Things Just Got A Bit Fuzzy... [Karukaya, or Invite Only]

"Doctors make the worst patients." Taking the note, he glanced over it quickly before setting it down, "Speak of the devil; she's off training. Not surprising, really; it's got to be refreshing to have new training areas and the different climate; it's so much drier here, even in mid-summer. She says if we need her to 'follow our noses', so she's likely off in the woods somewhere. Likely won't be back until late tonight or into tomorrow, then." With her head on his lap now, he began stroking her hair some; making sure he was careful not to disturb the ears as much as possible. They where getting large now, if he had to guess he'd call them nearly done forming.

"Well, between the morphine and the bone liquefying exhaustion, I don't see us going anywhere today or tonight. You can out off telling your Dad about this until tomorrow. Give us time to come up with a reason beyond 'Fuck off, I don't care' to keep the medics and weird science nerds off you." There was no way there weren't some of those type here; they existed everywhere really, and he'd had a hell of a time keeping them off Coen when he'd first started showing signs of being more intelligent than a normal kangaroo, and every time he showed some new ability they'd come out of the woodwork. He'd been lucky with Roku; the little guy was so small that he was easily hidden. Speaking of Roku, the little child was climbing up the blankets hanging over the edge of the bed; he'd woken up from a nap when Karu had carried Jayr to bed and was being curious. His little horned head appeared over the edge of the bed and he started burbling curiously, "Jayr? Daddy?"

WC: 326

326 + 2960 = 3286

2000/2000 D-Rank Medical Ninjutsu

1286/2000 C-Rank Medical Ninjutsu

So Temaki was off training? That was good, that was very good. Anyone would have to be stupid to get close enough without knowing what they were dealing with – and if Temaki was like her then she likely had essentially roped off an area with nearly harmless traps to keep anyone from getting too close. Plus, there was Blast – the big wolf likely was running patrols around the area while Temaki trained as well, if he wasn't training with her that was. Good, it meant she didn't have to worry about Captain Yen trying anything while she wasn't around: she knew she was going to have to speak to her father about the female sooner rather than later, but definitely not today. ”I figured she might disappear off to the woods for some training at some point.” Even on vacation Jayr herself would have done the same.

”Hm... Yeah, no. I have no intentions of moving further then I have to. I'm quite happy just like this.”, she said softly. If her father showed up, curious as to why he hadn't saw her all day then that would be a different story, but her life wasn't in immediate danger so there was no real reason to alert him about this at the moment, especially given how tired she was. Plus, she didn't want to risk moving the wrong way and causing herself issues.

And then she heard something, something very adorable. Cana was already sniffing at Roku, both because she was curious, and because she was afraid he might fall: over protective fuzzy was over protective. Jayr shifted her head only slightly, quite content with the stroking that Karu was doing of her hair, so that she could look upon Roku. She smiled tiredly. ”Hello, there~” Cana, meanwhile, laid herself down right next to the bed; making an effective cushion should Roku fall.

The little boy smiled when attention was focused on him; he seemed to feed on happy emotions and attention about as much as he did on actual food, so being the center of attention, even for a moment, was like a surprise treat after his nap. Karu reached over carefully and lifted Roku up by the little robe he wore; the boy was so unbelievably lite for his size that it didn't hurt him to be carried that way. He placed the boy properly on the bed in front of them, so he could crawl around and play if he wanted to. "G'morning, little one. Nice nap?"

"Daddy.~"

"I'll be so happy when he picks up 'yes'."

"Jayr? Hurt?"

Oh. Again, random new words. For Jayr's benefit, "So, we've realized that Roku can... sense things. Emotions and the like; he feeds on emotions and such, so it's not surprising. I'm not even sure how I know he feeds on emotions, but Coen agrees with me on that, so we're running with it. Given we don't even know what Roku is... we're just going with the flow now." Roku crawled closer to Jayr, little hands pressed to her cheek gently and his focus entirely on her for a moment, "Jayr pain. Jayr hurt?"

WC: 240

240 + 3286 = 3526

2000/2000 D-Rank Medical Ninjutsu

1526/2000 C-Rank Medical Ninjutsu

He was adorable, there was no question about it. Jayr was slightly surprised though how quickly he picked up on the fact that she was in pain, but Karu's explanation did a lot to placate her curiosity. The fact that Roku could sense emotions was rare; though not completely unheard of from the books and such she had read when younger.

When he put his little hands on her cheek and mentioned that she was in pain, and asked again if she were hurt, she bit her bottom lip and thought about how to explain things to such a young child. ”I'm... growing a few extra parts.”, she settled on by way of explanation. As if to add to it her ears, now having finally finished the painful growing process, gave a wiggle: they were clear now, and no longer sounded as if she were under water – but she was ignoring the strangeness of the difference in hearing to remain focused on Roku. ”It hurt a bit at first, but not so much now... Your daddy is going to make a great doctor.” Which wasn't a lie of course; Karu had indeed helped her a lot, or else she likely would have been on the floor screaming in pain by now or even worse off then that.

"Well, I sort of am already, just not for humans. I'm... three classes and a test away from a proper veterinarian license. Amazing what you can do in less than a year, when you work yourself ragged." He was only partially joking; he did work insanely hard at the things he cared about, and that was one of them. He was nearly done with a license that normally took three years to get, in less than 12 months; while working full time as a ninja with significant rank.

"Daddy smart.~"

"I quit. He's just messing with us now, I swear. He's got a new word every minute. This is faster than Coen ever was. Roku, you amaze me."

"Yay! Daddy happy!"

He just chuckled, he was literally done trying to track growth at this point. It just wasn't worth it anymore; not in the sense of trying to be anything but overly proud and such.

"Jayr special. Jayr strong like Daddy.~"

"Jayr is stronger than Daddy, Roku. Much stronger. Not that it much matters, it just means that she can protect us as well as I can protect her, or Temaki can protect both of us. She's always been special, she's just more so now."

"Roku special?"

"Very special, son." Karu patted the little boy on the head like he liked, and that had Roku giggling happily. In that way only little children could be, he was suddenly very interested in playing with Cana, so he crawled across the bed back toward her and leaned over the edge, reaching with a little arm to poke at her fur.

"Kids, I swear."

WC: 304

304 + 3526 = 3830

2000/2000 D-Rank Medical Ninjutsu

1830/2000 C-Rank Medical Ninjutsu

”Mm.. it's a good thing, too. I know only the basics when it comes to animals, so all of this...”, she motioned to her new ears – which were shifting with every sound at this point painlessly – and her tail which was almost fully covered in thick fur ”Is new to me. Especially since Cana wasn't a puppy when I found her; she was smaller then she is, but not that small.”

She listened to Roku and Karu and chuckled a bit. ”Kid's are adorable... I remember how adorable Cana was when I found her. She didn't have such a big fuzzy butt though...”

Cana's attention focused onto Roku and she lifted her head. She sniffed at him happily enough, her tail thudding quickly against the floor in a rhythmic pattern. She licked at his face and offered the equivalent of a wolfy grin. She glanced to Jayr with bright blue eyes and then licked at her too. ”You didn't find me, you saved me. And my butt isn't that big, puppy.”, Cana said playfully, easily catching on to Jayr's better mood – she couldn't smell the pain in the air anymore, and it was changing Cana's emotions from worrying, to happy.

”... You did not just call me a puppy.”

”What if I did, puppy? What are you going to do about it?”

”I'mma... nothing. I'm too comfy.”, Jayr said with a chuckle. She was far too content to want to move, even if she was feeling a bit more playful. She felt a thumping on the bed, separate from what she was hearing now from Cana's own tail, and lifted her head enough to see her white with a black tip tail hitting the bed. ”Huh... gonna have to get used to that.”

”You're a happy puppy...”

”You keep calling me a puppy and I might reconsider wanting to move...”, Jayr warned, playfully.

"To be fair, you look like a giant puppy right now. I rather like it." Karu was amused by all this, watching how Jayr and Cana or Temaki and Blast interacted made him feel less strange about his relationship with Coen and Roku; how many ninja could say their partners where basically their kids; especially at his age. The way they all acted, it was obvious they where just three little families, that was working on becoming one proper family if things kept going so smoothly.

Roku was so small and light that even a gentle lick was enough to knock him off balance a bit, even when he was crawling around. He could walk just fine, really, but he preferred to crawl still. Once his balance was righted, he grabbed handfuls of Cana's fur and pulled himself up onto her back, stretching to lay down across her and tug softly on the soft hairs. He was fascinated by the texture and feel of the fuzzy, "Cana soft. Like Cana.~"

WC: 177

177 + 3830 = 4007

2000/2000 D-Rank Medical Ninjutsu

2007/2000 C-Rank Medical Ninjutsu

”See? Even Karu agrees. So there..” Cana stuck her tongue out, at least until her attention shifted to Roku once more. He was climbing on her at this point and she didn't mind at all – she was used to children after all, especially Jayr's younger sister Mittens, and Roku was even littler then her and far lighter too. ”I like you, too~”, Cana responded happily, a sound akin to a cat purring escaping the over grown wolf.

Jayr couldn't help but grin at Karu's comment. Oh, she didn't doubt she looked like a puppy now – in fact, she damn sure was acting like one – considering her tail which wouldn't stop twitching and moving.

She listened to Cana and simply chuckled as she cuddled up more to Karu. She was content now, and all of the pain was gone – thankfully. The growing had fully finished too, including the for that now covered both her tail and her ears; blending right in with her very white hair. Jayr let out a relaxed sigh. ”Mmm... no more pain. So much better.”