothes like a knife.

Best not to think about being cold. A fire would be awfully nice. But they were a little too close to the scene of the mayhem they'd left behind to be sure they weren't being looked for. Talking to Kakashi was a good plan, though. Although perhaps he should let him sleep. Ginta was pretty sure sleep was what Kakashi needed. What he himself needed, he decided, was oxygen, a medic, more morphine, and a really good drink. And a hot nurse. Yes. Maybe that broad-shouldered guy who worked the fourth floor.

"Don't they bitch at you for spending a week in hospital... for every three-day mission you take?"

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Kakashi shifted very slightly, ducking his chin, and his hair--still wet from the rain--flopped over his face, covering both eyes and a decent slice of the rest. It wasn't his mask, but it was something. "You shouldn't believe everything you hear," he said with a slight flicker-grin, it faded into nothing as he shivered. It was cold in the damn cave-thing--not even a cave, hardly a shelter--and he was chakra wiped, that always made you cold. Colder. Coldest. He chuckled raspily and then killed it. Wasn't funny.

The dog at his back shifted and a tongue like a side of beef licked the back of Kakashi's neck. He grimaced and made a faint growling sound, low and steady until it crackled into a cough. Dammit, if he was getting sick on top of everything else he was going to find some small innocent fuzzy creature and kick it until it died.

Not a helpful thought. He pushed it aside and focused on something else as the dog settled back. Twenty hours. It'd been one.

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Kakashi coughed. Shit. "You're not supposed to cough. S'my job," Ginta said. And did, not for effect, but because when your own lungs are a mess and you hear someone else cough, it's almost impossible not to.

Ow.

He wondered if it would be a good idea to take another one of those little yellow pills. Or if it would be the last stupid decision he'd ever make. He was pretty sure he knew what Kakashi'd say.

He asked anyway.

"Hurts. When'd we take those pills?" He reached for Kakashi's shoulder. "Also, we'd be warmer if the dogs were on the outside and we were in the middle." He gave Kakashi as stern a look as he could manage with a swollen, blistered face and somewhat milky pupils. "Don't get fucking sick on me here, genius. I can't fix you if you get pneumonia."

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"Bullshit." Ginta frowned at Kakashi's coughing. That was sounding bad fast. He reached up a hand to feel Kakashi's face, checking for fever. "Hold still, Genius. I'm seeing how worried I should be." The answer, Ginta was dismayed to find, was probably a fair amount. Not that he was really sure what he could do about it. Maybe some aspirin?

"Okay, I'm worried," he said, dropping his hand. "And you should drink some water." Yes. Water was good for a fever. Water was always good. And it was among the few useful remedies they had at hand.

"Now explain to me how I'm supposed to believe you're a virgin still. And sex you were required to have for a mission totally doesn't count. But you had to have had a crush on someone... Shit I was totally crushed out on your sensei when I was thirteen."

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Kakashi wondered just how likely it was he'd be able to get up and dig out a canteen... maybe he could just suck on his hair or something, it was still wet. "I'll be fine," he said, "Only eighteen-ish more hours to go. Cough's not going to kill me before then." A fever would leave him fairly wrecked, though. He pushed that thought away. Nothing he could really do about it but get through it.

"I'm not a virgin," he said steadily, ignoring the feeling that was beginning to wrap around his chest. It wasn't anything to do with being sick. His jaw clenched a little, making his words come out even more clipped then his usual drawl. "And your question was about first loves, which I haven't had."

His visible eye, slightly glazed with fever, went distant, a little pained. "But sure, crushes, everyone had a crush on Minato-sensei, right?" He smiled, edged and brittle. Visible. Then he coughed. "He was always kind of proud of that, bastard."

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Ginta wasn't sure whether Kakashi's pained little grimace was from actual physical pain or from his question. It was a safe bet it was the question, though. That was certainly another of the rumors--that Minato-sama had had more than just a mentoring relationship with his star pupil. Others included talk that Kakashi's former teammate Uchiha Obito had been his lover. Heck, some people said it was a merry foursome, with sweet thing Rin in the middle.

Fortunately Ginta had sense enough not to bring that up.

Anyway, there was no denying that Minato-sama had been one hell of a crush-worthy man. And a bit vain.

"How was it being his student, anyway?" Ginta asked. Coughed. Winced. "Also, let's make a deal, no more coughing."

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"Deal," said Kakashi, and coughed. He pulled a face and shifted, trying to be comfortable on cold ground. He didn't really want to talk about this, any of this, but he needed to stay awake and sharp edged questions would do that better then trivialities. Had to be on his toes, step quick, stay out of the pitfalls.

"It was..." he swallowed painfully around the barb-wire feeling in his throat and tried to think. "It was the best thing that ever happened to me," he said finally with a slight smile. "He used to drive me insane. Weird training, weird missions, all these crazy little sayings that made no sense."

Father figure and teacher, brother and friend and the slightly crazy uncle you avoided at parties, all wrapped into one. And first crush, which was a different thing entirely. Kakashi thought about the good for a moment, pushing back memories of fox and fire and triumph around a hole that bled through his narrow chest.

"Worst sense of humour ever," he said, chuckled weakly and coughed again. And again. His eye widened and he pushed back a little, tilting his head up, coughed again and winced as something wrenched inside. He couldn’t breathe. Coughed again. Couldn't stop.

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Oooooooh fuck. Motherfucking fuck. This is bad. Ginta grabbed at the dog behind him and hauled himself upright. Then he gabbed Kakashi and shoved him more upright, too. "Kakashi! Breathe!" Oh shit. Shit shit shit. OK, Kakashi was chakra depleted, right? And that was half his problem? Well Ginta was just injured, he had chakra. Maybe not a lot to spare, but some. But the healing jutsu he knew were for things like numbing pain long enough to set a broken bone or stitch shut a wound. He didn't know the really good ones.

Chakra might help though. Even just raw chakra. Or maybe one of those anti-inflammation things? Yeah, that might help. He was already forming seals, pressing palms faintly glowing yellowish-green against Kakashi's chest before he'd half finished the thought.

Even through the heat of the jutsu, Ginta could feel Kakashi's body radiating like a fire. Shit. Kakashi was burning up, and they were getting sealed in by snow and ice, hours and hours from help... They'd have to move. Maybe there was a barn or something they could hide in.

"You breathing? Breathe, genius." Ginta didn't take his hands off Kakashi even when his jutsu faltered. Even when he ran out of air and started coughing himself. Shit, if neither one of them could breathe, they were definitely going to die. That would suck so bad.

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Kakashi was going to kill him dead. All that effort putting chakra into the man-- he didn't want it back! His body, however, had other ideas and greedily drank the new energy in, sinking it into threadbare pathways, twining around muscle and bone and stricken organs. He coughed and coughed, endless and wrenching and ripping up his lungs from the inside. Drowning in red that trickled from the corners of his mouth. Coughed until he thought he was just going to die -- flat on his back on a rock in a cave with a guy he barely knew

His vision edged black and tunnelled, Kakashi whined, arching up, muscles clenching. Hoshika whined back, worried brown eyes fixed on his face, it was almost the same sound. Chakra flared into him, bright yellow. He gasped, dragging in a choking breath. Then another. His lungs felt crushed, full of broken glass and bone dust, but he could breathe.

In. Out. Again. Slower. In. Out. Another breath. Slow. His chest heaved, head thrown back and mouth open, but he breathed. In. Out. Again. Slower. He turned his head and spat a mouthful of blood-streaked phlegm. Rusty brown in yellow, thick enough to choke on.

"You dumb shit," he growled, when he could form words. The growl was about an octave lower then his usual pitch, grating and harsh. He reached up and caught Ginta's wrists, pulling them away from his chest and breaking the jutsu. Sat up as best he could and grabbed Ginta by the shoulders, pulling him close. "C'mon, jackass, your turn. Deep breath." Kakashi wobbled, his vision spun black for a moment, he pressed his too-hot forehead to Ginta's and closed his eyes, holding tight. "C'mon, breathe."

In. Out. Again. Slower. C'mon. Please. In. Out.

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"I listened," Kakashi's head lolled forward, that was just not on. He forced himself to sit up as much as possible, leaning against the mastiff and Ginta. "My lungs didn't. I'll punish them later." He hacked and spat, wincing. "You couldn't have mentioned the village, say, an hour ago?" He was being a brat and he knew it. Heading for a village was desperate, especially in their condition. You never knew what kind of people you'd run into, what sort of fighters. And that went double for villages in countries Konoha wasn't exactly currently peaceful with.

Kakashi leaned back and looked at the dogs, Hoshika's alert waiting expression, and the mastiff's patient brown eyes. He cleared his throat and growled. Two sets of ears flicked up and then flattened back. Hoshika whined. Kakashi growled again, lower and louder, it cut off when his breath caught. More coughing. More spitting. Yellow-grey, flecks of blood. He caught his breath back and glared at both dogs until they looked away.

"They'll listen to you," his voice was wearing away, huskier then a rasp now. "Big fella's Baiji. You know Hoshika already." Kakashi leaned back and shut his eyes, resting for a moment. "Won't fight you, just... give me a minute." Breathing would be nice. Home would be better.

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God damn, Kakashi looked bad. Worse every second. At least the hail had let up, turning into a steady snowfall instead. "So now we know why they called it Rain Country," Ginta said, bracing himself on Hoshika's steady shoulder before getting shakily to his feet. "The Land of Shitty Weather looked too bad on the tourism brochures."

Now was the time to keep Kakashi's mind off how crappy he felt, Ginta decided. And time to pull a magic apple out of his ass. That's what his sensei would have said. When you've run out of options, that's when you need to pull a magic apple out of your ass. "Hope you like apples," Ginta said somewhat cryptically, smiling at the memory as he leaned over Kakashi, steadied himself, then pulled the other shinobi up to drape him somewhat gracelessly across Baiji's shoulders.

"Do you have to be so damn tall?" He leaned against the dog, his own head against Kakashi's side. He could hear the ocean burbling in Kakashi's laboring lungs. Could feel something like an ocean in his own chest. The lifting had not helped with the whole ribs hurting thing. And everything still looked foggy.

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Kakashi inhaled dog fur for a moment before he turned his head to look at Ginta. He couldn't see anything but the ninja's shoulder from this angle. Ginta didn't sound completely together anymore, neither of them did really, but now he was talking about apples. "You lose your mind on me now," he muttered, "I'm going to hurt you so much, you have no idea."

Baiji shifted just a little beneath him. Kakashi shoved his hands under the wide leather straps of the dog's harness and twisted them to lock himself in place. The effort made his head spin. That was just pathetic. "C'mon, jackass, get your hide up here." Cough. Spit. Repeat. His mouth felt full of clotted blood, bitter phlegm. A mint would be nice.

Snow outside. Kakashi hunched his shoulders a little and pressed his face into warm, wet fur. This was going to be cold.

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"You keep threatening that, like I ought to be scared." Ginta didn't move for a moment. He picked up one of the blankets and draped it over Kakashi's shoulder, wrapped the other around himself, then slowly, carefully, put his hands on Baiji's back behind Kakashi, and tried to lever himself up.

The strain it put on his broken ribs was outstandingly painful. He let go almost at once, yelping like a kicked dog and falling to his knees. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe through it. Tiny, gasping, panting breaths. Half choked little sounds. Gagging and trying to hold it back when the pain added nausea to the mix.

Okay. Okay, he could do this. Just stop being a wimp and get up and they could go somewhere warm. He dragged himself up again, this time with help from Hoshika, and channeled chakra to his hands. He'd get up on this dog if he had to climb it like a fucking tree.

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"Genius ninja," Kakashi reminded him, feeling useless, "Very scary." He waited for Ginta to get up and get himself settled, wishing he could lend a hand. Hell, wishing he could move and that he had enough chakra to get them both the hell home.

Maybe just that he could breathe properly. That would be nice. Fucking Rain country and their fucking weather that made you fucking sick.

Ginta sounded wretched. Kakashi cursed himself for not blocking that blow. He should have just taken the damn mission solo. More fuck.

He was pulled out of his wallowing by the smaller ninja finally making it onto the dog. Ginta straddled Baiji just behind Kakashi and slid his arms under the copy-nin, pulling him close. Kakashi blinked, opened his mouth to say something when the mastiff grumbled and got to his feet with a lurch that jostled them both. Ow, ow, ow. Kakashi hacked again, and lifted his head to spit--the only good reason to have his mask down--before settling back with a shudder.

Then there was snow. It was blizzard quality.

"I think--I may--hate this--country," Kakashi managed.

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"This place sucks," Ginta agreed. He tugged the silvery blanket up higher over Kakashi's shoulders and head, did the same for himself. There wasn't much else to say, really. Sometimes missions went to hell. This one hadn't seemed like it was going to be the type to do it, but you could never tell, really. He just held tight to Kakashi, shuddering when the other man coughed, harsh and ragged; coughing himself, high pitched and choked with pain. It was a cold, miserable trek, and all Ginta could do was hope Kakashi was hanging together. Would hold together long enough that he could get them someplace warm.

Of course riding into town on a giant dog was a sure way to attract attention that they didn't really want. As they neared the village Ginta swallowed hard, then whispered to Kakashi, "I'm casting a genjutsu now on both of us. Make your dog look like a mule. Make us look like refugees." There were still plenty of refugees from the various wars that plagued this country.

He could feel his chakra reserves getting into that critical state. And if he felt like shit running a little low, how bad did Kakashi feel? Was that fucking sharingan really worth it? Why didn't they just send the Uchiha kid on this mission? Fuckers. Maybe it was a suicide mission after all.

The first big building they saw was a temple. Ginta cheered. A temple would take in a couple of refugees, right? But as they drew closer he saw the charred ruins of a temple. It was empty. Burned. Even with his vision still hazy, he could tell it was lifeless.

By the time they were halfway into town, Ginta was pretty sure the gods really did have it in for them. It seemed utterly deserted. Then he saw a girl. She was walking alone, carrying a pail. And she was, Ginta decided, their best chance. "Follow her," he said, and slid off the dog. Now for the acting job of his life.

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