I just thought I'd mention this: I know that the human form of the wolves is an illusion, but I'm going to use it as two separate forms, wherein the human form is tangible as well as the wolf form, only because it will suit the story better, being an action fic and all.
(omg, remember that scene where Kiba bit the guy in human form, but he had wolf fangs! That was sooooo awesome!)
III
Caine looked around, her eyes narrowing as she surveyed her surroundings. Something felt...wrong, but everything was fine. There were no markings in the snow, no distinct scents in the air; nothing she saw spoke of danger.
That was the unnerving part.
Toboe was stumbling behind her on a tricky slope; her ears recording the steps he made; the keen, passive method ensuring his safety. She kept him at close range, setting a pace he could keep up with. She was unsure with how to deal with him, as she was unfamiliar in relating with younger and weaker wolves. They talked a bit, mostly about nothing, but sometimes about something. He was handling the cunning terrain with crude skill. That at least eased the she-wolf's nerves a bit.
She didn't smell anything from the other pack. The one Toboe insisted was his pack was faint, a moving scent. She hoped her thoughts weren't true. But what was this feeling! She shook her head angrily, her clipped hair falling back into her face messily.
"What's wrong?"
Caine jumped at the voice. She hadn't realized Toboe had caught up with her. "Nothing," she said quickly, and jumped down the small distance to avoid anymore questions.
It suddenly hit her, right before she hit the snow.
'Oh SHIT.'
She landed, rolling to the side immediately in hopes she cleared its range. "Toboe!" she cried, looking up to see that, to her relief, he hadn't jumped yet. He paused, startled and shocked. The split-second reaction however wasn't enough; the dark netting engulfed her.
She growled and untangled her leg, shifting so she could sit normally. "Toboe, don't jump!" She pulled her knife, and tried cutting through the cords.
'Damn, what are these made of? It won't cut...'
"Ahh!" She cried out in surprise as she was suddenly pulled back.
"My, my...look what we've got here," said a voice behind her. She looked up, covertly sliding the knife out of view and hoping the surprisingly well-dressed man hadn't seen it.
"Yup, these look good. Take these back to camp, boys. I'm freezing!" The man rubbed his arms in emphasis, moving away and leaving her in the net.
Caine looked for Toboe, and frowned when she saw him standing near a gruff, muscular man. Metal bindings were chained to the younger wolf's wrists. 'At least he's in human form,' she thought. Another glance around the area revealed more humans, all dressed similarly, in dark gray, appearing from behind rocks or walking down the steeply sloped pathway out of the gorge. They carried those firearms humans seemed so fond of and other materials used for hunting and surviving.
Someone was working on the net, and she turned her head round and saw it was being opened by a skinny, scarred man. His smell was strange. It wasn't human. In fact, she only caught the human scent when he had approached her. It appeared they found someway of...limiting their scent. Maybe it was some chemical thing...
He grabbed her arm and pulled her out roughly, forcing her to stand. She twisted round, forced him off her arm, than kicked him, letting him fall to the ground. She quickly out maneuvered the other man who rushed forward to attack her.
By now, the men were shouting to each other and scrambling to apprehend the escapee. The only one not making attempts to hinder the violent captive was the man in white who had complained of the cold. He pensively watched his prisoner dance around his men, drawing blood with deft movements and twisting out of harms way; an intricate dance.
Caine ducked low, avoiding another man, and ran forward to get to Toboe.
"ARGH!"
Caine looked over her shoulder and-
"Ooof!" The large, muscular man who had been guarding Toboe before had thrown himself on top of her, successfully stopping her assault and ceasing all other effective forms of resistance.
The man in white walked forward. "Quite the recalcitrant, aren't we?" he said with an annoying grin. Caine continued her ineffective squirming underneath the man. "Good job on stopping her," he rewarded the man.
"Not a problem, sir," the man replied with a broad grin. He stood, pinning Caine's arms behind her back before helping her stand. She struggled and attempted to pull her hands free when they brought over a pair of restricts, similar to Toboe's.
"It's either that or this," the man in white said over the cursing of his subordinate as he struggled to cuff Caine. The she-wolf looked up to see the man take a needle from a bloody-faced man. She stilled.
"I though so," the man said mysteriously. "That wouldn't be very good for you, now would it?" he mused with a grin and turned to exit the ravine.
Caine froze momentarily, ignorant to the fact that the cold metal had clicked and locked round her wrists. Did he know?
They walked on together, surrounded by the gruff men, and chained by the wrists. Caine and Toboe said little after the initial "are you ok". The men around them joked and laughed. One had tried to frighten Toboe by listing all the possible things that could happen to him. Caine silenced him by slamming her restraints into his face. The man in white told him it was his own fault for provoking her, and her attack went un-avenged...so far.
Toboe looked depressed, and Caine couldn't help but feel responsible for it. After all, it was her who had fallen into their trap. She tried to comfort him, but whenever she tried to talk to him the man behind them, who was far more serious than the rest of the men, hit her between the shoulder blades with the butt of his gun.
So, being that she was surrounded by enemies, unable to comfort her comrade, and thoroughly pissed off, Caine contemplated the cryptic message the man in white left her. He carried a gun like the rest of the hunters, but he didn't act like one of them. He walked quietly in the front of the party, turning around to joke once in a while, but he was clearly in a separate class. From what Caine knew about nobles, she was able to discern that he definitely wasn't one; what noble leaves a city without an airship? He appeared to be a high class member of some sort of crime ring. At least that was what she had surmised from the things she heard from the men. But that didn't matter to her. What worried her the most was that he appeared to know she was a wolf. And if he knew that, than it was logical to assume that he would conclude that Toboe was one, too. If what she thought was true, things would go from bad to worse.
They stopped to rest when the sky began turning pink. The ravine wall had disappeared on the right, opening up the sky to the party. Far below them, a large, frozen lake glittered serenely in the falling sunlight. Caine and Toboe were put near the main fire, but off to the side. They were given some weird goop to eat. Caine and Toboe shared flat looks when it was placed in front of them. The man, a rather loud, crude member who introduced himself as Braig during their march up the ravine, comforted them by telling them to "wipe that look off your faces! We all have to eat this crap!".
The night was warmer than the last, but you could still see your breath. Toboe lay on his back, staring up into the first clear sky he had seen since leaving the castle. The stars looked so much brighter out here than in the city. He supposed that was one of the reasons Kiba didn't like the cities.
"As if! I just shot that bastard!" He heard Braig exclaim from the group around the fire. The men erupted into laughter. All they did was tell stories. Maybe they just wanted to think about better things. He wondered if any of them looked at the stars anymore. Little things like stargazing told a lot about a person. He looked over to Caine; she was sitting up, examining the heavy restraints on her wrists. He sighed, and resumed his study of the sky.
They had talked during "supper". He felt guilty about getting captured and she assured him that if anyone was to blame it was her. Toboe rolled over, pulling the thick blanket over him. The man in white gave them blankets and a tent, but the latter wasn't pitched yet. He said he didn't want to "damage the merchandise by leaving it to freeze".
"Don't fall asleep."
He looked over his shoulder. "Huh?"
Caine was sitting Indian-style, apparently finished with her inspection of the restraints. "If you fall asleep, you'll change."
Toboe, who was new to transformation, smiled confidently. "I won't," he chirped, as shifted so he was in a comfortable position.
Caine was different from the other wolves. He couldn't quite place it. She acted like them, but there was something unique about her. Maybe it was because she was a girl...
"Come on, you two." They looked up to see the muscular man standing above them. "Get into your tent."
Toboe stood and followed the man to their tent. He hoped the others would find them soon.
Ok, so this has been proofread and posted. I hope it wasn't too boring. I'm bad. I'm update retarded. I'm working in the next chapter.
Anyone notice the cameo appearance? Tell me who he is and what he's from and you get some cute Wolf's Rain stickers! I love stickers! Yay! They're sparkly!
Toboe: "Caine, you really went at it with those soldiers..."
Caine: "Nobody messes with my little Toby! Or me!" -snarl-
Toboe: "Yay! I have a bodyguard!"
Tsume: "I think you have a fear of handcuffs."
Caine: "They weren't handcuffs! They were thick! And they like, devoured your wrists in cold steel! It was awful!"
Tsume: -smirk-
Caine: "I hate you!"
Toboe: "Old people are so weird..."
