Nothin' to say. Oh, except a HUGE thank you to SAGA123, the ONLY person to review Chapter 1. THANK YOU SAGA123! On with the fic!
Disclaimer: Nope. Still don't own it.
Momoko twitched slightly, the soft morning light shining through the window. She opened her silver eyes, and stretched.
Shizume was still asleep with her tail over her face, snoring quietly. Momoko hopped off the bed, and walked over to Shizume. Her scar hurt for some reason. "Shizume, time to get up." She nudged the other wolf with her nose.
Shizume rolled over onto her back and stretched," Good morning Momo. Did you sleep well my friend?" She thought for a moment. "Yeah. How about you?"
"Best I've slept in days." Shizume rolled off of the bed and stretched again. "Good. When do you want to leave for Paradise?" Momoko licked at her scar.
"Any time. The sooner the better I guess. First we must find the flower maiden. Correct?" Shizume saw she was licking her scar, "Are you alright?" "Yeah, I'm fine." She attempted to ignore the fading pain in her leg. "I heard that the flower maiden is being held in a huge city south of here. Some humans are trying to sell her." Momoko growled.
"Sell her? To whom and for what? That makes no sense. We should hurry then. We have to get to her before someone hurts her." "I don't know whom/what. I just caught the last part of a phone call. Let's go right now. Unless you want breakfast."
"If you're hungry, I'll wait but the sooner we get there the better for her and us." Momoko walked over to a dresser and opened it. Inside it was overflowing with dog collars. "Let's go now. If you want to stay in your wolf form, I suggest you pick a collar." Momoko chose a simple white leather collar, with a silver nameplate that read M.
Shizume picked up a studded black one, also with nameplate that said nothing. She scratched an S into and put it on. "How does it look?" "Perfect. Come on, let's go!" She put on her collar and headed for the door. Shizume followed her grinning. "I can smell her already." Momoko stepped out the door to make sure nobody saw two "dogs" leave the hotel room. "All clear. I'll race you to the edge of town!" She took off at a fast run. Shizume chased after her, barking like a pup again. She weaved in and out of the crowds, trying not to run into anyone. Momoko slowed down slightly. A black limo had just turned the corner up ahead. "Oh no! It's that rich man's hideous wife!" Shizume slowed with her, "What? What will she do to you if she finds you?" Shizume kept her eyes on the limo. "Shriek in an annoyingly high-pitched voice that hurts my ears. That's about all she can do." Momoko ran towards the limo and jumped over the roof. A lady's scream was heard from inside.
Shizume jumped onto the hood of the limo and howled loudly. She hopped onto the roof and looked in at the lady through the sunroof. She really was ugly. She hopped off of the limo and sped after Momoko. They reached the end of town. "Where to now?" Momoko looked over to Shizume. "We follow our noses." Shizume sniffed the air. "Can you smell her?" "Yeah. Let's keep going then." Momoko took off at a gentle run. Shizume followed her, picking up the scent of the flower maiden. "She's so close..." Suddenly a flash of pain in her scar caused her to stumble, but she kept going.
"You sure you an keep going Momoko?" Shizume slowed her pace a little. "Yeah. This stupid scar keeps acting up. I don't know why it hurts. It healed a long time ago." Momoko sped up. "Old scars sometimes do hurt after a period of time." Shizume kept her pace even with Momoko's. "I guess...you know, this flower maiden probably isn't Cheza. This might be a new one." Momoko looked up at the sky. It looked, and smelled like it was going to rain. "I could possibly not be a maiden at all as well." Shizume thought of what a male version of a flower maiden might look like. She sniffed the air," It will rain soon Momoko." "I know. We should hurry." Shizume ran faster, the huge city now coming into sight. "Look at that. How will we find here in there?" "We'll follow our noses. And our hearts." They reached the city. "I wonder if it's a male or female...it would be interesting to see a male. It might be a child too." Her eyes suddenly widened. "What if there are two? It could happen."
"Well did they say that there were two in the phone call?" Shizume sniffed the air and looked around them. "Um...yes?" Momoko looked embarrassed. "How could I have neglected to remember that? Two... girls...small children. That's all I could hear."
"Small children? The maidens are small children? I never thought that was possible." "Neither did I. Of course, I didn't believe in the Cheza until I met her." Momoko stopped suddenly as they reached a small bookstore in the city. She shifted to her human form. "Hey, do you mind if I stop in there really quick? It feels like something is pulling me..." She opened the door. "Go on ahead. See if you can find out where they're keeping the flower maidens. I'll catch up in a minute." She disappeared inside the old shop. Shizume watched Momoko go inside, and ran on. She could smell the lunar flower stronger and stronger as she ran on until she came to a huge building that looked as though soldiers might be inside. She stopped a looked up. The building was so huge it looked as if it was piercing the sky. Momoko instantly saw what had drawn her into the shop. An old brown book was in a pile on the floor. "The Book of The Moon..." She whispered. An old man walked out from the back of the shop. "Can I help you?" He inquired, kindly. "Um...how much are you selling this book for?" Momoko held up the book. "Oh, this old thing? I was going to throw it away. I don't have room for some of these old things. You can take any books in this pile for free." "Thank you! You don't know how much this means to me." "It's no problem, really." Momoko thanked him again and left the shop, following Shizume scent.
Shizume sat, in dismay, at the gated entrance of the enormous building. "So close..." She sniffed the air, letting the scent of the maidens linger around in her nose. "I must get inside before they are harmed." She felt like howling by passer-by would know she was a wolf for sure so she sat, whimpering like a pup seeing it's mother go. Momoko caught up with Shizume. She had stayed in her human form, because it would look weird if anyone saw a dog carrying a book. "What's wrong?" Then she saw the gate. "The gate? I can unlock that easily. I used to be a thief."
Shizume barked and bounced around in a circle," Good. Hurry. We must get to them soon. I smell guards." "I never thought my old thief skills would ever come in handy!" Momoko easily unlocked the gate. "Come on." She tucked the book safely under one arm.
Shizume looked around making sure noone was watching and reverted back to her human form. She walked through the gate and took a quick look around, "Where to now? Follow our noses again?" "Yep. Unless you have a better idea." Momoko absently flicked through the book.
"Alright." Shizume looked around and noticed a small door. She opened it and there was a long corridor inside. "I think this can lead us up. We'll just have to find stairs." "Try feeling along the walls for a hidden staircase." A page in the book had caught her interest.
Shizume put both hands on the walls and began to walk forward slowly, feeling up and down for any little thing that was wrong of different. Momoko looked up from the book. She walked up to a wall and punched it. The wall fell away to reveal a stairway. "After you."
"How did you know it was there?" Shizume started up the stairs, looking around carefully. "I told you. I'm a thief." Momoko followed Shizume.
"Right. Sorry Momoko." Shizume rounded a corner in the stairs and looked out of a small window. "It's alright. Everyone forgets stuff." Momoko sniffed. "Do you smell that? We're getting closer. Lead the way, Shizume." Shizume continued up the staircase, smelling the lunar flowers all around her. "The scent is driving me wild." She hurried on, trying to reach the top of the stairs. "I know what you mean." Momoko followed, still poking through the book.
"Have you found anything useful in that book? That is the Book of the Moon if I am not mistaken correct?" Shizume came to the top of the stairs and stopped. There was a door there and she was not certain if she wanted to open it. "Yeah, this is the only copy left in the world. I feel like it's trying to tell me something. And what's really weird, is the fact that it smells like me when I was a pup. An old scent." Momoko shook her head. "I'm getting a headache from all this thinking."
"Put the book away. I may need you assistance once we enter this door." Shizume slowly turned the knob and opened it. She flung it open to see an seemingly empty room. Momoko raised an eyebrow, but tucked the book safely into her bag. "Well, since we're not being attacked, I'd say this place has very poor security."
The lights inside of the room flicked on, soldiers standing around a large green cylinder in the middle of the room. Shizume gasped and went into her wolf form. She growled loudly at the soldiers, the scent of the lunar flower now stronger than ever."...Or, I could be wrong." Momoko shifted into her wolf form, and attacked a soldier who moved towards her.
Shizume dashed into the room and jumped onto the nearest soldier. She ripped and tore at his arm with her teeth, forcing him to drop his weapon. They had finished off more than half the soldiers. Momoko quickly ripped open a random soldiers throat.
Shizume launched herself onto one of the last soldiers and ripped at his neck and chest with her teeth and claws. Momoko was having a stare-down with the last soldier. He was slowly raising his gun, but she crushed his scull with her fangs before he could shoot. "That was...different."
Shizume wolf face was smeared with blood and nodded," That it was Momoko." She looked at the large, green cylinder and noticed two young children inside. "Are they...?" "Yes. The new flower maidens..." Momoko simply stared at the cylinders.
Shizume became human again and walked over to the cylinder. She touched the glass then walked over to the small panel on the cylinder that seemed to control it. She pressed a red button and the liquid drained from it, the sides parting as she water slowly let the maidens down to the bottom of the cylinder. Momoko also shifted to her human form, but didn't move from the spot she was standing at. "Unbelievable..."
"What do you mean?" The maidens lay limp on the bottom of the cylinder. Shizume watched them, moving a little closer. "Should we wake them?" "I don't know." Slowly the two maidens sat up and opened their eyes. "Their eyes are just like Cheza's..."
"They are Cheza's." Shizume watched the maidens closely, their scent matching Cheza's as far as she could tell. "You know, yesterday I never would have dreamed something like this would happen." Momoko moved a little closer to them.
Shizume reached her hand out to one of them and the maiden touched her. Shizume smiled as the maiden touched her, her heart leapt. She felt like howling again. Momoko shifted back to her wolf form and walked up to the other maiden. The small child reached out and petted Momoko lightly on the head. "There is no doubt in my mind, that these are the flower maidens." She leaned into the touch.
"Mine either." The small maiden rubbed her eyes and stood up, getting out of the cylinder carefully. The other maiden followed, clinging to Momoko's fur.