Coming out of his mindscape, Uehara slowly awoke onto the thighs of the member of his group. He knew he should be getting up but the gentle scratches on his nape were so enjoyable that he involuntarily purred.

His whole plan about scouting out the Minamoto compound had been placed on the back-burner for the minute, yet pleasurable sensations that stemmed from Shikibu’s fingers. The rough yet soft scratches caused a vibration of pleasure to erupt throughout his body.

It was to the point that his wings flapped on their own in response to the pleasure.

“Enjoying yourself, Aoki-sama?”

Her voice came out as a calm melody that soothed his ears, vastly different from her usual seductive tone.

Uehara’s reply came out calmly and slowly, his voice coming out quite deep for his age.

“Mm. Where’s Chizuki?”

“She’s preparing your tea in the kitchen, Aoki-sama.”

“Mm. And Sakura?”

“Out training in the forest, Aoki-sama.”

He absorbed the information for a while under the continued caresses of the fox running her fingers along his horns. The gentle breeze wafted through the window, slightly ruffling the fresh linen curtains Chizuki had so adamantly wanted to install.

Somewhere along the line, Shikibu stopped her ministrations and spoke.

“Aoki-sama. Sakura…hasn’t been truly in a good state of mind as of late. Although she hides it very well, what she went through still aches her to this day.”

There was a dull silence as Shikibu gathered the strength to continue.

“Although…although Chizuki and I have tried to reassure her these past few days, I feel that…she doesn’t truly accept that the scenario was entirely out of her control.”

Uehara listened silently to her words, not showing any expression whatsoever on his face.

“Sigh…”

Reluctantly getting off of Shikibu’s lap, Uehara morphed into his humanoid form again. He was revealed to be in his tattered black long-coat that had its entire right arm missing.

Not caring for his current appearance, Uehara tilted his head to crack his neck, a habit he picked up from his father.

“I’ll come back with Sakura.”

In response, she got a grateful smile from Shikibu, with no hint of her usual coyness.

“Thank you, Aoki-sama.”

Making his way towards the kitchen, he had already extended his senses over the entire Forest Region.

Feeling the familiar chakra signature of Sakura meditating a few kilometres away, Uehara felt a bit of relief after sensing her calm and healthy state.

[Good.]

Entering the kitchen, he was just in time to see Chizuki pour tea into his simple grey cup.

“Master~ Good to see you have awoken.”

“Mm.”

Biting her finger, Chizuki allowed a few drops of blood to enter the tea before she gently stirred it. At this point, Uehara’s eyes were already red from the scent, a reaction Chizuki took pride in causing.

Taking the cup, she respectfully lowered her head while presenting it to her master.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Please enjoy, master.”

“Thank you.”

Taking the cup, he took a sip and savoured it.

[Good as always.]

He finished the cup in less than half-a-minute and handed it back to Chizuki.

“Get ready. We’ll be moving out soon.”

Not asking where they would go, she replied in the affirmative.

“Yes master. I’ll get ready immediately.”

Giving a nod, Uehara vanished.

…

Deep inside the forest, Sakura was currently perched upon the branch of a tree, idly swinging her legs. Even now, she still couldn’t forget the ordeal she went through. It was to the point that it practically occupied her mind everytime she tried to relax.

But as it is now, the memory flashes were much better than they were a week ago. It had gotten to the point that she could brush them off. Most of it was thanks to having opened the second path. The psychological trauma she experienced was almost reduced to a mere smudge in her memory after a week.

Noticing the dimming skies, she was about to go back for the day when she suddenly felt Uehara’s chakra signature. Feeling how it was composed and controlled, she reckoned that he must conscious again.

But she was a bit confused as to why he was taking his time walking towards her compared to his usual spontaneous appearances. Either way, she wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth since she could vaguely guess what he was here for.

Mentally composing herself for the talk they would undoubtedly have, Sakura got down from the tree once Uehara came into view.

“Aoki-sama…”

She was nervous. She was half-expecting him to berate her at her show of weakness at this point. Although Shikibu and Chizuki had told her multiple times that he wouldn’t react like that, she had a hard time believing them.

But looking at his impassive face, she mentally shrieked since she couldn’t even get a read on his current emotions.

[Please don’t be mad. Please don’t be mad. Please don’t be mad.]

Finally standing just a metre from her, Uehara looked at his first pupil. Letting his amatsugan come into form, he fully observed the current state of the redhead’s body.

[No trace of ki-poisoning. Minor fluctuations of chakra resulting from nervousness and trauma. No physical scarring from the ordeal she went through.]

Retracting the chakra used to power his amatsugan, he ignored the scent of nervousness wafting from Sakura since he could guess the cause was his eyes.

Looking her dead in the eyes, he spoke.

“I cannot speak for what you have went through. I did not feel your pain. I will not tell you it will be okay. All I will tell you, is that you will be fine.”

Hearing his words, Sakura went through a whirlwind of emotions. There was nervousness that was replaced by gratitude, then sadness, then doubt, then sadness, and then becoming a combination of doubt and sadness.

Willing the tears to not come, Sakura mentally berated herself at how easily the progress she thought she had made in getting over the incident crumble.

[No! I’ve already got over this! I’m not going to cry about it again! I’m-]

But she cut off when she felt Uehara wrap an arm around her head and pull her onto his chest. She was momentarily stunned but before she could question the action, Uehara spoke.

“Let it out.”

There was silence for a while. Sakura didn’t want to cry anymore. But Uehara’s words and the hug she’s in now are making it very hard for her to resist. Already, a few teardrops had already escaped her eyes but she would be damned if-

“I can feel your distress. I will not judge you for allowing yourself a moment of weakness.”

The tears were threatening to come out now.

[Damnit Aoki-sama!]

Her fists were balled so tight that she could feel her nails threaten to dig into her skin. But she didn’t want to resign herself to weakness. She knew Uehara despised weakness. That’s why she didn’t want to break down in front of him. Even though he said it’s okay, she didn’t want to take any chances. Unfortunately, Uehara thought differently.

Accompanied by a second arm wrapping around her head, the next set of words sealed the deal.

“I…am here for you.”

And in that instant, whatever walls she had put up shattered. The tears came out in droves. She didn’t even bother stopping them anymore. The trauma that he thought she overcame apparently still existed.

Forgoing any sort of modesty, she wrapped her arms around Uehara and let out short sobs.

“I-I was s-scared.”

Her words elicited a slight wince from the young hybrid, knowing he was responsible to an extent for what she went through.

But looking at the girl he practically raised, he knew that right now, wasn’t the time for him to wallow in his failure.

“It is alright. You will get through this.”

A frown appeared on Uehara’s face. Feeling her turbulent emotions continued to remind him on how his arrogance nearly resulted in Sakura and Chizuki dying.

[Father had told me not to underestimate anyone. Yet, I let all the power I amassed get to my head. I assumed the training I gave them would be enough, especially Sakura. I have not trained her as much as I did Chizuki. She hasn’t even managed to attain her own sage transformation yet. Well, no more!]

(AN: I know full well how I haven’t been keeping promises lately. I’m already more than two-weeks late in my previously stipulated update time. But there’s a good reason for that. Ever since I returned to college around the 3rd of July, I had to do SQL. It isn’t as hard as C# or Javascript but I needed to become proficient enough in the language in order to properly ace the test I had written just yesterday.

Anyway, I will be free for the next 2-3 weeks since I won’t have any assignments/projects due. So THIS TIME, there will be chapters everyday EXCEPT for Saturday. That is my gaming and resting day.

Thank you)