Tamah

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When Mirai had stopped crying, she ate a bit of food without saying a word. It felt so strange to see her upset. She had always been the one to take care of me, but it was clearly my turn to be the one to take care of her.

After she had eaten, she took the box she had held when she had appeared and led the way up the stairs to our room.

She put the box down on the table before getting onto the bed. She sat down using the wall as back support, I followed and sat down beside her. Automatically she leaned her head to my shoulder, I leaned my cheek to her head. Our hands took hold of each other and our fingers intertwined.

Then she told me about her mother. About all the good things and about why she'd never see her again.

I wasn't sure how to comfort, so I was silent and simply let her talk until she had no words left. I still had no idea what to say or do as her words ran out, but I turned my head slightly to kiss her forehead. She let out a sigh as I did and raised her head.

She brushed some of my hair away and let her hand rest on my shoulder. Traces of sadness were still etched on her face, but another emotion looked to take over. It was one that I knew by now, that intense and almost hungry one.

Her hand moved to my face again. Her thumb brushed against my lower lip. I opened my mouth a tiny bit and a soft sigh escaped. Her hand moved up to cup my cheek and then she stayed still, just looking at me with darkened eyes.

I felt my cheek burn under her touch and my heart beat so fast it almost hurt. I wasn't sure what I wanted to happen next. But I knew I was disappointed when she leaned in and kissed my other cheek before resting her head back on my shoulder.

The air around us felt thick and hard to breathe. I wanted that gone, so I said the first thing that came to mind, "We haven't been to the beach in a while."

Mirai sat up straight. Her eyes looked normal again and that dampened my mood further. I wanted her to look at me with those intense eyes.

"Let's go there then!" she exclaimed and got off the bed. She reached her hand out to me and I took it as I got up.

We walked to the beach and as we did, my gloominess disappeared. It was a beautiful day, and I didn't have anything to be upset by. Mirai was by my side, after all. That was all I needed.

When we got to the water, we both went in. We splashed water at each other. Both shrieked and laughed.

Mirai splashed some water that went high enough to reach my face. I giggled and put my arms up to shield myself, as well as took a step backwards. But as I took the step, the ground underneath my foot became uneven and I felt it twist in an unnatural way.

My giggles became a surprised shriek as I fell. But before I landed, Mirai had pressed me to her. She looked at me with wide eyes.

"Are you alright?" she asked and placed a hand on my cheek while her eyes roamed my face.

"I... I'm fine," I answered and felt a blush spread on my cheeks.

"Did you hurt yourself?" she asked next, and I shook my head. But the next second, I tried to put weight on the foot that had been twisted. A hiss of pain left me.

"I might have hurt my foot," I admitted.

"Let's get out of the water so I can look at it," Mirai said and took a firm grip around my waist to support me as we went out.

She led me to a stone on the beach which I sat down on. She kneeled before me and lifted up my foot. Her fingers felt around my ankle and though she was being gentle, it caused pain.

"You probably twisted it," she mumbled. Then she looked around and beside the stone, a knife had appeared, which she took. She brought it to her hand.

"What are you doing!" I exclaimed and tried to move to sit down on the ground by her. But when I did, I felt the pain in my foot again and sat back down on the stone.

"I'll just make a very tiny cut. Just enough for some blood to come out so I can heal your foot," she smiled at me.

"No. It's fine. I don't need healing." I tried to stand again to prove my point, but I immediately sat back down.

"Stop trying to resist it, Tamah. Just let me take care of you." She leaned forward and kissed my knee, then fixed me with pleading eyes.

I relented and nodded.

She placed the tip of the knife towards her middle finger. The knife pressed down, but as soon as one drop of blood came out, she removed the knife. She then mumbled a spell, and I watched as her blood flew into the air. There it turned to mist before wrapping itself around my foot and then penetrating my skin. It felt all warm for a moment and when it was over, my foot was fine again.

"All better?" Mirai asked and moved my foot up a bit. She pressed her lips against my ankle.

"Yes," I answered and heard my voice shake a bit.

"First falling down the stairs and now tripping in the water. What am I supposed to do about you?" she murmured and looked back up at me. Her eyes held that intensity again, and my body began to tingle under her gaze.

"I would have been fine both then and now. Just a little hurt." I averted my eyes and pouted.

"A little hurt is too much hurt."

I wanted to answer with some snappy retort, but when I looked back at her again, I couldn't find any words. There wasn't just the hungry intensity in her eyes anymore, but also an adoring one. I wasn't sure anyone had ever looked at me in a similar way. No, I knew no one had. As if I was the most valued treasure.

She planted a kiss on my knee again. "Just let me take care of you and spoil you, okay?"

"Okay," I answered and knew she could have asked me for anything at that moment and I would have agreed.

"Good," she sighed and leaned her head on my lap. I reached my hands out and played with her hair. A soft smile appeared on her lips.

I wasn't sure for how long we sat like that. It wasn't before my stomach rumbled from hunger that Mirai got up.