"Missing you say?", Darren tried to catch his breath as he stood in front of the Guildmaster, not managing to keep his thoughts in proper order. The latter merely regarded him for a short moment before he shifted his eyes to the group of Guild hunters standing not far away.

"Head out and search for him, you will receive a special request at the counter. Report back on anything significant that you may find about his whereabouts.", the hunters nodded once before they headed off, leaving both Darren and the Guildmaster alone.

"Normally I would not appreciate a sudden disturbance, especially during my research on a topic that is of high importance… but considering the circumstances, you have done your friend a service. Rest assured that we will do our best to find him, but there is nothing else you can do now for him. I'd advise you to take a proper rest.", Darren glanced at the Guildmaster with hesitation, the urge to go and search for Ben almost causing him to protest…

… but he could see that the Guildmaster was not keen to repeat himself, if his indifferent expression was any indication. Suppressing a sigh, Darren gave a curt nod in gratitude before he turned around to take his leave as well, his heart still racing from the events prior. He trusted the hunters to find him, for in his current state, he would probably only be a hindrance to them.

And yet, as he made his way through the busy Guild port and towards his quarters, the thought of resting for even a single moment didn't appeal to him at all…

A trace of sunlight broke into the confines of the small den, purposefully shining upon the face of the slumbering Mizutsune that was contently curled into a ball. Growling slightly, she slowly opened her eyes with a deep yawn, and for once, a feeling of… happiness dwelled within her. After all, despite what had transpired at the waterfall, she had at least managed to save him. As her gaze fell upon the wound on her foreleg, she simply couldn't help but wonder why it was almost always the same with hunters. She tried her best to keep her head low, and still…

Shoving these thoughts into the back of her mind, she shifted her attention to her companion before a sudden realization hit her. There was… no one else besides herself. Her eyes fell as she gazed at the now empty spot where he had been laying the night prior, nowhere to be seen. Growling begrudgingly, she simply rested her head back onto the ground again, the sheer enthusiasm and energy she had felt for once immediately vanishing once again as if it had never been there in the first place.

Instead, it was replaced with a feeling of disappointment, even if she didn't wanted to admit it to herself. She had thought that, maybe, he was different…

However, her head perked up slightly when she suddenly noticed steps coming into the direction of the den. If she could, she would have sighed. Deeply.

But her fears of a potential attacker were swiftly taken away, replaced by a mixture of confusion and joy upon seeing Ben enter the small den while carrying something tiny within his mouth.

He didn't leave after all…

"What have you been up to…?", she regarded him as he placed down green leaves on the ground, tilting her head slightly once he started to rub them slightly with his claws.

"I… wanted to repay you somehow…", he didn't meet her gaze as he inspected the result of his work, his knowledge of herbs proving useful, before he picked the sticky leaves into his mouth, slowly meeting her eyes with a careful glance while holding the herbs close to her wound.

She stared at him in silence for a long moment, trying to process what she was witnessing. He wanted to…

She didn't pull back as he carefully edged his mouth closer to the wound before he gently placed the herbs on top of it. The sudden wince coming from her caused him to look at her in concern, but after a short moment, she could feel the stinging pain disappear as it changed into a soothing and cool sensation.

"That should help to lessen the pain…", she still didn't answer, much to Ben's discomfort, as she merely opted to stare at him intently. Unbeknownst to him, there were multiple thoughts coursing through her mind.

He was different… different than anything she had witnessed before.

A good different.

The edges of her mouth curled upwards slightly as her tail subconsciously trailed along the ground, not doing much to ease Ben's mind as he slowly shifted his gaze to the ground instead, not knowing what else he could possibly do for her.

"Why would you go to such lengths for me?", upon hearing that, he stared at her with confusion and hesitance.

"You have helped me as well.", she tilted her head again slightly, regarding his eyes closely as he subconsciously kept his head low to the ground as if he feared he had done something wrong. And she couldn't even begin to describe what she felt upon seeing this, for she would have never thought to see something like this in her lifetime.

"Thank you.", glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, he felt the guilt lift slightly from him as he witnessed the gleam within her eyes. And yet, he knew that he couldn't possibly stay…

Her eyes widened when he suddenly turned to take his leave again, instinctively moving to stop him in his tracks before she was reminded of her injury again, a small whimper escaping her despite the lesser pain. Ben halted in his motion as he looked back at her with surprise and concern.

"You don't need to leave… I would be more than happy for you to stay with me…", her eyes searched his as the words left her, her tail anxiously swishing over the ground.

"You would really not mind?", her eyes lit up as she moved a bit closer, but unbeknownst to her, he couldn't know her intentions, despite everything she did to state her interest. And yet, she merely remained calm as she tilted her head.

"Not at all, I assure you…", she stopped only a few paces away from him, a sudden realization coming into her mind.

"And still, I don't know your name yet.", he regarded her for a brief moment as he thought about how he could answer that while she patiently looked at him.

"My name is Glowscale.", a gleam appeared within her eyes as her tail began to swish slightly on the ground again in content, reflecting the mood of his counterpart as the edges of her mouth curled upwards again.

"I'm Blackclaw, and I'm more than happy to share my den with you…", although Ben felt a wave of gratitude, he failed to notice that her words held a deeper meaning than he could have anticipated.

And yet, as she gazed at him with a gleam in her eyes, she knew that she had found the one she had always been looking for, even if he himself wasn't aware of it.

For she wasn't planning to let him go until he was hers.

HighPaladinRath: A good idea, I think there was something even more rare, although I'm not sure if it was in MH World or an older game. You could always get incredibly rare stones from certain monsters, that's where I took the idea from.

7sky: Chapter 5 isn't edited yet, I'm giving every updated chapter a name of its own (except the ones at the end, they already had an individual name and are still not updated), the others simply get a number. I'm glad I could improve it so much!