"—AHH!!"
As if the life has been breathed into a lifeless doll, I suddenly jolted up from my trance.
Left. Right. I immediately took notice of my surrounding—it wasn't the forest. Small wooden room, closed window where the light was shining through, and... the girl whom I previously seen, sitting on a chair and nodding her head with her eyes closed.
"Huff... huff..." My heart was beating fast. I've completely let my guard down, but it won't happen again. I got lucky this time around, and I knew that next time won't be the same.
"Hu..." Placing my hand over my chest and taking in a deep breath, I calmed myself down. I checked my attire, and all the belongings that I had with me. Pouch, scrolls, and small amount of ryos. Everything seemed to be the same as prior to my black out.
Looking outside the window, I realized that it was already the night. I was knocked out for quite some time, and I assume... that this girl, who was sitting next to the bed that I was lying on, has brought me all the way here from the forest. On the table next to the girl, there was the empty basket.
'...What's the chance of her being a kunoichi?' That was the first thought that I had upon focusing my eye on the girl. Just as last time, I doubted the possibility. Even after my outburst as I wake up, she was still asleep; insensitivity is considered a critical fault to a ninja.
Cracking my neck to ease the stiffness, I tapped the girl on the shoulder. No response.
"Ehehe..." Then, the girl, with her eyes still closed, murmured, "Meat..."
She was insensitive to an incredible degree, to an extent where I began to wonder if she was acting.
"Hello?" I said as I shook the girl gently this time around. Still no response.
Then, all of a sudden, the girl attempted to bite on my left arm, with her eyes still closed. Of course, I dodged it with ease, but with an amazement.
Just how can... someone like this exist?
"Umu." The girl murmured as her jaw moved in a chewing motion; it seemed that she was eating something in her dream.
I rubbed the back of my head while in contemplation, of how I should wake this girl up.
What? Just leave? No, I can't do that. I owe her a big one, and before I thank her at the very least, I plan to remain here.
So I leaned in, and whispered, "You are eating a thick, juicy meat."
In correspondence to my words, the intensity of girl chewing intensified.
"Mmmm..." She moaned, as if enjoying the delicious flavour of the imaginary meat,
"Then, crunch! You feel the hard, biscuit-like texture in the mouth all of a sudden, and wonder, is this really the meat?"
The girl's face then turned into a frown, and her chewing stopped.
"You spat it out to check, and..."
She opened her mouth, and awaited for my word,
"There was a thin hair-like strand on the meat. But it was thicker and shorter. Without a doubt, you immediately knew that it wasn't a hair, but a bug's leg."
"KYAAAAAAA!!!!!!!" The girl immediately screamed as her eyes opened wide. She literally jumped up from her seat, and her head slammed onto the ceiling above.
"...Are you alright?" With a sweatdrop, I asked.
"Y-yeah... ow..." Rubbing the lump above her head with teary eyes, the girl replied as she landed back on the chair, before raising her head up to me in realization, "O-oh, you are awake."
She had the pair of emerald-coloured eyes. Observing her from much closer distance than before, further confirmed my thought that she possessed no threat to me.
"All thanks to you," I nodded, "You are the one who brought me here, right?"
"Er, it wasn't much, really." The girl smiled, before holding her hand out, "Inn costs 300 ryo, by the way."
'Fair enough,' I thought as I took out the 300 and handed to the girl without any complaint. Even if one day in inn was less than 300, I still didn't mind, for my life was worth much more than that.
"Hehe, thank you~!"
Looking around as the girl held the money preciously, I asked, "What's the name of this village?"
Pocketing the money, the girl replied, "Koahi."
Koahi. I've certainly heard before. It was the small town right above the port town, Yorumori.
"I see… if so—" I was about to continue the conversation, but had to stop mid-way. My eye narrowed as it shifted to the wooden wall on my left side; I felt the thick blood lust emanating from beyond.
Springing up from my position and grabbing the girl by her waist with my left hand, I immediately dashed to the right.
BOOM!
"Kyaaa!!"
Just then, the left wooden wall broke, and its pieces were shot in all directions; I nimbly dodged them all while ensuring that the girl's safety was guaranteed.
SWOOSH!
Then, I hurriedly grabbed a kunai that was flying at a rapid speed, toward... the girl.
'Enemy recognized this girl as someone on my side. And judging by the girl's current demeanour, she truly is just a civilian.'
...Letting this girl die would undoubtly make my life easier. However, my moral won't allow me to do so. Sacrificing one life for another—such a thing was't needed in this situation, when I am capable of saving us both.
'Freaking bounty hunter...'
"Hop on." I whispered to the girl while leaning my top a little bit.
Although the sudden escalation invoked the horror out of the girl, she quickly understood and draped her hands around my neck, and her legs around my waist. With this, it will be a little easier for me to fight.
"Akashi... surely, it must be you." A regal voice was heard from the smoke of dust ahead of us, "Five million ryo for a teen like you, heh. Just what have you done to earn Iwa's hate?"
CLANG!
I, who utilized the gap of time to unseal Ryuma from the scroll that I quickly took out, parried the man's greatsword.
The man was taller than me, standing at around 185cm in height. The average spiky black-coloured hair, along with similarly black-coloured eyes. He had jaggy teeth, and on his forehead was the slashed forehead protector of Kirigakure, indicating that he was the missing nin from Kiri.
"...How much is on your head?" So I asked with a confident grin, ignoring the girl, who was trembling from my back with her eyes shut tight in fear.
"That's for you to find out in the afterlife!"
BOOM!
The man landed a heavy kick on the wall behind as I quickly dashed to the side, before breaking out of the window and jumping upwards.
"How vulgar," I commented while the girl and I were in the mid-air, before landing on a roof of a building adjacent to the inn.
My run against the bounty hunter, with the girl on my back, has begun,
And I couldn't help but wonder how this girl, who should be completely unrelated to this matter, ended up getting herself involved.