Disclaimer: I don't own Wolf's Rain or any of its characters.
Warning: Three separate couples make out in this chapter, which includes het, cross-breeding, and shounen-ai. Also depending on your point of view implied twincest.
Author's Note: I am truly sorry for the long wait. I had the idea for this story and originally was not going to write it. But it was all I could think about so I changed my mind. Now I realize that what Ii had planned to happen wont take that long so I am just going to finish it up before I write for anything else there is about three chapters left and they should be about as long as this one. Happy reading!
Na
Rakuen Where are You?
Chaputa-shi
Reddish fur bristled, and amber eyes lowered in frustration. The young wolf had been unable to make a kill for a week and a week ago was his first kill. Tsume had tried to reassure him that it was fine, and he was making progress, Blue would say the same. Hige would laugh at him, and than go make quick work of hunting supper. Cheza just smiled, Toboe was sure she didn't understand, and Kiba did nothing.
"Perhaps, we should hunt as a pack. I mean we all know that our instincts tell us to live like that," said Tsume, once he swallowed the last of the meat that Hige had procured.
Hige growled as Kiba rejected the idea, "What about Cheza? That's why we fight our instincts, because we have Cheza to worry about, and before that there was Toboe."
"I never needed protection," grumbled the young wolf, stretching his bounds to curl up near the stormy wolf.
The tan wolf huffed, and his mate glared before she turned to the youngest and oldest wolves, "I think it is a wonderful idea."
"When we stop at dawn, we'll all hunt," Kiba stated, and everyone grew quiet and began to prepare to go to sleep. And as per the usual, three wolves curled around the only human among them, and offset from the rest of the group were the polar opposites; sky and earth, oldest and youngest, innocent and seasoned. And yet this is how the group enjoyed being.
As the sun made its slow sweep through the heavens tired golden-brown eyes refused to close. Nuzzling his muzzle deeper into the grey fur beside him he tried to block out the dancing sun shadows, as the wind blew the trees.
"Toboe you need to sleep, we will be traveling in a few hours," whispered the commanding voice of the scarred ookami.
"Tsume, I…" the reddish wolf hesitated.
The elder sighed, "Don't listen to Chubby, he is a bastard. You are doing great, for living all this life as a human. I mean you don't lag behind, your stealth, and speed have increased. You just can't expect to be the best at everything after only a week."
"I don't think I have ever heard you speak so much, Tsume," the elder huffed at the comment, "no I am serious Tsume. You have changed a lot since we found each other again, and I think… I think it is a good thing."
"Don't think to much on it kid," replied Tsume, "do you think we could go to sleep now? Besides I think I might have a way to help you improve while we go at a human pace for Cheza."
The dusty wolf nodded and curled farther into his mentor before whispering, "Arigatou Tsume, it really means a lot to me." Blissful sleep then claimed the two ookami, until the sun's rays began to deplete from the world.
Once everyone was roused, it was re-decided by Kiba that Blue would stay with Cheza and the girls would prepare a fire, since Cheza was running out of food and so it was decided they would cook some of their meat for their human friend.
Four wolves stalked into the dense forest underbrush in search of their meal for the evening. Snow and sand led the way followed by rain clouds and red dust colored wolves. Silently they moved until the alpha and the wolf by his side froze, up ahead in a small clearing was a doe grazing.
The first two wolves went toward the left, and the other two toward the right. After crawling around the edge of the tree line Tsume paused, turned and stared almost glared at the younger wolf. It was a look the plainly stated the Toboe should stay right where he was and attack when he saw the older grey attack and only then.
Golden-brown eyes watched as his mentor stalked further around the clearing. But his attention was drawn back to the doe, when he heard a snarling growl. Looking diagonally across the clearing white fur was pulled back to show the off white teeth, and the yellow eyes burned with impending death, as the wolf stalked towards the frightened deer.
The doe's head franticly moved from side to side searching for anymore hidden danger, and at that moment across from young Toboe entered an equally menacing figure of Hige. At the sight of the second wolf the doe turned to run in the opposite direction. Of which a snarling golden eyed mentor stood.
Watching the unfolding scene Toboe was confused- it was his first group hunt. He felt he should be frightened of his friends as the doe was. But there was an adrenaline spike in his body, hot blood racing through his system. Without a thought the second after Tsume entered the clearing, reddish lips curled back in a very intimidating growl (for one such as Toboe).
The doe stood frozen, her heart speeding at an insane rate, and Toboe could hear it, feel it and taste it. Even though there were gaping holes in the offence of the wolves, for there were only four of them, the doe had already lost in her extra few seconds to hesitation.
White flew at the doe's neck and she reared onto her hind legs, turning body to the left nearly escaping the maul of the alpha, but right into the jaws of Hige. Blood flew as the teeth sunk into her flesh. But her body's momentum, made her nearly dead self fall limply although kicking atop the one who drew first blood.
From the mangle and tangle of predator and prey, surrounded by three snarling wolves came two noises; the stilling of a heart and a yelp. The second noise told the others that Hige was in such pain that he had had to let go her throat.
Before the doe could comprehend that she was in a way let free, Kiba latched on to her neck the other to at her weekly protesting legs as they hauled their meal off their friend.
And than as abruptly as the rush had began to pound in the blood and ears of the young wolf it fled, with the halting of her beating heart. Glossy eyes had shown the last burst of fear behind the sheen of cold death.
Hige limped onto all fours and yelped favoring his left front paw. The three others grabbed legs in their mauls and began to haul the meal back to Cheza and Blue. Meeting the girls and a fire that was lit with waterproof matches Kiba was sure to pack. They began to cut the meat out to cook for Cheza, before Kiba took his fill, followed by Tsume, Hige and Blue, and then Toboe.
With a clean carcass, Kiba and Tsume began digging up dirt, flinging it upon the fire in preparation of moving on in their journey. Said preparations were halted by a howling yelp of Hige who stood in human form cradling his right wrist to his chest.
Once his whimpering ceased and he was met with questioning glances he sighed, "I can't walk on this paw since I sprained it. And so I thought, you know, humans walk on two legs so I could give my paw a rest if I walked as a human. What I didn't think of was the pain of sprained bones shifting from ookami to ningen."
There was silence, what could anyone say? This was easily the stupidest idea that Hige had ever come up with and yet it made sense in some weird sort of way. He as a wolf figured a way to get off his hurt paw, albeit he now was essentially a human. He wasn't going to slow them down, since initially Cheza did that.
So silence was the answer, and everyone continued to prepare. Blue checked Hige's wrist to be sure that it was truly only a sprain. Everyone seemed to pause when Tsume himself changed to human form right before Cheza put her pack on so they could leave.
"Cheza do you mind if I have your pack?" asked the stormy wolf.
An equally dangerous weather wolf growled, "And what do you want it for?"
Motioning for the youngest to change his form Tsume calmly stated, "I only wish for Toboe to carry it."
Kiba thought a moment than nodded and Cheza smiled, "This one would be delighted for Toboe to take the pack." Confused amber eyes took the pack that was held towards him, but Claw removed the pack from his grasp and adjusted the straps so they were the longest they could be.
Taking the pack from his mentor Howling put it on to see that it hung loosely off his shoulders. Once more at his summonses Toboe changed his form along with the grey wolf, making the loose straps fit comfortable against his new form. The others decided they would travel with their respected mates in a more bipedal form the band of six was off.
They easily fell into either silence or a conversation with the person traveling next to them. Kiba led the way through the forest his hand slipped into Cheza's in an easy and comfortable silence. Tsume had forced Toboe to keep pace with him behind their pack leader, and farther back was the midnight wolf and her sandy partner.
Amber eyes flicked from the path they were traveling and the ookami beside him, after a hesitant moment he spoke, "Tsume, why am I wearing this pack?"
"It is a human idea I must admit, but it will help you become stronger and faster," replied the grey wolf.
"How?"
"If you get used to the extra weight, when the pack is removed it will be easier for you to move. So for each day that you can keep pace with me the next day I'll put a rock in the pack to make it heavier. O-ke?"
The young Howling nodded and than adverted his eyes while mumbling, "Tsume can I ask you something, that confused me earlier in the day?" the elder of the two huffed, "I mean you won't laugh or call me stupid like Hige, no matter what, right?"
Gold eyes looked at the reddish wolf, and scuffed, "Kid when do I laugh?"
"You're right. So when we were hunting why weren't you in Hige's place? Aren't you second in command?"
Tsume thought for a moment, before deciding how to answer, "Yes I am the beta ookami in our rag-tag pack, and you are also correct I would normally have a more leading position in a hunt. But you are mine, and therefore I needed to help lead you on your first group hunt."
Slowly the dusty wolf processed this information, remembering some things he learned in school, "So if Kiba is alpha, and you're beta than I am epsilon? Since Hige is gamma and Blue I am figuring is delta."
Claw sighed, "Not exactly, you see Kiba is the pack leader the alpha male and anyone could challenge him for that position but we all know I am the only one that has a chance of killing him so I fall as the beta. And if you wish to label us as such than Hige is gamma, but Blue is the gamma male's mate, so than you are delta."
"But before we weren't so regimented, why now?"
"Before, the nearing end of the world caused our instinct to live, to over ride all our other instincts of pack hierarchy."
"I'm the pup though, right? So shouldn't I be eating first or after Kiba since I need more food?"
Shaking his head Tsume smirked, "Remember you didn't want to be considered a pup, you killed that deer a week ago confirming your spot. Perhaps if I explain the hierarchy better you'll understand. Males fall into this system, and female's do only when mated or they kill a mated female. Cheza for example is the alpha female, just as Blue is the gamma female. Now you, you are a special case as a pup you would follow your parents but you don't have any. So I took you as mine. So while you are the delta male, you are also something not exactly but akin to beta mate."
The reddish-brown head nodded, "But how am I yours exactly?"
Gold eyes stared off in the distance as the ookami thought on this question. How was Toboe his, exactly? Well now he knew that it could not be a father-son relationship since Howling as a recognized male would no longer be his. It would seem that the sibling relationship was also scratched. Tsume new he was a role model, a mentor but he was also more; was he in love with Toboe as a mate or friend? And that question he could not answer at this time, all he was sure of was that Toboe was and will always be his, "I cannot explain it any other way than that you are mine."
"That is fine, I don't mind. But you are not mine unless we are mates, right?" answered Toboe uncertainly, the elder nodded his head, Howling mumbled one final comment to the subject not expecting Claw to hear, "I wouldn't mind being mated."
With that they fell into a silence not uncomfortable, but there was still tension and unanswered questions in the air. The grey wolf tried to discern the last comment said. He was sure that Toboe did not completely understand the concept of mates or at least male mates. But neither was the young wolf looking for an easy way of climbing the ladder.
As the night progressed they began to scale an ever increasing incline, and near dawn they happened by a set of livestock put out to pasture. This time Hige stayed behind with Cheza, as the other four crawled under or climbed over the electric wire that caged in the sheep, and goats. It was a free for all, but still a challenge. Toboe came out very happily with his own full grown healthy sheep.
Proud of his meal the reddish-brown wolf dragged his kill to a small outcropping of rocks that the ookami had decided to use as shelter from irate farmers. Hige who was weary about transforming back to his wolf form had bit more trouble tearing into the meat than usual. Although the sharpness of his teeth did not deteriorate, his I-teeth were no longer elongated and of course he had no claws and only the use of three paws.
With Hige in a foul mood, it meant simply one thing he would make more jokes and complain about his hunger. One thing in particular that bothered him was a very happy and proud young wolf that seemed to put everyone in a good, except Hige who scuffed, "So what runt, you caught the runt of their pack. Not like it was a hard kill."
Toboe frowned and lowered his head losing the appetite he had had for the second half of his lamb. He immediately walked around so that Tsume separated him from the rest of the group and curled into the grey fur.
Gold eyes glared at the tan wolf, he knew how hard Howling had worked for his meal. Once he had his own sheep, he had watched the brown wolf. Toboe had ignored the sickly lamb, which lay in one corner about the size of the one he had killed. He had also had a few chances for a larger kill, but Toboe's eyes weren't bigger than his stomach so he took a proportionally correct meal. He had every reason to be proud.
When the sun began to set again and the pack of six rose from their slumber, Tsume placed a few rocks into the pack on the young wolf's back. Going once more to the pastor for their meal, Toboe stated he was not hungry and wished to spend time with Cheza, while Hige brooded. At these observations even Fang glared at the tan wolf.
The next few days seemed to go as such, although the brown wolf no longer skipped a meal. Once most of the pain was gone in his right wrist Hige decided that the bone should heal in the form that it was injured. With a painful although silent transformation the pack continued to walk down the small mountain riddled with livestock.
It was at this moment when everyone seemed to be thankful for the livestock they had feasted on that they heard voices. Kiba immediately slinked off to hide Cheza behind some thick brambles.
"There have been numerous farmers saying that wolves have been getting at their livestock," said the first voice.
Another snorted, "So that is why we are here."
There was the sudden rumble of a machine from what they could tell a 4-wheeler, before a third voice sounded, "Yep, we get to chase them, catch them, and tag them."
Four men on two 4-wheelers came into sight and the for remaining wolves turned to bound down the mountain.
"Take off the pack Toboe! It is slowing you down!" growled the grey wolf.
Whimpering Toboe replied, "I can't without stopping"! At those words a tranquilizer dart hit a tree trunk only a hair above his shoulder, Howling almost froze.
"Damn it Runt than don't run in a straight line zigzag" growled Hige!
The wolves sped through the forest and down the mountain side. They tried their best to be sporadic, purposefully bound over fallen logs and going under the thick underbrush that was easy passage for wolf and not man. Keeping close together but not too close and never on the barley beaten path.
Slowly the decline ceased and the trees thinned opening up into a desert. Dashing into the open they knew that the dessert was no place for wolves but they had braved it once before and they would do it again. About six meters from the forest's edge was a cluster of rocks which they all dove behind.
Panting Tsume changed to his human form the perfect disguise, not long after that the other three joined him. The youngest was having a hard time catching his breath with the bipedal lung makeup, he coughed a few times and quickly the eldest gathered him in his lap and against his chest to quell the noise.
They could tell that the men had hit sand and now they turned off their machines to look around the dessert. After long agonizing moments two more sets of footprints exited the forest, the distinct smell of hana no tsuki marked the new comers as Kiba and Cheza.
"Hey kid!" said one of the men.
Kiba scuffed, "Are you talking to me?"
"What are you kids doing out here there is not a town anywhere near here," said another of the pursuers.
"This one is watching stars with friends," answered Cheza.
There was a pause, where the hunters were gauging the answer they received. Kiba decided to clarify, "See my girlfriend had to go to the bathroom, so I went with her to make sure she got in and out of the woods all right. We came here to stargaze with friends, they are just behind those rocks. Hey, Hige, Blue, Tsume, Toboe stop looking at the sky, I don't want to be interrogated by these men myself."
Not being able to persuade Toboe to move out from behind the rock, the tan wolf walked out holding the hand of his mate. Blue smiled as they walked closer to the men and their alpha, "Toboe fell asleep on Tsume, but the later will tolerate you if you do not yell."
"He'll tolerate us?" said the first man who had spoken, a dark haired man.
Hige chuckled, "Tsume doesn't talk much, and if you threaten Toboe he'll rip your throat out, even if it is only the kid's sleep that is threatened."
"Well yes," spoke up the fourth member a female, "than why don't we all discuss quietly what you are doing here." Everyone walked around to the other side of the large rock pile, to be met with the sight of Tsume and Toboe. The former in his leather outfit sitting in the sand and with the slighter form curled in his lap. The brown mop of hair was buried in the crook of the silver haired man's neck. Claw's right arm came up to stroke the reddish hair and further obscure the face of the wide awake Howling.
The black haired man, seemingly the boss began, "So tell us who you are, and what you are doing here."
"I'm Hige and this is my ma- my girlfriend Blue," Hige began, "you already met Kiba and his girl Cheza, the man clad in leather is the ever stoic Tsume and… ano…"
"His boyfriend," supplied Blue quickly added with a slight blush and a glare from cold gold eyes.
The light brunette nodded, "Yes, his boyfriend the shy little Toboe."
"Last names?" questioned one of the two identical blonds.
From the collection of a look of utter confusion the other half of the twin groaned, "They're from that village where the people don't have last names, or birth records. And aren't they all outdoors types that go on those extreme camping trips without food for weeks. I mean look they do only have one backpack."
The female looked closely to the couple curled up on the ground, "But do they condone pedophilia? You look ten years older than him."
Tsume growled and forgot himself for a moment, "I am not even four yet!" That was when he found himself and cursed silently. He was waiting for the pain and it was becoming increasingly harder for Toboe 'to stay asleep'.
One of the blonds was now ecstatic, "You're a leap year baby, so you are turning four in February, but you don't look almost sixteen."
There was a long pause before Kiba answered in a white lie, "Blue is the oldest actually she is 21, Hige is eighteen, I am seventeen, and Cheza and Toboe are fourteen." At the sound of his name the youngest perked up a bit, before realizing his mistake. This seemed to make all the wolves shift uncomfortably, their first mistake trying to talk their way out of this confrontation, and their mistakes just kept getting them in deeper.
To the hunters it seemed that Tsume was trying to sooth the boy in his lap back to sleep with shushing noises, really the elder wolf was whispering in the younger's ear, "You'll have to 'wake up' now, don't forget you are really shy."
The brunette nodded, making it look like he was burying into the heat more before he slowly pulled away and smiled at the grey haired wolf. Looking around he found the eyes of strangers looking at him intently. Jumping a little Toboe blushed and looked down and once he 'realized' he was on his 'boyfriends' lap in front of strangers he blushed more and buried his head back into the crook of Tsume's neck.
Just barely above a whisper they heard Toboe mutter, "Who are they Tsume?"
Said wolf glared at each of the four hunters while clenching the hand that was not wrapped around the young wolf in the sand. A growl rose, "Some sort of police I assume, they think we are suspicious."
Toboe giggled slightly, he found the stormy wolf's tense body funny, especially when he could feel the muscles tensing. Whispering again, "Do they think you're a pedophile?" the elder only nodded, making Toboe pull away a bit and smile, "I told you that you should dye your hair if you wanted people to stop saying that. But than again I like your stormy colored hair." And that was true Toboe liked Tsume's fur it was soft, warm and was uniquely Tsume.
"Something is wrong here, you kids are weird," stated the dark haired boss.
The sandy wolf growled and hit his head with the palm of his hand, "Are you guys stupid? Isn't it obvious that Blue and I are the only ones who like to speak? I mean Cheza has her speech thing, the runt over there is extremely shy, and Kiba and Tsume just like not talking unless with their respected partners. Would it make you feel better if we told you that we were having a make out party? Because that is all teenagers do right?-"
To stop the rant coming from her mate's mouth, and following his stated example, Blue pressed her lips to his. Almost immediately he responded to her, and as usual forgot that they were not alone. Pulling the midnight wolf flush against his body he swiped his tongue across her lips and into her mouth.
Looking around at the remaining wolves and human, expectantly, they noticed that the two stoic wolves glared at the happy couple, Cheza looked almost inquisitively at sand and midnight, and a blush of deep red spread across Toboe's cheeks while he was fiddling with the collar of Tsume's leather vest.
"This one will kiss Kiba," said the albino maiden turning to face her boyfriend. It was not that she didn't understand what she stated, for Fang had explained such things to her after the first time she had seen the other couple make out. She had believed that this sort of thing was private and since they were never alone she didn't expect anything. But now that she saw Hige and Blue she knew it was fine, and she wanted to experience the intimate moment.
Blue eyes widened at his girlfriend comment as he looked into her red orbs, brushing a hand through her pink hair the white wolf slightly shook his head no. The young maiden just lifted her head and pressed her lips to his. Copying what she had seen Hige do; she shyly flicked her tongue against Kiba's lip. Realizing that Cheza would not stop until they had copied the other couple, the white wolf took the lead. Softly and gently he coaxed the maiden into a loving kiss. Although unlike the other two they pulled away from each other after a long moment.
Eyes were now focused on the supposed gay couple, Tsume growled low in his throat and shook his head, "Toboe is shy, and you expect me to kiss him in front of anyone? Besides we are both guys you'll probably get offended and yell at us."
One of the blond twins took a step forward, "Come on it is just one little kiss, besides you two are cute it would be totally hot." His brother swiftly elbowed him in the ribs before glaring at him.
"Tsume, if we kiss will they leave us alone?" murmured the brunette. The blond that had previously expressed his interest nodded his head receiving a glare from his boss.
Toboe blushed deeper looking up at the elder wolf through his eyelashes. It captivated the older wolf making him ask all the same questions he had been trying to answer. His lips suddenly met the youth's own soft lips, without the stormy wolf realizing his head had moved to meet the pups. A human kiss something that neither wolf had experienced before that moment. Deciding to test this new experience Tsume nibbled lightly on the younger's bottom lip before flicking his tongue across the closed teeth of the reddish-brown wolf. Toboe opened his mouth slightly his own shy tongue meeting the elder's tongue, before they closed the hair of space between them. Claw's tongue swirled around Howling's mouth before meeting and twisting with the other's tongue.
The questioning kiss between the two males was even enough to catch the attention of the ever sexually charged Hige and the object of his lust. Eight pairs of eyes watched the two wolves in their first kiss. Pulling away slowly their tongues flicked across each other one last time until they noticed the eyes watching them. Toboe automatically blushed and buried his head into Tsume's chest.
"O-ke you were right bro, that was hot," commented the twin that had earlier elbowed his brother.
The boss of the humans crossed his arms and huffed, "We have wasted too much time on these kids already. We need to head back to the woods and find those wolves."
There were very few complaints as the four humans headed back to their four-wheelers. The pack stayed behind the rocks silent until the rumble of human machines were a distant hum.
"We are going to have to travel through the dessert since they won't look for us here. We'll sleep here for the remainder of the evening and at dawn we'll continue our journey. This means we can't hunt until we are on the other side so we will have to bath nightly in the moonlight. How is Cheza's food supply?" stated the white wolf before he laid down in the sand.
Picking up the bag and searching through it Tsume stated, "A box off granola bars and a couple of liters of water." The grey wolf than moved to all fours and curled up between the open desert and Toboe.
"Good," replied the alpha male. Everyone settled in the cool sand to sleep for the remainder of the night.
Author's Note: Based off the information I gathered from absoluteanime .com their ages go as such: Tsume is 3.5 (looks 24), Blue is 3 (looks 21), Hige is 2.75 (looks 18), Kiba is 2.5 (looks 17), Toboe is 2 (looks 14), and Cheza is 13 (but Kiba was afraid they would think him a pedophile as well; so he lied, again).
All reviews are welcome. I hope that I do not have a long wait on the next chapter.
Na