Disclaimer: Hey, in Japan, I actually met the authors of Yu Yu Hakusho and Tokyo Mew Mew! They gave me the rights to both their anime and manga! Yeah right… I do not own!

Moonlight Reveals All

Chapter 3: The Fox and the Wolf

"You do know this is all your fault, right?" Keichiro asked, staring at his compass, as if it would turn into a giant flashing arrow pointing to the Mews Mews. Ryou rolled his eyes and asked, "How?" They would never find any of the girls.

"Well, it was you whodidn't want to bring the survival manual. And youdidn't want to ask for directions," he answered without sounding too accusing. He then smiled, bringing back the attitude he usually had.

"Well, I can't do those things! Haven't you ever heard a stand-up comedian, Keichiro?" Ryou sniffed a bit snootily. Doing that, he scowled. "God, something smells like a car…"

Keichiro grinned as he pulled out a little green cardboard pine tree attached to a chain around his neck. "It's an air freshener(1) so that wild animals find it harder to smell us," Keichiro answered promptly. Ryou just rolled his eyes. They were hungry, lost, and irritated. The annoying scent didn't help either.

They continued walking for several more minutes, listening to any and every sound that could lead them to humanity. The slight rustle of a leaf, the crunch of a twig, the whistling of the wind, they paid attention to every noise. Including the howling of a wolf.

"Sounds like Zakuro," Ryou talked for the first time since they realized they were lost. Keichiro looked up to see a full moon and what seemed like a shadow flitting across the branches. He shook his head as he continued to stare at the compass. Nothing.

"Hello? I said, SOUNDS LIKE ZAKURO. Which means, let's follow the Mew Mew," he continued, anger evident in his voice.

"Don't crease your eyebrows, or you'll end up with more wrinkles," Keichiro responded mindlessly, trying to understand what the compass was saying.

Ryou sighed. What was it going to take to get that idiot to listen! "Keichiro? Keichiro! Yo! Why aren't you listeni—" Ryou stopped as he looked at what Keichiro had been staring at for the past few minutes. The compass was going crazy, with the arrow flitting every which way imaginable.

"We've been following this compass for the past three hours. Do you know why it doesn't work?" Keichiro asked, his bangs obscuring his face.

"Is that a rhetorical question?"

Keichiro sighed and plopped down on some dead leaves. He lifted his head and started laughing like a madman. "This entire area is covered with blankets of iron ore! (2)" He said, brushing away some leaves to reveal grayish black slabs that seemed to be part of the ground.

"Meaning—?"

"Meaning the iron ore has been obstructing the magnetic fields that—"

"No, the simpler version," Ryou said, still not understanding the fullness of the situation.

"The compass won't work in this area," he said simply, getting up and putting his compass back in his backpack. "Man, if only we had checked the area before we left, this wouldn't have happened."

Ryou shrugged, and put his hands behind his head. "Well, my job was just to pack our stuff. So…"

"So, we'll still have to resort to a different way to find the campsite," Keichiro answered honestly.

Ryou nodded in understanding, and brightened up. "You do know this is all your fault, right?"

"I'm bored. Why does Zakuro get to roam free?" Pudding asked, her chin resting on her hands. Zakuro had left only a few minutes ago, but it seemed like forever her.

"You can too," Mint said. Upon those words, Pudding yipped and darted into the forest. "Don't get lost, though!" She sprawled out on the dirt, wallowing in the fresh air and moonlight.

Silence reigned for a few more moments before Ichigo complained, "Where's the food?"

"In the refrigerator," Lettuce answered. Both got up, and took a peek inside the giant backpack. Ichigo unzipped it to find something bordering on an ATM/Vending machine.

"What is this?" Lettuce asked, inspecting the bright buttons and beautiful kanji written underneath hirigana, written under each. The machine was bigger than a normal television, but smaller than a washing machine.

"Well, it's not exactly a refrigerator. It's better."

"Then why call it a refrigerator?"

"I wanted you to carry it before I had to explain the complexity of it," Mint responded. She got up, purse in hand. She inserted a 500 yen bill and pressed a button. Groans, clangs, and crashes ensued from the machine, until, at the bottom, a bento box filled with sushi, rice, and chicken came out. Mint picked it up, and pressed a button near the place where she entered the bill. Underneath it, a few coins fell into something that looked like half a bowl protruding from the machine. It beeped, and a female mechanical voice stated, "Your change, 110 yen. Arigatou."

"There's noodles, teriyaki, shrimp, and loads of other stuff. Just read the name, and press a button," Mint explained, giving her friends each 500 yen. "Quite simple, actually. Just give me the change and don't order the soup. It takes forever."

Ichigo and Lettuce blinked. And then they blinked again. And then they heard a howl.

Zakuro ran freely through the forest, hair zipping past her shoulders, and the wind running alongside her. This is what it means to be free. Ah, to have the liberty to succumb to her animal instincts, it was wonderful! She paused a moment to rest and howled once at the moon.

Suddenly, something caught her ear. They twitched naturally, and rotated to find whatever had made the sound. Nothing. She sniffed the air, but for some reason, smelled only of the forest and Pine trees. She looked up to see a momentary dart of black cross the trees above. Well, that was certainly suspicious.

Zakuro listened to her instincts and followed the apparition noiselessly from the shadows of the trees. Funny, because that's exactly what he was.

"You owe me fox. You and your pocky, (3)" Hiei said, handing the red box to the silvery figure perched higher up on the tree. The Yoko tore off the top, leaving a white bag, also torn across the top. He reached in, and grabbed a single chocolate pretzel stick with his long nails. Eyes gleaming, he licked off most of the chocolate on one end. Delicately, he moved on until there was just the pretzel stick covered in saliva.

"That's really gross, you know that?" Hiei asked, leaning against the trunk of the tree.

"It's training. I am a thief you know," Yoko answered, finally eating the stick. He paused and seemed to contemplate the pocky. "They don't taste as good when I'm Yoko."

Hiei rolled his little red eyes. "Training for what? Frenching a diamond?" He muttered.

"No, but… do you think these would taste better as blood-covered sticks? Chocolate isn't as sweet, you know, the whole demon thing?" he said, ignoring the underlying insult behind Hiei's words.

"Try it. You're allowed to hunt the game here," he said. Yoko nodded. Hiei was right. Blood-covered pocky would taste MUCH better than chocolate-covered.

Yoko leaped deeper into woods, far away from Hiei, and surveyed the area. The surrounding land seemed void of any wildlife, but, to his superior demon senses, the woods were filled with sounds and smells of animals. He could tell that there was a raccoon not far away, a squirrel even closer, an owl a little farther, and a wolf—right below him?

Yoko looked down to see a purple-haired wolf demon below him. Wait, she didn't smell like a demon. A cross between a wolf and human, perhaps? What an odd combination…but for some reason, that seemed impossible.

The girl who was half wolf, half human seemed to pause, and then looked up. Her eyes locked onto his, as neither could peel their eyes away. Yoko touched ground as if in slow motion, and continued to stare at the wolf-girl who also seemed infatuated with the fox.

"May I ask as to whom I am making my acquaintance to?" Yoko asked tilting his head and crossing his pale arms. The girl had long purple hair, and was wearing… quite suggestive purple clothing. Just like a normal demon, she had wolf ears and a wolf tail. The only odd thing was her scent, and it was starting to intrigue the fox demon.

The girl raised an eyebrow, and chuckled a little. "An odd predacite, probably from a fox, right?" she said, eyeing his ears and tail. Silver, silver, pale white, silver, silver. The predacite in front of her was entirely silver, excluding his golden eyes. Talk about obsessed. Kish must have been bored tonight.

Yoko was confused. Well, who wouldn't be, after being called a 'predacite'? She knew he was a fox. Maybe predacite was her way of saying fox. "I asked you a question. You should answer," he said, reaching into his silver hair.

"I, sir fox, am a Mew Mew," she said, as her eyes narrowed at his pale hand reaching into his silvery locks. She jumped backward, probably to either run away or to reveal her weapon. Unfortunately, he didn't have a chance to see what, as a monkey swung into him, knocking him, hard, into a tree. The last thing he saw was the monkey staring at him, as his eyes slowly closed.

"Did I do something wrong?" Pudding asked, staring at the fox demon.

"I—I don't know. Let's bring him back to camp. Maybe Ryou and Keichiro are there by now," Zakuro said, lifting the unconscious predacite.

Pudding nodded in agreement. About halfway there, Pudding spoke. "Zakuro, why don't we finish him off, if he's a predacite? And how'd you know that he wasn't a she?" Pudding asked her.

"Because he was here a month ago. Kish doesn't activate a predacite unless he wants it to fight us. This is the exact same scent from a month ago. Plus, he didn't know who I was. If he was a real predacite, he would have attacked without question, yet he was being cautious and wary. I just think that something may be wrong here," Zakuro answered. And then she added, "He was flat."

Pudding didn't argue. Well, mostly because a midget guy with really spiky hair jumped in front of her. Before anyone spoke, the midget jump toward Zakuro and gracefully had the silver guy out of Zakuro's arms. "Names." he demanded, more than asked.

"Mew Mews," Zakuro said, striking an elegant stance.

The boy also stroke a stance, pulling out his sword. "I'm guessing you wish for a battle," the boy said

"You read my mind."

1—Is that spelled right?

2—Got the idea from the movie, "Without a Paddle", but I'm not sure if I got the facts right.

3—Seriously, I bought a bunch of boxes of those from Japan, and I'm in love.

A/N: Yoko sounds weak for some reason, but it's that thing, I think it's called poetic license, or something… I'm sick while I'm writing this, so give me some leeway. Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed this story, and I'd especially like to thank a reviewer who read my bio and responded to the Important: Must Read section of it. Special thanks to Kuro-Mei and Kairivoosh, who reviewed on my other story, Drowning in Memories.