Latibule

001

A hop, and a skip.

And a hop, and a skip.

Another hop, and a little skip.

You carefully trudged down the familiar dirt path that led to your home, hopping and skipping with each step you took. You rushed towards the little puddles formed from the rain in the morning, stopping by every one of them before jumping into them with glee. The little drops of mud clung onto your boots, slightly staining your [favourite colour] dress at the hem but you paid it no mind.

You were gonna get scolded by your aunt regardless, so why not have some fun before that?

While you were having your daily detours from your way back from school, you stopped by the local convenience store. The cute store was located near the riverbank, allowing people to buy refreshments and sit at the riverbank to snack on them.

Just when you decided to buy yourself a [favorite flavor] ice cream, you doe eyes caught sight of a boy, way older than you, lying on the edges of the riverbank.

His hair was pulled into a braid and he was wearing a black and white cardigan. However, the thing most noticable of him was a black dragon tattoo inking the side of his head. Your eyes scanned his figure and saw several cuts and bruises, but the boy looked like he didn't care.

You stared and stared at the boy, eyes wide in contemplation on whether you should help him or not. On one hand, you recalled your mother's warnings that you should never approach a stranger, and if someone approaches you, kick them in-between their legs and scream while running away.

But on the other hand, you remembered the several bruises that littered your own skin, a result of your aunt lashing out on you. Maybe he went through something similar?

You puffed your cheeks in thought, bringing your tiny hands towards them and slapping on your cheeks slightly to blow out the air. The sound seemed funny to you, and you kept on patting your baby cheeks and swaying your head to think about what to do.

Feeling the few band-aids in your backpack getting heavier as you realised your final decision, you let your tiny legs carry you to the boy.

The closer you got to him, the scarier he began to seem to you. His face was in a permanent scowl and his tattoo didn't lessen his scary aura. You walked closer and closer to him until you were standing a few feet away from him. Hearing the sound of grass crunching underneath your boots, the boy fluttered his eyes open and turned his head to your direction. The minute he looked at you, your body froze.

He looked so scary!!

Is this how you die?! Oh, God no!! You're too young to meet your mother!!

You began to realise that he seemed like those delinquent-ish guys you heard a few of your classmates mention when they talked about their older siblings.

Some of them said that their older brothers were delinquents, while the others mentioned that their siblings had gotten beaten up by some delinquents. Fear began to flood your tiny chest as you realised that maybe this guy will hit you for annoying him.

But, you're just trying to help him... Is that too wrong?

Gulping down your fear, you found the courage to look up from your brightly colored boots with ribbons decorating them, towards the scrutinizing gaze of the scary-dragon man.

"Mister... are you okay?"

With the glare he had presented you with, you wished you had kept your mouth shut. Your fingers began to spasm and your hands shook fearfully. Sweat dripped down the side of your cheeks and onto your slightly dirty [favorite color] dress.

Clutching onto the bag you had worn around your tiny shoulders, you slung it forward in a single motion and unzipped the top of it to reveal a small, blue band-aids box, with Doraemon characters on the cover of it. It had band-aids spilling out from it that ranged from Dorami from Doraemon to PreCure Black and PreCure White from Pretty Cure.

"Um... PreCure White's band-aids are my favourites so... you can have PreCure Black..." You offered, your voice meek and low. Pulling out a PreCure Black band-aid from the box, you silently offered it to the glaring male. His glared shifted from your face to the piece of plaster in your hands, and you took a minute to realise he probably didn't like Pretty Cure.

Courtesy of your cousin, you found out the hard way that boys don't like Pretty Cure, although it seemed quite blasphemous to you because for you, Pretty Cute was a gift from Heaven.

A work of art, might you add.

With fidgeting digits, you stuffed the PreCure Black band-aid back into the blue, cardboard box and opted for a Dorami band-aid. Even if Dorami was a girl, at least the color of the band-aid was blue!! You knew for a fact that boys like blue. Again, thanks to your cousin.

"Here! Have a Dorami band-aid, mister!" You declared, this time confident that he might take it. To your horror, and surprise, he continued to glare at you, only shifting his gaze for a second to inspect the plaster.

With no other option left, you whimpered quietly and lowered your hand, eyes darting in the direction of the convenience store so that you wouldn't have to look at his scary face.

"Why is a brat like you talking to me?" His voice came out gruff and you almost pissed yourself. He seemed so, so angry that you wanted to cry.

Why did you think approaching the scary mister would be a good idea?! One day, your stupidity will kill you!!

"I-um... you looked hurt... and I had band-aids, lots of em' so I thought I should give them to you..." Your voice quivered and you shut your eyes in fear when he raised his hand. He was so big and tall that even when he was sitting down, just raising his hand, it seemed to tower over your tiny figure.

With your eyes screwed shut and your hands desperately clinging onto the blue Doraemon Band-aid box, you waited for the impact of him hitting you.

One...

Two...

Three...

But it never came...

The pain that usually accompanied the slap never came. Instead, you felt a calloused hand ruffle your hair messily, "You shouldn't approach strangers so easily, kid... You could get hurt..." The mister advised, smiling at your ever-so-slightly.

Seeing the twinkle in your eyes, he averted his gaze and dropped his hand at his side, "Why are you so eager to offer me band-aids in the first place?" He whispered to himself and you smiled cheerily.

Tiptoeing, only to barely reach his hip, you raised the box on top of your head and held it towards him, "Here, mister! Choose your favourite!" You offered with a grin, but immediately frowned as you added, "But don't take PreCure White! She's my favorite!" Blinking owlishly at your words, he bit down his lower lip to prevent a laugh from breaking out his mouth.

"Oh, ok then..." He admitted and decided he might as well take one, since you didn't seem like you'd leave him alone until he had taken one. He was, however, surprised by how many you had collected.

And successfully managed to stuff them all in one, worn out band-aids box that you probably had no intentions of replacing.

Finally deciding on a red coloured band-aid that featured all the Doraemon characters, he smiled kindly at you and patted your head, "Thanks for the band-aid, kid... It's very kind of you..."

With a grin decorating your lips, you beamed at the praise and gratitude. With the adorable smile that you wore, Draken felt the urge to ruffle your hair again. And that he did.

Maybe kids aren't so bad, after all...