Savage Kingdom

He picked up the human from the mud with one arm under her back and his other under her knees so her head laid on his chest, and went back into the direction where he left the little boy. Much to his relief, the boy was still where he left him and he even jumped out and greeted Kito cheerfully. When he saw him carrying his sister so easily made him even happier, the way the golden man could do it so smoothly. Even if his sister didn’t look all that heavy.

“I can not hold your hand,” Kito said to the boy. “Keep close by my side so I can keep you in my sight.”

“Okay.”

He walked back through the same direction it took to return to the village. He would not take this one to Zeta. No, this one was different, and if anyone was to take care of her it was him. He hopes that nobody would be wandering the village tonight to catch him with her, if anyone knew now then they would want nothing more than to look at her. Something he didn’t want right now.

The village was in sight and minutes later they set foot in the village center.

The little boy was astonished by the view of the village, with all the flowers and hanging vines decorated in beads and color. The Great Fire continues to burn through the rain seems recently tended to by someone, a little more wood should be placed in it. The boy was also impressed by the size, his eyes marveling at all the huts with smoke leaving the small hole and pipe on the top.

This was the first time Kito himself saw the true beauty of all the decorations or even the first time seeing his home in all of its natural shades. He would have stood and observed but his mind was on other problems now, and every second wasted not helping this woman might lead to an infection, and he can smell blood too.

He eases his way up to three steps effortlessly but stops short when his tail was snatched. By instinct he snaps his head behind him and curls his lips to growl, stopping himself quickly before any noise escapes when he saw it was the boy-cub. Kito was moving too fast for the boy to catch up and he grabbed his tail to desperately keep from falling behind. He let the child climb up the stairs a little past him so that he could keep him from grabbing his tail like that again. It was never a pleasant feeling.

“This way,” he guides him towards his hut, watching the small one use his hands to climb up the large steps. He was smaller than Kito had originally thought before, seeing the bag he had on his back was half the side than he was. When they went to the front door the boy’s excitement swelled. “Is this it!?”

“Shh,” Kito tried to silence him. He didn’t want anyone knowing about this yet. “Try not to be loud.”

He only seems briefly sorry before he grabs the handle of the door, pushes it in like the doors he was used to. “I think the door is stuck, I can’t get in.”

This time the Xutashi held in the urge to chuckle that could attract attention, “pull."

He did. He opens it wide enough so Kito can maneuver inside, the boy ran after and stops when Kito turned his head. “Shut the door.”

The door shuts loud enough that Caji jumped on his bed in a flash and when he leaped so did the boy when he shouted in shock. The Kikera falls from the bed and onto a bunch of things that lay on the messy ground and lastly knocks over the bowls and other herbs off the table nearby.

“Caji!” Kito had to swiftly place the woman in the side of his bed, still making sure that he was being careful before he begins to pick up some of the things that had fallen off the table and on the ground. Luckily it was only small berries instead of the powder that would stain everything it touched and would be a pain to get out. “Be more careful!”

Caji looks over at Kito with an apologetic glance before he moves away from the table. He studies the small cub standing near the door and the young rugged female laying on the other bed. He gave the boy a second look and an endless stream of blinks. Humans. He grunts to Kito.

The boy boldly ran up to Caji and grabs the fur vest that he wore, crunching it in his hand. “This is cool! Can I try this on?”

Kito dismisses the infinitely confused Caji and the young child while he gathers all the important medicines from his table, even removing his satchel and placing it on the surface of the ground so he can grab the important bandages and other already packed herbs. When everything important was collected he went to the young woman’s side, automatically working to spot where each of her wounds could be. “Cub, come here.”

“Just call me Kane,” he ran up to Kito’s side and looked at his sister’s poor condition. His happiness disappears just like that. “Will she be okay?”

“I need you to tell me where she was hurt. Everything you know,” so he didn’t have to strip her of all of her clothing although it would be the wisest decision with the heavy wet garments. He had seen clothes like this once before in the Human world that he had briefly gone to for his brother. Humans had a lot of them. The idea of her finding herself awaking with nothing on was one that he didn’t want to deal with, yet her waking up sick from the clothes was another.

“Um...” The boy looks at her and tries to remember her. “Her leg is hurt, and I think that side is hurt,” he pointed to her left side. “He pushed her against the fridge hard. I remember seeing that. He had her against the counter and holding her neck. I thought he was hugging her until I remembered he didn’t hug anyone. Not Clara, they mostly stay away from each other. When she was crying and he was ripping her shirt I knew he was hurting her. They were fighting.”

With every word the boy spoke in his young innocence Kito felt the anger in him rise higher and higher. Her clothes were torn because one was trying to-

He lightly growls, unable to swallow it down and for a moment decides to let the boy hear it. Kane didn’t seem to be scared of it. He stares at him in fascination and unaware that his dark rumbles were from a deep rage, even the vague scent the fool left behind on her now that she was starting to dry.

That was it. One way or the other the clothes have to go. But by the Gods... It couldn’t be him.

He needs another female. It couldn’t be Zeta, nor Mia. Tina was out of the question as well. They had mates to tell.

There was only one in mind that he knew would not speak a word of this.

“Caji,” he gave the Kikera a serious and worried look. It made him listen intently. “Go find Alira and bring her here. You have met her before, bring her here now.”

His ears lowers. Alira was mean to him.

“Now, Caji. Please.”

It was the kind word at the end that motivated him toward the door and was out of the hut in moments. If there was anything to count on him for it would be his speed, he is the fastest one in the village and none could beat him in a race. Not even the quick Kai.

Kito took the time to give the woman a second look in the light. The hut was silent now, the boy occupied with looking through his belongings in his bag to play with to occupy his time. He needs to get out of his clothing soon as well and keep a close eye on him so he would know when the air will take him, but one problem at a time.

He wishes that he could get rid of the mud and clothes that covered her. The mud was dry and cracked on her face, neck, and any other exposed skin and her clothes were refusing to dry. He might even need to place more blankets and remove the soaked ones after he convinces Alira to help remove him. He would not touch her until he gets to fixing her wounds.

The colors around him soothe his eyes by the simple image was enough to make him stare in a trance at her. He couldn’t help but let the reality settle in of who this woman was. The very reason she and the little boy was brought here was for him. Him.

She gave him color.

That thought itself should have him mindlessly standing with deep, heavy breaths. He can see the color of her hair which would only be pure black before. He can see the hint of blue that the light of the fire exposed. It was halfway dry, a bit crusty now, and scattered around her head, her jawline curved and a faint line of fingers could be seen where it had been. Her face held a purple bruise under her eye and her small bottom lip bares a small cut.

She has a small curved nose, a heart-shaped head that her fringes hugged. Her body as he felt before was much smaller than any of the other women that he had seen come here, but she had to be taller than Mia. Some had curves. This woman has tiny hips and legs.

There was potential beauty he couldn’t see yet, but he wanted to.

Later the door opens again and Alira enters with Caji close behind her. He is thankful for Caji’s speed.

The Kikera shuts the door behind him. Alira took one step into the room before she pauses, her eyes falling on the bed and sticks there. Her tail fell immediately. “W-What did Caji bring me here for?”

She was wondering why the Kikera nearly dragged her through the village for. Now standing her she was afraid to know the answer.

There was only one person he would ever allow in his bed.

Kito thought it would be easier to tell her. Yet, seeing the lonely female before him made it suddenly hard. But it was the woman on the bed that reminded him why he needed her in the first place, so he began to speak, “I need you to take off her clothes for me, I need to check her wounds. I also need one of your tunics.”

Her ears lower in sync with her tail, a gloomy expression covers her face. She inhales deeply. “W-Why?”

He bestows her a small look that seemed to be enough to answer her question, she could see the brightness that filled his usually darkened blue eyes. His eyes were bright enough to be filling with light. Like Kai’s.

“Do it for me, Alira.”

She bites her lip lightly with her fang, not hard enough to break the skin. “I-Is she the one?”

“I need it done now,” he stands from his sitting position before. “Her wounds need to be treated soon so no infection sets in. I know you will not tell any other about this tonight, I do not want the others to know.”

She looks over to see a little boy playing with strange objects in the corner of the room, not seeming to mind anyone but himself with his back turned to Alira. She peers back at Kito for an answer.

She never receives it. “Now.”

Kito went to the corner of the hut as Alira approach the bed where the woman lays. To keep Caji busy she tells him to go to her hut and retrieve one of her tunics. The Kikera did go in a flash while she started using her dagger to cut the clothes rather than waking her pulling it off by hurting her since it clung to her skin. The shirt went first, falling on the wooden ground with a light thud. The pants that were taken off hit the ground much harder to prove their heaviness.

Alira didn’t know what to do with the strange undergarments she wore and left them alone. Seeing the woman was painful enough to her as it was, she would rather not see her nude.

Caji returns with a tunic she wishes that he had not gotten because it was her favorite. A beautiful beaded outfit that had colors of light blue, purple, and soft yellow feathers and smooth silky fabrics. It was one of her nicest outfits that she wishes she had not laid out for him to see. “You should go back and get another one-”

“It doesn’t matter,” Kito’s voice rumbles from the corner with his back turned. “Until something else is found I will give whichever it is he’s gotten back later. I just need her changed,” He decides to use this time to gather some more blankets, which he did by going to his large basket where plenty of them was that his mother loved gifting him. She believed one can never be too warm during cold nights, but it was an excuse to keep making blankets.

She gives a sad expression as she reached to grab the outfit from Caji and puts it on the human alone. She had to lift her torso to put it over her head and slide one of her arms through a small hole that would make the tunic keep only one shoulder exposed and the other halfway covered, and sliding the rest down to a few inches above knees was easy. The human didn’t weigh too much to be a problem.

“I’m done,” she walks away from the bed and kept a solemn look after Kito quickly returns to the bed to move the girl to the dry area to place more blankets to start tending to her wounds.

“You should go now,” he didn’t want her here while he worked. “I don’t want-”

“I know,” she had her hand already on the handle of the door. “I’m... Not needed anymore from now on... Right?”

He wishes he didn’t know what she meant by those words. She didn’t mean just for this moment... one would think that she would not want his company any longer after what she provoked him to do earlier.

He also remembered his brother’s words.

“Yes,” he at least had the sympathy to give her a small smile. A smile that she had tried to get him to give her for a while now. It made her want to tear up on the spot. She wished it was her that gave him that ability to do so in the first place.

She didn’t smile back at him when she left. He didn’t take the time to even care, the first thing he starts to do was place her perfectly on the blankets so that he could first check her face, which was the easiest the heal with a small lick on his thumb and moving it over the bruise under her eye and lip to take it away. He could see why Ser’avi gifted them with that now, and he was lucky to have her sleep through this.

The cuts could be healed this way because it was small, the other large bruises will be tougher to handle. The one on her leg for the matter.

He hated that contact was inevitable by this, and also he didn’t want to change her he would still have to touch her. He would attempt to make as little contact as possible.

He lifts the tunic slightly higher to reveal the large bruise of her leg from the impact of this strange fridge object she was pressed against. He uses a mixture of a crushed powder and Ikna, Ikna was the best to use for medicine. Even for birthing, which makes the woman calm and feels little to no pain or aches throughout the process with its potency and was harmless to the cub. It was very unique but also sometimes hard to find berry.

It would also make the pain fade from the bruise, the powder mixture should help it be gone by tomorrow hopefully. This was the best way without her consuming it and becoming drowsy herself, which he didn’t want with her already sleeping. His experience with Mia with it changed his mind about his uses for it.

The memory of Kai randomly ambushing him in the jungle one day as revenge for his candle stunt, the bruises he gave him took many suns to heal. Kito assumed after helping him with Fang he would forget about that. If there was one thing about Kai, it was that he didn’t forget. After Mia’s first Heat ended he dragged him through the mud. Literally.

He wasn’t sure what idea he had planned for Pippie or if anything was done quite yet.

Caji stood close and watched how tenderly Kito touched the woman’s skin, which was causing his fingers to feel slight tingles he knew wasn’t from the medicine.

Caji knew it was her for him. He knew it by the way he looked at her and how he hovered above her body from beside the bed and didn’t dare touch her. He was treating her like something breakable. Caji slightly smiles at this.

Kane looks up and saw his sister lying in the bed and the man over her, and at first, he was worried it was the same situation with Richard when he had her cornered. But seeing the golden man lightly touching, seeing how he managed to take away the cuts in her face and how dry she was now, he knew the little girl lead them to the right place.

His lungs burned, but Caji managed to catch him before he fell.