Akira
So much had been going on. Going to a cooking class, going out with Griffin for alcohol, and then breaking up a fight, while all in the meantime, welcoming new members and trying to keep everything going. It seemed that even when Kateri asked me about shopping, I found I had no time, even though I didn’t want to go shopping with her at all. Everyone seemed to keep me busy, except at nights when I was reading, the only time I actually was alone. Maybe the afternoons close to dinner sometimes, like tonight.
It seemed to be the only thing that kept me calm, even though Papa’s notes were weird. There were a bunch of letters on a page and then a bunch of numbers, arrows pointing at different ones with small side notes that I couldn’t read.
I stared at them. I had finally gotten some sense beaten into Griffin, who had been holding an ice pack to his now fixed jaw, since I put it back in place, and Dante when I kicked him across the room.
It was probably about afternoon now or something. I’ve lost track by now... Oh, Papa, what do you mean? I constantly looked through the notes, trying to find a pattern, but saw nothing and sighed. I pushed my glasses up to rub my eyes but I paused when I thought I heard the door open. There was silence afterwards so I assume it was a different door. I rubbed my eyes and got up out of my seat. I put down the notes and started to look through the shelves. I had to admit, I looked like a mess. My hair was in a ponytail, which was a mess in itself, and I had a jacket over my tank top and shorts. I had barefoot too. I really did look like a mess.
I tried to grab a book up on the top of a shelf and as I reached, I heard a voice.
“Akira?” I turned my head and saw Griffin standing in the library, holding a book in hand and staring at me. Crap.
A blush rose to my cheeks as I looked at him and went back to normal level.
“You wear glasses?” I blushed brighter. I never meant for really anybody to see. Yeah, when I wasn’t caring that one day, nobody really noticed. Now Griffin’s noticed and- Wait. Why do I care?
“Yeah, why?” I muttered as I took them off and stuffed them in my pocket.
“I noticed that one day but it didn’t really go through me...” He said as I noticed he still had the icepack on his cheek. It was bruised from how hard I gripped it and put it back into place. His wings were feigning back too, as if they were in pain. I guess I really did grip those hard...
“Sorry about that,” I told him while biting my lip and he just shrugged.
“I deserved it, I guess,” he said as he walked over to me and looked up to where I was reaching. “Which one did you want?” He asked and I pointed to the one that looked like a photo album. He grabbed it but once he handed it to me, I felt a sudden pang in my chest and it made almost fall backwards.
I felt a slow growl coming to my mouth and I covered my mouth. Griffin looked at me suspiciously.
“Are you okay?” He asked with raised eyebrows and I chuckled nervously. There was only one important question in mind.
“What moon is it tonight?” I asked and he eyed me.
“Full moon. Why? Oh, wait-” Before he could say anymore, I rushed out of the room on all fours and into the dining hall, where everybody was gathering for dinner. Crap. They all stared at me as I rushed to the backdoors, giving them a nervous smile as I faced them with my back on the doors, trying for the handle to open it.
“Akira, what’s going on?” Griffin asked as he followed me and everybody stared at me. I felt the hair on my arms and my legs start to grow longer into a wolf’s and I was sure everybody could see it.
“As you all know...” My voice started to turn into a growl, not purposely. “I’m a werewolf and tonight’s a full moon so... I have to go and um...” I chuckled and Colette spoke up instead.
“We will take care of anything while you are on leave, Akira. If anybody comes, we will treat them with respect, right everybody?” Colette asked and most of them murmured things of agreement.
“Go, Akira,” Karin piped up. “Go feed.” I gave a quick nod as I felt my teeth growing longer into a wolf’s.
“Thanks,” I growled back with another nod and burst through the doors behind me on all fours and off into the woods. It’s a good thing there were trees. They could conceal me for the beast I really was.
A hideous, black wolf.
As I ran off into the woods, I felt myself transforming into that hideous thing and almost collapsed in pain. I did eventually and felt myself blackout.
-~-~-
*As A Wolf*
My paws... weren’t they supposed to be hands? My paws scrambled to meet the earth as I tried to bring myself on my feet. My fur was everywhere and I scrambled a few times, getting onto my paws. I felt an immediate instinct once I did and howled at the moon, announcing that I was in full transformation.
Food. I want meat.
My eyes scurried for signs of life around me. A rabbit was scurrying across the grass I was sitting in and up in a tree, there was a bird. Or at least, it looked like a bird. Something with scales on it. Weird bird. Probably not that good tasting.
I growled at it and its eyes narrowed at me and then looked away. Back to hunting. My eyes darted back the ground and that’s when I smelled wolf. Not me or anybody else but other wolf... Another tribe or clan? They probably hated outsiders. Bring it on.
I brought myself to my feet and started to paw around, catching rabbits and ripping it apart, its blood splattering against my fur. I ripped apart every rabbit that I came upon and ate every piece of flesh I saw greedily. This didn’t seem to be enough though. Maybe a black bear... or some sort of mountain lion.
That’s when I started to search for such animal but something stopped me along the way, which I did not like.
Growling slowly surrounded me and I was soon trapped in a circle of wolves. I prepared myself for a fight and boy, when the first one attacked, it almost knocked me over. I hadn’t fought wolves in a while so I was a little bit weak of their nature but I soon caught on to their moves and fought back powerfully. I wrestled with a few of them at the same time, each attacking my legs and trying to get to my stomach, at most my side. They ripped at my ears and and my throat but made no puncture. The first puncture made was in my back on my front left paw. I growled and got them back, killing the first out of all of them.
They didn’t back down from one of them dying, as if they knew that I wasn’t what I actually was. Their smells were probably correct. Something was weird about me. Did it seem like I cared?
I proved myself worthy though, eventually, after more cuts and punctures made their way through to me. The fight lasted all night and I didn’t need this to happen on the first night. I needed fresh, live meat, not wolf meat that seemed too disgusting if I was to eat my own kind.
They eventually left me alone when light started to break through the trees. I was dripping blood as I tried to make my way back to the mansion but I didn’t succeed. I collapsed in pain of all of the cuts and punctures I had in me. I whined, it barely making it out such a distance. I slowly felt myself drift off, as if this night didn’t even happen and I was just falling asleep in my bed.
The last image I saw was that bird coming down and scooping me up in his arms.
-~-~-~-
I could’ve sworn I smelled bird as I woke up, thick cloth meeting blood coming out of my wounds and a warm blanket around me. It was cozy but then I wondered, who had put me in here? It couldn’t possibly be the bird I saw, could it. I opened my eyes slowly and turned around and saw the bird sitting on a seat, completely zoned out.
“G-Griffin?” I muttered as my eyes focused on him and he got out of his trance, seeming to be lost in his own thoughts. My voice sounded weird after spending a night as a wolf.
“You called me a bird... While you were passed out...” He put out simply, seeming completely offended and mad at the same time. Oh great. I called him a bird while half in delusion that I was still a wolf when I was asleep.
“You looked like a bird to me when I was a wolf,” I told him back, my venom not nearly as much as it was a day ago. He had a book in his lap, one about werewolves and vampires. He was halfway through it. It was called, “Eclipse.” He didn’t seem particularly enjoyed about it, as he stared at it and made claw marks in it to get his anger out.
I looked at my arms and legs and saw white cloth on them, they taking in red slowly.
“Why did you bandage me up?” I asked him quietly and he shrugged as he looked down at the book.
“Well, you were bleeding out since you took on that pack of wolves, which was stupid. You seemed intent though on winning,” Griffin put simply and I just blinked and shrugged.
“Why do you care what I do as a wolf?” I asked and he opened his mouth and then closed it after a minute. He couldn’t come up with a reason, like how I couldn’t come up with a reason of why I was really grateful for what he did.
I moved my legs, which shot up slight pain and tried to steady myself as I stood myself up. Almost immediately, Griffin was on his feet and caught me when I fell from the unbalance of my feet, since I was now having to get used to walking on two feet instead of two. This would be going on for the next few days.
I looked up at Griffin when he caught me and slightly blushed before I pushed myself off of him and straightened myself. He was blushing too but was trying to desperately hide it.
“Thanks for... helping... Wait-” A thought just occured to me. “-were you watching me the whole night?” I asked him and he gave a slight nod. I looked at him before my hand touching his three scars. He flinched at my touch and I immediately reclined my hand and put it down. I cleared my throat after an awkward silence and took to the door, opened it up, and headed out.
The first thing I saw was the human, Sam and Vevila talking, Vevila trying to seduce him but he was trying hard not to give in. They both paused when they saw me and looked at me. Vevila looked over me, as did Sam.
“Just how do you keep your hair even maintained? It is absolutely hideous,” Vevila spat at me and I stared at her with narrowed eyes.
“As if I care what I look like after I wake up from being a wolf. And to answer your question, Sam-” Sam had his mouth open and I knew exactly what he was going to ask. “-I do not eat humans while being a wolf either,” I put simply and Vevila rolled her eyes as Sam exhaled in relief.
“Do you have a comb?” Vevila asked as I started to head towards the stairs and I shook my head.
“No, I have a brush matted with wolf hair if you want to use it instead,” I told her plainly back and she acted like she was gagging as I headed down the stairs, I coming upon the guy from Las Vegas... Travis, the Leprechaun. He stopped right in front of me.
“Today, you have a 85% chance to find a bear and a 25% chance to find those wolves again. 65% if you want to find a mountain lion and a 100% chance to find rabbits,” I gave him a small smile in return and he just waved a hand in the air, saying it was no problem without having to say it. I walked down the rest of the stairs and that’s when I saw somebody new, talking to Ela and Colette. Something threw me off about him though. Something that just felt odd.
I almost stumbled down the last step and Griffin caught me again and helped me up. I gave him a nod of thanks before I headed over to Colette, Ela, and this new guy.
“And who’s this?” I asked and Colette turned to me with a smile on her face.
“You seem to be doing much better, Akira! We all hope that tonight’s endeavors do you better,” Colette smiled and I gave a small one back and turned to Ela.
“This is Kuroshiro. He’s like some, ghost dude who helps people who are dead or something like that. He was trying to explain it to us when you came in. I just think it’s absolutely creepy.” Kuroshiro... why did that name sound familiar? Must’ve been on the map...
“You are Akira?” Kuroshiro asked and I nodded.
“あなたは日本語を話せますか?” He asked me and I nodded.
“もちろん、私は言語のネイティブです,” I told him back and he smirked.
“少なくとも私はもう英語を話す必要はありません,” He sighed slightly in relief. We spoke a little bit more in Japanese before we decided to speak in English again. I hadn’t spoken Japanese a lot within the last few months so it was nice to go back to English afterwards.
“Welcome to the club,” I gave him a nod and he bowed to me in response. He had told me the only way I could talk to him was because it was full moon. At least I wasn’t passed out anymore. He was quite formal too so at least there was that.
“Quite a mansion you have. Not as elegant as the ones I have seen,” Kuroshiro asked and I shrugged.
“It is what it is,” I put simply and he nodded. I could tell the conversation was over because he completely redirected his attention to something else that seemed like nothing but then back to Ela and Colette, Karin hopping over to listen in intently. I smirked and she smiled at me before I headed to the kitchen. Griffin followed me, which was surprising.
Once we got into the kitchen, and thank god we were, I turned to him.
“You don’t have to follow me,” I told him and he just blinked.
“You have problems and you obviously need help,” I rolled my eyes and made myself some soup, trying to avoid even cooked meat that was leftover.
After I finished my soup, I headed outside and just sat down by the pool and put my feet in. Acacia was outside, seeming happy as she tended the flowers. It made me wonder what was going on but then I saw Dante was helping her. I wonder if those two...
“If you are wondering about the plant girl, she has a date with that winged fool,” Griffin told me as he sat underneath one of the patio tables with an umbrella attached to it. I just nodded and moved my head back to the water.
It was nice and cool and I had taken the bandages off before I had even put them in the water. It stung slightly but it didn’t bother me much. Kateri was swimming in the pool and Solana seemed to just be watching her and talking to some birds and a squirrel underneath an umbrella. She seemed like a mini Snow White...
Tono and Rano seemed indifferent though as they looked at me with wide eyes from across the pool, their wood skin glistening in the sunlight.
“What?” I asked them and they both shook their heads and began talking to themselves. I guess I scared them or something. I don’t misjudge them in the taking in the part of that.
“Do you not like your wolf side?” Griffin asked suddenly and I turned to him and just blinked.
“How could you tell?” I asked and he shrugged.
“It was obvious last night because I noticed you had kept on tugging at your fur with your teeth and your response just now to Vevila,” Griffin said and that’s when I noticed he was very observant. Huh.
“It’s hideous, really. I hate being a mangled black wolf,” I said simply as I stared out into the woods.
“I don’t see how there is anything to... hate,” he mumbled and I looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
“What?” I asked and he just shook his head. After that it was quiet and I decided to play a prank.
“Come help me up,” I told Griffin in a slight demanding tone and he got up and strode over to me and held out his arm. I grabbed it but that’s when I smirked and he raised an eyebrow. He didn’t even have time to say anything as I pulled him into the water, I not falling in at all.
Once he came up for air, he looked at me and with unbelievable speed, he grabbed my leg and pulled me into the pool. Once I came up for air, I tried to dunk him and he tried to dunk me but neither worked. It was nice, having fun and relaxing. Something I hadn’t gotten to do the past few days.
We continued to horse around until it was dusk and I felt that feeling coming upon me again. Everybody was heading inside as I got out of the pool with Griffin and I quickly shook myself off like a dog. Griffin laughed slightly and it made me realize that this was the first time he had actually laughed. I liked it too.
The growling started again and I looked at Griffin. He just gave me a reassuring nod, that he would come and watch over me again as I ran off into the woods, turning into that hideous beast once more.
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Romance time~~~ LOL *shot* Tell me what you think :DD And Griffin is now a bird xDDDD
~Anime-chan
