Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Bloody Promises

Kumiho walks out of the bathroom still patting down her damp hair with a pale towel. Wearing a simple black T-shirt with brown pants. Sune in her oversized cotton sweater and soft white pants has a sad look in her eyes while watching Kumiho walk out of the bathroom, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I should be asking you that. I’m not the one who got glass picked out of their skin and is covered in bandages.”

“...” Sune stays silent while lightly biting her lip, her eyes wandering down to stare at her bandaged right hand.

“Knock, knock, knock.” The two girls look towards the light knocking on the door to their room.

“Who is it?” Sune’s sweet voice is noticeably more cautious than usual.

The familiar old voice of Edith is muffled by the door, “It is just me dear. The rest were worried but didn’t want to overwhelm you with too many people.”

Sune goes and opens the door, revealing the tanned old woman wearing a white apron over a brown short sleeve shirt and dark brown pants. The woman is smiling cordially at the two children peering into the hallway.

The woman’s smile falls when she sees Sune’s bandaged form, “Does it hurt?”

“No I’m fine, really~! The pain is already gone. See?” She flexes her slim arm. Kumiho grabs her haphazardly moving arm with a stern look.

“Don’t do that. Your ability seems to be numbing the pain, but that doesn’t magically make it better.” Sune looks down at her arm and sees small wisps of pink occasionally slipping through her bandages.

“You should listen to her honey.” Edith’s melancholy voice travels through the room. Edith entering the room with a gloomy face that she unsuccessfully tries to lighten up. “You should rest in bed instead of exerting yourself like this.” The two women lead the confused Sune by her shoulders right to her bed where she is lifted and lightly plopped down onto.

Edith worriedly asks questions about both Sune’s health and if Kumiho herself is okay, to which Kumiho denies all her worries and gets her to leave the room after promising ‘she’d go to sleep right away.’ Edith leaves dejectedly, tiredly waving to Kumiho and walking down the hall, Kumiho closing the door and gazing at Sune. Sune is already sleeping soundly, a small grimace on her face, “Whole gang of liars.” She mockingly whispers to herself, opening the window and climbing out of it, closing it from the outside. Quietly hopping down onto the dirt ground with a soft thud. She looks around for a moment, her eyes glowing before she closes them, and her ears begin to glow and twitch. She opens her eyes with recognition, her stern voice quietly echoing through the dirt streets. “I know you’re there.” Her cold voice being met with silence. She pivots on her feet to turn and walk down a dark alleyway, hearing steps behind her she turns around to face a black-haired girl in a cloak.

“H-How’d you know I was there...?” Hollie’s small voice questions the red-haired girl standing before her.

“Your breathing was too loud. Did Hrafn—er Prosecutor not teach you how to quiet it?”

“No... He just taught me how to blend into the shadows and walk silently...” Her quiet voice sounds betrayed.

“Why were you watching me?”

“He told me as a final test I had to watch you two all day without being caught. And I was doing so well too...” She whimpers under her breath, lightly tugging at her cloak in frustration.

Kumiho nods in affirmation, “So I’d assume Prosecutor followed the elf?”

Hollie nods darkly.

“Where's Fang? Sune was hoping he’d be here today.” Kumiho sounds uninterested but is unable to fool Hollie as the black-haired girl slowly shakes her head.

“Fang is having his final test in the forest, while a ‘monitor’ watches over him. This was my final as well.”

“It's barely been any time at all though? I thought you’d be gone for at least a week.” She tilts her head in confusion, her red tail tucked behind her legs.

Hollie shrugs, “H-He said that we were naturally gifted at controlling our magic and since magic is mostly intuitively learned that we didn’t need much training...” She pauses for a long while, grimacing to herself and recoiling a few times in the dark alley, “Uhm... He also said that this time together was mostly just to gauge our abilities in preparation for the school Oswin is sending us to.”

Kumiho nods to Hollie before inviting the girl inside and accidentally waking Sune with the loudly creaking door. Sune practically jumping out of bed to pester the dazed Hollie with questions of what happened while she was gone and where Fang was, and if she was eating right, and everything else that came to her mind at that moment. Kumiho leaving the poor girl on her own, Hollie shooting Kumiho a look that the red head completely ignores, quickly getting into bed and going to sleep. Hollie looking like she’s about to cry watching Kumiho tuck herself into bed.

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The children all wake up and get ready for the day: getting dressed into shorter sleeve and pants for the hot day, Kumiho making breakfast, and Hollie needing to shake awake the oversleeping Sune. They walk to school for their classes with the kind Mrs. Smith and find Fang standing right outside the main entrance. Leaning against the wooden wall of the school, lightly scratching at the scar on his wrist. Small scabs visible on his wrist that he quickly covers with the sleeve of his brown leather jacket. Under the brown jacket is a black shirt and long black pants cover his legs.

“Fang!” Sune happily squeals, cheerfully bouncing over to the young boy.

The grey-haired boy smiles softly at the girl, “Hey, Sune.” His voice is rather subdued and quiet, his eyes tired and dull.

Sune stops before the boy and lightly squints, “What's with the jacket?”

“Hm...?” The boy’s eyes wander away from the girl before refocusing on her, “Oh, uhm, Pros—Hrafn gave it to me.” Fang’s lips awkwardly curl as he avoids eye contact with Sune and walks into the building without another word.

Sune stands there for a long time, her tail drooping close to the ground. A light hand grabs onto her shoulder, “He just had a test yesterday, h-he might just be stressed.” Hollie tries to give the girl a comforting smile but freezes when Sune turns around. Tears fall from Sune’s face in long streams. “Wh—Why are you crying?!” Hollie worriedly questions.

“I am...?” She wipes her face with her hand and stares at her soaking wet hand, wiping the rest of the tears with the inside of her elbow. “It must be that smell of onions in the air.” She turns into the building and quickens up her pace to catch up with the fast-walking Fang.

“What smell of onions...?”

“Stress.” Kumiho walks past the stunned girl, the soft touch of Kumiho’s red tail brushing against her leg waking her up from her daze.

“Uh... Sure...” Following behind the red fox through the halls and into Mrs. Smith’s class. The grey-haired boy slowly comes back to his usual self after Sune’s constant pestering. The stupid look he gives to Sune when she reveals she got Kumiho to laugh causing her to laugh heartily, Fang’s head turning with great difficulty towards Kumiho. Unfortunately for the green-eyed girl, once Fang learned of her ability to laugh, he began trying his absolute best to make her laugh the entire class; only stopping because Mrs. Smith scolded him to get back to work.

After class Sune claims they must get new clothes, but Fang claims Hrafn already got him enough clothes and Kumiho sees no point in going again and is lightly shoved in response by Sune. Hollie glaring at her traitorous companions while being dragged away by the skipping Sune. Kumiho tears up the small note that Sune shoved into her hand when pretending to be annoyed by her not going shopping with them.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Written in scratchy Imperial: waTcH FanG fOr mE.

Fang waves goodbye to Kumiho before walking down the dirt roads and wandering around the town. Kumiho tails the young boy, weaving in and out of alleyways to avoid being seen, watching the boy as he window shops the many different stores along the road: antique stores, clothing stores, jewelry stores, restaurants; he looks through the windows of practically any building that has some, his eyes shining with curiosity. Finally, he enters a small stone brick building with no windows, Kumiho spending a short moment to read the words on the small wooden fold up sign in front of the building: Will make anything made of metal if given compensation. Soon after entering, Fang leaves the building with a frown, smoke beginning to billow from the large brick chimney at the top of the short building. She follows Fang for a little while later but turns to go back to the stone building after watching him go into Leah’s shop and sitting down to order some food.

She pushes open the heavy door to the shop, her small frame trembling and lightly glowing red as she manages to push the door fully open and step inside. The entire shop stinks of metal and a smoky burning smell of coal. The ceiling and tops of the walls are all stained black. Rows of large metal racks create small aisles in the already small room and laying on those racks are all sorts of metal items: common utensils such as forks, spoons, knives; larger weapons such as swords and axes; metal pots and pans, and all sorts of other metal trinkets lining the racks in a jumbled up mess of junk. Kumiho walks down the aisles with curious eyes, examining all the items and feeling the weight of the different items; the young girl almost tipping over when she tries to pick up a long sword that is much too heavy for her thin body. the only thing saving her from falling being the red glow that strengthens her muscles and rejuvenates her body with its warm energy.

While continuing to peruse the items a husky voice suddenly calls out to the young girl, “Whatcha doing in ere kid?” The man’s brusque voice causes Kumiho’s eyes to narrow on the white skinned man with messy blonde hair that falls in front of his light grey eyes, dark black splotches of dirt and grime staining parts of his already dark blonde hair. Wearing a brown leather apron over a short sleeve shirt and long brown pants, a metal face mask hanging from his neck by a chain. The man would tower over the small girl if he didn’t hunch onto the small beaten-up wooden counter, his crossed arms resting on the desk show off his dense muscles riddled with scars and burns.

“I want to know if you seen a Easterner today?” Her Imperial is a little broken but the man seems unbothered.

“Ey lassie, he your boyfriend or somthin?” His harsh voice grating the girl’s ears as they flatten against her red hair.

“No. I just want know what he came for.”

“Ah... Was just a pickup. He came with some weirdo with lines in his eyes. Real freaky that one. Talked almost like he wasn’t one of us, reminded me of those old stories of the boogeyman mam used to scare us with. But the kid picked up a dagger that wiht ordered for him.

“I see, how much are your...” She stops to think for a moment, “Services...?”

“I thought you came for your boyfriend?”

“...” She stares at the man in silence, the man meeting her eyes with his own dead grey eyes. Kumiho folds first and sighs, “Haaa... He’s not my boyfriend. Just that same ‘boogeyman’ broke my last knife, so I need a new one.”

The man pulls a pair of crude glasses out of his shirt pocket and puts them on. He digs in his pants pockets for a while before pulling out a small note pad and a crude metal fountain pen. “Ahright, What kinda blade?”

“Make blade around...” She puts her two index fingers up and brings them together before slowly pulling them away from each other, “This long. And curve it a tiny bit with a pointy head... tip I mean.”

He writes some things down on the notepad and asks his next question, “Mhm, and handle?”

“Leather.”

“Jewelry?”

“No.”

“Etchings?”

“What is that?”

“I can carve words into the blade.”

“Is it extra coins?”

“Yes.”

“Then no.”

“Ahright tats it. Come in a few days and it’ll be done.” The man puts away all his tools and puts the smooth metal mask over his mouth and nose. Picking up a green beetle with a short rod of threaded metal replacing its head and screws it into the bottom right of the mask. He waves the girl away and walks over to the still bright burning forge, the forge made of a pure black material with pulsing red veins and a raging fire burning within it.

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Kumiho peers into Leah’s shop but does not see Fang in it anymore, so she keeps walking down the dirt roads to the quaint wooden tavern. A wooden sign embedded into the dirt blocks the entrance of the tavern.

No guests until sunset. All guests who have an already purchased room can enter.

The small girl walks around the sign and enters the quiet tavern, the door to the kitchen ever so slightly open. She breathes in with her nose, her nose softly scrunching and her eyes narrowing. While walking past a table that still has dirty dishes on it, she grabs a small wooden fork, stashing it within the pockets of her brown pants. Lightly pushing the door open with a creak, she notices Fang staring at her timidly with his left arm hidden behind his back and his leather jacket covering the countertop. Her nose lightly glows while she smells the air, her mouth lightly drooping at the smell.

“Ohhh, hey~... Kumiho...?” his voice falls as Kumiho walks over to him with her deadpan look and grabs the wrist of his left arm, “Agh!... uhm...” His eyes quake under Kumiho’s piercing glare, his bare arm stinging with pain.

The red-haired girl sighs at the sight of the large cuts in Fang’s forearm, the warm blood dripping down the sides of his arm, Fang tries to tug away from her tight grip on his wrist with an awkward smile on his face.

“It’s uhhh... Not what it looks like?” He smiles timidly, the smile quickly falling when Kumiho pulls his jacket off the counter and reveals the still blood covered kitchen knife on the table.

“Is it really now?” Her pupils narrow into small black slits.

“Errr, uhm... I—” His stuttering is interrupted by Kumiho’s stern voice.

“Why would you do this to yourself?” The boy’s face falls at her question and her own face softens.

“I... I don’t know... Just helps me calm down, I guess. The pain distracts me—helps me think.” His voice is soft and confused, his lips curled into a grimace.

“Haa...” She sighs softly and pulls the boy by the wrist and up the stairs, leading him into their room.

“Ow! What are you doing Kumiho?” He questions in-between groans.

“Sit right there for a bit.” She lets go of his wrist and lets him sit down on the room floor. She hauls over a metal bucket with all the things she needed to treat Sune and pulls them out one by one. “Hand.” She commands while holding a rag she wet with a flask of water, Fang tentatively giving her his left hand that she grabs hold of tightly. Quickly wiping his bloody cuts clean with the wet rag.

“Ow... OW!” Fang squirms and yelps with the girl’s every touch, first the wet rag, then the honey, and then the bandages that she tightly wraps around his arm. “Too tight— too tight! Ow!” He lightly caresses his bandaged arm while wincing, “Couldn’t you have been gentler!” He whines.

“If it hurts so much, why’d you do it to yourself? I thought the pain helped you think?” She scolds in a soft tone.

“I-I—don’t know okay... I don’t know how else to deal with it, so I do that, is that what you want me to say!?” He lashes out for a moment before looking down at the ground with a sad expression, “I just do it... because... I do...” He mumbles quietly.

his green eyes refuse to meet Kumiho’s, her own green eyes despite their softness seeming to bear down on the boy’s soul, that pressure only getting worse for him the longer she stares at him. “I’m not going to try and stop you from doing it.”

“Huh?” The boy doesn't believe his ears.

“I understand that I can’t stop you from doing it with just words, so just tell me if you do it. Then I’ll be able to make sure it won’t hurt as much by taking care of it.”

“But can’t Oswin just heal it?”

“Is he always around?” Kumiho exaggeratedly looks around the empty room, causing Fang to laugh. “And would you even tell him and get healed?”

The boy goes silent, his hand unconsciously moving over to the scar on his wrist. Kumiho slapping it away and waking up the child from his daze, “You’re right...”

“Promise me.”

“Promise what?”

“That you’ll tell me whenever you cut yourself, so I can help.”

The boy looks at her stupefied for a moment before bursting out into laughter, “You—Hahah—do realize—pfff—that sounds really wrong, right?”

The girl simply tilts her head in confusion, the innocent look she gives him causing him to laugh even more.

He begins speaking while wiping the small tears in his eyes, “Alright, alright, I promise, okay?” The girl glares at his halfhearted response, the boy quickly adding on before getting scolded again, “I promise, that I will tell you every time I end up injuring myself.” The boy reaches his hand out towards the girl with his pinky outstretched.

Kumiho meeting the hand and interlocking her pinky with his, “I promise.”

“It’s a promise then.” The boy cheekily smiles at the young girl as they leave their pinky’s interlocked while staring into each other’s equally bright green eyes.

Their moment interrupted as Sune barges in loudly with Hollie in tow, both of their heads jerking towards the intruders. The white-haired girl stopping after noticing their interlocked fingers, “What are you two doing?”