Quick Travel to the Clouds

The cave was completely silent, save for the faint, reassuring crackling of the small, rekindled fire and the sounds of deep and shallow breathing.

You's originally sharp, icy gaze gradually gave way to a deeper calm after confirming that the threat in the distance was not approaching.

He leaned against the straw mat, the firelight flickering and casting swaying shadows on his sharply defined profile.

Those deep, black beast eyes, like a cold pool soaked in the night, fell heavily on that small ball of white fur in the corner.

Yun Chu was truly exhausted.

Its small chest rose and fell slightly with its deep breaths, and beneath its tightly closed eyelids, its golden eyes seemed to have stopped their restless movements. Its long white eyelashes cast soft shadows in the firelight, like a layer of fine snow.

Her curled-up posture was her only defense, as if she wanted to bury herself completely in the protection of stones and darkness.

That vulnerability and utter lack of preparedness seemed so out of place yet so glaring in the depths of this perilous forest.

Time flows silently.

You's gaze shifted from the white mass to her forepaw wrapped in herbs. His actions had been timely and effective, but... not perfect.

The forest is very humid at night, and wrapping yourself in grass for too long may have the opposite effect.

Almost without making a sound, Yuna's massive body slowly rose to its feet, like a ghost merging into the shadows.

His huge feet stomped on the cold, rough stone surface, yet miraculously, they made no sound.

His tall figure blocked out the only firelight in the corner, casting a thick darkness, but his approach was tinged with an indescribable caution, as if he were approaching not a little rabbit, but a fragile object that could be broken at the slightest touch.

He stopped beside Yun Chu and squatted down.

The dim light of the campfire outlined his taut, smooth muscle lines and focused profile from the side.

He extended his huge, calloused hand that had once easily lifted her, yet his movements were incredibly gentle.

He parted the grass leaves wrapped around her front paws curled up in front of her chest with his fingertips, and carefully and very lightly touched the edge of the applied medicine with his rough fingertips—the herbs had congealed, and the redness and swelling at the edge of the wound seemed to have subsided slightly.

You frowned almost imperceptibly.

Not fast enough. This frail little thing needs better rest, needs a truly dry environment, not a cold, hard rock corner.

Perhaps... we should move her to a drier spot closer to the fire.

Just before he carefully lifted Yun Chu up again, as if holding a feather—almost the instant his broad palm touched the dry grass beneath her—Yun Chu, in her sleep, let out a faint, extremely weak moan.

Her head, which had been pressed tightly against the cold stone wall, now shifted slightly, like a newborn animal seeking the warmth of its mother. Her soft, downy nose unconsciously brushed against the back of his hand, which was hanging there while he checked her injuries.

This tiny, almost imperceptible intimate gesture caused You's entire arm, and even her whole body, to freeze instantly!

Those cold, black beast eyes suddenly contracted, and the sharp, chiseled aura around him tightened for a moment, causing him to hold his breath for a split second.

The dim light of the campfire flickered uneasily across his stiff profile.

After a moment of deathly silence, he neither retreated nor touched it again.

Its tall body slowly straightened up, like a solitary peak suddenly rising from the ground.

He walked to the side, and a sliver of moonlight peeked in through the narrow gap in the cave entrance, falling on him.

He glanced down at the back of his hand, which had just been "violated" and still retained a faint, strange sensation, before calmly casting his gaze into the deeper darkness outside the cave.

The light from the campfire could only illuminate a very small area.

In the darkness, light and shadow began to flow silently without warning, and the huge outline surged and flickered in a blur.

When the light became clearer, the tall, solemn man was no longer visible where the moonlight shone at the cave entrance; instead, a giant wolf lay still.

Its fluffy, thick black fur seemed to absorb all the surrounding light, as deep as the night itself.

Only those cold, beastly eyes reflected the dim silver light of the moon in the shadows.

His massive body silently approached the little white ball curled up on the haystack.

The giant wolf slowly lay down, its massive body forming a ring-shaped, warm barrier, enclosing the vulnerable creature within.

Then, the thick, long, and strong bushy wolf tail cautiously and tentatively emerged from the side, its thick, warm black fur like the softest blanket, gently but completely covering Yun Chu's slender, almost negligible, frail body.

A sudden, warm weight descended, bringing a strange sense of security, as if embraced by deep darkness.

In her sleep, Yun Chu seemed to let out a soft, almost inaudible sigh of contentment, her body unconsciously curling up tighter in that soft darkness, filled with the warmth of the same source and the scent of grass and trees.

Her fluffy head buried itself even deeper into the warm black "blanket" covering her, finding a more comfortable angle and sinking completely in.

The wolf-shaped creature remained motionless, its massive black head slightly tilted towards the cave entrance. Its sharp, beastly eyes, like inextinguishable cold stars, burned at the edge of the flickering firelight, vigilantly guarding the two worlds inside and outside.

The tail covering the white pom-pom seemed to have its own life, and without it even realizing it, it wrapped her up more securely and warmly, and never left.

Inside and outside the cave, apart from the occasional crackling of the campfire and the howling of the wind passing through the cave entrance, there were only two figures, one large and one small, one black and one white, breathing together in the deep night with unusually steady breaths.

next morning

The embers of the campfire curled into thin, grayish-white sheets, and the morning light seeping into the cave entrance flowed like melting honey onto the rocks.

Yun Chu's eyelids trembled, and her long white eyelashes swept away the fine dust of light.

The heavy warmth that enveloped her in her dream dissipated, and she unconsciously curled up her front paws—the redness and swelling of the wounds that had been rubbed open last night had mostly subsided, and the scent of herbs and wolf fur remained on them.

The cave was empty.

In the cold, rocky corner, only she remained, a ball of pure white, as if the furry, dark barrier of the previous night had been nothing but an illusion.

She pricked up her ears, and even the whistling of the wind blowing through the cracks in the cave was exceptionally clear.

But the next moment, she froze.

Three round, red berries and a cluster of wild strawberries were neatly stacked on a dried broad leaf, with dewdrops trembling and glistening on the tips of the berries.

Beside the fruit, a tender mint leaf, dripping with dew, was stuck diagonally in a crack in the rock. The mint was covered with damp mud—it was a plant that grew by the stream.

She reached out her little paw and gently touched the red berry.

The fruit peel is cool and smooth, with the fresh scent of freshly picked fruit.

As the sunlight climbed the rock face, Yun Chu slowly munched on berries.

Sweet juice dampened the downy hair at the corners of her mouth, yet she unconsciously gazed towards the cave entrance.

The huge, sunken outline of the hay still remains, the traces of the wolf lying there deeply etched into the dry grass.

She nestled into the indentation, the lingering warmth of her body soothing her back, as if being gently embraced by an invisible tail tip.

Last night was not a dream.

She remembered the fingers carefully prying the herbs apart, the taut, sharp jawline in Naruto, and the slightly cool touch on the back of her hand as she drowsily brushed against him—it turned out that the dark warmth that followed was the giant wolf lying quietly under the moonlight.

Outside the cave, sparrows chirped in the morning, and the wind carried the fresh scent of beech trees.

His aura completely blended into the forest dawn, along with his deep, abyss-like beastly eyes.

Yun Chu lowered her head and licked the fruit stains off her paws, then suddenly hid a mint leaf behind her ear.

The pungent, cool scent of mint accompanied her, like the silent, watchful eyes of last night.