Jungle fever

Chapter 21

Daiki was cowering behind his tent, body ready to dash into the jungle when he got the sign of his brother who currently walked over to their father. He peered around the corner, watching his mother and Satsuki moving around a group of people to go and wash the dishes they used for dinner. This danger to be discovered was currently averted. Again he looked over at Tetsuya and hoped that the plan of his brother would work out.

The light-blue haired male was holding an earthen jug with a braided basket around it. Inside the jug was the most delicious fruit wine made by their mother. Anyone would mean that Tetsuya wanted to entertain his father or that Hiruna had sent him to smooth the waves. But underneath the jug in the basket, laid the most venomous snake in the whole jungle, or so everyone would think.

Earlier, when his brother had opened the twitching pouch and Daiki became aware of what was in there he almost screeched. Only the fast reaction of Tetsuya had saved them both from being discovered, when he pressed his small hand against Daiki's mouth. "Be quiet! Those aren't coral snakes, look." And without further delay, he put his hand into the bag and pulled a few of the red-black-white patterned serpents out. "They bite, which is still a bit painful but they aren't venomous. Here hold one!"

Daiki still felt the feeling of the snake's skin against his palm and shuddered. Sometimes his older brother was a little devil and this time his mind had thought out a brilliant plan. It was dark and the men were already exhausted from building up the camp earlier in the day. No one would reject the offer of a good drop of wine and the blazing fire in the middle threw shadows over the ground, which would do the rest. All he now had to do was to wait for the right moment.

Again he peered around the corner of his tent, but this time his midnight-blue eyes met whitish ones. He blinked, one-, two times, and landed on his arse. "Mom ... shit!" Everything was over. He got caught in the very last moment. Shock and anger were cutting through his guts giving him a nauseous feeling. Why was she even here? Shouldn't she be washing dishes with Satsuki? Some deity had a grudge against him, he was almost sure of it.

"You really should develop a better speech pattern." Hiruna smiled at her youngest and patted his head. Leaning down, she came close to his ear. "Take the left road down the hill. Walk through the river until you see a big mossy stone to your right. Then go straight east. I hope you find him soon." She kissed his forehead, put a small package in his hand, and stood up to walk back to the fire in the middle of the camp. And then hell broke loose.

Daiki heard Satsuki scream and startled shouts from the others. That was his cue. He still was baffled that his mother also helped him out, but bolted from his position right into the thick underwood of the jungle. The screaming quickly became quieter and when he reached his weapons, which Tetsuya had concealed between a crack in a stone earlier that day, his father's angry voice was the last thing he heard. He didn't look back, but felt somehow quite upset that he had to vanish like that and leave his brother to the wrath of their father. Now it was done anyway and only his death could come between him and the red-haired Kagami's guy.

꧁✿.｡.:* ☆:**:..:**:.☆*.:｡.✿꧂

Around five hours later, Daiki finally sat down before a small fire and rested. He had reached the river after an hour and filled his waterskin. Afterward, he had waded into the cold water and let himself be dragged away by the current. This way he was able to save his strength. His muscles had grown stiff from the coldness, but they soon warmed up again when he crawled to the shore after 45 minutes and could walk again. He rounded the mossy stone, his mother mentioned to him, and looked up to the stars to identify in which cardinal direction he needed to go from here.