Tenaka: Wolf wish.

It was a cold Autumn morning in Nome, Alaska and a grey/brown wolf-dog leapt off an abandoned

fishing boat and ran toward the town, he jumped over barrels and through snow-drifts until he reached

a small shed, he pushed the door ajar with his nose and looked inside, a red husky was lying in a

basket resting,

"Hello Balto" she whispered and the wolf-dog slowly crept inside, he looked over the husky and saw

five pups cuddled up to the husky,

"They're perfect jenna" he whispered as he nuzzled her, all the pups looked like huskies apart from one

with brown, wolf-like ears, the pup stirred, both parents looked at each other nervously remembering one

of the pups from their last litter, a female called Aleu, she had run away when she found out no human

wanted her because she looked like a wolf and both parents wished this pup would'nt have the same

problem with his wolf-like ears and body shape but time would tell and for now they were just going to

enjoy their new family.

The pups grew quickly and were always getting into scrapes, all now had names too and the pup with

wolf-like ears had been named Tenaka and was the most mischeivous of them all. The time soon came to

let the pups go to their own homes, all were excited and very hyper, they play-fighted as they waited to be

chosen by a human,

"Gotcha!" one growled as it leaped on Tenaka,

"Ow!" he shouted as his sibling landed on him, "you've had it now" he growled as he turned and fought back,

"Alright, alright, settle down pups" Balto laughed, trying to calm down the energetic pups, a human child ran

up excited and looked at the puppies,

"behave" Balto whispered to the pups, they just giggled and greeted the human,

"Please can I have one mama, please", the boy asked his mother, she nodded and he picked out one of Tenaka's

brothers, the pup yipped with happiness as the boy picked him up, all through the day the pups stayed in the crate

as children and adults came to look at them, some wanting to adopt one others just to give them attention, the pups

could'nt care either way, they were just having fun. Come sunset all the pups had gone to new homes, apart from

Tenaka and he was in trouble, every time a human went to pick him up he growled and barked, Balto and Jenna were

not impressed especially seeing as his wolf-like ears had'nt detered the humans, they were about to give up when a

young man walked up to the crate and looked at Tenaka, he tried to pick him up but Tenaka growled again, Balto shot

him a look but to their surprise the man laughed,

"Feisty little pup are'nt ya?" he laughed, "you'll do perfect" he said and picked him up, Tenaka once again growled but

the man held him firm, he'd found a new home, Balto and Jenna gave a sigh of relief and Jenna shed a tear of happiness,

"Thank goodness" she sighed.

Tenaka soon settled into his new home especially when he found out what his new owner wanted him for, hunting, he

was now a hunting dog running along side a sled but un-harnessed and running free, he would chase rabbits and lead

the man to deer for food and to sell in town, one of Tenaka's sisters was on the sled team and it made them both feel

better and more confident, Tenaka was allowed to roam around as he pleased during the day and returned every night when

the man blew a whistle and shouted his name, all was well as far as everyone was concerned, Tenaka had a home, the

man had a hunting dog and Balto and Jenna had'nt needed to go through all they did with Aleu, everyone was happy...except

Tenaka, he hated looking like a dog and was proud of his wolf-like ears, he'd never understood why Aleu had been so

against looking like a wolf, he'd always wished he looked like a wolf and loved hearing his fathers story of the white wolf and

admired his dad, he would often pretend he was a wolf on the hunt while he was out with the man looking for deer and would

always look for the White Wolf while he was out and search on the outskirts of town, wisely Balto never told him exactly where

he'd seen the white wolf but it did'nt stop Tenaka trying to find it,

"I'm gonna find the white wolf and we're gonna go huntin' and we'll be best friends and we'll..."

"Tenaka!" Balto shouted watching him run around the beach, jumping off the small dunes,

"Hey dad" Tenaka replied,

"Enough with the wolf stuff son" Balto groaned,

"Enough? Why? I like it, I wish I looked like one...like you dad" Tenaka questioned,

"Please, just enough" Balto told him,

"Oh fine, I'll go mess about with Mist then, see ya dad" Tenaka exclaimed as he wandered off, Balto just smiled. Mist was a

border collie that lived with Tenaka, the man was going to use him as his hunting dog but being a collie he hated hunting during

a harsh winter whereas Tenaka was'nt bothered about hunting during winter and he was Tenaka's best friend, he liked the idea

of being a wolf too and they would always mess around playing wolves together and go looking for the white wolf.

Tenaka got back to the barn and noticed Mist was'nt around,

"Hey Stitch, where's Mist?" Tenaka asked a red husky tied up outside, Stitch always destroyed everything, he could'nt help himself

so was tied up outside and had a large kennel to himself,

"He wandered off to the ridge a couple of minutes ago...can I come?" he answered,

"Don't think so pal, boss is watching" Tenaka told him tilting his head toward the window the man was watching them out of, Stitch

sighed and sat down chewing his bone while Tenaka ran off to find Mist. When he reached the ridge just outside of town Mist was'nt

around again, Tenaka sighed and started wandering around, he wandered farther than normal following a scent he'd never noticed before,

he went to the top of the ridge and through a small group of trees until he reached a clearing, the scent was strong now, he kept sniffing

a patch on the ground when he heard a sound, he slowly looked up and saw a large white wolf staring at him, he froze instantly, the wolf

kept looking at Tenaka and Tenaka kept looking at the wolf, after a while the wolf howled loud and long, it made Tenaka shiver, the wolf

turned and started to walk away, it looked back at Tenaka who was still stunned, then it sank back into the forest. Tenaka looked at the

spot where the wolf had stood and where it left then he turned and ran back into town as fast as he could,

"DAD...DAD!" He shouted as he ran, Balto emerged from the old shed when he heard him shouting,

"Tenaka?...What is it?" He yawned,

"I saw it...I saw the white wolf, it was exactly how you'd told me in your story" Tenaka panted,

"Easy son, you sure it was'nt your imagination again?"

"I'm sure dad, honest, it was the white wolf, for real, c'mon I'll show you where" Tenaka started toward the ridge again,

"C'mon dad" he urged, Balto stretched and followed him, Tenaka led him to the clearing and Balto sniffed the ground and the air and

recognised the scent immediatly as the white wolf's,

"I told you I saw it" Tenaka said excitedly,

"Ok, ok, I believe you but it's gone now, home, c'mon"

"But dad I..."

"Now Tenaka".

A week went by and all Tenaka would talk about was the white wolf, everyone but Mist and Stitch had had enough of it by now, Ben

liked it though, he was a new member of the man's sled team, the same age as Tenaka, Mist and Stitch and they were all friends and

all wolf fans, they would always look for the wolf now, the four of them together, Balto had warned them the man would get angry if they

did while they were out hunting but they still looked just never ran off while they were out. One day they had stopped for lunch and the

four had sat away from the group talking and looking for wolves, all was well until Tenaka spotted a grey shape moving in the forest,

"Look guys!" He whispered,

"What is it?" Mist answered,

"A wolf...a pack I think" Tenaka replied seeing another wolf, the four looked at each other and then the two grey wolves ran off and without

thinking the four of them ran after them,

"DOGS!" the man shouted, he blew his whistle and shouted them again but they were'nt listening, they wanted to follow the wolves, they

kept running through the trees after the two wolves until they reached a small ravine and lost the trail, then hearing the man they quickly

returned and slinked toward the man, he was not happy, he took the dogs home and tied stitch up, put Mist in the coal shed next to the

barn, tied Ben to a post on the other side and tied Tenaka to a tree behind the barn, they all felt bad for running off but were happy they got

so close to the wolves though, they barked to each other for a while and all wanted to find the two wolves again, they cheered up again,

until Balto arrived, he told Tenaka how disappointed he was in him and the others, then they all felt rather down about it. Later that night the

man untied them, except stitch of course, and fed them, he never spoke though, they soon fell asleep after their dinner. All was fine until the

four of them decided to go looking for the two wolves on their day off, they ran back to the spot they ran from the day before and started looking

for the wolves, none of them found them, they went to the ravine and further along the top of it, all the while unaware that the man had been

calling them, he'd got a message from town that more furs were needed and wanted to go hunting again but without his dogs he could'nt

go out but so far away the dogs did'nt hear him, they were all still searching when Mist bumped into something, he turned around and saw a

grey wolf looking at him, both of them screamed and fell over, the other dogs ran to Mist and the other wolf ran to the aid of the wolf that startled

Mist, both groups looked at each other,

"I'm really sorry" They darker wolf told Mist,

"Uh...thanks, I'm sorry too" He replied,

"I'm Jake" the darker wolf told them, "And this is my sister Alexi" Jake continued,

"Hiya" Alexi said,

"Er...Hi, I'm Tenaka" Tenaka told the two wolves, "this is Mist" he pointed to him, "this is Ben" he pointed to the brown and cream husky, "and this is

Stitch" he pointed to him,

"Awesome" Alexi piped up,

"So what exactly is a group of dogs doing out here anyway?" Jake asked,

"Well, we're actually looking for you" Tenaka answered, "We always wished we were wolves see and we kinda wanted to...er..." He got lost,

"Ha, ha, cool, we're looking to start a pack of our own but we need others to join us first seeing as we're brother and sister and neither of us is leader

material really" Jake told them

"Speak for yourself" Alexi giggled, "I'd love being a leader",

"Whatever Lex" Jake sniggered,

"Whoa, wish we could join a wolf pack" Ben said,

"Hey!, what if you guys joined us!, we could be the start of our pack!" Alexi suggested,

"Yeah!, awesome idea Lex" Jake agreed,

"That would be the best...but...I should tell my dad really" Tenaka said,

"Tell ya what, why don't you guys go tell whoever and we'll meet you at that ridge near your town in two days, m'kay?" Alexi suggested,

"Sounds good, see you in two days guys" Tenaka smiled, the four dogs trotted off and Jake and Alexi wandered off to find a place to sleep.

The man was very angry when they returned and he chased the dogs away,

"Never come back here you sorry little ingrades!!" He yelled as they ran away,

"Now what?" Mist asked,

"My dad" Tenaka said and the four dogs ran to Balto's boat, when they got there Balto was'nt happy either,

"You should be ashamed of yourselves" Balto told them,

" I know dad and we are but we met these two wolves and they said..."

"I don't care who you met Tenaka, you ran off"

"Dad I know and I'm really sorry but please, let me tell you what happened", Balto groaned, just then Jenna arrived,

"Tenaka!, thank goodness you're alright, don't ever do that again" she told him,

"Mum, I'm sorry, I did'nt mean to cause so much trouble"

"Well at least you're all okay" She sighed,

"What did happen Tenaka?" Balto asked, Tenaka sighed,

"We went out looking for those two wolves we saw and we found them, well Mist fell over them and their names are Jake and Alexi and they're looking

to start a wolf pack of their own but they need more members being brother and sister and all and we told them about our little wolf wish and they

suggested we join them and start a pack, we'd find more members and get a real pack going...mum,dad...what do you say? Can we go?" Tenaka finally

asked, Balto and Jenna looked unsure,

"You did let Aleu join a wolf pack" Tenaka reminded them,

"I don't know son, let's wait and see shall we...for we need some sleep" Balto decided, the dogs did'nt argue, they were all shattered.

Next day the four dogs were messing around on the beach while Balto and Jenna talked on the boat, a large dog walked up to the four on the beach,

"Looky here, four little doggies playin' wolf, ha, ha" The dog sneered, the dog was from the kennels, it'd been adopted by the man after he chased off the four

others and was'nt very nice at all, he started circling the four dogs and growled at them,

"Leave us alone" Tenaka told the dog as he stepped forward but the dog lunged at him, Ben, Mist and Stitch tried to help but the dog was very powerful and

it knocked down Mist and Stitch and bit Ben's leg, Balto and Jenna heard the fight from inside the boat, they looked over the edge to see what was going on

and saw the big dog attacking them,

"Balto they are'nt safe here any more" Jenna panicked, Balto nodded and jumped off the boat and ran to help,

"Tenaka, run, go to the wolves" Balto shouted as he reached them, Balto leapt at the big dog and they fought, luckily the big dog was no match for Balto's

experience and soon ran off, Balto turned to see Tenaka and the others running off to the ridge,

"Be safe" he whispered to himself, when the dogs reached the ridge Jake and Alexi were already there,

"Hi guys, ready to live out your wolf wish?" Alexi joked, they all smiled and as they were walking away Tenaka turned to look at Nome again, he saw his dad's

boat and felt sad,

"Watch this guys" Tenaka told the dogs, he howled to his dad,

"I did'nt know he could do that!" Mist exclaimed, Balto and Jenna heard him and both smiled, Jenna looked at Balto, he smiled at her and then howled back,

"Keep safe son" Jenna whispered.