Again I woke up from underneath a blanket of leaves I was using as a blanket. I am a +Anima, beings with strange animal powers. I am a Wolf Anima and till just last year I was living in the mountains with my pack, a group of mountain wolves. Now I was traveling, the Alpha female and my adoptive mother told me about the large packs of humans at the foot of the mountains and told me I was now old enough to live among them. I have already 15 springs behind me and enough knowledge to live on my own in the mountains. Of course that was just my way of comforting myself when I was lonely, I knew I was going to live with other humans but I had never though that I would leave this early.
"Ah..." I yawned shook myself from the leaves, the ground with my lingering heat I moved to find breakfast. It was roasted snake and berries like it was almost every day, my water was the dew from the leaves and what ever juice I could find.
Every morning was silent and today was no different. I went off using my nose to where I could smell water and decided to make camp there and rest a couple of days.
It was probably early afternoon late morning when I could hear the sound of running water, a waterfall was my first thought until I heard human voices.
"Kim-un-kurs I hate them, they are not only freaky but man are they aggressive. We would have died if you didn't kill this one. It was a + Anima too" a male voice laughed cruelly as I heard a grunt of another male.
"and look, we have this Kim-un-kur alive here and also a + Anima, he'll sell high I tell ya" another male voice said with an equally cruel laugh.
"You'll never break me" the kim-un-kur growled before a slapping sound rang across the silent air.
"You'll never break me" the others mocked. I peeked my head out and saw it was three against one kim-un kur. I could do nothing but watch as they started to kick the kim-un-kur. My blood ran hot as I felt adrenaline pumping though out my body and I struck before I even knew what was happening. I lashed out with my dagger and silently slit the man closest to me and furthest from the Kim-un-kur by the throat.
There was no sound as he fell. I lay him down on the grass silently when I was spotted by another man whom I did not account to be there.
"Kim-un-kur!" he yelled pointing towards me and my bloodied knife. I growled in frustration before I rushed towards the tied up Kim-un-kur and untied him with the agility of a wild wolf.
"She's fast!" the first one hissed.
"but she looks like she will be worth a lot more than the other one we caught. Not only is she a kim-un-kur and by her movements also a + Anima, she is also a young girl" a perverse grin slowly lit up on their faces.
"Can...you...walk?" I asked in slightly broken speech.
"I can, thank you" he said with a nod but I could smell the hurt of his ankle. With little hesitation I changed fully into a wolf and spoke. "Get on...me, I'll...hide you" I said though he shook his head.
"You shouldn't though thank you for helping me. You're hurt too" he nodded to my arm, it must have been when the second man tried to grab me. A large gash was bleeding though strangely I couldn't feel it.
"then...stay here...move when you hear a wolf howling...thrice consecutively with two seconds...in between" I told him and pushed him into a bush my broken language was slightly awkward to hear, even in my ears though he nodded and stayed hidden in the bush.
"My name is Kesti" he yelled and I nodded thinking about my own name.
I howled once to attract the three hunters that were alive.
"AHOOO!" I howled at the top of my lungs like how I howled when I had found my best friend's pup in a tree two years ago.
"there!" yelled and snaps accommodated the thudding of feet as they got closer. I hesitated to move until they saw me but regretted that when I noticed they had guns. I had experience with them when hunters hunted our pack during our breeding season.
"Shoot her!" the second man yelled as the first and fourth man shot at my feet. In a flash I ran noisily making it easier for them to follow me and leave Kesti alone. I growled as branches and leaves whipped my face and skin as I ran as clumsily as possible.
I could guess it was a couple hours though I could still hear the thumping of feet.
"what wrong with people?" I panted aloud when I noticed that these were too heavy to be human feet. Also another noise could be heard though it was muffled by the thumping of these heavy feet. Creaking..
"a wagon!" I thought aloud and just then they came out with a wagon and a panting horse.
"well well well, looks like our little game of cat and mouse ended. " the first man laughed as he brought out a whip.
"I kill you" I said.
"She can talk eh?" the first man ribbed the second.
"Aye and she'll make nice screams" commented the fourth with a cruel glint in his eyes. Fear finally washed over me, I knew I was the best fighter in my pack but even I couldn't take three fully grown men with weapons. Still I unsheathed my dagger and lunged with all my might in my + Anima form. Silver wolf ears sprouted from my head in place of human ones, my nails grew longer and sharper, my teeth also more canine like as a tail emerged from my lower back.
The fight lasted longer than I would ever imagine, lunges, stabs, bites, scratches all these I learned on my own I was unable to kill the second man after the first but the two remaining ones were terribly wounded.
They retreated as I behaved like a mad beast in my attempt to kill the three.
When I was sure I was alone I sunk to my knees and looked at the blood on the ground, some mine; most from the other three. I licked my wounds before I staggered over to the river for a drink when I blacked out and fell into the river.
When I came to, I found myself lying on the other side of the river or should be as there was no stench of blood as strong as it would have been if we were on the same side of the river. I climbed out and noticed my cuts were bleeding massively. I staggered over to the inner forest where there was a light moving, fire it was. Using plain animalistic instinct I moved towards the light when I heard a scream. The scream vibrated into my ear and shook my head. When the scream stopped I realized I was alive.
Remembering Kesti I howled loudly once before counting two heart beats when I howled a second time. Another two heart beats and howled a third time when people came over to where I was. I pulled out my dagger thinking it was hunters but found it was a group of children.
"she's hurt!" a young girl probably 10 said worriedly.
"first you thought Cooro was your dad, then Senri and now her?" a feminine looking boy asked the girl looking annoyed.
"We have to treat her first!" a black haired boy said running over to me. I growled and snapped at his out stretched fingers before seeing his + Anima mark.
"She's an anima" the black haired boy concluded to his companions. "I'm Cooro" he said happily as he nodded friendily.
"I'm Lumi" I answered back and looked over every human whether they were Kim-un-kur, +Anima or anything with suspicion as they moved. I followed them with my eyes before the Kim-un-kur came over and hauled me over his shoulder like a sack.
"Let go ME!" I flailed weakly due to heavy blood loss.
"if you don't want to die, stop moving" the feminine boy said with a scowl as he muttered under his breath "i accept one girl and now another one appears?"
When we got to the camp, Nana as I was informed on the way to camp told us about how she became an +anima. It was truly sad how she became one though I though it was great to be a +Anima other than the constant name calling and hunting.
"um, Husky you'll stay right?" asked Nana to Husky.
"If you look bad because of me then it'll make me look back too...I'll stay." Husky said with a slight blush in the firelight.
It was a couple days when we left off, I was with them after Cooro's consistent pleading. Husky on the other hand seemed to be more lenient to this then he was with Nana. Senri as always was silent.
"Jeez! All we do is camp and camp, I want to sleep in a real bed!" Nana complained after my sixth day entering their group and leaving the river side.
"I like camping" Cooro said happily.
"and it's free" snorted Husky. I looked at Senri wondering if he would voice his thoughts but it seemed like he was waiting for me to say something. I decided this was the right time to ask.
"What is this bed you're always talking about?" I asked. My spoken and written improved greatly as Husky taught me languages.
"a bed is well..." Cooro hesitated.
"it's a thing you sleep in" Huksy sighed.
"Lumi" Senri grabbed my wrist and pointed to the dirt road as he drew a sketch.
"That's not a bed" Nana frowned as she looked at the drawing of a blanket on the ground and another blanket on top.
"a bed is large and comfy, it had large and bounce mattresses and warm sheets. It's made of wood and cloth" Nana explained as she too made a drawing.
"then wouldn't sleeping on leaves be better?" I asked "then other animals can use that as a sleeping spot once we leave and we don't harm the trees" I said.
"but...I want to go to Astar!" Nana changed the subject "the biggest city in the country where the king lives and .." Nana started but Husky stepped in.
"what'll you do when you're there?" he asked the exited little girl.
"I'll ride in a palanquin set with jewels of course" she stated as if it was obvious.
"That's something only a stupid girl would think of" Husky said annoyed at her fantasies.
"What about you Lumi?" asked Cooro.
"See daggers" I said taking out my dagger on my belt, the handle was worn and the blade slightly chipped "or get it fixed" I added.
"you see that is what a normal person would say" Husky said pointing towards me.
"only clever and beautiful girls can ride in palanquins" Nana argued.
"Then you'll never ride in one" Husky teased.
"HUSKY!" Nana yelled. I stopped smelling sweet sap and nectar in the air around us.
I stopped listening as I moved over to one of the trees and put my nose inside a flower only to sneeze when pollen got in my nose. Senri smiled and took one of the small flowers and sniffed it himself though he didn't sneeze and instead ate it.
I laughed as he gave me one to eat. I had to admit it was sweet with natural nectar of the flower. Suddenly bees came around surrounding Cooro.
"Cooro these are beehives this is bad!" Husky yelled too late as the swarm came over to us. Cooro in the midst of the activity he flew away opening his wings and having the bees follow him.
"Cooro!" we all yelled as he disappeared into the sky.
"what if he gets lost?" I asked Husky worried about the young boy who invited me into the group.
"he'll be fine..." husky said though his facial expression didn't seem to say so. We started to walk down into the village when.
"villagers" Senri said pointing to the group of people coming to check on the bee hives. "ask" he said.
"great idea Senri" Nana said before flitting over to them to ask questions.
"are you guys on a family trip or something?" they asked looking at our mismatch group.
"we're looking for a friend" Nana started to tell them about Cooro and what had happened.
"we didn't see him on the way here...don't tell me he left without us!" Husky's worry turned to rage as he thought about Cooro leaving us. I noticed Senri staring at the whispering three villagers. He kept staring at the three so I joined in as I smelt tension and fear from them.
"That kid" the youngest one muttered "he went to the mansion up there" he said pointing to the large building on a hill. It seemed like he couldn't handle being stared at for so long. And so the three told us the story about the Honeycomb mansion.
"Gill?" asked Nana.
"the young master became a +Anima" the younger villager said.
"No servants in sight" the old man shook his head.
"The young master must have eaten them all!" yelled the younger one franticly.
"So..no-one wants to go there any more but we had to deliver the honey and then your friend came...he's a +Anima too right? It'll work out right? I mean he can fly away of something happens"
"Bees fly" I commented.
"are you saying that it doesn't matter id a +Anima gets eaten?" asked Husky angrily. The three villagers flinched in shock. We left into the forest path leaving the stunned villagers alone to think. "that's terrible...just because they didn't want to go! They..they don't even see us +Anima as human..they do that unconsciously!" he growled ranting as he walked. I smelled another human other than us as he ranted and nudged Senri, he too noticed.
Senri looked over and saw a small boy hiding in the bushes. Scared he ran, we ran after the boy hoping that he could answer some questions.
"he ran away! Hey! You! Wait suspicious person!" Husky yelled as we ran. I over took Husky while we ran but Senri over took me as he caught up with the boy...or so we thought, the boy jumped off a hill and landed safely while Senri hit his head as he landed off balance.
"he's getting away! Nana use your sonic waves!" Husky said anger fueling him. I jumped off the cliff as well and jumped over Senri just as he started to get up. My foot caught on his head as I too fell on the ground.
By the time Senri and I recovered and Nana came the boy was gone. "You're so slow!" complained Husky to Nana.
"Wasn't he kinda cute?" asked Nana "anyways, the people here don't like +Anima very much...i won't do it" she said with declaration.
"we can just go to the Mansion since we know where to go" I said helping Senri up though ended up tripping over his feet and we both fell again.
I laughed as Senri got up and tripped again. This time looking carefully at my surrounding I got up and helped Senri up.
"Lumi, Senri climb up...we don't have all day" Husky said motioning towards the direction of the mansion. Senri put me on his shoulder as I climbed up like that, Senri rock climbed up.
Just as we were a couple minutes running from the mansion a great down pour soaked us to the bone.
"Waah! I'm soaked! Why'd we have to go though the back door?" whined Nana.
"Idiot, this is the Lord's mansion, we commoners can't go in thought the front door!" scolded Husky. I frankly didn't see the difference. Senri and I shook off the extra water in our clothes and ringed out our hair. The normal behavior for a person who is used to the wild.
"Nana, if we were chased away from the front door...we wouldn't be able too look for Cooro" Husky reasoned.
"I guess..." murmured Nana.
"Cooro is supposed to be here...we just have to hope that this +Anima guy didn't eat him yet" Husky sighed.
"H-Husky! No matter how much +Anima we re we are still human and a +Anima would never heat humans!" Argued Nana furious.
"let's look for Cooro for now, I just want to get out of this village" Husky turned into a hall leaving us behind. The mansion was deathly quiet as we were the only ones in the hall or mansion as it seemed.
"Wow it's so quiet like there is nobody here" Nana commented stating the obvious.
"Didn't you hear the villagers? The servant got eaten by the young master" Husky said calmly so it was hard to understand if he was serious about believing the villagers or if he was teasing Nana.
"I've seen it...a +Anima who had transformed so far that he had lost his human soul and...he was eating raw meat all the time" Husky said genuinely worried.
"Husky stop it!" yelled Nana loudly.
"Nana stop!" Husky yelled back to the frightened girl. I was about to laugh when I smelt honey...walking honey.
"Who're you?" as a woman holding a candle. She reminded me or a bee and smelled like honey though I guessed it was some kind of perfume. "Who is it?' she asked again.
Is that lady Beena? I thought and by the looks of everyone else's faces I guessed they were thinking the same thing.
"Should we run?" asked Nana as Husky stepped forward "Husky!" Nana tried to stop him.
"Is the child sent by the village still here? We are his friends" said Husky in an uncharacteristically polite way. I raised a brow at how nice Husky could be if he tried.
"You and that child are not from Beena village are you?" she asked. Husky answered her.
"We are travelers, he was asked when we passed though here. We will be leaving so we came to retrieve him" Husky told her.
"I see please wait in this room" she led us into a room and walked out but not before saying "I have something to finish first." there was a loud bang as she closed the dook and a faint click when she locked us in.
"The lock!" Nana exclaimed as Husky started to pound on the door angrily.
"Open up! What're you gonna do to Cooro!" he asked jiggling the door knob.
"please wait quietly, it's Gill's dinner time" she said though loud enough for us to hear though the thick door.
"WHA?" we were in shock, was she really going to feed Cooro to this Gill person?
"That was...I heard a scream!" Nana said perking up her bat ears.
"was it Cooro?" asked Husky shocked at what Nana said. Senri waisted no time at all as he changed his arm into that of a bear's and broke the door in two freeing us.
"that's amazing Senri!" Nana smiled withdrawing her ears.
I noticed dark puddles of water on the floor. Husky and Nana fearing the worst expected the worst and screamed that it was blood.
"Water" Senri said touching it. I though smelling another person, the same boy we were looking for in the forest looked into a corner and saw a shadow.
"Husky" I said and motioned to the corner where the boy was hiding. In anger Husky ran over and grabbed the boy forcefully and started to yell.
"You're, what're you sneaking around for!" asked Husky ands Nana tried to stop him though Husky got angrier as the boy wasn't able to speak due to Husky's shaking.
Because of the rain I almost didn't smell Cooro and even before his scream could be heard I pointed to the hall in front and said "Cooro"
"Where?" Husky asked looking at the empty hall "there's no-one th-" before Husky could stop Cooro came bay flying like his life depended on it.
"Bee" I said again though everyone seemed to be staring at Cooro. Senri though sniffed the air too and nodded. This time a large Bee flew across the hall.
"t-thats!" the boy said looking at the giant bee. Senri and I were the first to run down the hall, Husky and the boy together and Nana at the last.
When we got to the grand hall we could see the bee chase after Cooro or more specifically what was in Cooro's hands.
"Nana use your sonic waves to stop it!" Husky said though saw a shaken up Nana denying the Bee's presence to be a +anima thought she didn't know it wasn't a +anima.
Senri and I nodded to each other and leaped onto the giant bee. I going into transformation and leaped onto the bee's back as Senri grabbed it careful not to get stung. Cooro seemed to just notice that we were there as he called to us.
The Bee swiped Senri away and tried to reach me who was still on it's back biting and clawing. Suddenly it flipped over suffocating me underneath it's huge mass. I let go and quickly the bee mad it's way to Cooro. As it pinned Cooro to the wall it looked as if it really was devouring our friend.
"Bastard! Get away from him!" Husky yelled hitting the bee's back.
"you opened Gill's room? What have you done?" asked lady Beena.
"L-lady!" the boy said surprised.
"Milto! Where were you? Even if he's a +anima Gill is still your Master" she scolded Milto.
"I...um...Lady Beena...I...Gill-sama is" Milto hesitated.
"the servants ran away afraid of Gill's fearsome appearance but I am his mother and so I cannot abandon him!" lady Beena declaired.
"fearsome?...n no thats" Nana mumbled and screamed in a sonicwave. "NO!" I passed out after the effect swept over us all. When I came to I was on Senri's back as Cooro was explaining what happened.
"jeeze I thought you were eaten!" Nana cried angrily then looked in thought. "was it a bee +anima?" she asked though to herself.
"huh? That wasn't a +anima...couldn't you tell?" asked Cooro.
"the bee didn't smell like Gill" I said.
"you're awake? Asked Husky.
"yeah, I just woke up..." I let Senri let me down and I sat beside Cooro. "Gill's smell was all over the place in the mansion, so was Milto's and also Lady Beena's."
"oh..." Nana said looking in thought.
"oh and by the way, why were you wandering the mansion with honey anyways?" asked Husky as we started to walk.
"hm...it was because I though since she was alone, one jar would be enough and so I took one jar as payment. Smart of me to leave before she knew right?" Cooro laughed.
Husky on the other hand didn't find it amusing and hit Cooro on the head with the stick he took from the mansion.
"Why Husky? " asked Cooro holding the spot where he was hit.
"you're such a hassle, really taking something in a time like that?" Husky sighed.
"you took that stick Husky" Nana pointed out making Husky fall silent. I went over and licked Cooro's cheek.
"L-Lumi!" Nana said "Girl's don't do that guys do!" she said though I justified my actions.
"Honey"