You were feeling more and more threatened as the lioness kept pressuring you to go with her and the two mice. "I appreciate the offer, but I'm leaving," You stated as you turned to walk away. You didn't make it very far when the two mice ran in front of you to block your path.
"Is it human custom to turn down such generosity?" One asked.
"Is it anthro custom to force unwanted outings on strangers," You returned.
The lioness came up behind you and grabbed your left arm, "You're making this harder than it needs to-"
"Hey! What do you think your doing to him?" Hunter shouted as he ran towards you.
"We were only offering to treat him to some ice cream," The lioness innocently.
"He said 'no thanks,' take a hint," Hunter growled.
The lioness began to bare her fangs when she saw Tanya and Annika approaching hunter from behind. Not wanting to draw more unwanted attention to herself, the lioness smiled and released you before shrugging.
"Sorry about that," She apologized, "I guess I got excited. We'll be going now; I'll see you around." She said as she waved and turned to leave with the mice. As the large feline left, she cast one more glance at you from over her shoulder, "Count on it..." She muttered under her breath as she exited the stadium.
"You alright?" Hunter asked.
"Yeah," You nodded, "Just a little weirded out."
"What was that all about?" Annika asked when she reached you.
"Your guess is as good as mine," You shrugged.
You looked over at Tanya, who seemed to be staring warily at the lioness as she left.
"Are you okay Tanya?"
She looked down at you with an intense gaze. A seriousness that you'd never seen in her eyes before. You'd always known Tanya to be laid back and easy going. But the look she was giving you told you something wasn't right.
In an instant, Tanya returned to her normal self, "Hm? I'm the one who should be askin' you that."
"I'm okay, but you seemed like something was bothering you just now," You explained.
"Nah," Tanya replied as she waved a hand dismissively, "Let's get going. You guys need to hit the showers."
You noticed that on your way back to the car, Tanya was keeping a close eye on you and an even closer eye on her surroundings. You weren't sure what, but something about your encounter with that lion really set her off.
Tanya drove you back to the house where you, Hunter and Annika took turns showering. When you came out of the shower, you found that Luna was home. You were going to say hi when you stopped yourself as you heard their conversation.
"A lioness?" Luna asked.
"And two mice," Tanya replied.
"And you're sure that they were after him?" She questioned.
"Hunter told me what he heard, that kid has some pretty sharp ears. Apparently, they offered Kiba a trip to an ice cream parlor. But he turned them down twice before the lioness gripped him by the arm and tried to 'coax' him into going with them."
Luna growled at hearing that, "When I find that woman I'm gonna rip her apart for laying her hands on him."
"Hey now, save that for later," Tanya chided, "We've gotta find them first."
Luna quickly calmed herself and nodded, "Yes, yes, you're right. It's been tough for me to control my temper lately."
"And I'm sure in every instance there was a common denominator," Tanya smirked.
Luna glared at her but softened her gaze and sighed, "There is..."
"At any rate," Tanya continued, "We need to figure out what our next move is."
"I'd like to take Kiba to the research station that Malcolm's established. But I don't want him to be distracted from the tournament, so I'll leave that alone until it's over."
"And what about that bounty hunters?" Tanya asked, "I know we don't have confirmation from Sally, but I'm confident enough to say that it's definitely them."
"I'd like nothing more than to hunt them down and drag them into an interrogation room," Luna admitted, "But I have no idea where they are, and running out blindly would do little good. If anything, it would leave Kiba with less protection. So I'll stay here for now and help keep an eye on things."
Tanya crossed her arms, "And if they show their faces?"
"We take them down first and ask questions later," Luna answered.
"Alright then," Tanya grunted as she stretched.
You turned to creep back to your room when you bumped into Annika. You nearly yelped in surprise when she covered your mouth and put a finger to her snout in a shushing gesture.
She then motioned for you to follow her upstairs. She led you into her room where she closed the door behind you. Hunter was already there when you walked in.
"So," Annika said as she walked around you, "Hunter was telling me about what happened today before Aunt Tanya and I showed up."
"Bounty hunters," You sighed, "Looks like I'm not quite as safe as we thought I was."
"Listen," Hunter said as he stood up and walked over, "Annika and I have been talking about what happened today. We decided that from now on it'd be a good idea for us to stick closer to you."
"Um... Why?" You asked.
"To keep you safe," Annika replied.
You looked between the two before realizing that they were completely serious, "You guys really don't have to do that."
Hunter shrugged, "We know we don't have to."
"This is something we want to do," Annika added.
"I don't know if I want you guys doing this," You replied, "I mean, you guys are separated from the rest of your family because of getting involved with me. And you could get hurt if you get in the way of the people trying to get me."
Hunter rolled his eyes, "Okay, first of all; this isn't up for debate. It's happening, deal with it."
Annika then walked over and placed a hand on your shoulder, "And we got involved all on our own, remember? It was our choice to seek you out. And we chose to come with you when you had to be moved here."
"Lastly," Hunter continued, "You are family to us. We could never abandon you."
"We've become used to seeing each other. We're a part of each other's lives, we dn't want to see anything happen to you."
You were touched, and considered yourself fortunate to have ended up with who you did. But you still couldn't help but feel that allowing them to stick by your side would make them targets. You didn't want that.
Seeming to pick up on your feelings Annika gave you a pointed glare, "And don't think that you can force us to sit on the sidelines. After all, if one of us were in your position, would you be able to idly sit by and do nothing?"
"Oof, she's got me there" You thought to yourself as Hunter walked over and lightly elbowed your side. "It'll be fine. We've come this far, right? If we look out for each other, everything will work out."
"I can't argue with that logic," You laughed.
"Try not to think about it anymore tonight, tomorrow's a new day," Annika assured you, "You'll see."
The next morning you found yourself face down in the grass as the first light of dawn approached. Luna stood over you expectantly while Tanya watched from the kitchen window with one arm crossed over her chest while the other held a mug of coffee that she would periodically sip from.
You quickly got to your feet and turned to face Luna with an irritable scowl on your face, "This is stupid!" You shouted.
"One day you'll appreciate this," Luna replied. "Now, lets start again. Remember, don't-"
"-Don't use my feet, only my hands and don't let you hit my face," You sighed, "Yeah, I know." She put her hands out palms towards you. You approached her in a boxing stance and took a swing at her torso. She moved one hand to slap your fist down while at the same time smacking you in the face with her other hand. You staggered backwards holding your forehead. When you regained your footing you glared at her in surprise and anger with wide eyes, "Ow!?"
"If you'd had your guard up, that wouldn't have happened," Luna chided.
You growled and moved in again taking a shot at her face which she narrowly avoided. You followed up with another shot at her torso. She was able to block it and attempted an offensive strike at you in response. She thrusted an open palm toward your chest. Using both of your arms you were able to dampen the impact. She then knelt low and struck you in your left ribcage, and again in your stomach in rapid succession. You gasped as the air was forced out of your lungs. You took a weak swing at Luna's snout. It connected but was too weak of an attack to really have an effect. Luna grabbed your extended fist and spun you around so that your back was to her. She then grabbed your other arm and held you in front of her while forcing your hands behind your back at waste level.
"You're letting your emotions get the better of you," She warned.
"Oooh, tough break kid," Tanya muttered to herself as she took another sip of her coffee.
"What's going on?" Annika asked as she walked into the kitchen wearing pink pajamas. Her fur and hair unkempt as she rubbed one of her eyes.
"You're up early," Tanya replied with a mildly surprised expression adorning her face, "It's nothing much, Kiba and Luna are sparring again."
"Are you ready to yield yet?" Luna asked.
"Ah screw it! I'm so done with this!" You thought. You stomped your left heel on top of Luna's left foot. She immediately howled in pain and surprise. You felt her grip on your wrists loosen, you took advantage of the opportunity and jumped up before slamming the back of your head into her jaw. You her a loud 'clack' as her fangs involuntarily slammed against each other.
Luna released you and stumbled backwards a couple of steps before glowering at you, "I thought I told you not to use your feet," She growled.
"I didn't kick you," You replied smugly.
"Oh-ho... so you want to get technical?"
You shrugged and put your hands up, "Hey, you're the one who dragged me out of my bed for this. You want to spar, then let's spar." You smirked at the wolf, still riding that high from finally getting a hit in."
Tanya having heard the whole conversation and huffed as she closed her eyes and shook her head, "He's biting off more than he can chew," she muttered as she took another sip of her coffee.
"Be careful what you wish for Kiba," Luna warned as she began approaching with her claws exposed. Luna dashed at you and took a swipe at your chest. Your eyes went wide as you dove out of the way and hit the ground in a tumble before bouncing back up and onto your feet with your fists up in a boxing stance. Luna wasn't in front of you when you rose though. You heard a low growl behind you which prompted you to duck. Again, you avoided another swipe. But Luna wasn't done with you yet. She lowered her body and backhanded you in the back. Ordinarily, from another human such an attack would have probably knocked the air out of you and left a welt or some bruising. When Luna made contact though, you were sent spiraling head over heels across the yard. You finally struck the fence at the edge of they yard and found yourself resting face up with your feet resting toward the fence. Luna was standing over you in an instant. You didn't give her an opportunity to attack. Using your feet you kicked off of the fence and slid on your back between her legs. You came to a stop behind her; where you kicked the back of her right knee with everything you had. Luna gasped in surprise as she went down on one knee. You took the opportunity to jump on her back and wrap our arms around her neck in a choke hold. She gagged for a bit before she dropped to the ground and fell on her back, sandwiching you between her body and the ground.
"Augh!" You grunted in pain as you hit the grass with her weight dropping on top of you. You maintained your grip though. She responded by getting up and smashing you into the ground a second time. This time you hold was broken as you rolled in the grass gasping and panting.
You and Luna were both catching your breath when you locked eyes with one another. A small smile tugged at the corners of your mouth. Luna's fangs glinted in the dawning sunlight as she gave a smile of her own. But before anything else could happen, Tanya intervened. "That's enough! You two are liable to kill each other if this keeps up. Besides, he needs to get ready for basketball practice with Hunter and Annika."
Luna sighed and nodded before looking to you, "Go on," She said as she nodded toward the house. You nodded and went inside to get changed.
"I may just be crazy, but it seemed like you two were having fun going at it," Tanya commented as she eyed Luna and sipped some more of her coffee.
"You're not crazy," Luna chuckled, "I actually was enjoying myself. It was like I was back at the police academy training with my officers again... but different."
"Hm..." Tanya noted, "If I didn't know any better, I would assume that you just experienced some bonding time with your son." Tanya could practically hear all of the protests coming from Luna before her mouth even opened. "Relax," The fox laughed, "I said if I didn't know any better. And fortunately for you; I do.... Right?"
Luna watched you walk into the house, "When he first showed up, he was a citizen that needed protecting. But now? It's different, he means a lot more to me than that."
Tanya laughed, "Well I'll leave you to ponder that while I get myself cleaned up to run them over to the gym. I can't wait to see what they practice today."
Luna remained alone in thought for a moment before she decided to follow suit. She went into the house to get herself ready to go to the gym, and as she did so... she found herself excited at the prospect of watching the two foxes and human practice together.