#31 Journey begins
When Ren woke up he noticed that he slept through the entire night and it was already morning. However, he also noticed that he was sleeping on something very soft when he looked down at what he was sleeping on he was startled. He was actually sleeping on Esdeath's big yet soft breasts. He immediately got up and glared into a particular location not far away from him.
There he saw Shell relaxing on one of the branches, he was aware that he didn't fall asleep on Esdeath's breasts previous night, therefore, he glared angrily at Shell.
Shell who felt someone's gaze looked towards Ren. There she saw not very happy expression on Ren's face while glaring at her. She immediately looked to the side and started to whistle to herself.
"You are a fucking turtle, don't whistle" Both Shadow and Hawke mumbled in displeasure since Shell disturbed their sleep with her whistling.
Shell who was now bombarded from both sides had to change her plan so she made guilty puppy eyes.
Both sides just snorted in displeasure and didn't say anything else.
Esdeath also woke up due to the little commotion.
'Thankfully she was asleep or I don't know what she would have thought.' Ren thought when he saw Esdeath open her eyes from a deep sleep.
"mmm morning?" Esdeath said still half asleep while rubbing her eyes in a cute manner.
When Ren saw this, the word "cute" appeared in his mind unconsciously but he quickly threw it aside but Shadow and Hawke had problems how such a dangerous woman could also be so cute.
It's not like Esdeath wasn't a morning person, she was general and often spent a lot of time without sleeping or experiencing her sleep getting disturbed every minute. However, she never had such good sleep if she was to remember the time when she had such good sleep, it would perhaps be when she was a kid and her father was still alive.
She knew that she liked Ren, however, she still didn't know whether she loved him or not since she had no experience in it. But after everything that happened yesterday, she noticed that she wants to be close to him, extremely close. Only now she noticed that she was holding hands with Ren but now it feels much different than on their first date, it felt more natural and with more of trust and gentle feeling.
"Morning" Ren replied with a small yet gentle smile
Both of them got up and since yesterday wasn't time, Ren introduced his companions to Esdeath, however, he skipped the part about energies. It wasn't that he didn't trust Esdeath, more like it was unnecessary and too much of explaining.
Both of them recovered to their peak condition but they were quite hungry after all, they spent a lot of their energy and then they slept through the entire evening and night without eating anything so they decided to go back and have a light meal.
After they ate their meal, they took a little walk to kill some time before the afternoon because Esdeath set Jaegers's training time to the afternoon. However, while they were walking around, someone bumped into Ren. When he turned around he saw a petite girl around 6 years old sitting on the ground and rubbing her forehead. Ren stopped walking and took a better look at the girl, she had snow white hair like him however her eyes were of ruby red color. She was wearing only some dirty and tore rags, it was apparent that she came from slums.
Ren didn't have any interest in her so he wanted to go on however when he heard someone shout: "Hey brat!" he stopped walking and once again turned around to look at the girl's situation.
2 bald men were running towards the girl while cursing and shouting.
"What do you want to do?" Esdeath whispered so only Ren could hear her. If it was in her past she wouldn't care about some weak child, however, the present was different, she was with Ren and developing her love towards Ren also changed her character a little. Now she would feel at least a bit of pity towards the child.
"Let's see how it plays out" Ren whispered while thinking: 'If I was born in this world, would I also be in slums?' Ren was after all parentless and in this world, no orphanage existed, maybe some small orphanage existed, however, he doubted that it was a peaceful environment for kids. Even on Earth, a small number of people would help someone for free, not to say in this "Strong Eat Weak" world.
However, Ren wasn't someone who would pity just anyone but he still decided to see what will white-haired girl do.
When 2 men came near enough, 1 of them shouted: "You slut, we are taking care of you and you are trying to run away?!!" while the 2nd man tried to grab a girl's arm.
The girl was fast enough to jump out of the reach of the 2nd man but this enraged man ever more and he actually took out a knife and shouted: "Come over here you slut or no one will be able to save you later!"
When Ren saw this he didn't know if he should cry or laugh... Big man threatening small kid with a knife. But when he looked at the girl's reaction he nodded to himself.
She wasn't shivering from fear at all, instead, fighting intent could be seen in her eyes together with no fear and a strong resolve to live. Even Ren was impressed by the girl's eyes
'I didn't want to meddle in this affair but those eyes are of someone who has resolve to become strong and It would be waste if she died before becoming strong.' Ren sighed and instantly appeared behind the man who was nearing the girl with a knife and knocked him out with a simple chop at his neck.
The first man who saw this started to panic because he couldn't follow Ren's speed so he immediately turned around and run away. Ren just looked at the pathetic man and didn't chase after him, he took a small sack of gold from his belt and threw it towards the girl.
The girl who was still in shock of what happened had a hard time catching the thing Ren threw at her. However, when she caught it and heard the clinking sound of gold she was extremely confused and looked towards Ren with a confused expression.
Ren just looked at her coldly and said: "I hope you won't let me down." after that, he just turned around and said to Esdeath: "Let's go"
The girl was still confused, she couldn't comprehend the meaning of Ren's words. She wasn't stupid, she could be called extremely intelligent among her peers, however, she was still a kid so it was apparent that she won't be able to comprehend it.
"Why did you help her?" Esdeath curiously asked while they were walking.
"I might be a heartless bastard, but I admire those who want to and have resolve to become strong. That girl was totally fearless and her eyes were full of fighting intent, I hope she can become strong." Ren explained.
"I don't think you are heartless." Esdeath said while grabbing Ren's hand and forming a happy smile with flushed cheeks
After the accident with the white-haired girl, Ren went to train with Jaegers but this time he wasn't training with Esdeath but Kurome. He wanted to train her in exchange for her knowledge of reanimation and control of corpses.
"You are too slow." Ren said when he appeared near Kurome which caught her off guard but she was still able to barely block his attack but she lost her footing and before she could recover she felt Ren's dagger on her neck.
"Your reflexes aren't bad but if you were faster you wouldn't lose your footing and you could even counter-attack by kicking me." Ren coldly scolded Kurome however she didn't mind it and was actually happy.
She always thought that Ren was a bit familiar so she was happy to be near him plus she was getting stronger, what else can she hope for.
'Spending time here with Esdeath is certainly fun but I am not here only for fun... I guess I will train Kurome for 1 more week and then I will take my leave.' Ren thought and sighed aloud.
"Is everything ok?" Kurome asked in concered voice when she saw Ren in deep thoughts.
"Yeah, let's continue." Ren said and resumed his training with Kurome.
1 week flew by quicker than Ren thought and he finally gained some information from Kurome about reanimation that was pretty important for him. Now he might be able to reanimate a corpse without any side effects, however, he still has to try it if he wants to be sure.
He already said to Esdeath that he will leave soon enough, she tried to persuade him to stay, however, she was rejected and she knew Ren's character so she didn't push it.
Today was the day he wanted to leave so he said goodbye to most members of the Jaegers, he didn't say for how long he will be away because he wasn't so close to them. Only 1 he could consider close acquaintance would be Kurome.
However, Esdeath still insisted to walk with him to the gates of Capital. When they came to the gates, Ren turned around and looked at Esdeath and said: "We are here..."
He didn't know what to say as a goodbye because he was still a bit confused about what kind of relationship he had with Esdeath.
Esdeath on the other side didn't say anything and only had moist eyes but after a few seconds, she run to Ren and hugged him.
"When will you come back?" Esdeath whispered softly.
"I don't know..." Ren answered truthfully and returned the hug.
"Then will you at least give me something before you leave?" Esdeath asked in a sad voice.
"What?" Ren asked in a confused voice.
"Kiss!" Esdeath said in a firm voice while looking at Ren's eyes.
Ren was prepared to give her almost anything but he was surprised by her request. He looked at her moist eyes and with his right hand, he lifted her chin a bit and gently kissed her. He had zero experience in kissing but it wasn't awkward at all. When he felt Esdeath's soft lips that tasted like a strawberry he was a bit lost in it. They were also extremely close so Ren could feel Esdeath's big soft breasts pressing onto his chest which in combination with a kiss made him feel a bit of heat in his lower part of the body.
The kiss lasted for around 10 seconds before Ren came to his senses and ended it. He gently smiled and said: "I will come back" and with that said, he went out of the Capital.
Esdeath who was still in a daze from the kiss, came to her senses when she heard Ren's voice. She formed a happy yet sad smile and whispered "I will wait" while tear drop from her eye when she saw a leaving Ren.
Ren who was currently walking through woods stopped and without turning around said aloud: "Come out, I know you have been following me for a while."
When the person following Ren heard it, they came out from one of the trees. Ren turned around and saw who was it.
"So it was you, what do you want girl?" Ren coldly said to a white-haired girl he met in Capital not long ago.