Thanks to FlamingIceWolfGirl and Crystal-Wolf-Guardian-967 for the review on the last chapter. I apologize for the very very late update and I'm working on the next chapter right now!
Chapter IX: Dance in the pale moonlight: A great escape.
The air was still between them as they circled one another in a slow, eyeing, pace each daring the other to make the first move. From the beat up structure of an abandoned yellow school bus Cheza remained glue to where she sat watching the two canines in action. One of these canines was none other than Mahina. She moved like she would against any other opponent, weak or strong, making sure that no matter what she was always facing her opponent just in case they became daring. Her fur bristled along her back and her black ears lay flat against her skull. After the two of them made three full rotations she let her upper lip curl in a dangerous snarl.
'What are you waiting for?' she growled adding in a bark and a slight snap of her teeth 'are you just going to stand there? Attack me!' her opponent hesitated in following through with this request obviously finding her display intimidating 'Go on' Mahina urged them 'I dare you…or are you too much of a wimp to make the first move' that did it, take a shot at a wolfs pride and you can get them to do just about anything. The wolf posed before her crouched in a stance that screamed ready to strike and they snarled loudly at her before springing forward in a lunge at the she-wolf. Mahina, being who she is, could have dodged this attack with ease and issue a counter that would end this wolf's life but that was not the point of this fight. If she were in her human form she would have smirk sinisterly at the oncoming attack but instead settled for a very wolfish grin. Just as the attack came close to chomping down on her, Mahina swung her paw up kicking up a wave of dirt with the motion sending dirt hailing down on the wolf about to strike her. The wolf yelped as loudly as it possibly could and faltered, dropping down before Mahina and rubbing its paws over its eyes in an attempt to free itself of the sand in its eyes. It was the opening Mahina had been aiming for and with yet another snarl she lunged forward for the kill.
"GYAH!" came a surprised yell as Mahina pounced on the wolf and they both tumbled together in a cloud of kicked up dirt and sand. It didn't matter that Cheza was blind at this point for no one would be able to see what was taking place in the sandstorm they had created, all that could be heard were more yelps, a few growls and then finally a loud THUMP before there was absolute silence. When the dust began to settle and clear all that was left of the great battle was the sight of Mahina now shifted form perched like a queen on a throne with one leg crossed over the other. A deep chuckle rumbled up the female's throat and she held her hand up before her face as if to examine her nails for any damage.
"…Is that the best that you can do?" she questioned, her tone held more amusement than anything else as she asked this. A grunt was Mahina's reply and it did nothing but make the she-wolf smirk widely "We've been at this for half the day now…are you sure you want to continue?"
"Yes!" her throne replied sharply to her
"Are you sure?" Mahina curved an ebony brow upward, her crimson eyes turned from her nails to the person she now sat on "You didn't last very long this time, you're getting tired aren't you?"
"…"
"Let's rest for little bit, what do you say Toboe?" The slender female offered knowing that things like this took time to build up. From her own hard experiences she knew this however unlike then they had more than enough time now for rest and mistakes.
Time had passed since the Hanabito fated from this earth and things everywhere went on as normal. The birds did not stop their cheerful songs, people in town did not stall their daily activities and the sun conceded to the moons advances when night came and rose back to power when the next day followed.
Nothing changed, everything remained the same as if the world wasn't a life short but that was how life was: its very existence counted on these souls and yet the loss of one compared to everything else was so meaningless. Everything simply moved on, every person, every animal, every living organism. Even the wolves themselves moved on, they had no time to mourn no time to sit and recognize the loss of the forgotten flower and so the memory of the Hanabito was pushed to the back of their minds and they pushed on.
While Mahina and Kiba were with Cheza waiting for the maiden to finish her farewells to the Hanabito the others had searched the nearby town and surrounding area for a place to lay low for the night. In the short time they had gotten to look they found a lot filled with rundown, abandoned cars far enough from town so that if they couldn't lay low they could at least rest for the night. With a resting place secure Mahina stayed behind with Toboe to protect Cheza while the others looked for a way out of town without alerting the armed human forces that had them more or less surrounded. After an hour's rest Toboe shook his mother figure from a peaceful sleep and talked her into continuing the training they had started in the beginning of their journey.
Compared to the first time Mahina had spared with Toboe the pup was doing better though not by much.
"No! I'm fine!" The pup protested to Mahina's offer of respite in a bellow straining his head so that he could look in Mahina's direction…or at least try to. When Toboe turned his face in the female's direction she saw the full extent of the damage her counter had done to him. Toboe had obviously not been successful in getting the sand out of his eyes because they were shut tight, tears were beginning to form in the corners as his eyes watered and naturally began flushing the foreign objects out. The skin around both eyes was a burning red and even as Toboe protest to taking a moment to rest he whipped and pawed at his face trying to free himself from the irritant. Upon seeing this Mahina gained a look of adoration for the pup, he was trying so very hard. "Just give me a minute! I'm fine!"
"…Toboe" a soft smile curved the she-wolf's lips and in one easy motion she went from sitting on Toboe to kneeling before him allowing him room to sit up. With a tender hand and few gentle blows on the pups eyes Mahina began the task of ridding him of what she had caused "It's alright to rest from time to time" the female lectured the pup as she did this shooing his hands away anytime he moved to help "You're just beginning to learn and there is much to teach. You can't expect to be perfect your first try do you?"
"But Kiba and the others-" the pup began but Mahina shook her head
"Are grown wolves with their own experiences out in the wild" she interrupted him with a soft voice but a stern look to the pup that could now open his eyes back up though he blinked them rapidly. With still gentle hands Mahina thumbed and whipped at Toboe's teary, sandy, dirty cheeks in an effort to clean his face up "As much as you hate to admit this, Toboe, you are the pup among us with no experience away from your human owner and you expect to start off with the fighting skills and strength of a wolf twice your age? It doesn't work that way" in response to this Toboe pouted like a true sad puppy lowering his gaze to his hand in his lap.
"But I want to be strong" he complained quietly curling his hands into white knuckled fist of frustration "now that we have Cheza the humans and other wolves will start attacking us won't they?" Toboe didn't lift his gaze when he asked this question but he didn't have to. The silence that followed was enough to tell Toboe that his mother figure of the pack was frowning deeply.
As much as Kiba and Mahina had disregarded Tsume's words the night that had escaped the castle ruins with Cheza the pack as a whole seemed to understand there was truth in it. The humans wouldn't stop their search for Cheza and even though they couldn't smell her they obviously had some other way of tracking the flower maiden as that blonde woman had managed to find their hiding place with ease even after they'd lost them farther back and Mahina had tricked this same woman into following her to the other side of town before losing her. Humans weren't weak, defenseless creatures either; though they stood little chance against a pack of wolves, for very few could stand up against a pack of wolves especially not humans who don't even know that it's wolves that are attacking them, they still could stand up against them. They had guns and with guns they had killed so many wolves in the many years of the world's existence that they thought they had successfully killed them all. Heck Mahina still had a still healing wound that started beside the base of her nose and traveled her left cheek where it disappeared behind her black hair. The wound had already closed up and little was need to done to it for, the mark would disappear soon enough Mahina had told Toboe but looking at it was enough to prove that taking Cheza from the humans was a dangerous thing even for someone as tough as Mahina. Then, there was the second problem they had yet to encounter but the pup was sure would present itself some time along the way.
Wolves.
Back when he still lived with Granny and had figured out what he was Toboe had thought he was the only wolf left on earth. Then he met Tsume, and then Hige and Kiba and Mahina and then Zari and his pack. Toboe was defiantly not the only wolf out there. That mean there were other packs out there and there was a good chance at least one of them is looking for paradise like they were…if they caught a whiff of Cheza's scent…Toboe shuddered slightly. A Pack of wolves against a few humans was a little bloody, with more damage and fatalities on the Human's end, but a pack of wolves against another pack of wolves was far more unpredictable. They could have greater numbers and over power them with ease, killing everyone and taking Cheza for themselves and the thought of something like that happening just…
"If I get stronger faster I can help you guys instead of standing back and letting you protect me all the time" Toboe explained himself
"But you do help us" Mahina mused "You keep watch over Cheza when we're not around and that's an important job" though her words were encouraging Mahina could still see the doubt in the young pups eyes but there was no room to reassure him. The she-wolf's smile faltered ever so slightly and her ear twitch now aware of a present attempting to make itself unheard.
"But-" Toboe spoke on obviously not sensing what Mahina had but she stopped him short.
"Toboe" the female glanced over her shoulder in the direction she heard the noise with steel eyes "Go back on the bus and hide in the back with Cheza"
"Huh?" piped Toboe staring up at Mahina owl eyed as she stood up straight eyes fixed on a corner of the lot. She didn't look down at the pup but a slight snarl rumbled up her throat.
"Just do it" she told him calmly. Rather than question what Mahina was doing Toboe listened, scrambling to his feet and hurried back to their shelter, the pup and the flower maiden disappeared into the deeper shadows of the bus leaving Mahina the only one standing in the open space of the lot. With Cheza and Toboe safely in hiding Mahina shoved her hands deep into the pockets of her jacket and glanced at the yellow shelter making sure that neither could be seen. From where she stood Mahina could see what she was sure was Toboe's eye peeking through one of the many holes that lined metal structure but she only caught this because of her sharp eyes.
"Don't move" the female didn't so much as flinch as she felt the barrel of a gun against the back of her head and a stern voice speak to her. She figured they would find this place eventually, if the humans were serious about finding Cheza they would search everywhere and this abandoned lot would be on their list. They had a much better shot staying in that tree hideaway the Hanabito had called her home but it couldn't be helped. Considering there was a gun against her head Mahina didn't have much choice but to surrender. She held her hands up to show she meant no harm. "Are you armed?" the person questioned to which Mahina snorted
"If I had any weapons on my person do you think I'd give up so easily?" she questioned
"Check her for weapons" the person holding the gun told another and she was checked for guns and the sort and when there were none found Mahina found herself standing before two men dressed in all black like the rest of the humans chasing after Cheza with their guns trained on her.
"She looks familiar doesn't she?" one of them muttered probably looking Mahina up and down from behind those sunglasses of his. His partner, the man who once had his gun against the back of Mahina's skull, looked Mahina over as well and nodded his head.
"I know her" he mused "she's that new scientist that was working with the flower maiden. She disappeared around the same time that the maiden did"
"Well now we know where she's been all this time" the other remarked taking a step forward making sure his gun was aimed to shoot Mahina between her eyes if she decided to be daring "Where is the girl?" he questioned her
"Girl?" Mahina curved a brow with a mocking smirk on her face "you'll have to be more specific, 'the girl' doesn't exactly give me much to go on when it comes to answering you question"
"Don't play stupid!" barked the first solider angrily "You know exactly who we're talking about! Where is she?"
"She…" it was a fast motion that the humans before her didn't catch but for a quick moment Mahina's eyes flickered to the bus beside them where Cheza's scent leaked out of every opening like free flowing water. "She has a name" Mahina spoke softly focusing on the human closest to her, the she-wolfs eyes narrowed and her hair bristled at the very thought of attacking the man. The man must have seen the look in her eye because suddenly he cocked the gun in preparation to fire it and gripped the metal tighter than before. "And her name…" a wide wolf-like grin came to Mahina's face "is Cheza"
"Don't try anything stupid lady!" the now tense human barked at her jumping a pace back creating distance between the two of them "You're unarmed and we have you out numbered!"
"Lady…" if she were revealing her true form Mahina's fur would be standing on edge "My name is Mahina…" for a fleeting moment the human before her became rigid, his mouth fell open and he gaped in what seemed to be terror. For that brief moment, Mahina assumed, he must have been able to see through her illusion it made no difference to her he would be dead soon enough "and I'm certainly no lady" the female finished and with a loud snarl she sprung forward. The man screamed and in a panic fired his gun with reckless abandon.
To his luck that pathetic action actually saved his life. When he pulled the trigger Mahina was half way through trusting her claws forward in a motion to rip out his throat. She didn't have time to dodge the bullets and complete the attack so she retracted at the last minute succeeding in slashing the soldier's arm open on her left shoulder and across the left side of his face before she had to dive to the ground and avoid getting shot. The man screamed with such force it was hard to believe Mahina only nicked him. Dropping his weapon he gripped his shoulder and dropped to his knees in pain. His partner took the opening he couldn't and jumped forward and slammed the bud of his gun against the back of an in expecting Mahina's head. The shot, though delivered by a human, was a strong one and Mahina was only thrust into absolute darkness after feeling a split second of extreme pain from the strike.
From inside the bus Toboe covered his mouth holding back the yell he wanted to let out as he witnessed the strike dealt the blow. He watched as her head jerked hard from it and she quickly fell to the ground unmoving. With her knocked out the man was left to check on his bleeding comrade. It had only been a couple of seconds but the air was thick with the copper scent of his blood, whatever artery she was aiming for when she attacked him she certainly hit it because his arm was covered in his blood.
"Are you alright?"
"Urgh…did you get her?"
"Yea I knocked her out, what should we do with her?"
"Take her back to base let the boss deal with her when she wakes up…"
"Oh no" Toboe spoke from behind his firmly clenched hands continuing to watch helplessly "This is bad…what should I do?…" he moved his hands from his mouth to either side of his head in a slowly growing panic. This was bad, this was really bad. They had Mahina! What would they do to her? She was in serious danger! He-He had to get the others! Howl! He had to howl, that was the only way that they would know that something was going wrong! He had to howl, he was going to howl!
"Mahina…" Just as Toboe took in a deep breath and prepared to what he seemed to do best Cheza's soft, airy voice stopped him and he turned and glanced at her. Her rose eyes were wide in the same fearful manner Toboe had his in. Even though she couldn't see she obviously knew what was going on because she gripped the edges of her jacket tightly "Mahi…Mahina…" she began pushing herself up from her where she kneeled but Toboe's hand shot out and gripped her shoulder faster than he could think about his actions.
That's right, Cheza was top priority. If Mahi woke up and found out that Toboe had let the humans know where he and Cheza were hiding just to stop them from taking her she would be very upset. Protecting Cheza was an important job that only he could do right know and he would do it. Cheza paused turning her large eyes to Toboe. The pup continued to watch as the men gathered their things and left dragging Mahina's unconscious body with them.
"She'll…she'll be okay" he assured the flower maiden though he sounded unsure himself. He'd just have to wait here with Cheza and tell the others when they got back. It wasn't until close to the end of the day that the others returned and by then Toboe was about ready to jump out of his skin with worry over everything. "You're back!" the pup jumped to his feet but the older wolves were busy talking to one another as they entered to give the young wolf their attention.
"How did it go?" Kiba questioned Hige, the chubby wolf sighed
"They've really got us surround it this time… We'll have to move at night" Hige explained
"There's a forest nearby here that the local humans call the forest of death" Kiba remarked
"The forest of death, that doesn't sound pleasant" Hige grumbled shoving his hands into his pocket
"They say if you get lost in it you never come out" Kiba elaborated but it didn't seem to bother the ember wolf for he simply smirked and shrugged his shoulders.
"Big deal!" he laughed "with our noses it'll be a cake walk, right?"
"Right!" Kiba nodded
"But guys-" Toboe tried again, he had to tell them about Mahina. They couldn't leave her to have who knows what done to her by the humans while they ran away with Cheza, Toboe owed his life to Mahina and besides they were a pack! "Listen!" Toboe tried again but Tsume had entered the bus with his usual stoic expression.
"I found an escape route that would be perfect" the silver haired male said when he was met with expectant eyes.
"That settles it" Kiba nodded "We'll leave tonight"
"But-"
"There's just one problem" Tsume spoke on his golden eyes looked over everyone present "I took a peek at the human's base to see what they're plan of action is, it looks like they have a captive"
"A captive?" Hige repeated but Kiba seemed to finally understand what Toboe had been trying to say since they had gotten there. The white wolfs nose visibly twitched as he noticed a scent in the air and lack thereof a certain one.
The air was still painted red with the scent on freshly spilled human blood, how on earth had he not smelt this before. Someone else had been here, someone that obviously hadn't been met with a warm welcome. Whoever they were Mahina definitely sent them away with either a deep, bloody gash or a lost limb- wait a minute. Kiba azure eyes grew wide and he looked back at Toboe and Cheza expecting to see the slender female standing among them but she wasn't there. Her scent, her very aura, was long gone from the bus and the space around, how the hell had he not noticed such a change in their hiding place when he got here?
"Toboe" the white wolf addressed the pup "Where's Mahina?" maybe she had simply left for a little while, gone to do some recon of her own maybe even chasing whatever human she attacked around town. Toboe relayed no such stories, his expression was helpless as ever and he became very pale.
"Mahi they…" he spoke up "She was just trying to get them away from here but then one of them knocked her out! They took her away! The humans took Mahi!"
"These kids…they're no ordinary kids"
Ah….her head was killing her….
"Not that crap again… so she got you. She took you by surprise stop being a chicken"
Letting out a soft moan Mahina tried to lift her head and open her eyes but when she did she simply groaned. The room was spinning and unfocused, dammit how hard did that bastard hit her.
"But she wasn't carrying any weapons, I checked her! How do you explain all of these cuts?"
She was in a room…no…no…groaning again Mahina squinted her eyes trying to focus on her newfound surroundings. This wasn't a normal room like a building it was too dim and it still smelled of the earth…this was a tent…she was in a tent…. As she gained back her senses Mahina took in her surroundings. She was indeed inside a tent and from what her nose and slowly returning vision was telling her she was being guarded by the two humans who had knocked her out and dragged her where every the hell she was. One of them reeked of blood and from the large hole in the arm of his cloths Mahina could see a bandage. This man was visibly shaking and the pitch in his voice sounded like he was half crazed at this point. Mahina couldn't blame him, even if it was for a split second he saw her true form and for a human to see a normal girl turn into a feral wolf then back into a girl and attack them taking it all in an accepting it so quickly was a big step to take…obviously he was having a hard time this step.
"She can't possibly be human, she moved almost like she was a wild animal" he shuddered
"Well now that you mention it that woman was saying something weird like that…" the other male commented "something about wolves"
"About wolves?"
"Wolves you say" the pair stopped their conversation and looked back at Mahina. The she-wolf sighed rolling her neck a couple of times not at all bothered by the fact that she now had a gun aimed at her by the panicky one of the two humans before her. What could she possible do in her current position honestly? "That really hurt" she mused casually flexing the muscles in her bound arms behind her back. She couldn't break through the metal, either she was getting rusty or they really did a number on her head "Didn't your mother ever teach you not to strike a lady?"
"You're no lady!" the fidgety human barked out cocking his gun rubbing a shaky finger over the trigger "you're a beast! An animal!"
"Hey!" his calmer partner moved to step in before things got out of hand "just calm down alright? You heard what the boss said we can't touch her until he gets back with the target"
"But she's a wolf!" snapped the other one waving his gun before Mahina's blank face "I saw it! I saw it with my own eyes! If I don't kill her now she'll kill me!"
"Listen to yourself you sound crazy!" the other yelled snatching the gun his partner's hands before he could entertain the idea of killing Mahina any further. "Wolves have been dead for over a hundred years! You know that! There's no way she could possibly be a wolf!"
"….actually" the yelling stopped and so did the fighting between the two humans as a new voice joined the conversation "That's not too far from the truth" Mahina looked past them and they looked behind them where the voice had come from. Smiling cheerfully Hige waved at the pair of humans like his appearance was just a casually visit. They didn't have time to react, he rushed them with the speed only a wolf could have and before they could blink bloods was thrown free in the air and the pair were sprawled on the ground never to rise again. "Well…" the chubby male mused staring down his own carnage while dusting off his hands "that was faster than I expected it to be, thought they might put up a better fighter to protect their prisoner…"
"In their defense I did driven one half way towards insanity" Mahina hummed from her place nudging one of the dead with her foot just to make sure they were dead. The human before her made no noise in protest to her actions so she assumed that, yes, he was no longer alive. With this confirmed the she-wolf returned her gaze to her chubby pack member "What took you so long?" she snapped at him. Hige shrugged offering nothing more than a roll of his eyes in reply.
"I go out of my way to rescue you and this is what I get?" he complained, Mahina scuffed now rolling her eyes. What a drama queen "Tsume suggested we leave you here you know, said it was your own fault that you got caught"
"I was protecting Cheza" the female protested
"Do you think he cares about that?" inquired Hige making a fair point.
"Where is Tsume anyway?" Hige looked behind him towards the tents entrance where he had come from and it was now that Mahina noticed the sounds of terrified screams and volleys of gunfire. Within the dim lighting of the room Mahina could see flashes from the guns as panicking humans fired at whatever it was that frightened them, the flashes created shadow after shadow against the tents tarp and the shadow of a wolf leaped through the air followed by another scream of pain. Mahina snorted "it sounds like he's having fun"
"Doesn't it?" Hige turned back Mahina with an amused look of his own "either way we've gotta go, we're on the move" he said approaching her "You don't look so good, do you need help?"
"I can get out of this whenever I feel like it" Mahina spoke sharply flexing her muscles from behind her back again, they had gotten stiff from being stuck in the same position for however long she had been unconscious. Hige smirked kneeling down so he was eye level with the female and gazed at her with an expression that was nothing short of amusing.
"Really?" he chuckled "then why are you still sitting there?"
"I just needed a place to rest" Mahina answered crimson eyes looking for something other than the amber wolf before her to focus on. Unclenching and clenching her hands a couple of times Mahina flexed her muscles once again and with a grunt she yanked her arms in opposite directions and the metal that held her in that way broke apart like weak twine. "So what's the plan?" she questioned rubbing at her sore wrist while Hige stood up straight "do we have a direction we're going?"
"Mhm" the male hummed stretching his arms over his head and then his back before rolling his shoulder in the socket "We found a forest that we can get out of here from. Kiba said the local humans think it's cursed and they don't go near it cause they think they'll never come back out but we should be find with this nose" he scratched the bridge of his nose smugly like he often did when talking about his naturally strong sense of smell.
"And Cheza?" Mahina asked opening her mouth wide and digging her canines into the metal cuffs breaking them and ripping them from her wrist.
"She's with Kiba and the runt" Hige answered moving on to rolling his other shoulder in its socket, was he warming up for something? The male grinned mischievously when he saw a look of curiosity cross Mahina's face "But we'll meet up with them later, we've got a job to do here?"
"A job?" she took the hand Hige offered to her and was easily pulled to her feet and out the tent. There was gun fire ringing through the air and screams of pin were accompanying it with equal volume. Mahina broke into a jog to keep pace with Hige as he picked up speed zipping around tents set up and taking out who ever stood in his way.
"This way" suddenly Hige pushed off the ground and shot through the air landing on a ledge high over the human's camp. Mahina was quick to follow taking to the air with little effort on her part, the air around her glimmered with flashes and bullets shot past her from all directions with shocking speed. She grunted when she land beside Hige on the ledge turning around and staring down at all the armed men shooting up at them.
"…wow" Mahina whistled "All these bullets and you'd think one of them might actually graze one of us"
"No kidding" Hige laughed "Humans have such poor aim"
"That seems to be the sad truth" Mahina mused with a grimace, the air was smothering with the scent of burning gunpowder, blood and oil. It burned her nose to stand in it and left the she-wolf with even more distaste for the humans she stared down at but even among these foul stenches Mahina's nose could not miss a particular scent for it gave her so much ease even to smell it faintly. It was the smell of the flower maiden, of lunar flowers. That meant Cheza was here somewhere around this base and that meant Kiba was here as well. Was that why Hige and herself were just standing here letting these humans shoot at and miss them? So that's what he meant by a job to do.
"Well" Hige chirped from beside Mahina earning her crimson gaze, the chubby male grinned at her like a cub at play "Shall we have some fun?" fun? Bewildered the slender female curved a brow at the amber wolf standing before her as he offered his hand for her to take. Fun, how was any of this fun? She had been knocked out and dragged here to have who knows what done to her, now they stood under enemy fire of course the enemy fire was missing them but that wasn't the point. For the life of her Mahina didn't understand how this was fun. "Come on Mahi" Hige urged her when she showed no signs of taking his hand "we've gotta keep these guys distracted until Kiba and the runt can get Cheza out of here. We might as well enjoy ourselves while we're at it"
"I don't find being shot amusing" Mahina informed Hige bluntly
"Well we haven't been shot yet have we?"
"There's always a first time…"
"Trust me Mahina" Hige chuckled taking a step towards her his smile never leaving his face "I'll make it fun I promise. Let's have a little dance, you and I"
"…" still despite all his vows and promises Mahina eyes Hige wearily keeping her hands firmly at either side of her body "…I don't know how to dance" she informed her fellow pack member but that didn't seem to bother him, most things that would be bothersome to most never seemed to bother Hige much at all. He simply shrugged his shoulders chuckling as he drew closer and took Mahina's hand. With a sudden yank Mahina was jerked forward towards Hige, she yelped as stumbled a couple of steps before landing flush against the male's chest.
"Never fear" Mahina gripped his sweatshirt with her free hand to keep herself from toppling over and with now slightly peached face she looked up and met eyes with him. Hige's smirk grew in size "I know a few moves I can show you!" and with that said the two of them were pushed apart. Hige, with a firm grip on Mahina's hand, had succeeded in flicking the slender female away from him and way that sent her spinning, literally twirling, over the edge of the ledge they stood on and spiraling to the ground below. Down, Mahina fell twirling among waves of ebony hair like a ballerina under the light of the moon high overhead. Surprised that Hige actually had the guts to push her off the ledge all Mahina could so was stare upward at the sky that spun like she did as she dropped. Within seconds of beginning her fall her wide crimson eyes caught the sight of Hige leaping from the as well but there was no time to take this in, the ground was fast approaching. Her knees gave in on her as soon as her feet clumsily touched the ground and with a slight grunt of surprise Mahina dropped to her knees in a crouch, Hige soon landed beside her. As soon as he landed the female shot him a nasty glare.
"Are you out of your mind!" she snapped at him "or are you just a glutton for punishment?"
"No time to chitchat Mahi" Hige chirped happily before taking hold of the hand Mahi aimed at him in the form of a punch "time to have some fun!"
"H-Hige!" Mahina yelped in protest but it was too late, Hige pulled Mahina to her feet with ease and before she knew it she was stumbling about much like she had when Cheza had tried to make her dance. With his hand still holding firm to Mahi the two of them spun and twirled about moving at such a pace that none of the bullets being fired at them were meeting their intended target settled for hitting the ground, ripping through the fabric of tents, even ricocheting off metal and zipping back to their shooter.
Mahina was no expert at dance, like she mentioned before she didn't know how to dance, but she had to admit that Hige was doing great. He had taken the lead in this dance jerking Mahina in one direction and then yanking her to another and Mahina, as expected, would have been highly angered by this but when she too notice of what these yanks and pulls were doing she was actually surprised. With each spin and twirl one of the humans stopped firing. Hige would push Mahina forward and make her lose her balance and catch her just as she was close enough to a solider to chomp down on their throat or slash at them with her claws before quickly pulling her back to him and moving on. Whatever it was Hige was making her do with each move, together, the pair of them were taking each and every one of these humans out.
This…was this truly dancing?
As Hige sent Mahina twirling away from him and into a bundle of armed men the slender female could feel something bubbling up in her chest. It scampered its way up her throat and as her fist connected with the backs of human's heads knocking them out Mahina found herself laughing. That darn chubby wolf had been right, this was fun!
Suddenly Hige yanked Mahina back towards him suddenly, the female internally flinched when she took in the large face of a cliff that he was pulling her towards and rather than run into the structure the she-wolf leaped up and met the earth wall with her own feet. The momentum Hige used to throw Mahina into the wall kept her in this position long enough for her to take off in a sprint along the wall. Hige never once let her hand go, in fact he led her along the wall as she ran until she reached a point where his arm found its way around Mahina's waist and he pulled her off the wall. Mahina didn't expect this and so was still moving her legs when he spun her back around swinging in what was most likely the mightiest kick the human who'd been on the receiving end of Mahina's foot had ever felt. The man actually did a couple of twirls himself before falling to the ground out like a light. With the deed done Hige quickly pulled Mahina back towards him hooking his arm under her legs and holding her like a new bride as they surveyed the damage they'd done.
"Direct hit!" Mahina cheered with a slight giggle gripping onto Hige's sweatshirt with both hands to keep her balance, the chubby male chuckled in agreement. This fight, this dancing battle would have continued on through the night in this same fashion if a distinct sound hadn't run out through the sky drowning out the sounds of the guns firing around Mahina and Hige. This sound was the call of a howl, Toboe was howling.
"Hey!" the two looked up at the high ledge above them to see Tsume staring down at them impatiently "Sorry to interrupt your romantic moment but you hear the kid, it's time to go" the grey wolf called
"He's right" agreed Mahina getting herself free from Hige's grip despite his protest and standing on her own feet "That howl means they have Cheza out of here safe right? They're waiting on us"
"Right" Hige nodded, Tsume disappeared somewhere on the ledge and Mahina was getting ready to leap up after him when "but one quick question" Hige stopped Mahina short.
"What?" the she-wolf looked his way were an eyebrow curved curiously
"When you just said Tsume's was right did you mean about this being romantic too?"
"Hige" if they had all the time in the world Mahina would have decked the goofy male she stood with. Instead she rolled her eyes while Hige chuckled playfully
"Because, ya'know, I kind of felt a little magic back there-" of course by the time Hige came close to ending his statement Mahina had given up on simply rolling her eyes at him. With her hand clenched tight into a fist Mahina rounded on Hige and jabbed him hard in the gut forcing his comment to end with an 'oof!' rather than with whatever it was he wanted to end it with.
"Focus on the task at hand, Hige" she growled before pushing off the ground and taking to the air aiming for the ledge Tsume had retreated to.
"Okay okay" Hige coughed following after her "I was just kidding Mahi you didn't have to punch me!"
"Mahi!" As soon as Mahina's feet touched the ground and she stood before the others Toboe had sprung forward tackling Mahina with such force she almost lost her footing "I'm so glad you're okay!"
"Sorry we're late" spoke Tsume once he and Hige joined Mahina on the ground with the others "We had to take a detour and get scrawny"
"I don't recall seeing you trying to rescue me Tsume" Mahina remarked while returning the hug Toboe was giving her shooting the grey wolf a sharp look that he dismissed with ease.
"That's because I wasn't" he answered bluntly "You got yourself into that mess, big shot, you can get yourself out and if you couldn't that just proves how weak you are"
"…" the two glared at one another for a moment "Tch" Mahina looked away "no sense of loyalty to your pack at all, filthy dog"
"What was that" Tsume snarled out earning him a weary look from Toboe.
"Guys…guys come on don't fight now we don't have-"
BANG!
A gunshot louder than an exploding bomb erupted through the air and the bullet fire hit the ground inches from Toboe. The pup yelped, the foot that was closest to where the bullet hit shot off the ground and Toboe held onto Mahina tightly.
"You damn wolves!" Everyone's heads turned and gazed upward following the echo of this loud bellow "You'll never fool me again!" it didn't take much looking to find the person who had proclaimed this. In the distance rooted to the high ledge he was on an old man stood with his weapon of death in hand and aimed. He relaxed his posture long enough to reload his weapon and take aim again while everyone, for a moment stared up at him stunned. This man, what the hell was he doing?
"Toboe!" He was taking aim again! "Move!" Mahina spun round and gave the pup a hard shove toward the nearby forest following close behind.
BANG!
With the next gunshot the pack scattered like rats taking off in random directions in an attempt to get away from the trigger happy man that had shown up out of nowhere with obvious intent to kill them. Toboe had took off as fast as he could go in the direction Mahina had push him while Mahina spun on the ball of her foot and ran in the other direction following Kiba as he pulled Cheza along with him. All they had to do was make it to the forest, if what Hige had said was right than they wouldn't be chased through the forest by this man so as long as they just made it in- suddenly Cheza's foot caught a tree root as she ran. Her hand slipped from Kiba's and the maiden went down in heartbeat.
"Cheza!" Kiba skidded to a stop as soon as Cheza had let go of his hand but the gunman had gotten Cheza in his sights, she had become an easy target where she lay sprawled on the ground so he took aim directly at her. The panic that rose in both Mahina and Kiba was impossible to miss and they both broke into hard sprints towards the fallen maiden in an effort to get her out of there.
BANG!
Of the two of them Mahina was closest so she managed to get there in time, she stepped between Cheza and the man with her arms arm like a barrier just as the gunman pulled his trigger. It felt like a red hot poker was suddenly stabbed into Mahina's back when the gunshot rang out. This gunman had good aim that was for sure for this pullet didn't graze Mahina like she had expected it to, it was direct hit and it got her with such force that the slender female couldn't hold in the loud shriek that forced its way out of her. She gripped her shoulder in pain dropping to her knees.
"Mahina" Cheza pushed herself up her rose eye were wide and fixed on Mahina but the she-wolf didn't reply. Her arm…she couldn't feel her arm! Tightening her grip on her shoulder Mahina silently cursed her recent lack of luck today. She had to force the pain to the back of her mind, Cheza was still in danger in fact she was making her way towards Mahina right now crawling closer with waves of worry flowing from her being "You're hurt" she voiced as she drew closer "this one can feel it"
"Get out of here Cheza" Mahina decided to ignore her wound gritting her teeth and digging her nails into her arm, she could feel anything in her left arm from the shoulder down she wasn't even sure she could move it right now.
"But-"
"Don't worry about me" Mahina barked out ferociously "go! Run!" It took her a moment or two to actually listen but after staring at Mahina with great concern Cheza did obey her command. Pushing herself to her feet Cheza took off running following Toboe feeling form. The maiden looked back once at Mahina before she disappeared into the woods.
That just left Mahina and the gunman.
In the time that it too Mahina to convince Cheza to leave her and run the old man had reloaded his gun and was taking aim again. So now he had a full gun and a wounded wolf just waiting to be taken down.
"I've got you now!" Mahina's sharp ears heard him growl before she heard him cock his gun. This was it, and so was the end of Mahina story. She would die at the hands of a human never to confirm that Cheza was safe, never to see paradise like she'd always thought she would. Mahina clenched her eyes shut bracing for the shot that would end her life. "Now die!"
BANG!
The shot was fire; the sound of the gunshot shattered the air like it was expected to but instead of feeling the pain of a bullet meant to kill Mahina suddenly felt wind. The ground had disappeared from under her shaking form replaced by a floating sensation. Was she dead? Did that gunman have a truly remarkable aim and granted her the mercy of a quick and painless shot to the head? Mahina thought over the last seconds before the gun was fire, she wasn't really sure how she was thinking since she was dead but given she didn't have enough time to run and she hadn't made any attempt to run when the old man pulled the trigger it only made sense that she was dead and where she was, be it heaven or hell, she was dead. The wind kept blowing past her as she floated on utterly relaxed….hmmm…wherever her soul had been sent to it sure smelt nice….like the snow atop a tall mountain and fresh pine and perhaps the wild itself. Was she in paradise? She opened her eyes with a soft moan to gaze upon this wolf utopia.
As the wind continued all Mahina could see before her was the ground zipping past her face so fast she could barely make out what looked like large tree roots. Her senses were coming to back to her and with it the female could feel someone holding onto her and her weight pressing down on a foreign body part, She was being carried…she wasn't dead? Moaning out again Mahina raised her head to take in the rapidity moving surroundings. At first all she could make out was white, whoever carried her moved so fast that it blended together into this one color but after blinking her eyes furiously she could make out trees whizzing by. They had made it to the forest but who was carrying her.
"Stop squirming" the command made Mahina flinch and look behind her in the direction she seemed to be heading in. Her vision was blocked by brown hair blowing wildly about and with it that lovely scent tickled her senses, no wonder it smelt so nice…
"…Kiba" Mahina grunted as the white wolf made a sharp turn around the base of a large tree and caused a sharp ache to run across her back. Kiba kept a firm grip on her keeping her thrown over his shoulder as he ran on leaping over tree roots and down narrow pathways.
"Are you alright?" questioned Kiba looking over her shoulder briefly so azure could meet crimson, Mahina winced and brought her hand to her shoulder much like she had the moment the bullet hit her.
"I can't feel my arm" she informed him "I don't even think I can move it. Kiba, I think he hit a vital nerve or something" Kiba didn't reply to this comment and for a while they spoke no words, the white wolf just continued to run perhaps fearful that that crazy old man was still hot on their tail hollering about how they wouldn't trick him again. Fortunately Kiba's hasty attempt to rescue Mahina from certain death had stunned the man long enough for both to escape into the sanctity of the forest before he could get around to getting another bullet out of his gun. They had gotten away by the skin of their teeth and considering Mahina didn't hear the sounds of the others or smell their scents, though she was sure she'd be able to anyway since she was particle drowning in Kiba's, that they had been separated from the rest of the pack. "Cheza" Mahina winced pressing a hand against Kiba's back so she could push herself up further and look around for a sign of the maiden's pink coat of her rose eyes.
"She's safe" Kiba spoke finally slowing down until he stopped completely. The clearing they were now in was bowl like in shape surrounded by thick, white roots besides the patch of earth they were in. It was a small patch of earth but big enough for the pair of them to stop and rest without being right on top of one another and this satisfied Kiba because he eased Mahina off his shoulder and to her feet keeping a firm grip on her when she wobbled for a moment. "The others made sure that she got away"
"But where are they?" Mahina questioned
"I don't know, we got separated in the confusion" Kiba answered, his gaze moved from, Mahina's face to her left shoulder that she gripped so tightly "Where did he hit you?"
"I don't know" Mahina shook her head, she couldn't say she knew were the bullet met flesh she just knew it was her back and that, judging from the pain she felt, it was somewhere around her left arm. Kiba ran a hand down her left arm "Kiba, who the hell was that crazy old man? Where did he come from?"
"He's a wolf hunter" Kiba answered lowering Mahina to the ground so the two of them sat down
"Wolf hunter?"
"I ran into him in Freeze City, I don't know why but I'm pretty sure he's been trailing us since we left the that city" the white wolf explained with his eyes trained on Mahina's arm looking for any holes in her jacket were a bullet may have entered but found none "Do you remember that black dog we saw yesterday?" Mahina nodded "That was his dog, he was the reason that I ended up caged up in that lab" Mahina remembered that, when she smelt Kiba's blood for the first time and then saw his bloody wounds as he lay almost lifeless in a cage in Cher's lab. Those wounds had been caused by that old man and his black dog? "Can you move it?" Kiba ended Mahina's trail of thought raising her hand and pressing her palm against his. Mahina offered Kiba a look of uncertainty but then looked at their hands, at least now she knew she still had feeling in that limb for his hand felt so warm and soft against her own. Her fingers twitched and soon curled brushing past Kiba's until their fingers were laced.
"I can still move my fingers" Mahina breathed out a sigh of relief if she could move her fingers that meant she could probably still move her whole arm.
"You probably just went into shock for a while" Kiba elaborated shifting to look behind the female "he got you back here" his free hand ghosted over the area that he had found the offending bullet hole allowing Mahina to rest her head against his shoulder "It looks pretty bad, are you alright to move around?"
"I'll be fine" Mahina sighed out closing her eyes and taking in Kiba's scent now that she was even closer than she had been before, it never ceased to amaze her what a calming effect this one smell had on her "I just need a minute to rest"
"Alright" though she didn't see it she could feel Kiba nodding "We have time, get all the rest you need. Then we'll look for the others and get out of here"
"…Right"