After searching the village in hopes of finding any remnants belonging to the villagers, Jason's body began to slowly shutdown, his burnt arm stinging with pain. He then remembers that he left the female stranger outside the village where the flames had not reached, he began walking to the place where he left the female stranger, but his mind had already prepared for the worst case scenario.
As he slowly approached that area, to his sudden surprise, there she was, lying unconscious on the ground. He rushed to her and checked for a pulse, and there it was, not only was he happy but relieved as well.
Jason thought to himself, "I am glad she's still alive, but I have never seen her in the village before. She was right about one thing, amidst this chaos… I-I was the only one from my village who survived but she was wrong about her not making it out alive."
Jason lifted her from the ground and carried her on his back [for a person as young as he was to possess that incredible strength is inhumane, these were the results of his rigorous training, his physical strength and agility were beyond that of his age].
A day later…
After settling at a nearby forest, Jason gathered some herbal plants and started grinding them, making herbal medicine to apply on the female stranger's stab wound. After a couple of hours, he was done and ready to treat the female stranger.
The female stranger's eyes slowly opened, unsure of what happened, she wakes up to a green bushy forest. The scent of ashes still lingering.
"You're awake." The voice was low and even. She quickly turned her head. And there she saw a boy who sat a few feet away, leaning against a log. His face was smeared with soot, his clothes torn, and his expression guarded.
"Who are you?" She asked with her voice dry from the smoke.
"Who am I huh... I'm just someone who didn't want to leave you there." His eyes not meeting her glare.
"I didn't ask for any assistance." Her tone cold and distant. She tried to sit up straight but her body challenged her as she felt a sharp pain on the part she was stabbed.
He sighed, as he looked at her. His eyes were dark, tired but still hanging on. "No, you didnt ask for my help. All I saw were corpses turning into a pile of ash and no one to help. But I saw in pain, I decided to make sure that I wasn't going to let you die out there."
"Look, I appreciate you doing that but don't go around thinking I owe you a favour." She said.
"Of course, I helped because I wanted to, not because I was expecting compensation or anything." He said, "My name is Jason." He calmly said.
Her eyes narrowed, "Why did you blatantly tell me your name?"
"Its common courtesy for me to tell you my name before I ask for yours." Saying so as he stood up.
She sighed, not sure if she could trust him but the least she could do was to tell him her name as he did with his, "You... You can call me Azumi."
"How long have I been out?" Azumi asked. Jason replied, "You've been unconscious since yesterday."
"Yesterday huh... By the way how could have someone as feeble as you manage to carry me?" Her tone as cold as ever.
"Looks like we are off to a great start." Jason sighing as he thought to himself. He said, "Could you be less hostile... I did what I could and here we are."
"This is not progressive, I think it would be fit if I take my leave now," Azumi replying calmly.
Jason replied, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. You haven't fully recovered."
As Azumi tried standing up, the pain from the stab wound rose, "Tsk… damn this is annoying, now I have two pains to deal with and I just so happen to be looking at one." Azumi replied in her annoyance.
"Oh yeah, you just have to deal… with… I-it," Jason responded back, in a moment he lost his strength and fell to the ground.
"Hey, stay with me," Azumi called out to Jason.
Two Days Later…
Morning came with the sun rising from it's slumber, casting a golden glow over the horizon. As Jason was still unconscious, he found himself in yet another state of dreaming but this was a nightmare, all he saw were flames consuming his village once again and there she was, his mother, they both ran towards each other just before they were about to meet the flames consumed them.
Jason was groaning, as he was slowly regaining his consciousness.
As he woke, his head was filled with an overwhelming headache, he spoke, "Arghh, my head…"
"Look who finally decided to wake up." Azumi spoke while standing directly above Jason.
"I can't seem to recall what happened, it's all fogy, so what happened Azumi?" Jason gently asked.
Jason was still disoriented. He tried to sit up, then Azumi answered as she was helping Jason to sit up straight and offered him water to drink, "You went unconscious, in the middle of our conversation, and you were asleep for quite some time, two days to be exact."
Jason's attitude was surprisingly calm for a person who slept all that time, "Hmm so it was just a dream?" He muttered to himself.
"Uhm dude, could you be less creepier?" Azumi spoke trying to snap Jason out of his thoughts.
Jason spoke, "Oh sorry about that. Phew…two days huh? Well I think I'm good to go."
"Yeah we have to get out of this place." Azumi answered boldly.
As Jason stood up he realized that his burnt arm was wrapped up. He said, "Thank you Azumi…I owe you one."
"Save the gesture." She said.
Jason spoke intrusively in his thoughts, "Really? What is up with her."
"Don't sweat it. Now we're even." She spoke gently.
"Wow, she's suddenly nice." Jason thought to himself.
As they both stood, making their way deeper into the forest, both their stomachs suddenly growled in unison.
Jason was the first to acknowledge his hunger and Azumi on the other hand was awkwardly shy about it.
Jason stated, "Yeah… I could go for an entire buffet right now. By the way, did you happen to find some food while I was asleep?"
"Uh no. This forest is just trees filled with leaves not even a single berry." Azumi stated boldly.
Jason responded in a amazement , "S-so… you haven't eaten ever since!?"
"Don't be surprised, I can go a full week without eating." Azumi responded with confidence.
"Yeah yeah, looks like you could go for something right about now, so hurry up already, let's go search for something we can eat." As he walked.
"I'm gonna kill that prick some day." Having a conversation in her head.
She then stated out boldly ,"Okay fine, I won't fight you this time."
As they walked , Jason started a conversation and he asked, "Since you are an adult, have you explored lands from afar?"
Azumi's eyes constricted, her gaze piercing as she looked at Jason asking that question, "What? I didn't catch that, could you repeat what you just said?"
Jason was surprised and he hesitantly repeated. "Uh- I said , since you are an adult, you have—"
Azumi immediately interjected with her tone very firm, "YOU THINK IM AN ADULT?"
Her voices filled with annoyance.
Jason, caught off guard by her intense look, hesitated. "Uh… I'm… I mean yeah, you look pretty mature."
Azumi's glare intensified. "Mature?" She tittered on a sound barely above a whisper. "You don't have a clue huh?"
"I'm 16 years old, how could I possibly look like a grown up." She said, her voice filled with rage.
Jason's eyes widened in surprise, " I-I had no idea I didn't-"
Azumi interjected once again, her tone filled with annoyance, "Just keep quiet. You don't have to go around making assumptions about people you just met, its nothing but insolence." Looking at Jason with another intense gaze before turning to leave.
As she walked away, Azumi thought to herself:
Jason is very annoying, how did I end up in this situation with him out of all people. People love belittling me, I'm so sick of it. I just hate this.
Leaving Jason behind to follow. "Hey! Azumi I'm sorry okay." As he shouted from a distance.