(Apr.20.06)
I got no new reviews for the last chapter. I'm sad...Hopefully I'll get some for this one... I stayed up til 3am typing, all of a sudden the words started flowing so naturally, and I was all: "I should go to bed, but...I...can't!"
Read, enjoy, and review.
II
Kiba knew that seeing things - seeing as in using the eyes you were born with - was only half of true vision. Hige told him that humans thought wolves had special powers. Like with many things, Kiba wasn't sure what to think about that. Humans made his blood boil, anything having to do with them: their prejudices, their thirst for death, their ignorance, their greed, their social structures, their lack of pride...everything. Humans, he knew, saw a lot but never truly saw anything. Truly seeing required instinct; he didn't know what happened to the humans, but somewhere in the long, distant past they lost their vision.
Humans believed whatever garbage they heard, and after a while, they would forget what was true. Everything about humans was warped; clothes, machines, money, and cities weren't natural. Everything the humans touched warped and corrupted. That was a main reason Kiba didn't like his human form. The first time he met Hige, he swore that he would never be like him, that he would never use his human form, but surprisingly enough Hige taught him a valuable lesson. Although being in his human form was always unsettling, he needed it to be around humans. They believed what they saw.
Maybe humans were redeemable. Even if they were, Kiba didn't think he'd given them that chance. They always re-proved themselves to be the scum of the earth.
"Kiba, when are we gonna stop!" Hige panted. It was the dregs twilight, more black then light, and the weather was picking up, throwing hail into their faces instead of the usual helpings of snow and wind. "I mean, there's no fire!" Hige yelped as he almost lost his footing on a patch of ice. "But there's ice! I almost slipped on some ice, Kiba! And that would be a pretty long drop if I actually did fall! Why do you always pick such dangerous places to travel in such dangerous weather! And it's cold weather, too, Kiba! Did you know that? It's really cold out and--"
Kiba stop listening to Hige's continued babble; he would never stop. Besides, there was nothing in sight yet that could be used for shelter, and they couldn't just stop out in the open.
"Toboe!" Tsume called back, shouting above the swirling winds. "Keep up! You're going to fall behind!" He shook his fur to stop the hail from settling. Since when had he become the runt's guardian? Toboe obviously couldn't take care of himself out here, but Tsume didn't have a parental streak in him, or at least that's what he told himself. Besides, Toboe usually just pissed him off, especially when he whined. Tsume hated whining.
"I'm hurrying!" Toboe whined; if he could have stopped and pouted he would have, but it was a little too cold to be dramatic. He willed his legs to move faster, but he couldn't seem to ignore the sting of the ice and winds. How can Kiba and Tsume move so quickly when it's so cold!
How far had it been since they met the last pack? Most of the sharp rocks that had dominated the landscape had disappeared, but now they were climbing some mountain...or a really, really large rock. Toboe sighed, exhausted even thinking about whatever they were trying to climb over. Toboe grumbled and quickened his pace, moving quickly around a rock.
And that's when it happened. He slipped, and try as he might his claws couldn't dig into anything to stop his progress. He felt the ground slid out beneath his back paws, and suddenly found himself clinging to the side of the ravine in his human form. He hadn't even realized there was a drop here. Why am I thinking about this? he thought. Shouldn't I be screaming...or something? And where did all the noise go? Why can I only hear my heartbeat?
His fingers, despite the mere seconds they were exposed in this inclement weather, became frozen and useless. He felt something warm brush them, and looked up, but he had already let go. The last thing he saw was Tsume's hand reaching out to him.
His name died on his lips, the figure vanished, and the memories flashed before his eyes. The familiar, unwanted feeling he had so forcefully pushed away was now coming back tenfold.
He had tried, and failed. He had let another life, that same damned kind of life, slip right through his outstretched fingers. Doubt, guilt, blame, responsibility; he didn't want to feel that right now. He needed to do something; this couldn't end the same way.
Changing into his wolf form, he ripped his way past the other two, ignoring their calls. He charged forward, recovering quickly from sliding on ice patches and jumping deftly over rocks and crevasses. He was going to find a way down, and he was going to find Toboe even if it killed him.
The she-wolf jumped back, heart pounding, already instinctively changed into her human form with her hands braced to defend herself. The shape didn't move, however; it remained perfectly still; a black, misshapen form in the dark gray shadows of snow. She edged closer on her toes, ready to jump back at any time, her breaths coming in at slow intervals.
It was a wolf. She couldn't recognize him by sight, but she had caught his scent before; he was one of the wolves from the other pack. Curious, she moved in closer for a better look, her hands lowering and relaxing, and felt her heart twist, a sensation she wasn't expecting.
He's so young. Why was he out here? She looked up, but unfortunately she couldn't tell the walls of the ravine apart from the blackness of the sky; both were dark and stormy. The scent of the other pack was faint, however; they were definitely somewhere nearby.
Did they leave him here, or did he fall? Her previous indifference to the motives of this foreign pack quickly disintegrated into curiosity. Before, she had only cared about whether or not they knew who she was, but now she wanted to know who they were. What the hell are they doing out here anyway? Nobody travels this way anymore, on foot anyway.
She moved her hand so it hovered over the young wolf's mouth. He's still breathing; quite well actually, considering the fall he just took. She prodded and felt for broken bones before sliding her hand underneath him and hefting the pup's weight onto her shoulders. She continued on her selected course, but changed her goal from escaping to finding shelter.
A nagging voice in the back of her head told her all about how this young wolf was a liability; she would never make it back in time with this weight on her shoulders. However, she knew that if she had left him, she would never be able to rid herself of the guilt; and that would have weighed so much more.
The wind, however, certainly wasn't helping her situation.
"Tsume! Ugh, where the hell do you think he's going?" Hige panted in aggravation. They had all been shocked and stunned by Toboe's fall, but Tsume's silent and violent response made the ordeal rather chaotic.
"I have no idea," Kiba responded frankly, "I've never seen him this way before."
"Yea, well...Tsume's full of surprises," Hige said bitterly. Both he and Kiba were trying to follow the gray wolf, but with the weather it was hard to see him, especially considering how fast Tsume was moving. They were afraid of losing him to the storm as well. How could they find Toboe if they were in danger of killing themselves?
"I think he's trying to find a way to Toboe," Kiba said.
Hige didn't respond right way. He really didn't like guys like Tsume; the arrogant, macho, tough-guy routine wasn't something he found particularly pleasing. But maybe he wasn't giving Tsume a fair chance, not that the guy had ever really offered anything to redeem himself, but maybe there really was more to Tsume than the superficial coating of black leather.
Maybe...but that still didn't explain his reckless behavior, it was too sudden and too much for something like this.
"I'm not sure," he said simply. It was the honest truth.
"I don't think there's any other explanation," Kiba said logically.
Toboe awoke, and the first thing he did was squint his eyes shut again. Too bright. When he opened them again, the blurry vision of a fire came into focus. A fire. Oh, that's nice. It's really warm... And he closed his eyes again in comfort. Wait a minute. And opened them again in alarm, struggling to get up. A hand pressed down on his shoulder, firmly but gently pushing him down. It was easy; he was completely drained of any kind of strength to put up a proper struggle.
"Easy now," said a voice behind him; it was oddly soothing. "I just used a majority of my wrappings on your wounds. If you start bleeding again and I run out there's nothing I can do for you."
"Where am I?" he managed to mumble. He felt like had been thrown down a couple of flights of stairs. And it's really not that inaccurate, he thought bitterly. He had a massive headache.
"In a small cave, kinda far from where I found you, but not really."
"Who are you?" he managed to turn his head to get a look at the owner of the voice. She was a female, older than he, probably Kiba's age; her eyes shone an inhuman blue-green, absorbing the firelight.
"You're a wolf," he said.
"Yep," she answered. "I'd get some rest if I were you. I'm planning on leaving as soon as possible."
"I'm going with you?" he asked, letting himself fall back into his original position.
"I was planning on it. I can't exactly leave you out here like this."
"I have to find my friends," he said, closing his eyes.
"You mean your pack?"
"Yea...Tsume, Kiba, and Hige..."
There was no reply. Toboe slipped peacefully into a deep, dreamless slumber.
"Wake up."
Toboe opened his eyes again. The fire from last night was nothing more than black char, which was currently being buried. The girl from last night was throwing the last bits of wood into a hole and filling it with snow.
"Here, eat this," she said, handing him two long strips of tough, dried meat after she was finished.
"Umm..." Toboe started, holding the food in his hands.
"What is it?" she asked, looking back at him.
"It's just that...well...I don't know you name," he said, embarrassed.
She looked surprised, and then smiled. "It's Caine."
"Oh, I'm Toboe," he said, happier now that they had been formally introduced.
After he finished eating, he followed her out of the small cave, which turned out to be under a bunch of rocks which had fallen just the right way, so that they could be used as a shelter. It was a clear morning, still gray. The winds were calm, but it was still cold.
Toboe took a better look at his rescuer. She had straight light-brown hair, which fell down to the tops of her shoulders in a choppy manner. She was wearing an unusual black body suit, with a thick white stripe going up the sides. The material looked strong and durable, but was ripped in various places with what might have been a knife. She had a thick black belt with pockets and compartments attached; a knife was hanging at her side, and she was wearing black, knee-high, lace-up boots. It was a stark outfit, and Toboe wondered why it looked so much like a uniform.
"Something wrong?" she asked, her hazel eyes looking concerned.
"No," he responded; she didn't seem satisfied with his answer, as she let out a short breath, and scratched the back of her head, as if uncertain.
"You mentioned last night that you needed to find you pack," she said finally.
"Yea. Hige, Tsume, and Kiba."
"Right," she paused. "Do you have any idea where they are?"
Toboe's face fell. "No. I slipped on ice and fell into this ravine. I don't know where they are."
"Don't worry, Toboe," she said with a confident smile. "I'll help you find them. Let's go."
Corny ending, I know... But hey, everyone likes corn! Popcorn, Fritos, Tortillas, corn on the cob...you gotta love it! Now I want Mexican food...
I hope you enjoyed, I worked hard, as I said before. And I updated quickly, too! Yay!
