Archer & The Dragon | Countryhumans

Animals

"Do you see that?" 

"That brown buck over there? Yeah..." China and Japan were hiding behind a piled-up rock, and luck has smiled upon them; they spotted a family of rabbits. The one that stood out the most was the juicy hare hopping around. "Check this out," Japan fixes her mask, a single knife tightly grasped in her hand. 

She jumps up in the air alerting the rabbits to scurry away. 

Due to her higher position, she tosses her knife straight through the biggest one's neck. "Bullseye, " she says triumphantly. She sticks the landing, and China is impressed and compliments her work: "That was amazing. You sure handled this on your own. Have you done this before?"

"Mm, you could say that. I don't think one would be enough though, we should probably get another one," Japan picked up the dead creature by its long ears, it was bleeding a lot of blood, she twisted and pulled her knife out. China winces from that grizzly display, some part of him was saddened to see this cute bunny's life exterminated, but we all got to eat. Survival of the fittest is the key.

"Since I got this one, would you like to kill our next meat? This could be a good chance for you to improve your Kunai throwing ability." On one hand, he doesn't want bloodshed, but on the other hand, he wants to see his newly learned technique pay off, "Hell yeah!"

"Okay, some of them just escaped to their hidey-hole, so we'll need to find a new spot to initiate. Come on!" Together, they go further up the hill. Perhaps they can ravage more rabbits from the upper ground. Fortunately, there was a tribe of rabbits scurrying about below. "Bingo. Now's your chance. Use the knife I gave you..." Japan nudges his elbow, nods his head, and takes out a kunai from his pocket. 

"Take a deep breath and concentrate. Remember... it's okay to make mistakes." Japan said that last one so silently that it might have gotten whisked by the wind before it could reach China's ear. China's eyes locked on at least one of the clumps of rodents, and he wriggled his arm above his head. His kunai was firmly held, and with one swift swat, he watched his projectile zoom straight and true.

The edge of his knife meets the inside of a rabbit, "Good going kid, nice shot!" Japan proud of her teaching pats him on his back. China was shocked, he couldn't believe he had done it, his heart was racing from adrenaline. His success was overshadowing his guilt for slaying the poor creature. "Thanks... I won't lie, my hands are shaking a bit..."

"Oh yeah, I suppose you don't usually do this sort of stuff, sorry..." Japan forgot that she was still talking to a prince of a dynasty... well, former royal that is. "It is fine, I had fun!"

Japan goes to his slaughtered animal and keeps it along with its fellow dead. "I think you helped me enough, I'll tell Mongolia how useful you've been," that's one way to show gratitude, "I know you're trying to get on his good side, you should give it time, he'll warm up to you eventually!" Her attempt to cheer him up made him scoff in return, "You'd think knowing someone for your entire life would improve your relationship, sadly it doesn't imply for him. Does he act the same way when you first met him?"

"Our first encounter was a crazy one, but after I joined his clique, he was fairly kind to me."

"Then that does it, he hates me..." China kicks a pebble to let his frustration out. Japan tilts her head, "Why do you need his approval so much anyway? You seem way more fond of him than you are of your father..."

"He's... he's the last piece for me to overthrow him, I need his help if we are able to stop his tyranny... An invasion is at foot, I fear he's going to let the incursion run rampage over his land. I'll do whatever it takes to defend my people. His first line of defense was Joseon... but... now that he's gone, the Japanese are advancing towards this land, we have to be ready."