There was no sign of Ryouma at the stream. Or at the broad swathe of scrubby fields just before the first mountain rise, where he might have camped. The Bluffs trail cut a steep downwards path, knifing into a valley between two sheer slopes. The run was easier, but the wind was colder, funneled right into their faces.

They translocated twice more, leap-frogging the narrow mountain range and reaching a bleached-bone forest on the other side. The moon was high and clear, illuminating the trail for them.

They ran.

Ginta kept up well, bracing his leg with chakra. He'd be fine for the first night, Kakashi knew, when his strength was fresh and his muscles stayed warm. It'd be later, when they stopped to rest and his leg stiffened up -- that's when they'd run into problems.

They'd deal with it later.

Kakashi pushed them hard: not as fast as he wanted, but as fast as Ginta could tolerate. There was no point going flat-out now, anyway, not with the amount of distance they had left to cover. They'd kill themselves long before they found Ryouma.

The second mountain range brought ground-snow, ice, a lowering sky, and a pack of tired dogs.

"You need to eat, you idiots," Pakkun panted at them, as Ginta slumped down on a rocky outcrop, rubbing his ankle, and Kakashi stood with his head tilted back, dragging in lungfuls of air.

Wearily, Ginta produced a ration bar and waved it ironically. Kakashi crushed a soldier pill between his teeth.

"Fantastic," Pakkun groaned. On either side of him, both wolfhounds were sprawled on their stomachs, long tongues lolling out. Their eyes were closed. Shouma was still on his feet, ears slicked back, tail hanging down, the entire length of his throat and chest flecked with foam.

Kakashi unsummoned him and the two wolfhounds, but kept Pakkun for his nose.

"I'm not running anymore," the little pug managed, between heavy breaths. "You can go hang."

Kneeling stiffly, Kakashi ran a hand over Pakkun's blood-hot ears, ruffling the short fur. "Getting old?" he grated roughly; his throat felt like it was filled with glass.

"Oh, screw you. My legs are six inches long."

"He's right," Ginta said, sounding like Pakkun looked. "The moon's almost gone, it's clouding up, and we need to rest and refuel." He found his feet again, hissing as his right leg took his weight, and limped over.

Kakashi closed his eyes. When he opened them, Ginta was holding the ration bar in front of his face.

"We're barely run a full day," Kakashi protested, but he knew it was a losing fight.

"I'm tired," Pakkun said. "Glitter-boy smells like death, you probably look like death, and it's going to rain in an hour."

"Sleet," Ginta muttered. "It's too cold for rain."

Pakkun crossed his paws over his blunt nose. "Kill me now."

Kakashi sighed, scooped Pakkun off the chilly ground with one hand -- the pug moaned, but didn't struggle -- and handed him to Ginta, relieving the other ninja of his ration bar in the same movement. "Put him on your ankle," Kakashi suggested. "He can be a heat-pack, seeing as he's not doing anything else useful."

"Hey," Pakkun growled.

"I'll put up a tent," Kakashi finished, ignoring him and staggering back to his feet.