"Haruka!  Haruka!"

            Haruka opened her eyes slowly; she *had* been sleeping.  "What?"  Mamoru was leaning over her, all smiles.  *This better not be one of his tricks...*

            Mamoru's eyes were bright.  "Boars."

            "Huh?"

            "I couldn't sleep, so I got up and started walking--"

            "...In the Forest," Haruka interrupted, "In the middle of the night, without your rose--or me--to protect you."

            Mamoru scowled at the insinuation that he would be helpless without her aid.  "*Anyway*... while I was walking I saw a pack of wild boars.  They're in that clearing, about a mile from here."  He sat back, smiling as if she should be proud of him.

            "You walked a mile?"  Haruka asked angrily, not believing his nerve.  "You could have gotten lost!  Or worse, you could have gotten killed, therefore leaving me to gather the berries for myself." Haruka's eyes flashed angrily, then she sighed.  "Okay, now what's the big deal about boars?"

            "They're food."  Mamoru stated promptly.

            "Yeah," Haruka mused, sitting up.  "You're right... but they're also dangerous.  Haven't you ever seen Old Yeller?"

            Mamoru nodded.  "Good movie."

            "Yeah, it was; but those boars were killers."  Haruka reminded him.  "You saw what they did to Yeller." She cringed at the uninvited memory.

            "I remember," Mamoru brushed some stray ebony hair out of his face.  "But I also remember that they attacked because their babies were being handled."

            "They had to tag them!"  Haruka came to the movie familys' defense.

            Mamoru sighed.  "My point is, it's still too early in the year for them to have babies with them.  We should be about to catch one."

            "*Catch?*"  Haruka asked incredulously.  Just the thought seemed ludicrous beyond consideration.  "What about their tusks?  And their hooves?  And their teeth?"

            A shrug.  "I've got a pocket knife, and I'm sick to death of fish."

            "So what?"  Haruka shot back, angered by his outright snubbing of her hard-won meals.  "At least I hunt—you pick berries."

            Mamoru snarled at her.  "Look, we can hide up high, like in a tree--"

            "...Like in Old--"

            "...And then," Mamoru cut her off, "We can throw something, a rock maybe, and knock one of the boars out.  We can distract the other boars, and then climb back down from the tree, and get the boar."  Mamoru seemed proud of himself.

            "You know what?" Haruka asked, brows raised. "I heard way to many we's in there."  Sucking in a breath, Haruka crossed her arms.

            "Well, I couldn't do it without you."  Mamoru reminded her.  "I'd be killed."

            "That's an idea."  Haruka muttered.

            "Huh?"

            "Nothing."

            "Good.  So we'll start tracking them after breakf--"

            "Again with the we's?"  Haruka asked, annoyed.  "Why can't you just eat the fish and shut your mouth?"

            "Because I don't like fish!"  Mamoru shot back, knowing as he said the words that they weren't the cleverest retort that he had ever used.

            Haruka sighed.  "You're really Hell bent on this, aren't you?"

            Mamoru nodded eagerly, knowing that he was wearing her down.

            Another sigh.  Then, "Okay.  Let's do it."

             It was the day after, and Haruka had been sitting up in that tree for two hours, waiting for the boars to come.  She and Mamoru had long ago decided that he would be the distraction.  While Mamoru hadn't liked the idea as much as Haruka had, he had been given no other choice.

            Mamoru was on top of another tree, further off.  When the boars came, Haruka was to chuck a stone at one, knocking it out.  Then Mamoru would distract the other boars somehow, and Haruka would climb down the tree, kill the stoned-boar, and then slice it in the stomach, so that it wouldn't bloat.  She would then climb up in her tree to wait until they were both sure that the other boars were gone.  Whoever saw the boars leave would whistle for the other and they would go back to their cave to gut, and then eat, the boar.

            Haruka wasn't very comfortable with the plan, and neither was Mamoru...but neither of them liked eating fish anymore, either.

            The drum of hooves and distant squeals broke Haruka from her reverie.  As Haruka pulled her foot up-- it had been dangling carelessly--images of Old Yeller appeared in her mind.  She shook it off, not wanting unease to wreck her handiwork.

            By now the pigs had come into plain view, all snub nosed and filthy.  They swarmed around the alley and under Haruka's tree, which offered minimal shade.  There were about twenty of them in all, the Senshi estimated.

            Haruka silently chose her victim: a large boar that didn't seem too old.  It was about the size—or larger--of a well proportioned dog, and from its tusks Haruka could tell that she had chosen a male.

            Haruka got a better grip on her stones as the appointed target shuffled underneath the tree.  She hoped that he would prove easy to knock out.

            Taking aim, she chucked the stone as hard as she could.  It hit the boar squarely in the head, and he slumped over.  Not trusting the antics of an animal that had hurt Old Yeller, Haruka threw another stone, which also hit in on the head.  A nearby boar saw its comrade, and trotted over to help.

            Haruka chuckled.  "Too late."  

            Mamoru was in his tree, watching the occurrences.  It was his turn.

            Sliding down on to a lower branch, he let out a whoop, to get the boars' attention.  A few turned to look, but none seemed to care.

            "Hey!" Mamoru called, very well aware of just how stupid he sounded.  Furrowing is brow, he continued with, "Uh...come over here," now more boars noticed him, but none saw him as a threat.  He frowned; then something seemed to catch his eye.  Under the branch that Haruka was sitting on, there seemed to be a small silver object.  Mamoru recognized it too late as a magically conjured razor, cutting the branch.

            "Haruka!"  Mamoru shouted, his voice bordering on a scream.  "Haruka, get off!  Get off of the branch!"

            "What the Hell?"  Haruka asked.  "What's he doing?" she sighed, watching the scene unfold.  Mamoru was screaming at her from his tree, his words jumbled and lost over the wind currents.

            Mamoru jumped off of his tree, and started running toward her.

            "Look how slow!"  Haruka crowed, her voice barely above a whisper.  Suddenly she was interrupted by the sound of splitting wood.  "What the H..." the wood broke beneath her weight, and she plummeted downward, her sentence turning into a yelp.

            Haruka hit the ground roughly.  She groaned, and started to get up, when she noticed the boars.  They were closing in on her.

            "Nice boar..." Haruka trailed off with a barely suppressed groan that sounded suspiciously like a whimper.  Aw, shit."

            The boar grunted in reply and charged her.

            "HARUKA!"  Mamoru yelled.  He gasped as the blonde fell from her perch on the tree, and then was surrounded by the mob of boars.  But by now he was only yards away.  "Haruka, don't worry, I'm coming!"

            Pain from her fall surged through Haruka where it had not before, and her mind started to haze, granted only warped images of angered boars and big "yeller" dogs.

            Just then, as a large boar--the leader, her pain -dulled mind assumed--was about to stab her with its tusks, she felt a great sweeping sensation.  She looked up, and noticed that Mamoru was holding her, and running.

            "M...Mamoru?" the thought of him not only being worried about her, but saving her life, was almost ludicrous enough to make her laugh aloud.

            "Shhhh."  He crooned.  "Everything will be alright... just gotta get you back to the cave...you'll be fine..."

            His words came in a jumbled parody to her pain-dulled mind, but Haruka smiled.  His concern was more touching than his words could have been.