Chapter 13

Timeline: 20th September 2012

"Why is it so hot here?" A delicate blonde asked his partner as he fanned himself. "Can't you summon your wind?"

"And get us caught? You've gotta be kidding." Sehun pointed out as he swept his sweat away. Gosh. Why is the weather here so damn freaking warm? It feels like being in an oven. Not that he had been in one before, mind you.

Luhan sulked and grumbled more about the weather. The younger boy wished he could help him but they would not want to risk being caught by any members of the Red Forces.

Alternatively, being around a moody Luhan seems scarier than facing the Red Forces. Of course, he looked adorable with those pouty lips of his but you do not want to be at the receiving end of his mood swings because his attacks would be deadly.

They soon found an inn with a cafe next to it. Luhan made a beeline towards the cafe to order milkshakes for both of them. The younger of the two shook his head, smiling softly while watching the expression on Luhan's face brightened up as he entered the cafe.

Sehun stepped into the inn to book a room for them to stay the night. The lady at the counter was totally smitten with him. She flirted and touched his arm lightly, hoping that he would be interested, even by the slightest.

Just as he looked out for any sight of Luhan, the lady's face dropped when she saw the loving gaze of his, directed at another and not her. He was taken and she had lost him... to another man?

To think that she would be so disappointed was a terrible mistake he had made. She squealed and talked as fast as a bullet train, giving a headache to Sehun.

Seemed like she was a Fujoshi, a fangirl. Scary.

"Ohmigosh! That's your boyfriend, right? He's so pretty! Please let me talk to him." She pleaded with puppy eyes.

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Oh. Then, what is he to you? I, for one thing, do not believe you. You looked at him as if he is your world. Like if he asks you to do anything, you would do it even if it risks your life!"

"I... like him."

"But?" She prompted.

"But he's not my boyfriend. He's perfectly straight."

"Aww... Poor guy. Confess to him soon, yeah? Who knows, he might not be as straight as you think he might be. Invite me to your marriage, yeah? " She chuckled.

Sehun nodded before thanking and leaving in a hurry towards Luhan.

"Flirting?" Luhan questioned him, cheekily. His expression was difficult to read. It was playful but at the same time, he seemed jealous. Or had he misread his expressions? No way would Luhan be jealous of that girl. He was probably jealous that Sehun got to talk to girls while he stood outside in the warm weather with two milkshakes.

"No way. She's not my type." Somehow, Luhan looked relieved. Maybe.

Out of the blue, he screamed in agony.

In a split second, Luhan was on the floor, crying his lungs out. He hurt so badly. He clutched his head as his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

Sehun looked up angrily and spotted a few smirking teenagers, watching Luhan gleefully as if they enjoyed the torturous screams of Luhan's. They must be from the Red Forces. One of them morphed into a huge ugly octopus and wrapped his tentacles around Luhan and pulled him towards them.

The sight of the octopus made Sehun shudder and want to puke all of his guts out. It was disgusting.

The slimy tentacles tried to squeeze the life out of Luhan while another teenager hacked into the blonde's mind. A by-passer screamed as she caught sight of the gory octopus.

Others nearby ran for their lives, fearing that they might be the next victims.

Fuming, Sehun summoned his Wind to attack the members of the Red Forces. The wind sliced through the air out of nowhere and was aimed towards its one and only target, the octopus.

His Wind hit and broke a shield. Shoot! One of them was a Shield user. This was not good news to him. How he wished he could ask for Chen's help. If only he was here to aid him break the shield while he worked on saving Luhan.

Chewing his lower lips, Sehun tried to think of a way to rescue his damsel in distress. He continued to break shield through shield. As each second ticked by, Luhan was turning purple from the lack of oxygen. Sehun wanted to rush head on towards the octopus and wring his neck, if it has a neck anyway.

How he wished he had master the skill of knocking the wind out of those teenagers lungs as revenge and also, to release Luhannie from their grips. It would make things so much easier.

Not giving up although he was getting weary, his Wind rushed in in all directions, attacking from every angle possible.

Luhan gasped for breath, no longer having the strength to fight back.

Sehun's level of anger and desperation rose up to a critical level. How dare they harm his Luhannie!

A growl from nowhere, a pure white dangerous-looking Byakko emerged from a mist. It ran speedily towards the strong, almost unbreakable Shield, and shattered it into millions of beautiful pieces of glass.

"Attack now!" The Wind whispered hurriedly into his ear. It tingled and Sehun wondered if that exotic creature was the one to tell him that. His Wind had never talked to him before.

Sehun captured this chance to summon a tornado to out the rest of them while the Byakko did its job of biting off one of the tentacles of the octopus. Immediately, it morphed back into a human with a shriek and Sehun's tornado whipped him away as well.

Luhan would have dropped to the ground if not for the Byakko rushing under to catch him on his back.

Oh Sehun sighed in relief as he was approached by the Byakko with an unconscious blonde.

"Thank you, O' Wise One. He is very precious to me."

"Nothing to thank for. After all, you are my Master." Sehun fell back in shock. Luckily, he was not the one holding Luhan.

"M-master? What do you mean?" Confusion was clearly written on Sehun's face, rendering the Byakko to chuckle in amusement.

"You have summoned me, Young One. I am a Byakko, an Exotic, a familiar and my name is Baihu. As you can see, I am a white tiger but I am not your everyday tiger in the zoo. I can summon the Wind as if it is chained to me always."

"B-but I did not do any ritual to summon a Wise One such as you to be my familiar. Doesn't it degrade you to be below me?"

"That's where you are wrong. To have a master such as you is a great honour. Your heart is as pure as gold and only the Good Ones blessed by the Goddess can summon us familiars out. Sadly, there have been some who were able to forcefully summon an Exotic out." The last sentence was sort of mumbled out.

"How? I mean, I'm grateful to acquire an Exotic but..."

"We, familiars, come willingly when you are in need. You summoned me in desperation to save him without thinking. You do not remember how you did it but you did in the end. We are tied together now by Fate. The Goddess has allowed us to meet in such circumstances. The Wheel of Fate is turning as we speak. Come now. Hurry, we need to nurse him back to life."

Sehun took Luhan from the Byakko and he carried him bridal style into the Inn. The Byakko disappeared into thin air, not wanting to garner more attention than desired.

Sehun never got to see him any more again that day after the incident. He wondered if everything was a dream though everything felt so real. The Byakko's fur was so soft and warm; he wished he could touch it again.

'Soon, Sehun. Soon, we'll meet again.'

The Wind from outside caressed him as if the Byakko had touched him and the touch had lingered there far longer than a few seconds.

A groan from the bed turned his head in that direction.

Luhan was waking up. The scratches all over his body were healing up nicely. If Lay was here, he would fuss over him like a mother hen. And Luhan would be as good as new in a few moments, thanks to Lay.

How are they anyway?

First thing first, he needed to tend to his Luhannie. Worrying about the others could wait later.

"Sehunnie, where-?"

"In the Inn. Rest well. You need all of your strength to search for the Tree of Life tomorrow." Sehun pushed Luhan back to the bed but Luhan refused to lie back down so he propped him up with a pillow.

"How did we end up here? Oh, right! What happened to all of the teens from the Red Forces?"

"They're gone, as of for now. Who knows where did my tornado go? They could have ended up somewhere in the middle of the sea for all I know."

"That's mean." Sehun just shrugged his shoulders.

Luhan did not remember about the Byakko as they continued to converse and Sehun wanted to keep it that way. It would not do good to have Luhan know or he would feel inferior towards Sehun. Of course, he would tell him about Baihu but not now.

"Anyway, thanks, Sehunnie. Thank you for saving me. I feel useless," Luhan said as he hugged the younger boy.

"No, you're not. You just weren't able to do anything because there was a Brain Manipulator there. You're brave enough to fight back. If not for that courage of yours, you would have lost your mind long time ago." Sehun comforted Luhan as he embraced him back.

"Thank you, Sehunnie. You would always be my best friend forever. My best partner in crime."

It hurt. Sehun's heart was close to shattering to shards but he held back his own tears. Luhan would never think of him as more than a friend. But staying as his best friend was better than nothing else. He would have to live with that.

To be continued...

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Yay! An update. Yup, it's Hunhan again. :)

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Please look out for Kaisoo in the next chapter!