By the time the pair arrived at the entrance of the Millennium Forest, the sun had already started to set.
Ulrika sighed, "Darn, that took longer than I thought, come on let's get this over and done with." Raze nodded, "I'll lead, just follow me." Ulrika rolled her eyes, but said no more.
Raze began to walk off the path into the shade of trees, "Where are you going?" Ulrika watched him oddly. "Like you said, let's get this over and done with. I really don't want to fight all those monsters, especially at this time with only the two of us." Raze answered without bothering to turn around. Ulrika hesitated. Raze stopped and turned to give her an irritated look, "Are you coming or not?"
Ulrika scowled, "'Course I am!" Raze shrugged and stepped into the shadow of the trees with Ulrika right behind him.
Raze watched the path occupied with monsters while manoeuvring swiftly through the thick undergrowth, he did check on Ulrika once in awhile to make sure that she was still behind him. Ulrika certainly didn't want to seem like such a burden, so she would glare at him when he did his usual shoulder check to see if she was still there in one piece. "I'm fine Jerktown, don't worry about me."
He still turned to check on her albeit more discreetly.
It wasn't long before they were near the first ladder. Raze put up his hand and stopped her as he checked carefully around the area before taking her hand and running towards the ladder.
"Alright, hurry up and climb the ladder." Ulrika looked at him like he was mental, "Excuse me?" Raze had started to look agitated "Climb up the ladder, hurry before the monsters see us."
Ulrika's face reddened, "N-no way! You go first!"
"Why the hell would I go first? What if something jumps out and attacks you?"
"I can defend myself just fine thank you very much."
Raze just rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Why does it matter anyways?" he grumbled and began to climb the ladder, "Annoying girl."
"I'm wearing a skirt you pervert." She screeched up at him angrily. He scowled and climbed up faster, "Like I'd ever peek at someone like you."
"You Bastard!" She immediately covered her mouth and turned her head, a few monsters had heard her screaming and started to head towards the ladder, "Crap!" she immediately started climbing up the ladder. When she had reached the top Raze grabbed her hand and started pulling her towards the next ladder, "Good job there, now the monsters know we're here. Why can't you practice your lung exercises where it's not infested by monsters?" Ulrika glared at him, cheeks reddening, "It was an accident!"
"Finally!" Ulrika collapsed in front of a patch of Sutakusu Weeds. Raze threw a bag at her, "Hurry up and grab some, I'll keep watch." Ulrika nodded and started to gather as much as she could while picking out the unusable ones. As she worked, Raze kept his back turned towards her and watched for any monsters.
"Hey, Raze?"
"What?"
"You said you want to talk to me about something...can't you tell me now?" Ulrika asked while not looking up from her work.
Raze hesitated, but did not turn, "It's...something I feel more comfortable talking about in a safer location." Ulrika looked up from her work with a raised eyebrow, but decided not to say anymore. Raze let out his breath that he didn't realize he was holding. It wasn't that it was an inappropriate thing to ask at the moment or anything, he just wasn't sure what her reaction would have been if he had asked now.
"Alright! I'm done, let's get out of here." Ulrika quickly tied the bag shut and handed it to Raze, who placed it carefully in his jacket pocket. Ulrika dug around her small side bag and pulled out her Wings of Icarus. Holding it tightly in one hand, she offered her free one to Raze. Raze looked at her hand oddly and then looked up at her face with a confused look. Ulrika rolled her eyes, "Give me your hand. Since we only have one Wings of Icarus, we'll have to hold hands until we get back to the store." Raze nodded and took her hand in his, "Figures you would know something like that. Do you always rely on Chloe to take you back like this to." He smirked at her, Ulrika pinched his hand. "Shut up Jerktown!" There was a rustle of wind and the next thing they knew, they were standing in front of the store, 'Uryu's General Store' painted in fading red paint hung proudly on top of the store.
Ulrika smiled, "Uryu! Pepperoni! We're back!" she yelled loudly, and the two entered the store.
A/N: Future chapters will probably be as short as this. Unfortunately, I don't have as much time to work on fics as I used to. Thanks for the comments and to the people who read this.