City of Souls and Howls

**City of Souls and Howls** is the first episode of the Bleached Wolf's Rain series.

It's an apocalyptic world ruled by Nobles. Wolves have been extinct for two hundred years. A young man named Ichigo Kurosaki will have his life changed when he meets a white and a Soul Reaper named Rukia Kuchiki.

## Summary

Outside the dome of Freeze City, a white wolf is seen wandering the snow. It's finally that it falls to the ground and passes out, wondering of his search for Paradise.

Meanwhile, a supply train is making it's way towards the city, when a few vehicles move in. The gang members start boarding it, when a security bot takes out one of them. However, it isn't long until the leader Tsume takes care of it. With that, the gang celebrates their raid as they take off with the goods, until a Noble ship is seen passing overhead. At that time, a young woman, who appears to be injured, starts making her way towards the city.

Inside the dome of the city, a wolf hunter named Quent Yaiden and his dog Blue reach a bar. After entering, he asks for vodka as he takes a seat. The owner notices his rifle, and can't help but ask about it. The only thing Quent says is that he has it for protection against animals like bears, or wolves. A bit surprised, the bar owner brings up a legend he heard about how when wolves reveal themselves, Paradise will appear. Not believing this, Quent claims that wolves are "servants of the devil", the owner replying that wolves haven't been seen in two hundred years, and that it's merely a fairy tale. Outside, the gang is passing by, until Blue sees Tsume, and starts barking out that causes Quent to rush out with his rifle. But he finds there's no one there, until his attention is brought to what looks like paw prints on the ground he inspects. In an alley, Tsume stops when one of his fellow gang members asks what's wrong. He claims that it's nothing, then informs them that the provisions for the Nobles will be reaching the checkpoint at night, which is when they make their move. The boy Gehl seems concerned about this though.

Elsewhere in the city, a young man named Ichigo Kurosaki checks out some food items at the local market place. He decides to purchase some vegetables, the owner joking about how he could cook something up for her. This has Ichigo joke back that he might take her up on her offer. Once get's what he's been looking for, he pays, then heads out.

Meeting up with the rest of his gang, Tsume sees that they've found something in a tree. They believe that it's a dog at first, but he is taken by surprise to see that it's actually the white wolf. While they wonder what to do with it, Tsume let's them know it isn't a dog, and suggests they bring it out. One of them is about to, when the white wolf comes to, and goes right for his throat, killing him. That's when it then sees Gehl, who's too afraid to do anything, until Tsume pushes him out of the way, now interested. He draws it's attention away from the others as he takes off, the white wolf following in pursuit.

Only when they reach a secluded rooftop is it revealed that Tsume is actually a gray wolf, who brings up what happened earlier. The white wolf insists that it was only protecting itself, but Tsume doesn't buy it. Confused, the white wolf wants to know what's wrong with killing. He tells him that he's in the city now, and that there are rules. It's then that it wants to know about him being around humans, believing that appearing like one means throwing away his pride, which gets to Tsume, leading to a fight between them.

During this time, in a lab, the Flower Maiden, Cheza, awakens from her sleep, which surprises the researchers there. While the white wolf and Tsume still fight each other, Gehl shows up to see what's going on, and moves in to swing his disarmament tool, making the white wolf back off. It takes one last look at Tsume, then it takes off. As Gehl asks him if he's alright, Tsume only tells him to stay out of things. Gehl admits that he didn't think he would care about what happened to him, or his friends. All Tsume does is answer that they're not friends, and that he's not like them.

Within the lab, Yoruichi Shihoin and her research team are interested that Cheza seems to have finally awakened, thinking that it was caused by the scent of wolf's blood. Admiring her, Yoruichi feels there's much about Cheza that they have yet to understand, referring to the Flower Maiden and the wolves being drawn to one another to that of "an ancient scholar's fairy tale".

On the street, Ichigo is on his way back to his place, when he hears about that gang that has been stealing supplies from the Nobles. He gets caught up into thinking about it enough that he suddenly bumps into Quent. Surprisingly, he apologizes to Ichigo, who doesn't seem all that bothered about it. With that, he helps pick up some of the dropped food, then tells him that he should be careful in the city because he doesn't know what he might run into.

All the while, the white wolf tries to make it on the street, recovering from its' fight with Tsume. It drinks some water from a fountain as it starts to wander down the street, until it hears a rifle cocked, causing it to look back, and sees that it's been found by Quent, his dog Blue making a charge towards it. He then fires a clear shot that hits the white wolf, which drops to the ground. Cocking another round, he comments that he has it now, and is about to fire another shot, when out of nowhere, Ichigo stops him. Trying to take the rifle, he asks him what he's doing, although Quent demands him not to get in his way and to move. In the dispute, Ichigo pushes him back, saying he won't let him kill the dog, to which he replies that it's not a dog, but a wolf, leaving him confused.

The incident is taken to the police station, where Quent is questioned by Captain Kisuke Urahara. When Quent asks him what he did to the white wolf, Kisuke tells him that it's dead, and that the body will be disposed of. Believing that to be impossible, he states that he has to see it for himself, mentioning to him that it's a wolf. Kisuke is confused by this, causing him to explain how wolves have been extinct for nearly two hundred years. However, Quent convinces him otherwise, saying that all wolves must be wiped out. Outside, Ichigo sits in the waiting area, wondering how he got himself caught in "this mess."

While the white wolf is being held in a cage in an empty area, he sees that he isn't alone, and has been found by a tan wolf. Making their way there, Kisuke and Yoruichi get the chance to try and catch up with each other. As soon as they get to the area, Kisuke is the first to see the tan wolf, who is disguised as a human, saying that he was looking for the janitor's closet. After he shows him where to go, he thanks him. Getting close to the cage, he asks Yoruichi what her opinion on the white wolf is, but she isn't sure what to make of it.

Getting ready for their next raid, Tsume and the others wait for the changing of the security detail. Before he can give the word, he stops to see that Gehl has shown up. It's after a while that he says that he wants to fight. That he wants to help.

At the station, the tan wolf gets the chance to talk to the white wolf, introducing himself as Hige. When the white wolf asks about his human appearance, he reveals it's so that he can blend in to survive, but he disagrees with him. Commenting on him being "a strange one", Hige then states that having pride doesn't count for much if he's dead. This seems to convince the white wolf.

While the gang raid takes place, officers are heading out in response to it. It's during that time that Ichigo is still waiting to be interviewed about the incident from earlier. At that moment though, he sees a young man and Hige pass by.

He doesn't think much of it at first, until he sees that the young man is really the white wolf. Even though Ichigo feels he's merely seeing things, he thinks maybe he isn't.

At the raid, Tsume's gang are brought under fire as they attempt to get away with the supplies using the city's pipelines. Tripping, Gehl falls and grabs on, calling out to Tsume, who sees this, and goes back for him. When he reaches him, he grabs him as a wolf with his teeth, causing Gehl to shout out in pain, and falls to his death, Tsume watching helplessly.

Outside the police station, Ichigo goes in search of the white wolf. Noticing that he's leaving, Kisuke is about to stop him, when one of the officers reports that the white wolf is gone. He goes to see for himself, only to find that it is gone, Yoruichi wondering if it escaped on its' own. While still looking for the white wolf, Ichigo is about to give up, when he runs into the injured woman. He tries helping her, until she asks him if he is Ichigo, which he confirms it is. Only when he asks her name does she tell him it's Rukia Kuchiki, and that she's been looking for him.

Meanwhile, the white wolf thanks Hige fro helping him out. Not considering it a big deal, Hige jokes around some, until the white wolf asks him why he helped him escape. He admits that he smelled that something interesting was going on, and he wanted to see what it was. After a while, Hige finally wants to know where the white wolf plans on going, to which he informs him that he plans on going to Paradise. Taking this in, Hige thinks that it might be fun, when the white wolf reveals his name: Kiba.

## Appearances In Order

* Kiba
* Gehl
* Tsume
* Rukia Kuchiki
* Quent Yaiden
* Blue
* Bar Owner
* Chen
* Sedo
* Ichigo Kurosaki
* Cheza
* Lab Assistant
* Yoruichi Shihoin
* Kisuke Urahara
* Hige
* Officer

## Notes & trivia

* This episode features the first appearance of most of the main characters (Ichigo, Kiba, Rukia, Tsume, Hige, Cheza, Kisuke, Yoruichi, Quent, and Blue).
* Ichigo starts off as a human, not knowing the existence of Soul Reapers and wolves. This is very similar to the *Bleach* series, where he starts off normal, not knowing the existence of Soul Reapers and Hollows.
* In this series, Kisuke Urahara replaces Hub Degre and Yoruichi Shihoin replaces Cher Degre, both characters from the *Wolf's Rain* series, respectively.
* Kiba is the first to be seen as a wolf.