As we enter the port town again, I look around to see the lightly familiar buildings and wall. Just like it was before, busy with people and others getting on with their days. The subtle winds from the ocean coming in through the town streets and seagulls up ahead.
Clouds formed in grey balls indicating that it would rain soon.
It was almost strange to be back here after the last day or so. It seemed like a faint memory with everything that happened with Akuma and that forest spirit. "You ready?"
I look up to Orochi has already got down from the cart and is holding out his grey hand. "Well, hopefully I don't fall like last time in front of everyone in the town."
He chuckles at me, "You won't."
I take his hand and come down from the cart, "Well, I'll see about that. What are we doing though?"
"Picking up a few things and just getting out of the house. I felt like it was growing a little to small for me." He says as we start walking through the crowded street of people.
I nod, "It's nice to be outside and not have to be crowded in a small place."
We take a turn into one of the shops close near by. "Hello!" I look and smile at the man who greets us.
Orochi goes up to the man and head to the back of store where I'm left standing alone in the front of the shop. It was covered in jars of strange things and beautiful covered flowers.
As I take in the surroundings I notice a couple in the corner chatting. The woman is hunched over shaking in fear in the embrace of the male. "I wonder what happened." I mutter to myself.
Strange enough, I haven't seen her since then but then again; stranger things happen every day. A few minutes pass by and Orochi nor the shop owner return. "Maybe I shall sit down." I head over to the seats that were in the corner and wait for their return.
I notice that the two people standing in the corner began whispering to each other and I could slightly overhear their conversation.
"I was terrified of what I saw. They were so... Frightening." She barely utters outloud.
"You're safe. None of them will come to get you. It happened a few days ago and they haven't come here. If anything, they are probably back to eating bones and dirt back where they came from." He says as a matter of fact.
She shakes her head quickly, "You don't understand. They didn't care. They just wanted it all. Everything that they didn't have. It was all powerful demons and we could nothing to stop them."
The male scoffs, "Well, it servers Vor'on right. He doesn't pay attention to what happens to the Middle Lands. It's all death and destruction while he live in his palace."
"I fear that this Kingdom with fall into the wrong hands and there is no one to stop it."
"Nonsense."
"You didn't see her. She was... The face of death itself." Her voice became clouded and husky as muffled cries follows suit.
"We are stronger than that witch in the Darklands. You just have to-"
"Ha ha! Indeed! I am truly in debt." I turn around to see the shop owner and Orochi stepping out to the front of the shop.
"Thank you again for this. I don't know where else I could have got it." He shakes his hand and heads over to me.
"Ready?" I nod still shaken from what I just heard. Does Orochi know about this yet? I bite my lip worried that Beliath is finally coming to get me soon or worse.
We head through out a few more shops and finally take a break by sitting down under one of the grassy areas under a tea nearby.
"Orochi, have you heard what happened to one of the neighboring provinces?" I look up to him but he looks at me confused.
"No, what happened?" His face suddenly becomes guarded.
I look back to the people passing by us and say, "I heard from the two people in the first shop we went to that it was pillaged by demons."
He shrugs, "Well that's normal. Demons like territory."
I shake my head, "No, it was burned to ashes by Darkland demons."
Orochi's body becomes still with realization, "Is that all you heard?"
My head nods to his question and I take in the ocean smell with the urgent conversations of those walking past. "Orochi, what if she is finally deciding to come for me?"
Silence follows my question and makes me unsure of what will happen now. "We just need time. Time is what we need to get you strong." He admits to me.
"But even with Akuma's strength, will it be enough?" I ask him.
I glance over to him while his sharp gaze watches the people pass by us. It was covered with the uncertainty and it struck me to the nerve. "I don't know."
We both sat there for a while considering things that would happen and sat in silence. My worry about being stronger was pushed more because of this news. Is she coming for me? Or something else?
"Have we got everything that we needed from here today? Or do we still have more places to visit?"
He shakes his head, "One more place and then I wanted to show you something."
"Oh, okay." I'm taken aback with what he says but I ignore it for now as I follow behind his tall figure.
At this point, I notice the women who are staring at us as we walk past. Most are flirtatious or glaring at me in disgust. "Orochi, why am I being stared at so intensely?"
He looks down to me and back up, "Well I would assume because they are jealous."
I raise an eyebrow, "Jealous of what?"
"You, I would assume."
Laughing, "There is no way they would be jealous of a human like me."
"You sure about that?" He says as we walk into the last shop and grab the item from the shelf.
"I don't know what you mean by that." Orochi pays for it and we walk back onto the street again.
"Than don't worry about it." He says.
We fall into step side by side, when he pulls my hand and turns down a strange alley. "Uhh... Orochi where are we going?"
"To see the ocean." Right after he finishes his sentence the alley opens up to a huge street right next to the ocean and cliffs.
I gasp at the massive never ending sight of the sea gently waving like a sheet of silk below me. "Wow..." The smell of wet rock and the nip of cold air make my body shiver.
"Amazing isn't it?" He says from behind me.
I nod my head, "I've never seen the ocean this close before."
The rocks below almost looked like black jagged edges against the foam of the waves. The crashing from the sea sprayed a gentle miss of water up to us. The sky above had grown more clouded throughout the day as we traveled in the port town.
"Is it going to rain soon?" I ask him as I pick up a rock and through it far into the ocean.
"Maybe, maybe not. Would you want it to?" He asks me.
I turn around and laugh, "You can't control the weather, Orochi. That's impossible."
His lips curve in a playful smirk, "Alas, if I only could do such a thing."
"Could you though?" I pick up another rock and right as I am about to swing my hand out, its stopped. He comes infront of me and places his hand on my cheek.
My lips slightly part as I look at him and he looks down, than back up to my eyes. "Only if I was that kind of demon." Then my view shifts to the ground as I am being carried over his shoulder like a sack of rice.
"Hey! Orochi, put me down!" I smack his back only to earn a chuckle from him.
"Nope, I don't listen well." He states as walk back into the port's main street.
I groan and fold my arms, "This is unfair! Is this apart of your something you wanted to show? Your backside?"
I suddenly feel my weigh being put back down against the cobblestone and my blood rush. "Thanks for making me look like a cherry."
"Wouldn't that just make you sweet?" He smirks and walks away from me.
"Hey! What do you mean by that!" I run after him as he holds all the items we got from today.
He doesn't answer but wears a huge smirk across his face as we wait for the next cart to come take us home back to Tomoko who is awaiting for our return.