Oh, I suppose I should note: This is NOT slash.

On another note, I will be deleting the original Perplexity as soon as all the chapters are up on this one. Considering I've already written this story, though, I'm not expecting this to take a long time to write (certainly not three years again). Enjoy.

Chapter Two: Children of Ohkami

Life at Ninja Ops had gotten stranger in the week following the attacks on Cam and Hunter. There was a tension in the air, centering around both the Green and Crimson Rangers, and the other Rangers were instinctively staying clear. They didn't know what was going on, and had the feeling that Cam and Hunter were just as clueless, but it didn't stop the concern or the curiosity.

"Have you noticed how well…protective Hunter and Cam are of each other suddenly?" Shane quietly asked Tori, Dustin and Blake as they watched the two afore mentioned rangers hold a near-silent conversation. That observation was as true as it was obvious after having watched them for the past week. Cam and Hunter seemed to circle each other when fighting, the same way that Hunter and Blake did, although Cam—surprisingly—deferred to Hunter most of the time.

Blake gave a confused shrug. "Yeah," he muttered and then paused, obviously thinking something over. "But they also seem to get rather upset if one imposes on their…their territory, with lack of better words."

Dustin laughed. "Dude! I've seen Cam agitated to the point of growling! Like, that was something, and it was only because Hunter was too close to his computer!"

Blake rolled his eyes. "And Hunter gets upset if Cam comes too close to me, for crying out loud…" That was somewhat annoying, as Hunter seemed to have upped his overprotective tendencies in the past month. Blake was usually okay with that, but having his brother snap at Cam—and really, only Cam—for getting too close to him, was actually taking many steps back. There was another pause in which they noticed both Hunter and Cam glance in opposite directions, frowns marring their faces.

"Well, there's something going on between those two, and I don't think they're going to let us in on the secret anytime soon…" His sentence died off as the other two rangers came to join them.

The group of six was at the beach, in a small alcove that was almost always free of people, and often used for their training. They hadn't come to train, however, but to relax. With all the commotion that Lothor was causing, they hadn't had time to just sit back and relax in a long while. Sensei had thought it a good time to do so, going so far to even kick Cam out of the secret Ops. Unfortunately, Cam and Hunter hardly found relaxing something that they were doing.

The poachers—as they had become to call them—hadn't quit in their hunt of the two Rangers. For the past two week, both the Samurai and the Thunder Ranger had found themselves fighting, not only Lothor's monsters, but the poachers as well. It made for large amounts of exhaustion, and they were having a hard time hiding the evidence of that from their friends and comrades. The bags under their eyes and the overall paleness of their skin was telling, and they could see the worried looks that the others gave them at times. But they couldn't tell the others of their predicament…because the others couldn't see their enemies.

And the wolves…

It was all about the wolves. "The wolves will die." That was their only clue towards their enemies' motives. But it didn't make any sense and it was frustrating Hunter and Cam almost to the point where they wanted to bash their heads against the wall. They hardly noticed that their own behavior was changing, or the fact that the two of them could communicate with nothing more than a few words and some short growls. They were too busy worrying about the next fight to realize that they instinctively snapped at each other when agitated, or exerted their dominance in other ways—although Cam more often than not, allowed Hunter to take the lead there. They didn't notice, but they noticed how their friends kept eyeing them. And how the poachers were never far away either.

Even now, they were watching… Two small groups, watching from either side of the beach. It was unnerving, especially in the fact that they weren't attacking. The poachers floated around like ghosts, but were solid enough to kill. It made no sense physiologically, but the two Rangers would take what they could get when it came to the poachers.

The others had all started up another conversation, including the two usually sarcastic/silent boys to the best of their abilities. However, Hunter and Cam were, as usual, not being very cooperative on that front.

Cam frowned and looked over his shoulder in the middle of answering a question, shaking his head as he gave a little sigh. Turning back to the others, he completely disregarded the preceding question to ask his own. "Did you see something?" he asked Shane, who shook his head in confusion. Cam sighed again, exchanging a look with Hunter. "Well I did… I'm going to go and check it out…"

"Come on, Cam, we're here to relax, not worry about what Lothor's up to," Tori complained from her seated position on the sand.

Cam turned to face her as he continued towards the trees at the edge of the beach, walking backwards for a few paces. "Lothor has attacked every day for the past week. Except today…tell me that isn't something to worry about," he retorted. There were pauses and then shrugs and Cam left the group.

"I'm confused…" Dustin said after a moment.

Hunter raised an eyebrow in mocking humor."And that's new?" he asked, good-humoredly.

The Yellow Ranger turned and gave him a half-hearted glare. "It's just that…Cam didn't seem like he was too worried about Lothor… It's more like there's something else bothering him," he said.

Tori raised her eyebrows, looking at the biker in surprise as she flipped some of her blond hair over her shoulder."And the airhead figured this out on his own? Wow…" Dustin decided to ignore this comment, noticing that Hunter was frowning and looking in the direction Cam had gone, a look of concern on his face. "I think your right," Tori said after a moment's hesitation, giving Dustin a smile to take away the mocking bite of her earlier words. "And I think Hunter here can tell us what the heck is going on."

"Ah," Hunter said, returning his attention to the group and raising one finger. "It seems you are wrong there…" He paused, eyes shifting to the side. "I have no idea…"

"You realize I can tell when you are lying?" Blake asked, giving his older brother a bland look.

Hunter gave a guilty grin. "Yup…but hey, a promise is a promise, and I can't tell any of you a thing." He really did feel guilty about that, but until he and Cam figured out what was going on, they had agreed not to speak to the other Rangers, or even Sensei, about it.

There was no comment before Blake decided to speak."But, bro, you are going to tell us eventually, right?" he asked. He was frowning, an almost desperate look in his brown eyes. He hated when Hunter refused to confide in him.

Hunter frowned as well, glancing over to the trees again. "Yeah…as soon as we figure this out for ourselves…" he muttered, placing a comforting hand on his brother's head. Blake frowned, both at the answer and at the action, along with the others. "Are you sure you can't see anything?" Hunter quietly asked Shane, who was standing next to him.

Shane gave him a funny look, shaking his head."There's nothing there," he replied. But there was. A poacher had just materialized out of the trees, smiling cockily.

Hunter shook his head, removing his hand from Blake's hair, and biting at his bottom lip. "I'm going to go and see if Cam needs any help," he murmured before running off. The others all watched him disappear into the trees with various shocked expressions.

"Well…" Tori said quietly. "At least we he confirmed that something is indeed going on…"

"Yeah, but what?" Blake asked, a small amount of bite in his tone. Nobody answered, but he really hadn't been expecting an answer anyway.

Hunter passed through the woods quickly, not streaking, but just running, absently noticing that he had more stamina than he had before. And that was impressive considering he was both a ninja and a Ranger. He passed a few poachers, taking out those that attacked him, but leaving the others alone, and then continued his search for his comrade.

He found Cam pinned beneath a rather large poacher, who had his hands around the samurai's neck. Cam was struggling weakly, his own hands struggling with those that were cutting off his arm supply. He was beginning to turn blue, which Hunter gave a deep growl at seeing. Simply put, Cam was being strangled, and it was obvious that he wouldn't be able to take much more.

Hunter slammed into the poacher, knocking him aside, and Cam, now free, rolled onto his side gasping for much needed air. The poacher grinned at Hunter who had taken a rather protective stance in front of the green ranger.

Giving a menacing laugh, the poacher gave a short bow. "Until next time wolf," the ghost-like person said and then he vanished.

Hunter immediately turned around and knelt next to Cam who was still struggling to breath. Helping him into a seated position he stroked the samurai's throat, eliciting a soft moan from his comrade.

"Shh…relax and take deep breaths. Come on Cam, breath," he instructed, looking Cam over again, frowning until the hint of blue receded from the man's lips. The samurai shouldn't have fallen so easily, and then he saw what had made him fall. There was a long, deep cut running the length of his calf, most likely inflicted by one of the poachers' swords. It was still bleeding, but not as heavily as it had apparently been. However, the sight of the wound worried Hunter anyway and he grimaced. "That doesn't look good," he muttered, noticing that Cam's breathing had steadied.

"Why are we the only ones that see them?" Cam whispered, sounding just a touch desperate. Hunter shrugged sadly, placing a finger under Cam's chin and turning his head to one side to see the ugly, dark ring of bruises that was forming around his throat.

Gently stroking one of the bruises, Hunter pulled back when Cam flinched. "Apparently we're the wolves their talking about…If I got the meaning right," he muttered in return. Cam closed his eyes, leaning back against the tree behind him with a weary sigh. He didn't have the energy to think about this right now. Hunter turned his attention to the large wound on his leg, and he forced himself to stay still through the examination on the injury.

"It doesn't make any sense," he muttered, giving a wince when Hunter's fingers probed a more sensitive place on his calf. Hunter shrugged again, ripping his shirt in an attempt to make bandages. They seemed to work fairly well in stemming the remaining blood flow, although Cam had already lost more than enough.

"I don't think it's supposed to make sense," a feminine voice behind him said gently. Hunter spun around, a growl escaping his throat, and Cam suddenly perked up in full attention, but they were both surprised to see a lady with long blonde hair and a full white dress standing in front of them. She was almost glowing with the light emanating from her.

"Who…?" Hunter's question died on his lips as the lady smiled and he relaxed. For some reason he felt completely safe around her, and the look of pain had left Cam's face. He studied the woman for a long moment, noticing that she actually seemed rather familiar. As though he had seen her in a dream, long ago.

"I am Ohkami," she answered, her voice calm and pleasant. "The goddess of wolves." She looked around her at the woods, giving a slight frown that died as soon as she looked back at the two Rangers. "And you two are my children."

"What?" However safe as they felt, they were still rather confused. The lady—Ohkami—laughed, the sound like soft spring rain.

"Reincarnation is a fickle thing, my son," she replied lovingly. "One often forgets who he had been before. And it is the first time you have ever been reborn as humans. Why I do not know, but…" she paused, looking behind her. "Please, my time here grows short. Just know that the Ashnazi will do anything to kill you. Please be safe my sons. I cannot help you…" The light around her flickered and then she disappeared entirely.

Cam gave a groan and nearly fell against Hunter, who caught his arm and steadied him while still looking at the spot Ohkami had previously stood. "Do you suddenly…different?" Hunter asked in a hushed whisper. There was no real way of describing how he suddenly felt, except for 'different'. It was as though all his senses were suddenly on overdrive, and he had the almost uncontrollable urge to just run. Hunter had a feeling that as soon as everything caught up to him, he was going to end up with a killer headache. Cam gave a tense nod, feeling the same, and then promptly passed out.

Hunter looked down at him, surprised and more than a little concerned, and then looked up again to meet the gaze of a monster, this time one of Lothor's minions. He involuntarily winced, not wanting to have to deal with this on top of taking care of an injured and unconscious Cam. Standing up him pulled out his morpher.

"Thunder Storm, Ranger Form! Ha!"

"Did you feel that?" Dustin asked the others. They all nodded, looking towards the trees.

"It's been nearly fifteen minutes since Hunter ran off," Blake commented absently. There was another wave of energy…and it felt unmistakably like one of Lothor's minions.

"And that's our cue to go," Tori said, eyes widening in shock. They all morphed and streaked through the trees looking for both their comrades, and the monster. What they found was more than a little concerning, however.

The Crimson Thunder Ranger stood over Cam, who was sprawled unconscious on the ground. And though Hunter was faring quite well for not having moved at all, Cam was entirely too pale aside from the dark bruises on his neck and throat, and the blood-soaked strips of fabric wrapped around his calf. After a moment's hesitation, three of the Rangers jumped into the battle.

"What the heck happened to ya'll?" Shane asked, turning to Hunter before kneeling to check on Cam. Hunter didn't answer, only waved his staff in the direction of the monster, one calling itself Yoko and looking rather similar to a large beet. Shane gave it an odd look that went unnoticed through his visor, and then gave Hunter the same look, which the Crimson could feel even if he couldn't see.

"That did that to Cam?" There was a moment of hesitation and then Hunter shook his head. "And you can't tell me what did, can you?" Shane asked again, quieter this time as the other three took on the monster. There was another pause and Hunter nodded.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, feeling guilty about not revealing anything. Even though he had figured out some of what was going on, his instincts were rebelling against telling the rest of the Rangers, and he wasn't one to go against his instincts. Shane didn't say anything, only turned to kick a few kelzaks that had suddenly appeared out of the way.

It didn't take long for Yoko to be destroyed, and this time there was no scroll, and no giant monster, much to the relief of everyone. They carefully gathered Cam up, and streaked back to Ninja Ops, Hunter, still wallowing in guilt, a little behind the others.

End Chapter Two