The kooky shop Uriah's Heap, always had an array of random items in its display windows such as: a red accordion, a woven dresser with a weird antique clock, a squirrel with a red scarf and a white shirt holding an acorn on the lower layer and a rock and roll white mouse with spiky green hair, metal ball made with chain links and a teal light on top.
There was also a squirrel with a white cloak with a stripe of navy and white stars riding a motorcycle, a top naked man wearing sky blue shorts lifting weights, a white mouse reading a tiny newspaper, a stunned light brown squirrel with a white belly, antique wooden chairs placed haphazardly, a large metal bottle with its golden tap poking through a hole in the glass, various china and many more.
Inside, there was a luxurious golden chandelier with white crystals and various ancient looking paintings on its walls.
Uriah's Heap was like an eccentric magical shop that never had any end, when one thought they reached the end, they would see that they were in fact, far from it.
A scraggly old man with light long ginger hair and beard and blue eyes was looking intently at a shelf containing many photographic cameras and a single white alarm clock with a pink back and lettering.
He picks at a camera, examining it.
"Can I help you?" asks a deep, cheery voice. It was Ethan, with a pleasant smile on his face despite the circumstances.
The old man grabs the camera and gives Ethan a nasty scowl.
Ethan's smile rapidly disappeared and he glared back with his crystal blue eyes.
The man quickly leaves, and as Ethan notices sharply, tucks the black camera into his dirty coat, stealing it.
He's definitely a tramp. Thought Ethan with disgust.
The door opens and the bell chimes, signalling that a customer left the shop.
Ethan walks to up Ajax and Misaki, who were staring intently at a mouse wedding. The groom was a small white mouse with a black suit and a black top hat. The bride was taller than her husband and was a squirrel with a dirty grey with a white belly, holding a white flower bouquet and dressed in a long white veil and white gown.
Behind the happy couple was a rock star mouse playing a red electric guitar, a mini black woodpecker with a grey belly wearing a no sleeve electric pink shirt and a no slue sky blue jacket standing on a tree patch, and beside them was a small light yellow mouse with a white belly, reading out the wedding vows.
One of Ajax's hands was resting on the wooden shelf. Misaki's hands were held behind her small back.
The young, handsome werewolf looks at what the pair was studying.
"Ooh. That gives me the heebie-jeebies." he says nauseously, making a face.
"I don't know." says Ajax uncertainly. "You think squirrels and rats could ever work out? I mean, they're two totally different species." he grimaced.
Ethan looks longingly at Misaki and the petite maid didn't realize that the werewolf was staring at her with an innocent yet hungry expression.
"Oh, yeah." Ethan replies quickly, still gazing glass eyed at Misaki. "I mean, totally." He quickly shifts his eyes to the unlikely rodent couple on the shelf. "Why not?"
Ajax and Misaki both look at him. Ajax quickly blinks a few times, then looks back at the shelf. Misaki kept her large, mesmerising golden eyes on the young werewolf with blue and pink highlights in his white-blonde hair.
"They have more in common than you think. Most people are scared of them, so it would just be us...them...against the world." Ethan trails off, getting lost in Misaki's light golden eyes.
The pair gaze transfixed at each other. Misaki in wonder. Ethan in longing. The young werewolf smoothly interlaces his long white fingers with hers.
Ethan could feel himself heating up slightly and he prayed that none of the heat showed on his features.
"Wow." chuckles Ajax nodding, smiling at Ethan. "That was...deep." Misaki nods silently in agreement.
The two boys grin, Ajax looking away and Ethan at Misaki, the young werewolf flashing his mouth of perfect teeth.
"You know, by the way, I totally dug the way you scratched out the bottom of our boat at the Poe Cup. It was pretty badass." compliments a nodding Ajax to Ethan, who smiles, showing his perfect pearly whites at the gorgon.
"Thanks. You're not mad you lost?" asks Ethan pleasantly.
Ajax shrugs. "It is what it is. I mean, I'm super competitive." he admits while smiling slightly.
"You seem so laid-back." comments Ethan, chuckling.
"I've got a darker side most people don't see, like Xaviera." admits Ajax. "I think for her, it's because her dad is...well, you know, famous. All that pressure. For me...it's similar." he finishes, furrowing his eyebrows slightly, looking at Ethan.
Ethan and Misaki were firmly holding hands.
"Bro, you realize this is, like, the longest conversation we've ever had?" Ethan says suddenly.
Ajax smiles softly at Ethan and Misaki. He looks down, then back up into their eyes.
"Gorgons are taught not to engage." he says while nodding.
Ethan blinks a few times at him.
"You know, I don't want to accidentally stone someone." Ajax's eyes keep glancing towards the floor then back up.
Ethan puts a hand comfortingly on Ajax's extended arm which was resting on the wooden shelf. "We're not afraid of being stoned by you." he says warmly, adding, "Are we, Misaki?"
"No." Misaki's reply was short but comforting to Ajax.
"It's just temporary." adds Ethan.
Ajax frowns, looking confused. "Really?"
Both boy's arms return to their sides.
"You guys mean that?" asks Ajax hopefully.
Ethan frowns while smiling. "One hundo!" he says confidently while Misaki nods, her beautiful face still blank and emotionless but Ajax appreciated the sentiment.
Ethan suddenly pulls Misaki's soft, small and fragile body into his hard and muscular one.
"Excuse us Ajax." the young werewolf smirks playfully.
"Bro, do your thing." Ajax puts up both his hands sheepishly.
Ethan pulls Misaki to an obscure corner of the shop, where the shopkeeper's prying eyes couldn't catch them.
"Ah!" she exclaims in surprise as he pins her body against the wall and leans in, their noses touching, and the young girl notices that intense look in his crystal blue eyes.
She blushes uncontrollably, giving colour to her pale cheeks, like a flower blooming.
"So, um, I was thinking of sneaking behind the greenhouse tonight." says Ethan lowly. "Supposed to be a blue moon. Only happens once every 23 years or something crazy." his hands had pinned her slim, pale wrists to the wall.
She could feel his hot breath on her face and couldn't look away from the mesmerising boy whose luscious lips were just inches away from hers.
"Should get a killer view from there." he whispers deeply into her flushed ear.
She couldn't help but shiver from his deep breathy voice.
"Um..." she trails off, too nervous to speak, her heart pounding like drums in her ears.
That's where a lot of students go to do...things...! The thought made her flush even more.
She was so red that she was about to faint in Ethan's strong arms.
She's so freaking cute! It's now or never Ethan! The werewolf ordered in his head.
"Misaki!" he pulled away from her ear and looked straight into her big golden eyes, the desperation evident in his tone.
"I just spent all morning flirting and hinting and trying to act cool while brushing some roadkill just so I could get enough courage to ask you out on a freaking date!" his voice rises significantly as he glances quickly towards the dead display animals.
"I-I-" Misaki tried to speak but her already soft voice was barely audible. She shivered and blushed so much under Ethan's hungry gaze but the white-blonde boy did not relent.
"I'm not letting you go until you give me an answer." he says lowly into her red ear with a smirk.
A sudden, clear ring of the shop bell distracted Ethan for a second and he loosens his strong grip on her. It gave her enough time to slip out of his hold.
"Welcome!" she says brightly to the customer, though her cheeks and ears were flushed a bright red and her neck was slightly pink also. Her golden eyes were slightly watery, giving her a sultry look.
The woman in front of her was neither tall nor very out of the ordinary, but somehow, Misaki felt an immediate strong sense of attachment to her.
The Asian woman was certainly extremely beautiful, despite her slight wrinkles. She had shoulder length sleek black hair tied in a low bun and her tight grey, business suit and skirt showcased her perfect curves, slim waist and slender legs. Her skin was pale and smooth, and she had small, red cherry lips, much like Misaki's own.
But the most mesmerising and otherworldly feature were her almond eyes. They were bright silver and made her look like a powerful faerie. The only other person whose eyes surpassed hers in mysticality was Misaki, with her bejewelled golden eyes that the rarest of treasures paled in comparison to.
Misaki froze as the woman approached her. The young girl was completely mesmerised by her silver eyes, that shifted in the light.
The woman slowly reached a hand out, cupping the young girl's flushed cheek.
"You look so much like your Father...and you've got his eyes..." the woman said softly.
For a brief moment it was like the two of them were in a vacuum; there were no shadows, no colour, no physical boundaries. Just...pure, white space.
"Ah. Aurora. My dear lady. Fancy you coming here at just the right time."
Their mystical moment was abruptly broken by the scratchy voice of the shopkeeper.
The round, black man approached Misaki and the woman.
"Connie." Aurora smiled mischievously back at him.
"Today I have with me some helpers. They've been brushin' up the fur, as you can tell." the shopkeeper, Connie, says proudly.
"Woah. Do you know who she is?" Ajax asks Misaki curiously as he approaches her with Ethan by his side.
"No." Misaki says softly and melodically, still gazing at the woman.
Ethan steps to Misaki's side and looks at the woman, not very tall, he was taller, but she had an intimidating aura, he sensed sharply.
The woman narrowed her mesmerising silver eyes at the tall, lean and muscular white-blonde boy with blue and pink highlights, then abruptly turns her attention to Connie.
"I'm looking for some furniture. The last ones had to be sacrificed to science." she says cryptically.
"Ah. So you broke them again." smiles Connie slyly with a knowing look in his black eyes, earning a sheepish grin from Aurora. "Come with me. Hey Ajax, can you help me move the badger dentist to the front window? Ethan, you come too, help me with all that furniture." the proprietor orders firmly.
The boys follow the round man, leaving a very flushed Misaki alone with her thoughts.
As the four of them walk deeper into the eccentric shop, there was only one thing in Misaki's mind.
Who is she?
The unanswered question kept ringing in her head.
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