Running. It seemed she was always running. Whether it be away from villagers that were trying to beat her for stealing food, or from bandits who wanted to kill her. But now, this was by far the most terrifying. Wolves, a pack of wolves had just devoured everyone in the small village that had taken her in after her family was killed.
Now that they had finished with the well fed and elderly people, they had decided that they would chase and eat her too.
Her legs weren't long enough to run away from them, but she had to try. Maybe, maybe if she could get to that man under the tree, the one that wasn't human, she would be safe. He may be injured, but she was sure that he would protect her.
Yet again, that could be her wishing for safety as death fast approached her on paws much faster than her own feet.
Parts of her still hurt from the beating she had received after being caught stealing fish from the preserve, and it was slowing her down as she could only drag one of her legs slightly behind her.
She had been close, so close to the place where the youkai was when a branch that was snaked along the road caught her leg and she fell hard on the ground. She spun around only to see the wolves jump for her. She screamed as death came upon her with sharp teeth and claws.
She screamed again as she woke up panting from her place on the forest floor. Wildly she looked about herself, trying to see if there were wolves nearby, ready to pounce, but she only saw a campfire burning brightly, a toad-like youkai, and a two-headed dragon.
Not seeing the one that she most wanted to at that moment, the one who had saved her from the wolves, she began to cry.
A loud, angry squawk came from beside her. "Quiet you silly girl, some of us are trying to sleep!" It was the small green creature.
She tried to stop her tears, but before long she was crying harder than she had been before.
"If you don't be quiet I'll burn you with my staff!" came the next shouted reply.
The next voice she heard made her quiet down somewhat, as she recognised the calm tone. "Jaken," it said, before a pair of shiny black boots came and stopped near her. "Quiet."
Another squawk was heard, before the toad turned around, faced the other way and closed his eyes with a loud "hmmph!"
Shifting of the feet drew her attention back to the boots, before the tall youkai with the long silver hair sat beside her on the ground. He did as he had done while lying against the tree, looked at her without looking at her. His face was turned almost in the total other direction to her, but she could tell that somehow he knew what she was doing or feeling.
Could he sense her feelings, could he smell them? She didn't know anything about youkai.
"You are scared," he said, his head tipping on an angle, and she could see yellow eyes staring at her with his head in that position. She nodded as a reply.
He made a small sound of acknowledgement in his throat, before he turned fully towards her. "Of me?"
She stared into his eyes. Eyes of which were so much like those of the wolves that had attacked her. Golden in colour and intense in whatever they were looking at. She made a small noise in reply, before shaking her head, no.
"Hn. The wolves. They cannot hurt you now. They are long gone."
Long gone? Did this man who was not human eat them? Did he just kill them? Or were they gone by the time he had reached her.
Eyes widened as she remembered waking up after having faced death, with this being beside her holding her to him. It had been the nicest thing anyone had done for her since her family had been killed. Not the bringing her back part, but the holding. It had been the first gesture of kindness, apart from him telling her that she did not have to speak if she didn't want to.
It was something to remember, something to cherish. He had given her back life. But he had given her back even more than that with a simple touch.
Making another sound she wiped at her eyes to make her vision less blurry from tears and managed to smile at him again.
"Don't let the nightmares upset you. No wolf will hurt you again."
Believing him, she nodded slightly, before letting herself lie back down and close her eyes. She would try not to let the nightmares bother her anymore.
Trying to sleep had been awkward for the rest of the night. She knew from the death of her parents and siblings that nightmares were bound to stay with her for a while. Each time she woke up with her heart racing, the silver haired being would be beside her in an instant, making sure she didn't hurt herself or run away into the unsafe forest around them.
Nothing calmed her down more though than after the last nightmare for that night, then when she looked around wildly for him and spotted him sleeping under a tree not far away from where she was.
She had managed not to wake him. Though it was such a small thing to be thankful of, it helped her none the less.
The sun was rising soon after and she managed a bit of sleep without nightmares before then. She was still very tired, but she was used to that.
So, it was with delight that, when they set out again, she was given permission to ride on the two headed mount. If she fell asleep, she would be safe and they would be able to continue moving.
Safe. Yes, that was what she felt whenever he was around. For as long as she was able, she would stay with him.