Kitsune

A night in the Trees

  As we ran through the forest I could feel something that I hadn't in a long, long time. I wasn't quite sure what that feeling was but I could sense that it was a good thing. I watched as Sasori climbed the branches, laughing carelessly, like nothing would ever be wrong with the world. It was amazing how carefree he seemed, but under that smile I could see something. I couldn't quite depict what it was, so I shrugged it off, believing that it was nothing more than my mind playing tricks on me. "Kanji, you coming?" I heard Sasori call. "Yeah, I'm coming." I called back.

He stopped, waiting for me to catch up to him. "What happened to you being fast?" Sasori asked curiously. Once I caught up to him I said "I was thinking about something. I tend to be slow when I am thinking." He nodded his head in understanding "yeah, okay. I understand that. I tend to get lost in thought quite a lot too. No big deal." I looked up to the sky, seeing that the sun was starting to set and I became worried. "We better hurry and find somewhere to stop. Hunters will be coming out soon." Sasori followed my gazed to the sky, seeing the glowing orb of fire slowly sink into the endless horizon of the now lavender sky. "You're right, we better find somewhere to hide for tonight." He looked around thinking, till we came upon a large tree. "Hey." I said "Why don't we hide in the trees? Hunters don't look for us in the trees, so we would be safe there." He looked up at the tree then back at me, pondering my idea. "You know, that might just work! But we should climb high just to be safe." He replied excitedly.

As we started climbing the trees, I could hear the owls give the warning signal that hunters were coming. I looked back towards the sky, seeing that the top of the sun was barely visible. Sasori looked back at me, seeing I had stopped and was looking at the sky. He looked towards the ground, hearing distant footsteps along with the crunching of leafs under heavy foot step. Hearing this all too familiar noise, he quickly came towards me, and quickly pushed me to start moving a little more up the tree and whispered "Come on Kanji! We don't have much time. I can hear them coming this way." His voice broke my thoughts and I once again started to climb up the tree.

The sun was completely gone by the time we reached a high branch that we could both fit on. I climbed a little farther away from the trunk to make room for Sasori. As I laid down on the branch, I could feel Sasori's gaze on me. "What's the matter Sasori?" I asked. "Nothing it's just...." he trailed off, like he was remembering something, then continued "Why did you freeze half way up? It was like you were scared before the sun was even down." I looked at the moon, it's true. "I was scared. The second week of being on my own, I found out about hunters. How they go around at night, killing the creatures of the forest. I wasn't as afraid of them at the time but then, I experienced having to run away from them." I said. Then Sasori looked at me seriously "tell me what happened." He said, so I did.

I was about 4 miles away from the clearing of home, the sun was about to set, and I was looking for somewhere to sleep. It was dark and I still hadn't found somewhere to sleep when suddenly I heard the crunching of leafs. The footsteps were heavy, heavier than a moose's, and heavier than I had ever heard. I could hear the crunching come closer to me 'crunch, crunch, crunch', remember the stories I heard about the hunters, and I became scared. The footsteps got closer and closer 'Crunch, Crunch, Crunch', my fear was growing, but I couldn't move, what could I do? I was scared, the noise was louder now 'CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH'. Then the footsteps stopped, and in front of me was a being that stood on its back legs like a monkey. My ears must have gone up to maybe his waste, he wore dark clothing that covered his torso, legs and face. In his hand was a rifle, he looked right at me. I swear he could see my fear and soul. His eyes seemed to want to devour me, I was frozen. I didn't know what to do. 

The next thing I know, he is pointing his rifle at me and 'BANG!' it goes off. But, it missed I looked up wondering how he could have missed me. I watched as he started to reload the gun, and as soon as the thought hit me that he was going to try and shoot me again, I ran. I jumped over bolders and logs, trying my best not to fall or trip over anyting 'BANG!'. I turned my head as I ran, to see how far behid me he was, he was on my tail 'Bang!'. I could feel my adrenaline running through my veins as I ran. I could hear him trying to hit me, 'BANG!'. Finally, I came up to a very low hanging branch, I quickly ducked my head so I wouldnt hit it, and luckily, the hunter didnt see the branch and ran right into it. I continued to run, so that I might lose him, coming up to a tree. Once I reached the base of the tree, I climbed into the branches. Once I was hidden, the hunter came running past, looked around, then kept going. I stayed there intill mid afternoon the next day.

"Wow." Sasori said almost speachless "How did he miss you! Damn you got lucky you didnt get shot!" I just shook my head and Sasori continued to speak "Well, if its any consilation to you. If we ever get chased by a hunter, I'll make sure you're safe before myself. That I promise!" I looked up at him "Are you being serious?" I asked. "Yep! From now on, I want to make sure you're safe." He said proudly wearing a goofy grin, showing his chiped front tooth. All I could do is smile as I got a little closer to him in the tree branch. "Thank you, Sasori." I said. "Dont worry about it Kanji." he said "Sleep well" and that was the last thing I heard before I fell asleep.