Rin's chest heaved as he brought air back into his lungs, his muscular arms stretched out as he leaned against the large tree in front of him. The soft bubbling of the rushing river could be heard nearby, though the sight of the water was still engulfed by large tree trunks and thick undergrowth.

For once the boys had had enough sense to leave when they realized another sexual card had popped up, which gave privacy to the two rabbits that were no doubt mating already back at the cave they had made base camp. The redhead realized his tail was stiff upon his backside, the hair along his nape standing up uncomfortably when he thought of what Ai and Nagisa were doing. For some reason, he found himself growing very annoyed at the idea that Nagisa was taking advantage of his swimming kohai, though Rin didn't know why he was feeling that way. It felt almost jealous in nature.

His crimson eyes lifted upwards to look at the rest of the boys that had already sprawled out along the ground around him. Makoto was bent over beside Rei, who was sitting against a neighbouring tree with his leg stretched out awkwardly in front of him. Haru was a little further ahead of them, the only visible part of him being the black ears twitching on top of his head as he stared forlornly at the running water in front of him.

A low growl rumbled through the air, Makoto's eyes looking up worriedly as he glanced towards the hungry wolf.

"We should try and find some more food," Haru mumbled as his eyes reflected the glittering of the water, "before Rin tries to eat Nitori again."

"You-!" Rin started towards his childhood friend with hands balled in fists when a large hand suddenly pushed against his chest to keep him back. Head snapped to the side as he glared at Makoto, who had a gentle smile plastered across his face.

"That, or we could take our turns while we wait for Nagisa-kun and Nitori-kun to finish up," Rei spoke up, pushing his glasses back up his face in an uncomfortable manner. Something seemed to be eating at his mind as well, though Rin didn't care enough to confront him about it. Instead he released a 'tch', gnashing his shark teeth together for a moment before leaning back against the tree by his side.

"Did someone even bring the game with them?" the red wolf huffed, absent-mindedly looking back over his shoulder in the direction they had fled from. The thick silence that followed his question answered him, and he rolled his eyes before squeezing them shut. His left hand raised upwards as he combed long fingers through his red hair, fluffing out the dust and dirt that had gathered there from his night spent sleeping on a cave floor.

"Well, we were thinking about looking for another cabin anyway..."

Rin opened his eyes and looked at Makoto, who had a frown on his face as he was deep in thought about what to do while they waited for the rest of their party to finish. "Maybe we can go look for another one now?"

Rin didn't say anything, Haru simply stared at the water, and Rei murmured a quiet agreement as he fiddled around with his broken ankle, touching it experimentally with both of his hands. The olive-haired boy looked expectantly between his other two friends that remained in silence, eventually releasing a sigh as he realized he wasn't going to get an answer out of either one of them.

"I think we should head along the river for now," he eventually spoke once again, making it clear that they were all going to join him in his quest to look for a new cabin. "That way we can find our way back before dark."

"Hopefully those two aren't still humping the shit out of each other by the time we get back," Rin rumbled in a coarse voice, clenching his fists together again when he thought about Nagisa violating his Ai- Woah. The redhead blinked, wondering where the hell 'his Ai' came from. His thoughts didn't last long though when the rustling of foliage could be heard as the other wolf helped the blue-haired cat to his feet, their pace slow as they started to follow the river downstream. Eventually Haru would get to his feet and follow behind them, head turned to the river at all times. Grumbling low in the back of his throat, Rin silently reprimanded himself for his strange thoughts before taking to following behind the trio.

They walked in relative silence, the occasional whisper between Makoto and Rei being the only sound between the friends. Rin realized it was a much different atmosphere than it normally was. Back home they would almost always be in constant chatter as they walked together, fooling around as they walked side by side. But after days of a long, exhausting, and rather surprising game, they had all turned rather melancholy. Except Nagisa of course, but it seemed nothing shut up the little blond imp.

The Samezuka captain snorted out a short laugh at the thought, but fell into silence again as he followed behind the wolf and the two cats.

"I smell fish," Haru suddenly spoke up, stopping short and causing the red wolf to bump into his back and stumble back a few paces in surprise. The black cat took off through the undergrowth, following his nose as he headed towards the source of the food.

"Haru! Damnit, not again!" Rin groaned out loud, remembering how the same thing had happened before. At that time it had led them to the unoccupied cabin, but this time the red-haired teen could clearly smell frying fish - which could only mean they weren't the only ones in that forest.

Muscles rolled and flexed beneath his clothes as he took off after his friend, looking to tackle him to the ground and make him wait for once until they were sure it was safe. Unfortunately for him, that wasn't going to happen.

The sudden groan of something unhinging and releasing could be heard from the undergrowth, and Rin didn't even have a chance to wonder about it before he suddenly felt himself boosted up from the ground below. Rough rope dug into his flesh as he flailed and writhed his body around, clawing at the netting that now had him completely encased. There was a momentary rush of vertigo when the rope reached the climax of its ascent, and when he got his bearings back he realized just how far off the ground he really was. He was trapped within a thick hunting net, hoisted at least eight feet off of the forest floor.

"Shit!" the wolf roared as he struggled against his rope jail, fingers clawing at anything and everything to try and rip it open and set himself free. He realized only too late that the more he struggled, the more caught up in the net he became, and soon found his arms and legs pinned in various positions that were of no help to him.

"Rin!" the worried cry came from below, and Rin managed to twist his torso around enough to look down into three sets of worried eyes that looked up at him dangling in the air.

"Shit!" the teen snarled again, teeth gnawing at the net for a moment before letting go to spit out pieces of twine that had broken off into his mouth. "Get me down! This must be-"

He couldn't even finish his sentence before the roar of a gun shook the forest, scattering flocks of birds that had gathered in the forest canopy. Crimson eyes widened in horror when the teen realized the sound had come from a position very close to where they currently were. He felt sweat running down the large expanse of his back, heart beating loud in his chest when silence followed the gunshot, only to be filled with the sound of leaves and branches cracking under the weight of something. And that something was headed directly towards them.

"Fuck," Rin growled under his breath, looking back down at his friends that were still gathered under his net. Haru and Rei stared up at him with worried expressions on their faces, while Makoto had dashed off into the brush to try and find the rope that was holding the net up. "Hurry, damnit," the red wolf snarled under his breath, teeth worrying his bottom lip hard enough to break the skin and cause trickles of blood to spill down his chin.

"I found it!" Makoto suddenly cried out, the net swaying slightly as the rope extending through the arms of a nearby tree began to shake as the olive-haired boy worked on setting it free. Relief immediately spread through Rin, only to be replaced by something else when he suddenly realized something.

"Ah, wai-"

His sentence went unfinished when the rope suddenly snapped, releasing him and the net onto the ground beneath - but not before he fell the eight foot gap first. He released a cry of pain when he landed on the hard ground, legs immediately buckling and rolling to the side as to prevent injury to his legs from the fall. But even though he did that, it still hurt.

He quickly scrambled to his hands and knees, wincing at the pain flowing through his body but trying his best all the same to push it to the back of his mind. Muscles screamed at him as he tossed his torso back so he could use his heels to push himself into a standing position, red eyes darting to his friends and head nodding to let them know he was alright. Just as they were about to turn in their tracks and race deeper into the forest, the sound of heavy footfalls suddenly stopped. Chills immediately went down all of their spines as they looked into the shadows of the forest directly in front of them and spotted the something that had been heading directly for them.

A large man stood in the shadows, most of his body blanketed still by the darkness of the forest canopy. His entire body was covered in forest camouflage, from the baggy military pants he wore to the hoodie wrapped around his upper body, the hood dragged upwards to mask his face.

However, the only real thing that worried the boys was the large, hunting rifle pointed directly at them, smoke still billowing from its metal mouth.

Time seemed to slow to a stop as the two warring sides stood staring at one another, the animals hunched over on the ground with the human hunter standing his ground, one large finger teasing the trigger of his gun.

That was when the hunter suddenly took a large step forward, light spilling through an opening in the tree canopy to illuminate the features of the stranger. The swimmers let out a collective gasp at once, their eyes widening in surprise as they realized who it was that currently stood before them, calm turquoise eyes staring back at them.

"Sousuke?"

Originally the hunter was just going to be an OC character to make things simple... But as I was writing this chapter I couldn't help but think 'what if the hunter was actually someone they knew?' Then one thing led to another and... Enter Sousuke. I couldn't resist; don't hate me ^o^;

Thanks to everyone for the follows!