One Step Forward Two Steps Back

Ivy took inventory of the items in her bag one last time before turning to Zero. “Are you ready to go?” she asked.

The devil nodded, standing up and slinging his own leather bag over his shoulder. He extended his hand to her, and the girl took it with a bright and lovely curve to her lips.

They left the cozy house that had become more like a home for the last time and stepped out into the yard. Sakura stood with Ren while he held a crying Jose, rubbing his back and attempting to comfort him. Luna slept in the wrap as Marisol tried to coax the boy from the angel’s arms to no avail.

“Don’t go!” the child wailed, his arms a choke hold around the angel’s neck. He was so young and the time he’d spent with his new playmates had felt like an eternity. Though he’d been told that their stay was temporary, all he understood was that they were leaving now, and he didn’t want them to go.

Zero searched through his bag and pulled out a lollipop he had bought the day before, knowing that the affectionate boy would be emotional at the departure. “Go to your mama,” he told him gently. With sniffles and a pout, the boy sadly complied and was rewarded the treat. “Don’t bite it. It’ll last longer if you don’t.”

“Do you have the journal and herbs?” Marisol asked Ivy, adjusting the boy in her arms.

“I do,” Ivy smiled. “Thank you for everything, Marisol.”

The woman walked up to the girl, cupping her cheek in her hand and looking at her warmly. “You’ll do great. Keep learning and believe in yourself.”

She turned to Zero, holding his cheek in the same affectionate way. “Talk more. You have so much that you could say, so say it.”

That same hand reached up and covered Ren’s mouth with a smirk. “Talk less. A lot less. Please, for the sake of everyone.”

Taking Sakura’s chin, the jaguar gave her an encouraging smile. “Settle down. Don't get yourself killed.”

Marisol stepped back, looking at her guests with a tender fondness. “Safe travels and be sure to stop by if you ever make your way around here again. You’ll always have a place to stay here. Now go before I change my mind, and we can’t be having that. I can no longer afford to feed you.” She shot an accusatory look at the angel and demon before shooing the whole group away and they set off down the road.

Ren dragged behind the others before stopping and turning back around. He called for Jose and the boy hurriedly squirmed from his mother’s arms and ran to him. Knelling down, the man pulled a small sack out of his bag and placed it comfortably in the little jaguar’s hand. “Take that to your mama.” He grinned and gently tugged the boy’s ear. Returning to standing, the angel watched the child run back before turning and following the others.

Jose handed his mother the sack and her eyes widened at the jingling sound. She quickly pulled the drawstrings open and looked inside, gasping at the gold that fully occupied its velvet confines. Even if she had expected payment, this was so much more than she would ever dream to ask for.

“Ren!” she yelled at the angel’s retreating form. “I don’t want your coin!”

Ren waved, continuing forward. “Neither do I,” he called back. “Thanks for not kicking us out!”

The travelers passed through the town without stopping, having prepared by gathering the needed supplies for their journey the day before. It would still be a three or so day trek to Astern, and Sakura didn’t want to waste any more time if possible. She already carried the guilt of having been the reason that a weeklong journey was now taking over a month. The only saving grace was that Ivy had been able to learn under an experienced healer and would be able to use and expand on that knowledge in the future. It really had been quite the silver lining.

There wasn’t much along their current stretch from Sunnen to Astern. Most of the way would be vast grassland with bursts of small groves here and there. There would be a couple of villages and small towns, but nothing special worth looking forward to.

“It’s going to rain.” Zero watched the clouds on the horizon as they floated closer, gathering against each other and darkening with their growth, blocking out the inviting blue with their disquieting gray.

“You’re probably right,” Ren agreed. “How much further do you want to go?”

Sakura gazed around, hoping to see something other than flatness and the long grass rippling like waves in the wind that was beginning to pick up. “We should try to make it to some trees first. There’s not a whole lot out here, but if we can find some that’ll be a lot better than just camping out in the open.”

They stepped up their pace while the storm barreled closer and began blocking out the majority of the sky.

“There’s some!” Ivy pointed out a small clump of trees further ahead and off the road a short ways. Grabbing onto Zero’s hand, she pulled him forward and hurried towards towards their meager shelter as the first droplets began to fall.

“You wanna run?” Ren asked the fox, watching the pair dash further away.

She looked up, a couple of small drops splashing against her face. The clouds above weren’t as angry looking yet, but they were on their way. “No. I’m not afraid of a little rain, though it’s not gonna stay little. Hopefully it doesn’t keep us too long.” If it wasn’t one thing, it was another.

He nodded, content with meandering along with the woman. “Do you think we’re going to find anything worthwhile in Astern?”

Sakura sighed, “Who knows. I’ve gone through so much information over the years and have barely scratched the surface. I have no idea what Ivy is, just what she’s not. Maybe there’s something there that’ll help? I don’t know. At this point, I’m considering the option that she’s possibly a devil.”

Ren laughed at the ridiculous suggestion. “I don’t see that.”

She looked up at the angel, exasperated with the ever narrowing list of possibilities. “Me either, but then I look at Zero and he definitely doesn’t seem like a devil. If it weren’t for his eyes, no one would even suspect he was one. Maybe it’s the same with Ivy? Maybe she’s a quarter, or an eighth, or something? It could explain… whatever it is that those two have going on. You know, birds of a feather and all that.”

He considered it. The boy and girl were a bit unusual, but he really had no room to talk over what was normal or not. “What will you do if she is a devil? Will you keep trying to find where she came from?”

A jolt of panic shocked through her entire body, her mind falling to Zero and what he had experienced at the hands of a devil father. “No!” she blurted. “I’ll hide her away and no one will ever find her. I’ll kill anyone who even comes close.”

Ren smiled and tweaked the anxious fox’s ear. “I’ll help you with that, but I really don’t think it’ll be an issue.”

The rain was a steady drizzle by the time they reached the trees. The tent was set up in the center of the small cluster and Zero and Ivy were already inside.

The man looked up through the rain at the endlessly gray sky. “Looks like we should call it a day then.” He shook his head quickly, water spraying from his now flattened hair, and turned away. “Night.”

“Ren.” Sakura stared at him, bewildered at the angel’s resigned attitude. “It’s raining.”

He turned back towards her, looked up again, squinting as his face was pelted with raindrops, and nodded. “It is.”

“It’s going to get worse.” It was like talking to a wall.

Ren shrugged. “Yeah. Probably.”

“Don’t you want to get in the tent?”

“Are you asking me to get in the tent?” he asked coyly, brow raising.

Sakura knew the game he was playing and had no interest in getting soaking wet trying to play around it. “Yes.” She rolled her eyes, giving him what he wanted. “Will you get in the tent?”

The man took a step towards her and leaned down so their faces were even, noses nearly touching. “That’s a very nice way to ask.” Voice low and raspy with a sly grin. “Now beg.”

The fury was instant and impossible to defend against as Sakura’s foot hit squarely against his shin and she grabbed a tuft of his raven hair, dragging him to the tent vehemently. “Get in!” she barked.

“Not in front of the children,” Ren gasped as he was shoved inside. “It’s not for their innocent eyes to see. Control yourself, woman!” The man froze, taken by surprise by his new surroundings. He had always assumed that it was nothing more than a basic tent on the ground. What a welcomed revelation it was to find it possessed soft and lush pink bedding similar to Ivy’s ribbon. “Oh! It’s really nice in here.” he admired, pinching and lifting a blanket up, rolling the silky material between his fingers.

The demon slipped by him and began unlacing her boots, glaring and nudging him with her toe to do the same.

Ivy and Zero sat comfortably at the other end of the tent. Zero’s knees were bent, his feet on the ground while Ivy sat between them, her back against him. His elbows rested on his knees, chin on the girl’s head, and he held a book in front of the both of them as they read it together.

“Hi!” Ivy beamed cheerfully, grabbing her two other books and tossing them towards the new occupants. “Here ya go. You can read those.” And she went back to reading her own book.

Sakura grabbed both of them and handed one to Ren without a second thought as he observed the couple across from them.

“I want to read what your reading,” he told the woman.

“Okay.” She brushed him off flippantly and held the book out to him. It didn’t matter to her. They’d all get read sooner or later.

“No.” He pointed at Zero and Ivy. “Like that.”

She blinked lamely at the angel, dropping the book in front of him and snatching the one out of his hand. “No.”

“Why not?” he complained. “We can be cute like them!”

Sakura crawled over and laid her head down on Ivy’s lap, opening her book and beginning to read. “We can never be cute like them,” she said lazily as the girl absentmindedly ran her fingers through the woman’s hair.

Zero glanced up at the angel, offering him little more than a slight shrug before getting back to reading.

Ren examined the devil sitting there, practically boasting that he had two women while the angel only wanted the one. How did this happen? It wasn’t long ago that the boy rarely spoke to anyone other than him, and now he had multiple beauties flocking to him. When did his sweet, little boy become such a Casanova?

What was the devil’s secret?

The angel thought on it with due consideration, and decided it must be Zero’s stony presence, that callous aura that he came by so naturally that pulls them in. Ren knew that there were women who were drawn to that sort of thing, he’d experienced it himself in The Guard. Certain women falling all over themselves for a man who couldn’t be bothered to so much as acknowledge their existence. Practically crawling and clawing after him while the uninterested man kicked up dust in their faces as he walked away. They craved it. Sought after it shamelessly.

He could understand Ivy falling for it. She was young and sweet and oh so naive. She had also been lucky enough to win the prize that those women fight for, the affection of said stoic man, without even putting an ounce of effort in.

But Sakura? When did she become a woman of that caliber? When did she change? When did she become attracted to being cast aside rather than dotted on? Adored? Chased after?

That’s fine. Ren could be cold. He could be heartless. He could sit back without giving the vixen a second glance while she turned tail and pursued him instead.

He could do that.

No problem.

The angel, confident in his scheme, flopped down on his back, opened the book, set it over his face, and went to sleep.