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After that delightful lunch, Sasuga had to go back her university to attend a class, while Hazard wanted to head back to his place for a well-deserved nap after consuming that much food. They parted at the cafe, promising each other that they should repeat this in the near future, and went off into different ways. On her way to the university, the only thing that was in Sasuga's mind was how much she enjoyed having lunch with Hazard. She didn't have this much fun in a long time, which in turn, made her realize how much she missed having meals with others, or being with someone altogether. She always tried to not think about it much, but the fact that she was living a lonely life always haunted her back, and sometimes that depressed her. Being a specie that was seemingly extinct did nothing but increase her feeling of isolation. However, despite all, she still had hope things would get better for her. What she needed to concentrate on now was getting her degree. But for now, she was just content to know there was someone like Hazard living right next door to her; she had a feeling he'd bring some spice to her flavorless life.

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The bell rang throughout the campus, indicating that the class was over. Students immediately packed their things up and were leaving the study hall. Sasuga was doing the same, putting her books inside her suitcase and was just about to walk away, when she accidentally bumped into someone.

"Watch it, Scale Face!" a snotty-looking female collie, wearing a spiffy purple shirt, a mini-skirt and high heels, snapped at her.

"Oh... excuse me, I didn't..." Sasuga tried to apologize, but the collie didn't gave her a chance, turning her snout to the other side and passing by the kirin after giving her an arrogant glare.

"Freak." The collie sneered as she walked away. Sasuga's ears slumped down in sadness. She did her best not to let empty comments like those get to her, but sometimes it was really hard not be hurt by such harsh words. She had to deal with insults like those a lot growing up, and it never got easier. With a heavy sigh, she continued on her way and decided to take that long walk to her lonely hole. She arrived at her building at sunset and as she was going up to the entrance, she ran into a familiar face who was also about to enter.

"Hey, we meet again," the golden wolf greeted her as soon as they met up.

"H-Hazard?" Sasuga stuttered, snapping out of her lost thoughts.

Hazard looked at her with a head cock, "You okay? You look kinda down," he then asked in concern, noticing the gloomy look on her face.

"O-oh, yeah, I'm fine!" she subtly denied it. "Just had a rough day at school. What about you?"

"Ah, I woke up from a good nap a while ago and felt a little hungry, so I went to the grocery store and got me some instant noodles for dinner," Hazard said, showing her a bag he was carrying. Sasuga looked at him in confusion. First he had a huge feast at lunch, and now he was just having simple noodles? "You're just in time, wanna join me?" he then invited her to join him for dinner

"Sure!" Sasuga answered with a happy nod. She certainly needed some cheering up, so it didn't take her long to accept. Hazard smiled gladly and they both entered the building together and headed up to the wolf's apartment.

"Don't mind the mess. Just make yourself comfy on the sofa and I'll be right back with the best noodles you'll ever taste!" Hazard told her as he let her inside his place and made his way to the kitchen. She noticed how he still didn't get to finish decorating his apartment, with some stuffed boxes still laying around here and there, but at least the living room was almost done, as he placed a comfortable sofa on the center in front of a coffee table and some small cupboards and closets on the sides. He even had a big HDTV in front of the sofa, so he definitely enjoyed watching TV. The walls were still naked, with no pictures or paintings whatsoever, but he most likely didn't get the chance to hang anything yet.

Sasuga moved over to the sofa and sat on it, patiently waiting for Hazard's return. She could hear him preparing the meal in the kitchen, and it just took him a few minutes before he finally came back with two bowls and two cans of soda.

"Here you go, curry flavored noodles, ala Haz!" Hazard placed the bowls on the coffee table and sat next to the kirin, handing her a couple of glued chopsticks to eat the noodles with. Sasuga held the chopsticks in her hand and looked at the noodles bowl, hesitating a little, as she felt kind of shy as her cheeks began to turn green again. She wasn't used to sharing dinner with someone like this. "Come on, eat up. It's really good. See?" Hazard encouraged her and started on his own bowl, slurping up the yummy noodles hungrily. Sasuga smiled as she saw him eat using the chopsticks expertly and decided to try some. She pulled the glued sticks off of each other and held the bowl up in one hand, eating with the other. She took a tiny slurp, and her face glistened up.

"It's delicious!" Sasuga exclaimed, taking another, bigger bite afterwards.

"Heh, thanks, glad you like it. I'm horrible at cooking, but I can make damn good noodles for some unknown reason. It's like a gift," Hazard said, humoring his lack of cooking talent.

"Seriously, this is the best noodles I've ever had! What's your secret?"

"Well, if I told you, I'll have to kill you," Hazard replied in such a very serious tone, Sasuga almost bought it, her looking at him with wide eyes before he broke into a light snort. "Don't tell me you fell for that?"

"Oh, that's SO funny!" Sasuga retorted with a hard poke on Hazard's arm.

"Ow! Man, you pack quite a punch for a girl..." Hazard winced, rubbing his arm, as they both started to laugh together. When the short laughter ended, they stared at each other for a bit, neither of them saying a word as utter silence filled the room. Sasuga felt a little awkward from the eerie calmness and she felt herself blushing again, turning her sight away from the wolf's. A little smile spread on Hazard's muzzle, as he did the same and went back to his bowl of noodles. "Wanna watch TV?" Hazard finally broke the silence and Sasuga shrugged, signaling that she wouldn't mind. He picked up the remote and turned the TV on, clicking through the channels in search of something good to watch.

"Oh! Go back a channel please!" Sasuga asked of him all of the sudden and Hazard complied, clicking back, only to see that a romantic soap opera was on. A slight cringe appeared on the wolf's face; he couldn't stand those corny soaps, but Sasuga seemed to enjoy them, as she sat up on the sofa and watched the screen keenly. A pretty-boy cheetah was admitting his undying love to his beautiful lioness lover, and Hazard couldn't help but roll his eyes from the absurdity. Though, if Sasuga liked to watch them, he could bear the agony and stay through one episode with her, if the corniness didn't kill him before that.

A full 30 minutes of painful melodrama past, and the soap was over, much to Hazard's relief. "Boy, that was really something, huh? Who would've thought that Niles could cheat on Joan, eh Sasu...?" Hazard tried to comment on the show to pretend that he enjoyed it, but as he turned his head to his side, he saw that the kirin fell asleep, leaning her head on his shoulder. He tried his best to keep a straight face and not to grumble too loud for wasting his time watching through the damn thing for nothing; so much for being considerate. But he shrugged that off and began to wonder what he should do now. He didn't want to wake her up; she must've been exhausted from the long day and dozed off. With no idea in his mind, he just sat in his place, motionless, and watched over her for a while as she slept soundly.

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Sasuga's eyes twitched as she began to wake up, opening her eyes slowly. Not long after that, and she quickly got up in a start, seeing herself lying on the sofa of Hazard's living room. It was gradually coming back to her and realized that she'd dozed off while watching TV with him. "Oh my goodness!" She gasped, looking at the clock and seeing that the time was after midnight, she didn't except that she slept for that long. She tried to get up, but then noticed that she was covered by a soft blanket, and there was also a cushy pillow where her head was resting, obviously the doing of Hazard. She felt totally embarrassed, sleeping in like that in his own home, but he was very thoughtful for letting her be and even bringing her the pillow and blanket. She took a glance around the living room, but she didn't see him around. She got off of the sofa, folding the blanket and putting on the sofa, and searched for him around the apartment.

"Hazard?" she knocked on his bedroom door, but there was no answer. She opened it and took a peek inside, and didn't find anyone in it. She thought he might be in the bathroom, but it was empty as well. "Where could he be?" Sasuga pondered. It didn't feel right for her to stay alone in his apartment any longer, so she decided to take her leave, planning to apologize for her rudeness to Hazard first thing in the morning.

As she went out though the front door, she saw Mr. Long, the building's janitor panda, wiping off the floor with a mop around the hall.

"Good evening, Ms. Temple," the middle-aged panda greeted her politely, making way for Sasuga to walk over to her apartment.

"Good evening Mr. Long!" Sasuga replied with a cheerful smile. "Um, pardon me, Mr. Long, but have you seen Haz... I mean, Mr. Barzard?" she then asked, hoping for a positive answer.

"You mean the new guy living next door? The wolf with the golden fur?" Mr. Long inquired.

Sasuga nodded, "Yes, that's him!"

"Yeah, I've seen him. Just some minutes ago. He went to the roof, I think," the panda bear answered and Sasuga blinked.

"The roof?"

"Beats me. He asked me if the door to the roof was open and I said yeah, then he went up the elevator." Mr. Long pointed at the way the wolf's went and the kirin nodded, thanking him and then going up the elevator to head for the roof to seek Hazard. The elevator took her all the way up to the top floor, and when it was finally there, she went out and took the remaining stairs that led to the roof. She never been to the building's roof before, so she was a little nervous, but continued on her way nevertheless. She reached the top of the building at last, and opened the only door that stood in her way and found herself on the vast roof. As soon as she walked in, a strong wind blew her way and made Sasuga gasp softly and she did her best to stand her ground. When the winds settled, she mended her long hair and then took a look around her surrounding, looking for any sign of the golden wolf. Sure enough, she found him, standing at one end of the roof. He was just standing there, one foot leaning against the roof's wall, and his head tilted up, his eyes locked on the dark sky, gazing deeply into the moon, which was in its crescent form, his thick tail swaying calmly from side to side. She couldn't tell why, but he looked somewhat captivating at that moment, as she stood in her place, staring at him quietly from afar. She could almost swear he was somehow glowing under the moonlight, like he was showering under it. However, that serene atmosphere didn't last long, as an itchy feeling began to overwhelm Sasuga, sensing something wandering beneath her. She looked down and to her horror, saw a big, hairy and ugly spider crawling between her hooves.

"EEEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Sasuga shrieked at the top of her lungs and took Hazard by utter surprise. He jumped in a jolt and quickly turned around to the source of the scream, only to see the kirin dashing towards him and jumping onto his arms in a complete fright. "What the...?! Sa-Sasuga?"

"OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!! GET IT OFF, GET IT OF ME! MAKE IT GO AWAY!" Sasuga franticly kept crying out loud, wrapping her arms around Hazard's neck seeking protection and almost choking him in the process.

"Buh...! Wha..!? What's wrong!? Make what go away?!"

"The big horrible spider!" she whimpered and clutched his neck harder. Hazard looked over to where she was pointing and saw a tiny spider scurrying away in a hurry. Seemed the poor thing was more scared of her then she was of it.

"It's okay now, it's gone." Hazard comforted and she gradually calmed down.

"A-Are you sure?" she stammered nervously and Hazard answered her with an assuring nod.

"Uhh... can you loosen your grip a bit? I'm losing air..." he then kindly asked her and she instantly blushed green, not noticing herself snuggling him so closely like that.

"Oh! Umm... s-sorry..." She quickly pulled herself away and tried to hide her embarrassment.

"Don't worry about it," Hazard replied, smiling, fixing his white shirt up that the kirin tangled up. "Looks like you don't like spiders."

"Um, yes... I REALLY don't." Sasuga shuddered. Few things in life scared her as much as spiders did; it was like a paranoia.

"Heh, I see. Well, what brings you up here?" Hazard then asked Sasuga and she blushed green again, almost forgetting the main reason why she climbed all the way up here.

"O-oh, uhh, I was just looking for you. I wanted to apologize, about dozing off like that. It was very rude of me..." she sincerely expressed, apologetically bowing her head down to him slightly.

"Aw, it's all right! No harm done. I don't min... ugh!" Suddenly, Hazard grunted and held his forehead with a hand, like he was in some kind of pain. "Dammit... not again...!" he cursed under his breath, turning his back to the confused kirin, as she looked at him worriedly.

"Hazard...? Are you... okay?" Sasuga carefully neared him and reached a timid hand out to rest on his shoulder.

"Ye... Yeah... I'm just fine," the wolf composed himself as suddenly and looked back at Sasuga with a comforting smirk on his lupine face.

"What happened? You looked like you were in pain. Are you sure everything okay?" Sasuga caringly inquired; he actually freaked her out acting out like that.

"Yeah, sure! Nothing to worry about. It was just a sudden headache, that's all. It comes and goes," Hazard reassured her. Sasuga found that a bit hard to believe, but she didn't want to peruse him more and get in his nerve, so she dropped it.

"What were you doing up here anyway?" Sasuga then asked for the reason Hazard came to the roof.

"Ah... well, I was just looking at the moon," he answered, lifting his eyes up at the sky. Sasuga followed suit and titled her head upward, seeing the bright, shining crescent, not a single cloud obscuring its view. "Isn't it beautiful? I never get tired of watching it. It helps... calm me down," Hazard words came out in a way Sasuga found somewhat intriguing, sensing a feeling of remorse in them. The moonlight reflected on his green eyes under those transparent glasses, before another gust of chilly wind breezed their way and made Sasuga's body shiver, closing her eyes and wrapping her arms around herself. She then felt a sudden warmth overcoming her, as she opened her eyes and noticed that she had a white shirt on her, given to her by Hazard.

"It's getting cold, eh? Let head back," Hazard suggested and Sasuga nodded agreeably.

"Yes. Thank you, Hazard."

"Please, call me Haz." The wolf smiled gently at her, making her blink. She then returned the smile, liking the sound of that little nickname, which he obviously only let his friends call him by it. She nodded again at that, and left by Hazard's side, contentedly glad to know that she had befriended the wolf so quickly, even though she knew so little about him.

But she simply left that mystery to the days to come.

[End of Chapter 2]