Fandom Squad Shithead: A Naruto AU

[Gilzar]

As Tetsuo situated himself to sleep, Mizu just stared at the fireplace. Shamefully she too would avoid looking at Tetsuo in an attempt to just put what had happened behind them. But as she sat there alone with her thoughts, recounting what had just occurred, a dreadful feeling washed over her. She anxiously dug her fingernails into her thighs, and bit at her lip so slightly at the embarrassing realization that Tetsuo had woken her up in the midst of one of the most frightening dreams she ever had. It hadn't even been five minutes since she woke up, and already Mizu was wishing she had been calmer when Tetsuo woke her up.

After an unknown amount of time, Mizu carefully peeked over her shoulder to look at Tetsuo. He was laying on his side, and it seemed unlikely that he was still awake. Once again Mizu found herself sighing in relief. This probably wasn't as big of a deal as she was thinking it was. She reached behind her and slowly pulled her staff out, balancing it on top of her crossed legs.

Mizu would spend the next hour shifting her gaze between the fire and her surroundings while listening to the rain come and go. The rain was steadily shifting between ferociously coming down, almost like a storm, to a calm drizzle that was almost relaxing to listen to. The genin did her best to try and look out of the camp at their surroundings, but the rain and the darkness made it almost impossible.

Although she did her best to maintain an attentive watch, the images of her nightmare would spill over from the back of her exhausted mind and distract her from her duty. Blankly she would stare into the fire for minutes at a time, just mentally walking through each scene she was forced to observe. Eventually she would snap out of it, and once again resume guarding the camp. After repeating this cycle countless times, the rain once again picked up and pelted the outskirts of the camp. Just as her attention was beginning to fade, she instinctively went through the motion of looking to her right side. As her gaze passed between Tetsuo and Katsuro, she noticed something in the shadow of the forest just outside their camp. Leaning forward, she tried to get a better look at what it could be. Something big and dark was veiled by the shadow. From where she sat it almost looked like a puddle...but it was moving?!

Mizu slowly raised herself to her feet. As she stood up, she slid her staff over to her left hand. Silently she stared out at whatever was moving in the darkness. Heartrate began to rise, pounding faster and faster as the possibilities raced through her mind over what it could be. Was it some kind of strange animal? Could it be the shadow of someone trying to sneak up to their camp? Still remaining quiet, Mizu glanced over at her teammates. They were all sound asleep. Only she was awake to deal with this.

For a moment she debated about waking up the others. But after thinking of what just happened with Tetsuo, she opted not to. The last thing she wanted was to have another potential overreaction. It was probably nothing...right?

Mizu pulled out her cellphone and walked to the edge of the camp, just to where the canopy above them ended. She flipped it open, activated the small flashlight, and tried to get another look at whatever could have been by their camp.

 

[Pine]

The moment Mizu aimed her cell phone's flashlight, the light bounced back at her, reflecting off of a pair of dark, beady eyes. The figure froze in its place, seemingly transfixed by the cone of light. Not only did her flashlight succeed in having this paralytic effect on the creaturer, but it served to highlight its reddish, straw-like hair, glossy from the downpour, and gave clarity to the edges of its form, allowing her to more easily identify the figure that stood before her.

It was a juvenile bushpig. Older than a piglet, and seemed to be in good health, but nowhere near the size of a fully grown adult. It stood with its hooves firmly planted, one leg forward, and though its snout still touched the forest floor, its eyes were staring unblinkingly at the light, and by proxy, seemed to stare back at Mizu.

For the moment, it seemed reluctant to move.

 

[Gilzar]

Surprised that something was actually in the shadows, Mizu instinctively jolted her body back at the sight of the young pig. She pointed the end of her staff at the boar with a firm grip to keep something between them as she processed the situation in a tired state. Realizing how young the pig was, and that it wasn't behaving aggressively, Mizu relaxed and lowered the front end of her staff to the ground. Quietly she shook her head. Of all the things she thought would be lurking in the shadows, a young brightly colored bushpig wasn't one of them. Although she didn't know much about wild pigs, she doubted one of this size posed much of a threat to the camp. For a moment she winced, imagining how bad it would have been if she had actually woken everyone up for this.

She was hoping that the pig would have run off by now. Yet it didn't seem too keen on moving. Both of them were now just awkwardly standing there. The only source of movement between the two of them was the cold, heavy rain pelting them with every second that passed. Not keen on waiting in the rain any longer, Mizu tried to get the bushpig to move.

"Go on, get out of here!" Mizu whispered loudly at the pig.