Remember Kitsune

Part One: Kukiko

Tamoya gave a soft smile, nodding at the younger kids before him. "It's a pleasure to meet you all."

Kukiko grinned, "Well of course, it's always a pleasure to meet me-" Eiji shoved her to the side, earning a growl from Kukiko in return.

"Alright we should go ahead and leave now if we want to be back by tonight." Eiji told his team and they all gave a short nod before gathering their bags and began heading out the village. Hyousuke and Kukiko took the front, Maru took the back with Eiji while Tamoya was in between the trained ninjas.

"I'm so excited Hyou-kun! It'll be nice to get out of the snow for a bit." Kukiko exclaimed excitedly.

Hyousuke smiled at his best friend, "The Hana bridge is still basically in the Land of Snow, so there'll be a bit of snow there too."

"I hope it's not as bad as here, we get blizzards." The snow white hair girl muttered.

Hyousuke slowly began to frown and Kukiko noticed the change in his facial expression. Kukiko grasped his hand, causing him to stutter in shock and flush at their interlocked fingers. "What's wrong, you're never this down in the blues."

"I don't know... I just, feel like something bad might happen." Hyousuke shrugged.

Kukiko gave a bright smile. "Don't worry about it, all we're doing is escorting someone. Nothing bad can happen right?"

_-_-_-_

The trip to Hana Bridge was slow and relaxing. In the front was Eiji, leading the group on the right route. In the middle was Tamoya with Maru, the pair making small talk, and in the very back was Kukiko and Hyousuke.

Starting to already get bored with their journey, Kukiko sighed out loud, "Ne
Hyou-kun, what do you think about that Tamoya guy?"

Hyousuke hummed in silence and brought up his hand to scratch at his cheek, like usual. In deep thought he tilted his head towards the girl next to him and shrugged. "I'm not sure, to be honest, why do we need to escort him across a old shaken bridge? I don't know it's kinda sketchy in my opinion."

Kukiko nodded, taking in his information. To be honest it was rare for foreigners to come into their village for help. Usually they will go to the bigger and nicer, and warmer, villages for help, like Konohagakure. Their village was basically in the middle of no where, in between miles of snow with constant blizzards. Kukiko has never been outside the village before, and she never really experienced hot weather, but she's so used to the cold it basically became in her nature to just wear shorts to feel the cold.

But other than the coldness of her village, she always read about other places and she always wanted to travel more.

Looks like her dream is becoming a reality.

"I don't know, he seems pretty normal to me." She shrugged.

Hyousuke frowned as he watched Maru laugh at something Tamoya said. His whole presence was starting to put the young boy off and the further they traveled the more concerned he was of their safety. "Let's just agree to keep an eye out for him, alright?"

"Mm!" Kukiko agreed.

_-_-_-_

         "Okay we will stop here for a little bit to eat lunch. If we continue to travel at this rate, we should reach the bordering Hana Bridge in the next hour or so." Eiji called out to everyone as they paused at a little clearing.

They field was still littered with snow but they all gathered around and sat atop of rocks that weren't covered with as much snow. Kukiko pulled out the food her mother prepared and handed it out to Eiji and began to open hers. As she was eating she noticed Hyousuke scooting closer to her and crossing his arms. "So Tamoya-san," Hyousuke raised a brow, "Where are you from?"