A/N: Well hello again after... what's it been? A year? Two? I am so sorry that it has been so long. My co-author got into a fight and haven't spoken since. It really messed up my life and I haven't written anything since either. But upon recieving a request for another story, I have decided to take up the reigns and start writing again. So here's Chapter 3 of Wild Hearts, expect updates to start pouring in here as I have a lot of the story written, just have to get it from my binder to my computer. Enjoy!

Chapter 3:

In the early morning, just as the sun rose in the sky, the truck was loaded with both luggage and the two passengers, it started up, ready to drive away. The pup woke with a start, immediately jumping up and bolting for the house to jump in the truck, but before she was even halfway there, the car was pulling away! She pushed herself harder and harder, running faster and faster after the truck, she chased it into the street and ran after it, running furiously as her lungs burned with the work, but she kept running, running and running though the car was getting away from her, until it was out of sight and she stopped.

She panted, and when she could find the breath, howled her lament; she sat there until the sun was lighting the mountains and trudged back to the farm, hopeless and crawled up on the porch and curled up in a tight ball, whining and whimpering as she did so. What was a dog to do? Her family had abandoned her, and she was completely alone.

"Wow! I don't think i have ever seen you run that fast in my life! It makes me tired just thinking about it…" The cat said, making the pup jump in surprise, she then jumped up, wagging her tail, "You're still here! I thought they were taking you with them?!"

"They tried, but I didn't want to go. So, I bit the farmer and ran; I hid in the barn until they left..." The cat said casually, as though this was an obvious, every-day solution.

Pup got down on her front paws like she might spring and wagged her tail, then jumped up and ran a tight circle a few times, "I'm so happy you didn't leave!"

"Yeah... I can see that… But what are we going to do now?"

The pup rolled on her back and thought about it, lolling her tongue out of the side of her mouth, "We can live in the barn! We'll hunt mice and voles and rabbits and we'll stay there until the masters come back! It will be just fine!" Her plan was obviously very optimistic, but until they could come up with a better one, it would have to do.

"Mmmm… alright, I guess so…"

"We can eat the rodents in the barn! And the voles over in the tall grass! And we can chase the raccoons that try to eat the garbage! And we can sleep in the barn, and in the meadow when it's warm, and we can run and play all day like in the kennel!" She said, rolling around and then standing up to scratch her ear.

"Hahaha, you're so energetic!" Cat laughed, watching the rambunctious pup as said pup stuck her tongue out to the side, panting. "Ha ha ... so what you want to do now?"

"Wanna go chase some rabbits? Ooh! Or we could dig up the flower bed while Honey is gone!"

"Um, okay, sure…" Cat said, she was more for sneaking up on rabbits and eating them rather than just running for fun, and she wasn't much of a digger, but once the pup was tired out, she would be easier to convince for food or anything the cat wanted, so she might as well let the pup have some fun until she tired herself out.

The pup wagged her tail wildly, and then, seeing it out of the corner of her eye, growled then started chasing it.

The cat laughed hard, "Ha! You're so weird!"

Pup stopped and looked up at the cat, "What? Why am I weird?"

"Because your a dog ... dogs are just weird," Cat laughed.

"They are not! Cats are weird! And lazy!" She protested.

The cat stretched rather lazily, "I am not, I do a lot around here."

"You chase mice, and when you catch them you eat them! You even said yourself that watching me run tired you out! That's pretty lazy!" The mutt barked in laughter. The cat just glared at her, and she smiled up at the cat playfully and then jumped, knocking the cat off the banister.

The cat wailed as she fell and then landed on her feet and hissed at the dog "NOT COOL!"

The little pup wagged her tail and barked. Wanting to play and chase the cat again. She got her wish as the cat took off running as fast as she could and the pup chased quickly after her, running slightly around so that she cut the cat off from the tree, forcing her back to the meadow or into the woods to escape.

The cat ran back toward the house, but then cut unexpectedly to run into the woods. The pup runs after the cat, but quickly loses sight of her and resorts to her nose, she follows the trail closely, until another scent crosses her path, a musky, strong scent that draws her in, and without thinking she follows it instead.

She follows the new scent, her body feeling hot as she takes the smell in, venturing deep into the forest without a second thought about it. Then she smells blood mixed in with the scent and she quickens her pace, following the scent quickly to find the attractive and possibly hurt source. As she approaches a clearing, she hears playful yips and growls and the smell of blood and deer gets stronger as does the other scent . She comes out into the clearing and she sees the silver wolf standing over a freshly killed deer with two other dogs yuping and playing around him and the deer .

She shrank into the bushes, just watching, as the wolf turns to the two pups, barking, "Sora! Kairi! stop running around and eat what i caught you, it wasn't easy you know…!"

The smaller brown pup yelps, "Thanks Riku! You're the best!" And the auburn pup yips as well, "Yeah! It's good!" And they both dug into the day's kill.

The silver wolf lifts his head, sniffing, then calls out, "Hey, you can come out and join us if you would like."

The pup froze, frightened at being found out and tried to run back to the farm. But she realized a few minutes after running that she was lost, and she had no idea which way the farmhouse was.

A voice from above the pup rang out in dark laughter, "Hey! Hey, hey, hey! Look a cute little puppy pet of the two legs! Lost out in our woods! Ha ha ha!" More voices joined in with the laughter from up in the trees.

The pup shrank down, looking around frantically, frightened by the strange voices. Up in the trees, bright eyes looked down at her and the voice from before spoke again, "So, shall we teach this pup not to enter our territory again?!" A chorus of meows and yowls rang out in approval as wild cats began to come out of the trees and surround her. She yelped and tried to run, darting between two cats towards the clearing again.

"GET HER!" Yowled a black cat with white marks all the way down its back and all the cats ran after her. She ran harder and harder, yelping whenever a claw snagged her and starting barking and howling as she thought she was close to the clearing, not sure whether or not she would run straight into it or run right past it, but hoping that either the wolf or the cat would hear her and help.

Thankfully, the wolf burst through the trees, knocking the black cat down and howling. All the cats came to a sudden stop as their leader was taken down.

"What is all this?!" The wolf demanded, "You can't chase this pup here! It is out of your range, Xig White Stripe!" The black and white cat under the wolf's paw hissed "It's none of you business, Riku Swift Paw! She intruded on our hunting grounds!"

Riku barked back, angrily, "And now you are on mine! So leave now and I wont eat you!" The cats started backing up afraid of the wolf, but Xig hissed as he was let up, "This isn't over! Someday we will find your den, Riku, and you will pay for this!" With that, they ran off. Then the wolf turned to the pup, wearing a look of concern, "Are you alright?"

"Y-y-yeah..." She whimpered, shaking a little but otherwise unharmed, "But.. how will I get home if I can't go that way...?"

"I'll get you there, I know the way to your farm ... Though it might be safer if you stayed with me and my pack for the night. You made that cat clan very angry…"

She stared at her paws in shame, "I am sorry... this is the second time you have had to save me from... cats..."

"It's ok. They are not nice cats they would tear you to pieces just for living; they are ruthless! Lord help anyone in their territory tonight ... Come on I'll take you to our den, there is some deer left if you're hungry too."

"Oh! Thank you!" She wagged her tail in delight, "I would like to think I could beat one of those furballs out in the open... but 20 in a territory I don't know... and I'm not sure if I could beat that white stripe one... he was big... for a cat..."

"Haha, yeah... That's Xig White Stripe. He's the "want-to-be leader of that clan. Most of them follow him when they want to, but the real leader is Xem Silver Paw, he's a big cat, and he's very powerful, that's why the cats obey him. Even I am a little afraid of him…" He said gravely, but then smiled, "But don't tell anyone I said that!"

"Of course... don't tell anyone that I got scared of two puppies..." The pup laughed back.

"Of Sora and Kairi? Ha! Well, I don't blame you for being scared, they are trouble, and a lot of it at that! It's so hard to get them to do as they are told!"

She smiled a little awkwardly, "So, where is their mother? You're mate?"

"Huh? Oh no! They aren't mine... I just... I kind of picked them up... I found Sora in the river half drowned by two young two legs, and kairi... well she was left behind when her two legs left, so I took them in and I take care of them, keep them alive as best I can."

"Oh... but what about when their masters come back? Sora shouldn't go back if the little ones weren't ready for a puppy... but Kairi? What about when her two legs come back and don't know where she is? That's why I have to go back, my masters will come back, and I need to be there when they do," Holds her head high in pride and absolute confidence that they will come back and need her.

"Kairi's two legs aren't coming back, unfortunately."

The pup shrunk back sadly, asking, "Did... did they pass away?"

"One did… and the other was taken by family to live far away."

"Oh... poor Kairi... it would be horrible to have your master taken away..."

"She doesn't mind, she likes it here in the woods, so does Sora."

"Well that's good," She smiled to herself, "Are they wolves like you?"

"No, Kairi is a pure bred Husky, I think she said and sora is... I'm not sure what he is. But, they are not wolves… Even I'm not full wolf."

"You're not?!" The pup yelped in surprise, "But you're so... big... you smell and look like a timber wolf to me..." She said, a little awkwardly since his scent was driving her insane.

"Well, my grandma was a colly, so my mom was only half wolf, and my dad was full wolf, so I'm only three fourths wolf. But I do have some dog in me."

"Oh, I see..."

"Yeah, so what are you, if I may ask? Because I can tell you're not a full dog either." Riku said as he stopped and sat to scratch an itch on his ear.

"Oh... I am half shetland sheepdog... and half... um... fox..." She muttered the last part, a little ashamed of being part wild, especially since her father was an animal not much liked by most other animals.

"Ohhhh, that's kinda cool actually... part fox, no wonder you're so beautiful."

The pup stopped dead in her tracks, shocked, "Say... say what?"

"Yeah, well ... foxes are beautiful creatures ...so ... it make sense that you would be beautiful too." Riku said, if wolves could blush, his entire face would be cherry-red.

She gulped and began following again, this time in silence as her body burned with both his scent and the thought of him actually thinking the smaller dog was attractive in any way. They reached the den and Riku stepped back to let her go in first, calling out, "Sora! Kairi! I'm back! And I have someone new for you two to meet!"

The pup stood a little awkwardly, smiling at the little puppies who weren't much smaller than she was, considering she wasn't fully grown yet.

The small puppies stared at her a second, then the brown pup's tongue rolled out and he started jumping around her. "Wow! You're really cool looking! What is your name? Where do you come from? Why are you here? Did you get left behind by your two legs too?" He questioned excitedly, barely a breath between questions, giving her no time to answer until Riku interrupted him, "Sora, stop with the questions! She is tired and hungry I'm sure so try not to overwhelm her!"

"It's ok... um... my name is ol' girl, and I'm from a farm? I don't really know where... and my two legs left... but they are coming back! Yeah... they're coming back so... I have to go back tomorrow..."

Sora whined in disappointment, "Awwwwww! Really? I thought we got someone new to play with..."

Riku rolled his eyes and whispered, "Oh dear..." Then looked at sora, "Go play with kairi, but don't leave the clearing, okay?" With that, Sora jumped up and ran out, yelling, "Okay!" happily over his shoulder.

"What's wrong? Why did you say 'oh dear'?" The pup asked after Kairi padded out after Sora.

"He's trouble, and if I had let him, he would have begged and pleaded with you to stay and play with him."

"Oh... I see..." She said, looking at her paws, "They will come back... right? My Masters?"

"I don't know ...but if they don't ... you can have a home here ...if you want it," Riku shuffled his front paws awkwardly.

"I don't know, Riku... even without them, my friend is there," She sighed, she wanted to stay with him… but there was more at stake than just her own love for the wolf, she had a family of her own, "I couldn't leave her behind, and I'm not sure how she would feel living in a pack of dogs... but... I do kind of like it here... except for the wild cats... then again, I don't think they would stay off my farm long anyway, now that the farmer is gone..."

"True, they would probably claim it for their hunting ground. That's probably why Zexion Quiet Stripe was stalking around it so much... that or he liked your friend."

"Maybe... he's an energetic cat... she's a lazy cat... I guess even cats mate... kind of weird to think about though..."

"Not really, and she isn't that lazy; I've seen her chaise down rabbits several times, and let me tell you its hard to do that."

She smiled and replied, "She's still lazy, she's a good hunter, a VERY good hunter.. but she's lazy."

"Haha, I didn't know you could be both, but I'll take your word for it."

"She can... she is good at hunting, but if she can help it, she'll take the easy life and sleep in the sun and stuff..."

"I see," he relpied, laying down and yawning, "There is some deer left if you're hungry, and you can sleep wherever you like for the night. In the morning I'll take you back to you farm."

"Thank you," She said, digging into the remainder of the deer and eating her fill. Riku watched her for a little bit before he walked to the mouth of the den and called Sora and Kairi back in for the night. The pup watched, finishing the last of her meat, and then groomed herself a moment before curling up just outside of the mouth of the cave, ready to sleep.

Riku looked up at her curled up out in the cold, obviously just too shy to come inside; he thought it was kind of cute how much of a puppy she was still at heart, "You can come in further with us, it would probably be safer if you did."

The paused, but then stood up and trotted inside, looking at Riku with Sora under his chin and kairi on one side and asked, "May I curl up with you?"

"Yes, of course! Be my guest!" He wagged his tail as he smiled up at her, his bright blue eyes glinting in the fading light.

She smiled a little to herself and curled up against his belly, where there were no pups already taking the place. His tongue slipped quickly over one ear, then he laid his head down and fell asleep, and with that, the pup smiled to herself at the affectionate action and went to sleep in his warmth.