This is my first story, sorry if it's confusing or whatever, but I tried really hard. Please Review! This story picks up right after the pack escapes the Forest of Death. It starts in the first city they come across since then (to see the city watch episode 11 "Vanishing Point").

Disclaimer: I do not own Wolf's Rain or any of the characters, except for the ones I made up.

Enjoy! ;D

Encounter One: The Scent Of Memories

Hige turned.

Huh? He thought, as his pack entered a strange city in the middle of practically nowhere. Hige had just caught a whiff of the most intriguing scent, but as quickly as he realized the scent was there, it was gone. He wasn't sure who or what it was, but he knew he wasn't going to bring it up with any of the other wolves. It doesn't matter anyway… As he tried to get the thought out of his head he realized something, the sides of the road were filled with humans, and they looked as if they were the rough and tumble kind of guys that stole and robbed from other humans. Huh figures… Humans… What're ya gonna do with 'em?

"Man, what a city looking town." Hige commented aloud so the others could hear.

"It's my kind of place," Tsume said.

"I bet it is, " Kiba, the white wolf said smiling.

"Smell the danger in the air. My bloods on fire!" Tsume said with a smirk.

"Me too. Me too!" Toboe, the runt, called from behind as he pushed up his right sleeve and started to flex his "muscles."

"Pretty big talk for someone who's scared all the time! And that's not the only reason you're fired up is it Runt? For one thing tonight's-" Hige ran up to the youngest one of the pack and put him in a headlock just to poke some fun at the runt.

"Yeah…" Kiba interjected, "It's a full moon." He and Tsume had stopped walking and were watching Hige and Toboe.

"I know it's like that for us 'cause we get our strength from the full moon, but what about Cheza? She looks like she's glowing too…"Toboe commented finally freeing himself from the headlock.

"Yeah," Kiba said softly as they all looked towards the beautiful Flower Maiden "Once a year on the night of a full moon, flowers will hear the moon's call and return to Paradise. That's a legend I heard once."

"So… You mean tonight she'll…" Tsume began.

"I'm not sure if it'll be tonight. We'll just have to wait and see." Kiba concluded.

"What? What's gonna happen to her?" Toboe asked innocently.

"You're not saying that Cheza's gonna bloom or something are ya?" Hige chuckled.

Cheza, who was still walking, stopped and turned around. "This One is excited too!" She called to the pack and continued walking.

All four of the wolves had amazing attitudes today and for once they had gone almost a whole day together without arguing (talk about a new record).

"Come. This way!" Cheza called from up ahead as she turned a corner off the main road.

When the pack had caught up to the Flower Maiden, they found her gleefully skipping around the sidewalk. Kiba smiled as he watched Cheza bounce around happily, but suddenly Cheza froze as soon as she touched the ground in front of an alley. She looked to the right, strait down into the dark, empty alleyway. She was completely silent as if in a trance.

"Cheza…?" Kiba asked just a tad bit concerned. He looked to the right, in the direction she was looking, but only saw an empty alley. By now the other pack members had stopped walking as well and were also looking down the backstreet.

"What is it?" Hige asked, looking from Cheza to the alley and back again, when suddenly Hige was overwhelmed by the return of that intoxicating scent, however instead of fading away, this time the scent seemed to be getting stronger. "That scent… It smells almost as good as Cheza…" Hige mumbled to himself.

"Huh?" Toboe turned to Hige, "What'd you say?"

"Um… Nothing. It's just a scent…" Hige trailed off as he stared intently down the dark alley, as if waiting for something to happen, "Can't you guys smell it too?" As the scent got stronger, Hige was extremely surprised that the others noticed the scent yet.

"No…" Toboe said, "I don't smell anything. Do you Tsume?" Toboe turned to Tsume.

Tsume, who was looking from Cheza to Hige, then back at Cheza, finally looked into the alley. In the distance he saw a figure that was slowly walking towards them. And as it got closer Tsume couldn't take his attention away from it. Soon it got so close that Tsume could smell its scent. Suddenly, the figure started to retreat. Tsume thought about that scent as the figure got farther away by the second, What is that? It's so familiar… It kinda reminds me of…

Tsume's eyes widened and he lurched forward, taking off at a run towards the mysterious figure in the distance.

...

He didn't care if the pack was following him, all Tsume cared about was getting to that figure and finding out if it was who he thought it was. What if it's her? It has to be. I'd know her scent anywhere. He thought as he followed the figure onto the roof of the building that bordered the alley. After they jumped a few gaps in between more buildings, the person finally dived down into another alley, Tsume in hot pursuit.

Tsume landed about 10 feet away from a young woman who was turned away from him. She had long wavy light brown hair and she was wearing a slightly loose fitting purple tank top with black skinny jeans that fit just right, along with black boots to top it all off.

She didn't turn around and Tsume didn't say a word. Hige and Toboe jumped down and landed to the right of Tsume. Kiba, carrying Cheza, landed on his opposite side.

As Kiba put Cheza down, the woman finally spoke, "Wolves, eh? Haven't seen many around here recently… What brings you guys to town?"

"We're just passing through," Kiba said without emotion.

"I believe the better question is, who are you?" Tsume growled realizing that this woman was no woman; in fact she was a wolf with extremely light brown (practically blonde) fur.

"Yeah, cut the crap and tell us who you are already!" Hige pressed on, stepping forward slightly.

"Hmm… What a shame," The mysterious wolf sighed, "After all, I thought you of all people, Tsume, would've recognized your mate."

Tsume froze, it was her. It really was her. His mate, his one and only true love. All Tsume wanted to do was see her beautiful face, to see how much she'd changed after all this time, to know for the first time in so many years that she was really standing right in front of him, that all this wasn't just some dream. He needed to see her eyes just to know for a fact that she was alive.

As so many thoughts rushed through Tsume's mind, the only thing he could say was "Rayne…"

...

"Rayne…" Tsume gasped.

Rayne turned around to face the pack for the first time.

She was beautiful. As a human, her light brown hair fell just the right way, which complemented her features and her gorgeous amber eyes perfectly.

She's even more beautiful then before. Tsume thought as he began to smile at the sight of his mate's face.

"Tsume…" Rayne said as she approached Tsume slowly, smiling at the fact that he was really standing in front of her.

Soon they were directly in front of each other, even though Rayne was half a head shorter than Tsume, they still looked into each other's eyes.

Cheza walked up to Rayne and smiled at the sight of another wolf. She turned to Tsume and happily said, "We have a new friend, do we not?"

Tsume, never taking his eyes off Rayne, responded with a simple "Yeah, I guess we do." As Tsume looked into those gentle, loving eyes he felt as if he was actually in Paradise, like being with Rayne was Paradise enough.