Frost and Darkness

Chapter ten; Emotions

When I reach the top Jack is busy making a - what he calls - Snow Day. A small blizzard. He dances around my bungalow, dragging his staff over the ground. Everything his staff touches become covered in ice flowers. I loosen my satchel and hang it over one shoulder as I approach the boy. "What are you doing?" He looks silly doing all this. "Decorating!" I raise my brows. "Decorating..." I repeat. I walk to the front porch and touch an ice flower. "Looks more like freezing the place." Before I walk inside I take two pieces of iced meat from the barrel on the porch. "How do you want your rabbit leg?" Jack stops. "Does it have to be rabbit?" I look over at him. "You don't like rabbit?" The boy scratches the back of his head. "Bunny. Is a rabbit." Right. His fellow myth-spirit. "Is Duck okay?" I ask as I check the barrel. "You know all that by just looking in a barrel of meat?" I rummage low in the stash and the thing muffles my voice. "Who do you think hunted it?" Jack laughs. "Touché."

After dinner we talk about a lot of things. He doesn't ask about my short answers and negative mood. Eventually Jack looks around, searching "Where's Okami?" He asks. Suddenly I feel my throat block. I look away and get up to do the dishes. I take them to a pail that I fill with water that I heated on the stove. "Jayden?" I hear the boy getting up. He places a hand on my shoulder. "What's wrong?" My throat clears slightly and I whisper "She's gone." Jack looks at me with a puzzled look. "Where to?" I turn and put my hands in the water. Curses, it's hot. "Melandru took her." I say and I see Jack's eyes tear up a little. He didn't know long, but he loved he, too. I drop a plate and it breaks on the wooden floor. I curse and stoop to pick it back up. My finger cuts open on a shard. I curse again, this time more frustrated. Jack kneels next to me and takes the shards out of my hands. He puts them in the stash behind me and embraces me. I feel my body shake and I start to cry. Jack pulls me closer and I hide my face in his sweater. "It's okay..." Jack sways me gently. "She was old." He tries to comfort me. I can't speak, so I just clench his sleeve. "I'm sorry... I know how much you loved her." I try to ease myself and breathe in deeply a few times. Still, I clinch to him and he sways me. We sit like that for a while. "Are you calm again?" Jack asks and glances at my face. I nod and scrape my throat, letting go of his arm. "Yeah." I say hoarse. I get back up and restart with the dishes. As if on cue Jack takes a rag from the counter and starts drying. "You don't have to do that.'' I murmur. "I want to." Jack replies. I finish the dishes and put away the items. I drop myself onto the bed. "Tired?" I grunt. "I've been living in a blur today..." Jack nods and sits down next to me. "Yeah, I figured." We talk back and forth about how Okami was until it gets dark.

Jack stays over for the night. He can sleep in my bed and I've put a blanket on the ground and sleep on that. It's warm enough not to use a cover anyway. "Are you sure about this?" Jack asks while he leans on one arm as he lays on the bed. "Yeah." I reply shortly. "You're the guest." I lay on my left side, my back toward the boy. Can't help it. I'm left orientated. I hear Jack laying down and his breathing calms. Not much later he is asleep. I turn to my right and look at him. He looks so peaceful. He's beautiful. What am I thinking? I shake off the thought and lay down to sleep.

I wake to an uneasy dream and look around, checking reality. It's still dark out. I look at the bed and Jack is still asleep. So I didn't scream. Jack turns to his right and sleeps calmly. I sit up and look at him for a while. I get up and drink some water. It is getting chilly so I take another blanket from the trunk in the corner of the room. Jack startles at the noise, but he sleeps through. I lay down again and take another glance at Jack. He really is beautiful... "Oyasumi..." I whisper and close my eyes.

When I wake my bed is empty. I scan the room and notice a figure in the kitchen area. I grunt and the figure turns. "Morning!" A cheery voice chimes through the small cabin. Jack. "How would you like your coffee?" The boy continues. I rub my eyes and lean on my under arm. "Black." I yawn. "Like my soul." Jack chuckles. "Alright." The boy takes two cups from the cabinet. He hands me one and pours milk and sugar in the other. "Had a good sleep?" He asks. I nod and lean my back against the bed's boarding. "Yeah, fine." Jack chuckles. "Were you cold or something?" I frown. It takes me a while before I realize I took another blanket. "Yeah." Jack drinks his coffee slowly and looks around the room. "You sure have a lot of hunting gear." I follow the boy's gaze. My house doesn't hold any decorations except for the carvings in the beams. To compensate I have one wall which holds my weaponry. Two hooks hold my bow and quiver. The table below it holds my crafting supplies and a rack with arrows. My knives and daggers are on a shelf right next to the bow. My hunters tenue is hung over a chair. "I have to eat, don't I?" I shrug. "You can just buy things?" Jack laughs. I ruffle my hair into fashion. "I like fresh food." I admit plainly. "Alright." Jack shrugs playfully. "Although I don't see how you've learned all that." I sigh. It's still too early for conversation... "I learned it back then..." It takes Jack a while to realize. "Ah, yes. Early Middle Ages. Right."

We eat some vegetables along with the rest of the bread I've baked yesterday and we sit quietly for a moment. I can't figure out what he's thinking of, but I can't stop thinking about last night. What's this feeling I had? Some sort of tingle... I vaguely recognize it, but I can't remember from what. I notice Jack gazing at me. I look at him and he glances aside, blushing. Blushing? I look at myself and I notice I'm still shirtless. Was that what he was looking at? I look at him. He's also shirtless. I cough awkwardly and get up to get my shirt - functional, black, cotton rag. The modern clothing is either too tight or too loose for me. These fit just right. Jack chuckles and follows my example. His dark blue sweater instantly freezes at the collar and the sleeves when he puts it on. "So, um..." Am I nervous? "I was thinking about going camping for a few days..." I say as I put on my boots. Jack moves around behind me. I think he's making the bed. "Wanna come along?" Other boot. Tie it up. Knife holster. Around my left leg. Jack's still moving. "Sure." He sounds excited. "I can use some fun~" I chuckle. He always sounds singly when he is excited. I put the knife in the holster and turn to the boy. "How do you do that so fast?" He looks at me with wide open eyes. I look at myself. I'm only halfway geared up. "What?" Jack laughs and brushes my bangs out of my face. "Only two minutes ago you were shirtless." Is he flirting? "Well, I've been doing this for quite some time..." I defend myself. "Besides, if we got attacked in the middle of the night you had to be ready before they breached the gates." Jack breaks out in laughter. "You sound like it was just yesterday that you were a soldier!" I put my hands on my hips. "Commander!" I frown. Jack only laughs harder. I give him a push to his head and he topples over – coiled on the floor, clutching his stomach. "Yeah, yeah..." I pull my hood over my shirt and gather some more things to take hunting.