Second chapter! Thanks for the two reviews. They are much appreciated. This story actually got a few favorites, so as I add more chapters, I hope I get more reviews because it makes me excited to write more! Well, here ya go…
"Arf! ARF ARF ARF ARF ARF ARF!"
"Shut up you stupid dog!"
Ume scrabbled with his paws at the door that was sealing him inside the dark closet, but it was all in vain. The Cutters were standing right outside the door, regarding him thoughtfully, salivating at the prospect of sinking their teeth into his flesh. At the sharp command from Mrs. Cutter, he shut up and cowered in the corner of the tiny room, wishing they would go away.
"Shall I cut its tongue, dear?" Came Mr. Cutter's muffled voice.
"As soon as I finish sharpening these knives." Was the reply.
Ume buried his snout into his paws and whimpered. Little did he know, outside the dark valley, eight canines were planning his rescue. They sat in a close-knit circle, right outside the entrance, with Oki at the head of it.
"Okay, here's the plan…" The blue wolf began.
Tei shouldered him aside and bellowed, "FULL FRONTAL ATTACK!"
"…No." Oki said irritably. "I have observed the situation from the cliff top and decided on a plan. We're going to divide into three groups—distractions, guards, and rescuers. One Cutter is standing in the yard. Chi and Ko, you will be the ones to distract them. The rest of us will sneak by and enter the house. The guards, which will be Tei, Shin, and Take, will keep watch on the other Cutter, who will hopefully be asleep. Guards, be prepared to fight if necessary. Meanwhile, Rei, Hayabusa, and myself, will search for Ume. This is your opportunity to prove yourselves to me as warriors. Don't mess it up for your sake, as well as Ume's. Now let's do this." He rose to his feet and led everyone through the Cutter's gate, single file.
As soon as they entered the pass between the two cliffs, the sky turned a dark red. Creepy music started to play on the soundtrack. The dogs immediately started panicking. "The sky! It's red!" "S-s-s-scary music!" "We're all gonna die!" Shin lifted his nose to the sky and let out a round of ear-splitting yelps, as if he were announcing that all hope was lost and that the Cutters might as well come and kill them now.
"Be quiet!" Oki snapped, silencing the warriors with a glare. "They'll hear you! You are brave canine warriors. Act like it! So hold your tongue…if you wish to keep it." His last words were a guttural snarl.
Rei, the pointer, froze in place. At first glance, it looked like he was merely pointing, but fear had made him stop mid-step. W…What? He thought, breaking out in a cold sweat (dogs can't sweat, so this took a lot of skill on his part). I can't lose my tongue! I need my tongue! If I lose my tongue, I'll never be able to eat another table scrap again! NOOOO!
With that, he turned tail and fled. Oki barely had time to register the white and green blur that flew past him. "What are you doing?" The Oina warrior roared after him, "You fool! Don't you care about losing your honor?"
"Better to lose my honor than my life!" Rei shouted, without looking back. "…Or my tongue!" Another blur, this time black, shot by Oki.
"He's right. I'm outta here!" Shin yelled.
"Cowards!" Oki barked angrily, "You…you…! Grr…" He turned to glare at the remaining dogs, his eyes narrowed dangerously, his lips curled back to reveal his pointed teeth. "Anyone else?" He growled threateningly. No one responded, nor moved for that matter…with the exception of Ko, who moved to hide behind Chi.
Oki sighed. "I'll deal with them later. Right now, our first priority is saving Ume." He turned to continue on, praying silently, Spirits of the air, earth, and sea…please let this mission be a success…!
Ko and Chi were the first ones in. Then hid behind some bushes while the others waited to go in after them. Ko nosed his face through the leaves and peered out into the yard, making small rustling noises.
"Shh…" Chi whispered, "Which one is it?"
"It's Mr. Cutter." Ko responded.
"Oh no!" Chi whimpered, "That's the fast, scary one! I'm so afraid…!" She looked at Ko meaningfully, waiting for him to comfort her. He was completely oblivious, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth, his eyes calm.
"It'll be fine as long as we run fast and split up to confuse him! Besides, Mrs. Cutter is way scarier. Now come on, they're counting on us." He turned and made his way through the bushes. Chi scrambled after him. They paused in the middle of the yard, only a few yards away from the husband.
He stared at them with an unreadable expression while they stood there, trying to resist the impulse to run away. Then his mouth curled into a creepy grin. "What's this?" He chuckled, speaking slowly, "Two meals…presented to me like a gift…and such delicious-looking dogs…my wife and I are going to feast tonight…hehe. Don't worry, little mutts… I won't kill you until after I've cut your tongues out…and ripped all that fur off…"
Ko opened his mouth to protest being called a mutt, and that he was really a purebred, but Chi shoved him roughly, screaming, "Run for your life!" and the two fluffy dogs turned tail and ran. Mr. Cutter gave chase.
"Run a little slower, you mutts!" He called after them, as they sped around the yard, "I want your fleeesh!" He didn't notice the small group of dogs quietly make their way into his house. Once they got inside, Tei and Take hung back to keep guard. Mrs. Cutter lay in the middle of the floor, dreaming of blood. Oki nodded to them and he and Hayabusa exited.
Tei looked down at the sleeping form of the old lady and growled softly. Take reached over with a white paw and smacked Tei on the nose. "Shut. Up." Take hissed at him. Tei couldn't help but growl in response to this mutiny, quivering with rage.
Meanwhile, Oki and Hayabusa crept down a dark hallway, their noses to the ground, sniffing. "Oki!" Hayabusa said suddenly, "You hear that?" They sat quietly, their ears pricked. In the distance, they could hear a faint, whining noise. At the end of the hall, was a torn curtain, hiding a door. They ran towards it.
"That's him! Come on!" Hayabusa cried out.
The faint whine grew into words as they neared the door. "Oh, I like to eat it every day, and if you ask me why, I'll saaay…an Oscar Mayer has a way with B-O-L-O-G-N-" CRASH! "AUGH!" The door had been locked, but Oki had smashed through it with his sword.
Ume fell out, landing in a heap on top of his two rescuers. "Hey! I'm saved!" The Shiba Inu said in surprise, "You saved me!"
"Get off…" Oki grumbled, from underneath him.
"Uhh…I was only singing that to, y'know, put my tongue to use one last time." Ume said as he climbed off the other two. "But YAY I get to keep it! See? See?" He leaped back onto Oki and licked him enthusiastically, as if to show him what he could do with his tongue. Oki writhed underneath him.
"Get off me and be quiet! We need to get out of here!" He snapped.
Ume sprang off of him lightly, kneading his paws on the ground with excitement. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just…I'M SO HAPPY!" He howled joyously, his last exclamation echoing all over the house.
Back at the front, Tei and Take heard the outburst. Luckily, it didn't wake Mrs. Cutter. "Sounds like they found Jin." Tei said matter-of-factly, "That's too bad. I wanted to have a fight."
Take bared his teeth at Tei. "Just what part of "shut up" do you not understand? Mrs. Cutter is right there!"
"You shut up!" Tei growled, a little louder, "No one talks to me like that, especially not some weakling puppy named Bamboo!"
"How bout I give you that fight you wanted, Tei?" Take snarled.
"Bring it on, Bambi!" Tei barked and leaped forward to sink his teeth into the top of Take's head. Take rolled backwards to dodge, grabbing onto Tei's leg with his jaws. They rolled over and over, a snarling, writhing mass of fur.
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" Oki's cry of outrage filled the room. But before he could do anything, a large black hand was reaching for the two dogs. "Watch out!" Oki shouted, leaping in front of the two fighting dogs, his sword raised. A second later, it clattered to the ground uselessly. Everyone gasped.
There stood Mrs. Cutter, no doubt awoken by the noise. A box on her back was seeping dark spirits, evil little eyes peering out from the shadows. A dark, clawed hand that had reached out now held Oki in its choking grasp. Oki struggled to get away. "Oh, this is a treat!" The granny cackled.
"One of you…throw…the sword! Kutone…!" Oki called desperately. The dogs looked at one another uncertainly. "Throw it!" Those were the last words he had time for before the hand dragged him into the box and it clicked shut.
Mrs. Cutter let loose an insane laugh. "Who's next?"
"Retreat!" The cry swelled throughout the small crowd of dogs and, all together, they made a beeline for the exit of the house. They trampled Mr. Cutter on the way out, who had been standing at the doorway, trying to get Chi and Ko off the roof. They screamed at them to retreat as they ran.
"What?" Chi screeched, leaping off the roof to join them in their mad dash out of the valley. "Wait! Where's Oki!"
"Screw Oki!" Tei snapped, not bothering to look back.
"Oki who?" Ko wondered out loud. Mrs. Cutter was right behind them!
"What about Oki?" Chi screamed over the noise, dodging a swipe of Mrs. Cutter's knife.
"Forget him, we're better of without him anyways!" Tei roared.
"Yeah. Great lump of fur." Take snorted.
"WHAT!" An earth-shaking wolf roar filled the small valley. There was a loud noise like an explosion and Oki came bursting from the box, which shattered into fragments. The look on Mrs. Cutter's face was priceless, just before Oki landed on her back, jumped off, and then came galloping after them. "You wanna come say that to my face?" He shouted in an uncharacteristic burst of rage.
"Run faster!" The dogs were crying out, "Thank God he doesn't have his sword!" "Hey Oki, here's your sword!" Ume said, going back to give Oki his sword. "Ume!" "NO!"
As they finally made it to safety, outside of the valley, Rei and Shin walked up to meet them. "Hey, you're all alive!" Rei said, looking relieved, his stub of a tail wagging back and forth.
"Not for long." Take mumbled just as Oki caught up.
He stopped there, quivering with rage, looking at each dog in turn. His ruby red eyes were blazing with fury. "Stop. Right. There." He managed to say in between snarls. "Never. Never have I seen such a cowardly, pathetic group such as this. Fighting one another when there was a common enemy to defeat…unspeakable!" Tei and Take flinched at this. "And every last one of you fled with your tail between your legs…to think I expected more of you! You're not canine warriors…" His eyes flashed dangerously, as he burst out, "You're very BAD DOGS!"
The group gasped as if he had just slashed them all across the face.
"Bad dog? Bad dog?" Ko whimpered pathetically, "No, I'm not a bad dog, I'm a good dog…" "Nooo! I've never been bad in my life!" Chi cried out. "My heart!" Shin panicked, "My heart is giving out!" Even Tei was whimpering like a scolded puppy!
Oki paused uncertainly. Then Ume got up in his face aggressively, shouting, "Am I a bad dog? Am I a bad dog? THEN KILL ME! Do it! If I'm a bad dog then I deserve to DIEEE!" His eyes rolled back into his head and his mouth started foaming.
"Enough!" Oki howled over the noise. Everyone shut up instantly. "Okay, okay, you're not bad dogs! But you're not warriors either! Which means starting tomorrow, we're beginning a rigorous training process so wake up ready to work! We must prepare you to defeat Orochi….Now come. It's late and I want to make it to the mermaid spring before sundown."
"Mermaid spring?" Take wondered out loud.
"A safe place to rest for the night." Oki responded quietly, "And it'll heal the wounds you sustained."
Take and Tei's ears flattened with shame. Then they limped after him, followed by everyone else, their hearts heavy at what had happened.
By the time they made it to the spring, the sun had just about set. The two dogs that had been fighting earlier now plunged into the shallow spring together and started bathing. They sighed as the water washed over their wounds and closed them up. The other dogs gathered around the pond. Shin curled up and fell asleep almost immediately. Ume and Hayabusa scrambled up onto a rock and stood there importantly. The evening air was fresh and the grass was cool. This was a nice place to rest after an exciting day.
Oki stood off to the side. "Hayabusa." He called softly, "Come."
Hayabusa leaped off, eager to obey any command given by an alpha dog. "What is it?" The tiger-striped dog asked, tilting his head to the side questioningly as he went to meet him.
"If everyone wakes up and I'm not here, you're in charge." Oki said, with a nod. After careful observation throughout the day, he had deemed the 7th canine warrior as the most responsible of them all. With that, he turned and began to walk away.
"Am I allowed to ask where you're going?" He called after him.
"Yes," Oki replied, without looking back, "But that doesn't mean I'll tell you."
Hayabusa stood there confused as Oki disappeared over the hill. Ume pranced over to stand with him. "Any idea where he's off to?" The young dog asked, eyes bright with curiosity.
"Knowing him, probably some big important mission…" Hayabusa whispered in amazement. "Wow…"
Meanwhile…
"Welcome to Sparrow Inn, home of Sasa Sanctuary's famous hot springs! How can I help you?"
"Yeah…I'd like a room for the night. With full service, including the massage."