Toboe turned the corner to see several large crows in his favorite spot in the city. Following his empty stomach, he growled and attempted to grab one in his jaws. The birds jumped into the air and pecked at his muzzle. They drove him back and he ran into a large cat. The cat hissed at him and he hastily ran behind the discarded old box that lay in the far corner of the square.
He peeked out behind to see the birds preening and staring at him. He backed up, his ears pressed against his head and stepped on something. He heard the small whine of pain that followed.
He jumped and turned to see a small black wolf pup in an ever-growing pool of its own blood. The pup looked up to see him and let out an excited yip. It tried to stand up to walk towards Toboe, but it abruptly fell over in pain. "H-help," the pup managed to croak out.
Toboe nearly went into panic. The pup had several shallow cuts across his muzzle and a number of deep wounds everywhere else. Toboe wasn't concerned with those as much. Half of his right flank had horrible burns and patches of fur singed fur. His left foreleg was broken with white bone piercing the skin and with the glint of a bullet barely showing. Those wounds were going to be very difficult to treat.
"Help," the pup croaked again. Toboe snapped out of his stupor and began to lick clean the large wounds as best he could. He took notice that the wounds were relatively old, but they looked like they hadn't been touched since acquired.
"What happened to you," Toboe asked near hysterical.
"Humans," the pup said between whines. "I was running from them." Toboe nodded, although he had never known that pain, he knew what humans were capable of.
After Toboe had licked his cuts clean, he peered around the area to check for any humans. Seeing none, he turned back to the pup and went into his human form. The pup let out a startled yelp as he saw this, believing he had been tricked into trusting a human.
"Easy, pup. I'm still a wolf. I can look like a human," Toboe said, explaining his illusion. He gingerly grasped the pup's foreleg in his hands and abruptly pulled and set the bone. The pup howled in pain and but at Toboe's arms, only to be hindered by his silver bracelets.
"There, now for the finishing touch," Toboe said. He gripped the collar of his shirt and tore it cleanly. He expertly wrapped the pup's foreleg tightly.
Sensing the older wolf's job was done, the pup slowly rose to all fours. His legs were already threatening to collapse, but he forced himself to remain standing. "Thank you, sir," the pup said after taking a few shaky steps.
"It was nothing," the wolf said blushing slightly, "and my name's Toboe. Do you have a name?"
"I'm Ayumu D-." The pup stopped himself. "Ayumu," he repeated happily.
"Well Ayumu, I'm sure you're hungry after all of that, aren't you? Let's go get some food." Ayumu let out am excited yip at the mention of food.
Half an hour later, Ayumu sat on his haunches, waiting for his new caretaker to return with food. He was about to drift off to sleep when he heard a dull thud.
He stood up and looked around the corner to see a small brown plant resting on the concrete. He tentatively approached it and sniffed it, trying to determine if it was edible. He was about to take a bite of it when he saw a young girl walk towards it to pick it up. Ayumu quickly ran back behind the crate.
The girl picked the potato off the ground and looked to see a small black furred muzzle poking out from behind the old crate. The muzzle poked out further until she could see the soft brown eyes of the small pup. The girl smiled as she reached into her brown grocery bag and pulled out a small link of sausages and crouched down. "Here doggy. Come on, come get it."
Ayumu studied the girl. She was slightly smaller than Toboe was in his human form, with silky brown hair and sparkling violet eyes. Ayumu scanned the surrounding area for any of the men with weapons before slowly walking towards the girl. He sniffed the sausage once before swallowing the sausage with gusto.
"What happened to you," the girl questioned, gingerly placing a hand on his burned flank. Ayumu whined in protest. "Where's your owner, little guy? Hm, no collar." Her musings were halted when Ayumu began to softly lick her hand.
"Leara," a voice rang. Leara turned to see her father motioning her towards their car.
"I gotta go," Leara said as she began to walk away. She looked back to see the small pup following her. "No, silly. I have to go now. If I could, I'd take you home, but I can't." Ayumu whined and sat down, depression etched across his face. Leara ran to her father, leaving the pup alone again.
Inside a large castle lying in an otherwise desolate wasteland, a tall man stood in a large empty room. In front of him was an unconscious woman with green hair that flowed several yards long, connected to several machines. Behind him, a young woman walked inside. "My Lord," she said timidly. The man did not move. "There have been reports of a wolf in one of the northern cities. It's the first sighting since they became legend two hundred years ago."
"A wolf," the man said. "They were stories when you were a child, no?" The woman nodded. "So I take it Cheza has awakened."
"It would appear so."
The man placed a hand on the unconscious woman's forehead. "Could he be there, by chance?"
The woman gulped. "Perhaps, sir. But remember, it was only a single wolf."
"Where there is one, there will be more. Of that I'm sure."
Soon, little one, he thought, we shall meet each other again.
Second chapter of my first fanfic. Please R&R! Ayumu gives a sad face and whines.