“Hyung!” Jongwoon was shaken out of his daze when he heard Jongjin calling out to him underneath the waterfall. Jongwoon crawled to the edge of the boulder where he could see Jongjin in the river.

“Oh! Jongjin-ah! I’m her- AHHH!” Jongwoon was waving excitedly to his brother when his hand slipped on the boulder and toppled down the waterfall, the water force pushing him down. When Jongwoon struggled out of the waters, he was met with Jongjin’s deadpanned face.

“Hehehe…” Jongwoon scratched his head with a sheepish grin on his face.

“What are you doing hyung?” Jongjin asked.

“Uhh… Playing in the water? Ha... Hahaha… Hahahaha…” Jongwoon laughed awkwardly, his drenched robes made him look silly.

“In your robes? Don’t find excuses with your clumsiness, hyung.” Jongjin sighed and waddled to where Jongwoon was. The younger turtle reached out and helped his drenched brother up, the wet robes weighing him down.

“Sorry…” Jongwoon apologised with a cheeky smile and got out of the river with his brother.

“Come on, let’s get you changed back home.” Jongjin slapped his brother’s head lightly and tugged at his wrist.

“No, wait!” He halted Jongjin.

“What?”

“Can you bring my clothes up? I want to dry myself in the sun.” Jongwoon said, pointing up at the boulder.

“How high maintenance can you be, hyung…” Jongjin sighed and shook his head before heading down their chamber’s steps.

“Thanks, Jongjin! I owe you one! Hehehe!” Jongwoon waved at his brother and dragged his wet robes up the waterfall, collapsing on the boulder. He tugged off the heavy outer robes, leaving only a wet white tunic and cotton pants on. He laid down on the boulder, spreading his limbs out and faced the burning bright sun.

“Ahhhh~” Jongwoon sighed in bliss, feeling the warm sun rays drying his clothes and his skin.

“Ouh?” Jongwoon blinked when a figure jumped across the skies, shielding the sun from his sight. Jongwoon’s eyes followed the figure as it landed on a tree branch on the other side of the river.

“Isn’t that Kyuhyun?” Jongwoon murmured to himself when the figure crouched on the tree branch momentarily. It had three tails swaying lightly, extending out of the lavender robes.

“But three tails?” Jongwoon raised his eyebrows in question as he sat up.

“Hey, Kyuhyun!” Jongwoon called out, but the fox was already out of sight.

“Wait up!” The turtle created a pile of water beneath his boots and in a split second, it jetted Jongwoon towards the fox’s direction. When Jongwoon landed on the branch where the fox was at, he looked around and pouted.

“Where did he go?” Jongwoon frowned when he couldn’t spot where the fox went. There wasn’t a single trace left behind, and Jongwoon blamed his wet clothes for slowing him down.

“?!” Jongwoon gasped as his reflexes responded to his tingling senses. With a burst of adrenaline, Jongwoon jumped up into the air and did a backflip. When he recovered his posture in the air, he saw a figure dashing across where he had just stood. If it weren’t for his fast reflexes, that impact would have knocked squarely into him.

Jongwoon boosted himself with a jet of water and landed safely on a thick tree branch. Similarly, the figure that almost knocked him down landed on the tree branch back facing him. Now that Jongwoon took a closer look…

“Kyuhyun?” Jongwoon called out with an unsure tone, seeing as the robed figure had five tails hanging out behind him now.

The fox did not turn back as Jongwoon continued staring and waiting for a response.

The turtle widened his eyes when golden fox ears started to unfold from the rose blond mess of hair. Another golden tail with a blond rosy tip sprouted from the underside of the fox’s robes, joining the swaying five. The man whom Jongwoon thought was Kyuhyun crouched down on all fours, seemingly ready to pounce on its desired prey. As expected, the fox took off the next second, leaving behind more autumn leaves in its wake.

Jongwoon was about to follow the fox as soon as it took off, but he sensed a presence right behind him.

“Ow!” Jongwoon felt a semi-hard hit to his back. With turtle speed reflexes, Jongwoon raised an arm, an attempt to take revenge. But before his hand could come in contact with his assaulter, his wrist was grabbed with a much larger hand.

Jongwoon grunted before raising his other hand, which was caught as soon as it was raised. He could feel his attacker’s breath at the back of his neck, making his hair stand.

“Hmph.” He heard him smirk, which was irritating to the turtle’s ears. Not ready to give up any time soon, Jongwoon twisted his wrist and had a hard grip on the other. With the assailant’s attention on his grip, Jongwoon quickly raised a leg and gave him a quick back .

“Kuh!” Jongwoon heard a satisfying grunt from his unknown attacker. Without releasing his grip, Jongwoon backflipped into the air and threw his assailant in front, switching their position around. Before Jongwoon could gloat in his attacker’s face, his chest was assaulted with a solid golden flash, blowing him back into the air.

“Ouh!” Jongwoon spun himself a few times in the air, slowing his momentum down and recovered before stopping on a tree branch.

“Kyuhyun?!” Jongwoon gawked when he raised his eyes to see the fox facing him on a nearer tree branch than the one that they were apparently fighting on. The fox had an annoying smirk on his face as he leant on the tree bark with his arms folded across his chest.

“That’s me alright.” The fox greeted with a smug grin.

“Why did you attack me?” Jongwoon asked, unconsciously pouting as he plopped down on the branch, not feeling threatened anymore.

“Hello, you are the one that interrupted my hunt?” Kyuhyun rolled his eyes sarcastically and pointed at his armband.

“Oh.” Jongwoon saw it and scratched the back of his head with a sheepish grin plastered on his face.

“I’m sorry. But you shouldn’t have attacked me! I’m no food!” Jongwoon defended himself.

“I just wanted to see your strength if it is like what you claim to be.” Kyuhyun shrugged.

“So? Am I strong?” Jongwoon got up to his feet and asked hopefully, his eyes sparkling.

“Barely,” Kyuhyun smirked.

“That’s not true! I’m plenty strong!” Jongwoon huffed, which earned an amused grunt from the fox.

“Why do you have six tails now?” The turtle’s attitude shifted 180 as he jumped to Kyuhyun’s branch and reached out his tiny hand.

“Don’t touch!” Kyuhyun swatted his hand away and shifted so that the tails are out of Jongwoon’s reach.

“O…kay…” Jongwoon pouted and drew his hand back slowly. Kyuhyun’s eyes slide shut as his tails started withdrawing back into the robes and disappeared. The fox ears also begin to fold back into his head.

“Where’s your catch?” Jongwoon asked awkwardly. Kyuhyun did not answer and looked down.

“Woah! That’s a massive hill of supplies!” Jongwoon gasped when he saw a huge pile of food supply on the forest floor.

“You’ll have a hard time carrying all these to the warehouse. I’ll ask Kangin and Siwon to help.” Before Kyuhyun could decline, Jongwoon was already out of sight, but not out of hearing distance.

“HYUNG! WHERE DID YOU GO? DID YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS WHEN I ONLY SAW YOUR ROBES ON THE BOULDER? CHANGE OUT OF YOUR WET TUNIC IMMEDIATELY!” Jongjin’s outburst ruffled the trees, causing the resting innocent birds to escape quickly into the skies.

*.*

Jongwoon kept his word and got Siwon and Kangin to bring the food supplies back with a pull cart, not after the turtle changed out of his wet tunic of course. Jongjin gave his older brother an earful along the way to town. Kyuhyun was already nowhere to be found when they reach the food supplies.

“Okay! Okay! Stop with your nagging! I get it!” Jongwoon groaned at his brother’s protective antics. He’s not weak like he used to be.

“Well, I wish you really did get it into that brain of yours.” Jongjin sighed as they walk side by side towards the headquarters.

“Oh hey, Leeteuk hyung!” Jongwoon ignored his brother’s sarcastic tone and waved to the founder who was just exiting the headquarters.

“Jongwoon! Jongjin! What brings the turtle brothers here?” Leeteuk gave them a cheeky grin.

“Oh, I just wanted to get a job so that I can free myself from my brother’s nagging. It really should be the other way around.” Jongwoon shrugged.

“If you weren’t so clumsy, I wouldn’t be like that!” Jongjin defended, earning a snicker from the duck.

“Alright, alright. Jongwoon, you know what to do.” Leeteuk pointed at the bulletin board inside the headquarters with his thumb as Jongwoon nodded.

“Jongjin, I’m visiting Donghae, would you like to come with me?” Leeteuk asked, turning to the younger turtle, whose face lit up.

“Oh yes! I want to play with Donghae!” Jongwoon smiled at his brother. This is what a younger brother should look and sound like. Not the naggy one.

“I’ll see you back home for dinner, hyung!” Jongjin abandoned his brother and hooked onto Leeteuk’s arm, waving back at Jongwoon.

“See you!” Jongwoon waved back and went into the headquarters.

Looking through the job lists, Jongwoon spotted the ones that were hung on the ‘DONE’ part of the bulletin board.

“Isn’t this Kyuhyun’s?” Jongwoon plucked the ring of job lists out and looked through them.

“Why did he hunt so much when the job only requests this amount?” Jongwoon frowned as he flipped through the lists several times, making sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks. Indeed, the pile he saw in the forest was definitely at least 2x or even 3x more than the required amount.

“Hey, Jongwoon!” the turtle spun his head around when he saw the familiar cat sauntering towards him.

“Oh, hyung.” Jongwoon acknowledged the cat before continuing to frown at the lists.

“What are you looking at? Oh, these? Kyuhyun went on these jobs, right?” Heechul peeked from behind Jongwoon’s shoulder.

“How did you know?” Jongwoon turned his head in question.

“I was there when Kyuhyun requested for a job because he was bloodthirsty.” Heechul leant back and shrugged.

“So, he was bloodthirsty, that’s why he killed more than necessary?” Jongwoon murmured under his breath, the idea was unsettling to him.

“What did you say?” Heechul asked.

“Nothing.” Jongwoon shook his head, hanging the completed job lists back on the board.

“Have you heard of the fox’s rumours?” Heechul asked casually, taking Leeteuk’s seat.

“Yeah, I don’t believe them,” Jongwoon said, but his heart was quivering because of the previous idea.

“Leeteuk too. He had such deep trust in that fox that he wanted the residents to trust him as he does.” Heechul sighed, taking a twig nearby and twirled between his fingers.

“How though?” Jongwoon took in interest and sat down.

“He told Kyuhyun that we were low on supplies so that the residents would appreciate him for contributing to the town via food,” Heechul explained.

“Oh…!” Jongwoon gasped as everything clicked into place. Kyuhyun hunted more than necessary because he thought the town was low on supplies. But he totally could have just hit the written amount on the job list, and no one will know anyway. Jongwoon grinned. He was right after all. The fox had a kind heart.

“What’s wrong with you?” Heechul looked at Jongwoon suspiciously.

“Oh wait! Hyung, did you just say Teuk hyung wanted Kyuhyun to be seen in town with the food so that the residents will know that he contributed with the food supplies?” Jongwoon fumbled with his words as he realised his mistake.

“Yes, I did.” Heechul nodded, not seeing the catch.

“Nooooooo! I messed up!!!” Jongwoon almost pulled his hair out as Siwon and Kangin came in right at that time.

“Oh hyung! The food supplies were delivered safely to the warehouse.”

Jongwoon groaned.