Fan Fiction: Spice and Wolf

Title: Eternity and wolf

Summary: Lawrence falls ill and is unable to travel. Holo finds the means to cure him but it comes at a high cost. Will she destroy his dreams to save his life? Or will she be doomed to walk a lonely eternity?

Disclaimer: I do not own "Spice and wolf" or any of the characters from it.

Chapter#1- Closer to the north

It's been nearly two months since their trouble in Renos. Currently, the travelling merchant, a young man by the name of Kraft Lawrence, was gazing sternly at the road ahead with narrowed eyes and an embarrassed blush on his face. Meanwhile, his overly giddy companion, a young woman named Holo, sat beside him on the drivers' seat dusting of the dirt and the bits of rocks and grass still clinging to his head, shoulders and his shirt front, doing a poor job at suppressing the laughter that so desperately wanted to erupt from her.

"C-Come now! No one was around to witness that on the road. Do try and lighten up!"

"Tell me those words without giggling, if you can."

Holo could sense that Lawrence was greatly serious and irritated from that little incident but she was having difficulty in biting back the laughter. Really, she thought it was more charming than humorous (though one could hardly tell) when it happened. Thinking of it, had the situation been reversed Holo would've been furious. Lawrence would've been a tad more considerate of her pride but Holo couldn't help from laughing no more than one could help but to sneeze. And Lawrence was being serious with no hint of humor on his face, his body language speaking for him.

Seeing as Lawrence was now free from the dirt, Holo sat back down in her seat and dusted her hands free of any remaining dirt. The laughter had subsided but she still had a grin on her face, and still Lawrence would not look at her.

"Surely you are not the first travelling merchant on the world to fall entirely asleep at the reigns and fall completely off your wagon? Er, no pun intended of course."

Lawrence knew she was right but he was still upset that it had happened.

"You couldn't nudge me awake before I had fallen? I doubt you lacked the speed to react at such a sudden movement as I fell away from my seat here on the bench. It would've spared me from such a fall."

In truth, Holo had barely caught Lawrence leaning slightly to his left at the corner of her eye until she realized he was about to fall. He swayed a few times, more so to his right, and she had expected him to fall against her shoulder, or maybe even onto her lap. However, his body shifted at the very last moment, and Holo was unable to catch onto his arm as she reached out for him. And thus, Lawrence disappeared as he fell soundly onto the dirt road below.

"Honestly now, I did not mean for it to happen that way! Of course I've never seen that happen so comically well, you should be able to laugh this little bump in the road off. Surely it isn't the most embarrassing moment in your life."

"Oh? And how is it you know so much of my life now? Can you see into the past now?"

"Hee hee! I seem to remember a certain fatherly guild master and his way of saying 'hello' to one of his sons of the Rowen trade guild."

"Ngh!"

"Now what was it again that he had pointed out? The times you wet your bedroll? Oh! That you and your friends had stolen the cash box to go to the who-"

"Alright, alright! Point taken. Enough of that already. For someone who eats, drinks, and snores as much as you do, you're always quick to point out others' fa-Ow!"

Holo jabbed her elbow hard into Lawrence's side at hearing him say her name and word "snore" in the same sentence.

"I do not snore!"

"Ah! Fine! Fine! You don't snore. I take it back. Just no headlocks this time."

With a huff, Holo sat back down in her seat. Lawrence straightened and turned his attention back to the road once again. Even though Holo appeared to be annoyed, he could still make out the movements of her tail as it swished slightly beneath her skirts; a quiet wag that told him she was quite amused, if not happy.

He let out a sigh and ran a hand down his face. He appeared tired now, not like the sense of tired one gets after a days' work in the fields. No, he appeared to be tired as in fatigued, in a more mental way than physical.

"Oh! Do we still have any more of those carrots by any chance?"

Holo reaches over the back of the bench and rummages through their sack of provisions.

"One left. I'll be taking the last of the dried meat myself."

She handed Lawrence the thick vegetable and sank her teeth into the jerky.

"Don't tell me this is the last of our rations."

"Mm? You needn't worry so much. We're nearing a town so we should be alright until then. Should give me some time to groom my tail in the process."

"And you barely tell me this now?"

"You became so cross with me about 'letting' you fall off your seat that I had momentarily forgotten. So now you know."

Lawrence turns his head to look in Holo's direction. Their eyes met and held. She says nothing but smiles as she tears through another bite of meat, finding it, oddly enough, endearing. Lawrence returned his eyes to the road ahead, taking a big bite of the carrot in hand. He grimaced slightly as his teeth ground into something that felt like a small piece of a dirt clod. His first initial instinct was to spit it out but his mouth reacted faster than his mind and he reflexively swallowed it. He tasted a bit of earth and something else as the bit of food went down his throat but he merely shrugged it off, thinking nothing of it.

It doesn't take long for the town to come into view. Though Lawrence is somewhat relieved to see it actually there, he couldn't help but to furrow his brow as his mind began to turn its wheels.

"Hmmm."

"What is it?"

"Your senses are as impeccable as ever, and spot on as well. However, it appears too small for it to be a town. I'd say it's more of a village, not a very big one either. There aren't that many buildings from the look of it. And look, you can clearly see some farming crops and stables."

"What?"

Holo, who was grooming her tail at the time, stopped her actions and looked ahead, focusing her eyes in the direction of said town-slash-village. Lawrence saw her ears droop as she confirmed what Lawrence had told her.

"Holo? What is it?"

"I was so distracted from that familiar smell that I had not entirely seen the upcoming village, and thus called a 'town'."

"A familiar smell?"

"Aye. Its faint but there's no mistaking it. I smell earth salt, hot earth salt. As well as some scented bath oils and other such perfumes. This is definitely the way back."

"So we are close Nyohhira then?"

"Hee hee! That we are. The hot springs of Nyohhira are very relaxing and exhilarating! When I had left for travelling, I had considered making it my new home but feeling strongly of my birthplace, I just decided to make it my place of relaxation. I'm sure you would agree."

Lawrence smiled at his companion. He was no wise wolf himself but that longing tone he heard in her voice was hardly mistakable. She was feeling nostalgic for her homeland of Yoitsu. Nyohhira was close and that meant they would be there soon. And once that happened...

He shook his head as thoughts began to swell out of control.

"Well, you'll be home soon enough."

He saw Holo smile her usual grin and return to her grooming. And though their eyes met briefly, he could see the same thought running through her head as it was running clear in his: What then?

He didn't want to part with Holo. He would be lying of he had told himself otherwise. Lawrence had come to love having the wolf of the wheat at his side. Aside from his horse and for Jakob Tarantino, Holo was the only one to have stayed with him for so long. He had come to know so much about this strange girl that he didn't even want to entertain the idea of being a day without her. Though, to confess such a thing was to invite Holo's ceaseless teasing, another trait of hers that Lawrence had come to grow fond of. He turned his eyes from the road to look at her sitting beside him and already he felt she was beyond his reach.

Holo was fussing over the white tip of her tail, the part of herself she was proudest of. And yet, no matter how many times she ran her tongue over the fur, it would not come out the way she wanted it to. At least that was what Lawrence saw. In truth, she felt frustrated. Holo the wise wolf of Yoitsu was returning to the place of her birth but she was far from happy about it. She was well aware that her home had been destroyed by the moon hunting bear, that no one was waiting for her return. Her friends had hopefully long since scattered to different parts of the world as she had done. At least if they did do just that, then when they would decide to return home it would be Holo to greet them and to inform them on what had happened to their home.

But the loneliness...she hated it more than she hated shepherds. But it was Lawrence that had taken that loneliness away and had given her company. She doesn't recall when it had happened but Holo found that she had become fond of her so-called "savior", this travelling merchant by the name of Kraft Lawrence. She had seen many humans come and go, seen many of the things they did and say. But this human...this human had her on her toes at all times. And now she knew why.

She had come to love him.

It became concrete to her when he bought her back in Renos, when Eve's plans fell through. It was flawed of course, as many that fall under its poison are, and she found that even she was not immune to its effects. It made it even harder to keep in mind that he was human, not like her whereas she can go on for centuries. But humans...they seem to be born in the blink of an eye and are gone just as quick.

Feeling increasingly melancholy, Holo shook her head slightly and cleared her mind of those far away thoughts. He was here with her now, and would remain with her until they would arrive at Yoitsu. But...

Unknown to either of them, their minds unconsciously began to turn their wheels to the same tune...