Chapter 2

Kyoto Toraya Inn

After getting their assignments and working most of the afternoon Luna goes into the kitchen of the inn to talk to Shiemi.

"Hey Shiemi let's take a break together. Mrs. Suguro gave us each an onigiri rice ball to eat." Luna holds up the onigiri.

Shiemi turns from her dishes. "I have a few more. Want to help me?"

"Sure." Luna sets the onigiri down on the kitchen island and grabs a drying towel. "Are you okay Shiemi? I mean I heard you and Kamiki fighting in the garden but I had my hands full at the time."

"Oh no, we weren't fighting. Kamiki was helping me get some herbs from the garden to make more tea for the sick."

"If you say so."

"Done!" Shiemi dries her hand on Luna's towel. "Is it warm outside? There was a cool place to sit and see the city on the roof."

Shiemi leads the way and Luna carries the onigiri. They crawl out a window and sit on the tile of the roof. Luna hands over Shiemi's portion of food and Shiemi thanks her.

"Hey Shiemi. Are you really still mad at Rin? I mean he can't help who his father is. Plus he's such a likeable guy, always cracking jokes and I think he really cares about all of our team's wellbeing."

Shiemi takes a deep breath. "Yeah, I just feel so useless. All I want to do is help my friends."

Luna bumps Shiemi with her shoulder. "You are not useless. Rin would never think about you that way. When you were under the influence of the Chuchi larva you should have seen how desperately Rin wanted to help you. To keep you safe. Also keep in mind Shiemi that having the potential for two miesters is rare. I'm surprised we have so many that are up for is so early in training."

"Oh that's Right. There's you, me, and Suguro right?"

Luna nods her head as she takes a bite. She then looks up at the sky. "Shiemi can we pause the day right now?"

"Why?"

"I just wish that days that lead up to a full moon would be longer but they never seem to be."

"Oh, I forgot."

"Yeah sorry I won't be much help tonight. I'll be howling at the moon."

"You'll be singing lullabies for us tonight then." Shiemi smiles.

"Heh, you know that reminds me of something my mother told me about my father's wolf once."

"What's that? Tell me."

"It was a full moon and my dad was in his wolf form. They were out on a mission tracking a chimera that had been spotted in the area. Lewin Light, my mother and Uncle Igor Neuhaus tracked it via prints while my father's wolf used sent. In the thick brush it had gotten too dark for them to see and my mother tripped over a root and broke her leg. Lewin made a tourniquet for her but they needed to get her bones reset. When they got to the hospital my father obviously wasn't able to go in, so he howled her name outside of her window. She said he howled her name all night long."

"What was your mom's name?"

"Aurora. That's when she knew that her name was on his heart, and she shouldn't have any fear about the future. Eventually I hope to feel that way about someone. Someday I'll love someone so much that their name will be the only name my wolf will ever howl."

Luna looks out over the rooftops. "Don't you feel that way about someone already?" She smiles prying a little bit.

"Yes, but after today's statement I'm sure that he doesn't like me like that. We are just friends."

Shiemi sighs, "Yeah. It was really mean of him to insinuate that you would be doing such things."

Luna looks at Shiemi and sighs. "I don't know. Maybe I do it without realizing it."

"Well I think you and Suguro would make a cute couple if you did get together."

"So would you and Rin."

Shiemi blushes and continues eating her onigiri.