Hitsuzen, Part V

Ellinia forests were quiet. Canopies of trees huddle closely overhead, letting only a few rays of sunlight drip through. The looming trees are old, but not as old as the forest itself. The air smelled of rotting leaves and morning dew. Slimes and green mushrooms hid playfully while Hitsuzen made their way through.
Liutenant Dai walked along side his horse with the Four Captains. Bowmen slung their bows around them and walked with the assassins, while the bandits talked quietly with the warriors of tactics and skills. The mages walked silently, admiring the forests of their origin.
Tadeyo found his way to Dai's side, and Dai began to speak of his youth in Ellinia.
"It was awkward for a while growing up here," he began. "My father was a mage, but my mother was a bowman. So I grew up learning to be both. When I was educated to be a wizard here, the bowman blood in me slipped away, and now I barely remember how to aim. Sad, huh?
"Yon and I used to play in these trees as children, and she'd always lose," he said laughing. "We would practice hopping from branch to branch, and she'd hate me because I would just teleport when she was winning. Once, she got so angry she stomped on a branch without thinking, and it broke right under her feet." Tadeyo and Dai laughed at the image of Yon's girlish screaming as she fell until Yon came up behind them and grabbed their shoulders.
"Laugh all you want, Dai," she said vengefully, "If I recall correctly, you cried like a baby when a stump snuck up on you when we were playing in the Growing Tree's top branches when we were fourteen."
Tadeyo burst into laughter when Dai's face flushed of color. He punched Dai playfully on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Liutenant," he said. "I fell out of the Border Tree back in the village trying to impress a girl."
"I wonder which girl," Yon says, winking at him. Tadeyo smiled at her mockingly, as if telling her to shut up rather than agreeing.
The leaves and branches that towered over them began to rustle, and a loud crack of a branch was heard partnered with a yelp of surprise.
"Oh," Swift says looking into the tree branches rustling above. "Speak of the devil..."
Yurei came falling out of the branches above along with a broken tree branch. Tadeyo ran and caught her before she hit the ground, and stared at her face for a moment. Yurei, panting for air, stared back.
"Hey you," she said casually.
"Hey you," he replied teasingly. He glanced up to the tree. "Falling from the sky, are we?" He put her down and she wobbled off, dusting her clothes of the leaves sticking to her.
"Where were you," Tauto asked. "You've been missing for quite a while."
"Ah," Yurei said. "I was delivering messages, and requesting help." She hugged Dai and Swift at the same time. "Why, were you worried?"
"Slightly," Tauto admit. "You just disappeared."
"Hmm," Yurei said monotone. "I'm sorry. But..." She turned to Tadeyo and looked him in the eye. "I found Chun Ji."
Tadeyo lifted his eyebrows at the name, and said, "How is he doing? What'd he say?"
She reached into a pack tied to Dai's horse and pulled out a water bottle, and uncapped it. "He's living on the street with the poor, I'm assuming to blend in. Most of Alaitoc is that way, right? Well, anyways. He said no."
Tadeyo's eyes fell to the ground. "Hm, I knew he would've said that." He walked towards Yurei and put his arm around her neck. "I'm glad you're back."
Yurei smiled her delicate smile and leaned into him. "Likewise."

Camp was set up right around the entrance to the dungeon, their next challenge. Fireflies floated in the air, heightening the magical feeling of the forest. Glows of lights from inside the tents began to extinguish as members began to fall into sleep.
Tadeyo crawls into the small tent pitched for Yurei and himself. The lamp in the corner of the tent glowed dim orange, warming the tent in the cold forest. He threw his shirt off and plopped on his back on the sheets, and began dozing off. Yurei crawled in the tent a little while after he started hearing voices that signed sleep, and he came to.
"You sleepy," she said taking off her shirt, revealing a sports bra.
"Yeah, kind of," he said softly. He closed his eyes, listening to her voice.
"Aww," she said cutely. "I wanted to do something before we crash out."
"Heh," he mused. "Like what?" He opened his eyes to see her kicking her pants off. She took her hair down and closed the tent closed with the clip from her hair, and crawled passionately on top of him.
"Mmmm," he said smiling at her as her face came closer to his. She smiled as she felt up his chest. She kissed him as soon as her face met his, rubbing her body onto his. He rolled herover on to her back and kissed her neck lightly. "Mmmm, maybe I'm not all that tired," he teased, tracing his tounge to the lobe of her ear. She let out a soft moan, and smiled.
"That's what I thought," she teased.