NSTAS ch3

 I awake to cold on my face. I feel the water drip down my face. It feels nice. I open my eyes to see Rue holding a damp cloth on my forehead.
 “Your awake.” He smiles. I try to sit up, but he gently pushes me back down. “Relax.” He says softly. ”You’ve got a concussion. What happened to you?”
 I try to recall, but my headache keeps me from thinking too hard. “My head hurts…”I hum.
 “It looks like you got hit with something. What happened?”
 I moan. Not only does thinking about it make my head hurt, but it hurts my soul as well. “I was…Kicked out of my last home rather…violently.”
 “Did you do something? Or did they do it randomly? How’d you get all these wounds?” As he says this, I notice I have bandages around most of my worser wounds. I feel my head and under the damp a cloth is holding back a bump that was forming.
 “They think I killed someone…” Remembering the monster, I sit up and look to him. “Rue, are there such things as monsters? Or, maybe there are ikimono kami that take new forms?”
 He looks at in surprise. “Well…Sort of. Some go crazed and lose their minds. Sometimes they even take new forms.”
 “But there are also the ones that are different from normal animals. Their called Jinchus.” Chimes in Dainame.
 “Jinchus?”
 “Their like animals, but a bit different. They can be kinda scary…”
 Heh…Scary…I think to myself. I get up out of the bed and stretch, Ignoring the pain from the bruises. “Hey, where are we anyway?” I ask.
 “Were at an inn we stayed at last night. They let us back in when they saw you.”
 “Wait…How come they let me in? I thought people didn’t like us Ikimono Kami…”
 “We have some older ties with the owners. The workers don’t like us very much, but the owners don’t mind us.” Dainame says.
 “Huh…did they know me before I was…?” I ask.
 “No. We got to know them while we were looking for you. A while back, I saved a kid of theirs…” Says Rue.
 “Oh…Where’s Shoro?” I look around the room, but don’t see him.
 “he whent out. He’s a little shooken up from you not remembering him.”
 “Oh…” I say looking down. I can’t help but feel bad, but then again, I really don’t remember them. At least their nice though, and seem to know me pretty well…but… I go and walk to the door. “I wanna get some air too. He’s not the only one shook up.” I chuckle. Right when I open up the door, it goes against my arm and smacks, right into my face. Then, black again.


 I wake up this time to see Shoro’s face above mine. I’m on the floor. I sit up and feel my head. Three bumps, one from the door hitting me, one from me hitting the floor, and one from the rocks.
 “Aki-chan! I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there!!” He helps me up. Im beginning to wonder if these people are good for my health or not. I sigh and reach for the rag I took off my head earlier. Shoro tries to pick me up, but I shake him off.
 “Im ok, Iv’e been in worse situations…” Then, a knock.
 “Dainame-san?” Says a small lady. “Your stay has been spent. Please gather your belongings and leave, unless you pay for another night.” Night. That means Iv’e been here a bit longer than I thought. She looks at me a bit scornfully , but fakes a smile and says “I’m glad to see your doing better” and shuts the door.


 Were walking along a river now, the bumps on my head throbbing a little. I feel a weight on my shoulder and look over to see Shoro leaning on me. “Get off…”
 “but I wanna walk with you.” He wines.
 “Then walk with me, don’t use me as a rest.” I sigh and shove him off me. He gives me a sad look and I brush it off. He runs ahead of me and throws his arms open. When I give him a confused look he just smiles.
 “Let me carry you.”
 “I can walk on my own, thank you very much.” I walk around him, then feel someone squeeze me. I’m lifted into the air and find myself in Shoro’s arms. I give a “help me” look to Dainame and Rue, but they just chuckle. “Help! Make him put me down!!” I struggle around, but the headache enables me to get free. I push on his face and he stumbles. I then grab onto his neck and hold tight, afraid of falling, but when I realize that he’s not falling over, I look up at him just in time for his lips to touch mine. I hit him square in the face and that time he lets go.
 
 I drop to the ground and land on my butt. When I get up, rubbing my rump, I see Shoro covering his face with his hands. Feeling a bit guilty, I walk over to Shoro, holding out my hand. “Im sorry, I didn’t mean to” But before I can finish he runs away. I look over to Dainame, a questioning look on my face.
 “I think you hurt his pride more than his face.” He smiles weakly.
 “He still loves you, Aki.” Rue says. Feeling terrible now, I start following the direction Shoro went.

 I come to an area with a few trees, and a beautiful lake. By one of the trees, Shoro is sitting, staring out at the lake. I see a slight bruise where I hit him, and the guilt in my gut increases. I shuffle over next to him and sit down. “Hey” I mumble.
 “Hey.” He replies.
 “Im sorry I hit you.”
 “It’s ok.” He says emotionlessly.
 “Look…I just…uh…” I cant seem to find the right words.
 “You don’t remember me, so you don’t like me anymore. I get it.” He said this a bit stone like.
 “No that’s not…well, not that …Ugh, I just don’t…”I clear my throat. “I like you. You technically saved me.”
 “No, Rue saved you.”
 “You were with him, so I counts. And from what rue said, you were the one who thought of this place first.” I smile at him, but he only looks at me.
 “Well…kinda. But it dosnt mean anything. I only annoy you.”
 “Look, Im not used to this. According to you guys, I lost my memory. So, I just need time to get used to you again, right?”
 “I guess.” He sighs.
 “I like you.” His face perks up a bit.”But not quite like that.” His face goes right back to the way it was before.” Listen, you guys are all Ive got right now. I treasure you. I just…don’t want to move so fast, I guess. No, I’m not ‘in love’ with you, but you’re a great friend. So, please, I still want to be with you guys, just…don’t want so much physical contact.”
 “So what your saying is, you want to take it slow?”
 “Well, that’s not quite what I--”
He jumps up and smiles at me, then extends his hand out to me. I take it and he helps me up. Then, he reaches into the pocket of his samurai-like pants(I didn’t even know people still wore those) and takes out a bell. Its silver with a black, velvet bow and longer straps at the sides. When he moves it, it sounds like ringing of a light sleigh bell. He hands it to me. “I gave this to you the day you disappeared, but when we looked and found you gone, it was all that was left behind. “ I blush a bit and take it. Clearing my throat, I try to think of something to say.

  When he goes to put it on, I take it from him and hold it close. “I’ll wear it if I ever fall in love again. With you, I mean. So watch carefully.” I wink at him and he wraps his arms around me. I smile and hug him back lightly, then we hear sniffling in the background.
 “I cant believe it! So soon, but finally, their one again!” Exclaims Rue.
 “Its not like that!” I hiss and back away from Shoro. He just smiles at me.

I slip the bell into my pocket and hear its pretty sound.