Mythology: Night's bane
Chapter 1: Melenka Wowk (Little wolf)
Any speech in this chapter is Japanese; I do not speak the language. The Speech will remain "Japanese" unless told otherwise
-787-
A Night like no other in the wonder filled city of Tokyo, the Light and neon gem of Japan was still bustling even after Midnight, The metropolitan giant was never asleep, its glow forever emitting into the heavens, in the heart of the city beyond all the hustle and bustle of night life is the residence of our Heroine, our storyteller and just for tonight…..our fellow human
Take in the image. A small apartment complex near the end of one of Tokyo's numerous city blocks
The aged building was still in working order and condition, It was a traditional Japanese style, Paper walls and Wooden Furnishings and wave like roofing tile, Bamboo accented everywhere that was appropriate, however the wood and roof tiles had started to fade, not from exposure to the sun; no, the taller buildings of Tokyo made sure of that, The skyscrapers were so tall that they almost always covered the small complex in shady darkness throughout the day they casted an enormous shadow that was much like a cover, However the fading could be attributed to the constant bombardment the wood receives from the massive neon displays that flank it. Inside, a quaint old woman watches the front desk that was adorned with beautifully painted sakura trees on the front and walls of the foyer. The walls of the entire building were of the same style as the outside, Traditional Japanese with the paper and wood doors and bamboo adorned walls. Little banzai trees accompanied every lonely corner. Even oil lamps were still in use
Up the stairs three flights, which are on the left of the lobby, we find the room of one Luna Tierra, a Young woman who also happens to be our main subject of our chapter, Her Room is 306.
She lives in a rather large 600 square foot apartment. She is 16 years of age and lives alone. Her parents are both very protective and despite her requests to be left alone they still attempt to keep in contact, They annoyed her to the point where she didn't even give them her phone number, which she paid for with her own money, well…..her own money that was given to her by her father.
She is currently in the bathroom, preparing herself for a party, she is 5'0 exactly and Has Long and silk like red hair, a very petite figure made her seem much younger than what she was, a Trait from her mother. She has her father's fiery attitude, and is very charismatic and can talk coherently for hours. She is an eye catcher for many Young men, her "cute" attitude only draws them in further, but she tends to get a bit flustered at times, especially to boys she actually likes. She has tanned skin that was inherited from her Father who hails from Spain.
But poor Luna was a bit…eccentric…..let's face it, she was different, although she got along well with people, and people said she had a different air about her….she carried herself differently…..she lived differently, she acted differently…..it was almost like she wasn't even human. In fact playful rumors had spread that she wasn't even human at all.
They were right
No worries answers will be delivered at the end of this small portion of Luna Tierria's Story
She is currently dressing herself in a Skirt and blouse, both a combination of Red and white, some of her Favorite colors, Patterns adorned the Silk. One of her favorite outfits
Her attention is focused on the smartphone on the sink counter that has a pink cover with a Black cat on the back of it; she watches it expectantly as she finished with her slightly tangled red hair
It vibrates rapidly catching her off guard and making her jump in surprise; she sighs with a smirk and lifts it to her cheek
An instant message glowed on screen
From: Takashi
Hey im here, you ready yet? Oh and Aiyano is with me
She Lit up almost instantaneously, the news of her best friend being with her other friend was more than good news to her
She finished with her hair, she picked up a small glass bottle filled with a pink fluid, a few sprits of perfume and she swiftly grabbed her purse and phone and made her way out of her bathroom
She reached her marble kitchen counter and grabbed her keycard and dashed for the door, as fast as she could go in heels that is.
She opened the brown wooden door and closed it with a loud slam; her hair flowed from the sudden gust of air. She cringed forgetting that it was night time
She was in a hurried pace as she went down the hall, she was careful not to be too loud and wake the other tenants of the complex
When she reached the stair well she pushed the door open slowly and carefully made her way down the stairs, no need to rush on the stairs, what good would it be if she tripped?
She reached the bottom of the stairwell and walked out to the lobby and started to head for the door, in the corner of her eyes she could see someone
The woman that owned the whole complex smiled to Luna from behind the front desk, Luna turned to her and flashed an eye smile back and a toothy grin
"Where are you heading this late dear?" She asked with grandmotherly concern
Luna felt warm inside to hear her sweet voice "Im just going to hang out with some friends"
The older Woman Frowned "Please be careful, you never know who is out on the streets at this time of night." She said with her eyes narrowed. She was being serious
Luna stopped and bowed "yes ma'am, I will be very careful, you have my word"
The old woman softened her expression and smiled "Thank you Dearie, It means a lot to me. Take care!"
Luna nodded once more "yes ma'am!"
"Oh wait one moment!" The older woman called once more
Luna stopped in her tracks "Yes ma'am?" She Repeated
The Woman waved her over "Come here, I have something for you" She said as she walked behind the counter to the room behind her
Luna stepped over in a mild pace, her shoes made a distinctive noise across the wooden floor
The old woman walked out with something in her hands
Luna's eyes widened, her expression one of awe
In the woman's hand was a bouquet of flowers, but not just any flowers. Cherry blossoms, or as Luna knew them, Sakura Flowers. They were huge and gave off a captivating scent so sweet, almost like a Perfume in its own sense.
The woman smiled and beckoned her over, Luna moved closer
The woman plucked the largest flower out of the bunch, she set the bouquet down and clipped the Stem off and placed the flower gingerly in Luna's hair
Luna stepped back lightly touching the white flower, she bowed in thanks
"Thanks so much! It's wonderful!"
The woman gave a matter of fact look "I knew it would look good on you. Now go, sorry for keeping you"
Luna waved her hand and shook her head "No problem at all" she then turned away and made her way to the glass door and pushed it open, her first sight was Takashi's car parked on the curb
Aiyano was in the passenger seat and had rolled down the window "Luna! How are you?"
Luna Smiled "Im doing fine Aiyano, how about you?" she asked as she approached the side of the car
She was so happy to see Aiyano; they had been friends for years, so far back that Luna's fondest memory was playing with Aiyano. Aiyano was a strong, secure, young woman, she tended to have a very mischievous attitude, often attempting to fool others and get them into trouble just for her own amusement, thankfully most of the time it was harmless. Though Luna and there other friends would always say she acted just like the animal of her last name. Kitsune, yes, she was obsessed with foxes. She was very close to Luna's age, just a surprising 5 days off of Luna's, they celebrated birthday together because of it. She was Luna's height but had a very, very thin frame, and had long dark brown hair, often it was confused for Black. Luna would always be with Aiyano at school, if there ever was an absolute impossibly inseparable friend, Aiyano would be the one. Tonight she wore a black dress that was accented by gold. Around her neck was a pendant shaped in the form of a fox.
"What about me?" Takashi voiced his false displeasure from the driver's seat.
Luna smiled back "How are you Takashi? Bored of driving Aiyano around?"
He laughed and gestured mildly to Aiyano "She hasn't been too much trouble…..yet" he said narrowing his eyes
Takashi was a newer addition to the Luna's list of friends, he was a laidback, Patient and but sloppy and clumsy, but he was still a cool guy to hang around. Luna had met him several years back when Aiyano introduced them, Together Aiyano and Takashi made one heck of a pranking team, that is when they get along. Luna swore they butt heads more that rams
Aiyano pouted and cut them off before Luna could say anything back.
"AS Luna was saying…." She said giving a glare at Takashi and then turned back to Luna
"Yes Luna I am doing great, Im really excited for this party, I can't believe that Ichirou would have thrown such a large one for his birthday!"
Takashi took his hint to keep quiet
"Yea There is supposed to be almost one hundred people there, I can't believe that ichirou would invite us, considering how we have never met in person. I mean he is very popular and probably has plenty of other people to invite…." Luna said with an unsure expression
Aiyano waved her hand with an unimpressed Look about her "Yea he invited 100 people that he likes, don't know why he invited us, but I guess he ran out of friends, But even still I've been to parties that were WAY better than this one, but you know, let's give it a go, see how things turn out"
Takashi spoke up with an annoyed tone, Takashi's famous coarseness with Aiyano flared up "So are we going to go then? Or are we going to sit here all day and Talk about nonsense" he said, still a little sour from Aiyano berating him
Luna and Aiyano both stuck out their tongues at the same time, Takashi grimaced
Aiyano opened the door of the car and flipped up the seat, Luna then sat down in the back, and Aiyano did so as well, so she could speak face to face with her old friend
"Anything else before we take off?" Takashi asked as he turned around to Luna
Luna shook her head, her red hair waving with the motion
Takashi gave a half smile and put the car into gear
Luna and Aiyano spent most of the time spouting back and forth nonsense, well it was nonsense to Takashi, he was just trying to concentrate on the road ahead of him and not what the two girls where talking about.
He shook his head, girls could talk forever!
While Takashi zoned out; Luna was presented with a recurring and rather annoying question
"Luna, Tonight a lot of guys are gonna be at the party, anyone that you have in mind?" Aiyano asked fluttering her Eyebrows, her blue eyes narrowed
Luna shook her head and sighed exasperatedly "Aiyano this question is getting old; it's bad enough that you ask me so much at school, why do you keep at it?"
Aiyano shrugged sheepishly "Sorry Luna, I just thought….you know….it's something that we could share, I mean, you already know who I like" Aiyano said blushing a crimson red as she looked away
Luna had to stifle a laugh "Yea Aiyano, I know he likes you too, why not just confront him finally?" She said snickering at her friend's Flustered attitude
Aiyano blushed an even darker shade of red if it was possible "Oh! No, no, no, no! I-it's supposed to be the guy who asks out the girl right? Right?" She asked as her speech began to break up
Luna Giggled "Not always Aiyano, the girl can ask the guy out sometimes….I think…." She said with a pondering expression
Aiyano shrugged her shoulders weakly "If you say so…."
Luna placed a caring hand on her shoulder "you'll be fine Aiyano just…" Luna was cut off by Takashi
"Hey guys we are here! I told you it wasn't too far from Luna's!" He said as he parked out front of a massive house, the curbs adjacent to it were packed full with cars of all shapes and sizes from the other party guests. The House itself was lit up like the American city of New York during The New Year
Aiyano blinked quickly "Well then…..I suppose you weren't kidding Takashi when you said it was just 7 minutes from Luna's Apartment"
Luna in the meantime was struggling with the seat, her tongue sticking halfway out of the side of her mouth
"Man Takashi why don't you clean your car more!" She exclaimed when the Seatbelt clasp finally gave way
He shrugged and gave a goofy grin, earning a twitch of an eyebrow from Luna as she closed her eyes in anger
Aiyano patted her back "now, now Luna let's just go enjoy the party"
She turned to her and sighed "Fine" she said simply as she struggled to get out of the small car. As soon as Luna got out, Aiyano followed suit, eager to get out of such a cramped space
They started to walk to the House with just a few sounds of the girl's heels and the slamming of car doors from other party goers
When Luna finally got up close to the house her jaw dropped slightly, her Sea foam green eyes wide with amazement, The Music wasn't too loud but you could still hear a muffled bass beat from outside, Even still, she was kinda surprised that no one had called the Police yet. The house wasn't that much of a mess surprisingly, Luna thought as she approached it. A few people that she recognized from her school were outside the door, drinking and talking.
"Oh hey Luna! Aiyano! What's up?" A young man said with a grin and a hand in his pocket, Aiyano's Eyes brightened up at the sight of the young man whom was clad in the school uniform of navy blue shirt and matching pants, he most likely just got done with night school.
Luna waved to him, Aiyano walked over to him; Luna spotted her in her peripheral vision
Luna rolled her eyes; she turned around preparing to say something to Takashi, when she did, she blinked. He wasn't behind her anymore.
She narrowed her eyes and her gaze drifted left, sure enough Takashi was next to one of his buddies, No surprise there
Luna inhaled and chuckled she walked to the door, if her friends were going to have fun, so was she.
She stepped up the stairs and grasped the doorknob
As soon as she opened the door she felt the blast of the bass from the speakers, her whole face expressed nothing but pure awe
For a party things were quite clean, the drinks were not spilled, the chips were not scattered all over the floor, she stepped in further, passing a few chatting teenagers, she brushed some of her silky red hair behind her ear, she was a bit nervous with all the prying eyes, most of them belonging to males. She strode over to the stairs which were right near her, she stepped up to the second floor; it looked out over the main room
When she reached the top she looked out to the foyer, she was struck with surprise, Aiyano was right, this was a big party
Easily 30 kids were in this room alone, either on the couches or dancing on the large wooden floor, a Disk jockey was playing next to the large T.V. He was flanked by two huge speakers, both were literally shaking, Luna winced at the overly loud music, it made her ears numb, as she placed her fingers into her ears, Ahh…much better
She gasped lightly when she heard her favorite song, she quickly removed her fingers from her ears and turned back to the stairs, and she hurried down them and walked to the Foyer, now was her time to dance!
Even before she pushed her way through the crowd she was already beginning to sway to the song
She grinned from ear to ear; this was her kind of party! And that was all it took, a bit of adrenaline rush and the sounds of a party were the requirements to make Luna a very confident female, watch out gentlemen, Heartbreaker on the floor
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed someone approaching her; she swiftly turns around to face the person
A young man jumped back from her quick movement, he chuckled nervously
She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms "Yes?" she asked as she sized him up
He folded his hands as they began to sweat "Well, I've seen ya around school and I thought m-maybe you would like to dance?" he asked as he cleared his throat afterwards
Luna, feeling devilish, nodded her head with a smirk, He seemed nice enough and she needed a dance partner, nothing more. The young man brightened up
She raised a finger "Ah, ah, only if you think you can keep up!" She said with a toothy grin
He chuckled, feeling a bit more comfortable; "well I'll try"
He took her hand in his, and carefully placed his other hand above her hip
The music rose in tempo, as she stepped he did the equal and opposite, he swayed side to side with ease, Luna was decently surprised. About half way through the song she pulled away from him, he gave a questioning look; he seemed to actually enjoy her in his arms
She only smiled and began to dance on her own, each of her movements swinging with the song, she was just so….Brave, she danced like no one was watching and didn't care about the stares she was getting, how could she do it? He would be shaking in his boots by now dancing alone in front of all these people! When the song finally finished so did she. He stood in awe
She walked toward him in his stupefied state, and trailed her finger under his chin
"That is how you dance" She said with a voice like silk and walked to the glass doors that led outside, wanting to get a little fresh air. She stopped at the door and looked back at him one last time before leaving
-787-
Aiyano finally pushed her way through to the door, that guy was a jerk! She huffed in anger; he was nothing but a lecherous pervert!
As soon as she scrambled through the door she scanned back and forth for her friend, she grimaced, how was she going to find her friend now with all these people?
She moved up a bit away from the door, she stopped to ponder quickly where she may be. Just then a song reaches its way to her ears
Luna's favorite song
She immediately turns to the Foyer, the source of the music, and walks into it; sure enough within the crowd she can see Luna dancing with another guy, near the center of the mass of teens
She laughs
"And Luna says she doesn't like anyone!" She giggled
She watched, admiring both of their Dancing skills, she crosses her arms smirking; a slight feeling of pride that her friend actually had some interaction with a guy for once
It seemingly ended just as soon as it started for Aiyano; she only got to see her friend with a guy for a few seconds.
"Aw man! It was just getting good!" she thought forlornly
But she perked up "Even If I can't watch anymore, I can still call Luna to the carpet!" She turns her narrow gaze to the spot where Luna and the young man were in the center of the group. She gasps shortly, she's gone! Aiyano steps down to the foyer, looking around for her Red and white clad friend, But sees her nowhere on the dance floor, To her right though a blotch of red an d white appears in the corner of her eye, She looks over and sure enough Luna is Outside in the zen garden. Gazing up at the moon. Aiyano sighs with a smile and walks to join her friend
-787-
Luna let the wind wash over her as she leaned on the railing of the porch, she looked out over the massive Zen garden, and the Full moon was like a diamond in the sky, illuminating everything in a ghostly white glow, as the wind rolled through the almost silent area of the house Luna smiled, everything was…just…. awesome, That boy she danced with was funny, a bit too shy but she liked him, Her heart was still racing from how close they were to each other. She never interacted with guys, Not just because her school separated the two genders, but because she never really wanted anything to do with them, but tonight…..she just felt…alive. Her ears perked when she heard the sliding doors from the house open, she turned her head to see Aiyano, a goofy but smug grin on her face
"Oh hey Aiyano! You enjoying the party?" Luna said as she stood up from leaning on the railing, Aiyano walked toward her steadily
"Oh Im liking it so far, just that guy I was talking to was a total jerk….." she said with a growl and shut her eyes tight, her hands balled into fists. Her eyes opened again but with mischief this time "But I know someone who found a guy that wasn't a jerk"
Luna looked confused, who was she talking about? She looked back to Aiyano and noticed who she was staring at….her, she blushed profusely
"Him? Y-yea he was cool and good dancer that's for sure" She said as she went back to leaning on the rail, not able to bear looking her friend in the eyes anymore
Aiyano giggled, liking the reaction she was earning from Luna "You sure that was it? I don't recall anyone dancing like that with someone who they thought was just 'cool'" Luna grumbled and turned away, her face turning a reddish tint. Aiyano turned her head to the sound of the sliding doors opening; she gave a small smirk when she recognized the boy right away
Luna looked over her shoulder lamely, not really concerned with the intruding clamor, her mind jolted when she noticed it was the boy who she danced with. She didn't look at him right away
He walked up and bowed to Aiyano courteously
"Why hello, are you her friend?" He asked Aiyano as he looked toward Luna, Aiyano was just about to speak but Luna spoke for her; she sat upright and turned to the both of them
"Yes she is, her name is Aiyano"
Aiyano closed her lips, no need for her own introduction now she thought with narrowed eyes
He cleared his throat "Well it's nice to meet you" He then turned to Luna
"You are an amazing dancer, I-I never caught your name?" He asked her
Luna smirked at the compliment "You were pretty good yourself, my name is Luna, yours?"
A noticeable amount of tension fell off his shoulders "Oh that's a beautiful name, my name is Ichirou"
Aiyano's eyes widened and she stared at Luna with a devilish grin
Luna looked confused "Wait….you're Ichirou? Isn't this your party?" She asked while pointing a finger at him
He nodded with his hand behind his back in a proper manner, he stood up straight; Feeling a bit prideful that they knew his name
Luna's jaw hung open slightly, a bit puzzled and conflicted that she just danced with the richest and most popular boy in school, even if she never got to see him. Their school separated boys from girls and the only time the Boy and girls could see each other was the very beginning of school and the very end, lunch was another time but Luna always went with Aiyano and Takashi to go eat lunch off campus.
"Anyways I would like you to know that you are welcome to my parties any time at all" he said with a smile, a nervous one, but none the less
Luna bowed, as it is courteous "Thanks Ichirou, I'll have to take you up on that offer" she said with a bright smile
He beamed "Well you see, at school I don't have many true friends, this party in a sense was to try and meet some people and possibly make friends" he sighed and continued
"It is bittersweet to know that you Luna are the only one that has been truly nice" He said with a half-smile
Luna's could only express disbelief, how could he not find any friends?
"You don't have many friends Ichirou?" Luna asked with a look of skepticism
He shook his head with a frown "I'm Afraid not Luna, though I have many admirers that are all they are. But I am glad that I am able to call you a friend'
Luna was going to continue if she wasn't so flustered at his comment, she felt so odd to be considered the friend of someone she had just met, she didn't know, but she was happy to be called a friend
Ichirou went to speak yet again but he was interrupted
They all turned to the sound of the door sliding open once again; it interrupted Luna's thought process. A young man poked his head out the door, and the music blared through.
"Yo ichirou! Come on and join us! They are just about to start the contest!" he said as he slid the door closed, the music muffled yet again from behind the thick glass
Ichirou turned to the girls with a sigh, obviously not wanting to leave "Well ladies, thanks for your time, I'll see you later" he said as he walked to and then through the door.
Once she was sure he wasn't looking, Luna Exhaled sharply, she let herself collapse and supported herself with the railing of the Stone garden. She turned once again to the Moon's captivating embrace as she attempted to stabilize her emotions
"Geez Luna, Sorry I didn't even recognize ichirou with him all dressed up! His Hair is even cut all short! He never cuts it short!" Aiyano exclaimed to her, She felt a bit stupid to have not noticed sooner
Luna's eyebrow twitched with mock anger "Yea Aiyano it would've been nice to know, considering if word got out every girl in the high school with be at my throat!" The sad part was she wasn't exaggerating
Aiyano shrugged her shoulders and gave out a soft unsure chuckle
Luna's deep green eyes still focused out at the moon, Trying to drown out all the commotion in her head. Aiyano sighed not sure why she kept returning to look at the moon.
Aiyano leaned on the railing with Luna, as they say if you cant beat them, join both gazed at the Full moon, its beams now only hindered by the slender but long silver cirrus clouds. Both Luna and Aiyano were taken in by its beauty.
"Wow…its beautiful…..isn't it?" Aiyano said she brushed her dark brown hair out of her face and looked over to Luna; Waiting for her response
"Yea….I Love the moon…..I just…..I don't know why…I guess it was from my Childhood, my dad would take me out on to our garden back at my old house and we would star gaze, Sometimes we couldn't even see some of the constellations from all the lights in the city…..but dad would always say 'Don't worry, at least the moon is still with us' im guessing Grandpa must have done the same thing with dad when he was young, because he loves the moon too…" Luna chuckled at the last part
"I guess that's why my name is Luna" She added with a mildly amused tone
Aiyano nodded, listening to every word, Luna didn't talk much about her parents, All that Aiyano knew about them was that they were…..A: Rich….B: They were crazy protective of their only child and C: Luna has never been out on her own so when her parents finally let her live on her own (under their ever watchful eye of course) She went nuts and went to every party and gathering in sight
Luna was so captivated that she didn't notice that the clouds were slowly rolling out of the way of the moon.
She finally was shaken out of her daze when her muscles began to tense and her senses became very alert, Luna gasped
'Oh no not now please!' She thought to herself, now was one of the worst times for this to happen, she knew she needed to get this under control now!
She stood up quickly, her neck a little sore from leaning over so much
"I'll be right back Aiyano!" she said with a hurried pace as she ran to the door, her mind swimming with all manner of anger, worry and concern
"What? Wait! Where you going?" Aiyano said turning to her quickly, her hair sliding from the jolt of moment and covered her face
"I forgot my phone!" Luna said quickly as she shut the door behind herself, leaving her friend perplexed
Aiyano fixed her hair with a scoff "Luna….why are you so weird sometimes?" she said placing a hand on her hip and rolling her deep blue eyes
Luna pushed through the crowd, her stomach aching and her heart beating at record speeds, she was breaking out in a cold sweat, she knew all too well what would follow if she couldn't get it under control. First the tension came, then the awful sickening feeling, why now of all places?
Luna passed through the foyer as quickly as she could, she hurried down a white carpeted hall, it was rather large and had many doors on either side, she looked for a bathroom or someplace where no one could barge in on her.
She found one door slightly ajar, she quickly swung it open and backed into the room while closing the door, making sure no one was following her, one was watching from a distance. She turned around to see she was in a small bedroom, most likely a guest room. Its wasn't anything special aside from having pure white linens, in fact it reminded her a lot of her apartment in size, but heck, her apartment was bigger than this room and that's saying something.
She looked around making sure the room had no one in it, but she was sure that it was vacant.
She sat down on the bed taking a deep breath and closed her eyes, the heat slowly started to go away and her muscles relaxed, she slowly opened her eyes, she brought her hand to her face to try and rub away some of the aching in her head.
She stopped, her eyes widened, she removed her hand from her face…..
Her hands…..they had…claws
She quickly grasped her clawed hand in her other hand and hugged them close to her chest, straining as she attempted to reverse the transformation
She just hoped that no one saw her like this; if she was discovered it would be disastrous
She let out a huge sigh and fell back on the very comfortable bed; she curled up on it, feeling a bit insecure and drained from that 'heart attack' moment
Her mind moved so fast she could barely keep up with herself, if her claws had shown and she didn't know…What else could have been shown? Was she starting to grow fur in the middle of the crowd? Did they notice? She didn't feel any fur piercing her skin, or noticed people staring…. but that still doesn't mean that no one saw…..maybe it would be safe just to leave the party now. She was just about to leave when a noise reached her ears
She jumped up with a stiff gasp, the doorknob started to turn…..
"Oh no…."