Chapter 4

The chairs continued to move along the corridor, then they came to a stop in a dark room, suddenly 8 hologram screens appeared in front of them, all the same size except for one in the centre who they assumed was the head of them all.

"Welcome," said the large hologram, "we apologise for the rough way you were bought in but we couldn't risk explaining everything to you out in the open where some other human's besides you, he said pointing to Hana then he continued, "could hear us, as you heard earlier this is a hidden compound high in the mountain where you will live from now on."

"WAIT A MINUTE!" yelled Yuki

"You just abduct us and tell us that we will live here from now on and we're just supposed to accept that?"

"Both of you and your father were never meant to live in the human lands, the only reason you did was because your father was born in secret, his parents lived here but for some reason they decided to leave and raise him in that world as far as we knew he was never seen from again, until 20 years later. We had received hundreds of reports from our informers in the city that a wolf body had been spotted in the river, our agents quickly ran over to investigate, although later they reported a woman whose description matches yours tried to the see the body before they hauled him away. With a closer examination we found it was the one child whose parents had left the compound, then we decided to do some further investigating and we found out about you three and began observing you over the years and last night we all voted unanimously that you should be brought here." The hologram replied.

"But what about our lives back there people in the nearby village will wonder where we are and come looking for us then what and what about my education I can't stop going to school all of a sudden?" Yuki asked angrily

We'll have our informants take care of that, they will tell all the local villagers and announce to your friends at school that your mother got offered a job overseas and she had to leave immediately with her children to get the job. As for your education there is a high school here and when you graduate you will get a job that if beneficial to the community."

"WHAT ABOUT ME! Yelled Ame, I had a great carefree life in the woods and now I'm supposed to just go back to school all of a sudden?"

"In this community we don't force you to do anything, there is a large area for you and many others to run around in their wolf forms, but if you choose to remain in wolf form permanently no one is going to stop you." The hologram responded.

The large hologram then looked at Hana and said. "I suppose you want to know what you'll be doing."

Hana nodded her head in response

"Well, we've heard from our spies that you have grown a very successful vegetable garden, so we've decided that you will work in the agricultural department, in which you will plant and help the vegetables grow, is that clear miss."

"Yes it is sir," Hana responded

"Now then let me introduce you to John Duke," the hologram gestured to a nearby door and it opened to reveal a tall thin man.

"Hello I can see the council has already had the pleasure of introducing me, so now you will come with me and I'll explain all the rules of this place but, I must tell you the most important rule now. You must never leave the compound; if you are caught trying to leave the penalty is death, for risking exposing us to the world. Now we're going to untie you, but don't try to run off or you will be imprisoned.

The chains binding the three of them loosened their grips and now they were free, Ame and Yuki looked at each other, then at their mother and they were all thinking the same thing. That there must be a way out, they looked around and saw that all the exits were blocked by guards. So they all looked at each other and decided they would go along with this for now.

"Follow me," said John indicating to a door leading to the next room.

They all followed and sat down to observe this man's precentation

"Alright, now this is a full scale map of the compound," said John as he used of nearby projector to display the map, "as you can see it's divided into sectors, using a small projecting laser he pointed to a particular house on the map, "this is your house where all of you will live until the children have grown old enough to live by themselves," he then clicked a button and the next slide came up which was a picture of a large building. "This is the local school which you will attend school starts at 8 am tomorrow," seeing the angry look on Ame's face he quickly responded, "If you feel like it, however if you wish to remain in wolf form and not attend school you are free to do so and when you are old enough you will be assigned to the hunting division, which you will find out about when you're older." He pushed the button again and then a slide with agricultural fields appeared, he looked at Hana and said, "This is the agricultural fields where you will be working, we know from all those years of observing you that you know a lot about agriculture, you will report their tomorrow at 8 am sharp." "Last off for the first couple of days you stay here you will be issued a map so you can find your way around." He pushed the button again and and the screen went black

"Okay," John said in a joyful tone " now if you will follow these two gentlemen they will lead you to your new home.

The 3 of them were then escorted out of the room by two armed guards outside the room when they stepped outside it was dark already, as they were escorted along the road Yuki and Ame took some time to survey the environment, it looked just like another ordinary neighbourhood small houses with light on and the distant sound of people talking and but one thing stood out, it was the sound of wolf howl's in the distance. Ame was tempted to respond but he held his howl's back, finally they reached a small house on top of the hill, the guards opened the door, turned on the lights, handed each of them a map then they walked out.

Hana and her children gazed around for a few minutes; the house was actually very nice it had the standard dining room with a small table, a kitchen for cooking and 3 bedroom. Then they all looked at each other no one said a word for a few minutes.

Hana then broke the silence and said "I think it's time we all got some rest."

Ame and Yuki looked at her and then nodded their heads

Yuki began walking to one of the bedrooms when she saw Ame walking towards the door

"Ame where are you going," she asked?

Where does it look like I'm going, to bed," he then changed into his wolf form and walked out the door

As he went out he took this time to survey his surroundings, the land wasn't very different from the mountain, the only differences were the town houses were closer to the forest and there was no snow, then Ame remembered that there was a dome shielding this place from the outside world, he then felt it was time to get some rest he found a small comfortable patch of grass not far from the hut and he settled down for the night.

Meanwhile back in the house Yuki just shook her head at her brother.

"Are you alright Yuki," Asked Hana?

Yuki turned around looked at her mom and said "I'm fine mom, she replied.

We'll I'm going to bed see you in the morning goodnight," said Hana

"Goodnight mom," said Yuki

Hana went into one of the bedrooms and closed the door

Yuki also decided it was time to get some sleep so she went into another bedroom and closed the door, then a though occurred to her, all their clothes were in back at the old house, so what was she going to wear tomorrow, she then noticed a nearby cupboard and opened it, she was amazed at what she saw, all her clothes were their along with her shoes and bags, she couldn't believe it.

"Had they bought all this stuff here when we were knocked out," she thought

But she was too tired to think, so she changed into her pyjamas, got into bed and fell asleep

THE NEXT DAY

The next morning she awoke to the sound of a rooster crowing rooster, she tried to block the sound out with the covers but it was no good, finally she decided it was time to get up. She got out of bed, looked at a nearby clock and noticed it was 7:30 am, she then heard a noise coming from the kitchen and saw it was her mother cooking breakfast. It was rice and a small piece of meat was on the other plate she wondered what that was for, then Hana took the meat opened the nearby window and shouted "Ame breakfast is ready," she waited for a few minutes then when Ame in his wolf form came up to the window and then Hana threw the meat outside. Yuki then took a look outside the window and saw Ame ripping the meat to pieces, she was disgusted by this, she turned around and saw that her breakfast was now waiting on the table. She sat down and began to eat next to her mother, after finishing Hana put the two plates away and began washing them. She turned around and looked at Yuki and asked "do you want me to walk with you to school before I go off to work," she asked

"No thanks mom I'll be alright, I've still got the map those guards gave to me," Yuki responded

"Okay," Hana responded then she looked at the wall clock and realised it was time to go

"Have a nice day at school, I'll be back tonight at about six," said Hana as she walked out the door

Yuki then looked at the clock and thought it was time she got going to, she went back into her room, got her school bag and went out the front door. She tried to catch another glimpse of Ame but he was gone, "He probably went into the nearby forest," she thought. She took out the map she had been given and figured out that the school was in a east direction, she walked down the path and as she walked she took a closer look at the area around her, it was really beautiful the house were all painted astonishing colours, the flowers looked like they were just in bloom and she as she walked she passed many people and every one of them said hi as they went past, also as she went along she saw some children and adults in their wolf forms, the children were playing around like a bunch of puppies while the adults watched a nearby, one of the wolves waved their paws at here she assumed this was a hello gesture so she waved back and carried on. After a few minutes she reached the school building and saw that there was a tall man their waiting for her when she got to him he said

"Miss Yuki welcome to compound high school I'm your teacher Mr Yamamoto, follow me your class is right this way," he said."

Yuki followed him through the building she other classes where class was about to start. They finally reached her the class; Mr Yamamoto pointed her inside and then introduced her to the class

"Attention everyone we have a new student today, her name is Yuki, why don't you take hat seat over there," he said pointing to an empty desk in the back of the class."

"Okay" said Yuki. She then walked to the back of the class and sat the down.

Everything was taught the same way as bak when she went to her old school exept when history came about Mr Yamamoto began talking about how ancient humans killed thousands of wolf people. When it was time for recess she was surrounded by a lot of other girls who began asking her a lot about herself, it wasn't long before Yuki began to make some friends; soon they began chatting about everything from their families to their hobbies. Later on it was time to go home Yuki had a great time, but there was still a part of her that missed her old friends and school.

Meanwhile earlier that day

Ame had just finished eating the piece of meat Hana gave to him; he then decided he would explore the new area they were staying, he began to run into the nearby woods. It felt very different from running in the mountain there was no snow and there were no potential threats lurking about, as he ran he noticed another object close by running at about the same speed he was, he couldn't see it very clearly, but as the trees around it began to clear he noticed it was another wolf, they stared at each other for a few minutes then the other wolf howled at him in a greeting tone, Ame howled back in response and they continued to run through the forest. As they ran Ame began to notice that more and more wolves began to appear around him, until he was completely surrounded by a bunch of wolves. One wolf at the front of the pack howled as if giving instructions to the others, all the other wolves began to move in a certain formation, Ame did his best to follow them but he couldn't stay in synch, soon the head wolf came up to him and nudged him into the formation, finally he was starting to get it. As they finally emerged from the forest Ame saw what looked like training dummies in front of them, the head wolf howled again and the groups dispersed and began attacking each one, Ame knew instantly what to do because of what his master had taught him he followed a small group and leapt on top of one of the targets and began ripping it apart, a few minutes later he heard the howl of the head wolf, he presented himself in front of him and the alpha wolf inspected his work on the target, he looked at Ame and gave him an approving nod. The rest of the day went on with other hunting lessons such as surprise, ambush and how to avoid human hunters. At the end of the day Ame slowly made his way home, a thought quickly crossed his mind, "is this what it is like to be a member of a pack," he thought. But part of him was thinking of the great life he had in the mountains working alone.

Meanwhile

Hana had just left the house, for a minute she wondered what the children's day would be like but, she quickly remembered that she had a job to do. She took out the map she had been given and slowly made her way to the agricultural fields. When she arrived she saw there was a women waiting for her.

"Good mooring Miss Hana, the council told me you were coming I'm Mrs Iwate and I'll be showing you where to work, now follow me."

Hana followed Mrs Iwate to a nearby shed, when she stepped inside she noticed that it was full of gardening clothes.

Mrs Iwate handed her some clothes and said. "These are your work clothes; you can change in that room over there meet me outside when you're finished."

Hana quickly changed her clothes and stepped outside, Mrs Iwate was there waiting for her

"Alright now follow me and I will show you the field you will be working on today," said Mrs Iwate.

She led Hana across the first few fields, as they walked Hana noticed many other people at work. Planting seeds, pulling out weeds or harvesting vegetables. They finally reached a small patch in the fields

"Today you will work this field, first you must plat all the seed provided the sprinkle them with water and then add small bits of fertilizer, if you need assistance don't hesitate to ask, I will be back just before six to see how you've done."

Mrs Iwate then turned around and walked away

Hana knew it was going to be a long day so she got started. Planting the seed was the hardest part because she had to dig in the hot sun but once she finally finished she was satisfied with what she had done but she wasn't finished yet, now she had to water the seeds, she looked around and noticed a small pump in the far field where everyone else was getting water, as she went to get water she got a few hello's from the other workers and she said hello back. Watering the seeds wasn't as hard but it still took a lot of work. Finally all that was left was to put a small amount of fertilizer on each patch, she began ripping the packet of fertilizer she found nearby and began to add a dew bit to each patch where she planted a seed, a man nearby saw she was having trouble and gave her a helping hand. Finally she was finished. A few minutes before six Mrs Iwate returned, she was impressed with Hana's work and said she had a promising future there.

On her way home Hana thought about the people she had met that day, but part of her just couldn't stop thinking about all the people she had met in the old town and how much she missed them.

That night

Yuki, Ame and Hana arrived home at the about the same time, Ame and Yuki looked at each other but didn't say a word. After dinner they all went to bed, Ame slept outside as he had done the previous night, Hana and Yuki went into their own rooms. Even though they never talked about they could all feel that each one of them was missing their old home and wondering if they would ever see it again.