7/18/10...
...
The moon rose up over the land of Paradise, shedding a soft, white glaze across the sleeping mounds of buffalo and deer. A cool, quiet wind blew over the sleeping sun quivering the grass and rustling pine trees, where birds and a single owl sounded in protest of their waking.
A rabbit, upon waking herself, bounced across the grass, and popped her head from the green grass, large eyes gazing at the moon. A fox joined her side, and they looked at eachother, then back at the moon in wonder.
A white wolf raised its sleepy head from beside the depths of the rainbow pool. He catches his yellow eyes in his reflection, and his eyes widen. In the water, he sees a white orb in the sky. With a quick jerk, the wolf looks u into the sky, absorbed in the moon. No way..he thought. How can this be...?
Purring softly, a small lynx-like creature slept on the forest floor. Her ears twitched once, twice. Something was different. The bobcat opened her eyes, her body nestled in the damp leaves. Rising to her feet, the bobcat sees the deep glow of the moon through the forest, the glow casting shadows as beautiful as a horror movie. The wind moves into the trees, bleeding the scent of pine, insects, and water. She smiles and prances towards the fields.
The young man stands, his dark hair tossled by the wind, his mouth parted in amazement. A young girl joins him shortly, and he turns to greet her. He knows this girl as Myu. Seeing her, the young man spoke. "What is that up in the sky? Why is it so dark?"
The girl smiled and giggled softly. "Were you thinking about the moon in your sleep, Kiba?" she asks, teasingly.
"The moon?" asks the young man, Kiba.
Myu nods, and says. "It is the opposite of the sun. A crater in space, lit only by the sun's own rays. If the sun goes out, there will be no moon." When Kiba winced, Myu continued more gently. "But this will not happen. You had a moon in your world, Kiba, and you brought it here."
"How?" asked Kiba, tilting his head at her.
"Paradise is anything you want it to be." Myu said. Even as she spoke, Kiba recognized her words, and smiled.
Kiba looked back up the sky, and said, "Then I want the moon to stay forever."
Myu glanced down at his legs, and said. "Kiba, you're trembling!" When she looked back at his face, she saw his gaze stayed fixly on the moon. Her eyes softened. "Run, Kiba." she told him quietly, a smile on her suddenly sad face. "Run." And before her eyes, Kiba turned from man to a white wolf. With a short yelp-bark of excitement, the wolf ran off, loping down the green, sweeping field.
Standing alone by the glistening water, the girl smiled as she watched the wolf run.
The wolf's legs were on fire; tingling, burning, willing him to run until they give out. His head held high, the wolf smiled as a rabbit and fox, watching him, quickly scampered out of his way. Taking the chase, Kiba turned and followed the rabbit, silently dispite the hurrid trot of his feet.
The rabbit gave a squeak of alarm when Kiba nipped playfully at its fuzzy tail, the beat of its heart and stink of its fear making the canine aggresive. As if struck by a falling acorn, then the wolf pulled back and looked up into the sky. His head swam, and a deep stirring of emotions pulled in his heart. He had to let it out. Turning to the hill, the wolf ran- a streak of white, glowing silver by the moon. Panting lightly when he reached the top, the wolf sat down and looked across Paradise. His eyes half-closed over tired lids, but the pulling in his heart was more insense. Something inside him suddenly broke, sinking into darkness; he felt himself forgetting what he was supposed to do. Then, a memory ficked across his brain, and he echoed his vision.
The white wolf raised its head as he let out a soft, long howl into the sleeping world. The notes were full of pain, sorrow, and yet... Kiba's tail wagged very, very slightly when his song was finished. He pricked his ears, expecting something, but he did not know what. He listened. And as an empty nothing filled his ears, his tail stopped wagging. His passion faded quickly within his burning soul, and he was left with a deep lonliness. Kiba looked down at the grass around his paws, and shivered.
"Kiba?"
"Toboe!" the name shot from his mouth before he even knew it; as if by instinct, but when Kiba looked up, he saw nothing. Kiba's heart raced with uncertainty.
"Kiba...?"
The white wolf appeared human and looked behind himself at the speaker. It was the girl. But she was an animal; a bobcat. Her tail twitched happily. "Myu..." Kiba said, smiling.
Myu transformed.
Immediatly, his doubts and uncertainty melted, and he felt needy. The young man walked over to the young girl and took her hand tightly, his blue eyes piercing. "I'm sorry..." he said. But he didn't know why.
"No, your song was beautiufl!" said Myu quickly. She paused. "Who is Toboe?" asked Myu, tilting her human head.
But Kiba could only shake his head, brows tightening on his forehead. "I don't know."
Myu, sensing his sudden lonliness, pulled Kiba closer and hugged him. She sat down, pulling him down with her. This cheered the wolf up right away; he transformed into a white wolf and began licking the girl.
Pushing his large, wolfy head out of her face, Myu laughed. After a few seconds, she turned into a bobcat and allowed the wolf to carress her. She rolled onto her back, and Kiba pawed playfully at her belly, tail wagging. His ears were up on his head like a puppy, while Myu's ears were back, her throat making a soft, sweet purring sound. The moon light shown down on them, as if it couldn't look away from the innocent display of affection.
"Do you think it worked?" asked Kiba, sniffing the belly.
"It's a little early to tell, but I don't think so, Kiba." Myu answered gently, her voice only slightly hinting sadness. She was smiling.
"Then why arent you upset?" asked Kiba.
"We can always try again." she replied, sitting up as a human.
"They're only illusions, Myu." Kiba said, sounding almost harsh, stretching his human legs out in the grass. "It doesnt work that way."
"No...I know..." Myu looked down, hands on her knees. "I just..." the girl looked up into Kiba's face, smiling. "I just want us to have something to share. A piece of us- alive, breathing the air of Paradise."
"But it's imp-" Kiba was cut off by Myu's warm lips upon his own. She put her arms around his waist, her hands trailing up his back, fingers walking themselves up his neck, digging into his hair.
Kiba shuttered under her touch, and closed his eyes, kissing the girl back, hard- their mouths open, inviting the other in. He embraced the girl fully, pulling her against his beating chest.
The girl let out a gentle gasp of pleasure as Kiba's hands trailed up her sides, passing over her breasts. But Kiba moved his hands more tenderly to her face. Myu's arms trembled as they explored the young man's hair, but when he touched her face, she stopped shivering, and their eyes opened in union.
Purple gazed into blue. Blue into purple.
Kiba leaned closer to kiss her again, but Myu shrunk, and his arms closed over air. He looked down at his feet and saw the bobcat chose cleaning herself over being kissed. With a dog-ish sigh, Kiba turned wolf and sat down beside her. He watched the bobcat as she licked her delicate paws, then passed them over her face. She seemed to be struggling.
"Here," said Kiba, scooting closer to Myu. "Let me help." He began licking her gently across her face, chuckling inwardly as Myu made a face and closed her eyes against the wet tongue. They sat like this for awhile, with Kiba doing the feline's grooming.
The moon was gone.
When Kiba noticed this, he nearly barked in surprise. "What happened?" he asked hurridly, looking back at the bobcat.
"You stopped thinking about the moon the moment you stopped dwelling on the past, so the moon went away. You just never noticed when it did." replied the bobcat. "So now all is right wih the world; the past is the past. We can move on towards the future."
"When I'm with you," began Kiba shyly. "I am no longer lonely. I no longer have an urge to seak and find- because I've always found who I'm after. And it's you."
Myu turned human and stood up, smiling her small smile. She walked over and planted a soft kiss on the wolf's nose. "I love you, too, Kiba." she said quielty.
Kiba transformed swiftly and swept the girl into his arms, kissing her in the mouth. But even though Myu kissed back for a few moments, she turned into a bobcat and sprinted away, glancing behind her back for Kiba to chase, her laughter ringing through the air.
The wolf threw himself down the hill after her, his ears up, searching. She enjoyed this game of hide-and-seek, obviously, so Kiba himself had taken a liking to it. Sniffing, he found the bobcat hiding behind a rock, and he leaped over the rock to tag her- but she was already gone, seen bolting the opposite direction.
The buffalo herd was on the move. Myu made a mad dash for them and began prancing from between their legs.
Hesitating when he arrived at the heard, Kiba watched Myu in shock. Then he mustered up his courage and ran into the herd, dodging the massive, brown legs that enclosed him. Within the heavy breaths, and sound of earth breaking from the buffalo's feet, Kiba's legs became shakey, and he struggled to dodge the buffalo's steps as they moved carelessly towards greener pasters. Ahead, he heard the light ringing of the bobcat's laughter. A challenge. Then he spotted her- skipping lightly from animal to animal, she moved with the ease of an underwater dancer, planning her every move then carrying them out flawlessly.
Stupified, the wolf stopped moving and was nearly crushed by the buffalo- but a sudden shriek of his name broke him from his trance. He threw himself out of the way and- tail tucked- climbed up a steep hill to get away from the masses. A sharp bruising pain in his left side pulsed at every step, but he didn't remember getting hurt.
Crawling on his stomach, Kiba made the rest of the climb as a human, his breath coming out in hard jerks. I... I almost...died... thought Kiba wildly. But some one saved me... I heard my name...His eyes widened with a jolt of fear, and he sat up, looking back down at the heard. They had moved on, now, and all that laid was the small, curled-up form of a bobcat.
"Myu!" shouted Kiba. He threw himself down the hill, tripping over himself. When he made it to the bottom, he fell onto his side, his illusion was shattered, and he forced himself to rise. The pain returned to his side, and he glanced at it. He saw blood and small holes in his skin. But.. I jumped! Thought Kiba, suddenly filled with the urge to clean his wound. I was able to escape- unless... The wolf looked back at the bobcat and ran over, calling her name loudly. "Don't die on me, Myu..." he whined, slowing once he reached her side. He looked down at her and nudged her gently with his nose.
Myu did nothing.
"Myu!" Kiba began licking her, sniffing her, feeling her body for a pulse. In his panick, he could not feel one. "M-Myu..." A cold wind blew over him, and he looked up and around him. The world- Paradise- was changing. A darkness settled over the land, and he saw wolves in the distance. A gray one, and two brownish ones. Though strangers, Kiba was sure that they were like him. "Help!" he called to them. "Please, she's dying!"
But the wolves- as quickly as they appeared- vanished.
"No- no!" Kiba shouted. A long pause seemed to still time itself, and Kiba's heart dropped into depression. Without a heart to guide him, Kiba was forced to use his head. Maybe the pool can heal, he thought desperately. He looked down at Myu, who refesed to move. Snarling suddenly, he bent down and sized her by her neck, biting hard into her fur, missing the bone by mere inches in his recklessness. Myu's eyes flickered, then closed, never making a sound. But she was alive.
Turning human, the white wolf picked up the bobcat and walked towards the pool as quickly as he dared. The wind blew more fiercely around him, the cold chill of death seeping into his veins. "Myu..." Kiba said, his tone thick with pain and sorrow. "I knew I couldnt provide for you...but I didn't know I putting your life in danger by being with you..." Tears slipped one-by-one down his face. Tears which burned against his skin like angry wasps.
His illusion dropped.
"Myu..." The wolf's burden shuddered against his back, and Kiba's yellow eyes scanned the darkening Paradise he had came to love. "Please, don't die."
His feet moved with the frightened grace of a deer, his face contorted with pain. Myu... he thinks towards her; beautiful words no one speaks aloud, If you die...then I will die too. You are what I had been longing for, searching for...it was never Paradise. Myu...it was you. It was always you!
When the wolf reached the edge of the pool, the depths of it seemed to invite him it. As if they wanted him to drown. Was water really blood-thirsty?
Kiba laid the dying bobcat on the ground, then stepped into the water, testing it. The glowing surface brought him warmth, and he felt the effects of healing enter into his wound. He didn't wait for himself to heal- jumping out of the water, he snatched Myu by the neck and dragged her in with him. The wolf pushed his head under Myu's, and raised it up so she wouldn't drown.
In the whirlling darkness of Paradise, Kiba waited for his mate to be revived.
Sleep must have overtaken him, for when Kiba awoke, the sun was shining, and he was alone. He shouted her name without a single thought, "Myu!" He was on his feet in a split-second, sniffing the water. He crept to the hole in the water, where the dark blue depths turned from beautiful, to a black, nightmarish hell. Peering in, he did not see Myu.
"Kiba? Why do you look so anxious?"
Turning as human, Kiba spotted the girl sitting in the grass, twisting a purple flower in her hands. She was half-smiling until she took in the complete relief which filled Kiba's face. "What is wrong?" asked Myu, standing up, her eyes wide in alarm.
She's okay...Kiba thought, smiling inwardly. It...it must have been a dream. No. A nightmare. He walks over to her and takes her hands in his, their hands closing in on the flower, snuffing it out as if it wasnt there. "Nothing." Kiba said softly. "It was just a bad dream."
Smiling, Myu kissed his nose playfully. "They will leave in time." she assured him.
"Myu..." Kiba hesitated, his fingers closing more tightly around hers. "What happened last night?"
"Night?" asked Myu. "There is no night in Paradise."
Kiba nodded, then smiled. He felt calm. Already, the dream- the nightmare- was fading his memory by simply being with Myu. She is his purpose. He kissed her on the head, then down the bridge of her nose, then her lips.
But Myu stepped back, and said, "Kiba, are you sure you're all right?"
Kiba sighed, and looked up at the sun. He wanted to tell Myu his nightmare, but so much of it had already left his mind. So he told her the only thing he remembered. "I had a dream about the moon..." he said quietly.
Myu laughed quielty. "Kiba." she said, smiling. "That was not a dream."
"Everyday...with you..." Kiba said slowly, his words nearly slurring as he spoke his thoughts outloud. "Is like a dream...a wonderful dream which we share forever..."
"Nothing bad can ever happen to us here." Myu added, a short laugh following her words. She turned into a bobcat and began to prance around, her little paws swiping at Kiba's pants' legs.
Kiba turned wolf and licked the bobcat across her face, the nuzzled her in her chest. "I love you, Myu..." he said quietly.
Myu giggled and began to run. Kiba followed swiftly behind, his head light with happiness.
As the sun crept over the land of Paradise, a lone owl stirred in the forest. He takes flight and soars out into the open. Spotting the wolf and bobcat running around and prancing on eachother, the owl circles them high in the sky. He speaks, as if to himself. "Who are you? Where are you? Whether you are dead, or whether you are alive, it does not matter..." He flies over them as a vulture does a dying rabbit in a desert- as if waiting to bring them death.
...