"Umm, Pixie?"

"Yeah Holly, what is it?" Pixie said, looking up.

"Nothing." She sighed quietly. "Just wondering if you were still awake." She lied.

"You still depressed about your father?" Pixie said, leaning back.

"I shouldn’t be." Holly said, tilting her head in a way that implied yes, I am.

"How come you never told anyone until now? I mean, I’d have thought?"

"I don’t know." Holly said quietly, "I didn’t want to trouble the others."

"I doubt it. What’s it like having a Monster for a father Holly?" Pixie said, sudden anger in her voice.

"What’s your problem Pixie!"

"It’s nothing...back where I grew up..."

Holly was quiet. "Come over by the fire Pixie, you don’t have to be alone."

She did. "I guess your father was the only family you ever had."

"I had my mother when I was younger, but yeah."

"Hmmph."

~*~*~

She’s so much stronger than I am. Holly thought as she passed out the bowls of soup. Look at me, I’m crying because Moo’s my father. She served under Moo for years, was abused by humans, probably in ways I don’t even want to think about.

I mean, just look at where she grew up compared to my village. I don’t have the right to judge her.

"Holly?"

"Huh?! Oh, I’m sorry."

"No biggie. Um, is there any left? Mocchi and I want seconds."

"Yeah, Mocchi hungry chi!"

She spooned out the soup quietly, giving a tiny smile.

~*~*~

"I’m cold, I’m hungry, my tail hurts..."

"Stop complaining, Suezo." Genki said, Mocchi riding on his back.

"Of course, you’re human. You get shoes! My tail is getting all frostbitten."

"Tiger and Hare aren’t complaining."

"THEY HAVE FUR FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!"

"How come you don’t get cold, Pixie?" Holly said, trying to screen out Suezo’s complaints.

"Don’t know. I think the ancients never wanted to give us an excuse to cover up."

Ouch.

~*~*~

"Master?" He asked when they had fallen behind the group a bit. "are you trying to push her away..."

Pixie blushed.

"or is it a mistake on your part?"

"It’s not a mistake." She said, folding her arms across her chest.

He let out a rumbling sigh, but didn’t say anything else.

"Genki has an excuse for being such an idiot, he grew up in a different world. Holly, she’s..." Pixie shrugged. "Either blind or stupid."

Or maybe she sees something I don’t.

*snap*

"Did you hear that?"

"Yes Master."

"Here comes trouble."

~*~*~

After a short fiasco involving snow hoppers and more than one cliff, they managed to stop for a second.

"Is it just me, or are the baddies getting smarter?" Hare asked, nursing a wound on his leg.

"Probably just some of Naga’s leftover troops. They knew the terrain, the had the advantage. That’s all it was, furball."

"Well you’re not in such good shape yourself, Tiger."

"Holly, I think we need to start cooking dinner before bloodshed results." Genki said, sweatdopping.

"Ah dinner. One of the great diversionary strategies. Please tell me its something apart from soup" Suezo said , looking very eager.

"Mocchi hungry chi."

"Gali used to use that one a lot." Pixie said.

"Yeah. We know. Hey Holly, Pixie, why don’t you go and get us some wood."

~*~*~

Holly followed Pixie, putting down the wood she was carrying, she sucked in all her courage.

"I love you."

Pixie dropped her wood, eyes wide. "Heh. Fool."

"What? That’s all you’re going to say?" Holly said, looking completely devastated. Fool-she’s not attracted to women. Fool-she’d never enter into a relationship with a human. Fool-she thinks you’re the worlds biggest idiot...Fool what?.

"I don’t think you know enough to say that. You ever wonder why there were no women or children working as slaves in Northtown?"

"No...but..."

"Some of them were driven away. I killed most of them, or had my troops kill them. If you’d have been there, I’d have killed you as an example. I did it because I had watched any monster that got too weak murdered, and I was ANGRY. I’m not a good match for someone so good they didn’t want to see Naga fall."

"You were under Moo’s control."

"As far as this concerns us, it was me." Pixie got up and started to walk away. She stopped and turned around.

"I don’t expect you to understand, Holly. I didn’t have the strength of will to refuse. When Moo captured you...he didn’t get your soul."

"Pixie." Holly said. "I don’t care if you’ve killed a thousand people who were just like me. You’re an incredible person now anyway. I couldn’t survive what you went through. And you said it when you rescued Eve. There’s no reason Monsters and Humans can’t live in peace." She paused, smiling slightly in the moonlight. "Isn’t it strange. We both think the other one is stronger. You survived the mines, everything the humans there did to you, a rebellion, Moo, us..."

"You somehow stay good in this world...Heh. Let’s just say we’re both fucked up. And you’ve spent too much time with Genki." Pixie said. She sat down next to Holly. "Go ahead. We’ll give it a shot. Fighting Moo, there’s not much chance that we have a long term anyway."

Holly leaned toward Pixie, uncertain.

Pixie looked nervous as well. "Why not?"

Holly closed the remaining inches and kissed Pixie. She pulled away quickly, nervous.

"Come on foolish human, you can do better than that." She said, pulling Holly in for a deeper kiss. "I love you, you know that."

"I love you too."

"Where I grew up, they’d kill you for that."

"Where I grew up, they wouldn’t care." Holly said, kissing her again.

~*~*~

Hare walked back into the group, clutching his face.

"Pass me a handkerchief, will you, Genki."

"How’d you get a nosebleed, Hare? You didn’t get into a fight with some baddies, did you? Where are Pixie and Holly?"

"You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, Genki-my-boy."

~*~*~

owari