He gasped, blinking open his eye. 'Where am I?' he thought. 'What happened?' He tried to lift his head, but groaned in pain. 'Dammit,' he thought. His whole body felt battered and hurt like hell.
Then memories of what had occurred rushed back to him. He was Akatora, brother of Chutora and Kurotora. He had helped win the battle of Gajou by striking the remaining eye of Akakabuto. Yes, they had won. But, they had lost their leader, Riki. But, they gained a new one, someone just as powerful. Gin. But of course, Akatora wasn't aware of this.
'My brothers must be so worried,' Akatora thought. He clenched his teeth, forcing himself into a sitting position. He looked around. Gajou was empty. He saw the massive body of Akakabuto, and bodies of other dogs, but no one else.
'Where is everyone?' he thought. He stood up, less pain than before. Snow was still falling. Akatora started to walk towards the trees, hearing a whisper. Well crying, actually. A small, nearly silent sobbing drifting from the bushes. Akatora crouched down, creeping closer to the sound.
"Shush Kurotora. Brother died like a real dog. Stop your crying. You know what he would say," Chutora quietly chuckled. Tears welled in Akatora's eyes at the praise. A real dog? No. He didn't mean that. He then heard a short, low howl from Gin. He was gathering the Ou soldiers.
"Yes, the battle has been won. But, our victory came with a great price. We lost true Ou soldiers today. One was the Great Akatora. Without him, we might have never even won this war," Gin stated. Everyone bowed their heads, Kurotora's sobbing growing louder. "And we lost the greatest leader to have ever live, Riki."
'Riki's dead?' Akatora thought. The warriors of Ou lifted their heads and howled for all their worth, mourning the loss of their closest friends. Their pain and sorrow swallowed Akatora, freezing him in place. Shame washed through him. He spun around, quietly running away from his life, his brothers, his friends. He ran from who he was. "I will never be a real dog," Akatora spat, angry with himself.
He sat down, looking at his brother for the first time in months. "Chibi?" he squeaked, staring wide-eyed at the fellow Koga dog. A massive, battle-scarred mastiff chuckled behind him.
"My name isn't Chibi! It's Tesshin!" the brother said, calmer than the other. He chuckled, padding over to Tesshin and poking him in the rubs. He didn't react. "Big Brother-" he whined, but was cut off. "Kurojaki…" a Koga dog scolded. "Kurojaki?" the big dog asked. "Kurojaki was so full of himself that he named a kid after himself?" The warrior looked at his paws, shaking his head.
"Well, after our leader died, w-we realized his remaining son would become head of the Koga Clan. L-Leader never paid much at-t-tention to his children, n-neither his mate. S-So we th-thought it would b-be appropriate t-to name the new Leader after him," the Koga stammered. The massive dog rolled his eyes. "Thank you for returning Tesshin to us Moss. We will take good care of him."
"See to it," Moss growled gruffy. He lumbered away, leaving the two brothers behind. As soon as he left, Tesshin tackled his brother, squealing. "Brother!" he squeaked. Kurojaki grinned, swiping at his older brother. "Now that's the Chibi I remember," he teased. "It's Tesshin!" he whined, smacking Kurojaki on the head.
"I should leave. I have to go study. I'm going to be the strongest Koga dog to ever live! I'll make Moss proud!" Tesshin barked. He lifted his head with pride. He shook the dust from his fur and trotted over to the more powerful Koga ninjas. They praised him warmly, squeezing out emotions never shown to Kurojaki.
"Hey, Kani?" he whispered. "Hmm?" his caretaker asked. "I'm not going to be Leader anymore, am I?" Kurojaki gazed at his brother, unusually serious. "From the way things look, I'm afraid not. But if you train hard, learn all you can, you might be able to outshine your brother-"
"It's okay Kani. That's not what I want at all. I've prayed every night that somehow, Big Brother would come back. Not out of loneliness or anything like that. Out of fear. I didn't want to be leader. But, now that Big Brother has come back, I can stop worrying. I don't have to be leader. I know everyone wants me to be to me, even naming me after Papa. I'm just not cut out for it. I'll still be a great Koga dog, but I won't outshine Big Brother. I could never do that," Kurojaki said softly. Kani gazed at the child, tears in her eyes. After his mother had died, Kani took him in and cared for him.
"You have a way with words, my child," she whispered. Kurojaki smiled. He padded over to his adopted mother and hugged her.