Disclaimer: Typical disclaimer applies…

Summary: After a gruesome war that nearly brought the two races to extinction, vampires and werewolves have been locked in an unstable truce from centuries. But when a certain vampire suddenly finds a certain werewolf's blood is all that he can consume palatably… Will it result to another bloody war or something else entirely?

Chapter 10

Picking out a large cherry blossom tree situated on top of a hill, Natsume slowly walked towards it and sat down beneath its sprawling canopy. The tree was within seeing distance of the castle, but far enough to let Mikan loose without worrying most members of his coven. The spot was also surrounded by an open area, filled with nothing but grass. All in all, it was a perfect spot to let Mikan ran around in without totally losing sight of her.

Natsume smirked at himself. He realized he was treating Mikan like a pet. His pet, to be more precise. Never in his long life had he ever placed a werewolf under the category of a pet. He looked back to glimpse at Mikan, following behind him while cutely glancing around at her surroundings. Natsume shook his head. She's acting very much like she's innocent, curious, and tame, of all things!

Mikan silently trailed behind him. She wouldn't have done anything, except cause a bit of havoc, if she ran around the inside the castle. I mean, who wouldn't be scared encountering a huge predator in the hallways of the place you consider as your home and safe haven? Besides, she needed to uphold the truce on the werewolves' side, killing vampires in vampire territory wasn't part of her agenda. She smirked. But the vampires didn't have to know that, did they?

Moreover, the direction Natsume's herding her seems appealing. She'd already spotted a couple of rabbits and hares hiding in the tall grass. Since she already had her dinner tonight, she doesn't have to hunt for food. But her eyes couldn't help lighting up as she thought of giving chase. Her muscles instinctively stretched, readying her body to bolt after the little bundles of fur.

The moon was only a quarter out tonight, but it gave off enough light for their nocturnal eyes to reflect and see with. Settling down by the base of the tree, Natsume turned to Mikan, his eyes emitting a soft, crimson glow in the darkness. Mikan's eyes shone a muted hazel in turn.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked. "You're free to run now."

"Just making sure," Mikan grinned at him. "Well, in that case, I'll be off." She turned her back to him, but then glanced back over her shoulder again. "Um, you mind if I change into my wolf form?"

"Just do whatever you want," Natsume snapped.

Mikan wasn't fazed by his irritation. "Okay then," she grinned and shifted.

Natsume squinted from the momentary flash of light from her transformation. He opened his eyes again to find Mikan loping away. Leaning back against the trunk, Natsume set himself to watch.

Crouching in the tall grass, Mikan stalked her intended prey, or more exactly, plaything. She doesn't intend to hurt the rabbit she's targeting, just chase it around. Looking over the veil of grass, she spotted a small colony of rabbits just a few meters away. The rabbits still haven't sensed her presence. Being downwind from them, the wind was taking her scent away from the rabbit colony.

When she judged the time was right, she pounced, catching the rabbits by surprise and sending them scrambling for cover. She'd set her sights on a single rabbit among them first, ignoring the others for the moment so as not to be distracted.

Natsume watched as she flushed the rabbits out, his eyes following her as she chased the rabbit around the grassland. Her wolf form was large, but she was quick and agile nonetheless. Her muscular but streamlined body easily making the turns and catching up to her prey with no trouble.

When Mikan caught up with the rabbit, she gave its back a little tap with her front paw, as if playing tag, and then bounded off to chase another rabbit. The game went on for about an hour, leaving the whole rabbit colony exhausted. Most of the rabbits had already hid themselves in a burrow, calming their little hammering hearts.

Once the last remaining rabbit started to limp from exhaustion, Mikan put a stop to the chase. She gently picked up the rabbit by the scuff with her jaws, and plodded towards the tree where Natsume sat watching her. Placing the rabbit beside Natsume for a second, she flashed back to her human form then cradled the rabbit in her arms.

"Was that a bit too much?" Mikan softly asked the rabbit in her arms.

The white-furred rabbit twitched its nose and tried to get away, still getting a whiff of the wolf's scent, which was also Mikan's. But it was too exhausted to move and protest, let alone escape.

"Hey, take it easy, little guy," Mikan said, tightening her hold on it to prevent it from hurting itself. "I'm not going to eat you. I just wanted to play. But I went a little overboard, didn't I?" she sheepishly grinned. "I'm really sorry about that, Bunny," she said, apologetically petting it.

The rabbit passively kept still in Mikan's arms, catching it breath and settling its pounding heart. The little animal was starting to calm down, realizing that it wasn't going to be Mikan's meal. But tonight's little chase had traumatized the hell out it, probably leaving it mentally scarred for the remainder of its life.

Once the rabbit had enough rest, Mikan stood up and carried it towards the area were she'd last spotted the rest of its colony. She glimpsed of another gray-colored rabbit along the high grass, seeming to be waiting for its companion's return. Setting the white rabbit down on the ground, she steered it towards the direction of its colony, expecting it to instantly hop off towards the rest. But the rabbit just stayed motionless on the ground, only turning to look at her as if asking why it was being released.

"Go on," Mikan prompted, giving it a gentle shove from behind. The rabbit kept staring at her with questioning eyes. "Your friends are waiting for you." The rabbit glanced over the grass towards it colony, then hopped towards it.

Mikan smiled seeing the rabbits being reunited, before shifting to her wolf form again. This time, she went off to find another colony – a colony of hares. After another hour, she came trotting towards the cherry blossom tree with a hare hanging from her jaw. She placed the exhausted hare on Natsume's lap, before she changed to her human form again.

Natsume frowned. Not because of the hare being placed on his lap, but due to a vague memory. He could hazily recall someone, a very significant figure in his distant past, handing him a similar animal to feed on. But he couldn't remember that person's face. The person's features were currently a blur in his mind.

The hare being snatched away of his lap pulled him out of his thoughts.

Taking the petrified hare by the scuff, Mikan began the same process as she'd done with the rabbit in soothing it. She really can't help it that they were naturally fearful of wolves. It was the survival instinct that had been ingrained in them, which gives predators, like her, the good chase that they like.

After she released the hare, she went back to sit beside Natsume. "So you won't mind me shifting to my wolf form, but how about my lycan form?" she smirked.

"I don't care," Natsume muttered with his eyes close. "I got this in case you try to attack me in any form," he said, retrieving an injection pen filled with sedative.

"You don't play fair," Mikan whined and pouted. "Just because someone attacked you with a tranquilizer, when I found you out cold on the forest floor, doesn't give you the right to underhandedly stab me and knock me out like that, too," she complained in a mutter.

Mikan's words staggered him. The memory of that night came back to him in flashes. He remembered a light in the forest catching his eye, and he sprinted off to investigate. The next thing he knew, he felt a presence creeping up behind him. Before he could turn around, a sudden, sharp pain exuded from the back of his neck. He recollected pain exploding in his skull as his head hit a rock before he blacked out.

He stared down at the injection pen in disbelief. Someone had used a tranquilizer to make him lose his consciousness that night. He felt a chill run down his spine. If that person hadn't decided to let the dawn finish him off, he would be dead by now. The person who attacked him could have easily chop off his head or cut his heart out while he was dead to the world and vulnerable.

"Hey," Mikan leaned forward and gently nudged his shoulder. "Are you okay? You've gone paler than usual," she observed worriedly.

Natsume shook his head, chasing the thought away. "I'm fine," he murmured. Before Mikan could confirm that he was telling the truth, Natsume shifted his position and laid his head on her lap.

Mikan was so shock by that unexpected action that she didn't know how to react. She was about to push him off but he suddenly spoke. "Just let me stay here for awhile," Natsume mumbled, closing his eyes and moving his head to a more comfortable position on her lap.

She forlornly stared down at him, but allowed his head to stay on her lap. She shrugged and leaned back on the trunk behind her. He wasn't being that much of a bother to her anyway. Her mind began thinking of her pack. The pack leaders were usually the one's who handle the day-to-day activities and problems. And, since the leaders only take the matter up to her when it's really serious, or when the whole pack will be affected by the decision, that gives her the freedom to go off on her own for most of the time

But even though her wandering off somewhere away from the pack stronghold was the usual arrangement, she regularly keeps in contact with them. She generally sends out a howl to her pack as a greeting and as a reassurance that she was fine. At the present, two weeks had passed without her dispatching even a single howl. Sooner or later, Hotaru was bound to suspect something might have happened to her.

Her beta and the rest of the pack might come looking for her. And if they found her being held captive by the vampires, it definitely isn't going to be a good sight. She sighed and closed her eyes. She'll have to find a way to remedy her lack of contact with them very soon.

Natsume wasn't actually taking a nap. His mind was busy pondering the possibility of someone trying to kill him. After going through the events of the night he was attacked and left for dead, he can justifiably conclude that the likelihood that someone was out to get him was highly probable. And he was sure that it was only a single person that had attacked him. So now the question is who would want him dead and why would that person want him dead?

The werewolves were the most evident suspects, since he was attacked in the forest. He frowned and opened his eyes, staring up at Mikan's face. But why would Mikan save him, if that was the case? Besides, his attacker was waiting to ambush him when he entered the forest, meaning that whoever it was had to know that he'll be taking that route that night. So, that leaves the members of his coven.

Why would anyone in the coven want to get rid of him? If the threat is coming from his coven, then there are a lot of possibilities why a member would want him dead, from someone having a serious grievance regarding his rule to the most ridiculously pitiful, petty reason that someone could come up with. But most valid and grave reason he could think of is the likelihood that they're gunning for his position.

He tried coming up with possible individual suspects, but he drew up a blank. He doesn't have enough facts on why anyone in the coven would want him to be nothing but ashes. The persons who will benefit the most with his death are Ruka and Aoi. It's definitely improbable that either of the two could be the culprit.

To have his position, that person needs to be a pureblood to indisputably become the coven's master vampire, which leaves Ruka out. Ruka won't be able to control the more aggressive members of the coven. And just the thought of being a master vampire causes Aoi to break out in hives. That's why those two doesn't like him wandering away from the coven without any notice.

He was still trying to come up with someone would want to kill him, when he found himself getting distracted. His eyes were trailing over Mikan's face, noting the fine arc of her eyebrows, the way her eyelashes delicately fan out with her eyes close, her smooth cheeks, and the straight line nose. His mesmerized inspection stopped on her lips, taking in its tantalizing color and its soft-looking texture. He wondered if it tastes as good and feels as soft as it looks.

Natsume mentally shook his head. What the hell was he thinking?! He's not thinking of kissing a werewolf! He is not thinking of kissing her, damn it!

"Hey, are you alright?" a voice cut through his self-protesting. "You're eyes have gone blank and distant," Mikan said, leaning down to peer closer at him. "You looked like you're a million miles away."

Natsume didn't know what possessed him right at that moment. But whatever it was, it made him raise his hand to her nape and pull her head closer to his face. His body seems to have gotten a mind of its own, lifting his head to the much needed inches that allowed him to mesh his lips with hers.

Mikan's eyes widened with shock. She sat there motionless and unresponsive, her mind taking awhile to process the abrupt occurrence of events. But before she could fully grasp what was happening, her body was already instinctively being to respond, returning the kiss without a thought.

Tracing her lower lip with the tip of his tongue then giving it a gentle tug, Natsume silently asked of entry. Mikan took the initiative, brushing against his tongue with her own, and deepening the kiss.

The kiss was slow and lingering, as if they have all the time in the world for that activity alone. Their tongues lazily rubbed against each other, learning and savoring the other's flavor. It wasn't a kiss of passion but of discovery. They took turns, giving and taking, meticulously exploring each other, finding the most sensitive spots and the kind of caresses which could incite a moan of pleasure from the other.

Minutes passed before they pulled back, disentangling their lips and taking in a gulp of air. Natsume licked his lips, as if to seal in her taste in his mouth, not wanting to lose it. She'd tasted and felt sweeter and softer than he could have ever imagined. And he wanted to taste her again.

Mikan cleared her throat. She was beginning to fidget from the intense way Natsume was staring at her. "I think I've had enough of a run tonight. We should head back inside," she proclaimed, slipping away from Natsume and standing up.

Natsume nodded in agreement and also stood up, before motioning for her to lead the way.

Hesitantly, Mikan turned and took the lead, but she couldn't help squirming. She could bluntly feel Natsume's gaze at the back of her head as they both made their way back inside the castle.

Hotaru stared out one of the stronghold's wide windows. Koko and Mochu sat behind her, getting uncomfortable due to their beta's impassive face and cold silence.

Mochu finally sighed, cutting into the quietness of the room. "We really shouldn't be worrying. This is Mikan we're talking about. It's usual for her to vanish somewhere after a pack gathering."

"Yes, it is," Koko joined in. "But Mikan also sends a howl every now and again, whenever she's away from the pack. It's been awhile now, and we haven't heard from her yet."

"Shut up, you two, I'm trying to think," Hotaru muttered in warning. She might not show it, but she's really getting anxious about Mikan. It's only been two weeks, but some members of the pack were starting to grow edgy without hearing from their alpha. If they don't get a howl from Mikan soon, there's going to be some colossal trouble brewing in the pack. "The pack's starting to become uneasy," she said, looking down at the cottages at the foot of the stronghold.

Koko and Mochu dolefully glanced at each other. They knew what an uneasy pack pertain. It means that, if they don't hear from Mikan soon, challenges would be issued. And without Mikan around, it'll be up to Hotaru, the beta, to meet those challenges.

"Don't worry about it, Hotaru," Mochu reassured her. "Koko and I will be there to back you up."

BLAG! Koko winced at the sound of Mochu hitting the floor.

"Who says I'm worried?" Hotaru glared down at the abused werewolf, a horseshoe glove encasing her hand. "And I didn't say anything about needing you two as backups."

"Well," Koko scratched the back of his head, "Mochu and I did promised Mikan we'll help you if there's any trouble with the pack, especially when she's not around." The comment earned him a frown from Hotaru. "Not that you need our help, of course," Koko stammered out, waving his hands in front of him. A sign that he doesn't want to end up like Mochu. "It probably was just Mikan's suggestion."

"The two of you backing me up won't do any good if the whole pack, including the other pack leaders, go berserk on us," Hotaru calmly stated that fact, before walking out the room.

Koko sighed and stared down at an unconscious Mochu. Hotaru was right. The three of them won't be able to handle it if the whole pack's in opposition. Even with him and Mochu backing Hotaru, they won't have the same impact in a pack challenge, unlike Mikan.

Mikan could effortlessly handle any challenges that are issued. Just the sight of her in wolf or lycan form was enough to intimidate any opponent. In those forms, she was easily twice the size of an ordinary werewolf. Add to that the advantage of being three times stronger than the average werewolf. The competition is literally trounced.

Koko sighed again, and helped Mochu off the floor. It looks like they'll just have to hope that Mikan sends out a howl soon. Or else they might end up in deep shit.

CHAPTER END

A/N: I know, it's a little late -.-… But I'm studying, and that's a very good excuse XD… T.T… You guys believe me when I say I'm studying, don't you? o.O… Well, still the same as before, constructive criticism, but no flames, allowed…