Just A Kid

Chapter 16

Bird songs began to fill Araile's mind as her eyes opened slowly. Muscles creaked and groaned as she sat up and stretched, pulling her arms above her head. Her ears caught the sound of a small grunt beside her, causing Araile to jump high in the air and turn around; her heart pounding in surprise and fright. Relaxing, Araile saw that it was just Shinrai moving in his sleep. A faint line of pink appeared on her face and raced across her nose as she looked at the young demon.

"Good morning," a gentle voice greeted.

Araile turned around again and smiled. Kazoku was standing in the small kitchen area, already have been awake before the young girl and was making some food for breakfast.

"Did you sleep well?" Kazoku asked, and Araile answered with a shy nod.

Her stomach suddenly rumbled, demanding that food had to be put in it since she hadn't had any food in what seemed like forever. Her stomach rumbled again, and her ears laid back in embarrassment as Kazoku gave a small laugh. She wiped her hands dry on a towel before walking up to the embarrassed nine year old. 

"You must be hungry. Here, I made this while my brother was telling you the story," she chuckled as she handed Araile a package.

Araile's stomach gurgled in hunger as she unwrapped the package to see two balls of rice in the centre. She took a small bite of the rice-ball and looked around, chewing happily. She laid gold eyes on a still sleeping Shinrai, but Seishin was not in the room. Her chest began the strange fluttering when she looked at Shinrai's sleeping form, and she quickly looked away from him.

"Where is Seishin?" Araile asked Kazoku after swallowing.

"Probably outside training," Kazoku answered as she toddled around the kitchen, preparing more food.

Just then, the door burst open and Meiyo marched in, Taiyo following at a more mature pace.

"Good morning, Kazoku!" Meiyo chirped happily, racing over to give the older woman a hug.

Kazoku laughed and replied "good morning, Meiyo. My, it seems like you're in a good mood today".

Meiyo nodded, and released the woman before rocking back and forth on her heels excitedly.

"It's because Seishin just said that he would take us on a walk!" she said, obviously excited.

Araile shuffled, still feeling a bit shy and out of place around the others. She had finished the rice-balls, and her stomach gave a thankful quiet noise.

Meiyo finally noticed Araile and skipped over to her, grabbing Araile's hand in hers.

"Come on Araile! Let's go!" Meiyo squealed as she pulled Araile towards the door.

"Uh, okay..." she murmured, a bit nervous about going with the hyper Meiyo.

"Go on, you three. Have fun," Kazoku laughed as she shut the door behind Taiyo.

"Aren't Kazoku's rice-balls good?" Meiyo asked Araile once they were outside, and Araile nodded.

Meiyo continued to talk and ask her questions, still holding her hand and pulling the baffled nine year old through the forest, Taiyo walking behind her and his sister.

Araile mentally shook her head at Meiyo's hyper questions. There was just no stop to them! Araile barely had time to answer one question before Meiyo threw another one in her direction. It felt like she was pulling Araile's arm off with the amount of tugging that was going on.