Disclaimer: I do not own Wolf's Rain and am not making any profit from this writing.
Saiya – They're freaking brilliant suggestions. :D Here's story #1, hope you like it!
Chapter 9: I would die for you...
It seemed to happen in slow-motion.
He heard the warning, knew what it meant immediately. He spun, prepared to leap at the hunter and wrestle his gun away, already anticipating the strike of his bullet. It wouldn't be the first time he had been shot, and it wouldn't be the last. The prospect of a gunshot wound didn't phase him in the least.
He expected pain – in his leg, perhaps in his chest. But not here, not like this. He swallowed, frozen stock-still, his heart pounding in his ears. Red was blossoming in his vision.
Like a stuck pig. I never understood what that meant before…now I think I know. There's so much blood, should there be that much blood? It's a bullet – it's so tiny, just a little piece of lead, it shouldn't do that much damage.
There were still bullets flying, he absently noted the sharp sting as one grazed his shoulder. He should have been running, or flying at their opponents like the speed of light and killing machine he was – but he stood still. Hell, time stood still. This wasn't possible, he couldn't comprehend what was happening here.
"Hige!" Toboe's shrill cry snapped him out of his trance. Suddenly hyper-aware of his situation, he lunged, leaping over his fallen friend with a ferocious snarl. The man stumbled back, gun held high. He was afraid.
Kiba felt a rush of malicious glee. Usually, he went straight for the hunters' necks and killed them – quickly, efficiently, and relatively painlessly. There were worse deaths to be had than in his powerful jaws. And oh, how he knew that.
He grabbed the man's leg, yanking him down. The man yelled in fear as he climbed over him, his massive paws on either side of the man's head. He couldn't care less about his gun at this point, the idiot's hands were shaking too badly to pull the trigger anyway. For a moment, he just stood there, staring into the man's terrified brown eyes.
"I'm sorry," the man stammered. Kiba leaned down, nudged his head as a curious puppy might.
"Easy, boy, that's a nice –"
Later, when they asked, he would say he didn't know what had come over him. But he knew – it was a terrible, bloodthirsty rage. How dare he do that to Hige? He…
"Kiba!" that was Hige's voice, "He's dead already!"
He stepped away from the body, licking his lips, dimly aware that his muzzle was covered in blood.
Blood, blood, blood…so much blood.
He took a moment to calm himself, before turning to his fallen friend again.
"Sorry," a voice that was not his own, that was filled with ice and the promise of malice such as he had never known, spoke, "Got distracted. This will only take a minute, I promise."
Let it never be said that Kiba broke his promises. In the next ten seconds, the man in front of them, aiming his gun at Hige to finish the job, had dropped to the ground, dead. In thirty, the man next to him was down. And in sixty, five corpses littered the ground.
"If you're done with your killing spree, we should get out of here," Tsume's unaffected voice came from behind him.
Killing spree? I was just getting started. He breathed out slowly, looked at the scene in front of him. I killed those people…they had it coming…it was unnecessary…they hurt Hige…
He shook his head furiously. Damn them all, a few months ago, he wouldn't have thought twice about killing a whole troop of humans. It was all Hige's fault for insisting that they weren't all bad and they deserved "mercy," whatever the hell that meant.
"You're an idiot," he voiced his thoughts to Hige. There was no heat, no anger in his words; it was just a statement of fact. The sky was blue, and so Hige was an idiot. That was just how the world worked.
"Y-yeah?"
"Yeah. Come on, up," suddenly human (and when had he dropped his illusion? He couldn't even remember), he took his arm and tugged him to his feet. Was that blood at the corner of his lips?
"Tsume, Toboe," the puppy was pointedly refusing to look at him, "Go, we'll be right behind you."
Tsume looked doubtful, but he wisely kept his mouth shut (for once). The pair dropped their illusions and bolted, the puppy urged on by the elder nipping at his heels. He looked back over his shoulder at them once, but Tsume gave a sharp bite to his tail, so he squeaked and turned back.
Kiba trusted they wouldn't go far. Tsume would get the puppy out of shooting range, and stay there. He just had to get Hige away before the rest of Jagara's men came (he could see the tanks coming, bringing reinforcements), and they would be fine. It didn't matter how much the tawny wolf was bleeding right now; he would be fine.
Of course, that assumed Hige could actually run. But he would have to, because Kiba couldn't carry him, and he sure as hell wasn't leaving him behind. Kiba gripped his hand firmly and just ran, effectively dragging the other wolf behind him. He thanked the stars above that Hige didn't complain, didn't stumble and falter in his steps.
Until he himself stumbled, and looked back to see what had happened. The other wolf had dropped…he was lying still on the ground, his hand still tightly clutched in Kiba's own.
Dammit. Kiba didn't have much medical knowledge, but he knew enough to guess that that he had fainted from blood loss. Okay. I can do this. He rolled Hige over on his back, and gently pulled his hood up over his head – before dropping his illusion to grasp the thick fabric in his jaws.
I feel like this hasn't been washed in a very, very long time, he noticed somewhere in the back of his mind, as he dragged the wolf backwards. This was officially his dumbest plan yet, but he did his best not to puncture the hood of his friend's shirt and drop him.
He found a fox den, and he wasn't really sure how he managed to get them both inside. Somehow, though, a few minutes later, he was lying in a hole, curling around Hige protectively. He prayed to a god he didn't believe in that the soldiers didn't think to look in the hole.
"Kiba?" Hige breathed, after a short while. He seemed dazed. Still, Kiba was relieved to hear his voice, and he nuzzled against his neck affectionately.
"I'm here," he reassured softly. The tawny wolf leaned back into him…seeking warmth or comfort, he didn't know.
"The soldiers are right outside, aren't they?" he whispered. Kiba had a lot of experience hiding his reaction, his so-called "feelings" (ohhh, Toboe, how naïve), so the only sign of his surprise was a slight widening of his yellow eyes, and fortunately Hige wasn't looking at him.
"You're gonna be okay," he promised, his voice level and calm, "They won't look here."
"You don't know that," he sounded sad, a little worried, but mostly sad, and resigned. Kiba dropped his voice to the low, gentle murmur he remembered his own siblings using, many years ago, when he ran to them for reassurance.
"They won't look here," he repeated, "Just close your eyes, they won't come."
"Kiba…"
"Don't. I don't want to hear it. Close your eyes, they're not coming."
I'm not leaving. Close your eyes, I don't want you to be scared. He kept telling himself they wouldn't come, they wouldn't look here. He hoped against hope that he was right. But if he was wrong…he didn't want Hige to see them. If this was the end, he didn't want his last moments to be filled with fear.
Hige finally settled. Kiba quietly cleaned his ear, waiting and hoping for the danger to pass. He marked the passage of time in the other wolf's steady, shallow breaths.
One. Two. Three. Still alive. Four. Five. Six. Alive. Seven. Eight...Nine?
Bwahahahaha! Yes, I know, I'm evil. ;-)
Sorry, loves. But not to worry, this will be continued in the next chapter…you can expect an update, like, tomorrow. I'm on a roll.
