Paradise of the Wolf

"Don't joke like that!"

"Oh I'm just messing with you!"

"And I don't like it!"

"C'mon! It was just a joke!"

"Just leave me alone! I'm going back to the cabin!"

"Oh Rin, come on! I'm sorry!......... Rin?........... Fine, I'm going down to the deck!"

"Why did he have to say that? That wasn't funny to me at all!" SHHHHHHHHHH

"What was that?"

SHHHHHHHHHH

"It sounds like...... AHHHHHHH!"

"Rin, honey? I'm really sorry. All I came to say was I love you, and I hope we can make up!........ Rin?......... Honey!........ Answer me!" He busts open the door of the cabin and screams in horror at the dead girl lying on the floor. A pool of blood surrounded her head, parts of her body were torn from what looked like claws.

2 Days Later:

"Did you here about that girl being murdered?"

"Don't even talk about that, Yuhi! Just thinking about it makes me scared!"

"What? That a killer is loose on the cruise ship?"

"Shut Up, Yuhi!"

"The guy that found her must have been the one that murdered her, Ayumi! Besides, they have that guy in questioning right now! Nothing will happen if the killer is caught!"

"But they said there were claw marks on her body!" said Ayumi frightened.

"It's called a knife! Ayumi, this is our honeymoon! Let's enjoy it with what time we have left!" Yuhi said soothingly.

"All right!" Ayumi sighed.

".....and they say it's a beast out hunting its next meal!"

"Don't be stupid!"

"I'm serious! That's what another guy said!"

"You can't believe everything you hear!"

"I can if I want to! Let's go back to the cabin and cuddle up!"

"I can sure go for that one!"

"Grrrrrrrrr......."

"I love it when you do that!"

"Oh yeah? Well, now, I have to go to the restroom!"

"Make sure you don't fall down the toilet!"

"Grrrrrrrrr....."

10 minutes passed........ 15 minutes..........

"Honey, you okay in there? Honey?" She pulled open the bathroom door and gaped in horror at what she saw. He had been hung by a towel from the shower rod, and pieces of his body lay upon the floor. Before she had time to scream, a cold, sharp pain ran through her body. Blood trickled from her mouth, and a clawlike hand ripped her to shreds.

"We can't let anyone on board know about this!"

"Well, I don't know how we are going to keep it secret!"

"Just not tell anyone!"

"But if we do that, more people would die from not being on alert! They might be able to stop the murderer if we can't!"

"This is no regular murderer! This is a beast!"

"Ayumi, have you finished your shower yet?"

"DOES IT SOUND LIKE IT?" she shouted over the hum of running water.

Yuhi sighs. 'I wonder what really did happen to that girl! There haven't been any more murders except that one, so they must have caught him!' he thought.

"You know," Ayumi came out of the bathroom with a towel around her, "I find myself watching my back sometimes!"

"What? About that murder?" Yuhi asked.

"Yes! What else?" Ayumi was frustrated.

"Ahhhh, come on! There haven't been anymore murders, so they must have caught the guy!"

"Well, I guess you're right, but still something bothers me," her voice sounded a little frightened.

"A fourth murder had occurred, sir!"

"We can't keep putting them off like they're nothing!"

"I just can't inflict fear on the passengers!"

"Would you rather them be alert, or be dead?"

"Still! We can't tell them!"

"But sir, w..."

"I SAID NO!"

"Let's go to the spa, would you like that?" Yuhi said trying to cheer Ayumi up.

"Ok, it will pass the time."

"Ayumi, you don't seem like yourself"

"Well, maybe a relaxing mud bath will help me!"

"Yuck! Hehehehe!"

Yuhi pushed open the door to the men's hot room. Immediately, a warm mist crept over him. He couldn't see anything, just fog. He groped around for the nearest bench, found it, and sat down. After about 10 minutes of relaxation, Yuhi heard something.

SHHHHHHHHH

"Hum.. Must be the thermostat or something." He heard it again.

SHHHHHHHHH

Then all of a sudden something leapt out at him! It grabbed his arms. Yuhi felt something like knives sticking into his arm. With his free hand, he began feeling around him, searching for something the hit the beast with. His hand fell upon a broken metal pipe. He picked it up and thrusted it into the beast's stomach.

"OWWWOOOOOOOWWWWW!" the beast howled. Yuhi could barely make out the place where the beast had been stabbed, then he ran out the door holding his bloody arm.

"Oh, I can't believe this happened to you!" Ayumi cried, head in her hands.

"It's okay. It was just a scratch!" he reassured her.

"But you could have been killed!" she cried.

"Mr. Yuhi, could you make out anything in the hot room? Maybe what this character looked like?"

"All I remember was that he had a body full of hair, or more like fur! I felt it rub against me. It was coarse, then all I remember is sticking the pipe through it," he recalled.

"You said you heard a noise. Can you possibly make what noise you heard?"

"It was like SHHHHHHHH"

"That's all you heard?"

"Yes, sir. That was all. But, sir."

"Yes?"

"... This is no man, this is a beast!"

"Thank you Mr. Yuhi, Mrs. Ayumi, you may go now."

"Oh Yuhi, I'm so worried now."

"Don't be honey! That beast won't come after me anymore! I taught him a valuable lesson! Not o mess with Yuhi Akabara!"

"I'm not laughing, Yuhi. I'm serious! I don't want to lose you!"

"Oh, Ayumi. I love you. That's why I don't want you to worry! Hey, worry brings grey hairs!"

Ayumi chuckled.

There was a knock at the door of their cabin.

"Can you get that, honey?" Yuhi called from the other room.

Ayumi slowly got up from the bed, and stepped towards the door. She took small steps, afraid to answer the door.

'Should I open it?' she thought. 'Okay, 1.2.3!'

She flung open the door to reveal a cruise attendant. The attendant was startled.

"Miss, the captain would like to see Mr. Yuhi." She said business-like.

"For what reason?"

"Miss, I do not know of the captains affairs."

"I'll get him, Ayumi said suspiciously. She ran to get Yuhi. He came to the door.

"You said the captain wanted to see me?"

"Yes sir, that's correct."

"Well, I'm going too!" Ayumi said.

"Miss, I'm not sure that the capt." Ayumi pushed by the attendant followed by Yuhi.

They wound around deck towards the office. When they got there, they knocked on the door.

"Come in!" came a voice from inside.

They entered the office to see the captain sitting at his chair. His arms were crossed around his stomach. He smiled at them as they took a seat.

"Mr. and Mrs. Akabara, thank you for joining me."

"Yes, sir" Yuhi replied.

"Now, I heard you had an encounter with this beast and survived."

"Yes sir that's right."

"Tell me everything, if you don't mind."

So, Yuhi told the story. At the end, the captain stood up and brought out his hand. Yuhi drew back. On the captain's coat, there was blood, around the stomach.

"Glad I could be of service, sir." Yuhi ran out the door with Ayumi following.

"Why didn't you shake his hand, Yuhi?"

"Didn't you see it? On his coat, the was blood, in the same spot as I stabbed the beast!"

"Oh Yuhi! Now, you're going crazy!"

"I'm serious, Ayumi!"

Later as Ayumi climbed into bed, Yuhi went out on the deck. No one else was around, no one to help if he met trouble. He looked over the rail into the water as the ship sailed slowly across it.

Then he heard it.

SHHHHHHHHHHHH

He turned around. Nothing was there.

SHHHHHHHHHHHH

She started to run back to the cabin, but something made him stay there, fixed in one spot.

SHHHHHHHHHHHH

The sound grew louder, and louder, until it sounded as if it were right near him.

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

He then felt a sharp pain run through his back. He fell to the deck floor. He turned around to see a shadow, with red glowing eyes, its claws protruding from the hairy hands. Blood dripped from its fangs. The stench of rotting flesh filled Yuhi's nostrils. The beast stuck his claws into Yuhi's

stomach, making him gag. Yuhi swung a fist at the beast. It knocked him back. Yuhi staggered, trying to get away. Yuhi ran to a nearby store closet where he found a gun.

The beast got up and advanced on Yuhi. Yuhi fired the gun aiming it at the beasts head. The beast was knocked back, but nonetheless survived. Yuhi shot again, and again, but every time failing to dispose of the beast.

Yuhi grabbed something and thrusted it at the beast. It staggered back. Yuhi ran for his cabin. He tried, but all that came out was a hoarse blow. The beast followed him. When Yuhi finally reached the cabin, he busted through the door.

Ayumi screamed and ran to help him up. Then she saw the beast behind them. It grabbed her neck and lifted her up. It threw her aside to where she hit the wall. Then it picked up Yuhi. Blood dripped to the floor from where Yuhi's stomach had been punctured. Then just as the beast was about to slay Yuhi, a knife came through its head. It howled a deafening howl, and fell to the floor, blood dripping from its head, its yellow eye hanging out of its socket.

"How do you feel, Yuhi?"

He opened his eyes for the first time in a day. "Okay, I guess. It hurt a little."

"OH YUHI!" Ayumi was bent over him crying.

Later that day. "Oh, found out what the beast was. It was a wolf. They say it's a werewolf. And, Yuhi, it was the captain."

"I knew it!" Yuhi said smiling. "I'm just happy I got to live to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Oh Yuhi!"

They hugged each other tight. "I'm just worried about one thing, Ayumi."

"Wha."

Claws were thrust through Ayumi's heart, and she fell to the floor, dead.