Stage 8: Whispering Wings

Part One: Trapped

It was all so still and so cold the next morning, as Tsume gingerly got up to his feet.

It wasn't until the next two minutes that he realised he was still in his wolf form. Tsume looked around and realised he was inside a huge cage, and then he looked down at his feet. Dried blood was smeared on the steeled plate of the cage, all the way down to the edge of the floorboards.

Damn, where the hell am I? Tsume growled as he fiercely gripped onto the bars. He felt his head throb, I seriously need some aspirin right now.

"Took you a while to wake up. I was starting to get a little lonely."

Tsume turned around surprised...as usual. There was another cage placed a few inches away from his cage, as a shadow emerged from the damp darkness surrounding the room. Apparently, that person was Mika. Tsume's eyes began to widen straight-away.

"YOU!!" Tsume growled, "You were that creepy guy that took Toboe and that girl that was with him away!!"

Mika frowned over his response, "Wow, that's pretty harsh. You sure are different from other people. Probably not the type who's not all so sociable I assume."

Tsume gruffed as he took his hands off the bars, then he sat near the walls with his arms crossed, "I don't give a damn about what people think. I just want to stop somewhere, have some decent food, and go home."

Mika looked at the ground of his cage as he spoke, "Well....actually they served some food fifteen minutes earlier..."

Tsume widened his eyes again and bashed the insides of his cage with every inch of rage in his body. He gripped the bars with force and started to yell without any meaning to. "THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP?? I WOULD'VE HAD A NICE MEAL RIGHT NOW!!!!"

"Relax, relax." Mika replied calmly, "I wasn't that stupid to not spare some food. I told them to give you some extra biscuits in case you woke up."

In an instant Tsume's stomach began to growl and he felt his throat go dry. He lost his gripping with the bars as he slowly cooled off the last of his rage.

"Well, I guess it won't be so bad." Tsume waited for Mika to bring in the dry biscuits. Already it's been five minutes and then Tsume lost his patience as he turned around.

"Hey you!" Tsume hollered over towards Mika, "Where are those god-forsaken biscuits that you were mentioning from earlier? I'm starving!"

Mika looked in his over-sized pockets and noticed that his pockets were empty. He felt his insides go hot. He looked back at Tsume with a nervous smile, "Well....um you see...it's sort of a funny story...ummm....well, I have sort of a short-term memory span and those biscuits were so good, so I um.....ate them all...even I was dreadily hungry as you were...."

Tsume cracked open a wicked smile at Mika, and then answered somewhat in a grimly-calm manner, "You. Ate. All. Of. The. Biscuits."

Mika nodded his head slowly, and he began to feel his heart pounding heavily.

"YOU FUCKING RETARD!! I SWEAR, WHEN I GET OUT OF THIS DAMN CAGE, I'M GOING AFTER YOUR HEAD!!"

I sure made him angry....Mika thought to himself, Ayumu, please tell me that Anari and Toboe are safe!! Get your tails over here before this wolverine eats through the cage!!

- - - - - - -

The rain was pure as the skies were partially cloudy the following evening. As Ayumu walked down the empty streets all by his lonesome, he began to notice the shops closing left and right. 'What a sleepy town this turned out to be...' Ayumu replied to himself as he began to unwrap his scarf that layed on his porcelain-white skin.

The cool evening's breeze touched his skin, as he began to close his eyes and hoped for a miracle to happen. This feels nice... He thought to himself, Why can't we have this type of weather every single day?

"I could make that happen for you....if you want."

Ayumu re-opened his eyes with surprise, he turned around to see a girl almost the same age as he is. She was a pretty girl, with strawberry-blonde hair and a bit of natural curls here and there. She wore a white choker with pink polkadots on them and a big brown leather coat. She gave him a very charming smile, her cheeks were just a tiny bit on the rosey side. All Ayumu could do was stare at this blonde cutie.

"Hey, are you gonna stare or are you gonna talk?" The girl giggled with such charm that Ayumu couldn't possibly stand.

"Oh! Um sorry...see, you startled me so much, so that's why I ended up pretty speechless."

"Sorry about that." The girl smiled again as she let out a hand and said, "I'm Leilani. And you are?" Ayumu continued to stare into her eyes, and then broke out into a nervous voice.

"A-a-ayumu. Erm....so, where'd you come from?" Leilani turned around and smiled.

"I'm from another city. I travel alot with my father, and I just wanted to visit Freeze City for a reason. To find the spot where my mother and father first met each other." Ayumu turned away as he took his scarf and wrapped it around his neck again.

"So..." he began to talk after the first three minutes. "Did you find the spot where they met yet?" Leilani smiled as she helped to wrap his scarf around his neck while she whispered into his ear.

"I sure did. I'm visiting this place right now." She let go of his scarf with such grace, he turned around to see she was walking backwards. Leilani waved at him and then Ayumu began to blink, dumbfoundedly.

"My wish is to find true love in the same place just like my parents did." She replied softly, as she began to walk away. But then she looked back at him. "Wish me luck...Ayumu-kun. Goodnight to you." Ayumu watched her go into the depths of the city streets. It was like as if he was watching an angel uprise to heaven, who already has given him the gift to dream or to see her again. Then, his eyes faced much attention to the palm of his hand, he softly whispered out her name.

"Leilani..." he said.

- - - - - - -

I NEED to get out of here.

I NEED to get a comfy bed to sleep in.

I NEED to get out of this god-forsaken cage already.

I'm so freaking hungry.

So much torchure.

So much pain.

I hate my life.

I wish they would've killed me earlier when they've got the chance.

There is too much stupidity to deal with in one lifetime.

"Okay," Mika sighed loudly, "How long are you gonna keep up with this list of negative thoughts in your head?"

I don't know...Tsume replied, tapping his paw against the bars, Maybe until I 'starve' to death??

"You worry too much!" Mika laughed aloud, "Y'know, I found myself in alot of prisons, but I always managed to find a way out everytime."

"Oh really?" Tsume replied back, changing back to human form, "Hurray. Like I care about how many times you end up in cages. Actually, I don't care at all. I mean, what's the point if you just talk to me at all if you escaped that many times? Why don't you use those little magic tricks of yours to break us free??"

Mika shrugged and laid back near the metal plate of the cage, "Nah. I don't really 'feel' like it."

Tsume felt a blood vessel snap inside his head, "WHAT??!! Why the hell won't you break us out??"

Mika shrugged, "Because, unlike you, all you care about is yourself. When I get stuck, I think about putting myself at risk to save my friends. When I'm with someone selfish, my magic power deactivates. Thus, I cannot use any magic for the moment."

Tsume started bashing the insides of his cage again, "You are really starting to piss me off you know that? And I know you're lying about this whole 'not-using-magic' gig. So, wave your little pretty boy fingers and bust us out of here! I WANT OUT!!"

"Will you two nags quit arguing already?? It's hard to drive this van with all of the screaming!!"

Mika and Tsume turned around to see a automatic door open behind them. The sunlight glistened, as a female figure stood in the light.

Tsume's eyes widened, "No...it can't be..."