The Story of a Lonely Wolf Chapter 24: Back to Reality

"Toboe, Toboe, can you hear me?" Hige asked as he stood in front of the sleeping pup.

"Huh?" Toboe said as he cracked open an eye. "Ahh it's bright!" he whimpered and shut his eyes tight.

"Hey, he's ok!" Hige said with a smile as everyone else stood around watching.

"Bout time you woke up, Runt," Tsume said in an annoyed voice.

"What happened?" Toboe asked as his eyes adjusted to the blinding lights.

"Hi, Toboe. You feeling better?" Hige asked again. Then without anyone, but he and Toboe seeing it he pointed at Drake, Cassi, and Sara. That let Toboe know Hige couldn't answer his question. After all it would look little strange if Hige could talk to his dog.

"Hey, do you think you guys could go in the waiting room for a few minutes?" Kiba asked the humans.

"What for?" Cassi replied as he held Josh in arms. She was debating wither or not to wake him up. She had two reasons to wake him up. Number one he wanted to see Toboe when he woke up and number two because she didn't know how much longer she could hold the 10 year old. He was very heavy for a woman of her stature.

"Because he just woke up and he doesn't know who you are. Don't you think that might just be a little stressful?" Tsume asked trying to come up with a reason for them to leave.

"Tsume has a point," Drake replied, "If you had just been attacked and shot. Then you wake up to find a bunch of people you didn't know standing around you wouldn't you be a little uncomfortable?"

"Yeah, I guess that's true," Sara said as she walked over to Toboe and patted his head, "You are much cuter when you're cleaned up and have your eyes open," she said as she looked into Toboe's golden eyes. He just wagged his tail a little bit. If he were in his human form her remark about him being cute would have made him blush.

"Ok," Cassi replied. She was a little disappointed that she couldn't stay and comfort Toboe, but she knew Drake and Tsume were right and that Tsume, Kiba, and Hige could take care of him.

"Come get us after he's comfortable," Drake said as they turned to leave.

"Why? He looks comfortable right now," Hige said as he looked from the humans to Toboe then back to the humans again. "Uhhh… I mean... yeah, he really does need us to tell him everything is ok before we all rush over to meet him," Hige said with a nervous smile as he saw the looks on Kiba's and Tsume's faces. Tsume's more then Kiba's. It was a 'if they decide to stay because of what you just said I'm going to kill you' look. Hige knew that stare well. He had seem Tsume give it to various people they'd met on the way though he'd never seen what comes after the evil stare and he decided he didn't want to find out.

"Good, they're gone," Tsume said after they waited a few minutes to make sure the humans weren't within earshot. They didn't want them to know what they were talking about.

"How are ya feeling?" Hige asked Toboe as he shoved his hands in his pockets and bent over so he was eye level with Toboe.

"Tired," Toboe replied. "What happened? Why are we here?" Toboe asked as he lifted his head up and looked around the room.

"Don't you remember anything?" Kiba asked as he stared at the little wolf.

"I remember I had a fight with Tsume. Then I left to find Leara. I remember being in the city and I saw a black dog. I felt a great pain. Then I'm here."

"That's all?" Tsume asked as he leaned against the wall as he usually did.

"Yes," Toboe replied.

"Hey congratulations, Runt, you're bald!" Hige said with a laugh.

"Huh what?" Toboe asked and looked down at himself. "What are you talking about? And what is this thing?" Toboe asked. He couldn't see his body because of the white cone that they had put around his neck.

"Here," Hige said with a smile and took the cone off.

"What?" Toboe asked as he looked down and saw his chest and leg shaved. "What happened to me? Where are my bracelets?"

"Oh, they're right here," Hige said as he pulled the sliver bracelets out of his pocket. "The vets asked me to hold onto them because they had to take them off for the surgery on your leg. I took the time to wash the blood off of them for you while we were waiting."

"Oh, thanks," Toboe said as Hige slipped the bracelets on Toboe's bandaged leg. "Hey guys?" Toboe asked as he looked at his friends. His amber eyes were full of sadness.

"What?" Kiba asked.

"Why does it hurt so bad?" Toboe asked. He didn't show that he was in pain. That's the way wild animals were. They couldn't show any pain because if they did and they were in the wild another animal would sense they were hurt and kill them. The others didn't even notice he was in pain at all until they looked into his eyes.

"Does it really hurt that bad?" Hige asked as he looked at Toboe. Toboe looked up at him and looked like he was going to burst into tears.

"Uh-huh," Toboe replied with a little nod and put his barrier up so he appeared human like the rest of them. The brown wolf that was lying on the table a moment ago was gone and a young teenage boy with reddish colored hair and ripped cloths remained. His shirt was stained with blood and ripped where Blue had attacked him. He sat on the table with his legs hanging over the side and his bandaged arm rested in his lap. His eyes traveled downward and fixed themselves on the floor as a few tears slid down his cheeks. He then took his good arm and put it on his bandaged arm rubbing it gently.

"This is your own fault you know," Tsume began, "None of this would have happened if you hadn't of left to find that girl."

"Tsume, leave him alone," Kiba said.

"He's right thought," Toboe replied as he stared at the white tile floor. "It wouldn't have happened if I hadn't of left."

"You were only trying to help that girl. Don't worry about it, Toboe," Kiba said in his usual tone.

"Hi guys, I just came to say hi really quick," they heard Josh say as the boy popped in the room a big smile on his face. "Mom just woke me up and said Toboe was awake so I decide to come see for myself."

"Oh boy," Hige said as he saw a look of great surprise on Josh's face as he stared at the boy who sat on the table.

"Who's that and where's Toboe?" Josh asked as he stared. His voice cracked as fear and confusion overtook him. He didn't want to believe that the boy was Toboe, but the bandages pretty much said it all.

"Kiba?" Toboe said as he watched this new child that stood in front of him. All Toboe could think of doing was looking at Kiba hoping he could figure out something.

"He's Toboe, isn't he?" Josh asked as he stared at Toboe very nervously. "And that means," he began as he looked up at Tsume. "That scar... that means that you're…"

"Josh, please don't tell anyone," Kiba said as he looked at the scared child.

"You're all… you're all wolves aren't you?" Josh asked as he turned to look at Kiba.

"Well…" Hige began but stopped when Josh's face was overcome by fear and he turned to run out of the room.

"Mom!" Josh cried as he ran out of the room and back down the hall.

"Kiba, what do we do?" Toboe asked Kiba nervously.

"Hurry and turn back to your wolf form," Kiba said.

"Ok," Toboe replied with a nod and changed back. For these few moments he forgot about the pain he felt. How could he think about pain when a human just found out what he was? The look on Josh's face bothered Toboe as well. He had seen it many times before. It was the look of fear. The look people gave him when he did something horrible. The look they gave him when they thought he was a monster. He had seen it various times throughout his life, but he never got used to it. He thought that after a while that look wouldn't bother him because he'd seen it so many times. But that wasn't true. No matter how many times he saw it, it always hurt just as bad. It's one of those looks that killed a little piece of our soul every time it was done and it never seemed to get better.

"Great…" Tsume said with a sigh, "What are we supposed to do about this?"

"I don't know," Kiba replied. "We'll just have to see what happens. We can try to work our way around it at first, but if that doesn't work we'll have to tell them what we are."

"Are you crazy?" Hige asked. The thought of humans knowing they were wolves made his stomach hurt. He wondered how Kiba could even think about telling them the truth.

"Well what other choice do we have?" Toboe asked.

"We could always sneak out the back door," Tsume replied. He was still leaned against the wall in a relaxed manner. There was no way he was going to show the others that this concerned him.

"No," Kiba said.

"Why not?" Hige asked as he stared at Kiba.

"Because Toboe still has a lung infection, remember? Drake said if it spreads he could die and he had to make sure Toboe's leg would heal without that metal bar surgery."

"Well can't we just find someone else to do that?" Hige asked, "Someone whose kid doesn't know we are wolves?"

"And who would that be?" Tsume asked with a bit of a smirk, "Maybe you can follow some other chick home and she can pay for another doctor to look at him."

"Hey, I didn't follow her home. I'm not some dog. She needed my help that's all," Hige replied.

"So we are staying then?" Tsume asked.

"Yeah," Kiba replied and looked at Toboe who was sitting up on the table. His eyes where planted on the floor again. He wasn't even listening to their conversation. He was lost in his mind and it made Kiba wonder that he was thinking about. He couldn't really worry about what Toboe was thinking about right now thought. He had to think of a way to try and convince the humans they weren't wolves and Josh didn't see Toboe as a human and Tsume as a wolf when he attacked him in the backyard. "We'll think of something," Kiba said again. "We have too."