Strays: A Romantic Fantasy Adventure

It was huge undertaking for Raz to raise another child, especially one who had already had a family and a home at one point. It hadn’t been easy by any means when he took on Ren immediately after his birth, but the boy had grown in the comfort of familiarity. However, the girl was an unprecedented arrival, and he hadn’t known what to expect of her.

It was good he had gone into it with zero expectations.

Otherwise, he would have been sorely disappointed.

It took time for Sakura to grow to a comfortable weight, but barely any to adjust to her new surroundings. And when she did, did she ever.

Ren was a quiet, clever, and timid child who was quick to random bouts of wit. Sakura was pure, unfiltered spitfire with extreme emotions on every side of the spectrum. Where Ren was content with the peace, Sakura was hell bent on destroying it. Where Ren could sit and patiently wait, Sakura had to tumble on the floor and attempt to literally climb the walls. Where Ren thought, Sakura acted.

Raz had once halfheartedly considered dropping the girl off at the front steps of an orphanage in the furthest city away when he had walked in to find the house in complete shambles. The girl had decided that the chickens in the yard were better suited for the domesticated life, and brought all fifteen hens and three roosters inside. Ren had only been in the garden for a few minutes, when he came back to the whole flock of chickens strutting around the house, defecating on the floor. The boy had yelled, frightening the birds who flew around the small space in a frenzy as Sakura chased after them, screaming for them to calm down all while knocking over anything and everything that wasn’t bolted to the floor. Raz was furious, but it quickly drained away into guilt as the small child clung to him, burying her head in his broad chest, sobbing and promising to be good, so please don’t send her away.

That was a lie though, and she tried the same thing a week later. Just with fewer chickens.

When Raz was lucky, the little girl would take a break from wrecking the inside of the cottage and wander outside with the boy to explore the woods and base of the mountains. She’d always return packing a small pest like a baby in her arms to show off. Some were weak and docile with flimsy legs or too heavy of heads. Others struggled ferociously against the girl’s embrace, their bodies sturdier and minds more cognizant of their current position.

“I’m going to kill it,” her voice and smile so tiny and sweet.

The man nodded each time, “That’s fine. Make it quick and send it back to the earth where it belongs.”

She was always so thrilled to carefully poke around the creature, looking for its weak spot, before terminating it as the young angel watched quietly, but never participated. The child was always so thrilled to create the explosion of dirt, or mud, or petals, or whatever else the pest was created from with the help of the influx of magic from the land that would deposit into one area and bring life to otherwise inanimate elements.

The only issue was the fox always used too much force and would make a complete mess of herself.

But better a messy child than a destroyed home.

The days and months and even years had gone by in a sort of chaotic peace. By the time Ren was ten and Sakura eight, it was as if this had been the only way of life for all three of them.

Raz had sent the children into the village to pick up the new clothes he had ordered for them. They were growing like weeds and the man felt all he did was constantly feed and clothe the little leeches.

“Mind yourself, girl,” he had warned Sakura while giving Ren the needed coins. “I’m tired of having to listen to someone complain every time you go into the village. Keep your tongue respectful and your hands to yourself.”

“I know, I know,” she whined.

The children set upon the path into the village. Ren kept to the trail at a steady pace while Sakura darted around; peeking into a badger’s den, climbing a tree, seeing how many cartwheels she could do before feeling like she was going to throw up. They made it to the village and were able to purchase the clothes from the seamstress with little fuss, mostly in part to the angel pinching the fox’s ear in order to keep her from fiddling with the display of spools of thread that had caught her attention.

As they left the shop, Ren spotted four of the children that he had once played with. It had been some time since they had crossed paths and he knew they’d have something to say once they noticed him. Their words used to bother him when he was younger. He had wanted so desperately to be accepted by them that the constant reminder that he was ostracized from the group seemed so unfair. But the boy had learned to accept the reality and was often too exhausted by Sakura’s constant antics to be able to fathom a care about their opinion of him any longer.

As Ren suspected they would, the group noticed him and began laughing amongst themselves. The biggest of them, a hog demon named Garnet, was the one to speak.

“What are you doing down here? Shouldn’t you be hiding up on your mountain?” Garnet guffawed and the others followed his lead. Hog demons were normally intelligent and kind beings, but not every stone is a gem.

“Yeah, I should,” Ren agreed, barely acknowledging them. “Thanks for reminding me. I’ll hurry back up.”

The hog wasn’t pleased with Ren’s nonchalant attitude. “Yeah! Hurry back up and don’t come back down. No one wants you here!” He picked up a rock and threw it at the angel’s back.

Sakura watched the rock bounce off of the angel and felt the rage boiling inside her. She smashed the parcel of her new dresses on the ground, tearing the paper open, whipped around, and stormed up to the group. “Do it again!” she snarled, fangs bared and spit flying as she closed in on the boys. “Throw another rock and I’ll tear you apart! I’m tired of you always picking on Ren! If you don’t stop, I’ll make you stop!”

The boy ran up behind and wrapped his arms around the girl, picking her up off the ground as she kicked and screamed. The boys howled with laughter.

“Stop!” Ren demanded. Raz had always told them to ignore the bullying. It was difficult for cast away angels to find a place to belong, and he didn’t want to cause tensions in the village. “Just ignore them!”

“Take your fox back home you filthy, angel bastard!”

The fury erupted from the fox, emerald eyes burning like embers. Her elbow flew backwards, colliding with the side of Ren’s face, and he dropped her. Sakura rushed at Garnet, and despite his much larger size, tackled him to the ground. Her fists flew into his face over and over as he squealed and squirmed under the blows. The hog’s friends leapt in, trying to pull the girl off. Ren followed, tossing the other boys to the side before reclaiming the thrashing girl and backing away.

“Stop!” he yelled, squeezing her tightly. The fear of the consequences of the fox’s actions beginning to overwhelm him. “Why’d you do that? You’re going to ruin everything!”

The girl stiffened, and then went limp in his arms before starting to shake with tears. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Ren. It’s always my fault.”

Garnet struggled to his knees, his face already swelling from the beating. “That was a cheap shot!” he yelled, his voice cracking. “Next time I see you, I’m going to kill you, you little bitch.”

Ren calmly set Sakura on the ground and wiped her tears as she sat sobbing. He stood and walked up to the furious hog. The other boy may have been wider, but Ren was taller, and the angel grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and lifted him up with a strength he hadn’t realized he possessed. He swiftly head-butted Garnet, and the hog’s nose burst with blood.

“If any of you ever so much as look at her again,” his voice clear and placid while his bright, blue eyes became increasingly darker as he looked around at the other boys. “I will tear you piece by piece and leave the parts scattered around the village as a scavenger hunt for your families. I am not being cute in my threat as you just were. I promise, I will kill you, and I’ll make sure you feel every bit of it.” He dropped the hog who crumbled to the ground before turning and walking off, leaving the group frozen in their places, too fearful to even breathe in his presence. The boy pulled the still crying girl onto his back, grabbed the soiled packages, and made his way back into the woodlands towards home.

After a ways, Ren sat down with Sakura and wrapped his arms tightly around her, pulling her against his chest to finish crying. He laid his cheek on top of her head, breathing in the earthiness of her hair. “I’m sorry,” he apologized softly. “You’re not ruining anything. I should have handled it. You shouldn’t have to protect me.”

“Yes, I should,” Sakura mumbled into his shirt.

“No,” he argued. “You shouldn’t.”

The girl pushed away from him, “Yes I should!”

“Why?!”

A smile danced on her face and her eyes shone brightly. “Because I love you, Ren! I’ll do anything for you.”

Ren’s heart forgot how to beat as his face burned red. “We should get home,” he said quickly, getting to his feet.

The radiance on the girl’s face instantly faded, dejected, as she moped behind the boy the rest of the way.

Raz listened to the children’s reluctant rendition of the fight with a combination of concern and irritation. He sighed and scratched the back of his head. “Well,” he decided. “If you’re going to fight then I guess it’s about time you learn how to do so properly. Learn how to control yourselves. I was going to wait, but I reckon now’s as good as ever.” He led the two into his room where he opened a small closet. Inside stood Raz’s glaive and a sword. “The sword was Celeste’s,” the man paused. “Your mother’s. She left it for you when she brought you here. Take it.”

Ren looked between the man and the large sword. “It’s too big. I can’t pick that up.”

“I can!” Sakura cheered, her mood instantly brightening, and grabbed at the hilt that was well above her head, pulling hard to no avail. “I can’t,” she pouted.

“Only Ren can. Go ahead, boy.”

The young angel reached for it, knowing it was useless. He grasped the hilt, and like picking up a butter knife, lifted it.

“Be careful with it,” Raz warned. “You’ll tear down my whole house swinging that thing around.”

The boy set it gently back down as the fox jumped and danced around.

“Where’s my sword?! Where’s my sword?!” she sang.

Raz nabbed her by the back of her dress and carried the dangling girl to the front door. “I don’t trust you with a fucking spoon! There’s no way you’re getting a sword.” He opened the door and tossed her outside. “Go start kicking that tree. You have a year to knock it down.”

“Okay!” she chirped and ran to the tree, her little feet furiously chopping at the bark.

Ren stood beside the older angel, watching Sakura and holding the sword uneasily.

“I should have had her doing that years ago,” the man observed. “Would have saved me a lot of headaches.”

“Raz?” the boy looked up at his uncle. “What if I can’t fight?”

“Then you can’t,” Raz shrugged. “But that’ll be on you. You choose whether you do or don’t, no one else. That girl is going to be a force to be reckoned with in no time at all, and if you want to stand beside her then you better get it together. One day she’s going to need you, and there’s no way for you to be there for her if you fall behind.”

Ren nodded, “So how do I do that?”

“Go outside,” he turned and walked off. “I’ll grab my glaive and teach you how to spar.”