Friendship.

There are many sayings, all of which can apply to that one word. The best, however, may be simply this. "No man is poor who has friends." These words, spoken so aptly by Clarence in the famous movie "It's a Wonderful Life", ring as true today as they did thirty years ago.

Friends. Even the word is enough to bring fond memories to mind, and a smile to your face. You remember the time you and your friends went to the beach, the dances, the late nights watching movies. You remember the heartache, the pains and pleasures. Having friends, there can be no greater joy.

Do you have friends? Do you have people that you would give your life for?

It's easy to say that you would do anything for a friend. You can say you'll always be there. That nothing will tear you apart.

Can you know for sure?

If you're reading this, consider to yourself, who is your best friend? What was the last secret that you shared with them? Have you ever held them while they cried? Did you ever curse the world, watching them suffer, and suffer with them?

Would you die for them?

Would you live for them?

Chapter 10- Meetings, Part 2

They remained there, resting in the beams of sunlight coming through the window. Toboe had fallen asleep in his chair, not even waking when the nurse came to bring Kit his dinner. When he did awake, it was to see Kit looking at him with a slight smile on his face. The tortured young man extended his hand toward the wolf.

"Hello. My name's Christopher, whore to the rich and slave to the poor. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Toboe stared at the hand for a second, then grinned, taking it in his own.

"Hello. My name's Toboe. I'm a wolf. The pleasure's all mine."

"No more secrets?"

Toboe nodded. "No more secrets."

Kit nodded, looking out the window. The sun was slowly sinking over the horizon, dipping beneath the horizon, casting a red fire into the sky.

"Do you have family?" he asked. Toboe seemed to hesitate.

"Well, yes and no. I don't really have a family, but I do have a pack, which is sort of like a family."

Kit looked back at the wolf. "Are they nice?"

Toboe fell silent. This, of course, was the root of his current dilemma. Certainly, his pack was very nice to him. In fact, they were very nice to any wolf they met. And they had accepted Cheza into the group with no difficulty, even though she certainly wasn't a wolf. When it came to humans, however…

There was really no way for him to be absolutely certain how they would feel about Kit until he brought the boy into the apartment and presented him to them. And by then, it might be too late. A year or two ago, it probably wouldn't have been to big a deal. Recently however, wolves around the world had begun disappearing at a most alarming rate, as a result of an increase of the number of hunters that were constantly hunting them down. They might perceive Kit as a threat, as a human attempting to gain acceptance among the wolves in order to relay information to those who would see the destruction of the wolf race.

Hige probably wouldn't care. Nor would Blue. They were fine with humans, and Toboe was relatively certain that he could convince them that Kit was not a threat. Cheza would probably react very similarly.

Kiba and Tsume, however, would be quite a different matter altogether. Kiba didn't have anything against humans in general, he just didn't particularly trust very many of them. The recent outbreak of wolf killings hadn't helped to convince him otherwise, either. And Tsume… well, he just didn't like humans at all.

He knew what he wanted to tell Kit. He wanted to tell Kit that his pack was wonderful, that they were nice to everyone. He wanted to promise him that he would be accepted.

No more secrets.

"I don't know."

Kit sat still for a moment, then turned back to look out the window.

"You don't know?"

Toboe nodded slightly. "Humans are dangerous. I don't know whether they'll like you, whether they'll accept you."

"If they don't accept me, will you still?"

Toboe was shocked. How could Kit ask him that question? After all they had been through, after the secrets they had shared with each other. Why did he still have doubts?

Then, the answer struck him. It was so obvious that he found it incredible that he had been unable to see it until that moment. All Kit's life, he had experienced hatred and rejection. No one had accepted him for who he was. His life had consisted of one heartbreak after another. Why should he think that this time would be any different than any time before?

Family is a curious thing. You may share nothing in common except the blood running through your veins, yet this idea; this principle, is powerful enough to cause someone to die for it.

Kit was stunned by the sheer immensity of the apartment complex in which Toboe lived. He had seen it from a distance before, but being right up next to it truly gave him an idea of just how large it really was. It towered over the neighboring residential areas, rising more than fifty stories into the air at its highest point. It was painted a deep shade of green, and, at least as far as Kit had heard, was shaped roughly like a gigantic maze. It was a truly formidable edifice. Dominating. Cold, and Harsh.

A formidable edifice indeed.

And Terrifying.

Toboe knew what was going through Kit's mind at that moment. It was the same thing that was going through his mind as well. The wolves would never accept him. It simply wasn't in their nature.

The difference between what Kit was thinking and Toboe was thinking was simply this… What on earth would the Toboe do if the wolves did in fact deny Kit their welcome? He couldn't leave. His pack was everything to him. They were the only family that he had ever known. They had taken him in and cared for him when no one else had. They were his family and friends, and yet so was Kit.

The wolves were his only family, and Toboe was Kit's. There was no solution to his dilemma that would make him happy. Well, only one. If the wolves accepted Kit, it would fix everything. Kit would finally have a home, filled with people who loved and accepted him for who he was, and Toboe would be beside him all the way.

The two youths walked into the building, and Toboe nodded a greeting to the woman behind the front desk. She waved and he grinned over at Kit in a reassuring manner as they began the long ascent up to the top floors. One flight of stairs, then two, then three, onward and upward into the darkness they ascended, climbing endless, ceaseless flights of steps. Down one hallway, then another, through a twisting labyrinth of stairs and hallways they climbed.

Kit's head swam. When people described these apartments as a maze, they most assuredly were not exaggerating. If Toboe were to have left him at that very moment, Kit was positive that he would never find his way out of the apartment complex, never in a thousand years. Instead, he put his faith in the memory of Toboe, and followed him blindly farther up.

At long last, they stood before a light blue door. Once again, Toboe smiled reassuringly at Kit, then reached out his hand, took a deep breath, and rapped on the door.

Hige poked his head out. He looked at Toboe, and then at Kit. His eyes widened slightly, but only for a moment. In an instant, his composure returned.

"I suppose the two of you had better come in." He looked back toward Toboe. "You have quite a bit of explaining to do."

Toboe nodded and beckoned for Kit to follow him inside. The room they entered was comfortable; simple yet luxurious. Kit had been there before, of course, but he didn't remember it. He had been ill enough that everything that had transpired in that room before he had passed out was merely a blur. A warm, fuzzy blur, but a blur none the less. It seemed to him as though the observations he was making at that moment were new, things that he had never seen before. There were armchairs and sofas arranged around a warm, crackling fireplace. As Toboe seated himself in one of the armchairs, Kit made his way over the mantelpiece. Several drawings were arranged atop of it. Kit marveled for a moment at the beauty of the pictures. They had clearly been drawn by a superb artist. Each picture depicted a different scene. The first was an image of wolves running rapidly through a snowstorm, towards a bright beacon of light far off in the distance. The way the snow swirled around them made the picture seem alive. The second was of a man, a very regal, majestic looking man sitting on a magnificent throne, with a tremendous look of anger and wrath upon his otherwise noble face. Before him knelt a man, seemingly a peasant by the clothing that he wore. The third was a well drawn image of the building they were in at that very moment, the Maze.

Toboe smiled as he saw Kit admiring the pictures.

"Do you like them?" He asked. Kit nodded. Toboe got to his feet, and walked over to stand next to Kit, admiring the pictures as well. "Cheza, one of the members of our pack drew them. This one, the first, is of us. The wolves, I mean. She always had the idea that there was nothing more wonderful than the idea of an epic quest. The journey of a great hero towards a realm of perfection and wonder. It's a silly idea, but she likes it. This one, the second, is a bit more historical. That man, on the throne, is the Great King. The one who thousands of years ago united the men on each of the continents under a single empire. There are legends today that say that he was an extraordinary man of magical power. The other man, the peasant in front of him, is our ancestor. No, not yours, ours. He's the father of all the wolves. His name was Lupin. For some reason that no one has ever been able to figure out, he apparently greatly angered the King, and as a result, a terrible curse was laid upon him. He was to wander the world, forever, unable to show his true form to anyone. It was the beginning of the wolves."

Kit nodded, and then suddenly noticed a figure standing behind the throne of the Kind. It was a man wearing simple leather armor, carrying a bow.

"Who is that?" he asked.

Toboe fell silent for a moment. "He's... a hunter. The first, actually. No one knows his name, only that after the curse was executed, the King was greatly fearful of the terror that he had potentially inflicted upon humanity, and he commissioned that man to hunt down Lupin and any offspring that he produced."

Kit seemed to consider for a moment until finally deciding to ask the question. "You said that the curse stated that Lupin was to wander the world forever?"

Toboe nodded. "As far as we or any of the other wolves know, he's still out there somewhere, trying to remain one step ahead of the hunters. See, the only reason that we remain isolated from humans, avoiding contact is because that there's a good chance that any human we meet is in fact a hunter, or at the very least, working for them. It's one of the reasons why my pack may not trust you."

Kit nodded, suddenly thinking that perhaps he may have gotten himself involved in something far bigger than he could ever have imagined.

"Admiring the pictures?"

Both boys turned to see Kiba standing in the doorway. He turned toward Toboe.

"Toboe, can I talk to you alone for a moment?" He turned back to Kit. "Make yourself comfortable. We shouldn't be very long."

Toboe gave a now very familiar, and not very reassuring, reassuring smile to Kit, then turned and followed Kiba into an adjoining room.

"What the hell were you thinking, bringing that… human into our home?" Kiba snarled at the young wolf. "Have you taken leave of your senses? You know we can't trust humans. I went along with this obsession with humans long enough. I have no intention of letting this go any further. You will get him out of this apartment, and then you will start acting like the wolf you are."

Toboe, who at first had felt terrible, felt himself angrier than he ever had before. He was absolutely furious, and he was plenty ready to let Kiba know it.

"You are a horrible, filthy, evil person." He yelled. "You talk about how we're better than the hunters, better than the humans that surround us, but by the way you're talking, I'd almost have to say you're worse. Ah yes, you look at me like that now, but think about it. Humans mistrust, they hate and fear what they don't understand. Starting to sound familiar? It should. You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say you had more in common with the humans than I do."

Kiba let out a low growl. "Don't take that tone with me. I'm still the leader of this pack, and I'm the one who's going to decide what's best for it. Not you, and not anyone else. And I'll be a pelt on a hunter's belt before I let a human enter our den."

"Then I'll leave."

"Nobody's going to leave." Both wolves spun around. Tsume was standing just inside of the room, arms crossed, with Hige next to him. Both were looking extremely pissed.

"The two of you are so loud; I wouldn't be surprised if you've scared that human out of here already." Hige said, glaring at both of them.

"Toboe's right." Said Tsume. "Kiba, I promise you that you are not acting like leader. You're acting like a common schoolboy. A common, human, schoolboy."

Hige nodded. "And you, Toboe, you should have certainly known better than to have brought that human boy into our house. At least, you shouldn't have brought him without consulting us first."

Toboe lowered his head. "I know. It's just, I thought that if you knew that I was that close to a human, you would do exactly what Kiba's trying to do now. I figured that you simply wouldn't understand. And by the looks of Kiba's reaction, I'd have to say that I was right."

"Have you so little faith in us?" asked Blue, who had entered the room quietly. "If you trust him, and believe that he's completely trustworthy, then that's good enough for me. Personally, I think that it should be good enough for the rest of us."

Tsume nodded. "Come on. Let's go meet this human of yours."

There is so much that I want to say, and so little time and space for me to do it in.

First, you may have noticed an interesting plot shift. A very simple, very little change in the direction of the story.

Fine, so perhaps it's not so small. It's huge, in fact. And it means this story's going to continue to be updated. For a long time. I don't know how long it's going to go, in fact. Enjoy it, and don't kill me. And I assure you, I'm fully ready to answer the numerous questions that I feel will rise out of this. If you feel your question is too long to leave in a review, you can email me at The email should show, if it doesn't mention that to me in a review, and I'll take care of it next chapter.

Secondly, this fanfic is the proud recipients of two awards, and has been nominated for two others! This of course, makes me very happy and gives me rather good incentive to finish.

Review Responses:

Haka- Thank you so much for your words of encouragement. I'm so glad that you could find deeper meaning in my story. Makes me feel like a good writer, you know? In answer to your question, I don't really have an answer. I guess they could have found jobs, and certainly they live for a very long time, which allows them to accumulate vast amounts of wealth. And as for Toboe, I'm pretty sure that school was his own idea.

Naruto's-Shadow- Ummm, well, sorry for calling you crazy. Even though you clearly are. Anyways, thanks for the "lovely" review. By the time you read this, you're going to realize that I probably didn't take nearly enough time on this chapter, and it's certainly not going to be perfect. Alas, I see a writers block on the horizon. Anyways, thanks for the great review, and I can't wait until I get another!

Tenka-chan- I'm glad that you were pleased with the lack of cliffhanger…ness in the last chapter. I'm glad you enjoyed it; I worked for quite some time on it. I wanted it to be good, seeing as it was such a crucial chapter to plot development and all. Sadly, I read over the chapter and found many spelling and grammatical errors. Anyways, enjoy this chapter, and I can't wait to read your review.

Last, I just want to ask you all out there reading this for your reviews. There's nothing more exciting than for an author to get feedback. Drop me a note saying you like my stuff. Go on, you know you want to.