From the sound of the others feet hitting the ground- quiet, so quiet, barely hearable, not there at all; so hearable, so loud, so loud it was almost painful for Senritsu- she figured the other was probably a man based on the narrowness of the steps. Far behind her in the blackness that lay like a thick cloak over the road the steps were loud in the night that was so cold frost had grown like flower on the muddy ground beneath. He was taller than her, much taller she gathered from the rhytmn of the steps based on the lenght of the legs- though the young woman also knew that it had not needed much to be taller than her before
(bones shattering like glass, skin ripped, her flesh crushed and mended back together wrongly, her skull cracking, cracking, cracking in the tact of that song-)
-the curse, and now after
(Ask screams, the song so loud it was everything filling her mind, the melody of her own skull cracking-)
-the curse she had even lost a foot in height.
And he was trained as a shinobi, the woman figured, though while every village had their own way of walkingpattern based on their own way of training the Genin, she could for now not recognize the rhytmn of that song. Tilting her head from one side to another like a thoughtful bird the woman figured that she was beside her keen ears not all -knowing and the only time she did interacted with shinobi was when she was hired as a musician for a nobleman, so naturally she heard not every rhytmn of song that was a shinobis pattern of walking. Senritsu still wondered as she continued to listen: For the frostflowers breaking beneath their feet, for the wind stroking with icy hands over the ricefields along the road, for the buzzing of electricity in the town down the road sleeping far from soundless in the late night, for the small hut with the groaning oven before the citywall where the nightguard was waiting to reopen the townsgate in the morning, for the others too slow heartbeat that made her worry for his health, for the others singsang of breathing, and for the melody of his steps.
The town was surrounded by a wall and in the thick blackness with only a faint glow of starlight the electricity cables reaching up the wall looked like snakes crawling up to it. Before the towns closed gate stood a small hut for the nightguard to stay in any anyone else who had not maanged to reach the town before the gate wwas closed at nightfall- Senritsu heard hearself sigh so heavy her shoulder sank down; she had hoped despite the late hour that she could get inside the town so all the way through the ricefields she had dreamed for the heat of a rooms radiator making the air crack and the dry sigh of tatamimatts beneath her weight that was so wonderful compared to the muddy roadearth grunt under every step.
Tapping her fingers in a restless, almsot frustrated melody against the side of her legs the goze walked over to the nightguards hut.
"Nightguard!", Senritsu knocked her knuckles against the doorframe and heard the tiny frostflower shatter loud like glass. SHe grimmaced by the sound, but still waited for the guard ont he other side to get up: "Two people! Open the door, please. Its still too long till morning to wait outside."
Behind the door Senritsu could hear the nightguard grumble and grumbling still the door was shoved open with a scratching noise of wood against wood that made Senritsu flinch back over the sudden loudness. Inside the small hut the warmth of the oven and the scent of a pot of stew was like a friendly hand waving her inside despite the nightguard turning back to a book with a heartbeat sounding like a annoyingly ripped violinestring, yet instead Senritsu stepped back again and looked back in the blackness hanging like a coat around the warm light spilling out of the open door like bright ink.
"After you.", the Musician called and chuckling to herself in all good humor she did a little bow as if she was a polite bellboy opening the door for an important guest: " Its so cold, I think we both need a proper bowl of stew, dont you agree, mhmmmmmm?"