FSE

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Boy, it's been a while, huh? Sorry about that, dunno what happened. Yes, I know I said I'd have it up a couple weeks ago, but I had to leave for a vacation before I got done and lost all my momentum on it. Why didn't I write while I was there? Hm... A 14 hour drive down to South Padre Island, Texas, followed by a week SCUBA diving, and then another 14 hour drive back. Yeah, tons of time to work. Anyway, here's the chapter, enjoy. Oh, and as usual, comment and critic to your heart's content.

They were awoken from their reverie growling of Toren's stomach. Both Rohan and Kitara looked down at him at the same time, touching their heads together. With a grin, Rohan did his best impression of the growl that came from Toren's hungry stomach, doing well enough to earn him confused looks from both his brother and mate. Laughing, Rohan pointed a silver paw to the deer remaining by the cave wall.

"Over there, Toren, get what you want and cook it on the coals; they should be perfect right about now." The boy nodded and slipped from between the wolves without a word. After walking over to the deer, he looked around, obviously confused.

"Hey, Rohan?" His brother's light voice came thick with confusion. Rohan looked up from Kit, whom he had just about been to kiss.

"Yeah?" He asked, wondering what his little brother would want, as well as why he was so confused.

"Where do I take the meat from?" Toren asked, turning to look at Rohan. Rohan sighed and kissed Kit on the cheek quickly.

"I'll help him, too, Rohan." Kitara said, standing up quickly before padding over to the small figure. Kitara and Rohan gave Toren a slightly abbreviated speech about the different cuts of meat you could get from a deer, describing the taste of each and how to cook them, happily including a few of the organs so they could watch him squirm uncomfortably.

When they finished with their lesson, Rohan pointed at the deer and called out a cut of meat.

"Loin." (That'd be near the spine, and possibly including it, on the rear half of the deer, just in case you didn't know. Think a T-bone steak, but from a deer.) The mated pair watched as Toren thought hard for a moment, remembering the location, before unsheathing a sharp knife, made thick enough to be able to handle the job from the small of his back and making a cut. It was straight in a downward direction, but angled so the cut was much thicker on one side that it was on the other (Meaning, if looked at from the top, the knife would appear as a line. However, if the perfect cut would have the knife running through 0 and 180 degrees on a circle, this cut would be at least 10 degrees off) He held it up for Rohan to see, smiling hopefully.

"Not bad for your first time, work on a straighter cut for next time though. Toren nodded, and after seeing Kit whisper something into Rohan's ear, a sudden thought struck him.

"Hey brother. If you're married to Kitara, doesn't that make her my sister?"

Rohan stopped mid-whisper to Kit "I guess it does, doesn't it? You catch that Kit? Toren made the point that if you're my wife, and he's my brother, that makes you two brother and sister."

Kit nodded, "I never really thought about it, but yeah, it does." She turned to look at Toren and smiled at him toothily. True to form, Toren returned the smile with one of his own. Rohan took the cut Toren was still holding up and pointed to the deer

"Cut two more, would'ja?" He nodded and cut two more, improving slightly each time. Rohan put them all over the coals to cook, one at a time as his brother cut them. They all sat quietly, waiting for the meat to finish, Rohan and Kitara were tempted to pull off their pieces to annoy Toren, but decided against it and just sat close together with Rohan's strong arm wrapped around her, going from her shoulder across her back, down to her waist. Kit snuggled up close to him happily, watching the fire.

"You know Rohan, we can't just keep your, err...our brother here. The village would wonder where he went, and send out people looking for him. Well, it wouldn't take a great tracker to follow a set of wolf prints away from...your father and come here." Rohan and Toren both stiffened at the mention of their father; Toren lowered his head and looked at the ground between his crossed legs, while Rohan leaned his head against Kit's then sighed a little before nuzzling her.

"Yeah, you're right. Toren, we're gonna have to take you back to the village right after we eat, it's the second morning since you left, people are gonna start to worry." Toren's head snapped up to look at his brother.

"But who's gonna take care of me? I don't know what to do yet...I didn't even know how to cut meat till today, and I'm not very good at that..." He looked at his brother with pleading eyes. Rohan gestured for him to come over and Toren wasted no time in doing so. He sat down in Rohan's lap, facing the fire. Rohan squeezed Kit apologetically before putting his arm around Toren instead, receiving a look of 'You don't have to apologize' in return. Toren hugged Rohan's arms and rubbed his head on the soft silver fur. Rohan freed one of his arms and slid Toren's knife from its sheath at his back and stabbed the thickest piece of meat, pulling it off the fire, he held it in his paw and cut into the thickest part, in this case on one side because of his brother's uneven cut. Seeing it was cooked, he speared the others, which were thinner and gave one to Kit. The other two he held in one paw, then slid the knife, which had a ten-inch long, slightly curved blade and a handle of about five, comfortable for an adult human, as it was meant that Toren would keep it. Rohan found it a little small, but he had big paws.

Handing the meat to his brother, he said, "Take it by the handle, the meat's pretty hot." Toren took it and looked up at Rohan, puzzled.

"But if it's hot, how come you're just holding it?" Chuckling, the lupine brother held his paw in front of Toren's face, showing him his pad.

"Well, I'm a bit better protected, pads are thicker than palms." He explained, before taking a large bite from the piece of deer. Toren tried to take a bite, but only received a couple of searing lips.

"OW!! That's HOT! " He slapped a hand to his mouth and cringed. After several minutes passed, he tried again, rewarded this time with a much less painful bite.

Upon finishing their breakfast, they all stood up, with plentiful groans as they stretched unused leg muscles.

"Hey Rohan. Won't everyone want to kill you the second they see you?" Asked Toren, obviously concerned.

"Me and Kit already talked about that. Neither of us are gonna look like this. I'll look like a human, and she'll look like a wolf. I just have to dig around for my old clothes. Which I'm gonna do right now." Putting his words into actions, Rohan pads farther back into his cave and rummages around in his pack for a while before pulling out the clothes he hadn't worn since just after he met Kit. Without waiting or explaining anything to Toren, he changed into his human form, which he was slightly surprised to find had continued growing while he was in his demon form. He now stood several inches taller than he had before, at just over six feet tall. Although he wasn't shy, he was still relieved that his shirt came down past his waist, as his pants became a pile at his ankles. He quickly pulled on his shirt, cloak and a belt with a knife, then did something he done for a very long time, he cut his hair so it didn't even fall to his shoulders. He walked out of the cave, throwing the hood of his cloak on as he trailed an extremely perplexed Toren and a grinning Kitara holding Toren's hand, pulling him along as he struggled to put on his pack while walking. Kit helped him and they all began walking to toward the village, which they wouldn't arrive at until just after noon.

As they walked, Toren asked, "Hey, brother, how did you do that? Change into a human again?" Rohan slowed down a little to let Kit and Toren catch up before answering,

"Well, to skip the details that you wouldn't understand, it was magic. Something I picked up while I was gone." Toren was happy to provide more questions and conversation until they all grew near enough to the village that Kitara shifted into a wolf and Rohan grew quieter, he didn't want the news of his transformation, magic and travels to reach unwanted ears. A group of men, ready to go looking for Toren, met them in the town square. Seeing him accompanied by a cloaked figure with golden eyes glowing in the darkness of a hood, trailing a night-black wolf that looked as though, while it was comfortable with those two as company, it wouldn't be so docile in the company of others, The townspeople stopped all the conversation and just stared at the strange arrivals to their village.

"Toren?" Asked one of the men in the group, finding his way through the surprise before any of the others.

"Yessir?" Replied Toren in a slightly shaky voice, standing close to Rohan's side as Kitara sat on her haunches at the boy's side and leaned on him a little.

"Who is this? And what is that?" Demanded the man, whose name was Cilim (Sil-uhm), as he took a step forward and pointed to Rohan adding his second inquiry with a finger pointing at Kit, who stared back at him, making him glance at her nervously after he fell silent. Toren reached down his hand and scratched Kit behind the ears as he answered,

"This is Rohan, my brother, and that's a wolf. Sir." Rohan smirked a bit in the darkness of his hood at his brother's reply to Cilim's outright rudeness.

Rohan was feeling a bit odd, lacking fur and his usually keen senses, but he pulled off his hood and folded his arms across his chest as he said, "I'm able to speak for myself you know." Cilim looked at Rohan, interrupted from telling off Toren, then glanced down when met with piercing golden eyes. The group behind Cilim glanced between Rohan, whose gaze swept over them every few seconds, and Kitara, who was playing with Toren, nipping at his hand as he tried to poke the sides of her muzzle. Cilim and the rest of the group began questioning Rohan.

"How old are you?"

"I'll be 18 in four days."

"Why is your hair silver?"

"I don't know; it's always been this way."

"What's with your eyes?"

"Again, I don't know, this is how they've always been."

"Why do you have a wolf with you?"

"We're pretty attached. I met her in my traveling and she's been with me since then."

"Yeah? Well, I don't like it, I've only hear of sorcerers and demons having wolves as familiars"

"Well I don't-" The next question interrupter Rohan, not that he minded a bit, in fact, he was a bit relieved.

"Travels?"

"Yes, a little more than a year ago I went traveling."

"Where'd you go?"

"I went north for a while, but returned here recently."

"Where do you live?"

"A little bit to the north"

"Why didn't you bring Toren back sooner?"

"We were catching up. Brothers have a lot to talk about after a year."

"Where's Raynys?" (Rain-iss)

Rohan and Toren both frowned, Rohan sighed, "He died. There was an accident while he was hunting. We took care of him already." The men all gave many small comments of 'He was a good man.' and other clichés after they recovered from the shock, then stopped with the questions and made a meeting for the next day, where they'd get more answers.

After walking with Rohan, Toren, and Kit to Toren and Raynys's house, the men split off and went to their respective homes, leaving the trio standing at the door in a sudden silence. Glancing back and forth for a moment, Toren opened the door and led them all inside, trying not to look at his father's things. Rohan closed the door and looked down at Kit, who then changed back into her demon form and kissed him quickly. Despite the fact that she now wore only fur, it was more than thick enough to cover her more intimate areas from the casual eye, although more scrupulous observing would reveal a bit more. Toren turned around to ask where Rohan wanted to sleep and jumped about a foot when he saw Kitara.

"Whoa! Could you make a noise or something when you do that?" Toren exclaimed, bringing a smile to the wolfess's muzzle.

"Sorry about that, I'll say something next time." She apologized.

"Make sure no one sees you, Kit, they're suspicious enough with a regular wolf." Rohan advised.

Kitara gave him a look that made Toren flinch as she replied with dripping sarcasm, "Thanks, I didn't realize." Rohan just smiled and laughed.

Lacking much to do, they all sat around for a while, talking and slowly going through their father's things, putting them out of the way. Soon though, they began to get restless, Toren just flopped onto his bed and fell asleep, Rohan and Kitara, after making sure Toren was sleeping soundly and waiting a moment for Kit to become a wolf once more, left to go play with the village children.

Cilim sat in his chair before his fireplace, staring into the coals of the fire that was left smoldering during the day so it could be quickly made larger during the night. Something was troubling him. The strange eyes and silver hair of the man from earlier, they seemed familiar from somewhere, and it gave him an uneasy feeling, because he knew it wasn't something good they were associated with, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. Shrugging it off and hoping it would come to him later, he idly waved a quick goodbye to his daughter, Dyina (Dee-in-uh) as she went out to play after grabbing her lunch.

Kitara was the center of attention as she and Rohan walked up to the group of children. They all backed away a little and formed a tighter group than before, no longer interested in deciding what game they wanted to play. However, when a girl, noticed Rohan's hair and eyes, produced a small squeal of delight, and pointed to him, they all crowded around him, until Kit became too squished for her comfort and let out a small growl, after which she was given plenty of room. Rohan sat down cross-legged and was joined a second later by the kids.

"Hey, Mister Wolf, what're you doing back?" Rohan grimaced and put a finger to his lips.

"Shh, don't let anyone know alright? You all promised; remember? Oh, and I forgot to tell you all last time, call me Rohan."

"I remember, Mr. Rohan! I haven't told anybody."

"That's good."

"Who's the wolf?"

"Her name is Kitara." He replied, putting a hand on her head as she laid it on his leg.

"Where'd you go Mr. Rohan? It's been a long time since we saw you."

"I went up north for a while, that's where I met Kit, and then I came back here."

"Hey, you wanna play with us?"

"Sure, what're we gonna play?"

"How bout Hide 'N Seek?"

"Alright."

Within two seconds of the game being agreed on, all the kids had screamed, "NOT IT!" Rohan chuckled and covered his eyes.

"50?"

"Yeah, 50. Go!"

"1...2...3...4..." The sound of small feet left Rohan behind as they scattered away.

"...49...50." He opened his eyes and glanced around, he could already see three different kids looking at him from their hiding places, pulling their heads back when he looked their direction, then slowly poking it out again. Rohan stood up and started walking towards the village, where all the kids were hiding, since they weren't allowed to go into the forest without their parents yet. He got a couple of kids right off, since they'd cornered themselves and had nowhere to run. After a few more minutes, Rohan had gotten them all, not without some difficulty. Having been the first found, Dyina grumped until she started counting about how it 'wasn't fair', but she cheered up after she finished counting and looked around. Seeking revenge, she immediately went looking for Rohan, disregarding the other children completely, much to their delight. Rohan was hiding in the small space between two houses, hoping she wouldn't come and look for him there. He kept watch in one direction, and Kitara in the other, Rohan could have done it all himself, but Kitara was becoming slightly bored with just watching so she helped. As the small blond-haired girl, with hair down past her shoulders, came around the corner and let out a shout of victory, Rohan held back a smile and turned to run the other way, only to be met by a crowd of kids blocking his path.

After being caught, Rohan sighed and shook his head; he wasn't sure whether the 'bystanders' were actually just watching, or if they blocked his path on purpose. Either way, it didn't matter, he'd lost. The kids, easily bored by repetitiveness, wanted to play Tag instead. Rohan shook his head and declined to play, opting to just watch instead, and was joined by Dyina, to more than a bit of his surprise. She surprised him again by sitting next to him, sidling up to his arm, wrapping both arms around his arm and leaning her head against it.

"I dunno why, Mr. Rohan, but I like you. I feel like I'm safe around you." Rohan glanced down at Kitara, who gave him a wolf-smile and nothing more.

Rolling his eyes at his mate, he turned to Dyina and smiled, "I'm glad you do."

"How come you're not a wolf this time?" She asked, watching the others play.

"Well, the adults here wouldn't like it, they'd make me leave." He replied.

"But why? You didn't do anything wrong, you're just different, and you're here. Why would they want you gone?"

Rohan stopped a moment to wish the view of children on more people before answering, "Well, it's because I'm different. That's enough for them, I don't actually have to do anything, just be different enough." Kitara got up off her side and licked Rohan's face, then laid down in his lap, curling up to fit, resting her head on his thigh.

The minutes slipped by and the game played changed, before long, Dyina had fallen asleep, holding tightly to Rohan's arm. As the number of kids playing diminished and the calls of parents increased, Rohan stood up, careful to hold on to Dyina so she didn't fall. Prying her arms from around his, he held her to his chest with her head resting on his shoulder. He looked down at Kitara, who had stood up just before him and was looking up at him.

"Can you find her house? I don't know which one it is, and my nose isn't quite as good at the moment." Kitara nodded and sniffed the air a couple times before padding off, immediately followed by Rohan, holding the sleeping Dyina. They soon came to the house in question and Rohan knocked on the door. A blond-haired woman, who took a moment to give Rohan a confused and surprised look, met him soon.

"What'dya want at this hour? It's the middle of sup-" Called out Cilim from within before he registered whom he was yelling at and stopped abruptly.

Rohan smiled and gestured to Dyina, "She fell asleep, so I didn't want to wake her." Astia (Az-tee-uh), the girl's mother took her from Rohan, "Thank you."

He nodded and turned to leave, "It was no problem." He said before heading back to the house. Astia laid Dyina down in her bed and tucked her in.

"Cilim, is that the man you think is so bad?"

"Yes Astia, that's the man." He responded.

"Well, before you make a stupid decision, come and take a look at your daughter." Cilim stood up from the chair at the table and went over, expecting something bad, instead, he saw his daughter, sleeping peacefully, with a slight smile on her face.

"What? Nothing's wrong with her." He said, as if he'd been expecting a terrible illness or something of that nature.

"Exactly. When was the last time you saw her sleep like that? Usually she'll only go to sleep if one of us is with her; even then, she tosses and turns if we leave. Yet here she is, sleeping sounder than ever. So tell me, what kind of terrible man does this? I'm sure evil men everywhere make small children sleep soundly, right? Come on, he even has a brother, and I know Toren, there is no way he's evil."

"Well, there's one way to make sure." Cilim countered.

"Oh, don't tell me you're going to do some stupid test." Astia said exasperatedly.

"No, well, not really. If he's not the demon, we've got one nearby. We just go on the demon hunt as planned and take him with us. I doubt a demon would lose the opportunity to take out so many people at one time, of course, we'd be going to hunt a demon, so we'd be ready for him." Cilim explained.

"Assuming he is, what if he actually succeeds in killing everyone, hmm? You'll have just left our village defenseless." Astia pointed out.

"Yes, but then news would get out, and that army of demon fighters would come and make short work of him, I have no doubt that demons know about them, so basically, it's only in the village's favor. If he does nothing, he probably won't, and we don't need to worry too much, if he attacks us and we kill him, problem solved, if he attacks us and we die, he'll be killed by the army of demon slayers. Essentially, he has no way to win; this is just to see if we can solve the problem before it begins." Cilim finished.

"Hm. I guess you thought this out more than I realized. Fine. Do what you will, just know that I don't think you have the right man." Astia said as she began picking up the table and putting things away.

Rohan came to the meeting the next day, and answered quite a few questions to the satisfaction of the populace, and was invited on a demon hunt the next day, which he agreed to, although since he was the demon they were looking for, he really didn't expect much action, as he didn't even like scaring people badly, as he'd done in the past (Check Chapter 4 if you don't remember.). Still, he went anyway.

The morning came sooner than Rohan would've liked, but he was ready, dressed in his father's spare hunting clothes and carrying his bow, which, as was the custom, was passed to the eldest son of the family when the previous owner died. Along with the bow, he carried a spear, given to all of those involved in the hunt. They set off at dawn, and Kitara met them at the edge of the forest, scaring the villagers a bit, since they hadn't seen her for two days and had put her out of mind. They walked the forest until noon, when they stopped to eat some dried meat and bread with cheese. Just as they stood up, Kitara gave a warning growl, just that to the townspeople, but to Rohan, it was speech, and he didn't like what he heard.

"Rohan, there's a demon coming, he's not even bothering to mask his demonic energy. I don't think he's looking for a nice chat." Rohan cursed, he couldn't use magic as a human near as well as when he was a demon, and he wasn't sure he could take on demon magic with just a bow and a spear. He felt the energy, but it didn't bother him as much as it seemed to bother Kit. Seeing Rohan's actions and hearing Kit's continued growling, all the men stood up and made ready themselves. Cilim, who first looked to Rohan as if it might be him that the ominous feeling they all felt was coming from, turned around as a blast of wind came from the east. Cilim hadn't counted on this, that the demon wouldn't be Rohan, and it would show up, still, the fact of the demon slayer army still remained, so he took only a moment to worry about it. As they watched, a figure shrouded in bright green flames stepped from the forest and looked at the group. Rohan paled and Kitara glanced up at him.

"What?" She asked him in wolf.

"I know who that that is. It's Tanis."

Hm...What's Rohan gonna do now? Guess you'll all just have to wait an' see won'tcha? *Evil laughter*