Chapter 3

Corrin walked down the somewhat busy sidewalk later on that evening after she had finished a day of clothes shopping. Although in actuality she did not buy that many things other then a few dozen apples and some bread and other groceries. Although currently the young woman was sitting on a park bench while she finished up a small bottle of water. And once the plastic bottle empty she got up from the bench and put the bottle into a nearby recycling bin. Upon doing this she let out a sigh of relief as she thought out loud to herself, "Alright, now that I'm done shopping I'd best head back home."

The young woman proceeded to take a hold of her shopping bags before she got up onto her feet and began to walk out of the park. But while she made her way home the young woman was unaware of a figure that started to walk out from behind a tree before they slowly began to follow behind her.

Gyobu walked down the sidewalk with a small smile on his face as he looked around at the many people who walked from here to there while going about their every day lives. Although as the tanuki continued on his way he saw a sliver haired young woman in a pink sundress walking somewhat quickly down the sidewalk until she accidently ran into him. This of course did nothing to the takuni Transient as he stayed in place. The young woman however, lost her balance for a bit before quickly recovering. The yellow eyes of the beastman then saw the young woman's red ones as she quickly said, "Oh, I'm so sorry for running into you like that."

"It's no problem, young lady. I am just glad you did not fall and lose any of your groceries." He replied, with a understanding expression on his face.

"Yes, that's certainly a good thing. And as much as I'd like to keep talking with you good sir, I'm afraid I'd best get home." The sundress wearing young woman replied, as she then continued on her way.

But while she walked away form him Gyoubu had an odd feeling about something. And when he turned to watch the young woman walk away he saw her being pulled into a nearby alleyway. This prompted the tanuki's eyebrows to narrow before he thought out loud to himself, "Hmm? Now what was all that about? I'd best go see less some kind of trouble befalls that young lady."

Within seconds Corrin let out another gasp of shock when she found herself being pushed up against a nearby brick wall. This caused her to lose her grip on her grocery bags which caused them to fall onto the ground next to her feet. However, taht was the less of her worries as she opened up both of her eyes and saw three men standing in front of her. One of thme looked to be a swordsman with dark purple hair, the second was a blue furred wolf Transient, along with a red mask wearing ninja. And while she was being held in place by the swordsman she saw him look over at the ninja when he asked, "So is this the girl?"

She saw the ninja nod his head before he replied, "Yes, I've seen this young woman with Claude's butler on a regular basis."

"Well, if that's the case then why don't you ask her what you wanted to ask her?" The wolf beastman suggested, to which the swordsman nodded his head in agreement.

"I was just about to do that." He somewhat shot back, before Corrin saw him look back over at her. Once he had done this the swordsman continued, "So tell me girl, you wouldn't hapen to have any info on the Ikebukuro Berserkers or their Guild Master Claude?"

"Huh? I'm sorry to disappoint you. But I'm not a member of that guild. So I'm afraid I don't have an information about them or their Guild Master that I could tell you. And besides even if I was a member I would know better then to say anything to the likes of you!" Corrin snapped back, eyebrows narrowed in anger. She then calmed down a little before she added, "So how about you let me go on my way and we pretend this never happened?"

After suggesting this the princess found herself being backhanded across the face by the free hand of the swordsman when he shouted back, "Don't lie to us, girl! You obviously must know something! I mean why else would you be with his bulter all of the time?"

"That's for a completely different reason! So please just let me go!" Corrin begged, as she hoped this situation would just go away.

"Okay, she obviously doesn't know anything like she says. So what do we do now?" The anthro wolf asked, as the thre continued to stare at her.

"We'd best get rid of her before she tells Claude's butler what happened. Because if that were to happen then that entire guild would most likely come after us." The red ninja suggested, which caused Corrin's blood to grow cold.

But before any of the three Transients could do anything they along with Corrin heard some footsteps heading towards them followed by a man's voice as it said, "Well, what do we have here? You three best do what the young lady asks and leave her be." This prompted her to look and see the anthro tanuki from earlier. She then saw the beastman remove his hat from his back along with his red cloak and green cloth that covered the front of his body. This left most of his top half bare which gave the young woman a good view of his muscled arms and chest which had a tattoo on both arms and at the inner part of his pectorals, or at least this was the case for his right arm since the left arm was blocked from her view by some more cloth. Along with seeing this she also saw a red strand of beads that looked like a necklace of some kind around his neck Her attention was wuickly moved away from his body and up to his face where she saw that he had a long scar that went over his right eye to which she saw that his eyes were yellow in color. However, her full attention was brought away from his person when she saw him lift his mallet over his left shoulder before he narrowed his eyes and added, "So what shall it be? Will you leave her alone? Or will I and my kin have to get involved?"

In response to this Corrin found herself being shoved up against the wall once more as the dark haired swordsman muttered out, "H-Hey, isn't that guy..." "Y-Yeah, I think it is..." The blue wolf added, as he began to back away a bit. "We must retreat for now." The red ninja went on with, before the three ran off down the opposite end of the alleyway.

Seeing this caused a confused look to show on the young woman's face before she heard the tanuki walk towards her. The only reason she knew this was because he was blocking out the light form the other end of the alleyway. She then saw a concerned look on his face as he bent down and offered her a hand and asked, "Are you alright, young lady?"

Seeing this caused a look of relief to appear on Corrin's face as she placed her hand on top of his to which he gently helped her up to her feet while she replied, "Yes, I am thanks to you." She then proceeded to bend down and pick up her grocery bags while she heard the takuni walk from her and put back on his removed clothing. And once this happened she walked up to him and added, "But I have to ask, why did those three run away once they saw you?"

This question caused the beastman to let out a light chuckle before he replied, "Well you see they must likely ran away because I am the advisor for the guild known as the Outlaws."

"Oh, I see. Well thank you regardless um... I'm sorry I just realized we never told each other our names. My name is Corrin and I am from the Kingdom of Hoshido." Corrin told the Transient, with a smile on her face.

"Ah, it is very nice to meet you, Corrin. My name is Gyobu, and I am from a world known as the Land of Wa." Gyobu replied, while he had a warm smile on his face. This did not last though as she saw him gently place a hand onto the side of her face that had been hit as he added, "Although I apologize that I did not intervene sooner. For if I had then you would not have been harmed by scum like them. So please allow me to heal that for you." She then felt a warm feeling go over that part of face for a few seconds before he moved his hand away from her and ended with, "There, now it is like you were never hit there."

"Wow, thank you so much, Gyobu." Corrin said, before an idea popped into her head. She then proceeded to hand him a bag that had one dozen apples in it when she added, "But instead of just saying thank you why don't you take these dozen apples as well."

To her surprise the young woman saw the beastman was taken aback by her gesture as he lightly protested back with, "That's awfully kind of you, Corrin. But didn't you buy these apples for yourself? If so it wouldn't be right for me to take something that you bought."

"Yes that may be true. But I assure you that I have more then enough food thanks to my caretaker at home. So please take them." Corrin reassured him, to which she saw him gently take the bag into his right hand.

She then saw him smile at her while he said, "Well then I suppose I am the one who should be thanking you, Corrin. I assure you that I won't forget this act of kindness."

Hearing thsi prompted Corrin to let out a light giggle before she replied, "You're welcome, Gyoubu. But now if you'll excuse me I best be getting back home before my caretaker gets worried."

"Of course, of course. Safe travels to you on your walk back home." Gyobu told the young woman as the two walked out of the alleyway and then want their separate way