Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Arai, Enmei, Kouyuu, and Futeki.
Melyy Sanng: Well, I updated for everyone, Are you happy, then?
Wolf of the Blue Moon: Thank you
Crying White Wolf: Thank you too
Howl of the Wolves
Chapter 4
Icy Torture
Warning: very OOC charactersKiba, Tsume, Toboe, and Hige waited patiently in the park for Enmei, Futeki, and Kouyuu. But the patience didn't last very long.
"Where are they!" Tsume growled.
"Maybe they meant a different park." Toboe pointed out.
"No, this is the park they were talking about." Hige sniffed the air. "Here they come now."
Sure enough, three wolves walked into the park. They looked pretty inconspicuous, except one had a slight limp.
"So, the wolves decided to join us." Tsume growled. "I was hoping you wouldn't come, especially since Quent is hunting you guys down."
"Well, we'll need all the help we can get to find Arai." Futeki grinned. "Especially since that guy injured Kouyuu."
"It's nothing, Futeki." Kouyuu growled.
"So you're joining up with us?" Kiba asked, staring Enmei down.
"Yeah, we are." He glared back.
With that, the seven wolves headed for the wall and the way out of the run down city.
An icy blast of cold hit Kiba squared in the chest. In this world, the cold air was freezing, and even colder than all the snow in the previous world Kiba had been in. He jumped in to the icy cold snow. It went up to his waist.
One by one, the rest of the wolves plopped down into the snow along side him.
"Geesh, it's freezing!" Toboe whined.
"Don't start, Toboe." Hige jumped out of the snow and landed a few feet further out. It wasn't as deep. "Come on, we just landed in a snowdrift!" he called through the blizzard. The other wolves could barely hear him. But they got the point.
The further away from the city they got, the harder the storm got. Soon, the wolves were covered with snow.
"Kiba! Enmei! We need to stop before the storm kills us!" Futeki howled. Suddenly she disappeared from view.
"Futeki!" Kouyuu howled. He jumped through the snow until he got to the point she had disappeared into.
What he saw made him freeze. The other wolves gathered around, shock overcoming them.
Futeki had fallen through ice, into a fast flowing river. She was nowhere to be seen in the deep, gushing water.
"Get away from the hole, everyone!" Kiba howled. But it was too late. The ice beneath Toboe gave way, and he went under.
"Toboe!" Hige started to jump after him. But Enmei grabbed him and threw him across the snow.
Silence ensued before Kouyuu broke out in a mournful howl. The rest of the wolves followed suit. They waited, hoping the two would somehow come out. But nothing happened. Soon, the hole froze over, leaving a hole only in the snow.
"Come on, we need to rest." Enmei spoke, nudging the shocked Kouyuu to his feet. They walked more slowly, watching out for the river. They didn't want to loose anymore wolves.
Soon, the wolves saw a rock formation jutting out from the ground. They ran to it, hoping to get out of the blizzard. A small cave was tucked into the side of the rock formation. The wolves entered and plopped themselves down.
"I can't believe she's gone…" Kouyuu cried to himself. Hige and Tsume were pretty silent, brooding the loss of the youngest wolves. Enmei kept to himself. Kiba looked out into the blizzard, watching nothing in particular. Suddenly, a howl was heard. But only Kiba heard it.
"Toboe!" Kiba jumped up and ran from the cave towards the howling. Another wolf was howling too. Toboe and Futeki were alive!
Kiba howled in response to the wolves. He could hear them better now. But they were no where to be found!
"Kiba! Help!" came Toboe's voice from a snow pocket. "There's a waterfall nearby!" he whimpered. Kiba finally saw Toboe and Futeki hanging on for dear life while the swirling water around them was faster than before.
Kiba grabbed Toboe's scruff and pulled him out. He then dropped Toboe and grabbed Futeki just as she lost her grip on the ice. He pulled her out slowly. Toboe was shivering madly. Futeki was barely conscious.
Kiba howled, hoping the other wolves would hear him. Fortunately, they had tried to follow him, and were nearby.
"Futeki!" Kouyuu hurried over. "Please don't die on me, please don't!" he started licking her freezing body.
Enmei pushed Kouyuu out of the way then picked up Futeki's limp body. He then ran through the storm back to the cave.
Tsume picked Toboe up and followed close behind while Kouyuu, Kiba, and Hige followed behind them. Back at the cave, the wolves started to lick the life back into the two unconscious wolves.
Once Toboe and Futeki were dry, did the wolves lay down to rest. Enmei and Kouyuu lay to either side of Futeki while Hige and Tsume did the same for Toboe. Kiba stayed up, watching the snow. There was one thing missing.
"Cheza." Kiba spoke to himself. The others were asleep. Kiba settled down to sleep as well, when another howl interrupted him. But it wasn't real.
Kiba watched in horror as his worst enemy tortured the small black wolf he had seen in his last dream. Darcia had the small wolf chained down while his servant whipped the poor wolf. The wolf's pelt was covered in its own blood. But in spite of the pain it must have been going through, it didn't make a sound. This was making Darcia mad.
"Damn you, wolf! Cry in fear and pain!" he finally yelled. He wrenched the whip out of his servant's hands and started beating the wolf. But it was still silent. Kiba wondered if it had already passed out, for it's eyes were closed. But then, the wolf's eyes flew open. It pulled at the chains until the weakest link gave way. It jump and bit the servant, it's eyes wild in pain.
The wolf then turned and attacked Darcia. But Darcia no longer had his human look on; he had converted back to the wolf, one of the ugliest wolves Kiba had ever seen. The two wolves locked in battle. Fur flew; snarls were the only sounds that came from the fight. But soon, the black wolf flew from the fight, leaving Darcia with a broken shoulder and paw. He growled, but could not follow the black wolf, which jumped through a window into a huge blizzard.
"Kiba! Kiba, wake up!" Hige called. Kiba jumped to his feet, panting heavily. It was another dream.
"What kind of dream were you having? Howling in your sleep is unusual for you." Hige continued. "The storm's calmed down. Enmei wants to continue."
Kiba saw that the other wolves were watching him, even Toboe and Futeki. "Right, we'll continue." He said before launching himself out into the snow. He raced along, slowing down once they came to the river.
"Everyone cross in different places, and run across, throwing all your weight forward." Enmei instructed. Hige started across first, nearly falling through almost immediately. But he managed to make it across. The rest of the wolves fan out to either side of the area Hige had started at. Since Hige was the heaviest wolf in the pack, no one else fell through to an icy swim. The seven wolves met where Hige had finished his crossing.
As the wolves left the river, they felt a sense of relief come over their bodies. Relief from not falling through the ice.
The storm soon blew away, allowing the sun to come out. But that made it all worse for the wolves. They were being blinded by the reflection of light on the snow.
"My eyes are really starting to hurt." Hige complained. By the silence from the other wolves, he could tell they were having the same problem.
"Maybe we should wait until sunset." Toboe stopped, burying his face in the snow. "Not to mention the sun is starting to get hot."
"It's either too hot or too cold." Kouyuu stated finally. "I wish we were home. It wasn't so bad there."
Enmei shot a glare at Kouyuu, who cringed at the older wolf. "We aren't going back to that so called "home" of yours, Kouyuu. We're going to our real home." Enmei growled, then he turned to the four confused wolves. "Don't ask a thing, we aren't telling you a word." He then shouldered past Kiba and disappeared into the blinding light.
"We're sorry, but what Arai's brother says goes." Futeki started to follow him, Kouyuu close behind her.
Kiba looked at his pack. Tsume ignored him while Hige and Toboe shrugged. They continued, closing their sensitive eyes and following by scent.
The wolves continued long after darkness had fallen, getting much further than they had during the day. Their pelts glinted in the moon light, their eyes glowing. After Hige finally got really bored, he started talking to Kouyuu about Blue and how she was safer with Quent and that he probably wouldn't go into Paradise with out her. Kouyuu just nodded, not saying anything. He was really uneasy about Quent, since their last encounter. Toboe and Futeki struck up a conversation about nothing in particular. The other three wolves were absolutely silent. Kiba thought that Tsume and Enmei were sort of alike in ways. They both were the strong silent types, they were betas in a way, and they were smart. Hige and Kouyuu were both easy going and carefree, not shy at all, and could get really down if they lost something close to them. Toboe and Futeki weren't too much alike, except for the fact they were both really kind. And needed a bit of rescuing.
These are my friends, even if I don't show it, they will always be close to me in one-way or another. Kiba thought. Then he remembered Tsume. But I'm not sure about Tsume.
Early in the morning, the pack stopped for a quick breather. Not to mention they were starving. So while the others rested, Kiba, Enmei, and Hige went hunting. They split up to cover more ground.
Kiba climbed slowly up a small hill, not expecting what was on the other side. As he reached the top, he noticed a bump in the snow. Normally, he would ignore it and continue on, except for the fact the snow was red with blood. Something was buried there.
Kiba reached the small mound and pushed away the snow to revel…..
Oo, cliffhanger! Ouch, I'm so getting hurt for this. Well, I'll update as soon as possible for me, which probably won't be too soon, with school coming up and all.