Scruffy’s Adventure

Written by Scruffy–hime

Edited by Luciferia

Chapter 10: A Brief Respite

Airi stalked through the brush, pushing a few branches out of her view as she kept her eyes focused on her prey. Her ears flicked around to hone in on the sound of a bird pecking at whatever bugs currently had its attention. She kept close to the ground as she readjusted her body again. The small bird’s feathers sparkled with a wide range of blues, with scarlet tipping the ends of each feather.

The bird hopped a short distance. Airi’s tail raised behind her as she shifted her weight onto her hind legs before launching herself. She pounced on the bird landing with both hands over the creature pinning it to the ground.

The bird let out a sharp squeak as Airi crushed the life out of it. Lifting the bird by its talons, she sniffed at the creature, pondering how it might taste. Satisfied with her catch she hurried back to camp.

Airi had been gone for only an hour, but she feared leaving Scruffy alone for any amount of time due to the state he was in. She hummed as she plucked feathers from the bird while walking.

Luckily her hunt had not taken her far from where he slept and she made it back to him within a few minutes. When she arrived Scruffy was sitting at the base of the tree. Judging by the tracks all over the area Airi judged he must have been pacing.

“Hey.” Airi called to him when she got closer.

Scruffy’s head snapped up to look at the approaching woman. He rose to his feet as she neared and motioned to the now bald bird she was holding with a questioning look on his face. Opening his mouth to say something.

“Breakfast.” Airi answer before he could speak.

“I was worried when I didn’t see you after I woke up, thought maybe you had left me for good.”

“Naah, I'm not one to leave a toy behind until I’ve properly played with it.”

Scruffy blushed as he replied, “As long as you don't break anything.”

Airi smirked as she playfully skipped over and handed him the bird, “Will you cook this for me? Please?”

She batted her long eyelashes at him as her tail swayed.

Scruffy took the bird from Airi, “I can try, going to need some firewood though.”

“I’ll get some!”

Scruffy dug a small pit in the ground with his good hand while waiting for Airi to return. After it was deep enough he gathered rocks of varied sized and placed them around the rim.

By the time Airi returned, her arms were full of a wide range of sticks, twigs, and strips of bark. She plopped the pile down next to the small pit. Scruffy began stacking the sticks in a steeple shape and grabbed some dry grass from nearby, stuffing it into the pile.

Scruffy sat back and crossed his legs before saying, “I don’t think I’ll be able to light it this time, hands still hurt too much.”

Airi casually walked over, brushed her soft tail along his cheek and tucked her skirt underneath her as sat in his lap, “So, teach me.”

Startled, Scruffy’s face turned bright red. He reached his arms around the woman's waists and grabbed a long strip of bark and one of the straighter sticks.

“Here point the stick like this.” Scruffy paused as he adjusted Airi’s grip, “Then you need to roll it back and forth in your hands while keeping it pressed to the bark.”

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Scruffy made motions with his hands in an attempt to demonstrate.

“Okay, I think I got it.” Airi said after watching his hands a few times.

“It will probably take a while but when you get a small plume of smoke let me know and I can show you how to do the rest.”

When Scruffy tried to retract his arms Airi used one hand to grab his wrist and keep his arms around her waist. She shot him a mischievous grin over her shoulder before starting to turn the stick in between her palms. Scruffy’s face turned a darker shade of scarlet but made no attempt to remove his arms.

Several minutes passed as the pair sat in silence. Finally, Airi got a small plume of smoke to rise from her work, “I did it!”

“Good now drop the cinder into the dry grass like this…” Scruffy paused to watch Airi dropped the hot cinder into the pile, “And now gently blow on it.”

Airi leaned forward in Scruffy’s lap and began gently blowing. A short moment later, the dry grass caught fire. Scruffy added more dry grass and twigs to the pile until he was satisfied it would stay lit.

“That took longer than I expected.” Airi complained.

“Yea, I don't even know why I can remember how to do this but at least it helps.”

“So, now what?” Airi asked after watching the small flame grow for a minute.

“Uhm… Now we can cook the bird.”

“Good. I’m starving.”

Airi grabbed the bird from where it had been set down and after brushing some of the dirt off she held it over the fire.

“Like this?” She asked

Scruffy laughed and grabbed it from her, “Well you could cook it like that, but I think it would be better to it like this.”

Scruffy moved Airi out of his lap. Grabbing the knife out of the ground he cut open the bird and pulled the innards out and threw them off into the forest, then replaced the knife in the ground. He got a long stick and impaled the bird through its stomach. Burying the other end near the fire.

Scruffy scooted a couple feet back, leaning his back against the tree trunk and re-crossed his legs. Airi playfully sat down on him again. Scruffy couldn’t help chuckling this time.

“Did you take a bath?” Scruffy asked as he sniffed the Airi’s hair.

“Yep!” Airi said excitedly. “Sorry I didn't invite you, didn't want to wake you.”

Scruffy briefly tried to imagine Airi naked before turning a deep shade of crimson. Embarrassed now he started fidgeting causing Airi to turn and give him a confused look.

Remembering how wounded he had been last night Airi thought the he was moving because of the pain, “Leg still hurt?”

“Yeah, a bit.”

“Oh.” Airi said in a dejected tone, “I should get off you then.”

“No…” Scruffy said wrapping his arms around her waist as he nuzzled his head against her neck. For a brief moment he considered biting into her soft flesh, pushing down the impulse he continued. “It's fine.”

Something about being this close to Airi made him feel better about their situation, “I don't want to get up yet.”

They sat like that mostly in silence, occasionally Scruffy got up to poke at the fire and turn the bird. Airi’s eyes darted all over as she watched sparks rise from the fire. When it was done Scruffy grabbed the knife and cut the meat from its breast and handed some to Airi. She thanked him and took a bite. After cutting off some for himself he returned to sit next to Airi who had taken a seat next to the fire.

Having had nothing to eat for several hours the hungry duo ate in silence. After eating the breast and picking off most of the meat from the rest of the corpse, Scruffy tossed the carcass into the forest.

Scruffy paced over to the stream and knelt down to take a drink. Airi froze when she heard rustling nearby.