Title: The Price of His Past

Author: Ladye Black

Rating: This part? PG-13, maybe?

Warnings: Nothin really, hopefully Kiba+Tsume-ness and I make more shit up. A lot more.

Disclaimer: To own them I'd have to rule the world, does it look like I rule the world to you?

Notes: I will never be able to apologize enough for how long this has taken me. Basically, it comes down to this as of January 1st: Got sick….real life kicked my ass in…got sick again…am still sick…yeah, that's about it. My immune system sucks. -

Chapter 9

"Make yourselves comfortable," Furukizu offered, nodding to the dirt floor. "This may take some time to tell."

Tsume growled in irritation. "Just tell it."

Furukizu was silent for a moment, unsure of how he should start the tale of the strange creatures that were now hunting for Tsume and the Key. "I suppose I should start with how you were found, Tsume."

"How I was found? What does that have to do with anything?" Kiba, Hige, and Toboe also looked at Furukizu questioningly.

The older Wolf looked at Tsume seriously. "Tsume, what is your first memory?"

The grey Wolf studied the other skeptically. "What does my first memory have to do with anything?"

"Just please answer the question. I will explain after you have answered."

Tsume thought for a moment. My first memory? I don't know…I suppose it would have to be…His eyes widened in remembrance. "Three men! I remember three men!" Furukizu nodded for him to continue. "I was just a pup sitting on a chest clutching a blanket around me…" He thought for a moment. "I think it was pink."

Hige burst out laughing, but muffled it when Kiba glared at him, silently promising death. Hige stopped laughing. Kiba glanced at Tsume to make sure the Wolf hadn't noticed. He hadn't, Tsume was too busy concentrating on his memory.

"Then, three men came up to me. They said things; I can't remember what, and the next thing I can remember…I'm holding a knife with blood running down my chest." Tsume felt puzzled. Why couldn't he remember the rest? Whatever they had couldn't have been that bad, could it?

Furukizu nodded, as if that was what he been expecting. "That's all you remember then?" he asked, just to make sure.

Tsume nodded.

"Then I shall fill you in on the rest." The Wolf took a breath before continuing. "The three who attacked were, Ayumikatta, Yuttarishita, and I. But, what we attacked was a Human child of about three years of age."

Tsume was stunned. These Wolves, who at one time were Pack to him, had tried to kill him when he was a pup? And what did he mean by 'Human'?

Yuttarishita picked up the story, telling it calmly and unhurriedly, as was his manner. "The child was different, though. Even though it looked Human, and smelled Human, there was a faint underlying scent of Wolf. And then the child looked up and we saw his eyes. They were feral, just like any other Wolves. We were stunned for a moment. How could a Human child have a Wolf's eyes? And then it happened." He paused in his telling, judging the reactions so far to the story.

Tsume was in a state of enthralled disbelief. Were they saying what he thought they were? He felt someone nuzzle his neck in a comforting gesture and found Kiba's piercing eyes look out at him surrounded by white fur. Are you okay? Kiba seemed to ask with his eyes. Tsume nodded once in answer. Yes.

The grey Wolf looked at their other two companions, the rest of their small Pack. Toboe was completely enthralled by the story, paying rapt attention as finally some of the mystery that wrapped his hero became unraveled.

Hige, however, seemed slightly skeptical. He didn't seem disbelieving, more…what did this story have to do with him and who Tsume was. Hige only believed in the here and now, not the past.

Yuttarishita continued with the rest of the story. "Suddenly, something came at us from above. Wrapped in white cloth, we couldn't tell what it was, only that it smelled…dangerous. The figure in white landed between the child and us, it growled something at us, but we couldn't understand. It was speech that resembled both Human and Wolf, but was neither. Others in white surrounded us, growling menacingly. The first turned to you, and said something, we don't know what, and surprisingly you answered in the same language. This Human child was more than he seemed. Suddenly, another white figure broke off from the rest. He picked you up and ran with you. The gait was odd, as if he was not used to running in such a way, as if it wasn't natural to him."

Tsume was wide-eyed. This had happened? This was the missing part of his memory? "Others followed him, he didn't get far before they were tearing into him." Yuttarishita's voice broke him of his thoughts. Tsume started to listen once again, Kiba pressed comfortingly to his side.

"He fought back, however, fiercer than those that had attacked him. He fought as though he was protecting something he loved, and perhaps he was. They tore at him again and again, but he wouldn't let the little one go. Finally, he cried out to us. 'Please,' he said. We barely made out the words. 'Please, help me save this child. He does not deserve the life they will put him into, help me save him.' I don't know whether it was the desperation in his voice, or his actions themselves, but we felt compelled to help this stranger. And so we did." Yuttarishita's gaze pierced and suddenly, Tsume desperately wanted to remember what he had forgotten. Not for himself, but for this person who Yuttarishita said fought so fiercely for him.

At his wish, images poured into him.

Flash…he was running through tall grass, hunting a grasshopper he had found…flash…they were dragging him away. He howled for his mother and father, but all they did was watch, not even sad to see their pup born away…flash…they put him in a room to perform experiments…flash…someone was pulling him along, his brother he somehow knew, saying that they had to hurry or Tsume would be put back in the room with the horrible people…flash…he was on a ship, and they were heading for the Dying Planet. It was full of Humans, his brother said, but that wouldn't be a problem for Tsume. He couldn't be a Wolf anyway…flash…his brother had left him. He was alone. Tsume wrapped the blanket he had found tighter around himself. Suddenly, he felt someone approach him. How strange, he thought, they smelled of Wolf but looked Human…

Piece by piece, the memories came back to him. He had been born as an oddity. In a Pack of Wolves, he had been born as Human. How odd, they had thought, perhaps it was just the time at which he was born, midnight on the last day of the Full Moon for that year. He'd change with the next Moon, they thought. But he hadn't, he had stayed Human, and then after three months, things changed.

His mother rejected him; his father wanted nothing to do with him, only his older brother would talk to him. He taught Tsume, his poor little Human brother, how to be as Wolf as possible. It was all in vain. They came for him. They took him away, and locked him up, and tried many things to get him to change, many of which had hurt very badly.

Then one day, his brother came. The older Wolf broke into the facility which held his brother prisoner, and escaped with him. He went to the Dying Planet, a world full of Humans, a place he was sure his brother would fit into. He had intended to stay with his younger brother, at first, but They followed more quickly than he had anticipated so he left his brother to draw them off.

Unfortunately, the found his little brother. He snuck into the group, masking his scent, and while the Leader was distracted he leapt for his brother and started running with him as soon as the small child was secure in his arms. He didn't get very far. Of course not, these Wolves were part of elite, trained from a very young age on how to fight and they answered only to the Head Wolf.

His brother had fought hard, but it wasn't enough, so he called to those who were watching. He had been stunned to see that they were Wolves, but not how they had been on his home planet. These Wolves walked on fours, but could also take Human semblance when they wished and fight almost as well as any other Wolf.

Somehow, his brother had broken free with their help and they ran again. Ran until they found this place and found shelter here, at Akemi.

Dimly, Tsume heard Yuttarishita finish the story. It matched his memories, only it had been from the other Wolf's point of view. Yuttarishita didn't know what they had been

The others were shocked by what they learned. Tsume was one of things that had attacked them? But then, if Tsume was a Wolf did that mean…?

It was Toboe who voiced the question. "So, does that mean that these things were…Wolves, too?"

"Not quite," Tsume answered. Everyone looked at him, and Tsume was uncomfortable at having so many piercing gazes directed at him at once. Even if they were mostly friendly, he still didn't like to be the center of attention in such a big group.

"They were…are..." how best explain this? "They are Wolves, but they aren't."

"But Tsume, how can something but be a Wolf and not be a Wolf?"

"Because they weren't just Wolves, chibi, they were Human, too."

"How?" Kiba cut Toboe off before the young Wolf could finish his question. "Werewolves."

Toboe was confused. "Huh? What's that?" No one seemed to notice that he had asked a question, though; they were too absorbed in thinking about the very old myth. After a moment, everyone turned to look at Tsume.

Tsume thought for a moment, thinking about what he knew of the myth. "That is…basically what they are like. But, unlike the myth, they aren't monsters at all. They are, in fact, an advanced society. Most of the time, they are Wolf, then at the New Moon, they turn Human. However, in the time in-between the nights of the Full Moon and New Moon, they are in between. Stuck as sort of a Human-Wolf. They are not very agile, in that state; it is their least natural one. When Human, they are awkward; as Wolf, they are very agile. Speech is a mixture of Human and Wolf sounds. However, for one to be stuck in one state or another is very odd. It doesn't happen."

Everyone waited silently for him to continue, Kiba was still next him, reassuring. "I was stuck as Human. Perhaps, had it been Wolf it would not have been so bad, but some people came and took me away to experiment on. They had done other experiments, ones which left those in the in-between state for forever."

Everyone was silent for a moment, lost in thoughts about how horrible it would be to be stuck in such a way until the end of your life. The silence did not last long, however; Tsume broke it to continue his explanation.

"Those were what attacked us a few days ago. They were taught how to navigate themselves in that state and have become deadly because of it. They look awkward, but that is mostly show. They are very strong."

Furukizu looked at Tsume for a long moment. "You have regained your memories then?"

"I have."

"Then, do you know why they want this 'Key'?"

Tsume shook his head. "I'm sorry; I still don't know why they want it. It is important, that's for sure, but what its purpose is," Tsume shrugged. "I have no idea."

Furukizu looked out the door surprised to find that the artificial sun was setting. They had been talking for well over an hour. "You can stay her for tonight, but tomorrow you must leave."

Tsume inclined his head in acceptance, and shifted into a more comfortable position for sleep as the three other Wolves left. He ended up with his head pillowed against Kiba's stomach, the other Wolf showing a tremendous amount of trust in allowing him to do so; Tsume felt warm at the gesture Kiba had unthinkingly made.

Hige and Toboe were near, silently sleeping nearer to the door so as to give the other two Wolves a more peaceful rest. All-in-all, Tsume felt very safe that night, head resting against Kiba's stomach and his friends sleeping lighter so as to pick up the presence of an intruder. It was probably the best sleep he had had in years; unfortunately, he was really going to need it.

TBC…

Okey-dokey, there ya go! Now, review please! (Yes, I know I was very bad at updating the last few times, but please forgive me! …This is almost done anyway…)