"You want to know what I miss about the human world?" Hige asked into the darkness of the cave. He waited for the rest of his pack to reply, but they seemed to ignore him. Hige was always going on about things he liked about his human life and what he liked about his wolf one. Most of the things he said were responded with a grunt or a comment from Tsume about how he could miss such ridiculous things. Toboe seemed to listen though, seeing as the rest of the pack had more life experience than he had. Hearing Hige's tales about theft and sneaking into places was fascinating to the younger boy since he spent most of his life as a domestic animal. Hige eyed the younger boy before continuing. "The street vendors. I love all the things you can buy from them. One vendor can be selling weird, international food with bugs still in them, the next one over can be selling hand-woven scarves from the silkiest silk, and then the next one can be some raunchy magazine booth with dozens of 'men's interests' magazines." Hige blushed and giggled to himself, remembering the magazines he had taken from the booth before.

Toboe tilted his head to the side and asked, "What do you mean 'men's interests?'"

Hige stopped giggling and cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'what do you mean?' I-" The orange haired boy paused, then smirked. "I forgot, you're a younging. Of course you wouldn't know what men's interest is. You aren't even a man."

"I am so a man!" Toboe retorted, pursing his lips together in anger. He hated being called runt, pup, and kid, but he couldn't exactly grow out of it, seeing he would always be the youngest of the group.

Hige let out a 'pfft' before saying, "What are you, thirteen?"

"I'm fourteen!"

"Exactly! You're not even close to be man-"

"You're not a man yourself, Hige, so stop acting so tough." Tsume interrupted, eyes still shut as he sat against the cave wall.

Hige balled his hand into a fist, yelling,"And what makes you a man? You wear tighter pants than any girl I've seen!"

"It's called style, something you apparently failed to pick up on when you lived in the human world." Tsume opened his eyes to look Hige's baggy, pastel blue pants.

A slight blush grew onto Hige's face as he said,"Excuse me if I focused more on practical use than 'style.' I didn't have a gang to provide my lifestyle. Sweatpants are warm for the nights I couldn't get a bed and loose which makes running away a lot easier unlike those skin-bound things. I wouldn't dare put anything on that would risk a tear by bending over to pick up something."

"You're too big for tight clothes anyway... Porky," Tsume replied, baring a smirk at the fuming carrot top. He opened his mouth to say something back to Tsume when they heard:

"Shut up and help me with fire." Kiba snapped, now sitting up and glaring at the two wolves. He got up and grabbed a log, tossing it into their small fire. Hige stuck his tongue out at Tsume before grabbing some dead weeds beside him throwing it into the fire. Toboe watched Tsume stand up and stroll over to flames. He sat down near Toboe before blowing into the new log. As his breath blew, they watched the orange haze grow and spark into it's own fire.

Hige wiggled closer to fire, smiling. "Mmm, warmth. Makes me miss heaters." He grinned and leaned towards Tsume. "You can't even deny that you miss heaters." He wiggled his eyebrows in a funny manner, gaining a chuckle from Toboe.

Tsume crossed his arms and said,"I lived in an apartment with no electricity, no bed, nothing. Heaters weren't exactly a luxury I got to enjoy while I was on the run."

Hige pouted, "You're such a kill joy."

The group became silent as they stared into the fire which grew a bit higher, giving off even more heat. Hige wished fire couldn't burn flesh (or fur), so he could jump in the middle of it and just roll around in the cozy warmth of it, especially on a cold night like tonight. The thought of warmth on a cold night reminded him of another thing he missed.

"Want to know what else I missed?" He asked. He earned a groan from Tsume who placed his head into his hand, a grunt from Kiba who merely poked the fire with a large stick, and a curious facial expression from Toboe. A sneaky grin spread upon his face. "Kissing pretty girls." He said through his smile, giggling more at the thought of pressing his lips against a woman with a nice body.

Tsume sniffled and smirked a little. "Okay, that's something I can understand, although I don't particularly miss it."

"How can you not miss it?" Hige asked, shocked that his fellow man could deny such a wonderful act. "The soft lips, the warm breath, the spark that flowed between as passion grew... spectacular!" He dramatically fell over in fake pleasure. Toboe laughed at the older boy's behavior, even though he didn't know what it felt like to kiss anyone. The closest thing to kisses was when he would lick Granny's face after she fed or played with him.

Hige's eyes drifted over to Kiba who still gazed into the fire. "How about you? Was there a little lady wolf that you had the privilege of kissing?"

Kiba's focus lifted from the fire to Hige, but he continued to poke the fire. "No. I haven't kissed anyone."

"Really?" Hige queried, finding it weird to have never kissed a girl.

"If you remember, I've been alone since I was a pup. It's sort of hard to kiss a non-existent person," Kiba replied, eyes falling down to his own lap.

"So you've never kissed anyone?"

"No."

"And nobody's kissed you?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to be kissed?"

"Maybe."

"How about now?" Kiba's head shot up with eyes widened, staring at the carrot top who simply smiled.

"What?" Kiba asked, blinking a few times. He was obviously thrown off by the younger boy's question. Tsume cocked an eyebrow in interest of what would happen next.

"I asked 'how about now?' I could kiss you so you can see how it feels like." Kiba's eyes widened more. "Stop looking at me like that, I'm not going to make out with you, just a simple kiss." Hige scooted his butt closer to Kiba, who let his eyes relax as the boy neared him. "All you do is lean close..." Hige leaned near Kiba's surprised face, but Kiba followed suit. "Lick your lips..." Both did it. "And press..." The boys pressed their lips against one another for probably less than a second before Hige pulled back. He smiled large and said,"And that's it! Of course, it's a ton better when you kiss a pretty girl you like."

"Kissing anyone but you would be better," Tsume snided.

Hige growled at him, but returned his attention back to the alpha. "Anyway, sorry to make you feel weird."

Kiba felt heat flash onto his face before turning back to the fire. "It's fine... but, thanks."

Toboe raised his hand and said, "I've never kissed anyone..." He trailed off when Hige looked at him.

"And what do you expect me to do about it? I don't kiss people younger than me," Hige stated, sliding back to his previous spot and closer to the fire.

Tsume stared at Hige with hard eyes. "Is that a human or wolf rule?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yeah. Do you even know how old Kiba is?"

Hige paused and turned to Kiba. "How old are you?"

Kiba mumbled, "Seventeen."

Hige snapped back at Tsume and yelled,"Seventeen! I'm sixteen, it's perfectly fine."

"You're sixteen? No wonder you're so immature. First, you tell Toboe here that he's not a man, but you're only two years older than him and to deny him of a kiss because he's younger than you is completely and utterly human of you." Tsume concluded, sneering at the younger boy.

"I'm not going to kiss him! I don't kiss people younger than me." Hibe insisted, crossing his arms and turning his back to Tsume. Toboe merely frowned at their arguing, but appreciated that Tsume was somewhat defending him.

"As a wolf, Toboe's old enough to leave the pack and go solo, attack and kill prey, and even mate. He could mate with anyone older than him, just like I could mate with anyone younger than me, even a wolf as young as Toboe," Tsume continued, knowing he was getting on Hige's nerves.

Hige whipped around, proclaiming, "That's disgusting! Why would anyone want to be with someone younger than them?"

Tsume barked,"Even your word choice is human. Wolves don't "get with" each other, we mate. And often the younger they are, the more longevity they'll have for reproducing. That may not be the case for Toboe, but he's entitled to something as simple as a kiss if he's mature enough to mate."

"I highly doubt he even knows what we mean by 'mate,'" the carrot top said, taunting the younger boy.

"You mean sex," Toboe interrupted, staring at Hige.

His smile faded into a quick frown before saying, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm not kissing you."

"Fine! I wouldn't want to kiss a human anyway!" Toboe threw back, surprised at his own bold choice of words. Hige's eyes flashed rage, but before he could do anything, Tsume grabbed Toboe's wrist and pulled him into his space. "Tsu-?" His sentence was cut off by Tsume's lips pressing against his. Toboe felt his heart flutter for a moment, but lost it when Tsume pulled away.

"There. A kiss." Tsume turned towards Hige who looked with an atonished face. "Was that so hard?" Hige opened his mouth, then shut it. He faced the fire and blew into it, his way of ignoring his defeat. Toboe felt his face flush with happiness knowing Hige was put in his place.

After a few hours, the fire died out. With that, the boys all went to sleep. Toboe lied down near Tsume, but placed his back to him, not wanting him to know he was purposely trying to get close to him. Toboe felt a bit closer to Tsume after he kissed him, mainly that fact that he thought of him as a man and not only the "runt" of the group. He smiled briefly to himself before he heard a quick mumble.

"Toboe."

His eyes widened as he whispered back,"Yeah?"

"Come." He rolled over to his side to see Tsume staring right at him. "Come." He repeated. Toboe crawled towards the gray wolf, laying a few inches away from him, unsure about Tsume's intentions. His eyes briefly fell over Tsume's exposed midriff. He felt hands wrap around his arms, pulling him into Tsume's space. Toboe was now nose-pressed against Tsume's chest scar. "Look at me." Toboe looked up, meeting a soft pair of eyes instead of the usual cold set.

"Even as the runt of the group, you're still a man. Ignore the bullshit that comes out of Hige's mouth, he's immature and moronic, got it?" Tsume stated in a hushed tone, trying to keep his voice low. Toboe quickly nodded. "Don't take that kiss seriously though. I'm not interested in you like that."

Toboe blinked, appreciating the gesture, but felt the need to ask. "Why did you kiss me then? If you thought of me as a man, there was no need to do it."

Tsume stared down at the younger boy and let one of his hands thread through the boy's hair. "I just don't put up with idiots who are all talk, no action." The older man let his fingertips glide down the boy's scalp. Toboe felt a shiver when it hit near the nape of his neck. "If you must put a signifigance into it, take it as a sign that I care about you. Nothing more." He dropped the hand that was woven in the younger boy's hair and was about to turn over to the side when he was grabbed by his shoulder. Tsume whipped his head back in annoyance. He was met with a pair of dry, warm lips. His eyes widened as the lips pulled away.

Toboe looked up at the gray wolf and smiled. "I care about you too." It was that innocent statement that gave a Tsume a quick smile before turning his back on the boy.

So naive, so oblivious.