Wolf's Rain Two: Part 2

Betrayal and Winter

After spending a few weeks with Hige and Blue, Toboe learned some new tricks of the trade. Hige taught him how to steal more carefully yet easily, then Blue showed Toboe some of the best fighting moves he'd ever seen.

"Guys..." Toboe piped up one time in the middle of daylight, they were waking up from a nap. Toboe hadn't slept at all and instead had been planning how to ask them something.

"Wha?" Hige yawned, and Blue pricked an ear, still tired.

The young wolf flattened an ear and almost didn't say anything for a full minute, finally he looked up. "Why can't we find the others? You know, Kiba, Tsume, and Cheza as well. You said it yourself that you'd searched once, why don't you try again?"

As soon as Toboe had finished, Hige and Blue's eyes were wide. They exchanged a nervous glance, as if they had something to say as well.

"Uh...we can't." Hige lashed his tail and looked away as if that was that.

Toboe jumped to his paws, fur bristling. "Well why not? They're our friends, our pack!"

Blue lifted her head, eyes beginning to narrow instead of their usual blue softness. "You heard Hige, Toboe. We can't."

"Well what's the reason, if it's so important that we can't go?" He growled for the first time at her.

Hige almost looked about ready to jump to Blue's defense, but she replied calmly back. "I'm a wolfdog, you know that. I can't go to Paradise. Hige promised me that he wouldn't go if I couldn't, even when I told him to forget about me. That's why we quit looking, Toboe. Even if we found you guys, Hige and I knew that all three of you would want to go find Cheza and Paradise the first chance you get."

Toboe half couldn't blame her, but he was still in rage that they wouldn't even try. "But...they're still your friends! Surely you want to find them too?"

"We want to, we just know what will happen when we find them," Hige growled lowly. His fangs were bared now, hackles risen. He was serious; they weren't going no matter what.

Fur bristling, Toboe snarled, "Well fine then. I'm going to find them without you guys." Whipping around, the brown wolf stalked out of the alley and down the nearly empty streets. He could hear pawsteps running after him, but didn't bother to slow down or speed up.

Blue skidded infront of him, looking at him harshly with narrowed eyes that turned to ice. "Don't be a fool, pup. You probably won't find them ever, I'm sorry, but it's true. You could spend the rest of your life searching and never find one of them, or even a trace!" Her eyes began to soften. "Sorry, but this is real life. And they might even be dead for all you know."

Toboe pinned his ears back and shoved past her. "Move it, I'm still going!" Blue whimpered slightly and watched her friend leave. Hige slowly walked over to Blue's side and stared at the ground, half regretting his decision...

The red wolf headed towards the entrance of the town. If he knew the other two, they'd stay away from the cities thanks to their last encounters with humans. Toboe picked up the pace and ignored the clinking of his bracelets hitting the ground. After a while he began to consider leaving them behind, they made so much racket.

Realizing that he just now was passing the place where he first met the crazed wolf on a chain, he couldn't help but pad over towards the old abandoned house where it had been chained up. Maybe he could make friends with the animal, perhaps travel with it. Sniffing, Toboe realized that there was no more traces that it had been there for days.  A broken chain lay on the ground.

So it got away from it's prison...well so much for getting someone to come along. Toboe flicked an ear and turned away, racing back to where he had been just minutes ago.

He traveled a while and finally was heading for the open fields. Though they were burnt looking and grey, he was relieved to get away from the place where there was no hope.

Toboe kept on moving until it was almost nightfall, then he decided to rest in the tall grass near a boulder. His paws hurt from the running; he hadn't traveled like that in quite a while.

He tried to sleep, but thoughts kept coming to him. What if they are dead? What if they've already made it to Paradise without us?

Will they even want to go?

The thought haunted him for the rest of the night. In his dreams, and whenever he woke up in the middle of the night. When it was barely dawn, Toboe could take it no longer and began running yet again. With every step he was ready to find a scent trail, anything.

Toboe was getting desperate for company within the next two days, and food as well. After spending a few weeks with Hige and Blue he had been used to socialization...but he was alone now. Sticking to hunting down a few weak rabbits, since he had no time to find others, he ate quickly and hardly.

In his mind, Toboe just tried to say that this trip would make him stronger and more able to take care of himself, make him a use to the pack instead of a burden when they all got together again. Somehow he'd find a way to get Hige and Blue back in the pack! Somehow...but first he needed to find the other two, since he had no idea where they were and did know where Hige and Blue lived.

After a few more days he grew restless. He hadn't been sleeping well, and even before he found Hige and Blue he'd felt a bit sick. But Toboe couldn't get sick now! If he got sick when he was alone and by himself, with hardly any wolves left in the world, he might not make it. Then there would be no chance of the pack being together again.

Toboe forced himself to move onward for the next week, but felt himself growing worse faster than ever. No sign of Kiba, or Tsume. No sign of Hige or Blue changing their mind to follow him. Not even a sign of another wolf or human in the world. The only thing that left tracks was himself, and rabbits.

When the first snows of the winter hit, it hit hard. Toboe was forced to take shelter under trees, which were rare to find out there, and sleep out in the open with the deathly cold wind blowing at him all night.

One day Toboe got up and tried to shake snow from his pelt. He fell right over on the ground from diziness. Not only was it getting colder, he was getting sicker. I am so stupid...he sighed. After a few minutes he managed to stand and walk, but it was hard.

The snow was blowing right towards him instead of upwind, and it was hard to see anything but white. Toboe would have to find and dig through rabbit tunnels to find a meal. He lost all four bracelets on his right paw and didn't even realize it until he'd wandered far away from the rabbit den. Damn...

Night fell, and the snow let up for once. It was barely going down, but after all the hits Toboe had taken, it was hard to keep going. Finally he felt himself give in, and hit the ground with a thud.

Toboe didn't bother to get up, he was so tired. Maybe if I just sleep here for a while...The wolf was then no longer concious, and everything blacked out for him.

After what seemed like centuries, scents of other wolves overwhelmed him. However much he wanted to wake up, he couldn't even open his eyes. Feeling half dragged and half carried, he knew whoever it was began to take him to a shelter.

Besides the occasional scent of wolves and water being forced down his throat, Toboe slept through all of it and went in and out of being awake.