A/N: wow, this one took a little longer than expected. i hope this one doesn't seem forced either. enjoy!
Chapter 19: The Hunt
"Hey, Ryooshi," Toboe whispered to her as the pack sat in a circle with the rest of the men that were going on the hunt with them, including Chief Runs with Horses.
"Yeah?" Ryooshi replied in a hushed tone also.
"What's that guy doing with his rattling stick?" Toboe wondered, still whispering.
"That's the Shaman," she answered. "He's calling on the Great Spirits to bless the hunt. When he's done praying, he'll bless everybody individually."
"He's not gonna spatter blood on us, is he?" Hige wondered in a hushed tone.
"No," Ryooshi sighed, rolling her eyes, and signaled they should be quiet by pressing her finger to her lips.
The Shaman came toward them and Ryooshi bowed her head, nudging Toboe when he didn't do the same and he, too, bowed his head, followed by the others. The Shaman rattled his staff over Ryooshi's head as he chanted something, then did the same to the others until he went all around the circle. Only when he stopped and tapped his staff twice to the ground did everyone disperse from the circle.
The hunters mounted their horses, with their spears, bow and arrows in hand.
"Huntress Wolf," Runs with Horses called, and Ryooshi turned to look up at him on his horse. "You will stay by my side during the hunt. It is my wish."
"Yes, Chief," Ryooshi nodded then asked, "Where exactly will be hunting?"
"There are mountains to the west," Runs with Horses replied. "That is where we hunt. They are not far away. I am glad you have arrived just in time for the last hunt of the week."
"We'll be here for many more, I'm sure," Ryooshi smiled with a nod and turned back to the pack as Runs with Horses called for the hunters to head westward.
"I have to stay with the Chief," she explained. "You guys can spread out if you like."
"I'll walk with you," Tsume piped up, and as he walked toward her the others gave significant glances to each other. Ryooshi noticed and rolled her eyes but headed toward Runs with Horses as he led the men westward, Tsume beside her.
"You really don't have to walk with me, ya know?" she told him as they caught up to the Chief.
"I know," he shrugged. "I just thought you'd want some company."
"Are you being all warm and fuzzy again?" she teased with a grin and Tsume gave her a sideways glare but smirked anyway.
"Well," he hummed, glancing upwards in thought and shoving his hands in his pockets. "I just thought, since we bonded back there that you'd wanna spend all kinds of time with me. I figured I'd beat you to the punch by volunteering instead of having you run all over the place after me like a love-sick pup."
"Trust me, I'm not gonna run after you when you clearly don't want any attention from me," she replied, coolly. "And who said anything about being love-sick?"
Tsume smirked as he leaned toward her and murmured, "Remember? I know you like me."
"Sure I do," Ryooshi shrugged calmly, but she could feel her heart pounding in her chest at him being so close. "Even though you can be a jerk sometimes, you're ok to hang around. The others like you too."
"You know that's not what I mean," he muttered, standing tall again then smirked, "I saw the way you reacted to that kiss I gave you earlier. Why don't you just admit you like me?"
"Why don't you admit that you like me?" Ryooshi retorted with a smirk of her own and Tsume shot a wide-eyed stare at her. "If you didn't, you wouldn't have kissed me, right?"
You set yourself up for that one, idiot! he thought to himself, but looked away from her with a shrug and a scoff as he replied, "I just wondered what you'd do. I did it to prove that you liked me."
"Really?" Ryooshi smirked skeptically and suddenly had an idea. "Then why don't we see if you like me?"
Tsume frowned at her but before he could say anything, Ryooshi stepped closer to him on her tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, as he had done to her earlier. He froze when she pulled away and felt his heart skip a beat. She smiled at him and hurried after Runs with Horses as he still led the group of hunters to the mountains and Tsume stared after her in shock and awe.
"Way to go, Big Guy!" Hige grinned, slapping a hand onto Tsume's back and startling him out of his shocked trance. "That was a cute little peck on the cheek you just got. Maybe when we come back from hunting she'll try to hold your hand?"
"Shut up!" Tsume snarled back at him, shoving Hige away as he laughed.
"You guys do make a cute couple," Blue added and Tsume only glared at her.
"What do any of you care?" he muttered. "It's not like it affects any of you."
"We just wanna see you and Ryooshi happy," Toboe grinned.
"Actually, we just wanna see if you really have a heart after all," Hige corrected and Blue giggled as Tsume shot a glare at him.
"Of course he has a heart!" Toboe replied, defensively for Tsume.
"Would you stop talking about me like I'm not here?" Tsume grumbled.
"I thought you didn't care if we knew you like her," Kiba recalled, remembering his reaction when they'd all found him and Ryooshi lying together that morning.
"I don't," Tsume snapped then muttered, "But apparently Ryooshi does." He turned to the others and snapped, "So just keep a lid on it, will ya?!"
He turned around and marched toward Ryooshi again as the others stopped and glanced around at each other.
Blue smiled, triumphantly, crossing her arms over her chest as she nodded, "Yup. He's falling for her."
Ryooshi crouched in the tall grass, her jade eyes staring at the huge buffalo, her dark brown fur easily hiding her in the terrain. The Indians had no problem hiding either, but Kiba and Tsume were a little harder to hide than the others who were pretty much able to blend into the grass.
"It's a really big buffalo, Chief," Ryooshi insisted as he crouched next to her. She had been trying to convince him for a while that it was too much trouble to try to take down, but his youthful ambition begged to be appeased. That buffalo could feed the tribe for two more hunting days, at least.
"It should be no problem for you and your friends," he replied. "We will be here to take it down completely once you tire it out a bit."
"You know, if this was two years ago, I'd say your father would kill me if I let you pull a stunt like this," Ryooshi reminded him then shook her head and sighed, "But, you're the Chief. Just try not to hit any of us when you shoot your arrows, alright?"
"I will try, Huntress Wolf," Runs with Horses smirked and Ryooshi caught the eyes of the rest of the pack and nodded as the signal to begin.
The pack slowly stood and stalked silently through the tall grass to surround the buffalo, only making small rustles with the grass and making a large circle around it. They all crouched down again, preparing to attack, one after another as they had planned, but the buffalo stopped its grazing, looked up behind him and took off, nearly trampling over Kiba who had been crouched in front of him.
"After it!" Ryooshi barked, seeing the Chief shoot out of the grass and do just that.
"That's our kill!" a growl came from behind her, and she froze with the rest of the pack and turned to face the direction the growl had come from to see another pack of wolves, the alpha male growling at Ryooshi. "You're trespassing on our territory! You and your Indian humans who are always coming around here for our food!"
"They're not hunting you so back off!" Ryooshi shot back as the rest of the pack came up behind her to support her. "They were here before you were, judging by the fact that we didn't catch your stench anywhere else on the way here."
"You wanna start something, mutt?!" the alpha snarled and Ryooshi growled lowly, taking a battle stance.
"Who the hell are you calling a mutt?!" she barked back as the rest of the pack growled at the pack in front of them.
"Your pitiful pack of six stands no chance against my pack of twenty!" the alpha snarled, but he took a step back at catching something behind the pack.
Ryooshi looked over her shoulder to see Chief Runs with Horses and the rest of the hunters ready to attack if needed. She smirked to herself and looked back at the pack in front of them only to see Tsume standing a little ahead of her suddenly, defending her.
"Our pack is bigger than yours," she teased and the pack backed away and ran off, realizing they were no match for a pack of wolves and humans. Ryooshi stood tall and nodded definitely before they all turned and ran after the buffalo that had gotten away.
"I think a change of plan is in order, Chief!" Ryooshi called, running beside him.
"I agree," he nodded and soon the lone buffalo was in sight and she turned to the pack behind her.
"Blitz attack, guys!" she called, and the Chief stopped with his men but Ryooshi led the pack toward the animal.
The pack surrounded the buffalo again, but this time, Ryooshi leapt at the huge thing and sank her teeth into the back of its neck as she stood on its back and Toboe and Blue went for the legs. The buffalo reared, trying to get Ryooshi off his back and when it succeeded, Kiba and Tsume were the next to attack. The buffalo fell from being off-balance, nearly crushing Toboe if he hadn't darted out of the way and crashed into Blue sending them to the ground.
"Out of the way!" Ryooshi barked to the rest of them as she stood with Blue and Toboe as they got up. Tsume and Kiba leapt toward them just as the Chief and his men came up from the grass to fire their arrows at it for the killing blow.
"Now how are we gonna get it back to the village?" Tsume wondered and Ryooshi opened her mouth to reply but quickly closed it as she looked up in thought.
"I don't know," she finally replied. "I think they'll have a wagon or some kind of wheeled vehicle to get it back."
"Hey, do you smell that?" Hige asked, sniffing the air and the rest of them did as well.
"Now what?" Tsume growled, catching the scent of the other wolves but as they looked around, none of them could see the others.
"Maybe this is part of the place where they did mark their territory?" Ryooshi guessed, but before anyone could answer she heard a rustling behind her. She whirled around and gave a snarl at one of the wolves they'd seen earlier as it leapt toward her.
"Ryooshi!" Toboe called as she gave a yelp when the attacking wolf chomped his fangs into her leg when she attempted to kick him away. Toboe ran to help her but was shoved out of the way when Tsume charged the attacking wolf and grabbed the back of his neck in his powerful jaws. The wolf howled in pain, letting go of Ryooshi's leg and Toboe settled for helping Ryooshi away from the other two.
Tsume tossed the wolf aside and it got up, shaking the rattling away in its head as Tsume snarled, "Get lost!"
"Don't come hunting in our territory again!" the wolf growled back at the pack as he struggled to stand.
"You're in no position to demand anything from us when you're outnumbered!" Tsume shot back. "Now get lost before I toss you around some more!"
The wolf glared at them for a moment but trudged off in pain from the wound Tsume left on him.
"Huntress Wolf, are you alright?!" the Chief called, running toward the pack again and kneeling next to Ryooshi as the wolves appeared in their human forms again.
"I'll be alright," she assured him as Toboe helped her stand. "Only a flesh wound."
"That's the second time you've been mauled, m---kid," Tsume recalled, and Ryooshi couldn't help but smirk at his near slip of calling her 'mutt' as Chief Runs with Horses led them back to the horses. "You must taste good, huh?"
"Don't even think it," Ryooshi shot back, reading his tone. "Like I said, I'm gamey."
"Hey, keep the flirting to a minimum in front of the runt, will ya?" Hige smirked, ruffling Toboe's hair as he held up Ryooshi's arm.
"I'm not an idiot, ya know!" Toboe shot back at Hige, but turned his attention back to Ryooshi with a slight blush. "You guys getting together would actually be kinda nice."
Ryooshi opened her mouth to reply but gave a yelp of surprise instead with she felt herself being swept off her feet and pulled into a pair of arms. She quickly threw her arms around Tsume's neck, blushing as she did.
"W-Wha---?"
"I can't stand watching you limp," Tsume complained. "I'd rather carry you myself than have to wait for you trailing behind us."
Ryooshi swallowed but said nothing as she looked over his shoulder at the others. Blue and Hige gave her a thumbs up, Toboe only stood there grinning and she was so thankful Kiba had only ever gave a small smiles whenever it came to moments like this.
"You still owe me for the other times I saved your life," Tsume reminded her in a murmur, drawing her attention back to him. "I expect to be repaid for that."
"I'm only in debt by one life-saving, now," she grinned, tapping his nose lightly and he frowned at her in utter confusion as she wrapped her arm back around his neck.
"One?!" he snapped. "I've saved your life three times since I've met you!"
"And I've paid my debt back in full twice," she smiled with a nod.
"I saved your life back at the lab in the city!" he snapped.
"And I paid you back by helping you get your memory back," Ryooshi replied, then held a hand up and counted, "That's one."
"That doesn't count," he muttered. "You didn't do anything. That was Cheza."
"No, but I convinced you to meet them behind the diner when you were being a pain in the tail about it," she replied.
"I'm not giving you that one," he argued, shaking his head. "You didn't save my life. And now I've saved you twice from being mauled to death."
"Well, fine, but I did have a hand in digging you out after that sandstorm," Ryooshi retorted. "Even though it was Toboe who bit your ear to get you moving, I ended up digging it out for him to bite."
"So it was the runt?!" Tsume growled, lowly and Ryooshi just rolled her eyes as she flicked his nose, making him look at her with wide eyes.
"Focus," she ordered, then counted on her fingers, "So you saved me three times and I saved you once."
"I don't think I should give you that one either," he retorted. "You may have dug up my ear, but you weren't the one that actually got me out of it."
"Don't be a jerk," she muttered. "I'm in debt by two."
"I say three," Tsume argued, and Ryooshi set her jaw in anger and glared at him.
"You're saying that to bother me," she muttered and Tsume gave her a mischievous smirk.
"Maybe," he retorted. "What're you gonna do about it?"
Ryooshi glared at him again and shoved away from his chest enough so that he stopped and she pulled her feet from his other hand to set herself down on the ground, still shoving away from him.
"What are you doing?" he asked, watching her limp away as the rest of the pack passed him up.
"Walking, since you're being such a jerk," she snapped back and Hige stopped next to Tsume to nudge him.
"Lovers' quarrel?" he smirked, teasingly and Tsume snarled at him then marched toward Ryooshi, but Hige only laughed.
"Hey!" Tsume barked at Ryooshi and she spun around with wide eyes and a small wince at the pain in her leg as he stopped in front of her to stare her down.
"If you're gonna be your outer, jerky self, then don't talk to me," she grumbled. "I'm done trying to out-anger you."
"Do you ever shut up?" he asked and she glared at him.
"Now look!" she began, holding up a threatening finger at him, but before she could finish her attempted rant, he grabbed her hand, his other hand grabbing a handful of dark brown hair, pulled her toward him and planted his lips to hers making her squeak in surprise as her eyes shot wide in shock.
"Whoa! Hey! There's a pup here!" Hige reminded them, grabbing Toboe by the shoulders and covering his eyes with one hand.
He was ignored as Ryooshi and Tsume remained in their lip lock, and the she-wolf finally allowed her eyes to flutter shut and her arms to slide around his neck.
"Wow, she's enjoying that, isn't she?" Hige breathed, his eyes wide at the scene and Toboe struggled to be free of his grip as Blue nudged him.
"Shush!" she hissed, but was over-ruled by Kiba when he started ushering them after the rest of the hunting party.
"Let's go," he urged, walking past the three. "We'll lose them if we stay here too long."
"What about those two?" Hige asked, pointing at Tsume and Ryooshi still holding each other and letting go of Toboe in the process who glared at the older wolf.
"They'll find their way back," Kiba assured them, still walking. The rest of them followed, Blue having to take Toboe's arm and drag him along as he was so fascinated by his two best friends having their moment.
Tsume's hand holding onto Ryooshi's slid to her waist as she carefully lifted herself on her tiptoes so that he didn't lean so far toward her as she was slightly shorter than Toboe. He lifted her a little higher so that she was level with his height, her feet dangling in the air as one if her feet lifted into the air and he deepened the kiss as she pulled him closer. When they finally pulled apart for air, Tsume didn't let her go as his hand that had fisted her hair loosened and gently rested on the back of her neck and she smiled at him as her eyes fluttered open.
"Ok, I'll say it first," she surrendered, breathlessly making him frown, but she only continued, "I'm falling for you, Tsume."
His eyes widened slightly but his surprise melted away as he smirked, mischievously and replied, "I knew I'd break you first."
"Whatever!" she laughed not being able to wipe the smile from her face even as she gently and playfully punched his arm. "You realized you kissed me in front of the others, right?"
"So?" he shrugged. "Why should I care?"
"You don't care very much about your reputation as a tough guy, then, do you?" she retorted, bringing her hands to his shoulders to fiddles with the collar of his leather jacket.
"Not with them," he replied, shaking his head slightly. "Besides, they know I could kill them with one paw tied behind my back."
"Even though you'd never do such a thing," Ryooshi added then glanced around and realized they were the only ones around then looked back at Tsume to say, "They ditched us."
He frowned, looked around as well, then back at Ryooshi and replied, "Guess they did."
"Would you mind putting me down now?" she wondered with a small smile.
Tsume smirked as he gently set her on her feet again, his hand that had been on her neck running gently down her shoulder and his other hand around her waist sliding from around it. Ryooshi slid her hands down his shoulders and let one of them rest in his hand as they headed in the direction they were supposed to go. Tsume frowned and couldn't help but give a scoff as they still walked and Ryooshi looked up at him with a frown.
"What's so funny?" she wondered and he held their hands up for her to see.
"Hige said if I was lucky you'd let me hold your hand on the way back from the hunt," he explained and Ryooshi giggled as he lowered their hands. She stepped closer and hugged his arm closer to hers and smiled a little wider when she felt Tsume entwine their fingers. Even though he hadn't said it, she knew, he was falling for her too.
A/N: kay, yeah, it's all made up pretty much. i don't know if a Shaman does that before a hunt. i don't know if Indians have certain days when they go hunting, and i don't know if they'd be hunting a buffalo, i just think Indians hunting and i think buffalo. in short, i'm flyin by the seat of my pants here, so please, don't go up in flames about my blunders. and there was the real kiss, finally! i couldn't help it! I could totally see Tsume doing this with Ryooshi cuz she's so tiny and he could pick her up with one arm. lol. and, yea, the title of this chapter is kind of a double meaning. They're hunting, but Tsume and Ryooshi are hunting...each other. lol! was it too mushy or too rushed? reviews?