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A Time for Leisure
Chapter 2: Reminiscence

Chapter 2: Reminiscence

On that bright and sunny day without a cloud in the sky, the Village of Kalo soon heard the terrified cries of a young man, most knew of him, but the ones who didn't were visibly shaken.

To be honest, back before Caz had left the village, this was a relatively common thing to see. It happened at least once or twice a week. You see, it always starts with Caz doing something idiotic, sometimes on purpose, and sometimes by a complete accident. Most of the time, it's just Caz being a smartass.

While on his journey throughout cultivation, many things about Caz changed, but there is one thing about him that never changed, much to the dismay of anyone who has crossed paths with him. He is the epitome of a shameless person.

He will openly admit to anything he has done with a straight face. Even if one of the most embarrassing things happened right in front him, he'd still have that cheerful and carefree expression on his face. Most of the people in the village, that are acquainted with Caz, still can't figure out how Hanna has dealt with his shenanigans for so long.

As soon as they heard the screams, they quickly had a dumb nostalgic smile on their faces, quietly remembering the old times of Caz being 'bullied' by the serious Hanna. Caz and Hanna are complete opposites on the aspect of personalities. Hanna is a very serious person, and not many things can make her smile. One of the only things that made her genuinely happy, was seeing Caz scream like a little girl when she was angry.

Caz and Hanna have known one another since Caz was found near the village, curiously walking around with an uncomfortable stomach. Some of the people were a bit scared to just suddenly see a Devil boy walking around, but Hanna wasn't nervous. She quietly walked out and asked him if needed anything to drink or eat. Caz suddenly took that curious look off his face, and it was replaced with awe and reverence. 'Where did this lovely angel come from?', Caz had these words in his head as soon as he heard the word 'food'.

There is only one thing that can make Caz serious. Food. Even if he was in the fiercest battle of his life, as soon as he saw/smelled food, the bloodthirsty Devil was replaced with a young boy with drool creeping down his chin. He was known to drop anything and everything if food was in the conversation.

Hanna at the time was just trying to help the boy out since he seemed like he was starving. She did not expect this little favour to change her life forever. It was only about a week after staying at the village, that the people started to see this odd Devil as their own. He might have been mischevious, naughty, and just a plain prick, but he had the kind and caring nature that they hadn't seen in a boy his age.

As such, even though their personalities attack each other, they still see one another as family. It would help that Caz had lived in the same house as her since the beginning. People were worried at first since one of them was a Devil and the other was just a little girl, but their worries quickly vanished as they realized that the little girl was actually a demon as well. Not literally a demon, she was still human. She just had the qualities that only a sadistic demon would have, and she loved to have a toy to tortur- I mean play with.

They quickly started to become friends, and even after all these years of constant bickering, they still see each other the same way they did as kids. Most of the village people see this affection they show each other as pure familial love, while the elders among them know that there was more to see behind the walls of their house.

It wasn't that surprising, the familial love might not have been as impressive as when they were kids, but kids go through puberty. Who knows, maybe after all these years of staying beside one another, those pure thoughts the kids once shared might be corrupted by something known as 'love'.

. . . .

Inside the house, Caz was running away from the monster that kept him company throughout his entire childhood.

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"Hey, we can talk this out, right? It was just a joke okay? Do you really wanna hurt your handsome, heroic, and mighty childhood friend?" Caz was visibly terrified from the anger in the eyes of Hanna.

"You're right! Why should I bother hurting you?" (Hanna)

"Whew. See? Was that so hard, of course, you wouldn't touch a hair on my beautiful hea-" Caz was immediately cut off as Hanna leapt at him and started laughing like a maniac.

"Why bother hurting when I can kill instead? Thank you Caz, you've really broadened my horizons!" Hanna was still laughing and started staring in the eyes of the person she was currently on top of.

"Now that's the Hanna that I missed!" Caz laughed as he tightly embraced the woman on him. If anything, Caz had truly missed the village, and especially missed his little demoness.

Hanna expected the hug as she quietly returned the hug with tears threatening to fall out of her eyes. Caz might have missed the village, but the village missed him just as much, if not more. They were worried their little mischevious devil would suddenly find himself into a heap of trouble, given that horrid personality of his. What they didn't know, is that they were dead on the money. His mouth had made many people try to kill him, he was pretty sure that he had offended almost every God or Goddess one way or the other, and that was his proud achievement, he had asked many times for an award because of this.

They held each other for a few minutes while the tears of joy between them were still visible. Hanna was the most excited out of everyone in the village, why wouldn't she be? The one she cherished the most had finally returned. She didn't have many friends her age. Her parents had passed away at a young age, but before their death, they had hoped that this village might be a safe place for the young Hanna to live freely. They had begged the village elder to take her in as his own, and he reluctantly obliged. Even though he was hesitant at the start, it didn't take long for the Elder to truly see this young girl as his own. To this day, he is still very overprotective with her, as she is his one and only daughter.

On the reason of why she doesn't like being called grandma, a few years before Caz had left, the 2 were on their weekly shopping trip to stock up on supplies. On the way, they met a couple of village children. They surrounded a smaller child with a scrape on her knee, with concern plastered on their faces. She had accidentally fallen while playing with her ball.

Tears were filling her eyes quickly, and Hanna rushed over as soon as she saw the girl. Pulling a little vial of red liquid and a small napkin out of her pocket, she poured a small amount onto the napkin and gently started wiping the knee of the crying girl.

The liquid was a simple Oroa Potion, it may sound fancy but it was mainly only used for small cuts and bruises. It would heal the skin at a fast rate and would fight against infection. It was pretty much just a liquid version of a pill but was much quicker.

The little girl that was initially crying now had a huge smile on her face, and quickly stood up and bowed to Hanna.

Hanna had a gentle smile on her face at first, but the little girl's words still resounded in her mind to this very day.

"Thank you granny!"

When Caz heard it, he was almost certain that it was the loudest he had ever laughed. Since that day, Caz had repeatedly bugged her by calling her 'granny' much to the anger of Hanna. She attempted to beat it out of his head every time, and to no avail. It seemed like it only made Caz say it much more often. Even after all these years, it still made her furious whenever Caz said it.

The little girl that caused it would never know that such simple words caused the 'granny' that helped her so much misery.

While reminiscing about their younger days, their faces were unknowingly brought closer together. Caz was the first to wake out of his daze and stared into the little red eyes of his childhood sweetheart, a genuine smile had latched itself on his lips, and for the first time since Caz had come to this village, a tear could be seen rolling down his cheek.

Hanna was a bit surprised, but as she was getting over the surprise, she was even more surprised when Caz suddenly put his lips directly onto hers. She struggled a bit in the beginning but very quickly turned into the more aggressive one as she strongly wrapped her arms around his neck and brought him even closer. It was like she wanted to pull the man she loved into her own body, and never let him go. Ever since Caz had left, her life had lost its glimmer, she felt like a large part of herself had suddenly flown outside of those tall village gates.

All the pent up frustration she had felt over the years released when she saw the young man outside her door, nervously waiting for his deserved retribution. Her usual cold heart had instantly melted while she was in arms, while the tears rolling down her cheeks just wouldn't stop coming.

She was just hoping that all of this wasn't just a realistic dream, while Caz was just immensely joyous that his demoness hadn't changed throughout the years, and was still his little princess.