Chapter 5

Kuri had taken the night-watch shift this time mainly because Ami was too tired for it and because she didn’t want Rayne watching them while they slept. –No thank you- Kuri thought. She silently jumped into the tree she was sitting under and gripped her sword in case of any encounters.

She closed one eye, and kept the other one open while she quietly listened for any unusual sound and watched for any movement. As the minutes slowly went by, nothing had really seemed suspicious, that was until, Kuri heard a strange sound off toward the east. Kuri stood up, gripping her sword tightly, she began to jump from tree to tree towards the noise to investigate. It was all fine until she misjudged the distance between two branches and slipped off a branch with a 'Thump' that had left a slight imprint onto the ground. Silently groaning, she quickly got back to her feet and headed towards the noise.

Rayne was startled awake. She leapt to her feet and looked around, trying to identify what had awoken her. She paused for a moment to try and identify the sound. Rayne then heard a crack and a thump before she could really find out what had made that sound. She went to investigate.

Slipping through the shadows, Rayne soon reached the place where she heard the thump and crack. Rayne saw a broken branch and a slight indent in the earth, someone fell. –Must’ve been Kuri, she seems to always be in the trees.- Rayne thought, stepping out and observing the dent.

Kuri saw Rayne snooping around where she fell and anger flared inside her. –That little witch, it was her all along.- I leapt from my tree and landed behind her.

Kuri drew her sword and pointed it at Rayne. “You bastard, it was you who made those noises! What’re you doing snooping around like that huh?!”

Rayne held up her hands defensively “Whoa whoa whoa put the sword away kid.”

Kuri clenched glared “I am not a kid. And no I will not.” Rayne sighed but kept her hands up in a defensive position, although she made no move to draw a weapon and fight back.

She sighed. “Kid, I heard something and woke up because of it. Then I heard a branch crack and a loud thug so I went to investigate. Wouldn’t you if you heard something like that?” Kuri considered it for a moment. She nodded, agreeing that she would’ve gone and checked it out, but she didn’t lower her sword.

-
Ami woke up startled. She hurried out of her tent and saw that both Kuri and Rayne were gone. –Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.-

Something wasn’t right, Ami was sure of it. She felt as though something were watching. She crawled into a nearby bush and watched for anything strange. She’d waited for a little while and got tired of it. –There probably isn’t anything anyway- She thought and walked out of the bush, and into the camp. She stretched.

Ami didn’t notice the creature that darted around the camp.
-

Rayne sighed, still keeping her hands up. “Good, you don’t trust quickly. I like you, you’re very smart. But maybe you could just put your sword away for a moment and look around for the real cause of the noise instead of instantly assuming it was me?” Kuri was about to reply ‘no’ but a scream interrupted her.

She and Rayne swung around toward the sound, and Kuri paled, recognizing the voice.

“Ami!”