Disclaimer: I do not own Wolf's Rain! I never have!

Part Five:

"If---they do—

"Tsume, what the hell are you doing?" Kiba demanded, when he noticed Tsume kneeling beside the girl. Tsume began trying to remove the bloody bandage. To Kiba it looked like he was going to try to change it.

"Just checking up on her! Damn it! You sure are protective!"

"I'm not being protective. I'm just curious as to how you feel---about her."

Tsume glared defensively up at Kiba, "What the hell are you talking about?" He just about had the bandage removed when he noticed, through all the dried blood on the girl's shoulder, a black bump jutting out of her skin. "What the hell---?"

"What is it?" Kiba asked, concerned. He knelt next to Tsume.

"Tsume indicated the black lump, "Is that---the bullet?"

Kiba's eyes widened. "I don't know. But whatever it is, it doesn't look good."

Tsume didn't respond to this statement. He hesitantly reached out toward the lump and his fingers grabbed it. The lump felt sort of sticky from all the dried blood, but it did feel sort of like metal…

"Tsume, I don't think that—

Tsume ignored Kiba and pulled lightly at the lump protruding from the girl's skin. It didn't appear to do anything. Tsume's eyes narrowed in slight frustration. He pulled a little harder. This time, the lump seemed to move some under the pressure. Since the third time was the charm, Tsume pulled again, a tiny bit harder, and the lump popped out of the girl's shoulder. Tsume took a closer look at what he thought was just a lump: it was actually a bullet. Exactly what he thought it was.

When the bullet was removed, the girl gasped and sat up, clutching her slightly bleeding shoulder. "What have you done to me!"

Tsume held the bloody bullet up for Kiba and the girl to see, " If we hadn't taken this out, your wound probably wouldn't have healed properly. It would have been healed into the wound under your skin."

"You mean that---that thing would have--?" Kiba asked.

"Yep. And she might have died, too."

"I told you before! I don't want any help!" the girl yelled.

"Well, if we hadn't, you could have died!" Tsume yelled back.

"So what? I would have preferred death to being stuck here with one such as you!"

Kiba couldn't take the arguing between these two any longer, "That's enough!" After a few seconds of silence, Kiba growled. "Tsume, leave her alone! I'm tired of this constant bickering between the two of you. From now on, I want you two to stay away from each other." Tsume growled in response and moved to sit down by the cave entrance. All the while, the girl glared after him, her eyes seeming to bore into the back of Tsume's head.

Kiba spoke softly, "He's right, you know."

When she heard Kiba say this, the girl turned her head to look at him, "What?"

"If the shot hadn't killed you right off, it probably would kill you later on as the bullet slowly penetrated your muscle with your every movement."

The girl stared in wonder at what Kiba had to say, "I—

She glanced over at Tsume, but he wasn't even looking back at her. He was gazing up at the sky, waiting for the moon to appear.

"You were---you wanted to help me?" She said quietly.

Kiba nodded in answer. The girl stared at her injured left shoulder. Kiba then picked up the bloody bandage and said, "Here, I'll wrap it for you again." As he proceeded to do so, the girl did not protest this time, she just stared at the cave floor, deep in thought apparently. When he was finished, Kiba told her, "You should get some more rest. Your wound won't heal on it's own, you know."

The girl then turned her head to face Kiba and said, "Thank you…"

Kiba's eyes lit up with a slight smile, "Kiba. The name's Kiba."

"Thank you… Kiba…"

Tsume's voice interrupted, "Moon's out."

"Great."

"So?" The girl said.

"That means its power will be able to heal you. It won't take as long as letting it heal naturally." Kiba explained.

"I don't understand."

"Here, we'll show you." Kiba then offered his hand to the girl, who took it, hesitantly. She was then pulled to her feet to stand, shakily for a few moments. "You okay?" Kiba asked before leading her out of the cave and into the glowing winter night, She nodded. Kiba then supported her outside the cave and into the moonlight. "Stand here." He told her. Kiba then began to remove the bandage. "Let's take this off again." By the time the bandage was removed, the gunshot wound on the girl's shoulder was healed. Although her skin was still caked with dry blood, the hole in her skin seemed to be, to all appearances, healed. The girl raised her left hand to touch where the hole had been. A small look of surprise came on her face at the discovery of its disappearance.

"It—it's gone!" she whispered.

"Yeah, it'll do that."

"So-- I am fine now?"

"You should be. That is, until we wash the dry blood off."

"I did not know that the full moon held so much power."

"Well… you learn something new every day." Tsume approached from behind, surprising both Kiba and the girl. "Now, let's get some sleep."

All three, then re-entered the cave and prepared to go to sleep. Kiba sat down a short distance from the girl, "Get some rest. See you in the morning." The girl nodded in response. She then moved an even further distance away from the other five wolves and lay down to get some sleep.

Tsume was in his own little corner of the cave, apart from the other wolves. He lay down in a position the described sleep. Kiba and the girl just couldn't tell that he was awake.