Heart of the Melting Blood
Legend of the Moonlight
Written and conceived by: Lone Wolf NEO

Lone Wolf NEO does not own any of all the games or anime or manga featured in this story, but he owns the copyright to all his original ideas in this fiction. The author would really appreciate it if readers do not plagiaries everything inside this story without his knowledge.

Chronological Note: Heart of the Melting Blood: Legend of the Moonlight takes place scarcely half a year after the event in Heart of the Melting Blood RELOADED, and currently runs roughly in parallel with Guilty Gear: the World within and Without written and created by Sheo Darren. This story takes place in the TYPE MOON universe, and happens at Misaki Town where the events of Shingetsusan Tsukihime once took place.

Author's note: Heart of the Melting Blood: Legend of the Moonlight's FATE Arc, as it has been agreed by the author, officially ends in the previous chapter (i.e. Moonlit Flame of the Judgment Day). Starting from this chapter, a new arc, the Awe of She Arc, will be taking place approximately a week after events in FATE Arc, in which another half of the story will be revealed, thus completing the story… hopefully.

Chapter 11
An Unforeseen Reunion

She was staring at him. For a while, she thought she was having a dream as she never saw somebody else entering the forest. Perching on her shoulder was a pair of sparrows that were looking at the stranger too, curious of his presence in their living place. The man was staggering on his feet, swaying to the left and to the right while mumbling in low voice. He halted, dropped the sword he was holding to the ground and stood stiffly.

"What should I do?" she asked as she cautiously walked toward him. The man suddenly screamed in anger and fell on his knees, and his yells caused the birds to fly away for safety. Even the rest of the forest dwellers were intimidated by the loud yell and had to take cover. She, however, wasn't scared and braved herself to approach him, who later fell to the forest floor. "What happened to him? He seems to be pained," she pondered and knelt beside the unconscious man. As slowly as she could, the young woman rested his head upon her lap and caressed it gently.

"He wakes up," she whispered when the man opened his eyes. She was staring at him, who was bewildered at what happened to him, and waited as he looked up at her.

"Who… who are you?" the man weakly answered.

A gentle smile carved upon her face, as she rubbed her palms gently against his bruised cheek. "Dizzy." The man tried to reach her cheek, yet she just shook her head and put his hand down. "Don't move too much, sir. You've been hurt; you should rest yourself for a while."

"But I…"

She smiled at the reaction and hummed a lullaby to his ear. The man was startled and tried to say a word before he fell asleep, put under the charming spell of the lullaby. She stopped singing and stared at his sleeping face. "Oh, he's sleeping already." Then she giggled to herself. "It can't be helped, can it?" she uttered and resumed the lullaby, the familiar hymn of Shizukana Yoru ni.

x-x-x-x-x

"Ohayou, Dizzy-chan." The owner of the name opened her eyes and found herself staring into a warm, content gaze. "How was your sleep? I bet you had sweet dream last night," the girl asked and giggled.

"Hotaru-chan, ohayou," Dizzy replied, lazily rubbing her eyes. "You woke up earlier than I thought. Is there something the matter?"

The girl in blue pyjamas giggled and fell onto her body. "Nothing, I just want to say good morning," she uttered and pulled Dizzy into her lithe arms. The Gear woman was idle for a moment, immobilized by the cutely hug before she too embraced Hotaru in return, cuddling her as close as possible.

"You're so cute in the pyjamas, Hotaru-chan," Dizzy spoke as she cradled Hotaru closer. "Who bought it for you?"

"Rock-chan bought it for me," the firefly girl said and giggled. "He said he wanted to buy me ribbons that match the pyjamas yesterday, but he forgot to do so. I guess he was too busy ignoring Ky-chan's complaints all day."

"Oh, really?" Dizzy asked when Hotaru suddenly tickled her. "Iie! Hotaru-chan, don't do that! It tickles!" she cried in shock.

"Aw, I just want to play with you," Hotaru replied and tickled Dizzy again. The Gear woman squealed at the ticklish touch before she, too, tickled, the petite girl. Hotaru gasped at the sudden response and counter-tickled Dizzy, and before long they were tickling each other on the bed, laughing along as they did.

Then it stopped. The two women ended their game of tickling and pillow bashing that followed and found themselves in position only lovers would possibly do.

"Di… Dizzy-chan?" Hotaru whispered, her face was burning furiously red.

"Hotaru-chan…" the Gear woman replied, even as she too blushed brightly.

Both of them were oblivious of what was really happening. It was only after several minutes that they realized what went terribly wrong:

One: they were lying on the bed.

Two: both of them had their pyjamas almost slipping off their body.

Three: both of them were holding hands, and staring at each other very deeply that they were almost hypnotized by their own gaze.

Four: they were lying down in a position only lovers would possibly do every morning. A very nice, if not scandalous, position, if it must be said.

Five: what the hell are those fours supposed to mean? This is not Kannaduki no Miko! They are not Himeko and Chikane!

x-x

Uproar had broken out. A band of fan boys and fan girls alike were running berserk and shoving banners and signboards to the air. The citizens of the South Town were looking at the mass demonstration in intrigue before went to continue their daily routine, as if the event was nothing to them. Some of the demonstrators acted daring by pouring gasoline on their bodies and put them on fire, shouting "Kill it with fire!" at the same time.

"For God's sake, what the hell is going on here?" the ever-dismayed Ky asked, as he and Rock walked down from a bus stop near the road junction.

"I think there's a demonstration going on here," Rock said and looked at the demonstrators. "Let me check… oh, they're protesting authors' suggestion of writing a new female-only love story, but I don't know what does that mean. At least, that's what the banner says."

"That's not what I'm worried of, Rock. What's more important is," Ky uttered before he snapped. "Why the hell are we here?"

"Here, as in South Town?" Rock asked. "Come on, you know we're here to visit my pop. What's wrong with that?"

"Oh, what's wrong with that? Do you think I won't get mad if we leave without taking our wives along?" Ky insisted and poked Rock's forehead. "Listen, son of Geese Howard. When Dizzy and Hotaru are left alone, and I mean ALONE, do you have any idea of what does that mean?"

"What? They're the closest of friends, aren't they?" Rock answered. "And what do you mean by alone?"

Ky grumbled and violently shoved his hand through his hair. "Don't you know that Dizzy and Hotaru are the latest and the hottest shoujo-ai couple anyone can ever imagine of? You should've known of that a long time ago. Damn that Wedding Night and GG vs. SNK…"

For a while, the young wolf of Fatal Fury stared at the holy knight in bewilderment. Then he laughed so hard that he almost fell to the ground. "Come on! You know they're close to each other, and they're quite cute too! There's nothing wrong for them to be like that!" he answered between his laugh.

"This is not Kannaduki no Miko, for Heaven's sake! And they are not Himeko and Chikane!" Ky cried out in dismay. "Gah! This is why I hate to be involved in this kind of story! And those two authors…! I hate them! I detest them! Their sins are beyond the grace of God!"

At London, Sol was having breakfast with Kagura at the 4th Avenue Café near the London Bridge when he suddenly sneezed and spilled the coffee he was about to drink. "Curse. Nobody dares talking behind my back," he mumbled and groaned at the stain on his shirt. "Damn, my new jersey."

"I think somebody's talking about God, Sol-kun," Kagura suggested and handed over a paper towel to him.

"God? I don't want to have anything with it," he replied and wiped the stain with the towel. "Damn it. It must be Ky."

Back at South Town, Ky sneezed so loud that he almost slipped on his foot. "What the hell is it this time?" he demanded in French.

"Beats me," Rock shrugged. "And by the way."

"What?" Ky roughly replied while rubbing his runny nose.

"Why did you mention Himeko and Chikane? Wait, don't tell me you're a fan of shoujo-ai too?" Rock asked. Ky immediately replied with a Sacred Edge; it missed and hit the demonstrators across the road. The scandalized knight tossed many Stun Edges around him in madness, causing passers-by to run for cover. Rock could only slap his forehead at the stubborn French knight. "Always as scandalous as ever, that Ky."

Cue music of Scandalous started to take place.

x-x

Dizzy moved away from Hotaru and jumped off the bed. "I think I'll prepare breakfast for both of us," she told her and quickly corrected her pyjamas. Hotaru was doing the same and was tidying the mess, trying to calm herself after the unexpected experience as she did.

"Oh, yes. Dizzy-chan, do you still remember what I told you yesterday?" Hotaru asked.

"Yesterday?" Dizzy replied. "Ah, yes. The picnic we're going to have today at the summer house, isn't it? What about it?"

"Have you phoned Mr. & Mrs. Rage? We had planned to invite them, don't you remember?" Hotaru uttered.

"Not yet. I'm going to do it today," the Gear woman replied. "Oh, I'm planning to tell Lone Wolf NEO and Hibiki-chan about our plan after this. I'm sure they'll be very pleased to join us."

"Those twos? Why would you want to do that?" Hotaru asked in concern. "And are you sure it's safe to bring Hibiki-chan along? You know she can easily get jealous, don't you?"

Dizzy smiled to hear it and made a wink, even as she walked out of the bedroom. "If that's the case, we'll just make her busy."

"Oh, okay then," Hotaru replied and quickly followed the Gear woman after doing her work. "Ne, Dizzy-chan."

"What is it, Hotaru-chan?" she asked.

"Do you have any ideas why Rock-chan and Ky-chan didn't want to bring us to South Town?" Hotaru asked and made her cute pouting face.

"I don't know. They said they wanted to have a manly deal with Mister Geese."

"But at least they could've taken us along. Mou, I've wanted to visit otousan in a while."

Dizzy could only smile at the mumbles Hotaru was saying. It can't be helped, she thought.

x-x-x-x-x

"Aw, why doesn't he want to come?" Dizzy asked, as she and the invited guests walked to the summer house near the sea.

"Gomennasai, Dizzy-chan. Actually I had asked Lone Wolf-san whether he'd be interested to come along, but he said he's busy with his stuffs," Hibiki told her. "I think he's planning to do a joint-production with the some groups… Gakuten Rangers-whatever, but I don't know for what."

"So he can't come along and sends you instead? I thought Miss Mriya is coming along with you," Dizzy asked.

"Mriya-san? Nah, she's probably busy ogling and bothering Hikki-san by now," Hibiki said before she mumbled. "Mou, when I thought I could show Lone Wolf-san the new yukata I bought yesterday for the Tanabata festival."

x-x

Back at Kiev, Mriya was happily ogling the dismayed Hikki who insisted her to leave him alone in the training hall. "Oneesan, I'm trying to concentrate on my training!" Hikki cried. "Can't you leave me for a minute or two?"

"Yada! How can I ever leave you alone!" the bouncy young woman protested and rubbed her cheek against his. "You bad boy! Do you think I don't know what you're going to do with Mai-chan? Both of you are going to do that, don't you?"

"That's not it!" Hikki yelled out, even as he started to blush furiously. Sitting beside him, Mai could only hide her embarrassed face.

x-x

"The Summer Festival is coming, isn't it?" Hotaru asked. "Let me think of the last time I celebrated it with Gato-oniichan. Oh, I think I forgot when," she said and giggled silly.

"Honey, did you remember when the last time we celebrated things like this?" Millia asked as she was cuddling Laila the Siamese cat she took along.

"Umm… no?" Venom asked, and was promptly bopped on the head by Millia's hair. Hibiki and Hotaru laughed at him, causing the former leader of the Assassin's Guild to yelp in disgrace.

"Speaking of which, I'm very much concerned of Lone Wolf right now," Dizzy spoke and glazed at the swordswoman. "Do you believe in him when you left him behind? I mean, he already has Mriya and Cassandra to take care of, can he be trusted?"

Hibiki heard it and giggled. "Yes, of course. Besides, he's promised me he'll never do such things while I'm with you guys," she said, smiling as she usually did.

"Well, if you say so," Dizzy said.

The group arrived at the summer house they were heading to. It was made in contemporary design, and it was facing the open sea. The guests cooed at what they saw and asked Hotaru about the house. "This house once belonged to the Howard Family. Rock-chan inherited it from otousan on his 20th birthday, and we use it as our summer house ever since. It's kind of modest, but we like it," she explained.

"Wow, your father is surely rich or something," Millia spoke, and stared at the exterior design in fascination.

Hotaru just giggled and ran her hand through her free hair. "It's nothing, compared with what otousan has given to us. He may look appalling, but he's a nice person. Anyway, we better get going and pack our stuffs. There's going to be a firefly sighting at the wetland tonight, so I hope all of us can go there together before dusk."

The guests carried their baggage to the summer house, while admiring the simple garden design outside the building. Dizzy was walking toward the door when Hibiki called her. "Dizzy-chan, can I talk with you for a while?" she asked.

"Yes, of course. What is it, Hibiki-chan?" Dizzy asked and put down her bag.

"Lone Wolf-san wanted me to ask you of something," Hibiki uttered. "He wants to know whether you're having any strange occurrence. Like dream or something. Have you had any of them?"

"Strange occurrence? No, if I can remember," Dizzy replied. "But why would he want to know?"

"He received a foresight from his fellow authors a few days ago, and he's informed that the foresight has something to do with you," the heir of the Takane clan spoke. "He was worried at you, and he wanted to tell you about the prophecy but he couldn't, so he sent me in instead."

Dizzy could only giggle. "Why would he be worried? I'm having a happy life with Ky now. Though he's been pretty moody lately, we never fight or having a bad day in our relationship."

"I see. Maybe he's been worrying over things too much," Hibiki uttered and giggled too.

"Dizzy-chan! Hibiki-chan! Come on in, the meal's ready," Hotaru called from inside the house. The two women looked at each other, nodded and waved back to Hotaru before going to the house.

x-x-x-x-x

"That was so fun!" Hotaru uttered as the group walked home from their firefly sighting. "I didn't know there was so many of them tonight, and they even wanted to play with us. What an experience!"

"Yeah, I have to agree with that," Venom said and again got bopped on the head. He yelled in dismay and stared at Millia, whose hair was now shaped in sledgehammer. "What the hell's wrong with you?"

"You're the one," Millia answered and made an angry face. "I never see you happy since we arrived here. All you do is to complain and complain and complain, like you're never satisfied with everything. Do you think I'm not angry with that?"

The dark-skinned man tried to smile. "I'm smiling now. See?"

"That's not enough," she replied and prodded his forehead with her hair. "If you have problems, say it. Don't hide it and pretend that there's nothing, Mister Venom. Okay?"

"Yes, ma'am," Venom answered and gulped to see the angry face she was making.

She smiled at the answer and backed away from him. "That's better. Say, I saw a restaurant near the junction we walked by. Why don't we go there and have a meal? Venom will pay the meal for us."

"Hello there, Mrs. Rage. Our money's barely enough for our return trip."

"Oh, honey. We can always use our Guild account to pay the bill."

"Are we still related to them?"

"We still have our membership valid, you see."

"That's a good idea!" Hotaru replied and seized Millia's hand. "Let's go there, Millia-san! I want to have something yummy tonight!" Immediately the two married woman ran down the road and headed to the said restaurant, leaving the rest of the group in bewilderment.

"Even after we're married, I still feel stupid," Venom mumbled and scratched his head.

"It's not stupid for two assassins to get married," Hibiki reminded. "It's amazing."

"Yeah, yeah, I heard that. Sounds like that movie "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" she wants to watch next week," he replied. "Sigh, I know I should've asked Slayer on marriage advices." He shrugged and followed the trail Hotaru and Millia had made earlier. "Why don't you ladies come along? They might be waiting for you."

"We'll follow you shortly, Venom-san," Hibiki told him.

"Alright, then. I'll see you at the restaurant," Venom said and headed to the restaurant where the two wives were waving at them and calling out their names. Hibiki waved back at them and turned to Dizzy, noticing that she was frowning.

"What's the matter, Dizzy-chan?" she asked.

"I don't know," the Gear woman said and put her hand on her chest, even as the moon started shining wonderfully at the beach, "but I feel there's something missing inside of me."

"Could it be Ky?" Hibiki asked, staring at her in expectation.

She merely shook her head. "No, it isn't him. It's something… more important than Ky, but I can't remember what it is."

The swordswoman smiled and put an assuring hand on her shoulder. "Take it easy, Dizzy-chan. You can't force yourself to remember everything," she said.

"I… I guess you're right," Dizzy sighed and held the hand firmly.

"Come on. Hotaru-chan and Millia-san might be waiting for us," Hibiki uttered. Dizzy just nodded and followed her to the restaurant.

x-x

Midnight. The household was silent, as they were busy drifting inside the dreamlands they were visiting. The sound of chirping crickets, added with the calm breeze of the ocean, was a sign of the peaceful night they were enjoying. They were oblivious of what was going to happen next, nor did they notice of someone who was approaching the summer house.

Hotaru was walking out of her room and was heading to the kitchen. She was hungry, and the meals she had at the seaside restaurant couldn't satisfy her need. "Mou, I'm still hungry…" she mumbled and rubbed her rumbling tummy. One could only imagine whether she was fulfilling her need, or her significant other's need, considering that she had been married to Rock for months. But let's leave that for another story, since the author would prefer to leave it to readers' judgments, although the league of The World Within and Without would demand the otherwise.

--"Yeah, I resent that. What's with that significant other? Can't he ever get straight to the point already?" mumbled Yuuki, while she watched at the progress from onboard Death Star. "And whatever the hell happened to Alex back at Misaki Town? I demand a detailed explanation on this," she mumbled and shook her fist.

Standing behind her, I-No and Raven could only shake head. "So scandalous," they uttered, even as the familiar rhythm of Scandalous echoed inside the spaceship.--

Hotaru halted. An unusual noise was coming from outside the kitchen. "Who could that be?" she wondered and stepped out of the kitchen. She walked toward the woods and looked for any sign of strangers. Nothing was found, and she assumed that it was just night creatures wandering about. She returned to the kitchen when she heard the same noise, this time it was closer. Way too closer than she thought. Warily she turned around, and found herself facing a black shadow that was glowering at her in droopy eyes.

"KYAAAA!"

Immediately the household was awakened by the distress cry. They rushed to the outside, and saw Hotaru standing motionless on the riverbank. "Hotaru! What happened?" Venom asked as they approached her. Tongue-shackled, she could only point her finger to a spot across the river while Hibiki told her to calm down. Venom looked to the direction and immediately withdrew his cue poll. "There's something behind the bushes. Ladies, stand back." He tucked his pocket, took out several cue balls, and placed all of them suspended in the air. He waited for the intruder to come out, and waited, and…

"STINGER AIM!"

One of the cue balls was poked and hit remaining white orbs, creating an uncontrolled ricochet. All the balls hit the target Venom aimed at, and the target wavered on his feet before became visible to sight. Venom was prepared to shoot another ricochet when the target collapsed on the riverbank.

"Hey, doesn't the uniform look familiar to us? Can you check it out, honey?" Millia asked.

Venom jumped across the river and approached the fainted person. "This is not an ordinary uniform. This suit belongs to the Holy Orders," he said and turned the body over as to look at the knight's face. A sudden change struck upon Venom, and his eyes widened in disbelief at what he saw.

"What 's taking you so long?" Millia asked as she approached them. She looked over Venom's shoulder, and too was shocked when she saw the knight. "It's him! What the hell is he doing here?"

"I don't know, Millia, but one thing is for sure," Venom replied and lifted the unconscious knight. "You've got to lend me a hand. He's badly hurt." Millia nodded and helped Venom to carry the knight on his shoulders. The other three women just watched, as the husband and wife carried the knight back to the summer house.

"I'll go and call a doctor," Hotaru suggested.

"Good idea. I'll help them while you look for one," Hibiki said and returned to the house.

Hotaru nodded and told Dizzy to follow her to the town. She, instead, stood at her place and took no notice of her. "Dizzy-chan? What's the matter? Dizzy-chan?" she asked.

"…it can't be…" Dizzy quickly ran back to the house and approached the fainted knight. Ignoring Venom who told her to help Hotaru, she stared at the knight's face, and gasped. "It's him! It's really him!"

"Dizzy-chan, do you know this person?" Hibiki asked.

"Yes, I'm very certain. This is the knight who arrived at Devil's Living Place," she said. "I thought we'd never meet each other again after he left, but it can't be… I thought he had…"

Venom, Millia, and Hibiki stared back and forth between Dizzy and the knight Venom was carrying. "This is such a strange reunion. Dizzy knows this person very well, and she's surprised to see him again," he pondered and glanced at Hibiki. "You go and help Hotaru. Let Dizzy follow us." Hibiki nodded and ran toward the bedazzled Hotaru, and left the summer house to the town nearby. "And as for you," he spoke and glanced back at Dizzy.

"As for me?" she asked.

"You stay with us and look after him," he told us. "When he wakes up, we'll ask him everything about him, as well as you. Is it okay with you?" She just nodded to answer yes, and followed them back to the summer house.