Wild Animal

"Paw prints?" Ayu asks, looking up from the plant she was examining.

"Ye-yes" Natsu confirms "They, um, they looked like a cat's, but they were a little too big, so I was thinking, um… a tiger, perhaps?"

Ayu looks thoughtful, but other than that, Natsu can't read her expression.

"I probably shouldn't have said anything; what if they weren't a feline's footprints after all?" Natsu thought nervously "What if it was some other animal that has already been spotted here? Ayu-san could get mad at me for wasting her time."

"Show me where you saw them"

"Huh?" she wanted to see?

"We need to see if it really is some feline beast; it could be dangerous" Ayu said "Fortunately felines don't tend to move in packs, but we can't be sure. And even one could be dangerous if it was aggressive."

"R-right" Natsu said. Leading Ayu to the pawprints, she really hoped that they were what she thought they were.

"But wait, if they are, then it'll be dangerous" she realized "It'd be better if I was wrong, even if Ayu-san would get mad."

"It really is a tiger or a similar feline" Ayu said, both to Natsu's relief and horror "Though they're a little small; perhaps it's just a cub?"

Natsu didn't comment, for it seemed like Ayu was talking more to herself than asking her opinion.

"We should tell Gengorou about this; he has experience with tigers" he did? Team Summer A was amazing.

XXXXX

"A tiger?" Gengorou repeated, and to Natsu he seemed excited.

"Ye-yes" she confirmed. Somehow, she had ended up having to be the one to tell him as Ayu had gone to round up the puppies, just in case the feline was still nearby "Or some other type of feline. Ayu-san said it might be just a cub."

"Interesting" he said, but his face suddenly supported a frown "And a little worrying. If there's one, there could be more. We haven't seen any so far, but if any start showing up, they might cause harm to our community. We should take a look at this. Where did you see the paw prints?"

Natsu led him over to the prints, looking around a bit nervously, fearing that the feline might jump out from somewhere. But on the other hand, keeping an eye out for the animal kept her from being too nervous about being alone with Gengorou. Natsu didn't really know him; had never really even talked to him in fact aside from a few words as she and Ayu introduced the new plants they'd discovered. Fortunately, he seemed like a serious person, not like someone who'd mess with people.

"Here" she said, realizing right after that it was pointless; Gengorou could clearly see the prints himself. Not that he seemed to mind. Examining the marks, he said: "I think it really is a tiger. A cub, I'm sure. That's worrying."

"Because if there's a cub here, the mother won't be far" Natsu silently murmured to herself, but it didn't go unheard by her companion.

"Exactly" he said "The track leads to the woods; let's see how far we can get."

"We?" Natsu repeated. Did he expect to go after it now? And just the two of them?

"I don't see a reason why not" Gengorou said, looking at Natsu "It's better to go now so that we won't lose the trail."

"But… won't it be dangerous?" she asked, unable to meet Gengorou's eyes.

"Perhaps, but we'll be cautious" Gengorou said "I have my gun along too, so if it becomes necessary, I can use it."

"But…"

"…I won't force you to come if you don't want to" Gengorou said "I can go alone."

Natsu didn't want to go; she was a little scared and being alone with Gengorou made her nervous. But-

"No, I'll come" she said as confidently as she could. It could be dangerous, so it was no good to let him go alone, no matter how capable he was. And as a cat person, part of her wanted to see the tiger.

"Alright then" he said "Let's go."

XXXXX

After they'd walked a while, the silence between them got overwhelming for Natsu and she gathered her courage to ask: "Um, shouldn't we have told someone where we're going?"

"I'm sure Ayu already knew I'd do this" Gengorou told her "She'll come after us if we take too long to her liking."

Natsu could imagine her doing that, directing her annoyance at the two of them. She wasn't looking forward to that.

They almost lost the track a few times, Natsu definitely would have had she been alone, but Gengorou always managed to find it again. Eventually he came to a sudden halt, holding out his arm to signal for Natsu to stop as well.

Realizing that they must've found the feline, Natsu tensed. She really hoped it was just a cub like the Summer A members had thought.

"There's two of them" Gengorou said quietly, and Natsu peeked around him to confirm this. Indeed, there were two at the coastline, a cub and an adult, probably it's mother, but the later looked hurt, perhaps even dead.

"Stay here" Gengorou whispered as he pulled out his gun, and Natsu really hoped it was just to be safe. He walked over to the felines slowly and cautiously. Natsu could see the cub hissing at her companion, baring its fangs. She could see Gengorou kneeling down in front of it, not too close, letting it get used to him, all the while most likely keeping an eye on the bigger feline. Finally, after the cub had calmed down, curiously sniffling the man, he slowly rose, going towards the remaining feline.

"It's dead" he called out loud enough for Natsu to hear after a while. She was relieved, but also a little sad for the cub; it was all alone now.

Coming out of her hiding place, Natsu approached the cub silently, much like Gengorou had done. It hissed at her as well, but stopped not long after. Getting used to the other human around must've sped up it's process of getting used to her.

"Hello" she cooed to the kitten- ahem, tiger as it sniffed her hand. As she did, she noticed that it was hurt; it was dragging it's left back paw "Are you hurt?"

"It does seem to be" Gengorou said as he came over, and Natsu decided to keep the fact that she wasn't actually asking it to herself "But it didn't look all that bad; I'm sure it'll heal with the right help."

"That's a relief" Natsu said. Otherwise she would've cooed it to the kitten, but she feared what Gengorou would say about it, so she held her tongue. Instead, she asked: "Do you think these two are the only ones?"

"Very likely; I think they crossed the sea to get here" the man said "They must've been swept away by the current."

"That's so sad" Natsu muttered, carefully scooping up the tiger cup. She held it firmly enough to not drop it, but loosely enough that if it wanted to jump away, it could. But it didn't seem to mind. Natsu wanted to take it home with her, but knew it wasn't that simple. This wasn't a cat; while the tiger was probably harmless now, there could be trouble when it grew up. But to leave it all alone…

"I didn't expect you to just pick it up" Gengorou said, startling Natsu. She had almost forgotten he was there "I… I'm sorry."

"Ah no, I'm not saying it's a bad thing" he said, smiling as he stroked the tiger's fur "Most people would just be too cautious to do so."

Natsu blushed a little, feeling like it was a compliment, though she couldn't be sure.

"…What should we do about this?" she asked "It might not make it if we leave it alone."

"That could be" Gengorou said "We could take it along for now, at least until it's healed. Maybe we could even keep it around."

"You think so?" Natsu asked hopefully.

"Not in the settlement of course, but somewhere close" Gengorou said "If the others don't mind, of course. I like tigers, but the same can't be said for everyone. Understandable when we think of what could go wrong."

"We won't know without asking, will we?" Natsu said, suddenly determined "We should try."

She just hoped that that just now hadn't come across as an order and made Gengorou mad.

"Yes, we should" he agreed, much to her delight "Do you want to talk to Ayu?"

"Eh? Me?" the idea was rather scary; Ayu was scary "I… that's…"

"I can talk to her myself if you're not up to it" Gengorou said "Actually, that might be for the best as I know her better. How about you talk to Botan-san instead?"

That was a good idea, and it'd be easier. But…

She couldn't just always pick the easy way out.

"No" she said "I can talk to Ayu-san. Botan-san too of course, but I'll be able to talk to Ayu-san!"

"Alright then" she was glad that he didn't see any problem with it; she had no idea how to handle it if he got angry "We should head back."

"Right" Natsu said, fixing her hold on the tiger so that it wouldn't fall. Eyeing her, Gengorou asks: "Should I carry it?"

"No, I can do this" this was the one thing Natsu could say with confidence "I know what I'm doing."

"You have experience with tigers?" Gengorou asked, making Natsu blush again "Ah, not exactly. I um, I had a cat, so…"

"I see, I suppose the basics of handling them might be similar" he paused "But a tiger is definitely more dangerous if something goes wrong."

"…Yes…" she knew that of course; she wasn't stupid, but she was sure she could handle this… or at least, she had been sure. Now she started to doubt herself again.

"I actually took care of a tiger in the past" Gengorou said suddenly, making Natsu look at him in shock "Ban-Chan and Ayu-san too; we were in the animal class together" he pauses, but then adds: "His name was Tango."

"My cat's name was Macademia Nuts" Natsu told in return "Nuts for short."

This was what they called small talk, right? Natsu had never been good at that, but maybe she could handle it when it was about animals?

"What species was it, if you don't mind me asking?"

Natsu didn't mind at all; she loved to talk about cats. And surprisingly, talk they did, all the way back to the settlement, and they were by no means in a hurry.

As they finally got back, Natsu handed the tiger cub to Gengorou, leaving to look for Ayu. As she did, she wondered if she could consider herself having made a new friend today.