Strays: A Romantic Fantasy Adventure

“You’re always getting us in trouble,” Ren sighed hopelessly. “She’s gonna kick us out if you keep this up. There really is only so much that a person can take before they completely lose their shit, and I think you’ve finally pushed Marisol to the edge.”

Sakura bit her tongue, the pressure clamping down harder and harder. She really was trying her best to stay calm, but it was becoming more and more difficult as the man babbled on and on and on and…

“Will you stop?” her voice low and fed up. It had already been a couple of hours of stalking the woods outside of Sunnen and they hadn’t even so much as spooked a squirrel up a hickory. No doubt every animal around was making sure to steer clear of the noisy man. “If we’re going to get a year's worth of meat then you’re going to need to shut up and actually attempt to hunt.”

“I don’t like killing things,” he complained as he followed behind her, almost dragging his statuesque body along while staring at the glimpses of sky through the trees. “Blood scares me.”

“Then maybe you should go back?” she spat, her patience wearing thinner and thinner, the smallest disturbance threatening to rip apart what remained and unleash the havoc that was simmering underneath.

“But then Marisol will be even madder at me. I just don’t understand that woman. She’s always mad at me. She’s mad when I won’t get out of bed for weeks. She’s mad when I screw around all day. I don’t know what she wants from me. There’s just no pleasing her.”

Sakura could feel her body heat rising along with the growl from her chest. “Well then maybe you should…”

Ren was suddenly pressed against her back, his hand clamped over her mouth, hot breath prickling the fine hairs in her ear. “Shhhh,” he whispered. “Do you hear that?”

She tried to turn her head, to find the source of the noise that he was speaking of.

“Stop,” he urged. “Just stay still and listen.”

Only the fox’s ears twitched atop her head as her eyes darted along the brush searching for any hint of movement. The angel slowly dropped his hand from her mouth, but kept his body against hers, unwilling to move any further. Everything around them was still, tranquil under the late morning light that peeked through the leaves and branches high above. She waited, only the soft sounds of the rustling of the trees in the slight breeze and a few birds chirping in the distance and…

Her screech as Ren dug his fingers into her sensitive ribs and wiggled them around.

The woman’s legs went limp as wet noodles as they buckled beneath her, and she collapsed to the ground. Her head whipped around, completely red faced, to glare at the smug angel. “What the fuck, Ren!” she screamed through heavy breathing.

He walked by chuckling, tugging on her ear as he passed. “That’s cute. You’re still ticklish. Good to know. I’ll definitely keep that in mind for later.”

Sakura looked down at her hands on top of the dirt and leaves that had begun to die and crumble. But she didn’t really see them, not with how her vision was beginning to blur and swirl before her, making her dizzy and sick to her stomach as she panted for any amount of oxygen to fill her tightened lungs. The indecipherable rumblings in her head increased in volume, muting everything else around her. It became impossible to see, to hear, to think. All she had left was to feel the rapid bubbling up of each and every emotion that had once been fully accepted. Wanted. Cherished. Keeping them close and holding them dear, protecting them at any cost. The same ones that she now desperately tried to push further and further down in an attempt to make them go away. To disappear.

But they weren’t.

They never did.

They never would.

And the more she pushed those ones down, the higher the other ones rose, making them impossible to ignore.

The ones that wanted to consume her.

The ones that were succeeding in doing so.

The helplessness.

The rage.

The shame.

The guilt.

The fear.

The fear.

The fear.

It made her see red.

Before everything went black.

With her mind a complete and utter mess, Sakura burst forward, smashing into and taking the man out at the back of the knees. As he fell backwards, her arm shot out against the forest floor, stopping her forward motion as she twisted and pushed off. By the time the angel landed, the demon was on top of him, clenched fists maliciously raining down at his face. Ren’s elbows had been up before the first hit and only they and his eyes moved in sync with her, barely managing to block every wild blow.

“What is your fucking problem?!” He exploded, his relaxed attitude quickly stamped out and leaving him indignant. The man had been having a great time and had no idea where all of this was coming from, but it was no real shock to him. The woman had always been a ticking time bomb, now more so than ever. It had only been a matter of time before this happened, and it would be only a matter of time before it happened again. And whatever it was that would set her off the next go around would be just as much as a surprise.

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” If only her fists could connect with something solid. “How can you keep blocking?!” the vixen screamed, utterly feral. She pushed herself harder, her swings uncontrollable and crazed, just trying to make contact with anything.

To just make the chaos inside go away.

“Because I’m used to your shit!” he yelled back, becoming nearly as manic and irate as she was. “I know all of it! Every fucking move!” The man snatched her wrists and slammed her fists to the ground on either side of his head. “When are you going to stop thi…” His words were lost as Sakura rammed her forehead against his and they both reeled back from the impact.

“Fuck!” she cried out, careening back to reality almost instantly. It took little effort to pull her hands free of the angel’s now weakened grasp, and she pressed them against her throbbing skull. “That was so dumb!”

Ren lay there staring blankly off into the sky, barely able to process the sight through the haze clouding his vision. His head was pounding, threatening to burst open at any moment, and his body felt paralyzed and not his own to control. However, through it all, good or bad, pain or not, he was still vaguely aware of the woman above him straddling his waist.

He decided he’d take what he could get.

It certainly wasn’t the worst position he could be in.

Neither moved. Neither really could. Both were reduced to fragile beings that even the slightest of movements brought about insurmountable agony. They could only stay put and try to breathe through their pain.

Slowly, it faded, and Sakura dropped her hands at her sides. How foolish she felt. Why did she always do this to herself? Why couldn’t she just stop? “Why’d you have to come back, Ren?” she asked, barely above a whisper. What a cruel thing to say. Something she didn’t even mean.

“Don’t act like you don’t want me here,” his voice a vicious growl, eyes darkening. “You’re not gonna start this shit. You have no idea what I’ve been through these last seven years. These last few weeks. What more do you want from me, Sakura?”

She refused to look at him. She couldn’t. And she couldn’t stop the words that she didn’t really want to say. “You should have just went home.”

“You should have went home!” he snapped back. “You should have waited like you said you would! I told you I’d come back! You should have listened!”

He wasn’t wrong. She should have done a lot of things. But she never did. “This wouldn’t be an issue if you didn’t have that damn bead. You would have never found me.”

There needed to be something to blame, even if she didn’t actually believe it true.

Sakura began to lift her leg, to escape from the man under her, but he grabbed her hips and forced her back before she could succeed.

“Then take it!” Ren roared. “If you’re gonna bitch about an unfair advantage after how unfair you’ve been this whole time then fucking take it!” He released her and ran his fingers over the stones of his bracelet, finding and separating the offending one from the rest. The onyx stone was held in front of her face, his vehement blue eyes piercing into hers. “Bite it,” he demanded through clenched teeth. “Get rid of it.”

The woman hesitated, but she was already this far in and there was no going back. She grabbed his wrist, clenching the stone between her sharp canines, and bit down, cracking it apart. The stone fell in pieces onto his chest and the smell of him intoxicated her senses. It was the same scent of the snow peaked mountains, the clear rushing creek, the aspen and pine trees of their home mingling with the natural, rich musk that came with being a man. The one she knew best. The one she had longed for. The one she desired more than any other.

But there was more under the surface.

Suffering.

Sorrow.

Blood.

Sakura’s face twisted with uncertainty and fear as the crushing of her insides made her body close in on his and her hands reach for him, cradling his cheeks like shattering glass. The stone hadn’t merely been to hide the scent she knew. It was to hide the scent she didn’t.

“Ren.” She could barely breathe. “What happened to you?” What had she made him do?

His left hand wrapped around the back of her neck, drawing her closer as his right hand crept up her thigh. “I did what I had to,” he said softly, and with a single movement, slipped a dagger from her holster and slung it to the side. “Like I promised I would.”

There was a squeal and grunt before something hit the ground, the leaves crinkling under the weight. They both turned their heads to the large boar that lay dead in the distance. Sakura looked back at Ren, a mournful deepness in his blue orbs.

“That’s one,” he told her with a joyless smile. “Looks like I’m in the lead.”