as long as there's a moon
Apr. 22nd, 2026 07:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sidewaysTitle: As Long as There's a Moon
AO3: Link
Rating: G
Series: Wolf's Rain (Hige, the pack)
Wordcount: 2,756
Summary: Hige in the early days of the Paradise Pack, aka "wow everyone else is so weird, good thing I'm normal".
Remarks: Sometimes I truly wonder what it's like to be compelled to write fiction for relevant, topical fandoms. The Wolf Rain's archives are endearingly teen 00s flavoured overall - so many OC inserts, and some very muddled interpretations of the series' particular take on the human glamours - which is understandable, and as it should be, but it somehow left me itching to have a little play myself. ...Er, sans any OC inserts, though.
◘◘◘
AO3: Link
Rating: G
Series: Wolf's Rain (Hige, the pack)
Wordcount: 2,756
Summary: Hige in the early days of the Paradise Pack, aka "wow everyone else is so weird, good thing I'm normal".
Remarks: Sometimes I truly wonder what it's like to be compelled to write fiction for relevant, topical fandoms. The Wolf Rain's archives are endearingly teen 00s flavoured overall - so many OC inserts, and some very muddled interpretations of the series' particular take on the human glamours - which is understandable, and as it should be, but it somehow left me itching to have a little play myself. ...Er, sans any OC inserts, though.
◘◘◘
“I said I was sorry.”
“And whose belly are you going to fill with ‘sorry’?” Hige shot back over his shoulder. “Better think of an answer quick, runt, ‘cause I can hear the rumbling already.”
The pup still fawned like a dog when scolded, whining in his throat and nosing after the forgiveness of warm hands that none of them had to offer. Caught twice as many teeth as he needed to from Tsume because he just couldn't take a hint when it came in wolf. It was impossible not to feel sorry for him sometimes. Maybe that human had saved his life, scooping him into a safe and coddled cage like she had, but she'd done something more than a little cruel in the process.
Well - what more could you expect, when humans got involved.
“I did exactly what you told me to. I really tried.” Toboe dragged each step through the brown grass, bracelet jingling its own miserable apology for the part it had played. “It's not like I messed the hunt up on purpose.”
“Nope,” Hige said with grim good cheer, making the first leap up the rocky outcrop. “Guess you're just a natural that way.”
“Aw, Hige, that's not fair-”
Kiba was already waiting at the top of the ridge, a statue built to bring in twilight: white fur shading gradually to orange in the light of the hazy sunset and nose turned high to welcome the first shine of the moon. Apparently Tsume had beaten them back too, and was sprawled some distance away with his back turned like he'd chosen this hill for his own reasons and was merely tolerating the rest of them existing on it with him. Same old same old, then; though no one was missing fur, and something about Tsume's tolerance had taken on a grudging almost-sincerity since the scrap with the war-machine.
The real surprise was the mood lasting past his leg healing up. Maybe the mythical ‘nice Tsume’ the pup was so insistent about would actually show his face sometime soon.
A human would saunter into such company with one hand pocketed, catch swinging casually from the other like it was no big deal. A nice human would also generously ignore the kid slinking around in his shadow and casting a guilty grin from behind his back at the other wolves, fingers plucking reassurance from his sleeve.
“Yo,” Hige said, because he was nice enough, and tossed the corpse forward with a jerk of his head. Rich blood and dusty fur lingered in his empty mouth, and he found his tongue running repeatedly over his lips, chasing every last scrap.
“One rabbit?” Tsume's contempt practically carried its own odour. “Why am I not surprised that even that much took both of you.”
“Well, there were two,” Toboe muttered, “but Hige already ate the other - hey!”
He scrambled away on his big puppy paws, Hige's teeth clicking just shy of his ears. Where had those reflexes been ten minutes ago, he wanted to know.
“You mean I ate my fair share,” Hige said, and planted himself down, stretching out and shivering as the chill of the stone sank in at the thin-furred points of his elbows. “Seeing as I was the only one to make a kill.” He glanced around pointedly at the bare stretch of rock. “And I gotta say, so far one rabbit is looking a lot better than the whole lot of nothing you guys brought back. What, the two of you seriously didn't find anything at all?”
A ragged ear twitched irritably. “Mice and beetles,” Tsume grunted. “This is hardly a hunting ground. We'd have done better to stay moving.”
Kiba just looked faintly impatient, but then he hadn't wanted to stop for a break to begin with. If he had his way they likely wouldn't stop for anything at all, ever, getting by on nothing but morning dew and moonlight like good little devotees on the road to Paradise.
No way, no how, Hige had said. What was the point of going to Paradise if you had to travel through Hell to get there? They should take whatever opportunities for food and rest they found, because otherwise they might start turning faint with hunger and weariness all the way out in the empty wilderness, and did they really want to end up collapsed somewhere, waiting on rescue by suave and knowledgeable strangers with nothing better to do than follow their nose?
“Hmm,” was all Kiba had said when he was done. “You're right. That would be unfortunate.”
Funny guy, Kiba.
Hige stretched out a little further, nose almost to the limp body curled in a sad crescent on the ground. More pelt than flesh, honestly, with a little marrow in the frail bones. What a waste, lugging it all the way back for the sake of ungrateful beetle-eaters. Toboe's wistful eyes agreed, tongue darting quick longing licks over his nose.
“Don't think there were even enough of these left to feed everyone anyway,” Hige admitted. “Jeez. Was kind of hoping those deer would still be around.”
Somehow, that was what drew Tsume's attention around in full, ears pinned to a sharp angle. “Those deer?”
“Yeah, you know.” He met Tsume's sceptical look, quirked an eyebrow. “Big, four-legged things? Enough meat on them to last a week? Sound familiar?”
The gray snorted derisively. “You scavenge from one diseased corpse and start hallucinating. What deer were you expecting to find here, of all places?”
“What kind of question is that? The usual kind.”
“No,” Kiba said quietly. “He's right. There haven't been any herds around this side of the mountains for a long time.”
He said it like it was a simple fact, but that was how Kiba said most things. And sure, Kiba had put pads to the trails outside the city more recently than any of them; maybe covered more of it than any of them too, as far as they knew. If anyone had seen ‘this side of the mountains’ sooner than a dozen half-moon rises ago, it was going to be Kiba.
It was just - huh. Strange. Because Hige could have sworn there was a time that he'd been told - no, that he remembered - he'd thought, at least-
Thoughts are like flies. He shook his head, clearing them out, like he was supposed to.
“I guess that makes sense,” Toboe was saying doubtfully. “I mean, if there's not even enough food for rabbits…”
“Whatever.” Hige chanced a quick lick at the rabbit, then lifted his head away as Tsume's lip curled back just the barest amount, showing teeth. Moody. “It's not like we'd have had any hope of catching one with you around, jangles.”
Back went the ears, down went the tail, just like clockwork. “I nearly had one of those rabbits, you know! It wasn't my fault their ears were so good. And it's not like this is the first time I've ever hunted something either, I've - I even caught a bird, before.” He didn't look terribly proud about it, though. Based on what Hige had just witnessed, he'd probably scared it out of the mouth of an alley cat.
“Half-sick sparrows don't count, runt,” he said sagely. “It's different out here. You can't count on things being dozy and too stupid to know when to run.”
“I know. You don't have to keep telling me.”
Hige sighed mournfully, like he hadn't heard. “Maybe it's just true what they say - you can take the wolf out of the city, but there's no taking the city out of the wolf.”
“Or maybe he just had a shitty teacher,” Tsume said abruptly.
‘Nice’ Tsume, huh. “Then you teach him next time,” Hige retorted, rolling over onto his back. The rough stone was pleasant underneath his shoulders, scratching up along his spine as he wriggled. “See how far you get with jingle-paws mixing upwind with downwind, stay still with go now…”
“It wasn't like that,” Toboe grumbled, jamming his nose into his forepaws. “You're such a liar, Hige.”
Hige kicked out lazily, grazing Toboe's side and drawing out more grumbles and a feinted mouthing that confirmed it was more sulkiness he was dealing with than any real injury. Good. The kid could be a pain, sure, but he was still just a kid. And it was kind of fun to have someone around who had more to add to a conversation than insults or moon riddles.
Kiba watched them work towards the beginnings of a real tussle, frowning slightly like their antics were themselves a riddle he had yet to find the answer for. Or maybe that wasn't what was on his mind at all, because all he suddenly said was, “Hige's right. You should remove the cuff, if you can.”
Toboe abandoned the play instantly, sitting bolt upright and shooting the white wolf a look of deep betrayal. “What? But, Kiba…”
“It draws attention,” Kiba said, not unkindly. “Catches light. You'd be better off without it.”
“No!” Toboe drew the banded leg up like he'd trodden on a thorn; like a human kid clutching something precious close to his chest for protection, running a thumb over the metal and biting his lip. “I - I couldn't. I know it's not a proper thing to have, not really, but… she gave it to me.” His voice dropped lower. “Because I was family. It's the only thing I have left from back then, and - I don't want to just forget her.”
He looked around their circle, and of course there was little soft sympathy in Kiba for a pet's sentimentality, and even less in Tsume; but then, inexplicably, he cast those big sad eyes Hige's way like he was expecting something different. “You understand, right, Hige?”
Baffled, Hige could only cock an ear to say Who, me? and the bafflement grew as Toboe's hopeful look turned hurt and more than a little confused itself.
“Didn't someone give you…?”
“Hey, I wanted you to ditch it ages ago.” Hige snorted and heaved himself over onto his belly. Anger pricked at him suddenly. No, emptiness. No, hunger, and annoyance as well. Why were they even talking about humans? They'd been out of the city for weeks. There were more important things to think about - like the part where he'd done what he was meant to do, he'd found the prey and brought it back, and that meant he got fed. He pushed up onto his feet, arching his back in an overplayed, groaning stretch.
“Bu-u-ut even if you did, it's not like you're instantly turning into such a master hunter that we're chasing up anything else tonight, so it's not like it really matters.” He stepped casually forward, opening his jaws over the cooling body of the rabbit. “Hey, you know, there's really no point trying to divide something as small as this up anyway, so…”
Suddenly Tsume's teeth were part of the picture again, stabbing out from under his lips with a low rumble caught behind them, and Hige paused warily.
Ask a human, and a pack was any group of wolves that hunted and howled together. Likely that was enough for Toboe too, and Kiba - well, who could ever tell what Kiba really thought about anything. That was a wolf who scented the wind and felt the earth and ignored every part of it that didn't fit into the strange little spaces in his mind. If the rest of them dropped dead tomorrow, he'd probably just keep on walking along the same trail to Paradise like they'd never met at all. There was something impressive about that kind of focus. Crazy too, of course, but impressive.
Tsume, though. Somehow Hige got the feeling Tsume knew what a pack was, and what it wasn't.
Both wolves held to their stillness, eyes locked. Dangerous, he'd cautioned Kiba, and of course Kiba hadn't really understood. Wolves like Kiba didn't get what it meant to be in the middle of a pack, and Kiba specifically didn't get what it meant for a wolf to be roaming packless for no reason. Hige knew what he'd been doing in the city by himself - that was easy, obvious, didn't need dwelling on - but Tsume? There was a question there, for anyone reckless enough to ask it.
Hige was smarter than that, though. Smart enough to let his ears slide back a little, keep his tail low, let his gaze drift away from that flat yellow glare. You didn't get by in a human city for long without knowing how to pull up a smile, a shrug, a how-do-you-do or a whoops-don't-mind-me. Weeks on the streets, sniffing around their buildings and secret rooms, and nobody had even had reason to remember Hige's name. They'd run Tsume out on the end of a dozen guns.
“Someone has to eat it,” he said in exaggerated huffiness. “I'm not just sitting here smelling it any longer. It's cruel.”
“You said fair share, right,” Tsume growled. “I think you've had enough fair shares for all of us, porky.” His gaze cut sideways towards Toboe, and then flicked away again as if bored by the entire argument. “I've had as much as I need. Give the kid his scraps already, before he starts whimpering.”
A little surprised, Hige glanced at Kiba and found no objection in his calm watchfulness. There was no way mice and beetles had satiated either of them, any more than one skinny rabbit had filled the hollow inside Hige, and equally no way they weren't confident they could just take the rabbit if they truly wanted to.
Which left Hige the only one still to prove whether he was the kind to bully three bites of raw meat from a half-grown whelp. So, “Fine, fine,” Hige sighed, and with a toss of his teeth he flipped the carcass over to the pup, who didn't seem to believe the luck landing limply in front of him. “I was going to anyway, you know.”
“Wait - really?” Toboe looked wide-eyed and hopeful around the circle again, this time with a question worth answering. “It's okay?”
“Eh.” Hige settled himself back down on a careless shrug. “I guess you almost helped catch that one. You know, since it ran my way after you tripped over your own feet-”
The jibe whistled right past those oversized ears this time, the eagerness for food overriding all other considerations as Toboe yipped and tore into the soft belly, tail beating a grateful metronome against the ground. At least he still ate like he should, with none of the fussy delicacies of a tamed mongrel. And he had brought a whole lot of eager speed to the hunt, Hige could admit, if not quite the skill to complement it. Maybe Tsume would have better luck in getting him to hone the sharper edge of his instincts, or Kiba could impart some of that unbreakable focus. Maybe, with enough time spent with the three of them, a proper wolf could grow out of the pup yet.
Hige snorted to himself the moment he caught the thought, amused. Oh, yes. An old lady's pet puppy, a wolf who packed up with humans and snarled at his own kind, whatever Kiba's mysterious ‘nothing’ was all about… and Hige. No one would say these were the right ingredients for constructing the pure and proud ideal of the wolf. But then, who really knew what that was meant to be, in a world like this one? The ones who hadn't figured out how to adapt were all long gone now.
Tsume had his back turned again, pretending like he wasn't keeping an ear twisted in the direction of Toboe's noisy enjoyment. Kiba had resumed standing sentinel, but there was a little more ease in how he held himself under the blue light of the moon these days, as if there was hope yet he'd figure out how to stop and rest for a moment without needing to be caged into it.
Hige scratched idly at his neck, at the ring of itchiness that built up under the leather after a long day.
There were worse examples of what a wolf could turn into, he supposed. You had to take what you could get, in this world, accept what couldn't be changed - it was one of those funny little truths he’d just always known. Maybe Toboe would learn it for himself, now that he was out here living it with them.
“And whose belly are you going to fill with ‘sorry’?” Hige shot back over his shoulder. “Better think of an answer quick, runt, ‘cause I can hear the rumbling already.”
The pup still fawned like a dog when scolded, whining in his throat and nosing after the forgiveness of warm hands that none of them had to offer. Caught twice as many teeth as he needed to from Tsume because he just couldn't take a hint when it came in wolf. It was impossible not to feel sorry for him sometimes. Maybe that human had saved his life, scooping him into a safe and coddled cage like she had, but she'd done something more than a little cruel in the process.
Well - what more could you expect, when humans got involved.
“I did exactly what you told me to. I really tried.” Toboe dragged each step through the brown grass, bracelet jingling its own miserable apology for the part it had played. “It's not like I messed the hunt up on purpose.”
“Nope,” Hige said with grim good cheer, making the first leap up the rocky outcrop. “Guess you're just a natural that way.”
“Aw, Hige, that's not fair-”
Kiba was already waiting at the top of the ridge, a statue built to bring in twilight: white fur shading gradually to orange in the light of the hazy sunset and nose turned high to welcome the first shine of the moon. Apparently Tsume had beaten them back too, and was sprawled some distance away with his back turned like he'd chosen this hill for his own reasons and was merely tolerating the rest of them existing on it with him. Same old same old, then; though no one was missing fur, and something about Tsume's tolerance had taken on a grudging almost-sincerity since the scrap with the war-machine.
The real surprise was the mood lasting past his leg healing up. Maybe the mythical ‘nice Tsume’ the pup was so insistent about would actually show his face sometime soon.
A human would saunter into such company with one hand pocketed, catch swinging casually from the other like it was no big deal. A nice human would also generously ignore the kid slinking around in his shadow and casting a guilty grin from behind his back at the other wolves, fingers plucking reassurance from his sleeve.
“Yo,” Hige said, because he was nice enough, and tossed the corpse forward with a jerk of his head. Rich blood and dusty fur lingered in his empty mouth, and he found his tongue running repeatedly over his lips, chasing every last scrap.
“One rabbit?” Tsume's contempt practically carried its own odour. “Why am I not surprised that even that much took both of you.”
“Well, there were two,” Toboe muttered, “but Hige already ate the other - hey!”
He scrambled away on his big puppy paws, Hige's teeth clicking just shy of his ears. Where had those reflexes been ten minutes ago, he wanted to know.
“You mean I ate my fair share,” Hige said, and planted himself down, stretching out and shivering as the chill of the stone sank in at the thin-furred points of his elbows. “Seeing as I was the only one to make a kill.” He glanced around pointedly at the bare stretch of rock. “And I gotta say, so far one rabbit is looking a lot better than the whole lot of nothing you guys brought back. What, the two of you seriously didn't find anything at all?”
A ragged ear twitched irritably. “Mice and beetles,” Tsume grunted. “This is hardly a hunting ground. We'd have done better to stay moving.”
Kiba just looked faintly impatient, but then he hadn't wanted to stop for a break to begin with. If he had his way they likely wouldn't stop for anything at all, ever, getting by on nothing but morning dew and moonlight like good little devotees on the road to Paradise.
No way, no how, Hige had said. What was the point of going to Paradise if you had to travel through Hell to get there? They should take whatever opportunities for food and rest they found, because otherwise they might start turning faint with hunger and weariness all the way out in the empty wilderness, and did they really want to end up collapsed somewhere, waiting on rescue by suave and knowledgeable strangers with nothing better to do than follow their nose?
“Hmm,” was all Kiba had said when he was done. “You're right. That would be unfortunate.”
Funny guy, Kiba.
Hige stretched out a little further, nose almost to the limp body curled in a sad crescent on the ground. More pelt than flesh, honestly, with a little marrow in the frail bones. What a waste, lugging it all the way back for the sake of ungrateful beetle-eaters. Toboe's wistful eyes agreed, tongue darting quick longing licks over his nose.
“Don't think there were even enough of these left to feed everyone anyway,” Hige admitted. “Jeez. Was kind of hoping those deer would still be around.”
Somehow, that was what drew Tsume's attention around in full, ears pinned to a sharp angle. “Those deer?”
“Yeah, you know.” He met Tsume's sceptical look, quirked an eyebrow. “Big, four-legged things? Enough meat on them to last a week? Sound familiar?”
The gray snorted derisively. “You scavenge from one diseased corpse and start hallucinating. What deer were you expecting to find here, of all places?”
“What kind of question is that? The usual kind.”
“No,” Kiba said quietly. “He's right. There haven't been any herds around this side of the mountains for a long time.”
He said it like it was a simple fact, but that was how Kiba said most things. And sure, Kiba had put pads to the trails outside the city more recently than any of them; maybe covered more of it than any of them too, as far as they knew. If anyone had seen ‘this side of the mountains’ sooner than a dozen half-moon rises ago, it was going to be Kiba.
It was just - huh. Strange. Because Hige could have sworn there was a time that he'd been told - no, that he remembered - he'd thought, at least-
Thoughts are like flies. He shook his head, clearing them out, like he was supposed to.
“I guess that makes sense,” Toboe was saying doubtfully. “I mean, if there's not even enough food for rabbits…”
“Whatever.” Hige chanced a quick lick at the rabbit, then lifted his head away as Tsume's lip curled back just the barest amount, showing teeth. Moody. “It's not like we'd have had any hope of catching one with you around, jangles.”
Back went the ears, down went the tail, just like clockwork. “I nearly had one of those rabbits, you know! It wasn't my fault their ears were so good. And it's not like this is the first time I've ever hunted something either, I've - I even caught a bird, before.” He didn't look terribly proud about it, though. Based on what Hige had just witnessed, he'd probably scared it out of the mouth of an alley cat.
“Half-sick sparrows don't count, runt,” he said sagely. “It's different out here. You can't count on things being dozy and too stupid to know when to run.”
“I know. You don't have to keep telling me.”
Hige sighed mournfully, like he hadn't heard. “Maybe it's just true what they say - you can take the wolf out of the city, but there's no taking the city out of the wolf.”
“Or maybe he just had a shitty teacher,” Tsume said abruptly.
‘Nice’ Tsume, huh. “Then you teach him next time,” Hige retorted, rolling over onto his back. The rough stone was pleasant underneath his shoulders, scratching up along his spine as he wriggled. “See how far you get with jingle-paws mixing upwind with downwind, stay still with go now…”
“It wasn't like that,” Toboe grumbled, jamming his nose into his forepaws. “You're such a liar, Hige.”
Hige kicked out lazily, grazing Toboe's side and drawing out more grumbles and a feinted mouthing that confirmed it was more sulkiness he was dealing with than any real injury. Good. The kid could be a pain, sure, but he was still just a kid. And it was kind of fun to have someone around who had more to add to a conversation than insults or moon riddles.
Kiba watched them work towards the beginnings of a real tussle, frowning slightly like their antics were themselves a riddle he had yet to find the answer for. Or maybe that wasn't what was on his mind at all, because all he suddenly said was, “Hige's right. You should remove the cuff, if you can.”
Toboe abandoned the play instantly, sitting bolt upright and shooting the white wolf a look of deep betrayal. “What? But, Kiba…”
“It draws attention,” Kiba said, not unkindly. “Catches light. You'd be better off without it.”
“No!” Toboe drew the banded leg up like he'd trodden on a thorn; like a human kid clutching something precious close to his chest for protection, running a thumb over the metal and biting his lip. “I - I couldn't. I know it's not a proper thing to have, not really, but… she gave it to me.” His voice dropped lower. “Because I was family. It's the only thing I have left from back then, and - I don't want to just forget her.”
He looked around their circle, and of course there was little soft sympathy in Kiba for a pet's sentimentality, and even less in Tsume; but then, inexplicably, he cast those big sad eyes Hige's way like he was expecting something different. “You understand, right, Hige?”
Baffled, Hige could only cock an ear to say Who, me? and the bafflement grew as Toboe's hopeful look turned hurt and more than a little confused itself.
“Didn't someone give you…?”
“Hey, I wanted you to ditch it ages ago.” Hige snorted and heaved himself over onto his belly. Anger pricked at him suddenly. No, emptiness. No, hunger, and annoyance as well. Why were they even talking about humans? They'd been out of the city for weeks. There were more important things to think about - like the part where he'd done what he was meant to do, he'd found the prey and brought it back, and that meant he got fed. He pushed up onto his feet, arching his back in an overplayed, groaning stretch.
“Bu-u-ut even if you did, it's not like you're instantly turning into such a master hunter that we're chasing up anything else tonight, so it's not like it really matters.” He stepped casually forward, opening his jaws over the cooling body of the rabbit. “Hey, you know, there's really no point trying to divide something as small as this up anyway, so…”
Suddenly Tsume's teeth were part of the picture again, stabbing out from under his lips with a low rumble caught behind them, and Hige paused warily.
Ask a human, and a pack was any group of wolves that hunted and howled together. Likely that was enough for Toboe too, and Kiba - well, who could ever tell what Kiba really thought about anything. That was a wolf who scented the wind and felt the earth and ignored every part of it that didn't fit into the strange little spaces in his mind. If the rest of them dropped dead tomorrow, he'd probably just keep on walking along the same trail to Paradise like they'd never met at all. There was something impressive about that kind of focus. Crazy too, of course, but impressive.
Tsume, though. Somehow Hige got the feeling Tsume knew what a pack was, and what it wasn't.
Both wolves held to their stillness, eyes locked. Dangerous, he'd cautioned Kiba, and of course Kiba hadn't really understood. Wolves like Kiba didn't get what it meant to be in the middle of a pack, and Kiba specifically didn't get what it meant for a wolf to be roaming packless for no reason. Hige knew what he'd been doing in the city by himself - that was easy, obvious, didn't need dwelling on - but Tsume? There was a question there, for anyone reckless enough to ask it.
Hige was smarter than that, though. Smart enough to let his ears slide back a little, keep his tail low, let his gaze drift away from that flat yellow glare. You didn't get by in a human city for long without knowing how to pull up a smile, a shrug, a how-do-you-do or a whoops-don't-mind-me. Weeks on the streets, sniffing around their buildings and secret rooms, and nobody had even had reason to remember Hige's name. They'd run Tsume out on the end of a dozen guns.
“Someone has to eat it,” he said in exaggerated huffiness. “I'm not just sitting here smelling it any longer. It's cruel.”
“You said fair share, right,” Tsume growled. “I think you've had enough fair shares for all of us, porky.” His gaze cut sideways towards Toboe, and then flicked away again as if bored by the entire argument. “I've had as much as I need. Give the kid his scraps already, before he starts whimpering.”
A little surprised, Hige glanced at Kiba and found no objection in his calm watchfulness. There was no way mice and beetles had satiated either of them, any more than one skinny rabbit had filled the hollow inside Hige, and equally no way they weren't confident they could just take the rabbit if they truly wanted to.
Which left Hige the only one still to prove whether he was the kind to bully three bites of raw meat from a half-grown whelp. So, “Fine, fine,” Hige sighed, and with a toss of his teeth he flipped the carcass over to the pup, who didn't seem to believe the luck landing limply in front of him. “I was going to anyway, you know.”
“Wait - really?” Toboe looked wide-eyed and hopeful around the circle again, this time with a question worth answering. “It's okay?”
“Eh.” Hige settled himself back down on a careless shrug. “I guess you almost helped catch that one. You know, since it ran my way after you tripped over your own feet-”
The jibe whistled right past those oversized ears this time, the eagerness for food overriding all other considerations as Toboe yipped and tore into the soft belly, tail beating a grateful metronome against the ground. At least he still ate like he should, with none of the fussy delicacies of a tamed mongrel. And he had brought a whole lot of eager speed to the hunt, Hige could admit, if not quite the skill to complement it. Maybe Tsume would have better luck in getting him to hone the sharper edge of his instincts, or Kiba could impart some of that unbreakable focus. Maybe, with enough time spent with the three of them, a proper wolf could grow out of the pup yet.
Hige snorted to himself the moment he caught the thought, amused. Oh, yes. An old lady's pet puppy, a wolf who packed up with humans and snarled at his own kind, whatever Kiba's mysterious ‘nothing’ was all about… and Hige. No one would say these were the right ingredients for constructing the pure and proud ideal of the wolf. But then, who really knew what that was meant to be, in a world like this one? The ones who hadn't figured out how to adapt were all long gone now.
Tsume had his back turned again, pretending like he wasn't keeping an ear twisted in the direction of Toboe's noisy enjoyment. Kiba had resumed standing sentinel, but there was a little more ease in how he held himself under the blue light of the moon these days, as if there was hope yet he'd figure out how to stop and rest for a moment without needing to be caged into it.
Hige scratched idly at his neck, at the ring of itchiness that built up under the leather after a long day.
There were worse examples of what a wolf could turn into, he supposed. You had to take what you could get, in this world, accept what couldn't be changed - it was one of those funny little truths he’d just always known. Maybe Toboe would learn it for himself, now that he was out here living it with them.
