Arc 3 - Finding Nem- Sally! Finding Sally!

"Westeros is huge!"

Five days have passed since Ikarus left Frostwood, aside from the two days he traveled with old Loren the young shinobi didn't meet any other people.

While traveling Ikarus trains different skills, his chakra control, his speed using hand seals, his Tree Jumping dexterity and balance...

With continued training he became good enough at Tree Climbing to be able to use the technique without continually focusing on his chakra. He still can't instinctively Tree Climb at 100%, but he's close. Within a week or two of further practice he had mastered this technique.

His prowess in his other abilities has also improved a lot, the only thing Ikarus isn't satisfied with is his progress with Kawarimi. He still can't perform the jutsu properly, at least he doesn't throw up or stumble anymore when he practices it... Something is something.

He has already been in this world for more than a week and has made a lot of progress in that short period of time.

In general Ikarus Senju is quite pleased with himself.

***

"Sally!"

While he is hunting Ikarus hears someone shout a name, it is the voice of a child.

He climbs down from the branch he is standing on and approaches the place from where he hears the voice. He advances a few dozen meters and sees them, a little boy, no more than six or seven years old.

The boy is running through the woods yelling the name 'Sally', looking frantically through the bushes.

Ikarus gets closer to the boy, once more close he looks at him attentively. The boy has curly black hair and big deep blue almost purple eyes, he is quite cute.

`Purple? He must have some Valyrian blood, with the number of bastards the Targaryens had I wouldn't be surprised if there were dragon seeds in every kingdom.`

Before getting closer to the boy he wraps his swords in his cloak to hide them, he doesn't want to scare the child.

"Good day." The sudden sound of Ikarus's voice makes the boy jump back and stumble. Ikarus catches him before he falls to the ground. "Are you okey?"

The boy doesn't respond and gapes at the Senju.

`He is quite cute` Ikarus smiles kindly and ruffles the boy's hair. "You there?" He says playfully.

The boy smacks Ikarus's hand and walks away a few steps pouting.

"Who are you?"

"I am Ikarus Senju and you?"

"Hahah that's a funny name." The boy laughs.

"Aye, I guess it is. And what's your name lil one?"

"I ain't little!" The child puffs his chest. "I am a man! And my sister told me not to talk with strangers." The boy pounded a fist against his chest.

"You already know my name so I'm not a stranger." Ikarus smiles charismatically.

The boy tilts his head and thinks about it for a few moments and then nods.

"Aye, there's no way you're a dangerous person with that face."

"That face? What's wrong with my face?!" Ikarus crosses his arms, pouting.

"It's prettier than my sister's! Are you even a boy?" The boy looks at Ikarus's crotch curiously.

"Of course I'm a boy" Ikarus blushes. "And stop looking at my crotch!"

"My name is Aemon." The boy introduces himself after continuing to stare at Ikarus for a while.

"And what are you doing alone in the forest Aemon?"

"Sally!" The boy screams and starts looking around frantically.

"Who is Sally?" Ikarus places a hand on the boy's shoulder drawing his attention.

"My goat. She ran away and I can't find her!" Aemon has tears in his eyes. "Can you help me find her?" He looks at him with hopeful eyes.

Ikarus agrees to help the boy. He asks him where the last place he saw his goat was, and asks to take him there. After walking for a few minutes they reach the end of the forest, in front of them there is a plain of about fifteen kilometers, on the other side of the plain there are more trees.

The shinobi concentrates chakra in his eyes and looks around, trying to find the trail of the goat.

"Over there." Ikarus points in a direction, on the ground he sees broken twigs and the grass is stepped on. An animal passed by not long ago.

The two boys follow the trail of the goat, it takes them an hour to find it.

"There, in the undergrowth." Ikarus points out. Aemon looks in that direction and a smile breaks out on his face.

"Sally!" The boy runs and hugs his goat. Ikarus watches him with a smile.

***

Ikarus is accompanying the boy to his house, the light is fading and it is dangerous for a small boy to walk alone in the forest. The shinobi doesn't want anything to happen to the child, he became very fond of him in the last few hours.

After walking for a while the boy slows down, Ikarus looks at him curiously.

"Are you okay?"

"Aye" The boy replies, sounding quite tired.

`He's dragging his feet... he's tired. It is not surprising, he is a small child and we have been walking for several hours`

Ikarus crouches down to the boy's level and places a hand on his head.

"Do you want me to carry you?"

"I'm not a little child. I have six namedays!" He responds petulantly. Ikarus smiles slightly and ruffles his hair. Aemon pouts.

"If we keep walking so slowly it will be dark and I'm sure your sister is very worried." He tries to convince the boy.

Ikarus takes a couple of minutes to persuade the little one.

"I'm not a little boy…" Aemon's voice sounds rather weak, his eyes begin to close and he hugs Ikarus's neck tighter.

"Aye Aye." Ikarus responds lightly. Soon Aemon's eyes are closed and he's breathing evenly, he's asleep.

Ikarus, seeing that the night is getting closer, tightens his grip on the little boy in his arms and starts running. It takes about fifteen minutes to find Aemon's house.

A farm on a small plain surrounded by woods.

The farm has three buildings: a house, a barn and a pigsty.

As he gets closer to the farm he sees a girl outside looking frantically in all directions, looking for something or someone.

`That must be Aemon's sister`

Seeing them, the girl begins to run in their direction, shouting the boy's name.

"Aemon!"

The boy's sleep is disturbed by the screams and he snuggled further into Ikarus's arms while the goat is startled by the sudden sound and tries to run into the forest, luckily the shinobi grabs her before she can escape.

"Aemon wake up."

"Nahbiah" The boy mumbled something incoherent trying to go back to sleep.

"Aemon!" The girl, a girl of Ikarus's age with the same hair and eye color as the boy, calls out her little brother's name again.

`Aemon was wrong, there is no way I am prettier than her`.

This time Aemon opens his eyes and sees his sister. He gets down of Ikarus's arms and runs towards his sister, he wraps his arms around her waist.

Ikarus watches them smiling.

"Where have you been?! I was so worried..." The girl scolds the boy as she hugs him tightly.

"I was looking for Sally." Aemon looks at the ground embarrassed "I'm sorry."

The girl sighs and hugs her brother again.

"Don't ever go to the forest alone Aemy, it's dangerous." She says sternly. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you." Seeing tears begin to form in his sister's eyes, Aemon seems even more sorry for his actions.

"And who are you?" The girl looks at him suspiciously.

"This is Ikki, he helped me find Sally!"