My Paradise (Wolf's Rain Fan-Fic)

Chapter 24

Turns out, Toboe had hurt his ankle. Kiba was investigating it, while I stood to Toboe's right with his boot in my hand. Hige was to Toboe's left. Tsume was wih Cheza. "Let me see it." Kiba says to Toboe. "Ok." Toboe says. "Well, it doesn't look sprained." Kiba says and touches a certain spot, making Toboe yelp. "He can't even handle a small forest, like I said, can't take city kids to the woods." Hige teases. I throw the boot at him, hitting him in the shoulder. "Ah! Yuna!" he says annoyed. "Sorry, it slipped." I say unfased by his glare. "Hmph." he says and looks away pouting. Toboe looks at me, so I wink at him with a smirk, and he chuckles. "Do you think you can walk?" Kiba asks. "I'm okay, I can walk just fi-- ack!" Toboe says, tries to stand, fails, and sits back down. Cheza walks over. "Huh? Cheza, what is it?" I ask. "Cheza?" Kiba says. She touches Toboe's foot. "Cheza...ah!" Toboe says. A faint glow surrounds her hand. "Did you just heal him?" I ask shocked. "Wow, thanks Cheza." Toboe says smiling. She smiles back and starts petting his foot. "M-Mmm!" Toboe says shutting his eyes and smiling. "Does...that feel good?" Hige asks. "Yeah, real good! The pain is just melting away! M-Mmm!" Toboe says. If he was in wolf form, I'm pretty sure he'd be wagging his tail and stomping his foot to the ground like most dogs do. I decide to confront Tsume, now that I knew Toboe was alright. He was still at the place Cheza came from. In the distance, I heard Toboe laughing. "Hey, Tsume." I say as I reach him. He jumps and looks at me wide eyed. I must've surprised him. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." I say. "You didn't." he says recovered from the shock. I start to say something when the faint sound of Hige's voice reaches my ears. "Hey Cheza...can you...pet me too?" he asks. Tsume looks towards them. Hige starts to laugh as well. "Come on Tsume, Yuna, have Cheza pet you too! It's unbelievable!" Toboe calls to us. Tsume narrows his eyes and frowns in annoyance. "Mmn! She smells so good!" Hige says. I try not to laugh while Tsume sighs annoyed and looks like he wished someone would shoot him. That makes me start laughing.

For two days, we ventured through the forest. Everyone was moody except Cheza and Toboe. Though I didn't show it, I was pretty moody too. The other three were worse. How long has it been since we started this journey? I think about it for a while, until it hits me. It's been over a month and a half! Wow...it doesn't even feel like it. "This forest isn't that bad, once you get use to it. Nothing to fight over, and there's no humans around, we've got it all to ourselves." Hige says looking around. "Yeah and if we get hungry, there's plenty of bugs we can eat." Toboe says. Hige laughs. "Ha! Fat chance pal." Hige says. "Then you better not complain when we don't share them with you." Tsume says. "I'll say it again, who the hell died and made you leader?" Hige says. "Neither one of us are the leader Hige, ours just isn't the kind of pack who has one." Kiba says. "What kind of pack are we then?" Tsume asks looking towards Kiba. "Guys, come on. That doesn't really matter right? Hey, I know! When we finally make it out of here, what's the very first thing you wanna do?" Toboe asks. "What do you think?" Hige asks. "Eat as much as I can." Tsume says. "Eat and sleep." Kiba says. Toboe's stomach growls loudly. "Uh...guess you're right." he says. "You moron, isn't it obvious?" Hige teases. The sound of panting catches my attention. I look towards Cheza. She was pale and breathing heavily, until she finally falls backwards. Kiba catches her. "Cheza!" he says cradling her within his arms. "You must be exhausted. We'll rest a while." he says woriedly. "It is alright. This one is fine." she says still panting. "A bird!" Hige says after a while. "What?" Toboe asks. "It's the forest of death, he's probably seeing things." Tsume says. "No, I heard flapping wings above us. It's an owl, which means, WE GOT MEAT!" Hige says running away. "Hey! Hige! Come back here!" Tsume yells after him. "It's no use, he's not gonna stop. Come on Tsume, let's go get him." I say and run off. He sighs annoyed. "Dammit, what an idiot. Stay here." Tsume tells Toboe. "OK." Toboe says. When we find Hige, he's stopped and looking around. "You must've seen some dead leaves falling or something. Let's go back." Tsume says. "It doesn't make sense. I'm absolutely sure that I saw it." Hige says. I start to say something when the sound of hooting catches my attention. The three of us look up to a nearbye branch, where an owl with Blue eyes stared down at us. "See, what'd I tell you, it was an owl!" he says. "But there isn't enough meat, to split with everybody..." Hige says letting his hunger take control. Tsume and I stop Hige's advance by throwing our arms out infront of him. "Careful Hige." Tsume says. His fingertips accidentally brush mine and I immediately pull back like something bit me. My face was bright red, so I look around. "Huh?" Hige asks. Tsume looks towards the owl again. "There isn't any scent. There's something suspicious about that owl." Tsume says. Hige sniffs the air, while I just glare at the bird. 'An owl raises suspicion, wolves say look delicious, they all wandered and got lost, well done!' a weird voice flows into our mind. I snarl at the owl. "That owls screwing with us!" Tsume says launching at it. As he reaches it, he kicks at it, and lands next to me. 'Lost as one, well done, well done!' the owl says flying around us before dissappearing. "It's right though, we are lost." I say leaning against a tree. After a few hours of waiting and pacing, Tsume speaks up. "Dammit." Tsume says. "Hey I know this isn't the time but, did you guys know we've been on this journey for over a month and a half? I just realized that." I say. "Really? Doesn't feel like it." Hige says. "Tell me about it." I say. A howl peirces through the silence of the forest, making all three of us jump up from our spots. "That howl...is that..." Hige starts off. "Toboe." Tsume and I say. We start running. We finally find them. "Cheza? Hang in there, you can do it!" Kiba says cradling Cheza. "What's wrong?!" Tsume asks. "Is she hurt?!" I ask. "All of a sudden she just..." Toboe trails off. I notice the look of vein like things on her neck. You guys, look." I say pointing at them. "What...is that...is she withering?" Tsume asks. "She needs water, even sunlight would help!" Kiba says. "But there isn't any. The woods are too thick, and the ground is too dry, we'll never find any water here." Tsume says. Kiba grabs ahold of Tsume's shoulder. "We have to! We still have to try!" Kiba says.