I don't own any of the characters or Harvest Moon, Natsume does.
Shiba's Heart
From the trees, the boy watched the ship capsize from afar. He had learned hardness that kept him unsympathizing, but nonetheless. He shaded his eyes from the tropical sun, and saw what looked to be one…two…three, four, five! Five people surfacing. The boat was not far off from the island as they swam the short kilometer. The first to come ashore was an elderly man cradling a screaming boy under one arm. Then a woman, presumably his daughter for her youth, paddling furiously to keep a teary eyed girl afloat. Hadn't there been five? The family lay panting, exhausted on the shore while gulls wheeled, emphasizing the deserted aura of the island. He heard the conversation from his perch directly above.
"…Oh, dad, I don't think there's anyone here…HELLO!"
"Please, Feleana, don't…"
"PLEASE! ANYONE! HELP! HEEEEELLLP!"
The girl child began to cry fervently and the elderly man glared at his daughter and scooped up his grandchild. "Hush now Natalie, it's alright…"
"What are we going to do!? There's only five of us…on a deserted island…in the middle of nowhere…and how are we going to reach the mainland now!? Hey…wasn't there somebody else with us? Uhh…Claire?"
"Why, yes, I believe there was…oh no."
Feleana clutched both sides of her face, her eyes drawn as she hobbled to the shoreline. "CLAIRE!"
The frothing sea answered unhelpfully.
About halfway through the conversation, the boy had found his mind drifting back. Five people…Claire… He found himself scanning the horizon. No, no bobbing heads, but then…what was that? The inlet was located between two branching arms of the island, and at the very peak of one such point, halfway up the sloping sides, was an indescribable silhouette. Could it be…? It was then that he realized the figure bobbing rapidly up and down. The tide was coming in fast. Another rule that he went by, It is one thing to watch a disaster that you can do nothing about, another to stand by from the sidelines. This was one such time. Sudden, uncharacteristic panic seized his gut as he clambered earnestly back down the mango tree and sprinted desperately for the inlet. The water was rising rapidly there now, and he could be sure that it was person, for as he neared, pale hands ripped up the lip of turf, fighting against the dragging motion of the sea. The sun was setting, casting the island in an orange glow, and he slowed into a gorilla-like lope and then skidded to a halt on his knuckles before the castaway.
Without a thought, his hand lashed out and grasped the girl's wrist. He dug his ankles in the ground and leaned back. The tide was splattering up against the mud walls of the point as he strained back, making little sounds of effort, until with a grunt she flopped onto the grass beside him and lay there breathing quietly while he, yearning to return to the jungle but equally exhausted, leaned back on his hands and closed his eyes. There was distant shouting from the shore. Presently, when the girl's breathing had slowed, the boy concluded that she had fallen asleep, but was somehow reluctant to leave as he rose cautiously to avoid waking her, then righted himself quickly and made to dart back to the skirting of trees when a cool hand closed around his ankle and his heart jumped to his throat. He whipped around. The girl had turned her head on its side, one blue eye half open, the other closed nearest the ground, looking so weak and helpless that all thoughts of the island dissipated as he stared into that one glittering blue slit. She opened her mouth feebly, and water trickled out. She coughed once, twice, and then rasped, "Thank you." Her hand slipped from his ankle, and both eyes drooped shut with finality. How could she expect him to leave now? His gaze flickered in all directions. Sea, sea, sea, island. He couldn't very well leave her like this. It would be so inhumane. But then again, not for a "savage" like him. He cringed, and decided silently. When he nudged her gently over to scoop her up in both arms, she wrinkled her nose and mumbled protests, but then trailed off into dead sleep again, and for that moment he held her still as sleep overcame her. He studied her pale face, and glossy yellow hair that brushed the ground at his feet. Her mouth was curved in a small smile of contentment now, and he pulled away, his eyes fixating on the jungle. His gaze meandered back to the island, where now only footprints marked where the family had emerged from the tumultuous waters. Reassured, he breathed in the salt tang of the air, merged with something like dewy flower heads that confused his senses. It was her. He shifted her more comfortably in his arms, for this was all new to him of course, braced, and then barreled surefooted over the slippery grass, across the beach, and into the trees.
"Nah, nah, nah! Shiba, you know no humans allowed!"
The boy's eyes dropped.
"You put her in village with other people!"
Fed up, he challenged, "We're people too!"
"Aye, aye, aye, of course we people, but this is our home, and the humans…vacation spot!" The boy frowned at his crotchety old leader, the Island Wise Man, Wada. More like Voodoo Man… His eyes steeled over defiantly, and he gave the wise man one last long, cold look over his shoulder before he sprang off of the window sill, clutching at a vine with his toes and sliding to the ground, jouncing the girl in his arms. She yawned, but laid still and snuggled into his chest. His mouth twisted into a helpless grimace as he scampered into the murky depths of the jungle for the umpteenth time that day, a weighted burden in his arms. He knew of a place, a clearing of stones that had been left there by former island mystic long ago, and he hastened there determinedly.
The vines whipped at his cheeks as his bare feet pounded the sodden ground and whisked over stumps and fallen trunks. He bounded agile as a deer, ducking and dodging overhangs until he burst like a wild beast into the pale clearing. The canopy of trees high above allowed sunlight to filter meagerly through. He slowed to a trot the instant that he entered the ring of eskers, and when he took care to lay her painstakingly on the soft soil there, gently rolling her head off of his fingers, she clung for a breathless moment to his arm, her fingers like a vise, but momentarily they slipped away and he dropped back into the shadows, breathing heavily. His ankle bracelet of shark teeth clattered with each careful step back. Suddenly, a reasonable excuse surfaced in his mind. How could he leave her, when there was a chance that a wild animal would come along? He had already considered leaving her on a point near to flooding, now in the middle of a dangerous jungle? He glanced over his shoulder, feeling no tug to return to his treetop dwelling, and instead clambered swiftly to the top of one such tall stone and sat with his knees raised up under his chin, soft mocha eyes intent on her.
I'm just starting out, but there'll be a lot more chapters coming soon. Shiba's cute eh, for those of you who know him in Island of Happiness…
