Falling | s.shinazugawa

three

You really didn't want to tell him. This whole ordeal has already been a lot for you and having to reexplain it was the last thing you wanted to do.

"Hey, are you okay?" He seems concerned, but for some reason can't seem to look you in the eye, which is unusual because whenever you talked to him before he was always looking into your eyes, now it looked like he was avoiding it

"Something wrong? You seem... nervous" His own nerves are showing and they make him a lot more awkward than usual.

He lets out a sigh right now he just needs to get you to the nearest village, safely.

"Look, I won't force you to tell me" He sits against a tree and looks at you, he starts looking at the ground trying not to make eye contact

The way his voice sounds makes you feel comfortable like nothing will happen to you. Right now your body's in flight or fight mode. You let out a shaky breath and decide to get straight to the point.

"A demon killed my family. I went out to get something and when I came back they were all dead."

He nods his head understanding why you were in the woods. He starts walking away without turning back at you. You're grateful that he doesn't push you to go into more detail.

"Come with me... I'll guide you to the village." he stops for a second.

You realize that you were still standing in the place where you got down from the tree. You rush over to catch up to him, a comfortable silence consumes you both. You're thinking of what you're going to do now. There's no home for you to go to and even if there was you wouldn't want to live in a house where your family was murdered. You mindlessly follow Sanemi, Every once in a while sanemi would look over his shoulder to make sure you were there. Lost in thought you didn't realize that Sanemi stopped, which causes you to bump into his back. He lets out a grunt. you quickly apologize and look at your surroundings, it seems the village is just around the corner. He stops near a village entrance, which is right in front of a small forest, and puts his hand in his pockets.

"Well, I guess this is where we split up." He bows

A part of you grew attached to him in a small amount of time. You bow and thank him for saving you. You both stand there neither making the first move to leave. You suddenly feel tears well up in your eyes.

"PLEASE ALLOW ME TO REPAY YOU FOR SAVING ME!" You shout while bowing and by now tears are streaming down your cheeks onto the floor.

"I WAS OUT TO GET MEDICINE FOR MY MOTHER WHO WAS SICK AND I'M TRAINED ON HOW TO CARE FOR THOSE WITH WOUNDS, SO I WON'T BE USELESS."

He stands there in shock, all that's heard is your sniffles. He takes his hand out of his pockets and puts it on your shoulder gently

"Hey, hey, it's alright calm down. I'm not going to send you away unwillingly." He smiles slightly as he wipes your tears with his sleeve and puts his other hand on your shoulder

"I'm not really good at comforting to people."He puts both hands in his pockets and looks at the ground

"You don't have to repay me, I'm just doing my job, besides... I'd be a terrible person if I left you there to die, I couldn't live with myself." he looks to the other side not being able to face you.

He's too embarrassed, never has he been praised like this.

You wipe the tears that continue to come out. Sanemi can't leave you here a crying mess now, can he? He might as well take you to the butterfly mansion and you can work alongside Shinobu to get more experience with wounds that come from a demon.

"Hey, are you really good at treating wounds? You could travel with me and treat my wounds when I get back from a demon, you could help me out, and in exchange, I could teach you some techniques or something. I know you're going through a lot, and it's hard for you, but if you stay here alone and don't know what you're doing, you could get yourself hurt or killed or something, like last night."

You look up at him, finally making eye contact. You swear you see him blush for a second.

"Okay, you can come with me, if you need a place to stay I can bring you to the butterfly residence, and Shinobu-san will teach you everything you need to know about medicine"

He smiles at you

"Don't worry though, I won't make you do any training, you can help just me and if you want you can learn the techniques to heal yourself, I'll keep you safe, I promise"

You look up and smile at him tears still flowing down your cheeks,

"Thank you, Shinazugawa-san I will not disappoint."