Travel with me. Chapter 2
"Who am I?"
Her soft voice echoed through the endless darkness as her body drifted along, her hair dancing gracefully about her face. "I feel like I'm floating away, but where? Where am I?" She felt something beneath her feet as her ebony hair settled over her shoulders with a few long bangs over her closed eyes. "Yoru," she heard someone whisper but she refused to open her eyes. "Yoru, humph what a weird name," a voice hissed. She opened her eyes slowly in hopes of seeing a face, only to be met by a cover of black. No stars, no moon, no sun, nor street lights to accompany her. "Give it up, you will always be alone." The voice said, as if it knew that her eyes were searching around. "I hope you like the dark," another voice teased. Many different voices began to whisper around her. She held her chest with her hand trying to keep it from falling apart all together. The voices continued to beat against her like waves against the shore. Tears filled Yoru's eyes and fell to the ground.
The voices became quiet chirping crickets and a soft pale light blinked behind her. She turned around quickly to welcome the light with all of her. Its blinking was similar to a heartbeat and she became captivated by it. She was fearful that it would disappear so she sat and continued to stare. She finally realized that it was the moon speeding through its cycle. Many blinks passed before it slowed to the point each stage was recognizable. This calmed the once frantic wolf, she would time her eyes to close when the moon was a tiny crescent and open them when it would appear again. A soft voice spoke to her, "My dear child, you are never alone. Look for the flowers that bloom in hearts of those like you." The now full moon revealed her sitting in a field of buds stretched as far as her eyes could see. The buds were small and looked fragile, the stems stood tall almost burying her. The field leaned slightly to the left as her hair danced over her left shoulder. She quickly looked to the right and saw a beautiful, slightly wrinkled, pasty skinned woman with long silver and smiled. "I'll always be here. If you need me, you know where to find me."
"Shake a leg runt. You're fallin behind again!" Hige called back to smaller companion who jogged as close as he could to him. "I told you its Toboy!" Hige just shrugged and turned his attention towards the white wolf, who stopped to take in his surroundings.
"You smell it too?"
"Something's barely living a about a yard to the left."
The others turned in the same direction and saw a slight hump on the ground. "Shouldn't we go see what it is? It could be a human who needs help." Tsume loathed humans and shot Toboy a nasty glare. He was turning back to continue forward until he heard Hige shout, "Hey! It's one of our own." Toboy trotted over curious to see what exactly Hige was talking about. 'You've got to be joking.'
Hige squatted closer to the body and brushed off some of the snow that covered the wolfish body. 'What a babe, and she's been injured.' He looked carefully at the charred brown fur spotted with blood and stripped with cuts across her flanks, her back, and other place on her body. He looked up at Kiba with a deep frown. "Looks like whoever did this got her real good." Tsume said finally closing the circle around the body. They all stood silently staring at the seemingly dead female that lay before them. Tsume shifted uncomfortably as questions began to form in his head. Needless to say he didn't want to stay any longer and find out.
"We should get going."
"But we can't leave her here!" Hige said.
"Yeah, there's a storm coming and she could die out here!" Toboe agreed.
"That's not our problem!" Tsume yelled.
"But she's one of us! How can you turn your back on your own?" Toboe asked.
"There are just some things you'd never understand. Just Look at her! She's obviously been in a fight a, and would cause nothing but trouble, we can't afford to have unwanted company following us."
'Like your one to talk.' Hige thought to himself.
Kiba gently scooped her up and cradled her in his arm as if to say 'She's coming with us, and that's final.' "We'll take her to the next town, but it's up to her if she wants to travel with us or on her own." Tsume wasn't happy about it but couldn't object. All he could do was suck his teeth in defeat.
The sky was painted blue by the afternoon sun that shown through a slightly dense forest. A small pathway cut through leading to the town that was on the other side. An old lady sat under the trees, eyes closed and smile as if she was remembering something pleasant.
"I've been waiting for you, little one." The lady said in a voice that was sweeter than candy. A young wolf timidly stepped from behind the trees. Facing the woman the wolf bowed, "You called for me Elder Kana?"
She chuckled "There's no need to be so formal, Yoru. Relax and come sit with me. We have much to discuss."
The girl skipped happily next to Kana. "It's been some time since we last met hasn't grandma?"
Her black sneakers squeaked as she placed her legs to the side. "You look lively and well." Kana leaned over and kissed her forehead. "And you've grown out nicely, I see." Yoru pulled back blushing trying to close her dark blue sleeveless vest that was revealing a bit of cleavage. Then she placed her long dark almond hair over her chest and folded her arms. "You know I can't help that grandma," she said plucking at the strings at the end of her grey shirt.
"I see you tore your shirt and jeans again."
"It wasn't my fault."
Kana chuckled. "Do you know why I called you here?"
Yoru shook her head. "I've been dreaming of blood and flowers for some time now. I fear that our pack will meet with trouble soon."
Yoru gripped her arms trying to keep a straight face. "If it wasn't for me, everything would be different now. None of this would be happening if I was never born. It's because of my stupidity father"
Elder Kana locked the young girl in a loving hug. "Don't ever let me hear you speak like that again. You brought joy and laughter to him and to me as well." She let go and looked Yoru in the eyes with a soft smile and brushed a few of her bangs out her face. "You are a lot like him you know." Kana sat back and looked up through the trees.
"You pups mean everything to us. You are our past and our future so we do what we must to ensure the pack's safety." Yoru opened her mouth to speak but Kana held up her hand.
"Such an unexpected intrusion, what do you want? Show yourselves."
Two wolves, younger than the elder, slinked from the shadows and gave their respects. "We're sorry but Elder Kuro would like to speak to you."