Disclaimer: Wolf's Rain is not mine.

I suppose this is a rather weird idea. But I love stories like this (the more stories I post online, the more you'll see how similiar they often are as far as this specific plot is concerned) and wanted one about Hige.

This may be construed as AU, if you like. It may not. It is NOT yaoi, shounen-ai, slash, etc. I don't care if it seems that way in the story--it's not. And I'm not attempting to portray events or characters in that way. The physical contact between the wolves, which, if taken in a human context, may seem implicating, is completely natural to the normal social dynamics of a wolf pack. Of course, I didn't make these wolves completely ordinary as far as normal wolves go, but I did try to interject a great deal of normal wolf pack interdynamics.

The only pairing in this story, so far, is Hige/Blue.

The five sat in one cell. They had never been confined like this before. It was an altogether new thing, especially since the one confining them was someone they didn't know, someone who, as far as they knew, had no connection with Jagura or Darcia. This person was different. They hated this person, whoever it was. The only good thing about the situation was the fact that Cheza was safe with the People. At least they didn't have to worry about her.

Kiba had already tried breaking the bars of the cage with his teeth, but had only succeeding in bruising his jaw. The others, with the exception of Hige, had thrown themselves against the bars repeatedly, but had only succeeded in bruising their ribs.

Hige had done nothing.

The brown wolf had curled up in a ball, almost a fetal position, in a corner of the cage. He hadn't moved since they had arrived, hadn't spoken, hadn't made a sound. This worried Kiba, who, statements to the contrary, looked on the others as his responsibility and his pack members. Hige, being Hige, ought to be complaining at this point with the others, scheming, tackling Toboe and comforting Blue. But Hige just lay there, motionless.

Kiba was tempted to go over to him, but decided to let it be for a while longer. They had been here for about a day; he could wait a few more minutes, or hours, before he approached Hige about whatever was bothering him. It was obvious that the other wolf didn't want to talk about it. Kiba realize that Blue and Tsume understood this as well, and were thus avoiding disturbing Hige.

Toboe, on the other hand, lacked the perception necessary to make such a judgment. He was young, and oblivious to the subliminal message Hige was broadcasting that was so obvious to the three older wolves. Tsume, Kiba, and Blue, all preoccupied with their thoughts, failed to notice Toboe's attempt to arouse Hige.

Toboe walked up to Hige's still form.

"Hige?"

Hige didn't reply. If anything, the silence sent out a stronger message to leave him alone. If Hige didn't talk, there was something seriously wrong. Toboe missed it.

"Hige? What's wrong?" Toboe asked again, getting a little closer. Tsume, half-asleep, began to become vaguely aware that Toboe was treading dangerous ground.

"Toboe." Tsume muttered. Toboe ignored him, intent on waking Hige.

"Hige!" Toboe repeated, louder this time, and nudged the other wolf with his nose.

The next thing he knew, he was flat on his back with a snarling Hige pinning him to the ground. Toboe was used to seeing Hige as the happy-go-lucky, unassuming third member of the pack. He had never really thought about Hige's size until now, when the brown wolf's full weight was forcing him down. Hige was enormous. They called him fat, but Toboe was abruptly forced to the realization that all that "fat" was in fact hard muscle.

Hige snarled down at Toboe, teeth close to his throat. Toboe pinned his ears back and curled his paws up, demonstrating submission, but Hige wasn't accepting it. He snarled again, his fangs closer to Toboe's throat.

"Hige!" Blue cried, going closer to the brown wolf. Hige ignored her. Tsume and Kiba were up by this time and staring at the brown wolf. Hige never lost his temper. Tsume saw that the brown wolf was dangerously close to losing it.

"Hige." Tsume said quietly. Hige pressed harder down on Toboe, a harsher growl rumbling from his throat. Toboe began to whine, trembling underneath Hige.

Kiba threw himself on the brown wolf, knocking him off Toboe. Toboe jumped up and hid behind Tsume. Hige had gotten back to his feet and was circling Kiba, his hackles raised and tail a stiff brush behind him. Kiba snarled back, unable to ignore the fact that Hige was a good deal bigger than he was. Certainly he had more fighting experience…probably. Kiba suddenly realized that he had never actually faced Hige, and had no idea what the brown wolf was actually capable of. It was strange, now that he thought about it.

"What do you think you're doing, Hige?" Kiba demanded. "Toboe was worried about you!"

Hige paused. The dangerous gleam in his eye died, and his hackles lowered. He sat down abruptly, confusion coming into his eyes. Blue went up to him cautiously.

"Hige?"

Hige began to shake his head back and forth as if trying to rid himself of some sensation.

"Hige?" Blue repeated, closing in now. She touched him with her nose. He started.

"Blue!"

"What the hell do you think you were doing?" Tsume demanded, leaving Toboe shivering in the corner. "You attacked Toboe!"

Hige blinked and hung his head. "Sorry." He looked at Toboe. "Sorry." He looked away. "I don't know what came over me."

"You "don't know what came over you"?" Tsume repeated incredulously. "That doesn't cut it, Hige. You were about to kill Toboe."

Hige raised his head and stared at the other wolf. "I said I didn't know."

"That's crap."

Hige got to his feet. Kiba was starting to have a bad feeling about this day. Tsume remained where he was, staring at the third member, utterly confident. Hige stiffened slightly.

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Tsume growled. Hige bristled.

"Why can't you just believe me?" He demanded.

"Hige." Blue said, nudging him. "Calm down."

Hige glared at her. "No! I'm tired of this…who elected him boss, anyway?"

"I'm number two. That's how it's always been." Tsume retorted. "You didn't have a problem with it."

"Huh." Hige abruptly turned away and curled into his ball in the corner again. Blue lay down close to him. Tsume walked over to Kiba.

"He's acting really strange."

"Yes." Kiba said, looking at Hige. "I don't know what could have brought this on."

"He attacked Toboe." Tsume said, glancing over at the youth. The pup was still shaken from Hige's attack. His eyes were fixed on the third member, as if he thought that if he didn't watch him, Hige might attack again. "That's definitely strange. Hige doesn't attack anyone, unless they're a threat to the pack."

"That is strange." Kiba said absently. Tsume glanced at him.

"Come to think of it, Hige never challenged me as second member. That's the way these things are normally settled...the two competing for second member fight, and the winner is second. You beat him, so that's done, but…"

"I didn't beat him." Kiba said, still absently. "Hige just accepted me as leader immediately. We never fought. Never even a show fight."

Tsume looked at him in utter disbelief. "You're kidding."

"No."

"That's insane."

Kiba looked at him. "Why?"

Tsume's mouth dropped open. "Pack hierarchy has always been decided through dominance and fighting…" He paused. "But maybe Hige just saw your obvious dominance and submitted right away, like Blue and Toboe." No one could really expect either of those two to challenge for alpha or beta…Blue was a half-wolf, and thus not as powerful as the others. She would be crushed immediately in a serious fight with a full wolf. Toboe was just a pup, and naturally submissive because of that. That left Kiba, himself, and Hige. Kiba was the natural leader, for obvious reasons. But why had Hige never challenged either of them for leadership? Not to do so was unnatural, almost wrong. It was customary to at least put up a show fight in order to publicly display your pack loyalties. But Hige had never done that. He hadn't challenged either of them, hadn't bothered to assist in setting up a traditional pack structure, as the other two had unconsciously done. Hige had been unconcerned with everything except food.

"No." Kiba looked over to where Hige was lying in the corner. "He didn't submit at all."

Tsume stared at Kiba. "Nothing?"

"Nothing. He's just…here."

"That makes me nervous."

"Why?"

"It's not right."

Kiba grunted. It wasn't right. Something was off with Hige. They hadn't bothered to find out until now, when it was hitting them in the face. They should have dealt with it earlier. Hige was certainly powerful enough to challenge—he was the biggest and probably the strongest member of the pack. He just didn't seem to have any interest in dominance and submission, and this disturbed Kiba. Even if they weren't technically a pack, in the traditional sense, Hige should still have certain instincts.

He glanced over to Toboe. "Toboe."

The red wolf crept towards them, careful to give Hige a wide berth. When he got close to Kiba and Tsume, he pinned his ears back and lowered his tail.

"Cut the formalities, kid." Tsume snapped. Toboe looked at him out of the corner of his eye, refusing to make direct eye contact. "I said cut it."

Toboe rolled onto his back. Tsume gritted his teeth. Idiot pig. He had seriously disturbed the pup with that brainless attack of his.

Kiba nudged Toboe with his nose. "Get up."

Toboe got to his feet, careful not to face them head on. He offered them his side. Tsume growled.

"Quit it, Toboe! You're being stupid!"

Toboe whimpered. "Sorry."

"We're not going to hurt you." Kiba said gently. Toboe looked at him, daring contact for half a second before glancing away again. Kiba stepped closer to Toboe and took the pup's muzzle in his jaws. Toboe closed his eyes and sighed, secured by Kiba's formal acceptance of his submission. Kiba released the pup's muzzle. Toboe relaxed.

"Did he have to do that?" Tsume demanded of Toboe. "You're being dumb, kid." He sighed. "We should have told you not to mess with Hige."

"Why?" Toboe's eyes were innocent. He looked curiously at the older wolves. "Hige's never minded before!"

Kiba looked over to the now sleeping Hige. "When someone like Hige goes into a corner and stops talking, you know they want to be alone."

"But he tried to kill me!" Toboe whimpered. Tsume let out a breath.

"He's just tired."

"He's been tired before and he never attacked me!" Toboe persisted. "He never attacks a member of the pack!"

"He bit you that one time." Tsume said.

"That didn't count. I made him mad." Toboe looked down.

"Well, what do you think you did this time?"

"Tsume." Kiba said softly. Tsume closed his mouth. Toboe looked at Kiba.

"Hige's not sick, is he, Kiba?"

"Don't know."

"You think he is? Maybe they're poisoning us or something…we should get out of here!"

"What do you think we've been trying to do for the past nine hours, kid?" Tsume snapped. "And if they were poisoning us, don't you think the rest of us would react to?"

"Maybe it's just for Hige."

"Does that even make sense?" Tsume demanded. "Why would they only poison Hige? That's just stupid."

"Why?" Kiba asked, still looking at the sleeping Hige. By this time Blue was sitting up and watching over him, a worried expression in her eyes.

"Why?" Tsume asked. "Because why would they go after Hige? He's the third member of the pack and not that important."

"He is too important!" Toboe interrupted. Tsume snorted.

"Toboe, the mission could continue without Hige."

"Maybe they aren't concerned with the mission." Kiba muttered, moving closer to the bars. "Maybe it's something different."

"And what would that be?" Tsume asked. "Some weird human group going after Hige for no apparent reason other than the fact that he's Hige? Am I the only one who thinks that's stupid?"

"Yes."

Tsume looked at Kiba. "What?"

"Yes."

Tsume shook his head. "I can't believe you're saying that."

"Why?"

"Because…because it's stupid."

Kiba faced him. "How much do we really know about each other, Tsume?"

"I see your point." Tsume said. "We don't know anything about each other. But knowing Hige, do you really think…"

"The entire point, Tsume, is that we don't know Hige."