[ml1201]

Wiping her eyes a bit she nods, "I was told she loved traveling before she became sick, which is why she walked with me a much as possible. And you're right, I shouldn't look at it that way because my mother wouldn't look at it that way either. auntie always did say my mother had a free spirit, and I guess I take after her now that I have an idea of what I want to do with my life." Turning she looks up at Akira, smiling happily.

[CycloneKira]

Akira smiles back at her and is silent for a moment, feeling glad that she's fine now. "I really wish I could have met your mother," he says, a little absently. "She sounds like a wonderful lady." He turns to her and smiles.

He then turns to look at the scenery. "Man, I could stay in this place my whole life!" he says. "What do you say we rest here for now and start walking again early in the evening?"

[ml1201]

"I wish I could have known her more myself, its all I remember about her to be honest. But she seems like she was." Hearing his suggestion about setting up came she nods in agreement, smiling as she sets down her bags to begin unpacking the camping gear. "So who's setting up camp and who will do the hunting for food and wood? The wood will be easy but getting game will be harder if there's not a stream nearby."

[CycloneKira]

Akira considers her question. "I don't think doing those things alone will be easy," he says, after a bit of thought. "How about this? We could go hunting together and then come back and set up camp. If we do it together, then the hunting will get done faster and neither of us will have to set up the tent alone, which I'm sure will be difficult."

[ml1201]

"Hmmm, good point, it would probably be better that way. So you want to take to the ground and me the trees? I can signal you when I find game for us, I'll use a morning dove call for that, it's too late in the day to be hearing them making that kind of call anyways." Climbing up into the trees she ties off the camping gear, it's far easier to leave it tied up like that than to leave it where someone can find it and run off with it or a wild animal finds it and get into their supplies.

[CycloneKira]

Akira watches her tie up their gear in the tree. "Yeah, sure," he says, noticing her adeptness at travelling through trees. "Let's get going, if you're done tying that up." He begins walking slowly through the forest floor, trying to be careful because they're on a mountain and he's walking on a slope.

[ml1201]

Nodding her head when she finishes, Yusa moves stealthily through the trees, being careful not to make any sounds or alert the animals on the ground about her presence. Going a head of Akira, she spots a rabbit in the under bush, sniffing around for food. Watching it for a moment to make sure nothing is around to scare it off before making the morning dove call for Akira to follow her to this location. Taking out some of the gear she has she begins setting up a manual trap in case the rabbit begins to run off.

[CycloneKira]

Akira watches her leave and goes in the direction that she took, making sure not to be too far behind that he can't hear her. He walks slowly and when he hears the dove call, he stops momentarily before nodding to himself and picking up his pace.

Soon, he spots Yusa from a few meters away, setting up a trap. He catches her eye and nods, telling her the trap is not necessary. He moves silently towards the unsuspecting rabbit and pounces on it, killing it in one strike.

[ml1201]

Seeing his signal, she waits and watches, impressed at how easily he killed the rabbit. Retracting the trap she puts it away and jumps down to meet up with him.

"Now to find some edible plants and we can make a nice stew with that rabbit. There might be some in this area since the rabbit was here..." Looking around she spots some plants with roots that are edible and mushrooms. "Looks like we're covered with this." Gathering enough for the two of them, she wraps it in an extra piece of cloth.

[CycloneKira]

Pleased with himself, Akira looks at Yusa, who has joined him, and nods. He watches her as she gathers the roots and then smiles as he takes the makeshift bag and carries it for her in one hand while carrying the rabbit in the other. Luckily, the rabbit is moderately sized, so it should be more than sufficient for them.

"This should be good enough for the two of us," he says. "Should we head back?" He wondered if there was anything else she wanted to do.

[ml1201]

"Yeah, it should be enough. Heading back now should be fine, we can start cooking the stew." She takes the lead back, making sure there's nothing head that will attack them for the rabbit. When they reach the clearing where they will be setting up camp she goes up into the trees to get their things, quickly setting up an area for skinning the rabbit and getting the fire going for the stew.

"I'm going to go to the stream and get some water, I'll be right back. You can get started on cutting everything up." Grabbing the pot she heads out into the woods to the stream.

[CycloneKira]

Akira follows behind her to their campsite and helps her in setting up camp. Then he listens to her and nods. "Fine, but make sure you're back soon," he says, before wondering what made him say that. It's only afternoon after all; it's not even close to evening time.

As he watches her leave, he shakes his head a little, amazed at himself. Then he obediently gets the roots out and uses some of the water that they brought with them to wash the roots and begins cutting them up. The cutting gets done rather quickly, since he has done some cutting for his mother before.

[ml1201]

Wondering around in the woods, Yusa looks among the forest floor for branches that could be used for kindling. She spots some smaller branches that can be used for starting the fire, but is having trouble finding larger pieces that will burn longer. Spotting a cave she sees some larger branches there and cautiously goes to check it out. Finding a few decent sized pieces she ties them altogether in a bundle, tossing it onto her back just as she hears growling coming from the bushes. Crawling towards her on their bellies she sees some wolves, barring their fangs at her. Sighing she ignores them and heads back towards camp, a wolf deciding to try it's luck with her. Ducking she uses her hands to manuver it over her and into the mouth of the cave. The wolf giving a surprised yelp as it hits the ground on its side instead of landing on her. The other two decide to back off and go nurse the injured one, and Yusa returns to camp without a scratch on her.

"I had to go a bit out of the way but I managed to get some decent kindling." Smiling she sets down the bundle and makes a ring with the stones to get ready for the fire.

[CycloneKira]

Akira looks up at her. "That's great," he says. "The roots are cut up too, so we can make the stew as soon as the fire's ready." He pauses for a moment, noticing that she seems really pleased.

"What is it?" he asks her, with a smile on his face. "You seem pretty happy." Not that he is about to complain. He is glad that she is cheerful.

[ml1201]

"Hm...I guess I'm just glad to be able to do as I want instead of always having to take orders from someone else. Or people making decisions for me. And doing mundane things like gathering wood and such is kind of calming to me in a sense." Wiping her hands together she gets most of the dirt off her hands, then wipes her hands in the grass. "Alright, the wood is ready for lighting. Stand back a bit so you don't get singed." Making a quick sign with her hands, she breaths a small stream of fire on the wood to light it.

[CycloneKira]

Akira has a gentle smile on his face, until Yusa breathes fire on the wood, which mildly surprises him. He knew that the Yukiyama clan specializes in Ice-style ninjutsu. He guesses that everyone has some knowledge on all fighting styles. After all, the Koga clan specializes in fire, but you can see other styles being used from time to time.

"Right, now to get the stew ready," he says and proceeds to get the pot on the fire. After a while, once the stew is done, he takes the kettle off the fire. Time to dig in.