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The pup's yell took Shiro by surprise, but he quickly got his bearings, taking his prize back in his mouth and sprinting with all his strength past the hunters and pup, vanishing into an alleyway. He stopped and turned around, observing the camp site. He was grateful to have had the chance to get away, and was already beginning to devour the bird, but he was tormented at leaving the pup behind. He wasn't sure what those men would do to him, but if he could stop them, he would...

"A coward?" Kurohi said with a small, seductive laugh, "I never knew that observing a real dog in action was being cowardly." She slowly sauntered out into view, looking over each of the other dogs coldly, her blazing orang-yellow eyes only showing their warmth to the Great Dane. "Well, here I am," she murmured with a playful smirk...

Once he saw the pup was out of danger, Shiro began to wolf down his prize hungrily. He was so focused on eating that he ignored the pup's barking. After a few more moments, he finally sighed, beginning to feel the satisfaction that comes only from a full stomach, and looked at the pup. He owed his life to the little one, but was also rather annoyed at the commanding approach he took to him. "I'm thinking," he growled back to the pup, "that I'm starving and haven't had a decent meal in ages." Slowly he stood up and stretched, nudging the bird towards the little dog, at least a full quarter of meat still attached to the bones. "What about you," he countered, staring at the pup with his arctic eyes, "what were you thinking, jumping at the human's weapon like that?"

"What do I want?" she repeated the question as if she didn't understand, slowly circling around the Dane. She had seen him look over her, and so decided to present herself further, ignoring the other dogs who were practically salivating over her. He kept his cool, and that was something that only confirmed her thoughts. "What do I want...well," she continued as she came back around on the other side of the Dane, raising her tail slightly as she walked past him. She turned to face him directly and sat on her haunches, tilting her head to one side slightly. "What do you think I want?" she asked innocently...

"I was saving you. He would have shot you without a moment's hesitation, you know. Besides," his voice lowered into a mumble, "There's plenty of wild game in Ou. There's no need to steal."

Kazuko's ear swivelled backward. "Someone's here."

***

Charger looked intensely at the female. "I think you want more than you're letting on." He glanced over his shoulder at his comrades, who had been gawking at her like she was a piece of meat. "Ugh, you are pathetic excuses for soldiers! I apologise for their crudeness. Now, can I get you to tell me who you are."

She obviously wasn't a spy, he could see that clear as day now. But whether she wanted him or simply to use him he still was not quite sure.

Shiro-Gekkou scoffed at the pup's remark, his ears perked, already aware of the newcomer even before the little dog had finished his statement. He obviously doesn't know what it means to survive, he thought to himself. He turned his head to face the stranger, and had to look down as he realized it was another pup who had wandered into the area. He looked at the two pups and held back a snicker as he saw the new one imitating the one who saved his life. Great, I'm becoming a baby-sitter all of a sudden, he thought to himself, but not bitterly. Gently, he nudged the remains of the bird to the new pup, for she looked as though she was hungry...

"Oh, it's quite alright," Kurohi said with a small giggle as she watched the hounds snap back to attention at what she was now certain was their leader's bark. Now, to find out if he's the cream of the crop, she thinks to herself as she rises back up. "You most certainly can get me to tell you who I am," she continued playfully, "If..."

The young she-hound observed the older dog's actions. She recognized the gesture from when the larger creatures that stood on their hind legs would offer her food. With quiet whimpers of confusion she asked warily, "Food?" She whimpered more as she eyed it suspiciously, not recognizing the strange dish she was being offered. All that she knew of as food was the dry, crunchy stuff that the hind-walking beings gave to her in the strange containers of theirs.

Not understanding what he meant, she imitated his voice as best as she could, "Go ahead, you look hungry." She shifted which feet she was standing on in her confusion as to what to do as she whimpered and whined helplessly, eyeing them both for any sort of clue. They seemed to have cleared a way for her, but she didn't know what that meant. Were they scared of her? Did they mean to attack her? Were they being friendly? She tucked her tail between her legs from the situation. She decided to use a trick she used for the hind-walkers. She lay down on her stomach, her muzzle to the ground, let her ears droop and made the saddest, most pathetic looking expression she could manage to show she wasn't hostile.

She got up and imitated what he had done, even down to the nudge of the fowl before warily taking a few nibbles. It tasted different than she was used to. It wasn't dry and crunchy, though she couldn't bite through the hard white parts. She liked the taste, and it was evident by the way she tore into the meat ravounessly as though she hadn't eaten in her life.

She imitated his stance after he spoke to her, having now devoured all that was left of the fowl. "You, pup... What's your name?" He was looking at her, so she concluded that he was speaking to her, however, she couldn't make heads nor tails of what he was saying. She recognized 'pup', but didn't know what it meant.