Chapter 1
"Tsume! Hey, Tsume!" A boy with shaggy brown hair and amber-colored eyes wandered about the streets of a small town. Everyone essentially ignored him, although he did get a few strange looks whenever he called that name. "Come on, Tsume! This isn't funny!"
"Who's laughing?" The boy whipped around at the sound of the gruff voice behind him and sighed in relief.
"I was worried. Where'd you go, Tsume?" Tsume started off down the street with his hands in his pockets. "Hey! Wait for me!" He dashed after him.
"Why do you insist on following me, kid?"
"...I don't know."
"Well, stop it. Go follow Porky or the know-it-all."
"I don't even know where Kiba and Hige ran off to. We have to find them and get out of here before that crazy guy shows up again."
"Too late for that." Tsume pointed to a large black dog with intense blue eyes that stood on the sidewalk up ahead, its fangs bared and hackles raised. Tsume and the boy exchanged glances before bolting back the way they had come with the dog hot on their heels.
"Down here, Tsume!" They dashed down a nearby alley just to come face to face with a brick wall.
"Shit! Great suggestion, kid! Now we're trapped!"
"Sorry! I don't know my way around this place!" The two turned to face the dog as a scruffy-looking man with a powerful hunting rifle entered the alley.
"Good job, Blue. We have them now." He cocked the gun and aimed it at the two just as Blue lunged for them; she caught only air as they leapt over both her and the man and bolted for the street. The man turned and fired a shot, catching Tsume in the leg, though it barely slowed him down. "After them, Blue!" Blue bolted out of the alley, but immediately stopped when she couldn't see or smell them. She glanced up at the roof of a nearby building just in time to see them scrambling over the edge.
>->->->->
"Why's that guy want us dead so badly?" Tsume glanced at the boy as they headed for the edge of town after traveling the rooftops for several minutes.
"Does it look like I know? He's nuts and obviously has a grudge against wolves, which makes me wonder about that dog of his. She's definitely got wolf blood in her."
"...Maybe that's why he has her. She helps him find us."
"Don't know, don't care." He flopped down against a crumbling wall at the edge of the town with a sigh. "I guess now we just wait for those other two idiots to find us."
"They'll probably be here soon." The boy sat down beside Tsume and began to inspect the wound on his leg. "It looks bad." Tsume opened an eye and gazed at him.
"I've had worse. Drop it."
"..." He hesitated before gently beginning to lick the blood from the wound. Tsume growled and shoved him away.
"Cut it out! I can take care of my own wounds!"
"...I'm sorry. I was just trying to help."
"Well, you're not helping, kid. You're just annoying the hell out of me!"
"You know, I do have a name..."
"Right. Toboe. I know. Kid is just so much easier to remember." Toboe sat back on his heels, gazing at Tsume.
"...Why don't you like me?"
"Don't take it personally. I don't like anyone. You're just extra-annoying."
"All I've done is tried to be nice to you, which is more than I can say for Kiba and Hige. I thought...I thought maybe at least I could be your friend."
"Well, you thought wrong. I don't have friends, and I don't want any. Just leave me alone, kid."
"..." Toboe climbed to his feet and disappeared around the wall. Tsume sighed and put his sunglasses on before resting his head back against the wall. Finally. I wish he would get the hint. He's such an annoying brat. He then lay down and curled up on his side. ...Then again, he's not so bad. He does treat me a lot better than the other two...and he always seems to be so concerned about me. He sighed and removed the sunglasses before resting his head on a folded arm. What am I thinking? He's just a kid. He doesn't know what he wants... His thoughts trailed off as he drifted into a dreamless sleep.
Toboe crept back around the wall and gazed at the large gray wolf sleeping nearby; he then padded over and curled up beside him, resting his muzzle on his paws and covering his nose with his tail. ...Good night, Tsume.
>->->->->
Tsume woke up a few hours later and lifted his head when he saw a large white wolf sitting nearby. "..." He yawned and climbed stiffly to his feet. The white wolf stood as well.
"Glad to see you're awake. Hige's trying to find us some food before we set out again."
"How long ago did you get here?"
"About an hour. You two were sleeping so soundly. We decided not to disturb you." Tsume glanced down at the small brown wolf curled up at his feet.
"...What took you so long to find us?"
"Hige's nose got confused. Wake Toboe up. We're leaving when Hige comes back." Tsume nudged Toboe with his nose.
"Wake up, kid." Toboe opened his eyes and quickly scrambled to his feet, backing away from Tsume.
"I'm sorry, Tsume! I was really tired, and I feel safe around you..."
"Relax. It's all right."
"..." The three wolves glanced over when a husky brown wolf wearing a collar ambled around the wall.
"I couldn't find anything, Kiba...oh, you guys are awake. Had a little run-in with Blue and that crazy guy, I see. We can't leave you two alone for a minute, can we? First that robot thing, now this." Tsume flattened his ears a bit.
"What can I say? I tend to attract pests." He glanced at Toboe, who lowered his head with a slight whine. "So are we going or what?" Kiba nodded.
"Yeah. You still coming with us?"
"Might as well. I've got nothing better to do."
"All right. Let's go." Kiba turned and loped out of the town into the desert wasteland, quickly disappearing into the nighttime shadows. Hige turned to follow him, but glanced back at the two other wolves.
"Hope you and the runt can keep up." Toboe whined a bit.
"I'm not a runt! My name's Toboe!"
"You've got a lot of nerve, Porky. You're the only one who should worry about keeping up." Hige simply ignored the insult and ran off in the direction Kiba had taken. Toboe started to follow as well. "Hey, Toboe." He paused and turned to gaze at Tsume as the other wolf walked over to him.
"...Yes, Tsume?"
"...I'm sorry for being such an ass to you lately. You're not such a bad kid...you can just be a little annoying sometimes. Anyway...I promise to lighten up if you promise to stop being so persistent all the time. How's that sound?" Toboe wagged his tail.
"You mean it?"
"Sure, kid." Toboe yipped and licked Tsume's muzzle before bolting after the other two wolves. "..." Tsume stood watching the younger wolf disappear into the darkness before following him, his injury barely slowing him down.