Updating in the middle of the day on a week day! ? WHAT? THAT'S WEIRD! Oh wait, but I have a lap top. I can update while I'm at work. AWESOME! :D

So guys, this chapter makes me pretty sad. Like, I totally cried writing it. I blame my bleeding heart. Believe it or not, this actually DOES have something to do with the plot (yes, I promise there is a plot) and as sad and uncomfortable as this chapter is, I promise the next one is cute and happy and probably funny depending on your definition of funny.

OH MAN.

Ah, enjoy.

I should've been smart about this. This was my perfect chance to be booted out of this psychotic wreck of a family and be on my way. They knew I wouldn't go to the cops. They'd kill me. I'd have to spend the rest of my life going on long ass camping trips just to hide from them and I think we all know how much I loathe camping.

Yes, this was the opportunity for a simple, normal life knocking at my door. But I was too damn prideful to even consider it an option. Being booted out of the organization in favor of my sister who was younger than me (five minutes and fifty-two seconds, but still) was not and option either.

The thought that they could even consider taking her over me was sickening. I'd been here longer. I was trained in what to do. I was the one that found Naminé, sort of. True, I wasn't exactly eager to do this sort of thing for the rest of my life. And, okay, maybe I wasn't exactly cut out for this.

But to choose her over me? No. It couldn't happen. It wouldn't.

And she was overly excited to be told by Axel that she'd be coming along with us on her first retrieval. It seemed unfair. I had to wait weeks to go on my first (which was yesterday, by the way) and yet here it was her first official day and she was already going out! But I didn't make a single complaint.

I would be perfect and they'd have no choice but to pick me.

Sibling rivalry at its worst.

We packed up our essentials: a bottle of water, bubble gum and hold it, wait, "A handgun?" I cocked an eyebrow up at Axel as he handed the cold piece of metal into my hand. I wasn't given this yesterday. "But I don't have a concealed weapons permit." He gave me perhaps the dumbest look he'd ever given me and Xion rolled her eyes. I realized then how stupid my statement really was. Without another word, I tucked the gun into my waistband and pulled my shirt over my pants to cover it but I could still feel Axel's eyes burning into me. "What?"

"You do know how to shoot a gun, right?" He asked. That was a stupid question because he should know I didn't. But before I could answer, Xion had to open her big fat mouth.

"He doesn't. But that's okay because I do." She said a little too proudly and it was a lie, but I wasn't going to bother calling her on it. True, when we were really little my dad "taught" us how to shoot with a shotgun that he'd brought along camping, but really, he only helped us hold it while he pulled the trigger. Not quite the same thing, but it wasn't worth the arguement.

I watched Xion stare greedily at the gun Axel was about to hand her and she really made me sick. Still, the thought of her accidentally shooting herself in the toe or something was too funny to not bring a smile to my face.

Horrible, I know.

So, we packed up our essentials: a bottle of water, bubble gum and yes, a hand gun. We headed out to Axel's car and Xion called shotgun. I kept my mouth shut and didn't argue. The whole way to the retrieval she yacked and yacked on idiotically about how excited she was to finally prove how valuable she could be to the family. I still didn't say a word. We arrived at a house in the bad part of town and it looked pretty run down, worse than Naminés even.

Axel knocked on the door, no answer of course, so we made our way around to the back because there were too many witnesses outside. Yes, really.

Same as yesterday, Axel broke out a side window and we made our way in. I was determined that I was going to find something of value. Anything. But a thought quickly crossed my mind. "Axel, why did we bring guns today?"

"The guy who lives here is a meth addict. You ever try dealing with a meth addict? They're dangerous. There was no way I was coming here without protection, just incase he was home." Axel gave a quick glance around the house and I could see the disgust on his face. "But judging by the looks of it, and the smell of it, nobody has been here in a long time."

I nodded in agreement and began looking around. I pulled open drawers and rumaged through them but there didn't seem to be much of anything, let alone anything of value. Like at Naminés house, there was no electricity. No surprise there. This place was an absolute wreck and Axel was right, the smell was downright unbearable. And then Xion opened the door to the bathroom and the wave of stench flooded the whole house.

If I had to guess right away, I would've guessed rotting meat. But I would've been only half right. My sister let out a loud shriek and it was then I knew that it wasn't an ordinary odor.

It was...

"The smell of death." Axel said as he covered his mouth and nose with his arm. He stepped closer toward the bathroom and called to my sister. "There a body in there, sweetheart?"

"Uhk. About five of them!" Xion called back and I couldn't really believe what I was hearing.

Five bodies in a tiny little bathroom? No way. I rushed over and the closer I got, the sicker I felt. Now I knew what Axel meant when he said he would never forget that smell. It's the sort of thing that sticks with you your whole life. I stepped up beside my sister and peered into the bathroom but what I saw was not what I'd expected.

"Ah, that's a damn shame." Axel muttered as he stood behind us. "Mama must've died way before her babies."

I looked over my shoulder at him curiously, not really wanting to look at the sad sight before me. "What makes you say that?"

"Every animal's instinct is survival. She would've ate her babies if it meant she would live. My guess is she died some way other than starvation and her babies followed." Axel entered the bathroom and knelt before the German Shorthaired Pointer laying there with her pups snuggled against her. From where I was standing it just looked like they were asleep, cuddling and warm but the smell proved otherwise. "I'd say she's been gone for a week now. Maybe a week and a half. The puppies... probably the past few days. Maybe even as late as yesterday." He stood slowly and shook his head. "Come on, let's wrap this up fast. I don't want to be here any longer than we have to. Xion, check the bedroom. Roxas, get the kitchen. I'll finish the front room."

I nodded slowly and walked away from the bathroom. Not that I was the biggest bleeding heart in the world or anything, but anybody who could lock their animals up in a bathroom like that made me sick. I hoped we did catch the guy. I hoped he came home and Axel shot him point blank in the face. No, better. I hoped we dragged his ass back to the headquarters and Lexaeus and Xaldin took turns cracking his skull open while Xigbar busted his knees with a baseball bat.

Our search of the house proved fruitless and I felt more disgruntled than ever. This was really a horrible day. But as we were readying to leave I heard a strange noise behind the closed bathroom door. I listened closer and sure enough, I heard it again. A whimper. I opened the door, the gust of stench not hitting me quite as hard this time. I looked down and there, there worming his way out from behind the toilet was a deathly skinny, blind little black puppy. I stared at him in awe as he whimpered again, the sound almost too pathetic to even hear and I couldn't believe it had been anything other than fate that let me hear him from behind the closed door in the first place.

The poor thing had shit caked on his ass and he was so weak he could barely move. Without thinking I yanked the mildewed towel off the shower door and wrapped it around the little guy, hoisting him up into my arms and out of the house.