~Sol Nierheart~

“…uh..I think we should change his clothes..sis…” I tried to convince my sister, my face twisted into worry and awkwardness. Unsure how to handle this unexpected situation.

“ Why? He look absolutely amazing! The clothes is perfect for him!! “ complained Mira. Her face is blushing red from excitement and she clutched my clothes vigorously, one can wonder where that strength came from. Stop, its going to rip at this rate!

“ Maybe you should calm down first, lets take a deep breath, okay? Inhale and exhale, inhale and exhale..” I take my sister hands before she going to damage my clothes further. As per my request, she take a deep breath and exhaled it.

“ I still think that clothes suited him the most.” Mira firmly said. Conviction can be seen in her eyes.

I inwardly face palmed. Lets take a different approach, or else he will stuck in that clothes forever. I grabbed her shoulder and looked straight at her eyes.

“ Sis, listen to me, right now that child is a patient, he need rest. Now, look at him, wearing all that frilly and heavy cloths, do you think that will helped him recover?” I pointed my right hand toward the child which is resting in my bed.

Right now, the fox kin is wearing a red and black frilly dress, with a big ribbon attached in front of the chest area, his pure white tail popped up under the clothes. Between his fox ears, rested a small hat decorated with frill and ribbon, fastened with a black rope to his head. His current appearance could be mistaken as a princess.

“ but.. but..” Hesitation is apparent within her voice. Now to nail the final hammer!!

“ Mira, right now, can you call yourself a good healer? “ With the most serious voice I could muster, I talked back to her.

“ Ugh!!.. Lets change his clothes..” My sister dejectedly follow my instruction.

I sighed in my mind. I managed to avoid a crisis and the emerge of second victim. I’m not that cruel after all. Sol closed his eyes and remembered his memory when he was still a child, fully at his sister mercy. He shuddered.

His sister, Mira, absolutely adore anything that is cute and fluffy. When he dispelled her sister misunderstanding about him by letting her see the child appearance, she frozen up. Her sister didn’t said anything, only her mouth opened slightly. Then her face slowly became red, she began panting heavily, her eyes became crazed. Sol immediately moved the child farther, his instinct told him his sister is more dangerous than a Blood iron bird right now, the bird is famous for its tenacity.

“ Aaargggg, He soo CUUTEEEEEEE!!!!!!!”

Hell happened right after, within the small wooden hut, scream and shout could be heard until to the neighborhood house.

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I smiled wryly at my dejected sister, currently the child is wearing a more normal clothes, a loose brown tunic and a short pant. She put a blanket over the child, caressed the fox kin hair and ears tenderly. She stood up, facing me.

“ Then you stay at house and take care of this child, meanwhile I will find the village elder and talk to him about this. Ohh, also about you stupidly walked to forbidden territory.” She glared at me before continued talking again. I found the ceiling terribly interesting right now.

“ You managed to saved this child, but you did break the rules, I hope you prepared yourself.” Mira sighed and walked away from my room. The door slam shut.

I sighed to myself once more, and found my gaze moved to the unconscious child. I sat with my back on a wall beside the bed, and decided to wait for my sister news. I closed my eyes and rested a bit from all that fiasco. Not for long, I heard a rustle and a groan. I opened my eyes immediately and looked at the source if that noise.

The child is awake!

The fox kin slowly opened his eyes, he pulled his body up, the blanket slid off his torso, and muttered something under his breath, too soft for Sol to heard it clearly.

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“ Hey, are you alright? “ I talked softly to the child, afraid to startle him.

The child jumped a little, and moved his gaze to me. One golden with a tinge of blue, and one red with tinge of black, these two orbs stared at me, as if piercing my soul. My emerald eyes stared back, mesmerized by what I seen. The child opened his mouth, talked to me.

“Who#ea@uy?” I can only stare at the child dumbly, unable to comprehend what I just heard.

“ Er, could you say it one more time?” I asked once more.

The fox kin stared at me, his face is calm and unreadable, unlike those of a child. As if thinking about something, the child keep his silent for a while.

“Cnaoy&un*@resndaem?” Once more, a language he never heard before entered his ears. Its seem communication is impossible right now. I shook my head hopelessly. Aah, what should I do? I should at least be able to tell him my name.

I made a gesture, hand pointed at me and said my name. I repeated this many time, making sure that he can understand it. The fox kin is quick to comprehend my intention. He raised his tiny arm and pointed it at me, he tilted his head and his fluffy ears turned to the right.

“Sol?”

I immediately nodded my head. The fox kin retracted his arm and pointed at himself.

“Hiiro.” He said what I supposed is his name.

“Hero?” I repeated, and he shake his head.

“H - I – I – R – O.” This time, the fox kin repeated his name slowly.

“ Hiiro?” I said it once more, and the fox child, Hiiro, nodded satisfied.

I smiled wryly, this little guy, Hiiro, is quite different than I imagined. Since I found him in that bloody carnage, I though he will be more scared or afraid. Instead, he look absolutely fine, emotionally wise. Thinking of the carnage, the Aqua wolf I found dead had its head blown off, did he defeat him by himself?

I stared once more, this child, Hiiro, is thin and delicate, as if never worked in all his life, different than any children that I seen before. Still, his strength should be more than average human children because of his race advantage. But no matter how strong he is, Hiiro is a child. Its impossible to defeat a D rank monster barehanded. Or worse, maybe this little guy is hiding an unimaginable power…

While I was in deep thinking, Hiiro seem to be worried by my constant staring. He clutched part of my clothes, his fox ears fell down, his adorable odd eyes stared at me innocently.

“Sol?”

Ugh! T..That look is cheating!! My heart skipped a bit, somehow I can understand my sister feeling a little bit. This fox kin have an appearance that can made people feel weak. How dangerous. I took his thin arm and smiled, assured him that there is no problem at all.

Well, no matter. Even if he had some hidden power, as long as he didn’t made any harm to the village folks here, it should be all right.

Right?

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~ Ayasaka Hiiro~

Ugh.. damnit, my head hurt.

I groaned out, a mild migraine is haunting my head. I slowly opened my eyes and pulled my body up. A blanket slid down from my torso.

“ Just how many time I fainted already..” I muttered under my breath.

“@#vhhwjb#?” A voice with uncompressible words entered my ears. I jumped a little, surprised by the sudden noise.

I moved my gaze to stare at the perpetrators. A blond haired youth wearing a dark green tunic with black pants, his dark brown belt with various knife and tools fastened to his waist. The youth is smiling and had a dumb expression on him. Somehow this person doesn’t feel like he could be depended at all.

And this person now just keep staring at me. It’s a bit unnerving. I remembered a human shaped silhouette before I lose my consciousness. Did this kid saved me?

“ Who are you?” I asked the basic question, what I received is a strange puzzled expression in the youth face.

“ jo*@njd#bs*jdbf “ The youth said something incomprehensible again.

Strange, the kidnapper before use the same language as me, but this guy didn't use any language i had heard off.

Little did Hiiro know, the people kidnapped him is a treasure hunter, they had a magic device that can made the hearer understand the wearer, breaking the language barrier. Of course such convenient tool didn’t even cross Hiiro mind, he came from a magic less world after all.

I spoke a few more words and the result is the same. The youth didn’t understand me at all, he scratched his head, thinking about something, then he made a few gesture and repeated the same words again and again. Is he telling his name?

Its seem Hiiro guess is spot on, the youth name is Sol. I copied Sol gesture, and told him my name. He pronounced it wrong, so I corrected him. I am not a hero after all.

He back to staring at me again, lost in his mind, he should fix that creepy habit. I clutched his clothes and called his name to wake him up from his dream. Somehow he had this shocked expression on his face. Weird.

I can hear a ruckus outside of the room. Sol seem to heard it too. He made a gesture what I think is ‘stay here’, he walked away and close the door shut. I am now alone.

…

What should I do now? That guy, Sol, doesn’t seem like a bad guy, he is friendly and helpful. Way better than those people I meet before. I observed the room, it’s small and consisted of a bed, a wooden table with an oil lamp on top, a shelf and a window. I decided to get off from the bed. A fluffy white tail appeared at my vision.

What

“What.”

I gingerly touched the tail. The tail is soft and fluffy, its feel good in my palm. I moved my hand, following the tail, I found the base of the tail, just above my butt. What.

If had a tail, then…

I moved my both of hand to my head, a pair of fluffy animal ears rested on top of my head. This getting more ridiculous. First a child, then animal ears and tail. I am not even a human anymore.

I let my body fell down to the bed, spreading my limbs wide. I won’t understand it even I think hard of it. I lack information, I can’t made any conclusion. Lets do thing step by step. My ears twitched, I hear sounds of footstep, walking to this room. Big ears have its use I see. I have to deal with this first.

The door to the room opened. And I can see a total of three person. First is Sol, with worried expression plastered on his face. The second person is a woman, her hair tied into a pony tail, her face resemble Sol, except she had a blue eyes, I shuddered a little when I saw her eyes, a dangerous glint could be seen, I should stay away from her. The third and the last came into view, an old man with a short brown beard, his body look toned, undefeated by age. He looked at me, then he smiled. I stared back at him, my real focus is not at his face, but the thing rested on top of his head. A pair of cat ears. Yes, it’s cat ears, placed so naturally as if they are made for each other.

The cat eared toned old man made a quite bizarre combination, giving me a lasting impression.