Heh, I guess I snagged myself a reader or two. Thanks for the reviews, you really make my day. –huggles-

Today was kinda crappy, but then when I logged in Yahoo! I saw I have 8 messages! Four of which were reviews, for this story, and my other one on the DotM series. I was extremely pleased.

Anywho; On with it.

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Chapter Four- Almira the Enchantress.

When Sukiaketa awoke, she was a bit confused as to where she was. It was dark out, and the only lights she could see was from the moon, and a few houses. Sukiaketa looked around as best she could, but she didn't see Zoë anywhere. She jumped up quickly, and was surprised when her leg didn't hurt. The wound, she noticed, was actually closed and healed now.

Sukiaketa ran out the door, but didn't make it very far before she saw Zoë and Hige sitting down by some garbage cans in the back of a building.

"Zoë," Sukiaketa called her name more fearfully than angrily.

"Hey, I didn't want to wake you up, you looked so peaceful." Zoë told her quietly.

The night seemed almost too quiet and perfect to Sukiaketa. Usually she could hear the Nobles crafts flying through the air. Tonight it was quiet enough that the crickets were actually chirping.

"Hey, I think someone was looking for you though. A wolf I'd never seen before, a gray one, he came up and looked at you through the window, and ran off when we tried to talk to him." Zoë said, smiling from ear to ear. Sukiaketa wondered if she thought they were friends, or worse, something more. She frowned, to show Zoë there was nothing going on.

"I think I'll try again for some food," she told her sister, and trotted off before she had a chance to accuse her of anything.

Sukiaketa made she was in human form before she walked through the center of town. Even though the majority of humans nowadays didn't believe in wolves, she was still weary, and still untrusting.

Just as soon as she passed one house that was lit up inside, and seemingly busy, she heard a scream, and she turned around quickly.

Through one of the windows of that house, she could see an older man standing over a girl that didn't look older than Zoë. Although the girl wasn't a wolf, she did seem very enticing, and Sukiaketa wondered why the man would beat her so.

Sukiaketa watched as the girl stood quickly, and bolted for the door, just as she got to it, and had it open; the man kicked her hard in the back. She flew off the steps, and landed face first into the hard ground, covered in dirt and stone.

The man jumped down from the steps, as if he was going to kick her again, but Sukiaketa was not going to allow it. She morphed to wolf form, and jumped at the man, snarling fiercely. The man covered his face to protect himself, and Sukiaketa did her best to knock him to the ground.

The girl was up and running toward her building before Sukiaketa had a chance to get off the man. She looked back for one second, and the man struck her hard across the snout.

She yelped, but not from pain, only from surprise, and she backed up before he could hit her again. She had hardly noticed the man was strapping a pistol, but she was out of range before he could pull it from the harness.

Just as she turned the corner, she was greeted by her sister, Hige, and in the distance, she could see the gray wolf.

"I have to find her," Sukiaketa burst.

She didn't know why she wanted to be with the girl, but she did.

Zoë put her fingers to her lips, and averted her eyes to a dumpster. The girl sat shivering; she was wet from head to toe.

Sukiaketa approached the girl slowly and squatted down in front of her.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked, making her voice as gentle as possible.

"Thank you for saving me," she peeped, and Sukiaketa's eyes widened in surprise.

"You knew that was me?"

The girl nodded shakily, and Sukiaketa smiled, and stood. She held out her hand for the girl, who took it quickly. After Sukiaketa helped her stand, she examined the girl.

She had bruises all over her body, and a cut lip.

"You can stay with us tonight, I'll get you some clothes," Zoë chirped, and ran off, Hige following at her heels.

Sukiaketa began walking back to her room, and the girl followed behind.

"So what's your name?" She asked the girl.

"I'm Almira," She replied, "you?"

"Sukiaketa,"

"That's a very pretty name."

Sukiaketa looked at Almira and smiled.

"Thank you, you're very sweet."

Sukiaketa found it remarkable how much alike Zoë and Almira looked, in a sense—other than Zoë being a wolf.

Almira had the same flowy looking hair, hers was blonde, but it was much lighter, almost white, and straight. She was short like Zoë, but didn't look as muscley. Zoë found her a blue shirt, and capri pants. She wore tall brown boots, and had black tights that were just visible between those and the pants. She was great around Sukiaketa and her sister, but as soon as Hige, Kiba, and Toboe entered, she flipped, and hid behind Sukiaketa.

Zoë couldn't help but giggle, and Sukiaketa shot her a glare.

"Don't worry Almira, the are really nice." She told her.

The guys looked shocked, probably wondering why the sudden change. Almira didn't come out from behind Sukiaketa's back, but she didn't settle down enough to take a piece of bread from Toboe.

"Hey, Keta, I found that wolf you were talking about," The guys had all picked up on Zoë's nickname for her, "His name is Tsume."

Yep, The beloved Tsume.

Hoping for some reviews, this was a long chapter. O.o