Time seemed to stand still as the arrow flew through the air. The near-black feathers quivered on the shaft as the arrow drew closer and closer to their targets until....

THWAP!

By sheer luck the arrow managed to swerve at the last moment, and instead of going clean through the two teenagers heads, the arrow grazed their necks.

The man froze in suprise and without a moment's more of time, he bolted. His dog looked at the two children and shook his head before bounding after his master.

~~~~

"Who was that!" Kyoto exclaimed as the two of them felt twin jabs of pain graze their neck. Kyoto placed his hand on his neck and recoiled in shock as his hand came back with spots of blood smeared on it. "I-Is that.....BLOOD!?"

Clarity looked at the wound uneasily before managing a weak laugh. "Someone who'd like us dead I'm sure.."

Although Clarity was wounded, she was taking things quite well compared to Kyoto. Kyoto, however, was a sweltering, blubbering mess.

"B-But, who'd want me dead!" Kyoto stammered as Clarity cleaned the wound on Kyoto's neck.

"Oh, I can't imagine." Clarity said with an edge of sarcasm lining her voice.

Kyoto glared at Clarity who managed to keep a smile on her face, despite the several conflicted emotions going through her head.

"Hey! Don't be like-Huh?" Kyoto had started to say, but hesitated as he saw Clarity's face. Clarity was at the verge of tearing up, but she shook her head and wiped her face with the tattered remains of her sleeve. "You...alright?"

"No, I'm, I'm fine!" Clarity sniffled, and Kyoto flinched as Clarity apologized. "Sorry, it's just that.."

The sentence trailed off awkwardly as the two of them stared at each other sullenly. Kyoto coughed, hoping to break the silence, but it didn't seem to do much. Clarity looked down at her feet, as though finally taking into account the events that had happened so recently.

"I-" Kyoto had started to say, and then paused, perhaps thinking about what he was about to say. "I-I think I know someone who can help us. They-"

"Ha...H A !" Clarity laughed sardonically and seemed to flinch at the sound of her voice. "What, I'm lacking my happiness due to the fact that I just met you...and someone nearly KILLED ME! And oh, your honor, I suppose you'll protect me!"

Kyoto seemed as though he was going to protest, but stopped. Maybe it was better judgement, or did he secretly agree with Clarity? Both were wise answers, but still, where else would they go?

"Look, just trust me." Kyoto implored, and then sighed almost hopelessly. "I don't know where else to go, and this person..they've saved me on more than one occasion. They're our best choice of protection; after all, I don't think you know where we should go from here."

Despite the way that Kyoto irritated her, he was grudgingly right. Although Clarity could plan for the present, and what revolved around her, ahem, them, she wasn't sure what they'd do in the future. After all, what was the worst that could happen?

~~~

A young man groaned as the dormouse kept alluding him. That creature, would it ever get out of his house! It wasn't like Leo did much, all that cat did was sit on his bed and hiss whenever he came near the cat's tail. Like he wanted to pull on it's tail...which he didn't.

And where was Kyoto? It had been a while since the kid had paid him a visit. The last one was what..three years ago? That had been far too long for his own tastes, but Kyoto never said where he lived. Foolish on his part, but then again, these things seemed to slip his mind every now and then.

"Oi, come out you mangy creature!" the man growled, sticking his hand through the small hole the dormouse had managed to chip away at. "I know you're in there!"

The dormouse's response had been a sharp nip on the man's middle finger, and the man grimaced in pain.

Did his troubles ever stop?

~~~
Well..is that good enough for y'all?

I don't know, possible recommendations, characters for the near future of this book?

As always, thank you for reading!