Hybrid
Disclaimer: I don’t own!
Don’t sue!
Warnings/Notes: Nothing much. Alternate Universe. OOC. More Eiji-ness…
Part Two
“Look! He’s waking up!”
“He’s still got the fever and his wound was pretty serious. Don’t move him too much, Oishi.”
“How are you feeling?” the gentle faced human asked, kneeling beside the injured red head. The hybrid said nothing, his eyes glazed over with pain and a sudden feeling of insecurity. He tried to move, but he couldn’t, finding his limbs still weren’t cooperating with him. The half cat-half human hybrid wanted to shy away from these humans that were towering above him. Eiji knew they were worried, but he couldn’t be so trusting and started to try and squirm away from these people. “You shouldn’t move. You’ll only aggravate your wounds.”
“I don’t think he understands” said the one that seemed to always smile. Except right now he wasn’t really smiling and was looking at Eiji with a serious expression.
“I know, Fuji” the green-eyed youth said in return. “I know, but maybe…he’ll understand, not through words, but through actions.”
“Maybe. Try to keep him still or else his wounds might reopen.” The other human went back to sitting by the campfire. Eiji looked back over to the gentle faced human who smiled at him. He reached forward, hesitantly, his hand still bearing the scar where Eiji had cut him several days ago. He didn’t want a repeat of what happened that night. Gently and tentatively, he stroked Eiji’s ears that were nearly flat against his skull. But those ears relaxed and stood back to their original position.
“I must thank you for what you did two nights ago” the human said softly, still stroking the hybrid like he was a cat. “I was…very surprised. I thought you’ve left us that night. Apparently, you didn’t.” The human smiled at Eiji. Eiji looked up at the human when he stopped stroking him. “I was very worried when I saw you bleeding like that.
Eiji said nothing; he understood little of what the human was trying to say. The feeling of the…new shirt that he’s gotten felt strange and itchy, not at all comfortable. Along with that, the strange bindings that covered his shoulder. So, all Eiji wanted was the wonderful feeling of being petted and scratched behind the ear. The human sat down next to Eiji and then resumed petting him. Eiji purred unconsciously in contentment and curled up into a ball and went to sleep.
The next day, Eiji was able to move again, but not without help. During this time, he got to know the humans better. The one with the gentle face always gave him the attention he wanted and knew where behind the ear to scratch, always managing to make the hybrid purr. The smiley faced one would speak to him a lot and sometimes would play little games with him that didn’t require much of moving around and always liked to pet the half cat-half human hybrid on the head. The one that would change personalities so quickly was the most amusing to Eiji. Sometimes, he and the smiley-faced one would come and talk to him together. Heck, he was probably the only one out of all of them that offered him food that he liked! The last one was a stoic human, with spectacles sat on the bridge of his nose. He spoke little to Eiji, giving him the occasional pat on the head and sometimes giving him water and food when no one was looking. The stoic human was kind in his own way, but had little words. Eiji liked to be in his company, but he was always pushed away.
Slowly, Eiji begun to recover and was able to move about quickly, but still always with help. The humans had been most helpful and friendly, quite contrary to his original thoughts. They were nice to him, gave him food and drink. They allowed him to rest and they would carry him as they walk. A week after Eiji had first started to get to know the humans better, he started to move around on his own but only for a short while. One night, around the campfire, the humans started to talk. Eiji listened with half an ear perked up, the other half relaxed and kind of drooping as the green-eyed human scratched him behind the ear.
“Tezuka, we’ve been wandering around for how long? Our provisions are running out, the bear hadn’t lasted very long, and the added…person is not much help here.”
“Don’t you think I know, Fuji? We’re going to have to get out of this place soon.”
“But how?”
“Um…how about asking him?” the one that had a split personality spoke up. Eiji saw that they were all looking at him. The hybrid did nothing but yawn and stretch before bounding up a tree, escaping the attention he was getting.
“Nya…” was the sound that escaped Eiji’s lips before the red head laid his head to his arms and fell asleep, his tail still twitching oddly every now and then.
“Maybe…Who knows if he actually knows the way?”
“May whatever deity that’s watching over us, please let us find our out of here.”
~*~
Eiji yawned. The humans were already up and about, cleaning up their things and stuffing them back into the bags. Carefully leaping out of the tree, Eiji went to meet his human friends. They greeted him with smiles, but Eiji knew that something was wrong. Giving another yawn, Eiji stretched in a very cat-like way. Today, Eiji had decided, would be the day that he left these humans so that he could reach the other side of the mountains. He’s been delayed long enough.
As the humans walked onward, Eiji lagged behind, wondering if he should just leave them. After all, he had no use for them. Casting glances over at the back of the small group of humans, Eiji continued to contemplate whether to leave them or not. When the sun became high in the sky, Eiji gave a lazy yawn, his mind made up. Maybe he could take the humans with him…? After all, a part of him—now—didn’t want to leave the humans.
“We’re completely lost” someone said with much frustration. Eiji heard it in the voice, but didn’t understand the meanings of the words. Movement catching his eyes, the easily sidetracked hybrid saw field mice running about, scattering at the sight of the humans. Smacking his lips, Eiji ran forward, a blur to the humans, and pounced. One of the tiny field mice was caught and Eiji held it up by the tail, watching the prey…his prey…squirm. It was a golden brown one, rather large compared to its companions, but nevertheless, still tiny.
“It seems that your little pet has a thing for mice…” Eiji looked up at the voice and saw the usually stoic human looking down at him with a look of disapproval. Eiji smiled and dropped the mouse accidentally when he did. With a little squeak, the mouse quickly scampered off. Eiji watched it run off with a blank look upon his face. Oh well. He could always catch some later when the humans were watching. He had to eat sometimes too! Their human foods were good, but he still preferred his fish…sometimes the mice were good too.
Eiji’s ears perked up, hearing a lark. It was rare to hear one, let alone see it at such a time. It wasn’t particularly a beautiful bird, nor did it sing beautifully, but larks had always been Eiji’s friends and friends they’d always be. Ignoring the human, he cautiously walked over to where the sound emitted. Indeed, there upon a lone branch of a half dying tree, sat a lark. Settling himself down next to the tree, curious azure eyes looked up at the lark. The bird looked back down at him, eyes also questioning. It gave a soft trill, a question to Eiji’s ears. It seemed to ask ‘who are you? Why are you so strange, childling?’ Eiji smiled at the lark and cocked his head, answering in a quiet ‘meow.’
“It has a thing for mice and birds” said a voice of amusement. It was one of a soft timbre, one that Eiji recognized to be the smiley-faced human. The lark looked over to the humans and ruffled its wings. In a moment, it opened its wings and flew. Eiji watched with a resigned expression that it had to leave so soon. The hybrid turned his attention back to the humans that were watching him. With a small smile and a gesture (something he picked up from the humans he were with), the red head had the humans following him. Although he couldn’t speak, Eiji learned that simple gestures meant a lot to the humans. Just pointing at something indicated what you want or where you want to go. And Eiji wants to get out of the forest, overcome the mountain, and reach the next town for some good food and places to sleep and…as much as he hated it, a bath. But his over sensitive nose was picking up his own scent, which was quite disturbing.
Maneuvering quietly and quickly through the forest, Eiji started to speed up, trying to make up for all those days lost and spent inactive. He heard the humans try to keep up with his brisk pace through the thick forest, but Eiji wasn’t going to slow down. Oh no, he was not. The humans are going to have to do their best to keep up with him, or otherwise…maybe he won’t take them with him to the next town. After all, he didn’t want anyone to slow him down. Then, his ears twitched. Instead of a stream this time, he heard a river. The stream he encountered earlier must have flowed off from this river. Suddenly, finding himself very thirsty, the hybrid slowed down for the humans a bit, but his pace was still quick. Eventually, they came to a clearing and Eiji, with an excited cry, unexpectedly launched at the water. That startled the humans quite a bit, but then the hybrid came back out of the water, soaking wet, clutching a fish in his arms.
“Nya!” The hybrid exclaimed, holding out the still flapping fish in his arms. Eventually, the fish stopped flapping around and became their meal.
“Not only water, but fish too?” one of the humans said. They all burst out laughing (sans the stoic human) and set their bags down. “Let’s refill our bottles. Mine’s empty.”
“Good idea. Guess we’ll be staying here for the night, since he seems to be having so much fun.”
“You want to join him, Fuji?”
“Maybe.”
“Fuji, I thought you didn’t know how to swim!”
“Don’t look down upon me just because you do, Oishi.”
“Yes, yes…”
~*~
That night, around a campfire, Eiji had his belly full of fish and he was completely at ease, with the gentle faced human petting him, just like he did every night when Eiji let him. During the afternoon, the smiley-faced human had joined him in catching the fishes, but for the most part, he stayed in shallower areas, not daring to go too deep. Eiji had managed to get four fishes total…two of them pretty good sized. Eiji was extraordinarily pleased by all the attention he got when he brought back the fish. The smiley-faced human and the human that changed personalities really quickly both went with him into the water to play after that. They even let him claim one of the fish for himself, afterwards.
The soft hushed tones of the humans speaking among them, the gentle stroking behind his ear, and the dull crackle of the fire was almost enough to lull Eiji to sleep. Almost. The hybrid was curled up on his side, snuggled up next to the gentle faced human. His tail was swishing back and forth slowly, a sign of restlessness and contentment. It curled up, and then straightened out, swinging from side to side.
“Nya…” Eiji smacked his lips. The fish was delicious…of course, the humans didn’t seem to pleased that he just tore into the fish—raw. But it was good, and that was what Eiji cared about. Swinging away from the warmth of the human he was curled up next to, Eiji walked over to the riverbank and sat there. He didn’t stare at anything in particular, but just thought.
With a general knack of directions, Eiji knew that it would possibly be another two to three weeks before they made it off the mountain. The mountain wasn’t that high or large, but with humans with him, it was going to take a longer time than it would just him. Eiji stared at the reflection of the waning moon in the river. It was like a smile up there in the sky—a smile of a joker. Absently fingering the collar that rested at his neck, Eiji was suddenly reminded of the person who gave it to him.
It was a kind lady, the person who gave him a name. She and her mate had spoiled him when he was younger; giving him all the attention and affection he wanted. The collar was among their gifts—and although Eiji didn’t know what was engraved onto it, he was certain his name was there. But then a terrible fire had taken them away, driven him from the village, and had him live a life as a thief.
“What are you thinking?”
Eiji was startled from his thoughts and he looked up to see the smiley-faced human taking a seat next to him. Eiji cocked his head and gave a ‘mreow?’
“I wonder…what’s a hybrid like you doing out in a forest like this” the smiley-faced human said. “You know, you surprised us that night…When we first met you. At first we thought we encountered a wild beast, but then it turned out to be a…person. But when we saw you clearly, you turned out to be a hybrid. Usually hybrids like you are kept in custody, you know that? They’re kept in places by the monarchy and such.” The smiley-faced human gently scratched Eiji behind the ear, earning a purr. “Most of the hybrids I knew understood human speech” the smiley-faced human chuckled.
The red headed hybrid said nothing, no he couldn’t say anything—nor did he understand words. All he did was trot back to camp, with the human following after him.