119 Missing 14 (2/2)
”Mr. Hemming, sorry to bother you, but there's a young woman waiting for you. We normally wouldn't trouble you with this, but she's been sitting near the gates for a couple hours now, and when we tried to shoo her away, she kept saying that she has you cat.”
His heartbeat quickened. ”Does she?”
”She came with a large black cat. Is—”
”Don't let her leave!” Kyro shouted out into the phone and ran out of his apartment.
Could it really be her? What was she doing not in her fox form? Worry that this was just a scam wormed into his heart, but he chased it away. The important thing was to check it out and see. Once he went there, he would see it for himself and know.
The distance to the gates had never seemed so long to him. Wasn't it just a couple steps away? Why was it taking forever to reach them?
He didn't know what he'd have to do if she left.
The gates were already open when he reached them, and he dashed right through, with barely a nod to the guards. They were standing in the doorway of their building, not wishing to get outside into the pouring rain.
Kyro stopped outside, looking left and right, but there was nothing to see. Could the girl have already left?
A curse was about to leave his mouth when he saw a small form huddled up against the wall. With trepidation, he came closer, not certain what he was hoping to see.
It was the girl. She sat with her knees halfway drawn up, leaning over them as she shivered from the cold. Dressed in an oversized shirt and pants that were three sizes too large for her, she wasn't weathering the rain well.
When he came over, she raised her head up, and a smile bloomed on her face. ”You're here,” she whispered in a barely audible voice, then slightly straightened up, revealing a dark shape on her knees.
Noticing his gaze locking onto the cat, she said, ”I tried keeping him out of the rain as much as I could, but…” She laughed in a self-deprecating manner. ”This is all I could do for him.”
The cat then raised its head, and Kyro instantly recognized its blue-eyed stare.
All his fury was thrown out the window at that moment, and he bent down to pick up the black demon. Lucy meowed at him in greeting, and Kyro smiled with warmth at the old cat.
”You're coming with me,” he told the girl after noticing her looking at him and the bus stop farther away. ”You've got a lot of explaining to do.”
She nodded, reluctantly, and he narrowed his eyes. He was still angry and suspicious, but the care she showed Lucy had raised her in his eyes somewhat. Maybe they could actually have a civil conversation later on.