I woke up quite early, or at least what I termed as early for me despite having a rough night. The other wolves were outside, I could hear them talking, some laughing while others worked.
I thought of Goku, he had come to see me the previous evening. I could imagine how guilty he must've have felt about me being in the forest, and even worse that I was attacked and almost killed by a bear.
Luckily, Theo was there.
Speaking of Theo, his wounds must have already healed by now, I thought.
I pulled part of my shirt from my shoulder where the bear had scratched me. Like I expected, it had healed to perfection.
I took a quick bath, brushed my ebony long hair, then I walked out of the room.
I wanted to see Theo, he normally left early in the morning, either to train or help father with one thing or the other. I wouldn't have been surprised if he had already left by the time I got there. When I got to his room, it looked as though he was still inside, his lamp still burned brightly.
I didn't want to enter without permission, he could be changing, but I didn't want to leave without seeing him either.
" Theo, " I called from outside the tent, and waited for a while, but he didn't answer, " Theo, can I come in ? " I asked, still no answer.
When I shifted the flap off the tent, there was no sign of him. Perhaps he had already gone out to train, I thought.
I walked inside and turned off the lamp, then my eyes caught sight of the cloth the healer had used to wrap Theo's wounded chest. It still had blood on it, Theo's blood. He must've been in a lot of pain last night. It was all my fault, I made him come to the forest, it was my fault he got attacked by the bear.
But there was no use blaming anyone now, what's done is done, luckily it didn't get out of control and no one was seriously hurt.
There were some herbs on his bed. I knew Theo to be anything but messy, he probably hadn't gone far and would soon be back. I brushed off the herbs from his bed and stretched the sheet, then I adjusted the pillows, I could do this much at least.
Once I was done with his bed I thought to leave, and I would have if I hadn't noticed that same bloody cloth on the floor. It had fallen on the ground when I brushed the herbs from the bed.
One look at it and I remembered what happened the previous night I touched Theo's wound.
But then again it was a rough night, and it was probably my mind playing tricks on me, things like that could happen, it was probably nothing to fuss about.
I reached for the cloth, having brushed away anything mysterious from my mind, but there was still a strange feeling i couldn't shake off as soon as my fingers got closer to it.
I pulled back and let my eyes scan the room, there was no one inside but me, again I shook away the feeling. I was probably overreacting.
Without thinking too much I reached for the cloth again, and the moment my fingers touched the blood stains on it I thought I would see the images again, but nothing happened.
I picked it up and looked at it curiously, then shook my head slightly, I rolled my eyes at the thought of having ever imagined the images I saw last night, i was probably paranoid.
" What are you doing ? " Theo's voice came from behind me and startled me even more, I turned around quickly, my jaw dropped slightly and so did the cloth.
Theo wasn't wearing anything. Other than a towel that covered only his waist down to his knees, the remaining part of his body was bare, he was soaking wet and water dripped from his wet hair onto the bare skin of his chest.
I turned away from him quickly, having seen more than enough, I was so embarrassed.
" Where were you ? I knocked several times but you didn't answer " I said trying to hide how flushed I was.
" I was having my bath Maple, it's something people do when it's morning. " he said delightedly.
He was trying to spark up a nerve from me, I turned ready to lash at him, but he was still as half naked as he was earlier, and I turned away again feeling even worse than before.
" Do you mind putting some clothes on ? " I asked feeling embarrassed.
" Sure " he replied, I could tell he was enjoying every bit of this. " are you going to stay or " he asked delightedly.
" No, " I answered sharply and headed out, trying as much as possible not to look at his bare skin.
I had almost forgotten how annoying Theo could be most times, it was a habit he had come to hone. But there was a bright side, at least now I knew he was okay, even though I still felt embarrassed seeing him like that.
Some of the other were wolves were still out working, clearing what was left from last night's party.
I went back to my tent and tried to forget all about Theo, I did sooner than later. When I came out again, the wolves were done cleaning, and only a few of them sat around chatting with each other, then I spotted a familiar face, it was that of the elder wolf that accompanied my father to the forest the night before.
I looked at him for a little while, not that I meant to stare, (even though that was what I ended up doing eventually) he looked up when I least expected and locked eyes with mine, he studied me for a little while, as if he found something interesting about me that he hadn't noticed before, then moved on the next second while I watched him curiously.
*************************************
I joined Theo a while later, the encounter with the bear wasn't very impressive, and he insisted I trained harder.
" I won't always be there to rescue you from hungry bears maple " Theo said as we prepared to train.
" I was wounded, I would have killed it otherwise " I defended myself.
" It would've killed you regardless of your wounds, you won't always be in your best shape when you meet your enemy Maple, as a matter of fact, you're bound to meet your opponent more in a moment of weakness. Tell me, what will you do when that happens? " Theo questioned.
" Easy, I'll pull the towel from under his waist " I joked and Theo raised an eyebrow, he looked offended, but I knew he really wasn't.
" Very well, strike me " he said.
I studied him carefully and then launched, I swung my sword at him hoping he would block, but his hands stayed down so long I feared my sword would take his head off if he delayed a second more. He didn't, and blocked my sword at the last minute with his, sparks came from the collision and I adjusted back to straighten my pose.
" Why did you hesitate ? " I asked him.
" Why did you ? " he asked back.
" Because I would have cut off your head if I hadn't " I responded plainly.
He chuckled lightly before he responded
" Wishful thinking Maple, " Theo answered, and used his sword to draw a curve on the ground that separated me from him " again " he said.
Theo didn't take it easy on me, he pushed me to my limits and then he pushed me a little bit further, I bounced back and even took him by surprise one time.
With every attack, I got better and faster, it was as if my reflexes were sharper than they used to be, and I didn't break as much sweat fighting with Theo as I usually did.
" You were better today " Theo confessed on our way home.
I gave him a surprised look, Theo hardly admitted when I impressed him with my skills, he was almost impossible to please most times, probably one of the reasons father choose him to train me.
" What ? " he asked innocently when he noticed how I looked at him.
" Nothing, " I replied " it's just that you hardly ever admit it when I beat you " I said playfully.
" You didn't beat me, I said you did better " he corrected.
" Which in essence means I beat you " I confirmed.
" Those are two completely different things Maple." he argued.
" Just admit it " I said and stood in front of him, I stuck my hand out for him to stop walking.
" Just admit it Theo, say I beat you, come on, you can do it " I joked around with him, a smile curved on his face and he looked away from me as though exhausted, he sighed in a defeated kind of way and when I thought he was about to say something, his look straightened, and he stared at something behind me.
When I turned, I found Goku standing there, Loden and Mikayo by his side, they were never two steps too far from him, now I knew why .
" Good evening Maple " Goku said first.
" Good evening Goku " I answered, almost in a dismissive way.
The air seemed tensed a little bit after, then Goku barely looked over his shoulder but Loden and Mikayo got the message.
" Hey Theo, we heard you're pretty handy with a sword " Loden said, making the first move on Theo, he threw his arm across Theo's shoulder and lead him in the opposite direction, loden continued ranting for a while leading Theo even further away, until I was left with alone with Goku.
Goku looked at the trio, both his friends had done exactly what he wanted, then he looked back at me.
" How are you Maple ? " he asked.
I didn't answer immediately, I looked at him for a few seconds, then folded my hands across my chest.
" What do you want Goku ? " I asked.
" I want to talk to you " he answered
I stood still for a moment deciding whether to hear him out or not, then I responded.
" I'm all ears "
" What you did was dangerous, you could have been really hurt out there or worse " he said.
" I never meant to go that far, " I retorted " one minute I was headed home, and the next I found myself in the middle of the forest. " I responded, " you hurt me, I thought we were friends, and you keep something so important as this from me " I said.
" I wanted to tell you " he said in his defense, but I made that face again that made it pretty obvious that I didn't care anymore.
He took another look at me and sighed sadly " the duel is in a few days " he added. That caught my attention, I had almost forgotten about his upcoming fight with Dorn " I wanted to tell you, really I did, " he said sounding frustrated " I'm sorry it took so long " he said and then turned to leave.
I took one look at his back and knew I would regret it if I let him walk away
" Theo ! " I called and he turned to face me, I took a few steps towards him and wrapped my arms around him when he least expected, it took him a while to do the same, but he eventually did.
When we pulled away from each other, he asked
" Does this mean that you forgive me ? " he asked hopefully.
"'Only if you promise not to keep anymore secrets like this from me " I said.
" I promise " he answered delighted.
We were both smiling when I suddenly felt the earth move under my feet, I looked at Goku and his face was a blur, same as everything else, there was a terrible ache in my head, it felt like I was being hit with a boulder and it wouldn't go away.
I thought I would pass out any moment now, I clapped both my hands against my aching head and groaned from the pain, it was as real as anything I had never felt before, I could hear Goku calling me, asking if I was alright, but I couldn't answer, the pain wasn't going away, it stripped me of every sense of reason, and then just as it came, it vanished without a trace, it was gone, I didn't feel anything anymore.
I looked at Goku, I could see him clearly now and he looked terribly pale with worry.
" Maple are you alright ? " he asked, I was too shocked at what just happened, I could hardly respond to his question.
" We're taking you to the healer " he decided.
" No, I'm fine " I protested, I thought I would feel a little dazed but I didn't, I was perfectly okay.
" Are you sure ? " Goku asked.
" Yes " I replied, looking just as confused as he was.
" What just happened ? " he asked.
" I ... don't know " I answered.
I didn't know what was happening to me or why, but it didn't feel like anything I wanted to happen a second time.