“Found you”



She felt every single hair from her fur rise up as she heard the heavily accented words from the deep voice she already could recognize. She turned around in heartbeat, looking in the familiar face of the Esthor. ‘They called him chief’ she remembered, and she specially remembered how insensible he seemed when he commanded her to be imprisoned on a cage.



“You’re persistent… So not to say you’re extremely stubborn” He continued.



She stepped back, breathing even quicker than when she was running her way through the forest, toward the door she now was backpedaling to and into the bunker.



“Y-you shouldn’t have come…” She hesitated to say, continuing to walk back.



“Ah, dear, do not worry, I came here not to hurt you” He said, following her steps with a calm face and a slightly creepy smile.



“You think I was born yesterday..?” She asked with indignation. She finally hit the counter of the kitchen with her lower back, feeling around until she found a knife and grabbed it tightly.



“I only need someone with your abilities… It is not everyone that can escape from a prison with any of the guards being none the wiser, and even stealing from her captors!” He laughed slightly “No, I didn’t come here to do any harm to you, I could have much before I started to follow you to here… No, no, I came here to make a proposal” He seemed utterly convinced of himself, she gathered, a narcissistic smile and body language that left no doubt on how much full of himself he was.



She still looked at him with suspicion “What sort of proposal?” She asked still suspicious of his intent.



“For you to work for me… In exchange for some benefits we can give you” He said, his posh smile still disgusting on his face.



She was about to respond-- “M-mum… I’m hungry” A small voice interrupted her. She turned her head to look to her cub, with his large eyes looking at her with plead. She went to him with a worrisome expression, holding him on her arms.



“Oh, Hachi, I’m sorry, I won’t be able to make Gyudon today…” She said, with a sorry tone on her voice.



“But you promised that you’d do it today…” The cub said, now sad and upset over his favorite meal not being what they’d have to eat that day.



“I’m sorry, but I had some issues today… We can still eat some of the roots we still have…” She said, resentful, remembering the occasion on the market, with one of the ‘chief’s’ men pushing her and making her purse rip open, spilling all the supplies she had bought that day. The memory soured even more her vision of the Esthor on her living room. She turned back, with a face full of resent and disappointment on herself, and a tint of salt against the man who invaded her space. When she put her eyes back on him, however, she saw a face full of doubt and regret, radically contrasting his full-of-himself grin. He had his eyes lowered, unfocused as if many thoughts crossed his mind, all negative and self-punishing.



She hesitated for a moment “I accept your offer” She said finally, tightening her lips as he looked to her, with disbelief and still resent on his expression.