Hey all! Whew, long time no update. Then again, I usually go a year between updates, so I'm on a roll this time, haha. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter.

Wolf's Rain © BONES

Fae and all other OCs © Redmoonfae

Toboe groaned. His feet ached, his head ached, and he was hungry again. He had been looking for Fae for hours. Endless hours it seemed. As he thought about it more he realized he had been looking for her all night. It was early morning now. But as much as he tried, he couldn't find her. It was like she had disappeared. Toboe sighed, a deep frown etching his tired face. There was also that horrible sound. Late in the night something had screamed, or cried, or howled with such pain and sadness it had made him scream too. He had held his hands over his ears, closed his eyes, and screamed with whatever was causing him so much pain. He shook it off and set his mind back to the task at hand.

"Where could she be…?" he muttered to himself.

He looked around him. Just another city alley way like all the other ones he had been through that day. He glanced behind him before clenching his fists and setting his face to a determined scowl. His claws clicked and his bracelets tingled as he trotted down the alley and into the open grassy field. He was going to find her if he had to look all day. A loud growl. He stopped in surprise and stood frozen. The next rumble made him jump. And then pant with relief. It was his stomach. His nose twitched as he caught the faint scent of a rodent, lurking somewhere in the grass in front of him.

A small snack…just to give me some energy so I can keep looking for Fae. He reasoned to himself.

He sank down into a crouch, sniffing at the air. There. Only a few yards ahead of him. He readied himself for the spring…and then something dove out of the sky at his meal. That something was a small grey falcon with fierce eyes. Its claws grabbed onto the rat and clenched the life out of it. The falcons gaze landed on Toboe.

"Maybe next time, puppy." It sneered.

Toboe growled deep in his throat. He had had a bad night and a bad morning. He wasn't about to let some flimsy bird get away with mocking him. With a vicious snarl, he charged the bird. With a shriek of alarm, it unfurled its wings and attempted to get away. It became airborne before fangs encircled it. The falcon shrieked and fought free only to be pulled down and thrown onto the ground.

Toboe stood over his kill, lips curled back, waiting to see if the bird would try to escape again. But it did not. It was dead. Toboe's tail wagged low to the ground, proud of himself. But his happiness soon ended when he heard running footsteps come up behind him. He whirled around to see Leara staring at him in horror.

"My bird…" she whispered.

Toboe's ears flattened to his head in shame. He didn't know the bird belonged to Leara. He looked at the mass of bloody feathers lying at his feet. He noted absently that the bird at dropped the rat in its escape attempt. Before he could stop himself he was picking the bird up gently in human hands. He gulped as Leara let out a gasp of fear and shock and she took a step back. Toboe walked over to her with his head low.

"I'm sorry Leara…I didn't mean to…" he mumbled softly.

He wouldn't have been able to apologize in his natural form. He had to do this he reasoned to himself. He was in the wrong and was trying to make it right.

The girl stared at him with wide, frightened eyes. A deer in the headlights. Her bottom lip shook and her eyes grew wet and glassy. She took another step back. Toboe frowned harder and looked at the bird in his hands. He tried to hand it to her but she stumbled away from him. Toboe looked away. He lay the bird down gently at her feet and took a step back. Before he knew it, he was raising his muzzle to the sky to let out a long, low, hollow sound. All his sadness and frustration from the night came pouring out of him to dance in the air above him before dissipating into nothing once more. He took a breath and continued to howl.

He yelped when a hand clamped down painfully on the scruff of his neck and carried him away from the weeping girl.

Fae stared blankly at the wall in front of her. She sighed and shifted to a more comfortable position, ears laid flat against her skull. She lay in a concrete 'tube' that was attached to the side of a building. There were many more like it attached to this particular wall and many more attached to many more walls around the city. They lead underneath the city to create a network of sewer tunnels; a handy place to catch rats or lay low from angry wolves and humans.

She was tired. Emotionally, physically…just tired. She still couldn't believe that the only other creature she had considered pack aside from Kai was gone. Forever. Fae whined and curled in on herself tighter, burying her nose in the fur of her belly. She could have prevented it. She could have spoken with him. Told him not to go on the dumb mission. He would still be alive if she had been more attentive. She whined again, closing his eyes tightly. And that sound last night. That terrible sound. It had ripped her from her bitter thoughts with a vengeance and made her feel as though her heart were being torn into small pieces. She whined again, louder this time.

Kai lay next to her in the tunnel, offering silent support. His blue eyes never wavered from staring at her. Now his overly large ears perked up. He jerked his head up and stared out from the tunnel. He listened. There is was again. He yipped to Fae to get her attention. She didn't react. He yipped louder and standing, leapt out of the tube. Now Fae's eyes opened and she turned to look out as well. Her ears perked up and she inch wormed closer to the edge. Now she could hear it too. A low, long, sad, howl. Toboe's howl.

Fae whined and jumped from the tube, claws clicking on the stone ground. She listened intently, but the howling stopped. She sighed and turned to climb back into tunnel.

"Are you just going to sulk the rest of your life?"

Fae stopped and turned to look at Kai. "I'm allowed to sulk." She said back in a monotone.

Kai snorted and rubbed his nose with a paw. "What's done is done. You can't change anything about it now. Might as well move on."

Fae sniffed. " I could've helped him. He'd still be alive if I had done something."

"Maybe. But there's no point in thinking about it because the fact is nothing was done by anyone and he's dead. But we're alive and so is that pup out there howling for the world to hear."

Fae sighed and looked down the exit of the alleyway. Now that she thought of it, she felt bad for just leaving Toboe while she ran off. She sighed again. She felt obligated to find him and keep him out of trouble. Pushing sad thoughts and memories aside, she trotted out of the alleyway in search of Toboe. Kai raced after her, leapt onto her back and curled up for the ride.

Fae grumbled to herself. She had looked around for hours and hadn't found the pup anywhere. She wiped her bleeding lip with the back of her hand, annoyed. The humans were much more active today than usual. They were catching gangs left and right and attacking anyone wandering around alone. But now they were even worse. Fae suspected this may have had something to do with the noise from last night. But that didn't give them the damn right to attack her.

She had been searching around for Toboe in some alley when the humans had cornered her.

"What're you doing out by yourself?" one had asked. He had a ruddy face and beady eyes. He was dressed in the usual uniform of a white trench coat thing and helmet, complete with beating stick. Fae hated him instantly.

"And why the fuck would I tell you?" she answered back blandly.

That had ruffled his feathers.

"You can't talk to an officer like that! How dare you!" he spluttered out. The other guards also voiced their anger at her choice of words.

"Well if what you're saying is true, then I just defied the laws of physics." Fae replied, getting more annoyed. "And I dare because I know that there isn't a single God damn thing any of you bastards can do to stop me." She snarled.

With a roar of fury, the guards launched themselves at her. She had easily evaded them, but one got in a fluke shot at her as he flailed his arms up in an attempt to protect his face. His nightstick and smacked Fae smartly on the face, bruising her cheek and splitting open her lip. She had made sure he paid for that.

Now she walked along a narrow catwalk above the buildings. Kai had draped himself over her shoulders and was dozing lightly. She walked with her hands in her pockets, deftly putting one foot in front of the other. Just then something big and black leapt in front of her. Fae blinked in surprise to see the black dog with the spike collar snarling at her. A leash dangled from the collar, suggesting she had broken free of her human.

"Well. This is surprise. Who knew fat dogs could jump so high? But can they fly?" Fae said thoughtfully, voice turning into a snarl at the end of her sentence.

The black dog lowered her head more and snarled louder before launching herself at Fae. Fae raced forward as well, planning on leaping over her and continuing on her way. She misjudged the dog's skills. As Fae leapt, so did the dog, biting down hard on Fae's thigh, teeth easily ripping through denim and skin until hot blood ran freely down her shin. The shock of it made her miss her landing and send her diving dizzily to the ground.

Toboe ran blindly, following after the tall figure in front of him with the silver hair. Finally Tsume slowed down and stopped, looking back at Toboe. Toboe skidded to a clumsy stop, gasping for breath.

"Wh-who was that guy? Why did he-he tell those men wher-where you were?" he asked between ragged breaths.

"Just some stupid human without the common sense to keep his mouth shut." Tsume growled dangerously.

Toboe gulped in the face of his anger. Tsume had been the one to carry him away from Leara and bring him back to his 'den' by the big tree. They had spoken, albeit very little, and Toboe found he liked this scowling wolf, although he didn't have very nice things to say about Fae when Toboe had asked him if he had seen her.

Tsume had said he had business to attend to and left, Toboe following after him with little else to do. But before they had gotten very far three humans with long sticks came chasing after them. Tsume had run right past them, leaving Toboe to belatedly follow as he leapt up at a rock overhang to knock out one human and pin down another.

Toboe had gathered that this was one of the humans belonging to Tsume's pack and that he had done something bad. But Tsume had let him live before leaping off again, once more leaving Toboe to follow after. Then they had run further away, Tsume leading over buildings and through alleys. And so here they were now. They were in a wider and more open area between two buildings. An overflowing trash can with raucous crows stealing bits of food from each other against one wall and a manhole in the center. And now that manhole was being pushed up and a head appeared beneath it.

"Hmm…must've made a wrong turn…" the head said. Then it turned to look at Toboe and Tsume who stared back at it. "Oh hey! Two of our own!" he said excitedly. His hair was an orangey brown, his eyes cinnamon colored. He was chubby and had a big grin on his face. A grin that disappeared as he was pushed out of the manhole and onto the ground.

"Would you move already?" said a muffled voice as a second head appeared out of the manhole. It was Kiba. "That's the last time I trust your nose."

"Hey! Anyone's nose would go numb after a night in that dump!" the chubby wolf shot back defensively.

Toboe blinked before smiling widely. "Hey! You guys are wolves! So are we!"

Kiba pulled himself fully out of the manhole. Toboe looked at the gaping hole in the ground, fervently hoping that a third head would appear. And that that head would belong to Fae. But Kiba replaced the lid back to the hole and straightened up, crushing Toboe's hopes.

Tsume glared at Kiba with narrowed golden eyes. Kiba sensed eyes on him and looked back at Tsume evenly. Then his glance moved away to see the young human girl staring at all of them.

Toboe followed his gaze and saw "Leara!"

At the sound of his voice, the girl grew rigid and shook, eyes opened wide and teeth clenched.

Toboe frowned sadly. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I didn't mean to hurt your bird…" he said softly.

Leara continued to shake, clutching the brown paper bag closer to her chest. "Daddy….daddy….DADDY!!" she yelled loudly. "Come quick, it's here! The wolf is here!"

A man buying some groceries heard his daughter yell. "Leara! Where are you!?" he cried. He ran off in the direction of her cries.

Another man also heard her yells. His eyes widened and he went to follow the man to his daughter and the wolf. But his dog suddenly balked and would not budge. "Blue! Damnit!" the man yelled. He threw down the dog's collar and pulled out his gun, running after the man. The dog snarled and raced off in the other direction. She had caught the familiar scent of a female wolf.

Toboe was startled at her out cry, and then grew nervous when he heard footsteps running toward them.

"C'mon, let's get outta here." The chubby wolf said.

Kiba nodded and followed him quickly around a corner and down another alley where tunnels were in the walls. The chubby wolf selected one and climbed in, followed by Kiba. Tsume followed them also. He had a bone to pick.

When Toboe turned around, they were all gone. He raced toward the other alley where the tunnels in the wall were. There were so many of them. He didn't know which one to take.

"Daddy! Come quick!" he heard Leara cry again. She was coming this way.

Toboe gulped and turned to face her. When she turned into the alley she skidded to a stop in surprise and then went rigid again.

Toboe took a step toward her. "Leara…why did you cry out like that?" he asked sadly.

Leara backed up. "No! Stay away! There's something wrong with you. You're not normal!" she yelled at him.

"Leara please! I showed you because I wanted to apologize! I'm sorry!"

"Ah! Don't come any closer!"

Now Toboe was mad. He glared at her, hurt. "Why? Didn't you come here to catch me?" he reached a hand toward her. She flailed at him, crying out, before falling backward. Toboe watched and immediately felt bad.

"Hey, c'mon runt!"

He turned around to the chubby wolf sticking his head out of a tunnel. Toboe looked back at Leara before crawling after him.

And now they were in the sewers. Toboe wrinkled his nose. He could sense tension between Tsume and Kiba, but no one said anything.

"My name's Hige by the way. And the broody one is Kiba." The chubby wolf said to them both. Hige looked back to see Toboe pouting. "Hey runt, what's eating you?" he asked.

Toboe glared at him. "I am not a runt. My name's Toboe." He said angrily.

"And what's your name?" Hige asked Tsume.

When he said nothing, Toboe answered, "This is Tsume."

"Wow, we've practically got enough for a pack now. Paradise, here we come!" Hige said, pumping his fist.

Toboe stopped suddenly. "Paradise? You guys are really going there? Cool!" he said excitedly.

"You bet it's cool! My man Kiba here is gonna lead us to the best place imaginable." Hige said with a huge grin.

Toboe smiled back before frowning. He stopped walking."Hey...do you guys know Fae?" he asked hopefully.

The others stopped as well, looking back at him.

"Fae? That's a girl's name! You mean there's a wolf babe in this city?" Hige asked excitedly. "Where is she, huh?" he asked, eyes bright.

"I know her."

Hige and Toboe both looked at Kiba.

"What the hell man? You knew a babe this whole time? You've been holding out on me!" Hige said, indignant.

"Stop calling her that! Her name's Fae!" Toboe piped in angrily.

Before Hige could reply Kiba said, "Yeah, I met her. What about her?"

Toboe looked back at him and ignored Hige. "Well, I thought she might want to come with us." Toboe said sheepishly.

"Well why isn't she with you now if you two are such good friends?" Hige asked sulkily.

Toboe glanced at Tsume who was looking the other way. "Well um…we sort of got separated…" Toboe mumbled.

"You try making a move on her or something? Huh? Huh?" Hige said sneakily, poking Toboe in the ribs, making him flush scarlet and splutter a denial.

Kiba had walked off and was examining something red on the ground. A trail of blood led from a latter-way down the sewers.

"We'll find her." Kiba said, cutting short Hige and Toboe's argument. Toboe smiled brightly and Hige smirked, eyes dazed, off in lala land where he imagined a land filled with babes, all after him.

Tsume made a 'tch' noise. "Don't bother. She's not worth running around the city looking for. The humans are crawling everywhere. It's not worth it." He stated flatly.

Toboe looked at him in disbelief. "Don't say that! Just because you two don't get along doesn't mean we can just leave her behind while we go to Paradise!" he said heatedly. Tsume didn't reply.

"Come on." Kiba said after a moment, following the trail of blood.

Fae sat in the corner of a broken down slate building. The sun was fading fast and it was already past dusk. A trail of blood followed her into the building and made a puddle underneath her. Since she had continued running, walking, and limping, the wound from the dog hadn't healed. Her green eyes were closed, her head lolled back against the wall. She was exhausted.

After the dog had bitten her, they had free fallen into a huge pile of cardboard boxes. This had broken their fall enough that they hadn't been killed. Fae had run off as more officer humans filed into the alley to investigate the noise. After that she had quickly found a wall-tunnel into the sewers and made her way through the city away from wary eyes. And now she didn't want to think about moving anymore.

Kai licked at the wound on her thigh, cleaning up some of the blood. The full moon was a long way off.

Suddenly Kai leapt up, the fur along his back standing straight up, his tail puffing out behind him. Fae's eyes snapped open as she fumbled into a defensive standing position. The door to the building creaked open to reveal the last person she expected to see. Kiba.

Behind him came a wolf she had never met, Toboe, and then Tsume. She was shocked to say the least.

"Wow, what a crap heap. Why the hell you'd bring us here?" the wolf Fae hadn't met said.

"What…?" Fae couldn't even think of what to say.

"Oh hey! Wow! You are a babe!" said the cubby wolf. "Toboe, this her?" he asked, eyeing Fae. She growled.

"Hige, leave her alone!" Toboe snapped. Toboe walked over to Fae cautiously. "Hey…you look really hurt." He glanced at her bleeding leg.

"I'm fine. What the hell is going on?" she growled, looking at the other three wolves warily. Her gaze lingered on Tsume, turning into a glare. He glared right back.

"I could smell your blood in the sewers. We followed it here." Kiba explained calmly.

"And why the hell would you do that?" she snapped. She ignored Tsume's comment of 'charming as ever.'

"We're all going to Paradise!" Toboe exclaimed happily.

Fae froze. Paradise…

"That's just a stupid pup fairy tale." She said quickly. "It doesn't exist."

"Whether you think it exists or not doesn't matter. We're going and you're invited to come too." Kiba said.

"We can't live here with the humans anymore Fae. Look what they did to you." Toboe said, looking at the bruise on her cheek and the split lip.

Fae didn't answer. Her mind was reeling. Memories that had been blocked for years came bubbling to the surface with a vengeance, threatening to engulf her completely. Her pack, her mother and father, Paradise…

She shook her head viciously to clear her mind.

"Hey, I don't mean to be a kill joy, but there's a nasty stink heading this way…" Hige said, looking out the window carefully. Troops were stationed all around the area, holding cocked guns and waiting.

"Tch. We're surrounded." Tsume stated.

"Let me ask you guys this. Why did you come to this city?" Kiba asked quietly. "It was because of the flower scent, wasn't it?"

Nobody answered and no one looked at each other.

"Well it's gone now. There's no reason to stay."

"This is my home. I can't leave." Fae stated.

"Yes you can. You're just too scared to do it." Kiba replied.

Fae growled back at him. "So now you think you know me?" she snapped. "The last time we met you said something about how your pride wouldn't let you pass as a human. Well you passed as one then and you're doing it now. Where'd your pride go?"

"Nowhere. Nothing has changed."

"Do you have any idea what leaving the city will mean? You'll all just die." Fae said evenly.

"Possibly. Everyone's gonna die. It's a natural part of life. But if life has no purpose you're dead already."

Fae stood staring at him. She couldn't leave. She had fought so hard to be here. Everyone had died trying to get here. And there was nothing natural about their deaths. Before she could answer, a blinding light shot through the window and the sound of gun fire made Fae cringe. Kai leapt onto her shoulder, hissing.

"Come on!" Kiba turned and rushed out the door, followed quickly by Hige. Tsume snorted and raced after them. "Come on Fae. We gotta go." Toboe whined. He grabbed her hand and pulled, forcing her to walk. She pulled her hand out of his grasp and clenched her jaw. They both ran out the door. The bullets whizzed by them, making Fae feel as though there was a bee hive in her skull. Toboe ran on the pipe walkway next to her, a sheer drop in between them. Fae could see Tsume ahead of her.

She clenched her teeth and tried to ignore the screaming pain in her leg. Just then a bullet hit right in front of her, making her slip. And then she was over empty air and her arm shot out to latch onto the piping, pulling loosea section, jarring her as it threatened to tear off completely, barely holding her up. Kai yowled, claws scrabbling all over her back, shoulder, and neck as he fought to stay on. She cried out.

"Fae!" Toboe skidded to a stop, but he couldn't reach her in time.

Tsume had stopped as well and turned to see Fae dangling over the side. And suddenly he didn't see Fae hanging there, he saw Gehl. And he was racing toward her. He knelt down and didn't see Gehl anymore, but Fae again. He hesitated for a split second, the reached down to grab her. Fae winced as sharp fangs dug into her shoulder, but she let him pull her up. She knelt across from him, rubbing her shoulder.

"Thanks…" she said uncertainly.

Tsume looked away, then got up and raced off again, leaping to another pipe to run on.

"Fae come on!" Toboe cried.

Fae got up and ran on, jumping after Tsume. She was deaf to Toboe's cries. Soon she caught up to Tsume.

"What the hell are you following me for?" Tsume snarled at her over the thunder of the guns.

"Making sure someone sane comes along on this field trip." Fae shouted back. Tsume didn't reply.

It wasn't long before the bullets stopped whizzing by. Now they were running over a small forest beneath them. They ran through a tunnel. When they came out the other side, Fae could hear Toboe shouting happily. Tsume leapt up after them. Fae hesitated, glaring up at Kiba who looked back evenly.

"This way!" he shouted. That and the sound of more gunshots had Fae leaping from ledge to ledge up to them. They had made it to the edge of the city. A fog of snow roared just at the end of the platform. Kiba leapt off without hesitation. Hige followed suit and Tsume after him. Toboe skid to a stop and looked down worriedly. Fae shoved him over. He landed stories below with a thud and a moan.

Fae looked down and gulped. She glanced behind her, back to the city that had been her home. The city that had called to her and saved her life. The city that her pack had died trying to reach. A bullet bit the ground next to her. Another shot by her arm.

"Fae! Come on!" Toboe shouted up.

"Jump already!" Hige yelled.

And she heard Kiba's voice in her head or maybe he had spoken. It might have been Kai. She couldn't tell. "Are you scared?"

Clenching her fists, she launched herself off of the platform, the roar of the wind in her ears as she fell worse than the sound of the guns behind her. She landed without stumbling despite her wound. As soon as she landed, Kiba turned and raced off, his white fur blending into the snow all around them. Hige leapt after him followed by a reluctant Tsume. Toboe stood and looked at Fae who glared back.

"Come on. I don't feel like freezing here." She said gruffly.

Toboe smiled and they headed toward their future together.

Whoo. Finished this all in one sitting. I really wanted to get the next chapter up because everyone has been waiting so patiently and because I received so many beautiful reviews. They really are what keep me going with this. They make me want to pump out three chapters a day. Sorry if this chapter is a little confusing or choppy. The parts where Fae is bitten by the dog and Leara finds Toboe are going on at the same time in the story. I'm sorry if that wasn't clear. Please please please please review! Reviews are my energy source to write this! I hope you liked it!

I'm really nervous on how you all liked this one. It was really hard to write all the pack meeting up with eachother.