Ultra Special Note #4: Hello again! I hope you've enjoyed it so far, and I just have to tell you that this chapter is very short, so don't yell at me! Thank you to the following people who have reviewed so far; I appreciated your remarks!
I'm so happy! Yesterday I put up two new chapters, I was totally going Other than that, I thinkinto hyper drive, and this time, it was a good thing! everything's okey-dokey okay! So let us begin again…Comments welcome!
Disclaimer: I don't own Crescent Moon. I'm just a poor person who has been reduced to using their magnificent characters.
Chapter 4: On the Move!
It was a bleak, cloudy, and windy morning when Nozomu woke up. Just glancing outside from his soot-streaked window made him feel cold. And depressed. How strange; his week had been going well so far…The sleepy vampire rolled over to try and discern the time from his luminescent clock. Just nearing 7:00AM. Perfect. He checked his hair (there might actually be a few out of place, you know) and was downstairs in the next few minutes.
"Very good. You're right on time."
"Good morning, Misoka. I hope you slept well?"
"Now that you mention it…yes. I have to tell you a bit about our trip…"
Nozomu leaned against the wall, his hands shoved into his pockets.
"Trip?"
"Yes. Within the next few days, we'll be leaving for Kyoto by plane, since I've found out in what area the Teardrops may be." He pushed his glasses further away from the bridge of his nose and examined Nozomu's expression. "From there we will begin our search, using the Princess's gift (if she will allow it) to substantiate the lead. Then…we'll have to see where it leads us."
"I understand what you're saying." The young man nodded in agreement. "I'll think the most trouble we'll have is getting Mitsuru to come with us."
"It may be even harder to get him to realize that he has to work with us as a team."
"How true…" Nozomu smiled sadly, and thought quietly to himself.
"I was thinking that perhaps we should leave as soon as possible." Misoka placed his fingertips together and lowered them to the table.
"Why so?" He eyed Misoka with concern. "Misoka, if this is one of those things where you feel like you have to rush it because it may turn out to be a life or death situation…"
"No. it's not that."
"What, then?"
"I want to complete this as quickly as possible. Even though it didn't seem too bad when we found out about the Teardrops, I'm getting a feeling that this might be more than we bargained for."
"So you're saying it night be dangerous?"
"Most likely."
"Well, I'm sure that if we just left Mitsuru here, half the danger would be gone!" Nozomu laughed.
"This isn't funny," Misoka said, although a corner of his mouth lifted at the joke. "We have to keep our heads on and be focused. I've decided that we will leave tomorrow."
"What! You're not serious…"
"Everyone will receive a ticket in the morning so they don't lose it beforehand. We haven't taken a lot of action with our plans yet, so the time to act is now."
"Uh…okay." Nozomu stood up, stretching his arms legs. "Do you want me to tell the others or…?"
Wait until dinner. Best not get them riled up…"
"Over what?" Akira poked his head in the door, his puppy eyes half-closed with sleep.
"You'll find out later, my friend," laughed Nozomu. He patted him on the head. "You look awful. Maybe you should go to bed again."
"Sure thing," yawned Akira, and went back upstairs to go to sleep once more.
There was a peaceful kind of quiet in the room after that.
"That's all that I wanted to say." Misoka spoke after a moment, his voice filling in the silence.
"Alright. For once, I think I'll cook breakfast…" the vampire left the room, whistling cheerfully. Just meeting the werewolf had put him in a good mood. It could be a nice day after all, he decided, striding purposefully down the hallway. The weather seemed to agree with him as well; the sun shone brightly through the few gray clouds left, and it seemed, to Nozomu at least, that it might become the most interesting and exciting dinner all week.
XXXXX
"WHAT!" Mitsuru stared at Misoka with wide, incredulous eyes as he hovered over his dinner of orange chicken and rice. "You're joking, right? There's no way I'm getting on that plane, man. I'd rather fly there myself! Why the heck are we going by plane!" He scowled, putting his hands in his pockets.
"Oooh, really? I've never been on a plane before…" Mahiru looked curiously at the tickets the fox grasped in his hands.
"'Cause you're scared of heights, you idiot." Mitsuru smirked.
"Meanie!" She stuck out her tongue, her cheeks a light pink. Turning back to Misoka, she frowned. "You never said when we were leaving…"
"The most reasonable time would be about 12 noon tomorrow…"
There was a moment of silence as everyone stared blankly at him.
"As in, the day after today?" Akira blinked.
"Yes, that is the definition of tomorrow, Akira." Nozomu grinned.
"I know that!" The werewolf's ears flattened slightly. "I just meant, isn't this a little bit late to tell us; springing it on us like this wasn't very considerate." Akira looked and forth at Nozomu and Misoka.
"Well…if we had told you earlier you would have been worrying all week. Right?" Nozomu glanced at him. Finally the information sunk into the rest of the group.
"HELL NO! NO, NO, NO WAY MAN! I'M NOT CROWDING INTO SOME PACKED PLANE, SITTING NEXT SOME KID THAT'LL WHINE AND COMPLAIN AND SAY, 'I want my mommy,' DAMMIT!" Mitsuru slammed his fist down on the table, making his spoon fly across it and land precariously on Misoka's nose. Mahiru giggled as Mitsuru froze and turned red. "Sorry," he muttered, looking down at his plate. "Don't expect me to go on that plane, man."
Misoka lifted the spoon off his nose and set it on the table. "That's quite alright, and we didn't expect you to get on. Which is why we'll have to take any measure necessary in order to get you in a seat, even if it means dragging you onto the plane in a straight jacket. And you won't be sitting next to children; that would be too dangerous for them."
"I'm not a criminal, dammit!"
Akira coughed slightly (it was a real cough, by the way) and looked at Misoka. "What are our seats?"
"I'll tell you tomorrow…" it might be better for all of us."
"I wanna know now! I don't want any more lame surprises-"
"Akira, would you…?"
"Okey-dokey!" Akira transformed into a large (but happy) werewolf that placed Mitsuru over his shoulder and headed to his room.
"Eh! Put me down, you furball!"
""You just down some sleep, Mitsuru.
"By the way, don't try to transform tengu-style, okay? We put some powder in your chicken." Nozomu whistled cheerfully.
"CURSE YOU-" The door slammed upstairs, and faint yelling and cheerful shouting filled the downstairs rooms.
"Don't worry, I don't think the seating is that bad," Misoka reassured Mahiru. "Besides, it's only an hour or so."
"Oh…okay." She thought for a moment. "Well, I'm going to go and pack a few things. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, princess." Misoka and Nozomu watched her leave. The vampire sighed.
"That was interesting. Hope tomorrow goes a bit better."
"I suppose the worst would be if Mitsuru throws a fuss in the middle of the airport…"
Nozomu nodded wisely. "Well, what do expect from little kids these days?"
Misoka smiled slightly. "I'm off to bed as well. Wake up everyone at nine, please. We have to be at the airport an hour early…"
"All right. 'Night, o fearless leader."
"'Night."
XXXXX
Mitsuru sat simmering in his chair, thinking of ways to get back at the extremely happy dog-man. What right did they have to forcefully drag him into is own room! He kicked the wall. Well, he wasn't going to lose any more of his dignity if he could help it. Stomping over and turning out the lights, he stopped to think. Misoka never had told him who he was sitting with. Probably thought he'd explode if he knew. The tengu shook his head, ruffling his aqua-colored hair. He'd only blow if he got paired with Akira or Mahiru. Mitsuru stared into empty space. Oh, god; no. Nooo way. He wouldn't have- he tried to open his door, but Akira had managed to lock his door from the outside. The tengu curled up under is covers. At least he could enjoy the rest of his good day. Or good night.
XXXXX
Nozomu woke up early, looking bleary-eyed and yawning. He had a feeling he was supposed to do something important…Had something happened that was…ooh. He checked the time: 9AM and 2 seconds.
"Aah! Nine o clock!" he raced down the hall. "I was supposed to wake up everyone.
"What are you yelling about?" Mahiru padded into the hallway, panda ears showing.
"Yeah, could you quiet down a little?" Akira looked out of his doorway, wrapping his bathrobe around him.
"SHADDUP! I'M TRYING TO SLEEP HERE!" Mitsuru banged on his door. "AND SOMEBODY OPEN THIS DOOR!"
"Oh, yeah!" Akira beamed. "I forgot…" he went to release the prisoner.
Nozomu sighed. "Well, I guess I did wake everyone up…"
"What'd did you say? Sorry, I wasn't listening…" Mahiru looked peered at him over the pillow she held in her hands.
He frowned teasingly. "Doesn't anyone listen to me anymore?"
"I'm sorry!" Mahiru wailed. "I'm just so tired…"
"I was kidding; it was nothing."
"Oh, okay. I thought it was something important that you had to say…"
"Hey!"
Mitsuru listened as everyone laughed and dragged their bags of luggage downstairs, half wishing that someone would care enough to say, 'Hey, where's Mitsuru?' and try to convince him to come downstairs. I've never been cared about. Why should this matter? He laughed bitterly. By locking me in my own room, they showed how much they cared, alright. Just like on Akira's birthday…and when my parents left me alone…
Just stop it Mitsuru.
Whatever, man. I get it now.
No! I won't move!
You say we're friend…we stick together. But when it comes down to it…
There was a knock on his door. "Mitsuru?" Mahiru poked her head in. "Aren't you coming? Somehow I knew you'd still be in here…"
"Well, that's great for you. I bet you feel really proud of yourself."
"Huh! Meanie!"
"Sure, man. Or little girl."
"Heyyy!"
"Just shut up and get out of my room!"
"Not until you leave, too! We'll leave together!"
"I'll call the cops for harassment."
"I thought you didn't trust anyone?"
"Trust them more than you." he pushed past her into the hallway, carrying his bag.
"Eh? Hmm…" The Princess followed him down the hall, humming softly.
Maybe things would be better from now on, he thought. We're heading places, and one of a thousand prayers was answered. Perhaps…perhaps even though it was such a small (and stupid) wish…it just proved that dreams could…whatever.
"Let's go, Mahiru." Mitsuru pulled her along behind him, locking her hands with his.
"Ahh…okay, Mitsuru-chan!" her face lit up, and her light steps blended with his sure ones. He thought of saying something, but decided against it.
"Whatever." Yes. This day just might be one of the ones…that will let me be who I am. Without the mask.
Ultra Special Note: I'm sorry it was so short, but was it good? I hope more people will review and tell me how they feel about it, so I know if I need to change anything. Any ideas for future stories would be welcome too!