Author's Note - Back by popular demand...the next chapter of An Elf and a Wolf =D

Hope you all enjoy~ =3

Shizuru lay wrapped up in her soft bedsheets in her darkened home, her sleep lightly disturbed by constant images of a beautiful azure-haired Human, with brilliant green eyes holding her hand out for Shizuru to take so that they could run away together.

Shizuru murmured lightly in her sleep until a soft white light penetrated through her closed eyelids, and she groggily blinked her eyes open. The sight that greeted her scarlet-red eyes caused a radiant smile to spread across her face, and she immediately sat up in bed to hold her arms out to hold the small being flitting about happily over her head.

"Lily," Shizuru breathed out softly, as the small flying pixie darted into Shizuru's open arms, and was brought instantly into a warm embrace.

"Oh Lily, I've missed you so. So much has happened since we last met, and I don't know what I should do," Shizuru said in a small, lost voice as she looked down at the small fairy creature sitting in the upturned palms of her hands.

A soft and ancient language issued from the pixie's mouth, and Shizuru's pointed elven ears twitched lightly at what her pixie friend was saying.

"You say that you know of what's happened, and that's why you came to visit me? A wolf is waiting for me by the edge of the forest? A Silver Wolf? Are you absolutely sure about this?" Shizuru asked in an excited whisper, as she swung her legs off of her bed and quickly rose to her feet.

The pixie said something with a bit of an indignant air, which caused Shizuru to giggle softly as she carefully placed the pixie on her wooden dresser top.

"I apologize, Lily. I know of course that you would never get a message wrong that you had been tasked in delivering. You say that Duran the Silver Wolf asked you to bring me to him. Knowing that all Woodland creatures can communicate in their own way with each other, I'm very happy that it was you who was chosen to bring me this message," Shizuru smiled softly over at the little pixie who twirled up into the air excitedly.

The little pixie flitted about until Shizuru finished getting ready, then followed the honey-haired Elf to the wooden front door, and watched as Shizuru quietly eased it open. The village was completely quiet as it was fairly late into the night, and most of the woodland elves were already fast asleep.

Shizuru glanced up at her pixie friend and gave her a quick nod, and then tried not to giggle too loudly as Lily twirled quickly in the air, raining down a fine magical faerie dust that completely covered Shizuru's body.

"Now I'll be able to sneak passed all the forest guards, and reach Duran without being seen," Shizuru said with a pleased smile, as she looked down at her body covered in the pixie dust. While no one else could see the faint sparkle of the dust covering her, Shizuru knew that she could walk right by her own father, and he'd never know that she'd gone by. Faerie magic dust was very powerful and Lily, as one of Shizuru's closest friends, was always happy and willing to share some whenever Shizuru wanted to get away from the over-bearing watch of her father, and her loathsome fiance Reito.

Shizuru quickly brought the cowl of her cloak up to cover her head, even though she really didn't need to cover her face. She just wanted to protect herself from the slight chill that had seeped into the air, and she wrapped her cloak tightly around herself to protect her body as well. Then with a quick nod of her head to Lily, Shizuru stepped out of her home, pulled the door closed softly behind herself, and followed quickly along behind her pixie friend who led the way through the forest towards the waiting Silver Wolf.

~o~o~o~

Duran had been sitting at the edge of the Elven forest for a little while, when his ears pricked up at the sound of light footsteps traveling along the forest floor towards him. He immediately recognized the scent of the person coming towards him as 'Shizuru', the Elf his Human pack-mate Natsuki had introduced him to the night before. Duran liked this Elf Shizuru, as she made his Natsuki warm. The non-verbal connection he shared with his pack-mate nearly vibrated with warmth when Natsuki was near the Elf. Shizuru made his Natsuki happy, and that was more than enough for Duran to want to help the two of them in any way he could.

Eventually the Elven girl appeared to shimmer in and out of the moonlit darkness, until she finally shimmered fully into existence before him. Once she became fully visible Duran immediately bounded over to her, and began happily licking her face when she knelt down before him. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck to give him a hug, and a low rumble of pleasure thrummed through his chest.

Duran then looked up at the small flying pixie, and communicated with his mind his pleasure at Lily granting his request to bring Shizuru to him. The little pixie danced around in the air over his head, and made a sound of happy pleasure at being able to assist him. He then asked the pixie to let Shizuru know about the little important note tied around his neck, which the pixie immediately did. Shizuru ruffled her fingers through the soft hair around Duran's neck, and found the small parchment that Lily told her in her musical language was waiting there for her.

Shizuru gently removed the parchment from Duran's neck, opened it, and read the short message inside. A small, beautiful smile crossed her lips as she read the message then she rolled it back up, closed her eyes, and let out a soft happy sigh. She then re-opened her eyes, and glanced up at Lily who read the silent request in Shizuru's ruby-red eyes. In response Lily twirled about quickly in the air, which caused a large leaf from a tree high above them to loosen, and gently float down to Shizuru's open hand. Shizuru then held the leaf out towards Lily, and softly asked her friend to scribe a message on the leaf for her. Lily twirled again and magically words began appearing on the leaf in shimmering elegant script. The message was short, but conveyed all the warmth Shizuru felt when she thought of the dark-haired girl.

I will meet you tomorrow at midnight by the waterfall, my dear Natsuki. Please take care until then.

~ Yours, Shizuru

Once the message had been written onto the leaf, Shizuru carefully rolled the leaf up and tied it up with the same bit of twine that had held Natsuki's message, and lightly tied the message around Duran's neck.

The great wolf leaned forward to lick Shizuru's face a few more times, which caused her to giggle softly as she gave him a tight hug in return.

"Please deliver my message to Natsuki, dear Duran. I look forward to being with your Human companion again soon," Shizuru murmured into the silvery scruff of Duran's neck before she pulled back and watched the wolf turn, and head back into the darkness from where he first came. She then slowly rose to her feet, and hoped with all her heart that she would indeed be able to see Natsuki again soon.

Shizuru then turned on her heel and headed back towards her forest home, with Lily alighting gently on her shoulder for the journey back.

Unknown to Shizuru in the darkest part of the forest, malevolent purple eyes followed her path back to the elven village, and a low cruel laugh drifted softly into the darkness.

~o~o~o~

"I can not believe that THIS is the punishment that Mother has come up for me," Natsuki wailed, as she gripped tightly to the horse reins she held in her hands. She was sitting astride one of her favourite horses, a sleek black stallion, in front of the castle's horse stables. Mai standing beside the horse, reached up and gently patted Natsuki's thigh before she spoke. "I'm sorry I couldn't convince your mother to come up with a less...onerous...punishment for you, Natsuki. I really did try but you know that once the Queen has decided on something, absolutely nothing is going to change her mind...kind of like a certain princess I know," Mai said with a light grin towards her aggravated friend.

Natsuki let out a small unamused huff of air, as she wheeled her horse around impatiently.

"And I can not believe that this jerk-off is actually making me wait this long for him. If I have to be forced to spend the entire day in his company, the least the idiot could do is get here on time," Natsuki continued with rising irritation.

Mai sighed softly as she reached forward and gently gripped the bridle around the horse's head, to calm the animal's nervous stepping which was being fed to him by Natsuki's impatient tugging on his reins.

"Natsuki, remember that you actually came out here early because, as you said, you wanted to get this day over and done with as soon as possible. So please try to show a bit more patience. Making the horse nervous enough to possibly throw you isn't the best way to start this day. In fact, think about the message that you received early this morning from a certain someone. That should help you take your mind off this day out with Tate," Mai said with a light smirk, which grew when she saw her dark-haired friend's eyes light up with pleasure. Natsuki finally settled down enough for Mai to release her hold on the horse; no longer worried that the animal would toss her ansty friend onto the ground below.

"You're absolutely right, Mai," Natsuki said in an excited voice to her friend, as her eyes lit up with the memory of receiving Shizuru's reply from Duran in the wee early hours of the morning. She had snuck out of her room and headed down into a dark, hidden corner of the courtyard where she'd been greeted by Duran with playful, happy licks all over her face. She'd eagerly embraced her friend, and then quickly taken the message from around Duran's neck. Her eyes had lit up with child-like glee when she'd seen that the message had been written on a leaf with shimmering, magical lettering. A deep sigh of pleasure had escaped her, as she thought of being with the mystical Elven girl again soon.

Another sigh of pleasure escaped Natsuki's lips now, she sat on her horse with a half-dreamy expression that caused Mai to giggle lightly.

"Good morning, my Princess. I'm very pleased that you've decided to spend the day with me," a deep, male voice unpleasantly shook Natsuki out of her daydreams, and she looked over with a scowl in Tate's direction, as the sandy-haired young man rode up beside her on his own stallion. He carried a small wicker basket on the pommel of his saddle, and a bright grin covered his face. Natsuki's scowl only deepened, as Tate brought his horse to stand alongside hers.

"I figured that we could have a picnic for lunch while we were out," Tate continued saying, as he flashed Natsuki what he believed to be his most rakish grin.

Mai thought if the expression on Natsuki's face could get any darker, Tate would be struck by lightning as the thunderclouds gathered in Natsuki's dark-green eyes.

"That's a nice idea, Tate. Now you and Natsuki should hurry along. The sooner you both leave, the sooner you can get on with the rest of the day," Mai quickly piped up, as she grabbed the front of the reins to both horses, and began leading them out to the castle gates.

And the sooner Natsuki can come back and meet up with Shizuru later, without hopefully killing Tate, Mai thought wryly to herself.

Natsuki sat back in her saddle and grumbled softly to herself about stupid punishments, that involved going out on stupid picnics with certain stupid people.

Tate just did his best to pretend that he didn't hear any of Natsuki's muttering, as he allowed Mai to lead their horses out the gate.

~o~o~o~

The midnight hour settled over the Land of the Silver Wolf and the Elven Forest, and Natsuki waited with barely-restrained excitement by the waterfall for Shizuru's arrival. She had arrived a bit early but she couldn't help herself. She'd had to endure an entire day of Tate and his clumsy advances, and she just really wanted to see and be with the beautiful Elven girl who so captivated her from first sight.

A sudden rustle in the bushes to her right caused Natsuki to shift into a guarded stance, which instantly relaxed when she saw the lovely elven girl who had filled her thoughts all day, gracefully step out onto the path that led to the waterfall.

"Shizuru..." Natsuki breathed out softly, as she watched the Elven girl approach her.

"I've missed you so mu..." Natsuki's words quickly cut off as Shizuru suddenly stepped right in front of her...and kissed her.

Natsuki's eyes widened in shock, but then even more alarmingly they began to close, and her body began slumping down to the ground beneath her. The sound of wicked laughter came to her ears, as she began slipping into unconsciousness. Natsuki struggled to re-open her eyes to look up at Shizuru, and ask what the Elven girl had done to her, but instead she caught a glimpse of someone who was definitely not Shizuru.

No...no...no..., Natsuki cried out despairingly in her mind, and then the world around her swiftly faded to black.

~o~o~o~

Shizuru moved quickly through the forest, her feet practically dancing across the forest floor, as she hurried toward her reunion with Natsuki by the waterfall.

Lily had once again sprinkled her with her magical faerie dust, and so Shizuru skipped by the elven forest guard without a worry. And once she reached the forest's edge, Lily would wait there for Shizuru's return to help her re-enter the village unnoticed.

Finally they reached the edge of the forest, and Lily whispered a soft phrase in her pixie language, which caused Shizuru's invisibility to shimmer in and out, until the Elven girl was once again visible to the world around her.

Shizuru gave Lily a grateful smile for all her help, then with a happy wave she set off down the path towards the waterfall. Only a few minutes into the journey Shizuru saw a dark figure coming down the path, and she tensed to dart back into the forest when her enhanced Elven sight made out Natsuki's slender and attractive figure.

Shizuru allowed her body to relax and a soft smile came to her lips, as she hurried to reach the ebony-haired girl she'd daydreamed about all day long.

"Natsuki, I wasn't expecting you to come meet me halfway. I guess you really wanted to see me," Shizuru teased with a light grin, which grew brighter at the answering grin on Natsuki's face.

"I just couldn't wait to see you again, Shizuru," Natsuki said in a low voice, as she swiftly closed the distance between them.

"Well, if I'd known that Natsuki wanted to see me that badly I would have come earli..." Shizuru's words were cut off by the unexpected press of lips against her own.

An intense sense of alarm swept through her body, which began losing strength and slipping down towards the ground. Once she was on the ground, breathing shallowly as she struggled to keep her suddenly-heavy eyelids open, she saw the beautiful face of Natsuki morph into a face she'd never seen before.

"Sleep now, beautiful Shizuru. My mistress will be very pleased with my work tonight, as I successfully captured both Princesses of the realm. And with such ease!" A male voice that was practically bursting with pride in itself, issued from the mouth of the being before her.

"Shape...shifter..." Shizuru was able to gasp out, as darkness threatened the edges of her vision.

"Indeed I am. And a pleasure to make your acquaintance, my dear princess Shizuru of the Forest Elves. You and your fellow princess, Natsuki Kuga of the Silver Wolf Clan, will be making a little trip with me tonight to see my Mistress," the being before her practically chortled, as he bent over Shizuru's prone body and grinned down at her.

"Who...who...are you?" Shizuru asked weakly, as the last of her consciousness began to fade.

"Why, where are my manners? I do apologize for not introducing myself earlier, my dear. My name is Nagi...Nagi Artai. And you will be getting to know my Mistress and I very well during your...stay...with us," the voice of Nagi slipped from being playful and light, to being heartless and cruel in a slit second, and Shizuru felt a shiver of despair run through her body.

Oh Natsuki...Natsuki...what have we gotten ourselves into..., Shizuru cried silently to herself as consciousness finally fled her, and the visage of Nagi's cruelly smiling face was mercifully replaced by darkness.

AN - Really hope you all enjoyed! *Please* review as it keeps me creatively excited to produce more story for you all~ ^.^