Ani is dead…..he is actually dead…. Otouto couldn't believe it as he fought off the waves of pain from the wounds dealt to his face and body. His brother was with him earlier this morning, but now he was laying lifeless back in the forest. On top of that, from what the black wolf read from his sister's actions, their home was gone as well. There was no turning back to their former home. It had been tainted one too many times with both wolf and human blood. It was hardly even worth the effort to recall the tragedies in memory, but the wolf knew better than to forget the past.
He looked at Imouto. Her eyes were cold like the ice and snow. However, her motion and the way she held her head told Otouto she was also grieving with a heavy heart. When she adjusted the blanket, he noticed the bandaging on her arm from a few days ago. It had been changed since then, but specks of red dotted the pattern of Otouto's teeth. That suddenly caused the wolf to panic inside. After that incident, he couldn't trust himself around his adopted sister. What if something happened? What if he hurt her again? What if…..what if I kill her next time? At the gruesome thought he yelped under his breath, causing Imouto to flip around with wide, blackish-blue eyes. She whimpered in a high pitch, clearly worried if Otouto was in a worse condition than what she thought. To hide his self-concern of almost letting his thoughts show and to keep them from being discovered, the black wolf snorted and began to trot at a slightly quicker pace despite his limp. It gave the illusion she was right about his injuries bothering him, and he was acting as if nothing was wrong just to act tough. This would be usual in most injury-based circumstances, but not in this case.
Well aware of his bloody pawprints in the snow behind him, he slowed down after pulling ahead several tree-lengths, allowing his sister to catch up and walk beside him once again. I cannot think such things. It might come true if I do…
A dull noise interrupted his thoughts and he paused briefly. When it didn't occur again, Otouto dismissed it as nothing. The sound had come from his left, on the side of his mangled ear. With it in such bad shape, he could not hear very well. And the blood trailing into his ear gave the noisy illusion of rumbling water whenever he tried to focus his hearing on any one thing. The black wolf figured that was the case and simply shook his head in attempt to clear the gurgling sound.
The snowfall slowly picked up speed over the course of the next hour or so as well as the girl. But she didn't walk so fast Otouto couldn't match her. She obviously had her mind set on something, but he had no idea as to what. What could it be? It was almost dark now and the snow was little more than ankle deep. Wherever they were going, he hoped it was some sort of shelter. The ground was mainly made up of thick ice. Each step had to be tentative otherwise the rare thin patches mixed between the thicker ice would break. Otouto wasn't willing to take the chance of either him or his sister taking a fall to their death, but it seemed she had no intention of changing course.
Growling under his breath, the wolf's black fur spiked in aggravation and helplessness. Those humans never should have come, he thought with anger. Ani would not be dead, I would not be injured, Imouto would not be leading us away to who-knows-where, and we would not be forced to leave our home. None of it would have happened and they wouldn't have to travel this dangerous path in such weather. Yes the prey in the forest had become increasingly, rather dangerously, scarce but it was far better than being in this mess. To add to it all, Imouto was beginning to smell like the first human. Otouto was just able to pick up the odd mix of scents over the smokiness of the snow.
Remembering the human was like a wakeup call for the blame game. It is hisfault! If only Imouto let him die! But she didn't. She just had to save the pathetic little outsider! And from what he could tell, she was growing somewhat attached to him since he was brought to the cave. That was the only place he had been, but still, Otouto could not help but be seething angry and blame every bad event of the past few days on the outsider as if he hadn't. Then he remembered when the human attacked his sister and how she blocked Otouto from crushing his head, forcing the wolf to bite her instead. In his mind, the memory was in slow motion. From when he leapt to the second his sister's forearm became jammed in the back of his jaws. The wolf could see his own eyes, the horror hanging there for what seemed to be an eternity for what he had done. There was no getting the taste of her blood off his tongue, nor the stains out of his fur.
Shaking his head violently, the black wolf fought to get out of the recollection. "He should be dead instead of Ani…" He couldn't stop himself as he snarled at the top of his lungs, and it echoed throughout the mountain. "Curse that wretched human!"
Imouto turned and stared at him. Then she looked up in shock and took a step back as suddenly the rumbling noise from before was loud and obvious as it followed a louder series of reverberating cracks. Otouto recoiled, realizing his mistake too late when a massive shard of ice fell closer than comfort allowed. Higher up the mountain, almost at the peak, he saw the snow begin to shift and slide straight toward them.