A/N: next chappie! enjoy!

Chapter 10: Believe

"Catch it yet, Toboe?" Ryooshi asked as the other young wolf sniffed at the cement in the early morning light.

"No," he sighed, standing tall, both in their wolf forms, Liona standing between them. "Anything in the air?"

"Nothing," Ryooshi replied.

"You sure they came this way?" Liona frowned in uncertainty as she glanced down the grimy street. "This isn't really the best part of town. Why would Kiba bring Cheza here?"

"Maybe he lives here," Ryooshi replied, but remained in her wolf form as Toboe sniffed at the cement again.

"Yesterday's rain didn't help," Toboe complained. "I lost the scent."

"Me too," Ryooshi reported. "We should probably ask around now."

"Yeah, because everyone's looking for a kid with a girl in pink, right?" Liona retorted as the two wolves appeared in their human forms.

"What's up with her?" Ryooshi asked Toboe, jerking her head at the woman who huffed, crossing her arms over her chest with a slight curl of her lip.

"She gets crabby when she's hungry," Toboe whispered to the other wolf and Ryooshi nodded in understanding.

"Well, we're bound to run into a place here," she shrugged as they began walking down the street. "Even if it is a shadier part of town."

"You look like you're lost."

The three jumped and spun around to stare wide eyes at a stranger in a baggy jacket, the hood over his head, almost covering his whole face.

"You three aren't from around here, are you?" he asked again. Toboe and Ryooshi stepped closer to Liona who stared at the creepy man with wide eyes.

"We were looking for someone who might have come this way," Ryooshi explained. "He's a little taller then my blonde friend here, with black hair and blue eyes."

"He might have had a girl with him in a pink rain coat and matching rain boots," Toboe added, remembering what he'd seen Cheza wearing in the diner when he'd passed it.

"You seen 'em?" Ryooshi asked.

"What if I did?" the stranger wondered, tauntingly. "What would I get out of telling you where they went if I saw 'em?"

"We don't have money, if that's what you mean," Ryooshi retorted. "You'd be leaving with your life if you tell us."

"And what would a cute little thing like you do to me, huh?" the hooded stranger asked, strolling toward Ryooshi. Toboe gently moved Liona behind him and was ready to leap forward to protect Ryooshi but when she didn't move he realized she would take care of it herself.

"Oh, I could do some damage," Ryooshi retorted. "I'd stop right there and take my word for it if I were you."

"You're not me," the man replied. "I think you're gonna be lots of fun."

Ryooshi let out a growl, baring her teeth a little to show that they were fangs and very capable of ripping through flesh if necessary. The man didn't even falter in his steps as he gave a smirk under his hood.

"I like a girl with bite," he grinned evilly.

"Then you'll really love me," Ryooshi retorted, and didn't hesitate to leap at the threat coming toward herself her friends and grabbed hold of the man's arm in her fangs, biting down hard.

The man screamed in pain as Ryooshi chewed on his arm and Toboe and Liona stared on at the scene in horror. They soon found themselves surrounded by men in hoods that they assumed were the man's friends, and they were running at Ryooshi to pull her off.

"Liona! Get out of here!" Toboe shouted, shoving her out of a gap in the crowd circle of men and she ducked into an alley.

A few of the men were about to go after her but the other man being attacked by Ryooshi screamed bloody murder again and they turned to Toboe. A few guys took swings at him but he ducked and dodged them expertly. He jumped high into the air and took down a few of the men before the others could blink. Meanwhile, Ryooshi was kicked in the ribs by one of the men, but she gave a growl and still held onto the man's arm in her fangs. She sunk them in a little deeper, making the man scream again.

"Get off of him, you mangy mutt!" one of the men snapped and Ryooshi let go to turn on him but as she was about to clamp down on his arm, which he'd raised to hit her with, a bat hit her in the jaw from another direction, making her yelp and fall to the ground.

"Ryooshi!" Toboe called, desperately and was about to go help her but he stopped when he heard a desperate dry in a familiar voice.

"Toboe!" Liona cried when one of the men was coming toward her in her alley. Toboe leapt toward him and took him down, but a plank of wood caught him in the gut making Liona scream again when he fell to all fours, coughing in pain.

The men crowded around him as Liona knelt down and pulled him toward her to help him, and the other half of the men crowded around Ryooshi as they pulled their wounded friend to his feet and she stood, still in wolf form and growled at them, baring her teeth.

"Finish 'em off," one of them suggested, and they all moved to do so but they heard a snarl from an alley opposite the one Liona was hiding in. They all turned their attention there to see a huge, white animal leap from the dark alleyway and onto one of the men as he shouted with a start.

"Kiba…" Toboe groaned in pain, and Ryooshi's ears parked up at hearing him. She looked back at the white wolf as he leapt from man to man, killing each one he came to. The other men left alive ran in panic and the four watched them until they had disappeared. The white wolf turned to look at Ryooshi, and when he did, she felt herself shiver from being stared at by those intense golden orbs.

"Who are you?" he asked, not changing his form.

"Ryooshi," she replied. "Can't you tell? We met once before."

"The girl outside the diner," he realized out loud.

"Kiba…" Toboe groaned in pain again, disoriented and drawing Kiba's and Ryooshi's attention again. They hurried toward him and Liona in their human forms and knelt down next to them.

"Toboe, are you ok?" Ryooshi breathed in wide-eyed concern.

"I'll be alright," he grumbled, using Liona to help him stand, and they all did the same. He looked up at Kiba who stared back at him with blue eyes now.

"You remember…Toboe?" he asked, hesitantly and Toboe gave a weak smile and a small nod that Kiba returned. "I thought I was the only one who remembered."

"Almost," Toboe replied. "Tsume, Hige and Blue don't remember."

"That's actually what we went looking for you for," Ryooshi chimed in, drawing the older wolf's attention. "We need your help getting them to remember."

"We should get out of sight before the police show up," Kiba suggested and nodded them toward the alley he'd come out of to which the rest obeyed and hurried into the alley. Only when they were a good ways down the alley, but still walking did Kiba ask, "How do you think I can help getting them to remember?"

"It's actually Ryooshi's idea," Toboe explained then looked at her to let her explain.

"I have a theory," she began. "If all of you are together, the ones that lost their memories will start to remember. It's a shot in the dark, to be honest, but it's worth a shot, right?"

"It sounds reasonable enough," Kiba nodded. "But how did you plan to get us all together?"

"Cheza," Toboe replied, drawing Kiba's attention to him. "If they catch her scent, they should be drawn to her, right?"

"Why is it that all I hear is 'if' whenever this plan is being explained?" Liona muttered.

"Because it's not guaranteed to work," Kiba replied. "Cheza told me that everyone's memories will come back in due time, and sometimes not at all. Bringing us all together may work for a few of us, but not all."

"I remember when a lot of people said that about Paradise," Toboe said, catching everyone's attention but he only looked at Kiba as they all stopped in the alley. "A lot of the other wolves said it didn't exist, that it was just a myth. But when you said you were going, I believed it existed because you were so sure it did. You even got Tsume to believe it. Maybe, if you believe the others will get their memories back, they'll remember?"

Kiba stared at Toboe as the young wolf stared back at him, unwilling to back down. It made the older wolf smile as he remembered all too well the journey to Paradise he'd taken with his friends, and how hard it had been, but the pack had stayed together somehow through it all. He had believed. That was the only way he could have gotten as far as he did. He couldn't let his friends down now after what they'd all been through.

"Where are we taking Cheza?" he asked, making Toboe and Ryooshi burst into grins.

"The diner where you were yesterday," Toboe explained. "Blue will be there already. We'll just have to wait for Hige and Tsume."

"Hige will follow the scent, no problem," Liona theorized, remembering what Toboe had told her of his friends. "I have a feeling Tsume won't take the hint."

"You leave Tsume to me, then," Ryooshi suggested, making everyone look at her in wonder. "I'll get him there somehow. Trust me."

"Nobody makes him do what he doesn't want to do, Ryooshi," Toboe warned to which Ryooshi only smirked at him.

"Well, then it's a good thing he wants to remember, isn't it?" she retorted, then placed a hand on the young wolf's shoulder. "He'll come of his own accord, I promise. Once we're sure everyone's there, have them meet in the alley behind the diner so we don't draw too much attention, ok?"

Toboe opened his mouth to object to her getting Tsume, but he quickly closed his mouth again and nodded.

"I'll get Cheza and bring her to the diner," Kiba chimed in and Toboe smiled at him with a nod.

"Thank you, Kiba," he murmured. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who has his memory."

"So am I," Kiba replied with a small smile and turned to go back home and get Cheza.

"We'd better head back then too," Liona suggested. "Toboe and I will wait for you all at the diner."

"Got it," Ryooshi nodded. "I'll get Tsume and meet you guys there too."

"If he doesn't want to come, don't force him," Toboe pleaded and Ryooshi only gave him a warm smile.

"Don't worry, Toboe," she soothed. "He'll want to come, because he wants to remember. All you guys have to do is jog his memory a bit. Tell more stories like the one you told him about him saving your life that time. He knew it was true, I could tell, he just didn't want to admit it."

"That's what I'm worried about," Toboe muttered, but Ryooshi only ruffled his hair with a giggle.

"I'll see you guys there," she smiled and suddenly in her wolf form, she darted out of the alley and around the corner before Toboe could even argue with her anymore.

"Well, let's get going, Young Pup," Liona told him, slinging his arms over his shoulders.

"Do you think this will work, Sissy?" he asked her as they headed down the alley and into the street.

"I thought you believed it would work, pup," she recalled. "Doesn't matter what I think, really. You're all wolves with memory problem and I'm a human. What could my opinion possibly matter to this whole plan?"

"It matters to me," Toboe corrected and Liona couldn't help but smile at the young boy.

"I think it'll work out just fine," she replied. "Whether they remember on their own later, or once we get them together, I think you'll all have your memories back, sooner or later."

"Thanks, Sissy," he smiled up at her and she pulled him a little closer as they continued down the street.

A/N: need i say anything? i mean, really? reviews?