vampire1031 wanted me to put in my version of how Musaki met the wolves and I thought that I could do that. So, vamp, hope you like this one. Can't say it's not my best work, but at least I tried.

Friendship in Wolves

by: Terrell James

One day, Musaki wandered across the Wu Dan Mountains to do some yoga. Seeing as how much has changed in the last couple of years after being out of the orphanage, he figures that it's the best time to feel peace and a sense of stability by himself.

But sometimes, he feels as if he needs to find himself for who he really is and he's always had this feeling of an empty spaces stuck inside of him that just seems like it couldn't be full.

As he's trying to hone into his yoga, he suddenly hears some howling from a far distance. He opens his eyes and asked, "What was that?"

It suddenly stops and he thinks it was probably nothing and he got back on meditating to keep his mind focused. Then, there it goes again. The howling resumed and that definitely got his attention again. He stands up and wants to find out where it came from and who's howling.

"Who's there?"

Suddenly, he goes around some areas of the mountain to find where it came from and he hears the howling from a further mile away and he's getting closer to it and when he gets near it, he slowly crouches down and sees some wolves howling in the sky. And then there were three more coming in and he's never seen that many wolves before.

He backs slowly hoping that he wouldn't get caught or noticed, but then he accidently stepped on a twig and the snap of it suddenly gave himself away and caught the wolves attention as well.

"What was that?" one asked.

"Sounds like it's coming from over there." another one said.

"Hige, go check it out."

Hige, a grey wolf, 17 years old with black eyes looked at the others and turned to the forest and nervously asked, "Me?"

"Yes, you."

"What if there's a...a monster out there?"

"Don't be such a wimp."

"Kiba..."

Kiba, another grey wolf, 16 years old with white eyes, snarled at Hige and he quickly said, "Okay, I get the message. I'm going."

Hige walks across the other side of the forest, nervously thinking who it could be, but swallows his fear and lets out a growl to scare off the intruder. Meanwhile, Musaki's hiding on a tree branch hoping he wouldn't give himself away. But there was sweat coming out of his face and one drip out of his face fell down and landed on Hige's nose.

When he felt the drip, he slowly looks up and sees Musaki holding on to the branch and growls at him. Musaki looks down and seems extremely scared and asked, "Who are you?"

"Who are you?" Hige asked.

"I'm M-M-Musaki."

Then, Kiba and the other wolves surround the tree and Kiba asked, "Who did you find?"

"It's just a panda." Hige answered.

Kiba looks up at Musaki and asked, "What are you doing up there?"

"I was just..."

"Trying to stalk us?" one wolf asked.

"No. I just heard some howling and I wanted to find out what it was."

"Oh, that was me." Kiba answered.

"You could hear us?" another wolf asked.

"Pretty much."

Musaki suddenly gets himself down from the tree and landed on the ground, hoping the wolves don't bite him. Kiba then asked, "Where did you come from?"

"The Wu Dan Mountains."

"What were you doing at the Wu Dan Mountains?" growled one wolf.

"Meditating?"

"Toboe...easy."

Toboe, another grey wolf, 15 years old with red eyes simmered down a little bit and said, "Just who are you anyway?"

"Musaki."

"I'm Kiba and this is my pack...Tsume, Hige and Toboe."

"Nice to meet you guys."

"We've actually never saw a panda before." Tsume said.

"You haven't?"

"No. We always thought pandas are...fat and stuff."

"Well, I'm kinda small and thin, which is like the complete opposite of how a panda is born."

"That's true."

Suddenly, Musaki sees Toboe's eyes change to hazel and he was surprised on how it happened. He said, "Wow, how'd you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Making your eyes change colors."

"Toboe's eyes change colors depending on his mood. If he's angry, it's red. happy, green, sad, blue, depressed, grey and normal, hazel." Kiba explained.

"Wow. That's...interesting."

"Do you have a family?"

"I do actually. I've been adopted for close to three years now."

"With who?" asked Tsume.

"Grand Master Shifu, The Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior."

All four wolves gasped and said, "Shut up!"

"I'm serious."

"Did you know that I look up to these guys? We actually get to see the fights when we're looking at the mountains." Hige said.

"We tried to see them in person, but the entire valley didn't want us." Toboe explained.

"How so?"

"They thought that we were 'dangerous' and that our kind isn't welcome here and thought that our purpose is to kill and to us, that's just not true." Kiba added.

Musaki figures that these wolves felt like they had some sort of rough backgrounds in their lives and asked, "Did you guys have a rough past?"

"We all have a rough past, some rougher than others."

Later, they followed Musaki to their cave and explained their backgrounds that really made him think about how wolves really are. Toboe explained to Musaki about the necklace he had on and how painful it was for him to go through with his emotional guilt and also told him that his parents abandoned him when he was a cub.

"Wow. I'm really sorry to hear that." Musaki said.

"Every year, it still gets to me and I ask myself that question...why didn't they want me?" Toboe said, tearfully.

Then it was Kiba's turn.

"I just feel as if no one understands what we're about and they judge us for the wrong reasons and we're always sick of it because we can't trust the outside world because of who we are and and there are moments where I have to turn away from them because they're not trustworthy and they're worthless. We're all different, but we have the same feelings and they just don't get that." Kiba said.

"Sometimes I feel the same way." Musaki added.

"Well, my parents died after I was born by some random person and I've been all alone all these years. It kinda hurt me way inside that I was the only one suffering every year because of that." Hige answered.

"And you remember that after you were born?"

"It sticks with you and scars you for life."

Tsume was next to add and he said, "I've been harboring so much guilt and resentment towards the universe and how people mistreat us wolves and sometimes it kinda huts to know that someone would do something like that, like not accepting us wolves for who we are. We may look menacing, but we actually have feelings like everyone else."

"And you guys formed this bond with each other?"

"Kiba's the leader and we always follow him. He formed this pack and we always stick together no matter what." Toboe said.

"So what about you?" asked Kiba.

"Well, I was three and my parents were killed by Tai Lung and I was in an orphanage for 10 years and I start thinking what would happen after someone takes me in? I started feeling very insecure about how will accept me for me because I'm a skinny panda. Then, I get tormented by bullies every year because they look at me and see me as a freak and that really hit me harder. I just felt like I wanted to die and that I shouldn't exist, but then as I grew older, I started to realize that some won't accept me, but I like myself for myself and in the end, it just makes me who I am. And I got adopted when I was 13 by Master Shifu and I was able to get that happiness back that had been robbed from me." Musaki explains.

"You've gotten through those types of things." Toboe said.

"Yeah, it still hurts to talk about it or remember it, but it kinda helps to let it out a little."

"I mean, you've gotten to where your life was dark and someone brought you out of the light and placed you in their world that you're just happy in." Kiba added.

"I owe these guys my life."

"Musaki...do you have any thoughts about us?" asked Hige.

"Are we threatening to you?" asked Tsume.

"Not really. I've always been told that you can't trust wolves because they'll literally bring you harm, but I guess talking with you, they were wrong and it made me change my opinion on wolves."

"Which means you're giving us a chance."

"I always do give them a chance. You can judge anyone that you don't know because you may not know what they're really about until you get to know them well."

"That's kind of the philosophy I live by. Accept them for who they are and not for what someone else thinks." Kiba added.

"I'll remember that."

For the first time, Musaki definitely feels like those wolves are his friends and he figures that wolves aren't as threatening as everyone else thinks and he definitely found himself bonding a new friendship with some wolves.

It ain't much, but I think it's a good one. vampire1031, I hope this impresses you. What do you guys think? Let me know and don't hesitate to read and review...if you're willing to risk being bitten by those wolves for those who don't.