A/N: ok, so i thought i jynxed it, cuz i couldn't get to writing the damn chappie at first, but i got it. howvere, it's not forced, so i hope it's just as good as the rest of the story has been. (i've been getting good reviews, that's why i can say this story is good. not great, but good) enjoy!

Chapter 15: Sandstorm

The wolf pack of six trudged through the empty space of desert from morning to noon until they came to a tall canyon with a trail running through it to, who knew where. Keeping an eye out and an ear open for any danger, the males kept the two females between them as they trailed down the canyon floor, the high noon sun beating on them relentlessly.

"Isn't it supposed to be fall?" Hige grumbled, pulling at his sweater collar. "It feels like summer!"

"Quit your complaining, porky," Tsume snapped as he walked in front with Kiba, Blue and Ryooshi behind them with Toboe and Hige bringing up the rear.

"Maybe we should take a rest?" Toboe suggested, cautiously, seeing the older wolf's foul mood. "Ryooshi's injured, remember?"

"Don't worry about me, Toboe," Ryooshi smiled, reassuringly. "I've had worse."

"Of course you have," Tsume muttered, and it was Blue who jumped in to defend Ryooshi with a scowl.

"What is the matter with you?!" she snapped. "You've been ticked off ever since we escaped the city!"

"Blue, I wouldn't rile him," Hige warned.

"I'm already riled," Tsume growled, but didn't turn to talk directly to them. "And I'm hungry. Where the hell do you find food in a place like this?"

"If we run into anything here, it would be a mountain lion or something like that," Kiba guessed.

"Of course," Tsume grumbled. "It couldn't be anything easy, right?"

A gust of wind blew at their backs making Ryooshi, Blue and Toboe stumble, but Tsume, Kiba and Hige held their footing and continued walking. Hige suddenly sneezed and frowned as he rubbed his nose and turned around to glance behind them. His eyes grew wide as he pushed Toboe with one hand as he still stared at something headed toward them.

"What?!" Toboe snapped and shoved Hige's hand away as he turned to see what had him in a stupor.

The young pup's eyes grew wide as well and at the same time he and Hige hurried to catch up with the girls in front of them. Hige grabbed Blue by the shoulders and ran her forward at top speed past Kiba and Tsume as Toboe did the same to Ryooshi. Kiba and Tsume stopped, frowned, looked at each other then looked behind them to see what the two were trying to out-run.

A huge, thick cloud of sand was gusting toward them faster than they were sure they could run. Kiba and Tsume looked at each other again and bolted after the four ahead of them.

"We'll never out-run that sand-storm!" Tsume shouted.

"We need to find shelter!" Kiba suggested.

"Look! There's a cave!" Hige shouted and zoomed Blue, who was as stiff as a board as he pushed her into the small cave that everyone else noticed was too small to fit the rest of them.

"Thanks a lot, porky!" Tsume growled as he and Kiba caught up to Toboe and Ryooshi, running side by side now.

"There's another one!" Toboe shouted, pointing to his left. Tsume grabbed his belt from behind and ran him into the cave as big as the first one had been.

"This way!" Ryooshi shouted to Kiba, taking his arm in hers and wheeling them into a third cave ahead of them, the sand storm on their heels. Ryooshi dove into the little cave, taking Kiba with her just in time as the sunshine coming in disappeared to leave the two in dim light as they back peddled deeper into the cave to avoid the whipping sand at the entrance blowing by them.

"That was way too close," Ryooshi sighed, flopping onto her back. "I hate the desert."

She wasn't surprised when there was no reply from Kiba. She hadn't really expected one. Sighing again and sitting up, she leaned back on her hands, her legs outstretched in front of her to stare out at the sand whipping by the cave entrance. She then examined her feet, quickly becoming bored as she tapped her toes together. She glanced at Kiba a few times, then thought this the perfect time to get an answer to a question that had been bugging her.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" she began and when he turned his attention to her and nodded she asked, "When the others were giving their opinions of me, you never really said whether you were for or against me coming along, even after I told you all my story. I guess what I'm asking is, what do you think?"

There was a gap of thoughtful silence as Kiba looked back out to the sand blowing past them outside.

"I'm guessing by your silence you don't trust me any more than Tsume does, right?" she assumed.

"It's not that I don't trust you," Kiba replied, still looking out at the sand storm passing by them. "You proved yourself by fighting to get away from those Wolf Hunters. I'm still trying to figure out why you want to help us. Why are you so insisted on coming with us?"

Ryooshi blinked a few times in surprise but looked to the entrance as well to give a small smile and answer, "I'm not sure exactly. Something about you guys drew me to you I guess. With Blue and Toboe it was because they were so nice, and when I saw you, you seemed nice too. Hige was a little irritated when I met him, but he still seemed like he could be friendly, and Tsume…"

She trailed off, not knowing what to say what drew her to him as the small smile that adorned her lips fell. She brought her legs up to her chest and leaned her forearms against them, her chin leaning on her arms.

"I hadn't seen any wolves in five years, other than the ones I killed or that killed with me," she murmured. "Seeing all of you free and doing whatever you wanted, not worrying about anything, really, it made me jealous. I thought if helped you guys, I could have that too. I guess I was stupid in thinking I could get away with it after everything I've done. Karma's biting me in the tail, I guess."

"You're wrong," Kiba replied, making her look up at him with wide eyes filled with surprise. "We've all gone through something, in this life or our past one's, that have seemed too horrible to come back from. That's how life is. There is nothing you do that you can't come back from, no matter who you've killed, or how many times you've killed, or even if you don't regret what you've done. If you keep going through life thinking you can't lead a full one, you'll be miserable forever, and you'll lose your chance to be happy. So instead of asking me what I think of you, you should ask yourself what do you think of yourself?"

Ryooshi stared at him in awe, taking in every word he had said as he only stared outside, not saying another word. All this time, she'd worried about what other people thought of her and all the while, her opinion of herself had been diminishing until it depended solely on what other people thought of her. She took a moment to think about what he told her to ask herself.

What did she think of herself?

She smiled as she turned back to stare at the entrance and leaned her chin on her arms again as the answer came to her.

"I think I'll be ok, even if you guys throw me out later," she smiled, glancing at Kiba who glanced back at her with a small smirk before turning his attention to the entrance again.

"The storm should die down soon," he guessed and Ryooshi nodded in agreement then he asked, "You didn't tell me what you thought Tsume when you first met him."

Ryooshi jumped as if a chill had run up her spine and she laughed nervously as she replied, "Uh, well…that's 'cause I didn't wanna say how much of a jerk he was. I mean, the guy left me out in the rain instead of offering me a ride out or it! How mean is that?! He's always being mean to me! Well…you saw it, right? He didn't want me around."

"And yet, he seems to like you," Kiba replied.

"Eh?" Ryooshi grunted turning a crooked frown at him.

"If he didn't like you, he wouldn't have let you talk him into meeting us at the diner," he explained. "Not only that, he would have put up more of a fight in getting rid of you when we escaped the city, even if he was outnumbered, four to one."

She stared at him with wide eyes again as a slight smirk started to curl her lips and she murmured, "Yeah…I guess you're right."

"Tsume isn't the kind to admit it if he likes you or not," Kiba explained. "He'd rather say he hates you than admitting how he really feels. He doesn't want to look soft."

"But I already know he is," Ryooshi replied. "I figured it out from the first time he saved me. Why would he be so mean to someone he saved?"

"I'm not all that sure about him," Kiba chuckled, lightly with a shrug. "All I know is, if he really hated you, he wouldn't bother talking to you."

Ryooshi smiled dreamily and nodded then flopped onto her back again, sprawling herself out.

"You like him, don't you?" Kiba suddenly asked and Ryooshi shot upright to stare wide eyes at him.

"What?!" she squeaked. "H-How could you even think that?! Weren't you here when I told you how mean he was to me?!"

"That doesn't mean you haven't fallen for him," Kiba smirked, slightly and Ryooshi huffed, turning her nose up at the statement as she crossed her arms, but Kiba didn't fail to notice the blush over her cheeks.

"Don't be ridiculous," she muttered. "I'd like to have a male who would be affectionate and attentive, not mean and spiteful like Tsume."

"Oh, I'm sorry then," Kiba replied as Ryooshi glanced at him. "It seemed to me like you cared a lot more about his opinion of you than anyone else's."

"And how did you misunderstand that," she wondered.

"The way you look at him, I suppose," he shrugged. "But I guess I was wrong."

Ryooshi took a moment before nodding, "Yes, you did."

They both turned back to the entrance and she sighed in boredom.

"We might as well get some sleep," Kiba suggested. "We were up all night."

Ryooshi nodded and curled up into a ball as Kiba did as well, and she rested her chin on her crossed paws, her tail tucked against her. She couldn't believe it had been that obvious to Kiba. She thought she was subtle about it, but apparently the old saying about the eyes being the windows into the soul was true. One thing had her mind reeling now, more than Kiba knowing her little crush: Should she tell Tsume?

She quickly dismissed that thought. He was angry with her now. He wouldn't want to know that she had a crush on him now after she had told her story. She would just have to wait this feeling out until it passed. That shouldn't be too hard. After all, Tsume was a jerk, no matter how warm and fuzzy he was inside.

Still, she thought, he is kinda cute. I wonder if he'd even give me a second thought.

Before she could answer herself, she fell asleep, to the howling of the wind.

Tsume sat dangerously close to the entrance of the cave as Toboe sat further in, away from the wind whipping sand outside. The young pup had set his jaw in irritation as Tsume only stared out at the sand storm whipping by them. Not being able to hold it in any longer, Toboe moved toward the older wolf and shoved his shoulder to get his attention, making Tsume shoot an angry gaze at the runt.

"Why are you being so mean to Ryooshi?!" Toboe snapped, angrily and Tsume only scoffed with a sarcastic smirk and shook his head, turning his gaze out of the cave again. Toboe gritted his teeth and shoved his shoulder again, drawing Tsume's attention once more and he prompted, "Well?! Answer my question?!"

"Since when do you care about what I think of other people?!" Tsume growled back.

"Because you obviously like her, so you should treat her nicely!" Toboe barked back. "Why would you be so mean to someone you like?!"

"Did I toss you in this cave a little to hard?" Tsume wondered, sarcastically. "Did you hit your head a little too hard on the dirt, or one of these rocks? What makes you think I'd even think of that mutt that way?"

"She's not a mutt!" Toboe argued. "And I've seen the way you are with her, Tsume! You're meaner to her than anybody else in our pack!"

"She's not part of our pack!" Tsume barked back. "And the reason I'm so mean to her is because she hunted our own kind. I can't get past that."

"You got past it with Blue," Toboe reminded him.

"That was different," Tsume argued. "That she-wolf didn't know what she was doing. She didn't even know she was a wolf until she met Cheza. Ryooshi knew what she got herself into."

"So you should feel sorry for her and not be mad it her," Toboe replied. "I do."

"Pity her all you want, kid," Tsume retorted, gazing outside again. "You can probably pity her enough for the both of us."

"Why can't you just admit what you feel, Tsume?" Toboe groaned. "No one's gonna think you're weak or laugh at you. I think Ryooshi might be good for you. I mean…I think she likes you."

"You sound disappointed, runt," Tsume smirked at the young pup. "Have a thing for her, do you?"

"N-No!" Toboe sputtered, a blush over his cheeks.

"Now who's not admitting how they feel?" Tsume teased.

"Tsume! I don't have a thing for her!" Toboe shouted, making the other wolf laugh heartily as Toboe sighed in hopelessness.

"Get some sleep, runt," Tsume chuckled, calming himself.

"What about you?" Toboe wondered, curling himself up to sleep. "You should get some rest, too."

"I will, kid," Tsume assured him. "Don't you worry about me."

Toboe didn't say another word as he closed his eyes to sleep and Tsume stared out into the sandstorm still going outside. It was starting to die down but only a little. It would probably be a while before it finally died altogether. He couldn't help but think of what Toboe had said about Ryooshi with an amused smirk. He found it laughable that he would even think of Ryooshi that way after what she'd told him.

And yet, now that he had time to think about it, both times his heart had skipped when she had been near him, and the one time he thought he was going to die when she fell into his arms as he had helped her up in the shack in the city. All were things he had dismissed at the time, but they were nagging for attention now. Why was he reacting to her that way? He couldn't really be falling for her, he didn't even know much about her.

Still, her smiling face popped into his mind's eyes and he couldn't help but smile. He thought she was attractive, but he hadn't let himself dwell on it. Now he could, for several hours at least, and the thing that had him puzzled was that he wanted to think about her.

She can't possibly be thinking about you right now, he thought. Why bother wasting your time? She doesn't like you, even if Toboe thinks she does...the kid's not very good at reading something like that, right?

He glanced at the sleeping pup and gave an exhausted sigh. What the hell was going on with him? Whatever it was, no way was he going to tell any of the others. Not even Toboe would know that Ryooshi was starting to feel a little too close to him, and he had no idea why that was.

A/N: i hope i'm not rushing the romance with this. i mean, they've only just realized they like each other and it's the 15th chappie. i think i did pretty good considering that in most of the fics i write, the characters are all over each other by like the third, fourth, fifth chappie...somewhere around there. anyway, i contemplated on who should go with whom in the caves, and i decided on this. Hige and Blue would end up together of course, i needed some alone time with Kiba and Ryooshi and Tsume and Toboe needed some too. it worked out nicely, i think. reviews?