As the breeze of cool air flowed, Tsubaki shivered. She and Ragna had been traveling through the seithr levels out of the climate control ars. She knew that they were getting deeper, and frankly… it exhausted her down to the core. It kept the pair safe from any witnesses or reports. However, in the late hour in this thickness of the dense fog, many beasts could be lurking around. Her thoughts were abruptly stopped when another waft of frigid air surged through. Teeth chattering more than ever, Tsubaki brought her hands to her mouth and blew artificial warm air into them.

Ragna looked over at her trembling form. While he was used to such conditions, she was… not as much. Stopping without a word, he took off his sack and jacket and held it in front of her. Although he shivered, he tried his best to hide it. Tsubaki looked up inquisitively and asked, "Um… Ragna?"

"Here." He pressed the jacket further towards her. "The last thing I want is for you to die on me because of some cold-ass weather."

Although his choice of words, sans the unneeded use of profanity, touched her, Tsubaki shook her head. "Ragna, are you sure? What if…?"

He smirked at her. "Don't worry; I can take it. Plus, I never do get to see what you look like in it. Probably look hot in it, more than usual, I mean."

Tsubaki chuckled and, giving up, she took hold of the jacket. She pressed the clothing to her nose. The coppery scent of dried blood entered her nostrils; she could tolerate it for the time being. Afterwards, she rose on her tiptoes and placed her lips on his cheek for a moment. "Such flattery is rather... unexpected from you, Ragna. And to be honest, it sounds weird coming from your mouth. But, thanks; you can be quite a gentleman, after all."

"Heh, no problem." Ragna embraced his girlfriend for a couple seconds. He released his hold and smiled as he watched her put on his jacket. The jacket had proven to be somewhat much larger than her usual wear- it was long enough to almost reach the end of her thighs. In all honesty, he felt a little naked without it, now just wearing his long sleeved, black zippered shirt. Shaking his head, he only threw back the little bag on his back once more.

Before either of them could say a word, light rustling of the grass not far from them sounded. The pair whipped their heads around to see a rather large creature. The animal, much to Tsubaki's surprise, had not been affected by the seithr thickness, a rarity. It had a firm, fur-covered body with medium-sized antlers. Occupied and highly interested in the blades of the tall grass, the deer had not noticed either humans spying on it.

After eating its share, it trekked away slowly, as though inviting to be hunted down. Quiet as a mouse, Ragna nudged Tsubaki. "C'mon. Ever hunted before?"

"Um… never, actually. Environmental survival was never my strongest suit."

"Alright. No worries. I'll show you how it's done."

Although Tsubaki blanched at the idea, she nevertheless nodded in agreement. It's not like either of us brought any food to last us for the night. She obliged, "Alright, then. Just show me what to do."

"Right." Ragna shucked off his sack given to them by Jubei. He set down the bag and checked the contents. His eyes widened in surprise as how such a bag could hold so much. There was a piece of roped net, a couple of water canteens, a small bag of nuts and berries, a hunting knife, a few various spices, and a limited supply of cooking supplies and utensils. Damn cat, really overdid it this time, huh?

Ragna had chosen to take out the net, followed by the bag of the berries and nuts. He smirked at Tsubaki. "Kay now. Just give me some time to set the trap under a good tree."

'Some time' proved to have taken several minutes. Searching until a decent-looking tree came to view took most of the time. After quietly following the animal and estimating its changes of trail and walking patterns, the trap was placed. A common-set net, camouflaged under an assortment of leaves and branches of such, was set underneath a handful of the nuts and berries. Satisfied with his work, Ragna snatched Tsubaki's hand and pulled, earning a shout of surprise. "Ah...! What are…?"

"C'mon, I hear it coming again. Let's go hide." He pulled her over and together, they crouched behind a shrub. "When it's caught, get ready to kill it, yeah?"

Tsubaki slowly nodded in response. Her hand drifted towards the hilt of her blade. "Umm… sure. I'll just… do that."

"Heh, nothing to be really worried about. Hunting was one of the main things I did with Master." He paused to turn his head her direction with a wry smirk. "Unless, the high and mighty 'Princess Yayoi' can't handle dirtying her hands with something as easy as this shit. Maybe you should just close your eyes."

Tsubaki huffed in response and spoke, rather quiet enough for the deer to not acknowledge them. "I can handle myself just fine, Mr. Grim Reaper. It's just new to me."

"Well, if you ever need the comfort…" He whispered and wrapped one of his arms around his girlfriend's waist and pulled her closer. "I could always lend you my chest for if you can't handle it. Kinda like last time."

If it were any other situation, Tsubaki would have felt a little touched by his words. However, she blinked at his last choice of words. She whipped her head away from him to avoid eye contact as well as to better hide her blush streaking across her cheeks. "Oh, just let it go, already. That was only one time."

Ragna let out a few chuckles. Before he could say anything, his snickers led to a cough. The cough prolonged for a couple more seconds. He nearly doubled over as his other hand went to his mouth to help filter it. At last, the unexpected hacks stopped. He took deep breaths to catch himself up and shivered. Crap. I cannot be getting sick.

Tsubaki shot him a glance of concern, forgetting his teasing. "Is something wrong?"

"No, I'm doing fine. It was just something in the air. Maybe some shitty dust or something." Ragna reassured her while looking at the trap. At long last, their prey had been spotted, walking towards the randomly dropped pile of berries and nuts. Stopping at just before the trigger, it lowered its head and began to munch. Just a few more steps… Unexpectedly, Ragna's nose began to tickle a bit. "A-Achoo!"

The deer ceased its eating at the sudden, rough sound, and looked around. Cautious, it turned away and darted in the other direction. Much to the couple's surprise, their prey had completely missed the net trap. Ragna and Tsubaki were left behind the bush, mouths opened in astonishment.

…What? "Hey, what the hell?"

"Ragna…"

"No, I'm catching that thing. Wait here." Hungry and unexpectedly desperate, Ragna jumped over the bush and began to dart in the direction.

Tsubaki's mind slowly came to realization as she watched her boyfriend head forward. Pointedly, in the direction of the sensitive net trap. She was too far to reach him, so she shouted. "Ragna, wait! The trap- the net!"

Tsubaki's cry only served to surprise Ragna. How could he be stupid enough to forget about a trap he set? Ragna tried to slow down in his tracks. It was too late. The string of the net broke under his step and the net gave away catching the criminal. Ragna did not react in time, falling to the ground with a tumble. He grunted and coughed as he sat up and rubbed his head. "Goddammit, not my smartest move there, huh?"

As he heard shuffling footsteps inching closer, he turned his head to see Tsubaki. A light smile, one that told him something was up, adorned her face. He whipped his head the other way, thankful for the darkening sky to hide his blush. His blush of utter embarrassment. "Not. A. Word…"

Tsubaki kneeled down in front of his 'captured' body as giggles sounded from her. "How…? J-Just how on Earth… d-d-did… you manage to forget that that was there, R-Ragna?"

"Stop laughing. It's not funny." Tsubaki did the complete opposite. He sighed. "Ha ha; so funny."

"Don't be like that." Setting her teasing snickers aside for the moment, she crawled a little closer and held out her blade. With careful and accurate cuts, she sliced through the net. As soon as a hole in the net was present, she helped Ragna out of trap. "Geez, Ragna. You need to be more careful next time. Just what were you thinking?"

"Heh… Probably too damn hungry I was acting on instinct there." He brought his hand up to his face, doing his best to avoid eye contact, with his blush darkening.

"Geez…" Tsubaki repeated. She embraced Ragna; he had not been expecting that. Her giggles softened until they ceased. She leaned her head closer until their noses bumped. "Sometimes I think you simply do this to get my attention and sympathy."

"Heh, maybe." Ragna smirked at their sitting position on the ground. Both of his arms wounded their way around her waist. "Who knows? There are other ways to get your attention than falling into my own trap. It could call for me searching for… creative ways, don's you think?"

Red scorched her cheeks at realization of what he had said. Setting any… misleading thoughts aside, she inched her head closer, the ghost of her lips hovering over his. "Yeah, still, it was pretty silly of you."

She punctuated her statement with a kiss full on the lips. With a moan of desire, Ragna held his girlfriend tighter and returned the kiss. Their lips moved in sync with one another. Nothing but peace filled the two. Taking the lead, Ragna began to extend his tongue into her mouth… before he abruptly pulled back with racks of coughs. He tilted his head to the right and brought his hand to his mouth, hoping not to spread it to Tsubaki.

Tsubaki laid a comforting hand on the coughing man's shoulder. "Please, try to take it easy. You're not getting sick, are you?"

""Like I said, Tsu, I'm fine. It's really nothing." The coughing following what he just replied said otherwise.

Tsubaki only shook her head in defiance when he continued to cough. Something, however, behind him caught her eye. She looked over his shoulder and saw another animal. It was surprisingly not affected by the seithr mist as was the deer. The dark fur of the small creature was expectedly hard to distinguish, given the color of the sky and shadows. Its ears only stretched out a couple of inches.

"Huh?" Ragna wondered why Tsubaki was quiet and looking over him. Careful and slow, he shifted his weight and turned his head. His eyes widened at the sight of the rabbit. His stomach growled as his mouth watered. Anything would be of satisfactory for his hunger. Anything. In slow, cautious movement, he gripped the handle of his given knife. Taking aim, he held it up. Before Tsubaki could say a word of protest or reason, he threw it. The knife sliced through the air it flew through like a shuriken.

With a wet pierce, the blade dug into the rabbit's sensitive fur and skin, killing it instantly. For the second time that night, Ragna and Tsubaki both stared with widened eyes and mouths. Tsubaki could not begin to fathom how he could do that so quickly. Even Ragna had no idea he would hit it. Damn… What luck?

After waiting a brief moment for Tsubaki heft herself from his lap, Ragna hoisted himself and walked over to the dead animal. He picked it up and retracted the knife from its body. Blood oozed out on the blade from the small trench that was made. "Alright, dinner's here. Now all I gotta do is cook it…"

He felt a something wet and light drop on his nose. More drops followed in suit. Looking up, he saw that the grey clouds gave away, precipitating on the forest. Tsubaki had her hair covered with her cap, something she was thankful for. Ragna, shivering, sneezed once.

His girlfriend glanced up sympathetically. "I'm sorry. I wish I had something to lend to you. Unfortunately , you will eventually get sick from this weather."

"Don't worry; not your fault. Hell, neither of us knew it would pour buckets like this tonight." Ragna sneezed again. Without his jacket, he felt more vulnerable to the punitive conditions. The rain already drenched his hair, making it fall in all directions downwards with the tips just exceeding his nose. For the third time he sneezed that night, he almost lost his grip on the dead rabbit. This is a bad pouring.

Without warning, Tsubaki grabbed his wrist and began to walk, tugging him rather forcefully. She said, "Let's go. I need to get you out of this rain as soon as I can. Perhaps there will be shelter of some sort in this forest. A cave is preferable."

Ragna couldn't help but admit that Tsubaki was being somewhat… forceful for a moment. He followed without a word as the rain kept sheeting down on them, harder than before.

To the couple's relief, they had found a cave of some sort. It was quite narrow, but ran deep enough to be of satisfactory. Eyeing a couple of thick sticks and twigs in the corner, Tsubaki made her way towards them, letting go of Ragna's wrist in the process. She quickly and silently gathered the sticks into a pile not too close to the entrance of the cave. She then bent down and pointed at it with her pointer and middle finger. She muttered a special ars and, soon enough, a flame sprouted from her finger and on the twigs and sticks, burning them instantly. The fire was controlled, enough so that it would not simmer down too early or spread too fast.

Giving her work a nod, she gripped Ragna's wrist tightly once more as he offered, "You want me to cook the rabbit?"

"No, thank you. I can do it myself." She turned a watchful eye on him. With his wrist still in her tight grip, he led him to the far end of the cave and away from the entrance. Sitting him down, she said, "You, on the other hand, need to rest. And don't move either."

"Yes, MOM." He rolled his eyes and obliged.

"There's no need for that attitude, mister. I don't need to hear it. Now just a minute…" Tsubaki unbuttoned the cape of her standard officer uniform and shed it away. She shuffled and bent down until she was completely behind him.

Before he could ask what she was intending to do, she beat him to it. Tsubaki took her cape and draped it over the top of his wet hair and rubbed rather hastily, drying it as a towel would. Surprised by her persistence, he gazed his vision upwards, but her face was blocked by his hanging white hair and cape. "Tsu, you really don't have to do that."

"Of course I do." For emphasis, she rubbed harder. She fixed a glare forward, not wanting to hear any more protests or complaints from her boyfriend. "You getting sick will purely not fly with me, Ragna. Now shush."

She sure can be forceful and pushy when she wants, huh? Ragna prepared to protest, but remained silent. Her rather forceful movements on the cape in his hair continued for another minute. He sighed in defeat, letting a small smirk etch its way on his lips. He let his eyes shut, as well.

Satisfied with the amount of swipes she did in such time. She removed the cape completely from his head. Naturally, the dry strands and chunks of his white hair stood on its own. Tsubaki draped the 'towel' over his shoulders, acting as a blanket. Her gloved hands gripped a couple of tuffs of the remaining wet spikes at the bottom and squeezed. Collected rain water dripped out and onto the floor.

Ragna opened his eyes at her next actions. His eyes turned to the corners as he tried to leer at her, a teasing smirk surfacing on his face. "So, having fun with that? Bet you're just trying to find every damn possible way to want to touch my hair, huh?"

Tsubaki blushed as she stopped. "I… I suppose that could be one way to look at it. But with your hair wet at night like this could cause you to catch a cold."

As is summoned by cue, he coughed a couple times, but tried to dim it down. He extended his arm as best as he could to cup her far cheek. Tsubaki gasped in surprise, but did not recoil from his frigid hand. Ragna tilted his face against her cheek, pecking it. Tsubaki lowered her chin down on his shoulder. She returned his brief affection by rubbing her head with his, mind straying from what she was previously doing.

After another moment of simply staying in that position, Tsubaki sighed as she removed herself from her boyfriend. She made her way to the center of the cave, where the flames still danced. "I'm going to cook the rabbit, now. You need to rest. I'll wake you up when it's finished."

"Yeah, sure." He kept his eyes on Tsubaki's back a little longer. He closed his eyes and drifted to sleep, his last sight of Tsubaki beginning to prepare the rabbit blackening in his vision.

After a restful thirty minutes, Ragna's eyes lidded open. He inhaled deeply, taking in the new scent of cooked meat. Before he could say a word to Tsubaki, coughs were released from his body. Tsubaki looked over at the sudden noises and, taking his share of the rabbit, silently walked over so that she was in front of him. He smirked as he watched her hold it out for him, the prepared aroma filling his nostrils even more. As he reached out to take it, she suddenly slapped it down, earning a squawk. "Hey-"

"You're too sick to move, Ragna." The rabbit did not burn Tsubaki's hands, as they were veiled underneath her black gloves. With a fork in one hand, she guided the piece to his mouth. "Let me."

"Heh," Ragna kept his smirk plastered on his face as he leered. "Since when were you for one to act so motherly, Tsu? Seriously, you've treated me like a child almost all night."

"Simply because you were and are getting sick even more. As well you were the one being repulsive and a bit reckless, tonight." She punctuated her light scold by putting the fork in his mouth. However, a small smile crept on her face. She couldn't help but admit that there was truth in his words; she had been a little pushy lately. But even in this situation… Shaking her head, she speared another piece of the meat and fed him again. "Stop whining."

"Yes, mom." Ragna repeated with his mouth rather full.

"And please refrain from eating with your mouth full, Ragna." This time, a giggle suppressed from her at his childish antics. Okay, so she was treating him like a child a bit. Memories swirled around Tsubaki's mind of how her mother and father would discipline her to be the perfect child. She paused after putting each piece in his mouth, letting him chew and swallow. Mild coughs and sneezes would arouse from the criminal, but he fought them down.

After several minutes of silence and periodic chewing, Ragna was finally full. He swallowed his last bite as he watched Tsubaki make her way to the fire. She appeared to have muttered another ars of some sort. Yellow numbers, counting down, hovered over the flames for just a moment, and then disappeared. Tsubaki smiled and walked back over to her sick boyfriend. "I've just set a timer for when the flames will die out. I hope we are asleep by then."

Ragna let out several coughs, mentally cursing about how damn cold it was. Shivering, he gave her a smile as she bent down and rested her head on his shoulder. Wrapping her in the cocoon of his one-arm embrace, he said, "Now I have a damn bedtime, too? Seriously, Tsu…"

She only laughed in response and snuggled closer. Ignoring his unnecessary comment, she looked up and offered, "Do you want the jacket back? You probably need it more than I do, now."

"Nah, I'm fine."

"…If you insist." Mild guilt weighed on Tsubaki as she looked him in the eye. "I… I apologize if I was being a bit forceful back there. And bossy."

"Heh, don't worry, Tsu. Sometimes I do need someone to keep me in check, don't I?" He tilted his head closer to hers. At nose-touching proximity, he continued, "Seriously though, thanks for taking care of me."

Ragna closed his eyes and took the lead. He claimed his lips with hers, creating a font of warmth between them. Tsubaki slightly moaned as she returned the kiss, hands coming up to press on his chest. Her eyes lidded, pleasure rousing through her body. The kiss felt that it just begun before Tsubaki pulled back, face no doubt red.

She looked over and saw that the dancing flames finally died down, leaving no light. Rain hammered down harder than ever across the forest. Tsubaki did not care, however. Rather, she beamed as she silently enveloped her boyfriend with both of her arms to help warm the pair up more. She felt that her heavy eyelids could not hold up any longer, and they fell down as she lolled her head on Ragna's shoulder. She at last drifted off to sleep.