She was so shocked she nearly fell off the branch. What on earth was a girl doing here? She managed to gain some composure and started to stalk around the girl. She looked older, but not by much. Misa positioned herself on the edge of the dip, in the girl's line of sight so the minute the girl woke up, she'd see her. Misa had lived in the woods for a while now, but that didn't mean she'd forgotten what other people were like, and she kind of missed having someone besides Sasa around. She sat and waited for the girl to wake up.

After about half an hour of waiting, the girl woke up. She was slow to spot Misa, stretching and yawning before looking around. When she finally noticed the other girl staring at her, she shrieked and backed away, reaching for her pack. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Misa answered "I'm Misa. I live here. What about you?"

The girl looked Misa up and down. What was she? She was covered in fur and crawled on all fours, but she'd braided her hair and was wearing clothes. And were those Kunai around her waist? "My master told me to meet him here. Now what are you?"

"I'm a girl, silly." Misa flicked one of her braids over her shoulder. "What's in the bag?"

The other girl clutched it tighter to her chest. "Nothing. Why do you live here?" Anything to get her attention off the bag.

Misa leapt and landed right in front of the girl. "Because it's safe and I couldn't stay with Sasa forever. It's a pretty good nest. Isn't that why you curled up in it?"

Sasa? Nest? What was this girl babbling about? And why on earth did she look like that? "Who's Sasa? Your mom?"

The furry girl shook her head no. What had she said her name was, Misa? Tsukushi didn't remember that name from anywhere, certainly not the village Bingo Book. Never mind that, she was talking again. "Sasa was my cat mama. She taught me how to hunt and live in the woods, but I had to leave. That's why I live here now." She jumped away from Tsukushi and onto one of the thicker branches. She turned around and looked at the girl again. "It doesn't look like you master's coming today. Do you want to go hunting instead?"

Tsukushi slowly approached Misa. She was beginning to think this girl wasn't that dangerous. She'd keep observing her and leave if she showed any signs of aggression. "Okay, but how do you hunt?"

Misa untied one of the kunai from around her waist and held it up. "With this. It's not as good as claws, but it's pretty good. Let's go." She started jumping through the forest like a cat. Tsukushi followed.

She was surprised. The girl may be little but she was as fast as a Chuunin , maybe even a jounin. And she made barely any sound! Tsukushi was a clumsy oaf by comparison, and she'd been at the top of her class in stealth.

Misa suddenly stopped. She cocked her head to one side, then the other. She took off to the right. By the time Tsukushi caught up with her, the prey was in site. It was a deer tangled in a thicket. But how had the girl found it? She was crouching down now, with the kunai in her teeth. She jumped out of the tree and onto the deer's back, using her legs to hold on as she switched the blade from her mouth to her right hand. Then she plunged it into the deer's head, through the skull and directly into the brain.

Misa put the deer across her small shoulders and leapt straight up into the tree where Tsukushi was. The older girl had to suppress the urge to run. This five year old girl was a top notch predator. If Misa wanted to kill her, she'd never see it coming. No, the best thing to do right now would be to make nice and get out as soon as her master showed up. Tsukushi forced a smile and said "Good job. Let's get it back to the, uh, nest. I can't wait to taste it once it's cooked. Misa smiled, and Tsukushi began to think that, while the girl might look dangerous, maybe she wasn't. There wasn't any harm in finding out.

Misa slowed her pace a little as they went back to the dip so the other girl could keep up. She didn't look like she wanted to talk, but there were so many questions in Misa's head that she let one slip. "What's your name?"

Tsukushi realized that she hadn't told her. She wondered if she should use an alias, but the girl didn't seem devious. "It's Tsukushi." She tried to jump ahead and leave Misa behind. She needed to think about what to do next. Cooking the meat was all well and good, but she would need something else to occupy the girl after that. She might seem sweet now, but who knows who she would do if she lost interest. Despite her attempts to get ahead, Misa had easily kept pace with the older girl. Tsukushi cast around for something to occupy her. "Do you know if there are any good mint patches around here? They make a great seasoning."

Misa nodded. "Do you want me to go get some after we drop off the deer?"

Tsukushi considered the idea. If she let the girl go off on her own, she would have time to make a back-up plan in case Misa turned on her. But if she did go, Tsukushi would never know what direction she would come from next. She decided the risk was too great, even if she seemed innocent right now. "I think we should go together. You wouldn't want to miss helping me cure the meat, would you?" The girl shook her head rapidly.

When they made it back to the dip, the first thing Tsukushi did was clear a place of debri and set down the deer. She sat close to the flank, with Misa sitting so close their shoulders brushed. Tsukushi was surprised by how soft the girl's fur was. She'd expected it to be matted or caked with dirt. She turned her attention back to the deer. "First, we tie it up." She look around for a suitable branch. There was a fairly sturdy one overhead. She brought her twine out of her pack and handed it to Misa."Can you tie the legs to that branch?" She pointed to the one overhead.

"Sure!" The girl quickly tied the back legs together, took the rope in her mouth, and scrambled up to the branch Tsukushi had pointed at. She began to extend the rope. "Where do you want it tied?"

Tsukushi answered. "Keep lowering it and I'll tell you when to stop." Misa lowered it so that the head was hanging about five inches off the ground when Tsukushi yelled "That's good. Now tie it off and bring the rest of it down." The girl tied it to the branch, bit right through the tough cord, and jumped back down into the dip. Tsukushi pointed at her waist. "You'll need one of your Kunai for the next part." The girl unhooked one of them from its loop and gripped it in a fist.

Tsukushi sighed. "That's not how you hold them." She took the weapon out of the girl's fist and repositioned it. "This hold allows for better control, although the way you were holding it works best for when you need a lot of force, like when you crushed its head." She pointed at the wound. "Now we're going to make some little cuts by the knees." Tsukushi reached up and made a shallow cut in the knee of each hind leg.

Then she turned to the littler girl, who had crept up behind her. Tsukushi didn't react, though. She was getting more used to the girl's lack of personal space. "Now you cut the front legs, but not too deep. You only want to cut the skin." The little girl reached out and barely slit the knee. The cut didn't get all the way through, but it was a start.

They skinned the whole deer that way, Tsukushi guiding Misa's hands, slicing off the meat, removing the inedible organs, and cutting the meat into more manageable pieces. While they were fixing the deer, Tsukushi watched the girl carefully. Aside from her predatory skills and appearance, she seemed like an ordinary girl of five. She wasn't bothered by the sight of bone and blood vessels, but she stroked the furry side of the skin, enjoying the feel.

Watching her gave Tsukushi an idea. "You know, your clothes are in terrible shape." The girl stopped stroking the deerskin and looked down at herself. It was true. Her pants were destroyed around the knees and cuffs, and her shirt wasn't much better off, and both were a dull grey from having all the color bleached out of them by the sun and numerous washings. "Why don't I make you some new ones out of that?" She pointed at the pelt.

The girl's eyes lit up. Tsukushi had suggested it, thinking it would keep making the girl depend on her for a while, but seeing that smile made her doubt her reasons. These thoughts kept spinning in her head as they pounced through the forest in search of spices.

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