Author's Note : Thanks for all the kind reviews! Ugg, sorry for the long
wait. My computer recently went berserk, and I had to delete everything
off of it, get a new hard drive, and all the other good parts… ;-;.
Anyway, I had to delete this chapter off, (and I was 75% done..) but here
it is! Better than ever! Oh yea, things in * are meant to be italics, b/c
I wasn't sure if mine were showing up on ff.net.
Bump bump. Bump bump. Each heartbeat brought her closer to insanity, and ultimately to death. Bump bump. Each thud echoed in her mind, seeming growing louder with each second. Bump bump. Ironic, that her heartbeat matched the rhythm of her steps as herself and Yugo ran toward the only available exit. 'I don't mind if you kill me'. Death, a welcomed commodity, but that luxury was too good for them. They would fight, and they would win, no matter what obstacle came their way. Such was the way of a true warrior.
"Why are we going up the stairs," Yugo asked in a half human, half wolf inflection. Alice gave no answer, for it was obvious. She guessed Yugo was trying to avoid the truth. In old horror movies, those who run up the stairs die. In new horror movies, those who run up the stairs die. But like that annoying cliché, it was the only option.
"The roof. From there we can hopefully jump to the adjacent children's ward. Then we can leave through there." Yugo growled his reply and shot ahead of her, soaring over the steps with ease. Alice gasped and cried out, "What are you doing!" Whatever his reply was, it was not in words, more like a protective, fear causing growl that wolves use when guarding a member of the pack.
It seemed so easy, but from experience, Yugo knew that things weren't as easy as they seemed. Besides, he needed to check the roof for the agent's comrades, Tylon wasn't so stupid to use one employee to apprehend a male and female who apparently were strong and smart enough to wrench away from their grip.
Alice. A strange girl. She seemed so cheerful, yet her deep sapphire eyes were sad, like caged bird. "A bird zoanthrope, now that would be something to see," he thought with a half smile. Still, he would have to protect her from harm, after all, she saved his life even though they had never met. And there was the fact that she understood his pain, she knew of the horror and cruelty of life, especially their childhoods.
He finally came to the roof, a wide, spacious flat slab of concrete. He listened for any sound of danger, sniffed the air for the stench of evil. The only sound came from the passing cars, the air smelt clean, although slight pollutants were also mixed in like a cocktail.
Alice had caught up to him now, her soft footsteps proved it. Yugo could tell that she was waiting for him to tell her it was okay, and he nodded, then led her out to the open. "See that building over there," she asked, pointing to her right, "There's our escape route."
"I'll admit, it's not a very good one," a snotty female called from afar. Both zoanthropes turned to the sound, and saw a woman wearing a red miniskirt, matching leather jacket, a white under shirt, and high red heels. She cracked her knuckles and smiled at the animal hybrids, who were looking her over with caution. The wolf boy moved in front of the rabbit, glaring. "Pardon my rudeness. The name's Jenny."
Jenny. The name sounded familiar. "You kidnapped Uriko," Alice cried, voice emitting pure hatred.
"Uriko . . . Uriko . . . Ah yes, the twelve year old half breed. She's almost insane now, did you know that? Sits in a corner, mumbling 'Mommy' and sucking her thumb. Pitiful creature, really. I'm surprised Jigoku hasn't ordered her death."
"You did this to her," Alice screamed, moving up and standing next to Yugo. "I'll never forgive you!"
Jenny yawned, then threw down her jacket. "Is that a challenge? Are you going to get revenge for your lost sister? How . . . sickeningly cliché. But, if you desire death, let me the one to give it to you!" With those words Jenny fell to her knees and sprouted wings out of her back, and her face morphed into one of a bat. She stood, grinning and showing off two fangs.
"A bat . . . She has aerial advantage," Yugo thought as he moved away from Alice so they could assault her from two sides. Alice's form was part rabbit; she could possibly jump high enough to provide an even play field. Unfortunately, luck was not on their side, for a mole zoanthrope approached through the entry that Yugo and Alice had used earlier.
"Don't try and take all the glory for yourself. The zoanthropes are mine!"
"Mine," Alice thought as she moved cautiously away from Jenny. "Does that mine they're not on the same side? Then who? Who sent them if not Tylon," she questioned, then leapt into the air and began to attack Jenny, whose back was turned to the mole. Jenny flew forward, narrowly missing the mole zoanthrope, who snickered with amusement.
"Never turn your back on the enemy," he advised, then dodged a punch from Yugo and sent a kick to his stomach. "And you don't try the same trick twice!" Yugo coughed, causing a few droplets of blood to fall to the cement. A challenge, exactly what he wanted after losing to Gado. A slow wolf grin came over him and he launched a full scale attack on the mole.
It sounded easy, but the rule of life says nothing is ever easy, and Yugo got a few scratches on his arm when he attacked the mole. Jenny and Bakuryu, deciding that two on one is going to be easier than one on one, ganged up on Yugo and began the process of beating him to a pulp.
Alice, however, grabbed Jenny's crimson dress and pulled her away from her new companion. "I'm your opponent," she growled, a hard sound to make while a rabbit. Jenny rolled her eyes and tried to kick Alice in the stomach, but missed because Alice jumped up and over her body, then booted her in the back.
Meanwhile Yugo and Bakuryu were locked in a hold, both animals claws digging into their shoulders. It was a challenge to see how much pain both could take, and both seemed to be on their last edge. Suddenly both screamed and reverted back to their human form.
Jenny and Bakuryu locked eyes for a moment that held a silent plan. Jenny grabbed Alice while Bakuryu grabbed Yugo and both threw the friends at each other, laughing as their bodies hit with a smack. "I thought you were going to kill me," Jenny taunted in her sultry inflection, "But I think I'm going to kill you!"
New found rage became the power source for Alice's fighting, and she ran and jumped, spinning and punching Jenny multiple times in her face and midsection. Jenny flew up higher into the air, thus Alice ran to the edge of the building, catapulted herself up, then kicked the bat in the chest. The bat became a blonde woman as it crashed to the ground, then released blood from her body, leaving crimson stains on her mouth and dress.
Yugo got up weakly, and then took a boxing stance. He may not be a good fighter in wolf form, but in human, as a boxer, he was unstoppable. Mole boy wasn't going to break his record anytime today, zoanthrope blood or no zoanthrope blood. The defeat by Gado was bruising enough to his ego. Smirking slightly, he waited for Bakuryu to make the first move, not only to judge his fighting style, but to issue a quick jab or two as counter attacks.
Bakuryu's style seemed to be a mix of martial arts and street fighting, for he moved with great agility yet had no disciplined moves. Yugo dodged a kick to the face, then issued a few punches and a jab to his face and stomach. Patience was the key to winning, Yugo knew, and the reason why his last couple of fights were lost.
The lack of contact seemed to enrage the man, for he growled and began to attack blindly and wildly. "The greatest assassin in the world cannot touch a mere boy! My honor and future is at stake," Bakuryu thought as he struggled to hit the boy, who was bleeding badly from his right shoulder from where one of his claws had penetrated. In about ten minutes he would be weak and weary from the blood loss, but he didn't have that much time. Jigoku wanted them back with the children at eleven sharp.
Jenny moaned softly as she stood. The girl wasn't supposed to be that strong, yet when she struck the blows felt like a sledgehammer was being beaten into her body. Not even her deadliest kicks had any effect on Alice, for she remained a rabbit hybrid. After countering a punch with a kick to the stomach, Alice fell to the ground, catching her breath. Jenny smiled. Things were starting to go her way finally.
She pulled out a gun and pointed it at Alice's head before she could get up and fight. "Move and you die, my little jackrabbit. You're going to come with me." The hatred and courage in the blue sapphires told Jenny Alice wasn't going to oblige her request anytime soon so she fired a shot to her leg, grazing her left thigh. Then she kicked Alice in the head, and she flew back, landing several feet away, human.
The gunshot had diverted both male fighter's attention to Alice and Jenny, and newfound anger and pain emerged in Yugo when he saw Alice on the ground, fighting to remain conscious. Bakuryu took Yugo's shock as a chance to move near Jenny and both stood, staring at the teenagers.
"Now you two come with us or I kill you," Jenny ordered.
Fight Alice. Awaken the beast within you. Let yourself go, let your consciousness melt into the berserk ness that can defeat these two. After all, the boy said that he didn't mind you killing him.
"I . . . don't have enough energy to transform. I feel weak and dizzy . . ."
If you don't you won't survive! Let your inner child free. Ten points for killing them Subject 025, ten points . . .
Alice couldn't take it anymore. She screamed, a high pitched, blood curling sound that stirred even the thickest of blood. Her body transformed into a rabbit, and she pounced on the nearest victim - Bakuryu - and began to rip him apart.
Yugo quickly got over the shock of seeing the angelic girl become demonic, and kicked the gun out of Jenny's hands before the woman fled, leaving through the only exit. Bakuryu's head was a bloody mess of bone, brain, and other body parts, and Alice screamed again, then focused her attention on Yugo.
"Alice," he said, voice soothing and deep, like the way a father comforts his daughter, "It's okay. I'm not your enemy."
"Fifty points for a zoanthrope rebel. I only need fifty before I get my prize," she babbled, then jumped to Yugo, wrapping a pawlike hand around his throat. "I get a prize when you die!"
"A-al. . ice," he choked out, trying to push her away from him, "It's me, Yugo. . ."
* Don't cry over lost life, use that energy to preserve the life that's left. Preserve life, Alice, prevent tears from falling.*
*I want to win the game. I have to win the game. I have to- . . . preserve life. Help others. . . . I have to return to Alice.*
Alice released her hold on Yugo, transforming back into a human. Yugo coughed and caught his breath while Alice felt tears falling of guilt. She lost her self-control, she almost killed Yugo, her only comrade in the world.
Yugo watched Alice for a moment, then held her, letting her tears stain his torn shirt rather than the blood. She whispered sorry into his chest, breath tantalizing and sorrowful, and Yugo shook his head, then pushed her away gently, "I said I wouldn't mind if you killed me, remember?"
"They took Uriko . . . I have to save her. . . No one deserves the fate I was handed." Silence held her way for a minute or so, which felt like an eternity to the two teenagers, then Alice spoke, voice quiet, and hopeful, "Will you come with me? To Tylon, to get back my sister?"
Yugo gave no immediate reply, her request would mean that he would have to put behind his own journey. But when he saw her sapphire eyes, saw the look she gave him, a look that was indescribable, a look that held pure emotion, pure hope, pure pain, the sum of everything she had felt up to that day. Not even the devil himself could turn down her request. He nodded solemnly, and her smile lit up the darkest regions of his heart.
"Thank you Yugo . . . Let's go back to my place and think of our next move." The new partners leapt from the roof to the adjacent children's ward, about five feet from the main building, then began their trek to the apartment.
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"How many points," the boy asked, looking eagerly at his master. Jigoku smirked, then replied,
"One more, if you can kill this girl, you'll have your points." Kenji smiled happily then halfway skipped with glee to the room. Uriko, half insane, was pushed through the tiny doors that were used for entrance, and stared at Kenji. He wore a white karate-type outfit with a black belt tied around his waist, black sweatbands on his wrists, and had startling ocean blue eyes and hair. His eyes were blank, void of any emotion other than the task on hand, and through Uriko's mentality was muddled, she could sense the evil intent.
"Fight," Jigoku commanded, and Kenji jumped on her faster than a fearful rabbit, striking Uriko in the chest with a hard blow. She fell back, eyes beginning to water from the pain. He hit her again, and she cried out, clutching her left elbow. Kenji stopped and stared at Uriko, with her wide hazel eyes and earth colored hair, wearing a fighting outfit similar to his, and watched as a tear fell down her cheek.
None of the former combatants had ever given a response like that. None of the combatants had ever released a sound like the one she did. When he hit her, she felt soft, not hard and stiff like the other challenges . Which left one question - what was she?
"What are you," he asked in bewilderment, sitting Indian style. The girl looked up at him, tears still streaming down her cheeks, breaths deep and static, and opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. She shook her head and moved away from Kenji, backing into a corner. "What are you," he repeated, moving close to her.
"Uriko," she whispered in a voice blurred with phlegm.
"Uriko," he quizzically replied. "What kind of robot is that?"
"I'm not a robot! I'm a hu- I don't know what I am. What are you?"
Kenji stepped back, slightly innerved. He had no answer to her question - he had never questioned his origin. Uriko shook her head at his lack of an answer, but refused to move away from the sanctuary of the corner.
Jigoku was fuming inside the small, tidy watching room. He expected Kenji to run in and kill Uriko but he had stopped abruptly and now seemed to be talking with her. There would be no zoanthrope transforming today. Which meant the deadline for their sell as slaves was growing nearer without any promise of profit. He would have to get Akira to devise a 'virus' of some sort that would induce the transformation.
Of coarse, if his agents had captured the two teenagers as he had asked, the problem would be temporarily solved. But those teens had slipped his complex radar for over five years, which meant they probably wouldn't be so easy to capture. He didn't care about that fact, as long as his agents returned them alive by then end of the month, two weeks away.
Author's Note: Done! Phew! I'm already at work on the next chapter, which will (hopefully) be done about next week or so. ^_ Anyway, gotta go and read 'Searching for the Full Moon' by Tanemura Arina-sensei! Ja mata ne minna!!!
Bump bump. Bump bump. Each heartbeat brought her closer to insanity, and ultimately to death. Bump bump. Each thud echoed in her mind, seeming growing louder with each second. Bump bump. Ironic, that her heartbeat matched the rhythm of her steps as herself and Yugo ran toward the only available exit. 'I don't mind if you kill me'. Death, a welcomed commodity, but that luxury was too good for them. They would fight, and they would win, no matter what obstacle came their way. Such was the way of a true warrior.
"Why are we going up the stairs," Yugo asked in a half human, half wolf inflection. Alice gave no answer, for it was obvious. She guessed Yugo was trying to avoid the truth. In old horror movies, those who run up the stairs die. In new horror movies, those who run up the stairs die. But like that annoying cliché, it was the only option.
"The roof. From there we can hopefully jump to the adjacent children's ward. Then we can leave through there." Yugo growled his reply and shot ahead of her, soaring over the steps with ease. Alice gasped and cried out, "What are you doing!" Whatever his reply was, it was not in words, more like a protective, fear causing growl that wolves use when guarding a member of the pack.
It seemed so easy, but from experience, Yugo knew that things weren't as easy as they seemed. Besides, he needed to check the roof for the agent's comrades, Tylon wasn't so stupid to use one employee to apprehend a male and female who apparently were strong and smart enough to wrench away from their grip.
Alice. A strange girl. She seemed so cheerful, yet her deep sapphire eyes were sad, like caged bird. "A bird zoanthrope, now that would be something to see," he thought with a half smile. Still, he would have to protect her from harm, after all, she saved his life even though they had never met. And there was the fact that she understood his pain, she knew of the horror and cruelty of life, especially their childhoods.
He finally came to the roof, a wide, spacious flat slab of concrete. He listened for any sound of danger, sniffed the air for the stench of evil. The only sound came from the passing cars, the air smelt clean, although slight pollutants were also mixed in like a cocktail.
Alice had caught up to him now, her soft footsteps proved it. Yugo could tell that she was waiting for him to tell her it was okay, and he nodded, then led her out to the open. "See that building over there," she asked, pointing to her right, "There's our escape route."
"I'll admit, it's not a very good one," a snotty female called from afar. Both zoanthropes turned to the sound, and saw a woman wearing a red miniskirt, matching leather jacket, a white under shirt, and high red heels. She cracked her knuckles and smiled at the animal hybrids, who were looking her over with caution. The wolf boy moved in front of the rabbit, glaring. "Pardon my rudeness. The name's Jenny."
Jenny. The name sounded familiar. "You kidnapped Uriko," Alice cried, voice emitting pure hatred.
"Uriko . . . Uriko . . . Ah yes, the twelve year old half breed. She's almost insane now, did you know that? Sits in a corner, mumbling 'Mommy' and sucking her thumb. Pitiful creature, really. I'm surprised Jigoku hasn't ordered her death."
"You did this to her," Alice screamed, moving up and standing next to Yugo. "I'll never forgive you!"
Jenny yawned, then threw down her jacket. "Is that a challenge? Are you going to get revenge for your lost sister? How . . . sickeningly cliché. But, if you desire death, let me the one to give it to you!" With those words Jenny fell to her knees and sprouted wings out of her back, and her face morphed into one of a bat. She stood, grinning and showing off two fangs.
"A bat . . . She has aerial advantage," Yugo thought as he moved away from Alice so they could assault her from two sides. Alice's form was part rabbit; she could possibly jump high enough to provide an even play field. Unfortunately, luck was not on their side, for a mole zoanthrope approached through the entry that Yugo and Alice had used earlier.
"Don't try and take all the glory for yourself. The zoanthropes are mine!"
"Mine," Alice thought as she moved cautiously away from Jenny. "Does that mine they're not on the same side? Then who? Who sent them if not Tylon," she questioned, then leapt into the air and began to attack Jenny, whose back was turned to the mole. Jenny flew forward, narrowly missing the mole zoanthrope, who snickered with amusement.
"Never turn your back on the enemy," he advised, then dodged a punch from Yugo and sent a kick to his stomach. "And you don't try the same trick twice!" Yugo coughed, causing a few droplets of blood to fall to the cement. A challenge, exactly what he wanted after losing to Gado. A slow wolf grin came over him and he launched a full scale attack on the mole.
It sounded easy, but the rule of life says nothing is ever easy, and Yugo got a few scratches on his arm when he attacked the mole. Jenny and Bakuryu, deciding that two on one is going to be easier than one on one, ganged up on Yugo and began the process of beating him to a pulp.
Alice, however, grabbed Jenny's crimson dress and pulled her away from her new companion. "I'm your opponent," she growled, a hard sound to make while a rabbit. Jenny rolled her eyes and tried to kick Alice in the stomach, but missed because Alice jumped up and over her body, then booted her in the back.
Meanwhile Yugo and Bakuryu were locked in a hold, both animals claws digging into their shoulders. It was a challenge to see how much pain both could take, and both seemed to be on their last edge. Suddenly both screamed and reverted back to their human form.
Jenny and Bakuryu locked eyes for a moment that held a silent plan. Jenny grabbed Alice while Bakuryu grabbed Yugo and both threw the friends at each other, laughing as their bodies hit with a smack. "I thought you were going to kill me," Jenny taunted in her sultry inflection, "But I think I'm going to kill you!"
New found rage became the power source for Alice's fighting, and she ran and jumped, spinning and punching Jenny multiple times in her face and midsection. Jenny flew up higher into the air, thus Alice ran to the edge of the building, catapulted herself up, then kicked the bat in the chest. The bat became a blonde woman as it crashed to the ground, then released blood from her body, leaving crimson stains on her mouth and dress.
Yugo got up weakly, and then took a boxing stance. He may not be a good fighter in wolf form, but in human, as a boxer, he was unstoppable. Mole boy wasn't going to break his record anytime today, zoanthrope blood or no zoanthrope blood. The defeat by Gado was bruising enough to his ego. Smirking slightly, he waited for Bakuryu to make the first move, not only to judge his fighting style, but to issue a quick jab or two as counter attacks.
Bakuryu's style seemed to be a mix of martial arts and street fighting, for he moved with great agility yet had no disciplined moves. Yugo dodged a kick to the face, then issued a few punches and a jab to his face and stomach. Patience was the key to winning, Yugo knew, and the reason why his last couple of fights were lost.
The lack of contact seemed to enrage the man, for he growled and began to attack blindly and wildly. "The greatest assassin in the world cannot touch a mere boy! My honor and future is at stake," Bakuryu thought as he struggled to hit the boy, who was bleeding badly from his right shoulder from where one of his claws had penetrated. In about ten minutes he would be weak and weary from the blood loss, but he didn't have that much time. Jigoku wanted them back with the children at eleven sharp.
Jenny moaned softly as she stood. The girl wasn't supposed to be that strong, yet when she struck the blows felt like a sledgehammer was being beaten into her body. Not even her deadliest kicks had any effect on Alice, for she remained a rabbit hybrid. After countering a punch with a kick to the stomach, Alice fell to the ground, catching her breath. Jenny smiled. Things were starting to go her way finally.
She pulled out a gun and pointed it at Alice's head before she could get up and fight. "Move and you die, my little jackrabbit. You're going to come with me." The hatred and courage in the blue sapphires told Jenny Alice wasn't going to oblige her request anytime soon so she fired a shot to her leg, grazing her left thigh. Then she kicked Alice in the head, and she flew back, landing several feet away, human.
The gunshot had diverted both male fighter's attention to Alice and Jenny, and newfound anger and pain emerged in Yugo when he saw Alice on the ground, fighting to remain conscious. Bakuryu took Yugo's shock as a chance to move near Jenny and both stood, staring at the teenagers.
"Now you two come with us or I kill you," Jenny ordered.
Fight Alice. Awaken the beast within you. Let yourself go, let your consciousness melt into the berserk ness that can defeat these two. After all, the boy said that he didn't mind you killing him.
"I . . . don't have enough energy to transform. I feel weak and dizzy . . ."
If you don't you won't survive! Let your inner child free. Ten points for killing them Subject 025, ten points . . .
Alice couldn't take it anymore. She screamed, a high pitched, blood curling sound that stirred even the thickest of blood. Her body transformed into a rabbit, and she pounced on the nearest victim - Bakuryu - and began to rip him apart.
Yugo quickly got over the shock of seeing the angelic girl become demonic, and kicked the gun out of Jenny's hands before the woman fled, leaving through the only exit. Bakuryu's head was a bloody mess of bone, brain, and other body parts, and Alice screamed again, then focused her attention on Yugo.
"Alice," he said, voice soothing and deep, like the way a father comforts his daughter, "It's okay. I'm not your enemy."
"Fifty points for a zoanthrope rebel. I only need fifty before I get my prize," she babbled, then jumped to Yugo, wrapping a pawlike hand around his throat. "I get a prize when you die!"
"A-al. . ice," he choked out, trying to push her away from him, "It's me, Yugo. . ."
* Don't cry over lost life, use that energy to preserve the life that's left. Preserve life, Alice, prevent tears from falling.*
*I want to win the game. I have to win the game. I have to- . . . preserve life. Help others. . . . I have to return to Alice.*
Alice released her hold on Yugo, transforming back into a human. Yugo coughed and caught his breath while Alice felt tears falling of guilt. She lost her self-control, she almost killed Yugo, her only comrade in the world.
Yugo watched Alice for a moment, then held her, letting her tears stain his torn shirt rather than the blood. She whispered sorry into his chest, breath tantalizing and sorrowful, and Yugo shook his head, then pushed her away gently, "I said I wouldn't mind if you killed me, remember?"
"They took Uriko . . . I have to save her. . . No one deserves the fate I was handed." Silence held her way for a minute or so, which felt like an eternity to the two teenagers, then Alice spoke, voice quiet, and hopeful, "Will you come with me? To Tylon, to get back my sister?"
Yugo gave no immediate reply, her request would mean that he would have to put behind his own journey. But when he saw her sapphire eyes, saw the look she gave him, a look that was indescribable, a look that held pure emotion, pure hope, pure pain, the sum of everything she had felt up to that day. Not even the devil himself could turn down her request. He nodded solemnly, and her smile lit up the darkest regions of his heart.
"Thank you Yugo . . . Let's go back to my place and think of our next move." The new partners leapt from the roof to the adjacent children's ward, about five feet from the main building, then began their trek to the apartment.
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"How many points," the boy asked, looking eagerly at his master. Jigoku smirked, then replied,
"One more, if you can kill this girl, you'll have your points." Kenji smiled happily then halfway skipped with glee to the room. Uriko, half insane, was pushed through the tiny doors that were used for entrance, and stared at Kenji. He wore a white karate-type outfit with a black belt tied around his waist, black sweatbands on his wrists, and had startling ocean blue eyes and hair. His eyes were blank, void of any emotion other than the task on hand, and through Uriko's mentality was muddled, she could sense the evil intent.
"Fight," Jigoku commanded, and Kenji jumped on her faster than a fearful rabbit, striking Uriko in the chest with a hard blow. She fell back, eyes beginning to water from the pain. He hit her again, and she cried out, clutching her left elbow. Kenji stopped and stared at Uriko, with her wide hazel eyes and earth colored hair, wearing a fighting outfit similar to his, and watched as a tear fell down her cheek.
None of the former combatants had ever given a response like that. None of the combatants had ever released a sound like the one she did. When he hit her, she felt soft, not hard and stiff like the other challenges . Which left one question - what was she?
"What are you," he asked in bewilderment, sitting Indian style. The girl looked up at him, tears still streaming down her cheeks, breaths deep and static, and opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. She shook her head and moved away from Kenji, backing into a corner. "What are you," he repeated, moving close to her.
"Uriko," she whispered in a voice blurred with phlegm.
"Uriko," he quizzically replied. "What kind of robot is that?"
"I'm not a robot! I'm a hu- I don't know what I am. What are you?"
Kenji stepped back, slightly innerved. He had no answer to her question - he had never questioned his origin. Uriko shook her head at his lack of an answer, but refused to move away from the sanctuary of the corner.
Jigoku was fuming inside the small, tidy watching room. He expected Kenji to run in and kill Uriko but he had stopped abruptly and now seemed to be talking with her. There would be no zoanthrope transforming today. Which meant the deadline for their sell as slaves was growing nearer without any promise of profit. He would have to get Akira to devise a 'virus' of some sort that would induce the transformation.
Of coarse, if his agents had captured the two teenagers as he had asked, the problem would be temporarily solved. But those teens had slipped his complex radar for over five years, which meant they probably wouldn't be so easy to capture. He didn't care about that fact, as long as his agents returned them alive by then end of the month, two weeks away.
Author's Note: Done! Phew! I'm already at work on the next chapter, which will (hopefully) be done about next week or so. ^_ Anyway, gotta go and read 'Searching for the Full Moon' by Tanemura Arina-sensei! Ja mata ne minna!!!