Beyond Compare

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End

Pages unfold slowly for those who are in the book of the moon.

The legendary journey that wolves take upon themselves under the illusion of being human.

But like many this is a story inside a story….

Not one of love and valor…..

Nor one of hatred and betrayal….

But a story of life and death…..

Of a single half wolf girl…..

Without a past……Or a future

Crimson…that was the color she had always heard blood as being, sticky red stuff that dried and caked upon ones delicate features. Only emerging from the gallant and brave who dared to stand up to insurmountable odds, often to save a damsel, or prove ones self worth. But often it was forgotten that the common man bled as well, fighting against the trials and dangers to become what they believe to be their destiny….. But what if you had no destiny to achieve…..if there was no one like you…..if you didn't even know who or what for that matter you were…..

Hicaru sighed quietly as she held her bloodied hand…..the blood flowed through her fingers like small streams of pen ink, globing and thickening on the all to long sleeve of her shirt. Thieves weren't thought of very nicely in this town….not that she didn't understand why….this was a poor town and you had to fight for what little you got….it wouldn't take long her hand to heal anyway, sometimes it would only take her a few hours to recover from a fairly bad gash. Even so she would try to avoid this shop from now on….the butcher here didn't hesitate to use his knife wielding skills on a conniving thief. She wasn't a lone thief though, many of the missions she carried out were with a group of humans, their leader a tall dark skinned man with short white hair and golden eyes…..he didn't talk much but wasn't afraid to bark orders at his followers…..but most of them being the cowards they were never questioned him…..and Hicaru never disputed his orders either, without his leadership it was likely that they all would have been killed or starved to death by now. Even so you could tell that he didn't really care about the band of thieves….and if he did he was an excellent actor. A series of whistles erupted overhead alerting the group that it was time for a meeting…..

"Great….I bet they'll punish me for not getting the food…."

Hicaru thought to herself, as usual she was in a rather melancholy mood today and not really in the mood for the men's rude comments. But as usual she would probably just stay silent and take it…that was what she had come to think the best way to stay out of trouble. She quickly ripped part of the sleeve from her shirt and wrapped it tightly around her wounded hand in hopes of stopping the bleeding. She hesitated for a second but then took off in a run to the meeting grounds, next to the large tree right on the edge of town……

She was sweating as she walked the small distance remaining to the meeting place, she could already hear Tsume's low voice angrily addressing the small group. They had failed in their last mission and he seemed pretty ticked at them…..she had really picked a great day to fail at getting the food, she had never really spoken to Tsume but she guessed that today she was going to get more than a few harsh words. Hicaru stayed at the back of the group, hidden behind the much larger men as usual.

"Now who was supposed to get the food today?"

Tsume's voice thundered, Hicaru took a step back thinking twice about coming to the meeting today. A thrashing wasn't exactly very high on her list at the moment…..not that she didn't deserve it….it was because of her that the everyone would be hungry today. She silently turned to leave when she felt someone grab her arm and twirl her around forcing her to the front of the group…nearly stumbling into Tsume. She had seen the lashings Tsume had dealt out before and was numb with fear as she thought of her own, her breath caught in her throat but she managed to croak that she wasn't able to get it.

"AND WHY THE HELL NOT!"

"Um…well…the butcher….he-"

"He what !"

"He stabbed me….." she mumbled.

"That's what I get for letting a little half breed like you into the pack…"

"Half-breed?"

She could see his forehead crease as his anger seemed to grow to a high again, but as he opened his mouth to speak one of the thieves piped in. Yelling something about a giant white dog. She heard one-man whisper about eating it and could feel her own stomach already disagreeing with the thought.

"Why don't you try touching it?"

She heard Tsume say an obvious smirk on his dark face, for some reason she felt this 'dog' was more than it had been claimed to be…….