Chapter Text
The forest that Mika Kagehira had chosen to spend his night in was still in the quiet light of the moon: the occasional chirp of birds echoed through the grand space that cut through the silence, but Mika remained otherwise undisturbed. The grey-skinned tiefling had perched himself at the base of a grand oak tree, his back towards the tree and hand gripped lightly around his massive axe, but his slumber had been restful and without violen—
CRASH
The intense sounds of combat startled the young tiefling awake, and he gripped his axe as a reflex and pounced to his feet: his eyes darted around to locate the source of his danger, but when no threat presented itself, he breathed out heavily. His tail curled anxiously at his side as he stayed alert, straining his ears to pick up on the source of the commotion.
One.
Two.
Three.
There. He heard it: the echoing sounds of steel clashing against steel, and a n almost musical voice that sounded severely outnumbered. "Nnn, I should keep m' nose outta stuff but I gotta go help…"
He grabbed his small pack from the ground next to him and sprinted off towards the source of the noises, and soon enough he reached a clearing and knew he had to act fast. He scanned his eyes over the clearing to survey the situation, and he thought his eyes had deceived him for a moment. The most beautiful man he'd ever laid eyes on stood before him: dusty pink, perfectly styled hair, an angled face with a soft jawline, soft, furrowed brows, and an elaborate outfit that was probably the most expensive thing Mika had ever laid eyes on. What caught Mika's attention, though, was the small blonde doll the man was holding. She was beautiful and delicate, porcelain with long, delicately curled hair, and clothed in an outfit that matched the man's.
Opposite the crimson clad beauties were four nasty looking mercenaries. The fight was painfully uneven, but the mercenaries all looked somewhat worse for wear, much to Mika's surprise. His eyes darted between both parties and he hesitated, truly unsure who he should be worried for.
"We're taking you with us whether you like it or not, so you can do this the easy way or the hard way."
The pink-haired man scoffed and stood a little straighter: "Hmmf, it seems you're choosing the hard way yourselves, imbeciles. Who put you up to this? My Mother?"
One of the mercenaries stepped forward, a grubby human littered with scars, laughed at him and spat on the ground. "You got this all wrong, no one sent us here. You'll fetch us much more money if we ransom your pretty little head."
Something shifted in the lone man: his posture lowered slightly and his face tightened, and Mika picked up on the slightest hint of fear in him. Mika took two steps forward to get a closer look, but a cracking sound beneath his feet alerted everyone in the clearing. Five faces snapped towards him and he froze, almost guilty looking. His gaze settled on the strange man with the doll, though, and he watched as fear, then hope, then determination flashed across his face.
"You there, boy, are you going to stand there gawking at me or are you going to help?"
The directness from him caused Mika to stumble, "Nnn, I was gonna help ya' anyway bu—"
Movement out of the corner of Mika's eye caused him to snap his gaze towards one of the mercenaries as he stepped forward and started to rush back at the strange man. But, Mika was quicker.
He hefted his axe and charged at the mercenaries: the speed that he moved barely gave the Merc time to think before his axe came crashing down in a wide arc, downing him in one crushing blow.
Mika's head snapped to the rest of the mercenaries, a variety of emotions portrayed on their faces, but the leader wore a sickening grin: Mika recognised the flash of bloodlust in his eyes before he, too, rushed forward with a bloodcurdling war cry, followed closely behind by the rest of them.
Mika made short work of the mercenaries. They were clearly experienced, but Mika was strong , and none of them were quite prepared for the ease in which his axe cut them down. The men barely stood a chance: he parried blow after blow with the flat of his axe, and ducked under the swing of a sword, only to heft his axe back up and swing full speed into one of the mens faces with the same flat side.
He dispatched the rest of them with the same ease, and as he stood over their downed forms for a few moments, he breathed heavily through his nose as he regained his composure, and bent down to wipe his axe on the nearest man's clothing.
Once his breathing had fully calmed, Mika stood and turned to the strange man he had saved, and was greeted with a look that he assumed meant the man was impressed.
They stared at each other for a few moments, before Mika shook his head and pointed towards the bodies at his feet.
"We gotta leave, I didn' kill 'em 'n we ain't gonna get trouble from 'em again, but we still gotta be safe 'n leave, kay?"
The man rolled his eyes and nodded, leaning down to retrieve a small satchel from the ground. "Hmmph, fine. Death would have been a more deserving fate, but I won't argue that with you now. I suppose you are expecting me to thank you for helping me?"
"Nnn, s'okay, you don't gotta thank me. M' names Mika Kagehira."
"Good, then I won't. Kagehira, I am Itsuki Shu. Now, come, let us leave this place. This unpleasantness has put me in a bad mood."
Shu retrieved a small satchel from the ground and slung it over his shoulder, then looked towards Mika expectantly. "Well? Are we departing, or do you intend to stand and gawk at me for the foreseeable future?"
Mika nodded furiously, made a move to leave, then froze and turned back to Shu. "Nnnh, I know I said we shoulda left by now but I dunno where ya wanna go Shu-san."
Shu rolled his eyes as he started walking in one direction, seemingly with purpose. He didn't wait to see if Mika followed behind him, but Mika immediately trotted along behind him. "For now, it doesn't matter which direction we head, as anywhere is better than this unpleasant area."
"Nnnh 'kay. But what's yer plan afta' that Shu-san? N' ya don't gotta tell me if ya don't wanna since we just met n' all but-"
"South. Or, at least, away from Stormhome. Nothing good comes of that place and I wish to avoid it. And you? What destination could possibly befit you?"
Mika wanted to inquire more about Shu's aversion to Stormhome, but deep down, even after only knowing the strange Human for a few minutes, the Tiefling knew his question would go unanswered at best, or, at worst, would be deflected and met with a slew of insults. So he refrained for the time being, and cocked his head to the side, his tail swishing idly behind him as he thought.
"Nnn, t'be honest, I ain' got a destination in mind, Shu-san. I was jus' kinda wanderin' th' world n' seein' what kinda things I could do, yanno?
Shu nodded his head and made a noise of contemplation. "Well, if you have no particular destination in mind, then perhaps you would be amicable to a deal of sorts? I will pay you money in exchange for your…protection. I'm loathe to call it that as I am quite capable of caring for myself, though I am not very fond of getting my own hands dirty."
"So, ya wanna hire me t' be yer bodyguard, Shu-san?"
"Hmmf, if that's what you're deigning to call it, then fine. I brought a substantial amount of money with me on this… trip, therefore I do have enough to sustain myself, and, by extension, sustain you, for a very long while. I will pay you fifteen gold per day, plus whatever nightly accommodations and food we require. Does that seem fair?
"Ya got no idea how much a merc costs t' hire, do ya Shu-san?"
Shu scoffed but Mika ignored him and continued on.
"But s'fine. S'more money than I've had in a long time so m' fine with it."
Shu stopped in his tracks and turned purposefully towards Mika. Mika's eyebrows raised in confusion, but as Shu offered out the hand that wasn't clutching tightly to his doll, Mika nodded in understanding and reached out to grip the hand offered to him.
"Do we have a deal, Kagehira?"
Mika nodded and shook the strange man's hand, making a mental note of how soft and delicate they were.
"We gotta deal, Shu-san."
"Good. Then, for now, I believe the town of Areksul is fairly close by, so we should make that our priority to visit."
"How far South are ya planning on goin', Shu-san?"
"Hmmf, you ask far too many questions, boy. But, should all go well, I would ideally aim to reach Sharn. Perhaps even begin a trip west after that, and find myself among the Lhazaar Principalities. But that is contemplation for another time. Come, let us leave this wretched place.
They made their way slowly through the forest without much incident, with Mika trying to make some small idle chatter, and Shu responding only some of the time, but Mika found that he didn't really mind: the silence wasn't particularly awkward with Shu, which was different to whenever he'd travelled with other people in the past.
They'd been travelling for a few hours, when the view of rooftops in the distance slowly started rolling closer into view. Mika let out a small sound of relief and pointed out the town in the distance. "Ya were right, Shu-san. I think 's Areksul in th' distance."
"Of course I was right, Kagehira. I am never wrong. Come, let us not dither any longer."