Somewhere out of the wind, at least.
The beast snorted, flexed his wings. He stared for a long moment, wide pupils reflecting the arcs of lightning stretching overhead. She could feel the heat inside him, the warmth of the blood in his veins, pulsing beneath a layer of thick, soggy fur.
He nodded up the rise, pawing at the ground.
THERE.
Yukiko looked up, saw the dark shadow of a cave mouth set in the mountainside.
They scrambled up the slope, loose stones and mud, clawing branches and thorns. The cave entrance was a black pit in the stone, perhaps eight feet across, opening out into a deep circular depression in the mountain’s flank. The thunder tiger sniffed the air, sensed no predator save small furry things too feeble to bother them. And so he squeezed inside and stretched out along one wall, facing outward and watching the lightning dance among the treetops.
Yukiko curled up against the opposite wall, damp clothes clinging to her skin like a rime of morning frost. Clawing the wet hair from her eyes, she hugged herself and sank down to embrace her misery. She felt the cold more keenly once she stopped moving, and the shakes soon grew so fierce that she was forced to lie on the floor, back pressed against the stone, every muscle a knot of pain. Dry twigs and leaves were scattered around the cave, but her hands were trembling so badly that she couldn’t have started a fire even if she had the flint.
The arashitora stared out at the storm for almost an hour, motionless and unblinking. Occasionally, he would glance over at her and watch her curled in her miserable little knot, shivering uncontrollably. Then his wings would twitch, and he would scrape his talons across the stone and turn his gaze back to the clouds. Yukiko closed her eyes and gritted her teeth to stop them chattering.
At last, he drew one great, deep breath and sighed; a bellows that sent the dry leaves skittering across the cave floor. Yukiko watched as he wordlessly lifted his wing, inviting her closer. She blinked and stared for a long moment, meeting the even gaze of those bottomless eyes. Crawling across the stone, she snuggled down beside him, wrapped in the tremendous heat radiating from his body. He folded his wing about her, a blanket of down and sweet warmth tinged with the scent of lightning, the smell of blood. She could hear his heartbeat beneath inches of pale, velvet fur.
Thank you, Buruu.
QUIET NOW, MONKEY-CHILD. DREAM.
Sleep came at last, as deep and complete as any she had known. She lay motionless, a soft smile on her face, and dreamed of a little bamboo valley, sweating beneath a summer sun.
The rabbits were plump and juicy, Buruu’s gorge swelling as he threw his head back and swallowed them whole: fur, bones and all. Yukiko poked at the fire and watched the small haunch sizzle, fat spitting among the embers. Her stomach growled; the mushrooms she’d lived on for the past few days were nourishing, but hardly enough.
Buruu was stretched out beside the flames along the rock wall, firelight gleaming in his eyes. Woodsmoke drifted out into the eve ning chill, up into the pouring rain. The rabbits had been hard won; a day’s patience in the downpour, hovering above the snares until her muscles ached. But the smell of the roasting meat made it all worthwhile.
Buruu had slept while she caught their dinner, the beast stretched out above one of the snares in a maidenhead tree. He had woken twice during the day, once to tell her to hurry up, the second to pounce unsuccessfully on a small hare nosing about the trap below him. After his failure, he’d mustered a little more patience, and when she returned with half a dozen fat rabbits slung over her shoulder, he’d discovered his civility.
Now, she looked at Buruu across the roasting meat, flames sparkling in her pupils. During the drama on the Thunder Child, the shock of the last few days, she’d not really had the opportunity to study him as well as she would have liked. But at last, here in the flickering warmth, with dry skin and the promise of a full belly, she found herself transfixed. Simply amazed to be in the presence of a creature so beautiful.