Journey to the West

morning~

Irie as usual very diligent, getting up early and training even if her grandmother left her even when no one was to mentor her, she never skips her daily routine. starting with morning practice even if there is cold outside.

Arthur isn't any exception here he also woke up early to find Irie training outside he is quite pleased to find a hard-working student for himself.

"oh! morning general!"Irie greets him when she saw him watching her

"how many times should I tell you to not call me that" Arthur crosses his hands

"ya ya" Irie throws her hands

'she should learn some manners' Arthur shook his head

"so....shall I bring out my swords?" Irie smile to her eyes

Arthur just nods his head

they both stand few yards away from eachother, it's a good spot for practicing, an empty area surrounded by the trees.

"first learn to use your left hand properly"

Irie does what he said she lift both the swords in each hand, her right hand doesn't have any problem where as her left hand start shaking. and above all her words are half of her waight.

"keep holding it as long as you can" Arthur points towards her shaking hand

"then shall we keep going?" Arthur turns on his heels and moves on

"wait?! you mean I have to keep holding it while we are on our way is that's all?" Irie runs a little to catch up

"correct" Arthur smiles

Irie's eyebrows twitches but 'nevermind' and she keeps it that way

~having fun?

"yah sure!"

Arthur looks at Irie because he thought she is talking it him, Irie laughs awkwardly. still not used to other people knowing about Ryu and that they can talk inside her head.

and Arthur couldn't care less

"so...where are you going, anyways?" Arthur asks

"um... kingdoms of swan!"

"then you are on the right path"

"huh? wait! you mean you never intended on taking me there?"

"why would I"

~jerk

"master!! I am relying on you so please take me there" Irie blocks Arthur's path with her sword

"okay" he pushes them with fingers and keep walking

~you should as well learn to keep a straight face like that

"I guess so" Irie sigh

after walking for like an hour Arthur heard some strange sounds coming from his back he turns around and Irie bumps on him

"oh sorry!" she straights her back and step back

"did you hear it.." Arthur looks around

"I think that's my stomach" Irie scratch her back of neck still holding a sword in left hand above ground

"ah! and you can let go of the sword now" Arthur asks trying every possible to not let her realised that he have long forgotten about the task he gave her.

he really did forgot about that, poor Irie.

"good grief" Irie puts back her sword

Arthur searches his backpack and took out a big piece of loaf wrapped in plastic cover, he kept for emergency and a bottle of milk,

"here" he gives it all to Irie

he is totally a big brother material since he has been taking care of his little brother after his parents death at very young age.

Irie smiles at this side of general the soft side he might not show it like other people but he is kind person after all.

Irie makes two pieces of the loaf and gives it to Arthur "we could share" Irie smile with her eyes

they had a peaceful breakfast under the tree though they didn't say anything but it's not awkward anymore.

after filling their stomach they moved forward to the West. "how far is kingdom of swans anyways" Irie asks out of curiosity

"hmm about a week and half if we keep our pace steady without any problem or bad weather" Arthur just spill some facts

"what?! that's pretty far" Irie screams

"then why don't you just return back instead?" Arthur seer

"you know....I don't have plans of return back there"

"why not? you don't like Haimon?" Arthur side eye

"not that I don't like, it's just I have no one to whom I can return to there"

Arthur raised an eyebrow to see a little girl talk like that (not so little actually) but the truth is she is very naive and one who knows nothing about outside world she haven't seen or known to the word 'society' yet.

'but it's either a good thing at least there should be nothing she will fear in future' Arthur is busey in his own thoughts.

when Irie saw a man coming their way she don't know what to do so she grabbed Arthur's sleeve to get his attention. he looked at her and saw an traveler coming their way.

"why are you so tensed he is just a passerby" Arthur looked at her

"oh!? sorry" then she shook off her hands from Arthur's sleeve

when the man saw them he smiled at general just as a greeting and he smiled back, Irie saw the whole thing.

"do you know eachother?" Irie whisper

"nope"

"then why you..?" Irie looked back at the man who just pass by

"can't humans just well wish for eachother sice they both are on journey and may be will have to or already have walked miles lonely and to at least seeing someone just like them can give them positive energy"

"oh.." Irie is getting what he ment

~he isn't that bad after all huh?

'may be' Irie smiles and leap forth to their journey to the West.

don't know what might come their way but they will do just fine since they started to understand and accept eachother, as a master and his disciple.

as they move forward Irie starts to think she has a feeling that she is forgetting something important.

"hmm?" Irie didn't mind where she is walking

"hey! you should at least keep your eyes on front"

"hmm?" still no change

"hey you! so tell me how you talking to him?" Arthur asks out of curiosity all of a sudden

"huh?!...oh Ryu?, we just talk in my head" she press two fingers at side of her head

~heh fools

"if he is just like you then he sure have said something like 'what a fool or something' right?" Arthur seers again

~yah sure!! you think you know everything?

"ya..! I do know everything" Arthur chuckles

~who do you think you are?

"your master's master" Arthur chuckles on his own joke

~son of a...

Irie slow downs a little looking at Arthur's back like what on earth just happened she is questioning her own existence now.