Kiba sat in the backyard of Leara's house with Cheza, looking intently at the moon overhead. He was still contemplating that strange experience where he hazed out while Cheza was tending to Toboe. He couldn't understand what had happened. He kept going over and over it again in his mind. It wasn't a dream because he had still been awake. It wasn't a vision because the outcome of whatever it was resulted in Toboe surviving the infection. The more he thought about it, the more confused he became. He shook himself and pushed the problem to a dark corner of his mind for now, instead focusing on more pleasant things. He looked over at Cheza and smiled. He had finally found her. The flower maiden. All the traveling, all the heartache, all the pain and misery had been worth it. He had finally found her and was now one step closer to finding paradise.

Cheza sensed Kiba looking at her and looked back at him with her blind red orbs. She gave a small smile and reached out and softly stroked his neck. Kiba's eyes closed and he leaned into her hand while she petted him. It always felt good to be petted by Cheza. Just being in her very presence made him feel as if everything was right with the world.

Sensing movement behind them, Kiba looked over his shoulder as Hige joined them outside.

"Hey guys, hows it going?" Hige settled on the other side of Cheza as he spoke, tail gently wagging.

"Everything's alright," replied Kiba. "How's the pup doing?"

"Leara says he's going to be alright. He just has to rest for a little while. He's still asleep actually"

"That's good, I'm glad."

"So what are you going to do now?"

"As soon as we've finished resting, me and Cheza are leaving the city."

"Leaving the city huh? The only thing out there is wasteland. What's out there that could possibly be important?"

"Paradise." Kiba looks over at Hige as he says this, fire burning in his eyes and a look of determination upon his face. "We're going to find paradise."

Hige looks at him for a moment before grinning. "Paradise huh, sounds interesting."

Cheza looks over at Hige and says, "This one wants to know if you will come with us."

Hige looks at Kiba questionly. Kiba stares back but his eyes reveal nothing.

Hige looks at the moon for a moment contemplating. Finally, He looks at the others and says with a jovial smile, "sound like fun. Sure, I'd love to go with ya."

Cheza beams at him and says, "This one is so happy. Thank you."

Hige looks back at her and says, "you're welcome, I guess."

Cheza turns back to Kiba with a serious expression on her face. "This one also thinks Toboe should go as well."

Kiba stares at her in shock. "I don't think that is such a good idea Cheza. Toboe is still a pup. He's much to young to go on that kind of a journey."

Cheza answers back stubboringly. "This one thinks he will be a vital part to our success. He must come."

Kiba looks away, thinking for a minute. He finally looks back at her and says, "Okay, he can come. I still think it will be too dangerous for him though.

Cheza smiles and says, "Thank you Kiba"

At about that time, Leara comes out of the house. "Daddy said you guys can stay the night if you want to. It's a little to late to be leaving right now."

Kiba looks at her and says, "Thank you. Your hospitality is most welcome."

Leara giggles and then looks at Cheza. "I wanted to thank you for helping Toboe. I don't know how you did it or even what you did but I will forever be grateful.

"This one was happy to help him. This one felt his pain and it made this one sad."

At about that time, Hige comes up behind Leara and nuzzles her hand. She jumps, startled, until she turns around and sees that it is just Hige. He nuzzles her hand again and then stands there with his head cocked to the side, tail wagging. Leara laughs and starts petting his head. He lays his ears flat and closes his eyes, enjoying the affection.

Leara laughed at Hige as she continued to pet him. After a few moments, she stood up and said, " I'm going to go to bed. Ya'll come on in when you want. Goodnight." And with that, she walked back into the house.

Hige yawned and stretch the full length of his body. "I think I'm going to bed as well. See ya," he said, walking off.

Cheza looks at Kiba. "You should get some rest as well Kiba. You look very tired."

"You're right Cheza. Lets go."

And with that, they went into the house to get some rest.

Toboe slowly opens his eyes. Everything around him was in a blurry haze. He looked around, trying to get his bearings. His vision slowly came back into focus and he noticed he was in the living room of a house. As he slowly moved his head taking in his surroundings, he noticed a white and brown shape nearby. As he focused on the shapes, he recognized them to be wolves. The brown wolf was still sleeping, snoring away. The white wolf was staring intently at him. Toboe shrank away from the stare of the white wolf. His ears flatened on his head and he looked away.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you there. Name's Kiba. The one snoring like a freight train is Hige."

It was then that Toboe felt a presence off to the side. He looks over and sees crimson eyes staring at him. It was a girl. A human looking girl. Toboe shrank away from her with a whimper.

"It is okay. Do not be afraid. This one means you no harm."

Toboe stood, looking at her. He started to feel a calm peace come over him. Without even realizing it, He was walking over to the strange girl as if in a trance. As soon as he got near her, he rubbed his head against her outstretch hands. She began petting him and he slowly sank to the floor, laying his head in her lap, fully at peace. After petting him for a minute she stopped. He raises his head up and looks at her. She slowly puts her arms around his neck, hugging him like he was her long lost friend.

"This one is glad to see you again Toboe. This one has missed you."

"Again, Have we met before?" Toboe asks in confusion.

"Yes. It is a long story and This One shall wait to tell it later. This one's name is Cheza." Cheza turns back to Kiba. "Fang, Whiskers, and Howling have been found. Now all we need is Claw and the one who is not whole."

Toboe looks at Cheza confused. Kiba just looks at him and gives a shrug. "She's said that several times now. I don't know what it means anymore than you do. She refuses to elaborate on it any further until we find a couple other wolves."

Toboe started sniffing the air. "You smell lovely Cheza. Like flowers."

"What you're smelling is the smell of lunar flowers."

"Why do you smell like lunar flowers Cheza?"

"Because this one is made from a Lunar Flower."

"Huh?", "Really?"

"Really."

Hige walked up to toboe and, ruffling his hair said, "you sure do ask a lot of questions, don't ya runt?"

Toboe looked up at him irritated. "The name's not runt. The name's Toboe.

Later on, Kiba, Hige, and Cheza was saying goodbye to Leara and her dad. "It was good meeting you guys," Leara said waving. "Be careful out there," her dad added.

Toboe stood away from the wolves with his head bowed. He was now in his human form. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Kiba staring at him. Toboe manages to meet his gaze. Nervously, he said, "I wanted to thank you f-for helping me. I'm sorry I was so much trouble."

"Nah, you weren't any trouble at all," Hige said with a grin.

"We were just glad to help," Kiba added. Kiba clears his throat and then asks, "Toboe, why don't you come with us."

Toboe stared at him uncomprehendly, then said, "Come with you, where are you going?

"To Paradise."

"Paradise, why would you want me to come with you? I'm just a pup."

"Because, this one wants you with us. You are essential to this journey, this one knows it."

Toboe stared at her in shock. "How could I be essential? I'm still just a pup."

"Well," Hige said speaking up. "I think it would be cool for you to tag along."

"This one wants you with us. This one would be happy for you to be with us."

Toboe smiled when she said this. He had never been wanted before other than by Leara, so it shocked him that they felt this way about him.
He looked at all of them for a moment. He looked at the smiling jovial face of Hige, the fierce determination of Kiba, and finally, the smiling visage of Cheza who so wanted him to come along. "Alright, I'll go. It could be fun."

"Just remember," Kiba said, looking at Toboe seriously. "It's not going to be an easy journey. The road to Paradise is paved in blood. But it is a journey well worth making if you're stronge enough and brave enough for it.

Toboe looked at Kiba in all seriousness and said, "Kiba, I promise, I won't let you down. I may not be as strong or as fast but I'll do everything I can to see this through till the end. When you mentioned paradise, It sounded...no, felt so familiar. It's like someone has told me about it before. Cheza's scent is so strangly familiar. But I can't place how I know this."

"Well then, let's go." And with that, Kiba turned to walk away.

"Wait!"

They turned back to see Leara come barreling out of the house. She ran right to Toboe and threw her arms around him, squeezing him tight. Toboe stood there stunned for a moment. He then put his arms around Leara and hugged her back.

"Please be careful," she whispered. "I don't understand what is going on, but I know there will be danger involved."

"Don't worry Leara, I'll be fine. I am a wolf after all." Toboe released her. She turned to the rest of the wolves and said, "Take good care of him."

Hige laughed and said, "We won't let nothing happen to the runt, don't worry."

Toboe glared at Hige. "It's Toboe."

"Yeah sure, shake a leg."

The four walked away from the house and took the first steps on their journey to paradise.

"So, what do we do first?" Toboe asked as they walked. They had been walking for about thirty minutes and was still a long ways off from the gates to the city. All this time, Toboe had been asking questions and trying to get to know his new friends. From what he learned so far, Kiba has always had a calling to seek Paradise and Hige had a past that was missing bits and pieces. He had come from a pack of twenty wolves from the east. Human wolf hunters came and ...that was all he could remember. He then remembers running through a city with a strange metal collar on his neck. Whether he was running from or to something, he didn't know. And Cheza, Cheza was an enigma for sure. No one knows anything about her. All she would say is that she waited for many years for Kiba to show up and that she is a plant, not a human. No one knows where she comes from or anything else about her.

"So runt, you sure ask a lot of questions.

"Well, that's how you learn stuff."

Hige just laughed at that.

"First," Kiba said speaking up, "We find a way out of this city."

"Next question," Hige asked, "Which direction?"

"Wherever instinct guides us."

They continued walking for about an hour. Hige had swiped some hotdogs from a vendor for everybody. They ate as they walked, each lost in their own thoughts. Kiba was trying to figure out a way out of the city, Hige was busy looking at all the "lovely ladies" as he put it. Toboe was still trying to get his head wrapped around the idea that he was going on a journey to paradise. As they continued walking, Kiba kept getting a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that they were being watched. He looked behind him but didn't see anybody following them. Of course, whoever it was could be hidden in shadow. Right about then, they heard sirens and gunshots. There was screaming coming from a few streets over and then the painful yelp of a dog...or a wolf.

"Um, guys," Hige said nervously. "Don't you think we should, oh I don't know, maybe beat paws and get outta here?"

"What is going on." Toboe exclaimed."

"I don't know, but I think things just got a little more complicated." Kiba said. "Let's go!"

Tsume braked hard coming to a traffic light and cursed as it turned red. "Stupid idiot, damn light was still yellow," he muttered. He sat there waiting for the light to change and contemplating the most recent turn of events. 'Why do I keep having dreams about that white wolf? This shit just doesn't make any since.' The light changed and he put his feet back on the pegs and started rolling. Tsume kept with the traffic, for once not speeding or driving dangerously. He popped the clutch and shifted the Harley into the next gear and was heading to the south side of town.

Tsume heard gunfire coming from the right and stopped at an intersection to see what the commotion was about. He watched in horror as he saw soldiers had two wolves surrounded. The soldiers cut loose with gunfire at the same time, drowning out the yelps of pain from the two wolves as the fell over dead. Tsume took off again, a shiver going up his spine.

'What the hell,' he thought. 'Maybe there's something on the news about this.'

Tsume turned the radio on and was apalled at what he heard.

"This just in. The Noble Military has devised a way to see past the human illusions wolves cast on themselves to fool us. This device, which the military refuses to disclose at this present time, should go a long way towards ridding our city of the problematic infestation of the wolves and make our city a far safer place to live."

Tsume cut the radio off in disgust as he heard this. He continued driving until he came upon his apartment building. He stopped a block back as he saw lights from several police cruisers were flashing all over the place. His apartment building was swarming with cops.

'Shit, I got to get out of here.'

Tsume turned the bike around and went the other way. He detoured around the block his building was on and then continued heading south.

'How did they find out I was a wolf? How did they find out a wolf was living there? It just doesn't make any sense.

Kiba stopped and held up a hand. He looked around, using all of his heightened senses, trying to locate the source of his unease.

"Why did we stop Kiba?" Hige asked.

"Something's not right. I don't know what it is but something just does not feel right."

"Guys, do you hear that?"

"What is it runt?"

"It sounds like something buzzing in the air."

As they stood there listening, a faint buzzing could be heard coming their way. As it came closer, a horrified expression came to Hige's face. "We have to get outta here, NOW!"

"What is it Hige?" Kiba asked.

"Drones. They have special cameras that can spot our true forms. We have to get outta here now."

They started running, trying to find a place to get away from the drone before it spotted them. They ran down alleys and across streets, trying to give it the shake. as they rounded a corner out of a dark alley, they came face to face with another drone. Kiba jumped in the air and destroyed it, but not before it emitted a high pitched alarm.

"Damn it," Hige exclaimed. "Now every cop and military personal in the city will be alerted to our presence. We have to leave the city.

"Run," Kiba said.

They ran for all they was worth. But it was to no avail. As they came to an intersection, soldiers had them surrounded on all sides, guns drawn. Kiba, Hige, and Toboe backed up against each other, surrounding Cheza in the center to protect her.

"Ah man, we are so screwed," Hige said with fear in his voice.

"Kiba, what are we going to do?" Toboe whined.

"If we stand and fight, we die. If we try to run, Cheza dies. Damned if you do and damned if you don't I guess," Hige remarked. he couldn't help but think that this was the end for them. That and he wanted another hotdog.