Not that long of a wait as I thought... Not that this story gets any attention, lol. It only has like one follower right now. Oh well, I enjoy writing it and my best friend loves it, so it doesn't matter to me if anything I write doesn't get attention. People are more concerned with my Five Nights at Freddy's story, but I lack motivation to write that one. This one is just so much more fun to me. Anyway, for any who do read and enjoy this crazy story, glad you like it! If you don't, I'm honestly not sorry, haha!

Okay, real talk though, this one is just the other half of the last one. Don't ask why my ADHD ass split it.

The next morning, Shota woke up to Pan pawing him in the face. When he opened his eyes, the cat meowed happily and leapt away from him.

"Yo, Aizawa!" Hizashi said with a wave as he entered the living room.

"Yamada…" Shota clenched his teeth as he pushed himself up to sit. "What are you doing here?"

"What kind of question is that?" The boy shrugged. "I came to check on you! Also, to bring over the schoolwork you and Mi-chan missed. Have fun with that!"

He had nearly forgotten about school, and it dawned on him that Michiru had missed school only to look after him. He cursed inwardly at himself. "Today is…"

"Saturday!"

"Right."

Michiru then entered the room, followed by Jaz. "How are you feeling?" she asked Shota.

"Better."

She looked him over from where she was standing and placed her hands on her hips. "Your hair is a mess."

"His hair's always a mess," Hizashi said with a grin. "He doesn't brush it!"

"Ever?" She looked at Shota.

"What's the point?" he asked.

"Goodness… Hold on." She left the living room and went upstairs.

"Hair…" Shota mumbled. "I'm not concerned over appearances."

Hizashi pointed both index fingers at him. "You sure seem to like Mi-chan's appearance."

Shota flinched slightly.

Jaz's ears perked up as he glanced at Hizashi then back at Shota. "…Huh? Do you like Michiru?"

He flinched again then grunted as his shoulder practically yelled at him to stop.

"Isn't it obvious!?" Hizashi laughed.

"Isn't what obvious?" Michiru asked as she returned.

Hizashi immediately stopped laughing but smiled politely at her. "Nothing."

Jaz glanced several times between the three of them, made a bewildered face, then sighed and shook his head. "What's even going on right now?"

Michiru ignored them and went over to Shota with a hairbrush she had retrieved from upstairs. "Goodness, Shota!" she fussed as she began to brush his hair. "You should really brush your hair more often!"

"If I don't, it'll still get brushed it seems…" he said as he avoided looking at her. He noticed Hizashi lean over with a smirk to say something in Jaz's ear. Jaz went to respond but was interrupted by Michiru snapping at them.

"What are you two whispering about over there?" They jumped and stood up straight. "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

"Yes!" Hizashi said. "Er, I mean, yes ma'am! Let's go, Jaz!"

"Okay, but stop yelling at me…" They turned and left the house.

After a few moments, Shota spoke up. "You've been a little…verbally aggressive."

"Well if you boys would stop getting yourselves in trouble and take care of yourselves!"

"S-Sorry." He wondered if Hizashi or Jaz or even Tsume had done something recently to irritate her after he himself had gotten hurt. Though, he did not bother to ask her since he was afraid that she would snap at him again. Instead, he sat there quietly and allowed her to brush his hair. Despite her irritable attitude today, she was still gentle and soft with him. He could feel his face getting warm thinking about it, so he decided to ask, "What was that thing Tsume challenged that wolf to?"

"Hm? The Kemono no Tatakai? It's a duel of sorts. An old Tora and Ōkami-Kage clan tradition. The one being challenged does not have to accept it, but it's an old honor thing. Basically, they just fight in their beast forms, no other Quirks allowed; they fight with fangs and claws but lethal blows are taboo. Of course, accidents happen, I guess. Fights can last for a while sometimes, but a winner is determined in one of two ways. You either are the last one standing, or you pin down your opponent to prevent them from getting back up. Either way, the opponent has to be down for ten seconds for it to be a loss."

"I see… So, Tsume challenged him to that to avoid being struck by that stinger."

"Yeah. Conditions are agreed upon before the fight starts. If both participants agree to the conditions, they take their positions and fight. Both the winner and loser, as well as anyone else brought up in the conditions, must adhere to them after. The conditions you can set depends on how high-ranking your opponent is."

"What if they don't adhere to them? What then?"

"Well, I'm not sure about nowadays, but Tsume told me that, in the past, they shamed and exiled any who broke the rules of a Kemono no Tatakai. However, if one of the two participants dies, the conditions are void. Of course, a clan law states that killing your opponent during or after the duel is a sure way to get punished and exiled."

"Interesting."

"You sure are curious about our clan traditions," she mentioned aloud.

"Not many outsiders get to know these things," he replied.

"Not sure if you can consider yourself an outsider anymore, heh. Close friends are considered part of the clan too, you know."

…

After nearly a week had passed, Shota began to feel a lot less pain and moved around more on his own. He had asked Michiru one day if he would need any more of Pan's medicine, but she had assured him that one dose was enough. Frankly, he was glad.

Tsume was beginning to stay away for longer periods of time. In fact, it had been three days since they had last seen him, but he called each night to talk to Michiru. Still, she seemed to be getting quieter and Pan followed her around a lot more.

One night, Shota decided to go out into the forest to start training again. He had not told Michiru, as she had been asleep at the time.

He made his way towards the center of the property, where he discovered for the first time that the largest and tallest tree was located there. It stood grandly atop a broad hill where no other trees grew, like some kind of king or important figure being looked up at by the rest of the forest. He carefully made his way up to the tree and began to walk around it, examining the thick trunk. On one side, he found a large space of the soil seemingly scooped out and sheltered by the roots. There did not appear to be anything within. He looked up at the towering tree and decided that it would do.

He backed away from the tree a few paces before running up part of the trunk and throwing some of the capture cloth up and around one of the lower boughs. Grabbing the other end as it came back down, he caught himself and began to pull himself up with great effort. His leg and arm were healed, but it seemed that the shoulder Sasori-Kage had struck with his stinger was not. Shota began to feel his shoulder burning, but he gritted his teeth and kept climbing. With each pull upwards, the pain became increasingly more severe. When he had nearly reached the bough of the tree, his shoulder suddenly moved in an odd way as it gave out and caused him to let go with a shout of pain. He braced himself for the impact of the ground far below, but instead found himself sliding harmlessly down. As he got to his feet on the ground, he glanced back up at the translucent purple slide just before it dispersed.

"Um, thanks," he said to Michiru as she approached.

She transformed from tiger to human as she neared him. "What are you doing? You should still be resting!"

"I'm fine." He resisted the urge to grab his shoulder as it throbbed in protest. "I need to get back to training. I've missed a lot in a single week."

"What's the point of training if you're still injured? You're just going to make it worse!"

He turned away from her and grabbed the cloth dangling from the tree. "I've been relying too much on you guys. I need to be able to survive on my own."

"People aren't meant to survive alone…" she muttered. "It's okay to rely on others sometimes," she spoke up. Everyone does."

He stopped but did not respond or look back at her.

The white tiger ears on her head folded back and she clenched her fists. "You don't want to be alone… You're just afraid of losing people again! Well, I'm afraid of losing people too, you know!"

He turned suddenly to look at her, surprised that she was shouting. He was even more surprised to turn and find her crying.

"Tsume is always off somewhere trying to find them," she continued. "And then you nearly got yourself killed or worse!"

"Michi…"

"He, and you… You're really important to me. What would I…if something happened?"

He suddenly understood her recent behavior. "You…really don't have to worry so much about me…"

"I know," she said. "I tell myself that, but I still worry anyway." She sniffed and wiped at her eyes. "…Sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"It's fine." He raised his hand a bit and hesitated, but then stepped closer and gently wiped her cheek. "I'm sorry for making you worry. And for not realizing you were so upset." He glanced down. "And for what I said, because… um, well… I said that, but…" He scratched his cheek. "It's not like I don't want you around or anything… You're really important to me too, Michi." Once she had wiped away the last of her tears and calmed down, he spoke again. "You're right, though. I should take a little longer to rest. I was being pretty irrational… Um, let's go back to the house."

As they began to walk away, Shota felt something watching them and glanced back to see the Forest Ghost stepping lightly up the hill towards the tree. He stopped, causing Michiru to stop and look as well. The white stag's pelt was illuminated by the moonlight, making the animal appear to glow. It paused a moment at the top of the hill to stare down at them then disappeared behind the tree somewhere.

"He takes shelter in the space beneath the roots," Michiru told Shota. "Also, you really shouldn't be climbing that tree… It's sacred to the Tora and Seishin."

He tensed, feeling embarrassed. "Oh. Sorry."

Michiru laughed a little. "It's okay. We should have told you about it sooner."

When the two of them returned to the house, Pan greeted them at the door with loud cries as he weaved between their legs and purred. The black cat followed them into the living room and hopped up onto the sofa with them as they sat down.

Tsume returned in the early hours of the morning. He was pleasantly surprised to find Pan curled up asleep on the couch between Michiru and Shota, who were leaning against each other as they slept. "That's cute," Tsume said quietly to himself as he took out his cellphone and took a picture. With a smirk on his face, he went upstairs.

Later in the day, Shota awoke to the distant sounds of a piano. He figured Michiru must be playing and sat up. After a minute, he stood up and followed the sounds down the hall and to the sunroom.

"Oh, Shota! Good morning! You look well." Tsume said with a smile as the boy entered the room.

Michiru stopped and looked over at him. "Good morning."

"Morning," he said and went over to join Tsume at the small table in the corner. "When did you get back?"

"Around four in the morning. I'll probably take a nap later." He waved his hand at his sister. "Ah, keep going Michi!"

"Yeah," Shota said. "Don't let me stop you."

She smiled and tilted her head. "Okay then. Any requests?"

"Oh," Tsume said. "Why don't you play and sing Ode to the Fallen for Shota? In a language he can understand, I mean."

"It's hard to translate…" She pondered it for a moment. "Hm, okay. I think I've got it."

She began to play the piano's keys again, forming the tune Shota recognized from when he had heard her once before. The music and her voice were lovely and haunting.

"May you fair well, and find gold laaands of fortune. In your final rest, may you truly find peeeace. And may you need never look dow-wn upon me, and feel regret for the roooad that I take…

My ode to the fallen, I sing out to you. Hear my words and find comfort and peeeace. There's no need to worry, this worrrld will carry on. But know that you truly are miiissed.

May my ode to the fallen fill your soul with comfort. With love, warmth, beauty, and bliiiss.

Ode to the fallen, I sing this for you. To every lost soul, I wish peeeace. Ta-ake these words, and in them find comfort. I pray that you all can rest eaaasy.

Don't feel downtrodden. May my ode to the fallen, remind you that you meant the worrrld to me…

Sleep now, my darling. With my ode to the fallen. Let it whisk you away, into dreams so sweeeet…"

"Yes, that sounds right," Tsume said once she had finished. "Wonderful job! What do you think, Shota?"

"Me?" He was a tad surprised to be asked that. "Well, it really was a sad song like you said, but… I did like it."

"That's 'cause my little sister has a beautiful voice! Doesn't she?"

Shota nodded. "Yeah. She really does."

"Stop talking like I'm not even here," she told them. She looked a little embarrassed. "I'm glad it sounded okay. I've never sung that one in any language other than the ancient one."

Tsume remained at the house with them for a few days. Finally, after a visit from Recovery Girl, whom Tsume called over, Shota was fully healed and able to start training again. He and Michiru would return to school the following Monday. The Saturday before that, however, Tsume found Shota training in the woods and approached him.

"Michi told me that you tried training before you were fully healed," the dark bluish-black tiger said.

"Oh," Shota stopped and looked over at him. "Yeah. …Is that all she told you about it?"

Tsume cocked his head to the side. "Is there something else I should know?"

"Er, I guess not." Truthfully, he was curious if she had mentioned the conversation that they had that night. "Um, I mean, apparently I was trying to climb a sacred tree or something," is what he decided to bring up instead.

"Oh?" Tsume's whiskers twitched with amusement. "You mean Seishin Ku's tree? The big one on the hill?"

"Yeah. That's the one. We saw the Forest Ghost there, too."

"I'm not surprised. I've discovered that he is the host of Ku."

"That explains a lot about that deer, actually…"

Tsume nodded. "Indeed."

"If they look for hosts to protect them, then why do some of them choose animals? Wouldn't it be safer if the host was human?"

"Depends how you look at it. Sure, a human is probably more likely to be able to protect them, but a human is also more likely to use them for bad things, right?"

"I guess that makes sense."

"Yes. Not to mention, only three of them have animal hosts. Two of them live here on this property and the other is somewhere deep in the ocean. They're pretty safe. Especially since we were able to swiftly handle that poacher situation."

"So, Ro is some kind of deer with reptile arms and tail," Shota mused, "and Yuki is a weasel. What is Sa?"

"A cat!"

"Figures. And Ku?"

"Ku looks kind of like a dragon."

"Dragon?"

Tsume nodded. "A serpentine dragon with clouds flowing off her body. Quite lovely, really. Say, Shota. Do you remember me telling you to try getting better at moving swiftly through the trees?"

"Yes."

"So, how's that coming along?"

"Not sure."

"Care to find out then?" The dark tiger padded over and smiled down at him. "I also told you it could be like a game. Cats love games, you know."

"You're a tiger."

"Still a cat. Just…bigger. Anyways, let's play. I'm going to take off through the forest and you have to try to catch me. It's not just tag though! You actually have to catch me!"

"Right."

"If you go above the trees, you'll most definitely lose sight of me. Good luck!" Tsume suddenly bolted away into the forest.

Shota was caught off guard for a small moment before he took off after him via the trees. For something so big, Tsume's tiger form was remarkably fast. He even ducked, jumped, and weaved around obstacles all without slowing down and hardly leaving a hair behind. It took Shota some time to catch up, and when he did, he thrust the capture cloth at Tsume in an attempt to trip him up. However, Tsume reacted as quick as he ran and side-stepped the cloth before suddenly turning and heading in another direction. Shota had to stop himself against the trunk of a tree and spring off of it after him. After a second failed attempt, Shota leapt away out of sight.

Tsume slowed and came to a stop, glancing around. "Hm… Seems you're Erasing my Aura Power Quirk. I can't tell where you are. Clever!" Tsume froze and listened carefully. He heard a rustling in the leaves behind him and turned to look, suddenly, something yanked his paws out from under him and knocked him to the ground. "What?!" He had fallen for a diversion of some kind. Tsume yanked his paws, trying to free himself of the cloth that was wrapped around them. His Quirk was still being blocked. He tried to bite into the cloth and began to rip and tear parts of it, but this slowed him down and left him vulnerable as Shota came from the other direction and bound the tiger's mouth and limbs in swift movements. Tsume turned his head and stared at the boy in shock. When Shota removed the cloth from his face, the tiger burst with laughter. "You sure showed me!"

Shota smirked a little as he freed Tsume's paws. "You were faster than I expected."

"So were you!" Tsume got to his paws, shook himself, then transformed into a human. "Great work, Shota! You managed to catch up, keep pace, and even trick and capture me all while avoiding getting caught up in those trees. Remarkable!"

"You're praising me too much…" Shota's face was a little pink.

"Heheh. Hm. Shota, I wanted to ask you something."

"Hm?"

"Instead of returning to that lonely little apartment, why don't you just stay here?"

He was surprised.

Tsume smiled sheepishly. "Forgive me. I probably shouldn't be asking something like this of you, but… Truthfully, I have a request."

"What is it?"

"…I have to start leaving for even longer periods of time soon. I'll be investigating some things in far away towns and cities. I…feel bad about leaving Michi alone. Sure, she has Pan, and Jaz is often here, but… Anyways, you're a really capable guy and the two of you get along well." He looked down with a sad smile. "I know that she gets depressed when I'm gone for a long time." He looked back at Shota. "But she seems happy with you! Like I said, though… I really don't have any right to ask something like this from you, but…"

"No, it's fine. I'd…" he looked away, hiding his face in the cloth around his neck. "I'd actually like to."

"Really? Great then! Thank you. Don't worry, Michi's easy to live with. She's very nurturing." He let out a laugh. "But I guess you've already learned that, huh?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Come on. Let's head back to the house. Oh, I sent you something to your phone. You should check it out!"

"Huh?" He pulled his phone from his back pocket and checked the messages. Tsume had sent him a picture. When he opened it, Shota's face flushed red. "When did you take this?"

Tsume only laughed as he transformed into a tiger and bounded away.

To be continued…

Short and sweet.

A bit of drama is to be coming soon. Not sure if it'll be in the next chapter or the one after though...