"Toboe… Toboe…" The red fox stirred from her sleep. "Toboe." She gasped. "Toboe! Ah! They took him! What do I do? Wait! He said to find his friends. … But, I can't do that. They'll eat me!" Ana stood there, wavering in place, with indecision. No. I trust him. She hesitated only a moment before turning on her heels and sprinting down the beaten path of felled trees.


Toboe had given up after an hour of marching. The man holding him had a grip that could challenge even Tsume's. They came to a somewhat round clearing that contained several tents situated in a circle around a large fire pit, which was being started by one member of the hunters that had stayed behind to keep guard over the site.

"Sit!" commanded the man holding him, though he gave the boy no time to obey and simply pulled him down next to a tree. The trapper, who apparently had no end of supplies, took another rope out of his backpack and secured Toboe to the tree so he couldn't even stand up. The boy huffed as the rope tightened around his midsection, over his still healing wound.

"We'll deal with you later." The men walked past the tree and went into their tents. They returned to the fire with bags of food and other edibles. Even if they didn't share any, which he knew they wouldn't, Toboe was glad they had something else to attend to besides him trying to saw his way out of the multiple ropes that bound him.


Ana hadn't stopped in her mission to find the wolf's friends. She would walk occasionally, but only so she could rest before sprinting again. She hoped she would find them before nightfall, but it was doubtful with her short stature that she would. By evening, her legs felt like jelly and her mouth was raw from the dry air she panted. Her chest screamed for her to stop running lest it burst. But she refused and kept running until her brain had the final word and simply refused to let her control her legs anymore. She tripped on the leaf-littered ground and laid there panting more heavily than she ever had. And before her muscles could tell her just how worn out they were, she had fallen asleep. It wasn't a moment before the sun rose over the tree line.


The trio had woken early that morning to continue their tracking. After Kiba and Tsume got fed up with weaving in between the forest trees, they joined Hige on the center of the trail where they covered more ground hopping from log to log. Kiba was in front, with Hige trailing a few lengths, but Tsume was the one to spot her first. "What's that?" he said, stopping. The other two did as well.

Uphill they saw a small, beaten animal's shoulders peek over the crest. When they saw its red fur, they immediately assumed it was Toboe and dashed to meet him. "Toboe!" they all called. When they reached the creature's location, the three wolves broke stride to a disappointed walk.

"It's just a damned fox," Tsume clarified. Hige sat down and panted. The fox was half asleep, so it seemed, walking with a lazy, automatic stride. Her head hung low.

They paused for only a moment. "Come on," Kiba suggested, "We got to keep looking."

Repulsed by the creature, Tsume let out a low growl as they passed her. It was enough to wake the fox, if only just a bit. "To-boe…Find friends…," she muttered.

"Wait," Hige said. He turned and stared at the fox, continuing in her dazed quest. He hopped in front of her. "Hey! What's your name?" The fox seemed to finally regain some awareness.

"Uh-uh…Ana," she said.

"Do you know where our friend, Toboe, is?" he asked. The two other wolves had turned to watch with anticipation.

The fox's ears rose up and forward as her eyes sparkled and her body woke up completely. She shook herself. "Brrr. You're Toboe's friend?" she demanded kindly. Hige looked up towards the other two wolves. Ana turned to see them as well. "Are you too?" she asked, hopefully wagging her tail.

"Yes," Kiba responded. "Do you know where he is?"

"Some hunters took him! He told me to go by myself to find you!" she looked at them all. She noted how much bigger the yellow wolf was than the other two, but she knew that was mostly fur. The gray wolf was only a hair taller than the white one, though he had a much more slender build.

The three wolves glanced at each other. "We need to hurry," Hige said.

Kiba nodded. "Yeah." He looked up at the way they had to go and then back down to the red ball of fur staring expectantly up at him. "It'll be faster if she can show us where they went."

Tsume snarled. "What!" Ana shied away from him.

Ignoring his co-commander, the white wolf started galloping up the trail again. Grumbling, Tsume followed. But not before glaring at the petrified fox with shining teeth.

"Pardon me, madam," Hige came up behind her and picked her up by the scruff of her neck. She let out a gasp and folded up her legs and tail like a kitten. It's not like she was going to protest to a wolf as big as him.

With their new cargo safely secured in the largest's jaws, the group set off to find the member whose addition would make their pack complete.


It was early morning and he was finally about to snap the rope apart. Just…a little…more, he thought as he wiggled, using the bark from the tree to cut into the last bit of rope around him. But he wasn't to finish his objective. The gunman came from behind the tree. Toboe froze immediately and tried not to show any indication of what he had been doing.

"Tam ta see da boss." The man took the rope and cut it. Toboe wondered why he chose not to untie him instead. But as long as they couldn't figure out what he'd been doing, he didn't care. "Up," he commanded. He grabbed Toboe's arm and helped him to stand and, not to Toboe's surprise, he resumed his position by holding onto the back of the boy's collar to lead him to where he needed to go. He was led to the largest tent. "See ya lader," the man said as he shoved the boy through the door flaps.

He landed half on his side and half on his front with a grunt, his arm crushed under his body weight. Ow. Surely there wasn't any real threat. There weren't any humans that could really see wolves. He tried to sit up the best he could, with his hands still bound behind his back. It didn't work.

"I didn't think they'd manage to catch a real wolf this time." Toboe froze and looked around quickly. The tent was dark and it took his eyes a moment to adjust. In his anxiety, he found what he was looking for in almost an instant. Staring calmly down at him from a chair was an older wolf. His yellow eyes were bright in the dim lighting. He had a well groomed, though abnormally colored, brown coat. Lighter hairs covered the majority of his face from the tip of his forehead down to his entire muzzle. It made him look friendlier, if that was appropriate in the current situation. A mist radiated from his body.

Once he got over his shock at seeing another wolf, of all things, Toboe finally realized that his identity would be revealed to all the other hunters. Oh, man!

The young wolf's expression was not missed by the elder. "You don't have to be afraid," he said. "I will not turn in one of my own. Not one so young…One that has done no wrong."

"Why?" I'm so confused.

"Surely you have seen how skilled the men are." The wolf scissored the toes on his left front paw while he recounted memories. "I stumbled upon them one day and negotiated a partnership. I reveal any wolves I see, and they feed and shelter me." The wolf glanced around his tent in a gesture. "I have revealed a few wolves, but only after assuring myself that they were not worth the life they had." The wolf bent down from his chair to take a few laps from a glass of water on a tea table.

"So, uh, I'm safe?" Toboe asked.

"Yes, young one." The elder wolf gave a squinty smile without showing his teeth. He looked the boy up and down and got up from his chair. "I'd bet you'd rather these ropes come off," he said, approaching him. He placed his head over and behind the boy's side and snapped the rope tying his wrists together. Toboe let out a whimper as he pulled his limbs to a more natural position and sat up completely. The fog around him started to dissipate. "Do not reveal your true form!" the old wolf barked in haste. "I never know when one of the men will stick his nose in here. I yell at them every day to let me know first before coming in, but only when they go to bed am I sure that I can relax." Toboe watched as the hackles lowered on his back.

"Sorry."

The old wolf sighed. "What is your name, pup?"

It annoyed Toboe that the wolf kept changing his nicknames. "Toboe."

"A talker, are you?"

Toboe blushed. "No, sir."

"Hmm. Then why would one get such a name?" The gruff man had sat next to the boy, facing the interior of the tent. When Toboe made no move to answer, the man guessed. "There's no shame in having good lungs, boy." Toboe jumped at the correct answer. "But I'll tell you it was smart not to panic and call for help. Not that there are any wolves nearby anyway." The man leaned back on his hands.

"But there are! My friends will come find me. Ana will help them! I know she will." The old wolf glanced at the pup's sudden outburst. Then he chuckled. "It must be nice having friends you can depend on and not some bunch of idiots to tell what to do." The boy chuckled too.

"Name's Doc.


"There! That's where they took him!" Ana pointed with her paw while dangling in Hige's mouth. She had taken a power nap and woke with all the spirit she needed to help the pack find their friend. My friend, she thought to herself. She hushed. He's my friend too…


Doc and Toboe talked a while in the tent about all sorts of things, though Doc mostly commented ever so often while Toboe went on many digresses. He only stopped talking when his stomach growled. And right on time.

"Eh, Boss." The gunman stuck his head through the door flaps. "Boys caught a few squirrels fer dinner. Ya hungray?" The man turned his head down at the boy who refused to look at him for fear he'd give himself away if he made eye contact. "What's da standin' on dis un?"

The brown wolf looked up at the man, eyes closed, with a grin. "He's good. Just some kid who ventured a bit too far from home." He paused. "Probably too late to have him go home. It gets dark too fast here. He'll sleep in my tent 'til morn. Go fetch the extra sleeping bag, will you?"

"Sher, Boss." The gunman's head disappeared from the tent, but not before showing an obvious pout on his face. It made Toboe's spine crawl.

He really wanted to kill me!

"Don't worry, pup. They won't harm you on my watch."

About an hour later the two wolves were each handed a bowl of squirrel soup. Toboe slopped at it happily. It would be three more servings before he was full.


They were a good ways off but close enough to keep tabs on Toboe's scent without being stumbled upon by one of the hunters in their sleep. They couldn't smell any remains of blood apart from the squirrels so they knew he was okay - for now, anyway. It made Ana feel special that the two nicer wolves slept so close to her for protection from the gray one. He hadn't done much more than growl a few times since they had found her. And when he did speak, he never had anything nice to say to her. What had she ever done to him? When they saw the group eating contentedly, Kiba had suggested that they wait until the next morning to get Toboe back. Of course, Tsume just wanted to bomb-rush the campsite and tear the men apart. But the pack was tired after the day's run and it simply made more sense to sleep that night and continue the following day. Tsume gruntingly relented and found a spot to sleep and growled as Ana tried to find one too. Kiba and Hige knew something might happen and nonchalantly lay close to her vicinity…just in case.


Toboe yawned and stretched in his sleeping bag. He felt so much better! Doc had given him a salve to apply to his stomach to help his injury heal faster while he slept. Now the scabs were soft enough not to cause too much pain. Some had even fallen off to reveal new tissue. And with all the pillows that the old wolf lent him, his back had returned to full glory. He wriggled out of the blankets, shook himself, and yawned again. His sleepy eyes looked past the chair to the brown wolf lying on his own sleeping bag. Then he got hit with the results of last night's dinner. Should I stay? I don't want to wake Doc up. He told the guy I wasn't a wolf. Toboe poked his human head through the door flaps. Everything was still and quiet. He didn't even hear any birds. One of those quiet mornings, I guess. The boy crawled out of the tent and headed off to some spot in the woods. It would have been rude to just run off. That'd be too suspicious and get Doc in trouble. He'd return and wait for the right time to leave.

Ana had gotten up earlier and was sitting in a tree with a vantage point over the camp. She saw Toboe head off into the woods alone. She jumped down and quickly woke Kiba and the others. "He's up! He's going into the woods! We gotta go!"

The four canines rushed out to the pup's direction. Toboe was heading back to the camp when he heard the others. "Guys! Ana! You're okay!" The girl swung her arms around the boy for a bear hug. Toboe had the air squeezed out of him. "Ana, I can't breathe," he puffed.

She let go immediately. "Oh, sorry." She blushed and put a hand on her mouth.

Ana shied back as the old grey wolf stepped forward and grabbed the boy's shoulder. "Are you alright?" he asked seriously, with his intense yellow eyes.

"Yeah."

"Scared us good you did, Runt," Hige said in feigned scolding.

"Let's get away from here," Kiba said.

"Wait. I can't." The wolves and fox looked at him. "There's this old wolf who saved me. He's the leader of these guys. He wouldn't tell them what I was so they didn't kill me. I can't just leave. They'll know he lied and kill him instead. I'm gonna stay here and let him walk me out a ways and then leave."

Hige sighed and plopped down lazily on his big rump and leaned up against a log, arms folded behind his head. "He's right. Guess we'll just have to sit and wait."

"We wouldn't have to if we just killed them all right now," Tsume suggested.

"I don't think that's a good idea. I mean, they're really good at what they do. Even Doc was impressed."

"Doc?" Tsume asked.

"He's the wolf."

"Well, if you feel like that's the way to go, then we'll just wait for you," Kiba said, sitting as well.

Toboe glanced at Ana before saying, "Okay. See you later then!" then trotted off to the campsite, with his tail wagging behind him.