As she lazed around, she remembered about her pets. Kuro would almost always climb up to snuggle with her at least, Hana suddenly realized the cave was empty.[Aik? The kids are gone?] Even Shiro went out. She was a bit downhearted with this fact. She thought her pets will stay beside her and ease her unhappiness.
She walked to her usual spot with a heavy heart and lay down upon the campfire.
[It"s time I message Mak(1).] She took a deep breath and try to instill some courage in her heart.
She swiped open her smartphone and checked from the contact list. True with her speculation, Arash must"ve asked her mom to install the LINE chatting app. Her mom"s contact appeared in the list.
She started typing with apprehension.
[Hope she won"t be too worried and angry T.T.]
...
"Snake, take it slow. I want to help too." Shiro growled to the black snake. It knew the wretched snake purposely increased its pace to leave it behind as it limped hurriedly. The OKU (2) needed to exert itself a little harder to catch up. The snake shot from tree to tree leisurely in a rapid pace while eyeing its new "comrade-in-arms" unhappily from the corner of its eyes. The forest had become dimmer as the sun was getting lower.
"Come on! It"s not like I want mom to cuddle me! It"s annoying to me too!" Shiro complained sheepishly with a blush. However, since it was so bushy, it was hard to notice.
"You better shut up! Be grateful mom accepted you, you ungrateful wretch!" Kuro shot back with a snarl. The fox was really rubbing salt on its wounds. If not for its big body, perfect for carrying things, it would"ve left it long ago.
Shiro sighed defeatedly. True, it did enjoy their mom"s touch (only slightly as it tried to convince itself repeatedly). It gave it a weird belonging sensation it never felt before. However, it would never admit to anyone, including itself.
They moved towards the bamboo grove beside the Crystal-veined stream Hana used to score the previous grandpa bamboo. It only took around three minutes for them. Hana was indeed too slow. Kuro had tolerated her because it just loved staying close to her. It"s like strolling through a garden leisurely. It brought immense joy to Kuro. That was why it didn"t mind at all.
"Have you checked how much do we need?" Shiro limped around the bamboo groves. There were several cl.u.s.ters. It didn"t know how to choose, and how many.
"Shut up. Let me check." Kuro had stopped moving and danced in a trance. After a few second, both of its black eyes turned crystal-crimson red, just like the core on its forehead.
It took a peek through Hana"s eyes with all seriousness. The aunty was busy flipping through the pages and comparing the picture she drew with the written message on the flat black rectangular thingy. However, it couldn"t make any sense with the drawing. Did it need to count the vertical sticks? How about the horizontal sticks? Kuro was getting a headache. The sticks were so many!
"From the small drawing, I could see..." It abruptly stopped its train of thoughts. Is that what I think it is?
"See what?!" Shiro was getting a bit impatient with Kuro. It had waited for Kuro to continue but it seemed distracted with something. Shiro turned at its back to see what was catching Kuro"s attention so much until it ignored this handsome fox just like that.
[What was that? Isn"t that a type of Primordial Spiritual Herb?!!]
Kuro immediately shot into the bamboo groves! [I must catch it before it gets away!]
The tiny spirit herb flashed and disappeared. It reappeared again ten steps away as it flashed again, leaving a green glow as its shadow. Kuro kept on pouncing at the fast moving spiritual herb again and again but to no avail. [It was so d.a.m.n fast! How sneaky!] How did it not realize the presence of a spiritual herb in its own territory?
Kuro didn"t turn into its real size because it didn"t want to destroy the trees and the beautiful riverbank with shallow stream. It knew Hana loved this location and frequented it every single day. She would suddenly bend down and picked random vegetation and stones before playing with them to her heart"s content. The nests of fowls in the bushes by the stream could also provide a steady flow of eggs for its mommy. The most important thing was, these things had the potential to turn into delicious food by its mommy"s hand!
A good thirty meters later, Shiro was done waiting!
It let loose a cleaving wind attack in the direction of the fleeing spiritual herb with a swipe of its claw.
"Zeeeeessssss!" A flash of a single wind blade pa.s.sed by the slippery teleporting spiritual herb.
Every single bamboo tree in the attack path including the spiritual herb was cleanly cut into two. Kuro was four steps behind the mischievous herb. It dissipated the attack by launching a few of its erected diamond-hard black scale.
Shiro turned silent. Its "brother" was actually way stronger than itself. It now understood if the snake wanted it dead, it would"ve died ten times over. Its desire to show off a little had been dampened just like that. With this, the establishment of hierarchy was confirmed amongst them, even without words. Shiro sighed in its heart. It vowed to cultivate more diligently to overcome its new "brother" to establish dominance later.
The two "brothers" looked at the dead spiritual herb.
"The top part for you, bottom part for me." Kuro spoke to the overwhelmed Shiro after pausing for a moment.
"Deal." Shiro acquiesced.
Then they looked at the surroundings. It looks like a chicken fight had taken place, with an enormous amount of fallen bamboos littering the now flat s.p.a.ce.
Kuro shrugged. [At least mommy will have enough bamboos to play with for a while.]
...
Hana just finished chatting with her mom. She felt slightly warm inside. Her mom was nagging at her for the longest time. But she knew, it stemmed from being overly worried over her well-being. She had repeatedly explained to her mom she didn"t ran away from home to convince her.
What was there to ran away from? She was having the best moment of her life living with Arash. Well, she was a little bit stress from managing the kids, but it didn"t count much. Which parents didn"t face the same thing?
She was fortunate that Arash was not the standard chauvinistic Malay guy who asks dear wife to serve her like a Lord while he worked. That was so lame and outdated. If it happened, she had run back to her mom at the very beginning. She was even being forced to cooperate with big bro Hadi so that they could pinpoint her location as soon as possible. Ma"am Shaza told her, what was the use of a son who worked in the Police Department if he couldn"t at least save his own little sister.
Hana didn"t know whether to laugh or to cry with her mom"s absurdity. She made it like it was so easy. Her case was not the usual kidnapping case, it was more like being spirited away. Pity bro Hadi. Hana could only sigh and agree to her mom"s imploration. She had to promise that she would try her best to work things out with him later when he contacted her.
Hana worked hard to please her mom and explained that she was okay. It was not so bad. The pet was not dangerous at all. Hana didn"t dare to tell her mom that she actually had two pets. The other one was bigger and had menacing-looking big sharp teeth. She was scared her mom will ask her to throw the pet away. Did she think it was so easy to throw away the pet she had painstakingly woo with all her heart? Her mom won"t understand its appeal. She had to meet the super adorable fox face-to-face to understand her feelings.
She heard movements outside her cave dwelling. She leisurely walked out to greet the kids. They sure know how to play so long and leave her alone over here. They should"ve brought her along! Hana planned to sulk a little to teach them a lesson.
Once she was out, she was greeted with an astounding scene until she blanked out for a short while.
There were a lot of bamboos at the back of Shiro! There was even some supported by its antler-like horns! (Author: Remember, Shiro looks like an overgrown white fox with antlers? *laughing*) The bamboos on its back were tied with numerous vines. At the top of the bamboos tied with vines, Kuro was coiling leisurely while it lifted a foot of its upper body. Hana could actually sense Kuro"s smugness and Shiro"s unhappiness.
[My lovely Shiro is being treated like a plowing buffalo(3)!] Hana had been reduced to tears of suppressed laughter. She didn"t know whether to laugh or to cry with Kuro"s mischievousness and Shiro"s naivety. Its willingness to help her had been manipulated by the cheeky Kuro.
Hana wondered how the both of them maneuver through the forest with those bamboos over them. Didn"t Shiro got stuck in between trees or bushes? Hana was very impressed and amused at the same time.
"Thank you so much dearies. Thank you." She went to hug Shiro (while took a bit of advantage on it as usual) and kissed Kuro"s head. "I don"t know what to say. It must be hard on you." She smiled happily. She was so touched. She thought they went out to play and forgot about her. Now she knew she"d been petty. She had already forgotten to sulk. Even if they went out to play, what"s wrong with that? Ultimately, they"re just children in Hana"s eyes.
"Let"s just place the bamboo here. We"ll drag them slowly inside okay." The opening of the cave was truly too small. Shiro could never be able to go in with the burden on its back. She really needed to find a way to widen the cave door a little.
The cheeky snake helped taking down the stacks of bamboo by tearing the vines holding them. The green bamboos of differing sizes tumbled down and rolled to Hana"s foot. Hana helped took off the bamboos adorning Shiro"s head.
When Hana placed the bamboos on Shiro"s head down on the forest floor, she felt a nudge at her back. She turned to inquire to the fox and found it was gesturing at the inner part of the bamboo poles. Not understanding what was Shiro trying to tell her, she blindly rummaged in between the bamboos and found a cone-like shaped thing. It even emitted a slight green glow in the dim surrounding. Although night time hadn"t fully descended upon them, the lush forest reduced Hana"s vision significantly.
"Eh? What"s this?" Hana carry the cone-like thing upwards and observe it quizzically. "Is this for me?"
The white fox nodded slightly.
"Thank you, sweetie pie." She ruffled Shiro"s head affectionately. Regardless of what this was, the fact that the fox took the first step to give her something made her very happy. It reminded her of her eldest daughter"s first present for her, a broken marble pebble. She still treasured it until today in her jewelry box. Such a sweet child. Hana lamented her luck; first, a loving snake, then a sweet fox. This present signified a deeper meaning behind it.
Sweet Shiro had finally surrendered its heart to her wholly.
...
Author"s Note:
(1) Mak = a Malaysian word which means mother. There are many variations (ibu, mami, mak, mama, bonda), all with the same meaning
(2) OKU (Orang Kurang Upaya). It"s a standard abbreviation for people with disabilities. In Malaysia, they are registered and given a card which gives them several privileges such as purchasing house, medical attention, and of course, parking s.p.a.ce.