Heiri's Responses:

Maiden of the Collar: Don't worry! We're workin' on it.

Fallen Hikari:

Karina Gomez: Yes, they met

Kipcha's Note: Well, it took me a long while to get this written, but it's finally done! I hope you enjoy!

They all had awoken early and were already roused as the sun began to peak above the horizon. Toboe watched the sunrise in amazement as the sun spilled its oranges, reds, and yellows over the once blue-black sky. It was an amazing image an artist's dream as the wolves all lay about, watching the morning sun break the seal of slumber that the moon's magic had placed upon the Earth. They didn't speak and instead silently observed the beginnings of the day's life and morning rituals. But Tsume was the first to speak, surprisingly.

"So, what the hell happened?" He growled, finally breaking the silence that had loomed over the small pack. "You both came back pretty fast and I'm surprised lard ass over there isn't running his mouth about the females yet. I mean, he's never been around so many before, has he?"

Hige growled in warning and looked up at the gray, but he did not retort. He had learned long by now there was no point in arguing with Tsume. The jealous wolf would just wrap back around to his usual arguments and it would be a repeat of the last time they had argued. Instead, Hige dismissed the comment and glanced over at Kiba. The white wolf seemed reluctant to share with Tsume, and his golden eyes were already boring holes into the gray's skull. "Well, we tried to sneak up on their den and things didn't go exactly as planned."

"Let me guess, they were smart and had already taken off," Tsume grunted with an arrogant smirk dancing in his eyes as he closed them.

"No, the element of surprise just didn't work in our favor," Hige grudgingly replied. The second the words left him, he regretted even speaking.

"What?" Tsume opened his eyes. "You were caught?"

"Do I need to break it down simpler to you?" Hige growled bitterly.

"What was it? Did they see your fat ass too soon?" This caused a reaction out of Hige. Hige was one of the best when it came to sneaking when he was serious about it. His nose was strong and even this far away he could catch a few scents of the she-wolves as the smells danced on the winds. "Did they run you out, Kiba?" Tsume looked at the white wolf now, seemingly satisfied with the reaction he received from the husky wolf. "No wonder why you came home so quietly, probably didn't want Toboe or myself to see your tail tucked between your legs, did you? The least you could have done was hold your ground." He turned away from Kiba once more and closed his eyes, holding himself in his arrogant position once more. "Even Toboe could do that," he added as Kiba growled.

"No one asked for you to stay," Kiba replied menacingly. "Feel free to leave the pack at any time." Tsume silenced at this comment, but stood up. Trying not to injure his pride anymore than it had been just the sun before, Tsume limped into the den bitterly. He tried his best to walk on the leg that was injured, but the limp was still evident.

A few moments of silence passed before the youngest could not contain his questions any longer. "So, how many are there?" Toboe asked curiously. Kiba merely stood up and walked up his slow to the top of the rock wall. The alpha was simply too annoyed with Tsume to deal with any questions the young one could possibly ask.

Hige sighed. Why was he always either caught in the middle or left with the runt? "Three," he replied. "But why would you care, Toboe?" He had not spoken what he was meaning, but merely underlined it. If he was going to be stuck alone with the runt, he might as well make the best of things.

Toboe ignored the comment and only twitched his ear in his annoyance. "So…what were they like exactly?"

"Shouldn't you know? After all, runt, you probably are in the she-wolf's mind the best out of all of us," Hige quipped as he begun to think that maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. He could take out some assertiveness on the runt instead of on Tsume and maybe ease the tension between the white and gray by doing so.

Toboe only slightly frowned in his eyes, but he continued to press on with the question. "Well?"

Hige sighed. How the hell could you explain everything about someone's personality when you talked with them for only a few moments? "Well…" he started as Toboe leaned forward, already extremely attentive. "Personal space," he suddenly grunted as Toboe gave yet another frown. Toboe leaned back into an upright position, but his ears wear still perked and ready to listen. "Well, from what I could gather, they are all very, very gorgeous ladies. Wait…why am I telling you this?" Hige smirked once again.

"C'mon! Seriously!" Toboe almost seemed to whine. "Besides, I've already seen them."

"Alright, alright," Hige finally decided enough fun and games. The sooner he answered the youth's question, the sooner he could get away. "From what I could tell, Heiri is most obviously the alpha out of the group as you have said before, but she was quite aggressive and was the first to show her teeth out of the three. And I thought Kipcha had an attitude problem. Well, anyways, she seems to be a lot like Kiba, the main reason why I think those two will never, ever mate. And Tsume certainly won't mate with someone who might as well be a double of his rival." Toboe only nodded, but allowed the sugar brown to continue onto the next wolf.

"Then there was Blue," he started. "She was cute…but then again, they all were. Anyway, she seemed somewhat uncertain about the whole situation. It was as if she was almost flipping back and forth between her leader and Kipcha." Hige thought to himself and added, "Which is understandable since I think Kipcha may be the voice of reason when it comes to us for Heiri. But they don't seem to be fiercely competitive like Tsume and Kiba. Personally, once they mate I'm sure the tensions will go down. Then again, until they do mate and start courting things could get harsher," Hige seemed to have forgotten what he was exactly talking about and was breaking off into a rant. "After all, we all know that Tsume loves to pick fights with Kiba and if he were to start competing for Kiba's choice it would cause even more tension and we'd be lucky if they didn't kill each other. Then again, what if the female did like Tsume over Kiba? But how could you do that? I mean Tsume is pretty—"

"Hige!" the youth howled to interrupt the rant.

"Huh?" The older wolf seemed to snap out of his little tirade and realized that he had been completely sidetracked. "Oh…well then, who was I on?"

"Kipcha…" Toboe replied flatly in a tone that said, 'How could you not remember?'

"Oh right! She was quite curious and as I was saying, I think she might be a good advocate for combining packs. I just hope she's a smooth talker like me and can easily persuade Heiri," Toboe rolled his eyes at this comment, but Hige continued. "But the alpha did look like quite the stubborn one and this probably isn't an easy decision for her. We can only hope though," he finally concluded. "So is there anything else you are wondering to bother me about, runt?"

Toboe frowned for the third time and stood up. "Nope, because I'm gonna find out myself!" he proclaimed.

"What?"

"Later, Hige!" he called over his shoulder as he was already bounding off without waiting for Hige to even ask a question.

"Stupid cub," Hige muttered under his breath as he rested his head on his paws. Was it really his problem that the youth had decided to run off and find out what was going on with the she-wolves? Nope. Not one bit, no siree. Hige was not responsible for Toboe and his actions so he decided to forget about it and think about other things, like girls…and food.

Toboe ran quickly to the stream, but came to a skidding halt just before the water. He hated it. He dreaded it every single time. The same time the ice-cold water would seep in through his thin coat and pierce him like a thousand little pine needles and his pads would feel like you had taken rose thorns to them. Maybe he was over exaggerating, but in his mind, he was only thinking the truth. Toboe decided to swallow his fear and plunged into the water. He kicked and almost panicked when he found himself pulled a little underwater by the undertow, but he calmed as soon as he realized that he had only slipped and there was no way this water was strong enough to take him.

Pushing the fears of being swept away by the current into the back of his mind once more, Toboe made it across the stream and shook the water from his coat, already beginning to feel the autumn wind nip at him. A shiver went down his spine as he shook more and threw another large amount of water off his body. After deciding he had spent enough time standing there and shivering, Toboe took off across the field like a hare running from the fox.

He was surprised that he could run so fast at times, considering how small he was and his muscles had yet to be fully toned like Kiba, Tsume, or even Hige. But he was across the field, nevertheless, at lightning speed. He ran and ran, almost not wanting to stop as he drew closer to the cluster of woods. The urge to veer and just run back to the stream was tempting, but the curiosity aroused by the females was stronger.

The youth came to a slow trot and stopped before the large clump of forest. He stopped to smell and could smell the forest was thick with the she-wolves' scents. They had probably marked their boundaries by now and that was the only explanation he could think of that could possibly be the reason why the scent was so strong on the edge of the wood. Toboe hesitantly darted into the woods, trying to remember the path he had taken to see the females in secret. He slowed his pace once more, as he saw a black form looming in the veil of trees just up ahead. He scampered over, wagging his tail like an excited cub.

But the black form was not so interested in the younger wolf behind it. Instead, Blue was more concerned with her meal. The hare perched in the middle of a small clearing was her target, but all she could do was watch. She crouched, poised to deliver a fatal blow at any time. She could almost hear the heartbeat of the prey as she only heard her own blood pumping through her ears. Something about being ready to hunt and waiting on edge like this heightened her senses and she just supposed it was the inner wolf truly showing itself each time as she could pick out every detail of her surroundings if she wanted to.

Every slight movement from the hare was noted. Every twitch of its little nose to its body's slight inflating and deflating of its breath, its life. She was just waiting for the choice that even the wolf faces. Instincts would tell the hare one answer while its logic argued the opposite choice. It was a battle that all of nature faced; the choice of wits over instinct, instinct over wits. Even the biggest of animals faced it as much as the tiny little field mice that would scurry across the field to escape the hawk.

A loud snap of a twig broke the silence just behind Blue. When the wolf hunted, instinct was stronger than its logic as the calling of half of her blood pulsed through her veins. Everything in Blue caused her to snap around and defend herself, her prey, and her territory.

Her offender let out a cry, which was almost shameful to its species, as she pounced it to the ground roughly. She growled ferociously as the offender's scent drifted from its body to her memory. It didn't take long before it registered in her mind who this strange wolf was. "You…" she almost seemed to hiss. "You were the spy that other sun."

"Spy?" the young wolf whimpered pathetically. "I swear I meant no harm. I was just sorta curious and wanted to know more about your pack." Blue stood still firmly about the rust brown wolf, but she let her lip uncurl from its snarl. "M-m-m-my name is Toboe," he whimpered. "I honestly meant no harm to you or yours."

"Our pack has four males. Kiba, me, a gray wolf named Tsume, and a runt named Toboe. It's an all male pack."

The second he proclaimed his identity, Blue allowed him to stand. She let her ears droop and put her tail between her legs. She was ashamed of her behavior to this wolf named Toboe, despite that his age was obviously younger than her own alpha. "Forgive me for my behavior," she murmured as he rose back to his feet. "I meant no offense."

"I'm sorry for spooking you," he replied uneasily as thoughts of what she could do in a battle raced through his mind. A few moments of silence passed before either spoke.

"If you don't mind my asking," Blue spoke up, erasing her shame from her appearance. "What exactly do you want? I thought we had until the end of this sun."

"What?" Toboe cocked his head to the side in his confusion. The young wolf looked much like a confused down when you tell it to "sit down" instead of just "sit" or "down."

"Kiba and that Hige," Blue replied. "They said we had until the end of this sun to get back with an answer."

"Oh!" Toboe exclaimed. "I'm here on my own business, you could say. I just wanted to kinda meet you guys instead of sneaking around."

"I see…" Blue said thoughtfully as her ice-blue eyes had a thoughtful spark within them. "I suppose it would be ok…" she looked off in the direction where the hare had once been. "Lunch is ruined anyways," she grumbled regretfully. "Follow me."

She padded past him and he only lingered for a second. Toboe decided to follow after Blue and turned, quickly falling into pace beside her. "You're Blue, right?" She didn't respond and only seemed to nod. "And the black and white one is Kipcha, right?"

"Yes and the gray with the white underside is Heiri," Blue growled, trying to keep patient with him as her stomach whined for food. Toboe could hear the annoyance in her voice and shut his mouth. Hige had taught him, as well as the other two, that when that tone of voice was used, it was time to shut up or you'd be talking to fangs and claws in two seconds.

The rest of the short journey was silent and Blue took solace in it. She knew Heiri was not going to be overly friendly and Kipcha would have a hundred and one questions to ask. When they reached the old fox den, Kipcha was already waiting at the edge of the woods and there was no sign of Heiri whatsoever. Toboe stopped as soon as he saw Kipcha and almost shrank back as she trotted over to him to get a good look at him. Sniffing in his scent, Kipcha etched him into her memory in quite the same manner she had Hige. "Who is this?" Kipcha asked, already able to smell the youth's fear.

"Toboe," Blue replied. "He's from the male pack."

"The male pack?" the black and white wolf almost seemed taken aback as she eyed Toboe. "But I thought we had until the sun set."

"You do," Toboe replied, trying to sound brave. "I just came here on my own to see you guys, uh, I mean girls for myself." Kipcha gave him a look of "I get what you mean" and brushed him off for the moment.

"Heiri's been cooped up in the den the entire time," Kipcha spoke to the black she-wolf instead of the young wolf, but he didn't seem to mind too much. "Are you sure it is wise to lead him here? You know how she gets sometimes and with good reason."

Toboe gulped, now he was extremely nervous. "Maybe I should go…"

"Don't be ridiculous," Blue replied to the youngster before turning back to Kipcha. "I think it would be wise to let her hear more of the males. We could learn from him." Kipcha thought it over in her mind and nodded.

"You have a point…" she quickly turned to Toboe. "But if Heiri makes any sign of wanting you to go, you leave and you leave quickly." Toboe only nodded as Kipcha turned and padded to the den with Blue following right behind her.

Toboe was quite hesitant about entering their den completely, but he slowly picked up the rear as Blue hollered back behind her, "Keep up runt!" Toboe frowned, even around the females he was the runt. They arrived in a matter of seconds as Kipcha took to her favorite stone to bask upon in the morning sunlight and laid down to study the young wolf some more. Blue walked to the entrance of the den, but did not dare to enter. Heiri had been keeping both Kipcha and Blue out since Kiba and Hige had left them and was almost like an alpha ready to deliver her cubs. A light growl was heard from the back of the den as Blue blocked some of the morning light from entering the dark cave. "Heiri…" Blue started as she kept her tail down and her neck exposed carefully. "Toboe has come."

"Who?"

"Toboe." Blue thought for a second and then quickly added, "From the male pack." That seemed to spark the alpha's interest as she stood from her spot in the cave and trotted to the mouth of the den. Looking out she saw the little one and almost seemed disappointed.

"He's just a cub, what is he doing here?" she growled. "Do they expect us to babysit?"

"No, that's no it at all!" Toboe quickly blurted out. Heiri's emerald eyes pierced the young wolf as he put his tail between his legs and whimpered almost pitifully. He said nothing as Heiri turned her attention back to Blue.

"Do they expect us to babysit?" she repeated as Blue shook her head.

"No," she answered. "He claims he wanted to investigate for himself."

"I see…" Heiri's eyes darted over to Toboe as Kipcha sighed.

"Toboe, tell us, what is the wolf pack like?" Kipcha, at that point, didn't care what Heiri wanted to do with him.

Toboe was uncertain of whether or not to speak as he looked back and forth from the she-wolf resting on a rock to the two she-wolves standing at the mouth of the cave. "Answer her," Heiri growled, almost annoyed at Kipcha's quick inquisition. She walked over to Kipcha and growled as Kipcha immediately gave up her spot for her alpha. Heiri got situated as Blue laid on the right and Kipcha to the left. Toboe was in front of them and uneasily laid himself down as he looked at all three of them.

"Well, as you know, Kiba is our alpha," he began, unsure of how exactly to dictate his pack to the she-wolves. "He likes to think about the future. He thinks about it a lot, actually. That's probably why he's so determined to get you three to join our pack so that there may be a future. He's a great leader though because he's always looking out for us, even for Tsume. Tsume isn't much for pack ethics, but I think that's because he was so alone for so long and that's probably why he seems to go against everything Kiba says. Then again, I've always wondered if some of what Tsume says is just because he wants to be the alpha."

"There's competition?" Kipcha asked as Toboe nodded.

"They sometimes get into fights, but Kiba always puts Tsume back in place. I think that part of Tsume wants Kiba as a leader, so he doesn't fight to his full ability all the time. They fight back and forth with insults constantly when Tsume starts in with his attitude. But Hige and I tend to stay neutral on it."

"Tell us more about Hige," the black and white wolf almost seemed to order. Toboe only nodded slightly as he observed his audience. Blue was tense, but she was listening with an open ear and mind. In her blue eyes, uncertainty was held within as she seemed to be debating on which way she'd like to sway. Kipcha, however, was in contrast to Blue. She seemed quite relaxed, but extremely attentive to every word that Toboe spoke. She was at ease and extremely curious as the gears in her head meshed. He knew, though, that his real task at hand was to get Heiri to listen. Heiri was perhaps the most intent on listening, but she was rigid and sitting up straight, full of pride. She was almost the extreme median of the two at her side; at least that was how Toboe could describe it.

"Hige likes to tease and he tries to lighten a lot of the serious situations," Toboe began. He thought that pretty much explained the way the husky wolf behaved, but he decided to expand. "He does what he is told, but he's not a drone and thinks for himself. He likes to voice his opinion, even when he probably shouldn't sometimes. And he's always wanted a mate too, so he usually has females and food on his mind as he loves eating." Now that Toboe had observed the three listeners before him, he felt almost uneasy as Heiri's eyes were watching every single movement he made and ever breath he took. She was like a shark stalking its prey and Toboe felt almost trapped.

"So how well do you actually function as a pack?" Kipcha seemed to be the interrogator, but Toboe still kept his eyes in Heiri's direction.

"We work great when it comes down to it! You should see us hunt! Hige locates the prey, Tsume chases it down with Kiba and provides a distraction while Kiba delivers the final blow," Toboe resisted the urge to babble as he thought of their hunts as a pack.

"What do you do then?" Heiri growled bitterly.

"I try to help, but they usually yell at me…" Toboe looked away, he seemed ashamed that his own pack rejected his help for the hunts. "I'm not as fast as the others and I'm not as strong."

"Well that's good, I'd hope they aren't all as pathetic as you," Heiri snorted.

"Heiri!" both Kipcha and Blue seemed to scold their alpha as they exchanged glares with one another.

"That's no way to treat a guest," Kipcha muttered coldly to Heiri.

"What are you trying to do, Heiri? Make a bad impression?" Blue added as Heiri looked at Toboe. He seemed ashamed of himself and almost embarrassed that she felt this way about him, but he said nothing to his defense as Heiri made the note he was perhaps the most timid. She knew that if Kiba had been there, he probably would not be so friendly. Weakness in an alpha was a mistake and she was assured that there was nothing to worry about from this little one.

"Forgive me," she growled. "I forget to hold my tongue, sometimes. Continue, won't you?"

"Uh…sure…" Toboe nodded. "What else do you want to know?" The conversation carried on as the questions from Kipcha kept flying. Toboe felt inadequate to answer a few of their wonderings, but he still answered them to the best of his ability. He gazed up at the sky to see that their conversation had carried on to almost mid-sun.

"I really should be going," he finally spoke as he rose to his feet. "I think the others are probably missing me by now." In the back of his mind, he knew this was probably untrue and that Hige was probably talking to Kiba and possibly Tsume, making cracks at that maybe a deer ate him.

"Yes," Heiri replied. "It is time you go, it's almost mid-sun now. We have other things to do than to think all day long."

"Like eat," Blue growled. "I missed my breakfast." Toboe said nothing more, turning to return to his home.

Kipcha rose to her own feet and began to trot over to the edge of the woods. "Well, let's get that breakfast," she growled.

"Amen to that!" Blue replied as she shot off after Kipcha to get a second shot at breakfast. Heiri, however, did not follow and only laid her head down on her paws. Too much was on the alpha's mind to be worrying about food at the moment.