“Kris!  Kris, hold on! Where are you going?” Xiumin shouted, following a fuming Kris through the halls.

“I’m going to talk to the Head Teacher about our Keeper assignment,” Kris growled.

"What? Why?" Sehun huffed.  "She's cute, can't we keep her?"

"No!" Kris snapped back, effectively shutting down any other dissenters.

For the rest of the walk, EXO was keeping pace with their angry leader, all while casting quick nervous glances at each other every now and then. 

They knew Kris was overreacting, getting upset over something petty, but they couldn’t tell him that without him turning his anger on them.  Despite their reluctance to piss off their leader even more, though, they also didn’t want him to ask for a new Keeper.  Just the fact that Chizuru was cute was enough of a reason to keep her, but when you add in the fact that she hadn't even flinched earlier when Kris had glared at her before storming off, it just made her all the more perfect.

It didn't take long to reach the Head Teacher's office, and when they had arrived Kris simply burst in without bothering to knock.

“Head Teacher Kon!” Kris shouted, slightly out of breath, before walking fully in to her office.

Head Teacher Kon looked up from the papers she had been reading, eying the disheveled students that were one-by-one piling into her office.

“May I ask what has brought you all to my office?” the older woman asked hesitantly.

Kris straightened up. “I want a change in our Keeper assignment."

"May I ask why?"

“We don’t want her!” Kris blurted, ignoring the complaints that followed from his pack mates at his statement. "O-or rather, I don't think she would be a very good fit for our pack."

"Hmm," the Head Teacher paused, scrutinizing the range of expressions and emotions being projected off of each othe boys.  "Well, that's most unfortunate because there is no way for you to switch."

"Why not?" Kris demanded, brushing off Suho and Lay who were trying to calm him down.

"Before I explain I'd like to invite the young lady standing outside to come in as well, since this matter concerns all of you."

Kris stiffened, not wanting to turn around but doing so anyway when he heard the door being opened.

Chizuru stood in the doorway, her face set in a neutral expression.  She gave them a curt bow before stepping further into the room, stopping next to Kris.

"You wanted to speak with me?" she asked, her voice steady, not giving anything away even though everyone already knew that she had heard everything.

Head Teacher Kon smiled gently at her.  "It's good to see you again sweetheart, how are you adjusting to things?"

"Just fine," Chizuru replied, a tight smile on her lips.

"That's good to hear, now," she turned to face Kris, causing him to visibly flinch, "back to the matter at hand. The reason why you can't switch is because none of the other Keepers are qualified to be paired off with you boys."

"What does that mean," Kris asked, sounding more and more frustrated by the second.

"It means you're too strong and too much of a problem for anyone else to handle."

All heads in the room instantly turned to Chizuru at the detached sound of her voice.

She turned to look at them and they all flinched.  

Her eyes were cold despite the faint hints of anger that could be seen burning in them.  

"No one else would be able to put up with you, so I have to."

Kris scoffed, regaining his composure. "And what makes you think you can handle us?"

Chizuru quirked an eyebrow.  "Simple, because I'm stronger than you."

Kris gaped like a fish for a few seconds, unsure of how to respond to her statement. 

She had sounded so confident that it was even hard for the rest of the pack to doubt her words, despite the fact that they knew the strength of their alpha while hers was yet to be determined.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Kris finally growled, sauntering forward until he was towering over the younger girl.

Chizuru simply tilted her chin up,  meeting Kris' challenging expression with one of disinterest.

"I could always prove it if that would help," Chizuru stated, her voice laced with a challenge of her own.  "Although I don't think it would be very good for you if your pack saw their alpha get his handed to him by a little girl."

A deep rumble started in Kris' chest, a warning growl.  His eyes flashed a dangerous red as his bared canines elongated ever so slightly.  The rest of the pack was starting to get nervous, unsure whether they should stop their leader or help if a fight broke out.

Chizuru just narrowed her eyes and smirked up at him, causing all of their eyes to widen in shock and horror.

This girl has a death wish!

"I'm not scared of you. I've seen and experienced worse, so don't think for one second that you can growl at me and expect me to run off with my tail between my legs."

With every word she said she took a step closer to Kris, forcing the tall male to take small surprised steps backwards.

"If you want a fight, fine, I'll give you one. Any day, any time." Kris' back hit the wall as Chizuru leaned up on her toes to get in his face.   "I'll show you what real strength is."

And with that, she turned around and stalked off.

                                                               v   v   v

The walk back to their dorm was unnaturally quiet. 

Despite the quick, concerned glances being shot at each other, no one wanted to be the first to speak up and address the elephant in the room.

Chizuru was to stay as their Keeper.  She knew that Kris had asked for a change in assignment.  And the cherry on top, she was supposed to share their dorm with them.

Chen honestly felt bad for her. If he had been in her shoes he definitely wouldn't have been able to keep his composure so well.

Kind of impressive isn't it?

Chen glanced to his right and made brief eye-contact with Luhan.

She could've blown up, or thrown a fit, but she didn't. She just stood her ground.

She's sassy, I like it, Chanyeol chimed in.

Chen rolled his eyes, not failing to notice the smirk behind Chanyeol's words.

Are you seriously hitting on her? Kai groaned.

What? She's pretty and fiesty, why wouldn't I be hitting on her?

Maybe because it doesn't seem like she wants anything to do with us? Lay finally spoke up.

Really?  They turned to look at the healer, What makes you say that?

How about the fact that she stormed out of the office back there without so much as a glance towards any of us, Xiumin reminded them.

I thought that was just because Kris-ge was being difficult, Tao said, sending them a confused look.

She said it herself, Baekhyun huffed, his tone bitter, She's being forced to "put up" with us.

That made everyone shut up.  

Cut her some slack guys, who wouldn't be defensive like that after hearing someone you've never really met before flat out say that they don't want to work with you, for no reason beyond the fact that its you, D.O finally said.  And it's not like there's any way for her to know that we don't all share the same opinion as Kris since he wouldn't even let us put in our two cents back there.

Chen smiled to himself.  Leave it to D.O to be the voice of reason.

He's right, Chen thought to the others, We shouldn't jump to any conclusions about her until we know more about her.

According to what people are saying she killed her parents, they say her whole house was destroyed in the process.

Chen, Lay, and Luhan all turned back to glare at Sehun.

What? That's just what I've heard, he defended.

That's exactly what I mean by jumping to conclusions, Chen deadpanned.

Isn't it technically something we know about her? The fact that people are spreading rumors about her.

We also know that she's supposed to be pretty strong, I heard some people in our class talking about her this morning, Kai chimed in.

Not helping, Xiumin replied, hitting Kai upside the head, earning a pout from the younger boy.

"If you all are going to have a private conversation back there without the alphas then at least try to be more subtle about it," Suho said, sending a pointed glare over his hsoulder to the rest of the pack.

There was a mumbled chorus of 'sorry' as the members all returned to a heavy silence.

The rest of the walk back to their dorms was quiet, despite the growing tension.  It was understandable, though, considering the fact that they were all expecting to find a certain girl waiting for them when they walked in.

Instead, they were greeted by an empty dorm.

It took two seconds for them to determine that, despite her luggage which was left just inside -- likely by school security -- there was no sign of Chizuru whatsoever.

"She isn't here," Lay finally said.

"D'you think she got lost or something?" Kai asked, flopping down on one of the couches while he looked for the t.v. remote.

D.O walked by, hitting Kai's head as he passed. "You can't say she isn't here if you haven't checked the whole place yet."

"Her scent isn't here though!" Kai whined, rubbing his head gingerly.

"We should still double check," Xiumin called from the second floor landing.

The younger wolf let out a groan of annoyance before getting up to help his hyungs.

When their searching turned up that Chizuru really hadn't been there, Kai just sunk back down to his previous spot with a grudging "I told you so" shot at D.O.

D.O shot a glare back before turning to their two alphas.  "What do we do now?"

"Nothing."

All heads in the room turned to Kris.  His expression was cold.

"We do nothing."

"Kris, I don't thin-"

"If she doesn't want to be here then I have no problem with that.  She can stay away for all I care, we don't need a Keeper to babysit us anyway," he said, his tone not leaving much room for argument as he cut Suho off.

"We can't just continue without a Keeper Kris!" Suho frowned, his tone raising ever so slightly.

The room was silent.  It was rare to see the two alphas disagree so blatantly over something and the tension around them was quickly rising.

"We don't need her," Kris narrowed his eyes, using his height to his advantage as he moved to tower over Suho.

Suho didn't budge. "This type of tactic may work on our pack, or someone else, but you're going to have to try harder if you want to intimidate me Yifan."

Kris flinched slightly at the use of his real name, and the rest of the pack stared in shock as their usually calm and friendly leader raised his voice at his taller counterpart.

"We do in fact need a Keeper, and having one like Min Chizuru, who is favored amongst the teachers in this place would be beyond lucky for us!" Suho ground out, as if he were talking to a child throwing a tantrum. "We need someone who can keep the administration here off our backs until we graduate, especially since our pack has picked up a penchant for breaking whichever rule they want!"

There was a pause, Suho was breathing heavily and Kris was fuming, trying to find words to throw back at the shorter alpha.

The sound of someone clearing their throat caused both to stiffen, their heads whipping towards the direction of the sound.

There, standing in the now open doorway of their dorm, was the very girl they had been arguing about.

And the look in her eyes did not bode well for them.

Min Chizuru was just standing there, arms crossed over her chest as she scanned the living room. No one moved as her eyes landed on each one of the wolves present.

Her expression was unreadable.

"Oh, don't mind me," her tone, on the other hand, was chilling, "I just came here to pick up some things."

Without waiting for an invitation, Chizuru walked in. She casually stepped between Kris and Suho, forcing both of them to back up a bit.

"You don't mind, right?" she called over her shoulder as she walked further into their dorm, ignoring the stares she was getting.

"Of course not," Lay spoke up as he stood from his spot on the couch, his voice cracking slightly from disuse.  "I-If you tell me what you're looking for I could-"

"No I'm good." Lay faltered, not having expected to be cut off in such a brisk and detached manner.  He'd be lying if he said it didn't hurt a little.

They watched as Chizuru confidently walked further into the first floor of their dorm. There was a slight sway in Chizuru's hips and the boys in the room couldn't help but notice that the black turtleneck-longsleeve and tight jeans she was wearing did nothing to hide her figure. It was enough of an entrancing sight to cause Lay to let go of the insult he was feeling towards her earlier tone. 

And it was more than enough to momentarily cause Kris to forget why he didn't want to be paired up with this girl in the first place.

"Don't worry about the higher ups."

"Huh?" Kris asked, snapping out of his daze.

"You know, what you were talking about earlier."  She paused, letting out a small 'ah-hah!' when she found what she was looking for -- her bags sitting by the stairs leading to the second floor of the loft-like dorm -- before continuing.  "You don't have to worry about the administration getting mad at you guys for not having a Keeper.  I'll stay on as your Keeper, but it'll be in name only.  I won't stick around if you don't want me to."

She grabbed some of the bags and pulled them over to the door, passing by a confused Kris and a concerned Suho.

"You don't want me around, right?" she asked, her face and tone now devoid of emotion, despite the fire burning in her amber colored eyes.  

When no one answered she continued. 

"It's fine, actually it works out for both of us."  She stopped by the still open door.  "You don't like me and I don't want to be stuck with the problem children of the school.  So you see? It's perfect."

There was a beat of silence before Kris was being held back by Suho and Tao, his eyes flashing red, while Chen, Luhan, and Baekhyun positioned themselves so that they could assist if Kris broke free or -- god forbid -- decided to shift.

Chizuru on the other hand was the perfect picture of calm.

"So easily angered," she softly muttered. "You know what I said is true, that that's how others in the Academy see you guys.  Even if the guys admire your strength, or the girls throw themselves at you saying that they want you, it's all just temporary.  They'll throw you away the second they're through.  You're nothing but toys to be played with."

With every word she said the mood in tthe room worsened. The wolves were slowly letting anger and insult take over,  their eyes flashing while they bared their teeth.  Each of their already short tempers being pushed to the breaking point.

Chen was the closest to where Chizuru was standing, glaring at her with red tinted eyes, but he heard what the others were probably too blinded by anger to catch.  A quiet almost sad whisper.

"And if you're stuck with me, then things will only get worse."

He froze, his anger somewhat ebbing as curiousity took over.  What does she mean by that?

"Anyway," Chizuru said, speaking loud enough for them all to hear, shaking Chen from his thoughts, "I'm leaving those bags here so that if anyone comes by it'll seem like I'm staying here."

She turned and walked out the door, taking the two bags she had picked from the rest with her, leaving the entire pack slightly stunned.

"Oh, one more thing," she popped her head back into the doorway.  "I meant what I said about the teachers and stuff.  Don't worry about them.  If anything happens I'll step in and do what I can."

And with that final confusing statement, she left.  

"Well," Chanyeol said, the first to break the silence that Chizuru had left in her wake, "that was...interesting."

Suho sighed, warily eying the rest of the pack, many of whom were still frowning at where their Keeper had left, before looking back at his fellow alpha.  "Well Kris, it looks like you got your wish."

A/N

I'm going to hide the chapters I haven't edited since the story changes a little from here.