•~Shinoa's P.O.V~•

I woke up to the morning sun shining down on my face. I sat up, stretching my legs and yawned. I groomed my fur down and looked around at the sleeping foxes and wolf. They looked so peaceful.

"Might as well hunt while I'm up." I thought, lightly stepping over everyone.

I made my way across the bridges and down the staircase. Padding through the forest, I heard some leaves rustling, making me drop to my belly, ears pricked. I crept along the ground, scouting for any creatures.

"There you are." I thought, seeing a mouse off in the distance.

I crept in closer, and closer, before pouring on it. One swipe of my paw and it was dead. I heard more rustling and found myself stalking another mouse. I pounced and killed it in an instant. I found myself a few more mice, two voles, three rabbits and a sparrow.

'All that practise really paid off.' I praised myself as I collected all my prey.

I walked back through the forest to the tree den, prey clenched in my teeth and being dragged by my tail. As I reached the spiral staircase, I left the prey I couldn't carry and jumped up.

'Oh, wow! This is an amazing catch! Nice job Shinoa.'

I looked up to see a smiling Shinya.

'You really think so?' I asked, smiling back at him.

'Yeah! You've caught more in 5 minutes than I could in 10!' Shinya praised.

'Awe, I'm sure you could do the same, or even more.' I replied, fetching the rest of the prey.

Shinya helped me take it to the pile before walking back to wake the others.

'Come on, Guren. Yoichi, wake up. Kimizuki. Suns up, Mitsuba.' He said, batting a paw at them.

'W-wha...? It's morning already?' Mitsuba yawned, sitting up.

'I'm still tired though.' Yoichi groaned, stretching his legs.

'It's too early.' Kimizuki growled, laying on the ground.

'I'm with them on this.' Guren yawned, sitting up and grooming his fur.

'Last but not least, it's time to wake Yuu.' Shinya smiled, batting at Yuu's shoulder.

'I wouldn't do that if I were you, Shinya.' I warned, backing up.

'Why?' Shinya asked, looking back at me.

Yoichi and Kimizuki got up and walked over to me, while Mitsuba ran and hid behind me. Guren just sat there and watched, as Shinya batted at Yuu's shoulder again.

'Uh-oh.' I muttered, crouching down a bit, ears flat against my head.

Shinya, seeing no signs of waking, started to nose at Yuu's side. Still, no response form Yuu. Shinya sighed before turning into his twolegged-furless form and poked at Yuu's face.

'Come on, Yuu. Wake up.' Shinya said, poking him some more.

A low growl was heard. Shinya sighed one last time before picking Yuu up. With that, Yuu snapped awake and bit Shinya's hand, deep enough to draw blood.

'Gah! Yuu!' Shinya yelled, almost dropping him.

'Not again.' I murmured, staring at the scene playing out in front of me.

Yuu, finally realising what he was doing, let go on Shinya's hand. He whimpered as he was place back down.

'Sorry, Shinya.' Yuu murmured, sitting and facing down.

'It's alright,' Shinya said, grabbing some bandages. 'You have quite a bite, though. That dug deep.'

'You really need to stop doing that, Yuu-san.' I said, walking over to him.

'Yuu-san?' He asked, looking at me.

'What's wrong with that?' I asked.

'Nothing's wrong. I just didn't expect you to call me that.' He replied quickly.

'What even triggers that, Yuu-kun?' Yoichi asked sitting next to me.

'Yuu-kun? What's with everyone giving me weird nicknames?' Yuu sighed in frustration.

'How are we meant to know? If you want to blame someone, blame Shinya for coming up with the name.' Kimizuki said.

'What? Blame me? But Yuichirou is too long to say. I needed to shorten it down.' Shinya said, crying chibi style.

'Oh. Now look, Kimizuki. You made Shinya cry.' Mitsuba said, turning into furless form and comforting Shinya.

'I didn't mean it like that.' Kimizuki sighed, walking over to them.

While talked, Guren left to get some food as me, Yoichi and Yuu talked.

'But, can you answer my question?' Yoichi asked .

'What? Oh, right. Honestly, I'm not sure what triggers it. But, whenever someone wakes me, that happens.' Yuu said, staring at the ceiling.

'Hey!'

We all looked over at who called.

'Get some food and leave. I don't want you hanging round here for ever, you know.' Guren said.

'Alright. No need to get your fur in a knot. We'll eat and be out of here in no time.' Yuu replied, walking over to the food.

We followed, still chatting. We ate some of the mice and jumped down the staircase.

'Thanks Shinya, Guren! Hope to see you two soon!' Yuu smiled.

'See you all later!' Shinya called, waving us off.

Guren looked away, but still waved us off.

'Let's go!' Yuu yipped, running on ahead.

'Woah, calm down, Yuu-san.' I said, chasing after him.

'We just left. Plus, it's still morning. Let's just have fun like old times.' Yoichi said.

'I vote for Yoichi's idea.' Mitsuba agreed.

'Same. We still have to whole day to do stuff. So let's just take it easy.' Kimizuki said.

'Alright. But, what're we gonna play?' Yuu asked, going back to the others.

'How about...' Mitsuba started.

'Truth or dare!' I suggested, a smirk crossing my face.

'NO!' The others all yelled, backing away from me.

'I'm joking.' I laughed as they calmed down.

'What about hunt 'n' find?' Yuu suggested.

'Well, what would we hide?' Yoichi asked.

'Instead of that old version, we play it with prey. Who ever finds and catches the most prey, wins!' Yuu smiled.

'What do they win?' Mitsuba asked, sounding interested.

'They get to order the loser to do one thing for them. But, it can't be like, do my chores for the rest of the week.' Yuu explained.

'Alright. I'm in.' Kimizuki said.

'Let's play!' I yipped.

'Ok. Game starts... now!'

Hope it's good, and wish you all a great day/night!
Kitty-chan out! 💖