Mountain Girl [Naruto]

Chapter Four

Naruto awoke to dead silence. Unlike in Konoha, there were no whistling and singing birds, but instead an unnatural quite that was too foreign for him. The coat which he had fallen asleep in, just like everyone else, was rather warm inside. During the night, all the body heat he had released was being stored in the bear skin coat. He had also noticed that the temperature was actually not as cold as Ketsu made it out to be. Sure it was absolutely freezing, but not to the point where he had woken up as such.

He blinked a few times and sat upright, disturbing the blankets that covered the bed. There were three bear skins, one for each of the guys, and one strange white one that seemed larger than the other brown ones. Sakura had that one, along with the little baby Ketsu had yet to name. His eyes stung a little from the bitey air which irritated them. It made his skin more chapped than before; causing him to feel as if his skin was being pulled tightly against his face.

Ketsu watched from the corner as the blonde boy rubbed his face absentmindedly. He yawned widely and blinked lazily. Smouldering grief and rage illuminated her eyes in the dark. She was still upset, obviously, and could not feel anything more than contempt for basically everything in the world. Her body was chilled right through her muscles, causing them to ache as if she had just ran a marathon, and her stomach was protesting to the lack of food. Yet Ketsu ignored all of this, feeling dirty and numb. Monoke was awake also, his head resting on his paws as he gazed up with his pale eyes to Ketsu. Though he was 'just' a dog, Monoke could feel his Mistress' emotions, and they were not good. At some point during the night she had finally drifted off to sleep after being emotionally exhausted, but Monoke refused to sleep. He stayed up all night, cuddling up to Ketsu and keeping her warm, since the floor wasn't exactly the warmest place to sleep.

Hugging her legs to her body tightly, Ketsu lowered her eyes to the deer skin floor and tilted her head so that it rested on her frail arm. Weariness was nagging restless at her body, lulling her thoughts into emptiness, making her once bright eyes seem dull.

Moments later Kakashi opened his eye, to see the terribly made ceiling looking just a bleak and messy as before. He grunted and sighed from sickness induced exhaustion as he sat up in his spot in the bed. The large coat was hugging his neck tightly, so he loosened it and shook Sasuke in order to wake him. Kakashi also nudged the pink haired girl at the end of the bed, causing her to jump slightly and glare at him wiith angry green eyes.

" Aw, I was having such a great dream." She mumbled, closing her eyes once more after sitting up as well.

Sasuke blinked himself awake then sat up as well, just when Kakashi jumped out of the bed with a slightly bored expression. His back cracked loudly and he sweat dropped. " Ah, well I feel much better."

Naruto and his raven haired friend nodded in silent agreement. Sasuke too left the large bed, looking stoic but vaguely tired. Big bags framed Naruto's eyes and he looked straight at the hunched over figure of Ketsu.

Though all felt incredibly awkward, they didn't bother talking for a while, which in turn made the atmosphere even worse. Kakashi's single eye landed on the girl and he went to squat in front of her; close enough so that he could speak to her quietly and not seem disinterested, yet not so much so that it crossed the boundaries of her personal space.

" Ketsu?" He prodded lightly.

No reply.

After several moments of silence, with the three genin watching from afar, she spoke. " Get out."

" Huh?" Apparently Naruto heard her, making an obnoxious sounding grunt. His brow knotted together as he crossed his legs beneath him. The house creaked gently, not as loudly as last night, but still noticeably.