XI. Suckers!

 They were exhausting, the lot of them.

Actaeon lay on the grassy hill beside the road, his arm resting on his forehead, shielding his eyes from the sun that had managed to stay out long enough to both dry the ground and get on his nerves. His thoughts were currently occupied with generally irritated thoughts. The other brother sat beside the first, face tilted towards the warmth of the rays. The fox and cat had meanwhile made a game out of nothing more than a hill and two barrels of peaches; each would roll their barrel down the incline at the same time, watching to see which barrel would reach the bottom first. After the peaches stopped their roll and a winner was declared, the girls ran down and attempted to roll the heavy containers back up the grassy knoll in another, more difficult race.

"Well, brother, what do you think of them?" asked Artemus, using the toe of his boot to prod at his sibling's side.

"Of what? Of those now bruised and battered peaches? Or are you possibly speaking of the fruits' assailants?"

"You know what I mean... Do you think they can do it?" The light that got caught up in the wolf's fur lit the strands up to a shade of amber, his eyes meanwhile shining silver like a fishing lure spinning in the river. Everything about the crown prince constantly glimmered- his appearance as well as his charismatic personality. It was an indirect, reflective glow that held distance, an air of something untouchable and romantically detached. And he indeed ought to be untouchable; it was Actaeon's job to keep him untouched, even.

"It's too soon to tell. The cat, she's not much for strength at this point, but she's plenty agile. And her form is lithe and built for a graceful battle style. I'm guessing she knows how to throw punches well enough- wouldn't doubt that mouth of hers has gotten her into trouble every so often. But punches don't much suit her." Actaeon was a good judge, eyes trained to assess an opponent in the first instant of a fight, in the first instant of a meeting. "The fox... It's not that it's impossible for her to fight... I'm sure she could be taught how to land a hit... But even then, I don't think she'd be able to hurt anything if it came to it, telling by the way she cried when she saw the rabbit I killed on the way here."

"That's not her fault! You ripped the little thing's head off. And it didn't help that you shoved the kill in her face while it was still warm. Even I got a bit unsettled."

"You got unsettled? Really? Oh, brother, don't act like such a house-pup." Actaeon grinned. "Her expression was priceless, you have to admit that. When she smelled the blood? I saw a flash of her animal instinct come out before that squeal and look of disgust."

Artemus paused, trying to hide the smirk that was creeping onto his face. "... Okay, yes, it was quite a cute noise she made. But no more of that. We can go hunting on our own time."

Actaeon growled, "I'll do whatever I dang well want," and rolled onto his side, turning away from his brother.

Artemus frowned and waited a few moments before silently lowering his head to Actaeon's ear. "I've seen you watching Mai... 'Her form is lithe?' 'Built for a graceful battle style?' You've been looking rather closely, hmm? You fancy her, don't you?"

Actaeon, still laying on his side, threw his arm back, hitting Artemus square in the chest. The other boy flew backwards and let out an objection of a bark as he landed in the grass on his back, wind knocked out of him. After Artemus managed to hop to his feet, he sprinted towards Actaeon who was already halfway over to the exhausted girls.

"You didn't answer me!" Artemus spoke with a teasing sing-song as he tackled Actaeon to the ground.

"Didn't answer what...?" Mai's head tilted and her expression grew curious. Her barrel was on its side and she was draped over it, cheeks flushed from the barrel-rolling game.

"I asked him if he-- OW!" Artemus was interrupted by the sudden pain of having his tail bitten. He desperately flicked his brother's nose in retaliation. "Let go, let go, let go, let go nowww!" Actaeon only let out multiple muffled snuffing noises at the continued flicking.


Sukka was intrigued by this new game and flicked Mai's nose experimentally.

"Ow." Mai rubbed at the little pink mark.

"Sorry." She shrugged.

A sudden movement in the trees caught Mai's eye and perked up Actaeon's ears. The tiger boy they had met back in the marketplace was, in a single second, inches away from the cat's face. "Hey there," he greeted with a toothy grin.

"Ummm... Yo?" She had reeled backwards off the barrel instinctively, and was now poised in a half-crouch, ready to spring up if she needed to. She doubted she would need to. The tiger seemed harmless- obnoxious, but harmless.

"You again?" Actaeon mumbled through a mouthful of fur before releasing his brothers tail. Grabbing a fistful of orange hair, the guard pulled the tiger away from Mai.

"Hey, play nice!" The big cat swiped his hand at Actaeon, who easily caught it mid swing.

"You might want to watch those. You could hurt someone." The white wolf gave the tiger a severe glare.

The striped stranger glanced at his exposed claws and simply chuckled. "Thanks for the warning." He jerked his hand away.

"Fingers... Claws... Fingers..." Sukka still sat cross legged on top of one of the barrels, ears twitching as she thought. Reaching no conclusion she blurted, "How come he has claws now?"

"They're retractable sweetheart. Kitten here should have them too." The flirtatious young man snatched up Mai's hand and pressed fairly hard on the center of her palm, forcing out the claws. "Mhmm~"

Mai's hand tensed and points began to form at the tips of her fingernails. Her fingers curled involuntarily, rigid and ready to make a scratch. The black cat roughly pulled her hand back and watched it return to normal. She clutched her hand, mildly horrified and entirely fascinated. "Why, what...? How...?!"

"Flex your hand just right and..." He lifted a hand in front of each of the girls' face and exposed his own claws. "Pop."

"Yes, wonderful. Like we need her to be any more dangerous." Artemus let out a gruff sigh and stepped in between Hiro and the girls. "Now, why are you here?"

"I saw that you had an abundance of food, and, since we're such good friends now, I thought you might like to share some with me." He went on, now talking mostly to himself, apparently bothered. "Today was slow. Couldn't nab anything worth much at all... And the butcher got a new dog. A big, fast, ugly one." He turned his attention back to the others. "Just look at my tail!" The cat reached behind him and pulled his scraggly tail into view; it was wrapped in a dirty cloth and seemed slightly more crooked than it had earlier. "Biting tails!? Stupid beast."

Artemus muffled a laugh, forgetting for a moment how much the tiger bugged him. "Stupid beast." He tugged his brother's bushy white tail. "And also... No peaches for you!!" Letting out a growl at the thief, he bared his sharp, white canines.

The boy tilted his head and frowned, pouting. "Come on now. It's not like you four could eat all of them by yourselves. Even with you helping them." Hiro patted Actaeon's abdomen.

Both wolves growled at once.

"Hey, guys. It's okay, I'm sure we can spare a few." The princes turned to Mai with looks of disbelief; the tiger perked up. "He looks skinny," she pointed out, staying calm under the combined weight of the brothers' displeased stares.

"Well, now look who's warming up to me." He reached to pat her head but she swatted his hand away before it even made it there.

"Deja vu..." he mumbled, before speaking up. "Cmon, kitten, I'm just being friendly."

"Don't make me change my mind. Hurry up and leave. You're getting the dogs' fur all ruffed up."

Actaeon growled some more and began to make an objection.

"Oh shush, brother, it is just peaches..." Artemus gave in with an edge of bitterness.

"Yeah, brother." The black-and-orange cat flashed his toothy grin yet again. Actaeon barked loudly at the tiger, who merely hissed back mockingly.

Walking over to a distracted Sukka, escaping the growling twins, the thief grabbed her under the fox's armpits, lifted her up, and dropped her to the side of the barrel she had previously been sitting on.

"Owww... That hurt, Kevin!" She whimpered and lay where she had landed.

He looked down at her and tilted his head. "Kevin?"

"You look like a Kevin." She explained it as though it should be common sense, still on the ground.

He stared at her for a moment, mouth hanging slightly open awhile before he recovered and burst into laughter, turning to Artemus. "Real bright one you have here."

Sukka gasped and shot up into a sitting position, a shocked and hurt expression on her readable features. "So mean...You are a mean person!"

He raised an eyebrow and flicked her cheek with his tail as he moved to the other side of the barrel.

"Rawr." She gave him the most vicious of glares she could manage--which ended up not being that vicious at all. Her pair of twitchy, fuzzy ears took away from anything that may have been menacing about her.

Hiro rested his hands on the barrel. "You're too cute." He ignored the much more violent glare of Artemus that came in response to the offhand comment. Looking on down the hill, to the road, he seemed to spot something that made him grin again. "Oh hey, and just in time..." He addressed the girls giving a little mock bow and tilting an invisible hat. "My name is Hiro, ladies. Remember it, because I'm sure I'll be seeing you girls again sometime."

Actaeon narrowed his eyes. "What are y-"

Letting out a whooping call, Hiro shoved the peaches down the hill; the barrel bounced and jostled and landed solidly in a passing wagon full of hay. The tiger sped after, jumping up and knocking the driver off the bench. The surprised man landed in the ditch, which was filled with water from the rain runoff; though infuriated, he seemed to be okay, shouting expletives after the thieving tiger.

"..........."

"........"

"........."

"...... Should that even be possible?"

"..."

"Wellllll, that was fun." Mai coughed and started rolling the barrel they still had in the direction of the castle spires. "Let's go home."

Artemus sighed. "Alright..." He grabbed Sukka's hand and they all followed the road in the opposite direction that Hiro had driven off to, pretending not to notice the hay-cart man who was still blustering at the side of the road.

"'I'm sure we can spare a few.'" Actaeon mocked Mai with a high-pitched, whining voice. "Psh."

"Oh shut up." Mai huffed.