Wolf's Rain Fan Fiction ❯ The Choices We Make ❯ The Gentle Howl and the Ruffled Fur ( Chapter 1 )

The Choices We Make

 

“Typical, leave it to you to bring us to this backwater place of all places.” Kegawa muttered quietly.

 

“Hey I don't recall you objecting at the time.” Hoeru replied sarcastically as he wolfed down the remnants of a hot dog he had fished from the bottom of a garbage can.

 

“That was over a year ago, I seem to recall we were on our last legs and dying of starvation! What the hell was I suppose to say, screw it Hoeru lets take our chances and head to the next city maybe we'll find some hapless buck along the way or stumble across some carrion? It was either stop here or eat each other, and as much as I would love to be rid of you someday I would rather you leave of your own free will then having to resort to that.” Kegawa stated in a sarcastic tone. “Besides `take what you can get', that's what dad used to say.”

 

Hoeru looked at Kegawa, clearly annoyed with his brother. “Exactly, it happened a year ago so I don't know why you're bringing it up now. We needed a place to crash and we found one, besides this place isn't so bad we've had some good times here.”

 

Kegawa fished through a nearby dumpster, muttering to himself. “Really, are you talking about the time you got sick and almost died after eating that week old mutton you found lying in the dumpster or the time when those soldiers found out about us and almost dropkicked our asses all the way over to the Nobles, as a matter of fact I seem to recall that's the main reason we're in this little rut. We can barely take two steps without a patrol showing up and trying to capture us for whatever scientific crap they have planned for us.” Kegawa sighed at the memory as he pulled out a slice of moldy pizza from the reassess of the dumpster, giving it a quick sniff he quickly wrinkled his nose in disgust before taking a bite out of it. “God even the food here sucks, explain to me again why we haven't hightailed it out of here again. We could've at least found someplace where the trash is actually edible.”

 

Hoeru kept silent, Kegawa was right, there was no real reason to stay in the city any longer. When they had come to the city they had been starving, the two brothers had come to find a good meal and recuperate from their long travel fully intent on continuing their journey once they were fully healed. However the two were lazy and soon abandon their journey in pursuit of a more comfortable lifestyle, at first everything was great there was plenty of food, water, and shelter; all they had to do was lay low and made sure no one noticed them. But after a couple of weeks everything started falling apart, patrols of soldiers started showing up in the city more and more frequently in search of wolves. Somehow they had managed to see through their illusions and began hunting them mercilessly, eventually forcing the brothers into the position they were in now. What's worse was the fact that they wore black armor that was almost impossible to break through making them harder to kill then the typical soldier. Hoeru had heard from the crows that all the other wolves in the city were either being wiped out or taken away to test some strange new experiment for a Noble, the soldiers said her name was Jagara or something like that; Hoeru didn't really pay attention. Kegawa, on the other hand, just didn't care, all he knew was that someone was hunting wolves and doing a damn good job at it; which meant it wasn't safe in the city anymore. In the last month both wolves had narrowly escaped being captured and killed, personally they preferred to keep it that way for as long as possible. Nowadays life in the city was becoming way too difficult for their liking, not like in the old days when the brothers could easily find food and blend in with the rest of the crowd. Sighing wearily the rust colored wolf seated himself down on the ground. “This kind of shit never happened back in Kyrios.” Hoeru though, looking at his little brother and running his hand across the remnants of his left ear as he did so.

Kegawa heard his brothers sigh and let out one of his own as he continued to dig through the layers of rotting fish, slime, and God knows what else, giving up he walked over and seated himself across from his brother; pulling a large Bowie knife from the reassesses of his jacket as he did. “Thinking about the path not chosen?” he asked causally as he twirled the knife around effortlessly before stopping to inspect it.

 

“Yeah. Do you ever think that maybe we made the wrong choice by leaving the pack?” Hoeru responded.

 

“Sort of, sometimes I think I made a mistake letting you come with me. But I'll tell you this, I've never done anything in my life that I've regretted or second-guessed. If I had the chance to do everything all over again, I'd do everything exactly the way we did when we started this comedy of errors… minus the part where you lost your ear of course.” Kegawa chuckled.

 

“Ha, I know what you mean.” Hoeru laughed as he lowered his hand from his ear. “Thanks bro.”

 

“Hey, no worries. Sure you're a pain in the ass sometimes, and your jokes are incredibly dry and humorless, and you're possibly the most annoying person I know, and you never listen to my warnings pertaining to the stability of the ground. But your family, chances are I would even be here if it weren't for you. So buck up and shut up, we're young and we've still got a long journey ahead of us whether it be in this hellhole or another.” Kegawa lifted himself from the ground, sheathing his knife as he did so. “Back to the discussion about the ear, I still don't know what the hell you were thinking.”

 

Hoeru rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair, Kegawa always brought up things like this; he never let anything go. “How the hell was I suppose to know that he had a dog, he didn't have it with him when we were staking him out. The son of bitch ambushed us! I seem to recall a certain brown wolf saying he didn't smell anything else in the area when we decided to jump him.”

 

Kegawa gave his brother a look of indifference. “And I was right, I didn't smell anything. Barely can ever since your friends practically broke my nose, which I might add has proven to make me one sorry ass excuse of a wolf. It was your own fault, I told you it was a bad idea. But no, you had to make a point and once again ignore my sagely advice. Anyway you're suppose to be the early warning system Mr. `I can hear a pin drop from six miles away', ha, some radar you've got there it still amazes me that you can still hear that well with just one ear.” They continued flinging insults at each other as they made their way out into the crowd, two wolves disguised as humans in a city that hated their kind.

 

***

 

It wasn't too long before Kegawa became wrapped up in his own thoughts, recalling the discussion he had with Hoeru a few minutes prior. Home hadn't been so bad, it had prime location for their parents to settle down and raise a family. Kegawa had been born in during one particularly hard winter along with six other siblings, Hoeru being the oldest among them and Kegawa being the youngest. Of all the litter Kegawa had been the runt and least likely to survive the winter, the conditions having been significantly worse then their parents anticipated. Miraculously Kegawa survived, though frail and weaker then his siblings the runt managed to weather all of the harsh elements of winter. However his siblings were not so lucky, slowly they began to die off one by one from unknown means. Only Kegawa and Hoeru survived, whenever Kegawa heard his father relate this tale to him the brown wolf could not help but feel a certain amount of pride course through him. It wasn't that he was heartless but he never had gotten to know any of his other siblings so why mourn someone he couldn't remember, he knew the pain his parents must have suffered to see their pups slowly wither and die before their very eyes and he secretly wondered what it would have been like if his siblings had survived; maybe some of them would have accompanied him and Hoeru on their journey. Nonetheless it filled him with pride to know that he, the runt, had not only survived but had proven to be stronger then the rest of his sibling with the exception of Hoeru.

Looking over at his brother Kegawa could see that he would always be weaker than his brother, though he would never admit it to anyone. That didn't mean he couldn't beat Hoeru in a fight, the younger wolf could hold his own in a fight if it came down to it and Hoeru knew this; whereas Hoeru outmatched his brother in brute strength Kegawa more then made up for it in pure ferocity. Though both wolves were relatively the same size, though Hoeru outweighed his brother by over twenty or so pounds, he had thick rusty brown fur that always fluffed out making him look bigger then he really was, he had dull green eyes and unusually large paws, but Hoeru's most distinguishing thing about Hoeru was the fact that half of his left ear was missing. Even when Hoeru assumed human form the injury could be still seen. Hoeru knew how to blend in with the crowd though, Kegawa gave him that much. In his human form he had dark brown eyes and unruly short black hair that puffed out much like his fur, he wore a dark blue polo shirt along with a pair of causal jean pants and grayish-white sneakers, he stood around 5ft 8in and was a bit on the husky side, most people would have assumed him to be around twenty two or twenty three years of ages and in dire need of a shave. But one thing about Hoeru, he was compassionate. He always had this goofy almost carefree expression plastered on his face, he went out of his way to help others whether they were human or wolf, he was kind and trusting, eager to give out affection to almost anyone (which was fine except when he smothered Kegawa), a bit slow sometimes but who wasn't, in all their travels Kegawa had never met anyone quite like his brother.

In other words Hoeru was the exact opposite of his brother both physically and mentally. Kegawa was scrawnier then his older brother and had thick chocolaty brown fur with a creamy brown underbelly that reach up to his neck, face, and inner limbs, his streamline body was lighter then his brothers giving the younger wolf the edge in terms of speed, like Hoeru he had large paws though not as big as his brothers, and finally a long bushy tail which was the younger wolf's pride and joy. In his human form Kegawa had short black hair and dark brown eyes, he wore an old black leather jacket over a faded green olive shirt along with a pair of ragged tan khakis and black Magnum boots, he was about the same size as his brother and just as scrawny as he was as a wolf. Personality wise the wolves were as different as day and night, whereas Hoeru was friendly and trusting Kegawa was cold and cynical, slow to trust and easy to anger, he was intelligent and calculating, he was patient, logical, but above all restless. Kegawa was the main reason the brothers had left the pack, the younger wolf had always been accustomed to moving from place to place; so when his parents had finally chosen a spot to settle down Kegawa found himself yearning for the life he had he was accustomed to and set off shortly afterwards with Hoeru in tow. One other thing Kegawa was lonely, he desperately craved the companionship of someone other then his brother. Secretly the brown wolf hoped to start his own pack one day and spend the rest of his life with a loving mate beside him, though lately he doubted he would ever get the chance.

Kegawa sighed as he continued to follow his brother through the crowded streets, he had been depressing himself more and more like this lately. It was beginning to get… well depressing. Luckily he had managed to keep Hoeru from noticing, the last thing Kegawa wanted was for his brother to be asking stupid questions and giving out advice that didn't help. “I know he means well, but man can he get annoying! Either that or maybe I'm being an ass. Hmmm, better go with the first one.” Kegawa thought to himself. “Either way, I deal with this on my own. I always have, I always will.” Kegawa was so caught up in his thoughts that he failed to notice Hoeru suddenly stop causing the brown wolf to bump into him.

 

“What's up?” Kegawa asked as he looked over his brother's shoulder.

 

“You smell that?” Hoeru asked, his eyes darting back and forth between the crowd.

 

“Think who talking to for second.” Kegawa stated dryly.

 

“Oh, right. Sorry!” Hoeru apologized. “Soldiers, a lot of them. Headed this way!”

 

Kegawa instantly became alert, his body tensing up as he began looking around frantically in every direction for signs of danger. “Shit, which direction?” Kegawa growled as he unsheathed his knife.

 

“In front of us, I think?” Hoeru stated nervously.

 

“What do mean, you think? Get a fix on them dammit! If they ambush us we're as good as dead!” Kegawa ordered.

 

“I'm trying, lay off!” Hoeru snapped, his voice shaking. It was then Kegawa notice how bad his brother was shaking, his entire body was beginning to twitch and spasm frantically.

 

“Oh shit, not now! Please not now!” Kegawa thought pleadingly.

 

But Kegawa's pleas fell on deaf ears, Hoeru was having one of his attacks; it would be almost impossible for him to focus on anything until he calmed down. If there was one thing Kegawa hated about his brother it was the fact that he suffered from some kind of chronic illness that seemed to show up at the least opportune times, their parents had often told Kegawa that it was a hereditary neurological disorder that Hoeru had inherited from their grandfather; apparently the symptoms consisted of uncontrollable muscular spasms, deep bouts of depression, some degree of ADD, OCD, and the occasional mood swing. These symptoms came and went like the wind though large amounts of stress could provoke them much like they were now, what's worse was that it could take hours for them to subside and by then they could already be overrun with soldiers.

 

“Control it, Hoeru! Control it!” Kegawa ordered as he grabbed a hold of his brother shoulder with his free hand and shook him violently. “I need you to focus but you can't do that unless you control it. Listen to me for once, dammit!”

 

Hoeru stood silently for a moment, his entire body still trembling violently as his condition seemed to worsen.

 

“Hoeru, please! Don't make me leave you behind!” Kegawa screamed, his voice breaking as he choked back a sob.

 

“A-ahead of us.” Hoeru whimpered.

 

Kegawa stared at his brother, shocked that he had actually answered him. “What?”

 

“They're ahead of us… probably about to turn the corner now. I think they're chasing something.” Hoeru responded, his good ear perking up beneath his disguise.

 

“Always at the last damn minute, typical!” Kegawa thought as he let out a sigh of relief. Grabbing a hold of Hoeru's shoulder the younger wolf dragged his brother to the nearby alley, once there the brothers scrambled into a rather large pipe emerging from the wall.

 

“Typical, this is just freaking typical!” Kegawa muttered as a pungent smell filled his nose. “I pick the one place where I can actually smell and it stinks. Knowing our luck it probably leads to the sewers.” Hoeru silenced his brother with a quick gesture before turning his attention back to the street.

 

Everything looked normal, the people were going about their everyday business and getting on with their meaningless lives like usual; completely oblivious to destruction taking place around them. Both wolves continued silently watching the scene for several minutes until Kegawa began to doubt whether his brother had actually heard anything at all, as he began crawling out from his hiding spot his ears suddenly picked up the sound of several people running in his direction. The brothers watched from their vantage point in the pipeline as someone dashed around the corner and into the alleyway. To humans he appeared as a young youth somewhere in his early to mid twenties with red hair and green eyes wearing a pair of raggedy jean pants and dark blue turtleneck sweater, to the brothers he was a plump young wolf around their age, possible a little older, with thick auburn fur and bright yellow eyes. Both Kegawa and Hoeru could tell just by looking at him that he was obviously on the run from something, his eyes were wide with terror and his body was covered with hideous lacerations and bruises, blood covered his once auburn fur and he panted desperately for breath as he looked about for a means to escape his pursuers. A moment later six heavily armed soldiers rounded the corner, they each wore a set of black armor that seemed to cover them entirely, they each carried a large shield in one hand and brandished a large curved sword menacingly in the other. As they steadily advanced on their quarry the soldiers formed a tight formation by lining themselves up shoulder-to-shoulder and hiding behind their shields, using them to create a barrier between them and their respected prey and forcing it back deeper into the alley.

 

“I don't get it, why doesn't this guy just jump to roof and loose these guys?” Kegawa whispered to no one in particular.

 

“He can't! Either his injuries are worse then we thought or those soldiers aren't him the chance to.” Hoeru stated shakily, his body still suffering from the symptoms of his illness.

 

After the soldiers passed beyond the wolves line of sight, Hoeru was tempted to move closer to get a better look at what was going on outside but was stopped when he felt his brother grab him roughly by the shoulder.

 

“Don't even think about it!” Kegawa hissed threateningly.

 

The brothers listened carefully as the injured wolf let out a menacingly snarl and wildly charged his pursuers, most likely a last desperate attempt to escape or at least bring as many of his opponents with him into the next life. Suddenly there was a loud humming sound, like something charging up, followed by a loud painful yelp and a resounding crack, then everything was quiet. A moment later heard one of the soldiers begin walking over to the auburn wolf's body.

 

“Is it dead?”

 

“No, sir. It's still alive…should we kill it?

 

“No, Jagara wants us to bring any wolf we find back to her alive.”

 

“Why's that commander?”

 

“I heard that she conducting some sort of experiment with the wolves we been bring in.”

 

“I don't know what she's doing with them and I don't care! We're not here to ask questions, let's just do our job and get the hell back to base. Now hurry it up, the trucks here.”

 

Kegawa and Hoeru listened quietly as the first soldier mumbled something unintelligible before bending down and heaving the unconscious wolf over his shoulder, letting out a small grunt as he felt the creatures full weight. Once they secured their catch the small patrol began making their way out of the alley and back into the street. After a few minutes Kegawa poked his head out from his hiding place and surveyed his surroundings, once the brown wolf was sure that the soldiers were gone he jumped out into the alleyway and looked off in the direction the patrol had left. “I haven't felt guilt for as long as I can remember, so can somebody please tell me why I feel like an such an ass?” Kegawa asked, clearly depressed.

 

“Maybe because we could've done something to help.” Hoeru stated as he followed his brother out into the alley.

 

“Oh really, like what? We're talking about a patrol of soldiers here, and not those prissy pushovers that we're used to dealing with! I heard the crows talking about these guys, they're ones that wear the black armor and hunt wolves. And from what we just saw I know that for once the rumors are true, these guys are packing some serious heat and aren't afraid of us. Hell even if we did do something, you're in no condition to fight after that little `incident' we had earlier and we probably wouldn't even scratch them with all the armor they're wearing. So tell me what the hell could we have done to help?” Kegawa snapped, rage evident in his voice as he began to storm off into the crowd.

 

Hoeru didn't make a move to follow his younger brother, instead the rust colored wolf remained in the alley. “We could've tried.” Hoeru muttered, his tone as depressing as Kegawa's was a moment earlier.

 

Upon hearing those three words Kegawa stopped dead in his tracks, taking one hand he rubbed his eyes rhythmically and let out a sad sigh. “Hoeru's right, we could've done something. We could've helped, could've jumped those soldiers when they had their backs turned. Instead we hid in the darkness like the cowards we are and watched as another wolf was capture, God knows what kind experiments the Nobles are going to be conducting on him.” Kegawa thought miserably. Casting a look at his surroundings the brown wolf gave out an angry snort. “This place sickens me, this city's been nothing but trouble since we got here.”

 

For a long time neither wolf moved, both of them too busy contemplating the event that had just taken place before them to care about their surroundings. Finally after what seemed like an eternity they walked out into the crowd, making sure to stay together and keep an eye out for any passing patrol. “So, what do you think we should do know?” Hoeru asked. Kegawa glanced at his brother as though the answer were obvious. “Easy, we get the hell out of this backwater place.”

 

“Oh, and where are we going to go from there?” Hoeru asked, apparently annoyed.

 

“I don't know and I don't care, just so long as there aren't soldiers, Nobles, or hunters I'll be happy.”

 

“Real helpful.”

 

“What do want me to say, `we'll go wherever the wind takes us'? You're so full of it, we can make plans along the way so buck up and shut up.” Kegawa replied sarcastically. “Besides if things get bad we can always go home and check on mom and dad.”

 

“I suppose you're right.”

 

“Of course I'm right, unlike you when it comes to making these kinds of decisions I'm always right.”

 

“Whatever.”

 

***

 

After about two hours they arrived at the city limits, the domes transparent wall was the only thing shielding them from the harsh elements of the outside world. “All we need now is to find a break and we're out of here.” Kegawa said. “Once we do that, it should be as easy to get out as it was to get in.” Searching for a break in the dome proved to be more difficult than either wolf thought it would be, the city having seal up the one the brothers had used to enter shortly after their arrival. However three blocks and a patrol later they managed to find what they were looking for, a small hole lay exposed at the base of the dome. “It's kinda small, don't you think?” Hoeru asked as he examined the hole.

Kegawa walked over to a nearby trashcan and picked it up. “You're only saying that because you'll never be able to squeeze through.” The younger wolf said as he began to spin around rapidly. “Hold on one second and I'll take care of that. You might want to move though, unless you want to get decked.” Upon seeing what his brother was doing Hoeru quickly scrambled out of the way as Kegawa flung the trashcan into the glass wall, causing a sizable portion of it to shatter and form a decent size hole. “Better?” Kegawa asked as his brother inspected the widened hole. “Much.” Hoeru answered as he climbed through, Kegawa following shortly after.

As they exited the dome both wolves could feel the cold air cress them gently as they looked out over the frozen wasteland that lay before them, jumping down to the frozen ground the two began walking off into the darkness casting aside their disguises as they did so. “So where to know?” Hoeru asked.

 

“Didn't you just asked this question before we left?” Kegawa responded, pinning his ears in annoyance.

 

“Yeah, I would still like it if we had an intended destination though.” Hoeru said. Kegawa thought for a moment before answering.

 

“Alright how about this, there's a city West of here we can go check out if you want. I hear that the Nobles are conducting some kind of experiment involving lunar flowers.”

 

Hoeru stared at his brother in shock and surprise. “Why the hell you want to go there?”

 

“It gives me something to do.” Kegawa chuckled, increasing his speed slightly. “And besides, it's an adventure.”

 

Matching his pace with Kegawa's, Hoeru followed his brother as he began running through the frozen wasteland. “I suppose so, and anything that has to do with lunar flowers is worth checking out I guess. What did you say this place was called again?” Hoeru asked.

 

Kegawa was didn't answer immediately, recalling the conversation he had overheard several soldiers talking about after exiting the local pub. “I think it's called `Freeze City'.” He finally answered, swinging his tail in wide arc upon remembering.

 

“Well I guess we better get going then if we want to make it there before the Nobles pull the plug on this experiment you're talking about.” Hoeru stated. “Which way is West again?”

 

Kegawa didn't answer, instead the brown wolf jerked his head in the direction the moon was setting. Hoeru cocked his good ear and smiled as he followed his brother into the night, the moonlight reflecting off the snow clinging to their fur. “This was going to be an adventure indeed.” The older wolf thought. From the distance the two shapes could be seen streaking across the landscape in moonlight, one a rusty brown and the other a creamy brown blur, together both brothers set off on their journey leaving behind the mistakes of the past in search of new adventure.