Chapter 164: Family

Boom! A cloud of smoke suddenly appeared, out of which came Okamikase, who crashed into the house of the clan leader, Okamitsuki. Such was the noise this caused, that everyone in the clan heard it and moved closer to make sure this was not an attack from the other wolf clans. However, this was worse than they thought.

Okamikase, in pain from his back, got up from the ground and shook off Toru's blood.

"I'm getting too old for this sort of thing" He shook his head, then turned around and looked at the two humans lying on the ground. "You, him over there. Call Okamitsuki and Okaminaru. This is serious stuff. So, hurry up."

"Okay..."

With that, the small wolf, who was targeted by Okamikase's eyes, hurriedly called out to the leader.

"Ha~...this isn't right. The boy is too serious. He may not last more than a few hours. The woman, though injured, is quite resilient, she'll recover quickly if she gets treatment" As someone who knew humans like the pads of his paws, it was easy to deduce the conditions of these humans. Right now, Toru is struggling to stay alive, while Konan was knocked out when she collided with the tree. "By the way, where the hell is Okamitsuki? I don't know she's supposed to be here to protect her own, even that puppy is gone. It's all getting complicated."

***

"So, are you feeling better already? 'Those days' should have passed by now" Okamitsuki, paws dipped in the river water, closed her eyes and relaxed. Spending time with her beloved daughter was quite comforting.

"I... I don't want to talk about it..."

"Why are you so embarrassed? We're wolves, we've been naked forever, and you're embarrassed on rutting days?"

"That's completely different."

"Really? I don't see any difference."

Okaminaru avoided looking into her mother's eyes.

"You're hopeless, aren't you?"

"I guess not, fufu."

Mother and daughter looked each other in the face and smiled. Putting the embarrassing moments behind them, Okaminaru thought that taking a break from everything was for the best. However, she also wondered how Toru was doing right now.

"..."

"...Someone's coming."

They both heard someone's hurried footsteps. Immediately after, they heard a nervous voice.

"Okamitsuki-sama! Okamitsuki-sama! There's trouble! Okamikase-sama brought two injured humans!"

A nervous puppy appeared saying what Okamitsuki considered to be "nonsense", but after hearing the word "humans", she frowned and looked in the direction of the wolf village.

"That blood..." In her nostrils she could smell it. It was the smell of the blood of someone she knew. "Okaminaru... calm down..."

"Grrrr..."

She realized that her daughter had also smelled the scent of that person's blood. It was the smell of a prey that was about to die, her instincts told her that he was dying. So, ignoring her mother and the wolf that came to give them the information, Okaminaru took off running at high speeds in that direction.

Okamitsuki sighed wearily. "Let's not waste time, let's go."

"Yes, ma'am."

***

"It's getting worse..." Okamikase looked at Toru. He still had that metal rod sticking through his abdomen and there was blood coming out of the wound. His breathing was quite labored, as if he was running out of air. Well, it was logical, one of his lungs was punctured by the metal bar.

The elderly wolf had laid Konan and Toru down nearby, so he could watch them both. However, even though Konan had taken less damage than Toru, she still had that wound that could harm her health. In retrospect, if someone didn't do something, Toru would die.

"Toru-dono!" Okaminaru appeared beside Okamikase. "What happened to Toru-dono, who did this to her, was it that woman!" her eyes flashed from the senjutsu, plus at that very moment her blood was boiling with anger.

"Calm down a little, Okaminaru. She wasn't the one who attacked the boy."

"I'm not going to calm down. If I hadn't been that way before, he could have summoned me and maybe he wouldn't be dying."

Okamikase felt that Okaminaru was too worried and he understood her, but only Okamitsuki can help these two humans. Well, Okamikase could too, but he would need her help to accomplish this.

To his luck, she didn't take long to show up.

"Status report, Okamikase," Okamitsuki said.

"The boy summoned me. It seems they were running away from someone and besides they were both badly wounded. I had no choice but to use a reverse summon to bring them here and run away from the attacker. I didn't have time to see his face. Besides, the chakra the guy had became familiar to me."

"I see. We'll talk about that later. For now, Kaminari..." Okamitsuki relaxed the expression on her face and looked at one of the wolves nearby. "Prepare herbs and bandages. Kokou, heat water and take it to my house."

"Understood, my lady." x2

Both wolves almost shot out of the place. At the same time, she looked at Okaminaru.

"You better stay out of this, my daughter. You know that if you get into this, I'll only be slowed down."

Okaminaru gritted her teeth and walked away turning around. She knew that her mother was the best at treating human wounds, for in the past, like Okamikase, they were part of the two generations that had contracts with humans, so that entailed knowing quite a bit about them.

As she left the place, she looked back one last time. It felt horrible to see Toru in this condition. She didn't know what happened, but the one who dared to hurt her friend....

'Whoever you are... I'll kill you...'

-At Okamitsuki's house-

"The woman is out of danger now" A strange woman covered by a blanket licked her hands full of blood. She was covered by nothing but an old black blanket and, in front of her, there was also an old man.

"Now all we are missing is the boy," he said. He was also covered by a black blanket. He had a large white beard, as did his hair and, his eyes, were a rather dark crimson color, much like blood.

What made these two people easily recognizable, were the large fluffy tails sticking out of their low backs, in addition to the wolf ears that were on their heads. They were Okamitsuki and Okamikase, who use human forms through Henge, as small hands are needed to treat the wounds of humans, as humans, no matter how tough they are on the outside, will always be frail and weak on the inside.

"His condition is too serious..." Okamitsuki narrowed her eyes. Some of her silver hair covered one eye and her breasts lifted the blanket covering her a little. She looked at the injured Toru seriously.

"First we have to remove the metal rod and fill the wound with herbs. But that doesn't assure us that the wound will heal, the damage is too great..." he said.

"We have no choice. We have to do whatever it takes. That day, when Okaminaru brought the brat here, I saw an injured and abandoned puppy. It was pretty pathetic for my taste, but at my daughter's insistence, I treated it as if it was part of our family."

"Haha...it's easy to tell you're quite fond of this human boy."

"Hum. He's a stubborn, dense brat. When I taught him how to use Senjutsu, he gave me a lot of headaches. It's like the world itself hates him."

"Yes. I've noticed that. However, I've also seen a strange pattern in the boy's behavior. He always throws himself into danger without thinking through whether or not it puts his life at risk. It's almost like-"

"Like he's trying to die on purpose..."

Okamikase looked at Toru and remembered the days when the Okami clan interacted with humans. He remembered his former master, who treated him in horrible ways. This made him hate humans and, since that time, he never interacted with them again. 

It is said that with age comes experience. This may be true, as it may also be false. Okamikase has met many humans and, to some extent, he can understand them. He can see their emotions, he can feel what they feel. And what Okamikase felt in Toru was immense sadness and pain. Maybe that's why he wanted to advise him, so that this boy doesn't go down a bad path.

"Let's not waste time talking. Let's try to save the boy..."

-Hours later-

"Hm..."

She opened her eyes and felt pain all over her body. She realized that she was lying on a hard wooden bed and was covered by sheets made of the skins of various animals. She sat up in bed and touched her head in pain. 

"What is this...?"

She looked at her torso, realizing that there were quite a few bandages there.

"Where am I?"

[Konan...]

"Toru!"

She quickly tried to get up from the bed, but her body was still weak, so she fell face first to the floor. She touched her forehead against the floor as she tried to remember clearly. In her mind, the exact moment when Madara stabbed Toru mercilessly appeared. She remembered how the blood dripped from the wound and how Toru closed his eyes before sinking into the water.

She clenched her fists tightly, digging her nails into the ground. 

'Damn you Madara...'

"You shouldn't get out of bed. You're still recovering," said the voice of someone who suddenly entered the house. It was Okamitsuki, who had returned to her wolf form, only she had decided to shrink her body so she could better interact with the woman in front of her. "In case you're wondering, you're in the village of the Okami clan. There are only wolves here, no humans aside from you or the brat."

"Brat...? ...Toru."

Okamitsuki looked at the change of attitude in Konan upon hearing the boy's name. Shee looked at her seriously and walked over to the bed. She laid down on the floor next to Konan and looked into her eyes.

"Tell me what happened, who left them in that state? Toru is not someone weak. Even though nature rejects him, he is still extremely powerful. So, tell me, who was it?"

Konan hesitated, but considering that he was talking to a wolf, then it was obvious that this creature knows Toru.

"Uchiha Madara..."

"For a second I thought it was a joke, but, taking into account your seriousness, I see you're telling the truth. The enemy had a mask?"

"Uh... yes..."

"Good. Next question: what's your name?"

"...Konan..."

"I understand. Now, do you feel better? Your wound doesn't hurt anymore? I used special herbs to heal your wound. In two days you should be fine" Konan was silent. Okamitsuki knew that the woman wished to know what happened to Toru. "He is not well. He is in critical condition and will not make it. At most he has two hours left. If you want to say goodbye, I'll take you to him."

"It can't be... no..." Konan closed her eyes. "This is my fault."

"You're right. It was totally your fault. He most likely only helped you because inside his heart he felt he owed you something, but that doesn't give you the right to cry for him. Stand up and say goodbye to him with respect. For, thanks to him, you are alive."

Konan could not refute anything against those words. She felt the guilt fall on her shoulders, causing her a strange pain that she didn't quite understand. After that, Okamitsuki carefully lifted Konan onto her back and they left the house.

***

Already outside, she looked at the place where she was, the place where that wolf Toru summoned brought them to. There were dozens of giant hollow trees, the place where each of the wolves of the clan live. The leaves of the trees seemed to cover the sky, but still the light reached the ground through the leaves themselves.

She felt awed by the sight, but almost instantly the image of Toru being stabbed by Madara came to her mind.

'This isn't right...' She closed her eyes. She thought of Nagato and Yahiko, whose lifeless bodies still remained in Amegakure. She apologized to them internally, as she felt he abandoned them to their fate. At the same time, Okaminaru, in the distance, gave her a sidelong glance and sighed. She came to the conclusion that Konan is a very similar person to Toru, as both of them have always clung to the past. Toru more than Konan.

***

"Don't make too much noise" Okamitsuki said. 

They entered the smallest tree in the place. The inside was quite spacious and, strange as it sounds, there were small objects, like what a human would use. This was logical, since mostly in the last three years, this was built specifically for Toru. 

"If he was to escape and stay somewhere, it should have been here. But you Akatsuki took him away before that happens. This place was meant for him. The things you see are Toru's, he brought them himself, most of them are stolen things. During his Senjutsu training he lived here, with us. Now do you understand what this brat means to us? He is part of our pack. Though I understand that doesn't compare to the family he once had."

"Family..." Konan looked down at the ground and braced himself for what he was about to see.

To be Continued...