The Boy Who Cried 'Wolfmon'!
Chapter 2: 'Moonshine'
It has been 150 years since Hiroshi Kanbara called for the Wolfmon. Now his descendant must give the offering.
The descendant's name is Takuya.
Ever since he was just eight years old, Takuya was made to memorize the special prayer. Even now, seven years later, he was still being trained. That night was the big night, the full moon.
Takuya sighed as he lifted his arms so that his body resembled a 'T'. His mother then held up a blue, black, and white dress robe against his chest. "Moooom!" he whined.
"Awww," Mrs. Kanbara said lovingly. "You look so cute, Taky!"
"Mooooooom!" Takuya groaned again. "Don't call me that! I'm not 5 years old anymore!"
His mother sighed as she lowered the robe. "I know, I know. You're just growing up so fast! Oh, whatever happened to my little boy?"
Takuya stepped away from his mother and was about to exit when she called after him. "Not so fast! Have you completed your lesson today?"
Takuya pouted. "Can't I just take today off?"
"No! Learning the Old Tongue is crucial!"
"If it's so important, how come I'm the only guy in the whole village that has to learn it?!"
"It's important because you're important! You're the only one who can make the offering."
Takuya sighed and just gave up. He and his parents always had an argument like this one. The teen's shoulders slumped, and he trudged upstairs to his room. He knew that his studies were inevitable . . . but he could still delay them.
After shutting his bedroom door, Takuya grinned evilly and tip-toed over to the window. He had done this hundreds of times before. There was a trellis just outside his window covered in vines. The boy peeked outside, making sure that there was no one around, and then looked over to the trellis, or rather, where the trellis used to be. Takuya's jaw dropped as he realized that his parents had discovered his secret escape and had moved it to the back of the house. His mouth closed and his teeth ground together. They weren't going to cut him some slack today.
He stepped away from the window and belly-flopped onto his bed, burying his face in the sheets and gripping them in his fists. It had been like this for as long as he could remember. He would always have to learn about old things that everyone else had forgotten, just because he was related to the stupid Hiroshi Kanbara. He would never have time to go outside and make friends. Whenever he did play outside, he would have to sneak out, or his parents would have to be in a lenient mood, which was pretty rare.
After a while, Takuya finally raised his head from the sheets and his gaze wandered over to where his textbook of the Old Tongue lay. It's cover was battered and torn, plus it smelled like something, perhaps a raccoon, had peed on it. It was disgusting, and the brunette hated it as much as a fat kid would hate a diet.
Reluctantly, Takuya lifted the book and brought it closer. He winced as its stench reached his nose. Who in their right mind would give him a reeking, putrid bunch of bound paper for his seventh birthday? Well, that was easy, his parents. They had always been obsessed with his studies, insisting that he hadn't learned enough and piling more onto his load. He had already been taught how to say the special prayer in the Old Tongue, Takuya thought that that was enough but noooo. His relatives demanded that he learn the rest of the dead language also. If it wasn't used anymore, why should he know it?
With his index finger and thumb, the teen gingerly opened the book and turned a few pages to where he had left off yesterday. As he carefully lifted a page, at least five silver fish scurried out from underneath it, and Takuya almost yelped in surprise. When the little critters were out of sight, he sighed and began to read today's lesson.
As usual, the hours passed sluggishly. Takuya was very drowsy, but he wouldn't let himself fall asleep, for fear of his head resting on the revolting book and silver fish crawling all over him.
Finally, after what seemed a million eternities, his mother opened the door, smiled sweetly, and announced, "Dinner is ready, Taky!"
Takuya blinked a few times after she left, still sleepy. Just that afternoon, hadn't he told her not to call him that?
The boy rolled off his bed and landed on the floor with a 'thunk'. Immune to that routine, he stood up straight and plodded down the stairs to the dining room. He sat at his place at the table, rubbing his eyes.
"Ready for the big night, son?" his father inquired happily.
"Errg . . ." Takuya mumbled. "Blaaahhveersshnnaaahhh . . ."
"Uh," Mr. Kanbara said confusedly. "I'm not even going to ask what you just said. Pass the potatoes, honey."
Takuya continued to lethargically lift his fork to his mouth and eat, when his mother noticed how sleepy he looked. "Taky, maybe you should go to bed early. You don't want to fall asleep and be late to make the offering. Who knows what the Wolfmon would --"
"ENOUGH!" Takuya, suddenly full of energy, slammed his fists onto the table, upsetting a few cups, causing them to spill out their contents.
"Takuya!" exclaimed his father. "Don't use that tone with us! Clean this up now!"
"NO!" the brunette yelled. "I'm not going to sacrifice the rest of my life to that damn Wolfmon!"
"Watch your mouth --!"
"Shut up!" Takuya interrupted, glaring menacingly. "I've had it with everything! I don't want anyone to tell me what to do anymore! I don't have any friends! I don't have anyone to talk to! I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING KEEPING ME HERE!"
"Takuya," his mother spoke quietly. "Calm down . . ."
"NO!" the Kanbara boy shouted, his eyes changing color from chocolate brown to a shining, icy blue. Small sparks of flame whirled around Takuya's body, threatening to set the house on fire. His parents immediately sprung out of their chairs into standing positions. His father was the first one to try to quiet the boy.
"Takuya!" he commanded. "Stop this at once! We are your parents! You're supposed to treat us with respect!"
Takuya's now blue eyes quickly shifted to leer at his father. "Why should I respect you?" the teen said coldly. "When you don't respect ME?!" With that inquiry, Takuya's fist connected forcefully with the older man's jaw, and a sickening 'crack' was heard as he hit the floor.
Takuya then turned to face his mother, who's eyes reflected fear. With flames still swirling around him, the boy ran up the stairs to his room, and slammed the door shut with a bang.
Suddenly, his eye color returned to a soft brown, and Takuya sank to the floor on his knees. He looked at the hand that had punched his father. "W-What . . . What have I done?!"
Without thinking, Takuya came to a conclusion: To run away.
The boy dug out a backpack from the clutter under his bed, and stashed inside of it some of his clothes and belongings, along with some old food he kept in his desk drawer for some odd reason. He was about to secure the pack's drawstring when he spotted the smelly textbook. He stuffed that last item into the bag, and pulled on the drawstrings and tied them in a knot to keep the opening shut.
Takuya strode over to the window, it was nighttime outside, so no one was around. He tossed his backpacks out the window and let it hit the dirt. Then he proceeded to climb out himself. Trellis or no trellis, nothing was going to stop him. He stopped moving when his body dangled on the side of the wall, with only his hands gripping the window ledge. He released his hold, and let himself fall to the ground.
The impact hurt momentarily, but Takuya quickly stood and slung the pack over his shoulder. He snuck around behind his neighbor's houses, until he reached the meadow. At first, he had started out at a brisk pace. But ever since that incident in the dining room, he had felt drained. He was relieved when he saw a large, flat stone in his path through the tall grass. His backpack slipped off his shoulder and he lay down on the boulder. He let his heavy eyelids close, and was soon fast asleep.
When Takuya awakened, he figured that he had slept a couple of hours, for he could see the full moon in the center of the sky above him.
Wait a sec.
Full moon?
Middle of the sky?
It must be midnight!
Takuya panicked and looked toward the village. He could see many small lights burning. 'Torches,' he thought. 'They must be looking for me!'
Takuya swiftly lifted up his bag and turned to leave. But instead of seeing the open meadow with mountains off in the distance, he saw a large shadow standing over him.
"The W-W-Wolf- . . ." Takuya trailed off as he fainted of fright.
END OF CHAPTER TWO
Ritina:Wai! Another chapter done! Teehee, Taky faaaiiinnttteeeeddd! giggle I'll have the next chapter up soon!