"Let me ask you guys something: why did you come to this city? It was because of the flower smell, wasn't it? Well, it's gone. There's no reason to stay anymore."
Tsume decided at age seven that he would forever be an anarchist. A devoted military man, his father shipped his family from country to country for years, and Tsume hated it. Therefore, he chose anarchy as the best way to blame someone other than his father for his lack of a social life. Because military families didn't make many friends, due to the fact that they were never in one spot long enough to do so.
But all that was about to change. They were going to have a permanent home, in some city called Freiheit. In Tsume's senior year of high school. Oh well, one year of school in the same town was better than one month. But he wondered…
What had he missed by leaving all his acquaintances?
She was finally old enough to get them both out of that hell-hole, that filthy, over crowded orphanage. Blue swung her pack of clothes over her back, giving the under paid jerks that called themselves caretakers the bird as she took her brother's hand and stalked off. Her little brother, who always appeared younger then he truly was, stared disapprovingly at her action but said nothing.
They looked nothing alike, the siblings, but they knew they were. There was something in their soul they shared, a love for something they couldn't pinpoint. It was nestled there, next their hearts, that love that Blue and Toboe shared. No one could break that.
Before they left, Blue used up almost all her savings to buy a cheap apartment and a run down Jeep. Toboe kept telling her they wouldn't be able to keep the place for long without steady jobs, but Blue refused to allow her brother to drop out of high school.
So, Toboe would be starting his freshman year of high school in a new city, Blue her junior year. They could only hope their new land lord had some sympathy for struggling children.
Shoving another pastry in his mouth, Hige sighed contentedly. This was paradise: good food, cute girls, and a comfortable couch. The Flower Pastry Shop set up the dining area like the guest room of a large mansion- overstuffed couches and armchairs everywhere with dark, medieval tapestries hanging from its crimson walls.
The place was a family-owned shop; the cook was apparently the baby of the family, having just moved to the area, and a real cutie. But no one ever saw her, for she always stayed behind the kitchen doors until closing time. Hige had been trying to catch a glimpse of her for ages, staying in his carefully picked seat within sight of the swinging double doors right up until the "we're closed!" sign lit up at nine, but for naught.
After listening closely to one of the waitresses, a cousin of the cook called Neige, Hige learned that the new cook left each night from the back door. He'd been sitting on the same couch for weeks for nothing!
Unfortunately, soon the fall term would start and he'd have no time to girl watch. The brunet was entering his junior year, one of the hardest years of high school. But with his interests leaning more toward girls and food than academics in the first place, all his school years had been hard.
Quent rubbed his temples as sunlight bled in his bedroom through the drawn curtains. He had a hangover. And after being fired for coming to work drunk, again, he was lucky he still had tenants who paid him. And, he'd be getting one more in a day or so. But about a job…
He supposed he should feel grateful that Mr. Retired-Private-Eye-Turned-English-Teacher-Dandy had pulled a few strings to get him working as a janitor. As if Quent wouldn't need more liquor just to stay sane in a high school scene like that.
Damn, this year was going to be Hell.
Feeling something tapping lightly on her shoulder, Cher blinked the sleep out of her eyes and tried to bat away the offending tapper with a hand. A familiar voice chuckled, catching her hand and kissing it lightly. Finally looking up, Cher glared at Hubb as he refused to release her hand.
"It's purely for my own protection, you see. If you'd actually managed to hit me, I'm sure I'd be sprawled out on the lab floor unconscious by now." The man grinned, still chuckling.
Cher sat up, now somewhat awake, realizing that she'd once again fallen asleep while preparing for the new school year's science curriculum. She was head of the science department, which made her responsible for renovations in the curriculum every year. Such a responsibility took several weeks before the term to complete, considering that the other teachers in the department absolutely hated to agree.
Cher had a feeling that they teamed up just to enjoy seeing her suffer.
Hubb sat on her desk, taking care to avoid papers and pens and such. He'd learned quickly to respect his wife's property, especially after the toaster incident. Being of the clumsy sort, the ex-private eye had accidentally spilled coffee on his wife's papers as she graded them, and she retaliated by picking up the nearest object and lobbing it at him. Unfortunately for Hubb, that object was a toaster. He still had the little scar on his left temple to prove it.
Kiba met Hige outside the Flower Pastry Shop, just as he had for weeks now. The stupid pig kept pigging out there until closing time, and when Kiba had asked about it, he received a glare and a sulky, "Shut up" from his friend. Apparently, girl watching wasn't going too well.
They walked home in a comfortable silence, living only a few houses from each other. But that was how it had always been, best friends from the start. Their mothers were in the same hospital room at the time of their births, and they hadn't separated since.
No matter how close the two were, they always felt like something was missing. Even with stable homes, plenty of friends, and a good school- something wasn't right.
The pair went their separate ways as they neared their respective homes, but Kiba paused at his front door. He inhaled, appreciating the scent of the flowers in his family's garden. However, a new smell invaded his senses, coming from the center of the little garden, where previously there had lain a dead baby spruce. Kiba remembered his mother telling him about how the poor little tree hadn't survived the winter, but they had only just dug it up.
Now, a single white flower grew in the freshly turned earth. It had many petals, all closed, hiding the precious center. It seemed to be drooping, but it smelled so good…
There were more of the mysterious white flowers on the kitchen table, along with a card. It read, "Thanks for welcoming us to the neighborhood, the Fiores." He also remembered hearing that the cousins of the owners of that pastry shop had moved into his neighborhood a few weeks back. Apparently, the youngest Fiore was working as a cook for the rest of the summer.
Kiba didn't really care who moved in. He only had one more year stuck in the same old city, and then he was free. He could go anywhere, do anything, accomplish any dream. But first, he had to get through his senior year at Freiheit High School.
Cheza Fiore returned home from dropping off her precious flowers to the surrounding houses, carrying a few leftover flowers to a waiting vase on an end table. She stroked their petals lovingly, savoring the feel of their silken texture and gorgeously sweet scent. The flower perked up a bit at her touch, but it would wait for the full moon before offering up all of its beauty to the world.
The crimson eyed girl spoke to the flower about what she'd seen of the town so far: her family's pastry shop, the park across the street, and the people. Oh, so many different people; Cheza had never seen so many people in one city before! But then again, yes she had.
In Free City, where she first sensed wolf blood after such a long time trapped in that lab. Where Darcia had found her, and stolen her. Where she had first laid eyes on Kiba.
Cheza remembered every detail of her former life, and knew somewhere in her heart that part of her was still the lunar flower she had been before. She used to grow them in her old home, and brought some along to replant when her family moved. Her mother suggested that she give them to the neighbors as a thank you gift for being so welcoming, for it was true.
Each family in the houses around their new one had come to visit, save for the son of the Morsures. Mrs. Morsure greeted Cheza warmly when she delivered the flowers, saying that she'd plant on in the garden. But what shocked the poor flower maiden was what she sensed beyond the threshold of the Morsure front door- something she hadn't sensed in this lifetime.
It felt like him.
Was it even possible? After so many different cities and homes, could she finally have found him? Her family moved from place to place because of her father's job as a scientist at a pharmaceutical plant, and she'd never once sensed him before…
But it could be…
The question that preceded all others in Cheza's mind was, did he remember her?
Stepping into the alley behind her family's pastry shop, Cheza bent down to stroke the lunar flower that had struggled to blossom through a small crack in the shop's foundation. It was smothered by large weeds all around, but Cheza couldn't use weed killer on them without killing her flower in the process. However, the white flower was slowly dieing, and the flower maiden could do nothing.
She promised to visit it again after her shift, as she always did, and slipped into the kitchen from the back door close by. For that was the reason she was never seen in the front of the shop- she wanted to keep her flower company.
Washing her hands in one of the large, metal sinks, Cheza hummed the song of the lunar flowers to herself as the smell of soap filled her nostrils, reminding her of Jagara's keep. She immediately cut off the flow of water and dried her hands on a towel hurriedly. She did not need to be thinking about that terrible time in her former life.
She'd been so afraid that Kiba would die…
The lavender haired teen set out some pie crusts from the freezer and grabbed a box of fresh strawberries. Cheza sang to the strawberries, too, because she could feel their sadness at being separated their home. As she sang, she started to work with preparing strawberry pies and some little mango cookies she'd once cooked for her cousin, Neige, as a birthday present.
But she froze when she felt two familiar auras enter the shop about half an hour after opening time. After staring into space for a few moments, the bowl of peaches she was carrying to the counter dropped and shattered to pieces with a loud crash, summoning both her cousin and the two boys.
Neige ran into the kitchen from a side door, analyzing the situation quickly. The violet eyed former servant to the Noble Darcia (even though she didn't know it) knelt to pick up the broken pieces as Cheza stood transfixed at the door to the dining area. They were almost at the door…
Hige tried to drag his friend into the shop, promising all sorts of sweets if Kiba would just sit with him for a while. Kiba, in protest, kept repeating that he had to help Mrs. Lebowski with the science curriculum, as he was going to be her student aid for the first semester. However, Hige used his weight to catapult the dark haired senior into the shop, where he had to grab waiter to keep himself from falling. He apologized profusely, even as Hige was dragging him to the couch he'd claimed over the past weeks.
They each ordered a slice of the seasonal strawberry pie, and Hige finally told Kiba why he kept coming to the little shop.
"I knew it was for girl watching!" Kiba exclaimed as his friend told him about the new cook.
"It's not girl watching if you can't seem to find her. She never comes through the front door, ever! It's like she deliberately avoiding me!" Hige cried, waving his arms and almost knocking over Kiba's soda.
The blue eyed senior smirked, "She probably heard about your flirtatious personality from the other employees and decided not to find out if the rumors are true."
"I can't help it if girls can't resist me."
There was a crash from the kitchen, and the brunet took the opportunity to take a look inside on the pretense of being a Good Samaritan. He dragged Kiba along for the fun.
A girl stood behind a broken bowl of peaches that Neige was hurriedly picking up, her eyes boring into theirs as if she'd known they would come running. Her crimson eyes set Hige on edge, lavender hair whipping around her face from the breeze flowing through the back door. Kiba smelled flowers.
Neige brought her back to reality, "Cheza! Help me out with this, would you?" The girl dropped to the ground in an instant, hiding the small blush that crept up her face with her hair as she collected broken pieces.
"Sorry, Neige, this-er, I guess I was just startled." She mumbled, wincing as a shard of glass cut her finger. Green blood oozed slowly from it.
"Startled at what?" a calm voice, one Cheza had heard only in her memories, asked quietly as he bent down to help pick up the pieces.
She found that her throat was dry, so she could not answer. Neige supplied a good excuse, however.
"My cousin's terrified of bugs," And for good reason. They'd eat me, Cheza thought. "I'll bet there was a fly or something."
"Hey! I'm not scared of flies!" Cheza complained, placing her hands on her hips. She instantly regretted that motion, as it put her face to face with her long lost white wolf. He smirked a little, but whether it was from her comment or their past she didn't know.
A familiar tawny wolf sauntered into view behind Kiba. "I'm Hige, it's nice to meet you. Are you the new cook I've heard so much about?" Well, it was obvious that he didn't remember her. If he did, the flirt would've asked for a pat on the head, Cheza was sure.
"Actually," Kiba began, "I've heard a lot about it too. Apparently she's better than the old cook, and that woman had over fifty years of experience."
Cheza frowned. Her grandmother, the old hanabito they'd encountered in the aerial city in the past world, took ill a few months back and went to live in a nursing home. She was the only one Cheza could talk to about the old world. She taught Cheza everything she knew about cooking, about putting your soul into everything, about love, and most of all, about life. The hanabito was heartbroken to have to leave the pastry shop; she and her husband were the ones that started it, so long ago.
"You alright?" Cheza snapped back to reality at the sound of Kiba's voice, realizing that she had been reminiscing a little too much. The shards had already been disposed of, and Neige had gone back to waiting on the customers.
She shook her head, sending lavender hair flying, and her flowery scent through the air. Kiba and Hige inhaled, feeling calm wash over them. "I'm fine."
Kiba smiled, cocking his head in a slightly canine fashion. "Good. I was worried, for a second. I'm Kiba. And you are…?"
He didn't remember? She wanted to cry and scream all at once, but she bit her lip and managed to say quietly, "My name is Cheza."
She couldn't stay there. The crimson eyed girl fled, the back door banging against the wall as she pushed by it. Kiba and Hige looked at one another quizzically, while the lunar flower outside drooped a little. It seemed that the flower maiden wasn't going to visit again today after all.
Note: In case you were wondering about the odd choices in last names and cities, here are their translations:
Fiore- Italian for flower
Freiheit- freedom in German (therefore, they live in Free City again!)
Morsure- French for bite (I thought that fit Kiba -)
Basette- Italian for whisker (Hige means whisker)
Heulen- German for howl (Toboe means howl)
Greifer- German for claw (Tsume claw)
Azul- Portuguese for blue (as if that one isn't obvious)
I'll use these when the respective characters come into play more. Azul will be Blue's first name, and Blue will be just a nickname. Because no one, not even an orphanage, would call a child Blue. Read and Review, please!
Hugs kursedkitten