I happened upon a blog post about Wolf's Rain, Kiba in particular. The author mentioned that Kiba couldn't completely hate humans, because he spared Gehl, even though he could have easily killed him. That got me thinking. And then I started writing. Hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Wolf's Rain and am not making any profit from this writing.
Italics are thoughts, bold are memories.
Kiba had meant to kill them all. Every last one of them, without a second thought. He could have done it easily enough – he killed two grown men in under a minute, the others would have fallen just as quickly.
But he didn't want to kill the child. Something stopped him, and he snarled when he should have lunged. He should have broken his neck like the others.
He didn't think of it as cruel. Compared to what he could have done, it was almost kind. They died almost instantly, they barely felt his jaws around their necks before they lost all feeling. Maybe it wasn't right, but it wasn't cruel.
He didn't think it would be cruel to kill the child. Humans slaughtered puppies without hesitation, so why should he hesitate to kill their young? It was justice, pure and simple.
Two wrongs do not make a right, Kiba.
Dammit, he thought, but he couldn't get past the voice in his head. He warned the child away with fearsome growls and bared teeth, cursing the heavens when the stupid boy froze in terror and refused to move. Then a man lunged in front of him – no, not a man. A grey wolf, disguised as a human.
Disgusting. He was outraged – how could this wolf throw his pride away and parade around as a human? But, at the same time, he was relieved for the distraction. The grey wolf ran, so he gave chase, and left the child behind. Alive and unharmed.
But the child came back. As they fought, that stupid boy raced in between them, brandishing a power tool like it was a weapon. As if he thought he stood a chance against a wolf. As if he thought a wolf needed his protection.
Don't shoot! Please!
He should have killed the child for his insolence. He had little intelligence, he would probably die without this grey wolf's protection anyway. He could kill him now, and save the world the trouble. It would be one less human to hunt wolves, to pollute the environment, to destroy their homes.
He could kill him with one bite. It would be painless. There was no reason he shouldn't just break his neck.
So why couldn't he do it?
Stop fighting! Kiba!
Why not?
His face melted away. Just for a moment, a little girl replaced the quivering boy. Dark hair hung in twin braids, framing an olive-skinned face. Tears shone in her brown eyes. He could almost feel her tiny hands grabbing at his fur.
Kiba!
Kiba!
Kiba!
He turned and ran. Away from the child, and away from the sting of his memories. He tried to think of an explanation for his cowardice, but he kept coming back to one word.
Mercy.
Thoughts?