Notes: I have no idea where this came from, honestly, except to say that three days after beginning to watch Wolf's Rain, the theme song was still stuck in my head and the characters refused to go away, despite numerous threats on my part to harm them if they didn't let me get back to writing Yami no Matsuei fic already. I don't know what part of the timeline this takes place in except that I get the sense that it's pre Blue and probably pre the finding of Cheza, so if you've seen the series enough to get to episode four and coo over the cute Tsume/Toboe moments you're good to go. Also this is unbetaed, because it was written inside of two days and was kind of shuffled onto LJ before I really thought about it, so all mistakes are all on me. Thanks to Lys for sending us the series in the first place and getting us addicted to the crack wolfie goodness. Oh yes, and for the sake of this fic the wolves have human forms. Humor me here, it's for the citrus. ^^ The Great Divide A Wolf's Rain fanfiction by Amet Tsume was tired. The pack, and he scoffs at that word, had been running for hours, and despite his best efforts at ignoring his own discomfort he was forced to admit that maybe it was time to make some offhand comment that would clue their almighty alpha in to the fact that his beta was just about vibrating with hunger and the pup was about to collapse even as he pushed himself to keep up. They're no good to anyone falling apart and he, well he was certainly not hungry, he was used to going without and frankly if bravado boy could go for months without food, he'd damn well to keep up just to show the little shit that he was not as tough as he thought he was. But then, nobody had ever accused Kiba of thinking too hard. That was his problem really, the complete lack of actual planning or foresight beyond 'we will run this way today because it smells pretty' and 'paradise is there because I say so'. That wasn't what leadership was about. A good leader wasn't just the bigger or the stronger or the most intimidating with a little blood on his snout... he was the delegator, the planner, the one who actually paid attention to his packmates well enough to realize when they couldn't push themselves as hard as he could because being the weaker and the smaller and the less intimidating members of the pack meant less stamina. It was annoying, playing advisor to a snot-nosed punk with no concept of civilization or otherwise acceptable human behavior, who still insisted on wandering around in human form on a regular basis even as he looked like he might trip over his own legs at any moment for the sudden lack of forelimbs to augment his balance. It wasn't that Tsume himself was so pro-humanity, but if they were going to survive wandering in and out of human settlements concessions had to be made to avoid an all-out war with a race that outnumbered them a hundred to one. Subtlety went a long way in the world of human society, and while bad experience had at least taught the rest of them to try not to call attention to themselves, Kiba acted like it would permanently wound his pride as a wolf to maybe refrain from growling at passersby... women who hit on him, children who bumped into him as they wove their way through a marketplace, and nothing anybody said would convince Kiba that scaring the weaker and more vulnerable members of the human herd would not endear them to the local population because they were wolves and they didn't need to endear themselves to anybody. Right. Tsume slowed enough to bring himself even with their smallest packmate, back at least ten feet from the rest of the group and was no one else concerned that it made him a disgustingly easy target for whoever felt the need to pick off a wolf pup? Toboe was panting hard, head lolling piteously as he turned large, yellow eyes to Tsume and whined low in his throat. Despite himself, a stab of worry ran through him at that, knowing that if the kid was worn out enough to drop his own bravado and whine to Tsume, who he seemed so inexplicably desperate to prove himself to, he was in a bad way. A quick nudge to Toboe's side and Tsume sprinted ahead, throwing himself in front of their fearless and clueless leader with a short, sharp bark and a protracted growl, baring his teeth impatiently. Kiba didn't do well with human explanation, but the way Hige collapsed unceremoniously to his belly in the grass beside him, too tired to be bothered to care if they ripped each other's throats out, did wonders to tip off the dumb schmuck to the state of their companions. Kiba turned enough to stare at his fallen companion, a scruffy ball of rumpled fat and fur at his feet and turned indifferent eyes to Tsume as Toboe finally caught up to the rest of them, circling and whining his worry as they stared each other down. Tsume wondered why the kid bothered, honestly. It was obvious that the idiot was too indifferent to actually try to rip his throat out, and the only way Tsume would rouse himself enough to really tear into Kiba was if he was putting the others in danger for his lack of foresight. Mostly their relationship was a whole lot of posturing, the result of two alphas running in the same pack and Tsume's innate need to pull their oblivious guide up short when he forgot to consider his surroundings. For that matter, he wondered why he bothered himself. Why he looked at Kiba as more of a nuisance than an adversary, why he followed said idiot when he'd spent a lifetime leading his own little makeshift pack of humans and getting by just fine without any real companionship. If he'd wanted, he could have challenged Kiba for control of the pack, and given the punk's perpetual indifference to everything but the quest for paradise, had a decent chance at winning. Or simply left, as he intended to in the beginning before Toboe's insistence had so unceremoniously dragged him back. Toboe. Now that was an unexpected twist. Tsume couldn't fathom what the kid saw in him, what anyone saw in him, really, but the kicked puppy that had somehow found its way to him had been hard to turn away so soon after Gehl's death, when all he saw when he looked at the listless pup was Gehl's pudgy face as he tumbled away from the overpass, features twisted in horror. It had been association that had kept him coming back in the beginning, the strange horror that twisted in his gut every time the naïve kid got himself into a situation he couldn't handle, and something in Tsume just knew Toboe would have lasted about a day on his own before someone or something got its hands on him and made what was left of his life a living hell. He didn't want that on his conscience, had tried to firm the pup enough to survive on his own, but somehow, somehow he had never reached the point where he felt that he could go. Didn't really want to anymore, and that was the kicker. Time had changed things between them, and he no longer saw echoes of a mangy mop of curly hair and a guileless, toothless smile in Toboe but the wiry, sleek lines of the beautiful were-child he was, naïve as hell and pathetically clingy, but there was something... attractive in the tenacious way he refused to allow Tsume his distance, insistent in ways that no human had ever dared. Or had the right to. And the more time he spent in the pup's company, the more aggravated he became with Kiba for his treatment of the pack. Not out of any regard for Hige or even himself, but because Kiba's neglect was harming Toboe and somewhere along the line Tsume had begun to think of Toboe as his. Kiba snuffled indignantly, annoyed at something, but whether it was at being caught getting carried away with his quest yet again or at having to stop at all was anyone's guess. 'We rest here.' And with that, he uncoiled into human form, battered sneakers leaving marks in the soft earth beneath as he stalked off into the trees, presumably to hunt something to quiet Hige's now painfully vociferous stomach. It was quiet here, with shelter enough from the surrounding vegetation that they could probably have camped for the night and had ample protection against anything the wilderness could produce to threaten them. On one side, the trees grew dense and thick, enough so that there was probably a good chance that Kiba could ferret out something to feed the others with, and on the other a grassy field extended out into the horizon, mesmerizing by the sheer enormity of it, dotted with low-lying bushes and even a few weedy flowers as far as the eye could see. Tsume often found himself in awe of the wilderness, the human wastelands and the inherent beauty in what was left of the natural world, an instinctual comfort found in the sprawling plains and twisting forests still left to the land, the sense of rightness in running through the trees unhindered. Hige stretched out over the ground, rolling onto his back and stretching with a loud moan, lacing his fingers together to stuff beneath his head. "Food," he whined piteously, "I remember food, don't you, Toboe? It was a wonderful substance, all meaty and tasty, and still... it seems a distant, distant memory...I'm wasting away!" Toboe actually looked worried, and sat down stiffly beside the lolling trickster. Tsume snorted. "Somehow I doubt that you'll be wasting away anytime soon." He made a point of eyeing the voluminous sweatshirt Hige kept, presumably to make his gut that much less noticeable, and glared, hands on hips. Hige barely flicked a glance his way, settling more firmly into the ground and closing his eyes as Toboe shifted impatiently beside him. "Um... shouldn't we maybe be helping Kiba hunt?" the boy questioned, turning fitfully towards to the line of trees and back to spear Tsume with a particularly doe-eyed look. Tsume hated that look. It was really, really hard to say no to. "No," he answered, firming against it and settling down cross-legged in the grass. "He didn't ask for our help." Toboe sighed, threw a last forlorn look over his shoulder at the forest behind and predictably, crawled over to sit beside him. Hige's eyes opened fractionally at the movement, watching Toboe emulate his pose barely a hair's breath from touching him, staring speculatively until Tsume glared his displeasure. Hige's shaggy head shook slightly in exasperation and he settled in to sleep again, shutting out them out completely. Tsume wasn't sure what to make of the shaggy beta, who did little more than follow Kiba around with a sort of tireless fascination and grumble about his stomach... he cared little for what happened beyond where his next meal came from and was innately unpredictable, often falling for half-cocked schemes even while giving off the sense that he knew he was heading into trouble and running off after strange scents with no real explanation for his behavior beyond an unconcerned 'I felt like it' after the fact. He barely registered in the diorama of group dynamics, unconcerned with his place among the pack and well content to simply follow along for the sake of following, but when it came down to a fight that sleepy façade gave way to the instinctual killer inside and Hige seemed to have little qualms about ripping a man's throat out if he threatened the pack. Tsume couldn't decide if Hige had simply made it difficult to sense where his loyalties lay, or if perhaps too much time in the company of Toboe and Kiba, the two great extremes of unquestioning loyalty and utter obliviousness, had dulled his senses. He suddenly wanted to be away from there or at least moving so he didn't have to think anymore, and stood up, startling Toboe from the doze he'd been trying to fight. Toboe uncurled from where his head had been threatening to fall against his chest, blinking kittenishly up at Tsume from his place in the grass. "Come on," Tsume ordered. "Let's see if we can find something to eat before you pass out. You're no good half-starved." Toboe perked at that, and Tsume sighed. The boy was so housebroken he barely recognized chastisement. It mattered a little less as Toboe scrambled up and padded away, lanky form bounding into the woods without a thought to whether Tsume was following or what lay ahead of him, and Tsume rushed to follow before the pup got himself into trouble. Toboe was a brown blur among a maze of grayish bark and barely lit clearings, stopping every so often to bark his position when Tsume fell behind. It was frustrating, following with the knowledge that the child had no real chance of finding anything clomping along as clumsily as he was, but the simple act of running took the edge off, and Tsume found himself reveling in chasing Toboe as time wore on. Toboe seemed to realize it as well, if his movements were any indication, and Tsume wondered why the boy never bothered to be this stealthy in hunting when he was obviously capable of treading lightly. The game continued, and Tsume was barely cognizant of Toboe anymore beyond the sporadic peels of empathic laughter echoing across the forest whenever he came close enough to hear. He tore ahead, determination setting in and exploded into another clearing, this one larger than the others, sun dappled and decorated with several species of wildflowers winding densely along a river's edge at its center. The river was impressive, a wide outcropping of rocks at the nearest bank where the flowers ended, forming tiny inlays of smaller pools where the currents slowed around its edges. And Toboe... He stood on a high rock at the far end of the clearing, russet fur reflecting the sun's highlights in gold and copper, lapping water delicately from one of the smaller pools. He looked up at Tsume's approach, eyes almost too large for a wolf's face flashing in the sunlight as he barked a greeting, tail wagging happily. 'Hey Tsume, look! Water!' The words echoed in his head, guileless and far too excited over something so simple, but Tsume couldn't fault him for it when he barely remembered the last time they'd seen water himself beyond the stagnant rain puddles of the planes three days ago. They could go for stretches without food easily enough, but without water even the ever enchanted Kiba grew irritable and sickly, and without the bodily fluids of prey to compensate for the lack of late they had been cutting it close. He vaulted the first few boulders, climbing beside the smaller wolf to lower his head to the river, startled to find a multitude of fish threading through the weeds beneath. This had possibilities beyond just slaking their thirst long enough to get by, and his first thought was to raise his head and call the news to the others. He was cut off mid-howl, however, by a hand clamping over his muzzle. He snapped, growling faintly before it registered that Toboe had changed, and then there was a moment of fuzzy disorder as he changed to match, sitting back on his haunches to regard the pup sourly. "What is wrong with you?" he snapped, shaking his head. "There's enough fish here to shut even Hige up. You're wasting time." Toboe at least had the sense to look abashed, wringing his hands and fidgeting. "I uh... thought maybe it'd be nice to be by ourselves for a little while?" He looked up hopefully, doing his best to look pathetic, and Tsume sighed. "Why would I want to be alone with you?" he asked, nearly wincing the instant the words crossed his lips. There were times when he wished he thought about what he was saying a little more before the words had actually been said. Things got messy when Toboe was feeling properly trod upon. He eyed the pup as the words registered, the way he curled in on himself and slunk back towards the watering hole. Toboe didn't say anything, didn't need to with what his posture veritably screamed at Tsume and he was almost regretful as he watched Toboe stare into the water, arms laced around his knees. Tsume felt bad for the kid, really he did, but Toboe took everything so personally. If he didn't toughen up soon the world would chew him up and spit him out, probably bitterer than Tsume could ever hope to be and twice as dangerous for having his will broken. And if he told himself that another dozen times maybe he'd stop feeling like such an ass. Tsume sighed, gave up on the idea of calling the rest of the pack for however long it took to get Toboe to quit looking like he ought to change back and stuff his tail between his legs for good measure, and moved to the edge of the water. Fish teemed beneath its surface, small things, but probably palatable enough if they could avoid the bones. They were at least a foot below the waterline, however, and catching them would be tricky as hell. He turned to where Toboe was still staring into the water. "Come here," he barked, gesturing beside him, watching the boy scramble over to where he sat and look up at him with a strange mixture of interest and weary fear. "We need to get food, and there's no point in sitting there sulking. I want you to look down there," he pointed towards the water, bodily angling Toboe to a position that didn't seem likely to end with him falling into the water if he darted forward. "And brace yourself. When you think you can grab one, grab it." Toboe looked uncertain, but knelt in front of the water, tongue lolling slightly as he focused his attention, brows drawing together. He was almost cute like this, face screwed up in comedic concentration, and Tsume found himself staring as Toboe unconsciously edged closer to the water's edge. He shook it off, bracing himself, darting a hand out to grapple with the slippery fish beneath the water, grabbing a small one and slapping it roughly against the rock face at his feet to kill it. Toboe grabbed one himself, nearly toppling into the water and managing to drench himself in the process, but he came up with one big enough to be impressive, grinning ear to ear as Tsume nodded his approval and cheerfully dashing it against the rocks. The kid turned out to be a rather impressive fisherman, dashing in and out of the water and generally making a huge mess of things as he emerged with fish after fish, giggling in triumph. In the end Tsume gave up on even bothering himself, simply sat back against a high rock and watched Toboe have his fun, guarding the growing pile of game from imaginary thieves. He'd managed to avoid a major bout of pouting, at least, and there really was enough food to make even Hige happy for a little while, which was saying something. They'd been lucky. He signaled Toboe over after about the twentieth fish, what looked like some kind of salmon that met the same playfully grotesque fate as its brethren as Toboe battered it against the rocks in amusement and added it to the pile. He bounded over, nearly barreling into Tsume in his enthusiasm before sobering, sitting down cross-legged in front of him. He was dripping with water, hair hanging in clumps against his forehead, running rivulets over his cheeks as he fidgeted and smiled hopefully. "Did you see, Tsume?" Toboe asked, grabbing a fish and tearing into it. "We have a whole pile!" He allowed himself a small smile at the boy's antics, grateful at least that there was enough food to forgo a great power struggle over who ate what part of the kill. "You did good," he offered, picking away some of the scales on his own fish before attempting to bite into it. It was edible enough, registering as meat at least, though it was squishier than he would have preferred. The fact that it was here and there was enough of it was enough to dispel any of his qualms about eating it however, and as much as he was used to the processed, cooked food of the city he was gradually acclimating himself to the broader lifestyle of eating whatever they could find when they found it. He'd even found himself enjoying raw venison, strangely enough. "It's time to call the others," he added, hoping that Toboe was distracted enough not to try and stop him again. He really didn't want to have to hurt the boy. To his considerable surprise, Toboe stopped eating long enough to throw his head back and let out an ear splitting howl in response. "There," the boy said, "Called 'em." He was breathing hard, face flushed, and if Tsume hadn't known better he'd have thought his eyes had an almost predatory glint to them. But this was the kid, the one who thought hunting was a game and couldn't quite fathom that killing was killing, and that in some instances it kind of upset people. He didn’t have it in him to be predatory, that would have involved machination on a level Tsume didn't think the kid could manage. He did apparently have it in him to act strangely, though, as he was suddenly moving towards Tsume, sliding along on fours even thought it he was still in human form, crushing the fish clutched in his fist as he stalked forward and just... stopped, bare inches from touching. His head quirked to one side, then the other, expression neutral as he considered, and Tsume fought the urge to growl in warning at the sudden scrutiny. It was surreal to think that the kid could be a threat but then-- Toboe was kissing him. He tasted like fish guts. And blood. And a thousand other things that were utterly unpalatable, but somehow Tsume couldn't bring himself to care, returning the kiss on bare, gutted instinct. Toboe's tongue was in his mouth, wet and insistent and utterly inexperienced, and the boy whined low in his throat as he scraped his teeth across it, considering. He supposed it made more sense in context, anyway, with the way they'd been chasing each other around all afternoon, playing in that way that could have been mistaken for foreplay if you were trying too hard, and when was Toboe not trying too hard? It felt good, at least, reaching out to pull the sopping child closer, allowing him his exploration if he was that determined to have it. Toboe was insistent, he'd give him that, and given that he was barely old enough to mate at all, Tsume was impressed by the gall it must have taken to try this on him of all people. Though it was probably best that it had happened this way, the idea of Kiba or Hige touching Toboe like this brought out a whole bunch of violent instincts and if he'd really wanted to kill either of them that badly he would have done it already. He growled unconsciously, a low rumbling bubbling up through his chest, and Toboe pulled away with a final lingering lick to his mouth. "It's not mating season," he told the boy firmly, realizing a second too late how lame that sounded and half recoiling from the amused laughter that was Toboe's response. "Not for your species, maybe," Toboe said, nodding faintly. "My... species?" he asked, raising a quizzical eyebrow at the giggling pup, muscles bunching warily as the boy plopped down in front of him. "Grandmother told me once," said Toboe, peeling off scale and skin and tearing into his now thoroughly battered fish happily, "That there were different kinds of wolves. Arctic wolves and gray wolves and red ones..." He waved his hand vaguely in the air. "They all acted different, she said. So maybe it's mine and not yours." The boy's face scrunched up in distaste, a finger stuck unceremoniously into his mouth to pick at something between his teeth. "No fun." Tsume balked at that, wondering how anyone could think of mating as anything more than a bare inconvenience. Mating season had always turned him into an edgy bundle of nerves for a couple of months in the spring(1), forced to find a human woman in some anonymous city bar to slake his thirst every few days so that he could think straight. There was nothing entertaining about having your will stolen from you every year in favor of some obsolete procreative instinct, it was just another of life's inconveniences. And thinking about it, Tsume realized something. "Do I look like a female?" he demanded. Toboe froze, eyes wide and fish hanging limply from his mouth. "Um...no?" he answered, wiping his lips on the edge of his shirtsleeve. "Are you supposed to?" "You are a male. You are supposed to mate with a female," Tsume said, explaining himself painfully slowly. "Says who?" came the petulant response. Tsume looked at him as though he'd lost his mind. "Your entire ancestry," he snapped. "It's the way of things. We mate to procreate, not for our own amusement. We're not humans." "Oh," said Toboe, eyes widening. "Oh! But I don't know any females." "Then you don't mate." "But I like you," the boy protested, nibbling at the edges of the fish in his hands as though he could hide behind it. "And we don't have time for pups. And if we make it to the paradise, we won't need them anymore because we'll be happy forever, right?" Amber-brown eyes flicked to the water and seemed to lose their focus. "And I want to be happy with you." He was staring. He knew he was, but he couldn't help it, because the idea that anyone, even someone as painfully naïve as Toboe would want to spend an eternity with him was mind-numbingly off kilter. And he was suddenly noticing things he'd denied himself, like the way Toboe's coltish body was more lanky than small, caught somewhere in the throws of an adolescence Tsume had barely allowed himself to notice, content to think of him as the replacement for a human child he'd barely acknowledged until the day he died. Toboe wasn't a human, he was a wolf, like Tsume and the others. Not a child, but something more. Certainly not an adult, but then given the general immaturity of the company they were keeping it didn't seem to matter all that much when you got right down to it. And for some reason, Toboe seemed to think that Tsume could make him happy, which was absurd. Not because Tsume was convinced of how terrible a person he was or that he could never, ever make anyone feel good about themselves, but because he'd never given any indication to Toboe that he had it in him to reciprocate any sort of emotion beyond bare possession and the basic instinct to protect his packmates. But then, maybe that was enough. Maybe he was enough, and the only real question was whether he wanted it to be that way. Footsteps crunched against the forest floor, coming into hearing range about thirty yards back, and Toboe turned to squint into the clearing. A futile gesture, as even if they could see that far into the underbrush they knew who it was, human movements with a touch more fluidity than any real human could manage meant wolves, and scenting the air confirmed that Kiba and Hige were close by. He felt Toboe move up beside him, and the timid touch against his hand made him curl his fingers around the smaller ones in his palm, staring at the contrast of his own sun roughened skin against the powder pale softness of Toboe's. He wanted... something, and on impulse he ducked his head to nip at Toboe's lips until they opened, kissing him fiercely in lieu of answering his question. Toboe had just enough time to respond before he was pulling away, backing up a few paces to settle against another rock as the others sauntered into the clearing, waving Toboe back to eating his fish as the boy quirked a curious brow. Hige went straight for the food, babbling inanely about the different types of fish he'd eaten in the city and entertaining Toboe by cooing over the artistry of the kill where their heads had caved against the rock. Toboe perked at the chance to tell the story of their fishing expedition, gesticulating wildly and splashing around in the water as he told the tale. "Toboe, eat before you forget!" Tsume chastised, watching the boy pull himself up short long enough to scuttle back to where Hige sat, plucking another fish from the pile and tearing in. "You should take that advice yourself," said Kiba, moving in beside him. He noticed the punk hadn't bothered to take any, and quirked a stoic eyebrow at him until Kiba grabbed two fish out from the rapidly dwindling pile and tossed one at Tsume, settling against a rock nearby to watch the others play. Tsume was still noticing new things, like the way Hige was being very careful to play with Toboe without actually touching him, darting a cautious glance Tsume's way out of the corner of his eye every so often as he watched them. Or the way Toboe ran back to throw himself at Tsume's feet every few minutes just to grin and run off again, or to share some inane comment that had floated into his mind. And Kiba-- Was smiling. Smugly. In that special, holier-than-thou way that made Tsume want to rip his throat out. "I was worried when you cut off so quickly on the first howl," the alpha said, dusky voice barely audible against the splashing in the background as Toboe attempted to drag Hige into the water with him. "So you thought about someone other than yourself for once," said Tsume sourly, watching as Hige gave up on the touching embargo and caught Toboe in a headlock. "To what do I owe the honor?" "I've come back for you before," came the indifferent reminder, as Kiba tore off another bite of his meal. "You've also taken off on your own plenty of times," he countered, voice equally flat. "So unless you have another point I don't see why I should waste my breath having this argument with you again." He hated to be reminded of the day he'd run off so impulsively and nearly gotten both himself and Toboe killed. It had been one of those moments when pride had overrode practicality in a way that always lead to trouble, and he'd been stupid to allow himself to get that carried away. Kiba and Hige had saved both their asses then, and that reason alone was enough to keep him in the pack despite the constant interjections of fantastical lunacy from enigmatic boy. He owed them, for his own life and now apparently, for Toboe's as well, for it seemed that the boy was determined to make him responsible for it whether he liked it or not. Despite himself, he wasn't sure he really minded. Kiba shifted beside him, throwing the remains of his meal into the underbrush and settling back with a little enigmatic smile as he watched Hige lift Toboe and toss him bodily into the water, laughing something about making sure Toboe drank his fill and ducking the fish that came flying at his head in retaliation. He caught it in clumsy hands, the newly caught animal flopping and shaking in a desperate effort to escape, and it seemed for a moment that it might defeat the flustered wolf until Hige finally managed a decent hold on its tail and smacked it against a boulder. Panting, he leaned down, resting his hands on his knees and eyeing Toboe warily from where the pup was desperately trying to swallow a bout of laughter as he bit into another fresh kill. "You know," Hige panted, face flushed and eyes nearly lolling in overdone exhaustion. "This fishing thing is harder than it looks." He turned to Toboe, smiled indulgently at where the kid was still standing waist deep in river water, and bowed. "I think you'll have to catch us all dinner later." "Later?" Kiba chimed in, hunching forward to throw his friend a quizzical look. "That wasn't enough for you, Hige?" As much as it annoyed him, there was something entertaining in the way the others literally froze at Kiba's voice, fish suspended in the air as both wolves halted mid-bite and turned to stare incredulously at the amused alpha. Tsume had to hand it to the punk, he was a showman where it counted, hoarding his words very carefully until he felt he had something he felt absolutely needed to be said, which made most of his pronouncements that much more dramatic for his having spoken at all. "Well you see, the thing is..." Hige drew a nervous hand behind his head, scratching at his scruffy mane and rocking back onto his heels nervously. "Fish is great, really, but it's like... no matter how much you eat, you're hungry an hour later. A vicious cycle, I tell you." He turned to nod at Toboe, who smirked, darting a hand into the water and pulling out another struggling prey. "But!" said Hige, clapping his hands together. "The wonderful thing about this place is that we can always catch more!" Kiba actually laughed at that, shaking his head. Tsume crossed his arms over his chest and glared. "Funny how you say 'we' as though you intend to do more than order the kid around," he muttered, smirking faintly at Toboe's automatic chime of 'I'm not a kid!' and Hige's poleaxed expression. Kiba threw him a particularly condescending look and stood up. "We sleep here tonight, then," the punk proclaimed, stretching and turning towards the entrance to the clearing. "I feel like running," he informed them, tossing it over his shoulder as he hopped down towards the underbrush beneath the boulders. "And I think I smelled deer near the perimeter of the forest when I went in earlier." With that he took off running, white fur refracting sunlight in a thousand different shades of color as he streaked across the clearing and was gone. "Meat?" said Hige, freezing in mid-bite and throwing himself onto all fours, in pursuit before he had a chance to call out to either of them. 'Wait, Kiba! You'll need help to take down something that large!' And in less than a minute, Tsume found himself alone with the pup. Again. He would have sighed if it wouldn't have been so painfully redundant. "Hey Tsume," Toboe said, gnawing on yet another fish as he sloshed his way from the water and Tsume wondered idly how fast he was growing to have to eat that much to keep up. "Can I sleep next to you tonight?" "If I say no you'll just bug me all afternoon, right?" Toboe smiled--a toothy, smug expression and Tsume had his answer. "I suppose," he answered, rolling his eyes at the ecstatic yip he got in response. He had no idea how this was going to work, if it was even possible to carry on with someone as young as Toboe and not somehow manage to screw one or both of them over in the interim, but something in him wanted to try. Maybe it was that newfound freedom talking, some strange low-grade euphoria at finally being away from the flea infested grime of Freeze City affecting his better judgment. But he felt at ease with this pack, motley and scatterbrained though they were, and even more at ease with Toboe if only because the boy seemed so determined to find a place in Tsume's regard whether he damn well liked it or not. Frankly, the idea of having anything that was truly his was enough of a novelty to warrant the effort. Maybe that really was enough. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes: (1) Mating season in wolves actually has more to do with climate and food supply than it does species, and at least in North America it can be anywhere between January and April. Usually the harsher the climate, the later the mating season will be because of food availability... so Tsume's comes late because Freeze City is such a crap hole. ^^ Granted it's also usually tipped off when the females of a given pack go into heat, but the image of Tsume being all pissed off because he was forced to find some random chick in a bar was too entertaining not to play with. return to splash page