Don't be Afraid Aftermath!

9: Lost with him

Part 1 of 2

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Kipo and Sal were just hanging out in the new tent that they finally got after the battle.

Kipo was trying to learn sign language, Sal was teaching her. But turns out, it was pretty impossible.

He kept making random things with his hands, and it wasn't any easier that he's mute.

Kipo groaned in frustration, her fluffy tail lashing. She was starting to get impatient. But Sal looked at her and got something out of a bag he had.

It was a pencil and piece of paper, he set them down and wrote on it.

"This means 'hi.'" He wrote, then did the signs for 'hi.'

Kipo nodded, she breathed and then did the symbols back.

Sal snorted and shook his head, "You just said 'food.'" He wrote on the paper.

The taller girl groaned, but then started laughing. It was fun to practice with Sal, because he had some humor. Mostly dark, though.

Eventually, they got bored of doing it for so long, so they decided to get up and take a break.

The two walked outside and looked around. Their friends weren't around, because they were getting some more supplies and thought the two would cause distractions, so they left them there.

Kipo looked out to the forest, her left ear twitching as her cat-like eyes lit up, "Do you wanna go explore the forest?"

Sal looked at her and shrugged, meaning that he wasn't quite sure.

"Come on! It'll be fun!" Kipo begged, doing the puppy eyes. It seemed to work, because Sal shook his head and took Kipo by the arm, dragging her towards the forest.

He was pretty strong for his size, and Kipo definitely underestimated him for his appearance.

When they got in the forest, they immediately got captivated by the unknown plants. Kipo sniffed them to make sure they weren't poisoned. If they smelled bad and sour, she backed off. If they smelled good and sweet, she plucked them.

Sal kneeled down and watched the bugs crawl around, he didn't even scream when a huge and hairy spider crawled on his arm. Seems like he has seen much worse.

Before they knew it, it was getting dark and they were deep in the forest.

Kipo was just trying to get down from a tree she just had to climb. With Sal's help, she made it down safely.

"Thanks." She breathed, flashing a friendly smiling. The shorter boy nodded and gave her a thumbs up.

Then he tried signing to her, and Kipo had almost forgotten what they meant, but then her memory came back.

"Oh. Yeah, I guess we do need to get back.. but where are we?" She tilted her head, turning around in circles.

Sal pointed to Kipo's nose, and she got the hint. She tried to smell for the camp, but all the nature was blocking it.

"Ugh! The nature smell is hiding it!" She stomped her foot, frustrated. And that's when Sal noticed.

Kipo's voice was shaky, and her tail tucked between her legs. Her ears were drooping, even her fur was bristling.

It was clear. Kipo was trying to hide her fear from Sal.

The blue-haired boy walked next to Kipo and see the panic heighten in her eyes, was she afraid of him?

Sal looked down and grunted when he had seen Kipo flinch away from him. He looked up and signed something to Kipo.

She breathed with relief, "I thought you would be mad." Then she sat down against a tree.

Sal shook his head and looked around, trying to figure out where they were.

But it turns out, they were completely lost.