Kaoru was generally a good girl. She obeyed the law. She paid her taxes on time. She never went five miles over the speed limit. She even volunteered at the local hospital, electing to spend her free time reading to sick kids than loaf around on her couch for another hour.
Yet how do I always get myself into these situations?She thought rhetorically as she viciously wiped the mixture of blood and sweat trickling from her brow. She sprinted over the bridge that connected Misao's dorm across the river to the rest of the campus. The one and only time I break curfew. Figures.
That evening, she had been at Misao's place eating pizza and 'studying' for their big Calc midterm in a week, and both of them had lost track of time. Misao had offered to let her stay, but Kaoru had wanted to sleep in her own bed. It was a walk that she had made a hundred times. Safe, easy. At a brisk pace she could be in her dorm in twenty minutes.
Tonight was different. Tonight things were lurking in that darkness.
Stopping for a moment, back against the ivy-covered brick wall of the English department, Kaoru held her breath, straining to hear something, anything.
Please tell me I lost it.
Click-click-click-click
Her heart gave a shudder and her eyes closed as a jolt of fear electrified her body. Don't panic, Kaoru. You'll get out of this. You will.
She ran.
She ran from the English building to the deserted dining hall where she tested the doors and found them, unsurprisingly, locked. She quickly darted across the road, hoping that the doors to the Student Union were unlocked, but knowing in her heart that they were not.
After futile session of tugging at the doors of the Union with her considerable strength, Kaoru made a decision to sprint for the dorms and hope a security officer, a student breaking curfew, anyone, would be around to help her.
She was doing well until the toe of her blue sneaker snagged on a pothole in the road. With a pained grunt, she landed on the pavement, her hands and knees scraping, jeans tearing, picking up dirt, oil and other filth.
The pitter-patter of paws grew closer.
Not for the first time, Kaoru wished her Changed form was a tad more lethal. Raccoons are cute and sneaky, but useless in a straight-up Clan fight.
At least I'm not a Rooster, she thought, semi-hysterically. A food item with absolutely no battle skills.
The vicious bark behind her brought her off of her knees in a hurry.
He's wearing me down, Kaoru thought frantically. He's going to chase me until I can't run anymore, and then…
Kaoru didn't want to think about that. The rogues, the barbarians who became more animal than human had been in the papers much more frequently the past few months. Maulings, rape, murder… Kaoru shuddered and picked up her pace, sides heaving, the muscles in her legs cramping fiercely.
I'm spent. Her lungs were burning, her legs shaking with exhaustion. Time to make a stand while I still have some energy left. Kaoru scanned the empty campus for a spot, any spot where the creature following her would not automatically have the advantage.
There. The alley by the bookstore. There she wouldn't be so exposed and her back might have a chance of being protected. And if she was lucky, there might be a two-by-four by the garbage dumpster she could use as a makeshift bokken. That might buy her enough time so she could calm down enough to transform and possibly escape. Maybe.
Haphazard plan set, Kaoru poured on her reserves, sprinting for the alley. Lungs blowing like bellows, she skidded to a halt in front of the dumpster and frantically searched for a two-by-four, a stick, a pipe, anything, that could be used as a weapon.
Click-click-click-click
Time's up.
"Hey, ugly!" Kaoru shouted, voice hoarse and trembling. With the ease of long practice, she slipped into an alert karate stance, arms up, balanced on the balls of her feet. She took a few long steady breaths, calming nerves and centering her tired body.
Glowing eyes appeared first, stalking around the flickering pool of light created by a dim fluorescent bulb hanging over the green dumpster.
Kaoru lifted her chin and waited.
When the attack came, it was swift and brutal. A huge, black timber wolf leapt out of the shadows, his golden eyes mindless as he lunged for her throat. Kaoru smoothly sidestepped his attack. The wolf landed gracefully and eyeballed her with something like respect. Its lips pulled back from sharp yellow fangs in a snarl at her defiance.
Kaoru smiled.
The wolf attacked again, and again Kaoru dodged, this time adding a vicious roundhouse to the tail of her dive out of the way.
Lunge, kick. Attack, dodge.
Until Kaoru's toe snagged onto something and she lost her perfect balance.
The wolf took advantage of her momentary vulnerability. He pounced onto her back pinning her down with his massive weight. Suddenly, the air was filled with smoke.
No! Kaoru struggled and bucked wildly, simultaneously trying to dislodge the shifter enough to escape and to summon the necessary calm for the Change.
The smoke settled, and Kaoru felt the form on top of her elongate, felt large hands run over her hair, her back, her waist. As they crept downwards, she gritted her teeth and fought off the spurts of panic eddying through her.
I am a raccoon. I am a raccoon. I… am…
"Jineh!"
Suddenly the weight was ripped off her, her body free once more. Rolling over, Kaoru took advantage of the miracle and sprang into a crouch. Wiping the matted blood, dirt and hair from her eyes, she tried to get a good look at her rescuer.
The wolf had already Changed back into his animal form, but it was obvious that even though the wolf was vicious and huge, he was outclassed.
The stranger was small, almost delicate with long red hair. He could almost be taken for a woman but for his hard, muscled frame and the masculine jut of his jawline. As he attacked the wolf, he moved with such speed Kaoru's eyes strained to keep up with his movements.
It took awhile for Kaoru's brain to recover from the shock, but when she did she noticed that the stranger was using a sword to fight the Changed wolf. Kaoru's brows rose nearly to her hairline. Steel doesn't have any power against a Changeling.
A pained howl ripped through the air. Kaoru grinned. Guess not.
Backing away slowly, hoping to escape the notice of the two combatants, Kaoru couldn't help but admire and fear the sheer athleticism of the man easily trouncing the creature that had defeated her so easily. And he hasn't even Changed yet!
Watching him move was like watching a cat- all effortless and boneless grace. She thought that was suiting because when his eyes turned in her direction they were as yellow as the image of the cat in her mind.
Uh-oh, Kaoru thought, butterflies erupting in her stomach. Why do I get the feeling I jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire?
Notes: Wrote this years ago for RAvyn on LJ. Posted to Fanfiction at the urging of my friend kokoronagomu.