(A/N: Huzzah! I have updated when I said I would update! I feel like I shot myself in the foot when I gave these guys two weeks to complete their trip, especially since I've got 28 more prompts to cover. Oh well. I'll just have to make sure their misadventures don't take a full day. I also forgot to mention yesterday's prompt was Lone Wolf, like the chapter title said. But each chapter's prompt is not going to be in the title. Only the prompts that I came up with (that are a few words). A rule we agreed to is only the prompt-maker can title her story the prompt if she so wishes. This update's prompt is: Cliff Hanger.)
Gakushuu's eyes were locked on the direction ahead of him. His mind's focus was on his inner monologue rather than any actual sound. So it took a while before he realized he was only hearing one pair of steps. He peered his head around, over to where Karma was the last time he saw him mere minutes ago, to where Karma should have been. No one.
Great, he thought, an exasperated smile crawling onto his lips. It quickly fell.
Of course Karma was going to make this harder for him. He just couldn't follow rules, could he? For a few moments, Gakushuu paused. He honestly wondered, should he just leave him? Get a move on with this stupid trek?
Of course, he couldn't do that. That was the point of all this. No way was he going to let Karma get him in trouble again. With a sigh, he turned on his heel, back-tracing his steps.
This could have been so much easier with a tracking spell, but no. No wands. No stupid, freaking wands. No potions in his pack to help him either. He could only pay minute attention to where the grass path was disturbed. Calling out wouldn't hurt either. It's not like Karma could be that far off.
And he wasn't. Soon enough, Gakushuu heard a voice call back. He made his way toward it, entering a clearing.
"Yo."
And there Karma was, resting his head on his arms, his arms resting on the grass. Perhaps resting wasn't quite the word to be used here, as he was putting some effort into it. For good reason, as Gakushuu couldn't see the rest of Karma's body sprawled behind him. He was dangling from a freaking cliff.
Of course, Gakushuu was alarmed and concerned at first, but he also noticed that Karma was...oddly calm. He made his way over to the redhead, then peered down the ledge. Yup. Definitely a cliff.
Gakushuu crossed his arms, looking down at Karma.
"Akabane, what the hell are you doing?"
"Careful. Language," he replied nonchalantly. Gakushuu narrowed his eyes.
"I'm not the one who should be careful here."
Spiting the strawberry blonde, Karma adjusted himself so that only one hand was gripping the edge. Gakushuu was becoming a little more apprehensive, but he believed Karma wouldn't just off himself. Especially not like that, anyway.
"Hey, hey, let's play charades. What am I?"
Gakushuu looked on, unimpressed.
"Correct! The end of every chapter!"
Gakushuu took his foot, resting it on the other's hand. He didn't press down on it. Maybe he would have liked to, but he would never actually do that.
"Oi, oi." Karma brought his other hand up to help support him. Gakushuu removed his boot. Karma looked down below him.
"You think, if I fell, I could sue the school?"
The younger of the two squatted down. It didn't seem as though Karma was going to move from that spot for a good while.
"One could only hope," he replied. Not like he could do it himself. His father owned it after all.
Suddenly, Karma's hands lost grip, and he slipped.
"Oop-"
Gakushuu sighed, getting up. He hopped down.
Instead of helping Karma get up-he could do that himself-he inched toward the actual edge of the cliff. It was a long fall. He took a step back.
"You know you could easily have fallen all the way down, right?" he said, turning back to Karma on the not-quite-so narrow but not-quite-so big ledge. The elder only waved him off.
"What were you doing, anyway? We need to get back on track."
"Taking a detour."
"A detour." Gakushuu gave out a snort. He looked at the thin, long strip of rock that was attached to the cliff. "Sure it is. You don't even know where it leads to. And that's if it leads to anywhere, anyway. We don't. Have the time."
Karma rolled his eyes.
"You can always just stay here, you know?" He was already walking away.
Gakushuu grumbled a few words as he watched the distance between the two grow bigger. Finally, he huffed, following the elder.
(A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Oh, also, I might make doodles/sketches for certain prompts, and I decided to draw one for this one. You can check it out on ao3. ~Thorn)