CHAPTER 5

Wooden ceiling greeted Natsuki when she woke up. She's lying in a soft bed that smells like lavender and lilac. Smells nice. Natsuki thought. Pain shot at Natsuki's body when she decided to get up.

"Aah." she quietly yelped.

Her foot landed to the wooden boards quietly. Sucking in a deep breath, Natsuki prepared her body for the jolt of pain. She almost lost her balance because of the sudden dizziness that overtook her. Squinting her eyes at the light of the window, she slowly padded her feet in front of the window to see where she is. Looking outside, she saw a wooden table with six log-chairs surrounding it. There is a river at the right side of the forest and a silhouette of a man fishing with two- no, three woman doing laundry.

"Okay Natsuki, don't panic. Breathe in, breathe out. Now, think. Remember where, why, and who those persons are." Natsuki whispered.

Again, she looked outside of the window to inspect the surroundings. At the far left of the table, she saw a girl with an orange hair cooking in a make-shift stove.

Then, a flashback of everything that happened to her that night played in her brain.

Five Fingers Mountain. Mercenaries. Shizuru...

After remembering the last one, Natsuki roamed the surrounding again to look for a certain tawny-haired beauty. Then at the far right of the forest, she saw a girl clad in a torned-white shirt which stops just below her breasts and a brown tattered baggy pant. Natsuki squinted her eyes at the light and after several seconds, she confirmed that it was Shizuru. Shizuru...

Shizuru is chopping blocks of woods with a big axe that she remembered, is the one Tate carried when he seized her. Natsuki observed Shizuru. Thin layer of sweat is covering Shizuru's body. There is emptiness in her eyes and her movement is robotic. It is as if her body is moving automatically even without her commanding it. After a few minutes of Natsuki admiri- err observing, Someone suddenly shouted.

"Boss!" Mai yelled.

Shizuru broke her gaze on the chopped woods and looked at Mai.

Who's smiling.

And pointing at something.

Somewhere.

Window.

Me.

Oh Kami.

Natsuki saw Shizuru's eyes return to life as she quickly throws the axe on the ground to start running towards her. She doesn't know what to do. She wants to move. To get away from this place. But seeing the beautiful girl running towards her made her want to stay in place and know what will happen next.

Shizuru slowed down her running and comes to a halt on the door frame of the chariot. She walked elegantly towards Natsuki and raises her hands shakily. It hovers around Natsuki's face for a second, then closes. Shizuru puts her hands down to grip the sides of her pants tightly. She bowed her head and her body started shaking. Fat drops of tears fall on the wooden floor as she sobs quietly. Shizuru bites her lower lip to stop herself from crying but the more she tried, the more tears flowed in her eyes.

"Fujino-san..." Natsuki said in a hushed tone.

Hearing her name get called, Shizuru snaps her head to face Natsuki. Then, Natsuki carefully wiped Shizuru's tears. She run her thumbs lovingly around those soft red cheeks. She doesn't know why she did it but she continued doing it until Shizuru stopped crying.

After a minute or two, Shizuru smiled at Natsuki while carefully guiding the weak girl back to the bed.

"You should rest" Shizuru whispered.

"Thank you" Natsuki replied.

After lying Natsuki back again in the bed, Shizuru walked at the corner of the room to retrieve a chair. She placed the chair next to Natsuki's bed and sat onto it.

"How are you feeling" she asked

"I'm fine, a bit dizzy but I'm fine"

"I am sorry for what happened to you. That night, Mai sticked some magical paper doll in my back so that whatever she does will be copied by me. Our intention is to make you like me by doing sexy dances but things go southwards because of Nao and Mai's little banter. I take full responsibility of what happened to you so if you'd like to punish or get back at me, I will accept it fully."Shizuru said in a serious tone.

"It's alright. Master said that there is good in everyone and I know that you are good because I saw it in you. You rescued me twice and the fact that I am here in this bed and not in the jungle floor proves that you are a good soul" Natsuki said with a smile.

Then their little bubble got popped by Natsuki's loud grumbling stomach. Natsuki blushed a deep shade of red and Shizuru chuckled lightly.

"I will be back with some food. Don't go anywhere" Shizuru said with a smile.

Ba-thump, Ba-thump, Ba-thump.

No Natsuki. Stop it.

A minute later, Shizuru is back at the room carrying a tray of soup and bread. She placed it at the bedside table carefully. Then she propped Natsuki on the bed.

"Here, hold on to me" Shizuru whispered to Natsuki's ear as she guided the girl's hand in the nape of her neck and gently hold the woman in the midsection to push her up. Natsuki shuddered at the voice speaking near her ear. Face heating up, as she cleared her throat to stop herself from blushing. Shizuru noticed Natsuki's attempt to calm down her blushing but let it pass with a small smile. She then grab the bowl of hot soup and proceeded to spoon-feed Natsuki. She's very careful not to spill its content and to not blow it too much for it to turn cold. A little of the soup escaped Natsuki's mouth at Shizuru's first attempt of feeding the girl.

"Ara.."

She quickly swiped the soup off of Natsuki's chin with her thumb and licked it absentmindedly.

"Gomen" said Shizuru

"It's fine" Natsuki said blushing again.

After finishing the soup, Shizuru broke the bread into little pieces and fed it to Natsuki. Then Natsuki choked on the bread and coughed uncontrollably but not because of Shizuru but because of what she saw at the window. Five pair of eyes are watching their little interaction. Sensing Natsuki's discomfort, Shizuru snapped her head to the window but saw nothing.

"Come out" Shizuru said emotionless.

Quickly, Mai, Mikoto, Tate, Nao, and Haruka straightened their body and stand outside the window.

"What are you doing there?" she asked blankly to her crew

"We're peeping, boss" Mikoto said enthusiastically. Haruka slapped her at the back of the head while the others sighed.

"How are you feeling Kuga-san" Mai inquired

"I am doing very well, thank you" Natsuki said with a small smile.

Then the five awkwardly gazes each other and got inside the room in a straight line and simultaneously bowed their heads to the ground.

"WE ARE VERY SORRY KUGA-SAN! PLEASE FORGIVE US"

Shocked at their sudden outburst, Natsuki just nodded and smiled at them.

"I forgive you all"

"THANK YOU KUGA-SAN!" they chorused again.

"Natsuki is fine, Kuga is too formal "Natsuki said while scratching her cheeks.

The crew just laugh at Natsuki's bashful action.

" Truthfully, we are very sorry. We didn't know things would escalate that quickly. Sorry for misjudging your actions and please bear in mind that we are greatly ashamed of what we've done to you." Tate said a bit teary-eyed .

" We have done you wrong and you forgave us in a heartbeat. You are a very kind hearted person. No wonder our boss likes you so much." Mai said with a wink, glint of mischief in her eyes.

Both Natsuki and Shizuru has a blush and a little smile in their face that they are trying to control. Having more experience in handling this kinds of scenario, Shizuru quickly replied to Mai's tease.

"Ara ara Mai, winking at my Natsuki in front of me. Don't tell me that you're also interested in her" Shizuru replied with a teasing tone.

After the crew's apology, Shizuru told them to get back to work because Natsuki needs to rest. They groaned a little but complied their boss' command. Shizuru cleaned the tray of food and asked Natsuki to rest and sleep. Seeing that she can't do anything with her aching body, Natsuki also obeyed Shizuru's request.

When she woke up, she saw Shizuru sitting in the chair asleep. Shizuru's fingers are intertwined with her left, holding her hand protectively under her chin. Natsuki blushed like a tomato after realising it. She studied Shizuru's face. The girl in front of her is very beautiful. Pink lips, straight nose, fair skin and beautiful eyes.

Why does she like me so much? There is nothing special about me.

Natsuki thought to herself.

She gently raises her hand to touch Shizuru's face but before she got into it, Shizuru's eyes fluttered slowly. Natsuki pushes herself back in the bed quickly to pretend to sleep but she miscalculated her action. Her head hit the bed's headboard loudly.

"Natsuki!" Shizuru suddenly jolted out of her seat.

"Ow.."

"Are you alright?!"

"Yes.." she said while rubbing her head

"Let me see.." Shizuru inspected Natsuki's head and saw big red angry mark.

"That's going to swell.." Shizuru said disapprovingly

"How do you even get that? You're just lying in bed? " Shizuru asked her with a gentle voice.

"I had a nightmare?" Natsuki said unsure of her answer.

Shizuru didn't dwell more of her inconvincible answer and decided to call Mai to gather some herbs for Natsuki's going to be- lump.

After treating Natsuki's head, the pair went out on the crew's dining table. The sky is already dark. The cool breeze of the night is blowing in their faces gently. The crew had already started a fire and a faint smell of roasted meat permits the air. Nao, Tate and Haruka are all sited near the fire, while Mikoto and Mai prepared the food. The pair's faint steps was picked up by the crew as they faced the new comers with big smiles on their faces.

"Boss! Natsuki-san!" Mikoto said while running towards Shizuru to hug her.

"Good evening boss! Natsuki-san! " Said Nao, Tate and Haruka also known as 'the three idiots' of the group.

Natsuki just smiled at the crew, still feeling a bit afraid of what they made her experienced.

The crew settled on calling the blue-haired demon hunter Natsuki-san to show that they highly respect her and also to avoid their boss' anger by being too familiar to 'her Natsuki'.

"I'm afraid I have forgotten to introduce my family of misfits to you Nat~su~ki." Shizuru said with a lilt in her voice.

" This is Mai, the mother of the group. She is a good cook, big breasts and my advisor." she said while pointing at the orange haired girl. Mai waved a little at Natsuki, unperturbed at Shizuru's boldness.

"This is Mikoto, the youngest on the group." She said with a smile.

Then Shizuru's eyes became hard.

"This is Tate, the pervert, Nao, the mongrel and Haruka, the imbecile." She finished off with a straight face.

"So stingy, bosssss. You make us cry with your words" they said while faking a sob.

The group fell into a comfortable conversation. Each, sharing personal stories to the group. They laughed, they cried but most of it is them bantering with each other.

Reviews? Reviews? Reviews?! I love reading them :3 Ok. Bye.

By the way, I love reviews.