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 Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 8:02 pm
 A kuniku lay somewhere in the forests of Honshu, looking through the cracks in the trees up at a pastel colored sky that suggested daybreak. The temperature was pleasantly cool since the night was just beginning to be chased away, and several stars were still twinkling above. A small sigh escaped from the female, and she stood up to stretch. Another day, another adventure, right? Sazanami hoped today would be good; she hadn't slept all that well, and had spent most of the night just thinking about things. Those thoughts were mostly about her children, but some other things as well.
Saza looked around the area and of course saw nothing interesting. She had isolated herself, if only for a few hours while King was watching Unagi and their last egg for her. She suddenly felt a slight pang of thirst, and then began a short walk to a nearby stream for a drink.
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Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 3:06 pm
 One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.
Counting steps helped to keep up her pace. A lone kuniku had been trotting through the forests since earlier in the morning, when the moon and stars had been the only source of light. To any passerby, the female looked like a swift flash of cream in the darkness, having changed her trot into a graceful run. She dodged easily through the trees, leaping quickly over the shrubs and fallen branches, a determined smile on her lips. She was nearing her home, and after being gone for more than a year, she couldn't help but be a little excited. The beaded necklace thumped on her chest as she ran, imitating her strong-beating heart, and she couldn't help but wonder if anyone had forgotten her in her time away. The simple thought brought a stop to her running, slowing her down to a tender-pawed walk. She was only gone for a year and a half, so surely Koishii couldn't be forgotten... Or, at least, she hoped not. Continuing her walk, her ears registered the sound of a stream in the relative distance, but her mind would not let her leave the thought of her own Kasei forgetting her. It couldn't be possible... Right?
A slow sigh escaped the kuniku as she shook her head. Thinking of things like this wasn't good for her. She had to keep a positive attitude, or else nothing good would come out of her homecoming. Picking up her pace to a slow trot again, Koishii followed the sound of the stream to its bank, bending to drink from its cool waters. It was a lame attempt to clear her mind, but sometimes lame attempts really are the best attempts, anyway. She began focusing on seeing the smiling faces of her fellow kuniku, the welcoming nods of their heads as she met up with them again. It was all beginning to make her smile again, and just as she finished, she heard a nearby rustling as a figure made its way to the bank of the same stream, just a further up. Her head darted up, a bit startled, really. She hadn't expected anyone to be out here, and at this early in the morning, it was even more curious. Koishii realized that it was another kuniku from the silhouette the peach sky showed her, and she also realized that she was in full light to this other kuniku. She stood still, trying her hardest to figure out who it was. The scent was familiar to her, even after a year, but without the distinct colours on the fur, it was hard to put a name to the dark silhouette.
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 6:39 pm
Making her way between the bushes, not caring how much noise she made, Sazanami approached the stream. The water gurgled slightly as it flowed, and even with very little light, once she reached its shore she could see the familair gray pebbles at the bottom. She had visited this stream on several other occassions and it always seemed the same: few fish, few frogs, few humans. Sazanami could've sworn she was alone at this point. After releasing a small sigh, she took a few laps of the refreshing liquid until she no longer felt thirst and raised her head up; her pink tongue darted out quickly to prevent any droplets from falling from her muzzle. Her thoughts weren't really on anything at the moment, so she stood still and watched the water pass her by before she finally turned to walk away from the stream, but then noticed Koishii.
Her eyes widened a little, and her heartbeat sped up. It was an unexpected encounter, alright. It took a couple of seconds, and then Saza remembered that she ought to give a greeting. "Hello." One word left her mouth, and that was it. Somehow, Saza felt like she was doing the normal things wrong, but that didn't stop her from smiling a little at the pretty stranger before her.
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 7:02 pm
Even though age had shifted the voice, Koishii recognized it faintly.
"Ah... Hello..." She padded slowly over to the other Kuniku, and stood in the shade a few steps away to adjust her vision. The fur glistened off of the other's back and ears, making the black and blue a lighter shade than they really were. There were a pair of goggles atop the other female's head, and Shii smiled brightly when she recognized the colour pattern on the creature. It was Sazanami.
She wanted to say something. She really did. Words could not find her however, but her tail swished fluidly behind her, effectively expressing her joy. She had not seen Saza in over a year (not unalike the other Kuniku she knew), and it was a pleasure to see a familiar face after so long... Even if the face was leaner, longer, and much less feathery.
"My, how you've grown..." It hadn't occurred to Koishii that Sazanami might not even remember her. After all, she was just a pup when Shii left. She still had her wings. Around her, the morning flowers began to blossom, their white petals bursting open to greet the warm sun as it rose.
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 7:22 pm
A tilt of the head, and then a puzzled frown expressed the confusion Saza felt when Koishii commented on her appearance. "......" Her mouth opened as if to ask 'Do I know you?' but then shut quickly, and the frown only increased. Who was this female? It certainly wasn't her mother. Saza would have recognized the scent of her mother even among a hundred kuniku, so who was this? Names of old friends were blurs in her memory since she had mostly kept to herself (her closest companion being Inaba) back on Hokkaido. She hadn't seen this kuniku recently, so no name came to mind. Seriously. Who was this?
A pair of golden eyes changed their gaze from Koishii's face to study her whole figure; the soft, creamy hue reminded Sazanami of the sunrise back home on Hokkaido almost immediately once she got a good look. The frown disappeared from her face and her eyes returned to lock with Koishii's. "I don't remember your name, but I know that I met you in Hokkaido." She nodded her head as she spoke, confirming her words with action.
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 7:34 pm
A strange expression of confusion crossed her face, stinging her somewhere in the depths of her heart. So, the others really had forgotten her, hadn't they? Well, she certainly couldn't let this keep her down. Sazanami had said that she remembered meeting Koishii, so that was a start. Replacing the look on her face with a complacent one, Shii nodded and tried to smile again. She tried once, and failed to get her tail to wag again. It just wouldn't go.
"That's right... You wouldn't remember me well. You were just a pup when I left, Sazanami. My name is Koishii. I was friends with your mother," She hoped that this would somehow ease the initial awkward tension between the two of them. "I knew you even before you hatched." Her silky voice was laced with nostalgia as she remembered the old conversations with Saza's mother.
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 7:53 pm
Saza's ears perked once Koishii's name had been spoken. "How could I have forgotten..?" Her head shook vigorusly as if to scold herself, but a happy smile came across her face afterward. "Please excuse me for not remembering, Koishii. I know your voice and face, it's just been a while... You were like an elder sister to me and Yasuragi, and we greatly missed your visits to see us." Old memories returned to Saza, and her gaze turned downward as she thought. Playing in the snow, lessos on flying, tutorials on how to get through deep snow... Yes, she did remember all of that from childhood. It had been good, and for those days she had been happy, but it was shortly after Koishii left that things went downhill for Sazanami and her brother. That story would be told later though, so she kept it to herself and sat down comfortably, because she could feel a real conversation coming on.
"It's been a long time... But tell me Koishii, what brought you here to Honshu? You were going to join a pack, and that's why you were unable to visit Yasuragi and me..?" She was pretty sure of her words, but wanted to be certain. Saza did her best to remember the little things that others often forgot, so she hoped to be correct on her reason for Koishii leaving.
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 8:18 pm
Ah! So she did remember!
Koishii's tail thumped eagerly against the forest floor, shifting on her paws, trying to contain her complete and utter joy. It had been her worst nightmare, being forgotten, and the relief that flooded over her was nearly overwhelming. The beads on her tail's bracelet clicked together as they tapped the ground, making some sort of rhythm for the running stream. When Sazanami mentioned the old pack, Koishii's tail slowed, and her face faded a little at being reminded of what she left behind, but it did not pull her down completely again. "Yes," she sighed "With Kasei, you know." Silently, she wondered what the male was doing at this very moment. Probably sleeping.
"Though, when my mother died protecting a household in Hokkaido..." Koishii took a small breath. Speaking of death was never easy for her; Especially when it involved her own mother. "I left to find Ren." The reasons why she left to find him in the first place, all the doubts that had plagued her mind in those many months would be left out of the conversation, not wanting to bring a damper on the first words she had spoken to a friend in many a moon. "I stayed in Shikoku for several months, and then I decided that it was time to come home..." She blinked, remembering something. "Speaking of which, why are you so far away from Hokkaido..?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 8:39 pm
Saza nodded as Koishii explained her reason for being on Honshu. She had no memory of ever meeting Koishii's mother, but was able to sympathize with her loss. It was painful losing anyone close to you, but especially to death. "I'm sorry for your loss, Koishii. But the Gods are taking care of your mother now, so there is no need to worry about her." She said, hoping to relieve her old friend of her ache. And she thought she remembered meeting someone named Kasei before, but no appearance came to mind. She then began to tell her reason for being on Honshu.
"Ah, I first left for Honshu when I was a pup. I wanted to see things, and no one was with me at the time, so there was nothing to stop me." Saza intentionally left a lot of details of her circumstances from that time out as she explained, and just settled on telling Koishii that she was alone. It wasn't exactly a lie, but not exactly the whole truth either. She just didn't want to talk about that part of her past since it wasn't very pleasant. She continued, "I came over during a very bad storm and shortly after, I had been so frightened by the bad weather, that I returned to Hokkaido. I was afraid of taking a boat back to this island for a while, but eventually I wanted to conquer my fear and decided to return. I've been here for a couple of months now, and my opinion of Honshu has completely changed for the better." She said with a smile.
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 8:55 pm
"Yes. I do believe she is in good hands now. It's unfortunate that she will not meet her grandchildren in the flesh," Koishii had always dreamed of having pups. "But I know she will see them from the sides of the Gods." The femme nodded and smiled. It was a pleasure to hear about all that Shii had missed in Saza's life over the moons, but she could tell that the whole story was not being shared. It didn't bother her in the least, however. She had left out a bunch of her aimless travels when speaking of her own journey, so it only seemed fair that Sazanami shared the condensed version of her past months. Besides, it was probably best for the both of them to only speak of the good things. Weren't negative energies put out into the universe when the bad things were spoken of, anyway? Koishii smiled when Saza spoke well of Honshu.
"Honshu does take a bit of getting used to, if you're from Hokkaido. The weather change here is utterly mind-blowing in the first month you stay here." She chuckled softly, her eyes smiling at Sazanami with complete content. "So, have you been wandering here, or do you have a place you usually stay, now? You said you've been here a couple of months, correct?" Koishii turned for a moment to drink some water from the stream, the cold liquid racing down her parched throat easily.
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 9:21 pm
Saza nodded in agreement when Koishii spoke of the weather. "Yes, the weather really is very different here in Honshu. I even felt a bit sick when I came here for the second time due to how unused to being warm I was; on my first trip the sky was covered with clouds for days so it was a lot cooler then." She paused for a moment as Koishii turned, but then continued on talking as her friend was only taking a drink. "I'll be traveling to Kyushu with a friend and his family soon, but for now I'm staying in a human home with..." She paused again, unsure of what to call King. She wasn't his mate because they were seperating, but he was not a lover either.
She settled for just his name. "I'm staying with King until all of our eggs hatch." She knew that Koishii would have no idea of who King was, but she would probably be able to understand what Saza had meant. "I think Honshu is a good place for our pups to grow. My son Unagi wants to come with me to Kyushu even though it'll be a lot warmer than Honshu, and my daughter Kaseya wants to stay here with King. We're waiting for our last egg to hatch, and then we'll have to see where he or she would like to go."
((I don't think it's possible for a kuniku to know the gender of their egg, so yeah... Saza doesn't know Vidar's a boy. :/))
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 9:45 pm
Well, Koishii could honestly say she wasn't quite expecting to hear that. Sazanami hadn't seemed like the type to have a... Fling with one of the other Kuniku... But, hadn't she said that she was staying with the other? It was complicated, as far as Shii could tell, and she had common sense enough not to bother asking. Pups, however, were a step in life she often pictured Sazanami taking. The thought of little fluffballs that resembled the female made Shii smile, and she turned back to the other to congratulate her.
"That's absolutely fantastic, Sazanami. I bet they're beautiful, just like you." she nodded, pressing her maw against Saza's neck in a warm, friendly gesture. "I want to meet your new family soon, okay? They're like my adopted grandchildren somehow, and I want to help you... You know... If you ever need it." She was referring back to the obvious absence of King in the relationship, and she was being completely honest. The other female was like a daughter to her, and there was nothing more she could hope for, than to be a part of her adopted family's life. Of course, she would never intrude, if Saza rejected her offer, but it was a small hope of hers to be of help for the Kuniku she cared deeply about.
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 10:12 pm
Saza smiled and nuzzled Koishii back. She was thankful for her friend's support, even after a long time of being apart. "Thank you, Koishii. And yes, they are very beautiful. King and I are very proud of Kaseya and Unagi, and expect our last egg to be just as charming as they are." Her body warmed with love as she talked about her pups. Motherhood had changed her in the way it always does new mothers, and she never felt better than when she was near her babies. "I plan to go to Shikoku after Kyushu, but no matter how long it takes, I'll be sure to take them to Hokkaido so that we can visit you and Kasei."
Her smile became a half-hearted one when Koishii mentioned the seperation. It wasn't that she didn't love King because she did and knew it, and felt that he would always have a place in her heart, but there was something missing in the relationship that she could not name, and therefore could not make right. "I accept your offer, and I am thankful, truly. You were there for me when I was young, and I know that I can trust you..." She stopped talking for a moment, and her tail neatly curled around her paws. There was a moment of silence, and then her voice softened just a little as she spoke again, "Our unison isn't complete, but I want the pups to know both of their parents even if we don't see each other often. I love all of them, but I can't stay."
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 10:40 pm
Koishii was relieved. The conversation would certainly have taken an awkward dive if she had declined. She smiled warmly, and a soft, buttery laugh made its way to her lips when Saza spoke of her need to travel. "I completely understand what that feels like," That same feeling had tipped her over the edge in the mental debate of whether to stay or not, a year ago. "If you ever need someone to look after the pups, and... Ah... What was his name? King? If he's busy, I would gladly watch over them for as long as you needed, Saza. I hope you know that." A silence passed between the two of them, and Koishii gazed up at the sun that had now risen over the horizon. The sky was no longer a pastel colour, but rather a near-blinding symphony of oranges and yellows that shone through the trees.
"Where are you headed this morning, Saza?" Her amber eyes were lit with the intense sunlight, appearing to make them glow.
((I'm so sorry this is short. D: My internet is making typing really hard right now.))
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:12 pm
"Once again, thank you Koishii..." Saza was definitely glad to have found her old friend again. Koishii was definitely making things easier for her, and it was always good to have somone you knew you could always depend on. Saza's gaze also turned skyward, and she realized that quite a bit of time had passed since she had first spotted Koishii. "Ah, I suppose geting something to eat would be a good start. I know a nice place in the city that we could go to, but it's a bit of a walk." Saza suggested. She hoped Koishii could spend the day with her, but she had said that she was on her way back to Hokkaido so she didn't want to keep Koishii for too long.
Koishii probably missed Kasei a lot, and not to mention the rest of her pack. Saza didn't know what that kind of life was like, but she assumed that the members were all close like a family. "But please, feel free to go if you need to. I'll even walk you to the docks." Saza wasn't worried about the pups, they were safely with King and she knew that he would watch over them until Saza came back to the human house that they were staying in.
((And no problem. :3))
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