Haku, nojerom_14, you voted when I was already writing the chapter(I think I closed the voting), so I didn't count your votes, sorry...
The chapter is kind of late, sorry... The title of the chapter doesn't really mean anything, it's just the name of the song I was listening, while writing.
Close Your Eyes, by Racoon.
5 Close Your Eyes 5
‘Care to explain what is wrong?’ I said, softly so that Sato, who was still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, wouldn’t hear it. After we had beaten those men, Angi told me to me to wake up Sato and meet her outside with all my and her things. I had no idea where she went, but she seemed tense when she was finally back. Now we were walking again, and I had no clue where to. ‘Hey!’ I held her arm to make her face me. ‘Are you ignoring me again?’
‘Oh shut up! You noticed it, didn’t you? Is it really that hard to figure it out? And be quiet!’ Angi started with a whisper, but the volume of her voice rose while she was talking. In the end, she was almost shouting.
‘Says the one who…’ I said under my breath, but Angi looked at me really scary. A stare that would freeze you if you looked too long in her eyes. I stopped talking before I even noticed it… Scary. ‘So what was I supposed to notice?’
‘You really don’t know? Jeez, you really are hopeless!’ I decided not to react at that remark. ‘You were the one who had an ‘odd’ feeling! You mean you don’t even know what that feeling meant?’
‘I don’t have the slightest idea what it meant. I just had this feeling that something was unnatural…’ I answered honestly. Angi looked at me strangely.
‘You hit the mark. Something was unnatural with those men. I don’t think they acted out of free will, someone made them do it.’ She looked at me again. ‘If you ever have that feeling again, tell me immediately.’
‘Whatever you want… So, who wanted to attack us anyway?’
‘I think they were after me, not us.’
‘That’s not what I asked, you know?’
‘It’s not important. We just have to get away from here as soon as we can.’
‘You don’t know, do you?’ I asked suspiciously. Angi’s pace sped up. ‘I knew it! You really have no idea!’
‘Shut up! We’re here.’ Great, we were standing in front of Kirp’s tent again. I didn’t like that guy. ‘What are we doing here?’ I whispered in Angi’s ear.
‘Negotiating.’ She took the hand of a still sleepy Sato and entered the tent. I shrugged and followed them. I was very relieved when I didn’t see the guy whom I stole my ring from. The dark haired merchant was still drinking.
‘So you want to do business with this poor old merchant while he’s drunk? That’s not very polite, you know?’ Although Kirp said he was drunk and acted like he was drunk, I didn’t believe him. Not that I trusted him to start with…
‘I remembered some urgent business elsewhere. You know what we want and what we have to offer, just say how much you want.’ Angi’s answer was short and formal, quite the opposite of Kirp.
‘You are ruining all the fun of the game, sweetheart.’ Angi’s expression didn’t tell what she was thinking. She must really need whatever she’s buying. ‘I heard you play this game very well, I was really looking forward to it…’
‘Name your price please.’ Angi didn’t budge.
‘You are really cold. No fun at all!’ Kirp sighed. ‘And I was so looking forward to negotiate with you… The proposal named in the letter is fine…’
‘Good! Do you have it here?’
‘Yeah yeah. It’s in one of those bags.’ He pointed at a pile of bags similar to the one Angi had on her back. ‘I suppose you have your part of the deal here?’
‘Of course!’ Angi had put the bag on the floor and took something out of it. Meanwhile Kirp had walked to the pile and pulled one out of it. He sure didn’t walk like he was drunk. He, too, took something out of the bag. Two smaller bags quickly changed owners.
‘It was a pleasure doing business with you!’ Kirp said, looking very content.
‘I wish I could say the same,’ Angi said under her breath and quickly after that out loud. ‘Farewell!’
‘Hehe, I hope to see you again!’ And that was the last we heard of him. Hopefully forever.
‘So, I guess you’ll be going home then?’ Why was I feeling sad? It’s not like I knew Angi and Sato very well. I shouldn’t be feeling sad.
‘Yeah, it’s not safe to stay here.’ She started walking away from the water, to the direction we came from several hours before. I stayed where I was. Not even a farewell… Then a small hand grabbed mine, again.
‘Come on!’ Sato pulled me forth.
‘What are you waiting for?’ Angi said. She turned around to see where we stayed. I still had a surprised look on my face, probably an obvious one. ‘You didn’t think we would leave you here, did you? Who do you think I am?’
‘Thank you.’
Ten minutes later…
‘Don’t tell me this was the only reason you let me tag along?’ I was talking about the kid I carried on my back. Sato was so tired that he fell asleep the moment he could stop walking. And that moment would be when Angi told me to carry him.
‘What did you expect?’ Angi grinned. I gave her a faked angry glare. She just looked away. After a few minutes she talked again. ‘You know I’m joking, right?’
‘Yeah.’
It was kind of strange. When I didn’t know anything about who I was or where I was from, I didn’t worry about it. I guess because you can’t think or worry about what you don’t know. Anyways, since I had that vision or whatever it was, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Was the girl through whose eyes I looked me? Who were those people fighting? Where was it? It was so tiring to think about…
The stars were sparkling, the same as always. At least they were calm. I yawned. How long had we been walking?
‘Tired?’ Angi asked. She almost sounded concerned.
‘Nah, more…bored. And hungry!’ I almost forgot that I hadn’t eaten for quite a while.
‘Here.’ She held out some kind of bread. It looked kind of strange, but edible and that was good enough. To my surprise, it tasted great.
‘Thanks!’ I said with my mouth full? I swallowed the bite. ‘What is this?’
‘Special recipe! There is something in it that keeps you from getting tired. I made it together with grandma!’ Angi said proudly. I nodded and took another bite. She got another one out of her bag and started eating as well.
‘Should we save some for him?’ I pointed to Sato with my head.
‘No, I have one for him in my bag.’ We walked silently for a long time.
I heard Sato’s stomach rumble. Soon after that he woke up. Angi gave him his bread thingy and started to eat silently. He was kinda cute. I wondered if I had a little brother…
‘Say, why don’t you have a name?’ Sato asked me. His voice had this typical curious little kid tone.
‘Well, I have a name, I just don’t remember it.’ I answered honestly. Sato thought about this for a while.
‘Do you want a name?’
‘Of course, who doesn’t want a name?’
‘Well…’ Sato seemed to doubt before he continued. ‘Should I give you a new name?’ That question surprised me, but I nodded.
‘Be careful with names little brother. Once you give one, you can’t take it back or change it!’ Angi warned. Still, she smiled as well. It could have been her idea… Sato looked at the night sky, thinking as hard as he could. It was silent again.
‘Tsuki!’ Sato exclaimed. I looked at him surprised. ‘It’s your new name!’ Tsuki, I liked the sound of that. I looked at Angi, she nodded. ‘Do you like it?’
‘I love it. Thank you very much.’ The little boy smiled.
‘And that’s done.’ Angi looked very satisfied. ‘Right on time, were there.’
‘What do you mean with there?’ I asked curiously.
‘Our home.’
Voting closed
Where is their home?
A. Somewhere high
B. Somewhere low
