A boy ran through a forest, breath coming in harsh pants. Clutching his bright orange beanie tighter on his light brown hair, the nine-year-old clenched the object in his hand, pressing it to his yellow hooded sweatshirt. Behind him, a lizard the size of a large dog hissed in rage, blood leaking from wounds that littered his whole body. Grimacing in alarm, the boy skidded to a stop as he burst out of the trees, only to be confronted by an imposing cliffside. Whirling around defiantly, he bared his teeth at the enraged reptile before smirking triumphantly. Suddenly, the boy was gone, and in his place was a large, grey wolf. The canine had a jagged, flesh-colored scar on his back and a nick in his ear, but no new injuries. The lizard halted in its charge, tail flicking warily as it watched the wolf with narrowed yellow eyes.
"Give it back." The words came from the lizard in a tight, demanding tone.
"Why should I." It wasn't a question. The wolf lifted his chin, determination and stubbornness glittering in his piercing red eyes. Suddenly, the lizard exploded.
"WHY SHOULD YOU?! I don't know, Urufu, maybe because it's MY video game!" In the blink of an eye, the giant lizard was replaced by an irritated eleven-year-old boy with long, scruffy, black hair. The wolf, too, changed back into a human.
"Nuh-uh!" he exclaimed childishly, "Finders keepers, losers weepers!"
"Urufu..." snarled the other boy, "Give it back NOW or I'll knock you into next week!"
"Just try it, Tokage!" Urufu challenged, "I'll kick your scaly butt!"
With a loud cry, both boys charged at each other and rolled on to the grassy forest floor, wrestling with sloppy, uncoordinated moves. For a minute, the only sounds in the forest were the soft thumps of fists and sneakers hitting flesh and the quiet grunts of pain from the two fighters. Then,
"URU-NII! TOKAGE-SAN! WILL YOU TWO STOP FIGHTING FOR ONE SECOND?!"
Both boys froze, Urufu's hand fisted in Tokage's blue, long-sleeved shirt and Tokage's foot hovering over Urufu's chest. At the edge of the clearing stood a fuming eight-year old girl with silver hair and skin tinted a pale green. In her hand was the aforementioned video game. The girl gave them both scolding looks, her pointed ears pinned back against her head, and reluctantly both boys untangled themselves from the other, still glaring daggers. Slowly dragging his gaze away from his opponent, Urufu scratched the back of his head sheepishly and questioned,
"H-hey, imouto, what's up?" As he opened his mouth, he heard Tokage ask flatly at the same time,
"Here to spray your brother with a squirt gun, Kujira?" Instantly, Urufu' forgot about his embarrassment and his face flushed angrily.
"HEY! I'm not some bad dog, lizard-breath!" At his retort, Tokage simply lifted an eyebrow.
"I'm a WOLF." the child proclaimed smugly. Kujira sighed.
"No, Tokage-san, I'm here for both of you, actually," she replied, crossing her arms against her red tank top, "Doragon-sama wanted you. He seemed almost... happy?' Urufu's jaw fell open.
"Happy? C'mon Kuji-chan, everyone knows Doragon-sama doesn't have emotions, so don't try to-"
"He does."
The shaken, quiet response from Tokage cut the siblings off. His face had paled considerably, and a look of frozen fear on his usually arrogant face had them tensing unconsciously.
"Otou-sama does show emotion," the terrified boy repeated bleakly, "when he's about to crush something."
Urufu and Kujira escorted Tokage to the mansion at the top of the single hill on the island where they lived in solemn silence. Tension filled the air as they stopped at the base of the gleaming, marble staircase, as if they were walking towards their execution. Urufu cleared his throat awkwardly and punched the other boy lightly on the shoulder.
"Come back next time you need a beating, ne?" he said gruffly, adding a quick mutter of "good luck," as he brushed past him. Kujira grasped his hand in silent comfort, squeezing it gently before drawing back to her older brother. Tokage managed a quick, tight smile that was more of a grimace than anything, and taking a deep breath, he slowing ascended the staircase to his home.
On their way back to the only village on the island, Kujira looked at her brother in askance.
"Hey, nii-san, y'know how everyone on the island can transform into a single animal since birth?" Urufu winced and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his green shorts.
"Yeah, yeah, Kuji-chan, I know what you're gonna ask. No, I haven't gotten around to telling Tokage that I can change into any animal, yet." Kujira pouted mulishly.
"But nii-san," she whined, "You KNOW you can trust him, and really, you need to tell someone other than Biba-kun and I. You're terrible at keeping secrets, so I don't know how you got this far only telling us two."
"Hey!" Urufu complained, "It's MY secret, so I can keep it how I want to. Besides, I have to be completely sure he won't tell anyone. If any of the adults find out, they could tell Doragon-sama, and then he'll have me banished because being "different" is such a bad thing, or whatever. He's already got his eye on our family because of how you look; you're lucky tou-san managed to convince him to let you stay at all!" Kujira sighed.
"Alright, alright, nii-san, it's your choice," she agreed, "but I still think you should tell him." Urufu just snorted and shook his head as they walked home facing the setting sun.
Snuggling down into his soft, warm bed, it seemed Urufu had only just drifted off until...
"NII-SAN! NII-SAN, WAKE UP! HELP!" At his sister's distressed wail, Urufu shot up in bed, blearily rubbing at his eyes. Blinking away the lingering sleep, he changed into a wolf and ran to his sister's bedroom swiftly. Once there, however, he could only stop and gawk as outside the window fire ravaged the island. Villagers with bird forms desperately tried to flee by air, only to be stuck down by small fireballs from above. Buildings that once stood tall had crumbled down into mere skeletons of their former selves, their rubble raining down on the villagers like an apocalyptic hail.
"K-Kuji-chan, where are kaa-san and tou-san?" Urufu stammered, "H-how in the world aren't they seeing this?!" Duly, he noted that, like always, his mouth was the only thing seemingly able to move when the rest of his body was frozen in horror. Kujira whimpered.
"R-remember, nii-san? It was their date night tonight. T-that's why they left us home alone." Kujira suddenly yelped and jumped back into Urufu as a flaming chunk of concrete landed right outside her window. Jolting into action, Urufu shoved his sister out of the bedroom and to the front door.
"C'mon, imouto, we're getting off the island!"
The little girl with the odd-colored skin raced towards the shoreline, more thankful than ever that her house was located a bit further out of the village than the rest of the houses. That had been the condition Doragon-sama had forced them to accept after finally agreeing to let her stay on the island. Behind her, Kujira's unusually silent brother loped along, easily keeping stride with her. All of the sudden, a relieved cry came out from the bushes on the side of the path.
"Urufu! Kujira-chan!" Both siblings skidded to a stop, and Urufu's tail wagged happily as a small, brown beaver with a red sweatband on scampered out of the foliage.
"BIBA!" Urufu shouted joyously, bounding over to his best friend. The beaver changed into a thirteen-year-old boy with spiky brown hair that stuck straight up, except for one spike that flopped uselessly over an eye. Pulling his trusty machete out of the leather sheath on his back, the teen wordlessly pointed upwards with it, a grim look on his face. Urufu and Kujira's eyes widened in shock as they witnessed the small detail that they both had missed.
Flying high above the island, Doragon-sama the dragon circled hungrily, flames streaming out of his jaws to roast the village.
As the three sprinted along the path, Urufu's mind buzzed with the latest information they had received from Biba.
"So... let me get this straight," he blurted out, "Doragon-sama, our LEADER, teamed up with all the other reptiles and tried to KILL all of us and DESTROY his own village?! Is he completely crazy?!" Biba sighed wearily.
"How the heck should I know how he thinks? A better person to ask would be Tokage, his son. Aren't you two friends or something?" Urufu huffed, automatically snapping,
"We're RIVALS, not FRIENDS, and why would I want to be-" His canine features shaping into a look of horror as he cut himself off.
"W-wait, Biba, you said ALL of the reptiles are to blame, right?" Biba nodded, biting his lip as he guessed where Urufu was going. "Lizards... are reptiles, aren't they?"
Biba had just opened his mouth answer Urufu's (hopefully) rhetorical question, when he was cut off by a shrill shriek in front of them.
"Kuji-chan!" Immediately, Urufu lunged forward, fangs bared and ready to defend his sister, when he found...
Tokage.
Cut up.
Bleeding.
Not moving.
In a clearing of red-stained grass.
Urufu didn't realize that the three of them had been standing there for a while before a weak, wet-sounding cough broke them out of their trance. Instantly, Biba went into what Urufu called "dude-you're-so-lucky-to-have-a-doctor-for-a-father mode" and started barking out orders.
"Urufu, support his upper body and lean it against you in a sitting position. Kujira-chan, grab his hands in yours. Be firm, but gentle. Tokage-san, if you can hear us, squeeze Kujira-chan's hands as hard as you can." The siblings dutifully did as instructed and Kujira sighed in relief as she felt the hands in hers clench weakly before relaxing again. An echoing boom made the three coherent ones flinch, and Biba came to a decision.
"Alright, Tokage-san, lizard, as small as you can make it. Urufu, eagle, then grab Tokage-san in your talons and fly out of here as fast as you can. Kujira-chan, you'll go whale in the ocean and I'll get on your back; we'll try to draw Doragon-sama's attention away from the boys for as long as we can. Everybody understand?" Urufu frowned.
"What about everyone else?" he asked nervously. Biba just looked at him solemnly, and Urufu was stricken for a second, before bowing his head and wordlessly changing into an eagle. Tokage admitted his silent consent by transforming into a lizard the size of a rat. Kujira nodded at Biba with a blank face. Biba took a deep breath.
"Let's go."
Urufu glided along silently, the only visible things being the fluffy clouds below and the starry sky above. The atmosphere was so peaceful and calm that he could actually believe that the whole attack was just a bad dream. However, one look down at the beaten lizard in his talons was all he needed to confirm the reality. Urufu let out a shaky breath.
"Well, at least we were all trained in combat and psychology and all that since, like, forever, huh lizard-breath?" he tried. Tokage didn't respond, but the eagle knew he was conscious because he was still a lizard. Whenever any member of their clan was unconscious, they turned back into a human. Urufu sighed. It wasn't that he couldn't accept the fact that everyone might be gone, because that had been part of his training since he was a kid. Always accept that you might be the only survivor. Don't fight it; just keep living. The lesson had been repeated in many of his classes as he grew up, just like they had been for everyone. Hey, maybe this had all been a test, and Doragon-sama had just set the whole scene up as a surprise exam for the children, like the survival training they used to do when they were five! But, no, that couldn't be, because he had seen with his own eyes as their leader had shot a pigeon out of the sky. A sudden spray of seawater snapped him out of his musings, and a jolt of shock ran through Urufu's body as he realized just how close he had drifted to the ocean. As the realization hit him, however, he instinctively tightened his grip on Tokage.
Causing him to pass out.
Aw, crap, was Urufu's final thought as the animal in his claws changed back to a considerably heavier human, subsequently dropping both of them into the cruel, unforgiving ocean below.
Urufu awoke with a groan. Rubbing his hand to his temples to ward off the throbbing headache he had, he slowly opened an eye to take inventory. Tokage, in human form, was lying on a bed of grass and leaves, covered in pristine white bandages. They were on what seemed to be a tropical island, with bright green palm trees and soft white sand underfoot. Urufu's brain stuttered to a halt.
Obviously man-made bed.
Bandages.
Warily, he sniffed the air and glanced around for other signs of civilization. Belatedly, he discovered that both his and Tokage's clothes were dry.
"Hello!" he called out, his voice a little raspy from consuming the salt water. A shift in the wind had him crouching defensively over his clansmen's prone body. In the shadow of a palm tree stood a small boy of about five with pale skin and pure white hair. He was wearing loose white shirt and grey pants that looked two sizes too big. Slung over his shoulder was a leather quiver full of white arrows. The boy had his headed cocked to the side curiously and a look on his face that might of been innocent had he not of been holding a white bow in him hand, an arrow loaded and aiming at Urufu. As he usually did, the brown-haired boy blurted out the first thing he could think of,
"Wow, you really like white, huh, dude?" At this, the boy lowered his bow, and, with a self-conscious flush, looked himself over and shrugged shyly. Directing his bright, blue eyes back on Urufu, he took a cautious step forward. Urufu hesitated.
"Did you save us?" he asked, not moving from his position. The boy nodded and shuffled a little closer. Urufu bit his lip, still a little wary.
"What's your name?" he queried him. The boy looked lost for a second, before bending down to the sand. Instantly, all Urufu's senses were on high alert. He tensed his muscles, prepared for anything the boy might do. To his surprise (and a little disappointment) he only placed his bow on his shoulder and drew something in the sand. Despite his better judgement, Urufu stepped away from Tokage and peered down to see.
"F-U-K-U-R-O," he read the childish scrawl out loud, "Fukuro. That's your name?" At the boy's nod, he continued,
"So, what's the deal? Are you mute or something?" He had only been kidding, but Fukuro gave him a bashful nod. The corners of Urufu's mouth quirked up.
"Thanks, then, Fukuro-chan, you really helped us─" Suddenly, a scream of pure terror cut him off.
"OTOU-SAMA, NO!" Both boys heads snapped over to Tokage, who was sitting up, his expression contorted into a look of helpless fear. His whole body heaved as he gasped for breath, shoulders and hands shaking uncontrollably.
"Hey, man, it's alright," Urufu offered after an awkward moment, "You dad's not here anymore." Slowly, Tokage's tortured gaze slid over to him and lit up in recognition. Letting out shaky, relieved sigh, his whole body sagged and he flopped back down on the ground. Urufu grinned cheekily at Fukuro and held up his hand, counting down on his fingers.
3...
2...
1...
Like a timed clock, Tokage shot up, rising to his feet with a cry of alarm.
"W-what─where─who─URUFU, ANSWERS, NOW!" Urufu cracked up laughing, and it felt so good that he didn't bother trying to stifle it, dropping to the ground with a hand over his stomach. Tokage flushed and growled at him ferally.
"It's not funny! Shut up!" he snarled, and, disregarding his wounds, Tokage lunged at Urufu, who promptly leapt at him and dragged him to the ground. The boys rolled on the ground, shoving each other around playfully like wolf cubs. Fukuro watched with wide eyes and stepped back unsurely.
"URU-NII! TOKAGE-SAN! SERIOUSLY, YOU TWO, YOU'RE FIGHTING AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!" At the familiar call, Urufu stopped fighting and perked up.
"Kuji-chan!" he exclaimed joyfully. Jumping up to hug his sister, he suddenly realized something and froze.
"Aaahh!" he wailed in despair, "My hat, where's my hat?!" Kujira groaned in annoyance. Tokage frowned.
"Hey, my necklace is gone, too." he grasped at his neck, where his necklace with the clan symbol usually sat. Fukuro hesitantly tapped Tokage on the shoulder and offered him the orange beanie and the necklace that he had picked up when they fell off in their fight. Taking the items and securing the pendant around his neck, Tokage turned to Urufu.
"Hey, mutt-face, you never told me who the quiet guy is. And where are we, anyways? And, Kujira, what happened to Buckteeth?" Urufu grinned.
"Oh, yeah, he's Fukuro-chan, and he can't talk, and I have absolutely no idea where we are. That's probably a bad thing, isn't it?" Tokage raised an eyebrow.
"Nooo." he deadpanned, resisting the urge to facepalm. Turning to Kujira, he gestured for her to talk.
"Ah, well, we weren't really sure where you guys went, so Biba-kun's looking on the other side of the island. We've been going from island to island looking for you two that way," she reported dutifully, before turning to look at Fukuro,
"Hey, who else lives here? Where's your family?" To their surprise, Fukuro's shoulders slumped, and he shook his head, while pointing at himself. Urufu and Kujira had identical looks of confusion on their faces, heads tilted to the side. Tokage, however, blanched and his voice was sympathetic.
"Hold on. You're not saying you're the only one on the whole island, are you?" At the boy's slight nod, he reached out and pulled the younger one into an uncharacteristic embrace, patting his back gently as Fukuro fisted his tiny hands in the other's shirt. Urufu gaped , opening and closing his mouth like a fish; he had never seen his rival do anything that gentle before. This event has changed us all, Urufu thought despondently, What the heck are we going to do now?
A week had passed since they met Fukuro, in which they found Biba and explained about the island and its single, silent inhabitant. Most of Tokage's wounds had healed somewhat, due to the surprising amount of medicinal herbs that Fukuro grew on the island. However, there was one scar that would never heal. It was a long, jagged line that ran diagonally from the bottom of the right side of his jaw, barely touching the corner of his mouth, up over his nose and between his eyes to disappear into his hairline. When he had told Tokage the news, Fukuro had looked heartbroken, but Tokage quickly assured the white-haired boy that he didn't mind the slightest, and that it made him look cool.
Later on in the day, a red cardinal fluttered up to Fukuro, twittering happily.
"Cloud-child! Cloud-child! Dark-wings and Black-eyes had chicks! Isn't that exciting?! Oh, humans! Bad humans? Good humans? Danger or no danger, Cloud-child?" she chirped in one breath. Fukuro simply smiled, nodded, and reached up to grasp Tokage's hand. Urufu snickered.
"Cloud-child, huh?" he teased, "I told you that you wear too much white." Just then, he realized that the others were all staring at Fukuro in shock.
"How did you understand what that bird was saying, Fukuro-chan?" Biba questioned, "As far as I know, only the ones in our clan can understand animals." Fukuro's eyes widened, and he ducked his head guiltily. The shy boy shuffled his feet nervously before a snow white owl chick replaced him. Urufu gaped.
"Y-you're part of our clan?! Then why weren't you there when Doragon-sama attacked?!" Kujira crossed her arms and sighed wearily.
"Well, his hair and his inability to speak are both considered "different", right? So, he's probably been exiled this whole time." Tokage turned to the owl in shock.
"Is that true, Fukuro?" he asked in concern. Fukuro turned back into a human and looked down, sniffling slightly. Tokage growled angrily.
"They just shove some little kid out in the wilderness and expect him to survive with nothing?! That's terrible! Come here, Fukuro." Tokage once again held the child against his chest as he sniffled slightly. Absentmindedly rubbing the tiny albino's back, Tokage's brow quirked in remembrance and confusion.
"Hey, that reminds me. I know I wasn't really thinking straight when we came here, but I could've sworn that Dog-breath here was an EAGLE, which would be crazy, but…" He trailed off at the others' guilty expressions.
"Alright, what's up? What are those looks for?" he asked warily. Kujira hissed something at her brother that sounded suspiciously like, "Told you!", and Urufu shushed her, not looking at his rival. Biba, however, took a different approach.
"Oh, that. Urufu's actually been able to change into any animal since birth, but he only told Kujira-chan and I so he wouldn't get reported and, consequently, exiled. So, yeah, that was Urufu carrying you back then."
Tokage stared incredulously as Biba walked away, whistling, to the sound of a groan and a snicker going off simultaneously behind him.
Later that night by the campfire, the five discussed what they would do.
"I was thinking," Biba started, "and I realized something. Fukuro-chan couldn't have been the only one exiled from the clan, and the others are probably scattered throughout the world." Kujira perked up.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, "So that means if we travel all over, we could find some others, and get them to help us!" Tokage frowned.
"Yeah, but help us do what?" he pointed out. "And why would they do anything for us, anyways? We DID kick them out for being different, after all." Urufu crossed his arms, pouting.
"No, WE didn't kick them out," he refuted, "WE kicked them out, but it wasn't US who kicked them out, and anyways, they should know better than to turn US down when WE were clearly the ones who kicked them out." The others just stared at him. Urufu cleared his throat uncomfortably.
"Err, I think that sounded better in my head…" he added sheepishly. Biba shook his head and smiled.
"I really hope so, Urufu, because it was very confusing outside of your head." Kujira and Fukuro snickered while Tokage rolled his eyes.
"Getting back on topic," Tokage said with a pointed glare at Urufu, "Our plan of action is to basically travel around the world, find others like us, and convince them to help us… do what? What's our goal?" Fukuro bit his lip, then tugged on Tokage sleeve. He gestured towards Tokage's face, before hesitating and vehemently shaking his head while making a fist. Urufu, Kujira, and Biba blinked at him with lost expressions, but Tokage, who somehow found it ridiculously easy to decipher the boy's gesticulations, nodded grimly and holding out his hand palm-down.
"Yeah. I like that, Fukuro. All in favor of trying to put an end to Otou-sama and the other reptiles?" The others exchanged solemn looks before placing their hands on his. In unison, the five remaining members of the once lively clan raised their fists above the glowing red embers to the midnight sky and let out the war cry of their kin.
"LONG LIVE THE OTARU!"