Summary: When a wolfos mother adopts a keaton pup, controversy arises in the pack. What happens when the keaton later learns of his hidden past? And what happens when he stumbles upon a Kokiri child in the forest? How will all of this affect his future?
Rating: K, but this might change in future time.
Flames? No flames, please, although a bit of constructive criticism is nice. But, by all means, am I not refusing the offer of a friendly review! ;) Don't be shy in reviewing; I won't bite!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, or characters of these games including Link, the Kokiri, keatons, wolfos, Hyrule, Termina, et cetera. This story has been written for the fun of it, not for the sake of money. (I hope Miyamoto knows how lucky he is!)
I do, however, own all the identities and personas of the characters such as Trey, Shadow, White Foot, Twiggy, Blaze, et cetera.

Author's Notes: Ghost-readers! You must be interested in my story if you were to pay a visit to chapter two, no? Reviews matter, not for the number, but for the readers' opinions. I want to know what you think of the story, if it lacks something or if it's just right; the readers matter:)
I have been planning out how I will incorporate all information I wish to express in chapter four, but I cannot think of how I will do such a thing yet. So, chapter four might be a little late. Patience is a virtue! n-n

-oOoOo-

Wolfos in Sheep's Clothing
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Chapter Three: Pups will be Pups

-oOoOo-

"We're back!" Shadow called out as he and his adopted keaton son, Trey, passed through the vines.

"And we caught a squirrel!" Trey chimed in, his voice slightly muffled by the limp body of a squirrel, which dangled from his mouth and dragged across the grass.

"What do you mean we?" Shadow turned his head, a twinkle in his emerald eyes. "I caught it."

Trey dropped the squirrel on the ground and tackled his father's tail, grinning mischievously. "Yeah, but I spotted it, so nyah!"

Shadow spun around, play-fighting again with young Trey, who was yipping and squeaking happily as he batted his father's muzzle with his paws. The dark wolfos had to admit, Trey was pretty much what his old pups were; playful, energetic, inquisitive, and brimming with undying energy. He was sad to think about it, but kept his "happy mask" on for Trey, so the little keaton wouldn't get worried. He was happy though; happy that he still could be a parent.

"What's with all the ruckus?" White Foot appeared from a spot where she was conversing with another mother wolfos, her tone friendly and slightly joking.

"Daddy caught a squirrel for you!" Trey stopped play-fighting, scooped up the grey body of the small creature in his mouth, slowly padded over to his mother, and dropped the squirrel at her forepaws. "I spotted it, but he caught it." He grinned, looked up at his mum's ice-blue eyes, and swept his tails back and forth, obviously pleased with his work.

"You can eat it as a snack." Shadow shrugged his shoulders and flashed a lopsided grin at his mate, who shot him a look that asked "Why a squirrel?"

Twiggy rushed over to the family, dust flying up behind him as his paws scraped away at the ground. He stumbled and tripped over his own four paws, flopping on a patch of grass between the family, his legs flailed out. White Foot and Shadow exchanged blank stares, wondering if they should help the quirky wolfos pup on his paws, or if he could get up on his own.

Answering their silent questions, Twiggy sprang up on his brown paws, grinning madly. "Hiya Trey!" He squeaked, hopping up and down in the dirt, clearly excited. "Glad to see you're back!"

"Hello Twiggy." Trey greeted calmly, a grin spreading slowly on his face because of the crazy-pup's antics.

"Hey, hey, hey, um…" He sat down abruptly on his rump, staring blankly into space. He didn't move for a couple of moments, save for blinking…And drooling. Then, when Trey and his parents thought he had turned into a statue, he sprang spontaneously to his paws, shaking his fur, as if he had just stepped out of the river. "Oh yeah! Hey Trey, wanna come along with me and some of the other pups tomorrow? We're all going to go off an' explore the woods."

Trey turned his head to face his parents, and then cocked it to one side while putting on a rather pleading face. "Please mum? May I go? Pleeeeaaase?"

White Foot looked hesitant as she turned her attention to the bouncy, mud-coloured wolfos pup. "How many are going?"

Twiggy paused a moment, his eyes darting to the sky as his mouth dropped open, suppressing little "Uhhh" sounds as he thought. "Four." He said, suddenly snapping his pupils and mouth back into rightful places. "With Trey it'll be five." White Foot still looked apprehensive. "Skunk's coming, too." He added with a couple of flicks of his tail.

"Oh. If Skunk's going, then I feel better about the situation. Sure Trey; you can join the others tomorrow." The she-wolfos smiled as her adopted son grinned, repeatedly saying "Thank you"s over and over and over.

"Neat-o!" Twiggy bounded up and down again twice. "I'll tell the others you're coming! I'll fetch you in the morning!" And with that, Twiggy spun around, and darted back just as quickly as he had come in.

"So…" White Foot broke the short silence that followed Twiggy's absence. "Are you two hungry at all?"

Her mate shook his head. "No, we came across a stray fawn on our way back."

Trey swept a tiny pink tongue over his lips. "Yeah! And it was really tasty, too; better than the tough elk meat." Although the fawn meat was indeed softer than the elk's, Trey couldn't help but feel the weird tingle of wrongdoing down his spine. Why did this always happen when he ate meat? Did the others feel this too? He would have to investigate this later. The gears in his head turned, and he hardly heard his parents' conversation, but was snapped back into the real world when he suppressed a yawn that, to him, sounded just as loud as a mighty bear's growl.

One of White Foot's blue eyes sparkled as she turned her head and grinned. "Oh? Is somebody tired?"

The keaton pup gave a lopsided grin as his mother licked him fondly. "Uh-huh." He replied, somewhat drowsily.

"You had a full day, champ." Shadow added.

Trey nuzzled against his mother's leg. "Can you sleep next to me? Please?"

"Of course. Shadow, will you be joining us?"

The dark-pelted wolfos shrugged. "I suppose. The sky is turning dark, and I have to get up early for morning guard duty at the Sacred Meadow, so I think it's a good time to sleep."

The yellow pup dragged himself slowly, tiredly, to his den, but was picked up by the scruff of his neck by his mother, who was walking behind him. It was almost a blur for the pup; before he knew it, he was lying in the warm presence of his parents, half-asleep. White Foot licked his body motherly, lulling him gently into slumber.

It's funny how when you wake up in the morning, it feels like only fifteen minutes ago that you fell asleep, when in reality it has been hours. It felt the same way for young Trey when he felt a gentle nudging in his ribs. He groaned and squirmed at the touch, but this only resulted in more nudging, which grew rougher by the minute. Finally, when refusing to wake up, Trey felt a jaw of tiny teeth sink into one of his tails.

With a startled, and painful, yowl, the keaton jumped up from his sleeping position, finally awake. He spun his head side to side, wondering who in the world bit his tail, which was still throbbing slightly. His parents were not in the den with him, they had obviously woken up already.

"Great stars, I thought you'd never wake up!" Came a very familiar voice. The startled keaton swivelled his head to the side where the voice came from, and sure enough, standing before him was the crazy pup, Twiggy.

"Why'd you bite my tail?" Trey asked with a hint of annoyance in his tone. He wasn't too fond of the rough awakening; in fact, he was still biting back sleep.

Twiggy rolled his large eyes. "Well, duh! You weren't waking up so I had to bite your tail!"

"Couldn't you have just waited until I woke up on my own?" The keaton cocked his head to one side. "What's so important that you need to bite my tail to wake up?"

In a flash of brown, Twiggy had pinned his friend on the ground, much like the day before at the hunt. "You're kidding me! I can't believe you forgot!" He screamed directly in poor, confused Trey's face. "We're going to go explore today!" At this statement, Trey's hazel eyes widened in remembrance.

He pushed Twiggy off of him with his back paws, collecting himself from the ground. "I forgot! I forgot! I'm so sorry Twiggy! Really, I am! I can't believe I forgot!"

"Calm down," Trey stopped apologising for a minute, baffled at why Twiggy of all wolfos would say "Calm down". "The others are waiting for us. Let's go before it gets any later."

"What time is it?" The keaton pup questioned as he followed his friend out into the open of the hideaway.

Twiggy shrugged. "Mid-morning. Not afternoon yet."

"Good. I don't want to feel guiltier about making everyone waiting for me."

Amongst the adult wolfos that hung around the clearing, there were a bunch of pups sitting together, talking with one and another. There were two females, both chatting with each other; both about the same age as Trey. A female with a reddish-brown pelt and eyes much like Blaze's looked up and grinned. "Finally! Now we can leave!"

Her friend, a female with sandy coloured fur, turned to the auburn wolfos. "Not yet Autumn; we have to wait 'til Skunk gets back from talking with Blaze."

As if on cue, a black pelted wolfos with white forepaws and muzzle came padding over to the pups, Blaze walking next to him. "…And remember to keep one eye on them at all times," Blaze said. "I don't want any of them lost in the woods, okay?"

The black wolfos nodded his head. "Yes sir. I'll keep two eyes open."

The alpha male only responded to this statement with an approving nod of his head as he sat in front of the auburn she-wolfos, looking her directly into her eyes. "Now be careful Autumn. Don't go running off by yourself and always listen to Skunk."

Autumn groaned with annoyance as Blaze licked the top of her head. "Daaaad…I'm big enough to know what to do. Besides, I'm not going to run away to the Village or anything."

Blaze's fiery gaze was hard and stern. "You better not. You may be my daughter but I can still punish you just as hard as I punish others."

She nodded her head. "I know, I know…"

And with a final lick on his daughter's head, Blaze turned and sauntered off to places the pups did not know of. "Hey Trey, let me introduce you to everybody." Twiggy piped up, shaking his fur as if wet. "The sandy-coated female is Sandy, for obvious reasons, the ginger wolfos is Blaze's daughter, Autumn, and…"

"I'm Skunk." The deep voice of the black wolfos interjected Twiggy's explanation, stepping forward in front of the keaton. He was older than the other pups, he looked as if he were just beginning his juvenile years. "I'll be watching you kids today. Do what I say and everything will work out fine." He boasted with fake authority.

Trey crinkled his nose. "Ugh, what is that smell? It smells like a…a…"

"A skunk?" Twiggy suggested, grinning impishly. Trey nodded his head slowly, still wrinkling his nose at the awful stench.

Skunk lowered his head to Trey's level, his yellow eyes serious. "That would be me, kid."

For some odd reason, Twiggy just burst out laughing at the statement, even though Skunk growled and gave him an irritated glance. Upon seeing Trey's confused facial expression, the mud-coloured pup wheezed out through laughs, "Skunk…Skunk doesn't take baths, Trey. He hates…Oohoohoo….He hates water! Hahahahooheehee…!"

"Shut up, brother." The teenage wolfos snapped. "It's not funny. It's my biggest paranoia! I didn't laugh at you when you ran away from that ladybird!"

This caught Twiggy's attention as he stopped his guffawing and puffed out his chest, trying to make himself look mightier. "That happened only once and you know it!" He hissed. "I thought a spider had crawled on my head!"

"It was a harmless ladybird!" Skunk snorted, obviously trying to hold back his laughs.

"How was I supposed to know that?"

"You're right. I'm sorry, I forgot; you're just really dim-witted." The black and white wolfos sneered sarcastically.

This seemed to tick the hyperactive pup to a certain degree as he lunged at his brother, growling fiercely as they both rolled in the grass, nipping and rough-housing with each other.

Autumn shook her head and Trey could faintly hear her whisper to Sandy, "Boys are so stupid." Sandy's reply was quiet and mumbled, unlike her friend's, and Trey could barely understand it.

"Um, excuse me? Twiggy? Skunk?" Came a meek, female voice from behind. Trey turned his head and saw that it was indeed the voice of Sandy, who had her head bowed and was kneading the ground with her forepaws shyly. The two brothers ceased their fight, looking at shy Sandy with questioning eyes. "Can…Can we leave now? Please?" Her voice was barely audible, and it took some strain to hear it, although everyone got the message.

"Sure, sorry 'bout that." Skunk apologised, gathering himself from the ground and pushing his younger brother to the ground, which resulted in a growl from Twiggy. "Where do you want to go?"

Sandy was about to reply, but was interrupted by her loud-mouthed friend, who exclaimed, "I know! Everybody follow me!"

Twiggy and Trey exchanged slightly nervous glances, but with a shrug, they followed the ginger wolfos.

-oOoOo-

"…Five…Six…Seven…" Twiggy had his eyes closed and was facing a large tree, counting loudly. "…Nine…Ten! Ready or not, here I come!" He called out as he spun around, ready to find his golden-furred friend.

While said keaton was crouching silently underneath some bushes, his mind went over all he had learned that morning. He had been quick to pick up how the pups he hung out with acted, and what they were like.

Autumn was a bragging, boasting, full-of-herself wolfos. She was indeed the daughter of the alpha male, which she probably took into account, thus making her "special". Trey could see the distinction of her father in her; her eyes were exactly like Blaze's, always flickering like embers in a fire. Her friend, though, was the complete opposite; Sandy was meek, shy, and polite. Trey glanced over to where the two girls sat, still talking with each other. Autumn was doing all the talking, while Sandy just patiently sat next to her, listening to everything her friend had to say. Skunk was off a distance, lying down in the cool shade of a tree, chewing a piece of grass lazily as he watched Twiggy sniff for the hidden keaton. They were playing by small pond of water, which explained why the black and white wolfos sat far away. Apart from his "skunk-like appearance", Skunk also smelled like a skunk, due to the fact he never took baths.

"Found ya!" Trey nearly jumped at Twiggy's voice, for he had drifted into thoughts of other pack members.

But before the keaton had even said a word, his brown-furred friend bowled him over on the grass, growling and pulling at his long, keaton ears. "Ow, ow, ow!" Trey squealed, trying to push himself out from underneath Twiggy. "That hurts! Cut it out!" Instantly, the energetic wolfos released the long, black-tipped ears from his mouth.

"Sorry Trey." He apologised quickly, hopping off of the keaton's back.

A moment passed between the two, the only sounds were of the girls' chattering and the panting the two friends were doing. "What do you want to do now?" Trey asked, cocking his head to one side.

Twiggy shrugged. "You wanna play another round of hide-and-seek? You can be it, if you want."

"No…It's getting kinda boring." Trey shook his head. "How about tag? Tag's always fun."

"Nah, it's not that fun with just two."

"We could ask the girls."

Twiggy glanced over to where the two of them sat. "I don't think so. Looks like they wouldn't join us anyway."

"Well then, how about your brother?"

"Skunk? I don't want to play with him. Wait…" He grinned rascally as a devious idea came into his head. "I have an idea. Listen," He leaned over next to his keaton friend, whispered something in his ear, then started giggling.

Trey's hazel eyes glittered mischievously as they darted back from Twiggy to Skunk. "Let's do it."

Twiggy nodded his head as he watched his friend bound off towards the lazy babysitter. "Hiya Skunk," He greeted casually.

The teenage wolfos opened one eye slowly, looking at the keaton, slightly questioning his presence. "Hey." The word rolled off his tongue automatically without him even thinking twice. "What's up? Something wrong?"

Trey shook his head. "Oh no. Nothing's wrong. I just thought, well…" He leaned close to Skunk, and whispered in his ear, "I thought we could play a little prank on your brother."

A sly grin spread across Skunk's face as he lifted his head up and looked directly into the pup's eyes. "I'm listening."

"I thought we could find a bug and put it on his head," Trey explained, still grinning impishly. "He's half-asleep now. If we sneak over to him, we can put it on his head without him even knowing. He'll think it's a spider and freak out."

Skunk thought for a moment and then nodded in approval. "I like the way you think, kid. I'm game."

They snuck over to where Twiggy was "sleeping" on the grass, somewhat close to the pool of water. Indeed, he looked as if he was taking a nap, but in reality he was just lying down, eyes closed, pretending to sleep. It was all part of the master trickery plan.

"Got the beetle?" Trey whispered while he padded over to the side of Twiggy that was closest to the pond.

Skunk nodded his head, bringing up a forepaw, which had a beetle crawling on it, down slowly close to his younger brother's head. "Ready?" Trey whispered, although it was not directed to Skunk, rather, to Twiggy. The mud-coloured wolfos couldn't help but crack a small grin; a grin which his brother failed to notice.

"NOW TWIGGY!" Trey hollered, much to Skunk's surprise. Before the black and white wolfos had a chance to think about this, Twiggy and Trey had leapt backwards to the bank of the pond, where they splashed a small wave of water on the unsuspecting babysitter.

Water drenched his fur as the teenage wolfos screamed, rather girlishly, and scrambled backwards, running around the small clearing, trying to shake the water off. "Get it off, get it off, get it off!" He squealed, obviously afraid of the "terrifying" water. Trey and Twiggy were still near the bank, rolling around on the grass, laughing their tails off. Sandy couldn't help but giggle at the babysitter's antics, but Autumn was not impressed.

Skunk had no idea where he was going, and stopped directly in front of the two girl wolfos, where he shook his fur with all his might. Water droplets sprinkled the grass and even the two girls, who had totally different opinions on the scene. Sandy giggled even more as the water hit her fur, and she couldn't help but laugh at Skunk's humorous appearance after he shook out all the water from his fur; he looked like a giant fuzz ball!

Autumn "hmmphed" as she shook herself dry too. "That was childish." She hissed at the still-guffawing-pups. She turned to Sandy and sighed. "Boys can be so immature."

The sand-coloured wolfos smiled. "Maybe. But I thought it was a very clever and well-thought of prank." She giggled again, while Autumn "hmmphed" once more.

Skunk, the now black fuzz ball, spun around and drew his lip back into a snarl. "Just wait 'til I get my paws on you two!" He roared at the pranksters, who had stopped laughing, only to gulp in fear of Skunk. "I'll rip your tails off with my bare claws!"

He charged at the two, who yelped and sprinted away, running around in circles in the clearing, which suppressed growing giggles from Sandy. The babysitter roared various threats at the two pranksters, who had changed direction, running out of the clearing, Skunk still at their heels.

"After them!" Sandy laughed with fake anger. "Get the two hooligans!" And with that, she bounded after the three boys, who were currently tearing through the woods like rabid badgers.

"Wait for me!" Autumn called, also sprinting in after her friends, although she wasn't thrilled about the idea.

With light paws and pink tongues flopping out of their mouths, the jokester duo sprinted through the foliage of the Lost Woods, the growling of Skunk close behind them. "Quick! Into the Sacred Meadow!" Twiggy exclaimed, causing Trey to turn to the right, entering the Sacred Meadow, Twiggy right behind him.

Shadow and another male wolfos sat in the cool, lush grass of the Sacred Meadow, obviously bored with their guard work there. "Good grief, it's so boring today." Shadow sighed. "I wish something exciting would happen for once…"

As if on cue, in a rush of gold and brown, two pups sprinted past the dark pelted wolfos, making his fur fly past him. The two speeding pups hastily crawled underneath the hedges, continuing their sprint through the maze of the Sacred Meadow. Just as Shadow was about to do a double take, a rush of black and white fur sped past him at full speed, also squirming underneath the hedges.

Shadow gazed blankly at the other wolfos guard, not knowing what to say. Autumn and Sandy emerged through the entrance to the Sacred Meadow, Autumn hurrying ahead of her friend. Sandy stopped running for a moment, greeting the two wolfos. "Hello mister Shadow! Hello mister Rocky! Sorry, I can't talk at the moment; I have to make sure Skunk doesn't tear the others to shreds! Bye!" And with that, polite little Sandy bounded away, scuttling underneath the hedge.

A moment of awkward silenced passed between the two guards, as they stared at each other with expressions of wonder, question, and humour. "Was…Was that Trey and Twiggy back there running away from Skunk?" Shadow asked, finally breaking the silence.

The two pranksters, who still running for dear life, entered the clearing of the Sacred Meadow, hurrying to find high areas to hide in. There were some stones that made natural steps near the high rock wall of the clearing. Twiggy hopped on them, scurrying onto the top of the wall, keeping still so that his brother wouldn't notice him. Trey, on the other hand, found a high stump, which he quickly clambered on top of. He sat down for a moment, panting, but leapt up to his feet when he saw Skunk lunging towards him. A branch, not very high away from him, dangled above his heard and he sprung up on his back paws just as Skunk landed on the spot where he was.

The branch wobbled, but Trey managed to keep his balance as he sprung up onto an even higher branch above his head. He sighed with relief as he saw that Skunk was not willing to climb the tree to fetch him down. It was a plus in his case, for wolfos cannot climb trees, although keatons cannot either. Trey had just been fortunate enough to keep his balance on the branch. The branch he was perched on shook violently from the foreign weight on it, and little Trey clutched the branch tight to his chest, wrapping his legs around it.

"Guys!" He wailed, scared. "Help! I can't down!"

"You deserve it!" Autumn hollered back, but was quickly shushed by her friend.

"Don't worry Trey; we'll get you down!" Sandy called up to him, trying to reassure the keaton in any way.

"It's too late!" Trey cried back, watching as Twiggy now joined the spectators below. "The branch is cracking!"

Indeed the branch Trey was clinging onto was snapping, slowly, bit by bit, in a torturous slow motion. Trey kept clawing fruitlessly at the branch, terrified at the thought of falling. Then, as if his fears were living creatures, the branch snapped off all the way, and with a scream, the keaton came tumbling down from the tree, branch falling with him. The goddesses were on his side though, as he fell in a huge pile of leaves, breaking his fall sufficiently. The branch landed close to him, luckily not on top of him.

"Trey!" The voices of Skunk, Twiggy, and Sandy called out his name as they rushed to the pile of leaves, Skunk unearthing him from the leaves.

"Are you alright?" Sandy asked, worry evident on her facial features as she stepped forward to the keaton.

He nodded his head, still trying to collect himself. "Yeah, I'm fine…I'm just lucky these leaves were here."

"That you were." Skunk chimed in, a hint of worry also in his tone.

"Guys…I think we should leave now and go home." Autumn suggested in a soft toned voice, as if nervous about something. The others looked to what she was staring at, as a sense of dread washed over them as they saw the branch lying lifelessly on the ground.

They had broken one of the rules of the Sacred Meadow.

-oOoOo-

"Okay, now all we have to do is lay low and not say anything about the accident," Twiggy whispered to his friend, swallowing a lump of anxiety in his throat. "No one will know that we did it, and everything will be fine. As long as no one rats us out, we'll be cool…"

"Daddy! Daddy!" Autumn's familiar voice rung through the secret hideaway, mocking the two friends' fears.

"Crumbs."

Blaze trotted over, appearing seemingly out of nowhere, to his daughter, whom he nuzzled fatherly. "Hello Autumn, I'm glad to see you're okay."

"Daddy, you won't believe what Trey did in the Sacred Meadow!" Autumn grinned a grin that made Trey's stomach flip over. It was like she wanted to get him in trouble.

Blaze's face suddenly became very dark and very serious. "What? What did he do?"

Her grin widened. "He broke a large branch off of a tree!"

The keaton pup felt his fur prickle uneasily as he saw Blaze's fiery gaze flicker on him for what seemed to be forever. "Is that so?" He replied, ears flattening themselves as his lip drew back into a small snarl. "I guess we'll have to discuss a punishment with his mother then." He sneered, sauntering away to find White Foot, Autumn at his heels.

Twiggy spat on the ground as soon as the father and daughter were out of hearing range. "Daddy's little girl." He mocked harshly with a hiss, narrowing his eyes at the tattle-tale.

"Oh man I am so dead…" Trey whined, tails drooping sadly.

Twiggy was about to comfort his pal when his mother's voice rang throughout the air, calling him back home. "I have to go. I'm sorry Trey." He pressed his nose to the keaton's side briefly before he sprinted away, leaving the nervous keaton by himself.

He lay down and placed his head on his paws, thinking of the possibilities of the outcome of this "rule-breaking". Blaze could punish him severely, was the first thought that popped into his mind. Or, Blaze could punish him lightly, which would be alright, depending on what "light" meant. And the third outcome could be Blaze not punishing him at all, but that was highly unlikely.

"You. Come here." Trey lifted his head from his paws only to find Blizzard standing in front of him, rather arrogantly. "Blaze wants to talk with you." She snapped choppily again, turning and walking away, not even waiting for Trey to follow.

The keaton picked himself up from the ground, speedily hurrying after the alpha female as she made her way to where Blaze's den was. White Foot was already there, lying down in front of Blaze, who turned his attention to Blizzard and Trey.

White Foot's eyes were worried, Trey noted to himself as he sat next to his mother; her expression was clear as day. "Blaze says you broke a branch in the Sacred Meadow," She began slowly, not quite sure if this was a joke or for real. "Why'd you do it Trey? I thought your father talked to you about the rules of the Sacred Meadow…"

"He did." He barked quickly, lowering his eyes in embarrassment. "And…It was an accident! I promise! I-I-I was climbing and…the branch broke. It was completely accidental, it's not my fault!" He explained nervously, hoping that his leader would be forgiving enough to punish him lightly for his crime.

Before the pup could go on anymore about how this crime was indeed an accident, Blaze silenced him with an interjection, "It matters not if it were accidental or purposely done; what matters is it happened." He growled deeply in his throat, ears flattened against his skull, obviously not pleased with Trey's actions.

"You do realize what you've done, don't you Trey?" Blizzard also chimed in, her deep aqua eyes boring into Trey's scared and apprehensive ones. "The Sacred Meadow is somewhat like a holy temple for us, and for the Forest Sage. It's already privilege enough that the Sage of Forest is willing enough to let us roam those grounds; all she asks in favour of us is that the Meadow is kept in the finest condition."

Trey bowed his head low, bracing himself for chastisement from the alpha male.

"We will not let this go unpunished, young Trey." Blaze hissed, his eyes flickering back and forth from Trey to his mother. "At the break of day tomorrow you shall spend three consecutive days alone in the Sacred Meadow with nothing to eat or drink, except for a few laps of the water that sits in the Meadow. You will think about what you've done and pray to the Forest Sage for forgiveness for your violation to the holy grounds. Do I make myself clear, boy?"

Trey nodded his head solemnly, suppressing the urge to cry out and beg for forgiveness. "Yes sir." He whispered.

There were a few more growls from Blaze before he finally barked out, "You are dismissed. You will not be permitted to leave for the rest of the day."

With a quick bow of his head, Trey slowly retreated from the meeting, tails between his legs. As he walked away, he heard his mother question, "Don't you think that's a little harsh for a pup his age?"

"No, he needs to learn from his mistakes." Came Blaze's stern reply.

He was going to eavesdrop a little more, but couldn't as Twiggy had bounded up in front of his nose, blinking with curiosity. "Well? What happened?"

The golden-furred pup sighed and hung his head. "I'm spending three days by myself in the Sacred Meadow."

"Ooh, solitude. Rough. Sorry to hear 'bout that, bud…" Twiggy, for once, was pretty calm and collected, speaking with a serious tone to his friend.

-oOoOo-

Morning approached faster than it should have, and Trey was once again awakened by a nudging in the ribs, although this one was not friendly. He slowly opened his eyes, groaning inwardly at seeing Blizzard's cold stare upon him. "Get up. Let's get moving."

Not so thrilled at the thought, the keaton complied, following the alpha to his punishment.

He just hoped that the Sage of Forest was merciful enough to forgive him.

-oO T.B.C Oo-

Dairokkan: He'll be a little shocked at first, yes, but he won't "freak out" and go ballistic, if you know what I mean. His parents don't know what his reaction will be, that's why they're taking it slow, just in case he did flip. Trey is a calm and collected keaton, so he knows how to control himself and his emotions. n-n

Speedfox: Thanks for the fav and alert!

Talimthewindwaker: Yup. n-n Thanks for the fav, by the way.