Chapter 12: Tempting the Wolf
Her cheeks burning red, Mikan stood up in outrage, frustrated beyond belief at the wolf-man sat before her. She refrained the urge to stomp her foot, her head pounding. She needed answers damn it, and this guy, no matter how handsome he is, was only making her head run around in circles!
Rubbing her temples, Mikan sighed and said, "Will you please at least explain why you are a wolf that can talk AND CAN BE HUMAN!". By the end her sentence, she was already yelling.
Huffing as she glared at the wolf-man, she noticed a twitch at the top of his head. Suddenly staring at two fluffy ears as black as his hair, Mikan nearly forgot that this wolf-man was still a stranger and can kill her easily, if those sharp looking nails that looks suspiciously like claws on his hands, and of course his fangs, were anything to go by.
Another black furry thing entered her peripheral vision, and she was stunned to realize that it was a tail that was waving back and forth behind the wolf-man. She followed its motion with her eyes, somewhat hypnotized.
Natsume cleared his throat, eyes –predatory eyes, Mikan realized- narrowed at her. Being friends with an Ice Princess for so long, Mikan was an expert at deciphering hidden signals from seemingly emotionless gestures. The narrowed eyes said clearly, 'And why should I tell you?'
Mikan sighed, and merely rubbed at her eyes. Wolf-man obviously has a secret he wants to keep to himself. Glancing at his twitching ears again, she damned her curiosity. She can't very well just pretend this bizarre meeting didn't happen at all, now can she?
Biting her lip, she wondered what she should do. On one hand, she knew enough to respect that the strange wolf-man wants to keep his existence and any other secrets to himself. On the other hand, she wanted to be friends with this strange wolf-man. She wanted to touch those ears, damn it!
Clasping her hands together in a pleading motion, she begged, "Can we at least meet here once a week?"
A raised eyebrow was her reply. 'Explain.'
"Weelll, you see technically this forest right here is on my property, which means that I have every right to visit you! So no, you can't throw me out, or scare me away because I vowed to protect this place until I die to my parents, and I'd really hate to lose this place when I have barely explored everything yet, and I would really like to see you again!"
By the end of her ramblings, she was willing to bet that wolf-man didn't really want to listen to her at all.
He gave her a frown, and looked away, ignoring her blatantly.
Mikan took a moment to interpret that. 'Hmm. The few times that Hotaru had done that, she was either really irritated with me, or wanted something else than I was offering. Well, he is obviously irritated by me, but it could also be the latter too.'
Staring intently at the wolf-man, she felt a flicker of recognition that she barely recognized. Those eyes –sharp, predatory, yet oddly intelligent. He was also clearly capable of speech and had human instincts as well as wolf instincts.
An idea struck her as she looked at wolf-man. He looked like someone who would not be willing to give up his pride easily, or at all. Now, how would she go about offering her offer without making it seem that it was charity or anything of the sort?
"And we could only meet at least once a week, because I work at the orphanage on weekdays, you know. And man, those kids always take a lot of work when they want to be rambunctious! It's always harder when I have to teach them after long hours of play!"
When he still showed no interest, she went for broke and used the innocently-blunt routine. "Heyyy, do wolves know how to read and write?"
Wolf-man snorted and glared at her from the corner off his eyes. "Yes, I do. I also know how to eat a meal in just one bite." He growled threateningly.
Oh well, one idea down.
A/N: You guys are mean you know that? There, you have your longer chapters. Happy? You guys basically bullied me into writing this.
*pouts* I mean, I did say that I wanted to try my hand at drabbles, right? And drabbles are short, so my short chapters make sense right? Do I suck at writing them so bad, you all don't like them? I would like your honest opinion please, because I was thinking of doing the same thing for the kinda-prologue for my 'Once in a blue moon' story you know.
I'd appreciate the comments. Thanks guys, and I love you all for reviewing this story!
