20 Rin And Yuin

A Week After Rin Arrived

Sora and Rin had grown extremely close now, they had been by each other's side almost all of the time, after an awkward check they figured out that Rin was a female. The sudden development in Sora and Rin's relationship shocked Rayns and Selica at first but they quickly got used to it, they didn't mind having a second pet. Sora and Rin had trained together for little over 3 days but had reached an acceptable level of teamwork, it was already on a decent level when they begun but not they trusted each other more, when Rin had first arrived, they didn't really know whether or not Sora was a good match for them, only that they were able to defeat the thing that had possessed them so easily - Rin had sent these feelings to Sora directly as they bonded, Sora now knew exactly how Rin felt.

Through the mental link they shared, Sora learned the story of why and how Rin arrived.

When Rin had been left on the ground after the dark mist left, they awoke in the middle of the fight between Seiju and Sora, at this point in the battle, Sora had already awoken to his power and was fighting at full force, she immediately figured out that Seiju was possessed by the same thing she was after a quick check, after being possessed she was too scared to try and fight back and had fled - she had takenfull advantage of the fact that it was currently distracted by Sora. After running for a while she was surprised to see that the fight was still going, the clashes of aura could be felt by aura-users from extreme distances, the stronger the aura-users, the further it would go. She had expected Sora to die by now but after seeing that he hadn't, she climbed up to a vantage point close enough to watch but far enough to safely retreat if she was targetted. As the fight went on Rin grew to respect Sora's strength, whilst he definitely wasn't that much stronger than the dark mist, the fact that he wasable to fight it on fair grounds already demonstrated his strength, this respect turned into awe, then that awe turned into a desire to follow him. She slowly got closer and closer to the fight, gaining more confidence as she watched Sora fight but by the time she was halfway there, the fight had already ended. Not wanting to get any closer to the Sora on the chance that Sora might attack her, she only barely lingered on the side and hid her aura, she didn't use aura to look from a far distance as Sora would have noticed, after Del and Rez arrived she fled. She still felt like she wanted to follow Sora though, so she decided to trail behind him from far away.

On the carriage home she followed them back to the village and paid attention to Sora and his friends and how he talked and acted around them, after he entered the gate she was confident that Sora was well-natured, they also saw that Yuin seemed well-natured but was still kind of scared of her strength, she knew of how one like Yuin treated her position and how protective she would be of the village. Believing that she could outrun Yuin, she sped into the village, after Yuin's almost instant reaction she tried manouvering around the village, taking any twist or turn she could find but Yuin kept up easily, Yuin also took advantage of the fact that the thing she was chasing clearly didn't know the layout of the village and chased it into a corner. After stopping and entering into a defensive stance, the reaction Yuin showed was not one of hostility, quite the opposite actually. Rin lowered her defense and began sending signals to Yuin, she sent her feelings and a basic rundown of what had happened, Yuin then told her where to find Sora. After that she went to his home and met with him, it took a little time but they eventually became friends, a week later they had a pet-master relationship.

Now that Rin was constantly with him, Sora's fighting power had roughly doubled, having something to cover his weakspots whilst also attacking with him gave him a massive advantage in battle. It wasn't really seen as a bad strategy either, many powerful figures in Elia consisted of a duo, whether that be two people, two animals, or a person and an animal, some of the Legends had pets of their own that helped them in battle.

This was definitely good but, up until now they had only trained together, they didn't have a real opponent to go up against, Sora had tried to ask Del and Rez but they weren't in the village, they had gone on another hunt already, Seiju and Kuo were weaker than Sora anyway, and Yuin was currently held up on her duties as the guildmaster, her position wasn't one that allowed her to live in luxury, she had to constantly manage what contracts could be accepted, taking care of the main base, and whilst she didn't have to do this, she also managed the protection of the village. Sora understood this and just kept training with Rin, anywhere Sora went Rin would either be walking with him or on his shoulder, usually the latter. Eventually he just opted to wait. Now he was just walking around town, allowing Rin to familiarise herself with the surroundings.

Sora was constantly greeted around the town, some people approached him to pet Rin, Rin was naturally shy but she got used to people coming up to her after it had happened so much times, now she just let it happen.

So: "Ugh, there's no one here..."

R: "Mmmrrow"

So: "Yeah, I wanna fight someone too."

R: "Mew?"

So: "Nah, the master's busy."

R: "Meow"

So: "Hm? Dad? We can't fight him. He'll just freeze space, he can't do it for long but he can just beat us in that time. Besides, even if we somehow win we won't learn much from it."

Rin lay down.

So: "Uuuuuuuuuuuugh"

Sora walked to the hunters base, no one in the base had seen him for this entire week, he usually stayed at home and he hadn't met any of the hunters while he walked through the village. This didn't mean the hunter's didnt know about Rin, Yuin had made a statement about Rin during her speech about the recent extremely dangerous hunt, Yuin got a basic rundown from Rin after all. It was the same old bar with the same old people, it was as rowdy as ever. Sora walked through to the mission board and inspected it for high-level hunts.

So: "Huh?"

Rin's head perked up.

So: "There's no high-level hunts? There should be at least 2 or 3 up every time."

Behind him was a cute little woman, she walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

Son: "Hello, Sora, I can guess what you're here for and I'm sorry to say... there's no high-level hunts left."

Sonia noticed Rin, but ignored her for now.

Sor: "Miss Sonia? How? Did they take it down?"

Son: "No, nothing like that."

Sor: "What? If they didn't take them down... that can only mean..."

Son: "Yes, they have all been completed fairly recently."

Sor: "All of them?!?!"

Son: "Yes, all of them."

Sor: "What? Who could do all of them alone in such a small amount of time?! It's only been a week!"

Son: "Well... they didn't do it alone..."

Sor: "Huh?"

Son: "It was Del and Rez, they talked about getting stronger or something and accepted all of them, even the ones that hadn't been put up yet, they are currently doing the final one now."

Sor: "Wha- Those guys!!! They started without me!!!"

Sora looked at the ground, he wasn't overly frustrated but he did feel a little left out.

Son: "Those two are really trying to get stronger, I wonder what sparked it..."

Sora instantly knew why they were getting stronger.

Sor: "Wow... those two weren't kidding when they said they were gonna catch up."

On the path back to the camp after the battle and on the carriage back to the village, Del and Rez had constantly told Sora about how they were going to catch up in strength. Whilst Sora was a well-natured guy, he was also extremely competitive when it came to him and his friends, he definitely wanted his friends to be strong, and if they weren't he would protect them, but to those who were on the same level, slightly below or slightly above, he would be competitive with, it was a friendly competition to him though, he wouldn't actively go out of his way to undermine his friends.

Sor: "Well. Rin! Let's keep training!"

Sora began walking towards the door through the rowdy croud.

Son: "Um, Sora."

Sora turned around.

Sor: "Hm? What is it Miss Sonia?"

Son: "I... I really wanted to ask..."

Sor: "Hm? Wanted to ask what."

Son: "Can I... can I pet it?"

Sor: "Huh?"

Sora was so used to Rin's presence on his shoulder by now that he would usually not think about how others would react.

Sor: "Oh! Haha, sure. Rin."

Rin climbed down from Sora's shoulder onto his arm, he then stretched his arm out so that Sonia could pet Rin. Sonia looked like a little child playing with Rin, Rin had gotten used to this treatment from people and had grown quite fond of it, so Rin also looked pretty happy. After a while, Sonia finished and thanked Sora, Sora just smiled then left with Rin on his shoulder. From here, they walked out the village and to the forest clearing where they trained.

Sonia stood there as she watched Sora leave and she smiled, Sora had joined the hunters at a very young age, slowly rising through the ranks to where he was now. Behind her a door opened and an extremely tired woman walked out and slumped over to the bar, ordering a drink.

S: "Oh, Yuin."

Sonia sat down next to her.

Y: "Hm?! Oh Sonia... sorry... I'm a little tired..."

S: "What have you been busy with recently?"

Y: "Well..."

Yuin's face fell to the bar, her voice was now muffled.

Y: "Del and Rez have been taking care of all of our hunts, after so much consecutive successes the big cities and small villages have noticed and have been sending me a whole bunch more, the paperwork is a nightmare. The defense of the village is fine but I need to strengthen it more."

S: "You really don't have t-"

Y: "That guy asked me for a spar too... but I'm just. So. Busy."

S: "Haha... well.. why don't you take a brea-"

Y: "I want to!!! Sonia!!! Help me!!!"

Yuin had collapsed off the bar and had placed her head on Sonia's lap.

Y: "I wanna sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!"

Yuin was definitely the master of the hunter's guild, but that did not mean she had to act like it, she could be serious but she found it boring and was like a child most of the time. Sonia had been the manager of the board and, in turn, had also managed other things, she kept the bar running, so she had been used to the way Yuin acted. Sonia patted Yuin's head as she lay down on her lap. Yuin had made a scene, everyone knew who she was and had just laughed it off, everyone knew how strong he was but they also knew how much time she sacrificed to keep the hunters happy and carefree, so they only respected her more. Everyone treated her like an older sister, the only person who didn't was Sonia, who was like an older sister to Yuin.

Y: "Ever since that hunt, everything's just gotten busier, I was stressed out when those guys disappeared for over 3 days, I expected to be so relaxed after! I didn't expect everything would just get harder!!!"

S: "Yes, but it's for the good of the village, and the hunters guild."

Y: "Hm, I guess..."

Yuin pouted.

Suddenly, two people walked into the bar, they walked up to the seat's where Sonia and Yuin were and sat down next to them.

S: "Oh, you've retu-"

The two people's faces fell down onto the table.

Y: "Hm?"

Yuin stood up to see who these two people were.

Y: "Oh, you two have come back, how was the hunt?"

R: "Del tripped over cause she was tired..."

D: "Rez almost killed me cause he wasn't paying attention to his strings..."

S: "Thats... nice..."

Y: "I meant the thing you guys hunted..."

Del and Rez both lifted their hands up and put their thumbs up.

Y: "Oh, nice, you two completed over 11 high-level hunts in just a week, with almost no rest inbetween. You should have gotten stronger right?"

Their hands dropped.

D: "No... not really..."

Y: "Hm?"

R: "Nothing's been as dangerous as the other hunt..."

D: "The monsters were easy to take down..."

Y: "Easy?!"

R: "Well... compared to the other one... easy..."

D: "They were definitely difficult but all we needed was a proper strategy and we easily beat them..."

Y: "What? You two? Alone?"

R+D: "Yep"

Del and Rez definitely did get stronger, but they did this all as a duo, as two powerful forces working together. Seperately, they still got stronger but they knew they hadn't caught up to Sora. Neither would say they got stronger until they caught up.

Yuin sighed.

Y: "I can sense it y'know, you two definitely got stronger."

Yuin knew that Sora definitely got stronger, stronger than Del and Rez, but to see these two get obviously stronger then say it doesn't count irritated her.

R: "Haven't caught up, doesn't count."

S: "Caught up?"

D: "Sora."

S: "Oh."

Y: "You guys..."

Yuin hesitated, but knew it was best if she said this.

Y: "As you are now, you can't catch up."

R: "Huh?"

D: "What?"

Del and Rez were shocked but this was coming from someone so much more powerful than they were.

Y: "That kitten that was possessed by that thing, it was about as powerful as one of you at the time, over the course of the week, Sora and that kitten have met up and become extremely close, they fight together now."

R: "What?!"

D: "Kitten?!?!?!?!?"

Del had shouted extremely loud and stood up, after realising how loud she was she sat down and buried her face into her hands, embarassed.

Y: "Yep."

R: "Hm... well... doesn't matter."

Y: "Wha?!"

Yuin was surprised by the response, seeing Del and Rez in a tired state trying to catch up quickly irritated her, these were like her children.

R: "More to catch up on. Besides, me and Del are a duo now, after so much hunts we got real used to working together. We'll just beat them as a duo all the same."

Del blushed, leaving her even more embarassed than before. Rez had a wide smile.

R: "Just means we gotta get even stronger. Got any more high-level hunts?"

Yuin sighed.

Y: "We don't have anymore."

Rez's smile disappeared and was replaced with an expression of confusion.

R: "What?! How?!"

Y: "How do you think..."

R: "Who could do all of them alo-"

...

R: "Oh..."

Y: "Jeez, go take a break, I have a solution to this, but I'll only tell you after you rest for at least a day."

Del's head perked up and she immediately gave Yuin a neutral stare.

D: "Thank you."

Del stood up and left. The three sat on the table. Silence...

Y: "Well... she needed a break..."

R: "..."

Y: "You do too."

R: "Hm? Nah, I'll ju-"

Y: "You. Do. Too."

R: "..."

R: "Okay, I'll go sleep."

Rez also left. Silence...

S: "Um... Yuin... I think you also need t-"

Y: "I want sleep too!!!!!"

Yuin once again lay down on Sonia's lap while squirming. Sonia just sighed and started to pat her head again.

(T)S: "Seems like the mother is just like the children. But... solution?"

S: "Yuin, what's this solution you were talking about?"

Y: "Hm? Oh, it's easy, let Sora and that cute little kitten fight against Del and Rez, both sides get what they want?"

S: "Hm? Where does Sora come into this?"

Y: "Cmon... it's obvious... he's wanted to fight with something strong since last week when he came back, whilst I promised it would be me, Del and Rez as they are now should provide enough of a challenge."

S: "Oh, that's why he was here."

Y: "Yeah, it leaves me more time for paperwork... yay..."

S: "Haha..."

Yuin pouted, then feel asleep on Sonia's lap, she may have been powerful but her mental exhaustion was extreme, there was too much things for her to keep track of right now, she didn't want to sleep but could no longer control it. Sonia was extremely patient, so she didn't mind waiting until she woke up.

S: "Well, I wonder who would win in a fight between the duo's now..."

Sonia wasn't as powerful as any of them but could definitely sense who held power and who did not, she knew that Rin was the weakest out of all of them right now, but Sora made the strength up in that duo. All Rin had to do was cover up his weaknesses and they would be an unstoppable duo. Del and Rez were equally as strong as eachother and were now stronger than Rin by herself, it was a hard matchup to guess who would win.

The day passed by. Del and Rez were now at their own homes resting, and Sora and Rin returned to their own to sleep for the night, unaware of the solution Yuin came up with.

...

?: "Oi, that Yuin lady is making 'em fight."

?: "Yeah I heard."

?: "Hm? You guys are spreading your aura's inside the bar?"

?: "Yeah, ages ago. Not like any of em can sense us."

?: "You're really laid back about this..."

?: "Well, it's not a bad thing."

?: "It's most likely going to be public, let's go - see how powerful he and that little cat truly are together."

?: "Yeah, why not."

?: "Alright, how long you think it's gonna take?"

?: "Most likely 1-2 days."

?: "Okay."

?: "Let's see just how strong he's gotten."