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The Hare shouldn't have felt THIS tired. They had pushed themselves hard for days, but he should have been able to handle a normal watch without such troubles. He tried to get himself up, but his legs just weren't moving so fast, and his head only wanted to-

All the hairs on his neck seemed to rise at once, and his head jolted upright, blinking in confusion as he saw the little girl standing in front of the camp, looking at him with big eyes, silent. The white kimono might have been a little bit disquieting in such a dead place, but perhaps it was because his clan tended to wear mostly white that it didn't particularly seem to unsettle him. Standing, the Hare wondered if she might have been with the men they'd chased earlier... only he couldn't imagine them having families with them, on this kind of murderous mission in the middle of nowhere.

Perhaps it was possible that some people still lived somewhere nearby, hidden? Such a secluded and likely paranoid, but not openly hostile, settlement might have explained the disappearance of Miyako even, as unlikely as it seemed.

As unlikely as she seemed.

The Hare rose carefully.

"Hello," he said carefully, feeling uneasy but with hands nowhere near his weapons, "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, don't-!"

She was running. The Hare would round quickly on the nearest of his companions, raising his voice and approaching them rapidly, giving them a firm nudge with his foot.

"____-san!" he'd bark quickly, "Wake up, there's someone, I have to-"

He'd try and wake them, but he didn't want to let this possible set of answers get away, and in about a moment they'd either be left very confused, or very asleep as he bounded after the little girl.

"Wait, girl-chan! I mean you no harm!"

Fortunately, he suspected himself a fast enough runner to keep up with a girl not yet come to her gempakku (rolling athletics if necessary to keep sight of her).

The Hare hated leaving his companions with no one up on guard, but the opportunity was simply too golden to just abandon. Hustling after the girl, he rounded the corner, trying to keep one eye out for signs of a not-impossible, maybe not even improbable, ambush while wondering how exactly to convince her that he wasn't super-scary.

He wasn't even that bi-

Oh.

Well.

Maybe to her and, say, Miyako he was.

He was catching up, good- but she could certainly move for her size, all the same.

"Wait, please! My friend- a samurai woman in red- I need to know if you've seen her!"

Huffing between shouting and continuing to try to close the gap, the Hare pursued further.

The Hare, having gained much ground, would burst around the corner quickly, hoping he might finally-

Wait. What? Where?

The road was empty.

Feeling quite perplexed, he frowned, looking about. "Girl? Are you alright?" he said, suddenly a little more worried there might have been some kind of ambush intended, assuming she hadn't simply found a hole and gone to ground. Slowing, the Hare would carefully look for some sign or other of her passing.

[5k2 Perception/Investigation: 19]

"It's Miyako who's not all right," the little girl would say.

Oh, she's standing directly behind you, Denbe.

"Please, you need to help her!"

The little girl would nod, and extend her hand out, up towards Denbe, saying nothing.

And with that, Denbe's world, including the girl, would fade to black, as so would he.

Ujina Denbe, you are no longer allowed to post in this thread.

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@ Kojiro, Kagae, Masuyo:

A man's bloodcurdling scream off in the distance suddenly pierces the night, waking the three of you. Denbe is nowhere in sight.

There IS a heavily cloaked man that was leaning over Masuyo's prone form, moonlight glistening off of his blade from the wide-open doorway, as he was carefully moving it towards her throat. He, too, seems caught off guard by the scream, and is momentarily stunned.