D:
Not been getting many reviews lately...
Then again, I am posting at one hundred miles an hour...that only reason for that is now the quick updates REALLY have to slow down. Actually they should be slowing down right now...oh well.
Please review, you awesome people.
CHAPTER 36: KNEW IT.
Squint zigzagged across the trail, knife at the ready, eyes flickering about. One would say that this particular movement of whipping from side-to-side was unnecessary and might even take up more time, but if you said that to this particular rabbit you'd find out what tomatoes feel like in a salad.
The rabbit glanced about the trees once he entered an odd looking clearing filled with oddly shaped rocks; something he didn't really pay attention to. He couldn't wait to deal with that armadillo for pushing him around...The Captian did say that he wanted the older mammal back alive, but he didn't specifically say unharmed, did?
"Haha.." Squint remarked to himself, twirling his dagger between his fingers as he wandered around. Suddenly, there was a snap from somewhere in the trees, and he stood stock still.
There was silence. He grinned wickedly, turning to the place he'd heard it come from. There was a short intake of breath soon after. His grin spread even more.
Bingo...
Clementine had made her way off to gather more herbs. It seemed she was running out, and after spending so long away from land without any source of plant, she suspected as much.
She found to her great surprise and relief that many of the plants here resemble that of her homeland. They couldn't be too far from their original continent. Yet, many plants remained unknown to her and she made sure to stay clear of them.
Argeth had warned her about running into the pirates; It was something they should all avoid fort he moment while they gathered their bearings and thought of a plan.
As she thought about the pirate crew, her mind went back to a certain hyperactive buck she'd left on the boat, and something her chest gave a sharp pull. That had been incredibly mean...no doubt about that. It was odd, but the fact that Squint may have really liked her back stuck to her mind like glue (though another part of her was pounding her head and saying it was obvious, and so was the fact she felt the same...)
Those last thoughts hit home. Oh, dear...Argeth was going to kill her for this...
She sat down in a rocky clearing and buried her head in her paws, sighing in frustration. And if they did really like each other (her thoughts shouted loudly in her subconscious that the 'if' was completely unnecessary by now) what then? He belonged on the sea among the other pirates...he'd been there too long to return to land with her now. At least, she thought so. And she could tell he loved his life on sea and wouldn't ever leave his crew whom he was loyal to. Gutt wouldn't be happy about it...
And she simply couldn't go back onto sea with him. The fact was...she would die.
Bluntness much, Clem?
She rested her shin on her paw and groaned loudly. This wasn't going well...
Abruptly her long ears caught a sound. The unmistakably swishing sound of a knife. The doe's body went rigid as the sound came closer, and instinctively she darted away from the plain sight of the clearing and hid quietly behind a tree as whoever was wielding the knife waltzed in. Clementine took a step, aiming on getting away from here when a twig snapped beneath her foot.
She gasped in horror, then slapped her paws over her mouth in equal horror to what she'd just added onto her list of stupid accidents.
She waited silently, heart pounding and her paws clamped over her mouth.
She waited. Time passed.
Just when she began to relax, letting her paws fall from her mouth, a grey paw reached around and grabbed her arm, pulling her from her hiding place. She squealed sharply and screwed her eyes shut, holding up an arm to shield herself as whoever had caught her pulled her forward.
"Aha! Got...ya?"
Huh? wait a second...
Her eyes snapped open and she looked up to find a very dumb-founded Squint staring at her holding his dagger up. He promptly dropped it once realizing it was her.
"S-Squint?" She stammered, just as shocked as he was to see her. How...what...? how did he?
Suddenly he smiled and jumped forward (something that startled her a little) and flung his arms around her waist, lifting her up. Clementine gasped quickly before giving away to a giggle as he spun her around in the air. She felt a little dizzy about it and he was spinning amazingly fast, but she left that out.
"Whoa, I found ya!" He exclaimed loudly as he set her back down, the doe stumbling a little. She laughed uncertainly as she tried to regain her balance.
"Yes, you did..." Suddenly his arms were around her again and she had just a second to turn her head up curiously before he pressed his lips against hers. This time it was her turn to nearly jump in surprise, but she decided not to. Instead, she flung her arms around his shoulders and pressed back gently as a smile pulled on his face.
They held together for a while before pulling away. Clementine still felt dizzy, but whether it was from the sudden kiss of the twirling she'd never know. She honestly couldn't believe both of them were alright with this...like the awkwardness had decided to flew south. Now that she was complaining...the warm feeling in her heart was back again.
"Well, you don't look all sick anymore." He commented as she snuggled her head under his chin, his arms still around her. Clementine sighed softly at the mention of her illness.
"Hmm. Started getting better the second I reached land, actually..." Her voice faded away. She was immensely happy to see him again, but her recent worries had returned to her mind.
"What's wrong?" The other rabbit asked, suddenly feeling cautious. He hadn't done anything to upset her again, did her? come on...
"Nothing...it's just..." She sighed as they pulled away so they could see each other clearly. She was trouble for words. She decided to go for the major issue at the moment.
"About the other pirates and..."
Squint shrugged, crooked grin returning. "Actually Captain's not really bothered 'bout most of you now. I mean, as long as ya don't try anything..."
The sentence echoed in her mind and she began playing with one ear worriedly. "What do you mean...most of us?"
Squint glanced away awkwardly. "Did I say that? heh..." He looked back at her and almost had a heart attack.
Clementine had folded her arms and had began tapping her foot, her face lowered and eyes dangerous and questioningly. He gulped. That look was enough to get a shark turn tail and bolt.
"Um...er..." He couldn't help it. "He's after the elk and armadillo, okay? stop looking at me like that..."
Clementine's fierce expression had melted like ice over fire the second the first part of his answer was said. She bit her lip, fiddling with her ear again.
Squint shuffled awkwardly on the spot. Uh, oh...not good.
"But..uh...don't worry!" He said, getting her attention again "I don't think he'll actually kill them...I mean, he didn't last time. He liked having them around as henchman."
He didn't really believe that, and the doe opposite him didn't seem to either.
Clementine scowled at the floor. "I see..."
She sighed again, rubbing her eyes. Oh, dear. Gutt was really mad now...
"So..where is the armadillo and elk now?" Squint asked. Clementine stiffened. Telling him now was a bad, bad idea...though she hated to lie to him, she had to.
"We parted ways once we got on land. I mean...that was the original deal..." It was a long shot, and Squint looked skeptical fro a second before shrugging it off.
"Oh. Ah, well."
Clementine gave a silent breath of relief, still staring at the ground. Squint noticed that.
"Ya sure you're okay?" He asked. Clementine smiled brightly.
"Is that concern I hear from a pirate?" She asked teasingly. Squint went rigid, ears shooting up. Male pride, more fragile and vulnerable than a spec of snow...
"No!" He growled indignantly. Like she suspected, his nose wiggled furiously. Clementine giggled.
"Stop it! That's not cool!" He said loudly, poking her in the stomach. This only proved to make her laughter increase. He scowled, flustered until she exclaimed:
"Stop it, that tickled!" Her giggled stopped short. Uh, oh...
She turned her head and saw Squint baring a look that of pure wickedness. Her eyes widened. Oh, crud...
"Squint, don't you dare-"
She broke off in a yelp as Squint jumped on her abruptly and began tickling her. She struggled qucikly but couldn't get free.
"Q-quit it! I can't-" She broke off into another batch of laughter. Squint cackled triumphantly.
"There's no escape! the tickle-torturer is relentless!"
"Get off!"
Squint did relent eventually, stepping back so Clementine could (try anyway) to stand back up, still giggling slightly.
"Don't ever...don't ever do that...again..." She gasped, leaning on a tree trunk beside them. Squint laughed in a exasperated evil fashion. Clementine frowned. He would probably do it again...
"Anyway, I'm starving." Squint announced as he began wondering off. Clementine watched him as he went him as he went "I'm gonna go find some berries."
Clementine rose a brow. "You know where to find them?"
"Sure." Squint replied, glancing over his shoulder at her. "Been here before lots of times. Ya comin'?"
Clementine hesitated. Cocoum's wound didn't need to be treated for a while, and the others knew she was okay...maybe a little while wouldn't hurt.
"Okay, then." She agreed finally. Squint smiled brightly, as he continued on. Clementine followed after him, unaware that a certain bat had flown onto a tree a few minutes ago.
"I totally knew it..."
Maut almost needed to wipe a tear away from her eyes, but her grin was too big for her to shed any tears at all. Argeth had sent her to check on Clementine, and she'd found she was more than okay.
Totally knew this would happen...cute lil' lovebunnies. Maybe Args doesn't need to know for a while...
Please review...you finally got the reunion.