HOPE AND LOVE
by Shelly

CHAPTER FIVE


	Mushra set Sasuna down on the ground as gently as he could beside the 
campfire but she still cried out as much from the heat of the fire as 
from his mishandling of her. The burns made her skin feel tight and she 
had no energy left to even cool herself down; she doubted it would even 
help.
	
	“You’ll be all right, ‘Suna,” he assured her. “Kutal will be back 
shortly with something, although it may be better used for eating than 
anything else knowing him,” he added with a smile.
	
	Yakumo smiled and walked away a bit to give them some privacy as she 
watched for Kutal and Sago’s return, but she still couldn’t keep her 
eyes from straying to the warrior’s handsome face. When he was in his 
normal form, he was as cute as can be, but she had never looked upon him 
when his face was uncovered by his helmet and she was unable to keep from 
staring.
	
	Mushra looked up as he sensed her gaze on him and just as quickly 
looked back down as he knew it was a shock for her to see him like this. 
Before this, only Sasuna had seen him without his armor, and now his 
friends had seen. It was no big deal, but was he really so strange looking 
to earn such looks?
	
	Sasuna saw the exchange and fought down the jealousy that threatened 
to rise. “Mushra,” she whispered.
	
	“Yes?” he replied as he brushed his finger across her cheek again, 
trying his best to keep his anger under control. Whoever was responsible 
for attacking her village and her as well deserved to be brought down, 
and in a bad way at that.
	
	“I’m sorry that we had to meet under such circumstances,” she said. “I 
wish it could’ve been a happier reunion for both of us.”
	
	“Don’t worry about that right now,” he replied. “It’s enough that we 
are together and I won’t let anything happen to you again,” he added as 
he brushed his lips across her forehead in a tender kiss.
	
	She brought her hand up to the back of his neck to hold him close as 
she looked up into his eyes. “I missed you so much,” she whispered. “I 
waited for you to come back but you never did. And I thought that you 
must hate me after what I did.”
	
	He silenced her with a finger to her lips. “What we did, ‘Suna. You 
forget that I had just as much involvement as you did. And, no, I could 
never hate you.”
	
	A smile spread across her lips. “Perhaps I need reminding,” she 
suggested as she brushed her thumb across his cheek, her eyes closing as she 
felt his lips touch hers lightly then with more pressure when she 
sighed his name and locked her arms around his neck, ignoring the pain it 
cost her as the pleasure far outweighed it.
	
	Then they drew away from each other with a look of wonder on their 
faces as she touched her swollen lips with her fingers then his as if 
giving him a kiss in an entirely different way. “Mushra...I think...I love 
you,” she managed to get out past her emotions.
	
	A smile crossed his face as he took in her words. “I think I love you, 
too, ‘Suna,” he said. “I wasn’t sure at first as I was scared more than 
anything. But now I know that I could never live without you,” he added 
as he kissed her again, both of them returning to their normal forms 
just as Kutal and Sago returned.


	
	“Mushra, there’s no way you’re getting my tunic off!” Sasuna cried.
	
	“I didn’t mean all the way off! Just enough for me to get some of this 
stuff on you!”
	
	“You--you--pervert!” she cried, sticking her tongue out at him.
	
	“Hardhead!” he returned, his eyes narrowed. Now that she was back to 
normal, some of her energy had returned and now she was on the rampage 
against him for wanting to put some of this ointment on her that Kutal 
had found.
	
	Yakumo couldn’t help but laugh although she didn’t let them see that 
she was. “All right, that’s enough. Sasuna, would you like for me to put 
it on? If it will help, then you need to use it.”
	
	She sighed heavily. “All right, Yakumo, I guess you can. But no 
peeking, Mushra!”
	
	“Humph! As if there was anything to look at,” he muttered under his 
breath.
	
	But it wasn’t quiet enough. “Mushra, I heard that!” she cried as she 
threw a piece of bark at him.
	
	He dodged it and stuck out his tongue at her. She would’ve thrown 
another but Yakumo took it from her before any harm was done. “Mushra, why 
don’t you leave for a bit until I get this on her?” the human 
suggested.
	
	Sago stepped up next to Mushra. “Come on, Mushra. Kutal and I found a 
pond nearby that might have some fish in it. How about we try and catch 
some?”
	
	He sighed. “All right, all right, let’s go.”


	
	Yakumo sighed in relief as they walked away, and they were able to 
apply the ointment in peace as well as get her burns bandaged, which 
stretched across her midsection and across her upper arms where the ropes 
had burned her. While she worked, she began to hum a song that Sasuna 
faintly remembered from her childhood, and she soon became aware of the 
other girl’s change in mood.
	
	“What is it, Sasuna?” she asked.
	
	“It’s nothing,” she replied as she played with her tunic in her hands 
while Yakumo worked at finishing the bandage around on her back.
	
	“You can talk to me,” she offered. “I’m a good listener.”
	
	Sasuna sighed. “It’s that song you’re singing. I remember it from my 
childhood before...before my parents died.”
	
	“I’m sorry,” she said as she helped Sasuna get her tunic back on. “How 
did it happen?”
	
	“I don’t really remember it,” she said, surprising herself by opening 
up to the human. There was something about her that inspired trust in 
others, and she was no different as she was affected by it as well. “I 
was young and only remember being told that they died, but I still 
mourned for them all the same. Are we done now?” she asked hopefully.
	
	The human woman smiled. “Yes, we are.”
	
	Sasuna smiled and it was like the sun coming out from behind the 
clouds. “Thanks, Yakumo!” she cried before running off in the direction 
Mushra had gone.


	
	“Darn it! Why can’t I catch anything?!” Mushra cried.
	
	Sago sat beside him holding a stick with a line fastened at the end 
which disappeared into the water’s edge. “You’ve got to have patience, 
Mushra. Fish just don’t come to the surface right away.”
	
	“Oh, no?” he asked wryly as he cocked an eyebrow towards Kutal, who 
was kneeling down by the bank, watching the water closely. 
	
	“Here, fishie, fishie,” he called. “Come here, you delicious--a-ha!” 
he cried as he plunged his hands into the water and came up with a 
wriggling bundle in his hands.
	
	“Well, Kutal’s a cat and has a natural affinity for it,” Sago 
explained quickly.
	
	“Nnnnn,” Mushra growled then brightened as an idea came to him. “I got 
it!” Jumping to his feet, he took out his staff and extended the blade 
on the end. Watching the water, he waited for the tell-tale shimmer of 
the fish before plunging it deep into the water, coming up with a fish 
squirming on the end of it. “Ha ha! I caught one!” he shouted.
	
	“Catch this!” a voice called out, breathless as if the owner had been 
running.
	
	Mushra looked up just in time for Sasuna to crash into him, both of 
them falling into the water. When he came back up, Mushra had a fish in 
his mouth, which he removed and pitched to Sago. Not seeing Sasuna, he 
looked around for her, but couldn’t find her. “Sasuna?” he called.
	
	“Right here!” she cried as she jumped onto him and drug him back down, 
causing a wrestling match to ensue between them.
	
	“Hey, do you mind!” Sago called. “You’re alerting every enemy for 
miles as to our location!”
	
	Both of them stopped what they were doing and stood there with 
sheepish grins on their faces. Sasuna looked at Mushra and giggled as she took 
out a piece of grass from his hair. “You’re all wet, Mushra,” she said 
then threw her arms around him for a sound kiss on the lips.
	
	“Hey, watch it! Not in front of everybody!” he cried softly.
	
	“It’s dark, silly, they can’t see,” she murmured against his mouth as 
her hand moved below the waterline, causing a blush to rise to his 
cheeks.


	
	That night they lie next to one another, Mushra behind her with his 
arm wrapped protectively around her waist and his face nestled deep into 
her hair. Yakumo saw them and smiled. Although they fought sometimes, 
one thing for certain was that they both loved each other very much.

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