Kaguya's daughter

Chapter Nine: Accident

A few days had already passed and Nanami was adapting to her new "life" quite smoothly, being careful not to make any mistake. Today was a hot day and Ashura had planned to meet with his friends in the afternoon. Just before he was about to go outside to meet them he went to look for Nanami. He finally found her in an empty and quiet room after having searched practically the whole house. The girl was reading some scroll, a thing he did not like very much to do.

"Hey Nanami! I've been looking for you for so long!"

Said girl had only noticed his presence when he had opened the door not so discreetly (not to say he had burst into the room as if his life had depended on it). She raised her head to make the boy know that she had acknowledged his presence but did not say anything. She waited for him to continue speaking.

"I was wondering, maybe you'd like to join us, I mean me and my friends, to go play outside and do other stuff, you know," the boy asked her as if he were somehow hesitating or afraid that Nanami would say no.

Nanami blinked with a neutral expression on her face.

"Sure. I would love to," she responded.

"Great!! Shall we go now then!! I don't want to be late, I mean they would surely not like it if I were," he said somehow sheepishly, making him look all innocent and adorable.

"Hai," Nanami agreed as she stood up and put the scroll away.

She then got near Ashura to follow him outside but as soon as she was next to him the boy wrapped his hand around the alien's wrist and pulled her with him none too gently as he ran throughout the house to make their way to the meeting point. Nanami complied wordlessly and followed his pace. Once they arrived there, Ashura finally released his grip on the girl as he bent down and put both his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

"Oh Kami-Sama! That was quite a long way," the boy whined between two breaths. 

As for Nanami, she was not even tired. She stared at Ashura as he was still catching his breath.

"Hey! Ashura, you're late!" One of his friends complained.

"What! No, I'm not! That's why I've run all the way here.. not to be late!"

"Maybe, still you are," Ashura's friend stated gravely.

"Who is this girl?" Another boy asked as all eyes were now on Nanami. Of course, it was very hard not to notice her.

Ashura had finally caught his breath by now and could thus reply with his well-known enthusiasm.

"This is Nanami! My cousin!"

"Your cousin you say? But how come we have never heard about her?" The boy that had complained about Ashura's being late inquired.

"Yes, we've never seen her around before." The other boy that had asked who Nanami was added.

"No, wait! I remember her! She's the girl who saved Ashura from the wild boar that time!" Another boy exclaimed, seemingly quite shocked to see the girl again, given who Ashura claimed she was.

"Oh yeah, now that you say it, I remember too!"

The boy who had complained narrowed his eyes and stared at Nanami intently while the girl remained unshakeable.

"Hmm... Oh, yeah! That's right! I wonder how we could've forgotten her!" He finally agreed with the others.

All the boys stared at her in wonder.

"But when you say cousin you mean on your father's side?"

Ashura nodded confidently. "That's right. She is the daughter of my father's brother."