How many people even know +Anima? :'D

It was sheer luck that Fukui had gotten up for a piss that night, and that he had used his +anima form so he could see in the dark while he did so. His +anima mark wreathed his eyes and nose like a mask, and when his transformed, not just his eyes, but his nose gained the sensitivity of a cat's too. A cat's nose didn't have the reputation a dog's did, but as Fukui was fond of boasting, his nose could smell just as well as any dog. It certainly managed well enough that night, bringing the scents of men and their torches to him before their little abandoned shack was completely surrounded.

"Get up!" Fukui shouted, banging open the door of the shack heedlessly. There was no point to stealth, and no time for it either. "Humans are coming!"

Himuro rolled to his feet immediately, one hand already on Murasakibara's arm and dragging him along to the door until Murasakibara got his feet under him.

Fukui knew he didn't need to worry about them, instead making a beeline for Okamura and Liu. Liu was starting to sit up groggily but Okamura was still snoring on his side.

"Wake up! We need to get out of here." Fukui crouched and shook hurriedly at Okamura. At least Liu was awake enough to start for the door, already in his +anima form with their bags draped over the horse part of his back.

By the time Fukui and Okamura finally made it out, Okamura still half asleep but slowly waking up, Himuro was already on Murasakibara's back – his +anima form was particularly useless on land. Not for the first time Fukui envied Murasakibara his ability to turn completely into a bear instead of only a part of his body like the rest of them.

Okamura finally woke up enough to turn into his +anima form, using his gorilla arms to knuckle along at an awkward shuffle that Fukui knew was deceptively fast. Fukui sprang on top of Liu's horse half himself, and they were off.

Just in time, because the bravest of the humans were almost on them, waving their torches and shouting hysterically. As if the five of them were as dumb as the animal forms they could take, capable of being frightened by a little noise and light. That was humans for you. Fukui spat at one of them as Liu dashed past. Fuck you too.

They ended up sheltering in a series of caves about half an hour after their escape. Liu was panting harshly by then, even after Fukui had passed half of the bags to Okamura and the other half to Himuro on Murasakibara's back.

There was a tiny stream seeping out of a crack at the very end of the cave they had chosen. They had laid Liu down by that stream so he could get his breath back, with Okamura beside him to make sure he didn't drink too quickly and make himself sick.

Murasakibara parked himself at the entrance to the cave – still in his +anima form, it was obvious he had no intention of moving. Himuro sat down beside him, a silent pillar of support. Fukui sighed, then joined them.

They looked over at him, and Fukui triggered his +anima form in response. "Two people keeping watch are better than one."

Murasakibara growled low in his throat, but Fukui knew he didn't mind from the way he stayed absolutely still. On his other side, Himuro was already falling back into sleep now that there were two of them on guard.

It felt weird to see Himuro be so vulnerable in front of him, when he still hadn't mentioned the ring around his neck even though they could all tell how important it was to him. But he wasn't the only one; it was one of the burdens of a +anima to have a past you didn't want to talk about. Irrationally, the scar on the back of Fukui's neck gave a twinge.

Even Murasakibara had his secrets. Fukui eyed him surreptitiously. Murasakibara was the only one who had known other +anima before them, and yet he was here instead of wherever those other +anima were. Fukui had a hard time understanding why Murasakibara would ever leave the +anima he had been with, especially since he was in a zoo pretending to be a real bear when they'd met – if it wasn't for Okamura accidently letting his +anima mark show, and Murasakibara charging out of his pen to save them, he might still be there. Fukui wasn't sure he wanted to know why Murasakibara would go that far. But surely no +anima could be as bad as humans?