Well, I really hope ya'll like it. I'm still not 100% certain on Fae's appearance (wolf or human) so if anyone has any suggestions (clothing, markings, colors) I would absolutely love to hear them. Enjoy!
Wolf's Rain © BONES
Fae and other OCs © Redmoonfae
Chapter One: Fateful Meetings
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RrrrrrRRRrrrrrrr….CRASH.
"Oooo! My leg!"
It was unusually chaotic on this particular road in the south side of the city. It started out normal for young Alex on that fateful morning. He woke up late, as usual, and had to rush through getting dressed. He took only some toast with butter scraped sloppily on one side and headed out the door. By accident he put his helmet on backwards and had to stop to readjust it. By this time he was at least fifteen minutes late for his shift at the general store. He threw one leg over his bike and took off at a reckless speed down crowded streets. He had planned on being late, as he did every day. What he hadn't planned on was a crash encounter with a young woman.
And here he was now, his bike lying on its side, wheel still turning round and round lazily, the handlebars crooked, and the chain hanging off. A few feet away was a young woman flat on her bottom in the middle of the street, clutching at her leg as if in pain.
In his state of shock, Alex registered that she was a very pretty young woman. Still a teenager probably. She had long mid back length deep brown hair, side bangs obscuring one green eye now. She had on a pair of dark colored jeans that were really rather tight and left about an inch gap of midriff showing before her shirt started, which was a darker shade of green than her eyes. She had on a cut off jacket that ended just below her, ahem, bosom and was made out of some black material. At the moment, her pretty face was twisted in pain.
"Ooo…my leggg…" she moaned in a voice punctuated with suffering.
"Oh my…oh my God….I am…s-so sorry!" Alex stammered, kneeling down next to her. "Here lemme see…" he said, moving to pry her hands away from her leg.
'Oh, no no no no….it hurts too much!" she wailed. She was attracting quite a crowd. A crowd now murmuring about reckless bikers and lawsuits.
"Uhh…erm…I'm really, really sorry…I didn't see…I—please forgive me!" he pleaded with her, eyes desperate.
The crowd was dispersing now, on to their daily routines. A bike accident could only hold their attentions for so long. Soon the only two on the road were Alex and his victim.
"R-really, if there's anything I can do…really…" he continued.
The girl took one hand away and rubbed at her tear stained face.
"W-well…" she began, sob-hiccupping mid word.
"Name it!" he said, grabbing onto to any safety not labeled 'Law Suit.'
"No, I c-c-couldn't possibly…"
"Anything! Anything at all!"
And so this continued. While Alex was occupied with the girl and trying to get her to tell him what she would accept as apology, he failed to notice a small form streaking up behind him. It was a fox, incredibly enough, in the city. Its fur was a tawny red and brown color, darkening at the ears and down the legs and tail. Its eyes were an eerie dark blue color, most uncommon. It slow its pace as it drew nearer the unsuspecting human. Eyeing the bottom of the man's pants, the fox seemed to smirk as it saw a lump in the back pocket, a brown, squareish object protruding from it. The fox stealthily snuck up behind the man. Craning its neck, the fox took the tip of the wallet in its mouth and began to very carefully extract it from the pocket.
Alex felt a tickle around his bottom. He absently reached back to possibly swat away a fly when the woman took his hand into both of hers.
"I'm sorry, it's just…this has been such a horrible day for me!" she sobbed dramatically, clutching his hand to her chest.
"Uh….erm…it'll…uh…be ok?" he tried weakly.
And so he became distracted again. The fox rolled its eyes and pulled the wallet fully out of the man's back pocket. He peered around to the girl and gave her a significant look before turning tail and bolting away.
The girl's eyes flashed when she saw the fox run away. She suddenly leapt to her feet. "Oh my God! I just remembered, I left the stove on!" she looked at Alex with a pitying look. "I'm sorry, I'll contact you another time about the time of the court notice. I'll get everything settled, just wear something nice." She smiled and darted off after the fox.
Alex stared, dumbstruck, after the woman. "C-court hearing?" he moaned softly.
And so was the misfortunate start to Alex's day.
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"Damn, what a cheapskate!" Fae snarled as she tossed the wallet aside, shaking a mere ten dollars in her fist. "That was a star performance too…" she muttered under her breath.
"Do you even know what a stove is?"
Fae glared over at the fox sitting on a pile of crates, licking his paw absently and completely ignoring her glares.
"Why, yes, I do Kai. It's what I'll be cooking you in. Medium or well done?" she sneered sweetly.
The fox, Kai, snorted, flicked his ears, and continued to lick his paws.
Fae rolled her eyes and looked away. "Hmmm….well, there's not much we can buy with ten bucks…and I'm hungry." She added. She clutched at her stomach as she spoke. Fae's nose twitched and she turned her head to face down an alley way across from her. She smirked. "Hmm…sounds like Tsume's back from pillaging from the rich. Let's see if he wants to 'share' any." With that, she set off determinedly down the alley way.
Kai leapt off the box and ran after her, leaping to her hip and then onto her shoulder, wrapping himself around comfortably.
"One day he's not going to let your little 'borrowing' habits go." Kai said wisely.
Fae rolled her eyes. "If he hasn't figured it out yet and come after me, he isn't going to." Said Fae confidently.
"The only reason he hasn't done anything yet is because there's discord in his gang. He can't leave for an extended amount of time to chase down a 'dog.'"
Fae snarled dangerously, her once normal teeth now sharp fangs. "Do NOT call me that word."
Kai kept quiet.
She continued walking for another few minutes, until she heard running steps coming her way. She stopped and looked up at the buildings around her. Pulling Kai off her shoulder and holding him tightly, she back flipped onto the wall to her left, leapt to the one on her right, and repeated this process until she was on the roof of the left building. She put Kai down and laid on her belly, staring down at the four figures running down the alley.
"There's Gehl with him…wonder if he screwed up again…" said Fae thoughtfully to herself. Gehl had caught her once while she was trying to sneak away with some food. She hadn't wanted to kill him, so she had pretended to be just a hungry dog. It had wounded her pride greatly, but luckily Gille wasn't one for cutesy little names. He had tried to pet her though, at which she had growled warningly. Surprisingly, he had still given her a few cold hot dogs after that. It was then that she found it much easier to wheedle her way in through one of the insiders than sneak and skulk. Of course, she only did this when Tsume was away with other gang members or off by himself.
Soon Gehl had come to expect her and had some dogs or burgers waiting for her. He always wore a goofy grin when he saw her, which, she had to admit, was flattering. Usually when people saw her in her true form they were terrified and some even tried to attack her. It was annoying though, when he started trying to think of names for her. He had tried 'Fang' 'Fido' 'Mooney' and other horrible names for her. She had growled at him whenever he tried to call her over by any of those. Finally, he had settled on 'Belle' which meant 'beauty' in some language or other. At first she had growled at this name too, but he insisted on it and she did maintain a full belly. So she allowed it.
Problems began to arise when other gang leaders saw her. Some tried to smooch at her to get her to come or even tried throwing rocks or sticks at her, either for fun or to scare her off. Gehl had stood up for it and one of the older men had punched him for it. Well, it wasn't her fault that she had 'felt threatened' and nearly ripped the offending hand off. That's when things became rather difficult.
It was obvious Tsume had already known she had been around. He had caught her scent after a day or so and became territorial, making circuits around the supplies and the gang's meeting place, a large tree, to check for any signs of her. She had stopped showing up for a few days after that until he stopped being so paranoid. It was then she had decided to start coming as a human too. She had waited until a day when a gang member was bullying Gehl; he stalked off to sulk alone, away from prying eyes. Fae had made her move. She offered sympathy and kindness and received some in turn. She may have let slip that she was having hard times, what with her grandmother being ill and unable to work and Fae having to do everything on her own. She got a whole box of burgers for that one.
Luckily, discord had begun spreading through the gang. Some thought Tsume an unsuitable leader, others just wanted out. But these problems kept Tsume busy and he being busy meant he didn't have extra time to waste chasing after her.
Fae shook herself out of her reverie as the two gang members, Tsume, and Gehl stopped almost directly below her.
"Where's the fire? Can't we slow down a little, there's nobody followin' us." Said one guy with a helmet on.
"I know." Replied Tsume coldly.
"Haven't we got enough already? I mean, there's plenty to go around." Said another guy with fluffy hair.
"The provisions for the nobles are going to be passing through the check point tomorrow." Said Tsume evenly.
There was a collective gasp from the three humans.
"We're gonna hit 'em again?" asked Gehl incredulously.
Fae couldn't blame him for being surprised. From what he had mentioned of it a week or so ago, they had screwed up royally the last time they had tried it.
But a look from Tsume silenced all of them.
"Chen, Seto, you're in the advanced squad."
"Why does that not surprise me?" Said one with a look to the other.
"Yeah but, we messed it up bad there last week. Security's gonna be even tighter now. We lost two of us today as it is."
"Gehl, you're on standby. Anyone else who isn't willing to fight should get out now." Tsume said coldly. He turned on his heel and walked away.
The three humans stood stunned for a moment before hurrying off after him, making a turn and disappearing from sight. Fae snorted and smirked. If they were going again tonight that meant she had easy pickings from their already nabbed supplies.
Fae smirked and stood, brushing dust and dirt from her front. She turned to leave and stopped in her tracks. There in front of her was standing Tsume, hands on hips and looking very displeased.
"So. We finally meet." He said with a smirk in his voice.
Fae recovered from her surprise quickly. Kai's hackles were up and he was yowling at Tsume. Fae brushed at her stomach again to buy time; acting as though she didn't care Tsume was standing right there. In front of her.
"Well, it did take you one hell of a long time. I was beginning to think you didn't care at all." Said Fae nonchalantly, pushing her long hair over her shoulder. She sized him up shrewdly. Bigger, older, better fighter…well, she could always run. But she didn't want to resort to that. Running now would mean no more free hot dogs.
"As it happens, I do care when some snooping pup steals from me and listens to my conversations." He replied, voice adopting an edge.
"Seeing as how you must be blind and unable to smell, I'll let you know I'm not a pup. And if you really wanted to keep all that food, maybe you could've done at better job at guarding it and keeping it in your territory." She said coldly.
Tsume's form became more rigid. His lip curled to reveal very unhuman like teeth. Fae stood her ground but her heart jumped a little. Maybe insulting an alpha like wolf about his inability to guard his territory hadn't been one of her better ideas.
"If I were you pup, I'd clear outta here while I could still walk." He growled dangerously.
Fae stood up straighter too. "Me? Leave? Why not you, scar boy? I was in this city first. As far as I'm concerned, I've been pretty damn lenient with you being in my territory. So maybe you should take your own advice." Her voice had dropped low and she could feel her teeth poking uncomfortably into her cheeks and lips. Kai glanced up from beside her, pupils large. Fae gulped tightly. She couldn't back down now she was in so deep.
Tsume snarled loudly and advanced on her. Fae froze for a moment before leaping to the side. Her claws clicked on the top of the roof as she darted out of reach of Tsume's teeth, his jaws clamping shut in the exact spot her back leg had been a moment ago. They stood there glaring at each other, both snarling and sizing each other up. Tsume lunged for her again, jaws wide open. Fae stumbled back and snapped at his head as his lunge missed. Before either of them could attack again, a shout could be heard.
"TSUME!!"
It was one of his gang members shouting for him. Tsume was about to ignore it when the yell came again. He fixed his eyes on Fae's. "Next time I smell you in my territory bitch I'll make sure you remember this is my city." Staring at her for a second longer, he leapt off the building and sprinted toward the shouts coming from his gang.
Fae sank to the ground, shaking gently. She had never been in a real fight with one of her own kind in the whole of her life. For the first one to be with a wolf half her size larger and much more experienced in combat…Fae shook herself and stood, brushing off imaginary dust from the front of her shirt.
"Well…that was fun…" she said in a falsely cheery voice. "OW!"
Kai had leapt onto her shoulder and sunk his fangs into the soft flesh between there and her neck. He was very puffy and his eyes were sparkling. "You idiot! Did you even think for a second what you were doing!? I knew you were rash, but not SUICIDAL!" he snarled at her.
Fae glared back and turned her head away from him. "Nothing serious would've happened. You worry way too much. You sound like my moth—" the words caught in her throat. She cleared it and continued, "You sound ridiculous. I would've been fine."
Kai continued to glare at her but knew speaking of it further would only upset her more and therefore cause him more grief. He settled himself around her neck as she leapt from the building as well, setting off in the opposite direction Tsume had taken. She vaguely wondered what his gang had been shouting about. They sounded panicked. She shrugged it off, kicking at a rock in her path.
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"Is it depressing that the highlight of my day was nearly being bitten in half?" Fae asked absently. She dangled her legs off of the building she was sitting on, laying back with her hands under her head and staring up at the smoggy sky.
"Yes." Replied Kai.
Fae ignored him and continued to scowl at the sky.
She had decided it would be best to lay low for a while. Let Tsume think she was 'obeying' him. Let his guard fall. Then she would eat well again. She put a hand on her grumbling stomach and scrunched her eyes closed with a groan.
Her nose twitched. She sat up quickly, shaking her head hard to dispel the light headedness. She peered over the side of the building and to the right.
"Well would ya look at that…" she muttered to herself.
Down the road limped a white form. Fae had never seen this wolf in the city before so he had to be new. She snorted. Of course he was, walking around like that for the whole city to see. He passed underneath and continued to wind his way slowly through the streets. She waited a moment before standing and leaping from her building to the next, Kai tucked around her neck as usual. She followed the strange wolf from above, wondering where he was going.
Fae rolled her eyes pityingly. He must be deranged to wander around like this in broad day light; he was attracting a lot of attention. Fae's head snapped up and away from looking at the wolf. They now focused on a rapidly growing object. Objects really. She had never seen this man or his dog before. He had the smell of alcohol, discernable even from her stand point. His dog was black and menacing with a flashy spike collar. He was also carrying a gun. He stopped and locked it.
Finally the white wolf stopped and looked around at the man in surprise. He turned to face them. The man still held the dog's leash tightly in his hand; and he was taking aim. Wow this wolf was dumb. Fae's lip curled dangerously. Without a second thought she leapt from her building, claws clicking on the ground. The man had passed beneath her and had gone half a block down. It would be close. She poured on the speed, legs blurring. Her eyes focused only on the man. She could see his finger tensing, his shakiness ease…
BANG
The bullet missed by six and quarter inches. It left a black burn mark in the ground. The man looked shocked, not having realized what happened. Fae was still leaning against his legs where she had run against him. The white wolf looked shocked, staring. The black dog recovered first. With a furious snarl it had opened its jaws, lunging for Fae. And then a tawny red form leapt off Fae's back and scrabbled at the dog's face. It yowled in surprise and pain as it fought to scrape the offending thing off.
"Why you god damn--!" the man snarled. He had finally snapped out of it.
Fae didn't give him a second chance to aim. She took off full tilt toward the white wolf and slammed into his shoulder.
"Would you PLEASE move your ass!?" she snarled at him, her lips curling and eyes rolling.
The white wolf's lip curled in return, but when Fae took off down the street and took a right down an alley he was right behind her. Fae could now hear the sounds of the dog's noisy chase. She could hear the distant yells of encouragement coming from the man too.
She took rights and lefts down alley ways without paying attention, blood still pumping. She knew the white wolf was still behind her, his wounded leg barely hindering him. Finally she slowed down to a trot, glancing behind her a few times. Soon she was walking. The other wolf said nothing.
They were nearing the end of another alley way, a few people passing through the road beyond. Fae sighed and rubbed her head tiredly, a steady headache building up.
"So what the hell was with that little stunt you pulled? Trying to prove something or what?" she said disapprovingly.
To her surprise, the wolf growled. "What stunt? I was just walking."
Fae's brow rose in disbelief. "Like that? That's a good way to get shot. Oh wait, you almost did." She said matter-of-factly.
"I'd rather be shot while I still had my pride then living in this god awful place without it." He growled back.
Now her temper was beginning to nip at her heels. "And what the hell are you insinuating? You talk pretty big for someone who was just nearly killed." She snapped.
"Better to be dead than to be living like a mangy dog. Don't you have any pride as a wolf?"
Fae glared at him. Her lip curled up to show pointed fangs. "You better watch your mouth. What's the point of having pride if you're killed because of it? I'd rather do what I can to keep living so that I can keep on having my pride as a wolf!" she was nearly shouting by the end.
The white wolf stared at her, momentarily not growling at her anymore.
Fae glared at him for a minute more before snorting and sliding to the ground to sit and rest against the building wall. The white wolf stayed standing, his fur still on end. He glanced back behind him, ears perked.
"You can stop worrying so much. I think I know this city a little better than some drunk trigger happy lunatic and his dog." Fae snarled at him. "Or does me not wanting to be shot for being a big headed idiot mean I have no sense of direction?"
He didn't answer but he sat down, ears still perked for any sound. He stared at her. It was starting to piss her off.
"Can I help you with something?" she snapped.
"Where is that scent coming from?" he asked.
Fae blinked at him confusedly. "What? The sickly rotting smell? Look, I can tell you're not from around here. So let me tell you something. You're in a city. With a lot of humans. Of course it reeks." She said slowly, as if speaking to someone very young.
"Not that. The smell of lunar flowers." He replied evenly.
Her heart stopped. Then raced away with any come back that had been poised on her tongue. Her eyes widened slowly and stayed that way. Then she shook her head impatiently, rubbed her temple, and she was fine.
Well.
"I don't know what you're talking about. This is a city. Flowers don't grow here, let alone lunar flowers." She said matter of factly, voice only breaking slightly on the word 'lunar.'
"You're lying. You've scented them before and now I do too. Where is it coming from?" he started to sound angry and almost…desperate?
"Look! I haven't smelt those flowers in years! And when I did I was more than delusional with exhaustion, so it was probably nothing. You're wasting your time if that's what you're here." Her tone was snappish and strangled. Guh. She was sickening herself.
"Just tell me where you think the scent came from. You can remember." He seemed anxious. One paw lifted off the ground and then returned then lifted again.
Fae sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. But if there's nothing there, which there isn't, don't blame it on me." He was getting aggravating. And she knew where the smell was once the strongest. Since then she hadn't been able to smell it at all.
The other wolf's eyes flashed when she said she would take him. And then his ears were up and he was whirling around with teeth bared. And Fae was leaping over him and snapping at the air where his muzzle had been a second before. Kai slowed his break neck pace toward the pair when he saw the danger.
Fae's tail was straight up as well as her hackles. Her teeth were bared and a soft growl resonated from her throat toward the other wolf. The white wolf saw his mistake and backed down, relaxing into a calm position.
"Sorry."
Fae snorted and relaxed, shaking herself. She stood and rubbed her temples again. This guy was giving her a headache. "Alright. Let's go. It's pretty far and I don't want to be out all night."
Kai leapt onto her shoulder as she set off to the end of the alley where a few people were still passing. She stopped when she heard clicking claws. She turned with a sigh to face her new 'acquaintance.'
"Look. You're not going to get within three miles of the place looking like that. I know it's apparently against your morals or something, but if you want to come, you have to blend it. Got it?" her tone was exasperated.
His yellow eyes glowed with mutiny and he didn't answer.
"Either that or I'll have to find a leash and you have to start answering to 'Fido.'" She snapped.
He growled softly at that. And after a moment of deliberation, a young man with shaggy black hair and light blue eyes was standing in front of her. His faded jeans were ripped and bloody in a patch on his left thigh, the exact area where the white wolf had been bleeding from.
Fae nodded approvingly. "Alright. Much better. Now we can go."
She started off again, her companion limping lightly behind her. They traveled in silence. Most people kept their distance. Some instinct unknown to them made them curve out of their way unconsciously to avoid the wolves in their midst. It took roughly two hours of walking to get to the complete opposite side of the city. Fae rarely came here. It was harder to blend in with these uppity ups. Thought she bet they carried more than ten dollars in their wallets.
Finally they reached a huge building with a mountain of stairs leading up to it. Armed guards stood on either side of the doors, senses lazy from lack of exercise.
"Well, here we are. As long as you keep up the costume they won't suspect anything. Just say you're part of the cleaning team. They won't question you and they don't carry IDs. Not worth their time to check cleaners I guess. Just lay low and don't go all wacko in there. The humans that work in their would just love a big wolf to dissect." She was rambling and she knew it. But this was the first wolf she had spoken too with little risk of her face being bitten off in many years. She couldn't help if it she was little lonely for some canis lupus companionship. She was a wolf after all.
The wolf, or man really, nodded his head, eyes intent on the building.
"Thanks."
He started making his way to the stairs.
"Wait!"
He turned around, eyes questioning.
"Uhhmmm." Now she just felt stupid. She shifted her stance. "What's your name anyway?"
"Kiba."
And with that, he turned around again and continued up the steps purposefully, any signs of a limp gone.
Fae watched him go wistfully. She would love to go with him and sneak around a lab like that. But she shook her head. She was too old to be chasing after pup tales even if Kiba seemed to think they were real. She turned and began to make the long trek back to her home turf. She heard a woman's light laughter. She looked over and saw a fancy couple heading her way. She smirked. Kai leapt off her shoulder and darted away behind a garbage can on the sidewalk. Fae settled herself against the wall of a building and sighed. She put her game face on.
"Ooooooo, my leg….."
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So?? What'd ya think? Good, bad? Better, worse? Please let me know! I'm dyin' here! I hope you liked it atleast. So, two of our dashing heros make their appearances. But wait…where are the other two? Keep reading sillys. R n R!
