Reality and Illusion

Disclaimer: Wolf's Rain is not mine.

Kiba had woken up to bright lights stinging his eyes; the smell of antiseptic filled the air. "Where am I?"

"You've just woken up from the simulation" the man in a lab coat told him.

"Simulation?" Kiba didn't quite understand.

"You volunteered to be a test subject for a project we've been working on. It's a simulation of a completely alternate life. It's as if you start out your life all over again, believing everything is real." The scientist explained.

"Wait, does that mean all the others weren't real?"

"That's the strange part, you were all supposed to have your own separate worlds, yet all of the subjects minds linked into one. That's never happened before." The scientist mused.

"So there are others who went through this?"

"Yes, though due to privacy policies, we aren't allowed to give you any names."

Taking all this in, Kiba for the life of him could remember nothing about this place, this new reality. He only knew that he was a wolf and searching for paradise. That had to be true still! He felt the same as he always had, yet when he looked at his own body all he saw was the illusion, the human. Try as he might, he couldn't see his true form, the wolf.

"I don't remember any of this." Kiba told the man.

"A mere side effect, don't worry I'm sure it will come with time, we'll find your address and send you home."

After that, Kiba was released into the world he knew nothing of. He followed the address the scientist had given him, to a bakery. When he entered, never in a million years did he imagine seeing her again.

The pretty girl with short brown hair was opening an oven to put a batch of cookies in when she heard the door open.

"Welcome!" She began with her cheery voice as she shut the door and turned to her visitor. The two people's eyes met one another for a long time, until finally she rushed to him. Her arms wrapped around Kiba, eyes streaming happy tears.

"I missed you so much! Two weeks without you felt like a century!" Her brilliant smile sparkled up at him.

"Myu? Is it really you?" Kiba asked, not believing his eyes. In the other world she'd been but a dead spirit. He'd felt so close to her then; never had he opened up to another like he had with her.

"Of course it's me, silly!" She giggled as she tipped toed and kissed him softly on the mouth. Kiba took his arms and embraced her back, leaning into her warm kiss. "Myu, I thought I'd never see you again." He whispered to her, this whole thing still feeling completely unreal.

Myu reached her hand out and stroked his hair, "You're home Kiba." She smiled tenderly as she kissed him once more.

"It has been hectic here without you! I needed my handy delivery boy so badly, not to mention my bed's been way too empty lately." She laughed as she released him and just simply held his hand.

Kiba stared at her, not really knowing what to say. Myu seemed to notice her boyfriend was slightly out of it.

"So how was the whole guanine pig for science thing?" She asked.

"I can't really remember much, of anything. All the things I did weren't real." He shook his head, "I'm sorry but you'll have to give me some time to get a hold of everything. I don't even know what my job is here."

Myu stared at him, worried frown on her face, "I told you not to go, but you said we could use the money. Which by the way, did they even pay you for being their lab rat?"

Kiba felt around in his pocket and pulled out two hundred dollar bills. "You know your health is more important than any amount of money. You're lucky it's just memory you've lost and not an appendage!" She vented, grudgingly taking the money he handed her and putting it away.

"As for what you do here, basically I bake, with occasional help from you, and then you deliver to people all around the city."

"That might get a little tricky with my memory fogged." He commented.

"Then I'll get you a map!" She laughed, "So your memory, does it remember anything about us?"

"Only little pieces from what they made me think what was real."

"You mean you sort of dreamed of me? Wow! I must be in there somewhere for you to have done that." She winked at him, making him blush slightly. "Well, I'm going to make another batch of cookies, you want to help?" She asked him.

"Sure."

The two love birds spent the whole day creating baked goods, filling the counters to the brim. When night came, Myu led Kiba upstairs where they had a cozy two bedroom apartment. It was a little different lying in bed with this strange yet familiar Myu; even more so when they made love. For her it was just like they'd been together for years, while for him it was like doing it the first time. Late into the night, Kiba told her everything about his other life he'd been living in the simulation. Myu listened intently to each word.

"So do you think everyone was real?"

"I'm not sure; I guess I'll never really know until I happen to run into at least one of them."

"So, do you miss it? Being a wolf I mean."

"With all my heart. I keep telling myself over and over again that I'm not one." His eyes looked saddened as he wished once more that he was a wolf again. It had been so real…

_O_O_

They opened the bakery bright and early, customers would come and go quickly, none had ordered a delivery as of yet. Things were going smoothly until Kiba looked up and noticed a familiar hungry face in the window.

"Hige!" Kiba yelled as he dropped everything and ran outside to greet his friend.

When Hige saw Kiba recognition set in immediately. The two friends embraced, both not believing the luck of finding one another. Kiba led his friend into the bakery, and introduced him to Myu.

"So you went through the same thing as Kiba? Nice to meet you!" She spoke, happy for her boyfriend that he'd found his friend.

"Where do you live?" Kiba asked Hige.

Hige's smiling face turned into one of reluctance. "Actually, they told me I was a bum living off the streets when they brought me in as a subject. So I've been scrounging, nothing unfamiliar though, right?" He chuckled bitterly.

Kiba felt horrible for his old pack mate. "You could live with us, we have an extra room. I'm sure we could use extra help around here, that way you could work too."

"I don't want to bother you two." Hige began.

"No, Kiba's right. We've room and need extra hands. Please, won't you stay Hige?" Myu asked him.

"Well, okay, as long as you two are both okay with this, and I promise I'll work off everything I eat!"

"That's saying a lot!" chuckled Kiba, making Hige blush. "So have you found anyone else?" Kiba asked him.

"No, you're the first." Hige replied, his mind wandering to Blue.

_O_O_

As it so happened, Blue had indeed been real, along with Quent. They had been father and daughter. Unfortunately, Quent had died due to unknown reasons involving the simulation. When Blue awakened, nothing was ever mentioned about her having a father. They let her leave with the knowledge of having no family and being destitute.

When she was out into this new reality, she didn't know what to do. When she was approached by a man offering her a job along with a place to stay, she couldn't say no. When she found out what type of work he'd meant, the old Blue would have walked out immediately. Yet having no family, friends, or a home, what did it matter?

_O_O_

Tsume and Toboe had been luckier. When Tsume had awoken he was told that he was a motocross racer, and had an address in the nicest part of town. When he was walking out, he ran into Toboe right away. The pup had been sitting on the side walk when Tsume grabbed him and lifted him off the ground into his arms. Embracing each other, Tsume noticed something off about Toboe, it involved his plump set of melons.

"You're a girl?" The surprised Tsume exclaimed.

"I was just as surprised as you were! They told me I had probably subconsciously blended in with the rest of you. Can you believe it?"

"Well, this makes what I've wanted to do a lot easier." Smirked Tsume as he bent his head and roughly kissed Toboe; in turn Toboe greedily kissed him back.

"Tsume, do you know how long I've wanted to do this?" murmured Toboe as she continued her onslaught of kisses.

"Never leave my side Toboe, I want you with me, always." Tsume said.

"Yes!" Toboe exclaimed as Tsume started leading the way towards the address that was his home.

Toboe told Tsume how the scientists had explained he was an orphan, with no family to go home to. Toboe had waited outside in the hopes of seeing Tsume.

Tsume lived in an apartment on the top floor of a high rising building. It appeared that whatever motocross stuff he did for a living was a well-paying job. Everything a person could ever want was on hand in his place; from big screen T.V. to indoor hot tub. Toboe and him downed huge amounts of food, and then relaxed in the warm waters of the hot tub.

"Hey Tsume, do you think any of the others were real too?" Toboe had asked after the two had done some tender cuddling.

"Who knows, maybe." Came his, 'I'm more interested in you right now' answer.