"Glfgh?" said Asuma, lifting his head off the squashed pillow. His eyes uncrossed and focused on the stuffed toy someone had left in front of his nose. Behind that was a much bigger stuffed toy, tall and black and furry and...

Grinning?

He blinked once, slow, and waited for his brain to catch up. Then he looked at the smaller stuffed toy again. It had a certain mangled quality you didn't normally get in the cute-and-fuzzy range of the toystore, like someone had been chewing on it.

And it was oozing.

"Gah," Asuma yelped, and backhanded the dead squirrel off his bed. It left a red smear on his sheets, and made a sad squelching sound when it hit the wall and slid down. Asuma shoved himself upright and stared at Kuromaru, who had danced back a step and was busy looking offended. "Dude," he managed. "What the hell?"