Tatsumi crouched down in the snow before him, keeping a close eye infront of his feet
"Tracks, crescent shaped, eight imprints on the snow, four large four small." He said
"Mother moose and baby moose then" He heard from the boy to his left
"Seems like it leyasu, might be enough to feed the village atleast"
"We shouldn't hunt this late at night, you can barely see five steps ahead. And these thick trees don't exactly make it any better." He heard from the girl to his right
"Yeah we know Sayo but this is the first game we have gotten in weeks, and Tatsumi is the best hunter in the village. We'll be fine."
With a light smirk on his face Tatsumi spotted a tinge of red next to the tracks. Following the red trail he could see it smeared across a nearby tree.
"We're not the only ones after this one" he said pointing to it
"Other hunters?" Sayo said
"In our territory? unlikely. Wolves perhaps?" Leyasu answered
"If that's the case we really need to go. I know Tatsumi is strong but they can see us better than we can see them." Sayo's voice quivered out
Tatsumi took a second to look at the amount of blood on the tree.
'There's not that much blood, if it's really a pack of wolves then they shouldn't be that big' he thought to himself.
Turning his head back, he looked at his friends.
Sayo, a young girl in a buttoned up black furcoat and a flowery hair pin in her long and straight dark hair. The snow that was pouring down landing neatly across her frame.
And leyasu, wearing the same coat but opened with a thick beige shirt underneath. With a white headband just underneath his messy black hair.
"Sayo is right, it's getting too dark. You guys should head back" Tatsumi said
"What do you mean "you guys"?" Leyasu answered sharply
"Yeah Leyasu is right Tatsumi, we know you're strong but you shouldn't rush into this. We can just go hunting again tomorrow."
"The village hasn't eaten anything but stale bread and rations for the past week Sayo, we need this. And look at how much snow is falling, the tracks will be gone tomorrow, and thats not even counting the thing that's hunting them"
"Well Tatsumi is right about one thing, if you stand around any longer you'll look like a snowman Sayo."
Sayo answered in kind with a sharp glare and a not so light punch to Leyasu's arm.
Grinning while massaging his now sore arm he looked at Tatsumi again.
"But that doesn't answer why only us two should head back, wouldn't it be safer going as a group?"
Tatsumi took a second to think.
"Look, I know you both are strong, but I can move both quieter and faster if I'm alone. And besides, I'm way better at keeping myself hidden than both of you are put together."
Leyasu looked at Tatsumi dumbfounded
"That is probably the most shit excuse I have heard in a while."
Tatsumi only shrugged in response
"You know what? fine, I'll let you be the hero this one time, but i'm getting the prime cut."
"Deal" Tatsumi answered as they shook hands
"Both of you are impossible" Sayo sighed
The boys only answered with ear wide smiles and a small glint in their eyes.
Leyasu let go of the handshake and put both his hands behind his head.
"Alright we'll head on back then. Don't forget, prime cut." Leyasu said with a grin
"Yeah yeah, I know." Tatsumi answered
Sayo walked up to Tatsumi and placed a gentle hand on his chest
"Tatsumi... be careful alright."
"No promises" he said matter of factly
Sayo only gave him a quick flick to the forehead with a slight scowl before joining Leyasu and heading back.
Turning around again Tatsumi started to follow the tracks.
Deeper and deeper into the forest he went. The darkness getting thicker and thicker and the snow blowing harder and harder. With only the ever increasing bloody snow carving his path for
After what Tatsumi deemed to be half an hour he pushed forward into a clearing and could finally see it, the big momma moose. Dead and half eaten on the snowy ground.
"So the wolves got to her first then, but why only eat half of it and where is the other one?" he whispered to himself
Looking at the carcass he could see the bite and claw marks that came from a pack of wolves, but he also noticed another. An icy claw mark too big.
"Hopefully that came from something edible."
Looking around he found another blood trail and started following it out of the clearing and into the forest again.
Trudging through the ever increasing amount of snow, Tatsumi came upon his next lead, two wolves torn into pieces, intestines and blood spilling into the deep red snow.
"Guess they weren't the only ones hunting. Looks like they weren't eaten though, whatever was after them didn't do so for food, it did it for sport."
A tree falling in the distance caught Tatsumi's attention. He quickly crouched down and stared into that direction. Waiting with the only sound being the wind blowing and his own heartbeat.
Mere seconds passed until he could hear another tree falling down, closer this time. His heartbeat spiked as he quickly went and unsheathed the shortsword on his back. seconds felt like hours as he waited for the unkown beast to leap at him from the shadows at any moment.
What felt like an eternity later another tree fell down, incredibly close this time. He gripped the leather of his sword as hard as he could in anticipation and a second later he could see it creeping forward from the trees.
The form of an enormous bear filled his vision. It was atleast three times taller than Tatsumi was, with an enormous maw that could take his torso off in one bite. Its claws were made from pure blue ice and its fur as white as the snow.
Gripping his sword tightly with both hands he put it between himself and the beast.
'To think it would be a danger beast, hopefully it isn't too highly ranked. Can never tell with these things.' he thought to himself.
The beast stared at him and gave a loud snarl before rushing forward.
Tatsumi pushed off of the snow as hard as he could, swinging his shortsword diagonally at the beasts head. The sword was caught between its massive teeth as it bit down on it and swung its arm right at Tatsumi.
Letting go of his sword he dodged the arm by rolling backwards. As the arm went right past him he sprang forward and jumped right off of it towards the beasts head once again. Grabbing his sword and pulling it free he thrusted it forward as the bear went for another swipe with his arm.
The blade connected with its eye but the arm quickly knocked Tatsumi away. Flying through the air and only stopping when he hit a tree Tatsumi was down on all fours grasping for air. He could feel a sharp pain in his back and a hot burning sensation on his chest. Looking down he could see three claw marks horizontally over his chest, pale and bleeding.
'Must have gotten hit by the back of its claws when he knocked me away. Looks like frostbite, should probably avoid those in the future' he thought
Looking up he could see the bear howling in pain holding its now bleeding eye socket. Tatsumi wouldn't let this chance go by as he sprung up once more and rushed the bear.
'It should be blind from its left side so lets stick to that'
Keeping to his own advice he ran towards its left side going unnoticed by the beast. Plunging his sword into the beasts side he expected it to go through but managed only a small cut.
The bear, enraged by this started thrashing around, knocking trees down left and right. In its fury it did not notice Tatsumi climbing up its back and steadily heading towards its head.
'The fur on its body is too thick to get through but lets see about the head' Tatsumi thought to himself as he stood on the bears neck and started cutting its scalp.
Tatsumi swung just as furiously as the beast did on nearby trees and did some damage to the skin of the scalp. Long deep cuts could be seen as red patterns on top of its head but no slash had gone through its skull yet.
'The skull is too thick I have to break it with something else!' he thought frantically before the bear finally got its claws in his legs and flung him once more.
Tatsumi quickly stood up while the bear was howling in pain but his hand felt light.
'My sword!' he panicked
Left with nothing but his own fists the direness of his situation started setting in. He was no longer in front of just another beast, now he saw death itself
"I'm dying to this beast aren't I? And after i tried to act all cool in front of Sayo and Leyasu saying I don't need any help. humph, its funny really."
Laughter emerged from Tatsumis lips but the beast had started moving once more. Tatsumi noticing this started rushing the bear himself all the while screaming at the top of his lungs.
The beast swung from its right but Tatsumi slid underneath. As the beast reached down to try and bite him Tatsumi punched the bear as hard as he could on the nose, stunning the bear for just a second.
A second was all Tatsumi needed as he quickly jumped up on the beasts back and headed for its skull once more.
The bear tried to shake Tatsumi off but he held on for dear life and finally made it to his skull once more. Peeling away the skin he had previously slashed, it revealed the skull of the beast.
Tatsumi swung at it as a blacksmith would an anvil. Crack after crack appeared until finally with a final overhead strike, the skull broke open and Tatsumi plunged his hands into its revealed brain. Handful after handful of flesh was ripped out until it finally stopped.
Tataumi breathed a heavy sigh and laid on his back. A large smile could be seen on his face.
"After this I think I deserve the prime cut." Tatsumi said with bated breath
He jumped down from the bear and looked back at it.
"Now how the hell am I supposed to get this home?"