Wolf's Rain is copyright to BONES/ Nobumoto Keiko; Nikki belongs to me.

**side note (so as not to have my readers confused on who's speaking, wolf or human):

'talk' - wolf speech

"talk" - human speech

City of Howls - Prologue

The cold snowy air whipped at his chiseled face, at the cropped silver hair on his head.

This gig couldn't get any more dull.

Sometimes he wondered why the hell he was still doing this, nicking goods and food from the overly-pompous-and-posh bastard assholes that ran the city, with a bunch of humans.

A pair of silver eyes flashed in his mind.

That's right... he was doing this for her.

If he didn't work with these pathetic creatures called humans, they would eventually go hungry.

He narrowed his amber eyes up at the bright spotlight coming from the airship flying overhead, the cold wind nipping at his cheeks and nose. "I hate that noise." He grumbled in reference to the shrill buzzing that followed the large airship's entrance into Freeze City.

"Hey, baby, come back!"

Damn it, why did she have to open her big mouth?
He would kill her for getting in over her head… as she was wont to do lately.

For fuck's sake… She steered herself into a dark alley, her boots skidding to a halt when she came face-to-face with a high brick wall.

"Shit."

"Oi, oi, there ya are!" Jeering and slightly hiccup-filled laughter sounded behind her, making her freeze slightly in place.

The snow had stopped falling as of an hour or so ago, giving her enough time to get herself in knee-deep shit with some sleazy drunkards, the same ones that had just now cornered her.

She turned slightly to face the trio, left hand sliding to the pocket of her navy leather jacket, right hand dangling at her side; the fingers of her left hand coiled around the handle of one of her switchblades.

"Still got somethin' to say, honey?" One of the men, the tallest of the trio she noted, slurred as he drew up to her, leering down at her pretty face, seeming drunk enough to ignore the wrinkle of her nose at having to smell the booze on his breath.

Her sky colored eyes slid closed serenely despite the stench, a wry smile tugging on her full lips as she sensed the other two come to stand on both her left and right sides, muscles in her limbs tensing for a spring. "Actually, yes, I do." She hummed, opening one blue eye.

Left knee sailing into the lanky man's groin, she heard him drop to his knees and swear colorfully in pain as she rounded on his two buddies, right fist sucker-punching the large nose of the second man and her left foot ramming into the third one's throat, sending both of them flying back to land on either side of the alley.

"B-bitch!" The leader pulled a handgun on her from behind, the soft click of the trigger humming in her sensitive ears.

Crimson stained the blade of her switchblade as she flicked her left wrist, narrowly missing the jugular vein in his throat as she swiped the gun from his hands and took it in her left hand, right foot shoving him into the alley wall.

Blue had changed to silver. "Filthy human fuckers like you deserve to rot in hell." She growled lowly, flashing a pair of sharpened fangs, before her right fist rammed into his gut, knocking him out.

The man slumped down onto the ground as she drew away, scowling slightly at the two unconscious men near her before she pulled the hood of her jacket over her head, clicking her tongue and sprinting for the wall.

With a nimble spring, she leaped over the wall and took off into the darkness.

The door to the room opened, perking his ears.
He looked up from polishing his knife to see her familiar hooded figure slip inside, shutting the door quietly behind her entrance. "You're back late." He greeted.

She shook the hood off her head, tucking locks of jet black hair behind her right ear aimlessly. "Had a bit of trouble."

He cocked a brow when she moved forward to slump down next to him against the wall with a soft moan of exhaustion. "No blood." He mused.

She rubbed the knuckles of her right fist, failing to hide the smudged blood from his inquisitive amber stare. "Not on my part."

Clicking his tongue, he shut his eyes and groaned under his breath. "Fuck, Nikki… Please tell me you didn't kill him."

"Don't bitch at me, will ya? Sheesh…" She scritched the back of her head absently and mirrored his closed-eye expression. "But no, just scared him a bit." She opened one blue eye and smirked privately. "Ta be honest, it was fun. I could swear he was pissing himself when I knifed him." She hummed proudly.

He pulled her right cheek gently in scolding, earning a soft whine and pout from his baby sister. "For fuck's sake, you're getting to be worse than me." He complained.

She jabbed her elbow into his side, thin brow furrowing softly, before she slid her eyes closed again and snorted in a non-ladylike way. "Piss off, I wouldn't be your little sister if I didn't learn a thing or two from ya, Tsume." She quipped.

Tsume rolled his eyes out of reflex, looking at her when she leaned closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder; his amber eyes softened at her habitual way of snuggling up to him after a long day, watching her nuzzle her cheek into his upper arm.

"Thanks for waiting up." Nikki murmured tiredly, feeling his arm slide to hold her shoulders gently, as he was wont to do in the past, especially on nights when she'd have bad nightmares, memories of that night haunting her for as long as she could remember...

"Just sleep. I'll kick your ass for it tomorrow." He growled quietly, leaning his head back into the wall behind them.

She laughed softly and nodded. "Tsume?" She began, opening her eyes slightly.

"I told you to sleep, dummy." He scolded.

"One of these days, let's leave this place. Find Paradise." She whispered, sliding them closed and drifting to sleep.

The gray wolf looked down at the sleeping black she-wolf curled up at his side, gold eyes softening as he briefly marveled at how much she looked like their mother, at how strong she had become; he rested his head on her shoulders, glancing at the blue crescent birthmark on her left cheekbone. 'One of these days.' He amended quietly to the darkened room.

keep in mind this was just the prologue. the first chap is coming up next, look forward to it! until then, drop a review if y'want~. it helps to know how good i am when it comes to starting a fic.

later~ ;'D