On a cold, rainy evening two of the Raiju clan elders and Rin-da with her group of warriors went out to search for survivors on the recently bloodied battlefield. Quickly and quietly they slipped out onto the battlefield as silent and swift as the wind's breath held still. The damp ground squished under their paws as they ran giving them away at times as they drew closer. Stopping dead in the middle of the battlefield they smelled the scent of blood and sorrow. The sight of there friends and allies laying amongst the enemies, with pain written onto their faces, created tears in the eyes of the warriors. They had at least fallen in battle with honor. Despite the horror of it all it was the fate of the true warriors, and would eventually take its toll on them as well.
"There can't possible be any survivors.."Muttered a tall amber brown colored lynx looking at the mess with green eyes.
"Well I'm not taking the risk of there being some and leaving them to die,Kaito."Diana-le a light brown furred, golden eyed, elder lynx said fixing her pink with light purple flowers kimono. The male lynx known as Kaito huffed in response. Diana-le nodded towards the young female brown furred, blue eyed lynx who wore a a pair of black books, a short purple kimono with leggings underneath and a pair of black fingerless gloves to go search the area. Rin-da nodded in response and with a flick of her wrist her scouts ran about. Body after body none were alive. All were fallen, foes and loved ones. Rin-da wiped the tears out of her blue eyes and sniffled seeing her dead friends and fixed her black hair putting it back into a rooster tail (hair pulled up in the back and ends stick up) and bowed her head in a moment of silence.
"None survived"She informed the elders looking down in sadness.
"See we risked our lives for nothing!"Kai snarled angrily. Diana-le shot him a fierce look and scowled.
"This was not for nothing! We came here to save our people, our friends! Quite thinking about your own hide! Remind me if you die in the next war to leave you to rot if injury were to come upon you!"She hissed and stormed off. Kai went to snap back but bit his tongue instead knowing fully she would make a big deal out of this.
The cold wind blew bringing the warriors out of there depressed state and the elders snapped back to reality seeing lightning in the distance as the storm began to grow.
"Lets head back to the clan..we have to go back and take care of the sick and injured"Diana-le said softly turning to look over her shoulder at them. They nodded and quickly followed her walking swiftly down the path remaining silent.
Suddenly they came to a halt and flicked their ears listening closely to make sure they had heard correctly. There was nothing.
"What is it?"Kai asked not hearing much of anything due to the slight loss of hearing in his left ear. They all hushed him and looked at each other, bewildered. There it was again.
"A baby?"One asked.
"Why would a baby be out near a war zone?"
"Well lets leave it...it could be a trap."
"Yeah cause we all know infants will lead us all to our death.."Diana-le said rolling her eyes and looking at Rin-da.
"Lets search for the baby, obviously the poor infant was caught up in the middle of all this and the parents left it out of fear.."She ordered and Rin-da went out with her friends in search of the one who made that loud crying. Rin-da jumped onto a tree branch scanning the areas finding no hide nor hair of what seemed to be an baby. It was all too muddy.
"Find it?"She asked.
"Nothing yet."Another responded.
"Where on earth can this child be?" Rin-da said to herself softly. She jumped down scouted out another small section and climbed back up into another tree to try and see any movement.
"Waah!"
"Its so loud, I have to be close." She whispered. Indeed the sound had gotten very loud and to her surprise when she looked down at the base of a tree right in front of the one she was standing on there was a very muddy, half blind infant crawling about in the brush. She smiled softly and jumped down and eased her way over to it kneeling down a little trying not to startle it but it turned out to be a failed attempt when a stick, hidden under the soaked dirt cracked. The young child broke out into a hissing fit and growled a little.
"Hey..hey..shh..your ok I won't hurt you.."She cooed softly crawling slowly to it before picking it up wrapping it in a soft hug. When it realized Rin was no threat and was rescuing it, it clung to her like its life depended on it which in a way it did. It shivered and trembled not entirely sure what was going on.
"Its ok..we're taking you with us..."Rin-da said softly and tried to clear its face of the mud looking at its light brown fur. The infant fussed as Rin pulled more of the caked on dirt off, tugging on its fur. She sighed rubbing its back and said a small apology, then realizing the rain was starting up she started to walk faster..
She walked back quickly but carefully smiling softly at the baby purring stops she stops in front of Diana-le. Diana gasped.
"Oh my..you poor thing.."She said as Rin handed it over to her, but found she could not. The baby had clung to the fabric of her ninja outfit by a few claws refusing to let go.
"hmm..why don't you carry it back home for now..we must be quick about it though..it looks very ill and starved."Rin nodded in understandment and called her group back.
"No we are not taking that thing-"
"Just shut up Kai! All you have done is complain. I know the risks and you should know that i'm not going to leave a poor innocent child to die!"She hissed in response. The child jumped at her hissing startled by it and hid its face in Rin's neck temporarily claiming her as mom. Kai grumped and fell silent walking with them back to the clan. Many questions were asked on the way boggling the minds of everyone else.
"Aww..is it a he or she?"
"Its a little boy~"
"How old?"
"It seems only a few months old."
"Why would someone leave such a sweet little boy out here?"
"A number of reasons."
"Whats his name?"
"who will take care of him?"
"I will. Your all too young to have such responsibility. Your only 16 years of age..it would be inappropriate to let you care for a baby, I don't mean to say your immature its just you still have a lot to learn"Diana said softly and stroked the little boys fur removing some dirt.
He squeaked in response and curled against Rin sharing the warmth given off from her body yawning and kneading her shoulder.
Rin giggled and carried him towards their clan. Soon enough large stone walls and watch towers came into view, along with the clan flag smacking the walls from which they were hung.
"Its only me Diana-le and Kai with our warriors.."Diana said to the guards and the giant doors squealed to life making them wince in pain and flick their ears down.
"Ow...we need to add that to the list of things to fix." Rin said and the young one in her arms squeaked in agreement wincing as well. They went inside and soon enough Rin and the little boy had to part ways. He clung to her with a death grip refusing to let go. She pulled away petting him and trying everything to make him let go. Finally with a gently rub under the chin made him release the soft fabric and cling to Diana's kimono. Diana smiled and said farewell to Rin and parted ways. Diana looked at the small boy figuring a warm bath is what he would need first so she could tell what he looks like and something to eat afterwards. She walked into her medium-sized hut and started to make a warm bath for him. He sneezed and opened his eyes some tearing up at how irritated they were from the dirt. He started to rub them.
"Ah ah..don't rub them you'll make them worse."She told him gently grabbing his small paws. He looked at her confused and winced more going to do it again. She sighed and smiled lifting him up and putting him into the steaming water. He curled up at first but got use to it and eased into the water starting to purr softly.
"Is that better little lynx?"She asked him softly and began to scrub the dirt off of him. He closed his eyes purring louder as she massaged the dirt off of his fur and soaped him up then finished it off with a downpour of water on his head. She then smiled getting a better look at him.
He had electric blue eyes, light brown fur with the tips of his ears black which was common with lynx's and he had shock of black hair on his head.
"Well aren't you just adorable little lynx?"She asked and picked his drenched form, wrapping him up in a towel and cradling him softly in her arms. He looked up at her and tilted his head at her before smiling and sucking on his thumb. He was safe and warm now. Laying back and starting to drift off he felt her stand up and walk around to a small room. Walking into her small kitchen she gazed down at him. He has sores on his paws, his eyes were red, he had grown dangerously skinny, and his breathing was off. No doubt that he had a bad illness..it was very shocking that he had survived without his mother. She must have left him there for a couple of days. It was sad thinking about it, he must have felt so abandoned , so lost and scared. Diana quickly found an old bottle she had used when she was watching one of the warriors kids when they went to war. Within a few minutes the milk that had been put into the bottle was starting to warm up. The little male lynx had grown tired from the past events, his aching body needed to rest but soon was reawakened as the intoxicating scent of warm milk invaded his nose. He snapped awake and started to mew noisily.
"Yeah you know what this is.."She said with a laugh and gave him the small bottle. He drank quickly holding onto the bottle starting to close his eyes. The sweet nectar warmed his insides replacing the starving feeling, with contentment and relief.
"Thats it..easy now...shh..see your alright little one.."She said thinking as she watched him with fascination. How could someone leave such a precious baby? If she could ever have a child she would never give it up no matter what the issues were. She stroked his fur and smiled
"I still haven't given you a name yet little one..hmmm..what would be a good name for you?" As if a sign from a higher being a large flash of lightning came causing his ears to flick and his eyes to open just a little to watch it.
"Lightning..thats what I will call you..Lightning Lynx.."She purred happily rocking him some and touching her nose to his.