A gentle zephyr tossed the leaves of a sprouting sapling, with ends kissing and tickling her pale cheeks. Eiko winced as her eyes met with the invading sunlight that scattered through the canopy, bathing the forest floor in pure white light. The soundtrack of the forest played on, despite the events of the night before. For some reason, it had remained untouched by the same horror that had taken her village. Not wanting to move from her soft mossy bed, she surveyed her surroundings while trying to lay still. Until she remembered..
"Kenji? Kenji where are you?" She called, shooting upright. Heart bounding, she searched in every direction before spotting the blue wolf biped standing at the pond's shore. Climbing to her feet, her body shook before balancing itself as she walked over to sit next to him. He only turned his head for a moment, the look on his face pleading her not to worry. He held out a paw full of berries, food he'd found while she was still sleeping. They were in quite a predicament, and there was no time to worry about things they couldn't control. The pokemon lowered to the ground next to her while she enjoyed the little bit of breakfast he could find, and started to communicate in the only other way he could. 'Cave..there's a cave in the base of a rock over a large waterfall..we should be safe there..' His head turned in the direction of it, nose pointing towards the sky. 'Can you walk okay?' He asked, turning his attention back to her. With a nod, he helped her up and started on their trek towards the cave.
With his men lined up, a tall, dark figure paced in front of them. A low guttural grumble resounded in his throat at each turn. "Why did no one inform me that this was Noritaka Village?" The men remained as silent as death, which tolled on his patience. "I asked a question!" He roared, striking his massive brand against the stone floor. The brand itself held an ornate pattern, one that resembled hungry flames climbing from the hilt of the blade and becoming larger and more sporadic near the tip. One brave soul spoke up, his voice choked by the fear of the repercussions of such boldness. "We didn't know, Sir, honest.." The man's heart jumped into his throat once he caught gazes with his superior, freezing in terror but fighting to further explain. "But our men are searching tirelessly for the girl, it seems the beast left no surviv–" A boot came crashing against the man's face in one swift motion before he could finish his sentence, and he fell backwards with a limp flop. A burning, acrimoniously piercing gaze boiled through his helmet. "Were you not listening before?! SHE CANNOT BE KILLED, YOU IDIOTS!" His fury burned as bright as molten steel, and one could swear steam was rising from his helm. The Red Warrior was displeased of this insolence. The other men stayed rigid in their position, afraid to move or speak. The man turned on his heel to look at the crumpled soldier on the ground and huffed. "Clean this mess up..I have some hunting to do." He drifted out of the room like a passing storm cloud, growing more silent before he disappeared along the horizon of a long decorated hallway. His shadow moved like a plague behind him, in such a way that even the torches adorned on the wall showed a bit of hesitance with their glow, billowing wildly as he passed. Along the way he schemed, plotted a way to try and find this girl, with the only clue being that the forest behind the village still lay untouched. He had a hunch of where to start looking, even if he would possibly lose half of his army to the unforgiving forest of Naruu.
Night had fallen on the forest, and they had traveled far. Kenji served as her eyes and feet as it fell too dark to see, letting her sleep on his back as he navigated the maze of trees and hallows. Finally they had reached the cave above the waterfall. It overlooked much of the forest and the other lands that lay to the east of it, as well as the empire that lay just at the border. The moon painted everything in silver light, pulsing with billowing gowns of stars that dotted the empty darkness that made the sky. It could all be seen from the cave entrance, and if one climbed a little further, they could see for miles. In effort to make the best of their situation, Kenji poured her onto the floor of the cave, a top a mass of straw and pine. Slowly and carefully, he removed the fur pelt that served as part of her robes, and draped it over her in an effort to keep her warm. And finally, he sat. Gazing, thinking, feeling. As he tried to put connections together as to how or why they were attacked, his only source of thought brought him back to the encounter with those soldiers. His paws tensed as he recalled their acts of disrespect towards his family, but the reaction was all too suspicious. '"you and your village will pay dearly.." but there's no way he's controlling that monster..' he pondered, wracking his brain for clues.
"That's because he isn't." A voice billowed from behind him, caressing his ears like a soft summer breeze. When he turned to view his company, he was greeted with a light chuckle and bright, sapphire eyes gazing down at him from the roof of their cave. Ninetails lay silently across the roof, soaking in the moon's florescent light. Not feeling so hostile, Kenji shrugged off her presence and continued watching the treetops as they swayed. And for good reason. They were in another's territory uninvited, and Ninetails wasn't the only guardian of Naruu. Slowly climbing to her haunches, the massive Ninetails swooped down to sit with her new company. "Maybe, Degar will know.."
"And maybe Degar won't eat us, either.." Kenji hissed, shaking his head. The scowl he got from Ninetails caused him to heave a heavy sigh. "The last human to cross Degar's borders unintentionally disappeared for weeks, then they found his carcass–"
"He was defiling our forest!" Ninetails growled, the pale fur on her back and shoulder blades stiffening as anger tickled her features.
"So you eat him?"
"You forget, we are not all tamed pets.."
Kenji lunged at her muzzle, stopping short of it and instead grabbing a paw full of her pelt, his sharp canines bared. "I AM NOT a pet! I am a part of that family just as much as any other member!" He snarled back, glaring into those endless blue orbs nose to nose.
"No matter how much you tell yourself that, Kenji, you will never be anything to her but a companion.." She explained calmly, turning her head over to the sleeping Eiko. "And you will remain nothing but a beast.." Her attention turned back to him, but his muzzle pointed towards Eiko. In his heart he knew it was true, even if he didn't want to believe it. He couldn't change what they were. His paw drifted away from her pelt, and fell to his side. She could feel his defeat, and the sense of hopelessness had started to settle in his heart. In an attempt to save him from further damage, she sighed, using one of her tails to caress his muzzle. "Oh, Kenji.." She sighed, watching him still fixated on the girl. "Come, I will tell you what I know.." With one last look at Eiko, Kenji turned to follow the fox pokemon behind the cave and away from prying ears.
"That pokemon..it is very ancient, dating back to the times when the world was still forming. He was in charge of creating the mountains and land, with massive volcanoes and endless fire. Why he's decided to show himself now, I do not know..but when I tried to examine his heart.." She trailed off, as if lost in thought.
Kenji turned to her and shook his head. "Well? What did you find? Why is he angry?"
As if trying to recall a bad memory, Ninetails hesitated. Her muzzle slowly dipped towards the ground in defeat and her eyes fluttered shut. "He wasn't angry.." She murmured, her tone holding a sense of depression. "There was..nothing. It was as if he didn't have a heart, at all.."
Kenji was taken aback at the statement, his thick brow furrowing in disbelief. "That's impossible. We all have motives to our actions. He is no different."
Ninetails turned her attention back to him with an apologetic look, as if wishing for that to be true. "Exactly..but, his heart was gone. As if closed somehow. There was no anguish, no sorrow, no enmity..he was just..a shell."