~Chapter 10: Regret
I frowned. "What do you mean, take care of me?" I asked angrily, my words coming out somewhat strange thanks to my extra-long fangs. My hand went to my mouth again in embarrassment, but the girl didn't seem think anything of it.
"What, you think you're going to come with? You couldn't even handle the mutant in the woods," he said incredulously.
"Well... I was just surprised. I could handle it if there was another one," I complained, but he shook his head.
"No way. I don't even know what's going on, for all I know it could be a lot more serious than I thought. You're staying here."
"I'm going with you whether you like it or not." We glared at each other until the girl cleared her throat.
"Um, hello? I'm still here." When we were both looking at her she said, "Most of the mutants broke in near the west wall, by Nagihiko's den. There are a lot around here, by the Loft, but other than that almost all of them are over there. And I think they said there were about ten or fifteen in all."
"How did they get here, anyway?" I asked, confused.
The girl sighed. "How should I know? I think that girl Utau messed up on one of her missions and led a bunch of them back here." I frowned, worried about Utau. If she had messed up, was she...-? I didn't finish the thought, as it was too scary to think about.
"Anyway, I'm going to see if they've already killed them all yet. Amu, you're staying here," he ordered me. A growl suddenly tore out of my throat, surprising me as well as Ikuto. It was low and threatening, and Ikuto started to growl too. It honestly probably would've seemed pretty ridiculous if it wasn't so scary.
"Guys! Cut it out! I do not need two bitching little girls in here right now!" the girl said angrily. By now everyone in the room was staring at us, and I felt my face heat up from embarrassment—Again. "Just go together. I'm sure they already killed them all, and if they didn't, well, now is as good a time as any for her to learn how to fight," she said, her voice lowered back to a normal-sounding volume. I looked at Ikuto, who was scowling at her.
"Fine." He turned to me, glaring. "But if you get killed, it's not my fault, okay?"
"Fine," I said, making a face at him. "Oh, don't worry, I'll be fine. I've got a gun, see?"
"Yeah, a gun that you dropped the second the mutant looked at you," he accused. I frowned at him and he rolled his eyes, walking back to the door.
I stayed behind for a second. "Hey, um, what's your name?" I asked the girl.
She looked at me, giving me a weird look. "Why?"
I shrugged. "I was just wondering..."
"My name's Lulu."
"Oh, well, my name's Amu."
Ikuto called from by the door, "Are you coming or not!" I waved bye to Lulu and jogged over to Ikuto. We walked back outside together, into the cold and the rain, and toward what was probably going to result in my death.
The rain had lightened a lot since before, but it was still freezing cold outside. I wondered why I hadn't asked for a jacket or something when we were in the Loft, but I hadn't thought about it until I was back into the cold. Ikuto was still seeming fine, and I wondered how he was fine in the rain if he was a...
I frowned. Did I even know which animal's DNA he'd gotten? I realized that the only one I actually knew for sure was Utau and myself. I mean, I'd guessed what they were, but no one had actually told me.
"What animal are you?" I asked Ikuto cautiously. I didn't want him to get mad.
He glanced at me before answering, "Cat."
"Okay. I thought so," I said in a thoughtful voice. I looked up at him, wondering if he was in a bad mood now, but his face was unreadable. "Hey... Who was that girl that was all obsessed with you?" I asked him.
His unreadable expression quickly turned into a scowl. "She's... She likes me, I guess."
"Yeah, no kidding. I mean, who is she?"
"Her name is Saaya. She's got a crush on me, as you could see. Why don't you tell me who she is? She obviously got you mad enough to make you want to hurt someone," he said in an innocent voice.
I scowled at him, instinctively bringing my hand back to my mouth to cover the fangs. "How should I know? I've only been here for a few days. She just... made me mad." I frowned, blushing.
He smirked. "Sure. I bet you were jealous," he teased. I stared at him with an incredulous look.
"Uh, no," I said with certainty. He raised his eyebrows at me, and I was a little amazed at how childish he could act. Well, it wasn't like I acted much better.
As we continued to walk, I wondered why all the buildings here were so far apart from each other. Why weren't they all just together? It took forever just to get from our pack's house to the Loft. I figured maybe it was for exercise or something, or maybe just because they felt like it.
A little while into our venture in the forest, I started to hear sounds. Screams, wails, those sorts of things. They sent chills down my spine, and I shivered even more than I already had been.
Ikuto could obviously hear them too, because he looked tense and ready to bust out his knife any second. I reached my hand into my pocket, keeping a hand on my gun. I didn't think I would use it even if I got the chance, but it still made me feel safer than just walking helplessly into the middle of a fight.
The cries started to get louder. Most of them sounded more animal than human, which hopefully meant it was the mutants dying and not us, but I also heard human screams every once in a while. Something bloody rolled out from the trees next to our feet and I yelped, jumping backward. Ikuto pulled me away from it and I looked away before I got a good enough look to figure out what it was.
I could see lights in the distance, probably coming from the house—or den, as everyone else called them—that Lulu had mentioned. Now that there was a light source, even from far away, I could see all the fights around us. I tried not to look to close, not wanting to see anything gruesome.
I shifted uneasily. "Um... Maybe I shouldn't have come after all..."
Ikuto turned to me, giving me a deadpanned look. I frowned back at him. "Are you serious? You gave me hell about not bringing you, and now that we're here you just want to go back?"
"Well... I didn't think it would be this bad..." I muttered, looking down at my feet.
He gave an exasperated sigh. "I don't have time to take you back..." He trailed off, and I heard him take a sharp breath.
Forcing myself not to look in the same direction he was looking, I asked worriedly, "What?"
He shook his head slowly, his gaze not moving from that direction for a few seconds before he turned back to me and said urgently, "Amu, I'm gonna have to leave you here alone. All right?"
I stared at him, eyes wide. "W-what? I don't want to be alone! What if one of those things attack me?"
He looked over again, his expression clearly saying that I didn't have a choice. "That's your fault, you shouldn't have come with in the first place. You have your gun—Use it."
"I..." I began to realize just how completely stupid I was. I should've stayed at the Loft, where it was safe. There had been no point in coming here. In fact, I should've stayed at the den with Rima, Kukai and Miki. I would've been safe in either place, but I had been selfish and unreasonable. I wanted to kick myself. Instead I muttered embarrassedly, "Sorry... I'll stay here."
He nodded and quickly left, leaving me alone. I pulled out my gun from my pocket, turning it over in my hand, lost in thought. I considered going out to help fight, but I immediately banished the thought—The idea of killing someone, even if it was a mutant, was just too horrible. I decided to walk farther away from the fights, so I wouldn't have to see anything, and turned around to head in the other direction.
I walked for a minute or two then turned back around. I couldn't see the house or any mutants, though I could still hear them. Sighing, I leaned back against a tree, feeling like an idiot.
I touched the tips of my fingers to my lips—The fangs were still there. Checking absently, I saw that I still had my ears and tail, as well as claws. I wondered how it worked—How did we grow teeth and ears and stuff like that out of no where? If I were to guess, I would have assumed that if your DNA was mixed with an animals, you would just keep those things all the time, no matter what your mood was. But then again, I had no idea how genetics and DNA worked. And Utau did say she thought the scientists had done more than just add animal DNA.
I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding and laughed at myself quietly. I am such an idiot, I thought. People were fighting and possibly dying, including Ikuto, and I was standing here thinking about DNA. I shook my head and tried to decide whether or not I should punch myself now.
I heard the bushes beside me rustle, and I jumped, taking a step back. I stared, eyes narrowed, at the bushes, but I didn't see anything. My heart was already beating quickly and I laughed at my jumpyness. "There's nothing there," I said to myself aloud.
"Think again," something hissed from the trees above me. Before I could react, something big dropped down from the trees and landed in front of me.