I woke up with a jolt, in my dreams I felt like I was falling for eternity. And then it so happened that I landed on this very bed. I was being ridiculous though, my imagination liked to wander sometimes. As my consciousness returned, I realized that maybe I should be panicking. Who the hell saved me and where was I? My entire body was aching, I felt like I've been hit by a train repeatedly. My long silver and red calico hair was in knots. It was so knotted that it didn't even hang past my waist anymore. I tried to run my fingers through it, but I found it was wet. It was still wet! This wasn't a dream. My recollections of that day were starting to come back, I remembered everything and I instantly became depressed. I was heartbroken, how could my own kind be so cruel to me? Why me? I've never done anything wrong at least I don't think I have.

"You're finally up," Said a voice across the room. I screamed bloody murder, but I soon regretted it. My screams were cut short from choking on blood. I couldn't breathe, and my stomach felt like it was torn to pieces. He took a step towards me, my reaction was to get away. "Wait, please. I want to help you"

I looked at him through the locks of my hair, shaking. He was a silver fox, with silver hair and 4 tails; which meant he was around 3,000 years old. His eyes were like yellow gems, his face was soft.

He continued to approach me like I was a wild animal. A tear dropped from my left eye, I was ashamed for once again, I felt less than what I really was. He was very tall, he knelt beside my bed.

"What is your name?" he questioned.

"My name?" I haven't heard that question in a long time.

"Yes, do you have one?"

Instinctively I looked down at my wrist which had my number branded on me. He saw the number and I noticed a flash of anger crossed his face.

"My name…Sorry, I'm trying to remember.. My name. No one has really cared to ask me that in a long time. My name is Maya, my mother called me that."

"Well Maya, my name is Yoko Kurama." He said as he handed me a bowl of mashed up plant. "This will help your stomach. I'll give you more later. I will go tell the others that they were wrong about you living through this."

I was confused as he left the room. But I could care less. I felt somewhat safe for once in my life, I was just afraid of what people will think of me when they see me. I was skeptical of the mashy green substance, but I realized what did I have to lose? Why would he kill me after saving me?

Just as I finished the bowl he reappeared at my doorway.

"Do you feel better?"

"I think.."

"That should stop the bleeding and hopefully the pain." He walked towards me.

"Would you like to take a bath? I can walk you there if you like."

"Yeah, my hair feels funny. I won't be able to sleep knowing it is in this condition" I said dryly.

I slowly climbed off of the bed. My balance was way off, he caught me around the waist before I fell. I cringed a little in pain.

"I'm sorry Maya, I forgot. Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine" I said as I regained balance. I noticed my mismatched clothes.

"Oh yeah, I have new clothes for you already in the bathing room." I nodded and walked close beside him holding on to his arm for support because my legs were still shaking.

"I can't believe they branded you like an animal. I wish there was something that I could do to remove that scar."

"You're too kind, but don't worry. I want it there to remember the anger I felt towards them; so I can continue to fight for other demons that get caught in that kind of mess." I said. "You're the first person to ever do something nice for me."

"That is hard to believe. With the kind of beauty you possess you could make anybody do anything."

We walked in silence down the long corridor. The castle was enormous. I wonder who it belonged to.

"Are you a silver fox Maya?"

"Yeah I am."

"Then why are you in your human form?"

"I figured you would ask that. It's because of this collar around my neck, it holds my powers back."

He led me in to the bath and said "I'll get Yomi, when you're done he will use a key that can unlock it."

"Wait, Yomi? You mean King Yomi?"

"Yes King Yomi, we are in his castle. Why?"

"Oh it's nothing. I recognized the name, that is all.."

"Oh alright. Well I'll leave you to your bath then and I will return to get that thing off of your neck."

I nodded and he exited the room, shutting the large wooden door behind him.

I stared off in to the mirror, just taking all of my features. My black and red colored hair was curling back up, and it was forming knots. When the collar would be removed I will have silver pieces that made my hair glow when I was in fox form. When I was in full fox form, my hair was a calico color.

I turned the heat all the way up on the faucet and listened to it as it fell into the tile covered tub. The water drowned out the sounds, and I felt secure with a barrier of sound. I felt like everything echoed in the bathing room. I was dying just to get in to the water, so I started to quickly undress.

The water burned as I stepped in the almost full tub. The tub was so large; you could almost call it a pool. I dunked my head under the water, trying to release the matted knots out of my hair. I scrubbed my hair at least three times before it was back to flowing down my back. I laid on the back edge of the tub, my shoulders submerged. My wounds began to sting a little because of the soaps in the water, but I didn't care. I would smell fresh for once. No more dirt under my nails, my skin will be radiant again; except for the many scars. I hope they will fade. Who would want a girl covered in scars? Who would want a mate that was formally a slave? If the scars decided to linger on my skin, then they would be there for the entire would to see; they would all know that I was once a slave.

After a while I realized that maybe I shouldn't be trying to fall asleep in the bath. Yoko would begin to wonder if I had drowned myself. Besides, my water was beginning to cool. I stepped out of the warm water and on to the cold floor. It shocked me at first. I wrapped a towel around me and wrapped another around my long hair to prevent myself from dripping and making puddles on the floor. I didn't want to slip and hurt my…wait. Was my child still alive from that fall? The collar around my neck soon became really cold, for I forgot it was there. With it, I could not sense if my child was still alive. I began to panic. Why didn't he tell me?! I began to grow angry at everything. I felt like punching my reflection in the glass. I could care less if the glass cut my fist, if I made a bloody mess on the nice palace floors. I wanted the world to see how much I didn't care. I wanted them to see how upset I was with them.

"Maya, are you alright?" Yoko Kurama stepped through the door. I felt my cheeks get hot but I knew he couldn't tell because my cheeks were already flushed from the hot water.

I gripped the towel tighter. I forgot how mad I was. "Yes I'm fine. I fell asleep that's all."

"Do you mind if we come in, Yomi has the key."

"Sure…" I said timidly, I honestly didn't want someone else seeing me like this but I didn't want to sound rude. Yomi stepped in to the room and greeted me with a smile. His eyes were closed, I've forgotten that he was actually blind so I felt better. "Wait." I demanded, "Kurama you need to tell me something, before this damn thing is removed."

"What is it?" Yoko and Yomi looked confused, I felt hostile.

"Tell me what happened to my child." As soon as I said this, both of their faces dropped. I grew angrier at the fact that they both knew what was going on.

"I'm sorry Maya, I forgot to tell you. Please, forgive me. Your child was already dead, if I wouldn't have removed it you could have died and I probably wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let you die."

I just stared at them blankly, not knowing how to react exactly. I felt like a part of me died, while the other was reborn with some sort of strange hope. So badly, I wanted to overreact.

"Alright… just take this thing off of me.." I said.

Yomi placed a strange piece of what I assumed was metal in to the key hole on the collar. Using his energy, the piece of metal molded into the shape of the key that was needed to unlock the collar around my neck. As soon as the collar snapped open, I felt my energy coming back to me with each breath. My body began to glow and radiate heat. There was a quick flash of bright light, and then the phenomenon stopped. I realized that the towel that kept my hair wrapped up had fallen to the floor, I looked at myself in the mirror and my silver ears were back, and I once again had glowing silver pieces of hair that distinguished me as a rare, silver fox