A New Day

[Tsukikage]

A white wolf enters the cave, looking rather ghostly as the moonlight seems to follow him, creating a halo effect at the edges of his extravagant fur. He speaks softly to himself, as if chanting or murmuring, then he begins to sniff around. He finds some water nearby and trots over to it. Within the pool he can read all that has happened... "Tsukikage... you have gone home?" He said, puzzled, "Perhaps that is best for now. But what does that leave for me here?"
The wolf decides to rest a while, after all, it was a long journey, and he was thirsty and tired... but first things first. The wolf walked to a near wall and touched it with his muzzle, then breathed upon it. The rock shifted and swirled like water, then, guided by the wolf's nose, it took the shape of a dome, with an opening on one side for entry. The wolf then indulged his thirst and slept.

[hitobannofokkusu]

*Hitoban had wandered away from the others and came across a cave, illuminated by the moonlight. She had been worrying about Tsuki, and not wanting to put the others in danger, had left no noticeable trace of her leaving. She stepped cautiously into the cave entrance and stopped, looking at the strange new wolf sleeping. She crept up to him slowly, not wanting to startle him, and called to him.*

"Hello...are you alright?"

[hitobannofokkusu]

[OCC] Sorry for the double post Mayoi! [/OCC]

*She looked at the ghostly white wolf for a minute, but quickly decided he needed to sleep. She inhaled his scent and committed it to memory. Then she turned around and left the cave, retracing her path, going back to the meadow to wait for the others to return.*

"I'll find you again later..."

[Tsukikage]

Dante woke, a bit dazed... but... ? Something was missing. He looked around frantically, taking inventory of his surroundings. Rock, more rock, water, rock shelter, rock wall, cave entrance, and rock. Everything was here... except for... ah! He'd been sniffed!
Someone had taken his scent, no point in trying to get what precious molecules that had been lost during this action, so the only thing left to do was to find out who it was.
His sense of smell was not as good as some, so he had to sniff the exact spot that the other had stood in. He quickly scratched an "x" on the ground where he had lay, then moved toward the cave entrance and scratched a circle. He touched his nose to the circle, and several impressions formed in the ground in the shape of pawprints. The deepest ones were where pressure was applied longest, so he had no trouble finding the spot.

Dante took the scent and headed toward the pool. After a drink, he breathed on the water, then touched it with his nose. The water took on various images, but he was able to make out Tsukikage and another wolf, a female, that had known him, or perhaps was close to him. He really couldn't tell specifics, but now that he had her scent and her image in his mind, he had a place to start looking for answers. The images swirled, showing a battle; two wolves, Tsukikage by the look of them, and several of the other wolf... a word... "sisters", then "Giga", and finally, "Hitoban". The images swirled again, and were gone.
No point in trying that again; the images would be nearly the same, or even less than these ones. He'd gotten lucky with those words. He began to remove his scent from the cave, absorbing it or evaporating it, then began to separate the girl's scent from the ground, making it easier for him to track. He followed the scent out of the cave and onto a large field.

[Tsukikage]

Dante returned to the cave, exhausted by the seals he'd activated. His fur resumed its time-worn faded color, and he collapsed. He tried to understand what was happening.
"Ok, so Wahya, the pack leader, has a demon called Giga that controls him from time-to-time.
Hitoban has an unknown number of entities inhabiting her body, possibly her sisters' souls, one of which has violent tendencies.
Tsukikage came here, and found this pack. He'd met them before, in the city after leaving us, and has presumably fell in love with Hitoban. Tsuki's brother has found a way around the seal and can now operate seperately from Tsuki, though he still shares Tsuki's life force.
And I... I came here to find all this out, and to determine Tsuki's bond with these wolves. Tsuki's heart is very powerful, but also very unstable; he gains power from friendships, love, people connecting with his heart on some level, so if a deep enough link is severed, he will lose his heart, and become an empty shell forever. Maybe even become one of those creatures our ancestor's bred with to produce us... creatures walking the path of twilight; neither living, nor truly dead, just... soulless monsters driven by base necessities, desire, and demonic powers. This I cannot allow..."
His mind faded for a moment, but he fought to stay concious long enough to reenforce his objective to his failing mind, "Hitoban is the key... must... save... her..."
And then he fell silent, succumbing to the fatigue of body and mind.

[hitobannofokkusu]

*Katashi followed his scent back to this cave, and she stood in the entrance. She took in all of the smells. She could smell Hitoban, as well as this Dante character. She took a step inside and nearly fell back with how strong the smell was. She walked over to the sleeping wolf and nudged him. She wondered if she should fight him in this state. it wouldn't be much fun, she decided, so she recoiled in herself and let Hitoban re-emerge. As soon as she did, however, Hitoban's leg was broken, and she began to bleed again. From being left inside of herself so long, she fell over, falling into deep unconsciousness.*

[Tsukikage]

Dante woke at last to find Hitoban's body unconscious in the cave. He moved toward her cautiously, then discovered her wounds... a transmutation may be an option, he decided. Under normal circumstances, he would not perform a transmutation on another sentient being, because of the pain involved, but the bleeding could be lethal, and he could not afford that. He gathered the dirt with her blood on it, then scratched a circle around as much of it as possible. Now came the hard part.
He began to cut an identical circle in Hitoban's wounds. This would have to be done quickly before too much blood is lost. Using the DNA from her blood, he rebuilt the dirt into replicas of Hito's cells, some blood, some skin, some muscle, and infused her wounds with the new material. "This should heal the wound," he thought aloud, to reinforce his memory, "but there is a 33% chance that the new tissues I just introduced will be rejected by the body and become infected. Yes... 33, I think. In which case, I will have to attempt to convert the infected tissue into normal tissue again using more pure DNA directly from her blood, instead of the dirt-blood... er... I... think..."
He couldn't concentrate... why was this happening to him? A side-effect of his power? He had to get away, just in case Hitoban wasn't in control when she woke up... he looked for the exit, but saw none! His vision was blurred, the room was spinning... he ran in panic and splashed into the water, but he was still disoriented, and bashed his head against the wall... was it a wall? His head felt wet... was it water or blood? Had he hurt himself? He did see red dripping off his nose... maybe... was it...?
He couldn't think... only one thing came readily to mind "Tsuki... hurry..." He murmured before passing out again.

[hitobannofokkusu]

*As the swirling colors materialized into the cave scene from her viewpoint on the floor. She could see that Dante was up by looking out of the corner of her eye. She saw him hesitate before taking a step forward. She then saw him come all the way to her and start scratching something in the dirt that she couldn't see. Then came the pain. She couldn't exactly see what he was doing, but by the sensation of claws being raked over her skin, she could tell that he was scratching the same pattern in the dirt into her skin. She wanted to howl, to fight back, whimper-anything! But she remained motionless and silent, eyes closed. her nostrils flared slightly, but it wasn't noticeable. Soon however, the bleeding stopped. For some reason she couldn't understand, Dante was now stumbling around in the cave in what seemed like a blind stupor. She saw him hit his head and struggled desperately to come back to the surface, but to no avail. She could hear faintly the words "Tsuki" and "Help", but she didn't know whether he was calling for Tsuki to help him, or for him to help Tsuki. Then he fell. She bit and clawed at the blackness and finally, slowly, she came back. Her eyes fluttered open and she jumped to her feet, a little too quickly, falling back down in a matter of seconds. She got up slower and walked over to Dante, laying down next to him, resting his head on her paws and laying her head across his neck.*

"I will NOT fall asleep this time."

[Tsukikage]

Dante slid gently in and out of conciousness. He felt something warm on his neck, and could now distinguish blood beginning to mat up his fur, and thankfully clot on its own. He couldn't focus his eyes, or gather any other information about his surroundings. He could remember a cave, and water, and a wall... a very hard wall. Everything else was fuzzy.

[hitobannofokkusu]

*Hitoban's nose twitched as she, once again, deflected falling asleep. What was this smell...? She lifted her head. It was very faint, but she could tell she had smelled it before, she just couldn't tell what exactly it was. She twitched her nose, sniffing at this familiar, yet unfamiliar smell curiously. Then it hit her like a twenty pound brick in the face.
It was Tsuki's smell.
She started to get up, but stopped mid-heave to remember Dante. She couldn't just leave him there, surely, but she had to go to Tsuki.*

"What should I do??"

*She finally decided that if she couldn't go to him, she would give him the option of coming to her. She got up, ever so gently and padded to the cave door. Then she called him. She howled and anyone who was really listening to it would be able to hear "Tsuuuukiiiiii"*

[Tsukikage]

"Hito..ban?" Dante mumbled, "yes, you are important to Tsukikage... he is... here?"
He fainted again for the space of six seconds, then awoke and shakily got to his feet. "Where? Oh..." His memory was a little clearer now, and he began to talk at himself, though not necessarily to himself, "right, the cave... so, you overcame your sister then? Good, that means you are strong enough..." He then turned his attention to Hitoban, and stepped beside her, "I'm sorry to worry you my dear, I just... ju-sssst..." He crumpled on the floor, as if all the strength from his body washed out of him in a second. "sss" was the only sound he could make before he passed out again.

[hitobannofokkusu]

*Hitoban's ears twitched backwards, just as she was about to begin to howl again. She looked back at Dante to see him standing. She bolted forward and caught him before he hit the ground, wide-eyed, looking frantically to the cave door. She didn't know what to do anymore. Her head spun as the knowledge and fear gripped her. The small part of her mind that held reason screamed at her to stop and think. She took a deep breath as she gently set Dante down. As soon as she was free, she paced back and forth, thinking hard. She spoke to herself.*

"Okay....I obviously can't leave Dante here by himself, but *she smiled slightly* I'm important to Tsuki, so maybe he just can't find me. What did Dante mean that I'm strong enough? I'll have to ask him when he's better. I need to tend to him. But I'm no healer! I'm a...a runner! Kazumi, I need you!"

Sister? You called me? Is there a problem?

"Yes there is a problem! That's an understatement! I need help, Dante won't stop passing out. What's wrong with him? Come out here and look him over, please?"

Of course my sister.

*Hitoban phased into Kazumi, her fur turning a brilliant white smeared with blood red. Kazumi padded over to Dante and sniffed at him. She snorted and stepped back.*

"Sister, how could you miss this? He's bleeding profusely from his head! How could you not smell it twenty miles away?"

Oh my god, he's bleeding? I don't know how I couldn't have seen...or smelled for that matter.

"Well, it's out of your hands now. Now it's my turn to be out. I will have to leave the cave momentarily to get the things I need. I hope you don't mind. If I don't, he could die of blood loss."

Of course sister, just don't stray too far. I have to keep an eye on him. If anything seems out of place, you go back to the cave and summon me, okay?

"Of course my sister."

*Kazumi trotted to the cave door, mumbling as she went.*

"Okay..I need herbs, leaves, vines..."

*She stepped outside and immediately saw one of the things she needed. Supple cottonwood leaves covered the ground, along with the cotton it grew. She gathered up as much cotton she could carry and went back to the cave. She set her load down next to Dante and went back twice more, repeating the process. Then she gathered leaves in the same fashion, making only two trips. The vines and herbs were going to be harder to find. She went deeper into the forest, listening for any sign that anything was going wrong. She saw a tree covered in vines and jumped into it, cutting them off with her claws and catching them in her mouth. She got three long strips and ran back to the cave, putting them with the rest of her supplies.*

"Now for the healing herbs. I wonder where I can find them..."

*She ran off into the trees, looking for that familiar purple herb that would stop the bleeding immediately, but could also kill you if ingested improperly. She also needed the green antidote one must swallow after ingesting the purple goop. She finally found one solitary herb and approached it. She stepped up to it and cut it with her claws. She held it gingerly by the stem in her mouth, dangling heavily. She soon saw a patch of the more easily found green antidote. She set down the purple herb and gathered three of the leafy herbs. She stuck their stems in the side of her mouth as she picked up the purple herb in the same fashion as before. She then bolted back to the cave, her anxiety growing. She put down the herbs and went to work.*

Wait...what did you get Kazumi?

*Hitoban's voice in her head startled Kazumi and she jumped, cutting one of the vines too short. She muttered to herself and tossed it to the side, picking up one of her spares and starting again.*

"I got cotton, cottonwood leaves, vines, and...my special herbs."

You got...the purple one?

"Yes."

Are you sure you can do it Kazumi?

*She turned and snapped unnecessarily, cutting another spare too short.*

"S.h.i.t...Of course I can do it Hitoban. Trust me. I've done this before."

*She managed to cut the last vine to an appropriate length and began to cover the leaves in cotton. She smoothed them down and rolled Dante to where he was leaning in a sitting position on the cave wall. She placed the leaves one by one on his forehead, some overlapping, and left them there to go back and get her vines. She wrapped the vine with her teeth around his head many times before skillfully tying the end to another wrap. She looked at her handiwork happily.*

"I only wish he were conscious enough for me to know if that's too tight or not..."

*Now came the hard part. This was really where she needed another healer with her, but she only had herself, so she would make due. She dragged Dante gently to a small bed of leaves and lay him on his back. She went over to the purple herb and carried it gingerly over to him. Then she got the green herbs and tossed them over. She picked up the purple one shakily, then put it back down, breathing deeply.*

Now, now Kazumi...calm down...You can do this. You can't be shaking when you're trying to administer this one. Calm. Deep breaths.

*Kazumi's eyes closed momentarily and she smiled at Hitoban. Katashi smirked evilly back at her and she scowled at her. Anyone watching this would see Katashi with white eyes scowling at nothing. She opened her eyes again and went back to her work more confidently. She picked up the herb and held it precariously over Dante's mouth. She nudged it open with her paw and looked down at him. This would make it to where he couldn't breathe for a minute, but with him unconscious, at least he wouldn't be able to feel the horrible blistering pain that went with it. She raised her paw and made a small slit in the fat leaf, shaking her claw off immediately after. She tightened her grip on the stem and a thick, purple ooze dripped out and fell into Dante's mouth. She drained the entire leaf, tossing it carelessly to the side when she was done with it. Then she began her REAL work hastily. She ran back over to him and shook his head slightly, letting the nauseating purple gunk drain down into his throat. Then she took one of the green leaves and crunched it up, sprinkling it into his mouth.*

"I'm so sorry, but this isn't going to feel good."

*She got some water and put it into his mouth, the green flecks draining into his throat. If he were awake, this would be the part where he was screaming in pain. The green herb felt like swallowing fire, but it was necessary in order to live. She ground up the other two and forced them down in the same fashion. She quickly rolled him onto his stomach and stepped back. Now she had to wait and hope to god he would spit the green back up.*

[Tsukikage]

Dante shook uneasily as the purple gunk went down his throat, but when the green stuff came, he convulsed, woke up, and vomited. He'd never felt anything like it, it was amazingly horrific to vomit, and now he lay on his side, barely able to breathe, but his mind seemed much clearer now, either out of pain or because it was healed, he did not know.

At that moment, Tsuki and Kage entered the cave. "Hitoban!" Tsuki shouted excitedly.
Kage looked at the odd color in her fur, then at the various color blotting Dante's fur, "not quite..." he muttered under his breath. Dante was embarrassed; here was the one he'd come to find, and he was covered in blood with various stomach contents on the floor next to him. Kage mused over these, and again muttered, "I had no idea wolves could vomit... hmm." Dante couldn't even stand to greet them properly. How humiliating.

[hitobannofokkusu]

*Kazumi practically jumped for joy that she didn't kill Dante.*

"Oh, I'm so glad!"

*Her ears perked at the sound of her sister's name being called, and she turned to see Tsuki and Kage standing in the cave entrance. She wanted to run to him, to tackle him and lick him until he couldn't breathe. She took a step forward but then felt the sudden pang of regret. Tsuki did not know her. Tsuki knew Hitoban which, in it's entirety was her, but he still did not know the white wolf standing before him. She took two steps back slowly, shaking her head.*

"Tsuki...I am Kazumi. I am one of Hitoban's other sides. Please do not fear me. Please. Let me explain. I am Kazumi, Hitoban's pure side. My sister is Katashi, Hitoban's evil side. She likes to fight, while I live to heal. Together, there are three of us, but only one of us can be out at a time. The other two stay tucked safely inside our mind until the other forfeits their position or is forced back in. She called me out because she couldn't find what was wrong with Dante, and she knew I could heal him. She knows that I am no match for Katashi when she wants out, but she knew I am the only one of the three of us that could've helped him. I think Katashi was asleep then, so she didn't try and force me inside, thank heavens, but she could have very easily. Katashi is weaker than Hitoban, but when her anger, or her distress gain the upper hand on her emotions, Katashi is more easily summoned. Just as when she is elated, I am summoned. She has the power to summon us of her own free will, like when she needs someone to heal, or someone to fight. Whatever injuries one of us has, they are not transferred to the other, and they heal faster inside out mind. the longer she stays inside, the faster her broken leg will heal. it's still a bit fractured now, but her bloody injuries are fully healed. Also, whoever one of us loves, the other two love also."

*As she said the last, she looked up at him and took a step forward, but then her nervousness got the better of her and she phased back into Hitoban. Their fur merged for a split second and soon, Hitoban was back out. She stared at Tsuki with an unreadable look on her face, leaning slightly to the side, not resting her weight on her fractured paw. She was no longer bloody, and her paw was the only sign of her struggle. When she realized just who she was staring at, she grinned and ran forward, tackling Tsuki and licking his face happily.*

"Tsuki, Tsuki! I thought you had died! Why didn't you tell me where you where you were going? I thought the worst! I was so worried Tsuki! How could you do that to me?? I'm just so glad you're back."

*Meanwhile, Dawn had been watching Hitoban carefully. She was tempted to go to her when she passed out, but then she noticed Tsuki, and decided to test him. She kept an unnecessarily strong eye on her though, and when she bolted forward, nearly healed, she decided she would let Tsuki and Hitoban catch up, then she would follow, just to make sure she was okay. She nestled down in the tree, eyes closed, a smile on her face, and prepared for a long wait.*

[Tsukikage]

Tsuki giggled, then said rather calmly, "You really shouldn't takle me with your paw like that. Not that I mind, mind you, I just... I kind of... um." He blushed slightly. Kage saw this as a cue to intervene, "You and your sisters wouldn't be much good to the pack if you lost a limb, so you gotta be more careful, k?"
Dante smiled in his half-stupor. Tsuki was now full-grown, not only in body, but in spirit as well. Then he noticed something odd; Tsuki's fur was different. He was now golden with a white face and underbelly, and the crescent scars were gone, replaced by a single golden scar on his chest. "Tsuki..." He said, "what happened to your fur?"
Tsuki blinked blankly at Dante for a moment, then looked up at Hitoban, then back at Dante.
Kage answered, "Our father, Mar, gave us his blessing; he believes Tsuki is now strong enough and wise enough to lead a pack... if he chooses. Of course, we'd need permission from the local pack leaders first to start one nearby."