AN: This chapter starts off with the little flashback thing of their meeting in the past.


A tiny, fluffy little husky puppy pitter-pattered excitedly into the forest after slipping out of his leash.

It wasn't long since he had been bought from the city, and he had never been in the wilderness before. Those Takatsuki people didn't seem to want to let him explore on his own, though they so foolishly left him alone wearing a leash way too loose around him.

It was the perfect opportunity to gain his wild independence, and that was exactly what Shinobu did. His tiny paws slowly brought him past branches, twigs, and big, fat roots sticking out from the earth. He tried his best to run, but it was difficult since he didn't want to trip over something and hobble over.

He hadn't the greatest balance yet, but the very youthful pup was indeed still growing. He hoped to someday grow as large as a great, big wolf.

And speaking of wolves, the husky pup just noticed a group of them hanging around in the middle of the forest. Shinobu grinned happily, his small pink tongue hanging out – he wanted to join them too!

"H-Hey!" he cried out, his small, puffy body scrambling to catch up to the four or five grown-ups.

Hearing the faint whine, the pack of wolves turned their heads to the adventurous husky.

They each had messy blood painted around their mouths.

The wolves all furrowed their brows at the intruder; they must not have been expecting a tiny ball of fuzz to visit them just after their meal time.

"I-I'm Shinobu!" the pup proudly declared, flipping his stubby tail madly behind him. "W-What's all of y-your names!" His voice was very shaky and his question sounded much more of an exclamation – all of which the pup decided was out of excitement for making new friends.

They all eyed the strange, outgoing puppy skeptically and rather unwelcoming, though Shinobu didn't pay much mind to that with his naivety. It was silent while the wolves examined him, aside from the husky's gentle pants and tireless, flipping tail.

"... What are you doing out here without a leash, puppy?" one of the bunch inquired at last. "You're so tiny – I could have mistaken you for a big, juicy bunny rabbit," he sneered, emitting chuckles from his group.

Shinobu didn't know what was too funny and actually didn't understand the joke too well (were rabbits really juicy, let alone edible?) but decided that the best way to befriend these nice-looking wolves was to laugh along with them.

"I-I wanted to explore out here," Shinobu happily said, his ears standing atop his fuzzy head. "Do you guys... want to be my friends?"

"Sure," another one responded almost instantly, one edge of his mouth curling upward to create a teasing half-smile.

The first wolf that spoke looked at the other one and asked, "Are you seriously going to bother with this kid?"

He was mumbling, so Shinobu wasn't sure what he meant or even if he heard him right.

"Might as well do something while we wait for Miyagi to come back," the wolf responded, keeping his dark eyes fixated on the small thing before them. Shinobu stared confused at their conversation, unsure what to make of adult talk.

"True."

"So, kid..." a different wolf said, crouching in front of Shinobu. The pup began wagging his tail some more, now that attention was once again being drawn to him. "What do you like to do in your spare time? For fun?"

The husky smiled madly at the choice of conversation topic. "W-Well... m-my owners gave me a white rubber bone when they took me from the pet shop! I... I really like that bone."

"Aww..." The wolves snickered and Shinobu was glad to have entertained them, like the attention whore he was.

"He's cute. I like him," one said.

The husky felt more happiness surge inside him. These grown ups were so nice!

"W-What do you guys like to do for fun?" he asked them in excitement.

"Eat," all of them responded instantly.

"..." Shinobu never thought of eating as something fun to do. He supposed that maybe eating was considered as a fun thing to do for older canines... it probably sucked to grow up. "... W-What is your favourite thing to eat?"

"Meat," one answered. "Whatever game we can sniff out and find out here. We hunt them down then eat them up."

"What's hunting like?" Like those wolves, Shinobu also ate meat. But he never hunted before and had no idea what was done in the activity since humans always supplied him with meals.

"Hunting?" The wolf grinned. "Would you like me to demonstrate?"

Shinobu eagerly bobbed his head up and down.

"Well..." The wolf stood up straight as the others watched, and he bared his sharp teeth. Shinobu's smile nervously faded once the wolf growled. "First, we make our prey fear us by growling viciously at them."

"... O-Oh..." Shinobu was able to understand why anyone would fear that wolf – he looked really scary like that...

Shinobu abruptly flinched and accidentally whimpered shrilly when the wolf suddenly jumped at him, letting loose a loud snarl.

The wolf continued saying, "After we scare the living shit out of our meal..." He backed the terrified puppy against a large, cold boulder. "... We shred the thing to a slow, painful death. We love watching them try to struggle and get away, but it knows, and we know, that it's impossible. Their pathetic attempts always wound up futile."

Shinobu tried to look fearless like a grown up so these guys wouldn't think poorly of him... but it wasn't easy. His paws were brought up close to him and were shivering. His tail couldn't find any energy and found itself curled up against the husky. Shinobu's ears fell to his head, unable to get back up.

"... O-Oh..."

When his mouth opened, his teeth would chatter. The wolf didn't have to make it seem so real!

Seeing the change in the younger canine, the wolf smirked devilishly. "What? Are you scared that I'll do that to you?"

"... C-Course not..."

"I've never eaten dog before, actually," the wolf said, poking at Shinobu with his seemingly gigantic paw.

The husky attempted to swat the larger arm away from his body, but his shakiness and size difference just made him much too slow to make much of a difference. "S-Stop it...!"

The mean wolf obliged, but his smiled grew broader and his eyes narrowed. "What's wrong puppy?"

"... I-I don't like... being t-teased like that..."

That made the wolf laugh openly. "Who says I was teasing you? I can really eat you, y'know."

The husky's eyes were stuck into the wolf's own wicked ones, but he heard one of the others snicker and say, "Damn, you're cruel to him."

The meanest one ignored him and easily knocked the pup over onto his side with his paw. Shinobu tried scrambling to sit back up again, but whenever he did so, he would get pushed back against the moist dirt. He was being treated like a raggedy play thing.

"H-Hey!" he protested feebly.

"Even though we just ate, I still am rather hungry. And to be honest, you do look pretty tasty. Would you make a nice snack?" he asked, ceasing to touch Shinobu any longer.

Shinobu felt like crying as he sat up, avoiding to look back at the pack of wolves. He had never felt so worthless.

"Hm, puppy?"

Shinobu's whole body was trembling violently, all of his fright worked against him and made him unable to get up and sprint away.

Then while he listened to the wolves laugh for the umpteenth time, he heard a new voice speak.

"Back. What are you guys doing?"

"Ah, Miyagi!"

Shinobu hesitantly shifted his line of vision to the newcomer, now that attention was being diverted from him.

It was a black wolf, unlike these grey and silver ones. The husky couldn't help but release a small whimper to prevent himself from crying when he looked at all of the five or so nasty wolves together. This drew the black wolf's attention to him, unfortunately. He didn't want him to threaten him more and make him look like an idiot.

The raven wolf was confused upon catching sight of the young puppy. "Who's he?"

"Some kid we found," a wolf in the back responded. "The puppy came and thought he could be friends with us, but now he believes we're going to eat him.

Miyagi let up a careless chuckle, continuing to stare at the shaky pup. "Really? You guys aren't nice."

Shinobu winced again, fearful that this guy too would want to eat him. It was a bad idea to have come down here on his own.

"What should we do with him?" the one right in front of the husky asked, growling for no purpose but to make the pup even more intimidated.

Shinobu whimpered, unable to back away any further due to the giant boulder blocking his rear path.

"Let's just leave him," Miyagi suggested. "He's too scrawny to be eaten now. We'll wait until the thing grows bigger and have him then."

The puppy continued to tremble and frightfully glanced back at the bigger wolves. "..."

"... True," one of them said.

"Anyway," Miyagi continued, turning away. "We have other things to do. Let's go."

Shinobu observed the black-furred wolf as they all ran off and left him. He wasn't all too sure what just happened... but because of that wolf, the others left him alone.

Miyagi must have saved his life!

He'd have to make sure to remember that name... perhaps they could someday meet again. Maybe it was destiny.

...

"..." Miyagi was speechless. "... HAH?"

Shinobu rested his head atop his arms, gazing at the waterfall. "... I really thought it was destiny..."

"Just because of that one meeting?"

"... No," Shinobu said. "... There was this one other time when I've seen you. Just after I was bought and was being driven through the mountains, I was staring out the window of the car with my rubber bone. The car passed by you for a second... and I remembered what you looked like because I admired wolves and you had an awesome colour of fur."

Miyagi grinned, pleased with the compliment alone.

"... You saved my life from those other wolves two weeks after that. Then when you and them left, that was when man Takatsuki found me in the forest and brought me home. When I saw my rubber bone again, I realized that you were the same wolf I saw from the car ride. And then whenever I looked at my bone after all that, I kept thinking of you. That's why... it's destiny."

"You know..." Miyagi sighed deeply. "Maybe you wouldn't have realized it when you were little, but my friends weren't going to actually eat you. They were just teasing."

"No," Shinobu said. "They were definitely going to eat me. And then you saved me from them."

"That's... not right at all," Miyagi said, thinking that was kid was utterly ridiculous. Though, he also sympathized him a bit. "We wolves most certainly do not eat dogs. We eat game. And also, I didn't save you from anything. I don't remember any of it that well, but I must have been playing with you."

"I know what happened. They wanted to eat me and you came in and saved me from them. It's fate, Miyagi."

The wolf reluctantly let up a faint smile. He couldn't tell how someone like this pup was able to thrive with such nativity. The thing was dumb and oblivious.

But.

Shinobu was also sort of cute.

"You're an idiot."

"Fuck you," Shinobu whined, turning away.

"I was a jerk back around that time, really rebellious. So even though I don't remember, I couldn't have cared much about a lost puppy since I never cared about anything," the raven said, eyeing the upset puppy.

"You're an ass... go away," the puppy sulked, looking nothing but depressed.

"No." Miyagi blinked at his own response. "... I mean, you have to stop being miserable over a dumb bone."

"It's not dumb. It was... it was a lot of comfort when you weren't around."

Miyagi averted his indifferent stare from Shinobu to the streaming river at the bottom of the falls. He truly did feel terrible for throwing a treasured item into the river. Miyagi would have felt annoyed, but that was all drowned out by his other damn feelings of guilt. Getting the toy back would be the right thing to do, but it was long gone already.

"Shinobu-chin, I know it probably was somehow important-ish to you and all that stuff, but it won't be coming back. You'll have to deal with it."

"Go away, Miyagi."

For a moment, Miyagi considered throwing the pup into the falls – the husky could find his bone and Miyagi would rid of destiny-obsessed Shinobu. It seemed like a perfect plan... if it weren't for the puppy's sad eyes gazing helplessly into nothingness.

Since when had he allowed himself to turn into such a softie?

"Don't be like that," Miyagi huffed in his attempt to sound uncaring. "Get up, you're wasting your youth being miserable over things like this."

Miyagi hopped back onto his paws for emphasis, but Shinobu didn't budge from his spot. Kids were too sensitive these days.

"... I'll teach you how to hunt...?"

"Not hungry," Shinobu muttered.

"... I can teach you something else...?"

"Don't want to."

"You can't just sit here for the rest of your life... let's go do something." He never would have thought that he would be the one attempting to get Shinobu to be with him. It was certainly a strange switch.

"You never wanted to before."

"Forget about before. I'm offering to do stuff with you. Take the offer or leave it," Miyagi grumbled. He almost felt like grabbing the canine's fluffy tail between his teeth and dragging him away from that spot with him.

"..." Shinobu wasn't saying anything anymore. The silence was causing Miyagi to feel increasingly concerned by the second.

"... I'm going to hunt now because I'm starving. And... you are welcomed to come, puppy," the old wolf grumbled.

More dead silence emitted from the stubborn brat, though this time he slowly turned his head back to glance at Miyagi. With that hurt expression still evident on his face, Miyagi wasn't sure if it were a good or bad notion.

The wolf pivoted around and left, waiting to see if Shinobu would come with him this time. He didn't look back – there was no point in showing the pup anymore of his own weakening composure – but listened attentively for any scampering noises behind him. But once again, there was no such success.


The wolf did end up hunting alone. Though he didn't turn out as hungry as he had previously thought. He caught a lost rabbit and only turned out eating half of it, leaving the rest for any other wolf to finish off.

The only thing that was on the wolf's mind were thoughts on how he could possibly make it up to Shinobu. He regretted what he did, and couldn't even recall what had gotten him so pissed in the first place. Miyagi wonder if he really did overreact... and was slowly getting a strong feeling that he did, while he thought more about it.

The wolf concluded that the only two ways that could potentially earn him Shinobu's forgiveness was to either accept the kid as his partner or lover or whatever, or he could bring him the toy back. With all the time that had gone by, the odds of fetching that damn bone wasn't at all in Miyagi's favour, plus it would be a huge pain in the ass to go down the hill and attempt to catch sight of it.

But of course, Miyagi would much rather go through all that the trouble of finding it than permanently be stuck in a relationship with a canine like him. That was why, as much as Miyagi was reluctant to, he cautiously travelled down to the river and began searching.


Miyagi was damn filthy and baked with dirt. He felt exhausted and somewhat hungry now. But he managed to find it.

The brat's toy had floated off to the side and had stopped when it reached a large portion of mud, which was too thick to allow the toy to go any further. Miyagi only found it after walking for an hour along the riverside, and ended up having to jump into the mud in order to reach it. His clean limbs and fur coat inevitably got soaked in mud, which Miyagi wasn't too pleased about. It dried all over his legs, stomach, and chest.

It took a lot longer to get back due to the extra weight clinging onto his coat and the uphill climb back up. By the time Miyagi knew it, it had fallen dark. He wasn't even sure if Shinobu would still be waiting for him. He hoped that brat didn't wander off anywhere. Who knew if the kid was afraid of the dark.

After a while longer of travelling past tall, overshadowing trees, Miyagi finally made it to the spot where he had left Shinobu, and surprised at the amount of relief he had mustered up when he saw Shinobu.

The brat was no longer lying down and staring longingly into the river below, but was instead up and sort of pacing about. Miyagi come closer and snapped a branch as he had done so, gaining the kid's attention, as he was unable to speak with his mouth full of rubber bone.

"Miyagi." Shinobu slowly came up to him skeptically.

Miyagi locked his dark eyes onto Shinobu's, and tossed the bone in front of the kid's smaller paws.

Shinobu flinched, gawking down at his muddy, precious toy. The boy's mouth was slightly agape, though he seemed at a loss for words.

"Wha–"

Miyagi interrupted him by jumping into the river to rinse off the mud. Although the current was strong, the water was actually shallow enough for him to step into without being engulfed. As the stream cleaned him off, Miyagi dunked his head into the water for a quick drink.

He then leaped leaped back onto the dry ground once relatively clean, shaking his whole body in attempt to dry himself off. The water made his coat all spiky, but he hated having his body either covered in crusty dirt. Miyagi looked at Shinobu to apologize for any water hitting or splashing him, but quickly froze when stunned, adorable bug-eyes stared at him.

Miyagi forced himself to look away from the brat.

'Ignore him, Miyagi,' he told himself, refusing to risk glancing at the puppy again.

"... M-Miyagi..." the husky stuttered in a shaky pout.

The wolf felt his ear twitch when that small voice reached it. He had to set things straight with this kid now... before he could get the opportunity to do anything else to soften the wolf up.

"Brat," Miyagi said sternly. He accidentally looked back at the husky as he spoke, and get choked up to see the kid's eyes getting filled with big, fat, shimmering tears. He immediately snapped his head away once again.

'Ignore him, you idiot!' he huffed to himself. The pup was merely too emotional. Miyagi couldn't have touched him that much by finding the bone... could he?

"Y-You care..." the elder one heard Shinobu blubber. Miyagi gulped when Shinobu hiccuped. "... You really c-care... I-I thought..."

Miyagi felt the strong, sudden need to interrupt the puppy. But he couldn't tell what was preventing him.

"... I thought... you h-hated me."

"Dumb ass." Miyagi was so grateful of his fur coat because he knew he might have been red in the face. "I can't decide whether or not I hate somebody so quickly," he grumbled.

"... Nng... nn..." Shinobu stood there, trembling and trying not to cry. Miyagi had always thought of this kid as some cocky, overconfident brat whom was full of total bullshit, but now Miyagi couldn't see anything but sincere, overwhelming emotions and vulnerability.

Perhaps the kid really did earnestly fall in love with him for whatever reason, and believed that destiny had brought them together.

But Miyagi had different feelings and logic to follow. No matter how much the kid had fallen for Miyagi, the brutal truth was still the same. He shared none of those feelings.

"Shinobu-chin," the wolf said.

When Shinobu's glossy eyes met his, Miyagi instantly looked to the side. He didn't want to look at the kid while breaking it to him.

"... Um, it's true that I don't hate you, and I care enough to take responsibility for your bone... and stuff... But, I still strongly believe that you and I should part ways."

Miyagi couldn't bare to look at Shinobu, but he wasn't enjoying the silence the brat was responding with.

"And honestly, the sooner the better. You should go back to your house. I think you would be much better off there," he said.

"... But..."

"... Your masters probably love you and you won't have to worry about things like finding food since it'll already be supplied."

"I still want to be with Miyagi though," the husky pouted.

"You can't," Miyagi said solidly. "Go find somewhere to sleep for tonight and in the morning, I'll take you back to where you came from."

"But... c-can't I at least sleep with you?"

"No."

"..." Shinobu stared at the ground in disappointment. "I want to be with you longer. Please, Miyagi." Head still aimed at the ground, Shinobu's pitifully sullen eyes averted to meet Miyagi's.

Whether Shinobu was doing it on purpose or it just happened to make Miyagi sympathize, it certainly worked.

"... No, puppy," the wolf grumbled. "I'm just saying what's best for you. So go find somewhere, sleep, and we'll say goodbye tomorrow.

"... Fine..." Shinobu crouched in front of his mud-splattered bone. "I'm just going to stay here by the river a bit longer to clean this though... Goodnight, Miyagi."

"Goodnight." Miyagi began walking away without another word, stepping into the pitch-black forest and leaving Shinobu by the river.

Miyagi was prepared to say his final goodbyes to Shinobu. He was prepared from the moment he met him today. He found Shinobu to be a truly interesting puppy, but no matter how he'd look at it, the brat was also nothing than a one-day acquaintance.

Whether Shinobu's tale of destiny was the ultimate truth or not, it was not going to lead them into becoming anymore than mere memories once Miyagi will drop the bundle off tomorrow. Miyagi would have no problem moving on, and he hoped Shinobu wouldn't either.

Miyagi was absorbed into his own thoughts, until he lifted his head when he heard something else stir somewhere not too far him him. His eyes caught an incredibly faint glow of light in the corner of his eyes, and he knew it must have been from a flashlight.

'Damn humans are wandering in our territory again.'

Although it deemed strange to Miyagi that a human would be wandering through the forest this dark at night, he payed no mind to the dude and decided to keep walking wherever.

"Are you around here, boy?" the human creature called out loudly. "Where is that dog? Shinobu?"

In the midst of thinking how incredibly stupid humans were, his ears perked when he heard that brat's name being called.

'Shinobu-chin's master?' Miyagi wondered, stopping in his tracks to turn and stalk the light.

The old wolf ensured to be very quiet as to go unnoticed by the person, since he was curious what would happen. Miyagi's guess was that the human was just searching to bring his house pet home. That would be easier for Miyagi... he wouldn't have to do it himself. The human was also heading in the right direction if Shinobu was still at the same location, near the river.

Miyagi continued to follow, leaving a fair amount of distance between him and the man. After another moment of silent searching, the person reached the rear of the forest where the river was. Miyagi wasn't certain if Shinobu was there or not, but soon heard a human say, "Shinobu! There you are!"

The wolf crept even closer, hiding safely within the tree's shadows, and allowed himself a view of what was happening. The flashlight shined radiantly against the husky, who displayed a combination of surprise and fear in his grey eyes. It appeared like the kid wanted to back away from his master, but couldn't of course, due to the water behind him.

"Here, Shinobu," the human encouraged. Both Miyagi and Shinobu watched from different angles as the man pulled out a long, string-like object, which was probably Shinobu's leash.

Miyagi's brow furrowed slightly at the human invention. Its purpose was to restrain dogs from going where humans didn't want them to go. As a dog would attempt to wander off, the things would tug on its neck. To Miyagi, a leash was an object built nothing more but for a human's control over the canine.

Miyagi was starting to feel that he wouldn't want Shinobu in one of those things, but he also supposed it was necessary if his master was going to bring him home now. And though he was glad that Shinobu would be leaving so abruptly, he was willing to admit that he would have liked to at least spend one more moment alone with the kid to properly say goodbye.

The kid may have been a big hassle, but it wasn't all too bad. Shinobu was ridiculous... in sort of a refreshing way. It wasn't like Miyagi disliked him. But he didn't like him either. It was simply that Shinobu enabled him to once again feel all sorts of emotions which he hadn't had the chance to do since his mate passed on. The kid reminded him what it was like to have a companion...

Miyagi stared at Shinobu before him with the human man trying to whistle and clap his hands in feeble attempts to get the canine to come. As seconds ticked on, the old wolf was rapidly having a change of mind... It wasn't fun being alone.

Mere minutes ago, he was sternly urging Shinobu that it would be best for him to go back home... which could have been true. He hated the thought that he'd try to go against his own decisions, but now he wasn't sure if he wanted to let the puppy go too soon... He figured that having someone was better than letting nostalgia prevent him from actually living again. And for Shinobu to appear now after she died, it could have been luck... or a gift...

He had to act now or never – there would be no second chance or another opportunity... needless to say, there would never be another crazy kid coming to Miyagi to declare their 'destiny' and other bogus remarks which would make no sense.

Without another thought, Miyagi leaped in front of the whining Shinobu and snarled his teeth at the man.

The human yelped and staggered back a few feet in shock, just before Miyagi pointed his nose to the moon and let loose a powerful, earth-shattering howl that pierced through the midnight darkness. His voice was loud and intimidating, with capabilities of making anyone run away in a cowering fright, their hair standing on end.

Once the first breath was all out, he growled protectively and issued a second bone-chilling howl with just as much depth as his first.

'Piss off, Homo sapien... I don't like sharing...'

Obvious fear was blunt in the human's face – of course he would be scared. A wolf could murder him if they wanted to. With Miyagi's current wet and spiky-looking fur, along with the addition of the flashlight beaming against him, Miyagi looked even more threatening than an ordinary wolf – he could have passed for a vicious werewolf. An angry one, at that.

Just as Miyagi's second howl neared its end, the human seemed scared shitless at the creature, thus ran off back into the forest again. Miyagi silenced himself and glared in the direction the human left.

All was quiet except for the whimpering and overly emotional puppy behind him.

Miyagi sighed... he was reluctant to face Shinobu again after he had done the most impressive job of contradicting himself.

"M-Miyagi..."

"Kid," Miyagi huffed gruffly, keeping his back faced toward him. "You're probably thinking some really sappy stuff right now... but, uh... you know, this isn't exactly what it really appears like... I guess." Miyagi wasn't sure what point he was trying to convey.

The husky hiccuped behind him, causing Miyagi's tail to twitch. "... Y-You..." Shinobu sniffled silently. "... made m-my owner go away... a-and..."

"..." Miyagi stubbornly scowled when Shinobu whimpered, unable to finish his sentence due to his overactive surge of emotions. "Brat. Don't talk if you can't even do it properly."

Swallowing up his pride, the wolf hesitantly turned around to see the mess of a husky pup. The quivering little thing was trying to steady out his breathing, his eyes holding growing droplets of water at the edges.

"... D-Does this m-mean..." Shinobu hiccuped. "... you w-want me to..." He made a weird but cute shaky noise. "... b-be with you now?"

Miyagi grimaced away from him. He knew the answer, but was reluctant to admit anything to this pup. "... It's just that, maybe that guy wasn't the right one to take care of a brat like you..."

Shinobu sniffled and ducked his head lower, beginning to sob to himself. "... Nngh..." The husky whimpered and hiccuped. "... A-And since man Takatsuki i-isn't the right o-one... ngh... t-to take c-care of me... then y-you...?"

Miyagi's brow twitched watching the pitiful sobs, unsure if Shinobu had even finished his shaky sentence.

"... T-Then you... w-want to... waaaaaahh...!"

"Stop blubbering!" the annoyed wolf finally snapped. "I don't even understand what you're trying to say! You're too much of a sap."

The heavy-breathing mess of tears didn't say anything and instead made weird whiny noises that puppies liked to make when they tried not to cry... or maybe it was just a Shinobu thing. Miyagi didn't know, it wasn't often when he had to deal with crybaby kids.

'This brat is hopeless,' Miyagi thought, bringing himself closer to the pup.

He gazed at Shinobu's teary yet joyful state, the affection within the wolf steadily growing as time went. It felt wrong standing there so still. Miyagi wanted to do something... to at least express a bit of the gratitude he had for Shinobu's being there.

"I-I love you, Miyagi..." the husky sobbed between whimpers.

The wolf felt unable to think with any of his logic – he leaned down a slowly licked Shinobu's fuzzy cheek, gently with his pink tongue... then quickly drew back, scowling elsewhere.

Shinobu's large, lustrous eyes blinked at the wolf's unexpected action. "... What..."

"You had some of your fur sticking out weirdly," Miyagi lied. "Can't even groom yourself right..."

Shinobu also glanced away, embarrassed with the thought that he had just appeared less than perfect for Miyagi. "... O-Oh..."

"You know, Shinobu-chin," Miyagi grumbled dully. "I uh, felt bad for... kind of acting poor to you. Not just when I almost lost your bone, but I said sort of, um, mean things that probably hurt your bratty feelings a lot."

Shinobu was in pure silence – he even rid of his crying noises to listen attentively. It annoyed Miyagi to say any of these things to Shinobu, but it was the adult thing to do. It was also about time he say something right to the kid.

"So... I apologize for all of that." He paused, trying to find the words to say his next bit. "... Also, i-if you're alright with it and willing to forgive me... I wouldn't mind having a companion again." Once again he stopped, trying to prevent himself from dwelling on her by shifting his eyes, along with his thoughts, to Shinobu.

Fresh tears were starting to pool around Shinobu's eyes. "W-We can be... mates?"

"Not mates!" Miyagi quickly snapped. "I didn't say mates! I said companions! Get your definitions right."

"... Y-You mean... be companions... and then become mates?"

Miyagi opened his mouth to argue Shinobu's false inquiry, but the puppy was too quick to speak again.

"I-I do forgive you... because we're... destiny..."

"..." The wolf somehow found himself silent. He didn't have the energy to argue with this kid any longer... it had been a long ass day. "... Let's go, Shinobu-chin. We should sleep now. I'm exhausted."

The husky's ears perked. "Together?"

"..." Miyagi sighed in total defeat. "... Fine."

He turned and walked into the forest to find a good place for them to rest, smiling softly as he heard the scampering youth follow close behind him.

Miyagi couldn't imagine what sort of conflict Shinobu would bring in the future to come. He didn't want Shinobu as a replacement for his lost companion, but he had faith that Shinobu would help him move on from her.

He needed someone to care for again. And destiny or not, it was likely that he'd manage to care a great deal for someone like Shinobu.

Miyagi highly doubted he's fall for Shinobu in a romantic sort of way, but for the brat to convince Miyagi to let them stay together... Miyagi feared this kid could make anything happen.


AN: The end.

So yeah... all three chapters were supposed to be just a one-shot, but the word count was indeed a bit staggering in length for that. Thus created three chapters, and now it's at an official end.

Please review me... it's highly appreciated.