Skeet Shooting (Rated M)

[Drake]

Drake's eyes lit up at her description of the tree. He immediately started looking around, seeing if he could see it from in the water, only to sadly find out that he couldn't. It must be deeper in, he figured to himself. Turning back to the other presence in the water with him, he couldn't hide the anxiousness in his voice. "Can you show me where the tree is?" He asked her.

[Malice]

She saw his eyes light up and couldn't help but return that light with a smile playing with his wet hair. The look on his face was so adorable and sometimes she wondered how he was as old as he preseved himself to be. Houka laughed at his excitement and she tugged his arm towards the shore with a bright grin on her face.

"Come on then! I'll show it to you!" she told him stepping out of the water to help him up onto dry land. Pushing her hair back she started for the tree in her bare feet having walked like this many times that it didn't hurt anymore. Taking his hand again she kept walking with only her underwear on towards the tree that was deeper into the forest. In a few more moments they were in front of the tree that towered over them with great, magestic ease. "Here they are!"

[Drake]

"Hey, wa - " Drake was about to say hey wait so that he could grab his clothes, but they were by the tree before he could finish. As he gazed at it, all other thoughts disappeared. He didn't even realize he was still in his underwear anymore. "Wow." He said in awe, his voice barely above a whisper.

Slowly approaching the tree, Drake began to circle it, tracing his hand around its massive trunk. "This is the biggest tree I've ever seen." He added, stopping on the other side of it from Houka and staring up into its branches. "I'm gonna try to climb it." He said firmly.

[Malice]

She smiled at the look on his face staring up at the triplet tree as well loving the way it looked. It was the best thing that she had seen in all of her days as a wanderer. She chuckled at his reaction noticing that he didn't care he was in only his undergarments and of course she would never care if that was the case for her! If she were to walk around a town with just what she was wearing at that moment on then she would be content enough with herself to do it.

"I told you it was the best thing in the world!" she said looking around at him as she lean against the tree. Houka couldn't help but laugh as he suggested that he was going to try and climb it. "You can try but don't forget you're wearing nothing but your underwear and not even I have been able to climb all the way up this tree yet so what makes you think you can?" She playfully poked his chest when she said you and looked at him with a challenging glisten in her eyes.

[Drake]

An embarassed flush came over Drake's face; not because he was in his underwear, but rather because he forgot he was in his underwear and was about to climb this giant tree. The flush became a pained wince as he realized how potentially painful that one could have been. "Right. Clothes. Be right back." He told Houka, walking back to the rock where he deposited his clothes. The light reflecting off his guns caught his eye as he realized something else: Under normal circumstances, he would NEVER leave his guns anywhere but on his waist.

Shaking his head, he muttered. "This girl's getting to me." Pulling on his clothes again, he picked up Houka's uniform in case she wanted to dress as well. He carried them back over to her and handed them to her, looking up at the sheer height of the tree again. "Let's just say challenges bring out the best of me."

[Malice]

She smiled at the blush that covered his cheeks so cutely and watched him run to get his clothes. Houka waited patiently looking up into the branches of the tree that stood before her. She leaned up against it feeling the energy course through her at amazing speeds and filled her with a warm sensation. It was the best thing that she had ever felt...then again that was before Drake had come along.

When he ran back with her clothes in his hands as well she pulled her kimono around her tying the obi tightly with expert skills. "Oh really now? Than why don't we make this a bit more challenging? I'll bet that you can't get to the top in the next...oh let's say fifteen minutes and if you don't then you have to walk out there with nothing on...nothing on in front of all of those guys! Are you man enough to take my little bet? You can set your stakes as high as you want but that will be funny to see in itself for me!" she chuckled loving challenges just as much as he did.

[Drake]

"Fifteen minutes, huh...." Drake mused over to himself, still looking up at the tree. One of his talents, and a godsend when it came to his marksmanship, was his ability to quickly calculate height, trajectory, and angles. Mentally checking the rough height of the tree, he told himself that he could make it, but he still wanted to make it more interesting.

Turning his intense gaze away from the tree and back onto her, he smirked. It was the smirk he always showed when he had something up his sleeve. "Alright, I accept your terms. But..." Drake said quickly, raising his finger to accentuate his coming point. "If I do make it up there within 15 minutes, then you'll be the one walking out there with nothing on. Do we have a deal?"

[Malice]

She watched him smirking as he calculated the distance because she knew just how tall that tree was. They were all about the same size, each of the triplets, but they were twisted and crooked and leaned this way and that with their fight to get to the sun. Houka just chuckled at him crossing her arms over her now clothed chest. "Yes, fifteen minutes exact and I'll be watching the time," she told him still smirking.

She laughed at his terms and nodded to them. "You've got a deal, Drake-Kun! If you win I'll walk out naked in front of all of those men and women and if you lose then it will be you!" she repeated the terms before stepping back to lean up against the tree he was supposed to climb. "Start anytime you're ready!"

[Drake]

"Alright." Drake agreed. He looked up into the three trees for the final time, getting himself ready. Shaking his arms a bit to loosen them up, he did the same for his legs. Giving Houka one last "I'm gonna win" smirk, he jumped, catching the trunk with his hands and feet and beginning his ascent up the tree.

His feet deftly followed his hands up the tree, catching onto any rough part that he could get a holding on. He wasn't sure how much time had passed already, but before he knew it, he'd reached the point where the trees converged.

[Malice]

Houka watched to see the position of the sun to make sure she was keeping time to the second. Having the eyes that she did even the slightest movement would be taken in by her. She had to have sharp eyes to be able to aim her kunai and throwing stars so well or it would all go down to Hell. She had trained herself to stay perfectly still so that she didn't throw off her own attack and it had worked pretty well so far.

Returning his smirk she watched as he started to climb up the tree her eyes keeping to the sun. By the time he had gotten to the bend it had been seven minutes and she smirked even wider because he was half-way there. This was how big that tree was! It probably spanned taller than the forest itself and kept on waving and curving this way and that. She had a thought to call up the time to him but decided against it. Instead she yelled, "You had better hurry up!"

[Drake]

Drake heard her, but didn't let it distract him. This was his pride; his dignity at stake here and he was not going to be prancing around naked. Well, that might sound hypocritical since he proposed for her to do the same thing, but it was her bet in the first place, wasn't it? He was halfway up and from an approximate estimate of his time, he figured that he was about halfway through the fifteen minutes too.

"I have to go faster." Drake told himself, starting to climb faster while still maintaining control. The whole thing would be meaningless if he slipped and screwed everything up now. A couple more minutes of deftly jumping from branch to branch and he finally could see the peak of the giant tree. "There it is!" Was his gleeful thought, continuing his ascent. After what seemed like a veritable eternity, he made that final leap and grabbed the highest branch, swinging around it until he landed atop it.

[Malice]

She crossed her arms and tapped her foot as she stood at the bottom of the tall tree smirking lightly. There was nothing she could do to stop him in his climb even though she had a notion to throw one of her kunai at him but decided not to but lean against the tree. There was no use in it. He wouldn't make it with how far he had gotten.

When he finally did reach the top she looked up at the sky and her eyes widened. He had gotten there within a minute of the deadline and she laughed. "Okay, you win! Come on down!" she told him not really mindign the fact that she now had to walk out in front of all of those people naked. She wasn't afraid to show off her body!

[Drake]

He hadn't heard exactly what she said, but he knew it was either he won or he lost. Looking down from his perch, Drake slightly laughed. If he had a fear of heights, this would have been his last sight ever. Jumping his way back down the tree, he took his time getting there, taking about twenty minutes this time. He jumped from the bottom branch to the ground right in front of Houka. "Okay...what's my time?" He asked.

[Malice]

She waited for him tapping her foot impatiently as he took his sweet time coming down from the tall tree in the middle of the forest. Why did guys always find the time to take when there really was none that was open? She just rolled her eyes at the boy and stood there having to wait on him for twenty minutes as he jumped down the tree slowly.

"Well it took you long enough!" she laughed pushing up to lay her hands on his shoulders brushing some of the bark and leaves from his body. "You men always have time don't you? Well, you win because you got up there with one minute to spare! Good job!" She was mocking him of course but it was playful mock that wasn't meant to be rude or obnoxious.

[Drake]

Drake smirked at her. "Ya know, that attitude of yours is gonna get you in trouble someday." He said, not meaning anything threatening by it. "But since I won the bet....you know what you have to do." He added, matter-of-factly. He wasn't all too sure how she felt about having to walk out into the Calm Lands completely naked, so he waited to hear what she'd say.