Go read the Author's Note Story, Plz.
The next day, I gave the bartender the money I owed for the room, plus a tip, and left in the afternoon, even though he tried to convince me otherwise.
"You should wait a day before you go. It's supposed to be cold and stormy all day." he warned
I shrugged, "Hey, I'm an arctic fox, and I like the rain. I'll be fine."
The bartender shook his head, "You're one crazy kid, ya' know that?"
I smiled, "Yeah, I know."
So, not too long after leaving, the rain began to fall. It was only a soft drizzle, and, in my opinion, felt nice. It was like feeling the see spray when you travel on boat, except your eyes don't sting from the salt.
As I walked, I absent-mindedly twirled my staff in my right paw, humming quietly to no tune in particular. Becuase of the rain, though, I accidentally dropped the staff, and as I bent down to pick it up, I saw something move out of the corner of my eye.
Being sloghtly paranoid of getting jumped, I quickly grabbed my staff and stood straight up, preparing for a fight, but instead, I saw the she-wolf from the hotel again, "Okay, now you really are stalking me." I said semi-jokingly.
I could tell that annoyed her since her ears twitched slightly, but she brushed it off, "No, I'm not stalking you..." she said angrily.
"Then what are you doing?" I asked, curiouse as to why she would follow me through the rain.
"Well, since you helped me out back there yesterday, then, I want to repay your kindness." she replied curtly.
"You already did, remember when you told me which way to go?"
"Well...you would have been fine either way." she said with a waver of her paw, "It just led to another village."
I shrugged, "Well, you don't need to pay me back. I gave you the gems, not loaned them."
She crossed her arms, "Doesn't matter."
I tilted my head to the side, staring at the wolf with curiosity, "Stubborn one, aren't you?" I said under my breath.
"What?" she asked.
"Alright then."
She gave me a dumbfounded stare, her jaw dropping, "R-really?"
"Yeah. I know I wouldn't be able to convince you otherwise, so, why not? Besides, it's been getting kinda lonely traveling alone."
She smiled, uncrossing her arms, "I know how you feel." she said as she began walking over to me, "My name is Dana, by the way."
"Name's Zarius, Zarius the Frost Kistune."
She looked at me, confused, "Frost Kistune?"
"Arctic fox." I clarified, "Used to live in Dante's Freezer."
"Oh. Okay then."
We then continued to walk, until a flash of lightning and a boom of thunder made us look up at the sky as the rain began to increase in intensity, the winds picking-up as well.
I noticed that Dana started to shiver, while I, with a slightly thicker pelt, felt okay, though the rain didn't help.
"Cold?" I asked with a smile. She nodded her head. I knew that she would catch a cold soon, and that even I would too, unless we found a way to warm-up. Unfortunately, out here, there was only one way to do so.
I stepped closer to Dana and placed my arm around her shoulder, pulling her close. Unfortunately, she didn't hesitate to push me away, yelling in anger.
"Wh-what th-th-th-the hell!?" she shouted, stuttering from the cold.
After nearly slipping in some mud, I crossed my arms and began explaining why I hugged her, "Well, at this rate, if we don't warm-up, were going to get sick, so, if we cud-erm...huddle together, our combined body heat should keep is okay until we find a cave or something."
She gave me a skeptical look, "Really? Or are you just a pervert?"
"Trust me, I lived in Dante's Freezer, remember? I know how to deal with the cold."
She thought about it for a few seconds, before rolling her eyes and nodding, "Fine..."
She walked over to my side, her arms crossed and a grumpy look on her face and let me wrap my arm around her shoulder again. We stood there for a moments, feeling too awkard to do anything, until i said, "We should probably get going."
She nodded her head, indicating that she agreed, and we started to walk down the path once more. The whole time both of us felt too awkward to look at eachother, but her warm fur felt much better than when I was alone.
"I'm glad I have someone to travel with." I suddenly said, still without turning, "I have a feeling that things will be much more...interesting...to say the least." I added as I turned and looked at Dana, smiling brightly.
She also looked back at me, frowning at first, but then smiled slightly. We stayed like that for a few seconds as we continued to walk through the rain, staring into eachother's eyes, which I found-out were the same color as mine, but, suddenly feeling even more awkward than before, I looked away, feeling the blood rush to my face and ears.
After walking for about an hour, we found a small cave to escape the rain in, and decided to stay there until the storm slowed. After entering, I shook my eintire body, from head to tail, to toe, so I could remove the water from my fur. Unfortunately, this caused it to puff out, making me look like some sort of giant snow-fox made of fuzz.
When Dana got a look of me, she imediately burst out into laughter, falling onto her back and holding her side. I couldn't help but laugh at her as well, and eventually, we were both having all-out laughing fits. Finally, after minutes of laughter, we stopped and calmed-down.
Since it was obviouse that the rain wouldn't stop anytime soon, we both decided to sleep. As I closed my eyes, I heard Dana whisper from the other side of the cave.
"I'm glad I came too..."