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Lost in the Dark [Oct. 22nd, 2017|02:19 pm]
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[User Picture]From: [info]namiashi_raidou
2017-10-22 09:32 pm (UTC)

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Somewhere in the fall, Raidou lost his grip on people. He flailed, trying to find anyone in the murky water, trying to find up. Agony ripped through his chest, scoring lines of fire along his ribs. He gasped, which was bad; inhaled filthy water, which was worse. Before panic consumed him entirely, a set of sharp teeth sank into the back of his collar and hauled him to the surface, where there was blessed air and gravity in one direction, and enough coughing to turn the world red. He yanked his mask off to breathe and got one arm over his rescuer’s back, grabbing a handful of soaking fur.

Tsuyoshi, or her sister, growled in his ear and struggled towards the shore. Around them, coughing, spluttering, and the distinct sound of Ryouma retching suggested everyone had enjoyed the experience just as much as Raidou had.

His feet touched solid ground. He staggered ashore and collapsed in a sodden heap, clutching his side. Ryouma joined him, maskless and gasping, followed by Kurenai and Kakashi. Pakkun flopped down at the waterline and said, “Ow.”

When the floating black dots had cleared from Raidou’s vision, he squinted around.

The sky was lavender. The sun was the deep orange of an egg yolk. Rolling hills stretched out towards broad horizons. The long grass, rippling in a warm breeze, was springy soft and dark teal — a color Raidou associated with deep lakes and shadowy forests, not sunlit fields.

“Hope goin’ home isn’t always this bad for you,” Ryouma gasped to Pakkun.

The little pug gathered himself up and gave Kakashi a withering look. “It’s supposed to be like hopping through a door. That hurt.”

“Overcalculated the counterweight,” Kakashi said, bracing himself on his elbows. His hair, plastered to his face, looked like dark pewter. “Sorry.”

In the golden light, Kurenai’s eyes were almost purple. “We’re not in pieces. Yet.” She pushed sodden hair out of her face and looked around. “How do we find the old ones?”

“Head to where it feels dark and forbidding,” Pakkun muttered. He glanced warily at a distant circle of craggy rocks, rising up like a bleached ribcage from a thick forest. The sky did seem more leaden over there.

Tsuyoshi tipped her head back, ears flat, and gave a long, ululating howl that rose like a fingernail tracing wet glass. Her sister joined in.

Wincing, Ryouma rubbed his ear. “What was that?” he asked, when the echoes had died away.

An answering howl sliced the air. It came from the opposite direction of the stone circle, over the crest of a low hill. Note by note, more voices joined in, until the landscape reverberated with wolfsong. Some were thin and young-sounding. Others, deep as a cavern, like they poured from a chest bigger than Baiji’s.

Kakashi got to his feet, eyes half-lidded, head tilted back. “My pack,” he said, like Raidou might say family.

Ancient parts of Raidou’s brain were telling him to find a tree, any tree, and climb. The trained, practical, vengeful parts that were actually in control thought, Reinforcements.

Tall grass parted as the first lean body came bounding towards them. Kin, golden-orange in the strange light, hit Ryouma in the chest and knocked him to the ground, laving his face with her long tongue. Raidou recognized giant Baiji, the brindled mastiff, following a moment later. Then the dogs he’d trapped in their training exercise, when Kakashi had played hunter and set teeth on them. And so many more. Warriors, fit and sleekly muscled, heavily scarred, with gleaming canines and glinting eyes — where they weren’t broken or gouged out. Youngsters, half-grown into heavy paws, bounding in excitement with leaps that took them higher than Raidou’s shoulders. Trackers with short legs and long noses close to the ground. Oddities Pakkun’s size or smaller. Raidou recognized a few breeds here and there, but mostly it was a chaos of traits and colors, some more wolfish, others pure mutt. The biggest was nearly twice Baiji’s size. The smallest barely wider than Raidou’s palm.

A heavily pregnant female pushed forward, silver fur darkening to black in a ridge down her spine. Her eyes were almost colorless. “Saishou,” Kakashi said, and crouched. She touched her nose to his masked cheek.