Freedom... For Now (Exile and Nom)

Seiya was to be taken to the Village to be auctioned off when she had made her escape, the careless man had only bound her wrists with rope and she assumed that he was a newbie at handling slaves, she had previously learned how to make the rope looser on her hands from many failed attempts at rope tricks, any other master would have known to put her in shackles and not underestimate her but this man was an idiot, the moment he had turned away her hands in the orange and black tiger print gloves had slid themselves free of their confines and as he turned back to the teenage Neko she had kneed him in a man’s most tender area, his crotch.

The Neko smirked slightly, enjoying getting back at a master for all her years of torment before turning and quickly bolting away. Her orange and black stripped ears twitched slightly as she ran and her tail swayed beside her, she was free! She wasn't bothered by the fact that she wasn’t wearing much in terms of suitable clothing for the streets, suitably being hardly the word for a torn orangish top that only covered her perky breast and matching panties with knee high tiger stripped legging, but was more focused on getting as far away from possible as that man "Sucker should have done a better job" she laughed to herself as she rounded a corner and kept running till she reached the confines of the nearby forest, already she her slightly enhanced hearing could pick up the sounds of the chase starting, it un nerved her slightly but she had gotten a head start and they didn't know where about she had taken off running.

Seiya stopped behind a rather large oak tree and peered out, trying to see the man or anyone who looked like they may be searching for her, only at that moment did she note that her breath was coming in short raggard gasps and she worked on controlling her breathing, she didn't even notice anyone near her, only intent on watching in front and around the corner. Yelping as someone abruptly grabbed her arms, shoving her roughly against the tree “GOTCHA” a man’s cold voice could be heard behind her and she cursed, struggling against his hold “Let me go jerk!” she hissed but her arms were only shoved up her back into a really uncomfortable position.

This was a new area to Yukimura. He had already had to cut down several rogue shinobi and he was becoming annoyed at the rate these killings were taking place. It was then that he heard the screaming from a girl off to his left. He dashed in that direction and spotted a girl seemingly being abducted by some strange man. Yukimura dashed to her aid, kicking the man unconcious in the side of the head. "Are you injured?" He asked the girl? Up close, he took in the details that he had missed from a distance. A neko. A beautiful neko at that. "I promise i will not hurt you. My name is Yukimura Sanada." He offered his hand.

As the man that had tried to uphold her dropped to the ground unconscious her eyes darted to a new mans whom now held his hand out to her, his voice and eyes seemed gentle but he was a man, she didn't trust men at all "I'm fine!" She hissed and batted his hand away, backing up a bit so she wasn't within reach of him. Her golden eyes were wary of this new man, was he pretending to help her to fool her, tehy had tried that once, surely they wouldn't think she'd be dumb enough to fall for it again.

Her orange ears flattened against her head yet she couldn't sense any bad intentions from him, with a narrowing of her eyes she turned the other way and sprinted off away from him and the village, he would be lucky to catch her at this rate, neko's were built for speed and agility, it was strength they lacked, but she guessed that was what her sharp teeth and claws were for.

Yukimura reached out again but she was already far from him. "Well I have no hope of catching her." He scrawled a note for giving her directions to a safe house and hid it underneath one of the roots. If the rumors were true, she would return here.

Yukimura then looked at the unconcious man and loaded chakra into his hand. The lightning lanced around the fingertips and his face filled with sorrow. "Forgive me for this.... and may your god watch over you." He then plunged the jutsu into the mans chest and killed him. "Now to track down that neko, obviously she isnt safe." He said to himself and set off after her trail.

Seiya only stopped when she was sure she was far enough away for anybody to catch her and then she scrambled up a tall tree, using her claws to help her dig into the bark and help her up. She was still in the forest and guessed she had been running non stop for about an hour which explained why she was breathing rather heavily. Using this time she lay on a branch and watched animals on the ground scurry by, her stomach growled a bit at the sight of a rabbit hopping by but she ignored her hunger, she could always get food later.

Seiya rubbed her arms, covering them with her orange tail, it was getting dark and the cold was settling in, she really needed to find somewhere warm for the night or she would freeze but for now she wanted to rest in the tree for a bit. Soon her tiredness won out and after promising herself she wasn't going to fall asleep her eyes closed and she drifted off, goosebumps on her skin. The only indication that gave her away was her tail hung limply out of the tree, swishing lightly.

Another hour had passed before Yukimura noticed the tail hanging limply from a branch. He smiled and looked up at her. She was beautiful even as she slept. He sat underneath a nearby tree and began to draw her. When he had finished, and approved his sketch, he laid his sketch book aside, open the the page of her drawing, and dosed off under the tree.

Her eyes opened after a while and she quickly picked up the sounds of somebody sleeping, looking down she suddenly leapt out of the tree and landed in front of him in a crouch, hissing softly. Only when Seiya noticed he was deeply asleep did the orange clad neko relax and her bright eyes saw the book, opened to a drawing... What looked just like her. Her eyes turned curious and she crept forward, poking the page of her as if checking it wasn't a trap waiting for her. Realizing it was just a book she sat cross legged with the book, deciding that this strange boy wouldn't awaken and that he was deeply asleep Seiya stared at the page of her, the drawing was an excellent resemblance of herself, almost down to the small patterned details of her fur. On curiousity the neko started to flip through other pages, hoping to see more of whatever these were, she had never actually seen a drawing before and thought that maybe it was just a photo of her except it smudged slightly when she ran her finger over it.

The sketchbook was filled with drwings. Flowers, birds, people interacting in the streets, armor modifications. Perhaps the most striking one is the drawing of his sister Jubei. Captured mid jutsu with lightning lancing up her arm. His sister was certainly incredible when it came to the Sanada secret jutsus.

Yukimura stirred and looked up at the neko now sitting only a few feet away from him, looking at the sketchbook that he had previously drawn her in. "I see you like artwork." he said casually.

Of course the Neko was to focused on the little book to notice yukimura stir behind her, her eyes were now focused on the drawing of a girl, with lightning laced up her arm. Yet as his soft words finally made her realise that the boy who made these beautiful things was now awake, as if in slow motion she turned and blinked, looking directly at this strange boy before realisation set in about how close he was and how easily he could capture her.

Hissing and curling her tail around the book she dashed over and scurried up the tree with ease, still grasping the book. "Aha now lets see you try and catch me slaver scum" It did leave her wondering in the back of her mind why he hadn't caught her just before when the chance had arisen perfectly and she fixed him with a curious look "Why didn't you capture me before, you had the perfect chance, you Slavers are really weird" and the Orange clad neko gave him an almost amused smile.

Yukimura was pleasantly surprised. "I'm sorry miss, but i am not a slaver. In fact, I hate slavery with a passion." He smiled calmly. "I wouldn't know what to do with a slave anyways." He glimpsed the book in her hand and smiled even more. "In a sense i did capture you. I did draw you, so i guess i have you captured on paper, though you are free to amuse yourself with whatever you see fit."

"You... drew me?" this neko was thoroughly confused and quickly flipped back to the detailed picture of herself, her eyes drifting from the picture to Yukimura then back to the book. She then held the picture up for him to see "Is this what you call a drawing? How did you do it? How did you Draw me onto paper?" Seiya found the word in itself weird, Draw, if it could make pictures on paper and you didn't need a camera then how was it done, this made a new found lot of curiosity spring up in her mind. She was but a simple slave, not aware of some of the things in this world yet. The slaver topic was momentarily forgotten, replaced by this lot of information.

Yukimura smiled politely and sat up a bit more. "Well you see, the paper is like film for a camera. Your eyes would be the lens, focusing on the sunject that you wish to capture. And a pencil records any observations you catch. I was able to observe you sleeping for awhile and i took the chance to draw you. You are certainly a beautiful woman."

As he explained the neko listened intently, absorbing the words, so that was how he did it, she would have to try it sometime, it seemed like a really good way to capture an image without a camera. As Yukimura explained how he drew her while she slept and her thoughts snapped back to that, maybe he wasn't a slaver, maybe he was just a nice man, no matter how rare they were she did sometimes stumble across one, but no matter, she would have to keep an eye on him for now.

"Soo I'm starting to think that you might be a nice slaver, one who doesn't want to capture me" Seiya said slyly starting to climb out of the tree and standing before him, quickly holding the book out to him and eyeing him up and down suspiciously "But I still don't trust you" She thoughtfully added and crossed her arms, childishly sticking her tongue out at him.

Yukimura smiled at the girl sticking out her tongue. He thought to himself how cute she was and how much he just wanted to hold onto her. "I am not a slaver at all. I hate the idea of having slaves. And in my opinion, I believe that a woman as beautiful as you should be safe and have an escort at all times." He looked at her for a moment. "Do you have any place to stay?" He asked kindly. He wondered if she would get along with his other house guest.

“your looking at it” Seiya said in response to him asking if she had a place to stay, all around them was only trees and shrubs, a foresty area and she placed a clawed hand on her hip, her tail flicking occasionally as she raised an eyebrow “Why, were you offering Mister?” hmm, interesting, Seiya didn’t actually think this man was a slaver anymore so much, more a really kind man who drew, and besides if he was really bad she would have sensed something from him.

((By other houseguest do you mean Jubei??? XD))