InuYasha Fan Fiction / Wolf's Rain Fan Fiction ❯ A Wolf's Cry ❯ Bond ( Chapter 22 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

“As if to be purified,

the world will be encased in ice

so that it can return to the beginning once more.

Paradise is a world that is opened by someone...”

A Wolf's Cry

Warning Graphic Violence.

Chapter Twenty-Two - Bond

Seeing her old man frozen to death in the snow ripped at Blue's heart. She had always planned on meeting up with him again somehow but now that would be impossible.

All of her memories of the old man when she was a pup came rushing back.

He had been tough on her in the beginning but after time, they had grown to love each other. She had been found by the old man's son and was only able to stay with the family after much begging. They were the only people she knew and loved. That was how her life began.

Her early life was filled with happiness and safety. She would play with the old man's son for hours out in the field until nightfall. Then they would come home to eat and sit by the fire as a family: the old man, his wife, their son, and Blue. For the first time since Blue's existence, she experienced what it meant to be a family and to be loved. They were her family and they were together until the day when they were torn apart.

A fire had somehow caught in their house and the only ones who had survived were she and Quent. He had said he'd seen wolves in the fire and that was the day he pledged that he would kill ever wolf that existed.

Of course Blue helped him; he was her only family. They fought together and cried together…but now his pledge had finally come to an end. She would love this old fool until the day she died even though she knew she was half wolf; the race her old man had set out to destroy.

Resting her head against the cave wall, Blue shed her last tear before drifting off to sleep.

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Finding this cave was only pure luck. The storm was raging and unyielding and the pack was going on there second day being stuck in here. Even with the cave's shelter the pack was freezing.

Kiba, however, was anxious. He hated the fact they were stranded here. As if it was a natural reaction, he began to pace.

Tsume, who had been shivering silently, took notice to Kiba's movements and growled. “Will you stop pacing?” He didn't bother to look up.

Kiba turned to him angrily. “Why are we just sitting here! Kagome and Cheza could be dead by now or who knows what! Don't you even care?”

Tsume's teeth clenched and his mouth turned into a snarl. He knew how much Kiba wanted to see Cheza and Kagome but he didn't need to act like a fool. “If I didn't care I would be here!” he barked. “What good will it do to go out in the storm now and have everyone freeze to death?”

Kiba stopped his pacing and looked out of the cave. He couldn't see anything other than snow but it didn't scare him at all. “I'm leaving.”

Hige whipped his head in Kiba's direction, ceasing his gentle strokes on the sleeping Blue. “Are you crazy?” You'll just get yourself killed!”

His comment went on deaf ears and everyone knew it.

Tsume stood abruptly, seeing how serious Kiba was staring out into the storm. “You idiot! You can't be serious!”

The only thing Kiba did was turn his head in the gray wolf's direction and then he raced out of the cave.

“Kiba!” yelled Tsume after the white wolf's retreating form. He was such an idiot. Why could he never stop to think things through? He always had to run and do something careless.

Running out in the middle of a snowstorm by yourself would be a perfect example.

From the back of the cave, Tsume could hear Hige's voice ask, “Do you think we should go after him?”

Shifting away from the entrance, Tsume sat back down where he had been and curled into himself. “If you want to commit suicide then go right ahead, but I'm not. That fool wants to get himself killed. At least I'll be around to save Cheza and Kagome.”

Hige's eyes lingered on Tsume until he dropped his head and stared at Blue's sleeping form. His face softened. “I know if Toboe were here, he would want us to go after him.” His voice shook slightly when he said the pups' name. It was still a very sensitive subject to everyone. This was actually the first time anyone had said anything about Toboe.

Tsume growled again, body becoming tense as he fought with himself. Once again he stood up, “Wake her up, we're leaving.”

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Kiba had only run for an hour or so when the weather had gotten even harsher, causing him to trudge through the accumulating snow face down. Being alone out in the middle of a snowstorm gave Kiba's stomach an unpleasant feeling.

He tried his best to ignore it but it didn't go away but he wouldn't let himself show it even if no one was around him. His pride was more important to him than pretty much anything. Almost anything.

He stopped his pursuit in favor of letting the snowy wind surround his body to let it numb him. Both whispered in the winder and the white wolf barely caught it.

“Kiba…”

Whipping his head in the direction he saw the outline of a figure. For some reason he didn't become threatened. He became peaceful. The familiar scent that radiated off of the figure caught his nose and his eyes widened as the figure came into view.

It was Kagome in her human disguise looking at him with sadness in her eyes.

“Kagome?” asked Kiba gently.

Her face turned from side to side, never meeting his gaze.

“Kiba where are you?” Her words were frantic and shaky and Kiba rushed over to her.

“Kagome! I'm right here!” he yelled it as loud as he could but she didn't look directly at him.

Instead her gaze was searching everywhere. Why couldn't she see him? He could see her as plain as day; surely she could see him too.

He seemed to have reached her but her figure suddenly moved away from him rapidly. “Kagome!” he yelled again and continued after her. Kiba continued to run but he soon realized that no matter how fast he ran he could never get to her. She was always just out of reach and he was always at a safe distance from her. Coming to a stop all Kiba could do was catch his breathe while looking on at Kagome's fading figure.

“Kiba!” This time it was a shriek and Kiba felt his heart jump.

He snarled to himself. “Kagome!” he barked again before he mustered every ounce of energy he had left to run after her again. This time he was able to reach her but her body could barely be seen. He could actually see through her.

“Help me Kiba!” she screamed.

He tried to reach her but was stopped when a snow like wave engulfed him. It took a few moments before he was able to breach the surface and he immediately looked around frantically.

She wasn't there anymore. He called out into the wind but there was no answer…nothing. Had he been tricked of had he really failed to save her once again? Letting his head fall into the snow, Kiba closed his eyes to control his anger.

Even as the snow covered his body in a thick coat, Kiba didn't move. He had already become numb to the atmosphere around him. Why did it have to be like this? She was always the one getting into danger and he would always save her.

Getting to Paradise meant everything to Kiba.

But if Kagome wasn't there with him in Paradise…what would be the reason to go then?

“Kiba!” The call was fuzzy and Kiba didn't bother to even lift his head. He was probably hallucinating again.

But then he heard it again…only this time it was right in his ear and followed by a pair of jaws wrapping around his neck to pull him out of the pile of snow that had accumulated on top of him.

“Get up you idiot!” came a rough voice.

Kiba's eyes opened to see three sets of eyes staring right back at him.

“What the hell are you doing? I thought you wanted to save Kagome, not take a nap in the snow,” barked Tsume sarcastically.

Standing up, Kiba shook the remaining snow off of his body. “Why are you all here?”

“You thought you would get the credit for saving Kagome all by yourself? I don't think so…” Hige let the last word trail in an almost melodic note.

Tsume stalked over to Kiba. “You think you're the only one what wants to save Kagome don't you? Well here's a reality check buddy, we all want to help get Kagome and Cheza so stop trying to do everything by yourself.” His tone was sharp but truthful.

Kiba gazed at the others and realized that he was not the only one in this. They were just as determined as he was to save the missing members and get to Paradise. Maybe he didn't have to do this alone.

“Why are we just standing here like a bunch of idiots? I wanna start moving before I become a live wolf sculpture,” said Hige as he moved closer to Blue to stay warm.

Nodding his head, Kiba looked in the direction where he last saw Kagome. He would get to her, he promised to himself silently, and they would both go to Paradise together.

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After another two or three hours of running the snow finally stopped falling from the sky, leaving behind a couple feet of snow, on the ground. The pack had to hop somewhat to make it through the snow which had slowed down their pace immensely.

“Hey Hige, how much longer do you think it will take to get there?” asked Blue lightly.

For the first time she and Hige traveled in front Tsume and Kiba. She trotted a few feet behind him.

He turned his head to her, not stopping for a moment. “Well I think we-“

And then he was gone. One minute he was clearly visible in front of Blue and the next minute, poof, he was gone.

“Hige!” shrieked Blue as she ran to the spot where he once stood. When she got close a warning signal went off in her head and she quickly stopped.

It was a good thing she did.

If she had taken one more step she would have fallen down a very steep hill. Looking intently down, she tried to find any evidence of brown fur however she couldn't.

She called his name again and focused on any sound.

Tsume and Kiba joined her moments before a large snow pile moved and broke, revealing Hige's head. He gasped for breath and shook the rest of the snow off of his body.

The pounding in Blue's chest stopped and she rushed down the hill with great effort to meet him. “Hige! Are you alright?” she asked, visually checking to see if he was bleeding at all. Thankfully he wasn't.

He shook his whole body once again then turned to her, “I'm fine, just a little shaky. I wasn't exactly expecting that.” He gave her a cheeky grin in response to her loud sigh.

“Cant you ever watch where your going porky?” called Tsume who was currently making it down the hill carefully.

Kiba already made it down and stood next to the collard wolf now. “Be careful next time.” That was all he said. Nothing more, nothing less. He turned to head in the same direction they were going in but didn't move.

Hige watched his eyes narrow. He glanced in the direction the white wolf was looking in then did a double take.

The snow began to disappear only a few feet away from them until it met dry dirt. That wasn't the only important thing they were looking at.

Hige's jaw dropped. “Is that…is that a castle?”

Tsume squinted his eyes to make the building out clearly. “That must be where Kagome and Cheza are.”

The group was frozen in amazement. They finally made it. They were so close.

“We finally make it,” whispered Blue.

It was all or nothing now. Their journey to find Kagome and Cheza could be over soon. Expectation and hope filled Kiba before he broke out into a dash.

This was it.

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“Lord Darcia?” came a small feminine voice that echoed around the large room.

Said man was sitting by the computer and reading all the information and status on his captives. This was a time when he didn't like to be disturbed.

“What?” was her angry reply.

It sent a shiver down her spine. He could lash out at her at any moment and she barely was able to say what she had come here to. “T-There seems to be something coming towards us.”

Darcia stopped reading to look at his servant. “An airship?”

Her gaze fell to the ground, not meeting his intense stare. He usually would be happy that an airship was coming, it would give him a chance to fight someone and if it was anything other than that he would become furious and tell her to never bother him with useless things like that. Sometimes he would even hit her.

And with the information she had to tell him now, she was sure he would hit her.

“N-No. Its coming by land and there is more than one. They aren't showing up as large as an airship would, but rather the size of a large dog.”

Darcia pushed himself up from the chair and walked over to his servant. An evil grin appeared on his face and the girl tensed as she waited for the blow to come.

To her surprise, he placed a hand on her shoulder. “This is very very good information. Thank you for telling me. You are dismissed.”

Total shock took over the girl but she rushed out of the room not looking back. She was just lucky he didn't hit her.

He walked back to his computer and grinned. “So you've finally come Kiba.”

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“What kind of a place is this?” asked Hige softly as he observed the castle with some effort. Looking up at the pitch-black castle from the ground put strain on Hige's neck from leaning so far back to see the top of the building.

“Hopefully this is the place where Kagome and Cheza are,” stated Kiba, keeping his voice low when he caught sight of a soldier. “It doesn't seem like this place is infested with soldiers but we should still be careful anyway.”

The group was lying as low to the ground as they could on the top of a small cliff that over looked the very bottom of the castle. There were many ramps going from tunnels in the ground back to the castle. There were some guards on the ramps but not on all of them.

“We should split up so we don't put the whole group in jeopardy. If we split up, chances of more than one person getting caught are slim to none. It's the safest way,” said Tsume who stood up when there were no guards in sight.

“What do we do when we find them?” asked Blue.

“Just howl or something,” said Tsume roughly before he jumped onto a ramp not too far away from him and headed into the castle.

Looking to see if everything was still safe and seeing that it was, the rest of the members headed in their own direction to search.

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Kiba ran as fast as he could through the twists and turns of the ramps, letting his instinct lead him in the direction of where he hoped Kagome and Cheza were.

No, he knew Kagome and Cheza were here. With each inch of ground he covered, he could feel the pull in his mind strengthen. Everything around him would become fuzzy except the direction in which he could sense Cheza and Kagome.

A warning went off in his head and Kiba stopped abruptly. He ducked into a small crevasse in the wall and waited.

A soldier passed by him, unaware of Kiba's presence and Kiba noticed something different about this one. This one was covered in armor that looked almost impenetrable. Almost. There was a small opening at the base of the neck in the back that could kill the man in the armor instantly if it was hit hard enough.

Kiba waited until the soldier was far enough away before he crawled out of the crevasse to continue his search at the same pace he had been traveling at before.

He turned sharply in the direction the path lead and came face to face with a large door. Glancing around he spotted a green button and pressed it. The door opened and he was met with spiral steps that went up. Without having to think twice, he headed up the steps.

He climbed and climbed until he could barely move another step. He didn't stop until he could barely breath, but even then he didn't stop for long. His determination and drive was too strong for him to stop long and the pull in his mind became stronger and stronger.

This truly was it; he could taste the sweet scent of Lunar Flowers on his tongue. A calm came over him, that same calmness he would feel whenever he was around Cheza. He knew then that he would come face to face with them in only moments.

It felt like it had been forever since he had seen either one of them and he couldn't wait. With a new adrenalin rush, Kiba once again began to run up the steps.

And then he finally reached it. The door that radiated with the scent of Lunar Flowers and it seemed to be leaking pink steam.

Kiba…

It was that voice again, calling him…

Kiba…

…Kagome's voice.

Kiba…

The door slowly began to open.

Kiba!

Steam filled his vision, but it quickly dissipated when the door fully opened. Hesitantly, the white wolf took a few steps in. Once Kiba's eyes were focused he saw him.

Darcia.

The man who had stolen everything from him was standing right there in the middle of two hidden objects.

Darcia smiled evilly. “You've come just in time Kiba. Your precious Lunar Flower and Lunar Wolf will be awakening soon.”

Without warning, the two structures that were on either side of Darcia lit up, revealing Cheza and Kagome. Kiba's eyes widened. They were both strapped into large pods by chains. Some sort of sparkly liquid surrounded them.

“What did you do to them?” growled Kiba angrily.

“You'll see.” Came Darcia's voice. Kiba could feel the smirk behind his words and it made his skin crawl.

No sooner had he said that did the capsules start to crack and break, a thick coat of steam filling the air once again. The sound of glass shattering echoed all around him, followed by heavy coughing. A painful pulse began to thump in the back of his head.

Kiba yelled into the fog, “Cheza? Kagome?”

There was no reply but when the fog cleared, Kiba could see both of their forms. Cheza lay on the floor motionless while Kagome leaning so far out of the capsule that the only thing that kept her from falling was the chain around her neck and wrists.

After a moment Cheza coughed softly and stirred, and Kiba's eyes shot to her body on the floor. “Cheza!” he called as he ran to her. He was only a few feet away before he was stopped by yet another loud pulse in his head. His gaze drifted to Kagome's slightly twitching body. The chains around her neck and writs suddenly disappeared, letting her body fall painfully to the ground, her human disguise vanishing.

He moved to go to her, but was again stopped, but this time by Darcia's words.

“I wouldn't go near her if I were you.”

Kiba's blazing eyes shot towards Darcia. “Why not?”

The arms that had been crossed over his chest fell to Darcia's side. “You'll see in a moment.” He nodded towards Kagome.

Kiba's eyes went back to stare at Kagome. He watched as one of her front legs pushed half of her body off the ground somewhat before her other front leg forced the rest of her body up and off the ground.

Her body became tense and she didn't move an inch.

Here she was, right in front of him. All Kiba wanted to do was reach out and do something…but he couldn't. His body wouldn't budge. “Kagome?”

At the mention of her name, Kagome began to growl threateningly. She began to flex her claws and snarl. Her body seemed to take on a deep red glow that engulfed her entire body, shielding her from everyone's view while it sent out small shock waves.

What's going on? Thought Kiba to himself. Something didn't seem right.

And then the glow was gone, along with the vibrations, revealing a normal looking Kagome to Kiba.

Her eyes opened slowly to stare daggers at Kiba, whose eyes widened. Her eyes…were a very deep red…like blood.

“Kagome?” asked Kiba with desperation in his voice.

Without notice, Kagome lunged for his neck, fangs bared. Kiba barely had any time to dodge her blow but managed to jump back slightly to avoid it.

She now stood between him and Cheza like a brick wall. The only thing she did was stare at his shocked expression, her face void from any emotion.

Almost immediately, the question of `Why?' popped up into Kiba's head. What was wrong with her? He looked at her disbelievingly. She had attacked him, and had tried to kill him.

An evil chuckle echoed throughout the room followed by steps. Darcia's figure appeared next to Kagome.

This time, Kiba growled. “What have you done to her?”

Darcia lifted his hand and placed it on Kagome's head and began to pet her even when Kiba's growl intensified. “Do you know of the link a Lunar Flower and a Lunar Wolf share?”

“…”

“You disgusting wolves don't know anything do you?” He narrowed his eyes for only a brief second before he continued. “I guess I'll have to explain it then,” said Darcia roughly.

He started to walk towards a large window as he began to speak. “A Lunar Flower is only half of the puzzle that is needed to open the gates to Paradise. The other half is the Lunar Wolf.

“Having one without the other will never open the gates to Paradise. To this day Paradise has never been opened. Why? Because Lunar Wolves are -or were extinct. Up until now, no one has ever seen a Lunar Wolf, or has even come in contact with one. The only way anyone has ever heard of one existing is in books.”

He paused again once he reached the window. “Once a Lunar Flower and a Lunar Wolf come into contact, a strong bond is instantly formed. It is a much more intimate bond than you or any other plain wolf would share with Cheza but in the beginning, a Lunar Flower's bond with a Lunar Wolf is treated the same as the bond with a plain wolf, but as each day -each moment—passes, that bond becomes stronger and stronger.

“If Kagome were to get hurt now, Cheza would feel the pain from Kagome's wounds ten times more than if a wolf like yourself gets hurt. Sometimes, a wound that is inflicted on Kagome might even show up on Cheza's body also but that almost never happens.

“Cheza would also continue to feel that pain until Kagome is fully healed. To speed up the healing process, Lunar Wolves feed off of other wolves' energy, your energy, so that both she and Cheza can survive. Maybe I should thank you for keeping both Kagome and Cheza alive for me?” he chuckled softly before continuing.

“Lunar Wolves are very complex creatures. If Kagome were at the brink of death, Cheza would be also. If Cheza were to die, Kagome would die instantly and vise-versa. The Lunar Wolf is basically the powerhouse of the two. Lunar Wolves protect the Lunar Flower from any kind of danger. When a Lunar Wolf is hurt, it is their responsibility to get back to perfect health as soon as possible or else the Lunar Flower could die, thus causing the Lunar Wolf's death also. Although the Lunar Flower can somewhat help heal the Lunar Wolf, but it could never exert enough energy to heal the wounds entirely without killing itself in the process.

“If either or both of them are put in any sort of extreme situation, the Lunar Wolf's protective instinct will take over and their eyes will become pink and they will get a surge of power. This happens when there is an almost impenetrable bond.

“But if you look at Kagome's eyes now, they aren't pink, they're bloodshot. This only happens when nothing can brake the bond they have; when they are basically together as one, and when the time to open to gates to Paradise is near. Usually this process takes a while to take full effect, but I decided to speed up the process as well as tweak it a little so that she won't attack me. It is in a Lunar Wolfs' blood to destroy everything around them that might cause harm to the Lunar Flower. The only reason why a Lunar Flower and Lunar Wolf exist is to open Paradise. My Paradise.”

Kiba's body was trembling with rage by the time Darcia was done speaking. “You…monster! How could you use Kagome and Cheza for your own personal gain! Humans are disgusting! Your race only thinks about themselves and nothing around them! You're all blinded by greed!” As he was speaking, Kiba could feel himself loosing control little by little until he couldn't control himself. He ran at Darcia with all the strength he could muster.

To his surprise, the only thing Darcia did was turn to look at him with a smile on his face.

Kiba was sent flying into a wall in the blink of an eye. He landed on the floor hard which knocked the wind right out of him. Surprisingly he didn't feel much pain. Was it because of the adrenalin rush he had? Picking himself up, he came face to face with Kagome who was staring at him hungrily.

She had attacked him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kiba saw Darcia pick Cheza up and he called to her immediately.

She didn't respond.

Instead, Darcia turned in there direction and simply said, “Kill him,” before stepping away.

In a flash, Kagome began to swipe at Kiba. He was barely able to avoid her blows, which left no opening for him to push her away. He was left to defend against her. At one point, she was able to scratch his face, sending a small electric shock through him. He stumbled then and was left wide open. He could see her get ready to lunge but she stopped, her ears swerving in another direction followed by her face.

Kiba lifted his head to see why Kagome had stopped. Standing in the doorway was Tsume, Hige and Blue. They looked worn out and they were huffing.

Tsume was the first to say something. “Kagome?”

Said person only stared. You couldn't read anything on her face. She was blank. Everything about her now seemed blank.

Then from the back of the room Darcia called her name. She answered his call by turning in his direction.

“We're leaving,” he simply stated as the window behind him shattered. A loud shrill filled the wolves ears and they were forced to cover their ears.

“Its that damn noble ship!” yelled Hige.

“Dammit! Where is Kagome?” barked Tsume as he searched for her. He spotted her retreating form in the doorway of an airship beside Darcia who had Cheza in his arms just beyond the broken window. She was staring right at him. “What are you doing!” yelled Tsume. Why wasn't she trying to get away from that guy?

The door to the airship closed and Tsume couldn't see Kagome anymore. “Kagome!”

The airship then turned, the nose pointed right at the castle. Two beams of light struck the building suddenly before it backed away and flew north of where they were.

Seconds passed when the floor beneath them began to brake and shake uncontrollably beneath them.

“We have to get out of here!” yelled Blue as she barely avoided falling through a large opening in the floor.

“This way!” came Kiba's voice from the center of the room. The pack ran to keep up with him until they reached the broken window.

“Are you serious?” said Hige, mouth hanging open as he looked down. The ground seemed to be miles and miles away from him. Were they really going to jump this?

“Just use the closest ramps or even the castle itself to help you get down,” declared Kiba who then jumped onto the nearest ramp. The pack followed him closely as the building began to collapse around them.

They followed one another, jumping on falling pieces to ramps and repeating the cycle over and over again until they were close enough to the ground to just jump from where ever they were to the bottom.

Everyone with the exception of Hige landed easily. The collard wolf landed hard on the ground and Blue was right at his side checking to see if he was okay.

Even though Hige said he was fine, Blue didn't miss the slight limp he had but didn't say anything more.

Once the group was gathered together again, they looked in the direction to where the airship had traveled in.

Not far from where they were they could see a large cloud of black smoke coming from the side of a snow-covered mountain.

“It looks like they weren't able to get too far away. It shouldn't take long to get there.” Said Kiba. Turning around the castle continued to fall to the ground unmercifully and Kiba decided it was time to leave.

Looking at the others they all nodded their heads before heading in the direction of the large black cloud.

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Sorry it was a bit rushed at the end but what can you do. I've been writing this chapter for hours so please enjoy. Sorry for not updating sooner. I was too tired. School starts up in a few weeks so hopefully I'll have the next chapter and then the last chapter out before then.

Anyway Please enjoy!