The Story of a Lonely Wolf Chapter 15: Tsume Remembers

"There you are I was wondering what happened to you," Cassi said as Kiba and Hige entered the living room.

"Sorry," Kiba replied.

"Did you get the dog?" Josh asked as he sat on the couch still a little shaken up.

"Yeah, you bet we did, right Kiba?" Hige said with a smile as he looked at Kiba.

"That's good," Cassi replied with a sigh of relief.

"He won't bother you anymore, that's for sure," Hige said.

"He looks pretty bad," a tall man with short black hair and brown eyes in a lab coat with black pants said as he looked over Toboe. "He has lost a lot of blood and is having lots of trouble breathing. He needs an operation and a tube put in to suck all the blood out of his lungs, but I don't think he'll make it to my office."

"What?" Hige asked somewhat in disbelief.

"Yes, he looks very grave," the vet said with sadness in his eyes.

"So he's gonna die?" Hige asked.

"Well unless we can somehow get him to my office within the next oh, I'd say two hours then yes," the vet replied.

"So we can't do anything?" Cassi asked.

"Well we can end his suffering now and put him down or we can wait for him to die. That's about the only choices we have."

"Come on, there has to be another way," Kiba said in a determined voice.

"Well we could try and do the surgery right here, but I must say it is very risky. This air isn't clean. Anything could get into his bloodstream and cause an infection," the vet replied looking down upon Toboe.

"Oh that poor dog," Cass said tears forming in her eyes.

"We can't just let him die, do the surgery," Kiba said.

"I would like to, but I don't have anything here with me to do it with," the vet replied.

"So what do we do then?" Hige asked.

"I'm not sure. I don't think we could move him in this condition. His wounds will only tear letting more blood escape. I'm almost afraid he'll bleed to death."

"What if we could bring the stuff here?" Kiba asked.

"I don't know if that is possible. They are big heavy machines," he replied.

"So he's going to die…" Cassi said softly.

"No he's not," Josh said and got up off the couch. "Hey, Mr. do you need all those machines to do the surgery or will you need them afterwards?"

"Well to do the operation all I need is the tube to suck out the blood and some materials to clean the wounds, repair the hole, and remove the bullet," the vet replied, "But we need the oxygen to help him breath after the operation is done."

"Well can we get that and bring it here? After you are done with the surgery you can take him over there," Josh said.

"Hmm… that is possible I suppose," the vet said. "Let me call my partner, she can help us figure out something I'm sure."

"Ok just be quick about it or he'll die," Hige said.

"Yeah, I know," the vet replied and took out his cell phone.

Why the hell does that kid think I killed his dad? Tsume thought to himself as he went back and sat on the front porch. I never killed anyone, Tsume thought to himself then he began to sit and think. "Wait…." He said in a bit of shock, Could it of been that one man? Tsume asked himself in disbelief, I remember now… it was that man… the one with the gun.

/Flashback/

"Hey Dan, what are you doing?" a male voice asked as he walked over to his friend. "What do you have that gun for?"

"There where some big dogs around. I was trying to scare them away with some gunshots, that's all," Dan replied. He was a tall man with dark brown hair in jeans and a black coat.

"Oh is that all, it looked like you where gonna shoot someone," his friend Mike said with a laugh.

"No, I wasn't going to shoot them. Just scare them away," Dan replied.

"Hey Daddy, what are you doing?" a little boy asked as he ran up and grabbed Dan's pant leg.

"Nothing," he replied with a smile and put his big hand on the boy's head.

"Hi Mike," the boy said and looked at the man who stood next to his father.

"Hi there, how are you?" Mike asked.

"I'm fine," the boy said.

"Glad to hear it," Mike replied with a smile.

"Can we go play ball now?" the little boy asked his dad with a smile.

"Yeah sure, Josh where is the ball?" Dan asked.

"Umm... I threw it and it went over there…" Josh said and pointed to the alley that was across the street.

"That's where those big dogs ran off too. Alright, I'll get it stay here, ok?" Dan said and walked over to the alley, gun in hand.

"Who is that?" a dark brown wolf asked a gray wolf as Dan walked toward the alley.

"I don't know," the gray wolf replied as they watched Dan very closely.

"Hey!" the dark brown wolf softly howled to the white and tan female wolf that stood across the alley, "There is a strange man coming this way, hide the cubs."

"Alright," she replied and looked to see Dan coming towards her and the cubs.

"Hey, Tsume what's going on?" a hyper young black and gray wolf asked as he ran up behind them.

"Stay quiet," Tsume replied.

"Why?" the young wolf asked confused.

"There is a human," the dark brown wolf said.

"Oh, I see him. Hey, he's really close to the cubs," the young wolf replied.

"Sota, shut up," Tsume snapped at the young wolf as Dan came closer and closer.

"Hey, Tani get them out of here," Tsume said to the white and tan female wolf.

"Right," she replied and took one of the little wolf cubs in her mouth.

"Hurry," the dark brown wolf said as she carried it away.

"Come on Koto, calm down. You know humans won't do anything," Sota said to the dark brown wolf.

"He has a gun," Koto replied staring at Dan who was coming closer and closer.

"Do you think we should do something… I mean he's heading right from the cubs…" Sota said realizing Dan did have a gun.

"We'll see," Koto replied.

"Yeah, if he gets to close we'll try and scare him off," Tsume said.

"Do you think that will really work?" Sota asked as the wolves moved behind some trashcans so Dan wouldn't see them.

"I hope so," Koto replied.

"Tani, be careful. He's getting really close," Tsume said as Tani walked past them to get another cub.

"Yeah, I see him…. I don't think I'll be able to get all the cubs away in time. What do you want me to do?" Tani asked.

"Just get as many away as you can," Koto said.

"Ok," Tani replied and quietly grabbed another cub and took it a safe distance away.

"Here he comes…" Sota said getting a little nervous.

"What do you think he wants?" Tsume asked.

"I don't know," Koto replied, "Could be the cubs."

"Why would you say that?" Tsume asked. None of the wolves had seen the ball that lay a few feet from the cubs.

"Well, why else would he be coming over here?" Koto said.

Where is that ball? Dan asked himself as he neared the alley. I know Josh said it was here.

"Hey, Koto…. What do you want us to do?" Sota asked he couldn't take his eyes off Dan who was looking around the trash trying to find the ball.

"Nothing yet… just see what he does. If he trying to hurt the cubs then we'll move in and try and scare him off," Koto replied.

Hey, what's that? Dan asked himself as he heard some noises nearby. "Hmmm I think it's coming from…." Dan said as he looked for what was making the noise. "Right here," he said as he stood over 3 little wolf pups. "Puppies, these must of belongs to those dogs I scared off. Man, if I'd of known they had pups I would have left them alone. Oh well, I guess I'll take these guys to the pound. They're bound to die all alone out here," he said as he bent down to pick up one of the pups.

"Koto, he has one of the cubs," Tsume said.

"Are you sure?" Koto, the leader of the pack asked. He didn't want to attack if it wasn't needed.

"Yes, look!" Sota said not knowing what to do. "Koto, we have to do something."

"I know," Koto replied.

"He has one of the cubs!" Tani said as she came back to get another cub and saw what was going on.

"Aww it's ok little guy, I won't hurt you," Dan said as the little cub cried in his arms.

"He's hurting him!" Tani said and ran to help the crying cub.

"No, Tani, wait!" Koto yelled as Tani raced past them and jumped above Dan.

"Dan, look out!" Mike yelled as he saw the great white and tan wolf jump at Dan's back.

"Daddy!" Josh screamed.

"Huh?" Dan asked and turned around just in time to see Tani coming down on him. "Ahhh!" he yelled and without even thinking shot his gun.

"Tani!" Sota yelled not knowing if he hit Tani or not.

"Tani!" Koto yelled and ran to see if she was hit.

"Dan, there's more!" Mike yelled as he saw Koto running to see if Tani was ok. "Josh, stay here!" he said to his car and pulled out a small handgun.

"I'm ok, but he still has the cub!" Tani yelled to Koto.

"Did he shoot you?" Koto asked.

"No, he missed. Come on let's get the cubs," Tani said as Dan looked around trying to figure out where the wolves were and what they where doing.

"Tsume!" Koto yelled.

"Yeah?" Tsume replied as he watched what was going on.

"You and Sota get the other cubs out of here now!"

"Ok," Tsume replied, "Come on let's go," he said to Sota.

"Right," Sota replied as they ran around Koto and Tani to the rest of the cubs.

"Watch out!" Tani said as Dan fired again.

"Dan!" Mike yelled as he ran to his friend and pointed his gun at Sota who was trying to get away from Dan, but he was standing in front of him not giving him a chance to get away.

"Sota, look out!" Tani called as she saw Mike getting ready to shoot him.

"What?" Sota replied he hadn't seen Mike at all.

"Sota!" Koto yelled and ran at Mike jumping above his head. He was ready to kill to protect his pack.

"Mike!" Dan yelled all he could see at that moment was a big dark brown blur behind him about to kill his friend. "Mike, no!" Dan yelled and fired his gun at Koto.

"Koto!" Tani yelled as she saw Koto hit the ground in front of Mike.

"What?" Tsume said and turned to see Koto lying on the ground and Dan pointing his handgun at Tani.

"Tani, look out!" Tsume yelled and dropped the cub in his mouth.

"Koto, no!" Tani howled in sadness she didn't see Dan about to shoot her, nor did she care. She just wanted to get to Koto who lie lifeless on the dirty ground.

"Don't you dare!" Tsume growled and ran up behind Dan, jumped up and sunk his teeth deep down into Dan's flesh.

"Daddy, no!" Josh cried out in horror was he watched the giant gray wolf rip apart his father's flesh.

"Dan!" Mike called out as he watched Dan fall to the ground, Tsume still clinging to his throat.

"Sota, did you get the cubs out of here?" Tsume called to Sota as he released Dan from his deadly grip.

"All but the one the human had!" Sota replied. He had already gotten the one Tsume had dropped.

"Ok!" Tsume replied and grabbed the little cub that Dan had dropped just a few moments before.

"Tani, come on. We have to get out of here!" Sota yelled to Tani who still stood frozen in disbelief that her mate laid dead in front of her. "Tsume, what about Tani?"

"What?" Tsume asked and turned to see Tani still standing in that same spot.

"Daddy!" Josh cried as he saw his father lying on the ground in a pool of blood.

"Koto…." Tani said as she still stood there, "Koto no... No please don't be dead…" Tani cried and took a few steps toward the fallen wolf.

"Tani, he'll kill you!" Sota yelled as he and Tsume stood and watched Tani.

"Dammit!" Tsume yelled and ran to Tani who was now almost to Koto's body.

"Koto, you can't be dead... you can't be…" she said as she stopped sat in front of Koto's body.

"What is she doing?" Sota asked as he watched Tani begin to howl.

"Tani, move!" Tsume yelled as Mike watched Tani howl in sadness.

"Move you damn dog… Dan is going to die if you don't let me get to him…" Mike said not knowing if Tani would attack him if he tried to get to Dan.

"Tani!" Tsume yelled again.

"Daddy!" Josh cried and began running to his father.

"Koto, I'm so sorry…" Tani cried, "If I had listened to you and not of ran at that human he wouldn't of tried to shoot me. Then you wouldn't have died…. Please forgive me, Koto," Tani howled a long sad howl once more.

"Josh no!" Mike yelled as he saw Josh run past him and head straight for Dan. "Stay away from that dog!" he yelled as he watched Tani.

"He's going to do it... He's going to shoot her..." Sota said in disbelief as he sat by the cubs and watched Tani howl and Tsume still trying to get to her.

"Damn, why'd we move the cubs so far back? If they weren't so far away I could have been there by now," Tsume said in anger as he ran toward Tani.

"Daddy!" Josh cried again as he ran passed Tani and to his dad.

"Josh!" Mike yelled as he saw Tsume coming up fast. "No way you damn dog. You killed Dan. I'm not going to let you kill Josh too!" he said and raised his gun, at this point Tsume was almost to Tani.

"Tani, watch out!" Tsume said as he saw Mike getting ready to shoot again.

Oh crap it's to close... Sota said to himself, "He's not going to hit Tsume he's gonna hit Tani! She's to close, he can't miss her," Sota said as he closed his eyes tight. He didn't want to see what was about to happen. He was hoping Tsume could find a way out of this. That he would just open his eyes and Tani would be fine and the humans would be gone.

"Tani!" Tsume howled he had just missed her by a few feet when he heard the gunfire.

"No… Tani…" Sota said in disbelief as he opened his eyes a few moments after he heard the gunfire. "Tani and Koto…. Both of them…" Sota said as he stared at Tani who lay at Koto's side.

"No…dammit. I almost had her..." Tsume said as he started down at Tani who lay only a few feet in front of him.

"Damn, no I missed him!" Mike yelled out in anger and prepared to fire his gun again but this time not to save Josh. He wanted to kill Tsume because he had killed Dan.

"Tsume, let's go!" Sota yelled as he saw Mike about to shoot again.

"Right…" Tsume replied as he took one last look at his friends then took off before Mike could shoot him.

/End Flashback/

Damn… Tsume said to himself as he remembered what happened. I remember... I did kill that kid's father. Koto... my best friend. He died that day. Both of them… Koto and Tani. They both died because of that damn human. "Porky," Tsume said in an angry yet sad voice, "Out of all the people you could have made friends with in this whole damn city why'd you have to make friends with this family?"