Fate Of the Wolf Goddess (Naruto Fanfic x ATLA aspects)

Familiar Faces and Scents

A/N: Thoughts will now be in bold italics. Enjoy!

Three days have come and gone since that first night I woke in the cave, and no Momma Wolf has come. I spent the last few days going in and out the cave via my branch door I created, practicing running, jumping, climbing the outside of the cave entrance and even the occasional howl in the morning when its bright so I can see if any predators are nearby. I also practiced using my new heightened senses. I can see pretty good at night; way better than human sight and the colors seem more vivid somehow.

  Guess I can debunk the myth of color-blind canines, I thought.

 My sense of smell is coming along rather well too. I got a whiff of squirrels, the occasional snow-white bunny, and something rotting further downstream. I was excited to learn about the stream by the den just past the tree line, and the water is fresh.

  Momma Wolf sure knows how to pick a den! 

I made sure to stay close to the den and don't go out past sundown anymore either. I knew enough about how easy it was for lion cub to die in all the nature documentaries I watched that I didn't take any chances with my new life as a wolf pup.

That's another change as well; my memory. Or at least my knowledge of the world is growing. I've been able to tap into more and more knowledge with each passing day. I know quite a lot about television, but only the education from television is what I am able to recall, even though I know there must have been kid shows and movies I watched. I took a guess at my mental age, and decided I was mid to late teens, like 17-19. Weird number range, but it fit me well when I pulled knowledge about calculus and algebra from my brain.

Momma Wolf still hasn't returned and although I don't know how long she-wolves take when hunting for food for their pups, I felt three days was long enough. Or perhaps I was impatient. I decided on the fourth day, I would leave to search for her and/or food. Plus, the smell of blood from further downstream was getting stronger, and it worried me. It's too close to the den if I can smell it and could attract predators. My first thought was to head towards it to see if I could get rid of the smell, so I could stay in the den longer. If the smell stayed any longer, I feared other predators would come for it and find my fresher scent near the den, changing their course. I knew going towards the smell was dangerous, but part of me was also just really hungry. On the second day, my tummy started rumbling and I called out for my momma wolf out of instinct really loudly. I ran back inside the cave and covered the entrance, afraid someone heard me. I dug up the snow and munched on some grass, but I still need to eat. Judging by my size, I figured I was weaned off milk already and was about to get my first taste of meat whenever momma wolf returned. I was done waiting though.

I ventured out towards the rotting smell. I tried many times to catch the squirrels and bunnies when they came out their holes but missed several times. I knew their scent well now but was growing impatient with lying in wait. As I went further downstream, the smell got stronger, but it became apparent to me that the scent was come from the other side of the water. The stream had become a river the further I went and by the time I would head back upstream to cross and head back downstream, it would be nighttime. I had to cross safely somehow. Falling in ice-cold water during winter was a death sentence for a pup like me, no matter how much fur I had. Walking back and forth looking at the river, I tried to come up with a way to cross when I heard the sound of footsteps. I ran and hid in a bush, hoping to the gods and goddesses of this world that I'm now in that it was my momma wolf or something harmless as I focused on controlling and quieting my breathing.

 The footsteps were loud and clonking, as if it were a horse. I strained to hear and see through the bush as a mule pulled a wagon with a man and woman sitting atop in the driver's seat and a basket of goods like clothing, metal cookware, and even a few weapons were being pulled behind them. There were 4 other men walking in unison with the carriage as well: two in front of the carriage and two behind it.