Wolf's Rain: The Albino Wolf!

Chapter 4: City Gone Trash

(wolf)
The five wolves run near a train. Kira could see a little girl looking at them from the corner of her eye.
Later...

(human)
They sit on the cold snow, well... Tsume is laying down, and rest. They had been running for hours and miles.
"I had a dream that we made it to Paradise... it felt so real." Toboe says excited. "It was so cool there! My grandmother was there and she was taking care of us!"
Kira silently listens and smiles. Kiba listens as well. Tsume grins.
"And we were in a field of lunar flowers, it was like it didnt end! And my grandmother fed us with delisious food, and we were treated like special guests..." Toboe thinks back at the dream, although it was slightly foggy.
"Heh, you dont know what Paradise even looks like." Tsume smirks.
"Yeah, but it was so cool and there was even music..." Toboe trails off.
"Tell me what color lunar flowers are, hmm?" Hige grins.
"Well uhhmm..." Toboe looks down and thinks.
"It was just a dream." Kira speaks up, everyone turns their head to look at her. "Dreams can be anything you imagine, right or wrong."
She just didnt want everyone picking on Toboe. She was starting to blush but hides it. No one else spoke after that untill the rest was over. Kira glances at Toboe and smiles. He didnt have much of a reaction.
About a couple hours later...
(human)
They were walking up a steep hill. Toboe was lagging behind, tired. The others make it to the top of the hill and stop to stare at what layed ahead of them. Toboe notices this and hurrys up the hill. When he reaches the top, he stops to take several breaths before looking ahead. He looks up.
Ahead of them was a bridge, a very long one. They couldnt see where it lead to because of the thick fog. Below the bridge was the ocean.
"Whoa..." Toboe's eyes widen.
They all slide down the hill swiftly. Kiba and Tsume balancing themselves with their feet and arms. Hige was on his belly, and Toboe was also on his belly but his feet were going down first. Kira tries out what Kiba and Tsume were doing, but after several feet down, she loses balance and starts rolling down the hill.
Tsume was the first to reach the bottom, then Kiba, Kira, Hige, and Toboe. Kira was dizzy and had to have Kiba help her up. Toboe had snow in his clothes and so did Hige. Tsume just stares at the bridge. He turns to Kiba.
"Hey, maybe Paradise is up ahead!" Toboe says excited.
Kiba sniffs the air.
"Her scent is weak, but maybe..." he confirms. They all continue running and onto the bridge. About 15minutes of running on the bridge, the fog starts to clear up and they could see what was ahead. It definatly wasnt Paradise.
"Ugh..." Hige plugs his nose. "Damn, if that's Paradise, then it reeks!!"
"It's not..." Toboe looks down slightly.
"Atleast we'll have somewhere to stay..." Kira says quietly. They stare at the small island and the castle-like town on it for a moment before running off to reach the town.
Reaching town...lalala...
The wolves jump down from the wall that surrounds the town, they had made it inside.
Kiba lands on his feet and a hand and Tsume does the same and stands up. Toboe had one leg on the ground but slips and falls. Kira lands on just her two feet and glances ahead. Hige lands on three, one hand plugging his nose.
"Eww, it smells like rotten stuff and oil!!" he was gaging and looking green.
Tsume walks along the path that was ahead of them.
"Hey, wait up!" Toboe catches up to him and follows. Kiba waits for Kira who was seeing if Hige was okay. He says he'll be alright and the three continue.
The wolves notice the townspeople were hiding from them. Closing their shades, keeping away from windows, and peeking at them. Kira stays close to Hige, who was the closest person to her.
"Are they afraid of us?" Toboe asks.
"I dont know, looks like they're just not used to visitors." Hige comments.
They wander around the small city. They walk along the wall of the city for a while and comes across several people...
The wolves stop and stare at the group of people. They were sitting in a circle around a fire in a empty oil tank.
<A woman... Toboe spots a woman in the group with her hood over her head.
"It's dangerous for a bunch of kids to be wandering around in the allys at this time." a man with a large scar on the left side of his face smirks.
They all chuckle quietly. Kira holds tightly onto Hige's sleeve and stands behind him. He looks at the sky nervously.
"Ahh, so what's a bunch of kids doing around here?" Zali asks them.
((His name is Zali, right? Or something close to there... I dunno...))
"We're going somewhere..." Tsume narrows his eyes. "We're just stopping by..."
"So where ya headed?"
The wolves were silent.
"To Paradise!" Toboe steps forward slightly.
Zali begins to laugh. Then the group begins to laugh. Toboe looks at Kiba with a confused, yet sad face.
"Why are they laughing, Kiba?" he asks him.
"Because..." Kiba also narrows his eyes. "They dont know what Paradise is like..."
"Oh we know damn well what it's like." Zali grins. The group shows their form. They were wolves too, but all were shades brown and looked more like dogs. Then take their human form again.
"We once went to search for Paradise," he smirks. "And we made it there... it was more like hell than Paradise, I'd rather be here than there."
Kira digs her face into Hige's arm. He turns red slightly, but at the same time was angry at the people. They continue to laugh. Kira couldnt stand it anymore and ticks. She goes wolf and growls, which could probably be heard from miles away. She bares her teeth for seconds, but then goes back to human and hides behind Hige.
"Heh, what a nice little girl." Zali manages to say between his laughs. <Would make a fine worker...
The wolves walk away and continue wandering around the city.
30min later about...
The five sit ontop of a building on the edge of town and watch the sunset. Everyone hears a stomach growl.
"Who was THAT?" Hige glances around, but notices everyone was staring at him. "Oh, heh, guess Im hungry..."
Kira giggles quietly. Another stomach growls. This time, everyone turns to Tsume.
"That time it was Tsume." Hige confirms. Everyone smiles.
"I guess we're all hungry." Toboe turns to Kira. "Do you have anymore of that dried meat?"
Kira digs her large pockets.
"Uhhmm..." her pockets were empty. "Must have dropped them while I was rolling down the hill... sorry..."
"Aww, man..." Hige groans. Tsume stands up and starts walking away.
"Tsume, where are you going?" Hige asks.
"Finding a place to sleep." he replies. Kiba stands up and follows him.
"Hey, wait up, Im coming!" Toboe follows.
"What? Hey! Where're you all going?" Hige glances around and notices him and Kira were the only ones there.
"Come on," Kira pulls on Hige's arm to help him up.
"Uh, okay.." he stands up and they both run to catch up to the others.
Walking along...
They end up walking into a graveyard. Tsume stops after he enters.
"Well this is a nice place to sleep." he glances around.
Kira shivers from the cold and her frightening surroundings. Hige edges closer to her while looking up at the sky with a big smile. He lowers his head to her ear.
"Dont be scared," he whispers in her ear. "We're all here if anything happens."
He almost said "Im here for you", but stops himself just incase she didnt feel the same towards him. She looks at him and smiles silently.
They continue walking through the graveyard. The trees are bare and the ground was aging.
Suddenly, a zombie-looking thing pokes it's head out of a hole.
"AAAAAAAAAHHH!!" Toboe and Hige scream. Tsume and Kiba jump back. Kira screamed and was hugging Hige tightly from behind him. She squeezes him so hard he was beginning to turn purple.
"Oh, just a couple of young wolves..." the zombie-like thing says. Everyone opens their eyes and notices it was just an old wolf. He was in a hole deep hole. He turns human.
"Sorry to startle you young 'uns." he apoligizes.
Kira was still holding onto Hige, not as tight anymore. She snaps out and suddenly remembers what she was doing. She looks up at Hige, who was looking behind him at her, and quickly lets go. Both their faces red. She scratches the back of her head and moves on.
"Why are you digging a hole?" Kiba asks. The old man looks up at the sky as if he was thinking.
"Well," he slowly crawls out of the hole. "People these days know when their time is coming. Im just saving their time."
"I see." Kiba nods. Kira looks down. Deaths scared her, even talking about it. The old man opens his mouth to speak.
"Hmm," he puts his hands behind his back. "I see that you arnt around here...This island... it was once a beautiful place... And this very area was a large field of lunar flowers."
That caught everyone's attention. Toboe steps forward.
"Sir, can you tell me what color lunar flowers are?" he asks. The old man thinks once again.
"Why, the color of the moon of course." he seemed to smile slightly.
"Have you traveled to Paradise?" Kiba asks. The old man shifts his attention to Kiba. He turns around.
"Follow me." he says. The five follow him. He stops several feet away from a tunnel that went into the earth. It was boarded up and had a small sign on it.
"This..." the old man pauses. "...is beleived to be the way to Paradise."
Hige plugs his nose.
"Eeesh, I thought atleast Paradise would smell nice..." he begins to gag again. Kira rubs his back lightly.
Zali suddenly appears behind them. He lets out a light grunt.
"What are you all doing here?" he snarls.
No one said anything.
"Did you go through that path to get to Paradise?" Kiba asks him.
"I told you, Paradise doesnt exsist. Now stop wasting your time." he walks up to the old man and they both walk past them and make their way out of the graveyard. "Now get some rest, you have work to do tomarrow." he says to the old man.
Kiba turns his head away from them and at the tunnel. He stares at at for moments before joining the others to find a place to sleep.
Later...
They sit in a small old crumbled up building, which was suprisingly still up and had a roof. Many holes were in the walls, making about 3 doors and one wall busted down which just made a large opening.
Kiba stares at the stars and moon near a "door". Tsume lays down infront of the busted wall and Toboe sits next to his head. Hige was laying down holding his growling stomach and Kira sat next to him. His stomach growls again.
"Oooh..." he groans. "I need something to eat or Im going to die any second now!!"
Kira checks her pockets again. Still nothing. Toboe was looking sad slightly.
"Do you think we'll someday be like those guys in the street?" he asks.
"No," Kira says. "Dont ask something like that... they probably didnt go to Paradise, they probably found something else that they beleive is Paradise..."
Everything was silent for a while after that.
"I think we should just give up and take those people's words." Tsume says without opening his eyes.
Kira, for pretty much the first time ever since she was found, makes a saddened face. Kiba suddenly gets another flashback, but this time, it was just her face. No surroundings. It fades away slowly...
"Well here's my opinion," Kiba speaks up, hoping it would make Kira feel better. "We've come this far, and she's still out there going to Paradise. My mind wont let me stop untill I find her, so I choose to continue."
"Heh," Tsume grins. "Whatever..."
Kiba looks away. Kira felt better slightly. She looks up and notices someone listening to their conversation.
"What do you want?" she stares at the end of the broken down wall, where she could see the person's shadow. She walks out and shows herself. It was the woman from before, in the group of wolves.
"I was just stopping by," she lies, or atleast Kira could tell.
Kiba walks out of the "door" he was standing by and walks away. Toboe notices this.
"Hey, Kiba, where are you going??" he asks, but he couldnt see him anymore. He stands up and walks out of the crumbling room and follows Kiba.
"Im sure you all are hungry..." she seemed to smile slightly. Kira balls up her fists, not trusting her.
"Oh, yes yes," Hige crawls towards her. "We're definately hungry, how nice of you to notice that, miss... uhmm..."
"My name is Cole," she drops a green bag infront of him. "You may have that."
Hige reaches into the bag and pulls out a large loaf of bread.
"Wow!" his mouth waters. "I thought this place didnt have any food, thanks!!"
He takes a big bite of it and chews happily. Kira, seeing that he was happy, smiles slightly. Hige pulls out another loaf and holds it out for her or Tsume to have.
"Here, you guys want some?" he says with a mouthful.
"No thanks." he looks away from the food.
"Why not? It might be the last food you'll ever eat for a while. What about you, Kira..." Hige glances around for her, she was gone. "Oh well, I'll just save it for her."
He continues munching on the bread. He turns his attention back to Cole.
"Come to the train station tomarrow morning," she turns to walk away. "You might see something you like."
Hige blinks at her blankly. Toboe walks in.
"Hey guys, Kiba went by himself somewhere..." he starts but Tsume walks past him. "Hey, where are you going?? Hige??..."
But Hige was busy filling his stomach. Toboe decides to follow Tsume. He runs to catch up with him.
"Tsume, where are you going??" he asks.
"Somewhere." Tsume answers, but nothing more.
To Kira...
Kira (wolf) wanders in the alleys of the trashed up city. She saw many wolves sleeping near trash cans. Some awakened by her presence, and some growl. She hurridly walks past the growling ones. She was distracted by one and runs into someone. She looks up and notices it was Zali.
"Well hello there," he kneels down and holds a hand out to pet her, but she folds her ears back and backs away. "Dont worry, I wont hurt ya."
He grins and reaches into his jacket pocket. He pulls out a small piece of meat and holds it out to her. Something wasnt right to her.
She slowly creeps closer to the meat. She was hungry, but didnt know if she could trust him.
"Come on," he whispers. "That's it, you dont have to be afraid."
Kira bites onto the meat and starts chewing it. Zali lets go of it, letting her eat it. He places a hand on her head and runs his hand down her neck, feeling her pure white fur.
"You're a unique color," he pets her several more times. She finishes the piece of meat and looks up at him with her crimson red eyes.
"Would you like to work for me tomarrow?" he asks her. "Just for tomarrow, one thing. I'll even give you these."
Zali pulls out a plastic bag full of cubed cooked meat. It would have been enough to feed about 3 wolves. Kira looks at him with a slight saddened face. She wanted to give food to the others, knowing they were hungry. She turns into human and nods.
"Just tell me what I have to do." she whispers, in a slight hissing tone.
((Yeah yeah, I know Zali wouldnt do this but there's a reason I guess...))
Tsume and Toboe...
They walk into a train station and jump to the top deck. Tsume sees a bench and sits on it, as well as Toboe.
"Well, found my sleeping spot." Tsume glances at Toboe, who seemed to look sad. "What's up with you?"
Toboe looks up at Tsume.
"Do you think what they said about Paradise is real? That it doesnt exsist?" he asks him. Tsume closes his eyes and thinks.
"Maybe." he opens his eyes and looks at the ceiling. "Come to think of it, no one probably really knows."
Toboe glances away and stands up. He starts walking around the train station, just wandering around...
Kira...
Kira (wolf) walks back to where she last saw Hige and Tsume with the plastic bag full of meat in her mouth. She thinks what she had to do over again.
<Train station early in the morning, meet him near the train tracks... she stops for a moment, remembering the suspisious thing he had said. <He said I had to be wolf... and that he'd put something on me and place me with other wolves... he also told me to just pull...
She snaps out and continues walking towards the crumbled room. She notices Hige was finishing up a piece of bread. He turns around and waves to her. She starts to trot towards him and notices he was the only one there...
"Hey, where'd you go?" Hige asks as Kira was turning human again. "And where'd you get THAT?"
He stares at the bag of meat and his mouth starts to water.
"I was just wandering around the streets." she says and drops the plastic bag infront of her.
"I found these." she lies. "I brought them back for us to eat but... I guess everyone left..."
"Well then it's just for you and me!" he smiles and pops a couple pieces of meat into his mouth. "Mmm! These are good."
Kira pulls one out and nibbles on it, and eventually finishes it. She looks up at Hige, who had stopped eating and was staring at her with a smile.
"What?" she felt nervous. They were alone together for once, giving her a chance to explain something...
"Nothing." he looks away and slowly eats the meat, glancing at her occationally.
"Uhhmm..." Kira's cheeks turn pink slightly. "Sorry...I didnt mean to cling onto you earlier... you were just close by and... yeah..."
Hige swallows and smiles.
"It's alright." he winks. "I guess I have something to say too."
Hige scratches the back of his head. Kira had all her attention on him.
"I..." he looks up and turns red, yet a smile stretched across his face. "...I... uhh... well... what Im trying to say is...I like you."
((That was lame, wasnt it? I couldnt think of anything else for him to say.))
He looks down and glances at her to see her reaction. She just stared at him with a blank expression, her mouth open a crack.
"Umm..." he looks down and his smile starts to fade away slowly. Kira snaps out of her daze and looks down.
"I like you too." she looks up and smiles at him sweetly. He glances at her and smiles back. All was still and silent for a while. Hige was done eating the meat cubes.
"Uhmm..." Kira breaks the silence. "Im going to go find the others, see where they are..."
"Oka-" Hige starts but was cut off by Kira. She hugs him tightly and it lasts for about 5min. He puts his arms around her and holds her while she held him. She lets go and turns wolf. She grabs the bag of meat in her mouth and starts trotting off.
<If I were Kiba, Toboe, or Tsume... where would I be? Kira asks her self sarcasticly.
Kiba...
Kiba wanders around in the streets of the small city. He took this time to daydream and think about things. He turns a corner and ends up running into the pack of wolves he saw earlier with Zali, except he wasnt there.
"Oh look, it's one of them that are going to 'Paradise'" Moss smirks. They all laugh at Kiba, who just stood there silently.
((Moss, thats what I heard his name was... I dunno. The dude with the big nose... uhh, he keeps the workers or something I guess.))
"If this what you do all day?" Kiba says without facing them. "Do nothing? Dont you have anything else to do in your lives? You're all just like..."
Kiba grins.
"...a bunch of stray dogs."
The pack stops laughing. Moss steps closer to him.
"A bunch of dogs?" he frowns. The others creep closer and surround him.
"Well lets see what a bunch of dogs can do."
(all wolf now)
They attack Kiba, biting and scratching him. He fights back hard, but there were too many...
Kira...
Kira trots along to the train station. She wanted to know where it was first, so she decided to go there.
"Damn, this bag is getting heavy..." she mumbles and drops the bag. She tilts it over a little and drops about a dozen onto the ground. Then picks it up and carries on.
She walks in from the opening on the top deck. She walks towards the railing and looks down at where she was supposed to meet Zali.
"Hmm...-" she turns her head and sees Toboe and Tsume sleeping on a bench. She slowly walks towards them. Tsume opens one eye, then the other and sits up.
"What are you doing here?" he growls. Kira drops the bag at his feet and nudges it towards him with her snout.
"What's this?..." Tsume mumbles and grabs into the bag. He pulls out a cube of meat and bites half of it.
"Where did you get this?" he asks after swallowing.
"I found them." Kira (human) lies again.
"You're lying." Tsume says flatly.
"Erm..." Kira looks away. "Fine... I stole them from some guy on th street."
She glances at him, waiting for a reply. He shrugs and eats the other half.
"Dont eat all of it..." she whispers. "I still have to give some to Kiba..."
She walks over to the sleeping Toboe and pokes his cheek. He opens his eyes a crack and blinks several times before sitting up. He rubs his eyes and notices Tsume eating.
"Hey, what's that?" Toboe grabs into the bag and pulls out a meat cube. He eats the piece with one bite.
"Mmm!!" he helps himself to a couple more pieces. "Who's are these?"
"I found them." Kira says and glances at Tsume, but he didnt say anything. "Dont eat all of it please... I still have to give some to Kiba."
They both eat a few more pieces and stop, leaving about 9 pieces for Kiba. Kira (wolf) grabs the bag in her mouth and walks out. She looks back and seemed to smile, then continues.
Toboe sighs as she watches her walk out. He didnt smile, nor did he frown. He had a sad look on his face.
"Hm?" Tsume notices this. "What's wrong with you? Didnt have enough to eat?"
Toboe shakes his head no. He lays back down on the bench. Tsume stares at him blankly and lays down as well.
"Then what?" Tsume asks.
Toboe was silent for a while. He opened his mouth once in a while as if ready to speak. He finally did later.
"Have you... ever... been in love?" Toboe asks Tsume. Tsume sits up and stares at him with his mouth wide open.
"Dont tell me..." Tsume trailed off.
"I might like Kira..." Toboe whispers. Tsume's eye twitches. He lay back down and held half of his face with one hand.
<Oh great, he thinks. <This is not happening...
They both didnt say anything else for the rest of the night and they soon fell asleep.
Kira...
Kira walks along to find Kiba. She walks along the alleys and at the side of streets. She hears several low growling noises and some yelping. She runs over to where the noises were coming from and stops when she arrives.
She drops the bag infront of her. Her fur stands strait up and her tail fluffs out. She growls incredibly loud, snarling sometimes.
Moss turns to her, along with a few more wolves, but some continued to attack Kiba.
"Get away from him you fat ass street dogs!!" she screams and charges towards them, but was stopped by Moss.
"You touch them and you'll-OW!" he starts but Kira bites his snout. She bites his back and pushes him away. She snarls at the wolves. Some stared at her, but some ignored.
Kira snaps her jaw at the wolves, trying to bite their tails and drag them away. Some bit back, but she would fight back. She could see Kiba was fighting hard to keep the wolves away from him. He was badly injured already.
"Stop it, stop it, STOP IT!!" she screams and didnt realize tears were starting to stream down her furred cheek. She pushes them away, one by one, but they kept coming back.
"Kira, get away!!" Kiba yells at her. But she couldnt leave him there with the wolves, something kept her there fighting. She makes her way out of the mess and stands there for a second. Then turns to Moss.
She dashes towards him with her jaw wide open. She clamps her jaws around his neck and bites down hard. She pushes him against a wall and lets go.
"Tell them to stop!" she snarls.
"Heh..." he smirks. "Make me..."
Kira steps on the wound she had made in his neck with one paw and digs her claws into it. He yelps and ribbons of blood starts to shoot from his neck.
"One last time," she whispers in hsi ear. "Tell them to stop."
Moss nods. Kira removes her blood-soaked paw from his neck and onto the ground. Moss snarls at the wolves, telling them to back off. All of he wolves back away slowly and turn to Kiba and Kira who was helping him stand. (human now)
The pack laugh at them, all except Moss, who was holding onto his bleeding neck. He just sat there grinning.
Kira puts Kiba's arm around her shoulders and they both walk away from the pack, grabbing her plastic bag on the way. She leads Kiba several blocks away and set him down in an alley. She sits next to him and burys her face in her hands.
Kiba notices this and creeps closer to her, wincing from the wounds.
"What's wrong?" he asks while lightly trying to remove her hands away from her face. She removes her hands. Kiba could see the globs of tears streaming down her red cheeks. She crys and hiccups softly.
Kiba's eyes grow wide. He, once again, has a flashback. This time he was standing in the grass. Kira cried softly as she was doing now, with small feathers blowing around her. Kiba had a small dead sparrow in his hands with a bite mark across it's whole body. He was shaking uncontrolably. Then the flashback ends and fades away into a light mist...
"Im sorry..." he whispers under his breath, his eyes still widen. Somewhat shaken by the flashback. He puts his arms around her and holds her lightly, he couldnt hold her tightly from his wounds. He rests his head against Kira's and closes his eyes.
"It's...it's... i-hic..." she manages to say between her hiccups. "...the...th-the...hic...city-hic..."
"What about it?" Kiba whispers into her ear.
"It...hic..." the knee part of her jeans become soaked in tears. "...hic...I...cant... stand-hic...it..."
Kiba nods and was ready to fall asleep.
"Why dont you go back to Hige and sleep?" he slowly removes his arms from Kira and lays down. "I'll be fine... I want to sleep a... alone..."
Kiba closes his eyes and falls asleep. Kira could hear his breath lightly. She wipes the tears away from her face and runs her hand through his dark brown hair. She stands up and makes her way back to the crumbled room.
Hige...
Hige lays down on his back and puts his hands behind his head. He takes a deep breath and sighs.
"Kira..." he whispers. He closes his eyes. He thinks back to the times he was with her. During his thoughts, something wet and slippery streaks across his face. He opens his eyes and sees a white wolf, licking his face.
"Hehehe... stop that, Kira!" he giggles. "Hehe... that, heh, tickles!!"
Kira stops and seemed to smile. She nuzzles with Hige and licks him once more before turning human. She glomps onto him and squeezes tightly. She thought of him as a big warm and fluffy teddy bear.
((Glomp means like a tackle hug...))
"Did you find everyone?" Hige asks while holding her. She pulls herself up closer to Hige's head, resting the bridge of her nose on his neck.
"Yeah..." Kira whispers. "Toboe and Tsume at the train station, Kiba... in an alley."
Hige runs his fingers down her arm, which was around his neck. He felt scratches and something wet. He looks at his fingers which were spotted in blood. His eyes widen.
"Kira..." Hige wipes the blood off on his sweatshirt and puts his hand through her long black hair. "What happened?"
Kira didnt say anything at first.
"Uhmm..." she taps her finger on her chin while thinking. "Kiba... when I found him, he was in a fight with those wolves we saw earlier..."
She trails off.
"And you helped him?" Hige guesses. She nods.
"I would have stayed but he told me to go back to you, he said he wanted to sleep alone." (Kira)
Hige nods and holds onto her tightly. Kira sighs and relaxes. She slowly begins to fall asleep in his arms. He closes his eyes and tries to sleep.
The next morning (really early)
Kira's eyes slowly open. The sun was ready to awaken and rise. She looks around her and realizes Hige was holding onto her fairly tight. She slowly lowers herself and slips out, trying not to wake him up. He stirs slightly before holding still again.
Kira creeps close to him and runs her hand through his messy brown hair before going wolf and running towards the train station. She could hear a train coming from the bridge...
Train station
"Get all of 'em harnessed?" Zali yells over to Moss who was finishing up putting a harness on a wolf.
"Yeah, almost." he grunts. When he was finished, he glances around for the last wolf.
"Ey, where's the last one??" he glances around. "Dont 'ell me he's late..."
"He called in sick." Zali explains. "But dont worry, I got a replacment... she should be here soon."
"Is it one of those kids 'e saw earlier?" Moss smirks.
"What if it is?" Zali looks at him in the eyes. "She's just here for today, that's it."
"Hahahahaha!!" Moss laughs with a hint of evil. "She?? That stupid lil' albino one?? Hah!!"
Zali looks away and waits for Kira to arrive. She comes trotting in from a broken down door. She stops infront of him and looks up at him with her light red eyes.
"You're a little late." he confirms, but didnt seem to care. He takes out a harness from his jacket and straps it onto her. He pulls onto a metal ring on the back of the harness lightly and guides Kira to the other wolves who were tied onto one whole thing.
((One o' those sled dog things, you know what Im talking about...))
Zali clips her on like the other wolves were. He crouches down to talk to her.
"When the load gets here, just walk forward and pull. They'll give you a break after the first slope." he explains slowly. "If you do what you're supposed to, they wont hurt you..."
With that said, he backs away from them and watches the crew unload and place the load on he back of the sled thing. Kira stared in disbelief.
<This is what they do?? she thought. <This is... wha... creepy...
She turns away and notices the old wolf they saw yesterday in the graveyard. He was a couple rows ahead of her, with a harness on and attatched to the sled, like her. Her eyes widen, to think that they would make someone old do this...
Hige...
Hige stirs again and yawns. He opens one eye to look at Kira, but was shocked when he saw she wasnt there. He looks around if she was anywhere, but she wasnt. He (wolf) dashes towards the train station...
Tsume and Toboe...
"Toboe, wake up!!" Tsume shakes Toboe. He groans and looks up at him.
"What is it?" he whispers. Tsume points to the railing. He gets up and walks over to it and looks down. Tsume walks over to him and pushes his head down. They both crouch down while looking at the wolves who were strapped to the sled. Hige comes running in (on the top deck where Tsume and Toboe were) and spots the two.
"What are you looking at?" Hige (human) crouches down next to Toboe and looks down. He spots Kira with a harness on and on the sled. His eye's widen in suprise.
"Wha... the..." he couldnt beleive it. "Is... is that Kira??"
"It is..." Tsume didnt realize he was clutching onto the railing so tight that he was beginning to bend it. When he notices he was, he slowly lets go and didnt understand why he did.
Kira...
Kira glanced around cluelessly. She didnt really know what was going on, but a moment later, she heard whips being whipped around. The sled began to move and the other wolves were pulling. She helps too, like she was told, but it was extremely heavy. She keeps an eye on the old wolf ahead of her.
Tsume, Toboe, and Hige
"I dont understand..." Toboe presses his forehead against the railing. "Did she volenteer to do this? Was she forced?..."
"Let's just say she was bribed." the others turn to Tsume, who had spoken.
"What?... How?!" Hige asks confused.
"The meat..." Tsume turns to them. "She saw we were hungry, so she must have run into Zali, who probably had the meat..."
"But she said she found that!" Toboe says, but Tsume chuckles lightly.
"Cant you tell when someone is lying?" he grins. They all glance back down at Kira.
Kira...
Kira pulls hard, but the small cuts she had gotten last night was holding her back slightly. She looks up at three figures on the top deck.
<Shit... she thinks. <Hige's here too??
She looks away and continues pulling. Suddenly, the old wolf was slowing down and eventually stopped. He was panting hard. The crew near him shot their whips at him. He stops panting and falls to the ground lifelessly.
This made Kira stop. She didnt move, even though the crew shot their whips at her. One smacked her on her forhead and made her yelp. She shakes her head and tugs away, trying to free herself from the sled...
Tsume, Toboe, and Hige...
"Kira..." Hige whispers under his breath.
Tsume and Hige looked pissed off, but Toboe was worried. He glances around and spots Kiba nearby, watching the whole thing happen. Toboe tugs on Tsume and Hige's sleeves and points to Kiba.
"Kiba?? What's he..." Tsume trails off.
Kira...
Kira tugs hard, even though the whips were starting to bruise her. The metal loop bends, setting her free. She growls at the crew with the whips and trots towards the old wolf. She nudges her snout onto him, trying to get him up.
"Old man..." she whimpers and could feel several tears coming. She was getting annoyed by the whips and fights back by biting them. She bites onto them and tosses them away. From the corner of her eye, she sees Kiba. He seemed shocked.
Zali notices Kira had freed herself and went to help the old wolf. He didnt know what to do. The crew was getting their guns out. But at the same time, he notices Kiba, who seemed ready to attack the crew.
Kiba snaps out of his shock. He balls up his fists, enraged. He (wolf) charges towards the crew.
"Shit!" Zali (wolf) runs after Kiba and pushes him away. He (human) holds Kiba down by his neck. One of the crew was aiming his gun at Kira. It was too late when she notices this. He shoots and hits her stomach area. She cries out a yelp and runs away, out of the train station.
The wolves stop at the top of the slope and was confused. The crew look at Zali.
"Just a loose dog." he says before dragging Kiba away out of the train station.
Tsume, Toboe, and Hige...
Hige was in shock. He (wolf) bolts out the door and runs to find Kira.
Tsume grinded his teeth slightly. He stands up, grabs the railing and pulls it off the edge. He puts it above his head and throws it at the crew. He then grabs Toboe and starts running off, out of the train station.
A little bit later
"Atleast we didnt have to dig a hole." one of the crew said, who was standing infront of the hole that the old wolf had made. His body (wolf) lay in it, dead. Zali turns around and walks towards Tsume, Toboe, and Kiba, who were standing near the cemetery entrance.
"Explain what you were doing down there!!" Tsume demands. He stood next to Kiba, who was sitting down, leaning against the cement wall. Toboe was crouched down next to him.
"Just stay out of our buisness," Zali growls. "...But since your friend was involved, I can say a little. We work for them to survive. They come here every week, we help them out, they provide us with food, water, so on..."
"Just like scratching eachother's backs..." Toboe whispers to himself.
"Well explain this!!" Tsume throws the plastic bag that Kira had brought the meat in at Zali. She had left it with Kiba last night, it still had a couple cubes of meat in it. Zali lets it hit his shoulder and drop. He didnt look at it. He continued to look at the three.
"One worker called in sick," he begins to explain. "I told her if she worked for me for just today, she would get them. We cant do it with a worker missing. She accepted it and did... well, somewhat... what I told her to do. Untill you guys came..."
Kiba just stared at the ground blankly. He was wondering about Kira, if she was alright...
Hige
Hige follows the trail of blood that Kira left. He follows it into an alley, not too far from the train station. He walks in and glances around.
"Kira?..." he whispers, enough for it to echo through the alley. He could hear a soft crying behind a garbage can. He walks slowly towards it. She was sitting there, one hand holding where she was shot and the other wiping away her tears. A puddle of blood formed under her.
"Kira..." Hige (human) sits next to her and holds her tightly. He nudges his nose onto her cheek before letting go.
"Let me see the bandages on your arms and legs..." he lightly holds her hand but she quickly pulls it back to her.
"I..." she was feeling slightly sleepy from the blood loss. "...there's another roll... in my pocket..."
She reaches into her left pocket and pulls out a roll of bandages. Hige takes it and tells her to remove her hand from where she was shot. He wraps the bandage around her waist, then ties it. The wound was on the far left side of her waist, so nothing important was shot.
"There, that should help a little..." Hige puts the remaining bandages back into her pocket. He then wraps his arms around her and holds her while her crying slowly faded away.
End of Chapter 4.