A/N: Not my wolves, flower maidens, or humans in badass long coats. Why Mei-Mei instead of a Japanese (or Russian, if we're going to go with the in-universe written language of choice,) equivalent? A: I'm not good with honorifics. B: Poetic consonance. C: If I may misquote a certain ninety-pound girl who can take out mean old men if she has to, "Sue May is a girl's name." Don't worry, you don't need to know Firefly, but you know there's a little Captain Tightpants inspiration behind this. (You were expecting maybe a Sue - er, OC?)
"I think I'm in love." - Toboe, episode 7
Cheza was like the little sister Tsume had never wanted, never asked for. She was so annoyingly fragile, so embarrassingly sensitive, and so damned delicate that the gray wolf didn't know how she breathed without breaking. In a world where he'd learned that only the strong, the tough, and the cynical survived, she just smiled sweetly and proceeded to trample softly over his darkest expectations, completely oblivious to her impact on the wolves.
And on top of that, not only had she won Kiba's heart upon meeting them, but Toboe had declared that he was in love with her at the same time. The runt didn't really mean it, at least not like that. Toboe was young and naïve and in love with everything in the world and lusted for nothing. At least, not seriously. The kid was too young for that.
Damn it. The runt was jailbait, and he made Tsume feel like a bad, bad man at times. Well, worse of a man than he already knew he was. Cheza had opened Toboe's eyes to what Tsume couldn't bring himself to talk about, and the gray wanted to hate her for it.
The worst part was that he couldn't. Tsume didn't know if it was that voice that finally allowed him peaceful dreams of hunting in snow-covered plains instead of barely surviving through the perilous concrete jungle, or that scent that was nearly enough to make the gangster want to go straight, or that gentle hand that stroked so softly against his head, back, and chest, no matter how presumptuous Tsume thought its presence upon his fur was.
He wouldn't admit it, but Tsume couldn't blame the runt. The gray would have never asked for a baby sister. He would have never expected to love one as much as he had come to feel for Cheza. Kiba wouldn't have to worry about entrusting her to Tsume's watch, but he had better worry about being good to her. Toboe and Cheza were still sensitive, delicate, and purer than this world deserved, and Tsume would do his best to maintain what he could of that innocence. Such things were fragile, and precious beyond all dreams of paradise.