Time to Bail [Kaia. Defection/Travel Umigakure - Mori]

Hnnn. This place was done, there was no reason to remain. He was almost tempted to burn the cabin to the ground, but there was no real reason to. No motivation. Why bother? If anything, it'd be amusing to remember, when he could, that the locals where outright terrified of this place. Leaving it to grow in legend would be hilarious, at the end of the day. I mean they could just go raid the village, eat a bunch of people, burn some stuff, and move on; but that was boring. He'd done that once a year, every year, for over a decade. It was basically part of life for them now. He didn't like that. They needed to move on; new humans to eat and scare, new beasts to trap and sell, etc. The word was massive, and he had that urge to migrate to new parts of it.

He was bringing his cub with him.

Shit, he could leave her behind and forget her in five minutes; but Kaia was basically the only connection to 'normality' (and that's another can of fucked up worms) that he had left, or cared to cultivate. He liked his cub; there was a sort of odd, almost parental affection there, and he liked it. Hence, he kept her. She was useful, too; strong as all hell, able and willing to survive on her own forever, willing to learn what he had to teach her, and supremely loyal. He could likely tell her to kill herself and she would without even pausing; and he rather liked that. She was intelligent, just like him, and loyal beyond words. The perfect cub, pet, and companion in one.

He was keeping her.

He'd been 'home' at the cabin for a few days; longer than normal. He'd been mildly injured when he'd returned, so he'd actually stayed longer than an hour. After the fun of his initial appearance, they needed a bit more time to catch up and such, so he'd stayed on. He'd also been subconsciously preparing for her to come with him; his normal pack was joined with a second, and he was storing everything and anything of value in the cabin, including her things, into scrolls to be taken with. To her credit, she didn't question his odd behavior; and he was glad for it; as he was in a mild... psychotic break. He was calm enough, but there was no stopping him, nor was he able to explain, in any form, to her what he was doing.

Ah, the fun of being completely mentally broken.

He was huddled over a tanning rack, dragging a special tool over the flesh side of the fur, it was a large, flat blade that was used to scrape the flesh and rotting bits off so that the fur could be properly tanned. He was also muttering to himself, talking to the voices in his head with gibberish and such; it was a sign to not speak to him; unless it was Kaia, who could bother him whenever and be safe.

WC: 524

".....", Kaia-Mai looked up from the book she had been bent over for some time now upon hearing that Ranmaru was muttering to himself once again: the book was relatively new, left over from the very last time she had ventured into town, and was filled with various bits of medical knowledge so that she could expand upon what she already knew - you could never learn too much after all. This wasn't something she hadn't witnessed before, and she knew what it meant: mentally he was in a more lethal state than normal: not that Ranmaru could ever truly be considered safe. Though... could either of them even be considered as normal or safe anymore? Probably not, but whatever, it was how she liked it, it was what she was used to.

Ever since Ranmaru had arrived back home things had seemed different. Normally he passed through for roughly an hour and then was gone again for quite some time. This time around, though, that hadn't been the case. Of course, that was just the tip of the not-normal iceberg for them. He had been packing things up like, well, like a madman, including Kaia-Mai's stuff which had been put into scrolls where the belongings would be safe. This was added on to the fact that two packs, not one, were likewise packed and seemingly waiting for... what? She didn't ask what he was doing, she didn't have to: given the signs it was safe to assume he was taking her with him this time. Given the way all of the valuables had been packed away that the little cabin contained it was probably going to be a permanent thing.

She didn't mind. She preferred this. She was old enough to take care of herself now, and wouldn't be a hindrance to him when it came to training. She believed that no one could be fully prepared, that was true, but she was more prepared than most. At Ranmaru's guiding hand she had learned a awful lot, a lot more than her biological father could have ever dreamed of teaching her. So, she was unafraid, more interested than anything. She hadn't had a chance to see beyond the snowy lands and the nearby village for quite some time, and finally she would get a chance to stretch her legs so to speak.

It brought up questions though; she was officially registered as a member of Umigakure no Sato. A ranked shinobi, though she had never done a damned thing for the village besides cause trouble and hunt those who had gotten too close to the cabin. Still though, leaving without permission was defecting, and they would have rights to send someone after them in that case. She wasn't afraid though, she didn't fear her own demise, only the demise of Ranmaru. Anyone who came after them would be killed, killed and likely eaten. Or eaten and then killed. Whichever they happened to prefer at that moment in time.

Eventually Kaia would close her book after dog earing the page and look up to Ranmaru, watching him intently and waiting for.. something? She was sure he'd have some sort of direction or instruction for her soon enough, or at least officially tell her what he had planned and what was going on. She wasn't one to ask, and instead liked to give Ranmaru his space and wait for him to say whatever it was that was on his mind.

Word Count: 580

Muttering stopped, as did his movements; it was all muscle memory at this point so there was no reason for him to be stopping. Hell, the only reason you could see that he'd frozen entirely was that he was dressed 'down', wearing only an (oddly clean) tunic and trousers, as he had when he was normal and unbroken and a child; the cold of the tundra meant nothing, and compared to what was normal, the cabin was unpleasantly warm. His furs and cloaks were hanging beside the door, layered in a way that would allow him to basically explode into them and end up in the right order and worn properly; and he was comfortable enough around Kaia to risk being seen without them. Psychotic break or not, he had survival instincts; and his furns gave him the appearance of a bear, and a bear wasn't something that was being hunted often.

Slowly, creaky and tight and almost... creepily; he turned toward her. His eyes were completely blank; they were like that when his brain was doing a reset, although only for a peaceful reset; the ones that let him be 'normal' for a few minutes afterwards, versus ragetastically violent. He worked to focus on her, staring silently for long moments before returning to his work; he needed to get this fur tanned before they left; it was a replacement for a central layer of his normal furs that had worn out, as well as the inner lining for some fresh snow boots for Kaia to wear. They were the super thick overlayer that the natives of the high tundra wore over their normal boots; entirely water tight and warm enough to keep toes from freezing even in the deepest blizzards.

"Leaving. You. Me. Forever."

As much as he was going to say; a rather coherent thought from him. The scrape of the tool over the fur was smooth and rhythmic, the movements of a master. He placed it down after a moment more, then pulled the skin off the rack and shoved it into the small bucket of tanning fluids that was sitting beside it. It was small for a tanning vat, but it was still more than enough for everything needed chemically, and the fur itself. "Cub stays with me."

WC: 384

384 + 524 = 908

Kaia-Mai had been rather content with staring and Ranmaru and waiting for however long it took for whatever it was she was waiting for. However, it wasn't long before his muttering would suddenly stop, and then he would focus his attention onto her. She stared back, unmoving, and barely blinking, with the usual calm expression she wore on her face mixed with quite a bit of curiousity: she was a curious bunny after all.

Then she heard it, the words she had been waiting for: "Leaving. You. Me. Forever." Well, that was just fine and dandy in her book. She had missed traveling around, and she certainly wasn't going to complain about spending more time with Ranmaru. She had long ago grown used to being his 'cub' as he referred to her. In fact, it was preferred really. Ranmaru might not have been her father in the biological sense, but she had certainly grown stronger and harder, and excelled far more, under his teachings than she ever had with the man who had sired her. Her being Ranmaru's cub? Well, that was just perfectly acceptable.

"Okay.", she simply said with a smile before shifting her attention back to what Ranmaru was doing. She didn't bother to talk much after all, and she certainly wasn't going to hurl herself across the room to hug him like she wanted to - personal space, she knew it, and she knew what not to push. Still though, her ears were perked up, and she was clearly vibrating with a happy energy nonetheless. At his next words of "Cub stays with me." she about exploded for joy. "Bunny is happy with this."

Word Count: 277 + 580 = 857

She couldn't see his face with the way he was turning, haunched over the tanning bucket-vat thing and poking it with a stick, but for the breath of an instant a smile tugged at his lips; he was pleased with her over that comment. He didn't much care normally if she wanted to do the things he demanded of her or not, but he did rather enjoy that she was such a willing participant in the foray into madness that was his, and now their, lives. A companion that was willing was always more fun then one that wasn't; he'd learned that long ago, when he was taken and brutalized and turned into a beast himself.

"Gather supplies. Anything not packed stays. No return."

Again, to the point. He granted her privacy and the option to keep things secret from him; everyone needed those things, and even he had some items of personal value that she had never seen before. He was giving her the chance to gather them, because he had no plans to ever return this way, unless it was to finally burn this abysmal place to the ground once and for all. "Leave at dusk. We move for the deep woods. Tracking beasts... strange beasts. Stranger than we."

WC: 216

216 + 908 = 1124

Kaia-Mai simply nodded to the directive. She bit her bottom lip as she stood up, thinking. Everything of importance had already been packed except for one thing: George. George was still in his 'hiding spot'. She had never bothered to share George with Ranmaru, nor his existance. But, George was who had kept her company during the times that Ranmaru was gone. Geoerge had been there, the one whom she'd spend hours upon hours talking to.

George had to go. George wanted to go.

"Take me with., words that crossed her mind and yet which were as real as Ranmaru was right now.

Kaia-Mai's gaze snapped onto her pillow; it was where George was hidden. Where George slept. "Come get me. Don't leave me here. Take me with." Kaia wanted forward and over to her bed, picking up her pillow as her ears perked up in curiosity. She reached into the case and grabbed George, tugging him free.

George was a foot and a half tall stuffed animal bunny. He had a eyepatch sewn over his left eye, and his mouth which had been slit wide open was now sewn shut. There was also a slit across George's throat which had likewise been sewn. There were bandages around both of George's 'arms' and one around George's left leg. Sewn into his chest was a heart shape piece of fabric. George and Kaia-Mai had had a very rocky relationship: each sewn piece a memory of when George had angered her and she had lashed out. But, none of George's wounds were 'fresh'. "George wants to come too. He says he doesn't want to be left here for forever.", she would say upon turning around to face Ranmaru again; George's head held between her two hands.

The psycho merely glanced up as he poked and prodded at the hide; it wouldn't take long using his special blend of chemicals and berries and such to clean and condition it, so he was only even working with it to make sure it was an even process. Eyes focused for a moment on his cub and her doll friend, head tilting to the side for a moment before returning to his work properly. "Okay."

I mean really, what was weird about a child; or well, not really, but whatever; having a stuffed animal friend. Hell, for all he knew, the creature was a chakra beast or something; and actually alive. It didn't effect him either way; so long as cub was happy, the beast could come with. "Make a bag. Oilskin, or mokeskin. He needs to stay dry. I have the oils."