Alone

History (Part 1)

A/N: Btw! I forgot to put a picture of her before, but this is Tanoki! She's pretty right? In case the picture doesn't show up, the girl has goldenish-honey colored eyes and long silver hair.
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-Third P.O.V.-

"It's a long story," Tanoki sighed.
"I've got time. All day in fact," Tonoko pressed, determined to learn the story behind those two.
Tanoki's eyes held sadness and exhaustion, "Alright fine. It all started when I was a little girl. About five or six years old..."

~Flashback~

A little girl ran through the forest, like she did everyday. Her parents were busy most days of the week, so she had plenty of time to herself. As she ran along the grass covered dirt, she tripped over something soft. Her hands and knees collided with the ground, giving them small scrapes. Her golden hued eyes watered with tears at the stinging pain in her hands. She had scrapes on her knees to, but they didn't hurt nearly as bad. Sniffling, she shifted her position so she sat on the ground with her legs laying out in front of her. She examined her hands before dusting them off and moving to take a look at her knees. Deciding that they weren't injured to the point where she would die, she pushed herself off the ground and turned around to find out what had tripped her. Whatever it was didn't feel hard and dry like a root or a lump in the earth, but it was rather soft and a bit plushy, almost furry.

What she found when she retraced her steps, surprised and frightened her.

She had tripped over a wolf pup.

Stumbling backwards, the small child worried that the pup's mother would burst out of the bushes at her, angry that she had hurt her offspring. But nothing came to harm her. The puppy in front of her slowly sat up with its back facing her, seeming to yawn and shake its head before swiveling its head to stare at her with equally fearful eyes. It yelped and leapt backwards, similar to what she had done just moments before. For a good five minutes the two stared at each other, too afraid to break away. The girl swallowed harshly before gathering the courage to speak to the wolf pup.

"Ahem... Hi... Uh, sorry about tripping over you..." she stuttered nervously.

"Oh... It-It's okay! Uhm... Uh yea, don't worry about it.. Aha....." The dog shyly mumbled, shocking the human in front of him. Sure she had been the first one to start conversation but she hadn't expected him to actually reply. Her wide eyes must have confused him, as he asked her if anything was wrong or if she had gotten hurt.
"Uh hey... Are you okay? Y-you didn't get hurt too bad when you tripped, d-did you?"
Shaking her head as to clear the thoughts running through her mind, she reassured him smiling.
"No no, I'm fine. I just scraped my knees a little, that's all!"
"Oh, okay. Good." The wolf had seemed to ease up at her light tone, and gave a small smile.

She cleared her throat, "So... If you don't mind my asking, why can you talk?"
"Hm? Oh that? I'm not sure actually... I-I've just always been able to."
"I see. Well that's cool!" Tanoki added the last compliment quickly as she saw the wolf's embarrassed expression. It seemed to work since he brightened up almost immediately and shot a happy grin at her.
"Thanks! No one else has ever really thought that... Hey um... I-I was wondering... D-do you.. Maybe want t-to be my f-friend?"

She blinked at his request.
"Ah! I mean! Youdon'thavetoifyoudon'twanttoIju-"
He was cut off my her hand being placed on his shoulder.
"I would love to be your friend," she gave a closed eye smile.

Heaving a sigh of relief, he gathered up the courage to ask her name, "Oh.. Great! You're my first friend! So, what's your name?"
"My name is Tanoki, what's yours?"
"Aiko."

~Back To Present~

"So what happened next?" Tonoko asked.
The girl now sitting in front of him sighed, "Do I really have to tell you the whole story?"
Tonoko nodded.
"Why are you so frustrating!?" Tanoki groaned.
The blue tiger just shrugged, causing her to deadpan.
"Fine... So after a while we had become best friends..."

~Flashback Again~

About five years later, the pair had grown and we're now racing through the trees. Aiko was big enough for Tanoki, now eleven years old, to ride. And that was exactly what she was doing. Her still small hands gripped the fluff on his lower neck. The wind blew through the fur and hair of the two, giving them a free feeling.
"So where are we going, Ai?"
Aiko smiled a bit at the nickname she gave him so long ago, "Don't worry Taki, you'll see when we get there."

(A/N: Taki pronounced Tākï like Ta(lk)-key. Not like tacky c:)

-Time Skip-

Not even ten minutes later, the best friends arrived.
"Alright Taki, close your eyes. And don't peek!"
"Yea yea alright!" She shoved Aiko's shoulder in a playful manner. The wolf lead his friend for a couple minutes before stopping.
"Okay.... Open!"

She removed her hands from her eyes and gasped at the scene in front of her.

A large waterfall poured over giant rocks, and weeping willows surrounded the pool forming below the cascade. Blue, yellow, green, and orange butterflies fluttered around the clearing, landing here and there before taking off again. Birds chirped and sang on the branches of trees, adding to the peaceful aura. And the green grass beneath their feet was soft and cushy, the fresh grassy scent hovering near the ground. All in all it was incredibly beautiful and almost enchanting.

"Wow... Ai... This is amazing! How did you find this place?" She continued gaping in wonder.
Aiko shrugged, "Well you know... Just stumbled across it really. And I knew you liked places like this, so I figured I would show you!"
She snapped out of her almost trance like state and turned to his smiling form. Squealing, she tackled him to the ground, earning an 'oof!' From the big canine.

"Thank you for taking me here! It's so beautiful and I love it!"
Aiko chuckled, "Yea, of course!"
Tanoki rolled off of her best friend and lay on the grass next to him.
"You do realize that this is now our place, right?" She beamed.
"Hahaha! Yea I figured as much." He gave his signature grin back at her.

-Time Skip Again-

Time passed and the sun had lazily made its way across the sky, bathing the earth in the red, dying rays. Tanoki had long since suggested she started to get home, and Aiko offered to join her. They neared the medium sized log cabin at the edge of the forest, and bid their farewells.

"Thank you for showing me our new place, Ai. I really enjoyed it!"
"Me to, we always have fun don't we?"
She laughed and nodded her head yes.
"Well you should probably head home to, Aiko, it's getting late. Goodnight, love you bestie!" She said happily.
Aiko chuckled again, "Night, love you to Taki."

-Another Time Skip-

A chilling howl awoke Tanoki from her sleep.
'Aiko? Or just another wolf?'
Deciding to check, just to be sure, she pulled her covers off and slipped on her soft, hide shoes. Tip-toeing down the stairs and to the front door, she carefully opened the door. After praying that the squeak the door made didn't wake her parents up, she heard nothing and slid through the open door and closed it behind her.

She ran into the greenery to find who made the sound. More howls and whimpers made their way to her ears as she pushed her feet faster. She almost tripped over something but saved it and landed on her feet. Whipping around, Tanoki gave a horrified gasp at what she saw.

It was Aiko.

And he was dying.

To be continued...

A/N: Wow there's a lot of A/N's in this chapter huh? Anyways. IMPORTANT: Where we are currently stay has absolutely ZERO service. The only reason I am able to post this now is because I'm in town at the moment. So I'm not sure when we're getting back on the road, but until we do I won't be able to update or do pretty much anything on my phone. Having no service sucks. That's the reason I'm posting this chapter today, Saturday, instead of tomorrow aka Sunday, when I always do.

So I give my deepest apologies if I end up missing an update because of no service. To sum things up: No service where I am,
Might miss an update if we don't leave soon, Sorry if I do, Not sorry for the cliffhanger, Hope you enjoy!