Hero's Return 19 Bonding

R: "Ummm..."

S: "Who is this?"

So: "Yeah... about that..."

Rayn and Selica had decided to wake up Sora together today but had not expected to find a kitten sleeping next to him that was covered by flame, the flame seemed to be a part of the kitten.

So: "Its an interesting story..."

Sora explained the story of the dark mist that he fought, how it took over the animal and Seiju, and the woman and the little girl that the hunters encountered, he decided to keep his own power a secret for now, he simplified it through saying that he had a sudden insight into the magics of light and darkness and that he fought with that knowledge, he didn't put the weapons on display, only a faint light and a faint darkness. The truth was that his parents already sensed the new aura within him as soon as he arrived back into the village, they could also sense it had something to do with light and darkness but did not know specifically how good their son was at using said power, so they didn't ask.

R: "Wow."

S: "You took on something like that by yourself?"

So: "Haha... ye"

Before Sora could finish he felt a palm on his head, it was his mothers.

So: "Ah!"

S: "I didn't know you were fighting something like that!!!"

So: "Wha?!"

S: "You should have just ran away!"

So: "What?! And let it go?!"

S: "You coulda just came back here and called for a much more powerful hunter from the cities!"

So: "Well... yeah! but..."

S: "But what?!"

So: "But-"

So: "..."

So: "It was..."

So: "..."

So: "A... heat of the moment... thing?"

S: "..."

S: "Rayn... Why aren't you reacting like me..."

Rayn was sitting through this argument and was staring blankly into s.p.a.ce. After hearing his name he snapped out of it.

R: "Hm? What? What was the question?"

S: "..."

R: "What? Oh! The- the thing yeah."

S: "Well?"

R: "Well I kinda expected him to be fighting something that big, if he was gone for 3 days the reason has to be there, what I'm really surprised about is those powerful girls"

So: "Right?!"

Sora and Rayn fully agreed with eachother, but Sora was agreeing more to change the subject and escape his mother.

S: "You two..."

R: "Calm down Selica, let's get back to the topic at hand... so, this kitten was the one that dark thing had possessed?"

So: "Yeah, it was already gone when the fight had ended. Then last night, it just kinda... showed up."

R: "Just showed up?"

So: "Yeah, it was standing at the window, after a while it jumped on me, then after that it jumped on my bed, I tried moving it but it wouldn't budge so I just went to sleep with it there."

R: "So, you gonna keep it or..."

So: "Well... it doesn't wanna leave. If it did it would have left by now, I wasn't exactly keeping it here."

R: "Hmm... Selica?"

Selica was a little frustrated at how fast the subject had switched but she gave up, knowing that the two boys in front of her had formed a kind of 'team' against her already, it had happened alot over the years. Selica sighed.

S: "Well... how do you think Reiner will react to it?"

So: "He actually came up before you two did, they both seem fine with eachother, they even played with eachother for a bit before he left."

S: "Really? Aren't cat's and dog's supposed to go against eachother?"

R: "Well not necessarily, I've seen a cat's and dog's play together before, why not now?"

S: "Well... I guess so..."

R: "The real question is, why does it seem so powerful? The aura it gives out exceeds yours, Selica, it's still a ways off from my own... but..."

Both Rayn and Selica were above average mages, but Rayn had studied a much more powerful magic, the amount of magical energy needed to control s.p.a.ce and Time was extreme, so Rayn's magical power was extremely high, the sacrifice was that he could only use s.p.a.ce and Time, the immense magical power and energy that he held could not be used for other magics as as soon as one chose to study s.p.a.ce and Time, their connection to the other elements were blocked and they would not return, Rayn was definitely one of the most powerful people in the village but that was only in terms of being a mage only, the people that could simultaneously use aura and magic well were usually higher than him, but he was still above some of the weaker ones, he was roughly on the level of Del or Rez.

S: "Really? That strong?"

Selica wanted to test the waters with the kitten, she knew that nothing serious would happen as it had not attacked them when they entered the room, and Sora looked completely fine after spending a night with it. She walked close to it then attempted to pet it, to her surprise, it immediately ran away and ran up Sora's legs up to his shoulder, he was startled but calmed down after seeing that it was just hiding behind his head.

So: "It's... shy?"

R: "Hmm, this doesn't make sense."

Selica had pulled her hand back.

S: "It's stronger than me, but at the same time it runs from me. It definitely doesn't make sense."

R: "Why, then, is it so comfortable around you, Sora?"

Sora spent some time thinking.

So: "I don't really know, there's nothing that I did to make it attached to me, I don't even know if it was me that split it from that dark mist."

During the fight, after Sora had used it's most powerful attack, the dark mist had retreated, but Sora could not say for sure if it had split from the kitten due to the fact that it was damaged by him, Del and Rez or because it wanted to possess something else more powerful to fight against them. He couldn't say for sure if it was him that saved the kitten.

So: "But... I think that it thinks we saved it, so maybe it feels like it owes us?"

R: "Maybe."

S: "Well, if it isn't leaving and isn't shy around you. Are you going to keep it?"

So: "Well..."

R: "I would recommend it."

So: "Huh? Why?"

R: "Well, if it isn't comfortable leaving your side, might as well. Plus, it's strong, if it has a strong attachment to you already it will probably fight with you, you both exude aura, you can probably talk to it."

So: "Talk?"

R: "Well... send sigals and stuff, that's how you explained it to us right?"

So: "Oh, yeah! I completely forgot about that! I never even tried it!"

R: "Really?!"

So: "Yeah! I was so caught up with the other stuff!"

R: "Well try it now!"

So: "Yeah!"

Just as Sora was about to try.

S: "Be careful."

So: "Hm? Why?"

S: "Well... something doesn't make sense to me... whilst you never tried... it never tried either, it must have some reason for not communicating with you."

R: "Well. Yeah, I guess, didn't think about that - careful Sora."

Sora nodded.

So: "Okay."

Sora stood in silence, staring into the eyes of the kitten, the kitten also stared straight into Sora's eyes, after a moment of silence Sora sighed.

R: "Well? What did it say?"

So: "Well... it... didn't... say anything..."

S: "Nothing?"

So: "Technically yeah, but it did send me some of what it's feeling."

S: "Feeling?"

So: "Aura users can do that too."

R: "Well, what's it feeling?"

So: "Well, it want's to follow me. That's all it's sent."

R: "Follow you?"

S: "As in?"

So: "I don't know, I don't know if it means it literally or..."

The room was silent.

R: "Well. I guess all you can do is become friends with it then."

So: "Hm, well, no harm in that."

S: "We'll have another pet then I guess. Do I have to get cat food now?"

The kitten's ear's perked up, it jumped down from Sora's shoulder and began rubbing itself on Selica's leg.

R: "Hm, so it can understand our language somewhat."

S: "I could get used to this."

So: "Haha..."

After agreeing that they should keep the kitten, they immediately prepared a bed for it in the same room that Reiner slept in, they later found that it would sneak into Sora's room and sleep below or on the bed anyway, it wasn't a big deal for them so they just let it happen. Reiner and the kitten had grown a mutual respect for eachother, not just in terms of strength but as the two pets in the house, they wouldn't fight but would play with eachother.

3 Days Later [Training Yard]

A simple, gra.s.sy area with a river pa.s.sing by, this was a clearing in the forest with a river pa.s.sing through it, it wasn't too far from the village, some logs had been planted firmly into the ground and looked more or less like a person. there were 5 of these logs, all standing in a straight line horizontally. Sora was currently using a wooden sword and training, he didn't put power into his swings, even with a wooden sword, he could destroy one of the logs easily, in here he was just practicing his swordplay, wherein he would support his senses with aura to see which area's he would leave open for attack whilst he was attacking, this was how he perfected himself, leave no openings for yourself, create as much openings for the enemy. Sora had been training for 3 hours now and had wore himself out, he lay down on the ground and looked upwards towards the sky.

So: "Man, I'm still so bad at using a sword, too many openings."

The training into seeing how many openings he left for the enemies to take advantage of had just started recently, he had only really been training for a week, after his fight with Seiju whilst he was possessed, he had almost died because of one simple mistake - he didn't want to be put in that situation again. From the start of his training he had left over 100 openings, but now he had reduced it to 30 every time he went to barrage a dummy.

So: "Welp, better get back to it."

Sora jumped up and walked towards on of the dummies, as he was about to attack he sensed something watching him and immediately looked to where he was sensing the eyes from, he got into a defensive stance, after looking down towards the left of the clearing he saw that it was the kitten, the kitten sat down and stared at him.

So: "Oh, it's just you? You followed me here?"

The kitten kept staring at him with a neutral expression.

So: "Well, if you wanna watch, sure but... I'm not really doing anything interesting."

Sora jumped back in and landed a barrage of sword blows on the dummy, he was using a combination of slices and thrusts, spinning attacks and would often back out then enter a defensive stance, every time he did this he would say a number, this number was how many openings he found he had left for an enemy to potentially use, he would then jump back and repeat the process, constantly trying to improve.

So: "25, 23, 19, 22, 23, 17, 16, 19, 24, 21, 20"

Sora jumped back and lowered his sword.

So: "d.a.m.nit, it was going so well when I started out, it's getting harder as I go along."

Sora jumped back towards the dummy and began attacking it once again.

The kitten had been watching this all along and had gained a basic idea of what Sora was training in and how he was trying to improve.

Sora sliced in a horizontal arc, then quickly side-stepped to the left, lowering his body and thrusting his wooden sword towards the dummy's legs, as his sword stopped he sliced in an arc upwards and jumped up, spinning his sword horizontally, he quickly noticed while he was in midair that his back was completely open to the dummy - he also noticed that the momentum would leave his chest open as soon as he turned around whilst he was in midair.

(T)S: "d.a.m.n, this is probably the biggest mistake I've made today, two extremely dangerous openings in one movement."

As his body was about to turn around he saw a white and blue blur in the corner of his eye jump onto the dummy and scratch it, after the scratch was left the white and blue blur immediately jumped back onto his shoulder. He landed.

So: "Wha?"

The kitten rubbed it's head against his ear.

So: "Two openings... neutralised just like that... how- how did you know?"

The kitten just kept rubbing up against his ear.

So: "Heh... well... I'm not complaining."

He moved his hand up to pet the kitten.

So: "Well... think you can help me through the rest?"

The kitten lightly purred.

Sora linked his mind with the kittens and jumped forward, they were much more effective at tracking eachother's movements and thoughts now.

2 Hours Later

So: "Uuuuuuuuugh"

Sora dropped to the ground, with the kitten walking up to him and slowly lying down next to him before going to sleep.

Sora was currently panting.

So: "Heh... you tired *pant* too huh?"

Sora looked towards the kitten.

So: "We got down to 4..."

Through his immersion in his training with the kitten, he had lost track of time, the sky was orange now and the sun was about to set. He let out a sigh, it was getting colder. He stood up then carefully picked up the kitten and put it on his shoulder, before he started walking it woke up, it still stayed on his shoulder.

[Pathway Back To Village]

The night had begun, and the sky was now filled with countless stars and an extremely bright blue moon. Sora had already learned to live with the kitten, he had also bonded with it a bit beforehand when he petted it, they had already grown to have a good relations.h.i.+p before this, now they were really friends.

So: "So this is what dad meant when he said you could help me out. You're pretty cute too."

The kitten purred.

So: "Come to think of it... do you have a name?"

The kitten shook it's head.

So: "Oh, well... you want one?"

It stared at him with a neutral expression.

So: "Is that a... yes?"

It stared at him with a neutral expression.

So: "Well... it would make it easier for us to call you and talk to you so we might as well.

It stared for a while before licking him.

Sora chuckled.

So: "Hey! that tickles!"

He picked it up with both hands and held it up, it showed an expression of excitement. Sora also smiled in response.

So: "Heh, well, what to name you then."

He loosened his grip as it ran back up to his shoulder.

So: "Hmmmm"

Sora thought for a long time as he walked on the path back to the village.

So: "I got it!"

The kitten stared at him in wait.

So: "How about Dez? It's a mix of my two friends."

The kitten slumped.

So: "Don't like that eh? Then... ummmmm... Ina?"

The kitten gave a neutral expression.

So: "Hm, I don't think that's the best name... uhhhhhhhh"

Sora had never really named anything before, this was his first time and it was a name for something powerful and something that he wanted to follow him for a long time. After today, he had grown both respect and more of a desire to keep it.

So: "Hmmm. Oh, I got another one."

The kitten's ears propped up.

So: "How abou-"

Sora hesitated.

So: "How about Rin? That sounds pretty good, right?"

The kitten paused for a second then began once again rubbing its head against his own, letting out a cute purr.

So: "You like that huh? Let's go with that then"

Looking at the blue moon.

So: "Alright Rin! Let's get stronger together!"

The kitten let out a small 'meow'.