I tried to change the subject by laying Ikko down and wrapping a large leaf around him so that he was inside a burrito. "Time for bed now," I said. He struggled to get out of the burrito as he shouted at me with his cute voice. "Hey! You're avoiding my question!" I didn't respond out of panic. 'Crap. It didn't work.' Ikko then tilted his head at me and asked again. "Why are you afraid of men?" I crossed my arms even though embarrassment was clear on my face. "That is not something someone your age should be worrying about yet."
He raised an eyebrow. "I'm over five thousand years old." I blinked. "Well, that's still too young!" I looked away from him and he managed to sit up without the use of his restrained limbs. "Why won't you tell me?" I finally gave in to his pestering. "You've seen my memories. Figure it out."
His expression changed to surprise and he waited for me to continue. I sighed. "This is the first time I have ever spent time with any. You can't deny that they're scary. They're big and strong and they can do whatever they want. Not to mention, I've spent my entire life being told that I was undesirable and any man I would come across would either use me or toss me aside. And I have been used and tossed aside. So, it's kind of engrained in me to fear them." My eyes were curious as to how he was taking this, so they fell on his face only to see that his expression was unreadable.
Ikko wiggled and slipped an arm out of his burrito so he could pat me on the calf. "We'll never hurt you. You know that, right?" The corner of my mouth curved upward a little as I responded. "Yes." He then returned my smile and it made me feel better to see his cute face light up. I pinched his cheek again and his smile left as soon as it came. "Hey! Stop that! I'm not a baby!" I pinched the other one and laughed. "Yes, you are! And you're my baby to pinch!"
He wiggled out of my grip and plopped on his back. "We are leaving first thing tomorrow, and I am getting out of this damn form before it kills me!" I rubbed his head and messed up his dark hair. "Then I better make the most of it while you're like this!"
Later that night, Arine and Cienar came back to start a campfire to sleep around. I was worried that another monster would find us on the island and eat Ikko while we slept so I held him in my arms as we rested. As my subconscious took over my dreams, I saw Sython again. The image of us together was different this time. We were holding each other in his bed but it wasn't sexually. He cuddled me close in his arms while I held a child in mine. The baby was a demon, but I still held it close to me and kissed its forehead. Sython then cupped its head in his hand and did the same. He moved to kiss me after and whispered, "You gave me the world." The dream faded to black and I woke up to the sunlight in my face.
I looked down to see that Ikko was still in my arms and was glittering in the sun. He was even cuter than before, but I knew that he wouldn't like anyone to see him like that. I looked away so I could concentrate and moved into the shade while trying not to wake him. I sat down against a tree and Ikko wrapped his arms tighter around my neck in his sleep.
As I looked at the serene landscape of the island's beach in front of me, I thought about the dream I had. 'Why do I keep having such intimate dreams about Sython? Am I still in love with him? I need to stop this. He sold me to a black market for crying out loud! What is wrong with me?' I became lost in my head and didn't realize that Arine and Cienar had woken up. Arine looked over at me and sighed at the sight. "Do you have to sleep with him? You know he's still the jerky killer you knew before! Just smaller!"
I covered Ikko's ear so Arine's complaint wouldn't wake him. "He's sleeping. Can you keep it down? He may be Ikko, but now he's a small baby Ikko. I said I would take care of him, didn't I?" Arine crossed his arms. "I can't argue with that, can I?" I smiled and shook my head. "Nope." Cienar was uninvolved as he always was as he rose to his feet. "I will gather breakfast from what we found last night." He left the camp and Ikko yawned as he awoke.
He opened his eyes and let go of my neck. "Morning, mama." I frowned. "I thought you were going to stop calling me that." He smiled. "No, I said I didn't think of you like that. I'm still going to mess with you plenty. Besides, you call me your baby. How is that any different?" Arine looked at me with surprise. "You call him what?!"
I gave him a nervous smile. "Okay, I admit it. I'm enjoying this. But you can't blame me. This may be my only chance to be a mama." Arine was about to say something when Ikko beat him to the punch. "Once I'm back in my adult form I can make you a mama." I immediately grabbed his nose. "The hell you will!!" He screamed as my grip crushed his airways. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Abuse!"
Cienar soon came back with our morning meal, and later we crossed the strait to return to the mainland. Arine and Ikko flew across while I went under the water with Cienar again. We didn't run into any dangerous kelp and the berries didn't wear off this time, which made the ride more enjoyable. I was relieved, but at the same time nervous because I had been away from Ikko longer than I would've liked. 'Am I... getting protective over him? This is so weird.' I still couldn't stop the motherly instinct I didn't know I had from making me worry whether something might've happened to him while I was away.
Once we arrived at the mainland, we emerged to find Arine and Ikko bickering as always. We had veered from the jungle's beach and reached the waterside of a peaceful forest with trees of dark green and orange leaves. We came out of the water and Cienar used his magic to pull the moisture from our skin and hair. "Are you cold?" he asked with a caring smile. I shook my head. "No. Thank you. I'm okay." We walked together off the rocky beach and toward the others when Cienar changed subjects. "I don't suppose you would like it If I joined you three for the rest of your adventure? I understand that I won't get a heartfelt plead to stay as you did for Ikko, but I would hope to at least have you consider me a friend."
I was surprised to hear this coming from Cienar, considering that his advances on me thus far have been strictly lust-oriented. He was also very elusive and hadn't made it known before now that he wanted to be here. "Of course, Cienar! You don't have to ask to stay, I would gladly give you a heartfelt plea to have you join us!" I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a squeeze. When I pulled away, I saw his face glowing pink and his eyes open wide. He quickly shook it off before I had a chance to respond and our attention was turned toward Arine and Ikko's bickering.
I shook my head and walked over to them before picking Ikko up from the rock he was standing on to match Arine's height. "You know I don't like you two fighting," I sighed. Arine crossed his arms and mumbled to himself. "He's the one who started it," he huffed. Ikko glared at him before turning to me with a pout. "He's being mean to me, mama! Make him stop!" I knew he was playing with me, but I still didn't like it. "You're way too comfortable calling me that."
We began our way down the path and I put Ikko down to walk beside me while holding his hand. A couple of hours passed and during that time I was invested in Cienar and Arine's conversation. It was amusing to see sea and sky creatures interact. They were arguing whether swimming was the same thing as flying when I heard Ikko's stomach growl. I then kneeled so I could be at eye level with him and the others stopped as well. "Hungry?" I asked with a sympathetic look. He nodded. I didn't know how to feed him and he had already eaten all of the blood substitute fruit. I assumed that it didn't fill him the same compared to the real thing.
I felt responsible since I was the one who forced him to stay with us on this trip and now he wasn't strong enough to hunt. I then shakily raised my finger to my mouth and bit down hard enough to draw blood. Red came flowing out of the new wound and Arine and Cienar's eyes widened as I held it out to Ikko. My finger throbbed with pain but I tried to ignore it. "I owe you for saving me. It's not much, but I hope this can hold you off until you can get something better," I said, quietly. Ikko was speechless and Arine was appalled. "You're taking this mama stuff way too seriously!"
I huffed. "I would have done the same for any one of you." I noticed their surprise for only a moment before Ikko savagely grabbed my hand and sucked all of the warm fluid from my finger. His teeth sharpened as he continued to drink from me, and it was interesting to watch. It hurt at first, but I was glad that I didn't bite myself for nothing. I really was crazy. Either that, or I might've begun to have feelings for Ikko. That thought scared me.