Starved Shinobi

Thrill of the Hunt

After a day and a half of traveling with a noisy midriff, we were near the Caehund area during the night. While I checked the signs and tracks, I thought about breaking the ice.

"Sooo Cinna"

"Yeah Levi?"

"I've always wondered what faction you were from, the long, fluffy, pink hair threw me off"

"Huh, I guess I never really, well, thought about it. My mom never socialized with anybody here in Konza, nor me, so I didn't bother"

She chuckled it off, thinking it was a dumb question.
"What about you Levi, your skills as a ninja are super!"

I blushed when I got that complement.
"I actually self taught myself into techniques that I liked. But I'm kind of in the same boat because I was an orphan"

"Wait, for real!?"

"Yup, they couldn't figure out what faction I was apart of. So they gave me some support until I was ready to do things on my own, still getting used to that"

"Wow! It, must be nice to be a free kid without a mom (mumble) hurting you"

"Said what?"

"Nothing, nothing"

I got a little suspicious of her, but I made nothing of it. Then she had her head down, fidgeting with her hands. Usually she'd be all joyful and jolly, but something was off...

"Hey, you okay Cinna? Something on your mind?"

"Hmm? Oh well, it's just my brother. I just hope he's okay with his friends"

"Oh, I forgot, you haven't seen him since the start of the test have you?"

She shook her head.

"Look, if you wanna open up to me, i'm a great listener, I won't judge."

"Alright then, thanks Levi, for taking me in"

"No problem. I'm sure that we'll see your brot-"

Suddenly, some noises ahead of us emerged. We assumed it was the Caehunds, so we went there to see for ourselves. There was a large area with a pond and a cave.

"This must be where the Caehunds live. It has to be!"

"Aww yeah! Our poor tummies have been dying to eat something"

"Wait, let's get in the habitat and check it out"

"I don't think that's a good idea Levi, we could scare them off, or worse, get attacked"

"Cinna there's no Caehunds here yet. Maybe they've gone out and hunt for grass or something. Come on!"

She hesitated to go, but went so she wouldn't be alone. We both slid in the area and scouted the place for anything useful.

"You know what? This could be a good spot to rest when we deal with them"

Cinna yawned
"I agree, I'd love to nap right now"

"I know, but we gotta stay focused or we could scare them off"

Then we heard a deep growl, but not from our stomachs, but from the bushes and a pair of red eyes were shining too.
When I noticed it, I was too stunned to speak.

"Hey whatcha looking at"

"Don't move. At. All"

The pair of red eyes growled progressively louder with it's eyes getting brighter and it getting closer.
Then... It striked at me.

I dodged last second, but my body needed to catch up. My heart beat rapidly, my blood was pumping, we were now prey in it's territory. The Caehund was a large wolf who was as tall as the king of beasts. It had an uncanny resemblance to a demon you'd hear in stories, but it looked like it wanted to kill for enjoyment.

Cinna was terrified yet calm, she knew that the only way out of this was to stay passive. But I couldn't say the same. It wanted me. I kept evading his attacks and strikes but he would eventually read my movements.

"Cinna, run, NOW!"

She ran west and I ran east into the forest and dropped my kunai pack. It was a life or death situation, one slip up could end us both. The Caehund sprinted towards me, obviously slower due to its size, but nonetheless still deadly. Vines, boulders, trees and branches seemed more apparent, making me more clumsier and no matter how many times I lose the beast, he still finds me. Eventually, I ran into Cinna near the habitat by complete accident, two things that I did NOT what I wanted to do.

"Levi, what do we do!?" she looked frightened and scared, it looked like she was about to burst into tears.

"Cinna, Cinna listen to me, just-"

But it was too late. The Caehund finally found us and it bit my left arm. I screamed in absolute pain and I quickly backed off to a tree. The beast was growling asserting its dominance towards me. I teared up, knowing was a goner.

Then, at the side of my eye, I saw a kunai pack opened. I grabbed one while the Caehund had full attention towards me and cut his eyes, turning him blind. He howled in agony at the lost of sight and quickly ran off, somewhere.
Cinna ran up to me trying to hold in her tears.

"Levi, Levi talk to me please! Are you okay?!"

I teared with guilt clouding my mind.
"I, I'm so so sorry, Cinna"

Then I burst into tears, absolutely guilty for what I did. Cinna hugged me for a good minute, trying to comfort me and calm me down.

"Here, let's go to the cave to rest, k?" she said softly

I struggled to get up so Cinna rasied me up with my right hand and we walked towards the little cave. She started a little fire and we sat down, but I broke down again and she waited for me to let it all out.

"It's okay Levi, we got out just fine-"

"BUT IT'S NOT!"

Cinna looked sad, she knew that the only way to not make this worse is to let me speak. So I stood up to do so.

"I caused this whole problem and got you into it. I should've listened to you when I stole that Yufai guy's map. Because of that, we starved for a total of 4 and a half days and got you in danger where you could've died! On top of that, I lost my kunai pack with our only source of food that I made as a stupid backup! It hasn't been a week and here we are, just hungry girls wanting to reach our dreams. I'm just someone who got lucky"

Cinna had tears running down her face and when I noticed, I felt more guilty.

"No, I should be the one that's sorry. I was messing around, never serious and I was just a nuisance"

"Cinna..."

"I was too in shock that I couldn't help you with the Caehund, I'm just helpless around here. But you know what could calm you down a bit?"

A very deep growl emerged from her stomach and I was a little surprised.

"Remember how I promised that you can listen to my tummy after I listen to yours? Well... I think it's the perfect time"

I had forgot about the deal we made because I was too tired to recall that promise. But ever since she told me she had a thing for stomachs, I think I slowly became interested too. Her flat, smooth, soft, and squishy tummy was right there waiting for me. So I accepted her promise.
My ears were blessed with the sounds of soothing growls, rumbles and groans of a famished belly. It was like the best pillow anyone could ever have and I could see why Cinna wanted to listen to mine. She then hugged my head, giving me more comfort that I could ever have.

"Thank you, Cinna"

"Thank you, Levi, for everything I guess"