Please R&R...I know the first chapter prologue thing was tedious but...there had to be some kinda intro. ne? Anywho...yes this will be ChezaKiba once the story moves along...most of the story is gonna be descriptive...and I'm not really a writer sooo...yeah I dunno just hope you enjoy...

Chapter II

I don't know how long I slept, all I know is that it felt good. As the hazy cloud of sleep evaporates from my mind it occurs to me that there is a shuffling sound coming from somewhere in front of me. Then there is also the sound of feet padding around as well as some snuffling. Eventually the sound comes a little too close for comfort and I am forced to open my eyes. I know they must look glazed over because everything I see is blurry. I blink once, twice, and then vision comes back to me. What I see area pair of champaign colored eyes staring at me. Wolf eyes. As soon as that registers, I freak out. I jump up as quickly as possible from my position on the floor with gasping breathes. I can tell I startled them too, especially the red pup, whose eyes I was staring into only seconds before. He backed away from me with his tail between his legs. The grey one, who was once staring out the door, instantly turned around hackles raised. The collared one jumped and backed away from my backpack. The white one, who had been laying down across the room adjacently to me brought his head up quickly, assessing the situation.

I back away from them as best I can, and manage to fall over and land hard on my ass. I shuffle back against the wall, and stare, breathing hard, choking and gulping on air trying to steady my breath. Waking up with a pair of eyes that close to you is very startling, especially when you knew you were alone before you went to sleep. Scary, unexpected, and rather unwanted, I wonder what they want with me. It is now obvious I am not being hunted otherwise they would have already killed me. But being killed was still an option. I can tell by the way the grey one keeps baring his fangs at me as soon as I make any fidgety movement.

I curled up into a small ball against the wall. I wasn't scared before, probably because of the gap between us. Now the gap is closed, the farthest wolf being just across the room. And the closest…five feet away at least, needless to say, that is not a safe distance. Not for me at least. The beginnings of calm spread through me and I try my hardest not to make any sudden movements, and now it is just staring. They stare at me and I stare at them. I have no idea how long this lasted for, but it seemed as though minutes are just slowly crawling by. The pup with the bangle gets up. I tense, waiting to see what will happen. Tail still between his legs and belly close to the floor he crawls to me. I have seen this position before. He is being submissive…to me...perhaps, asking for forgiveness?

Where he stops I can touch him without having to stretch my arm very far. He looks up at me, ears back in a complacent manner. I finally reach out slowly, when I am within an inch of touching him I pull back. I am still scared. He whines and crawls closer. I then cautiously place my hand on his head and he pushes upwards, nudging me, encouraging me. I smile a little at that. He is cute…I stop that line of thought as soon as it comes. It is never good to think that way. He is still a wild animal and would follow his instincts at heart. He would kill me if he had to. And thinking of him as cute or like a pet would get me killed. I can not forget that. At this my smile must have faltered because the pup whines again and has the gall to curl up next to me, head in my lap.

The scarred one doesn't seem to like this very much. His hackles rise once again and growls. This does not get much of a reaction…at least not from the pup. I on the other hand tense up. Pup must've felt this because he glances up at me, lifting his head and growls back in a grumbling fashion at the scarred wolf and then rests his head in my lap again. The grey one takes several menacing steps before white jaws clasp warningly around his neck. The white wolf has stopped him. I wonder why… I glance momentarily at the tubby wolf, who seems to be observing the whole ordeal with amusement, as his tail thumps against the floor in a slow rhythmic pattern. I then relax. Sleep was calling to me again. I slowly lay next to the red pup with my head burying into his fur. It is soft, warm, and smelled of the cold air and pine trees along with something I can't name. I murmur a contented "mmmm…" against his fur and croak out "sweet fur…warm…soft…" and I once again drift away where nothing matters.

The next time I awake it is to voices. Arguing to some extent, while another voice interrupts here and there with amusement, there is another voice and it was coming from above me and under me somewhat. I don't want to open my eyes, but the voices are getting clearer. I decided I could chance it. I open my eyes. Everything is blurry but I clearly hear a voice state "Hey! Look guys, she's waking up."

The thing under me moves a little and it is then everything snaps into focus. The wolves are gone, instead there are now three men in the room. I furrow my brow in confusion. I didn't want or need any trouble and this could potentially cause just that. I stay were I am, too comfortable to move, and ask "who are you people?"

One man with shaggy brown hair just stares calmly and indifferently at me, cold blue eyes assessing me. The man next to him decked all in leather just scoffs at me and mutters something under his breathe about 'stupid humans'. The third man then runs directly into my line of vision with a large happy grin on his face.

"Don't mind Tsume, he's just being his usual jerky self." The white haired man snorts indignantly…there is something familiar about the three of them…I cannot place it though.

"As for who we are," he continues "my name's Hige, as you now know jerkface over there is Tsume, that's Kiba," he points to the man with cool blue eyes and shaggy hair, "and the kid you're layin' on is Toboe". It takes me a while to register everything he said, not that he said too much, but he said it so fast. I would've choked…but then again I choke when I say two or three words. My voice is quite unused. The last part finally registers completely. 'The kid you're layin' on…', I was? I move a little, it would make sense…whatever I was laying on was warm. I look up, a face with a small smile and wide eyes framed with shaggy rust colored hair looks down upon me. Tentatively he says "Hello…?"

I probably wouldn't have minded too much. Except I am more than certain I fell asleep on a young wolf, not a person. I move fast. I am against the wall again in shock, I think I managed to hurt myself this time. I hear the thump and crack of my head smacking the wall. I moved too fast. The boy…Toboe is up on his feet in an instant coming closer to me, hands up in placating manner.

"Are you okay?" He dares to take a step closer and I slide against the wall further away from him. The one called Hige then takes a step closer to me, "calm down, we're not gonna' hurt you". They both come closer, I cannot help the scream that rips through my throat. It is short lived however, as a hand claps over my mouth and deep rough voice exclaims, "Shut up! Don't draw attention to us! We're not gonna' hurt you…yet", he whispers the last word menacingly. He means it, I did not even have time to see him hurtle across the room. I feel trapped. The one wearing leather…Tsume, holds his hand roughly against my mouth, the other behind my head so I cannot move it. Hige moves closer to me, and Toboe observes all this with a look of worry, still coming closer.

I begin to hyperventilate. It was the start of my panic. Perhaps it was unreasonable. But. Well…fuck reason, I just woke up and now I'm being cornered like a wild animal by men that appeared from nowhere! A sharp voice cuts through my small sounds of rising panic.

"Let her go. She can't run anywhere even if she tried. You might as well let her go. Besides we are the ones intruding upon her. And if she does try anything…," he trails off leaving the rest to the imagination.

Tsume lets go with and angry grunt and glares at me. I focus on breathing. I do not want to get too dizzy from lack of air. Hige backs away a little and then sits down observing me.

Toboe steps closer however and asks "Are you okay?" I can only nod my head in response. Everything is happening so fast, I am disorientated. When I finally gather my thoughts I ask, "Why are you here?"

The one named Kiba answers coolly "To evade the storm." He says it so simply, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. He is only telling half-truths though. I can feel it. I've told more than my fair share of them. He was telling the truth, but leaving a lot of information out I suspected. My questions would have to be more specific.

"Why are you here in this particular room with me, there are many other rooms in which you could evade the storm in?" my voice is getting less scratchy as I use it more and more, although it is still not the most pleasant thing to listen to.

"Yes, there are other rooms, but this one has more heat," he looks momentarily at the fire and then his eyes flicker back to my face…he is avoiding something. That is what my gut is telling me. It hasn't been wrong before…might as well give it a shot.

"That's not all is it?" His eyes gaze steadily into mine.

"No, it's not."

"Can I ask what else then?"

"Of course you can, you just have…" he trails off. He does not want to talk about it anymore. I think it bothers him, even though he gives no outward sign of discomfort.

And now for the question that has been plaguing my mind, "Where are the wolves? Did they leave?"

Tsume snorts, "You really don't know anything do you."

I am confused. I turn my head towards him, "What do you mean I 'don't know anything'?" As soon as he is about to answer Kiba cuts him off, "What she doesn't know won't hurt her…or us," he seems to add as an afterthought. My attention so far has been so focused on these two that I did not notice Toboe as he sidled up beside me. He pulled on my sleeve. I jumped a little and turned toward him, this time determined to stand my ground.

"It's okay miss, really, we're not going to hurt you. After this blizzard's over you may never see us again," as he said this he seemed rather sad however, as though he had known me for longer than the twenty minutes we spent in a room together…with me being conscious, at his statement though Kiba looked at him sharply, as though he wished to contradict that statement.

Then a louder, more jovial voice joined into the conversation, "Hey! Wait a sec' here. We told you all of our names. It would be nice to know what yours is."

I blushed from embarrassment, I had completely ignored common courtesy, they had given me their names and at the time I refuse to give mine.

"Aya, you may call me Aya," I whispered. Hige seemed pleased that he managed to ferret my name from me. He walked until he stood right in front of me, he then put his arm out. I pulled up my sleeve a little bit and we shook hands.

"A pleasure to meet you Aya! Now, here's a question. Would you happen to have any food on you…?"

At that Tusme barked out a rather violent, "Idiot! Is that all you think about? Food? Besides, you already went through all her stuff by hand and nose, she doesn't have anything. You said so yourself!"

By nose? I wonder what he means by that. Surely he cannot smell the food, especially not if it is frozen. Another voice cuts off from next to me, "Why do you bother asking, you can smell food from miles away if you're that hungry…"

I glanced at Toboe, he still had a vague hold on my left sleeve, though the statement seemed innocent enough, there was a malicious teasing tone to his voice. Alas, the topic was getting way off tangent here. What happened to the wolves? No one answered my question, so I decided I would cut into their banter.

"No one told me about the wolves. Did they leave or what?"

Silence reigned for a few moments. I liked it. Strange. I had been outside for four days with not a sound. Now that I was in the middle of conversations I wanted out again. I soaked in the silence, even if it was uneasy on their part. Then in a soft voice that sounded as though he shouldn't be answering that question, Toboe answered.

"They never left."

"You mean…they're still in the building?"

"Not only just in the building."

I am confused again. I swept my eyes around the room, no wolves here. I do not understand. My brows furrow in confusion.

"Have you never heard of the stories?" a scathing voice asked me. I looked at Tsume,

"What stories?"

"You really are stupid. Look around you. See any similarities to those wolves you saw?" he said with a sneer. Kiba gave him a warning glace. They all seemed a little tense now. As though perhaps they were rethinking telling me such an answer, they were waiting for my reaction.

I glanced at each of them now. First Kiba, nothing seemed similar about him at all. Maybe the indifferent attitude, but…anyone can have an indifferent attitude. I look at the others and shock sets in. Tsume has a cross shaped scar on his chest. How did I not notice that before? The grey wolf had the same scar. A coincidence I hope. Then Hige, nothing familiar here…except the engraved collar. Things are getting weird. I sucked in a breath to stabilize the growing panic that once again began to blossom from my chest. Finally Toboe, our eyes lock, and then I scan his outward appearance. Those bracelets. The same ones the wolf pup wore. I feel my eyes widen, impossible.

I try to remove my sleeve gently from Toboe's grip. Instead his grip tightens. He whispers softly, "Do you understand now?"

I nod my head. But I do not want to understand. I try to back away. The grip now moves to my wrist. It is not very tight yet, but I suspect it will be if I attempt to thrash. Understanding grips my heart in cold steel, making the steady rhythm stop. Instead of blood dripping from my heart dread does, slowly dripping into the rest of my limbs. I manage to gasp out in a trembling voice, "S-so, you're th-the wolves?"

They all nod solemnly, I lock eyes with Kiba. He seems to be observing me the most intently, I do not want to panic. I do not hyperventilate this time. No, this time my breath stops almost altogether and I feel as though I cannot move. Fear has frozen me. I do not know if I believe them. My gut tells me they are not lying though. And my gut has never been wrong before.