Chapter 4- Fear

We stood there staring at the entrance to the carnival- like- festival. The bright orange, yellow, blue, violet, and red lights shining from the decorative hanging paper lanterns were beautiful. And within the fair I could see many people from my school. All wearing bright colors; different from our ordinary school uniforms, making them all seem to stand out. Some even getting in the school activities by wearing the kimono’s the multi-cultural teacher gave us. I could hear the hundreds of kids calling out, screaming in joy, and laughing. I took the first step and Tsume fallowed,
“What do you want to do?” Tsume asked sounding a little uncertain. I just grinned.
“What have you never been to a carnival before?” I asked trying to tease him. He shook his head slowly. “Well I want to go on tons of rides, but that isn’t until tomorrow so I’ll have to make due with a Ferris wheel ride.” I gazed around the fair, at the many wooden stands set all around this part of town- each stand holding some sort of either game, food, or other surprises. “Maybe a merry go round, and we just have to have tons of fair food.” I went on.
“Are we truly going to get all of that done?” He asked, and I nodded,
“Hopefully.” I said grabbing his arm and dragging him along. We found a concession stand and I halted. Tsume stayed under a tree, staying close to me and yet being far enough away I wasn’t being suffocated. I walked up to the stand and the older women in the stand asked a younger girl to take our orders. The young girl, I realized to late, was Maya’s best friend Yuka. She looked bored and tucked a piece of long black behind her ear.
“Yeah… uh what do you want? There’s our menu.” She said pointing to a sign on the top of the wooden stand.
“Can I get a cotton candy?” I asked trying not to draw attention to myself. She left but came back with a wad of blue and pink fluff on a stick.
“That’ll be $5.50 please?” Yuka said in a dull uninterested tone. I looked through my small purse and realized I hadn’t brought my wallet in my haste to meet Tsume. Tsume, who had been watching me, noticed this and stepped forward to pay for me. He handed, the now surprised Yuka, the exact amount of money. But Yuka, being in the fan club, broke out in a smile. Her once dull bored blue-green eyes became shining and excited at the mere sight of him. It almost made me want to hurl. She handed Tsume the stick of cotton candy. He took it but didn’t do anything with it; he just held it looking stupid. Yuka’s smiling face turned to a terrifying glare as she looked over at me. I tried to duck away, but was unsuccessful. I knew Maya would hear about this and I didn’t want to have to deal with her. I wanted to go find a nice big rock to crawl under, but Tsume seeing my weird trance like state, decided it would be best to grab my hand and pull me out of the way so others could get their drinks, popcorn, or cotton candy. He then handed me the cotton candy seeming oblivious to the mini-drama scene that just happened right in front of him.
“So,” He said pointing to the fluff in my cold hands, “does this stuff actually taste good?” I thought about it as I steered us toward a bench and we sat down. He was glancing around at the fair. I pulled off a piece and stared at Tsume until he turned around. When he looked at me I stuffed the chunk of blue and pink candy into his open, ready to make a snide comment, mouth; as I said.
“Decide for yourself.” At first he closed his mouth and let it melt into a soft sugar filled mush then chewed softly and swallowed. I took a bite myself, and by the time he finished his third bite I had devoured four slightly larger pieces. “Well is it good?” I asked, getting tired of waiting. He smirked with some unknown emotion on his face- maybe teasing? - And told me,
“It’s ok I guess. I’ve tasted better.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We finished the cotton candy ten minutes later. And after an hour of walking around, riding the ferris wheel, the merry go round, and watching fireworks it was getting late and we needed to go home. A few people still roamed around. But most were either to drunk to notice if Godzilla walked by or were impatiently waiting for rides to get there. A group of young men were walking towards us and I could smell the beer from where we were walking. The sharp scent burned my nose. Tsume pulled me closer; and leaned down close to my ear and whispered,
“Stay close ok?” I nodded trying to keep our talking to a minimum. The men all went a different way then we did- in fact the total opposite way. I forced a little distance between me and Tsume. A small distance away two older, rough looking guys blundered in from an alleyway to our left. The one bigger man, that looked as though he could be a boxer, had a red blush across his face, definitely drunk. The smaller one, but not by much, didn’t have as a red blush to him. They were talking very loudly, loud enough for both me and Tsume to hear from where we stood- several paces away.
“You know, animals are really stupid.” The large one said in a booming voice. “You know I hate animals, especially dogs;” The smaller one was just nodding in agreement. “wolves too. They are probably the most stupid out of all- hick- the stupid animals.” I saw Tsume stiffen ever so slightly in front me. The large man nodded in Tsume’s general direction,
“Hey boy, don’t you think wolves and dogs are retarded?” he yelled wobbling closer. Tsume turned his ultra death glare on the guys,
“No, no I don’t. Wolves aren’t stupid.” he explained through clenched teeth. The man floundered his way over, stumbling a few times.
“Why would you think that? They really are brainless, they even kill each other. They really are dumb- hick-.” The man looked about as cross as a drunkard could be. Tsume snorted arrogantly,
“So humans kill each other too, don’t they? But you don’t think humans are morons do you? In fact humans are worse, they pollute the planet- their own home.” he had balled up his hands into fists but held his arms beside him. The drunken man was angry now,
“Hey, you arrogant punk! You’d better respect your elders and –hick- agree with me.” He looked mad now, raging. Tsume snorted again,
“I would never agree with the likes of you.” he stated in a cocky tone. The old drunken man looked stunned,
“Well then, I’m going to have to teach you some manners.” He swung a fist at Tsume and I gasped. The other man was cheering for his buddy on. Tsume easily dodged the clumsily thrown punch. The man punched again and again but each time Tsume just dodged them. After a small time Tsume started to back up as he dodged, moving away from me. The other man saw me and walked over,
“Hey boss, how about her. I’ll bet he cares for her. Beat this one, she seems vulnerable.” he said while kicking me down. The drunkard stopped and Tsume was about two feet away from him and the drunk was about four feet away from me, he stopped too. The drunken man came over to me, he was snickering. My eyes bulged wide with fear. He had pulled his leg back ready to kick, when Tsume thrust himself in front of me. The punch connected to his chest. He flew back and landed on me, as I was trying to get up; pushing me back a few feet, only coming to a stop when my back hit a tree a couple feet away. A gust of air rushed out of my system. I tried to push myself up but Tsume was heavier then I expected; he laid there his breath heavy and uneven. I tried again to struggle free but we were tangled so badly that it just made everything hurt so I stopped trying as well. A small crowd, of the people that were left at the park, was forming around us yet keeping their distance. The two drunken men sauntered toward us,
“Tsume! Tsume get up.” I pleaded in a whisper. The men were getting closer. Tsume blinked, shook his head to clear his mind, and then pulled himself free of the tangled mess we were in. He grunted as he pushed himself to his feet, wincing, and holding his side with one hand. The drunkard looked happy that Tsume was up.
“So are you – hick- going apologize to me? If you do then maybe I’ll leave you alone.” He threatened but Tsume ignored him and picked me up bridal style and turned to run. But the drunkard wasn’t having that, he picked up an empty beer bottle near him on the ground, and chucked it at Tsume’s feet. He tripped and fell, almost falling on me. He let me go about an inch from the ground and caught himself with his hands on either side of my head. Now he looked angry his face contorted with rage. Tsume got up and ran at the drunkard, he ran so fast he was almost a blur. He caused the small number of people- half of them still drunk- to gasp. Sirens could be heard and most of the crowd dispersed. He was about three feet away from the now astonished drunkard and he leapt straight up into the air. He was high over the drunk man’s head, his feet folded neatly under him, he appeared to be a high hurdle jumper, he was coming down very fast too. He landed an arms length away and on his way he put his arm out and scraped the drunkard down the length of his back.
A blood curdling scream rang out in the clearing by the forest where I sat. It was the drunkard’s scream. Blood squirted out and he fell to the ground, four long gashes ran from his neck to his legs. In some places it they looked pretty deep. His eyes were open but glazed over; he was dieing. Tsume ran back to me. He picked me up again and ran into the woods. The crowd was screaming in terror now and what little amount of people were left were running, trying to get out of the way of the police and paramedics. I was scared and dirty but I clung to Tsume’s black shirt, my face pushed into his chest. My hair was coming undone and I only had one of my shoes. I could hear him whisper,
“I’m sorry.” a few times. I think maybe he thought I was scared of him or something. But I wasn’t, a little shaken maybe, but not really all that scared. Yes, fear wasn’t something I felt.

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Chapter 3- excitement

Its Monday now and there’s a festival coming up. I’m really excited about that. The only thing is that every year I go alone. I don’t mean to or want to but no one ever asks me.
“Class is over, dismissed.” Said the teacher in a relieved voice we only have one class left before school lets out for the day. I’ve heard tons about who’s going with whom to the festival. But the weirdest part is that Tsume hadn’t talked to me almost all day. Only a couple of times and he never once mentioned the festival. I was in my next class, Tsume beside me.
“So are you going to the festival?” I asked while our teacher called roll.
“Umm… I don’t know yet.” he said staring at me, “Why were you thinking of going?” I stared at my hands,
“Yes, I’m going.” I said nodding. He tilted his head so he could see my face,
“Well has anyone asked you yet?” he asked. I blushed turning my face a light pink, embarrassed about it.
“N-no not yet but I’m still going.” He nodded then turned his attention back to the class. The teacher was assigning partners for a Japanese project.
“… Ann and Maya. Lastly Tsume and Kira.” She explained, “Now get in your groups and start.” She sat down at her desk. Tsume got up and kicked his desk to face mine. He pulled a piece of paper out of his notebook and sat down,
“So what are we going to do that has to do with Japan?” he asked, pen tip on the paper. I thought for a moment,
“We could cook something like rice balls or some kind of cake.” I explained. He jotted it down,
“Sounds good to me, then we’ll feed it to the class.” he said. I nodded, “So do you want to go to the festival with me?” he asked out of the blue. I stared at him skeptically,
“Sure but aren’t you in high demand because of all your so called fans?” I asked him, he stared at me almost glaring.
“Why should I care, I didn’t ask them to like me. Besides if they bug us I’ll just glare at them until they go away.” I laughed softly,
“Your so cold to everyone. I’m surprised they even like you.” I said in a teasing tone. He just stared at me a moment, “If I were like that nobody would like me.” I smiled a strangely sad smile, he laughed a little. Then he leaned so close that his arm touched mine, he brushed my bangs out of my eyes,
“I don’t know about that, in the beginning you were cold to me too, but I stuck around.” I was blushing like mad but my sense came back,
“You only stuck around because I know your secret- that you’re a w-o-l-f.” I whispered very quietly. He went back to sitting straight again. He looked me in the eyes,
“I’ll pick you up tonight okay?” I nodded slowly. We went over a few other things in class and then the bell rang. I went to my locker and shoved my books inside my bag and turned toward the door. As I headed to the door I kept alert so that in case I ran into Tsume I wouldn’t be surprised. But the halls were empty except a few students every once in a while. I reached the door and stepped outside. It was raining steadily; I realized that I didn’t even bring my umbrella. I groaned, ‘Now I have to get all wet.’ I complained to myself. I took a deep breath and started walking out in the rain, pulling my sweater over my hands and crossed my arms to stay warmer. I was looking at my feet and when I came to the edge of the sidewalk, I stopped. I didn’t walk because I heard a car coming. When it drove by it splashed some puddle water on me. I screamed, now even wetter then before. My hair plastered to my face. I stood there letting the rain water drip over my face, wishing I had an umbrella. Then the rain was no longer raining on me, but it was still pouring down around me. I turned around and Tsume was holding an umbrella.
“I thought you might need an umbrella, you should have waited for me.” he explained with a frown, he looked me up and down, “You look wetter than from far away.” He took off his jacket and slung it on my shoulders. I put it on and buttoned it up. He started walking and I fallowed. I didn’t look at the road or the sky; I just stared at my feet. We came to a stop and I glanced around, we were at my house. I lead us up to the front door.
“No ones home but I have a key, hang on.” I said, taking the umbrella from his hands, leaving him under the porch. I walked to a bush and moved some twigs to the side. On one branch, there was a key hanging there. I grabbed it and then came back; I gave him the umbrella and opened the door. We came in, my house was painted in a pattern: every other wall was light lavender and the others were dark purple. It was a taller house but still not very big. I took off the coat and returned it to Tsume.
“Thank you very much for walking me home.” I said nicely. He smiled,
“no problem. I’ll just be going now. I’ll see you later.” he said, then walked out the door.
I took a shower and dried my hair. I stood at my closet looking into it. I picked out a small dress; at the bottom it was dark purple and as it came up it got lighter. It was a spaghetti strap dress and it came down to my knees. It had a couple of bluish violet colored flowers at the bottom. I pulled my silky light purple hair into a ponytail with two strands of hair to lie on each side of my face. I slipped some high heel flip-flops on and looked out my window. It had stopped raining and a figure was standing in my driveway, I realized the figure was Tsume. I took a deep breath and carefully walked down the stairs. When I opened the door he turned his head to me and smiled,
“Hi.” he greeted me. “You look nice, different then from that same ol’ thing you always wear in school.” I smirked,
“Well if you’re talking about my school uniform then yes I guess I do. And I see that you look different then from school too.” Tsume was wearing a white T-shirt with a black hooded shirt, unbuttoned. And some nice black pants. He looked more like the Tsume I saw on the Saturday we went out. I was grumbling under my breath.
“Come on, let’s go, the festival will start soon.” He said grabbing my hand to pull me. I came to his side; let go of his hand, stopped walking, and put my arm around him in a half hug.
“Thanks for bringing me.” Then I let go, letting him hold my hand again. I thought I saw him blush but he turned his head away, so I couldn’t be sure.
When we reached the middle of town where the festival was to be held, my excitement had bubbled up and was threatening to overflow. My adrenaline was rushing through me.

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Chapter 2- Happiness

Over the next few weeks I tried to give Tsume a chance. A chance to get to know me and so I could get to know him, maybe he wasn’t as perfect as I thought. It was weird to hang out with him in almost all of my classes, and almost every girl talked bed about me to my face or behind my back. Some days I felt mad at him because if I didn’t hang out with him then I wouldn’t be pushed around. But whenever someone seemed like they would seriously hurt me he stepped in and would protect me.
It was Saturday, I was sitting at my kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal when I realized something- I knew nothing about Tsume’s home or about his parents. ‘I don’t like him so why should I care?’ I reminded myself silently. I had stopped eating and was staring off into space, but when the phone rang I came back. I ran to the phone and answered it,
“Hello?” I asked, it was Tsume,
“Hi, Kira?” he asked. I told him yes, he said something but I didn’t hear. “Hey are you listening?” He asked, I snapped to attention,
“N-no, sorry could you say it again?” I said now embarrassed,
“I asked,” he began, “if you wanted to go somewhere, or go do something, because I’m bored and I figured you would be to.” I thought about this for a while.
“Well I guess we could go out, I did want to check some places out…” I trailed off waiting for his reaction. He replied calmly,
“Ok, I’ll meet you at the school and then we can go from there.” I nodded, then realized that he couldn’t see me and I quickly uttered a yes. He said goodbye and hung up and I did the same. I stared at my cereal a moment longer then went upstairs. I got dressed slowly, thinking carefully about how I was going to tell him where I wanted to go. I picked a white beater with brown polka-dots. I was looking through all my pants and realized, they were all in the laundry hamper. ‘I really have to do laundry.’ I said not too happy with myself. I opened my next drawer; it had only one idem in it- a brown miniskirt. I groaned but put it on. I looked outside and went back to my dresser. I picked out a half sweater that tied in the front, also brown. I tied two long light brown ribbons in my hair, each on one side of my head. I looked at myself in the mirror and looked uncertain, but I was running out of time. I put on my socks and slipped on my dark brown shoes. I grabbed my keys and left, locking the door behind me. It took me three minutes to hide my keys in the bushes outside my house then twelve minutes, running, to get to the school. I sat down to catch my breath. I eventually stood up waiting. I stood facing to the left of the school, the way I had come. I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder, no sound of footsteps or his breath. I whirled around and Tsume was there. He smiled, I shivered. He looked at me,
“Not the way I thought you would look on a Saturday.” he said. I was blushing gently,
“W-well you look different too.” I stammered. He was wearing dark blue jeans and a long black shirt with a white panda head on it. He was also wearing a black hooded zip up jacket.
“So where are we going?” He asked me. I tilted my head to one side,
“Well I wanted to go to the park.” My voice dwindled down to a low whisper. Tsume looked at me then blinked,
“Fine, but why?” he asked. A blush steadily crept across my face.
“Because I’ve haven’t been to a park before.” I explained sheepishly.
“Never.” He said staring at me,
“Well once when I was little but I don’t remember it.” I looked away, and I didn’t want to look at him.
“Then come on, lets go.” He said, he grabbed my hand and started to lead me in the direction of the park. I twisted my hand out of his and sprinted ahead. I looked back, he looked confused, but then he understood that I was challenging him to a race. I saw a gleam of adventure in his eyes as he sprinted forward and caught up to me easily,
“You can’t beat me, I’m a wolf.” He told me, he said the word as though it were obvious. I just panted.
“We’ll see!” I exclaimed and ran ahead but he caught up again, he wasn’t even out of breath yet. He started to pass me but I couldn’t catch up. He slowed down and grabbed my hand to pull me along. We reached the park and I collapsed on the ground. I let go of his hand panting for breath. The park looked deserted; there was no one in sight.
“There’s no one here?” he said simply, I shrugged,
“I’ve passed this place a lot and normally there are tons of kids here, but whatever.” I got up and brushed myself off. I started walking, he fallowed me. We came to a swing set, I sat down, he blinked.
“Do you want to swing to?” I asked him pointing with my head to the other swing beside me. He nodded,
“I guess so.” He said, and then he sat down on the swing to my right. I started to swing he did the same.
“When I was in grade school I used to swing all the time, I would swing high then jump off.” I told him, “It was really fun.” He smiled and jumped; he was really high in the air then came down again, landing neatly on his feet. I slowed my swing down and jumped off, jumping forward.
“Wanna swing again?” Tsume asked me, I nodded. When I went to sit down Tsume was there, I squeaked in alarm. He wrapped his arms around my waist and started swinging. I was blushing violently now, struggling with something to say,
“S-so do you turn into a wolf often?” I asked the first thing that came to mind. I felt his hands stiffen. I turned around slightly his smile faded.
“Whenever I feel like it,” he said, I nodded in acknowledgement. “Lets not talk about it again.” I nodded again. I rested my hands on his, and enjoyed swinging in the breeze. To someone like me it was pure happiness.

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