❝𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐲❞ - KNY Fanfiction

Chapter 6: ❝𝐈𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐤𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐚❞

Alaina's POV:

CRACK. "Get back!" Darius shouts, blocking the way of an imaginary attacker. "There is a dangerous history of brown bears in these areas." My brother stands like a wall, challenging whatever attacker that might come from the trees. After a minute, Darius ceases his stance and instead listens for the cracking noises again. He says, "I think the noise went into the trees," and slowly starts to walk off.

"Ok! Bye!" I exclaim to my distant brother. I wonder if he'll need help, if the bears could overpower my brother, considering he thought to protect me. After the thought, I realize I have been staring at the grass abnormally. Luckily nobody is watching. "He'll be fine; it's morning anyway." Then, I cheerfully skip over to a nearby park.

Spending a few minutes walking, I observe the trees and skies as my brother had done earlier. If Darius was here, he could tell me the biological names of the stuff. When I find a nice tree to sit by, I start where I left off in this book about this guy who fights mythical creatures. I smile when I realize this book is probably inspired by the Corps.

About ten minutes later, I sense a sudden presence and look up quickly. I look around, scanning my surroundings. A couple feet away I see—the boar boy. "Hello again..." I calmly say as I look up at him. I don't specifically think he's stalking me, but I guess Japan's a small place. I close my book and look at him, expecting a conversation.

Instead, he announces, "I'm Inosuke Hashibira, and you're going to fight me!"

I intend to make polite small talk, but his words shock me. "What!?" I ask, trying not to laugh. 'Well, that's one way to make friends, clearly someone doesn't know social cues,' I think. "You're strong, so I wanna fight you! I need a challenge," he told me, definitely prepared.

"Sorry, but no because you're not a demon," I state matter-of-factly. "Sorry Inosuke." The guy looked sad but immediately became determined. "Come on! Fight me!!!" he demanded like a grumpy child.

I decide to assess the situation. 'How can I stop him from trying to fight me without hurting him?' I wonder. He's not particularly dangerous, but I need a way to make him stop.

I glance at a nearby vine and tilt my head at the guy, who is still insisting on fighting me. In a moment, I grab a rope-like vine and tie him to a tree. He struggles against the tree and glares at me in a way that almost makes me laugh. "Hey! That's not fair!" he complained, pouting.

I genuinely can't take him seriously at all, and grin while sitting next to the tied-up boy. "Inosuke," I say in a slow but kind way, "Do you not know about the rule forbidding Corps members to fight each other?" I ask him as I sit cross-legged in front of him.

He pauses and mumbles grumpily, "...yes." I smile. 'In a way, he's kind of childishly cute,' I think to myself. Inosuke was silent after responding and glared at me. "So, now that you've got me bound to a tree, what do you plan to do? Leave me to die here?" He asked, crossing his arms defiantly.

"Of course not, I would never—plus I'm sure you'd find a way escape after I leave," I tell him, casually examining my nails and looking up at him. "I just don't wanna fight you," I shrug simply, "There's no point".

Inosuke is quiet for a moment before I hear a quiet "...You're not?" I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. "I have no reason to try to kill you," I tell him "I was going to let you go as soon as you agree not to do anything reckless".

After saying that, a smile appears on my face as I look at the boy. "So... if I let you go will you promise me you won't attack? I don't wanna get in trouble" I sheepishly tell him.

The boar boy then crosses his arms grumpily. He looks away and relents letting out a dramatic "Fineeeee!" I raise my eyebrows at him and jokingly raise my pinkie at him "Pinkie promise?" I ask smirking slightly.

He tilts his head at me and seems to take this really seriously. He thinks for a while before whispering "I pinkie promise..." He hesitantly brings his finger to mine and crosses pinkies with me. "Ok, ok. I believe you" I say nodding before finding a knife in my purse to cut him out.

"You're not going to kill me, right?" Inosuke asks, suddenly sounding nervous. I look up from my bag still holding the knife, I notice he looks a little scared. "Of course not!" I tell him slightly confused and a little concerned.

I look at the knife and then at him. And put it down slightly, frowning a bit. "I'm...going to cut you out of the vine, very gently," I tell him slowly, "I promise I won't hurt you, alright?" A sympathetic, encouraging smile graces my lips as I slowly use the knife to break the thick vine.

I tug the vine away from him, releasing him. Instead of immediately running or maybe challenging me again, Inosuke tilts his head at me, pointing at something. I turn slightly to see my brother looking around for me. Then, I stand up and so does Inosuke, "Well that's my cue, I got to go," I tell the guy, and I start to leave. Darius notices my voice and waves at me. I wave back.

I walk toward my brother and stop, turning when I hear Inosuke's voice. "Thank you," I hear him whisper I nod and respond with a simple "I didn't do much." I wave goodbye, leaving him with a friendly smile, and skip off to reunite with my brother.

When I make it back to my brother, he states, "It's that dude," and I nudge him raising my eyebrows and telling him "Don't be rude, Inosuke's cool."

"You've decided that in, like... I don't know, twenty minutes?" he asks skeptically. "Yep!" I say cheerfully as we walk away from the park.

"We'll see about that," my brother tells me.