7 Awakening

Chapter 7 : Awakening

The first sight to welcome Kaito after a night of peaceful sleep was Sylvia. More specifically Sylvia unclothed, the White Queen was currently getting dressed just a few meters away from where Kaito slept.

*What do I do in this situation? Should I say something…?* Kaito pondered the question even as he took in the sights of Sylvia's large breasts. Her long, golden hair fell down along her back, stopping a few centimeters short of her butt.

"Oh! Kaito. You're awake." She remarked, she seemed oblivious to the fact that he was staring so intently at her breasts. She spun to face him, causing them to bounce and jiggle in the process.

"Morning.." Kaito offered up rather hastily. If he wasn't awake before, he definitely was now.

"How are you feeling? Are your feet still bothering you?" Kaito followed up, even as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. He had to make a real effort not to stare.

"I'm great. I healed them earlier this morning." Sylvia replied as she pulled Artemis' black undershirt down over her torso then began dressing in her traditional healer's garb. It too seemed clean, perhaps she'd been up much earlier than Kaito initially believed, to have already done some laundry.

"Good. Those wounds were starting to worry me. That will make our journey today much easier." Kaito said as he stretched a bit before finding a shirt to wear. He had only one and it was stained with blood -- still.

"Kaito.. Are you feeling okay? You don't have any lingering injuries do you? My mana hasn't fully recovered but I can still heal you. Just tell me..right away if something's wrong." Sylvia walked over and lifted his chin so that she could examine him. All throughout Kaito struggled to keep the image of her breasts from clouding his better judgement. And making his morning difficult to explain.

"I'm fine. No worries. A little sore, but none worse for the wear." Kaito said as he gently took Sylvia's hand away from his face and caressed it.

"Hmm.. Okay.." Sylvia seemed skeptical of Kaito's response, but he was 100% sure that her suspicion wasn't in line with the reality of things. He simply needed some distance to avoid getting a hard on.

"Well. Anyway, let's grab something to eat and then we can be on our way-- oh, that reminds me. I need to check to see if the barricade has been disturbed." Kaito pulled his shirt over his bare chest and got to his feet.

"It's fine. I didn't notice any problems this morning." Sylvia offered, even as Kaito walked past her.

"Never hurts to check. I need to take care of a few other things as well. I'll be back." Kaito said as he disappeared down the stairs. He realized it would take quite some time to remove the junk blocking the exit and he didn't want to wet himself -- time was of the essence!

He quickly passed the second floor and made his way to the front door. As Sylvia mentioned, the barricade was undisturbed. In fact, it seemed to Kaito that everything looked exactly how it was left.

It only took him a couple of minutes to push the couch to the side and remove enough broken furniture to squeeze through the door. He gazed around cautiously, just in case any monsters were about, even as he pulled his member out to relieve himself.

*Nothing in sight. Maybe… maybe the trek home will be uneventful. Please, let the trip home be uneventful.* Kaito thought as he finished the deed and made his way back into the treehouse. On his way in he noticed a heap of bloody bandages laying on the ground.

*These must be Sylvia's. They look so saturated with blood. She must have really been in pain…* Kaito thought as he inspected the bandages. He then made his way upstairs to Sylvia.

Despite the previous day's events Kaito felt good. At least, as long as he didn't dwell on certain subjects. He made some food using items in the food pantry and even sat down at a table to enjoy the meal.

"Sylvia.. Are you going to eat? We've got a three hour walk ahead of us." Kaito was busy scarfing his food down, even as Sylvia sat across from him and watched.

"Oh, no. I'm not hungry. I've already eaten." She replied. Kaito shrugged and continued enjoying his morning meal. Soon the two were doing some final preparations for their trip back to civilization.

"Kaito… I know you want to return to the settlement as quickly as you can but, we should really take another look for Fuu and Artemis' bodies." Sylvia said as she stuffed several supplies into a backsack they'd found.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea Sylvia. They don't seem to be nearby and if we leave the path we're sure to be attacked by monsters. With just the two of us, I doubt we'd get very far." Kaito explained.

"I understand. But I just remembered -- Artemis may have actually had a return token. I checked Fuu's belongings earlier and there was nothing. Artemis has been adventuring longer than any of us so I'm almost positive she would have one." Sylvia explained.

"Even if she doesn't, it's customary to at least bring something back of the deceased. We have some of Fuu's personal belongings but Artemis?"

"Well, what about her shirt -- you can use that right?" Kaito offered. Sylvia shook her head almost immediately.

"It's for the funeral ceremony. Clothing won't work. " Sylvia's expression was one of pleading. Kaito found it difficult to dismiss it when faced with the beauty behind those eyes.

He sighed before replying, "Fine, fine. But...we can't take long. If we don't find anything by noon then we need to head out!"

"Great. Thank you Kaito." Sylvia's smile was enough reward for him. It was obvious to Kaito that she needed some type of closure. He just wasn't too keen on risking his life for it. Secretly, Kaito also reaffirmed his plan of action. At the slightest hint of danger the two would run regardless of Sylvia's wishes.

*Even if I have to drag you..* He thought as he smiled at Sylvia.

The next few hours were an exercise in futility. Signs of yesterday's battle had already begun to fade and they couldn't find a single clue which might lead them to the corpses of their fallen party mates.

During this time Kaito was forced to deal with unpleasant flashbacks from their battle with the monstrous slime. He replayed each thought over and over until a new one would take its place. It was the first time Kaito had seen death in person, let alone so up close and personal.

Just two hours in Kaito was regretting his promise and an hour later he'd had enough.

"Sylvia. This is..impossible. And dangerous. We can't go on like this." Kaito protested. Meanwhile Sylvia was pushing to continue the search.

"But if we find Artemis I'm sure we will save a ton of walking." Sylvia said, undeterred by his insistence to abandon the fruitless endeavor. She was currently wading further and further into the forest -- her hypothesis on their survival had been centered around a "mystery person" saving them both for the past hour now. Thus she wanted to backtrack almost an hour to the cavern to have a better look at the surroundings there.

"We could have made it back to the settlement by now if we'd have left earlier." Kaito said. He was trying to keep his cool but aggravation slowly began to creep over him. Or perhaps it had been there all along and he ignored it?

"That assumes we won't run into monsters. They sometimes wander on the path too. What if we run into a bear or a pack of wolves?" Sylvia asked, finally stopping her activities to face him.

"Then we run. Or escape to the treehouse and try again. We have a base, here with plenty of food and a place to rest. We can try as many times as we need -- we're just limited by daylight. Monsters are more active at night, which means most monsters are asleep during the day. It makes more sense to go now, rather than wait any longer." Kaito laid out his case as calmly as he possibly could, still he made a point to be very insistent. In the end it worked in his favor.

Sylvia stood with her arms folded, staring at him for the longest time without motion or sound. Finally she nodded her head and said, "Okay… Fine. You're right. I… I knew you were right all along. I just… I miss them..Kaito.."

He quickly moved to embrace Sylvia even as the first tear rolled down her cheek.

"I know. I'm sorry Sylvia. But..we can't change what's done. We should take the safest route out of here so that their deaths weren't in vain." Kaito explained further, even as he hugged the crying woman firmly.

After she sobbed into his arms for a while, Sylvia lifted her head to meet his gaze.

"I need to get something. It's very important and I can't just leave it behind. Can we visit the treehouse one more time before we leave?" She asked.

"Of course." Kaito answered without hesitation, a trip back to their base was a small price to pay in terms of having Sylvia on his side.

After a short walk the two adventurers found themselves back on the third floor of the treehouse. Kaito waited near the stairs while Sylvia walked the row of beds in search of her lost item.

"Kaito. Can you help me out for a second?" She said suddenly. He turned to find her gazing at him as she pointed towards a nearby bed.

"Hmm? What is it?" He asked.

"I'm sure I dropped it under here but...I.. well.." Sylvia's face began to turn blush red as she stumbled to find an acceptable way of conveying her thoughts.

"I would get it but I'm not wearing any panties..so.." She finally said as she averted her gaze.

"Oh. OH!" Kaito was twice struck by realization, even more so as he remembered last night and the day previous. He'd been quite shocked to discover that the White Queen went commando.

Kaito quickly dropped to his knees and did as requested.

"What am I looking for? I don't see anything." He said.

"It should be near the head of the bed. Look there." Sylvia pointed.

Kaito shifted his weight and crawled further towards the top of the bed, straining his eyes to see. Although the house was well lit with sun crystals the underside of the bed was a completely different story.

"Yea. Right there Kaito.." Sylvia repeated again. Kaito thought he saw something, though he wasn't entirely sure what it was. He reached beneath the bed, extending his arm as far as possible before his fingertips finally brushed up against a phantom object.

"There it is. I got it--"

Next was a blinding flash of light, Kaito then felt the unmistakable sensation of a heavy blow on the temple. The hit was enough to send him crashing to the floor. It was clean, efficient and accurate. He struggled to make sense of what transpired, even as his eyes began to slowly close. All he could see was the visage of Sylvia staring down at him. That and the color red, a sinister glow which seemed to emanate from Sylvia's stare.