Disclaimer: I do not own Wolf's Rain, or any of the characters.

Note: Please forgive me for mistakes in descriptions, events, and personalities, and grammar. I'm only a human…who wants to be an artist, not a professional writer. This is for fun, treat it as such. "Dead end" fic…again…unless the readers like it. (Oh, I hate the story title, but I couldn't come up with anything better with just one chapter to base it off of… . Thus it'll probably change if this continues.)

Warnings: AU/OOC…POV…shounen-ai? (maybe, maybe not)…

Claw and Howl

Chapter 1: Meeting

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The scents of the city filled my nose as I cautiously wandered down an alleyway, hoping to find something that would serve as food for my grumbling stomach. I would hide as humans passed by, despite the fact that a part of me longed to be back with them…or rather, with my grandmother. A small whimper escaped from my throat, 'All I have left are my memories and these…' I lifted a paw and a soft clank was heard as the metal rings shifted on my leg. With a mental sigh, I continued to scrounge until I discovered freshly discarded food from a restaurant. Digging in, as it would be the best I'd be able to find in a place like this, my taste buds complained where as my stomach didn't. A sudden noise made me freeze as I looked up across the way to see a head pop up into view as a black lid was lifted from its place in the ground. "Guess I took a wrong turn, this isn't right…Hey, it's one of our own!" A tan colored wolf smiled at me in his human guise, a slightly chubby teen with tan hair wearing a yellow shirt and a collar around his neck.

"Move it." A white wolf, in his human guise as well, shoved the other up and out as he climbed out of the hole himself. His human guise had brown hair, blue eyes, blue jeans, and a blue jacket over a white shirt. I was stunned at seeing the two, as I had only seen one other of my kind until now, "You—you're…"

"That's the last time we depend upon your nose," the white one said.

"Hey, anyone's nose would go numb after being in a place like that over night!" the other claimed.

"Let's get going." They both started to head off, and before I could stop myself, I blurted out, "Can I come with you guys?" They stopped as the tan wolf said, "Huh?" "Please, I have nowhere to go…May I come with you?" The white one studied me for a moment before giving a nod and walking off. The other scoffed, "Don't mind him. That's Kiba, and I'm Hige."

"I-I'm Toboe." I mumbled as I followed the two as they headed back underground in another place. I put on my human guise to blend in with them. Mine being a brown-haired boy wearing a red shirt and green pants. "Come on, runt! You're falling behind!" Hige called back after several minutes. My cheeks puffed out a bit, "I'm not a runt, and my name's Toboe!"

"Whatever, runt."

"To-bo-e!"

"Yo! Kiba, why'd ya stop?" Hige halted as he turned around to see what Kiba had stopped to inspect. My eyes followed back and over as well, it was a trail of red liquid…blood. Kiba stood and began to climb upward, Hige sighed as he shrugged before following. I began to climb as well, but not without uttering a question that had been nagging at the back of my mind for a while, "Where exactly are we headed?"

"To Paradise." Kiba replied in a calm and firm voice as he continued to lead the way, I remained silent for a moment in the shock of hearing his voice for he didn't seem to speak much. I blinked in disbelief for a moment before mumbling, "I wonder if Tsume would like to come?"

"Who?" Hige said as he glanced back at me, I quickly glanced at the ground since I hadn't meant to say that aloud, "Tsume…He's another wolf…I came across him about a week ago. Other than you two, he's the only other wolf I've ever met."

"Is he your friend or somethin'?"

"Er…well…no, not really."

"Then forget about him--oof! What's the big idea, Kiba?" Hige grumbled as he rubbed his nose. Kiba had stopped suddenly and was staring up at an old building, "This Tusme, is he a gray wolf with a scar on his chest?"

"Yeah! That's Tsume!" I said with a bit more enthusiasm than I had I meant to express, but Kiba merely began to head into the building. Hige gave me a shrug in response to my questioning glance before we both followed the white wolf. He opened up a door and we were greeted with a growl, "What do you want?" I peered around Kiba slowly before a smile beamed on my face, "Tsume!" My smile was shot down by a glare from the white-haired human in black leather with a deep tan, that being his human guise, his true form is a gray wolf with a scar on his chest. "Your wound gave away your position."

"That still doesn't explain why you're here…and what happened to that 'wolf pride' you were going on about…the thing that wouldn't let you pose as a human?" Tsume snarled at Kiba, obviously, they weren't on good terms…At least as far as Tsume is concerned because Kiba merely replied, "It's still here." Hige then blurted out, "The runt here wanted you to come with us." I glared at Hige, but shrank back as Tsume glared over at me, "And where is this odd pack of yours heading off to?"

"To Paradise," Kiba calmly replied, " You can come, or not. Either way, we're going."

"Yeah, right, like such a thing exists. Why would I believe crap like that and leave this city on your wild-goose-chase?"

"I'm sure that hunter will be happy to find that you're staying in this town." Kiba then turned and left the room, Hige following him out, but I stayed to stare at Tsume for a moment, "I wish you would come. Even if you don't think it's real…Hunting for Paradise is still better than running from that hunter everyday in this city." With that, I left to catch up with the others. "That Tsume guy's got a real bad attitude. It's just as well as didn't come with us," Hige muttered to himself. I remained silent, as did Kiba until we reached the edge of the town, where Kiba stopped, "What's wrong?" I turned my head back towards the city where his gaze seemed to be aimed at and saw nothing but the horrible town and cold snow falling for several moments, but suddenly, a form appeared within view, "Tsume!" Once he caught up near our group, Kiba headed off in his original direction and Hige followed. I started to say something to Tsume, but his cold stare stole my words from me and left me with nothing more to do than to follow the other two. I was glad to hear his steps following fairly close behind us though. I'm glad he decided to come with us, to find Paradise.

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