Subject to Study (Naga!Brothers x Reader)

Chapter 43

 Halfway down the mountain slope, Choro disappeared from escorting me down. I had guessed that he was going to get into a better position to react to whoever it was that was heading right to the island. Crossing from the grassy terrain into the rocky biome, I caught myself from tripping a few times, cursing under my breath before I felt a pair of hands grab at my wrists to hold me up from falling again. Quickly looking up to meet Ichi's dark eyes, I let out a sigh of relief.

"Ichi, where was the place you were talking about?" His hands shifted their grip before leading me towards a cliff flush against the ocean.

"It's where I stayed before Jyushi said that you were nice to him," His tongue rapidly slipped in and out of his mouth while he talked, his eyes darting behind us, "Oso and Todo say that the helicopter hasn't changed its course, heading right for the clearing that we landed at."

"Then...they've been here before," My heart sank into my stomach as Ichi continued to tug at my arm, jerking me around rocks and ducking behind boulders before showing a cave that could easily be overlooked. The entrance appeared to be tucked underneath a fallen boulder, Ichi showing the entrance by squeezing through the gap near the bottom. I lowered myself to my knees and had to crawl on my belly to get in, panting in the darkness before holding my breath to slow down my nervous heartbeat.

"Kara wants me to stay with you, to make sure that you're notified of what's going on and to ensure that you're safe."

"If you want to stay with me, you're welcome to..." I found Ichi's hand in the partial darkness, squeezing it for my own comfort before pressing our sides together, "Tell them that I'm hiding and safe."

"Already done," Ichi's voice grew quieter as his tail loosely curled around my other side, encompassing me in a partial hug.

----

Oso lightly hissed as he watched the helicopter hover above the clearing, the black-and-red paint offending him. The low tree branches and high bushes were enough to hide him from sight in spite of the high winds from the spinning thing above the helicopter. He noted that it was much smaller than the one that he and his brothers had been stolen in, suddenly unsure if this helicopter was meant to steal them away from the island again. His entire body stilled as the helicopter landed, watching carefully as the sides of the flying contraption opened to reveal three humans. They stepped out and kept low as the rotating thing started to slow down.

"Everyone has their orders?" A male human asked loudly over the sounds of the helicopter, his clothing looking very similar to the kind that Oso saw the hunters in.

"Yeah," A female called out while unfolding a large piece of paper, "Find the rare creatures, mark where they are, and report back."

"Should be an easy job," Another male called out as the noise from the helicopter finally died, "We'll be out of here before sunset and back in Australia before midnight."

'Hunters. Don't let them leave,' Oso quickly sent to his brothers, knowing that Todo would move further away and let Choro or Kara move in to take his place. They had wanted one of the brothers here without venom just in case the landing humans were innocent, but humanity always seemed to prove Oso's point...except for (y/n).

'In position,' Kara's scent was strong, carrying some of the anger that he held from being caught in the ambush the first time. Oso let his forked tongue hang out in the air longer than usual, picking up the fainter scents of Jyushi, Ichi, and (y/n) while detecting that they were far enough away that (y/n) wouldn't see what was about to happen. He knew that she would rather not have anyone die, but these humans were trespassing onto his island and he wasn't going to stand for any more visitors that she never vouched for.