Hey people! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I had to go back to school…boo(last week was vacation week). Anyways here's the next chapter, and its as funny as I can make it(seeing as it's a drama story). If its not funny...well…sorry to waste your time.
Disclaimer: for the last time I DO NOT OWN CRESCENT MOON! This is the last time im saying it.
Kori's POV
So this is home now… Kori thought to herself watching Akira run back and forth with plates. It was pretty busy that night at the moonshine, Akira nearly chopped his hand off twice while trying to cook as fast as he could. Mitsuru and Mahiru kept getting the orders to the wrong tables since there were so many people. Misoka had lost count on how many beers he had sold, and Nozomu was swamped with requests.
I was having a mental debate on whether to help or not. They really need help, but how am I supposed to take orders if I cant even speak? What if they want recommendations or something? Ill only make them mad cause I cant talk and they'll never come back here. But if I did help the others wouldn't be as exhausted as they would be and I wouldn't be completely useless…Oh screw it I'm helping.
Kori stood up from where she was hiding, in the far corner of the room and managed to sneak into the kitchen. Akira was there still rapidly trying to get everyone's orders ready. It wasn't for a couple of minutes until he realized Kori was there.
"Oh, hi Kori! Whatcha doing?" He asked in a friendly tone. For the past couple of days the occupants of the moonshine would ask Kori questions without giving her the white board at first to see if she would talk. And Kori really was trying, but whenever she thought her voice had come back thoughts of her father returned with it.
Kori looked uncomfortable and blushed. She had never been very good at doing something impulsive like she was now, she was always too timid to carry on with what she was going to do. It was a miracle she was able to run away.
Kori stared at the extra apron on the side of the door. She walked over timidly and held it to her and looked up at Akira (since he's so tall), questioning if it was alright.
"Ya wanna help out?" He guessed.
Kori blushed and nodded. (a/n this is not an Akira/Oc fic, Kori is just like this with everybody XD. And like Mahiru, Akira thinks of himself Kori's big brother. Based on his maturity level though he's more of a little brother...ugh, that's something for my mind to digest.)
Akira scratched the back of his head in thought but kori took it like she had done something wrong. She looked down sadly and a little worriedly.
"Uh oh, I'm sorry kori! I didn't mean to make you sad! Its just I don't know how you can help if you cant talk? Even though we really could use the help."
Kori relaxed a little knowing she had done nothing wrong now and looked up when Misoka walked in.
"Akira where are those orders? We've got two more orders of fish and 1 order of chicken." (I'm not exactly sure what they usually serve at the moonshine or at bars in general so ill just make it up as I go.)
"Oh sorry boss!" Akira shouted sheepishly and turned back towards the stove. Misoka glanced at kori, seeing her standing there awkwardly still holding the apron.
"What's Kori doing?" He asked Akira, Akira turned his head to Misoka, which made both him and Kori nervous since Akira was cutting something, and grinned.
"She wanted help out, I'm trying to think of something she can do that doesn't involve talking.
Kori was beginning to think this was a bad idea, she didn't know it would be that dependent on her voice.
Misoka scratched the back of his head and thought. "Well, I suppose she cant very wel get up on stage with Nozomu."
Heck no! I wouldn't do that even if I could talk! Kori exclaimed in her head, the thought made her queasy.
"And I'm not sure what people would think if they saw a fourteen year old working behind the counter selling alcohol, that would just spell out trouble."
Akira and kori nodded in agreement.
"Maybe she can help a little with the cooking, and help take some of the big orders out with Mahiru and Mitsuru." Misoka suggested.
"Yeah, that works! And Mahiru can talk for her if need be." Akira turned back to his work, somehow not cutting off a finger and kori tied the apron on, a small relieved smile on her face.
A few hours later…
"Sheesh, what a night!" Nozomu exclaimed as he came off the stage. All the customers had left and now everyone was cleaning up for the night.
"Yeah, it just gets busier and busier." Mahiru said as she sat on a nearby chair. She watched Kori sweep up a broken plate which Mitsuru had dropped since he ran into Kori by accident. She brushed the last few pieces into the pan and dumped it into the trash.
Mahiru smiled, "Hey kori, its okay you've done enough for tonight, come over here with us." She called over. Kori looked at her timidly before nodding and putting the dust pan away. She walked over to were the others were sitting and sat in a chair nearby to Mahiru's.
"So Misoka any news on the teardrop yet?" Nozomu asked hopefully, Misoka only shook his head once again.
"Every time I think I've found a clue, I find something else that proves it useless. I have no idea where it could be." (a/n by the way, they have told kori about the teardrops because I really don't want to go into all that.)
"Guess your not as smart as you think you are huh?" Mitsuru muttered under his breath as he was walking out the door. Misoka heard him though, so he now had the right to get back at him.
"And I guess your not as coordinated as you think you are, the way you just ran into kori like that." He said loud enough for Mitsuru to hear.
Mitsuru froze were he was and everyone in the room could feel his anger radiate through the room.
Uh oh, everyone thought, except for Misoka, who was smirking.
"Shut your mouth ya Da-mphhh!" Mahiru had slapped a hand over his mouth.
"Mitsuru! Watch your language!" She shouted at him.
"there is a child present!" Akira shouted also gesturing towards kori.
Nozomu grinned as he clapped his hands over Kori's ears.
…I'm not that much younger than all of them, its not like I haven't heard someone swear before, sheesh. Kori thought to herself as she tried to pry Nozomu's hands off her ears.
"Looks like you got scolded by your girlfriend again huh?" Nozomu teased as he saw the tengu blush.
"NO ONE SCOLDS ME DAMMIT! AND ILL SAY WHATEVER THE HELL I WANT TO SAY! I DON'T CARE IF THE BRAT IS HERE TO HEAR IT OR NOT!" Everyone's ears were ringing after Mitsuru screamed at all of them one final time before stomping upstairs. Well except for Kori, who just kinda heard a muffled sound reminate from behind Nozomu hands.
Smirking, Nozomu removed them from Kori's ears. "I think its safe for you to listen now kori." And the rest of them started to laugh, well except for Misoka, who was just smirking. Kori gave them all a funny look before standing up, remembering something. The others watched her scurry upstairs, trip, then keep running up with curiosity. She came back down, being careful not to fall, and stood in front of Mahiru again, clutching the Wizard of Oz. Mahiru's smile brightened when she took the book from kori.
"Oh, you finished reading it. Did you like it?" She asked excitedly. Kori bobbed her head up and down smiling.
"Good, I'm glad." Mahiru said patting her head. Akira peered over Mahiru's shoulder to get a better look at the ok.
"Oh! The wizard of Oz! I love that book! It has the awesome flying monkeys in it! Didn't ya love that part?" Kori smiled remembering how the monkeys had turned out to be the good guys after the witch had melted. (That is how it ends right? Or is it just the soldiers? I cant remember…anyways I do not own the wizard of Oz either.)
"I felt so bad for poor scarecrow and tin man when the witch ordered the monkeys to attack them." Mahiru said frowning. Then it turned into a smile. "But the witch ends up melting anyway! So its alright!"
Akira suddenly got a horrified look on his face and dropped to his knees in a dramatic fashion. "AGGGG I'm melting, I'M MELTING!" He shouted, imitating the witch. Everyone sweat dropped before laughing at Akira's silly antics. (even Misoka, OMFG!) Kori giggled softly but everyone still heard and turned to her smiling, and shocked in a way.
"Hey1 Kori laughed! That's the first time I've heard you laugh." Mahiru said patting kori on the head proudly. Kori blushed but smiled. She felt almost proud of herself too, it had been months, maybe years since she had laughed.
"Good job Akira. I knew it was only an amount of time before your antics would get her to crack up." Nozomu said patting a grinning Akira on the back. Misoka was still smirking at the whole thing but turned to look at the news paper. (is his face stuck like that or something?)
"Princess, it seems your high school is putting off a huge bake sale for charity. And it says that all the students have to bake something for it." He said, looking at an ad. Mahiru thought about it then looked excited.
"Ok then! Ill bake cookies for it. Does it say how much I need to bake?"
Misoka glanced a the ad again. "Enough for a lot of people."
"Okay! I'll have to get started then!"
"Want me to help Mahiru?" Akira asked, his tail and ears popping ot excitedly.
"sure if you want!"
His tail wagged and Mahiru glanced at Kori smiling.
"You can help too Kori. It'll be fun, please!"
Kori looked up at both the older teens and there happy faces and nodded her head shyly.
"Yay!" Both Akira and Mahiru cried.
Then the three disappeared into the kitchen…or cookie factory in this case.
Misoka and Nozomu watched them leave.
"Have you told the moon palace that Kori will be staying with us?" Nozomu asked
Misoka placed the newspaper on the table. "No, I was going to contact Oboro now and tell him what has been going on. I'm pretty sure he'll want to know why there is a huge dent in the wall anyways."
"Yeah, that might be a good idea." Nozomu agreed sweat dropping.
Misoka stood up and started to walk towards the stairs when he paused.
"…Make sure nothing blows up in there for me." He said before continuing up the stairs.
Nozomu gave his leader a salute, "Roger!" He said before heading into the kitchen himself.
With the cookie crew a few hours later…
All four teens had somehow become white flour ghosts. There was about 20 bowls of fresh chocolate chip cookies scattered around the kitchen and all four sat up against the counter exhausted. Yes, somehow Nozomu was convinced to join the baking too. Somehow though Akira had accidentally flicked a bit of flour at the vampires face…resulting in a full out merciless flour fight. Poor kori and Mahiru were caught in the middle of the flour explosions and so here they were.
"(sigh) well that was fun." Akira muttered tiredly.
"Yeah…lets clean all this up before leader sees then go to bed."
The other two nodded and kori did reluctantly. She still didn't like sleeping because she was afraid Blackwall would come back again. She shook her head to escape the thought and got up. Stop thinking like that Kori! This is home now, you heard Mahiru! They're gonna protect you like you'll protect them. Home is safe…your safe here. She gave a slight nod so the others wouldn't notice and wiped up some flour off the counter.
A few minutes later…
Everyone had gone to bed except for Misoka. Well, for four of the residents of the moonshine it was more like retreating to bed. You see, there was a lot of flour even after they had cleaned so…
"Why the hell is there flour all over the place! NOZOMU!" Misoka yelled. Nozomu and the others cowered in their rooms while Mitsuru just started grumbling.
"I don't even want to know."
Ehehehe, well sorry if it wasn't very funny, but I really did try. Anyways in the next chapter Kori spends her first day without Mahiru there(it was vacation week at her school so now she has to go back.) And there's also a surprise at the end of the chapter!
Oboro: It would be greatly appreciated if you read and review.