Authoress' Ramblings: I'm covered in bruises! . My friend Kathleen and I were watching Wolf's Rain at her house and we got a little rowdy. (There was a lot of biting, wrestling, and growling involved.) Oh, and Kathleen's mom thinks Tsume is funny! Awesome…

Reign of Stars/Desolation

Phantasm collapsed in a bloody heap next to Hige, who was still passed out in the alley. He was covered in gashes and abrasions. The human mob was no pushover. Receiving a large sum of money and spending it on frivolous pleasures gave them the drive they needed. Phantasm had held them off for as long as he could. He had killed about two of the humans and wounded the rest before they had given up. As soon as they were shown resistance, they ran. But not without causing a great deal of damage. Phantasm looked at the tan wolf that lay next to him and laughed feebly. "The things I do for company…" And he, too, passed out.

A couple hours later, Phantasm awoke to the night. It was wintry and he shivered fitfully. Hige was busying himself by cleaning the anomalous wolf's wounds. Phantasm watched lazily as the boy licked the grime off of a slash in his neck that had just missed his jugular vein.

A young mother and her child walked by. The small boy, cheeks flushed at the cold, pointed to Phantasm and Hige and said, "Look, Mommy, two boys making out."

The mother adopted a look of disgust and hissed a "Get a room." as she pulled her child along. Muttering something about people couldn't keep their hands off each other nowadays.

Phantasm managed a small smiled at Hige, who blushed faintly, and smiled back. The odd wolf sat up and placed his back against the wall of the alley. Sweat dotted his skin like dew on blades of grass. He ran a hand through his multi-colored hair and sighed fitfully. "Damn…"

Hige continued to tend to Phantasm's wounds, taking great care not to hurt him more. Phantasm closed is striking eyes and began to run his hands through Hige's hair, to comfort himself.

Hige looked at him in surprised. "What are you doing?"

"Calming myself down."

Hige blushed again.

After Hige finished, Phantasm forced himself to stand up. He winced quite a bit and coughed up some blood, but he stood up, nonetheless. "Come on." He said weakly, "I know we can get something to eat.

Phantasm led the way through cold alleys and secret passageways until they came to a dilapidated house. Phantasm glanced at Hige. "Whatever happens, don't say anything. Go hide somewhere." Hige looked at him hesitatingly before he did what he was told.

The strange wolf dropped his illusion and barked. For a while, nothing happened. Then a young woman, dressed skimpily for such frigid weather at night, opened the door, a look of revulsion mixed with a jeer on her face. "Well, Shithead, you finally came home. It's about time. You've been gone for three days."

Phantasm flattened her ears and whimpered, turning up his eyes to meet hers. He urinated submissively and put his tail between his legs. She picked at her ear and smiled nastily. "Looks like you got in a little fight." She kicked his left flank, which had been grazed by a bullet. Phantasm yelped as his back leg gave way.

The women retreated into her run-down house and came back with to big hunks of beef. She threw them at the injured brown wolf. "Here, Shithead, eat to heart's content." With that, she flounced back into the house.

Phantasm regained his illusion. "Bitch." He growled.

Hige came rushing to him. "What the hell?! Who was that bitch?"

Phantasm tossed him one of the steaks and began to eat his. "My master." Obviously he was not proud of it. "Living with her is hell. I was her boyfriend's "dog" originally. They got separated and he left me with her."

Hige opened his mouth, which was full of chewed up beef. But Phantasm answered his question before he even said it. "My master told me to protect her no matter what. That's the problem with the canine family. We're too damn loyal."

After they had finished eating, the two traveled back to the hotel. Entering the lobby, Phantasm lay on the couch, still trying to tend to his wounds. Hige walked up to the receptionist, who was an elderly old man, and politely asked where the three young men and the pretty young girl were. He answered that they had left two days ago. Hige proceeded to try and beat the answer to why they left without him out of the old man. The receptionist called security and the two were kicked out.

"How could they leave without me?! I'm one of the pack!" Hige started to cry again. "How could Kiba do this to me?"

The other wolf kicked Hige lightly with his boot. "Come on, Hige. Sitting around moping is not going to help anyone. Let's go after him. I need to get away anyway" He smiled one of his trademark grins. It seemed to help Hige's mood a bit.

Hige smiled. "You know, that is the most sensible advice anyone has ever given me."

The small child sat on the bench, head in hands. He and his mother were waiting for his father. His mother was talking to a nearby woman who she was telling about the young gay guys making out in an alley.

"I tell you, these boys will do it anywhere, anytime. They don't care who's watching." The women the mother was talking to nodded wholeheartedly, muttering, "True, true"

At that moment, two large dogs loped by, towards the west. The two women screamed, loudly, while climbing onto the top of the bench, but the boy smiled and watched after them until they were specks against the night sky.

END/Desolation

A/N: This chapter took a while and it's still crappy.

Next Chapter: Cheza's POV! And Toboe suspects something! (Like someone said he should…it's one of my reviewers…)