Sleep claims you almost instantaneously; it couldn't have been more than five minutes until Legoshi feels your body relax to its fullest in his arms, your breathing steady and peaceful. The night sure did a number on you, though he's unsure how much credit he gets for your exhaustion. However, the young grey wolf isn't close to sleep just yet.

His mind wanders through the endless possibilities that could've altered the events of this night. What if he'd been a minute too late? Would he still be able to hold you in his arms like this? Did you like him as much as he liked you? Or was tonight just a 'heat of the moment' kind of thing for you?

The quiet rustling of the sheets echoes through the room as you shift around and nuzzle further into his chest. With a soft smile, the male notices how perfect you looked in his arms and basks in the wonderful tingle your hand leaves on his fur as it softly grabs at the grey strands on his torso.

The warmth in our hands...

It's something we take for granted.

A single, clawed finger gently brushes over your cheek, luring a content sigh from your sleeping form. Meanwhile, the canine blinks away a tear. Finally letting his eyes fall shut, he lets the mysterious hands of sleep take him away.

I should be happy that I was able to save her. I didn't let her hands get cold.

I'm so glad they're warm.

The next morning, you awake to a soft poke on the forehead. With a whine, you groggily open your eyes, only to be staring right into those of Legoshi. His expression is apologetic, telling you that the both of you will have to get up and leave pretty soon, before planting a quick kiss onto your forehead and leaving the bed.

Of course, you shamelessly watch his tall body as he scammers for the rest of his clothes with a whipped smile on your face. However, before he can catch you staring, you get out of bed as well and pull his long navy shirt over your otherwise naked body.

Since the best you can do is speed-walk at the moment, the wolf quickly lets you hop onto his back before running to the train station. With flaming cheeks, you ignore the many looks you get on the train, rather opting to lean against Legoshi's side. The wolf isn't surprised when you let out an exaggerated sigh of relief once your feet step off the train, chuckling quietly as you mumble on about how 'people can't seem to mind their own fucking business'.

It's a nice day. The sun beams brightly in the blue sky, its warmth tickling your skin like a close friend. A soft morning breeze weaves through the trees, carefully playing with your h/l strands of hair. It's mostly quiet between you and Legoshi but it's in no way uncomfortable.

No, this one is a silence filled with understanding, trust, respect and adoration towards one another.

Your gaze is directed in front of you, carelessly following the journey of a beautiful leaf of the nearby cherry blossom trees. The wolf's gaze on the other hand, lingers on you as you slowly walk beside him. From time to time, there'd be a small, almost unnoticeable limp in your step.

When we left the hotel, we left as two changed people. That one night together changed both of our lives.

Now, there's this bond between us that I can't fathom to understand. I don't even know how to describe it. It just feels so....bright.

Your sweet giggle rips him from his thoughts and his tail begins to wag at your adorable expression. A white butterfly had landed on top of your nose, causing you to go completely rigid with the excitement of a toddler.

When the butterfly flies away, your eyes follow it with a dazzling sparkle in them, your smile shining brighter than the sun itself.

"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?"

"It sure is," he agrees, his eyes meeting yours.

"Listen," You begin. There's a glint in your eyes that he cannot put a name to. "I want to tell you something important."

"Hm? What is it?"

"Thank you so much for coming to look for me, Wolfie."

Your smile is genuine as you glance up at him and he hums in response, a small smile growing on his face as well. He'd known that since the day he met you; your smiles, your laughter, everything about you is infectious. But in the best possible way. If he'd had to choose one thing to see for the rest of his life, it'd be your smile.

"By the way,"you giggle beside him, your voice taking on an all too familiar teasing tone, "you snore pretty loudly."

With a groan, he lowers his head, "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," you grin, playfully bumping into him, "It didn't keep me awake. Your arms are pretty damn comfortable."

I'm still able to feel the morning sun.

As if it were just any other day.

***

"Believe me," the stern voice of the dorm-mother reprimands him," thirty minutes more and I would have reported you to the faculty, young man."

"You haven't actually said anything to the staff yet?"

Bandages cover Legoshi's arm, another on his black eye, soothing the minimal amount of pain he's in. You're not with him; even if he'd have preferred it that way, you had to sneak to your dorm first and change out of his shirt. If the dorm-mother had found you with him, dressed so scandalously, she'd have torn the both of you a new one.

"No, but I didn't do it for you. I couldn't exactly tell them that you were beaten up by some hooligans, broke the rules and then spent the night with a female student. An injured male Carnivore and a female human. Oh no no no-"

"But I do think you need to report it," he interrupts her frantic muttering, "It was the Shishigumi and we were forced to spend the night elsewhere."

"Don't you ever mention such a horrible organization's name to me again, you understand?" The dorm-mother hisses, her tone leaving no room to argue. "And a wolf and a human being together like that. What were you two doing all night?"

The female primate goes on with her lecture, however, Legoshi's mind is already elsewhere.

She's more concerned with us spending the night out...than she is about the shishigumi.

"-You're going to suffer the consequences! Got it?"

"Excuse me,"a soft voice chimes through the infirmary, "How are you doing Legoshi?"

Curious but nonetheless surprised, the male wolf lifts his head and finds Juno standing behind the dorm-mother. With her usual friendly smile, the female canine immediately brings out the much nicer side of the primate.

"Oh, hello there. Are you two friends?"

"Yes, I was worried about him. Uhm, could we have some privacy, please?"

With an apathetic expression, Legoshi watches as the female baboon, who had been furious beyond imagination up until two seconds ago, exits the infirmary. That leaves only him and the female junior, Juno.

"Thanks for coming, Juno," he apologizes, feeling guilty for worrying his fellow club members like that, "Sorry for all the ruckus before the big day."

"It's okay," Juno smiles, her periwinkle eyes scanning over his injuries, "because the whole time, I knew you were coming back, Legoshi!"

"Oh, you did?" he questions, puzzled by her answer.

"That's right. I understand more than anyone in the club." Suddenly, she sits down on the side of his infirmary bed, leaning far too close for comfort. Abashed, Legoshi leans back, trying to put some much wanted distance between them. "I know just how strong wolves can be."

"Oh, y-yeah," every time he scoots back further, she follows and soon enough, he's basically cornered to the wall with an awkward smile on his face, "I see."

Perplexed, Juno takes notice of his obvious apprehension to be close to her.

Why is he moving away? And what is...what is that smell?

"I heard...I heard that you were a hero. That you saved the human from the Shishigumi, is that right? I knew you were good!"

Truly, the wolf has no idea how to respond. First off, how had the story of your kidnapping and rescue already spread like a wildfire? Second off, would you be okay with all the attention? Where are you right now, is anyone bothering you?

"Legoshi, remember when you said that it's so soothing to feel the touch from one's own species? Take advantage of that now!" With widened, taken aback eyes, he flinches back when she offers him to take her hands rather aggressiv ely. "Please touch me!"

"Oh, uh, thanks a lot." Uncomfortable with the entirety of this situation, he sends her a forced smile. "But I'm actually feeling surprisingly at peace right now."

His dark eyes cast downwards as his mind wanders back to you, seemingly the only thing his brain wants to focus on. Meanwhile, Juno's face contorts into a bewildered grimace. Her left eye twitches and subconsciously, she grits her fangs.

What? What is he talking about? What's with that look on his face? Are you hers now?! "I already belong to that girl, so no thanks", is that what this is?!

***

Fucking shit!

As quietly as you could, your face making the ugliest expression you could probably manage, you bounce on one leg whilst holding your naked foot. Silent hisses of pain, along with a few curses, leave your lips as you hide behind a corner.

I stubbed my fucking toe! Oh shit, that hurts! Who even put that wall there, I swear that wasn't there when I still had shoes!

Once the sting in your toe had subsided enough, you go back to the task at hand. Probably looking suspicious as hell to any innocent bystanders unfortunate enough to catch sight of you, you peer around the corner to sneak a glance at the small number of chipper students chilling in the hallway.

Mission impossible: Sneak into your own fucking dorm room without being seen walking around campus half-naked.

To make matters even worse, you don't even have your key with you. All your stuff could still be on the festival grounds as far you know. So you have to risk it all on one shot and hope one of your roommates left the door unlocked.

They're the people you'd like to avoid the most right now. After what happened yesterday, damn it feels like bloody years have passed since our fight, you don't really want to talk to them. Of course, you'd like to mend your relationship with them; however, you'd prefer to do that when you're not only dressed in your crush's shirt after having yet another near-death experience. Not to mention, you're starving, in need of some sugar and your wounded arm is starting to hurt, so you'll definitely need to get that checked out in the infirmary as soon as possible. Right after, you'll talk to Legoshi.

Internally singing the 'Mission impossible' theme, you wait for the perfect moment to jump into action. When most of the students leave to go back into their dorms or wherever the fuck they decided to wreak havoc instead, and everyone else's back are turned to you, you speedily tip-toe down the hallway. With one final dramatic gesture of your arms and tipping your imaginary hat, you push your full weight against the wooden door of your dorm.

Fortunately, it opens.

Unfortunately, you immediately catch the attention of four pairs of eyes.

Well...shit.

Silence falls over the room, the only sound being the music of the cicadas outside. A quiet thud echoes through the small dorm as Hinari promptly lets go of your pillow that she'd been hugging. Embarrassed, you clear your throat, refusing to meet anyone's gaze.

Innocently whistling, you stride to your part of the closet and pull out an unscathed uniform. Then, you bolt towards the bathroom.

"Ouch- Bloody hell!"

Only to be stopped by Eden's strong arm; this had prevented your grandiose escape and hit you right across your shoulder blades and upper arm. Exactly where your newest injury is.

"Ay, ay, ay, fuck that hurts like a butt-cheek on a stick! What is wrong with you people?!"

Muttering obscene profanities beneath your breath, you hold the stinging area, hoping that it doesn't start bleeding again. The girls stare at you with baffled expressions, though you can see the tears building in Eden's eyes and Hinari's quivering bottom lip.

With an annoyed groan, your gaze flickers to the bathroom door, your way to escape now completely blocked by the Doberman. As carefully as you can, you bend down and pick up your school uniform and hold it in front of your skimpily clad body. You feel extremely exposed under your roommates' judgemental stares.

A minute or two pass by, not a single word being uttered during that time. Sure enough, it irritates your drained nerves even further. Rolling your eyes at their silence, you open your mouth to speak. However, Aisha beats you to the chase.

"Where were you?"

Her tone is stern, though shaky. Your eyes meet hers, as the rest of the girls turn to glance at the Greyhound, who's crossing her arms over her chest.

"Where was I?" Feigning stupidity, you rub your chin thoughtfully. "Hmm...that is a very good question."

"You're not going to tell us?"

"Let me think about that," you muse, before sending her a grin," No, I don't think I will."

A small spark of amusement sparks in your exhausted head at the angry flash in the Greyhound's usually friendly eyes. Quietly growling, the canine takes a step forward, lifting her head higher as your grin falls into an unbothered scowl.

"We were worried about you, Y/n. You went missing for the entire night, no one knew where you were and then we hear those rumours about the Shishigumi kidnapping a human and-"

"Yeah well, I really don't care right now," you cut her off, averting your gaze. The scratches on your arm throb as distorted images of those filthy lions flash before your eyes. You don't want to remember anything about that incident; you don't want to hear anything about the fucking Shishigumi ever again. To you, all that happened yesterday was your night with Legoshi. "I need to go to the infirmary, have the nurse look at something. So let me the fuck through."

Eden sends a questioning look to Aisha, who answers with a stern glare and the Doberman gives you an apologetic frown. Gritting your teeth, you turn back to the white Greyhound.

"Cut the bullshit, Aisha. Let me through."

"No," she protests, raising her voice, "we'll do this until you give us some answers. What happened? Where were you? Why-"

"You can't keep me in here like some fucking pet, you fucking-" You cut yourself off before the insult slips off your tongue. Still, your outburst shuts her up. "I don't want to talk about it, get that into your head! Now fuck off."

Thankfully, they're so taken aback that you can push past Eden and slip into the bathroom. It takes longer than usual to change into your uniform, your entire body burns from the most recent addition to your 'traumatic events' collection. Especially your arm's giving you some trouble and when you take a closer look at the scratches, you wince.

Dark crust had begun to form on the injury; the colour is a disgusting shade of red. The skin around it is irritated and small rivers of fresh blood trickle down the skin.

"Damnit," you curse, leaning onto the sink. With a deep sigh, you run your hand across your face before glancing at your reflection.

You look awful.

Your s/c is dull, your hair is dishevelled. The fact that you're emotionally drained really shines through, the only thing you want right now is to cuddle up besides Legoshi and sleep the day away. Pulling down the collar of your uniform, your cheeks heat up at the sight of a few dark hickeys and the wolf's bite mark. Without meaning to, you bite your lip when you remember your night spent with the grey wolf and your mood lifts a little.

Taking a deep breath, you exit the bathroom and rush right past your roommates, not bothering to say anything as you leave the dorm, but not before taking another pair of shoes with you. In the hallway, you put them on, before making your way to the infirmary with steady steps.

A small part of you feels guilty for the way you're treating them. You're being troublesome, you're being a bitch; you know that. But you're angry. You're hurt. And frankly, you don't have the emotional capacity to be considerate right now.

For once, you feel like you have the right to act like a bitch. You have the right to act selfish and egotistical for once.

Just this once, I don't want to pretend I'm fine.

The way to the infirmary isn't long and a wave of relief washes over you when you see the familiar door. But apparently, everyone's on a mission to kill off your last bit of sanity today.

The dorm-mother, a strict, female baboon, comes out of the infirmary at this very second and then her eyes meet yours. Immediatly, her decorated features turn into a stern scowl. You groan internally as she stems her hands onto her hips and points an accusing finger at you.

"There you are, young lady!"

Fucking pumpernickels.

aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHH!
HELLO HOMIES!

I HAVE COME BACK TO DELIVER!

Man, it's nice to be back. I missed writing and I missed you guys, too.

My private life has calmed down now, all has been dealt with and now, I've got two weeks of autumn holidays. I'll be spending the first week away visiting some family in Sachsen, going Mushroom-picking and generally just getting my yearly dosage of forest-time (ㆁωㆁ).
That means I'll definitely be posting at least two chapters each week. I won't make a schedule of days and such because this way, I'll be more flexible with my writing and feel a little less pressure, meaning I'll get more motivation.

I also wrote my final exam in Religion (it's a subject in Germany where you learn all about Religion and such, it's devided into general ethnics and religion, cahtolic Christianity and evangelic Christianity). I've been stuck in evangelic Christianity for 8 years now, even though no one in my family is a Christian ʘ‿ʘ I was just to sociall, anxious to transfer, also, my teacher was a good role model for being a generally good human being (even though he cheated on his wife whilst being a pastor, but ignore that). I CAN FINALLY STOP PRETENDING THAT I'M A FOLLOWER OF SKY-DADDY
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ I FEEL GREAT

Also, did y'all notice we got a new Cover? It's nice right? I'm pretty proud of it(◍•ᴗ•◍)

I'm hyped for the next chapters because season one is slowly coming to an end and then, we get started with the REAL juicy parts. For those of you that haven't seen it yet, this is the visual preview for season 2:

Anyways, that's it from me, homies!

I hope y'all are safe and sound and healthy during this pandemic. To my readers in the USA, I wish y'all good luck with the upcoming election!

Stay safe homies!

See you in Chapter 43!