I wanted to type more for this chapter and make it as long as the others for this story but I need to think o it. So this chapter will most likely be split in to two parts. So here's the first part. Hope you enjoy. ^^
Mūnsutōn no dōkutsu; Naka no machi no hi (the moonstone cave; a day in the town of Naka)
So the wolves actually turn out to be full grown men…not only that but they're pirates…the Sirius Pirates. Oh yeah…sure nothing strange about this at all…
"So…let me see if I have this strait in my head: the Yamato legend about the Sirius crew is real, …you guys are the Sirius pirates from said legend, …and now I'm your master…?" I say still trying to fit the pieces together in my head,
"Yes that pretty much sums it up." Christopher says smiling sweetly
"Ok…and you guys have been able to change into your original human forms from the very beginning but never did because…you never had a reason to?"
"Yes." Nathan answers flatly
"And you guys have been like this for over one hundred years not aging in the slightest bit from the time the spell was cast?"
"That's right miss Reisaki." Thomas smiles
"So where does that leave me?"
"You're immortal now too seeing as how you're our master."
"Please don't say that so lightly Morgan…you guys aren't things." It makes me sound like I own a freakin harem of men or something! And this is uncomfortable… "Hey how long do you plan on keeping your eyes shut anyway? What you don't want to look at us?"
"That's not the case…"
"Do you feel sick Reisaki?" Christopher places his hand on my forehead and his bare chest slightly touches my arm.
"It not that I'm sick Christopher…you guys are still in your human form and your naked." Peeking I can still see their all sitting around me while some of them are too close like this.
"What's the problem? You see us naked all the time."
"As I said before Eduardo, fur and skin are two completely different instances. This is just… nerve racking."
"I fail to see your point."
"What did you guys forget what it was like being human or something?"
"Somewhat." And with it the meaning of public indecency and clothing… there were so many things wrong with this picture right now I didn't even know where to start with telling them. Anyhow it wasn't like I could change anything about it seeing as how they were stuck with me and I was apart of it whether I wanted to be or not. To be honest I'm kind of glad they're staying. It would have been sad to see them leave. Finally I couldn't take them being around me like this in their human form anymore,
"Ok! Time to pack up!" I make my way passed a cute Thomas staring at me curiously as I head into another room where I store things. Soon I hear padded footsteps behind me.
What the? They were able to walk on two legs before…wait why am I even complaining about this right now… they're not human right now so I don't have to get so flustered now.
Looking around I find a leather satchel and an empty coin purse that I could use. Everything else was superficial I could find it in the forest.
"Hey where are you going Miss Reisaki?"
"The other side of the forest; there's not that much left here and there's no way I can go to the village anymore after the whole thing yesterday so I'm going to the other side. There's another little place like this that my Bāchan would use every now and again when she went to go collect moonstones." It's silent after I finish explaining making me look at the wolves now in front of me, "What?"
"Are you going to come back for us?" I turn away from them getting my point across,
"No I don't plan on coming back ever to this side of the forest…not ever again." There's a whine or two before I turn around smiling. "So I guess I'll just have to take you all with me." their tails wag at the statement. "You didn't seriously think I was going to leave you all here did you?"
"Well you were acting so serious…"
"For a second you made it seem like you would."
"Look this whole beast tamer thing may have thrown me fore a loop but come on you guys are my friends." I start thinking about what I need and only pack the essentials. Once that's finished I pin my hair up so not to get too hot and open the door to reveal the burnt forest; as I sigh escapes me I gesture for the pack to allow me and start walking. Gold Feather finds us as we make our way through the charred remains giving an update on the village. Apparently Toma went crawling back to the village and told the villagers I was possessed and needed to be put out of my misery along with my mangy mutts. To that Eduardo smugly replied,
"He was a pig who needed to be taught some manners; we just taught him the hard way." Gold Feather then flies off in search of something to hunt for.
By mid day we reach a part of the forest that looks as though it used to be very pretty but all that remains is a puddle from the once lovely lake.
"This was where we used to hang around." I turn to Russell, "Man if we were here when that fire hit, we wouldn't of survived." Something seemed off about the area as I looked around. The lower part of the ground seemed to be charred and burnt from the fire but the upper part seemed to still be untouched. But this place seemed to have pretty dark scortch marks. A bare chest suddenly enters my view and I look up into Nathan's face,
"Hey, what's with the serious face?"
"Yeek!" backing away I run into someone else,
"Oops, sorry miss Reisaki." I scurry away from the group of men and fall into the dried up lake. I'm sure right about now my face can't be any redder than what it is now. Christopher bends down in front of me as if he was still a wolf.
"Are you alright?"
"Dat! Please…don't come any…closer. I'm fine, don't worry about me, and please if you're going to change into humans WARN ME! God I think my heart nearly stopped."
"Would you prefer we stayed as wolves then Reisaki?"
"It's not a matter of…look you seemed to have forgotten that you can't just walk…" Christopher just smiles at me sweetly making me forget anything I was going to say, "N-never mind… just forget I said anything… why are you all humans right now anyway?"
"It got a reaction out of you the last time we did this and we couldn't get your attention a second ago. Hence why we're humans."
"Right attention…"
"What were you staring at anyway?"
"The scorch marks." I try to get up when Christopher picks me up suddenly making me feel as though I'm floating in the air. "Oh?!"
"You're not hurt are you Mistress?"
"N-no…" I look down at the ground while answering.
"Hey, NO FAIR!"
"…damn it doc…that was too smooth." he carries me out of the lake before he sets me down and pets my head,
"We don't want anything happening you mistress; try to be careful next time please."
SHEESH…is it going to be like this with them from now on?! My god I thought my heart was going to give out on me… ok clear your head now Reisaki…
After taking a deep breath I look back at the scorch marks,
"I think this may have been where the fire originated from."
"What makes you say that?"
"The scorch marks on the ground are different or rather they're darker than anywhere else. It looks…splotchy like some sort of liquid was poured in this area." Pointing to the area above I continue, "Another thing is the ground up above it; it's untouched where it's leading to the other side of the forest." Twigs suddenly snap on the upper ground. Wolves once again stand by me as I look around. Scary voices start becoming louder making me tense. From the sound of it there's more than one person. I can't make out words but it sounds as though one is the leader of the group and the others are the subordinates. I take a step back.
What should I do? I can't hide anywhere this place is scorched to death. If I try going forward I'll most likely run into them.
A wet nose touches my right hand,
"This way." Morgan and the others head passed the lake and behind some of the forest debris. Behind a formation of boulders there's an entrance to a cave that is hidden by other rocks. You would have to look very hard in order to find it. With the voices getting louder we waste no time hiding in the cave. Soon footsteps can be heard and we duck further into the cave.
"You said there was another village on the other side of the forest." From the sound of the voice that was scratchy, loud and all together scary, he was the one that I heard yelling at the others.
"Aye, Captain that's what I found out from the villagers in the town over."
"Then why haven't we gotten there yet?!"
"I-I'm not sure sir. I'm not familiar with this territory so I don't know where it is exactly only that it's on the east side of the island."
"Worthless piece of…" the Captain's words trail off for some reason. "What's this, footprints?" my body tenses realizing that our footprints lead to our very hideout.
"They lead to that cave over there Captain." Another subordinate says. Suddenly I find myself clinging to one of the fuzz balls in the very back almost as if it was second nature. Footsteps start heading our way. Suddenly in the opening a pair of feet stand in the way. They move slightly as if they're about to support the weight of someone kneeling down when, "Bart leave it. We need to concentrate on getting to the village." The man obeys leaving us safe in our hiding spot. We wait until the footsteps are no longer even in their earshot before Thomas pokes his head out of the opening. He steps out to make sure there's no one around.
"Coast is clear. It safe to come out Miss Reisaki." He pokes his head back in like a puppy wagging his tail before we the others exit. I release the wolf I was holding onto and it turns out to be Christopher.
"S-Sorry."
"That's alright. Did holding onto me help?"
"Y-yes…" He only smiles at me before placing his cold nose on my fore head and exits the hole himself. It takes a moment before my eyes readjust to the light and I take a look at the footprints in the ash covered ground.
"It sounded like pirates." Morgan says.
"But what would they want in the village over? I mean Naka is the better of the two." I say.
"It kinda sounded as though they were looking for something there, the way they made it sound." Nathan suggests
"Is there something there they couldn't find in the town over?" I look at Christopher as he asks his question and shake my head no.
"You could find the same things in the market in either so I'm not sure as to what they could be looking for." Looking around I spot the lush green of the untouched forest and a rather familiar mark, "Anyway we're close to the cave where the moonstones are. Lets go." Leading the way and leaving the pirates behind us, I lead the way to a small path that was covered by bushes and tall grass. There was a distinct tree that was right by it that was different from its neighbors which Bāchan showed me when I was little. The difference was the leaves. Unlike many of the tree leaves this one's leaves were an oval shaped and a slight yellowish color from the others. Ok…now there should be a stream near by…now where is- Ah there it is! Now I just follow it to the pond with the small waterfall…
A few minutes later we finally reach the pond. The water glistens from the sunlight at it falls of the small cliff creating a waterfall. I start feeling the rocky wall for a difference that will help me find the entrance to the cave. As I continue to look I can feel them staring at me.
"You know you guys don't have to sit there and watch; this place can be very relaxing so go and enjoy. Besides isn't it about time you guys went hunting."
"Trying to get rid of us?" Nathan asks bluntly,
"No of course not; it just may take me some time to locate the entrance so I don't want you to just sit there and do nothing. So go on enjoy yourselves." They still sit there as I turn around and try to locate the entrance. I set my satchel down and a second later I notice it being yanked away. Snapping around Russell has my pack in his mouth taunting me to try and take it back.
"Really? What are you a puppy?" I laugh. He growls playfully. Fine I guess we can relax a bit. I try taking the bag back and he pulls back away from my hand, his tail wagging. "Hey come on!"
Again I go for the pack but this time he passes it off to Thomas who easily gets I on the fun. He's not as fast as Russell but still manages to keep out of my reach. One time I nearly catch him but Eduardo stands in front of me growling. I have a pretty good idea as to what he has up his sleeve.
"Oh no…Eduardo don't you dare. What ever you have in that head of yours don't…"
"Too late already thought of it." I run trying to keep away from him but Christopher decides to slip me up with a smile on his face.
"Hey!"
"Sorry." Eduardo, now human, picks me up placing me over his shoulder and walks over to the pond,
"No, no, no! Eduardo please no!" the water is cold as I land with a splash. "Yeek! Eduardo!" When I meet him face to face he back to being a wolf, "…You big meanie."
"I take that as a compliment." What a bully… I splash water in his face before stepping out of the pond. My shirt takes a minute to ring out the excess water
"Ok you guys enough fun. Now give me back my bag." Thomas doesn't listen just sits there with his tail wagging. "Fine; keep it." I head back over to the wall searching for the opening and find the boulder that can move away. "Ah there it is." The circular rock is hard to move but little by little I get it to move. When I step back to see the progress I made which was only about a third of the way it suddenly rolls back in place. "What?!" Morgan stands in front of the boulder like the alpha wolf he is, "Come on… really, that took like fifteen minutes to open it that much." Ok why is he just staring at me like that? My face is starting to turn red.
"Hey Reisaki." He finally says,
"What?"
"Just take a minute to relax why don't you. Come on have you ever spent the night out in the forest?" well no…I lived near by it…I didn't really ever think of it. Embarrassing head scratching moment…isn't that what this is? "Come on you can look for those stones to morrow; have some fun. Considering everything that's happened so far don't you think you deserve a little vacation?"
"Well…" I take a look around the area, "it is pretty." It's not like the villagers are going to come all the way out here anyway. Come to think of it… these pass few days have been stressful. I guess a day of relaxing is fine. "Ok sure, why not?"
…