Kuromaru sniffed loftily and finally deigned to turn and look at the woman again. His tail flagged through the air once more. "It's all right. I forgive you."

Tsume managed to halt the exasperation from reaching her expression--just. Kuromaru, overly pleased with being called senpai, seemed to have missed Katsuko's undertone. His chest puffed out, head rising. His single ear arced up to trace the pattern of the new kunoichi.

"Well, we should get back to training. Let you continue your nap--" Tsume began, eager to remove herself from a strange ninja's presence--no one needed to know how incapacitated she was.

Kuromaru, bored out of his mind, had other ideas. "You don't smell like Genma, or Sumire before she left. You're like us? Not a mounter?"

Tsume winced and looked at the trees rather than the ninja with glinting steel in one hand. "Ah, seduction expert," she translated.

Kuromaru gave her an annoyed look. "That's what I said."