key: 'wolf speech' / "human speech"

Tsuna

Snow billowed in the winds that howled softly outside of the cave.

Kiba briefly looked away from the blizzard that slowly began to wane beyond their shelter as his gaze fell on the lone female whose back rested against the stone wall inches away with her coat collar high to shield her neck from the cold winds that teasingly danced into the cave with her eyes closed as if she were dozing.

She hadn't said a word about his open declaration that last night in the city and, while his pride wouldn't have minded a little acknowledgement of his bravery in standing up to her brother, instead she seemed to gravitate towards his side like a fly to the light.

Though as slightly hurt as his pride was that she didn't acknowledge his declaration, he was left to realize she was as much an island as she was perpetually stubborn; she was hardly one to blindly obey orders… She wouldn't knuckle under if she could help it.

"H-hang on, howcome Kiba isn't on the menu!" Toboe's outburst drew both wolves from their respective reveries and back to the general conversation going on between the three males.

Tsume sent a scathing look over at said male, "'Cuz the guy's full of crap. And don't bother askin' about my sister, she's off limits to all three of you idiots." He answered coolly.

Another breeze stole into the cave as green and amber stiffly held each other's gaze.

Nikki stood to stretch her legs then, looking between the two males before rubbing her temples, "There's too much testosterone in this damn pack it's irritating…" She sighed.

Hige's ever-keen nose shot into the air then, making the four look at him with mild surprise and curiosity, before he scrambled to his feet from having been seated at the back of the cave to rush out into the snow in search of whatever it was caught his attention.

Nikki glanced up at Kiba and Tsume before she ran after the tan wolf's lead with Toboe following, leaving the mentioned wolves to follow their leave to find the blizzard had subsided for now.

The four skidded to a halt when finding Hige stooped over a dead doe. It had been dead for a considerably short amount of time, preferably a few days given the state of the carcass, and was still considered edible.

Or as edible as "edible" could get with five wolves that, even if two of the five would never admit it, were hungry.

"You're actually going to eat that?" Tsume asked at large as he was slightly repulsed and affronted at the lack of something more decent for them to eat.

Of course it was the wild…

"Aren't you?" Hige retorted calmly before he dug into the provided meal, prompting Kiba, Toboe and Nikki to join in.

Toboe commented after losing a leg bone to Hige through tug-of-war –to which said male gloated for a few precious seconds before Nikki whacked his head in scolding—, "It's a little tougher than hamburger but it's not half bad… Come on, Tsume, you should eat up too! There's no telling when we'll get another meal where we're going."

Tsume wrinkled his nose before scoffing. "'Go where', to Paradise? You're still on that?" He demanded.

"It's either Paradise or you go crawling back to the slew of cops in Freeze City that were itching to turn you into Swiss cheese." Nikki remarked around a mouthful of venison, shooting him a mild look even though the white wolf near her was scowling slightly at her brother. "I personally wanna keep going." She added as she swallowed the meat.

"Just how far are you willing to let this jerk string you lot along…?" Tsume wondered as he sent another glare at the white wolf in question before huffing. "I can't deal with you idiots."

"Aww don't be like that, Tsume!" Toboe pleaded if only to keep the peace between them, adding as he looked at the white wolf, "Kiba hasn't even told us what Paradise looks like yet!"

Hige piped up, "It's a really beautiful place! There's lots of flowers and meat everywhere… And lots of babes too… E-eh, not like you're not pretty too, princess!" He smiled cheesily at the lone female's deadpan expression.

Nikki pinched his ear and ignored the yelp of pain from her friend, "Quit fillin' the pup's head with lies, you lecherous ham…" She scolded lowly.

"Um, Nikki, can't you tell us about Paradise too?" Toboe asked meekly, having looked at the sulking Hige and the reproachful Nikki as Tsume rolled his eyes in the background and Kiba valiantly covered a snort of derision at the tan wolf's blatant lie.

"I've never seen it before, but our mom used to say it was really beautiful and peaceful. And of course there're flowers, but no 'hot babes' like this ham said…" Nikki answered honestly.

"It sounds really amazing then!" Toboe said brightly.

"It's still a puppy's bedtime story." Tsume pointed out, receiving a mild scowl from his sister and he huffed, "If you wanna follow this moron to whatever end then be my guest." He turned to stalk off with his thumbs hooked in the pockets of his pants.

"Tsume…" Toboe frowned at his leave and looked at Nikki for some measure of hope that she would ask the older wolf to stay, but the she-wolf only picked at a bit of dirt under her left thumb. "Where're you going?" He asked the older wolf.

"To look for hell I guess!" Tsume replied over his shoulder.

"Suit yourself." Kiba's calm voice made the older wolf pause as the remaining three looked at him, and his green eyes settled on the amber scowl that met his stare. "Keep in mind that that set of rules you carry doesn't mean anything out here." He added coolly.

Tsume's lip curled, "It pisses me off when smug little asses like you talk like you're right about everything when in retrospect you're wrong." He snapped, being met with a hardened green stare before he continued on his way.

"He's the only one actin' like a kid around here, if y'ask me." Hige muttered.

Toboe slightly shook his head, "Don't say that, I like Tsume…" He ignored the mildly incredulous looks from the white and black wolves, and he looked at the lattermost with a determined spark in his gold eyes. "I'll bring him back, Nikki." He assured before he took off after the gray wolf.

Nikki watched him follow her brother's leave and she felt a small smile pull at her lips as she nodded. "Well I'll be damned." She mused aloud.

::::x x::::

A content yawn escaped her as she stretched her arms to the skies, fingers spread as if she could catch handfuls of the enumerable stars above them, before she closed her hands and looked up at the pale white orb bathing them in her light.

It felt like years since she had actually basked in the moonlight, and her body that had ached for her light now felt light as a feather; for a moment she believed she could catch the stars.

The white wolf had not ceased to look her way every other few minutes at seeing her look so peaceful. Why now, he wondered, why did she suddenly look so beautiful now of all times? He had only known her for two weeks at best, for the moon's sake, but still…

"Y'know, I think we should ditch him. Tsume, I mean. It's not like he wanted to come along anyway." Hige's voiced thoughts pulled the white wolf from his observations.

Nikki opened an eye at his words and exhaled slightly, "Good point…" She contributed.

"I mean I know he's your brother and all, Nik, and I'm sure you don't mind him being here… But if you think about it, it's really circumstances that threw us together in the first place." Hige paused slightly as he seemed to remember said wolf's sister was present.

"I don't mind it, except for his complaining… But he knows I can take care of myself." After all they had been through, how could he doubt her now? Nikki sat up slightly and hugged her knees to keep from falling back, once again taking interest in the scuffs on her boot toes.

Kiba commented from his place at her right, "then the same goes for you too, Hige."

"Yeah, but Tsume's been giving me bad vibes since the beginning." Hige remarked as he shot him a look.

"He's just different, that's all. He's always had someone to blame, and at the same time he's had someone to watch his back… He's pretty lucky if you ask me. Give him a break and he'll come around." Kiba calmly countered as he closed his eyes to hopefully resume basking in the moonlight.

Hige sat up and looked at his fellow male with mild exasperation. "All right, so what the hell's up with you, anyway? You talk like you've got an answer for just about everything… What exactly happened to you before this?" He asked.

Kiba's eyes cracked open, "Nothing much… nothing much at all." If only they knew…

Nikki frowned slightly and quietly asked, "You okay?"

He stirred at her quiet question, and he imagined she was looking at him with curiosity. He nodded a little. "I'm fine."

Right, like she was going to believe that coming from him of all men… Nikki wrinkled her nose a little before she pointedly jabbed her toe into his thigh, looking at him when he scowled her direction. "You know you don't have to carry the world on your shoulders anymore… You've got friends now." She reminded patiently, seeming to perk his ears.

Kiba's scowl faltered as he recognized even if she got his attention through jabs and punches, she still meant well, and felt concern for him even if she denied it until she was blue in the face… He quieted slightly and nodded his head. "Yeah, I know." He replied quietly.

"Since when did you turn soft?" Hige failed to stifle a snort of amusement; he never thought he would see the day Nikki willingly show that side of her.

Kiba felt his brow twitch as a small scuffle ensued between the two, and he looked over at them to see Hige pinned with a triumphant Nikki sitting on his back and his ear caught between her teeth. "I could've warned you not to say that to her." He deadpanned.

Nikki's tail wagged lightly when hearing a slightly pained yelp from her friend, releasing his ear to sit back with a cheeky smirk in place as she shifted back. "Thanks for not warning him then." She caught the bemused light that shone in his green eyes.

"I shoulda known Tsume never told you to play nice… I think you made me deaf in this ear." Hige rubbed his ear gingerly and pouted at his friend who only grinned toothily.

Kiba shook his head and smiled wryly at the smug female.

::::x x::::

A loud whirring sounded when the robot trained its guns at the bristling and glowering wolf.

With a snarl a streak of black launched itself at the machine from one of the ledges above; the wolf's teeth sank into the metal and would've ripped into the cold metal if the robot didn't shake the wolf off.

Nikki landed nimbly between her brother and the robot with her teeth bared and her tail in the air, ignoring the angered commands behind her to run while she still could.

A deafening howl stole into the night right then as a streak of white flew at the robot and diverted its attention from the siblings to him instead.

'Get him out of here!' Kiba ordered as he briefly looked at the she-wolf's silver gaze before bounding away in the opposite direction at top speed, hearing the robot whirr as it gave chase.

"Tsume, up here!" Hige called from a few ledges above them as he sat with Toboe.

Tsume steadily straightened up and perked up slightly when his sister hoisted his arm over her shoulders, looking at her to see she was looking up at the ledge where the other two were. He scowled slightly before they hopped up as she favored his bum leg. "Why'd you come back?" He demanded quietly when they landed on one ledge lower than Hige and Toboe's ledge.

Nikki looked away from having listened to the machine firing round after round at Kiba's heels further off down the ravine, meeting his hardened amber gaze. "We're still pack regardless of whether we agree on one thing or another… Even if you are an asshat." She chuckled a little.

Tsume quieted slightly at the simplicity of her response and he briefly looked off as they heard a shelf of icy rock crash further along the ravine, before he exhaled. "You're almost as annoying as that boytoy of yours." He mused wryly.

Heat crept up her neck and she felt her brow twitch before she scoffed indifferently. "I have no idea what you're talking about, you big jerk." She pretended her lower lip didn't jut out as was her way.

His amber gaze softened slightly at the defeated tone she tried her damnedest to hide, lifting a hand to ruffle her black hair. "I don't agree with it, mostly because he's worse than you when it comes to believing in that crap, but so long as he doesn't lay a finger on you… I'll live with it." He lamented quietly.

She blinked once and wondered if maybe she wasn't hearing things or if he hadn't gotten hit on the head in his tumble, before a smile crept onto her lips and she nodded. "Like that would happen anyway… You taught me well enough in knife-work." She tilted her head a smidge.

"It's almost scary hearing how much of a hardass you are… Almost." Tsume rolled his eyes but smirked anyway, blinking when she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him; he gave a slight sigh of defeat and hugged back. "My leg is killing me, by the way." He grumbled.

"That's not my fault is it?" Nikki huffed as she drew away, smirking back and giggling softly when his lips pursed.

The four wolves took a measure of relief when dawn came as their supposed leader came back to them once they were safely away from the ravine, the lattermost slightly favoring his leg as he came.

"You okay?" Hige asked him.

Kiba nodded slightly, "Yeah, it's just a scratch…"

"The hell it is!" A combat boot was chucked at his head and made him stagger slightly when the sole conked the top of his head.

"Ow…" A vein twitched on his brow as he chucked the boot back at its owner and hopped to his feet. "What the hell that hurt, Nikki!" He shouted indignantly.

"It should hurt after that stunt you pulled, you idiotic wolf!" Nikki shouted back as she slipped her boot on, glaring at him, "I'm surprised anything could leave a dent on that thick skull of yours!"

"Like you're one to talk, you're worse than me!" Kiba shouted, glaring back, "I swear to the moon…"

"OI!" Tsume's shout silenced both 'responsible' adults as he straightened slightly to scowl over at them. "You're both acting like an old married couple, it's too damn early for that, and my leg is killing me! Shut it or I'll do it for you!" He ordered sharply.

Hige and Toboe, who had deadpanned at the couple's antics moments before, simultaneously winced at the older wolf's harsh tone.

Kiba and Nikki looked at each other for one solid second before their faces warmed with matching shades of pink and they curtly broke stares to huff and look elsewhere.

Tsume's shoulders slumped slightly in relief, "Now then, get your ass over here and let's get moving, hotshot." He jerked a thumb behind him to where their road led.

Kiba scowled slightly at his unofficial petname he'd earned from the siblings before he strode to the helm to lead the way.

Nikki looked at Toboe as he helped Tsume walk before she smiled softly and took her brother's free side as they followed Kiba with Hige taking the tail of their ragtag pack.

an: fyi, tsuna means "sand" in Japanese. also Kiba-Nikki love-hate fluffiness is just love, period.