Page 27 of A Soul to Touch

“Good, because you look like you’re strong, and I’m tired of walking back and forth into the forest.”

Since he’d blindly follow Mayumi wherever she wanted to go, he didn’t question her as she led the way. She was geared up as she normally was, which made it feel as though she didn’t fully trust him, but he was thankful for it. If something went astray, she had weapons to protect herself – especially from him.

It felt... odd walking side by side with her. In all his life, he never thought he’d ever strollwitha human, and he definitely hadn’t thought it was a possibility to do so with this one.

He resisted the urge to brush his elbow against the side of her leg just for a meagre chance at contact with her, but the idea gnawed at him the entire time.

“Are you able to remove that cloth yet?” she asked, speaking loudly to be heard over the crunching sounds of their movements through the thick snow. “I’m not bleeding anymore, and I doubt I’ll do anything to cause you to go crazy, or whatever it is will happen if you smell blood.”

Kitty thought about it for a few long moments.

He eventually reached up and pawed the cloth off his face. Then he dug into the hollow nose hole of his bony snout and flicked out the dried mud. He snorted to get rid of what remained.

“There’s your face.”

He looked sideways to find she was already staring upon him.

“Thank you,”he said, catching just a flicker of sunlight in her near black eyes that now appeared like a liquid hazel. It was an absolutely mesmerising sight that had his stomach clenching against his will.“It was remarkably uncomfortable.”

“But you did it in order to keep me safe?”

“Yes. My goal is to protect you, even if it is from myself.”

She stretched her arms above her and walked a few steps with them crossed behind her head. Her gaze drifted to the canopy of leaves and branches above them that hid away the angry, grey clouds above.

He could tell by the temperature and the feel of the wind that no snow would fall for quite some time today.

“I didn’t know you had a crack in your skull. I don’t remember that from when I was a child since I was dizzy at the time, but have you always had it?”

“No,”he answered, before turning his sight and head forward to watch where they were going.“I obtained it recently.”

He wouldn’t reveal the significance of his cracked skull, and he didn’t want to talk about it.

“Does it hurt? I can’t imagine how I’d feel if my skull was broken. Humans would probably be screaming in pain.”

Oh, I’d screamed alright,he thought with a growl.

He’d never experienced anything as excruciating as his skull being penetrated by a thumb claw and cracking from the pressure.

“It hurts a little, but it is mostly fine,”he answered truthfully, although with a hint of nonchalance to hide its significance.“I barely notice it anymore.”

Kitty had gotten used to his new pain as it just mildly tingled. It was a constant reminder, though, like an ominous black cloud that refused to dissipate.

He felt... trapped by it.

Especially since this cloud would never go away but would continue to become more noticeable and prominent. At any point, it could strike him down permanently with a bolt of lightning and end him.

Kitty turned his head away when the shift of his sight began turning blue, pretending to search the area. Only once he’d managed to stifle the emotion did he bring his head forward.

Mayumi hadn’t noticed.

Before they’d left, she’d stopped to obtain a large wood chopping axe from a shed at the back of her home. She handed it to him when they approached a fallen tree laying half buried in the snow.

It had no branches and was only the central trunk.

She pointed to a tree upright and rooted to the ground.

“Cut that down. It’ll be much faster if you do it than me.”

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