The title of this fanfiction translates to "in one daydream"
In this chapter the setting will take place in 14th century Germany so it will have a few German terms
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Once upon a time there was an average sized family the Tachibana's who lived on the outer layer of the woods. There was the parents who were woodcutters of the village, their fifteen-year-old daughter Makoto who assisted by making deliveries, and the twins Ren and Ran who helped their parents gather the chopped wood.
Except for the few who are brave enough, it was advise not to go deep into the forest because of the dangers that lurk there.
"Makoto" Mrs. Tachibana called from downstairs "the delivery is ready for you."
"Coming!" she called out as she finished tying her small bob into mini pigtails. She hurried down, stomping on the steps, to catch her mom about to leave.
"Be safe!" said Mrs. Tachibana after giving her daughter a kiss on the forehead and following the rest of her family to their job. Makoto waited until her family was at a good distance to start preparing for her trip. She took a look at who the receivers were, only to find a smile placed on her lips when she saw Nagisa and Rei's names. Wanting to see her friends, Makoto quickly packed the essentials, put on her red cloak over her plaid terra cotta dress, locked up her house, and left to her friend's house.
Nagisa and Rei lived on the other side of the woods, one of reason she doesn't get to see them very often. She frolicked until she reached the bridge, a shortcut to avoid walking through the woods, where she noticed a large sign blocking the pathway.
"Huh? 'Due to repairs the bridge will be closed all week. Use the woods' Ehhh?! B-b-but… the woods are scary," she muttered peering to her right to see the dark, looming woods. "Noooo! I don't want to!" Makoto cried getting on her knees and covered her face with her hands. She felt an unfamiliar heaviness coming from her left side caused by her basket where the Nagisa and Rei's package lay. She knew that Nagisa and Rei would worry if they didn't receive their package soon. Makoto mustered up all her courage, put up her red hood, tightened her grip on the basket, and started walking towards the woods.
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In her own opinion the woods are even scarier than what the villagers told her. The woods had fog covering the pathways, there were different unrecognizable noises coming from all directions, and Makoto couldn't help but feel that she was being watched. Zoom of black past her; frighten, she got down and cried. She couldn't stop shaking, tears running down her face blurring her vision. She heard footsteps approaching and quickly closed her eyes hoping whatever it was would just walk away from her.
What Makoto did not expect to hear was "Oh this spot is already taken."
Confused, Makoto looked up to see a lean, raven-haired teen standing a few feet away from her. His eyes were the color of cerulean blue that reminded her of large bodies of waters; from the oceans she's read of in books to the rivers she danced in. He was carrying in one hand a toolbox, the other a fishing pole, and she was pretty sure he had a spear of some sort behind him. He was wearing a plain white shirt, rubber boots that were dripping wet. Seeing the area was occupied, the teenaged boy started to walk back in the direction he came from.
"STOP!"
Startled, the teen looked back to find Makoto crying even harder than when he entered the scene.
"Please don't leave me alone…" she whimpered. Makoto knew she was being rude but she couldn't help it, she didn't want to be left alone, she at least wanted to have someone here with her until she got back her bearings.
She heard him sigh, followed by footsteps as he got close and sat down next to her. "Here" as he handed her his handkerchief.
An hour went by when Makoto finally calmed herself down. She dabbed the last bit of her tears before gently folding the handkerchief on her lap. "Thank you… umm…"
"Haruka"
"Thank you Haru-chan." She heard him mumble to drop the chan and giggled softly to herself at his childish antics. "I'm Makoto, oh and I'll be sure to wash this and return it to you as soon as possible."
He didn't respond but Makoto could tell he was all right with the arrangement. Wanting to press her luck, she decided to ask Haru few more questions.
"So Haru," she started off "what are you doing in the woods?"
"Mackerel"
"Huh?" Makoto wasn't sure if she heard him correctly.
"The mackerel around this area is very delicious at this time of year." To emphasize his point he held up his fishing rod and harpoons.
"B-b-but aren't you scared of the dangers that lurk in these the woods?"
"The only danger you really have to look out for are the wolves, but as long as you have wolf bane you should be safe."
"Wolf bane…" Makoto gasped and quickly checked her supplies to see that she did indeed forgot to pack the wolf bane. She wanted to kick herself, it was the number one law that no one who gets close to the woods should leave their house without wolf bane, but since Makoto first intention was to use the bridge she thought she shouldn't worry too much about it.
Haruka saw Makoto panicking and came to the realization that for some reason she didn't have any wolf bane on her. He couldn't leave her by herself defenseless especially when he noticed some animal tracks not too far. He took the handkerchief from her lap while he pulled out his other handkerchief that contained his wolf bane.
Cautiously, Haruka used the handkerchief he lent to Makoto to pick up some of the wolf bane. He then used the handkerchief to wrap it, carefully avoiding any contact with the deadly plant.
"Here" as he handed back the handkerchief. She slowly reached out for the handkerchief in disbelief. She grabbed it along with his hands, repeating thank you as she tried to control her tears.
"It's nothing" was all he had to say as he got up and held out his hand to help her stand up. She took it and felt the body heat he was emitting. Makoto couldn't help but blush, she knew she just met the guy but the way he stayed with her and gave her some of his wolf bane just made Makoto want to stay with him. She remembered she still had a package to deliver and Haru probably needed to catch this fish if he was to eat tonight.
"Well thank you again for staying with me" she bowed, "but I really must get going now."
"Where are you going?"
"Oh I have to deliver this package to Nagisa and Rei."
"Then you might want to take that path instead." Haruka suggested recalling the random animal tracks he saw earlier.
"Oh okay. Thank you Haru-chan!"
"Lay off the –chan…" he grumbled. "Oh wait, here take this as a thank you gift" she said handing him a water skin.
Haruka didn't know what to say, so instead he did the most unexpected thing that even surprised himself: he smoothed out her bangs, smiled and thanked her.
Haruka gathered his belongings, said goodbye, and started to walk in the opposite direction from the path he told Makoto to follow with a tint of pink coloring his face.
Makoto clutched the wrapped wolf bane close to her chest before carefully putting it away in the folds of her dress. She couldn't wait to tell Nagisa and Rei about him. Maybe they even knew more about him seeing as he knew where they lived. Like Haru, Makoto gathered her belongings and headed towards the path he suggested.
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The path wasn't dark compared to the one she was previously following, none the less it still scared Makoto. Makoto still couldn't shake the feeling she was being watched. There was a loud snap of a branch breaking frightening Makoto causing her to place her hands above her head.
There was a hearty chuckle coming from the direction where the branch broke, "look we frightened the poor little thing. I told you that you were being too loud!"
From behind the trees two figures appeared. They seemed taller than Haru, who was only two inches taller than her, and from the angle they were at Makoto wasn't able to tell if it was the tree's branches or something else that was on top of their heads.
The one on her left had maroon colored hair and eyes as if they were stained by blood. His teeth were all sharpened to fangs giving him the appearance that he always played with his food before devouring it. There was something behind him, which Makoto could not identify, but what ever it was it was the color of blood and chocolate mixed together like maroon.
The other person was a good three inches taller than the red head. He had a set of dark black hair like the night; his eyes were the scariest part of him though. They were a beautiful combination of green and blue, they reminded Makoto of the jewelry some of the ladies in the village would bring back from their trips out of the country. Although mesmerizing, his droopy eyes scared her almost as if he could be lurking anywhere and you wouldn't know until it was too late. He also had something behind him that was moving back and forth, swishing in an amused manner, something Makoto had a bad feeling about.
They slowly approached her when Makoto's fear came true when she noticed the things were both attached to their heads and behind. Makoto tried to walk away but both of their stares froze her in place.
She recalled the stories her Opa would tell her before the twins were born of the most feared creatures to roam the woods: the werewolves. He told her that they were very different from regular wolves because they are capable of transforming into the appearance of humans. Before Makoto could start crying from fear, her Opa reassured her they were all killed sixty years ago and couldn't hurt her.
The only difference was these werewolves were a hybrid of a wolf and a human. Even though they were in human form they still had their ears and tails from their wolf form. They were at an arm distance from her when they started to sniff her. Makoto could only shut her eyes hoping that they would quickly go away.
She heard the one on her left chuckle "don't worry you're not going to get bitten… yet…"
"Now, Rin," the other one said wrapping one of his arms around her waist harshly pulling her to his hips.
Makoto gasped at the rough movement, she tried to move her body but it was no use, she was still frozen in place. With his other arm the black haired werewolf reached out and undid the ribbons holding her pigtails. He put his mouth close to her ear first letting his hot breath hit her sensitive ears. "Where are you heading Little Dove?" he whispered in her ear. Feeling extremely uncomfortable Makoto gathered up all her strength and pushed him to attempt to create a large distance, but the man was stronger than she thought and was only able to escape from his hold.
The maroon haired – Rin, she recalled, burst out laughing. "Looks like Little Dove here doesn't like you, Sosuke" he said in between chuckles. "But really Little Dove… all we want to know is where you're going" as he was about to caress her check.
"Noooo!" Makoto cried grabbing the handkerchief hidden in her dress and blindly aimed for the werewolf with it. The werewolf took a step back to avoid the deadly plant. Makoto didn't hesitate and ran back in the direction towards Nagisa and Rei's house with the handkerchief filled with wolf bane clutched in her hand.
"Damn that girl!" Rin snarled as he tried to get rid of the stench from the plant. He was lucky that he avoided contact with the poison. "Sosuke, I thought you said she wasn't carrying any wolf bane," he complained.
"Looks like she got some from Nanase" Sosuke said nonchalantly, leaning back on a tree with his eyes closed. "Besides it's time to make a move now."
"Ah, you finally picked up her scent?"
"Yeah" he responded bring up the ribbon he took earlier up to his nose, "this one is too cute to just let her go free." And in a blink of an eye Sosuke, followed by Rin, transformed from their hybrid form to their full wolf form running in the direction their Little Dove ran off earlier.
The wolves ran until they saw a house. Reverting back into their hybrid forms they stayed hidden in the tree keep a safe distance to avoid confrontation. From the window the werewolves could make out a blond male and another blue haired glasses wearing male.
"Great she's visiting these two idiots"
"That just makes it easier for us to sneak in."
"Nagisa-kun! All the animals have escaped!" Rei the blue haired male yelled in full panic mode.
"Ehhhh? Let's go Rei-chan!" the young blond said dragging the blue haired teen through the door.
"There, they're gone." Rin said making his way to the now empty house only to be stopped by Sosuke.
"We wait a little bit longer just to be safe."
The two of them waited a couple more minutes before making a move. Slowly moving out of the hiding spots they reached for the doorknob and felt an extreme heat filling up their bodies. They jumped back panting, energy zapped.
"What the hell was that?" Rin snarled.
Sosuke took a quick glance of the house. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, the couple weren't rich so they could only afford a copper knob apposed to a silver one, and there were no silver objects surrounding the outside of the house, so why were they being denied in entering the household?
"Guess they're not as stupid as I thought." Sosuke turned to face Rin who was looking at the potted window flowers, "they hid the stupid thing with the flowers."
Sosuke looked at the window flowers Rin was referring to and sure enough hidden in between the irises, orchids, and lavender there was wolf bane. He clicked his tongue in annoyance, "there's no other way then," he said rotating his shoulder.
Rin complained about how he didn't like the feeling but followed Sosuke's suit. Their tails retreated along with their ears that were slowly appearing on the sides of their faces like a human beings. In a matter of seconds both werewolves went from hybrids to full fledge humans.
"Ugh I hate this form," grumbled Rin, shivering at the uncomfortable feeling he got from being in human form. "Lets just hurry and get inside so we can get out of this ridiculous form."
They entered the house without any trouble this time and recon the place for any hidden silver or wolf bane to be on the safe side.
"Now we wait for Little Miss Dove to arrive."
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Makoto stopped to catch her breath. She's been running for the past 10 minutes hoping to escape the werewolves. She looked at her left palm, which still held Haruka's handkerchief with the wolf bane he gave her and began to tear up.
She couldn't believe werewolves still existed today. Her Opa told her they were all killed over sixty years ago when he was a young adult. He told her how the villagers battled with the creatures, how close the battle was, and how many died from the battle.
"But don't worry Liebling they're all gone so you don't have to worry about them hurting anyone anymore."
The only logical explanation she could come up with was these werewolves had come from a different part of the country, a part that wasn't associated with this land and decided to settle in.
Makoto looked up to see the sunlight peeking through the thick branches and leaves the tall trees provided. She couldn't help but smile. In reality the sunlight going through meant Makoto was almost out of the woods and back into civilization. She also understood she needed to hurry up because it was already getting late. She quickened her pace wanting to get out of the woods sooner than later.
At last Makoto reached Nagisa and Rei's house. It stood out with its cobble stone pathway and pink paint job. Makoto doubled checked her basket making sure everything was there, dusted herself off, and knocked on the door.
"Nagisa? Rei?" There was no response from the two residents so Makoto knocked harder. "Nagisa, Rei? Are you home?"
She heard shuffling inside followed by a rough "come in". The voice did not sound like Nagisa or Rei but Makoto figured who ever answered must have been sick and that's what the package must have contained: medicine.
"Hello?" She called out. The curtains were drawn making the room look deserted. The teen slowly entered the house calling out for her friends again. "Nagisa! Rei! Where are you guys?"
There was a low, dark, husky chuckle from behind Makoto as the door slammed. "Don't worry, you'll see them soon."
There was a larger figure rushing towards her and Makoto let out a scream.
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Haruka was very pleased with his catch today. He caught two large mackerels that would go good with rice he had just bought from overseas. He was walking back home when he noticed a cardinal circling the area. Recognizing it as Nagisa's he whistled for it to come down.
He took the note that was attached to the bird's leg, curious to know why Nagisa was calling him.
Haru-chan!
Today we are getting a package delivered by the adorable Mako-chan! Rei and I really want you to meet her. So please stop by for dinner, we could even have the mackerel you just caught. :D
So please, please, please come! Trust me you'll really like her ;D
-Nagisa
Haruka thought about it. This must be the same 'Mako-chan' he had met in the woods not so long ago. He did want to go see her again, and he did have enough mackerel for a dinner of four, and besides he wasn't that far away from Nagisa's house anyways. So he adjusted his belongings and headed to Nagisa and Rei's home.
Exiting the woods Haruka heard a loud scream coming from the house. He saw through the window Makoto running away from two large familiar figures. Blood boiling, Haruka ran towards the house.
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Makoto rolled out of the way just as the werewolf Rin lunged at her. She felt a sharp pain and looked down to see she had scraped her knee during her escape. The two werewolves stopped and sniffed the air.
"Her blood also smells delicious," said Sosuke as he licked his lips.
Makoto slowly reached for the counter to assist her in getting up, she felt her fingers curl around a heavy object. Tightening her grip, she waited for them to get closer for them to be in range and threw it. The heavy object, which Makoto found out was a frying pan, smacked the redhead's face making him cry out and howl in pain.
"You-" he growled and charged after her. She ducked under the table to escape but the more muscular werewolf, Sosuke, was faster and grabbed her ankle and dragged her out from underneath the table.
Makoto screamed. She tried to grab something, anything; to make her stop but the hybrid was too strong. 'This is it' she thought as the werewolves closed in on her 'I am going to die right here'
Makoto shut her eyes in anticipating the pain; instead she heard a howl from one of the werewolves.
"Sosuke!"
Makoto slowly opened her eyes to see Sosuke howling in pain, as the other werewolf, Rin, attempted to remove a mini harpoon from his right shoulder.
"Makoto get over her" a voice yelled from across the room.
Not knowing whom it was, Makoto slowly shifted to the left to see who it was. The person was a man who had raven hair, sporting rubber boots, and was dipping a harpoon into some strange liquid. He carefully put away the liquid and raised the harpoon, targeting the other werewolf.
"Makoto, now!" he cried.
"Haru!" Makoto frantically cried, pushing herself up and quickly ran to his side.
"HARU!" the red head werewolf bared his fangs. He had removed the harpoon from Sosuke's shoulder and laid him on the floor. "You're going to pay for that."
"Rin just leave it alone, go get him treated and leave this area alone," Haruka calmly told him.
"Like hell I will" he responded and charged in their direction.
Haruka pushed Makoto out of the way and tackled Rin to the floor. Rin scratched and punched but Haruka was dodging all of them using the harpoon. Makoto looked around to see if there was anything she could use to stop the fight. She ran to the closet and rummaged through Nagisa's belongings hoping that there was something for her to use. She was about to give up hope when she spotted a musket all the way in the back and grabbed it without any hesitation.
Haruka was still holding Rin off; the harpoon smashed across the room. Haruka was about to get the upper hand when Rin feigned a punch to the face only to strike Haruka in the stomach rendering him unconscious.
Everything went silent. Makoto felt as she was running in slow motion as Rin's fangs crept closer to Haruka's neck. She couldn't let Haruka get hurt or worse killed. She swung the musket as hard as she could, hitting Rin from the side. The red head went unconscious landing on top of Haruka. Makoto placed Haruka's head on her lap in hopes of waking him up.
"Haru" she whimpered, "please wake up!" tears falling down her face from fearing the worst. Makoto recalled her medicine bag and frantically searched for anything that could help Haruka.
"Heavy…" a soft voice came from underneath her. Makoto looked up to see Haruka slowly pushing Rin off of him.
"Haru!" she cried hugging him. Realizing her actions, Makoto quickly let go of him, face flushed she turned to face Haruka "are you alright?"
"Un" he grunted in response.
"Thank goodness" she said, her tears continued to go down her cheeks, she did her best to wipe away her tears. "I was w-worried when you w-w-weren't waking up." Makoto felt a gentle pat on her head. She looked up to see Haruka giving her a faint smile and reassuring her everything was going to be all right.
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"So what do we do with them?" Makoto asked as she pushed in the last of the chairs. They had tied up the hybrids with some rope Nagisa had in the closet so they could tidy up the cottage.
"I'm not sure but I'm worried about Nagisa and Rei."
"You don't think…"
Makoto couldn't even finish her sentence. She dropped on her knees, vision blurred and she began to hyperventilate. Her friends couldn't be dead, they just couldn't. She felt something soft on her lips, her eyes slowly got into focus to see Haruka kissing her. He gently broke the kiss and embraced her.
"Don't worry, we'll find them" he reassured her. Makoto felt herself being calmed by Haruka's words. She returned the hug; no longer did she feel afraid as long as they were together, she felt nothing was impossible.
"Rei-chan look! They are already kissing!"
Haruka and Makoto turned towards the door and there was Nagisa and Rei standing at the doorway.
"Nagisa! Rei! You're alive!" Makoto exclaimed in joy.
"What do you me-" Rei started to say before he was cut off by his boyfriend.
"Who cares about that right now Rei-chan. Look they got together on their own" Nagisa exclaimed, practically jumping up and down.
They decided to put Sosuke and Rin in the storage shed so they could be picked up the following day. Rei assured Makoto that inside the shed they put wolf bane incense to make sure they will not be attacked in the middle of the night.
During dinner the four of them discussed what happened to them that day. Nagisa and Rei were shocked about the werewolf ambush and felt bad they couldn't be of any assistance to the two of them. Makoto assured them that it was nothing either of them could have done and she was just glad they weren't there in case they got hurt during the attacks.
Underneath the tablecloth Haruka and Makoto were holding hands letting each other know that they will be there for each other no matter the hardships because starting from then on, they are going to be involved in each other's lives.
Glossary
Opa- German for "grandpa"
Liebling- German for "sweetheart"
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Free! they belong to KyoAni