Memories

She ran as fast as she could through the field, the grasses still damp from the rain. She turned to do a cartwheel, which changed into a series of back flips before she rolled onto her back, laughing. Looking up at the murky grey skies with a smile, she breathed in the clean air around her.

Her mind drifted to the people she had met that morning… Misoka, who had been in terrible pain, Nozomu, who wouldn't stop looking at her with lustful eyes, and Akira, who she desperately wanted to return to…

Why do I want to return to him? She asked herself, her eyes closing as she watched the past. I don't know him… do I?

She curled up on her side, her tails forming to wrap around her waist in a comforting cocoon as her ears stretched out and lowered, like a sad puppy or a wolf in pain.

/Flashback/

"I once was in love, such a long time ago," she sang as she looked at the picture in her hands. "With a boy in a meadow, who danced in the snow!" she hugged the picture to her as she spun around, the first snow of the winter falling on her shoulders.

The sound of clapping stopped her, and she looked up to see a girl flanked on either side by two massive men walking up to her. "Very good," the girl cooed. "Very good indeed… but why are you here little one? Aren't you supposed to be running? You're not allowed to stay in one spot, remember?"

Her ears drooped low as she looked to the ground, biting her lip as she summoned up the courage to question the girl… "No… no I don't…"

"You don't?" the girl slowly walked up to her, rising gaze to force her to stare into dark, aqua eyes. "Tell me, little one… what don't you do?"

"I don't remember," the coppery taste of blood washed over her tongue as she bit her lip harder, before she spoke again. "I don't remember why I have to keep running… I only ever see bits of my pa-"

"It isn't your past!" her eyes widened in horror as she looked up at the menacing girl. Aqua eyes had changed to an evil yellow hue as a hand was brought back to strike her… only to miss as she dodged.

"Why do I see it?" she asked from where she now stood, several feet away. "Why do I see a past that isn't mine? Who is that boy who I fell in lov-"

"You didn't fall in love with him," the girl interrupted. Her voice was calmer, though hate pooled from her eyes. "I fell in love with him; I am in love with him… as he is with me. You were a nuisance, a mistake that came along. Your mind tricked you into believing that it is you past that you see, and then you tried to steal him from me… now I must as you, why?"

"I don't know..." she muttered, tears forming at her eyes. "I… I'm sorry…"

"It's nothing to be ashamed of anymore," the girl smiled at her, her eyes turning back to their aqua colour. "Just do not try to steal him from me."

"Thus the reason I must keep running," she nodded. "I understand, Milady… I will not disappoint you again…"

"Good," the girl turned to walk away, though the two men stayed. "But just in case… see these two here? They shall follow you, and stay with you… if you wish you're life in solitude, you must stay ahead of them… if you wish a peaceful life with a home of your own, you must care for them, too. Remember that… remember all of this. This is the only real important thing of you past… not the things you think you remember."

"Yes Milady," she murmured, to quiet for any of them to hear. "I will remember…"

/End Flashback/

Her real life before that was a blank… of course it was. The memories of two love birds growing up together weren't hers, but her mistress'. And the pull she felt, that she had always felt, to this city was her mistress' as well.

The pull to the Moonshine.

"They mustn't know who I am yet," she muttered to herself, thinking of those she had met earlier that morning. "But that should be fine… for I don't know who I am either."

Akira laughed from his seat in a stool, as Nozomu leaned towards him over the bar. "She was pretty," the vampire said, changing their conversation from Akira's favourite candy to Nozomu's latest challenge. "Very pretty… I wonder who she was…"

"You think everyone's pretty," Akira rolled her eyes, his tone still playful but his thoughts more somber than before. "A vulture could walk by in a wig and you'd be head over heel! Heehee… a vulture in a wig…"

"Grow up," it was Nozomu's turn to roll his eyes… but just then two people walked in. "Hey!" Nozomu shouted over top of Akira's head. The werewolf turned and looked at them… "The sign says closed!"

"Daiki?" Akira spoke, his lips moving without his conscious thought. "Hotaka? What are you two doing here?"

"Akira-dono?" the taller of the two spoke. He had dark, slated eyes and a short pony tail. "What are you doing here?"

"I could say the same to you, Hotaka," Akira hissed out. Nozomu blinked in confusion, standing up straight; why was Akira acting like this? "I said no one was to follow me when I left… so why are you here?"

"We're looking for someone else, Akira-dono!" the other man, Daiki, spoke up, his hazel eyes shining with something akin to fear. "I swear it, upon the murders of the fire!"

"Chi isn't here, is she?" the werewolves growled under his breathe as he awaited an answer.

"No, of course not," Daiki shook his head.

"Well then, leave," Akira turned away from them, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

With short, curt bows, Daiki and Hotaka both backed out of the Moonshine… but not before taking a few sniffs of the air in the room.

"Akira?" Nozomu whispered hesitantly. The werewolf turned to smile at him, mirth back in his features… but his eyes were still dark from the encounter of the two men. "Who were they?"

"Those two?" Akira laughed. "Those are just some guys from my old pack! They never really liked me that much, always picking on me and everything… but that's in the past! How 'bout some lunch? I'm starved!"

Nozomu just watched as Akira started for the kitchen, muttering words to a song he didn't recognize.

"I once was in love, not long ago… With the girl by the stream, who got lost in the snow…"