Disclaimer: All Klonoa characters belong to Namco. Yada, yada. You know the drill. OCs belong to me.

Chapter 34: Acquainting

It was only until she walked up the steps to the floor her room was on that Leorina realized her heavy stomping might've disturbed everyone in the inn. But she couldn't be bothered with that right now. Her mind was weighed down with thoughts that angered and confused her.

That sister of hers… Mio was always stealing things from her, ever since they were little. The moment Leorina got something Mio would run over and claim it as hers. She'd never been able to possess something with the assurance that she'd own it for more than ten minutes.

And now Mio was stealing something of hers again—Not that Guntz was hers or anything! Of course not! Why would she want him? Mio could keep him for all she cared!

Leorina reached the door to her room with a furrowed brow. It was unlocked and she peaked inside just to be careful. She didn't want Klonoa or Popka seeing her in nothing but a towel. The sight made her sigh lightly. Klonoa, Lolo, and Popka were all asleep. It looked more like they'd just fainted where they were.

Klonoa was flat on the floor while Lolo was using him as a pillow, her head rising and falling slightly with every breath he took. Popka was on his stomach, his head rested on Lolo's leg. Leorina could only wonder how they'd gotten in such a position. She smiled.

I envy you, Lolo... You know what you want, and you've already got it. Your guy's not going anywhere.

She moved to the neighboring room attached to the present one and put on loose clothing suitable for sleeping in. Though she wasn't tired; not in the least after that recent incident. She remembered there being a balcony somewhere in the inn. She could certainly use some fresh air.

Upon finding it, Leorina saw that it was rather small, but it would do. The leaned on the short railing, looking out at the nighttime world. From this side of the inn, all you could see was the dark ending bit of the town and a forest that spread out behind it. Somewhere behind her, she could hear, was where the festival was still taking place.

Leorina could see a lake nearby that looked unnaturally low. It reminded her of their mission. How pathetic they were being, relaxing and having "fun" when they were supposed to be saving the world. They hadn't even gotten one clue as to how to fulfill the prophecy and already they'd suffered a loss…

A quiet sound behind Leorina made her glance over her shoulder. She wasn't sure how long she'd just stood there thinking. It was Guntz. It looked as if he'd had the same intentions as Leorina; unable to sleep and in need of some fresh air. He seemed to consider just turning around and leaving, but apparently this time he wasn't going to let Leorina foil his plans.

Looking away, Guntz traveled to the opposite end of the balcony. It wasn't too far away, though, for the balcony itself wasn't very wide. Leorina didn't want to think about how soft and silky the hot springs had made his fur look. She was supposed to be mad at him. An uncomfortably long moment of silence went by before someone finally spoke. "I wasn't doing anything, you know. With your sister," Guntz muttered, still looking away outside.

"I'll believe that when she tells me," Leorina replied simply. Though she didn't really need to. She wouldn't have put it past Mio to make a sly move like that. "You should really control that twin of yours," Guntz then said. There was an edge to Leorina's voice. "How can I? She is the older twin, not that she'll ever let me forget that… Besides, we're not that much alike... It's not like we grew up together."

Guntz gave her a side-glance and she realized she was probably saying more than she should've. "Well, do you have any siblings?" she asked, trying not to sound too interested. "Nope. I'm an only child, and that's the way I like it," Guntz answered simply. "Klonoa doesn't seem to think so." Leorina had to stop herself from chuckling.

Guntz sighed, leaning his head on the palm of his hand. "Jeez... Just because Klonoa doesn't even know if he has any siblings doesn't mean he can take it out on me," he grumbled. Leorina looked at him. "What do you mean?" Despite it all, Leorina honestly didn't really know Klonoa all that well at all.

Sure, he was a good friend to her and he'd saved her during that issue with the fifth kingdom, but all the personal things were completely unknown to her. She'd never bothered asking. She wasn't even sure if Klonoa originally lived in Lunatea or not when she first met him.

Of course, she'd been later told that he came from somewhere else, but not where. She'd also been briefly informed about Klonoa leaving for that "journey to find more about his past" thing. Lolo was quite reserved when talking about other people, as if she were afraid of saying something she shouldn't.

Leorina wasn't one to pry into another's personal life. But at the moment she found herself excessively curious. Guntz didn't seem to have understood what she meant for a moment. "Klonoa's got amnesia," he finally replied. Leorina tried to sound less surprised than she was. "Oh, really?" she muttered.

"Yeah. From about five years ago, I think… All about his home, his family, his life, even his real name," Guntz said. It gave Leorina a weird feeling to think that the Klonoa they all knew was probably completely different than who he really was. "That's why we went on that long-ass trip a while back," Guntz continued.

Leorina remembered hearing that that hadn't been much of a success. Thinking about it now, that was kind of a relief. What if Klonoa had changed? What if he did change? What if he suddenly remembered everything and became a completely different person? Lolo would probably take most of the damage.

Leorina paused thoughtfully. "Well… it makes sense now," she started. Guntz glanced at her questioningly. "Why he wants you to be like his brother. The poor guy doesn't even know what it's like to have parents. Maybe he just wants the experience," she continued. Guntz seemed to hesitate. "He knows. He just doesn't remember."

Now he just seemed to be making up excuses. Not remembering something and not actually doing it were pretty much the same to the mind. "Well, either way you should probably be a little more considerate. As far a Klonoa knows, he could have never had any family at all. No love from parents or siblings…" Leorina suddenly felt a little bad.

She herself may not have stuck around with her family for very long, but at least she'd gotten the experience. What it was like to be loved by a mother. To know that you were always being looked after. Guntz was looking away thoughtfully at the black starry sky. "Instead of getting all annoyed, you should feel honored that Klonoa chose you over everyone else to feel that kind of love," Leorina persisted.

Guntz was twitching an ear uncomfortably. But, to her surprise, he didn't seem to be getting annoyed at her. Perhaps he was actually considering her words, for once. She felt a smirk of satisfaction making its way to her lips, though she didn't know why. She caught Guntz' eye and quickly looked away, suddenly feeling a bit awkward.

The two just stood there in a long moment of silence. For some reason the topic of Klonoa had made it quite easy for the two to communicate without getting angry at one another. Not talking was certainly more uncomfortable than talking, and Leorina was wondering when they'd find another topic that was easy to talk about.

---

It was quiet in the room. The lights were off and only the moonlight shone in dimly from a nearby open window. The soft sounds of Lolo and Popka breathing were all that went through the dark room. Other than that, it was ominously quiet. Not even the shadowed silhouette towering over the sleep bunch made the tiniest sound.

Golden eyes shone and lips curved across a white muzzle as the figure made a toothy, malevolent grin. It eyes narrowed on Lolo as she shifted slightly, he head rested uncomfortably atop the hard floor. Her lips moved slightly but no words came out. Eventually, the faintest traces of a mumbled "Klonoa" came from her mouth.

The figure suddenly jerked, mouth agape as if it had just been punched in the stomach. Its golden eyes widened, feline-like pupils narrowing to mere slits. It staggered backwards, trembling. Hit clenched its teeth and closed its eyes tightly, sweat rolling down its furry head.

N-No... Stop... W-What... What's happening to me?

The figure twitched at the sound of someone passing by the door. On pure impulse, it spun around, ran for the window, and slipped right through outside in only a mere few seconds. Inside the room, Lolo and Popka still slept, their breaths still the only sound to be heard.

---

"So… What about you? Your parents?"

Guntz seemed to be trying to make the question as simple as possible to avoid sounding too interested. Either way, Leorina was overall surprised. They'd been standing there in silence for the longest time and apparently Guntz wanted sound as much as she did. Parents still seemed to be on the mind.

Leorina paused thoughtfully, wondering if she should even answer such a personal question at all. "They're dead." Guntz looked at her quickly and she'd made him more surprised than she'd meant to. "My mother, anyway. I don't know about my father… I don't have a father," she went on, her voice getting stronger at the last sentence.

That man. She hated him for just not being around. She'd never met him before, nor had the chance to ask. For all she knew he could've died just before or after she and Mio were born. But she didn't want to think about that. She'd meant to stop there, leaving Guntz confused, but before she knew it she was opening her mouth to say more.

"My mother was killed… That's what Mio said. Right in front of her… And I only just learned about this last year," she said thoughtfully. "And where were you when it happened?" Guntz asked. Leorina stopped herself from answering. "Hey, I'm not going to tell you my whole life's story. You're just going to have to work with what I do tell you."

If he expected her to tell him anything, he'd have to deal with the exceptions. "All that matters is that I wasn't there… Mio says it was a wolf that killed her." There was a faint edge to Leorina's voice. "So that's why you hate wolves so much?" Guntz muttered. "It's one of the reasons," she replied simply. "There's only one nice wolf I ever met. And that was a long time ago..."

Guntz looked down at the lake, barely listening anymore. Strange how such an ecstatic girl like Mio could have possibly experienced such a traumatic event. All of a sudden she didn't seem so different from himself. He almost found himself envying her. How could she live with her life so easily after something like that?

"Now it's your turn."

Guntz looked back at Leorina, catching only part of her sentence. Her elbow on the stone railing, Leorina leaned her head on her hand. "I've been telling you a bunch of my personal junk that's none of your business. Now you have to tell me a bunch of your personal junk that's none of my business," she sneered.

Guntz frowned. "I don't have to tell you anything." Leorina sighed, though she looked like she expected as much. "Oh well. A guy like you probably doesn't have a very interesting life, anyway." Guntz only snorted at that. He felt weird. All of a sudden his own past didn't seem so bad anymore. At least, that certain part of it…

Something then caught his eye. A shadowy figure in the distance outside. It was running quite quickly across the dark, quiet part of the town, toward the forest. Leorina must've seen it, too. "What's that?" she muttered. It was gone in the forest within a few seconds. Guntz brushed it off with a yawn.

"Well, that's enough fresh air for me. I'm going to bed…" The last bit of the sentence was muffled lazily. He stood up straight and turned around, walking back into the inn. Leorina didn't move, waiting a few moments before turning around and following him.

"Huh… Where'd Klonoa go?"

When the two had reached their room and turned the lights on, they found the others still sleeping on the floor, minus one. Lolo and Popka didn't even shift at the sudden brightness. "He was here before…" Leorina said thoughtfully. Guntz sighed, turning away. "I'm gonna go look for him."

"Why?" Leorina asked, watching as he walked down the hall. Guntz looked over his shoulder. "'cause every time he disappears at night he doesn't come back until late the next day, if at all. And I don't feel like wasting time staying in the same place anymore," he replied. Leorina paused.

"Oh, well… be careful."

Guntz blinked, plainly surprised that she would show any kind of concern for him. Leorina clearly noticed this as her face hardened. "It'll be a real nuisance if we have to go looking for you both tomorrow," she retorted. Without waiting for a reply, she entered the room and closed the door. Guntz sighed, hardly able to resist a small grin of amusement.

---

It was quite dark outside on this side of the town, as if the festival side took up all the light in the sky. Guntz could hear the muffled cheers and yells in the distance behind him. It was like a ghost town over here, all the houses dark and empty. Every single citizen that lived here must've taken part in the festival.

He was heading straight for the forest, where that dark figure had gone to. Who else could it have been? Guntz would ask questions after he found him. It was even darker in the forest. He had to hop a small fence that separated the last few houses from the thick trees. He felt a sudden uneasy sense of insecurity.

He almost jumped at the sudden sound of something fluttering onto a nearby branch. But it was just a crow. Just that same stupid crow. It watched him with those mysterious dark blue eyes as he slowly walked past. Guntz tried to ignore it as it silently followed him. He had to keep an eye out for something that was actually dangerous.

Clearly monsters were taking on a new look nowadays; with them somehow disguising themselves as humans. Why did Klonoa always have to go off and disappear? It was such a nuisance. Didn't he learn from all those other times that all it caused them was trouble? He'd have to give that kid a piece of his mind after he found him.

The silence was really getting on Guntz' nerves by now. Even if it was night, there was still some sort of life moving around in a forest. And now that he was around, they should be everywhere; even ones that were usually asleep by now. Where the heck were all the animals?

Without warning, the crow behind him began cawing loudly. It made Guntz twitch with surprise. He rumbled an irritable growl. Stupid bird… It then hopped of its branch and swooped over his head. "Hey!" he snapped. The black bird veered around and flew over him again.

Guntz spun around as it flew upward. He saw a flash of glowing golden in the corner of his eye a moment too late. Something from above slammed into him, throwing him to the ground. The flash of teeth told him enough; this thing was dangerous. It was nearly as big as him, but he didn't have time to point out any details as he reflexively snapped his fangs toward where he thought the creature was.

It was too dark to see much, but he managed to catch a tuff of thick fur in his mouth. This thing had surprising strength, though. It nearly flipped Guntz into the air as it pried itself out of his grip. He could barely sit up as he felt nail sharp fangs piercing into his leg. With a snarl, he lunged forward and bit into whatever he could.

He felt something with a soft exterior and something hard inside. He saw a faint, almost familiar emerald glow before the creature then released him, pulling away and dashing off into the darkness. Whatever Guntz had bitten into, its soft outer shell had come right off. He was too busy catching his breath to think about that right now, though.

The crow was still there, perched on a branch and looking down at him. Guntz tried to stand up, staggering as he felt a sharp pain in his leg. Could've picked a better place to get hurt… He finally spat out the soft thing in his mouth into his hands. It was long… with a silky texture… and an orange and pink color design…

Wait a minute… Guntz blinked, taking a moment to comprehend this as his eyes finally started to adjust to the darkness.

This was Klonoa's scarf!

Ooh! Dun, dun, dun! I think Klonoa's coming to join the dark side. O.o

Well, besides that, this was just another one of those "more than half the chapter takes place in one specific setting"… thing. It would seem that Guntz and Leorina are feeling a bit more comfortable with each other… or not… We'll just have to wait and see. :D