Today was one of the rare days off she took for herself. She had been slaving away for months with the Japanese government, conflicts with land and population seeming to crop up every time one issue was resolved. Today had been straining to say the least, but it seemed the last great hurdle was dealt with. Administration could deal with the rest of it for now.

Today she needed to fly.

The osprey wasn't native to Japan, but she doubted anyone way out here would notice. There wasn't a house for miles and the road was dirt. No one would be out this far from town unless absolutely necessary or drunken joyriding. She'd risk the idiots spotting a 'weird bird'. She needed this.

Parking her Jeep and tossing the keys into a nearby tree she morphed and took to the sky. It had been two years since the last time she'd morphed into this form. Since the last time she'd seen Jake face to face. Rather than hurting, it almost felt like a welcome home.

Practice kept her from going over the two hour time limit, setting down to demorph and remorph as needed. It was amazingly relaxing to be so far away from any human troubles and concerns, away from the noise where it was just her and the wind. It felt like years had been lifted off her shoulders in a way she hadn't known since before the War.

It was early afternoon before she spotted anything besides the run-of-the-mill birds and wildlife. She almost fell out of the sky in shock when she saw the huge white tiger go bounding through the trees. The sight made her heart ache a little. If the coat had been orange instead of white the tiger would have looked exactly like Jake's battle morph, right down to the odd stripe on his left paw. A repeat performance of the stunned bird came when the black-haired boy, no young man, bounded right after the tiger, seeming to play.

-Well, that's something you don't see everyday.-

She followed the odd pair for a while, only loosing them once when she had to land to renew her time again. Something about the sight of those two made her feel calm again. Back in bird morph she caught up to them near one of the many springs dotting the landscape. Oddly enough she also noticed her car about a half-mile away. Small world.

So wrapped up in watching the pair she didn't notice that they had gotten near the main road again. Or that a pair of drunken idiots had careened off the road and into the ditch, one of them yanking a gun from the back of the truck. The other had sighted the tiger through the trees and was making frantic waving motions to his friend. It was rather obvious what they were up to. And like hell she was going to let them do it.

-Now where have I seen this before? Ah yes, diving for dum-dums.-

Just as the idiot with the gun sited the tiger she screeched and dove straight at him. Like she'd hoped he swung the gun up towards the sound. Unlike she'd hoped, he'd tensed up and fired a round.

Not waiting to see where the shot had gone she snatched the gun from the human's hand, uncaring if she slashed up his hand a bit with her talons in the process. Hauling hard she tugged the gun free, flapping a short way off to pitch it into the spring before swinging back around and aiming for the pair again, screaming like a banshee.

Even drunk the idiots had sense enough not to mess with a POed hawk. Diving back into their truck dust shot out from the wheels as it torn back onto the road and out of sight.

Once she was sure they were really gone she set down out of sight and rushed towards where she'd last seen the bo- young man and the tiger. She was ready to spit in rage when she saw the tiger laying on its side, groaning and the young man trying frantically to help.

"Hey!"

Only years of ducking Hork Bajir blades kept her from getting whacked across the face by a well-aimed fist when the young man jumped to his feet and into a fighting stance.

"Easy! I'm here to help. My car's north of here. Half mile. Black bag in back seat. Bring it here so I can treat him. NOW!"

Once he'd relaxed his posture she was kneeling by the tiger's head, gently stroking it's head for a moment, whuffing at him and letting him sniff her wrist. She didn't bother to turn when she heard him run off.

"Easy big guy. Just here to help."

The huge cat took in her scent before giving a soft growl and lying still again. Smiling she moved to it's side, carefully taking in the damage. It wasn't that bad, thankfully, but it probably hurt like hell. It would be a fairly easy fix, but the cat would need to ride in the back of her Jeep if he was going to get anywhere safe. Oh joys of cat fur.

-Channeling Marco way too much lately.-

"Here!"

The young man was back, dropping the bag carefully at her side before sitting near the tiger's head, petting him and talking in a soft, reassuring voice.

She didn't bother to say anything, yanking out a pair of latex gloves and a basic anti-infection kit. Her hands were efficient, cleaning the wound and carefully pulling out the bullet before applying a bandage to the cleaned wound. With any luck there wouldn't even be a scar.

"Hey."

The young man's head shot up from where he was cradling the tiger's seeming to be startled.

"He's okay. Anywhere safe that he could recover? He's not going to be able to walk there, but I can get my jeep and drive you where you need to go."

"Mia's place. It's further down the road. Is he really going to be ok?"

She couldn't help but think he looked like a scared little kid like that, all big blue eyes and soft voice.

"Yeah. The bullet grazed his shoulder blade but didn't crack or fracture it. He's just going to be sore and grumpy for a week or so. I'll give him some morphine when he's in the back of the Jeep so he doesn't feel it for a while."

The smile she got for her efforts was contagious and she couldn't help smiling back.

Tiger manhandled into the back of the Jeep and drugged to the eights she settled in the driver's seat and waited for the young man to get comfortable before setting off down the road.

"Hey, just realized I didn't get your name. Sorry about that."

"It's ok. You were worried about your friend. Anyway, my name's Cassie."

"I'm Ryo, and the fur ball in back is Byakuen. If you don't mind my asking, why'd you rush in to help? Most people would run screaming at the sight of a tiger."

Smiling slightly her gaze lifted to the rearview mirror, gazing fondly at the ball of white and black.

"He just reminded me of a friend is all."