My Paradise (Wolf's Rain Fan-Fic)

Chapter 22

"Thank you, all of you, this one's happy." Cheza says. We all laugh. Kiba, Hige, and Toboe start to discuss the game plan. I take a step towards them but I start to sway from a sudden dizzy spell, Tsume sees this, and steadies me. "Yuna..." he says. "I'm fine..." I say. "Yeah right." he says, looks at the others who weren't paying attention, and leads me over to a wall. I didn't have enough strength to fight him. Leaning me against the wall, he reaches towards my hand which covered the wound, pulls it away, and freezes. "That's one hell of a scratch. What'd the hunter use, buck shot?" he asks. "Yeah..." I say but take a sharp intake of breath when he reaches inside the bullet wound. He moves his pointer finger around inside it, searching for the bullet pieces. Once he finds them, one by one, he plucks them out. I bite my lip and squeeze my eyes shut from the pain. "Done. It should heal soon." he says. "Thanks Tsume..." I say. He nods. "What do you guys think?" I hear Kiba ask us. We turn towards him. "About what?" I ask. "The plan...which neither one of you were listening to, I'm guessing." Kiba says noticing Tsume's blood covered hand. "She gonna be okay?" he asks Tsume. "Yes, I'll be fine Kiba." I say. He nods. "Don't bother going over the plan, we'll catch on quickly." I say. "Just keep your eyes open for my hunter friend, if you see him and that damn dog of his, let me know. I have a bone to pick with them." I say. They all nod. We meld into the crowd of people, staying separate but not far from one another. We were put into teams. Kiba and Cheza. Obviously. Hige and Toboe. Tsume and I. We acted like we were browsing the shops. The Blonde woman from earlier was walking through the streets, we all hid from view. Kiba placed a Pink thigh length cloth jacket with a hood onto Cheza, covering her face from view. We all walked in close ranks, past the blonde woman who had yet to see us. Once she passes us, we all sigh in relief. "That was too close." Toboe says. "Kiba...can this one go see her...just once more...this one doesn't want her to die alone...this one wants to be there for her until the end." Cheza says refurring to the old hanabito. "Very well." he says. We leave the city soon after.  When we make it to the cabbin, we stop. "Go on in, we'll wait out here Cheza." Kiba says. She nods and walks inside. I listen in. "Dear, it's all right. My having met you was enough." the old woman says. "This one is going...with them." Cheza says. "I will pray for you...I will pray for your safety." the old woman says. "Ever since we came here, this one has heard voices..." Cheza says. "The flowers are singing. They're always singing...people never...seem...to notice..." is the last thing the woman says. "This one is sorry..." Cheza says with a shaky voice. My vision blurs from tears. Poor old woman...all she ever wanted...was to spend her last days with Cheza... "Yuna...are you crying?" Tsume asks looking at me. I look away from him. "No." I say wiping at them. Cheza walks out and grabs Kiba's hand. After a few minutes of walking in silence, Tsume speaks up. "Did any of you tell her about Paradise?" Tsume asks refering to Cheza. "I didn't." Hige says. "Nope." Toboe says. "Neither did I." I say. "Hmm." Tsume says. By the time we reached the city again, it was almost night fall. The city had died down, the soldiers were gone, and we were pretty much the only ones around. We began to pass a narrow alleyway when I catch a glimpse of the Black dog growling at us. Cheza stops and looks to it. The Black dog stops growling and just stares at her. "Cheza?" Kiba asks and looks at the Black dog. Right away it starts growling again. "We have a friend. Even here." Cheza says. "Hmph, sorry, I don't normally call people who try to kill us friends." I say. Before any of us could stop her, Cheza walks over to the Black dog. She goes to pet the Black dog but Kiba stops her. "It's alright." she says looking to him. "You do not know what you are, you never did. Is that not right? There is some wolf, even inside you." she says to the black dog. We all are shocked at this, but I still glare at the dog. Cheza reaches for the dog again but it pulls away. "You were alone your whole life, were you not?" she asks. "Cheza." Kiba says. The sound of soldiers catch our attention, Kiba grabs Cheza's arm and runs out of sight, with us following. I look back, to find the Black dog trying to follow us too. Two soldiers happen to see a glimpse of us and run after us, but we dissapear before they could find us. We find ourselves at an old junk yard for run down buses and cars. So we hide in a bus, right at the back of it. Hige peers out of the window. "This should be a perfect place to hide." he says. "Once we catch wind of what they're up to, we'll come right back." Tsume says. "Cheza, you stay here with Toboe and Yuna." Kiba says. "Leave it to me!" Toboe says. "You guys be careful." I say. They nod before leaving. "Don't be too long okay?" Toboe calls out from a window. I pull him and Cheza back. "Stay out of sight you two." I say. "I like this, the feeling of friends waiting for friends, it's a good thing, if you know what I mean." Thekid says to Cheza and I. "Yeah, I guess. Though, I can't help but worry a bit, I mean the soldiers and that Hunter are out there, who knows what could happen. I hate waiting around, I should be out there with them." I say. "But...your wound." Toboe says. "I've had worse, believe me." I say. Toboe looks back at Cheza, who was relaxing in the sunlight. "What is it?" Toboe asks. "This one is stuffed, and you?" she asks. "Umm...sure." Toboe says smiling. Cheza does as well. "This way, get them!" I hear someone yelling. I quietly peer out of the window. Three soldiers were chasing three kids, no older than 7. I narrow my eyes. Damn them. "You two stay hidden." I say before I chased after the soldiers. 2 of the kids split one way, while the other went another. That kid should be fine. I run after the other two. Just as they were cornered by the three soldiers, I jump in front of them. "Huh?! What the--?" I cut them off. "Picking on kids, is this how you get off? Pathetic." I say. "Outta the way female!" another soldier says. I glare at him. "Or what?" I ask challenging them. They load their guns and aim at me. "I said out of the way." he says. "Or, you three can walk away with your useless lives still in tact. You're choice." I say. "That's it, I've had enough of you, you little b***h." one says before he attempts to squeeze the trigger. "I'm so glad you noticed." I say before lowering my human illusion and attacking them. They're all killed in an instant. I turn to the kids. 'It's alright. You're safe now. Go find your friend.' I say to them. "Y-You're a wolf...just like us..." one kid says. I nod. 'Try to lay low for a while.' I say and run away. "There you are! Where did you run off to?!" Toboe asks when I get back to the bus. "They had no right chasing after those three pups. I put them in their place." I say human once more, and sit next to Cheza. The sound of footprints catch my attention. I look out the window, seeing Kiba walking towards the bus. "Hey, Toboe. You up for a little fun?" I ask. "You bet!" he says. "Quick, hurry up, and hide." I say. We do. As soon as Kiba walks up onto the bus, we jump out at him. "Ah-ha!" Toboe says. Kiba stops quickly and stares at us. I high-five my face. "Uh...What took you so long?" Toboe asks. Kiba turns to Hige, who walks up next. "How'd it go?" he asks. "They've really got us surrounded this time. So we'll have to move at night." he says. "There's a place not far from here that the local humans call the forest of death." Kiba says turning to us. "Forest of death? That doesn't sound good." Toboe says. "They say if you ever get lost in it, you never come out." Kiba adds. "Big deal, with our noses that forest will be a piece of cake, am I right?" Hige says. "Right." Kiba says. "Hey, where's Tsume?" I ask. Just like that, Tsume walks up into the bus. "How's it looking?" Hige asks. "I found an escape route that'll be perfect." Tsume says. "That settles it, we'll be leaving tonight." Kiba says. Tsume nods, walks past them, over to us, and stops next to me. I look up at him. "How's your wound?" he asks. "Huh? Oh...fine thank you." I say and look away when my face gets hot. "Alright! We can finally get out of here!" Toboe says.