Deep. She felt the snow as it crushed against her legs. It hurt her not, as she had become accustom to the snow and ice. Like those she was not aware of who wandered in the sunlight and felt the heat of melt try against them, the white mountain was her home. Not once had she even considered there to be a place where the snow didn't reign.

Where she wandered, it was like the thaw never reached. Helpless she wandered without destination. Without knowledge. Without direction. She did what she had to for the sake of survival. Feelings escaped her, a name she had not to show who she was.

Words even, they did not reach her. She was the most primal of beasts. The only of her kind.

Meanwhile in the caverns of a nearby cliff, Jengo moved light on his feet. He had long appreciated the ancient ruins and the shelter they provided from the cold. He walked swiftly through them, his breath being seen as he leapt and bounced throughout the caves.

Ugh. It was miserable here. He longed for the day he could return to the savannah by successfully navigating his way OUT of the ruins. One day Jengo had found his way in, the next, he couldn't get out. It was as if he had lost his sense of direction entirely and just couldn't find his way off the bloody mountain. He was horrified at the thought of how long he had spent in that cave. Now, the cheetah sucked in another icy breath and braced himself to dart into the snow. He was lucky to be just outside the ruins after a hare he spotted lead him out. Now the creature was outside, unaware it was being stalked and that it's last minutes would be spent out in the open. Poor thing, he hoped it's death would be quick. Jengo was not in the mood to chase after it down an icy hillside so if it spotted him as he hunted it he would simply give up on the small game.

Moving out into the hailing winds Jengo was careful to maintain distance between the hare and himself. The very last thing he wanted was for that delicious little morsel to notice him and dart-

A flurry of icy colors whipped by and within moments the hare he had intended as prey was stolen from him by a hyena!

"Hey! What gives?! That was my meal you know!" He walked over to her while continuing to lecture the hyena on how RUDE that was of her.

Something was speaking to her. Or to be more precise someone.
She stared at him curiously. Never, never in her life had she seen such a creature! What was it? Was it here to steal her food?! She snarled in hopes it would retreat.

Snow monster or not the deserty pelted Cheetah wasn't getting HER food. He spoke funny too. Or well, to her he sounded funny. Never had she even considered knowing what speech was!

"-and I was standing right there you know! It's very easy and very clear to see that I most certainly was going to eat that hare. And!... And... Why are you looking at me like that?"

Yukiko wasn't certain how to react. The closer the beast came the more she felt the need to run. She didn't know what he was let alone what he was doing. Was he signaling? Was there other snow monsters on the way?

"wu..."

"hmm?" Jengo looked up and watched as the hyena confusedly tried to repeat what he had said.

"wh-ieee?" Yukiko spoke, it was a funny thing. She wasn't sure what it was, this noise but she knew it sounded funny and she wanted to repeat it. Only she couldn't get the word right. When the snow monster had said it he spoke fast, it must have been his natural noise she decided. "Whuuu. W-iiii, Weeahhh?" She began to try it different ways on her tongue. The sound was not like the sound hares made as she snapped their necks, it wasn't like the snow as it crushed under her feet. It was... Different.

"why?" He offered.

"Whyyy?" She blurted with a half-moan. How exciting! She didn't even know she could make such a noise!

"Yes, why? WHY did you steal my prey?!" He asked. Did she even understand? She didn't look like she understood anything he was saying to her.

"Whyyy!" She repeated, unaware it was a question. Well that there just confirmed what Jengo was suspicious of.

He sighed and turned to leave yet paused in his step. He felt bad for the girl wandering around all by herself. She couldn't even speak? And here he was leaving her.

"Where do you live?" He asked. Repeating himself when she looked just as lost once again. "Where. Do. You. Live?"

She didn't answer. What was he doing now? Confusing snow monster. She turned to walk away, leave the bunny to the strange yeti.

"Wait." He commanded, did she understand those at least? As the hyena began walking off it became evident that she didn't. "W-wait!" He called again, running through the snow to reach her. "Wait! Miss!" He panted and she watched curiously as he paused for breath. Odd yeti. It hadn't attacked her, it made odd sounds and now it was making them again in front of her. But these sounds seemed to carry meaning with them. Was he trying to convey a message of some sort to her?

"Please miss. You... You..."

"Yuuu...."

"Yes, 'You', you don't live anywhere do you? What's your name?" She looked confused at him again. "Name. NAME. Uh..." Jengo looked left and right briefly before pointing at himself. "Me, Jengo. You?"

"Yuu... Jen.. Mo?"

Jengo knew she didn't understand. "You don't have a name do you?"

"Naaam.eee.."

He chewed on his lip with a slight hum before deciding. "Yukiko."

"Yu... Ki.ko?"

"Yes. Yukiko. That's you from now on. It means snow." Or at least he thought it did.

"Yukiko~" She purred. The name was delightful on her tongue.

"Yes... Yukiko." Jengo was pleased he was able to teach the hyena anything at all. She was quite curious to him. "Shelter is over here if you want to get out of this storm?" He began walking and to his delight Yukiko followed.

She wasn't sure why she went with the strange sounding snow monster. She didn't know what lead her to want to follow him to begin with. But Yukiko had never encountered another that 'spoke'. It was fascinating. So she trailed him, in hopes he'd speak more and she could discover her own voice by copying him.

The strange noises, she could make them too! Little did she know at this time that they were indeed, "words".