Disclaimers: I do not own any of these uber cool characters, but I do own this plot and the original characters…like…Kuro. And there shall be others. Oh yes, there shall be others.

Toboe's POV

"I'm sick of it

Every time I say goodbye, I wilt."

When I woke up, Tsume was still asleep, but now there was something wrapped around his head. Had he been bleeding? Sitting up, I felt a blanket slide away from me and I stared down at it blankly. We hadn't had a blanket before…

Kiba knelt down by Tsume and briefly touched his cheek, then turned to me and offered me a candy bar. I took it, confused.

"Where did all this stuff come from?"

"Kuro." He stood and glared at Hige, who was snoring and scratching his butt in his sleep. "Stay away from Hige. He has fleas."

I slowly opened the candy bar, starting to drool. "Who's Kuro?"

"The Wolf from last night."

"How'd you learn his name?" I took a bite of the candy bar and savored the flavor before digging in. It had been so long since I had chocolate… I froze in mid-bite. Isn't chocolate poisonous to dogs? Shrugging, I started eating again. Hige ate five bars, and he wasn't dead.

"He talks in his sleep." Kiba stood, brushing off his pants. "Get me as soon as Tsume wakes up."

"Where are you going?"

"To find the old man and Blue."

"What if someone comes?"

"Kuro's over by the graves. He'll chase anyone who comes away." Kiba ran off.

I went to take a bite of my candy bar before realizing that I ate it all. Standing up, I wondered what to do with the wrapper. Maybe I'd give it to Hige. HE said that he eats them.

Kuro walked over and flipped out his knife. He didn't look that scary, in the daylight, until he flipped out that blade. "Where's Kiba?"

"H-he's out looking for the old man and Blue." When he gave me a strange look, I blushed and looked down. "They've been following us for a while- that's why my wrist is hurt."

He slowly nodded and glanced at Tsume. Leaning down, Kuro gently touched Tsume's cheek, shrugged, and stood.

"Why are you and Kiba always touching Tsume's cheek?"

"Check for a fever," he said simply, and started to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"To get a bandage for you wrist." He kept on walking.

"It's OK for now…" Kuro ignored me and kept going. I kept my distance behind him; that knife was absolutely terrifying. And the way he kept flipping it in and out of its sheath was really scary. "Why are you being so nice to us?"

He didn't answer, just kept walking. He wasn't much of a conversation partner, but I was just happy not to be alone. He could look after Tsume- I wanted to get to know Kuro. I just hoped that he didn't give Tsume fleas.

"Thank you for saving us last night. I know that Kiba didn't say thanks and that Tsume won't. You were really brave."

He glanced back at me, making me slow down for a moment. "You talk a lot."

"When I was alone on the streets, I used to talk to myself to try to keep from getting lonely." I smiled up at him, still trotting along at his heels. "Now I'm just happy to have someone to listen."

Kuro slowly nodded and knelt next to a stone. He dug for a moment before an opening showed and he slipped in, silvery gray fur collecting bits of dust as he did so. I stood, blinking down after him, when his face popped out. "Are you coming?"

"Oh- yeah!" I slipped into the opening and landed face first on the dirt floor. "OUCH!" He could have at least warned me that it was such a short drop…

Kuro turned away and rummaged through a drawer. "Show me your wrist."

I really wished that I could see where his knife was. Slowly, I held out my wrist. "Kiba wrapped it with Hige's wifebeater before he got fleas, but I still don't think it was very clean…"

Kuro snorted and unwrapped it, making me twitch. It was still really sore, and I told him so. "Get over it."

"But it really hurts!"

He tossed Hige's wifebeater over his shoulder and started pouring something over my wrist. It smelt horribly, and stung terribly; tears started in my eyes and I let out a whimper, squirming. Kuro gave me another strange look and took out a clean white bandage. "You don't even try to hide the way you feel."

"Nope- why would I?" The bandage was crisp and clean feeling.

"People will use your emotions against you." He tied the bandage and turned to another drawer.

I rubbed my wrist and wiped my eyes, letting out a sniffle. "Do you hide how you feel?"

Kuro didn't answer. Turning, he tossed a water bottle at me and plopped into an old looking chair in the corner. His dark hair fell partially in his face as he curled up, letting out a soft sigh. He looked so sad, curled up all alone in that corner. I knew that he had to be thinking about his old pack.

"You could join our pack now, if you want." I watched him helplessly from the corner of the den. I wondered if he felt as lonely as I used to feel.

"You four aren't a pack, not yet." He turned his head to gaze at the top of a drawer. "You don't trust each other at all."

"I trust them." I don't know why I felt the need to defend our little group, but it seemed like Kuro was being unfair. We only met each other a day or two ago, though it seemed like we knew each other for a lifetime.

"One person isn't a pack."

"Do YOU trust me?"

He didn't answer, yet again, then reached over and grabbed the picture.

"Guess not…" I murmured. There was a silence. "Why do you have that white spot on your chest?"

He didn't respond (SURPRISE!) but started a tiny smile. It was the first time I had seen anything like happiness on his face.

"Is it just a spot you were born with?" Something about that mark reminded me of something very far away…something like a dream you had when you were little that changed your life in a way that you can't describe. "Or did it get burnt, or…"

"I've always had it." He set the picture in his lap and kept looking at it. "A Wolf that I met with green eyes told me that it proves my heart is pure, or something like that." Kuro glared up at me. "She was suffering from blood loss. It was mindless prattling."

"Green eyes?" I repeated, my heart starting to pound. "When did you meet her?"

His eyes grew cold and he tensed. "On the way to Hell."

Every time he said that word I felt like crying. What could be so horrible in Hell to make Kuro so…distant? "What do you see in Hell? What happens?"

Kuro stood up and put the picture away, grumbling something about how Kiba was sick for leading a pup to Hell. "Go get Hige and Tsume. The old man is coming."

"How do you know?" I jumped and whirled around as Kiba leapt into the den.

"He's coming. We have to run." Kiba's eyes met with Kuro's. "You're coming with us."

"Let me kill him." Kuro said it plainly and simply, like he didn't know any other way for things to happen.

"NO!" I looked at him in a mixture of shock and horror. Killing people is wrong, no matter what they did to you. "He hasn't even SEEN you…"

"He would shoot at me anyway." Kuro didn't even turn his head to look at me. "Is he a soldier?"

"No." Kiba turned away. "He's an old man who has nothing left to live for. Don't kill him."

Kuro started to growl, but followed Kiba out anyway. I skittered after them, hoping that Kuro didn't try to kill the old man. The sunlight burnt my eyes when we emerged from the den, but I could clearly see a figure in front of me. A smile spread across my face.

"Tsume! You're alright!"

"Let's go," he growled, glaring at Kuro. "Who are you?"

Kiba turned to Kuro. "Which way should we go?"

"West." Kuro looked at Hige in disgust as the other Wolf scratched frantically at his ear.

"Hey, if ya got an itch, scratch it." Hige grinned crookedly at us. "Don't run off again, Kid. We didn't know where—"

Kuro slammed Hige to the ground as the old man fired at us, appearing from nowhere. "Shut up and run."

Blue lunged at Tsume from the side. Tsume's eyes flashed and he sent her flying.

"Come on, Tsume!" I beckoned at him desperately, but Blue wouldn't leave him alone. There was no way that Tsume would get anywhere with her attacking him, and I was scared that he would hurt her. Swallowing hard, I forced my legs to move; everything was a blur flying past me as I charged towards Blue. She was in mid-leap when I hit her. Something about flinging myself into harm's way for Tsume seemed mildly familiar, and I had the sense that I should have died before…

"Toboe!" Tsume snatched me away from her before she could recover. "You idiot—What the hell were you thinking!" He seemed kinda scared.

"Y-you couldn't run if she kept attacking you…I wanted to help." It only then hit me that I had actually put myself in danger. It had seemed like it was nothing more than a memory from before. "That was really scary, Tsume."

I'm glad that I wasn't expecting him to comfort me. "Stop complaining and run." We had caught up with Hige, who was at the back of the group. Tsume easily passed him and caught up with Kiba and Kuro.

Hige glanced at me. "You didn't hurt her, did you?"

"I'm too weak. I couldn't hurt her if I tried." I wished I hadn't hit her so hard. My wrist was hurting again. "Do we have to run so fast?"

A bullet hit right behind us. "Yeah, I think that'd be a good idea to keep at this pace." Hige continued to run. He wasn't running like he normally did—most of the time, it was more of an energetic waddle. Now, he was actually running, like trotting along at a fast pace. "Come on, Kid! Get moving!"

"I'm tired!" I really was. My adrenaline rush from before was gone. I wasn't as strong or fast or brave as they were. Why did they keep pushing me like this? They knew I couldn't keep up…

I wasn't expecting the drop. I didn't even know that I was running up hill, though I guess that would explain why I was so tired. A yelp popped out of my mouth as I went flying down the hill, Kiba, Kuro, and Tsume white and gray blurs as I flew past. "OW!" My head hit a sign when I reached the bottom; pain wracked my head and wrist. Did any of them care?

"What's it say?" Tsume demanded, glaring at the huge half-buried sheet of metal after glancing at me. I guess that was as much concern that HE was going to show.

I scooted out of the way and turned, rubbing my head with my good hand. "There's dirt all over it. It'll take forever to clean it all off."

"Shut the hell up." Tsume started scratching at the caked on mud, throwing the chunks in every which way.

Kuro nudged past Hige and looked at Tsume, unimpressed. "Stop."

Kiba glanced at me, looking mildly concerned, then looked back up the hill. "They aren't following. We should keep moving."

"We could just roll the Pup, he moves faster that way." Hige knelt down next to me and grinned. "You alright, Pup?" He scratched his butt again. I didn't know that you could get fleas on your butt.

I scooted back a bit before answering. "I'm alright."

"Stop," Kuro repeated, sounding annoyed. "You're wasting your time."

"What does it say?" Kiba asked Kuro, eyes sharp.

"Like he knows." Tsume stopped and wiped off his hands. The word was in big capital letters.

HELL