Advocated Wars

Chapter Nineteen

                                                                                                                      XIX

It had been a month, and I still noticed the little things. How Surge would obnoxiously play with his spider bites when he was annoyed or impatient—the slight wobble of the piercing drawing the attention away from his furrowed eyebrows. Or, how his hairclips always matched, never wearing the same colors two days in a row. He still licked his lips when he was nervous, or play with a stray strand of hair on his forehead. And, unless someone helped him, Surge’s forehead protector was always crooked.

I let out a slight huff, annoyed that I had been the one stuck in the back with Mai. Her pace was slow, almost sluggish. I had tried to, instead, watch her brown hair bounce around her shoulders, flying up over the crown of her head every time she skipped over a hole or tripped. I was prepared to catch her, in case Mai fell too hard and would begin to tumble forward, falling to fast and hard to catch herself.

Somehow, luckily, she never did.

Mai was on the verge of her eighteenth birthday, and as short as I was compared to most people, Mai barely cleared my chin. She was annoyingly petite, weak, and supported big doe eyes.

And, had a long, long history of anxiety.

“I, uh,” she cleared her throat, awkwardly wrapping her arms behind her back. “I didn’t get to thank you guys for doing this. So, thank you.”

A loose smirk slipped through my scowl, and I sent the girl an amused glance. “Just doing my job.”

She nodded, seeming to take extra care in her next few steps. “You didn’t have to,” she whispered. “With the threat of Sasuke Uchiha—”

“Ah!” I cut her off, “Sasuke Uchiha is none of my concern. For now, you are. Understood?”

Mai nodded again. And, for a moment, I contemplated switching places with Calix. He was best suited in keeping her company, both Surge and I being a bit too blunt—each having personality traits that put off conversation way too easily. And, in meaning, neither of us would be very good in soothing erratic little Mai.

She had come from, like many people we escorted, a prestigious family. She wasn’t, however, some heiress to some great family, nor did she know any valuable secrets about the shinobi world. Or, really, any valuable secrets at all. But, she was someone’s daughter. And, that was enough to want her to come home safely, and with as anxious as she was, it was good for her to have an escort.

And, Calix was the most soothing person I knew.

But, as selfish as it sounded, I didn’t want to walk by Surge, at least not alone. Things had gotten better between us, but were still awkward. Aside from the fact that I still noticed his weird and annoying habits, I didn’t know what to say to him, anymore.

And, well, Surge was in a relationship.

“Calix!” I called, making Mai jump. “Switch places with me for a bit, will ya?”

~          ~         ~

“We don’t need to stop—if we can just speed things up a bit, I’m sure we’ll get Mai where she needs to be, and we can head back home tomorrow.”

“We’re going as fast as we can, Champion, and you know that. Besides, what about nightfall? We couldn’t possibly keep going, then. We’d be useless.”

Mai stood behind me, peeking out every now and again from my shoulder. I’d be lying if I said she didn’t remind me of a young sister. Just, not my sister.

“Champion,” she called.

“We could camp,” I continued, pushing her back behind me. “We’ve done it so many times before.”

“But, we have Mai, unlike other times—in case you’ve forgotten.”

“Champion,” she tried, again. It hadn’t of occurred to me at the time that Surge was missing, leaving Calix and I to our light bantering.

“No,” I agreed, once again ignoring her, the yelling not really registering to me, yet. “But, you have me.”

“You’re no super-human. And, quite frankly, you’re being a bit vain.” Calix sighed, tiredly rubbing at his eyes. “We all need sleep. Think about what’s best for us, not just Mai. There’s no need in rushing things.”

Mai pulled on my arm before I could answer, more roughly than I imagined she was capable of. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised. “Champion!”

“What?”

Mai bit her lip, glaring at me as she took a step back. I hadn’t of meant to snap. And, it seemed as if lately, that had been becoming a problem.

However, the startled girl didn’t back down. “I—I think Surge is killing that guy.”

I let out a laugh, mussing her hair. “Surge is right here—”

“Shit!” Calix swore, running towards the circle of people that had formed. And, in the middle of that circle was, well, what Mai had said.

His fists connected once…twice…three more times before Calix could get a good grasp on the boy, his anger seeming to seethe through every pore in his body as Surge head butted the guy he’d been mercilessly wailing on, Calix not being fast enough to pull him back.

Well, I sighed, at least we know his hand to hand combat has improved.

!~*~*~*!

I have a feeling this is short and im sorry omg. I didn’t mean for it to be, honest. And I love Mai.

Ialsolovearminbutthat’sshingekinokyojinandhasnothingtodowiththissorrynotsory.

I’m crying so hard rn because I have school in 7 days and sIGHh no I don’t want it take it back summer was way too short I cant wait ‘til im out of school .