Returning home

Kio padded down the dirt road, the rocks scraping against his paws would normally hurt but he was used to it by now. He turned off into the grassland just beside a farm where the cows looked up to see what the white shape was, then lowered their heads again to graze. Kio made his way through the shoulder-length grass, his head and back the only visible thing aboe the yellow feild. He was making his way to the back where a small group of trees grew together in undisrupted harmony. Inside the group of trees was a small pond. This area was once a farm, but when the farmer died everything was moved, though the pond and trees remained. When he reached the grouping of trees he turned and sat down, waiting for the female from before to catch up. This is where he'd lived all of his life. The only actual place in Ivalis where a dog could live peacfully without the smell of gasoliene in his nose. This place was peacfull; the only sounds being the singing of birds, the moo's of cows, and the occasional neigh of the horses. Kio's chocolate brown eyes scanned the horizon of the sea of yellow grass, searching for the female from before. He wouldn't blame her if she went and chased after the human that saved her before; many dogs did. He, however, was a "street rat" by heart.

Lakota wasn't very far behind the male dog, but wanted to have a bit of fun with him and stayed low so he couldn't see her. The female's paws were used to the road, but they were soar from walking the streets all day that they needed to adjust to the different feeling. Gorgeous blue eyes scanned the horizon, taking in all of the sights to see. Her nose was filled with many different scents, but the most important one was the male German shepherd. Lakota looked over to her right, seeing only tall, stocky, yellow grass. But at last she could see a large pasture full of cattle and in the distance a smaller field with a couple of horses. Soon the sight was blocked more of the grass, but Lakota didn't care and simply looked back infront of her.

Soon she found a grove of trees similar to a circle with a pond in the center. Underneath one of the trees lay the dog she had met before, the beautiful white shepherd. The femme was behind the tree before he could see her and went around the other way than where he was looking. It was another one of her playful games she so often plays, though they usually were played by herself before now. She walked out of behind the large tree and looked at the male with a small smile on her face. "Hello again," she put out softly, blinking her blue eyes. Her multi-colored pelt moved over to the pond and her tongue soon began to lap up some water before she looked back to him. She licked her lips from the water leftover on her maw and sat down beside the pond and the tree the other dog was laying under.

Kio turned to the sound; his ears were so used to the rustle of leaves by now from hunting that it was rare for someone to sneak up on him. Though, he had to admit, he was glad that the female had chosen to follow him instead of run off with the human. "Hey," he said, a slight smirk on his face in responce to her small smile. His chocolate brown eyes met her peacful blue ones for an instant and he was awe-struck with the beauty and the familiarity in which they held. His mother had blue eyes almost exactly like this dog's, and they brought back a lot of memories. His mind was confused as to what breed this dog was. He'd never seen one like her before. "What breed are you?" he asked, standing up again. He caught the glimmer of sun her pelt shone with when a bright ray ripped through the leaves of the over hanging trees and fell onto her multi-colored coat. "I've never seen a dog like you before. By the way, I'm Kio. The pure-blood street rat of Ivalis."

Lakota paused, it was unlike others to ask of her breed. She flattened her ears and turned her head away. "Well," she started, "I'm not actually a 'breed'. My parents were German shepherds, like you, but my father's mother - my grandmother - was a pure wolf. I never met her, though my parents often told me of her beautiful pelt that resembled mine almost perfectly." The female hadn't heard herself talk about her family in a long time. Too long. She looked to him, but her eyes didn't meet his head. Her maw opened in a sigh, though didn't continue; It was too much for her at the moment. But instead she continued on her genes, instead of old memories. "That's why I act a bit differently than you do, if I have any since I met you." Lakota looked into his eyes at last, they were so gentle looking, yet so brave and courageous.

The femme wagged her tail a bit, and regained her once-lost smile. It was nice to finally find someone who was like her, who wanted to be her friend. "Oh, I'm Lakota," she started on again. "A pleasure meeting you, Kio." Her voice was like beautiful music, so calm, so gentle, so caring. Yet they also held some sadness, but covered up about half of it.

Kio listened silently as the female spoke, and wasn't surprised to hear she had some wolf in her. She looked different than most females hed seen; bigger, since wolves were typically taller than normal dogs. Though, being a female and having a lot of dog in her, he was still taller. "I see," he murmured quietly, looking away at the stocky grass that surrounded them. "Eh, nothing much with my family. Never met my father. I had two other siblings, and my mom, being a single mother of three, had a tough time finding enough food for all of us. We learned quickly to fend for ourselves, but that didn't help my siblings much. My little sister got caught by the pound and, being a puppy, she was adopted almost instantly. I know where she lives but we never talk 'cause every time we do she always tries to convince me to get an owner." He said those last words with a slight growl. It always annoyed him; he'd never understood why dogs would get owners. He looked back up at her as he continued, his brown eyes meeting her familiar and soft blue eyes, just like his mother. "My older brother died early. He got sick and eventually died of it. He couldn't move or eat or anything..." His eyes became pained; Kio had always been close to his older brother, and the memory of him laying there, nothing but a pile of skin and bones, haunted him ever since. "But, I was one of the lucky ones. I loved my mother, but I knew I had to leave. I've been living out here ever since." He smirked slightly at her, then moved past her to lower his head and lap up the cool water of the small abandoned pond. "If your hungry there are some field mice that live out here that are easy to catch," he continued as if his painful memories had never been mentioned. "Or we could go back to the city and rummage through some garbage cans. Humans throw away some tasty stuff, thats for sure. Just gotta know where to look for it."

Demi carefully took the collar off of her neck with her teeth and shook her pelt. After a few hours of walking and getting rocks in her pads, she smelled two dogs, one smelled like a dog but with wolf in the dog. She smiled and followed the scent, Demi saw them and carefully walked up to them, carefully just like her mother did, her mother was a wolf, strong and stealthy, Demi got that from her mother, she was quite like her mother, she looked like a wolf, smelled like a wolf, and acted like a wolf.