"Good Morning Shiro" Kinnison sheepishly said to his companion, still half asleep from the best rest he has had in a long time.

"AWWOOOOOOOH!" Shiro responded loudly, with his tail vigorously wagging back and forth, happy to see his friend finally awake.

Kinnison rose out of the plush bed that he was given to sleep in, stood up slowly, and stretched his weary body. After getting himself reacquainted with his equilibrium, Kinnison walked to the door and exited the room on his way to the main room of the house. He walked down the stairs and saw Gregorio sitting in his chair, reading a book.

"Good morning Gregorio" Kinnison appreciatively said to his host.

"Morning? HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Gregorio let out a loud, deep laugh. "Do you know what time it is? I've never seen anyone sleep like you did last night"

"Is it really that late? I should get going" Kinnison responded.

Kinnison picked up his bow and his backpack carrying his provisions, and prepared himself to return to the forest.

"Well kid, it was my pleasure to have you here. I appreciate the little favor you did for me yesterday." Gregorio said to Kinnison, grateful to have the company, even if it was only for one night. "I'll tell you what, anytime you need some food or a place to stay, come see me. It's on the house, for you and Shiro there."

Kinnison nodded and thanked Gregorio. Shiro walked over to the tavern owner and showed his appreciation in his own way, a gentle lick on his hand. Kinnison called Shiro and the two of them left Gregorio's home to resume their life in the wilderness.

After a quick stop at the stream on the outskirts of Toto for something to drink and to wash up, they continued on into the forests near the village. The two traveled deep into the forest, a couple hours walk, before sitting down to rest. Kinnison reached into his bag for a harmonica. After all, what else is there to do to pass the time in the middle of nowhere. When looking through his bag, Kinnison noticed something that wasn't there before. It was about a weeks worth of fruits and vegetables.

"Thanks Gregorio" Kinnison thought to himself. He had to have been the one to put the food there. Kinnison thought his bag felt heavier than before, but he just passed it off as being a little weak from too much sleep. Kinnison pulled out an apple from the bag and gave it to Shiro.

The two relaxed for a little while just enjoying the sounds and atmosphere of the forest. Suddenly, Shiro jumped up from his relaxed state, his ears standing on edge at full attention. He was hearing something. Shiro ran off into the thick foliage nearby before Kinnison even realized what was going on. Kinnison knew something had to be wrong, so instead of calling Shiro back, he got up and followed him.

Kinnison found Shiro laying low, not far off the forest path. Kinnison laid down beside him. Soon after three men carrying crossbows, and a fourth carrying a rifle came into view.

"Damn, Hunters" Kinnison mumbled under his breath. It had been a long time since Kinnison had seen a hunter in this part of the City-States. In the past when a hunter came into the forest near Toto, it was normally a bandit or in more unusual circumstances, a Highland soldier. But Highland soldiers hadn't been around in a while with the border skirmishes increasing, and most of the bandits, out just for the skin of the defenseless creatures, had moved away from the area either because the animals in other parts of the City States were more valuable or because Kinnison had shown them a lesson about interfering with nature.

Kinnison thought about jumping out from under his cover with weapon drawn and catching the hunters by surprise but being outnumbered, he decided against it. Maybe a warning shot with his bow to let the hunters know that they weren't welcome would help. But no, that would just give away his location and have the same effect as the first option. A shot directly at one of the hunters might do some good, but Kinnison was adamantly against any kind of violence unless there was no other option. But he couldn't just lay there and do nothing, something had to be done.

Kinnison rose slowly and prepared his bow, just in case. He moved has quietly as he could. He didn't want to startle the hunters and cause them to attack him unnecessarily. He walked out of the foliage behind the hunters and called to them.

"Who are you and what is your business here?" Kinnison yelled to the four men.

The four men turned around and approached Kinnison, all four of them clutching their weapons tightly. "Just who the hell do you think you are" One of the hunters said, only inches from Kinnisons face.

"My name is Kinnison, hunters are not welcome in these forests. Please leave immediately." At this time Shiro jumped out from the foliage where he was hiding. He stood right by Kinnisons side and began growling at the hunters. "Down, Shiro!" Kinnison said to his partner.

One of the hunters raised his weapon to Shiro, but before he could get his aim correct, the lead hunter ordered him to lower his weapon. "So you think you are the law in these parts? You think you can tell us what we can and can't do? We came a long way to hunt here because we heard of the abundance of rare animals, and we intend to do so." The lead hunter told Kinnison.

"If you try to do that, I will have to stop you."

The hunter, still staring a hole through Kinnison let out a smirk at Kinnisons comment. "You? You are going to stop us?" The hunters smirk turned into a heavy laugh. "Ok then, I think I have an idea that could make this trip really worthwhile. I'll make a deal with you. We won't hunt any animals here, if you let us hunt you!'

Kinnison was taken aback by the hunters words. He was not expecting that at all. But he couldn't refuse the hunters challenge if it meant the animals of the forest would be protected. "Ok, I accept. What are the terms of your challenge?"

"Here are the rules I have in mind, accept them or the deal is off. Number one-You get a 5 minute head start...."A 5 minute head start in a forest that he knew like the back of his hand was more than enough, Kinnison thought. "Number 2-You and your friend there" the hunter pointed to Shiro "are both fair game...." Kinnison didn't like the idea of putting Shiro in danger, but he thought Shiro should be able to handle himself, besides, the hunter already said if the refused, the deal was off. "Number 3-we have until sundown to get you. That gives us about 7 hours to track you down. If you survive the 7 hours, you win...." That sounds easy enough, Kinnison thought, he knew hiding places in this forest that would take anyone else days to reach. "Those are the rules, are you man enough to accept?"

"I accept but I have one question first. Can I use my weapon?"

"Kid, the rules say we are the hunters, that means no weapons for you. Give me your bow and quiver before we start." Kinnison hesitantly hands over his bow and arrow to the hunter who places it is his backpack. "Now, if you want to use sticks and rocks as weapons, be my guest, but trust me, you won't last that long kid. We are the best. Now, your 5 minute head start begins.... NOW!"

The beginning of the hunt came with no warning and caught Kinnison by surprise. After realizing the hunter was serious, he and Shiro ran off into the thick foliage. Being in excellent shape, Kinnison was able to get almost a mile away by the time his 5 minute head start concluded. Kinnison knew the hunters would be on their way soon, and if they were as good as they said they were, they should have no problem following Kinnison. He had to come up with a plan.

Kinnison started thinking back to his days as a child with Chelios. Chelios was also a hunter and thinking about him would help him understand the way a hunter thinks. That made Kinnison remember. Chelios used to show him how to make traps for catching animals. Thats when it hit him, they might be hunting me, but I'm going to hunt them right back. Kinnison emptied his backpack onto the forest floor. He had to see what he had that might be useful in making traps. A spool of fishing string, an empty metal canteen, a leather hat, a container of hot spices, his harmonica and the fresh fruit given too him by Gregorio. Not much, but it would have to do.

The hunters split up when they reached a point in the forest where they couldn't tell which way he had gone. One of the hunters followed a path through thick ivy that eventually led to a small stream that passed through the forest. The stream, although small, appeared to be pretty deep, so the hunter needed to find a way across. The hunter looked around and saw a fallen tree nearby that crossed the stream so he walked across the natural bridge.

A few hundred feet away from the stream, the hunter spotted Shiro sitting calmly in the middle of the path ahead. The hunter slowly raised his bow toward Shiro, but before he could get a shot off, Shiro turned and began to run. The hunter lowered his crossbow and began running after Shiro. The hunter was closing on Shiro until.... CRASH! The hunter tripped, and fell into a small pit. The pit was about 8 feet deep, but ply about 2 1/2 feet wide. The hunter landed head first in the pit and the small diameter made it nearly impossible for him to move.

Kinnison then appeared out of the forest. He reached down to where the hunter tripped and untied the fishing string that he had tied across two trees that caused the hunter to trip. Kinnison walked over to the pit after this and saw the hunters weapon laying a few feet from the pit. A little closer to the pit was the hunters quiver of arrows. Kinnison picked up the crossbow and the arrows, and snapped the weapon and each arrow in half across his knee. "Good job Shiro, I wasn't sure you could get that pit dug fast enough, but luckily you did. Thank you" Kinnison threw the pieces of the weapon and arrows into the pit with the hunter and walked away.

About an hour later, Kinnison was sitting near the stream running through the forest. He heard the sound of a man whistling and knew that victim number two was on his way. He told Shiro to get in place and Shiro responded by running into some bushes right off the path. In the bushes was a piece of fishing string tied to a branch. Shiro took the string in his mouth.

Meanwhile, Kinnison walked a little bit further down the path, pulled out his harmonica and began to play. The nearby hunter heard the music and began walking in the direction the sound was coming from. The hunter came into view of Kinnison and Kinnison yelled "NOW SHIRO!"

Shiro let go of the string he held in his mouth, and immediately, the metal canteen that Kinnison harbored in his backpack crashed onto the head of the hunter, knocking him unconscious. Kinnison ran over to the hunter to make sure he was not more seriously hurt, and once satisfied that the hunter would be OK, began to destroy his bow and arrows as he had done with the previous hunter. Shiro walked over to Kinnison and the two began walking once again, deeper into the forest.

With two of the hunters down, and the time drawing nearer to sunset, Kinnison figured he could simply avoid the remaining two hunters until they called off the hunt. Hopefully they would keep to their word and stop searching at sundown as they said they would. The thought also crossed Kinnisons mind that if one of the remaining hunters were to find them now, that he and Shiro would be in trouble. But he tried not to dwell on that possibility.

Just a short time later, Kinnisons worst fear confronted him. He spotted in the distance, both of the hunters heading his direction. He had nothing prepared this time, and in fact was almost out of supplies to use to set any kind of trap. Fear raced through Kinnisons mind. He had run out of ideas, and there was no place to run at the time. Directly in front of him were the hunters, who had not yet spotted Kinnison, but were approaching quickly. Behind him, was a rather tall cliff, much too high to jump from. Off the path to both sides was a stretch of forest known for its poisonous snakes. The best bet, Kinnison thought was to take their chances with the snakes so Kinnison and Shiro jumped into the high growing ivy on the left side of the path.

As the hunters got closer, Kinnison remembered one last thing he had in his bag of tricks that might help. kinnison reached into his bag and pulled out the container of spices he had been keeping. He opened the container and waited for the hunters to get within range. When they were close enough, Kinnison jumped up from his cover and tossed the spice into the face of the closest hunter. The hunter screamed in agony, dropped hi rifle and clenched his hands to his face.

"MY EYES, MY EYES! It burns, I can't see anything!"

Kinnison quickly snatched up the hunters dropped weapon and aimed it toward the second hunter. "Drop your weapon, I don't want to have to use this" Kinnison ordered the second hunter. The hunter obliged and immediately dropped the weapon. Kinnison picked up the second hunters crossbow and broke it in half as well as the arrows. He then emptied the ammo out of the other hunters rifle and laid the rifle on the ground. Kinnison called to Shiro and the two of them walked away from the defeated hunters.

It took them almost till midnight to reach the resting spot where they met the hunters, but they refused to stop anywhere else. It was the most peaceful spot in the forest, or at least it seemed that way, and that was where Kinnison and Shiro always rested. When they arrived, Kinnison spotted his bow and quiver propped up against a tree in the clearing. He went over to reclaim his weapon and saw a note attached to his bow. He opened the note and read it....

"You beat us fair and square. Here is your weapon. We will not be back, you have our word"

Kinnison collapsed right next to his partner, satisfied with a job well done and went to sleep for the night.

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"Kinnison" and "Suikoden 2" are (C) Konami This chapter was posted October 25, 1999 This author no longer writes for Kinnison.