Okay, so, I know you all hate me for not updating. However I have a good excuse. Evil gnomes stole my computer and I didn't get it back for a long long time. Okay, so the truth is high school sucks and I have way too much homework. Plus a writing competition I do just started so I'm writing a story for that as well. I will try to start updating again. Please forgive my horriblenissity. Anyways, just read and you will finally get to meet the Ranger's, YAY! As always R&R. Please someone draw a pic, I am begging you.

(Last Time)

I had no home, no family, and nowhere to go. It felt like I was in the same situation as when my mother had died. I was once again alone, and it was not a pleasant feeling. Once I had calmed down, I stood up straight and began walking in a straight line. I had no idea where to go, but I had to start moving in some direction. So I walked on through the woods.

Chapter 8: Why me?.

(Rin)

I had been walking for a while now. I didn't even know where I was anymore. I was getting to the point where I wouldn't be able to walk much longer. Just as my legs were about to collapse, I finally found a decent place to rest. I gratefully sank down to the ground leaning up against a great tree for support. I had been intending to only rest my legs until I could once again walk. However, the second I was sitting and my muscles relaxed, my eyes began to close. I fought to open my eyes, but I was too tired to do anything other than let sleep claim me.

I woke to a stiff back and aching feet. Why was I asleep against a tree trunk? Then slowly I began to remember everything that had happened yesterday. Claude was a power craving maniac and Felix was not someone I could rely on. I was alone again and had nowhere to go. With a groan I stood up and stretched out the kinks. I opened my mouth and tasted the air. I couldn't find any familiar scents in the air and it would have worried me under normal circumstances. However, this only made me calm down a little. I wanted to be as far away from my old territory as possible.

Although I didn't smell anything from our territory I did smell something familiar. It was the smell of another wolf. However, this scent was a few days old so I was not worried. I scented the air again and smelled the path I had taken to get to my current location. I figured that must be the direction of my previous territory so turned in the opposite direction. I had no path to follow so I began walking once more.

During my walking I caught two rabbits and finally stopped to eat when the sun was at its highest. After I had eaten my fill I took the remaining meat and put a sprinkle of preserving salts onto it before putting it into my herb satchel. Once I was once again situated I continued on.

I had only been walking for an hour at most when I smelled something strange. At almost the same time, I heard a pitiful whimper come from the woods ahead of me and to the left. I immediately stopped in my tracks, not sure what to do. I could go back along my tracks and make a large circle around the area, I could continue walking and ignore the smell and sound, or I could go and investigate. Being who I am, curiosity got the best of me.

I followed the smell into the woods and realized the sound had stopped. After only a short time I came across a clearing. As soon as the clearing had come into sight, I ducked behind some bushes for cover. The place reeked of humans, but there was another scent intermingled with it. I carefully peeked around the bush and looked around. As my eyes roamed the clearing from the safety of the bushes, I once again heard the whimpering. Immediately my eyes zeroed in on where the sound was coming from. My eyes widened at the sight in front of me. Lying on the ground was a small wolf pup. It couldn't be more than a week old.

My first thought was why a mother would leave such a young pup alone. Only a second later my question was answered as I almost threw up. Around the pup's neck was a thing wire. The wire was so tight that it had cut into the pup's neck and blood was soaked into its fur. Whoever had done this would pay. Before I knew what I was doing, I had stood up and was walking towards the pitiful creature.

I had taken no more than five steps, when excruciating pain shot up my leg. I collapsed onto the leaf covered forest floor and lay there trying to figure out what the pain was. It hurt so badly that I was almost immediately in a delirious state. I would have just lay there forever, except for a noise that kept interrupting my attempted thinking. Finally getting fed up with the mystery noise I looked up and found golden eyes staring at me. As soon as my eyes landed on the pup, my mind cleared up.

I forced my body into a sitting position and nervously looked down at my leg. As soon as I saw my leg I wished I had never looked. My left foot and ankle were covered in blood and torn up. Around my ankle and biting through flesh all the way to bone, was a bear trap. The trap was attached to a chain that was nailed to the ground. I knew that I had no chance of getting the trap off by myself. Just twitching my ankle hurt enough to make black spots in my vision. As these thoughts raced through my mind, I was once again interrupted by the whimpering of the pup.

I looked back at the pup and saw that it was straining on the wire, trying to reach me. As it pulled, more blood stained its fur. I couldn't just sit there and watch the poor thing suffer. I forced my body to move closer to the pup even when the pain made me want to black out. When I was finally able to touch the pup, I was at the end of my chain.

I carefully reached out and stroked the fur of the sad pup. Its response was to push its head into my hand as if it as grateful to have a companion. I carefully examined the wire around its head and found that it was quite thin. After a moment of searching through my bag, I found my small cooking knife and brought it towards the wire. As soon as the pup saw the knife, it began to shake.

Once I had reassured the pup that I would not harm it, I cut the wire. As soon as it was cut I carefully detached it from the pup's neck. The cut around the pup's neck was shallow, however, I knew that a pup of this age was very weak, and this small cut could mean death if infected. I quickly went through my herbs until I found a cleaning and healing salve. After spreading some around the pup's neck. I wrapped a piece of cloth around the neck so the pup would leave it alone.

I was growing quite tired of referring to the pup as the pup in my mind and decided to do a quick check. Apparently the pup was a she. I couldn't just call her she or her, so I decided to give her a name. After some consideration, I decided on Fala, meaning crow. Her fur was as black as the crow's feathers and I found it to be a fitting name. Once my mind was no longer concentrating on a name, I realized Fala was shaking. It was getting colder as the sun began to sink lower and lower in the sky. I carefully picked her up and tucked her into my shirt, hoping to give her some of my warmth.

I knew that if I couldn't escape from the trap soon both Fala and I would slowly freeze to death. However, the mixture of the cold and the pain made me weak. Plus, I had used up most of my energy freeing Fala from the wire. Slowly, I felt my body weakening and knew I was going to fall asleep. Unfortunately, I would never awaken if I fell asleep now. Slowly, darkness consumed me, and my last thought was that I had saved Fala, only to let her die.

(Will's POV)

Ugh, why did Halt have to send me out on one of the coldest days this week? I had been riding for an hour now, and had found no signs of the man I was sent for. Halt had told me as I was finishing my dinner, that he had a job for me. Apparently a hunter was illegally killing and selling wolves. Halt had sent me out to look for signs of this man and told me not to come back until I had some information.

As I was moaning to myself about how much of a demon Halt was, Tug gave a warning whinny. Immediately I stopped Tug and slid off his back. Looking at the ground, I noticed some boot prints leading from a small deer trail, onto a larger path. I figured this was a good sign and hopped back onto Tug urging him into a trot while following the prints. A short time later, I saw the tracks go back into the woods, this time with no clear path to follow.

I once again slid off Tug and looked at the tracks. With a sigh I realized there was no way Tug could follow through this. However, I knew I had to follow the tracks. With only a quick command at Tug to stay put, I turned into the woods and began following the trail. I hadn't gone far when the trees began thinning out, until at last I came to a clearing.

However, what I saw was not at all what I was expecting. Lying in the clearing was a girl. However, it wasn't the girl that surprised me. It was the pool of blood around her leg and the bear trap imbedded into it that made my eyes widen. I quickly hurried to the fallen girl and reached out to check for a pulse. When my hand was only an inch from her neck, something jumped out and bit me. It didn't hurt too badly but I was quite surprised by what was biting me.

A small pup was grinding its teeth into my finger. Normally I would have freaked out. However, I immediately knew why the pup was biting me. It was protecting the girl. After a few second s of staring at each other, it let go of my finger. The second I set it down, it disappeared into the folds of her shirt. I was amazed at how the creature seemed to disappear.

After the shock wore off I once again began my administrations. After some quick checks I found she was still alive and seemed to be suffering from hypothermia and blood loss. I also knew that if I removed the trap here she would die. Since I was so worried about her health, it took a while for me to realize that something was different about her. When I first noticed the ears and tail I was completely freaked out. However, I knew I couldn't just leave her here to die, so I ignored the strangeness for now. Instead of opening the trap I simply cut the chain and immediately picked her up. Once she was secure in my arms I hurried through the woods towards Tug.

The second I emerged from the trees I practically threw me and the girl onto Tug. The second we were secure I urged Tug into a gallop and raced towards Halt's cottage. I couldn't help but think about how I was going to explain this to Halt. Why did things like this always happen to me?

YAY! Long chapter finally. I know this chapter was pretty painful. We finally have the rangers coming into the story. I will try my best to update frequently. As always R&R. Plus, PLEASE DRAW A PIC! Luv u, bye!