"Hana had died only a short time ago, such a short time ago…"

The thoughts go through each one of the two, both wondering and reminiscing their life with their mother, how short-lived that life was for them. How hard the struggle of her was for them, her not knowing what they were in all its meaning, but to do so alone. What day did they chose their path, like she wished? That's what she wanted right? For them to have the right to choose? Ame knew his was sooner than Yuki's decision, but was it the right one?

Their time here is now alone...without the one person that help raised them, the one who gave them life and brought them up to this very moment...could they have spent more time with her, their mother? Hana understood their decisions and the pain of departure. Would she be as happy if no one left? If he was alive? If Ame never left? If Yuki never went to school? If they never moved? All those questions went unchecked and forever lost in time. Only fragments of it remain.

The skies were gray, much like that day Ame parted. They both stood before her grave now, one week after her burial. Yuki looked grievously down at the words engraved into the tomb "Hana - Mother/Wife." Below it was a small caption. It read, "Flowers never fade. Neither will her."

Both siblings stood there, both now aged and matured much since. How long had it been since Ame left? Since Yuki left? Since they last saw their mother?
"Ame," Yuki voice was soft. "How are you?"

The wolf looked over at her, sister embodied in the flesh of human. He looked down at her, sad. "Lonely...so lonely."

"I know. So am I."

"Yuki. Do you remember why I left?" She looked over at him. Her eyelids were half shut, but she still could see him.

"No...I never did," she said, being reminded of that time. "I thought you left us."
"But you know why I chose to be a wolf?" There was silence.
"Do you know why I chose to be a human?"
The clouds overhead began shower them with water. The wind blew by them, then quickly died out.

"Ame, what happened to us?" She was remembering time far before this event. "When we were little, what ever did happen to us? I remember us being closer than now. We used to share everything, we used to play together almost all the time, even though I was more different than you. I was more outgoing, and yet you. You were quiet, you were shy and didn't do much on your own. You were so frail, and now."
She turned her head and looked down at her brother, his blue and grey fur being soaked in light rain, his brown eyes looking at hers. He's grown much bigger than she'd remember him being. His body much more prominent than the days of before, as he carries a heavy responsibility along with him. "And now you're you, the person you set out to be, a wolf."

"And you...you became who you are now too." His eyes looked over at his sister. The only time he saw her last was the day he left. He didn't want to leave her like that, a simple goodbye would have meant more than that hollow moment. She had grown since the day he left. Her dress was in the form of her blue dress she wore before, but it was black for this day. Surely she still wears that dress. Her figure greatly resembles their mother, small hips with a slim waist. Her hair still being long at her shoulders, she never changed much over the years he thought, but he knew she did. Ame turned his head back to the grave.

"Ame. Were you, happy being a human?"

"I...Yuki."

"I know being a human is where I wanted to be."

"Being human Yuki...I didn't belong."

"I know."

He turned his head to her again. She was looking forward. "Yuki, I didn't belong. I just couldn't. I didn't know what I could do being a human. I didn't feel...complete being a human."

"I know what you are saying. I didn't belong either, but the difference between you and me...the difference is that I kept going to belong, to make friends." She turned her head to Ame, his head was bowing down, in shame. "I ask, why didn't you?"

He looked down with his eyes closed, his ears pulled back. "I was scared." He said under his breath. "I was scared. Being there in a new place, just like you, having no one to caress your hair, to tell you everything would be fine, I didn't have that."

"I know that Mom took you with her to work before you went to school. Was that why you decided to live in the woods?" She said in a monotonous voice. She was expecting to hear an answer, and one she thought long before that would explain why he left.

"It was there that I was told...that I might be able to learn to be a wolf, from him." He raised his head and looked once more that the tomb. "Mother, when she took me there the very first time, I saw him, a real wolf."

Yuki suddenly turned her head. "A real...wolf?"

"Yeah, a wolf. He wasn't from here, where we were born. He was born not in the wild, but in a cage. Someone owned him as a pet, then when his owner died, he came to that animal shelter. He was old, he was sad, and he was alone. Mom told me, that Dad wasn't like that. I was glad that time, because I thought that what if our Dad was like that wolf, alone and slowly dying without a cause? That scared me. All that time, I kept thinking, that's what would it be like? To be in the wild? To be free?"

Yuki had some tears around her eyes, remembering again their father is now with their mother. She got to see him again, in heaven. "Then what happened after? With the wolf I mean."

"I talked to him. He was old, but he had met animals. He said to me that it was the first he ever met someone else that wasn't a human, and it gave him joy. Those animals were the ones they had healed, the shelter. When they were released back to the wild, they left an emptiness in the wolf's heart. He felt alone again. I learned from him who it was that helped those animals where we live. Sensei...I wish he is resting peacefully wherever he may be now."

"Sensei...that sounds familiar." Her mind went back to before, she remembered him saying about the forest and his teacher. He wanted her to come along, and she didn't. She refused. She insisted on living as humans, and yet now she realizes how stupid she was, that Ame had the right to be a wolf as well as human, but that she was the hypocrite in that conversation. A tear ran down her face again. "I'm sorry…"

Ame came closer to his sister and nuzzled her legs. "I'm sorry too." She placed a hand on his back, rubbing his ragged mane. She was crying. The emotions were building up in them both, having faced so many sorrows in life, only to have been met with one more. She collapsed onto her knees and wrapped her arms around her brother.

"I'm sorry Ame, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She kept repeating those two words, wanting him to forgive her for everything that happened. "I never should have forced you to be human. I never should have hit you. I didn't want you to hate me, I didn't want you to leave me. I'm sorry." Her eyes closed, streams of tears flowing from her face. She was breathing in rapid breaths, clutching onto her brother. She felt a hand on her back, hugging her tight.
A hand? Did she feel...was it what she think she feels? Her eyes open and she pulls back. "Ame?"

His face had long since changed, she didn't recognize that it was him, but it had the familiar look of someone they both knew. What she couldn't believe had came true, he was human once more. His hand was holding on to her back, another behind her head. "Yuki. I forgive you. I forgave you long ago. I still remember that day, and you were right too. I am Human, but I am a Wolf also. And so are you. I haven't forgotten that I am what I am, that I was born Human, that I lived as a Human, or that I might die a Human. I know that you know what you are, and what you have decided to do. I even remember when you became a wolf at any time of the day, and now…" He smiled. "Look at you. You're grown up."

"Why?" She asked. Ame's smile faded and confusion came over him.

"Why what?"

"Why did you chose this life? I've been asking that question for years, wanting to know the answer. What makes you happy? I've been wanting to know...to see if I…" She cut herself from saying something she kept hidden.

"To see if you could...be happy being a wolf…" Ame answered, pronouncing each word softly. She nodded, terrified. "I asked myself the same question, and I asked about you as well."

The rain around them began to fall heavier, it pouring over their heads.

"Yuki, I asked myself, what made you happy? I knew that only you would know, but I could guess, and only guess what it was."

"I didn't chose to be human Ame…" His eyes widened by her response, this being unknown of her to say. "I became it." Her body morphed to half the person she was and what she had forgotten. She was in between her two worlds once more. "I became Human, it was the only way to live for me. I was stubborn, I wanted to be with them, to have friends to talk about, but...I didn't chose. I forced myself to be them at first, because I was stubborn. After that first year of school, I...I liked it, I liked the friends I have, I liked the illusion of it, but I was forgetting who I was. When Souhei said I smelled like a dog, many years ago, I was reminded of who I was and where I was at. I was a wolf in the middle of a school of humans. That was frightening for me Ame. I kept thinking, what would happen? What would happen if our secret was revealed?" She was starting to tear up again, water flooding her reddened eyes.

Ame held her close again. He understood. "It's okay Yuki." He was caressing her hair for once. "It's okay." She laid her head on his shoulder, his soft flesh against her fur. She was sobbing for while, when Ame said, "I hated being a wolf," She looked up at him with eyes swollen.

"What?" she said in a high voice.

"I hated being a wolf when I was little. I asked myself, 'Why are wolves the bad guy? Why do Humans hate us?' I said to Mom that I didn't want to be a wolf anymore. I meant that. She reassured me, that no matter what other people say, she would still be with us. She loves wolves, and that is what gave me hope. She would still be looking over us."

They both hugged each other in that moment, they loved each other to not hate one another. More importantly, they had their mother's grace over them. The rain still pounding over their head, they both stood and mourned over their lost parent.

"Yuki." Ame said after much silence, in his wolf-hybrid form to accompany her's. "If you have the chance, to change everything to become a wolf like me, would you take that chance?"

She stood there silently, her head lowered. "I...I don't know Ame."

"I only ask because of what you said."

"Then what would you do if you had to the chance to be Human again."

"I accept that I am not a wolf, but both a person and an animal. Life has been lonely for me Yuki, that I can't deny." He looked away, his head bowed. "If I could...I would go back but without the burden I carry with me now. I can't for I have the responsibility of being the guardian of the forest." He looked at Yuki. "But, what would you do."

Her eyes looked blankly in front of her, no target for them to settle on. Her mouth was opened only slightly before it closed, only to reopen after a minute. "Yes...I would become a wolf."

Ame put one hand on her shoulder, she finched because of it. "One day is all I ask Yuki. Please come with me, for one day."

A smile slowly appeared over her face, and still the tears flow from both brother and sister.

The two sat by the grave one last time, their fur still being drenched by the rain above them. Their heads both were giving their final respects to their mother. Ame raised his head and let out his howl, Yuki accompanying him. They howls were a duet of nature, both having a beautiful, yet sorrow filled tone to them.

Ame began to trot walk away from the tomb. He stopped and saw Yuki still there, looking back. He turned away, returning on his way back to where he called home. Yuki was still there...