Title: Paradise Was

WARNING: (sarcasm) Oh my gods, two people/wolves of the same gender showing affection for each other! Run for the hills! Actually, technically, it's four. But that's beside the point!

SPOILERS: The whole series because this is post-series.

Pairings: Kiba/Hige, Tsume/Toboe, Cher/Hubb

Notes: Obviously, this is chock-full of spoilers because...well...it's post-series. More or less. If you don't want spoilers, leave right NOW. Last chance to click that back button! ...Ok, this is set actually in the last episode after everyone dies but before everything gets reborn.

Also, thanks to K.Firefly, who beta-ed this! Go see her stuff; it's here on fanfiction.net, and it's great, especially if you like Saiyuki!

Paradise Was

Toboe sighed happily as he rested his head on the old lady's sun-warmed lap. Now, he thought he understood what Paradise was. It was... it was...

He shook his head.

Beyond his grasp still, apparently.

Flicking an ear in irritation, the wolfling sat up, licked the old woman's cheek, and began to wander through the bright meadow, his bracelets clinking comfortingly. As he meandered, his thoughts roamed far too heavily for this newfound Paradise.

'I have my old woman, plenty of food, happiness, space to run...but why do I feel like this isn't my Paradise? I miss my pack – if they ever really were my pack – but...' Padding quietly through the grass, Toboe whined quietly in the back of his throat. 'It's not Paradise without them.'

He looked about him, taking in the grass tinted gold from the sun and the quietly rustling trees. He heard birds, so unlike the bizarre owl from his previous life.

'I thought...'

The hissing of a wild cat running through the forest.

'...I'd be happier in Paradise.'

Sighing again, the ginger-coloured wolf let his mind wander for awhile.

Then, catching a familiar scent on the warm air, Toboe turned towards it and began to run, skidding to a stop at the crest of a hill, panting joyfully. Below him lay three humans and an almost-wolf. Cher and Hubb sat next to each other, whispering and laughing quietly, their fingers intertwined. A few feet away from them slept the old hunter Quent, and next to him dozed Blue, blissfully curled up next to her old man. Even as Toboe watched, Quent sleepily ran a hand through her fur.

The wolfling was about to bark when Blue groggily opened an eye at him. Lifting her head slowly, she opened her mouth and panted cheerfully at him before settling her head on her old man's arm and falling back asleep.

With a silent promise to come back here to talk to all of them, Toboe turned and began walking again.

'They're all here,' he thought. 'Blue's here... Does that mean...everyone else is here too?'

Hearing a rustling followed by a familiar cry of joy, he raced to the nearby forest. Amazed, he came to a halt at the edge of a clearing and could only silently watch the interplay between his two packmates. Considering what he heard, Toboe only felt minimally guilty at eavesdropping.

Hige and Kiba were licking and nipping each other with familiarity as they spoke, obviously having only just found each other again.

"...like you were any better mooning over the Lunar Flower!" Hige chided fondly, gently biting at Kiba's neck. He paused when Kiba didn't respond and peered down at his friend. "Kiba?"

A somber-eyed wolf looked over his shoulder at Hige. Deliberately, Kiba licked the swath of fur from the tan wolf's muzzle to the top of his head before nuzzling his nose into Hige's furry neck, strangely empty without his collar. "Hige, do you think it's possible to love two different people equally?"

An image of a messy-haired human smiling adoringly at the white wolf seemed to cross furtively over Hige's face. "Idiot. Of course it's possible. Like you and Cheza...me and Blue... It doesn't matter to me that you and Cheza were together because, in the end, I was still your pack." He licked Kiba's ear. "I finally discovered the importance of a pack with all of us running together." A pause as he looked away from the other wolf's eyes. "Kiba... I really wanted it to be you to finish me, not Tsume."

Kiba remained silent, and Hige sighed, padding backwards. "Sorry," the tan wolf said sheepishly, looking in the opposite direction of the silent wolfling. "Hey, think there's any food around here?" he asked, walking away.

In an instant, Kiba lunged and pinned the other wolf, baring his teeth and growling. "When Tsume told me that it was him who'd finished you, I wanted to kill him! Because it should have been me, Hige! Tsume had no right!"

Submissive on his back, his legs tucked near his body, Hige looked up at the alpha wolf angry at only himself, and he reached upwards to gently lick Kiba's muzzle. "But now that we're in Paradise, we're together. Cheza sacrificed herself, and Blue wanted nothing more than her old man. It ends as it began...just us two."

Kiba stepped off his friend, allowing Hige to roll to his side before settling down next to him, muzzle-to-muzzle. Their voices became too quiet for Toboe to hear, and he did not wish to disturb them, so he silently walked away, out of the forest.

'And now they know Paradise with each other. I wonder...' He blinked at the bright sunlight, the beams warming fur cooled by the forest's shadows. 'I wonder where Tsume is...'

Whining softly in the back of his throat, Toboe sniffed at the air, trying to find that scent he knew so well. 'He's gotta be around here somewhere.' Wagging his tail in a very dog-like manner, the pup ran off under the blue sky, his tongue lagging out of his mouth in happiness. 'And I'm gonna find him!'

With this single thought in mind, Toboe wandered wherever his paws led him, content in the knowledge that he would find Tsume sooner or later. As he walked, the sun gradually descended, as did the wolfling's spirits; finally, it was completely dark, and Toboe truly thought his hope had failed him.

Only when a full moon rose over the horizon did the pup start to run in a certain direction.

Toboe heard his voice, the strong howl of a lone wolf, the baritone he knew so well, calling into the night air –

Calling for Toboe.

Not bothering to stop and answer his call, Toboe sprinted over the next hill and saw the grey wolf he'd sought.

Tsume sat on his haunches, muzzle raised to the stars overhead and eyes closed as he howled once more for the pup. In the hollow was a blooming cherry tree, its pink blossoms falling intermittently in the slight breeze, the petals flitting across the wolf. The moon silvered the landscape, lightening the hollow.

This time, when Tsume howled once again, Toboe joined him without pause, causing the older wolf to cut off his cry to stare at the ginger wolfling.

When the older wolf cocked his head to the side, he calmly said, "Hey, kid." One could almost see his cocky grin.

Not caring that he had called him by that disliked nickname, Toboe tore past the silent petals and leapt onto the other wolf, the two rolling down the rest of the hill to below the overhanging branches of the tree. There, they mock-wrestled for a few moments until Tsume relented and allowed Toboe to pin him to the ground, the wolfling's bracelets jangling whenever Tsume breathed.

"Tsume..." he whispered.

Without a word, Tsume reached his front paws upwards and enfolded the pup in a very humanesque embrace. "Toboe."

Leaning down, the ginger wolfling timidly licked the fur on the other wolf's cheek. When Tsume didn't respond, Toboe continued, letting his lupine instincts take over, reassuring himself through touch that this was actually Tsume, his packmate. A tear welled up in the wolfling's eye when Tsume finally nipped affectionately at his neck in reply. With a happy growl, Toboe pushed himself to sit next to Tsume, who turned to face him, their muzzles close enough to continue to lick and nip at each other now and then.

More content than he could ever remember being, even with his old lady, Toboe laid his head on the ground. He was only slightly surprised when he felt a heaviness on his neck, Tsume resting on him; the ginger wolfling blissfully growled again, knowing what trust Tsume had placed in him, for he had exposed his sensitive neck to Toboe. In gratitude to this silent show, Toboe licked Tsume's scar before settling back down, staring at the familiar white cross.

"Hey, Tsume," he whispered.

"Yeah?" the other wolf grumbled not unkindly.

"You never told me how you got your scar."

With an affectionate nip at his neck, Tsume replied, "Go to sleep, kid."

Obediently, Toboe closed his eyes and found that he was wearier than he thought. As he was drifting off, his thoughts spun back to earlier that day, and he silently smiled.

'Now, I know what Paradise is...' Tsume idly licked behind Toboe's ear. 'It's never having to worry about being alone again.'

Just before sleep claimed him, he heard on the edge of consciousness:

"I'll tell you in the morning, Toboe."

Then, Toboe was asleep.

Fin

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