"Sora slow down!" Roxas called after his brother, loping lightly in pursuit. He heard his sibling's answering laughter as the other barely slowed his pace. Today was the day the adults were going to finally start teaching them how to hunt and the whole pack was excited, the brown wolf most of all. Though he was sure Cloud was just excited about the prospect of more mouths to help with the hunt. He had to admit it had to be difficult for four adults to feed and protect six pups, but they did a great job considering the odds. Their pack consisted of their alphas Zack and Aerith, his and Sora's older brother Cloud, Tifa, Pence, Olette, Hayner, Kairi, and of course Roxas and his brother Sora. His mood dropped a little when he recalled that it didn't used to be just them, their pack had been larger, but because of the human's hatred for them their numbers had been dwindling rapidly.

His eyes inadvertently turned to stare at another blond wolf striding along beside him as he thought of the pack's most recent tragedy. A few weeks ago they had lost Hayner's mother to humans trying to catch them. She had distracted them by running into their midst to give everyone else time to move to another one of their den sites, but ended up getting shot when one nervous human succumbed to his fear. Hayner had been distraught and still hasn't fully recovered from his grief. In fact since then they've had more run ins with the neighboring pack because the blond wolf was channeling his grief into anger. Roxas just hoped that learning to hunt would be a far better distraction than antagonizing their neighbors.

The blue eyed wolf blinked when he noticed that Hayner had started staring back at him curiously, mouth opening in the beginnings of a question, but before he could say anything they had arrived at the clearing Zack had instructed for their first lesson and Sora pounced on his sibling practically howling in his excitement. Inwardly thanking the energetic wolf for his interruption Roxas wrestled with the other for a moment, the others watching in amusement before they heard rustling in the bushes. The six pups froze, Sora scrambling off of his brother as they all stared warily into the forest. Though Roxas's eyes narrowed when he noticed who had stuck their head into the clearing. Hayner obviously did as well because his hackles had raised, the group watching unhappily as Seifer and his two pack mates practically sauntered into the clearing.

"What do you want Seifer? You know this clearing is in our territory," Hayner growled as he stepped forward, ears laying flat against his head. "That may be so pipsqueak, but you lot are making enough noise to alert the whole forest of your position," The pale blond wolf replied stepping forward as well, not one to take a challenge laying down. Roxas's eyes darted between the two hostile wolves, knowing that despite the size difference Hayner wouldn't hesitate to fight the older wolf. "Come on guys let's not fight today," Olette called worriedly from her spot just behind the blue eyed siblings. He understood her concerns, the older female didn't like fighting, especially if she could do something to stop it. Her words didn't seem to have much of an effect though as the two blond wolves just kept getting closer and closer, their words getting less territorial and more personal.

Though he was a little surprised to notice that his pack mates Rai and Fuu for once didn't seem to be eager to add their words like they normally did. Often whenever Seifer said something the two would echo him quite vigorously. What was even stranger was that Rai seemed to be placing himself in between Fuu and everyone else. Before he could begin thinking about the pack's odd behavior in any great detail he heard more rustling coming from the direction that they had come from. "Well look at what we have here,"A voice called out jovially as the four adults from their pack walked calmly into the clearing. Olette breathed a large sigh of relief and the other female pup Kairi trotted over to tell them what had happened.

Hayner tsked at the arrival of the adults, it becoming glaringly obvious that he wasn't going to get the fight he had hoped for. Ears back and expression clearly unhappy the young wolf backed out of the way as Zack walked up to stand toe to toe with Seifer. The blond wolf looked just as unhappy as Hayner since not only would they not be getting to fight, but they were hopelessly outnumbered as well. Roxas held no illusions that despite it having been six on three before that the older wolves would have been able to hold their own considerably well. "You must have lost a bit of your brains the last time you and Hayner fought Seifer because last time I checked it wasn't smart to bring a pregnant female into another pack's territory," The large black wolf said glancing over towards Fuu and back, causing Seifer to snarl.

This caused Roxas's head to whip around to stare at the female wolf in question, many of the younger members of the pack doing the same. He stared in surprise as he just noticed that her belly was a little rounder than the last time he had seen her. Her large half wolf companion noticed the stares as well and put himself further in the way so that she was barely visible behind his bulk, baring his teeth lightly at the young wolves. "No need to get defensive Seifer, we wouldn't do anything to hurt a pregnant female," Zack said reassuringly though Roxas was sure that it didn't make the other pack feel any better.

As he watched their alpha talking with Seifer the blond wolf's ear twitched when he thought he heard a rustle in the forest. That immediately put him on edge considering he knew that every wolf living in both territories was gathered in this clearing. When he heard another rustles he flinched and glanced around, noticing that he wasn't the only one who had heard it. Cloud and Tifa were both looking towards the sounds and though Zack was still staring at the other alpha his ears were twitching. Another noise like leaves being stepped on made Sora jump beside him and Pence's ears fall back nervously. Before too long both of the packs were on edge, every wolf backing towards the center, feud temporarily forgotten as they all looked for what made the noise.

The blond wolf felt his brother press against his side and he pressed back though his eyes were focused on the surrounding woods and what could be out there. His breathing was starting to get heavier and his nostrils flared as he felt panic beginning to set in. The young wolf couldn't help but jump a little when he saw movement only to see Zack creeping forward, body low to the ground. He saw Aerith whispering something to him, but he couldn't hear her and Zack merely swished his tail in response as he continued forward. Roxas watched tensely as the older male got closer and closer to the edge of the clearing, his muscles bunching in anticipation, of what he didn't know.

Roxas flinched when he heard a gunshot and suddenly everything was in chaos. He saw Zack jump away from the bushes, a hole in the ground from a bullet that barely missed him. There was no time to collect his thoughts though because several more rounds fired right after sending everyone running. The unnatural quiet that had befallen the clearing was shattered by both people and wolves. He heard howling as someone was hit and the screaming of humans as they charged into the clearing. His eyes widened when he saw Zack thrown back by the power of a bullet hitting his shoulder, though the black wolf staggered to his feet quickly before jumping on the man who had shot him.

Across the clearing he could see Rai defending Fuu from a man who seemed to have lost his gun and not far from them Pence and Olette darting through legs to avoid getting shot. He didn't even know where Kairi and Tifa were. Abruptly his vision turned yellow and he looked up to see his older brother Cloud standing in front of him. "Get Sora and run," The older male ordered sharply as he pushed Roxas into his brother who had been standing beside him just as frozen. The blue eyed wolf nodded dumbly from shock before he yanked on his brother's scruff to encourage him to run. It didn't take much to get the brown furred male to follow after him though getting out was going to be another story altogether.

Roxas didn't know where he was going, all he could think of was to get to the trees. Panting heavily he darted around a man, barely missing getting shot before another blocked their path. Both wolves skidded to a stop and probably would have ended up filled with bullet holes had Seifer not launched himself at the man and tore his throat open. The alpha barely glanced at them when he pulled away from the human, mouth bloody, before he ran full tilt back into the fight. Taking the chance the blond nudged Sora back to his feet and took off again. There were several more close calls as the siblings tried to get to the woods and they were almost there when an explosion erupted that shook the entire clearing.

Both pups were knocked to the ground from the sheer force of the explosion and they weren't the only ones, humans and wolves alike had been sent flying by the blast. What shocked the two most though was the body that had flown through the air to land covered in blood in front of them, it was Aerith. The chocolate brown wolf looked to be barely alive as she looked to the two pups in front of her. He could see her mouth moving, but could hear nothing coming out over the sounds of gunfire and before long she had exhausted what energy she had left. Roxas could only watched numbly as the life left her eyes leaving her staring blankly ahead. The young wolf couldn't stop the influx of memories about the kind she wolf as his eyes remained glued to her immobile body. He watched numbly as blood trickled out of her mouth and as her fur seemed to lose the sheen it always had.

She had been like a mother to him and Sora and watching her die rocked his world on its axis. He wasn't allowed to grieve though for they had been sitting motionless for too long and had become targets once more. Roxas didn't even realize that he had been shot until he heard Sora howling in his ear and felt the blood starting to trickle down his leg. Adrenaline now rushing through his system the blond wolf staggered to his feet as rapidly as he could before the two of them launched themselves into the forest just beyond Aerith's body. He yelped the first time he put pressure on his injured leg, but he couldn't afford to go any slower as they escaped the bedlam contained in the clearing.

Roxas could hear someone chasing after them, but even though he was injured they were still faster than a human on foot. He briefly worried about his bleeding leg, but it would take an experienced tracker to follow that and he was sure these humans were not at that level. Either way both wolves kept running as fast as they could, way past their breaking points. The blond vaguely noticed that they had crossed straight through Seifer's territory and into the forest beyond that, but he couldn't care. All he could focus on right now was Sora and his every slowing pace. Though as his pace slowed he began to notice his leg more and the pain brought with it.

Roxas watched through bleary eyes as his brother started getting farther and farther ahead, pain shooting up his leg for every step he took. He was no longer running, but stumbling along through the trees. Sora had noticed that he had fallen behind and was running back to his side worriedly. He knew the other was saying something, but it was like his ears had stopped working. In fact it was like everything had stopped working and the young wolf could feeling himself falling to the ground. He could do nothing as his vision started to get black around the edges, the world disappearing as he blacked out...


...Roxas jolted awake from the memory scattering dead leaves as he briefly panicked in confusion. He panted softly as he came down from his dream induced panic, his brother stirring beside him. "Wa' 's it?" The brown furred wolf mumbled softly as he was woken up from his sleep, trying to wake up quickly in case of danger, but it being obvious he was exhausted. "Nothing Sora go back to sleep," The young wolf replied tenderly as he looked over at his sibling.

It had been at least a month since the attack in the clearing and the two of them had been completely separated from their pack. After he had blacked out during their escape they had spent a few days hiding out in the strangely quiet forest to both let him recover a bit from his wound and to hopefully wait out the humans. They hadn't been heading home for long when they caught scent of humans creeping through the undergrowth and decided to head farther in. Unfortunately this area wasn't even in Seifer's territory so they couldn't just follow the border to their own and they had no idea what this area was like at all. They didn't even get why Seifer hadn't even tried to extend his territory into here considering they hadn't even run across any other wolves yet.

The two of them discovered the reason about a week into being there, there was barely any food. Not just prey for them, but even food for the prey. It was like the entire forest on this side of the territories was dead. What food they did find tended to be scrawny and barely enough to sate the hunger gnawing at their bellies. It didn't help that they hadn't even been taught how to hunt yet and Roxas's leg just slowed him down further so anything they did catch tended to be as near death as they felt. Not only that but anytime they even thought they heard humans the two bolted instinctively now and that only brought them farther into this unknown territory. Due to this the two young wolves were losing weight steadily, their fur starting to mat and lose its luster.

Despite being the injured one Roxas was finding that Sora seemed to be having a harder time out of the both of them. Part of it probably having to do with the fact that he let his injured brother eat more of their scant catches to regain his strength. Sora seemed to sense his sad gaze and gave the younger wolf a grin to try and cheer him up. The blond just shook his head lightly before he struggled to his feet. Sora was at his side instantly, trying to help steady the other as best as he could. "We should go look for food," The injured wolf said as he started limping away from their meager nest they had created for the night. There was no use sticking around one area if there was no food there.

"But Roxas, your leg...," Sora protested softly as he glanced down at the others right hind leg. They hadn't managed to pull the bullet out, Sora too gentle to hurt his brother like that and Roxas unable to reach it properly. Not only that, but the blond wolf was pretty sure it was starting to get infected as it didn't seem to be healing properly. "Doesn't matter Sor' we need to eat," The younger wolf replied with a shake of his head as he determinedly limped on. The brown wolf looked like he wanted to say more but he wisely shut his maw knowing that his brother would had none of it.

Instead he followed slowly after his brother as they padded off in search of food that they weren't likely to find, knowing the days ahead would be long and hoping that they would find their pack soon...

(Afterword: Alright I know it's written differently than the last time, but I hope this is just as good. It's been awhile since I've written anything ((The Kuroko no Basket one the first I've written in probably years)) so I hope it's not too bad and that you guys liked it. Let me know what you guys think ^^ I'll try to have the next chapter up soon I promise. Also there will be many pairings throughout the story not just Axel x Roxas and Riku x Sora, primarily gay, but some straight as well.)