Teardrop of the Wolf

Chapter 3

A bird was resting its little wings on a tree branch, enjoying the gentle breeze that made the branch sway back and forth. It' beady black eyes blinked in the sunlight as shadows were cast by the tree canopy. Ruffling its feathers, the bird glanced down towards the waterfall and chirped in surprise.

A wolfs body was lying on the rocks below, its body covered with scratches, gauges, needles and dirt. The bird ruffled its feathers again before making a quick decision to check it out.

Flapping its wings, the small bird took off and flew down to the wet rocks below. Its tiny feet clutched at the rock as it stared at the wolf. Close up, the bird could see the wolfs sides rise and fall shakily.

A violent twitch came from the wolf, startling the poor bird. It let out a squawk and flew back to a tree in safety.

The bird ruffled its feathers as it watched the white wolf slowly lift its head and gaze blearily around. With the twitch of it's small wings, the bird took off, deciding that there'd be safer trees to be in.

Mori slowly blinked her red eyes and looked at her surroundings, before laying her head back on the smooth rock and closing her eyes.

Everything hurt, and to Mori it was a miracle that she was even still alive.

The sound of the waterfall crashing into the deep pool below and the wind blowing through the trees assaulted her ears, making them twitch.

Opening her eyes again, she willed what little strength she had to place her paws underneath her and lift up. Her limbs shook uncontrollably as her body rose up, pain racing up and down her spine. She only managed to lift herself halfway before her legs gave out, and her body flopped back onto the rock with a small splash.

She lifted her head again and tried again; lifting herself up with shaky paws. This time thankfully her legs stayed up.

Her lips pulled back in a silent snarl as Mori held her senbon-riddled leg up in pain. Those had to come out, but she was in too much pain to pull them out herself.

Slowly, she pulled herself out of the water and with one paw in front of the other, picked her way out of the pool. Her three working paws slipped on some of the rocks, but she managed to get on to dry land safely.

Limping, Mori slowly walked into the shadow of the trees, her breath coming out in pants and gasps. It felt like someone had taken a blade and began to slice her down her back, starting from the tip of her ears down to her tail.

Her leg felt like someone had snapped the bone in half, and with the amount of needles in her hind leg it could have happened.

A noise suddenly caught her attention, and Mori's head shot up despite the pain she was in.

"A child..?" Mori thought in confusion as more screaming came from deeper in the woods.

Her ears swivelled back and forth. Yes, it was a child who was screaming much to Mori's confusion. She was in an immense amount of pain, but Mori wanted to check out the screaming child, and why they were screaming in the first place.

Continuing to limp towards the sound, she carefully made her way through the foliage until she came upon a clearing. A child was indeed screaming, but instead of screaming in fear like Mori had assumed, the child was screaming in anger and frustration.

Upon a closer look, the child-a boy dressed like a giant orange-was tied by his foot and hanging by his legs from a tree. Tilting her head in confusion, Mori's legs began to shake and suddenly gave out, her body crashing to the ground with an audible 'whump'. Her limbs couldn't support her anymore. Thankfully, she landed on the side that did not have the senbon-riddled leg.

White hot pain raced up and down her spine as her eyes closed, causing Mori to whimper quietly. Her nails dug into the dirt as she moved her injured leg accidentally. A rustle directly in front of her caused Mori to automatically leap to her three working feet, a deep growl vibrating from her chest as she snapped her jaws at the intruder.

Her mind swirled in pain as her ears pinned back against her head, her teeth still bared in a warning to whoever it was to stay away. The growl continued as her hackles rose.

"Mori?" a smooth voice questioned in front of her, the voice piercing through the pain-filled fog in her mind.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei! I'm not finished with you! Let me down so I can beat you! Believe it!" the orange-clad child shouted from behind.

"Quiet Naruto!" the voice in front of the child scolded as Mori snarled, trying to move deeper into the thick foliage.

"Mori, what did you do to yourself?" the voice questioned again.

Mori's mind began to clear; her brain began to recognize the voice that belonged to the person still standing in front of her. Her hackles lowered slightly, but the growling continued. Her lips lowered over her teeth, but they still showed just in case.

Her ear twitched slightly as a sigh sounded from the stranger in front of her.

That one sigh caused the growling to stop immediately, as her brain finally connected the voice to a face.

Kakashi Hatake, her good friend, was standing right in front of her.

Finally, she had found some good luck.