Here's a longer chapter to make up for the last short one. Note: I wrote each part at different times so their structure might seem different.

Disclaimer: Wish I own Wolf's Rain, but since God hates me, no. I DON'T own WR. I do own my imagination which is the only thing that keeps me sane in times of need. Like when I'm doing homework. My iPod, Mr. Fluffy, helps with that too. Wow… Long disclaimer…

Anyway, on to the ficcy.

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"Hige, you need to be more alert next time." Kiba was licking his chops while giving the light brown wolf a small lecture.

"Yeah, yeah. Get off my back already…" Hige sighed sarcastically. After eating a few more mouthfuls, he peered around at rest of the pack. He saw Tsume selfishly eating his meal and Blue was taking a nap. He didn't want to disturb her, so Hige instead walked over to Toboe, who had been staring off to space for some time.

"What's wrong, Runt?" Hige asked. Toboe only responded with a flick of his ears.

Hige tried again, "Hello! Earth to Toboe!"

The small wolf gasped unexpectedly, "Hige! You scared me!"

Hige shrugged (1), "Pay attention next time. What were you doing anyway?"

Toboe lifted and licked his right paw, "Just thinking…"

"About what?"

Toboe stopped licking his paw and stared up at Hige undecidedly. "… Nothing…"

Hige was about to demand that Toboe tell him, but he stopped himself in time. I guess it's no use going into your mind anyway, Runt. Surprisingly,Toboe grinned and laughed.

Hige cocked his head in confusion, "What's so funny?"

"Your face!" The dark brown wolf had softened his laughter but he was still smiling. "You just can't put on a serious thinking face can you?"

"That's it! You're so dead!" Hige bit and pulled at Toboe's ears teasingly. Toboe chuckled and pulled on Hige's neck fur. This was their favorite game. The rules were to pull on each other until one of them was to say "Mercy!" Hige thought that Toboe would give in soon, but today the small wolf was determined. Toboe pulled harder and harder until Hige couldn't take it anymore.

"Let go, Runt!"

Toboe laughed with his teeth still in Hige's fur, "Say the magic word."

"… Mercy…" Toboe let go. However, Hige decided to teach Toboe that is was not wise to put down your defenses so easily. He tugged at Toboe's ears just enough to send the wolf flipping through the air. The little wolf landed behind Hige in a pile of sawdust.

"Hige, you big jerk!" Toboe growled as he shook the dust from his coat.

"What? You should never let your guard down." Hige licked his neck where Toboe had his fangs.

"I thought you said mercy!" Toboe flicked his ears angrily.

Hige laughed, and Toboe stood with a pouting expression on his face.

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"Help! Somebody help me!"

Toboe followed the screams. He was previously taking a leisurely walk, thinking about the pair of wolves that had attacked his pack yesterday. But now that he had heard a plea for help, his mind was on finding the person in need. It didn't even occur to him that it might've been a human; he had never discriminated against them, but nonetheless they always attacked him…

"Please don't run away from me this time…" Toboe whispered under his breath as he ran.

Eventually, he could see the person that the screams belonged to. Toboe sighed thankfully. It was a small, tan bodied, black striped wolf cub, the safest of all his options. Toboe took a step toward them but stopped in his tracks. He could see the glint of a rifle to the right. Its owner was an old man. He was wearing a large, brown trench coat and pants. Toboe saw that the man was totally focused on him. Toboe saw that the cub was frozen in fear – a bad thing to be doing in this situation. Toboe gritted his teeth and growled softly at the cub, trying to get them to move. When they didn't Toboe returned his attention to the old man who had been inching his way closer. Toboe saw him stagger a bit, and he smelled like alcohol.

Is he drunk…?

As soon as Toboe had the thought, the man suddenly loaded his gun.

"You damn wolf! Die!" He pointed the rifle straight at Toboe and fired. Toboe jumped into the air, but he was a little late. He felt the bullet scrape the back of his right rear leg and Toboe landed awkwardly on the hard ground. The man wasted no time and fired again, this time at the cub. The paralyzed cub cried out in surprise and rolled into the bushes, out of the sight of Toboe. At once, the man turned around again to Toboe and aimed. The brown wolf had other plans; he leaped into the air over the man and ran into the bushes where the cub disappeared. As Toboe ran away, he could hear the man cursing him, and shooting in his direction.

Toboe searched frantically. He sniffed and listened to bush after bush, and then searched in the ally when a dozen cardboard boxes were thrown out. Toboe heard a whimper and slowly padded up to the pile.

"Hey… Is anyone in there…?" Toboe murmured.

The whimpering stopped, but Toboe could hear the cub's quick, scared breaths. Toboe bowed his head and tried to comfort the wolf before finding him.

"It's alright. The man's gone. I can help you."

This time a muzzle poked out of one of the larger boxes. Toboe watched as it grew into the head of a young wolf. Toboe gasped, he couldn't have been ever a year old! He even still had blue eyes! What was he doing all alone out there?

"Where's mommy and daddy?" The tan-black cub asked.

"I…" Toboe didn't know how to respond, "I… Don't know…"

"But you should!" The little wolf had sorrow in his voice, "You saw them yesterday, but you were too mean to give them food! We needed it more than you!"

"Those were your parents!?" Toboe stepped back his thoughts on the two wolves that attacked them yesterday.

"What happened to mommy and daddy? I saw them fighting you, then the… Bad people came and mommy and daddy were gone!" The cub paused, "You killed them! I hate you!"

Toboe shook his head, "No we didn't. They ran off when the Wolf Hunter came, I swear!"

The striped wolf growled, but lowered his ears. He stepped fully out of the box and stare at Toboe suspiciously. Toboe saw how thin the cub was and whined sympathetically, he really did need the meat more than his pack did. The cub responded by stopping his growls but still keeping his distance. Toboe lowered his ears and almost walked away when he saw a flock of crows gathering.

"Hey, wait! Hige told me how to find food! Follow me!" Toboe waved his tail at the cub, beckoning him to follow. The cub nodded, and tagged along after Toboe half-heartedly.

When they found the crows, they also found a great pile of cow meat. Toboe didn't know why the humans were throwing away whole cows, but frankly, hunger didn't make him care. He ran up and snapped at the crows, making them scatter. The cub lagged behind as if not trusting Toboe about the meat. Toboe understood and ripped out a bite-sized piece and threw down in front of the cub.

"Here. You must be starving."

Surprisingly, the cub laughed, "More than you know."

Toboe smiled, and ate beside the cub. After about half an hour later, when they had eaten their fill, Toboe decided to ask what the kid's name was. At first, he was reluctant.

"Uh… Well… Mommy never said to give my name out to strangers… Um… What's yours?"

"Mine's Toboe."

"Oh? Really? That's a rare name… Mine's Mel." Mel looked away sheepishly. Toboe noticed.

"Do you not like your name?" Toboe flicked his ears.

Mel shook his head, "No. Not really, but my brothers used to make fun of it… Before they were taken away…"

"Taken away? By who?"

Mel growled, "The humans. They take them away and train them to fight and kill other wolves! Especially if they refuse to search for Paradise."

"What do you mean?" Toboe never heard of humans kidnapping wolves before. It was ridiculous to him to say the least.

Mel shot an angry glance at Toboe, "I mean that humans force wolves to find Paradise. And when the wolves refuse, they either have to kill their own family or fight in the human's war!"

Toboe gasped and stared up at the sky. Could human really be that cruel? How could they, without fangs or claws, manage to strike obedience of wolf-kind? Humans have slow reactions and even will guns they have hardly managed to shoot a critical area like the heart or brain with accuracy. And if other wolves were anything like Kiba, they didn't stay caught for long. Unless… They have new technology…

"Do you mind if I… Live with you for a while?"

Toboe looked back down at Mel. He saw that Mel had lost all his past anger and was now gazing at him with friendliness and trust. Toboe shook his head and led Mel back to the den.

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"What the hell Toboe?" Tsume was the first to notice Mel's appearance. "We can't afford to bring in any lost kid! He's just a weakling that will hold us back!"

Toboe gritted his teeth at Tsume and was just about to defend his new friend when Mel ran up to the blue-gray wolf.

"Why don't you say that to my face, you jerk?!"

"You little brat!" Tsume bared his teeth, and Mel growled back at him. Toboe stepped back. He knew that insulting Tsume was last thing you needed to do for a good first impression.

Then, Toboe had Hige laugh, "That's one gutsy kid. Why don't we keep him?"

Tsume turned toward Hige, "No way! Having one clueless cub is bad enough!"

Toboe frowned at Tsume, "Hey! I'm not that young! Why are you in such a bad mood anyway?"

Tsume snarled, "I am not! You need to learn that you can't save everybody-" Tsume was cut off when Kiba stepped up to him.

"That's enough Tsume. You're giving me a headache." Kiba looked down at Mel, "Do you know of a place called Paradise?"

Mel nodded, "My parents talked about it!"

Kiba smiled, "Then you are welcomed into our pack."

Tsume shook his head, "Hang on a minute! You are going to let this kid just because he believes the legend about Paradise?!"

Kiba shrugged, "Yeah. So what? I'd say once he's old enough he will be an excellent comrade."

"Yeah, if he lives that long." With that, Tsume stalked irritably down the street, chasing the humans like prey. (2)

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A few weeks had past, and Toboe's and Mel's friendship grew. They now would share stories they made up about brave wolves fighting to get to Paradise and how the humans were no match for their power. They would also play-wrestle and make up moves. Mel would pretend time to time that he was a powerful tiger since he had black stripes. Toboe used to think that Mel's color pattern was weird, but now he envied it. Toboe thought himself now as a dull, plain brown wolf with no individuality. Mel saw Toboe's discouragement and decided to cheer him up.

"Don't worry Toboe! I bet I can find you something to make you unique." Mel wagged his tail happily and ran over to the dumpster. Toboe stood up on the edge of the metal container and watched as Mel's tiny body dug through the heaps of garbage. For a five minute time period, Mel was completely gone and Toboe grew worried that he was stuck somewhere, but he soon heard Mel's happy voice call out.

"I found something cool!"

Then a large pile of old newspapers and magazines gave way for Mel's striped figure. Toboe gawked at what he held in his mouth: Four glistening, silver bracelets. They looked just big enough to fit over a wolf's paw.

"Wow Mel! You're good at finding all the neat stuff!" Toboe joyfully allowed Mel to pull the bracelets up and around his leg. At first, they kept falling off, but Toboe found that they could become smaller if you pushed against them. So when Mel did, the bracelets became too narrow to slide past Toboe's paw and the brown wolf licked Mel thankfully.

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Tsume still regarded Mel as a useless wolf but he never physically attacked Mel like he would do with Kiba. Instead, he gave Mel the cold shoulder. The young wolf didn't mind though. He would grin and head over to Hige, and jump on him. But today, Hige wasn't in a playing mood.

"Ow! That hurt squirt!" Hige rolled over onto his side, "Go play with Kiba."

"But Kiba's boring!" Mel protested. "Why don't you want to play with me?"

"Because today I want to be with Blue, okay?"

"What? Do you want to have cubs with her or something?" Mel asked mischievously.

Hige flicked his ears embarrassedly, "… Go play with Toboe."

Mel frowned, "Fine. Ignore me then."

Toboe, who had been watching from his bed, sighed and padded over to Mel.

"You know. You don't need constant attention."

Mel laughed, "Yes I do. I'm a cub. It's your job to shower me with love."

Toboe grinned, "Well! Aren't you the smart-aleck?"

Mel lifted his head with pride, "I'm a whole year old! I'm an adult now!"

"Oh really? You're still smaller than me and I'm two years old!" (3)

Mel's grin left his face and was replaced by jealousy. Toboe smiled and rubbed his muzzle against Mel's flank.

"Hey Mel, your eyes are starting to turn gold. You are growing up."

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(1) Can wolves shrug? o.o

(2) I just had a funny visual of Tsume chasing three fat ladies. Haha…

(3) Now that I think about it, boasting about being one year old sounds weird… And I decided the wolves' ages like so:

Kiba: 4 years

Tsume: 4 years

Hige: 3 years

Blue: 3 years

Toboe: 2 years

Mel: 1 year

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Well, that's all for now folks. I'm think I know where this fic is going now… R&R please! They're one of the few things that make Tsume smile.