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He was tired, this white wolf, in his mouth he carried various items that were important to him. Two torn collars, four metal bands, a fighting knife, a multicolored handkerchief, and a bandage. Tears steamed down his wild face as he struggled against the harsh winter and his own wounds. He could do nothing but remember his eight companions. He remembered Hige and Tsume and Toboe and Cheza and Blue and Queant and Hubb and Cher. Though three of them were humans they were as good companions as could be. His human companions were just as precious to him as his canine companions. The old man; Quaent had spent a lot of time drinking, shooting, and blaming wolves for the death of his family. Hubb was a good person, there was no doubt in Kiba's mind that he could trust the detective after all he only wanted to be with his wife. Cher was Hubb's wife or ex-wife, either way it meant 'mate' to Kiba, all she wanted was to come to paradise or as close to it as possible.
It was the fault of Darcia. Many of Kiba's friends were dead now thanks to that evil creature. Hubb and Cher had died in accidents, Toboe was shot trying to protect Queant, the old man was shot trying to avenge his family and packmate, Hige was killed trying to defend the one he loved, and she was killed as well, Tsume died fighting Darcia with all his strength, Cheza had whithered from the wounds Darcia had given her, as for himself. Kiba could feel his time growing thin. Finally his strength gave way and he fell to the ground. With his last ounce of strength he clenched his teeth tighter around the items in his jaw. As he died he tried desperately hard to remember each and every friend.
His life faded away as a good song does. The last thing he remembered was the feeling of rain falling down on him, he just barely felt it. Then nothing, he felt nothing but a voice was calling him. No, not just one voice several and they were the voices of his packmates. They were so clear and yet so distant. "Kiba... Kiba... Wake up, Kiba... It's time to wake up..." they told him. His eyes cracked open slightly, all he saw was shady figures peering at him and a bright light behind them. He opened his eyes a little bit more, now all he could see were colored blurs that resembled people. Finally his eyes were all the way open, he found that he was sitting in a field of flowers surrounded by his pack. Except Cheza was missing. He sat up in his human form. He looked around then up at Hubb and Cher. "Where's Cheza?" he asked. "I don't know how to say this..." Hubb started. "You won't find her in this world..." Queant interrupted. "Hey old man, I was going to tell him!" Hubb snapped. "You were just standing there with you trap open, someone had to say something... You're never gonna' get anywhere by sugarcoating things like this!" the old man lectured. "Hey guys, I got two questions... One; how are we still alive, and two; how did we get here?" Toboe asked. "Pups..." Tsume replied exasperattedly. "I think it's outside our understanding and not meant for us to know..." Blue continued, "Right, Oujisan?" "Listen Blue, if you're going to call me that then I'm going to start acting like it..." Queant replied, "I'm not your father or anything of the sort... If you need someone to take care of you that badly then ask that fat mutt, he seems to like you..."
While they were all talking it was getting dark and clouds were moving in. "Com'n, I think we should find a cave to sleep in tonight..." Kiba insisted. To the rest of the pack even the humans he was the pack leader. When they found a nice cave they settled in and prepared to go to sleep. It surprised Kiba to no end when he saw Queant, Hubb, and Cher also became wolves. Queant had dull grey fur with numerous scratches all over him, Hubb was a bright gold color with a white belly and a puffy tail, and Cher was a shimmering gold color and she was completely covered in it, like Hubb she had a bushy tail but unlike him her gold fur was far brighter. He watched as his packmates began to fall asleep one by one. Hige and Blue huddled up together just as Hubb and Cher. This made him think of Cheza, but there was something else that came to mind when he thought of her, or rather someone else. He tried hard to remember her as he fell asleep. The next morning he awoke to someone shaking him, when he opened his eyes he saw Hubb back in his human form holding him. "What?" he growled groggily. "There was a cave-in, we're trapped... What should we do?" he replied. "Is incompetence a human trait?" he asked sarcastically. Toboe and Tsume walked up. "This cave goes on for miles, we could try to find a way out... It beats staying here and dying... Again..." Tsume reported. "Alright... Get ready, we're going through the cave..." Kiba announced.
Kiba walked through the cave in silence, but the rest of the pack chatted away. Except Queant he chose to stay close to Kiba. "Why don't you talk with the others?" Kiba asked him at one point. "I don't wanna' talk right now..." the old man replied. So Kiba, Tsume, and Queant all walked in silence while the others chatted and talked away. No one knows what brought it about, but Cher brought up a topic that was off limits. "Hubb, I want to have puppies!" she told him loud enough to cause a cave-in. "Yeah, that's just what we need more little kids runnin' around..." Hige laughed, "Hold off on gettin' any pups until the one we have grows out of his diapers..." "That's not funny, Hige!" Toboe barked. "No, it's hilarious..." the wolf nicknamed 'Whiskers' replied. "I think I'm going to be sick..." Tsume gagged.
Something stopped Hige. "What's wrong?" Blue asked. "I smell fresh air and water..." Hige answered. "Whiskey?" Queant asked. "No alcohol..." the young wolf responded. "Damn..." the eldest cussed. They all followed Hige right out of the cave, in front of them a short distance away was the water, a spring full of fresh and clear water. From a distance they could see a small town. Hige looked at the figure of the distant town with a puzzled face, he couldn't smell any signs of civilization. "Didn't you once say you could smell dog crap from a mile away?" Kiba asked. "Yes," the annoyed wolf replied. "Can't you smell that town down there?" Kiba teased. Hige growled and stormed off followed shortly by Blue. Kiba looked around at the rest of the pack. "Take a break everyone, we'll rest here tonight and start towards town by morning..." he commanded. Toboe just went strait to sleep, Hubb and Cher stayed in one spot overlooking the spring in their human forms talking, Queant and Tsume had gone off hunting, of course Hige and Blue had gone off to be alone, leaving him to his thoughts. His head was swimming, why couldn't he keep focused about the matter at hand? Find Cheza, that should be the only reason behind what he's doing. Yet something from his long journey, something other than Cheza, is calling out to him.