A Lioness in Human Skin

Chapter 2

It was the love for her father that drove her. She knew she wasn't a lion, she learned that long ago. But, that did not stop her from trying. She would be a lion, to make her father proud.

Even with her resolve, she could not help but wonder why her human's abandoned her. Was she a bad human? In all her years of life, her father refused human contact. Now, since she was an adult, she had the power to see. To know. He even approved of it.

But what if she didn't want to know? She shivered, even if the sand was warm on her feet. They've traveled far in the past two days. It seemed that human's liked to stay away. Not long ago, her father went to scout ahead.

"Heeee, look it's the human-lion, heee." She flinched, her eyes finding the source of the voice. Hyenas. Four of them, all of them walking in a pack formation. They split in two, then started circling her. She looked around, her father seemed to have gone ahead. She sighed. Hyenas were always such a bother. Mumbling, she gripped her claws tighter. "What you say, huuuuuman?" The hyena's laughed, making her grumble. Such... Sad little things. She had to fight off lots. They thought since she was human, she was weak.

A small smile lifted her lips. "You will regret this, you know." She tilted her head, listening. There was a strange humming sound coming from a distance. It was far, so it couldn't be a hassle. By the sounds of it, her father was already making his way back as well. As for the hyena's, there seemed to be no others hiding. Her hearing was fine as his, her father would often say. She smiled at the thought, she trained her body hard to be more lion-like. The hyena's must have taken it as a mock, because their laughing gre louder.

"Heeeee!" One jumped at her. She dodged it, then quickly raked her claws across its hunch. It yelped in pain, making the other hyena's yowl. This time two attacked her, while the other one circled. The injured one watched, his eyes glowing in fury. One latched on to her mane, making her hiss in fury. She gripped it by the neck as the other one flew past her. An expert dodge, she would say so herself.

"No mercy..." Its eyes widened as she dug her claws into its neck. Its legs lashed out, wiggling to escape. Blood pooled down her hand, dripping off her wrist. Soon, its struggles stopped. Growling, she pushed it away. Good for it. Her mane was her pride. It was proof she was a lion. It was her sign she was strong.

BOOM!

She yelped and cowered down, as did the remaining hyenas. The noise was unnatural, and painful. The ringing in her ears made her whimper, and claw at them. Such monstrosity! She turned to look at the source, her eyes flaring in anger. How dare they ruin her ears?!

Hinata stopped dead, her body frozen.

It was a human. Behind the human, was a contraption she never seen before. It was emitting a horrible stench. Under slightly more inspection, it had animals in steel boxes. Dead ones, and some living. Most of them were hurt. Her nose wrinkled in disgust. A human hunter, it seemed.

So this, was a human. The stick in his hands smoked, and his clothing was odd. He wore no skins, instead an odd white gown. It fit to his shape, much unlike the skins of her kills.

The human took a step toward her, she growled and backed away on all fours. One of her hands remained on her ears, trying to sooth the ringing. The human's lips moved, making random sounds. Again, it moved closer.

What did she do?

This was her chance to see a human up close. Or, should she run? Her father always taught her to run, but she wanted to see the human. The conflict made her hesitate.

The human raised the smoking stick to his face. She watched carefully as he pointed it to her left. She looked over.

It was her father. He was about two yards away, running toward them fast.

No.

"RA!" She launched herself at the man, aiming herself more at the gun. Whatever the smoking stick was, she would not allow it to hurt her father! The human's eyes widened, the smoking stick made another loud boom as she tackled the man.

It hurt. And it was warm. Below her was the human. His dark eyes were wide; she was currently crouched on top him with her claws on his shoulders. Duly, she noted his skin was pale like hers, with no fur. His hair was dark, but bluer than hers. Hers was a deep purple. His face was completely different than hers, even a different shape. Were all human's different?

Why did it hurt so much? She looked down. Blood. The crimson liquid was running down her side and dripping onto the human.

She smiled grimly. The smoking stick was a weapon... She knew it. Growling, she dug her claws in his shoulders. Blood pooled were her claws dug into his skin. She could kill him, before she died. But, it was her first human, and her strength was draining fast. Her father would take revenge, if anything. She fell limp onto the human, her blood loss not letting her crouch on him any longer.

"Hinata!" She felt her father grip the cuff of her mane and pull back. She whimpered as he dragged her backwards.

Then he dropped her, and crouched ontop her. Weaker and weaker, her mind faded. Stars danced in her vision, along with her father's face. He was directly ontop her, protecting her. Even with her faded mind she watched as her father's muzzle rippled. His eyes spoke words among words. Dizzy, she looked to the human as well. Both of them were staring at each other. Words were being exchanged, but not with their voices. They couldn't talk anyway. The man did not know lion; nor did her father know human.

She was so weak, it was hard to stay awake. Her mind was groggy, and her limbs numb.

Would she die?

At least she met a human.

Her father's mane tickled her nose. It made her smiled in content. At least she would die happy. "I... Love you, dad..." With the last of her strength, she reached up and wrapped her arms around her father's neck. Her fingers were too weak to dig into his mane, sadly.

But, she was happy.

She fell back onto the ground. Then she let the dark take her.