Disclaimer: Same as in part 1

A/N: I'd like to point out that these are both chapter two, 'finding cloud 9'. I did it like this because together, I just thought it was too long to read. shrug Tell me if you think I should keep it like this or put it as one single but LONG chapter.

End of chapter is dedicated to twinny-chan! (chapter title is also inspired from something my twin said)

finding cloud 9 (part two)

"a long time ago when the world was pretty, standing right here in a different city

I'm not coming back anymore."

- This Isn't What We Meant (Savatage)

Katherine Winterhart was puzzled and that was an unusual thing.

She watched Matt juggle the steaming hot dogs he had got at the vender while trying to pay at the same time with a trepid kind of soft glow. It wasn't like her. Not the acceptation of his offer but the way it made her feel. A tiny part of her felt she should be more resentful or bitter, but there wasn't any room for it. Another part of her was highly amused. So this is what he meant by "a real neat place"? Ah, the tastes of men would always be a wonder to her!

"Here." His voice cut through her thoughts as a warm hot dog was thus into her cold hands. She stared stunned at it a moment then raised her remarkable blue eyes at him and smirked.

"So this is fine dining in these parts?"

"Only the best of course." He gave her another one of those sheepish grins.

She couldn't tell if he was serious or not. Having a hunch, she thought it best not to ask.

Instead, she smiled more heartily at him, saying, "I take it your interested in juggling."

Not getting her meaning immediately, Matt stared at her blankly for a moment then seeming to catch on, grinned again, rubbing his free hand behind his head. "Well, I don't suppose I'm too good at it—ya know with the soup cans and all that." One of his eyes winked at her. "Though I did a bit better with the hot dogs, huh?"

"Oh, naturally."

He seemed delighted with her humor and attention, and that in of itself made a little nest of warm, glowing goldenness grow in her. It reminded her of a dream she had had, a remnant of running in a field, a running furriness. But now that sounded like absurd nonsense, but she supposed that made sense; it was only a dream after all.

"So what are you doing here?"

She stared skeptically at him, as he bit hungrily into his own hot dog.

"I told you I was visiting my Aunt, didn't I?"

Nodding, he quickly finished chewing, saying with a laugh, "Yeah, I know. But why did you—" he stopped short, gray eyes blinking, then gave a short croak, "Ah, well I guess you answered it already. I was gonna ask why you'd pick a town like this to visit, when there are so many other big, better cities in the U.S. but then again I guess you're Aunt's not living in one of them."

He seemed genuinely embarrassed, so Kathy strove to amend the situation.

"Yeah. Aunt Susan likes the peace and quiet." She paused a moment, watching him take another bite. Once he had swallow she asked, "Do you have any family?" Not sure why she had asked, though small part of her was glad she had. Family had always been important to her.

"There's just my brother, Stephen, and me." Matt shrugged as if that explained everything. "I think I've got some relatives somewhere out west more. Ya know, like California or something."

Kathy nodded more to placate him than really understanding; she only had a limited knowledge of the various names of states in America. Roger had always been better at remembering.

At the wayward thought, her cat-searching cousin came back to her. She had left him wandering around this area without a second thought for where he was. When she had gone into the store, he had only been two blocks away, and she had still been able to partly see him. But it had completely slipped her mind. It was unlikely he was still there; for such a young kid he sure moved around fast. Sometimes he was too inquisitive for his own good. She swore it would get him trouble someday.

Her worry beginning to show on her face, Matt watched her with a titled head.

"What's up?"

"Roger. My cousin. I was supposed to watch him, but I…" A black feeling of shame was floating down on her, a sharp prick of ugly worthlessness.

I'm so useless sometimes The words in her head, regardless how bitter, somehow felt true…

"Hey, Blue snap out of it. It's not like there's anything that bad here. I'm sure he's around here somewhere. Let's go look."

His voice called to her through her gloom and made her look up. There was his hand stretching out to her, across the small space between them, and he was smiling so warmly at her. The black feeling seemed to evaporate, or at least dispense. She took his hand and as she did she noticed she had dropped her hot dog. Somehow the sight brought an uncommon smile to her face.

Cheza seemed delighted with Roger. He was spinning some yarn about a herd of wandering cows that had escaped from a nearby farm where he lived in Suffolk or some such place. Tsume stood watching the two with mixed feelings, though outwardly he was trying his hardest to not appear too interested. Not that he really was, but there was definitely something amusing about watching the two of them together, this Roger kid bubbling over with exaggerated enthusiasm and Cheza watching him with open eyes, utterly charmed with him, laughing at all the right moments. The two seemed to fit together. There was no denying there was something similar to them, sort of how he felt about them…

That doesn't make any sense, he grumbled to himself, frowning despite the fact the other two were laughing. But then again maybe it does, they're both strangers to me. One a name in my head with a feeling to find it, and the other…a feeling I was trying to find that I didn't know even had a name. Tsume was quietly amused at his clever description. It was a stupid thing to feel that way about, but he was proud of it all the same.

The wind seemed to have died down. Now it was only a faint trickle of chill air, moving languidly down street and sidewalk they were standing on.

"Hoi, Roger!" A voice interrupted the chatter between the two of them. The kid turned toward the sound of the call, his eyes settling on a pair of figures across the street. There was hardly anyone else out, and the street seemed virtually empty. Cheza looked out in the same direction.

"Blue!" the kid waved expansively out to one of the figures.

Cocking an eyebrow at that, Tsume noticed the strange look on Cheza's face. Her usually friendlier expression, at least the few times he'd seen her, seemed frozen and her eyes were wide and confused. He watched her carefully, ignorant of the ones Roger seemed to be talking to. Why did she look like that? And more importantly, why did he feel so concerned?

"Hey, stop yelling across the street, Rog!" The same voice scolded, and she noted that the voice was female. Somehow she wasn't surprised. The name 'Blue' had come with it a very feminine blackness, not lady-like but definitely female. She saw one of the figures, the one clad in black, set one foot in the street, ready to cross. The other person beside her, beside this 'Blue', was a boy, probably about Emma's own age, with shaggy tan colored hair. Whoever he was, he seemed pleased about something.

When 'Blue' wasn't looking the boy gave her a nudge with his elbow, and even when she gave him a baleful look, he simply grinned.

The wind that had been blowing gently but now had died down, making their voices seem to carry across the street with very little effort.

"I think I hear my bro calling. I probably should get going." He started to turn, then said in a hurried rush, "I'll see you again sometime then, Blue."

There it was again! That name, 'Blue'. She pulled unconsciously at her right earlobe. What could it mean?

'Blue' regarded him a moment, a serious expression on her face, and then she nodded. She seemed to be smirking. "Sure thing, Hige." And with a backward wave 'Blue' jogged across the street to Roger's side.

Hige? It can't…it couldn't…how could it? She couldn't seem to keep her thoughts straight. This couldn't be happening could it? Those couldn't be real names, could they? Nicknames, jokes? Like me? That thought brought with a strange sense of epiphany, which she was prompt to ignore. Without really registering anything else, she felt her feet back away slowly until she found herself turned around, running without thinking, running away.

Life could be so complicated. What was it that made living so worthwhile? What was that feeling that made it all alright? Or was it only a memory of feeling? But, no, that couldn't…

Her thoughts were limping through her mind. Emma stretched her arm out, spraying the fingers as she gazed hard at her hand from where she lay on her bed.

The electric clock on the small table beside her bed glowed lime green in the darkness. As thin shaft of late afternoon light gave her eyes enough light to see her hand above her. Normally she disliked the dark, especially when she was reverberating with confused and painful feelings. It didn't happen often, the feelings that is, but when it did she preferred the light to the dark.

Right now Emma was too tired, her limbs jerking in a shaky manner as if from great exertion, to turn the light on. The nearest switch lay an enormous two feet from her, not to mention the added action of having to get up.

Despite her tired body, and the darkness, somehow deep inside she felt content, as if she was smiling. And that in itself confused her. She clenched her fingers tightly into a fist, a wave of paradox feelings rushing through her.

She was instinctively happy, yet her limbs were shaking and she felt as if she would cry.

Life wasn't supposed to be like that. Was it? There seemed to be so little she knew. It was all nonsense, incoherent meaningless actions. But that wasn't true either. There had been the 'gold' feeling, overflowing, promising a good day.

Originally Emma had thought she would write a bit when she got back from work. She'd been doing quite well at it lately, but it had seemed that life had a little irony waiting for her instead.

Even now she could not really fathom why she had reacted the way she had, running away as if she was terrified. It wasn't that she had been scared, more awe-struck. All those names at the same time, those people, had been unnatural; it was only suppose to be in her head. 'Tsume' she had been able to ignore, brushing it aside but 'Hige' and 'Blue' as well! It was too much despite the happy feeling it gave her. It was too unreasonable; fragmented thoughts weren't supposed to make you that happy, give you that much meaning, though really she did not believe that.

A thick click nearby her head brought her out of her thoughts.

Startled, she realized after the sound repeated itself that it had come from her window, just above her head.

Struggling up, Emma pulled back the blinds peering into the early dusk. It was later than she had thought.

The window looked out into her family's backyard, surrounded on one end by a broken white fence which led into a field of tall grass. There was a figure standing in the darkening yard, just below her window near the open field.

She stared, eyes squinted up trying to discern who it was. With a start of surprise she said his name.

'Tsume."

The incredulousness of her voice was pronounced, though she tried to keep her tone soft.

He acknowledged her with a stiff nod of his head.

Amazed, she could not help staring, longer than perhaps she should have. Why was he here? How had he found his way here?

A smile twitched at the corners of her mouth though she forced it down. There was something potent about this scene along with a silly, irrational feeling in her gut. Pushing it aside, Emma noted instead the way his silver hair showed up distinctly in the dusk, highlighted by bluish violet.

"What are you doing here, Tsume?"

The man did not answer right away, shifting his weight in the grass as if he was not even sure himself. When he did speak his voice sounded unconcerned, almost too impassive.

"You ran away. I wondered why."

The gruffness of his words couldn't hide the fact he was worried. Emma could tell, though at the moment she didn't dwell on why she was so sure. All she was sure of was that it seemed sweet to her.

She let a brief trace of a smile turn her lips upward as she said, "Hang on, I'll meet you out front. It'll be easier."

Seeming about to protest, Tsume shook it off with a disregarding shrug of his shoulders then nodded.

Closing the window, she gave a sigh. Once she had crossed her room, her tired limbs strangely forgotten, she opened her door a fraction then remembered her mother was out tonight. Good, then I have nothing to worry about. Bounding out her door, Emma headed down the stairs, grabbing her coat in the process.

The front door opened with a gentle click.

When she opened the door and slid outside she was surprised to see more than just Tsume standing there. The silver-haired man looked more annoyed than she would have expected, regarding the new arrivals with a kind of forced disdain. There were three of them, and with a start she recognized two of them as Roger and Blue.

Blue was sitting on her front step, while Roger was standing next to the shaggy haired boy she had seen earlier.

Hige.

He grinned at her, his grey eyes amused. Roger seemed uncertain but his forehead was creased with obvious worry. Blue, on the other hand, seemed thoughtful, watching her as she slowly moved out from the open door, letting it shut slowly. She felt all their eyes on her.

Roger broke the silence.

"Are you alright? I –we –I was worried." Biting his lip, he glanced over at Blue and Hige, and even Tsume in turn, who ignored him.

Emma watched them all, eyes trailing from one to another, a funny feeling forming inside her. Giving a deep sigh, she slumped down beside Blue.

"What are you all doing here?"

"Wondering what had happened to you." It was Hige that spoke this time. Hands behind his head, he grinned at her. "I mean I'm use to girls running away from me but that was a bit extreme."

She felt the faintest trace of a smile tugging on the tips of her mouth.

"But how did you find you're way here?"

"We followed Tsume." Blue answered from beside her with a mischievous grin.

Tsume himself looked disgusted but didn't say anything.

She didn't understand why they were all here, these people she didn't even really know.

As if discerning some of that in some unspoken way, Blue cocked her head, dark bangs falling between her namesake eyes. "We came because we were worried. I known I was." She smiled at her, a quirky sort of half smile as if to say, Look, yeah this is strange, but we're here for you all the same. And something else as well. Overcome with a strange bewildering feeling, Emma grasped Blue's hands tightly from where the other girl sat beside her on the front steps.

"Blue whatever happens you're as much a wolf as anyone else. And even if not, you're twice as good in the other way."

The blue-eyed girl did not seem to know how to take it, and Emma didn't really blame her. She hadn't exactly understood what she said but, somehow, it was something Blue needed to hear. Only Tsume seemed to really take anything out of her words, though Hige had a thoughtful expression on his face.

Something changed in Blue's eyes, a happy loving expression she had never seen on someone. It reminded her of a happy puppy. Smiling Blue bounced beside her in a cheerful manner, and without thinking she reached out and patted the other's hair, almost as she would a dog. With that small action, she knew, deep inside, that she had crossed some boundary she could never turn back from. But right now there was nothing except a blooming golden flower in her heart as Emma felt a quiet voice singing inside her.