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She had no idea what possessed her to go with Kiana Kaslana, and yet she followed after her.
Maybe it was curiosity; she wondered why the girl was so intent on her surviving, maybe it was because she was the first actual companion she had ever since she was born as a herrscher, maybe it was because she had been formally asked to be a companion for her long and possibly fruitless journey to find her father, who had been missing ever since she was a kid.
Maybe it was because for some reason, the girl had become undeniably important to her just after a few days.
Travelling from one city to another was tiring business; for a human, that is. The city they had just departed from was devoid of survivors save for the two of them, and only a handful of zombies that they could handle. She recalled Kiana complaining as they left under her breath; something about “stupid old man” and “can’t even raise a kid right”, and she lapsed into silence afterwards with an uncharacteristically dark expression on her face. The third didn’t know what to do then; all she did was stay beside her when night fell, and they had set up camp with her keeping watch. As always. It had rained that night, and while they did manage to find shelter, it was after running a fair bit in the open and both of them had gotten drenched.
They had left the next day, Kiana unusually quiet as she walked. The third herrscher spared a glance at her white haired companion; she was striding forward, her gaze set straight on the road and her mouth in a frown, her trusty bat on her shoulder. It seemed like the typical Kiana, but something didn't sit quite right with the herrscher, and she narrowed her eyes after the third sneeze had punctured the silence between them.
Kiana's face was slightly flushed and her shoulders were slightly forward, as though she was exhausted and it was taking all of her willpower to actually keep going. The third pursed her lips, and grabbed the other girl's arm; Kiana actually collapsed into her arm without hesitation, and squinted up at her in what she assumed was dazed confusion. She looked the part, with glassy eyes and chapped lips.
"Huh…? Are you trying to cuddle me? I’m flattered..." Her reply was slow, soft, and slurred, and she was undeniably burning up. Irritation pulsed through the third; for someone who claimed to be her protector, she sure didn’t give a damn about herself, which was worrying. What could possibly be more important than their own health? She let out a sigh as she gave the girl a look of mild annoyance, despite the evident attempt at a joke. If she could still attempt to make a pass at the Herrscher, it wasn’t that bad yet.
"Sick humans should be resting, not travelling." She remarked pointedly, and Kiana pouted as she glanced away, a guilty expression on her face. Usually, it would be rather a rather endearing act, the herrscher reluctantly acknowledged, but she was sick. It didn’t require rocket science to figure that out.
"It’s just a small fever..." Kiana hissed out through gritted teeth. "I’ll be fine in a day, I’m not that fragile and I gotta protect you..." She squirmed uselessly, which only resulted in the third gaining a hold on her other arm just to keep the human still. It resulted in an uncomfortable embrace as the herrscher’s arms wound around Kiana, but at least she had stopped moving.
"If anyone else tries to harm me, they'll disappear. You need a rest, so you can ‘protect me’ when you’re better." The third bent forward and easily scooped the young knight up in a single, smooth motion, and Kiana watched with mild fascination as purple, translucent wings crackled to life on the herrscher's back. It looked as though someone had taken lightning itself and encased it inside; while the form was mostly maintained, tiny bolts of lightning crackled and shifted inside, as though it couldn't stay still.
The third's gaze landed back on Kiana's happy murmur of "how pretty", and allowed herself a small smile before she launched into the sky, in search of a clean water source, and a hospital to loot some medicine from, as well as a proper bed to rest on.
True to her words, Kiana really did get better after a night of sleep.
The third herrscher frowned as the young Kaslana got much more touchy feely afterwards, finding all sorts of mundane excuses to even so much as to hold the herrscher’s hand, fingers intertwined and palms touching. Her mind nagged at her, that Japanese were far too conservative for such flashy public displays of affection like this, but she didn’t really seem to mind. If she let go of her hand, Kiana would just stare in disappointment at her empty hand until she got to hold it again, anyways.
Letting her hold it was the lesser evil, she reasoned. She wasn’t sure why she was even reasoning with herself to begin with; but it wasn’t exactly an unpleasant feeling that coursed through her when their palms touched and warmth spread through the contact. It was reminiscent of the warmth the girl practically radiated, and for some reason, she felt a small urge to hoard said warmth to herself. It was warmth pointed at her , which meant that it was special.
The blissful smile on Kiana’s face when the third’s fingers pressed lightly against the back of her hand made her feel special, too. But when Kiana caught her looking that one time, her eyes widened, and her smile grew even bigger in excitement.
“You’re… You’re smiling. You’re breathtakingly gorgeous when you smile, you should really do that more.”
It took a hand on her own face to confirm that yes, the corners of her lips were crinkled upwards for some reason unbeknownst to her, and she scowled despite the protesting whine from her companion, her face strangely warm as she huffed and hurried her pace, mumbling about how they should hurry up since they were behind schedule, ignoring Kiana’s protests that there wasn’t even such a schedule to begin with.
Maybe Kaslana smiles were contagious. How dangerous.
They were in a convenience store in another abandoned city, but it was raining again. The third frowned as she remembered the last time they ran in the rain and Kiana had gotten sick; humans were cumbersome beings, given their fragile states. It was a wonder as to how they even survived for this long to begin with, if even mundane things such as getting soaked for too long weakened their bodies.
“Guess we lucked out and managed to avoid the rain, but I’m not really keen on staying in one place for too long… Jeez, even the weather’s being a pain.” Kiana idly commented as she snacked on cereal bars, her eyes focused on the dark skies outside. The third knew that very well; every time they lingered on an area for too long, she’d start tapping her foot impatiently, hands on her hips, and the wrinkle between the Kaslana’s eyebrows would appear. Maybe it was due to her being a wanderer for too long, to the point where she associated staying in one place with danger. But it wasn’t as though they could move under the rain.
She could, but Kiana couldn’t. A repetition of her falling sick again would happen, and then they’d have to find more medicine, which would mean more trouble. Unless…
She headed towards the main entrance of the convenience store on the other side, and frowned. This was something she knew from her memories as Raiden Mei; it kept the rain from hitting them, was easy to use, and didn’t cling to them like a raincoat did. There were several in the stand too, price tags of ¥4500 each. She picked one up and opened it, mildly curious about how it worked.
To her horror, a corner of the cloth tore away from the spoke as soon as the top clicked into place. Guess not.
“Oh, umbrellas! They look like the expensive type, but… I guess leaving them alone for too long must’ve ruined them. Hopefully there’s working ones in there, I ain’t fixing that one.” Kiana had wandered over, mouth quirked in a frown as her gaze locked onto the corner of cloth flapping uselessly in the air, before she turned her attention to the shelf and began sifting through the rest.
The herrscher shuffled aside awkwardly, the handle of the broken umbrella still tightly gripped in her hand. It was a dark purple umbrella, one that matched her hair, and so she had instinctively held onto it. The fact that it was deemed as ‘ruined’ had somehow made her feel disheartened. As though the universe told her that something was wrong with her.
Maybe she was the problem.
“Found one!” There’s a proud exclamation from the girl as she triumphantly held a white umbrella up, one that was reminiscent of her hair along with snow. Kiana turned to her, all excited smiles along with a “we can leave this city now!”, and then her gaze travelled to the thing still in her hands. She completely forgot about setting it aside; but she felt like the umbrella was connected to her, in some strange way. She wanted it.
“You don’t have to fix it, I’ll try. Can we keep this one too?”
Kiana’s face softened into an understanding smile.
“Sure. I’ll teach you once we’re out of here. And, let’s stock up on some food before we leave! I’m calling dibs on the roll cakes!”
It’s when they’re several kilometers out into the open that the third realised that the entire situation was very, very awkward. Holding Kiana’s hand was nothing compared to this.
For starters, the umbrella wasn’t large; it required the two of them to stay close to each other, or else they risked having drenched arms. It’s close enough for Kiana to wind her arm around hers and place her hand on the handle as well, their fingers constantly touching.
She was close, too close, and she smelled of chocolate rolled cake. Even the salty smell of the rain didn’t overpower the sweet scent that came from her mouth, and the herrscher gulped. She was warm, and she was sweet, and she was sunshine incarnate, and she was close to the point where their shoulders rubbed every time they took a step.
And then she remembered, another of Raiden Mei’s memories; that sharing an umbrella was a symbol of love.
She, love? With Kiana?
She groaned, and sped up her pace despite the protests from her companion. She was definitely overthinking things. It was just a silly human story that humans fell for; nothing more, nothing less.
But why was her heart beating so much? What was wrong with her?