"_Haru!" the black and white haired teen turned around, and he saw Hatori come over to him. "Haru…"
He saw the elder man pant next to him and waited patiently for an explanation.
"_what is it, Hatori?"
"_Nox… we can't find her."
His head dropped.
"_I know we can't find her, Hatori. We have been looking for the past days!"
"_that's not what I mean. Akito said she vaguely remembers she is not in japan. Haru…" he grabbed the younger man's shoulders. "Haru… Nox is probably dead…"
He shook the doctor off, and spit at him.
"_you can stop searching if you want, but I will never ever do that. She wouldn't."
The dragon sighted. He knew he would have reacted like that. He just wanted for the teen not to get his hopes too high…
"_fine…' ha gave in. "I will search more about our recent travels abroad, but Akito might not have used a normal company, you know."
Yes, Haru knew all this. He just refused to think about it.
"_thanks, Ha'ri." The elder smiled sadly, turned around and left.
Haru's gaze fixed on the moon.
Nox…
Where was she? How was she doing? Nox… sending a short prayer to the moon hoping for her to be well, Haru left the building for his own bed.
Where was she? How was she doing? The questions were eating him away. A week after Nox had been taken away by Akito, they still had not found a trace of her. he was in his bed, turning over and over again, unable to sleep. He stared at the moon, and slowly his mind was appeased. He was starting to fall asleep when his phone vibrated under him. He jumped up, grabbed it and took the incoming call.
"_hello? Haru?"
"_Hatori?"
"_we found unusual activities in the south of England. We got tickets for you and me. the plane is leaving in five hours."
"_where and when are we meeting up?"
"_in your house in thirty minutes."
The dragon hung up.
Haru was perfectly awake by now, and he rushed under the shower to finish letting the news sink in. they had maybe found her! He grabbed some clothes, threw them in a bag and went to get some clothes from Nox's room, in case she was under wolf form. The doorbell rang, and he rushed downstairs. Hatori was standing, perfectly ready on his doorstep. He threw on some shoes and both of them left in the middle of the night for England.
The flight landed under the rain. Haru saw lightning, and heard the thunder growl. He sighted, knowing that Nox was particularly weak in this weather. The ox followed the dragon to the baggage reclaim, and managed to find his staff and get to the taxi without being lost. Hatori glanced over at the drenched teen on the back seat. He was sulking, and most likely worried over Nox. He sighted, knowing perfectly well how disappointed he would be if she wasn't there.
Just as disappointed as he was the last five times he thought he had found her.
The residence was two hours driving away, so they stole a few precious minutes sleep, knowing the next day would be hard. They would have to track on the whole residence, and even in the woods surrounding them. Hatori was about to go to sleep, when the driver spoke in his shaky Japanese.
"_are you going to visit your family?"
"_what do you mean?"
"_well, I saw a woman and her dog a few days ago. The dog was huge, must have been a German shepherd. I remember them well, because the dog was kept on a silver like leash and he was so big I had to refuse to take them. It is my colleague who drove them to the address you just gave me. That's why I am wondering."
"_was there a girl with them?"
"_no. but depending on how you look at the woman, sure she could have been a girl."
"_did she have silver and black hair? And eyes different colours."
"_ah no, that was the dog, sir. It had a long silver-ish white line running down his back and his whole fur was black. He had clever black eyes. Could have sworn he understood what was going on."
"_how big was the dog?"
"_very big. The biggest dog I have ever seen. Must have been the size of a wolf, easily. I would have mistaken it for a wolf, in fact, had it not been on a leash."
Haru's hand grabbed Hatori's shoulder. He looked back, and saw hope in the teen's eyes. Maybe they had found her…
When they reached their destination, the storm was raging. Haru picked both their bags from the boot while Hatori paid the man. They then both hurried inside and threw their bags on the floor. Refusing to go to sleep just yet, Haru started looking around the mansion. Hatori sighted and went to help him, knowing very well Haru would not rest until they had checked the whole property.
It was a crazy idea, and Hatori had known it. Yet again, he had been unable to hold the ox back and they were trudging toward a little dot on the map they had gotten off the internet. The dot had caught their attention since it was very small and secluded in a forest, just at the frontier with the property. Haru had forced Hatori out under the rain to go and find out what that little dot was.
Of course, things being what they are, it was an obligation for them to get lost. They had been walking aimlessly through the forest for hours now, and both of them were completely drenched. Haru had fallen so many times they had lost count, and the weather was nowhere near improving. They finally reached a thicker part of the forest, and Hatori sat down in the crook of a tree. Haru looked back at him and the dragon spoke.
"_there is no use in carrying on forward. Sleep and when morning comes, we will carry on. If the storm stops, maybe it will be easier." Knowing the man was right, Haru went to settle next to him and both fell asleep very quickly.
Fate must have been on their side, for the next morning, the sun was timidly shining through. When Haru woke up, Hatori was looking at him. The man the greeted the teen and said:
"_I found a river, not far off. Give me the map, and maybe we can see where we are."
Haru got it out of his pocket, and both of them went to the river. There, Hatori unfold it while Haru drank and looked around. Deciding with the help of the sun where the north was, he then orientated the map the right way around and was relieved to notice they weren't too far off. It appeared like they had still been going in the right direction while they were aimlessly wandering in the woods. They must have been going around and around in circles, Hatori mused. Once Haru had finished drinking, he showed him the map, explained and was about to start walking when the teen grabbed his arm.
"_hey, Ha'ri. How do you know it's that one?"
"_what do you mean that one?"
"_well, how do you know it is this river and not this one?" he asked, pointing at another stream on the map. Hatori inhaled sharply and exhaled.
"_I don't." he admitted. "I am only trying to follow the lead." Haru nodded and folded back the piece of paper. They just had to follow the river.
The hike through the forest was far nicer than the previous day, for it was sunny, and both of them found themselves enjoying the other's quiet company. The time for lunch was drawing near, five hours after they started walking, when they saw a little building in the distance. Their strides lengthened, and they both broke into a run. Haru reached the house first, and shivered when seeing the state of the building. It was nothing more than a room, broken down and disused. The walls were half torn, and the roof was still dripping from the last storm. Hatori was staring at the entrance.
"_look!" he said softly in the ox's ear.
The garden was covered in crazy vegetation, as if nobody ever had bothered about it. By the porch, where the vegetation was dense, they could make out flattened grass. Understanding it meant somebody had been here, they slowly and quietly made their way to the front door. Haru placed his hand calmly on the panel, while Hatori climbed up the three stairs behind him, successfully getting out of the wild garden. He pushed ever so slightly on the frame, opening it only by a few centimetres. They peeked inside.
Heavy, rugged breathing. The odour of death in the air. A form was lying on its side, struggling to breath and keep alive. the form did not react when they entered the room. Neither did it when the wooden tiles cracked under the weight of Hatori. It didn't seem to notice Haru walking in one of the numerous puddles littering the floor, vestiges of the past night.
Haru kept his eyes on it. It seemed to be a big animal, and was tied with a leash to a corner of the room. The beast seemed to have struggle breathing. Haru came up to it very slowly, when his heart stopped.
With a small smile on its face, the wolf exhaled one last time.
He didn't care about being careful anymore. The ox of the zodiac turned black, and ripped the leash holding Nox apart. He then rushed to her side and carefully shook her.
"_Nox!" she didn't move.
The rugged breathing had stopped.
Hatori ran to her side, and started probing and healing, trying to make a miracle occur. Haru called an ambulance to the vacation house, explaining what happened. While Hatori was trying to maintain her alive, even though her mind did not respond, Haru charged her on his back and they went back out. The sunlight must have done something to her, since Nox shivered on his back and turned back into a human. He turned a worried look at Hatori, and was even happier when he heard:
"_Haru… Ha'ri…"
A small smile, stretched and tired blossomed on her lips. Her head fell back against Haru's, and she went back to the darkness.
The rugged breathing had started again.
She cannot remember anything of her trek through the forest, only waking partially from time to time and smelling his odour, seeing his face or feeling his hair tickling her neck. Sometimes it would draw a smile from her lips, others she would fall back to sleep contently. She was asleep when they reached the main vacation house, and she did not see all the commotion she had caused. However, she refused to let go of Haru, which brought a tired smile on faces.
At one point, the nurses did try to pry her away from the young man, but her breathing slew down, before completely stopping. Deciding there would be enough space for both the men in the ambulance, Hatori and Haru came as well.
She was floating in some lighten up darkness. Her body was neither cold nor warm, and she felt immensely alone. All around her, voices were shouting. She concentrated on one, and listened hard.
"_what are you?"
"_what do you mean?"
"_what junishii are you?"
"_a predator."
"_which one?"
"_..."
"_com'on!"
She sighted.
"_I'll tell you later."
"_tell me."
"_I'll tell you."
"_now."
"_what are you, kitten?"
A little smile blossomed on her lips, when another voice caught her attention.
She couldn't quite make out what the words were, but she knew the voice. Stretching a hand to where in came from, she saw piercing white light shatter her comfortable bubble of darkness; the voices faded, but that one remained. As hypnotized, she continued walking toward it, her mind slowly kicking in action. Suddenly, she was running. Then she morphed, and chased the voice, her heart beat increasing.
Haru.
The piercing white light was blinding, but she didn't care. Her hands shakily found his back, and she gripped his shirt. Haru turned around, startled.
"_I… I heard you… from over there Haru… I heard you, so I came."
She fell back to sleep.
The moonlight was piercing through her curtains when two alert eyes shot open. They immediately took in the room. White walls, white sheets, lots of machines and poles, perfusions and bips.
A hospital.
She was about to get up and leave, when something else caught her attention.
A boy was sleeping, his head resting on his hands on her bed. He was wearing black, and his hair was two different colours.
Hatsuharu.
She smiled, settled back in her bed and looked at the moonlight flooding the room. She thought she would never see the two things she loved the most; the moon and Haru.
Haru was woken up by the morning light. He looked at the window and went to close the curtains when a voice stopped him.
"_already awake?"
He whipped around.
She was sitting on her bed, calmly as if nothing had ever happened. He looked at her, bewildered and jumped over to where she was laying down.
"_Nox!" a bubbling laughter erupted from her throat, and he looked at her, shaking his head.
"_I thought…" he started, a tear rolling down his cheek. She delicately picked it up with her finger, shushed him with a kiss and said;
"_so did I." there was silence, then she pulled Haru into a hug and he started silently crying, all the pent up frustration and fear fleeing from his body and leaving him exhausted and panting. She made him lie down next to her, and slowly, very slowly, he fell asleep.
"_I love you." She murmured into his ear. "And for as long as you want me, I am not going to go anywhere."
