The gang was now walking in a weird forest which is annoying. The forest was full of disgusting things and there wasn't anything beautiful around them at all.

"This forest is freaking annoying and disgusting." Esmeralda said out loud.

"This forest is called the 'forest of death.'" Toboe said.

"The humans wouldn't be able to chase us in here." Kiba stated.

"Well, I guess that is true..." Esmeralda mumbled.

"They should have some rabbits for foxes around to eat." Hige said.

"Is food the only thing you could think and thank about?" Esmeralda wondered with her eyes narrowed at Hige.

"Can you blame me; I am a wolf after all."

"More like a pig."

"There should be a town on the other side of the forest. So bear with it until we get there." Kiba ordered.

"If we get out of here alive" Tsume said before he kicked a human skull and it hits Esmeralda's foot. She just stared at the skull while Toboe freaked out.

"That's scary..." Toboe mumbled.

A huge bug flew through then it started to attack Esmeralda but Tsume caught the bug with his hand. "How disgusting." Esmeralda said.

"I guess we can eat bugs." Tsume said while looking at the bug.

"Give it to Hige. He'd probably eat it." She suggested.

"Here." Tsume shoved the bug to Hige.

"Why does it have to be me to eat it?" Hige complained.

"You have a bigger metabolism than us" Toboe stated.

"Eat it." Tsume said.

"I'm not your food tester!" Hige took the bug and walked towards Cheza. "Give it to Cheza."

Kiba killed the bug before he said, "She won't be eating that"

"Come to think of it, I never saw Cheza eat" Esmeralda said.

"I don't eat. Nothing at all" Cheza stated with a smile.

"You only drank water that other time" Toboe said.

"Drink and absorb."

"Absorb?" Kiba wondered.

"But there isn't any sunlight here...It's cover with trees." Esmeralda said as she looked up at the trees. "I can't absorb..." Cheza started to get worried. "Let's continue walking." Kiba said.

So they continued walking and passed by more of the huge bugs. 'There is no way any human can survive in this forest and I don't know how we can survive.' Esmeralda thought to herself. She noticed that for some reason Cheza has been acting a bit strange.

"Ah!" Toboe yelled as he fell.

"Toboe?" Esmeralda grew concerned. Toboe had tripped from a huge branch and probably sprained his ankle.

"Is your ankle sprained?" Kiba asked.

"Not really." Toboe said.

"Show me." While Kiba checked if Toboe's ankle was sprained, Esmeralda went to Cheza to make sure that she was okay.

"Cheza."

Cheza looked up from the tree she was sitting on. "Yes?"

"Are you feeling well?"

"Why yes. I'm okay"

"Oh...cause there isn't anything to drink or any sun for you to absorb. I'm kind of worried."

"Don't worry. I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me"

"I see..."

Cheza got up and walked towards Toboe. She started to heal his ankle but then Toboe said that it felt good and the touch of Cheza smelled good too. Soon Hige wanted to be petted too so Cheza petted him on his head and Hige was happy.

"Esmeralda, you should let Cheza pet you too. It feels good" Toboe said.

"Really?"

"Yea." Hige added.

Esmeralda thought about before shrugging her shoulders "Oh, what the hell?" She walked up to Cheza and when she patted her head, she felt warmer and the smell of the flower was really good. 'I can't believe Cheza can do all these types of stuff.' She thought.

"Tsume, you should try this too." Toboe said.

"It feels good Tsume. I know you're going to like it." Hige stated. Tsume just made a funny face and ignored them. Esmeralda knew he wants Cheza to do it to him but he's just too shy.

"We need to get going." Kiba stated.

"Yeah."

They continued walking for about a few more hours. It was silent until Hige said, "This place isn't so bad once you get used to it."

"There aren't any humans around so I guess that's a good thing." Esmeralda said.

"Plus we can eat bugs when we're hungry right?" Toboe wondered.

"Ugh..." Esmeralda felt like she was going to puke after just thinking about it.

"It's either that or no grub" Tsume stated.

"Since when were you the leader?" Hige asked.

"We don't really have a leader or anything...We're not that kind of pack" Kiba said.

"Then what kind of pack are we?" Tsume asked.

"Does it really matter?" Esmeralda asked.

"Yea. Besides what are we going to do when we get out of here?" Toboe wondered.

"Isn't it obvious?" Tsume said.

"We eat then sleep right?" Esmeralda asked.

"Right." Kiba agreed.

"Oh." Toboe muttered.

Esmeralda looked at Cheza and she seems to look a bit tired. 'She hasn't been drinking or absorbing anything lately. I hope she doesn't get sick or anything.' Esmeralda started to worry. "Cheza, are you tired?" She asked.

"No I'm..." Cheza fainted a little and Kiba caught her.

"You're tired. Go ahead and rest" Kiba said.

"I'm alright..."

"I see a bird!" Hige exclaimed while looking up at a branch.

"Huh?" Esmeralda turned to Hige.

"You must be seeing things." Tsume said, not believing a word he said.

"No. I heard a flap over there. Didn't you hear it Esmeralda?"

"No."

"I heard it. It was an owl...so...bird meat!" Hige starts running towards wherever the flapping noise was.

"Hige!" Esmeralda called out.

"Hige wait!" Tsume tried, but Hige didn't listen.

"That idiot."

"You guys stay here."

"Tsume, I'll come with you."

"Fine."

Esmeralda and Tsume went after Hige and found him just standing there looking around. "It must've been a falling leaf." Tsume said.

"C'mon, let's go back." Esmeralda added.

"That's strange. I'm sure I saw it." Hige mumbled to himself.

Suddenly, some hooting sounds were made and there was an owl behind us. Esmeralda couldn't believe that Hige was actually right. "So there is an owl." Esmeralda said.

"Told you! Even though it doesn't seem enough to share with everyone." Hige said.

"Be careful." Tsume warned them.

"Huh?" Hige got confused.

"I can't smell the owl. That's odd..." Esmeralda stated.
"It's not an ordinary owl." Tsume added as he glared at the owl.

"Ordinary owl you say? Delicious wolf. Everyone is lost. Good work! Hoot." The owl said to the three wolves.

"It can talk?" Esmeralda wondered as she stared at the owl with widen eyes.

"I don't care. Playing games with me eh?" Tsume growled before attacking the owl but it escaped and it kept saying the same words as before.

"Everyone is lost. Good work!" Those were the owl's final words that they heard.

"Now that owl is getting really annoying." Esmeralda said in an angry voice. Suddenly, someone made a wolf cry.

"What was that?" Hige asked.

"It was probably Toboe." Esmeralda replied.

They ran back to where the others were and noticed that Cheza seems worse than before. "What happen?" Esmeralda asked.

"Cheza is..." Toboe couldn't finish his sentence.

She looked at Cheza and she is slowly withering. "This is bad." Esmeralda stated.

"She's withering?" Tsume asked Kiba.

"We need water and sunlight"

"Which is impossible..." Esmeralda stated.

"There's no sunlight here and there isn't any water around" Tsume added.

"Still...we still need to find some!" Kiba shouted.

"Kiba...I don't know if I'm right but we should go to the left straight up there." Esmeralda as she looked to her left.

"Is there water around?" Kiba asked.

"I'm not sure..."

"But we shouldn't stand here." Hige said.

"There's nothing you can do." The wolves looked up to see the same owl that Tsume, Esmeralda, and Hige saw.

"An owl?" Kiba wondered.

"It came back." Esmeralda said with her eyes narrowed at the annoying bird.

"There's nothing you can do about light. There's nothing you can do about water. There's nothing you can do about the flower withering" The owl said.

Kiba started to get angry at the owl. "What did you say!?"

"Wait!" Esmeralda shouted.

"What is it?" Tsume asked her.

"This owl lives in the forest right?"

"Right." Hige answered.

"So...doesn't the owl know where the water is or something?"

"Owl, tell me! Where's the closet source of water?" Kiba demanded. The owl just said nothing. It's starting to intimidate them.

"You stupid owl! Answer Kiba!" Esmeralda shouted with anger.

"Just answer us!" Tsume shouted also.

"Do live in this forest? If so, tell us! She needs water!" Kiba shouted.

"Who...are you guys talking to?..." Cheza asked.

"An owl." Esmeralda answered.

"Owl?..."

"Just rest, Cheza" Kiba said to her calmly.

"Please tell us where we can find water!" Esmeralda said. The owl didn't answer then flew away.

"Stray dear wolves" That was all the owl said.

"What?" Esmeralda got confused.

"Follow him! That owl is our only clue!" Tsume said before everyone followed him with Kiba holding Cheza on his back.

They ran after the owl and the owl took them to a cave. "You will find answers if you stray. Inside there will answer your straying. Only those who step in will be blessed" The owl said.

"What is it talking about?" Esmeralda asked as she was getting tired of the owl's riddle talk.

"It wants us to go to the cave." Hige said.

"Does that mean there's water in the cave?" Toboe asked.

"I don't know." Tsume said.

Esmeralda looked around for Kiba and he's walking in the cave. 'I know how much he wants to take care of Cheza but he shouldn't do all this by himself.' She thought.

"You can't go in there by yourself!" Hige cried out.

"We don't know if the owl is telling the truth." Esmeralda added.

"Then where's the water!? Do you know!?"He yelled at her.

"No..."

"Don't yell at her like that!" Tsume shouted.

"There's no other way! I'm going in."

They had no choice but to follow Kiba in the cave. It was a bit dark but they can manage to see.

"He's not the only one that cares about Cheza. " Esmeralda said while staring at the weak Cheza.

"Esmeralda, just ignore him." Tsume said.

"Huh?" She stared at Tsume.

"We all want Cheza safe. So that's what he wants."

"Oh..." 'It's weird to hear this from Tsume but at least I know Kiba wants to save Cheza no matter what.' She thought to herself.

They have been walking in the cave for a while and Esmeralda is starting to think they were lost. "Didn't we see this rock before?" Toboe asked after he looked at the same rock.

"It's like a maze." Hige complained.

"Everything looks the same here and there." Tsume said.

"We're going right. We went left back then" Kiba said before continuing on walking but he tripped and got angry.

"Can't you just calm down?" Esmeralda said with her hand on her hips.

"Don't get so worked up." Tsume added.

"Kiba...you're tired. Let me carry Cheza." Esmeralda offered as she got closer to them.

"You think you can carry her?" Kiba asked which stopped her.

"Huh?"

"Do you think you can carry Cheza?!"

"Actually..."

"I'm fine! I don't need to rest! We have no time to rest!"

"I was just trying to help..."

"That's enough. We can't trust your nose. It has probably dulled from the scent of the flower." Tsume said as he walked up behind Esmeralda.

"That's not true!"

"Kiba...please let me carry Cheza...you're tired..." Esmeralda said.

"I can't give her to you."

"Put Cheza down. We can't let you carry her. Let Esmeralda carry Cheza." Tsume said, leaving Esmeralda in a complete shock.

'Why is Tsume sticking up for me? I just don't get it... what is this feeling I feel towards Tsume? Never mind that, I need to stop Tsume and Kiba from arguing.' She thought.

"You need the composure to lead the pack." Tsume said.

"Don't get in my way!" Kiba shouted.

"You want to get it on?"

"Both of you, knock it off!" Esmeralda shouted before she stepped on something hard. She looked down and saw that it was a skeleton.

"A skeleton? Is it human?" Toboe asked, completely terrified.

"I don't know." Hige said.

"It's not human. It's a bird." Esmeralda said after she got a closer look at the skeleton.

"Bird?"

"Looks like an owl." Toboe stated.

Esmeralda noticed something. "Wait…if this is a skeleton of an owl...then that means…that owl set up a trap for us!" Esmeralda shouted before a huge bug popped up from the owl bones and it crawled up to her leg. She quickly kicked it off but the bug called for its friends. Now there are millions of bugs surrounding them.

"There's a lot of them!" Toboe shouted.

"Well, you can thank the stupid owl for this!" Esmeralda shouted.

"I knew we should've eaten it before we had the chance." Tsume said after he knocked one of bugs away from him.

"Run!" Hige shouted.

"To where?!" Toboe asked.

A bug started biting Cheza but Esmeralda quickly grabbed it and squashed it to death. "Kiba, give Cheza to me." Esmeralda said with her arms out.

"Here, catch Esmeralda!" Kiba threw Cheza to her and she caught her. She quickly ran far away from the bugs and settled Cheza down to the ground.

"Esmer...alda..." Cheza called out as she reaches for her with her hand. Esmeralda gently grabbed her hand and smiled.

"Don't worry, Cheza. I'll be right back." She went back to the others and started fighting the bugs in their wolf forms.

"You think a wolf would lose to a bug?" Tsume asked with a smirk.

"Although, we all gather around the same flower." Toboe said.

"Well said." Hige complemented.

"Can we kill these things already?" Esmeralda asked, very eager to kill them.

"They're coming!" Kiba shouted before they begun to kill.

Killing the bugs was easy but they keep biting on them and they got some deep cuts. 'I don't care if I'm dying or losing too much blood. There is no way I'm going to let some bugs get Cheza.' Esmeralda said in her head.

While fighting the bugs, Cheza comes down and starts running as the bugs chase after her. "Cheza!? Why!? What are you doing!?" Esmeralda called out. Cheza fell through a small hill down in the cave. "What is she doing?! She's going to get herself killed!" She shouted as the gang followed Cheza.

They all went down the small hill to find Cheza and once they got down, all of the bugs that followed Cheza were getting eaten by some kind of plants. "They were hungry...so I fed them..." Cheza explained.

"A bug eating plant huh?" Tsume said with amazement in his eyes.

"So we were saved by Cheza's friends." Hige said.

"Great, now we wreak of blood. Those annoying bugs." Esmeralda mumbled.

"Don't be such a baby." Tsume said.

"Guys! I see light this way!" Toboe shouted as he pointed at a direction of the bright light.

"Does it lead to the exit?" Esmeralda asked.

"Let's go" Kiba said before they walked to where Toboe saw the light.

When they got there, there was the exit and a lake of water. "Water..." Esmeralda said with joy on her face.

"There's water!" Toboe cheered before he jumped into the water.

"Yahoo!" Hige cheered also before jumping in.

Esmeralda jumped into the water as well and drank some water. "I'd never thought i would be this thirsty for water. It tastes so fresh." Suddenly, someone splashed water at her. She turned to see it was Hige.

"Got you!" Hige said with a smirk on his face.

"You stupid pig!" She splashed water towards Hige but it hit Tsume instead. "Oh no…" Esmeralda mumbled as she backed away a bit.

"Oh no is right!" Tsume splashed water at her and then they all had a splash fight. Esmeralda never saw this fun side of Tsume, but she liked it. It's fun to play around with him.

'I think I'm starting to develop feelings for Tsume...have I?' She asked herself before Cheza stepped into the water and everyone stopped what they were doing.

Cheza just stood in the water and the moonlight shone on her. Of course she is the flower maiden and she can never look prettier than before. 'I'm glad that she's doing okay now.' Esmeralda thought with a smile.

"I'm sleepy…" Toboe said with a tired look on his face.

"Yea, after all that from today, I'm exhausted." Esmeralda said as everyone got out of the water. Cheza started to sing and it was the same song that made them sleep the other day. Once they all got out of the lake, they decided to rest on the grass.

Esmeralda started to fall asleep and before she fully went to sleep, she looked at Tsume then smiled. 'I am falling for Tsume.'