Jungle fever

Chapter 23

"Tatsuya, how much longer will it take us to get there?" Masako walked before the black-haired male, who had a beauty spot under his right eye and answered her in a soft voice. "From here it's only around a day now, I guess." He looked at the surroundings and felt kind of nostalgic when he noticed the firefly cave, where Taiga, he and their friends played when they were younger.

"Hmph, fine. I'm a bit curious about how Taiga has grown. But I still don't really understand why Raion suddenly had the idea that I should marry his son. Isn't he too young for me?" She sighed and looked at her little girl who was sitting on the ox, which was guided through the underwood by Tatsuya. "Will it be alright?"

"Masako-san, you think too much. I think Taiga will like Ako-chan. He is loud and hot-headed but also very caring, you will see." He smiled at her as she shrugged, knowing that she only wanted the best for her daughter.

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"How much longer do we need to drag on that scheme? Why do I even need to pretend that I search for that idiot in the first place?" Shintarou glared at the light-blue haired male by his side and fiddled with the hawk feather he was holding in his hand.

"Shintorin, be glad that our father didn't accuse you for helping him escape. It was enough that Tetsu-kun got a black eye from him." Satsuki tried to press a cold, wet clothes to the small man walking between them.

"Satsuki-chan, it's fine. Thank you." Tetsuya pulled the clothes from her hand and held it over his beautiful black-purple-blue eye. "Look, look what I found!" Atsushi was a bit further ahead of them and waved with his hand at them to hurry up.

Upon reaching him with quizzical looks he squatted down and pulled some green fruits from the bush in front of him. "Gooseberries. Hm, Sachin we still have some of those sugarcanes, right? I think puree would be good." He popped a handful of fruits into his mouth and chewed happily.

A vein pulsed at Shintarou's temple, "I don't have time to watch this glutton grazing the whole jungle. I'm going back." He spun on his heels and walked with long strides back to the camp. "Shintorin, don't forget to crinkle some branches!" Surely the chieftain had sent them out to find his disobedient youngest son, but since all four of them were involved in Daiki's getaway they now laid wrong tracks to confuse the others who also were forced to look for him.

"I will go down to the river. Atsushi-kun, please go to the rock debris where you last time found the blueberries and make a bit of a mess. Satsuki-chan, could you please walk up to the north? I think it's best if we lay false tracks around the whole village." He looked after the retreating back of the greenette who was walking a huge beeline to the west. Showing a little smile, he knew they could count on Shintarou to sweep away evidence in which direction Daiki had gone.

"Understood. Till later then, Tetsu-kun." The pink-haired girl bounced away and the gobbling sounds of Atsushi grew quieter as he walked deeper into the woods.

Tetsuya moved fast. He wanted to be the first one to arrive at the river since he knew how good their trackers were and that was exactly the spot where Daiki had gone.

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Satsuki walked around a small tree and broke some branches slightly, then she trampled the ground a bit more before she walked further. Once in a while, she would let her hands sweep over leaves kinking them and run a short path in almost every direction in sight. It was fun but also exhausting. The sweltering heat got to her and her long pink hair which she wore open today, already stuck on her sweaty back.