Subject to Study (Naga!Brothers x Reader)

Chapter 48

I grunted as I hefted a fallen log that was nearly as long as I was tall, struggling underneath its rotten weight as I tried to pull it from the pathway that Todo had wanted cleared. Something began to twinge in my left rib cage, making me grit my teeth before giving one last heave and tossing the log to the ground. The naga moved to where I stood panting, hands pressed onto my sides as I watched him inspect the area.

His copper eyes swept across the pathway that had been cleared while a satisfied look settled on his face, taking a moment to 'stand' in the obstacle-free area.

"And...?" I tried to drag out a verbal response from Todo, catching his eye from over his shoulder. Todo glanced away, looking suddenly more interested in the ground underneath his scales.

"It took you a lot longer than I thought it would," His response was sharp as Todo finally turned towards me with his arms crossed over his chest, "If you're having this much trouble with one of the easier tasks, then I'll have to rethink some of the heavier chores..."

"Todo, I didn't train to be in a weightlifting competition," I let my hands drop, a strained expression flashing in my eyes, "Not many humans can easily lift a fallen tree. The only reason I was able to move the rocks in your cage back at the zoo was because the larger ones were fake."

"I know," He met my eyes once more in a challenge, holding my gaze for a few seconds before looking away while tucking a hand underneath his chin, "Come with me."

"Okay...?" I quickly fell in line as Todo moved down the pathway, both of us travelling deeper into his territory. There wasn't a response to my unasked question as we walked, and I looked at my new surroundings.

When I had been deployed here, this was part of a large chunk of unknown terrain that the previous teams hadn't had the chance to explore. It was a darker part of the island as the canopy nearly swallowed the sunlight with its thickness, and the undergrowth shifted from the larger bushes to smaller, but more diverse, foliage. Vines crawled up the thinning trunks of trees before spreading their fingers amongst the higher branches, adding to the dense cover.

I was reminded of the time when my stomach began to protest my choice of not eating anything since my bath.

"How often do you need to eat?" Todo barely turned around to acknowledge what he definitely heard.

"When I had a steady supply of food, I ate up to three times a day," I resisted rubbing my stomach at the thought of some favorite foods I no longer had access to, "But with these conditions...as long as I have a steady supply of freshwater, I can go five or six days without eating. Anything longer and my body will think I'm starving...and that's not a phase I'd like to get to."

"Why?" Something I said caught Todo's attention, halting his progress and making him fully face me.

"Well...my body will start eating itself. It's a slow process and can be slowed further if I have water throughout the day, but..." I closed my eyes against the thought of me wasting away in front of the nagas, "I'll get thinner with each passing day as my body eats up fat and muscle when there's no more energy stores left to feed from. There haven't been any studies done on exactly how long a human can survive without food and water, since it's in the 'illegal human experimentation' department, but there are quite a few guesses that a human can't survive past a month -- two months at most -- without food."

The pattoni naga simply stared at me, the quiet nearly unsettling as his copper eyes swept over my face.

"Then we should do the other tasks first..."

Without another word, Todo grabbed my hand and dragged me a few feet before I caught my footing, following as well as I could without stepping on or near his tail.