Kuro

Chapter 1 - Prologue

On a dark and stormy night, rain was pouring down heavily. Thunder roaring in a deafening way and lightning brightening up the skies, a female black dog with a white patch on her nose had just given birth to a litter of 6. Eyes were closed and bodies shivering with cold. The mother had found an old abandoned barn to give birth in but the wind could still sneak its way in. She lovingly nudged her babies and named them one by one.. 

Amaya, black with white paws, Braun, dark brown, Zorro, black with white and brown patches, Rona, dark brown with black ears and paws, Ozul, black with white tipped tail and Kuro, all black. The puppies quickly scurried and made their way to the warmth of their mother, feeding hungrily.. Amaya, the smallest took the longest to make her way. By the next morning, after a long and tiring night, Amaya had still sadly passed as she was too small to make it through the night. Mother dog whined at her loss but still hurried out of the barn to search for food for herself.

She knew she had to hurry as any predator could come into the barn at any time.. Alas, she had eaten what she could find, leftover human food, and returned to the barn. All puppies were safe and sound, huddled up together. 

The mother continued to work tirelessly for not only her own survival but very small pups for weeks.. By this time their eyes were wide open and they were curiously crawling. It was a dangerous time for the naive pups but their mother stayed by their side, making sure they were well protected. They loved playing with each other, rolling around and tumbling. What they didn't know was that danger lurked everywhere.. Zorro and Ozul, rolled down a ditch and almost landed into a swamp.. Oh my!  Worried mother ran towards them, losing sight of other puppies.. 

A brown scaled snake came crawling up to the playful puppies, out of mother's sight.. Although as the snake had begun to eye the puppies, their mother had come back, holding Zorro in her mouth, Ozul running behind happily. That same snake did not care and struck the new threat, their mother.. She yelped in pain, dropping the pup, Zorro and fell, unable to stand up.. The young pups ran up to their mother, crying, as they saw what had happened.. 

"Mommy.." They yelped helplessly.. She later died a few hours later, leaving her young alone.. After a few days of hanging around her, playing, their stomachs begun to grumble.. and they had no choice but to find food.. 

The five puppies smelled some food but it was guarded by large dogs.. none of whom willing to share with them.. so they searched in trash and had what they could find.. Every day, they played and searched for food.. It was extremely hard for young to survive. Soon enough, Ozul had eaten something bad and died from poisoning a few weeks later.. 

Kuro, the strongest of the litter, begun to protect his siblings determinedly and became a leader to them. He did not want any more loved ones to die.. He was still only 6 weeks old but he started to learn how to steal food and run really fast compared to his siblings. Zorro and Braun were the most childish and energetic and still loved playing. Rona was the shy, quiet one and had trust issues with other animals and humans. 

The puppies decided to travel one day to get to more food.. Kuro lead the way and he followed his own scent. This lead them into the busy, noisy city, terrifying trembling Rona.. 

"W-why d-do w-we h-have to be h-here?" She asked, afraid.. Her voice was trembling too..

Zorro and Braun laughed. "You can always go back there, alone.." Zorro playfully sneered at his sister. 

"No! I d-don't want to be a-alone.." Rona muttered.

Kuro glared at his brothers, once heard them. 

"We can not fight or play! We are here to survive!" He barred teeth and growled.. 

Zorro and Braun whimpered and nodded their heads.. Rona happily grinned and scampered up to his brother, Kuro, to get away from the other two. 

Suddenly a strong Rottweiler confronted the pups, with eyes glaring and mouth snarling. 

"Go pick on someone your own size! We aren't here to disturb you.." Kuro protectively stood firm in front of his siblings. 

"You are trespassing!" He shouted with an eerily, deep voice..  

Kuro gulped nervously, slightly worried but still continued to stand firm. 

"We are not from here... so we did not know.. It is unfair to punish newcomers!" 

The Rottweiler howled, gathering up his pack.. 

Rona, Braun and Zorro stepped back, whining. 

Kuro became afraid too but tried not to show it.. 

The pack laughed at the terrified pups.. 

"This is your warning! Step away from our territory now!!" The leader angrily snarled.. All the pups ran off with tails in between their legs.. 

As soon as they were far enough away, they all stopped, panting heavily.. 

"Sorry.." Kuro sadly apologised, feeling ashamed.. 

"I-it's ok Kuro.. Those dogs were scary.." Braun told his brother, nudging him gently by his nose.. 

The siblings continued to travel, although it started to snow.. very heavily.. Blizzards had occured.. Food was scarce at this time and the pups were extremely hungry.. Kuro sneaked into cities as they travelled, gathering food he could scavenge for his siblings.. They were too afraid to go into the cities themselves since the last encounter. 

Braun became extremely sick and could not travel anymore, unable to stand on his legs.. His skin became pale and he was losing weight.. rapidly. 

"Please.. go without me.." He whimpered to his brothers and sister. 

Kuro and his siblings stayed by Braun's side trying to strengthen him up with food.. but alas the young pup eventually died himself.. 

Young Kuro.. was afraid, and distressed.. Loss of his siblings and mother still went to his mind but he had to try to be strong... because he knew that this world was tough and excruciating. He knew the dangers that lurked everywhere.. He just hoped that he could protect his siblings.