Title: Stranger
A/N: Done for the prompt: danger of walking to strangers. Another spin-off of Little Red Riding Hood.
Stranger
A gentle breeze picks up and causes the leaves of trees to rustle, giving Tezuka a fleeting impression that the trees are reaching out to him with gnarled, clawlike branches. Holding a torchlight, he tugs at the straps of his knapsack and walks a bit faster than he would have liked. He then slips his hands inside the pockets of his red windbreaker. Red is an unusual color for him, but he has to wear it because his mom picked it out for him saying, "You should start wearing things that aren't purple, Kunimitsu." When she forced him to put it on earlier this evening, he did not have the heart to say that he might start attracting bulls and boars in the forest.
In the left pocket of his jacket, he feels the smooth, cold metal, the Swiss Army knife his grandpa gave him on his birthday. It makes him feel a little bit more secure and he starts slowing pace again, making sure not to stray from the path of trodden-down leaves and grass that leads to his grandpa's garden.
His ear picks up the sound of crackling leaves and snapping twigs and his hand immediately grips the knife, ready to use it when the need arises. At thirteen, he knows how to defend himself from harm, wild animals and ruthless criminals alike. His grandpa taught him how to and taught him well.
From the bushes and into his trail, a person appears. Tezuka frowns as the person stares at him, apparently surprised to meet a person in the forest just as the night falls. A boy? A girl? Tezuka wonders. The person has shoulder length hair, a delicate face, smiling lips, half-hidden eyes and glowing skin under the rising moon. But the person doesn't seem to have a girl's build; he is so thin he seems too small for his light blue shirt and faded denim pants.
"Why are you walking in forest at night?"
Ah, a boy then, Tezuka thinks, judging from the strangely-pitched voice. He remembers that his voice sounded the same when it started cracking a little over a year ago. "I'm going to visit my grandpa. He lives near here." He narrows his eyes. "Why are you walking in the forest at night?"
The boy fiddles with the hem of his shirt, wringing and unwringing it with his fingers. When he finally looks up, he smiles and says, "I live near here too. Can I walk with you?"
Tezuka presses his lips. He knows very well not to mingle with strangers. But this one looks so fragile so Tezuka can't possibly harbor any suspicion. Besides, the boy is much smaller than him in build and in height so if the boy were meant to pass as an innocent-looking pickpocket, he thinks he can very well defend himself.
They walk down the path in silence for a while. Tezuka keeps glancing at the other boy with intent curiosity. Every time he does, the boy grins at him and he looks away instantly, embarrassed at being caught. "Are you going home tonight? After you visit your grandpa?"
"No," Tezuka replies truthfully.
"Ahh..." says the boy, nodding his head in thought. "That's good." He sees Tezuka's questioning frown and he shrugs. "The forest isn't safe at night. You might stumble across wild boars and wolves and tigers -"
"We don't have tigers here in Japan."
"What if one escaped from the zoo?" Asks the boy nonchalantly. "And trolls and elves and werewolves and vampires -"
"I'm sure we don't have those in Japan," Tezuka stresses.
The boy tilts his head as he continues walking. "I always thought we do."
Tezuka bites his lips, trying to stop himself from saying "Weird."
They reach his grandpa's hut in a few minutes. It's a wooden cabin sitting in the middle of pots of bonsai and orchids and medicinal plants. He invites the boy over, saying he brought tea leaves and pie and cake with him in his knapsack and he can share some, but the boy declines and says he better get going. Tezuka offers him his torchlight but the boy declines again, saying that he can use the moonlight as a guide. "If you say so," Tezuka says before walking down to his grandpa's door.
His grandpa opens the door for him when he knocks. He appears younger than he really is and is actually strong for his real age. Whenever Tezuka comes over, he teaches his grandson things about plants and bonsai-making and sometimes even judo in the mornings.
"What took you so long?" Grandpa asks tersely as he unpacks a box of pie at the table.
"I met a boy. He says he lives around here."
Grandpa's brows furrow together in a way that Tezuka's mom says her son has adopted. "There is no other hut in this forest."
Tezuka accepts his pie. And then he stops. He begins to wonder. Where does that boy live then?
Suddenly, a long, sad howl pierces through the silent night.
End.