Author's note: Thank you for the reviews! :) All of them mean something to me. Don't forget to review either! Anyway, onto the part that you actually are interested in, the next chapter! Mwhahahhahahha...ha...ha? Forget it. :):):)

IIIII (Around four now.....Toboe POV)

Maybe I couldn't get out of here. Maybe I was stuck here, grow up to be hopeless just like Kuro and Tanis seemed to be. Even if Tanis acted happy it was still an act and I can see right through her happiness. She's hurting on the inside but refuses to show for it. I guess it's because she is the oldest and feels that she has to protect the rest of the wolves. I looked to my right to see Kuro still up, reading a book, and Tanis was sleeping. As for me I was laying in my bed. Snuggled up in the warmness of the blanket while trying to forget that the bed felt like a rock, and that the pillow seemed as hard as metal. Kuro had given me some pencils and paper to draw with if I felt like it, though, when you feel that you life is crap right now, you aren't really in the mood to draw.

If I'm angsting than sue me. I don't want to be here. How could anybody stuck in this warehouse like life here? They probably just figured since they had no family that this was the best place to just hide from the rest of the world. Thinking they won't be accepted. But there are nice people out there. People that will look over you like your their little brother or something. Like....Now I want Tsume, Kiba, and Hige. To be out there, running freely, doing mostly whatever I pleased. Were they looking for me? Maybe Kiba was. I'm not really sure how he feels about me. Probably thinks I'm a weakling. Just like Tsume does. But I still do look up to Tsume. He's just...so...so cool. What I want to be when I grow up to be an adult wolf, since he's able to take care of himself, get food for himself, with little help from anybody. As for Hige, I don't think that it's likely. Knowing him, he's probably trying to go find something to eat, or hitting on some woman.

Though, they care about me. I think. I mean, we've traveled for so long together, so they have to have some sort of feelings for me. My feelings are...that we're a family. Hige the playful older brother. Kiba the serious dad. I don't think that I would ever even want to think of Tsume as a mom because he would like that much so I'll just say my cold but soft on the inside older brother. That's my family. The only other family I ever had was Granny. I miss her too. She was so nice to me. I look at the bracelets that she had given to me. Granny had always told me that when she passed away that she wanted me to wear these in the memory of her. I was more than happy to.

Granny had also told me to find some nice people to stay with. I have found them. But now I've lost them. What am I supposed to do Granny? Is there anything that I can do? I'm just so confused I can barely tell the ceiling from the floor. I sit up and bring my knees to my chest, then let soundless tears run down my face.

Kuro looked from his book over to me. He asked "Toboe-kun? Are you crying? Toboe-kun? It's okay...don't worry about it. Okay?"

I replied, wiping the tears away "I-I'm alright."

"Doesn't seem like it," said a familiar female voice. Toboe and Kuro jumped as they saw Tanis at the end of Toboe's bed. She jumped on it and asked, scratching her head confused like "Is something on my face? Your staring at me."

"Of course I am! I thought you were sleeping!" I snapped. She scared the living crap out of me! "Usually people that are sleeping keep on sleeping!"

"I agree," Kuro said, clutching his chest. "I felt like I was going to die of a heart attack. Don't ever do that again!"

Tanis played with her hair, twirling it into her finger while saying "Well, I woke up, how am I suppose to ignore a crying Toby-chan?"

"How did you...?"

"I have super sensitive ears," replied Tanis. She then asked "Is something wrong, Toby-chan?"

That name! I hated it! "Don't call me Toby-chan!" I said.

"Awwww....don't be such a spoiled sport! It's just a nickname. It's not going to kill you, is it?" the girl wolf asked. I shook my head at the question. "Didn't think so, besides....What's the fun in it if I don't have a nickname for you? I have a nickname for everyone around here. So you have to have one too! now, tell me what's wrong?"

"No."

"Tell me?"

"I said no." Good God. She could be annoying! "Just leave me alone."

"Yes?"

"No, darnit, I said no!"

"Tell me?"

"Tanis-san, if he doesn't want to tell you, than he doesn't want to tell you. Everyone here can't like you enough to tell you their problems," Kuro said. I considered what he said for a moment. It's not like I didn't trust her or anything, because I do, but it's to painful to talk about Tsume, Kiba, and Hige. I miss them a lot. "It's probably because he misses his pack. You know that's in a lot of cases, anyway, so don't push it. Don't you remember Everen-kun?"

Her eyes turned ice cold at Kuro. I never thought that I would see such a look from Tanis, not the happiest girl that I ever met. She growled out "I told you never to mention that name ever again."

Kuro just went back to reading his book. He quickly added "Anyway, that's probably the case here. So I only suggest that you leave him alone until he feels like he can tell you."

"Umm..." I interrupted their arguement. "I don't know who your talking about but it's not that I don't want to say. It's just...well..."

"You miss them?" Kuro and Tanis asked at the same time.

"Y-Yes," I said, sobbing.

They rushed to my side and started saying stuff like "Don't cry!" or "It's okay, Toby-chan!" (Guess who that was --)

My head lowered down. Some tears trickled down my cheeks as I tried to hold it all inside. My back hurt. My hand hurt. I was mentally worn out. Physically, I still had some more power in me, but my brain kept on telling me that there was no hope left to get out of here. My dignity was stripped away. I basically had no power around here. I was only useful if I would work. What if I couldn't? What if I was to hurt to do anything and they decided that my time was up because I was unable to haul loads of whatever was in those boxes. Probably illegal stuff. I wasn't sure. All I wanted was to be out of here. I didn't want to be whipped or pull those heavy loads. None of them here wanted to. Tanis may act happy but I know that she's just covering it up so everyone else doesn't feel discouraged. Kuro...showed that he was depressed, and didn't want to be here, but went along with it. Maybe I should try and accept the fact that for now that...I'm stuck here.

IIIII (Thirty minutes later...Toboe POV still)

I sighed as I had to lay on my stomach in my bed. It hurt to much to lay on my back. The lashes burned even after Kuro had cleaned them out. My mind trailed off into many of thoughts. Wondering if the others were okay. If they were trying to find me or not. If they even cared. What if they didn't? I was just didn't know what to think anymore. Then I heard, all of a sudden, Tanis singing the most annoying song in the world.

"I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves! I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves and this is how it goes. I know a song that get's on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves. I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves and this is how it goes. I know-" She went on and one and on.

I said in a loud tone, disturbing Kuro from his reading and making Tanis stop her 'singing'. "Do you have to sing that, Tanis-kun?"

"Awww....am I...disturbing you?" she asked, looking over to me.

I sighed out "Yes."

"I have to sing it. This is my good night song," she replied.

"But why?! It's never ends!"

"Exactly."

Kuro said in a no tone "Get used to it. She does it almost every single time that she goes to sleep."

"I know a song that gets on-" Tanis starting singing again. It was driving me nuts!

"Stop it, please?" I begged with her.

She only continued.

I decided to stop playing nice. I snapped at her "If you don't stop now I'll bite you on the leg."

Tanis did a fake gasp and said sarcatic like "Aw, Toby-chan! You wouldn't dare!"

"Yes I would."

"You know you love me."

"Both of you, shutup, I'm trying to read," growled Kuro. He shook his head a little as Tanis kept humming the tune it to herself, even if I could still hear the rythym tone from my highly sensitive ears. "She's sleeping. Good. I need to talk to you, Toboe-kun."

"Yeah?" I looked over at him.

He looked at me, all serious like. He asked "Do you honestly think that Tanis-san can handle the cross country? Have you seen the scars, the lashes, the everything?"

"Ummm....no....." I replied.

"She's been doing this ever since she lost her little sister, and that was five years ago. Tanis-san and her got seperated. She's never really forgiven herself for it," Kuro informed me. It made me feel so sorry for her. She seemed so happy... "That's only half of it. Over the years she's been taking the abuse for all of the kids around her. Saying it would make up for her sin of letting her sister be lost from her. I'm not really sure. I'm just worried that the wounds from the last couple of days will get to her in the cross country that'll take all night to get to the town."

I suddenly felt guilty. Maybe I should go instead of her. She already seems like she's been through enough here. I'm not really sure....but Kuro seems to really care about her.

Kuro continued on with his story. "I don't mean to make you feel bad, Toboe-kun. That's the last thing I want to do. It's, well, just that Tanis- san has helped me so many times that I want to do something for her. Ya' know? But I wouldn't be able to survive that run. Not that I'm not weak or anything."

"Then...why?"

He seemed hesitant for a moment. He held out his wrists that had scars on them. I'm surprised that I hadn't seen them before. They looked like they had really hurt. I looked up at him for an explanation. Did he...?

"This is why. Roi tried to kill me and I'm scared around him. And he's the one ordering the run," he sighed out. "Otherwise I would do it."

"Why did he do that?!" I asked, angrily. But my anger was at Roi, not him. How could he do such a thing to Kuro?!

"He got angry and took it out on me. Luckily he didn't cut deep enough so I would actually die. I don't know why, probably to see my struggle, 'cause I am not strong at all. But..." he looked away from me with his eyes staring coldly at the floor "Sometimes I wish that he would have killed me, then, atleast, I would be able to see Ayakato again."

That wasn't right. I knew that Ayakato, if he wasn't anything like me in the heart, would want Kuro to stay here. One day they would get out of this place. All of us wolves would rise and go against them. Actually, that's what we should do. But...I'm no leader. I can't do that much. I'm just...Toboe. Though, if I wanted to get out, and take these guys with me, all of them; so I'd have to try and be tough as Tsume.

And the first step was gaining their trust. Show them that I was strong. Even if I didn't want to I would have to do that cross country thing tonight. I would have to atleast try.

"Don't say that!" I ordered, knowing that there was only one way to get it across. Being forceful, not really like me, but I would atleast try it. But if Tsume could be forceful to make you realize something than I could too. Right? I took his hand into mine and showed him his own scar. "You see that? These scars on your wrist prove that you are a survivor. That's a sign of how tough you are. You survived through that. You can get through anything else too."

He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes. I added "And do you honestly think that Ayakato-san would have wanted his little brother to die? I didn't know him but I know that he wouldn't want you to."

The boy just threw himself on me and started crying. I sat up and he wrapped his arms around my neck, crying into my shoulder. I guess that I spoke the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Sometimes being forceful could be used for good. For now I guess that this was what it's like to play the big brother like my pack/family has done for me. I rubbed his back, telling him it's okay. That everything will be fine in the end.

When he calmed down he blushed and stepped over to his bed. He sat down and said "I-I-I'm sorry. I tend to get a little over emotional. I didn't mean to tackle you. Are you okay?"

I sat up with a smile. "I'm fine and it's okay. But...why were you crying?"

"I'm just so happy!" Kuro replied, actually with a smile on his face. "Thank you so much. Really! Thank you so much Toboe-san!"

"No problem. Although I'm not quite sure why I'm being thanked....And you don't have to call me 'san'...'kun' is fine..."

"It seems like Ayakato is right by my side again. And I'm calling you san because I want too! So deal with it."

I turned a bit red. I never really got looked up to before, I've always been the one to look up to other people. It felt good for once.

Listening the whole entire time, without them knowing, Tanis smiled. She could sense Kuro's first smile in a long time. She thought to herself (Oh, Toby-chan, your the first one to put a smile on Kuro-kun's face in a long time. Thank you. It's nice to know that someone can make him happy)

IIIII (Hige POV) (A/N: I'm not to good at Hige, so this might not be in full character, so it might seem a bit out of character. Sorry. ;;; Tell me if I do a good job or bad job in your review. Plz?)

Well, good thing to say that my arm was doing a lot better by now. It's late at night and we've just got done eating an antelope that had somehow died out here in the grass. It was good to finally be able to have a full stomach for once without worrying about not having enough for all of us. Without Toboe....it made me a bit sad just thinking about him so I took another chunk of meat in my face. I began to wonder how Toboe was doing. If he was getting enough to eat. Though, I'll have to admit, it's not the same without the runt annoying us all. Okay. Okay. Annoying really isn't the word I'm looking for but he would have snuggled up cutely next to Tsume like he always does and fallen asleep. I think Tsume misses him a lot. Well, of course he does.

Those two really had a brotherly relationship. I feel really sorry for him. The mood has died down to only a few simple words of thanks and welcomes. Without Toboe to start a conversation it seemed kind of boring. I mean, I could come up with something nice to talk about, but the two negativity boats would drag me down and I'd get depressed about Toboe. Not to say that I'm not depressed. In my own little way I am. I keep on worrying about him. If they're treating him well. If they aren't, when we get there, I'll beat them until no return.

Which reminds me back to my hand. I look at it. It had bleeded a fair amount of blood onto the grass. Atleast it didn't pound in pain anymore. It's more like an annoying itch. I'll be able to run on it for sure tonight. Which is less than I can say for Tsume. His leg is still hurting like hell, you could tell by the way he couldn't sit still for a single second. He kept on changing his position. His side really wasn't all that bad, more like a deep scratch that wasn't all that bad. As for Kiba...he seemed to be the less hurt of all three of us even though he got beaten really badly. He kept reassuring me that he had no broken bones but the way he was holding his stomach made me wonder if he was trying to stay tough since he was the leader or if he was telling me the truth. Tsume didn't really care all that much about us. He just breathed heavily through his teeth as another wave of enormous pain hit his leg. And then I rememberd that no one had taken out the bullet. Of course it still hurt. But...it seemed to be jammed in there really good.

I looked at his leg, the gun shot was right above his knee, he sneered at me "What the hell are you looking at, chubby?!"

"First of all, I'm staring at your leg. Not in a perverted way but because the bullet's still in there. We need to take it out," I said. Then I shouted "And I'm not chubby, you sadistic human-hater."

"You dislike humans as much as I do," He replied, leaning back on the grass with his hands put behind his head. I just laid on my side, letting him ramble on. Most of it that I heard was 'blah, blah, blah' "And you know it too. We all dislike humans, all been shunned by humans, and I don't know how Toboe can still treat humans the way he does. He's not really afraid of them. I don't understand him! Why doesn't he-"

"Because he was raised differently than you," Kiba broke in, sitting next to leather wearing man. "He was raised by a human some of his life. They treated him nicely. So he trusts some of the humans, but not all."

"That's his problem!" Tsume shouted. It made me move a couple inches away from him, I didn't feel like getting hit right now. I watched as he went on with his yelling "He should only trust the wolves! He can be so damn stupid that it's not even funny. I mean, I don't want to see him get hurt so why the hell does he keep on trying to trust them!? Tell me that, Mr. Know It All!"

Kiba replied "I don't want to see him hurt either. But, we can't stop him from believing what he believes in. Maybe it's good that he trusts humans."

"I disagree."

"You can disagree all you want," I joined in "But that isn't helping us find Toboe. And neither of your arguing is going to help either."

"They've probably killed him by now," Tsume said. I frowned at the statement. "You know it could be true."

"And then again, maybe he's alive," our pack leader argued once again. Out of the corner of his eyes he looked at us and asked "Do you think that Toboe would let himself die so easily like that? We never give that boy enough credit so we should start doing that now. Because, if we don't have faith in him, who else will?"

There was silence for a moment. What Kiba said was true. We never gave Toboe enough credit since he was still just a young pup who didn't know very much. He may not be the best hunter, or the fastest, or even the smartest but I think all of us realized a while ago that he's shown us something that he's learned himself. Something that without him would be thrown way out the window. That's why no one is smiling tonight. What Toboe brought to the group was innocence. Sweet, sweet innocence.

And I want that innocence to be un harmed. I want it back in the group because, without him around, this pack seems lifeless.

IIIII (Tsume POV)

As much as I don't want to believe it maybe they have killed Toboe already. Not that I'm trying to bring everyone down on their high hopes but I'm only stating the harsh things that could become truth. In his own little way he found himself attracted towards me. Followed me around. Even if I say it's annoying, and sometimes it really is, it's alright by me. Because now it feels lonely without him curled up by me or bugging me or asking us all questions. How would I know that I would get so attached to him to think of him as a younger brother? He's a nice kid. Trusting. The exact opposite of what I am. And still he looks up to me. Told me once that when he grows up that he wants to become just like I am now. Kid...you don't want to be like me. You never want to become like this Tsume person that is not proud of what he has done. But I've done it all in the will to survive.

If he is alive, I want him to hold on. It might be hard Toboe but we will get there. And if any of them have touched one hair on you I will rip their hearts out. I promise.

Kiba broke my train of thought and said "Let's get going."

Us three changed into wolf forms, sniffed around for the scent of that man, and started chasing it.

IIIII (Narrator POV)

There was a knock on the door of where Toboe and his two friends were sleeping. It woke up the young pup. He glanced over to his pals, to see if they were okay, both of them were sleeping, he told them it was okay to come in. So, in comes Fujii. The slender man looked around the barely litted room since the only light that came through was the window on Toboe's side.

"Wake up Tanis," ordered Fujii to Toboe.

Toboe gave him an evil glare but did as he was told. He tip toed over to Tanis so he wouldn't wake up Kuro. He started to shake the girl, saying "Tanis-kun, Tanis-kun. Wake up! Tanis-kun!"

"Time already?" asked Tanis, sitting up. She rubbed her eyes. "Oh, hi Fujii-san. Are we all ready to go?"

"Yes, it is all set up," he replied.

"Okay then! Well, I'll see you later Toby-chan. Tell Kuro-kun that I'll be back too," Tanis said, jumping out of bed. Toboe wanted to say right there that he wanted to go instead of her but he was shaking out of fright. He didn't want to. But...he had too. There are many things you don't want to do in life but you hold strong and do them anyway. Tanis noticed, even in the dark, his obvious shaking "Are you okay?"

"I..." Toboe couldn't get it out. He thought to himself (Come on, say it! You'll regret it for the rest of your life if you don't say it now)

Fujii and Tanis looked at Toboe for a while. Waiting for him to say something but he couldn't get it out.

"Kid, you got something to say, say it. I don't have time to stand around and hear you stutter," Fujii shouted at him. The boy flinched at his shouting.

Tanis put a hand on his shoulder. She knew what was wrong now. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. If I didn't want to do this for you than I wouldn't do it, now would I?"

"But what about-"

"My wounds? I'll deal with it. They don't bother me anymore, really. Kuro-kun just likes to worry about everyone because he doesn't want to see anyone die. But I'm tough! I will hang in there! I will-"

"You will shutup," Kuro broke in. He sat up "You woke up up."

"You all better say your goodbye's because Roi's ready to go," said Fujii as he left the door open for Tanis, he stood outside, ready to lock it when she came out. He added "We don't have time for any of the sappy crap either."

There was only silence for a moment. Tanis seemed dead determined to do this but Toboe couldn't tell if she was lying about her wounds or if she was completely honest about it. He wondered for a minute. She seemed to be fine. But usually people who acted this happy in a place like this were either hurting physically or emotionally. And if Toboe had to guess about these two, Kuro was hurting emotionally and Tanis was hurting both ways. The young pup sighed as Tanis gave him a hug in reasurrance.

"It's okay," Tanis said, rubbing his back. "I'll be back. You'll see."

"Please be careful," begged Toboe with her. Some tears fell down his cheek as he added "I'm just not strong enough. I can't do it. I can't do it for you. I-I'm so sorry."

Tanis let him go and put her finger on his forehead "You are doing fine. Now, I want you to think with your brain that's inside here, and answer this simple question. Do you think that your friends would be happy if they knew I didn't do this for you?"

"Ummm..."

"The answer is no. They wouldn't be happy," Tanis replied. She removed her finger from his forehead than started to skip around while singing "Don't worry, be happy! Don't worry be happy!"

Toboe and Kuro chuckled to themselves. She waved goodbye and went out the door.

"Be safe! Good bye!" Kuro told her.

"Bye!" added Toboe with a smile. She always seemed to cheer up the mood.

"It's not goodbye, it's see you later!" she said as the door closed.

Toboe took a deep breath and sat back down on his bed. He looked over at Kuro who seemed a little dissapointed. He really hoped that he wasn't mad at him because he didn't make Tanis stay behind.

And like he was reading his mind, Kuro said "No, I'm not mad."

"You...aren't?"

"No. Why should I be? If Tanis-san wants to do this then let it be that way. She seems to be energized enough. She may not be the fastest runner but she's definitely strong in the legs, so she'll probably do good anyway."

The brown eyed pup just smiled at Kuro. "Yeah. Tanis-kun will be fine."

IIIII

I'm sorry if it's to short. T.T Did I make it to short? I'm sorry if I did! And if this chapter bored you to tears I'm also sorry. But...if there's something you don't like about any of the chapters or my stories you can put it in your review! Flames are welcome. Sort of. I think. Anyway, you all seem to want Toboe, so here he is!

(Throws Toboe in the middle of the fangirls and he gets mauled)

Ouch. Oooohhh...that's going to leave a mark. Hey! You! No pulling on hair!

Anyway, review!