I walked up to Jerome first, very intrigued by him. His eyes held a certain wisdom and courage that seemed comparable to Gin's. And although he didn't bear a single scar, when he spoke to me I knew that he'd been through a lot.

"You came to see me, Tamashi?" he asked.

"Yeah," I responded with a smile. "You just seem so . . . cool. Like you have a lot to say, but are hiding some secrets." Shaking my head, I kept an expression of restrained excitement on my face. "Do you know Weed?"

"Yes," Jerome told me with a proud nod. "I was once an assassin, sent to hunt down and kill monstrous, genetically enhanced dog called Kaibutsu. At first, it began with me and Kaibutsu trying to comfort each other when the scientists were doing such awful experiments on him. I tried to convince him that it would all be worth it in the end, but eventually his rage settled in and he escaped from the laboratory P4."

I didn't know what to say after that. Having a dog being experimented on so much that he was running around and killing humans for his torture? At first, a part of me wanted to silently congratulate the monster – he deserved to kill all those humans who had mercilessly experimented on him!

"Did he just kill humans?" I asked, curiously.

"No," Jerome responded. "He also went after dogs as well, even killing off me and a pack of my assassin subordinates who were trying to hunt him down."

A confused spark of light went off in my mind. Maybe it was wrong to congratulate Kaibutsu on his rampage. I understood why he went after humans, but what did the dogs have anything to do with it?

"Then, I met Weed," Jerome told me, causing me to blink in surprise. "It turns out that he had been attacked by the monster as well. It was only after he had crossed the gorge that led to Gajou that I realized his strength. I then took it upon myself to have him to be the one to lure Kaibutsu out of Gajou. Unfortunately, the plan failed as one of the commanding officers of Ohu – a three legged Spanish Setter named Smith – was ultimately killed, while Kaibutsu was still alive."

"What happened after that?" I asked, wanting to learn more.

"Me and my subordinates had attempted to kill Kaibutsu, but all three of my friends ended up being killed before they could rip out an vulnerable spot on his chest. I was then that I had bitten him in that very wound in order to kill him, but eventually I had been pulled right off and thrown into a river."

"Wait!" I sputtered. "So, who exactly killed Kaibutsu?"

"Weed killed him," Jerome told me, causing me to gape in utter confusion. "I had poked my head through the water just in time to see Weed headbutt Kaibutsu over the cliff and use the wind to impale the genetic mutated dog onto a tree spike."

"Weed did that?" I whispered, unable to believe my ears. "How old was he?"

"Weed was no more than six months old at that time," Jerome replied, causing me to frown in regret.

"What did Kaibutsu look like?" I proceeded to ask.

"Kaibutsu was a German Shepherd, but he was genetically enhanced," Jerome explained. "He had been turned into a wolf-like creature, added with a long mane. He had no skin on his left front leg or the left side of his chest. Chains were hanging out of his hips and some strange scales covered his upper thighs. He was massive – roughly twelve feet tall from paw to the very tip of his head and thirty feet long from nose to tail."

I gaped at Jerome with amazement. "Weed . . . a mere six-month-old puppy . . . brutally killed such a monster?" Smiling at the Shepherd before me, I asked, "How long did you hold onto Kaibutsu's wound, compared to your other subordinates?"

"While Robert, Rocca, and Hoiler could only hold on for far less than a minute," Jerome said, "I managed to clamp onto his wound for roughly three minutes. I was even suffocated, but even then I still managed to have a strong grip around his heart."

"That's sooo BAD ASS, Jerome!" I cheered, leaping upon him and playfully nipping at his belly. I heard him chuckle with amusement and felt his fangs clamp softly around my neck, slowly pulling me away from him.

"Wait," I said, "so how did you exactly lose yourself from Weed's pack? Were you lost?"

"No," Jerome simply said. "I was banished from his pack, trying to save him by killing two Foxhound spies."

"WHAT?" I roared, baring my fangs in rage. "He KICKED YOU OUT JUST BECAUSE YOU WERE DOING SOME GOOD FOR HIM?!"

"I felt I deserved it, Tamashi," Jerome said in a calm voice. "Even after reforming thanks to Weed, I had felt that there was a sense of darkness inside of me. So, I felt like I had to do the dirty work in order to spare Weed from doing such a harsh things himself."

"Jerome . . ." I whispered, not knowing what to say to that. It was totally unjustified that Weed had banished Jerome – one of his best friends and fighters – from his pack all because Jerome was trying to help him! Besides, the Foxhounds would have struck back at him – possibly in an ambush! Jerome was doing him a favor! What a naïve little shit!

"But," I resumed to ask, "what happened that led you to this place?"

"Four weeks after my banishment, I had made it my goal to take down Hougen," Jerome explained. "I would have won, but he was too strong and threw me into a river. It was then that Weed jumped in after me and got me to safety, along with Ken, Kagetora, Hiro, and Moss. I was brought to a human named Daisuke, who helped heal my injuries from the river. Now look where I am."

"Did Daisuke finally heal you?" I asked him curiously. "If you are completely healed, why don't you return to Weed? I'm sure he'd understand why you couldn't return."

"I don't want Weed to see that one of his traitors come back to him," Jerome said, dipping his head in shame. "He had ordered me to leave and never come back. It was an order I dare not refuse."

Sighing with frustration, I shook my head. "You shouldn't act in shame. You were trying to do some good for Weed, and he – being the naïve little brat he was – decided to kick you out for all the wrong reasons. It was never your fault, alright Jerome?"

"He was the Leader," Jerome told me calmly. "I had to obey his orders."

Scoffing with irritation, I spit on the ground and scratched at the wet dirt with a paw in disgust. Feeling as if Joe would knock some sense into me, I walked away from the Shepherd and over to the Weed look alike.

Jeez! Will Tamashi never get along with ANYONE?