• She woke up rather early, earlier than she normally does. The sun was barely even in the sky yet as she looked out the small window of her room. The sky was a mixture of pink, purple, and light blue; already she could tell this would be a nice day, not rainy or cold like it had been the past couple days.
    She ran her hand through her pitch black hair that fell gently against her back when she sat up from the small cot. She blinked her blue eyes for a moment, adjusting to the dim light that came in the room, before she patted her hand over the other small cot next to her. Sliding her hand over the soft fabrics of old kimonos, she could feel no one was residing there now. Alarmed, she looked over to the cot she had made for Yuna, finding she wasn’t there. Her eyes widened with fear and her breathing picked its pace.
    Frantically, she stood up, not bothering to smooth her dirt smudged white kimono out. She looked around the room, but why should she bother, the room was awfully small and there was no hiding or any other sleeping places in there. It was a small, wooden planked floor, along with the walls, and the ceiling hung low, so she had to somewhat bend her head down to stand up. Other than that, it had two cots on the floor and that was all, nothing else.
    Where could she be? She knew Yuna went out at nights to get away from all the commotion that was produced here, but she would always come back before dawn and she could find her sleeping soundly besides her.
    She quickly went to the door that led into the large living area of her master’s home. Her master was not nearly as cold-hearted as the others here. She wished that Yuna had gotten her owner instead of the one she had now, who was awfully cruel and enjoyed seeing others in pain. Was he a sadist?!
    Looking around the living area, making sure Yuna didn’t happen to fall asleep on the soft padded furred animal rug, and when she saw she wasn’t there, she headed to the kitchen area. It was just as big as the living area, maybe a bit smaller though. A wooden table was placed in the middle of the floor, sink, stove, and some cupboards were all aligned against the wall. Her master was sitting at the table, drinking something of a black liquid from a glass cup.
    “Master Leon!” She exclaimed taking slower steps now, but still moved as quickly as she was willing to. The hems of her kimono brushed against the floor, making faint rustling noises as though a mouse was scurrying across the floor.
    He looked up from a sheet of paper he was looking over, setting the cup down on the table. “What is it, Kaname?” He asked his dark green eyes had grown softer, not as harsh and cold looking now. Strands of his red hair feel across his eyes and his hair was a bit shaggy after not cutting it in a while.
    “Yuna…” She seemed to be out of breath, even though she had only spoken a mere two words. She pulled out the chair, jumping a bit at the squeal it made when the wooden chair slid out across the wood floor. She sat down and scooted herself closer to the table, resting her hands on the round board when she was finished.
    “Yuna is gone,” She said, almost in a sob now. Her face was contorted with worry. “When I awoke, she was gone. I checked out in the living area, just to make sure she wasn’t lying out on the rug again, but….” Kaname shook her head, then suddenly jumped up, the chair flinging back and landed on the side.
    She bent down, picking the chair back up and scooted it under the table so only the back rest was shown. “I must go out and search around the plantation.” Without waiting a second more, she rushed outside, picking up her robe so she wouldn’t drag it any longer.
    Leon watched as Kaname speed her way out, hair flying behind her as she went. Blinking once he looked back down to the paper and lifted his cup again. “Glad I could be of help to you,” He muttered, taking a sip as he read.
    “Have you seen Yuna, Totoro?” Kaname asked a young man with blue colored hair and green eyes, a long scar ran along the side of his face.
    Totoro shook his head and made a grunt. “Why would I care? If she’s missing then that does us all good here. She was nothin’ but trouble ‘round here.” He stuck his rusted old shovel into the soil, placing his elbow on the wooden handle and leaned on it. “You’d better not go lookin’ for her, Kaname. Don’t risk your life for searching outside of the plantation just for that one little girl.”
    She scowled, turning her back on him and picked up her hem again. She was disgusted with all the people that hated a little, innocent girl.
    He reached out and grabbed her wrist, keeping her where she was. “I mean it, Kaname. You better not even think about going after that girl.”
    “Totoro, I will do whatever I please. If I want to go out and look for Yuna, I will very well do so. You disgust me by the way you can hate just a twelve year old girl who has done nothing but try to stay alive here,” She snapped, yanking her hand free of the grasp, continuing on her way.
    It wasn’t before long when Ichigo came running up to her waving her hand in the air, holding a small grey stuffed rabbit in her other hand. Her pink hair flew back as it normally did when she ran, purple eyes gleaming with cheerfulness, even though they were in the worst place possible. As she ran, Kaname could see that she took little hops with each step.
    White ears of a rabbit poked out from underneath the thick hair. A white headband with black lace outlining it was on top of her head, matching her outfit, a white long sleeved jacket with a black knee length dress. Her master had been kind enough and gave her some shoes, ankle height black boots with no heel.
    “Where’s Yuna, is she already working?” Ichigo asked, moving alongside Kaname who was still walking. Ichigo reached up to about her shoulder, she seemed to grow rather fast now.
    Kaname shook her head, holding back the tears that welled up in her eyes. “I wish I knew where she was. She wasn’t sleeping in her cot when I woke and she is nowhere out here as far as I can tell.”
    The cheerful appearance she had all disappeared once she heard that, pulling the bunny up to her chest and hugged it close to her. “N-no, she still has to be here somewhere. She wouldn’t dare go out into the forest, everyone knows the penalty for that, everyone!” Ichigo grew nervous; the shaking in her voice gave it away. “She has to still be here, has to!”
    “Where is she? Where is my slave, where is the little wolf girl?!” A deep voice bellowed sounding close and it was. Just now rounding the corner of a house was Yuna’s master, Ryu. His face looked furious and he sounded like he could kill someone right now. His black hair was tied back into a low ponytail, dark blue eyes danced with fury. As soon as he spotted Kaname and Ichigo, he made his way over to them right away.
    Kaname pushed Ichigo behind her as Ryu got right in her face yelling. “Where the hell is my slave?” He demanded, hovering over her about a good three heads taller.
    She winced, backing up a bit, moving Ichigo along with her. “I’m not sure, sir. I was just out on my way looking for her.” They usually got Yuna back to her master’s house before he woke up, so he wouldn’t know that she stayed at her master’s residence.
    Ryu raised his hand, coming down as he hit Kaname across her cheek, making a disturbing smacking sound with the force he put behind the hit. “Liar, I know that you must be hiding her somewhere. You two are always sticking up for the b***h. You two will be hanged for doing this, especially if you helped her escape.” He pushed past them, yelling at other slaves working in the fields as he walked.
    Kaname held her face where she had been smacked, the stinging pain would soon subside though, she hoped. She turned to look at Ichigo who seemed terrified at the moment. Removing her hand from her face, she let it fall to her side, revealing a large red handprint.
    “Kaname… Are you okay?” Ichigo asked as she saw the handprint. “He is so mean to everyone, crueler to Yuna though.” She was hoping the woman would say that she was hiding Yuna somewhere, that she was just playing a joke with her, but she never did say that.
    “I’m fine, do not worry about me, I am just glad he didn’t take any anger out on you,” Kaname said, the tears now finally showed up as they rolled down her cheeks. “But I am afraid that there will be bloodshed soon. He will make sure everyone starves and gets whipped more when they fail to do the right work, and he will make sure it won’t end until he gets Yuna back. The plantation will turn into a deathbed for everyone.” Before Kaname could say anything more, they both heard Ryu yell out again, and what they heard made their eyes widen in fear, knowing they could do nothing to stop this.
    “Send out the fighters! Make sure they search everywhere for the wolf girl! Bring her back dead or alive if you may find her, preferably dead.”