Yashin & Jiyu's Ultimate Adventure!

A Night Under the Stars [41]

Right as they thought they caught a moment of peace, Jiyu's ears twitched as Yashin asked, ''What's wrong, Jiyu, what do you hear?'' as Jiyu looked towards the bushes which had finally started rustling a little louder for all of them to hear. Suddenly, a mysterious stranger with bunny ears arose from the bushes, with a bow drawn back, ready to fire. They looked sternly at the group as everybody readied their weapons, prepared. Finally, the stranger spoke...

''Who the hell are you?''.

Cyrus drew his swords as Seiko hovered his hand over his own. Cyrus then spoke with a stoic tone, ''We're just a group of travellers, so lower your weapon.'' to this, the stranger growled and lowered it slightly. Yashin then stepped forward and said, reassuringly ''Don't worry! We don't wanna cause any trouble.'', Jiyu added, ''We're enemies of Itazura if that'd reassure you...!''. The bunny-eared stranger finally lowered her weapon as she replied, ''Well, you don't look that intimidating... So fine, I'll believe you. But what are you doing camping in the Kwams forest?'' the stranger asked, curious, as Pico was now the one to speak. ''Well, you see... Kwam Imperials were chasing us because after an intense battle, Itazura exiled us and we have no transportation at the moment.'' as Pico explained their current situation perfectly, the stranger then introduced herself. ''I am Tamari. One of the many forest watchers. I'm not sure if you knew but this forest was hand-planted years ago for a small Kwamslakian society, to protect their village from the city folk.'' Tamari finished as Seiko seemed to have a follow-up question. ''Oh, so there's a village nearby? Do you think we could maybe... I don't know, stay in it? Just for two nights or so!'' Tamari sighed and answered, ''No. The people of Kwam Valley would never allow an outsider in. But you are allowed to camp in the forest.'' Tamari finished talking again as Linette looked up, realising the time.

Tamari continued, ''I'll come back in the morning with better camping supplies. Good luck, travellers.'' Tamari then turned around and ran off, fading into the darkness of the forest around them. Jiyu spoke up, ''That was... something.'', Linette replied, ''Yeah... well, it's super late. We should try to sleep or something, I guess. We could lean on the trees...'' Linette began to think as Seiko mentioned, ''We should take turns being on guard, in case Kwam Imperials or maybe something else were to attack. I volunteer for the first shift!'' He said, leaning on a tree and looking around as the others agreed and thanked him. Pico then said, not thinking, ''Nice! Just what I'd expect from a Clover Knight-In-Training!'' Pico smiled, not realising the impact Seiko had from the compliment.

Everybody started to sit down and get somewhat comfortable, none of them really wanting to sleep.

Having finally caught a moment of peace, Yashin then asked Akarui, who had been silent since fleeing the battleground, ''Akarui... You worked for Itazura before joining us... Why didn't you say anything?'' feeling hurt by her secret, Yashin crossed her arms, looking sternly at Akarui, waiting for an answer. Akarui then explained, ''I didn't have much of a choice... I thought you'd hate me and kick me from the group if I told you. Besides, there were multiple times when I had thought over my decision and thanks to that, I know for sure that I'm on your side. I knew you were good people... right when you and Jiyu sang in the Karaoke bar. You looked so joyous and genuine, It felt right to be on your side. And then when I met Pico and helped him fix his ship... I got to know him better and he also was genuine and kind. Finally, we met Princess Alexandra. When you explained the reason behind this adventure, I was... shocked. I was torn between my work and my friends. Well, I thought about it while you were heading to Mt. Equiya and well, I chose you. I want to keep adventuring with you guys and being your friend! I know I hid the fact I used to work with your- well, our enemy... and I'm sorry! I'm really really super-duper sorry! I... I understand if you don't want to forgive me though.'' Akarui finished, looking down and holding her knees to her chest. Seiko was the first to speak up, ''I don't know about the others but I for one, forgive you.'', ''Same!'' Jiyu and Linette said in sync as Pico added, ''I forgive you as well!''. That's when Yashin sighed and said, ''Well If Jiyu forgives you... I guess I do too.'' Yashin then gave Akarui a slight smile as Cyrus was the last to speak. He then briefly said, ''Sorry but I'm unsure. I suppose you could say it's because I don't know you well enough but I will still tolerate you as I have done thus far.'', ''That's okay. I didn't expect most of you to forgive me... So, to all of you... Thank you! You're amazing friends!'' Akarui exclaimed as she gave them all a warm smile.

Suddenly, a loud grumbly sound was heard from all of their stomachs, followed by Jiyu's laughter. Linette giggled under her breath as she then mentioned, ''I suppose we haven't had much to eat today. Maybe we could hunt for food... or something?'', Cyrus responded, ''Yeah, that's a good idea. I don't mind going to find a recently deceased animal if that would suffice.''. Upon saying this, Pico joked under his breath, ''That's oddly specific!'' as Seiko smiled and said, ''I could go with you if you want! It's a large and dark forest, after all!''. After thinking about it for a mere moment, Cyrus nodded and the two headed out whilst the others sat and talked.

After a short walk in the same direction, they saw what looked like, a family of bunnies who had been attacked by a wolf. The poor things were on the brink of death. The two rushed over and before taking their opportunity to offer the final blow, Cyrus lowered his mask once more, just as he did before the battle in Kwamslak. Seiko noticed this and finally decided to ask Cyrus about it. ''Hey, Cyrus... Sorry to ask but why do you only wear your mask sometimes?'', Cyrus chuckled and explained himself. ''Well, you see... It's kind of weird. Usually, I can sense when death is near, whether the present or future, I can just feel it. So, whenever I do, I hide with the help of my mask. I also do it to be respectful of the dead. That's why you'll see most fighters from my clan wear a similar mask. But I guess, in short... I just don't like to associate my face with death.'' Cyrus finished and gave Seiko a reassuring smile. ''That's really admirable of you, Cyrus. I'm sure your family would be proud, fighter or not.'' Seiko smiled as Cyrus' blushed face was shielded with his mask. Finally, Cyrus and Seiko gave the bunnies as peaceful a death as they could. With the now-cleaned bunnies wrapped in Seiko's jacket, they headed back.

When they arrived, they saw that Jiyu had set up a small cooking station, with help from whatever items the others had on them.

After sitting down and passing the bunnies to Jiyu, she looked at Yashin who had a sharp stick. Yashin jabbed the bunnies and used the make-shift cooking rack to cook the bunnies. Linette and Pico helped whenever they could and Akarui had fallen asleep from lack of caffeine. As Jiyu used the sticks to jab the food and rotate it, the fire below it gave Jiyu's face a glistening, warm glow. Yashin noticed as she was staring, admiring Jiyu's face as Jiyu focused on getting the food just right. It was small, cute moments like this that let Yashin remember how much she loved Jiyu dearly.

Finally, Jiyu took down the cooking station and used the same sticks to jab them, holding them up for their friends to take. Cyrus, Seiko and Linette had used their swords to hold their portions as Cyrus let Pico borrow his other sword and Yashin shared her other dagger with Akarui, who Pico had nudged awake so she could eat. The seven finally had gotten to sit down, eat something together, sharing the warmth of a campfire and talked until they fell asleep. 

They didn't feel like acquaintances anymore. Nor did they feel like just travel companions. For the first time, they all felt like friends. Close friends on a long and tough adventure. 

And they were ready to get up and take the next step forward, together.