Full Moon Lovers: Chapter 2
Here's the second chapter, enjoy!
She couldn’t believe what she was doing. Her body didn’t want to move an inch but her heart screamed for her to take those dreaded steps into the woods. She passed one tree and then another but was still close enough to still her house behind her. Her eyes looked around for the man earlier but he seemed to have disappeared quickly. Was he really there or was he just a figment of her imagination?
“Are you…the wood spirit that saved me?” she hesitantly asked out loud.
“Wood spirit? Well I wouldn’t call myself something like that…wood spirits are nothing but folklore,” an unfamiliar voice spoke back.
Akira looked around for the source of the voice but saw nobody. She took another couple steps in the direction she thought she heard the voice come from, but she stopped when he spoke again.
“Don’t take another step closer! Or else the woods will swallow you up again and you’ll never see your friends or family again…” he warned her.
She stood in her spot silently as she thought it over before speaking again, “What are you called if you’re not some wood spirit? What spirit are you?”
She waited for an answer but there was nothing but silence for a few minutes before the voice spoke again. “Hongbin, I’m called Hongbin and you could say that I’m…an animal spirit.”
“Hongbin? That’s a strange sounding name, I’m Akira by the way and I’m grateful for you saving my life that night. Will I ever be able to see you again?” she asked him.
Hongbin thought it over before answering, “We can talk again like this so long as you don’t step too far into my territory. Don’t seek me, I’ll know when you’re here and I’ll come to you instead. Now return to your friends, a woman is seeking you out now.”
He could smell her friend and a male along with her heading towards their direction. Akira nodded her head before turning back to get out of the woods, her heart feeling light and warm after talking to her savior. She paused at the edge of the tree line, looking back in hopes of seeing the spirit one last time.
Suddenly she was jerked from the trees harshly, turning to see Taisuke holding her arm with an upset expression on his face.
“What’s wrong with you?! Why would you dare step back in there?!” he demanded to know.
She scowled at him before trying to break his grasp but all he did was hold on stronger, taking her other arm in his hand to have her face him completely.
“Fujigaya you better watch how you hold my friend!” Noriko snapped at him as she caught up to the now quarreling couple.
“I don’t want to hear anything from the woman who sent her own friend to her death!” he snapped back.
Noriko froze before Akira spoke up in her defense, “Don’t you dare blame her! I was the one who went along with that dare! We were young and stupid and I wanted to follow through on her childish dare! Now is different! I went on my own when I saw the man who saved me!”
Both Taisuke and Noriko stopped when they heard those last words. They exchanged looks before Akira broke free from Taisuke’s hold.
“Ne, tell me you’re lying, you didn’t really see someone out there did you?” he asked in a shaky voice.
“It’s true!”
“Maybe it was your imagination Akira,” her friend rationalized.
“It wasn’t!”
Akira pointed to the trees before adding, “I saw him and spoke to him amongst the trees. I spoke to the spirit that saved my life that night.”
“Don’t tell anyone this…we can’t have the village finding out what’s happened or else they’ll really shun you Akira,” Taisuke commanded her before walking off quickly.
“What’s his problem?” Akira asked unable to understand his actions or words.
“He’s just worried about you…was the spirit nice?” Noriko answered before asking her own question.
“Yes, he was nice and handsome, but once I got into the woods he hid and we talked without seeing each other,” she answered truthfully, not wanting to hide anything from her good friend.
The only thing she did want to hide was the fact that she was going to meet him again amongst the trees. She knew it would worry her friend, so she kept this little secret from her for her own good.
The next day Akira went to the forest in the same spot as before and waited for the spirit to show himself. Just as promised he showed up, hiding behind a nearby tree as the two talked. Their conversation was slightly awkward at first but soon the two began to relax with each other once they started to open up a little more with each other.
“I was a young girl then, barely eighteen when I walked in here. Normally anyone wouldn’t have the courage to step in here, but I was childish back then,” Akira explained herself.
“A child’s foolishness? What on earth compelled you to step in here?” Hongbin asked her curiously.
“My best friend, Noriko, and I were joking around and then we somehow started to get heated up with each other. She blurted out that I wouldn’t have the courage to go into the forest, but to retaliate I took off into the forest as fast as I could before anyone could stop me. I wanted so badly to prove to her how serious I was, but amidst my running I lost my way and ended up being chased. I never saw what was chasing me but I knew deep in my being that it was a wolf,” she answered as she twirled a piece of her hair around her finger out of embarrassment of her younger self.
“You were very right, there was a wolf after you that night…it was a good thing you ran away so fast. That will of yours to live was what really spoke to me that night, I couldn’t help but step in and give you a hand,” he admitted along with her.
“That’s very strange I guess everyone wasn’t wrong when they said the forest took pity on me. Part of me wished I was saved by my good looks that way the mothers of the village would gladly tell their sons to pursue me,” she joked.
Hongbin wouldn’t openly admit to her that her beauty did move his heart that night more than her will to live. Instead he spoke with careful words, “Your beauty should be enough for any man to pursue you. Did your survival really drive them all away?”
“You may not believe me but at that time before I came into the forest I was quite popular. I was even in love with a man who I always hoped would ask for my hand in marriage. His name was Satoshi and I always followed him and his friend Sho whom my best friend Noriko liked at that time. We both wished we would be lucky enough to marry them since they were still unmarried when we both turned eighteen,” she paused momentarily as her heart ached remembering it, “I remember how kind he was to me, but after the forest incident he had to turn his head away from me. His mother called me cursed and quickly set him up with another girl from our village so he wouldn’t have a chance to get close to me.”
Hongbin could hear the bitterness in her voice and could almost feel the same sadness she must have felt then. Even though he thought saving her would bring her joy it seems like she had suffered so much because of his kindness.
“I’m sorry,” he unconsciously apologized to her.
“It’s not really your fault I was the one who was foolish enough to run into the forest. I should be thanking you over and over again for saving my life. It’s been hard but it was definitely a way to help me grow up,” Akira admitted.
She was definitely no longer that child that stepped into this forest those years ago. She learned her lesson and now she was no longer afraid of things outside her village. She tasted loneliness, rejection, fear. Now she felt like she had nothing to lose but her own desires and freedom at this point. She survived death barely and so she no longer let her caution keep her from doing things she liked or acting how she wanted.
Since she was no longer the most desired in the village she didn’t have to save face and could act any way she liked. She was able to blossom into a woman that caught men’s attention now more than ever even if she was deemed “undesirable” for marriage. Even though she did wish to settle down and have a family, the men around her just weren’t courageous enough to throw away their family’s wishes for her.
“Well I will admit that you’ve definitely grown into a woman. That night you were definitely just a girl, but looking at you now I couldn’t deny the woman you’ve grown into,” Hongbin spoke up.
“We haven’t properly faced each other though. Come out from your hiding place and face me so I can properly show you how I’ve grown since that night. I also want to get a good look at the spirit that saved me,” she added.
Hongbin’s heart began to race at the thought of facing her properly. Would she really think he was handsome when she got a good look at him? She only knew him as a spirit but when she would see his golden eyes clearly she would know what kind of animal he was. The same kind of beast that chased her that night.
He was a wolf.
“I’m afraid if you see my form then you’ll fear the forest again. I’m not human like yourself so when your human eyes look at me I’m sure you’ll be unable to like something which isn’t human like yourself,” he tried to explain his excuse of not showing himself.
“Didn’t you hear me before? I’ve grown up. I’m no longer afraid like the little girl I once was. I promise you I won’t change how I feel towards my savior no matter what form you have,” she replied back with assurance.
He hesitated at her words, the two of them holding their breath as the silence that fell between them grew heavy. Suddenly the two of them could hear someone calling Akira’s name, an interruption neither wished for. She quickly excused herself and ran out of the trees to see Noriko searching frantically for her.
“What’s wrong?” Akira asked her after rushing to her friend’s side.
“Taisuke is speaking to your parents! He’s going to convince them to have you marry him so the forest spirit can’t take you away. I tried to stop him but he pushed me away! Hurry inside!” she quickly explained as she dragged her friend along with her.
Akira felt her stomach twist inside as they rushed inside her home to see her parents sitting at the kitchen table with Taisuke. Her parents looked concerned and worried as they exchanged looks before looking at their daughter.
“Taisuke has told us about you seeing the spirit again,” her mother started hesitantly.
“We want to protect you from the forest, so be good and do as we say,” her father added.
“You will marry Taisuke so that the forest spirit can’t take you as his own. We don’t want to lose you to the forest ever again,” her mother told her before she started to choke up.
Her father placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder to comfort her but gave his daughter a look that said she couldn’t deny their demand. Akira’s jaw dropped open before she looked at Taisuke with a furious expression.
“How dare you! That was no business of yours to tell! I refuse to make such a man my husband!” she shouted as her anger boiled over.
“I did this for you and your family!”
“You did this for yourself!”
“Stop fighting!” Noriko finally interjected to keep everything from exploding into complete chaos.
Akira couldn’t stand to be anywhere near him or her parents at that point so she took off out the back door. She didn’t care where she went she just wanted to get away from that place. Her feet took her straight towards the forest where she knew she could hide momentarily. If she was lucky she hoped to talk to Hongbin once again to feel better. Little did she know that golden eyes keenly watched her from the trees.
Let me know what you think with a comment!
She couldn’t believe what she was doing. Her body didn’t want to move an inch but her heart screamed for her to take those dreaded steps into the woods. She passed one tree and then another but was still close enough to still her house behind her. Her eyes looked around for the man earlier but he seemed to have disappeared quickly. Was he really there or was he just a figment of her imagination?
“Are you…the wood spirit that saved me?” she hesitantly asked out loud.
“Wood spirit? Well I wouldn’t call myself something like that…wood spirits are nothing but folklore,” an unfamiliar voice spoke back.
Akira looked around for the source of the voice but saw nobody. She took another couple steps in the direction she thought she heard the voice come from, but she stopped when he spoke again.
“Don’t take another step closer! Or else the woods will swallow you up again and you’ll never see your friends or family again…” he warned her.
She stood in her spot silently as she thought it over before speaking again, “What are you called if you’re not some wood spirit? What spirit are you?”
She waited for an answer but there was nothing but silence for a few minutes before the voice spoke again. “Hongbin, I’m called Hongbin and you could say that I’m…an animal spirit.”
“Hongbin? That’s a strange sounding name, I’m Akira by the way and I’m grateful for you saving my life that night. Will I ever be able to see you again?” she asked him.
Hongbin thought it over before answering, “We can talk again like this so long as you don’t step too far into my territory. Don’t seek me, I’ll know when you’re here and I’ll come to you instead. Now return to your friends, a woman is seeking you out now.”
He could smell her friend and a male along with her heading towards their direction. Akira nodded her head before turning back to get out of the woods, her heart feeling light and warm after talking to her savior. She paused at the edge of the tree line, looking back in hopes of seeing the spirit one last time.
Suddenly she was jerked from the trees harshly, turning to see Taisuke holding her arm with an upset expression on his face.
“What’s wrong with you?! Why would you dare step back in there?!” he demanded to know.
She scowled at him before trying to break his grasp but all he did was hold on stronger, taking her other arm in his hand to have her face him completely.
“Fujigaya you better watch how you hold my friend!” Noriko snapped at him as she caught up to the now quarreling couple.
“I don’t want to hear anything from the woman who sent her own friend to her death!” he snapped back.
Noriko froze before Akira spoke up in her defense, “Don’t you dare blame her! I was the one who went along with that dare! We were young and stupid and I wanted to follow through on her childish dare! Now is different! I went on my own when I saw the man who saved me!”
Both Taisuke and Noriko stopped when they heard those last words. They exchanged looks before Akira broke free from Taisuke’s hold.
“Ne, tell me you’re lying, you didn’t really see someone out there did you?” he asked in a shaky voice.
“It’s true!”
“Maybe it was your imagination Akira,” her friend rationalized.
“It wasn’t!”
Akira pointed to the trees before adding, “I saw him and spoke to him amongst the trees. I spoke to the spirit that saved my life that night.”
“Don’t tell anyone this…we can’t have the village finding out what’s happened or else they’ll really shun you Akira,” Taisuke commanded her before walking off quickly.
“What’s his problem?” Akira asked unable to understand his actions or words.
“He’s just worried about you…was the spirit nice?” Noriko answered before asking her own question.
“Yes, he was nice and handsome, but once I got into the woods he hid and we talked without seeing each other,” she answered truthfully, not wanting to hide anything from her good friend.
The only thing she did want to hide was the fact that she was going to meet him again amongst the trees. She knew it would worry her friend, so she kept this little secret from her for her own good.
The next day Akira went to the forest in the same spot as before and waited for the spirit to show himself. Just as promised he showed up, hiding behind a nearby tree as the two talked. Their conversation was slightly awkward at first but soon the two began to relax with each other once they started to open up a little more with each other.
“I was a young girl then, barely eighteen when I walked in here. Normally anyone wouldn’t have the courage to step in here, but I was childish back then,” Akira explained herself.
“A child’s foolishness? What on earth compelled you to step in here?” Hongbin asked her curiously.
“My best friend, Noriko, and I were joking around and then we somehow started to get heated up with each other. She blurted out that I wouldn’t have the courage to go into the forest, but to retaliate I took off into the forest as fast as I could before anyone could stop me. I wanted so badly to prove to her how serious I was, but amidst my running I lost my way and ended up being chased. I never saw what was chasing me but I knew deep in my being that it was a wolf,” she answered as she twirled a piece of her hair around her finger out of embarrassment of her younger self.
“You were very right, there was a wolf after you that night…it was a good thing you ran away so fast. That will of yours to live was what really spoke to me that night, I couldn’t help but step in and give you a hand,” he admitted along with her.
“That’s very strange I guess everyone wasn’t wrong when they said the forest took pity on me. Part of me wished I was saved by my good looks that way the mothers of the village would gladly tell their sons to pursue me,” she joked.
Hongbin wouldn’t openly admit to her that her beauty did move his heart that night more than her will to live. Instead he spoke with careful words, “Your beauty should be enough for any man to pursue you. Did your survival really drive them all away?”
“You may not believe me but at that time before I came into the forest I was quite popular. I was even in love with a man who I always hoped would ask for my hand in marriage. His name was Satoshi and I always followed him and his friend Sho whom my best friend Noriko liked at that time. We both wished we would be lucky enough to marry them since they were still unmarried when we both turned eighteen,” she paused momentarily as her heart ached remembering it, “I remember how kind he was to me, but after the forest incident he had to turn his head away from me. His mother called me cursed and quickly set him up with another girl from our village so he wouldn’t have a chance to get close to me.”
Hongbin could hear the bitterness in her voice and could almost feel the same sadness she must have felt then. Even though he thought saving her would bring her joy it seems like she had suffered so much because of his kindness.
“I’m sorry,” he unconsciously apologized to her.
“It’s not really your fault I was the one who was foolish enough to run into the forest. I should be thanking you over and over again for saving my life. It’s been hard but it was definitely a way to help me grow up,” Akira admitted.
She was definitely no longer that child that stepped into this forest those years ago. She learned her lesson and now she was no longer afraid of things outside her village. She tasted loneliness, rejection, fear. Now she felt like she had nothing to lose but her own desires and freedom at this point. She survived death barely and so she no longer let her caution keep her from doing things she liked or acting how she wanted.
Since she was no longer the most desired in the village she didn’t have to save face and could act any way she liked. She was able to blossom into a woman that caught men’s attention now more than ever even if she was deemed “undesirable” for marriage. Even though she did wish to settle down and have a family, the men around her just weren’t courageous enough to throw away their family’s wishes for her.
“Well I will admit that you’ve definitely grown into a woman. That night you were definitely just a girl, but looking at you now I couldn’t deny the woman you’ve grown into,” Hongbin spoke up.
“We haven’t properly faced each other though. Come out from your hiding place and face me so I can properly show you how I’ve grown since that night. I also want to get a good look at the spirit that saved me,” she added.
Hongbin’s heart began to race at the thought of facing her properly. Would she really think he was handsome when she got a good look at him? She only knew him as a spirit but when she would see his golden eyes clearly she would know what kind of animal he was. The same kind of beast that chased her that night.
He was a wolf.
“I’m afraid if you see my form then you’ll fear the forest again. I’m not human like yourself so when your human eyes look at me I’m sure you’ll be unable to like something which isn’t human like yourself,” he tried to explain his excuse of not showing himself.
“Didn’t you hear me before? I’ve grown up. I’m no longer afraid like the little girl I once was. I promise you I won’t change how I feel towards my savior no matter what form you have,” she replied back with assurance.
He hesitated at her words, the two of them holding their breath as the silence that fell between them grew heavy. Suddenly the two of them could hear someone calling Akira’s name, an interruption neither wished for. She quickly excused herself and ran out of the trees to see Noriko searching frantically for her.
“What’s wrong?” Akira asked her after rushing to her friend’s side.
“Taisuke is speaking to your parents! He’s going to convince them to have you marry him so the forest spirit can’t take you away. I tried to stop him but he pushed me away! Hurry inside!” she quickly explained as she dragged her friend along with her.
Akira felt her stomach twist inside as they rushed inside her home to see her parents sitting at the kitchen table with Taisuke. Her parents looked concerned and worried as they exchanged looks before looking at their daughter.
“Taisuke has told us about you seeing the spirit again,” her mother started hesitantly.
“We want to protect you from the forest, so be good and do as we say,” her father added.
“You will marry Taisuke so that the forest spirit can’t take you as his own. We don’t want to lose you to the forest ever again,” her mother told her before she started to choke up.
Her father placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder to comfort her but gave his daughter a look that said she couldn’t deny their demand. Akira’s jaw dropped open before she looked at Taisuke with a furious expression.
“How dare you! That was no business of yours to tell! I refuse to make such a man my husband!” she shouted as her anger boiled over.
“I did this for you and your family!”
“You did this for yourself!”
“Stop fighting!” Noriko finally interjected to keep everything from exploding into complete chaos.
Akira couldn’t stand to be anywhere near him or her parents at that point so she took off out the back door. She didn’t care where she went she just wanted to get away from that place. Her feet took her straight towards the forest where she knew she could hide momentarily. If she was lucky she hoped to talk to Hongbin once again to feel better. Little did she know that golden eyes keenly watched her from the trees.
Let me know what you think with a comment!