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Amidst the hustle and bustle of villagers moving about to their favorite merchant booths, Yuki weaved his way through the crowd as he tried to find a vacant spot in which to try and sell his own possession. He'd just returned from a hunt, and he held tightly to the back leg of a boar that was slung over one shoulder. The other hind leg and thigh were missing entirely, and it looked as though it had been chopped cleanly off. That much he'd taken home for he and his sister, and brought the remaining to the market. Best to let someone else use the rest, there were plenty of families who couldn't hunt for themselves for one reason or another. Typically, he'd be here four or five times a week with something, but he looked rather proud of himself tonight. This one had put up one hell of a fight, and by tomorrow he'd certainly have the bruises to prove it.

As Yuki stepped past two men arguing loudly about how absurd a certain merchants' price for milk was, he felt a gentle tug at the back of his shirt. He turned to look, and found a young woman standing behind him holding a little girl. Alongside her were two others, boy and girl, appearing the same age. The girl was holding her mother's hand, with the thumb of the other stuck in her mouth, while her brother clung tightly to the skirt of mother's long dress to keep from getting lost in the crowd. The woman looked nervous, and when she spoke up Yuki almost had trouble hearing her over all of the noise around them.

"How much?" She asked, inclining her head to gesture toward the boar. What at first seemed like the children staring at Yuki, was in fact their hungry glances at the meat.

Yuki smiled to them quietly, gesturing for them to move away from the crowd of the street. He placed a hand gently on the woman's shoulder to help her through the crowd quickly, "Hitsu said something about eggs before I left..." He started, looking to her for a response.

The mother looked a bit surprised at this statement. Many of the townspeople had chickens, and she knew that eggs certainly couldn't be that hard to come by. It was one reason she could never seem to sell any. "I-I have some eggs..." She replied quietly, trailing off, assuming that there would be more.

"Alright then. How about... Five?" Yuki responded, after a moment's pause.

She nodded, "What else?"

"Just the eggs will do." He said, and couldn't help but smile as she stared at him in shock for a couple of seconds. "Just lead me to your place, I'll drop it off for you. Looks like you've got your hands full as it is."

"Y-yes, thank you." She replied, finally offering a faint smile to Yuki, and turned in the direction of home. "Come now, children." The two followed obediently, though still holding tight to their mother hadn't given much reason for the instruction. She strolled off at a steady pace, slow enough for the little ones to keep up, and Yuki followed behind.

Meanwhile, a large iron stew pot was boiling over a wood stove, with Hitsu hovering over it every few moments to add in something new. Once Yuki had left, she'd gone to work getting the meat ready, and as soon as it was put into the pot she'd begun to chop up and add the herbs and vegetables she'd gathered that evening from their small garden in the yard. Laid upon the small wooden table was a fresh collection of vegetables and greens, extra that she'd likely offer a share of to anyone who happened to stop by.

"I think that should do just fine..." She said to herself, as she sprinkled in a few seasonings and put a lid over the pot, slightly ajar. Hopefully it would be ready to eat when Yuki returned from the market, though she assumed that he would be gone much longer than he'd actually turn out to be.

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"Right here alright?" Yuki asked, waiting for a nod of confirmation before swinging the boar around in front of him and lying it on the kitchen table. Once he'd stood upright again, he massaged his shoulder a bit. It was a little stiff from the weight of his catch. The woman had gone out back to retrieve the eggs he'd asked for, and left him alone in the house for the most part. One of the children had stayed, and was perched on one of the chairs in order to get a closer look at the dinner on the table. Yuki had taken a moment to gaze around him, to mostly bare shelves, in turn left to assume that the cupboards weren't stocked much better. He heaved a bit of a sigh, and glanced at the youngster who had taken to staring at him at this point.

With a final thought, Yuki smiled to the child, and raised a finger to his lips in a quieting gesture. He leaned carefully to one side, trying to glance out the back door. No one was on their way back in yet. Quietly, Yuki slipped across the kitchen toward the front of the house. He turned just enough to aim a wink and a wave at the child, before he led himself out. The night was young, and it was off to a good start. Though, his own stomach was empty, and it was his turn to get something to eat. Fortunately, he didn't have to fight his way through the masses in the marketplace, and decided to take the short route home by taking the alleys.

As Neko started to walk away from the vendor a large hand clasped down on his shoulder. “I never touched her, I swear!” Was his first response to the booming voice behind him but as he turned to see who it was his face fell to a more disinterested look as he stared up at the bovine. “Oh.” Neko was on guard at that point but his general appearance looked rather calm though he was slightly on edge now that he was unarmed. “Sorry dude, but you’re not my type. You’re too tall…and a man for that matter.” Ducking down Neko rolled to his feet just behind Gunnar and took off through the crowded streets.

Looking through discarded trash Mitsu was having no luck finding anything edible. With a sigh of discontent she moved on down the alley looking through more garbage until she heard footsteps approaching. Darting to the side she squeezed herself behind some large barrel drums to hide from sight as Yuki approached through the alleyways. Scared that she would be found she held her breath trying her best not to make a sound.

Ears caught Gunnar's shout from blocks away, and Yuki glanced over one shoulder with a look of confusion. Someone was certainly angry, he was thankful that whoever that was wasn't after him. Not that he couldn't hold his own. All the same, he had no idea just how large the brute was. Had he known the beast was after Neko, he might have turned around to witness the end result.

He paused, mind clearing as he noticed something out of the ordinary. Chin lifted as he inhaled quietly, taking in a scent that he was vaguely familiar with. It smelled like a canine. Here? It was preposterous, and Yuki scratched absently at the back of his head as he tried to figure it out. Little did he know that he was standing mere feet from where Mitsu was hiding herself. Brushing it off as his nose playing tricks on him, Yuki slowly continued on, enjoying the brisk night air.

Gunnar huffed and snorted as he made his way through the streets after loosing sight of Neko. He was very obviously not pleased about it. Soon enough he figured that if he just kept walking around the village he was bound to run into him sooner or later. Gunnar was not about to let go of this, he wanted answers, and he wanted punishment for the stranger. He was furious, and when someone like him was furious EVERYONE could tell.

He lumbered through the village going from townsperson to towns person trying to get info on this mysterious stranger. It was a huge pain to even find anyone that could do more than gape at him. It didn't help his already foul mood.

Neko gave Hitsu an apologetic look, “Sorry, old habits are hard to break.” Once she sat down with him and inquired about Yuki his current run in with the large beast man escaped his mind as he remembered what he had seen. “Oh I saw him alright. As soon as I got to the market I saw him walking off with a pretty young lady, the boar he had caught over his shoulder. Now, in my mind usually you receive payment for stuff in the market unless certain payments aren’t meant for the public eye.” Neko gave a sly grin. He was usually pretty blunt about stuff but he tried to tone it down a little around Hitsu. He also seemed to leave out certain details, such as the kids that had been following the woman, not that he himself thought that that was an important detail.

Neko was about to make a smart comment but the conversation quickly took a serious tone so he avoided it all together. How boring. He had known Deacon but had never been very fond of the guy himself. “So the Deac, is still missing. I honestly don’t think he ran out on them, his wife is quite the looker. I’m sure you know what I mean.” He gave Yuki a little wink at the end not caring too much if his comment was crossing the line or not.

Having followed Yuki all the way back to his house, Mitsu crouched outside a window and peered in. She saw three people standing around a table. The one she had followed seemed to be very serious or angry when he talked. Well at least they were occupied. Leaving the window Mitsu began to scrounge around looking for scraps that she might find, she was no foreigner to eating from the trash, but a soft clucking sound caught her attention. Ears perked she slunk down the length of the house to the backyard where she saw a large chicken coup and a few stray chickens still outside.

Casting a glance from side to side to be sure the coast was clear, Mitsu moved out into the yard. She wasn’t really sure how to catch one nor did she really care, she was starting to grow weak from her hungry state and would go to any lengths to remedy the situation. Soft steps brought her closer and closer to her prey, the hunger reflecting in her eyes, and the chicken she was after seemed to be unaware of the current danger it was in as it continued to peck at the ground. Once she was within a good range she lunged at the bird grabbing hold of its sides and lifting it off the ground. It struggled letting out a distressed series of clucks and screams as it pecked at Mitsu’s hands which quickly gained it’s freedom causing her to have to chase it down. By this time the whole coup of chickens were in an uproar filling the surrounding area with noise.

"Chicken why? I only want to eat you!" Mitsu protested.