Bearclaw Valley asa no mori

The beast had risen before the sun. Groggy and heavy. A large yawn parting his jaws before he lifted his cranium and glanced toward his elegant counterpart. Gentle breaths lifting her chest and escaping in soft clouds chilled by the brisk air not yet touched by the sun.

He arose lifting his towering body as quietly as he could as not to disturb her and walked away into the wood.

A pair of eyes and huffing nostrils searched the deeper valley forest until a scurrying rabbit rushed through the trees and dove into a burrow. The bear picked up its speed and trotted to the entrance. Sticking its snout into the earth.

Claws unsheathed themselves and he began to tear into the earth bit by bit. The task though easy was time and energy consuming, though in the end he was rewarded with the bounty of two rabbits. Ones who had yet to dig their den to a suitable depth as to be protected from such an assault.

His bounty was grey and brown, mixing with the soil that clung to their fur. But it stained his white coat. Leaving a gradient of dark to light over his paws and muzzle.

With his catch in his mouth, he used his paws as shovels to push the earth back over the burrow. An open hole now filled and unlikely to cause future harm.

By the time he had returned to where they had made rest Keiko was gone.