By the time I made it outside, most of the tribe had already gathered in the main clearing. Kamara was perched on her high rock, while Aysun paced just below, her eyes flashing. The Nekos were making a circle to close off the fighting arena and I found Nox at one end of it, rolling his shoulders and glaring in the direction of Deccan who was smirking amid the tension around him. “Nox!” I pushed past the crowd to his side.
“Shadow.” Placing his hand on the back of my neck he pulled me closer so our foreheads touched, his eyes closing. I brought my hand up slowly to cup his face. “You should go back to the hut.”
“Hell no.” I choked.
“Please, Shadow. I don't want you to see this.” His voice was soft but I could hear the stress underneath.
“I will not leave you.” he began to shake his head but I stopped him. “Look at me.” Slowly, his brilliant green eyes rose to meet mine. “I'm staying and everything's going to be fine. Alright?”
It took a moment but he finally nodded. He kissed my lips softly and pulled away. “Chase,” The Neko stepped forward, his expression grave but carefully masked. The frown was so unusual on his normally cheerful face. Nox gave him a meaningful look, glancing at me.
“Right. Come on, Shadow.” Chase grabbed my wrist softly, but firmly enough that he could pull me back, away from Nox. I fought him for only a second before I let myself be taken. My eyes never left Nox and could see clearly that his were tortured. We melted back against the other Nekos, but Chase kept a hold of my hand and soon my other hand was taken up too. This time by Ivy. She gave me a weak smile and rubbed my shoulder reassuringly.
“Well isn't this a big mess,” An older voice commented from behind us and turned just enough to see Taven's face. He sent me a wink and focused his eyes on the arena once more. Damn psychics. They always knew more than me and quite frankly I was getting sick of it.
“Hey Shadow!” My ears swiveled to the sound immediately but I almost wished they hadn't. Deccan blew a kiss in my direction. “I'll see you soon, baby.” I hissed as loudly as I could, unsheathing my claws in rage but all he did was laugh as both Ivy and Chase grabbed my forearms, becoming restraints. When I looked instinctively at Nox he's face was murderous, fully focused on Deccan; I didn't miss that his eyes were on his throat.
Aysun walked to the center of the circle and looked each Neko up and down. “This fight is not to the death. Both of you remember that. First one to stay down loses. Winner takes the female.” She strode to the edge of the circle and walked its length. “Begin.”
Neither of the Nekos moved right away, each of them sizing the other one up. Deccan made the first move, as I predicted; he was an offensive fighter, my gut told me. He wouldn't sit and play the defensive position. “Here, Noxy Noxy.” Nox was growling low in his throat but he didn't move from the slightly crouched pose he had adopted at the start of the fight. “Aw come on. Don't you want to play?” The talk was meant to be a distraction, but clearly Deccan's opponent wasn't falling for it. When he made his first lunge for Nox's side, Nox was already ducking out of the way, light and nimble on his feet. Deccan tried again, faster this time, launching two attacks instead one. Again, Nox was already gone, appearing slightly off to Deccan's side. Slowly, I began to get a sense of what Nox was doing.
He wasn't striking or even making any offensive moves. When it came to strength, Deccan was clearly on top but when it came to speed, the favor was clearly on Nox. Pride swelled in my chest for a brief period. Wear him down, Nox, I encouraged silently, though I knew he couldn't hear me. Don't let him get close.
Deccan was clearly getting frustrated when his claws were not meeting any flesh. He was snarling now, attacking more ferociously and forcing Nox to move quicker. My eyes were riveted on the fight before me and as I watched, Nox stumbled over a rock that had somehow fallen into the fray. It was the chance Deccan was looking for and he struck without mercy.
Bringing up a closed fist he punched with all his strength into Nox's stomach. I could hear all the air rush out of his lungs and unconsciously lunged forward but Ivy and Chase restrained me immediately. Nox bent forward slightly, wheezing, but he managed to dodge a second hit, rolling out of the way and falling into a crouch. His eyes gleamed angrily and he growled, launching himself with renewed vigor back into the fight.
This time Nox was on the offense, clearly angered by the one hit Deccan had managed to land. Deccan was obviously much slower than Nox had been but where Nox had merely dodged, he blocked. This took less effort unfortunately and while Nox put his strength into his blows, Deccan was obviously holding back. After a while it looked, to my enraged eyes, like Deccan was starting to win. As Nox was beginning to wear down, Deccan began attacking with his claws, but the movements were becoming so fast they were hard to keep track of. Scratches began appearing all over his arms as they continued and growls of anxiety wormed their way of out of my throat. Nox landed a few blows and though they were deeper than those inflicted on him, Deccan's were far more numerous and they began bleed more and more the longer the fight continued.
“Hey, Noxy.” Deccan panted as he dodged Nox's attacks. “I can't wait to show you my kits when this is over. They'll have her blonde hair and her nice lean body-” He blocked a particularly powerful blow from Nox, who was snarling loudly. I could feel the feral rage pouring out of him and fought the urge to go to him. “Oh? Did I say something wrong?” With no warning the fight slowed and I watched as Deccan backhanded Nox across the face, throwing him off balance. Before he could recover he kicked Nox in the side with what seemed to be all of his strength. Nox nearly toppled, but when he didn't, another forceful kick was aimed at his stomach, sending him skidding to the ground. He landed a few feet in front of me, coughing, his claws digging into the ground from pain.
I let out a yowl when Deccan kicked him in the side, Nox wheezed in response. “Enough, Deccan.” Aysun's voice rang out in anger. “Give him the chance to rise or surrender.”
The clearing hushed as they all focused on what Nox would do next. I ignored them all. My heart was pounding too loudly to hear anything else and I fought against Ivy and Chase, struggling against their hold. “You can't touch him, Shadow.” Chase muttered as he tightened his hold.
“Let me go to him, please,” I whimpered.
“I can't,”
Desperately, I collapsed into a heap on the ground, fighting to find Nox's eyes. They were closed, but as if he could sense me staring, he opened them into tiny slits. They were full of agony and sorrow. “Nox, listen to me. You have to get up, okay?” His face twisted in pain briefly. “Nox, baby, look at me.” He attempted to refocus his gaze on my face; even that broke my heart again and again. I lowered my voice so only he could hear. “I love you. You need to get up. We have to go away, remember? Remember what Taven said? We have to start a family. You want that right?” Something glinted in his tired eyes and his ears swiveled fully in my direction. “Yes, of course you do. Come on, Nox. I'm yours. Not his. He's trying to take me from you, Nox.” A weak growl began in his throat and his head lifted an inch. I continued, my voice rising slightly from the urgency in it. “He's going to touch me Nox, he's going to force me to do things I don't want to. Don't let him take me, Nox.” His eyes snapped open fully and his growl was louder, he started to push himself to his feet.
To my trained ears, I could just barely make out the string of words he was beginning to snarl under his breath. “Mine.” He was saying. Over and over again. When he turned back around, his ears were flattened and I watched his tail lash back and forth with pure rage.
“Back for more, Noxy?” Deccan smirked and advanced quickly, throwing a punch without even waiting for him to recover fully. I flinched, expecting Nox to take the hit but he surprised me, and Deccan, by catching the fist coming toward his face in his open palm. Deccan's muscles bulged with the effort of the hit but his fist never moved an inch closer to Nox, who glared at him coldly for several seconds before tilting Deccan's fist down. The smirk began to fall off his face as he tried to pull his hand away but to no avail. Nox continued forcing the other neko to his knees and when he was in position he kneed Deccan in the face.
He fell back, but struggled to his feet in one disoriented movement. There was blood running out of his nose. Nox didn't hesitate, instead kicking Deccan in the stomach and the face until he returned to the ground again. It took another minute for the other neko to rise once more, swaying lightly in each direction. Slow and deliberately, Nox strode forward until he was eye to eye with the older neko, who didn't even have enough sense to raise a hand against him again. In the dead silence of the clearing, it was easy to hear the nearly silent sound of Nox's claws unsheathing. I watched the sun glint off the onyx color before Nox plunged them into Deccan's stomach and twisted.
With a horrible sucking sound, Nox withdrew his hand, blood coating the tips of his fingers. Deccan's mouth was slacked as he fell to his knees once more, head bowing and hands flying to his abdomen. Nox growled and spit at the ground in front of him. “Mine.” He said, his voice holding so much power behind it that I felt the crowd shift and draw back a little. Without, sparing his enemy another glance, Nox turned and walked away.
His face began falling back into and expression of pain and exhaustion as he reached me, but in his eyes I saw triumph. He took me in his arms, rubbing his bruised cheek against my hair. “Mine.” He sighed. I threw my own around him, nearly crying from joy. Which I did anyway, several seconds later. “Oh, little one, it's alright.” He kissed the side of my head softly. “I'm okay.” Nox winced slightly when I squeezed him harder, his ears going back. “Well, mostly. Easy, Shadow.” I did my best to ease up, but I refused to release him completely.
“Good job, man.” Chase nodded at his friend in approval but chose not to step any closer. Ivy had her hands clasped in front of her, happiness causing her to becoming jittery. She nearly jumped up and down, but like Chase, she chose to stay back as well.
“Wait!” There was coughing and rocks clattering. We turned as one to see Deccan fighting to stand. “I...” He coughed and spat onto the ground, turning the soil red. “I demand a rematch.”
“You've got to be kidding me!” I snarled, beginning to charge in his direction. I'll finish the bastard myself. Nox grabbed my shoulder though, keeping me in check. “Nox won fair and square!”
“Hush.” Nox muttered in my ear. I shot him an irritated look when he kissed it. “Watch.”
Kamara was looking down at the wounded Neko with disgust. “I deny your request. It is not only foolish but pointless. I'm beginning to wonder why I allowed it in the first place. Go and lick your wounds in peace, boy.”
For a moment Deccan's face looked furious, but then it fell into a blank mask and he rose shakily to his feet before pushing past the crowd and slipping off somewhere into camp.
The tribe leader then turned her attention to us with a smile. “You two are free to go.”
Nox tossed an arm over my shoulder in what looked to others like a possessive gesture, but I felt him sag into me. He clearly wasn’t as okay as he was showing everyone. I did my best to support his weight and still appear normal. The other Nekos gave us a wide berth, respect for Nox and his fight lingering on their faces.
When we reached the hut, I lowered him onto our cot, bending to check his face. “What hurts? You have to tell me what hurts or I can’t help.” I scolded when he tried to wave me off.
“I think it’s just a rib. It hurts to breathe.” He finally allowed, wincing when my fingers went to the source. I chewed my lip thoughtfully. How was I supposed to fix a rib? I didn’t have anything for that.
“Allow me, Shadow.” Ivy’s soft voice spoke up behind me and I turned to see her holding bandages with a smile. I gave her a grateful look and scooted out of the way so she could do her thing. “I’m friends with the healer,” She answered, before I could even ask. Nodding, I gave her some room before putting my skills to use and pacing the length of the room, sheathing and unsheathing my claws. Soon enough Chase appeared, but he didn’t bother to enter. He stayed planted in the doorway, arms crossed as he watched both Nox and I. “There. Done.”
Nox let out a sigh of relief and sat a little straighter. “Thank you, sister.” Ivy smiled and bowed her head, backing away. “Shadow?” He didn’t have to make a gesture or say anything else; I went to his side immediately. I sat next to him and clasped his hand, resting it on my own thigh, in case he was wounded on his as well.
“We’ll leave you now. You fought well, Nox.” Chase nodded solemnly and together, both Nekos left.
The two of us sat in blissful silence for a while, my head on his shoulder. When we broke it, I was the one to speak first. “We’re leaving aren’t we?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Yes, but not tonight. My rib needs to heal first.”
“So when?”
“Tomorrow night should be fine. We’ll head north.” He stared at the wall and gripped my hand a little tighter. “We can be together. Completely.”
Right then, that sounded like pure heaven. I kissed his hand and we returned to silence.