DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SLY COOPER! NOPE, NADA, ZILCH, NEIN!
Guess whose back with an update!? This person, yah! I'm so glad everyone is enjoying this story and I hope you like this new chapter heading your way!
Note: All spelling and grammatical errors I have missed, I apologize for. Enjoy!
Collapsing onto the cobblestone path she weakly struggled to crawl towards the thicket of bamboo beside the path before falling flat onto her stomach in the dirt. She was sure her father would scold her later on for the dirt on her clothes, but she felt so tired.
She had ran as fast as she could away from that tiger and the guards. Her body following instinct than her mind as she kept on running until now. Her legs had started to ache from being forced to sit for long hours to then be used to sprint her way from her house to the more isolated section of her village.
Forcing herself up she rolled onto her back as the rise and fall of her chest began to slow, catching her breath and finally relaxing her body.
For a moment she wondered if she had done the right thing to flee instead of fighting the invaders out of her house. Though she was certain they would not be merciful to her despite being a girl and a child. If they had gotten her father, what would hold them back to capturing her as well?
This brought back the question of where her father was.
She had not seen his bright red fur in the shadows as she ran through the village, but she had not seen anyone else for that matter. Only boars with lanterns and weapons walking around the streets. The glow of their lanterns only illuminated their dark eyes and too sharp tusks and teeth that she could not bring herself to look at them for too long if she didn't want to get nightmares.
Weakly rolling up into a sitting position she stared through the bamboo out into her village.
Where was her father?
This had to be the longest time they had been separated save for the few times she played outside in the back of their restaurant and he going out at night to steal from corrupt men. Her tail slowly curled around her waist again as she forced back a sniffle. No crying that wasn't the right thing to do, she scolded herself as she continued to look out.
Beyond the thicket she could see the movement and shine of armor under the moonlight which made her cower a bit. She would have to wait until she could feel her legs again before slipping out. Hugging her knees to her chest she kept her gaze trained outward before finally sliding out onto her side.
At last her eyes finally shut closed as she let sleep overtake her.
Maybe in the morning her father would find her and explain what had happened. Perhaps she would wake up in the morning back inside her room to the sound of the birds singing their greetings to the sun and running out to help her father open the restaurant. All she had hoped was that this was a bad dream, and tomorrow would be better.
Through the bamboo the sun's rays peeked through, making her groan softly as she got up from the ground. Slowly she got up from the ground and began to dust herself, bits of dirt and leaves shook off from her hair as she carefully peered out.
Guards were still around, yet they were not as on guard as last night. She could see a few guards yawn and nap at their post before jerking awake.
Retreating back into the thicket she glanced around in hopes to find some way out without having to go through the village. Her stomach let out a low growl as she realized she hadn't eaten anything since yesterday. She stared out through the bamboo into the village before swallowing down the lump in her throat.
Crouching as low as she could she slowly began to emerge out of the thicket, her good eye darting left and right as she slowly made her way to an unguarded house. Grabbing hold onto a rope dangling from the side of the roof she climbed up. Her hands gripping the rough material as hard as she could to pull herself up.
From above she looked around and saw a sleeping guard a few feet away from where she was.
By his side was a small basket of fruit.
Forcing her saliva down she looked around in desperation to find how to get over there without being seen.
There were four guards around the area that posed a problem to her if she chose to walk on the ground. She looked at the roofs and realized the ropes tied to each roof.
She would have to carefully balance on those and make her way to the sleeping guard and once there she could swipe his fruit before disappearing back up onto the roof. It was a plan that was frightening as she thought over all the possible failures she could do while walking on the rope.
Falling off, a guard looking up, and the rope untying...But what could she do? She was hungry and there was no way she was going to risk returning back home. The tiger had seen her and may have placed even more guards in attempt to capture her...Or worse try to use her against her father.
"...Papa," she whispered as she tried hard to not let the tears out. Shaking her head she took a deep breath in before advancing to the rope. Carefully she reached out and hopped onto it, wobbling as she tried to find her center.
Though light, she could already see the possible fall as she kept finding her balance. It was rather difficult for her to even take the first steps forward as she only had one seeing eye forcing her to try and correct herself as she shakily began the slow walk across.
The rope wobbled as she walked, but held on strong as she made her journey over the guards.
"One foot in front of the other, one must not rush," she quietly told herself as she kept on walking, "Patience..." Soon she reached the very roof of the house the sleeping guard had been attending to.
Her ears flattened against her head as she peered over the edge of the roof to the sleeping boar guard below.
His entire body was leaning back against the front door of the house, his tongue peeking out of his nearly open mouth as well as drool slowly wetting the ground by his left side. She scrunched up her nose at the sight and restrained herself from voicing her disgust out loud. A lantern was hanging off one of the edges of the roof faintly illuminating the small group of bamboo growing close by.
She would use the bamboo to climb up and down from the ground.
Taking hold of the upper part of the green plant, she hooked her two legs around it before slowly urging her body to slide down. Her feet touched the ground and she crouched as she slowly walked over to the guard's basket of fruit. The boar guard let out a few snores and grunts as she advanced, making her freeze whenever she heard him. By the time she had reached his basket the boar guard was letting out quieter snores.
Acting quickly she began to shove as much fruit as she could into her left sleeve. A few apples, oranges and pears later she began to back away only to freeze as she heard someone heading towards the house.
Running as fast as she could to the bamboo, she hugged her left arm to herself with the fabric of her sleeve between her teeth to keep the fruit inside. Forcing as much strength as she could to climb her heart raced just as she caught sight of two guards glancing around. Now that it was daytime she was right out in the open...As clear as day.
With only her legs and right arm, the climb had been slower than her descent but with some stroke of luck...She had managed to get back onto the roof.
Rolling over to ensure her tail and legs were not dangling over the edge, she stayed completely still as she heard the guards below.
"OW!"
"The heck are you sleepin' on the job for?!" Crawling over to the edge of the roof she nervously peeked as she watched the sleeping guard wake up, rubbing the top of his head as the other two stared at him.
"The boss told us to keep watch. So you better keep watch and not sleep on the job!" one of the guards told him as the other picked up an apple and bit into it, "And hoggin' all the food," this one grunted with this mouth full making her cringe as she watched him chew, "Get back to work!"
Retreating back she found a spot to sit and shook the fruit out of her sleeve into her lap.
Picking up an orange she began to carefully peel off the skin, inhaling the citrus' scent before slowly pulling it apart and plopping each slice into her mouth. Her stomach settled and she briefly forgot just what was going on as she continued to eat.
The fruit had calmed her stomach, but there were some left overs and she knew that she would be hungry later on. She looked at the fabric of her sleeves carefully and felt the texture of the fabric. Placing her teeth on the edge of her right sleeve and yanking it as hard as she could at the seam and in with as much force as possible it came off. Settling it down on the tiles she carefully stacked the last few fruit onto it before slowly tying it up on the top to form a small little bag for her to carry them around.
Carefully tying the ends of her makeshift bag to her belt she stood up and peered out through the village, trying to figure out what to do next.
His hands were beginning to hurt after spending hours trying to break free of the cage he had been tossed in with his fist. He had no weapons and his cane was left back at his home, hidden and hopefully undiscovered.
Suspended above a bottomless pit, Rioichi Cooper was forced to stop his attempts to break free of his prison and tried to clear his mind from the boiling rage that had exploded yesterday.
Gently pressing down on the throbbing spots of his hands he looked around. Guards everywhere and prison cells was all he could see from above which only made him realize just how reckless he had been. Even if he had escaped, they would catch him again and might even restrict him from the use of his hands only making a second attempt more difficult. Sighing he continued to kneel on the small space considered the floor of his cage.
When he had woken up his daughter yesterday the ninja would never have thought he would be accused of a crime and tossed into jail by some strange tiger. Rioichi let out a low growl at the thought of that tiger and stared at the bars of the cage, fighting the temptation to rattle the cage to try and get out. His only hope now was that the tiger had not found his daughter. While he did tell her to stay hidden, she could only stay safe for so long before being found or forced to move.
But she was a Cooper.
And as a member of their clan a raccoon with quick thinking, she would surely have used her instincts to flee to safety.
"I hope she is safe," he whispered to himself despite his assurances.
With her blind eye she had been ridiculed often yet she had proven herself time and time again with her own way to handle any situation. However in the end she was still his little girl and she was alone with no clue what was going on. She must have been so terrified and was probably trying to find him at this moment. Rioichi could only hang his head in defeat and closed his eyes only to force himself to open them quickly at the sounds of footsteps heading his way. As he looked down he could feel the burning rage he had calmed down early as the very tiger who had brought him in for his "crime" came into view.
"How do you like your new home Cooper?" the tiger grinned as he lifted his cigar towards his cage, "The view is just perfect isn't it?" Rioichi could only glare down at him before letting out a snarl that echoed through the empty space startling the two guards accompanying the tiger. The tiger on the other hand looked amused before he continued, "Well don't worry, you won't be up there alone...I'm sure we could hang another cage next to you...Smaller."
Instantly Rioichi's heart stopped at his words and his ears immediately arose to their full stance. This reaction did not go unnoticed by the tiger as he puffed out a cloud of smoke, "Oh ho! You think I would not find her? The little brat threw a sack of rice at me, but no worries Cooper. Your little girl will be back with you."
"You hurt her and I will make sure you will know true suffering!" His body shook as he gripped the bars of his cage, snarling and growling as the tiger let out another laugh in amusement of his prisoner, "Oh Cooper, what can you do about it when you are...Hanging out?"
"You won't be laughing El Jefe when I get out of here!"
The ninja master thief could only keep his temper in check for so long. The thought of this tiger catching his daughter and hurting her...
"Big words from a trapped rat," the tiger, El Jefe, scoffed as he blew a ring of smoke towards him. Rioichi closed his eyes as the cloud few at him and forced himself not to cough at the disgusting scent of smoke. El Jefe turned to the two guards, "Tell everyone to keep a look out for that little rat. She should be an easy target for you all and also..." Rioichi gripped his hold on the cage's bars as El Jefe smirked at him, "Should keep our prisoner here to behave if he doesn't want his little girl all bruised up. Ha!" With that El Jefe tossed his used cigar into the pit and went on his way.
As soon as he was alone again, Rioichi fell to his knees and put his face into his hands.
"Henriette..."
He didn't care how, he only wished for a miracle to keep his daughter safe.
Can Henriette keep out of sight from the guards long enough? Add in dramatic music in now!
In all I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, until then~! Take care!