Shangri La Pt. 1

44: Sweetness

"Are you hurt?" he sweetly asked as Izumi froze up from such a face.

"Ah– I-I'm fine, t-there's nothing wrong! I-I'm not hurt, I-I'm just fine, you don't need to–" 

As she tried to slide his hands off her face, he stopped her and took hold of her right hand just as the sleeve of her robe slid down to reveal how red her right wrist was. 

"Ah– O-Oh–" 

"Damn bastard, if I'd have known this would happen, I would've been there sooner. It was a good thing I wasn't that far though, then something worse could've happened. C'mon, let's go back and get your wrist checked by that weird Jellyfish doctor." Katsuki stated as he clasped hands with hers and started to take the lead as they were about to leave from underneath the bridge. 

But as much as things seemed simple as they were, Izumi had questions of her own.

"W-Wait a minute!" she yelled as she tried to pull her hand back from him and make him turn to face her. 

"What?" 

"You– First off, my wrist is fine, there's no need for Zeri to look at it when I have some medicine in my shed. Second–and more importantly–what are you doing in the city when you're the Captain and should be watching your fellow knights? It was one thing to leave your post when you were watching me when I was sick, but I wasn't alone when those people that were with me could clearly handle things the way they turned out. Not to mention that you're out here–in the city–wearing the robes I gave you, the sword I lent you, and you're in disguise. Does this mean that you were actually following and spying on me without me knowing it? Are you actually just a creep trying to prey on innocent girls and try to hurt them all because you have nothing else to do? Why did you save me when I'm sure I could've–" 

But right before Izumi could finish her confused monologue, Katsuki jerked his head as if he heard something and then grabbed her by her shoulders and carefully pushed her up against the wall and covered her.

Izumi's face blossomed brightly as she didn't know what to do by this action the Captain pulled, and it wasn't any better that he wasn't looking at her after he did so. 

"Y-You– Why did you just–" 

"Shh!" he shushed, making her flinch by his harsh tone. 

She sealed her lips shut and remained completely still as the Captain was still mere centimeters from her face and body while still protecting her from whatever he heard from before. 

'Why did he suddenly stop me from speaking? Was there something really bad that he head to–'

"Find 'em anywhere?" Such a hoarse and deep voice made Izumi jump slightly as she easily recognized that it was the leader of the mercenaries as he was back on his feet. 

"No sign of 'em, boss." 

"Dammit, that little pest just had to get away right when that damn runt decided to indent my face. That runt's gonna pay for messin' with my face, and he ain't the only one that's gonna get it. What about those other three that started the fight?" 

"They vanished from us right before we woke up after gettin' beaten up, boss." 

"Tch– If they didn't get in the way of that stupid scholar boy, then none of this would've happened. Not just that, but if that little pest didn't give us a fake necklace, then we wouldn't be dealing with this. Keep lookin' for 'em, they couldn't have gone that far!" 

"Yes sir!"

It wasn't until after a few minutes of silence did Katsuki finally decide to step away from the disguised greenette and sigh with how things turned out.