I yawned as I walked over toward the stream. I wasn't sure where I was going, or what I was going to do when I got there. I just knew that my heart was leading somewhere. I was on my own. I had nothing with me except the clothes on my back, and a small backpack with a few things in it. It consisted of these: A sketch book, a rope, some pencils and colored pencils, and a few photos in a small pocketbook. I didn't have any money, food, water, shelter, or anyone with me. Since I didn't have anything to carry water in, I had to get as much as I could, and needed. I had been becoming very hungry, not having eaten in about eight hours. I began drinking from the crystal clear water. It wasn't filtered, but with how clear it was, I assumed that the stream's source was nearby. Very nearby.

I had been running from my adopted father for about six hours. He wasn't going after me anymore, so I had decided to rest about half an hour ago. I had been chilling beneath a tree, and woke up about a minute ago.

The layer of snow covering the ground sometimes made my feet cold. I had shoes on, but they didn't seem to help much. I was fast for my age, especially when running. I had an odd habit of walking and running entirely on my toes, like the members of the canidae family.

I said to myself, "Since this water is so clear and fresh, there must be some edible plants around here. Although I really prefer meat." My stomach growled, and I let out a depressed sigh. "But first I have to find some," I continued. When I had gotten enough water, I walked off, trying to find something to eat. Preferably a fruit, vegetable, or something that tastes at least half good.

I scouted the area, to come back to my sack with nothing. Then I heard something. A twig cracked about 20 to 35 feet away (it was hard to determine with the quietness of the area). I looked in the direction was which it came, and soon after, I heard, "Toboe, be more careful. We don't want Darcia's troops to find us."

The one who appeared to be Toboe replied to a more deep-voiced man, "Sorry, but I don't think their senses are that keen. Besides, we lost them a while back. Unless they found some way to get here really fast, they would have to be at least a mile away." When I realized that they were walking toward me, I swiftly threw my backpack over my right shoulder, and jumped onto the limb of the tree I had rested beneath.

They were walking by, when a dark-brown haired boy, about older-17 by my estimate noticed a few newly fallen leaves. I hadn't counted on him noticing this, and began to cringe back slightly, trying to hide myself. I was usually wary of strangers, unless they were friendly. As the others kept walking, almost at the edge of the stream, a light-brown haired boy with a collar around his neck looked back at the darker-haired boy, and asked, "What is it, Kiba?"

Kiba replied, "These leaves just fell recently. Most of the leaves have already fallen."

"Well then it was probably just a squirrel or a bird," the collar-wearing one suggested.

"Couldn't be," Kiba stated, "There's too many of them. It was something much bigger. And a lynx we would have noticed."

A white-haired man, the oldest of them at around 19 spoke up, "What's taking so long? We should get going about now. Hige, Kiba, hurry up!"

"So that one must be Hige," I said very quietly to myself, "That only leaves the oldest. Toboe, Hige, and Kiba." I looked at each one as I said their names.

The oldest one quieted the others, "Did you hear that, guys?"

"Someone's here, Tsume, I'm sure of it," Hige nodded.

Toboe, the youngest red-head said, "But what is it? It can talk so apparently it's human."

"Well that's obvious," Hige remarked, "We just don't know who it is."

Kiba narrowed his eyes, "Maybe one of Darcia's errand-runners. If it is, they won't last long."

Then something hit me. I thought out loud, but still quietly, "Wait a minute! They can hear me? Maybe they can…smell me?" She had been running a lot… sweat might be evident. "They might be able to see me, too." Apparently I had said a bit too much, as Kiba, the leader of the group of four, jumped up onto the limb I was on.

Not caring for me to say anything, he spoke first, "Who are you? Why were you spying on us? Are you with Darcia?"

"And now I'm too loud," I muttered with distaste for myself, "Woah, woah. One at a time. My name is Sokoto. I guess I was kinda spying and maybe eavesdropping, and no I'm not. Oh, and I'd get off the limb if I were you," I recommended.

Kiba kept a serious, but not as hostile look, and said confused, "Why?"

As if on cue, part of the tree limb began to break, and about half a second later, I said, "That's why."

Kiba gave me an evil smirk as he got an idea. The limb began to break a bit more, and we both knew that next time it cracked, it would break off entirely. About two or three milliseconds before it did snap off, he jumped down, as I was left very nervously and startled. I, along with the tree limb, landed in the snow, me face-first. I got up, as I said, "Oww. That was mean…"

The three others, Hige, Tsume, and Toboe were curious about me. Tsume seemed the least, and wouldn't dare admit it out loud, but he was curious. Hige and Toboe seemed friendly enough, as I would soon discover.

"That really was pretty mean, Kiba," Toboe said, almost concerned.

"Yeah, it was," Hige agreed, but couldn't help but say, "But it was kinda fun to watch."

I gave a playful glare at Hige, who seemed unaffected and wondering about why I was glaring at him. He didn't see any harm in it.

I shook off my head covered in snow in a dog-like fashion, and I spat out some snow that had gotten in my mouth. I decided not to keep laying down in a half push up pose, and sat up Indian-style instead. Without warning, my stomach gave a loud growl, and I started to laugh defeatedly, embarrassed. "It's been a while since I've eaten. You four wouldn't happen to have any spare food, would you?" I asked enthusiastically as my mouth began to water.

"Uhh, Kiba?" Hige asked, turning to the head honcho.

I was fairly confident that Hige and Toboe would be plenty willing to spare some meat, but I wasn't so sure about Kiba and Tsume. Tsume appeared to not care, and Kiba was nice enough, but still was a bit mean at times. Kiba shrugged, and replied, "Sure. I don't see any harm in it."

I dug into the food, happy to be having food in my mouth. I figured I'd get to know them. How bad could it be, right? "So Kiba, you appear to be the leader. So where are you, Tsume, Hige, and Toboe going?"

Hige butted in to the conversation temporarily. "You really were eavesdropping on us. You already know our names," he said.

I rubbed the back of my neck with my hand, stroking my orange-brown hair, and said, "Uhh, yeah. Heh."

Hige grinned like an idiot. He knew he could get used to having me around. I could tell just by his expression.

Kiba rolled his eyes partially and replied to my question. "We aren't sure where we're going. Right now we're mainly just trying to escape Lord Darcia."

Toboe remarked, "That isn't true, Kiba. You know perfectly well that we're trying to find-"

Hige put a hand over Toboe's mouth, and growled at him, "Shut up, runt! We don't want her to know!"

Toboe blinked twice, and said (after Hige took his hand off of his mouth), "We don't?"

Hige almost literally growled at Toboe for forgetting. I was interested, but decided not to ask. I looked at Tsume, who hadn't said a word in the last while. He was looking at something. Or nothing. I couldn't tell. He reminded me of someone. At the time, I couldn't remember who. Memories of someone. Or something with eyes extremely similar to his flowed into my mind. I made a light 'hmm' sound as I thought. I was awoken from my thoughts with a wave of someone's hand in front of my face, and a "Hello? Are you alive?". I shook my head, and turned to see Toboe's face about a foot form mine, smiling. Tsume's gaze shifted to me without moving his head. He knew that I was looking at him, but didn't seem to care. He hmphed, and looked back at whatever he was earlier. My brown, outlined in yellow eyes would be fixed on him later, though. I knew it. I chose to ignore it.

"I'd better go. Father could be back looking for me again… And I don't want that to happen." I said blandly.

This time, even Tsume didn't bother to try to hide his curiosity. In fact, he was the one to ask, "What happened?"

I was a bit startled that Tsume was the one to ask, but replied willingly to his query. "I never really knew my real parents. I have memories of them, but can't picture them perfectly. It may sound stupid, but I remember wolves." All of them looked up at me in amazement. I ignored the looks, and continued, "There were a whole pack. About seven. But… they were killed by gunmen. I don't remember if they were just in my backyard, if they were my pets, I don't remember. But anyway, my parents were scared of the gunmen and ran. I was in my mother's arms, when one of the gunmen held a shotgun up to her. In surprise she dropped me, and I crawled off. I wasn't sure what was going on, and decided that the best option was to flee. She, along with my real father were killed. Probably for having and caring for the wolves. My father that I'm running from now found me. He was a great dad, and raised me well. I had everything I needed, except for a mother, and those wolves. Over the years, his life became filled with problems. He was fired from his job, and our house was wrecked in an avalanche. He started drinking about a year ago. It wasn't a problem for a while. Then he started getting abusive. This morning, he had me at gunpoint. Memories of my parents went into my head. He had me cornered in my room. There was only one option besides die. I grabbed my backpack really quickly, and broke through the window. He blamed me for losing his job when he was drunk. He shot at me as I shattered the glass. I was almost hit. I ran. I ran as far as I could," I told the story, tears forming in my eyes. I wiped my damped eyes on my arm, and curled into a ball on the ground. I didn't want to cry, but it was so hard. I didn't want to look weak… I swallowed hard to try to fight it, but my fears were relieved as compassion was shown.

"Wow. That's… a really sad story," Hige said, as Toboe nodded in confirmation. Kiba felt sorry for me. Really sorry. Even Tsume felt a little glum. Tsume's eyes were softer than usual, as he watched me.

Forgetting about the sadness, I laid down on my back, put my hand behind my head, and gazed at the stars. "I remember one wolf in particular. The beta. Almost entirely gray, with a black streak down his back. The top of his muzzle, his forehead, and much of his back and tail were soot-colored. But most of all, I remember his yellow eyes. I looked up at Kiba, Hige, Toboe, and Tsume, wondering how their expressions looked.

They didn't speak for a few minutes, and then Kiba asked, "Wolves?"

"Yeah. Wolves," I replied.

"It doesn't matter, Kiba. They're long dead. She said so herself," Tsume remarked, looking straight at Kiba.

I gasped, and shouted quietly, "That's it! That's why!"

The foursome looked at me oddly, three with one eyebrow raised. I glanced around quickly at each of the four, and then said with my eyes closed, "I found out why I was gazing at Tsume!"

Hige evilly suggested, "Because you like him?" I just looked at Hige with an 'oh, please' expression, as Tsume seemed disgusted at the idea.

"No," I replied to Hige, "His eyes."

It was silent for a few seconds when Toboe said, "…Huh?"

"Tsume's eyes resemble that wolf's. Onyx' eyes look almost completely like yours, Tsume," I said.

Tsume hmphed for the second time I had heard him, and he looked away. My eyebrows were furrowed in thought. Until I said, "This means something. Something important. And I'm gonna find out what. No matter where I have to go, or what I have to do."

Toboe asked excitedly, "Does that mean you're gonna join us in our quest?"

I shrugged my shoulders, and said, "If it's okay with the alpha and beta," looking at Kiba and Tsume.

Kiba nodded, and said, "Sure. I don't see any harm in it. And besides, as they say, the more the merrier."

I smiled and directed my attention toward Tsume, who grunted and answered, "Fine, I guess."

I grinned wider, knowing that I finally had some people who I could trust. And then I remembered something, and said to Hige, "And by the way Hige…"

"…Yeah…?"

"You're gonna regret saying that I liked Tsume!" I smirked, and run up to Hige, and bonked him on the back of the head with my knuckles.

"Ouch! You rat!" Hige screamed as he tried to fight back. Eventually it got into play fighting, but actually hurting each other. Tsume glanced at Hige and I rolling on the ground, tackling each other, and kicking and punching and pulling at each other, roughhousing like rabid squirrels over a stupid acorn. He muttered, "Cat fight."

Toboe, hands behind his head, laughed, and said, "Yep. But it looks fun." Before we knew it, Toboe joined in the tussle.

Kiba decided not to complain. He rather liked to see us beating the shit out of each other for no reason. He quietly laughed at our behavior.

That is, until he heard me say, "…Hige… Did you just bite me?"

It became very quiet with the exception of a few crickets.

Toboe had an uneasy look, while Hige became nervous.

Kiba sweat-dropped, and Tsume shook his head and mentally laughed.

He had me pinned to the ground, and he sat down, touched his two index fingers together a few times, and said, "Uhh… Yeah… Please don't hurt me."

I blinked in confusion, and told him, "I won't hurt you. But that was weird. And that kinda hurt." I rubbed my lower arm where he bit me.

At this point, Tsume thought, "What?! For any normal human, a bite from a wolf would at least break the skin. Even in human form. Either she's much stronger than we think, or she's not a human. But that would mean she's a wolf, which she obviously isn't. It doesn't make sense."

Kiba chose to settle the fighting, for fear that Hige would bite me again. "It's getting late, we should get some sleep. We have to wake up bright and early if we don't want them catching up to us."

Toboe concurred, "Yeah. I'm getting tired anyway." He wiped his eyes and found a good spot to lie down.

I went by a tree, not the same tree as earlier, but a tree closer to the other four, and lay down beside it. I lay on my stomach, arms folded on the snowy ground, and lay my head down to rest. I knew I had some friends, and that made my slumber really, really easy.

thisisalinethisisnotyourlinebutitisinfactalineitisagoodlineabetterlinethanyoursyouhavealinerightihavealinethisismylinemylineROXORZ

Disclaimer: Well, this story so far is coming along pretty well. It's not the traditional style of typing, but this is what I'm better at. So far it's more of a K, but as the story progresses, then it'll get more action-packed, more romance-ful, and overall better. Oh, and on a last note, review if you like. But take it easy on me! This is my first fic made on And on a last note, Wolf's Rain ownz! But it doesn't belong to me. Unfortunately. I wish it did. Really. That'd be sweet…