Flowers
#1 of The story of a Mouse
She stood against the moon, watching the others as they arrived. It had been a good year, there where no still births and the crop of hopefuls was high. As was dictated by tradition, there was to be a celebration tonight. She walked towards the arrivals to greet them and direct them to the festivities. She frowned at the noises of laughter and merriment around her; they resonated in the emptiness she felt in her heart.
"Are you going to tell stories tonight?" one of the younger ones asked.
She turned around to look at him, she took a moment to observe the young mouse. His eyes were innocent and questioning, naive. Oh how that will change, she thought grimly. She put aside her thoughts and smiled at him.
"Yes... i will be telling you a very special story tonight" she said, without a hint of cynicism apparent in her voice. He smiled a bright smile and looked up at her wide eyed with a look that tug at her heart.
"Ohhhh!" he giggled "Sounds fun!"
She nodded and smiled convincingly, though inwardly she sighed. The boy reminded her of someone dear. She silently wandered if she would ever see him again...
With a snap she came back to reality. She had lost herself in reminiscing in the past. They had arrived at the first of several checkpoints. A man stepped out from the shadows of a small hut and looked over the group. He stopped for a moment and looked at her, for a moment a look of sympathy washed over his normally stony face. She just smiled, and he waved them on into a passage through the woods.
The celebration was far removed from any prying eyes. It was secret by tradition, revealed only to her family and those they deemed "hopefuls". Most of the events were normal enough, food, contests, stories. the children would have a good time, but those running the show would be watching them, always, evaluating what use they may be. The children, of course, would be blissfully unaware of this.
She frowned slightly, there was a crop of thirty hopefuls this year, out of that thirty there were 13 girls and 17 boys, at least half of them were related. She knew they would take 3 girls and 3 boys from the hopefuls. For those children's families, there was no higher honor, but for the children, being chosen meant that all chances for a childhood were forfeit.
They arrived at the next checkpoint in less then ten minutes, the guard there glanced over the group and waved them past. She made a note to harangue him on inspection protocol later.
"Are we almost there?" asked another of the children. She looked at him, he was a wolf cub, a bit older then the mouse. She saw he was also of much higher social class, already wearing a set of two swords at his age.
She nodded, "Only one more checkpoint."
She blinked, then looked away from the cub.
She had started to cry.
***
The feast was served, but she did not eat.
The games were played, but she did not watch.
The fire was started, and she waited in the shadows.
Finally one of the elders said her name, she stood up and walked to sit down where they could all hear her.
"Tonight," she started, "I will tell you a tale of a mouse."
They all looked at her, some strangely, she knew they where expecting a story of some sort of predator. The small mouse she had talked to earlier beamed. She smiled softly at him and continued.
"It was a moonlit night...."
***
A crimson spray flew across his vision. Blood. He looked away from the silhouette of the man on the hill against the moon to the origin of the red splatter. An arrow, protruding from his shoulder. He gritted his teeth and shouted "Coward!" The silhouette responded by reaching into his dark quiver to find another deathly line to draw against his wounded foe. The wounded mouse fell to his knees and clutched around the arrow shaft. How low, he thought as he felt the uncaring grain of the shaft, slick with his own blood, to challenge one to a duel only to shoot him down in cold blood. He spat on the ground in fury and glared up at the man with the two crescent moons behind him. He blinked at the sight; he saw two moons, one blue as steel and held by some sort of spirit, as she most certainty must have been. He watched in wonderment as she let the moon fall through the neck of the bowman. As the bowman fell, the mouse felt himself falling as well. Panic rose in his mind as he watched the scene fade into an inky blackness.
The mouse woke the next day and instantly jerked himself into a seated position. This turned out to be a mistake as his shoulder started sending strong retaliations of pain through his nerves to register in his brain. It was too much, his mind started to shut itself down. He watched the leafy green canopy swirl above him as his vision again faded to black, he heard rustling, and then nothing.
The next time he woke is was twilight. He stayed still for quite some time. He had been placed on a makeshift mattress of leaves with some cloth wadded up to form some sort of support for his head. His nose twitched as he took in the new scents, the leafy smells dominated but there was something else in the air he couldn't quite pin down. His ears swiveled, he heard a stream nearby, its soft bubbling sounds gave the place a feeling of tranquility. He sighed softly and closed his eyes, happy to be alive after that bloody encounter. He thought back, there had been something itching at the back of his mind...
He squeaked and his eyes shot open. The smell! It was feline! He looked around and sure enough, not more then twelve feet away sat a black leopardess, resting with her back against a tree trunk and sword resting against her shoulder. His mind was racing, had she spotted him? Would she notice soon? His nose twitched furiously and his heart raced in his chest. This was a serious hunter and she was in her element. Everything about her looked deadly, her paws which surely hid her sharp, predatory claws, her black fur that made her so hard to see when light was scarce, the well toned body well adapted for sudden pounces, and that crescent blade propped up against her shoulder....
He blinked and focused on the blade. In it's wooden sheath it was hard to be sure, but the shape seemed right. He looked up at the leopardess, was this the spirit that had saved his life?
She flicked her tail, he squeaked again, she smiled a smile that showed off her sharp white fangs, contrasted brilliantly against the blackness of her fur. "Looks like you're awake, oh squeaky one." She looked up at him and tilted her head to the side "You know, you really shouldn't be so hasty to leave, you saw what happened the first time." He nodded smally in agreement, but as soon as he did he forgot what he was agreeing about. His eyes and thoughts were focused on her yellow eyes with silted pupils. His heart was thumping loudly in his chest and his fur was prickling about his neck.
She frowned softly as she noticed these signs of fear, "Mouse," she said softly "If i meant you harm i would have done it before now." He blinked and blushed softly, his gaze dropped to the leaf covered ground in front of him as he uttered his quiet reply "I.... I know... but it's not like i can just stop being afraid." He squeaked again as her foot-paws came into view, she moved across the leaf covered ground without any sound! He twitched his nose and looked up at her. She stood out against the soft glow filtering through the leaves above them, her sword already tucked into her cloth belt.
He took notice of her clothing for the first time. She wore simple garb, no bright colors or exotic materials, but the quality of it! He concluded that she must be well off financially. She kneeled down to his level and just sat, observing him with those strange eyes, her tail flicking softly behind her.
After a few moments of this he started to fidget in the uncomfortable silence. "What is your name?" The question startled him, she did not change her posture in any way, her face betrayed no emotion. No doubt she was trying to be stoic to make up for his fear, but the strangeness of her demeanor.... "M-my name is..." he blinked. What was his name? He racked his brain for the answer, It started with a good sound. "Ha... Haru°1" he nodded, as to confirm the truth of that to himself. She smiled softly "That is a good name." He smiled shyly in return and looked down at her feet again.
Several minutes passed, he started to fidget again in the silence, she just looked at him, as if waiting. "So... what about your name?" he looked up as he asked. She tilted her head at him and replied "Kiku." he smiled softly, she smelled slightly of flowers.
°1Haru is a play on my RL name, which means Sun. This story is _loosely_ based on Japanese society so i used Haru which means "Sun" or "Sunlight"