Contract

Chapter 4

Tsuna fell back, his body shaking, and his voice had gone silent soon after screaming. He let out little whimpers, eyes wide in fear, and his fingers shook as he gripped into his bag. Above his head was some sort of dark creature that looked suspiciously like a tiger wrapped in black with glowing brown markings wrapped around the beast. Those markings alerted him that this Meraviglian was an earth-type fighter and a malicious looking one, too. Two glowing yellow eyes stared right back at him, a growl like a thunderous rumble emitted from the beast and Tsuna flinched upon hearing it.

He swallowed at the sight and kept as still as possible, not wanting to startle the creature into doing something he definitely didn't want. The beast growled again, stepping over the tree branches despite its weight, and continued to eye the brunet below. Its tail flicked behind it and the dark fur shifted in the wind when it blew by, creating some sort of sound in the silence as the two stared at each other.

Further tightening his grasp on his bag, Tsuna carefully took a step back and then another. Nothing happened, but he knew better than to relax at that. Slowly, the creature moved in return, jumping down to the ground without making a sound, and stepped forward as if taunting its prey. Its claws dug into the ground, creating a mark within the dirt, and leaving an imprint behind as it stepped forward again.

They stared at each other, wondering who would move first, but neither did. Tsuna remained where he was at, finding himself slowly being closed in by the surrounding trees. The beast's breath was strong and he prevented himself from gagging at the terrible stench that smelled like rotten flesh, doubting that emptying his stomach contents in front of the creature would be good idea. He felt sick to his stomach and his fingers twitched, trying to control himself. Everything in his body told him to run, to get out, but where to? This beast seemed to be faster than him and perhaps even smarter, too.

Tsuna whimpered as the beast began to close in on him, pressing his body against a tree, and watched as that dark mist seemed to flood the ground, covering the fallen leaves and twigs. He could barely see his feet underneath. 'Am I going to die here?' He thought to himself as he saw those large white teeth began to appear, little bits of flesh and blood still visible. A droplet of red slid down a tooth, leaving behind a crimson trail, and fell to the ground, disappearing into the mist. He squeaked at the sight and swallowed, closing his eyes for a moment to get away from the sight.

By the time he opened them, he wished he hadn't. Those teeth were just inches away from his face and this time he screamed in fear, just narrowly missing those jaws from coming down and tearing his face in half. Thoughts of wishing he could be one with the tree he was trapped against echoed in his frenzied mind, but knew that that wouldn't be happening anytime soon and dodged again when the beast tried to bite him once more. There was a sound from the tiger like it was laughing in amusement, toying with its prey before feasting.

Then, there was another shift in the air, Tsuna shivering at it as a coldness swept into the area. A screech sounded through the area, like a large bird, and a black mass slammed into the beast, shoving it away from the brunet and tossing it to the side. A strong gust of wind forced Tsuna to hold onto the tree bark to prevent himself from being blown away at the force, almost losing his grip on his bag in the process. He closed his eyes, but could still hear what was going on. Movement, wings flapping wildly, and growls echoed within the dark forest. He listened to everything intently.

The moment he got his bearings together, he turned around to watch a massive black bird-like creature strike the tiger with its claws. Flesh was torn off and blood splattered across the trees, those droplets dripping down. There was a scream and the tiger tried to strike back, but missed as the bird flew off. Tsuna jumped behind a tree, observing the standoff between the two, not wanting to catch either of their attention in case both of them decided he was better served as a meal.