I see your face with every punch I take and every bone I break, it's all for you... –Yellowcard

After 12 battles of I Declare War, each spanning about 10 minutes, the threesome came back. Cheza's spirit lit up quickly and she smiled broadly at them. "Welcome back!" She fixed up her cards into a huge neat pile (she had been winning this game, just like the last 9 games) and placed it on the floor, getting up. Toboe blinked at her pile and placed his down. "How does she do it..." He asked himself quietly, definitely starting to doubt in beginner's luck.

Hige burped loudly and smiled embarrassedly. "Heh heh heh, whoops?" The others just rolled their eyes and gathered around a coffee table where they had placed the various foods. Cheza scanned the provisions, looking for a bottle of water. She looked puzzled, finding no water and turned to Kiba. "Kiba? No...water?"

Kiba nodded and pulled out a canteen of water. Cheza smiled and appreciatively took the water.

"This one thanks you." She sighed happily and began to drink, sitting down on the floor once again.

The foursome of wolves grabbed their share of food, Hige eating one more time, and silently ate as Cheza hummed a song just to ease them.

It was a bit unusual to see them that quiet. It was a disturbing sort of silence and thankfully, the flower maiden being wise, hummed to alleviate the tension. They all knew what had caused the apprehension, they just didn't want to talk about it. At least not in front of her.

Darcia had been on their case for a while, slowly tracking them to their precise positions. And for that, the group kept relocating themselves, as well as moving onwards to Paradise.

Paradise...Months ago it was just a plan Kiba had made just for him. Now it consisted of others and the plan was now put into action, especially with the key now with them.

The key that was humming the sweet song with her eyes closed.

But Paradise had to be put on the back burner for a moment. For Darcia's ludicrous, persistent hunt for both Cheza and their heads was the most important one now. The noble had been exceedingly close to snatching back the flower maiden, but luck was on their side every time. But even Kiba knew that luck would run out if they weren't careful.

A tiny gasp caught Kiba off guard and his eyes darted to Cheza who had jumped up, heading for a window. Toboe went after her, like the little brother he resembled to her, and looked out the window as well. Though not as amazed as she was.

"The sunset...this one thinks it's beautiful." The delicate flower smiled at the young wolf and gaped back at the setting sun.

Hige chuckled at her childish amusement, admiring it all the while. Tsume on the other hand, couldn't believe how easily the girl was intrigued. But Kiba, sitting down against a wall, his knees up, smirked yet again.

"Hard to believe she's the key." Tsume commented, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against a wall.

Kiba closed his eyes and leaned his head back, sights of how Paradise would look like entering his mind. That was his goal, his destination, and no force on Earth could stop him from reaching it.

The night crawled into place and tucked its dark sheets over the sky, a few stars dotting the heavens. And still, Cheza was posted there, captivated by the creativity of God. Night, this was her favorite time. Though the moon wasn't out, she still loved the hours of darkness. Toboe had laid down on the other couch across Hige, leaving the pink-dressed young flower at the windowsill.

Cheza looked over at her companions that she grew deeply attached to and smiled softly, sensing their tiredness. She understood them of course, they had been walking since the previous night nonstop. And she knew why, but never said anything. Their fear was Darcia and that kept them moving.

No...their fear is not that...This one is their fear...They do not want to lose this one...She thought, her eyes radiating love towards them.

Her eyes moved from the now sleeping Hige, to a dreaming Toboe, to Tsume who seemed to be half-asleep against the wall, and to Kiba...her beloved.

She felt the most connected to him in every single way. She felt something deep for him, and was not afraid to hide it. But did not know how to show it, except in smiles, concern, and attachment.

She stood in her little pink dress over her pallid moon suit with her pink boots, her bob of baby pink hair dancing a bit as the soft wind drew in from the windows

Her eyes focused on Kiba, the handsome white wolf, the gorgeous young man. With his rustled dark brown hair or with his lovely coat of white fur, and his deep aqua colored orbs or those intense predator yellow eyes, and his slim body toned to perfection. He was absolutely breath-taking...But Cheza looked past that. She fell in love with his personality. His soul. His heart.

The lovely flower smiled, and looked back outside at the window. Rain!

A soft drizzle just arrived! Cheza's eyes lightened up in joy as the drops of fresh rain plopped down to the earth. It had been a while since rain had come, and it finally did! Cheza had hid her thirst for water very well and the canteen of water Kiba gave her was simply not enough. Temptation and necessity pulling her in, Cheza ran out of the apartment, heading outside.

Tsume and Kiba quickly snapped their eyes open at the sound of boots flying by, and it didn't take long to realize to whom the footsteps belonged to.

"Cheza!" Kiba, a bit surprised at her, called out, waking the two sleeping wolves as he ran out behind the flower maiden.

But surprise, surprise.

Someone else was already dashing behind her. Someone who was an official. And who had brought buddies.

"Stop!" The soldiers yelled, pointing their M-16's and other guns at the four wolves.

Kiba growled, showing a couple of sharp incisors, irritated at how fast the bastards caught up with them. Without hesitation, Kiba sprinted towards the group of soldiers, followed by the others, and dodged every single bullet they shot, his speed too fast to be seen with their eyes. He went in and out between them and one by one they fell with blood spraying out. But he wasn't going after them, he was going after Cheza.

It seemed like they reproduced themselves, because more of those soldiers appeared, shooting at the wolves like the crazed cowards that they were. Kiba, slashing through and through, followed Cheza's scent, leaving the others behind to fight.

He heard an earsplitting, piercing scream not too far and felt a wave of fear come over him. A wave of fear that wasn't his own. Cheza!

His instincts yelled at him to do something quick and his entire body pushed itself beyond the limit, ready to defend, protect and take back Cheza. As he turned the corner, bullets grazing after him, he didn't even stop to absorb what was happening but sped up, racing towards Cheza. Who was being carried into an airship.

Surrounded by more combatants and still being shot at from every angle, Kiba, still in his human form, dashed towards the closing airship, his eyes locked onto Cheza.

Cheza, sensing that Kiba was there, turned to see him and couldn't help but show the horror she felt through her frightful red eyes. "Kiba!"

The soldier holding her looked at Kiba's direction, the wolf's eyes flashing rage, and quickly went in and pressed a button on a side, beginning to close the airship's doors.

"Kiba!" Tsume called out but Kiba was only focusing on getting to Cheza before that damned door closed.

As he closed in on the airship it began to take flight, but that didn't stop him.

Don't close. Don't close. Don't close! He screamed mentally, watching his chance of getting inside the airship...vanish.

Not caring, Kiba leaped high into the air, his fingertips brushing up against the airship for mere seconds, and fell back down.

"No!" The irate young man growled, watching the airship head higher and higher into the atmosphere.

A bullet scraped by Kiba's right shoulder, catching his attention. Which unfortunately for the soldier, was not a good thing to catch at the moment.

Kiba's flashing aqua eyes emitted pure fury as the soldier aimed his gun at him, shaking a bit.

Oblivious to the fact that the others had arrived and had taken down most of the humans, Kiba snarled at the soldier and sprinted, going straight for him. The young soldier began to shoot but every single shot missed Kiba who in seconds had reached him.

Kiba didn't give him a chance to even scream as he tore the man apart.

Blood spurted everywhere, landing on Kiba's face, staining his clothes, but the wolf didn't stop. Because of these humans, Cheza was gone. Because of them, he couldn't catch Cheza. Because of those incompetents, him and Cheza were separated again!

The man was already dead but Kiba kept at it, engulfed by his anger. Only when Toboe placed a hand on his shoulder did Kiba snap back to life. He jerked his head to the right, frightening Toboe a bit, and looked at the pup, his mind still not registering where he was.

"Kiba...He's dead, already." Toboe stammered out, his hand still on Kiba's shoulder.

Tsume and Hige walked up, both surprised at the mess Kiba had done. Never did the wolf raze an enemy quite that bad. The soldier...didn't have a face anymore. His neck and all the way down was shredded, blood still pouring out, and not to mention he had his chest torn open.

Kiba stood up and glared at the lifeless body and slowly looked at his comrades. "Let's go." Without another word, he walked past them, knowing they'd follow.

Tsume grunted, placing his hands inside his pockets and pursued, leaving behind Hige and Toboe who looked at each other.

"They took Cheza again..." Toboe frowned, his puppy eyes extremely sad. Hige sighed depressed and ruffled the pup's hair. "We'll get her back, Chibi. We'll definitely get Cheza back."

Toboe nodded and followed Hige, catching up to Kiba and Tsume whom were already running. Once again, Kiba led by instinct, but this time, it wasn't for Paradise. It was for Cheza.

"Kiba, where are we going?" Toboe asked, running at the end of the pack. Tsume answered, knowing Kiba was in his feverish mood and was mostly likely not going to respond.

"It's not where we're going, runt. It's who we're gonna get."

"The scientists."

A/N

What do ye think? I'm trying to build up the characters individually and at the same time, I'm trying to jam in action and romance all in the same chapter. I'm trying to make longer chapters but alas short term memory loss ish a bitch and my writer's block is more like a damn road block than a stop sign. -.-

But please review and throw me any ideas! Anything helps

Oh! I almost forgot, I'm really not into the whole yaoi thing (no matter how attracted Toboe ish to Tsume) but I'll make sure to show some "affection" between those two wolfies. FRIEND affection, mind you. That's all for now! Ta!

P.S Blue might come in