KH: Pawprints
Title: Pawprints
Author: Trilies
Genre: Friendship
Word length: 1235
Sypnosis: Dying in the jungle is a predator's worst fear. Luckily, Sabor won't be dying today if her odd new acquaintance has anything to say about it. Sabor&Lexaeus friendship, slight AU twist, Mother!Sabor
Yaoi/Yuri/Pairings: Sabor&Lexaeus friendship, Sabor+cubs familyship
Notes: I asked around, inquiring about Sabor's gender, and no one could say something positively, so for all intents and purposes, I'm gonna say she's a girl. Besides, the mother's have white tips on their tails to communicate with their cubs while teaching them how to hunt, so there. Also, this friendship can be blamed on the Gaia Online Kingdom Hearts roleplay Kill the Hero
Pawprints
She is dying.
In a world such as hers, there is no such thing as 'honor', as 'a noble death'. There is only birth, life, and death. And her life is staining her golden fur, drying in clumps around her spots. It's leaking into the dirt. Soon, her life, her death, will fuel other lives... just not those which lie within her. No. Not likely.
Once sharp eyes are dimming, and the leopardess can only pant and growl in pain on the jungle floor. The wound the two-legs dealt her with his odd fake-horn is terrible, but had missed her not-yet-borns. If only she had a day more, they could be born and then die just as quick; the jungle is cruel. It has no time for cubs with no mother.
Quickly, the great cat blinks her eyes, and the vivid green of the jungle snaps into black. Just for a moment, she thinks, but when she opens them again, the sun is higher in the sky, and a two-legs in black stands before her.
A dying hunter she may be, but some life still flows in her veins yet. With a cub's kind of growl, laced with pain, she struggles to her paws. Stained claws dig into the mud and fallen leaves as she shakes, baring her teeth. The world flickers in and out, and her entire body hurts. She is easy prey... No longer a mighty predator the whole jungle feared.
The two legs is not cowed by her display; he just looks her over with cool, calm eyes of blue. All the two-legs she has seen eat things of the earth, but they can still be fearsome fighters like their fake-family of gorillas. Not only that, but there is very little love between the great predators and their prey.
For a moment, they are at a standoff: she remains on guard while he simply stares at her. At last, he steps forward. The clumsy slowness of her swiping claws is easily avoided, and the leopardess waits for the end, so sure of it is she. However, death does not come. The two-legs' touch is gentle as his hands brush against her fur, and his might great as he picks her up into his arms.
Eventually, exhaustion and pain take their toll, and as the leopardess loses herself to blackness, she can feel leaves brushing against her face.
When she awakes, the leaves are gone, and there is a new pain. It is new, foreign; never before has there been a pain like this, yet by nature's law, she knows what is happening. With a low growl, she digs her claws into a ground of smooth bark and forces her insides to push. Her surroundings blur around her, but that does not matter. New lives are emerging into this world, new heartbeats to match that of the Jungle's. Distantly, she is aware of hands on her, easing the process of birth.
Later, so much so that she is not sure if a moon has passed or not, it is finally over. Sleep desires to claim her again, and as she shuts her eyes, she can feel four sets of clumsy mouths seeking her stomach for milk.
The next time she opens her eyes, it is with a clear mind and no pain. Sleepily, she raises her head, ears perking up. The ground beneath her is soft, the cubs against her stomach all warm and alive, and the place she is in is familiar. Perhaps it is rare for one such as she to remember something so long ago, yet she does. She remembers stumbling on clumsy new paws with her brother, after their mother. She remembers being carried, and remembers watching a kill for the first time. It had been of a pair of two-legs in this very place, this odd den above and among the trees. However, now it has changed slightly. It is a cleaner place now, more sturdy, and foreign things have been added.
In the middle of this den is the two-legs from before.
The black hide he wore before is gone, for the most part, except on his hind legs. Like all two-legs, the only fur he has is on his head; while longer than hers, the ginger-colored strands are still rather short. What she finds of most interest is his muscular frame. It's just as impressive as any silverback, and the scars on his chest and arms show he's either a skilled survivor, a warrior... or perhaps a very lucky coward. But she doubts that.
Keeping quiet, she sizes him up. No movement besides the calm in-out of his breathing. His legs are crossed, and his eyes are closed. He could almost be mistaken as asleep. After she's sure he will not move, the leopardess directs her attention to herself. The wound from the gorillas' two-legs is miraculously gone. In its place is only a pale scar, visible because of the thinning of her fur around the area. No pain plagues her, save that of her hunger. It's a thin easily forgotten as she looks upon the small shapes curled up against her.
In some way, it surprises her to see them all there, breathing easily and life-warm on her skin. Only one is smaller than the rest, perhaps a little thinner, and she finds herself wondering over the little female. Khepara, she instantly names her. An unlucky name, some might say, but the leopardess mother is not the optimistic sort. The Jungle can be harsh and unforgiving at the sight of even the smallest weakness.
Feeling eyes upon her, the leopardess' head snaps up so that her golden eyes can glare fiercely at the two-legs. He returns her glare with that cool gaze of his, still unmoved. Instinctively, despite his kindness shown, she thinks the worst when he rises to his feet. The attack she expects does not come and instead the two-legs moves to the higher level of his den. Her ears twitch; they catch the sound of bones snapping. Her nostrils flare; they capture the smell of a fresh kill. Soon, the two-legs returns with a hooved prey in his hands. Its neck dangles limply, broken clean. She eyes it hungrily, envying the meal, and can only blink when the two-legs drops the prey before her.
A gift. Unusual, at least for her kind. Edging closer to the dead beast, the leopardess glances back up at the two-legs. There is no hostility in his spirit, shown in the language of his body and his open eyes. This, she realizes, is a gesture of friendship. Normally, such a thing isn't something she'd accept. This is a... special case. He doesn't feel like other two-legs. There is an absence in him, like a cave waiting to be filled by a family, yet at the same time, something about him reminds the leopardess of the earth beneath her feet when she hunts, the heartbeat of a world pounding against her claws. In some way, he is... trustworthy.
The absence tells her he will not harm her for senseless reasons, unlike most two-legs. The earth spirit which rests on his shoulders says to her that he will be a steadfast ally.
She accepts his gift.
Later, as she cleans her face and licks her paws, he speaks in that odd tongue of the two-legs. He gestures to himself, repeats that one word. Lecks-ee-us. She returns the introductory courtesy, the language of the leopards rumbling from her chest.
Sabor.