His Light

Ch II

"I'm going to the market place!" Ichirohiko announced as he walked down the path in front of his house.
"That's the fifth time this week" his mother said as she drank her tea, "maybe he found a friend" his father said next to her, "it'll would be good for him"
"He's talking to that half-breed" Jiromaru said as he stared at his brother's retreating form. "You mean Sakumi?" His mother asked, "she's a nice girl"
"You've met her?" His dad asked, "yeah she delivers for Nana"
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For five days in a row, Ichirohiko has been visiting the half fox girl at the market place.
After a few minutes of looking, he finally found Nana's stall. People are never in the same place twice.
"Sakumi!" He called out to the fox eared girl. Said girl turned to his direction and waved. During those five days she warmed up to him enough to trust him.
"Hey Ichirohiko" she said from under the shadow of the umbrella. "Are you going to help again today?" She asked as she walked over to the cart full of fruit. "Yeah, father says I have to build muscle if I want to get further in our training" Ichirohiko said grabbing a crate of papayas. "Training?" Sakumi asked as she jumped on the crate.
"Yeah my father is, Iouzen" he said
"You mean that boar monster? He's your dad?" She asked a bit impressed. She's heard about how the both him and Kumatetsu should compete, but she was pretty neutral.
"Yeah, I've asked him to teach me how to fight so that I could protect others" Ichirohiko said placing another crate down, "but my brother only want to show off how strong he is"
"I've noticed" Sakumi said giving him another crate then jumping off. He stared at her: her tail and ears were down.
"Sakumi" he called after putting down the crate, "you wanna come over?" Her ears perked up, "what!?"
"I'm sure father would love you and mother already does, I just need to make Jiromaru see how nice and kind you are"
Sakumi's cheeks brightened a bit, "I don't know" she mumbled. "You should go" they looked over at the old goat, "it'd be a good way for you to make new friends" Nana said.
"What about the stall?" She asked. Nana shook her head, "it's a slow day today, it'll be fine"
Sakumi shrugged her arms and nodded to Ichirohiko. "Good, now let me just pay for some of these fruits, he likes eating sweets you know" he said taking out some money and getting a bag of tangerines and cherries and other stuff. "He does?" Ichirohiko looked at her, "does what?"
"Like sweets"
"Oh yeah! He love them" he said as he started walking. "And I'm guessing you like hats" she said pointing to his plain weird floppy hat with ears, "I think it looks good on me, don't you?" He smirked making Sakumi laugh.
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"What is she doing here!?" Jiromaru practically screamed, "I invited her" Ichirohiko said stepping in the house with Sakumi close behind him.
"Oh good you brought more fruit" his mom said, "and you brought Sakumi with you" she smiled as the girl hid behind Ichirohiko a bit.
Being in the house of your bully isn't exactly comforting. But the rest seemed like good people.
"Jiromaru was bulling her one time and I bumped into her" Ichirohiko explained. "Was he saying you were weak?" Their mother asked and Sakumi nodded shyly.
"I don't see weakness in her" they heard a voice come from the back door, "just shyness and nervousness"
"Father!" Ichirohiko called happily and ran to him, "I want to try and get Jiromaru to like her" he whispered, "you know how he is when he gets to know a person"
His father nodded and looked at the girl nervously fidgeting with her fingers. When she looked up he called her over. She walked over to him and he asked, "want to stay for dinner?"
Her sapphire eyes widened at the question, no one has ever invited her to stay at a house-well besides Nana. Sakumi nodded her head and before Ichirohiko took her away from him he asked, "can you cook?"
She shook her head. "Can you bake?" She nodded her head a bit and waved her hand in a "so-so" motion, "I only know how to make sweets"
"Okay then, how about you make desserts tonight" Sakumi flinched at his suddenness.
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"Why did she have to eat with us?" Jiromaru asked as his mother picked up the dishes, "because she is Ichirohiko's guest" Iouzen said "and I want you to be nice to her" Ichirohiko said.
"Huh!? Why should I be nice to weakling?" He said crossing his arms. "Maybe you'll change your mind after tonight" his brother said smugly.
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"So what are you going to make for desserts?" Their mother asked. She looked at the fox girl who had her hair in a ponytail.
"Ichirohiko said that Jiromaru liked sweets so I improvised with what there was, but I practically smushed this stuff together and topped it with a cherry" she said looking a bit disappointed, "I don't think he'll like it"
Their mother smiled and took out a trey and put the five cups of-what looked like-ice cream and went out the door while she wasn't looking.
When Sakumi realized she left with her mash-up she panicked and walked outside the kitchen. When she got there she saw them take a spoon full of her mixed ice-cream.
"Mmmm! This is good!" Jiromaru said as he started gobbling it down. "This has an amazing sweet taste to it" their mother said, "and it's all fruit too" Iouzen said, "healthy and tasty" Ichirohiko smiled and looked over at the girl, "did you just make this up?" He asked.
Sakumi saw Jiromaru's eyes widened when Ichirohiko asked her. She shyly nodded, hoping that Jiromaru would warm up to her.
Ichirohiko grabbed the other cup and took it to her, "he'll tell you sooner or later, trust me" he whispered, "tell me what?" She asked.
"Kitsune girl!" Sakumi flinched when she suddenly saw Jiromaru in front of her with.....stars in his eyes?
"What's you name again?" He asked. That's right, he never caught your name. "S-Sakumi" she stuttered. "Sakumi, please make this for me again!" He demanded making her eyes widened.
For a minute she was confused but then she figured out why Ichirohiko told her that Jiromaru liked sweets and why Iouzen told her to make desserts. A smile grew on her face and nodded, "sure!" She said happily, "if master Iouzen could teach me to fight"
Now it was the families' turn to widen their eyes, "I want to learn to fight and not get pushed around" she explained "please teach me"
"Of course" Iouzen said "you'll have my sons to protect you from now on though, but I'm guessing you want to learn to defend yourself?" The fox girl nodded, "alright then"