"I guess the first thing you should know is that her name is Tsuki, and she's, or at least she was, my mate." Hige smirked, realizing his chances of sweet talking the female were next to zero now; Kiba merely nodded, waiting for Tsume to continue. That was the first question answered, but there were many more to follow, and Tsume had a lot of explaining to do.

"When our pack was killed by the humans we were separated." Tsume was not one to talk about his life so openly, and was struggling to tell the other two enough without giving away everything. "I don't know what happened to her after that, and you saw where I was, so there's not much to tell." Hige inwardly sighed, it was just like Tsume to be a frustration idiot without realizing it; he had pretty much said what they had already guessed.

"And?" Hige urged, but all he received in response from Tsume was a grunt and a glare. Tsume was obviously finished with his story. Before Hige could make any rude comments to the older male, Tsuki stirred on the ground; Tsume leapt to her side to tend to her. Hige looked over at the silent Kiba, but did not see any emotion on the wolf's face. Hige looked back to Tsume and Tsuki just in time to see the female look up and take in the situation.

Tsuki opened her eyes and slowly sat up, looking at the wolves around her. She saw the littlest one sleeping nearby, exhausted. The white wolf and the fat wolf were sitting next to each other off to her other side. Tsume was kneeling beside her, concern in his eyes but not on his face. Emotions flooded her mind, love and joy as well as hate and rage; unfortunately for Tsume the rage won out. Tsuki balled her fists and hit the gray wolf with a right cross. Even weakened as she was, her punch still had power behind it and the male fell backward, shock and pain in his eyes.

Tsuki gasped as pain shot through her left side, which was not finished healing. She leaned forward, clutching at her side. She could see Tsume out of the corner of her eye rise and move toward her once more, this time with more caution. "Stay away from me, traitor!" she spat angrily. The words hurt him more than the punch, and he paused where stood. Toboe had woken by now and was taking in with innocent eyes the true fury of a woman scorned. He moved to hide behind Hige and Kiba, quivering.

Hige couldn't help but snort at Tsume's rejection and Toboe's fear, though he knew that the situation was serious. A glare from Tsuki silenced his laughter and he too felt the wrath. Kiba alone was unmoved by the current activities, but calmly asked instead, "How are you feeling? We haven't had a chance to apologize yet for our earlier intrusion, so I hope that we can-"

"Hah, intrusion is an understatement. Though the damage has been done, so not much I can do to change what will happen next. I go by Tsuki, if you must know. Runt, Toboe, I'm not going to bite you, so you can stop shaking," she added with a chuckle; she was echoed by Kiba and Hige. Tsume was still standing where she had snapped at him, but relaxed into the characteristic don't-give-a-damn pose he usually carried; only this time his eyes were dark with sorrow.

"From your earlier orders, I noticed you already learned our names, so no need to make introductions at this point." Kiba continued after the quiet laughter ceased.

"Huh, before you continue, I feel I have a right to know why you were so interested in raiding my research, Kiba. Not many would know the language written on half the papers, but you seemed to know what you were looking at." Hige and Toboe turned to the white wolf, waiting for him to make the grand statement about paradise, but when he did not answer Toboe took it upon himself to tell Tsuki about their journey, "We're going to find paradise!"

Tsuki turned her sharp gaze from Kiba back to Toboe, and then to Hige. "Are you serious? Are you actually searching for paradise? What makes you think there is a paradise?"

"I know that there is a paradise. And I also know that the Book of the Moon is the key to finding paradise. That's why I was looking at all your stuff. Now you know why the four of us are traveling together. As soon as the sun rises we will be going." Kiba filled in the blanks, and his answer set Tsuki to thinking. She had her own agenda, but perhaps the males could be of some use.

"Than I'm going with you. I am interesting in the Book of the Moon, and you owe me at least this right since I now have no home to return to." Toboe didn't know if he should be scared or excited at the sharp female's decision; Hige on the other hand was obviously happy that the female was joining. He jumped up from the rock, "Welcome aboard, my lady." Despite his earlier hesitation about flirting, now that he had seen that Tsume had no claim on the female he would take what he could. Kiba looked at Tsume for any response, but the gray wolf remained silent; Kiba turned back to Tsuki, who was now giving Hige a bored look, and nodded. "Alright. But in exchange I want to hear what you know of the Book of the Moon."

"Later," Tsuki replied, bored, "but if you wanted to leave by sunrise I suggest we start moving." She rose and walked beside Hige, her wound fully healed; the males showed no sign of their earlier wounds either. Kiba led the way, Toboe falling between the lead and the pair, with Tsume bringing up the rear stoically. Tsuki felt a twinge of guilt in her heart, but her rage still festered that the male would dare show his face to her now, after all she had been through because of him.

The small pack turned to the rising sun and began their run, heading in the direction of Jagura's keep.

A/N:
Here's where the story will start to tie into the anime, so if you haven't watched the anime, here is your spoiler warning!