Unless her finely honed sense of intuition had failed her completely, something was off. Really off. Tsume was looking increasingly jittery, either from the soldier pills or a sense of mounting panic or a combination of the two. Katsuko took another wary step forward, slipping the unused soldier pill back into her pocket.

"I could help you," she offered hesitantly, already running through a particular set of seals. Reaching deep into her center for errant chakra, she gently pushed it into the pathways in her limbs. The exercises had loosened and widened her pathways, so no pain accompanied the energy that flooded her.

Tsume started to shake her head, thanks but no thanks already shaping in her mouth. Then Kuromaru sat up.

"That'd be nice. I could turn human, and you could just carry me."

Tsume stared at him. "First off, we're not feeding your chakra if there's something wrong with it. And second off, you can walk."

He glared mightily. "I am very tired. I've been doing chakra work, and my head tickles, and I am still healing. Puppy said she would help." He turned and looked at Katsuko. "Right?"

"Not unless she has the Wolf's chakra levels," Tsume muttered, glowering.

Puppy? What puppy? Katsuko frowned in confusion before she realized that Kuromaru was talking about her. She wrinkled her nose and directed a scowl at Kuromaru. "Oi," She complained, "Should you really call me "Puppy" if I'm lugging your two-hundred pound butt over to the hospital?" Didn't matter if he turned human to make himself lighter. He was still a two-hundred pound dog. It was principle of the matter, damn it. (And why the hell could Kuromaru turn himself human anyways? Was this another Inuzuka Thing or did Tsume come up with that jutsu herself?)

"Anyways," Katsuko continued, "I'm all right now. Or at least until we reach the hospital." She put her hands on her hips and peered archly down at Kuromaru. "If you'd do me the favor of changing human, senpai, there's a lower chance that I'll drop you. Senpai." Her smile was wide and innocent.

Tsume cut in before either of them could speak--or keep speaking. "He can't turn human without using chakra for the jutsu. He can't use chakra if his is rotting." She glared at Kuromaru.


He turned away and pretended not to notice.

"Walking, on the other hand, takes no chakra." Even if she was feeling unsteady on her own feet, and Kuromaru was more recently out of the hospital. She frowned at his sunken flanks and tried not to notice his lackluster coat. Eggs, that's what he needed. Lots and lots of eggs.

"It's nice of you to offer," Tsume said, looking finally at Katsuko. "But he's not readily carriable."

"I could get on her back."

Tsume turned an appalled gaze on her familiar.

His ear flicked back and he looked away again. "You never carry me anymore."

"You're twice my size!"

"I don't get to sleep on your lap, either," he continued as if he hadn't heard.

Tsume pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to remember he was tired and whiny.

Awww. Wasn't that cute. Katsuko chuckled at Kuromaru's complaint(s) and looked over at Tsume. "Really, it isn't a problem. I'm all energetic and ready to carry things again. See?" She grinned widely (a little bit too widely) and bounced on the balls of her feet to demonstrate her readiness-to-carry. Wasn't like she had anything to do, and getting Kuromaru to the hospital seemed to be becoming more of a pressing issue as the seconds passed.

Her revitalized chakra hummed in her veins, making her feel slightly giddy. "I fiddled with my chakra system, see? So now I can boost my chakra into my muscles when I carry Kuromaru, and it won't be any trouble at all! Unless we don't start moving now. Because doing the chakra makes me kind of. Um. Bouncy." Hyper high giddy excited twitchy spastic. "So I'm good to go. It's up to you guys what to do now."

Tsume's eyebrows rose nearly to her hairline.

"In the interest of kindness, I should be carried," Kuromaru intoned.

"Kindness to you or her?" Tsume didn't look away from the jittering kunoichi.

"Her. Obviously."

"Obviously." She stepped away from Kuromaru, gesturing to him, waiting to see if this was even going to be possible. Maybe if Katsuko cradle-held him... he was too big for most men to get their arms around like people normally carried dogs, supporting their hind end. On the other hand, if Katsuko had so much excess chakra, maybe she really could stick him to her back.

Kuromaru stood and watched Katsuko with one steady gold eye.

"Right! Piggybacking Kuromaru to the hospital it is!" Katsuko grinned toothily and slapped her hands together again, directing her chakra into the muscles of her back and shoulders. Her pathways buzzed and tingled as chakra swirled; not an unpleasant feeling. Siphoning chakra into as large an area as her back and shoulder muscles didn't cause as much pain as, say, siphoning it to the soles of her feet. It took less energy and concentration to direct her chakra flow into larger areas.

Rolling her shoulders, Katsuko turned and knelt on one knee. She looked over her shoulder at Tsume and Kuromaru, who were watching her with bemused expressions on their faces. "Well? Hop on. Faster we get you to the hospital the better."

Tsume barked a laugh. The woman had obviously lost her mind. She watched as Kuromaru walked over, took a good look at everything, and then carefully stepped his forepaws up her spine until his giant feet slipped over her shoulders. His chest thudded between her shoulder blades and against the back of her head.

Standing on his hind legs, Kuromaru was taller than most men. Even most shinobi, who didn't run to small. The kunoichi was dwarfed as he bent over her, and his back feet weren't even off the ground. Kuromaru's jaw dropped, and he panted hot air, the corners of his mouth curling up. "If you hold your hands back, I can step on them," he suggested happily.

Tsume had the distinct impression that now, whether or not he could physically walk, he was never going to. He looked much too cheerful.

"Hey," Katsuko complained at Tsume's laugh, "That's no way to treat the person who's saving you from carrying Kuromaru." She stuck her hands behind her back, around waist level, and channeled chakra into them, too. "'Kay, Kuromaru. Go ahead."

"You assume I'd be carrying him," Tsume said dryly, watching as Kuromaru lifted one leg and paddled until he found a palm. He stepped up onto it, and rose another twelve inches, nearly spilling over Katsuko's shoulder--and suddenly bent head. Front paws planted on her not-completely-flat-chest, stopping himself from sliding right over. His tail wagged as he shifted to keep from breaking her neck, and he paddled the other leg until he found her other hand.

Tsume watched, her face twisted up, waiting for Katsuko to overbalance or collapse--or both--at any minute.

"Woah there." Katsuko steadied herself as Kuromaru shifted, his front end nearly spilling over her shoulder and his clawed paws coming to rest on--"Watch it buddy." She warned. "I don't want to have to explain to the medics how I got claw marks there."

Without waiting for a reply from Kuromaru--because if she let herself get caught in an argument they'd be stuck here all day--she channeled another burst of her errant chakra all throughout her pathways and slowly rose to her feet, searching for her center of balance. Kuromaru wasn't light--not even close--but with her (completely screwed up) extra chakra, she was able to channel enough that his weight was uncomfortable instead of bone-breakingly painful. Katsuko took a couple steps forward, shifting to see if Kuromaru would slide. When nothing happened, she turned around fully and smiled at Tsume. "Ready to go?"

Tsume looked at the woman with the canine hat, looked at Kuromaru's happily panting face--even if his eye had gotten quite a bit bigger--and laughed. Katsuko, tall and slender, looked like she should snap in half. Kuromaru, seeming even bulkier now that he was sprawled over her back and shoulders, standing in her hands so he towered above her, looked pleased with life.

"I'll clear the way," she said at last, and started toward the exit to the training fields, picking the widest path she could find between trees.

"You know," Tsume heard Kuromaru say behind her, "when I was a pup I got to ride on Tsume's head." She looked back to see him lower his jaw and rest it on the top of Katsuko's skull. His tail drifted side to side behind them. His only ear was slowly flopping, a radar to his mood now that the excitement of being carried somewhere had worn off. He was tired, weary, and burned out.

Tsume tripped on a root and nearly planted face first into leaf mold. Maybe he wasn't the only one. She blinked and paid closer attention to where she was putting her feet.

"If you climbed on my head now I think my neck would snap," Katsuko replied seriously, "So let's not try that. Unless you're up against enemy ninja. Then you can sit on their heads all you want."

Tsume was doing a good job of clearing the way--there were no sharp turns or hidden roots that she had to worry about. Her head vibrated whenever Kuromaru talked, a rattle that shook her brain inside her skull. It was pleasant, in a weird way. Katsuko had just shifted into a smooth jog to catch up with Tsume when she saw the Inuzuka woman trip and catch herself jerkily. Oh no. Extra chakra or not, there simply wasn't enough of Katsuko to carry Tsume and Kuromaru.

"You can slow down, you know." Katsuko called, mock-peeved. "Humor me. Seeing as how I'm the one carrying this meat-bag to the hospital." If Tsume thought she had to look tough and keep on going because she was top-dog or whatever, fine. But damned if Katsuko was going to let both Inuzuka fall over from exhaustion.

She dropped to a walk, glancing over her shoulder--and forward again quickly, before she started laughing at the sight they made. "Let me know if you need to put him down," Tsume said, grateful to cut her speed, even if she was worried about Kuromaru's headache.

And right on cue, he rumbled, "My head hurts more."

She didn't break back into a jog, but she certainly walked faster. "Don't use chakra."

"I'm not," he whined.

Her brain. It was vibrating. Katsuko blinked rapidly as Kuromaru's whine rumbled in his throat, where it was pressed against the back of her neck, and reverberated in her skull. "We know you're not," She said soothingly, "Just...don't talk anymore, okay? You're making my head buzz."

Luckily, the training field that she and Tsume had sparred in--Katsuko's old genin team's training field, to be precise--was only a couple of blocks from the hospital. Sensei had chosen the old field for a reason, after all. They reached the hospital after ten minutes of rapid, silent walking through a series of almost-empty streets. The people at the main desk didn't even blink as she strode in with a giant wolf on her back.

"This is where I leave you guys." Katsuko said finally, standing in the main lobby of the hospital. "Good luck. Sorry about the spar." She knelt down to let Kuromaru get off of her shoulders.

Kuromaru practically melted off her shoulders, landing gracelessly on the tile floor. "The spar was fun," he said, words at odd with his tone. His ear remained flat against his head, testament to pain. "We should do it again. Just... maybe later."

"Definitely later," Tsume said dryly. "Someone call Waki!" she demanded, then turned to the kunoichi. "Thanks, Katsuko. I, uh..." She glanced around, looking anywhere but at the other woman. "Thanks," she finished at last.

"No problem." Katsuko stood and backed away, grimacing as her chakra snapped back into place with enough force to make her teeth rattle. A group of medics approached, carrying a heavily reinforced stretcher that looked like it could handle an Akimichi--or a Kuromaru.

Tsume looked a little distracted, but that was understandable. Katsuko cast a worried glance at Kuromaru, who was lying on the floor like he wanted to melt into it. "You guys take care. Hopefully I'll see you soon."

There were four medics looking from Kuromaru--who seemed to have no inclination to rise--to the stretcher--tall--and back again. They didn't look pleased.

"All right, lower it and then on three," one of them finally muttered, finding the lever that dropped the cot.

Tsume dragged her attention away from her familiar for a bare moment, pushing aside concerns about rotting chakra to flick a glance at the young woman edging away. A woman who'd smelled like pain every time she'd yanked her chakra into something usable, and had shown Tsume how to work with battered pathways despite hurting.

"We've got the ward's most evil doctor," Tsume said to her with a smile, hoping it looked confident. "He's gotta be good."

"All right." One of the nurses brushed his hands off, Kuromaru heaved onto the cot. They grabbed corners and lifted it high again. "Let's go."

Tsume turned, heading down the hall. "See you later, Katsuko." Crotchbite, they lived on the same floor of ANBU HQ. It wasn't possible to avoid each other.

Tsume knew. But maybe that wasn't all bad.

Then her focus shifted to the canine, and everything else was pushed from her mind. The rot was gone. Just a headache. Waki would prove it.

"If they don't get it all," she had told Genma over steaming ramen and a single egg, "he won't live. It will grow every time he uses his chakra. Maybe fast. Maybe slow. Maybe it'll take one jump where he tries to boost himself, forgetting he can't pull on his pathways. Maybe it'll take years."

They'd gotten it all. Just a headache. It was just a headache. Everything else dismissed, she followed the stretcher down the corridor.