"Guuh…" I groaned, a pang within my mind as I woke from the previous night's sleep. Upon my chest was Okami, his tail curled against his face, bushy fur brushed against both mine and his.
I smile a small… almost miniscule smile. And when I rose, he followed, a routine that had formed within the previous two days.
In the morning he would follow, given a sort of brush through that would untangle and brush away any loose hairs. Then I would cook breakfast for both of us.
A meal that he seemed to enjoy quite well.
"More?" Okami asked, puppy dog eyes aimed at me. But I merely smiled and turned my back, a slow stride towards the living room. Where I sat and started my daily cultivation.
Through the two days that I had to myself, I had found myself nearing the threshold to the next level.
I was still in the elementary level but that was the thing. It was elementary. And so was the difficulty, a baby could complete it given the right talents.
Which was why I was so close to breaking through. One final push would bring me to the next stage.
My breath echoed strongly against the slight cold that permeated the house. A thought that seemed to break my meditation.
"It's time, is it not?"
I questioned, not the world, not the fox that lazed against that same manual. But to no one. A mere reminder that brought my feet to the ground.
Soon after I placed a set of clothes on, dressing myself for an outing that would last no longer than an hour.
Most of which would be spent in a walk, trudged through the endless steps of that mountain.
"Bye. I'll be back, keep the fort will you…"
With that I left, not bothering to wait for his response. As I had already seen that slight wave of his tail he aimed towards me.
…
The sun was well and truly within the middle of the sky. A beat upon my back that contrasted with the frosty air.
I was cold… I was hot.
"Annoying…" I muttered to myself.
"Annoying? What?"
A voice echoed behind me. A presence that I could not sense?
"Who!" I turned, my hand still grasped at some non-existent sword. Tried to pull it from the sheath with an outdated instinct.
"Don't worry~" She placated, and I took a good look at her. She had raven black hair, golden eyes that seemed to form a sort of echoed square. And within her back was a large scroll. One that seemed to open into hundreds of feet of paper.
"Ah- Senior…?"
I trailed off in askance of her name.
"No need, I came here to gift you this, after all it isn't every day that-" She cut herself off, a seemingly random flower had landed on her hand. Her gaze poised up at the empty sky.
A secret message?
It must have been.
"I thank you."
I bowed my head and took the gift in my hand.
"But if I may…" She nodded her head slightly, "Why?"
"You were the top scorer in that exam, did you not read the rewards?"
She seemed a bit incredulous of my carelessness.
And so I played it up a bit.
"Ah- I actually didn't… I thought that it was only…"
I trailed off again, a false nervousness and a false accent that only further pushed her thoughts towards what she would want to think.
My body tensed.
Her hand rubbed against my hair. An unexpected gesture as she disappeared. And finally I could look at the gift she had given me.
I unwrapped it - and even before I did so, I could tell from just its shape - it was a sword.
And when I fashioned the sheathe to my side, I pulled the sword, went through a silent kata as I walked.
"Thousand steel?"
It was something quite basic, but to these people… Would it not be quite valuable? And to give such a thing to a child at that.
"I've no complaints."
…
I opened the door once more. Let in the cold air and hugged Okami to my neck. A quiet moan echoed from my mouth because of such.
He was so warm. His fur just rubbed me the right way.
I had already given the manual back, despite the harsh glares that had assailed me on the way here and back. It seems that my reputation was one of a lout. A person - barely even that - in the eyes of those around me.
That would sleep their days around, in wait of luck that would never come.
"Have you mastered the art yet?" I asked, the words had come out of my mouth before I had even thought of them.
An impulse that seemed to highlight that incomprehensibly weaker will of mine.
"Of course~" He replied back, so chipper, so happy.
I smiled too, my gait light as I turned and placed different robes upon my back. I had no care for the nakedness that I showed to him.
For he was but a child.
A child…
There was a knock on the door, before it opened by some incomprehensible turn of the key. A key they should not have by all matters of thought.
"Anyone here!" One shouted, a girl if the voice was anything to go by.
I responded with a slight yes. One that startled her for my sword was hung at my side, a glare within my gaze as I rested it on her and the other. Who had so brazenly walked into my house.
My little territory within this residential of so many others.
"Are you in need of something?" I asked, yet the tone that my voice conveyed was anything as polite as the words I had asked.
"No… no" they placated, who had said it, neither and both. They had both echoed a single tone of that 'no' of theirs. Twins if their looks were anything to go by.
I scowled.
"I'm"
"I'm"
"Lin"
"Naea"