| Hair of the Dog [Kuromaru, Ginta] | [May. 3rd, 2010|10:03 am] |
[Takes place one week after Tsume and Asuma get out of the hospital inFeuds and Families, which followed the pirate thread, and six days after Ginta was in This Time Is Different, with Ryouma.]
Kuromaru stood on the streets of Konoha, holding his new hands out in the streetlamp just to see them turn a pale gold. As a canine, he had limited color vision, but in his human form everything was brighter. Things tasted different, too. He knew. He'd tested a lot of foods in both forms.
The night air felt funny on his skin, clad in mesh rather than fur. He knew he should probably put on a coat, but it was a nice feeling. Different. Different was fun, sometimes.
Putting his lips together so he could whistle, he practiced as he headed down the street, sliding through clusters of people out after dark, watching as they made a path for him.
Tsume hadn't wanted to come with him tonight, but that was okay. She'd at least turned him human, so he could play in all the restaurants without getting in trouble. And he'd remembered his dogtags, so he had ID.
Pausing, he lifted his face and tested the wind, catching a familiar scent. Ginta. He knew Ginta! Whistling again -- or trying to, it was so much harder with these human lips -- he followed the scent down the road and around a corner.
Men stood outside a brightly lit den, curls of cigarette smoke escaping from their mouths and noses, masking any other scents. Kuromaru stopped and eyed them, head tipping to bring them into his now-limited field of vision. They stopped speaking to look back at him, but not one issued a challenge. Two smiled.
Kuromaru smiled back and ghosted past them, only to be stopped by a man at the door. He was sure Ginta's scent had gone in here, but now it was hard to tell.
"ID?" The man at the door stood tall, arms crossed over a chest twice the width of Kuromaru's, but a single glance told Kuromaru that this man wasn't an alpha. He looked away, into the darkness lit with flashing lights, and casually tugged his dogtags into fuller view. They clinked delicately together off the dog collar they were attached to.
He was sure he'd smelled Ginta in here. Was that a blond head?
The man at the door waved him in, and he slunk past, keeping his blind side against the wall. |
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