Mythology: Night Bane Remastered

by Kristyan

When Luna is invited to a party by the most popular boy in school, she cant refuse. But what happens when she arrives and her condition begins to surface? A letter is given to her from a mysterious clan in the mountains claiming to be the answer to her "Condition" But what will happen when she arrives and they all have Wolf ears and Tails?

5. Chapter 5

Mythology: Night Bane

Chapter 5: For the ones you love

-787-

Staring down the barrel of the gun was like being lost beyond a Black hole's Event horizon, that small sickening feeling of being lost without and hope to be found, a feeling that you will not survive the events before you. A weak and hopeless sensation that drove even the strongest to their knees in emotional turmoil, Tell me….have you ever realized you stepped too far ahead and cannot go back to fix your mistakes? Thoughts like this synapsed all over the neurons in Takashi's brain. He was sure that he wasn't going to live, His heart was racing, sweat was pouring down his face and the Aiyano's Uncontrolled, helpless cries didn't make it any easier on him. As his hands trembled and lips grew dry he briefly wondered if he would ever see his family again, not that they would care, they would most likely enjoy the fact that he was about to be shot in cold blood on some Forsaken mountain with no hope of his news of death ever getting out. If despair had even weaseled it way into Takashi's Life, now was the time he truly felt its presence. As he partook in perhaps the last few thoughts that he would even experience, he noticed that time seemed to have stopped; Events from his life danced in his subconscious like the sun's rays danced across the sky in order less abandon.

"I suppose this is what they call your life flashing before your eyes" He thought, He idly wondered if he should have expressed his feeling to a certain girl before he died as she vividly flashed by in his memories. Regrets, Feelings, Memories, Desires and Dreams all Passed before his eyes, It was in this moment he knew that after see all this it was his time to go. It was his time to leave….Oh how death was a cruel mistress

Takashi watched in his last seconds as the man's finger squeezed the trigger, he waited for the pain but it would never come

His guardian angel was watching….or rather his guardian Wolf

Leaping from the brush just when the man was about to fire, Luna grasped the barrel of the gun tipping it literally a hairs breadth from Takashi's Face; He stood in awestruck stupor as the bullet literally grazed the hair on the side of his head, Leaving a large, profusely bleeding gash the length of the side of his face just above his ear

The pain didn't register immediately for Takashi, adrenaline was coursing through him like an electric charge, in an awe struck stupor as Luna wrestled with the man on the ground, as the gnashing of teeth, swears, whimpers of pain and punches landing all rang out from the man and wolf that battle to the death in front of him, and there he stay in an upright, statue like pose as blood trickled down the side of his head. Aiyano lay helpless nearby on the grassy floor, watching as man and beast fight out their differences, She stood up and quickly tried to run over to help Luna, not even thinking of what happened to Takashi, She was far too concerned for her double, the girl that she had known all her life. The Girl that was with the man stepped in front of Aiyano with a pistol drawn in a stable but Intimidating stance, her finger on the trigger and aimed at Aiyano, She stopped immediately, a knot in her throat and her chest heaving at the sudden exertion and stop, Aiyano couldn't hope to do anything but wait for the gunshot. A sickening Crunch followed by the girl's cry of agony rang in aiyano's ears, She looked up to see Luna whom had jumped away from the man and with all her strength bit down the lower leg of the girl who sought to end Aiyano's Life. The man sprinted after Luna and rapidly grabbed Luna by the scruff and flung her away from the girl with a nightmarish yell of exertion, Luna fell to the ground with a yelp and pain coursed through her like the blood that trickled out from her numerous wounds. Aiyano ran passed and ignored the girls wails of hurt and agony as she desperately grasped the massive laceration that exposed muscle and bone, Takashi snapped out of his trance to see Luna leap up from her excruciatingly painful position on the ground where the man had thrown her and was back at the man, her steps and lunges were slowing to an exhaustive pace. Luna was trying so hard but it was a losing battle for her, she was slowly becoming an easy target that moved at the speed akin to molasses for the trained hunter, And the man knew it, he began to gain ground, dodging her swipes and land blows to her sides, His nerves blazed with fury, The man reached to his knife which was strapped to his belt, and stabbed Luna's hind leg with a nauseating slick sound, the little wolf cried out in agony and collapsed to a huffing, huddled pose. Takashi his mind then and there, He dashed at the man with speed that he had never felt was possible for himself, He collided with the hunter with a loud clamor as they both tumbled to the ground in a heap, Takashi felt the pain of the knife slice his skin open but he was beyond caring for his own health at this point in time, He beat upon the man with strength he never knew he had and felt move alive with each hit, the satisfaction of revenge far outweighing the pain he received from the returning blows of the hunter. When Takashi landed a powerful right hook on his face he took the opportunity to get his distance for a moment to catch his rapidly fleeting breath, Aiyano ran over to the two men, seeking to aid takashi, the hunter stood up with a rage filled shout and quickly charged Takashi, However the young man was at least smart enough to avoid the hunter's knife, he did the best he could but even still the hunter got one, two and even three good gashes on the young man. Aiyano lept up to the man, having taken the opportunity of the confusion and focus to sneak up behind the massive man, yelling in rage she ripped the knife from his powerful grip with both hands, The hunter screamed in retaliation and turned his attention to Aiyano, he wretched the knife from her hand and mercilessly beat and sliced into her flesh for an agonizing six seconds before Takashi once again plowed into his side with tremendous force sending them both into another tailspin of cursing and punching, this time they both rolled near a ditch, The young man got to his feet in a mere half second and with all his might sent the hunter tumbling down into the ditch, The man rolled into the cold, dirty water waiting at the bottom, but that was not what caused him to bellow with pain, When his arms flailed uncontrollably down the ditch side, he had fell upon his own knife, It stayed pierced in his abdomen, his muscles contracted around the wound, Preventing an easy removal, But the hunter was a monster of a man, he had been through much worse, He was down but not out. With two hand of immense strength he began to rip the large knife from its embedded position even as the stained and sickening brown ditch water mixed into his blood and around his wound.

Aiyano witnessed the majority of the situation, they need to leave, and they needed to escape; to leave this hellish scene. She croaked with a breathless voice and weakly got to her feet, she called to Takashi feebly "Takashi! We have to leave now!" She cried with tears brimming in her eyes from the pain that burned from beneath her skin, He turned to her and only for a moment did he question her reasoning, within that same moment her plan took shape in his head and he listened immediately, He ran to Luna whom was slowly getting to her furred paws, Behind them the hunter screamed bloody murder as he slowly and agonizingly ripped the knife from his own abdomen. All of them took a terrified look toward the greatly disturbing noise; Takashi ignored the man's cries and helped Aiyano to her feet "Quickly we have to get to the car!" He picked up Aiyano quickly and perhaps a bit too rough, but now was not the time for comfort, Luna, although wounded and in muscle seizing pain, still manage to run beside Takashi, they swiftly ran past the truck, Takashi pumped his legs as fast as he could through all the pain, Luna was right behind him.

However To their left was the Young woman whom was in the company of the hunter, still grasping her leg she watched as her quarry attempted to escape, she could not let them escape. The secret of the mountain was within their mind and that alone must lead to death. It was the way of their people, their law. Hopelessly she let herself fall to the ground in a weak state, but a discomfort shot up through her nerves from around her stomach, she cursed and lifted herself once again painfully, Her eyes shot open, her pistol was right there, laying in the grass. Without any thought she raised the weapon and turned herself around to the group attempting to escape, she leveled it with the wolf that followed weakly behind the young man and woman. A quick inhalation and two squeezes of the trigger was all that occurred within a second, both bullets missed their mark but the wolf cringed and seek cover, she found it behind a rock nearby the brush, The huntress took notice of how the wolf could not reach the car and escape, it was too far and the young man was already at his car placing the girl in the passenger seat, too late to get the two of them now. The young huntress could still get the wolf though and that thought made her grin wildly with anticipation. Although she could not move, she could still aim. She lay down in the grass to steady her arms and began to fire

One, two, three shots from the small metallic firearm skidded dangerously close to the wolf's hiding place behind the rock that protruded from the grassy field, Luna whimpered with terror, she looked for some way to get to the car but every time she did a bullet would graze the ground near her, if she darted for it she would most certainly die. She then heard a yell that made her shake with fear, The Hunter stumbled to his truck, his abdomen bleeding profusely, The hunter wasted no time in reaching in the back of his truck and retrieving a firearm that would surely kill Takashi and Aiyano. A howl of despair and anguish left the young wolf's throat as she desperately tried to convey to Takashi that he needed to leave lest he die. Takashi lifted himself from the driver seat looking for Luna, he noticed her behind the rock but also noticed the hunter fumbling with a large firearm as he loaded it, and He had no choice he had to leave. He grit his teeth, his face was expressed in such manner of anger, confusion and misery that Luna was sure he would break down then and there, he yelled to her with fleeting breath "Luna!" The word was released at the top of his lungs; it was horrible to hear such hurt in a single word. Hurt that he was in this situation, that he couldn't go back for the person he promised to help and that he must leave or death awaited all of them. He swung himself back into the driver's seat and fumbled violently around for the keys, he promptly found them and jammed them into the ignition and cranked up his old green car, It was put in gear and he slammed on the gas, leaving that place as fast as he could, He didn't dare think twice, if he did he was sure that he would return and die trying to help Luna, He could hear the bullets thunder around the car, imbedding into the pavement and dirt around him as the car zipped out of sight, Debris flung from the projectiles and dirt was launched in through the windows and all over the windshield, They neared the corner, the point in which they would be safe, From the bullets, the madman, and even death

But it didn't feel safe, it didn't feel right. Not without Luna

The car was quiet, both teens refused to speak. Aiyano however could no longer hold in her emotion, she leaned for support against the arm rest of her seat and sobbed, trying to resist as much as she could as she choked back her emotions. Her wounds bled into the seats and the carpet and they burned and felt like they were coated in an acid, she could not find a comfortable position in which to sit, let alone let out her sorrow. Takashi felt like he should talk to her, comfort her, but the words all died on his tongue. He was sure that whatever he said would only make it worse. The pain from his gash started to burn through his adrenaline doped brain, the ache was excruciating and the blood coated his pants leg where it dripped out much like a faucet that was left ever so slightly on. He didn't care about that though, he didn't care about the welts and bruises that made his muscle twist in agony. No he cared for his friend that he left behind. The friend that he was so sure that he could help, so sure that he could assist and make her life better now that one of her greatest secrets was revealed. Now he was sure that it was all his fault, the mountain trip was his idea, his intention. If he hadn't offered to drive Luna then perhaps this never would have occurred…That rang harder in his head harder than anything

His entire fault.

-787-

Luna watched out of the corner of her wolfen eyes as Takashi and Aiyano scrambled in the car and drove off, she smiled in her mind with pride through the pain, they had played it smart, now she can do the same and get out of dodge, part of her longed to leave with them, but doing so would have more than likely led to certain demise. An intense stillness hung in the air as Luna waited for something to occur, something to break the silence. However for an agonizing few moments nothing at all transpired, not even the slight noise of footsteps. Luna perked up her ears, Intent on finding out where the hunter had gone, had he left?

Thump, Thump

She gasped when the hunter appeared from the corner of the rock with the light machine gun in hand, her mouth open in utter speechlessness, how in the world did he manage to sneak around without her hearing? She didn't get to contemplate much else as the beast of a human began to cackle like a man whose sanity had long left him; He stood up straight despite the powerful throbbing that coursed through his nerves from the inflicted wound. Luna growled and pressed her back against the rock, her fur stood up all along her spine and neck. She vividly remembered how at the beginning of the fight she had scratched, bit and clawed nearly every square inch of his exposed skin, Takashi had then joined in and beat on him, punched, kicked and tackled, but this hunter still could fight like he didn't feel any of it. However Luna could feel the pain seeping through her adrenaline fueled spirit, the blows and kicks he landed from their first encounter took a toll on her. She wasn't sure how long she could last fighting hand to claw, let alone now that he had a light machine gun.

"Your friends have left you, best you give up child and make this easier on both of us" He shifted his weight "well…. just easier for me" He said with a sinister chuckle, Luna gave back a low growl in response; she was scared on the inside. Luna had no honest clue how he figured out she was human; it sent shivers down her furred spine.

"Oh im sorry, forgive me, allow me to correct myself, best you give up you homicidal monster, there is that better?" he said responding to her animalistic retort with nothing but confidence and venom in his words, Luna wished for nothing more than to rip that smug little grin off his face, but what could she do in the current situation? Luna had only one option, to look for an escape just as her friends had done .The bridge came to mind, all the brush, vines and trees on the mountain side would give her excellent cover and perhaps enough time to properly escape the clutches of this madman. Her only problem now was when could she make the move and how would she make it across the bridge without being cut to pieces by lead? She looked at him much like a human looks at a lesser creature, without any care or concern. Her brow was furrowed and her pupils narrow slits, he raised his weapon, he could tell she was planning to do something, he wasn't quite sure what however; he laughed and brought the gun to face her, Just as Takashi felt hopeless when this same man pointed a weapon at him, so did Luna feel a twinge of hope fade from existence

"Let's make this quick" without a single second passing after that sentence he pulled the trigger, sending a flurry of lead right into the side of the wolf that lay before him

Or so he wished it to, instead a sound reached his ears that made him roar with anger

Click

Luna ran, she didn't care that her muscles were ablaze with pain or fatigue; she had to get out of there now, the time to run was now, no doubt what so ever in her mind. Moving at speeds that would rival a car she neared the bridge in no time at all, she pumped her legs with exertion that produced a solid ache in her lungs and starved her for air but she didn't care at this point, it was either discomfort of death. The hunter was just as fast as her in terms of reaction and was running back to his truck, the huntress whom was still bound to the ground pulled off round after round until the clip in her pistol was empty, but Luna zigzagged and dodged. With each execution of movement she slowly came closer and closer to her destination. The bullets all landed too far right or too far up, the recoil and inaccuracy of the weapon being it's downfall at this range. The Hunter dove onto the ground where his first rifle lay, where he planned on executing Takashi, He raised it as soon as he felt it's cold steel in his hands, it familiar grip was a sense of confidence that made him all the more sure that he would kill this wolf. He aimed down the sight and froze; the wolf was already beyond the bridge and out of sight. Too far for him to follow, if that wasn't reason enough, then the fact that she was now on the grounds of the mountain was. He threw the gun down in pure anger and yelled to the heavens; His breathing was heavy and his eyes bloodshot, with each breathe he felt a little bit of the rage subside and the pain come into feeling, he balled up his hands into fists and turned to tend to his comrade whom was still seething with rage at her poor skills as a marksman and hunter

"Will you be okay?" He said with minor concern as he approached her curled up form in the tall grass, No matter how careless of a human he was, he must look out for his own, and this particular one he could not let go.

"Yes" She said in between winced teeth as she struggled to get to her feet. She was clearly disappointed in herself and anger was etched into her features and stance, He quickly tucked himself under her, she was so focused on thinking about her failure that she almost fell over from her lack of concentration, He grunted his displeasure as they started toward the truck "Come on, I'll get you some pain killers and we'll splint up that leg." She gave a pained smile that was barely even noticeable, but being the observing and cunning man he was, the smile was noticed, he gave a minor regard back

"Then we go get the head of this she-beast that did this to you…"

-787-

The form of a red wolf darted quickly through the thicket of the forest, she didn't waver or stop in spite of being cut up by the numerous and painful thorns, vines and out stretched branches that ripped into her fur with blunt force as she passed by at considerable speed, her paws landing quickly and near silently across the leaf littered forest ground, leaves skittered up in her wake, following the air that rushed in to fill the void that she left behind

"Run, run don't stop running, Can't stop running no matter what" Luna repeated this phrase in her head like a mantra as she pushed herself to scale the mountain, In the back of her mind she was sure that when she stopped the pain from her wounds would make her fall onto her stomach and pass out, She was determined to squeeze out every last drop of energy from her body. But perhaps the most important, she needed to get away, from whoever that guy was. She ducked under a fallen tree and continued to run, at this point she must have ran a good kilometer in just a few minutes. A dull, throbbing pain seeped into her sense, her leg ached from the ghastly knife wound that the hunter had been so kind as to give her, it was a cheap shot to say the least, that was by far the worst of her wounds, but it wasn't the severity that was concerning, it was the sheer number of injuries that riddle her body, Their collective pain slowly followed her leg injury, Her pace visibly faltered, she slowed to a pained limp as the adrenaline that fueled her left her, by this time she was nearing the end of Forest and starting to reach the incline of the mountain, there was no way she was going to scale the mountain's stead in this condition. A whimper of pain audible enough for the dullest of hearing came from her canine muzzle, not sure herself if it was from pain or defeat. She limped ahead hoping that some sort of tree truck or cave was large enough to house her in, her eyes darted around the landscape looking for the one thing she desired at the moment, a place to fall into blissful sleep, to rest and recuperate, She tread back and forth, with each minute the pain getting worse and her desire for sleep growing, the mud and muck from the ground that had stuck to her paws was flung up in the gashes near her stomach and hindquarters, That in itself was reason enough to find a place to rest, unlike humans she had fought a nasty infection before and been the victor, she wasn't entire sure if the case would be the same this time around, But her hope was bet on that it would. Her eyes looked up toward the top of the mountain, its peaks concealed by the misty looking clouds that seemingly stuck to the snowy peaks of the earthen giant; she had a long way to climb, through step cliffs and trees. Not to mention whatever wait for her at the top

"At least there won't be any more Thorns" She thought with a smile, it quickly faded as the pain from the aforementioned plants started to become apparent under her fur

A shaded area of rock was captured in her view, she stared at it for a good long time trying to discern if it was simple a shadow or perhaps something more…she limped weakly toward its direction, in the last few meters her heart lept for joy, it was indeed cave. It looked sheltered from the elements and decently hidden, yet one problem still was in her way

It was a good 10 meters up a steep incline, where then the mountain once again became level for a few meters than repeated the process all the way up as far as she could see

Luna felt her energy drain out of her, but she wasn't about to give up right now, Not when she was so close, with what little energy she had left she lept from the ground-much to the protest of her heavily injured leg- and clung to the side of rock wall with her paws, No surprise that she slowly slid down until she lost grip and fell back down onto the unforgiving stone below the cliff face. She whined and sat on her haunches, thinking of some alternative way to scale the mountain, but this time no options were handed to her, she was going to have to climb with claws that were not made to climb. The young woman felt a pang of uncertainty in her subconscious, but doubt was for the weak hearted

She sprang up with all her might and dug her claws into any hold that she could get her paws on, Attempting to crudely make her way up the side, slowly, painfully, and surely she scaled the side of the cliff face, She pawed for the edge of the cliff as she neared the top, but when she put weight on it, it gave a frightening clamor. Her breathe fell short and felt her heart skip a beat, The Holding collapsed and was lost, she scrambled for some sort of holdfast, something that could save her from plummeting to her death, Her claws gripped to the rocky surface but she was still slipping, the scraping noise resounding in her sensitive ears. She screamed and with a powerful last drop of exertion let go of her hold, before she could slip and more she shot out her paws yet again and grasped the cliff edge with her claws which were at this point grinded down to a poorly serrated edge. Luna heaved up over the edge and with an exhausted sigh, she flopped over on her side, her chest heaving, her lungs felt like they were under an enormous weight and pressure, her muscles felt numb and hot. She had never felt in so much pain before, she panted and crawled her way into the cave that was adjacent to her, it was of decent size, about the size of her living room, two rock columns extended out of the ground near the back of the cave. Luna breathed a sigh of exhaustion and limped over to them, She let go the control of her muscles and fell to the ground behind the two rocky pillars, Her breathing was ragged and weak, she couldn't move anymore and simply tried to get in a comfortable position to fall asleep

She missed her bed right now, she missed her covers, she missed her house and In fact, she missed Takashi and Aiyano more than anything

"I hope they made it out okay…." Luna thought with solemn emotion

The image of Takashi getting shot was fresh in her mind, she wasn't entirely sure if the injuries were serious or minor. Like the stubborn Woman she was, she blamed herself

"I should have been faster…stronger…why did I fail? Aiyano was hurt too; did she make it out okay?" These thoughts of regret and sadness consumed her mind, regret and concern following close behind in a torrent of emotion

Her thoughts were plagued by this, leaving her stomach aching from the anxiety, it didn't help that she felt like she was going to die in the next few minutes due to her wounds and exhaustion, the combination of Pain, sadness and regret made Luna feel worse that she had ever felt before, emotionally and physically. She felt weak and helpless and most of all she felt like she had failed her friends who had given so much to help her in such short notice, who without a second thought dropped everything and assisted her. She groaned and screwed her eyes shut; she couldn't think anymore, if she did, Luna was sure she would be up all night. Such self-control was beyond Luna, she felt the streams of tears coming, the flood of anguish and sadness that would consume her until her face was drenched and her throat aching from sobbing

On this night, the Fiery, Proud, young woman named Luna, cried herself to sleep

-787-

Takashi awoke with a pained groan, his thought process was slow and cloudy at best, his first thought that he was able to comprehend was how ungodly his bed felt, and why was there this heat that blanked his right side?

He slowly opened his eyes, it was still a very dark and bleak night, vision would have been impossible if it wasn't for the moon's soft, ghostly white light that illuminated the surrounding area; He slowly sat up and felt a sharp pain to his head, His hand immediately on instinct pressed against the sting that surfaced. Ouch, that was a bad idea. That nasty gash on his head was still there, he was glad he didn't lie on that side or he surely would have gotten an infection in it. He slowly removed his hand from his head; Memories from last night came back to him in that moment like a massive wave as consciousness began to surface rather than his diluted perception of the world from sleeping.

- (Minor page break) -

Takashi grasped the steering wheel until his knuckles were a bleached white; He had to do something, anything to keep himself awake. He had driven for a good 4 hours into the night, He glanced to his right; Aiyano had cried herself to sleep. She kept muttering to herself how they should have gone back and helped Luna rather than leaving her to a fate that was so cruel, Takashi felt her pain, he honestly did; but they both knew deep down in a subconscious level that leaving was the best course of action for all of them. Takashi rubbed his eyes furiously with the palm of his hand, they were weighing very heavy at that point in time from Tears , weakness or exhaustion. His mind was already falling asleep from tantalizing thoughts of lying down and sleeping the night away. But he had to keep going, if he fell asleep on the road…well he didn't want to think about it, it was best if he stopped and let them sleep for the night.

'Yea….that would be best, come on Takashi, you can do this. Just don't fall asleep.' He sternly told himself within his mind

An agonizing Twenty minutes passed, No matter how much he told himself to stay awake now, he was going to fall asleep soon. As he rounded a corner he scanned each side of the road, both sided were too open or too dense with tree. If the hunter came after them…well…Takashi at least wanted them to be hidden as best as he could.

'Hold up' His mind shouted, he slowed down and stopped in the middle of the road, he shook his head thinking he was hallucinating, but he swore he just saw an excellent place to park and rest. He put the car in reverse and turned himself around to see behind the car, he knew he was alone out this far from this city, but it was a force of habit. He brought the car back a good 100 meters before he noticed what he spotted. A small trail into the woods was just wide enough for his car. He sighed and put the car into drive and with a sharp intake of air into his starved lungs he piloted the small coupe into the forest.

Slowly applying the brakes, he steered behind the trees and put the car in park, Just a split second after he Shut the engine off he fell back against his seat with an exhausted sigh, He felt even worse when he noticed just how uncomfortable his seat was, He felt his muscles fight back when he opened the door and tried to get out, He took a deep agonizing breath and heaved himself out of the car, He found it hard to stand on his own two feet and stumbled a bit with the heavy throbbing his head produced, The blood wasn't pouring at this point, just drops now fell from the massive gash in his head, Most had caked over with a thin layer or dried blood, That much he could feel, He closed the door and stumbled to the trunk of the car and felt around for the release for a few moments , Success was granted to him and he forced the trunk open with as much, as he could muster, The night was beginning to mess with his head, each sound was making him jump and he found himself checking each direction for fear of that mad man that nearly killed them all

He reached in and pulled from it a large plush sleeping bag, He shifted everything over in his trunk with a weak hand, trying his hardest to find another one for Aiyano but he just couldn't, He must have forgotten to pack one

He groaned at his unfortunate events that just seemed to pile on and on

Sleep was the greatest cure that he could think of, His mind and body yearned for it at this point and it was all he could think about it consumed his thought process

But he really needed to help Aiyano out of the car, He stumbled his way to the passenger side door, taking the keys out of his pocket he fumbled with them for a great while until he finally managed to unlock the door, Aiyano was still sleeping soundly in the seat, But he knew it wouldn't be good for her spine if she slept like that all night, He stomped over to a large green tree that had plenty of space underneath, it had wonderfully fragrant leaves, He unfolded the sleeping bag and set it on the ground, Within a few minutes it was unzipped and ready for Aiyano to lay down in it, he could sleep on a rock at this point in time if he had to.

He stepped back over to the door of his pitiful car, He pondered for a moment in his fatigued mind, how he would be able to get Aiyano out of the car and to the sleeping bag

Well he was tired and he wasn't about to take a half hour to try and get her over there, He reached into the car and was about to grab her bridal style and carry her over to the sleeping bag, without any care in the world how she felt, But he stopped short when the light from the pure white moon hit her

She was so peaceful, Despite all that happened, her wounds, Although ghastly in every sense of the word, Were healing well thankfully, Dried tears stained her face, Her nose still red from crying, His heart Ached with pity

He sighed and removed himself from her close proximity

Takashi stumbled back to the trunk, Sleep now the second most important thing on his list of priorities he thought to himself as he dug back into the trunk

He found the first aid kit that he had packed and seeing the red box with a white cross on it gave Takashi a bit of hope that they may not die from their wounds, a hope that Takashi desperately needed

Sighing he staggered back to Aiyano and got on one knee and began to bandage her, Applying all manners of ointments, gauze and rubbing alcohol

Hopefully that should stop her from getting an infection

Tossing the close kit next to the Sleeping bag he gingerly, Or as gingerly as he could with a splitting headache, began to carry Aiyano's very dainty frame to the sleeping bag. He set her down with as much care as he could muster, then he zipped up the large sleeping back and left her to sleep in peace

He groaned and collapsed to the ground next to her, the pain and exhaustion hitting him once he fulfilled his task. But try as he might he couldn't get this one last thought out of his head, it bothered him for the next ten minutes until he finally succumbed to the numb feeling of sleeplessness

Was Luna still alive?

- (End Minor Page Break)-

He grumbled and fell back onto the grass; he turned to the right to see what the heck was giving him this comforting warmth

Takashi was lying right next to Aiyano; her body giving off a comfortable heat that made him feel so serene, He felt the blood rush to his cheeks, His heart quicken in pace, he stumbled away from her, In shock that they were in such close proximity, his heart made an odd stop in it standard rhythmic beat and his lungs forced his to hyperventilate

He slowly calmed his breathing back to normal; his mind fought a war with his personal thoughts

'W-why did I just do that? W-what in the world is happening to me? What is this strange feeling I'm getting?' A battle of emotion raged on in his head as he tried to come to grips with what just happened

The whole feeling felt alien to him, He didn't know what it was and that bothered the living heck out of him

Takashi sighed, He leaned back and lay back upon the grass, his mind still driving him nuts with a confliction of emotion. He rolled over onto his side

Could it be possible that he liked Aiyano

'Mind, Lets file that under nihilo' He told himself forcefully, No wrong feelings of some stupid encounter of him waking up to Aiyano mindlessly cuddling him were going to mess with him

Or so he wanted to believe

He tried his best to divert his thinking process to something else, something not so embarrassing, or unknown? He didn't know, just something to get his mind off of her; But he couldn't stop looking back to her, The way she looked all curled up, The way the light seemingly reflected off her, Her soft features were a bit scarred with a bandage or two from a cut, But that just showed how strong she was.

'Uh enough brain! Let's get off the subject!" he shouted at himself in his head

For once in perhaps his life his mind begrudgingly decided to accept his command

His concerns drifted to Luna, The brave little wolf that saved his life

"Will…..I ever see her again?" A heart breaking question reached him, down to his soul that it was very possible that he may never make it out of this forest, even if he did, would he ever see Luna?

That night he tossed and turned restlessly, questions and more unanswered questions tumbled like a crashing sea inside his mind, Uncertainty and hopelessness his only two companions

That night the Tall, quirky, party loving young man Takashi felt himself vulnerable, The cold cruel world closed in on him, he once thought himself invincible, both himself and his friends, that death was only a thing that happened to old people

But now despair was knocking on his door, And Death was right behind him

No wonder he fell asleep, unable to cope with the stress of his own thoughts

-787-

'Oh man the pain….' Luna's first thought that morning was not surprising, the ache in her body didn't dare to leave during the time she slept; In fact she was almost certain that she felt worse than before when she went to sleep

With a strained groan she lifted herself to her feet, she sought out support to stand from the columns in the cave that she had slept behind, she rubbed her arms in a futile attempt to get rid of the stinging pain but that really didn't help much but to make her hands raw

'At least I'm human again' she thought with a minor optimistic attitude, She stretched as much as she could to get rid of the dull ache in her muscles that overwhelmed her whole body, She felt a bit better after she popped a few of her skeletal joints

It felt a bit weird to be honest, to go from Human to wolf and Wolf to Human. Now that Luna was on the mountain she actually question how in the world she could do such a thing

'Guess it has something to do with metamorphosis or something?' she said quietly to herself, she sat down with her back against the rocky pillars nearby, her mind a mess of emotion and wonder

'Aiyano…..' Her mind called out to no one, she pulled her legs to her chest feeling insecure without her double, and she was really hoping that they could both scale the mountain together, get through this together, figure out what the heck was going on with Luna together. Scratch that she didn't hope that her double was with her, She needed her double to be with her.

A thought came to her mind and she quickly shook her head, trying to get rid of the sickening thought

'What if she died?'

She wanted to think that Aiyano was alive, no matter what, but the possibility that the hunter or whatever he was tracked her down was great

'I shouldn't have run…..I should have brought them into this….' Regret swam over her emotion like a tsunami, her heart twisted into a knot at the pain that it brought, at that moment she didn't care that she was covered in ghastly wounds or internally bleeding from her fight last evening, she only cared about Aiyano and Takashi

'What friend am I? To run so quickly when they were so vulnerable…I could go after them…but how far off are they now?"

Insecurity ran rampant and she felt herself squeeze her legs tight against her chest, tear were starting to form

'How will I catch up to them now?' IF she were to go run after them to help her two friends, there was very real possibility that she would kill herself by straining herself too much, they could be miles away from her, and the hunter could be only Meters away from them….

'I need help…..' That much she convinced herself of

'The people…..up in the mountain….would they help me?' She gave a lot of thought into that, She could try and kill herself going after The hunter and Aiyano, or muster up enough strength to get to the top of the mountain and ask for help

'What….what if…..they aren't friendly?' she questioned, her mind half set on scaling the mountain

'If they weren't friendly, they wouldn't have invited you to the mountain…' she told herself back, It was settled, if she was ever going to help Aiyano and Takashi she wouldn't be able to do it sitting here and thinking

She gazed down at herself, she was riddled with cuts, wounds and blood stains. Though she noticed that she was….in a lack of clothing. She cursed to herself, forgetting that transformation left her clothes where they were. Her bag was still at the base of the mountain with the rest of the luggage that Takashi left in his escape. No way would she be able to climb without some form of clothing. She idle glanced around the cave in some false hope that she would have something here to use as clothing, but she was wiser than that, and was well aware that no such thing could be found in a simple cave on the side of a mountain. But, her gaze stopped over the entrance of the cave, There, propped up against the cave wall was her backpack. It didn't have as much clothing or supplies in it as her duffle bag. But it was something; she scrambled over to it and spent the next few minutes dressing herself with the small first aid kit to get rid of all the blood on herself, The rubbing alcohol stung her wounds much like the thorns stung her last night, but she was getting rid of a chance of infection. That in itself made Luna much happier, Once she was done, She promptly dressed herself, All she had was a small pair of jeans that the Americans loved so much and a yellow t-shirt, It was absolutely nothing fashionable but she didn't want to pack her best clothing only for it to get ripped on her way up the mountain. Now she only wished that worrying of clothing could be the greatest of her problems. Sighing in absolute relief she sat down next to the cave entrance. Wonder how she brought the bag up the mountain in her wolf form, she was certain that she didn't….She turned a ghostly pale color. She didn't bring the bag with her; it was left down at the face of the mountain. Who….or what brought it to her? She didn't dare think about it. Lest she spend even more time sitting in the cave, but just as she was to get up she noticed something peculiar on the her backpack, she plucked it up with a slow and steady hand. It was a hair, in the brightest shade of white, who or what had white hair? She shook her head, realizing that if she sat in this cave much longer she would be wasting time, precious time that takashi or Aiyano may need, she clambered out of the cave, her bag in tow and fully clothed, she gazed up at the sky; it was already past noontime, nearing more toward the 15th hour of the day

'I shouldn't have slept so long…' she cursed to herself, She gazed up at the tip of the mountain, she had scaled a good kilometer last night, but then again that was the easy part of the mountain to climb, now the scale was rather steep, it would be increasingly difficult the further up she went

Luna wouldn't waste time anymore, it was now or never; She began an even paced jog up the mountain, the incline wasn't too much greater than a hill at this point so it didn't kill her ankles to jog, With any luck she might just be able to get to the top without actually having to 'Climb' anything, Rather she could hopefully walk up the mountain without anything else involved

Of course Luna was always a bit on the optimistic side, but even still she didn't face any problems other than her leg giving her a fit, despite changing physical forms, wounds do not disappear leaving the large gash ever present on her thigh, The pain from it wasn't too bad, the accelerated healing of being a wolf had made it numb, and it no longer exuded blood, really the only hindrance it brought to Luna was the discomfort of a stray tree branch or bush twig that brushed up against it as she climbed

Despite being a mountain, the foliage extended far up the sides of the mountain, not much rock appeared on the surface of it, which was puzzling as Luna thought more about it; the only visible rock was when she actually looked for it as she passed by on her way up the mountain, or near the mountain's peak. Anywhere else was covered in a lush green shrubbery and vegetation; it was pleasant to say the least. It remind Luna a lot of the backyard garden that she used to play in at her father's Villa, The odor of the plants were similar all the way down to the texture of the grass, Life was brimming everywhere and she could see all manner of wildlife. Luna was so amazed by all the diversity of life that she did not notice how far she made it up the mountain

Squirrels jumped from Cherry blossom trees to Katsura trees and played in their Orange, Heart shaped leaves. Martens scurried up the trunks of the trees and joined the squirrels in the tree tops, Sables stayed hidden in the trunks of the smaller trees eager for a meal, waiting patiently for any small animal to pass in front of it watchful gaze. Luna giggled when a pair of Tanuki invaded the Sable's hiding place and startled him out of his domain; they chased the poor member of the weasel family around until he finally ran up a tree that was too difficult for the Tanuki to follow. Birds sang a diverse and restful melody as they perched and preened in the highest of Japanese maple trees, The sable that had been chased out of his hole decided to take his anger out on the birds of one particular tree and scared them off in a flurry of feathers and growling, Luna couldn't help stifle a laugh, She passed by a giant ground of flowers, Bees and all manner of insects swarmed the beautiful and imaginative flowers that bloomed in the great forest of the mountain, Luna jumped when she noticed the Giant Japanese Hornets that joined in on the colorful array of insects, She used to be deathly afraid of them, their size was scary enough for her as a young child, Being that they were nearly the size of her palm, however as she passed by the flowers of the mountain she was content enough to observe the massive insects go about their business, Luna noticed out of the corner of her keen eye that a weasel sat in wait for the insects to land on the fallen sakura flowers underneath a Sakura tree, She passed by before he could catch anything. She was sure at this point she had observed all the fauna on the mountain, what was even more interesting is that they didn't seem to mind her presence, merely going about their business as usual, even the fox, one of the trickiest and most solitary creatures she ever knew, was comfortable with her attendance, although it kept its distance unlike the others whom didn't really care. She watched closely and kept her eyes locked with the Red fox as she passed, it looked back with its slit eyes, expecting her to do something

'Boy you are lucky I'm not Aiyano mister fox, or else I might have tackled you and tried to keep you as a pet' She thought with a laugh but the realize whom she was talking about, that put the silence back in her spirit and her thoughts

She turned her head away from the fox and look forward; That is when she noticed just how far up the mountain she had gotten, and how late it was getting, The sun was only a good couple hours away from setting, But she was more interested at how much distance she had climbed

Luna had scaled a good kilometer and a half, she squinted her eyes and lifted her stare to the top of the mountain and tried her best to judge the distance from the top

'Well….im guessing if each tree is about 20 meters tall….then that would mean that I'm….about…..' she gave big grin 'A kilometer off from the peak' She thought with jubilation, she picked up her pace and continued forward, but as she leveled her gaze back with the ground in front of her she stopped dead in her tracks, She could only gawk at what lay in front of her

A sika deer herd was right in front of her, grazing on the lush green foliage that the mountain provided, They immediately took notice to her, all ears locked on her, a few males snorted toward at her, and the fawns all took cover behind their mothers, her breathe was caught in her throat, she was sure that they were to run from her, however much to her surprise they slowly, albeit cautiously, dismissed her, Not too concerned with her presence or perhaps, not bothered by it

She observed in childlike wonder, offhandedly putting her main objective to the side, to seek help for her friends. But she needed a quick rest, her mind needed a rest, her body needed a rest, but even though she was focused on the deer, she never forgot her friends. Feeling like she truly needed this calm moment she slowly sat down and watch the family of deer go about their business.

Luna giggled softly at one fawn that she paid careful attention too, he stumbled around a little lankily, unable to walk properly, however he was curious with all his surroundings, observing everything he could, the mother Deer tried her best to keep up with the energetic youngster

As the young fawn turned a tree he nearly head butt a Tanuki that was heading around the same tree, They both locked eyes, one waiting for the other to make a move, The Tanuki ran and he chased after with a stumbling gait, Luna laughed as the little fawn tried his best to catch the swift Raccoon Dog, The Tanuki ran behind a tree with the fawn right on his tail, but what lay behind the tree made them both squeal and turn the other directions, The fawn ran back to his mother and the Tanuki darted up a nearby tree

Luna watch the who ordeal and she quickly got to her feet, her felt her blood run cold and her heart pound against her chest. A male Sika gave a loud, long bellow and the whole herd darted away in a thundering of hooves

Now Luna was genuinely scared, she hid behind the tree she previously sat up against, She peeked around the tree's girth unsure of what her gaze might spot, She looked to and fro but nothing was out of the ordinary, however she did notice that the birds stopped their beautiful melody, The one that she had already grown so accustomed too

The once loud and busy forest got eerily quiet; Luna could feel her spine chill with the thought of something lurking in the woods beyond her sight

'Where is it? Where is it?' she screamed in her mind, she looked everywhere!

But behind her, it was the last place she looked, the corner of her eye, the place you don't want to look when you are scared

She felt its breath, whatever ungodly thing was behind her she was going to die by its hands, she couldn't do anything, and at this point she hoped for her end to be swift.

'Aiyano is still waiting for you Luna, You need to save her, and she will die without your help' her pupils dilated, that was right, she was fighting for something, for someone. But she couldn't do that if she killed herself trying to take this thing down, she thought over the plan of changing into a wolf, but she quickly dismissed that as she wouldn't be able to change quickly enough

She took a deep breathe, her heart trying to beat of her chest, the creature didn't attack her, at least not yet

She need to run, or turn around and find out what she was up against

'Now or never' She held her breathe and turned around to face whatever may kill her

And she instantly knew that she wouldn't win this fight