Wild Time [PRIVATE]

Amayah opened her eyes and gave her surroundings a drowsy stare. It was night time again, time to have some fun. She did a back flip out of her tree happily. She was excited and she wasn’t hiding it for anyone. She cried out in pure delight, her voice echoing in the air. Even she didn’t know what had gotten her in such high spirits, but that didn’t matter now. She wanted to play; all she needed was a partner.

She ran around the town with no results of anyone, why was everyone; she though miserably. There has to be someone around I can play with! She began to give up on running around looking for someone who wasn’t there, so she decided to give up and play by herself.

After a few minutes of looking around her she took a large stick she found from the ground and tossed it about a mile away. Instinct took over and she took off running after it. Once she reached the location of the stick she picked it up in her mouth and turned around. There was no one to run back to so they could throw it for her again. She sighed heavily and sat down, with the stick still clenched between her teeth.

Nariko was walking around a deserted town. It was dark out, and slightly cold. He didn't mind though, it was somewhat refreshing. He could still remember the time that he found himself in Arizona. It had been excruciatingly hot there. If Nariko ever had the choice between cold and hot, it would be an easy decision. He definitely liked the cold much more then warm. Glad to be back in Canada, he continued his leisurely stroll.

As he was walking, he saw something fly by in the sky. What was that? It looked small, like a stick, or small piece of wood. Shrapnel? No, if it were shrapnel, there would be more then just one piece. Crouching in between some trees, Nariko sniffed the air, to see what he could find. There were a couple different smells, one was quite nice actually, but the one that stuck out the most was that of a feline. There was some human mixed in with it, but something caught his attention about the smell. It was getting stronger, closer, and fast.

Something was running in his direction, and fast. The scent was very strong now. He examined it some more. Feline, human, and female. A cat girl, huh? This wasn't like the cat girl he had met before though, no this was a different person.

Suddenly the girl ran past him. She seemed pretty focused on something, and didn't notice him. She didn't look angry, it was more like she was... playing. This sparked Nariko's curiosity. He decided to follow her and see where she was going. He started walking in the direction that she had ran.

Amayah sensed another presence; make it two; two people! Oh my goodness, this will be fun, she thought happily. “HEY! Want to play guys!?” she asked excitedly. This sounded great, one smelled male and canine. The other smelled very familiar; she thought she knew this person. It was a feline female; maybe it was the one that tried to attack her once. Even still, maybe she was in a better mood today, she thought hopefully.

She was so excited now she didn’t even care if one or both of them attacked her, she just wanted to play; but she was ready if a fight broke out. She immediately did another back flip and let go of the stick in her mouth. Maybe they were interested in fetch; she knew the canine would more than likely go for it. “C’mon guys, don’t be downers!” she yelled at them; hoping they would come closer to her.

Looks like she'd figured out that he was here. Oh well, she sounded friendly anyways. She kept saying guys though, meaning that there was more then one person. Sniffing the air, he discovered she was right. There was the pleasant scent that he remembered from before. It was none other then Chikiba! She must have followed him here. He had gotten faint glimpses of her scent every now and then, but he didn't think it was her, he had just assumed that he must miss her. But she was here now, so he was glad.

"Hello. It would seem that you found me. My name's Nariko, who might you be?"

Nariko continued walking towards the girl, stopping a few feet away from her. He glanced behind him at Chikiba, and smiled.

"Hey. Funny seeing you here."

He looked back at the girl in front of him.

“Ha-ha! Looks like I did find you, my name is Amayah. Nariko, you say? Interesting name, do you want to play?” she asked excitedly. She stood up drawing herself to full height and noticing that he was slightly shorter than her; but that didn’t bother her now. She grabbed the canines wrist quickly, “Come on! Lets play!” she yelled.

Nariko looked at Chikiba. He smiled, then looked back at Amayah. This girl was way too hyper for her own good. She grabbed his wrist, and started dragging him off to play. Looking confused, he glanced at Chikiba. He hoped she would do something. But for now, he supposed he was going to play.

"Alright, lets play!"

Hopefully Chikiba would play too. Nariko wondered slightly what Amayah had meant by playing. How did Amayah play? What was her idea of playing? He was about to find out, he supposed.

Chikiba gave a grin back to Nariko as she watched him be dragged off by the feline. "Amamyah" so it WAS her! She thought so. Chikiba straightened her back. Withdrawing herself from attack position, she cautiously replaced her knife in the holster.

Amayah seemed different from the last time they had met, she wasn't as cold. Maybe she was in a better mood? Chikiba hoped so. Not knowing if she was supposed to help Nariko or go play, she just stood there. watching the scene.

~*~*~

Ignoring the other feline at this point, she ran off with Nariko. She searched around for a few seconds and found the stick she had earlier dropped. Amayah picked it up in her mouth and dropped it at his feet. Sitting on all fours she looked at him and began to purr loudly. “You know fetch?” she asked happily. Gazing up at Nariko she noticed that he was slightly distracted by the other female. “You like her, don’t you?” she asked with a chuckle.

"Well... she's quite beautiful. And she has the most wonderful deep blue eyes.

Nariko picked up the stick, and threw it as far as he could. That should distract her for a few minutes. He then walked over to Chikiba. She looked quite nice standing there.

"Hello. How are you?"

He smiled at her.

Chikiba watched Nariko talk to Amayah. she found it quite entertaining for some odd reason. After a few moments, she watched him stand up and heave a stick far away. She was quite impressed by the amount of strength he had. (For his size anyhow.) He began walking towards her. He greeted her with a "Hello, how are you?"

Chikiba looked at him. "I'm pretty good. I hate how you could still sniff me out. I tried to stay a distance away so you wouldnt. That kind of irritates me a little." She above at the night sky.

~*~*~*

Ignoring everything else, her instinct kicked in once more and she took off running after the stick on all fours; at full speed. Once she got the stick she rolled around on the ground purring and yelling loudly at no one. She noticed that Nariko and the strange female where talking.

Amayah wasn’t stupid, she knows love when she sees it; and clearly, both liked each other a lot. She wasn’t sure if walking in on them was alright or not…and she didn’t want to be one of those stupid third wheels. She decided to drop the stick about a few feet from Nariko. Putting her ears down, and hanging her head; she turned to walk away on all fours.

"I didn't notice you, to be honest. I got a small glimpse of your scent every now and then, but i only knew you were here when Amayah pointed you out. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have noticed you. Why did you follow me here anyways? Not that I'm complaining."

He noticed that Amayah had dropped the stick a few feet away, and was about to walk away. He walked over, picked it up, then whistled. He then threw it again. Walking back over to Chikiba, he smiled at her.

"I see." she said watching Amayah full blazing down the road after the stick. She laughed at the site. It's alright though, I'm not mad at her, she just wants to play." Amayah looked back at them, then started walking away. "I wonder where she's going?" Said Chikiba turning to Nariko, she noticed that he wasn't standing beside her anymore. He had gone after Amayah, throwing the stick for her, once again.

~*~*~

Amayah heard Nariko whistle, whether it was aimed at her or not, she wasn’t sure. But she continued to walk solemnly; not looking back. She didn’t want to be awkwardly there, so leaving was the best option, she thought somewhat disappointedly. “Bye, buddy” she whispered inaudibly at Nariko.

Nariko noticed that Amayah had not chased after the stick. She hadn't responded to his whistling either. Maybe something was wrong? Had she not just recently wanted to play so badly? He looked back to Chikiba.

"I'm going to go try and play with her some more. She seems sad for some reason now. Maybe I can cheer her up."

He smiled at her, then turned to look at Amayah. He looked at her walking away, then started running after her. When he was a few feet behind her, he jumped in the air, with the intent of flipping himself on top of her. This would get her attention.

"AMAAAAAYYYYAAAAAAHH!!"

Chikiba looked around. She was alone. Deciding that she was going to go walking around, She called out to Nariko "HEY NARIKOOO!" She yelled. "I'M GOING FOR A WALK AROUND, DON'T FOLLOW ME THOUGH." She had the urge to go explore by herself.

She walked around a building, and then she was gone.

~*~*

She heard him coming, and before he jumped she ran forward a bit and turned around facing Nariko. “Go follow her” she said as she heard Chikiba yelling. “I can see it in your heart you love her, go after her and don’t let her go” Amayah said tonelessly. She just wanted to be left alone at this point. She wished Urufu was here, she missed him slightly. He often angered her over stupid things he did, and she hadn’t had contact with him for ages.

She turned again with her back to Nariko, and walked off. A single tear dropped from her eye as she walked, what had gone wrong? Today seemed so perfect, and now it was ashes. She had to get away. Amayah didn’t cry in front of others, she had never cried in front of another being in her life; and she hadn’t planned on doing so now. Not today.

She picked up her pace to get farther away from Nariko. She was tempted to look back, but that would only invite him back for more; she supposed. Get out of here, she thought. And as she thought this her pace sped up even more. She was halfway between running and power walking now. Home isn’t too far away; maybe if you get far enough out of sight, you can sneak off and never have them find you. Or your home, she thought to herself.

Nariko was faced with a decision now. On one hand, he had Chikiba. She was going to go exploring for a bit. She didn't seem angry, and had even said that she wanted to go off on her own. And Nariko could always follow her scent to find her again. Since she wasn't angry with him for the time being, he doubted she would randomly run away. She had followed him all this way in the first place, hadn't she? But what if she had just said that she wanted to be alone? Maybe she had just said that to see what he would do, to see if he would follow her or not? What if she had just turned a corner, and was waiting for him to follow her? What if she wasn't? If he followed her when she honestly just wanted to be alone, she might get angry at him, and tell him to leave. She might start thinking of him as a stalker kind of person. Though, she had followed him the entire way here. And if he decided to follow Chikiba, Amayah would leave, and if he left her alone, she probably wouldn't be back.

On the other hand, he could stay with Amayah, and try to cheer her up. Something had obviously been bothering her, and he hated to see people upset or sad. He had a pretty good nose, he'd be able to find Chikiba again later. And his ears were pretty good, if something happened, she would probably scream, or make some kind of loud noise that he could hear. Amayah had looked so happy and excited earlier. He wanted to see her happy again. She had told him to go after Chikiba, but she could just be trying to get rid of him so she could get away.

Nariko sighed loudly. What would he do? He had to choose relatively quickly, Amayah was leaving, and she was leaving at a pretty fast pace.

He decided to follow Amayah. He hated to leave people when they were in bad spirits. And if she got really angry at him and ran, he could always go and find Chikiba. He would try his hardest to cheer up Amayah. He had a knack for getting peoples spirits up. He also had a knack for screwing up very badly with people... But that was beside the point. He had made up his mind, he would go after Amayah.

Looking at the distance she had created between them, Nariko ran to catch up with her.

She looked back around the corner of the building. Nariko remained where he was. "Good," she thought. She hadn't wanted him to follow her. She craved independence. And a lot of it at that. Pivoting on her heels, she faced the opposite direction and proceeded on walking straight down a cracked up road. Glancing down at the pavement, Chikiba could barely notice the faded yellow line that separated the two halves of the street. Continuing to walk, she noticed an old grocery store. Her stomach growled just then.

Walking up to the shrapnel covered windows, she started rubbing her palm against the coolness of the window pane. Making a circular pattern in the thin layer of dust that had caked onto the glass, she then peered through the glass. Seeing shelves of food, she decided to grasp the opportunity of filling her belly. Her stomach growled again. She walked over to the door and opened it. Giving a quick glance inside and then outside again, she unbuttoned the pocket of her holster and removed the flashlight. Clicking it on, she stepped inside the store, letting the door swing shut behind her~

~*~*~

Amayah had heard him running toward her, again. That was one persistent canine, she thought to herself half amusedly. She decided to tease him some; she might as well get something from it. She sat down and flicked her tail playfully, then just before he had reached her; she sprang up and did a back flip, which made her fly over his head and end up directly behind the boy. She laughed inaudibly; she was feeling a little better now that she knew someone cared about her. It was nice to feel loved.

Nariko turned around. Was she playing with him? If she was, that would probably mean that she had cheered up a little. This was good, because whenever someone seemed sad or upset near him, it always affected him for the worse. There was a playful expression on her face. She wanted to play? Nariko could play. He started running towards her on all four, and then leaped up into the air, a smile on his face.

"Flying tackle play-fighting leap of doom!"

Upon entering the building, she coughed. Shining the light around, she noticed everything was layered in dust. Walking straight, she didnt notice anything of great importance. The cash registers were rusted. Above, some pipes from the ceiling were leaking liquid. Most likely water. Water!? She hadn't had something decent to drink in days. Advancing towards a pipe, she looked down. At her feet remained a shallow puddle of the substance. She sniffed at it. It had no relevant smell. Taking a small bit, she swished it around in her mouth. After a minute she gurgled it and tilted her head back. forcing the stuff down. Licking her lips, she discovered that it was indeed water. Strike one for her she thought as she lapped at the puddle.

~*~*~

Amayah was surprised by the canine’s sudden leap momentarily, just before he landed on her, however; she rolled over to the left. He made a loud thud as he fell; it made her feel slightly guilty, but she was feeling…odd. First she was playful, and then she felt so lonely, but now it seemed she wasn’t sure what to feel. She liked Nariko a lot, and the other female feline seemed to still dislike her…what was wrong with Amayah? “I-I am going t-to go over there…” she mumbled quickly, almost sounding like gibberish. She didn’t seem to notice.

Standing up rapidly, she gave Nariko a sympathetic look and ran away at full speed. She didn’t want him to follow her this time, and she wasn’t playing anymore. She had never run this fast before in her life; she felt like she was in a race. Her heart hammered in her chest; she wasn’t used to going this fast. She continued to push herself to go on faster, though her every muscle screamed no. The faster she went, the more it hurt, but she wasn’t giving up, she had to get out of here. She had run for what seemed like years; in fact, it was a good ten minutes, she was in a part of town that was always deserted. She assumed he wouldn’t follow her again, but then again…he seemed quite determined in cheering her up.

How cute, she thought. Why does he care so much for me though, he likes the other girl. Is there something about me? Or is he playing some sort of cruel game on my affections too, she thought cruelly. No, that couldn’t be it… she saw the way Nariko tried to distract her to talk to the other feline. Why had he gone after me, instead of the girl he adored so? Now isn’t the time to think of trivial matters like this. She was now walking at a brisk pace, like a power walk. Everywhere on her body ached, her chest felt like a boulder was lying atop it, and her legs were like Jell-O. The rest of her was limp and screaming for her to stop. Why stop?

She never thought she would feel like this again. It was like what humans call gym class, like a twenty mile run. Where your body just screams give up and let me die here. Oddly enough, Amayah hadn’t broken a sweat through her trek. She thought of Nariko, and how confused he must be. Hopefully he had gone back to his feline friend to play with her, but what if he was following her again? As she thought this, her body had decided it had enough. Her legs gave out from under her, making her body crumple up on the dirty gravel covered ground. She let out a soft grunt as her stomach hit the ground hard. She tried getting up, she couldn’t move her limbs. What’s going on!? She had finally pushed herself too hard this time, she couldn’t stand up; she was very weak.

Amayah felt hopeless laying there, she tried calling out for help, but all that left her mouth was a dry cough. Damn it, I am weak, get up! Get up! Come on…get up! GET UP DAMN IT! Nothing happened. She strained every fiber of energy she had and she couldn’t move. The next thing to find her would probably me massive; and hungry. Oh well. I guess if all hope is lost…she might as well admit something she had longed to admit to herself. “Urufu… I-“she began in her head slowly. Before she could even complete her thought in her head however, everything went black. She was out cold.