𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐝 [𝐕𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐅𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫]

Chapter XIV

"[𝐘/𝐍]." A voice called out to the girl who was staring at an hourglass which seemed to be just about the size of her whole palm.

She turned around smiling at the voice, "Kazuma-sensei!"

[y/n] ran up to the tall man and gave him a hug, he chuckled at the girl. When he first met her, he was surprised at how open she was despite her history.

"Are you ready to meet him? He's out there in the courtyard. Don't worry I didn't tell him why he's there or who he's about to meet." Kazuma said while chuckling.

She smiled back at him, thankful. She had always wanted to meet Kyo, although Akito didn't allow it. So she reached out to Kazuma to help her, from what she heard it was hard to get close with the boy.

'But it's okay if we aren't close, just friends would be enough.' She thought to herself.

The [h/c] haired girl started walking to the area she was supposed to meet Kyo. There weren't much people around the given location so it would be easy to find him and talk with him.

Her [e/c] eyes widened at the sight of bright orange hair. And without a word immediately ran up towards the boy.

"Kyo!" This caught him off guard since he heard an unfamiliar voice call out to him. His master told him to wait in the courtyard, and he did. He didn't know why though, and he was scared of being alone.

'Maybe it's one of the new staff who'll start bad-mouthing him for being the cat?'

But to his surprise, it wasn't. It was a girl, a kid. She was a bit taller than him, but that'll change in the future. Her [h/l] [h/c] hair danced in the wind as she ran up to him, her kimono was a beautiful shade of [f/c] and her eyes didn't hold hatred, disgust, or fear when they saw him.

Instead, it showed admiration, love, and kindness. He couldn't help but feel warm inside.

When she was close to him, he took a step back out of instinct.

"W-who are you?!" He yelled.

She merely smiled, completely unfazed by his loud tone. "[y/n], nice to meet you."

He was shocked, no way would a girl like her talk to him. From just her appearance he could tell she held some sort of power in the estate.

"A-are you here to yell at me?!" He asked, more of shouted at her. And again she didn't waver.

"Hm? now why would I do that?" He kept his head down, refusing to look at the [h/c] haired beauty.

"B-because I'm the cat!" He yelled once more, as if that would answer all her questions.

"So?" Time seemed to slow down. He tilted his head back up again, slowly.

'So...? So?! So you shouldn't talk to me! I don't need your pity! You're just like everyone else!'

"So what if you're the cat? it doesn't change the fact that you're still part of the zodiacs. Your situation is just different from theirs." She walked closer to him and placed her hand on his shoulder, thanking the heavens that he didn't flinch away from her touch.

"I'll still protect you and be by your side always." She smiled warmly. His eyes then was clouded by his tears.

"W-why're you being so nice?" He asked weakly.

She giggled, "H-hey you're not answering the question!" He said kinda annoyed.

Her giggles then turned into laughter, "Hey you're being annoying right now!" He glared.

He didn't get a response so he let out a mad "hmph!" and was about to walk away when,

"Because I'm the phoenix, the guardian of the zodiacs. And I'm also~ your new friend!" She said with a smile.

"Huh?! I never said I was your friend!"

"Well I did~"

"Am not."

"Am too."

"Am not."

"Am too."

"Am not."

"Am not."

"Am too."

She sighed dramatically, "Okay fine~ I'll be your friend."

He wore a victory smile, "Yeah so deal with it!"

"...wait."

"[Y/N]!" He started chasing her around the courtyard, while she was laughing her head off.

Despite the girl being annoying as he would say, he felt happy. She wasn't like everyone else, and he could tell that she genuinely wanted to be his friend. He felt warm inside, and he liked how that warmth felt.

He then stopped running when he saw a small hourglass on the ground. It was beautiful, it had a gold exterior, and the sand inside was a pretty shade of blue.

"H-hey um [y/n]!" He called out.

She turned around to face him, "Yeah?"

'pretty' He thought while looking at her. The boy then realized what he thought and started shaking his head aggressively.

"Uh, this is yours right?" He said while holding up the hourglass.

She looked at it and shrugged, "You can keep it."

He was about to protest, "Just a reminder that there's always time."

He didn't know it yet, but in the future, he'll end up cherishing that hourglass with his life. Because it came from the girl who'd he would protect with his life.

'You were right master, I really did meet someone special today.'