Steps to survival

Chapter 2 : Lioness

Kohaku stood readjusting the ribbon in her hair while I sat bored on the tree that she was previously trapped under.

"Ugh," Senku groaned, I stopped myself staring at the floor and looked up to Kohaku and analysed as much about her as possible. I mean she could possibly be with the enemy. You know like the one that tried to kill our only hope of returning to the modern world.

"I can't say I can give one millimetre of support for what I just heard," he grunted.

"We've just met, and you're already professing your love? Not how to handle an emergency," You puff out a chuckle at his cluelessness.

"Not what she meant," I said standing up.

"I didn't say anything about falling in love!" At this point, you're silently laughing while leaning on a tree for support. Senku's disgusted face is adorable!

"I'm saying I like you as a person and I think the three of us could work together!" I steadied myself and looked up at the two.

"Oh. Well, thanks I appreciate that," he said plainly uninterested.

"Cause nothing's as illogical or prone to trouble as a romantic entanglement," he glanced his feet and then towards me. My heart fluttered in confusion.

Soon we settled down, I was leaning against the tree with my legs up to my chest in a sleeping bag not feeling at all tired. Senku let his head rest a foot away from my thigh as he curled up in his sleeping sack.

Kohaku lay calmly opposite from us her eyes closed while armed with weapons. I tilted my head at her.

She must not trust us.

I poked Senku's head and nodded my head toward her.

"Hm?" He groaned.

"What are you, a new species of hominid that sleeps with a weapon or something?" He questioned while rolling over to face her.

"Makes it obvious I don't have love on the brain. Look I may be curious about your ways, but I'm not sure how much I can trust you yet. Besides it's a force of habit because I watch out for myself," Senku rolled over again to face me raising his eyebrow.

"So don't take it personally."

"I'm not enough of a hero to attack a lioness like you or her, she's too nice, so quit wasting time and get some rest, you too Koiru," he glared meaningfully at you.

"If it makes you feel any better," I stand up grabbing my bag.

"You can have my bow and arrow," I dropped the bag on her lap and gave her a faint smile. She smiled back in appreciation.

"You're fighting against that long-haired man, aren't you?" I sit back in my spot next to Senku. He had his eyes shut and a tense expression bugged his face.

"I'll help you with that, "Senku opened his eyes his gaze landing on you then the tree.

"I'm not the type to just run away with my tail between my legs," I felt him sit up against the tree beside me, his shoulder brushed against mine. I felt my legs loosen from their compact position.

"Yeah. That's why we're setting out to build a kingdom of science," he nodded towards me, the corner of my mouth quirks up.

"But what I need... is manpower first," he concluded.

"Oh yeah?" Kohaku stood up tall.

"So you're lookin' for allies, are ya?" I grin in her direction. "Well, then why don't you come along with me?"

"So you've got some more lion buddies?" I butt in, Senku chuckles at me.

"There a whole pride of you somewhere? Kukuku," he's always had a weird laugh.

"That's right. I'm sure they would be great allies for the battle. Especially one guy, in particular, I'll lead you to 'em. You just gotta follow me," Senku and I smiled at each other.

Hot air caressed my face. "Hotspring water?" Senku spoke up.

"Yeah. I'm taking it back home for a bath," she lifted the huge pot in her arms. We had woken up quite early to assist Kohaku.

"It's good for the healing process," you nodded along with her explanation. Senku's eyes wrinkled in confusion.

"Why do you need to take a healing bath, when you're obviously like ten billion per cent healthy?" You roll your eyes at his habit of saying ten billion per cent, but by now you're used to it.

"The thought of an overpowered lion girl like you running around is kinda terrifying," he wheezes and gripped onto his knees. Even worse, she started to freak out.

"Then what about me don't I scare you?" I ask. He knows I used to do jujitsu and he's literally supplied me with a bow and arrow. He seemed pleased at your response.

"Oh, I know for a fact that you won't hurt me," he smirked and I looked away my face heating an unnoticeable pink.

"And for your information, it's for my sister!" She broke you out of your trance, you stood up straight to listen.

"Honestly, carrying this big, heavy thing of water, is a lot of trouble to go through. But she's been especially sick for way too long now." You felt a pang of guilt as she carried on about feeling responsible for her.

We followed poor Kohaku through the woods. "Looks to me like that had probably holds a bit less than fifty litres."

"Of course he knows that," I grumble not knowing he heard me.

"Doesn't seem like enough to fill a bathtub. I wonder how long you have to lug that heavy ass thing back and forth," you could tell he was doing the math in his head.

"A few times a day, right?" I ask.

"Heh. I've made it apart of my daily training. Thanks to these trips I'm a lot stronger." She turned to us.

"I know I was complaining earlier, but honestly I'm pretty grateful tha-" she was cut off by a rock that tripped her up. She was about to drop the vase when Senku held it up with one hand, you could tell he was struggling so you jogged over and helped him keep it up.

"In case you've forgotten, you had a tree fall on you yesterday. I don't want you to overexert yourself and die on me, so hand it over." She smirked. I nearly let out a laugh at him.

"You're kidding, right? You've got barely anything to hold onto it with," he sent a playful glare in my direction. I let go of the jug with a placating gesture and he collapsed like a squashed bug.

Kohaku and I burst out laughing, holding onto each other in the process.

"Am I the only one in this stone world whose not practically a gorilla?" He groaned.

"Who the hell are you calling a gorilla? You stick!" I blurted out teasingly. He chuckled at us, still in pain.