Chapter 30 Finale: Never Let Me Go

Recap of Last Chapter:

"Nai…"

My body jolted and I found little strength to actually move around completely, so I simply settled with just looking over my shoulder. Oh wow and there they were. They gave me little effort to actually look for them again.

Toboe…Blue…Hige…Tsume…. "Kiba…"

Golden eyes sparkled eagerly and I couldn't help but smile when I noticed Tsume seemed to be trying to refrain his bouncing happily on the spot.

I then yelped when I was suddenly forced to the ground. A familiar figure of chocolate brown and blonde streaks hovered above me. Teeth bared and fur bristled to a point. "Back off, she's mine!"

Crap- he had to ruin the moment.

I laid under my adoptive brother in shock. Watching as his fur bristled on end and he growled dangerously at the others. I truly wanted to do something but I was so shocked that my brain just wouldn't function – a blank. That's how my mind was while the rest of the world carried on with its life.

Kiba snarled at my brother, lowering his head and spreading his legs in preparation to attack should he see fit. "Who are you?" He demanded, golden orbs blazing with intensity. Even the others stiffened up to protect their leader.

"I go by Will and you?"

"Kiba…" The white wolf bit out. The two watched each other, eyeing and calculating the faults and weaknesses on each other. This took an amount of tense silence. Stiff to the point I was afraid to even relax once my bearings caught up to me. "What is the female to you?"

Will lowered his front, covering me and snarling back at Kiba with warning. "I believe that has no business with you what she is to me. But if you persist, all you really need to know is that she's with me so she's mine."

…Dammit. I thought, wincing in annoyance at how the whole situation just sounded in third-person view. My brother almost made it sound like I was his attended. That's just wrong and weird. In fact, it leaves a tummy-turning image in my head and not the good tummy-turning either. Seriously…he's practically my brother, wrong on so many levels.

"On what grounds –" Kiba demanded. "She is free of any or at all premature claims."

"You want her, don't you? Isn't that why you chased her here? Well, it's sad for you, isn't it, alpha…?" Will sneered. "Despite this female not having a sign being or soon being someone else's I have taken her for myself. So I suggest you and your pack leave this land and never come back or follow this female again."

Oh heavens, this whole entire situation was even worse in the fact I hadn't even interfered in the situation. Which, I should. I know I should but it's become something of basic instincts to let the 'alphas' speak; as such this moment asks….Psh, ya right. I'm just waiting for an opportunity to annoy brother dearest. After all, he deserves all he will get for making such assumptions like this. Even if it was just to protect me from possible stranger- rapists.

….Which, the strangers aren't strangers, and well. Yes. You understand, don't you? I'm a bit on the hazy side so I wasn't really in the mood for thinking out anything or of what I was about to do would cause. It just seemed the more logical and funniest way to end this whole ordeal. Yes, the most effect way…with a boom of laughter.

"…Will…" I murmured, poking his underside. He didn't move so I poked him again. "Will…hey…Will…"

After some more poking, my brother did react with a twitch, an annoyed twitch at that. The first twitch had me pausing and wondering before I poked him again. Of course, it made me feel like grinning despite the situation when I kept poking Will. I mean, just the way he twitched. It almost seemed like he was spazzing on the spot.

"Will –"

"GOD DAMN YOU – WHAT?"

"…Incest."

Or awkwardness…, I added in as a late afterthought.

Silence – pure blissful silence was this moment. It was an awkward silence actually that came again, but it was better than the constant growling and snarling of Kiba, the others, and my brother. It was even awesomer when Will practically did a face palm…with the ground. Hey, I did say it would go with laughter or awkwardness.

Will was just kind enough to make it funny.

I watched while my brother shifted and changed into his human body. He gazed down at me with a wary and pointed expression, still caging me nonetheless though. "Seriously, incest…? I'm here trying to protect you from rapists and you just say incest? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"But…but you don't own me…"

"Nai, Nai. I say this because I care. SHUT UP!"

"BUT YOU DON'T OWN ME!"

"I'M TRYING TO PROTECT YOU!"

"FROM WHAT –"

"RAPISTS –"

"I think the only rapist she needs to be protected from is you."

"….I am going to kill you one day, Mina. I swear it….I will kill you and you know what? I'll laugh and dance you're in blood."

"Don't we just feel the love?" Mina barked sarcastically. She leaned against the open frame of the porch, nodding and taking a bite out of her apple. "Who are the newbies? Friends or –" Mina cut off short. Her eyes widened and the apple rolled out of her loose fingers, making a loud 'thump' noise on the floor.

Will and I watched her, my brother more perplexed by Mina's actions while I eagerly recognized the flickers of emotions crossing her features. She was remembering and it was all from looking into Tsume's eyes! Huh, Tsume…didn't expect that.

But unlike me, Mina didn't crumble to the ground in pain. She simply cried and kept murmuring incoherent nothings on her breath. I glanced back towards the others to see their reactions. But it was Tsume who kept my attention more than anyone else. His ears had perked up and his tail had swayed higher, fluffy and full of eagerness.

"Tsume?" Mina breathed out, stuttering on her words. Her eyes never left the gray wolf for a second. "Tsume, holy shit is that you?"

Tsume huffed and stood taller on his paws. A teasing smirk directed towards my cousin who continued watching on in pure shock. "About time you two found your way into Tokyo."

Mina gaped and barked a happy laugh, jumping off the porch and bounding her way towards the pack. "Holy crap, dudes. I thought, how, but all of you, and Darcia!" She rushed out, stopping to run numb fingers through her hair. Mina whistled long and low. "Wow, who would have thought…we all did meet each other again."

"…What's going on?" Will spoke up, confusion written all over his face. "And how do you know these guys when you two just got into Japan barely a few days ago…"

Mina turned to look at Will with a perplexed and bewildered expression. "Will, what the hell? What are you doing on top of Nai? I thought you said you weren't going to rape her!"

…Aaaaannnnnd she completely forgot the situation at hand…yay.

In the living room everyone had taken their designated places, sitting in small wooden benches made from plywood. Kiba and his pack were ushered to sit at the wooden table, the seats rounded over the counters to make a conference feel to the living room. Will sat across from them while Mina and I took the ranks on the other sides of the wide furniture.

"So…about your story…?" Will initiated, leaning forward and ready to listen to our story.

You see after Mina, basically kicked Will off me, she invited everyone inside. I had to then explain that Will was my brother as well as Mina and I once living in the America's when Will went to do his 'business' in the restroom. During that time of brief explaining we all had to come up with a logical story for my brother.

At least a story that didn't hold the tale of: after lives, enter-dimensional crossings (that no one else but Mina and I still know about), and the deaths of fighting a crazed noble searching for Paradise.

It wasn't too…hard. We simply had to tell my brother that we all did know each other and the basics of what our relationship was within Kiba's pack. It was basically a half- truth and half- lie kind of story….

Kiba's blue eyes discretely glanced at me across the small area. Taking a deep calming breath, Kiba stared over back to my brother.

"Do you want the whole story or the abbreviated one?" He asked almost quietly.

"I'd like to hear the whole story." Will groused. Kiba lifted his head to look at him directly, "It's a long story." He warned.

"We've got a long time." Will retorted.

Kiba looked back to the surface of the table as the fond memories came forth while a gentle warmth of the summer air blowing inward to the room. "A few years ago my pack and I were traveling the….country side of the states. I felt particularly restless that day so I ventured a bit further away from where the pack was resting and into neighborhoods' when I saw Nai for the first time, exploring close…" He began.

I could feel the light memory of the first time I had met the pack. It was in a junkyard, a few streets off from the town and close neighborhoods. Toboe and Cheza were the first I met. The day was still fresh in my mind and yet so distant. Even now it almost felt like a far off dream hanging in the palms of my hands.

Kiba continued with his, more over to us, abbreviated story of the truth. He placed details in a few places, some that flowed with the entire thing and others that left a few holes to the other life.

"She wanted to travel with us for a while, as did her cousin. The two came with us for at least a year before they went back home and the rest of us came back to Japan. We had no connections with each other during that time…so it's understandable they forgot until we met again, here in the city."

"And this was just today, right?" Will questioned, turning his light-hearted gaze onto me. I nodded. "Ya, but I didn't really recall them until I was here, back home. At that time I was a little anxious to see them and hoped I hadn't lost them once I remembered."

"So, what exactly was your position in the pack, both you and Mina when you…traveled with them?"

"Nai is my mate." Kiba replied in a brusque manner. Mina shot up her arm, leaning on her elbow as she spoke. "And I basically hanged around because of Nai."

"So…Snowflake is my little sis' attended and you just hanged around with his groupies for the hell of it?" Will frowned, sounding just a tad suspicious of the whole ordeal. Mina shrugged, none the wiser of Will's tone. "Pretty much, yah..."

"Mhm, okay." He agreed, not calling out to any kind of bull shit or denial to our story. "Kiba and groupies get the fuck out."

"What?"

"Get the fuck out."

"….Wait I thought you –"

"Just because I accept your story doesn't mean I'm going to let them stay. Psh, bitch please." He scoffed. "I have my limits like anyone else and my limit so happens to be: no mates in the house."

I turned a pointed look to Mina whom nodded for a bried second before standing up to her feet and padding her way into the kitchen. "So what do you guys want? Tea, water, soda, liver…?"

"Liver?" Blue shared a curious look with Hige who shrugged, but licked his lips, salivating nonetheless.

I shrugged, "Wolves have a different type of snacks."

"Mina!" Will snapped. "This isn't some welcoming party! I don't care what relationship Nai has with the alpha, I ain't welcoming them to stay here!" Mina herself though, disappeared into the kitchen with a wide grin plastered on her face. Singing a taunting sound of, "I can't hear you~!"

(2 Weeks Later :)

Kiba and his pack had conjoined with our little family. To me it felt like the good old days where Tsume and Mina at times fought (but I was getting a bit suspicious of their relationship), Hige demanded for food and followed Blue like a lost puppy; even Toboe was the sweet little guy I remember.

Will and Kiba did butt heads though, sometimes causing a mess in the house or challenging each other from time to time. It was nice nonetheless. I enjoyed these moments and the fact we were all reunited, as we had all hoped in the previous life.

But…despite these reunited days, I did worry though. It was mostly about the fact: if we are alive does that mean Darcia is alive as well? Yes, I understand that he was a human noble but he had perished as a wolf…

It was just something I couldn't get out of my head no matter what I tried. This began to raise questions that echoed through my thoughts because of it. Things like: Was Darcia near or far from us? Will his position in society for this life make things hard once again or much easier than before? Does he not remember the previous world or does he have full recollection of the entire event?

I just couldn't shake the thoughts away. It nagged at me from night and day but… but you know. While I watched the molting colors playing about in the sky. The sun setting and making an ethereal glow to the earth, here, where I lay on the porch while the others roamed about and interacted together: Tsume and Mina making bets on who would win the usual fight between Kiba and Will, Hige cheering them on while a worried Toboe watched on the side lines with an amused Blue. It just appeared like a beautiful motion picture that…I began to think. At least for this moment of pure bliss, I began to think that… it didn't really matter where Darcia was, if he even remembered or even if he will make an appearance in this life at all.

This was our moment, this was our new life, and if we had to go through the hardships of the previous world we will do it. We will rise and make it towards a new Paradise like the last. No matter how many times we must search for salvation, until even the world itself can no longer renew again…we will fight and we will stand our ground.

My musings were then cut off when Toboe waved and called me over, making me smile at how he stood on his toes and bounced in place. I stood up eagerly and danced away from the porch, leaving behind my cup of tea on the floor, and enthralled to be a part of this picture perfect moment with everyone.

A gust of wind fluttered through the air and kissed my skin. The wind had sent a patch of pink petals dancing around. A single petal landed silently onto the surface of the lukewarm tea, creating a ripple before it settled down.

This moment just seemed to create a colorful image, one that vaguely reminded me of an ending to what was basically a good story of my life, and yet just another still beginning. But I didn't really care for that at the moment. This mention of this ending or even this beginning, it was just something distant right now. It was as distant as the whispering wind itself carrying a soft spoken voice I remember so clearly fading in the laughter of today...

"…It's a promise…."

Wooh~! Finally done! XD

I hope ya'll like the ending. I tried to make it as good as how I imagined it in my mind, but things always seem more kick ass and memorable in the mind than it does trying to redirect that into words. :P

But nonetheless, I'm kind of proud that I finally finished this and made it as close to what I had in mind. Now, as I had promised I will be working on Silver Rain: The Puppy Chronicles, which is a side story of humor to this one, and the AU of Silver Rain: Requiem for a Dream the new story for Wolf's Rain I promised. :3