Author's Note: Do not, I repeat, DO NOT read this unless you have read my first story, The Lily's Path. This is the sequel to that story and you won't understand this story unless you've read that one. So, if you haven't read The Lily's Path, go ahead, and then come back and read this one, 'cause I am not going into any kind of review or recap of the past in this story. It picks up right where the last one left off. And for those of you who did read my first story, thanks for your support, and I'm posting this for you! Anyways, I hope you guys like it. And just to make sure you know, Jane is the girl Yuri was riding with at the end of The Lily's Path. I know I didn't mention her by name then—I wasn't sure if I was going to keep her or not, so yeah. Wow, really long Author's Note! Ok, all done, not let's get crackin'!

"I can't believe we're here!" Jane squealed, practically leaping out of the taxi in her eagerness. Yuri shook her head and chuckled to herself, eyeing Jane with mild disapproval and amusement.

"Are you going to pay the man, or what?" She said. "I would, but I kind of need money to do that, sorry dear," she sneered.

Jane let out an exasperated sigh and walked over to the trunk of the car. "Don't you think I should get my bags first?" She said, tapping sharply on the trunk, indicating for the taxi driver to open it. "If we pay him now, he'll zoom off and we'll hear neither hide nor hair of my bags ever again.

"Well you're more savvy about travel than I am anyway, so you should know," Yuri replied, walking over to Jane and helping her with the bags. "Besides, they're your bags anyway, so it's no skin off my nose. I should've just let him drive off with your bags, to teach you to be more careful with your belongings."

"Thanks a lot," Jane replied, pulling a large duffel bag out of the car. "The money to pay for your expenses is in here too, you know." Yuri shrugged lazily, causing Jane to scowl at her before turning to the driver and paying their fare. The taxi zoomed off, leaving the young women in the middle of a crowded sidewalk with three large bags strewn about them. "You could stand to show a little more appreciation, Yuri."

Yuri smirked and turned to the young girl standing beside, her. Jane's head was cocked to one side, her hands at her hips, her lips pursed in an expression that made her already weasel-like face look more so. Yuri laughed lightly and hugged Jane, quickly squeezing her shoulders. "You know I do," she murmured.

Jane smiled brightly. "Yeah, I know," she replied. Slinging one bag over her back and taking another into her arms, Jane turned to Yuri. "I'm famished, aren't you?" Before Yuri even opened her mouth to answer, Jane said, "Yeah, starving. Let's go find a place eat, shall we?" With that, Jane began walking briskly down the sidewalk. "You coming or not?" She yelled over her shoulder at Yuri. Yuri sighed and shook her head. Throwing the remaining bag over her back, Yuri smiled and followed her companion down the sidewalk.

Yuri was glad to sit down after walking several blocks with that large bag hanging from her back. As it turned out, Jane was a very picky eater and would not enter just any restaurant. Yuri could really care less. Although she was hungry, she didn't really feel like eating anything at the moment. She let Jane order for her, remaining silent all the while, as the waiter swiftly jotted their orders down.

"Ok," Jane said as the waiter left, "we'll eat and then I'll ask to use the facilities here so I can call my friend so she can pick us up, just like I said. How does that sound?"

Yuri shrugged. "Sounds great." She replied. After that, she let Jane ramble on about all the various activities she had planned for them during their stay in the city, nodding whenever Jane asked her whether or not a plan was good. She welcomed Jane's chattering for a change, having found it somewhat irritating on the ride to the city. Yuri sat with her elbow propped on the table and her chin resting in the palm of her hand. She stared out the window at the passersby, sighing longingly from time to time.

"I wonder what he's doing now," she thought. It had been only hours since she'd left Kiba and the pain of their separation was still fresh. "Is he thinking about me? Does he wonder where I am?" And with a faint gleam of hope rising to her eyes, Yuri wondered, "Is he looking for me?" For a second, Yuri wholeheartedly believed that Kiba was, indeed, looking for her and moreover, he was going to find her, damn it. He's a wolf; he could sniff her out, sure. "Oh brother," she thought sourly, "I'm delusional." Besides, she expressly forbade him from attempting to find her. "And since when does he listen to anything I say?" Still, the thought of seeing him again, of catching a glimpse of him from amidst the throngs of people outside, of him seeing her in the window and rushing to her side—she really was delusional. Yuri sighed again, as sigh that seemed to emanate from her soul.

"Is something wrong, Yuri?" Jane asked. Yuri had been acting odd this whole time, staring out of the window with a forlorn look in her eyes.

"I just miss my friends, like I told you before."

"Oh, yeah," Jane replied. "Doubtful", she thought. Friends were one thing, and while one would miss friends dearly, Jane doubted that any friends would cause the pained, sorrowful expression Yuri wore. No, it was something else. Family perhaps? No, Yuri had no family around those parts, Yuri had said so herself. Then what was it? What was it that Yuri left behind, leaving such a grand hole in Yuri's heart? Jane couldn't think of it just now, but she was determined to find out.

Their food came, and the two young women ate in relative silence. After eating, Jane called her friend, only to find out she was not home—they would have to either wait for her at her house, or wallow the time away wandering about the city.

"Oh no," Yuri said, shaking her head fervently. "I am not going to wander around carrying 'these'," she said, indicating Jane's bags. "What do you have in them, anyway? It feels like I'm carrying a ton of bricks."

"Fine, we'll wait outside her house until she comes back."

"Fine," Yuri muttered. "And remind me, why is she not home again? Isn't she supposed to be expecting you?"

"Well uh, yeah," Jane chuckled, scratching the back of her head nervously. "She is, but she's sort of scatter-brained, so she might have forgot."

"Might have forgot? Might have forgot?"

"Ok, ok, she did forget. Happy?" Jane said, shaking her hands in front of her in a submissive sort of way. "Geez, you're certainly a lot'livelier' than you were earlier."

"What do mean by that?"

"Nothing," Jane answered quickly, wanting to avoid an argument. "Let's go."

Yuri sighed and slung the bag over her back again. Yes, Yuri remembered this feeling well. It didn't feel like she was carrying a ton of bricks. This reminded her of when she carried Kiba, in his wolf form, to her house—their first encounter. The pain this memory brought was almost too much to bear. If only there were a way. If only there were a way to take it all back, for Yuri to travel back in time and do it all again. She would not have saved Kiba if it meant sparing her from this agony.

That's a lie, she told herself. She didn't really wish for that. As much as this hurt now, Kiba was the best thing that ever happened to her. The time she had spent with him, however little it might have been, constituted the happiest moments of her life—she had never felt such bliss, and did not believe she ever would again.

"Then what's the point?" she wondered. Why keep on going if she knew she would never see happiness like that again? She knew who her true love was and she knew she could never have him, only hold him briefly in her arms before he was taken away. Why keep on living in this misery? She wondered. Why, why, WHY? Yuri stopped in the middle of the street and looked up into the sky.

"Look!"

"It's going to hit her!"

"Get out of the way!" He bounded toward her, running as fast as he could—that young woman was going to get killed if she didn't move soon.

Yuri turned her head slowly, looking, but not really seeing the monstrous truck racing toward her, honking furiously, but unable to stop. She blinked slowly, watching death inch closer and closer her—it mattered not—how could she ever be happy again? Yuri closed her eyes and opened her arms. She pulled her head back; ready to embrace the sweet end to the pain she knew she could never escape.

A moment later, a force that seemed to come out of nowhere, whipped her out of harm's way and pinned her to the ground. Her head was reeling from the impact, her body painfully crushed between the heavy force and the hard ground—she couldn't move an inch.

He breath came in painful gasps and she blinked a few times, trying to get her eyes to focus. There was a muffled sound coming from somewhere beside her head—someone's breath? And then the heavy weight was lifted and she could breathe freely. She coughed loudly, trying to sit up. She blinked again and this time she could make out a blurred image in front of her—a young man with dark hair was crouching beside her, one of his hands was propping Yuri's head up, while his face hovered closely over hers.

Yuri gasped in shock. Her eyes widened as she chokingly uttered, "Kiba?" before fainting in the young man's arms.

Well there's the end of the first chapter. I hope you guys liked this one. If you've been following my hints, you know something big is going to happen. Anyone care to guess? Thanks for reading, please review!

Oh, and because I forgot to at the beginning and I'm too tired to scroll up and do it properly, I'll write my disclaimer here:

No, I do not own Wolf's Rain or any of the characters, places, or events found therein. I only own Yuri and Jane, and a few other people that popped out of my head. And I own my story…ah, at least I have that to console me…