CHAPTER 12, ARIES AND LUPUS

It seems that we have no choice but to accompany her up the mountain. The lady seems rather spoiled on the outsude but I feel like there's a different side of her deep down. Silver says so himself, he also told me to stop calling him Pallet-san. As we pressed up to the mountains' peak I feel a presence watching me carefully. It's not the tails but a spirit, it doesn't seem at that hostile but I feel like it's telling to stay away, well not me entirely but the Earl's daughter. As we reach the top of the mountain Yue-sama orders her men to search for Aries. Apparently rumor has it that she is somewhere around here. Just then as Yue-sama stands in front of a cave opening a boulder comes rolling her, I immediately run forward and push her out of the way but the boulder now blocks our path and it's too dark to see anything. I grab a lantern from my backpacks and turn it on. There doesn't seem to be anyway to move this boulder. "Haru are you fine?" Neph asks via the communicator.

"We are but the boulder's in the way." I answer. "What about you guys?"

"No ones hurt, but its seems that the boulder is made from night ore, if we break it the poison inside might spread so there's no way to break through." He says. "Clover says there's a way to get out, just follow the cave and you'll eventually reach a path with blue luminescent moss, follow it and you'll find an exit."

"Okay, where does it lead?" I ask.

"Near the base of the mountain." He says. "We'll meet you there."

"Okay. Um, Yue-sama, are you hurt?" I ask her, I've never actually talked to noble before. Just then as I offer her my hand she stands up. "Um... Yue-sama?"

"What are you waiting for, come on." She says, just then she stumbles and hits her head. "Ouch... my elbow and foot."

"Here, let me help." I say and take out some ointment for wounds and bruises. She raises her sleeves and shows me her injured arm, I apply the ointment and bandages and she takes of her shoes and it seems her foot's swollen so I apply some medicine and wrap it in bandages. "This seems fine for now, how does it feel?"

"Fine." She answers, she tries to stand up and she seems fine. "Come along, hurry up."

As we walk together I realize she isn't that spoilt, more like she's the 'my way or the highway' type. She seems a little bit more agreeable now than earlier. As we walk deeper we eventually reach a fork in the path, one is lit by blue moss the other is filled with cobwebs. We walk towards the blue moss path and as we walk I decide to collect the moss knowing they have medicinal properties as well. Just then, the oath widens up, their we find a maiden, she has curly white hair, she's wearing a wool jacket and a skirt, she's wearing socks that reach her knees and small shoes, she has pale white skin and she's wearing a headband that imitates a ram horns curly form. She's lying down basking in the light of the blue moss. "Who are you!?" We hear a male voice demand.

"Who are you first?" Yue-sama shouts back.

"Are you, Lupus?" I ask and just then the voice falls silent. In the distance a man appears, he has silver hair that sticks out in all directions with his forehead exposed and with two ears popping out, their wolf ears, the right one has an earring. He's wearing a sleeveless vest and sleeves black shirt protruding from the inside, black pants that have the edges tucked inside his boots, he has sharp looking canines similar to Leo.

"What if I am, who are you?" He asks at me.

"My name is Haru Morganite Tsuki." I say and he shows a hint of recognition in his black eyes. "That woman over there, she's Aries isn't she? What happened to her, why does she look hurt?"

"A bunch of goons came looking for us, I fought them off but Aries got hurt, she's been like that since." He says.

"Mind if I take a look?" I ask him.

"Why should I let you?" He asks glaring, oi, oi, I just want to help. "Fine."

"Hmm, it looks like the same injuries Fomalhaut had. I can help." I say and turn towards him. "Come, my Harp Familiar, Lyra."

"What song shall it be?" Lyra asks and then sees Aries lie down injured, she then begins to play Vega. "Haru it's done." She says as the golden light subsides from Aries' body.

"How are you feeling?" Lupus rushes to Aries who has just gotten up, her magical power seems to be regenerating quickly. "Those damn Shadow's Order are going to get it when I get my hands on them."

"Shadow's Order!?" I say with a shock. "They were the ones who attacked you?!"

"Yeah. They tried to kidnap both of us, Aries shielded me and took the full on damage." He answers, just then he looks at me with an awkward look. "Thanks... for saving Aries."

"You're welcome. I can't stand it when spirits are abused." I say and just then I remember something. "I won't force you to ho with me but could you tell me where the way out is?"

"I'll do you one better, I'll go with you." Lupus says and stands up bit just then Aries grabs his shirt. "Oh? What's wrong?"

"He is my master." Aries says and stands up then comes my way. "I can feel it, Leo, Aquarius and Pisces, they have recognized you as their master therefore I shall travel with you as well."

"Ha~a, guess I've got no choice, oi! You said your names Haru, you better treat us well." He says and comes closer and kisses me, after that Aries grabs my face and kisses me as well.

As we walk down the path the two lead us, I soon notice a spiraling path, it seems to go down. I offer Yue-sama my hand as we slowly walked down. I walk carefully so that we don't slip and as we exit a tunnel the cave opens up to show us a small stream running through a hole in the rocks, large crystal here and three reflect the light of the mosses, there are red, green and yellow ones. It seems Yue-sama can't continue any further si we decide to rest for a bit, as we all sit down on the rocks by the stream I notice Aries has a bit of an expressionless personality while Lupus has a bit of a short tempered personality. Just then something pops into my head. "Lupus, have you been the one attack the people who go near the mountains?" I ask him.

"Hmm, yeah. Can't trust humans but I trust you master." He says and I take a deep breath.

"Haru. Call me by name." I say.

"Is it fine?" Aries asks with a bit of a surprised emotion.

"Yeah, I don't feel comfortable when people call me master." I say and just then Yue-sama's stomach growls. I take a look in my backpack and I found four apples, I give one to the three around me. "Go on."

"Mast-, err, Haru, we spirits don't really need to eat." Lupus says.

"Just eat it, you'll recover much quicker." I say and eat my apple. "The reason you were scaring people away was because you wanted to protect Aries right?"

"Yeah. I needed to keep her in the mountains for a while so that her energy could recover." He says fiercely. "Haru, what is it that you want?"

"Hmm? I don't really have any wishes, I just want to be able to make the people around me smile." I say as I chew on the apple. "My grandparents always told me to try to bring a smile to others."

"I see, Haru you have a kind heart." Aries says. "The girl beside you is she your girlfriend?"

"Ha~a! Me his girlfriend, I'm nobility, he's a commoner." She says and bites her tongue. "Sorry I didn't mean it that way."

"It's fine. No, she isn't, she is the daughter of a Viscount, she came to the mountains in search of Aries for some wool." I answer.

"Why do you seek my wool?" Aries asks her.

"I have a little brother, he's always alone that's why I wanted to make him a stuffed toy so that when I'm not around he could have something to play with." She says, underneath that harsh behavior is actually a nice heart. She did it for her brother.

"You can have some." Aries says and pulls on her hair and then some of it comes off, the spot that lost it's wool-er hair grew right back. "I'll give this to you."

"Thank you." She says with a smile.

"Yue-sama, do you feel better now?" I ask her.

"Yeah." She answers. "Let's keep going."

"Okay then." I say and the four of us continue down the path, as we cross a small arch Yue-sama slips was about to fall but I grabbed her hand and pulled her up. "Are you fine?"

"Yeah, thanks for saving me." She answered after calming down. "Let's keep going."

As we kept walking it soon became clear that Yue-sama is a rather clumsy girl, she had slipped, tripped and stumbled countless times, thankfully I had medicine on me. As we reached the lowest part Lupus moved aside a large boulder and what greeted us was a sunset so beautiful that it made me feel relaxed. As we sat down for a but of a rest I noticed Yue-sama's foot had swelled up. "Yue-sama if you'd like I can carry you back to the town." I say.

"Thanks but are you sure, you don't seem very sturdy." She says.

"I may not seem like it but I am quite fit." I say and turn to the two. "Thanks a lot for navigating us through their."

"Thanks... you know for saving Aries." Lupus says and hands me a bracelet, a fang is fashioned on it. His medium. "Bye."

"Here is mine." Aries says and hands me her Medium after Lupus disappears, her Medium are earmuffs. She also gives a a muffler, it feels nice despite how long it is it's not hot. "This muffler raises your defense and magical power a bit. Think of it as a thank you gift."

"Okay." I say and she disappears. "Now then, the town isn't too far away, shall we go?"

"Yeah." She says and hopes onto my back, compared to the sacks I carried she's lighter, her breasts however are pushing against my back.

ARIA'S POV

We got separated from Haru and Yue-sama, what are we going to do. Calm yourself Aria first we need to get moving. We need to meet up with them at the base of the mountains so we all get ready to depart. There is no sign of the wolf they were talking about so aren't we in the clear?

As we all moved down the mountain side I notice that some of Yue-sama's guards are bickering amongst themselves asking why Yue-sama's horse was lost. Come to think of it the white stallion Yue-sama rode isn't here anymore. As we all walked down the road carefully I feel that we're being followed, a single entity, similar to when we were being followed before we reached Port Aquamarine. The path seems to be littered with boulders and debris from the previous landslide, that boulder myst have fallen die to the unstable ground. As we all tried to cross the rock bridge one at a time I felt the presence was already across, what are they ninjas? Spies? Assassin? No, if they were assassins they would've killed us already. Maybe their guides? But guides to where and for who? They weren't around before, they only appeared after Haru joined us. Could they be guarding him? Well if they're trying to hurt him I won't forgive them. Haru is special to me. As we all reach the bottom I see two figures approaching the town, one is being carried by the other, is that Haru? Looks like he and Yue-sama got really close. I hope Haru doesn't see her as a possible wife or girlfriend.