Back on my Wolf's Rain bullshit in the year of our lord 2019. Surprised? So am I.


maybe we're too romantic

.

The fire roars at their backs, consuming the sky above them and scorching everything in its path.

They're exhausted. Tsume's body lies in a battered heap in the shallowest part of the river, the minute waves and ripples disturbing his blood and washing it further downstream.

Kiba himself can barely stand, spindly legs trembling with his exhaustion, his nausea, but he maintains the most fiercesome snarl he can manage as he stares down the shadowy figures on the opposite side of the riverbank.

None of them move a single muscle, gazing down at the two battered wolves with dispassionate, practically vacant eyes. The smoke from the fire clings to his fur and swirls in his heaving lungs, disorienting him beyond any previous comprehension, so Kiba can't discern one from the rest, can't tell if there are four enemies or fourteen.

They're trying to intimidate him. This is more important to them than territory, power, even pup-stealing. But Kiba won't give up here, he refuses.

A subtle movement catches the white wolf's attention, the tiniest twitch of Toboe's limp tail from where he dangles from the jaws of one of the female wolves. Kiba growls so deeply it shakes his entire body, but the pitch gives away the hysteria mounting high in his chest and isn't intimidating in the least.

He isn't so foolish to believe that he can take them on single-handedly. And even if Tsume were in better condition, the two of them still wouldn't stand a chance.

But the risk of losing Toboe is enough to make him stupid. Because if Darcia's wolves disappear now, that will be it, Kiba will never seem them or Toboe ever again.

Every living creature in this forest knows that Darcia never has a need to strike anything twice.

Kiba takes a halting step forward, water sloshing at the fur of his underbelly, but nothing happens. The opposing wolves don't so much as blink, and Kiba realizes that he has to make a decision.

Toboe is just a puppy, eyes and ears barely even open. He's more vulnerable than any of them, but Darcia's wolves have no intention of killing him. Tsume will never forgive him if Toboe is taken. But the pup will live, if Kiba gives up.

Tsume is either dead or dying, and Kiba feels as if he can barely stand without him at his side. He knows they would jump into the fight without hesitation, if they were well enough to do so. But Kiba also knows without a doubt that they will both die, if this face-off continues.

It's his choice. Run or fight; it's one that Kiba is nowhere near ready to make.

A tree splinters and falls beyond Kiba's shoulder, sending a flurry of sparks and ash into the air around them.

Toboe whimpers, so soft and weak it can barely be heard.

And for the first time in his life, Kiba backs down.