Disclaimer: I don't own Wolf's Rain. Gosh, what an awesome series...

Hmmm. The idea's a little cliché, but I think it's rather cute. XD Takes place during that one ep... Written because there aren't enough Hige/Blue fics out there.

Just Because

The snow fell relentlessly all around them. Not for the first time, Blue sneezed. She glanced up warily, praying that no one had heard her. No one did. The snow and the wind were too strong.

Damnshe thought. She wasn't used to such harsh weather.

"Hey, Kiba..." Hige murmured, trying to prevent Blue from hearing, "you want to stop, just for a bit?"

The white wolf looked back briefly, but made no reply. He continued to hurry through the snow.

"Ki-ba!" Hige called after him, frustrated.

Blue knew what he was planning. She caught up with the auburn wolf and glared.

"Quit it. All right?"

Hige backed away defensively. "What?"

"This whole -- this whole trying to slow down because of me. I'm fine. I can handle it."

"I'm not trying to slow down because of you," Hige retorted, "it's because of the runt!"

Blue stared him down.

Hige shifted uncomfortably.

"Stop it. All right?" Her azure eyes pierced through him.

Hige gulped audibly. "Yes, ma'am."

Blue snorted and took off in the whirlwind of snow. Hige sighed dejectedly and paused momentarily, watching as his breath came out in quick, short puffs.

"Why can't I ever do anything right?" he muttered.

Blue snorted, a million comments zooming through her mind. She turned slightly, just enough so she could see his face. She opened her mouth...

And then the world seemed to fall and break into a million pieces.

Everything was black, and she could vaguely see patches of gray, and white.

She fell back against the cool, powdery snow, and her eyes closed shut.

---

"Told you we'd been going too fast."

"I thought she could handle it."

"She is only half-wolf."

"But she seems so strong, you know?"

"Yeah, traveling with that old man and hunting down wolves."

"But now, she's hurt." That was Hige, a definite hint of anger in his voice. "And we're going to wait right here until she wakes up and makes a full recovery."

Hige....

"And how long will that take?" Tsume sounded the same: irritated and cold.

"No matter how long it takes!" Hige exclaimed heatedly. "If she -- if she --"

"Yeah," Toboe chimed in, "we can't leave without Blue."

".....we'll wait, then." Kiba answered after a long stretch of silence. "Until she wakes up."

"And makes a full recovery." Hige's tone gave out the clear message that he was not fooling around this time.

There was another period of silence, one in which anticipation hung in the air.

"We'll see," Kiba replied.

The sound of retreating footsteps announced the white wolf's exit. Hige exhaled loudly, and Toboe pointed out, "I've never seen you so brave before."

"Feh," Tsume grunted, "it's because he's worried about her."

"She has a name, you know," Hige pointed out needlessly.

Tsume huffed also left the room. Toboe leaned over Blue's slumbering form and frowned.

"Hige... she looks really pale."

Hige crossed his arms over his chest, trying and failing to seem nonchalant. "She'll be fine," he said, trying to reassure himself more than Toboe. "She's not the kind of gal who'll let a little cold do her in."

"Ehe." Toboe laughed uneasily. "Hey, I'm gonna go get some food. I'm kinda hungry. You wanna come?"

Hige shook his head. "Nah. You go ahead. I'm not feeling hungry."

Toboe goggled at him, and scratched at his head. "O -- Okay."

Hige? Giving up food? But.. why?

And... why can't I wake up?!

"Well?" Hige said grumpily upon noticing that Toboe was still hovering in the doorway. "What are you waiting for? Go get some food. Enough for me and Blue, when she wakes up later."

"Eh?" Toboe narrowed his eyes in confusion. "But, how do you know she'll --"

"She will," Hige answered in a voice so fierce Toboe backed away.

Hige....

How do you believe in me so much?

---

Am I dreaming?

Everything was so blurry, so faded, so old. It was like watching a dream... simply sitting back and staring and gazing. It seemed so unreal.

There was their small little house... in the midst of the grassy fields. And she was still a young pup, ignorant of what she really was.

She was so happy back then. She could have lived like that, forever.

If only she hadn't met Cheza back in that town.

If only she hadn't realized exactly what she was.

Everything would have been perfect...

Forever.

And then the dream shifted moods, so suddenly. One minute it was peaceful and serene, almost like heaven. Two seconds later, she was watching as the flames licked at their house, licked at their village... and there, in the midst of everything, were the faint silhouettes of wolves.

From then on, everything changed. She became Pops's hunting dog, only good for sniffing out the wolves. But it was the life she had grown accustomed to. It was the only life she knew, really. What else could she do?

And then...

Then she realized she was half-wolf. She discovered this new, hidden side to her.

She could have lived on her own. Scraped by with whatever food she could find, whatever money she could make. But then, after that, she met up with the very same wolves she had been trained to kill. Kiba, the lone wolf. Tsume, the cold rebel. Toboe, an innocent pup.

And Hige.

It's all just a dream. Right? None of this is real. I'm just watching this dream go by.

Her peaceful life in that small, quaint village.

Her life with Pops, hunting down the wolves.

And now, her life here. With Hige, and the others.

"Wow. What a babe!"

"Life's boring without any girls around."

"My name's Hige, by the way."

Ugh... how annoying.

Although, I guess in a way, it's kind of nice.

The flames, burning down their entire town...

This is just a dream.

It's all just a dream.

But whenever she thought of Hige, and his warm eyes, and his mildly annoying, yet at the same time flattering way of caring about her....

It couldn't be just a dream. It had to be real.

This isn't a dream, she decided to herself, this is real, and this is life. And I have to wake up.

---

"C'mon, Blue..." Hige pleaded, clutching her hand in his. "Damn that runt. I didn't notice... but you are pale. Wake up. Huh? Come on... for me?"

And she did.

It was so startling that Hige was taken aback for a moment, jumping back slightly. But this was it. This was really happening, and it was true and sweet and precious and relieving. Her blue eyes were so soothing and calming. He had never been so glad to see them before.

"Blue?" His voice was hoarse. "You awake?"

"Obviously," she replied, but she smiled nonetheless.

He breathed a sigh of relief. He stood up, almost as if to give her a bone-breaking hug, but then thought better of it and settled for a small squeeze around her shoulders. Blue stiffened, and then relaxed, lingering in his arms for an extra moment.

"It felt like I was watching a dream," she murmured. "Like my life was nothing but a dream, you know? And I was just watching it pass by."

Hige furrowed his brow, "Like watching your life flash before your eyes before you die?"

Blue chuckled. "Something like that, I guess."

His eyes narrowed mirthfully, "Was I in your dream?"

Blue rolled her eyes. "You're really something, you know that?"

"Heh." Hige laughed quietly. "I get that a lot."

Blue drew her black jacket tighter around herself. Although she was generally a quiet person, for some reason, she was unable to stand the awkward silence that filled the room now.

"...yes," she said, quietly.

Hige gazed at her questioningly.

Blue stared down at her lap, "About the dream." She looked at him. His eyes were clear and bright. "You were in there."

His eyes widened for a fraction of a second, and then a relaxed smile spread across his face. "Is that so?"

"Mm." Blue raised her knees up to her chin. "Got a problem with that?"

"Not at all," Hige replied almost instantly. "You dream about me. I dream about you. Fair trade, wouldn't you say?"

Blue arched an eyebrow. "You've been dreaming about me?"

"Eheh." Hige scratched at his head, sheepish, "Should I have shut up?"

"Yeah. You should have."

Blue smiled.

Hige smiled back. And then he burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Blue asked, tilting her head to the side. She pushed herself up on her elbows, staring straight into his sparkling eyes.

"It's just," Hige leaned over closer to her, placing his elbows on the bed, "you ever notice that we always have these moments together, where everything's going pretty well, and then I screw it all up?"

"I --" She began, and then abruptly broke off.

Why?

What...?

There was something there all of a sudden. Something that hadn't been there before. Or, no. Blue clutched at her heart, maybe it had been there all this time, but it had been sleeping, undeveloped. And now, at this moment, with him staring at her with all those unreadable emotions in his eyes, with her lying, weak, on the bed, it had woken up, fully grown, with a vengeance.

It was a feeling she didn't recognize, and truthfully, she had no idea what to make of it.

"...were you..." She swallowed, cursing herself for sounding so weak, "...were you here all this time?"

"Oh." A light red tinge appeared on his cheeks. It was the closest thing to Hige being embarrassed. "Well, yeah."

"Seriously?"

"Uh-huh."

Blue shook her head. "Idiot."

Hige's face fell a bit. "...you really think so?"

Blue rolled her eyes, ready to give an affirmative... but at the last second thought better of it and said, "Nah."

Hige jerked up to meet her eyes. "Really?"

"Yeah." Blue closed her eyes briefly, settling back into the pillows. "Got a problem?"

"Not at all," Hige answered, a full smile across his face. "Besides, an idiot in love's gotta do what he's gotta do. Right?"

Her heart skipped a beat. "...wh...what?"

In love?

With...

...me?

"Oh." The grin faded from his face. "I did it again, didn't I."

And there! There it went again! A strong, pulsing feeling, flowing within her. It was something that was reacting to... to him. Hige. He was the one doing this to her, making her feel this way.

"Blue?" He waved a hand in front of her face. "Hey... just... forget I ever said anything. All right?"

But how could she forget something like that? It wasn't like people told her they were in love with her everyday, after all.

"Why?"

"Why?" Hige furrowed his brow, baffled at the question.

"Why," began Blue, "are you in love with me?"

The words sounded so funny coming from her lips. She'd never expected to actually be asking such a question.

"Well..." Again, Hige scratched at his head, "it's not something I really understand."

Blue frowned.

"Maybe it's something about your fur," he suggested.

Blue glanced incredulously at him. "My fur? Of all things, my fur?"

"You have very nice fur," Hige commented.

She reverted quickly into her wolf-self, glancing down at her dark-colored fur, and then looked back at him.

"Really? Do you think so?"

"Yeah!" Hige nodded enthusiastically. "I mean, it's such a pretty black, you know? Plus it's all sleek. And shiny. And clean, that too."

Blue didn't know whether to hit him for thinking about her like that, or to laugh at the stupidity of it all.

"Haha, I'm just kidding." Hige waved at her, "I mean, you do have great fur and all. But probably it's your eyes."

"My eyes?" Now she was really lost. First, he was ogling her fur. Now, her eyes?

"Yeah. They're a really great blue."

"Really?"

"I mean..." Hige glanced at her eyes, "it's almost like I could get lost in your eyes."

Blue shivered involuntarily. "Hige..."

Hige laughed, a little awkwardly. "Yeahh.. I should shut up now, huh?"

Blue rolled her eyes, yet again. "So you're telling me that you're in love with me because of my eyes."

"Does it sound stupid?" Hige scratched at his head again. "But, I guess, mostly, it's... just because. It just kind of happened. Like love at first sight."

Blue shook her head. "You're getting way too cheesy."

I think... I think I understand, at least a little better.

He loves me just because. I guess my fur and... and my eyes have something to do with it. But mostly, he loves me just because.

And...

I'm not really sure yet...

But I think I'm starting to feel the same way.

"Hey..." Toboe entered the room. "I brought you guys some food. Oh! Blue, you're awake! The old lady was worried."

"Old lady?" Blue repeated.

"The old lady who's letting us stay at her house," Hige answered. "We were lucky to find this place."

Toboe placed the tray of food on Blue's lap.

"Only one serving?" Blue questioned. "What about Hige?"

Toboe grinned.

Hige's stomach growled. Loudly.

And that about answered it.

"Hige...."

Toboe wisely retreated from the room.

A vein throbbed from the dark-haired wolf's forehead. "Hige! I told you not to go around doing stuff like that for me! Giving up your food for me, making everyone slow down for me --"

"Oi, oi, calm down." Hige raised his hands defensively. "I was just looking out for you!"

"Don't you think you're overdoing it just a tad?"

"Must be part of being love, ya know?"

Being in love?

Her heart stopped.

Ugh. I hate it when he says stuff like that. It completely throws me off!

"Don't you think you should be eating?" Hige asked, a wide grin spreading across his face, knowing that he'd won.

"Me? What about you? You eat twice as much as I do!" exclaimed Blue. She wasn't used to having people care so much about her. It was unnerving. It was strange.

"You need it more than me," Hige pointed out. "You fainted. Remember?"

Blue scowled. Getting an idea, she stabbed at a piece of meat with her fork, and ordered him, "Open your mouth."

Hige blinked, "What?"

"Open your mouth." She wasn't messing around.

He obeyed, and she fed him the piece of meat. Hige jumped in surprise.

"We'll share," she told him. "I'm not going to have you starve, and then go faint in the middle of the snow."

A smile slowly spread across his face. "Right."

They continued that way, Blue taking a few bites of the food, and then literally feeding Hige like a mother would do to her young child. But Hige could never remain silent.

"Blue?"

"What?"

"Why are you doing this?"

Blue chewed thoughtfully on a spoonful of rice. "Maybe because I can't stand to see you giving up everything for me."

"Eh?"

"Or maybe it's because if I let you starve, you'd whine the whole way."

"Hey..."

"But mostly," And here she smiled, just ever so slightly, "it's just because. I guess."

It took a few seconds for him to process her words. But then he finally understood, and then he lit up. Blue shook her head, amused at how easily he was made happy.

Something happened that day to me. Sort of like a realization, maybe? Or some sleeping emotion, suddenly waking up for the first time. Whatever it was, I'm not sure myself. And I don't think Hige realizes it either.

I think I'll keep it that way.

end

This story was entirely dedicated to Darkness Arts, who writes the most amazing Hige/Blue fics. Go read her stories now if you haven't already!!!

XD I wrote this after watching the last ep of Cowboy Bebop... so if you look closely, you can see the underlying themes of Bebop, like the whole "watching a dream" thing...