Shady Dealings

It was well passed noon when the lid of a dumpster popped open in some back alley. Out of this dumpster popped a filth coated hunter, Junko. He yawned and stretched, arching his back using the side of the dumpster as support. He hopped...well, more like flopped, out of the metallic box he currently occupied, and scratched a bit. A large rat popped out of his hair which he snatched up and bit into. Nothing like an easy breakfast first thing when you wake up.

He looked around, munching on his rodent breakfast, and gave his ass another scratch. His strange breakfast finished he slunk off to see who he could con into buying a faulty time piece. He didn't care that he ripped people off, it payed for decent food and patches for his cloths and the likes. It also let him live where he likes, sleep as long as he likes, and he didn't pay taxes. Life was good.

Well, this was....unexpected. There didn't seem to be a soul around. Junko couldn't see well but he his other senses make up for it. And they were saying no one was around. Sure, just having people around didn't instantly mean a sale, but it was still weird to have no one around.

Junko, in his confusion, lifted his shaggy bangs off his face to try and look around. His muddy brown eyes has a pale glaze to them showing that he was basically blind and that this action was pointless. It made him feel a little better though as he could confirm that no one was around.

He sighed in disappointment and and let his hair flop back over his face. The shade it provided felt nice. He had hoped he could sell something today, his prices where high enough to last him a few splurges on food. He mostly ate trash and dead animals, so cooked food was something he found as a luxury item he enjoyed and he could really use a burger.

Junko sniffed the air a few times, hoping to locate someone. All he got was further disappointment by the lack of any fresh smells. With another heavy sigh, he started walking around. It was a plus to have his "store" be located in his coat. If the clients wouldn't come to him, he'd come to them.

Lul, I'm totally jumping in~ XD ]

Suddenly there was movement in the shadows behind a couple of trashcans which caused a metallic "clank cank" noise to sound because of a tin can falling out of the lidless trash tin. Those with keen hearing could hear the soft patting of hands and feet from some four-legged animal... it sound small... about the size of a little dog. Though the source appeared no where in sight, the sound of its movement suggested it was on the ground somewhere behind stuff... and was moving towards the large dumpster. Suddenly it was all quiet... and after a moment, there was a quiet sniffing sound before a low puppy-like growl sounded off. And before you knew it, there was a shrill shriek and what looked like a mini hunter suddenly jumped out from under a messy pile of newspapers and out at a cardboard box. It flipped the box over causing it to sit up right before a frightened "squeak" sound was heard and a small rat scampered out and away from the cardboard box.

The smallish hunter then peeked out of the box and started whining in sad disappointment. By now, it was evident this hunter was practically a baby one... about 2 years old. The little one continued to stare out from the box toward the direction the rat ran away, laying its chin on the cardboard edge. He didn't seem aware of Junko's presence yet.

"Hnnn hnnnnnnnnn...... Waht...."

Junko's attention was instantly on the squeaking sound. He stomped the rat, cracking its spine and picked it up. He was about to toss it in his mouth when he heard a whining sound. "Hnnn hnnnnnnnnn...... Waht...." it whined. He looked around and sniffed until he located the source. A tiny Hunter...

His attention went between the child and the rat...the child and the rat...the kid looked barely old enough to talk, what was he doing out on the streets? Junko sighed, memories of his cousin helping him when the infection was bad zipping through his head. He remembered how hard it was when you didn't know how to hunt.

He dropped the dead rat by the Hunter child, waiting to see what he's do. It wasn't often he'd show his soft spot, but...He couldn't help it. This kid looked so helpless...

When Tyler saw the rat crushed under the Hunter's foot. he Winced and looked up at the new face with a sad expression of want. When he saw the man toss the food towards him, he immediately perked up.

"Yay!" He earnestly pounced the dead rodent and devoured it greedily, only leaving the bones behind before he began licking his claws. It wasn't long before he looked back up at the stranger and crawled over to his leg and nuzzled it, as if it was his way of saying "thank you". He then hugged the dirty Hunter's leg fondly, already forming admiration for the guy that simply did him the kindness of helping him catch his food. It wasn't long before you could hear him purring.

It had only been a few months since he moved out of the savage zone and into the "civil" area with his mother, since his mom couldn't make art without someone tearing it into shreds or stealing it away for a blanket or unmentionable reasons... Despite their time here, being only a child, he still behaved the same way he did in the savage zone. He couldn't resist the irresistible curiosity of exploring. Right now he had yet again hunter stealth his way away from the daycare his mother put him in before going to work and was letting his curiosity be his guide in these streets. Of course, Jiji had no idea he was anywhere but at daycare right now as she was still at school teaching at this hour.

"Heh...cute kid..." Junko said, his voice very gravely and gruff. He sat down by the child and fished around in his coat until he pulled out a stopped pocket watch. He rubbed the circular metal object on his sleeve trying to polish it, managing to make it shine just a little.

He remembered having an affinity for shiny things and that helped him collect all the junk he sells. He hooked a clawed finger through the ring at the end of the watch's chain and swung it side to side. He wondered if the kid would bat it like a cat and chuckled.

The moment Tyler saw the watch, he stared intently at the shiny object, growing very quiet before suddenly trying to grab it with both claws, but missed.

"nnngh..." He then pawed at it, trying to grab it with his little hand but continued to miss. After a while of grab and miss, his childish babble started making sense.

"Wad dat?" He pointed at the watch before trying to grab it again.

"Wad dat? Wha- daaat-chth?" He then fell over almost on his face, but like a cat, landed on his hands instead. He then stared up at the nice man with the shiny toy with curiosity and awe.

Junko couldn't help but chuckle again. "S'called a watch," he said with that same gravely tone. "Tells the time. This one needs to be fixed though." He flipped open the lid and showed the face to the younger Hunter. "See? Hands don't move and it won't tick." He then pulled out one of the working watches he had and held it to Tyler's ear.

"Hear that?" he said. The watch went tick tick tick during Junko's pause. "Means it's working." he pointed at the smaller hand. "That one tells the hour," then the longer hand; "the minute," and last the constantly moving hand; "and the second. Let's people know if they're late. Like the white rabbit."

"S'caw ah wahj" Tyler parroted before trying to grab the watch again like a kitten with string. He didn't understand everything that Junko said, only understanding what he said like this,

"????? ??? time. ???? one needs ?? ?? fix?? ??????" When Junko showed the face of the watch to Tyler, he finally grabbed it and tugged a bit before staring intently at the watch's face when the older hunter pointed at it. He continued listening to the adult's "gibberish".

"See? Hands don't move and it ???'? tick" He then grew even more silent in awe when he heard the quiet but neat ticking noise of the watch.

"Bleh..."

"Hear That? Mean? it'? work???"

"ooooo... ah~" Tyler soon purred at the lovely noise, liking it alot before attempting to mimic it.

"tch tch ch ch tch ch chhhh..." He stared up at Junko when he started talking more in words he wasn't familiar with...

"That one ???? ??? ????, ??? ??????, ??? ??? ??????. ???'? people know ????'?? ????. Like ??? ????? rabbit."

While he was talking, Tyler tried to pull the watch into his mouth to bite it, thinking it was alive and to see if it tasted any good. But when all he tasted was ucky rusty metal, he promptly removed it from his mouth. But when he heard Junko mention "rabbit" he immediately perked up excitedly.

"Wabbi? Wheur?!" Tyler excitedly looked around before attempting to jump into the dumpster, only managing to grab the edge and hang from there. He then tried to pull himself inside.

"nnnnnngh... weh.. ggh... grurrr mgh!" He then suddenly let go and landed on his rear on the ground, looking up at the dumpster in disappointment of his failure.

"Hahaha, no, rabbit ain't here kiddo," Junko said and gently pulled Tyler off of the dumpster. He gently set the smaller Hunter down and flicked the stopped watch a few times until it started ticking again* There we go..." He handed the watch to the child. "You wanna hear a story kid?" A toothy grin crossed Junko's face as he spoke. Kids these days only knew classics from those darned Disney movies. No accuracy at all.

Tyler whined in disappointment before behind pulled off the dumpster. He could at least understand Junko had said "no rabbit". When he was handed the watch, Tyler took it happily and started chewing on it again. Though it didn't taste great, it felt interesting on the teeth to chew on it.

"Sdoh-wee?.. Yay! Sdoh-wee!" Tyler clapped his little paws together excitedly as the watch made "clink" noises, since the child was still holding it in his claws. He then held his arms out at Junko as if expecting to be picked up. Tyler loved stories, even though he usually didn't understand most of what people were saying to him, the two things that enticed Tyler about story telling was the highly expressive gestures a storyteller would make while telling a story and when they said a familiar word that caught much interest. "rabbit" being an example.

Junko sat down and pulled Tyler onto his lap. "Alright kid, this story's called 'Alice in Wonderland.' S'a classic," he stated very seriously. He then grinned and began the story. He had a feeling the kid wouldn't understand a lot so did some silly things with his hands. He placed his hands by his head with his index fingers in the air and wiggles them any time the white rabbit was mentioned, and made sweeping gestures with his arms for all the size changing.
Junko would laugh now and then at how ridiculous he was being but hey, it was fun. After some time of looking like he was playing charades, he finished the story. "And that's where the white rabbit came from. What'cha think kiddo?"

"Wabbeed!" Tyler then held his claws above his head in a pretending-hands-are-bunny-ears fashion before hopping out of Junko's lap. "Wabbid hop hop hop!" Tyler then started jumping all around the place and soon was hopping away from the area from Junko with laughs and giggles.

Meanwhile with Jiji. She was finishing up grading student art work in her classroom, an hour after school was already over. Unlike some people, she liked to get work done in one sitting before going home to have fun. She didn't like taking breaks in fear that she may not return to finish what she started. Anyway, she was just finished grading the last piece of painting. She looked at the painting of a fantasized horse trotting across water in the night with a smile. She liked her job, though the other teachers were sometimes a pain and there were always at least one or two rotten apples among her students, seeing what kind of art they produced as well as making her own was always rewarding. She then put the painting down with the others and looked at the clock on the wall. Alright, time to leave. Don't worry, I'm coming my little huggle bun~

As she was leaving the room, she couldn't help but suddenly get this uncomfortable feeling in her heart like something was wrong. She froze a bit in worry, she knew this feeling. It was the feeling she would get that said Tyler was somewhere or doing something he should be. Motherly instincts, she trusted this feeling a lot during the apocalypse and she wasn't going to ignore it now. She immediately headed out towards the school exit to go straight to the daycare.

Junko sighed with a smile and shook his head. "Didn't hear any of it, did yah kid?" he chuckled. "Guess I shouldn't expect someone so young to sit still long enough to listen." Junko scratched at his shaggy head, his hair hiding his faded brown eyes. A small bird flew out causing him a mild start. He hated when things did that.

"Wabbeed! Wabbeeeed!" Tyler called from down the end of the alleyway in the corner obviously a good deal far from where Junko was. Though it was all fun and games to Tyler and he was merely pretending to be the white rabbit running away from Junko, or "Alice", it still wasn't a safe idea for a child his age to wander a dark and suspicious place by himself. He would make easy prey for many if the child continued his noisy play like this.

Meanwhile, Jiji had arrived at the daycare and was speaking with the woman behind the counter.

"Are you absolutely sure he's sleeping? When was the last time ya checked? I don't care how too young you think he is to be sneaky, don't be fooled by his adorable cuddliness. Like I said before, it was a good idea at the time when I taught him stealth too well... just please, if you're not going to check, can I at least see him for myself?" She asked the reluctant lady.

"I'm sorry, I can't walk in on them during their nap time. I'd wake them up as a smoker..." The smoker lady said with a loud but concealed cough.

"I'm not even sure it's even okay for you to come in... I'll check and see if you can... or I'll just get someone else who's more quiet to check"

"You can't get any more quiet than a Hunter, ma'am... except silence itself."

"Please be patient, I'm sure he's just fine... COUGH COUGH HACK".

Junko couldn't help but smile and laugh at the little Hunter's actions. "Yeah, there was a rabbit in the story." He followed Tyler, kicking a can as he walked. He may be lazy but he was still big enough to put up a good fight if unwanted attention came from his little game of kick the can. He had his doubts that a rambunctious child could beat anything bigger than a rabbit though. He had nothing better to do, and the kid was entertaining, so why not make sure he stays alive?

After a while of wandering down the alleyways, Tyler noticed the shiny thing he still had in his claws. Apparently it was the watch Junko showed him and he had forgotten he still had it. He inspected the watch and put it against his ear, smiling as he heard the subtle ticking noise. He then held the pocket watch over his head and stared at the face of it.

"... I layt! a layt!" Tyler then exclaimed like Junko had described the white rabbit doing. (Oh gosh, I am loving this, you have no idea, lul XD ) Tyler than jumped around parroting those words with the watch still in his little claws before jumping into the nearest open window he saw. Which to Tyler's surprise, the window "blocked" Tyler off, causing him to hit his head before falling back on the ground on his back. He sat up.

"Owie! nnngh!" Tyler held his head with his claws at the headache. It was those "invisible force-fields" again, though he was kinda use to it by now. After a moment when the noxious headache let up, he stared at the watch in his hand again.

"ah Layt! Layt layd layd!" And with that plus a goofy smile on his little face, he bound off down the alleyways once more, almost forgetting he was "running away" from "Junko Alice" in the first place.

If Jiji had been there to tell the shady dealer, she would of said this was why she stopped telling Tyler fictional stories, especially after she had told him the story of "Tarzan". Though it was real cute when after she told him about "The Lion King" he pretended to be a lion saying "Rawr" a lot and now and then playfully pounce Jiji for a whole month, it just got way out of hand when he started running away from home (more than he usually did) and started climbing trees, buildings, and telephone poles, screech his "jungle call" at the top of his little lungs to the world, tried to "befriend" squirrels, rats, dogs, cats, and pigeons, and attempted to "swing around" on tree branches and city clothes lines and even a smoker's tongue at one time.

Junko couldn't help but chuckle when the child bashed his head on a window. "Rabbits can't break glass with their skulls," he said and shook his head. He wasn't fond of the fact he was now a girl for this game-he always preferred the March Hare-but what could you do. He had long strides to help him keep up with Tyler's pace and keen smell and hearing.
Way he saw things, kids needed imagination fuel. Just gotta teach them how to use it properly if it gets out of hand is all. He was one of those quiet kids who had a lot of stuffed animals to play out any adventures he had in mind. Never anything as spectacular as one of his old favorite newspaper comic characters who had a stuffed tiger, but it kept him from getting run over by cars or something.

Finally at one point, Tyler found himself at a "dead end". It was a one of those metal fences that occasionally were seen placed in certain parts of alleyways, probably to keep people's pets in (like dogs) within certain boundaries. But what caught the young Hunter's attention most was the black cat that was sitting on top of the fence. It looked rather scrawny and was meowing, obviously a stray. It didn't fail to take note of Tyler's presence as it started to stare down at him with those large yellow kitty eyes. Tyler would stare back in awe.

".... Sh-... shhhh-, Shhhesuhr Cah...?" He was trying to say "Cheshire Cat", of course. Tyler loved cats, though he did eat them, he loved to cuddle and pet those lovely furry animals (When he wasn't hungry).

"Kiddy!" The little infected child then lunged out towards that poor cat on the fence, only to miss the swift feline and left to grasp on the edge of the metal fencing as the black cat made it fast get away.

"Hnnnnn..., kiddy!" Tyler whined before pulling himself over the fencing and sloppily jump off over to the other side of the fence. He made a clumsy landing as he landed hands first to the ground and fell forward, rolling twice before flopping down on his tummy. Regardless of falling from the heights of a 6 ft. fence, he seemed okay, he wasn't bawling into tears from any pain at least. Tyler then raced forward after that can at full speed on all fours like a dog, proving to be surprisingly fast for someone so small. He was sure to probably catch up with that cat at the speed he was running.

Meanwhile, Jiji was hopping rooftops. She KNEW Tyler wasn't going to be at the daycare, and she had confirmed it by seeing for herself. Right now she was trying to track down her baby. Fearful concern was obvious on her face. Sometimes she wondered why she even put Tyler in that daycare, but she already knew the answer as she would immediately remind herself: Because her brother back in the savage Zone was too stubborn to babysit his nephew due to his lack of confidence that he was even capable of doing so. Once he formed his doubts, he would never even try to see if he could or not. She couldn't take her baby to School on the job. The first month or so she tried, he caused too much trouble for her and was a distraction to her students... Then there was her trust issues, she didn't trust anyone enough to babysit her child. So, even though she detested the daycare, it was her only option.

"If only there was a better solution..." Jiji would mentally sigh to herself. She continued her search for her precious Tyler.

Junko laughed when Tyler tried to say "Cheshire Cat." He got a bit of concern when he saw the kid had jumped a fence. It wasn't like a fence was a PROBLEM for a full grown hunter, it's just that Junko was weighed down by the items he sells, and his own dense body weight. Mix that with his lazy in-activeness and you got a hunter who takes a bit longer than most to do a jump.
With a heavy sigh Junko hunkered down on all fours like a lion about to pounce. He even had the main. All of his muscles tensed as he prepared to leap the fence in a single bound. With a loud shriek the bulky hunter flung himself into the air and over the fence, performing a roll to avoid damage once he hit the ground.
"Should really work on my pounces more...getting rusty..." he muttered as he followed the scent of his new young friend.

Way ahead of Junko from here, Tyler had pursued the ebony cat all the way to an open ventilation shaft of a warehouse building. The young hunter didn't stop from there, he quickly followed after the feline into the vent without hesitation. He was more than small enough to climb through.

Meanwhile, Jiji had followed Tyler's scent all the way to a dumpster... He wasn't there, but there was strong wind of another's scent... Jiji instantly growled to herself as she recognized the masculine aroma of a male Hunter.... she hated male Hunters, and from what she could tell, the scent was trailing along with in the same direction she could smell her son had wandered. From an instant assumption, her heart started to race and fear dominated her expression.

Oh no, no no no! PLEASE, his isn't happening! He's going to eat my baby!" Jiji then hastily made a leap back to the roofs with ease before chasing after the scent of the stranger and her son.

"NO! Oh gosh! Why?! Nooo!! For all I know, he could be a pedophile or a HEARTLESS JERK! If he got his filthy claws on my poor baby, he could easily hurt him! Torture him! He's probably chasing after Tyler RIGHT NOW! I HAVE to find Tyler before he does! My poor baby! He must be so scared right now! If he dares lay ONE finger on him, I'll TEAR him to SHREDS!! GRURURRRR!!" It wasn't long before she caught sight of a very ragged, unkempt, and very shady-looking Hunter in a trench coat following after the scent of her child. The sight of him put a pit of rage in her chest as she started to growl threateningly. before another moment, she jumped down with a shriek from the three story apartment building and landed HARD on Junko and pounced him down onto his back in an instant.

"GET AWAY from here, NOW, BEFORE I RIP YOUR HEART OUT!!!" She roared down at him snarling ferociously while glaring straight down at him with a menacing dangerous look of "kill" in her eyes. Though if you ignored that, she had a fairly attractive face and body from what you could tell with her hooded jacket on her and her wolfish fangs were very beautiful and quite white. You could tell she had a higher living compared to Junko.

Regardless of how lax Junko is, he still has instincts and reflexes. Said reflexes and instincts kicked in the second he was pounced. Instead of just falling flat on his back like a non-infected might, he rolled with the momentum of the pounce performing a sort of backwards somersault. The end result was him being on top and taking that to jump up into a defensive position.
He had one foot forward, hands up ready to block, and legs slightly bent should he need to do quick strafing. "Lady, I don't know what your problem is. Ain't your territory far as I can tell. Sure as hell doesn't reek of you around here," Junko growled baring his yellowed teeth. It was obvious he had no care for his personal grooming.

Jiji quickly got up to her feet after Junko's successful counter move against her failed pounce. It hurt, but she refused to let that show as she pretended to act like she didn't feel any pain. Never show your enemies your weakness, it only encourages them to fight back if they can see your troubled by pain. She hissed back in reply.

"I DON'T CARE! You're my problem, now just back off away from here before I change my mind about letting you live!" Though she tried to hide it, she was scared. She hadn't done this sort of thing in a very long time. She could be rusty. What if he didn't take her threat? Though she wasn't bluffing, sometimes they felt confident they could take her down. He might be stronger than her, and if he was and he didn't feel like leaving, she was in big trouble.

She'd tell this man why she wanted him to go away, but she didn't trust him. She didn't want him to know she was trying to protect her child from him, she didn't want him to know she was Tyler's mother, she didn't want a stranger to know she had anything to do with the child he was following. She recalled what usually happened when they did find out. They would use that knowledge to their advantage against her, they would blackmail her with it, threaten to slaughter her child unless she followed their conditions. She despised the men that did this to her and her baby the most and so far she didn't fail to kill them one way or another in the end. Though that was then in the savage zones, she was worried about now, "will she survive well enough to find her child and bring him home back to safety in peace or die in vain leaving her baby an orphan?" This was the question that struck fear into the Huntress's heart...

Junko just rolled his eyes, the action unseen behind his matted hair. :Fine, I'll go. Was just following my new friend." He pointed his thumb at the vent Tyler went through. "His scent leads through there, little kid. See if you can fish him out, would yah?" He dropped his hands to his sides, yawned, and shuffled off humming softly. He didn't feel like fighting after all, and doubted that this huntress would harm Tyler.

Jiji watched Junko 's back with narrowed eyes and didn't turn away until she was sure the Hunter was gone. When she felt the coast was clear, she let go of her defensive stance and relaxed before sighing lightly in relief.

"Friend?" She thought before giving off a slightly stressed sigh.

"Tyler, what am I going to do with you? I wish you could understand when I say not to talk to strangers... If only I knew how to keep you from getting into danger." She then turned to the building Junko had mentioned.

"He said Tyler went into this building..." She leaped to the nearest open or unlocked window she could find before making her way in in search of Tyler.

"Okay, this should be easy. Just find Tyler, get him out of here, avoid running into that Hunter or anyone else and go straight home... well, wander in circles just in case anyone follows... Alright, here we go." She wandered around the warehouse, it was abandoned... typical. She sniffed around and quickly picked up Tyler's scent. He was somewhere around these boxes... She quietly ventured over to the said boxes of warehouse junk, keeping alert of any movement.

"Ma ma!" Suddenly Jiji was pounced by a little bundle of blood-soaked baby Hunter. Since he was small, he didn't knock her over as she reflexively caught him.

"Tylerrrrrrrrr~ There you are! I was so woooorriiiiiied~ You have no idea, you could've gotten hurt!" She held him close in a tight protective hug, her face truly held great concern as well as joy. She couldn't help letting a tear run down the side of her cheek from relief of her fears. Tyler purred in her hold as he snuggled closely for her comforting warmth. Finally, Jiji gave a serious, but not too serious tone.

"You know you're suppose to be in that daycare, Tyler." Tyler lifted his head and looked Jiji in the face with a small frown in response to the change of tone in his mother's voice. The expression he had now could easily say "Uh-oh".

"Now, why on earth did you come here? Did you find something interesting?" She used a more cheerful tone this time. She knew how sensitive Tyler was to criticism and her heart couldn't bear seeing Tyler when he was hurt. She remembered the first time she shouted at Tyler for running away, Tyler responded by curling up away from her in fear and helplessly whimper as he would give her this heartbroken look of utter fear and betrayed confusion. When she tried to hug him in apology, he ran off and tried to hide in a small spacing while looking at her like he was looking at a horrifying monster who he had thought to have been his mother. Since then, she never wanted to see Tyler like that ever again.

Back to the present, the child's face perked up at the question as he recognized the words as:

"Now, why ?? ????? ??? you come here? ??? you find ????????? interesting?".

"Ah~" Tyler uttered cheerfully and eagerly as he held up the bones of the cat he had been chasing and the shiny pocket watch. Jiji stared at the watch as she held it in inspection and sniffed it. It smelt strongly like that Hunter she ran into earlier. Great... Tyler must of taken it from him... Or maybe he just gave it to him as something to play with and forgot to take it back.

"Is this watch yours, Tyler? Is it your watch?" Though she already knew the answer, she just wanted to get some sort of confirmation through Tyler's reaction. Tyler looked up at her with a small frown, the one he made when he knew he either forgot something or realized he did something wrong.

"Wuh.... hnnghmmmgh... Sdaw-wee!" Tyler then hopped out of Jiji's arms and started running off ahead and back into the ventilation shaft, leaving behind the skeleton back with Jiji.

"Hey, wait! Tyler!" She ran after that child but he was already out of reach in the vent. She quickly then made her way to the window she came through and jumped out through it back into the alleyway outside. Tyler was already running off down the alleyway in the direction Junko had walked off, Jiji would then make quick pursuit, hoping to catch Tyler before that stranger did.