Evoke

Chapter Nine

Kuro's POV~

        What do I do?

        I looked down to Ash's face and frowned at how it had changed within the last few hours. His eyes and cheeks were puffy from his initial crying from when he was awake and asleep, and his bottom lip was bruised from him trying to stop his sobs from being heard. Only the steady sound of fat raindrops falling from the sky soothed me as I pushed back a few soft strands of hair from his face as my anger began to swell inside of me. 

        That meadow was burned on purpose.

        There had been no signs of natural wildfire nor had there been any harsh electrical storms for anything that severe to happen. The pattern of the ashes seemed too well placed, as if only that specific area was to be touched and not an inch more. Whoever did this did it just for Ash and intended for him to see it. That much was apparent, but I couldn't do anything about it right now. For now, all I needed to focus on was making sure that Ash was ok. 

        A small but clear sniffle rang in my ears and my eyes met a pair of honey gold ones. I couldn't help but be happy about the flash of warmth that lay there, but that went away once a deep sadness clouded his once bright eyes into darkness. Tears began forming in them, and I pulled him to my chest while stroking his hair to calm him.

        "Easy...easy there little one. Don't cry." I murmured.

        He quieted after a moment and looked up at my face. 

        "Tell me, why your heart howls with pain. Sadness flows off you, and I don't even know what struck at your heartstrings when we got to the meadow. Tell me."  

        Ash bite his lip and began to play with the hem of my shirt. His hair was splayed out behind him in a mass of wild tresses and I couldn't resist the urge to run my hands through it while he paced himself to answer my question. When he looked up to me, he spoke very softly.

        "My ancestors, my tribe, my grandmother, we all care for the earth the way we as humans used to. We have never forgotten where we come from and with that, I am very close to this forest. So much life all around us, and most of my generation can only think about the technology that they are given. I had my own little world of peace with the plants and animals in that meadow, we were a family, and now it's all... gone..."

        He silently leaned closer to me, effectively hiding his face as I weighed his words in my head. His people knew the land better than anyone else here, so when something respected is destroyed it must feel awful to them. The shivering of his body lit a fire under the best within me, aching to protect him from the world. I stiffened momentarily at the intense feeling. 

        When had my feelings gotten so strong? 

        My arms tightened around his seemingly tiny waist as I spoke to him. 

        "Ash, I know what it's like to feel like you've lost something very important to you. It burns at your heart, and you feel like you're falling into an abyss with no air and you just can't climb out. You think that there's no other pain, but you have to be strong and realize that it isn't worth it to keep feeling this way. There are people who care for you, who need for you to be ok Ash."

      Those beautiful, beautiful, hazel eyes looked up at me with clarity and sparkling tears reflecting from his irises. Without a word, I cupped his cheek with my right hand and gently captured his lips in my own. The soft press of his impossibly supple lips, and the slight tremble along his spine only drove me on to run my tongue along the seam of his lips.