Kaze swore under his breath, shifting his weight nervously as he stared at the woman staring at him. He'd been so focused on reaching Syri that he'd forgotten to be sure that he looked human, thus the break that had caused the current staring match. Belatedly he wondered if he could switch to wolf form and pretend like nothing had happened, but he knew Nadia was no fool. She'd already seen both his forms and, judging by the look on her face, had connected the dots that revealed the word--
"Wolf." Nadia breathed, her wide eyes suddenly narrowing while she placed herself between the creature she saw as a threat and the wounded Syri. The woman was currently half-slumped against her friend's back, her bloodied hair shadowing her bruised face.
Desperate to make sure the blind woman was okay, Kaze held up his hands and stammered, "L-look Nadia--"
She backed up when he took a step, taking Syri with her. "How do you know my name, wolf?"
His answer was effectively silenced when he heard the injured woman whisper, "...Kaze?" His white-blue eyes snapped to her face, watching raptly as he tried to discern how badly hurt she was without being able to touch her.
"Syri?" Nadia twisted to look back at her friend, her eyebrows furrowing. "You know this guy?"
".......what? Ugh, Kaze is my..... oh my head hurts!" She raised a clumsy hand to her temple, pressing hard as her face screwed into an expression of deep pain.
"We've got to get you to your house, honey. I think you've got a concussion."
"I'll carry her."
"Back off!"
"Look, you know you're not strong enough to carry her all the way to her house. By the time we get there she'll be even worse and you'll be too tired to do anything to help!" Kaze fought the urge to just knock Nadia to the ground and take care of Syri himself, though if she didn't let him help he'd do so by force or otherwise.
After an agonizing eternity of seconds, Nadia relented. With a weary nod and a sharp glance, she motioned him forward. He jumped into action with alacrity. Quickly moving in front of the two, he crouched down so that the woman could ease Syri onto his back. She was barely conscious and her head lolled weakly against his shoulder.
"Nadia, can you wrap her arms around my neck? That'll make it a bit easier. Thanks."
Pivoting on his heel, the lupine illusionist broke into a smooth ground-eating lope, leaving Nadia behind within seconds. The woman cursed, loudly, and then took off after him.
It wasn't surprising (to her at least) that by the time she reached the house he'd already set Syri onto the bed and was rummaging in the cupboards looking for bandages and whatnot. She quickly taken up a stance at the bedside, running the wolf outside with the excuse of she had to strip Syri to get to all her wounds. It was only after reassuring him several times that she'd call for him when their blind friend was decent again and threatening him with a large frying pan that he relented, swiftly zipping outside to wait by the door.
"Oh Syri, you do have a knack for finding trouble, don't you baby?" Nadia sighed, smearing ointment onto the scrapes on her friend's face. When Kantama jumped onto the bed, she spared him a pat on the head before turning her attention back to treating the numerous injuries the cat's owner had incurred. The feline, meowing piteously, curled up on the blind woman's chest. His tail swishing anxiously he occasionally leaned far enough forward to brush his head against Syri's chin as if reassuring himself that she was really there.
Several tense minutes later, Nadia was finally done. After changing her friend into a nightgown and tucking her under the covers, the woman sighed and brushed back her bangs. "Things to do today: Laundry, house cleaning, finding out how my best friend met a wolf. Not too hard." She turned to the window, calling, "It's okay to come in now!"
The words had barely left her mouth when the wolf came bounding in, skidding to a stop just beside the bed. Switching to his human form he leaned anxiously over the woman sleeping there, his eyes scanning her form. Apparently semi-satisfied with what he saw, he gave Kantama a rough pat on the head and dropped to a crouch, sitting back on his heels as he regarded Syri. He was so intent on her that he very nearly forgot that Nadia was there.
A hand whapped him none-too-gently upside the head, followed by, "Hey, wolf."
Never ignore Nadia. It's not good for you.
He turned to the woman, looking distinctly irritated. "My name is Kaze."
Nonplussed by his scary expression and ever-so-freaky eyes, Nadia leaned back against the wall. Crossing her arms over her chest, she commented, "It's not every day that you see a wolf walking beside a human, much less guiding one. So far as I know, most of your kind looks down on our's. What are you doing here?"
"Hey, don't lump me in with all the rest. Everyone's different. " Not wanting to tell her just why he was worrying so much over a human woman, and a blind one at that, he quickly asked, "How could you tell I was a wolf?" He shifted so he was half-facing Nadia, one knee bracing against the ground.
Not falling for his little diversion in the least, the interrogator snorted. "My grandmother told me legends about your kind. When she died I inherited a whole stack of pictures just of wolves that have been passed down in my family. I can tell a wolf from a dog, but you better be glad others can't do it half as easy as I do. If they could you'd be dead by now."
His eyes flashed, "Everyone thinks we're extinct, remember? It's only a few wackos who still hunt us."
"Wackos who know what to look for, idiot. If they figure out what you are, it'll be Syri, not you, who'll be in the most danger." Baring her teeth in a terrifyingly wolf-like manner Nadia snarled, "If she gets hurt because of you, you'll wish that it was only hunters that had gotten you."
He blinked. "You're scary when you're mad." Kaze glanced back at Syri, his eyes softening for a moment before reverting to their normal sharp cool. "What all is wrong with her?"
"I think she has a concussion. The rest is mainly superficial and will heal quickly enough."
"Are you going to stay the night here?"
"I can't, but I will come just before first light to check on her." Her eyes hardened. "I'm trusting you to take care of her against my better judgment, wolf, so if I come back only to find that she's lapsed into a coma, you will regret it for the rest of your drastically shortened life."
He held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Alright alright, I get it. She'll be fine, and if she's not then I will let you gut me. Sound fair?"
"Not nearly gruesome enough to suit me. But, I guess I have no choice. Dangit...." Nadia muttered something under her breath before wheeling to face the door, setting a hand on the knob and saying over her shoulder, "I love that girl, and I will die for her." She turned her head to look back at him, flinty eyes catching his. "I will also kill for her."
And with that, she left.
Kaze let out a long, whooshing breath of relief once he heard her footsteps fade. Falling back on his rump, he contemplated the door in silence for a minute or two before observing, "You have weird taste in friends, Syri. You really do."