Chapter 7
Zasshu once again held his breath for a moment, as the cold barrel of a gun was pushed a tad harder, digging into the back of his head.
Had he reached his end?
The unknown animal placed a hand against the back of his neck, from the slight warmth Zasshu could tell that it wasn't a reptile... and from the feeling of fur on fur, it was probably a mammal...
The mysterious mammal grumbled once again; his voice was a bit low, but it still sounded a bit young.
"The. . . The fuck are you?" he grumbled, and Zasshu could almost feel his gaze, being looked over a couple times wasn't foriegn to him, after all.
Zasshu was going to...well, beg to be let go, but he heard footsteps again, the same heavy patter from before...
He attempted to press himself further into the floor, wishing nothing but to stay out of the sight of his pursuers.
Strangely, the stranger tightened his grip for a moment, as if startled, and he-
He...laid down, on top of Zasshu, pressing himself down low.
This wasn't really how Zasshu expected the situation to go.
"Where the hell is he? How the hell do we even find that little shit?" a voice blew in through the window, from the street.
"He was a deer or something, we just gotta look for that!" growled another.
The stranger still pressed himself down, as the voices grew ever quieter.
The low voice of the stranger muttered quietly once again, "Get up. Now."
Zasshu complied. Really, he didn't want to know what the stranger would do if he didn't.
The stranger kept himself behind Zasshu, softly pressing for the Hybrid to go further..
Torwards another room, the door closed...what horrible secrets did it have?
Zasshu grimaced as this was pondered. Torture? Was he going to kill Zasshu and skin him? Sell his bits on the black market?
He continued his forced march, slowly pushing open the door, to reveal...
A sleeping bag? And some food?
The stranger stopped pushing.
"Now go up to that damn wall, and turn around. Now!" the stranger ordered, giving Zasshu no choice but to comply.
Once he reached the wall, he turned to look at the stranger.
What he saw was a honey badger, who looked rather regular. His fur was a black, except for the top of his head, stopping at his forehead.
Zasshu assumed that the rest of his backside was white too. Not like he could check. For his height, the badger looked like he came up to the lower end of Zasshu's neck.
"Now, what the fuck are you?" he growled out, teeth bared.
Zasshu gulped as he could finally get a view of the stranger, and the gun that held.
"Z-Zasshu." he stuttered out, hands up.
The Badger seemed to toy with the name, repeating it once, "Zasshu...makes sense." He snickered, as he replaced the angry look on his face with one of amusement.
The gun was still pointed at Zasshu.
"The hell are you doing with that bear guy out there?" he questioned.
Was this an interrogation? "Running, we had a..." Zasshu took a minute to breathe, "...disagreement."
The Badger narrowed his eyes.
"Sure... sure." He lowered the gun, and ambled over to his sleeping bag, plopping himself down.
"So what the hell was that disagreement anyway?"
What?
"What?" Zasshu inquired, dumbfounded.
"What?" the badger repeated.
"Why are you...so calm?" Zasshu asked, confused.
"...I don't know. You're pretty fucking strange." And the Badger lounged back.
"Like; you look like some Frankenstein guy shoved like, five animals in a blender." he yawned, "So what the hell are you?"
Zasshu looked to the door. He could leave, and face the possibility of being caught. Or...
"I'll tell you...if you let me stay the night." Zasshu offered.
The Badger once again narrowed his eyes.
"Sure, whatever. I was bored anyway."
The badger pondered the information dump he was just given.
"So, you're a mix of a wolf, a rabbit, and a deer , and you pissed of a big ass bear and his friends?"
Zasshu gave a small nod, wishing to make himself smaller, if he could.
"Wow. The fuck did you do? Break a mirror or some shit?" he snickered through a mouthful of chips.
Zasshu, who had sat against the wall opposite of the badger, tilted his head, with a strange look on his face.
Zasshu had expected the usual reaction, not. . .
Joking around? Yes, it was at his expense but it didn't seem too malicious.
Strange.
"I probably did something horrible in a past life or... something like that." Zasshu answered, before a though struck him.
"Can I ask you a, uh, question?" Zasshu asked, pulling his legs closer to himself.
The badger finished his bag, emptying it into his mouth, before crumpling it up and throwing it to Zasshu.
"Throw that away." the badger said, lounging back.
Zasshu, not wanting to get on another animal's bad side, got up almost immediately, turning his back to the animal who threw said chip bag.
"Where's the trashc-" and Zasshu was cut off by his own yelp of pain, as he was stung in the back a total of three times.
He dropped to the ground, almost instantly.
Zasshu heard the Badger laugh, said animal panting, after busting a gut.
Zasshu shakily got up, leaning against the wall, and stared at his attacker.
The Badger grinned as he picked up a small red bead off the ground. "It's airsoft, dipshit."
Zasshu cringed, his face flushed with embarrassment. He thought the Badger had shot him, with, y'know, real bullets.
Zasshu slumped back down into his original sitting position, with a small, fake chuckle.
He didn't want to get kicked out, after all.
The badger yawned, putting the airsoft inside of his sleeping bag.
"Well, I'm going to sleep. Don't fuck with my stuff." He warned before crawling into his bag, and turning away from Zasshu.
A cold wind crept into the window, it's cold whistle made Zasshu realise that the badger from before had given him no blanket.
Zasshu curled into a fetal position, attempting to keep as much warmth as he could.
Zasshu awoke, to a shoe poking him in the back.
"Hey. Hey. Wake up." The Badger repeated, poking harder with each word.
Zasshu put out a hand to let the animal who had aroused him from a much needed sleep that he was awake, and he heard the footsteps amble to the other side of the room.
Zasshu took the sight of the room in, as he couldn't in the dark of the night. It looked to be what was left of a storage room. For food, most likely, as it was connected to what looked like the remains of a kitchen.
The white tile of the room was darkened, and broken. The walls had names, penises, and bad words carved or drawn onto them, showing years of abandonment.
The door was rusted metal, creaking in the wind.
Zasshu finally gave the other occupant a glance, the Badger took no notice of him, as he was using a pocketknife to write in more explicit sentences, telling the reader to put salted butter in the worst places.
He finally looked back.
"Hey. Why are you still here? Fuck off." the Badger muttered, in his usual growling voice.
Zasshu didn't want to overstay his welcome, he stood up immediately.
"Er, thank you for letting me stay." He said akwardly, giving the badger a nod.
The badger gave a small, "Whatever. Just remember, you owe me.", as he returned to his carving.
Zasshu walked out of the room, out of the abandoned, ruined restaurant, and onto the morning street, wondering why the Badger hadn't just told him to leave in the beginning. Was it because he was scared?
No, he didn't seem so.
Was he just going it for kicks and giggles?
Probably no-
Zasshu stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, eyes wide.
Had he... had Zasshu and the badger...
Zasshu did a U-turn and ran back to the restauraunt, startling a poor ewe. He pushed open the metal door with a loud creak, startling the Badger, who dropped his knife.
Before he could talk, Zasshu almost yelled, "Whats your name!?"
Zasshu stood there panting, as the Badger gained a look of confusion. He was probably wondering why Zasshu had seemed to change demeanor.
"Why the fu-"
"I'll give you mine! It's Zasshu!" He said too quickly, blushing at the quickness of his words.
The badger remained quiet, for a moment...
"Ikari."
Zasshu yelled "Thanks!" as he ran back out to the street, a smile planted on his face, and a skip in his step.
As usual, other animals on the sidewalk gave him plenty of room, and some of the Herbivores gave him nervous glances as they saw his front teeth.
But nothing could destroy the wonderful mood Zasshu was in. Zasshu had figured out why the ba- no, Ikari, had let him stay.
Zasshu had a friend.
He looked up to the sky, almost shouting a whoop of joy, before he saw that the sun was almost in the dead middle of the sky...
Zasshu felt a sense of dread permeate his happiness.
How long had he slept? Meinai was probably so worried!
Zasshu almost ran down the streets, before slamming open the door to his apartment building, thumping up the stairs, and bursting into his and Meinai's apartment, panting.
"Meinai! Im so so-" he stopped what would have turned into a couple minutes of apologies, before he noticed that the couch was missing a certain mole.
"...Meinai?" he called through the apartment, checking the kitchen.
He walked to the bathroom door, knocking. "Meinai?" he said, hoping that he would hear the mole respond. Nothing.
Zasshu felt his heart drop into his stomach.
Where was Meinai?
Hey guys! The last two chapters were a tad short, so this chapter is my apology.
Anyway, thank you all for your favorite-ing, following, and reviewing! (I seriously cannot thank you all enough!)
Well, Zasshu certainly is having a run of bad luck. At least he made his first friend!
...or has he?
See you all in the next chapter!