one_long_mission

He was in the same position as he had been when she had gone to sleep. There was no indication he had moved, although he did a few times through the few hours, to peer at a few suspicious shimmers that turned out to be the moonlight reflected upon the surfaces of a few rocks within the area, an interesting fact he made a note of.

He shook his head, having noted nothing at all that needed reporting.

In place of bedroll, he merely took off the belt at his waist, wearing a light shirt underneath, and used his robe as blanket, apparently used to doing such a thing outside.
After somewhat more than two hours, the bundle was shifting slightly, the lightest of groans escaping. More shifting, and curled fingers somehow made their way out of the cloth, digging into earth before an almighty shudder occurred. Her attention may be drawn to light, but definitely panting breaths, before--

There was a sharp screech, a wire trap set off, and more screeching as a weasel got trapped in it.

The noise perhaps only made it look natural for Sasuke to have sat up, but those attentive eyes of hers might not have missed the thin veil of sweat upon his skin. "..oh.. just.. wild animal.." he muttered before settling back into sleep again.

She had been debating with herself whether it was worth it to wake him -- after all, were he exhausted, it would be that much more difficult to make good time tomorrow -- but before she could, she sensed the animal approaching behind them. With light, padding steps, she was already over to slice the wire around the animal to set it free (though she was nearly bitten for her trouble before it ran off). By the time she returned, the other had already rolled over.

In spite of herself, heart still pounding from the sudden alarm of the weasel, she shifted closer to him. "Uchiha Sasuke." She didn't yet dare to touch him, in case he had already fallen asleep and her gesture startle him awake.

He didn't answer, at first. There was a long minute where the bundle was still, silent, and then, when he was perfectly sure he was composed..

"..what?" curse it, his voice was still cracked. Hopefully she would attribute that to sleepiness. It was as good a bet as any, right? He didn't move, knowing she was close. Too close.
This was why he wanted her twenty meters away! Never would anyone have noticed anything was off!

She didn't comment on his voice, though she did lower a hand to lightly touch his shoulder at the sign that he was awake and aware.

Are you alright was a question with the obvious answer of no, so she didn't ask that. Instead, she mentioned, "You may use my bedroll if you wish. You may have a more restful night."

If he deigned to roll over, he would see that her eyes were open, a silent opening for him to speak further if he wished to.

"...whatever... remains of that." he muttered. Not much of his allocated sleep time did remain. He had seen much worse though, and immediately gave himself a mental kick for even complaining.

He did shuffle, and saw those wide, inviting blank eyes... and retreated to hiding onto his robe.
After a while though...
"I can... never save them..." his voice rose from the lump of cloth.

Her breath emerged in a quiet exhale as he finally spoke again, her fingers tightening lightly against his shoulder. More than anything, she wished to see his face to better gauge his mental state, but... that he was opening up like this at all was certainly an indication of his mental unrest.

"No," she agreed quietly, assuming he referred to his family. "But you can honor their memory, can you not?"

How ironic it was, for one whose main element was fire to fear it in its nightmares, to revive scenes he had not seen.

He did hear the screams, he saw the corpses... and it would forever haunt him.
Honoring their memory? "That's what I'm trying to do!" his voice was scratchy, higher-pitched than usual. The bundle of cloth shook lightly. Still, he knew. The nightmares would always be there.

Alone... she knew the feeling, of being left on one's own without the people who were to care for her. It was a hard, crushing feeling that weighed in on her at night, made it hard to breathe sometimes. Perhaps it was that which drew her to her feet, releasing Sasuke's shoulder and moving away from him.

It was only long enough to fetch the blanket from her bedroll before she wrapped it around him, settling cross-legged beside his head and letting a hand touch his shoulder. "I truly hope you succeed, Sasuke."

He gave what was unmistakably a choked sob under all that cloth, shaking... and after a few minutes few still and silent, breathing finally regulated and asleep again.

Who knows what he would remember of this once he awoke once more? It would be all too easy to think of this as part of a strange dream....

Well this was certainly an unexpected turn of events. She remained still, her hand on his shoulder, until it was clear he was asleep, then slowly drew her hand back to rest on her leg instead. But she stayed near him, ready to wake him should he start to suffer from another nightmare.

Should he fall into that deep a sleep once more, the sun would be well up into the sky. These were perhaps a one-time only nightly occurrence, since the remainder of his rest was undisturbed.

He did stir once the sun's rays started filtering through the branches, groaning and sitting up from the bunched robe and.. blanket? When did that get here, he wondered.

He gave a blink then, and looked over to her with large dark eyes.

After he had lost a good portion of the night to his restless sleep, she was content to permit him to sleep past sunrise. Still seated where she had been, she had started to meditate, letting her senses expand and take stock of everything around them. Quiet and safe, at least for now.

At the sound of him stirring, she drew herself up out of her center and opened her eyes, glancing down to meet his. "Good morning."

"m..morning." he murmured, hastily rising, gathering and donning his black robe again before folding the borrowed/lent bedroll to her. "..t'was comfortable... y'were right" he hastily intones before taking out some dried fruit and proceeding to eat some, feeling somewhat awkward when he recalled what went on overnight.

Her eyebrow quirked as she watched him with a touch of amusement, though that was the only visible sign she permitted herself as she accepted the blanket. "Good. Rest is necessary if one is to perform well during the day."

She'd already eaten when the sun rose, so she focused on making sure everything was packed for when he was ready to go. As much as she wanted to ask about the nightmares... no. They were none of her business, and she had no need to know.

He spent no time on meaningless thoughts, moving forward as soon as they collected the wires and disarmed traps.

He was still eating those dried fruit as they walked, with him leading her... but soon, as they reached the end of the forest, he halted abruptly. "...how far ahead can you see?" he inquired, ducking into foilage, knowing she would follow her lead. "I'll need your eyes."

What she would find out would be bad, since two contingents of eight of those Shourisha were stationed there, about five-hundred meters ahead on the other side of dunes. Indeed, those were war times...

"Far enough." She moved in beside him and crouched down easily, hiding herself beneath the foliage as she peered out. A breath, then she exhaled, bringing her hands together slowly to draw Chakra to her eyes and enable them to see much further than a normal human eye.

"...Sixteen Shourisha, split into two groups of eight. Here, and here." She indicated with a hand, though it was obvious from her motions that she wasn't looking at what she was doing, staring at a point far beyond theirs. "Within five hundred meters of this location. It may be wiser to go around rather than rouse attention."

Sixteen? He would have tried their luck against eight but sixteen was pure suicide. "...five hundred meters, and we have to go around? Mostly flat lands and small hills though." he clicked his tongue lightly in annoyance.

"No choice." he snorted, starting to move back into the forest. Good thing they had made campfires and he had caught the lingering scent. "...we can't have them move on us as we go, so keep an eye on them till you can't anymore." Going around meant wasting a few hours for sure.

Even if they managed to take out all sixteen of them without raising any kind of alarm? The increased activity at the sudden disappearance of that many of their number would surely bring even greater numbers to bear. She nodded in response, backing up while still keeping her focus straight ahead.

"I will need your assistance to guide me through the trees," she pointed out, her steps careful. With all her focus pointed forward, things behind her were somewhat fuzzier. She had been training to see further and better, but there was still so much more to learn that she had to teach herself... "I will watch them and let you know should they start to move."

"Right." and assistance was given as he readily claimed her hand to lead her at an easy pace, slowing when terrain became treacherous.

He had given himself a fifty-meter margin, to make sure none of their sidelines would see them, and kept to any vegetation he could find, extending his margin to seventy-five meters once they lost the cover of trees or shrubs on their way to plains. "We've just extended our outing by a half-day more" but the fact they travelled this safely was indubitably good.

"No movements? We should be safe... They're far from the mid-way point though... might have been reinforcements for somewhere."

She took his hand, relying on him to get her through the brush without faltering. As much as it irked her to put this much trust in him... had he wanted to betray her, he would have done it last night. For whatever reason, that look she'd seen in his eyes when he'd first woken from his nightmare, and then again this morning...

She didn't think he would betray her, not now.

"No movement. They have not noticed our presence." Her voice started to sound a little strained from the effort of keeping them in view. "I will continue to watch, if you will continue to lead."

"This far is enough." he shook his head. "We can't have you straining yourself, not with he possibility of an attack coming at any moment. We both have to constantly be on guard. These pilgrimage roads wee safe and sacred, in the texts, but it's been a while..." so he kept scanning what he could see, eyes and ears alert. Thankfully he had smelled no more leftover fires...

"We still have a full day and a half and we're in enemy territory already..." he was not pleased. "They gained land recently, or they got bolder?"

Her eyes narrowed, but she couldn't argue with the logic of that statement, withdrawing her gaze and blinking a few times as she became more aware of her surroundings. The sides of her eyes ached, just below her temples... Drawing her hand out of Sasuke's, she brought both up to rub at the skin there, closing her eyes for a moment before nodding.

"Both, I'm afraid. Hence why it was easier for me to obtain permission for a scouting mission. If they have gotten this far so quickly..." She shook her head and frowned. "We need to get back as soon as possible."

"...as soon as possible, yes.." after he had seen the temple or course, and gotten what he was seeking from there. It shocked him that she was not more insistent that they should go back -now- instead of forcing their way onto enemy lines, but then, she had stated she had an interest in this outing of his, he was fairly sure..

Thankfully, the rest of the day they met no other Shourisha. "Do you think you can find us somewhere secure to spend the night as, within a 2-hour walk radius?"he asked as the sun started its descent.

Not only his quest now, but she needed further information. If it was only the advance group of sixteen, that was less of a concern than an entire army.

"If there is one to be found, I will find it," she reassured him quietly, bringing her hands up to draw her Chakra to her eyes again. She carefully masked a wince at the sharp sting to the veins drawing Chakra, but focused her energy regardless. "Half an hour to the west, there is a small cave in a hillside. It is largely covered by brambles and thorned bushed, so there are no animals living there."

She was not only useful, but also reliable. "West. Good." he started that way and led them to it, blade summoned in hand to push away the branches within the path and leave the area untouched.

Once they had reached the safety of its insides, they waited for their vision to get used to its darkness and moved a little further in. He had easily claimed her hand even for that small trek, to assure himself of her proximity. "I doubt we need any vigil tonight. This place has been completely undisturbed and unused." all he had felt as he guided himself along the walls with his free hand, and then explored the floor, was rock and more rock.

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