The Forest God's New Familiar

~ Chapter 7 ~

"I wasn't going to cry!" Akio stated, sniffing slightly.

Yeah, right. She thought to herself, sarcastically. "So, you're lost?" He nodded meekly and she sighs. "I suppose you can come with me while we search for your father. I'm lost myself - all these walls look the same to me," she said, rubbing the nape of her neck.

Akio's eyes lights up, "Really? Then let's go!" he got up and grabbed onto Kyoko's wrist, dragging her around.

Mood change, much? Oh well, at least he isn't crying. The day was spent with Kyoko being hopelessly dragged around by Akio, showing her around the places that he thought his father might be. In her opinion, he wasn't too bad as she thought he would be, but there was time when she nearly did lose her patience around him.

"I'm surprise, I thought she would've lost her patience around, spending time with that little brat - she seems to be a bit quick-tempered when we first met her," Layla commented, remembering when Kyoko ready to attack whenever the King said something even slightly offensive.

Takehiko said "She has more patience than you think. She doesn't get angry by something as petty as being annoyed by a little child. She may not have that much pride in herself, but she has more tolerance than you think and will not lose to a kid that easily."

"That may be true," The King said. "But we'll see what she does with Akio when she's pushed to the limit."

The black-haired girl's eyes darted around as she willingly followed Akio around, sensing that something was watching them, but she couldn't identify what or where it was. "Hurry up, you slowpoke!" Akio shouted, about 10 metres ahead of her.

Kyoko said, in a serious and blunt tone "Slow down, Akio. We're in no hurry, now are we? Besides, you're going to trip at this point."

Akio stuck out his tongue at him, "Yeah, whatever. You're not my mum or anything, so you can't tell me what to do!" a vein popped on Kyoko's head as Akio began running off.

"Oi!" Kyoko said, actually getting worried about the kid instead of being pissed off. She could feel something travelling towards Akio, and it was coming fast. "Move, kid!" She shouted.

She bolted towards Akio, hugging him tightly as someone gashed her left arm, pushing her back slightly. She growled, leaning on her left knee as she held Akio tightly with her right arm. "W-W-W-What j-j-j-just h-h-h-happen? A-A-A-And y-y-y-your a-arm!" Akio said, frightened as he looked at the massive amounts of blood dripping from her wound.

"Just shut up, and don't move, you got it?" Kyoko said lowly, scanning the area for her enemy. It seems it has disappeared into the environment, what kind of yokai is it? Invisible, perhaps? From the gash, it seems to have very sharp claws, a dog I say. A very hungry dog.

Her free hand unconsciously moves to her left waist, where her swords lay. Only to growl when she remembered that her swords were chained. Of all times, it had to be chained now. I could kill it barehanded, however, she glanced at the scared child in her arm. I would rather not have Akio see anymore blood and gore than there is - he'll be having nightmares everyday till the day he dies, and I'll be the one to hear an earful from Takehiko. I'll have to play on the defensive for now.

She heard growling behind her and a pouncing noise, she quickly moved to the side, dodging the attack. She moved side to side, dodging the invisible attacks coming her way. "Tch," she clicked her tongue in annoyance as the yokai nicked the side of her clothes.

"It seems she's getting annoyed," The King said, propping his chin on his hand. "I wonder what she'll do. Will she abandon Akio, my little fledgling to save her own skin, or will she sacrifice herself?" He watched intently on the crystal orb in front of him, Takehiko and Layla standing beside him.