''What do you think?'', a black coated wolf with brown eyes spoke, looking at a wolf-dog mix laying next to him. both were hiding behind the bushes, their eyes set on a patrolling group of wild dogs. ''They belong to Ōu, that pack that has Gajou in their paws right now.''
''Kai, where are Zai and Rai right now?'', the half breed asked, his eyes focused on the dogs as he ignored the wolf's words. His curly dog-like tail was curled over his back, completely motionless. He had a brown and a blue eye, and a mixed coat of browns, greys and white. He looked like a dog, but in fact this creature's mother was a wolf, his father a dog, an Alaskan Malamute-Husky mix to be more exact.
Kai looked at him with a confused look, before grinning, showing off his sharp teeth. ''What? You know I'm Kai? How can you even tell us apart?'', he asked, actually pretty much curious for his the half-breed's answer.
''I just can. You're the oldest, you act the most adult-like, out of the three of you. Rai is the youngest, but he still has his manners. Zai is the middle one, but he acts like a total fool at times. The only time it's hard to tell you three apart is when you are together, standing beside each other.'', he said, smiling as he seemed to be thinking, getting to his paws suddenly. ''Let's go talk to those dogs, shall we?''
''G-General Kurai! No!'', Kai said, a shocked expression on his face as he looked at his General who was ready to leave their hiding place. ''You can't go like that, all wolves are suspicious in their eyes, do you wanna get caught!''
The black wolf jumped to his paws and tackled General Kurai, forcing him onto the ground. He stayed on top of him, growling at him, but the sound was so soft, it was almost soundless. ''You can't just march in like that! We need you, you are our General. You should stop being a fool, General Kurai. If they find you and take you in, Kenshi will kill me…!'', he snarled and Kurai looked up at him, chuckling, a grin spread across his face.

''Oh, you're so serious.'', he responded, pushing the male off of him with his paws, before rolling back onto his belly and wagging his curly tail. He turned his head to look at Kai again, a smile on his face. ''You're too serious for my liking.''
''And you're too old for these kind of games… We're in war, General.'', Kai said, an annoyed look on his face. He walked up next to Kurai and started nudging the mixed breed, forcing him up. ''Pull yourself together and act like a General for once.''
''I do that a lot, you know. I'm always by Kenshi's side, I always give him advice and lead the troops, whether it are wars or hunts. I can have a day off, too, you know. And yeah, I know you're gonna say 'not right now', but I don't care. I'm done being serious for today.'', the male said as he finally got to his paws, stretching his limbs and yawning. ''Well, we better get back to Kenshi and report… boring.''
''Did you hear anything?'', suddenly a voice called out. It didn't take long before another voice answered to the other. ''And I smell wolves, they're here!''
''Oh no, we got spotted! Hurry up General! Get back to Kenshi!'', Kai said, bumping into Kurai with his head and pushing him, trying to get him to move. ''G-go, General!''
General Kurai nodded and started running, leaving the hiding place and moving off into the deeper parts of the woods. He ran as fast as he could, not looking behind to see if Kai was following him.
But it didn't matter, because Kai would get lost either way, and Kurai didn't really care about Kai or the other two brothers.
''Let go of me!'', Kai said as he was forced to the ground, kicking and screaming at the four dogs that had cornered him and attacked him. now they were holding him down, to make sure he wouldn't get away.

''Let go of me you bastards!'', he screamed, lifting his head and crying out for help, for General Kurai. ''General! Help me! These filthy dogs got me! Help me! Don't leave me here! I will kill you if you leave me here!''
''Shut up and calm down, it's not like we will kill you.'', one of the dogs said, the one standing beside him. It was a black coated Labrador Retriever with brown eyes, a serious look on his face. The other one holding Kai down was a brown coated Great Dane with brown eyes; Ben. Behind him stood his son Ken and the Kai Ken, Kagetora.
Ben looked at the black Labrador Retriever, nodding his head like a sign for the dog to go report. ''Go back to Ōu and tell Weed and Gin first platoon has caught an intruder, a wolf.'', he ordered and the black dog nodded, glancing one last time at the wolf with an angry expression before running off, leaving for his duties.
''Who are you? Why were you spying on us? Was it for your leader, Kenshi? His orders?'', Kagetora asked, growling at Kai. The fur on his back bristled slightly as he glanced down at the cornered wolf. ''Tell us or you will die!''
''Easy Kage! Give the wolf time to answer.'', Ken said, turning his head to look at Kai again. ''Now, speak up, wolf.''
''No! These lips are sealed! Do whatever you want with me, I won't tell anything!'', Kai responded, still kicking and struggling with his four paws and all his might. ''You will never know where our leader is, you will never know where General Kurai went! Never!''
''Wait, that other one was General Kurai?'', Ben asked confused and Kagetora let out a sigh of frustration, looking at the blue sky while yelling impatiently and agitatedly: ''Aaargh, we should have tackled the other one! That was the wolves' General? You can't be serious! Why did we end up tackling a useless follower!?''

''I am not useless! I am a noble fighter, a warrior! I serve my lord with my life and when ordered by him I do everything for him! I keep secrets, I fight wars, I kill useless dogs like you who don't deserve to live!'', Kai snarled, drool now dripping from his jaws as his struggling caused him to run out of breath. Ben was still holding him, pushing him down on his chest, and this made him barely unable to breathe. ''Go die somewhere!''
''Shut up!'', Ken said, pushing his paw into the wolf's face. He sighed afterwards, calming down again, and he looked at Ben. ''Father, this one won't budge like this. We need to take him to Ōu. He needs… special treatment in order to tell us something we must know.''
''You're right. I prefer not use those methods, though.'', he said to Ken, before looking at Kai, addressing the wolf this time, his eyes narrowed. ''We were going to ask you questions and then let you go, but since you're not willing to tell us anything we are forced to take you in as our prisoner.''
Kai swallowed as he stared up at Ben, fear in his brown eyes. He stopped struggling after that, however, and laid his head on the ground, staring off into the distance. There was a pained look on his face as he bit his lip, forcing himself to not look in the Great Dane's eyes anymore. ''I don't care. Whatever you try, I will never tell anything. Do whatever you want with me, dog…'', he mumbled, trying to hold back tears in his eyes.
The three dogs looked at each other for a moment, as if they were discussing something in silence. After a few seconds Ben sighed and turned his head back towards Kai, his brown eyes on him, narrowed.
''Fine then, guess we have no choice.'', he said and he looked at Ken and then at Kagetora, who stood behind him. ''We will take him to Ōu. Weed and Gin will decide what to do with this wolf.'' He stepped away from Kai, giving the wolf a chance to breathe. But it wasn't a very long chance, because Ken and Kagetora were soon on him, forcing him down once more so he couldn't flee. Kai was forced to his paws and dragged along by his scruff by the younger Great Dane, Ken. ''I won't tell anything, I promise, Kenshi…''

Spencer sat on the edge of a rather deep-going hill, staring off into the distance. He perked his ears and turned his head when he heard paw steps coming his way. It was Benji, the Akita Inu yearling. The dog had a serious expression on his face. Spencer smiled at him, wagging his tail, but his happy greeting wasn't returned. Benji stopped and just stared at him, there was a hint of irritation in his green eyes.
''What's wrong, Benji? You don't seem so happy.'', Spencer asked, his smile fading. He looked worried at the yearling, hoping his friends would tell him about his problems. Benji sighed and walked closer to Spencer, stopping just behind him. His stance forced Spencer to get up and turn around so he had a better look at him.
''I just don't get why you were assigned as fourth platoon leader. You lack all the skills a leader must have. You're too innocent and childish.'', Benji responded finally, glancing away; he avoided Spencer's eyes on purpose, even though Spencer didn't know why.
''I don't know either… but they just did. If you don't like me being this platoon's leader I gotta say I agree with you; I don't want this either, not anymore…'', Spencer said, swallowing. He glanced at the ground. ''At first I thought it was an honor, but we're at war and I realized I don't know how to fight, nor how to lead any wild dogs…''
''They should have assigned me, not you.'', Benji said bluntly, his head jolting up as he stared Spencer straight in his blue eyes. ''I am way more serious than you are, they should have assigned me.''
''Do you know how to fight? Because I can remember with your father last time you fled, you tried to hide, you froze… You've changed since then, Benji. You don't really smile anymore. Why…?''
''Why would I smile when we're at war?'', the Akita Inu yearling snarled. He averted his eyes again and turned around, walking away from Spencer. ''Whatever… it are wolves; we're all doomed anyway.''

''Don't say that!'', Spencer spoke quickly, running after Benji and catching up to him. ''We are wild dogs, and I'm sure with the amount of soldiers we have, we stand a good chance against those wolves. Don't give up already when you even haven't tried anything yet.'', he added to his last sentence, catching up on his breath.
Benji stopped, causing Spencer to bump into him, and he turned his head to look at the German Shepherd mix. There was a hint of confusion in his eyes, before a weak smile was forced on his face.
''I guess they made the right choice after all choosing you.'', he said, chuckling softly before moving on again. ''We don't have many dogs in our platoon; I guess the Ōu soldiers don't really trust you… But don't worry, we're with enough to stop a large group of wolves.''
''Wait, Benji…'', Spencer said, one ear forward as his other ear was pushed back towards his neck. He looked at the Akita Inu with a worried expression as he held up his right front paw; a sign he was unsure. Benji stopped again and turned his head once more at him, a questioning look on his face. ''Who are part of our platoon?''
''You and me, of course. And Yoru, that wolf. And then there's William. Sam and Sheba went to another platoon, I don't know which one, though… They don't trust you, but even though William is often rather agitated with you, he seems to trust you. He promised to help us, with whatever he can do for us during this war.'', Benji said and Spencer nodded, biting his lip. ''And we have Tesshin on our side, and Kyoshiro, as that annoying dog's called… But he's good at fighting, he's training the other right now in combat. Our platoon exists out of… fifty wolves. Pretty much a lot, still.''
Benji sounded like he was deep in thought, like he wasn't speaking to Spencer but talking to himself, repeating everything he knew, just so he wouldn't forget. ''Gin told me after we were assigned for this platoon that more dogs will be coming our way to help us out, though. And he and Weed were going to back us up, as well. So there's no need to worry, we have enough soldiers.''
With those words Benji walked off, leaving Spencer alone near the edge of the hill. Spencer sighed and turned back around, returning to his post, staring off into the distance, like he was guarding the platoon he had to lead.

He felt someone nudge his shoulder and almost jumped up in shock, snapping his head around to see the small wolf, Yoru, standing behind him. There was a hint of worry in his eyes, a dead rabbit dangling between his jaws. He nudged Spencer again and then dropped the rabbit, shoving it towards Spencer with his nose. He lifted his head and started at the German Shepherd, waiting for the yearling to actually get to eating it.
''For me?'', Spencer asked and Yoru nodded, taking a step back to give Spencer more space to move, but he didn't take his eyes off the kid for a second. There was a small wag from his tail, but no signs of happiness in his eyes or on his face; no smile.
''Okay then, thank you…'', Spencer bumbled, a sad glance in his eyes as he looked down at the prey. Yoru nodded and sat down, still watching him. Spencer looked at Yoru for a moment before laying down and chewing on the dead animal. As he swallowed after a few bites, he looked up at Yoru again, a worried look in his eyes.
''Yoru, I want to ask you something. You pack chased you off, I saw it happen, but I got to be sure…'', he said and Yoru tilted his head to the side a bit, looking at the yearling in confusion. ''Are you really on our side? It might have all been a trick to get us to accept you. I'm not saying I don't trust you, but if you betray us, I will probably get killed for bringing you to Ōu and bringing my platoon and whole Ōu in danger…''
Yoru now looked even more confused, before sighing and shaking his head, sitting down in front of Spencer. He looked at the German Shepherd mix with big eyes, like a puppy's, like he was trying to look cute and innocent. Spencer chuckled, smiling weakly. ''Guess you're right. you wouldn't be the type to betray us. You're on our side, right?''
Yoru nodded and smiled weakly for a split second, before his face faded back to nothing at all. He got up and stepped closer to Spencer, nuzzling the yearling, causing the kid to giggle and wag his tail. Yoru wagged his ail in response and got up, moving away from Spencer. Spencer looked at him, smiling weakly, but deep down inside it didn't feel right. ''I hope I can trust you, Yoru…''