The morning sun shone brightly, waking Kazu from his slumber. As he opens his eyes he sees Anna staring at him. "Good morning Anna, Welcome to tomorrow… been up long?"
"Not… really… just a few minutes." She replied with a slight blush to her cheeks. "Ummm, question… What is with the welcome to tomorrow?"
"Kazu sits up and faces her, "I had family members that liked to say 'I'll take care of it tomorrow', so I started waking him with "Welcome to tomorrow… my way of saying 'Stop Procrastinating'. Well I'm going to go get ready, I have some wolves to take care of today." He said as he was getting out of bed. Anna hopped out of bed, grabbed a dress and started to change on her side of the bed. Kazu turns and heads to the bathing area. As he is walking Anna starts talking to him.
"Can I come with you? I need to practice magic, and maybe I can convince you to teach me some fighting?" Anna asks.
Kazu turns to her to answer, and immediately turns away. Anna still had not put her dress on. If you want to learn, "I have no problem teaching you, we will need to get you some different clothing, it's not lady like to fight in a dress." Kazu says with a chuckle. "Oh, wear the boots you bought yesterday, and bring the gloves."
"Sounds good." Anna said as she ran across the room to grab the Items.
A few minutes later they are ready to head to breakfast.
After breakfast they head to the weapons shop he was at the other day. Anna finds herself a leather top with form-fitted chest armor, a knife and a bow with two dozen arrows. As she is looking at pants, Kazu picks up a pair of leather shorts that have metal plating fitted to key areas. As a joke he asks her to try them on. Without even looking at them, she agrees to try them on.
A few minutes later Kazu hears her call him from the dressing room. "Kazu, can I get your help?"
Kazu goes to the dressing room, and as he arrives she reaches out, grabs him, and pulls him into the room. She is holding the armored leather top up with one hand and motioning to the back with the other.
"Can you tighten it for me? When I try I end up pulling it down to my hips." She says.
"Absolutely, let me know if it's too tight." Kazu said. He gently pulls the lacing on the back to tighten it, and the top slides down a bit. "Hold on a moment, let me adjust the lacing so I don't have to pull down. He cuts the leather lacing in half, re-laces from the bottom to the middle, then from the top to the middle. Then he tightens them both. Without the top moving up or down. "There, how does that feel?"
"Perfect." she replied. "Now step out so I can try the pants we picked."
Kazu stepped out of the dressing room. Over the next few minutes he hears bumping and thumping noises, and s few quiet growls and grumbles. Eventually she says she is ready, she has decided on an outfit.
A moment later she steps out wearing the armored shorts Kazu handed her as a joke.
"You like the shorts I picked out?" Kazu asked.
Well," she said, looking slightly embarrassed, "I tried to put on the other pants and they would not fit over my… backside… so this is really the only one left." She smiles at him shyly.
"No problem, we will get this stuff for you for now, we can make you something else later if you want." he says smiling at her. "Hand me your other clothes and I'll put them in my bag." She hands him her dress and a white lace garment. As he is putting them in his back he realized it was her undergarment. As he was paying for her clothing, he stated, "Now we have but one more stop to make, follow me Anna."
A few minutes later they are at a regular clothing store. Kazu walks up to the sales clerk and asks her to find Anna some undergarments that she can use for training. The sales girl quickly brought back several items for Anna. Kazu discarded two of them for being too long, they would either bunch up or stick out of the bottom of the shorts, and one for having no protection at all. He turned to Anna to get her input. She is blushing brightly, and trying to hide her face in her hands. Kazu pulls her in for a gentle hug, leans down and whispers, "It's ok, take your time, it's just the 3 of us, and we won't judge." Eventually she calmed down enough to pick out two pairs that she preferred. "We'll take 6 of each, and give her a pair to put on for today. While she is changing I'll take care of the bill."
Anna walks straight from changing up to Kazu and slaps him on the arm. "I can't believe you embarrassed me like that, that was so mean."
Kazu hugs her with a giggle and explains why it was important that they bought the undergarments. It was a brief, non-specific explanation of what happens when leather rubs against unprotected skin for hours.
Anna looks up at him with a sheepish smile, "I'm just glad you rejected the one that was just a string for the back."
"Yeah, I'm sure they would have looked great on you, but would have been horrible at protecting your tushy." he says with a grin.
Anna immediately blushes and buries her face into his chest. "I can't believe you can say such things without being embarrassed."
Kazu replies, "I don't think the truth is an embarrassing thing. Are you ready to learn how to fight, and I guess, help me hunt some wolves?"
Anna nods her head, and starts heading towards the front gate, until Kazu notifies her they are exiting the west gate. They walk for almost two hours before they reach the area the wolves were reported in.
They decide to take a break, and practice some magic. Kazu practices controlling the magic he already knows, and helps Anna access more power to turn her water and fire magic into an offensive magic. After an hour of practice Anna can now use her fire magic to hit an enemy 9 meters away with a flamethrower type attack. Her water magic can now pierce a 1/2 meter thick tree making a 6mm hole through it. She can also use the bow with 80% accuracy, or as Kazu claims, 10% mastery. While Kazu can now make a wall of flame, a wall of water and create a shield of high pressure air strong enough to stop an arrow. He can fire a bolt of plasma at a target 30 meters away. He can create a sphere of water anywhere within 10 meters of himself. The last thing he tried was to compress the dust in the air into a bullet, and used air to propel it at the target. The stone bullet exploded when it hit a tree, doing little to no damage, so he does not see it as useful yet.
Happy with their progress for the day, they decide to continue the wolf hunt.
Kazu starts searching the area looking for traces of the wolves, Anna following closely behind, asking questions every so often. 45 minutes later, they still haven't found any recent traces of the wolves. As they are discussing which direction to continue their search, several plants behind Anna snap in rapid succession. Kazu steps between what was heading their way and Anna. As the wolf clears the foliage it lunges at Kazu. Kazu twists out of the way and grabs the nape of its neck, pulling it away from Anna and throwing it into a nearby tree. The wolf yelps in pain and scrambles away from Kazu. The wolf retreated about 14 meters away, and howled, calling his pack to the fight. Kazu smiles, and puts a wind shield around Anna.
Kazu pulls his spear from his bag, and gets into an overhead fighting stance. The tip of his spear is 5 cm from the ground. two wolves appear, the first one on the right followed by a second on his left. Kazu turns his spear to the right wolf and brings it up to slice its chest through its neck all the way up to its chin. Immediately turning his spear to the second attacker, slicing deep across its neck. Turning his attention back to the first attacker, he thrusts the spear deep into the injured wolf's chest. Withdrawing the spear from the wolf, he gets back into his ready position. Kazu waits for the next attack.
The next attack is aimed at Anna, even though she is in the protective shield, Kazu boosts it. 20 Rotating blades of wind, 75cm long extend from the exterior projecting out of the shield. As the wolf lunges, the wind blades rotate into it at 200 rpm's. The wind blades were not sharp enough to cut into the wolf. They were sturdy enough, and rotating fast enough to break its jaw, then neck, and eventually crush its ribcage before being flung away, landing at the feet of another wolf preparing to attack.
Kazu rotates around Anna to more easily defend her from the two wolves that are still ready to attack. The one he threw is to his left, and the one that just arrived straight ahead. In his peripheral vision he notices movement to his right, another wolf has joined the fight. Kazu attacks the one in front of himself, the two to his sides chase after him.
Kazu Jumps forward, slashing at the wolf's legs, and the wolf jumps back out of the reach of the spear. Following the swing of the spear, it is aimed at the wolf on his left, the one he threw into a tree. Kazu thrusts the spear forward, imbedding the spear deep into the wolf's chest, penetrating its heart. Pulling the spear free, Kazu slides his left hand towards the tip of the spear, as he flips the spear to ready his attack on the wolf to his right. As he finishes flipping the spear, he underhand thrusts the spear towards the wolf. His loose grip allows the spear to slide through his hand, only tightening his grip as he reaches the end of the spear. The spear penetrates the wolf's neck as his grip tightens. Pulling the spear free, Kazu turns back to the center wolf, and resets to his ready position.
Kazu deactivates the shield around Anna. "Anna," he says, "I want you to come here and use your magic we practiced earlier to attack this wolf. Start with your flamethrower spell, then the piercing water spell."
Anna nods at Kazu and takes her place at his side. He puts his hand on her shoulder as she concentrates. A second later, flame erupts out of her hand towards the wolf. The wolf dodges to its left, the flame grazes its side catching its fur on fire. The wolf falls to the ground and rolls around putting the fire out. While the wolf was dealing with the fire, Anna was concentrating on her water spell. The wolf turns to face Anna as a narrow stream of water hits the wolf in the face, exits its neck and stops inside of the tree behind it.
Anna looks at Kazu, "That was scary." she says. "But I did it." She smiles at Kazu.
Kazu hugs her, "I'm proud of you, you did it. I knew you could… I think that is all of them. Ready to head back?"
Anna enthusiastically nods her head yes. They both turn and begin their journey back to town. On their way back Anna picks some raspberries and Kazu picks some wild flowers.
Once back in town, they stop at the hunters lodge to turn in Kazu's paperwork. Tara accepts his paperwork and taps his card to see the newly added kills.
"The paperwork claims 5 wolves killed, but your card lists 4 killed, did you not check them all?." Tara asks.
"Sorry, Anna killed the last one, but she is not a hunter. I used the hunt as a training day, teaching her some attack magic and how to use a bow."
Tara whispers to Kazu, "Because you taught her attack magic she either needs to be a hunter or register with the guards.
Kazu whispers back, "Can we sign her up as an E rank, she is not ready to test yet. We have not really worked on her fighting yet. I have not figured out healing magic, and I do not want there to be a chance she could be injured without it."
Tara spoke normally again, "I've never heard of healing magic, can you actually heal people with magic?"
"I do not know yet, but if anyone can… I'll figure it out." Kazu replied.
Tara laughs, "Let me know if you figure it out. Now, back to Anna. Anna, we are gonna sign you up as an E rank hunter, okay?"
Anna looks at Kazu with a smile, "Am I ready to be a hunter? I don't feel all that ready."
"You will be the lowest rank, think of it as a training rank. Once we both feel you are ready we will have the lodge test you for a higher rank."
Anna agrees. Kazu pays the fee, then she goes with Tara to get her card made.
Anna's card reads:
Name: Anna Paxton Age: 22 DOB: 6-12-521
Affinity: Fire/Water/Earth Capacity: "2300" Blood Type: O+
Jobs: Tap for details
Kills: 1 Plants Gathered: 32036
Helped: 43 Thieves Captured: 0
Endorsements: None Rank: E
Anna beams with pride as she shows her hunters card to Kazu. "Look. Look. Look… I am a hunter… I got a job."
Kazu hugs her, "yes you are, and yes you did. Congrats."
Tara giggles at her enthusiasm, then explains the ranking system to Anna. After Tara finishes she hands out the payment for the completed jobs, making sure to make a bit of a show while paying Anna for the B rank wolf she killed. Kazu refuses the payment for the missing beastkin job, explaining his reasons to Tara. Seeing the anger on Tara's face, Kazu calms her down, reminding her they were unharmed, and released. She lets Kazu know that she will be sure that their payment for the job will be returned.
Eventually they head back to the inn. As they enter, Kazu sees a girl throw a wood cup at a young guy, he ducks and the cup flies across the room straight at Anna who is still looking at her hunters card. Kazu reaches out and catches the cup. He sets the cup down, and walks to the cringing woman that threw the cup.
She is a very human-like feline beastkin, slightly over 1.5 meters tall, with long black hair. The male she threw the water at is also a feline beastkin, same height, and same hair coloring. Kazu towers over both of them. He asks, "Why are you throwing cups young lady?"
The female starts to cry. "Y'm sorry syr, yt's all my fault. My brother was beyng a payn in my tayl, and yt upset me. Y tryed to splash hym with my water. He dodged and the cup flew out of my hand. Y'm sorry…"
Kazu puts a hand on each of their shoulders and says, "Usually I do not forgive people that throw stuff at my friends… but it sounds like it truly was an accident, so I forgive you… don't worry, you have nothing to fear from me… I have not seen you two here before, what are you two kids doing in a tavern by yourselves?"
"We were yn the orphanage. Today we turned 18, so they told us we had to leave. We came yn looking for work, but they did not have anythyng. " The female said.
"OH, well happy birthday… You both look younger than 18 years, I was thinking 15 years."
The brother responded, "Yeah, we get that alot, we are smaller than your average Felysnekos, so we are used to yt."
"Alright, I have a few questions for you.." Kazu replies, then he asks, "Did you two learn a trade there? Anything that would set you up for living away from the orphanage?"
"We learned to clean and cook a byt… some gardening. An actual trade, no not really. The people runnyng the place only checked on us yn the morning to wake us, and at night to make sure we were yn bed.There was a woman that came yn once a week to teach reading and math." her brother replied.
"So they taught you nothing but the absolute basics, and then kicked you out with nothing but the clothes on your back? Kazu asks.
"They added a 'goodbye' and 'good luck' too." the girl sarcastically added.
Kazu calls over his shoulder, "Anna, would you come here please?"
Anna walked over smiling, "Yes Kazu? Who are the cute little kittens?" Anna looks at the cat beastkin. They are shorter than her, with long black unkempt hair and wearing burlap cloth roughly sewn together for clothes.
"That's why I called you over, these cute "kittens" turned 18 today. The orphanage kicked them out and they have no trade. You and I both know how difficult it is to find work in any town, and you even know a trade. What do you think we should do with these two?" Kazu ends his question with a smile.
Anna looks them over, walking around them. She lifts their arms, pretends to look in their ears, playfully extending the inspection of the youths. She finally replies, "Well they look healthy, and relatively strong for their size. If you are up for it, I think we can teach them a trade or two, make sure they can find a decent job."
Kazu looks at her with a grin, "My thoughts exactly. What would you two like to do for work? And no you can't choose King, we are talking about a starting job."
The female pipes up, "Y lyke cookyng, and always wanted to know more, but the people at the orphanage would not teach me, so Y never learned. Y also lyke medycyne, we had a book that showed how to make some medycynes, maybe Y could be an apop… apopocarry."
Kazu smiles, "I think the word you are looking for is Apothecary."
"Yes, that's yt ." The female said.
The male thinks for a minute and finally responds, "I am too small to be a blacksmyth, I don't thynk Y could swyng that byg hammer, But makyng stuff out of metal was what Y always wanted to do. That or carpentry, Y lyke making thyngs."
Kazu nods, "Good, Good. Now we are getting somewhere. Both of you picked worthy jobs, and I can help both of you. I will start your training tomorrow." As for tonight, we are going to have a meal and get to know each other. I am Kazu, my lovely friend here is Anna."
Anna nods to them.
The young girl offers their names, "I am Felyna, and thys is my twyn brother Felyx… Why are you helpyng us? Everyone else eyther ygnores us or looks at us yn ways Y don't lyke."
Anna responds, "Lovely to meet you two. We do not usually offer help like this to random strangers, but Kazu and I think you two are worth helping. Please do not prove us wrong…" She looks at Kazu and shrugs, "For now, Let's eat."
Kazu, Anna, Felina, and Felix find an empty table, and order dinner. The twins are reluctant to eat with Kazu's money. Once the food Kazu ordered for them arrived they were too hungry to decline.
While waiting for the food to arrive Kazu excused himself to talk to the inn's clerk. After finding out all the rooms are still booked, Kazu was able to persuade the clerk to put another mattress in his room for the twins to sleep on. It only cost him 5 copper coins, definitely worth it.
Returning to the table as the food arrives, he joins in the existing conversation.
An hour later the twins are falling asleep at the table. "It's time to head up to the room. I tried to get you two in your own room, but they were all occupied, so I had a mattress brought to our room for you two to sleep on."
The two youths were too tired to complain, and followed them up to the room. Once they all enter the room, Anna locks the door, then joins Kazu. Kazu pointed out the location of the spare bed, and the twins collapsed onto it.
Kazu and Anna looked at each other and giggled, "They are so cute." Anna said.
"I think we need a long term solution for lodging, A hotel is not going to work anymore." Kazu states matter of factly.
"I agree," says Anna. Reaching into her pants pocket she pulls out the money she was paid earlier, and says. "Besides, as of today I am employed and bringing in some money, so I can chip in." She smiles broadly.
Kazu laughs then says, "Ok little miss money bags, Let's go house shopping tomorrow, we both know I… we can afford it." He turns and looks at the twins, "Yet, for now, much like those two, I am exhausted. Let's go to bed."
Kazu and Anna change into their sleeping attire, and lay down to sleep. Anna automatically cuddles up with Kazu, as if she had been doing it for years, not days..
Anna turns Kazu's face towards hers, "Why are you helping those two, really? Is it just because they are so adorably cute?"
Kazu looks at the ceiling and replies, "I have seen too many people thrown to the metaphorical wolves in my life. I see a brightness in their eyes, such innocence and goodness. With no prospects, how long do you think they could stay that way? Would they steal to survive, or would they starve to death before becoming criminals? I never want to find out. I never want to see that beautiful light in their eyes snuffed out of this world. It's the same look I saw in your eyes, you have a little more experience, but you still have your innocence. The three of you will keep me wanting to be a good man, maybe even a better man. I never want to disappoint you., and I want to be the person they strive to be like. Am I making sense?" Kazu turns his head to look at Anna.
Anna with tears in her eyes leans forward and kisses Kazu's lips. She cuddles up to him and whispers, "You are a sweet man, You could never disappoint me… my love."
Kazu pulls her in for a tighter cuddle, "Go to sleep you little vixen." he says before kissing her forehead. They fell asleep cuddled tightly together.