Colonello was looking for someone, or more specifically something.
Which was why he almost completely missed it when he was tackled to the ground...and then completely slobbered over.
"Come on Luna, I just had these cleaned!" he complained with good nature.
Luna, which was the name of the wolf pup, whined before sitting down on the ground.
"There, there girl. I know you didn't mean anything by it," said Colonello gently. Luna perked up and barked. "That's a good girl. And good job! You almost caught me off guard that time!"
Luna wagged her tail happily, before turning into a very petite teenager with tawny hair that matched the wolf's fur, amber eyes that seemed to glow from an internal light, and a collar around her neck with the phases of the moon printed on the leather and a tag that made it clear she was part of Mafia Land's security forces under Colonello's direct supervision.
"Really?" she said hopefully.
"Really," said Colonello, inwardly cursing the idiots who had nearly destroyed her confidence that she would work her tail off for any sort of praise. She was still a puppy after all.
Luna was still a young thing who was barely half grown in her wolf form. She had neck length hair that was kept in a pony tail that was generally messy because she rarely bothered to do more than brush it. She had a light tank top, a pair of pants with camoflage print, and combat boots. She was clearly built more for speed than power, but she had all the grace of a dancer.
Oddly enough when people looked at her, they were more inclined to think 'harmless bunny' rather than a wolf cub.
"I'm starving, how about you Puppy?" he asked.
Luna nodded eagerly, and let Colonello get on her shoulder. She stayed in 'human' form when she left the training areas because there were far too many idiots who would happily kill a wolf, even if she was 'claimed'.
Colonello couldn't help but reminscence about the day he had found a terrified little puppy hiding in the 'back' of Mafia Land where he generally spent most of his time.
Several months ago...
Colonello could tell right away there was an 'intruder' in the forest. He spent so much time there that he could generally sense when something new was around.
Ironic, considering he was fully human and Lal wasn't as 'in-tune' with her natural instincts despite being a wolf shifter. It had taken him months before she relaxed enough to let her wolf side out and trust him enough to crash in her natural form.
Colonello rather liked wolves, which was why he had no issue with dating one.
It took him an hour to pinpoint the source of the disturbance, and what he found there was so far off what he was expecting it was almost funny...if the scene before him wasn't so sad.
It was a wolf pup, or at least a very young one. The thing was barely half-grown at best. It was also highly skittish if the way it whimpered the second it saw him was any indication.
Colonello made sure she saw him put his gun down and in full view of the puppy where she could keep an eye on it. He also put away his knife next to it.
The pup whimpered at the sight of it, curling into herself even more.
"Easy puppy. I'm not going to hurt you," he said gently, in a very soothing way.
The puppy shrunk into herself whenever he tried to come close. The thing was very skinny either from lack of food or because it was a runt. He couldn't see any immediate injuries though, so perhaps it had wandered onto the island by mistake and had gotten spooked by the sheer number of humans around.
Since he could tell the poor thing was too scared to come out right away, he decided to leave some food out for the night...but not before he made sure she saw that it was 'safe' to eat by having a few bites himself.
If she was a shifter like he suspected, she would at least understand that he wasn't trying to poison her.
For the next week and a half, he would leave food out and make sure she knew it was safe to eat.
Slowly but surely, he was able to gain enough trust that she finally came out to eat before he tried it. She wouldn't let him touch her, but at least he knew she was eating something.
She was still far too skinny for his liking though.
Colonello slowly, carefully made his way towards the puppy, speaking only in soothing tones and keeping his Rain Flames away from her. Something told him she wasn't ready for them...not yet.
"Easy puppy. I like wolves...you don't need to fear me," he said gently, allowing his voice to make the same tones he had heard Lal use around other wolves.
She had trained him in how to speak 'wolf', or at least close enough that he could get his point across, when he had expressed an interest. She had called him a fool, mostly because she couldn't understand why a human cared so much about a wolf-shifter to the point he would be willing to mate with her as her partner.
While it was possible for wolves and humans to have children, there was always a chance that the human could turn on the wolf and kill them both. Or for them to inadvertantly lead hunters to their door. Most hunters despised hybrids even more than full-blooded shifters, simply because it meant that a human dared to mate with a wolf.
Colonello didn't care about the species difference. He loved Lal both as a human and as a wolf.
So he was pleasantly surprised and happy when the puppy allowed him to pet her ears. For a moment he felt as though had made some progress, before she retreated back to the cave. Still, it was a major start in the right direction.
However getting her out of that cave was his priority, and it was clear she was still rightly terrified of humans. So he decided to call in reinforcements.
"Idiot student, if this is another attempt to get me on a date..." started Lal irate.
"I have a puppy here, one that I've been trying to coax out of a cave for the better part of two months. I need your help," he said bluntly.
"What sort of puppy?" asked Lal seriously.
"A half-grown pup. She's scared out of her wits, but I've been making sure she's been fed and she's starting to trust me... however I think I'd make more progress with expert help. I think she lost her pack to Hunters," said Colonello.
It made sense and would explain her behavior. The sad thing was that it was a far too common story.
"Colonello I've been working my ass off because my idiot boss just lost his wife and his daughter is missing. We're working overtime trying to find out what the hell happened and why his family was targeted," said Lal.
"Look could you please come over? I just want her to start trusting me so I can help her," said Colonello frustrated. "Even if it's just a day or two...anything would help."
"...I'll try to be there by tomorrow. We're mostly spinning our wheels on dead ends anyway."
Colonello had no idea of the sheer headache that he was about to unleash...not only on him, but also on Lal.
Seeing Lal was always a pleasure, but he was more focused on the wolf pup. She was still far too skittish to trust him easily.
An older wolf, on the other hand...
Lal took one look at the pup and was rather pleased at the fact she looked like she was at least starting to put on weight. Somehow she knew Colonello had been trying to spoil her rotten with food. He always was a softie when it came to wolves, especially pups.
Shifting took a lot out of her, as the curse didn't like it. But it was necessary to allow the pup to know what she was. The curse would confuse her senses otherwise.
The puppy whined, but cautiously came out to sniff her.
Lal pinned her down and started nudging her with her nose. The puppy wasn't feral which was a relief. It didn't take much to nudge the female towards Colonello, who gently ruffled her fur and just doted on her with love and affection.
Lal shifted back, and felt her bones creak. She missed being able to switch back and forth without side effects.
"There, there, bambina. We're not going to hurt you. It's safe to shift," she said soothingly.
The pup looked confused. You could see it in her eyes. So Lal tried another language.
It wasn't until she hit Japanese that she had success.
The puppy whined, before she slowly, cautiously took human form.
Which really made Lal wonder what the hell the poor girl had gone through if a teenager still looked like a pup.
It wasn't until she got a good look at the girl's face that she became furious.
"Tsukiyo Sawada?" she asked carefully.
The girl winced.
"Lal?" asked Colonello.
"You mean to tell me that one of the worst wolf-haters in the fucking mafia married a shifter and was too blind to realize it?!" said Lal irate.
"What?!" said Colonello.
Tsukiyo whimpered at the tone, which forced Lal to calm down. She was still pissed off though.
"Easy, puppy. What happened?" said Colonello gently.
"Mama...Mama was killed by a hunter. I don't know how he found us, but I came home after a run and he was there with Mama on the floor bleeding. I ran before he saw me, but I could smell that Mama was gone," said Tsukiyo, tears streaming down her face. Colonello gently stroked her hair and she just broke down in sobs.
"Why did you run away? Shouldn't one of the local packs take you in?" asked Lal.
Tsukiyo flinched at the thought.
"They said I was broken. Mama was the only pack I had," she said upset. "All the other packs said there was something wrong with me and refused to let me anywhere near them... they wouldn't help anyway since Mama was killed by a hunter...it would risk the human coming after them next."
Lal quietly cursed under her breath. It sounded like the Namimori dens were too closed-minded for the girl to join them, or they smelled something wrong with her.
Or quite possibly they knew who the girl's father was (or what the fact he was half-Italian) and decided that made her unacceptable as part of their pack, leaving the poor girl out in the cold.
Either way her job just got easier and harder. At least she wouldn't have to track the girl down, but now she had to hide where she was and what she was. No doubt Iemitsu would do something incredibly stupid if he found out where his daughter was.
Like try to marry her off to one of his 'preferred' famiglias who coincidentally despised wolves as much as that braying jackass did.
Lal looked at Colonello. Colonello looked back, and a silent agreement was reached.
The girl would have to stay hidden on Mafia Land until she was old enough that she could have a full say in her life without Iemitsu being able to play the father card to make her follow what he wanted.
Good thing Colonello already had a fondness for wolves.
Back to the present
"Papa?" asked Luna. She had no issue with taking a slightly 'new' name to hide who she was. It wasn't like Iemitsu had ever bothered to get to know her.
That being said, Colonello had zero issues with the fact his little puppy called him Papa openly. Nope, none at all. Especially when he got to see how Lal blushed so cutely when Luna turned those big wide eyes and called her Madre in the same breath like it was natural.
The fact Lal tended to mother hen the girl didn't help either. Then again she had to cut ties with her pack when Iemitsu took over CEDEF for their own protection. She hated being a lone wolf and being part of the Arcobaleno had barely helped.
Being able to act as the mother-wolf to a pup who had lost her pack was something she privately enjoyed. Especially since little Luna took after her like a duckling.
"Just thinking of how I found my adorable little puppy," said Colonello, ruffling her hair.
Luna pouted, but even she knew she was still considered a puppy by wolf standards. It didn't help that she appeared half-grown in her wolf form either.
Something seemed to block her full growth, and despite their efforts it was difficult to figure out what was causing it.
One thing they did find out for sure though...it wasn't something natural. Lal suspected Iemitsu, in his infinite stupidity, had done something to her when she was younger to cause it.
Luna happily cuddled against Colonello, who crashed against his pup as if she was his own personal pillow.
She loved her pack, even if most viewed it as strange.
Luna was out getting food and generally keeping an eye out for trouble when her nose caught the scent.
It was the scent of a wolf pup in distress, and a woman who smelled far too human.
Without thinking twice about it, she followed the scent and found a silver haired pup being almost dragged by the woman without a second thought.
Memories of the hunter that killed her mother came to the forefront.
She would not let the woman hurt the pup who was incapacitated for some reason any more than she already had.
She barrelled past the two, grabbed the hand of the other pup and hauled ass as far away from the woman as she could.
It took a few moments for the fact the human wasn't nearby before the other pup realized she was gone.
"Are you alright?" asked Luna concerned.
"Yeah... I always have that reaction around my sister," he said miserably.
Luna stopped and stared at him.
"You can't be full blood siblings... Is she your half sister?" she asked confused.
The other pup stared at her in shock.
"How the hell do you know she's not my full blood sister?"
"...I can't tell you. Not here, where others will hear. If you want to know, then come to the back where Colonello trains people and tests those who fail the initial test of the island."
Seeing she had his full interest, she wasn't surprised in the least when the other pup came to the back of the island later that night.
So the shock on his face when she easily shifted into a wolf confused her.
"You... You're like me. I thought I was the only one..." he said in disbelief.
~Don't be ridiculous. There are wolf packs all over the world. Have you never been part of a pack before?~ she asked confused.
"I...I can hear you? Even though you're in wolf form?"
She shifted back, thoroughly bewildered.
"Have you never come across a wolf-shifter before?" she asked baffled.
He shook his head.
"What's the Smoking Bomb brat doing here, kora?" demanded Colonello.
"He's a wolf-shifter. I can smell it on him," said Luna.
Colonello almost dropped from shock.
"He's a shifter? But his father is one of the anti-wolf bastards!" said Colonello.
Like Iemitsu, went unsaid but silently implied.
The silver haired teen looked overwhelmed. So much so that his human form slipped, revealing a beautiful silver furred wolf with green eyes.
Luna eagerly went back to her wolf form, before nudging him lightly with her nose in an almost playful manner.
Colonello smirked, before tossing a ball lightly nearby. It took a little coaxing, before both pups were playing with it.
He didn't need to be a mind reader to guess that his pack was about to grow by one. It might take a little while, but there was no way his little Luna would allow another pup to suffer the pain of not having a proper pack. Especially since she was so lonely without having anyone to play with.