Genma's hand against her shoulder was solid enough to draw comfort from, and Rina resisted the urge to cover it with her own. Instead she nodded and smiled with as much ease as she could muster, briefly stretching out watery muscles already supple from running, and drawing deep on the throbbing pulse of chemical chakra that kept her upright. Her control, at least, was still good.

She waited for Genma to push off into a steady, ground-eating lope, then followed, measuring steps by the numb complaints of aching, cold-reddened feet.

They ran in silence, the meager remnants of twilight quickly swallowed by encompassing dark. Rina stopped only once, to meter out precious threads of chakra into a minor jutsu breathing warmth into her chilled, clumsy limbs. Genma waited patiently for her to finish, then resumed his pace. Urgency still drove them on, the feeling that the tranquil stillness around them could be shattered at any moment. The carpet of pine needles depressed beneath them, releasing a pungent scent, and the stars crawled across the sky.

When Genma raised a moonlight-limned hand, Rina was almost too startled to stop, expecting her trance to be interrupted by the glint of metal and sharp violence rather than by this gentle halt. Skidding on silent feet, she followed his gaze to the gnarled trunk of a stunted tree, stout branches spreading gamely amid the thickening forest around them.