บท 4: Ch 4 : K'lee

"I'm K'lee, I originally saw you fight those other pup's and I knew then that I had to fight you." K'lee said flaring her mandibles at Cetanu, most likely in excitement at the chance to fight him.

"Sure, I'll fight you now, I've got some spare time to kill." Cetanu said to her, he then attacked her without giving her a chance to react, going for a punch to her head.

"Wha-!" K'lee shouted out, not prepared for Cetanu's punch but she managed to dodge it by accidentally falling backwards into the water.

"What was that for?!" She shouted at Cetanu as she sat up in the water, her face showing her angry at him for suddenly attacking her clearly without warning.

"You didn't think your enemy would tell you when he's attacking did you?" Cetanu asked rhetorically, he then jumped into the water after K'lee as she tried to get away from him, to have some room to recover.

A short battle then ensued, at the start it was a fierce battle of skill and tactics all being used against the other but as it went on they grew more tired and the battle soon became a brawl, filled with sloppy punches and kicks, biting and clawing.

It ended with them both out of breath and laying flat on their backs next to each other on the bank, they were covered in small cuts and numerous bruises, Cetanu had quite a nasty cut on his lips where K'lee's claws caught him in a passing swing of her claws and a bruised mandible.

K'lee had some very prominent bruises on her arms, shoulders and back where Cetanu either punched or kicked her, or threw her on the ground with a different type of throw each time so she wouldn't get used to him doing it to her consistently.

That really made her angry.

Now Cetanu was only in the same state as K'lee because he didn't use his life force but then again his body is consistently being tempered by it, making it stronger, harder but also more flexible.

So it's impressive when you look at K'lee and see that she kept up with him some what and that's when she doesn't have the use of her life force like Cetanu.

"Haah, that was a good fight K'lee, it's been awhile since someone my age has been able to keep up with me." Cetanu said to her with a smile as he got up from the ground and brushed off some of the dirt that stuck to him.

His injuries were already starting to heal at a visible rate, his cuts no longer bleeding and his bruises becoming a colour closer to his dark skin, healing because of his increased life force.

K'lee huffed in annoyance or exhaustion, it was had to tell with her being so tired that she could barely even move her face to show her displeasure at Cetanu, "You were just messing around with me weren't you?" She asked Cetanu, not taking his hand and getting up by herself, albeit being very difficult for her to do but she was a Yautja, she didn't need anyone's help getting up! She thought defiantly as she looked at Cetanu's hand in disgust.

To the Yautja showing any signs of weakness or having to get help from your opponent made you weak and there was no place for weaklings amongst the Yautja.

Cetanu lowered his hand and looked into K'lee's eyes seriously, 'Shit, I let a human habit slip, she probably thinks I'm being disrespectful to her now.'

"I didn't hold back a lot, just enough that we could have a better fight, you caught me off guard quite a few times ... you can be proud of that, so in the future when you hear stories about how I, Cetanu of the Dark Knight clan, single handily destroyed a kiande amedha nest with only the trusted blade on my wrist, you can say that you went toe for toe with me when we were younger." Cetanu smiled at her with a bit of seriousness in his eyes still, he wasn't just making a jest and she could tell that as well.

"You make it sound like you won't hear stories about my great accomplishments." She said to him returning the same look, standing up a bit more proudly now.

"We'll have to fight another time when we're both fully blooded Yautja, deal?" Cetanu asked her, holding out his hand once again.

Unlike last time she took Cetanu's hand in her own and shook it, "Deal." She said, straight after she asked him, "Is this an Ooman custom then?"

She was asking about how they were holding hands, facing each other. It wasn't a Yautja custom to shake hands upon the completion of a deal, you would just stick to your word otherwise you hand no honour.

"Hmm? Oh, the hand shake? I guess it is, I've not seen anyone else do it, but I've been taught both sides of my ancestors traditions, the Ooman and Yautja side, so it can get hard to differentiate between the two." Cetanu said making up a quick excuse.

"This hand shake is to confirm the making of a deal or as a greeting between some Ooman's." He explained to her a little bit, letting go of her hand after, making both of then lower their hands to their sides.

"Oh, are there any other hand gestures that Ooman's use?" K'lee asked curiously, she was still and young pup after all, she was curious about more things then just training to be a good hunter.

"They do have sigh language for people that can't talk or hear, but I think you mean hand gestures like a high five or what different ways holding hands could mean, right?" He asked her, she just nodded her head like she understood, she didn't want to seem stupid to Cetanu, the only other pup her age she had actually talked to.

"Well, the high five is where two people put their hands up like this." He said as he put his hand up, fingers and palm flat facing towards K'lee, he flexed his fingers so that his claws were not pointed toward her though, he then looked at K'lee and then at his hand trying to say that she should copy him.

She quickly caught on and copied Cetanu's hand position, "Good, then you slap them together like this." He said to her and suddenly slapping his hand against hers, making her recoil slightly as she unconscious thought it was an attack.

"It can mean a lot of things but normally it just means 'well done' or 'good job'." He explained to her, lowering his hand, making her also quickly lower her hand so she didn't look silly keeping it up.

"That sounds a lot like how we nod our heads to each other or thump our fists against our chests to another hunter when they get a good kill, why don't Ooman's just do that?" She asked him curiously, now past her previous embarrassment.

"They do that as was well, but the high five just gives a more familiar feeling when you do it with someone you are friends or family with, I've been told stories about a Ooman who would high five for everything, more often then not for conquering a female." Cetanu said as he thought back to the days where he would re-watch episodes of 'How I met your mother'.

K'lee wasn't expecting that answer and so her cheeks became a bright green, she quickly asked Cetanu a different question to try and get away from the other one, "What about the different ways of holding hands?"

"Well, it will be easier if I just show you." Cetanu said before he grabbed her hand, interlocking their fingers together, K'lee was so surprised that she clenched her fist on instinct and held onto Cetanu's hand tightly, "Yeah, so if you hold hands in this way it normally means that you are mates, it's so that mates can be closer to each other while walking or just wanting to be a bit more intimate, but it also has the effect of warning off other males that are trying to pursue the female in question." Cetanu explained seriously to K'lee, who he hadn't noticed wasn't even listening after she heard that holding hands like they were was only for mates.

It seemed that she wasn't going to get rid of that blush for awhile.