[ CHAPTER 3: THE TIGER AND THE EAGLE ]
"Can you look away? How am I supposed to take my bath if you're staring at me like that?!"
Bella let out a loud groan when Gaharu kept staring at her, he was standing by the bank, observing Bella who was tightly grasping the fabric wrapped around her. Gaharu gestured her to go into the water.
"You are my female, why can I not watch you? Besides, I have already seen it all."
"No, you haven't! Don't you talk shit to me, bastard!"
Bella snapped, yelling at him to look away. Realizing that the beastman wasn't going to turn his face away at all, Bella had no choice but to go into the river with the fabric still wrapped around her.
"Do you, urm... by any chance, have a soap? Or any sort?"
When Gaharu looked at her with a questioning gaze, Bella already knew the answer to her question.
"... Never mind."
She rolled her eyes as she began to splash water on her face. The water was cold, but she had no choice, the metallic smell of blood on her was awfully disgusting she must take a shower no matter what.
"Urm... Gaharu?"
"Yes."
"Can you... find me some sweet-scented flowers?"
"What for?"
"Just get them for me, now, please. I need them."
Bella watched as Gaharu glanced at his surrounding, sniffing the air. He turned around and leaped high over the trees and disappeared. Bella held a long breath before diving into the water, wetting her hair.
Burrr...!
She emerged from the water feeling the air colder than before. Soon she realized the coldness came from the strong wind above her and so she looked up.
It's... It's him!
Somehow, it was an unexplainable relief in Bella's heart to see the face of her savior again. The winged beastman hovered above her, flapping his wings, sending strong wind above her as he slowly lowered himself close to her.
"It's you...!"
Bella exclaimed, she somehow felt glad to see his beautiful facade calm. His fair snow skin seemed glowing from the sunlight reflected from the water. Bella could almost see her own reflection inside the winged beastman's bright yellow irises. There was a gentle smile on his face as he flew down, levitating just above Bella,
"... Found you, at last."
He stretched out his hand towards her, as though offering to take her out from the water, and probably will take her up high in the sky again, away from the crazy tiger. But before her hand could reach his, an arrow had suddenly struck in and hit the beastman in his shoulder. He was then thrown with a mighty force to the other side of the river.
"I know I smelled an eagle close by."
Gaharu stood proudly by the riverbank, with a bow in his hand. Since when did he have a bow with him? The corner of his lips curved up in a devilish smile. Bella turned to look at the winged man who was thrown at the other side of the bank.
"I told you not to show yourself in front of me ever again when I annihilated your whole clan, did I not? Garuda."
"G-Ga... Gaharu...!"
Garuda spat out saliva mixed blood, forcing himself up as he pulled out the arrow from his shoulder. He flapped his dark brown wings and raised himself into the air, 
"You ungrateful scum! I will avenge my clan...!!"
He charged at full speed towards Gaharu, while Gaharu leaped into the air, sparks of fire appeared in the air underneath Gaharu's feet every time he took a step forward in the air above Bella, like a magical staircase that emerge only for him to step onto and vanishes behind him.
Bella couldn't believe her eyes, she had only seen such extravagant scenes in movies before, yet today, she witnessed something that she thought only happens in fantasy genre movies right before her own eyes!
Garuda raised his arms up above his head, giant sparks of electricity swirled around his forearms, charging a huge spark on his right palm as he faced his palm towards Gaharu who was leaping closer.
Lightning...?
Bella turned to look at Gaharu who also leaped high, he pulled his right hand backward, fist clenching and bright orange flames began to burn his hand before he aimed his burning fist at Garuda. Bella clasped her ears with both hands when the harsh screaming of an eagle and the wild roaring of a tiger were deafening her ears.
"I'm afraid that I might have to disappoint you, Garuda! You are not worthy of an opponent to me!"
The spark of lightning charging in Garuda's palm was blasted off directly at Gaharu, but the tiger had easily averted it, at the same time throwing his burning fist towards Garuda, sending huge raging flames to burn the eagle.
"Arghh...!!"
Garuda crossed his forearms before his face, blocking the attack from Gaharu, but the tiger was too strong, the impact had thrown Garuda far, and the fire from Gaharu was burning his upper body and his wings.
"Gaharu! Stop...!! Please!"
Bella yelled out when Gaharu was about to leap in the direction where Garuda was thrown. He immediately froze. He gazed down, underneath his feet were two sparks of fire that allowed him to stand in midair above Bella.
"Are you..."
He clearly saw the worried look on her face. So, she was worried for that darn eagle?! But decided not to chase after Garuda, he would survive the attack anyway, Gaharu thought to himself.
Bella watched as Gaharu leaped back to the riverbank. Her mind was occupied with worries for Garuda. Is he going to be alright...? She silently prayed for her savior's safety. The winged beastman was the only beastman that she felt can be trusted. After all, he was the one who had saved her in the moment of chaos earlier.
"Was that even necessary...?!"
Seeing the look in Bella's eyes infuriated him even more how she cared for the other beast.
"I did not kill you because I find you interesting, but that does not mean I will not kill you when I am displeased. Do you understand me, female?"
His eyes were piercing murderous glare at Bella as he said that, his growling voice sounded cold and dangerous. He reached for something in his clothes underneath his armor, then tossed it to the river,
"Hurry up, do not make me go in there and pull you out from the water, female."
Bella hurriedly collected every flower petals that Gaharu had thrown, glared back at him after that,
"Stop calling me that, I have a name!"
"I do not care."
Bella rolled her eyes at Gaharu, grunting loudly. Gaharu seemed to realize the real purpose of that expression and so he too, rolled his eyes and grunted aloud. Bella gazed down at the white flower petals in her hands, they looked like orchids but the smell of it was nothing she had smelled before in the human world. It has a strong yet pleasant smell, and when she crushed the petals with her palms, they oozed out thick, syrupy liquid.
Is this even safe...? It seemed like she had no other choice at the moment. Bella rubbed the crushed petals all other her body before diving into the water once more. Gaharu only observed her from where he stood.
"Hand me another piece of clean cloth, please."
She called out to Gaharu, to which he responded with a cold glare. Bella stared back at him, she sunk herself back into the river, unwillingly to come out from the water.
"Do not make me go in there," Gaharu threatened, a low guttural growl escaped his mouth.
"Do you even dare...?"
Bella splashed him water which made him hiss instantly. Bella let out a burst of laughter, even the way he hisses sounded like a wild cat.
"Come in here if you dare!"
Bella said laughingly, still splashing water at Gaharu, who was obviously getting more and more pissed. Bella had purposedly laughed loudly to irritate him. Who told him to wound my savior? I hope that guy is okay...
"Rawrrrr...!!"
Gaharu roared and raised his hand above his head, flames emerged from his forearm, charging out a fireball from his palm. As soon as Bella saw this, she immediately dived into the water, knowing that the fireball would hit her if she didn't dodge. The cold water turned warm in an instant. Bella waited a few more seconds before emerging out of the water.
She shot him a look full of amazement with her mouth parted open,
"Wow! If I knew you're capable of doing that, I would've asked you to burn the water before going in! From now on I don't have to worry about bathing in cold water anymore! Hahahahaa..."
Bella laughed again as if already found a solution to her problem. Gaharu was so furious his eyes gleamed with unspeakable wrath, he gritted his teeth until his incisors came poking out from the corners of his lips. He clenched his fists in anger. However, as soon as he saw that Bella wasn't at all afraid, instead, she was chuckling showing out all her teeth like a child, the look in his eyes immediately softened. Her laugh was so adorable, with cute two dimples appearing on both her cheeks whenever she smiled.
"Are you not afraid of me, female?"
"You better call me by my name or else I won't respond to any of your talk."
Gaharu grunted loudly as he turned his face to the side. He was still angry at her, though.
"Hachuuu...!"
Oh, damn it, it's getting chilly here. Bella quickly got out from the water, clutching the wet silk still wrapped around her body. She surely wouldn't want to catch a cold, not in the beastmen world, where paracetamol and cough syrup probably don't exist.
Bella bent down to pick up the garment that Gaharu gave her earlier. She turned to glare at him,
"Turn your face away, pervert!"
"I am a tiger."
"Like I care!"
Gaharu's face twitched in anger again, but he only clenched his hands into fists. Not wanting to argue, he turned his back at her, waiting for her to change. He kept his awareness, though, for he knew she would probably try to escape.
"Alright, I'm done. Let's head back."
To his surprise, she didn't. Instead, Bella poked a finger at his back to tell him that she was done. Gaharu was almost stunned when he saw her in attire made of fine fabric.
"What dress is this? This is quite comfortable."
Bella ran her palms on the surface of the attire she was wearing. It was a long maxi dress with long sleeves and a straight turtle neck, but has a high split up to the thigh in the middle front. Although it was quite big for her size, the dress was alright, but the color was unpleasant to Bella's eyes, as though the color was mix-matched by a color-blind fashion designer.
"It was my dead mother's." Gaharu hid his devilish smirk. It was obviously a lie. 
Bella turned to Gaharu with a weird look on her face. She wanted to curse him again but she immediately gave a smile back at him, saying that they should head back since Gaharu had mentioned he was hungry.
"Come to me, Bella."
Gaharu beckoned her, and Bella obeyed. There was a hint of a satisfying smile, although not obvious, Bella knew he was feeling good about himself that she was willing to listen to him. He grabbed her by her waist and carried her bridal style before leaped high over the trees, heading back to his residence on the mountain.
From what she had seen, Gaharu must be a very powerful beast and most likely the leader of the Ra tribe, an enemy of Zov-- the tribe her savior, the winged beastman from. Escaping there will not be easy. She has to put up with Gaharu if she wants to stay alive... until she finds a way to escape from his grip.
She might need to learn more about this... beastmen world in order to escape and survive on her own.
*****