オオカミの運命
"I-I can't do it." Shizuka whimpered, hesitating and taking a step back from the huge grizzly bear which towered over her, standing furiously upon its hind legs. Shizuka was a reddish brown and white female wolf with bright, fiery orange eyes.
"You can do it. You are a wolf, and wolves have the capacity to overpower and defeat any foe if they put their heart and soul to it. We, wolves have the power to defeat any enemy, no matter how strong." Toboekaze answered her, standing tall and brave before an enemy several times his height and weight. He was a large, muscular brown male wolf with golden eyes. Smiling reassuringly at Shizuka, Toboekaze told her, "Watch."
On agile paws and powerful hind legs, Toboekaze charged the bear, leaping effortlessly away from its heavy, swinging paws. One blow from those forearms was known to crush a wolf's skull. With one powerful leap, Toboekaze launched himself up on the ground, reaching heights far greater than the average wolf's jump. He dove at the bear's neck, and his merciless fangs tore into its flesh, ripping skin and arteries from its throat in one violent attack. Before the bear could counter attack, Toboekaze kicked off the bear's body and far out of harm's way. The bear fell down back onto all fours, feeling the immediate loss of blood to its head, then in moments, had collapsed and was still. Watching it all happen just like that, Toboekaze made bear slaying look easy.
Just as Shizuka's spirits rose for their victory, higher pitched growls were heard, and three very young bear cubs emerged from the surrounding bushes and moved over to stand near their dead mother, though still growling in hatred at the wolves. Shizuka looked at Toboekaze in concern.
"It'd be hardly a fight. You can easily take care of them." Toboekaze told Shizuka calmly. But something else was concerning the young female wolf apprentice in training.
"Is it really the right thing to do? They're defenseless, and we just killed their mother. And they're still just young, innocent children..." Shizuka didn't at all feel favor for the baby bear cubs, but the morality of the deed was something she had to be sure of herself for. Toboekaze looked at Shizuka understandingly.
"You must kill them. If you let them live out of pity or justice, they will simply grow up to be dangerous and return to attack you. They won't remember that you spared their lives. Bears and wolves are natural enemies. But where wolves can act out of more than just instinct, but emotion, morality and reason, bears only act out of selfish desires based on instinct. Bears only know one moral law, and that law is to take what they want for themselves and their offspring. Unlike wolves, bears do not work together in a pack, form bonds of friendship, or create a social system."
"Maybe if we tried to make the cubs understand..." Shizuka theorized.
"You cannot teach a bear kindness, pity, empathy or morality." Toboekaze saw Shizuka's still concerned expression, and explained further.
"Think of it this way. If that bear came and slaughtered your entire pack, your parents, litter mates, and everyone else, but spared your life, would you be able to forgive the bear for letting you live, though all alone and on your own? Wolves create competition for bears to get food, so technically the bear was just making things easier for it and its cubs to survive." With that said to her, Shizuka's eyes shone with understanding. Toboekaze continued.
"The bears are a danger to wolves. If you let these cubs live, they will either be killed by other bears, wolves, or live to return to endanger your family. In order to protect your family, these cubs must not be allowed to endanger your pack!"
Shizuka nodded quietly, her copper eyes filling with a burning hatred for the bears now. She could not imagine letting them grow up to look like their mother, then attacking her entire pack. Without hesitation, Shizuka charged at the bear cubs, her fangs bared, and tore into them all. Her actions were justified. The cubs had to die. As she sunk her fangs into their necks, snapping their spines effortlessly, the feeling flowed through her body and mind. This was what it meant to live as a wolf. Now, her pack was safe, and they would all eat well tonight.
The two hunters began to gather their prey and drag it all back to the pack. Meanwhile, a cold wind began to blow. Autumn had started, and the frigid winds carried more than just the scents of forest. They brought the scent of something more foreboding. But neither wolf could identify the scent as they had never smelled it before, so they simply ignored it and continued on their way without a thought or concern.