Chapter 4 : The Hero?

Aki clutch the rabbit close in his arm and close his tears-filled eyes.

         He accepted his fate, to die by the hands of a tiger. Aki just hoped for it to be quick death.

    It was then, Aki heard a voice;

"Get down." , a rather deep voice yells. It  came from behind the tiger.

So Aki complies. He got down, lower than before, still holding onto the rabbit. Before Aki could figure out what was going on, the tiger falls down, a few inches away from Aki.

When he finally gathers enough  courage to open his eyes, he saw an arrow throught the tigers head, that brought it down.

He was still trying to process, what had happened.

" Oie, you, What were you doing?", the same voice called out to him.

Aki slowly moves his eyes towards the source of the sound, with tears rolling down his cheeks.

Infront of him, on a horse was a guy. He had a bow in his hand and arrow on his back. His long black hair was tied up neatly.

His deep black eyes, staring down on Aki.

     He wore a black armor, with a gold flower pattern  on his chest plate. There was a lion head on his left shoulder plate, while the right shoulder plate had a red robe, flowing through the wind.

The guy wore a black belt around his waist with gold patterns too. Even the horse was armored too.

The guy, Leo, gets down the horse, still looking at the dirty looking guy infront of him.

Aki too, had his eyes on the Leo. His waist long hair, his black eyes, Aki Couldn't seem to take his eyes off of Leo.

But there was something else that was bugging Aki. The guy looked familiar to him for some reason

"Why... do I feel like I have seen him before?"

Aki thought to himself.

Leo, gave him a smirk and says;

" Good job saving the bate, moron."

Leo looked away, now inquire his hunt.

Aki:"Huh?!"

Aki was confused by Leo's;

" bate? Who would use rabbits, as bate for tiger? Or am I missing something..?" He thought to himself.

But the feeling of having seen Leo somewhere before brought his attention back. So he sat there trying his best to remember why he looked kinda familiar.

He was so busy trying to remember, he failed to hear horses approaching him.

     **meanwhile somewhere else;

A sakura pink haired lady stood in a field, filled with blue and white flowers. Her face was sad, as she was looking up. She was looking at the red shrine infront of her.

    A weird sense of worry came over her. Maya couldn't help but worry about Aki.

Deciding to go check on him, she dissappears from the field.

    She appears where Aki was, hovering in the air. She was still In her translucent form, so no-one could see her. As soon as she appears, her ears picked up on a rather loud voice.

    " Aaaaaah, you are the guy from that time..."

A low voice rang through the forest. It was Aki, he sat there pointing his fingure at Leo.

It was as though the whole forest had gone silent to Aki's voice.

He then hirings his hand to his chin, as thought  thinking of something;

" no wonder you seemed so familiar..", he mummers.

Maya:" oh dear, he is in so much trouble.... you are noy supposed  to point at him, of all people."

Maya sighs in disbelief. How could  someone be so trouble-prone she couldn't believe Aki.

Leo stood there, baffled at Aki's audacity. One of the four main behind Leo yells;

"You insolent bustard, how dare you point at his highness", his voice filled with anger.

Aki: " Huh? What-", he didn't understand, what they were so angry about.

The men holds Aki down, that freaked him out...

"What are you doing? Let me go.... "

Aki yelps, not properly comprehending what was going on.

Leo, glancing towards Aki and says;

"Revoking against me, what did you expect was going to happen?"

Aki was even more confused now; "

"Revok? When did I ever do such a thing?"

Leo took a step towards Aki, still looking down on him;

" you didn't bow before me, the king, you looked me in the eye, and more than that, you pointed at me.", Leo continues.

" if not revoke, what were you trying to do? Challenge me?"

Aki was shocked, he had no idea who the weird guy was.

"I .... I didn't knew you were the king, or of such rules..".

In a sheepish way, Aki continued;

     "I am not from around here."

One of the guy, holding Aki down says;

"Then he must be a spy. Or an assassin.."

Aki was baffled that anyone would think of him as an assassin, given his physique. Still he tries his best to get out of the situation.

" No .. no no.... I am neither of those... I was just travelling.. and got lost in the woods..."

Leo still had his eyes on Aki.

Leo: " travelling? Dressed like that?

Akis tank top was tattered from sending the night in the jungle. His yellow duck printed shorts were covered in dirt and mud. And his bare feet  had cuts and wounds. He clearly  didn't look like a traveller to Leo.

Aki :" ahh this....", aware of the state he was in, aki lies, " I got robbed... and left stranded  in the jungle..."

Leo still had the look if distrust on his face. He clearly did bought what Aki was saying. Mostly because aki was never good at lying.

Leo:"we will see about that.", he said as he ordered the men to take Aki away.

Aki's  heart was racing. He didn't want to find out what they were going  to do to discover the truth.

So out of utter desperation, aki yells;

" wait wait.... if I wanted to hurt you wouldn't have I done it when you were alone in the garden?"

It seemed to work as Leo stops the guard and inquires;

" Garden?"

Aki:" Yeah", with a glimmer of hope in his eyes, " infront of the red shrine.... you were there right .... I saw you there ...."

Maya, who was still hovering over them, tool a sigh of relief.

The king had a look of shock on his face, which quickly changes back to glaring again.

" Take him away," the king ordered, "lock him up."

As Aki was being taken away, he tried pleading again, but that seemed to be working anymore.

"Aaaah, And here I thought  that was going to work.", Maya exclaims, " He is still to stubborn to accept it."

Maya:" but this too Aki brought it on himself... I should let his be.. "

She let's out a sigh as she didn't want to let Aki  be:

" I guess this is the least I can do for him."

She mummers as Maya casts a spell of some sorts.

                      *** to be continued ***

** Writer's note **

I wonder what spell Maya used here. let's hope it's a love spell. 'cause Aki would need that soon.

And...

I definitely didn't get lazy with the sketch...

Aki : " is this pose good enough?"

yeah~~ it is~~ it is~~

Well that's all for today~~

see ya tomorrow~~~

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