Shadow's Untold History

  It was another cold day in Nome, snow thick on the ground, and a chilly wind blowing by. The streets had to be shoveled out regularly so people could get through, signs creaked as they were butted round playfully by the wind, and frost was on the windows of every home. Even with all this cold, it didn't bother Balto or his family. He stayed in his boat home with his son Shadow and his mate Saske. The latter two were in a corner, Saske gnawing as usual on the big, dark red wolf-dog's tail.
  The curious thing about his tail, and other parts of his body, were that they tasted like food people ate. His tail, in particular, tasted like cookies, and Saske absolutely loved cookies, so it was a free snack for her. Balto had never heard them discuss Shadow's various tastes before, so his ears perked with interest when his daughter-in-law asked the usual question around the thick tail fur for the upteenth time.
  "Shadow, why does your fur taste different everywhere on your body?" Shadow gave a patient-sort of smile, innocent puppy-like eyes shining happily as he twitched the tip of his seven foot tail. He gave the usual answer to her.
  "Its all genetics." He replied, chuckling. There was a moment of silence where Saske rolled her eyes as usual that a bark of laughter cut through. They both looked over at the dark gray, older wolf-dog. "... What?"
  "You've never told her the real story?" Balto asked, grinning. A tinge of pink appeared in Shadow's ears.
  "I-it is genetics..." He mumbled, but his actions said otherwise: tail flicking awkwardly, shuffling his paw, eyes now super interested in a knothole in a plank on the floor. His mate looked curiously from the grinning face of the older canine to the embarrassed, pink-eared one above her.
  "Shadow? What aren't you telling me?"
  "Its nothing." The big mix-breed said a bit quickly, giving a sheepish grin. "Just go back to gnawing my tail please." Saske didn't start gnawing again, instead she sat up.
  "Shadow." She said a bit sternly. His ears flattened a bit.
  "Its nothing to be ashamed of Shad, its just a funny little story." His dad said, smiling as he glanced over. He then went back to the knothole.
  "Couldn't someone get their claw stuck in this hole?" Shadow asked, trying to change the subject, glancing around. By the looks on their faces, it didn't work.
  "Just get it over with." Balto said, shrugging as he wagged his tail. Shadow looked around once more then sighed.
  "Oh fine. I don't find it funny, but if you guys insist..." Saske looked eager as she sat up a bit straighter. "It was back when I was a puppy and really adventurous and rambunctious." He started, flicking his tail.

*

  Shadow, the small dark red and gray wolf-dog pup, was wandering around with his dad down the streets of Nome one day, looking around at everything. This was his first time out of the house, his parents making sure he could walk around with ease. They didn't worry to much about his fur, because they noticed it seemed quite thick, even for his young age, and he was already pretty big for a puppy. The pup was excited, his over-long tail wagging happily as he looked around, trying to look everywhere at once while following his dad.
  "Where are we going first dad, huh?!" Shadow asked excitedly. Balto gave a small shrug.
  "Whatever you find interesting I suppose." He said, licking his nose idly. They kept walking, Shadow looking around for something that particularly caught his interest, keeping mental tabs. Then something caught his sense of smell. He sniffed the air, nose twitching as he sniffed.
  What is that smell? He wondered, tail swishing the ground. Forgetting that he was following his dad, he started following the scent, keeping his nose in the air and tail near the ground. He gave a small smile as he pretended to be a bloodhound, sniffing out some bad guy on the run. Whatever it was, it smelled delicious.
  He closed his eyes to better tune his sniffing as he kept walking, and he followed the scent. After a few minutes of walking, his nose bopped against something hard, causing him to open his eyes again and widely in surprise. Right in front of him, was a door, and inside he could smell all those fantastic smells. He glanced around, and didn't see Balto anywhere.
  Wouldn't hurt to take a peek inside, right? He wondered, and as a cook went out, taking out trash he slipped in quietly. The smells that had seemed strong outside nearly bowled the puppy over as he got a plethora of fresh, delicious smells hitting his eager young nose. There were different things cooking everywhere, he didn't know where to look first. He snuck around, trying to find something he liked first.
  He hid under plenty of things and his furry paws kept him quiet as he sniffed. He smelled something very sweet above him, and poked his head out from his hiding place, a chair. As soon as the chef moved away to was his hands Shadow started to climb up different things to make it up. When he made it he saw a bowl spinning, and when he peeked over he saw some weird, thick-looking cream substance with dark spots all in it, but he sniffed it and found out it was the cause of the sweet smell. The young mix took an experimental lick, and his taste buds went wild from the sweet taste.
  He kept licking, careful to avoid the spinning shiny things in front of him. He had no idea what they were, but he knew it probably wouldn't be good to go near them.
  "What the-?! Hey, who let the pup in?!" Shadow turned around so fast his tail fell into the mixing bowl, the beaters splattering cookie dough all over his thick and fluffy tail. As a person dived to grab him he bounded across the counter, cookie dough-covered tail trailing behind him. He saw another person jump at him, and ducked as their hand swept overhead.
  Seeing the other hand coming from above, the red and gray puppy took off again, stepping through a warm vanilla cake as he ran. His paws sticky with the mixture he kept glancing around to try and not get caught. All of a sudden his paws were swept out from under him as he tripped and he rolled, feeling his head hit a tray of some kind and feeling his ears become warm suddenly. Pulling his head up, flecks of brown flicking off his ears as he pulled out. He didn't have time to taste however as the humans were catching up fast.
  After running around a bit more he slipped on a wet towel, falling backwards and sitting in a chocolate cake. The wolf-dog was a mess, he gave himself a quick shake down before running again. It was a few minutes before he got out, getting minorly burned twice and finally escaping. He ran for awhile until he saw his dad waiting for him.
  "Shadow, your a mess! Where have you been?" Balto asked, eyes wide with surprise. Shadow grinned sheepishly.
  "I'll tell you after I get all cleaned up dad." The pup said, both of them walking toward his mother's home so the owners could clean him off. Unknown to him when he got there, the food tastes got in so deep and stayed on so long that it permanently made those parts of his skin and fur taste like the foods they touched. Not that he complained, he actually enjoyed the feel of his siblings gnawing on his long tail as a pup, and he grinned the whole time.

*

  As the story finished, Saske was giggling and Balto was grinning. The big wolf-dog looked from one to the other, ears flat and eyes narrowed slightly.
  "Come on guys, its not that funny." He grumbled, flicking his big tail. As it passed Saske gnawed at it and he looked back at her, his face going back to his usual smile.
  "You couldn't get the actual physical stuff off for days Shad." Balto said, chuckling.  Shadow looked back over and tried to look stern with his dad, but that grin of his refused to leave his face.  He looked back at his mate gnawing at his tail.
  "If you thought that place was crazy Saske, you should have seen my teenage years." Shadow said as he playfully nipped her ear, his puppy-like eyes looking into hers as he smiled.
  "What were those like?" She asked.
  "Crazy, troublesome, annoying-"
  "Most of which you caused." Balto cut him off, wagging his tail. His son glanced over a second, then he grinned sheepishly to confirm what his father had said. Saske's eyes widened.
  "You? A troublemaker? I don't believe it."
  "He may seem innocent now, but he was a right old terror as a teen." Shadow bobbed his head up and down.
  "Huh, should have seen me. I was such a troublemaker..."