[IC] Hunted - Elorwin & ladyonyx04

[Elorwin]

Kitsuna watched him with bright blue eyes as he tipped her off his back and onto the ground at his paws. She saw a look cross in his face, he was inherently a alpha and it was in his nature to not allow the balance of power to shift away from him, couple that with the fact that a power hungry demon lived inside him and it was no surprise really that he hated even the hint of being dominated. However Kitsuna was not Ivy and it was not in her nature to be an omega and having been an only pup she had never had a normal pack structure, in fact she had been compared to most she had been coddled by her parents. So she was used to getting her own way and it was not going to change now.

Laughing at him from the ground she quickly gathered her paws beneath her and without any powers she sprung at Ren. Knocking him over they fell head over tails down a gently slope. Squeals of delight coming from Kitsuna they continued to roll, their coats the perfect yin-yang of their opposite. Finally they came to a breathless halt; Kitsuna had ended up lying on her back on the ground, neck craned to gaze up at Ren above her, a warm smile on her face. Gently reaching up a paw she touched his cheek, eye gleaming in the darkness like stars.

“You don’t have to be so serious all the time you know.” She crooned sweetly at him.

[ladyonyx04]

Ren hadn't been expecting her pouncing on him, but while they tumbled down a hill and her laughter echoed through the night until they finally stopped and she touched his muzzle.
"You don't have to be serious all the time you know." She said informatively and with a croon in her voice. He studies Kitsuna a slight smile on his muzzle.

"The day I stop being completely serious the sun will be shining...in the middle of the night." He teases softly. "I was raised in strained times and I had to be a serious one in order to have a plan of getting the many pups and young ones out of that hell. Its forced me to be this way. Perhaps though you can teach me to be a more lineant."

[Elorwin]

Kitsuna smiled in time with Ren, glad she had been able to pull the elusive smile from him, it was something she loved to see, him actually smiling. She hadn’t known Ren very long but he was already so precious to her, no one since her parents had stuck around her so long and they had not cared for her, not like this strange, grizzled wolf had. She laughed melodically as Ren confirmed it would take an unnatural phenomenon for him to unwind.

For a moment or two she watched him with serious eyes as he once again mentioned his imprisonment and his duty to the young pups that he had been responsible in protecting, although no one had asked him to. The last line of his sentence caught her off guard and she grinned very mischievously. Placing a gentle paw on his cheek she mussed his fur playfully as she gazed at him, eyes sparkling in the moonlight. Then leaning her neck forward she gently licked his cheek where she had ruffled his fur.

“I can do that. But can you really let someone else take charge for more than two seconds!” Then reaching out her paws she placed them on his shoulders and pulled him down onto his side, next to herself in the cool grass. “So … teaching you are going to be hard. It would make things easier if I knew you could play.” Kitsuna laughed, her paw once again pawing at his face as if to tease him into a response, the small, playful growl humming deep in her chest.

[ladyonyx04]

"Oh dear. More than two seconds? That's already putting a strain on my shoulders." Ren said sounding completely serious. His eyes though were slightly dancing with merriment which he only found with her there by his side. He watched her a curious look replacing the teasing one he wore as she pawed at his face, one that asked, 'just what do you think you are doing?' He never played in his entire life. Being born in captivity, one couldn't learn to play as the air was so heavy with sadness and depression that one could cut it with a knife. Actually he thought he knew of a wolf that had done exactly that trying to break the heavy spirits of the others. Hadn't worked for long though.

"Never had a reason to." He admits when she said it would have been easier if he had known how to. It's not that he begrudged his fate. Someone had needed to rise to being the leader and no one else would have taken it. So he rose to be the wolf that those trapped inside could rely on and look up to. It had just felt like something he should do, be a good role for pups to follow. He scratched his ear shaking out his black and red coat letting the cool air of the afternoon hit his back.

[Elorwin]

Kitsuna sighed and just for a moment all the play left her, even her smile which was normally a permanent fixture had temporarily slipped. His past was clearly something he could never escape not even for a moment but she understood that he had lived with that torture for far longer than she had been in his life and in all honestly she had no hold over him. Yet he stayed with her out of some lingering sense of honour or affection, possibly he just saw her as another pup.

Laying herself down properly on the ground Kitsuna placed her head onto her paws and looked up at Ren who sat upright beside her. So she lay for a few minutes her thoughts buzzing while she gazed silently into the forest and back towards the human land. They stayed together, still as statues; the wind that ruffled their thick coats was the only movement in the clearing. One thought kept nagging in Kitsuna’s mind, one she had long been ignoring as she really didn’t wish to know the answer to it. However it seemed that the time had come when the question must be asked and the answer heard.

“Ren, why did you stay with me? From the beginning I mean. That night by the river, you were absolved of all responsibility to me having saved me and left a kill. Why did you choose to stay with me?” Although her body had not moved Kitsuna’s bright eyes found Ren’s as she waited for his reply.

[ladyonyx04]

Ren sensed the seriousness of the question. His brown eyes looked up at nothing letting his mind come up with the words that he would need to explain. "I never ever stop myself when others are in danger. I could sense it from your running that the dogs and the humans would have hurt you." He says thinking.
"Even if it was a waste of my time I always responded to those who needed help. And as I do I find myself caring more for that individual. For Ivy she is my sibling. I was an only child. The others that I was born with died within weeks. The only sort of play I saw was with the new born pups. I never participated. How could I? I had been cursed with this other part of myself since I was young and couldn't trust myself not to harm others. Yet I was still sought out. Why do I stay by you? Ask yourself a better question: would it have been possible for a stoic one such as myself to feel at ease with one such as you in normal circumstances?" He asked looking at her with the same seriousness.

[Elorwin]

Kitsuna looked over at with an eyebrow raised as he turned her question back on her and she could not help the almost bitter laugh that escaped her.

“Normal circumstances, normal indeed. To a wolf with a demon residing within his soul and a half breed wolf fox that can create fire at will I wonder if normal is a concept that can exist with us.” She sat for a moment or two looking intensely at him. “…So I take that to mean that under normal circumstances you wouldn’t have even associated with … with … such a pup. Well isn’t that a shame …” Kitsuna’s voice dropped to a whisper “and I was really starting to like you as well.” For a moment she was downcast and stared at her paws, ears flicked back so they were flat against her skull she let out a deep sigh that came from deep inside. Then she lifted a paw and licked it with a mechanical motion then running it over her muzzle and ears she shook herself, sending her white fur rippling.

Springing to her paws once again in one fluid motion Kitsuna ignited her body, the flame like patterns on her fur becoming real living flame. Looking right at him the grin was once again held on her face, blue eyes twinkling in the light of her flame.

“Well I suppose that actually doesn’t matter really. I have decided that I am sticking to you like glue and there isn’t anything you can do about it.” Trotting close to him Kitsuna reared up on her hind legs and draped herself over his back, licking him across the ear. “Anyway your mine now and I’m yours and there’s nothing you can do about that I’m afraid.”

[ladyonyx04]

Ren considered the possibility and shrugged a wolffish sort of shrug. "Regardless of normality, we met. And honestly, I'm glad for it." He admitted watching as Kitsuna set ablaze with fire and declared that she had meant what she said about sticking to him. And that she was his, as he was hers. What...interesting words.

Knowing that she wouldn't harm him, and wasn't that an odd trusting notion, he walked over to her and stared directly into her eyes. "Bold words. You would declare so knowing that without the control I have, you would have been gone?" He asked watching to make certain she knew what exactly she wanted. He had tons of baggage of being alone and only being able to trust so few. He would work on it, he just needed a lot of time to do so. It wouldn't just happen over night.

"You need to be absolutely and completely certain of your answer to me. For once I consider something mine, I won't be able to see you leave." He warned. He was an alpha and wouldn't take nor appreciate those that would attempt to fight his claim. They'd die, and she needed to be certain she could handle it.

[Elorwin]

Flames still rippling over her body with no more heat than a warm breeze Kitsuna slipped from Ren’s back and trotted round to his face, one ear sticking up the other down, intrigue written all over her face. She watched him intently as he spoke as she understood, could almost feel it in the air that something important and irreversible was occurring. Once he had spoken his piece Kitsuna considered for a moment as she knew her words were important. Her flames stilled and died as she sat on her haunches.

“Well without your intervention that night we met I believe I would not have survived the humans or their hounds. So the way I see it I am living on borrowed time anyway, every single day I see another sunrise is a blessing. At least dying with a friend is better than living, surviving all alone, I have had my fill of loneliness.” Her eyes seemed somewhat distant as she spoke, looking almost past Ren and into the past. Bringing herself back with a shake Kitsuna rose to her feet and started to pace before him.

“Now I will be clear as well, I recognise no alpha, never had, never will. My mind and body are my own and no one will ever have command over them except myself.” She paused for a moment, she had seen packs where alphas were tyrants and those under their rule had no other choice but to suffer their abuse. “But I do recognise you as my friend and that I value above all else. To you I promise not to leave except to the cold embrace of death.” Being dramatic was in her nature and it attended her with full force this evening. Kitsuna stopped in front of Ren and reached out to place a paw into the thick fur of his chest. “I repeat you are mine and I am yours. It appears that our fates are bound.” Her blue eyes met his and held for a moment keeping his gaze.

Then she turned from him and pranced, there was no other word for the bouncing motion away from him and then back again. Giving herself a hearty shake Kitsuna then stretching till her limbs protested at the movement she plonked herself down at his feet. Exhaustion had crept over while they spoke and after such an intense conversation, the likes of which she had never had she was just drained mentally and physically.

“Ren come and sleep now, I promise you I don’t indent to sneak off anywhere.”

[ladyonyx04]

Ren appreciated her frank honesty. There was a part of him of course that wanted to see just what would happen once she did accept him as an alpha just for curiosity....and something else's sake. He couldn't pinpoint exactly what else drove that thought, and so, put it aside to ponder over on another day when this was over.

He shook his body free of the thoughts and dirt (what little there was on his black fur) looking at the night sky. He felt oddly wide awake this night. But to sooth the little spit fire's worry, he would at least lie down, and relax. He was not even remotely surprised when she flung herself down at his paws, an amused glitter in his gaze. She would never cease to amuse him, he found.

The next action he did, took him a bit by surprise, as he gently put his muzzle against her cheek. "As you say, xotikó fotiá it has been a very long day." {fire sprite in Greek} He relaxed on the ground but his mind was racing. He hadn't ever spoken in a different tongue before. Maybe his demon spoke it, which is why he understood it. It made no sense so resolved not to worry about it. It was something he couldn't control.