Kotori stretched leisurely as he enjoyed the breeze that swept through his fur.  It was cold but had that crisp clean feel to it.  There was snow on the ground but he could feel the solid earth beneath it, this was nothing like last year.  Making his way further from the den the boy looked up to the sky, spotting where the sun was but the thin haze of clouds blocked out its harshest light.

This was as good of a time as any to go hunting.  The snow would probably make it comically easy to find any prey that had roamed in the area, and if he didn’t see tracks first the wind was blowing well enough to carry the scent of food to him.  Kotori headed toward the pack border, howling for his dad to join him.  The boy stopped to wait for dad just beyond the border, bright eyes looking towards the woods as if he could already see the prey and the great chase in his mind.

The once small pup had grown up to be a respectable height.  He couldn’t compete with his father in size but no one would ever call him small.  The more he thought of hunting the more he wanted to go for something challenging.  Kotori look farther ahead into the weeping woods.  He knew boar lived out there plentiful but he was hoping to find some nice large elk.  Something challenging.  Then again if they found a really large boar that could be a good challenge also probably.  Kotori had that youthful desire to prove himself by finding anything challenging head-on.

Kotori Fatalis

 

The Warlord had caught up to Kotori the day before and told him to prepare nice and early for a hunting trip. As the Warlord finished off some morning chores, his son's howl called out to him. Telling him that Ko was waiting and ready to go. Sirius fell into a light trot, answering the call with a howl of his own. In no time, he was there, ruffling the fur behind the boy's horns with a paw. Ko had only recently expressed an interest in hunting, and now it was time to see what he knew. “Alright, do you scent any tracks about?” he said, waving a paw for the other wolf to take the lead. "Speech"

Kotori gave a short wag of his tail in greeting as his dad came up.  The boy snorted at the ruffling of his fur on his head and waved a paw at his dad, “hey, I’m not a pup anymore.”  There wasn’t much chastising it, the boy didn’t really mind but his pride dictated Kotori had to act like he minded.  

The main thing he smelled right now was the other wolves.  Being close to the pack border where they patrolled and marked Kotori imagined only the dumbest of prey would hang out.  That being said prey could be pretty dang dumb.  Trying to scent past the wolves he could scent some rabbits and boring little things like squirrels but not what he was hoping for.  

“Not really yet..” the boy hedged, moving out in a stride assuming dad would follow as he moved farther into the woods.  Rabbit, rabbit, badger hole in the ground.  The boy snorted as he smelled a boar after a short bit, “Boars,” Kotori pointed out the scent when he caught it, glancing up at Sirius, “I was hoping for elk, or something big.” What would dad think of the idea of skipping the boars to find something Kotori envisioned as being harder and thus better.  “Or I guess if any of the boar is really big,” the boy hedged, “could get closer to look.”  Had he missed any scents that dad caught onto?  Hopefully not.  It's bad enough to fail but its worse to fail in front of your dad.


Kotori Fatalis

 

“What makes you think I wont ruffle your fur when you're the same age as I am now?” he teased the boy, giving it another quick ruffle for good measure. He loved his children too much not to pull their tails every now and then. As Kotori took to the assessment, Sirius nodded his head encouragingly, and followed after Kotori. Letting the other wolf take the lead. He tracked until he found something he liked - or apparently, minded less than others. Sirius hid a grin as also sampled the air. “We can track the boar, or we can head towards the glade just to the North of here. You might have better luck with larger prey there” he suggested. "Speech"

Later he’d have to talk with his dad about rules on fur ruffling.  If dad was determined to not give it up then maybe they could come to an agreement of never in public.  Kotori didn’t want anyone to think it was a sign of him being some immature kid and the horned wolf would have his teeth at anyone’s throat who teased him.  Hunting with dad wasn’t the time to bother with those details though.  

Kotori watched his dad while he offered insight on the potential of larger game then nodded.  A last look was cast in the direction of the boar but then turned to head towards the north.  The idea of hunting something large and dangerous was too good to pass up. With dreams of elk in his idea he kept his nose to the wind demanding fate give him what he wanted.

A scent was picked up with promise and Kotori had to force himself not to move to fast and risk the animal noticing them.  Creeping through some brush he spotted a deer.  It wasn’t an elk but it would do.  There had to be a limit to how picky you get when hunting possibly.  The boy glanced to his dad to give him that smug grin before looking back to the prey.  In Kotori’s mind there was no way to lose the prey he’d spotted.

The deer was facing west of where they currently were and hadn’t noticed them yet.   If Kotori stepped out much further he’d be in the open and it would be unlikely to go past the deer’s notice.  Did they want to split up and go around?  With the deer where it was and the way it was closer to one end of the opening it would mean farther for one of them to run once in the open but it would mean one on each side to help keep it where they wanted it, right?  One could scare it straight out in front and lure it to the other?  One way or another the deer wouldn’t be able to outrun them Kotori was certain but what was best?  He glanced at his dad, “Split up?  You scare it towards me?”  


Kotori Fatalis

 

The two stalked silently further into the forest, heading towards the glade Sirius had mentioned. It was a little while later that Kotori reacted to the scent of a deer. The creature was alone. A young buck out on its own for its first winter, perhaps. The pair had stopped just shy of stepping into the glade, and faced each other. Here would be the part when Sirius would suggest a plan of action and give Kotori the choice of baiting or bringing down. However, his young son was already a step ahead of him. “Sounds like a plan” he agreed. “Stay low” he added, as he took off at a light trott into the trees. Skirting around the glade, so he could come up at the deer from the right angle. No doubt Kotori was well in place by now, and Sirius shot out of the trees with a roar, the terrified deer began to run towards the boy. "Speech"

Kotori really hadn’t been sure.  There had been several different ways he could have thought up handling the situation but would they have all been right?  Was this the best one?  Either way dad had agreed to it which brought a grin to Kotori’s muzzle.  The boy nodded at the reminder to stay low.  The moment his dad trotted off Kotori moved a short ways for what he assumed was the ideal position then squatted down waiting in excited expectation.

This would be his hunt!  Dad would chase it but he would make the final kill! Kotori realized he hadn’t verified with dad best place to attack.  Neck or leg seemed the obvious choices but was one wrong or at least better than the other? Kotori was puzzling on this as dad scared the deer right in his direction.   Well, Kotori imagined the throat would look great if he took it down in one shot like that but the leg was better on the odds for winning.  

It was hard not to jump out the second the deer came towards him but Kotori waited till it was just a stride and lunge away before leaping at it.  His teeth sunk deep into its leg and braced back while it was in mid leap.  The deer swung its antlers around and Kotori had to leap away or risk some nasty scars.  Still, dad had made it easy on him.  All Kotori had to do in the end was wait and the meal had come right to him!  Kotori was quite proud of himself for the plan working.

The buck had lowered its head to show off its antler’s and gave them a good shake.  It knew it couldn’t get away.  Blood slid down its leg and Kotori made his way closer.  The deer’s antlers were more impressive than Kotori’s horns but who needs bigger horns when you have fangs?

Kotori circled the deer as the animal did its best to keep its head facing the wolf.  It was desperate.  Surely dumb as it was the deer still knew it was going to die.  Kotori lunged fast to the right, the deer tried to compensate but the injured leg had it stumble.  Kotori took his shot and lunged in to bite the deer’s neck, using his weight till he got the deer to the ground.  The mighty hunter’s tail was spinning around in jubilation.  He would never admit it.

Kotori Fatalis