| Three is a Crowd. Four is a Fuck Up. [Closed to Tsume, Raidou, Genma] | [Apr. 28th, 2008|07:55 pm] |
Follows Three is a Crowd. Four is a Pain in the Tail.
Morning dawned storm-free. Tsume watched it out of half-lidded eyes, having woken a few hours prior. Her internal mission-alarm was over-developed.
Genma had been asleep still, thin nose lit by firelight, the yellow glow ghosting over his cheekbones and strands of hair. Raidou had been keeping watch, with Kuromaru only half-way dozing beside her.
Tsume had spelled Raidou and gotten dressed, moving quietly in the pre-dawn, checking her supplies--fifteen soldier pills, down by three, ten blood pills, down by one, and clothing that was torn past usefulness--before dressing in her spare uniform, packing up her weapons and kit, and slipping out of the cave door to breathe fresh air and scan the surrounding area.
It was there that Kuromaru gruffly told her he'd offered to take the next watch, and the human had said no. Tsume ruffled the thick fur behind his ears comfortingly, bending her arm to reach the head he nudged into her ribcage. "S'all right. He doesn't have to trust you," she murmured into the lightening sky. "He makes me sneeze, anyway."
Kuromaru eyed her like she'd lost her mind, which made little sense. He knew what she meant; it was a common enough Inuzuka term for someone who tickled your senses unpleasantly. Before she had time to ask him what the look was for, though, he was staring out at the nearby forest. "Prey," he growled softly.
Tsume flashed her teeth. "You want it?" One of them had to stay.
He considered, then plopped his rump on the ground and smiled up at her.
Tsume gave him a quick grin and darted off into the trees, using the hunt to loosen cold-stiffened muscles gone sore from her battle with the elements the night before. The morning was still frigid, burning her lungs as she breathed deeply, bringing scents clear and clean from far away.
It was half an hour before she returned, the start of her chakra-trail checked to be sure it had held overnight--she was a better hunter than that, but paranoia made her cautious--and a couple of winter-thin fowl grasped in one hand.
Kuromaru lie in front of the entrance, panting in the sun despite the fact that he was sprawled in an ice patch. Tsume paused outside to strip the birds of breast meat, paring off the biggest chunks before tossing the rest to her familiar. The pieces she'd taken she sliced thin so they'd cook fast and carried them inside, tossing them onto the rocks by the fire. The meat was no more than a supplement to ration bars, but anything was better than living on the pre-packaged crap they were given for field missions.
Tsume had fifteen cousins, most of them male. She figured the smell of roasting bird would wake these two up better than anything besides an exploding tag. |
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