Somewhere far-off an owl cried, contacting it's partner to which it replied. A small herd of deer were grazing in the only clear in the large forest. It was peaceful. A girl, roughly the age of 14, sat in one of the trees sketching out the scene before her. One leg dangled off the branch she was sat on and the other crossed infront, the sketch pad resting on it.
The girl had light silver, almost white hair with red, slightly amber, eyes. On her face a scare start from the center of her forehead and curved down the side of her nose, ending at her right cheekbone. Folded against her back were a pair of wings, a dark-ish gray-blue in colour with a black patch on the wing joint. A fluffy white tail aslo dangled off of the branch and white ears sat on top of her head. She wore a grey hoodie with a white foxes face on it and ears on the hood, undernethe, a dark blue shirt poked out of the collar, navy-blue trekky's but no socks or shoes. she didn't wear them as shoes made too much noise when walking through the woods.
All of a sudden the peace was shattered. The owls stopped calling each other. A few deer rose their heads and one of the girls ears flicked, sensing a silent threat. The deer scattered, several shots ringing out through the forest. Hunters. A doe dropped to the ground, blood streaming out of bullet wounds in her hide and shoulder. The girls ears flattened against her head and her lips curled back in a silent snarl. The doe writhed, trying to stand but the poor things muscles gave out and it slumped. One last movement and it stopped. Dead.
Another shot, another deer fell. This time it was the stag of the herd. It managed to stand shakily, a trail of blood down its hind leg. One last shot and it collapsed. A bullet through the head. The rest of the heard got away and everything went quiet. Too quiet. Nothing made a noise, not even the wind. A group of men walked to the carcasses, one barking out orders. They were armed with hunting rifles and various other pieces of equipment.
The girl hated hunters. They weren't even mean't to be here, invading her personal sactuary. It had been made illegal to hunt in her forest years before she got here.
She jumped up higher into the tree and crouched, watching carefully. This was her land and she would defend it. She had chased out hunters before and would do it again. It was how she got her scares.
One of the men, the one shouting orders, looked up and around, a slight smirk on his face.
"Come on out forest guardian. We know you're there." He said as he held up his rifle and pointed it into the trees.
She huffed. Is that what they were calling her now?
"I know all about you. The locals say you're a deity. But we all know deity's don't exist so just show yourself and we'll leave."
The girl growled, "Leave! Hunters are not welcome here!" She spat, her voice echoing through the clearing making it hard to pinpoint her location.
"You really think it'd be that easy? Atleast now we know you're just one female."
"You shouldn't underestimate those you don't know." She aid as she reached into her sleeve and pulled out a conceled weapon, a small dagger.
The moment she did the group pointed their guns in her direction and fired.
She dropped her sketch pad and held the daggers handle in her mouth. Just as the bullets tore the branches she jumped, landing on the ground below with grace and catching her book with one hand.
The one that had been speaking raised an eyebrow, "Heh, you're just a kid. What can you do with that tiny blade."
"Plenty."
The man raised his rifle and aimed straight for the girl, "Shoot to kill. We'll rid this place of this pest and make money at the same time. I'm sure someone woud pay a pretty penny for those wings and that fur."
"But sir, she's just-"
The man sent a glare to who ever was speaking and they gulped.
The girl hid her sketch pad in her hoodie and ran forward, the dagger now in her hand. More shots fired but she mearly jumped, spreading the wings and glided over them. She kicked one of the men in the back, just between his shoulder blades and he fell into another with a yelp. One threw their gun aside and ran towards her. He tried to hit her but she stepped aside and sliced his arm, the scent of blood hitting her nose.
The faint sound of a twig snapping caught her sensitive ears but didn't alert the humans.
She smirked, "I'm not just one, by the way. You may have just angered the Tanuki."
The leader looked like he wanted to question the fact but when the girl kicked back the one who went for her, he just loaded his rifle.
It didn't take long for her to disarm the mans companions, there were only three of them.
The girl hummed when she noticed the last guy aiming at her.
She tilted her head to the side, her playfull side starting to take over with all the action and the seriousness disappered, "Do you know the raccoon song?"
"What are you...?"
"No?" She hummed again, "Well it goes like this..." She cleared her throat and started singing,
"Mister raccoon. Mister raccoon. Oh, won't you play with me somehow?"
Another voice came from somewhere, but the man couldn't tell where as it seemed to move.
"No I can't I am eating dinner right now!"
"What's for dinner I want some."
"I am eating pickled plum."
"May I have just a crumb?"
"No you can't you greedy bum," A cloaked figure appeared behind the group, "get your own!"
The men paled when they heard the voice behind them and turned around. The figure jumped over them to make it seem like they weren't there.
The girl giggled, "See? I'm not the guardian of this place. The Tanuki is!"
What appeared to be glowing eyes caught the attention of the group. Pair by pair they appeared in the darkness.
The men were now as white as snow and one or two may have screamed as they fled from the scene.
The figure turned to the girl as she returned the dagger to her sleeve, "You know, ever since you watched that you've been making me say it everytime."
"Hey! I like studio Ghibli for your information! Pom Poko was one of my favourites!"
The figure sighed and shook it's head. The cloaks hood fell down and revealed two small round brown ears on the top of a brown haired boys head. A rounded, plump brown tail poked out from undernethe the cloak, it was ringed with darker browns. The boy was just a few years older than the girl and had normal brown eyes.
He looked at the dead bodies of the deer, "It's a shame that we can't stop every kill, Kit." He walked over and picked up the rifles that the hunters had discarded so easily, "We'd better bring these back and dispose of them properly."
"Yeah, but I should have heard them Kiki."
'Kiki's' eye twitched, "I told you not to call me that!"
Kit giggled, "It's cute. Cuter than Kichi! You didn't mind it when we were kids and it sounds similar!"
"But Kiki's a girls name! And we are not kids anymore!" Kichi snapped.
Kit ignored his tone and skipped away, "Whatever 'Kiki'!"
Kichi growled and chased after her.
Slowly the normal sounds of the forest returned as the two ran home.
A/N: Ok hello. This is going to be my first attempt at a Maximum Ride fanfic! It came to me this morning and has been bugging me since (this is TOTALLY the reason why I ain't revising for my mocks... honest). I was actually shocked by the amount of detail I added at the start, that's rare for me. The flock comes in next chapter. And just for those wondering what they are... Kit , whose name it actually Akane, is a Black Winged Kite and a white fox, she can also do the half wolf (in this case fox) thing that Erasers can do. It's just for the case of the plot and won't be used much. While Kik- I mean, Kichiro- is a raccoon.
A Tanuki is a raccoon dog creature from a japanese myth. It's a shape shifter. Like the raccoons from Pom Poko. That's why Kit was singing that. As you can probably tell these two characters are mean't to be Japanese based. Let's say the boss in their facility was from Japan. Oh and Kichi is 16, about, and is a brotherly figure to Kit.
C'ya next chapter and review~