spice and wolf Wolf and the gray's old friend

by knight117117

This is a spice and wolf fanfic. Holo and Lawrence are contiuning their jounrey to Holo's home when they meet one of Lawrence's old friends who Holo finds fimilar. They later find Lawrence's friend to have ties to Holo with out any of them knowing it.

Spice and wolf fanfic

Wolf and the gray's old friend

Chapter 1

It was the middle of the day as their cart was steadily moving down the dirt road with Lawrence in the drivers seat and Holo leaning on his arm her amber ears and tail where on display, her eyes where half closed and a small smile appeared every time she breathed in Lawrence scent Lawrence's eyes where fixed to the road ahead of them. Every so often he would look down at the wise wolf and he would see the small smile become a bit bigger from him acknowledging her, every time he looked at her she felt happy as if all the worries of her home being destroyed where gone.

They had quit pretending to be a couple in towns and villages three weeks ago and became an actual couple, it took Holo time to admit she had feeling's for Lawrence with her being a wise proud wolf. The wise part of her was at war with her pride, the pride was saying don't put yourself at the same level as a man who hasn't lived a tenth of what you have, a man who has seen very little outside of business, but the wise part of her was telling her to be with him, he makes you happy he gave up so much for you he would only do that if he truly loves you. It took Holo time for the war inside of herself to finally end with her pride running with it's tail between it's legs from how wise she was, with the war inside herself over she confessed her feelings to Lawrence and they became a couple.

On the cart Holo was starting to fall asleep on Lawrence's arm he looked down at her and said smiling "you shouldn't fall asleep sitting up you will regret it" Holo smiled lightly and said in a quiet voice "I know I am the wise wolf after all any way your lap would be more comfortable" as she said that she slowly moved her head down to his lap to sleep Lawrence pulled a blanket out of the back of the cart and covered Holo with it, he gently placed one of his hands on the top of her head while having his other hand gripped firmly on the reins. He slowly massaged the place between her ears knowing full well how much she liked being petted like she was a tame wolf, the moment he started petting her like that she smiled Lawrence began to think to himself "have I a mere merchant tamed the wise wolf no... I can't have tamed Holo goddess of rich harvest maybe Holo has tamed me instead"

One hour later Holo was starting to wake up Lawrence looked down to see her looking up at him with a big smile on her face, Holo decided to get up from Lawrence's lap to sit next to him after she put the blanket back in the back of the cart Holo turned to face him and said in a demanding voice "I'm hungry do we have any meat left?" Lawrence looked back to the road in front of him as he spoke "I'm sorry we ate the last of it yesterday" Holo looked down at his hand and a small grin started to appear on her face she quickly said "well then your hand will have to feed the wolf" as she said that Holo grabbed Lawrence's hand and put it in her mouth Lawrence quickly turned to Holo as he felt her teeth gently bite into his hand, after Lawrence realised she was playing with him he smiled and said in a playful tone "you could eat my hand but then I would not be able to pick up the apple I was saving for you" the moment he said that Holo's mouth opened and a tiny bit of drool slid down from the corner of her mouth. Lawrence looked at her expression and moved to the edge of the cart and pulled the small door in the side of the cart pulling out a bright red apple and placed it in Holo's hand, the moment she saw it her eye's lit up Holo looked at Lawrence and said in a happy tone "you know the quickest ways to my heart" it did not take Holo long to eat the whole apple when she was done with the apple she leaned on Lawrence's arm and looked up at him with a big thankful smile on her face "I thought we ran out of apples a week ago" Lawrence moved his head to look at her and smiled "we did but do you forget who you are with I can get you anything your heart desire's"

20 minutes later Holo was leaning on Lawrence's arm again her eye's where closed but then Holo's amber furred ears started to twitch and her eye's shot open "Lawrence stop the cart!" Lawrence did as he was told and pulled on the reins bringing the horse to a complete stop, he looked to the small forest to the right side of the road and said in a concerned voice "what is it?" Holo eye's narrowed as she looked at the forest "there's something in there" Lawrence stared intensely at the forest trying to prepare himself for what was going to happen next "do you know what it is?" Holo sniffed the air a few times "wolves. Two of them chasing something, the thing that they are chasing smells odd similar but not at the same time" suddenly a man jumped out from the thick tree line about seven meters in front of the cart, the man was wearing a dark black jacket and dark blue trouser with a sword in his right hand the sword was trailing behind him as ran. Holo quickly pulled her hood up in case the man looked back and saw her, suddenly two wolves jumped out from the forest chasing after the man the wolf ran up alongside the man's left side before the wolf was next to the man he quickly stopped running and swung his sword around cutting into the right side of the wolf's body, the man quickly swung his sword on himself grabbing the end of the blade in his other hand just in time, as the second wolf jumped on him, the wolf quickly went for the man's neck but only got the sword in it's mouth, the wolf struggled trying to get closer to the man's neck but the man pushed his sword into the wolf's mouth. The wolf's mouth was dripping in blood from where the blade had cut it and the end of the sword had a few drops of the man's blood from the wolf pushing so hard on it, the wolf squirmed until it dropped on to the man, it's mouth covered in it's own blood the man pushed the wolf's corpse off him and stood up and looked down at the two wolves he had just slain.

Holo and Lawrence where watching the whole thing as the man looked down at the wolves Holo saw not anger, fear or happiness for being the one to come out on top but she saw sadness for some reason, that is what was in his eyes. Lawrence wasn't looking at the man's eyes he was staring at the back of the man's left hand at the small scar, Lawrence had a blank look on his face Holo looked at him "Lawrence what's wrong with you? You look like you have seen a ghost" he slowly turn his head to look at Holo and quietly said "no not a ghost but someone who I thought I would not see ever again" Lawrence whipped the reins to get the cart moving again as the man slowly dragged the wolves carcases to the side of the road. When the man heard the cart getting closer he looked up from what he was doing and saw the silver haired man in the driver's seat, instantly he started to walk over, when he was in shouting rang he shouted in a happy voice "Lawrence is that you, you silver haired money bags" Lawrence stopped the cart and got off to meet the man, Holo was confused by the man who'd killed two wolves and looked sad about it and Lawrence had a look of extreme shock on his face.

When the man was standing in front of Lawrence he gave Lawrence a quick manly hug "Lawrence I thought I would never see you again" the man was slightly shorter than Lawrence with pale white skin, he had short scruffy dark brown hair and green eyes. The look of shock left Lawrence's face when he knew he was right in thinking it was his old friend, Lawrence then said in a happy tone "me to I thought the last time was the last I'd see of you" the man looked over Lawrence's shoulder to see the young woman looking down at them, he quickly walked around Lawrence to meet her " hello my dear my name is James" Holo looked at him and replied "nice to meet you I'm Holo" James turned around to continue talking to Lawrence "James what are you doing out here miles from a town or village without a horse or supplies" he looked at Lawrence and replied "I did have a horse but when those wolves showed up it flicked me off and ran, taking all my stuff with it" the moment he said wolves a drop of sadness entered his face Lawrence didn't notice it but Holo did.

Lawrence looked at James with a little smile on his face "looks like you need a ride we can take you to the next town" Lawrence climbed back up on to the driver's seat while James walked to the back off the cart, Holo leaned into Lawrence "I don't think we should let him travel with us there's something off about him" Lawrence looked at her "something off about him? I've known him since we where kids we grew up in the same village" meanwhile James climbed into the back of the cart, the cart was covered in fur pelts with a cupboard at the end for storing food and water, James sat down only to be greeted by sharp teeth from one of the pelts "aaw" Lawrence and Holo quickly turned their heads to the noise that broke the silence only to see James jumping up rubbing his ass "I survived being attacked by wolves with next to no injuries only to be bit on the behind by a soon to be coat" Lawrence and Holo started to laugh at his comment. He sat down again slower this time avoiding any more teeth he took out a small cloth and started to clean the blood off his sword, the cloth made a squeak on the steel blade the squeaks got Holo's attention she turned around to see James cleaning his sword. Holo jumped in the back of the cart opposite from James the quick jump into the cart made James jump, Holo was staring intensely at the sword, the blade was a dull silver and the handle was black with a wolf's head, the base of the blade went into the wolf's mouth, the eye's of the wolf's head had small green gems in them.

When James had cleaned all the blood off the blade of his sword he looked up to see Holo still staring at the sword intensely, after a few seconds Holo still staring at his sword spoke not moving her eye's from the sword "there's something familiar about that sword but I don't know what" Holo was deep in thought trying to remember where she had seen that sword but she was brought out of her deep thought when James slowly moved the sword closer to her, Holo held out her hands as James passed the sword over to her "careful it's sharp" the comment made Holo mad she was the wise wolf but she hid her anger and continued to look at the sword. After five minutes James smiled "still not figured it out have you" Holo growled under her breath before James spoke "you see these swords are pretty rare" Holo looked up at him and said in a slightly annoyed tone "why" James smiled "you see only people of the right family line or highly respected swordsmen are taught how to make one" Holo handed the sword back, slowly being careful not to touch the sharp edge "so which one are you?" James began to laugh "my grandfather taught me how to make it, the only people that are given them are knights" Holo went back to the front seat next to Lawrence and said in a smug tone "so you're not a good swordsman then" James began to laugh even more "no wonder Lawrence has fallen for you" Lawrence turned his head to look at him "how do you know that?" James smiled and moved a bit closer to where they were sitting "well there's the way she looks at you, it's a bit of a giveaway and the fact when I was getting in the cart she leaned over kissing you"

The wise wolf decided to correct his remark in a serious tone "you are wrong, we were not kissing when you got in the back but you were right as well" Holo quickly grabbed Lawrence's collar and pulled him to her face, Lawrence was shocked by Holo's quick action but he just embraced Holo kissing him meanwhile James said in a happy playful tone "woo hoo nice one Lawrence you finally got a girlfriend" Holo and Lawrence broke their kiss after a few seconds with them both smiling and blushing slightly, James reached into his black jacket and pulled out a leather pouch with a cork in the top Holo instantly noticed it. James smiled and passed it to Holo "congratulations on the two of you finding each other" Holo did not comment she just took the cork off and drank it Holo let out a little cough and passed it to Lawrence, Lawrence then drank his share the moment when alcohol went down his throat Lawrence went into a huge coughing fit Holo looked at him with a devilish grin on her face "be careful it's strong stuff" Holo leaned on Lawrence's arm Lawrence then gave the leather pouch back to James "yeah it's best you give that back to me, we don't need a repeat of your first time drunk" Holo's ears moved under her hood and said in a curious tone "why what happened?" Lawrence placed his hand on his face in embarrassment "no please don't remind me of that" this comment only made Holo more curious , Holo thought to herself " what could he be so embarrassed about?, what happened that day?" James smiled at the memory of what happened "Lawrence you know if a lady asks I must answer in full truth" Lawrence turned to Holo just as she spoke "so what happened to my poor Lawrence" the smile on James's face got bigger "well there was five of us and we got Lawrence dressed up as an old man to buy all the wine" Holo looked at Lawrence in a bit of a shocked face "you where under age and drinking I never thought you would be so bold" Lawrence looked down in embarrassment as James continued " so after we had the first few bottles Lawrence became a mad man singing and dancing badly, but the most embarrassing thing was when we were going home when Lawrence was passing the church and... and..." Holo looked at him "and what, what happened next?" James began to laugh at what he was about to say "when he was walking pasted the church he... he... was singing a song about goblins the priest of that church grabbed him and took him in, they thought a demon had possessed him they poured a lakes worth of holy water on him and beat him with crosses to expel the demon" Holo was trying hard to hold in the laughter "they only realised he was drunk after half an hour of beating" Holo laugh hysterically at the story of drunken Lawrence putting her arm around Lawrence to comfort him, Lawrence decided to finally speak after the story of his past was told "that was a walk in the park to when my parents found out about our night out"

After the drunken Lawrence story Lawrence started to lightened up with Holo leaned on his arm again "come on Lawrence don't be angry that I asked, I did it because I love you and I want to know everything about you" Lawrence moved his arm that she was leaning on and wrapped it around her hugging her tightly "I love you to Holo" Holo looked up at Lawrence's smiling face she smiled back at him as they heard a voice from the back of the cart "you're a lucky man Lawrence you have found someone who loves you" Lawrence and Holo didn't look back at him they continued smiling at each other. "Oh Lawrence how did you know it was him?" Lawrence looked up with a guilty look on his face "well James has a scar on his left hand that... well... I put it there" Holo got up from leaning on Lawrence's arm "what happened? did you get hurt too?" then they heard a voice from the back of the cart "no I was the only one to be hurt but it was half my fault" Holo looked at Lawrence's guilty face "James made a bet, the bet was I couldn't do the knife game at a high speed so I put my hand on top of his and... well I was planning on scaring him by pulling our hands away and stabbing where our hands were, but I slipped and his hand didn't move and well you know the rest" Lawrence looked at Holo and then James, Lawrence said in a sad tone "sorry about that" James looked at him "it's all right I shouldn't have used the one weapon that all merchants fall to a big silver coin" Holo began to laugh "your right Lawrence did used to fall to money" James's eyes locked on Holo "what do you mean used to?" Holo placed her hand on Lawrence's head in a playful manner "money has become a second priority when I'm around" Lawrence was smiling at Holo's comment "money only has a use if it makes my dear lady happy"

Lawrence pulled his head up looking up at the sky "so what are you doing so far north?" James looked up from his sword that he was polishing "well you know my line of work getting hired to protect travellers from highwaymen one trip after another and I'm all the way up here, after realising how far north I was I decided to keep going" Lawrence turned his head a little "why did you keep going? There's less work up north" James put his sword in the scabbard on his back and replied "well my grandfather told me story's about the north when I was a kid and I thought I might as well see it" the moment Holo heard that she turned around and quickly said "what story's have you heard?" He looked at her in confusion as to why she was asking so persistently "well just stuff about the snow covered lands and some other things that I only remember bits and pieces of" Holo's ears twitched there was something, he was hiding something, probably something small that doesn't matter. "oh Lawrence remember when we were kids you said I'd probably be a knight when I was older" Lawrence turned his head around "yes what are you a knight?" James smiled and laughed "no but I nearly became one on several occasions" Lawrence looked at James in confusion "why didn't you become a knight you'd have got good pay and a title why not take it?" James looked at Lawrence and Holo "well I worked with the church guarding them on journeys to towns and villages" the word church was enough to put Lawrence and Holo on high alert while James continued "but I declined them every time their knights and knights of a city are a lot different, church knights go around killing people that the church call demons and false gods, killing people that have done nothing to other people that is something that I don't what to be a part off" after hearing that Lawrence calmed down but Holo was still on edge, Holo began to think to herself "what if he see's my ears and tail and try's to kill me, what if Lawrence get's in the way of his blade like in the sewers, what if this time he dies", tears began to form in Holo's bright red eye's as she looked at Lawrence, Lawrence look down at Holo seeing her face he pulled her close to him and hugged her Holo smiled her as the thoughts faded she just focused on him hugging her.

Chapter 2

Night came quickly Lawrence pulled the cart to the side of the road and tied the horse to the tree next to the cart. Holo was lazing about the cart while Lawrence and James where collecting fire wood then Lawrence spoke "that should keep the fire going for a while" then James dropped the fire wood on to the pile "ok I will go get some water there's a river in the forest" Lawrence walked over to the cart and pulled out the small door on the side of the cart pulling out a bucket and handed it to James, James then walked into the forest when Holo was getting off the cart Lawrence turned to see Holo next to him, Lawrence spoke in a playful tone "is my wise wolf hungry?" Holo growled a little and spoke in a slightly annoyed tone "do you think that is all I care about" Lawrence smiled and said in the same playful tone "no you care about me otherwise you would have never accepted me as you boyfriend" Holo smiled "your starting to get wise like me" Lawrence let out a little chuckle "you must be rubbing off on me" Holo giggled a little too "well we have known each other for some time now, you must have been learning from me" Holo pulled her hood down revealing her ears as she placed her head on his chest and her arms around him, Holo was thinking to herself "Lawrence the wise wolf, he has a long way to go before his wisdom rivals mine" Holo began to imagine what Lawrence would look like as a wolf, Holo began to giggle at the thought of Lawrence with wolf ears and a tail the giggling got Lawrence's attention "what's so funny?" Holo looked up at him with a big smile covering her face "you are what's funny Lawrence" Lawrence looked at her with a smile and confused looked on his face "why am I so funny?" Holo spoke in a happy playful tone "I was picturing you as a wolf, I think the wolf features would suit you" Lawrence smiled at her and hugged her a little tighter "if I had a choice to have wolf features I would take them just to make you smile" Lawrence decided to start the fire and get the stuff for their dinner Holo sat next to Lawrence "so what are we eating?" Lawrence turned his head to Holo's direction "well all we have in the cart is vegetables so soup is the only option" Holo pointed her head down in disappointment Lawrence saw her reaction and put his hand on her shoulder "don't worry when we get to the village I will buy you all the food you can eat" Holo started smiling a devilish grin "you do remember this isn't my true form, remember how big I am as a wolf and big a wolf means more food" Lawrence looked at her with a smile on his face "I know and that doesn't change what I said" seconds after hearing that Holo jumped on top of Lawrence their faces nearly touching Holo then leaned down and kissed Lawrence.

Lawrence and Holo where sitting down with their back to a tree looking at the soup Lawrence broke the silence "where is James?, he's been gone for a while" Holo didn't break her look on the soup when she spoke "I don't know but there's something weird about him" Lawrence looked at Holo with a confused look "what do you mean there's something weird about him?" Holo looked away from the soup and looked to Lawrence with a frustrated look on her face "there's something familiar about him, his scent... it's like I'm smelling someone I know in a crowd of people and his sword is familiar as well like I've seen it before" Holo valiantly smashed her fist against the ground "this is so frustrating I the wise wolf goddess of rich harvests can't figure out why he seems so familiar" Lawrence stroked her tail and she calmed down "don't worry you'll figure it out sooner or later" Holo looked at Lawrence with a small smile "you always know how to make me feel better"

Holo's ears twitched and she quickly pulled her hood up and hid her tail as James came through the trees with the bucket of water in hand "here's the water, the river was further away than I first thought" Lawrence stood up and went to the soup on the fire filling three bowls, passing the first to Holo and the second to James "thx" Holo did not waste any time and got stuck in to her meal while Lawrence filled his bowl and sat next to her. James looked up from his meal to Holo and Lawrence "so how did you two love birds meet?" Holo did not speak she decided to let Lawrence answer his question "well Holo is from the north and originally we made a deal for me to take her home but as we travelled together we got closer together and three weeks ago we became a couple"

Holo and Lawrence went to the cart to sleep while James slept next to the fire. When they got in the cart Holo pulled her hood down letting Lawrence see her beautiful wolf ears "Holo be careful he might see" Holo's look turned from tired too angry in a second, Holo spoke in a quiet voice "I know what I'm doing he won't see me" Lawrence cuddled up to her as she nuzzled into his chest. Holo was first to wake up she opened her eye's slowly revealing her bright red eye's, she saw Lawrence was still asleep and smiled at his cute sleeping face. Holo began to think to herself "he's so cute and so exposed when he is asleep, if I wished he would be in my stomach before he even opened his eye's but then I would be without him" Holo closed her eye's and went back to sleep next to Lawrence. When Lawrence woke up he looked at Holo smiling gently at him, he gently placed a kiss on her forhead, her eye's slowly opened and the small smile on her face became bigger "good morning my dear" "good morning Lawrence is it time for breakfast?" Lawrence smiled and chuckled "I should have known you'd want food straight away" Holo's eye's narrowed on Lawrence "I can't help if I'm hungry but you can or I'm going to have to eat your hand again" Lawrence sat up "ok ok I'll go get you something to eat my dear" as Lawrence got out the cart and walked over to the fire to warm some of the remaining soup he looked to see James was still asleep next to the tree, Lawrence continued to walk over to the ember of what was left of the fire. He placed some more wood on and in seconds the fire began to build up, Lawrence picked up the metal pot with the remaining soup in and placed it on the fire. Holo poked out of the cart sniffing the air "mmm smells good" when the soup was warmed up Lawrence poured Holo a big bowl and walked back to the cart, Holo looked down at the bowl Lawrence had just given her "Lawrence you know you didn't have to give me such a big serving" Lawrence smiled "I know but I can't have you being hungry all the way to the village"

James began to wake up Holo quickly put her hat on covering her ears. "Your finally awake, want some soup?" James sat up rubbing the sleep from his eye's "please" James moved to the fire and took the soup Lawrence poured for him "thx" Lawrence sat on the edge of the cart next to Holo putting his arm around her, James looked to the both of them "you two make a good couple" Holo looked at Lawrence when she heard that comment "we do make a good couple Lawrence" Lawrence hugged Holo a little tighter at the comment. "So how long do you think it will take to get to the next village?" Lawrence looked up from Holo to James "I think it will take two maybe three hours" James continued eating his soup and then started to smile "well that will give me plenty of time to tell Holo more embarrassing stuff about you" Holo looked to Lawrence with a big grin on her face "so what other embarrassing things have you been keeping from me" Lawrence placed his hand on his head in embarrassment for the future. James got up and took his sword of his back, he walked over to Lawrence passing him the sword "keep a hold of this for me I'm off to the bushes" James walked off into the forest. Holo looked at Lawrence "why'd he give it to you? I know you don't know how to fight" Lawrence placed the sword in the cart and smiled "well a man should protect his lady I'm your knight in shining armour" Holo looked at Lawrence and started to giggle "no Lawrence, your my knight with shining hair" they both laughed hysterically at Holo's statement.

Holo and Lawrence cuddled each other for a few minutes in the cart. Holo smiled at Lawrence and placed her head on his chest hearing his rhythmic heart beat "I can hear your soft little heart" Lawrence looked down at Holo "it beats only for you my dear" Holo smiled at his remark. Holo looked at Lawrence with her devilish grin on her face again "you said I can have all the food I desired. Your little coin pouch is as good as gone now" Lawrence looked down at her realising his coin pouch was as good as dead "it doesn't matter as long as your happy my dear" Holo's devilish grin turned into a happy smile at the fact he cared about her more than his money like he used too. James quietly came out of the trees and said in a quiet voice "Lawrence, Holo follow me you will want to see this" Holo and Lawrence got off the edge off the cart and followed James into the forest, Lawrence spoke in a quiet voice "where are you taking us?" James kept his eyes locked on where they were going and said in a quiet voice "you'll see" James walked to a bush and crouched down, Lawrence and Holo did the same moving closer to the bush. Holo sniffed the air trying to find out what he was taking them to see, Holo could smell wolves. James spoke in a quiet voice again "stay quiet and don't move too much" James pulled the branches aside revealing a river with two adult wolves on the other side to them, the wolves had three wolf pups playing around. Holo smiled at the sight of them, seeing wolves not hunting but playing made Holo happy. Lawrence looked to Holo's smiling face and began to think to himself "does Holo want a family, a pack of her own? If we have a family together what would they be? Gods with human bodies and wolf features or would they be something else? It doesn't matter if we had a family they would be our kids and if they had wolf features they would still be my kids human or not" after looking at the wolf pack across the river they headed back to the cart with Holo and Lawrence hand in hand.

When they got back to the cart Lawrence began to pack up their supplies, while Holo was sat with her back against a tree watching Lawrence do all the hard work. Holo's ears twitched under her hat and she looked to the trees as two men wearing animal skinned clothing and each with a sword in hand. One of them went to Lawrence poking his sword lightly into his back not injuring him but letting him know what is happening, the man spoke in a deep voice "alright move to the tree slowly and don't try anything or you'll see my sword painted red" while the second man put his sword to James's neck, the second man spoke in a less deep voice as the first "you, to the tree as well" James and Lawrence moved to the tree sitting next to Holo. The first man spoke in a serious angered filled voice "alright give us your money and you won't see your lady friend get hurt" Holo eye's filled with anger at him for threatening her and Lawrence but she could not change into her wolf form without one of them killing her beloved Lawrence. Lawrence pulled out his coin pouch throwing it to the man's feet with a loud click as it hit the floor, and James did the same, his coin pouch was a lot smaller than Lawrence's making a lighter clicking noise than Lawrence's coin pouch. The man picked up the money and spoke "ok I'm off to their cart you keep an eye on them" the second man nodded. James looked at the fire that was only four feet away from him, James reached into his jacket the man quietly placed his sword on James's neck. The sword was chipped and cracked in multiple places, then man spoke in a serious tone "you better think about your next move very carefully" James slowly pulled out his leather pouch containing alcohol, the man quietly snatched it out of his hand drinking a large amount of it while his sword dropped. James quickly grabbed a log from the fire and smashed it around the man's face igniting the alcohol around his lips burning through the man's mouth and down his throat. The man dropped to the ground making a loud thump as his body hit the dirt, James quickly grabbed his sword as the other man ran from the cart towards James standing over the man's lifeless body. Holo and Lawrence where shocked at how quickly the events transpired, Holo had seen fights before when she was bound to the wheat fields but never changing so quickly from a hostage situation. Lawrence moved in front of Holo using his body to shield her from any blades that may come their way. James and the man's sword clashed several times before James held his sword to his left with the tip of the blade too his right, the man's sword clashed at the base of James's sword chipping the sword. After a few seconds of the man pushing his sword down on James, James's sword began to crack. Suddenly the blade shattered and the man pushed his sword forwards cutting into James's left arm, James quickly thrusted what was left of his sword into the man stabbing the broken end into the man's lower body with blood seeping into his clothes and covering the broken blade.

Lawrence and Holo stood up from where they were sitting. Holo looked at the blood dripping from James's arm and said in a worried voice "you're bleeding are you ok?" James didn't look up from the man as he went through his clothing looking for their money "I'll be fine" Lawrence put his hand on Holo's shoulder, Holo looked up at Lawrence and she turned and hugged him he hugged her back but then he felt an object smack into his ribs "arrr" Lawrence looked down to see Holo looking at him with anger filled red eye's "what the hell do you think you were doing!" Lawrence looked down at her with a confused face "what did I do?" Holo's eyes began to tear up "you went in front of me shielding me with your body. What would I do if you died protecting me!" Lawrence pulled Holo closer to him hugging her tighter "don't worry I'm never leaving you" Lawrence broke the hug and went down to wipe the tears from her face. James walked over to them with Lawrence's coin pouch in hand, Lawrence stood up right and took his money back "thank you" Lawrence looked at James's arm still dripping in blood, Lawrence spoke in a concerned voice "are you sure you are fine that is a deep cut" James turn his arm looking at the injury "I'll be fine it's not that deep, it'll heal in no time" Lawrence and Holo went to the front of the cart while James got in the back. Lawrence got on the cart but Holo was waiting next to the cart, Lawrence realised that Holo was waiting for him to help her up on the cart. Lawrence put his hand out towards Holo "need a hand my lady" Holo took his hand but didn't say anything she was still mad at him, and Lawrence knew it. Holo hugged Lawrence's arm as they went down the road and thought to herself "why must he be so good natured. He knows I'm a god, he knows I can't die but he still protects me putting his own life on the line. Why must he do that for me? He is a fool like the rest of the people on this world, but he is my fool the fool who does whatever he can to make me happy" she looked at him with a smile and tears forming in her eyes Lawrence looked down at her "you ok Holo?" Holo's smile got a little bigger "Yes you fool" Lawrence smiled at her "well I will always be a fool compared to you" Holo hugged Lawrence's arm tighter and placed her head on his chest "you are a fool but your my fool" Lawrence moved his head closer to hers and whispered to her "I am a fool in love with you" Holo moved her head closer to his until the were face to face Holo leaned in and kissed Lawrence.

Holo looked back to James and saw his injury was already scabbed over and starting to heal. Holo thought to herself "how could Lawrence and James be friends, Lawrence is a merchant who stays away from fighting, even when he has to fight he is bad at it he can barely hold his own. When James killed two wolves with ease and killed two bandits in seconds, how could these two people be such good friends?" Holo looked back to the road ahead. Holo's stomach began to make noises Lawrence turned his head to Holo's belly "don't worry we will get to the town soon and you can have all the food you want" Holo smiled at Lawrence "does that deal include drinks?" Lawrence chuckled at Holo "if you want it, you can have it" Holo laid her head on Lawrence's lap "thank you Lawrence, I think I will sleep on your lap until we get there" Lawrence looked down at her "don't worry you will have a bed tonight" Holo closed her eyes and spoke in a half asleep voice "a bed sounds nice but could we spend the money on food and I sleep on your lap again" Lawrence chuckled at her.

Chapter 3

Lawrence could see the village come into view, Lawrence looked down at Holo gently nudging her Lawrence spoke in a quiet voice "Holo were nearly at the village" Holo's eyes slowly opened seeing the small buildings in the distance. Holo got up from Lawrence's lap and leaned on his arm "Lawrence why didn't you wake me, when we are in the village?" Lawrence leaned his head placing the side of it on Holo's head "well you wouldn't be ready for food if you woke up in the village" as the cart approached the village they could see the cluster of wooden buildings get closer, Lawrence smiled looking down at Holo "Holo we could probably get some nice strong drinks for our trip" Holo shot up from her leaning position with her face locked on his "you better not be toying with me" Lawrence leaned down to Holo's ear and spoke in a quiet voice "do your ears think I'm toying with you" Holo smiled after that and went back to leaning on his arm. When they got into the village Lawrence looked around to see if an inn was in sight, Lawrence pulled the cart to the inn stables. After Lawrence got out of is seat he put his hand out to help Holo get off "thank you Lawrence" Lawrence smiled at Holo "now does my lady wish for food?" Holo quickly replied in a sharp voice "YES!" Lawrence smiled at Holo's quick response "well then it's time for me to keep my word and buy you all the food you can eat" Holo was imagining all the food she was about to eat thanks to Lawrence's generosity. James got out of the back of the cart while putting his wolf sword on his back, the three of them moved to the front of the inn. Holo and Lawrence went into the inn while James was looking for a particular building, Lawrence turned and noticed James wasn't coming into the inn "aren't you coming in?" James turned his head to Lawrence "I just need to fulfil a deal to your mother" Lawrence was confused "you have a deal with my mother?" James was still looking for the building when he replied "yes. Well three years ago I was visiting my family and your mother got wind I was back and she wanted me to write if I saw you" Lawrence looked a little less confused to his answer "doesn't she know she can go to the traders guild to send me letters?" James replied still looking for the building "I told her that but she said they don't know where you are and where you are going. She then went on about they don't tell her about your condition only the places you have been in weeks after you've been in them, she then started to get emotional thinking about all the stuff that could have happened to you over the years. In the state she was in I could hardly refuse her" Lawrence realised in that second he had not sent a letter home in a very long time. James walked off to one of the buildings "I'll meet you two back here in a while"

Lawrence and Holo went into the inn Lawrence pulled out a chair for Holo, she sat down and Lawrence sat next to her. Holo turned to Lawrence with a big smile on her face "is it time for my gigantic meal?" Lawrence smiled at her and chuckled before he talked "yes so what would my wolf like?" Holo looked to the bartender and then to Lawrence "umm everything" Lawrence called over the bartender. The bartender was a big muscular man with dark hair, he spoke in a deep booming voice "yes sir. What would you and your friend like?" Lawrence pulled several silver coins out of his jacket "your best ale and all the meaty foods you've got" the bartender looked at them and replied in a polity "certainly sir" the bartender reached under the counter and pulling out two mugs in one hand and a bottle of ale in the other, then the man walked out from behind the bar and to a door at the back of the room. Holo took the mug in front and started drinking deeply, Lawrence watched her drink her mug of ale quickly "enjoying that my dear" Holo looked at Lawrence and smiled warmly at him. Holo then looked at Lawrence with a curious face "Lawrence can I ask you something?" Lawrence looked down Holo's curious face wondering what it could be "yes. I will answer anything you want to know Holo" Holo looked back down to her drink and spoke in a slightly quieter voice than before "how come you haven't sent a letter back to you parents in so long? Your mother sounds worried about you and why don't you talk about them that often?" Lawrence looked to Holo and smiled at her, he spoke in a happier voice than before "well Holo that is simple I'm so focused on keeping you happy and listening to you talk about your home I forget to tell you about mine. And I don't send letters home because we move around so much" Holo smiled at Lawrence "so I'm so important to you, you forget your own family" Lawrence smiled back at Holo and spoke in a happier voice "your my family now" the second Holo heard what Lawrence said she hugged him tightly and then moved up to his face and kissed him hard. Holo broke the kiss after a few seconds "Lawrence I guess you're stuck with me forever now" Lawrence backed away from her looking into her bright red eyes and smiled, Lawrence spoke in a playful voice "being stuck with you isn't that bad to me but on my coin pouch that's another matter" Holo kicked Lawrence's leg and looked up to him with a bit of an annoyed look "you said I could eat all I wanted and money didn't matter" Lawrence smiled at her annoyed face "well you certainly didn't fall for me over my senses of humour" Holo's face got more angry at his joke.

The bartender approached Lawrence and Holo carrying two plates piled with food. He laid them in front of Holo and went back to the kitchen. Holo was staring down at all the food that was in front of her, her eyes got bigger when she saw the bartender walking towards them with another two plates piled with food again. Holo looked from the bartender to Lawrence with a small smile on her face, Holo spoke in a sweet voice "Lawrence you didn't need to buy all this food" Lawrence looked at her starting to eat, Lawrence smiled at her and spoke in a playful tone "well you said you need to eat a lot because of your wolf form" Holo kicked Lawrence from her seat and turned her head to him, Holo spoke in a sharp angry voice "LAWRENCE! Not so loud someone might hear you" Lawrence's smile went away when he realised if anyone heard him he could lose his love, Lawrence spoke in a quiet saddened voice "sorry Holo. I didn't mean to speak so loud I don't what you to get caught" Holo saw his face change at what she had said, Holo leaned on Lawrence "it's ok Lawrence. No one heard us, so cheer up" Lawrence began to smile again at Holo as the bartender placed the two plates in front of them "enjoy" Holo couldn't Hold back she went straight into eating the meal, Lawrence smiled knowing that she was happy. Lawrence picked up a fork and reached for one of the plates only for his hand to be smacked by Holo, Holo turned her face to his with a playful look "this is all my food" Lawrence looked to the four plates stacked with food then to her mug of ale "would the wise wolf be willing to share if you can have wine?" Holo's ears perked up under her hat as Lawrence continued "and not just wine good wine, wine that a wise wolf deserves" Holo stopped eating and turned to Lawrence "but you said wine was in the deal" Lawrence remembered what he said to Holo "well yes I did say that but you wouldn't want me to starve" Holo lightly smiled at Lawrence's cute comment "Lawrence you know you sound like a pup" Lawrence chuckled a little at her "well I am a pup compared to you" Holo smiled a little more at Lawrence "well you're as cute as a pup right now. So that wine you were talking about I will have some" Lawrence smiled at her and spoke in a playful tone "so you think I'm a cute pup" Holo giggled at him "you are a cute pup, well in my eyes you are. But your my cute little pup" Holo playfully patted Lawrence on the head. Lawrence looked down grinning at her "little. I'm taller than you" Holo looked at him wearing the same grin as him "well remember my true form is bigger than an inn" Lawrence looked away from Holo and to the food on the table "your right I am smaller than you and a pup. But is the wise wolf willing to share her food with a poor little pup" Holo looked to her food then to Lawrence "no I will not share my food with a little pup" Lawrence had a shocked look on his face to what Holo said as she continued "but I will share it with my little gray haired pup"

Lawrence called over the bartender "yes sir what would you like?" Lawrence handed the man a silver coin "I would like your best bottle of wine for my lady" the bartender pulled out a big bottle of wine from under counter and place it in front of Lawrence "thank you and do you have any rooms free?" the bartender smiled a little at them "a couples room just opened up about two hours ago" Lawrence reached into his pocket and pulled out another silver coin handing it over to the man "we'll take it" the bartender looked at the bottle of wine "yeah good thing I had a room free at the end of that bottle you'll have trouble walking. Your room is up the stairs and the last door on the right" Lawrence looked to Holo seeing her cleaning out her mug of ale for the wine "thank you for the room" Holo quickly put her mug in front of Lawrence "so are you going to keep me waiting?" Lawrence opened the wine and filled Holo's mug, Holo quickly started drinking as Lawrence filled his mug "enjoying that Holo?" Holo drank a big mouth full of the wine and put the mug on the counter while gasping for air "thank you Lawrence. You maybe a pup to me but you always get me what I want" Lawrence put one of his arms around Holo "so are we going to talk or eat the four plates of steaming hot food in front of us" Holo looked at the food and started eating, Holo stopped eating and picked up a chicken leg with a big grin on her face "here. This is your meal, pups eat less than adults wolves" Lawrence saw the big grin on her face and smiled at her "ok my lady the pup will eat the scraps" Holo laughed at Lawrence "well if you're going to be like that I will share but you will have to get me another drink first" Lawrence grabbed the bottle filling her mug up again "I just can't say no to you" Holo looked to Lawrence knowing that he would do whatever would make her happy. Holo leaned on Lawrence "why are you so good to me?" Lawrence passed her the mug of wine and looked at her confused happy expression. Lawrence pulled Holo close to him hugging her tightly "It's because I love you Holo and seeing you happy makes me happy" Holo nuzzled into Lawrence's chest.

Holo and Lawrence started eating together it took them 20 minutes to finish three of the plates. Holo was leaning on Lawrence again, Lawrence looked to Holo and smiled at her "you really like leaning on my arm don't you" Holo hugged his arm a little tighter and smiled a little too, Holo spoke in a quiet sweet voice "I like leaning on you because I'm closer to you. Even though you need a wash" Lawrence remembered that she had the sense's of her wolf form even though she was in human form "sorry I smell so bad I forgot that you can smell an apple a mile away" Holo moved up so that they were face to face "do you think this village has apples?" Lawrence looked at Holo's big red puppy dog eyes, Lawrence spoke in a sadden voice "I'm sorry Holo I don't think a small village will have apples" Holo's ears dropped under her hat in disappointment, Lawrence picked up a fork and stabbed it into a large steak moving it into Holo's view "cheer up Holo look at all the food you have" Holo smirked for a second then lunged into the food Lawrence was waving in her face, Holo sank her giant fangs into the steak with it's meaty juices dripping down from where she was biting, it dripped down from her mouth to her chin. Lawrence smiled at her sticky face, Holo's eyes moved from the steak to Lawrence's smiling face "what are you smiling about" Lawrence smiled even more at her cute look "I'm smiling at how cute you are right now" Holo smiled and continued eating the steak when Lawrence started chewing on the other end, Holo grinned a little and decided to play with Lawrence. Holo pulled at the steak smiling all the way, the steak slipped out of Lawrence's mouth "HEY! I was eating that!" Holo continued smiling at Lawrence, Lawrence reached for the steak in her mouth only for Holo to pull away again with her smile getting bigger as she did "Come on Lawrence this is how wolves play with each other" a small smile appeared on Lawrence's face as he leaned into bite the steak Holo had in her mouth, when he was biting into the steak Holo started pulling on it being careful not to let the steak slip through her smile, Lawrence started to pull lightly on his end of the steak. Holo was smiling more because of Lawrence playing in the manner wolves do, Holo decided to win their little game by pulling hard on her end of the steak ripping it from Lawrence's mouth. Holo giggled a little as she spoke "I win. You've got a long way to go before you can beat a wolf at a wolf game" Lawrence smiled at her happy look, of winning the steak to herself.

Lawrence let Holo keep the steak to her happy self "ok it's yours" Lawrence then spoke under his breath "if you can win it again" Lawrence quickly bit on to the steak again getting a stronger grip on it than before, as he bit into it the steak sprayed meaty juices on to Holo and himself. Holo began to smile again but wider this time at how much Lawrence was acting like a wolf for her. Holo was pulling on the steak easier this time, Holo and Lawrence pulled at the steak for sometime before Lawrence let go of the steak. Holo looked confused at Lawrence "why'd you let go?" Lawrence looked to the steak it's ends looked like they had been ripped apart by wild dogs "you love steak. Wouldn't you be happier if you got to eat while it's still warm" Holo smile at his generosity and leaned on him a little "why are you so nice to me" Lawrence hugged her moving his head to the side of hers "I'm so nice to you because you're worth it. Your worth everything in the world to me" Holo dropped the steak on one of the plates in front of them and hugged Lawrence, Holo spoke in a sweet quiet voice "I was right to get in your cart that day long ago, but I had no idea that I would fall in love with you" Lawrence looked down to Holo, her eyes were closed and she had a warm smile on her face "good thing to, I would hate to see my life without you in it" Holo turned her head up opening her eyes "well I'm here with you so don't think about what might have happened if I didn't just focus on what happening right now" Lawrence smiled at Holo while reaching for the bottle of wine to refill their mugs "more wise words from my wise wolf"

They continued eating there meal for several minutes when James walked in the inn and approached the bartender "do you have any single rooms free at the moment?" the bartender spoke in his normal deep voice "yes sir there are two free rooms" James handed the man a silver coin "thank you sir your room is second on the left" James noticed Lawrence and Holo eating their meal and sat next to Lawrence "well you were right there's very little work up here" Lawrence turned from Holo to James with a bit of a glum look "well at least it means it's safer up here. By the way did you send the letter?" a small smirk appeared on James's face "the letter is on it's way to your mother and I may have mentioned your new lady friend" Lawrence placed his hand on his out of embarrassment "why would you do that" James began to laugh at Lawrence "only joking anyway I've sent it by bird so the letters had to be small to fit on the birds leg" Holo moved her head so James was in her view "bird?" Lawrence turned his head back to Holo at her confused question "Holo have you never heard of sending letters by bird?" Holo looked to Lawrence looking a little down from his face out of shame of not knowing about sending letters by bird "yes they didn't have them in the town we met in" Lawrence smiled at the fact that he knew something that the wise wolf didn't "well Holo it's simple people train birds to fly from one town to the next and back with a message on their leg, when they get to the town someone moves the message on to another bird that is trained to go to a different town" Holo looked up at Lawrence with a small smile on her face of knowing something new "so Lawrence why didn't you ever send a letter home if it is so quick?" Lawrence felt his coin pouch get heavy at the question "well it costs a lot to do and sometimes the message gets lost by the bird going astray" Lawrence turned to James "how much did it cost?" James smiled a little at the question "one whole gold coin" Lawrence could have had a heart attack at the answer he was given "A WHOLE GOLD COIN! where'd you get that kind of money" James smiled more at the shock on Lawrence's face "lots of work and being good at it helps" Holo didn't remember hearing any high value coins in his pouch when they were attacked "I don't think that's what Lawrence was talking about, your coin pouch had more of a copper sound than silver and gold" James looked to Lawrence and Holo "so that's why Lawrence's cart is more full than it used to be. Are you good with handling coins and the exchange rate?" Holo quickly spoke to hide the lie "yes I handle Lawrence's money so we can make the most out of it. But that doesn't answer my question your coin pouch sounded like it was all copper so where'd you get the gold from?" James reached into his jacket pulling out a second coin pouch that was a lot bigger and heavier than the first one "when you work with a sword you have to hide certain things in case of being taken hostage"

James got up from the counter where they were sitting "I'm off to bed. If you ever need anyone to defend you and your lovely lady, give me a shout" Lawrence waved James off as he walked up the stairs to his room. Holo decided to lean back on Lawrence's arm "Lawrence would you be so kind to pour me another drink?" Lawrence looked to Holo's mug and he was shocked to see it was as dry as a desert "you really like that drink don't you my dear" as Lawrence spoke he reached for the bottle of wine pouring the remaining wine in her mug, Lawrence noticed the last few drops of wine go into her mug and realised how much she had drunk as he handed her mug back to her "there you go my dear" Holo smiled at Lawrence in a drunken way "thank you, your so kind to give me the last of the wine" Lawrence smiled back at her drunken smile that got a little more drunken with each mouth full of wine. Holo finished her drink in a few minutes and looked to Lawrence with a helpless look on her face "will you help me to our room" Holo put out her arms for Lawrence to carry her, before he could even answer "ok my dear" Lawrence stood up putting his arm around Holo, when Holo stood up she fell back a little being caught by Lawrence's arm around her "I don't think you can walk here hold on" with that sentence Lawrence put his other arm around her legs and picked her up and started to walk to their room.

When they reached the door to their room Holo moved one of her arms from around Lawrence's neck and opened the door. The room had a big king size bed with white sheets with a cabinet next to the bed on each side, when they entered the room Lawrence saw to his right there was a closed window and a desk underneath it. Lawrence approached the bed placing Holo on it gently, a warm smile appeared on Lawrence's face as he looked down at Holo. Holo looked up to Lawrence seeing him with a warm smile on his face, Holo spoke in a tired voice "what are you smiling about?" Lawrence smiled a bit more "it's just the way we came into the room was how a husband and wife do on their wedding night" Holo smiled warmly at Lawrence "well one day that might happen" Lawrence's heart was beating faster, Holo took off her hat revealing her wolf ears they twitched in sync with Lawrence's heart beat Lawrence smiled and turned to walk out the door but as he was walking towards the door he felt a pile of clothes land on his head, Lawrence turned to Holo only to see her under the bed sheets with her tail peering over the edge of the bed wagging slowly side to side. Lawrence folded her clothes and put them on the desk then continued to the door, when Lawrence got to the door he turn to Holo "I'll be back soon with supplies" Lawrence walked out of the inn into the street to one of the several market stalls, Lawrence was shocked when he saw that they were selling apples. Lawrence quickly rushed over to the stall "excuse me miss could I buy some apples" the woman approached Lawrence, she had long brown hair that covered one of her brown eyes. The woman spoke in a light tone "yes sir, I have two boxes full of them" the moment she said that Lawrence's hand was in his jacket pulling out a silver coin "I'll take both of them" the woman looked a little shocked at how quickly Lawrence answered her, she placed the wooden box on the stall and then placed the other box on top of it the top box was over flowing with ruby red apples. Lawrence had a small smile when he saw the apples knowing how much they will make Holo happy, Lawrence took the apples to the cart taking one of the shining apples and putting it in his pocket for Holo.

When Lawrence got back to their room he noticed Holo was still asleep, this was strange to Lawrence every time he or anyone got close to their room she would wake up but she was still asleep, Lawrence thought to himself "am I no longer something she needs to protect herself from, are we really that close now?" Lawrence walked over to the bed taking off his jacket and hurling it to the banister, as Lawrence got into the bed Holo started to move about her tail was wagging more and more the closer he got to her. When Lawrence was a hairs length from Holo her eyes started to slowly open, Holo turned to face Lawrence "your finally back" Holo had a weak smile on her face as she wiped the sleep from her eyes "so did you get the supplies?" a small smile appeared on Lawrence's face to what he was about to tell her "no but there was something I got for you, well two boxes full of those things" Holo had a curious look on her face as he continued "two boxes full of bright red apples" the moment those words left Lawrence's mouth Holo had jumped on top of him with her tail wagging furiously behind her, Holo spoke in a happy, shocked voice "but you said this village was too small to have them" Lawrence's smile got wider as she moved off him, Lawrence leaned over to his jacket pulling out a red apple the look on Holo's face was as if she was about to cry at what he was giving her. Lawrence slowly handed the apple to Holo it was all most torture to Holo being given an apple but at such a slow pace, when Holo had the apple in hand she just stared at it in disbelief "Lawrence how do you always get me what I want?" Lawrence smiled at her as he got back into bed, Lawrence laid next to Holo and spoke in a bit of a smug voice "it's because I'm the best merchant out here and now that I have someone to spend my money on I go all out to make that person happy" Holo was sitting up as she ate the apple while Lawrence was laid down on the bed looking up, after Lawrence said his smug comment Holo smacked Lawrence with her tail "HEY" Holo said nothing just finished eating her apple, Lawrence pushed her tail off his face to his lower chest then he slowly started stroking it. Holo started clutching at the bed sheets as she started to giggle "Lawrence please stop that tickles" Lawrence continued stroking her tail getting faster with each stroke. Holo was laughing so much that she dropped what was left of her apple on to the bed, Holo tried to move her hand to stop the torture but she was laughing so much that it was hard to move any part of her body. When she finally got her hand to Lawrence's he just smiled at her "Lawrence why didn't you stop?" Lawrence moved his hand from her tail to her hand that was on top of his so they were holding hands "I couldn't stop your tail is so soft and beautiful I lost control" Holo smiled at Lawrence for calling her tail beautiful, Holo's tail began to wag as she laid down next to Lawrence to go to sleep. Holo cuddled up to Lawrence as she always did when they slept in the same bed and Lawrence hugged her in return.

Chapter 4

Holo's dream

Everything was white the trees the mountains all covered in a thick layer of snow as they approached Yoitsu. Holo was sad that their journey was over but happy that they would be able to settle down together, Holo was leaning on Lawrence's arm while staring into the distance. It began to snow heavily making it hard to see more than a few meters in front of them. After an hour of wading the cart through the thick snow they arrived at Yoitsu, the village consisted of broken down charred buildings and piles of wooden planks. Holo looked at what was her home, Holo got off the cart and slowly looked to the pile of charred building remains picking up one of the pieces and bringing it close to her. Holo looked to the forest next to the village, the snow had gotten lighter letting her see the burned down forest. The charred wood slipped out of her hand disintegrating as it hit the ground, tears fell from Holo's face as she cried over the loss of her home. Holo's knees hit the ground as she continued to cry, Lawrence got off the cart and moved next to her putting his arms around her hugging her tightly. Lawrence spoke in a serious voice "Holo your home may be gone but your family are still out there, you will see them again they are immortal like you, in time you will find them or they will find you" Holo looked up to Lawrence's face with a small smile with the tears still dripping down her face, Lawrence wiped the tears from her face she smiled a little more as his hand touched her face. Holo spoke in a quiet saddened voice "you always know how to make me feel better, even when my home lies in ruins and my family are gone you still make me feel better" as she said that Lawrence pulled her to her feet and smiled at her warmly, Holo looked at Lawrence out of happiness but Lawrence began to age before her eyes. He was getting years older in seconds it wasn't long before Lawrence was an old bony man clinging to life, Holo was crying even harder than before as she hugged Lawrence she cried harder than when she was crying over her home and her family being gone. Holo was crying more than she had ever done before she was losing the man she loved to time, Lawrence became a skeleton of the man that loved the woman he was hugging. Holo hugged Lawrence tighter but as she did Lawrence's skeleton disintegrated becoming dust in the wind that blew away from her, Holo cried even harder as she hugged Lawrence's jacket as hard as she could.

End of Holo's dream

Holo woke up jumping from the bed with tears dripping down her face, Lawrence woke up to see Holo crying in front of him and quickly moved to her side speaking in a concerned voice "Holo what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Holo turned to see Lawrence just as he was before they went to bed, Holo immediately jumped on Lawrence hugging him tightly with the tears still forming in her eyes "you're alive! You're alive!" Lawrence was confused at Holo's comment "yes I'm alive why wouldn't I be. What happened?" Holo rose up from Lawrence looking into his eyes, Holo spoke in a sad voice "I dreamed that we made it to Yoitsu but my home was gone and my family was gone but... but... that wasn't what hurt the most you'd... you'd... started aging fast you died in my arms" Holo cried a little more at the memory of him dying, Lawrence moved up to Holo hugging her again "Holo listen to me I'm not planning on dying on you, I'm not going to leave you. Leaving you alone in this world is a worse fate than death to me" Holo smiled at Lawrence as the tears stopped pouring out of her eyes "you always know how to make me feel better" Lawrence smiled warmly at her as he wiped the tears from her face "so how about we go back to sleep Holo or do you want to talk more?" Holo laid down on the bed "err my pillow it's soaking" Lawrence looked down to the damp pillow Holo was resting her head on "Holo could you get up for a second" Holo lifted herself up with a slightly confused look on her face "Lawrence what are you" before Holo could finish what she was saying Lawrence pushed her pillow off the bed and moved his to the middle so they could both use it, Lawrence smiled at Holo and spoke in a happy voice "now that we only have one pillow we will have to sleep close together" Holo smiled happily at Lawrence and cuddled up to him as they slept.

When Holo woke up the bed was empty Lawrence was not there, Holo quickly sat up looking around for Lawrence. Holo was getting worried about where Lawrence was "LAWRENCE WHERE ARE YOU!?" a second later Lawrence walked through the door holding a large plate "HOLO WHATS WRONG!?" Holo calmed down the second she saw Lawrence rushing towards the bed, Lawrence spoke in a scared tone "Holo what happened are you ok?" Holo fell back on the bed in relief "I'm ok now that your here. I thought something had happened to you" Lawrence leaned in on her hugging her "it's ok I'm here nothing going to happen to me" Holo sniffed the air it had the scent of food in it, Holo looked to the plate Lawrence was carrying "is that for me?" Lawrence stopped hugging her placing the plate on her lap, it was piled with eggs, bacon, sausages and mushrooms "Lawrence where's your breakfast?" Lawrence smile at her "my breakfast is on your lap" as he said that he picked up one of the sausages and bit off half of it with a wide grin on his face, Lawrence took the half of the sausage that was in his hand and put it in front of her "aren't you hungry my dear?" Holo lunged in on his hand in the blink of an eye the sausage was gone, Lawrence was shocked at how quick Holo ate the sausage "wolves don't waste any time eating do they" Holo smiled at Lawrence "why do you always get me so much food?" Lawrence laughed a little at her "you're a giant wolf you need all this food and your always happy when you're eating" Holo quickly started eating going straight for the meats after a few seconds she stopped and looked at Lawrence sitting beside her "aren't you going to eat?" Lawrence looked at Holo "so my wise wolf is willing to share with me now" Holo pulled a cheeky smile and grabbed some bacon smacking it into Lawrence's face "there you go I can't have you starving to death on me, otherwise who will buy me all this food" Lawrence smiled at Holo's cheeky comment and ate the bacon that was being pushed into his mouth.

Holo was lazily slumped on the bed with her hands placed on bed sheets where her belly was, Lawrence was watching her rest after her meal "so did the wise wolf enjoy her meal?" Holo rolled her head to Lawrence's view "I did but you could have eaten more of it with me you don't have to hold back on my account" Lawrence moved is arm around Holo pulling her closer to him "I know but you're so happy when you're eating and I'm a lot smaller than your wolf form" Holo nuzzled her head into Lawrence's chest "so you wish to make the wise wolf happy do you?" Lawrence hugged Holo a little tighter "I only wish to make the woman I love happy and you being a wolf makes it all the more fun" Holo backed away from Lawrence so she could look at him in the face, Holo smiled and spoke in a playful tone "so you find a wolf more entertaining do you" Lawrence spoke in the same tone as Holo did "having you as my partner is the best thing that has ever happened to me" Holo leaned back against his chest listening to his heart beat "I have lived for centuries and I have never been so happy with someone. I love you Lawrence" Lawrence leaned his head down kissing her head "I love you too Holo" Holo moved so they where face to face "Lawrence why did we spend so much time fighting and arguing when we could have been doing this?" Lawrence smiled at her "I'm sorry it took me so long to realise my feeling for you, I'm not a wise wolf like you" Holo place her head back on Lawrence's chest smiling as she spoke "you're still the same gentleman I met when I got in your cart, apologizing for every little thing even though we are in love and you spend more of your money you're still the same person" Lawrence place his hand between her wolf ears "no I'm a little different to that, you made me a little wiser" Lawrence began to massage Holo's hair between her ears, Holo was smiling more than before "I guess I have rubbed off on you , you were wise enough you figured out that I enjoy you rubbing my head" Lawrence remembered the first time he rubbed her hair between her wolf ears she seemed so happy when he did it, Holo continued to smile as she spoke "I may enjoy you petting me like a tame wolf but I'm not, no one tames the wise wolf" Lawrence continued petting Holo's head as he watched her tail wag in enjoyment to it "don't worry Holo I wouldn't dare tame you if I could" Holo lifted her head up a bit slowly moving it closer to Lawrence's face "so you wouldn't dare try to tame me am I not good enough to at least try?" Lawrence looked to her face as it got closer to him "no, no, if I somehow tamed you, you would be different and I love you the way you are" Holo nuzzled into Lawrence's neck and spoke in a playful tone "well that's not going to stop me from taming you"

Lawrence got up from the bed walking to his jacket as Holo got up and got dressed, Holo turned to Lawrence speaking in a quiet voice "Lawrence can we hire your friend?" Lawrence quickly turned to her with a bit of a shocked look on his face "yes but why would we want someone to defend us?" Holo turned her head down in shame "Lawrence that dream scared me, I don't want anything to happen to you" Lawrence walked over to Holo and hugged her tightly speaking in a serious voice "nothing going to happen to me" Holo look up to Lawrence's face and her expression lightened up, Lawrence moved one of his hands from her back to her right ear gently stroking it. Holo started smiling at Lawrence for stroking her ear, Lawrence backed away from her to look at her face Lawrence was smiling at her as he spoke "so how about we go and see if he is up" Holo got her hat and hid her tail then walked to Lawrence's side "do you know what room he's in?" Lawrence and Holo walked out the room into the corridor "Holo I don't know where he is" Holo smiled as they walked down the corridor, Holo sniffed a few times before getting a smug look on her face "he's in this one" as she pointed to a door "well you know the saying follow your nose" Holo grinned at Lawrence's comment as they approached the door, Lawrence knocked several times making a loud banging noise that could easily wake someone in a deep sleep. The door slowly opened revealing James wearing the same dark clothing as the day before, James spoke in a pleasant voice "Lawrence, Holo what are you doing so early?" Lawrence held Holo's hand a little tighter "well I was wondering if I could hire you to defend my lady?" Holo smiled a tiny bit at Lawrence for defending her pride while James answered Lawrence "I would be delighted to defend you and your lady, I'll go grab my sword" Holo leaned on Lawrence's arm looking up at him as he spoke "we'll be in the cart waiting for you"

Lawrence and Holo walked out of the inn into the cold street they could see their ice cold breath in the air, Holo instantly moved close to Lawrence using his body heat to keep herself warm "it is so cold this morning" Lawrence pulled Holo closer to his body trying to keep her warm "I've got a nice thick blanket for you in the cart" when they got to the cart Lawrence pulled the covers off the back of the cart revealing the furs and the two boxes of apples for Holo, Holo got in the front seat of the cart while Lawrence pulled out a thick gray blanket from behind them wrapping it round Holo. Holo was looking back at the two boxes of apples Lawrence had purchased for her "Lawrence you got all them for me?" Lawrence smiled at her putting one of his arms around her "well all but one or two if you can spare them" Holo smiled then nudged him in a playful manner while he looked down at her continuing his smile, Lawrence pulled the wagon to the front of the inn waiting for James to meet them. Holo looked to the door of the inn before looking back to Lawrence "Lawrence there's still something off about your friend it's like I know him and don't at the same time, he seems so familiar but I don't know why" Holo clenched her fist in annoyance, Lawrence cuddled Holo a bit "done worry you will remember why he is so familiar in time, he's probably like someone you met centuries ago" Holo looked at Lawrence with an annoyed look "it's not just the way he acts it's everything even his scent is familiar" Holo breathed out deeply calming down "I probably just met one of his relatives" Lawrence hugged Holo a little tighter "well you will have a few days to figure out why he is so familiar my dear" Holo cuddled up to Lawrence and put on a cheeky grin "well your right we will have a few days with him so I can figure out why he is so familiar and we will have a few days to talk about your past, finding out all the embarrassing things you have done" Lawrence looked down to the ground in embarrassment for the future. James walked out of the inn to the cart getting in the back as Lawrence wiped the reins on the horse setting the cart in motion.

As the cart got out of the village Holo had picked up two of the bright red apples and was eating away as they went down the muddy road "so Lawrence how long will it take to get to the next village?" Lawrence didn't look away from the road as he spoke "less than two hours it's a close village" Holo leaned on Lawrence's arm looking up at him with a small grin "well then I think it's time I started finding out about your past" Holo turned to James in the back of the cart carrying the same small grin "so tell me all the embarrassing things my Lawrence has done in the past" as Holo said that she patted Lawrence on the head in a playful manner.

Chapter 5

They were most of the way to the next village Holo was cuddled up to Lawrence in the front seat of the cart while James was slumped against the edge of the cart, it had gotten warmer and Holo had put the thick blanket back in the cart. Lawrence looked down to Holo cuddling his arm "Holo would you like me to buy you a drink for the road ahead of us when we get to the next village?" Holo was woken up from her day dream by Lawrence's words she quickly shot her head up to him "YES" Lawrence smiled at her quick response to the question, he spoke in a playful tone "maybe I should not ask you anymore and just get you all the food and drink my horse can carry" Holo smiled at Lawrence going back to her leaning position "Lawrence your perfect you always make me happy" Lawrence moved his arm from Holo and put it round her pulling her closer to him, Holo looked up slightly to see Lawrence smiling down warmly at her. Lawrence tilted his head back slightly "how much is it going to cost us for your service?" James looked over to the front of the cart smiling a little "well I'm normally paid one silver and a half per day plus one silver for everyone I kill or scare off. But for the two of you I think nothing is fair" Lawrence was shocked at James defending them for free and to how high he was paid "you don't have to do it for free" James looked to Holo then to Lawrence speaking in a slightly childish tone "well with me not charging anything you have more money to spend on your girlfriend" Holo smiled somewhat at the thought of Lawrence having more money to spend on her, Holo lightly tugged on Lawrence sleeve bringing Lawrence a bit closer to her "Lawrence is what he charges a lot for his line of work?" the look of shock was slowly fading off his face as he spoke "yes it's quite a bit, you can only charge that much if your experienced and good. Most people in that line of work are two to three years older than him before they charge that much"

Holo started to tease Lawrence "I wonder how many things your friend knows about you that will make you wish you never hired him" Lawrence's look began to change into a humiliated expression for all the things Holo was going to tease him about when she found out, Holo saw Lawrence's face and stopped teasing him but speaking in a playful tone "Lawrence if they're that bad I won't ask so cheer up and hand me an apple" Lawrence's expression began to lighten up as Holo spoke, he reached back grabbing an apple and handing it over to Holo. She smiled when she saw Lawrence was no longer in a bad mood so she leaned on his arm and ate her apple, Lawrence looked down to Holo with a merchants smile that he wore when he figured out a market scheme "you planned this out didn't you" Holo looked away from her apple and to Lawrence speaking in a content tone "what do you mean?" Lawrence continued his look as he spoke "you wanted to spend more time with him so you could find out more embarrassing stuff about me" Holo's smile got a little wider as she spoke "well that did become my plan after we hired him but originally I only wanted him to protect you" Lawrence hugged Holo tightly as he spoke in a quiet voice so James couldn't hear "so the wise wolf loves me that much she would get me more protection" Holo held Lawrence tightly as she spoke in a slightly scared voice "I just don't want anything to happen to you, that dream made me realise how fragile mortals are" Lawrence could tell she was scared and comforted her as he spoke "Holo as long as you're alive I will be fine" Holo quickly cheered up thanks to Lawrence.

They were only ten minutes away from the village they were heading for. Lawrence had slowed the cart down because there was a man in the middle of the road, as they got closer to the man they could see he was covered head to toe in heavy metal armour. The armoured man signalled to Lawrence to stop the cart, as the man approached them they could see the church emblem on his armour that put Lawrence on edge. The church knight spoke in a laughed voice that was muffled by his helmet "church inspection just looking for illegal goods and demons" they got out of the cart as the knight looked through the furs, when he was finished he walked over to James "alright standard demon inspection" as the knight spoke he pulled out a bottle of water from his satchel, James reached into his jacket pulling out a leather piece of cloth "that won't be necessary" James handed the cloth to the knight the cloth had the same emblem that was on the knight's armour "ok your clear" the wind picked up slightly as the knight walked over to Lawrence "ok drink this" the knight handed over the bottle of water to Lawrence, Lawrence drank the water hesitating a little before he drank. The knight watched him closely looking for any signs of demon "ok your clear as well" the wind started to blow harder Lawrence looked to Holo scared that she might be caught by the knight, as the knight took one step away from Lawrence the wind blew extremely hard taking off Holo's hat revealing her ears. James and the knight both pulled their swords readying to attack, Lawrence grabbed the knight's shoulder trying to stop him but the knight turned around and punched Lawrence in the face sending him backing away try to keep his balance. The knight drove his sword at Lawrence Holo couldn't do anything she didn't have time to turn into a wolf and the knight was closer to Lawrence than she was to the knight, as she watched the knight thrusting his sword in Lawrence's direction she was surprised to see James had stepped in the path of the sword. The sword went straight through James's chest just slightly to the left of his heart, tremors could be seen shooting down James's arm as he lifted his sword making a painful groan as he smashed his sword around the knight's helmet. The knight fell to the ground making a metal clank when he hit the earth, his helmet now had a small dent from where the blade hit. Seconds after the knight fell James fell back sending the blood covered sword out of his chest as blood quickly seeped out of the wound staining his clothing.

Lawrence immediately tried to move James to the back off the cart he had trouble lifting James into the cart, Holo quickly got in the front of the cart whipping the reins sending the horse off to the village. Lawrence was doing all he could to try and stop the bleeding but more blood just kept coming out, Holo had a sadden look on her face knowing that James had lost too much blood and the stab wound was too close to his heart to be healed by any doctor. Holo's wolf ears could hear James's breathing get shallower with each breath, Holo heard James stop breathing and turn to Lawrence with sadden look and spoke in a quiet voice "Lawrence I'm sorry he's stopped..." before Holo could finish she heard James start breathing again but this time he was not breathing as if he was clinging to life he was breathing like a person who was just asleep, Holo looked to Lawrence speaking in a calm voice "Lawrence move your hands from the wound" Lawrence looked to Holo with a sad scared face "what, but he will bleed out if I move my hands" Holo's eyes locked on Lawrence's blood covered hands "Lawrence my ears tell me he will live" Lawrence slowly removed his red hands from James's chests, Lawrence was shocked to see the stab wound was gone there was no scar or any indication that he was stabbed apart from the blood that covered his clothes. Lawrence turned to Holo with a shocked look "how, how is this possible?" Holo looked down to James "I don't know, mortals can't do that and you said you two grew up in the same village so he isn't a god"

As they got into the village Holo had put her hat on and Lawrence had cleaned most of the blood off his hands while James was still out cold in the back, Lawrence stopped the cart outside of the village inn. Lawrence pulled James out of the cart as Holo walked over to help Lawrence out, as they entered the inn they were greeted by the owner she was shocked when she saw Lawrence and Holo carrying a man covered in blood "OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED?!" Lawrence had to quickly think of something to say "we were attacked and he was stabbed" the woman quickly spoke "take him to the first room on the left" Lawrence and Holo carried James up the stairs to the room and laid him on the bed, Holo seat on the other bed staring intently at James wondering how he survived while Lawrence went to pay for the room and put the horse in the stable. When Lawrence returned Holo had taken her hat off and her tail was on display "Holo what are you doing?!" Holo looked at Lawrence seeing the open door behind him "Lawrence close the door" Lawrence did as he was told then looked to Holo to answer his question "Lawrence he already has seen my ears so what does it matter?" Lawrence sat down next to her as he did Holo moved her tail around his back curving the tip onto his lap "I guess your right again" Holo smiled at Lawrence "well I'm not called the wise wolf for nothing" Lawrence smiled back at Holo and started stroking her tail.

James started tossing and turning in a painful way moving his hand to where he was stabbed, James started making painful groaning noises. James managed to muster up what little strength he had to speak "err this is going to leave a mark" Holo spoke in a serious voice "it should but there's nothing there" James stopped moving about so much "what are you talking about?" Holo's eyes narrowed at James as Lawrence spoke "we tried to help you but your wound was gone" James instantly stopped moving in pain and got up looking at them both, James noticed that Holo had wolf ears and a tail and Lawrence was stroking her tail. Lawrence and Holo both looked at where the stab wound was, Lawrence looked to James with a somewhat confused expression "so how did you heal from that?" James stood up and put his hand down the back of his trouser as he did a small worn down belt fell out of his left trouser leg, Holo and Lawrence were shocked to see James pull out a gray tail with a white tip. Lawrence and Holo looked at it for a few seconds before Holo spoke "you're a god?" Lawrence's confused look got more confused "how can you be immortal?" James sat back done on the bed and looked to Holo as he spoke "remember I said my grandfather told me story's about the north well that's because he was from Yoitsu" the name of Holo's home put her on edge as James continued "my grandfather is Kai god of harvest" suddenly Holo remembered everything the name was enough to trigger her memories, Holo jumped at James knocking him back on the bed "Kai of Yoitsu is your grandfather, Kai as in big wolf dark gray fur" James backed away from Holo a little "why do you know him?" Holo pulled away from James and sat back next to Lawrence with a happy smile on her face as she spoke "he's my uncle" Holo was happy knowing where one of her family was even if her home could be gone, Lawrence spoke in a less confused tone "so your part god but from story's about gods and humans offspring you shouldn't be able to heal like that" James's smiled a little to Lawrence's comment "well your right and wrong gods and humans can only have kids that live very long lives but if a god and a former human have a kid it can choose to be a god" Holo was happy and confused when Lawrence was just plan confused "what do you mean former human?"Holo looked to Lawrence as he asked his question then to James awaiting an answer "Holo don't you know?" Holo tilted her head down in shame of not knowing stuff about her own kind, James could see she didn't know so he continued "gods can make humans like them if they wish to spend eternity with them" Holo looked to Lawrence thinking about them spending eternity together the thought made Holo incredibly happy and she started to smile warmly at Lawrence, Lawrence noticed Holo smiling at him and embraced her in his arms. After Lawrence broke the hug he turned to James "you said something about a choice for the child would you care to elaborate" James looked to his tail then to Lawrence "I have the choice just like mother did in becoming a god, I have the choose to become a god of the same thing my mother is or to become a god of something else"

Holo was cuddled up to Lawrence he known she was thinking about them being together for eternity, Lawrence looked over to James asking what Holo was too proud to ask "so how do you make someone like you?" Holo's ears perked up at his question Holo know he was asking for her "well I've never done it but from what I was told you both need to share blood and do something else but I can't remember, oh and you both need to have the same feeling for one another" Lawrence looked down to see Holo was smiling at him "well we certainly have the same feelings for each other" Holo's tail started to wag at hearing Lawrence's words, she knew how he felt about her, but hearing it still made her happy. James stood up off the bed putting his tail into his trouser and pulling up the small belt at his ankle "well I'm going I don't what to interrupt you two" Lawrence looked away from Holo to James "you sure we don't mind you coming with us for a bit" James smiled at the two of them as he spoke in a happy voice "no I don't what to get between you two" Lawrence and Holo waved James off as he walked out the door.

As James walked down the stairs the owner quickly rushed over to him "are you alright that wound looks pretty bad" James looked down to his shirt that was stained with his blood "oh I'm fine it looks worse than it is" the owner calmed down and spoke in a calm but serious voice "the bandits that attacked you and your friends, I need to know are they a threat to the village" James put on a serious tone as he spoke "their no threat to the village, there was only two of them that attacked us" the owner was relieved to hear that, James walked out of the inn into the street as he walked down the road he saw several knights on horses lead by a knight with a dented helmet. James quickly realised the knight that was leading them was the knight that stabbed him, James quickly sprinted back to the inn.

Meanwhile

Lawrence was cuddled up to Holo tightly, they were both smiling warmly at each other. Lawrence broke the silences speaking in a warm happy voice to Holo "we can be together forever now" Holo's smile got wider as Lawrence continued "I will never have to live with the guilt of leaving ever again" Holo slowly realised if Lawrence was like her he could never fulfil his dream, Holo spoke in a slightly sadden voice while staring into Lawrence eyes "Lawrence...if you become like me you will never be able to open your shop" Lawrence could easily see that she was getting upset over him not fulfilling his dream "Holo I don't want to open a shop I only want to be with you" Holo fell into Lawrence's chest with tears forming in her eyes "Lawrence it's not just that you would be giving your humanity the same humanity I fell in love with" Lawrence could see she was getting more upset so he embraced her tightly "I don't mind not being human I just want to be with you" tears streamed down Holo's face as she looked up to Lawrence "I just don't what to lose the man I love" Lawrence spoke in a serious voice "that part of me will never die" Holo's tears continued streaming down her face as she tried to talk "Lawrence please don't make me do it. I don't what to risk losing you" Lawrence spoke in a somewhat demanding voice "Holo I promise you, you will never lose me. Please I want to be with you forever" Lawrence wiped the tears from Holo's face making Holo smile.

Holo's ears twitched violently she could hear someone sprinting into the inn and up the stairs. James ran into the door breaking the lock sending the door swinging open. James had a look of pure fear on his face, James spoke in a quick scared voice "WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW!" Lawrence quickly looked to James "why what's happened?" Holo quickly put her hat on and hid her tail looking to Lawrence to get up and go. Holo grabbed Lawrence's hand pulling him to his feet and rushing to the cart "why do we need to leave?" James continued running not looking back to them "there are three knights led by the one that tried to kill me" Lawrence ran faster at hearing that for the fear of losing Holo, as they got to the cart the knights were entering the village. They got into the cart Lawrence lashed the reins sending the horse wishing off in the other direction to the knights. When they were close to leaving the village they looked back to see two of the knights had broken off from the others to search the village while the knight with the dented helmet continued moving forwards with another knight. As they left the village the two knights spotted them immediately picking up the pace.

Chapter 6

They were some distance from the village before the knights caught up with them, they got in front of the cart and stopped right in there path forcing Lawrence to stop. James got out the back of the cart walking towards the knights getting off their horses, James spoke in a serious voice with no traces of fear "you do know you can't win this" the knight with the dented helmet walked closer to James "even if I can't win I will hold the honour of the church in my death!" James had a serious look mixed with anger as he spoke "what honour. The church orders you to kill innocent people that look different or don't want to be converted WHERE IS THE HONOUR IN THAT!" the knight pulled his sword as he spoke in an angered tone "WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF THE CHURCH DEMON!" James's eyes narrowed at him "I worked for the church. For over a year I defended your kind" the knight's voice got even angrier as he spoke "SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND FIGHT WITH THE LITTLE HONOUR YOU HAVE" James drew his sword lifting ready to strike "honour your lecturing me on honour. Knights are supposes to fight with honour but the church has poisoned the honour of the knights, you are out numbering us, wearing armour, what honour is there in that!" the knight had enough and swung his sword at James but his anger made his attack sloppy allowing James to stab at one of the gaps in his armour.

Lawrence and Holo so focused on James and the knight attacking each other they forgot about the second knight that was quietly walking round to Lawrence's side of the cart. When the knight got next to Lawrence he grabbed him with his free hand and pulling him off the cart, Lawrence's body made a loud thump as he hit the ground. The knight quickly stabbed Lawrence in the stomach, Holo watched this happen and in an instant Holo ate a small amount of wheat from the pouch around her neck. The wheat made her left arm transform into a giant fur covered paw which she used to smack the man standing over Lawrence several meters away. As Holo leaped off the cart her arm returned to it's human form. Holo held Lawrence in her arms as tears poured out of her eyes and down her face. Holo was crying so hard she couldn't speak to Lawrence. James walked around the cart to see where Lawrence and Holo had gone only to see Holo crying and Lawrence out cold in her arms.

James rushed over to them pulling Holo off Lawrence Holo didn't let go easily, when James pulled her off Lawrence he looked at her with a serious look that matched his voice "how much you do love him?" Holo looked up to him with a more sad than confused look "if he dies I will find a way to die with him" James's look, got a tiny bit less serious as he spoke "are you willing to spend eternity with him then?" Holo quickly answered him "yes please help him" James looked down to Lawrence his blood covered the bottom half of this shirt "I can't, but you can just do exactly what I say" James pulled Lawrence to a tree next to the road putting him into a sitting position, James took his sword that was stained red at the tip and placed the blade on Lawrence's hand cutting into it then did the same on his other hand. James moved his sword in front of Holo, James spoke in a military order type way "cut your hands then hold hands with him" Holo did as she was told the blood dripped down their hands to the dirt on the ground. Holo looked to James with a look of fear, the look was asking James what to do next. James was pounding his fist on his head trying to remember what his mother told him about making his father immortal, James stopped hitting his head when he remembered what to do next "eat the wheat or bite your tongue" Holo's look stayed the same by James not explaining it "what?" James's voice changed from the ordering sergeant type to a more relieved type "eat the wheat and spit into his mouth or bite your tongue and kiss him" Holo took a hand full of wheat putting it into her mouth chewing furiously on it then she leaned in on Lawrence kissing him, Holo continued kissing Lawrence until she heard him swallow the wheat "Holo get back" Holo got back but she hesitated as she did, she did not like the fact she would have to leave Lawrence's side as he changed.

Lawrence began to thrash about as Holo's blood reached his heart. The cuts on his hands and his stab wound were spraying his blood everywhere. Holo was crying lightly at the fear of it not working of Lawrence dying right in front of her, Holo went to Lawrence's side barely able to speak "Lawrence please don't die" Lawrence's eyes shot open as he fell forwards landing on his forearms, Lawrence started throwing up large quantities of blood Holo couldn't help but cry. Holo looked to James for help "Holo he's going to be fine" Holo's looked to James with less fear in her eyes as before "but he's bleeding so much, he is in so much pain how could this be working?" James looked at the pool of blood underneath Lawrence as he spoke not looking at Holo "he's accepted you if he didn't he would have thrown up the wheat" James walked off to the cart Holo noticed him when he was pretty much at the cart "where are you going?" James continued walking towards the horse "Lawrence is going to need some new clothes to enter the next town" Holo looked at Lawrence his clothes were drenched in blood.

Holo was watching Lawrence closely waiting for any sign that he was going to wake up. Lawrence twitched a little which made Holo quickly jumped to his side "LAWRENCE!" he slowly opened his eyes, he was extremely weak from his ordeal he managed to look to Holo speaking in a weak voice "Holo" the moment she heard him speak she jumped on him embracing him tightly, Lawrence could barley feel her hugging him, his body was all numb. Holo backed off from Lawrence sending him a warm smile which turned into an angry glare. Even with Lawrence's numb body he could feel Holo punching him, it felt like Holo had broken some of Lawrence's ribs "what the hell do you think you doing! I was worried sick about you, do you have any idea how I felt?!" Lawrence slowly move his arms around her they felt like they had weights attached to them "I'm sorry Holo" Lawrence was wondering what happened too make Holo so upset, the memories hit Lawrence like a ton of bricks his eyes shot completely open "I DIED!" Holo hugged him tighter as he said that trying to forget the fear, Holo spoke in a quiet shaken voice "yes but your fine now" Lawrence looked down behind Holo seeing the giant pool of blood, Lawrence's voice hitched as he spoke "Holo where did that blood come from..?" Holo didn't look up to Lawrence or to the blood pool she was too focussed on Lawrence being alive "it's yours. Every little bit was a piece of you" Lawrence didn't understand her there was so much blood on the ground the same amount of blood he has in him, when Lawrence realised what Holo did to him he went into shock "Lawrence are you ok?" Lawrence gradually snapped out of his state of shock looking down to Holo "I'm going to be ok with you forever" Holo placed her head back down on his chest she had a cheerful smile on her face as she thought about all the things they are going to do together without being held back by time.

Lawrence tried to stand but he fell to the ground in great pain passing out after a few seconds, Holo went to Lawrence's side speaking in a panicked voice "Lawrence!" Holo got to Lawrence's side shaking Lawrence trying to wake him. Lawrence's shape and size began to change slowly before bursting out of his clothes quickly changing into a giant wolf. Holo was mesmerised by the wolf that was lying in front of her, she approached the wolf putting her hand out feeling his silvery gray fur it was as soft as her wolf fur. His tail began to move, Holo walked over to his face putting her hand on his nose. His eyes were heavy, it took Lawrence time to open his new eye lids. Lawrence could see Holo in front of him she looked so small and fragile "Holo why are you so small..." Lawrence noticed his nose was no longer his nose it was a wolf nose, Holo just smiled at his confused wolf look. Holo started stroking the soft fur on his nose making Lawrence clench his face at the funny new feeling, Holo smiled at Lawrence even more as she spoke in an incredibly content voice "Lawrence you've become a beautiful wolf" Lawrence cocked his head like a confused puppy which made Holo laugh "Lawrence you look so cute like a pup" Lawrence tried to stand but only to end up crashing back down "Holo how do you walk around in this form?" it took Lawrence some time to get a firm grip on standing. Holo wanted to see Lawrence's new body in more detail, she got Lawrence to stand still as she inspected his new wolf form. She found Lawrence to be quite beautiful, he had gray fur that had a bit of a silver shine to it, the tips of his ears and tail were like hers white as snow it reminded Holo of her home, his under belly legs and paws were white as well.

Holo was impressed by Lawrence's new body it was the body of a strong proud wolf the wolf that loved her that would always be with her. Holo walked over to the cart taking off her clothes, she ate some of the wheat from the pouch around her neck changing to her wolf form. As she walked over to Lawrence he looked over to her, from Lawrence's view she looked more beautiful than the last time he saw her in wolf form "Holo you look beautiful" Holo loved his comment it was new to her he said on multiple occasions that she's beautiful and her tail, but never her wolf form, Holo sent him a wolfy smile "thank you. You know your new look suits you" Holo moved to Lawrence's side rubbing her nose against his. Lawrence was quite a bit larger than Holo they only noticed it when they were cuddled up together. Holo sprinted off in front of Lawrence only looking back when she realised he was not chasing her "come on Lawrence it's time you learned about your new body" Lawrence looked down to his front paws slowly moving one of them up, Lawrence's hole body wobbled as he slowly moved closer to Holo. It took Lawrence time to get the hang of walking on all fours but it didn't stop him from trying to run, Lawrence quickly court up to Holo. The moment he was next to her she started running beside him "it looks like your getting the hang of this my mighty wolf" Lawrence didn't speak he was so focussed on running. Holo quickly stopped in her tracks, Lawrence tried to stop but he only fell to the ground making a loud crash as he fell. Lawrence was getting up but Holo pounced on his back sending him back to the ground, Holo moved up to his head putting one of his ears in her mouth playful tugging on it "ok Holo you win your the alpha of the pack" Holo got up from Lawrence moving to his side cuddling up to him "good you may be bigger than me but I'm still the wise wolf" Lawrence cuddled up tighter to Holo they could feel each others soft fur pushed up against one another.

It started to snow heavy. The snow covered Holo's side in seconds, Lawrence noticed it and got up moving to the other side of her lying next to her using his body to shield her from the cold "Lawrence what are you doing?" Lawrence cuddled back up to her as he spoke in a proud voice "I'm protecting my lady from the cold" Holo nuzzled into the fur around Lawrence's neck as she spoke in a quiet voice making full use of his wolf ears "Your still the same man I love, being the gentleman that will do anything for me thank you" when it stopped snowing Lawrence and Holo got up shaking the snow off their backs, Lawrence turned to Holo looking at her magnificent amber furred body "Holo how do I return to my human body?" Holo began to walk back in the direction of the cart "Lawrence we can't turn back unless there's wheat nearby. We can only be wolves without wheat" Lawrence and Holo went back to the cart the horse was back attached to the reins. Holo went in front of Lawrence she quickly shrank down and became her human form turning to face Lawrence "it's easy just think of your human form and your body will do the rest" Lawrence concentrated thinking of his human form but the change was slow and painful for Lawrence, when he returned to his human form he was lying on the floor with every little bit of energy gone breathing heavy at how exhausted he was. Lawrence was different to what he imagined, he looked stronger and healthier but the thing Holo eyes locked on was his additional tail and ears they were the same as in his wolf form. When Lawrence regained some of his energy he managed to push himself up right looking towards Holo but she was looking away blushing hard, Lawrence looked down to his body he instantly put his hand between his legs remembering his clothes were destroyed when he changed. Holo went to the cart finding a bag with new clothes in it she put them on, the size was a bit off but they would work for the time. Holo threw the bag at Lawrence trying not to look at his naked body, Lawrence put the clothes on, the new clothes were both dull gray and brown nothing fancy but it will get them into a village without being caught.

Lawrence noticed Holo still had her back to him so he quietly approached her hugging her back, she yelped at the surprise but instantly calming down. Holo turned her body to face him moving her arms to hug him back, Holo got the idea to pay Lawrence back for stroking her tail by stroking his. Holo slowly moved one of her arms down to his tail lightly stroking it, she could see it was torturing him. Lawrence was trying hard to hold back the laughter as he spoke "Holo... please... stop" Holo had a devilish grin, as she looked up to Lawrence's face "I can't control my hand, you know what that's like don't you" Lawrence could tell she was getting revenge for the times he did it to her, Lawrence didn't try to stop her he just let her have her fun even though the tickling was torture. Holo stopped after a while walking hand in hand with Lawrence to the front of the cart, Lawrence stopped in front of the cart putting his hand out to Holo "need a hand my lady?" Holo took Lawrence's hand helping her on the cart, smiling as she did "still such a gentleman" Lawrence got on the cart sitting close to Holo, Lawrence grinned as he got a cute idea he moved his new tail on top of hers curved the tip around so it held her tail. Holo was shocked at the feeling but after a second she curved the tip of her tail so they were holding tails, they both looked into each other eyes and kissed romantically. After they broke the kiss Lawrence whipped the reins sending them back on their journey.

The end