Lullaby for a Stormy Night

by OmegaFoxy

OC's On hold till further notice WHOOT! When the world is dieing and the moon bleeds red, there is but a single choice to decide the fate of the next world: sumbit to the darkness of the new moon or bask in the light of the full moon. -Book of the Moon

6. Chapter 5 Return to Inocence

Love - Devotion
Feeling - Emotion
Don't be afraid to be weak
Don't be too proud to be strong
Just look into your heart my friend
That will be the return to yourself
The return to innocence
If you want, then start to laugh
If you must, then start to cry
Be yourself don't hide
Just believe in destiny
Don't care what people say
Just follow your own way
Don't give up and use the chance
To return to innocence

Return to Innocence- Enigma

Chapter five Return to Innocence

"YEAH!" unlike the other five, Hige didn't hesitate to jump into the cool clear water upon seeing it, "CLEAN WATER THAT DOESN'T TASTE LIKE SHIT! HEAVEN AT LAST!" he shouted as he cannon-balled in and resurfaced, squirting out water through his pursed lips, "You guys gotta try this!" he grinned at the others, raising a hand and beckoning them towards the water, "Come on!"

"Isn't there chlorine in it?" Toboe tilted his head. Living in a dome all his life, the pup has never seen a large body of water without chlorine in it, or even water this clear! He took a step forward, sniffing at the liquid curiously.

"No you nimrod!"Hige splashed Toboe with water, "This isn't some bastardized city water! This is the real thing!"

"Huh?" Toboe shook his head to get the water out of his hair.

Tsume glared dryly at the back of Toboe's head, "Just get in." he lightly shoved Toboe's crouched form into the water, grinning masochistically when the pup yelped in surprise and struggled around before hitting the water.

Toboe sputtered to the surface, coughing and hacking, but his eyes were full of wonder, "Hey! This is different from the city water! I like it!" Toboe grinned happily as he slurped up the water and paddled around as happy as can be.

"Told ya so." Hige smirked as he dunked Toboe unsuspectingly while he and Tsume laughed at Toboe's expanse.

"City kids…" Tsume chuckled.

Heart flanked Akira while the young red head cautiously approached the shore of the clear pond and started trying to wash her arms from the dried blood, "This stuff doesn't like to come off does it?" Akira sighed softly.

Heart ruffled Akira's hair on top her head from behind her, "It'll come off better if you dunk yourself into the water fully and scrub your body. It'll even come out of your hair too." She cringed when she pulled her hand away and it came back flaky with dried blood, "In fact, I insist." Heart said as an afterthought, wiping her hand off on her dark pants.

Akira took off one shoe and tested the waters daintily with her small foot. She jerked it back upon contact and shivered, "It's so cooooold!" she whined.

"Der, it's a fresh water pool in a forest." Hige retorted as he wrestled around with Toboe in the water, "Damn it kid! Not the ears!" Hige complained while trying to hold off a resilient Toboe who was trying to deliver his own version of payback by climbing on Hige while in the water and trying to use his weight to shove the larger wolf under like he had done to him with just an arm.

Akira's big eyes turned back to Heart who held her nose and glared at Akira, "No way, girl. You stink and you're taking a bath!"

Akira visibly paled, "Wh-with everyone around??" she gulped.

That caught the other's attention.

"Oh hell yeah!" Hige nodded enthusiastically, "I can help you scrub your back if you want!" his grin widened into a perverted smirk.

"Get out of the water, Hige." Kiba's authoritive voice cut through Hige's fantasy quickly, "You too Toboe. We'll get something to eat while the girls bathe."

Tsume was already heading out through the forest, intent on finding some game for food. Toboe's wolf form dragged himself out of the water and shook his water-logged fur to dry off before scampering off after Tsume, "Wait up Tsume! I wanna go with you!"

"You don't know how to hunt"

"You can teach me?"

"Hell no."

The two were out of sight through the thick underbrush of the forest, but Hige remained stubbornly. Kiba glared at him, "That means you Hige." He reminded.

"I don't see you leavin, Kiba" Hige huffed as he leaned back to rest his arms on the shore of the pond, getting comfortable.

"I'll be looking around as well, but you're not staying here." Kiba growled slightly to get his point across.

Hige picked at his ear nonchalantly, "I don't see why it's such a big deal if I stay or not. It's not like females should have anything to be ashamed about showing their naked bodies." He snuck a glance at Akira, grinning when the red she-wolfs face was nearly the shade of her hair, 'CUTE!'

Hige yelped when a thick piece of a log slammed into his face, snapping him out of his fantasies again. Enraged, Hige automatically assumed it was Kiba and so retaliated, "KIBA! WHAT THE FUCK!?"

Kiba wasn't looking at him though, his blue eyes were focused warily on Heart who now held a stone in her hand nearly bigger than the hand that held it. She tossed it up and down in her palm threateningly as she cocked her hips to the side.

"Let's get one thing straight." Heart gritted her teeth, "Kiba told you boys to leave so I wouldn't maul you for soiling Akira by staring at her naked body in lust. Got it? Now leave before I decide to ignore his generosity for you." She leveled him with a deadly autumn red glare that had Hige jumping out of the water and scampering off in wolf form.

"I'm going, I'M GOING!" he barked as he shot through the trees.

Heart immediately lost her ferocious look soon as Hige was gone and grinned widely like a kid that just learned a new prank that never failed, "Ha, ha! I love doing that!" she noticed the disturbed look Akira was giving her as the red head leaned away from her warily, "What?"

"You didn't have to make it a death threat to get him going…" Akira replied with reservation.

"That pervert. Listen Akira, here's how you deal with overzealous male libidos: you scare the shit out of them in the beginning and they leave you alone the rest of the way. Got it?"

"I'll…. Let you handle the scary part." Akira relented uneasily with a cautious grin.

Heart turned expectantly to Kiba who met her eyes silently and then walked off to the forest in a different direction then what his friends had taken, "We'll be back shortly, so do what you need to do and be done with it." He said over his shoulder and then was gone.

Heart shook her head, "It's safe now, Akira, I can't sense any of the four of them. You can undress now." She turned away to give Akira some peace of mind, showing her back to the pond while Akira stripped down. Once she was to her underwear, Akira thought for a moment about taking them off too, but decided against it. She just couldn't bring herself to be completely exposed in human form like that.

"Ya good yet?" Heart asked still turned away.

"Umm, y-yeah." Akira replied pathetically, looking at the water like it was going to rear up and eat her with all its chilliness.

Heart turned around, seeing that Akira was standing in her off-white underwear still staring at the water timidly and sighed at Akira's irrational trepidation of the cold water, "Akira, usually people get IN the water to bathe." She said dryly, crossing her arms.

"But…" Akira turned from her to the water, "It… It's cold!" she shivered.

Seeing that this was going nowhere, Heart sauntered up to Akira, "So try and," she bumped Akira in with her hip, grinning as Akira sputtered back to the surface shivering and chattering her teeth together, rubbing her hands over her hands, "Leave caution behind and take the plunge!"

"H-H-H-HEART-T-T-T-T!" Akira shivered.

"Scrub, scrub, scrub!" Heart urged her.

Akira rubbed her palms over her body frantically, trying to get the blood off. Her eyes widened when Heart held her clothes over the water and started dunking them in and scrubbing them, "Wh-What are you doing!?"

"It's useless to wash your body only to put bloody clothes back on." Heart commented as she dunked the clothes down, frowning when not much of the blood came out, "You know, on second thought… Next town we get to, we'll get you some better clothes. Until then, you'll have to deal with these or stay in wolf form the entire time." She noticed Akira was having trouble with getting all of the grime out of her hair, "Here, come over here." She beckoned.

Akira maneuvered herself in front of Heart, putting her back to her and bringing her knees up to her body, resting her chin on them and wrapping her arms around herself, thankful that in this position she was better able to stave off the cold while Heart scratched her long nails in Akira's hair, knocking the grime out.

"There. Feel cleaner?" Heart leaned forward.

"As good as it gets without shampoo." Akira shrugged.

"You bathed with shampoo?" Heart laughed, "What else? Conditioner?"

"Yes, in fact." Akira never realized that wolves didn't bathe with shampoo or conditioner regularly. At Heart's strange look, Akira continued, "Back at Freeze City's Keep, our squad treated their canine division like family. They bathed, fed and treated us very well because we helped them take down criminals." Akira said. Her eyes got a far off look as she stared at her reflection in the water, able to see her wolf reflection shimmer with her human reflection in the water, "Does that…. Does that really make me so much more different then all of you?" Akira looked over her shoulder, "I'm not like the rest of you am I? I'm an alien to your world…"

Heart didn't know what to say after a while. She didn't look Akira in the eye as her red eyes stared out into the clear water while the dawn was getting stronger in the sky with the sun rising behind the ever thick clouds. After a while Heart sighed, "Just because you're a bit more different than the average wolf, doesn't make you such an alien to us. You just grew up differently, that's all. Don't let it get you down so hard." Heart patted her head, "Wait in there for a bit till your clothes dry a bit more. How are you feeling? The water's only lukewarm, so you won't get hypothermia."

"I-I'm getting used to it." Akira admitted with only a slight shiver that she was able to calm. She turned around, crossed her arms on the shore and rests her head on them, letting her back end float in the water at leisure. Though she didn't like water much, she found that this was ok to just rest inside here. While she was relaxing, her long hair dipped into the water at her side, exposing her back where old claw marks still haven't healed and a new slash from her run in with Mose cut across her shoulder blades. Hearts eyes spied them in surprise.

"Akira… your scars…" this was not the first time Heart had seen Akira exposed this much, but she'd never seen the back of Akira since Akira's hair was so long it covered it.

"Hmm?" Akira glanced over her shoulder and slowly sunk into the water, "Yeah… I scar much more easily than most." She said shyly, burying her face into her arms, "Jasper's been through more than I have and he doesn't have a scratch on his human body, but my human body seems to keep a few scars." Akira gritted her teeth, "Just makes me more different, eh?"

"There's nothing wrong with being different." Heart didn't miss a beat to defend her, 'Trust me. There's nothing wrong with that.' Heart thought inwardly as she looked away, "You saw Zali, right? He's got a scar, so who cares? You need to stop blaming yourself for these things."

"But I-," Akira rose out of the water as she protested, but she stopped when her eyes collided with Heart's gaze. The look in her red eyes stopping Akira dead in her tracks as the emotion was so deep and complex it didn't have a name for the feeling.

"Just leave it at that Akira and stop over thinking things. You'll get stressed more and die quicker." Heart approached the shore where Akira was and squatted down in front of her, "Didn't you promise Shura you'd get to paradise?"

Akira's eyes widened as a slow smile tugged her lips. She had to turn away from Heart's eyes before she started to cry again, but the tears were already coming to her eyes, "Thank you Heart. I can always count on you to tell me exactly what I need to hear." She thanked gratefully as she sunk back into the water.

Heart's usual confidant grin was back, "No probl-," her eyes snapped towards the forest as she gritted her teeth, "Be back shortly, they said." She mocked with a sigh of aggravation, "They weren't kidding." She turned her eyes back to Akira without leaving the forest out of her sights, "Stay low in the water."

"Heart??" Akira lowered to her chin in the water, "What's going on??"

"Hige." Heart rolled her eyes as she stood up, hand resting on the hilt of her gun as she approached the forest, "Damn perverts." She cursed.

"H-Heart!" Akira suddenly felt very vulnerable without Heart there to watch over her from outside of the water. What if someone saw her like this??

"I'll be back, Imma cut him off his path." Heart called over her shoulder as she disappeared in the trees, "Sneaky bastard…" that was the last Akira heard of Heart.

It must have only passed a few minute, but to Akira it was more like a few hours. She heard a bull frog croak suddenly in the silence and jumped, "YEEK!" she squeaked, but when she came face to face with the offending creature that seemed to mock her as he sat tall and proud on his log, she gave him a dry look, "Meany." She muttered and jerked her face away from him, crossing her arms under her breasts. She was no longer cold, given that her body had gotten used to the temperature of the water, but the cool morning air was chilly, so she kept herself submerged in the water mostly to her chin, "I can't believe I let a BULL FROG scare me," she grumbled, "I really am pathetic for a wolf. Whoever heard of a wolf afraid of frogs?" she shot the bull frog in question a glare as it hopped off, "That's right buddy!" she stood up in the water, ignoring the cool air that hit her instantly as she threw her fist in the frogs general direction, "YOU BETTER HOP AWAY!"

There was a rustle in the tall grass on the further side of the pond catching Akira's attention, but this time she was ready for it, "Oh no you don't you stupid frog! Not this time!" she growled, turning to fully face the offending 'frog', "Show yourself!" she demanded, but when there was no response, Akira got annoyed. Dipping low in the pond, she groped around blindly on the floor of the body of water until she found a stone in her grasp. Grinning, she pulled it back out and cocked her arm back ready for the throw, "You asked for it, coward!" she thrust her arm forward and released the rock, "Take THAT!" she snarled as the rock flew and bonked into tall grass. There was a yelp of surprise that confused Akira. Didn't frogs croak??

Nothing could prepare her for what launched out of the tall grass, sharp teeth blazing and thick fur bristling. Its ferocious cry was enough to make Akira's ears go near death with fright.

"KYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" she screamed in retaliation and struggled out of the water.

"WHAT?! WHAT IS IT?" Kiba burst through the forest and was at her side in an instant, an arm around her shoulders in instinctive protection while the other hand held a quail bird in his grasp- his catch for breakfast, "AKIRA! WHAT'S-," he stopped abruptly and he took a step back from her to get a better look when he noticed Akira's state of dress…. Er lack thereof, "Akira… what are you wearing?" though he stepped away, he still had a hold of her. His sudden need for confronting whatever had scared her was the last thing on his mind as he took in her exposed flesh- even for wolves who had a different form, both human and wolf form were enough to stimulate… feelings.

Akira looked like she was about to die as her face went red and she tore away from her, raising her fist high in the air, "KYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAHHH!" and Kiba's world went dark.

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"Damn, Kiba!" Hige laughed after Kiba had regained consciousness a short while later, "You are my new HERO!"

"Shut up, Hige." Kiba glared at him, but then turned his eyes to Akira. She was dressed again, and cleaner without so much blood on her, but the blood still stained her clothes something terrible. Her face was almost a permanent shade of red now and she refused to meet his eyes, each time nervously looking away.

"That's what you get for spying on girls." Toboe admonished, digging into the pheasant he and Tsume had brought back for breakfast, "I'd always heard that it wasn't nice for boys to watch girls bathe."

"You're such a pup." Tsume rolled his eyes as he stole the meat right out from under Toboe's nose before the pup could even bite into it, "It's okay if it's a pretty girl." He shrugged and was about to chow down, regardless of Toboe's attempts to get back the food he was about to eat and the pathetic whimpers from the pup… but he suddenly felt an ominous chill run up his spine, "Oh shit." He hesitated taking a bite as he looked over his shoulder at Heart whose eyes promised the ultimate death.

"What…. Was…. That?" she dared him to say the wrong answer.

Tsume only half-heartedly recognized the threat. Very unwise in his position, "Sure, if the bitch is hot, I can't fault a guy of any species for wanting to see her in all her glory, but if she doesn't have much to offer, then that's just sad." He tore off a piece of meat from the bones of the pheasant and started to eat his fill, tossing Toboe a smaller piece of the kill, "Come on! She was frightened by a fuckin BEAVER! What kind of wolf is afraid of a beaver??" he chuckled. He hadn't meant anything by it, but Akira wasn't in any mind to take jokes as she should have.

Akira stiffened next to Heart. While the four boys gathered around in a make-shift circle to eat, Heart and Akira sat off to the side with Akira turned away and Heart sitting sideways, facing Akira to keep the boys in her line of sight, "Heart?" Akira whispered, "Does that mean I have nothing to offer?"

That did it for Heart. She was already trying to get Akira to get out of her shell, but here that bastard Tsume wasn't helping anything by teasing Akira when Akira didn't take it the right way. She was going to KEEEEL him.

"That does it." Heart stood up.

The other three guys became alert when Heart stalked up to Tsume who was ignoring her at the moment. Toboe backed away wisely, giving the female all the room she needed, letting loose a small whimper that caught Tsume's attention.

"What now, Toboe? Don't tell me to take you to the bathroom, because hell, you're more than old enough to figure that stuff out on your own kid." He nonchalantly bit into the bird leg he had been consuming, only to find it gone, "Huh?" he looked behind him where Heart held the leg while her hands were on her hips, "Heart, what gives?" he growled.

"You really are a low life bastard, you know that?" Heart accused, tossing the leg over her shoulder into the forest.

"HEY! That was BREAKFAST!" Tsume stood growling. His eyes widened as he leaned back just in time to miss Heart's round house kick that had been aimed at his head, "HEART! WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM NOW YOU PMS-ING BITCH!" he caught hold of her well aimed fist, but didn't catch the second one as it belted him in the abdomen, coming close to knocking all the wind out of him. As it stood, she still left him panting.

"YOU'RE THE PROBLEM YOU POOR EXCUSE OF A MAN!"

"I'M NOT A MAN, I'M A WOLF!"

"POOR EXCUSE OF A DOG!"

"TAKE THAT SHIT BACK!"

The others watched mildly while Heart threw blows at Tsume while Tsume blocked almost at the last minute, trying to figure out why she was so angry with him. They had a feeling this would become a common occurrence between the two hot blooded wolves.

"Are they even fighting over anything anymore? Why'd they start this time?" Toboe leaned toward Hige.

Hige shrugged as he swallowed a large chunk of hare that he'd caught, "Who knows." He turned back to his food, "I'm just glad she's not pissed at me since it wasn't me that walked in on Akira."

"Yeah, but she punched Kiba, right?" Toboe and Hige looked to Kiba. There wasn't even any evidence on his face that Akira had punched him hard enough to knock Kiba out. They were all surprised to see him just barely conscious when they arrived, but chalked it up as having taken Kiba off guard.

"Keh, heh," Hige chuckled and nudged Toboe, "Gotta admit its fuckin hilarious though."

Toboe couldn't help but grin in response, but quickly dashed it when he caught Kiba's hard look.

"SAY THAT AGAIN?!" Tsume dared Heart as they were now butting forehead to forehead.

"I THINK YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD ME THE FIRST TIME, OVER GROWN SEWER RAT! WHAT ARE YOU GOING DEAF NOW, OLD MAN?!"

Kiba rolled his eyes. This was going to be a while. His gaze darted over to Akira who watched the petty fight with an amused smile on her face. She was still hunched up and he knew her clothes were still damp. Though she tried to hide it, he could also tell she was fighting off a shiver and she hadn't eaten yet. With a sigh, Kiba stood up.

"Kiba?" Toboe questioned as he silently walked pass them. Toboe nudged Hige as he watched Kiba ignore them and approach Akira, "Hey, Hige, what's wrong with Kiba? He's acting weird around Akira."

"Ach-ching uut?" Hige muffled though his mouth full of the last of his meat, "Oh," he swallowed, looking over to Akira and Kiba briefly, "Dunno, don't care." He shrugged, eyeing the last of Toboe's breakfast hungrily as he licked his lips, "You gunna eat that?"

Toboe leaned away from Hige disturbed by the hungry look, "Uh… no." he scooted the food over to Hige.

"GREAT!" Hige happily (noisily) chowed down the rest of Toboe's Pheasant too while Toboe sighed.

"Good grief."

Akira tried to hold down another shiver, but the tickle down her back was too insisting. She felt the hair on her body stand on end as her whole body gave one great shake, imitating a puffed up bird almost before she settled down. A heavy coat was draped over her shoulders with a sudden PLOP that it startled Akira, "EH?!" she tugged on the coat, catching the strong scent of Kiba all over it, "Kiba?" she looked up to find Kiba just now bending down to sit next to her with only his white T-shirt and jeans. Without his dark leather pilot's jacket on, it brought out his ivory skin even more so than usual and Akira couldn't help but stare for a moment. Her whole family, back at the dome, were never that pale. Jasper was the lightest skin color, but he was still a pale peach color only a few shades lighter than Akira herself.

"Here." Kiba brought her out of her trance when he offered her what was leftover from his plump quail breakfast, "You need to eat to keep up your strength on a journey. We can't be certain when our next meal is."

Akira looked at the quail curiously. There seemed to be a good sum of it left but… how does she eat it?

"Uh… Kiba?" she asked as she took the quail into her hands and looked it over like a puzzle.

"Hm?"

"How… How do you eat this thing? It's still has feathers on it. Where's the fire to cook it?"

Kiba froze, "Fire?"

"You know, to cook it with..?" it was an innocent question, and upon looking at her face, Kiba realized that she wasn't kidding, but it didn't make it any less hilarious to him.

He could only hold face for a few small moments more before he burst out laughing, catching everyone off guard, "C-COOK IT?!" he chuckled, still laughing hard enough to grasp his stomach.

It was so bizarre to see Kiba laughing that Hige choked on his food and Heart and Tsume stopped fighting. Heart panted, confused why Tsume stopped yelling.

"What's wrong?" she panted for breath, "This isn't over!"

"Kiba's…. laughing." Tsume said in disbelief.

"Yeah? So?" Heart huffed as she put her hands on her hips and rotated her back so she could look better over her shoulder at Kiba who was grasping Akira's shoulder with one hand and clutching his stomach with the other one, laughing as if he someone told him the funniest joke of the century while Akira looked beyond confused with a slight blush as her eyes darted from the others back to Kiba as if he were possessed.

"Kiba NEVER laughs. At least not like this!" Hige gasped out soon as he was able to swallow down the lodged food in his throat.

"What the hell set you off Kiba?" Tsume demanded.

"C-COOKED M-MEAT!" Kiba gasped for breath as he started to calm down.

"That's it, following the flower scent and having such a strong source of it like Akira so near has finally gone to his head." Hige huffed dryly.

"I-I just asked how I'm supposed to eat this thing with feathers still on it and uncooked! What's wrong with him?" Akira desperately looked to the others who all seemed to get what was going on now.

"Oh-h-h-h." Hige chuckled, trying to hold in his own laughter while the others snickered, "Well, that explains a lot!"

"What's wrong with you guys?" Akira stood, "Come on! I don't get it- what'd I say!"

"Akira," Heart held her hand over her mouth to try and stop her giggles, wanting to help her desperate friend, but it was too funny, "Akira, look- wolves eat things raw when they catch their prey. No cooking involved."

Akira's eyes widened, "You mean I'm supposed to…" she held the bird away from her, "But… how?? With the feathers??"

"Here, like this." Kiba took the bird from her and bit into it, making Akira pale in the face, "Chew and swallow." He said then handed the bird back, looking at her as if it were her turn now that she knew how to eat it.

Akira turned desperate eyes on Heart who shrugged, "Starvation or eat a raw bird."

Akira toughened up at that. She didn't not relish the idea of starvation. That was how the humans at the dome punished 'bad guard dogs'. The dog would starve until they were nearly dead. Looking back at the bird, she steeled up her nerves, pinched her eyes shut and bit into the bird, ripping off a piece of flesh with feathers still attached and tried to chew around them.

The others watched with dry humor as Akira chewed and eventually swallowed, "Well?" Toboe prodded.

"It's… not as disgusting as I thought…" Akira admitted. She was surprised her gag reflex didn't kick in.

"Well, you're a wolf. You're supposed to have a taste for this kind of thing." Hige offered, "I bet it'll get easier on you the more you eat it."

Akira's eyes widened as she swallowed in disappointment, but ate the bird anyways while the others waited on her. Heart noticed Akira was wearing Kiba's jacket and frowned, "Next town we come to, we need to get Akira better clothing for this form. She looks like a poverty stricken human."

"That's an understatement." Hige grumbled.

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The group headed out about mid morning and had been traveling through the cloudy forest till near noon time now. Akira was amazed at the landscape around her! The air was much cleaner here than in the dome and it didn't have that strange stale-taste to it. It was crisp and clear with a spike of pine and redwood in it. She couldn't get enough of it! The pine trees towered over them in close-knit army, watching solemnly as the wolves passed by between their thick roots below. The dirt beneath her feet had many pine needles in them with stray patches of thick green grass and small shrubberies here and there where the pine trees would allow them to grow. The wind gently howled as it escaped the thick army of trees below and above the thick branches, letting a pleasing breeze catch the wolves' legs. Akira still had Kiba's jacket around her shoulders and was thankful for it as she clutched the folds of the jacket closer to her, glancing at the back of its owner with appreciation in her eyes. She knew she was a dimwit for a wolf. Too domesticated all her life to survive out here on her own, but this pack seemed to catch her when she stumbled along- especially Kiba and Heart. Toboe tried, but he was still new at this whole wilderness thing too. His only saving grace was that he lived as a stray in the city, so he had some survival skills that were still useful here in the forest, even if he was just as awed by the scenery as Akira was. So much so, that he was falling behind, letting his curious nature get the best of him.

Heart glanced over her shoulder to check on the three that traveled behind her. She was in the middle of the six, with Tsume and Kiba in front of her and Hige, Akira and Toboe following behind her. She mentally counted off the heads behind her like an elementary teacher would do naturally to keep her kids together, but noticed one missing.

"Toboe's fallen behind again." She remarked as she stopped walking to search a sign of the pup down the path.

Hige turned as well, expecting to see the pup at Akira's side like usual, but found the spot vacant of one naïve pup. He also stopped alerting Kiba to also stop and in a chain reaction, Tsume also stopped after a few more steps ahead of Kiba.

"Gone again?" Tsume sighed heavily.

"HEEEY!" Hige cupped his hands to his mouth to project his voice, "RUNT! KEEP UP OR YOU'LL GET LEFT BEHIND! COME OUT!"

Soon as Tsume heard someone crashing through the forest in a hurry, he assumed it was Toboe and started walking again, "At least he has a natural knack for finding the group." He shrugged.

Panting, Toboe stumbled through the undertow of the forest and back to the path, catching up to Akira's waiting side. She waited a few moments so he could catch his breath before walking on ahead so they wouldn't fall behind the others who had already gained some distance away from them, "Come on, Toboe. You know Tsume's threat is a good one."

"Y-Yeah." Toboe nodded, but his eyes were darting all around him in the forest, as if he were looking for something. Once the twosome were caught up with the others, Heart held back so she could follow Akira and Toboe, intent on keeping them caught up with the group.

"Keep up you two." Heart urged.

"Yes, Heart." Toboe and Akira replied in unison, but Toboe was still looking around. He seemed like he was trying to be more discrete about it now.

"Toboe, what's wrong?" Akira was surprised that Toboe seemed startled that she noticed his anxious glances.

"It's… well, I dunno." Toboe admitted, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, looking up at the trees almost disappointed, "I've always heard that forests were bursting with life, and this one was when we hunted for our food with birds and animals, and I could smell the small scent of the Flower Kiba said that we're following, but now…" he turned his head to look at Akira, "Now I don't hear or see any animals and the flower scent is gone…" He blushed as he realized for a moment, "Oh, except your scent, Akira." He looked down at the ground shyly. Ever since she had bathed, Toboe found himself wanting to sniff her scent of Lunar Flower and Wolf musk since it was now cleaned of blood, well mostly. The blood scent was still there and noticeable, but it paled compared to Akiras natural scent.

Hige huffed in front of them, "Well, what'd you expect, runt? You're a wolf, remember? And we already hunted this forest once." The older male rolled his eyes at Toboe's idioticy, "They've found out that there's wolves in the forest now and probably turned tail to run for their hiding places until we leave."

"Oh…" Toboe eyes widened in realization, "Wow, I never thought of that."

Hige heaved a heavy breath, slouching his shoulders as he released it in a whoosh while bringing a hand up to run through his fluffy hair and drag it out of his eyes, "And this is why city kids should never venture into the wilderness."

"Oh, like you were any better at this kind of thing when you were his age, Hige." Heart grinned mischievously from behind Toboe and Akira while Hige glared at her through the corner of his eye over his shoulder, "I seriously doubt you were Mr. wilderness-scout right off the bat."

Hige grunted something less than proper under his breath about cocky females before he hastily changed subjects, noticing that Heart seemed to have caught the jist of what he just said, "Well, for one thing, the kid is right about something." He jerked his head towards Akira, "Other than her, I haven't caught a whiff of the flower since this morning at breakfast."

"Care to enlighten us?" Tsume shot a look at Kiba at his side, "Do you still know where the hell we're going?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Kiba shot back without looking to Tsume or rising to his bait. His blue eyes were focused on the path straight ahead as if he saw some invisible pathway that was showing him the way, "Paradise."

Tsume gritted his teeth and rumbled low in his throat with frustration, "Yes, we know that. And just what are we going by to get there? You can't tell me you've been there and just decided to come back to show us the way."

"No, you're right. I haven't ever been there in my life." Kiba admitted in his usual stoic, bland way, "To tell the truth, I don't even know what Paradise looks like."

"Then what's telling you to go in this direction?" Akira asked, trotting a little closer pass Hige to get in on the conversation. Toboe was at her side like Velcro the entire way.

"I go where my instincts tell me where to go." Kiba replied as if he were telling a child a simple lesson.

"Instincts?" Akira cocked her head to the side, not catching the stutter in everyone's step other than hers and Kibas while she followed him at his left flank, "How do they tell you that?"

"It's just a feeling. I go where it feels right to go."

"That's strange." Akira admitted, but kept walking dutifully at his tail, "its must be cool to have instincts that tell you where to go all the time!"

Toboe, Tsume, Heart and Hige all stood still for a moment while the red head woman and brunette man kept walking further along the path. All shocked and filled with dread as the reality of just what was driving this trip really was- instincts.

"I knew Instincts were strong and good to rely on as a wolf but…" Toboe turned to the older wolves behind him to see what they had to say, "Can they really… really guide you on a journey like this?"

"Instincts are great and all, but when one chooses to base a journey off them…" Heart started.

"It tends to end in hell." Tsume groaned as he palmed his face.

"AKIRA!" Kiba shouted in surprise when the young woman collapsed, "Akira, what's wrong?!" he knelt down and tried to touch her but she shoved away.

"It hurts…" she whined.

"What? What hurts?!" Heart dashed over with the rest of the boys behind her, "Kiba, what's wrong with Akira?!" she demanded, shoving him out of the way and also trying to reach for Akira, but she got the same reaction, "Akira?"

"She's in pain!" Toboe gasped with a whimper.

"No shit Sherlock." Hige gritted his teeth, "But why is she-,"

All five of the rest of them yelped in pain when a horrendous high pitched sound shot down their ear drums and clawed inside their head until they were nearly kneeling in agony. A shadow loomed over head of them as the wind picked up, swirling dust in their eyes and pine needles flying about dangerously around them. Hige hissed when one pine needle pricked him.

"Shit!" he snapped, batting the needle away.

Tsume glared up into the sky as he fought not to cover his ears like the rest of them, trying to best the noise on some level by showing that he could withstand it, "What the fuck are they doing here…" he growled.

"Air ships!" Hige also looked up, covering his ears while he watched as the humongous man-made flying machine steadily passed above them. It seemed to be slowing down from its continuous speed, setting just above them while the noise settled to an annoying hum and not so much the head-splitting screech. One by one, they slowly let go of their ears, and Akira's pain stopped as she gasped and tried to push herself up. Kiba started to help her but she didn't let him, shaking her head no.

"I'm fine," she insisted.

Heart growled lowly in annoyance, "Keh, probably some damned stuck up noble out on a pleasure ride." She curled her lip in distaste.

"Noble?" Akira caught her breath while she pushed herself up to stand by Kiba, joining the others to look up in the sky, "I remember them. Those people who run the cities and other humans, right?"

"That's them" Hige nodded, "Their ships have so much power running through them that they make this weird sound when they're activated, but it doesn't bother them since they're all human and cant hear it."

"Argh, I hate that noise," Toboe gave his own glare up at the sky where they knew it was coming from. He was thankful that the painful noise of motion was gone, but the annoying hum wasn't much different other than lacking pain.

Akira started picking at her ears and shaking her head at get her ears from tickling, "I've always hated it when an airship passed over head in the dome! It's almost as bad as the soldiers singing in the showers!" she complained.

"Do we even want to know how you came to find that out?" Tsume snorted.

"I sure don't." Heart dead panned.

Akira bristled nervously and she laughed embarrassed and scratched the back of her neck, "Well…. You- you see…,"

"Look! Another one!" Toboe shouted pointing to the sky.

Another, smaller air ship was now visible as it darted in and out of the clouds to avoid red laser weapons attacking it from the first ship that was nearly two-times its size! The ground rumbled as the missed lasers shot through the ground instead and carved great craters and trenches into the earth. The wolves braced themselves as the ground beneath them trembled in response, almost having to grab a hold of something to keep stead, but Akira felt something different. Her whole being pulsed with this new awareness as the world around her started to fade and her eye sight stained red. She could only hear the beating of her own heart for a while, but then, another pulse answered hers. It called out to her, searching around as if seeking a connection with her.

She was reaching out for it before she knew what was happening, upon touching it, her eyes widened at the sudden burst of sensations that wrapped around her and held tightly while it seemed to yank her spirit towards it. Though it pulled insistently, it was comforting. It beckoned her to come back to it like an old friend's presence would after a long absence. She could almost hear a voice calling her name softly. Closing her eyes as she braced against another attack impact on the quivering ground beneath her, starting to pull her back to reality, but then Akira saw someone familiar hanging suspended in that liquid filled globe behind her closed eyes. The pure scent of flowers invaded to her nostrils, over flowing her lungs as they released a huge breath and she snapped her eyes open, unable to contain her excitement that bubbled inside her stomach.

"IT'S HER!" her shout was barely heard in the midst of the battle of airships above as the war ship hounded the smaller aircraft.

"What?!" Heart called for verification.

Akira only briefly turned to face Heart, her joyously warm orange eyes shocked Heart to no end that she seemed so happy when she should have been hiding in terror of being caught in brutal crossfire, "Cheza!" Akira exclaimed, "Cheza's here! She's here!" in an instant, she turned tail, shifting into her wolf form in record time as she dashed off into the forest towards the growing battle, leaving the safety of the others.

"WAIT!" Kiba called after her startled.

Panic gripped its poisonous claws around Heart's insides as she stared dumbly after the disappearing red wolf, "A-AKIRA!" she called out, moving to follow, but Hige snatched her arm and pushed her to the ground while another laser attack blasted the earth closer than before. The earth roared under them, knocking any that were on their feet to the ground. Heart shoved him off, looking for Akira, but saw nothing but lasers tracing and blazing across the sky, "AKIIIRRAAAAAAH!" she cried out.

"HOLY HELL!! What's gotten into her! She'll be running straight for her own death if she goes that way!" Hige gasped, letting go of Heart.

"What's going on? Why did she runaway from us??" Toboe wanted to run after her too, but he was grounded in place by the fear of the unknown and the air ships that shifted and darted around above. His instincts refused to let him move away from the others, but Akira's instincts weren't as honed as the others! She was blindly bolting around a battle field!

"She's a crazy wench that's why. She'll be doing us a favor by going into something for suicide." Tsume snorted.

"You're such a Moronic Bastard!" Heart snapped hysterically at him, lashing out quicker than a viper's strike to the first opportunity to shove some of her worry into anger.

"Yeah, well you're a Fucking Bitch. So we're even"

"Why YOU-,"

Kiba took off after Akira soon as the tremors in the earth settled enough that he wouldn't stumble on his feet. His wolf form sprang forward through his pack and then ignored them as he pursued Akira's path in the forest.

"Kiba!" Tsume shouted as he followed suit. Heart was at his side.

"Now THEM too?" Hige groaned, slapping a hand to his forehead, "Argh! What is wrong with you people! Come on runt," Hige motioned for Toboe to follow as the last of the wolves scurried after the rest of them. He and Toboe had only just caught up with Heart and Tsume's tail when the sharp scent hit him. It came on so quick that it stunned him enough to make him stumble in his stride, catching Toboe's attention, "Wait a minute- that scent!"

"What ? What is it?"

"It's her! Cheza! Akira was right, she's really here,"

Something caught their eye. A flash of movement spiraling in the sky above them. All four wolves looked up simultaneously. Each were wide eyed with wonder as they spied a light colored maiden spiraling down to earth as if she were dancing in the sky, though she was really falling from an air ship. Her arms were stretched out wide and a smile was visible on her face even from this far a distance while the broken metallic chains attached to the shackles about her neck, wrists and ankles shinned brightly when the sun behind the clouds caught them in its small feeble beams.

Akira felt the awareness trickle in the back of her mind again as Cheza's soft voice sought her out, 'Akira......Akira?' the maiden tested.

"I hear you, Cheza!" Akira shouted out loud as she pushed herself faster, surprising Kiba with her speed, "Just hang on a little longer and we'll be right there! I brought others this time!"

Cheza giggled in Akira's mind, making the black tipped red ears of the red wolf twitch, 'This one is so happy to hear of you again, Akira.' She seemed to chirp with happiness, 'This one is also so happy that Akira has met him!'

'Him..?' Akira's brow furrowed while her ears pinned back in thought.

The small she-wolf cleared the trees only to stop suddenly, sliding in the dry dirt ground when a wall of rock stood in her way. Looking up at the near vertical cliff, her ears pinned back as she felt the bottom of her stomach pit fall at the prospect of climbing such a cliff, but… Cheza was up there, and it was the quickest way to her! She didn't feel she had time to maneuver a different path, and even though the thought of braving it sent her heart pounding with fear, she strengthened her resolve to plow through it. She bent down low to get ready, growling low to try and prep herself for what she was about to do even though her common sense was screaming its warning signs.

She sprang upward just as Kiba appeared though the trees, "Akira!" he called in surprise when her small body collided with the rock of the cliff-face. Her small claws dug into the rock as she instinctively tried to mold her body into the rock at her belly, haphazardly struggling to move upwards.

A flash of white fur passed by her, followed by the heavy impact of a larger body further up the cliff side forced Akira to bow her head to avoid the rocky debris that he unearthed. She felt a pang of failure strike her with how at ease Kiba seemed about climbing up the cliff, shouting down to her to follow his lead, but she also realized that she'd never done this before and considered herself lucky that she didn't completely slide off the cliff when she hopped up on it.

However, her little thought of saving grace fell down to the dumps soon as the other four wolves started climbing the cliff with as much ease as Kiba. Even Toboe seemed well adapted to this sort of thing and didn't have to put up as much a fight as Akira did just to move a few feet upwards. She was barely able to keep up with the tip of Toboe's tail!

Toboe whined worriedly as he looked back to check on her and saw her claws scrapping and struggling for a good hold on the rock, "Akira..?" he started holding back, wanting to wait for her and help her somehow, but Akira barked her protest sharply.

"Don't stop, Toboe!" she noticed the others were also looking back at her worried as well, "Don't stop!" she barked again with more force as she steadied herself, "I'm fine, just get to Cheza as fast as you can! I can do this!"

Heart gave her a 'Yeah-Right' look, "Says the runt of a wolf that is struggling to stay on a nearly vertically standing cliff while trying to get to the peak." She sighed sarcastically, but her red eyes were instilled with worry.

Akira growled at the barbing comment, "Get GOING!" she shouted, "I'll get there soon enough so quit worrying about me!"

No sooner than the words left her mouth, as she stretched her small lithe body to take another longer strided step, her hide leg slipped from the grid she'd found in the cliff side, losing all her weight to the mid air and cascading her to a freefall while her claws lashed out to grab a hold of the rock again, but only ended up shoving her away. She was helpless to stop herself while her body plummeted back first down the long drop of the cliff she had been able to climb up.

"AKIRAAAH!!!" Heart cried out, about to push away from her spot on the cliff and dive bomb after her, but Tsume slammed her in place with his own body to prevent her from moving soon as he realized what she was about to do, "LET ME GO YOU BASTARD! SHE'LL DIE!"

"THEN IT'S USELESS TO RISK YOUR OWN LIFE FOR THE DEAD!" he shouted back while struggling to keep her in place while she bucked against him. If he didn't calm her down quick, she would shove him off her back and down the cliff side after Akira!

Both of them ducked their heads to avoid the sudden blur of white that streaked just by them, running head first DOWN the side of the steep cliff face. The white wolf's golden eyes were locked on Akira as she seemed to fall in slow motion to him while he strove to catch her.

"KIBA, NO!" Toboe shouted in fear, but clutched the rock closer when he felt himself nearly slip as well, "GWAH!" he yelped.

"THAT IDIOT'S GOING TO KILL HIMSELF TRYING TO SAVE HER LIKE THIS!" Hige's eyes widened in terror as he shouted after Kiba.

Akira's vision started to blur and her awareness of the world around her faded. This was it? This was how she was going to die?? With Cheza so close; just up that cliff and she'd see her once again! Part of her, the side that wanted to live, struggled to force her body to move, to scream, to do SOMETHING! But her body was like a falling stone, it refused to do anything but fall.

'One day, Akira, we're all going to be in paradise' … 'Papa..?' Akira saw her father's scruffy handsome smile behind her eyes just as she remembered him when she was a child.

'Stop blaming yourself for things that have nothing to do with you! You're giving up before you live, Akira!' Jasper! His green eyes were teasing her, but he held a seriousness behind them.

These were memories. Memories of her father and brothers voice before she died. Her body gave up its tension as she started to resign to her fate- what could she do against falling down a cliff. She wasn't strong enough to live. Akira closed her eyes, 'Now must be my time…'

'Akira… you will not die!' Shura's voice snapped at her, 'The others still need you now! You will not refuse your promise to me!'

'I never forgot my promise!' she thought back.

'If you die, that's just the same! Go to paradise!'

"Akira!!"

Akira's eyes snapped open wildly. Overwhelming fear gripped her as her senses went from dulled to over sensitized in the blink of an eye, overwhelming her and pumping her heartbeat faster and faster. Her orange eyes locked on to Kiba's golden wolf ones split seconds before his body connected with hers. Her world spun as he twisted and turned their bodies in the air, suddenly slamming her against the rock, his teeth holding tightly to the scruff of her neck while his claws dug into the rock, sliding them to a stop and forcing his body against hers until they were both flat against the mountain. Akira gasped out in pain with a small cry while the sharp edges of the cliff bit into her side that was slammed and skidded down the rock, she could feel hot blood and the sting of friction burns on her assaulted side, but she didn't fear for her life as she had when she was free falling. Soon as Kiba caught her, the overwhelming sense of fear slowly left her, leaving her to catch her breath.

"You alright?" Kiba panted with the scruff of her neck still in his jaws like a pup. Once he got a good hold of the mountain, he shifted her to better hold her, making her yelp in pain again. His white ears fell slightly in an apology for the pain, but he had to get them safely up this cliff!

"F-fine!" Akira shivered as the adrenaline. Her eyes were clenched shut as she panted for air and gritted her teeth.

"I'm sorry about the pain, but we have to move now." Kiba apologized as he lifted his body only slightly away from her and started dragging her up the mountain like a leopard that carried his prey up the tree, except Kiba was quicker than a leopard. The other wolves were surprised that Kiba was able to hold his own with Akira dragging under him and managed to out climb them all easily enough.

"Once a country boy, always a country boy." Tsume shook his head and let Heart climb on her own. The black she-wolf struggled to keep on par with Kiba, wanting to get to the top quickly to check Akira over herself.

Akira for her part stayed absolutely still, fearful that if she moved, she would disturb Kiba while he was climbing for the both of them. His body was a just about twice her size, and he didn't seem like her added weight hindered him, but she knew that if she wiggled too much he might lose his hold on her or worse, lose his footing.

Once Kiba breached the top of the cliff, he heaved her up and over it first before letting her go and then pulled himself up, panting harshly with his sides rising and falling in quick motions as his lungs struggled for breath. Akira stood up on her own four legs, but found tenderness in her hind leg on the side that was slammed to the wall of the cliff. She raised it up a bit off the ground, but her eyes were focused on Kiba. He lay on his side, catching his breath, nearly worn out from the crisis he just saved her from. Akira pinned her ears back guiltily as she hobbled up to him.

"Kiba… are you alright?" she lowered her head closer to his to butt her muzzle against his cheek and get his attention.

On golden eye spied her tiredly, "I'm supposed to… ask you that." He pant with a small smile.

Akira gritted her teeth as a wave of anger shot through her, "Do you realize what you nearly did?! You followed a falling person DOWN A CLIFF! You nearly killed yourself! Why would you do that?!" she barked at him, pulling away from his face and not understanding the fluttery feeling in her stomach. It made her nervous and on edge, and it wasn't because she nearly died. She had almost accepted her death and then HE just HAD to save her and make her worry again. Now it was ten times worse! He put himself in danger for her sorry butt and it made her feel guilty, angry, confused, terrified!

When Kiba said nothing in response, Akira bowed her head, looking away so he couldn't read her eyes like she knew most could easily do, "Don't you know how much the others rely on you? Aren't you leading them to Cheza? You must be important to her as well, right- why would you leave Cheza like that?!" she demanded, huffing in exertion.

Kiba let her calm down for a few moments as she refused to look at him. He then stood up on his own four paws as well, reminding her just how much bigger he was than her, but she was oddly not afraid like she usually was. Larger wolves always made her nervous when they stood this close to her as he obviously made a point to invade her space, but with Kiba she felt something that was polar opposite to fear.

"First of all, I don't make promises I don't intend to keep." He told her as he practically loomed over her, "I promised Zali no harm would come of you or Heart- I think falling off a cliff qualifies as harm." By now the others had just started pulling themselves over the crest of the cliff, helping one another, but pausing in uncertainty at the sudden tense air between Akira and Kiba.

Soon as Tsume pulled Heart up, the black wolf spied Akira standing her ground against Kiba and immediately started to go to her, "Aki-," Tsume blocked her path and shook his head. She bared her teeth, and tried again, but this time, she was stopped by Toboe who pleaded with her to stay for just a moment. The pup instinctively felt that this was something Kiba and Akira needed to get across to each other, as did the rest of them, but Heart still wanted to comfort her.

"So you saved me for the sake of your honor?" Akira pinned her ears in distaste, "Honor like that is useless if it gets you killed in the process! Do you think I like the thought that you could have died saving me and leaving Cheza alone? I felt her tie to you! She needs you to help her get to paradise just as much as we need her!"

"And what about you?" Akira seemed taken aback when he said that.

"What abo-about me?" she seemed to lose her nerve as she took a small step back, wincing when she accidentally put pressure on her bad leg, but Kiba caught it.

"I didn't just save you because of a promise to Zali. I saved you because you're someone important too." He had no idea how much those words affected her. Her heart did flip flops, stuttering and fluttering. Stopping and speeding at the same time. Seeing that he got through to her, Kiba turned to his human form, a brief small smile on his lips, "We will all go to paradise, so none of us are allowed to die until then, got it?"

Akira nodded, still in her wolf form and still caught up in his eyes. She yelped and squirmed when he bent down to scoop her up into his arms bridal style. Switching to human form, Akira couldn't help the moan of the change as it sent a sharp pain to her ankle and a strange heating sensation where ever Kiba touched her.

"What are you doing!?" she demanded squirming to get down.

"You're not walking on that leg and your side was damaged from climbing when I saved you. For that, I'm sorry. Now hold still."

"But I-," he shot her a look of annoyance that was meant to shut her up, but instead, Akira felt her ire rise to the challenge, "Look! It's not BROKEN! So I sure as hell can walk on it!"

"Is that so?" He nonchalantly replied, but made no move to put her down as he kept walking, leaving a baffled group of wolves behind.

"JERK! I SAID PUT ME DOWN!" she bopped her fist into his chest a few times, but it was like trying to bend a tractor tire with a pinky finger. No effect.

"Not happening so stop squirming or you'll get hurt even worse." His voice was still calm and collect, grating Akira's nerves to no end.

How DARE he be so calm when she was so worked up because of HIM.

"How can you be so arrogant!" she snapped with a huff, seeing as bopping him got her nowhere. She was debating on whether or not to use her good foot and kick him in the head. That should get her point across that she had two legs that could walk just fine.

"It's faster this way. You're still not use to this environment." Kiba said with finality in his tone.

Toboe sighed in relief as they started to follow after them in human form with new vigor to keep up with the unyielding leader, "That was a close call."

"I still feel like shitting myself!" Hige sighed, also relieved.

"Do that in the bushes…" Tsume glared at him.

"I feel so stupid!" Heart's groan caught the three of them off guard and pausing before following after Kiba any further, "I should have realized this would be hard for her. She's never been in a forest before." Heart berated herself, hugging her arms around her torso and starting forward after Kiba. The others took that as a sign and walked on as well.

"Never?!" Hige snorted in disbelief, "What the hell has she been doing all her life if she hasn't even been in a forest at all? I know she was at the dome, but come on! She's a wolf isn't she?"

"She was born and raised in Free City's Keep near the labs that were soon to hold Cheza. If we were in the city, Akira wouldn't have fallen off the side of a building we might have climbed or something like that. However, since she's so focused on finding this …. 'Cheza' flower she probably forgot that she's still new to all of this." Heart sighed in after thought, "She can be simple minded like that."

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Aboard the military war ship, the gunman grinned while Darcia's tiny airship staggered in the sky while it tried to fly away. He chuckled as he maneuvered the controls of the laser cannons to lock-on, smirking at how easy it was since the small ship was so damaged it couldn't out maneuver him.

"Keh! And here Darcia thought he could take the item from us and just fly off on his merry little way!" the soldier snorted as he flipped the switched up from the button that would release the lasers. The ship around him hummed as it powered up the final attack, "I wonder if he realized how stupid he was to think that, now that I'm about to send his poor fishing boat to the ground quicker!"

Cher startled him when she desperately stumbled behind him and grasped his shoulder, "YOU CAN'T!"

"Eh?!" he turned to look at her, but then back at the beeping screen that just informed him that his lock-on was lost, "FUCK WOMAN!" he barked, slamming his fist into the machine, "You just made me lose him!"

"Fool! Your mission is to save Cheza! Not hurt her! The readings say she's not on Darcia's ship so leave it be!" she whopped the soldier upside the head.

"And just what are you suggesting now, Doctor?" the commander seemed bored as he asked. He wanted to be on the battle front protecting Freeze City, not here tracking some… science experiment.

"We have to get down there." Cher replied as she looked over the readings the scanner picked up on Cheza, "Luckily by these readings, Cheza is unharmed, but she's definitely down there!" Cher looked over the scans again, realizing that they were doing something strange…, 'What on earth..?' she'd only seen these readings twice before. Once when that pup security dog, the red one, had ventured near the lab and the other when they thought they found Wolf blood from that animal that escaped Hub's division.

"You're sure it's down there?"The commander's voice brought her back.

"Affirmative. We should check the perimeter." She replied, shaking her head slightly as she pulled away from the readings.

While the commander barked out orders to the ship, Cher took a closer look, recognizing the readings with sudden realization, "A-Akira..?" she whispered as she watched the red spark of light flash around the screen, getting closer to the bright white character that represented Cheza. The brighter the white light was, the healthier and happier Cheza was, and right now it was starting to blind Cher, "Amazing!"

"Hmm?" the commander eyed her with annoyance, "Don't tell me something else has gone wrong…"

"No-No sir." Cher shook her head, "it's just that I think Ak-," she stopped for a moment, deciding against saying the dogs name for some reason, "My dog is down there with the flower."

"You have a dog?" the co-pilot turned to look at her as well as the other men stationed near her. All with strange looks.

"I thought Hub was allergic. Isn't he your-,"

"EX-Husband. Thank you." Cher gritted though her teeth. Even here she couldn't get rid of that man.

The commander ignored them, "Back to your posts men. Prepare to dock ship!" he ordered.

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"For the last time, Man," Akira groaned from Kiba's back now. He had had enough of her trying to kick him in the head so he'd shifted her to his back, holding on to her thighs tightly so she couldn't move them or get off his back any time soon, "Small pain in the ankle doesn't mean I can't walk on my own!" she grabbed a small chunk of his hair so he'd listen to her since he seemed keen on ignoring her, "I have two legs in this form to walk! I'm not so helpless as you seem to think I am!"

The others sighed a few paces behind them. No longer did they even try to keep up with Kiba, all four choosing to keep their distance since this little routine going between Akira trying various methods of persuading Kiba to let her down and Kiba ignoring Akira's attempts had been going on for a while.

"Out of the two of you…" Hige picked at the inside of his left ear annoyed, "I pegged YOU as the stubborn one, Heart." He turned his eyes to catch Hearts who shrugged. She knew very well how stubborn she was and was even proud of the fact, but Akira was acting very strange…

Akira groaned as she tried again to somehow get Kiba to let her go, but failed once more. She huffed as she crossed her arms and leaned her elbows on his shoulders, ignoring how she could feel the ripple of muscle underneath his shirt. He had given her his jacket once again, so all that was keeping her from him was a T-shirt…

Akira's eyes widened at the thought, 'N-N-Not that I care!' she thought stubbornly, quickly removing her elbows, but found that she was now off balance, and Kiba didn't seem like he was going to let her go… she had to hold on somehow. After struggling to stay upright, Akira finally settled for barely holding on to his shoulders with her hands, pouting the entire time.

Feeling her settle down, Kiba heaved a sigh, but hid a smirk, 'Apparently, she's not as docile as I first thought.' He could just barely see Heart in the corner of his eye since she and the others had sensed that they were closing in on the Flower Maiden and instinctively picked up their pace to match his own eager one, 'Probably from some influence.' He thought with a grin. For some reason, he liked her like this, when she seemed confused on whether to sit back docile or to snap back with fire she was showing now.

'This one can feel you closer now, Akira. This one wants to see you,' Akira heard Cheza's voice again. That was half of the reason she started putting up more of a fight after a while of riding his back. Cheza was constantly talking to her, and she was getting anxious to see her!

Nothing was getting through to this guy… oh wait, "Kiba," she addressed with all the sweetness she could muster when she was so agitated with him as she shook his shoulders a bit under her palms, pleased to see that this time he inclined his head to show he was actually listening, "pleaselet me down?" she tried.

No response…

'He…He's IGNORING ME!' she gawked.

Akira didn't like to be ignored when she thought it was important like this, "KIBA!" she screeched, making him and the others flinch.

"Akira!" Heart scolded, cupping her abused ears.

"Just but the god damned bitch down before she blows a hole in my ear drums Kiba." Tsume snarled, "She's starting to sound like the Runts whining."

"I don't whine!" Toboe puffed up in defense.

"Yeah, you're right, you just whimper a lot." Hige laughed when the pup deflated.

"Just because I said I have a weird feeling in my chest doesn't mean anything like I whine too much or whimper!" by now, Toboe was blushing from how hard his heart was pounding. A few minutes back, he'd asked Kiba if that was the feeling he was going by to find Cheza. Kiba had tried to answer Toboe as best he could, but at the time he'd been wrestling Akira to keep her on his back while she tried the 'kicking the groin area' method to get him to drop her.

"Oh man, my hearts pounding even harder than before! Its like the further we go, the stronger this feeling becomes." Toboe whispered.

Hige's face went lax, then slowly a huge perverted grin etched its way across his mouth as his cheeks flushed slightly, "Yeah, I know! This is that cool feeling you get just before you pounce on a pretty girl!"

Heart shot him a disturbed look, "You pervert!" she hissed.

"Hey, you feel it too! Even Tsume feels it!" Hige retorted pointing an accusing finger at her, "In this form you can't hide flushed cheeks babe."

"Don't call me 'babe'." Heart aimed a kick at him, but Hige was getting better at avoiding her sneak attacks and just barely avoided her toe, still grinning like a mad man.

"I'm right aren't I? Boy, if the scent of flowers wasn't so strong, I bet I could smell your arousal too!"

Heart glared at him, "Better than SEEING tents everywhere." She scoffed, looking away from Hige, "You really are a pervert! I bet all of you guys are getting off on this smell, save for poor Toboe!" to save her eyes, Heart forced her way to walk in front of them.

"I'm not overly excited like some porky wolves here," Tsume said brashly, glaring back at Hige, "But seriously, dumbass. Calm the fuck down before I make sure it can't 'salute' anymore women that happen to pass you." He threatened.

Hige seemed to back down, keeping clear of Tsume and Heart, but Toboe just had to say something!

"Hey, look Tsume!" Toboe pointed at Hige, "It's like magic! Your threat worked! Hige's not being a pervert anymore!" in all honesty, Toboe was being completely innocent, but Hige didn't see it that way.

"SHUT THE HELL UP YOU FUCKIN TWIRP!" he pounced at Toboe, grabbing him in a choke hold and giving him a noogie from hell.

Suddenly, Akira redoubled her efforts soon as she heard the roar of a waterfall nearby, wanting to get down and make a dash for Cheza like an excited puppy "Kiba! Let me down already!" she growled in frustration as the stronger man that held her easily in place, "Come on Kiba! Please?!" she tried again. This time she sounded really excited.

With a sigh, Kiba let go of her and she plopped to the ground with a yelp of surprise on her butt. She blinked disoriented from the spot she sat on the ground, shook her head and shot a glare up at the dark brown haired humanoid form of Kiba who watched her with an amused expression in those blue eyes.

"You DID say please twice now." He shrugged, completely brushing off her glare as nothing.

Huffing in irritation, Akira rolled to her feet, brushing off the sudden stab of pain in her ankle with the sudden move and dusted her pants off, 'Of all the arrogant men…' she thought haughtily as she stood straight once again.

'Akira…' Akira's head whipped towards the sound of the voice. This time it seemed to come from a specific area and not just a voice in her head. All thoughts of Kiba and the others left her as her breath caught in her throat while her heart leaped with joy. Her legs were moving before she even thought to move, half way though a few strides she plopped to all fours in wolf form surprising everyone when she stretched out her elegant neck and howled in a wispy alto while she ran.

"Is she thirsty or something?" Toboe tilted his head, "I can only smell water over there."

"There she goes AGAIN off on her own!" Hige sighed, "If she almost fell off a cliff last time, who knows what'll happen this time."

"Don't say things to jinx her like that, fuzz-brain." Heart chided him, calmly following Kiba's lead to pursue Akira at a slower pace. They all knew she was near the water somewhere, so there really wasn't that far for her to run off.

As they got closer to the water, the gentle roar of the waterfall became louder, but not overwhelming to them. The tall grass that reached up to their human knees softened to a mossy texture and the pines gave way to much softer trees, some even baring fruit! Humming birds zipped about, one nearly ran into Toboe's face, startling the distracted boy as it zoomed off with a hum of its ever beating wings. The air was crisp and clear with the spice of its mountainous altitude dryness that only held the hint of decay because of the recent visit from the nearby airships.

"Oh by the moon!" Heart gasped in delight when they finally broke through the greenery and actually saw the pool of water.

Crystal clear blue, shining with silvery highlights reflecting the cloudy sky above. The waterfall rumbled in the far corner, digging its way through white marble rock ruins and tumbling over the mountainside to splash down into the crystal pool, creating a beautiful light mist over the rest of the pool. Fallen pillars of a forgotten civilization majestically lay about the pool and boulders rose up out of the water near the shallow shores while a dull rainbow half-curved over the roaring waterfall and willow trees lapped their leaves into the shoreline waters.

"Kiba…" Toboe's voice was breathless as he stared in awe, "Is this… this isn't paradise is it?"

"No." Kiba's eyes were focused on one thing and one thing only.

There, sitting on one of the closer boulders to the shore was a lily-white maiden with pale violet-pink hair. Her youthful body was incased in a white bodysuit that opened for her hands, belly, small of her back, and the tops of her shoulders. A thick metallic shackle with a broken delicate chain wrapped loosely around her neck, just under her short-cropped hair. Twin-sets matched the collar-shackle fastened to her wrists and ankles. She was the epitome of youthful innocents. A pure white maiden.

Behind her sat the very red wolf that ran off from them- Akira. The she-wolf curled her neck over the maiden's shoulder, preening in the affectionate hug the girl held around the wolf's neck, stroking her fingers through the thick fur about her neck. They could see the white-tipped tail wag luxuriously behind Akira, as if what she were feeling was heaven on earth. The maiden paused for a moment, making Akira whimper. She lifted her face towards them, showing her sightless ruby eyes and a wide-spread smile on her face as she held out her hands to them in a welcoming gesture. Akira stood and turned towards them as well, wagging her tail to encourage their approach.

"That's….. That's her?" Toboe whispered.

"It would seem like…. I never thought the flower maiden would look so…. Young." Heart replied just as quietly, almost in fear that if they spoke too loudly, the maiden would spook and dash off like a doe.

"It's really her?" Tsume watched wryly.

"This one cannot describe how happy she is that you have returned, Akira." Cheza said softly as she lifts her arm to curve under Akira's jaw and scratch her ear. Akira groaned in reply, enjoying the insanely heavenly feeling it provoked. Cheza's touch was magical and relaxing, just as she'd always remembered her presence to be.

"I wouldn't be here if it weren't for them." Akira admitted while Cheza let her arm fall back to her side gently.

"This one is happy to greet new friends." Cheza's smile widened to a grin of pure excitement, "This one is especially joyous that he is here with you finally." She added. Her ruby eyes were locked on the direction Kiba was approaching them from as she felt his icy cool aura flitter over hers. She smiled knowingly as she felt Akira's contrasting fiery red aura tremble at her side in confusion. In time the red and the white would learn of their destiny, but it was Cheza's own destiny to take them along the path.

Akira tilt her head to the side, pouting her lower lip in thought "Cheza, I don't understand… Just who are you talking about?" she asked, noticing and keeping an unconscious track of ever step the white wolf in human form took towards herself and her most precious friend.

Cheza simply shook her head with a smile of some one who knew something wonderful was unfolding before them, "This one cannot tell you yet." She turned her head to face Akira with those enchanting sightless eyes of hers.

"Cheza" Akira pleaded half heartedly as her foxy-curiosity getting the better of her, wanting to understand this mystery the Flower Maiden was tempting her thoughts agonizingly, almost.

Toboe clutched a hand to his chest as the flower maiden smiled up at them, "My heart just skipped a beat!"

"Calm down, pup before you do something too premature for your age." Tsume only half heartedly jibed at the young wolf. Though Kiba had taken a few steps ahead of them, the boy was now walking forward confidently, intent on confronting this strange entity.

"Just hold on a second!" Tsume reached out to pull the young man back, but Heart stopped him before he could even touch Kiba, shaking her head.

"Let him go. If Akira trusts this girl, then the least we could do is give a bit of our trust to her as well." Heart said with out taking her eyes off the seen playing out before them. Her breath left her as she held it, knowing instinctively that something life changing was unfolding just before their very eyes.

Though Akira knew it was Kiba, she still stood soon as he came within range of Cheza's arms. Her small, lithe body tensed at the ready to defend the Flower, but Cheza rest a calming hand in her neck-fur, stroking her fingers in the thick silkiness and massaging under the heavy heated metal of the dog-chain choker around the red-wolf's neck, "It is alright, Cheza. This one has known this soul before."

Once more confused, Akira turned orange eyes to the man before her. His human blue eyes weren't even acknowledging her. They seemed glued to the Flower Maiden, Cheza, at Akira's side, filled with both wonder and a warm closeness like he was seeing a loved one after a long departure. Her anxiety over what the other's reactions to Cheza were appeased and settled, but she still felt uneasy with that look in Kiba's eye for Cheza. Never the less, she obeyed Cheza; lowering her head and backing up to sit on the boulder complacently while Cheza pushed away from her spot on the boulder to stand, waiting for Kiba to make the first move.

Kiba's blue eyes remained soft on the Flower Maiden as his lips softy parted, "Cheza," he spoke with such tenderness.

Cheza's eyes widened with recognition, and then softened as well as if he were her dear friend she hadn't come in contact with in so long. She reached out her hands to the white wolf that now took the place of the silent man, stroking his soft fur on his cheeks before moving down his neck and hugging the white wolf to her in a welcoming embrace. Kiba whined at the sudden surge of feeling the girl's touch flooded inside him. It was far from sexual, but it still felt like such gratifying bliss that he couldn't hold back the pitiful canine vocal response even if he wanted to. His downy white tail twitched behind him, relaxing from its upright hold he had on it to rest at his hind legs while he accepted Cheza's embrace and rubbed his cheek to hers in turn.

"We meet. At last," she whispered in his fur, heaving a sigh of relief.

Akira's ears flopped down, feeling a bit left out. She stood up and plopped down from the boulder, wading in the water to the crouching girl and the white wolf, nuzzling the maidens back lovingly with a happy whine while she wagged her tail in askance. Cheza parted from Kiba, the white wolf perking his ears in confusion while he whined at her retreat. She giggled at his puppy-like response, wrapping an arm around Akira's neck to encourage the she-wolf to come closer to her side and then hooked her other arm around Kiba's neck as well. She then hugged them both to her, smiling brightly and giggling when Kiba's tail flew up in the air, wagging with more vigor than Akira's!

"This one rejoices!" she smiled between them while Akira tentively licked her pale cheek.

"Ah, I wish I was the one being held like that." Toboe sighed while he and the others watched on.

"Can that really be…" Tsume was still not sure about this. It just seemed to easy to find the much coveted flower of the nobles out here in the woods and just walk away with her like this.

"Yeah, that's her defiantly. That's the flower maiden." Hige said with his goofily relaxed expression still on his face. He seemed like he was on cloud nine and flying high than a kite.

Heart glanced back at Tsume to gage his reaction to all this before turning to look back at the tender scene of the maiden embracing the two wolves. She knew it was completely rational for Tsume to doubt the situation, but couldn't he just take something at face value like this just for once?

"Seeing Akira like this makes me relieved." She said softly as her red eyes rest on the red wolf in particular like a proud older-sister, "The pain of Shura's and her father's death was weighing heavily on her heart. Even though she pushed the pain away so she could follow us without alarming anyone, she was hurting so much by burying those feelings like that. But now… now Cheza has healed her heart of pain. Even though she'll probably still grieve the loss of he-e-er…" Heart's voice was breaking up, alarming the others while her eyes watered with emotion, "her loved ones… she's found her-her strength now." The others turned to see Heart while hot tears fell down her tanned cheeks and she sniveled back her heavy sobs. She had been so worried about Akira up till now, "Cheza gave her will a second chance."

A/N- Oh wow! I just had my first day of Second Semester in University and what a DAY! There was nearly no rest what so ever, but it was a blast! Other than the ice storm damage done to my truck, I'm peachy fine! Lol! I felt that the last chapter was really touching but really depressing as well, so I decided to update quickly as I could. The next update probably wont come until maybe Feb. but I still wanna hear from you guys! I especially wanna hear from those of you who seem shy and just read the story ^_^ I promise I don't bite, even if you have criticism for me. Scouts honor! Lol so review and talk to me! I'd love to hear you!

Also, I have a portrait of all the wolves of LFASN! Its on my deviant Art account (most of the art there is bleh since I don't have a scanner just yet, but that will soon change as I get my artwork for this fic up and going on the net!) you can find the link to the art at the top of my profile page anytime or just follow this link:

http:/ /italianstallion5 ./art /LFASN-Wolves- 149426856

---Just take out the spaces In between! Whoot!

Review Responses-

Amber- Yeah, I dunno what it is about the name "Ruze" but it seemed stronger than the name I had for him before. Lol

Venom- Lucky! Being the only child must be fun to not share constantly with siblings! I'm a middle child that gets shoved around like the youngest so I feel envy! Lol! Nah, Mose doesn't deserve anymore screenshots than he got (dirty, rotten… grr) Do you like how long I'm making the chapters? ^_^

Wolfsbane- hehehe! Run run run as fast as you can, you cant escape me little Akira and Kiba-chan! Lmao! Yeah, Akira is acting like Toboe more in the beginning now because I want to show how she grows stronger in a better way this time since its her first time actually acting like a wolf.

Canis simenis- your nickname is starting to spark interest in me. Where'd you come up with the name? I love it! (wags tail) lol! How did I do with the meeting with Cheza?

PussycatLover- (Grins) so you're a Jasper fan? Hehehe!

KillerHotFeline- Don't worry about Akira, she's starting to get to notice Kiba a bit more now that Cheza helped heal her consuming sorrow for Shura (though its kinda hard just to walk away from the death of a mother, so she's still hurt and sad, but just not suicidal-depressed) and Kiba will be well… Kiba for a while XDD

Carnage- Awww! I made the Macho-Man cry! (feels a bit guilty but finds it too amusing) I'm happy that I wrote in a way that moves you so! ^_^ must mean I'm doing something right! Lol- Ok, I'll remember not to bang my head. And yeah, it happens a lot when I forget something, but now it just makes me almost paranoid that I forget something ELSE! Lol!

~Dessy-san!