Sinister Affection

Twelve

In the late afternoon, when he was sure everyone was asleep, Aoi quietly left the house. They'd kill him if they found out he was investigating the beast...but he just wanted to know. Why was the beast still here? Why had it followed Myra for all these years? 

Making sure that the guards were looking away, he leaped over the fence and ran. 

The beast had smelled him already, he was sure. He heard it roar in fury, like it hadn't eaten in days.

This is a bad idea. Aoi gulped. This is a really bad idea.

But he couldn't stop now. He had to do it, so that he could figure out how to get rid of the beast. For Myra.

Aoi was very fond of her, and was slowly falling for her...

And he was more than willing to go into a high-risk zone for her.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the beast cowering behind a tree. Suddenly, it didn't seem so terrifying anymore. He turned, and was shocked to see how it resembled Myra the night she'd run away from the hospital.

Both were frightened. Both had the look of a cornered animal in their eyes. And Aoi figured that both of them just needed a little understanding.

He moved a little closer to the beast. "Hey, it's okay...I'm not gonna hurt you..."

He wasn't entirely sure how to converse with the beast, but at least he could figure out what exactly it was. On closer examination, it looked humanoid...probably about eight feet tall. It didn't exactly have a human's face, though. The beast was also covered entirely in brown and black fur, and had claws the size of fingers at the end of its 'hands'.

"You must be scared, right?" He continued, in what he thought was a soothing voice, although his headache was making it a little difficult to focus. Stupid hangover.

"I just want to-"

The beast roared, and Aoi felt a sharp pain in his left arm, which had just extended to touch the beast's head, and in his stomach.

He looked down to see blood covering his stomach, and his forearm. The beast stood over him, its shadow covering him like a blanket.

Aoi stumbled, and hit his head on a rock. The pain was so intense that he nearly blacked out. He clutched his arm and let out a hiss of pain. There was no way he was getting out of this now. Seems like curiosity DOES kill the cat...

"What are you doing, Aoi? Get out of here!"

Someone yanked on his good arm, and pulled him out of the forest. He blindly followed, blood and his own hair covering his eyes.

When the person finally stopped, they pushed Aoi's hair out of the way, and he was shocked to see Myra there, looking angrier than he had ever seen her.

"What is wrong with you??" She said, glaring. "What made you think you could just walk into the forest - alone - and try to take on the beast? Even I can't do that, and I've been trying for almost two decades!!"

"I-I wasn't trying to take it on!" He croaked. "I just...I just wanted to learn more about it...so that i could chase it away. And make you feel safe," he mumbled at the end.

"Don't do stupid things like that ever again."

"I won't."

"I know you will."

"I promise I won't."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because I don't want you to be so scared ever again..."

"And do you know why I was so scared?"

"Why?"

Myra leaned in and gave Aoi a deep kiss on the lips. She clung to him, making sure he wasn't hurt by her grip.

When she pulled away, she looked him directly in the eye. "That's why.

"I don't know what it means, okay? I just don't want you to get hurt. And I'll do anything to make sure you're safe."

Aoi was stunned. It should've been him saying those words, not Myra. She was still learning to adjust to her new life, after all those years. And now, she wanted to protect him.

"Don't get such dumb ideas for me, okay?" Her voice was much more gentle. "Now, come on, let's get you cleaned up."