Feral was taken to a long room where rooms with sliding panels stretched all the way down to the other hallway, at least 20 rooms were present in this place. Walking to near the last of them, She was stopped and showed her room. It was small, only a bed was in it. However, the bed looked soft and comfortable unlike what she was used to. Looking at her father once more, he nodded.

"Sleep tonight, for tomorrow your training shall intensify more so than ever before." Dagger explained calmly. Even though his words were not what she wanted to hear, she still felt a bit of comfort in hearing his voice. As long as he was here, she felt she could handle anything...

Dagger watched as his daughter closed the panel behind her, letting her take in her own privacy and the fact she shared a room with no one this time. Little did he know, this was the start of her solitary behavior, only to excel throughout time.

Dagger walked outside, a cool breeze ruffling through his black fur. He looked up at the sky, his eyes reflecting the glare of the moonlight that shone down on his fur, fading it to a bluish tint. He stood at the top of the stairs he and Feral had walked up, the tireless stairs that tested his wolf pup of her will to climb them. He feared her legs were still not strong enough yet, however, he would speak of this later.

The black warrior stood there for a moment, before his eyes caught the glint of a a blue gaze below. Narrowing his eyes, they closed for a moment before he leapt off the high ledge, freefalling over a 100 feet from the air. Eyes opening at the last second, he spun his body around spinning horizontally, before landing on the side of one of the pillars, leaping off of there, he landed with a soft thud in front of the cat, his paw out in front of him as he let the phaze of the impact with the ground settle in his arms and legs before getting up.

The two exchanged glances before both walked off to a more quiet area. No words needed to be spoken between the two as they set off for the best and most isolated place where no one would hear them.

"Welcome my students" The old jaguar spoke without looking back at his two once known as apprentices. Dagger and Tora put their paw to their fist before bowing.

"I can see trouble in your mind Tora. What bothers you?" He asked, his voice old and throaty as he spoke, yet wise all the same. Tora looked up at him, her icy blue eyes glowing in the moonlight. The cheetah hybrid's gaze was serious as it always was, tough looking and deadly.

"I do not believe this child Dagger has just brought will survive the training methods we give her. Her legs are far too weak looking and her frame is small for her age." Tora shook her head as she spoke.

"All wolf pups have small frames at her age" Dagger argued, though his voice was calm.

"Even so, no wolf besides you have ever survived any of the training methods given to them. Its only because of your blood that you passed"

"My daughter also carries this blood in her. Do not forget that Tora." Dagger retorted, his gaze held on the cheetah hybrid.

"And so the lineage continues... A book should not be judged by its cover my friend." Master silenced both of them as he spoke. Dagger watched him carefully, seeing Tora bow her head.

"I am sorry Master. I just can't see what you can in this pup." Tora did not look up, instead felt a paw on her shoulder. "Only time will tell Tora. For now, we shall see how she does." The old jaguar turned, his tail snaking behind him as he took a couple of steps to his spot before sitting down.

"She will be in your paws for training." The old jaguar spoke.

Tora's eyes shot open. "But master you can't possibly! - " she was silenced by the rest of his words.

"Now leave me to rest." He spoke quietly before closing his eyes. Tora watched with a shocked expression before she turned her head, narrowing her eyes on Dagger. He stood there quietly, his eyes narrowed back at her. For a moment tension was in the air between the two, before both faded from their spots, disappearing from their Master's dojo.

Feral awoke the next morning to the banging of a drum. Sitting up, she rushed out her doors to see what was going on. Sliding open her panel, the other students were leaving, already groomed and ready for today's training. Feral gasped, rushing her paws over her fur, she smoothened it out the best she could, not really having to fret too much over it, other than a few frizzy loose ends here and there on her head. Standing like the others with her paws behind her back, she stood straight up, eyes focused on the wall in front of her. She was just in time too before the scary looking cheetah hybrid 'Tora' came walking through the lines.

Her eyes glanced over everyone, inspecting their clothes and such. All of them either wore black or purple outfits, except for Feral, who wore a small jacket that was much too tight to look like it was comfortable. The little wolf resisted the urge to pull it down any further, for fear it would tear.

When Tora came to her, she became extermely nervous, her legs began to tremble slightly, though she showed no fear in her expression. The lady smiled, seeming to find pleasure in her pain.

"Daisuke" She called, and from the two rows of children a little older than Feral, came one cat who was white and black striped, a tiger child. Feral had never seen a tiger before quite like him, believing they were either all blue or orange. This little guess was only because the tigers she had seen were from the Tiger army.

"Yes Master." He spoke, his voice obviously young and yet very disciplined. His eyes were a light blue, reminding Feral of her cousin back home. He looked to be a year or two older than her, his expression serious and cold. This boy wore one of the common black outfits, though on it a small design was hemmed into the material. It was small silver leaves that traveled up the front of it before stopping near the collar of the shirt. He had no sleeves, with bangs that hung down on top of his head. His eyes were narrow with slits, obviously he was no hybrid animal.

"Take her to find her uniform. She obviously is in need of it." Master had said. This suddenly made Feral feel even more self-concious about her looks, looking down at the floor, she wasn't sure what to do next.

"Yes Master." He nodded his head before looking at Feral, signaling with a chin thrust to follow him. Feral did as she was told without question, hearing Master Tora's voice behind her speaking of their training today and what they were going to do.

When they were a good distance away from them, Feral finally got a little courage to speak.

"So...is she..always so intense?" Feral asked quietly, not really meaning to offend Master Tora, even if she was afraid of her.

"Not always, most of the time I would guess so" The tiger replied, giving relief by the sound of his voice to Feral, feeling he was normal, even if he did not look like it earlier because of his cold stare.

The two walked in a bit of silence for a while longer before they came to the room where Daisuke began shuffling through the outfits, looking from them to Feral before throwing them to the side.

"You're so small compared to most of the students that enroll here. Forgive me if they clothes are a little big ok?" He asked as he kept on his determined search for the clothes.

Feral took off her jacket, shaking herself from the uncomfortable feel. Sitting down on the floor, she looked back outside, where it was starting to get warm out.

"You must be part of the De modernized families right?" Daisuke asked. "You don't seem to like clothes very much." He added, never taking his eyes off the clothes in front of him. Feral looked at him for a moment, confused. Memories of her father telling her that was where she came from, people feared it all together. A lot of people who were modernized were afraid of her homelands. She couldn't really guess why, finding it totally normal to live in an environment where you had to stay sub consciously aware 24/7.

"Yes. I suppose you are right. I do live in the less modern times...I didn't know that it was possible, but here you have to walk on two legs all the time-"

"-And wear clothes all the time" He added, flinging a huge 3x shirt to the side.

"Yeah...Daisuke...are you from there as well?" Feral asked, venturing to get to know this cat a little more. For a moment, silence slipped between the two before he finally answered.

"No. I've always lived in the more modern time. I never lived in a world where you fought for your life every day." He sounded almost as if he did know, though he said he didn't.

"O-oh.." Feral kept quiet after that, unsure if she should talk anymore.

A few more minutes passed before she heard him sigh. "Ok, I think I've finally found a good size for you" He gave her the clothes, and in a quick moment, she was wearing them, though the sleeves and ankles bagged down over her feet and hands, the shirt going below her waistline.

"...hold on. I think I know just the thing, wait here" He instructed, before rushing into the room beside them. Feral sat down on the ground, letting out a snort as her tail snaked to her left side in slight frustration. A moment later, the tiger boy came out again holding a little bundle of white bandage.

"Stand up and lift your arms for me ok?" He asked, more like commanded. Feral stood up and lifted her arms, just now noticing the tiger boy was a good foot taller than her.

"and...if you're wondering, I'm the smallest in my family's litter" Daisuke murmured. He smiled when he heard her gasp. "Yep! Daisuke the tiger is smaller than his brothers and sisters!" He was all cheeky about it, though Feral didn't mind. She smiled at him in return.

"Ok I think that will do it" He seemed satisfied with his work as he stepped back to look. Feral looked at her waist to see a white bandage around it, keeping her pants and shirt up at the same time, while on her ankles it did the same thing.

"Hold on, one more thing" He leaned over and with a knife, he carefully cut the fabric around her arms, slicing it with such precision, the fabric did not have any loose ends. He then sewed it up around the arms so that it would not tear away on its own, in other words hemming it up.

It was strange. Feral wondered why he was so good at all of these things, was he a momma's boy? In touch with his feminine side?

"Daisuke?"

"Yeah?" She was almost afraid to ask him, though it kept nagging at her.

"H-how are you so good at this?" She asked.

"My mother used to teach me these things when I was younger, saying we needed to learn in case of any type of emergency with our clothes. If we got older and had a rip, we wouldn't need to go to the markets or anything just for a small tear. Plus...my sister's had no interest in it, so she taught me instead. I didn't mind. It was a lot of fun" He explained as he hemmed up her shortened sleeves.

Feral blinked once, wishing her mother would have taught her things like that. She knew she was only 8 years old, but still. She envied Daisuke.

"Ok well, looks like your good to go now...I just now realized, I never knew your name." Daisuke asked, a question mark suddenly on his face. Feral smiled, feeling happy that he asked her for her name.

"It's Feral." She replied.

"Feral huh? Well then, we should get back to the group now Feral. If we're lucky, we've just missed introduction and should be heading straight into training." He explained. Feral looked at him with a soft gaze.

"Ok then Daisuke." She replied, before the two headed out for the training grounds.

"Well, it's about time you two showed up. Get lost on the way?" She asked, though her cold gaze was directed at Feral. Those eyes. They were like they rejected her entire existence. It made the little wolf feel uncomfortable.

"Sorry Master. It was hard to find a size that fit" He said quietly. Unemotional. Cold. His voice had changed completely from before. Feral watched him once more, the feeling that the person she was talking to earlier had changed, as if he were gone once more. Feral looked down at the ground, hear ears folding close to her head.

"Go join the others. You have much to catch up on" She explained, before turning and walking forward. Feral felt Daisuke look at her. When the tigress hybrid left to the front, Daisuke turned and smiled at Feral.

"Let's go then Feral" He smiled at her, giving her once more the relieved feeling she had before. Maybe one day...she could be like that. Feral did not see Daisuke as a romantic interest, as she was only 8 years old and he was 9 1/2. Through the years, they would be more known as best friends, siblings almost as close as they were.

As they began to run their five mile hike, Feral fell behind everyone else, being last in place on everything. When it came to places to jump over, they were always too far for Feral, often either barely making it over by a sliver, or falling to the ground. Master Tora seemed to glare down on her every time she failed, obviously seeing what she was talking about the night before with Dagger and Master Sensei, was correct. Feral watched as everyone climbed a wooden wall that was ten feet high, using their long hooked claws to grapple the walls easily. All of the students were some type of cat, jaguar, panther, tiger, ocelot, and domestic cat. Things like walls were easy for them. After all, they were cats with claws built for this.

Becoming determined, she scored her claws into the walls, but try as she might, she couldn't get a grip like the others, whose claws were hooked and sharp. Feral felt frustrated, grabbing onto a rope, she began to haul herself up, using the strength she had in her arms. Surprisingly, she was able to grapple up the wall quickly, however at the top, two of the students looked down at her with gleaming evil eyes. They didn't like her at all. She was different from them. She needed to be taught her place. Grabbing the knot where it was tied, they cut away half of the rope, before it ripped on its own from the weight of the person on it. Feral grasped the wall with her paws, scrabbling with her feet, trying to get a grip. It didn't work however, as she lost her grip and fell.

A paw reached down and grabbed her, breaking her fall.

"Daisuke?" Feral looked up to see him looking down at her.

"Come on!" He growled, pulling her up after him. The two hauled themselves over the wall of the boards, before huffing and puffing.

"Are...are you alright?" Daisuke huffed. Feral was too out of breath to respond, only nodded her head. "What is up with ...your claws?" He asked. Feral looked down at her claws, they were still small nubs, not very sharp yet because of her young age. A late bloomer in other words. Feral wrapped her tail around her looking down at her claws.

"Try flexing them." Daisuke encouraged. Feral stretched out her claws, the folds of skin that covered them almost clear to the point released black hooked claws.

"What the?" Feral looked down at her paws in surprise. "My claws...their..." "Sharp?" Daisuked asked in a rhetorical way. A smirk was on his face. "Come on. We're gonna get left behind" He explained before jumping up and running after the others.

Feral spread her hands out, sheathing the claws once again. Why did her claws do this? It was not a wolf ability to cover their claws. She would have to ask her father if she ever had the chance to see him again.

2 years later.

Feral age 8, now age 10.

Daisuke age 9 1/2, now age 11 1/2.

After the long endless days of training, Feral's body became stronger and more toned, her soft innocence in her eyes remained, but her claws and legs became stronger, however, she was still known as the weakest link in the temple, unable to prove herself anytime soon. Many did not know she trained when everyone was still asleep. She practiced with throwing weapons, running as much as she could until her legs gave out, doing everything that she could think of to get stronger.

She practiced on the spiked poles that moved, perfecting her reflexes, though they were slow in the beginning, they were getting far more greater with every day she practiced.

A pair of eyes watched her during the long nights, Master Tora, who did not believe she could make it, began to see with her own eyes her improvement. The only bad part was, since she would practice during the night on her own, she did not get much sleep and appeared to be weak during the daytime, much to her dismay. The cheetah/tiger hybrid never spoke to Feral, never encouraged her, but was always watching.

Today, was the day everyone had one day off, seeing as it was a holiday. Hopefully, today was the day she could see her father. Feral had prayed that he would come back once more, seeing as he would come back only once a year. Each year she had failed to show him her progression, but this year was going to be the best year because he would see her growth. She was still not the best, but she could try. She would show him when he returned.

Since the first day, Daisuke had stuck to her side every day, always keeping her safe and watching out for her, except for today that is. He was going home to visit his mother and father and siblings. However, Feral could do no such thing. Her family was not close. Her family, was all on the other side of the world. She would spend this festival alone...that is unless her dad was to show up. Even with her optimism, the young wolf couldn't help but feel maybe he wouldn't come this time, but later on during the year. Maybe x-mas or something. Letting out a sigh, she turned and left her room.

Walking through the hallways, Feral did not realize some of the students had not left, either because they didn't want to go home to their families, or their families worked in the temple.

No student cared for Feral, in fact many attempts had lead to wanting to get rid of her, but all failed because Daisuke was there to protect her. Today was their only chance to get rid of her. The ring leader, a panther female followed by an ocelot and a jaguar, watched her closely as she walked by. For a moment, the Panther named Tawny gave her a cold stare, the one that Feral could never get used to. Everyone always looked at her like that, which pissed her off to no end, but could do nothing about it.

"Hey stop" The Panther called. Feral stopped, an ominous wind blowing between them.