Ch4:『Leech Road』

On the way back to their starting point of the Island, J4 was walking behind Natsu who was in turn in the very back of the group. If he wasn't there, it seemed she would have been taking up the rear. To him, that didn't make much sense at all. Though rather than looking at the top of her head, his gaze was on her backpack. He was curious regarding what was inside, considering they had only taken out their canteens.

Reaching forward, his fingers nimble, Jakku didn't hesitate to slowly unzip her bag and peer inside. Strangely enough, she didn't seem to even notice that he was doing this. Taking note of her lack of awareness, he began to wander through her bag carefully to see how long it would take her to notice what he was doing.

There were basics in this bag, however, there were several key items that were missing such as basic communication equipment and a compass. What he found quickly though as he was walking behind her was a sheathed knife.

Pursing his lips as he saw a venus fly trap from the corner of his eye, he let out a muted sigh. They should have these equipped at all times, at least that was his primary thought.

His eyes went down the back of her jacket to see if she was wearing a belt, which she likely was, but he couldn't see it under the jacket or her shirt without lifting them.

Zipping up her backpack just as nimbly as he had opened it, Jakku hooked his forefinger into the back of her collar, causing her to tense and gasp with a sudden drop in motion as her throat was hugged by her shirt.

"Ja-Jakku-san?" She turned her head to look at him before he pressed his hand against her shoulder forcing her to face him completely. "W-what... Uh..." Her eyes rested on the knife and froze as she thought of what was he going to do with the Knife.

The girl had her body all tightened up and out of shape, she was already on the verge of tears. J4 shook his head lightly at her before he pulled the side of her shirt up a couple of inches on her nondominant side.

Natsu immediately bit her lip, but just then as he hooked the hem of her pants with his finger, she felt something else. Looking down, blinking as he retracted his hand, she stared down at the knife he had hooked to her belt.

"You are no longer in a safe place," J4 said as the others were turning around to see what was keeping them. "Keep your knife where you can use it, otherwise beasts and other people can get the best of you."

"...I-I don't know how to use a knife against someone..." Natsu breathed out in a soft mumble as her head tilted downward, loose tears from her assumption falling to the soil at her feet.

"Once we get temporarily settled, I will teach you how, but first we have to work on your awareness of your surroundings. You didn't even notice me rummaging through your bag." J4 pointed out one of her flaws as he lightly put two fingers under her chin to raise her head to have her face look up to him. She still looked like she was on the verge of sobbing, indicating she was normally a crybaby or traumatized from being bullied too often in the last world.

"You... You were looking through my bag... F-For how long?" The first few times she blinked, tears oozed down the side of her face, making her cheeks sticky with salt.

"The entire time," Jakku sighed at her before releasing her chin, "Now let's get to the landing so we can collect our only flotation device."

"I agree!" Semimaru shouted after them, clearly impatient.

"Stop antagonizing her, would you?" Arashi hushed him, shoving him in the side with his elbow.

Semimaru stumbled before turning to Arashi, ready to throw his fists in the air to start a fight. "Oi! You wanna go School President!?"

"Knock it off, the two of you. You can have your fun once we have everything in order." Botan seemed to constantly speak in a strict tone, certainly being someone of authority and plausibly the most mature individual present on the Island as she was also the only adult.

For a split moment, before they turned around, Botan and J4 made eye contact. With a swift mutual nod towards one another, they began walking as a group once more.

It didn't take too long before they arrived at what they could call base camp. They had finally returned to the cliff overlooking the sea and their landing location.

Botan, Arashi, and Semimaru had all gone down to the float to decompress it and pack it up for future use. All the while, Jakku, and Natsu remained at overwatch, making sure nothing approached them from above.

Despite their under-preparedness, Jakku felt as if they would survive as long as they worked together. His gaze shifted to Natsu as she removed her pack and placed it on the ground. He raised a brow as she also took off her jacket and wrapped it around her waist as sweat was visibly running down the side of her forehead.

She was overheating, so it seemed or felt uncomfortable. Jakku wasn't quite sure what she was feeling or why she had removed the Jacket. He felt comfortable in the climate, to him it was like sitting at room temperature. However, the only reason for that was he had been genetically modified with the genome of a tropical bug.

Turning his gaze to the others, he noticed that the float had been added rolled up and added to Botan's backpack. "Are you all alright down there?"

"We're fine, Jakku-san, we'll be up in a few minutes!" Arashi shouted up to him with a chuckle.

After the three of them climbed the cliff face and reached the top, the two helped them over onto the grassy surface one person at a time. So once everyone was topside, they all grouped into a circle to talk in such a way that they could watch each other's backs.

"We are really in deep here..." Semimaru groaned aloud as he could feel his stomach growling.

Botan looked over towards Semimaru for a few seconds and parted her lips before saying, "We could have landed somewhere more extreme... Even inhospitable."

"Oh-oh! Like Dinosaurs or something?" Semimaru threw up his hands in feigned hysteria.

"Giant Rats and man-eating plants," Jakku interjected abruptly with a simper.

Semimaru let his arms fall to his sides hearing about a giant rat which was new compared to what he had said about the man-eating plants. "Now you're just pulling my head, bug-man..." He sighed before aggressively ruffling his orange hair. "Aaah! I'm hungry!"

"I had to run from one within the first few minutes I woke up... That wasn't fun," J4 hadn't been ready to fight and since he had found evidence of human life, he had to leave that Island.

"Perhaps we should leave a signal for a plane or something, should they pass overhead?" Arashi's gaze traced the sky, only to find there was no evidence of airplanes anywhere.

"If what Jakku-san said about the Earth being hit by a Meteor, it is unlikely any plane would be in the air, let alone functional. We can't stand around and just wait for rescue either, especially if there isn't going to be one," Botan let out a deep breath through her nose as she spoke before slowly inhaling. Her eyes tracked back to the green tops of the trees that lead off towards the mountain range. "In this case, we're going to have to find food and shelter soon."

"Does everyone have their things?" Jakku asked as he looked over everyone, seeing as they were pulling their packs onto their backs if they had put them down.

"We've got everything, I think." Arashi shifted his shoulders under the straps of his bag.

"Alright, listen. Since everyone has their things," Botan took over, "We should start looking for food and shelter." Her eyes darted over the teens before readying herself to move out.

"Oh..." Natsu peeped aloud with a bright red flushing face as the main three were walking away, though J4 remained, "I need to use the toilet..."

"Am I your school tea--" Botan began as if she was going to scold her for even asking.

"It is good she let us know," Jakku interrupted suddenly overriding what she was about to say. "If we are to survive, we must know where each member of the party is at all times... That comes to say... We must also have some sort of buddy system. No one can be alone at any one time when in a danger zone." To him, this was basic knowledge, typical for survival in both the old and new worlds. If you wanted to protect yourself from strangers, you brought a friend along. It was very much the same here.

Botan blinked at him as he had interrupted her, only to slowly nod once more to him. The way he worded it was rather understandable to her and just about everyone else in the group.

Jakku then turned his attention back to Natsu before Semimaru could finish his approach, "Would you allow me to guard your back? I won't look as long as everything goes smoothly," he held out his hand with his pinky out for her to take.

Natsu blinked up at him and seemed to smile at the offer since it was a genuine offer and she slowly reached up and hooked her pinky with his. So far, she was able to trust him when it came to his words, despite her earlier assumptions.

For the first time in a long time, she was happy and that was because he had been continuously nice to her, and even intentionally standing between her and Semimaru. "Th-thank you..."

Semimaru frowned seeing as Natsu agreed to this, his eyes shifting between the two before turning on his heel. It was noticeable that he was unhappy, but that didn't stop him from storming off. "There you go again... Stealing my prey again..." His words didn't reach anyone's ears.

Arashi who noticed his discontent followed after him, Botan following behind them after giving the two pinky locked teens a glance.

"We're going to rest over here!" Botan announced to the boys, "If you need to go do your business, do it now. If you need to do it later, tell us all beforehand."

"Right, right~!" Semimaru huffed irritatedly.

As the others were setting up a temporary resting space, Natsu and Jakku walked off into the forests once more to find a suitable place for her to answer mother nature's call.

They walked for a few minutes, though the smell that Jakku was getting was strange. In the trees, there were bugs, but there was also something else here. It wasn't a bug. What he was smelling did not line up with his knowledge of the outside world, at least what it was prior to being placed into cryogenic stasis. Leeches were in trees. Leeches were not supposed to climb trees or be outside of water, as they didn't travel along the ground.

Avoiding panic, J4 didn't say a word. Instead, he continued to lead her through the wooded area, narrowly slapping any leech away that dared to fall towards her with the back of his hand.

Just like with the backpack, Natsu was low on her environmental awareness, she didn't notice the leeches. A general frown formed over his lips as they found an area nestled between several bushes and trees.

"Is... Is this a good place?" Her legs squirmed, her thighs pressing together, she had to go.

Letting out a sigh, he looked up to the trees and then back down to her as he nodded. "Yes," he voiced so that she would turn around and pull down her pants as she took a squatting position.

With his back to her, he kept vigilant. The Pheromones of female leeches was pungent in this area, it was mating season for them, and that was undoubtedly clear.

Out of all of the other series within the Human Evolution Facility he had been residing in, none of the creatures were based off of a leech. The reason being the thirst for blood, although a human leech actually may have been of use if properly maintained.

Closing his eyes he could hear her begin, it was like small rain of sorts. His eyes then opened again a few seconds later, his blade extending from his right forearm, "Are you done yet?"

"...Al-almost!" Natsu squeaked as her hands squeezed her knees.

At that moment, he swings his arm back without looking, the blade he had extended ripped through a falling leech that was coming down from directly above her. Blood splattered like a thin fan of crimson red, the force alone causing the black slimy Hirudinea to burst, in all directions above her.

Startled, Natsu fell back against his legs. "EEEEH!?"

"It was a leech..." Jakku glanced down to see her arms wrapped awkwardly around his legs, as she tried to keep herself from sitting her bare butt upon the ground. Which he couldn't deny, was a good plan. "Are you finished?"

"Y-Yes!" Natsu cried as she scrambled to her feet, quickly wiping herself with a toilet from her pocket and pulled up her pants. She went as far as to buckle her belt first before zippering her pants up and button them. "Th-thank you..."

However, when she went ahead and turned around, she froze seeing the massive blade extended from his forearm that looked very much like that of a hand belonging to a Mantis.

The blade itself was not fleshy colored, but it wasn't metal either. It was made out of what appeared to be a white biological material, with purple highlight along its top section. Much like a samurai swords it was sharp and wedged, but what characterized it most was the teeth that were along the curved blade's edge.

"W-what...is..."

"Don't be alarmed," Jakku simply smiled at her as the blade itself began retracted into his arm, hidden beneath the membrane which kept it out of sight. The bodily weapon was gone within seconds of her noticing it. "It is what I will use to protect you as long as it's suitable. I'll never use them to harm you..."

Natsu slowly nodded, her eyes on his arm before looking up at him, sniffling slightly. Slipping her thumbs under the straps of her pack. "W-we should get back t-to the others..."

Jakku nodded lightly to her before draping an arm along her shoulders, a small grin across his lips as he lead her back towards where the others were supposedly resting.

Rather than rush their way back, he simply took his time. Natsu didn't seem to mind, but now she was looking up towards the trees, glancing down to the ground, and even skimming the bushes. Whether or not her fear was promoting this form of awareness, didn't seem bad at all. He was rather happy that her alertness level has risen, considering all the facts. Though he still noticed a number of her thoughts were still stuck in her head. Part of him wished she just spoke up more often, but he knew that would take a bit longer before she became socially outgoing.

While he was worried about her, she was concerned for him. The people they found themselves with were human, and humans feared the unknown. While they accepted his wings, the likeliness of them accepting him as a walking talking weapon was another issue.

Seeing as those weapons of his were gone, hidden within his arms, Natsu kept her eyes on him while facing forward. With his arm draped over her shoulders though, she felt rather comforted.

"I am rather curious though, for someone as cute as you... Did you not have someone back in the previous world?" He was aware of her being a shut-in, but there were always people out there which had the most uncommon of luck.

"...No one was interested in me, no one could be," Natsu looked up at him as she felt that she had this conversation with him already. Though it was obvious to her that he was into her, the amount of closeness that he's shown her was nearly unbelievable to her. "Well... Maybe...One..."

The look she made was of self-contempt, self-loathing as if she saw herself as selfish, all while now averting her gaze from him after speaking.

"Can?" J4 leaned down as to bring his face close to hers as she was looking away from him.

"...Mhm..." Her head nodded as her black bob cut swayed with the movement.

His eyes drifted down to her hands, feeling her shoulders tense a bit, he could see her fingers were balled up into fists.

Natsu could sense how close he was, she could feel his breath on her neck from the border of her personal space. "...How...?"

"Pardon?" Jakku raised a brow as she began to ask a question, but her voice was betraying her and fading out into a calm oblivion.

"...How can you be... So Cheerful?" Natsu's eyes were now on him as she turned her head to face him partially, allowing her to see the bridge of her nose in the process. "After... Going through so much..."

Jakku chuckled quietly as she asked him this question, how he could be outwardly positive and strangely cheerful, and even closer to her than anyone else. "Why does a clown smile?"

A clown fakes a smile, wearing one in order to cheer others up, or put on a facade to distract themselves from reality. Natsu immediately thought this and insignificantly lowered her head, once more holding a faint and subtle smile across her lips.

He was no different than her, except she didn't hide behind a smile, but it didn't mean he was any stronger. Was that the reason why he clung to her almost immediately? Went out of his way to protect her? No, that didn't correlate with his actions and how much time he had been around her.

"You should probably put on your long sleeve top," Jakku quietly said as he removed his arm from her shoulders, fixing his posture as they were reaching the edge of the forest. "Don't want to be covered in leeches if they for some reason drop down from the treetops again..."