Up, down, up, down, up, down... Raine was breathing heavily, keeping a slow, steady beat with her wings. She had been flying for hours, and had still not come across any land. But that wasn't the only bad news. From around two hours ago, the sky had clouded over with light grey clouds and the temperature had dropped dramatically. It was so cold, that she had been suprised a few moments ago to find that the tips of her wings were frozen, the feathers stuck together by thin peices of ice. She had recently given up on trying to clear the ice from her wingtips, but by now, it was prooving to be more of a problem than she had first expected. Her wings felt heavy and unbalanced, although it could have been from the exaughstion as well, and her flight was irregular and mothlike.
Dammit, she thought, clenching her teeth. Her left hand was clutching her right arm and trying to staunch the flow of blood, but it was futile. It had not even slowed in the slightest. If she continued bleeding this much, she would surely die. It was just a matter of when. If she were to turn back now, there would be no chance she could make it back to the main continent, but if she continued forwards, there was a slight chance that she could find land before she could no longer go on.
But that time came sooner than she had hoped. For a few seconds, her wings seized up from exaughstion and from the cold, and she plummetted a few feet before catching herself and gliding for a few moments. Dammit, she thought again, grinding her teeth hard. She could do nothing. She had to land soon, or plummet into the ocean... The ocean! She looked below her for the first time in hours, and noticed the ocean was completely white. Not completely, but made up of floating peices of ice.
Without a second thought of what would happen after, she angled her wings and began heading towards the ice flows. She was vaguely aware of herself speeding up and almost plumetting towards the ice flow she was aiming for, but when she tried to pull away, she was simply too exaughsted. She felt weak from hunger and bloodloss as well, and it did not help her in the control of her wings, which required alot of energy and chakra to use. The ground came up fast, and she somehow managed to land on the ice flow she had aimed for, skidding on her right side painfully and rolling several times before falling still on her left side. It was snowing lightly.
I'll just rest for awhile, she thought numbly, letting her body go limp on the ice and breathing heavily. She sat there for a few moments before she could no longer hold the wings, and they vanished, leaving her to shiver in the ice and snow. The snow under her was slowly bleeding into a deep red that seeped out around her mockingly. Her arms were useless, she could not move them. When she tried to stand after a few moments, she found the rest of her body the same- frozen and numb. At least there was only a little pain, compared to the phenomenal amount she had been put through in the past day. She sighed, her body sagging further as she simply gave in to the temptation of sleep. She knew she would probably not wake up, but she simply no longer cared. There was no resisting once her eyes slipped shut.
So warm, she thought, relaxing. Her body was numb and she could feel the snow piling up slowly on top of her. She did not know how long she lay there for, minutes, hours, but just as she thought she could finally get to sleep, she heard a far-off rumbling. It was heading in her direction as well, getting steadily louder. She tried to open her eyes to see what was coming, but they were frozen shut, so she simply lay there until the rumbling grew to its loudest, stopping suddenly. She listened as intently as her numb mind would allow, but could only hear the whistling of the snow across the ice she was on.
Crunch... Her ears twitched slightly at the new noise. Crunch, crunch, crunch... Silence. She suddenly felt hands on her side, examining her wounds, and she tried to open her eyes. No use. There were no voices, but the hands suddenly stopped and she could hear whoever it was shifting. They threw a blanket over her body and she felt the hands again, lifting her gently from the ice and cradling her for a moment, perhaps examining her, before moving again.
After a few moments of moving, she fetl the temperature change dramatically, and she was passed to another pair of hands in silence. She was inside of something. And that something was moving, making a loud crunching and grinding noise. Whoever was carrying her went down a flight of stairs, and she could sudenly sense a number of other people around her, but there were no voices, just complete, utter silence. But the voices came eventually, although she could not pick out what they were saying. They were whispering so quietly, she did not know how they could understand eachother. She was placed on something, a table or bed or something else flat, and she slowly felt the warmth returning from her body. But with the warmth came pain. Blinding, vivid, screaming pain that threatened to overthrow her mind. She had not expected it to be like that, since the times before had not been nearly as painful, but the pain seemed to have tripled at least. She moaned, her face contorting in pain and the hands suddenly left her body. She relaxed for a few moments, but the pain hit again, and she nearly screamed in agony, her throat tightening in shock.
But the hands came back again, holding her still and trying to calm her down. They were cold on her arms, as if she were burning up, despite the fact she had been laying on ice for God knows how long. She slowly relaxed, breathing heavily and letting her mind slip several notches, her conciousness slipping slightly. There were now only two pairs of hands tending to her wounds, removing her shirt and leaving her nearly naked. But she didn't care. It hurt to much to care. She simply let the hands deal with the wounds on her arms. They touced on her right arm and that was all it took for her mind to completely slip, and she fell away into blackness again.
When Raine finally stirred after what seemed an eternity, she found herself in a small, warm room. She was in a small bed, on the lower bunk, with several blankets piled on top of her. Her dull blue eyes moved slowly to take in her surroundings. The room was made from unpainted wood, and there was a large heater in one corner, but other than that and the bed, there was not much in here. She nearly jumped when a man's face appeared from above, poking over the edge of the top bunk and staring down at her in silence for a few moments.
He had black, silky hair that curled under his chin slightly, and had bizzarre red eyes. Where the white of his eye should have been, it was red, and it gave the impression that his eyes were bleeding because of the pure red colour. He stared down at her for a few moments, before flipping over the edge of the bunk and landing beside her bed. She noticed, for the first time, who it had been to save her. This man wore a forhead protector with a small, neat crescent shape engraved in the center of the plate. Moon-nin.
She sat in silence, waiting for him to say something, but he did not. She had noticed before that these people seemed to be unnaturally quiet, but this was a bit too much. He was simply standing there, staring at her with those odd red eyes. So she decided to speak first.
"Where is this?" she asked quietly. Her voice was dry and scratchy, but at least it worked. He suddenly bent close and pressed a hand over her mouth, holding his other hand to his mouth and placing a finger in front of it, telling her to be quiet. She narrowed her eyes as he pulled away, heading to the door and looking out for a few moments. When he pulled his head back in, he closed the door silently and crouched beside her bed again.
"Speak only in whispers," he said. His voice was so quiet, she almost didn't hear him. "Speaking is forbidden."
"For-" she began. But she lowered her voice to a whisper as quiet as his own. "Forbidden? Where is this?"
"You are on a ship, headed for Tsukigakure, the Hidden Moon," he explained. He folded his arms on the bed and rested his chin on it. He was young, no older than she was, and it showed.
"The Moon...?" Great, she thought, closing her eyes for a few moments before opening them again.
"My name is Akuma Isamu, special Jounin, leader of Anbu Squad one," he whispered as if he had repeated it many times before. She looked him over intently. This runt is the leader of an Anbu squad? And a special Jounin? You've gotta be kidding, she thought. But there was some kind of calmness that eminated from him, a cold aura that seemed to relax her.
"Uzumaki Raine," she said simply. He nodded.
"I already know. We saw you flying over the ocean and recognized you as the demon from the war that fought with the Higure boy. You're pretty strong. But you'll never be able to use those arms properly again."
"Wh-what?" she said, sitting up suddenly. She pulled her arms from under the covers with much difficulty, vaguely noting she was not wearing a shirt. She was completely bandaged though, and nothing was visible, so she ignored it and looked to her arms. The bandages were only slightly stained with blood, and it appeared as if the wounds had been well-treated, but they felt heavy and numb.
"Get up," said Isamu, standing. "I'll show you around."
"I can't stand," she said, moving her legs. Her left leg was still heavy and would not respong properly.
"You have legs, don't you?"
She looked up into his odd red eyes almost angrily, and he stared down at her emotionlessly, before shifting again and sitting on the floor.
"As long as you have legs, you can move forwards," he said, rolling up his pant legs. Her eyes widened as she looked upon his legs. They were not flesh, but metal, mechanical apendages. "You should be satisfied with what you have now."
She stared for a few more moments, until he stood again, and she turned back to her own body, pulling her legs over the side of the bed and touching them lightly on the warm floor. Isamu removed his black jacket and draped it over her shoulders as she stood shakily, using the bedposts for support.
"Here," he said, supporting her with one arm. She let go of the post and used him for support as he led her towards the door.
"Don't speak at all. It is forbidden here. Let me speak for you," he instructed. She nodded and he opened to door, leading her out into a hall and turning left. He helped her with some difficulty up the stairs to the deck, and she felt the cold breeze on her face again. They were on a ship that was cutting it's own path through the iceflows. The souce of the incessant grinding noise was the ship's front cutting through the ice and pushing it to either side. There were other Moon-nin here, apperently they had been returning from the war, and they were all going about their business in complete silence. Not one word spoken.
She and Isamu caught the attention of a group of Moon-nin, and they approached silently, looking her over before doing something strange. They began using their hands, making signals as if using an odd type of sign-language. Isamu responded with only one hand, singing a few things quickly, and it was met with nods from the others. He led her past them and took her to the edge of the deck, for her to look out across the icy ocean.
The ice was not nearly as thick as it had been where she had landed, but it was still coating the ocean in giant, floating plates. The sky was a pale, grey-blue, with few clouds and a bright, white sun to her left, slightly above the horizon. She was about to ask where the Moon was exactly, but remembered that speaking was not allowed, and bit back her words. The ship was huge, perhaps not gigantic, but it was larger than any she had seen, built from metal plates, and with two decks above, and at least two floors below.
After a few moments of staring out at the ocean, Isamu led her to the rest of the ship, showing her the first decks. But she paid little attention to that. She had found something more interesting. As she looked from person to person, she noticed things about them that seemed odd. They all shared the same black, glossy hair and calm exterior, but she could sense a deep, dangerous demon sleeping within each of them, as if they were born to fight, born for war. That was not all though. She saw it first on another man, noticing his left arm was not flesh, but mechanical. After seeing that, she noticed it everywhere. Fake arms, fake legs, fake hands, even a fake eye on one man. Everyone on the ship had some part of their body replaced with a mechanical appendage. These people were much more advanced than the people on the main continent.
After a long time of wandering, she got the feel for her feet, and no longer needed Isamu for support, so she spent the rest of the time following close behind him. After another half hour, he led her back down to the room they had come from, closing the door behind him. She sat back on the bed, pulling his jacket around her closely. Her arms felt so heavy.
"You saw all of them?" he asked quietly. "Did you notice?"
"Yeah," she said. "Why are they all like that?"
He strode over to the bed and sat beside her, flopping back onto the bed. "The Moon is nothing like the villages you are used to. We think differently. We are the soldiers for a country called the country of Silence, a village called the Moon."
"But why are they all like that? What happened to your own body?" she whispered, trying to keep her voice as quiet as his.
"Nothing happened to me. I told you, we are very different from the villages and countries you are used to. There are some things that are better than your villages, and many that are worse. The Moon is a village that lives for war. We have tests of endurance, and becoming a Moon-nin requires you to have this done to your body."
"What do you mean?"
"You can become a gennin without doing this, but to become a chuunin, there is no exam. It is a test of pain endurance. Hours in the hospital with no anesthetic where they replace your most prized body parts with mechanical versions that are supposed to enhance your performance. As a gennin, I was the fastest in my class, faster than any other. One day, they took me aside and asked if I would like to become a chuunin. I did not know what it required, because as gennin you are not told, so I accepted. They took me into an operating room and strapped me down. Before I could ask, they had taken my legs and replaced them with these."
"Why? Just to make you better soldiers?" she asked. She would have been more suprised, had she not heard of this kind of thing before. her own mother had done thins that were not much different to human beings like this, enhancing them and experimenting. Isamu nodded.
"I thought I would warn you."
"Wh-what...?" she stammered, suddenly paling.
"You owe the Tsukikage for saving you. He could have just let the ship pass and leave you to die out on the iceflows, but he took you in. You owe him, you're in debt to him. And repaying that debt will most likely require you to become a Moon-nin. I suggest you get rid of those arms, they're useless."
She could tell by the way he spoke that he had lived a hard life. All of the Moon-nin had. He said things that were dead serious in such a light way, as if it was normal for things to be like this. But she did not want to think about that right now. She did not want to go through more pain.
"Don't worry," he said, as if trying to comfort her. "If you blackout during the operation, they'll still continue. In fact, you're lucky if you blackout."
"Not helping," she said in a particulary quiet voice. She pulled her legs up and flopped back as well, curling up on top of the covers.
"We will be arriving in the Moon soon. Get ready to move again," he said, standing from the bed. He reached up to the bunk above and pulled himself up, leaving her to herself on the bottom bunk again.
She sighed, wincing as she let her arms rest beside her. These people seemed not to fear her, despite the fact that she was the Aohane's capsule. But she knew why. Just by being around them, she could tell they were strong, powerful. The Aohane would be no match for a village of them. They had nothing to fear. And it appeared as if they feared nothing. They were the perfect weapons. But why would they come to the aide of Orochimaru?
She lay awake for another hour or so, thinking about what was to happen to her now. This feeling was getting old, as if she were just being passed from one person or place to another. She did not know what the Moon would do to her, but when she thought about it her mind somehow slipped back to what Isamu had said. "I thought I should warn you." She did not know why the Tsukikage would want her to fight for him. She snapped out of her thoughts as the ship rocked several times, and began slowing, before stopping completely.
Isamu flipped down from the bunk above again and stood looking down at her with his odd red eyes. She pushed herself up in silence, and he pulled her off the bed as if he were impatient, moving her quickly towards the door and back out onto the deck. He led her quickly between the throngs of shinobi, taking her towards a ramp where they were unloading boxes and other supplies. It was then that she first set eyes on the Moon.
The ramp led to a wide dock, which led to a beach on a frozen peice of land. The Hidden Moon was at the edge of a snow-covered forest, at the end of a large path. It was surrounded by short, sturdy-looking walls, and was mode up of many, delicate-looking buildings, built in a way she had never seen before. As she looked closer, she noticed the excruciating amount of detail put into the stone walls and buildings. They had designs carved into them depicting gods and demons, and things she had never seen or heard of before. The fact that it was topped with a foot of snow only served to deepen the beauty, but Isamu led her away from it, down the ramp where he stopped and led her aside, making sure no one was looking.
"Sit here and wait for me to finish unloading. Do not say anything to anyone. I am your escort, and you are to see the Tsukikage immediately after this. Understand?" he asked in his dead-serious, quiet voice. She nodded in silence and moved over to a larger rock on the frozen beach, leaning against it and wincing as her side throbbed. She pulled Isamu's jacket around her closely in an attempt to warm herself, but it did not help, since she was still barefoot.
Before Isamu left to unload, he pulled his shirt off messily, tossing it onto the rock beside her and heading over to the ramp, where several of the other men had removed their shirts as well. Some of them sported artificial arms that were clearly visible now, but she wasn't looking at that. Her eyes had followed Isamu as he began passing supplies down from the large ship.
He had a large tattoo of a crescent moon with an orb between the two points and the surface covered in intricate designs. It was done in black ink, with the curling designs done carefully in a pale, red ink that was barely visible. But what caught her eye more were the two, long scars that ran across his lower back in an "x", just below the tattoo of the crescent moon. They looked as if they had been from a whip or some other thing that had struck him repeatedly, although they had long healed over.
After watching Isamu work for awhile, she began to look at the lifestyle of these people. There seemed to be little or no humour in their lives, as they seemed to rarely smile, but she found something else that interested her. Where on the ship speaking had been forbidden, it seemed as if it were allowed on shore to a certain extent. The shinobi unloading the ship would shout short commands down at eachother every few moments, and there were a few resting groups speaking in whipers as well. Or perhaps it was only forbidden on the ship. She slid slowly to the ground, letting her heavy arms fall to the side as she huddled up in another attempt to conserve heat.
After what seemed like forever, she spotted Isamu heading slowly back towards her. Unlike the other men, all of which seemed bigger and more well-muscled than him, he was not so much as sweating. He did not look like he had just shifted dozens of heavy crates. And he still omitted that calm, serious aura, which was shown in his unchanging expression.
"Get up," he ordered emotionlessly, grabbing his black t-shirt and replacing it quickly. When she failed to respond fast enough for his liking, he grabbed her arm and pulled her up. Her arm gave a sharp twinge and she gave a short cry that caused him to immediatly release her.
"Itai," she muttered, squeezing her eyes shut for a few moments. When she opened them, she found Isamu staring down at her with the first emotion on his face she had seen yet- shock.
"Go-gomene," he muttered, re-composing himself and bending over again. He gently helped her off the ground, supporting her carefully. She narrowed her eyes in confusion. What's up with this guy? she thought, taking a few more steps as he led her up the path. Isamu had taken on his normal stoic expression again, and seemed to be paying no attention to her whatsoever.
It took longer than she had expected to reach the village gates, but they made it eventually, and she entered, noticing something else different about the place. Where in the Cloud and Leaf there might have been a few guards, here was very different. They had six guards on either side, in full shinobi uniforms, each carrying a large, thin katana and wearing masks that were complately white with thin slits for their eyes. As she passed slowly by them in silence, she thought they might have passed for statues at first glance.
"Hurry up," ordered Isamu, forcing her to move faster. "They need to close the gates."
She quickened her pace and turned her head to look behind her slightly. She had not noticed what the gates had looked like before, and looking upon them now she did not know why they needed to be so excessively... defensive. The bottom edge had several large spikes pointed towards the earth and the door itself was several feet thick. It was built like a porticullis, hanging above the path, ready to drop. Just as she was about to turn back to the path, the door gave a grinding screech and the door fell earthwards, hitting the ground withincredible force and nearly knocking her off her feet. Geez, she thought, truning back to the path and letting Isamu guide her through the town.
"I will take you to the Tsukikage first, he will decide what to do with you. Do not bother trying to run- Moon-nin are no match for you or the Aohane," said Isamu, leading her down the oddly silent streets.
She sighed and lowered her head. She had thought no less. The Aohane would do nothing to these shinobi. And her own body was already in a bad state. She wouldn't be able to fight properly if she needed to, and if something came up, she'd end up dead before she'd escape. That was the reality, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Isamu tightened his grip and forced her to move faster, turning down another street suddenly, and she finally snapped out of her trance, wondering why they were moving with such urgency. The scenery had changed, there were people here. Her eyes widened as she saw them for the first time. She caught a flash of blood red from a dark alley, and spotted another pair of glowing red orbs. One came into what was left of the daylight, and she was shocked to see him. He had glossy black hair that was the exact same shade as Isamu's, and his eyes were completely red, no white whatsoever. They were all over the place, lurking in the shadows and watching in silence as Isamu guided her though the streets. Just watching. Not Isamu, but her.
"Do not look them in the eye," whispered Isamu, trying to force her to speed up. "They might still attack you even though I'm escorting you. If that happens, I can do nothing. Do not look them in the eye."
For some reason, she felt deeply disturbed with these people watching her. Staring at her. Just staring. Without so much as blinking. Just. Staring. She dropped her head as she met another pair of blood red eyes, looking to her feet. But she did not manage to keep her eyes away for long. There was a short cry that was quickly muffled, and her ears twitched in response, her head automatically spinning to her left, and looking past Isamu. There were two men there who were not staring at her, the reason being they were already occupied. There was a woman backed up against the wall of the alleyway, her skin pale and her eyes wide. One of the men had his hand pressed over her mouth, preventing her from screaming as he reached up to the collar of her shirt and... her eyes widened in horror and she tore them away, staring wide-eyed at the ground. This place... It was unnatural. Her heartbeat had sped up and she could feel her forehead lightly beaded in sweat. She would have began moving faster had she been able to, but her body was exaughsted.
"That is why it's not safe for women to move around on their own here," said Isamu as if nothing had happened. She was beginning to get frustrated with this man. He took everything so lightly, in the exact same tone of voice, as if it were the most natural thing on earth for these things to be happening like this. But she let her eyes slide to her left to look up at his face. His eyes were unfocussed, not staring at the ground or the path ahead of him. It was as if he were attempting to fight off some urge inside of him. She noticed for the first time how sad he looked. Depressed. His hair seemed to continue falling into his blood red eyes, the ebony strands obscuring his eyes for most of the time. There was definitely something wrong with him. Something wrong with this entire village. It just... wasn't right.
When she snapped out of her daze again, she found herself staring up at a large building built from an odd white stone she had never seen before. It could have even been called a palace. The walls seemed to be made from ivory itself and into them were carved pictures of things she could not quite make out. Writing as well was visible along the edges, and every few feet, dotted in a complicated pattern over the face of the building, were holsters for torches or lights, some filled, others empty.
Isamu released her for a moment and reached behind him, detaching something white and pulling it out, holding it in front of him. It was a white, pocelain mask, the same type the guards had worn at the entrance to the village. It was a simply mask with no blemishes on its smooth, glossy surface, and the only breakage in the perfect surface being two, small slits for eyes. He did not so much as glance at her before pulling it over his face and smoothing his hair back, before silently leading her into the white building.
If the exterior had been intriguing, the inside shouted only one word- gothic. It was such a dramatic change in lighting that her only guidance for a few moments was Isamu's arm pulling her into the darkness. Her eyes adjusted slowly, until she could vaguely see where she was headed. The walls were close on either side and the ceiling was high. There was a strange light, more of a glow, that she could not quite pinpoint the origins of. It was a dark red colour and it seemed to be doing more to impair her vision than improve it. But Isamu continued forwards at the exact same pace, forcing her further and further into the darkness.
The walls broke out on either side, opening out into a larg cavern. Above was the source of the red light in the form of a giant red orb hanging from the center of the ceiling. It was enough light to illuminate the white chalk circle on the floor below, which, to her suprise, was the exact same as the tattoo on Isamu's back. A crescent moon with an orb between the two points, intricate designs criss-srossing the moon design. Many people stood around the crescent, all dressed in complete black and wearing the same porcelain white masks. They did not shift at all as they entered, and as Isamu led her slowly into their midst towards a figure at the far end. The figure wore a dark red cloak and a mask of silver, metal. He was standing in the center of the chalk design of the orb between the two points of the crescent, and she assumed him to be the Tsukikage.
Isamu stopped a few feet before the Tsukikage and bowed slightly, getting a slight nod in return before silence. Raine waited, forcing herself to breathe as silently as possible as she waited for someone to say something. When it came, she had not expected it, and she nearly cried out in suprise.
'Arigatou, Isamu-san.' The voice seemed to explode into her mind, and she jerked back in suprise. She could tell the Tsukikage was the one speaking, but he had not moved at all, and the noise had not come from him.
'What are we to do with the foreign girl?' came another voice, one of the people standing around her. 'Will she be killed?'
'No, Katashi, we will not kill her. That would waste our time. The main continent has already refused to pay her ransom, they think we've killed her. It would be no use to kill her now. We'd be better to use her,' came the Tsukikage's voice in her mind. It was unnerving. What is up ith this village? she thought in horror.
'There is nothing 'up' with our village, girl. You'd be best to keep your thoughts to yourself,' came another voice almost angrily.
'Perhaps she could be trained as a replacement for Nanashi-san,' came another man's voice. She felt Isamu bristle uncomfortably beside her.
'Perhaps that could be done. What do you say to that, Isamu-san?' asked the Tsukikage, shifting slightly to fully view Isamu.
'...If it is your wish, there is nothing I can do about it.' She blinked a few times, as if hearing Isamu's voice in her mind varified that she was, indeed, hearing the voices of those around her.
'...Then we will see how things turn out. Tsukigakure cannot operate unless we have the two Tokubetsu Jounin controlling the anbu squads, and after your partner died things had fallen out of place slightly.'
'It is because the Lunar sickness has increased tenfold in the last three years. The strains are evolving and adapting, becoming resistant to our vaccines. More and more are affected every month.'
'The sickness is minor for the meantime. Those affected by it can still fight as Isamu has prooved. The ones that wander the streets are empty shells of those too fargone to return to reality. They dwelt on dreams for too long and became mindless animals. They are no longer human.'
Lunar sickness...? she thought before she could stop herself.
'Yes, girl. You will be exposed to it soon enough,' came one's voice.
'Isamu, take her away from here and bring her back when she has healed properly. You should acquaint her with the village. She is used to an easier life, so introduce it slowly.'
'Hai, Tsukikage-sama,' came Isamu's voice. He bowed once and supported Raine again, tearing her eyes away from the red-cloaked Kage, leading her back the way they had come and back through the tunnel. She walked slowly, as he was no longer rushing her, lost in thought and confusion as she tried to decipher the Tsukikage's words. This village was completely different from any she had ever been in before.
By the time they finally reached the entrance and stepped into the fresh air again, it was night. There was a thin layer of clouds in the sky, but where the moon hung, a thin crescent in the sky, the clouds seemed to have dissappated, leaving it fully exposed. They suddenly stopped moving on the steps of the white building and she turned to Isamu to see what he was doing.
His blood red eyes were turned towards the moon, half-lidded as if he were off in his own world, glowing red through the white mask. They looked almost content for once. But no... as she looked deeper into his eyes, she could tell he was still the same, depressed and alone. He simply stood for a few minutes, lost in the crescent moon. The light bouced off the white mask in an odd way, and his whole body seemed to be tensed, leaning towards the moon, but he finally broke the trance, turning to Raine after what seemed hours.
"I will take you to my house. The hospital is... not a good place for someone like you to go. Tomorrow I will be gone on a mission, perhaps for the next few days. When I return, I'll show you the true face of the Moon."
She simply stared at him for a moment as he removed his mask and began moving again, leading her in a new direction. There was a sick feeling in her stomach, and her head seemed to be foggy and unclear. This place was not right at all. There was something deeply disturbing about it, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know what it was. The people were all so distant, and the ones that were like Isamu, with red eyes and that odd, cold aura, they seemed to have a strong affect on her. They frightened her. It took alot to scare her, but simply looking into Isamu's eyes she could tell there was something not right, something unnatural about him. She had a bad feeling about this place.
A/N: Sorry it took so long to up the next chapter... I have up to chapter 18 on my computer, it's just that I've been busy with school and writing for my account on Fictionpress 0.o Hope you still enjoy!
