This time, sleep is actually not peaceful.

An ordinary high fever is one in which you feel cold, but your body is actually heating up. The colder it feels, the hotter it actually gets.

But the temperature on Xiu's body is so high that it has exceeded the illusion of the body. He himself felt that his body was in a raging fire all the time, so hot that he couldn't even feel the cold wind blowing outside the cave.

He didn't seem to be in the late winter when the ice and snow melted, but in the scorching heat of the sun, and even a tall fire tower was lit around him, and the heat wave of the flames frantically invaded his body.

Just a few hours ago, he longed for himself to warm up. But now... He is not just warm, he is simply burning, and his body has become a torch burning.

Everything around him seemed to be horribly hot, and the icy wind turned into scorching steam that almost burned his nose. The warm campfire turned into boiling lava, as if melting his back. All of this changed in just a few hours. In the past few hours, he has fallen from the cold winter to the scorching heat.

But... Despite this situation, he fell asleep.

Too sleepy, too tired.

This is a kind of sleepiness that there is no way to fight even if the tip of the sword of the sword of life hangs in front of the eyebrows and the mountains are pressed against the top of the head.

Whether it was the sleepiness that stayed up all night last night, or the energy consumed by several consecutive days and nights in front of him, it really overspent all his physical energy.

He relied entirely on his remaining will to "not die here" and the pain caused by the cruel illness to maintain the last shred of consciousness.

It did allow him to hold on for a little while, but at the cost... When he wanted to rest, the sickness turned him down.

His movements were already like a marionette, stiff as a walking corpse, relying on his body's instincts to blunt his last insistence.

He needed a break so badly.

Even though his reason told him that it was really not the time, that he had to do what he had to do, that he had to find a way to find food, that he had to take the initiative to get the attention of those who had come to save him, that he was going to take the girl alive, that he couldn't rest yet... But his body no longer has the strength to execute.

Not even the strength to stand up is enough.

But the most important reason to really fall asleep is...

And most importantly...

In the arms of this girl, there is a faint that can make him feel a kind of ability to rely on... No, it's something that makes him nostalgic... A little bit cool.

It's just a little bit.

But that's enough. Just this little feeling could have given him a little relief in the scorching purgatory, making the heat in his body less uncomfortable.

This little coolness made him subconsciously want to get closer and closer. In an unconscious stupor, he hugged this little piece of softness tightly.

In such a stupor, he would not know how uncomfortable his heat made the girl.

Ahem...

A suppressed, soft cough rang out from the girl's throat.

After a suppressed whimper, she finally managed to hold back the discomfort in her throat. She lowered her head, hugging the boy tighter and tighter, and a complicated look flashed in her eyes that did not match her current age at all.

Raising his hand little by little, his fingertips quietly touched his hair.

One touch and go.

Well... It's soft, not the same as my father's hair.

When she used to help her father comb his hair, the stiff hair made him feel a little strange, different from her own and Rin's.

She thought that all boys had stiff hair.

His hair is even softer than his own, soft... It should be the same age as him.

Her fingers ran through her silver hair, careful as if she were afraid to wake him up.

Sakura closed her eyes gently.

Why, is he willing to do this... Why... Why...

She saw the scene of her being caught again. That moment of panic, a moment of fear, almost made her cry at that time.

No, actually...

At that time, I didn't hold back. It was just that in a certain moment, she suddenly stopped being afraid.

It wasn't her hidden father who gave her courage, nor did she treat the mysterious old man Ghost Warrior.

It was the boy's eyes that appeared for a moment.

For a moment, it was as if she was facing something indescribable. The feeling of oppression in that moment made her think that she was going to be overwhelmed for a moment.

Before, she had never imagined that someone would be able to make people feel scared with their eyes.

It's just that when I thought about it later... The person with such terrible eyes is someone she knows, and that person will definitely come to save her.

At that moment, she was suddenly not afraid of anything.

Slowly wrap your hands around this soft silver hairline, and lower your head a little. His cheeks, lips, and the tip of his nose touched his hair.

The silver-white hair was as soft as the petals of early spring.

Now it looks like an illusion for a moment. This man was right in front of him, weak as if he would die at any moment. But...

Her face rubbed against his hair, and her body was uncomfortable from the heat on her body, but she didn't know why, but she felt softer and softer.

A softness that emanates from the heart.

Along the way... She saw a lot of men in black.

Many, many men in black.

They were almost everywhere, always getting up from somewhere she wouldn't have thought of them, throwing away the mud and grass they were camouflaging, or jumping off a tree and retreating with them.

It was only when she was stuffed into a net pocket and hung over a cliff that she remembered one thing: the ninjas had gone to great lengths to get the boy over.

Their purpose was him in the first place.

The moment she thought of this question, her heart was cold.

She watched as the black-clad men gathered from the darkness disappeared into the darkness around them again little by little, lurking in every dark corner that no one cared about but could attack at any time. Watching them light a bright fire here, I'm afraid he won't find it.

These behaviors made her sincerely hope that he would not come.

She knew it was dangerous.

It's true...

Please...

Don't, never...

I gasped lightly.

The depression and suffocation at that time still seem to make her feel a little unable to breathe. She unconsciously hugged the boy tightly.

If I hold you, I'll be able to sleep peacefully...

If I hold you, you won't be so miserable...

A gentle sniff on the silvery white hair catches the burning breath.

Then I won't let go.

She buried her face in his hair, trying to feel his temperature.

At that time, she was so hopeful that he wouldn't come, but in her heart...

She really wanted to be saved by someone.

Just like the story told to them by the adults in the village, whenever the story is at its most dangerous, a samurai will descend from the sky and defeat all the bad guys with unparalleled strength to save the princess from trouble.

Sometimes, she actually fantasizes about being that kind of princess. When you are in trouble, you will be saved.

He really came.

He didn't fall from the sky as the story says, he just rode his little black horse and walked out of the night step by step. But she knew that the little pony was as fast as the wind and fast enough to cross the night.

He doesn't have unrivaled strength, but he carries his silver-white weapon. In the roar of thunder and fireworks, he tore through the ninja's defenses and rushed straight at her in desperation.

He didn't...

She chuckled to herself.

Enough is enough, nothing else.

At that moment, she was already happy.

The little witch who guarded the shrine alone in the mountain village, the little witch who had never seen any scenes, at this moment, she saw her own, a mythical samurai, with a sword in hand, desperately trying to save her.

When she was let go of the rope and fell off the cliff, she just felt a little regretful.

She was content.

Enough is enough, no more.

The gods have taken good care of me...

The embrace of the slender hand grew tighter and tighter. Tears flowed from the corners of her eyes, and her pupils were sour red.

She didn't want to let go of him more and more.

She wanted to hold him tightly, hugged him tightly, didn't want to let go.

She never imagined that he would jump off a cliff after her. In the darkness of the night, the cliff behind him was like an abyss leading to hell, but he jumped without hesitation.

She will never forget that scene.

The sparse stars in the sky, the misty and broken black clouds, the half-obscured moon rings, and the silver figure that stretched out his hands to himself to grab him, and the purple pupils under the thin moon rings.

Go to sleep...

I don't know, will we be saved... I do not know.

But with you, I'm no longer afraid of anything.

Really, I'm not afraid.

Xiu, we have to live together.

Or... Together...

The two of them were breathing more and more steadily.

Two children hugged each other in front of a small, crumbling flame, roasting a poor, insignificant fire.

There is no way for such a poor flame to warm them, and the only thing that can give them hope of survival is their body temperature.

However, if this continues, the body temperature will not be warm after all.

The flames gradually fell silent. A few tiny branches could no longer support the flames, and they had almost turned into a pile of scarlet charcoals, still exerting residual warmth.

In a short time, when the flames are completely extinguished, perhaps decades, or centuries, someone will see a pair of embracing bones here.

A small, snow-white creature crept in from the edge of the hole.

When it saw the two figures, it rushed to their side quickly, and pushed them hard with its little head, but received no response.

It uses many ways, but there is no way to wake them up. It let out a senseless cry in its throat as it looked at the pile of ashes that were about to be extinguished.

The tail curled up like a hand, and the smoldering ashes tucked it under the trunk. It ran back and forth several times, piling all the ashes and a few pieces of charcoal that were still reddening under the trunk. After doing this, it quickly soaked its tail in the water. After a while, he pulled it out and licked his tail, which had been burned off a large ball of hair.

It watched as the smoldering ashes brought sparks to the trunk of the tree, and the red charcoal fire spread little by little, and as it penetrated into it little by little, a trace of white smoke emerged from the trunk. After a while, there was a tendency to get stronger and stronger.

It looked at the sun that was getting higher and higher outside, curled up and crawled in the sun, licking its somewhat bald tail, waiting for the smoke to rise higher and thicker, waiting for those who should see it.