The One Who Speaks Dog( A Norn9 Fanficion)

Chapter 7

I followed Kakeru and Koharu as we walked down to a little town away from the room that we were in. They were telling me a little about life on the ship and the basic things I should know about the team. They even shared some funny stories about what happened on the Norn, which made us all laugh. I listened as carefully as can be and asked questions every once in a while, but didn't interrupt that much. Siku even asked me to pass some questions of her own through to them, which helped her feel a little safer. The more they explained about the ship, the more comfortable I felt about the situation. After they explained everything they thought about, they started to ask questions about different things. I told them more than I shared with the rest of the group. Some of the things I shared, Siku looked up at me like I was giving away too much. We walked a little slower than before we came to the meeting, which to let me sightsee as we walked. It took us a little bit to get down, but they didn't seem to care. Parts of me thought they did it on purpose, seeing how Siku and I were the newest out of all of them. I still felt uncomfortable, seeing how Siku and I were with a bunch of strangers, but I knew that we'd be safer up here than back home.

When we got into town, we stopped for a brief moment as the two of them turned to me. "Alright, Anna. What do you feel like doing?" Kakeru asked as I just shrugged. "I dunno. I'm following the two of you, so whatever you wanna do," I said, confused about what they were talking about. Koharu turned more towards me. "You took a tour with Heishi earlier, right? Did you see everything on the ship?" she asked as I nodded. "Yeah. He showed me around already. But if you'd wanted to walk around, I wouldn't mind," I said, as Kakeru sighed. "Alright. We should probably go home. Then if you wanted to walk around again, we could. If that's alright," he said, as I smiled. "That's fine with me. I'm not picky," I said, as we started to walk again. I took another deep breath, to take in the fresh air. "The ship was pretty though. A lot different than what I'm used to," I said, as Koharu turned to look at me. "Did you get a lot of animals around your house?" she asked as I nodded. "I did. It was a great place for hunters. My dad would just dress up and go out in the woods for a few hours. He usually came back before lunch with something. Siku usually went with him and they came back together. Except for their last hunt," I explained. I took a deep breath as the two of them turned around to study me. Siku nudged my hand as I started to pet her cheek.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Kakeru asked as I shrugged. "I dunno. There's nothing much to talk about. No one really knows what happened to him. He just disappeared," I explained, as the two of them studied me. "Do you know where he would've gone?"  he asked as I looked up ahead and we continued to walk. "No one knows. We searched everywhere and even had Siku sniff him out. But all we found was his hunting knife. We didn't even find his gun at all," I said, as I looked up ahead of us.  I took a pause, letting the air fill up with silence.  Talking about it made me think of my mom and how much I just wanted to go back home.  I rubbed Siku's ear as we walked. "Did you contact a game warden or the police at all?" Kakeru asked as I nodded. "We had everyone we could think of help but found nothing. No footprint, no bloodstains or anything like that. We didn't even find his gun. All that we found was his knife, which," I said as I looked at the ground. I jolted up as I felt my sides, feeling the knife in its holster to my right. "Which is with me as we speak," I said, as Kakeru turned around.  "So the knife is the only thing that'll help you find him," he said, more to put the pieces together. I nodded. "Yeah," I said, in a calm tone. "Mom thought that Siku could use it to sniff out my dad, but still found nothing."

The air went silent for a few moments, as we stopped. I looked up seeing Kakeru looking at me and Koharu studying him in confusion. "I'm sorry to hear about that Anna," he said as I took a deep breath. "It's fine. We got used to it after a while. We thought an animal attacked him or something. He was a little mad after his visit the night before," I said, as I looked up like I was seeing something weird. Siku sat in front of me. "Or if that other guy took him," she thought. I shook my head. "No, dad refused to go. Which is what mom told me,"  I thought back.  Kakeru studied me in confusion. "Something wrong Anna?" he asked as I shook my head. "No, just talking with Siku again." Kakeru and Koharu studied me for a few moments. The two of them not saying anything at first. "Talking about the situation?" he asked, as I nodded. I glanced down at Siku as she sat in front of me. "Should I tell them about what really happened to dad?"  I asked her. She tilted her head to the side for a moment before starting it again. "It's your dad. Maybe they'll know a little about it," she said as I took a deep breath.  I looked up Kakeru and Koharu again. "You ok Anna?" Koharu asked as I nodded. "Yeah. I'll be ok," I said as we continued to walk. "The building's not too far from here," Kakeru said as we continued to walk.

I looked down at the ground for a brief moment, then back up again. "I know we've talked a little about Mr. Azuma and how he wants us, but I'm curious. Does he have any way of knowing we have these abilities?" I asked as Kakeru turned to me. "They do. But they don't know which one has which power and how we can control it.  Except, they know about you and Siku," he explained. I nodded. "And you fought him, so he knows I'm up here," I said, as he nodded. "Exactly. But don't worry. The ship has a barrier that's strong. And they don't truly know we took you either. All he would know is that we found you," he explained. I looked up confused. "So, I could've refused coming up here?" I asked as he nodded. "You could've. And we probably wouldn't fight you either. Probably explained the dangers of it," he said, as we started to come up to the little town that we walked through when we first arrived. The buildings were little cabin-like houses, each one looking almost identical to the next. Except they each had different flower designs. A tar pathway cut through the whole town, with a nice border to make it look fancy.  Flowers were planted everywhere, adding different colors to each of the yards. 

I looked around the town as we continued to walk.  We walked up to a little white house, with a hanging basket of blue flowers under the window. Kakeru took a deep breath. "Here we are," he said, as I looked up at the house. It wasn't anything that I was imagining their house to be. Just a normal house in a normal neighborhood. Siku sniffed the air towards the house as she started to walk around. I watched as she walked up to the doorway and sniffed the front porch. I took a deep breath as I turned to Kakeru and Koharu. "I'm sorry about Siku. She's very on guard right now," I apologized with. Kakeru shook his head. "No, it's fine," he said as he turned to watch Siku again. "It's good to play it safe. You both don't really know us. But it's going to be ok," he said, as the three of us watched Siku walked around. She finished sniffing the door, as she walked back up to me. "We're clear. It smells safe to me," she thought as I nodded. "Thank you Siku," I thought as I looked back up. Kakeru cracked a smile. "You both all set?" he asked as I nodded. "Yeah. She said it was safe," I said, as he chuckled. "She's a smart dog. Your dad trained her well, " he said, as we all headed towards the building.

Kakeru opened the door as he walked into the building. "Come on in," he said, as Koharu followed in behind him. I went in last as I closed the door behind Siku. I looked around finding a small living room, which opened up to a kitchen. The rooms were small but together they made a pretty good-sized room. I walked into the room as Siku started to sniff around the building. The walls were white with tan carpeting, except for the kitchen which had tile flooring the same color. There was a small radio where a tv would've been, with a white couch on the opposite side of the room. The kitchen had the usual counter set up, with a fridge at one end and a stove at the other. A small, round table sat at the center of the room with a vase, which contained blue and white flowers. The room was brightened by the sun that peeked through the window. I walked into the kitchen more as I looked down, seeing a little hallway that led out of the kitchen. 

Kakeru took a deep breath. "It's not much. But it's home," he said, as Koharu nodded. "A temporary home," she finished for him. I looked around some more until I turned back to the two of them. "It's because the world's dangerous for us right now, isn't it?" I asked as Kakeru nodded. "Yeah. Once it's safer to live back out into the world, we'll all leave the ship and continue our normal lives." I looked at them again. "So, I'll be able to go back home?" I asked as Siku perked her ears up. Kakeru nodded. "Yeah, we all will. But no one knows when that'll be. That's why we're all up here. We're working together to get to that point," he explained. I nodded as looked around the room more. I was silent at first but turned back to the two of them. "Can I ask something?" I asked as Kakeru nodded. "Anything," he said as I took a deep breath. "Say we can come and go on the ship. Would we be able to bring someone up here? You know, that doesn't have an ability?" I asked as Koharu nodded. "We can, but it'll make it more dangerous. You're asking about your mom?" she asked as I nodded. "Yeah. She has no one, now that I'm up here."  Kakeru cracked a smile. "When we find your mom, she'll be able to stay up here. I bet the rest of the team will agree to that when the time comes," he said. 

I cracked a smile. "Thanks. But until then, I'll help as much as I can," I said, as Siku sat by me. "I will too. Even though only you can understand me," she thought as I chuckled. "I'll communicate to the others for you," I thought as I scratched her ears. I looked up at them both. "Siku will too," I said, shortly after. Kakeru smiled. "We'll appreciate the help. Both from you and Siku. We're in this together," he said as if to pump us up.  Koharu chucked. "But, for now. Let us show you the rest of the house," she said, as I smiled. "I'm following you," I said, as we continued taking a tour of the building.