Omake 23: Unique Bond (1)

It was night, and I was trying my best to catch some rest after what happened today. I was particularly tired, but not so as to fall asleep the immediate moment I lay on my bed. Most had already fallen asleep, with Bloody being the first one to hit the pillow and with Speedwagon going shortly after. I was staring at the ceiling of the wagon, the train still moving as the machinists had taken turns to rest while keeping the vehicle working.

Not much to do except plotting, planning and procrastinating as our next stop was Washington D.C. and… I really didn’t know what to expect there. Sure, I had a clear understanding of the historical context, but I didn’t know what to expect as possible enemies. Were we going to be attacked? I wasn’t sure of it, and I was really tense because of it.

Excitement? Worry? I was packed with both emotions and that made finding the need of resting rather difficult. I was trying to distract myself and push my body to need some rest but… yeah, it wasn’t working. Like really, after spending so long meditating, I would have thought that sleep should have been easy to achieve when I wanted, but no. Life just didn’t want that kind of life hack in my clutches.

But as I failed to sleep and get my head away from my current thoughts, someone decided to pay a visit to my bedside in a rather urgent way. I blinked, feeling something ‘headbutting’ on my left hand, the palm just poking out of the blanket and currently grasping at a furry head. I peered off the bed, my eyes quickly spotting… Zephy trying to wake me up with that.

“Uh?”

He paused the moment he heard me speak, tilting his head away from my hand and whispering something to me.

“Can you please come for a moment? I need some assistance with… Kate.”

I frowned, looking at the critter for a moment before giving a slow nod. Maybe the girl was having some issues and needed help? I didn’t hesitate in standing up from my bed, and making my way to the area where the only woman of the group had decided to sleep by. I entered the area, passing through the curtain we had set to divide the room.

Once beyond that thin wall, I was presented with quite the sight. Kate was wearing a simple kimono as her sleepwear. Most of her gear was set on the side by the ground, but that wasn’t exactly what had me panicking as soon as I saw her.

She was shivering, face driven forcefully on her pillow as she seemed to be having trouble breathing as her nightmare was pushing her to commit that action. I didn’t hesitate to rush over her and pull her aside but- but I stopped as I reached for her hand, I felt my Hamon rushing out and coat her in a thin layer of warmth. I blinked, perplexed, but… I eased my posture as I saw the energy actually soothing her body and mind.

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She slumped with a small smile on her face, now nuzzling the pillow instead of actually trying to asphyxiate herself with it. I stared at the scene for a while and… I felt relieved when the light show seemed to dim down to a mere glow by our hands.

I spared an unhealthy amount of time to stare at her peaceful face, almost tempted to reach for her cat ears and scratch there. Still, I managed to hold enough to decide that it was time for me to go back to my bed. Sighing softly, I carefully let go of her hand and began making my way towards the exit of her part of the room when I heard her trashing again.

Goddammit.

Once again, hands intertwined between each other, I sat down and realized that I was stuck in that awkward situation. I tried again, and it gave the same effects as the previous time. Sitting down on the ground and leaning my back on the nearest wall, I looked at Zephy, the critter looking way too amused by this and I sighed.

“When she wakes up, you better be telling her the truth before she kills me for violating her privacy.”

He gave a nod, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he ‘forgot’ momentarily for the giggles. He was kind enough to at least retrieve one of my pillows and give me the chance of resting my back in something that wasn’t cold and sturdy. I was unsure how my fate was going to turn into how suicidal this situation had turned into, but I decided against despairing for long. It was glorious to keep mostly awake, while trying to still rest a little bit. My uneasiness at waking her up with that hand-holding just not allowing me to find some sleep.

To be fair, Kate didn’t murder me when she woke up. She jumped a little when she spotted me as soon she noticed what was going on, but took a while to study the matter instead of jumping me. And that was more than enough for Zephy to explain to her what exactly happened the night before. She was unsure at first of the truthfulness of that explanation, but she still let me go with a mere stern glance and a warning to not tell anyone about what had happened that night.

Eventually as we disembarked the train to begin our exploration of the place as we checked on a couple of issues in there, she actually took me aside to thank me for being there for her. I replied with a smile and a nod, but soon it became awkward when the rest of the group started asking what this ‘thank you’ was all about. The only reason why I was spared by prolonged questioning was because Kate began exerting a non-negligible amount of bloodlust to anyone asking about this topic.

After that, everyone kept quiet, and I found myself staring at Kate as she tried her best to not make it seem like she really thought a lot about what really happened. I wasn’t even sure how to compute it and, in a gesture akin to the smartest men in this planet, I denied my curiosity to poke at the sleeping dragon and just took the blessing at face value.

What I didn’t notice was that, in a subconscious manner, Kate’s tail had arched in a way that felt as if it was trying to reach for me. I didn’t notice, but the rest of our crew noticed and snickered about it. The pricks, all of them.