Shadow (book 3)

Zee

Shadow's P.O.V

My stomach howls in hunger as I wander through the trees, uh I shouldn't have eaten that last bean filled bun. I haven't eaten anything for almost two days now, I had tried to catch a rabbit, but a hawk got it first. That had been the first rabbit, or catchable animal, I had seen all day. I don't even know how I'd cook it, mother always told me to not eat raw meat.
I sigh and the shadow creature, which I had nicknamed Kuro, blinks it's glowing eyes at me. Kuro shifts before appearing a few feet away on top of something that was poking out of a bush, a pack. I quickly look around me for whoever left it, but saw no one, so I squat down and start searching through it.
"What do you think you're doing?" I slowly turn around, almost expecting the bun guy to be staring down at me, only to see a woman standing with a bow and arrow on her back and two rabbits hanging in her hand. She had long brown hair that hung loosely in a braid and she hand a scowl on her face, yet her eyes were soft, like mother's.
"I asked you a question, kid." She snapped me from my thoughts as she grabs her pack from near me and sits down.
"Nothing." I mumble feeling too lazy to leave, even though she could probably kill me I felt calm, her aura was just so calm and inviting. In the corner of my eye I see Kuro peek up from the ground, Kuro seems to always be so curious in this form.
"So, kid, you hungry?" She asks me, yet it didn't sound like a question, it sounded like she knew I was. Before I could respond with a nod my stomach growls loudly.
"You know, you're lucky it was me you were going to steal from. If it wasn't me who knows if you would still be alive." She says as she starts a fire. I stay quiet, just watching her start the fire and then I continue to watch as she guts the rabbits. I watch closely trying to memorize what she's doing for the future.
"Why are your eyes two different colors?" I ask thinking about how her left eyes is green, yet her right eye is a gold.
"Why do you have red eyes?" She asks back not looking up from what she was doing.
With a huff of annoyance I respond, "because I was born with them, mother said I have her eyes."
She places the meat onto the fire and looks at me, "I was born with eyes like this, I got mine from my grandfather."
"Why didn't you get it from your dad or mom?" I ask curious.
She shrugs, "it skipped my mom." We sit in silence until the meat is finished cooking.
Handing me a stick with the smaller rabbit on it she pulls out a wooden whistle and gives it a short hoot, "Taka, food!" She places a piece of meat next to her and my mouth slowly opens in surprise as I watch a hawk fly down from the trees.
"You have a hawk!?" My eyes shimmer. The hawk tilts its head at me with the meat in its beak, before looking at her, it's clearly questioning her why I'm here...
"So kid, what your name?" She asks, ignoring my outburst.
I hesitate for a minute before responding, "it's, Shadow." She tears of more meat off with her teeth and starts chewing. Her eyes focus onto something next to me, my eyes follow and I spot Kuro peeking up.
"Shadow huh? And who is your shadow friend that has been spying on us?" She asks after, I look back at her.
"You noticed Kuro?" I put my hand down next to Kuro and Kuro crawls on.
"It's glowing eyes kind of give him away, Black huh?" She says referring to what Kuro means, black.
"What's your name?" I question. Kuro flicked with the light of the fire.
"The name is Zee, Z-E-E, and as you know, this is Taka." She pets Taka's head causing him to lean against it, "seems like both of us are not very good at naming things, huh?" She lets out a laugh, thinking about how she named her hawk Taka, which means hawk.
"Seems so." A smile finds its way on my lips, not only is her aura calming, but her happiness seems to be contagious too. I finish off the last of my rabbit and lay down to look at the stars that have appeared in the sky.
"So kid," I look over to her, "how about I teach ya somethings, so ya don't end up animal ." She said as a statement, like she wasn't going to take no for an answer.