Three
Gin could barely stand. He was leaning against Weed as they made their way into the small town. Gin was directing his son where to go. Weed had shivers as he heard his fathers voice. It was so weak. He was becoming afraid but did his best to hide it. The rain around them had slowed to a light drizzle and a thick fog had moved in. This was perfect. That meant the other dogs could hide out in the open and the humans wouldn't even know they were there. They waited at the outskirts of the town. Weed had told them he would call for them once they had his father safely in the house. He knew though that they would probably have to leave his father here as they headed back into the mountains. There was no way he would be able to fight in his condition. Age was catching up to him. Weed tried to shake the thought from his mind. He didn't want to believe that one day his father would no longer be with him.
At last Gin gave a pained grunt as he tried to indicate that they had arrived at Daisuke's. He still lived at the old ski lodge. Running it in his father and mothers place. Weed made his way to the front door and scratched on it with urgency. His father was starting to slip. He was losing conscienceness. The door cautiously opened before him as Daisuke peeked out. He reconized Gin immedietly.
"Gin!" The old dog fell forward into his arms, Weed giving out an alarmed whimper behind him. Daisuke looked up as he pulled Gin closer and stood up. "You're Gin's pup aren't you?"
Weed gave a small bark. An obviously concerned one. "It's alright. I'll take care of him." Weed gave another bark before he turned and howled to the others. It wasn't long till the dogs came bounding up to the door. Daisuke watched as they stopped just in front of the doorstep, looking from Weed to him. He gave a nod and the dogs slowly went inside. Daisuke closed the door behind them and took Gin into the small barn next to the house. He layed Gin down in a soft bed of hay and ran to get some water for him. Weed and the others stayed at his side. His breathing had become labored.
"Weed? What do we do?" GB asked. Weed didn't even look up. "Weed?" He coaxed again. Finally Weed shook himself from his stupor and looked to them. They were all waiting for the next order.
"We stay here for now to rest. There's not much good we can do if we're exausted."
"And what about you're father?" Another asked.
"I just want to see what Daisuke says. I just need to know if father is going to be alright. We'll stay here a few days. Then we'll try to find the others. I just hope Tesshin found Kenichi and Mimi. I just hope he's safe." He choked a little as he tried not to cry. Koyuki moved forward and nuzzled Weed gently.
"He is just like his father and grandfather. He just hasn't found that strength within himself yet. But he will when he needs it most. He'll make it. And he will find his way back to us."
Weed smiled and nuzzled her back. "You're right. Thank you Koyuki."
Kenichi was getting tired. He was lagging so far behind Tesshin now. He couldn't hardly move anymore. His legs hurt, and his lungs burned from breathing so hard. Finally he just collasped to the ground. Tesshin stopped and turned around, running back to him. "Kenichi? Are you alright?"
"I'm just tired. And I hurt all over."
"Alright. I'll carry you." Tesshin bent down and took the young dog on his back. Kenichi was too tired to protest. He was awake long enough to feel Tesshin began to run. But then his world went black.
He awoke a few hours later to the sound of voices around him. He slowly blinked open his eyes and saw Tesshin talking to a white dog with scars all over him. Both looked quite concered with whatever it was they were talking about. They were doing it in hushed voices.
"Well, look who's awake." Kenichi tilted his head up slowly to see another white dog above him. A much older one. Tesshin and the other white dog trotted over, Tesshin smiling as he nudged the pup lightly.
"How're you feeling?"
"A little better. Where are we?"
"Our destination. This is Kyoshiro." He said as he tilted his head in the direction of the scarred dog next to him. "And the elder here is Akame. An old friend of your father and grandfather." Both white dogs bowed to Kenichi.
"So these are who we were looking for?"
"Well Akame was. I had no idea Kyoshiro was here. He was supposed to be negotiating with an army further south."
"We all heard what was going on from a messenger and got here as soon as we could. But the army had already been driven off. So I came here. This is one hell of a mess."
"You can say that again. I lost track of everyone when we ran. I found a few dead pack members along the way. Along with at least a few of the enemy. So at least we know they can be killed. Problem is they're damn hard to kill. And they're taking out more of us then we are of them. Was Akakabuto this hard?" Tesshin asked.
"That's yet to be seen. The battle has only begun." Akame said solemnly.
Kenichi looked to the three adults as they dropped their heads low. He still had yet to see battle in his young life. To him the three looked tired just thinking about the battle ahead. Especially Akame. He looked to be quite old. Even older than Kenichi's grandfather. Kenichi sighed and slowly pushed himself to his feet.
"Hey. Don't overdo it." Kyoshiro said in a panic. Heaven help them if something happened to the leaders son.
"I'm fine! I'm not a baby!" Kyoshiro pulled back slightly. He didn't remember him having this much of a bite to him.
"I see he's gotten to be quite an ankle biter." Akame said with a laugh.
"Well not exactly. He's not one for fighting. But he wants to learn."
"So does that mean you're going to teach it to him? The move of his father and grandfather?"
Tesshin looked to Kyoshiro. "Well seeing as they're not here. And he does want to learn." He bowed his head closer to Kenichi's. The pup swallowed hard, wondering what they were talking about. "Do you want to learn it?"
"Learn...what?"
"Your families attack of choice. The Zetsu Tenrou Battouga."
Claude watched as more Ohu dogs were rounded up from the surounding area. Many had been too injured to run far. He watched proudly as they were executed one by one in front of him. His sister stood slightly behind him, not really wanting to witness much of the scene going on before them. As the last of the dogs were killed the Shiba Inu climbed up the hill towards them. He bowed low as Claude eyed him up. "I didn't see the leader and his family down there."
"Sir. We couldn't locate them. The rain washed the scent out. I have no excuse for my failure."
"Damn right you don't. And as I promised you'll soon wish you were dead." He called a group of four dogs over and ordered them to drag the dog back to base. He made no excuse nor did he fight as they dragged him off. He would go out with his pride in tact.
"Brother! Please stop this!"
"Enough from you already Sadie!" He growled as he turned to her. "You have no say in this! Now just stay back and watch!" He trotted off down the hill after his sobourdinate's.
"We'll see about that." She slowly turned away as she began to formulate things in her mind. She knew what her first move would be. She snuck into the treeline and followed that to where her brother had went. She came upon him as he was waiting for the poor Shiba Inu to be executed. She wanted to stop this but she couldn't with her brother there. Whether it be luck or the hand of god, a howl rang out. It was an emergency. Lamenting at the fact he couldn't see the execution, he gave the order once more and left. Now Sadie could make her move. She jumped out and knocked the first dog away from him. The pissed dog jumped to his feet in preperation to attack but stopped when he saw who it was.
"What are you doing? Your brother will be furious."
"I damn my brother! What he's doing is wrong! And you're all wrong to follow him!"
"He'll kill us if we don't." Another said.
"You're all cowards." Then she turned to the Shiba Inu lying in a shocked state on the ground. "Will you follow me?"
"What are you planning?"
"To help the Ohu warriors."
He stared at her at first. Was she being serious? Even the other dogs around them looked lost. Finally he stood and bowed his head to her. "I would follow you to the deepest depths of hell. But your brother will be a problem. He has the devils luck."
"Then let us say we are the hand of god coming down on him." She gave a rather sadistic smile as she stuck her tounge out of the corner of her mouth, letting it wrap to touch the top of her muzzle. The Shiba did the same. "Now all we have left to do is convince the Ohu dogs."
"Leave that to me." Then she looked to the other dogs around them. "And what will you do?" They looked to eachother. Then they all made a common descision.
"We follow you. Beacase if we didn't you would kill us for knowing your plans."
"You're right. But I want you to join because you want to. Not because you're afraid of me. My brother will know soon enough. No need to hide it from him."
"Them we follow you because we wish to.'
"Then let's go. We have to find the Ohu dogs."
Kenichi looked at the tree before him. Was Tesshin really serious? This tree was going to teach him the Battouga? How was that possible? He turned back to Tesshin and gave him the most confused look he could muster. Tesshin gave a little chuckle as he moved forward.
"You're father and your grandfather are the only ones alive who can do this move to it's potential. I need help to do it. They can do it without help. But to begin, a tool is easier. Watch me."
He crouched before springing himself up to the branch. He gripped it in his jaws and started to flip around it. Kenichi watched in awe as he began to go faster and faster. Eventually the branch had been knawed all the way through and it broke sending Tesshin flipping to the ground. He stood there with the branch gripped between his jaws. Kenichi could say nothing. There was no way he could do something like that.
Tesshin dropped the branch to the ground. "Well? What do you think? Are you ready to learn?"
"Theres no way I'm going to be able to do that. I can't even jump through the trees like the other dogs."
"Thats because you never try. You need to build up your confidence. Or you'll never get any stronger. I won't push you. This is all your descision."
Kenichi looked around them. Tesshin, Kyoshiro, Akame. They all had hopeful faces. Even with all the uncertanty surrounding them. They had belief in him. So maybe he could do this. "All right." He said at last. "I'll do this."
"Thats the spirit. First step is to teach you how to get up the tree. We have to work on your leg strength. Theres no way you're going to be able to reach the height of the trees here. So...lets start running."
"Running?"
"Yup. We'll bulid up your muscle and lung capasity. You want to become a soldier? Well this is how we train."
"Damn."
Claude was not happy at the news. His sister had turned against him. And taken some of his soldiers. Out of pure anger he grabbed the messenger by the throat and started to thrash him about. The poor dog tried to beg for mercy but couldn't even breath so he couldn't even make a sound. And there was no way to fight back. Becase this was his leader and because he was much bigger than him. He was just a Beagle. Finally Claude let him go and the unfortunate dog slammed into a tree. He was impaled by a branch and he twitched about till he was dead.
"Find them! Kill all but my sister! I want her brought back alive!" The others around him froze for a moment. They were terrified. The messenger had done nothing wrong. He was just a messenger.
"I said find them!" They all jumped and then turned and ran off to follow the order. This left Claude breathing deeply as he looked to the dead messenger hanging from the branch. "Well," he mumbled ",no good letting you go to waste." He took the dog from the tree and dragged him into the brush.
Daisuke knelt by Gin and pet him. He was panting heavilly. It was more than he could handle so he called for the vet. Daisuke watched as he wrote some things down on a tablet. He had checked Gin's ears, took a look at his gums, checked the nose coloration and it's wetness. And had just finished taking the dogs temperature. He rubbed his chin as he looked at what he had written.
"Doctor?"
He sighed and looked at him. "It's a simple cold. But his age is complicating things. If I did a blood test he would probably be low on white blood cells. He's really sick Daisuke. If he's to have any chance at survival he needs to be at the hospital. We need to get fluids in him. If this gets any worse it'll turn to pneumonia and kill him."
"Of course. Whatever you need to do to save him."
The doctor then took in the dogs around the room. They all looked like they were waiting for something. "Is this his pack?"
"I think it may be his son's pack now. And he's very worried about his father." Daisuke said as he pointed behind him to Weed. Weed had his head low and his ears back. Clearly he was upset.
"I'll do what I can Daisuke. But I can't promise anything. Gin is quite old."
"I know. But I just get the feeling somethings going on up in the mountains. This many dogs wouldn't come down here at once. Even for Gin. It would leave their territory open."
"You don't think it's another bear do you?"
"No. We would have heard something by now. But somethings going on. A lot of the dogs bare fresh scars."
"Why do I have a feeling you're going to get involved in this?"
"Because if I have to I will. These dogs saved us before. And the new generation has been protecting anyone who went into the mountains. Even when the humans thought they were responsible for the attack on humans some years back. We owe them our lives."
"That we do. So lets get to helping Gin then shall we?"
Weed watched as they scooped him up and took him out to the truck. He followed them and watched as Daisuke got into the front seat and settled Gin on his lap. Daisuke gave him a smile, trying to make him feel better. Weed whimpered. There was nothing that could make him feel better other than his father getting better. He watched as the truck pulled away. And then, though it was weak, he heard his father give a reasuring howl. Feeling just a little relief course through him. he howled back. Then he stood and watched till the truck was out of sight. "Daisuke. Father." He mumbled.
"Weed? Should we really allow the boy to help us?" Koyuki asked as she stood beside him.
"He will. Whether we let him or not. He'll lend his strength to our cause. And I'll protect him."
A/N
Here's another chapter. They will get longer as things start to play out. I promise. Right now it's sort of an introduction to things. The next chapter will have some action to it at last. It's sort of playing out like GNG did. Slow and then action. But it will pick up soon. Thanks to those who review. And for those who don't please do. No flames though please?
