-1Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto
The mix up of Japanese and English is driving me bonkers and it often doesn't flow smoothly in sentences; so from this point out only some words will remain in Japanese. For more info see below.
Chapter 3
Wolves
Meiyo cursed. Tsume and Kiba had separated, running in two different directions, no doubt in an attempt to shake pursuers. She knew Tsume could take care of herself and was tempted to go after Kiba, but her first loyalty was to her team.
With a heavy heart she set out after Tsume, Inuko, and Inuka. Keiji followed her silently, not making any sort of judgment call about her decision. The splotches of blood had her worried and she prayed they belonged to the youkai, not her friends.
He was beyond exhausted, very lost, and wounded. Akamaru whimpered from his side as Kiba stumbled through the snow. He was leaving a trail of blood he was positive the coyotes pups could follow, he certainly could, but none had shown up to confront him since they had crossed the frozen river. In fact, they had stopped and gone no further, howling their frustration to the wind.
Kiba figured they had passed the boarder and the coyotes would follow him no further, but that didn't stop him from putting as much distance between himself and the mountains as possible.
He was lost at the moment, but he was sure they could find their way back to Sanctuary. He would just have to make his way back towards the other mountain range, find one of the two rivers that meet at Sanctuary's entrance, and follow it back to the fort.
He pressed onward, freezing, tired, drained of chakra, and bleeding badly. His right arm was dangling uselessly by his side, broken and torn from one of the Karasu's whips.
He tripped over a log hidden in the snow and fell. Akamaru was by his side in an instant, whining in worry.
"Kiba!"
"I'm alright, Akamaru." He assured his companion weakly.
Stubbornly Kiba tried to crawl back to his feet, but failed. He was just too exhausted.
"Get on." Akamaru commanded, lying down beside him
Kiba sighed, and obediently climbed up onto his partners back. Akamaru stood up and continued forward, bearing his partner.
"We've had a lot of fun over the years, eh Akamaru?"
"Yes." Akamaru agreed.
"We've faced a lot of challenges and there were times I didn't think we would make it." Kiba continued.
Akamaru agreed.
"I don't think we are going to make it this time." Kiba stated.
"We will." Akamaru declared. "We always manage somehow."
"My arm is broken and bleeding badly. I don't think we are going to find a medic around here. Unless if one of the others find us, we are in serious trouble if those youkai come back." Kiba pointed out.
Akamaru admitted that Kiba had a point. He could not set nor bind Kiba's arm. That required human help. With Kiba's left palm shredded from tearing the binding whip off of him and his right arm broken and useless, he could not even treat himself.
The night was silent around them other then the crunching of snow under his paws. The sky was clear and stars shun brightly in the sky. It was a quiet night and almost peaceful. If it wasn't for the horrible situation they might have enjoyed it.
Kiba hadn't spoken in a while and Akamaru was becoming more worried for his companion.
"Kiba?"
No answer.
"Kiba, wake up."
"Humph." Kiba muttered.
"You must stay awake." Akamaru commanded.
"Cold…..tired." Kiba muttered.
"Hold on Kiba. You must stay awake!" Akamaru commanded, setting his human companion down as gently as possible.
Akamaru dug a pit in the snow, broke off several branches from the hemlock trees, layered them in the pit, pulled Kiba into the freshly made nest, and curled up on top of him for warmth while trying not to agitate the broken arm anymore then necessary.
"Akamaru….." Kiba thanked, his teeth chattering.
Kiba was covered in a dangerous amount of cold sweat, no doubt a lot of it the result from the pain he was in.
"Stay awake Kiba." Akamaru commanded.
"Tired." Kiba muttered.
More howling broke the silent night. Akamaru rose and stood protectively over Kiba, tail, ears, and hackles raised. His companion was in no condition to fight. Snarling, he braced himself for a fight, as the howling got closer.
This sounded different from the coyotes. This sounded like a song he knew from home, only with a strange accent. These were wolves. The first one appeared before him, black fur and golden eyes challenging him.
The others appeared around him, from pure white to molted brown to the pure black one that stood before him. There were sixteen in total. If they decided to attack, he stood no chance. Without him, Kiba would surly perish. He doubted the wolves would harm Kiba, but wolves had an inherit dislike for most 'domesticated' dogs.
"Come play." They sang to him, several of them yipping in excitement, though it wasn't the 'play' excitement as a common dog might mistake it for.
A usual tactic used to lure stupid, domesticated dogs out to the slaughter, to lure them away from the safety of their pack. He was no stupid, domesticated, mutt.
"I protect my partner. Your pathetic lies will not work on me wolves. I know your ploys and will not fall game to them." Akamaru barked back, bearing his fangs in pure threat.
The wolves actually took a step back in surprise. They had clealy not expected this.
"You protect a human." The black one in the lead demanded.
"I protect my partner." Akamaru corrected.
The black wolf stepped forward and Akamaru let him walk up to Kiba unchallenged. The wolf would not harm Kiba. Wolves had no use for humans. They tasted horrible.
"It smells of blood and coyote." The black one declared.
"We were attacked by youkai." Akamaru confirmed.
The wolves spoke quickly amongst themselves. Akamaru didn't drop his guard the least. The black one looked at the only white one. The white one bolted away. Akamaru ignored her.
"You say you fought Coyotes and youkai. Explain." The black wolf commanded.
Seeing no harm and with much to gain, Akamaru explained the situation to the Alpha and his pack. Much fur was bristling and growls of anger broke the silence as he finished his tale.
Only the Alpha seemed calm, though his fur was also raised slightly to show his agitation. Since no one would attack a story teller in either wolf or dog society, Akamaru had returned to keeping Kiba warm, though he was still on his guard.
As a sign of truce, the Alpha had also laid down a scant few feet from him, listening to the entire story in rapt attention and silence. Now he was silently contemplating what he had heard.
Akamaru's head snapped up as he caught the scent of the returning wolf, and to his surprise a human scent as well. The white wolf returned and joined the Alpha. Following her wake was a human woman.
"Pearl said you found something interesting Kuro." The woman smiled as she walked into the clearing, completely at ease with the pack of wolves.
She was dragging a stretcher laden with blankets behind her and had a bag on her back. She had to at least be sixty, if not seventy! Akamaru was not sure what to make of her, but did allow the human to approach Kiba.
"What's he got?" She asked.
"A broken arm torn up and his left palm is shredded. He is out of chakra and lost a lot of blood." Akamaru answered.
"That bad huh. Sounds like you're a Nininu." She smiled at him.
The other wolves started to speak again, only Kuro and Pearl remained silent.
"A shinobi huh. You should have said something sooner." Kuro commented.
"You never gave me the chance." Akamaru responded.
"You going to fill me in on what's going on Kuro, or leave me in the dark like you always do." The human asked as she tucked Kiba onto the stretcher, tying him down.
"I will pull the sled." Akamaru offered.
Many of the wolves looked at him in disgust.
"Thanks pup. An old woman like me is easily exhausted and walking ten miles in deep snow wears me out." The human chuckled as she tied the rope into a make shift harness and Akamaru stepped into it.
Right now he was extremely vulnerable to attack, but if Kuro hadn't attacked him yet and had sent Pearl to get help, he doubted the Alpha would order an attack now.
"Would this have anything to do with the movement of the coyotes and the unusual number of crows in the region?" The woman asked as they set out.
"Perhaps." Kuro answered, filling the human in.
Akamaru was surprised at the relationship being shown. Kuro treated the woman as he would a grandmother of his own pack, with respect but demanding respect as Alpha of his own. He had heard of humans being accepted into wolf packs before, but had never actually seen it before.
"You wouldn't happen to be friends with a snippety young girl and a brown haired adult would you?" She asked Akamaru.
Brown haired adult? Genma!
"Does the man go by Genma-san?" Akamaru demanded.
"Could be. He hasn't woken up since I found him lying in the snow in his own blood."
"Is he alright?" Akamaru demanded.
"Hard to tell. You do not know the human girl then?"
It took a few seconds for Akamaru to recognize the description.
"Nara Kageko." He finally guessed.
"That's the name she gave." The woman smiled. "Smart mouthed pup she is. She has the brains to back her bark, but not the intelligence to know when to be quiet."
"How was she?" Akamaru asked.
"Bruised, tired, and drained of chakra, but otherwise fine. She found her own way to my hut by following the smoke from my fire."
"And Genma-san?"
"His entire body is covered in deep gashes, as if he had been rolling in a thorn bush. His left leg was torn up, I would guess from those damn coyotes. He was also suffering from minor frostbite but should make a complete recovery. I treated the wounds and bound them up. I used the last of my thread too." She muttered.
Akamaru looked over his shoulder to Kiba. No doubt many of his cuts would need stitches and it looked like their benefactor was out of thread already.
"Don't worry pup, your partner will be fine. I got plenty of other things I can use to stitch up those wounds of his." The woman promised.
The rest of the trip passed in a tense silence.
The small cottage that rose up before him surprised him. It was nestled in the forest on the edge of a frozen lake. Kageko rushed out to meet them as they arrived, picking up one end of the litter while the old woman gathered the other after cutting Akamaru free.
Akamaru followed them inside. Kuro and his pack remained outside. Apparently entering a human house was beneath a wolf.
Kageko and the woman set Kiba on the table and instantly stripped him of his clothes. Kiba's fingers and toes were a deep blue, almost black. Peeling the clothes off opened all of his scabbed over cuts, causing the blood to flow free again and nearly overpowering Akamaru's sense of smell.
Kageko cursed. Akamaru put his paws up on the table to get a better look. Kiba was covered in bloody cuts and his broken arm was purple, swollen, and not looking good at all. What was worse was that Kiba hadn't woken up at all despite the pain he must have felt from the disturbance of his broken arm.
"Kiba." Akamaru whined.
"It's best you don't watch this pup. Go check on your other friend." The elderly woman commanded softly.
Akamaru wanted to protest, but the look the elderly woman sent him changed his mind. He padded over to the next room, picking up Genma's scent and the smell of his blood almost instantly.
The Jounin was tucked into a small bed that must have belonged to the woman. Akamaru leaped up onto the bed and looked down at the man, sleeping deeply and looking very pale.
Sighing, Akamaru laid down to wait the rest of the night out in worry, whining every once in a while. The sun was just coming up when Genma stirred beside him. Akamaru stood up and turned to look at the man, who was blinking his eyes in a daze and clearly confused.
"Akamaru?" Genma croaked.
"It's me." Akamaru whined, even though he knew Genma didn't understand him.
"Is Kiba here then?" Genma asked, sitting up slowly and gingerly, winching in pain ever so often.
Akamaru nodded his head and whined again.
"Is he alright?"
"He is hurt bad." Akamaru whimpered.
Both looked up as the door to the room opened and the elderly woman walked in.
"How is he?" Akamaru barked.
"Relax pup, your partner will be fine, though his recovery will be slow. I managed to save his mangled arm, I was worried for a bit there. You should go outside and thank Kuro. He didn't have to send Pearl to come get me."
"Is it safe enough?" Akamaru asked apprehensively.
The woman laughed.
"If Kuro and his pack wanted to eat you, they would have already. He is alone. His pack has their own pups to care for you know and he has sent his fastest runners to warn the other packs and flocks of the danger." The woman assured him
"Flocks?" Genma asked, clearly confused.
"The ravens of course. They are the fastest messengers to spread the warning. I have no doubt Glide will have every pack and flock warned by evening."
"Glide?"
"The leader of the flock that is tied to Kuro's pack. Enough chatter for now. You need to speak to Kuro," she pointed to Akamaru, "and you need to eat and rest." She pointed to Genma. "And let an old lady have her bed for a few hours." She chuckled.
He stopped to check on Kiba on his way to the door. Kageko, looking half dead, opened the door for him and instructed him to scratch twice when he was ready to come back in. Sure enough, Kuro was waiting for him at the forest edge.
Akamaru approached him hesitantly, expecting a trap regardless of the human's assurances.
"Your partner is fine?" Kuro asked.
"He will recover with much time." Akamaru answered.
"That is good. Your warning of the movement of the coyote's and crows is appreciated. We will be able to prepare for them."
"There were others with us. More humans and two other Nininu."
"Glide has been informed and her flocks look for them from the sky as we search from the ground. Your human companion has mentioned it already."
"Your assistance means more to me and my pack then I can possibly express to you."
"Your warning of the danger at our dens entrances has saved many lives. It is us who should thank you. I must go." Kuro declared, standing up. "I have many packs to offer truces to and many others to make treaties with. It is rare that a truce between hunter and prey must be met, but at a time like this the balance is already threatened. I have much work ahead of me."
"I wish you luck on your hunting." Akamaru bade.
"If you are ever in this area again, I would like to hunt with you when times are not so rough."
"It would be an honor to do so." Akamaru assured.
Kuro melted into the shadows; more silent then even Akamaru's own parents were at stealth. He envied the wolf briefly before scratching at the door. Kageko let him in.
Kiba was lying in a nest of blankets and furs in front of the stove set in the wall in the center of the house. The other side of the wall was the bedroom.
Genma was leaning against the wall to Kiba's right, nestled in blankets and furs, and eating a stew of some sort that smelt really good.
Kageko was loading more wood into the stove and boiling a kettle on top. Akamaru joined Kiba's side, lying between Kiba and Genma. He licked the Jounin's bowl clean when Genma set it down and accepted the pat on the head that went with it.
It was going to be a long day as he stood guard over Kiba, Genma soon joining the boy in sleep. Kageko was not too far behind, curling up in her own set of blankets. Akamaru remained awake in silent watch over his fellow shinobi least one of them have a complication in sleep.
Meiyo and Keiji caught up with Tsume and her partners as the sun was rising. There had been no sign of the youkai since midnight. With no sign of the others yet, Meiyo assumed the worse and they rested briefly before continuing on to Sanctuary.
It was late noon, the sun just starting to set, when a raven caught up to them and started cawing and flying in circles above them.
"Kannon?" Tsume hazard.
"Not our codes." Meiyo rejected, drawing a kunai and getting ready to kill the bird.
The raven landed in a branch above them, continuing to caw and fluttering to the next branch over.
"It wants us to follow." Inuka declared tiredly.
"A trap?" Nori asked.
"I don't think so." Keiji answered. "Ravens and wolves would be the natural enemies of Coyote's and crows. Since ravens and wolves travel together, I would bet Akamaru found a wolf pack and the leader of that pack sent his raven allies out too look for us."
"I though wolves hated dogs." Nori stated.
"They hate domesticated dogs, not nininu." Inuko answered. "And your theory is correct Keiji."
With fresh news of other survivors, a third wind was granted as they followed the raven through the forest until they came to a lake.
"There." Tsume pointed.
Across the frozen lake was a cabin.
"Wood smoke." Inuka declared.
"Blood. Lots of it." Inuko snarled.
They followed the raven across the lake. A trail of blood led into the cabin.
"Genma's and Kiba's." Inuko declared.
"I detect Kageko and Akamaru, and many wolves." Inuka added.
Meiyo pounded on the door. For several seconds nothing happened, then the door crept open a fraction then flew open revealing a haggard looking Kageko.
"Meiyo, Keiji, Tsume." She sobbed in relief.
"Kageko." Meiyo hugged her.
They all shared a hug, before Kageko invited them in. Genma was awake and returning a kunai to his holster. Akamaru was lying between Genma and Kiba, who appeared to be unconscious. An elderly woman was sitting at the table, grinding what appeared to be dried herbs.
"Looks like Kuro's scouts found you." The woman declared.
"Kuro?" Meiyo asked.
"The wolf pack that found Kiba and Akamaru." Kageko reported.
"Still no sign of Neji, Temari, Shikamaru or Genkaku?" Tsume asked.
"No." Kageko shock her head sadly. "All four were in the tent when the attack happened. I saw those damn Karasu drop coyote-youkai right on top of it. The likely hood any of them managed to get out is slim to none."
"Dead?" Akamaru asked in a whine.
"Perhaps." Inuko answered.
"Or perhaps not. If death were their intention would it not have been easier to light the tents on fire? Or rain arrows down upon us from the sky instead of engage us in hand-to-hand combat." Meiyo pondered.
"They certainly weren't raining death from above." Kageko agreed. "Nor did they try to go after us after several minutes of chase time. My hounds turned back after another cry lit up. A call to secure a capture perhaps?" She mused.
"It has a strong possibility. Usually the taiyoukai himself, or herself, partakes in the slaughter. There was no taiyoukai there last night." Keiji commented.
"So there is hope then?" Genma asked.
"A good chance." Meiyo confirmed. "Kageko is right. We were never pursued far, nor were they protecting their lands since we were deep into them before they attacked and no warning was giving."
"One can not wrap their mind around the thoughts of Crows and Coyotes." The elderly woman declared.
Meiyo blinked and only then really noting the elderly woman grinding her herbs, having dismissed her as a non threat.
"You are wise for such young pups."
"I am sorry. We are intruding on your house and hearth and haven't even thanked you yet." Meiyo bowed to the woman.
"Your warning of the danger at our dens in more then enough thanks. Kuro has already set out to warn the others."
"How is Kiba doing?" Meiyo asked.
"He will recover in time, but the recovery will be slow. For now rest is what he needs and time to let his bones mend and his blood flow. You must be hungry, please be seated and help yourself to some of the moose stew."
"Thank you, it has been a while since we ate." Tsume thanked.
Kageko handed out a bowl of the stew to everyone.
"My name is Meiyo. This is Keiji, Tsume, Inuko, and Inuka."
"You may call me Hanara." The woman smiled at them.
Kiba still hadn't stirred and Akamaru refused to leave his side. Tsume brought him a bowl of stew and checked on Kiba before rejoining the others at the table.
"What's the plan?" Keiji asked.
"We need to get a message to Sanctuary as fast as possible to call in reinforcements. I want both Kannon and Ino, if she will come. There is enough crows around here that I am sure they should be able to find a spy easy enough. With the two of them together they stand a better chance of finding information.
"With Shikamaru and Temari out of the picture, is it safe to assume Naruto will pick up the command?" She asked Genma.
He thought for a second before nodding his head in agreement.
"Inuko and Inuka stand the best chance of getting to Sanctuary the fastest. I want you to leave first thing in the morning. From Seika bring Uzumaki and Kannon, Zhina will remain in command. Warn the ANBU of the possible danger to Seika and to be on full alert.
"Naruto will most likely want to come and with reinforcements. Let him bring whomever he desires. Remember to ask Ino to come. Even if no one else from Konoha comes, I would like her to come."
"With Keiji-kun here I have no doubt she will come running at full speed." Tsume chuckled.
Keiji actually blushed.
Hanara had remained silent, continuing to grind her herbs through the conversation.
"Kageko, the fat please." Hanara asked.
"Of course."
Kageko took a pot off of the strove and set it on the table before Hanara. Hanara scraped the herbs she had grinded into the pot and started to whisk it into a thick paste.
"What is that?" Tsume asked.
"A healing paste to stave off infection. The pup and young whelp there have nasty cuts that are not looking good and I fear infection. Especially from the coyote's saliva." Hanara answered. "Kageko, it is time to replace the bandaging for the frost bite."
Kageko took a pot off of the hearth next to the fire, grabbed some fresh cloth, and moved over to Genma and Kiba. She treated Kiba first, removing the old wrappings around his nose, fingers and toes, cleaning the old oil off with a warm cloth before applying more of the stuff and wrapping them up again.
She turned to Genma next. He was silent through her ministrations and only hissed in pain as she treated him. He was lucky to have all of his fingers and toes considering the condition Hanara had found him in.
The cottage was small and with all of them bunking for the night it was rather crowded.
"My apologies for being such an infringement and I thank you for your hospitality." Meiyo thanked Hanara.
"Feel free to use my humble home to bunk your wounded and make your plans. I suspect you will have more allies in this then you think." Hanara smiled.
"More allies?" Tsume asked confused.
Akamaru's head snapped up suddenly even as Inuko and Inuka jumped to their paws, growling at the door.
"Wolves." Inuko reported with a growl. "Seventeen at least."
"Kuro." Akamaru barked and trotted to the door.
Akamaru pushed the door open and padded out. The others followed him but stayed by the door. Akamaru walked right up to the, black Alpha wolf with a white one by its side. Behind the two ranged several others, each bearing a pup in its mouth. In the trees was a large number of Ravens, many of them with drooping feathers.
Hanara walked out last, than gasped as she raced out to meet the wolves. It was then the others noticed the trail of red painting the snow.
"Kuro, Pearl, Glide, what in the great moon's name happened?" Hanara demanded as she fell to her knees next to one wolf who was barely standing.
"They crossed into our range and started hunting. They hunt in packs larger then my own by many and the sky was black with their Karasu. Youkai hunt with them." Kuro answered.
Inuka translated even as Inuko raced to join Akamaru, approaching slowly to make sure she would be accepted instead of attacked.
Pearl set the pup she had been carrying down. The pup whimpered and tried to hide under her paws.
"More shinobi friends?" Pearl asked Akamaru.
"Hai. They are warriors like me." Akamaru confirmed.
"Might I help?" Inuko asked, approaching slowly and carefully.
Pearl regarded her for a moment, than gave her accent. Inuko wasted no time in taking a pup from the wounded ookami Hanara was looking at.
"I know you shun the structures of human's Kuro, but your pups will need the warmth and safety." Hanara offered.
Kuro seemed to think on it.
"It is no different from a den." Pearl argued.
Kuro finally gave his consent.
If the small house had been crowded before, the addition of ten pups, three badly wounded wolves, and a score of badly wounded ravens made it difficult to move. Kiba and the three, wounded wolves were moved to Hanara's room at the back. They would not be moving anytime soon.
The ravens perched in the rafters or on the backs of chairs. The pups were nestled next to Genma in the corner. He seemed leery of them and the pups found him interesting. By the time they settled down, the pups had crawled under the blankets with him and were sleeping soundly. Genma's apprehension dropped when Pearl trotted up to check on the pups and showed no sign of discomfort with how close they were.
Hanara, on account of her age, kept her bed. The other humans found space on the floor to rest. With things so crowded Inuko and Inuka decided they might as well head out on their mission. It seemed time was an issue. If Kuro had been pushed off of his lands already it was only a matter of time before the youkai forces would reach the cabin.
Two of Glide's fasted ravens and one of Kuro's wolves accompanied them just encase if they came across any problems. The sun was rising by the time the last wounded raven and wolf had been treated under Hanara's direction.
They had been looking for a threat to Sanctuary, and they had found it.
By far, my Favorite chapter of this series. I love it, love it, love it. The interaction between Kiba and Akamaru just make me jump in excitement every time. Originally Mieyo asked for more members from her teams to come, but I really wanted to cut back on the OC's and focus more on the original cast. So I got to work ahead and change all that to. I need to try and focus more on the mains, the only OC's that are suppose to really mater are Meiyo, Kannon and Keiji, but its so easy to get side tracked with your own characters since you don't have to keep them in someone else's set character mold.
The language change.
As mentioned above it was starting to just annoy me to have some common words in Japanese for no real reason, such as hai for yes. I use to like it but, but it dosen't always flow properly between the two languages. Not all things will be changed to english as the Japenese word is sometimes just more fitting so thier may be a time when I will use the Japanese word instead of the english, depending on rather the cultural calls out more for the official Japense word. Examples of some things that will definitly remain in Japanese.
Techniques, lets face it, they sound terrible in any other language.
Particular races that just don't translate well into English, such as Youkai. They are quite different from demons as we know them and I will keep the Japanese names for the youkai version of animals but use english for normal animals. Ie: Kitsune:fox Youkai:normal This will help with any confusion that may come up with this perticular arc where we are seeing both races to keep them seperate. Coyote isn't in the Japenese Dicitonary. This is most likely becasue they are native to North America and so no name would have been assighned to them as they would only be more recently introduced to the culture and the native name for the animal would have been used. A good example of this is Coka Cola, used world wide with no translations into any specific language.
Affixes and tittles. Affixes have a huge impact on the society and what affix is used can have a huge impact on the mood and even meaning of a conversation. Titles, such as Hokage, also fall into this area as it is cultural.
Suna for the sand under gara's control, sand for everythign else. So intead of Suna castles, it's back to sand castles. Honestly suna castle just sounded wrong and I hated that whole area back in Treks.
If anyone has a suggestion for a name for the coyote-youkai that would be appreciated. I don't want to keep calling them Coyote-Youkai, it's just too, damn long. I was thinking something like, Coykai, except that sounds stupid. I don't want to use Ookami because that is a wolf and would be like calling a lynx-youkai a Neko.