Tetsuya awoke during the dusk hours, he yawned and saw the two wolf pups beside him, and he smiled and stretched. He padded quietly over to the stream flowing nearby; he lapped up a few cool gulps of water and sniffed the air. He suddenly smelled a familiar scent, his tail wagged as he followed the scent quickly. He heard the same footsteps from last night and returned to his human form, it was Ryota.
"I'm glad you've showed up."
"Yeah...I just had nothing else to do, believe me, if I did, I wouldn't be here at all."
Tetsuya smiled, "Okay."
Ryota slowly turned to face him," Actually...you're the only one who actually tried talking to me. It surprised me at first. I thought one of the wolves put you up to it but I realized it was just you, Tetsuya. No one ever talks to me much...but don't think I'm going to give you my life story."
Tetsuya nodded and sat down and leaned against a tree, "Of course, I won't ask if you don't want me to. I'll still keep my promise; you can ask whatever you want about me."
Ryota stared at him and raised an eyebrow, "Fine. Is what you told my father about your own pack, true?"
Tetsuya laughed lightly, "Of course not. I just said that to appease Hinaro."
Ryota also sat down, "So...what really happened to your pack?"
"I'm from the southern wolf pack."
Ryota's eyes widened slightly, "The southern pack? Korei's pack?"
"Yeah..."
"Those are the wolves who challenge humans openly and I've heard they aren't the pack to mess with..."
"I guess you could say that's true. It was because of that, I escaped..."
"Escaped?"
"No wolf is allowed to leave the pack...but I just couldn't spend the rest of my life there, besides, I wanted more than treachery, thievery, and deceit. I've attempted one time before my actual escape...with the cost of the life of a dear friend of mine." Tetsuya sighed, wondering if he should tell Ryota of Lena. Ryota was listening now; his story was getting more and more interesting, so he just had to ask, "Who was it?"
Tetsuya smiled and looked toward the rising moon, "A cute, little wolf named Lena. We were supposed to escape together...but it went terribly wrong. We were caught and...she saved me...but at the cost of her own life."
Ryota nodded, "Yeah...it seems you lose the ones you love, as if fate has turned against you..."
Tetsuya looked at Ryota, "Now don't look at life like that, there is always the good side to bad things. She helped me escape...though there is always that guilty feeling in the back of your head...it was my idea to escape...not hers."
Ryota sighed lightly, he didn't mind listening to Tetsuya's story but this was reminding of him about his own past. "That's enough. I need to return to my father, he requires my assistance nowadays. He is getting rather old; I'm surprised he is allowed to be pack leader anymore."
Ryota stood up and began to walk back to camp as Tetsuya also got up and followed him, Ryota moved his eyes to Tetsuya, "And you're following me because...?"
Tetsuya smiled, "Because there's nothin' else to do right now."
Ryota returned his gaze ahead of them, "It's bothering me."
"Why? Because you have a friend now?" Tetsuya smiled.
Ryota growled, "You are not my friend."
"Of course."
The pair had entered the valley and the wolves all stared, someone was actually talking to Ryota? Tetsuya helped Ryota ignore the stares, "Just act as if they aren't there. Who are they to judge you?" Ryota nodded sullenly, "Right."
Hinaro's area was toward the center of the valley, where a large oak tree sat; Ryota was born there and felt safe once they were away from the wolves. "They all irritate me...I wish I could leave..."
Tetsuya gave him a smile, "Believe me, you're life would be much worse without a pack. Just ignore them."
Ryota continued to growl lowly, "Why do you even care? We hardly even know each other and you act as if we'd known each other for life."
Tetsuya continued to smile, "I just do. You seem interesting and I wouldn't mind having you as a friend, no matter your past."
"I seem interesting? Am I just a passing interest?"
Tetsuya laughed, "Why must you be so untrusting all the time?"
"No one seems to trust me, so why should I trust them?"
"Have I given you any reason to believe that I can't be trusted? Besides, I trust you. You seem to me a pretty complicated wolf though rather confused about his life. I consider you my friend even if you don't consider me as one." He smiled and for the slightest moment Tetsuya thought he saw a hint of a smile on Ryota's face.
Tetsuya was out stalking again, hoping his luck might pull him through to another kill when he heard the two familiar barks. He stopped and looked over to see the pups racing toward him, "Why, it's you two again."
They nodded and ran up to them, "Tetsuya...you said you'd teach us."
"Oh, I did, didn't I?"
They nodded, "Pleeease!"
Tetsuya sat down, "I'm afraid I don't even know you're names and yet you've been so helpful to me lately."
The first puppy, whose fur was a slightly browner color than his brother, looked up at Tetsuya, "Well…my name is Taro, and I'm the oldest!" The pup looked very proud for being older, as the darker pup grumbled.
"That's Shinji, he's the runt."
Tetsuya looked at him and pawed Taro playfully, "That's no way to treat your brother."
Taro growled faintly and pounced on Shinji, "Sure it is!"
Tetsuya suddenly resumed his human form, "I'm sure this was the reason you two came." He smiled as the pups wagged their tails and nodded excitedly.
"Well, it's not too hard, back in my old pack..." He remembered that he didn't tell the two the truth about the southern wolf pack and he paused for a second.
"Back in my pack, we were taught this when we were very small, about your age. All you need to do is picture the form you want to take and then you must concentrate. Taro let's try you first."
Taro was already concentrating but nothing seemed to be happening, Tetsuya encouraged him, "Do you have a mental picture?"
Taro nodded, "I do...is anything happening?"
Shinji tilted his head, "Nothing yet, brother."
Soon, where the brown wolf pup stood was a small boy about the age of seven, Shinji wagged his tail, "You did it!"
Taro was elated, "Tetsuya, I did it!"
Tetsuya smiled, "You sure did, now how about giving Shinji a try, eh?"
Shinji nodded though he seemed rather shy, Tetsuya picked up the pup, "It's okay. It doesn't hurt, does it, Taro?"
Taro shook his head, "Come on, Shinji!"
Tetsuya set Shinji down, "Now concentrate."
Shinji followed his brother's example and he easily assumed the form of a boy similar in appearance to Taro. Shinji opened his eyes in amazement, "I can't believe I did it! But I was much faster than you, Taro." He smiled and Taro suddenly grabbed Shinji mouth, Shinji cried out, "What are...you doing?!"
Taro opened Shinji's mouth, "Look! He still has his fangs!"
Tetsuya nodded, "It takes awhile to look completely human but you two did extremely well."
Shinji pushed Taro away, "So this is what a human sees. They're really tall."
Taro was examining his brother, he had dark, black hair similar to his fur color and he still had gold colored eyes. "Shinji. You do look human. Can we go to the village, Tetsuya? Please? I'm sure no one would recognize us as wolves!"
Tetsuya smiled gently, "No, maybe when you're older. How about that?"
Taro was whining, "Awww...that'll be ages!"
Tetsuya patted him on the head, "I'm sure it won't take long for you two to grow up."
Shinji smiled proudly and grabbed Taro's hand, "Should we show Mama?"
Taro nodded, "Thanks Tetsuya! You're so amazing! I wish you were our brother!"
Shinji smiled, "Me too, I wish you were our brother too!"
Tetsuya smiled, "Who'd want you two as their mischievous little brothers, eh?"
Taro tackled Tetsuya who was taken to the ground as he laughed, "Now, I suggest you return home. Your mother is probably worried about you. We don't want her thinking I've eaten you."
Shinji laughed, "She won't, will she, Taro?"
"Nope."
The two boys soon left in a hurry, excited to show their mother their surprise for her. Tetsuya grinned as he watched them leave; he got up and brushed himself off. "Those two are a handful. Now, back to the task at hand."
The gray wolf had spotted a juvenile rabbit as he said this and took off. It was too fast for the wolf to catch on his own and the rabbit escaped. Tetsuya was panting heavily as he returned to the valley, it disappointed him but he knew that he'd catch one later, with luck. He saw the wolves in the valley assembled around Hinaro's oak tree and he wondered what was going on. He trotted over quickly to the oak tree and he saw that a black wolf was giving out orders.
"We are gathered here to ready ourselves for the next attack."
Tetsuya's ears perked as he heard the word 'attack', surely this pack couldn't have the similar values of his old pack.
"We will choose the strongest, quickest, and most capable of each family. We have found the most vulnerable village, our attack begins tomorrow night."
The wolves began to disperse as Tetsuya trotted over to the oak where he saw Ryota with his father, "What's going on?"
Ryota looked over toward him, "We are preparing ourselves for the next attack."
"Attack?"
Ryota sighed, "Do you know nothing? When our pack runs low on supplies, we go into the surrounding villages and 'take' things we need. Understand?"
Tetsuya tilted his head as he sat on his haunches, "Why not just get supplies yourself...y'know, hunt?"
Ryota growled,"It's the way it has been done for generations."
Tetsuya nodded, "I see. Do you go along with this?"
"Of course."
"And you...just go along with it?"
Ryota turned to look at him, "Why do you ask questions? Just let things be."
Tetsuya smiled him, "Well, I was just saying..."
The two wolves watched the families of wolves preparing themselves to rest for the day, Tetsuya caught two boys tackling each others and he knew that they would be the future of this pack, and he wondered about his own pack, wondering if his own family missed him at all. Probably not; why would they miss a disgrace like me? He knew he felt as if he belonged here, everyone had been kind to him and he even had two little brothers now and even if he didn't consider it himself, he'd found a friend.