Lorren opened his eyes and yawned slightly.

Taking note of the sky through the leaves of the tree, the halfblood remained still for a few moments before looking down on his lap where a small fox was cosily curled up, still asleep.

Smiling to himself, he adjusts his dark mask before touching the fox and woke it by gently stroking its fur.

The fox blinked and yawned before looking back up to its master. Lorren moves one of his hands up, putting the two middle fingers and thumb together while his pinky and pointer fingers remained straight out. He then started to move his fingers to seem like his hand was talking and a squeaky, high-pitched voice spoke.

'What is it, Master Lorren? Is it time to hunt?'

Lorren nods towards the fox who just yawned once more before jumping on his shoulder.

'Let us go, Master Lorren. I am quite hungry, I hope we catch something big today. The rabbit yesterday was too thin.'

Lorren nods once more and swings his legs off the branch and drops to the ground into a crouch. The fox perched on Lorren's shoulder sniffed up the air. It started to growl softly in the direction of a nearby stream.

The young male tilted his head, listening to the forest sounds around them. Soft on his feet, he stealthily moved forward, keeping low on the forest floor. Reaching the tall grass just a few feet from the water's edge, he placed a finger on the tip of his fox mask's nose to silence his companion before scanning the length of the stream with sharp eyes.

Spying a deer drinking downstream, his eyes narrowed slightly, trying to gauge the distance between them. He then slowly crouched down more lower, letting the fox drop from his shoulder. With very small gestures, he gave it instructions to circle to the other side of the deer. The fox twitched its ears with understanding before turning and quickly disappearing through the bushes.

Lorren straightened up, quietly releasing the small throwing blades he has hidden under his sleeves, body tense and eyes sharp for any slight movement or change on their prey. He silently moved forward towards the water, keeping low below the foliage of the wild bushes lining the side of the stream and hidden from view.

At the other side of the deer, the fox suddenly bursts out of the bushes with a loud bark and landed a few paces from the deer with a menacing growl. The prey is now between them.

The fox jumped forward, snapping at the deer as if herding it then jumping back with its hackles up in a threatening pose, barking and screaming in high pitch before repeating. Lorren remained hidden and tense, his hand grasping a throwing blade, waiting for the moment the deer bucks towards his way.

The fox continued snapping towards the deer, trying to keep its attention while smartly guiding it to face towards where his master was roughly located. The deer reared up towards the fox but it was quite nimble and sensed that the deer was only trying to scare it away. It felt more bold with aggravating the perceived prey.

The deer started to turn round away from the fox, Lorren held his breath until it was facing him. He then sprung forward out of his hiding place with his throwing arm whipping fast towards the deer with a small blade aimed a few centimetres above where its heart would be.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

'STOP!!'

Out of nowhere, a person bursted out of the bushes with arms outstretched to shield the deer.

Lorren immidiately froze up with his attack but his built-up momentum for the kill hurtled him on forward. He came down splashing just a few paces from the person, who started to scream profanities at him. This agitated the wounded deer more and it started to buck it's front legs high above the person.

Not hesitating one bit, the small fox jumped up the deer's back and bit down hard. This made the deer drop down its forelegs and start to run, knocking down the person infront of it.

Lorren jumps up to his feet, firmly holding his weapon and grabbing the deer head on as it dashed towards him. The fox dropped away as the master takes its place on the deers back. The deer bucked up once more and without missing a beat, Lorren slashed deep at its throat with his sharp blade. The dear reared up spraying blood, drenching the person on the ground. The animal's legs soon loses strength and it buckles down with a splash into the stream.

Lorren struggled to his feet, flicked the blood off and sheathed the blade in his hand. He cautiously moved towards the unknown person, who started to yell and hurl curses at him. His green eyes took in the features of the person-- bright lilac long hair, very pale skin and angry golden amber eyes. The person was wearing black-fitted clothes that he has never seen before. He couldn't decie whether the person was male or female.

His animal companion came yapping by his feet. Lorren crouched down to let the golden fox quickly jump up on his shoulder. He then straightened up and watched the person with impassive, cold eyes. The person glared back at him.

'What are you looking at? You killed the poor animal, you monster!'

The person scrambled up and swinging an arm to hit the silver-haired male. Lorren grabbed the arm firmly, atopping the person effectively before he moved it near his nose. A crease formed between his eyebrows before shoving the person away as if he has touched something utterly disgusting. The person fell down on the water with a splash.

He then raised one of hands with his thumb touching his index and ring finger while the other two fingers were raised up like ears. A squeaky, high-pitched voice came forth as the fox glared and 'spoke'.

'My Master demands to know how you've come into his territory.'

'What do you mean your territory?! I was just taking a peaceful walk when I saw you attacking the deer. It's illegal to hunt animals in this forest preserve!'

'This is Master's territory. Master hunts what he wants to hunt when he wants to.'

The fox replied as it bristled and started a low growl. Lorren turns his head slightly towards the direction where the person's scent lingered, tracking the path the person came from.

'Have you not seen the wards around this forest? It is forbidden to enter this territory. What are you and where are you from?'

'What wards? Do you mean the very old wooden strips tied with rope around some trees in that direction? Were they supposed to do something? I didn't see any other signs except the 'No Hunting' sign.'

The air around them turned several degrees colder as Lorren's expression went more stiff when the person emphasized on the last three words. The fingers moved once more as the fox's voice addressed her.

'The wards does not do anything, true. They were placed there as a warning to stay away. The wards are there not to keep any beings out of the Inugami Realm but to keep them in.'

Lorren turned away, his talking hand still directed towards the person as the fox continued.

'Coming in this realm is easy but getting out--- remains to be seen. Follow my Master.'

Lorren picked up the deer, walked out of the water and strode towards the deeper side of the forest.