The Blue Werewolf

C/By Kenjaje

Chapter 9: Eclipse

--October 31; 8:22 PM; in the woods near the Palekai house.

The night was slightly cool, with a gentle breeze that daintily heaved the trees in its direction; brought the smell of a cooking meal in its wake; and fluttered the grass, making the blades waft gently and brilliantly against its careful touch. They sky, dotted with stars, vast, and yet filled with white-blue clouds that ran a marathon across the open canvas. The moon sat as an overseer, watching the still night and casting its light down upon the earth for all to watch along with it. Sadly, in a place of such beauty, an ill feeling was in the air.

Lilo's lungs burned and her head felt dizzy as she ran across the grass, trying to listen for where Stitch was. His whereabouts only given away when there was a rustle in the distance, and then Lilo would once again have to run. She had lost the will to call his name; she'd tried to before, but he was either ignoring her, or didn't recognize her voice.

It seemed as though he was running away from her, and at the same time, like he was stalking her. She was lead in random directions, mainly through trees and bushes, or into the fields of grass that were sometimes almost as tall as Lilo herself. Another rustle, to her left, she immediately followed. His shadow leapt through a thicket of bushes, where Lilo leapt through as well.

However, she was suddenly pulled back, and she felt a tight pressure against her chest and neck. She glanced behind her, and saw that the bow protruding from her back was caught on a branch. She spent almost half a minute trying to untangle herself, making a commotion of trembling leaves and groans of force as she used all of her flexibility to slip out of the trap. The wire of the bow made the skin on her neck raw in doing so, but she was finally free, and held the bow in her hand in case it might get caught again; all of the toy arrows were gone.

She listened. The only sound louder than the wind was her beating heart, as the arteries in her neck flared and pulsed with vigor. She was in an open field, the moon cast more than enough light to see by. Nothing moved; no noise, no rustle, no Stitch. She had lost him. But that didn't mean he couldn't be found again. Lightly she took a step forward, the grass crunched and crackled under her cold, bare feet. Though it wasn't all that cold, her feet and toes were numb from running. She took another step, and the grass shouted loudly against the silence.

"Is he still here?" She thought, scanning the knee-high sea of green blades that stabbed and irritated her legs with their tiny tips. "Is he waiting for me? Or is he gone?" She saw no sign of him, but felt as though he was watcher her from somewhere. She looked behind her—no one. She continued on, her veins now pulsing with suspense, ready to blow like a fuse connected to a bomb.

"Ha!" Lilo's eyes shot open, her vision cleared and her mind snapped back to attention. Hair on her body stood on end as she heard a fierce scream of energy that sounded more like declaration of death. She turned around swiftly to see Stitch, a blur in mid-jump, arcing toward her. He was at mid-arc, and like a think possessed, instinctively Lilo stepped to the right, and gripped her hand around the bow that she held. Deftly and quickly she retaliated on Stitch, he could do nothing to stop her.

As he came in to the spot where Lilo used to be, she raised the bow high above her head and readied herself. The air whistled, and a loud crack echoed across the grass, as the bow made contact with the werewolf. Stitch tumbled to the side, a trail of dust lifted up from him on contact, and he lay motionless for a moment.

Lilo had suddenly realized what she'd done, as she stared down at the splinter of wood in her hands. She let go of it, and looked ahead of her, as Stitch weakly lifted himself off the ground. If there was any doubt in her mind that Stitch wasn't a werewolf, it was gone now. On the body of the beast, on the upper-left arm, near the shoulder, was a distinct, visible scar; which illuminated in Lilo's eyes, as if taunting her.

"No," She said, as she watched her friend stagger to a stand. "This can't be..." Along Stitch's body, where the bow had struck, there formed a dark purple streak. It ran from his twitching eye, all the way down to his side. Lilo felt a ping of sadness as she saw her friend give her a deceived expression. Werewolf or not, she shouldn't have attacked him.

"I-I'm sorry." She apologized, taking a step forward. A low whimper came from Stitch's snout, and he backed away a step, barely able to keep balanced on three legs. The leg with the scar, and now a bruise overlapping it, had an exaggerated limp. "No, it's ok." Lilo cooed, putting her hands up in front of her, "I'm not going to hurt you." She stepped forward again, and he stepped back, letting out another whimper, and a yelp as he stepped on his wounded leg. She cringed at his noises, not able to stand them. Their high pitches were painful and sad, two feelings that she had given him when she attacked him with her bow.

Stitch whimpered again, turning his back toward her, and quietly he left, his tail between his legs. Lilo dropped her arms and fell to her knees. This was twice now she had injured Stitch, and now she realized; "What if Stitch wasn't meaning to attack me? What if it...was just some sort of playful thing?" His doggish expression was still stenciled into her mind; he gazed at her as if he'd suddenly been deceived by her, and couldn't accept it.

"...Stitch?" Lilo whispered, wiping a tear from her eye. She had heard another rustle in the grass, somewhere near her. "Stitch, is that you?" There wasn't a response, with the exception of more violent sounding rustles. Something was skulking quickly through the grass, making sure to keep from Lilo's sights.

She stood to her feet, uneasy. Whoever this was, this wasn't Stitch; she heard four footsteps, when Stitch only had three unharmed legs. A surge of panic raced down her back as she heard a growl come from behind her. "Another one!" She thought, immediately bolting off. "There are two out here!"

Again her lungs burned and her head felt dizzy, the feeling in her legs was lost. But as much and as fast as she ran, she could still hear her prowler behind her, close behind her. She knew it was going to attack her, and she knew it was going to do it soon, and she knew that she wished she had her bow again.

Lilo grunted with pain as she stubbed her toe on a small rock that hooked over the ground, and then hissed with more pain as her heel twisted and her balance was thrown to the right. Her ankle throbbed as she tumbled to the ground. She couldn't run anymore. The only thing she could do was turn around, and watch as another werewolf—this one with yellow fur and flaring red nostrils—leap into the air, ready to turn her into one of them.

Lilo couldn't bear to watch, she closed her eyes and tucked her head in, waiting for the inevitable pain of the bite; trying to predict when it was going to happen, so that she could do something to prevent the pain. But, behind her, she heard another rustle in the grass, and heard two sharp barks bellow from behind her, and felt a rush of wind as something jumped over her head.

Her eyes snapped open. She knew exactly what had happened before she even saw it. She looked up just in time to see Stitch grip his fangs on the other wolf's neck—not piercing its skin—and twirled his mass around to fling the yellow wolf to the ground. It landed with several yips and whines, and scrambled to its feet, bolting off in the other direction.

Stitch looked out for a moment, at the direction of where the other wolf was going, and snorted lowly. Then, slowly, he turned his gaze to Lilo; his eyes pierced hers, and she suddenly felt a rush of tears coming on. He dawned the same deceived expression before; only this time, he didn't whimper or whine. His leg had lost its limp; Lilo suspected that the same phenomenon of healing had happened again to him.

"Will you run?" She managed to say, standing up to her feet. "Are you still mad at me?" Stitch let out a low groan, and lowered his body closer to the ground; his paws were at the side of his head, which was now resting on the dirt. "I'm not going to hurt you," she reiterated, "I promise." Slowly, she took another step forward. He flinched, but did nothing else. She paused a moment, and took another step, then another, and another. Finally, she was an arm's reach away from him.

"I'm really sorry," she said again, kneeling down to pet him. He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and squished his head closer to the ground as Lilo made contact on his scalp. But, slowly, he began to relax, and open his eyes again. Lilo felt his trust return as his expression changed, only slightly. "I didn't mean to hurt you." Stitch groaned again, which was all Lilo expected he could do.

She sat down on the grass and leaned back, and Stitch put his head on her shoulder. She chuckled, and stroked his side; his shaggy fur was littered with clumps of dirt and grass. She sighed happily; Stitch wasn't an evil werewolf like she imagined. "In fact," She opened her eyes again to look down at his face in the dark light, "he looks kind of cool." She moved her hand to stroke his face, and he licked her palm as she passed over his muzzle.

"You silly Stitch." She said, standing up and limping forward a few paces. She heard Stitch stand as well, but didn't hear him pace with her. "The moon's almost gone. Only a tiny sliver left..." She whispered, as the shadow inched closer to the side of the moon. Soon the sliver was gone, and the sky was dark, along with the ground. "Well, there it is. I suppose I kind of went against what Nani said about staying out in the dark...huh?" She said to Stitch.

Behind her, she heard a strange noise. Almost like the wind had just plundered by, but there wasn't even a breeze in the air. She turned around, and tried to see what happened. She heard footsteps; Stitch was walking toward her.

"L...Lilo?" He asked, a quaver in his voice. "Lilo?" He asked louder.

"Relax, Stitch," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I'm right here."

"What happened? Stitch remembers...looking at moon...then...nothing."

"Well," she said, thinking where to start, "you were right. You are a werewolf." She paused, but Stitch said nothing. She took a breath, and then continued. "You changed after you looked at the moon—I guess—and then I had to chase you here. You tried to attack me bu-"

"Naga..." He said with disbelief. "Ju okishta?"

"Yes," she replied sweetly, "I'm fine. You tried to attack me...but I turned out to be the one attacking. I hit you with my bow, and hurt you really bad."

"Stitch naga hurt now..." He said, feeling his cheek.

"I think your werewolf powers make you heal quickly..."

"Oh." He said, his voice sounded disdained. "But, shooka. If Stitch is werewolf, why isn't Stitch werewolf now?" Lilo twitched her eyebrow.

"I...I don't know..." She looked around, and then back at the moon, still covered in shadow. "Maybe the eclipse had something to do with it."

"Better hurry." Stitch said, "Before comes back." He took Lilo's arm and tried to take off, but she held him back.

"Relax Stitch. You won't hurt anyone as a werewolf." Even in the darkness, she could see the curious look on Stitch's face, and the twitch in his ear, as he tried to understand what she meant. "I mean, even if you do transform into a werewolf...you're still my Stitch. And my Stitch wouldn't hurt a fly." She heard Stitch laugh bashfully. If she could see, she'd probably see a blush on his face. "Can you help me walk? I twisted my ankle while running."

"Suga." He replied, stepping to her side. Stitch sniffed the air. "Home this way." He said, lading Lilo to her left. As they walked, the moon slowly peeked out from behind the dark, and Stitch was glad it was behind them.

"You know," Lilo began, "when I twisted my ankle, I was being chased by another werewolf. I imagine that's the one you said that bit you...but I wonder..."

"Gaba?"

"I wonder...who that werewolf was..."

--October 31; 9:01 PM; Grass field.

"Ugh...my aching head." Groaned a voice as the source of it lifted a hand to its head. "Either I got hit with five-hundred pounds of bologna...or I just got into a fight with my cousin and lost..." 625 groaned again as he stood to his feet. "Where am I exactly? ...Last thing I remember...I was staring at the moon and eating a grilled cheese..." He scratched his head. "Uh...I can't think right now...I'm too hungry." With that he trotted through the woods, as he found his way home.

Atichura

(The end)

Ko-sa isa?

(Or is it?)