It was a cold winter night. You looked around the street as you clutched the strap of your backpack tighter, fingers curling around it. Your gaze fell on your watch, checking the time. It was late.

Relying on a relatively cheap bus was the first mistake you had made, it seemed. It was half an hour past the scheduled arrival time, and you hadn't even picked up on the sound of familiar tyres faintly pull up the road. The second was forgetting your scarf back at your workplace's waiting room.

And the third, probably worst of all, was going outside this late. Dread pooled in your stomach as you heard the drunken sounds - groans - of a stranger behind you, and you braced for the worst to happen, prepared to throw a punch or two.

"Out thiss late, miss...? You'll... catch a cold," he slurred, and you could hear the shameless smirk in his words. His voice and breath got closer to your ear, causing you to flinch instinctively.

"Easy," he chuckled, and you felt his hand ghost over your waist, closing the gap slowly. "How about I take you home? You'd be all safe and cozy with-"

You heard a few silent footsteps, a murmur of confusion; then a crack and a loud thud, feeling the presence behind you be replaced with the feeling of a pair of eyes boring into the back of your head. You turned around, alarmed.

Blade. "You're safe," he muttered simply in that calm voice he harbored.

What a coincidence. Now that you thought about it, he always used to be present when the situation deemed him necessary; and when the situation involved you.

Oh well; an acquaintance was better than a creep trying to get his hands all over you, you supposed.