2 Chapter 1: The Reason (Part 2 of 2)

"I-I, you said her n-name several t-times in your sl-sleep," Anna replies. Though, it doesn't seem as he believes her since he takes a step forward, grabbing her upper arm with enough strength that it feels as though he is about to break it.

"Don't you fucking lie to me! WHERE DID YOU HEAR HER NAME?!" Kai asks again, his voice getting louder and louder.

"I-I'm not lying…I-I prom-promise."

Kai looks into the crystal blue eyes of the teary-eyed kitsune. Giving her an intimidating look, and one filled with blood-lust, but Kai doesn't see anything telling him that she is lying. Either she was telling the truth, or she is a damn good liar, but Kai can't bring himself to press the blade any deeper to continue his interrogation. No matter how much strength he puts in his arm to push the blade even slightly deeper, his arm won't move an inch. Kai clicks his tongue and releases Anna's arm, retracting the blade, and he walks towards the sheath on the ground, picking it up and slipping it in one of his belts, and he ties it to the loop before sheathing the katana and looks back at Anna.

"I never wanna see your face ever again."

Kai says in a low voice and takes a few steps forward before stopping. A white light appears underneath him and takes the form of the face of a clock. The minute hand spins clockwise while the hour hand spins counter-clockwise until both hands hit twelve and the chime of a grandfather clock rings out for a few seconds before stopping. As quickly as the light came, the light vanishes, and Kai is nowhere to be seen. He had disappeared in the blink of an eye. Anna looks around for a minute before she begins sniffing the air, but even her nose, which is as powerful as a fox, can't pick up his scent.

He had completely vanished. Anna ponders if she should go look for Kai and apologize for bringing up the name of someone he clearly holds dear to him. She might not know the details, but she knows enough to know why he reacted like that. Because she was no longer among them… She isn't alive anymore. But, even if she couldn't tell that from his reaction, she would have been able to tell from his eyes. Yeah, they were filled with rage and blood-lust…But… He looked so sad… Almost like he was trying to hold back tears. Anna shakes her head slightly, giving up on trying to look for Kai, and instead, decides to go talk to the one person she knows, knows him best… Well, the second person who knows him best, since the person who knows him best is currently heading to a different country for some type of training.

Anna closes her eyes, and her body becomes surrounded by light soon after until her body is just a silhouette of white light. Anna places her hands on the ground, and her body begins to transform. The bedsheet tearing off of her body as she does so. There are clothing made specifically for demi-humans, which doesn't tear if you transform in them, but the bedsheet wasn't one of those since it was made to sleep in and not meat to wear. Crap…I forgot. Anna says and gives a small sigh as she had finish transforming. In her fox form, she stood slightly under ninety-one centimeters, being only eighty-three centimeters. But, she was only thirteen, so she still had some growing to do. Anna looks around at her surroundings, trying to remember what direction the farm is from her position. She was there two days ago, so she had a general idea of the location. If she remembers right, the farm should be in the direction of the rising sun, meaning she will have to go through the village to get there, but she chooses to avoid that and go the long way around.

Anna begins running through the forest, avoiding anyone and going around the village until she comes out of the forest and there is nothing but plains as far as the eye can see. From her current position, it will take Anna around ten minutes to reach the farm, since, in her fox form, she can run up to thirty miles in an hour. Soon enough, she reaches the wooden fence of the farm after nine minutes. Instead of using the front gate, Anna instead decided to jump over the wooden gate to save herself a few seconds, which scared the heck out of a sunbaked middle-aged man tending to the cows.

"What the?!? A-are you the fox my daughter told me about? You have three tails…"

The middle-aged man asks, fascinated by the beautiful golden fur of the fox slowly approaching him. Though Anna could technically speak in this form, though it sounds like her voice is echoing from everywhere but nowhere at the same time, she decides it is best not to, and just nods while the middle-aged man runs inside to fetch her daughter. Her daughter had told her father everything he needed to know, one of them being if he ever saw a fox demi-human with three tails, to fetch her immediately without any delay, no questions asked. Which he does so. Anna closes her eyes and light surrounds her body once more, transforming back into her human form and she stands upright. However, she is now completely naked, which is something she forgot.

"ANNA! YOUR CLOTHES!!!!!!"

Anna hears the shout of a young girl and turns to see a scarlet-haired woman in black overalls with a sleeveless white shirt underneath. Her sunbaked skin indicating she spends a lot of time in the sun, and with her arm waving in the air to get her attention, you can see her pale white skin underneath her shirt. Her hair reaching just past her shoulders with her bangs covering her left eye slightly, but Anna could still see both of her emerald green eyes through the gaps of her hair from her current position, even if she is a good ways away. Anna looks down as soon as her words clicked in her head and saw her porcelain white skin, which appears to be glowing in the sunlight. Anna could see that the middle-aged man, the girl's father, is beginning to step out of the house, which causes Anna to quickly jump behind one of the cows walking nearby to cover herself.

"D-D-DON'T LOOK!!!!!!"

Anna shouts. Believe it or not, but kitsune are extremely sensitive on who they allow to see them naked. They have no problems allowing people of the same sex look at them but are very picky about allowing people from the opposite sex to see them without any clothing. Like actual, full-blooded foxes, kitsunes tend to mate for life, so their first lover tends to be their only lover, and they believe only their lover can see their naked body. Though in Anna's situation, multiple men had already seen her naked, only one of them is still alive. But for whatever reason, the thought of Kai seeing her naked doesn't bother her in the slightest, though she does still get embarrassed. Is it because he had already seen her naked? Or is it because she has secret feelings for him which had yet to surface? A combination of both? Or something else entirely? All she knows is, she doesn't want for the girl's father to see her naked, and the girl knows that as well.

"DAD! GET BACK INSIDE AND BRING ME A BLANKET!" The girl yells, and the man does as he is told as though he is being scolded by his wife. But, Anna knows that is not the case. The scarlet-haired girl walks over to the cow and begins soothing it to prevent it from moving so Anna can stay still.

"There, there, Beth. Everything will be okay. Anna, what brings you here all of a sudden? Did something happen to Kai?" The girl asks.

"No… Well… Kinda… I mean… It's my fault, Lissa." Anna says and looks down, her voice growing quieter with each word.

Lissa is one of Kai's childhood friends, and they had known each other since he was ten, and Lissa was nine. She is someone who has known Kai for the longest, excluding the other person who had known Kai since she was five and he was eight.

"What… Did you do?" Lissa asks, her voice slightly shaking. Lissa's father comes back with a blanket and hands it to Lissa, who then walks around the cow and places it around her. When Lissa's father tried to take a peek at the beautiful young girl, her daughter's dagger-like stare sent cold sweat down his spine, and he stops. Even though Anna is of age to be considered an adult, it was still creepy for a man in his mid-thirties to look at someone who is less than half his age. As punishment, Lissa ordered her father to finish all of his work without any break time.

In a way, Lissa was the man in their father-daughter relationship. To an outsider, their relationship would seem sketchy, since they act more like lovers than father and daughter. But, they really are just father and daughter. Ever since Lissa's mother died from an illness, Lissa took it upon herself to act more like an adult, despite the wishes of her father objecting to it because he wanted her to be a kid. Lissa managed to do both though. Acting like a kid with Kai and her friends, while acting like an adult when she helped out around the house. Her father truly cares for her and would do anything to protect his daughter. Even scaring off potential lovers who he didn't see worthy of holding her daughter's hand in marriage. To repay her for her kindness, he would do anything to make sure she has the best husband she can get to live a comfortable life and one where she didn't need to worry about her old man anymore. Her father was the father any person could ever hope to have, which is why she works so hard to make his life less stressful… But she does add her own level of stress to the mix when need be.

Anna and Lissa walk inside the house, and Lissa pours some green tea in a cup and serves it to Anna before pouring herself a cup, and the two sit down in the kitchen table with four chairs to have their conversation, with Lissa's father being visible through the kitchen window. It was her way of keeping an eye on him in case he needed help. Anna takes a sip of the green tea, having trouble swallowing it since tea was never her favorite drink, but it would be rude to Lissa if she outright refused to drink it. Anna then begins telling Lissa what had happened since this morning, and how she asked Kai who Flora was. Anna could see Lissa's eyes looking away and towards the floor, tears welling up in her eyes the moment she mentioned Flora as well.

Anna also knew that Lissa knows who Flora was, and they too had a deep connection. But how deep, was something she never thought of. Before Lissa responds, she gets up and walks towards her room, grabbing a folded up piece of leather before coming back out and handing it to Anna. Anna unfolds the leather and sees a realistic painting of a young boy with blue hair, a girl with scarlet-red hair, and a girl with golden-blond hair. The boy being Kai, the scarlet haired girl being Lissa, and the golden-blond hair, Flora, according to Lissa.

The painting was one of them when they were younger, and Kai was giving a smile she had never seen him make. But, there was a second painting behind the first one, and the second one was more recent than the last. The first painting was of them when they were ten, and this new painting wasn't even a year old at this point. This new painting was giving the same energy as the last one, Kai in the middle, and to his right is Lissa, and Flora to his left. But what catches her eye after the heart-warming smile Kai is giving, is a wedding ring in a necklace around Kai and Flora's neck. After that, Anna noticed how similar she looked to Flora. Their hair was the same color, Anna's hair is around the same length as Flora's, their smile, their eyes, even the way they tilt their head to the side was similar, although Anna tilted her head more towards the right than the left. It could have just been because of the way she is positioned in the painting. The only real difference between them was their eye color, Flora's were emerald green, and her hairstyle was wavy, while Anna's was straight, so it was possible that Flora had longer hair.

"… Flora… Is my cousin… She was also, the person engaged to Kai… Until recently." Lissa says, her shaky voice clearly saying she rather not talk about it. Anna opened her mouth to say that she doesn't have to say anything, but Lissa shook her head before Anna could say anything, knowing full well what she was about to say.

"What I'm about to tell you… Don't tell Kai that I ever told you… I want him to tell you this one day… On his own accord. Because when he does tell you, it will mean he is beginning to move forward with his life, instead of looking back."

Anna sits at the table, her hands wrapped around the teacup and taking a few sips. Lissa begins telling Anna what she knows about Kai's past to give her some context. Kai's mother died giving birth to him, choosing to save Kai's life rather than hers when giving the option. Because they had to perform a c-section to deliver Kai, and because the birth was so sudden, the only doctor who could perform the c-section perfectly had gone out of town to help another family who was giving birth to triplets. Kai's mother was giving the option of saving her own life, and aborting Kai, or to go with the c-section, but she will likely die afterwards. She didn't even think of the options, she chooses Kai's life over hers the moment the words left the nurses mouth.

From what Kai's dad had told him, she had been able to hold him for thirty minutes, before she passed on, holding Kai in her arms as her life left her body. It wasn't until she had died that Kai began crying like he knew he would never be able to see his beautiful mother again. Kai's father had raised Kai by himself, giving all his love and attention to Kai, giving him everything he will ever need in life, even teaching him how to fight so he would be someone strong who could protect anyone. When Kai was five, his father died trying to protect him from a man wearing crimson armor, which is how Kai became an orphan. Kai was eight years old when Ethan, Kai's master, had found him and took him under his wing, one of the reasons being because he was the man who also trained his father, and he knew how much Kai meant to his now-deceased student. Ethan had spent three years looking for Kai, and he wasn't going to stop until he found him, even if it killed him.

When Kai was ten, that was when she first met Kai, when Flora introduced him to her. Lissa also gave a bit of information to Anna about Flora. Flora, like Kai, was also an orphan. Though, it wasn't the same as Kai. Her parents were still alive, but they abandoned her because they couldn't deal with the stress of dealing with a child since they were rather young themselves, both being twelve when they had her and they left her behind in their old house one night while they ran away from all the responsibility. Lissa's father had a bad feeling and went to his brother's house to find Flora, nothing but skin and bones, sitting in a corner and eating a rat which was barely alive.

Flora acted like a wild animal rather than a human when he tried to get close to her, but he managed to calm her down and he fed her before bringing her home with him to stay with them. If he ever meets his brother…Needless to say, he will kick his ass for what he did to his niece — leaving a four-year-old girl to fend for herself because of his stupid actions. Fast forward to when Flora was ten, she met Kai in the village she was visiting with her uncle to deliver food, and the moment she met Kai, something about him caught her attention. She later found out it was his eyes. Kai's eyes were filled with emptiness, much like her eyes before she opened up to Lissa. It took her a while before she mustered the courage to go talk to him, to which he blew her off immediately, but she didn't give up and kept going. Day after day, she will go out of her way to find Kai and try talking to him.

After five days of annoying him none stop, he slapped her across the face. It was sudden, but she had a feeling that he didn't mean to do it, and once he realized what he did, she could see regret in his eyes, and he ran away. It wasn't until four days later when she approached Kai one last time, giving him a letter because he was leaving. She didn't blame Kai for striking her, she actually expected it, but that wasn't what the letter said. The letter was her reasoning for "annoying" him, and about her past, the one she never told anyone but Lissa about. After Kai read the letter, he ran to meet Flora who said she would wait at the place he struck her, if he wants to tell her goodbye in person. Kai reached the place, and he apologized to Flora. She forgave Kai of course, and Kai began talking to Flora for the first time. Kai didn't know why, but something about her had left an impression on him. When she hadn't approached him in those four days, and he missed her company. He then opened up to her and told her everything Lissa had just told Anna. Ethan saw the bond these two shared and decided it would be best for Kai if they made the village their perinate home, so he bought a house there. After three months, Kai and Flora began noticing they had feelings for each other, and the two started dating when they confessed their love for each other. By this time, Lissa had already met Kai when Flora invited her to play with them, and the three were inseparable.

Every so often, another girl showed up who worked at a church and played with them. The girl was the person Kai met when he was eight, in his early years with Ethan. Kai had saved her life, and she dedicated her life to repay him back, by giving her life to him. This was strange to Kai, but because she was of a different species, a demi-human, Kai didn't really have any romantic feeling towards her. When Lissa turned ten, Kai and Flora both being eleven, Lissa notice she was also developing feelings for Kai, but she kept them hidden for Flora's sake, though she didn't do a very good job at it.

A few weeks after both of them turned twelve, Kai proposed to Flora, asking for her hand in marriage once both of them turned thirteen, and she wept with happiness and accepted. Both her father and Ethan felt this would eventually happen. Both of them could tell how much they loved each other. These two were the perfect match, always in sync and always cheering each other up when the other felt down. If someone messed with Kai, Flora would teach them a lesson and vice versa. When others tried to steal her away from Kai, she made sure to humiliate them for even trying to steal her love for themselves, and in public too. Even the village knew of their love, and they celebrated once they heard the news, which embarrassed the two of them greatly. After proposing, they spent most of their time together, from every waking moment, until the sun had set, and they even spent the night together most of the time. Not to do anything sexual, but because they didn't want to be apart. Flora and Kai both respected the idea of not having any sexual relationships until they were married, since he didn't want it to seem like he just wanted her for her body, and that was how she was raised.

Then, one unfaithful day, the man covered from head to toe in crimson armor showed himself before Kai, and in his rage from remembering he took his father away from him, he chased after him, with Flora following when she was informed that Kai was chasing a man with his katana. The moment she heard the man was wearing crimsons armor, she knew Kai was going to try and get his revenge, and she was worried for his safety. Lissa doesn't know what happened, because the only person who knows what truly happened was Kai. She overheard Ethan and her father talking after Flora's funeral. According to Ethan, Kai had been beaten until he couldn't move, no matter how hard he tried, and Flora had been made a plaything right before Kai's eyes, while he couldn't move to even save her.

When Ethan finally found Kai, he was holding Flora's lifeless body in the rain, his voice died out from his screams, and he had cried everything he could. Ethan couldn't even take Flora out of his arms, and he resulted in knocking Kai out to take Flora away from him and head back to the village. Needless to say, that Lissa broke out crying when she heard all this, which surprised her father and Ethan that she was eavesdropping in the first place because they wanted to keep it from her until she was much older. Lissa's father tried his best to comfort her, and Ethan headed back to check up on Kai, since he wasn't doing so good at Flora's funeral and seeing how much he was hurt, brought tears to everyone's eyes since they all saw Kai like a member of their own family. Even the father who was overseeing the funeral was brought to tears. He didn't know Kai, but seeing how broken someone so young could become was hard for him as well. A week later, Lissa got news that Ethan was killed five days ago when a beaten Kai was laying on her doorstep.

When Ethan reached the house that night, Kai was gone, and so were his weapons. Ethan knew what he was trying to do, he was going to try and get revenge once more. Not only did this man steal his father, but he also stole his fiancée from him, and now he stole his Master. Kai dragged Ethan's body back, and yet another funeral was held, but Kai didn't show up, because he had been resting in Lissa's house. After a rather emotional chat with him, Kai had fled the village that day, and the people who saw him leave all said the same thing.

"Dark clouds were hanging over his head. The Kai they all knew had died along with Flora and Ethan…"

Lissa finishes her story. Both her and Anna had tears running down their faces. Anna knew that Flora was dead, but she didn't know the details of it, and knowing that Kai had suffered so much, made her upset because when she brought her name up, she also brought up the memories of what is possibly his greatest failure. His failure as a man, and his failure as a soon to be husband, since it was only a few months before they turned thirteen. Lissa then tells Anna, that Kai more than anything, wishes he could just die, and leave all of this pain and suffering behind him. But, Flora had told Kai that she believed people who committed suicide, were reborn into this same world, but there will be no people and no animals. In this world, you would never grow old, you will never go hungry or starve, and you cannot die. You would spend eternity in this hell, never being able to see your loved ones ever again. This thought greatly scared him, since the reason he wants to die is to see Flora again, maybe even see his father and mother who would accept him with open arms if he chooses to live his life. But that doesn't mean this isn't hard on him. Even now, he is trying so hard to tell himself that she is gone.

"Anna… You remind him of Flora… You look just like her… And you have the same energy she has… It's the reason he did everything he did for you because if he let you die; it will be like he failed her again… That… That is why he doesn't want anything to do with you anymore… Because he knows you are not her, and that isn't fair to you as a person."

The pieces of the puzzle began falling into place, and Anna could now see the picture in Kai's head. It was fate that brought Kai to her that faithful day, and when he saw her, he probably believed she was Flora. Seeing Anna in the position she was in, naked and about to be violated, more than likely reminded him of what happened to her, and he killed them all without mercy. But, he quickly knew she wasn't Flora and tried to sever his ties with her because it would just be tormenting for him.

When she got that parasite, he didn't stop until she felt better, because he still couldn't break the feeling that she reminded him of Flora. They had travel for two months since he saved her, and he never truly opened up to her, he didn't even remove his helmet in front of her, never even showed her his face until a week ago when he was having a breakdown, and he immediately took his helmet off and began banging his head on the ground. Every so often when he calmed down, he told Anna to take him to Lissa's place, that she can help him, and when she did, Lissa sent Anna to get the girl at the church, she had the power to help Kai. The process was to seal parts of his memory to lessen the pain to his heart because it was tearing him apart inside. This was why he didn't remember Anna when he woke up this morning.

"Anna, Kai… He is still a good man… He is someone you can put your trust in and believe with all of your heart… You can see it when he protects you… But, it's hard for him, when he is reminded of her. He wants nothing more than to forget that feeling in his heart."

"…"

"But, he can't move past her death. He blames himself for her death, and for Ethan's death. Truth be told, it's his fault, because he went out to find him. Flora and Ethan followed Kai, which leads to their deaths."

"…"

"Anna, do whatever you will with the information you have… I know, asking you to help Kai recover was stupid of me, because I wasn't thinking right when I made that decision. I told you that because I thought that if he had someone who looked like Flora, he could recover, but after thinking, I was wrong. I only caused him more pain. I apologize.

Lissa stands up and gets on her hands and knees in front of Anna to bow to her. Once the memory sealing was finished, she asked Anna to stay by Kai's side, to help him recover, but she now knows how foolish of a mistake that was. Anna gets out of her seat and kneels in front of Lissa, lifting her and telling that isn't necessary.

"Lissa… What do you think of me?"

"… Honestly, it hurts seeing you, because I am reminded of Flora as well. But, you are your own person. You should make the decisions you want to make. Kai was a person who strongly believed that a person has the right to choose the path they want to walk, and he will refuse to let others force someone to do what they don't want to… So, if the old Kai is in there, he will feel the same now."

"But… He tried to get rid of me already."

"But, the fact that you are still here proved he never forced you to stay anywhere. Trust me, if Kai wanted you to stay somewhere, he would have. Think about everything you've seen. If Kai wanted to force something onto you, he could have forced it. If he wanted you to hate him truly, he could have hurt you so badly to the point you will be scared of him, but he didn't. Because in a way, he believed in your choice to follow him."

"But… He still-"

"He left you behind and kept walking. Didn't he?"

"?!?!"

"It's his way of telling you he doesn't want you with him. But he would never force you to it. So, if you truly want to be by his side. Let him know. Scream it from the top of a mountain that you will be by his side…Figuratively of course. But, if you choose to leave him, I won't stop you."

"… Thank you… Lissa… I know what I must do."

"Care to share?"

"It's a secret… Hehe. Also, sorry for bringing bad memories."

"Don't worry about it. It's our own fault for not being able to move past her death. Remember, don't tell Kai I told you any of this… He has to move on, on his own."

"Got it… I'll be borrowing some clothing."

Anna gets up and runs into Lissa's room, grabbing some of her clothing that will fit her before she leaves the room and walks past an open door, peeking inside and spotting a wedding dress in an open closet. Judging from the photos inside the room, Anna could guess this was Flora's room back in the day, left untouched from the day of her death. Seeing the dress stings Anna because it just shows how serious Flora was about this. Wish I could have met her… Anna says to herself before she walks back in the kitchen to give Lissa a quick bow. Because Lissa isn't a demi-human, her clothing wasn't meant for demi-humans, so Anna wouldn't be able to transform without tearing them.

"Oh, Anna! Before you go, I need to tell you a few things."

"Okay?"

After finishing a small conversation with Lissa, Anna heads outside and waves goodbye at Lissa's father who is still tending to the cows, and Anna runs up to the nearby tree just outside the wooden fence. Anna places her hand on the tree and lightly brushes the x carved onto the tree with the tip of her slim fingers before going around it and running in the direction the x was facing. Lissa had asked Anna if she any idea on where to find Kai, to which she answered that she didn't and was going to wait at his house. Lissa then told Anna about a spot that Kai and Flora often frequented, they liked to watch the sunset in that spot, and it was a place he will more than likely be to calm himself down.

After running for around an hour and thirty minutes, Anna reaches the edge of the woods and stops just behind one of the tree's, peeking around to see Kai sitting on the edge of a cliff. There is a sizeable rock a few feet behind him, and Anna could see there is a name carved into the rock. Anna guesses that is some time of gravestone he placed there as if allowing Flora to see the sun setting from her grave, though she knows full well that Flora wouldn't be buried here, or at least she hopes so anyway. Anna steps out from behind the tree and walks over towards Kai, but he doesn't seem to notice her approaching him, or he doesn't care. Kai has one leg up on the edge of the cliff and is resting his chin on his knee with one arm wrapped around it while his other leg dangles over the cliff. Anna sits down a ways behind Kai and scoots up until her legs also dangle over the edge of the cliff, and her eyes widen she looks over the horizon. A sea of trees fills her eyes, and off in the distance, she could see the ocean. Even if she was in her fox form, it would take her a few days to reach the ocean considering it was a ways off. But that didn't mean the sight of everything wasn't breathtaking.

"What are you doing here?" Kai asks, but he doesn't move to face her. Anna glances over at Kai, and she was fixing to tell him that Lissa told her about this spot, but decided it was best not to and just made up a lie.

"I was looking everywhere for you, and I happened to come here. Heh, heh." Anna tilts her head to the slide and sticks her tongue out before hitting her noggin lightly as she gives a cute giggle. Kai looks at her out of the corner of his eyes, and honestly, that had brought a small smile to his lips, but Anna doesn't notice because his arm is covering his mouth. Hours of silence go by before Kai speaks again, and it seems as though he had just remembered what he told her before leaving.

"I thought I told you never to show your face around me again? Why don't you ever listen to me?" Though he still seems irritated with her, there is a hint of calmness in his voice, but Anna chooses not to point it out.

"Kai… What do you think of me?" Kai seems to raise a brow once she asked him the question, though he never once glances in her direction, and only looks at her out of the corner of his eyes.

"Annoying, spoiled, selfish, annoying, irritating, ugly, annoying, rude, stupid, and did I mention annoying?"

Anna blinks a few times, dumbfounded by how he came up with all of that on the fly as though that is what he truly though. He also made it a point to call her annoying multiple times, and she remembers how he also called Flora annoying at first. Anna gives a cute and soft giggle upon hearing his response and glances out on the horizon. Anna doesn't believe for a second that Kai believes in any of those things, with the exception of annoying since she could see why he will find her annoying.

"Okay then… I made my decision." Anna says with a bright smile on her face. Kai closes his eyes and gives a small sigh, slightly relieved that this ordeal will finally be over and he will never have to see her ever again, so he gets up and begins walking away.

"I would say it was nice knowing you, but you irritated me so much I longed for the day I will never see you again." And with that, Kai begins walking away, leaving the poor little kitsune behind. Anna gets up and calls out to Kai before he has a chance to walk through the forest, and she yells at the top of her lungs.

"Kai! MY DECISION IS TO REMAIN BY YOUR SIDE! THIS IS THE PATH I CHOOSE, AND YOU CAN NOT FORCE ME TO CHOOSE OTHERWISE!" Anna had yelled from the mountains and declared her stance on this situation. Though Lissa said to do it figuratively, she decided to go with it once she realized they were on a mountain. Her declaration had caused Kai to stop in his tracks, and he slowly turned to face her, a dumbfounded expression on his face, and she gives him a radiant smile. She could see Kai's hands balling into a fist and biting his bottom lip to the point blood falls from the corner of his mouth, but he chooses not to say anything, turning on his heels to walk back into the forest as though he never heard her.

It seems as though what Lissa said about Kai was true. He not only was a man who believed in free will, he still believed in it, and he knew he wouldn't be able to make her leave him alone. Anna happily skips into the forest and catches up to him, walking with a purpose, she follows Kai back towards the village as soon as the day turned to night. Though it felt like minutes, they had actually stayed at the edge of that cliff for hours looking over the horizon as the cool air causes their hair to dance around. Like this morning, the eyes of residences, merchants, and adventurers alike all stared at Anna as she was walking with the blue-haired boy from earlier. Some of them jealous, and some of them with greed in their eye while others just admired her beauty. In the middle of the village was a decent sized water fountain with benches all around it, and Kai decides to sit on one of the benches with Anna sitting next to him. After stating where she is standing in this, Kai had stopped trying to get rid of her, though he never apologized about calling her all those named, and she didn't expect one anytime soon. She also knew that he would need time to get used to this, so she gave him the benefit of the doubt. Kai could hear Anna's stomach rumbling, and he remembers that neither of them had anything to eat all day, though Anna had a quick snack at Lissa's father's farm.

Kai notices Anna eyeing the food of some of the passing strangers with drool dripping from her mouth. More specifically, she is eyeing the pork sandwich of one of the women walking by with brown steaming chunks above it and what smells like cheese, yellow and white, melting on top of it. Since she lived in a village, it's more than likely she never had this type of sandwich in her life. Kai gives up and walks over to a nearby food stall that is selling the pork sandwiches and Kai orders two of them. One with red, yellow, and white dressing, while ordering the other with chilly and cheese with two carbonated drinks.

After receiving his order, Kai heads back to Anna and hands her, her food, as she sniffs it before asking Kai what it is. Kai tells her it's only a pork sandwich with chilly and cheese, and Anna takes a small bite with caution since she doesn't know if she will like it or not. But, sure enough, she loved it. Anna then takes a sip of her carbonated drink and loved the taste of it as well, and the two ate their meals happily, or at least the closest thing to happy Kai can get, which isn't saying much.

After that, Kai returns to his home with Anna in tow, and he takes a shower before heading to bed, only to be called out by Anna because she has no idea how to use the bathtub. Her bathing was done in a lake near her village during the time where all women in the village shower. Kai quickly explains it to her, and she seems to have understood, though she couldn't turn the water off, so Kai had to come back to help her, then he went back to bed and laid in his bed in nothing but his underwear with the window cracked open to let the cool nighttime spring air in. Once Anna came back, she had a towel wrapped around her curvy body and looked at Kai sleeping in his bed with a new thin blanket over his lower half. Anna looked over at the bed on the opposite side beside his, the bed Flora probably used when she spent the night with Kai, and she glances back at Kai who is now looking at her, half asleep.

"What's wrong?"

"N-nothing."

"I see. Okay, goodnight then."

Anna walks over to the bed and removes the blanket before laying down after she removes her towel. Anna found it extremely uncomfortable sleeping with any piece of clothing on, so she always slept butt naked. Anna peaked over at Kai who seems to have fallen asleep, and she follows suit, but… The moment her eyes closed; she began to have a nightmare about her burning village. Her mother, her father, her younger brother, and the villagers all asking why she lived, while they didn't. No matter how much she ran, the agony of their voices reached her ears, and only grew louder.

Anna jolted up from her bed in a cold sweat and looked at the clock hanging over the doorframe and noticed it's not even midnight yet, but she couldn't go back to sleep. This isn't the first time she had this nightmare, and she glances over at Kai who tosses and turns in his bed, sweat dripping from his body as it appears he is having a nightmare as well. Anna slowly gets out of bed and walks over towards him as she hugs the pillow close to her decent-sized chest. Anna glances at Kai for a few moments before she musters the courage to lay in his bed, and Kai quickly wraps his arms around her as though he knows she is there. The moment he does, he stops thrashing in his bed and calms down. Anna smiles faintly and closes her eyes as well, with the nightmares haunting her dreams never surfacing. This was the only method she knew to get rid of her nightmares. Anna gives a soft smile and looks up at Kai, giving him a small peck on his cheek before going back to sleep, only to be rudely awakened in the morning with a hard thump on the top of her head.