Yeah, I know it's been a long time. So much senior shit's going down since we're graduating in a few months. GUH it sucks!

BUT, I decided to get some work down and here comes this chapter...which should be decent. Not sure if people know this story exists. Lol. But anyway, here it is.

Yuuen tossed and turned in the bedding, panting horribly and scratching at his throat. He felt like his throat was constricting, pushing all his air away. Tears leaked from his face, sweat pouring from his pores.

He felt something cold touch his forehead and his eyes shot open, his vision blurry. When he looked up, he saw Emba wiping his forehead with a cold wet cloth in a bowl. He noticed that the man looked at him with irritated eyes, most likely because he was woken up so suddenly by his lover's pained moaning.

Emba set the rag to the side and sighed, rubbing the blonds sweaty neck. Yuuen looked away, but was made to look at the man, who whispered,

"Yuuen, how do you feel?"

"I-it...my throat hurts and...I'm cold all the time. Everything hurts...my body is always...so numb..."

Emba stopped him by setting his lips on the boys forehead lightly, covering him back up in the warm fur. Yuuen felt a little better, since Emba was here. The man was always there for him when he needed him and it made Yuuen upset whenever he thought about..leaving.

Finally, Emba layed back down next to him, running his fingers through his blond hair tenderly. Yuuen felt his breath catch in his throat. It was almost painful for him to think about leaving. He almost contemplated not leaving, but he had to. Anything to be sure that his family and the tribes were better off. So when Emba finally went to sleep, Yuuen gently pried himself away from the man and weakly got to his feet. It took him a moment to catch his bearings but once he did, he quietly left the tent.

But he didn't get very far. Salem was sitting by the fire, poking at it slightly. He caught sight of Yuuen, whose eyes were wide in fear of being caught. The man smiled.

"Going somewhere?"

Yuuen rubbed his arm, unsure of what to say. He could lie. Lying would help a little.

"I...uh...I was...um..."

However, lying was never one of Yuuen's strong suits. Salem smiled still and patted the ground for the boy to sit next to him. Sighing, Yuuen sat down and shivered, rubbing his arms. Salem leaned over to hug him, wrapping his fur cloak around him.

"Yuuen, how are you feeling?"

"Horrible..."

"I can't say I'm surprised. Emba told us you were ill. And why you're out of your tent is beyond me. You should be resting."

Yuuen sighed sadly and rubbed his neck. The last thing he would do was tell his lovers father that he was thinking of leaving forever. Could he have spoken to Yuuen's own father? He couldn't tell.

He groaned and rubbed his head, knowing that the other chief could see he was in pain. He felt his hand on his forehead.

"You look horrible and your head feels like it's on fire. Yuuen, you need to go back to your tent and rest before Emba, or worse, your father or brother see you walking about."

"I know, I know...but I can't get comfortable...the fur's much too hot and everytime I push it away, Emba covers me back up. I'm hot and cold all at once...I don't know which feels worse."

"I know how it feels. Sickeness is never an enjoyable process. I can make an estimate of when you'll be better, but this seems much too advanced for an estimate...what were you doing out your tent, if I may ask?"

Yuuen blushed and shook his head, whispering loud enough for him to hear,

"I...just needed some air. It was too stuffy and hot..."

Salem hummed and went back to watching the fire. After a few moments, he stood and said,

"Come. Back in your tent. I need to wake Emba for his watch. Let's go."

Yuuen nodded and lightly swayed into his tent, seeing how his lover was already up and ready for his watch. He locked eyes with Yuuen who couldn't even look him in the eyes at the moment. Silently, he walked over and layed back down on the bedding, covering up to his waist in the pelts. He felt Emba's eyes burning on his back, but he avoided it and shut his eyes, pretending to be asleep, waiting for the two men to leave. He heard them discussing the watch, how Salem thought he heard noises in the bushes, but saw that it was only a few woodland animals.

After what seemed like forever, they left and Yuuen sat back up, rubbing his itchy head. He was tired, sweaty, and eager for the night to be over. It was obviouse he wasn't leaving tonight either. Groaning, he layed back down and shivered, curling himself in the blankets, staring at the side of the tent. His weak eyes grew weaker and when they finally shut, his mind knew that he wasn't asleep...he had passed out.

That morning, while the women worked on the cooking and cleaning, Yuuen sat near the river again, staring out on the other end of the bank. It wasn't as cold as it was before, but even still. He sighed, running his hands through his hair. This was becoming a bit of a problem, him he considered. All week, he was trying to leave the village in order to get out of everyone's way. And evertime he tried, there was always something that stopped him, wheither it was his father, his brother, or his lover, it was starting to aggrivate him to no end. He needed to get out, but he needed the perfect moment to try again.

He turned his head to see some of the hunters coming home from an early morning scout and Yuuen smiled meekly when he saw Yuuli showing off a tigers body, saying how he caught it himself. His wife looked estatic, hugging and kissing him. He had such a big smile on his face.

Yuuen's smile faded as a sudden surge of pain sparked through his already aching head and he groaned, looking away out to the lake, tilting his head, thinking for the first time in a while why all of a sudden he wanted to leave. Was it just because of his illness or the fact that he was a burden to the two villages? He'd always thought it was the latter, seeing as he couldn't hunt, gathering he could barley do. Maybe he wasn't good at anything.

Sighing again, he stood up and swayed back to the village, walking into his tent and sat on the bedding, knees to his chest and his thoughts were racing. In the dirt, he traced out his thoughts with his finger, narrowing down his reasons for leaving.

Possible reason 1.) His illness was making him crazy.

Possible reason 2.) He was worthless in everyway, unable to hunt, gather, anything.

Possible reason 3.) He wanted to know what it was like supplying for himself...

That last one caught Yuuen off gaurd as he stared at it. True, he was curious to know what it would be like living in the wild by himself. After all, what else could he do here that would get him into trouble. If he were living alone, there'd be no one to critisize him for his lack of skills. He shut his eyes, rubbing his neck and wiping away the dirt so no one could see his thoughts. Last thing he needed was to be questioned if he just left it in the dirt. Moaning to himself, he layed down in the bedding, rubbing his stomach, staring at the top of the tent, eyes wide with curiousity. Those same eyes shut in sleep. His headaches seemed to tire him out a lot latley.

There was a loud commotion sometime during sunset and it woke Yuuen from his nap. Eyes snapping open and he sat up, not caring about how dizzy he was. Outside his tent, he saw people running around, as if running from something big. But he heard his father talking with someone, maybe Salem. Something about...a dangerous tribe coming their way. Yuuen's eyes widened. This was his chance!

Grabbing the sack he filled days before, he slung it over his back and crawled out from the tent to see the women and child packing up some of their belongings. He turned his head to see the hunters sharpening their weapons. He saw Yuuli and Emba looking over their spears, intent looks of kill on their faces. He had to leave now or else he'd never get another chance.

While the chiefs were discussing advanced attacks, Yuuen tiptoed past all of them, holding his breath so as not to let himself get caught. Almost to the trees, then he could run. He looked to be sure no one was looking, until he locked eyes with a small child, who was pointing him out, causing him to break out into a sudden run, stepping on sticks and twigs. His eyes burned. He was sure to get caught now...

He stopped by a near by tree, waiting for the people to be following him. He kept hearing that child saying something about seeing something run into the forest. Then he heard the mother tell the child to shush and that it was just an animal. Yuuen let out a loud sigh of relief. He didn't get caught...he was clear. Being certain he was in no position of discovery, he ran farther into the forest, not entirley sure where he was going. He heard the lakes waves getting closer, meaning he had to cross and he's be more into the clear.

Tripping over some rocks and fallen branches from time to time, he finally made it to the lake and he had to stop and take a breather, coughing violently in his hand. He had almost forgotten he was still ill. He shook his head. He had to keep going, otherwise he would get cold feet and turn back. Taking in a deep breath, he removed his sack and held it over his head so nothing would get wet as he swam across the cold lake, telling himself he could do this.

It seemed like forever until he got to the other end, plopping the dry sack on the grass. He got to his knees and turned to look behind him. He was plenty far enough so no one would catch him. Smiling weakly, coughing the next, he squeezed his hair to drain the lake water out and shivered. He itched his neck, pausing when he felt the necklace Emba had made for him a year ago. It was a small strand of rope, which held the flower Yuuen always felt tears for whenever he saw it. Yuuen sighed. This wasn't the time for second guessing himself. He wanted to do this, for whatever reasons he had. Struggling to stand, he picked up his sack and ran farther into the forest, not looking back, a look of sickly determination in his eyes.

Back at the village, Chief's Yuni and Salem were counting out the damages done to their hunters. Such a waste of time. Here they thought it was a large army of rival tribesmen when it was only 4 weak thieves. Needless to say, they were all a little irritated. The only damage they could find was a small scratch on one of their men. The thieves were killed and their belongings were taken, sorted as the chief's saw fit.

After 2 hours of pointless sorting, Yuni told everyone to retire to their tents for the night, that there was nothing to worry about. The women and children were thrilled, though also slightly aggrivated that there was no real threat. Yuuli's wife and their son hugged Yuuli before walking into their tent as the man walkedd up to father, along with Emba and a few others.

Yuni sighed.

"Unbelieveable. I almost felt the urge to just strip them of their weapons and let them go. I've never encountered such weaklings before."

"I know how you feel, old friend. Ugh..."

It was quiet for a while before Yuuli suddenly said to Emba,

"I'm surprised. Yuuen slept through the entire raid. He must've been really exhausted from his sickness."

Emba gave a sympothetic smile, which quickly faltered to a look of worry. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Yuuen all day. Well, not since that morning. He should go check and see if he needed anything. Food, water, something. He stood and excused himself, walking over to their tent. When he crawled inside, it was empty. Stunned, he quickly got out from the tent and walked to where Yuuen usually was: at the end of the lake. No one was there.

Emba's heart started to race in panic. If Yuuen wasn't in their tent and he wasn't by the lake, where was he? He ran back to their tent and was suddenly aware that his cloak was gone, along with the heads to two back up spears. His sharpening rock was gone too.

No...there was no way he was...

Now he was worried. He ran from the tent to the chief's tent and was greeted with the shocked looks of his father, Yuni and Yuuli. They all saw the worried and horrified look on the mans face. Salem walked up to him and sat him down gently, asking what was wrong. Emba found it hard to form words. His mouth was so dry from gulping down nerves. He had never felt this worried in a long time and now, it was eating him alive.

Yuni asked him what was wrong and finally, Emba asked,

"Has anyone seen Yuuen today? Like at all today?"

The question stunned them all, but Yuni and Yuuli seemed to see passed the question. Their eyes widened and Yuni bolted from the tent, only to return moments later with a look of sheer terror on his face.

Yuuli stood and said,

"Father, what is it?"

"It's Yuuen...he's gone. Yuuen's run off."

TBC...