FOXXTROT CHAPTER 8
Indeed, the night grew long with each passing moment. Odd-nose’s eye lids grew heavy, and his breathing began to soften. He yawned deeply and lied  his head softly on top of Dark-paws, her ears twitched. “Odd-nose, if Kuro gets up, he’ll howl at you.” Odd-nose woke quickly and ruffled his fur, “You’re right,” he sighed, “I just feel so tired all of a sudden, my paws are aching and-”, Kuro rose to his paws and let out a great yawn, “Alright, get some rest then,” Kuro strode proudly past odd-nose, “I’ve had my rest, you and dark-paw will need it. We set out as soon as the sun rises above the hills.” Kuro sat down in front of odd-nose, odd-nose bowed his head at trailed to a spot comfortable enough for him to lay. Dark-paw followed after him, her gentle eyes admiring odd-nose warmly. She shuffled her paws softly in the earth and folded her ears back. “Can I sleep next to you tonight?” Odd-nose lifted an eye open and studied her face softly, he smiled lightly, “Scared of being alone, Dark-paw?” Dark-paw shuffled once more and nodded. Odd-nose smiled slightly, “Sure, I don’t mind.” He curled his tail tightly around himself, providing room for dark-paw. She squeaked and curled up tightly towards him, a warm smile gleaming brightly on her face.

* * * *
Kuro glanced to the moon, it’s quarter full self glowing weakly. He sat firmly in his spot, an uncomfortable feeling crawled over him knowing that he wasn’t able to be by Sagome at this moment. He glanced up once more, his ears pricked quickly. He stood swiftly, his neck fur bristled and his claws outstretched. He curled his lips forward, his heart pounded with great strength. A strong scent of cat crept over him, his eyes grew fierce.  He didn’t know what to think, he kept his guard and crept silently over the small base were the rest slept. He scented softly again, the scent was going further away, he relaxed. A sigh of relief escaped his jaws, nothing to fight for tonight, he knew he needed his strength for when they continued their journey.  Sanzo lifted his head and snarled, “There was that cat just now, wasn’t there,” Kuro glanced at him slightly, “there was, but it left just now, no need to waste our strength.”
Sanzo glanced to the sky, the stars started to fade away little by little, “We haven’t gone very far, and It’s quite a journey to wolf tribe.” Kuro sifted his paws though the dirt heavily, “I know this Sanzo, but we have no choice, what if there’s many cats to worry about, we have to keep all the tribes in the forest, it is our duty as foxes, as living things, to help others survive if we know there is grave danger.” Sanzo’s beads rustled. A quick wind wisped though, the strong scent of water came along with it. “there will be rain soon, Kuro, I think we should head out now while the paths are still dry and the scent of the wolves still linger.” A smug look came over Kuro, “They still need rest,” Sanzo nodded, “But we can try to rest once we get to wolf tribe, the sun won’t rise today, so how will we know when to head out.” Kuro snarled, “Wouldn’t it be safer if we traveled in the rain?”
Sagome picked up quickly, rising to her paws a dashing to Kuro, a hateful look in her eyes, “Kuro, I smell rain,” His orange eyes couldn’t take themselves off of her soft face. “I know Sagome, but what do you want me to do, odd—nose and dark-paw haven’t had much rest.” He pointed his muzzle towards the two. Sagome studied the rise and fall of their sides. “Still Kuro, there’s rain on the way.” Kuro sighed. He shifted his wait to stand and made his way towards the two, he nuzzled them on the shoulder blades, waking them with ease, “I know it’s early, but we must head out now, there will be rain soon. We will lose scent of the wolves.” Odd-nose moaned but stood on his paws heavily, dark-paw sat up and smiled.  They all turned towards Sagome, “yes, we head out now.” She pressed her muzzle to the ground, she sniffed in strongly, then trotted forward.
“No matter what happens, always be on guard.” Sanzo dug his claws into the earth, “Wolves are unpredictable, and will attack out of no were.” Odd-nose twitched his ears, his paws feeling slightly lighter than before. Sanzo had a point, anything could happen. Kuro snarled, “And be careful, that cat is out. He almost had us earlier.” Sagome snarled, odd-nose became tense. His belly felt sick all of a sudden, he no longer wanted to travel. Dark-paw pressed against him softly and smiled, “We’ll be alright , I’m sure of it.” Dark-paw wagged her tails lightly and pressed him forward softly. She wouldn’t let him be alone in a time like this.
* * * *
The storm clouds were rolling in quickly, whipping wind about and throwing around rubble and stone. The wind was strong, it stung their eyes as they tried to focus on what was ahead.  Odd-nose’s paws grew heavy trying to fight against the great pressure. His eyes watered, but no matter how much he wanted to close his eyes, he couldn’t, he had to keep forward, he had to keep trying .  Sanzo lingered behind him, pushing his flanks to keep Odd-nose caught up. Sagome pricked her ears then sniffed quickly, “We’ve arrived.” The all sat down swiftly, taking a brief rest after such a long journey.  Sagome sniffed softly, then glanced back. “Dark-paw, me and you will head out, we’ll keep close and see if we can convince a small patrol to follow us back to the rest of our pack.” Dark-paw rose to her paws and trudged irritably towards Sagome Dark-paw glanced back towards odd-nose and smiled weakly, “If I howl, will you come.” Odd-nose nodded, “Good, lets head out dark-paw.”
Sagome trodden quickly, trying not to outpace Dark-paw, “They’re right ahead, try not to cause a commotion.” Sagome strode calmly ahead, trying to make it seem as if they were here on friendly terms. She spotted three wolves, One was Ganabe, Another feather-tail, A black wolf with a beautiful silver stripe going down her back, with a peacock feather on her tail, and the other was Sokuma, a bold silver wolf with an odd eye.  Ganabe looked away, pretending not to know Sagome, Sagome did the same, her pelt feeling hot once more. “Excuse me, I’m second-in-command of fox tribe and I have important news to report to your leader, No-ear. Do you mind if my pack and I pass through the land and report this information, it’s of dire importance.” Ganabe snarled, merely acting so there would be no ties to be seen. “And why would we do that, fox! If it’s so important you can tell me and I’ll pass it to no-ear.” Sagome shook her head
“it’s not just wolf tribe that must know, it’s also the rest of the forest, please let us pass, we mean no harm, I swear.” Ganabe studied sagome’s soft eyes, succumbing to the gentle shimmer in them.  Ganabe rose his head and glanced around his patrol, “Shall we escort them?”  Sokuma snarled, “And why should we Ganabe, I don’t think they should be on our territory.” Dark-paw stepped in softly and gave a warm smile, “I promise we will be here and gone by sun rise tomorrow.” Sokuma sighed, then nodded, “Let's go get the rest of your pack, and head back to pack territory.” Sagome led them quickly towards the males of the pack, Kuro rose quickly and nuzzled her cheek, “Sagome, I’m glad to know your ok.” His eyes lit up, “OH, are we heading out to the wolf tribe now?” Sagome nodded, “Ganabe, Sokuma, and Feather-tail will show us the way.” Kuro snarled at the sight of Ganabe, his pelt bristled up quickly, “you-you!” Ganabe looked down to Kuro, “DO I know you fox?” He turned quickly and trotted ahead , “Lets head out, to camp.”
* * * *
The rain came back again. The fur clung to them tightly, making it harder to walk, feeling heavier then the exaughstion that already pulled at their paws. Odd-nose lifted his head and studied the harsh eyes that encircled the small pack. Ganabe appeared to be the biggest o all the wolves. Ganabe stopped abruptly in the center of the camp. He barked boldly, then lifted his ears, “Lord No-ear, I have messengers from fox tribe, they say it’s of dire importance, they wish to speak to you soon.”
A large blue-grey wolf strode  out of a crumpled den of earth, he ruffled his fur and stood proudly, his left ear was missing, and his golden eyes lay fix on Sagome. “Ah, Sagome, I’ve heard good things about you in my dreams, What is it that is so important, whatever you say must be true.” Sagome’s pelt was on fire, she smiled in a way that she never had before, “Thank you sir, The information we bring you is small for now, but may become worse. There are a pack of Mountain lions on fox tribe, and we don’t’ know if this pack will expand or if it’ll reside alone in fox tribe. Our duty is to report this information to all tribes and make them aware. I hope that you will listen to my advice, it would be a pain to see such a great tribe be taken out because of foolishness.” No-ear nodded, Odd-nose smiled along with Sagome, his tail wagged softly, Part one of four was finished, now all he wanted was rest and a meal.
No-ear studied the tired foxes and smiled, “You are all welcome to have a meal and rest in a set of abandoned dens we have that way,” he pointed towards his right, were it seemed some badger sets were. Odd-nose sighed with great relief. “thank you sir, we are in great debt to you.” Odd-nose quickly trotted to the sets and crawled into one, it seemed warmer than he expected, he yawned. He curled his tail around himself and smiled, quickly falling to the blackness of slumber.
* * * *
Ganabe smiled and wagged his tail playfully, “It’s nice of you to come all this way Sagome, too bad you had to bring your over protective friend,” Ganabe and Kuro glared at one another. Kuro bristled and bore his fangs. “What is your relationship with her anyways?!” Ganabe swatted at Kuro’s paws and snapped at his ears. “We are friends, but I could make her more if I wanted to.” Kuro grew fierce “Sagome I don’t care what  he says, I want you to stay with me and only me.” Ganabe forced Kuro from the side and stepped in front of Sagome forcefully. “ You can’t tell her what to do, she’s not yours. So suck it up boy.”  Kuro bristled and leapt to the air, but he was knocked over quickly by Sagome. “Kuro, don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere I promise, we have to keep low anyways, alright.” Kuro nodded irritably, “I’m not sleeping while you rest, I’ll keep watch.” Sagome glanced to Ganabe.
“Besides, if you slept with me, wouldn’t the rest of your tribe be suspicious?” Ganabe pondered and nodded softly. “You prove a point Sagome.” Ganabe bowed his head and walked away. Kuro softened and looked towards Sagome. “You’re not gonna stay here with him, are you.” Sagome scoffed then nibbled on Kuro’s ear softly, “Of course not, you’re my best friend, I’d never leave you Kuro.” She trotted off and sniffed about the camp, trying to get familiar with the wolves in the tribe. Kuro sighed, he grew tired, and he trusted Sagome greatly.
He crept into the ditch with Odd-nose and sighed. “Odd-nose, is this how you feel when I’m with Sagome?” Odd-nose pricked his ears, a strong scent of guilt flooded his weak nose. “Kuro, that’s not like you to fall for something like that. Listen to your heart, not your mind.” Odd-nose lay his head back on his paws and yawned. “Besides, you’re the only fox she could ever love.” Kuro sighed sadly “….the only fox, that doesn’t count for wolves.” Odd-nose twitched his ears irritably, “Kuro, shut up, be happy that she’s already yours and no one else’s. So stop howling like a pup and accept it, coconut forbid.” Odd-nose gave a snort and curled his tail around himself again. “Get some rest, we have to head out tomorrow. And we still need to eat, just trust Sagome, alright.” Kuro nodded, “Alright.”