I do not own Wolf Children. All characters within this story belong to Mamoru Hosoda and Madhouse Studio. Please watch the original film, Wolf Children before embarking on this work of fictions.
Be aware that this story takes place one year after the film ends during the Summer Holidays following Yuki's first year at Middle School.
I do not own the artwork used as the cover image. The author is from Deviant Art known as LaestusNix.
art/Wolf-children-359872935
The Mountain
Yuki ran and ran. Her four paws trampling down the tall grass down creating a path trailing from the house to the border of the enchantingly beautiful and wonderfully lush forest that her younger brother had called home for the past two years.
'I'm coming for you Ame' she thought to herself and surveyed the area, deciding the best way to climb up the mountain. She had the feeling that he would be on the summit or very close to it, but she wasn't entirely sure. Searching for him was going to be a chore and that's all she knew for sure, but this was something she actually felt like she needed to do. He never did give her a proper goodbye after all.
She noticed a small clearing through the wild fauna that looked as though it had been used as a path. She smiled to herself and without hesitation she raced towards, and up it. Following it for as long as she could. She leapt over fallen logs and climbed past any rocks in her way. The journey in its self was pretty easy so far but she still had no idea how she was going to reach the top or even if she would find Ame there.
Never the less she didn't stop running and so in time she felt her chest getting heavy and her breathing began was becoming wheezy as he throat began to become tight. When arriving beside a river she decided that this would be a good place to stop and take some time to rest in order to catch her breath and take in her surroundings in order to determine where she would head next.
She knelt down by the river's edge and drank softly from the flowing water. It was cold and fresh as it had come from the top of the mountain from a nearby waterfall that splashed the surrounding stone with slippery water, and it refreshed her after a few long gulps.
She pulled her head up and water droplets dripped from her chin fur as she went over to a shady patch under a nearby tree and laid herself down on the cooled stone. She was still breathing heavily but at least her throat wasn't dry any more.
She looked around and realised that she was out in the open. If anyone was to pass by then they would no doubt see her, not even the shadow concealed her very well. She wasn't Ame and stealth wasn't her specialty. She decided that as soon as she caught her breath that she would move to a safer spot. She didn't yet know where that somewhere was but she was thinking that she could easily hide in the thick shrubbery that surrounded the river clearing.
A twig snapped and her ears perked up. She didn't know whether it was man or animal but she didn't entirely want to stay around to find out. Without hesitation she leapt from her spot and grounded herself in a nearby bush, watching silently for any movement. That's when she heard the sounds of a conversation of two grown men.
"Where did it go?" one of the man asked.
"I don't know. I swear it was here a second ago," the other man replied, "Maybe you scared it off when you stepped on that branch!"
"Me? You're blaming me?" the first man scoffed, "You're the one blabbering your mouth all over the place. You made the most noise."
"Do you want to say that again!?" the second man grizzled, pulling a riffle off his back.
Yuki's eyes widened upon seeing the weapon and her heart began to race. They were hunters and no doubt they were looking for her. She had carelessly placed herself out in the open to rest in her wolf form and now she was paying the price for it. Through her panic she moved back a little creating an echoing crunching noise as she snapped the dead sticks and crumbled the dried leaves that made up the bush she was hiding in.
"What was that?" the second hunter said spontaneously and pointed the barrel of his gun directly at Yuki, "Good god. There it is!" he yelled triumphantly.
"The first wolf to be seen in years! Think of how much her pelt will sell for," the first man chimed in with a tone of excitement protruding from his voice, "We'll make a fortune."
Without hesitation the armed man aimed his shot at the petrified Yuki before finally firing. The gun was booming and it snapped her out of her trance, forcing her to leap from the bushes.
Although, she hadn't entirely dodged the pellet as she felt a blinding pain in her left flank. Then soon the warm and surreal feeling of her own blood began to trickle down her furs, triggering her adrenaline.
She began to dart away from the two of them at an unnatural speed. Her body managed to ignore the pain long enough for her to leap from rock to rock reaching the other side of the river. She then continued to race along the edge of the water as she disappeared from the hunter's sight.
"Quick!" she heard one of them say, "Don't let her get away," and with that another loud shot was heard. This time it missed her and merely hit the trunk of a tall tree just next to her causing splinters to fly all around.
She whimpered from the very sound of it and forced her body to run faster. She was panting loudly and her blood formed a trail behind her. No doubt they would be following that in hopes to catch and kill her.
Her heart was racing and she didn't know what to do and if she didn't think of anything now she was probably going to die.
She looked behind her and saw that the men were just in sight as they aimed another shot at her.
"Shoot it! Shoot it!" he said excitedly, "Shoot it quick before it gets away!"
"I'm trying too. It's a fast little devil!" the other man complained and fired a third shot.
The bullet whizzed past her head and caused her to jump aside. She lost her footing on the now slippery rock and helplessly fell into the river.
The pain had finally kicked in and she could no longer move her hind leg. She was trapped in the water with her agonizing leg as its currants pulled her down stream.
She closed her eyes, not daring to look at the hunters knowing that they could kill her any second now. She took in a few deep breaths, as she feared they would be her last.
'Where's Ame when you need him?' she thought to herself and partially opened one eye. Seeing that they where pointing at her and aiming yet another shot and immediately shut her eyes, pretending that they weren't there any more.
It was now that she wished she hadn't given in to her urge to leave her mother back home. She wanted to be sitting back behind the coffee table and sipping from that cup of tea. She wanted so badly to be home right now and see her smile her usual beam of joy, to just be safe and warm and happy without the worry of being killed. She wished that she had never turned into a wolf.
But alas she wasn't at home and she had transformed. She was floating down a river waiting for the two hunters to put a bullet through her brain and sell her fur for a platinum price. After all, she was a wolf.
She waited and waited. Wondering just how long the hunters where going to take. Then she finally heard it. The thundering sound of death that was so familiar to her. Was this it? Was this the end?
