‘Nothing much happened after we separated from Viktor and Flik. We managed to stay on the mountain path and took the rest of the morning to finish the way.’
‘We passed by a river that was running through the mountains. It was a wide river, about 20-feet across, but the river was shallow and only carried a slow-drifting and tranquil sort of current. We were devastated by our hunger by the time we had reached it. We hadn’t eaten anything for some time and those bandits didn’t bother to feed us. So we stopped by the river to catch fish.’
‘Like I said, the waters weren’t running too fast so it was easy, but even that wasn’t enough to prevent stupid Sasuke from falling flat into the water. Damn Sasuke, he got all my clothes wet…’
‘After crossing the river, there wasn’t much mountain path left for us to cover. By noon, we have reached the grassy plains on the other side of the mountains and that’s where we are still walking on right now.’
Luc gingerly lifted a corner of his sleeve, which was wet with river water. Then he glared at Sasuke with the worst mean look he could muster, which was a pretty intimidating one. Sasuke’s ninja sense kicked into action and immediately he felt those daggers Luc was aiming at his back with his eyes.
“What?”
Sasuke turned around, but Luc didn’t say anything to him so the confused ninja just continued walking again.
‘Gee, I wonder what Luc wants from me. I’m not a mind reader, you know. If he wants something, then he should come up and ask me.’
‘I hate it when he glares at me with those eyes. It feels just like that unsatisfied glare my master used to give me when I was in training. It’s not polite to stare at people like that. You only do that to your enemies. He should know that…’
‘Maybe…I’m just imagining things.’
Sasuke took a second look behind him. The moment he turned around, his eyes connected with the petrifying green eyes glaring unmistakably in his direction. His mind suddenly filled with the memories of his master hitting him on the head from his punishments. He slowly and carefully pried his eyes away and turned his head back to the front. Neither Luc nor Sasuke said anything as he did this, adding to the tension that was present.
When his view was once again the grassy fields ahead of him, the ninja sighed in great relief. He held a hand to his heart as if he had just survived from a life-threatening situation. He continued walking ahead without ever changing his pace. He held his head straight and swore to never look behind him again.
He pretty soon was able to forget about Luc glaring at him and was once again back in his own happy thoughts from before.
‘Finally, we’re going to Muse. First, I’ll trick the others by saying I’m just going to get some more throwing knives. Once we separate, I’ll sneak into the item shop and get that necklace…do I have enough money?’
‘I brought 300 potch with me…I got 30 more from those monsters, but then I used 150 potch for the inn…so that makes 120 potch! That should be enough.’
‘When Kasumi-neechan gets that necklace, she’ll be so happy that she might even…’
Sasuke’s face has become all red, but he hardly noticed and just kept fantasizing to himself. Luc, however, had been staring at Sasuke all along so he did witness how the silent boy’s face suddenly became all red and started holding that stupid grin.
‘What is wrong with him?’ the magician shook his head.
This action has finally confirmed Luc’s suspicion of Sasuke being stupid. He had wanted to make Sasuke pay for getting his clothes wet, but now, watching Sasuke act so stupidly, Luc just lost his motivation. ‘There’s no point in making a stupid person feel stupid anyway,’ was what Luc thought to himself.
He turned away from the what-he-presumed-to-be a crazy boy and was no longer trying to figure out what Sasuke had been thinking. Instead, his attention was focused on the boy who had started pointing at a direction in the distance.
Futch was holding his baby dragon and spear in one hand and pointing at something in front of them with the other. Nothing was coming out of his half opened mouth, but his eyes were squinting really hard as if he was trying to confirm something before saying anything.
“There,” he finally said, “I can see Muse!” Now that he was sure, Futch’s finger was pointing confidently at the little brownish spot on the horizon. As he did this, the energetic boy looked from companion to companion, but he became confused when he noticed that Sasuke wasn’t responding to him. He gave a confused look in the ninja’s direction. Then he turned to the other boy instead.
The magician did respond and gave him an acknowledging look.
“Good,” Luc nodded at the spear holder, “we should reach there in about a half an hour.”
Futch nodded in response and he happily continued on the journey without ever knowing what grief the other two had been going through.