Chapter One;;

Mirrors

The room wasn't familiar at all, and he had never seen such a big monitor, even though he had seen many things he couldn't really explain. A boy lay next to him, breathing eased and soft, though he knew that his companion had woken several times in the night, complaining of nightmares. Toboe, Tsume and Blue ignored it, and Hige couldn't care less.

"Kiba, wake up."

A low groan came as the reply, though the other boy couldn't figure out what his companion had said -- probably nothing, knowing Kiba.

"Kiba." he repeated, poking the boy in the side.

He looked over to the boy's face, nodding as he noticed Kiba's light blue eyes were open.

"Good Morning, sunshine."

"Don't make me…"

"Right."

"Hey, why do I feel so strange? It's as if I'm not a wolf anymore, just a human."

"That's weird. Wait, Hige, where did Blue go?"

A muffled "What the hell?" came from the left, and as Kiba and Hige turned, they saw a tall man with slightly-tanned skin poking the large monitor that Hige could see earlier, seeming rather disgruntled of being confused.

"This is weird. Really weird…" Toboe's voice sounded, and all turned to look at him. "I mean it!"

xxxxx

A massive white canine laid on top of a roof, its large, black pupils moving about as it looked around, feeling the dreaded feeling creep on it: confusion. Ah, he hadn't felt that since he was five, when his parents were found dead. It became apparent, very quickly, that he had grown overnight, and what was this about a roof? Glancing down, he found himself very, very high up, on top of a large skyscraper.

Claustrophobia began to make his heart leap, and he again stared down, starting to feel sick. How could he have gotten this high up? He had monitored himself when he was eleven, making sure that he didn't have snoring issues or slept-walk whilst the other boys of Wammy's house slept. So, why on Earth had he woken up on top of a roof, at least seven feet up?

He was surprised to find that, when he stood up, he just fell back down, so, he decided to stay on his hands and knees. He didn't dare look down again, not even at his arms and hands, or feet, for that matter, which he knew he had a fetish with, and would have to look down from them some time.

Sighing, he crawled toward what he could make out as an elevator, attempting to stand again, though he just fell back down, again.

Another canine leaped up beside him, causing him to tense and snarl. Wait… snarl? No, it sounded like a growl. Wait, what?

"What… the… hell? Who are you, then? New here, I suppose, but still…"

It was a feminine voice, and it didn't seem to come from a human at all, for a whine followed soon after the words.

"Light-kun did not force liquor down my throat again, I hope…"

"What's "liquor"?"

Only a complete idiot would ask that question, but this voice… where was it coming from? Surely it wasn't the other canine… Oh, no. It was.

"Come on, answer me." the female hissed, her fur standing on end.

"It's an alcoholic beverage," he answered, flicking his ear. Wait… Since when could he flick his ears?

"No, idiot. I meant, tell me your name."

"Oh… You may call me Ryuuzaki. And you?"

"Kaze." came the snappy reply.

"Ryuuzaki" winced.

Inhaling and then forcing himself to exhale, the large canine murmured, "You are lying."

Kaze nodded.

"Your deductive skills are unique, aren't they? Kaze is an alias, of course. I'm not Japanese… I'm English."

Ryuuzaki nodded, letting out a sigh.

"I suppose so. English? I lived in Britain for a while… not too long though, at least, not to me."

I am having a conversation with a wolf… this has got to be a dream. Light-kun did force alcohol down my throat, yet again.

"But an alias… what for?"

"It's not as if I do not want to die, imbecile."

"What is there to fear, though?"

"Nothing, but life itself."

Strange answer.

"Look, if we're going to have a nice conversation, how about you come down from there and join all of us on Earth?"

"I do not even know how I got up here."

"All right, well that's helpful. Come on, then."

Ryuuzaki closed his eyes, failing to rub his temples as though he were getting a headache, which he knew he probably was. He was talking to a wolf… And how exactly was that even possible? In a flash, a painful wave of memories washed his mind, and he stood up, on all-four's still, but not in a cockroach-position any longer. Something moved over his hand, and as he looked down to slap at it, he found that nothing was there except the wind, and… what, in the name of Iany powerful being one could think of/I, was going on?

Instead of hands, he saw large white paws, and, figuring he'd try to find a mirror, it made him even more curious as to what was going on.

"Well, are you coming?"

Kaze's voice disturbed him from his thoughts, and she clamped her jaws on his tail to drag him down.

Again flicking his ear, he clawed at her chest, forcing her to release him.

"Augh." she snarled, looking down. "That's dizzying. And I really should ask, since I am nosy enough to, what the hell you were doing up there."

"I do not even know," Ryuuzaki replied, knowing that he had said that for at least the second time now.

"Let's go." Kaze growled, leaping.

Ryuuzaki gawked, his eyes wider than they ever had been, and saw that she landed safely on the concrete below them. He wondered if he could pull off the same thing, for it had become plainly obvious that he was no longer human, though in his mind, he never really was. Taking in a deep breath, he leaped, landing gracefully beside the other wolf, whose grey-and-white fur bristled.

"Ryuuzaki! Ryuuzaki, where are you?"

Only one person's voice sounded like that: Light Yagami.

Letting out a sigh, Ryuuzaki trudged toward the sound, tail in-between his hind-legs.

"Well, I guess it was nice to meet you. I'm going home," Kaze told him, trotting off.

"Light-kun," he muttered, scrambling onto a loose beam.

He stood face-to-face with a light brown-and-white wolf, whose amber eyes could only be that of Kira's. It was Light, in the form of a wolf.

"No… You got transformed too? What's going on, L-- I mean, Ryuuzaki?" The Light-wolf asked, his fur bristling. "It feels so weird to have paws and fur, you know. Ryuuzaki, how did this happen? Do you know?"

"How could I know…?" Ryuuzaki replied, tilting his head to the side. "I am going to look for a mirror. During these kinds of dreams, I usually wake up about the time I see myself… So I wonder if this would work."

"It may not be a dream, though. What if this is reality?"

"I cannot believe such a thing would happen."

"But it did. Face it, Ryuuzaki… hey, we're not hand-cuffed."

Did he just realise that? he thought, lashing his tail.

"Fine, let's go." Light snarled, leaping into a hard, pounding pace. Ryuuzaki followed more slowly, which gave him more time to think.

When he heard a bark, then a "Ryuuzaki, come here!", he knew that Light had found a mirror. Suddenly growing excited, he quickly dashed over, sliding to a halt when he found Light admiring his long, bushy tail.

"Light-kun, what the hell are you doing?" Ryuuzaki growled, padding up beside his suspect.

"My tail! I like my tail… Maybe when we're human again, I can keep it! Yey, tail!"

Yes, I imagine he had a few shots before he went to sleep last night...

"Let me see the mirror, Light-kun."

"Never!" came a spiteful hiss as Light-kun rubbed his head against the mirror, where the reflection of his tail was.

Sighing, Ryuuzaki assumed he would have to use force to get the annoying brown wolf out of the way. So, inhaling slowly, then forcing the breath out, he lunged into Light's side, knocking the other canine off his feet and onto the ground, where he struggled to get back up because of Ryuuzaki's foot, which was on his back.

"Ryuuzaki, ewww! Your paws stink, get them off!" Light spat, tossing his head in the air as the paw was removed.

Ryuuzaki looked into the mirror, to find that he was, indeed, not in a dream, and instead of skin, he had fur Iand/I skin, though of course the fur covered his flesh. The messy, matted fur was snow-white, and his eyes were black as coals, as normal. The pupils within his eyes were their normal size, and the black bags underneath his eyes still shown against his white fur, actually blending in with it. He had a long, feathery black tail, and his ears seemed to always be out to the sides, like a cat's. Instead of his human body, he had consumed the shape of a wolf, large jaws able to snap the neck of a human within minutes.

So he had a weapon.

No, two. He could still use his feet, but they wouldn't be his normal feet, which had been replaced by furry white paws. His hind-legs were powerful enough to kick Light in the nose with when he disobeyed the young adult, and his fore-legs seemed specifically built for clawing and slashing at the earth, or even other wolves.

Stepping away from the mirror, he turned around to look at Light, who stood, dumbfounded, at a canine-like shadow in the back of the alley he'd found the mirror in.

Raising a paw, Ryuuzaki pointed to it.

"I see you've found another," a familiar voice said. Ryuuzaki knew the snappy, monotone voice anywhere: Kaze.

The once-wolf was now human, or, taking the shape of a human.

Light gawked in jealousy.

"How did you do that?" he snapped, twitching his ear and then wagging his tail as the human leaped down from another roof, landing softly, and non-painfully in the alley.

"Easily," she replied, pointing to herself, "believe yourself to be a human, and you'll give off the appearance of one. I wouldn't suggest staying in wolf form, either. Oh, and there are other wolves here, in fact, I've met three. But since you know nothing of this, I'll let you find out yourselves. Good luck with returning to your normal form, because I know that Ryuuzaki here is going to need it." She then ran off, and as she passed, Ryuuzaki could hear her mumbling about a low self-esteem and how he couldn't get in touch with his sense of reality.

"All right, so we should try that…" he muttered, waiting for Light to nod.

"No! I actually like being like this. I can run faster, I have bigger nails and teeth, and it's so awesome!" If wolves could smile, or any animal, for that matter, Ryuuzaki was sure that Light would be.

"I have no doubt that you had alcohol last night." the white wolf murmured, jumping down from the beam. He looked up, growling at Light to tell him that he didn't want him to come, and raced off, tail bouncing up and down and muscles rippling underneath his messy white fur.

Does Light-kun ever drink, though? He must, even if he is a straight-A student… but I wonder…

He sat down, looking up at the darkening sky, and the dark grey storm-clouds which were heavy with rain, which made Ryuuzaki relax. If it was going to rain any time soon, he'd have even more time to think, especially since he could give the Kira case a break, because Kira was with him.

He focused on what lay ahead, a battle of who was strongest, and who could run faster than the other.