A/N: The character Ponpa, if you haven't guessed, is based off of Tonpa
The photo on the side is an image of the 1993/1995 ( I don't know which ) version of Tonpa

Ponpa and I decided to leave when night started approaching and the skies were getting darker. It sounds like a bad idea, but I'd like to warm up a little, assuming there were idiots dumb enough to fight me in the dark.

"You really want to leave now?" He asked, skeptical about the idea. He kept glancing out the window, watching the sun slowly dissapear behind the far mountains. "When it's this dark?"

"Mhm." I nodded, grinning.

I like feeling the nice, cool air under the moon. It reminds me of times where my friends and I would sleep on the roof, under the stars. "Why? Is there something wrong?"

He just stared at me blankly, seemingly still stuck processing my words. Is he stupid or something, because he's taking a lot longer to respond compared to the average human.

Then again, I'm unique and few people understand me anyways.

"Never mind." He shook his head. "There's no point in me even trying to comprehend your way of thinking."

"Hey, you're learning!" I exclaimed in a sincere tone, to which he just sighed.

***

Before we left, I made sure to thank the villagers for feeding us without much payment in return. Although it proved to be a little difficult getting Ponpa to do the same. I punched his bouncy gut so he'd listen. After that was done, we started heading out.

"Oh my god, we're gonna die!" Ponpa said, obviously freaking out. "You know how many bodies people find in here?!"

He was cautiously taking his steps, looking around suspiciously for any signs of threats.

"You could even die before you reach the Exam!" He said, starting to cling to my arm like a wussy. "You don't want to die without living for long, do you?"

"Eh." I said uncaringly.

"You're insane!" he said, practically hugging me. Which was really gross. It was basically sexual harrasment. So...

Just to scare him so that he could let go, I ran my hand up his chubby side. "Ah, it's a spider!" I said, pushing the dummy off.

Ponpa screamed like a girl.

Until he realized I was purposefully screwing with his head. He got really pissed about that. Oh well. It was funny though.

I grinned. "See? Nothing happened."

"Stupid littel fldkjfkd;fdkljf...." He muttered irritably, grumbling in a language only stupid people could understand. "You're so weird. I can't tell if you're heroic or suicidal."

"Only stupid people fear stupid things. I'm just special." I smirked mischeviously. Just to irritate him, I threw a pebble beside the guy, causing his to piss his pants,

***

The forest was peaceful and quiet, so I hummed a light tune as we walked. It lightened up the mood just the slightest and kept the two of us from an awkward silence. Still, Ponpa seemed on guard much more than usual.

"Hey, Ponpa." I stopped humming. "Why are you sticking with me, even though you could've stayed at the village?"

"As a test proctor," He explained lazily. "I have to stick with a set of applicants so I can monitor their progress in the set preliminary trials."

He looked at me curiously with a tinge of confusion on his face. "I thought you'd know that, considering you figured me out so quickly."

I walked silently, not replying to Ponpa's confused statement. If he's acting so watchful, there must be something here that has to do with the trials.

I surveyed my surroundings but nothing really seemed out of the ordinary. I looked up ahead to see if anything was off about that area, but all I found was a bridge over a small stream.

I took a quick glance at Ponpa, and I could see he was getting really nervous, due to him sweating a little. 'It's not hot at all. In fact, it's just slightly windy...'

'God, I hope he doesn't get a nosebleed...' I mentally face-palmed at the thought of Ichika. I still don't understand how he even got a nosebleed in the first place...

Taking my mind off of him, I smiled to myself just a little bit, now expecting for an ambush of some sort. This is sure to get me warmed up and ready for the Exam.

Just as we closed on the bridge, Ponpa broke out into a battle stance.

"Hoowaaa!" His hands were in a fake ninja motion and he looked like he was ready to attack from any direction.

"Come out, whatever you are!" He shouted at the woods across the bridge. I had to hold in a laugh because he resembled a fat peacock trying to stand on one foot, but was failing.

Quite entertaining.

I laughed, watching him fail to hold his battle stance. When he was done falling over, I asked, "What are you doing?"

"Something's over there!" He said seriously. "And it's not friendly."

"And you call me crazy..." I said, shaking my head in a disappointed manor. "Sometimes I wonder what's happened to the world, these days..."

"I'm serious," he said, looking around nervously. "there's something here..."

"Don't worry, I'll protect you from whatever's here," My face finally switched to a slight grin. "mainly because I'd be blamed for a proctor's death if you died."

He gulped nervously, shivering. "Something tells me that you're tempted."

"I never said I was." I countered, making him shy away from me just a little bit, his face trying hard not to show the horror he felt.

"Besides," I said, holding in a laugh. "nothing could kill me, no matter how much they want to."

His face went from serious to stupified. "You're...I don't even know how to describe you now..."

"Just remember me as the most awesome Ninja x Hunter you've met!" I told him, before hurriedly making my way across the bridge. I gestured for him to come rushing over, but he shook his head furiously.

"I'm not coming over there!"

I shrugged my shoulders, not really expecting him to tag along. "Suit yourself."

I turned towards the menacing path ahead, now seemingly darker than before. The path seemed almost ominous, and I could practically hear Ponpa shaking in his shoes.

"Come at me!" I shouted at the forest as I jumped right into the middle of the path.

Nothing came.

My eye twitched, slightly irritated that the beast didn't come right at me. Is it also slow at processing things like Ponpa?

"I said, come and attack me!"I shouted before whispering softly, "I'm open for hugs!"

Ponpa sweatdropped at my overly-buoyant attitude and eagerness to fight. Although he was scared, he couldn't help but shake his head sadly in my direction.

I looked over at the chubby test proctor, sighing sadly. "Ponpa, I don't think it's here."

"It's probably creeping around here somewhere..." He said nervously.

"Then again," He said in realization. "your shouting at it could've actually scared it away. Your yelling is rather loud, actually."

"Aww." I groaned sadly, a pouty expression on my face."I really wanted to fight!"

"Well, then maybe you shouldn't have-" He stopped mid-sentence, his face stricken. I glanced at Ponpa, who looked like a frozen statue.

A squishy, frozen statue.

I cringed at the thought of a mini version of Ponpa as a stuffed doll glued in place. Poke the thing, and it'll jiggle, but won't move from it's place. A tingly feeling started creeping up my pointer finger as I thought about it more and more...

"Eww..." I said, grossed out by my thoughts. I shook my hand furiously, trying to get rid of the gross, tingly feeling.

When I looked back at Ponpa, with the awkward, gushy feeling gone, I realized that he seemed to be staring at something.

"What is it?" I asked him, and that seemed to snap him out of his trance just a little bit. "What're you staring at?"

I looked side to side, but I didn't see anything.

With a muddled expression, he managed to stutter out, "That's not what's supposed to happen..."

Something slimy suddenly dripped down from above, landing spot-on my light pink hair. It slid down my hair slickly, like drool. With a disgusted expression, I touched the stuff, confirming my assumption.

"This is...sticky." I declared, staring at the drippy substance.

I wiped the stuff on the beast behind me to get the drool off my hand. The thickness of the liquid reminded me of the gross, Ponpa doll again.

"God, Ponpa!" I shouted angrily at him. "Why do have to be so squishy?"

I could practically feel his look of confusion.

Snapping out of his trance, he yelled out, "C'mon, get away from that thing!"

I looked at the actual beast, taking in it's actual features. For one, it bared its extremely sharp teeth (that I'd hope not to get stuck in), and it looked to be three times my size, but it may just look like that due to fluff. It also had glare in its eyes as it stared me down.

"That's a rabid animal; it's too difficult for any applicant to defeat!" He said fearfully. "It shouldn't even be here! These come way farther up north!"

I chuckled lightly, completely ridding myself of its spit. I could feel Ponpa staring at me as if I'm a suicidal idiot, to which I just grinned at.

"Sugoi! So soft!" I screamed, hugging the wolf's leg as if it were a pole I was climbing. (Cue the pole-dancing music! ;P Just joking And "Sugoi!" means "cool!")

As I clung onto the beast, Ponpa stared in shock with a bit of distaste. Although he was a test proctor, few animals liked him, and he wasn't at all a fan of anything furry that moved.

Just then, a loud grumble echoed through the small clearing, causing Ponpa to freeze. "I-it's an earthquake!" He stuttered as he scrambled around, trying to create a makeshift shelter. 

"Baka!" I shouted happily at him, to which he literally twitched at. "My wolf's just hungry!"

Ponpa looked about ready to have a seizure as he twisted his head to face my wolf and me. He asked incredulously, "Since when is that thing your pet?" 

"Since now." I replied, dragging the beast closer to Ponpa. The beast growled at me irritably, but I took little notice. Although when Ponpa noticed the wolf coming closer, he crawled away. 

"Keep that wolf away from me!" He screamed shrilly, his voice as high pitched it could go. 

"Why?" I asked him, keeping the wolf by my side. The gigantic beast was struggling less, now that he knew he'd be sitting there for a while. Not to mention, Hatsumi had a pretty thick grip on the wolf's leg.

"Why? Why?!" Ponpa asked me, to which I nodded, completely clueless. "That thing is huge and probably wants to kill me. It probably wants to eat us both!"

I shook my head and laughed out loud, which seemed to freak out both the wolf and Ponpa. "He wouldn't eat you; you're just fat, no protein."

"I wouldn't let my awesome wolf," I gestured to the beast, which was now looking away shyly from the compliment. "eat something so fattening."

Ponpa sweatdropped at her straight-forward-ness, not sure if he should be offended or happy she saved his life. "You're so straight-forward, it gets on my nerves."

"Then learn to cope with it." I told him, before tending back to my new wolf. Of course, Ponpa still chose to stay quite a distance away. He didn't fully trust Hatsumi's words about keeping it off of him.

"I should probably name you." I said out loud, which made Ponpa sweat drop again.

"You're going to talk to it?" He asked, although going by the tone of his voice, he was just asking for the feel of it; he already know the answer.

"Do you have a problem with that?" 

"It's a wolf." 

"Do you want to be eaten?"

At that, he stopped talking. Especially after he noticed how the wolf was staring at him intently. He could have sworn he saw the wolf lick its lips as it stared at him. He shivered, despite the warmth of the night.

After standing in a few moments of silence, I thought of the perfect name. "I got it! I'll name you after a great noodle place, Ichiraku!"