A/N:: Posting things still, cleaning up my folders of works.

Enjoy!

Predator to Prey

It has been seven years since I was chased into the mountains, seven long years of learning the landscape and the best hunting places. If I had just learned not to trust anything with that dark man then I wouldn't be here today, but it made me learn a lesson. That lesson being that people are cruel, close-minded, and overall demented. Everyone resented me, chased me out of the town with pitchforks, guns, and torches. Yeah, sounds like something you would hear about from the Salem days, but they didn't chase me out because I was a witch (which I'm not). No, they chased me out for a completely different reason.

I was marked as a cannibal.

That day is still fresh in my memories and I can feel a wretched feeling in the pit of my stomach when I think about being chased out. It doesn't matter now; I hate people of all types' especially dark haired men with those piercing like eyes.

Like any other day, I was out hunting to stock up for the upcoming winter season, it got pretty harsh up here and I needed meat with some on standby pelts. Every year I renewed my pelt collection and stored enough meat in a make shift freezer so I wouldn't starve from the lack of animals wandering around. Oh yeah, and sometimes that meat isn't just animals.

The town knew I resided up here, giving them something to scare the children, but I let the nightmares be real. Anyone who came too close or spotted me and the cabin was usually killed. It's a type of self-defense since they usually attacked me without thought and I just hate to waste meat so I just store it separately since it has to be cooked differently or it tastes weird. For instance, if you broil it then you might as well throw it out because its gross, but frying it or roasting it makes it a lot better.

Ugh, this talk of food is making me hungry.

The forest was making the wind sound hollow and the cave some miles away was making it pierce through the air with a scream when hit just right. Snow had already stuck to the ground, but it would only get worse as December rolls around. I could only roughly estimate the month, but I had a good idea on the weather what season it was and month. Time wasn't hard for me anymore since all I needed to know was the basic morning, noon, and night. Right now it was early morning with the sun rising, giving the mountains a glow as it rose behind them.

Snow being run through was heard and I let my gaze go to see a figure before something leaping from behind it. A cry caught me off guard and I moved closer to get a better view of a man holding off teeth with a hunting knife, but he was no hunter. By the look of his clothing and inexperience of holding off the beast you could tell he was a traveler. My hand gripped the bow in my hand since it was hard to come by bullets up here and felt my arm move on its own.

An arrow sung through the air and pierced the animal in the throat before it withdrew from the traveler and began trouncing towards me; trying to ignore its injury. Another arrow found it as my aim was good and it only took a few arrows to drop it or have me go into close combat mode. Since this was a mountain lion, a male most likely from the way it took the hits and didn't want to hurt its pride, I prepared my hunting knife. I was swift on my feet as I danced with the animal and made sure it wore out before I actually got too close. After wrestling with it, gaining a few scrapes, the beast was down and I stood with a look at it, taking in my thoughts of how to skin and the meat amount.

This cough brought me back to the present as I turned to see the traveler leaning against a tree with pants. In the snow showed how they were injured and when he slouched onto the ground, I approached him. A hand was gripping his side and when I saw the tan skin on his face it surprised me a little. Most people from the town had pale skin, unless you worked the fields then you get a slight tan, but the population had more of a burn and peel than burn and tan. Not only that, but just by looking at his clothes you could tell he was from somewhere else. This strain went through me as I saw dark locks appearing from under the white hat and I raised my knife, but stopped.

After a few minutes of standing there, a sigh left me and I put the knife away. Hands rubbed at my face as I wasn't sure what was going on with my mind, but after I tied a rope on the mountain lion I found myself carrying the man on my shoulder.

"Where?" The voice had me gazing over to see grey eyes peeking through cracked lids and then I shifted to fill a cup up with water before moving over to him as he groaned.

"Your side is wounded." I told him, a small startled shift came from him before he gazed to me as I stood next to the makeshift bed. "Luckily, the mountain lion didn't have something before or it could have passed an infection." The cup found the small table next to him and I moved to go shift some things around for distraction.

"If I had my medical kit then I could probably stitch it up." My eyes found him as he slowly moved an arm around.

"You're a medicine man?"

"I guess you can say that." The reply had me watching him as he was running his hand along the wounded area with a hiss. "But I lost my pack running from that thing…"

"It hunts more before winter hits." Grey eyes found me as I stood there holding a piece of cloth that I was going to use to wipe up blood from my skinning. "Most big predators up here do."

"You know the area?"

"The mountains, yes." This nod left him as he relaxed with a sigh leaving him and I moved to go to my small shed outside. "You should rest."

"Right." The mutter came out as he was already drifting off to sleep and this huff left me as I exited my cabin.

"Why is it that you get to live?" I asked out softly as I grasped my shirt as my chest held a rapid beating heart. I gazed to the sky as it was getting close to night and I watched as snow slowly began to flutter down.

I hate dark hair even more now…

"That's all I could find…"

"I appreciate you retrieving it." The medicine man was sitting up today, a few days after I found him, and I decided it would be best to find the bag before it was covered. Not only have that, but now he can properly treat himself since the wound really did look like it needed to be stitched up. "Could you assist me in patching up?" Bandages were skewered around him as he tore them off and was preparing a small kit with a needle in hand.

"Just tell me what to do." I mentioned whilst sitting on the bed and he began leading me through the process. After doing everything he needed to I had retrieved some honey for him to drink since he said something sweet would help with the light headedness he felt. A bandage was reapplied before he lay back with his body supported upright and he closed his eyes.

"It must be hard."

"What?"

"Living by yourself up here in the mountains." He commented as I cleaned up everything and he merely rested.

"You grow to it." A hum left him before I heard shifting and glanced to see him drinking some water. Once finished he rested back again and I sat down to enjoy some meat I prepared earlier.

"Did you not know at the time that there was a village below?" He wondered and I felt myself become tight lipped immediately as I got up to head outside.

"You really should save your energy, winter takes most of it." The fact that I could feel his confused eyes on me didn't help, but I wasn't about to talk about it. If I talk about it he would probably freak out and run, so that would just leave me no choice but to kill him.

And I don't want to kill him.

"I do apologize for taking up space."

"It cannot be helped, going out would lead to your death." I mentioned as I cleaned up the dishes and Law (after telling me just recently) shifted lightly. It took another few days before he could get out of bed, but he is still not well enough to go outside and travel.

"Have you thought about leaving the mountains?" The question caught me off guard a little and I felt a slight frown appear on me.

"Not really, I am comfortable here."

"I heard it's pretty dangerous up here, though… I'm surprised you feel that way." He commented and soon I felt his presence next to me. "Especially with that crazy rumor I heard from the town."

"Rumor? I haven't heard one in a while…" A hum left him as I noticed he was taking it as slight humor in my comment.

"Well, it's something about a dangerous guy up here. I would say to be careful, but really those village people were overreacting. I mean, sure they were talking about some guy being a cannibal, but really it sounded like a misunderstanding to me." A shrug left him as I glanced over and then his body leaned against the counter. "I actually got to speak with this so called cannibal's brother… it was quite interesting hearing him tell it since out of everyone I encountered with the story he was the only who actually looked like he knew what he was talking about." He was facing forward and I went back to drying the dishes as they were clean.

"Sounds sad."

"I don't know; do you feel sad about it?" My body stiffened as he asked that and I set the dish down so I wouldn't drop it.

"Why would I?"

"I may be a doctor but I know the difference between animal meat and human. Not only that, but you look awfully similar to your brother; besides the freckles and all." My eyes reached Law as he was gazing to me with a serious look. "I don't care if you are, I'm just confused on why I am still alive."

"I just didn't feel like killing a traveler…"

"Is that really why?" My hands gripped together as I looked away and soon moved away from the counter to grab my coat.

"Its about to be something different," the grumble left me as I opened the door, but my arm was gripped.

"No it won't, or you would have the moment I mentioned this all." I bit my lip as I closed my eyes and tried to calm my swirling mind.

"I don't know."

"It was a whim?"

"A whim doesn't last long enough to let you heal." I mentioned as I watched as a hand reached around to close the door to keep the cold out.

"Tell me."

"What?"

"Tell me if you have fed me human meat?"

"No."

"Give me some." Surprise found me at the words and I looked back at him in confusion and he backed away a little.

"…Wha-?"

"I have always been curious," a small smirk was on his face as he crossed arms. "Let's have some for dinner later." Seeing that smirk become wide made me shiver before I felt myself being trapped against the door from his arms. "Though you do look appetizing in a different way."

How did I become the prey so suddenly?