Sun's eyes widened as he patted at his rear again, and then brought his hands and tail around to check all of his pockets with lightning speed. In each possible storage space, the length of his belt included, Sun came up with only disappointment. His wallet was still in place, but his scroll was both suspiciously and worryingly absent. He whirled in place and scanned the area behind himself, desperate for answers, before his mind clicked on the only reasonable conclusion.
Ilia.
Sun's breathing quickened as he ran through the events of their conversation again. His back had been turned as he leaned up and grabbed the shampoo- a perfect opportunity for a pickpocket to take advantage. Her ominous tone and standoffish attitude only added to his suspicion of the girl, and Sun narrowed his eyes as he turned to find the cat faunus behind the stand holding out the wrapped tuna.
"Something wrong, sir?"
"Hey, you don't see a scroll anywhere around the stand, do you?" Sun inquired with a desperate tone.
The tiger faunus quirked a brow as he made a cursory glance around the stand and the grounds around it. "…can't say I do, no."
"Great. This is just not my day," Sun whined as he took the large fish and slung it over his shoulder. "Thanks anyway."
The large cat gave Sun a curt nod as he folded his arms across his chest. "Sure."
With a plastic bag in one hand containing his toiletries and the paper-wrapped tuna cradled in his other arm, Sun set out and made for the previous stand. Whether it was a trick of his panicked imagination or the unfortunate truth, the crowds seemed much thicker as the desperate teen began to slip and sidle his way through the throngs of faunus gathered about in the market square.
"Hey! 'scuse me! Bit of an emergency, here!"
Sun began breathing hard as he made a hurried jog to retrace his steps. He looked over to his right as he saw the area in which he had taken pictures earlier. He paused for a moment and did a quick circle as he kept his eyes trained upon the ground, looking for an errant scroll in the dirt. Sun took a few more steps, and did another visual sweep. It was beginning to seem more and more likely that Ilia had indeed caught him with his guard down.
"Hey! Anybody find a scroll? I think I dropped mine!" Sun called out to no one in particular. All he received in response were strange looks, and a wide berth as the crowds of faunus began to avoid walking close him. "Seriously?" he griped, as he looked desperately around himself. Sun heaved a sigh as he realized just how guarded the clientele on the island likely was, for any number of reasons.
With a shake of his head, Sun returned to his hastened jog until he reached the stand. The crowd that had distracted the vendor seemed to have thinned out, and the merchant himself was in the process of closing up shop. Sun elected not to bother him, and instead took it upon himself to search the area. He circled the stand twice while inspecting every nook and cranny, but once again came up with nothing.
Sun let out a disappointed moan and brought a hand up to his forehead. He wiped away a small sheen of sweat, both from nerves and exhaustion, and closed his eyes. Though there wasn't much that could be done with his scroll, he still didn't like the feeling of losing such a personal belonging. There was only one thing left to do.
Find Ilia.
Sun opened his eyes and grunted softly to himself as he considered his options. It had been only five, ten minutes at most. She couldn't have gotten far, and Sun was a decent thief himself. Though he had resolved to cut out that aspect of his life while in Kuo Kuana, he found his brain slipping back into its old tendencies as he considered how to catch his prey. Sun nodded as he put himself in Ilia's shoes, and thought through the most likely course of action after a successful lift. In a crowd the size of the one in the market, the logical next step would be to run.
"Alright. Let's see if I've still got it," Sun mumbled to himself as he turned to the direction in which Ilia had disappeared. He began to walk and kept his eyes upon the ground as best he could. Countless footprints littered the brown dirt pathways, and seemed to offer no obvious solution. Sun continued onward, and began to press his luck as he spoke to random passerby in hushed tones.
"Ilia? Girl about this tall," he gestured with his hand to a confused looking ram faunus who was trying to make a fruit selection at a nearby stand. "Brown, curled ponytail. Sound familiar?"
The young, horned boy shook his head, looking a little scared as Sun loomed over him.
"People don't usually ask questions like that to strangers. Is she lost?"
Sun nodded, and put on a worried look. "Yeah. She's my girlfriend, and we're new here in town. I'd really appreciate anything you know. She's wearing a black leather getup, with gold buckles."
The faunus' face fell as he picked out an apple and put it into a waiting basket in his other hand. "Oh… I saw some girl running past a little while ago. It might have been her?"
"Running? Maybe she was looking for me, too. Which way?" Sun folded his arms as he looked down at the smaller boy. He was wearing a plain red shirt, jeans, and a stoic expression. Something about the inflection of his voice registered as suspicious, and Sun decided to put some pressure on. "Or do you not remember?"
The boy nodded once, before looking away. Sun smirked and reached his tail into his back pocket, before pulling out a 20 lien note and offering it to the boy with his extra appendage.
"How about now?"
The boy's brown eyes widened as he snatched the note, and Sun let out a little chuckle. Perhaps Kuo Kuana wasn't so different from Vacuo.
"…that way. You heard nothing from me. I really need to get home." The boy pointed halfheartedly to a natural alley formed between the backs of several stands, and shuffled off into the crowd himself. Sun unfolded his arms and began to jog once again, keeping a tight grip on his purchases as he went.
Sun kept his eyes on the ground and began to notice something rather odd. One set of footprints swerved off the path and toward the small space between the backs of stands to which the boy had pointed. The footprints began to get farther apart as they deviated from the crowd, and Sun narrowed his eyes. Whoever had been through there had been running.
Sun broke into a sprint as he picked up the trail, his sneakers pushing hard into the dirt as he went.
"Ilia!?" he cried out as wooden backings and canvas flew past him. He neither expected nor received a response as he ran, chest heaving. Sun bumped a shoulder into the sides of one of the stands and let out a grunt of discomfort at the sensation. Despite the minor wound, he continued his run and called out again.
"Ilia!"
"What?" came a familiar voice from his left side.
Sun skidded to a stop, kicking up dirt as he slid past the gap between two stalls. There, slightly behind him, was Ilia leaning against the wooden wall at the back of a stand. She regarded him with crossed arms and a surprised expression, and Sun returned the look. How had he missed her…?
"You… what… how are you here?" Sun began. He decided to give her the benefit of the doubt as he turned to fully face her while he caught his breath.
"I, uh, used my legs. Obviously?" Ilia uncrossed her arms, revealing a half-eaten apple in her left hand. She took another bite as she eyed him up.
"Oh, ha ha. Listen, I think I lost my scroll. You didn't… happen to pick it up, did you?" he asked, keeping his tone soft.
"Excuse me?" Ilia mumbled around bits of apple in her mouth. "Are you accusing me of stealing your scroll? If I had found it, I would've been looking for you." Ilia swallowed the remains of her bite, and narrowed her eyes.
"Hey, whoa, it's not like that!" Sun tried to gesture apologetically with the bag and fish in his hands, but the motion came out as a half-shrug. "I've been looking everywhere, and I thought you might know something."
"All I know is that you need to keep a better eye on your shit," she replied in a hostile tone.
Sun let out an exasperated sigh, and shifted his weight to his other foot. "Ilia, please. Can we not be like this? I wasn't trying to upset you."
"Well, you did. What do you want from me, Sun? To hang out, and get all touchy-feely?" Ilia fluttered the fingers of her free hand, before taking a final bite of the apple and tossing the core to the ground. With her hands empty, she rested them on her hips as she stared him down.
"Actually… I wouldn't mind hanging out, once things settle down a bit," Sun tried with a smile.
Ilia returned the expression with a saccharine enthusiasm. "Oh, sure! I'll give you my number. Oh, wait," she lilted with a devilish grin. It was Sun's turn to frown. His expression threatened to devolve into a glower, but he used his last nerve to maintain composure.
"Look, Ilia… I can tell you're having a bad day. When you're feeling better, I'm staying with the Belladonnas in the center of town. Just come by and knock, and we'll talk, okay?" Sun moved to walk past the chameleon faunus, and missed the death glare he received for his words.
"Oh, I will. Give me some time to let off some steam, and maybe things will be a little… different."
Sun heaved one last sigh as he continued to walk his way past Ilia and back out onto the dirt road. Once he was out of sight and back into the crowd, Ilia reached into her pocket and opened Sun's scroll.
"I'm having a bad day, alright… but you're about to have a worse one." Ilia grinned to herself, before blending into the dark shade of wood on the back of the stand and slinking her way through the alley.
A dejected Sun trudged his way back to the meeting point with Kali at the entrance to the marketplace. The older woman waited patiently with her basket slung over her shoulder as Sun approached, and she offered him a muted smile that turned quickly into a small frown.
"Sun? What happened, dear?"
Sun dragged his feet as he walked, making trails more than footsteps in the dirt as he approached Kali.
"…I lost my stupid scroll. I retraced my steps and asked around, but… yeah. Sorry I took so long, Mrs…" Sun trailed off, before looking back up at her. "…Kali."
Kali's ears drooped as she let her basket slip from her shoulder down into the dirt with a heavy thud. Maternal instincts took over as she closed the gap between them and wrapped Sun in a tight hug, with one hand cupped around the back of his head and another around his waist. Surprisingly enough, the gesture did bring him a little comfort, and he found himself hugging back as she spoke to him.
"Oh, don't worry, Sun. I'm sure it'll turn up, eventually. Let's get back home, and ask Blake to text you some more little hearts? If someone found it, they just might respond."
Sun's tail flicked in reflex, cutting a smooth swath through the dirt as it raised up to waist level. "Kali, you're a genius! That just might work!"
"So I've been told. Come, now. Let's not waste any time," Kali said as she broke the embrace. Sun slid past her in a smooth motion and scooped up the basket for her, earning himself an eye roll. "Oh, fine."
"Hey, it's the least I can do," Sun shot back with a wink. Together, they set out on the path back to the mansion.
An eerie silence permeated the halls of the Belladonna mansion as Sun made his way through the halls on the upper floor. After helping Kali sort out the groceries in the kitchen and asking her for directions to Blake's room, Sun restocked the guest bathroom and set out in search of the younger Belladonna. Despite the mid-afternoon sun seeping through the high windows in the halls, something about the manor seemed strangely dark.
Sun kept up a brisk pace as he walked the halls, rubbing at his biceps with his hands. For whatever reason, his stomach was doing flips as he made his way toward Blake. Whether the sensation was due to his feelings for her, the loss of his scroll, or some combination of the two, he once again felt like he might be sick. As he approached the door to Blake's room, he paused a moment to collect his thoughts, and focus only upon her. The way that her ears twitched and flicked while she spoke, the heady aroma of her perfume, and the sweet, barely noticeable corners of her soft smile when she was pleased. Sun smiled, and knocked on the wooden door.
Blake opened the portal almost immediately, and met him with a harsh slap across the cheek as she stared up at him in rage.
"Bl-… ow!" Sun whined, as he brought a hand up to his burning cheek.
"Sex kitten? Are you kidding me, Sun!?" Blake hissed through clenched teeth. Her amber eyes were narrowed to dangerous slits, and Sun instinctively took a step backward.
"Sex… Blake, what are you talking about?" The burning in his cheeks intensified as pain and embarrassment mixed. Blake growled in frustration as she thrust her scroll up and held it mere inches from his face. There upon the screen was a long text conversation between the two of them, full of unfamiliar messages.
Author's Note:
Must everything end with some sort of cliffhanger? The answer is