A high pitched screech reached the hideout. Toboe and Esmeralda quickly clamped their ears. Toboe started to shout while Esmeralda started to groan in pain.

"Cut it out." Tsume said. Toboe started to yell louder. "Toboe, be quite! Just shut up!" Tsume said.

The screeching went on for a minute until it stopped. For a minute everything was silent. Esmeralda unclamped her ears and looked over to Toboe who still had his ears clamped. Tsume walked over from the doorway to Toboe.

"Hey." Tsume said, but Toboe didn't stir. "Hey." Tsume said again, this time kicking Toboe lightly. Toboe gave a little gasp and unclamped his ears. "Snap out of it would ya?"

"Is it...it's gone." Toboe said. "You felt that, didn't you? You heard it right?" He asked Tsume. He just stared at him. Toboe wrapped his arms around his legs and looked down. "Such a sad voice."

"It was a machine, that's all. Probably the dying sounds of some old robot breaking down." Tsume said. Toboe just stared at him and looked down.

"Still, it didn't seem like it." Esmeralda said. Toboe and Tsume looked towards her. She bit her thumb and thought, 'Could it be her...'

"Anyway, enough thinking about what made that sound. Let's just get some rest." Tsume said. He lied down on the floor, getting ready to sleep. Toboe is still deep in thought and Esmeralda was too.

'No use thinking about it if I'm going to lose sleep over it.' Esmeralda thought before walking towards Tsume and lied down next to him. Toboe noticed.

"You two sleep together?" Toboe asked.

"Yeah, sometimes it gets cold at night and it's better to sleep with body heat than a simple blanket." Esmeralda said before she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

"Oh." Toboe lied down and went to sleep as well.


Esmeralda was the first one to wake up while Tsume and Toboe were asleep in their wolf forms. She went to their provisions and grabbed a box of food. Inside were hamburgers. She left it on the floor and left for a walk.

As she was walking, she was thinking about the sound last night. For a moment, a pair of red eyes appeared in her head. She stopped and looked around, but nobody was around her. She brought her hand up to her head.

'What is wrong with me? Those eyes...' Again the eyes appeared and Esmeralda was hit with a huge headache. She slowly sank to floor holding her head. 'Get out, get out, please.' She told the image.

Suddenly, she heard a pleasant voice like an angel which only said one word, "Cheza." Esmeralda opened her eyes, not knowing they were closed, and found herself lying on the ground. She got up on her feet and went back toward the hideout.


When she got Tsume's room, she found him at the window but Toboe was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Toboe?" She asked.

"Who knows?" He answered coldly.

Esmeralda placed her hands on her hips. "Alright Tsume, what did you do?" She asked him.

"I told him to beat it. A kid like him doesn't understand the real world." Tsume answered.

"Tsume, Toboe doesn't know how to survive out there." She said while trying to keep her cool.

"So what. Maybe this experience will show him what the real world is all about."

"He'll die out there!" She shouted.

"I don't care!" Tsume yelled before looking out the window. Esmeralda was taken back.

"Tsume..." She started.

"I don't need anyone; I'm fine on my own. I don't need friends." Tsume said. Esmeralda's eyes widen a bit and started to get wet.

"If you say so, then I guess you don't need me anymore." She said before walking out of the room. Tsume looked at the door where Esmeralda walked out.

'Good going Tsume, you've just lost the only friend you ever had.' He thought to himself and glared outside the window.

After a couple minutes, he got off the window and went to look for Esmeralda. He put his sunglasses on and walked out. Behind him near the tree, one of his partners looks over to a man who was well dressed. With the man were three police men. The police ran towards Tsume. Tsume looked back and for a second the men were afraid but still charged at him. Tsume ran inhuman speed past them over to the other man and knocked him out. Seto tried to run away, but Tsume jumped in front of him.

"Tsume." Seto, who was scared, said. Tsume grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and forced him to the floor. He grabbed a knife and put it to his neck.

"You sold me out." Tsume said bluntly.

"They caught us, when we tried to sneak on the train. We couldn't just let you and Esmeralda get away scot-free." He said before Tsume smiled.

"You damn humans." Tsume said. His partner gasped and the police came back with guns. Tsume let go of him and started to run. He jumped on one of the roofs and then jumped onto a higher one. The humans from the bottom level gasped. Tsume took one look at them before he went on his way.


"Tsume can be such an idiot sometimes." Esmeralda whispered to herself while wiping away tears from her eyes. 'Damn him.'

She heard some barks coming from an ally. She saw Toboe drive on the crows and eat from a dumpster. She was about to call him when a manhole cover started to shake. A boy with wild light brown hair and red-amber eyes came up.

"Uh-oh, must've taken a wrong turn." He said and noticed Toboe, but didn't see Esmeralda because she hid behind a wall. "Hey, it's one of our own!" He said happily before someone pushed him up.

"Move it will ya?" The boy who pushed the other boy up had dark brown hair with blue eyes. He had on a brown sweater, white shirt underneath, and dark blue jeans. The other boy had a yellow sweater with a black stripe on the arm, light blue jeans, and collar loose around his neck. "That's the last time I trust your nose." The dark-haired boy said.

"Well anyone's nose will go numb after a night in that stink hole." The other boy said.

"You guys, no way, y-your..." Toboe started. The dark haired one looked over to him and then to the other side where Esmeralda was. "Esmeralda..." Toboe said.

"It's you." The dark haired one started.

Esmeralda left out a breath of relief before some police men came from the other side of the wall with guns. They got off one shot that missed. Esmeralda gasped before all of them started to run away. They went into a thin alleyway, but Toboe was still in his wolf form. The police were getting closer, so Toboe reverted back into his human form.

"Come on!" The light-haired boy said from one of the pipes sticking from the wall. Toboe went over inside the pipe. All four of them went down into the sewers.


"I told you I hate smelly places." The light-haired one said as they were running. They found a ledge where they could walk on while Toboe was panting. "Hey runt, what's eating you?" He asked.

"I'm not a runt. My name's Toboe." He said.

"What about you beautiful?" He asked Esmeralda.

"Esmeralda." She said while following them into another passage.

"That's cool. Well I'm Hige and this here's Kiba." Hige said.

"Where are we headed anyway?" Toboe asked.

"Where do you think? To the exit of course." Hige said.

"The exit?" Esmeralda asked.

"We're leaving town." Kiba answered.

"You're leaving town? Wha-what else are you gonna go?" Toboe asked.

"To paradise." Kiba said.

'Paradise?' Esmeralda thought.

"Paradise?" Toboe asked out loud and stopped. "Hey guys, do you know Tsume?" He asked them.

"...Tsume..." Kiba whispered.

Hige looked up thinking. "Nope never heard of him." Hige said.

"Is he the one with the scar on his chest?" Kiba asked.

"He is." Esmeralda answered with anger in her voice. Toboe gave her a questioned glance.

Kiba looked at Esmeralda. "Why aren't you with him? He is you friend, isn't he?" Kiba asked.

Esmeralda turned her head away to the left, having her hair cover her face. "Let's just say he's an idiot." She answered.

"Anyway, what about him?" Kiba asked Toboe.

"Well, he's one of us so I thought he might wanna leave too." Toboe said quietly.

"Well, I don't know him. Where is he? Hiding out some place?" Hige asked Toboe and Esmeralda.

"I don't know, we got split up." Toboe answered.

Esmeralda smelt a scent of blood, Tsume's blood.

"Sorry pal, it's too late to go back for him now." Hige said while Esmeralda checked out Tsume's blood near one of the manhole's. "So what, is he like a friend of yours?" Hige asked.

"No, he's not! He isn't my friend..." Toboe said quietly.

"So ditch him already." Hige said, walking on. "Shake a leg, runt."

"That's Toboe." He said.

Esmeralda was still looking at the blood. "You should go look for him." Kiba said before Esmeralda scoffed. "I don't have to; he can take care of himself." She said walking past Kiba.

However, he grabs her arm which caused Esmeralda to growl at him. "I know you're worried about him, don't try to hide it. Go to him." Truthfully, Esmeralda was worried about Tsume and went to the stairs leading the way out.

"Kiba, will we see each other again?" She asked.

"I don't know." He said. She turned to him and smile.

"Just don't die." She said before she went her way.


Tsume was back at the hideout, with his arm bleeding. It was getting closer to night, as the light faded. He heard the door opening and saw Esmeralda in the doorway. "What are you doing here?" Tsume asked.

She kept quiet and kneeled down beside him. She took his arm and licked his wound as he growled. "If you don't clean it, it'll get infected." She said.

"I don't care." Tsume said.

She sighed. "I swear you are the most hard-headed, stubborn person I know." She said before sitting down next to him.

"And you are the most tenacious wolf I've ever known." Tsume said while smiling.

She smiled back. "But seriously, you need to look at that wound. I'm going over to-"

The door opened and Kiba came in. Tsume stood on his feet.

"What a scrap heap. Why the hell did you bring us here?" Hige asked.

"Tsume, Esmeralda!" Toboe said.

"You!" Tsume said.

"Wha-hey, is this him?" Hige asked Toboe.

"I can smell the blood from your wound." Kiba said.

"What?" Tsume asked.

"I smelt it all the way here from town."

"And you're gonna nurse me back to health? Well I don't need your help." Tsume said.

"Tsume." Esmeralda scolded.

"Tsume, look I...We're leaving the city. I really think you should come with us. Esmeralda, you should come too." Toboe explained.

"And just where is this merry band of yours going?" Tsume asked.

"To paradise." Kiba answered.

"Huh, you're kidding me. You're going with them because you believe in that crap."

"I don't know but if we stay here, we'll have to spend the rest of our lives in hiding or worse. We just can't live with the humans anymore and survive." Toboe said.

"Toboe..." Esmeralda said quietly.

"Look I hate to interrupt, but a nasty stink is headed this way." Hige said.

"We're surrounded." Esmeralda said.

"Let me ask you, why did you guys come to this city?" Kiba said. Tsume, Hige, and Esmeralda looked out at the window while Toboe was looking at the ground. "It was because of the flower scent, wasn't it? Well it's gone now there's no reason to stay."

"The flower has nothing to do with it. I'm here because I belong." Tsume answered.

"I can see that, this city is a dump." Kiba said.

Tsume looked from the window to Kiba with anger in his eyes. "I still have a score to settle with you." Tsume walked towards Kiba.

"We don't have time for this." Hige exclaimed.

"The last time we meet you said something about how our pride wouldn't allow you to pass as a human. Well, you look pretty human now, where'd your pride go?" Tsume taunted.

"Nowhere. Nothing has changed." Kiba said.

"Do you have the slightest idea of what leaving the city would mean?" Esmeralda asked.

"Yeah."

"You'll just die." Tsume said while glaring at Kiba.

"Possibly, everyone is going to die. It's a natural part of like, but if life has no purpose, you're dead already." Kiba said. They stared at each other until intense light filled the room. The police began to shooting at the room.

They got out and were running on the pipes, leading out of the room while the police still shot at them. A bullet caused Toboe to loose balance and he fell but caught another pipe. Esmeralda saw this and went over to Toboe, reverting back into her wolf form and helped him up. "Thank you." Toboe said.

She nodded and was going to follow Tsume when Toboe caught her hand.

"Wha-"

"You'll come with us, right?" He asked.

"Toboe, I-"

The police started to shoot at them again and they ran. As they ran across the pipes, Esmeralda started to follow Tsume.

"Esmeralda!" Toboe shouted.

She was gone with Tsume. The others and Toboe kept running away and leap through pillars until Kiba stopped.

"What the hell are you stopping for?" Hige asked. Kiba kept quiet and looked over to a small entrance down below.

Suddenly, Esmeralda and Tsume came out running. "Tsume! Esmeralda!" Toboe yelled gladly. They both stopped.

"This way!" Kiba shouted as more shots were fired. There were pillars and a wall in which they jumped over and there was a hole in the dome. There was a small spot in which they could jump into. Hige and Kiba jumped first. Toboe stopped, hesitating.

"Jump already!" Hige shouted below.

"I was getting ready to alright!" Toboe shouted back.

"Move it." Tsume said before kicking him off.

A shot rang off, causing both of them to look back. An old man was shooting at them but another younger man was holding him off. Tsume and Esmeralda look back down.

"Are you scared?" Kiba asked Tsume.

"Yeah, you wish." Tsume said. He grabbed Esmeralda's hand and they jumped down together. They ran until they were far away from the dome when Tsume stopped to look back. Esmeralda stopped with him.

"Tsume?" She asked. Tsume looked back at her and patted her head. "Let's go."