Page 127 of A Soul to Touch

Mayumi’s mood was still rather sour, but he made her snort out a laugh even when she thought nothing else could.

“I thought I might.”

He lifted his head back and up, in a way similar to how she would when she was about to be purposefully mean.“I don’t even want to put you on my back.”

Her eyelids lowered. “Well, that’s rude. Here, have some.”

She started rubbing her hands over his snout.

He gave a sneeze and backed up from her. Then his orbs turned a dark yellow as he leaned forward to sniff at her face.

The growl that came from him this time was menacing. He crouched, his spine curling forward as he leant on one hand and then reached up to touch her cheek.

Mayumi winced. She tried to step back, but his hand darted forward to cradle the back of her head to hold her in place.

“Your face is swelling, Mayumi. It’s red and bruising.”His orbs morphed into a terrible red, glowing only inches from her face.“Why?”

She hid it with the back of her hand, letting the coolness in her fingers aid with the swelling. “It’s nothing, Faunus. Don’t worry about it.”

“It looks like someone struck you.”He ripped her hand down and used it to yank her closer when it was obvious she was trying to get away.“Who did this to you?”

With a sigh, her eyes found the forest, wishing he’d just let it go.

His tongue swiped across her cheek. Just as a sting started, it quickly faded as a yellow glow of magic brightened between them. It was cool, his magic always had a chill to it, but it caused the ache to dissipate.

“Nothing is allowed to harm you.”She let her gaze remain averted, but he just took the opportunity to come closer to be right next to her ear. His voice was low as he growled,“I said you were mine, and I will protect what’s mine, destroy what hurts mine, and make sure it knows fear as it takes its last breath.”The dark chuckle that fell from him, almost overshadowed by his growl, was... evil.“And there is only one scent on your face. It’ll be easy for me to follow.”

Mayumi reached up and covered the top of his face with one hand and grabbed his ram horn with her other. She pushed him back so she could face him.

“It was just a silly girl, and I kind of deserved it.”

“I. Don’t. Care.”

“Faunus,” Mayumi said in a stern tone. “I’m sayingno.”

She slipped her hands up so she could place her arms around his neck. She couldn’t believe she was here, trying to calm down a Duskwalker from killing someone.

“Thank you for healing me. She has a meaner slap than I thought she would, but I’m fine now. Plus, do you really want to leave me here in the forest by myself while you go and cause havoc in the city?”

If his skull is more fragile than normal, what if one wrong hit causes it to break?

She could feel how heavy his breaths were, how full of rage he was as he quaked. He wanted to mete out retribution over something so small and insignificant.

His long and strong arms wrapped around her, his embrace swallowing her up before she felt the light stab of his claws on both sides of her navel.

“You could take care of yourself before I returned. I wouldn’t be long.”

It’s like talking to a menacing wall.

“I just... really want to go home. I’ve had a terrible day.” She didn’t think she’d had a day this bad in a long time. “It’d be nice to spend time with you. I can finally teach you how to play shogi since you’ve picked up chess so well.”

After a long while of Mayumi hugging him, even patting the back of his puffed fur, Faunus started to ease.

“You stink,”he eventually grumbled.“I don’t like it.”

A laugh burst from her. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to get rid of it anytime soon.”

A rolled huff shook his torso against her.“If it will remove the mixture of others’ scent on you... then we will have a bath when we return to your home.”

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