It really
pissed Tsume off.
Kiba was a brat compared to
him -- a puking, mewling little wolf cub -- but he was the one who
everyone obeyed, he was the goddamn alpha male.
Damn it. Kiba was the one to
say "Let's look for
There was Kiba. There was
Hige. And then there was Toboe.
Fine. So he treated the kid
like he was crap. But Toboe deserved it -- with that stupid, innocent look, and
the puppy-ish face. Damn it, he didn't even act like a wolf; Toboe was
too damn sensitive, with all his whining about people and animals dying, and
his fixation on the human girl -- Liga, or something.
Tsume refused to believe that
he was jealous. Toboe was just a cub, and a runt at that. No doubt he'd meet
some other human and fall over himself trying to impress her, mess up, and
Tsume would have to come in and rescue Toboe's ass again.
Stupid, stupid, stupid
Toboe. Didn't he know what was good for him?
Tsume went with Kiba and Hige
and -- yeah, Toboe too -- because Kiba had to run off his mouth again, make
some smart-ass remark like "You scared?" So what the hell is Tsume
supposed to say to that? "Yeah. You wish."
Jump.
Land.
Run.
Tsume abso-fucking-lutely
hated Kiba. And Hige, because Hige was too devoted to their "alpha
leader." Toboe, simply because Toboe was too damn perceptive, could see
right to the heart of the matter of things with his wide, gold eyes, and he
didn't know when to shut up.
And Toboe was too much like
that other orange-haired boy -- the one who let go when Tsume went to help him.
It wasn't Tsume's fault, it was the boy's, because he shouldn't have let go.
So what if instead of the human hand he'd been expecting didn't come,
and instead it was the jaws of a wolf closing around his shoulder? He should
have recognized what was going on, should have realized Tsume was trying to
help.
Tsume didn't let grief or
guilt nag away at him -- grief was only crocodile tears shed at the right
moment, and guilt was just repentance for what was already too late. But damn
it, Toboe brought it all back, when he slipped and fell -- and when he didn't
let go.
That was why Tsume went.
Because he couldn't let Toboe die at the hands of two wolves who were chasing
after a dream. Because he'd rescued Toboe once, and
Toboe was a part of his pack.
And Tsume never let his
pack die.
They ran together, all four of
them, Kiba and Tsume vying for the lead, Hige and Toboe trailing behind, and .
. .
This was right. This was how
it was supposed to be.
It was nice, though Tsume
would never let anyone know it, having someone -- someones -- to come back to,
at the end of the day.
Even if one of them was a
stupid, orange-furred wolf cub.