45 Boiling Blood (1/2)

Taku stood there like an idiot. This was the moment he had been waiting for for the last couple of months. But as it was presented to him, he could not help but feel nervous.

He tried his best to calm himself down to no avail. He looked at the tent in a daze. He dared to go and save his team before he could even cultivate, How could he now be afraid of meeting a girl? He quickly realized that it would be impossible for him to calm down so he just walked straight into the tent.

As he got in he noticed that the tent was rather empty. Apart from a table and a bed there was nothing really inside. Makanaka was sitting at that table whilst reading a piece of paper. Her brows were tense and Taku knew that he should stay there silently and not disturb her.

On several occasions he almost reached his hand out to touch her but he would always stop himself right at the last moment. Every time that his eyes landed on Maka, his heart would begin racing. He felt really embarrassed because he knew that Maka was way more powerful than he was and could probably sense what was going on.

There was no way he could change anything so Taku just stood there like an idiot. He stood and waited for five minutes before he heard Maka sigh. ”Do you not know that it's rude to just stand and stare, at least site down first before you undress me with your eyes.”

Taku wore a wry smile as he went and sat down opposite Maka. It felt as though Taku went mute when he came into the room. So far he had not even said a single word. Maka smiled. To be honest if anyone dared to look at her the way Taku did then she would've killed that person already.

But Taku was different. This kid was someone that her master had constantly praised and he had told him to try protect him at any cost. She was having quite the headache at the moment. She did not think that he would actually be able to come here. What made it worse was his timing. He just had to come when there was a beast tide.

”What are you even doing here?” She asked. ” Didn't you get briefed about the mission? If you did why did you still come? You should know how dangerous this city is at this moment in time.”

”I do, but I had no choice.” Taku replied.

Maka furrowed her brows. Why did he come then? Could he be that horny?

Taku smiled wryly. ”The issue is that I am having trouble understanding somethings about my soul. I initially wanted to go search for Saru but even knowing that, it would be impossible for me to meet him. So, I went for the next best thing. I thought that maybe if I could find you then you might be able to bring me to him.”

Maka sighed. ”Indeed I would have been able to take you to go see master. The problem is that master is not currently in the empire. As for when he might come back, I also have no idea.”

Things got silent and awkward pretty fast. ”Thank you, I will take my leav-...”

”Which weapon are you using?” Taku had wanted to say his goodbyes but was cut off by this question from Maka. It was not that Taku did not want to spend time with her, but he was so disappointed at the moment that he could barely even think straight.

Taku organized his thoughts. ”I am an archer. Although I have only been doing it for several months. My master says that I am now at least on the same level as some people who have been practicing for years.”

Hearing this Maka slightly frowned. Her expression turned back to normal in an instant. It was so fast that Taku did not even realize it. Which master is this kid talking about? And he actually chose archery over close combat weapons...

”How good is your close combat?”

”I am at least above average.” Taku started. ”I have never used a weapon in close combat, but I am fairly decent in my hand to hand combat.”

Maka smiled and made a decision to test Taku out. Just as she stood up a soldier ran inside with a panicked expression. ”General! The beat tide has begun!”

Maka's expression turned solemn after hearing this. She sunk deep into thought, and only spoke after a couple of breaths. ”We need to finish this fight early. The weakest go out first, but tell them not to be reckless.”

The soldier nodded and left. Taku stared at the tent entrance with a worried expression. Even though no one could order his teammates to fight, he knew that since they were here then they just had to participate in the battle. He turned around and was about speak, only for him to open his mouth and couldn't find words to say.