Authors note: I am back from my vacation! And am all set up in my new house (well the comp is set up thus everything is fine :-D) thank you as always for reviews, so as promised with reviews comes another chapter! I hope I'm still doing a good job with the chapters, I hope you enjoy chapter seven!

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The sun had gone down awhile ago and the pet shop was getting ready to close, Kiarina was ready to leave after having fun with her friends at the pet shop. They had had a small party to celebrate her passing the fist phase in the fencing tournament. The celebration itself had pretty much drawn to an end as everyone was getting kinda tired. Kiarina sat on the couch with her legs over the side of one of the arms of the couch, her back resting against T-Chan's as he sat in a similar fashion their heads resting back on the others. T-Chan usually objected to this kind of contact with any human, but this time it just really didn't seem to bug him that much. Why? Eh, he didn't really care; he just seemed to like to sit like this with Kiarina. Kiarina laced her fingers together and yawned widely stretching her arms above her before flopping them back down on her lap a small content smile on her lips.

"You off then?" T-Chan asked turning his head around slightly so he could see her out of the corner of his eye. She gave a small nod before responding;

"Yeah, I should probably get going... its getting late and I have to walk"

"You need to be careful when walking around at this time of night Kiarina." Count D said as he walked over to pick up the tray with the empty tea pot and used cups. Kiarina nodded.

"I'll keep my wits about me, I'm not that tired just yet." she said with a small smile. This was the main reason she wanted to leave now, before she got too tired to notice her surroundings. She wasn't a fool, and she had heard enough of her Uncle Leon's stories to add to the caution and alertness she already had about her when she walked anywhere at night.

"Perhaps T-Chan could walk you home; he would certainly make certain you got home safely" D offered, a small smug look on his face. T-Chan shot the count a warning look while Kiarina shook her head.

"Thank you but I don't want to put anyone out of their way, I'll be sure to be careful and I've got money to hail a cab so," she gave a small shrug and D gave a single nod.

"Very well then, take care Kiarina." D said smiling simply at her as she slipped off the couch. T-Chan let himself simply fall backwards to lie staring up at the ceiling. Kiarina looked down at him and smiled and ruffled his hair slightly "Bye T-Chan" she said before drawing her hand away running her fingers through his hair in the process. T-Chan smiled and shivered slightly at her touch but just simply stared at the ceiling, not saying anything in reply as Kiarina said goodbyes to everyone else before leaving the store. T-Chan continued to stare at the ceiling for a moment before Count D placed his face in T-Chan's direct line of vision smiling down at him. It was the same annoying 'all knowing' smile that seemed to be really grating on his nerves lately, probably because D was giving them to him.

"Come now T-Chan, would it have been that hard to have walked the girl home? You could've had some time together" T-Chan simply growled deeply in warning and shut his eyes in reply indicating he didn't care to talk.

"What's the matter T-Chan?" D asked his voice only just above a whisper.

"What are you thinking T-Chan?" D asked when he received no reply to the first question. Everything seemed to slow at that point, almost as if time itself had dug in its heels to slow its self down. T-Chan frowned; D's voice seemed to be seeping in through his mind, almost like it was searching for something.

"What are you dreaming T-Chan?" D's voice was quieter now, but T-Chan still heard him clearly. Time seemed to slow, and nearly even stop, as if waiting for D's next question. T-Chan noticed he was straining to hear as if what was going to be said next was going to be of great importance and he was going to miss it.

"What... T-Chan... is your deepest desire?" my what?... my deepest... desire? T-Chan thought questioningly to himself. What was his deepest desire? He closed his eyes tighter, as if trying to see something in his mind eye and was not able to see it clearly. Laughter came to mind; he remembered the soft weight on his back as he lay face down as a voice asked if he gave up. He remembered waiting for someone to come, just so he could try out a new surprise attack. He smiled as he saw her face, her brown eyes shining with energy and a kind of strength and defiance; almost as if she challenged the world and tried to befriend it at the same time, he always seemed to feel happy when she came... though he originally though that it was because he wanted to regain his dignity from when she tackled him down the first time… but now...?

T-Chan's eyes snapped open to look up at D who still looked down at him expectantly.

"T-Chan?" T-Chan looked up at D for a moment feeling confused and irritated because he was confused. He then pushed himself off the couch nearly falling flat on the floor in the process and bolted to the back rooms as if something terrible were at his heels and he was trying to get away from it.

Count D watched him go before turning to look at the clock; Kiarina had left a little more than half ago. Walking into the kitchen D prepared some tea and a small snack before following after T-Chan. It took him a few tries but he finally found T-Chan in one of the rooms that seemed to resemble a thick jungle. he found T-Chan sitting with his back to a tree, staring at nothing in particular. He didn't even seem to notice D as he sat down to pour tea for both himself and T-Chan. he actually had to nudge T-Chan a few times before he noticed D was there and offering him a cup of tea. T-Chan took it but didn't drink; he simply held the cup and continued to look blankly at the air in front of him.

"T-Chan" D said softly "I can understand why your thoughts are a little... perplexing." T-Chan turned to give D a questioning side glance. "Come my friend, who better to understand than me, the complexity of species and such" T-Chan gave what might have been a small sigh; he knew the count was right in that regard. He looked down at the tea in his cup before taking a gulp of it, draining the cup of half its contents. D sat patiently as T-Chan went over his thoughts as he sipped at his own tea saying nothing for the moment. He was more waiting for T-Chan to say, or ask something. As T-Chan thought he took a few smaller drinks from the cup.

"Hey D?" T-Chan asked, his voice barely audible. D lowered his cup to look at T-Chan showing he was giving the Totetsu his attention but still said nothing.

"Do you really think that..." he stopped in mid sentence as a scream seemed to shatter his thoughts. T-Chan dropped his cup as he stood up looking around intensely.

"T-Chan?" D asked looking up at T-Chan confused; he had not heard what T-Chan had. He placed his cup on the tray as he stood and looked around trying to find out what was wrong. The scream pierced his mind a second time, this time it seemed to be calling his name, what was worse... the voice sounded familiar. T-Chan turned to look at D questioningly almost as if he expected him to be able to explain what was going on.

"T-Chan what is it?" D asked a worried look on his face. T-Chan continued to stare at D. D always knew when something was wrong, T-Chan thought to himself, especially when it came to Leon. Relevance? He asked his mind feeling irritated, because D cares for Leon, a voice seemed to reply in his mind, and D always knows when something bad either was going to or had happened to Leon. So? He asked his mind again not sure he was liking where it was taking him. So who do you care for T-Chan? D smiled at T-Chan as almost as if he sensed the Totetsu's recognition.

"SHIT!" T-Chan yelled as he turned and ran for the door. D knew, T-Chan thought to himself, he always knew... because he cared for Leon. And he? He cared for Kiarina, and perhaps more than a sparring friend. No matter how many times he shook his head at the thought and just ignored it, he did care. So did that mean he knew when something bad had happened to her…or not? Either way, he wasn't going to risk it, he needed to know she was ok.

T-Chan ran out of the store and stopped at the footpath outside; sniffing at the air he found Kiarina's scent and turned to follow its trail. He had followed it for not even ten minutes before he picked up another familiar scent, not being able to place it he ignored it deciding it wasn't important. Another ten minutes later fear was added to Kiarina's scent, something was wrong, something was very wrong. As he turned to look down the back streets of china town he cursed under his breath, what the hell had caused her to turn from the main roads to the back streets? He ran now, stopping only at turns making certain he was going the right way. As he made another turn he skidded to a halt, his mouth dropped as he stared on in shock and disbelief. The full moon added to his keen eye sight, making what he saw clear as day.

Kiarina walked out of the pet shop smiling, she kept her head up and ears alert as she headed home at a brisk pace making sure she was looking confident and not an easy target. While her head was up she looked down every now and then at the shadows the street lights and moon cast so that she would see the shadow of someone walking behind her incase she missed hearing them. Not long into her trek home she heard the sound of footsteps behind her. She didn't really feel worried, only children and fools panic and the smallest of sounds. She paused and turned as if she were looking through the window of a closed store, she looked down the path out of the corner of her eye to see who was behind her. It was a guy, she could see him clearly as he walked under a street lamp, paused, and then crossed the street. nothing to worry about, she thought to herself, but she silenced her footsteps as she walked on keeping an ear out for his footsteps that almost seemed to eco in the almost silent streets of china town. As she listened she almost missed the shadow that was drawing up next to hers. She nearly jumped when she did notice, she hadn't heard the person come up behind her at all, and she had been listening for footsteps. Chiding herself she picked up her pace slightly and glanced up to see a figure walking her way in the distance, it certainly wasn't close enough to worry about just yet, but she started to hope a taxi would drive past soon so she could flag it down.

"Hey girl" the guy from the other side of the road called out, his pace picking up slightly "Where you heading cutie?" Kiarina swore mentally to herself wishing that T-Chan was with her. She picked up her pace slightly too, the person behind her still had their shadow to her heels, and she didn't want to chance a look around. She glanced up at the closely approaching figure, as she looked it raised a hand and waved... somehow she got the feeling the person wasn't waving at the one behind her or the guy on the other side of the street.

"Hey girl" the guy called out again. "Want to hang out? We can have some fun." Kiarina's eyes darted around frantically searching for a means of escape. With the shops to one side someone to the other, someone in front and behind her... she wasn't left with too many options. As she glanced forward again she noticed one of the entrances to the backstreets of china town. If she ran with everything she had she could probably loose them in the maze-like backstreets. She hid her smile and kept her face downcast in hopes of keeping her plan a secret. As the three of them began to pick up their pace and the one in front of her began to call out to her in the same manner as the man next to her she continues to walk simply at a quick pace, the moment she was next to the opening she turned and ran down it for all she was worth. She heard them shout out behind her but she ignored them as she ran for all she was worth turning this way and while still knowing exactly where she was going and still trying to keep her footsteps as quiet as humanly possible without loosing speed wanting to make it as hard as possible for them to follow her. She glanced behind her and smirked seeing no one there. Turning back around she saw someone nearly directly in front of her. She hit the breaks and even tried walking backwards to prevent running into the person but failed. Both of them collided and went backwards.

"Oh I'm sorry, I was in a hurry… are you ok?" Kiarina asked as she stood up and dusted herself off briefly before walking to the other person to offer her hand to help them up. The person took her hand and stood up and grinned at her.

"No worries Kiarina, now what has you in such a hurry?" James asked as he smirked at her. She could clearly see it was him; the full moon was high above them and gave no need for extra light.

"Nothing, I just need to get home is all." She said making sure to sound calm. She went to walk around him but he put his arm out to stop her.

"Come on now Kiarina, I didn't get to talk to you earlier because that weird looking fool stole you away from me."

"Stole me away from you??" she looked at him as if he had gone mad. "He did not steal me from you, you never had me. Stop talking about me like you own me because you don't, now move I have to get home!" She snapped at him all her usual patience being eaten up by the lingering fear that the three behind her might catch up. She moved his hand away and began walking past him.

"Hey come on now Kiarina that's not like you… where's the sweet girl I know and love." She shuddered and continued walking pretending not to hear.

"Come on girl, let's hang out and have some fun." Kiarina turned around to look at him; he grinned at her and began to laugh. Turning around to run away from him she saw two men turn into the ally way in front of her. Fear caught her throat almost choking her as she turned to look at James then back at the two other men walking towards her.

"I'd like you to meet two friends of mine Kiarina, I asked them to keep an eye on you… just in case. When they told me you left the pet shop I walked on over to come and see you." Just in case? She thought to herself, just incase what?? But she ignored that thought and concentrated more on how she was going to get out of this mess. She was in an ally way with only two ways out, one blocked by James, the other by two guys.

Shit.

This was not good, in any way shape or form, this looked as bad as it could get. She braced herself as one of the two guys came within two feet of her and reached out a hand as if to hold her arm to make sure she didn't run away. Quick as she could she grabbed the arm tight in one hand and twisted herself around so her back was to his chest then rammed her elbow as hard as she could into his gut then stomped her foot down hard on his and swung her free hand up in a fist to connect with his nose then down with the same force down again to connect between his legs. The man went down like a ton of bricks as Kiarina silently thanked her lucky stars for all the times she'd watched Miss Congeniality. The other guy looked at her in surprise as she firmly planted both her feet and raised her hands up in front of her. It was obvious that they hadn't expected a fight… but boy was she going to give them one. The second man rushed at her both arms reaching for her as if he intended to grapple her. She waited then side stepped at the last second. As his arm went past her she ducked her head over his arm then brought it up behind him putting her back into it managed to flip him over behind her and into the wall that was behind her. She circled away making sure to keep her hands up and keeping no one to her back, she mused as she did so finding it amusing that all the defense stuff she'd seen in movies or read in magazines she was actually using. She paused for only the briefest of seconds to see if either of the two guys were getting up. When neither of them moved she turned to run but only got a few paces before she felt something connect hard with her side and send her flying into the wall. She sat there for a moment clutching her side feeling it gingerly hoping whatever it was had just bruised her ribs. She looked up trying to keep tears of pain out of her eyes. James stood in front of her arms folded across his chest a triumphant smile on his face.

"Come on little girl, I don't want to bruise your precious body now." His voice derided at her, as if she were simply a child who had thrown a very small fit. She lowered her head and placed her hands on either side of her then swung her leg out to connect with his feet in hopes of throwing him off balance. Taken by surprise he stumbled backwards trying to get his feet back under him and regain his balance at the same time. Taking her chance she stumbled to get to her feet and continue down the ally way, she only had to make at least two or three turns to reach home. The first guy she had sent down was back on his feet and by looking at him she could tell he wasn't going to let her get away with what she'd done. He swung his fist hard and fast at her; she managed to duck but didn't see his second fist. It slammed into her arm causing her to stagger to the side; she resisted the urge to cry out in pain as she felt the bone break. She cursed mentally turning to look at the guy not wanting to leave herself open she found the other guy had gotten to his feet as well. She knew they would be more cautious now as the two of them stood in front of her. One of the guys rushed her fist raised to strike her skull, she stood poised her eyes focused.  Grabbing the oncoming fist with both hands she threw herself down pulling him down hard with her. She coiled her feet to her chest and pushed up hard against his releasing his arm, she managed to throw him behind her and knock the wind out of him. She launched herself to her feet only to have something hard connect with her left temple causing her to fall back down and her world to turn black.

As Kiarina opened her eyes, blinking to get her eyes to focus, she realized that she was standing with her back to her wall and some one was pinning her arms back.

"Good to see you awake beloved." James' voice sliced through the pain as she raised her head, which now felt like a led weight, to look up and meet his eyes. Glancing to either side of her she noticed one of James' cronies was on either side of her keeping her arms pinned back. She turned her head back to look at James her eyes burning in defiance; she coiled her legs to her chest and screamed as loud as she could as she planted both feet into his abdomen. As James staggered back clutching his belly she kicked out to both sides nailing both guys in the ribs. They released their hold and she ran again only to have someone catch fast to her hair nearly causing her head to snap back.        She screamed again in frustration and defiance, this time calling out to T-Chan in the process. She didn't know why she called for him and not for Leon who was a detective and could bring the police down on these guys in a heart beat. She felt a solid object connect with her crown sending her to the ground. She launched herself to her feet, not caring that the ground seemed to be moving beneath her feet like a ship in a storm or that her eyes only saw blurs. She threw her fist at the shape in front of her, her rage and desperation giving her new strength. The shape dodged with ease and waved an item it was holding in front of her tauntingly. She focused her eyes on the item wanting to know what it was, as the outlines seemed to solidify she realized it was James in front of her and that he was holding a sheathed dagger. Looking at it more closely she thought she could see blood on the pummel of the dagger. He grinned at her like a wolf might grin at its prey. He unsheathed the dagger and swung it hilt first at her head. Kiarina tried to step back but James merely moved forward causing the pummel then the blade to strike across her head. Kiarina stumbled backwards and was immediately pinned back against the wall again, this time the two looped one of their legs over hers keeping them pinned back too just incase she still had something left. But she had nothing but the buzzing numbness in her mind. She wasn't even aware of the blood tricking down her skull or around her eye.            James grabbed her chin tightly and kissed her fiercely, Kiarina tried to struggle against it but found she had nothing left but her consciousness.

"You've put up a good fight Kiarina." James whispered when he broke the kiss "But I knew I'd break you in the end, you shall belong to me and no other." Kiarina whimpered and opened her mouth in a silent cry of pain as she felt the dagger bite into her flesh just above her collar bone. He kissed her again this time forcing his tongue into her mouth as he moved the dagger down through her shirt cutting fabric and flesh alike till he reached the end of her shirt, only then did he draw his dagger away. He began to kiss her cheek then her neck as his empty hand moved aside her torn shirt and bra to feel her breast. Kiarina shook her head and tried to break away but her body refused to respond. All she could do was think of T-Chan's grinning face and pray that somehow he'd hear her silent pleas for help. James began to kiss down the trail of blood till he reached between her breasts, he then began to suckle and tease the other breast as he kept his hand on the other. Bringing up the hand with the dagger again he brought it this time to pierce her skin just above her jeans on her hip. He had moved it less than an inch before a loud roaring sound filled Kiarina's ears, but she was barely aware of it, her conscious was beginning to slip away from her vision blurred further and seemed to spin as the edges seemed to grow dark. Her arms felt to her sides, no longer held up. She slid to the ground no longer able to keep herself on her feet, she felt something in her mind giving way, almost as if it was surrendering to what might happen next but she felt it shoved aside her stubbornness still strong when the rest of her failed. She'd resist to the end no matter what, even if she couldn't…

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Gyaahh! Another cliffhanger, and worse than the last one… well I hope I did this chapter ok, I was kinda worried about writing it well enough. Ah well, now all we have to do is wait for the necessities for the next chapter! Heh, yeah I know I'm mean goes and hides I just like cliffhangers… so sue me :-p and I also didn't want to make this chapter too long… ah well. Till next time!