Chapter 4

Mika and Rin silently made their way through the Black Forest, Rin always a couple steps ahead. When they reached Silver Sand Beach, Mika took the lead and the pair made their way to the other side, the water splashing quietly around their legs.

"Which way did he go from here?" Rin asked as they stood at the edge of the woods.

Mika gave the air a quick sniff. "This way," she said before heading into Lush Wood.

With the presence of two wolves trotting through the trees, all of the animals had taken cover. The heads of the daring creatures, were pocking out of their nests and other hiding places, trying to get a good look at their predators. The only sound that could be heard was the soft footfalls of the wolves as they walked, and the occasional sound of a twig snapping.

Through the silence, a deep sounding laugh could be heard coming from the other side of the woods.

"That's Gabu!" Mika exclaimed.

"Come on," Rin said, walking towards the muffled voices that they could now hear in the distance. "Let's get closer."

"Rin . . ." Mika tried to warn her.

"I just want to see who he's talking to. We won't stay long," Rin reassured.

Approaching the end of the woods, Rin forced her way under one of the bushes. Mika squeezed in next to her, and they each pushed some leaves aside so they could see what was going on in the field. What they saw was not something that either of them had expected to find.

Mika was having a hard time wrapping her mind around what she was witnessing. Gabu, a wolf whom she had grown to consider to be one of her best friends, was sitting in the middle of Pleasant Valley, talking and laughing with . . . a goat.

The white goat seemed perfectly at ease in the presence of the wolf, which told Mika that this weird meeting between the two had probably been happening for a while.

"What . . . what is he doing?" Mika asked, still in shock.

"Why isn't he killing it?" Rin snapped. A low growl was growing in the back of her throat.

Turning towards her friend, Mika realized that Rin had already gotten over her initial surprise. Rin had managed to get into a low hunter's crouch under the bush, and Mika could tell she was preparing to dash out after the white goat.

"Wait," Mika hissed into her ear urgently. "Not yet."

"Why? Whatever this is, it can't continue," Rin hissed back, nodding in the direction of where Gabu and the goat were sitting.

Mika paused, not sure why she wanted Rin to stay out of it. If what she thought she was witnessing was really happening, then Gabu was going to be in big trouble with the pack . . . bigger than what had happened that morning.

There had to be a good explanation for this.

Mika pricked up her ears. "Can you hear them at all? What are they talking about?" she asked, trying to stall for time.

" . . . Sadow and Sada are the red squirrels. They are siblings, and sure fight like it," Mei said with a giggle.

Gabu and Mei were lying down in the grass right outside of their den, enjoying the last couple hours of sunlight.

Mei had gotten into a routine of meeting with his new animal friends in the mornings, while Gabu hunted with the wolves. They would typically meet back at Full Moon Burrow in the afternoon.

The system had been working out fine, but Mei wished that Gabu could hangout with the new friends that he had made. Things always seemed more fun when Gabu was around, and Mei hoped that he could convince him to meet the other creatures.

"And then there's Hara," Mei continued. "She's a bunny, only a couple weeks old, but she's smart and . . ."

"I can't, Mei," Gabu spoke up, interrupting his friend.

"You can't what?" Mei asked.

"Meet your new friends," he said, trying to be gentle about it. "That's what you want, isn't it?"

Mei turned his head towards the ground in despair at his friend's words. "Well, I was hoping . . ."

"I can't, Mei," Gabu repeated sadly. He hated seeing Mei so down, but he knew it would be a bad idea to become friends with more animals in his food chain.

"But why not?" Mei asked, staring at Gabu with pleading eyes. "You hunt with the pack on the other side of the stream. What's wrong with being friendly to the animals over here?"

Gabu turned away from Mei's begging eyes. "I've already gotten in trouble with the pack because of being friends with you."

Mei stood up in shock. "They know about us?"

"No! No," Gabu reassured his friend. Shaking his head, he moved into a sitting position in the grass. "It's just . . . I attacked a black goat during the hunt this morning, but then your face came to mind and I couldn't being myself to kill it. I think they are starting to get suspicious."

"I thought you didn't like goat meat," Mei said, narrowing his eyes at the wolf in front of him.

Gabu gulped in remembrance of this. "Well . . . you see, when you hunt in a pack, your hunting for everyone. Just because I attempted to kill the goat, didn't mean I was going to eat him." Seeing Mei's face relax at this, he went on. "Anyways, if I start befriending other creatures over here, I may have a harder time killing the same animals in front of the pack."

Mei lowered his head in defeat. "I guess that makes sense. I wish things could be different though."

Hearing enough, Rin scooted herself backwards until she was out of the bush, and gave herself a shake to get the leaves out of her fur. Mika was soon by her side.

"We have to tell Daichi," Rin said as she turned and started heading back the way they had come.

"Wait, Rin," Mika called, hurrying to catch up. "Do we have to tell him now?"

Rin stopped in her tracks and spun around to face her. "You just heard their conversation. He's gone and made friends with a goat, Mika! A goat!"

"Yeah, but . . ."

"Look, I know you have feelings for Gabu, but this isn't right. Being friendly with a goat . . . it's . . . it's . . ." Rin tried to find the right word to express her disgust, but nothing seemed appropriate for this. "We have to tell Daichi," she finished, turning away from her friend.

Mika quickly moved in front of Rin, forcing her to stop again.

"Just wait a day," Mika begged her friend. "Maybe we misunderstood what was happening. I'll talk to Gabu about it in the morning. Let me find out for sure what is going on."

Rin glared at Mika, baring her teeth as she gave a low growl. "And if he really has befriended that kid?"

"Then I'll try to convince him to drop the relationship, and give him another chance to join the pack," Mika said, hoping to buy Gabu some time. "If not, then you can tell Daichi about the goat." If this didn't work, it would at least give her a chance to warn Gabu before his secret got out to everyone.

There was a moment of silence between the two as Rin narrowed her eyes at her friend, thinking over Mika's proposal.

"Fine," she snarled. "You have until tomorrow night to fix this, or I'm telling."