Desert Flower

Shirikoba

  "You're huge!" I shouted while leaning over the wolf's brow.

  "A human?!" The wolf looked surprised. "You've got to be kidding me...."

  "Thanks for the save."

  "'Thanks for the save'? For the save?! You summoned me in a dank canyon, and all you say is 'thanks for the save'?!" The wolf bared his giant teeth. "Insolent child. Do you even know who I am?"

  "....No."

  "Let me look at you, brat." The wolf snarled, and I slid onto his snout. Walking towards his nose to where he could see me, his big, red eyes narrowed at me. "Strange looking kid...." He mumbled. "Listen here, and listen well! I'm not just anyone you summon, understand? I'm Shirikoba!"

  "I'm Sayuri."

  "I didn't ask for your name!"

  "I was trying to be polite."

  "How the Hell did you summon me anyways?" Shirikoba huffed. "I didn't hear about the passing of our scroll."

  "Huh?"

  "The wolf scroll." He tilted his head up slightly. "We pass it on to people we find worthy of contracting with us."

  "You mean this?" I reached into the pouch and pulled out the scroll I had signed my name in. The wolf went quiet as he stared at me for a moment.

  "....Oi....where'd you get that?"

  "I don't know."

  "What do you mean you don't know?!"

  "I was left in a basket, and this was with me." I replied.

  "Tch. Ridiculous. What's your name, brat?"

  "Sayuri Saboten!" I raised my voice to make sure he heard me.

  "Sayuri.... Well, Sayuri, seeing as you summoned me, there must be something to you. Prove me wrong, and I'll turn you into a snack." Shirikoba snarled as he began to climb back out of the canyon.

  "....There's two other names in the scroll. Did you know them?" I asked.

  "Once a person makes a contract with the wolf scroll, eventually, we all hear about it. It's rare, so word spreads fast."

  "Why?" Putting away the scroll, I sat on his giant snout as he dug his claws into the rocks and went up the way I had fallen.

  "We're proud creatures, but there's not many of us. We're selective with who we let summon us because the stronger the human, the less chance we'll die after being summoned."

  "That makes sense." I said lowly. "Did....Did either of them....look like me?" Shirikoba paused.

  "If you're hoping to find a connection from where you came, I cannot give you those answers. Perish the thought that those two are connected to you. It's been lifetimes since either of them walked this world." The giant wolf began to climb again. "I don't know how our scroll ended up in that basket with you, but it didn't come from either of them."

  "Worth a shot." I sighed.

  "How did you end up falling down here?"

  "Training." Frowning as Shirikoba crawled over the edge, I glanced around for that Pervy Sage. "Hey....since you don't get out much, would you like to walk around for a bit?"

  "What?"

  "Well, I don't know how the whole summoning thing works, but you haven't been in this world in a long time, right? If you behave, we can walk around the forest."

  "If I behave? Brat, do you realize who I am?"

  "You're Shirikoba. You told me your name a few minutes ago." I popped off.

  "No! I mean who I am! I've lived longer than you could imagine, I'm an alpha with respected followers, and you say 'if I behave'!"

  "I can't really let you romp around causing destruction though." I replied. "I'd get in trouble for that."

  "....I would also very much like to walk around."

  "Then let's!" I scrambled to the top of his head as he stepped through the trees, towering over them as he took a deep breath.

~

  "Shirikoba....what's your world like?" I questioned, laying down on the big wolf's head while lazily playing with some strands of his soft fur.

  "Mm....It's very similar to this one." He replied while walking along a river. The sun was setting, and I had yet to see Naruto or the Pervy Sage since earlier that day. "But quite different as well." He spoke softly now rather than shouting, and after the day I had had, I was getting rather tired.

  "Is it nice?"

  "Very."

  "....Is it lonely?"

  "It can be. But it's hard to be lonely when you have a pack."

  "Is a pack like family?"

  "In a way."

  "That sounds nice." I mumbled. "So you really don't mind that I summoned you?"

  "I mind that you summoned me in a canyon, but other than that, no. It let me have some time out here, and....you're not that bad, kid."

  "That's good." I softly smiled.