Love Like You ~Mitsuri Kanroji x Fem. Reader~

Chapter 4

I ran north taking no rests between it. I had been running for a while now, Amaru is specific with his directions, if he says north then he means north. It's turned to noon and I'm supposedly a little over half way there.

"Help! Help!" I slid to a stop and looked around. I saw a kid frantically running up to me. He collapsed in front me on his hands and knees. "Please you have to help me!"

"Calm down, what's wrong?" I asked bending down a little. He looked up at me, his face tear stained.

"M-my younger sister! She's been taken! A m-monster took her!" He sobbed. I stood back up.

"Demons. I'm here to help you and your sister. When was this?" I asked looking around. Sun's still up, I have some time.

"Before sunrise! It took her and ran into the forest!" He explained. The forests here aren't really covering though. The demon would've died if it'd stuck around here.

"Have you gone into the forest?"

"No, I haven't! I'm too afraid to go alone!" He sobbed. I looked down at him. The probability of the demon having to try and run with a young kid constantly screaming and fighting and making it to a safe place in time isn't high, especially since the next forest is far away.

"We're going there first, get on my back." I said bending down a bit to his level. He got up confused.

"I-i can just follow you- I'd be weighing you down." He said making me sigh.

"You wouldn't be able to keep up kid, get on if you want to make it in time." I said. He was hesitant but eventually climbed onto my back. I stood up straight and held onto his legs letting him get steady.

"Are you sure I'm not too heavy-?"

"Trust me, you're just fine. Are you ready?"

"Yeah." He confirmed. I shook my legs a little getting ready. I've been running all day. I took a stance and pushed myself forward and began to run. Almost immediately he lost his balance and quickly put his hands around my neck holding on. Something about it struck a nerve, not a bad one though. Just made something feel odd.

"Hang on, we're going to be running for a while." I told him. I kept running for a while when I started feeling him shift a little.

"Careful, there's a river up ahead." He warned. I quickly stoo right in front of the water and take a step back. I lunged forward and jump quickly between the large gaps onto any rock surface that I found. The arms around my neck tightened as I heard him start yelling. I stopped once we got across the river and put him down for a second.

"You ok?" I asked him turning around around. His eyes were wide as he looked up at me.

"Yeah- How can you do that?!" He exclaimed. I tilted my head a little.

"Do what?" I asked. He opened his mouth as if to say something but couldn't make out the words so he started frantically pointing at me, then my feet, the ground, and the river.

"All of that!" Were the words he was finally able to muster.

"Oh, I train a lot. Far and quick jumps are possible if you work hard enough for it." I responded. He just blinked quietly nodding. I looked at his shaky body. Maybe he could stay here.

"Let's go! The forest is close!" He pointed forward. I saw the determination in his eyes, I definitely couldn't let him just wait here. I bent down and he immediately got back on my back.

"Get ready, what we're going to go against is going to be frightening." I heard him gulp. I stepped back and lunged forward getting into a steady pace of running.