Disclaimer: I don't own Wolf's Rain. Paahaha. I'd love to, but I don't. –sighs dreamily-

Before the Flower's Call

Alone. It was a word that the young wolf hated. A feeling he dreaded. A sensation he feared. But it was the only way to describe what he was at the current moment. The clank of his bracelets was lost in the gentle thunder of the waterfall as he limped from the water he had been half lying in. He was cold, tired, hungry and injured…and afraid.

The moon overhead blazed white, bathing the tops of the trees in silver light, showering the flowers and dazzling on his brown and umber pelt. Its shattered reflection sparkled with the secrets of spirits and stars on the cold waters of the pool that spread like liquid diamond from the curtain of river water. The dark grass that grew sparsely along the banks of the river melted into soft forest loam as trees stretched up from the earth, prisoners of the ground stretching up to touch the moon.

Toboe looked up miserably. A subconscious self told him that it wouldn't be white for long. The young wolf sighed and dragged himself laboriously towards the forest, whimpering occasionally. His chest hurt with every shallow breath that he took, and his right hind leg throbbed as blood sluggishly leaked from a deep cut around the ankle.

He wanted to seek shelter from the outside, who knew what was out there, but he hadn't had all his senses knocked from his brain. Moonlight equaled strength…he looked up, making sure he was in plain sight of the moon's serene eye and then lay down in the wet, short grass, trying to get comfortable. It hurt so badly to move…it had been a fire, but it was like there was a bunch of burning hot embers in his chest, the flame intensifying with every breath.

The young wolf closed his amber eyes, bright with pain and tried to think. Where were Kiba and the others? Were the all right? Would they come for him? What if they thought he was dead…? Resigning himself to a despondent night, he put his braceletted paw over his eyes and wished for sleep to release him from the agony of his hurts, if only for a little while…

"I don't care if it scars!" snarled the large gray wolf, his yellow green eyes smoldering with pain and irritation. "I want to keep moving. What if he's—"

He stopped himself with a grunt as his fire and ice lanced through his shoulder, forcing him to give into his weakness and lay back down on the rock he was trying to sleep on. Besides, he barely caught himself behaving like a worried mother hen. That just wouldn't do. Kiba was positioned down on the loamy ground, his golden eyes closed. Hige was next to him, on his back with his hands behind his head. Getsuei was pointedly curled up with his back to Hige, under the overhang Tsume's rock created, trying to keep Marel warm. The old gray wolf was shivering badly, her blind eyes shut tight.

"We don't even know if he's alive or not," Hige said pessimistically, staring up at the sky, a sigh in his somewhat scratchy voice.

"Dammit, we'd feel it if it came to that, Hige," Getsuei snorted without turning to look at the hefty brown wolf. "Start talking like that and you might as well be a dog for all it's driving me crazy." Marel stirred weakly and growled, "Getsuei, let me out. I want to feel the moonlight on my fur. It'll do me more good than you caging me under this stupid rock. Move. And you two, stop bickering for once. It's making my head hurt."

Without waiting for Getsuei to move, Marel forced her way past the gray and cream lupine, staggering over to a patch of grass that was bathed silver by the moonlight and promptly flopped down into it, closing her blind eyes. "And the likeliest thing to happen is we'll find the pup in a day or two. Don't ask me anything else," her words turned into a growl just as Tsume started to open his mouth. "I don't know anything else, so don't badger me!"

Tsume was struck dumb. The old wolf wasn't even looking in his general direction. How the hell had she known that he was just about to say something? Hell, being blind didn't seem to hamper Marel one bit, if anything, it seemed as if she could see farther than a normal wolf. He looked questioningly in Hige's direction, but the big brown wolf merely shrugged, looking as clueless and awed at the same time as he did.

The big wolf grunted and moodily set his slender head on his paws. All was quiet after that, but he kept flicking his long tail back and forth. After a while, he closed his eyes in attempt to sleep, and just before he relaxed, he thought he heard a snigger that sounded horribly like Hige. His eyes flew open and his head jerked up as he swiveled his head in the direction of the sound, just to see a bunch of half-asleep wolves.

Dismissing it as paranoia, Tsume again tried to tempt sleep into taking him, but it stubbornly refused to come. Looks like someone waylaid the sandman, he groused inwardly, unaware of the things lurking out in those woods.

Several miles from where the wolves were, a subtle crackling and crunching could be heard—the destruction of foliage. Crack, crunch. The delicate rustle of shrubbery brushing against cloth and armor. The heavy breathing of the troops as they marched through the dense forest, the river the only indication of where they were supposed to go.

The leader of this patrol was a tall, thin man, whose face was hidden except for his dark blue eyes that glittered with malice. It was similar to what a burglar would wear, but made of an odd, shiny material. He smiled behind the mask. Those wolves couldn't be dead, so their search would not be in vain. Sheshkemana had finally blown her top—no one was sure for her sanity anymore. She was bent on retrieving the wolves, but she wanted one in particular. She had described the lupine form to be a gangly, skinny pup with a couple of silver bracelets around his right forelimb. When he was trying to disguise himself as a human, she described him as a boy that appeared no older than fourteen or so, with longish brown hair, odd, goldish colored eyes—but the bracelets were a dead giveaway. Another tidbit of information he had received from one of the soldiers, Maron or something, was that the big gray wolf with the scar on his chest had a brotherly affection towards the pup. Huh. Like they needed to know something as irrelevant as that. Well, that soldier wouldn't be spouting any useless rubbish anymore. The dead kept whatever foolishness they knew in life.

"Commander Dorjan. How much longer? We've been at this for almost two days!" One of the soldiers gasped, letting go of his composure to brave the wrath of their ruthless leader. Fool. He'd be dealt with another day. Dorjan slowly turned around, his odd eyes narrowed into inscrutable slits. He almost grinned when he saw the troops cringe when he turned his dark gaze on them.

"We'll rest here for a night. But if those wolves get away, it'll be your heads."

A/N: Feeeheeehee! First chapter of my second story! Hawr. Lonegrey, your review on the last chapter of Before the Red Moon tickled me pink. I feel so loved. Thank you very, very much. D.C., I'm glad to hear that silence. xD. Rae, Cring White Wolf, Wolf Called Killer and Chocolate Chan, thank you also. Tweak! Again you make me crack up with your reviews D. Don't worry, I will bring you guys more with this sequel, and don't mind the stupid title…please. I hope you guys like the opening of this story. Can't wait to hear your opinions.