Fishboy

Hiran sprinkled some grubs into the water, and then stared intently as a large werlai fish and two smaller selai fish darted out from under a rock and fought over the grubs squirming futilely to get away. Making note of the fish's hiding spot, Hiran moved until he was as close to the spot as he could get without being in the water. With another handful of grubs in his left hand, he quickly glanced around to make sure that there was no one near by before turning his right hand into a bear-like paw. He didn't need to use a paw, but the water was icy cold, and he didn't feel like freezing a common hand if it wasn't absolutely necessary. But, at the same time, the paw wasn't exactly keeping with his façade of being human.

Using his left hand to sprinkle more grubs into the water, he quickly swiped his right hand in the direction of of the fish's rock. With his claws extended and spread, he easily speared the werlai. The two little selai fish got away, but he wasn't too worried about them. They weren't good eating anyway. Tilting his claws upward, he quickly, but carefully brought the fish out of the water. Blood stained the water and his hands as he quickly transferred the fish into his left hand and got rid of his paw.

"What's ya doing?" asked a young female voice behind him.

"Fishing," Hiran replied tersely, hoping the girl hadn't seen anything. "Jana, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be back at the orphanage?"

"So are you," Jana commented sweetly, as she knelt down beside him. She jumped back a bit when she saw the bloody fish in his hands, "Ew, what's that?"

Hiran has to admit a small sense of satisfaction at grossing her out, human girls could be annoying. "It's a fish, I was hungry."

"But, we get plenty to eat at the orphanage," Jana asked queasily, "Why'd you have to do that to the poor fish?"

"We never get any meat," Hiran stated, as he took a bite out of the fish. It was delicious, how he'd missed the taste of flesh.

"Eww!!!" Jana squealed, "Aren't you going to at least cook that?!"

"No," he didn't really have time, and a fire would bring attention that he really didn't want.

"Ewww! That's so gross!" Jana started crying, "How... how could you do something like that."

Annoyed that he'd made her cry, he tried to calm her, "It's okay Jana, you don't have to watch," he remembered to wipe the blood on his hand off onto the grass before attempting to pat her shoulder. The orphanage workers always seemed to do that when the little girls cried. His parents would have grabbed her in a giant hug like they did for him when he was little. But, his parent's weren't here, and that was part of the problem.

Jana pulled away from his touch, "Why don't you just throw it away?"

"I killed it," he tried to explain gently, "I have to eat it now."

Jana shook her head, "The soldiers didn't eat our parents after they killed them! They just left them there to rot."

"That's different," Hiran stated firmly, "Fish are food." Lai, prey, were made to be killed and eaten by the lailani, predators. He wished he could explain it to her, but she wouldn't understand. His parents had made him promise not to let anyone know he wasn't human. He had hidden in the bushes and watched them die when some of the soldiers discovered them while the family tried to sneak back to the mountains. Only by pure chance had he had short hair that day, and accident with fire. Only by pure chance had a farmer found him crying by the side of the road and brought him to the orphanage, thinking him human.

Jana was still shaking her head, "I thought you were nice, now I see you're just like everyone else."

Hiran could only look at the ground. He so wished he could explain, Jana had been the closest thing to a friend he had since coming the orphanage. She too, had seen her parents murdered in front of her.

Jana rose shakily to her feet, "I guess I'll leave you to your dead fish."

Hiran wished desperately that she hadn't found him. He couldn't go much longer without eating prey, or he would die. But if she turned against him, it would be almost as bad as death. The fish was already dead. He had to eat it.

"Fishboy," Jana muttered angrily as she stalked off.

The End.