"How are you holding up?" Tsume asked.
"Exhausted like hell, but it seems like there's going to be less work now," I cracked my neck. "If Iwa doesn't decide to try us again by knocking out patrols first, I might even be able to run around with you, leaving Chifuyu to handle the hospital."
"Mmm..."
And we fell silent again, watching the flames dance in the campfire.
"Alright, we're going to sleep," Ishi announced after ten minutes, exchanging glances with her neighbor.
"Good night," I nodded.
Watching the pair head off to one tent together, I smirked—managed to find myself a girl here, forgetting about my first crush in the Hyuga clan. So it goes.
"I'm so tired," Tsume muttered, leaning against my shoulder. "This isn't at all how I imagined my career."
"As if they asked for our opinion before sending us here," I snorted. "Even though they talk about the war ending soon and making peace with Iwagakure, we're going to be stuck here for a while."
"That's what I'm afraid of," my partner sighed. "If it's already this crappy after four months of war, what will happen next? And what about those who've been fighting for a long time?"
"Well, don't compare yourself to veterans who are ten or fifteen years older," I chuckled. "We're basically fresh out of the sandbox and straight into war. It's lucky it wasn't in full swing or we'd be toast. As for those who've been fighting for a long time, well, they're sitting around with empty eyes. So hang in there. At least for the sake of returning to those waiting for us at home."
I hugged the kunoichi and patted her shoulder reassuringly.
"Home... I want to go home too, to a soft bed, to bathe in a real bath, to eat normal food instead of this stupid camp stove meal," my partner whispered softly.
Home? I want that too, but who's going to let us go? It seems like just recently I left the village and already miss Saya, who always wants to do something and sticks her nose everywhere, Mito and little Kushina, and that cheerful and cozy Linli... I snapped out of my thoughts only when the first drops of rain started to fall from the cloud-covered night sky, and the campfire had nearly burned out.
Glancing at Tsume, I found that she had fallen asleep, leaning against my side with her head on my shoulder. And to think, not long ago she didn't think of me as a friend or even a comrade. Looking at her relaxed face now, she still seems like such a young girl—it's the perfect time to start looking at boys, getting interested in clothes and parties, instead of killing people. Sighing, I stood up from the ground, holding her shoulders with my right hand and lifting her legs with my left.
Easily carrying the kunoichi's light figure, I brought her to the tent under the watchful eye of the dog, and then in the intensified rain, I headed towards the infirmary—I still have work to do before I can go to sleep. And I need to let the assistants go—they didn't set up their tents nearby like I did. After all, who wants to listen to the moans of the wounded even at night? But I'm used to it.
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