TO ALL THOSE WHO DON'T READ BIOS: THIS STORY IS ALSO ON MY OTHER ACCOUNT! USER NAME: EBONY WITCH. I FORGOT MY PASSWORD! (I'm such a loser T-T) AND I'M NOT GONNA BOTHER SEPERATING THE CHAPTERS! TOO COMPLICATED!
Much love, Spring/ Ebony. Whichever
Prolog:
A black wolf wondered threw a thick blizzard, seeking shelter. His paws were numb and blood covered his face, dripping down from the new wound that ran across his face. His sides heaved with effort as he battled the cold winds that whipped at him and blew back his fur. He lifted his head and howled—long and mournful.
Then—an answering howl. A young brown wolf stepped out from behind a few rocks and looked at him. The brown wolf howled again. The black wolf looked at him and collapsed in the snow. The brown wolf's silver bracelets chimed as he ran to help the black wolf.
A gunshot. Both brown and black wolves turned toward the sound. A bullet pierced the shoulder of the black wolf and he yelped in pain. And the world was black.
CHAPTER 1:
When his eyes finally opened, the blizzard had passed and he was lying in a warm, roomy cave. His shoulder was bandaged. He looked around. Farther was a group of boys—wolves. He recognized one of them. The youngest—the brown wolf with the bracelets. He lifted himself up on his elbows. Toboe looked behind him. The black wolf had kicked a rock, and Toboe had heard. "Good morning!" Toboe greeted. He looked at the boy with the bracelets, but didn't say a word. Tsume turned around to look at him. "About time you woke up," he said. "Now we can get out. Let's go."
"Tsume!" Toboe called when Tsume and Hige started to leave. "Hai?" Tsume answered. "He's not ready!" Toboe answered. "Who said he was coming with us?" Tsume asked. Toboe stared at him, thunderstruck. "Tsume..."
"What?"
"He's hurt." "What's your point?" Tsume asked. Toboe's eyes blazed. How could he?! he thought. How could Tsume be so heartless?! "I'm staying here," Toboe said quietly. "What?" Kiba asked. "Find paradise without me. I'm staying with him," Toboe said more loudly. "Fine. Kiba, Hige, Haiyaku." Tsume swept out the door, followed by Kiba. Hige stood and watched Toboe. "You're really not coming?" he asked. Toboe ignored him. Hige looked out at the others. "They don't need me," he decided, sitting down next to Toboe. "I'll stay, too." "Hige!" Tsume called. "I'm staying here with Toboe. We'll catch up with you guys."
"What ever," Tsume mumbled. "Thanks Hige," Toboe whispered. "Forget it. Tsume and Kiba can take care of them selves," Hige replied, leaning back on a rock. "I hope we'll be able to find them again." Toboe stood up and walked over to the black wolf, who had pushed himself up against the rocks into a sitting position. "I'm Toboe!" he greeted. The black wolf didn't answer. "What's your name?" Toboe asked. The black wolf growled and backed off, dragging his bandaged leg. Toboe stayed back a minute. If this wolf attacked, injured or not, he would still over power him. Then Toboe smiled. "We're wolfs, too. So there's nothing to be worried about." Toboe inched closer to him. So far so good. The black wolf snapped at his paw. Toboe whined and hid behind Hige. "Hey! You can't do that!" Hige said. He pounced on the black wolf and the wolf dogged the attack, but came back at Hige with a bite to the neck. "STOP!" Toboe yelled. Both wolves ceased attack and looked at him. "This is not working! If we fight we're gonna turn out separated, then we'll never be able to find the others and we'll most likely all die of starvation. Can we at least try to get along?" Toboe asked. "Fine," Hige said, jerking his hand out of the black wolf's hold. The black wolf nodded. Toboe sighed. "It's a start," he said.
That night a storm blew in. Toboe sat at the mouth of the cave, away from the warmth of the fire and away from his companions. "Oy, Toboe. You okay?" Hige asked. Toboe nodded. "What's bothering you?" he asked. "What if Tsume and Kiba haven't found shelter, and their out in the storm?" Toboe asked. Hige sighed and looked at the black wolf. "You herd me tell him that those two could take care of them selves, didn't you?" he asked. The black wolf nodded. "You believe me, don't you?" Hige asked. The black wolf nodded again. "So why doesn't he believe me?" The black wolf shrugged. "Toboe!" Hige called. "Yeah?" Toboe answered. "Come here. You're gonna freeze. You sit there to long and we'll have to buy a chisel to separate your feet from the ground!" "Yeah, okay," reluctantly agreed, walking to the fire and sitting down at the fire. He looked back at the mouth of the cave. "Toboe," Hige sighed. "Uh huh," Toboe answered. "If you look back their one more time, I swear I'll snap your paw off. They're fine!" "Sorry," Toboe apologized. "How's your leg? Black?" The black wolf didn't answer. "Black?" Hige asked. The black wolf shook his head and pointed towards the door. "What?" "Yo, Hige."
"Blue?" The owner of the voice stepped out of the cave shadows. "BLUE!" Hige stumbled to his feet and Blue threw herself at him. They held each other for a few minutes. Then Blue noticed the lack of members. "Where's Kiba...and Tsume?" she asked, looking around the cave. "And who's that?" "That's—uh—Black," Toboe answered. "Black?" Blue asked. "Your name's Blue, why can't he be Black?" Toboe asked. "Besides," Hige added, "he won't tell us his real name."
Blue knelt down beside Black and put a finger under his chin. A low growl filled the otherwise silent cave.
"Not very friendly, is he?" Blue asked, backing off wearily.
Black looked around the damp cave. Darkness spilled through the mouth and consumed their hide out. He prodded at the glowing embers, remnants of what had once been a roaring fire and, reluctantly, he remembered.
A female voice had called out his name.
He had turned to greet her, smiling.
She ran to him and threw herself in his arms, her long blonde hair trailing after.
He looked down into her shining blue eyes and she had whispered, ever so quietly, "Don't leave me here."
He looked back at the town they had grown up in and took her wrist, pulling her gently after him as they left the frenzied villagers to put out the fire that swallowed their home.
That night, they had hid in a cave, much like the one they hid in now. She slept, her head in his lap, as the night wore on, hour after hour.
A stale smell filled his nose and slowly he opened one eye. His ears pricked and he suddenly, he was wide-awake—the drowsiness from only seconds before pushed out by the substance filling the cave.
He shook her awake and pushed her against the wall, motioning for her to be quiet and stay where she was.
He crept up the back entrance, pressed against the cool black rock, silently following the smell.
The voices he had heard earlier were suddenly clear as a bell as they echoed through the cave.
"We'll get 'em this time—and when we do—." A hollow laugh and smoke came threw the mouth in waves.
He chocked back a cough.
"And if the smoke doesn't get 'em," a second voice added, "The fire sure will!"
His eyes grew wide with terror and he ran back to where he had left her.
"What's going on?!" she asked, coughing in between words.
He grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward the front of the cave. She shielded her eyes from the smoke as they ran. The smoke thickened with each step they took.
A gunshot echoed through the cave, bouncing off the walls.
He turned and pulled her in the opposite direction. They ran for a few minutes in silence. Finally, he pulled her into a small chamber and threw her down. The chamber, at the back of the cave, was untouched by the smoke.
He pushed a large boulder in front of the entrance, to keep both smoke and hunters out, then returned to her. She had propped herself up against the cool granit rock. They were both breathing hard from the chase.
In the sand he wrote, "It's okay, Sirus, they can't get us in here."
She smiled and looked into his brown eyes, took his hand and placed it on her chest.
A slippery substance covered the left side of it.
"Black?"
The black wolf snapped back into the present. He looked up into the gleaming brown eyes belonging to Toboe, standing over him, beaming like a child on Christmas day. "Have a nice rest?" he asked
Black looked up at him, clueless, from his spot on the cave floor. Had he dozed off? He was defiantly sitting down about five seconds ago.
"Are you listening to me?" Toboe asked.
Black shook his head and got to his feet, looking around for Hige.
"He and Blue went down to the lake," Toboe explained. "And you don't know where the lake is, I think, so I waited for you."
Black put a hand absentmindedly on his head as he walked past him and out the cave entrance, Toboe slipping and sliding after him.
"Wait!" he called, falling face first into the mud. "Stupid rain," he muttered, hoisting himself up on his arms.
Black shook his head in shame and heaved Toboe up by the collar of his shirt. He swung the young wolf effortlessly over his shoulder like a sack of feathers.
"Hey!" Toboe objected. "I can walk!"
Black ignored this remark and continued down the hillside toward the lake, Toboe playfully kicking and screaming all the way.
Chapter 2:
Water extinguished the already dieing fire. It hissed nastily before reluctantly giving in.
"Okay," Hige confirmed, putting the bucket back where he had found it: perked up against the wall in the depths of the cave. He took Blue's wrist and looked blindly out at the others before finally announcing that it was about time they left.
"But it's wet!" Toboe complained.
"And you're point?" he asked.
"I...don't wanna get wet," Toboe answered silently.
Hige sighed and shook his head in disgust. "Toboe, you're a wolf," he started, "wolves are wild animals. Dogs don't wanna get wet. Wolves love the rain!"
"Whatever you say," Toboe muttered, following Hige and Blue out into the cold, wet beyond.
Black watched them disappear as they rounded the bend, and sat down heavily on the floor of what they had called home for three days. He buried his head in his knees and listened as the footsteps went further and further through the snow.
"Are you coming?" Toboe asked, poking his head back into the cave. "Or do you not wanna get wet either?"
Black shifted somewhat so he didn't have to look at Toboe.
"Black?" The young wolf stepped gingerly into the cave and closer to his pack mate. "You okay?"
The black wolf stared angrily at the pup. A low growl filled his throat and his upper lip curled to reveal gleaming, deadly fangs. Toboe stepped back, alarmed. "Black?"
The older wolf lunged himself at Toboe and sank his teeth into his front leg.
The brown pup shrieked in pain and surprise.
The black wolf stood dangerously on top of him, teeth still bared to the fullest. He lifted a paw in warning; a warning, which Toboe took as "Get the hell out of here and don't come back!"
He jumped to his feet and sprinted out of the cave, holding his left arm and shaking slightly in terror. "Hige!"
Black quickly snatched up his bag and ran to the back entrance. He hurriedly dug out the small rocks that had gathered there just as Hige came running in, threatening to kill him. He leapt out the hole and jumped on top of the cave, ducking low to hide his presence. Hige burst through seconds later, panting angrily, fists raised, teeth bared.
He looked around the deserted grounds and called out, "Yeah, you better run! If I ever catch you near him again, I'll rip you're eyes out!"
His ears and tail dropped, and Black thought he heard what could have been a muttered, "and I trusted you with my life," as he walked back into the cave.
On his elbows, he edged slowly to the front of the cave, close enough to see the group, but far enough not to be spotted. His black coat didn't do much in the way of camouflage, either.
Hige emerged out of the cave. Toboe ran to him, still clutching his wounded arm, which Blue had rapped up with her orange scarf.
"What did you do to him?!" He asked eagerly.
"Nothing. I couldn't find him," Hige answered, looking down at his shoes.
"He didn't mean it! He was out of control! He couldn't—what?" Toboe asked.
"I said I couldn't find him. He had already gone. That coward."
Toboe let out a sigh of relief. His ears pricked up. "What do you mean coward?" he asked angrily. "He's as brave as any of us."
"You give him to much credit," Hige mumbled.
Five days had past since Black's attack on Toboe, and the small group had managed to catch up with Tsume and Kiba.
They wondered recklessly through the golden gates of the city Pershuva, looking for food and water.
"I'm starving," Hige muttered, falling on his knees on the gold-paved street. His stomach growled loudly. "See?" he added. "My stomach's talking to me. It's saying, 'Feed me Hige! I'm dyeing!'"
"Shut up, Hige," Tsume commanded. "We're all hungry and you're not helping."
Kiba stopped.
"What?" Tsume asked.
"Where's Toboe?" Kiba asked, looking around worriedly.
Hige jumped to his feet. "TOBOE!"
"I'm over here!"
They turned their heads toward the voice. Toboe's head was peeking out of a silver doorway. "Look!" he exclaimed, "Food!" and held up a beautiful, golden brown apple pie.
"Toboe, get out of there!" Tsume called, running to him. "If you don't I'll rip up you're other arm! If someone catches you..."
Tsume froze in his tracks. A boy between his and Toboe's age stood behind him on the doorstep. He had brown hair and light green eyes.
"Toboe, run," Tsume said softly.
Toboe shock his head violently. "I'm hungry! No time to run! Anyway, he's okay. He said he'd feed us if we help him out."
"I knew there was a catch." Tsume walked into the house, followed shortly by Hige, Kiba and Blue.
"What do you want us to do?" Blue asked, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
"I need you to answer a question," the boy answered, staring at her, "and then I'll give you all the food you want."
"Shoot," Hige commanded.
"I'm looking for my dog—wolf, really. He's black, doesn't talk much. Mean looking, I guess you could say. But sweet all things considered."
Toboe straightened up. "Does he have a white paw?" he asked.
The boy nodded. "You've seen him?"
"That's Black!" Toboe said happily.
"He's YOUR dog?! Wolf?!" Hige said through gritted teeth.
The boy nodded. "What did he do?"
"Almost killed Toboe, that's what!" he snapped.
"What?" the boy asked. "No. He wouldn't..." he stuttered, looking sideways at Toboe. "Would he?"
"He didn't mean it!" Toboe snapped. "He was scared."
The group looked at him questioningly.
"Of what?" Blue asked.
"Of—of them."