Friendly Foes (1)

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

I awake to the sound of Sakura screaming. The room is pitch black, so I reach for the magic lamp on my nightstand. The room brightens as two other lights turn on along with my own. I look around until I catch Shinobu's eyes. She seems just as confused as I am.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

The flower girl lets loose another ear-splitting scream. We all jump up to our feet. Writhing in her bed is the small girl, covered in sweat. Her face is flushed, and much of her exposed skin is still black and blue.

[It must be the damage she accumulated during the day. The pain has finally caught up to her.]

"Shinobu, grab some healing potions and any pain relief medicine we have." She dashes to the corner of the room where we store our supplies. "Josh, hold the lamps up so we can see."

He obliges. I can see his brow furrowed with concern as he stands above his partner.

"We have to calm her down. Josh, I need you to talk to her." He hesitates. I think he's become complacent regarding his personal relationships; we've all learned to cover for his shortcomings and ours. Some semblance of codependency has emerged over the last few months. I believe it's time we start pushing him to communicate more. There may be a point in the future where we aren't around, so it's best he learns while we're here to help.

I pull up a chair for him to sit in. He thanks me and moves close to Sakura's head.

"Sakura." His voice is low. I can feel the conflicted emotions whirling around inside him. "Everything's going to be okay."

Sakura stops screaming and grits her teeth. Her flailing limbs grope around for the boy by her side. Eventually, her hands settle upon his own. I can see her knuckles turn white from the strength of her grip. Josh bears the pain and continues.

"I saw some Fairy Tears on the way back from the dungeon. I know you like those flowers, so I wanted to show you, but you were sleeping…." His voice trails off. Shinobu finally arrives with the supplies, so I urge him to keep going. "I've been practicing stone carving a lot lately. My parents have been really nice to me and let me practice more. I want to make a sculpture for you."

I have Josh keep her distracted while I dose her with pain medication and feed her healing potions. I had chronic headaches in my previous life and always made a point of keeping painkillers handy. Unfortunately, nothing like aspirin has been discovered yet, so I had to acquire something more potent. It isn't long before her knuckles regain their color, and she relaxes.

"Sakura," Josh says quietly. "You need to get better soon. I want to go on more adventures with you."

A small smile brightens up her expression, and she soon falls asleep due to the effect of the drugs.

"Good job, Josh." He nods without taking his eyes off the small girl at his side.

"Is she going to be okay?" he asks after a moment's hesitation.

"Probably. If her muscles were completely torn, then she wouldn't have been able to move at all, so I think she should recover in time. The pain killer will likely knock her out for a few hours, so we need to get some rest while we can."

Josh doesn't respond this time. Sakura may have loosened her grip, but he's still holding her hand tight. I decide to leave them and motion Shinobu to go back to bed. I take this opportunity to remove my armor and slip into my pajamas. Some dirt and dried mud have stained my bedspread, but I do my best to ignore it. As the adrenaline fades, my eyelids become heavy, and I drift off.

I wake up the next morning to a single lamp illuminating Sakura's bed. My body complains as I stand up to get dressed. Everything aches but feels fine otherwise. Josh is still plopped down in the chair where I left him, although fast asleep now. I can't help but smile when I see his hand still holding hers. Shinobu groans as her consciousness returns to her.

"Morning, how ya feeling?" I ask.

"Shut up. My head is killing me." She rolls over and covers her head with her pillow.

"Noted." Feeling like I'm in the way, I quickly get dressed and head outside. The hope of spring greets me by the heat of the sun. The bone-chilling wind of winter has begun to pass. Not really having a plan for the day, I head to the Adventurer's Guild.

"Nick? Where are your friends?" Shelly approaches when I enter. Her concern is clear based on her tone.

"They're all sleeping. We had a rough day yesterday."

"You don't look injured?"

"My wounds have healed up, but I'm still really sore."

"Well, I'm glad you're alright. Did you come here to speak to Jezabel?"

"Not really. I've just got some free time, and I don't really know what to do with myself." Shelly giggles at my admission.

"You need to learn how to relax. What do you do for fun?"

"Read, mostly. I went to a cafe once." She stares at me blankly, like I'm speaking another language.

"You need to get out more. See the town. Have you ever thought of traveling somewhere? You could work as a guard for a merchant. I'm sure they could use an extra hand." Just the thought of leaving the town like that makes me feel stressed. Fortunately, Jezabel comes in with the save.

"He's fine the way he is." She strides up to us while peering down at her employee.

"Wow, you mean it?" I act excited at the potential compliment.

"Shut up." She turns her attention to Shelly. "We have a war brewing at the moment. We can't have our assets traveling the world right now."

"But he's just a child!"

"Most wars are fought by children," I interject.

"That doesn't make it right." Shelly sulks.

"War is never about who is right; it's about who's stronger." She looks back and forth between my eyes, and I hold her gaze. I can see her squint as she tries to hold back tears. She frowns and scurries off toward the back.

"How mature. I was sure you'd crack a joke." Jezabel negs me.

"I'm pretty sure I'm just an asshole but thanks."

"Why don't you come to my office? We need to talk." I limply follow after her. I feel like shit for speaking to Shelly like that, but I can always make it up to her if we all survive this thing. I slump into the chair in front of Jezabel's desk.