Strays: A Romantic Fantasy Adventure

“I love them!”

“Are you sure? You know, you don’t have to settle for the first ones you try on. We still have some coin. Do you want to try on a few different pairs?”

“No!” Ivy spun around and clicked her heels together, her face lighting up as she gazed at the vixen. “I want these! They’re so cute!”

Sakura watched the girl bounce around the shop in her new boots, absolutely thrilled that they had buckles rather than the laces she was accustomed to. It was what drew her to them in the first place, and Ivy had wasted no time at all pulling off her old, smaller boots and slipping on the new. “Are you absolutely sure?” the woman asked. “No changing your mind once we leave the shop.”

“I won’t change my mind. These are perfect!” Ivy insisted.

The woman smiled after her and looked over at the shopkeep as she handed over the appropriate coin. “Well, you heard her, they’re perfect. Come on then, Ivy.” She went to the door and opened it, Ivy bounding out before turning back to the demon.

“When are you going to get new boots?” she asked sweetly, the hood of her cloak concealing her expression as she clasped her hands behind her and walked backwards with the vixen following. “You should have gotten a pair there. They had the tall ones that you like. We had enough for both of us to get something.”

“I don’t need new boots. These are still good,” Sakura claimed nonchalantly as she momentarily glanced down at them. She had had them for about a year but had no idea how long the woman before her had had them, but it was obvious that they were hardly ever worn. They had been a trade, boots for a small extermination job. Sakura had come out on top with that one, only having to fling a few daggers at some golden, bird-like pests that were in one of the woman’s orange trees, eating all the fruit and destroying the branches. She loved the boots and how they came up to her knees, the leather protecting her shins and calves from the scrapes and bruises she was accustomed to getting. They were becoming a bit worn with constant, heavy use, but she figured she still had a few more years use out of them. “Is that why you didn’t want to try anything else on? You wanted me to get something?”

Ivy spun around, falling into step next to the demon. “You never buy anything for yourself,” she said quietly, taking her hand and feeling the rough callouses, a consequence of years of labor and combat, against her own softer skin. “You only ever buy stuff for me. You always do everything for me.”

“I don’t need anything. If I need it, I’ll buy it.” The woman smiled and laid a kiss on top of amethyst waves. “You don’t need to worry about me. Let me worry about you. You’re what’s most important.” A finger pressed against the girl’s lips before they had the chance to part in retaliation. “Hush. Don’t argue with me.”

Ivy sighed but complied. Sakura never needed anything, never asked for anything. She always gave everything to her, but she would never take. Every resource was reserved for the girl, and if there wasn’t enough, the woman always found a way to ensure there would be. Everything the woman did revolved around Ivy. She was obsessed with caring for and finding out about the girl’s past all while practically neglecting herself and avoiding talking about her own past.

Ivy knew there was no arguing with the fox. No one could ever make her do anything she didn’t want to, so hard-headed and stubborn to a fault. But, in a way, Ivy was the same as the woman and would still try in a roundabout way with the hope of possibly tricking her into doing or saying something that she otherwise wouldn’t.

Sooner or later, it would work.

With any luck.

“What about a new shirt?” she tried. “It won’t cost as much as a new pair of boots, and this one is so old. It doesn’t even fit. It’s way too big for you. It falls off your shoulder.”

Sakura stared forward with a blank expression, her teeth chewing at her cheek while her hand squeezed the girl’s a little tighter. “It’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with it. I don’t want a new shirt.” It was the last one of Ren’s she had, and she didn’t want to get rid of it despite the fabric starting to thin and tear, the stains impossible to scrub out.

Ivy glanced at the mark on the woman’s shoulder that was always exposed but never explained. “Why do you have a feather?” she blurted without hesitance. How many times had she asked over the last three years, she didn’t know. But maybe if she asked enough…

In just the right way…

Something was bound to give.

“A bird bit me. Excruciatingly painful.” She looked down at the girl, her face completely serious without even the slightest hint of deception. “I wouldn’t recommend it.”

She puckered her lips in agitation, not willing to give up so easily. “Why don’t you ever cover it?”

“Fabric makes it itch. I don’t like being itchy.” Always the same responses.

“What kind of bird was it?”

“A big, annoying one.”

“When?”

“Before I found you.”

“Where?”

“Not here.”

“Was it…”

Sakura’s head whipped down as the girl released her hand and crumbled to the ground, her ear shattering screams stopping everyone on the street as the woman fell on top of her, trying to gather her up as quickly as possible. She wrapped herself around Ivy’s arms while she struggled furiously against the woman, her body uncontrollable and flinging out every which way, fingers clawing and tearing at everything in their path.

People began to surround them, some observing and keeping their distance while others went to the pair, kneeling and reaching towards the writhing child.

“What’s going on?”

“Is she okay?”

“She needs help! She needs to get to a healer!”

The vixen’s vision narrowed, getting darker as her lungs constricted and her brain screamed.

Get out

Get out

Get out!

She scooped the girl into her arms, knowing full well that she’d pay the price for not restricting her movements, but she had to get her out of there, and do it now before more people gathered. Before they pried any further. Before any men could catch a glimpse of what was under Ivy’s hood and start grabbing at her themselves. Sakura’s head was pounding as the screams echoed through her skull, and she could feel the hair being ripped from her scalp along with the lacerations to her arms and chest and face, the warm blood that dripped from each new slice across her flesh. She ran from the crowd, passing buildings as quickly as her body would allow and headed from the town and into the trees where they could disappear far into them.

Where the girl’s cries wouldn’t be heard by anyone.

Where no one would find them.

Where the girl wouldn’t be taken away.

Where she would be safe.

Ivy had felt fine.

Until she didn’t.

The pain that charged through her was sudden and consuming, jolting every nerve and muscle. She was being tortured in the darkness, and there was no escape. She fought against it, but it only continued. She reached and pushed and pulled but there was nothing.

Only anguish.

The separation of meat and bone.

The draining of blood.

The parting of head from neck.

No longer intact.

Separate.

Her body and mind no longer her own.

They belonged to the emptiness.

The void.

The darkness.

But the agony was all hers.

Please

Her soul screamed.

Begged.

Please

Stop

No more

Please

Don’t hurt him

The agony was all his.

A collective spirit.

A hidden thread exposed again.

Their connection.

She reached out to it.

To him.

Called to him.

As loudly as she could.

I’m here

But he wasn’t.

He still couldn’t find his way to her.

Not with so much suffering.

The link between them still so weak.

Stop

Leave him alone

Stop hurting him

He’s mine

Give him back

Please

Please

Please

She would plead, no one listening, no one there, until it all finally went away.

The thread, the connection, hidden once more.

Disappeared.

Forgotten.

Violet eyes opened, a puzzle of branches and the roses, tangerines, and lavender wisps of dusk hoovering above her.

When had she fallen asleep?

She could smell the campfire, vegetables and meat.

They had been in town. She had gotten new boots. They were walking. She was asking Sakura about the large bird and the mark and...

Ivy bolted upright and turned to the woman while she cooked, her eyes bulging as she viewed the shirt that had been ripped and hastily stitched back together, the fabric now sitting uneven and sloppy with new crimson stains overwhelming the old. Her face and body were covered in ugly marks that hadn’t been there earlier. Deep scratches that Ivy had seen before. The ones that she knew she had made. The ones she didn’t remember creating.

Again.

“No,” Ivy whimpered. “Not again.”

The fox ears atop the woman’s head twitched towards the sound, and Sakura looked up at the girl and smiled as though there was nothing wrong at all. “Oh good, you’re up. Are you hungry? Supper will be ready in a little bit. I know we’re supposed to head to the next city, but I was thinking of going back into town in the morning and getting a couple of new shirts before we head out. Maybe we can find you a new dress, as well.”

Ivy crawled to her, shaking her head, unable to understand how this had happened. How it always happened. “I’m so sorry,” her voice broke as the tears spilled. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. What’s wrong with me?” She collapsed into her lap as the demon encircled her closely in her embrace, rocking her back and forth, whispering in her ear all the things they both needed to hear.