~Normal P.O.V~
Hello, my name is Ashlen Cook. I am five foot seven, have curly brown hair that goes down my back and green eyes. I am also a sixteen year old girl that lives all by herself. I don't know who my parents are since I was abandoned at a orphanage when I was only one year old. At least that is what I was told by the Dean of the orphanage.
I don't know why my parents didn't want me and the orphanage didn't give me a reason. However, when I was six years old I was finally adopted. The family that took me in was actually quite rich and had a son only four years older than me. I had thought living with them would be fun but it wasn't fun at all. Sadly the family was the stereotype of what people think rich people are; snubs and stuck up. I was often put down because of my low knowledge in things and often called stupid.
When I was eight years old I was sent to a private school. The family thought it could help me become smarter and, in result, become a true member of the family. Sadly, everything was far too confusing and hard to learn so it did little help. The family wasn't exactly abusive more than they were mean but there was still a part of me that was glad when they died four years later.
I was ten years old when the family died, because they didn't have any other living family, at least none that I knew about, I inherited the family mansion. Not only that though but I took control of all the money as well. Not really a good thing for a ten year old but there was nothing no one could do about it. However, while I inherited the house and money all the servants and staff left that same day. Not even the nanny who my parents hired to take care of me stayed so I was quiet literally living alone in a big house.
So for six long years I have been living alone in a three story house, five if you included the basement and a small attic. I would have moved a long time ago but who would sell a house to a child? Even now no one would take a sixteen year old girl seriously. Well at least I still had the money my parents left behind.
Anyway, I had been walking home from school when I stopped in the park to eat. Back at school I hardly ever had time to eat at lunch time. Instead, I'd be busy with homework and trying to prove I was smarter than people accused me of being. However I did drop out of private school to enroll in a public. I thought the school would be less strict and more helpful. Well, the teachers were nicer but the lessons weren't as easy. My average was about fifty-two, which just gets me by.
"Hey! Stop that mutt!" I turned my head when I heard an angry man shout. What I saw was a strange, big blue, dog stealing a string of hot dogs from a hot dog cart.
I watched the dog in amazement as it outran the man, crossed the street and ran down an ally. What really surprised and impressed me was how the dog was able to avoid getting hit by the the passing cars; it was rush hour. Once the dog crossed the street the man gave up chasing it but continued to curse the dog as he walked back to his cart.
Finding the dog rather interesting I quickly packed away the rest of my sandwich and shoved my lunch back into my backpack. I mean the dog looked about the size of a baby horse and it was blue, who wouldn't be interested? Getting up from the park bench I ran over to the crosswalk and waited until the walk signal would tell me it was safe to cross.
Once the traffic light turned red, and the white walking man signal flashed on, I ran across the street to where I saw the dog run. Now that I was across the street I began down to the ally I saw the strange blue dog disappear in. As I got closer to the ally I could hear barking; and it was coming from more than one dog. Just how many dogs were in the ally? I didn't know but I was about to find out.
I slowly turned into the ally and I spotted ten dogs a few feet away from me. The blue dog was with them and, to my surprise, he wasn't the oddest dog in the group. Out of the ten dogs there was only three that looked even close to normal. The seven others looked completely weird. There was a big black dog with a orange face that almost looked normal; except the orange is what made the dog weird.
The weirdest dog I saw had to be the white and black dog. Doesn't sound too weird, right? Well the thing is the dog was completely black on one side and white on the other. Even the tail looked split down the middle. I couldn't see the face since the dog was eating one of the hot dogs the blue dog stole. The black and white dog sat near the orange face dog and I notice the dog growl at the orange faced dog.
The second strangest had to be the dog that looked more like a tiger. I mean it was a bright orange color and had black stripes all over its body. You'd think the dog was actually a cross breed of a tiger and a dog brave enough to mate with it. The dog beside it was a purple dog which honestly looked female to me. Besides the purple fur nothing really seemed wrong with her. Like the white-black dog, I could not see their eyes.
One of the normal dogs was a large black lab; or at least that is what it looked like. The dog was eating the hot dogs like the others and I swear I saw a flash of it's eyes. Red eyes? Either the dog is bleeding in the eyes, is blind or not as normal as I thought. Beside it sat the large blue dog I saw steal the hot dogs. I couldn't tell what breed the dog was but so far it was the biggest dog in the group.
One of the other normal dogs was a golden retriever. The only thing remotely weird about this dog was it had a piece of fur hanging over it's right eye. Sitting beside the retriever was a large red dog I didn't know the breed of. The dog looked rather normal, the fur color aside. However what was odd about the dog was, unlike the other, it wasn't eating as much. Instead of eating hungrily like the others the red dog was taking small nibbles as if nervous about something.
Well the last normal looking dog was a shaggy white dog, with mixes of grey. This dog I could tell was male and he scared me a little. I didn't know if he was just really hungry or just violent but the dog was ripping into the meat as if trying to kill it. He actually seemed more like a wild wolf than a stray dog. Beside him sat the most abused dog I have ever seen. I could also tell this dog was a male and he looked like a giant, tanned, pit bull but had scars all over his body. He even had some around his mouth. I don't think he was too friendly because he too was ripping in the meat and growled angrily at the silver furred dog.
These dogs must have been abandoned at one time. Not only abandoned but abused. I mean OK there might be such a thing as a red dog and maybe a dog with a orange face, but a blue dog? That had to be abuse; someone had to have dyed his fur that color. The orange dog as well; maybe some kid wanted a Halloween costume for their dog and just painted/dyed the fur. At most the tan dog must have been abused; what else would cause the scars?
I think I must have stepped on a twig or something because, as I began to get closer, all the dogs turned their heads towards me. Most of them growled and a few looked uninterested. However the silver furred dog growled viciously, baring his doggy fangs at me. If that wasn't the worst of it, the dog began to stalk towards me.
"Ahhhhhh!" I screamed as the dog jumped at me, causing me fall on my back in fear, and the weight of the dog's body. Yet, before the dog could bite me, a rope latched around his neck; a rope attached to a poll.
"HA! Finally got the bastards!" A man's proud voice shouted. I sat up and looked up to see a man gripping the other end of the pole; with other dog catchers dealing with the nine other dogs.
"Are you alright Ms.? This mutt didn't hurt you, did he?" The man that saved me asked, keeping the struggling dog away from me and himself. I shook my head no and stared at the dogs as I stood up, pitying all ten dogs, even the one that attacked me.
"I'm fine. Thank you for saving me. What's going to happen to the dogs?" I thanked but then asked, worried for the poor dogs. The man frowned as the others started to yank the dogs into the waiting van.
"I'm not sure about the others but this one might have to be put down. Who knows who he might try to hurt or even kill." He said as he started to yank the silver dog into the van. I followed behind, staring at the dog as he fought against the rope.
"So you are taking them to the pound?" I asked as the man tossed the silver dog into the van with the others. The man nodded as he locked the door before any of the dogs could escape.
"Yeah, so they can't attack anyone else again. Have a good day, Ms. and be a little more careful from now on." The man tipped his white uniformed hat at me before getting into the driver's seat and drove off. I frowned and watched as the van drove off down the road.
~Akatsuki's P.O.V/third peron~
"When I get the fuck out of here; I'm going to rip out your Jashin damned throats and sacrifice the lot of you!" Hidan yelled and snarled as he slammed his body against the cage he and the others had been put it. It did nothing but rattle the cage and annoy the others.
After being caught by the humans, the Akatsuki had been transported to a prison for cats and dogs. Each member was forced into a smaller cage during transportation before being forced into a larger cage. A few members fought at first but, after hearing the threat to kill Hidan because he was too violent, the others began to corporate. So here the Akatsuki was, trapped in a large cage and listening to Hidan make death threats to no one there to hear but them.
"Shut up already, Hidan! How are you going to sacrifice anyone while we are dogs?" Hidan's partner, Kakuzu snapped, growling and baring his own row of sharp dog teeth. Hidan turned his head around and growled back at Kakuzu.
"Shut up, you mother fucking bastard! I've already killed three cats, ten rats and one drunk man. I'm more than capable to kill these fuckers!" Hidan snarled as he jumped at Kakuzu and started biting his neck. Growling angrily, Kakuzu started to attack the Jashinist back.
"Cut it out! Keep at it and these humans will kill us for sure. In this form we aren't as powerful as we were before! We can be killed!" Pein snarled angrily, baring his own set of canine teeth. The two Akatsuki members stopped their fighting and looked at the Akatsuki leader, but not without narrowing their eyes at each other to glare.
"Pein, someone is coming." Konan said as she nudged the orange dog and pointed out the cage with her paw. Indeed someone was coming; they could all hear footsteps getting closer.
"Maybe it's that man that wants to kill Hidan, un." Deidara said, keeping his eyes glued to the outside of the cage. He was actually hoping to see that; either way someone would die and it would cause for some entertainment.
"Hah! I would like to see that fucker try to kill me! I would love to see the look on his face when he sees I can't die!" Hidan started to laugh like a maniac. The rest of the Akatsuki ether sighed, rolled their eyes or simply didn't respond to the Jashinist as they waited for the person to show them-self.
~Normal P.O.V~
Once I knew that the dogs had a good chance of dying, I had hurried over to the pound as fast as I could. I was an animal person and so I was strongly against animal cruelty. That included killing animals no matter how violent they are. It's like killing a tiger because they killed a poacher; they were protecting themselves and following their natural instincts. Besides, if the dogs can be well trained they can become great guard dogs.
I had a lot of enemies, both people my age and adults. The kids my age were jealous of how much money I had. Because I had been adopted into a rich family they instantly accuse me of being stuck up and think that I think I am better than them. I am smart enough to know they are just jealous of me. Others have tried being my friend just to get to the money. Luckily I was smarter than that. Other kids were just normally bitchy, jerky bastards and plain mean.
As for the adults most of them were bankers, social workers and foster care people. Ever since I was ten years old these people have been trying to get me back in an orphanage. Luckily the house was surrounded by tall walls and a gate and there was many rooms to hide in if anyone managed to get inside. Even now that I was sixteen, where a teenager was supposed to get the rights to drive and drop out of school, people were still after me. They all just wanted the power of the house and all the money it hid beneath the walls.
Walking into the pound I was greeted by a cold, grey room. I hated the pound; it was like a orphanage for animals. The front room was dull with grey walls and floors. There was some fun posters of animals on the walls but the only real color in the room was the brown counter that held the adoption information, a bowl of dog treats and a rack of dog collars and leashes. Behind the counter stood the woman that ran the pound.
"Good afternoon, Ms. How may I help you this early evening?" The woman behind the counter asked, giving me a kind smile. I smiled back as I walked over to her.
"Yes, I'm looking for the ten dogs that would have been brought in not too long ago." I answered. To my surprise the woman's eyes widen and she looked taken back.
"I'm sorry, but I really don't recommend those dogs. One of them is too violent to be around. In fact he is supposed to be put down tomorrow morning." The woman told me and I frowned. I could not allow that to happen so, digging into my handbag I pulled put my purse and took out three thousand dollar.
"I'll give you three thousand for all the dogs. That's three hundred per dog. Please let me have them." I begged and placed the money on the counter. The woman looked confused and speechless as she looked down at the money, as if she was trying to decide if I was serious or not or if this was real or not.
"Alright, if you are completely serious about this, the dogs are in the back room, to the door on the left. They will be near the back of the room." The woman said as she slowly collected the money. I smiled at her and thanked her before I walked into the back room and followed her directions to get to the dog area. It was rather easy since the only other room was for cats.
As I opened the door to the dog kennel I was overcome with the barking of all the dogs. Almost all the cages were full. However at least half of the dogs had collars on so that meant two things; the owners were paying the pound to watch their dogs or the dogs had escaped their owners and were waiting to be picked up. These weren't the dogs I wanted though; they were at the back of the room. It was strange but, the closer I got to the back of the room, the quieter it got.
As I got to the back of the room I saw them, all ten dogs. I was actually surprised to see them in the same cage. After all the fuss with the silver dog being violent I'd think that he'd be in a different cage at most. Actually I think it was rather stupid and lazy that he wasn't. Speaking of the silver furred dog, it still looked like he wanted to kill me. I tried to ignore it as I knelt on the ground in eye level with the dogs.
"Now please listen up. I'm getting you all out of here. I freed you from a death sentence so the least you can do is not attack me, alright?" I whispered to the dogs, although stared mostly at the silver furred dog. He growled at me again but stopped when that tiger looking dog barked and growled at him.
When I looked over to the orange dog I was quite surprised that it nod at me. Although after a moment my surprise disappeared and I smiled. I had heard that some dogs could do some really cool tricks so this dog's previous owner must have trained it well. Standing back up, I lifted the hook that kept the door locked to let the dogs out.
I think I made a mistake letting the dogs out without any help. As soon as the cage was open the silver dog jump out before any of the others and came at me again; growling and snarling like the last time. Mentally calling myself stupid I began to walk backwards, having become scared and even whimpered. However the large blue dog jumped in front of me and growled at the silver dog, as did the orange dog but without jumping in front of me.
"Thank you for protecting me." I thanked the blue dog and patted his head. "So far you are my favorite and I really like your fur color; I hope it's natural and not done by abuse." I continued and I swear the dog chuckled. It almost sounded like an amused growl and since his tail was wagging I knew he was happy.
"Well then, come on, let's go to my house. From where we are, it should take about a twenty minute walk. If you were willing to steal hot dogs I'm sure you are all hungry so lets hurry so I can make everyone something good to eat." I said and looked down at the blue dog teasingly. He wagged his tail and looked like he was smiling, as if he was proud of himself.
I must have gotten lost in thought or something because the next thing I know, the barking caused me to look over to the dogs. They were looking at me before looking over to the door that would take us to the front room. Understanding what they wanted I nodded and began to lead them through the pound and out the front door. I didn't feel like leashes or collars would be acceptable at the moment because I didn't want to even try to put them on. However once out the door I began to lead the dogs to my own, smiling. Having ten new friends, even if they were dogs and one hated me, was going to be interesting and I now would no longer be lonely anymore.
