The Howler (Bruce Banner/Hulk Fanfiction)

Chapter 17: Making Nice

The next morning, Fingo was up early. He left Fanggo asleep in the nest in his den. He would be up soon as well as the rest of the pack, but Fingo had his own mission. He had to find Shuriken and explain to her what happened.

He yawned as the first shards of dawn light warmed his face. He shook out his fur before he headed over to the camp entrance. He walked back Briar, who was on guard from the night before. She tipped her head to him as he dipped his head in return. He padded forward with his tail lashing behind him with his eyes slightly fearful at the thought of speaking to his dearest friend beside his brother.

It didn't take too long for Fingo to make his way across the border. He was about to make his way over to the camp when he heard a rustling from beside him. He tilted his head before he saw a flash of her silver fur. Fingo took off toward her. He tried to make as much noise as possible so that he didn't sneak up to her, but she seemed to be in her own world.

"Shuriken!"

She suddenly spun around with her fur spiked. Once she saw who it was, she narrowed her eyes and continued to stalk in the opposite direction.

That's not what I wanted, Fingo thought. He picked up the pace and surged forward. He skidded to a halt beside Shuriken before he tried to make pace with her once more. "Shuriken, please. We need to talk."

"No we don't," growled Shuriken. He lifted his head and parted her jaws to allow the scent to waft through.

Fingo tried to force his fur to lay flat and the anger not to pulse through. "Shuriken, please. I came here to apologize to you. Can you just stop and listen to me?"

Shuriken lowered down so that her breath billowed onto a pile of leaves, sending them scattering. He ears pinned against her head as she headed in the opposite direction of the territory of the packs. She scurried forward and Fingo had to struggle to keep up with her. He was just about to howl at her when he picked up the scent that she had been frantically trying to follow.

He suddenly clamped his muzzle shut when he suddenly saw a strange creature a few paces in front of them. It stood on two legs with a strange, hairless face and bright colored pelts. Stories that his mother used to tell him flashed through his mind.

Humans.

The human turned to face him and Fingo leaped for Shuriken and tackled her against the ground. She didn't make a sound as the two huddled behind a bush to try and disguise themselves. The creature turned with a branch seeming to point in their direction. Fingo held his breath before the creature steered away and walked in the opposite direction. When he was sure that it wasn't going to turn around, he leaped off of Shuriken.

She rose to her paws and let out a heavy breath. She swiveled around and narrowed her eyes at Fingo. "I don't need your help."

"Shuriken, please!" He gulped as he tried to lower his voice. "Sorry. I just want to talk to you and apologize. What I said the other night wasn't okay. I didn't mean it. I was just trying to protect Fanggo."

Shuriken tilted her head, seeming to actually hear Fingo for the first time. "Fanggo? Why would you need to protect Fanggo from what we talked about the other day?"

Realizing that he was too far gone to go back now, he decided to tell her the remaining truth. He shook out his fur before his eyes bore into hers. "That creature that you saw. That was my brother. That was Fanggo."

"It couldn't have been Fanggo. This wolf didn't look anything like him. He had down brown fur and pale yellow eyes. That wasn't your brother," Shuriken argued with her eyes squinted together as she thought hard.

Fingo touched his nose to her ear. "That was Fanggo. He has something wrong with him and it turns him into this beast."

"It's bad enough that you've come stalking after me. Now you're telling me this tale," Shuriken grumbled as she lashed her tail against the ground in anger.

Fingo forced himself to stay calm. It was getting more difficult for him not to lash out verbally at her. He just needed her to believe this. "Shuriken, please. You have to believe me! Please."

She took a look into his eyes and sighed heavily. She saw the fear in his eyes and flattened her fur against her body.
"You promise me that you're not lying to me. This isn't exactly like any other medical condition that I know."

"I promise you, Shuriken. I wouldn't lie about this. Not when it comes to my brother," vowed Fingo as he dipped his head to her. "Now, can I ask you about walking this far out of the territory? To track a human no less."

"I scented them near the territory line. Crusade isn't concerned, but I was. I know what it's like to be feared by them. We need to be ready in case they start to wander," Shuriken whispered with a small whimper.

Fingo shuddered. He had never been that close to a human before, but it still made his fur prickle. He shook his head as he nudged Shuriken's shoulder. "Do you think that we can head back now? I don't want that thing to come back," he confessed as he showed his fear ever so slightly.

Shuriken smiled as she took away from the scent of the human. "Alright. Wait until I tell Dulphin that the great Fingo was afraid of a human before me," she joked. Fingo had no doubt that she would tell, but he was sure that she wouldn't give him a hard time about it. That just wasn't Shuriken's style.

"I'm sorry that I gave you a hard time. I didn't know that that was Fanggo. I guess I should've guessed. You've always looked after him," Shuriken pointed out as she rested her head on his shoulder as they walked side by side with their fur brushing.

Fingo shrugged. "How would've you known. I just feel like Fanggo deserves not to be judged just by that. I'll always protect him. He's my little brother."

Shuriken's eyes glowed when they finally crossed the border back into her territory. "I wish that I had littermates. After what happened to your father you and Fanggo must have had to be close, huh?"

"Yeah, totally. We've never known anything else. I had to protect him. I still have to protect him," he pressed. He was sure that it sounded that he was complaining to Shuriken. She wouldn't press it, but he didn't want to sound annoying to her in anyway.

    "Fingo, what do you think that they will do if they figure out what Fanggo is? What he could become," she whispered in his ear.

    The blood went close inside of Fingo. He pinned his ears against his head as he sighed. "If they would ever find out, they'd kill him."