Sorry for the long wait! I've been so busy (not to mention my major case of writer's block.) But, I'm back on track now with nothing to do, and a head full of ideas for this story! Thanks for continuing the story….

Everything was so cloudy, so hazy. How many had he drunk? Tsume couldn't even remember and he let the glass bottle topple to the floor as Toboe rushed over. Even in this state, Tsume knew his brother was the one close to him, something about him…his scent. The people's faces were blurry now, the two standing in his apartment and the ones running through his head. Now, he didn't have to see them….

And still Toboe was near him, saying something, asking, pleading. He hated to scare the Runt, but this was the only way. His head was almost silent, even if everything was spinning, blurred colors spinning. But, in the background, Tsume could still hear the voices, still hear the goddamn voices whispering about goddamn Paradise.

Tsume tried to focus. He was here, the bastard who had caused all this. Everything slowed down as Tsume looked away from Toboe's face. The door, he was standing in front of the door. That goddamn bastard was in his apartment.

"You," he said and pointed a shaky finger at Kiba. "What the fuck did you do to me?"

Tsume felt his brother shift attention. Now the runt was staring at Kiba too.

"Kiba…?" God, it felt good to have Toboe on his side, Tsume decided. He wasn't beside that son of a bitch anymore.

"No…I didn't do anything…"

"Don't fucking talk to me or I'll break your fucking neck. What's the matter? What's the matter?" Things were slipping. Words just came out of his mouth, and Tsume couldn't control them. Not that he wanted to. The images were nearly gone. "These goddamn movies running through my head! And you know what? You were there and you were there!" He said pointing at Kiba and Toboe. "I'm fucking Dorothy, and I'm not in Kansas. Why don't you tell me where I am, huh?" Tsume tried to lift himself up and the floor shifted underneath him, like a wave hitting a ship. He stumbled, regained balance and continued towards the blue eyes staring at him. "Where's Paradise!" he yelled, edging closer to Kiba. Tsume pressed the smaller boy into the door and looked down menacingly. Then, he bent down and whispered so only Kiba could hear. "Where's Chesa?"

"You know about…" Tsume wanted to hear the jackass's response, but all too soon, everything was silent and all he saw was black.

Kiba looked down at Tsume's passed out form. He didn't know what to do. This man knew about Chesa…maybe she hadn't been a dream.

"Kiba."

He startled once again, and saw Toboe across the room.

"I'm sorry, Kiba. Sometimes Tsume likes to…"

"No, it's not your fault." Kiba soothed as Toboe rubbed at his eye with the back of his hand.

"God, it's so embarrassing." Toboe muttered and got up from the couch. "Well, I guess I'll put him to bed. Hopefully he'll have a hell of a headache later tonight. God, what time is it even? Twelve in the afternoon?"

Toboe looked down at his brother's crumpled form and grumbled something under his breath. Then, he stooped and pulled at one of Tsume's arms, trying to move him across the carpeted floor. Sadly, the friction from the carpet (and his brother's weight) proved too much for the teen.

"You think you could give me a hand?"

Kiba dropped down and put Tsume's other arm around his shoulder, easily hoisting him up while his mind tried to take in the new events. This was too much. The talking cat, and now Tsume remembered something. Kiba could barely contain his desire to wake Tsume and get a better explanation. But, considering Tsume's level of intoxication, perhaps it was better to let him sleep it off.

Toboe hopped in front of him and opened the door to the austere bedroom. After pausing, Kiba went in, putting Tsume gently on the navy comforter.

"I'll take it from here," Toboe muttered and started to tuck Tsume into the small bed.

"Ummm, what should I…"

With a lighthearted smile, Toboe turned around. "I'll be out in a sec," Then with a serious look he added. "We need to talk about this."

Kiba went back into the living room and paced. Chesa. Chesa. Chesa. She was real. Someone else knew about her, remembered her. This thought touched Kiba with the slightest sense of jealousy, but his joy was so much greater, he barely noticed it.

As promised, Toboe came out soon after.

"So, about my drunken brother…"

"Yeah, he knew about Paradise."

"I wish he would have just told one of us."

"Maybe he didn't know until after we had gone to the library." Kiba sat down. "What do we do now?"

"Wait until the idiot wakes up. Based on the amount he drank," Toboe picked up the bottle, "I'd give him at least three hours."

Tsume was in the hospital. He knew it by the smell of that shit they used to keep it clean. The strength of the solvent hurt his nose.

Had he gotten himself that drunk? Maybe, he had gotten alcohol poisoning… Tsume seriously doubted that. He could handle his liquor.

And then, slowly, he realized he was a wolf again, a big grey wolf alone in an empty hospital, trotting around the hallways with no purpose.

This had to be a memory. No, none of those things were memories; they were hallucinations. Anyway, this felt like…now? Tsume turned again down a passageway. He didn't like were he was going, but his feet kept moving, all four of them, closer to the blue door.

Tsume.

And everything felt perfect. He had heard her voice, like a breeze through a field of flowers. Please just speak again, he thought desperately. All the happiness inside him had erupted with that one utterance of his name.

Tsume remember.

Anything for you Chesa.

He waited for her to respond. Every nerve in his body was on fire.

The hospital was on fire. The hallway burst into flames around him and he deftly lept backwards.

Chesa!

Tsume barely made out the whispered reply.

Help me.

"Chesa!" Tsume sat bolt upright, covered in sweat. How long had he been out? He took a quick glance at his bedside table. Six fifteen. Shit, that was longer than usual. Wait, something was different.

The pictures were gone! Everything was right inside Tsume's head. He hit his temple just to make sure nothing happened, and sure enough, it was still quiet. The only thing he was thinking about was how warm it was under the comforter. He pulled it off him and put his legs over the side of the bed.

And like an unwanted reflex, Tsume remembered his dream. But, this time, it didn't haunt him. The vision came as fact. This was something real…or close to real. Chesa was real.

Tsume let the memories wash over him, took control of the tide, picked out what he wanted to see. He chose a memory of Chesa, in a cloak and pink rubber boots, running from bullets. Tsume smiled as he remembered running beside her…

and nearly wept as he realized Chesa was not meant for him.

But that wasn't important. What he needed…what they needed was to find her. No matter what. He again went through the files of pictures, so neatly organized inside his head. They were more real than anything he could remember of this life. He watched the boy fall into the abyss.

Looked at Toboe's corpse.

Tsume had to stop. Action was necessary and he got up.

The door opened and Toboe was standing in the entrance.

"I thought I heard you wake up," he muttered, looking at the floor.

Tsume filed Toboe's death back into place, and went to his brother, hugging him tightly. "Don't worry."

A surprised Toboe wriggled out of his brother's grasp. "I wasn't worried, you get drunk at least once a month."

Tsume smiled, a genuine smile, which freaked out his little brother even more. "We'll find her, we'll find Chesa."

Toboe nearly died of shock.

Kiba found himself in a very awkward position. He was sitting between a confused Toboe…and a jolly Tsume.

"So," Kiba started. "I guess you know about Chesa."

"More than you it seems," Tsume said and tapped his forehead. "I can remember…everything." The white-haired man's mood became slightly more somber, then, "You know we were wolves right?"

"Yeah we've gotten past that point," Toboe said, looking at his brother, much like he might look at a wolf sitting at their kitchen table.

"Well, I can't remember anything besides flashes...flashes. And, I even haven't had many of those since Chesa disappeared. Even after about a day ago, nothing." Kiba add, "So, can you tell us a little more?"

"Sorry, pal. Guess the gal left you with nothin'."

Kiba stiffened. "I was able to talk to her until yesterday."

"Had a conversation with her just a minute ago."

Tsume's smug attitude was getting on Kiba's nerves. "Look, what are you trying to start?"

"Nothing." Tsume shrugged and smirked, looking off into the distance. "Her voice is so soft."

Kiba growled. "Get off it."

"Get off what?"

"I can talk to cats!" Toboe said loudly, making both the other former-wolves look at him. "Well, at least one cat. Remember Moon? Well, I guess you wouldn't Tsume, seeing as how you were in an accident and all. Anyway, Moon talked to me and told us about the Book of Red Moon, so we went to the library, but we couldn't find it. And then, Kiba though Moon was hiding something and it turned out he was and he ran away. Moon that is, Kiba is still right here." He pointed to the blue-eyed boy to emphasize his point.

"Umm, okay…" Tsume said. "I guess that fills me in on what I missed. What was I talking about?" Kiba also couldn't remember what he had been thinking prior to Toboe's litany.

"You were going to tell us about our past," Toboe smiled.

"Oh. In a nutshell, we were all wolves looking for Paradise. Chesa was our key and we had to find her. Bing Bam Boom, we opened Paradise (after all dying by the way) and…here we are." Tsume paused. "We're missing someone though. Fellow by the name of Hige."

Kiba looked up from studying the grain of the tabletop. "Hige? I remember that name. I think I had a dream about it…"

"Speaking of dreams, this all started with a dream about being a wolf and then this scary dude said something and poof, memories freaking cramming themselves in my brain. Then" Tsume emphasized, "while I was conked out, I had a dream I was in a hospital and Chesa was talking to me…she said we needed to help her."

"I think something happened to her and that's why I haven't been able to hear her."

"Yeah. Did I mention the hospital went up in flames at the end? That must have some sort of significance or something."

There was silence as the three of them pondered their next move.

"What should we do now?" Toboe looked at each of them.

"I don't know," Kiba said sullenly.

"I say, we try to find that cat. He knew something right?" Tsume got up.

"Yeah, but how are we going to find a cat in this city…"

Tsume ignored Toboe and went for the door. "I don't know. It's better than sitting around here waiting for her to talk to us again. Chesa is obviously in trouble, we need to get going."

To Toboe's surprise, Kiba stood up and went to the door with Tsume. So, shrugging his shoulders, Toboe followed suit.

Tsume turned the knob…

And outside the door stood a very startled Hige.