Bold & Italic = modern demonic. Bold = ancient demonic.Bold & Underline = Pissed off Oretzi. Underline = wolf. Italics = demon talking in human language
~Kazama~
Tsuki press down even harder on Moon-Chaser's neck, causing him to gag as he chokes. "Give," she presses, her eyes narrowing at him in dislike. She doesn't like how he talks to her. He hadn't seem so bad when she had been a pup but a part of her wonders if her memories of him are colored by youth and naivety.
He growls before growing twice his size – the sudden shift throws Tsukiko off balance which gives him the room to wrap his jaws around her leg. In one great heave, he yanks Tsukiko off of her paws and slams her into the ground.
POOF!
From on top of Stalks the Night, Oretzi laughs gleefully at her partner's use of the Kawarimi jutsu. "KICK HIS BUTT!" she shouts before grimacing as her ribs remind her that isn't a good idea.
"You should not overextend yourself," Prima scolds lightly, her ear flicking slightly. The slight hiss of pain had not escaped the she-wolf's attention despite the scuffle between her two children. Even as they speak, it'd seem that Tsuki is dominating the fight.
"Sorry Prima," Oretzi mutters sheepishly, frowning at her weakened state. There's a big part of her that's worried just how she'll handle the full moons. She knows what happens when she's in a weakened state when the new moons approaches.
She forces herself to not dwell on it as she turns her attention back to the scuffle. Moon-Chaser seems to have no idea how to counteract a human way of fighting. Of the two, he is supporting the most injuries and has been the only one knocked down to the ground. Tsukiko has been raised to use her instincts along with the clan jutsu, part of a whole unit but fully capable of fighting on her own. Every single trick the hanyou knows, the wolf demon is fully capable of replicating.
"So…" She earns an ear flick from the Prima, signifying that she has the she-wolf's attention. "How long do we intend to let them duke it out?"
"Moon-Chaser is not known to backdown," Prima responds evenly, stepping back when one particular attack ends with her son blasted into the tree near her. Stalks the Night notes that it might be vital for the pack to learn how to fight against Shinobi-nins if this is the results of one pup learning how to fight like a human.
Oretzi clicks her tongue, thinking before sighing as she comes to the natural conclusion.
"Tsukiko!" she calls for her partner, instantly getting her attention. "See if Moon-Chaser will accept defeat."
Her partner nods as she relaxes her stance slightly. "Moon-Chaser, do you submit?"
The wordless snarl she gets earns a sigh from the hanyou.
Of course.
"Moon-Chaser, enough," she calls from her perch. "Admit defeat and apologize to my partner."
"I will never apologize to a reject."
"Well this reject," Tsuki use of the word seems funny to the hanyou for some reason, "has trounced your butt."
"THIS IS NOT OVER!" Moon-Chaser howls, lunging for Tsukiko only for his tail to be stepped on by another Tsukiko.
"What is this?" Prima wonders as she watches her son whirl back around to snap at the Tsukiko standing on his tail.
"It's either the Kage or Ketsueki Bunshin Jutsu."
"And this means…?"
"Um," Oretzi mutters under her breath for the right words. "Tsukiko made a copy of herself. Kage means shadow. Ketsueki means blood."
"A copy?"
"I can show you later, if you wish."
"It might be beneficial for us to learn." Oretzi blinks and looks down at the Prima, never mind that from her perch she'd never be able to see the expression on the she-wolf's face. She never thought she'd hear such a proud alpha she-wolf admit needing to learn new tricks.
"Um…"
"Speak your mind pup."
She doesn't even know if she wants to.
"It's nothing."
She gets a noise of disbelief from the she-wolf but when nothing happens at first she believes it to be resolved for the time being. She should've known better.
Her attention fully on the renewed scuffle between the two wolves she doesn't notice or feel the slim tail wrapping around her waist. It's not until she's lifted straight off Prima's head that she realizes what just happened. She tries, at first, to wiggle free only for her ribs to sternly remind her once more that that is not a good idea.
"Pup."
She smiles meekly at the she-wolf once she has seen that she's now able to look into her eyes. When those orbs narrow themselves into a stern expression, she can all but feel the stubbornness escape from her.
"I'm just surprised that you want to learn."
"Mm… I forget, at times, that you no longer live with us. I still find myself checking to make sure you are not underfoot." She gently set Oretzi down on a branch that is high above the scrabble between her two pups. "There are plenty you do not know of. Every day, the humans cut away at our territories."
"Like the war to the West?"
"Very much so."
Once assured that the pup will not injure herself further on her new perch, Stalks the Night intervenes in the fight. She had timed her entrance so that its just after yet another attack from Tsukiko. Prima presses a paw to her son's snout, giving him a cold stern look when the hint of a growl start to build in his chest.
Just like Oretzi, the fight flees his sails and he rolls onto his back in one fluid motion, baring his throat to his mother and alpha. Tsukiko, thankfully, doesn't continue her attack when she sees that the Prima has intervened.
"Tsuki, come over here," she calls to her partner.
"So, was there any particular reason for the fight?" she hears as Tsuki shrinks herself down to her preferred sized, hopping up along the branches until she has rejoined the hanyou. Oretzi turns her attention away from her partner to find that Heishi is sitting on the branch above them.
"He was rude," Tsukiko replies flatly as Oretzi turns her attention to tending her partner's injuries.
"This does not seem like a reasonable response."
Oretzi clicks her tongue as she shifts a patch of fur aside enough to check the healing process of an injury there. "It was reasonable for us," she counters softly as she moves on to check on another. "Tsukiko was rejected by the wolves in the pack, just because she was too small." She turns her face to Heishi. "Moon-Chaser is someone who would find a way to kill her, defying Prima's orders."
"You judge him harshly."
"I know him," she mutters softly. She doesn't see a point in explaining further than that. Instead she slings an arm around her partner's neck as she redirects her attention to what's happening below. It seems like Prima is scolding Moon-Chaser for the sheer arrogance he had displayed along the absolute disrespect he had shown to the Pack's guest.
"I see…" Heishi mutters before hopping down to stand next to the pair. "In any case, how are you feeling?"
"Eh," she mutters, touching a hand to the side with the cracked ribs. "I could be better."
He taps her arm, prompting the hanyou to offer it up for his inspection.
"Are we still planning on leaving today?"
The fingers on her forearm pause in their poking at her words, prompting her to look up from the scene below. She can see, on his face, that this is not the plan for the day.
"I'd like to wait another day," he finally admits, withdrawing his hand once assured that the arm has healed significantly since his last checkup.
She scowls in annoyance before sighing, conceding that by herself she doesn't hope to live long. With her teammates and the client she had a chance of hiding her scent among the humans. But by herself? She'd have to move quick through hostile territory to even stand a chance.
"Tsuki, while we wait for Heishi to finish his business," Oretzi mutters, scratching behind her partner's ear, "we'll have to clean out my pockets."
"Oh no," the wolf demon mutters with dread, "the river." Oretzi snorts, fully amused that her partner knows exactly why she'll have to clean out her pockets. "You should find a way around that."
"Eh, when I have the time for it," she mutters. "You know as well as I do that the pockets were a fluke."
"What is this about pockets?" Heishi asks out of curiosity.
Oretzi glance up at the wolf demon. "Inter-dimensional pockets." She puts a hand into one such pockets, grimacing at the feel of water and – yep, that's a fish – before pulling out a drenched kunai from the pocket. She offers it to him before fishing for the hilt of the Hikari o Houki.
Once she manages to find it she brings it half out of the pocket, earning a wide look from Heishi as he must surely sense its power despite its sheathed condition.
"Why do you have a demonic sword?!" he whispers ferociously as the hanyou lets the sword drop fully back into the pocket.
"It was a gift from Mita-chan," Tsuki responds as Oretzi takes back the kunai, twirling the weapon around a finger.
"Don't ask me where she found it though, I have no idea."
"That's a dangerous weapon for you to have." He gets a snort of agreement from the pair, one slightly more wheezed than the other.
"Don't we know it," Tsuki is muttering, getting a bark of laughter from the hanyou that turns quickly into a pained wheeze. "You shouldn't do that."
"Stop being so funny then!" Oretzi groans, pressing a hand to her side.
"You're an odd group," Heishi mutters, shaking his head at the pair.
"Ahem."
"Uhoh," Oretzi mutters, recognizing that particular sound.
"Indeed."
Oretzi turns her head slowly towards the ground to find Prima staring at them with an unimpressed look on her face.
"Am I missing something?" Tsuki mutters in confusion, looking between her partner and her dame.
"Prima doesn't care too much for the other languages," the hanyou offers as an explanation.
"If it is necessary, I will speak them," Prima states as she reaches for the hanyou with her tail. Oretzi moves her arms enough for the tail to wrap around her, seeing no point in protesting the lift. It seems that Prima has fallen back into the habit of keeping her from being underfoot. Gigantic wolves and a itty bitty child don't really mix well in the she-wolf's opinion.
"She really doesn't like the ancient language though," Oretzi teases as she steadfastly ignoring the pointed glare Prima is shooting at her.
"Just be grateful I even taught you the language," Prima grumbles, setting the hanyou on top of her head.
"I am grateful," Oretzi rubs her hand against the white fur, thinking to herself that Tsuki's fur is very similar to her dame's. She'd never really noticed before. "Hey, Prima, can you convince Heishi to let us go?"
"So eager to leave."
"No but… I have a team - a pack," she revises her word for her team, knowing that Stalks the Night will understand better if she frames them as her pack. "My pack is out there - we are here because of a job."
"Your pack," Stalks the Night starts, her ear flicking slightly, "I take it they're humans?"
"Hai," Tsuki chimes in from her perch on the branch. Heishi hasn't moved from his position on the branch, opting to remain silent in the exchange. Oretzi can only imagine that he has a list of tasks he needs to do - she can't really see any other reason for him to be insisting on staying in the pack lands.
That's a lie, he probably wants to stay because it's safer for her.
Safer…
She's starting to feel very stifled with everything.
Heishi wants to protect her.
Stalks the Night wants to protect her.
Everyone wants to protect her but this time she's not the one who needs protection. Her team, her pack, is out there with only Reo to protect them.
"You feel strongly about this?"
"Hai."
Stalks the Night sighs as she turns her gaze to Heishi. They seem to communicate wordlessly before Heishi sighs, rubbing his forehead.
"Fine. We leave in an hour."
"Yes," she mutters before gesturing to Tsuki to head down to the ground. "Prima, can you set me down?" she asks politely. "I need to start clearing out my pockets."
Tsuki makes a noise of complaint at this, absolutely dreading the upcoming process.
The inter-dimension pockets are, if anyone asks, a product of Oretzi's experimentation with storage seals, blood, and imagination. Since the end product was made by fluke the hanyou hasn't really figured out how to prevent the dimensions from being flooded by water, which considering how often it has happened she really should fix that. The sheer fact that she has felt an actual fish in her pocket really tells her that she needs to fix this aspect of the seals.
"You cannot do it where you are now?" Prima questions as she turns her gaze to the wolves still remaining in the clearing.
In the time between the fight ending and right that second it seems that Moon Chaser had slinked off. Oretzi can only hazard a guess that the blow to his ego was so brutal he couldn't stand to be near them anymore.
She doesn't have a single shred of sympathy for him.
"I doubt you want to an entire river's worth of water - and some fishes - to be dumped on your head."
This seems to be just the right amount of encouragement needed for the she-wolf to remove the hanyou from the top of her head. She's safely and quite quickly set on the ground. She removes her jacket and frowns thoughtfully at the pockets. She has at least four pockets to go through and that's just what's on the jacket itself. Her shorts have another two pockets.
At the time, all six of them were open at the time of the ambush which means…
"Tsuki, can you focus on the jacket's pockets?" she asks as she reaches into her shorts' pockets. Just a brief dip is all she needs to know that the dimensions are flooded.
"You want me to do all the hard work," Tsuki complains but she does use the Juujin bunshin jutsu to take on her partner's form. She takes the jacket and reaches into one of the pockets, carefully removing the weapons she finds.
"Oh no," Oretzi mutters out loud as her hand comes into contact with a scroll.
"What?"
"The scrolls."
The partners exchange horrified looks at each other at the realization.
With a pained expression Oretzi starts to carefully extract the water logged scrolls, not even sure how to go about salvaging these. Some, she figures, will be scrolls that are insignificant in the grand scheme of things. She does occasionally forget to clean her pockets out which does not bode well for her.
If anyone asks, she's confident she didn't have anything of value in her pockets.
"You really should work on fixing this," Tsuki scolds as she works on cleaning out one of the pockets. Judging by the pile of kunai, shuriken, and a set of senbon needles - Oretzi's not entirely sure when she got those but ok - it looks like her partner is working on the pocket that has the replenishable weapons.
"I know, I know I'll get started on it when we get back to Konoha."
~Kazama~
It took over two hours for the pair to work through the various pockets, removing water logged scrolls to dry. All of Oretzi's custom weapons are set aside to be inspected later on for any water damage.
Once everything of import has been removed and safely stashed away, they've begun the tedious process of getting the water out of the pockets' dimensions. The process takes a long time, it involves them closing all but one of the dimensions. After that, the pocket has to be held open as the water essentially just rush out.
"Just how much of the river did you absorb?" Prima remarks almost teasingly, sitting a fair amount away as the now forming puddle just continues to grow. It was the she-wolf's opinion that there'll be a miniature lake there in the end.
"I honestly don't know," Oretzi mutters as she applies a bit of chakra to her feet to stay relatively dry in the midst of the growing lake. "I have six pockets between the jacket and my shorts."
"We haven't even finished going through one pocket," Tsuki drawls as she focuses on the pockets of the jacket. Oretzi, on the other hand, is still focused on the pocket of her shorts which only seems to be adding to the lake.
"That's concerning," Prima remarks, moving away from the miniature lake. "It does not even seem to be an end of the water."
"I know~," Oretzi whines, dragging a hand down across her face. "You may have a permanent lake here after this is all said and done," she mutters with slight sigh. On one hand, it'd be a nice change for the forest. On the other hand, this may change the ecosystem.
"Mm." Prima taps a paw to the raising water level. "I'm inclined to believe you." She turns to one of her pups and gives them instructions to start digging paths to run the water off to the nearby rivers. Hopefully this will keep the water levels reasonable in the possible lake.
Oretzi reaches into the pocket that she's been emptying, nodding slightly when she finds that she can't feel any water in the dimension. Satisfied she switches to the other pocket, sealing the pocket dimension as she did so. In this one, she finds a fish, which she sends into the pool of water. She hums quietly to herself as she waits for the seemingly endless rush of water to trickle.
In comparison to Tsuki, she has an easier job since she only has to worry about two pockets. Regardless of the number though, she still has to deal with making sure that no critters actually manage to stay in the pocket dimensions. By her count, there's been at least six fishes in her pockets.
~Kazama~
Once her pockets have been emptied and cleaned out, returning everything to the dimensions takes significantly less time than it did to remove them. By the thirty minutes mark Oretzi is dressed and ready to go.
"Let me look at you," Prima says, tugging the hanyou close and placing her hands on her marked cheeks. The she-wolf had opted to escort her young charge and pup to the border of their lands instead of just letting them leave her eyesight. "I do not know when you will see us again," the she-wolf mutters as she studies the bi-colored girl. "If the war truly is coming…"
"Will you be going home?" Oretzi asks quietly, familiar with what she's not saying.
"Perhaps." Stalks the Night traces the tattoos on her charge's cheeks, noting them along with the piercings. The hanyou has gone through a great number of changes over the years since she was left at the orphanage. There's so much she doesn't know about the pup - she never thought she'd be sentimental. "You know how to reach us."
"But…"
"No but, pup." She scratches behind the pup's ear, watching how her eyes flutter shut. "Howl if you need us."
"Hai," Oretzi whispers before she grabs onto the she-wolf, giving her as tight of a hug as she can manage. She doesn't flinch when she gets as good as she gives.
"You will be okay, pup," she hears the she-wolf mutters. "You have your partner. You have your pack."
"I'm still going to miss you."
"That's fine," Stalks the Night remarks as she smooths down the hanyou's hair.
"Oretzi," Heishi calls, looking up at the skies. "We need to go if we want to reach the borders before nightfall."
"Okay," Oretzi mumbles as she gives the she-wolf one last tight hug.
"Go. Let me speak to the Moon-Child before you leave."
Oretzi blinks, glancing at her partner to gauge her reaction, before nodding slightly. Stalks the Night, to the hanyou's opinion, hasn't shown any hostilities towards her partner so…
Tsukiko presses slightly against her partner's thigh before sitting in front of her dame. Oretzi scratches her partner's ear before going to Heishi to bother him for some more of his rations. Using her height to poke her older brother in the cheek to get him to relent his rations to her.
"Moon-Child," Stalks the Night starts, "I am… proud of what you've accomplished. You've shown your brother, the pack, and I that we were wrong to dismiss you for your size." The she-wolf kneels down to be on eye level with the pup. "You've shown us your worth. So… I leave the pup, your partner, in your care."
"It's like you said. She's my partner." For Tsukiko, that says everything.
Stalks the Night tilts her head as she studies the pup, causing her to divert her eyes to the ground. "She is," she acknowledges with a slight incline of her head. "Let me rephrase then. I am leaving her safety and well-being to you, as honorary member of the Lunar Wolves."
Tsukiko's ears perks up as she stares wide-eyed at her dame. "Honorary?"
"Indeed." The confusion on the young wolf demon is plain to be seen. "Between you and I, you are a Lunar Wolf. However, as long as Bear Killer lives and breathe, your safety cannot be guaranteed." Tsukiko nods slightly to show that she follows what her dame is saying. "That being said, it will give you a form of protection." The she-wolf stands, dusting her hands off. "In any case, do you swear to protect and care for Kazama Oretzi in our stead."
"Of course." She doesn't bother telling her dame that she would've done this without having to promise anything.
"Good." Stalks the Night looks over to where the hanyou is chattering away at the Soldier.
"Can… May I ask you a question?"
"You may."
"When will I…" Tsukiko stumbles a little over her words as she tries to articulate what she's trying to say. "The alternative form?"
"I believe I know what you speak of," the she-wolf remarks, studying the pup. "You should be able to soon. My suggestion? Focus on the why."
"The why?"
She nods before sending the pup away to join the Kazama siblings.