Tell Me What The Rain Knows

By AniuLonewolf

Chapter 6

o-o

After a while Sakuya had calmed down and stopped crying, still holding onto Toboe tightly. In turn Toboe kept this arms around her slender frame, holding her tight as if thinking that she would slip away from him if he didn't. The two sat against the tree quietly, loving the feel of one another in each other's arms.

"Thank you Toboe for saving me that day in the forest." Sakuya whispered into his chest.

Toboe, at first, was caught a little off guard from what she had said but it made him feel warm inside to hear her soft voice. He tightened his arms around her a little, pulling her closer to him. "I will always be here for you Sakuya, I promise."

The rest of the pack sat around the small fire eating supper which was cooked fish. While sitting around together they planned out what they were going to do to try and get Cheza back from Darcia once they would meet up at the mountain. So far they had nothing solid to plan from. It was hard to plan anything out since they had no idea what Darcia was planning to do with Cheza and how he was going to open his 'own Paradise'.

Blue couldn't help looking over at the sleeping couple by the tree every few minutes. She thought they made such a cute couple. She knew that Toboe would take care of Sakuya. Blue knew that the new comer wolf was upset. She could see that pain and anger in Sakuya's blue-gold eyes every time she looked her way. The young wolf had been through so much.

Once the moon was well in the sky everyone started to doze off in different places. Toboe and Sakuya stayed by the tree while the twins Natsuko and Akiko slept by each other a little ways away further away from the creek. Tsume picked a small shrub to sleep by but wasn't that far away from Natsuko. The oldest twin had long since returned his jacket but not without thanking him multiple times.

Kiba was alone, laying down beside a giant rock on a small hill that overlooked the others but no matter which way he tried to rest he couldn't fall asleep. He didn't know what the feeling was, but something inside hurt. At first he thought it was because of being away from Cheza for so long but after looking over the camp his eyes rested on Sakuya.

Even in the dark his golden piercing eyes could see the pained expression on her face and the tear stains on her cheeks as she rested against Toboe. Her jacket was still left on the ground, she was only wearing a white tank top and he could see that she was a bit cold but Toboe couldn't move to get it for her since he didn't want to wake her up.

But the look on her face was stuck in his mind, the pain, the anger. Was all the emotion directed at him? He didn't mean to make her upset but he didn't want to wait around any more -they have keep moving to get to the mountain before Darcia got there before them. But ever since they had started moving again he couldn't keep the issue away from the front of his mind. The Chosen. He knew so clearly that all the native villagers always called him the Chosen Wolf that would open up the pathway to Paradise. But what was she trying to say about her father? He was mentally kicking himself for cutting her off.

Trying to shake the clouded thoughts from his mind he rested his furry head down on his front paws and let out a sigh. There was do danger around anywhere and besides, Hige was on guard duty so he closed his eyes and tried to drift off into sleep hoping that no other flashback nightmares would enter his dreams.

o-o-o-o

Tossing and turning, Blue couldn't get to sleep for anything. Sighing, she sat up from her place by a lonely tree. Looking around, she saw that Hige was on lookout duty a little ways away from her by another larger tree.

Being careful of her shoulder that still stung a bit, Blue got up and quietly walked over to Hige. As she walked up to him, the brown haired guy turned his head and looked from the corner of his eye to see who it was. When he saw that it was Blue, his eyes widened and he turned around fully.

"Something wrong?" He asked, his face full of concern.

"I couldn't sleep." Blue whispered, looking down at her boots, not able to meet his gaze. "I thought I'd keep you company."

A smile appeared on Hige's face as he moved over for the black haired girl to sit down beside him. When she sat down, he wrapped an arm lightly around her waist. "Thanks Blue."

They sat there in silence for a while, just enjoying each other's company until Hige tried to start a conversation.

But it was harder than he thought when he couldn't come up with anything to say. Scratching the beck of his head, all he could come up with was, "Umm..."

Blue beat him to starting a conversation. "Do you think we'll get to Paradise?" She asked quietly, looking up at the many stars in the sky. "I just can't stop thinking about it since Sakuya was so upset about it earlier."

Hige looked over at the girl beside him. "Well yeah I'm sure we'll get there." He said, showing a reassuring smile. He felt the same way every since he saw Sakuya break down in Toboe's arms and he couldn't help wondering if everything was going to be ok.

Without looking away from the sky, Blue continued. "Do you think I'll be accepted by Paradise?"

"What do you mean?" Hige asked.

"Well since I'm only half wolf, do you think Cheza will let me through to Paradise?" Blue said, her black ears flattened a bit in sadness.

Hige wrapped his arm around her waist again, bringing her closer to him and letting her rest her head on his shoulder. "I'll make sure you'll pass through with us." He said and saw Blue look up at him and he looked down at her, locking eyes. "I promise you Blue." He seemed drawn by her beauty and slowly leaned closer to her."Hige... I..." Blue tried to get out but her heart was beating so fast that she couldn't breathe as she sucked in her breath.

"Blue," Hige whispered as his lips hovered over hers. "I care about you a lot."

He didn't know how, he didn't know why but ever since that day he first say her. Running away from those thugs and skidding to a stop right in front of them, her blue-black fur gleaming in the sun, her bright blue ocean eyes looking right at him. He was captured by her the very first moment he laid eyes on her. And ever since she started to travel with them she always stuck by his side and he started to fall for her even more. But he couldn't come up with a reason why he loved her so and in the truth - it didn't really matter. His way of thinking about it was that that was the way love worked.

All Blue could do was nod her head slightly. So much had been running through her mind. She had only been traveling with Hige and the others for about six months but in that period of time she started developing feelings for the brown timber wolf. Since that day she was being chased and he stuck up for her, everything just clicked. At first she could tell right away that he was all about getting girls but - oh it was so hard to put into the right words - she just knew and after a little chat with him she knew that he was for real. They had a few connecting moments here and there but she had always thought that it wouldn't be able to work out because of her bloodline. She thought that Hige wouldn't think of her that way because she was only half his kind. It would never leave her alone and it seemed to haunt her.

Hige, seemed to grow more concerned for her, reached up his other hand and placed it on her cheek, rubbing away the tears that she didn't even notice were falling down from her eyes.

"Did I do something wrong?" He asked, suddenly backing up and giving her some space.

"No, no." She said wiping her tears away quickly. "I just..." She cut herself off as she moved closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder again.

"You can tell me what's on your mind." Hige said, wiping her tears away with his thumb. He hated to she her so upset, it tore his heart.

"I just thought you wouldn't want to love me because I'm half dog." Blue said, trying to keep her breathing calm. Than it hit her that she said 'love'. Love? What about liking each other first? Why oh why did her mouth run off on her? She quickly sat up, pulling away from him a bit, scarred of what he was going to say next.

But then she felt his hand turn her chin, making her look at him and before she could even think of anything he softly caught her lips in a kiss. Her mind went blank and she didn't know what was going on but she loved the feel of his lips on hers. Almost forgetting about why she was so upset she moved closer to him and she felt Hige wrap his arms around her waist. He pulled her closer to him and deepened the kiss.

When they pulled away she still didn't know what was going on but a smile pulled its way through and she felt happier. Hige smiled back, happy to see that she wasn't sad anymore.

"Please don't think that at all Blue. I couldn't care less if you were all dog."

The words that Hige said warmed Blue's heart and she couldn't help but let tears fall again but this time they were tears of happiness. Her mind was at ease now for she knew that Hige and the rest had accepted her for who she was, not what was in her blood. She knew where she belonged now and she wouldn't want it any other way.

Hige pulled her into another warm hug, she loved the way she felt in his arms. She felt so safe and so loved. Blue hugged him back, burying her face in his shoulder. "I love you Hige." She whispered, knowing that her words would reach his ears.

Kissing her head, Hige held her tighter. "I love you too Blue."

o-o-o-o

The night was long, the moon moving across the sky as the stars sparkled. The forest was quiet except for the trickling sound of the small creek but other that that there was no wildlife noises.

But there was an odd feeling in the air, something uneasy floated around the sleeping wolf pack. It was like a black cloud hanging over them, bringing nothing but sadness. Even four of the eight wolves, Toboe, Sakuya, Hige and Blue had been brought together with love the air around everyone was still heavy. Hige and Blue sat together by the big tree, taking turns on outlook while the other took a nap. The cute couple, Sakuya and Toboe continued to sleep by the creek.

Everything was dark, quiet, sleeping. Looking over at her sister Natsuko could see that Akiko was sound asleep, sleeping on her side with her back to her twin. A small noise, a snap of a twig caught her attention. Emerald green eyes looked around the campsite, looking over at the long forgotten fire she saw a long grey figure walking up to creek a ways away from the sleeping Toboe and Sakuya. She knew who is was, the striking grey fur of the lone wolf Tsume. Raising to her paws she looked over at her sister once more and quietly headed after the grey wolf that she had come to develop a crush on.

He had tried for a long time to try and fall asleep but it was no use so he decided to get up and walk around for a while to think about the events that were taking place. He had first looked around at everyone else, Hige and Blue by the big tree, Toboe and Sakuya by the creek, Kiba by the one large boulder and the twins who weren't that far away from him. He saw that the younger sister, Akiko had long since fallen asleep but the older one, Natsuko was tossing and turning.

When he started on his little night time walk, he saw Natsuko's dark brown ears perk up but he continued on his way. After a while he saw that she had lifted her head and was following him with her eyes but he continued to look up at the stars, watching them sparkle in the blue-black sky. After when he started to walk over to the creek he then knew that she had gotten up to follow him.

"Tsume wait up." Natsuko whispered, trying to fix her long brown hair into a messy bun as she tried to catch up.

Hearing her voice call out to her again he had no choice but to stop and wait for her to catch up to him. He turned slightly and saw her run up to him. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Was all Tsume could come up with to say. He couldn't help but admire how beautiful she looked in the blue moonlight.

"I should say the same to you." She shot back, stepping closer to him. "But I couldn't help it, I can't fall asleep." She said with a shrug of her shoulders. She turned away from him for a moment and looked around at the area around them. "It's pretty here."

He couldn't come up with anything positive to say to her. Why was it so hard to talk to her? And it was only her that he had problems with, no one else. He felt so nervous, a feeling he had never felt before and it was foreign to him. His eyes followed her as she walked past him up to the creek. Without thinking he started to move along with her, standing beside her with his hands shoved in his pants pockets.

"Do you ever wonder what would happen when we find Cheza and get to Paradise?" The brown haired girl looked down at her reflection that showed her true form, her dark brown muzzle and ears standing out on her blond-brown fur that covered her face. She stared down at her own green eyes that looked back at her from the water.

"I didn't believe in Paradise." Tsume said as he saw Natsuko sit down on a nearby rock. "At least I didn't when I first met up with Hige and the others."

He could tell that she was upset about what was going on. Everyone was on edge about the issue, Sakuya had been crying in Toboe's arms and Blue was with Hige worrying about if she would be able to enter Paradise or not. All of the worrying about Paradise had almost broken the pack. He could tell that Sakuya had been angered by how Kiba had reacted to the song and when they started moving again after the conversation the air around everyone was so thick it was almost hard to breathe.

"Why? Why would you not believe in the only hope left for us?" She asked, picking up a blade of grass and playing with it between her fingers.

The question was so hard to answer. The words wouldn't form in his head to explain why he felt the way he did about Paradise. And on top of that he couldn't form the words of how he felt about the girl sitting in front of him.

She could tell that the question she had asked him was hard for him to answer. She didn't mean to hit to hard with her question and she wished she could take it back. That was the second question she had asked him since she had started traveling with the others that seemed to hurt him. Mentally kicking herself she wished that she would stop asking such personal questions.

If felt like she had two sides of her fighting over what she should do about the guy that was standing in front of her. The one, shy side of her was saying that she should just say she was sorry for asking such a question and then run back to her sister. But then there was the other side that was curious as to what made the lone wolf in front of her tick. She wanted to know what was going on in his head. She wanted to know everything about him.

"It's ok, you don't need to tell me right now if you don't want to." She suddenly sighed and got up to her feet and walked up to him. "But when you come up with the answer let me know." She flashed him a bright warm smile.

It shocked him how she was acting and all he could do was stand there as she placed a soft warm hand on his cheek. He looked down at her as she only came up to his shoulder but the look on her face turned to a serious expression. "Don't keep things inside for too long or you'll lose yourself." She whispered and sighed again. He could sense that she was going to pull away and leave.

His body went into an almost panic state. He didn't want her to leave his side. He loved the feel of her beside him, the feel of her hand on his face started to melt this stone heart. The feeling he was having every time she was close to him, he had never felt so warm and - dare he think it - happy before. Happy? Was he really feeling happiness for the first time in ages?

When he felt that she was going to pull away he lifted his one hand from his side and gently grabbed her wrist. He suddenly felt scared that if he held on to her too tight he would hurt her. He had past events were that had happened - a few of his human lackies got in his way. They locked eyes, emerald green clashing with silver-gold. Natsuko's heart was beating so fast, thundering in her eyes so loud that she was sure that Tsume could hear it too.

He still held her wrist and pulled her closer to him, as a reaction Natsuko placed her free hand on his chest. They just stood there, not moving a muscle. In the clear blue moonlight Tsume saw that Natsuko was blushing but she kept his gaze, not looking away or saying a peep. She just looked back up at him with somewhat of a smile on her face.

"Are you scared?" He whispered.

"Sacred of what?" She whispered back. "Of our mission or of you?" This time she inched closer to him. "Because I'm not scared of you."

Her answer gave him some piece of mind that she wasn't scared of him. He'd hate to ruin the beginning of some kind of relationship with her by making a wrong move.

"Why?" Her voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Are you scared of me?" She asked and lifted herself onto her tippy toes. The shy part of her was panicking, saying that Tsume would never like her that way but the curious side was saying that it was now or never.

For the first time since was thrown from his pack Tsume felt like he belonged somewhere. He felt like being with Natsuko was the right thing to do. Even though they hadn't known each other for very long, it was clear from the beginning that there was something special between them.

"No I'm not scared of you." He answered back, wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling her even closer to him. "But if you say that you're not scared of me than why are you shaking?" He couldn't help but show a small smirk on his lips as she blushed even more. "But I'll hold you to what you said earlier. I'll come talk to you when I have your answer."

It was his turn to pull away. Natsuko could feel his arm slide away from her waist and he was about to let go of her wrist when she suddenly moved her hand away from his chest and placed it on his cheek. She lifted herself on tippy toes and caught his lips in a soft kiss.

His eyes widened in almost complete shock as she kissed him but he soon melted under her lips and kissed her back. He grabbed her waist again, pulling her right up to his body. He let go of her wrist and reached up to her hair, pulling out her hair elastic and letting her long brown hair fall down. Natsuko pulled her arms up and around his neck as Tsume deepened the kiss from being a soft kiss to a fiery one full of emotion.

Both of their minds were at ease, no more questions about if the other had the same feelings as the other. There was so more uneasiness between the two as they continued to kiss in the moonlight. It was Tsume who pulled away first. There was no words that needed to be spoken. A light breeze picked up, blowing stray pieces of Natsuko's hair in front of her face.

"Maybe we should head back now." She whispered, her arms still around his neck, his arms still around her waist. She suddenly saw doubt in his eyes. "It's ok, we won't tell anyone about this." She smiled up at him.

"Ok." He answered, giving her one last short kiss on the lips before they both let go of each other and started to quietly head back to their sleeping places. Natsuko found where she had left her sleeping sister, Akiko hadn't moved an inch since she had left. She watched as Tsume was about to head past her to his sleeping place a little ways from hers. He was about to pass her when she grabbed his hand and ran up to him.

"Aren't you going to say goodnight?" She joked, showing a big smile.

Tsume was shocked at first to have been jerked back when she tugged on his hand but he quickly regained himself. "Goodnight." He whispered and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Now go to sleep." He said and stood there as she walked back over to her sister and laid down, resting her head down on her paws. He then turned to his long forgotten sleeping place and laid down beside the shrub.

He let out as sigh as he got comfortable and took one last look around the rest of the camp to see that everyone else was sleeping. He stole one last glance as Natsuko and felt his lips curl into a small soft smile, the first in many years. What was this girl doing to him? He had never felt this way before and for the first time he allowed his mind to focus on her. As he let his head fall to rest on his paws his mind wandered and he wondered what the future would hold for this pack. And what the future had in store for the new couple.

Wolf's Rain © Bones Studio

Tell Me What The Rain Knows by AniuLonewolf