Anxiety's Rythym [Closed]

Kaminari had taken up the offer from  Jilocasin after everything that happened in that damn whore house. She needed a break, some food, and some decent clothes, so she sort of used the offer to get a few things she needed. Over her short stay, she was able to learn that Jilocasin was a nice guy, so she might even return. For now, though, she needed to get the hell out of here. Cieria was proving day after day to be the one place that she really should not be. The people here were rough, sneaky, and often seemed to be planning somthing evil behind the backs of their Duke. Luckily, Jilocasin was also seeming to do his best to rid Cieria of it's horrid reputation and lessen it's crime.

And now out of the graces of the Duke of Cieria, Kaminari was making her way through the shopping center. She was tired. Even after a great nights sleep in a comfortable bed, Kaminari was just tired. She was tired of traveling, of fighting with Kurai, of being alone, of never having any fun, and of feeling like she could lose contorl of herself and give over to Kurai at any moment. She was just tired of her life. There were many times that she thought of taking that one-way shortcut to the end of life, but something kept telling her to keep on moving. Whether it was Kurai's want to be alive yelling in the back of her mind or the small amount of hope that she held, she never did it.

And today seemed to be one of those days that she needed to be alive. She was walking down the street when she heard a semi-familiar voice. She wasn't entirely sure when he got here; she thought he and his blue friend had gone their seperate ways. Kaminari's attention was caught by the nervous stuttering though. She looked over to him, seeing Setsuna being led to a back alley. She sighed and shook her head, taking a step in the opposite direction. "You'd regret that every day of your life and you know it. Turn your ass around and help the boy." Kurai demanded, not wanting to deal with the irritation or guilt that Kaminari would cause her if anything had happened to Setsuna.

Kaminari didn't need to say another word. She turned on her heel and rushed down the alley. She couldn't entirely seen Setsuna since he was hidden behind a few crates while she pushed him up against the wall, but Kaminari jumped into the air and slammed both of her feet into the side of the woman, sending her flying into a few crates. She probably should have taken the time to make sure Setsuna was actually in trouble, but she took a wild fucking guess and ended up being right. The woman looked up to Kaminari in utter rage. "Don't move." Kurai said and began leaking a bit of her power into Kaminari. As the woman stood up to attack, Kaminari's hair turned a fiery red.

"What the hell?" the woman asked, taking a step back. "I'm not in the mood to deal with another whore." Kaminari told her. The woman began stepping away, frightened of the strange change Kaminari underwent. Kaminari watched the woman trip over herself a few times and finally picked herself up to run. Kaminari took a deep breath and sighed, her hair falling back into it's brown color. "Setsuna..." she reached out to him and brushed his hair behind his ear, "What are you doing out here alone? Where is Shinobu?" She was genuinely concerned about Setsuna and that should have shown. Once he answered, she sighed and gently took his hand, "Come on. Let's get you back."

"Surprised to see me?" she replied as he stuttered her name. She gave him a kind smile before brushing his hair behind his ear and listening to him explain. She shook her head, sighing at him. "You need to be more careful. You're more frightened out here than I am, and that's saying something..." Kaminari glanced off to the side with a roll of her eyes. The roll wasn't toward him, but toward her own fears, especially since she could defend herself. She took his hand and led him on until he would soon take the lead by pointing her in the right direction. She wanted to make sure he got back to Shinobu safe and sound, but also give the bastard a piece of her mind when she got there.

When they arrived at the inn, Setsuna seemed to hesitate going inside. She didn't want to push him into the room, so she waited. Once he did open the door, Kaminari looked inside, her eyes falling onto Shinobu as he finished getting ready. Kaminari ignored Shinobu as he spoke, patting gently on Setsuna's back to move him into the room before closing the door behind her. Once the door was closed, she stepped quicklky up to Shinobu and popped him on the side of the head. "What the hell are you doing letting Setsuna go out there alone when you know he is as frightened as he is?" Kaminari asked in an angry tone, her eyes narrowed and her hands placed firmly on her hips.

"I mean, how irresponsible can you be?! If you have someone who depends on you, you don't just leave them alone!" she continued on speaking, not really giving him a chance to retaliate as she ranted at him, "Do you even know what almost happened again today!? Another one of those whores working their hiring almost got him, again! And since you were obviously no where around, what would he have done? Do you think that you can just luckily track him down each time? Or are you waiting for someone a little more skilled than you to be able to snatch him up? If so, tell me now, because then he can stay with me. At least I know that I won't just leave his side when he needs me!"

Kaminari's head just tilted. She was expecting a lot more than this calm and kind of... complimenting reaction from him. She blinked her eyes a couple times, a smile threatening to push onto her lips. "Aww, he's so cute..." Kurai spoke from the insider of her mind, "You like him already, huh?" Kaminari's expression dropped to irritation, but her eyes gazed off to the left away from both him and Setsuna. She tried not to 'glare' at anyone when she was talking to Kurai. She didn't like people thinking she was mad at them when she wasn't. As Shinobu continued talking though, she raised her eyebrow at what he seemed to be trying to tell her. Just spit it out already!

Setsuna leaned into her ear and Kaminari leaned toward him a bit on instinct. Kaminari blinked at what Setsuna said and then shot a glare toward Shinobu for yelling at Setsuna. "Hey! Leave him alone!" Kaminari pointed at Shinobu and put a hand on her hips, "Maybe if you just said what you meant, he wouldn't have to clear it up for you." "They're both cute." Kurai spoke up again, causing Kaminari to tense, "They're both shy in different ways. It's adorable. You know that, I know that. It's obvious that they want us, well you, around. So just go with them. You don't have anything else to do." Kaminari's body relaxed and she glanced over to Setsuna, but then looked back to Shinobu.

"Oh shush. You don't have to threaten me. I'd never do anything to harm him, so there's no point." Kaminari said, looking to Setsuna with a smile. "You won't, but I would... Well, maybe not, because then you'll start crying and whining... Ugh." Kaminari just ignored her this time, used to stupid comments like that. "You guys are in need of money?" Kaminari blinked in surprise and looked down to a rather full pouch of gold, "I am pretty sure I can cover a few costs, at least for a while." Kaminari had her way of getting money in one day. It wasn't anything she was proud of, but she did what she needed to. "So where exactly are we going? Are your plans to stay in or get out of Cieria?"

Kaminari stood there with a small smile as the two interacted with each other. Setsuna really was like a younger brother to Shinobu. And it was as cute as she had been thinking. Kaminari let out a soft sigh and shook her head. "I don't care where we go. I haven't been to Zakat in a while, so why not?" Kaminari said and looked to Setsuna, "When he's not around, I'd like it if you stayed near me. Until you feel confident enough to walk around on your own, I'd rather not chance anyone trying to hurt you again, alright?" Kaminari kept a small smile and gently pat the top of Setsuna's head. She meant this kid no harm. In fact, with the way he was, he made her feel a little like a mother of sorts.

"Are you guys ready to get going?" Kaminari asked and stepped toward the door, but then stopped when her hand hit the handle, "How come you guys need tents and stuff? You don't just sleep under the stars? Wouldn't you prefer not to have to set things up every night? Also... What money do you have?" Kaminari raised an eyebrow, knowing she was not going to throw all of her gold into this. She felt no need for a tent, but that was her. If they did, she'd help, but she wasn't going to be used. Her tone conveyed that very well actually. "Alright then... Let's head to the market up town, though. I was there a bit ago, it's a lot less shady and you can trust what they're selling."

Kaminari would lead them to the place that she was talking about. This area of town was a lot less suspicious and much better taken care of. The people here actually seemed to care about their businesses doing well, so there weren't any dark alleys that you can be poisoned by. Besides that, there were a few very strong looking guards that walked up and down the streets to make sure nothing was going on. "See, much better." Kaminari looped her arm with Setsuna's and Shinobu's gently dragging them along as she walked, but also making sure that Setsuna wouldn't trip over his own feet. She wasn't entirely caring about Shinobu, yet. "There's the place." she pointed.

The shop that she lead them to had all kinds of adventuring gear. From weapons, to food, to tents, and even accessories along the lines of rope and lanterns. The only problem with this shop, it was a little more expensive than the cheap stuff that they would have gotten in the other area. She was aware of their money problems, if he had answered her previous question, which only meant one thing: Kaminari was ready and willing to help them out with the nice bit of gold that she had. "And don't worry about any prices you see... I am a part of your group now, so I'll help." she said to make sure the understood her intentions, "Just pick out something you like and is functional."

There really wasn't much that Kaminari cared about when it comes to traveling. She was used to sleeping on the ground without a tent or any other comforts. It doesn't mean she was happy that way. She just never had a reason to make things really comfortable. Besides for her 'inner demon', she was always alone, and Kurai was not the best of companions. Now that she was with Setsuna and Shinobu, maybe being a little more comfortable wasn't a bad idea. She watched them both quietly as they looked about the shop, glancing around at a few things while she waited. After a while, Setsuna called out to Shinobu, but also caught Kaminari's attention. She heard the conversation and really had no problem with it at all. If they shared a tent, fine. What would be wrong with something like that?

"It seems someone isn't fond of the idea of sleeping in the same tent as you. I wonder why?" Kurai spoke up from the inner workings of Kaminari's mind. Kaminari just sighed. There was no annoyance in her sigh, just a sigh. "If that's the one you want Setsuna..." she said as she walked over and gently took the tent from him, "It's the one we'll get." Kaminari walked over to the shop owner and set it down on the counter. She grabbed a large canteen, a large bag of beef jerky, a bag of dehydrated meats, and a large box of fifty ramen to go along with everything. She didn't know about the others, though she could assume about Setsuna, but she wasn't a hunter. She wasn't going to be skinning a rabbit or anything like that. They needed something to eat while they were out there.

"And these." Kaminari grabbed a few more items: a small arcane powered stove, two battery refills for the stove, a kettle, and two large backpacks to be able to carry all of this. When Kaminari paid for it, sixty percent of what she had was spent. She set everything down and put all of the 'tools' in one backpack, the food in another, and then threw the already rolled tent over her own shoulders. "Here." she held both backpacks out to them, "If I can carry these with one hand each, I'm pretty sure you strong men could carry them on your back." Kaminari wasn't being sarcastic. If anything the 'strong men' comment sounded like a compliment than anything else. After that was settled, Kaminari followed them out of the city and the three of them began making their way toward Zakat.

~End~