A/N: Update list has been determined between Sei and I. Mondays and Thursdays, unless otherwise started.
@deguchi: They're gonna meet this chapter. 
@eel_96: I'm glad you're enjoying itso far.
@gilangfajri: Sayaka isnt a werewolf. She's a wolf-being.
Warning: Mild LanguageChapter 1:Miyuki checked her pocket for the knife that the chief gave her, making sure that it was still there and hiked on. She wasn’t sure where she was going or even cares at all. What she needs to do right now, is to find food and shelter. She took another step but ended up tripping on an exposed root, scraping her hands when she tried to cushion her fall with them.
She slowly got up, muttering expletives under her breath as she did so. She looked up and tried to look past the thick canopy to gauge the time but it was nearly impossible to see anything, still she felt that she needed to hurry. With a frustrated sigh, she continued on while muttering more expletives and oblivious to an encounter that will change her life.
—
Sayaka opened one eye, an ear immediately homing in to the noise that interrupted her sleep. She lifted her head, nose twitching as it caught an unusual scent. Sayaka yawned and stretched before standing up from her sleeping spot. She followed her nose and ignored the critters that she would have gladly taken as prey because her curiosity was more important.
Her nose led her to a human girl struggling to pull her skirt off from a stubborn root. Sayaka titled her head to the side, it was almost dark and the forest isn’t the safest place to be once the sun had sunk. The girl fell on her back when she managed to free her skirt from the root and Sayaka chuckled inwardly when the girl shouted a long string of expletives. She looked interesting enough for Sayaka to follow around and this will be a welcome distraction from the thoughts of her being exiled from her own clan.
Her own clan. Her home and her family.
She felt rage bubbling within her but dispelled it with a shake of a head. It won’t do well for her to dwell on it too much. There’s nothing she can do for now but later she’ll find evidence to prove her innocence and will relish in making the perpetrator suffer. So, a little distraction won’t hurt.
—
Miyuki pushed herself off the ground again, this was fourth time she fell and, her hands and knees were probably covered in scratches by now. Her frustration was rising rapidly and she hadn’t food or shelter yet.
She kept on walking while fingering the knife in her. ‘Maybe he gave me this so I could just end it, no one would mourn for me anyway.’ She scoffed at how ridiculous that thought sounded. ‘Why am I thinking like this? I’m not some angst ridden teenager that can whine all day, I’ve gone through much worse!’
With that thought in mind her determination was renewed and she marched forward not noticing another root hell bent on making her trip again. She fell with a yelp and this time her hands weren’t fast enough to cushion her fall. The forest must really want to piss her off or kill her.
“Well hello there, girly.” A gravely voice greeted. Miyuki looked up to see a pair of boots in front of her, her gaze moved higher and she found herself looking at the ugliest man she’d seen in her whole life, sneering down at her.
She heard footsteps approaching and she hauled up to her feet by two men both of them sneering at her. The man that greeted her, walked towards her.
“Now what’s a pretty little thing like you doing in the forest?” He leaned in close and Miyuki barely stopped herself from cringing at his foul breath but she wasn’t fast enough to stop her mouth.
“Would you mind moving back a bit? Your breath smells like you ate ten skunks.” The men holding her captive laughed and Miyuki felt swelled with a bit of pride at this.
“Shut up, you little shits!” They immediately stopped and their hold on her tightened painfully. “Right, I tried asking you nice but then you just went and insulted me.”
He sneered at Miyuki and she wondered if that’s the only face he can make.
“I’m gonna make you pay, teef.”
Miyuki reacted quickly, her knee came up and hit him right on the crotch. He yelled a high pitched scream and the men on either side of her immediately let go of her to help their boss. She took that as a chance to flee out of there and vaguely heard the foul breathed men yelling obscenities at her.
She ran as fast as her feet would let her and doing her best to lose the men. Whatever bit of courage she had earlier was gone and all she had now was dread. These men were scum and unlike the villagers that had wanted to kill her, these men will want more than that. She’d rather be dead than give it to them.
She made a random turn and felt a heavy weight fall on top of her. The same man earlier, sneered at her again. “Got you! Now, I ain’t letting go of you little teef.”
He trapped her arms above her head and descended on her. Miyuki closed her eyes and tried to scream for help but stopped short when the weight on her suddenly disappeared. She heard a yowl of pain and turned to find a large wolf, tearing apart the man’s throat. The man yowled again and began to wave his arms wildly. Somehow he managed to hit the wolf and the animal let go of his neck, moving to stand between Miyuki and her attacker.
She sat up, backing up against the tree and looked with wide panicked eyes. The wolf barked as the man slowly staggered to his, he was holding his hand against his neck in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
“What the fuck is this?” He pointed at the wolf. “Doesn’t matter, your mutt will—”
The wolf attacked again and Miyuki covered up her eyes with her hands, unable to stomach the carnage that was happening in front of her. She heard the man’s cries for help followed by more sounds of fighting, her attacker’s friends mostly likely joining in the fray. When she removed her hands, she nearly fainted at amount of blood she saw but in the midst of the blood and guts was the wolf. It was laying on it’s side, breathing heavily and blood seeping in various places. What worried her the most was the gaping wound on it’s leg and from the looks of it the wolf would die from blood loss if not taken care of immediately.
Swallowing the urge to vomit at the sight before her, the sweat covered girl got off the ground, and slowly made her way towards her savior. But when a warning growl was sent her way, she stopped. She locked eyes with the beast. Behind the fierce look it was giving her, there was a hint of fear. Breaking the staring contest, the wolf began licking her wounds, trying to get it to stop bleeding, but the hole was way too open and exposed.
At this rate the wolf would bleed to death.
Miyuki felt conflicted, should see approach her wounded savior and offer her assistance, or take the chance to cover more ground. Something in the back of her mind was telling her to help. Looking over the remains of the bandits, she began looting their dead bodies for anything useful.
After searching through the packs, she found very little supplies. But while digging around in the last bag, the bag of the leader, she found a very rare herb. One rumored to help heal anything faster. When she looked over at the wolf, she noticed it’s gaze on her. Watching her carefully.
The black wolf’s gaze was intense, but she had to ignore it if she was going to save it’s life. Even if it turned on her later, at least she would feel good about returning a favor. Once Miyuki finished bagging everything she could, she placed the bag on a fallen tree stump. before making her way to the wolf.
“I need you to trust me.” She said, causing the wolf to narrow it’s eyes on her. It wasn’t a threatening motion, it was more of ‘you’ve got my attention’ motion. Since she didn’t have a mortar, Miyuki was forced to chew on the plant, and immediately the bitter taste was overwhelming for her mouth, but she pressed on until the plant was in a pasty state.
Removing the thoroughly chewed plant from her mouth, she quickly applied it to the wolves open wound. The growl she got was down right scary, and when she expected to be lashed out at, she was surprised to be breathing.
“Don’t lick it off okay. I need to wrap it up.” She said, before looking around for something to wrap the wounded leg in, but she saw nothing. Sighing to herself, she reached for her shirt sleeve and ripped it off. It didn’t take much effort, since it was falling apart anyway. Tearing the sleeve into strips, she began doing what she could to cover the wound.Backing away, she took a moment to see her handy-work, she did pretty well.
By now the sun was barely visible behind the vast amount of trees, and it wasn’t safe to be out here, not in the open it is. Miyuki wasn’t about to leave this wolf in the open while she seeked somewhere to sleep for the night. Squinting her eyes, Miyuki spotted a large tree, it’s roots would have to be their temporary place of rest for the night. But now comes the hard part.
Moving the beast.
By now, the black wolf was in between sleeping and watching her movement. It no longer seemed to be hostile, as it was fighting for it’s life at the moment. It lost a lot of blood, and desperately needed a warm place for the night.
‘Please don’t be mad at me.’ Miyuki mentally prayed, as she went around the big wolf and attempted to lift it up, expecting it to be heavy, but to her surprise, the wolf was quite light.
The wolf’s eyes shot open as it began squirming in her arms, but it soon lost it’s energy, as it realized that if it fell from the height it would only make her wounds reopen and possibly make it worse.
Arriving at the base of the tree, Miyuki crouched down and placed the wolf down, before running off.
—
‘This girl is weird.’ The wolf thought, as she watched the girl run off. ‘Weird but nice.’ She soon added, as tried she moving her leg, but the sharp pain that followed a second later, made her give up on moving. She was stuck in this position, and it was getting colder and colder by the second.
The scent of the girl returned, but this time she had the bag from before, and a pile of wood with her, with the intention of starting a fire. The wolf watched with mild amusement at the first few failed attempts of making the fire, but by the fourth time, a spark was seen and the wood came to life.
The warmth of the small fire was a great start towards feeling better, but while the wolf had extra fur to help her, the small human did not. Sayaka watched as the girl huddle against herself to keep herself warm.
The girl turned her head, gazing at something and the wolf followed her line of sight. Sayaka found the girl looking at the remnants of her fight earlier and she barked loudly, feeling proud of her accomplishment.
The girl turned to face her and Sayaka saw a bit of amusement in her gaze. “You enjoyed that didn’t you? The killing and the violence.”
Sayaka growled and bared her fangs at the girl. No she didn’t like taking human lives, it’s against her nature and principle that all living beings must be protected but those men were scum and were trying to hurt a helpless girl. If the girl was able to defend herself, Sayaka would have just left her alone.
She was proud of ridding the world of a few horrible people.
Miyuki didn’t seemed fazed at the wolf’s display of aggression, choosing to ignore it and press on in keeping up the one-sided conversation.
“Okay, maybe not but I guess you like the thrill of a fight then?” The wolf barked at Miyuki and she nodded in understanding. “My name is Miyuki, just in case you’re curious to know who this clumsy human that stumbled into this forest.”
Sayaka barked in agreement and inwardly lamented at the fact that she can’t talk when in wolf form. ‘Could have said stupid instead of clumsy.’
Sensing that that their conversation was over, Miyuki stood up and gave the wolf a pat on the head which the wolf responded with a growl.
She giggled. “Aww, you’re cute.” The wolf growled louder. “Nope, you don’t scare me. You’re too injured to do a thing and I suggest you stay put or I’ll knock you out.”
Sayaka saw the stern look that Miyuki was giving her and bowed, ears flattening against her head. She let out a snort when she realized something. ‘I’m a goddamn Alpha and I’m letting a human girl order me around and threaten me?’
Miyuki started walking towards the bandits’ remains and Sayaka closed her eyes, hoping to catch a bit of sleep.
—
It might have been a few minutes or hours but Sayaka was startled from her light doze when she felt a weight rest on her chest. She growled, opening her eyes and found Miyuki resting her head on her while carefully avoiding some of her less severe injuries.
She barked, making Miyuki sit up and glare at her. ‘This girl has guts or really stupid for laying on me like that.’
Miyuki swatted Sayaka on the nose and the wolf barked at her again, enraged at being treated like a domesticated dog. “Don’t bark or growl at me, or else…”
She left the threat hanging and they both glared at each other, initiating a silent battle of wills. Fortunately or unfortunately, like before Sayaka gave in and looked away.
“Good girl…” Miyuki scratched the wolf’s ear and smiled cheekily when the wolf didn’t pull away. “I found some jerky while rummaging through the bodies and a bit more cloth to replace the one on your leg when needed.”
She rummaged around a bag that she must’ve pilfered off on one of the dead men and handed Sayaka a piece of jerky. The wolf turned her head away, she hated jerky. Besides the odd taste she hated jerky the most, she prefers her meat fresh and juicy. Miyuki ignored Sayaka’s obvious show of distaste and shoved the dried meat into Sayaka’s mouth, forcing Sayaka to eat it.
“Eat.” She ordered simply and the wolf obeyed, not wanting to get another swat on the nose. After finishing a few pieces, Miyuki smiled again and started patting the wolf on the head. “You’ll need food to regain your strength and heal. So that tomorrow, we can sneak into my house, get some of my things and look another village to stay.”
The wolf gave Miyuki an incredulous look. “Don’t be stupid! I get the feeling that you’ve been kicked out from your pack because I know wolves travel in packs. The only time a wolf is ever alone is when they get kicked out. Now give me a growl if I’m wrong.”
When she didn’t get a response, Miyuki continued on. “See? You have no choice but to stay with me. Well, until you’ve healed up and found another pack anyway…”
Sayaka tilted her head to the side at the dejected way the girl said the last part but before she could guess what made the girl sound that way, Miyuki started scratching her ears an effective way of distracting a wolf.
“Anyway, we’ll leave early tomorrow. No one comes near the house I used to live in so it will be easy for me to sneak into my own home to get us supplies.” She scooted closer to the wolf. “Now let me use you as a pillow, it’s cold out here.”
The wolf let Miyuki lay where head was on earlier, it was odd to be ordered around and being Namba Clan’s Alpha not being able to say no to this girl was the strangest. ‘That doesn’t mean I won’t make it easy for her.’ With that thought she flicked her tail, hitting Miyuki right in the face and took a bit of delight when the girl yelped in surprise.
Within minutes the girl was asleep. Today’s events finally took its toll on her exhausted body. Cuddling further onto Sayaka’s body, the wolf herself could feel a certain spot on on her body getting wet.
'She's…..crying. But why? Are you like me as well?' Sayaka wondered she wants the girls sleep. Feeling a sense of pity she wrapped her tail around Miyuki's body.
—
The sound of birds singing early in the morning awoke the sleeping wolf, who noticed immediately that the girl wasn’t there. Testing to see if she could walk, Sayaka carefully stood testing how much strength she could put on her leg. Seeing that she could put almost half of her weight made her feel that better.
After walking around a bit she caught scent of Miyuki. Following it, she was led to a creek, there Sayaka saw Miyuki’s nude body, washing herself. Upon realizing she shouldn’t be watching, she tried to turn around, but put too much pressure on her leg and crumpled to the ground. Alerting her presence to Miyuki.
Turning around Miyuki ducked into the water, only to relax when she saw it was only the wolf. “It’s just you. I thought it was more bandits.”
Sayaka snorted at how carefree her companion was.
"Why don’t you come join me? I could use an opportunity to clean the blood off your fur.”
Snorting again, Sayaka turned and went back into the lush forest, but not too far away from her idiotic companion, just in case she runs into trouble. But for now the wolf wanted something to eat, REAL meat.
Frowning at the rejection of the wolf, Miyuki continued bathing herself for a few moments longer, before exiting. She had only put her underwear back on, as she would have to wait to put her clothes back on. As she returned back to the temporary camp, she was surprised to see, a once lively pair of rabbits, dead at the entrance.
The next thing she noticed, was the black wolf, returning with another. This one being dropped at her feet. Sayaka sat and waited for the offering to be taken, but while she waited, her stomach was growling.
‘Hurry up already.’
“Oh!” Miyuki realized what was going on. “This one is for me. Thank you.” She smiled, patting the wolf on her head, who growled slightly, her tail twitching at the gesture.
Taking the rabbit, she set to work skinning the animal. She was no stranger to this task, as she has had to do this to many animals in order to feed herself. She tossed the bits that she didn’t need at the wolf while saving the skin and fur, she placed it in a pile, before re-starting the fire from last night.
They went about their business in companionable silence, the only sounds that broke the silence was the wolf hungrily devouring her share and the sound of the rabbit being roasted.
Sayaka eyed the girl surreptitiously, wondering why she didn’t just put her clothes on. Not that she minded, her tail was wagging slightly at the sight. In her opinion humans were weak and squishy but she can’t deny the fact that they are quite pleasing to the eye. ‘Especially this one.’
After eating their breakfast, Miyuki managed to convince the wolf to have her bandages replaced. The bleeding had stopped but it needed to be stitched for it to heal properly.
Miyuki put out the fire after putting on the rest of her clothes and put the rabbit hide in her bag, thinking that it might come handy later. She put out the fire and went about breaking camp as quick as she could.
The walk back to Miyuki’s village was slow and Miyuki was making her companion take a break whenever she noticed the wolf would start dawdling because of her injury. Miyuki didn’t talk much during their hike, she was too busy trying not to trip and the wolf didn’t care as long she didn’t make too much noise.
It was lunch time when Miyuki broke the companionable silence between her and new canine friend. She was sitting on a fallen tree, contently chewing on a piece jerky while the wolf had managed to catch a couple of squirrels with a bit of help from Miyuki by luring them in with some nuts and berries she collected along the way.
“Hey…” Miyuki started and the wolf looked up from chewing on a leg. “What should I call you?”
The wolf gave her an incredulous look something that she’s doing quite a lot lately, tilting her head to the side and point her ears towards Miyuki as if saying that the answer was obvious.
“I can’t call you wolf forever… how about spot?” The wolf snorted and threw a piece of squirrel at her. “That’s disgusting!”
She threw out another name but the wolf ignored her. Even after they ate and continued walking Miyuki was still throwing out names and the wolf would ignore Miyuki the whole time.
—
It was dusk by the time they reached Miyuki’s village and just as Miyuki said her home remained untouched despite the villagers hate for her. The tales that the overprotective mothers spread certainly worked in her favor this time. They were able to enter her house without much trouble and she was glad that her house was near the edge of the forest. She ushered the wolf to sit on the couch while she searched the house for her medical supplies so she could finally stitch the wolf up. Lighting only one candle so as not to attract any attention.
Miyuki walked towards where the wolf was as she held up the medical supplies she had gathered. The wolf had become surprisingly compliant to her orders, ever since that night she spent in the forest with it and a thought that her new friend might be more than it let on. But she banished it immediately when she noticed started chewing off it’s makeshift bandages.
“Don’t do that!” She swatted the wolf on the nose and instead of growling at Miyuki like the night before the wolf turned away and started pawing at her own nose. “Don’t act like that it hurt, I barely put any strength behind it.”
As usual the wolf ignored and Miyuki rolled her eyes before pushing the wolf to lay on the couch. “Now at least, let me clean up your wound since you didn’t let me do it this morning.”
Miyuki started to work on the wound, pausing to rub the wolf’s side to calm it down when it hurt too much. She would sometimes throw in a name and the wolf would smack her with it’s tail in disagreement. By the time she was done the wolf was had fallen asleep and realized that exhaustion had creeped up on her too. She stretched languidly and was sorely tempted to catch a few hours of sleep just like the wolf but she she still had things to do.
Staying here too long won’t be good for them.
She gathered all the things that they needed; trail rations, medical supplies—in case they run into trouble, all of her money and a change of clothes. She would have taken more but it would be too heavy for her carry them all and she didn’t think that the wolf would be fit to carry anything besides it’s own weight.
There was another village across the forest and an old friend that she had not seen in a while, she can stay as long as she needed. She roused the wolf from it’s sleep and left just as quick as they had come.
Topic: Outcast and the Exiled Announcement 12/25 (Read 86759 times)