Sister Rivalry 

(started 9/30/07 – finished 10/2/07)

Summary: From the moment Kiona was born, she knew something wasn’t right about her family . . . more especially about her older sister, Aleu. When the muzzled pup runs off into the woods during a playful day at her father’s, her sister follows, only to begin a grudge that would never go away for the rest of Kiona’s life. (one-shot) 

Rating: PG-13 for insults and some foul language. We all know Kiona hates Aleu, so I’m following along . . . just in a more . . . eh, tamer way, of course. And besides, this is Kiona we’re talking about – she’s a mean pup! Gotta protect the kiddies from this one!

Disclaimer: Balto, Balto: Wolf Quest and all official characters are the property of Universal Studios Inc. and Universal Cartoon Studios. The character and personality of Kiona is the fan property of Catwhohas14tails, and yes, I was given permission to use her character for this story (Actually, she requested me to write a story with Kiona in it, so I took up the challenge.). Also, all of the other fan names used in this fic (such as Dakota and Una) are also Cat’s, based on her personal characters and fics. However, the events in this story are not true . . . but I used Cat’s ever-popular Kiona fics to base my story though. 

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I never could stand that smell . . . that wild scent of something that made my fur stand up on end. I felt that anyone that smelt like that was a danger to my own life . . . and someone like that was not meant to be trusted. 

Ever since I was born, I can remember being surrounded by it, and for some reason, I grew to hate it secretly. Apparently my mother didn’t mind the smell and neither did my siblings, but I could sense it wherever I went with my family. Without them noticing, I gurgled a low growl, lowering my body to the ground and ready to pounce on whatever was the source of the wild musk. Once, I accidentally clawed my father because of my senses; I got in a nip on the ear from Mother as punishment for it, but I knew what I smelt: trouble.

My father didn’t look a thing like any of us when I first got a glimpse of him after Mother took me to his home a little bit outside of town. His dark grayish-brown fur looked tattered and scruffy, not like Mother’s well-groomed light burgundy coat. Father had light yellow-tan markings around his eyes and on his nose, down his chest and stomach to his tail, and painted up to his ankles from his large paws. There was one part about my father that I really couldn’t stand: his eyes were fiery red, surrounded in a pool of yellow gold. I always considered his golden stare . . . and anyone else with those yellow eyes as a threat to my own life. If you add the musky perfume of the wilderness that surrounded him, just catching a whiff of him from afar made me stay far away from him when I could after that one attack. 

Strangely enough, he wasn’t the only one with those eyes and that smell.

My elder sister resembled Father more than any of us. She was called Aleu, but every time I heard someone mention her name, I cringed as my ears lowered in rage. She’s like Father, I told myself whenever I laid on the ground and gaze at her with my dark lowered eyebrows. Her coat was a much lighter shade of gray-brown, with her markings a creamy beige, but she was still as scruffy as Father was. Her rough face markings clearly made her seem much wilder than the rest of us, but her bright blue eyes surrounded with that yellow tint and her slight scent of the forest were the final nails in the coffin to me.  

She’s a threat to the rest of us, and I hate anyone like her!

Mother always had us playing together, me with my four other siblings – Dingo, Saba, Dakota, and Kodi. I connected more to them than my other sister – probably because I looked more like them. I was a darker shade of burgundy-brown than the other four, and my ivory-white markings were only surrounding my nose and mouth on my face, not to mention on my chest, tail and legs. Compared to them, I was more in tune to the scents of other dogs than anyone. To me, they smelt safer, much like Mother’s comforting potpourri, so I tended to stay by them rather than be with my father and sister. 

One day when I was about six weeks old, I followed Mother and my siblings to Father’s grounded boat; why he lived in a boat instead of a home like Mother, I did not know, but I had always thought perhaps the humans could sense his wild scent like I could, exiling him from the human homes. Aleu was in front of us, quickly greeting our grizzly-haired patriarch with a yipping, giggling pounce. Dakota, Dingo, Kodi and Saba quickly followed her example, just like a bunch of lemmings about to fall down a cliff, but I stayed behind with Mother, at least until another foot race on the beach began.

I felt a cold chill come over me as Mother murmured into my ear. “Go on!” I turned my head, realizing that her wet nose was nudging me towards my siblings and the two threatening scents that filled my nostrils with their strong perfume. “Go on. Stop being so shy!” She repeated in her kind, motherly voice. 

I’m not shy, Mother . . . I just don’t want to play with them! I groaned softly, but I was thinking the truth – I really didn’t want to play with anyone associated with that . . . that wild smelling creature I had to call my sister. However, after much coaxing from Mother, I had no other choice but to follow her orders, walking slowly toward the four red puppies and the mousy-brown leader that yipped back at me with the others.

“Come on, Una!” They called me with their high-pitched voices. “Let’s play! Let’s play!” 

How about . . . not? God, I wish I could have stuck my tongue out at them without being able to get in trouble for doing so . . . because I would!

“Wanna race, Una?” I heard my brother, Dakota, coax me with his encouraging voice. “I betcha I can beat ya this time!” 

A race, huh? Heh-heh-heh . . . He knew I couldn’t resist a challenge, but I knew I was the fastest of us all. Dakota was fast, I would admit to that, but he was a sluggish snail compared to me.

“You’re on!” I barked back, ignoring the scents of the my sister and father. Well, that got me excited. I let out a frustrated sigh, just realizing what had done. Oh great. Way to go, me; you’ve just fallen into a trap by your own brother.Instinctively, I galloped to my siblings, squeezing in between the burgundy bodies of Dingo and Kodi; they were the weaker siblings of the litter, so I knew that they weren’t any competition to me. My eyes were clearly on beating Dakota, my older brother by only several minutes. 

“Ready . . . .” Dakota’s words slipped slowly out of his mouth, as he and the rest of us leaned our heads close to our out-stretched legs in front of us. Six tails waved in the air as we awaited the starting call. I felt a toothy smirk grow on my face as I glanced to my side, gazing at my competition . . . but my expression suddenly changed to complete surprise when I saw my sister. Her dainty brown-gray head was confidently lowered and her gold and blue eyes looked straight ahead . . .

“Go!” 

At Dakota’s call, the six of us leaped forward, running towards the edge of the forest that bordered the town limits from the towering mountains that seemed so close to the beach where we were. My focus on Aleu caused me to start a little bit later than the others – even Kodi and Dingo were ahead of me! Damn it! Damn it all to that stupid sister of mine! I growled as I ran as fast as I could to try and retrieve my champion status amongst my siblings . . . and to give my sister some revenge if I lost.

“Don’t wander off into the woods!” I could hear Father shout back at us as we began to vanish towards the forest. I swore I heard him say something else, but we were too far away to hear anything else; I was more in tune with the steady pounding that my paws made on the once sandy, now grassy ground that lined the edge of the shore in between Nome and the sea. I felt like I was one with the earth and the wind, swiftly soaring almost like I was barely touching the ground as I ran. I could hear myself pant as I rushed forward, easily passing by Kodi and my brown-eyed sister, Saba. 

Hmph . . . what weaklings, I thought as my hind legs threw back some clouds of dust and dirt into their faces. They didn’t have a prayer to defeat me or even think that I couldn’t pass them anyway! As I ran further ahead, I could hear Saba and Kodi cough and slightly curse me for the dirty trick, but all’s fair in racing your siblings, right?

My other red brothers were only a few feet in front of me, but Aleu was nowhere to be found . . . but I could smell that she was close. Perhaps she was camouflaging herself with her coat as she ran in front . . . I didn’t know; it was just an educated guess, but just catching a sniff of the wild scent of my sister made me growl as I felt a new strength surge through my body, urging my running form of dark burgundy and white forward. My heart was pounding against my chest as I finally reached my target and pushed past the weaker form of Dingo. I heard him let out a grunt as he collapsed onto the ground, then he quickly ran back to Mother and his other ousted siblings with tears in his eyes. 

I clearly heard Dakota chuckle meanly beside me as I tried many times to pass him. “What a weakling!” He laughed again. “Nice attack, Una . . . but it’s not good enough to pass me!” He lunged forward, covering me in dirt and sand clouds and leaving me in the dust.

I coughed as I recovered, but quickly returned to the race. I had to beat him . . . and her . . . I knew Aleu was still in the race because I didn’t see her with Mother and Father. Her scent was weaker now, but it