Reader X Naga: A Naga's Kiss

Chapter 3 Market

  (A/N So sorry for taking such a long time to update. My stories can often slip from my mind. How I write now will hopefully be a higher quality than it was before. A few things will be changed in the book, but the story itself will remain the same. The chapters will also be longer.)  

The sound of chirps, whistlers, scampering, and leaves being pushed along the grassy floor flew through both me and the strange kid standing in front of me. The sun was slowly rising to heat the ground. The leaves were like hands, spread at each point. All the noises around us were quiet, I could hear the bush's leaves scrape against the person's skin. The longer I stared at them the stranger they looked. The sides of their cheeks, though mainly covered, seemed to shine in the sunlight. I would have walked closer, but the moment seemed so fragile that it could break like a twig under the paws of a mouse.

We both stood staring at each other for what seemed like hours. It would have looked stupid if anyone were to walk by. A small girl with her friends sleeping not far away, and a strange boy hiding behind a bush. No clue that he was determined to get both the girls out of their comfortable escape in the woods where they would spend hours at a time.

 Despite keeping my grounds the boy seemed just as stubborn. My confidence was wavering, but there was no way I could really show it. I had never seen him before. So either he was from a different town or village and had just simply gone a bit far, or he was a wild person living in the woods. Both ideas were a bit frightening as a village could mean trouble if they are as aggressive as this kid, and if he's wild who's to say what he could do.

I'm not going to say that time slowed, but we certainly had stood there staring at each other for so long that the sap of an oak must have made it's full cycle through the tree before he spoke again. "Are you not listening? I said leave... Now!" Through his hesitance, he was really trying to scare us off, no matter how horrible he was at it.

"It's not your forest is it?"

"W-well... Just leave and you'll be fine."

"Why?" I finally asked back not just going to move without reason, and tired of doing our back and forth banter.

"It's dangerous!"

"And how exactly is that so?" I could tell I had gotten him as his mouth had opened and closed many times before actually speaking again.

"Haven't you heard? theirs's a monster in this forest." He finally said so matter-of-factly that I almost believed him. He continued on explaining the monster. "It has a tail with scales shiny as gems, but sharp enough to cut through limbs with the weakest of effort. It has long sharp fangs that would have been snow white... that is if not for the blood that strained them." He paused emphasizing the fangs as my confidence slowly began to waver. "Its eyes are emerald and could cut with just a glare. " Pausing once more he frown and pointed to my sleeping friend. "That's why you need to take your friend, and leave. Away from here, and doing some other girly thing."

I had a sour look on my face standing strong in the dirt circle that has cleared its way from the bushes, and greenery. The dirt was still dusted along my hands from pushing myself up, and I almost ran over the punch the boy my fuss near an end. Still, I had to keep my head in the situation so I simply turned my back facing him and plopped back down, kicking up dirt as my body hit the ground. It hurt much more than I had actually intended. I hadn't thought about how hard the ground actually was, and I was surprised I hadn't woken my friend up if she wasn't just pretending. Though I was now sore I didn't dare show it as I stayed there.

With a soft grunt and a few rustles, the boy must have left. Still, I waited until the wind stopped whistling through the leaves and the sound of a squirrel's feet patter against wood as it ran up the tree. I wondered if he was being serious or was just trying to scare me. He was weird still and I didn't like how he kept hiding. I almost had a heart attack when I felt Alida tap my shoulder.