Sheep's Clothing
A Wolf's Rain side story
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the copyrighted series Wolf's Rain. It is the property of Bandai, Morikawa Atsushi, and Okamura Tensai. The only things I actually do own are the characters I created for this story and the Idea.
Note: This is a side story that doesn't particularly intertwine with the main story line of Wolf's Rain.
Prologue
Sometimes, it's like you never know who you are until something unbelievable happens. For me, this applies more than most may think. It's not like those stories you hear about. You know how it is; so and so survives a tornado and realizes what a horrid person he's been just before it passes. No, my story is a bit different than that.
My day started as it usually did; I woke up next to my wife, pecked her on the cheek then got dressed. I ran a brush through my hair a few times and checked my general appearance. I looked down at my brush; it was matted in the dead hairs that I had brushed off. Never really fazed me as anything out of the ordinary.
I grabbed my set of house keys and walked down the stairs. At that time I worked for a bank just a few blocks down the street. Working my ass off just for a scrap of money to stay in a dingy apartment in a crappy city on this desolate planet. The only people who had it well were the nobles and those who worked for the nobles. Everyone thought this, no one said it. It's not that it really bugged anyone, it was just that we had no where to live but a crumbling city and no one did anything to make it better.
I stopped in the butcher shop, as I usually did, and picked up a sausage for breakfast, as I usually did, and kept walking. That was about when thing's stopped being "the usual" and "common" for the day. Three large dogs rushed by me and the only thought that crossed my mind was, "Damned stray dogs..." I took another bite of the sausage in hand and watched them run down the alley.
One more came from behind me but slowed down where the others seemed to take the initiative to run even faster. The dog stopped several feet away from me and stared at the sausage in my hand. I slowly kneeled down and ripped off a small piece. The dog quickly snapped the piece from my hand and ate it.
I stared at the creature in front of me with curiosity multiplying as I observed the red dog. It was clearly a dog, but what breed? It looked very different from most dogs even relatively close to it's range of size. The dog's eyes met with mine and suddenly I was overcome with a sudden familiar feeling. It rushed through my whole body, quickening my heartbeat. Sweat ran down the side of my temple as I stared at the creature in front of me. Slowly, it took a step closer to me. I could've sworn it looked worried before a deep howl called it away from me. I fell from one knee to all four, breathing heavily.
Slowly, I stumbled to my feet and made my way towards the bank. My composure slowly returned to me, but my mind was furiously trying to remember whatever that dog had awakened deep in my own mind. I made my way to my desk, nodding and acknowledging my co-workers as I went. Once I finally reached my chair I fell into my seat and dropped my head into my hands. I tried thinking as hard as I could to remember just what it might be that was currently gnawing at my brain. It seemed like a repressed memory. Maybe when I was a child I got attacked by a dog like that. After all, I've never been too good with animals.
The only memories I uncovered during the day were memories of the orphanage I once lived in as a child. One day I had asked the kind lady who owned the orphanage when I had come from, out of childish curiosity. She merely told me she found me slumped over in an alley way, in quite bad condition; possibly from a beating or a nasty fall. I was at least 11 years old, then, and I wasn't to sure how long it had been. Anything and everything before that was a really bad blur.
I was still sweating badly when I got home and my mind was still scattered badly. I had gotten very little work done before my boss said I should go home. I wearily slid the key into the lock and started the push the door open when I fell unconscious and ended up pushing the door open with the falling of my own body. I helplessly groped at the door to pull myself up, but all that happened was it moved a little further away and made a bizarre scraping noise. I slowly faded from the real world and into one of total darkness.
I awoke to a feeling of someone's fingers in my mouth, as if they were looking for something. The hand moved from my mouth and was now making it's way up and down my body. But something didn't feel right. I tried to open my eyes, but things were still fuzzy. I looked up at the person stroking me but all I could see was a fuzzy silhouette and I heard, "Looks like he's starting to wake…" I let my head fall to the ground and stare at the door as my vision refocused.
I could see scratches on the door, as if an animal had been pawing at it. I moaned, but all I heard was a whimper. I got to my feet and felt the disorientation again. It was as if I was in my body, but I had been moved around a bit. I looked up and saw my wife looking at me with a perplexed gaze. I watched her hand come to my face and begin stroking me. "Are you okay?" she asked but the only thing I could do was try and groan disapprovingly. I hated it when she babied me, and she knew this. My groan came out as a low guttural growl and she screamed.
I can only assume she was holding a bag of groceries, because food fell to the floor and suddenly I was wide awake and something flooding my body screamed, "RUN!" and I did. I scrambled as fast as I could down the hall and down the stairs, skidding and sliding as I ran.
When I finally hit the street I stopped and looked around. From my rear I could hear what sounded like my neighboring tenants talking.
"It was a dog?"
"Yes, I'm sure of it!"
", And you found it laying in your doorway?"
"Right next to my husband's jacket and keys…"
"Did you find your husband?"
"No, not yet"
Part of me wanted to run as far away as I could, and the other wanted to turn around and shout, "I'm right here, honey, there's no need to worry!" But I ran anyways, seeking to get as far away from there as I could.
End Prologue
Author's Notes: It's a bit short, and it's a bit drawn out, I know. This whole thing was an idea I got around midnight and I felt I had to type it.